Why Do Christians Still Get Sick and Die?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, once again, it's good to have everybody back, and we're going to go right into this second session, following up in Ephesians 1, verse 14. I guess Roy's got it on the board, and again, we'd like to welcome our television audience from wherever you are, and we appreciate so much your letters, your phone calls, and your words of encouragement, and your prayers, I guess, more than anything. My, what a joy it is when someone says, I pray for you three times a day or every night. So we do, we covet your prayers, and of course, we have to have your financial help, because a lot of people don't realize we have to pay for television time, and it takes money, but whatever, you do that between yourself and the Lord. Now again, we always like to remind our folks that we do have all the past programs available, either in video, or the printed page, the little booklets, or now we're making available audio as well. So if you're interested in any of that, you call us, and we'll send you a list out showing the table of contents. I think that's all of our announcements for now, and we'll just get right back in to where we left off a moment ago, and that's in Ephesians chapter 1, and we're still in verse 14. But let's go back again, and so we pick up where we're coming from. Verse 13, "...in whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation," which remember we showed was that Christ died, He was buried, and He rose from the dead, and then in whom, speaking of Christ, "...also after ye believed, ye were sealed," or given that mark of ownership, "...which is the Holy Spirit of promise." In other words, the moment a man or woman believes, God's Spirit enters that individual and becomes then the very mark of ownership, as well as the source of power for living. Now again, a lot of times when I make the point, we're not under Law, we're under grace, we're under no demands to keep the commandments, then people say, well what are you? Just sort of set loose and set free? No, here's the difference. We now have the Holy Spirit comes in, and He becomes our rudder, if you want to use that as an example. He becomes what the Law was before, and so it doesn't give us freedom to steal and covet and all these other things that the Ten Commandments dealt with, because the Holy Spirit Himself takes care of that. I think you've heard me say it, you've heard others say it, that the moment we're saved, our want to is changed. Our whole design on life is changed, and this of course is what the world around us cannot understand. All right, now then coming in to verse 14, the Holy Spirit of promise then of verse 13, is the earnest, or the down payment. Now the word earnest here means exactly as we use it today in a transaction, we put down earnest money. In other words, we put enough down to guarantee that neither party is going to back out. And so that's what the Lord has done here with the Holy Spirit, He has declared us as His, and to make sure that neither one of us will ever back out, He has given us the mark and the power of the Holy Spirit, which is the down payment on that inheritance which we looked at in our last program, until, now you've heard me teach often, what kind of a word is that? Well it's a time word. So there's going to come a point in time when the Holy Spirit's indwelling us will no longer be necessary. And when will that be? When we come into His presence. In fact, now this is something I didn't intend to do, but now it just flew into my mind, and maybe we better look at it, because I've had several letters in just the last couple days asking on this very thing in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now this is a long ways from Ephesians, the thought processes anyway, but we're having so many questions about this verse that it came to mind, I'm going to answer it. The moment we're saved, as we saw in our last program, the Holy Spirit comes in, indwells us, becomes our mark of ownership, and He will remain with us until we either leave this life or are taken out in the rapture. Now 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 of course is referring to that point in time when those who are alive and remain will be raptured, or caught up is the word in 1 Thessalonians 4, to meet the Lord in the air. Now then, the big question that keeps coming up all the time is verse 6. And now you know, "...who withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time, for the mystery or the secret of iniquity doth already work, only he," now I'm emphasizing the word, "...until he be taken out of the way." So the question always is, well who's the He? And some think it's the Church, and some think it's the Holy Spirit, well it's both. Now let's look at it. Verse 6, "...you know who withholdeth," or is a dam in the river of iniquity, if I may put it that way, "...until he be taken out of the way." Well now, the Holy Spirit has always been the omnipresent Person of the Godhead, hasn't He? Way back in Genesis 1 verse 1, "...and in creation the Spirit moved upon the face of the water." So He was always there, all up through the Old Testament, even though there's not a lot written about the Holy Spirit, it's evident that He was there. And then of course in Christ's earthly ministry, nothing is said about Him until He breathes on the 12 or on the 11, and He says, "...receive ye the Holy Spirit." And then He promised Him in John 14 that when He ascended, the Holy Spirit would descend. But we don't get that concept of the indwelling Holy Spirit until we get to Paul. Then Paul makes it so plain, as we just saw in Ephesians, that at the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit literally comes in and dwells within us. And He still is remaining as the omnipresent Spirit of God. Because listen, no lost person can ever come to a knowledge of salvation without the work of the Holy Spirit. Well now you know there can't always be a Christian every time that someone is ready to be saved. So the Holy Spirit, even though He is indwelling us, is still omnipresent around the earth. Now then at this point in time, the until is when the body of Christ, the living saints are taken up, then the Holy Spirit's role of indwelling them ends, because it's no longer necessary. We're now in the presence of the Son anyway. So what happens to the Holy Spirit? He remains on the earth as the omnipresent Spirit of God, because you want to remember the 144,000 young Jews are still going to be proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and that too will need the power of the Holy Spirit. So now if you'll look at this verse with me a little more carefully now, verse 6. You know who withholdeth