(inspirational theme music)
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>>Welcome to "Sabbath School,"
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brought to you by It Is Written.
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We are delighted to have
you back with us once again.
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This is week number
13, so we are very nearly
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at the end of this
particular subject.
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We're looking at "Death,
Dying, and the Future Hope,"
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and we're
finding that, above all,
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this is an
encouraging and hopeful subject
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rather than one that
we could be discouraged
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or worried or fearful about,
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and this week we're
going to be looking at,
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in the greater scheme of things,
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a smaller segment
about the judgment.
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So, what about
"The Judging Process"?
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Why is there a judgment?
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Well, to help us understand
the answer to that question,
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we have the author of the
Sabbath school study guide.
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He is Dr. Alberto Timm. He
is also an associate director
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of the Ellen G. White Estate.
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Alberto,
welcome back once again.
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>>It's an honor
for me to be with you.
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>>So let's look
at this judgment.
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Let me begin by
asking this question.
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If God knows everything,
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if He knows the
end from the beginning,
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everything from
Genesis to Revelation
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and in between and beyond,
and we're saved by grace,
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what's the
point of the judgment?
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Why does there
need to be a judgment
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if these things are true?
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>>Many years ago,
Morris Venden started
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an article with a question:
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"How would you feel
if, coming to heaven,
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"Billy Graham
would not be there,
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and Adolf Hitler
would be your neighbor?"
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And then he goes on.
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He's not suggesting that
Adolf Hitler would be there,
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but he said, "Well, probably,
you would be wondering,
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"'I am at the right place?
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And how does it come
that Adolf Hitler is here?'"
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So heaven will be
a place of surprises.
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Many people that we would
believe that would be there
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will not be,
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and people that we would
say that would never be there
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will be there.
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So God submits
Himself--or, in other words,
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He accommodates Himself
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to our human
condition as creatures
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to explain that what we
cannot understand by ourselves.
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He knows everything, He
does not need the judgment,
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but He actually
submits Himself in this way.
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And going back to the
point of salvation by grace,
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I think that, to
keep the balance in regard
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to salvation, we need to
have three concepts in mind.
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The first one:
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Sinners are
saved by grace alone.
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They are justified by faith,
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and they are judged by works.
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There was a time
in human history,
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especially in the
Middle Ages and so on,
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that people really emphasized,
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preachers emphasized very
much the concept of judgment,
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and today people are more
into grace without judgment.
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I think that we should
have that kind of balance
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with these three concepts:
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saved by grace, justified
by faith, and judged by works.
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>>So that helps us understand
it, at least a little bit,
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but I'm gonna
throw a curve ball.
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I'm going to attempt
to throw a curve ball here
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and share a text
that seems to indicate
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that certain people don't need
to worry about the judgment,
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and that text is
John 5, verse number 24,
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and I happen to
have a red-letter Bible,
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and this passage
happens to be in red,
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so that means
that Jesus is speaking,
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so we can trust
what He has to say.
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In John 5, verse 24, Jesus says,
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"Most assuredly, I say to you,
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"he who hears my
word and believes in Him
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"who sent me has
everlasting life,
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"and shall not
come into judgment,
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but has passed
from death into life."
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Now, again, just
taking that text,
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that scripture on its
own, it does sound problematic,
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but we've got more than
just that verse in the Bible.
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So help us to understand it.
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>>Actually, some
people believe that
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those who are in Christ
will never face judgment,
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but this is a
misunderstanding, I think,
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of the whole
context of the Bible,
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the teachings of the
Bible on this matter.
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Actually, William
Shea, in one of his books,
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pointed out that,
in the Old Testament,
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you have more than 20
judgments of God's people.
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You have the judgment of an
individual, you have of a group,
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and the whole
nation then later on.
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So, there are judgements.
