The Things that God Hates 6: Feet that are Swift to Run to Evil

Proverbs 6:16-18; 1 Peter 4:1-5; Hebrews 12:1-2; Isaiah 52:7.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 19, 2021.

This morning we are going to talk about feet that are swift in running to evil.  There is a humorous story can be found here online, but I have copied it here for ease (Thanks to Stuart Chase of Sola5.org). 

Four pastors were sitting down to lunch. Having just read James 5, in which James urges his readers to confess their sins to one another (v. 16), one suggested that they practice what they had read. They all agreed, and so the first pastor said, “I have been a little dishonest with the church books, labelling personal expenses as ministry expenses.” The second admitted, “In order to deal with the stress of ministry, I have turned to alcohol and, on more than one occasion, have gotten drunk.” The third confessed, “I have been unwise with my finances and so have had to resort to gambling in the hopes of striking it rich.” The fourth pastor dropped his head and said quietly, “I battle with gossip, and right now I can’t wait to get out of here!”

God hates feet that are swift in running to evil

Though this story is humorous, sin is not humorous, and being eager to sin against others is even less funny.  Proverbs 6:18 highlights today’s topic as the 5^th thing that God hates.  By now, we have looked at the eyes, mouth, hands, heart, and now the feet.  Of course, our feet only carry out the desire of our heart, and generally have to do with taking us places.

With the advent of greater and greater technology, our ability to go to places even when our ability to walk is severely impaired is immense.  Why do I go to the places I go?  Is it to do the will of God?  Or, is it in order to sin, to carry out wicked plans, to do evil?  Most people in our society would not see gossip as something that is evil.  However, the word “evil” simply means something that is morally bad, and injurious to ourselves and others.

Our verse emphasizes eagerness in going to sin over the top of an accidental stumbling, or choosing to sin, but after a long internal deliberation.  All of these are bad, but eager swiftness in sin is particularly heinous.  It pictures a person who is prompted by an evil desire and swiftly runs towards doing it.  All sin is dangerous, but to be rushing toward it, represents something even more dangerous.  It is a soul that is hungry for sin, and can’t wait to do it.  Not only is this an abomination, it is increasing in our land.

Let’s look at 1 Peter 4:1-5.

There are two sides to this passage: that which describes those who are living for their flesh, and those who are living for the will of God.  The lusts of the flesh are obvious and this list is only a short foray into that jungle.  Galatians 5:19-21 gives us a more extended list, and contrasts it to the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  The world is living in order to satisfy the lusts of their flesh, and if we are not careful, we will fall back on this pattern ourselves.

Some people who are not Christians may show great restraint in certain areas, but it is always for the sake of a greater lust that is in their heart.  The Bible pictures the human heart as a seething cauldron of desires.  We learn quickly in life that you can’t get everything that you want, so we are forced to pick which ones we will go after.  Some people are highly skilled at satisfying a large number of lust, and appear to be quite functional compared to others whose lives are full of dysfunction.

Peter pictures this worldly living first as walking.  They are walking in these sins.  These sins are like prostitution is to the red-light district.  They hang out in the places where it is easier to commit their favored sins.  Like a John looking to hook-up, they spend their time looking for opportunity and then seizing it in wicked passion when it comes along, walking in sin.

He then uses the picture of “running in a flood of dissipation.”  It is like water that rages down the mountain side only to dissipate in the desert, sinking into the sand, wasted.  It looked so substantial, but now it is gone and did no good for anyone.  Another way to picture this flood of wastefulness is with a toilet.  We create toilets and sewers in order to keep waste under control.  However, from time to time, a toilet will backup and have an overflow of wicked waste.  Thus, the life of a person who is pursuing the lusts of their flesh is like a toilet overflowing with waste into a person’s life and the people around them.

