Peter Herbeck - Settling the Death Question

[Music] hello friends this is peter herbeck i hope you're at peace in christ i want to talk today uh about settling the death issue it's a kind of strange title but i think it's very important i mean all of us know we're in a we're living through a very unusual time and at the heart of the moment we're living through is a great spiritual battle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness we see the lord and we've talked about this many times on our youtube channel here is the lord shaking the nations out of hebrews chapter 12 right he's allowing what is shakeable to be shaken right before our eyes and in our actual experience things like what um health you know the whole covet battle has shown us all how fragile human life is and how quickly it can be taken from us and it's a battle against death it's in the so the fear of death rises in people and death has a power and the devil wields that power hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 says the devil's strategy is to enslave the human race through fear through the fear of death and so it's a spiritual power it's one that jesus has destroyed he's emptied it by shedding his light into it passing through death itself conquering it swallowing swallowing up death and victory and making it possible for human beings to no longer live in the fear of death but if you're not in the lord and even if you're baptized and you're not listening to the lord and walking with him and living in the power of the holy spirit believing his word for your life you're not going to draw the resources you need you know through abiding in him and walking with him to be able to confront the devil's strategies in this hour so many of the baptized are fearful are gripped in fear and anxiety in the same way that people who don't even know god are at this moment and things like our politics continue to shake a thing that we've leaned on for a long time and found security and safety our financial you know situation is is very unstable as well and so the things important things that people have leaned on are being shaken the lord's permitting it to happen because why because he wants his people first of all to be purified from that and what do i mean by that for us to come into a transformed way of thinking and living so that we can be free jesus made it clear that in this world we're going to have tribulations and he told us be of good cheer now that's impossible it's impossible in the flesh to be of good cheer in the face of persecution jesus worked hard to help the disciples understand and the apostles understand what it meant to follow him we know jesus the messiah is fulfilling old testament prophecy the prophets and the messiah is what he's isaiah 53 i keep thinking about it these days you know he was despised and rejected by men he was a man of sorrows and he was acquainted with much grief he was despised and rejected we're beginning to experience for the first time in our country open hostility toward the church believers are getting canceled for sharing their views on very important moral questions of the day and people are getting feeling freer and freer to act in hostile ways toward christians who are trying to stand up and bear witness to what they believe in and to live a particular way that's consistent with the lord in the commands of the lord but it's scaring a lot of people and i think one of the things the lord wants us to do and what purification can look like at this moment is for us to come to terms with where we're really at with what we're leaning on for our security for identity for our confidence and is the biblical worldview the teaching of jesus how deep is it in us anyway am i allowing the teaching of jesus to transform my life so for example jesus made it clear to all those who follow him that if we're living in him that we're going to experience the rejection from the world that he experienced here's a few passages john 15 verse 18. he said if the world hates you know that it has hated me before it has hated you matthew 10 22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake but the one who endures to the end will be saved there's all kinds of passages like this where jesus spoke to the apostles and said look the message i'm bringing the world can't swallow it it rejects it for example john 7 7 jesus clarified he said uh he said the world hates me because i testify about it that its works are evil jesus comes to tell the truth he's a faithful witness about who god is who we are and the true condition of living in a fallen world a world that john the apostle said is in the power of the devil so jesus came to reveal that and how human hearts connive with the spiritual forces in the world and in doing that whether they're conscious of it or not they're setting themselves against god and they're spiritually in a dangerous place and need to repent they're gripped in the powers of sin and death people don't want to hear that but that's the truth and jesus came to bear witness to the truth and it's love that moved him to bear witness to the truth but it's what ended up getting him killed and of course the devil bit his own tail by killing the wrong person he crucified the son of god he never should have done it as paul tells us the words the worst thing he could have done is shed the blood of the pure son of god because that's what brought down the kingdom of darkness but we can see how the the apostles had to go through a a period of transformation in their lives we go to holy thursday night jesus saying some of you are going to deny me what's going to be unfolding in the next few days is going to be dark but i know the devil has no hold on me and i'm doing what i'm doing because i want you to know that i obey the father and i obey the father because i love his commands and that's the way we're all called to live that's the road to real freedom that's what love looks like that's what being a faithful witness looks like and so he's having a conversation with peter for example you know peter's saying lord i get that these other guys are gonna walk away from you tonight that they're gonna deny you but i can guarantee you i will not i i will die for you lord and the lord said peter this very night you're gonna deny me three times and peter it just didn't compute because peter internalized the teaching jesus said he's like yes i'm with you but what happened what got revealed what was in peter's heart his fear of death his fear of being marginalized he followed jesus at a distance that night he beat he denied the lord three times and the real battle that's in his heart got revealed and he protected himself rather than standing with the lord but the lord knew he had to go through that ark he had to experience the truth about what was in him and he said peter you need a new power and a new capacity to be able to live differently than just because you're still under the power of the flesh and the domination of forces in this world and so we know what happened peter on the day of pentecost he became a transformed man in the power of the holy spirit and he began in the very places where he was afraid to stand up he went and he stood up and he declared the truth he bore witness to the truth about who christ was despite the fact that those same powers said look if you don't stop you're gonna pay a price and then peter had these beautiful lines he said look i understand where you're coming from but we can't stop knowing what we know we're going to bear witness to the truth you've got to do what you've got to do i've got to do what i've got to do and i'm going to