The First Letter of Peter- 5

1 Peter 1:18-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, December 14, 2025.

We are continuing today in a section where Peter is describing what it means to be a part of this new spiritual people belonging to Jesus Christ.  So far, Peter has given them three main instructions.  First, fix your hope completely on the grace to be revealed at the Second Coming of Jesus.  Second, be holy as our Lord is holy.  Third, we are to conduct ourselves in the fear of the Lord while we live as pilgrims in this world.

It is this last command that is still in view in verse 18.  Part of what instructs our conduct in fearing the Lord is knowing just how we were and weren’t redeemed.

Let’s look at our passage.

Conduct yourself in fear during the time of your pilgrimage in this world (v. 18-21)

It is easy to think of how our redemption leads to joy and happiness.  However, Peter wants us to contemplate how it leads to a fear of the Lord.

Let me remind us of what the fear of the Lord means.  Anyone who is an enemy of God should be terrified of Him because He is holy and will not put up with our wickedness.  However, God is also merciful and desires to redeem us out of our wickedness and the consequences it brings to us and the people around us.

For the one who believes God, the fear of the Lord is the desire not to be separated from God anymore.  I fear life without the Greatest Good in the universe being favorable to me.  It also is the fear of rejecting the great love that God has given to us in Jesus.  I don’t want to live life without a love that would lay itself down for me even while I was a sinner.

What does Peter mean by telling us that we were redeemed?

Redemption is the action required in order to restore the things that have been lost for a person.  Sin has cost humanity dearly, and it has dearly cost each of us as individuals.  We lost an earthly paradise.  We lost a perfect union with God.  We lost an earth that was designed to cooperate with humanity. 

Even those who lived a life of faith in God would find themselves stuck in the grave (the holding place for human spirits who had died).  Though some people were clearly worse than others, all people were guilty of sin against God without exception.  In fact, the Bible does not hide the fact that the heroes of the faith were not perfect.

This created an impasse where God wants to save those who have trusted in Him despite their failures, and yet, it would be unjust simply to do so.  It would also be a problem for God’s nature.  He is holy.  How could He dwell eternally with sinful people, no matter how good they looked next to others?  He made us to dwell with Him, but we had lost that ability. 

This is where Peter reminds us that God did not redeem us with silver and gold, as is often the case among humans.  When he redeemed Ruth, Boaz had to cover the price of the land that had been sold (or more properly, leased).  Of course, he also married her in order to “raise up” a son for her dead husband whose line was in danger of being extinguished.

However, no amount of money, silver, or gold can remove our sins from us and the guilt that goes along with them.  In order to regain our lost status as the children of God, our lost relationship with God, and our lost dominion over the earth, we needed God to help us because we were in a position of helplessness.

The world today is full of men and women seeking to take dominion of the earth through their wealth (silver and gold).  On top of this, they seek to set themselves up as the gods of this world.  All of this is done in the face of the One True God.

Peter then mentions that we are being redeemed from the “futile way of life inherited from [our] forefathers.”  Thus, redemption is not just what we are getting back.  It is also about the powerless position that we leave behind us.  This is not just about the ultimate powerless position of being stuck in the grave after death but is also about the way of life that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden, a life of fellowship, provision, perfect-imaging, dominion, and freedom.  Instead of these things, we have degenerated into a way of living that was handed down to us by our forefathers.

How can a person be broken free from the prison of futility that they inherited from their forefathers?  The Gentiles had inherited a religious system of worshipping the fallen Elohim as if they were gods.  This system was full of further ways to sin against the creator through sexual immorality, sacrificing humans (even children), and placing created things above the true Creator.  They had also inherited a political system that looked to special men to save this with the help of those weak, pretender gods.  They also inherited a system of social relationships that was built upon who had power and who didn’t.

Even Israel had taken the Law of God and encased it in a multitude of traditions that trapped them in futility (i.e., ways that are powerless to do anything of value).  Without God, we are trapped in a life of wasting away in a bondage that He didn’t make for us.  In fact, gold and silver (wealth) are often at the root of this bondage.

