The Lies We Come To Believe

Genesis 3:1-13; 18:1-2, 9-15; Ruth 1:3-5, 8-13, 19-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Mother’s Day, May 12, 2024.

We are going to focus on three different women in order to see a dynamic that exists between hurts and wounds that we experience in life and the lies we come to believe because of them.

How have I let wounds be a source of entrenching lies in my heart and mind?  Much of the Christian walk involves a person letting the Word of God and the Spirit of God help us to discover and remove the lies that we have been living by.

Let’s look at our passages.

Eve (Genesis 3:1-13)

In verse 13, we see that Eve realizes that she was deceived by the serpent, the devil.  She believed him and then did what seemed right.  The moment when a person realizes that they have been duped, or deceived, is a horrible moment.  That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach can occurs moments after you realize that you have just been scammed a lot of money by someone.  It is the same realization that Pinocchio had on the Island of Pleasure when he laughed at the other boy, who was turning into a donkey, and heard his own laughter turn into the bray of a donkey.

Eve’s wound is that she was deceived and then did something that brought harm to her husband and future children.  Of course, the results of being deceived are manifold, and they are not the only wounds a person experiences in life.  However, we will focus on this one.

Can you imagine later when Eve hears that her eldest son, Cain, had killed her next son, Abel?  Yes, there is that horrible realization of the unthinkable happening, but quick on its heels would be the realization that this is just another fruit of that prior deception and fatal action.

At this point, it is instructive to just recognize how the serpent, the devil (see Revelation 12:9), operates.  Her first mistake was listening to what that liar had to say.  This is subtly pointed out by God when He questions Adam, “Who told you that you were naked?”  The implication is more about the being with whom they have been talking, and not specifically what he said.  It doesn’t matter what the devil says.  It will always be a deceptive lie.

The devil’s first question completely overstates God’s command.  “Did God really say that you can’t eat from the trees of the garden?”  He first gets her to defend God by stating they can eat from all the trees but one.  Then, he directly contradicts God with a lie.  “You will not surely die!”  Thirdly, he accuses God’s motive for holding out this one tree from them.  “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  The implication is that God doesn’t want any competition, and so, He is holding you back from something good.

Now, there are lies that we are told, but there are also lies that we come to believe as a result of them.  The first lie may be recognized and then rejected.  I do not believe Adam and Eve were deceived by the devil again.  They knew that he had tricked them, and they would not be listening to his lie that they can do something to become like God.  It is here that the wounding affects our heart and mind.  Because of the hurtful situation, our heart and mind will gravitate towards ideas and thoughts that rise up within us.  The wounding process itself can embed a subtle lie into our soul.  These lies are harder to remove.

Take a young child who is abused for example.  They may be yelled at, and or beaten, while being told that they are stupid, dumb, and a pain in the backside by a parent who is consumed with their own pain.  As an adult, the child may come to realize that their parent was simply messed up.  They were not speaking truth, but emoting in the midst of pain, venting their frustrations on the easiest thing near them, you.  This does not guarantee an instantaneous freedom from the inner lie that you are not worthy of love because something is drastically wrong with you.  By the time an adult comes to realize the wound, they have lived with a lie for a very long time. Even when we know it is untrue, those lies are often our default response, almost instinctual.

Satan doesn’t appear to us as a serpent anymore.  But, he is still a liar and our enemy.  There is a lot of water under the bridge of humanity’s history of listening to the serpent.  He has raised up lies in the form of wise-sounding statements, ideas, philosophies, and even wise-sounding false religions.  This sea of sophistry crosspollinates in a young person’s life as they grow up.  The wounds we experience will take hold of those things that are close at hand, which are often lies.

What were some of the things that may have stuck in Eve’s heart and mind following the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  We don’t know for sure, but here are some lies that we would tend to believe.

“I am so stupid!”  We can beat ourselves up for being innocent, but that wasn’t Eve’s true problem.  Her true problem is that she didn’t trust God, no matter what.  She isn’t stupid; she was just played.

“I messed it up and so I am not worthy of love!”  This can be between Eve and Adam, between Eve and her children, and between Eve and God.  No matter how many times another person tells us that they love us, we can internally rebuff the idea because we know that we are not worthy of love.  “If they only knew the truth about me!”  Or, “They are just saying that to be nice, but the truth is…” 

At this point, let me remind us that God shows up and speaks into the situation.  God never curses Adam and Eve.  He curses the serpent (you will crawl on your belly and eat the dust!), and He curses the earth.  When God finally addresses Eve, He points to one thing that He will do to her, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children…”  However, the second part points to something that will be more of a consequence of her sin, rather than a direct action of God.  “Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”  Verse 15 is somewhat vague and that may be on purpose.  It can have a perfectly good interpretation.  Eve will have a desire towards her husband, and he will protectively shelter her.  It is the imagery of how their relationship will be affected by living in a sinful world.  The woman’s weaker frame now becomes a liability and she will desire a husband to help protect her in this world, to which a good husband would give himself fully.  Yet, it also has some sinister connotations.  This is most likely because God is not just talking about Eve.  By extension, all the daughters of Eve will have individual experiences of life and with husbands.  It cannot be by accident that God warns Cain with these same words in Genesis 4.  He warns Cain that sin’s “desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”  This leaves room for a more sinister experience to happen between husband and wife.  A friction involving desire and power can infect the relationship in sinful ways.

