The Character of God- Part 1

Subtitle:  Introduction

Exodus 34:6-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 8, 2024.

Structure of the verses

As we approach these verses today, we find a scene where God is declaring his character before Moses on Mt. Sinai.  He refers to Himself as Yahweh, which is often written in English as “LORD” or “Lord.” Some older English versions brought it across as “Jehovah.”  Regardless, this is the name that God reveals to Moses at the burning bush.  It is often recognized as the special name that God uses in making covenant with Israel.  It essentially means, “I am that I am” and is a declaration of being the essence of existence itself, “The One Who Is Existence Itself” or “The Eternally Existent One.”

We will look at these verses in more detail in the weeks ahead, but let me point out a few notes on these verses.  In verse six, we have a five-part description of God’s character.  It is poetically designed to have two sets of two character traits surrounding one.  It looks like this.

• “A God compassionate and gracious
  • Slow to anger,
• And abounding in lovingkindness and faithful truth.”

This has an effect of surrounding a central character trait and bringing focus to it.  This is not to say that God’s slowness to anger is the most important one, but that it sticks out.  This will make more sense when we look at the structure of verse seven.

Verse seven picks up character trait number four, lovingkindness, and comments upon it.  This second verse has a bracketing structure, or bookended one.  This bracketing helps to highlight a central point in this verse similar to verse six.  It looks like this.

• “Who keeps lovingkindness
  • For thousands [of generations]
    • Who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin;
      • Yet, He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
    • Visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren
  • To the third and the fourth generations.”

As  you can see, the numbers (“thousands” versus “third and fourth”) correspond to one another.  Also, the next indents correspond as well (“Who forgives iniquity” versus “visiting the iniquity…”).  These contrasting brackets surround a central point that God will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.  Thus, these two verses highlight that God is slow to anger (because of His compassion, Grace, Lovingkindness, and Faithful Truth), and yet, He will not let the guilty go free.  He is merciful, but He is no pushover.

A way to highlight why this is so important is to look at how this tension, between God’s mercy and His ultimate judgment, affects people from different parts of the world.  In the West, we tend to be uneasy about God’s judgment.  We read the second part of verse seven and we think that it has turned bad.  Whereas, people in the Middle East would look at the same verses and think it is the first verse that is problematic.  It makes God sound like He is too merciful.

If you still don’t understand, then think of it as a tension within God’s love.  He will be compassionate, but He must hold the wicked accountable for the sake of those they hurt.  Of course, God perfectly satisfies this tension.  Yes, He is slow to anger, but He can eventually get there.  When He does, He is not like us, losing control and choosing to go down the path of overkill.

We should also notice the contrast of ratio.  God keeps lovingkindness to a 1,000 generations, but only visits the iniquity of the fathers to the 3^rd and 4^th generation.  We see this kind of ratio in Isaiah 61:2.  There the prophet proclaims the “acceptable year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of the LORD our God.”  Here the ratio is roughly 365 days of favor to 1 day of vengeance.  I don’t believe this is intended to emphasize the ratio, but rather the magnitudes of difference.  God’s character requires Him to eventually judge, but He is not “Vengeful.”  His character is about doing what is good to His creation.  However, what do you do when a particular created being seeks the harm of many others?  Eventually the goodness of God requires that creature to be held accountable.  Yet, God does so quickly without relishing in it. 

You could say that it is harder to get into the “doghouse” with God than it is to get out.  This is very different than people.  In fact, some people who are very judgmental of the “God of the Old Testament” will never let others out of the doghouse.  They will hold a grudge against you until they die.  God is not this way.  God’s wrath is intended to be quick, surgical, and a warning to others that they should repent before they end up in that situation.

The Message of Genesis

This revelation to Moses is not in a vacuum.  The context leading up to this passage is the books of Genesis and Exodus.  Let’s look at Genesis first.

Genesis essentially presents the problem with the world and then explains God’s solution to that problem.  Have you ever asked this question, “What in the world is God doing?”  Chapters 1 and 2 establish that the problem is not God’s fault.  He made the creation “very good.”  See Genesis 1:31.  God made the heavens, both the material stars and galaxies as well as the immaterial angels and spirit-realm.  He also made the earth where humans dwell.  All of it was made very good.  Whatever you do, don’t think you are going to get far blaming God for the evil in the world.  What we see today is not what God made.

Chapter 3 then describes how everything went bad.  It has two important aspects.  Adam and Eve (humanity) have a breakdown in their relationship with God.  They had no reason to doubt God, and every reason to trust Him.  Yet, they chose to reject His wisdom and do their own thing.  Fractured relationship with God is at the heart of this world’s problems. 

However, a second issue is highlighted, there has been spiritual interference in that relationship.  The serpent lied to Eve and deceived her into distrusting God.  Revelation 12:9 makes it clear that this ancient serpent is the devil, satan, the dragon.  Regardless of whether you think this is a literal snake that is possessed of the devil or a serpentine manifestation of the devil, the end-result is the same.  The devil meddled in the relationship between humans and God.  He talked them into trusting him rather than trusting God, Who had never failed them before.  What is at question in Genesis 3?  It is God’s character.  Does He speak the truth?  Can He be trusted?  Is He actually holding us back so that we do not become as great as He or greater?  These are the aspersions satan stirs up in their minds.  Humanity has broken faith with God, but a crafty, spiritual meddler took advantage of their youthful innocence.