that He might be revealed in time. It's the power of the Holy Spirit that is holding back the forces of iniquity through the presence of believers. Now just stop and think. What if all of a sudden the Christians were totally removed from the scene? Nobody to oppose the wickedness. Nobody to oppose the breakdown in society. What can you imagine what it would be like? So it's the Christian influence that still keeps a semblance of sanity on the world. And so we are a withholding power because of the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Now then when you come down to verse 7, he who now hindereth will hinder, working through the believers, until he be taken out of the way. In other words, when we go up, then the restraining power of the Holy Spirit ends, and we go on into the presence of the Lord, no longer needing the indwelling Spirit, and then He remains as the omnipresent Spirit of God on the earth, even during the tribulation. Has to be, or the 144,000 would never be able to win the multitudes that we know they're going to. Now I hope that clarifies. I hope that answers some questions from our people out in television. That yes, you and I as indwelt believers are the restrainer with the Spirit's power. But when we're taken out, the Holy Spirit can withdraw from us because we're now in His presence, but He remains on the earth to fulfill the work of the Spirit during those seven years. Now that's all free for nothing. Now you come back to Ephesians chapter 1 a moment. So the Spirit is the down pyramid of inheritance, we covered that in the last half hour, until that moment in time when the redemption of the purchased possession, under the praise of His glory. Now what's going to happen the moment Christ returns and meets us in the air, and we suddenly have a new body? Well it's a redeemed body. It's this old body that Christ paid the price for, but it's going to be changed and be now a glorified body like His resurrected body. Now come back with me, or head with me rather, to Philippians. Just go to the right a few pages to Philippians chapter 3. And this is all part of the redemption process. Now while you're looking, I hope you can still listen to me and think. At salvation, this body of flesh was not redeemed. Now that may shock a few people, but this old body of flesh as a believer is just as prone to sickness and disease and injury as it ever was. Christians get sick, Christians die, I mean a lot of people think you should be able to heal them and they'd live forever. That would fly in the face of everything in this Book. Everybody except for the rapture is going to have to die. So something has to cause it. But we are redeemed in the area of the soul and spirit the moment we're saved. That has been purchased, and it belongs to God, and of course the Holy Spirit is the down payment of that. But the body will not be redeemed, the body will not lose that proneness to sickness and pain and death and so forth, until we get the new one. Then of course all those things will be in the past. Now come back to Philippians chapter 3, dropping down to verse 20 and 21, verses we've looked at several times on the program in the past. For our conversation, or citizenship is a better word, our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, Christ will, change our vile, or this body of corruption, this body of flesh, He will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned, or made like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. In other words, it's going to be no problem for God to suddenly give us a brand new, resurrected, glorified body like His was after His resurrection. Now let's go even and see what John says about it, way back in his little letters. Go clear back, and you may want to just go back to Revelation and then come to the left and come through Jude, and then there's your little letters of John. First John chapter 3, and these things are all so plainly put. I mean, this isn't gobbledygook, this is just plain language. First John chapter 3, we might as well start with verse 1. Now that should get your attention, shouldn't it? Verse 1, "...Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons, or the children, or alike, born ones of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." Now here it comes, "...beloved now," that is in this life on earth, we are the children of God. Now remember, he too is writing to believers, not writing to the lost world. So as a believer we are the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. In other words, there are a lot of things out there that we don't understand, but we know. Now I like that word, we know. We aren't guessing, we aren't thinking or hoping, we know that when He shall appear, in other words, when we meet Him in the clouds of the air, we shall see Him, or we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Now what does that say? We're going to have the same kind of a body that He left from the Mount of Olives with. The same kind of a resurrected, glorified body. Now then, come all the way back to Romans chapter 8, and this backs up what I've just said. At salvation of course, we were redeemed in the soul and the spirit, that's settled. In the realm of the invisible, yes, we are redeemed, we've already been bought, we already belong to Him, we're already settled in the heavenlies, but in the realm of the invisible, this old body is still here. We're still putting up against all the things of this life. But at the final redemption, when the body is redeemed, then of course we're fit for eternity, and we'll look at another verse at that if I think of it when we're through here in Romans in a moment. But Romans chapter 8, dropping down to verse 18. These are just too good to miss. Verse 18, "...for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us." Now of course, the Apostle Paul knew what it was to suffer, probably like no other human being other than Christ Himself. He suffered, and he suffered, and he suffered some more for the sake of the Gospel. And so he could say with a clear conscience that it was nothing compared to the glory that's coming. Next verse, "...for the earnest, again for the sincere, downright expectation of the creation, is waiting for the manifestation of the children of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, that is, the curse, not willingly." In other words, creation didn't fall, Adam did. So creation fell with him, "...but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope." Now always remember that when you read verses like this, flash back. How soon after the fall did God already announce the remedy for the curse? Well the next verse almost. In Genesis chapter 3 we have the fall, but in Genesis 3 verse 15 we have the promise