Another lie that Eve could come to believe is this.  “I am no match for my enemy, so there is no hope.”  We should notice in Genesis 3:15, after placing a curse on the serpent, that God also promises help to mankind.  God sees that Satan has attacked humanity through the woman, and so, God states that He will put a hostility between the woman and the serpent, between her offspring and the serpent’s offspring.  He then promises that the woman will give birth to a particular offspring, and “He will crush [the serpent’s] head, and you will crush his heel.”  It clearly pictures a man, but a man who comes from a woman.  God could have spoke about Adam’s offspring, but it seems clear that God is signaling that the woman will be uniquely instrumental in the bringing forth of the head crusher.  This makes sense when we see the miraculous birth of Messiah Jesus.  No man was involved in the conception of Jesus.  Thus, God gives Eve and Adam hope, a promise.

It is easier to believe the lies of the wounds we receive than to believe God’s promises to us in His word.  There is always a hurt, cynical part of our heart that almost refuses to believe.  God let me be hurt, so how can I trust Him?  Thus, Eve may give herself fully to having children at first.  Hey, if I am going to give birth to the head crusher of my enemy, then let’s do this!  Yet, when Cain kill Abel, Eve realizes that this is more complicated than she may have thought.  Centuries later, they would understand that this will not be a quick turn around.  Thus, the long plan of God can be hard to trust even when it promises hope.

By the way, we must understand that Satan hated, and still hates, this power of humans to create offspring.  God had fit Adam and Eve against their enemy even before he struck.  The Satan tricked Eve, but she would have children.  For his plan to work, he is stuck tricking a new generation over and over again.  Talk about a drudgery.  Yet, in this, he would never know when one of those kids would raise up to crush his head.  Talk about fear.  Every time a man and woman put their trust in God and give birth to the next generation- now not to bring forth Messiah, but because we have a promise that He is helping us against our enemy- he hates it.  This is behind all the attacks against gender, marriage, birth, etc.  Satan hates us because God is using us to crush him in the dust.

God’s Word to us is intended to be a firehose that blasts the crud of lies that has caked itself on our hearts and minds.  It enables us to have faith and believe the Truth over the top of the lies that our heart wants to hang on to.

Sarah (Genesis 18:1-2, 9-15)

Let’s talk about Sarah, the wife of Abraham.  At the point of our passage, Abraham is 99 years old and Sarah is 89.  We might recognize that the ages of humans have been dropping ever since the flood.  Abraham lives to 175 years old, and Sarah lives to 127.  But, even with that in mind, the text tells us that Sarah has passed the age of bearing children.

Now, Abraham had been promised a multitude of offspring by God back when he was 75 (24 years before).  At some point, Sarah realizes that she is not going to have any children so she has Abraham bear a child in her name through her maid servant, Hagar.  This was a cultural mechanism that existed at the time.  Hagar would be considered a second-class wife of Abraham with particular privileges that would not be as great of those of Sarah.  This had happened about 13 years earlier.  Yet,  God had told Abraham that Ishmael would not be the one through whom the Promise would be fulfilled.  It would not be a child that came about by sheer will of man and work of the flesh.  Rather, it would be a miracle of God.

This helps us to see the wound that Sarah had.  She had been unable to bear a child for her husband to whom God had promised many offspring.  She had to live with the social stigma that her husband had no heir because she was fruitless.  She also had to live with the personal feelings of worthlessness.  No matter how much Abraham told her that he loved her, it would not be enough to fill the hurt of the wound in her soul.  He loved her and she loved him.

Let me take a few minutes to address polygamy at this time.  We should recognize that God gave Adam one wife.  The first time we see polygamy mentioned in the Bible, it is Lamech from the line of Cain.  Secondly, the polygamy we see with the patriarchs is itself instructive.  Abraham only “marries” Hagar because Sarah wants a baby so badly that she insists upon it.  Neither of them see it as good, but as an answer for a bad situation.  Of course, Isaac and Rebekah are a single couple with no polygamy.  Yet, with Jacob we see it again.

Notice that Jacob only has eyes for Rachel.  If it had been up to him, he would have only married Rachel and moved on.  Yet, Rachel’s dad tricked him into sleeping with Leah and consummating a tricked marriage.  Of course, he is not leaving without the woman he loves so he ends up married to two sisters.  Yet, these sisters are envious of one another and use the number of babies they have as a club against one another.  This causes Rachel to insist that Jacob have children through her maid servant (as Abraham had done with Hagar).  Then, Leah insists on the same with her maid servant.  None of this presents polygamy as an acceptable thing.  In fact, it begs the wisdom of relying upon it to answer a physical problem.  It only brought trouble to those who practiced it.

No husband (or wife) can fill the wound of their spouse with their love because there are lies that are entrenched within the wound.  Yet, God can use a godly spouse to help the other to heal.

