You Will Receive Power

We regret that the audio for this sermon is not available.  Please enjoy the article.

Acts 1:4-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2020.

A common theme throughout this world is that people often feel powerless.  They feel powerless to change their life, their community, their nation, and their world.  People respond to this in different ways.  Some will come to cynically give up on change and drop into a world of placebos and addictions.  Others gravitate to larger movements, political groups, and social groups thinking that this will give them the power that they seek.

You will find that there are many kinds of power in this world.  However, none of them will satisfy and make a difference like the power of God Himself working within you to affect change in you. 

Today, it is important for believers who have heard the call of God’s Spirit to salvation, also to hear His call to empowerment.  It will not be a power that looks like the world, nor will it be a power that you completely control.  Rather, it will be a relationship in which you learn to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and step out by faith in ways you never would have done without Him.

We wait for the Holy Spirit

In our passage today, we have a scene that happens shortly before Jesus ascends into heaven with his disciples observing it.  Here, they are told to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, whom Jesus also called “another Helper” in John 15.  Just as Jesus had been a constant help to them in various ways, so the Holy Spirit would come and take the place of Jesus in their daily lives.  This would be the same kind of help, but in a different way.  The Holy Spirit would not be a physical presence.

In verse 4, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, “The Promise of the Father.”  Throughout the Old Testament there are many places where the prophets spoke of a time when the Spirit of God would be poured out upon all of God’s people.  It came to be specifically connected to the New Covenant that God promised to make with the remnant of Israel, and whosoever from the Gentiles that would join them.  Take time to read Joel 2:28-32.  Earlier in the chapter, they had been called to repentance, and promised a restoration that was material and yet also a restoration that was spiritual (verses 28-32).

It must have been discouraging at times waiting for this promise that seemed too good to be true.  Century after century, Israel was under the domination of world powers due to their disobedience.  Then one day, Jesus came on the scene.  A man who operated in the full power of the Spirit of God.  Now, in our passage, he is promising them that it is going to happen to them not too many days from then.

It is here that we need to stop and recognize that it was important for Jesus that the disciples be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  It was not just for his apostles.  It was for all those disciples there that day, and for all who would respond to the Gospel call to believe on Jesus in the future, even Gentiles.

There is a distinction that we should make here.  It is clear that the disciples had been drawn by the Holy Spirit to Jesus.  Also, they had believed in Jesus for salvation.  So, the Holy Spirit was clearly operating on the earth already.  However, at the Day of Pentecost, something new was going to be added to the way that the Holy Spirit operated here.  Those there that day would be the first group who would experience a changing over from the old way of the Spirit’s operation on the earth to the new way. 

Today, a person who believes in Jesus immediately has the Holy Spirit taking up residence within them.  He dwells in them.  Yet, the Holy Spirit wants to do more than just dwell in us.  Two images are used to explain this.  The first is the phrase “filled with the Holy Spirit.”  It pictures a vessel that is filled up with the Spirit.  He floods into our whole life, every nook and cranny of our mind and heart.  The second image is that of baptism.  He wants us to be immersed into the Holy Spirit like water baptism does in water.  This is called being “baptized with or in the Spirit.”

Under the old operation of the Holy Spirit, only certain prophets, kings, and high priests would be filled with the Spirit and then only sporadically as it was needed.  At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come upon every one who belonged to God and would be a constant presence in their life.

Ultimately, Jesus is telling us that we cannot do this mission of His, whether personally or as a group, without God’s help.  The good news is that He is more than willing to help us.  It was His plan all along.  Imagine Satan in the Garden.  He is cursed, but so are Adam and Eve.  From that time on, humans were easy targets for his schemes and machinations.  Yet, the killing of the Son of God at the cross opened the door for humans to be indwelled by God’s Spirit.  This changed the game, and has led to a global move of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, which has pulled people out of the grip of Satan, and brought them into the kingdom of Christ.  Satan is being plundered as we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to reach the lost!

In our passage here, the main reason for waiting is clearly connected to the Feast of Pentecost.  The events of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus were accomplished on the very day of each of the spring feasts.  They had been prophetic enactments of what he was going to do.  So, Pentecost was about more than a material harvest of food in Israel, but also prophetically pointing to a time when God would empower His chosen ones to go into the whole world and harvest new believers into Christ’s Kingdom.  The Holy Spirit needed to be poured out on Pentecost so that we would understand its significance.

