Rev. Jusak Widjaja Hendra - GPTKK, Malang
Matthew 24:3-44 is about 7 signs of the second coming of God.
The fourth sign.
Matthew 24:15
24:15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever
reads, let him understand),
We will learn who antichrist is.
1 John 2:18-19
2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
Antichrists go out from Christian, because they do not really belonging to
Christian.
The first example is Judas. He was a God’s servant, and he hold ministry.
Why do we have to be priests and kings? Why do we have to hold ministry?
Revelation 20:6
20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
It is because the person who is allowed to enter paradise (Firdaus) or a thousand years peaceful kingdom is priest and king. Likewise, only priests and kings may dwell in the kingdom of heaven.
Revelation 22:3-5
22:3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
22:4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
22:5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
The watchful thing for us is Judas has already hold ministry, but he did not really doing his ministry, such that he became antichrist.
The second example is the disciples.
Acts 20:28-30
20:28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
20:29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
20:30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
It denotes that a lot of God’s servants will go out from shepherding (body of Christ) and become antichrist because they do not really doing their ministry.
Acts 20:31
20:31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
The term ‘not really doing’ means not being watchful, being lax frequently.
Jeremiah 48:10
48:10 Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.
There are 2 laxities in shepherding:
- Laxity in ceremony and service to the Lord
If knowingly we want to get a reason not to do the ceremony and service, actually Satan has already prepared a basket of reasons.
Matthew 25:25-26, 30
25:25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
25:26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.
25:30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Laxity in ceremony and service equals to wickedness and laziness, being unprofitable. It will destruct the body of Christ instead.
Proverbs 18:9
18:9 He who is slothful in his work Is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.
The consequence is being in curse, thrown into the darkness until destruction.
God does not look for great or smart people in service, but God looks for faithful person.
Proverbs 20:6-7
20:6 Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?
20:7 The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.
Before the coming of antichrist, God is looking for a faithful and true person to be used in white horse revival, the building of the perfect body of Christ. The perfect body of Christ is God’s bride who will be removed from antichrist.
Revelation 19:11
19:11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
If somebody is faithful and true in his ministry to the Lord, then there is a hope that he will also be faithful and true in his marriage, work, school, and in all other matters.
That kind of life will not be able to be touched or looked by antichrist. He will be removed far away from snake’s eyes. Maybe our lives have already faithless, but God still gives us the opportunity through the preaching of the word of God.
2 Timothy 2:12-13
2:12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Never misuse these verses. They do not mean that we could be faithless because God will remain faithful. These verses mean that if we were faithless, God will come with faithfulness through the preaching of the word of God to give us the opportunity such that we are being faithful and true, and then we will not be thrown away.
For example is Onesimus. He is a faithless God’s servant (running from his master, Philemon), and wicked (stealing).
But Paulus, God’s apostle, told Philemon to admit Onesimus back because his life has already transformed.
Philemon 1:10-12
1:10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,
1:11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.
1:12 I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
Actually we just have to be thrown away, but in order to replace us, Jesus as the cornerstone willed to be thrown away such that we (hard rock) who are faithless and wicked can be transformed and become faithful and true.
Likewise, we have to be brave to sacrifice everything (time, energy, mind, feeling, money, etc.) such that we are being faithful and true.
Abraham is an example, he willed to sacrifice his son for the sake of obedience to the Lord. - Laxity in purification [Jeremiah 48:10]
Purification is related to sword, i.e. purification is done by the working of the teaching word which is sharper than any two-edged sword.
Hebrews 4:12-13
4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
The teaching word purifies us into hidden things inside our heart and mind such that God’s presence and God’s power are obvious in our life, especially the transforming power to transform our life. If there are hidden things inside our heart and mind, then God’s presence will be hidden too, and we will never experience God’s power (helping power, transforming power).
In shepherding, we will be intensively purified by the shepherding word. The shepherding word is the teaching word trusted to a pastor, to be preached inside the church with faithfulness and repetition in order to purify (to grow, or to build the spiritual of) the church.
