Who Are The First And The Last?

Sermon Topic, Sunday 5/26/13 Elder Dennis Trudgen Who Are The First And The Last?
Matthew 19:16-30 … the rich man who came to Jesus. He had the erroneous idea that if he just did one really good thing, that would guarantee his salvation. Jesus told him first, to keep the commandments … the man responded that he had, all his life. At that point, Jesus went right to his heart and told him to sell everything he owned, and follow Him. For this man, that was not an option … he had “great possessions” (or the possessions had him msl) Jesus stated that it would be very difficult (but not impossible) for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom of God (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were very wealthy men msl) This passage ends with the words “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.)
Are we rich? Earning $6 per day puts a person into the top 15% of the world’s wealthiest (and a family of 4 with an income of $50K per year, that own a car and have money in bank accounts, rank in the top 5% of the world’s wealthiest few msl)
Matthew 20:8, 13-16 … In this passage, all the workers were paid the same amount, though they were hired at different times of the day … those who were hired earliest, for an agreed amount, were upset that those hired later got the same amount; and were reminded that they had made an agreement with the landowner, while the others had simply come in and relied on his goodness. Again, this passage closes with “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
Few people find the Way, and few endure to the end.
Luke 13:23-30 Someone asked Jesus, “are there few that be saved?” He taught about the Narrow Way, that not everyone who tries to enter the Kingdom will get in, because they did not enter by the Way (2 Nephi 13:23-32), and there would be great sorrow on their part. And again, the passages ends with “there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.” (the word “strait” means narrow, and is from Strong’s G4728 stenos, narrow msl)
1 Nephi 3:198-202 The presenting of the Gospel to the Hebrews first … to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants; then to the Gentiles … and in 1830, presented to the Gentiles, and to be given back to the Hebrews (all of the Protestant leaders of the Reformation admitted that there had been an apostasy, and expressed longing to see the day when God would RESTORE His authority and the true Gospel). So the first shall be last, and the last shall be first at the end.
3 Nephi 7:27-36 Jesus told His people here to write His sayings, so that if His people in the Old World never asked the Father and received knowledge of the people in the New World, His Word would come to the Gentiles, so that the Gentiles could bring it back to the Hebrews. After the Gentiles depart from the Gospel, He would gather in His people into their lands and fulfill the Covenant. At this time, about 4 ½% of the people in the US believe in the Book of Mormon … but not all are in the Gospel; the breakoffs from the Church of Christ (the LDS and RLDS churches, and others) have departed from the teachings of the Bible and Book of Mormon.
Luke 21:22-24 The days of vengeance, and the fulfilling of all that is written. Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. When is this? Some believe that it occurred in 1967, when the Jews regained the Temple Area of Jerusalem.
Revelation 11:2 … the measuring of the Temple. John is told to “measure not” the court outside, because it is given to the Gentiles, who would tread the Holy City underfoot for 42 months.
Matthew 23:33-38 … the Jews rejected the prophets and wise men sent by God, and the Messiah Himself too. All the righteous blood shed upon Earth would be on them, from Abel on down. Key words here … YE WOULD NOT. Jesus told them that their house is left unto them desolate (and in 24:1 He departed). This is His announcement that His Gospel would be taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles.
Acts 6 … the appointment of deacons in the church. The Greek-speaking Jewish Christians from other lands were complaining that the Aramaic-speaking Jews of Judea were being favored in the care of widows. The church is still primarily Jewish believers.
Acts 11:17-26 (44-47 AD) … Peter explains his dream and commission, to go to the Gentile Cornelius, to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, who challenged him for going to the uncircumcised. The Jewish believers glorified God, realizing that God wanted there to be no difference between Jewish and Gentile believers in His church.
Acts 13:14-15 … Paul went first to the synagogues everywhere he went, to talk to the Jews. In verse 46, however, he and Barnabas announced to the Jews that, though the Word of God should first come to the Jews, since they rejected it, Paul would from then on go to the Gentiles (at his conversion, Paul had been told thru Ananias that he would be God’s chosen vessel to take the Gospel to the Gentiles).
Acts 15 … The Jerusalem Council, about 49 AD … the discussion of what to do with Gentile converts—must they be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses? James, the Lord’s half-brother, stood up and proclaimed that they should be put under no more burden than to abstain from fornication, idols, and from eating blood and strangled animals (not drained of blood; a pagan practice).
Acts 18:6,19 … Paul is still reasoning with the Jews, and when rejected, states that he will go to the Gentiles. The Jews had still not yet been utterly cut off (perhaps Paul had to go to all these Jewish congregations to explain the Gospel, and give them the opportunity to accept or reject, before cutting them off and going exclusively to the Gentiles msl)
Acts 28:17, 22-28, around 60-62 AD … Paul called the chief of the Jews in Rome together, to reason and expound the Gospel to them. They stated that they still had not heard much about the Gospel, only that everywhere the church was spoken against. Some of them believed, and some rejected. In verse 28, Paul makes his final announcement that the Gospel will be taken to the Gentiles, who would hear it (Matthew 21:43).
First Century Church History, chapter 101 … by the late 50’s AD, Christianity was becoming more Gentile than Jewish … but the Lord still did not “pull the rug from under” the Jews.
In the late 60’s AD, the Jewish revolt began. General Titus, the son of Emperor Vespasian, led the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. From that point forward, the church was a mostly Gentile movement. (side note … there was some bad feelings between Jews and Jewish Christians from that time, because when Titus and his legion mysteriously pulled out of Jerusalem for 24 hours, the Christians took Jesus’ warning of Luke 21:20 and fled, while the Jews who did not believe Jesus stayed and were destroyed.)
3 Nephi 9:85-86, 87-91, 92-94, 10:4-5 … The convincing of the Gentiles. Jesus gives His people here a sign, that when the Gentiles have been established as a free people and the record of His people here had come forth, that the Gentiles would be numbered among His people, and the descendants of His people here would know that the Father had begun the work of fulfilling the Covenant. That which they had not been told, they would see (the so-called “replacement theology” stated that God was finished with the House of Israel and all His promises were to the Gentiles msl) … The power of heaven would come down, and God would commence His work among not only His people here, but those of Israel who had been led away to other places and were lost to all except God.
2 Nephi 11:78-80 The Gentiles, as well as the Jews, must be convinced that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Eternal God … the record of the Nephites would be a part of that.
Israel possessed God’s religion for 1991 years total, to 70 AD; the Gentiles have had it for 1973 years and counting.
Jacob 3:126-128 The Lord, the servant, the vineyard … the Lord tells His servant that they will graft the branches from other parts of the vineyard back into the main tree; beginning at the last, so it would be first, and the first would be last.
First out … the Northern Tribes were the first taken out of the land, by the Assyrians. Lehi and his family (and Mulek’s party msl) were the last out, from Jerusalem, before the destruction by Babylon.
Ether 6:10-13 … after the Millenial reign of Christ … then would come the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21). The order is reversed with the two Jerusalems (Old and New)
Why does God reverse the order of these things? To be fair!
Don’t count the Gentiles out! (3 Nephi 9:92 … the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me, and be baptized in my Name, and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel (see also 2 Nephi 12:77)