Sarah came to believe that she would never have a child.  When did she become convinced of that?  Probably right before she suggested that Abraham marry her maid servant.  Even prophetic words from God to Abraham were not enough for her to trust and wait.  She may have had a little hope when Hagar had Ishmael, but it is clear that this dissipated.  She had given up on ever having a child as God had promised her husband.  She was the weak point of this plan.  God may love her husband, but He clearly doesn’t love her.  He would be better off to get rid of her.

I can’t know that all of these things went through her mind, but similar things did.  She had come to believe that she would not  be blessed of God and that she was worthless to her husband.

Yet, she would one day have a child as this passage explains.  The thought was ridiculous and caused her to laugh in her heart.  How many times do we give lip service to God, and yet laugh in our heart that anything will change in our life?  Of course, when we persist in idolizing lies in our heart, we will continue to chafe under God’s promises.  Sarah would laugh on the day she realized she was pregnant.  She names her baby “laughter,” Isaac.  However, that alone does not heal the wound.  How many other ways has the ideas of worthlessness and being unloved, not blessed, affected her life (our lives)?

Naomi (Ruth 1:3-5, 8-13, 19-21)

Of the three women, we know the most about what was going through Naomi’s mind.  If you pause and think about what is said by each of her statements, you will see that bitterness had taken hold of her heart.  She was wounded deeply.  Of course, we could say it is for good reason.  What human wouldn’t be bitter and sorrowful, if their spouse and children died and they were left alone and old in a world that was not particularly kind to old and alone people.

This is similar to Job.  He wrestled with how God could bring these things upon him.  What had he done? In his mind, he could only wonder why God was so against him.  Naomi probably said a lot of the same things as Job.

We see Naomi deciding to leave Moab and go back to Israel.  She sends her daughters-in-law back to their families because they will have nothing with her.  In short, she does so because she believes that she is cursed and they need to cut ties with her to get out from under the curse.

Naomi gives voice to several lies.  She states that the LORD is against her, and thus, she has no hope.  It is true that you have no hope if God is against you.  However, she was misreading the situation.  Yes, God let these things happen, but it was not because He was against her.

She also says that the LORD has dealt very bitterly with her.  She further describes this as the LORD testifying against her and afflicting her.  Thus, she is taking it personal.  God has done this to her, and by so doing, He has testified that there is something wrong with her.  These afflictions are taken as being from God to her.  We should be careful of thinking that every bad thing that happens is done by God particularly to us. 

In the story of Job, we see that it is primarily the Devil who is bringing these things upon Job.  Yes, God is allowing it, and so, He is secondarily responsible.  It begs the question.  Can you still trust God when He let’s bad things happen to you?  Will I cling to my hurts and stay stuck in unbelief towards the promises of God?

We need to be proactive in this and fill our minds with the Word of God, His promises.  Don’t laugh at it in your heart.  Or rather, I should say, remind yourself of these things when you feel a cynical chuckle rise in your heart.  Is there anything too hard for God?  No, of course not.  If it is not a question of God’s power, then it is a question of His heart for me.  In my woundedness, I am tempted to see God as trying to harm me and destroy me.  Yet, this can’t be farther from the truth.

When you doubt God’s love for you, you must take time to look back at the cross.  While [you] were yet a sinner, Christ died for [you].  Jesus went to the cross because He loves you and wants to redeem you back from the Fall of humanity, and he wants to deliver us from our enemy, the devil.

Both Sarah and Naomi saw God’s amazing answer in their life.  However, it doesn’t always come as a natural answer.  Some women will never have a child.  Yet, we can recognize that God has purpose in it that is good.  If I can’t have babies in the natural, then I can have spiritual offspring.  How many kids are growing up in this world without the knowledge of God’s love for them?  They will need spiritual moms and dads who come along side of them and help them to heal.

Take time this week to look back through your own life.  What were the ways that you were hurt?  What lies were embedded at that time in your heart and mind?  We are not talking about thinking positive thoughts so that we can attract positive things towards us.  This is about coming into conformity with the truth about what God says.  God loved Jesus.  Yet, he would have to die on a cross.  Everything would tell the human side that God has forsaken him, but God is not a liar.  Jesus pressed on because He trusted the heart of the Father and brought about a greater good than him becoming king of Israel in the first century AD.

Historically, I am a very bad judge of what is “good” in my life.  How many times has God shown me that things of my past, that I spent decades complaining about, were actually a blessing from Him.  They were producing something in me that would be invaluable later.

God tells us that we shall be perfect even as He is perfect (Matthew 5:48).  Can I believe Him?  By the Holy Spirit, with that life-force of God Himself, can I cooperate with God to bring about a good that I can’t even imagine?  Or, perhaps at which I would simply laugh because of all the lies entrenched in my heart?  Let us be those who drop off the lies, and grasp hold of the Truth of God’s love for us!

Lies audio

The Sermon on the Mount XIX

Subtitle:  Conclusion-False Prophets and Pretenders

Matthew 7:15-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 28, 2024.