This sets up Genesis 3:14-15.  God curses the serpent, but gives a promise to mankind through the woman.  First, there will be hostility between the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed (the devil’s).  Second, a particular seed, “he,” will crush the serpent’s head while having his heel injured.    If you look closely at those verses, you see that this is a powerful promise from God that their enemy would one day be dealt with through a mortal blow.  Though satan is a spiritual being, he will eventually die like a man. 

This sets up a promise or hope that humanity can hold onto, even when it seems bleak.  God particularly emphasizes the seed of the woman.  The serpent attacked through her, and so God’s counter-attack will come through her.  Yet, it will be a man who crushes the serpent’s head “he.”  God’s solution is a particular man who will be the serpent-crusher.

Genesis 4 becomes important because it shows us what the hostility between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent would essentially look like.  Cain and Abel are both seed of the woman in a biological sense.  Note: if you have listened to YouTube videos or documentaries that try to make Cain the offspring of a physical union between the serpent and Eve (or even Yahweh), then know that this unequivocally cannot be so.  Genesis 4:1 tells us that Adam had sex with his wife and she gave birth to Cain.  She then “gave birth again,” and it was Abel.  There is no room to insert a physical serpent offspring here.  The point of the passage is that Cain is making a spiritual choice to follow (to image) the serpent, rather than God, which is what Abel did.  There is even a scene where God talks to Cain in a Fatherly way, warning him that sin sought to master him.  The two seeds are spiritual dynamics between the sons of righteousness and the sons of wickedness.  The sons of wickedness are hostile to the sons of righteousness and choose to persecute and kill them.  However, Cain didn’t have to choose to be a son of wickedness.  God truly did put a door of hope in front of Him.  He had no reason to break faith with God and follow the path of the serpent (who was a murderer from the beginning, John 8:44).

Eve’s next son is called Seth, “Appointed One,” because God had appointed another seed for her, one to take Abel’s place.  He is not just taking his place physically, but as one appointed for the chosen line, the line from which the Serpent Crusher would come.  We see this chosen line of Appointed, spiritual men who personally represent, and have faith in the promise of God to crush the serpent’s head through a particular seed of the woman. This is revealed through prophecy, which Eve does here with Seth.  We see it several more times with Enoch and Noah.  These men are prophets who hear from God.

Thus, Genesis builds off of the First Rebellion of Genesis 3, presenting two more rebellions.  The Second Rebellion is seen in Genesis 6 as rebel Sons of God come down and create a wicked race of beings.  Regardless of how you interpret this passage, the overall point is that this speeds up wickedness until it fills the whole earth.  Noah and his family are the only ones left faithful in all the earth.  The wickedness threatens the Chosen Line and the possibility of bringing forth the Serpent Crusher.  God sends a flood to cleanse the earth and allow humanity a fresh start.

The Third Rebellion is after the flood in Genesis 11.  At the Tower of Babel, Nimrod leads a rebellion against the purposes of God.  As God confuses the languages, He also casts the nations out of relationship with Him, like Adam and Eve.  They want to worship fallen angels, and so He hands them over to these beings.    From now on, God would not deal with humanity as a whole, but only through the man Abram and the nation of Israel that would come forth from him.  Through Abraham, the chosen line, and later through Israel, a chosen nation, God would bring forth the ultimate Chosen One who would crush the serpent’s head and then bless those people and nations who would bless him.

The book of Genesis ends with Jacob prophesying over his sons in chapter 49.  There he prophesies that the tribe of Judah would hold the kingship, until Shiloh comes.  Shiloh can be translated as “The One To Whom It Belongs,” which in the context of Genesis is clearly the promised Seed of the Woman who would crush the devil’s head.

This book would serve to help an ancient Israelite understand their part in the world and what God was doing.  Things were not hopeless.  God had a particular man that He would bring forward at just the right time.  It was their job (and it is our job) to keep faith in God’s plan and His Man.  They must wait for God’s Serpent Crusher.

But, one might complain with this question.  How will that help me when I am dead?  Yes, that is the question that is eventually answered through the prophets.  Even Job believed that he would see God with his own eyes at the last day, even though he would die (see Job 19:26).

The Message of Exodus

This brings us to the next book.  We find God’s chosen nation in bondage in Egypt, making bricks for the power of this world, Pharaoh.  This is partially because the Egyptians had betrayed them, but also partially because they had begun to worship the God’s of Egypt.  In fact, the Egyptian’s betrayal follows the earlier story of Joseph’s betrayal by his own brothers.  Joseph was then sent on ahead of his brothers to become the one in charge of Egypt in order to save them from a famine.  What happened in this family of Jacob was a picture of what would happen in the family of nations.

You see, you can be the chosen line, the chosen one, the chosen nation, but if you aren’t careful, you can end up in a cast out position, serving the gods of this world.   You can end up as a metaphorical slave in Egypt (your life of bondage to sin) in meaningless work for the false gods of this world.  In that condition, you can cry out, “God, where are you?”  Of course, His response would be something on the order of, “That was my question for you along time ago!”

The chosen line, and chosen nation, are not shown as perfect.  The Serpent Crusher is not a genetic experiment to breed a champion.  It is a miracle of God, despite their (our) failures.  Yet, Abraham believed God; Jacob came to believe God; Joshua, David, Isaiah, Joseph and Mary, all of them believed God.

What does Adam do following the Genesis 3 punishment?  He has a choice.  He can either walk in his own wisdom in further rebellion against God, or, he can go to work in the sweat of his brow.  He can labor to feed his wife and kids.  He can bear that punishment in the hope that God will keep his promise and crush the head of his enemy, the devil.

The message of Exodus is that no matter how chosen we are, and how much God has promised to work through us, we all end up in slavery (personally, nationally, globally).  Salvation can only come by a supernatural work of God.  God must redeem us by His own Right Hand!