We are in the same position today without Jesus.  Our republic was built upon the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ, but over time, we have created ways of doing economics, politics, business, religion, and relationships, that are not God’s ways.  They are thus futile in the end.  Jesus is redeeming us out of these broken, human-made systems.

How can a person be broken free from their life of futility inherited from their fathers?  They can only do so by the grace of God.

Having spoken about what was not used to redeem us, Peter then points to the reality that God redeemed us with the blood of Jesus Christ, the precious, unblemished, and spotless lamb.

The blood of Jesus is precious because he is the only human who has perfectly imaged the Father and is worthy of receiving all that has been lost by humanity.  It is unblemished because he did not give in to the desires of his flesh, the desires of the world around him, or the temptations of the devil.  Peter is basically letting us know that Jesus is like a perfect, sacrificial lamb, spotless.  His death was a worthy sacrifice that was acceptable to God and made atonement, or a covering, for all our sin.

There is no other person who has ever lived who fits the above description.  The fact that Jesus, who is the perfect, worthy one, who is favored of God, used his life to be a sacrifice instead of conquering and taking over the earth is completely contrary to how most humans think.

This is what John the Baptizer was referencing in John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  This is what Isaiah meant in Isaiah 53:7, right after he said that “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…”  Jesus was the one who “like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.”  Even further back, it is what Abraham meant in Genesis 22:8 when he answered Isaac’s question about where the lamb was for the burnt offering.  “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

This miracle child was to be placed on the altar and sacrificed to God.  How could God ask such a thing?  It is clear in the story that God was not going to let Abraham go through it.  Yet, notice Abraham’s answer to his son.  Is Abraham lying to his son?  I don’t think so.  He had a relationship with the God of heaven, and he spoke by faith.  He didn’t know how God was going to do it, but God would keep His word to Abraham through Isaac, even though Isaac may be put to death.  The writer of the Hebrews says that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead if He had to do so in order to keep His promise to Abraham.

What Abraham did that day was to be willing to act out something that God the Father was going to do in the future.  It became a template that would help us understand what God was doing later.  Jesus was the Lamb of God that was sacrificed on our behalf in order to cover our sins.

Peter then states that this perfect Lamb of God, Jesus, was foreknown by God before the foundations of the earth were laid.  God knew that there would be a rebellion if he made sentient beings who had free will.  Before He created humans, He already knew that the Eternal Son would have to take on human flesh and do for us what we could not do for ourselves, redeem humanity from its fall into corruption and out of close relationship with the Father.

Why did God wait 1,000s of years before He sent Jesus, as Peter says, “in these last times”?  There is wisdom in God first giving us a choice.  Will you trust Me or do you want to experience the knowledge of what is good and what is evil?  Of course, our choice was that we wanted to know.  The word for knowledge here is not about head knowledge.  It is about the knowledge that comes from experience.  By the time Jesus came, humans had experienced the depths of the folly of that choice.  We would be more open to God’s solution to our problem at that point than if He had sent Jesus down right away.

Over time, if we are listening, we come to see that evil is not just something that is in that person over there, but it is also in me.  It is not something that I can cover by simply being “better” than another person.  In fact, if Jesus had been revealed at the very beginning, then our following sin would have been ever worse.  God’s delay was actually a grace that helped us to understand the necessity of Jesus.

In the face of 1,000s of years of rebellion, God was faithful to give us grace in the man Jesus.  Why does He wait 1,000s of years after the sending of Jesus to bring sin on this planet to an end, fixing all things?  It is the redemptive grace of God.  He is not willing that anyone should perish.  So, He delays the day of judgment.  In the face of all the evil that humans do to us and all the wickedness that fallen angels and demons may produce, we are shown that God can be trusted to overturn it.