obey the lord he wasn't afraid anymore and the threats that were set against him lost their power over his life why because he internalized the reality of what he saw jesus passed from death to life he saw the resurrected humanity of jesus he saw these the ascension of jesus to glory and he knew by the grace of the holy spirit that he had a new power and he didn't need to be afraid anymore he knew where his life is going so much so that you see in first peter now not only did he lift that ark and that transformation and he took away the sting of death the lord did and he took away the weight and the threats from the world peter wasn't worried about them anymore and so now in first peter he's talking to a church that he's shepherding communities that he's shepherding who are also now being oppressed by the political and spiritual forces of the time threatening them some of them are being martyred it's a very very difficult situation peter writes a letter to them beginning reminding them who they are you know they're born anew to a living hope to the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead to an inheritance which is imperishable undefiled and unfading peter's stressing and he's celebrating with them what they've internalized they know they're born anew that the kingdom of god now dwells in them jesus now lives in them and there's a power in them that's greater than death itself and that they have an inheritance a promise in that holy spirit that soon they will be home this is not their home and they can see that this is a battlefield and so peter celebrates them and he says on one hand he said he said you're living through so many trials but he's essentially saying i'm so proud of you because in the midst of those trials you are filled with unutterable and exalted joy joy in the midst of threats in the midst of martyrdom they're celebrating joy and they're not backing away from their witness they're not going out and looking for trouble friends but trouble's coming to them because the upheavals of the world around them trouble's coming toward us and as as we put in situ we get put in situations now where it's right for us to stand up many of us are drawing back and we're afraid and we can get offended at the lord like why does this have to happen to me why do i have to go through this we're used to comfortable christianity we're used to comfortable american life everybody likes me my life is comfortable i'm doing what i want to do and i'm enjoying it and my church thing is kind of fitted into my life but we haven't really come to terms with what it means to be converted to the lord and to follow in his footsteps and to anticipate jesus said the servant is not greater than the master what happened to the master is going to happen to the servant this world is now it's it's different we used to live in a world in america where a lot of people agreed with us and the cultural pressure was moving in a direction that caused people who disagreed to just kind of be quiet and let christians live freely well that's over now it's going to get more and more intense and christians i think are going to become the scapegoat for a lot of things and so we have to come to terms with why am i afraid why is being cancelled for me um like just a horrible horrible reality or being um maybe even physically threatened or maybe have to go to jail for one reason or another none of us want that it's totally understandable why we wouldn't want that but if it comes to us and we're in a place where we are called by the lord to stand we better be ready so that we don't back away out of fear to protect what the things that in which we find our security i don't want to be left alone i don't want to be marginalized i don't want to be hated i don't want to be mistreated i don't want to be reviled listen to jesus again matthew blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake and for theirs is the kingdom of heaven who goes to heaven who inherits the kingdom those who are persecuted for righteousness sake those who stand for what's right for the righteousness and the holiness of god and testify to the love of god and the reality of who god is he said blessed are you when you're reviled persecuted and people utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account jesus said it's coming and here's how i want you to respond he said i want you to rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great friends if we don't think much about heaven and we don't think much about our death these kinds of exhortations of jesus are going to go over us like water off a duck's back jesus is saying set your heart on things above understand life on earth is short this is a test this is a trial this is a battlefield this is warfare and his kingdom is being established and he's saying aren't you on the battle lines with me don't you understand what this is all about wake up this is why he has to shake us the church is weak the church is soft the church is laodicean go to the book of revelation chapter 2 and 3 if you don't know what laodicean means we're compromised we're worldly we're afraid of losing our security and jesus is saying i'm the only possible security so people like paul could say hey to me life is christ it's not life all over and then i add a little bit of christ to it the whole meaning of life the only reason i can have hope and confidence is christ and i know to be in christ means a ready to be united to him in his reign in glory and i know where my life is going i know right now heaven is already present in my life and the more i like him probably the more i'm gonna get rejected in the days ahead and friend so we need to bring it before the lord and confess our fear before him and ask him to give us that power the power of the holy spirit the apostles experienced to not be afraid of death and that is to not be afraid of the baby deaths the little deaths that we're going to have to face maybe canceling maybe being rejected by friends who we're always pressured to hide who we are right now it's foolish we're meant to we're meant to bear witness to the lord remember what jesus said he says some hard things if you're afraid of knowledge acknowledge me before men i will not acknowledge you before my father in heaven this is a time for us to be his witnesses he called us to love the father with all our heart soul mind and strength to love our neighbor as ourselves and to join jesus in the great commission to go make disciples of all nations and he wants us to keep in mind these are the central realities and the passions of a disciple this world wants to steal it jesus is allowing us right now to be purified friends so we can come to terms with it we can acknowledge it and ask him for his help because he certainly will give it and ask him to birth the fire of love in our hearts to bring the purifying fire the spirit to deal with my inordinate self-love and my desire for comfort and the fear of men and want to be loved and recognized by everybody but to try to love jesus on the one hand and not walk in his footsteps it doesn't work it doesn't work so whatever comes it's in his hands let's give the lord permission and let's be ready every day for the battle and live it out the way he's calling us to in the freedom of the sons and daughters of god god bless you friends [Music] you

Channel: Renewal Ministries

Views: 8,560

Rating: 4.9544716 out of 5

Keywords: Christianity, Jesus, Christ, Evangelism, Mission, Spirituality, Evangelization, Religion, Catholic, Church, God, Trinity

Id: ozBZg7YX5cw

Length: 16min 43sec (1003 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021