Yet, there is another benefit to the waiting that we see here.  Throughout the Scriptures, believers are called upon to wait for God’s timing.  In our flesh, we are always ready to jump ahead, but God’s timing is not just better for Him, it is also better for us.  Like Israel in the wilderness who wanted to rush into the promised land, God takes His time so that they can grow in faith before they fight giants.  New believers today immediately have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.  Yet, they also need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and not just once, but every day.    There is technically no reason for them to wait in order to be filled with the Spirit.  Yet, sometimes people are timid or apprehensive towards the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Whether it happens at the same time as salvation or months later, believers should take time to pray, to ask, and to seek God for the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, an experience where He floods into your being, where Christ lays you down under the waters of the Spirit.  It may take time, but let God fill your heart with confidence towards this promise until it happens.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to be witnesses to the lost

With the many movies of super heroes and the powers they have, it is easy to see that the world fantasizes about these matters.  Yet, the power of the Holy Spirit is not as the world fantasizes.  When we talk about the Holy Spirit flooding our whole being and empowering us, we should not imagine it as a kind of “good possession.”  Demons can take possession of people who have surrendered their personal sovereignty through various occult means.  When that happens, there can be a complete subduction of the person beneath the personality of the evil spirit.  The Holy Spirit is not like that.  He is not seeking to overpower you and seize control of you like some kind of marionette.  Rather, He is a helper who comes alongside of us in order to empower us as we yield to His help, but also as we step out in faith upon His leading.  You do not have to fear the Holy Spirit.  He is the pure and clean Spirit of God that has the same love for you that compelled Jesus to go to the cross for you.

In verse 8, Jesus tells them that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.  Becoming a believer in Jesus was not just to be for Israel, i.e. for the Jews.  It was for the whole world.  That was a daunting mission for those early believers.

Today, Christianity is so big that we might be tempted to think that we can do it now without the Spirit of God.  It is common among certain denominations to teach that the empowering of the Spirit is not as dynamic as it was in those days, and we should not expect any such things today.  However, we cannot look at the outward structures of the Church and its institutions.  The Church is not the institutions and the numbers that each claim.  The Church is all of those who have had a true spiritual work in their hearts and are following the Spirit of God.  We still need the Holy Spirit today if we are to save people who may be in our cities right now burning cars and looting stores.  Such people will not be reached unless the Spirit of God enables us to reach them.  Even then, we must recognize that individuals who do receive a Holy Spirit-empowered witness can still reject it.  That is the sad reality.

Another part of the empowering that the Spirit gives is spiritual gifts that He gives to each believer.  These are intended to help us in the mission.  These giftings are not just natural gifts.  They are means by which the Spirit of God diversely works through each of us.  This is intended so that no one person has all of the Spirits gifts, and then has no need of other believers.  It helps us to recognize the truth that His Word tells us, we need each other, and we need the Holy Spirit working through one another. 

These giftings are things that we will have to discover, and cooperate with, by acting in faith.  I will talk about these more in next week’s sermon.

The world needs believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to give them a witness that is spiritual and not fleshly.  Take time to daily seek the Lord that He would fill you with His Spirit and enable you to be a greater witness of who Jesus is!

What Are We Doing At Abundant Life? Connect Part 3

Romans 10:13-15; 1 Peter 3:12; 4:7; Romans 8:12-15; Romans 3:20-22; Jude 1:4, 20-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 3, 2020.

Today, we will continue in our series on the purpose of the Church and for individual believers.  Before we move to the second purpose, I want to look at four things that are not actually our purpose.  Rather, they are the things that help us to accomplish the purpose.  They are the simple actions of the life of faith in Jesus, and we do them because we believe that Jesus is the eternal Word of God, and our source of life.  Each of these things will enable us to Connect to Jesus in whole-life worship, Grow to be like Jesus, Serve Jesus, and Share Jesus with others.  If they are absent, then our ability in these areas will be impotent.

I need to hear and read the Word of God

Without God revealing Himself to us, we would be at a loss to discover His character and purpose.  The Bible is the proven Word of God and no other religious book even comes close to comparing with it.  In the Romans 10 passage, we see the importance of the Word of God.  The Apostle Paul works backwards, or reverse-engineers, from the goal of a person who has been saved by Jesus in order to highlight what is needed.  He impresses upon us the importance of hearing God’s Word for those who are unbelievers and lost.  People who don’t know God typically don’t read the Word of God for themselves.  Someone needs to bring it to them.  However, once a person hears God’s Word, it becomes the spark that enables them to believe and then call upon the name of Jesus for salvation.  Yet, our need for hearing and reading the Word of God doesn’t end once we are saved.  We can’t do what God wants us to do if we don’t become a person of The Book.

We are going to see a pattern as we go through the purposes.  The very things that help us to receive salvation also become the things that help us in our continuing discipleship.  We will talk more about discipleship in our next purpose, but we must reject the idea that I can survive spiritually without becoming a student of God’s Word.

As we take time to internalize God’s Word through prayerful study, prayerful contemplation, and talking with other believers about it, we receive the Words of Life that give light to our minds and souls.  People may ridicule the fact that it is an ancient document written by men from a strange culture.  However, the words have proven themselves to be more than just the words of men about ancient issues.  It has proven relevant in every age.  Also, some believers may never say such a thing about the Bible, but in practice, they never really read it.  It doesn’t seem practical to them.  A Bibleless Christian is an oxymoron and will hardly accomplish any of these purposes.

