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What Do Good Guys Wear? – Acts 9:20-31

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

Why did Saul preach the kingdom gospel of “Jesus is the Christ” (v. 20 cf. John 20:31) instead of the gospel he later preached of “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:1-4)?  It’s important to know the answer, for those who say he preached the kingdom gospel early in his ministry say he preached the kingdom program in his early epistles.  That would mean Romans, Corinthians, Galatians and Thessalonians were written to Jews under the kingdom program and not to us.

But what would you preach if you were facing unsaved Jews in a synagogue who didn’t know Jesus was their Christ? Jesus is the Christ!  That’s where we must begin with unsaved Jews.  But that’s not all he preached, that’s all Luke wrote down.  Nineteen years later Luke said that’s still all he preached in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1), but we know he preached his gospel there too (Rom. 16:25 cf. I Thes. 1:5).  He preached that Christ died for us there (I Thes. 4:14; 5:10), so he probably preached that in Acts 9:20 as well.

So why didn’t Luke say he preached more?  He was writing as a historian, not a theologian.  The new program of grace was given to Paul, not him.  Paul’s theology is in his epistles.

Saul nearly died when he didn’t drink for three days (9:9).  He was strengthened a little in v.19 and more here (v. 22).  He proved Jesus was Christ to those unsaved Jews the same way he did in Acts 17:2,3, by proving their own Scriptures predicted Christ would die and rise again—like Jesus did!

They didn’t like his message so decided to kill the messenger (v. 23).  The phrase lie in wait (v. 24) refers to a secret ambush (Pr. 1:11).  Paul knew about this secret because he was a prophet (I Cor. 13:2) and prophets could know stuff like that (II Ki. 6:11).  The disciples helped him escape in a basket over the city wall (v. 25).  II Corinthians 11:32 tells us that they got the government to do their dirty work of trying to kill him, just as they convinced Pilate to execute the Lord.

The word “assayed” means to try (Heb. 11:29).  You’d think the disciples would know that anyone who had to escape those unsaved Jews in a basket was a legitimate believer, but they figured it was all a clever ruse to gain their confidence and trap them and kill them.

When Acts 9:26,27 says Saul went to Jerusalem and saw the 12, we know three years have passed (Gal. 1:13-18).  Now you’d think Saul would have wanted to see the 12 apostles right away, and maybe he did.  But the Lord would have steered him away from them lest people think he got his message from them and preached the same thing they did.

He didn’t!  God gave him a whole new message and pro-gram, the message and program of grace!  When Saul finally did meet with the 12, they didn’t tell him what they preached.  He already knew what they preached.  He wouldn’t have been killing them without doing his homework.  He killed them in all good conscience (Acts 23:1).  No, he told them what he preached (Gal. 2:1-7). We assume Saul spent those three years in Arabia learning the mystery, since it took the Lord three years to train the 12.

From Acts 9 forward in Acts, the focus shifts away from the 12 to Paul, and that begins here. That explains why Peter had the gift of prophecy in Acts 5:1-9 when he just knew Ananias and Sapphira were lying, but didn’t know Saul wasn’t lying here when he said he was a disciple.  He was beginning to lose his spiritual gifts!  Not all at once, for he’s about to heal a man and raise a woman from the dead.  But God had already taken away his gift of prophecy and given it to Paul.

How did Barnabas know Saul wasn’t lying?   We’re not told.  Perhaps he saw Saul use his gift of prophecy, or heard him preaching.  All we know for sure is that Saul hung out with the 12 in Jerusalem (v. 28) for fifteen days (Gal. 1:18).  Long enough to get the Grecians angry enough to kill him (v. 29).

When the churches had rest after Saul got saved (v. 30,31), that proves he was the main persecutor of the church.  And if God can save His worst enemy, that proves that He can save you, no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done.  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ…and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: What Do Good Guys Wear? – Acts 9:20-31

Days of Future Past – Matthew 24:37-51

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

Right before the Lord comes to defeat the Antichrist and all the unsaved men who ally themselves with him, they’ll be eating and drinking like they always do (v.38) so won’t know when He’s coming (v. 36).