Peter ends with the reminder that putting our faith in Jesus is putting our faith in God the Father.  In Jesus, we who were not believers in God, i.e., were not living according to His ways, have become believers in Him.  To embrace Jesus in faith is to believe God the Father.  However, to reject Jesus in unbelief is to reject the Father.

Peter describes God the Father as the One who resurrected Jesus from the dead.  This is not a contradiction to the statement of Jesus that he had power to take up his own life after death.  If you pay attention to the words of Jesus in John 10:18, you will notice that he says, “I have authority to take it up again.  This commandment I have received from My Father.”  Jesus is authorized to take up his life again, i.e., he has been authorized by the Father.  Thus, both are true.  Jesus takes up his own life, but he does so as the perfectly obedient Son.

The plan and operation of the Father has always been through Jesus as the source of life.  This is part of the glory that Peter says the Father gave to Christ.  He was given the glory of being the first to raise from the dead (firstborn from the dead).  He was also given the glory of the only one to sit at the right hand of the Father.  He is also given the glory of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  He also has the glory of the one who has brought many children of God into glory with him.

Peter then states that our faith and hope are in God the Father completely when we embrace the Son of His love.  It is He that will send the Lord Jesus to take up the kingdoms of the world.  It is also He that will give us the right to be perfected in order to stand at the side of Jesus Christ in His presence.

Knowing all that God has done in order to save us ought to put a reverent fear within our hearts.  How can I rebel against such love?  How can I do anything but bow the knee in awe, asking of the Lord Jesus, “Save me, please!”

Spiritual People 2 audio

The First Letter of Peter- 4

Subtitle: A New Spiritual People- part 1

1 Peter 1:13 to 17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, December 7, 2025.

We transition from the joyful praise of God’s salvation in 1 Peter 1:3-12 to a section that focuses on how we ought to respond to such salvation.  Peter has put in the background of this letter the image of the patriarchs and their sojourn, being a foreigner, in the land of Canaan.  They lived by faith waiting for the Promise that God have given them.

Peter now further inserts imagery that harkens back to Israel becoming a new nation, or people, at the Exodus from Egypt.  Believers have become part of a new nation who are different from the people around them.

Throughout history, the majority of people who have become Christians have marked themselves as foreigners where they live.  Following Christ was not the norm for their societies.  A small portion of people have become believers within a society that was based upon faith in Jesus Christ.  However, even these places have demonstrated over the years that it is easy to be founded on Christ, but much harder to remain faithful to that foundation.

Let’s take the United States of America for example.  Though we were founded upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, our society is far afield of that foundation.  To serve Jesus today is to become a foreigner to a land that is supposed to be a Christian land.  In fact, you will even become a foreigner to many different churches in this republic.  Overall, Christians have always needed this imagery.  You are joining an august body of believers who have lived as foreigners within a society bent on ignoring the Creator.  You walk through this world as one walking through the wilderness with Israel until the Lord brings you to the Promised Land.

This imagery of the patriarchs living like foreigners and Israel being led through the wilderness by God to the Promised land is used by Peter to instruct these believers.  They have joined a new spiritual people who belong to God.

Let’s look at our passage.

How to be a new spiritual people (v. 13-16)

Similar to the way Paul talked about Jesus transforming our relationships throughout the household and into society (see especially Colossians 3:12-4:1), so Peter uses family imagery to instruct Christians on the proper response we should have to the Gospel.

Before you believed in Jesus, how did you approach relationships?  Typically, we approached them for reasons that were focused on self, what our flesh wanted.  Don’t get me wrong.  People can do good things within relationships without God, but that good is always slanted towards what makes me feel good.

I will say up front that Peter tends to say a number of things up front that then lead to the statement of a main point.  This is exacerbated when it is translated into English.  It often appears that Peter is making a long list of main points, when in fact, he is simply describing things that are attendant to his main point.

For example, verse 13 may appear to have three things we are commanded to do: prepare your minds for actions, keep sober, and fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  However, it is the third of these that is being commanded.  The others are verbal adjectives that describe how they are to do number three.

