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What's In It For Me?
April 12, 2015
When people find out that much of what they see as future was actually referring to the fall of Jerusalem and Judaea in AD 70, they wring their hands and ask me, "What's Left, then?" or "What's in it for me, if that is all past?" What has always been there for us, but to love and serve God, to love and serve our fellow man, and to look forward to eternal life in heaven? - Bernie Parsons
What’s In
It For Me?
by Bernie Parsons
Presented to Globe church of Christ on 04-12-2015
Presented to Load church of Christ on 05-17-2015
After I deliver my series of lessons on the end of the
age, the judgments of God, and the day of the Lord, or when I discuss
these events privately, there is always a look of incredulity, followed
by despair, and then the question, “If this is true, then what’s in it
for me?” Or, they might ask, “Then, what’s left?”
First, let’s remember some points that I have made in
my recent sermons.
(1)
All of the Law and prophets were until John the Baptist.
(2)
John and Jesus preached that the kingdom of God (heaven) was at hand.
(3)
This was the eternal kingdom that was to break in two and consume the
four great empires: Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian and the Roman. It
would be established in the days of the last great empire mentioned in
Daniel – the Roman Empire.
(4)
Jesus died one time, for all time. He was the ultimate sacrifice for
sins.
(5)
He nailed the ordinances of the Law to the cross, and took them out of
the way.
(6)
Those were the last days, the end of the age of the Law of Moses and the
prophets, It was a period of
time in which God judged Judah and took vengeance upon the Jews for
their disobedience. (They had rejected His son and His sacrifice.)
(7)
Jesus said that the temple would be torn down in that generation, and
that all of the Law and the prophets would be fulfilled in that
generation. This occurred.
(8)
God’s vengeance was poured out first upon the Jews, and then upon the
Gentiles.
Amos 5:18 “Woe unto you that desire
the day of
the LORD! to what end is
it for you? the day
of the
LORD is darkness, and not light.”
What’s left for us, and what is in it for us? It’s
quite simple, and yet exciting. What has God always asked us to do, as a
race of humans?
Genesis 2:15 "And the LORD God took the man, and put
him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."
Humans were created to be gardeners for God. We were
created to work for Him.
God has always demanded that we heed His word, and obey
it.
Genesis 2:16 "And the LORD God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die."
When we disobey, God punishes us for that disobedience.
That is His right, as Creator.
Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over
thee.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened
unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I
commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to
thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till
thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
Genesis 3:22 "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is
become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth
his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the
garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east
of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every
way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
Again, we are to hear God and obey His words. We must
serve Him, and only Him.
Exodus 20:1 "And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
Numbers 15:30 "But the soul that doeth ought
presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same
reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his
people.
31 Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and
hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his
iniquity shall be upon him."
Deuteronomy 8:3 "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee
to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did
thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by
bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
LORD doth man live."
As Moses said:
Deuteronomy 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I
command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep
the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."
Deuteronomy 12:32 "What thing soever I command you,
observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it."
Jeremiah 26:2 "Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court
of the LORD'S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come
to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command thee to
speak unto them; diminish not a word:
3 If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from
his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do
unto them because of the evil of their doings.
4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If
ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before
you,
5 To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets,
whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye
have not hearkened;
6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will
make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth."
Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Let us hear the conclusion of the
whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole
duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with
every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
What is in it for us?
Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the judgment:"
Romans 14:12 “So then every one of us shall
give account of himself to
God.”
John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life."
John 10:27 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
John 6:54 “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, hath eternal life;
and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
What more do you want?
