(Promise - 1 Peter 5:6–10) God never saves apart from judgment. When God judges, He judges man, nature, and angels (as part of nature). Angels are implicated in historic acts. Angelic capabilities. Angels and political leaders. The fall of Satan. The angelic conflict and the resurrected, ascended, and seated Jesus Christ. Questions and answers.

When God judges, He always saves, and when He saves, He always judges. There’s always the threat of judgment in the message of God’s grace. The doctrinal consequences of Christ’s ascension and session. Judgment/salvation. The criteria for God’s perfect discrimination. Imputation has powerful implications. The high purpose for recording history is to document God and man’s behavior. Nature is involved in judgment/salvation as it relates to Christ’s session. Angelic involvement in God’s control of nature and history. Questions and answers.

(Promise - Romans 8:28) Reasons for suffering. All Christian suffering has a rational and ethical justification, but that justification may remain at the Creator level (Job). Old Testament passages that New Testament authors used to explain the ascension and session of Christ. Democracy and paganism. Questions and answers.

(Promise - Romans 8:28) Resting in the fact that God has a perfect plan. Old Testament pictures of the ascension and session of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul identified Jesus Christ with YHWH God of the Old Testament. God views the political power structures of history, in a fallen world, as sub-human, animal-like. How the New Testament uses the “Son of Man” imagery. Looking above history. Questions and answers.

Faith rest (Romans 8:28). The pagan mind always attempts to remove personal responsibility before God. The physical ascension of Christ proves that Pentecost was not the second coming of Christ. The ascension and the three heavens. The ascension and session of Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist and Jesus Christ had the same message at the beginning of Christ’s ministry: “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” The Cross works out of Christ’s rejection as king. The first and second advents of Christ are inseparately tied together. A weak view of Christ leads to a strong view of Caesar (the State). The sin central to God the Holy Spirit’s gospel ministry is the sin of rejection and disbelief in Jesus Christ. The ascension of Christ was as much a physical event as the Cross. Questions and answers (Clear gospel presentations).

Basic promises from the Word of God. The origin of the church. The kingdom will be established sequentially. Theology concerning the Millennium establishes the priorities for the obedience of the church. Dispensational versus non-dispensational Reformed Theology. The clear pattern of God working in history and the agency of man’s negative choices. Questions and answers.

Paul confronts unbelief (continued). The purpose of history. There are right ways and wrong ways to think. The resurrection of Christ is the first installment of the eternal state and, therefore, a massive threat to the unbeliever. God can’t reveal Himself any clearer than He is in the Person of Jesus Christ. Recognizing foolishness for foolishness and wisdom for wisdom.

Using the faith-rest drill. Deflating unbelief by exposing its foolishness. Unbelief is structurally hypocritical. How the Apostle Paul utilized the Word of God to confront a culture of unbelief (Paul dismantled his hearer’s worldview). The purpose of history. Questions and answers.

How the Apostle Paul approached and reasoned with a profoundly pagan group of people. Giving a reasoned defense for your faith. There is no such thing as “natural law.” Nothing works independently of God! Unbelief is inherently hypocritical. Quick review of the Framework series to this point.