We continue looking at the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus gave.  He warned them to take the narrow gate with a difficult way because it leads to life.

Now, he warns us against false prophets and pretenders who could mislead us in some ways.  Like the serpent with Eve, people who are pretenders can mislead the gullible.  They are a threat to the true disciple.  Thus, Jesus gives us apt warning.

False prophets do not call themselves “False Prophet So-And-So.”  They always call themselves a true prophet.  This was a problem in the Old Testament, and Jesus is telling us that it will continue to be a problem during the Church Age.

Of course, we are well aware of many examples of false prophets through the years.  The most obvious are men like Jim Jones who talked hundreds of people to follow him to Guyana and a erect a self-sufficient compound.  When it was all done, almost over 900 people died from drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, from which comes the phrase, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.  How many family members pleaded with those who followed Jim Jones, recognizing him for the false teacher and false prophet that he was? 

You would like to believe that there would cease to be false prophets when Messiah Jesus had come.  This will be true at his second coming, but during this period following his first coming, he is commanding believers to recognize false prophets and bring them to account.  Yet, Jesus recognizes that they will be successful with a certain amount of people, and thus, he warns those who would be his disciples.

Let’s look at our passage.

Beware false prophets and pretenders by discerning them (v. 15-20)

In this passage Jesus only uses the term false prophet.  However, elsewhere he talks about false christs and false witnesses.  The apostles also warned against false teachers, false apostles, and false brethren (i.e., false christians).  Basically, any real work of God can be falsely mimicked by pretenders.

This is not just a message to the Jews who were rejecting Jesus.  A well known case of a false christ, or false messiah, happened around 135 A.D. (one hundred years after the death and resurrection of Jesus).  This is the case of Simon bar Kochba (also Koziba).  He was backed by Rabbi Akiva as being the Messiah.  They expected him to lead Israel in casting out the Romans, but instead, his forces were crushed and he was killed.

Such a man was not working for the God of Israel, but for something else.  These pretenders lead to many others being killed because of putting their trust in them.  Yet, Jesus is speaking to his followers.  They are not “Christians” so to speak, just yet, but they are those who would choose to be his disciples.  False teachers and false prophets will come, and the disciples of Jesus will need to discern what they are so that they are not deceived.  Since Christ will come back (the second coming), false christs (messiahs) have often come claiming to be him.  Of course, false prophets are usually predicting the second coming, or the rapture, or claiming some special knowledge.

In verses 15-20 Jesus makes the point that we need to discern false prophets, which means that we can do so.  In verses 21-23, he makes the point that those false prophets and pretenders will not fair well when they stand in judgment before him “in that day.”

The word translated in the NKJV as “beware” emphasizes keeping this area of deception in front of you, thus keeping it in mind and giving it your focus.  Yet, this does not mean it is the only thing, or even the primary thing. 

Still, it is easy for us to think that this doesn’t happen to us.  When John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan, Matthew 3:7-10 tells of a interaction between him and the religious leaders.  They had come out to see what he was doing, perhaps to see if they could find something with which to pin the label of false prophet on him.  They would have felt strongly that they were vigilant against false prophets and false teachers.  Yet, they were the false teachers of their day.

John actually calls them a brood of vipers.  This would be loaded with spiritual connotation that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden and the offspring (spiritual imagers) of the serpent.  They needed to do works “worthy of repentance,” if they wanted to enter the Kingdom of Messiah.

This helps us to see some of the problems of false prophets.  We are easily swayed by institutions and men of power who are always ready to train us in their ways of power.  When this is done in the name of God, it can disarm people who say they are being vigilant. 

Satan himself is the first false prophet, false teacher.  He teaches Eve to disobey God and follow his advice, even imaging him as they assert their will over God’s.  So, we should all ask the question, “Am I gullible?”  The answer is that you are to certain types of false prophets.  We can all be deceived if we are not walking in real relationship with God.  We can follow that which has the proper form, and yet lacks the true substance underneath, i.e., lacks power (2 Timothy 3:5).  In fact, because the religious leaders of the first century lacked true substance underneath the accretion of proper forms, they were hostile to the presence of true substance within Jesus.  Some of the greatest “heresy hunters” can be guilty of the same.

Jesus gives a metaphor that helps us to see how false prophets operate.  They come in sheep’s clothing, but in their inner man, they are ravenous wolves.  The reference to sheep denotates the flock of God, which was supposed to be a description of Israel.  These false prophets pretend to be a good Israelite who is worshiping Yahweh, but inwardly, they are not. 

The sheep’s clothing upon their wolfish being may not be a very good costume, easily seen through.  However, it may also be on the same level as Hollywood costume designers, which makes it much harder to know for sure if that is really a wolf under there.  Of course, this is a spiritual metaphor, so we have to make the connection to what that looks like.  They may be very skilled at playing the role of a follower of God (1^st century Jew or 21^st century Christian).  It may take some time for even mature believers to discern that a person has no substance.

