The Acts of the Apostles 12

Subtitle: Peter Preaches Again part 2

Acts 3:17-26.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 7, 2022.

We pick up Peter’s second recorded sermon this morning, which we started last week.  Let’s get into the passage.

God had sent Messiah and they killed him

Peter has outlined how they have been fighting against God in their actions.  God had sent Messiah, but they had crucified him.  They were more than simply resisting God’s directions.  They were hostile to them.

Yet, in verse 17, Peter points out that they and their rulers had done it in ignorance.  Jesus on the cross had prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”  They didn’t realize that they were actually killing Messiah, but that doesn’t make what they did good.  It is simply a mitigating factor.  At many points, the rulers and people had mistreated Jesus, refused to accept the truth, and then put to death an innocent man.

Ignorance speaks to the knowledge and understanding that one has.  There are many things we simply do not know.  In fact, we are born 100% ignorant of life.  We begin to accumulate knowledge and understanding little by little.  Can we not see that the things of which we are ignorant are practically infinite?  What we do know only scratches the surface of all that can be known.  Thus, the most knowledgeable among us may not be ignorant compared to the average person, but compared to God they haven’t even reached 1% of what can be known, much less the stuff that we cannot know because God has not designed us with the capacity to discover them.  A wise person recognizes that the more they learn, the more they become aware of just how great their ignorance really is.

This brings up the subject of willful ignorance.  The truth can be staring us in the face, but we refuse to recognize it because of certain ramifications we are unwilling to accept.  Where is the line between inherently not knowing, like a child, and being stubborn and willful in refusing to accept the truth?  Only God can perfectly judge those kinds of issues of the heart.

Peter brings up the fact that God had foretold all of these things through the prophets.  They were told in advance that the Messiah would suffer in many different ways through many different prophets.  This doesn’t mean they should have had perfect understanding of what Jesus was doing and who he was, but they could have had enough understanding to be more careful.  Even John the Baptist, who demonstrated great understanding of the identity and work of Jesus, wrestled with the way things were going.

The people and their rulers could have had a better understanding than what they had.  They had become curiously incurious about certain passages and teachings of the prophets that would have at least helped them be more careful.  Yes, we can’t help a certain part of our ignorance, but some of it we can.

In fact, the most important part of this whole issue is not even our knowledge level.  It really comes down to being sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  Peter, John, James, and all the others, didn’t reject Jesus and call for his crucifixion.  They were able to get to that place by responding in repentance and faith at critical points in that 3 ½ years that Jesus ministered in Israel.

We are not so very different today.  The Church can be very proud about the great amount of knowledge that we have received through Jesus and the apostles.  However, that cannot take the place of sensitivity to what the Spirit of God is doing now.  Many very learned people have so systematized the biblical information that they are willfully ignorant to things that contradict their theological traditions.  Sound familiar?  We can become so enamored with the things of this world that we don’t seek God for the truth.  We can be happy with a surface knowledge of many things, or a rationale that we have adopted, but those things need to bow before the authority and power of the Lord Jesus.

Have I become a student of the Lord Jesus?  Think of it.  In the Bible we have a written document of the things that the Creator of all the universe wants us to understand, wants you to understand.  Many people who are ignorant in the eyes of the people around them will be found holding on to the Lord in the days ahead, having wisdom in the one thing that truly matters.  And, many who have the most biblical knowledge will be found fighting against what God is doing, lacking wisdom in the one thing that truly matters.  Jesus is working to give us a love of the Truth (2 Thess 2:10-12), so that it is love for him that will bring us through in the end, just like Peter all those years ago on the shores of Galilee in John 21.

Here is the good news.  God is still gracious.  Peter tells the crowd that they can still repent and turn to God.  In English, the word “repent” focuses on turning back to sorrow for one’s actions (for sin), as opposed to continuing forward in them.  This covers several important aspects of what the Bible says must happen in our hearts.  However, the word it is used to translate also has a meaning of a change of mind.  Of course, one must have a change of mind in order to turn back and have sorrow for sin, so I am not quibbling with the translation.  Rather, I am homing in an unseen aspect in this text.

We must have a change of mind about our life, and not just an alternate rationale created by us.  We really must adopt the mind of Christ.  We really must allow him to be the lord of our life.  This change of mind will turn us back from resisting and fighting what God is doing.  It will lead us to put our faith in Jesus, his commands, and the teachings of his apostles.  It will keep us from sacrificing Jesus for the sake of our willful way.