Peter then says that the world thinks it is strange that Christians don’t walk and run alongside of them in this pursuit of lusts.  It would be like running around a track and, when you are halfway around, you meet a person running in the opposite direction.  You would be perplexed and wonder what that person is doing?  “That’s not the direction you are supposed to run in!”  Perhaps, we should envision instead the person running off of the track, and going off into the distance.  How strange that is, the majority of runners would think.  This is how Christians who follow Christ appear to the world.  This world is a raging sea of great passion and desire, but it is an overflow of wicked things that will be wasted and spent on the sands of history.

Let’s go to Hebrews 12 to focus on what God loves.

God loves feet that run the race of faith

There is a race that has been set in front of us by God, and it is the race of faith.  Of course, this is quite a different race than the one that the world has put in front of us.  That is a rat race, and it focuses on who can please themselves the most.

Christians are those who have awakened from the dream of living for self, and have had their eyes opened to God’s true purpose in this life.  It is a purpose that requires us to trust Him in the things that we live for, and the things that we die to.  You have to do the second in order to do the first.

In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the main character Christian had been living in the City of Destruction all of his life.  Yet, he was confronted one day with the truth of where he lived, and what he should be doing.  This passage in Hebrews reminds us that we are a people who are leaving sin and destruction behind, even when close loved ones think we are crazy.

In running this race of faith, we need feet that flee wickedness.  The passage pictures Christians as stripping off the sins and weights that would keep us from completing this endurance race of faith.  We focus first on what we are fleeing only so much as to cast it off.  Once we have cast it off, we need to not look back and pick it up again.

There is a great list of things that the apostles warn us to flee.

• 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee sexual immorality.”
• 1 Corinthians 10:14, “Flee idolatry.”
• 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee youthful lusts,”
• 1 Timothy, 6:11-12, “Flee these things [the wealth of this world] and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

If we are to actually take hold of eternal life, then we must learn to flee the lusts of our flesh, and to do so swiftly.

Of course, our main focus is forward.  We need feet that run after Jesus.  Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, and must remain our target.  Being with and like him is why we cast off sin.

We focus upon him as a great example of faith and its reward by the Father.  However, we also focus upon Him as the goal we are trying to attain, the one to whom we are wanting to be connected for all eternity.  The Bride of Christ must prepare herself for an eternal marriage with God Himself. 

It is easy to see that parts of this world are not pursuing good things.  However, we must hear the Bible teaching us that only those who go after Christ will find good.  The best parts of this world are still rushing after wickedness, and the lusts of the flesh.  This can only lead to destruction, not eternal life.  It is an abomination to God.

This brings us to the cloud of witnesses, those who have gone on before us in this race of faith.  Though Hebrews speaks to this, I want us to go to Isaiah 52:7 to get an expanded picture of this.

We need feet that are bringing the Gospel to others.  God loves the beautiful feet of one who has used them to scale the mountain, and cross over to the other side in order to share the Gospel with those who don’t know it.  It is our joy to be a witness to others that God still reigns!

Contrary to popular conception, God has not died, and atheism did not kill Him.  The world persists in a delusion, and thereby sets themselves up for an even greater one.  We are on the cusp of the greatest delusion that this world has ever seen.  It is one in which the whole world rushes into what they think is the guarantee of peace and safety.  It will be one in which they will worship a man as god, even though they have spent millennia rejecting the one, true God-man, the Lord Jesus.

In our flesh, we could despise the world and say good riddance, but that is not the heart of Jesus.  Even now, God says, “Who will go for Me?”  Who will use their eyes, mouth, hands, heart, and feet to bring the tidings of great joy to a lost world?  O friend, may we beatify ourselves for our coming Lord, by doing the things that He loves!

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.

A Bondage by Our Own Hands

Romans 1:21-28,32; 13:1-2,4.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 4, 2021, Independence Day.

The Declaration of Independence of the United States was adopted by the Second Continental Congress at a meeting in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.  It is 245 years old today.  Of course, the British couldn’t have cared less about our declarations, and sent a large force to crush the rebellion, as they would say.

When you read the Declaration and the Constitution, ratified in 1788, you realize that these were not rebels who wanted rid of government so they could embrace anarchy.  These were not brigands who resented the rule of law.  Instead, these were men who were watching their society be reduced to bondage under a tyrannical despot.