Jesus is the Truth and the Wisdom of God.  In an age that likes to talk about “my truth,” it is important to understand that this world is dying from a prevalence of “my truths” and a lack of real Truth.  The biblical phrase for this is, “each one doing what is right in their own eyes.”  Jesus is the blazing revelation of just who God is and what He wants from us.  Any wisdom and truth that is other than him is a pretender, and is actually an anti-truth, anti-wisdom.  Jesus is called The Word of God, so we cannot know him without actually being a student of the written Word of God, which reveals him to us.

This should not be a casual relationship.  It is our daily manna that we need to go out and pick up as the Lord provides.  I cannot lean upon yesterday’s manna, but must go after it each day.  Without it, we will die on the vine in this wilderness-world where truth and wisdom are as rare as food in the desert.

Thus, always remember that our connection to Christ and to other believers is dependent upon the vigor of our interaction with the Bible.  This needs to happen daily in private devotional times, and weekly in interaction with other believers, whether one-on-one, or in a group study.

I need to pray to God

By now, you have realized that I am not telling you anything new.  Everybody knows that Christians are supposed to read the Bible and pray.  However, prayer and reading the Bible are the kind of things that we intend to do, but never really get around to doing.  It is imperative that we stop being lax in this area.  It is not a matter of preference, but spiritual life and death.

Prayer is simple and yet can be more complex.  When churches gather and sing songs of worship to the Lord, they are giving a special kind of prayer.  We are spiritually addressing and praising our Father in heaven.  I need not be in any particular place, nor need I be alone.  The main thing is to speak to God at all times about the things that we encounter.

By the way, technically we are praying to the Father in the name of Jesus.  He is our “access pass.”  However, I don’t believe that God gets angry if we address Jesus in our prayers.  Jesus is the Son of God, and the perfect representative of the Father to mankind.  To pray to Him is to pray to the Father.

In Luke 18:1, the whole purpose of the parable that Jesus goes on to tell is to teach us that we should always pray.  The story is about the persistent widow who wants justice from her adversary.  In this, we find that even those who pray can become discouraged and give up praying like they used to do.  However, we will not receive anything from God without giving ourselves to daily prayer.  Second of all, prayer is not only about getting justice, or getting our material needs satisfied.  It is a daily conversation that we have with our Lord about the things that we are learning.  It is that wrestling of Jacob with the Angel of the Lord.  I won’t let go unless you bless me!  So, let us not kid ourselves.  We will accomplish nothing of value without taking time to talk with God about it.

1 Peter 3:12 reminds us that God is watching all the time and He is listening as well.  He is not a cosmic vending machine, but rather a personal being.  This is a relationship of those who are sentient.  Like any relationship, we can feel like He is not responding as quickly as we would like, or in the manner that we want.  Yet, prayer begins with the simple act of faith that says, “I know He hears me, and I know He loves me.”  Prayer without faith is a sad act of futility, but the prayer of faith of a righteous man is one of the most powerful things we can ever do.

In chapter 4 verse 7, Peter adds another layer to our prayers.  He says that the end of all things is at hand; therefore, we should be serious and watchful in our prayers.  In the context of Scripture, Peter means the end of all things, “as we know it,” or TEOTWAKI in the modern parlance.  This world will not always continue going as it does today.  This is definitely true in the historical arc of change, but it is also true in a greater sense.  When the flood came, it ended one world and a whole new world took its place.  The Second Coming of Jesus will be such an event.

It is easy for us to become inundated by the media and philosophies of this world.  These are dominated by the spirit of this age, which works in opposition to Jesus.  Prayer is a mental exercise, but it is far more than that.  Peter sees our soul as something that needs to be watched over, like a shepherd watching over his sheep.  It is through spiritual vigilance and conversations with the Lord that we keep our heart from growing weary of standing with him against the philosophies of this age.  If you do not pray then this world will grind any faith you have to powder.  The good news is that this world has a way of driving us to our knees.  Don’t neglect this important part of our connection to Jesus.

I need to listen to the Holy Spirit

I could have treated this as part of prayer.  Prayer is not intended to be a monologue, but a dialogue.  Yes, God is not always so talkative, and yet, we must intentionally listen and watch for His responses.

In Romans 8:12-15, we find that it was the Holy Spirit that first led us to Christ and opened our eyes to his saving grace.  It was our listening and responding in faith to the Holy Spirit that brought us through the door of salvation.  This must not stop at salvation.  We cannot pick up our cross and follow Jesus without listening to the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is not physically on this earth.  He speaks to us by His Spirit.