In this life, we will have a continual need for learning.  Thus, repentance will always be a part of the believer’s life.  It must never become a thing of the past.  Instead, it must become the daily path on which we walk.  Many are the exits that will take us off the road of repentance.  May the Spirit of God keep us on that Highway of Holiness, that good path, that we can only know through relationship with Jesus and the Word of God.

This brings us to verse 19.

Repentance will bring blessings

If we repent, then there are some good things from God that we will enjoy.  But, if we do not repent, then we stiff-arm the blessings that God wants to give to us.

Peter tells them that they need to change their mind and turn back into their sins being blotted out.  The direct result of changing their mind about Jesus and putting their faith in him will be the blotting out, or wiping out, of their sins.  It is the cancelling of the official record of our sins.  Sure, the fact that there are blots speaks of sins, but the fact of them being blotted out means they cannot be held against us before God.  Oh, this world will continually try to pin you to your past sins.  However, God offers freedom from those sins, and will not use them against you in the future.  Hallelujah!

In Isaiah 44:22, God promises Israel that, “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (ESV)  Praise God that our sins can be blotted out when we repent, take on the mind of Christ, and exercise faith in the Son of God and the Word of God.

A second blessing is mentioned in verse 19, “that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”  The word “may” here does not question that they will come, but rather repentance removes a hindrance that keeps the Lord from sending them.  When it is removed, then he will send them as he determines.

In this life, we cannot get very far without being refreshed.  However, don’t settle for mere refreshing of your body and mind, your flesh.  I guess we could call those “refleshments.”  We not only need our bodies and minds refreshed, but more importantly, we need our spirits refreshed by the Spirit of God.  This is what Peter is talking about.  We need God’s periodic spiritual refreshment in order to successfully navigate this life, and He knows when we need it.  Yet, the problem is that our flesh and the enemy seek to consume us with refreshing the flesh to the exclusion of our spirit.  Another problem is that His refreshment doesn’t always look like such to us.  They had destroyed the refreshment of Messiah in their midst, but here was God offering them a second chance to drink from the wells of salvation and receive the Messiah back into their lives.

This is intended for them as individuals, but also as a nation.  Salvation gives us a relationship with the Lord of Life who cares for our soul and is the good shepherd.  Yet, it is clear that Peter ties in their repentance as a nation to the next blessing- a Second Coming of the Messiah.  It is interesting that the book of Zechariah pictures a great work of repentance in Israel where they will “look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zech. 12:10 NKJV).  Then, in chapter 14 of that same book, God promises to save Israel from complete destruction at the hands of the nations of the world by coming down out of the heavens Himself.  This is the Second Coming of Christ that pictures his feet touching down on the Mount of Olives and splitting it in half.  What a refreshing time that will be for the nation of Israel!

Thus, the next blessing Peter mentions is that God may send Jesus back and begin the Restoration of All Things (verses 20-21).  Jesus must stay in the heavens until the time of The Restoration of All Things.  The earlier refreshments by God’s Spirit would keep them sustained until they came to that Great Refreshing that God has promised in His Word.  All the prophets pointed to a time when all that has gone wrong in this world and in the heavens will be restored to their proper state.  The Bible can be seen as a story of how everything went wrong (think Genesis), and yet how God is bringing everything back to a restored state that is even better than the original (think Revelation with its New Heavens and the New Earth).  That day is set by God.  We have a destiny in the future that cannot be avoided.  Yet, there is a sense where repentance could perhaps speed it up.

Peter specifically reminds them of the prophecy of Moses found in Deuteronomy 18 (esp. vs 18).  Moses leads up to this prophecy by warning Israel against listening to spiritists and those who practice divination.  God had not given Israel over to these lesser Elohim.  They had a greater destiny than the nations who were following the wrong Elohim.  Their destiny was to first receive the word of the One True God through Moses in building up the nation of Israel, and then later, God would send them another Prophet like Moses. 

Hebrews 3:1-6 emphasizes this connection by pointing out that Moses was faithful as a servant of God to build the house of Israel.  However, Jesus Messiah was faithful “as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” (Heb. 3:6 NKJV).  This speaks of the “house” of the Church.  We don’t have time for it today.  However, this language of a house being built by the son for himself so that the Church can live with him is the wedding analogy that Jesus used so often.