We will talk more about this in a bit, but first, we must recognize that there is a bondage that is worse than political bondage, and it often is the source of the political bondage.

We are in a bondage of our own making

We cannot blame God for the mess we find ourselves in as a Republic.  It is the result of our choices and actions, both spiritually and politically.  We have crafted this fine mess by our own hands.

In Romans 1, Paul explains the bondage that comes upon those who cast off belief in God, and a fear of the Lord.  This is just as true today as it was with the original Gentile nations that came into being after The Tower of Babel judgment.  They quickly turned away from the God of heaven and towards created things, both material and immaterial. 

Have we not done the same thing, but in a more sophisticated way?  We have continually cast off a fear of the Lord, and even the belief that He exists.  This is the same God who has proven Himself over the millennia.  Socially, we are busy chasing Him further and further away from public visibility, and the halls of power.  The average person gives no heed to God and lives for their own pleasure, even many so-called Christians.

Paul then points to the fact that they then began to serve and worship created things more than the Creator.  The ancients interacted with fallen spiritual beings, and began to worship them.  They fashioned idols and performed rituals to localize the “deity’s” power in them.  Their whole purpose focused on being fruitful in every way.  They wanted to be fruitful with offspring, crops, and in military power.  They would do anything these fallen “gods” asked in order to have the good life.  All along, they were ignoring the One True God.

Is this not what we are doing today?  We may not fashion idols, but we have all manner of little trinkets that we spend our money on, thinking they will give us the good life.  We ignore the One True God, and Jesus Christ, His Anointed King.  Instead, we give honor and worth (worship) to things that are not gods, and wonder why things get so bad.

When people ignore God and value the creation over the top of Him, He gives them over to those things they are embracing.  In trying to be free from God, they end up being in bondage to the things they think will bring freedom. 

The same is true for us today.  This bondage that God has given us over to has manifested itself in all manner of problems in our society and our politics.  Our people have cast off true religion.  We sacrifice our babies at the altar of Planned Parenthood so that we can have the good life.  We sacrifice one another at the altar of business so that we can have the good life.  We sacrifice our sexuality and gender, in order to gain an ever-elusive satisfaction without the One True God.

Three times in Romans chapter one, Paul uses the phrase, “God gave them up,” or “God gave them over to” the evil things that they sought over the top of Him.  We cannot cast off the fear of God, and worship the things of this creation, without the judgment of God giving us over to those things.  In fact, Paul specifically states that we are given over to impure or sinful desires, vile passions, and a debased mind.  A debased mind is a mind that is without any value, or worth; it doesn’t work like it is supposed to any more.

This is where many people find themselves as individuals, and where we all find ourselves as a people that are collectively the United States of America, or better yet, “We the People of the United States.”

This brings up the issue of Romans 13.  Our founding fathers knew Romans 13 well, and they even believed that they were operating in full obedience to it.  So, let’s look at some of it.

We were not made for bondage

Some loyalists tried to make the case that it was sinful to rebel against King George of Great Britain.  However, the majority of the colonists understood that there was more to the Bible’s teaching on governance than Romans 13:1, and that Romans 13 makes it clear why God has ordained that there be human government.  It is “for the good of the people (verse 4).”

True government is to be a bane to those who would operate in wickedness against their neighbors, and a boon to those who lived righteously.  They were supposed to protect the good of the people.  Yet, King George was not doing this.  He was doing something that was itself a wickedness.  He was placing the people in bondage for his own purposes, and we were not made for bondage.

Though the Declaration of Independence is not the Law of the Land, it shows us the mindset and thinking of the founders.  Theirs was not a rebellious, ungodly mindset, but one that made its case before God and man.  Let’s look at their case, which doesn’t ignore Romans 13, but in fact, is based squarely upon it.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

They go on to list a rationale for their declaration.  First, they see that it is self-evident that God made all men equal.  They did not mean equal in the sense that they had the same gifts, abilities, and inheritance.  Rather, they were all equal in the essence of their being.  No human is more or less valuable than another.  We are all created by God to be His image bearers, whether a king or a peasant.