That phrase “eating and drinking” is associated with banqueting in the Bible, especially in conjunction with “giving in marriage” (v. 37).  Any father who’s paid for a wedding reception knows that!  But believers who don’t take the mark of the beast won’t be able to buy enough food and wine to eat and drink like that (Rev. 13:17).  And believers will think twice before marrying due to the Lord’s warning in Matthew 24:19.  Only unbelievers will feel safe enough to marry in the Tribulation, thinking Antichrist will give them “peace and safety” (I Thes. 5:2,3).

Believers will also be unable to plant and build (Lu. 17:26), for they can’t build or plant on land they’ve sold, and that’s what they’ll have to do to be saved (Lu. 18:18, 22 cf. Acts 4:34,35).

Now I know that “one taken and one left” scenario described in Matthew 24:40,41 sounds like the Rapture, but believers are taken to heaven at the Rapture (I Thes. 4:14).  Unbelievers are taken to judgment here, like Noah was (Mt. 24:39)—the  judgment of Armageddon (Lu. 17:36,37 cf. Rev. 19:17-20).

Some unsaved people will gather themselves to that battle (Joel 3:9-12), while Satan will hoodwink others into going (Rev. 16:13-16).  God will gather still other unbelievers to Armageddon in the “reverse Rapture” depicted here in Matthew 24.  We know God knows how to teleport people (Acts 8:39).  Acts 17:30-34 shows it will be “day” in some parts of the world when the Lord comes and “night” in other parts.

In Matthew 24:42 we see more proof the Lord isn’t talking about the Rapture here.  That verse sounds more like a warn-ing of a disaster than advice to prepare for a happy event!

The Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief in the night (Mt. 24:43,44), and if men are not ready they’ll suffer the same kind of serious damage as they do from a thief.  But if you’re not ready for the Rapture you just get Raptured!  Those who teach the “partial Rapture” theory say you’ll be left behind if you’re not worthy, but they base that on Luke 21:36.  But that’s talking about being able to “stand” before the Lord after the battle.  After the Lord defeats Antichrist’s armies, the worthy ones left standing will enter the kingdom (Mal. 3:1-3).  But all who believe will be raptured, not all who behave (I Thes. 4:14-17).

How will they get ready?  Well the Lord will expect them to be feeding His servants (Mt. 24:45).  If they don’t, they can’t be saved (James 2:15-17).  If they do, they’ll be “blessed” (Mt. 24:46) with the kingdom (Mt. 25:34-40).  The Lord’s “goods” (Mt. 24:47) are “all that He hath” in the kingdom (Lu. 12:44), the Gentile nations (Ps. 2:8).  He’ll rule over them (Rev. 19:15) with help from worthy Jews (Rev.2:26, 27).But you’ll be ruling over the angels in heaven (I Cor. 6:3).

Some Jews won’t be ready because they’ll believe the Lord’s coming is far off (Mt. 24:48 cf. Ezek. 12:27).  So while worthy people will be feeding God’s people, unsaved men will be persecuting them (Mt. 24:49).  They’ll be getting drunk and living it up—but not for long (v. 50,51)!

But eating and drinking and marrying is the opposite of what men will be doing before the Rapture (I Tim. 4:1-3).  That’s another way you know that Matthew 24 is not about the Rapture.   Only Paul talks about the Rapture.  It was a “mystery” (I Cor. 15:51-53) until the Lord revealed it to him.

But an old saying says not to let your roots in this world grow too deep, or you might not want to leave it when He comes.  The Greek word for “caught up” in I Thessalonians 4:13-17 is translated “take Him by force” in John 6:15.  Don’t make the Lord have to tug on you twice when He tries to take you away from this life and all the things you love by loving them too deeply.  Instead, be one of the ones who are honoring Him with your life, and serving Him with your words, your time, your talent, your money, and with every breath you breathe.

