LBCF Chapter 31-32 explained

Okay, so we come now to the next to the last Chapter chapter 31 the state of man after death and of the resurrection of the dead. Okay first paragraph. The bodies of men after death returned to dust and see corruption.

But their souls which neither dine or sleep having an immortal subsistence. Immediately returned to God who gave them the souls of the righteous. Being then made perfect and holiness are received into paradise where they are with Christ and behold the face of God in light and glory.

Waiting for the full redemption of their bodies and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell where they remain in torment. Not a darkness reserved to the judgment of the great day. Besides these two places for souls separated from the bodies the scripture acknowledges none.

The Intermediate State After Death

Okay, would you just close that that door just so that sometimes people? Come in and you don't want to disturb that. All right, very simple. Everybody's gonna die. That's what it says. Everybody's gonna die.

And if you're a believer in Christ your body goes into the ground it becomes dust again and. But your soul is immediately received into the paradise of God. And of course, we know that because remember when the thief was on the cross.

And he says remember me when you come into your kingdom and Jesus said today you'll be with me in paradise. So and with the wicked the souls Go into hell and where they remain waiting for the final judgment.

So this is what we often call the temporary state, you know the intermediate state. It's not the final state because God hasn't they haven't everybody hasn't been finally judged. But this is what happens immediate any questions on that.

It's a parable it's not relating what it was actually gonna it's a parable and the the principle behind the parable is. Is that we need to understand when did we see Christ naked and that's what he explains is that we have to be doing these things.

Okay. Yeah, it's it's you have to be careful where where Jesus talks in parables not to take it literally. Taking things literally in that sense will more than likely lead you into error. Okay. Just like the parable of the vineyard owner when he he pays everybody the same amount.

But the point is they're working for their wage. Are they working for their salvation? It's beyond the scope of the parable. All right. So and that is a parable to say designed to show us. How do we obey the commands of Christ?

All right, and Again, the one of the big points of that parable is the union we have in Christ. Whatever is done to us is done to Christ and whatever should have been done to us and isn't that is also The extent of the parable.

You didn't do this. You should have been doing this. Okay, then we move to paragraph two. At the last day such of the Saints are found alive shall not sleep but be changed. And all the dead shall be right raised up with the self same bodies and none other although along with different qualities.

Which shall be united again to their souls forever. That's in the last day. Obviously, that's. The dispensational churches attribute these these verses to what they would call a rapture. It happened sometime prior to the last day.

But the scripture is clear and what our confession says is that this is the last day this is when Christ returned all right, and We'll get into a little bit more of the Eschatological significance but notice we are raised with the self same bodies.

The bodies are going to the grave are the ones that come out of the grave. A lot of people ask. Well, what about you know, those Saints who died, you know thousands of years ago. Yes, God has the ability to just recreate their bodies, you know and raise them even though they were rotted and decayed.

All right, but that's what the scripture teaches just like Christ came out of the tomb with the self same body. So we will come out with the same same bodies although different and We don't know exactly what the difference is.

All right, because remember when Christ was was raised he actually ate and drank, you know. So is there food in heaven? Just think you never get a bad meal. The cook is always perfect, you know. All right notice also that it's the well this one doesn't say it but The wicked will also have the resurrected bodies.

But not in the same way that we will paragraph three. The bodies are the unjust shouted by the power of Christ be raised to dishonor. The bodies are the just by his spirit unto honor and made comfortable conformable to his own glorious body.

We've seen we will see Christ and as we see him, that's how we will be. No more aches. No more pains. You know just absolutely glorious bodies. Okay. Questions that's the what we would call the intermediate state the state of man after death and of the resurrection from the dead.

We haven't talked about judgment yet. That's an in the last chapter. Any questions here? No, we just pause this for a second. Okay, so we come now to the last chapter of the confession there we go of the last judgment, okay.

The Final Resurrection of the Body

Paragraph 1 of chapter 32. God has appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness By Jesus Christ to whom all power judgment is given by the Father in which day not only the apostate angel shall be judged.

But likewise all persons that have lived upon the earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ To give an account of their thoughts words and deeds and to receive according to what they have done in the body whether good or evil.

Okay. It's judgment day. Obviously the scripture teaches this throughout The scriptures there's a lot of Sections up here are references, but it's actually taught throughout all of the scripture. There will be a day of reckoning perfect Righteousness perfect justice.

This is one of those chapters that should give the Christian cause for joy understanding that in this life quite often Christians Suffer injustices. All right, and often because of our faith. Okay. But in the end there will be perfect justice.

The The good news for us is that any Penalty that we owe has already been paid by Christ. So there's still perfect justice and I hope everybody realized that the fact that Our sins have not been excused.

All right, they were paid for. And they were paid for by Christ. Paragraph 2. The end of God's appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation Of the elect and of his justice in the eternal damnation of the reprobate who are wicked and disobedient.

For then shall the righteous go to everlasting life and receive the fullness of joy and glory with everlasting rewards in The presence of the Lord, but the wicked who know not God and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be cast aside into everlasting torments and Punishment with everlasting destruction for the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.

Okay any questions on that. Notice the difference between this in the intermediate state. Right now all those wicked who have died are in hell in spirit only. They don't have bodies on the last day. They their bodies will be raised and they will spend eternity body and soul Body and spirit for everlasting torment.

So their punishment will be that much more Horrified I Guess there's one word to use. Okay, and notice the elect is just the opposite then we will have our bodies resurrected and we will go into everlasting joy into a state of righteousness with rewards and We really have no idea what heaven is going to be like, okay questions.

The Day of Judgment and the Destiny of the Elect and the Reprobate

This is a doctrine that is coming under great attack even in the Conservative aspects of the church. A lot of people are moving away from this doctrine, but it's clearly taught in the scripture. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded That there shall be a day of judgment both to deter all men from sin and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity.

So will he have the day unknown to men that they may shake off all carnal security and always be watchful. Because they know not what hour the Lord will come and may ever be prepared to say come Lord.

Jesus come quickly. Amen. Alright now what I mean we Dropped the history of the church. There's always been date setters. Somebody's always trying to predict when Christ is going to return again. And I mean and I'm on it virtually every spectrum to and this is not just the dispensations that do this.

Remember just a few years ago. We had somebody who was very reformed Harold camping and he started predicting the end of the world. It's folly. It's foolishness. We can maybe at some point see the season or think that maybe we're coming because there are certain signs in Scripture that that we know we're going to happen for example.

According to Romans 11, there'll there'll be a great in gathering of ethnic Jews into the church, you know before Christ returns. So there's some things that you might be able to see but to try to set dates is just absolute foolishness and again the attitude we should all take is We should work in the kingdom for the advancement of kingdom as though Christ's not coming back for thousands of years.

But live your life in holiness as though he was coming back tonight. If you can get that kind of a blend that kind of a mix because we need to make long-term plans. Okay, one of the dispensational pastors.

He made a statement of They didn't do anything they didn't even plan long term in his church and his attitude was why polish brass on a sinking ship. You know, no, we have no idea. Well, that was the other thing.

He thought the ship was sinking. All right, whereas we know according to Scripture that the kingdom of God is going to be successful the gates of hell cannot stand against the Church of Jesus Christ and so we should be working and doing it be in all due diligence to advance the kingdom.

And living in holiness as though Christ was going to come make sense. Okay.