Next, they stated that the Creator has endowed all men with unalienable rights.  Unalienable means that they can’t be separated from us.  Sure, tyrants can use force to obstruct our rights, but they didn’t give us those rights, and they have no authority to take them away.  They still belong to us as long as God is God!

Then, they point out that governments are instituted among men to secure those unalienable rights, deriving their power from the consent of the governed.  Romans 13 focuses on God raising up governments, but the Bible in its totality, shows that the power of a government is based as much upon the consent of those governed, because the government is supposed to be for their good!

The next point is that, if any form of government becomes destructive of the good of its people, the people have the right to alter, or abolish it in order to form a new government that will work properly.  The government was made for the people, not the people for the government.  Notice that these men are not pushing anarchy and lawlessness.

They then point out that prudence dictates that a government long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.  This kind of action shouldn’t be happening very often.

However, experience shows that people are more disposed to suffer than to right themselves by abolishing the forms of government that they are used to.  Most people will blame God and rail at the government for generations before they ever get around to thinking about abolishing a government.

Lastly is the statement, “But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

The “but” is critical here.  They had experienced a long suffering, and were prudently responding to a long train of abuses that had only one design, to reduce them to absolute despotism.  It is not just a right, but a duty to throw off such a government.  Rights are things that we can choose to exercise or not, but duty is something you should never shirk.  If you do, you do so at your own peril.  The new guards were not federal bureaucrats.  The new guards started with the Articles of Confederation, which were replaced later by the Constitution.

They end the declaration by appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of their intentions.  Jesus Christ is the Supreme Judge of the Heavens and the Earth.  In short, if Jesus thought their endeavor was just, they are asking for His help.  If He thinks that their endeavor is unjust then He would stand against them and help Britain to subdue them.  Of course, we know how it went.

We find ourselves at a time where many people are gathering in groups and complaining about bondage.  Some are advocating anarchy, which is unbiblical and folly.  Some are advocating socialism, and ultimately communism, which is a false promise and folly as well.  Some are advocating armed resistance, pointing to the founding fathers as an example.

The problem is that we have something today that they didn’t.  We have a constitution that limits the federal and State governments.  Each of the States also have a constitution that limits them and the municipalities within their borders.  Yes, we may be being pressed into absolute despotism by an elite oligarchy.  However, what they are doing is illegal and unconstitutional.  They are not our king, or emperor.  They are our servants created by our constitution, by us, in order to secure our rights, not to enrich themselves out of the people’s treasury, which is full of “YOY’s” (You Owe Yourself) from the thieves we’ve hired.  We do not need armed resistance against our government.  Instead, we need to hold them accountable to the Constitution, for once!

How have they been able to pass unconstitutional laws and operate on lawless laws?  We have been asleep at the watch for several centuries now.  We have been apathetic to the duties that we have as a free people.  Yes, Congress, the Presidency, and the supreme Court are supposed to act on our behalf, but in the end, it is our job to watch them and hold them accountable to the Law when they won’t.

Over time, the federal level, state level, county level, and even city level politicians have created structures and mechanisms that rob the people’s treasury for their own benefit, and the benefit of those who are greasing their gears.  Yes, the government is a mess, but it is that way because we have been lazy, and ignorant.  We ourselves are a mess and have crafted this bondage we see.

What do we do?  It starts with repentance in the heart of each citizen in these United States.  As Christians, we should be leading the way because we are called by Christ to be living a daily walk of repentance already.  Stop being apathetic and ignorant, and start asking God to help you to see the duties and actions that demonstrate true repentance, that go beyond just showing up to vote (sad to say, too many don’t even do this).

Just as our country needs to return to living according to the Constitution, so Christians need to return to our spiritual Constitution, the New Testament.  Forget about how the lost are living.  The average Christian barely gives lip service to the duties of being a child of God who is spiritually free.  It is not enough to claim that the death of Jesus takes away your sin and yet keep choosing the same sin every day.