Exodus is the template of God’s salvation.  He will come to us in our slavery and powerfully show up the false gods we have been serving.  He will then lift us out of bondage and cause us to inherit what we had lost.  Of course, we must simply trust Him and follow Him.  Jesus Christ is the supernatural intervention of God, and we would do well to put our trust in Him and follow Him at this juncture.

Exodus 1-18 is all about God bringing Israel out of Egypt and to Mt. Sinai, where a covenant He will cut a covenant with them.

Chapters 19 to 40 is all about the covenant.  Yet, the people are afraid of God, so they have Moses be their intermediary.  Moses goes up on the mountain for 40 days (chapters 20 to 32).  As God gives to him the details of the covenant, Israel gets tired of waiting for Moses to come back.  They make a golden calf and worship it as the god who brought them out of Egypt.  This is akin to a person cheating on their marriage partner during the ceremony!  They couldn’t even give God 40 days of faithfulness before they were going astray from Him.

What happens in a case like this?  Does a man simply say that this kind of thing sometimes happens, and then, continue to marry the woman?  God even gives Moses an offer.  He would destroy Israel and make a nation from Moses.  However, Moses points out that this will only make God look weak to the nations.  It would appear that He couldn’t really save these people. 

I believe that God is actually provoking Moses to see and give voice to what God was going to do all along.  God would have mercy on Israel.  He would continue into this covenant with them.  For better or worse, He would be their God and they would be His people.  God doesn’t just want to give us the answers to the test.  He wants us to come to the realization for ourselves that His way really is the better way.  If we listen to God and pay attention, we can come to understand the God who became human and died on a cross for our sins.

Perhaps, we might understand Him enough to follow Him and lay our own lives down in such a way that others may be saved.  How many of us haven’t found ourselves trying to follow God, but then falling short and missing the mark?  Of course, we all have.

How can God put up with Israel?  Their story is our story.  God’s character is such that He helps us, forgives us, is slow to anger.  Yet, He will judge in the end.  This is the backdrop to the event in Exodus 34, where Moses goes back up the mountain after confronting Israel with their sin.  There, God reveals His amazing character to Moses.  This is what we will be looking at for the next 5 weeks.

Character of God 1 audio

Such Love IV

Subtitle: Let's Be A People of the Word

2 Peter 1:12-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, April 23, 2023.

We continue looking at the love of God, particularly as it pertains to salvation.  We have talked about the Incarnation, that God loved us enough to take on the nature of a human.  We then talked about Redemption and the fact that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price of redemption for humanity.  Last week, we looked at God's love in pouring out His Holy Spirit and dwelling within believers.

This leads us to our subject today, God's love displayed in creating the Bible, or the Scriptures.  This is not a gift that is intended to be received and then put on a shelf in order to gather dust.  We are intended to become a people of the Word.  That is, just like we should want to be a people of the Spirit of God, so too, we should want to be a people of the Word of God.

In fact, I would say that it is impossible to be a person of the Spirit, and at the same time, not be a person of the Word. I say this because a growing number of people emphasize that they are spiritual, but not religious.  I would suspect that the Bible is tossed into the "religious" side of their equation. However, the Spirit will point us to the Word, and the Word will point us to Jesus and the Spirit that he has made available to us.

Let's look at our passage.

The experience of the disciples

At the beginning of this section, the Apostle Peter recognizes that his decease, or departure, is nearing (v. 14-15).  It is clear that he is speaking of death from the added language of "putting of [his] tent."  These were clear metaphors that no one seriously rejects.  This has put in his heart a determination to make sure that they will "always have a reminder of these things" (v. 15) after he is gone.  Yes, he is alive now reminding them of what he had taught them, but he will not be alive in the future.

Interestingly enough, Peter uses a word for his upcoming departure that we know as the word exodus.  It is most known because of the second book of the Law of Moses, Exodus.  The word has the idea of a way or road out, and is often translated as departure.  The book of Exodus is about Israel's departure from Egypt, and here Peter sees his coming departure from Earth.  This word is used only three times in the New Testament.  It is used here and in Luke 9:31 where Elijah and Moses appear in glory and speak to Jesus about his "decease which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."  The word for decease there is "exodus" in Greek.  The third place is in Hebrews chapter eleven where Joseph on his death bed reminds the families of Jacob that God has promised them an upcoming exodus from Egypt.

This is important because Peter uses several words that clearly connect to the Transfiguration in Luke 9, which he clearly speaks about in verses 16-18.  We will look at this in more depth in a moment.

So, how did Peter ensure that they would always have a reminder after his personal exodus?  First, he taught and preached the Gospel to churches, pastors, and bishops.  Though he would depart, other faithful people would be left behind to continue the work.  They do not so much take his place as carry the work forward.

Second, Peter is making sure a written record of his teaching is left behind.  Thus, we have the two letters of Peter.  His first letter is addressed to Christians who have been dispersed into the area of Asia Minor (Modern Turkey) due to persecution.  This second letter is basically written to anyone who is a Christian.  These are not just highly personalized letters from one individual to another.  They represent the basic teaching of the Apostle Peter, along with his sermons recorded by Luke in the book of The Acts of the Apostles.  On top of this, tradition teaches that Mark's Gospel has the Apostle Peter as its main source.  In 1 Peter 5:13, Mark spent enough time with Peter to be referred to as "my son," by him.