I only take the time to explain this because my approach will be to highlight the main point first, which often comes at the end of the verse or verses, and then speak about these attendant ideas.

This first imperative is for us to fix our hope completely on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Now, the revelation of Jesus Christ is equivalent to what we call the Second Coming of Jesus.  This is still in the future but will arrive one of these days.

Peter has used the three cardinal virtues praised by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13: faith, hope, and love.  He praises them for putting their faith in Jesus as Messiah and loving him, even though they haven’t seen him.  In verse 3, he had reminded them that they had been born again to a living hope.  Here, he picks up that hope-theme again and turns it into a command. 

When Jesus returns, he is bringing with him the grace of God for believers and the wrath of God for unbelievers.  This grace has many aspects to it.  First, the presence of Jesus here on earth and taking up the kingdoms of the world is a great grace.  There is no king or president on this earth who can do what Jesus can do.  We are also told that we will never be separated from Jesus again.  This too is great grace.  Finally, we will receive glorified bodies that do not grow old, become sick, or perish in any way.  This is the blessed hope of all believers in Jesus.  We are to fix our hope, set it steadfast upon, the future return of Jesus.

Peter adds the adverb “completely” to this.  What does it mean to completely fix your hope on the grace to come?  We might picture this as a kind of hope-meter that we need to keep pegged to 100% at all times.  I don’t think this is what Peter means.  We could also envision it as keeping our hope fully on the coming grace and not on anything else.  That is, we should not hedge our bet and put some of our hope on the things of this world.  Even if we are not hedging our bet, we may be drawn into putting hope on spouses, retirements, children, etc., without realizing that it is undermining, or displacing, some of our hope in Christ.  I think that this is much closer to what Peter is saying, but there is another way to view this that is important.  We should also do so all the way to the end of our life.  Thus, we don’t want to simply have a full hope presently but retain that hope fully on Jesus to the end of our life, or the coming of Jesus, whichever comes first.

Peter gives two descriptions of things that are to accompany or to adorn our hoping in the grace to come.  The first is that our minds are to be readied, prepared, for action.  Peter uses the imagery of tightening up a long outer cloak with a belt in order to do something like running, working, or fighting, etc.  However, in this case, they are told to tighten up their cloaks around their waists mentally.  If you saw a person doing this literally, you would know that they are getting prepared for action. 

How do we prepare ourselves mentally for action, and what is the action or actions that we are to be ready for doing?  He is talking about living for Christ and following the Holy Spirit.  He is talking about the work of becoming victorious over sin in our life, but also about walking the faith journey of this life to the very end.

Much of this imagery comes from the Exodus.  Exodus 12:7 says, “You shall eat it [the Passover meal] in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover.”  Israel was eating a special sacrificial meal before the Lord, but they were to do so with a readiness for action.  In this case, the action was leaving Egypt and going into the wilderness with Moses and God.  We too are being set free from the Egypt of this world and the bondage of our fleshly lust for sin.

Along with this readiness for action, Peter adds that they are to hope for this grace to come “being sober.”  Some translations will add the phrase “in the Spirit.”  Since Peter has just mentioned being mentally ready, it is easy to only think of this as a metaphor for clear thinking.  However, we should not be too quick to make this only a metaphor.  Literal drunkenness has shipwrecked the faith and hope of many believers.  Yet, this is another way to speak about your mind being ready for action, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually, i.e., in every way.

When you are clear minded, you are able to see the reality of what is happening around you.  When you are drunk, you lose inhibition, and you think you are doing better than you actually are.  When you are spiritually drunk, the same thing happens.  What does this look like?  It is when we allow ourselves to be filled with the lust and desires of this world.  Instead of warring against these things within our mind and heart, we surrender to them while thinking we are doing well.

The ideas of girding the loins of our mind and being sober are often tied together with the idea of vigilance because we are in a spiritual battle.  This battle is internal against the lust of our flesh but also external against the pull of this world and the temptations of the devil.