The duties of a free child of God begin with daily repentance.  Repentance always has two sides to it.  I am turning from the bad thing, and turning to what I should have been doing in the first place.  We must then become daily worshippers of God, praising Him, and calling out upon Him in prayer, instead of worshipping the things of this world.  Your life declares what is valuable to you. Is it really Jesus?  We must also quit being ignorant of God’s Word.  If you don’t know God’s Word then how can you bring Him honor?  These are the words of Life!  We must take our discipleship seriously.  In college, you would be asked to leave if you were always partying and never did the work while failing the tests.  Yet, many Christians float along as if they don’t have to lift a finger to become like Jesus.  Lastly, we must take the destiny of the lost seriously, and share the good news of Jesus Christ with them.  The good news is not just that he can absolve them of any guilt, but that He can lead them in living a life of freedom.  To modify Rousseau, “Man was made to be free, but everywhere he is in chains.”  Let us return to the New Testament life of Christ, and to a constitutional form of government in these United States of America!

Bondage audio

The Path Ahead of Us

1 Corinthians 13:8-13.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 21, 2021.

Next week, we will pick back up in Mark 15 and walk with Jesus to the cross and the resurrection. 

Today, I want to talk about the path ahead of us as believers and followers of Jesus in the United States of America.  One of the devil’s tactics in these last days is to tempt believers to quit loving one another.  However, the love we are to have for one another is God’s love, and not love as defined by this world.  It is the same love that Jesus had for us when he chose to go to a cross for our sake, despite the world having rejected him, and believers who were slow to believe what they did not understand about him.

The disciples could not see how Jesus letting himself be arrested and killed would be the loving thing to do.  Peter even rebuked Jesus for even thinking of such a thing.  I am sure that Peter felt that he loved Jesus and loved Israel, but the actions of Jesus did not look right, did not look like love to Peter.  He didn’t exactly say this, but it is the same idea.  “Jesus, that isn’t love.”

In the days and months ahead, we must not be obstinate in fleshly concerns, but neither can we let the world, including worldly Christians, define for us what love is and what it would do.  We must learn to make the tough decisions of love as the Holy Spirit leads us in any particular situation.

We must not stop loving

In this section of 1 Corinthians, Paul is dealing with problems among the Christians in the Greek city of Corinth.  Their great desire for spiritual gifts was overwhelming their duty to love one another.  They were more concerned with the social prestige of exercising a spiritual gift than the people that God wanted them to bless with that spiritual gift.

This is why chapter 13 functions as a sort of parenthesis within a larger teaching on spiritual gifts.  No matter what Christians may think, they need to keep loving one another as a primary focus that is replaced by nothing else.

Our minds have a tendency to focus on the wrong things.  The believers in Corinth were focusing on the spiritual gifts that they had, and how “spiritual” that made them.  It functioned in their minds more like a badge of honor that was a gift to them, instead of being a gift to their church that would operate through them.  The over-emphasis on themselves was perverting the true purpose of the gifts.  They were not helping one another.  Instead, they were stirring one another up in envy, jealousy, and strife.

Spiritual gifts are not the only thing that can sidetrack believers.  There are whole groups within Christianity that do not believe the spiritual gifts are still in operation today.  Essentially, “God doesn’t do that anymore,” is their mantra.  They are more tempted to focus on the appearance of wisdom and knowledge to the expense of loving their fellow believers.  Again, wisdom and knowledge are good things if they are given from God and we are using them to bless others.  However, if they come from man’s attempts to look wise before others then we will be led astray.  Typically, we will only “bless” those who give lip service to our “human wisdom” and speak invectives against those who do not, even though they are believers.

We should always ask ourselves the question, “Will this make me and others more like Jesus?”  Whether I am exercising a spiritual gift in the assembly, or waxing in philosophical wisdom before other believers, I must always begin with the sacrificial love of Jesus.  He is the ultimate example to us of what God has called us to do, and what it means for us to love others by God’s definition. 

