Apostles Creed |

Intro

Hey Y’all, how are y’all? Good good,

this is our last Wednesday Night of 2023, been a wild year.

Who is ready for break? I am.

Looking forward to break!

So anyways,

Who likes movies?

what’s your favorite movie?

Cool, I don’t get to watch many movies here lately, it’s mainly Winnie the Pooh or Mickey Mouse, cause P is pretty adamant that we watch one of those.

But I used to watch a good bit of movies.

One of the most interesting classes I took in college was intro to film, it was an elective, just a cool class that gave me an appreciation for movies and how they are made, and for the art form that is a film.

But anyways, when I was in high school, bout y’alls age the most popular setting or idea behind a movie was post-apocalyptic.

Civilization had collapsed, and this is the story of what is left.

Most movies before that were, the world is about to end, let’s save it or here is how we make the world good again.

But in the post apocalyptic genre, everything was bad.

And it was set up like nothing could have been done, now it is just about survival.

like the hunger games is post apocalyptic. Walking dead is PA. all the zombie movies are PA.

Just kinda became a big thing.

but have you ever wondered like, how is the world going to end? Or is the world going to end? What would a post apocalyptic world look like?

What does the bible say about the end of all things?

So that is where we are going to be tonight. Looking at the end of all things.

Looking at how the world might end, and then continue being made new and whole.

So, this is our last time in the apostles creed. We have gone through the whole thing, thought by thought, looking at what it means.

and what is cool is the whole things builds on itself.

so just to recap, you have God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Jesus victory the church, what is the purpose of the church.

All of that, but at the end, you need a purpose.

What is all of the AC building towards?

So here we are the last line of the AC.

which reads

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

So what is this dealing with?

It’s the last things.

In theology we call this Eschatology, which means the study of the last things.

Looking at how is God’s plan going to be fully worked out, and how is our world going to end.

and so this is what the last line deals with.

the last things.

Three parts to it, forgiveness of sins, pretty simple, we can understand that. Life everlasting, we have an idea of that, what people call heaven.

but the middle line there, resurrection of the body, that kinda throws us.

I think for some of us when we think of heaven or what happens after we die, we think of being a spirit, or we think of becoming an angel.

but neither one of those is really it.

We def don’t become an angel, scripture is clear that man and angels are different beings.

So we are going to look at all of these things, because they are talking about the same thing.

The end of all things.

Context

So let’s get in to it.

Tonight we are going to manly be in Revelation 20:4-6, we are gonna look at some other parts in revelation, but this is gonna be where we start, so if you have a bible great, if not, throw a hand up, who needs a bible?

Okay cool.

Let’s read this together, and then unpack what is going on.

but be fore we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word.

pray

Okay cool, let read this together.

Revelation 20:4–6 ESV

4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Okay, so before we get really in to it, let me make a disclaimer, this is not going to be an extensive sermon on all the stuff in the book of revelation.

Just know that up front, there are some weird things about 1000 years, and reigning and stuff.

but this is what I want us to see here, is this is a picture of things to come.

This is a picture of events that have not yet happened. But are going to happen.

So Revelation is not all future focused, what it is is a view of history and the future. It’s the whole cosmic view of all things that have happened and are going to happen and this is the place in the text is a picture of some of the last things.

A cosmic view of the end of all things that we know and the beginning of a new place we do not know.

So don’t focus on all the wild stuff, just focus on the picture being painted.

This picture of resurrection.

Resurrection of all.

So what do we see here?

We see thrones and Judges, but also we see people who were killed for the gospel rise from the dead.

They are ruling and reigning and judging with Christ.

And it says, this is the first resurrection.

So if this is the first resurrection then that implies a second resurrection.

So if we skip on down in the text just a bit we will see the second resurrection. look at verse 13

Revelation 20:13 ESV

13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Okay so for our purposes here tonight, what does this tell us?

Who all is going to be resurrected?

Everyone, everyone who has died is going to be resurrected.

And why is that important?

Because there is more to our being than just the here and now, this means there is more to our existence than just this life.

That when we die, it isn’t all over, there is something after this life.

See the culture that we live in would have you believe two big lies,

either, the first one, that all there is in this world is just this life. That when your heart stops beating, it is all over.

Or they would have you believe that what ever you do in this life doesn’t matter and that you just magically go to a good place.