I believe that this is why Peter brings up the next section.  In a sense, you could ask this question.  Who wants to read a book from a first-century Israelite fisherman?  In verses 16-18, Peter establishes his credentials for caring about his teaching making it to the next generation and beyond.  An amazing outflow of God's grace has been given to him, and he feels the duty to ensure that it continues after his death.

Peter could have made a long list, but he focuses on one event, what is called the Transfiguration.  This is the word that Luke uses to describe this event.  Mark uses different words, but it is clear that they are describing the same event.  Peter, James and John see the face of Jesus transfigure, or rather transform, into a glowing, shining face of heavenly glory.  Even his clothing is described as becoming white as snow and glowing.  I always picture a mantle on a gas lantern when it is lit.

Now, there is a powerful parallel between the Transfiguration/Transformation event and what happened at Mt. Sinai in the book of Exodus.  The literary ties are too many to overlook.  There is a cloud of God that comes down on the mountain, God's voice is heard audibly from heaven, it is in the context of a new covenant being made between God and His people on earth, there is a mediator of that covenant, and witnesses to the powerful glory of God present, there is a mention of a tabernacle, and we could list more.

When Peter tells people about the power and future coming of Jesus in glory, he is not just following a cunningly designed story that he heard or made up.  He is an eyewitness, along with James and John, of a singularly amazing event.  Hebrews tells us that Moses was faithful as a servant of God to build the House of Israel for God.  Yet, Jesus is faithful as a son building his own house (the Church).  Jesus is not just another Moses.  He is the Greater Moses, just as he told the people "a greater [one] than Solomon is here."  Just as Moses took Joshua partway up on the mountain with him, so the Three disciples become witnesses to a greater glory of God.  Moses is enabled to see the back of God's glory, but the Three are enabled to see God's glory in the face of Jesus.  Of course, Jesus in human form is a mitigated form of the absolute glory of God.  Yet, the event signals that in some way we have been enabled to see the face of God, when mortals really cannot do so and live.  I could go on, but you get the drift.  Moses saw God's glory, but Jesus is the glory of God, the exact image of His person.  In Jesus, we have been given a glimpse of the glory of God.

The Three would go back and tell the other nine disciples what they saw.  Of course, the nine had seen some amazing things as well.  They saw Jesus walking on the water.  They also saw Jesus stand up in a boat and say, "Peace, be still!"  When the wind and waves immediately stopped, they were shocked.  "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”  They didn't see the Transfiguration, but it was in keeping with what they had seen.  They would have quickly believed.

The Twelve would go forth and speak these things to the people of Israel.  Yes, there were some that wouldn't admit any miracles of Jesus, but many knew there was something different about Jesus.  They had watched him heal people blind from birth, lame from birth, lepers, demon-possessed people set free, thousands fed with just a little food in the wilderness.  They may not have seen Jesus do all the things that the apostles did, but it would fit with what they knew about Jesus.  This is why the resurrection of Jesus was eventually believed by thousands of early Judeans.  Over 500 people had seen Jesus after the Resurrection.  With such evidence stacking up, it is hard to really claim conspiracy, lying, and trickery.  Just as something amazing happened to Israel in the desert and they came out a nation with laws and religious service to which they all agreed, so the early Christianity cannot be explained by natural means.  Something amazing happened in first century Jerusalem, and it has changed the destiny of humanity!

The Transfiguration to the Crucifixion to the Ascension is a Mt. Sinai moment in which the glory of heaven comes down, meeting with His people, and makes a new covenant with them, really with whosoever will believe upon Jesus as the Christ.  Jesus doesn't just talk with God; he is revealed as the very glory of God itself.  Peter thus speaks of him receiving honor and glory from the Father when He spoke at the Transfiguration.

There are few times that it is clear in the text that God audibly speaks.  Typically it is in a dream, a vision, or through an angel.  Peter hears the voice of God say, "This is My Beloved Son.  Hear him!"  This is essentially the same message as at the water baptism of Jesus, except it adds that last part.  Any Judean of the day would have recognized the term My Son.  They would not have connected it necessarily to being divine, but as being the Messianic offspring of David promised by God in 2 Samuel 7:14.  God promises David that One from his line would be a son to God and God would give him a forever kingdom.  This is also seen in Psalm 2 where the nations of the earth are chafing under God and His King Messiah.  They are warned to kiss the Son before his wrath rises just a little. 

The imperative to listen to Jesus may not have been as quickly recognized, but it is clearly tying back to Deuteronomy 18, where Moses tells Israel that a prophet like him will come later.  He tells them that God will require it of anyone who doesn't listen to this prophet.  Thus, God the Father goes on record before three mortal humans that Jesus is the Messiah and the awaited Prophet who would set up the New Covenant, like Moses had done before.

This is a kind of layered witness.  The whole nation saw amazing things from Jesus, Caiaphas included. A smaller group (the 500) saw even more amazing things than they.  The Twelve saw even more amazing things than the 500, and the Three saw the most amazing things of all.

The prophetic Word of God 

This powerful first-century witness of God's work in Israel leads Peter to then speak of the prophetic Word of God.   Such experiences as Israel had in the first century were the foundation to the Scriptures that Israel received from Moses. This was not a bunch of guys sitting around unable to explain the weird world around them, and coming up with a story to keep the masses under control.  This is modern man's explanation of religion, but it is not God's explanation of where religion comes from.  The Old Testament and the New Testament were proven to be the very Words of God by the spectacular, more spectacular, and most spectacular events that happened with Israel and an amazing mediator at the time.  This is then further added to by prophecy that points forward to things that couldn't be known in advance, and yet come to pass.