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: Days of Future Past – Matthew 24:37-51

The Shortest Days in the History of the World – Matthew 24:22-35

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

How will the Lord shorten the days of the “great tribulation” (Mt. 24:21, 22) for the sake of the elect (those who will believe on Him during the Tribulation)?  It has to last exactly 1260 days (Rev. 12:6-12), three and a half years (Dan. 12:6, 7), 42 months (Rev. 13:2-5).  Some say He was going to make it last longer but shortened it to 1260 days.  But after Daniel said it would last three and a half years the Lord said the days “shall be” shortened, future tense.  No, He won’t shorten the number of days, He’ll shorten the days by doing the opposite of what He did in Joshua 10:12,13.

When those days come, false christs will claim to be Christ in hiding (Mt. 24:23-26).  The Lord told His disciples not to believe it because His coming will be like lightning (v. 27).  Lightning always gets our attention!  So He was saying when He comes everyone will know about it—specially if it starts in the east and goes all the way to the west!  But lightning that starts in the north and goes to the south would only reach the south pole, for after that it would be going north again.  If the Lord came like that, only half the world would see Him.  But lightning that comes out of the east and goes to the west has to circle the globe, meaning “every eye shall see Him” (Rev. 1:7).

Since lightning travels 3700 miles per second, some think the Lord was talking about the Rapture (cf. I Cor. 15:52).  But He compares this coming to what happens when eagles gather around a dead body (Mt. 24:28). That’s Armageddon (Rev. 19:11-21).  The Lord will use the birds of the earth as a sort of heavenly cleanup crew to cleanse the planet of the rot and stench of the dead before establishing His beautiful kingdom

But if this coming of the Lord is associated with Armageddon, that means it is a coming that will take place after the Tribulation—and that’s what the Lord went on to say (Mt. 24:29,30).  But Paul promises we’ll be raptured before the Tribulation (I Thes. 4:15—5:5) and escape that wrath (I Thes. 1:10; 5:9) by the “salvation” of the Rapture (Rom. 13:11).

Part of the “wrath” that the ones left behind will have to endure will fall when the stars fall (Mt. 24:30) to the earth (Rev. 6:12,13).  These can’t be literal stars. Stars are suns, and even one falling would incinerate us.  Stars in the Bible can be an-gels (Job 38:4-7). The ones that will fall are the fallen angels, the “powers” that rule “high places” (Eph. 6:12). That’s why “the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Mt. 24:30). There’s going to be a shakeup in the government of heaven.

Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven (v. 31). Normally we can’t see into heaven because the “curtain” of the stars keeps us from seeing into the “tabernacle” of God in heaven (Isa. 40:22 cf. Heb.8:1, 2).  But God is going to peel back the curtain of the heavens “as a scroll” (Rev. 6:13-16) and they’ll see the Son looking slain (5:6), i.e., still bearing the wounds of Calvary.  Knowing that men like themselves gave Him those wounds, they’ll fear His wrath. That explains how they’ll see Him “sitting” and then “coming” (Mt. 26:64) instead of coming and then sitting in the kingdom.

People also think Matthew 24 is about the Rapture because people will be gathered with a trump (24:31 cf. I Thes. 4:16, 17). But God only uses angels with Israel (cf. Gal. 3:19). And right before angels gather saved Jews into the kingdom He’ll use them to weed out the tares of the unsaved (Mt. 13:38).

Knowing that the fig tree (Mt. 24:32, 33) is a symbol of Israel (Hos. 9:10), prophecy preachers got excited when the nations of the world created what is now known as the nation of Israel in 1948.  Some added the “generation” (Mt. 24:34) of 33 years to 1948 and predicted the Rapture would come in 1981.  But national Israel is represented by the olive tree (Ps. 80:8).  The fig tree represents religious Israel.  Adam used fig leaves to cover his sin, and covering your sin is the very definition of religion.  Antichrist will rebuild Israel’s temple and give them back their sacrifice system, something the Lord cursed (Mt. 21:18).  That’s the sign of the fig tree that will signal the Lord’s coming and the end of the world.

Don’t you love it when prophecy preachers try to determine the day of the Rapture from a passage that says you can’t know it (Mt. 24:35, 36)! Those that claim they know when He will return claim to know more than the Lord (Mark. 13:32)!