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You have other passages in
the New Testament. For instance,
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you have 2
Corinthians 5, verse 10,
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where Paul says that
all of us will be judged,
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and when it comes to the
parable of the final judgment,
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for instance, in Matthew 25,
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verses 31-46, you will see
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that there are not only
the goats, or the wicked,
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but also the sheep,
standing for the righteous,
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and Paul also
speaks about the judgment,
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as we already mentioned,
and when it comes, for instance,
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to the book of
Revelation, chapter 11, verse 1,
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there is that
apocalyptic expression
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"to measure the sanctuary,"
or the temple, the altar,
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and those who
worship in the sanctuary.
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What does it mean,
really, those who worship?
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That's the
judgment of God's people.
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So we cannot excuse ourselves,
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saying that God's
people are not judged.
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In the Greek
original for this word,
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here in the Gospel of John,
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the meaning is
not only "judgment."
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Actually, it means the
condemnation in the judgment.
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So some of the
Bible translations
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are very careful of
pointing out this matter that,
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in reality, God's people are
not condemned at the judgment,
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but, in other words,
they will be vindicated,
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but it does not mean that
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they are absent for
any judgment process.
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>>So they
experience the judgment,
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but the condemnation is what
they don't have to experience,
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and that's, I hope
that's encouraging to you,
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because it certainly is for me.
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Let me toss another idea
out here, another question.
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Let's say that we believe
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that when a person
dies, they go immediately,
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their soul or
their spirit or something
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goes immediately to
heaven when they die,
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or, for that matter,
to hell or to purgatory.
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If we take that position,
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that we go immediately
someplace when we die,
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what's the
purpose of the judgment?
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What sense does
the judgment make
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if that's what we believe?
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>>In that case, I think that
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the judgment
becomes meaningless.
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Why to be judged if
you are already rewarded,
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if you are
already in heaven or hell?
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You could say that purgatory
would be a stage of growing.
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According to the
Roman Catholic Church,
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then you would be evaluated;
you would be judged later on.
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But if you believe
in heaven and hell,
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then that does not
make any sense at all.
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But, at the same
time, what you will see,
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in this case,
that you would need
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two judgments,
a double judgment,
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because Plato,
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recording Socrates speaking,
in his book "Phaedrus,"
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he speaks of a judgment
immediately after death.
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So, for people to be rewarded,
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that requires a
judgment after death,
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and this concept
has been incorporated
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into the Roman
Catholic tradition and also
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into the
evangelical circles as well,
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to a large extent.
So this is a concept
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that comes from
Greek philosophy; again,
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a judgment, an individual
judgment immediately after
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death, but then you are judged
again at the final judgment,
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because this the Bible teaches,
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so it's a matter of
trying to combine the pagan
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with the biblical
concept of a judgment,
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but, being already rewarded,
I don't see any reason why
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there is a need for
a judgment later on,
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especially the final judgment.
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>>So you made
mention of something here
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about combining the
pagan with the biblical.
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Is this something that
has gone on for a long time?
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This doesn't sound
like it's something new.
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What are some of
the dangers of trying to
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combine the
teachings of Plato or Socrates
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with the teachings of the Bible?
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Where does that lead
us? Where does that end?
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What's the end
result of trying to do that?
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>>You know, when you
try to combine two things,
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usually each one of
them have to lose something
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so that they can match together.
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Of course, there
were some kind of
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punishments of Greek philosophy,
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as we spoke in the past already,
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but at the same time
the Bible becomes adjusted
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to philosophy to become more
tasteful, so to say, and that's
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what happened under
the influence of Hellenism.
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>>So what we're seeing is
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the bringing of
truth and error together,
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and if you take truth
and you mingle error into it,
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it no longer remains truth,
and the last time I checked,
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the Bible says that
"you [will] know the truth,
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and the truth
[will] make you free."
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But if the truth
ceases to be the truth,
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then freedom
ceases to be freedom,
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and Jesus wants you to be free.
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That's really one of the reasons
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why we've been looking
at this subject this quarter
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for the last 13
weeks. We've been looking at
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the subject of death, of
dying, and of a future hope.