of the Redeemer, immediately. Just as soon as Adam fell, the curse fell, God came right back with a promise of a remedy, the Redeemer, the seed of the woman which would come. Now that's what Paul is talking about here. So he's subjected the same in hope by virtue of the Redeemer. Verse 21, "...because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption." Yes it's going to be delivered from the curse. One day the planet is going to be free of the curse, it's all going to revert back as it was in the Garden of Eden, and all you have to do, especially you animal lovers, just read Isaiah 11, oh it just thrills my heart. I'm not going to see the animals I've had down here, but there are going to be new ones, and they're going to be just as easy to love as these were. So just read Isaiah 11 if you ever have any doubts about that. So verse 21, "...the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain, under the curse of course, and not only they, but ourselves, even we as believers, we who have the first fruit of the Spirit." Now that's the same thing as you have in that word earnest in Ephesians that we're looking at, the earnest payment. We have the first fruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan with ourselves waiting for the adoption, or that tremendous positioning event that's going to take place, that is to say the redemption of our soul. No, that's not what it says. The redemption of our spirit, that's not what it says. The redemption of our what? Our body. See? The body. Now, I did happen to remember, turn back with me to Thessalonians. We're going to kind of wear out our Bible today. First Thessalonians chapter 5, and we'll drop down to verse 23. First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23, and the very God of peace sanctify or set you apart completely, holy, and I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, does any part of Scripture recognize a human being that is not in all three parts? No. We are never a valid entity without all three of them together. That's why when a person dies, he becomes useless, because the three have been interrupted. The two go on up into glory, of course. The soul and spirit go into the presence of the Lord. Where's the body? In the grave. Useless. But as resurrection, that new body comes out of the grave, is reunited with the soul and spirit, and so once again, what are we? A complete entity. It's the best word I can use. We are now a complete person. We will be body, soul, and spirit, but it's going to be a new glorified body like the Lord Jesus Christ's body of His post resurrection. You know I'm always telling you, if you want to know what it's going to be like to have a new body, just read about the Lord in those 40 days after His resurrection, and until His ascension. He didn't look like anybody else. He didn't look like some weirdo from outer space, and He walked with them, He talked with them, He ate fish with them on the shores of Galilee, and as He stood on the Mount of Olives, they were standing there conversing with Him, and unbeknown to the eleven of what was going to happen, He suddenly took off, and they watched Him go. Well they didn't watch some ghost or some spirit, they watched Him go bodily. Now then, turn over to Colossians, that would be back a little ways from Thessalonians, but turn to Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2, I'm just debating whether to read verse 8 or not. I think I will. Colossians chapter 2, and let's start at verse 8. Colossians 2, verse 8, verse 8, Colossians 2, beware, in other words be on guard, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Why? Because in Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily, bodily. In other words, when He left and went into glory, He went into glory in that resurrected body, and they saw Him go. When He returns, Zachariah says, and His feet shall stand on that same Mount of Olives. Now ghosts don't have feet, an invisible spirit wouldn't have feet, but He has been up there now for 2,000 years in that resurrected body as the member of the Godhead, and He's going to return bodily, and we're going to be like Him, we're going to see Him, John says, as He is, and that's what we're going to be like. And so if you ever wonder, well am I going to float around in some ethereal, invisible state? Heavens no! And we're all going to recognize each other. Now I don't know how, I don't think we're all going to look like we do now, but we're going to know each other, I'm sure of that, and it's going to be a full knowledge, a full understanding that we'll know every believer that's up there, by name. It's not going to be thrown into a crowd of unknowns. It's going to be a glorious experience, but the whole concept is that when we now come back to Ephesians, and our time is just about gone, so coming back to verse 14, and close this half hour, the Holy Spirit now then, the Pneuma, becomes the earnest, which now is the Pneuma Hagion, and I guess one way I should put it, the Pneuma is the giver. It's the Pneuma that always imparts the Hagion, or the power from on high. Maybe that'll help. This is the gift. This is the giver, and I like that concept, and we always have to keep those sorted out. When the Scripture talks about the Holy Spirit, is it the indwelling person? Then it's the giver. If it's talking about something that is the power of the Holy Spirit, then it's the gift. And you can always tell it in the text. Now here is a good example. Verse 13. Ephesians 4. Now then, when He becomes the down payment of our inheritance, that's a gift. I mean that's something we don't deserve. See that? And so here we have the difference, that now the gift of the Holy Spirit is that we are His, and that He will hold us until the redemption of our body, or the purchased possession as He puts it here, and all of it is for what purpose? For His praise and glory. Remember what I said earlier? The chief end of man is what? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Not just for a few years on earth, but for all eternity. And so this is all because of this giving of the Holy Spirit to promote our redemption, to guarantee it, and so always remember that when we are suddenly ushered into the presence of the Lord at His coming, then the Holy Spirit is no longer necessary. He's accomplished His work, and He leaves off indwelling, because now we're in God's presence. And oh, just remember this, that until that time, yes, we are indwelt by the Person of the Godhead we call the Holy Spirit, and He is the One that imparts the pnuma hegion, the power from on high, and it's that power from on high that helps us to carry out all the work of God on this earthly sojourn. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.