Now, the spirit of this world pulls us into gratifying our flesh.  For some, it is sexual immorality, and for others it is substance abuse.  Some go after spiritual experiences and spiritual power through any means necessary.  The devil cares not what direction you go, as long as it is to gratify your fleshly desires.  These always pull us away from Jesus and his purposes.  Even believers will die if they quit following the Holy Spirit of God and simply follow their own heart.

This begs the question.  To what am I listening?  This is not always so easy to discern.  Sometimes our flesh wants things that look religious and have a veneer of spirituality.  Yet, at their heart they can be only about our pride and purpose. 

Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, we have to move when the Spirit of God is moving.  When He says it is time to repent, then we need to embrace repentance and do it.  When He says it is time to help someone then we need to do it.  This is a subjective area that takes time and is a relationship that needs to grow.  So, I am not trying to strap a legalistic burden upon you, but rather to stir you up to the inheritance in front of you.

God’s Word is the guardrail to learning how to hear the Holy Spirit for ourselves.  It was produced by men who listened to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not going to contradict Himself, but my flesh will contradict itself all day long.  Having other believers around me is another guardrail that God can use to help us keep on the right path in this area.  Ultimately, we must avoid pride and arrogance in this area.

In verse 15, Paul refers to the spirit of bondage.  Our flesh always leads us into some kind of bondage.  Yes, Americans have great freedoms, but in some ways, we are more in bondage then the slaves ever were.  Learning to hear and recognize the Holy Spirit begins in reading the Words that He inspired.  It is then forged in our prayers to God over time.  Though we will never lack a need to grow in this area, steady faith will bring you to the place where you will recognize that same voice that led you to trust in Jesus in the first place.

I need to choose to live out the righteousness of Christ

It is not enough to hear the Word of God, and to hear the Holy Spirit.  We must learn to exercise our faith by doing, by the actions that He puts before us.  Do I pursue what is right in my own eyes, or do I listen to what God says is the righteous thing that I should be doing?  For the believer in Jesus, there is only one answer.  I want Jesus!

In Romans 3:20-22, Paul talks about the righteousness of Christ versus dead works.  Sometimes people are confused about the New Testament teaching on works.  Always remember that it is not works that are condemned (though sometimes it only uses that word).  The condemnation is technically upon what is called “dead works.”  Dead works are those things that my flesh does in order to achieve or earn salvation, whether from God or from this world.  They are not born out of faith in the leading of the Holy Spirit, but in faith of my flesh that I can do this!  The true believer has come to understand that none of us are able “to do it.”  We cannot be righteous enough to deserve God’s love and presence.  We are saved only by the grace of God.  Yet, we are saved in order to live out the righteousness of Christ.  Yes, it is the righteous works that He did which cover my sins.  However, he also laid down a template for our discipleship.  He has shown us how to become like the Father.  The Holy Spirit will teach us how to say no to ungodliness, and yes to the things that Jesus wants us to do (that reflect the Father’s image).  The things we do in response to the Spirit of God give life and are true righteousness.  Anything I do out of an attempt to force God to give me what I want is a dead work.  So, Christians ought not to put down seeking to live set apart for the Lord, rather than for the world.

In our last passage, Jude 1:4, 20-21, we see the apostle’s concern for how we live.  The early Church had its fair share of false teachers, false prophets, and false apostles.   They tended towards two errors.  Either they promoted legalistic approaches to God, or they promoted using the grace of God as a license for immorality.  Jude warns believers that those who do so “deny the Lord.”  If you have truly received the grace of Jesus then you won’t easily choose to sin.  My sin is what nailed Jesus to the cross.  My sin is what led to his gruesome death.  How can I continue to hold on to it?  Jesus did not go to the cross because he was pleasing his flesh, and your flesh will not lead you towards Jesus.  To embrace sin is to let go of Jesus, period.  Be quick to repent of such an attitude and ask the Lord to cleanse you from such a horrible persuasion.

We could use the word “obedience” here, but that word falls short of what God intends for us.  Little kids need to obey because they don’t understand, even can’t.  However, adults need to believe, to have faith, to agree.  My heart needs to valiantly rise up to the challenge of the Holy Spirit to march on.  Yes, Lord, I hear you.  I will follow.  It is the response of a person who has seen that they not only need Jesus, but that they also love who and what he is; and we want to be like him.

Grace is not a license for immorality; it is the gift of transformation.  God graciously puts His Spirit in your life to enable you not only to connect to Jesus, but also to have His abundant Life pouring into you and creating a life-long transformation. 

May we give ourselves to studying God’s Word, praying to God and worshipping Him, hearing the call of the Holy Spirit, and taking those bold steps of faith to follow Him.  There is no other way to life!

Connect III audio

Will You Walk with Me?

Romans 8:1-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Pentecost Sunday, June 09, 2019.