Video of this sermon is also available on YouTube: The Shortest Days in the History of the World – Matthew 24:22-35

One of the Greatest Prophecies in the Bible – Matthew 24:1-21

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

The 12 were overly impressed with the temple (24:1) even though Christ called it a den of thieves earlier and had just stormed out of it (23:37-39).  So the Lord told them it’d have to come down stone by stone (24:2).  The only buildings torn down like that had leprosy (Lev. 14:44), a type of sin.  When the Lord left the temple and went to the Mount of Olives (24:3), that should have reminded Jews of how the glory of the Lord did the same thing in Ezekiel 10:18.

The end of the world the 12 asked about (Mt. 24:3) began 2,000 years ago (Heb. 9:26), but was interrupted by the dispensation of the mystery (Eph. 3:1-3).

Daniel said the “everlasting righteousness” of the kingdom would come after 70 weeks (Dn. 9:24) of years (cf. Gen. 29:29) when the Lord returns to establish it.  You see, He meant the end of the world as we know it, the end of man being in charge of the world and Christ being in charge of it in the kingdom.  It was supposed to start after Christ came 69 weeks later (Dn. 9:25), but didn’t.  Daniel said that 70th week would be horrendous (9:25-27).  We know Matthew 24 is all about that week for the 12 asked about the end of the world.

It will start with “many” a false christ persuading unsaved Jews who rejected Jesus that they are the messiah Israel’s been looking for (24:5).  There’s always been wars and rumors of wars (24:6) so the Lord added there’d be “pestilences” (24:7).  That word means sicknesses (I Ki. 8:37), specifically epidemic sicknesses.  This has many thinking Covid-19 is a sign of the end.  Many are also quoting Leviticus 26:14,25 to say God is judging us for our sins, but we’re not under the law of Leviticus 26 (Rom. 6:15)!  When God starts sending pestilences a third of Israel will die (Eze. 5:12).

Others are quoting Psalm 91:3-8 to say God will spare Christians of pestilence even though He’s not!  Nothing but disillusionment and shattered faith can come from claiming promises that God made to Israel if they obeyed Him.

When a third of a nation dies the world will think the end is near, but the Lord said that’s just “the beginning of sorrows” (24:8).  The believers whom He said would be killed (24:9) are the 12 apostles, not us.  He expected them to live to see all this (24:34; Mt. 16:28), but the mystery interrupted things.

That didn’t make Him a false prophet, for Hezekiah said something that didn’t come true (Isa. 38:1-5).  But God told David if his sons were good that one would always sit on the throne (I Ki. 2:4). Hezekiah reminded God if he died childless that wouldn’t come true!  So God knew all along Hezekiah would live despite what His prophet said, and He knew all along that generation would die and not see these things in Matthew 24, even though the Lord said they wouldn’t.

In the Tribulation, believing Jews will be “betrayed” by unsaved Jews (24:10) of their own families (Mark 1:13-15).  It’s a cold day when even your wife might sell you out to the Antichrist (Micah 7:5,6), so the Lord said “the love of many shall wax cold” (Mt. 24:11,12).  But they’ll have to endure till the end of the Tribulation without selling out to the beast if they want to be saved (24:13).

After the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world the end of the world will come (24:14).  That gospel isn’t “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3,4).  The 12 preached the kingdom gospel and didn’t know He’d die (Lu. 9:1,2; 18:31-34).  The kingdom gospel was the good news He was their king and ready to give them their kingdom (Mark 1:14,15).

We know Matthew 24:15,16 is halfway through Daniel’s 70th week because it sounds like Daniel 9:27.  The over-spreading of desolations has to do with the cherubim that overspread the mercy seat (Ex. 37:9).  Antichrist will cause the sacrifices he reinstated to “cease” by dying and rising (Rev. 13:1-3) and claiming to be their fulfillment.  The mercy seat will become “desolate” when Antichrist sits on it (II Ths. 2:7,8) because “desolate” means empty of inhabitants (Jer. 33:10) and God is supposed to inhabit the mercy seat (Ps. 99:1).

Tribulation Jews will have to move fast to escape the beast (24:17-29) and break the sabbath (v. 20). Worrying about that is more proof this isn’t about us who are not under the law!

Video of this sermon is also available on YouTube: One of the Greatest Prophecies in the Bible – Matthew 24:1-21