Think about your favorite actor or actress.  Why are they your favorite?  It most likely has nothing to do with what they actually are like in their day to day relationships.  It is probably because they act out roles that you like extremely well.  Yet, remember this.  An actor is good when they can make you think that they are something that they are definitely not.  They are good pretenders, good posers.  They are very skilled at the external matters of being a Christian.

However, being a disciple of Jesus, and a sheep in the flock of God, is not simply a matter of certain externals.  Christians say certain things, and use certain lingo.  Christians go to church and meet with other believers.  Christians do certain rituals like communion or water baptism.  Now, it is good that we do these things, but no one is saved by doing these things.  These things are supposed to be a witness of a real relationship of faith in Jesus.  They are supposed to be the fruit of a heart that loves the LORD their God with everything and their neighbor as themselves.

God is looking for a deeper transformation than these things.  He wants our heart. 

The false prophets are actually ravenous wolves underneath all that costume.  This is what they are really.  The look religious, sound like they love God, but they are hungry predators focused on their own base desires.  How long can a hungry wolf pretend to be a sheep when he is surrounded by a bunch of yummy sheep?  They are putting on a show because they expect to get something, some things, out of it.  Like a wolf will eat a sheep, so they will use the sheep to satisfy their desires.  It may be the pride of life that is satisfied by a large following of devotees.  It may be a lust for power that is satisfied by people who unwisely obey their every word.  It may be some disordered sexuality that is satisfied when people do not hold them accountable.  Cult leaders often talk people into letting them take their wives, even their daughters, for sexual pleasure.  Of course, there is no end of the debasement in these categories.  It may simply be the lust of wealth, greed, and any manner of other things.  Generally, the false prophet has hangups in multiple of these categories.  They do not live on the proper grass that God provides for the sheep.  They are sensual beasts that only say no to their flesh for a moment in order to keep up their costume.  They will satisfy their lusts in the end, and many unwitting people will have helped them to do it too!  To be clear, wolves are never good around the sheep, even when they dress like them.

Now, some might say that religion itself is the problem.  If you never involved yourself with religion, then you would never be suckered by a false prophet.  This is a lovely fiction that is imagined because we tend to think of religion as something to do with a belief in a “god.”  However, atheism has all the hallmarks of a religion.

Atheists put their trust, their faith, in the idea that all things have a material cause and explanation.  They refuse to believe that there can be a God who operates in this world.  Yet, this is not something they can prove.  Generally, they only require “proof” from God, but what is the proof that all things only have material causes and explanations?  They would probably retreat to the idea of probabilities, but this is no safe haven for the atheist either.  Which is more probable, nothing created everything, or an all-powerful, all-wise Mind created everything? They believe this proposition so much that they exercise faith and order their life around it.  This is a religion which exchanges God for the material creation itself.

We might recognize that Karl Marx, Chuckie Darwin, Mao Zedong (Tse Tung), and all the others were false prophets speaking to those who were tired of Christianity.

Jesus tells us that you will know them (discern them) by their fruit.  This is an analogy from the area of fruit trees versus trees that do not bear good fruit.  If a tree grows a particular fruit, then you are assured of its true nature at the cellular level. 

Since we are talking about hypocrites, let’s picture the difference between a Christmas Tree and an Apple Tree.  We might decorate a Christmas tree with real apples, but we would have to tie them to the branches, or tape them.  No matter how much we decorated the tree, if you pay close attention to the fruit you will see if it naturally grows out of the tree, or is unnaturally, even synthetically, connected.

This powerful metaphor lies in the fact that an untrained eye may not be able to tell the difference between a good fruit tree and a tree that is not such before it begins to fruit. However, once it begins to fruit (or not) even a child would recognize that it is not what it purports to be.  If you saw a tree with apples tied to its branches, you would know that something was wrong in this “orchard.” 

A false prophet and false teacher is incapable of producing good fruit because of the truth, the reality, of who they are.  Of course, they could repent (do works worthy of repentance) and be changed by God, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

In verse 19, Jesus warns those who might be tempted to follow such trees, because parts of their flesh enjoy the wicked fruit of these false teachers.  These trees, false prophets et. al., are destined to be cut down and cast into the fire.  This refers to their judgment after death.  God may not judge a false prophet quickly (of course, He can), and they may make a long living at it.  However, in the end, they will die and be punished.

If you agree with such people, you will join in their reward, which is no reward at all.  Adam and Eve participated in the wickedness of the devil that day in the Garden.  As such, they would join in his lot, unless they found room for repentance in their hearts.  We musts turn away from easy deceptions that play on the lusts of our heart and mind. 

Sometimes we are drawn by the way that personal prophecies buoy are ego.  We may like having the “inside knowledge” that such men may purportedly proffer.  Our flesh loves having secret knowledge that others do not have.  Sometimes our flesh loves having a religious leader tell us that our sin is acceptable in God’s eyes, and we don’t have to change.  Whatever it is, we must beware of letting the lusts of our heart lead us into the sin of following a false prophet and false teacher.