In Jesus, Messiah had come to make an offer of betrothal to Israel.  As a nation, they rejected it, but Christ takes a remnant and sends them to the nations in order to raise up a bride that will be married to him at the end of this age.  All the prophets warned of this critical period, and Moses stated that those who rejected this Prophet, Messiah, would be destroyed from among God’s people.  They were in danger of losing their place, their lot, their inheritance.

In verse 25, Peter reminds them of their heritage.  They are the sons of the prophets, and the offspring of Abraham.  This means that they had inherited the writings of the prophets, and the promise of Abraham that the families of the whole earth would be blessed through them, i.e., Israel.  All that we know of God is passed to the Gentile nations through the people of Israel.  Israel is far more important than any other nation in the sense of God’s work in the world.  However, His work is for the sake of all the nations of the world.  In fact, God did not just choose Israel from among the nations back in the days of Abraham.  Rather, God rejected all of the nations, and instead, created a new nation by His own hand as Adam was created directly by God.

This is why God sent His Servant Jesus to Israel first.  They had been and still were the instrument through which God had spoken to the nations.  They were God’s witness to the world.  However, the word first, implies others.  The Gospel of Jesus would go to the nations through his faithful believers, and thus, all the earth would receive a second witness through the Church of Jesus.  Here we are today hearing these same words that Israel heard 1,990 some odd years ago.

O, how America needs a time of refreshing in which we are turned away from our sin into full faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus the Messiah.  It will only happen as Spirit-filled believers, who are keeping in step with Jesus, interact with a people who are steeped in all manner of ignorance.  May God refresh his people today so that we can renew our battle against the works of Satan upon those around us!

Peter Preaches Again 2 audio

The Acts of the Apostles 11

Subtitle: Peter Preaches Again

Acts 3:11-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 31, 2022.

The healing of the lame man at Gate Beautiful creates quite a stir on the temple mount as news of the healing spreads throughout the crowds.  Peter and John end up under what is variously called Solomon’s Porch, or Colonnade, or even Portico.  This puts them on the east side of the Temple mount under a roofed series of columns that was open towards the Temple.

The lame man is clinging to them.  It appears that he is excited and no doubt there are levels of hugging and not wanting to be separated from them.  Let’s say that he is most likely in a level of shock.

It is not clear how long this takes place after the Day of Pentecost excitement, but it seems to be a matter of days to weeks.  Acts chapter 2 ended with several general statements about that first group of believers that sets up this healing and preaching.  First, we are told that “many wonders and signs were done through the apostles,” and that they were meeting daily with each other in the temple.

Let’s look at Peter’s words to the crowd.

Peter contrasts their actions with God’s

Peter walks through the events with Jesus, but you will notice there is a sense that follows this pattern.  You did this and yet, God did that.  Or, we could state it as, God did this, and yet, you did that.  This will lead up to the reality that they need to repent and believe upon Jesus, but more on that next week.

The first focus is on the action of the crowd.  We are told that they are “greatly amazed” and “marveled” while looking intently at Peter and John.  They are giving more attention to Peter and John than they should be because they don’t understand the connection to Jesus.  Peter is going to be very careful to turn their eyes back to Jesus by verse 16.

This is a classic error whenever God does something either miraculous, or simply changing the order of things within a group.  We can become overly focused on the person or people through whom God is operating.  In this case, God is using a righteous man to do a good thing.  However, God can also use wicked people for discipline and to draw people to repentance.

We must not think that Jesus is inactive in heaven today.  All authority and power on earth has been given to him.  Just as we saw that it is he who was, and still is, pouring out the Holy Spirit upon believers, so too when history changes, it is by the authority of Jesus that it occurs.  We must never forget this aspect.  Whether great good, or great judgment, we must always humble ourselves and seek what the Lord Jesus is saying through the events, rather than obsessing on those through whom the events come.  When good happens, he gets all the glory.  When bad things happen (according to our perspective), we must humble ourselves before him in order to understand what he is saying, what his plan is through this.

Verse 13 points to the fact that God the Father had glorified Jesus before them.  I believe that Peter is making a similar point as he did in chapter 2 when he said that God had attested Jesus to them through miracles, wonders, and signs.  In this case, he uses the verb glorified.  We can also add to this the angelic visitations that occurred around his birth.  However, most of this was during the 3 ½ years of the ministry of Jesus.  Notice that this is what God had done.

He reminds them that this is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The same God who spoke with them and did amazing things before them, was speaking to them now.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are commended because they believed God and followed Him in faith. 