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Jesus has a hope for
you, He has a plan for you,
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He has an expected end for you,
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and the only real way that
you can reach that expected end
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is by trusting Him, is
by having faith in Him,
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is by allowing Him to
guide you and direct you
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and correct your
course from time to time
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because, in truth, we
all need that correction.
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Ultimately, His desire is
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for you to
experience life, eternal life,
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for you to
experience "that blessed hope,
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and the glorious
appearing of...Jesus Christ,"
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for you to wear that crown,
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that immortal crown that Paul
speaks of in his valedictory.
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And that's available--to
you, to me, to really everyone
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if we choose to
embrace and receive
00:12:10.56\00:12:13.29
the message of the
gospel that Jesus has for us,
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but how do we do that?
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Well, it's by rejecting
error and embracing truth,
00:12:17.70\00:12:21.87
rejecting
combinations of truth and error,
00:12:21.87\00:12:25.24
which ultimately
end up being error,
00:12:25.24\00:12:27.88
and embracing the pure
gospel of Jesus Christ,
00:12:27.88\00:12:32.25
as we find it in His Word.
00:12:32.25\00:12:34.85
So, we hope that you
have enjoyed this study,
00:12:34.85\00:12:37.82
and we're not done
yet. We're continuing.
00:12:37.82\00:12:39.99
In fact, we still
have a little ways to go,
00:12:39.99\00:12:43.43
but as we take a
break here in just a moment,
00:12:43.43\00:12:45.83
I want to encourage you,
if you haven't yet done it,
00:12:45.83\00:12:48.66
don't miss this opportunity
to pick up the companion book
00:12:48.66\00:12:53.03
for this quarter's
Sabbath school lesson.
00:12:53.03\00:12:55.40
It is of, course,
by Dr. Alberto Timm.
00:12:55.40\00:12:57.61
It's called "On Death,
Dying, and the Future Hope,"
00:12:57.61\00:13:02.18
and you can pick this up
00:13:02.18\00:13:03.48
on the It Is Written
Shop at itiswritten.shop.
00:13:03.48\00:13:06.88
Again, that is itiswritten.shop.
00:13:06.88\00:13:09.45
The name of the book is
00:13:09.45\00:13:10.52
"On Death, Dying,
and the Future Hope,"
00:13:10.52\00:13:13.22
and, of course, the
author is Dr. Alberto Timm.
00:13:13.22\00:13:17.09
We are going to be back
in just a couple of minutes
00:13:17.09\00:13:20.63
as we continue
looking at this judgment,
00:13:20.63\00:13:23.26
finding out why
it's so important for us,
00:13:23.26\00:13:26.60
and why God loves us enough
00:13:26.60\00:13:29.04
to send us
through this judgment.
00:13:29.04\00:13:32.97
We'll be right back.
00:13:32.97\00:13:34.61
(inspirational theme
music swells and ends)
00:13:34.61\00:13:37.28
>>[John Bradshaw] He
spent 32 years in prison
00:13:38.98\00:13:41.02
for a crime he did not commit,
00:13:41.02\00:13:43.39
more than half
his life behind bars,
00:13:43.39\00:13:45.39
even though he
was an innocent man.
00:13:45.39\00:13:47.89
Junk science, false testimony,
and shoddy investigative work
00:13:47.89\00:13:51.99
came together to
send a man to prison
00:13:51.99\00:13:54.60
for more than three decades.
00:13:54.60\00:13:56.56
Join me for "Not Guilty," where
you'll hear from the people
00:13:56.56\00:13:59.80
at the center of the
exoneration of an innocent man.
00:13:59.80\00:14:03.17
We'll look not only at
innocent people being free,
00:14:03.17\00:14:05.94
but at the phenomenon of
guilty people being pardoned,
00:14:05.94\00:14:09.18
people who committed the
offense, who broke the law,
00:14:09.18\00:14:11.75
and yet were set
free by God Himself.