Pentecost Sunday emphasizes the giving of the Holy Spirit to God’s people, which is described in Acts chapter two.  In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is very active.  However, He comes upon certain individuals, at certain times, for a particular work such as: prophesying, miracles, and even physical exploits in the case of Samson.  During this time, God promised that a day would come when His Spirit would be poured out upon all God’s people.  Thus, in the New Testament at the day of Pentecost, we see God’s Holy Spirit come: to dwell within believers versus come upon them for a moment, to do so with all believers versus a select few, and to do so continually versus at special occasions. 

As a feast in the Old Testament, Pentecost celebrated the middle of the Harvest and points to the great harvest of God among mankind.  In one sense people are harvested when they are taken from the field of the world, bundled together with other believers and eventually brought into the barn of God.  This analogy does miss the other sense in which believers are called to become fruitful in their life.  In that sense we are not harvested until we leave this earth.  Harvest points to God’s desire to have humans in His family.  It is His work of drawing mankind back to Himself.  Thus, it is all about relationship.

The title of this sermon comes from the fact that Romans 8:1 refers to walking with the Holy Spirit as opposed to walking with the flesh.  This ties back to the Garden of Eden where God would come down to walk and talk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day.  This relationship between God and humans is adversely affected in Genesis 3.  What used to be a wonderful thing filled with joy (God’s presence in the Garden) had become a fearful thing filled with dread because of their sin.  Yet, God in His mercy speaks of help that will one day come to help them against their adversary the devil.

Our passage today is on this side of the cross of Jesus and a long history.  Today, I would like us to recognize that Jesus and his apostles continued this theme of calling people to quit running from God and walking with the devil by following the desires of your flesh.

Will you walk with me?  This is the question God asks every person today through the work of His Holy Spirit and those who believe in Jesus.  No, it won’t be easy.  Your greatest enemy will actually be your own fleshly nature, but it will give you life and peace with God rather than death and condemnation.  I pray that we will be a people who choose to walk with God.

Christ invites us out of condemnation and into life

Verse 1 makes a statement about those who are “in Christ.”  The statement is simply that those who are in Christ Jesus are not under condemnation.  Before we delve into the statement itself, it is important to recognize just how a person comes to be “in Christ.”

It is Jesus who first invites us to come to him.  In Matthew 11:28 he states, “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  His invitation is for people who are in a place, or legal status, of condemnation before God.  Thus, in Romans 8, Paul is not talking about a feeling of condemnation, but an actual legal guilt before God.  Jesus calls people out of that place to himself.  Those who come to him leave their condemned state behind and enter into a place of forgiveness, life, and peace (again, this is about a relational peace between us and God, not a feeling of euphoria).

When Jesus went into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to continue this calling of people to Jesus.  Yes, the believers of Jesus also have a role in this, but they are to do so with the help of the Holy Spirit.  Only He can convict people of their sin and the judgment that hangs over them.  Only He can convince them that their righteousness is not good enough, but that the righteousness of Jesus was intended to give them freedom and life.  It really is a work of the Holy Spirit when a person comes to believe in Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Without His gracious work, they would not choose to believe.

So, the Holy Spirit brings us to Christ and asks us to choose.  Will you walk with Jesus?  Those who choose to follow the Holy Spirit into Christ by putting their faith in Jesus enter into a new standing before God.  The Holy Spirit takes up residence within them and causes them to become spiritually alive, which means they can sense God and interact with Him).  They are saved from the judgment that looms over them because the righteousness of Christ covers any sins that they have.  Even more, they are adopted into the family of God and made co-heirs with Jesus. We become the children of God.

Having chosen to follow the Holy Spirit into the new place before God called being “in Christ,” our walking after the Spirit shouldn’t stop there.  In Romans 8, Paul is speaking about this new standing we have before God and emphasizing that we are those who keep following the Holy Spirit now that we are in Christ.  This brings up the issue of our flesh, which Paul also talks about in this passage.

The flesh can refer to muscles, bones and tendons.  However, in this context Paul uses the term flesh to refer to that part of us that is drawn away from God towards sin.  It is so connected to our bodily appetites that the simplified word is used.  Context helps us determine if the word merely means flesh, or if it is referring to the tendency towards sin within us.

In verse 6, Paul points out that this choice leads us into one of two directions.  If I follow the flesh then I will find death, but if I follow the Spirit of God then I will find life and peace.  The devil is good at using our past life in sin against us as a means of condemning us in our hearts and minds.  Through this, He is able to rob people of their inner sense of peace.  However, the devil cannot touch our standing before God.  He can only attempt to convince you to walk away from Christ on your own.  Yes, I was a sinner and unworthy of the grace of Jesus, but the Holy Spirit drew me to Jesus and says that I can be clean if I will only believe.  Remember this always.  If God has removed you from your deserved condemnation, why would you continue to participate in condemning yourself?  And, if God has declared us to be at peace with Him, why would I worry that He will change His mind and go to war against me at any moment?  Why would I interpret every bad thing that happens as proof God doesn’t love me anymore?