In verse 19, there is a question about what exactly Peter is saying.  He is either saying that the events of Jesus, especially the Transfiguration, have made the Scriptures even more sure, or, he is saying that the Scriptures are even more sure than his experience on the mountain.  I don't buy the argument that Peter sees the Old Testament as greater than his experience.  Like I said before, Moses wrote the Torah, The Law, in response to a great, spectacular event with God at Sinai.  It was revelation from God in the same vein as Peter, James and John experienced.  It wasn't a science of man that discovered either the Law or the Gospel.  It was a revelation of God.

This brings up the issue of science.  True science can powerfully discover how things work, and how to build technology to do things.  However, science can never tell you if you should do something.  What do you put in a petri dish to determine right and wrong, yes and no?  You are left with men making their best guess, which is a recipe for disaster.  When it comes to the heart of man and his spiritual condition, we need more than science to help us.  We need the revelation of God, which is exactly what Peter received.

Peter was an eyewitness, even an earwitness, of God's revelation.  The Old Testament was completely reliable before, but with the revelation of Jesus it is even more proven than it was before.  This would apply to the writings of the Apostles as well.  What they would write would be the blazing light of truth, powerfully confirmed in the first century as being from God.

If you don't think Peter thought of the writings of the apostles as Scripture, then note chapter 3:5 in this same letter.  There he points out that scoffers are twisting Paul's words in his letters just as they did the "rest of the Scriptures."  They knew that they were righting down the Words of God, just as Moses knew that he was doing so.

In verse 19, Peter tells believers that they would do well to pay close attention to the Scriptures.  The verb here is an intensive looking into something that is important to you.  It is important for believers to spend time in the Word of God.  If you want to know God, then you will want to read His Word because it was written for our benefit.

Peter says that they should do this "until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."  The "until" is a terminus to what he has talked about before.  Revelation 22:16 tells us that Jesus is the morning star.  So, does Peter mean that we should pay close attention to the Bible until we come to faith in Jesus, and then we won't need it any more?  I don't believe so.  The key is in noting the need for a light in a dark place.  It is true that we need the light of Jesus internally, and the believer receives such at salvation.  However, there is always a sense of "now, but not yet" with things pertaining to believers and the Church.  We are transported into the Kingdom of the Son of God's love, yet that kingdom is not fully realized on the earth.  We become the children of God, but our sonship will not be fully realized until the Resurrection. 

On top of this, we are still surrounded by a dark world in which we are shining the light.  Thus, the rising of Christ in our hearts and the Day dawning finds its complete fulfillment in the Second Coming of Jesus.

Lastly, I would say that darkness is not always associated with moral wickedness.  It is also associated with the lack of understanding in regards to the things prophesied in Scripture.  As long as believers do not have the full light of fulfilled Scripture, i.e., there are still prophecies to be fulfilled, then we need to pay close attention to God's Word, Old Testament and New Testament. 

Some people do  not buy this argument.  They have developed a sense that we have the Spirit of God, so we can just dispense with the Bible.  They see it as passé.  Does Peter make it more clear t hat we should not toss our Bibles and simply follow the Holy Spirit?

I believe this passage and others nip this idea in the bud.  In verse 20, Peter states that no prophecy came about from a person's own interpretation.  This is speaking of an idea that originates from within themselves.  Instead, the Scriptures (Old and New) came from the will of God, the Holy Spirit moving holy men to write.  Do you want to know what did come from the will of men?  False teaching and false prophecy came from the will of men.  Ultimately, even the false prophet is being led and played by the teachings of demons. 

On top of this, Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16 refers to the Scriptures as being inspired.  The word is literally "God-breathed."  Of course, the breath of God is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.  This is exactly what Peter is saying.  The written Word of God, i.e., the Scriptures, are a product of the Holy Spirit's work over 1500 years.  Why would the Holy Spirit not want to use the holy and spiritual book that was purposefully made for the faith of believers?  Will the Holy Spirit simply start over from scratch with each new believer and try to compress all of that work into your life span?

The Apostles who were filled with the Holy Spirit focused themselves on the ministry of the Word.  They encouraged believers to pay close attention to the Word, and commended those who made sure that preaching lined up with the Word.

It has been said that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and that the New Testament is the Old Testament Revealed.  This is true, but we can miss the understanding that the New Testament is shining light precisely upon the Old Testament.  Without spending the time to know what the Old Testament, you will miss much of what the New Testament says.  In truth, God's Word will put in your heart and mind the concepts and ideas that will give the Holy Spirit leverage within your soul.  Through it, we work with Him in taking possession of our soul, and obtaining the wisdom of God in salvation for us and our community.

It is the Holy Spirit that illuminates our understanding in regards to Scripture.  This work will never end while we are in these mortal bodies.  Thus, let us be a people of the Word of God and a people of the Spirit of God.  Some have acted as if these are in contention, but I believe that I have shown that they cannot be so.

Some have put down being led by the Spirit and emphasize the Word of God only.  Yet, on the other extreme, there are those who over-emphasize being led by the Spirit, even referring to the Bible as being an old, stale word from the Lord.  Yes, we want to hear from the Lord in our hearts and minds, but this process will be fraught with pitfalls and errors if we are not a people steeped in God's Word.  Thus, this is a false dichotomy.

Without the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures will fall on deaf ears when it is spoken and preached.  This is where we should remind ourselves that Jesus is the Word of God long before there was anything to write on.  The Scriptures are a mediated picture of the Lord Jesus himself.  They point to him and help us to keep from getting off track as we are led by the Holy Spirit.  This is God's love, plan, and purpose for us.