Both of those are not it, look at what scripture is saying.

The dead are judged, those not in the book of life, are cast out.

So how do you get in to the kingdom? Your name has to be in the book of life, and how do you get your name there?

Christ.

What we talked about a few weeks ago, Christ in your place. Are you a follower of Christ.

So last night at the Parade, we were set up right in front of the chapel, giving out hot chocolate.

But people asked can they use the bathroom. and basically, if I knew who you were, i told you to stealthely go on, but if i didn’t know you, you didn’t get to go in.

on a much deeper level, this is how it works with Christ, do you know him and does He know you.

Are you a follower?

That’s the criteria, it’s not how good you were, it’s not how often did you sing in the choir, how many times did you go to Fuge camps, no, it’s do you know Jesus. Does he know you?

Forgiveness of Sin/Judgment - all things redeemed.

But let’s talk about this too, this scripture clearly says there will be judgment on what we have done.

SO what does resurrection and forgiveness of sins have to do with resurrection?

It means that only in Christ is forgiveness of sins found.

Everything is going to be judged, but the payment for those in Christ has already been paid.

Forgiveness of sins and the last judgment is the redemption of all things.

Every right will be wronged and injustice will be brought to justice. all things made new.

Life made new.

Life everlasting - undying hope. betty jo Bowden

So before we finish with the creed, I want to answer a question.

what is this creed for?

for the last 7 weeks we have been going through the creed, going through a close to 2000 year old list of beliefs.

and one thing I want to make clear is that it is not scripture. It is not the inspired words of God.

But what it does is guide us to scripture, guides us to the Lord.

So think about this, 2000 years ago we did not have a bible like we did today, the bible had not fully been compiled in to what we have, the bible was the Old Testament Scriptures and then the letters from the apostles.

So how did the early church transmit belief? How did they tell people what they believed? how did they communicate belief?

How did the faith get passed along.

Through creeds.

Creeds were a way for people to quickly remember what they believed. You didn’t have the internet, didn’t have books like we have. So what did you do? How did you learn? You learned through creeds.

You could memorize this, everyone would confess the creeds together like how have been doing and are going to do in a few mins.

creeds were like a storage device for what you believed.

And it ends with “and the life everlasting. Amen.”

and so not only was it a way to pass the belief on, it is a way to retain the hope that we have in the Gospel.

I believe in the ressureaction, the forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting.

That this world is not all there is, that things will be made right, that we will have life everlasting, life undying.

This is the hope of the gospel. This is the hope we have in Christ.

So this past week, one of our church members died, most of y’all probably don’t know her, she was pretty up there in age, Mrs. Betty Jo Bowden. Mrs. Nancy’s mom. who y’all also probs don’t know. That’s okay.

But we had her funeral here last Thursday over in the sanctuary.

and one of the things that is good to see at funerals is a clear message that we are gonna see the dead again. Cause there are two sorts of funeral. Happy Funerals, and agonizing funerals. Funerals that have hope and funerals that have no hope.

In my line of work I have been to a good amount of funerals. Seen both. Thankfully I have not had to do a funeral though. Cause the only way a Student Pastor gets to do a funeral is if a student passes, and we do not want that.

But I’ve seen them both.

And for the christian, for the followers of Jesus, we will be sad a funerals, but we will not grieve without hope. We will be sad, but funerals are never goodbye, but see you later. Those funerals are the one where we get to celebrate the life and look forward to the reunion.

That is the hope. Mrs. Betty Jo’s funeral was one where we celebrated the life well lived and got to look towards the reunion.

This is the hope, this is the unkillable hope we have as followers of Jesus.

That this broken world is not all there is and that we will see it redeemed and restored and not even death can take that from us.

The end of revelation gives us this picture.

P2Christ - He will dwell among us.

Revelation 21:1–7 ESV

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

This is the hope we have, if you are a follower of Christ, this is what awaits us. The family is walking in to the kingdom together.

But you can only have this if you know jesus, if you are a follower. So what we are going to do is, in just a second I’m gonna pray, we are gonna confess and sing, but while we are doing that, answer the question do you know him?

The second death awaits, there is no hope at your funeral. Do you know Jesus.

We look forward to the day, when He makes all things new.

I believe in the resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, the life ever lasting.

Pray with me.