We can be guilty of not being serious about the things of God and His purposes in our life.  Thus, we are not just to lay claim to a great reward and inheritance in the future.  We are to fix our hope upon it with sobriety and readiness for action within the world around us.

Verses 14 and 15 build up to another imperative: Be holy.  In saying this, he adds that they should be holy “as obedient children.”  It is understood that he is talking about being a child of God.  Here again, he connects them to the same position that national Israel had.  During the Exodus and the teaching in the wilderness, they are told that they were not to be like all the other nations or copy their activities, religious or otherwise.  In the same way, Christians are not to live like the culture around them.  We are not children of the world, but rather, children of God.

Notice the reference to obedient children.  This should remind us of Jesus who is the perfect obedient son of God.  The point is not so much about never failing as it is about keeping focused on who we are.  Of course, it is ludicrous to even compare ourselves to the one who never sinned and never needed redemption.  We, of course, did sin and do need redemption.

In short, we are to keep focused upon who we are.  Don’t listen to the devil as he accuses you of failing, or the Gospel not working for you.  You were made to dwell in the presence of God for eternity, but you were also made to be a spiritual warrior in this life, battling against sin in your life.  It wouldn’t be a battle if it wasn’t difficult.  In fact, it is a battle we would continue to lose if it wasn’t for the help of God’s Spirit and the grace of Jesus.  No, you tell the devil that you belong to Jesus because He says so!  Don’t let his lies take root in the wounds of your soul.

Peter also tells them that they should not be conforming to the former lusts that were in their ignorance.  Jesus is leading us out of the Egypt of our old life.  Before we knew Jesus, we were ignorant of God and His desires.  At the least, we only knew a little bit and didn’t have time to bother with that Christianity thing.  In that state of ignorance, we lived to please the strong desires of our flesh, of our eyes, and of the pride of life.  It was a true bondage.  We were living like everyone else around us, trying to get the most pleasure out of this life.

It is sad to see the American dream hollowed out and replaced with a cheaper form.  Since I was a kid, I have been told by the culture that the American dream was that our kids would have a better life than us.  This is a lie.  When you study history, you find that the original American dream was to be able to worship God in the way that we believed He wanted to be worshiped, freedom of worship.  The replacement dream is about bondage to materialism and never having enough.

Peter uses the same term and phrase as Paul used in Romans 12:2. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  You will be pressed into the mold of this world by the pressures of your own desires, the pressures of the world around you, and the pressures of your spiritual enemy, the devil.  This will be the case unless you actively let the Spirit of God lead you in the transformation of becoming more like Christ.  Conformation focuses on dressing up the outward, but transformation focuses on changing our inner man from which flows outward change.  It is this progressive sanctification process that Peter has in mind.

Just as Israel had a tendency to want to go back to Egypt, we must fight the inner desire to go back into our old life, or to straddle the fence with an apathy for the things of God.

We are to be holy “like the Holy One who [has called us].”  We are reminded that Jesus is the one we are to be like.  He is the perfect image of God the Father, and we are being made over into his image.

Yet, this takes cooperation in how we live, our behavior.  The Spirit of God works to help you know what is good and what is like Jesus.  We can nurture and grow in this, or we can let it die on the vine.  God also places mature believers in our life in order to help us in this.

Peter then quotes from the Old Testament.  “You shall be holy for I am holy.”  This admonition to be holy because the One we are following is holy comes from the time of the Exodus as well.

In Leviticus 11:44, Israel is told, “I am the LORD your God.  Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”  He goes on to restate this in verse 45.  Several more times in Leviticus we have this repeated: 19:2; 20:26; and 21:8. You see, we are not just God’s people.  We are His children and should take on His image like true children.  This takes a lifetime and is completed through our death and resurrection.