Jesus is also described as “His Servant.”  All of the righteous of any age are in simplest terms, servants of God.  Jesus had come to serve God’s purposes, and that purpose involved serving Israel, and then the Gentile nations.  Jesus had come from God to powerfully serve them, and God the Father had been faithful to make it clear to them that Jesus was approved by Him.  Yet, how did they respond to that?

They had delivered Jesus up and denied him before Pilate.  God had given Jesus to them, and they in turn, handed him over to the Gentiles for execution.  God had testified to them that Jesus was from Him, but they testified that he was not.  The word “denied” has the sense of speaking against someone.  They did these things over the top of Pilate deciding that Jesus should be released.  This is not to say that Pilate is a righteous man. 

Peter makes this point even more pointed by calling Jesus the Holy and Righteous One.  Jesus had done no sin among them, was set apart by God for His purposes for them.  Jesus was The Holy and Righteous One, but they refused to stand with him, as the Father was doing.  This was not the actions of the Patriarchs!

Even worse, they had asked for a murderer to live and for Jesus to be killed.  They would rather a wicked person live than the righteous Jesus.  Peter gives Jesus the title Prince of Life to hammer home the horrifying nature of what they had done.  The word “Prince” here is not a word that refers to a king’s son who has no power yet.  It refers to the principal leader, and has connotations that go back to Daniel 9:25, which speaks of Messiah, the Prince (or “Leading One”).  Jesus is the source of life due to the fact that he was the principal agent of creation.  However, he has now become the principal agent of salvation, which offers life to those who have become entangled in sin and its resultant death, both in this life and the next.  Jesus is not just dispensing life.  He is both the source, and the only one who can lead us into true life!

Imagine having the One who is life and leads to life being killed while asking for a murderer who is his opposite.  Also, imagine doing all this while claiming to be the righteous ones of this world.  This is not a Jewish problem either.  The irony is particularly heavy in the events Peter describes, and yet every generation that has ever faced the man Jesus must answer as well.  Who are you really?  What will you do with Jesus, his message, and his people?  No matter how many moral cloaks the nations of this world put on, they one by one fall into the same pattern as Israel in the first century.  However, we have the added guilt of having an example clearly set before us.

They had killed Jesus, but God raised Jesus from the dead.  Peter and the other disciples were witnesses to this reality.  Jesus is not dead.  He is still alive!  Their plan didn’t work then, and it won’t work today.  God was overturning their decision.  However, it is better put in this way.  They had been trying to overturn God’s decision to send them Jesus the Prince of Life.  You can’t kill the source of life.  You will only end up destroying yourself.

The decision that this world is making, to ignore Jesus and make a better world without him, cannot overcome the decision of God the Father.  He has installed Jesus as King over heaven and earth.  Not only do we fight against this at our own peril, but ironically, we reject the only one who can lead us into life, and a better world.  Rather, we build upon a foundation of murder and death.  This cannot end well.

Are we not putting Holiness and Righteousness to death in our society?  In fact, are not many religious leaders and people today joining in this through redefining what is holy and righteous?  Can we not see ourselves in this mirror that the Lord Jesus has given to the world through Israel?  Yet, the true question for all of us is this.  What am I doing in my heart and in my mind?  God help my heart to humble down and follow Jesus so that I might know true holiness, true righteousness, and the true life that only he can give.

This brings us full circle.  In verse 16, Peter ties back to the crowd looking at him and John as if they had done this.  This healing of the lame man can only be credited to this same Jesus they had crucified.  What amazing grace.  They had crucified him, but Jesus was now still performing miracles in their midst.  Jesus had given this man the ability to walk, and to leap, and to praise God! 

This sentence comes across into English a bit clumsily.  However, Peter points to Jesus in three ways.  First, the name of Jesus has healed this man.  Peter does not mean this as if saying the name works like a mantra.  This is the pagan concept of “words of power.”  Jesus did not come to reveal some kind of hidden word of power that now heals people. 

In Hebrew thought, a man’s name had the sense of his reputation, which Western culture has picked up through the Bible.  We speak of a man having a good name in the community.  However, it also included the power and authority of the person.  Thus, Peter is saying that it is the power and authority of Jesus that has done this miracle.  Let us never forget that any powerful work of God is completely by the power and authority of Jesus.  This is foundational.  Without Jesus authorizing it and empowering it, nothing can be done, even by a person who has been powerfully used by God in the past.  No man should ever be given credit, or gazed at in amazement as if they had done it.  This is a huge problem within any group.  Pentecostals can be overly enamored with those whom they believe God is working powerful miracles through.  However, even other groups can be enamored with leaders that they believe God is powerfully using in more natural things. 