They will not be able to fool Jesus at their judgment (v. 21-23)

Jesus moves forward in time when these false prophets and false teachers will be judged.  It pictures them standing before Jesus “in that day.”  This pictures a judgment of these individuals.  Not only will they never truly enter the Kingdom of Heaven in the daily operation of the true Church, they also will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven that will be brought in at the Second Coming of Jesus.  They are shut out by the Spirit presently, and will be shut out by Jesus in the future.

Verse 21 gives a general statement up front.  Entering the Kingdom of Heaven is not a matter of declaring Jesus is your lord, even twice.  It is a matter of truly putting your faith in Jesus and following him.  This verse doesn’t just apply to false prophets.  It also applies to false brethren, i.e., false christians, who are not truly believing in Christ, they have a false conversion.  They are not trusting Jesus to fill them with His Spirit and empower them to walk out His righteousness.  They profess Christ, but they do not possess Christ.  If he actually were their Lord, then they would do the things that he commands.  They would be serving Him rather than themselves.

Verse 22 pictures them protesting their coming judgment.  Didn’t we do these things in your name?  This question is a lie, just like their sheep clothing was a lie.  They used Jesus as a cover, but in the end, they did everything for the lusts of their flesh.  Now that they stand before him, they seek to pull the wool over his eyes as they were so successful in doing to people during their life.  They are making a case, but we might think of it as a protest.  They see that they were wrong and are going to pay, and yet they make a protest against the righteous judgment.

Some people are bothered by the list of works that they refer to in verse 22.  First, I would point out that the list is clearly meant to tie back to the false prophets in the earlier section.  Yes, there are false christians, but this pictures the false prophets and false apostles.  They prophesied in the name of Jesus.  They cast out demons in the name of Jesus.  And, they did many wonders in the name of Jesus.  How could a false prophet do these things?

We need to understand a several things about this.  These false prophets represent a broad range of people and intentions.  There are some people who have been misled by a false prophet and are merely continuing a false way that they were taught.  They don’t know any better.  They think they are right.  Others are charlatans who are merely seeking to fleece the sheep.  However, some are in league with the devil and are knowingly undermining the teachings of Jesus. 

When the charlatan does something amazing, it is generally a trick.  Peter Popoff pretended to hear personal details of people’s life and needs from God, but in truth, he had an earpiece and was hearing from his wife reading from prayer requests they had filled out earlier.  I think that God may sometimes grant someone a healing because of their faith, despite the lack of character of the minister.

However, some people are in league with spirits and are using occult arts to wow people.  The devil does have a certain level of power.  We are warned that the man of lawlessness, the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:9), comes forth according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders.  The False Prophet of Revelation 13 is said to be able to call fire down from heaven.  We are warned in Scripture not to follow people solely because of powerful signs.  We are to discern the fruit of the life that they live.

For those who are somewhat fearful at the idea that Satan may have some kind of real power, we must always remember that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).  Don’t be a person running around trying to find the person who appears to be ministering powerfully.  Instead, look at the fruit of their life, if they will even let you close enough to know what that is.

Jesus will not be deceived by these people, no matter how good they are with humans.  Jesus knows what they really did.  You may be a good lawyer that is able to get the best of people to question what their lying eyes are seeing, but your lawyer tricks won’t work with Jesus.  He sees right through your costume to the sinful heart that lies beneath.  Jesus says, “I never knew you!”

They may have done a lot of things in the name of Jesus, but they never had a real living relationship with him.  If they had, then he would know them.  The word “know” speaks of an intimate experience of life together.  What kind of people do things in the name of others, with whom they have no relationship?  They are called thieves and robbers.

We need to rely upon Jesus more than just the lust of our flesh in order to determine who is a prophet, or teacher, of God.  We need the written Word of God, but we also need true relationship with the Lord Jesus who is the Living Word of God.  Nothing helps against deception as good as having a living and growing relationship with Jesus.

In such a relationship, you will have the Spirit of God calling you away from the sins of pride, lust for power, lust for things, etc.  You will come to recognize that these people are wearing a mask and not responding to the Holy Spirit.  You will develop a good sniffer for false people.  Of course, we should be careful of developing a pride in our ability to “spot a fake.”  Like the person who is proud of their great humility, we can always fall into sin and error when we think too highly of ourselves.  This is a classic error of false prophets and false teachers.  They lack the very basic lessons that the Holy Spirit is faithful to correct everyone of God’s disciples with.

We are called to know Christ and be known by him.  This is a life of prayer, reading the word, wrestling with Christ over wisdom and needs, hearing from His Spirit the things we need to do, and correction when we neglect to follow through.  Learning to say no to sin in our life and being empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk out the righteousness of Jesus is the hallmark of life in the Spirit of Jesus.

In the end, they were doing the works of lawlessness.  “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness!”  They flaunted the Word of God and the Son of God for their own lusts.  They did not see the Church as a holy bride of Christ, but instead, raped her at every turn.  The lawless always cover themselves with the appearance of lawfulness, but they resist and rebel against the truth of God.

God loves you.  Your relationship with Him may be broken, but He is still calling out to you.  It is not His intention for you to be abused by false religious people.  Instead, He wants to fill your heart and mind with the truth of His love, enabling you to see through those who would make merchandise of your soul.  May God help us all!