Be careful of looking back at your past life and dwelling there.  If we look back, may it be in order to learn from our errors and to draw strength in order to press forward in Jesus.  However, let us not look back and become stuck in the quicksand of fear and depression.  God has not led us to this point to abandon us!

My flesh tries to pull me back into condemnation

In verse 7 Paul speaks about the challenge that lies before the Christian each day.  The Spirit is faithful to lead us to accomplish those things in your life that He has for you.  Yet, our sinful nature (or flesh) keeps trying to pull away from Jesus and back towards that place of condemnation.  In fact, we are told that the flesh is hostile to God and the things of the Holy Spirit.  The word translated as “enmity” or “hostile” has at its roots in the idea that it hates the things of God.  My flesh wants me to follow its desires and whims, but when I follow the Holy Spirit, I am led away from pleasing my flesh and its whims.  This doesn’t mean that we never have any joys and pleasures.  It just means that those joys and pleasures are not my focus.  Rather, the Spirit of God is my focus.

I know that there is a part of us that wishes or thinks that God might zap us and make our flesh go away.  However, this is not His way.  He puts His Spirit within us to help us to say “no” to the flesh and to say “yes” to Him.  God’s way teaches us to become spiritual warriors against our own evil desires, rather than to focus completely on the evil of others.

Satan’s mindset is the way of death because it focuses on others and uses them as an excuse for its sin.  It is interesting that our flesh will focus on others when it comes to sin and yet, focuses on self when it comes to love.  The Spirit of God calls us to flip this and focus on ourselves when it comes to sin and to focus on others when it comes to love.  Our flesh hates this. 

In verses 9 and 10, Paul challenges us.  If the Spirit dwells in us, which He does if we have put our faith in Jesus, then we are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit.  This is just a different way of describing this new state in which we find ourselves before God.  Being “in Christ” is to also be “in the Spirit.”  Yes, we still have flesh to fight against and we will not feel like we are in the Spirit during those battles.  However, we are in His Spirit because that Spirit is within us working to help us overcome sin and our flesh.

This leads us to verse 11, which makes a powerful statement.  The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is dwelling in you and leading you.  It will give life to your mortal bodies!  Pause and meditate on that for a moment.

There are two ways in which this can be applied.  First, the Spirit gives us life spiritually in victory over our flesh in this life.  As we walk this Christian life, we are given eternal life by the Spirit of God and victory over the flesh (not without wounds and failures).  As we choose to follow the Spirit of God, or as some of the translations say “walking after the Spirit,” or “walking according to the Spirit,” we obtain a wellspring of life within our soul.  This life is experienced each day as He gives it to us in victories over sin, and spiritual accomplishments.  We grow spiritually and bear fruit in Jesus (a process that does not happen overnight).

However, just as Jesus was physically resurrected, so too, we are promised the same.  This is the second way in which verse 11 can be applied.  At the day of Resurrection, we will physically receive the eternal life of God in a new body.  Though it will be physical, it will not have the propensity to go towards sin, neither the physical decay and weaknesses of these mortal bodies we now have.  This becomes the capstone to our salvation as God completes every promise to us and then some.

Final Thoughts

The Holy Spirit is not someone that we can define and use against each other.  There is a lot of water under the bridge when it comes to the Holy Spirit and especially the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Too often, it has been used as a kind of badge of accomplishment against other Christians, particularly certain gifts including speaking in tongues.  However, in so doing we forget that the Holy Spirit is not an inanimate object or a force that we operate.  He is a person who is capable of being grieved and resisted.  Some of the fleshliest things that have happened in the Church were done “in the name of the Holy Spirit.”  We cannot follow our flesh and then call it the Holy Spirit.  This is the same kind of thing the Pharisees did.

So how should a believer navigate this area?  First, quit worrying about speaking in tongues and spiritual gifts.  Instead, focus upon the One who is busy working in your life and wants you to cooperate with Him.  Focus upon the Holy Spirit.  Were you actually led to believe in Jesus, or were you simply looking to use church for your own ends?  If you were actually led to believe in Jesus then the Holy Spirit led you to that place.  If you surrendered and embraced Jesus in faith then it was the Holy Spirit who made you spiritually alive and even now dwells in you.  No one can take that away from you regardless of what spiritual gifts may or may not have been expressed in your life.  Quit worrying about what others think and start listening to what the Holy Spirit thinks.  Choose to follow Him.

Lastly, recognize that the Holy Spirit wants to lead you and empower you to do the work that Jesus has given you.  Pray each morning for the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit and to help you to listen to Him.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will empower you so that you can be more effective in your own life and the life of others.  Be open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but don’t focus on what that must look like.  Rather, keep surrendering to the Holy Spirit and being open to what He is doing in your life.  I know that people can take what I have just said and twist it to their own ends, but those people will one day have to give an account to God.  Today, however, the Holy Spirit calls out to you.  Will you walk with Me?