Acts 20:31-32
20:31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
20:32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
The shepherding word is a word of grace, means that this is a God’s gift to unworthy people. It cannot be learned everywhere except under God’s feet.
Therefore, we also have to accept the shepherding word with grace. It cannot be limited by cleverness, age, education, etc. Then, there will be positive manners, i.e. knowing assuredly and being able to understand the word of God, means that our minds have already been touched by the teaching word which is sharper than any two-edged sword.
Acts 2:36
2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
The purification is until our heart is troubled, punctured by the sword of word, until we are able to realize our sins, regret and confess them, and not continue to sin, such that we can be purified.
Judas has a dirty stomach because he was never being touched by the word of God, although it was Jesus himself, who is perfect, preached the word. But Judas did not accept it with grace, he even rejected it such that he was never being touched by the word of God. His stomach was dirty and ended in burst open, destruction.
If we have a positive manner, sins will lessen until there is no sin anymore. But, if we reject the word of God, sins will grow more and more until sometime burst open, and cannot be helped anymore.
There is a limitation time for the purification in shepherding, i.e. 3 years [Acts 20:31]. Three years denotes the limitation time for the work of teaching word in shepherding system to purify, grow, and build our spiritual until we are able to produce the fruit of repentance and purity, until the fruit of perfection.
Luke 13:6-7, 8-9
13:6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
13:7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’
13:8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.
13:9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”
Like a fig tree that has not produced any fruit yet for three years, even the starting fruit (the fruit of repentance) cannot be found. If our lives have not produced any fruit yet but we have not been cut down or punished, that’s because of the defence of the man who took care of the vineyard (the pastor). This is the importance of shepherding. The case will be different for a fig tree by the way side (not a shepherding life) which did not produce any fruit and it was directly cursed, withered and extinct.
The shepherding life can be helped through the intercession prayer of the pastor, which pulls God’s patient prolongation such that He will not punish the church although they haven’t produced any fruit yet. On the contrary, they will be given the opportunity to produce fruits, starting from the fruit of repentance, purity and perfection. That kind of life has a protection cover.
Hebrews 13:17
13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
The church has to submit to the pastor, not be a burden for him. If the church is disobedient, being a burden for the pastor, it equals to open the protection cover. Consequently, such life starts to shake (in marriage, economy, etc.). If that life does not repent, he will be cut off.
The purification starts from the root (which is hidden):- All kinds of evil root and impurity root
1 Timothy 6:10
6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The practice of the love of money are stinginess (cannot do give away to the others) and greediness (robs God’s ownership i.e. the tithe and the offering, robs the others’ ownership). Money will lead a person to impurity and eating drinking sin, that will wither until that life is not able to produce fruit (in economy, future, etc.). - Decaying root
Isaiah 5:24
5:24 Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
They reject the word of God such that they are not able to produce fruit. - Poisonous root
Deuteronomy 29:18
29:18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood;
It is because they turn away from God frequently such that they cannot be purified intensively.
- All kinds of evil root and impurity root
At this moment, God is not seeing our greatness or weakness in our service,
God is not seeing our burdens or problems we are facing; but He is concerning
the most important thing, i.e. our “earnest heart” in ceremony and
service to Him.
If there is the earnest heart, God has given His power to us. To have the earnest
heart, we must sacrifice.
2 Chronicles 16:9
16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”
The strong power of the Lord is for:
- redeeming us from the bonds of sin and giving us victories
Deuteronomy 4:37-38
4:37 And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power,
4:38 driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day.
Maybe there is any bond of sin that is difficult to be left, but He can help to redeem us and give victories. God’s power is bigger than the biggest problem we are facing. - giving treasures or blessings to care our daily lives until our
future
Deuteronomy 8:18
8:18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
These are for the building of the body of Christ’s activities. - strengthening our heart such that we do not fall or being stumbled,
but we are still able to follow Him until we become perfect at His second
coming.
1 Thessalonians 3:13
3:13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.
Let us promise to be earnest, and sacrifice everything for the ceremony and service to the Lord.
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