To be holy in this life is to be peculiar to the people around you.  Of course, we do not seek to be strange only for the sake of being strange.  If you follow Jesus, this will be strange to the world because it is not following Jesus.  Like Sodom with Lot, they will grow tired of hearing your moral sermons on why these things are not good.

God will bring you up out of the slavery of your sins, and He will bring you into that good that He has for you, both the good He has for you at the 2^nd Coming and the good that He has for you now in this wilderness.  Of course, you will have seasons in your life.  You may even have times where you complain that you aren’t accomplishing anything.  Yet, if you have been doing your best to serve Christ and learn to be like him, then you have not wasted your life.  You are living out the good thing that God has desired.  It is good; trust Him.

How to be a new spiritual people (v. 17)

How long are you planning to stay here in this life?  Of course, it is not up to us.  We don’t know how long we have.  Thus, it is ours to remain faithful in spite of what we may face.

Again, Peter puts the main point last.  We are to conduct ourselves in fear during the time of our sojourn, or pilgrimage.  This too harkens back to the Exodus, which is why he reminds them of the sojourner metaphor.

He mentions conducting ourselves with fear.  It is clear that he means the fear of God.  This is a common problem for humans.  We fear everything but God.  We are weak and so we are afraid that something will be too strong for us.  We can’t control the world around us and so we fear lack of control.  It seems that it is our lot to live in fear in our fallen state.

Yet, when you come to Christ, your relationship with God is restored.  You have no reason to fear the world around us.  In truth, you have nothing to fear from God too in the sense that He only desires good for you.

Yet, Exodus 20:20 states, “Do not be afraid [of other things]; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.”

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  Wisdom teaches us to avoid and to conquer sin.

On one hand we should fear life without the LORD.  The idea of turning against Him and going back into sin should be a fearful thought because now we will go back to facing the world alone.  Of course, if we continue to be rebellious, we must also fear that God is not going to overlook our wanton disregard for Him and our lust for the things of this world.  He will not overlook our sin.

If we are to fear anything in this world, it is only to fear the way that it could pull us away from Jesus.  Like Joseph fleeing Potiphar’s wife, we ought to flee temptation like a venomous viper.  Joseph did not flee her because she was scary looking.  He fled because of what she represented.  She represented the ability of Joseph to become reprehensible to the man who had treated him well and the God who had blessed him.  She represented betrayal and unfaithfulness.  That ought to bring the fear of God up to the surface in our life.

In the first part of verse 17, Peter uses the conditional “if.”  It can be seen as a challenge or questioning of them.  Are you really addressing the One who impartially judges as Father?  However, it is most likely a stern reminder.  This One you are calling Father is an impartial judge.  Do you think that He will bend the truth in order to save you from your own wickedness?  He is not going to wink at your sin.  You will not pull the wool over His eyes.

Listen, God was not trying to destroy Israel in the wilderness, but their continual refusal to trust Him led to them perishing in the wilderness.  Men like Joshua and Caleb, however, walked in faith and entered into the promise that God had given to Israel.

We may think that God is too hard.  However, couldn’t those men who died in the wilderness repent?  Couldn’t they warn their sons and daughters against the sin of unbelief?  Couldn’t they instruct them to be full of courage when God brought them back around to enter the Promise Land?  You may have failed in great ways, but you can still repent and live out the rest of your days warning others against the errors you made.  Even now, all who repented and died in the wilderness will be resurrected one day to participate in the Kingdom of Messiah.  Even when we are faithless, God is faithful!

Finally, it may bother some to read that God judges “according to each one’s work.”  Of course, Peter is not talking about how we are saved.  Rather, he is speaking to saved people and warning them that God expects them to trust Him.  Christians do not rely upon the dead works of external control.  Our works are cleansed because they are done by faith in Jesus Christ.  They are done by the leading of the Spirit of God.  Only the works of Jesus Christ pays the price for my salvation, but God does judge my response to that payment.  Do I have external, self-righteous works, or do I have internal, led-by-the-Holy-Spirit works?