Let me repeat, no person should ever be given the credit.  They cannot do anything without Jesus authorizing and empowering it.  Also, let us dispense with the idea that Jesus gave a blank check authorization and empowerment to his people to do anything that they can have faith for.  There are seasons in which God is doing different things.  Even the most righteous must learn to walk in humility before God and cooperate with what He is doing.  The Church has continued to fail in this whole category.  We can blame it on the leaders, but the source of the problem is in the hearts of the people, which tends to elevate the wrong kind of leaders in their midst.

The second thing Peter says in verse 16 is that this healing was done through faith in the power and authority of Jesus.  Yes, Peter was used by Christ to be an ambassador of the healing power of Jesus.  But, more importantly, Peter represents those who still had faith in the power and authority of Jesus, even though he had been executed.  Of course, the death of Jesus precipitated a crisis of faith for Peter.  However, the resurrected Lord not only forgave Peter, but cured him of ever thinking that he could tell Jesus what needed to happen next.  Jesus knew what he was doing.  This group of believers were marked by their faith in the person and power of Jesus, not just what he did in the past, but also in what he is doing right now!

The third thing Peter says in verse 16 is that the faith that comes through Jesus had healed this man.  In a sense, Peter is saying that even his faith in Jesus had come to him through Jesus.  Peter is taking no credit for this.  He knew himself.  He knew that he would have not done anything if Jesus had given up on him, and hadn’t faithfully taught him.  Without the grace of Jesus, Peter would still be on the Sea of Galilee fishing.

May we be a people who are letting Jesus teach us and give us faith in him, so that we might be a conduit of the power and authority of Jesus.  Whether that is displayed in healings and powerful works is not our worry.  Our only focus is faithfulness, courage, and keeping our eyes upon him.

Today, we might accuse Peter of not being sensitive to people.  Yet, truth must risk offense, especially when eternity is on the line.  Notice this contrast between what God is doing and what they were doing.  This is the point today.  Always the challenge is keeping in step with what God is doing, rather than following the figment of our imaginations in the wrong direction.

Peter Preaches Again I audio

Grieving the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 4:25-32.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 05, 2022, Pentecost Sunday.

We talked about the gifts of the Holy Spirit last week.  One thing we know about the Corinthian Church is that they were very busy exercising spiritual gifts, especially speaking in tongues.  It is important to note that Paul does not question that their spiritual gifts are genuine, just that they were not treating one another in the way that the Holy Spirit wanted them to do.

This disconnect can happen when we focus on the gifts of the Holy Spirit instead of the purpose for which they are given.  We must never treat the spiritual gifts as a badge of honor that cries out, “Look at me!”  They are a means to an end.  They serve a holy purpose and that purpose is to help one another become like Jesus.  Yes, the whole purpose of spiritual gifts is to help everyone become like Jesus, i.e., fight sin in our life and live out his righteousness.

It is a sad condition that many who appear to be operating spiritual gifts are not becoming like Christ, but harm themselves and others.

Let’s look at our passage.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit

Ephesians chapter 4 opens with six verses that point Christians to work in order to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace.  Always remember that it is the unity of the Holy Spirit that we are to keep, and not just unity around a leader, or leaders, who are not following the Holy Spirit.  There is a spirit of this world that attempts to bring us under its false and perverse unity.

In verses 7-16. Paul shows that the whole purpose of spiritual gifts is that we may all take on the image of Christ, which should exhibit as unity of the Holy Spirit in our midst.

Ephesians 4:17-24 has Paul speaking about our need to put off the old man and put on the new.  We can see this as putting off the image of fallen Adam and putting on the image of Christ.  We can also see it as putting of the old me that followed the flesh, and putting on the new me that is co-laboring with the Holy Spirit to become like Christ (following the Spirit).

This brings us to our text where Paul lists out concrete issues that we must deal with in becoming like Christ and thereby coming into a unity of the Holy Spirit.  In the middle of this list, Paul points us to the necessity of working with the Holy Spirit.  When we neglect, even refuse, to follow and listen to Him, it grieves Him (vs. 30).  I want to look at this issue of grieving the Holy Spirit first, and then, we will walk through the list of issues that Paul points out.

The idea of grieving the Holy Spirit was talked about by the prophet Isaiah nearly 800 years before Paul in Isaiah 63:9-19. 