The Pharisees are forever proof that quoting a whole book of the Bible and having a graduate degree in theology cannot save you.  Paul stated that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).  If you focus on the words without the Spirit of God, then you will end up being a Scripture twister like all of the other false teachers.  Humble yourself by the Spirit, and ask the Lord to help you hunger for His Word, and gain understanding by it.  Let's be a people of the Word!

People of the Word audio

The Things that God Hates 8: One Who Sows Discord among Brothers

Proverbs 6:16-19; 1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Matthew 5:9-12.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 3, 2021.

This morning, we will look at the last thing on the list of things that God hates in Proverbs 6.  It ends with describing a person who sows discord, or strife, among brothers.

God hates the sowing of discord among brothers

This image of sowing begs the question, “How does one sow discord, strife, and conflict among brothers?”  Or, we could also ask it this way.  “Just what does a discord seed look like?”

Perhaps it is simply a question about another person in their absence, perhaps about their motives, or a remark about them.  We might tell a story about them that we have heard, maybe even completely slandering them.  It might be less aggressive by stirring up the irritations that others already have against the absent person.  We really are only limited in this hated sin by our imagination, and people have honed this craft to an art.

Today, I want to look at the passage in 1 Corinthians 3 to bring out some things involved in this issue.  Paul is speaking to the conflicts and strife that were going on in the church at Corinth.  He puts his finger on their main problem: spiritual immaturity.  Though a person cannot become any more saved than they are, we may or may not become spiritually mature.

Paul pictures spiritual maturity as receiving nourishment from God’s Word.  Just like a newborn baby cannot digest complex foods and must drink milk, so a new Christian cannot immediately digest much of God’s Word.  They need to feed on the simple milk of the Gospel until they have grown enough to take in the deeper things of God.  The proper effect of God’s Word will be spiritual growth, as opposed to remaining carnal, or focused upon the flesh and its desires.  Thus, spiritual maturity involves putting off carnal motivations, carnal thinking, and the actions that come with them, and putting on the mind of Christ taught within God’s Word.  A spiritually mature person has motivations and thinking that come from God and His Word.  They do the actions that have good spiritual impact upon themselves and others.  Many in the Corinthian church were sowing seeds of conflict among the body of Christ, and Paul knew that this was breaking God’s heart, something that He hated.

Though spiritual immaturity is the main problem for the Corinthian church, there are other possible reasons why a person might sow discord.  A person may simply not be saved.  Jesus speaks in a parable (Matthew 13:24-40) about his enemy sowing “tares” in among the wheat.  These would be people who are carnal because they are not born again by God’s Spirit.  They have not been regenerated spiritually.

Of course, this is often the first accusation against others when you are carnal.  It is easy to always believe the other person must not be saved when there is conflict.  The spiritually mature person recognizes that even godly people can disagree on issues.  However, we would be asleep at the wheel if we didn’t recognize that the external Church has many tares that have been sown into it by the enemy, and some of them are leaders.

Sometimes the sowing originates within the group as we have described, and sometimes it comes from outside of the group.  Paul spoke of this in his farewell message to the elders of the Ephesian church.

“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.  Also, from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.  Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.”  -Acts 20:29-31 (NKJV)

The savage wolves can come in among you, but they can also be government leaders giving decrees that cause problems in the group.  It is easy to miss the true source of conflict and only see the surface reasons.  It is important for us to step into spiritual maturity by checking our own motives first.  Line them up against God’s Word so that they can be purified.  Then, look for any deeper causes for the conflict that are not readily obvious.  Conflict always pushes us to rush our judgments, but this is not the will of God, nor the character of Christ.

In the end, we must learn to see through the schemes of the devil.  Our true enemy is him and his evil spiritual forces.  They are arrayed against the Church, and they use all manner of people: power hungry secular leaders, spiritually immature believers, con-artists, false prophets, etc.  The devil has schemes and a mode of operating that become more evident as we spiritually mature.  Whether whispering into the ear of Cain about his brother Abel, or catching Ahab’s eye with Jezebel, his strategies are generally the same, but his tactics are manifold.

So, what does God love?  Let’s go to Matthew 5:9-12 for that.

God loves those who promote peace between others

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God.  Jesus, the Unique Son of God, came to earth on a peace mission, and so we are sent forth as his ambassadors also offering peace.  We are to speak peace from God to those we meet.  It is when we have peace with God that peace with one another is possible.  Do not fool yourself.  True peace is not possible among those who reject God and His Anointed One, Jesus.

There is a kind of anti-peace that is promoted by the antichrist system of this world.  The anti-peace is not a peace at all, but it can result in a cessation of some strife.  The Pax Romana (peace of Rome) protected many nations from invasion by others.  However, they were always under the strife of Roman rule, and were conquered by them in the first place.  If this is your definition of peace, then you can keep it.

True peace is built upon the foundation of a healthy fear of God and His judgment.  It is not a fear that God will be capricious, but that God will not be mocked or fooled.  He is not swayed by our words to Him.  He judges in truth, reality.  Anti-peace is built upon the foundation of the fear of man, and the powers of this earth.

Jesus said that if you stand for true peace with Him, then the world will hate you.  The world offers a false gospel that delivers a false peace.  Look around you.  You see groups trying to build Utopia without God, without truth.  Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, “When they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.  And they shall not escape.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief!”

When Jesus says that we shall be called “sons of God,” he leaves off just who will call us sons of God.  In fact, the next two verses talk about persecution.  Who is the “they” who will revile and persecute the peacemakers?  It is the world and all those who are one spirit with the false peace.  Christians are makers of true peace, and thus God is not ashamed to call them His sons, but the world that loves false peace uses worse epithets for us.  This persecution will come from outside of the Church and from within it.  It has always been so.  The early Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah were persecuted by other Jews who claimed to love God.  In the Middle Ages of Europe, Christians were often persecuted by other Christians who had power and authority, both religious and secular.