May God help us to follow Jesus through this wilderness because only He knows the way!

A New People audio

The Acts of the Apostles- 94

Subtitle:  Paul Arrives in Rome

Acts 28:11-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 2, 2025.

The first part of this passage deals with Paul’s itinerary from the island of Malta to the city of Rome.  They had wintered on Malta for about 3 months, but now it was time to get these prisoners to Rome. 

They finish the trip from Malta to Rome (v. 11-16)

You can go to https://bibleatlas.org/ to see these locations.  From Malta, they sail north to the island of Sicily.  There they stay three days in the town of Syracuse.  They then sail along the southeastern coast of Sicily headed towards the Strait of Messian.  They spend a day docked at the town of Rhegium, which is on the tip of the “boot” of Italy.  They then take advantage of a south wind (blowing north) and head up the western coast of modern-day Italy.  They dock at a town called Puteoli and end up staying there seven days.  From here, they will travel to Rome by land.

In Puteoli, they found brethren (other believers in Jesus).  It is probably through them that word is sent ahead to the Christians in Rome.

As they travel to Rome, we are told that the brethren came out to meet them as far away as the Market of Appius, which was about 43 miles from Rome.  This would be similar to the Rome custom of greeting a hero, or emperor, coming home to Rome from war.  Of course, there is a lot of irony in the fact that Paul is in chains and on his way to Rome as a prisoner.  From the viewpoint of believers, this makes him a hero, but from the Roman pagan mentality, he is not a hero.

Verse 15 tells us that Paul thanked God and took courage when he saw them.  Though he is experiencing a situation that would discourage most people, we see him being encouraged by God through many means: angel visits, dreams, help from unbelievers, and help from other believers.  God can and does employ a multitude of ways to help His followers.

It is easy to lose sight of the humanity of a man like Paul.  If you tell someone to follow Paul’s example, or Moses, or Elijah, they typically scoff it off.  “He was a saint!  I’m not.”  Of course, all Christians are saints, i.e., people who have been set apart by God for His purposes.   But, it is easy to be derisive of such encouragement.  We feel like there is no way that we can relate with a man like Paul.

When Paul is coming to Rome, he is a saint of God who is being faithful to his calling in the face of persecution.  However, these people meeting him are just as much saints as he is.  Paul was encouraged because a part of him was struggling with the difficulty of everything.  He is just a man, needing God’s encouragement through whatever means it might come.  Do you think that the Holy Spirit may have stirred their hearts to travel 40 miles in order to walk back to Rome with Paul?

We need to pay attention to this area of being encouraged because the enemy wants us to be discouraged and quit the work of God, or at least become paralyzed.  Many of the encouraging things above cannot be controlled (angel visitations, what others do, etc.)  However, there are somethings that are intended to encourage us, and they are completely in our control (at least, generally).  We can read the Scriptures like this story and be encouraged that the same God who helped Paul is working in our life.  We can pray to God and be encouraged by the Holy Spirit in our hearts.  We can also be intentional in connecting with other believers.  God intends for us to encourage one another.

They arrive at Rome.  Paul is not handed over to the captain of the guard.  Instead, he is allowed to rent a place where he can stay under the guard of a soldier.  This treatment is most likely because Centurion Julius doesn’t think Paul is a flight risk and has requested this kinder treatment.

Paul calls for the leaders of the Jews of Rome  (v. 17-22)

Paul would normally visit the synagogue on Saturday, but he is under house arrest.  Therefore, he sends word to the Jewish leaders, asking them to meet with him.

When they arrive, he begins by explaining that he has done nothing against “our people” and the “customs of our fathers.”  These counteract the main charges against Paul that have circulated throughout the Jewish communities.  They accused him of being a traitor and undermining the Mosaic laws, as well as trying to destroy the temple.