False Prophets audio

Lessons from the Underground Church 11: Resist Brainwashing

This is a 13 week series that will not be posted on our website.  If you would like an audio of the sermon or a written article on the sermon contents then please contact the church at AbundantLifeEverett@frontier.com.  You can also leave a message at 425.438.1500.  Thank you for your interest.

Threats of Deception II

Colossians 2:11-19.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 10, 2018.

Today we will continue talking about deception, to which we are all vulnerable.  Christians are not supposed to be gullible, easily tricked people, at least in the area of doctrinal truth.  We of all people have been given a sure record of truth and warned to be on guard against the devil’s schemes.  It is sad that so many people get caught up in many different kinds of deception.  Let’s look at the next verses in Colossians 2.

Remember what you have in Jesus Christ

In verses 11-15, Paul reminds of what they had in Jesus.  Some of the deceptions that the Colossians were facing had to do with ritual observance of things in the Law of Moses.  We know that the Acts 15 council had settled the issue regarding ritual observance of the Law.  No Jew or Gentile could be saved by ritual observations.  Still, it was common for certain teachers to travel around attempting to draw Gentiles into the belief that they had to obey certain things in the Law of Moses.  It is possible that the deception was not about what was needed for salvation, but instead what would make you more spiritual.  Regardless, Paul point Christians back to Jesus and reminds us of the great spiritual advantages that we have in Him.

First of all, he brings up the issue of circumcision.  This was a powerful symbol of rejecting the world and our own sinful flesh.  It represented complete obedience to God and a change in identification.  It marked people as belonging to Him.  The people of Israel took great pride in this difference.  However, Paul reminds these mostly Gentile believers that they have a circumcision that was not made with hands (human hands).  In other words, it parallels the idea in the Bible that believers have a work that is done internally and with the help of the Holy Spirit.  This is much greater than a work done on the external by another human being. 

This is similar to how we are born into God’s Family, which is not by the will of man, but by the will of God.  Those who were born into God’s people of Israel because their parents decided to have a kid had a lesser status than those who were born into God’s people by the Holy Spirit.  Gentile believers (even Jewish believers) had a greater or higher circumcision in Christ.  They didn’t need to add a lesser circumcision.

Also notice that it is called a circumcision of Christ.  In Joshua 5 we find that the children of Israel who were being led into the Promised Land by Joshua had not been circumcising their children for 40 years.  Thus after they had crossed the Jericho river in miraculous style and were several miles from the walls of a formidable walled city-state, they stopped and Joshua had all the uncircumcised males circumcised.  This was a crazy move militarily.  But it was important for them to deal with their disobedience before moving forward.  Joshua is a type of Christ who is our great leader.  Jesus is leading us into the Promised inheritance that God has for us.  But first we must wait and be circumcised in our hearts with a spiritual circumcision.  Jesus teaches us the greater circumcision, that of the heart done by the help of the Holy Spirit.  Paul refers to it as a putting off of the body of the sins of our flesh.  Interestingly enough Paul even connects this to water baptism.

It is clear that water baptism symbolizes a spiritual death and a spiritual resurrection.  But notice that we are “dying” to our flesh and its desires.  We join Christ in putting aside the hopes of this flesh and its desires.  Instead our hopes and desires are in God alone.  Thus we are spiritually raised up to a new life by the Spirit of God.  This is a partnership of us and God.  In verse 13 Paul points out that though they used to be spiritually dead in an uncircumcised state, now through Christ they are spiritually alive and forgiven of every trespass.  Therefore those in Christ have received the higher spiritual reality that was symbolized by those lower, physical commands in the Law of Moses.  As a young Jewish boy would join the people of Israel by circumcision, so a young Christian joins the people of God by a spiritual circumcision which is symbolized by the act of water baptism.  In this ritual there is no distinction made between male or female.

Paul also reminds us in verse 14 that our record of debt has been cancelled.  He clearly envisions some kind of list of our sins or trespasses against God.  This list or record of our offenses would condemn us if it is allowed to stand.  We would be dead men.  Yet, Paul points out that Christ has moved this list from standing against us through two methods.  First he wipes out the charges (some versions say blot out).  Regardless, if Paul had written this in the 21^st century, he would have probably said deleted.  Secondly, he takes this list of now blotted out or wiped out charges and nails them to the cross.  To Paul, Christ was not just dying for our sins on the cross.  In Him our sins are being nailed to the cross, where they will be left forever.  The charges themselves are dead and cannot stand against us.

This leads to a powerful statement in verse 15.  At the cross Jesus disarmed our spiritual enemy and triumphed over them.  Though Satan is still dangerous, he can no longer use our sin as a guaranteed way of slaying us.  Through Christ, the work of Satan and his minions is nullified and abolished.  The only way that Satan can destroy us now is by convincing us to not take Christ at His Word.  If he can con us into remaining in our rebellious, disobedient path then he wins by convincing us to do for him what he cannot do to us.