Will You Walk audio

A Warning against Blasphemy

Mark 3:28-30.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Memorial Day Weekend, Sunday, May 26.

Today we are going to talk about the Unpardonable Sin.  Many people who become Christians live under a fear of an inner accusation, which tells them that they can’t really be saved because they did something so bad that God won’t forgive it, no matter how repentant they are.

Our passage is short and follows on the heels of the response of Jesus to the Scribe’s accusation that he is in league with the Demon Lord, Beelzebub.

The general statement about forgiveness

After showing that it is illogical to think that Satan would cast out his own demonic minions, Jesus gives what can only be seen as a warning.  Is he saying that the Scribes had already gone too far and could no longer be saved, or is it simply a warning that they are flirting with a serious offense?  That would seem to be the question.  Before we get into the unpardonable sin, though, we should spend some time talking about the powerful statement Jesus first gives in verse 28.

It is an amazing statement about our sins and blasphemies, and the possibility of their forgiveness.  Let’s first notice that it opens with the word “Amen.”  This is usually translated as truly or assuredly (KJV = verily).  This is a Hebrew word that means something is firm and dependable, along with everything else this implies.  We are most used to its use at the end of a statement, or as an affirmation of the hearers to a statement that is truth.  So, to preface a statement with this word is to in a sense amen your own statement.  It functions as a form of emphasizing the importance of what one is going to say.

So, what about our sins and blasphemies?  Jesus states that God is ready and able to forgive them.  That is an important statement.  Sin is the many ways that we miss the mark or goal that God has for us in this life.  It is not just an inability to hit the target, but also our partiality to missing it on purpose. Interestingly, the word that is used in the Greek is a modified form of the word for sin and adds the sense of including even the results of our sins.  Thus, it points to our sinful actions (whether in thought, word, or deed) and the sinful results they produce in us and others. 

Blasphemy on the other hand is a particular kind of sin, or a subset of it.  It means to slander someone or speak in a way that intends to bring harm and injury to them.  It is not about hurting someone’s feelings, but about our intention to hurt their reputation, their place in society, and even their physical well-being.  This can be done against another person, but also against God Himself.  Though we don’t use this word in our society, we probably should, since much of our politics and social discourse consists of lots of slander, whether intentional or not.  At best our politicians throw mud against their opponent hoping it will stick to them in your mind and heart.  Beware of being drawn into the blasphemies of others for their selfish motivations and your own. 

Now, as horrible as sin and blasphemies can be, the statement is that they can be forgiven.  Each one, no matter how bad.  Yes, we are going to get an exception.  However, we should not jump past this statement.  God is ready and able to forgive us our sins, pause and meditate.

The second emphasis is that God alone is the remover of sins.  When we say that they will be forgiven, it is not a statement of universalism, which means every sin regardless of our heart condition will eventually be forgiven, i.e. no one will be judged eternally.  Rather, this is a statement of possibility and God’s disposition towards us as sinners.  He is willing to forgive us.  The word “forgive” is far more specific in the Greek.  It literally means to remove our sins, including their guilt, and cause them to be separated from us.  It does not mean to overlook something.  God will remove them so that no one, not even Satan himself can bring them up to be used against us before His judgment seat.  So, how does this work when we are told to forgive one another?  We cannot remove another person’s sin and guilt from them, only God can do this.  When we forgive another person, we choose to let go of the offense and not bring it up against them ever again.  If they are truly forgiven is between them and God.  I, however, need to forgive for at least two reasons.  One, I testify to the other person of the greater forgiveness of God that they should seek.  Two, I shut down the sins of hatred and bitterness in my own heart.

The phrase “shall be forgiven” in verse 28 is in the future tense and has a quality that means, “at whatever time it is needed or necessary.”  Though Jesus does not bring up the mechanism of getting God to forgive us, the Scriptures teach that those who humble themselves, repent of their sins, and believe in Jesus will receive forgiveness from God.  1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Confession is agreeing with God concerning just what sin is (i.e. not changing the definition to suit us).  Repentance is the idea of turning away from our ideas and emotions about our “sins” and turning towards God and His Word of Truth. 

This is a powerful reminder of the grace of God that works tirelessly to give us what we desperately need and yet also give us what we undoubtedly do not deserve.  We stand completely guilty before Him of not just accidental and incidental sin, but also of willful and purposeful ones.  Yet, He does not want us to perish in our guilt.  He makes forgiveness possible through the death of Jesus, who takes our sins upon him and carries them away from us.  Praise God for His indescribable gift!  We must simply humble ourselves, ask his forgiveness, and put our faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit

Now, we turn to verse 29 and the qualification to the general statement that all our sins can be forgiven.  Blaspheming, or slandering, the Holy Spirit is put forth as a sin that will not be forgiven.  So, what does this actually mean? 