It is easy to say that loving one another is a primary focus, or purpose.  However, sometimes love has to make tough calls.  It has to run the risk of the other person, or onlookers, accusing us of not loving them.  Ultimately, God is our judge.  We will have to deal with the judgments of others, but they are not our judge.  If we allow the judgment of believers and onlookers to become more important to us than God’s judgment then we are not loving them as Jesus loved us.

Even right actions done for the wrong reasons can fail this question.  If my heart is wrong, or selfish, no amount of “loving actions” can make me like Jesus because the heart of Jesus was not wrong and selfish.  Our culture is lost when it comes to the proper judgment of actions.  We believe that the end justifies the means.  As long as someone is fighting for the right cause, their methods are rarely criticized.  Yet, at the same time, our culture has become extremely judgmental.  “If you do this thing then we know that you are that bad thing.”  Even this is hypocritical because of the first maxim.  If someone is working for the end that is deemed acceptable then they can do something all day long that others will be hyper-criticized for doing.  God help us to flee from such godlessness and receive a love of the Truth that only He can give.

Paul is reminding the Corinthians that a day will come when prophecies, speaking in tongues, and knowledge (i.e., spiritual gifts) will no longer be needed among God’s people.  This is described as when the perfect has come.  This perfect is describing the place that God is bringing us to.  At the resurrection, we will be clothed in glorified bodies that are immortal and untainted by the sin nature.  We will be a finished being who looks like Jesus, and we will be united with him never to be separated again.  It is in this perfect relationship that we will not need the spiritual gifts of this age anymore. 

Keeping that in mind, Paul’s main point is that love, faith, and hope will continue into the perfect age ahead.  The Corinthians were focusing on temporary things to the expense of eternal things.  That is never good.

This brings us to the relationship between love, faith, and hope.  Paul mentions that love is the greatest of these three virtues, but he doesn’t explain why.  From a biblical point of view, we know that love is described as an eternal attribute of God.  “God is love.”  (1 John 4:8,16).  In a way, faith is an internal, rational response to God’s love for us.  We believe because He loved us and loves us now, and we believe because we love Him.  We might call faith an aspect or facet of love itself.  When there is a separation of some sort in the relationship, love demonstrates itself in faith; it still trusts.

Hope is similar.  It is partly a rational and partly an emotional response to God’s love for us in regards to the future.  Because God is love and has promised His love eternally into the future, I need not fear the uncertainties of the future.  When we are united with Christ, it is not that faith and hope cease to exist or are no longer needed, it is just that they are less obvious.  We will dwell with Him ever able to see Him.  Perhaps this is why Paul calls love the greatest of the three.  It is simply the foundation of the other two.

We are in that tension between the now and not yet.  We have God’s presence now, but not as it will be in eternity.  It is God’s love for us that enables us to walk in faith (though we cannot see Him), and to have hope (though we cannot see the end result promised).  In a sense, we see Him with the eyes of faith, and our eternal future with the eyes of hope.  By the Spirit of God and by the Word of God, the love of God fills our hearts.  We need to daily refresh ourselves in the knowledge and experience of God’s love.  Even in times of discipline, we must see it as proof of His love for us.  The enemy does not want you to live out the love of God, to live this life trusting Him, and to joyfully trust your future to Him.  If he can, he will get you to focus on something else by undermining your faith in God’s love.

We have to spiritually mature to the point where we are not driven by our circumstances.  If something difficult happens, or persecution comes our way, we cannot fall into pity, thinking God doesn’t love us.  We must trust His love for us in the now and we must walk in faith.  We must trust Him with our future in such a way that we are filled with the hope and joy that comes when you truly believe that the Creator of all things is working it to your good (Romans 8:28).

With the Apostle John, let us rise up to the challenge of our day.  Faith is the victory that overcomes the world, and all of the enemy’s attempts to pull us off course.  Let us trust God by loving one another, and having our hearts full of the joy of those who belong to Him!

The Path Audio