00:14:11.75\00:14:14.78
Every person alive has sinned
00:14:14.78\00:14:16.38
"and come short
of the glory of God,"
00:14:16.38\00:14:17.92
and yet God offers
pardon and forgiveness to all,
00:14:17.92\00:14:21.19
absolutely free.
00:14:21.19\00:14:22.79
Don't miss "Not Guilty,"
where you'll learn that,
00:14:22.79\00:14:25.43
no matter your past,
no matter your present,
00:14:25.43\00:14:27.93
you can face the future
with confidence, without fear,
00:14:27.93\00:14:31.23
and with absolute hope.
00:14:31.23\00:14:32.80
"Not Guilty,"
00:14:32.80\00:14:34.47
brought to you
by It Is Written TV.
00:14:34.47\00:14:37.51
(inspirational theme music)
00:14:38.64\00:14:41.31
>>Welcome back
to "Sabbath School,"
00:14:43.35\00:14:44.78
brought to you by It Is Written.
00:14:44.78\00:14:46.72
We're looking at "The
Judging Process" today
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and trying to understand
it just a little bit more.
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Let me begin,
Alberto, this next segment
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with another
question here for you.
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If the judgment is
going on right now,
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which we believe that it is,
the Bible indicates that it is,
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but if the judgment
is going on right now,
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and my name comes
up in the judgment,
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what happens to
my freedom of choice?
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What happens to my
free will after that?
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Am I still free to choose?
Does that nullify my free will?
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What about if my
name comes up right now?
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>>I think that we have to
ground our understanding of it
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on a matter that--
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our understanding of
divine foreknowledge.
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Divine
foreknowledge is absolute.
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God knows everything,
but it's not causative.
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In other words, it's not because
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God knows that
things have to happen.
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It's because they will happen.
God knows already in advance,
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and this distinction
makes the whole difference
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between one case or another one.
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Some people say
that God doesn't know.
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Okay, in this case,
God is absolved, so to say,
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but if He knows, then it has
to happen. That's not the case.
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So God can can judge me
based on His foreknowledge,
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but I never will...
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will never lose my free will
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because He knows
what I will be choosing.
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So He knows if I
will be saved or lost,
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but He still pleads with me,
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because His love and
His nature, His character,
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requires that He
should always entreat me,
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even if I will be
lost, trying to beg with me,
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plead with me, trying to,
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to accept His
offer of salvation.
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>>So we still have
that ability to choose.
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He doesn't take
that away from us,
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and that's fantastic news.
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Let me kind of drill
down on something else here.
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You gave this week's section
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the title "The Judging Process."
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You're not even implying
that it's a process here.
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You're explicitly
stating this is a process.
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It's not an act.
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It's not something that just
happens, but it's a process.
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What are some of the
stages in this process?
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What is it that
makes it a process
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rather than a single act?
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>>Actually, as we
mentioned before, there are,
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there were different
judgments in biblical times.
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For instance, you
have, in the book of Ezekiel,
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chapters 1-10,
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the judgment of a
nation over there,
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and that's a classic one.
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If you have a
chance, I would invite you
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to really, to read it through
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and to see the
judgment process over there
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of the nation of Judah,
or the kingdom of the south,
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but we are speaking now
about the eschatological,
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the end-time
judgment, the final judgment,
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and I think that we
have enough biblical evidence
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at least three major phases
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of this judgment.
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If we go, for
instance, to Daniel, chapter 7,
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Daniel, chapter 7,
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you will find, in verses 9-14--
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I will not read it
for the sake of time,
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but you can do it later on--
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"The Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven"--
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some people believe
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because it's the coming
of the clouds of heaven,
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that it is the Second
Coming. That's not the case;
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it's the heavenly hosts, but
He's not coming to this earth,
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but He's coming to
the Ancient of Days,
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and there you have the
description of a courtroom.