“9 In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old.  10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them.”

In Isaiah, we are being pointed back to those days of Israel’s affliction in Egypt, and the salvation of God leading them by the Angel of His Presence.  This parallels the Christian experience today.  We are being led out of the spiritual Egypt of this world and over the top of the impotent resistance of the Pharaoh of this world.  Jesus is leading us to an eternity dwelling with God in a universe flowing with milk and honey.  This is our ultimate inheritance.

There is another parallel to the inheritance that God has for us in this life.  He is giving us our territory, our own mind, heart, and soul (“possess your soul”).  There are giants of sin and bondage to fight, even evil spirits that war against our soul.  However, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can gain victory in this life and take possession of our inheritance.

Yet, in Isaiah 63, we see that Israel rebelled and grieved the Holy Spirit, which led to the Assyrian exile for the northern ten tribes, and eventually the Babylonian exile for Judah and Benjamin.  Paul is essentially calling us back from that path of grieving the Holy Spirit and coming under God’s discipline.

There appears to be two aspects of God’s heart for us.  He hurt for Israel when they were in bondage, and so He delivered them.  However, after centuries of rebelling against Him, He was grieved by their willful desire to sin and reject Him.

In a similar way, it is possible for Christians to be so willful in sin, and so inattentive to the love of the Lord, that we grieve the Holy Spirit.  Of course, He will faithfully discipline us as any good Father would with His children.

We should note that the Holy Spirit is grieved partially because we are working at odds to His purpose.  However, Spurgeon points out that the Holy Spirit grieves over us because He knows the misery that sin will cause for those sinned against, and also those who do the sin.  The Holy Spirit also knows the correction from the Father we must receive that wouldn’t be necessary if we just listened.  Any parent can identify with that let-down feeling one gets when they realize that they are going to have to discipline their child, when they were hoping that they were past that.  The Holy Spirit also knows how much communion, fellowship, peace and joy that we lose along the way because we persist in our rebellion.

Christian, don’t fight with the Holy Spirit.  Let Him empower you to fight against sin, both in knowing what to fight, and how to fight.

Paul reminds us that we have been sealed in the Holy Spirit.  Actually, back in Ephesians 1:13, Paul says that we are sealed “with the Holy Spirit.”  Because He is God, the Holy Spirit can be both the thing that we are sealed inside of, and the seal itself.

A seal typically has two purposes in the Bible.  It protects the contents that are inside, and it identifies, or authenticates, the contents.  The presence of the Holy Spirit in our life is a sign to all evil things around us that we belong to God.  As long as we stay in the Spirit, the enemy cannot truly take away our victory.  The Holy Spirit is also the sign that we are genuine believers and not just people hanging to the edges of the group.

Paul states that this sealing of the Holy Spirit is to protect and identify us until the Day of Redemption.  In both Ephesians chapter 1 and 4, Paul ties this sealing work of the Holy Spirit to the Day of Redemption.  Of course, salvation is a day of redemption, but it is not the completion of our redemption.  Redemption is the getting back of something that has been lost.  At salvation, we are redeemed spiritually as fellowship with God is restored.  However, we are still dying beings and our bodies are not redeemed.  Scripture always connects the Day of Redemption to the ultimate redemption of our bodies.  Note Romans 8:23.

“…but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”

We are saved in the hope that there is a day of resurrection for us, along with all of the people of God.  The Holy Spirit is our guarantee that God will keep His word!

Sin versus the life of Christ

This brings us back to our everyday lives.  In some ways, they may seem mundane, repetitive, even a chore.  However, as a believer in Jesus who is sealed by His Holy Spirit, we are on a journey of becoming like Jesus.  The things that you face every day that tempt you to sin are the giants that you are meant to take on and fight in the power of the Holy Spirit.  He gives us power to say, “No,” to sin.

Paul walks through several sins that so easily trip up the work of the Spirit in our life and the unity that we are supposed to have with one another.  These things grieve the Holy Spirit.

Paul tells us not to lie, but to speak the truth instead.  People lie to each other for various reasons, but they all are rooted in fear.  The Holy Spirit is leading us to speak the truth in love, rather than lying to one another.  Lying becomes the cop-out, the easy way that isn’t really the easy way.  It seems easy at first, but in the end, you will be stuck in a quagmire of lie after lie that you must tell to protect earlier lies.