Reject the threats of legalism

In verses 16-19, Paul walks forward the threat of those who rely upon the observance of the Law.  Up to now he has only mentioned circumcision.  But verse 16 brings up the areas of what food and drink you consume, and what days you observe as holy.  Notice that it is introduced with the word “so.”  This point of rejecting legalism is strongly linked to the triumph that Jesus has obtained over our spiritual enemies.  The practical implication of His victory is that we cannot be judged on these ritual matters of the Law of Moses.  Neither can your past be held against you.

Now food and drink is mentioned because the Mosaic Law had much to say about foods.  There was a long list of prohibited foods that no Israelite was supposed to eat.  However, foods cannot make one more spiritual or more sinful.  In fact that was not the point of those Old Testament laws.  Similarly celebrating particular days as holy cannot make you more holy or the lack thereof make you unholy.  Just as our circumcision in Christ is spiritual, so the food that we eat is spiritual as well.  Jesus and His teachings are our spiritual food.  Instead of going back to the lesser symbol, Christians are called to press in to the thing that the lesser commands pointed towards.  Also, through Christ we have entered into the Sabbath of God (Sabbath means rest).  For the believer everyday is a day of rest because we are in Christ every day.  This does not mean that we have no decisions to make in these matters, but that the dietary and ritual commands of the Law are not binding on Christians.

Though Paul says “let no one judge you,” the point is not trying to stop their mental reasoning.  Rather, it is about not being influenced and deceived by the judgments that they do make.  In other words, let them think what they want, but don’t let it influence how you think and act.

In verse 17 Paul gives the spiritual truth that we are to use as our guide in these matters.  Christ is the substance and the Law of Moses is the shadow.  Clearly Paul is talking about the non-moral laws (dietary, ceremonial, and holy observances).  These things are not the substance of what God was concerned about, when He gave those laws.  They were a shadow that gave evidence to or pointed towards something of greater substance, which is Jesus himself.  Circumcision, feast days, Sabbaths, and food are not what are important.  It is what they are trying to tell us about Jesus that is important.  This is what we should follow.  The reality of Christ’s first and second coming is a substantial thing that caused a shadow to be cast back in time.  Because he was coming, God gave Israel commands that would prepare them and the world to receive Jesus.  Many of the laws were not moral laws inherently.  Of course once God commanded them, disobedience would be a moral issue.  But that is not my point.  My point is that the purpose for these laws that involved things that weren’t inherently sinful, was to help Israel see the shape and form of The One who was to come, Messiah.  Now it would be said to remain enamored with the shadow of a person when they have actually come into the room.

Legalism is really a form of stubbornness that refuses to enter into all that the Law was pointing towards.  Legalism honors Moses while dishonoring the God whom Moses obeyed.  Moses himself will stand up in judgment against those who use the Law as a means of righteousness because the Lord whom he followed was greater than all those laws.  However, all of this said, I must emphasize that these arguments cannot be used for the moral laws that are found in the Law of Moses.  Thus, no apostle of Jesus ever said, “Let no one judge you in sexual immorality, or in theft, or in murder…”  These actions are inherently sinful and will never be acceptable in God’s sight no matter how spiritual a person thinks they are.

In verse 18 Paul warns that to give in to this legalism would cause one to be cheated of their reward.  Deception has a cost and is a real threat to our stake in Christ.  Paul lists some of the things that the deceivers took delight in.  First, they love false humility.  The outward shows of devotion can be a cover for pride.  We should follow Christ and His leading and not the false humility of those who glory in their outward ritual observances.  Second, they loved to worship angels.  Though Paul does not go into detail, no being in heaven or on earth should be worshipped but the triune God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Thus those who develop great systems of heavenly or earthly beings to which they pray for help, may seem spiritual.  But they are not, because they resist the Holy Spirit and the teachings of Christ and His apostles.  Third, they glory in great visions of things they may or may not have seen that puff up their fleshly minds.  This is an area where charismatic Christians are very vulnerable.  We are sometimes so desperate to prove that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still in operation that we will put up with people who claim to have had visions of heaven, but are motivated by their sinful desires and puffed up pride.  We must be hungrier for Jesus and our relationship with Him, then for a spiritual gift that someone else claims to have.  The gifts of the Spirit are walked out in relationship with Jesus, who sent the Holy Spirit.  So how does this jeopardize our reward?

It does so by separating us from Christ and towards a person or system of fleshly works who cannot save us.  Thus what Paul says in the negative about these fleshly teachers, we should embrace in the positive.  We must hold fast to Jesus through whom we have true spiritual growth.  No matter what manner of persuasion or deceit comes our way, we must let nothing separate us from Jesus.  Of course deceivers often do not present themselves as a means of being separated from Christ.  However, they always promote teachings in such a way that Christ is never quite enough.  You also need this: (insert the current false teacher’s list here).  When we hold fast to Jesus and Him alone then we have the One who is the source of any true spiritual growth and any real spiritual inheritance that we may have.  He is the one who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit ad leads us forth in victory.  Let us reject all threats of deception and walk with Christ, who is the substance of all that the Law of Moses and the Prophets of the Old Testament pointed towards!

Threats of Deception II audio