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The books are open.
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In apocalyptic language,
whenever books are open,
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it means the
beginning of a judgment.
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If you take this scene here,
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and then you go to chapter 8,
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you will see also in verses 9-14
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a similar scene,
and you will see that
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then somebody asks, "When
will the sanctuary be cleansed?"
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It says that it will take place
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after 2,300
evenings and mornings,
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and it's a parallel to this...
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judicial scene that we have
in chapter 7, so they overlap.
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So we have evidence--
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of course, time is not
enough for us to unpack this--
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that investigative
judgment will take place
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prior, I mean, prior
to the Second Coming,
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starting at the
end of this period,
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that we have
chronological, astronomical,
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and exegetical basis
that it started in 1844.
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This would be the
first phase of the judgment.
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Then comes the second
phase during the millennium,
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and then comes the third one,
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is the punishment of the wicked
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at the end of the millennium.
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And so this concept of
judgment that Jesus spoke
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is something that in the book
of Revelation is very clear,
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that Jesus even promised that,
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and Paul says that
we will be judging men
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and even angels.
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>>So, several
phases of the judgment.
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We're in the
middle of one of them,
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or maybe even some of them,
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depending on how you
wanna look at it right now,
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and there are yet some to come.
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Now, I wanna
read a passage here.
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It's actually the
memory text for this week.
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It's found in 2 Corinthians,
chapter 5 and verse number 10.
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It says, "For we must all appear
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"before the
judgment seat of Christ,
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"that each one may receive
the things done in the body,
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according to what he has
done, whether good or bad."
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So here Paul says,
"We must all appear
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before the
judgment seat of Christ."
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Now, for some people,
that sounds scary. It sounds,
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it sounds like maybe
they have something to fear.
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Maybe they do, but every person
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has to appear before
the judgment seat of Christ,
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but if we're
afraid of the judgment,
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we might be tempted to say,
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"Well, I wish
there wasn't a judgment."
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It's been said that we
don't really miss something
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until it's gone, sometimes.
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So what are the implications
if there was no judgment?
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If it didn't exist,
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what would be some
of those implications?
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And are there reasons
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why we should be glad
that a judgment does exist?
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>>Actually, if there
would be no judgment,
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I would be really frustrated
because, in many cases,
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I would need to
do justice by myself,
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because I know that there
would be nothing happening
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to those wicked people.
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So, all this
situation of an unjust world
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is something--of course,
we should try to do our best
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in the sense of
bringing justice to the world,
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but there are things
that escape our hands,
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that we cannot handle,
and those ones are the ones
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that we trust that
God will straighten up,
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and this is a
very important point,
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but let me clarify, Eric, if
you don't mind, another matter.
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Some people might ask,
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why do you speak
about phases of judgment?
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And this probably is
the most significant part
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for us to
understand this process.
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Remember something.
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If everybody, as you read, Eric,
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the passage that
everybody will be judged,
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and Paul is including
himself in this judgment,
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then it implies
that not only wicked
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but also the
righteous will be judged.
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And it always, the understanding
of judgment in the Bible,
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is directly dependent on
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the human nature and
the state of the dead.
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Why?
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Remember that the resurrections
are the rewards already.
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Either you will be raised
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at the first resurrection
that the Bible speaks
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that takes place
prior to the millennium,
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to the 1,000 years, or, if
you are not among the saved,
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you will be raised at
the second resurrection
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after the millennium.
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So, if a
judgment has to take place
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or people has to be
judged, they have to be judged
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prior to the resurrection
that is already the reward.
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There is not this thing,
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"Well, you were raised
here in the first resurrection,
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"but, sorry, we
came to the conclusion
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"after judging your case
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"that you don't
belong to this group.
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"You have to go
back and to be raised
00:24:35.17\00:24:37.11
in the second resurrection,"
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or, "Sorry that we waited
till the second resurrection
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because you should be
raised in the first one."