Don’t kid yourself.  A new morality is being raised up even today that is not of God.  Slowly, but surely, many denominations and Christians are moving from God’s Truth, to the anti-truth.  May God help us not to be caught up in our conflicts with one another and lose sight of the true enemy and his tricks.  The enemy is even now coming after believers that cling to the old ways of Jesus.  The heat is being turned up.

Ultimately, Jesus promises a reward for those who promote true peace and pay the price for it in persecution.  Not only will they be called the sons of God by him, but a day of manifesting just who are the sons of God is coming.  We will share in the glory of Christ as he returns to earth in order to set up the kingdom that God has given him. 

Now, your reward comes from the one you are serving.  If we serve ourselves, and thus the world, we will receive the world’s rewards.  The world will call us peacemakers and sons of God, but it will all be a lie.  For those who fear God and work for true peace, God has a reward that outweighs any difficulties, tears, and trials on this earth.

Yes, in some ways, we are already sons of God who are participating in his kingdom.  However, the terminology is “reward.”  Rewards are handed out after a contest, or project.  Jesus is pointing us to a point after the Resurrection in which we will stand beside him in his kingdom, a true utopia that will last for 1,000 years.  The world that has rejected God’s peace offer sees His peace emissaries as those who are obstructing the peace that they envision.  Christian, you must get used to being labeled by this world the opposite of what you truly are.  No, it is not fair, but it is part of the path ahead of us.  We can ignore their aspersions against us not in a sinful obstinacy, but in a steadfast, faithful determination to please our Lord Jesus!

Sowing Discord audio

The Things that God Hates 7: A False Witness who Speaks Lies

Proverbs 6:16-19; 1 Kings 21:4-16; John 3:35-36; Revelation 3:14.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 26, 2021.

This morning we will look at the 6^th thing on the list of things that God hates, and we find it in verse 19 of Proverbs 6.  God hates a false witness who speaks lies.

God hates a false witness who speaks lies

The word for “speaks” is literally breathing out, or exhaling, lies, which is a metaphor for speech.  It should remind us of the fact that breath, wind, and spirit are linked conceptually in the Bible.  Thus, it pictures a man who is breathing out lies.  His spirit is not a good spirit and is in league with the work of evil spirits, irrespective of the idea of possession.

Another grammatical thing that we should look at is the phrase “false witness.”  The word false can refer to the testimony itself, but it also speaks to the intent and character of the person who is witnessing.  This is a witness who is not committed to the truth and God.  They are a deceiver.  If a false witness says anything that is true, it is twisted and part of a deception, even if just to throw you off the scent of their deception.

In order to highlight this abominable issue, we are going to look at an event that is recorded in 1 Kings 21.

Ahab is king of the northern tribes of Israel.  About sixty years earlier 931 B.C., Israel had split into two kingdoms with the southern portion taking the name Judea, and the northern portion taking the name Israel.  The Bible tells us in 1 Kings 16:31 that Ahab was more wicked than any other northern king before him.

What did he do to deserve such a description?  He continued the worship of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel to keep his citizens from going to Jerusalem and its temple.  He also married Jezebel who was the daughter of a Sidonian King, a Baal worshipper.  This leads to Ahab building a temple to Baal in his capital city Samaria, and promoting Baal worship.  In fact, he begins to persecute the true prophets of Yahweh by imprisoning them and putting some to death.

Our problem in this chapter has to do with a vineyard next to Ahab’s summer palace in Jezreel.  He offers its owner, Naboth, either money or another field in trade, but Naboth refuses.  We will talk more about why later. 

Now, Ahab is a wicked man, but through his wife, we see that there are different levels of wickedness.  Ahab is more apt to pout and throw fits when people don’t go along with his plans.  Whereas, Jezebel has no boundaries and no qualms with using lies and murder to get what she wants.  When Jezebel finds out what Ahab is pouting over, she upbraids him and promises to get the vineyard for him.

A couple of week ago we talked about people who devise wicked plans in their hearts.  Well, this is exactly what Jezebel does.  Of course, Ahab knows what kind of woman he has married, and later God holds him accountable for her actions.  Jezebel is a leader who sees her position (and Ahab’s) as a means for her own benefit, and not for the people’s.  The people are just sheep, food, and assets to leaders like this.  Everyone is expendable for the sake of the great ego of such a leader.  Jezebel’s plan involves two scoundrels, worthless individuals, who will lie and say that they heard Naboth blaspheme God and the king.  This is a capital crime in Israel, and notice how she uses a cloak of morality to keep the populace going along with the ruse.

Wicked plans often need others in power to go along with it.  These others didn’t hatch the plan, but they knowingly carry it out.  Some do this out of fear because they don’t want to lose their life, power, and authority.  Others may simply do it out of their own lusts.  Perhaps they see themselves getting ahead or getting in the favor of the king, which could come in handy down the road.  Jezebel uses the kings seal to send a message to the elders of Jezreel.  This message tells them to have a fast and seat Naboth in a very public place where to scoundrels can accuse him of blaspheming God.  They are then to take Naboth out and execute him.  Regardless of what they were thinking, the elders of Naboth’s town sell him out in order to please the king.  They know it is all a lie, and yet they go along with it. 

Such wickedness is bad enough between nations, but for a leader to do such a thing to their own citizen is unconscionable.  God deliver us from such leaders, but it is not only kings that can abuse their power.  Every level of power over others down to our job and families can be abused in wickedness.  The wrath of God is coming for such things, and woe to the person who is found by him doing it.