Sometimes it would be better if we said nothing at all.  Leaving room for the Holy Spirit is better than giving in to sin.  However, sometimes we are silent because we are afraid of what will happen if we raise our concerns.  Remember that just because I am angered by something, it doesn’t mean that I am right.  The key is hearing from the Holy Spirit whether we should be silent or speak the truth in love.

Paul then tells us that we must not let our anger lead us to sin, and we should deal with it today.  Anger is not our problem.  Our problem is that anger often motivates us to sin.  Fight or flight are often motivated by anger.

Now, anger is good in that it is that internal alarm system that lets us know when we have allowed something to continue too long without doing something about it.  When it goes off, we know that we need to do something.  However, we often do not think well when we are angry. 

Scripture says to be angry and not sin.  This does not mean that we simply eat the anger and keep quiet.  I need to deal with what angers me today.  This doesn’t mean we have to resolve the issue before we go to sleep.  However, we do need to start the work of dealing with our anger today.  Don’t put it off.

Sometimes I will find that I shouldn’t have been angry, or that I am angry out of selfish reasons.  However, sometimes God is using my anger to wake up others who are being insensitive to the Holy Spirit and others.  He sometimes speaks to us through others, and I don’t just mean through holy prophets.  God can speak to us even through sinners, if we are listening for His Spirit.  Don’t pick apart criticism looking for any little error so that you can disregard it.  Instead, pray and hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying.

In verse 27, we are told to not give place to the devil in our lives.  Only Christ through the Holy Spirit should have a place in our life, but we can give territory to the devil.  Giving him a place in your life gives him an area from which to attack your faith.  It might be a little sin that you don’t want to give up, or it might be a pet lie that he keeps whispering in your ear that you won’t let go of.  Jesus said in John 14, “the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me.”  This is true of Jesus, but it is not necessarily true for us.  We must work hard to press the devil out of our hearts and minds, and keep him out.  Like a little wedge, the devil will use any place of sin that we give him to tap and tap until he topples our faith.  True repentance is the only way to take back territory from the devil.

Paul then moves to stealing.  We must not steal, but labor in order to be a benefit to others.  Just because you work doesn’t mean that you won’t need help yourself.  The intention is that you will get to a place where God can use you to help others.  Don’t take the path of the life-sucking leech.  Instead, take the path of Jesus, which is being a life-giving person.  Too many people today justify theft because they feel like society is not giving them what they deserve, or are owed.  Christians should reject such an attitude.  God is our source and supply.  He knows exactly what I need, and I should be thankful whether little or much.  Both of them are a test of our faith in different ways.

Verse 29 moves to our speech.  Don’t speak rotten words, but rather words that edify others.  Rotten words are at best useless words.  Words that give no benefit to the other person.  However, rotten words can also be harmful to others.  A life-giving source, a person who is like Jesus, should speak only those words that will help others to become more like him.  Yes, I know.  Only a perfect man can tame the tongue.  That only means that you will have trouble in this area.  Welcome to discipleship.  It isn’t easy.

Paul ends with a summation of the character of Christ in verse 32.  None of us are perfect at all times in all of these things, yet.  We will need to walk in the kindness and tenderness of the Lord Jesus Christ as we learn to forgive one another.

It is not good enough to be exercising spiritual gifts, while all along grieving the Holy Spirit through the way that we mistreat one another.  May God help us to pursue love AND desire the spiritual gifts!

Grieving the Holy Spirit audio

The Things That God Hates 1: Introduction

Proverbs 6:16; 1 John 4:7-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 8, 2021.

We are starting a series on the things that God hates using the seven things listed in Proverbs 6.  In order to do justice to the gravity of the subject, we will take a week on each item, with this week introducing the concept of God hating something. 

Some use this idea of God hating to charge the Bible with inconsistency, and error.  In short, they use it to defame the character of God.  However, if we think more deeply on these things, we will find that this is not so.

Let’s look at our first passage. 

How can God hate?

Proverbs 6:16 clearly states that there are things that God hates.  The knee-jerk reaction of some is to ask, “How can God hate?”  Now the word that is translated “hate” here is the same word we have talked about in prior sermons.  This Hebrew word has a much larger range of meaning than our English word “hate.”  You have to look at the context in order to determine whether it speaks of something that is merely loved less than another thing. 

We saw this in Genesis 29:31. Many translations will say that God saw Leah was unloved, but it is actually the Hebrew word that in some cases can mean a disdainful hatred towards someone.  It is clear from that passage that Jacob does not “hate” Leah in the English sense.  Rather, when it comes to choosing between Leah and Rachel, he would reject her and choose Rachel.  Rachel was loved by Jacob, but Leah was not.