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So, those who will be raised
at the first resurrection,
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that is already the reward,
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will be judged prior
to that resurrection,
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and those that will be raised
at the second resurrection,
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those will be judged
during the millennium,
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and then this one the
saints will be part of
00:25:06.03\00:25:09.50
so that they can know that
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whatever God did
was the best thing,
00:25:11.71\00:25:14.88
and the final
destruction of the wicked
00:25:14.88\00:25:19.88
is actually an act of mercy
00:25:19.88\00:25:23.32
from the part of
God because, actually,
00:25:23.32\00:25:28.19
the wicked would not
feel at home in heaven,
00:25:28.19\00:25:31.59
so He simply makes
them cease to exist.
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They will
receive their punishment,
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but there is not
an everlasting hell,
00:25:38.73\00:25:42.50
and this is
something, good news.
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You should not fear the
judgment, the final judgment,
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for one simple
reason. The judgment will be
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the vindication of
those who are in Christ.
00:25:53.68\00:25:57.99
So they are good
news of the judgment,
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but, of course, it
will be the punishment
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for those who
refuse to be with Christ,
00:26:03.32\00:26:06.19
and that makes
the whole difference.
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>>You know, what you
just shared, Alberto,
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reminds me of a passage
at the very end of the Bible
00:26:10.67\00:26:13.27
in Revelation
22, verses 11 and 12.
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It says, "He who is
unjust, let him be unjust still;
00:26:16.77\00:26:20.34
"he who is filthy,
let him be filthy still;
00:26:20.34\00:26:23.18
"he who is righteous,
let him be righteous still;
00:26:23.18\00:26:26.31
[and] he who is holy,
let him be holy still."
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And then in verse
number 12 he says,
00:26:28.65\00:26:30.92
"And behold, I am coming
quickly, and my reward is with
00:26:30.92\00:26:35.99
me, to give to every
one according to his work."
00:26:37.06\00:26:39.53
So the good news is
Jesus is coming back soon.
00:26:39.53\00:26:42.80
He has his
reward for every person,
00:26:42.80\00:26:45.20
and if you are
among the righteous,
00:26:45.20\00:26:47.50
you will be righteous still.
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If you are among the
just, you will be just still.
00:26:48.87\00:26:52.94
If, in the judgment,
00:26:52.94\00:26:54.38
you are found saved,
you are saved forever,
00:26:54.38\00:26:57.88
and I hope that that's
an encouragement to you,
00:26:57.88\00:27:00.85
because it really should be.
00:27:00.85\00:27:03.22
Well, we're gonna come
back again for one more week
00:27:03.22\00:27:05.55
as we take a last look at
00:27:05.55\00:27:07.59
this subject of "Death,
Dying, and the Future Hope."
00:27:07.59\00:27:10.89
We're going to
end on a high note,
00:27:10.89\00:27:13.90
and you probably
expected that we would
00:27:13.90\00:27:16.73
because the Bible
ends on a very high note.
00:27:16.73\00:27:19.93
So next week we're
gonna come back again.
00:27:19.93\00:27:21.94
We're gonna look at the
last lesson in this quarter,
00:27:21.94\00:27:26.31
and we hope that
you've been blessed,
00:27:26.31\00:27:28.11
that you've been able
to look at this subject
00:27:28.11\00:27:29.91
from perhaps a new perspective.
00:27:29.91\00:27:32.38
Maybe you've been reaffirmed
in what you already believed,
00:27:32.38\00:27:36.28
but either way, I
hope that you will take
00:27:36.28\00:27:38.29
the beauty of this Bible
teaching and share it with
00:27:38.29\00:27:42.49
others so that they can
have hope in Jesus as well.
00:27:42.49\00:27:45.06
God bless you,
have a wonderful day,
00:27:45.06\00:27:47.30
and we will see you next time.
00:27:47.30\00:27:49.80
(inspirational theme music)
00:27:49.80\00:27:52.47
(music ends)
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