Wicked plans always crush innocent people in order to satisfy the lusts of the wicked.  However, Naboth is not just innocent of the lies against him.  The story pictures him as a godly man.  In general, it would be his right not to sell to Ahab, but in Israel land was a birthright that was passed down from your ancestors, and ultimately it was a portion given by God.  To sell it would be seen as the same as Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of beans.  Naboth knows that the land has been given to his family by God, and he will not sell it for any price.  A gift from God meant more to him than mountains of money.

Ahab and Jezebel have nothing on Naboth because he has lived a godly life.  They then concoct bald face lies to pin on him.  Did anybody from Jezreel protest that day?  Who were these scoundrels accusing their friend Naboth of something they knew could never be?  In fact, although it is not mentioned in this story, 2 King 9:26 makes it clear that Naboth’s sons were killed with him, so there would be no heirs.  All of this because Ahab thought it would be nice to have a vineyard that was close to his palace.

Ahab didn’t enact the plan, but he knew it was going on, and was all too happy to rise up and take possession of the land after the heinous deed.  This was an abomination to God on Jezebel’s part, Ahab’s part, on the part of the leaders of Jezreel, and on the part of everyone who remained silent in the face of obvious wickedness. 

God then sends Elijah who just happens to catch Ahab as he is in Naboth’s field.  What is God’s message?  In short, Ahab will die in the same place that the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth and his sons, outside the city like an outcast.

Of course, the Pharisees tried this ploy on our Lord Jesus.  In their midnight phony trial, several witnesses were put forward as false witnesses against Jesus, but their testimony didn’t match and would stand the light of day.  However, the Lord knew what would give them the charge they sought.  When he declares that they will see him sitting at the right hand of the God, and coming on the clouds of heaven (a direct reference to Daniel 7:14), they believe that he has blasphemed, and that is what he was tried for, blaspheming God and the king (Caesar). 

Yes, in this world, wicked men seem to get away with wicked plans.  However, do not go along with them, no matter how afraid you are, or how much you will get ahead in this life by it.  This is an abomination to God and a righteous man will do his best to expose them.

So, what does God love?  I want to look at John 3:35-36 and then Revelation 3:14

God loves one who witnesses to the truth

If we are to carry out the imagery in Proverbs, we see that Jesus is animated by a pure spirit, wind, breath.  It is a holy spirit that is truth itself, and gives witness to the truth without fault.  This is the one who is loved of God.

Yes, it seems obvious that the Father loves the Son, but He loves us too because we have put our faith in the Son.  Jesus is the perfect image of God.  For all of the lies that Satan has spread against God, Jesus hanging on the cross shuts the mouth of all accusations for all eternity.  How can you question God’s love and motives after that?  Jesus became our template, but he also is our leader.  We will never get to being like him without his direction and help.  He is also the one who empowers us by his Holy Spirit.

The main purpose of this life is for us to learn to become more like God the Father through Jesus.  Of course, there are many who are trying to be gods in this world, and it will only get worse until the One True God ends it.  You cannot separate God’s power from His character.  You can’t try to obtain that power and reject His character.  It will never work.  There are two paths presented to us in this world.  The first is from the spirit of this world and it encourages humanity to follow its lusts, and pool its gifts in order to make ourselves gods.  God’s path requires us to turn away from our lusts and to embrace Jesus.  Of course, we won’t become God, but we will be like Him; we will be the Sons of God.  No matter how god-like humans become, we will one day have to give an account to the One who truly is God.  No one who is unprepared can survive that moment. 

Christians must not become tempted by that path, no matter how successful it may look.  Keep your eyes upon Christ and become more like him, not this world.  If we believe in the Son, we will see eternal life, and the wrath of God will not remain upon us, but His love will rest upon us.

In Revelation 3:14, I want to focus on two of the Titles that Jesus uses for himself.  The first one is The Amen.  It may seem to be a strange title, but it really isn’t.  “Amen” basically means that something is true and trustworthy.  Jesus used this to emphasize his statements to his disciples.  It is translated as “verily” in the KJV, and “most assuredly” in the NKJV.  Twice, Jesus doubles up the word, “Verily, verily I say unto you.”  This is a way of doubly intensifying the meaning.

Jesus is a metaphorical Amen to the Father’s will.  He not only assents that the Father’s plan is true and trustworthy, but he gives his strength to carrying it out.  He is not just declaring true and trustworthy things.  He himself is the Truth and Trustworthiness!  When we stand in Christ, we stand alongside the greatest one of all creation declaring a cosmic “Amen!” to the Father.  When we follow Christ and obey his commands, we are shouting “Amen!” to the Father in heaven with our lives.  Father, we praise you for you are True and Trustworthy regardless of what we see and experience down here!

He is also called The Faithful and True Witness.  I mentioned this earlier, but think of all the slander that the enemy whispered about God the Father throughout history.  Jesus came down to set the record straight.  His death on the cross makes it clear that the Father does not want people to die in their sins and go into the Lake of Fire.  Jesus did not just give a faithful and true witness about God.  He was Faithful and True in all that He said and did, faithful and true to his Father in heaven.

Yes, you and I have a lot of work to do to become like Jesus, and there are many in this world who are witnessing of Jesus, using his moral credentials, but they are not being faithful and true to God’s Word.  With the help of Jesus, this work will be finished in us, if we will just believe him and his word.  Let us be faithful and give a true witness of Jesus, and in so doing, become more like our Father in heaven!