Many treat it as a simple one-time act that can remove us from any hope of salvation.  They can picture a person who is begging God to forgive them, but He will not because they did a sin that is unpardonable.  Is this actually what Jesus means?  And, do we ever see God telling a truly repentant person in Scripture that they cannot have forgiveness in the Scriptures?  The answer to that last question is an emphatic, “No!”  Yes, there are some verses that may seem on the surface to say such, but the truth is that on deeper inspection it is not.  This is often approached in one of two ways.  People either use it as a point of fear and warning, with no hope for those who may do it, or they try to water down the idea to the point that you don’t really need to worry about it because it is basically impossible.  I believe that either way is foolish.  Jesus would not have said this if it was impossible to blaspheme the Holy Spirit in such a way that you could not be forgiven.  It is a real warning of something that we can actually do, if we let ourselves do so.  Sin is damaging, even to the point of eternal damage.  Thus, it should not be taken lightly.  The passages that warn of judgment are as important as the passages that point us to grace.  So, whatever we do, we must understand that this is a true warning from Christ of a sin that can affect our eternal salvation.

Yet, does this mean it is something that we can unwittingly do in an unguarded moment of time?  To analyze this, we must think about the way the Holy Spirit is involved in forgiveness as revealed by Scripture.

The Bible tells us that it is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict or convince people of their sin, their coming judgment, and the righteousness of Christ.  This can be found in many places, but John 16:8 says it best.  Even as Jesus was doing what he was doing, the Holy Spirit was moving on the hearts of those watching him.  The Spirit was working to convince them of their sin, coming judgment, and need for God’s righteousness.  Thus, it is the Holy Spirit that helps us to humble ourselves, repent, and believe.  If it wasn’t for the grace of God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, none of us would do so.  The Holy Spirit operates upon every heart and mind upon the earth, drawing them to Christ.  Jesus does the work of making forgiveness available to us, but it is the convincing work of the Spirit that encourages us to believe in Jesus and receive the benefits of what He has done.

This is a critical point because, if we need the Holy Spirit’s work in our heart and mind in order to be forgiven, then any resistance and slandering of that work pushes away the only thing that can bring us to it.  Essentially to resist the Holy Spirit is to build a wall between us and salvation.  To slander the Holy Spirit is an even greater wall between us and forgiveness of sins.  The point of verse 29 is not about an instant in time.  We have plenty of examples in Scripture of people who resisted the Holy Spirit, and even blasphemed His work, and yet who later repented and received forgiveness (Paul the apostle comes to mind).  In fact, all humans who ever get saved do so after a period of resisting the work of the Holy Spirit and what He was trying to do in our hearts and minds. 

Many people who have been hurt in this life will tell themselves that they want nothing to do with organized religion.  In so doing they protect themselves from the charlatans that abuse the words and authority of Christ.  Yet, in so doing, they also wall themselves off from a huge witness that the Holy Spirit could use to reach their hearts.  If we continue to block and resist the Holy Spirit in our heart regarding Jesus, then we have no hope.  There is no other answer; there is no other way.  Jesus is God’s solution to our problem of sin and the Holy Spirit is God’s worker to convince us of this, period.

The phrase in verse 29 that is often translated “never has forgiveness,” literally says, “is not having forgiveness into the age, but is presently guilty of eternal judgment.”  The emphasis is on a current condition that will not be overturned in the age to come.  The emphasis is not on whether or not we can get out of that current condition as long as we are alive.  We are presently in the age of grace in which God is allowing whosoever will to believe and receive forgiveness of sins.  We are approaching the age of judgment and the restitution of all things.  Let no one think that the sins they refuse to deal with in this age will be overlooked in that age.  Now is the day of salvation.  Today, if you hear His Voice, do not harden your hearts, as they did in the rebellion.  Rather, repent and believe in the Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.  Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is serious because you are fighting against the one person who can convince you of salvation.  I do not believe Jesus is saying that one instance of blasphemy can damn a person forever.  However, each time we do so we are damaging our ability to respond to the Holy Spirit.  We can so damage our ability to respond to the Holy Spirit that we are unrecoverable.  How can a person know if they have gone too far?  If you are worried that you may have gone too far, then it is a sign that you haven’t.  Only the Holy Spirit can convict us of sin and by definition those who have gone too far are beyond His work, or no longer sensitive to His stirrings. 

If you feel fearful and despondent today, don’t stay in that place.  The Holy Spirit is calling you to Christ, but the Devil wants to scare you away.  Repent of past disbelief and rationalizations of why you don’t need to pick up your cross and follow Jesus.  Then believe on Jesus and follow Him.  You can know today that your blasphemies can be forgiven, if you will yield to the conviction of the Holy Spirit right now.

Blasphemy audio