In Proverbs 6:16, the verse has another word that is clearly meant to be synonymous, or parallel with the earlier word “hate,” and it is the word “abomination.”  In Hebrew, this word has an extremely thin range of meaning.  It pretty much means something that is loathed and detested.  Although it can be used of humans, it is mostly used of God.  Some of these abominations that God hates are perversions of the Mosaic sacrificial system, but most of them are immoral activities that God has gone on record as stating that he detests them.

So, we can be assured that contextually the word “hate” here is on the other end of the spectrum from Genesis 29:31.  It means to hate, as we English speakers would think.  These are things that God has a strong aversion to, and detests.

Now, let’s look at the passage in 1 John.  This passage categorically defines love as an essential part of God.  “God is love.”  In other words, God can’t quit being love any more than we can quit being human.  Yet, we should note that, even though the Bible speaks of God hating things, it never states that God is hate.

It is here that we should understand that, for us, hating something is generally rooted in something that is wrong in my heart.  With God this is different.  Just as we find it impossible to be angry and righteous at the same time, so we find it impossible to hate and be loving at the same time.  In the Bible, we see that because God loves His creation so much, especially humans whom He made in His image, that He hates anything that threatens to destroy it, us.  He can do this perfect, not in spite of His love, but directly flowing out of His love.  If God is perfect love, then he must hate that which threatens to destroy the object of His love.  Like I said, it is impossible for humans to do this perfectly, which is why Scripture tells us, “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”  James 1:20.

This brings us to two important understandings.  One, sin, as defined by God, is that which destroys us, others, and the world around us.  Second, God’s wrath, His active hatred for sinful things that destroy what He loves, is for the purpose of setting things right, producing righteousness.

There is a common statement that has surfaced over the years.  “God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.”  Is this true though?  My answer would be, yes, and no.  If this statement is used to remind people that God always desires the salvation of the sinner, even in the midst of their judgment, then it is true.  God is not willing that anyone should go into eternity lost.  However, He will not force anyone to put their faith and love in Him.

How is this statement wrong?  If we use this statement to justify not repenting of our sin, not repenting of destroying ourselves and others around us, if we use it to coddle and excuse rebellion, then we are treading on thin ice.  The sinner who refuses to hear God’s call for them to turn from sin, and to embrace His righteousness, will find out that God’s love for them will not cancel out their choice.

In John 3:17-19, we are told that the condemnation of God, His hatred for sin, is even now looming over the sinner.  That person is a destroyer of God’s good things, both within himself, and others around him.  Yet, God’s love constrains Him to make a way for that sinner to be saved from his fate.

With the cross, God wants us to see at least two things.  First, it shows how greatly He hates sin, and how serious He is about destroying it completely.  Second, it shows how greatly He loves us and is willing to move heaven and earth in order to save us from this fate.  He takes our sin upon Himself in order to make room for repentance, but the room is finite.  Yes, He loves you and has made a way for you to see the error of your way and believe on Him, but He can’t wait forever for your decision because He loves everyone else too.

Do not be deceived.  The person who goes into eternity refusing to repent of their sinful destruction of God’s things will not find the love of God.  Why?  They will not find it because they have rejected it at every turn, over and over again on earth.  To repent is to embrace the love of God.  That person will find God’s love on the other side of mortal death.

Thus, we see the picture at the end of Revelation 21.  The creation is melted down, and recreated as a new heaven and new earth.  An eternal city, built by God, comes down out of the heavens.  It is symbolic of the righteous, but it is also real.  We hear these words about it.

Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).  And, they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.  But, there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

At the cross, Jesus dealt with my sin, your sin, and took the judgment of our wickedness, our sinful destructions, upon himself.  However, I must choose to turn from my sin, quit loving wickedness, and start loving Jesus, the One who died for me.  The day will come when there will be no more room to choose for me, and for you, for your neighbor, your friend, even your enemy.  The day will come when there will be no more choice for this world because God’s plan is to bring us to a place where there will be no more wickedness forever, amen!

It is not His plan to bring us to a place where there is only wickedness.  However, for those who reject His plan, and embrace wickedness, He allows them to enter into the fruit of their choice, a place of only wickedness, and none of the goodness of God.  This is a repulsive thought, but it is even more so to the God who loves us and does not want this for us.  Why will you choose death?  Choose life and live!

Things God Hates 1 audio