Yet, he has still been delivered into the hands of the Romans as a prisoner by the Jews of Jerusalem.  He also mentions that the Romans were of the mind to set him free due to the fact that there were no grounds to keep him.  Yet, the Jerusalem leaders objected so much to a release that Paul had to appeal to Caesar.  In all of this, Paul makes it clear that he does not intend to lay a charge against Jerusalem before Caesar.  He will only present his innocence.

He tells them that he is wearing these chains for the sake of the “Hope of Israel.”  His faith and belief in the Hope of Israel is at the foundation of why he is there.  There are many things that we can point to as a hope of Israel, but most of these are things that they are hoping for. 

The hope of Israel is another way of referencing the God of Israel.  This is seen in the book of Jeremiah.  Look at Jeremiah 14:7-9, particularly verse 8.  Jeremiah addresses God as such.  “O Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?”  Again in Jeremiah 17:13-14, we see, “O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be put to shame.”  Ultimately God Himself was the Hope of Israel.  God had also promised an Anointed Son who would redeem Israel and set all things right in the world.  The Messiah then, by extension, becomes the particular means by which the Hope of Israel had promised to help and to save them.

Israel was still giving at least lip-service to the hope of Messiah’s arrival.  Of course, this hope was realized in Jesus, that is the point.  Jesus was the Messiah, the Hope of Israel.  Yet, the leaders were not having anything with that belief.  They rejected Jesus as anything but a heretic.

Let me just say that Jesus is the Hope of Israel, but he is also the Hope of Everett, WA.  He is the Hope of these Fractured States of America.  He is the Hope of every nation under the sun.  If we are to be mistreated and looked down upon, let it be for the sake of the Hope of America.

Yet, there is a personal thing here too.  The Hope of Israel has become the Hope of Paul.  How?  It has become so by faith.  He has put his faith in Jesus.  He has believed God’s witness of His Son.

If a person is connect to Hope with a capital “H”, then they have nothing to doubt or fear.  Yes, in our mortal flesh, we will feel doubts and fears, but the Hope of Jesus is there to keep us out of bondage.  By his Spirit, he helps us to fight through those doubts and fears.  Paul was a man just like you and me.  Yes, I can sense your eyes rolling. So, what is the secret?  Quit looking at the chains and start looking to Jesus.  Quit connecting to the doubts and fears and start connecting to the Hope of the World.

The Jewish leaders tell Paul that no letters or men have arrived in Rome.  They have heard nothing about his case.  This may be because they know they have no case and fear standing before Caesar “wasting his time.”  It may also be that they think the problem will go away now that Paul is removed from the equation.

Of course, the work of Christ is not dependent upon any one person, even the Apostle Paul.  Paul is important and you are important.  Jesus works in and through all of his followers.  However, no matter what happens to me, the work of Jesus will continue where he wants it to do so.  The enemy can do his best to get rid of this person or that person because of their effectiveness.  But, this will never stop the work of our Lord Jesus.

We need to adopt this attitude.  On one hand, I am irrelevant to God’s work because I cannot stop the work of God.  Yet, on the other hand, God wants me (you) to join Him in this work.  He plans to use your successes and failures in order to advance His kingdom.

When that attitude surfaces that says, “I’m not Paul, so I can’t do anything.”  Stop it immediately.  Instead, trust God and do what He says for us to do.  You know, the general call to be a witness of Jesus.  And then, seek His specific calling and will in your life everyday.  Do what He wants you to do.

Though these religious leaders have not heard about Paul, they have had reports about these followers of Jesus.  This group is “spoken against everywhere.”

It is not easy being in a group that is maligned, pilloried, and lied against.  This is what it means to stand with Jesus.  In fact, today, different groups under the banner of Christianity can be the very ones maligning you.  Such a place is not comfortable for our flesh, like being on a cross. 

May God help us to get our eyes on something greater than the attacks against us.  May we see the glory of the victory procession of King Jesus.  In that day, none of the malignant statements and lies will stand!

Arrives in Rome audio

The Acts of the Apostles- 92

Subtitle:  Shipwrecked

Acts 27:21-44.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 16, 2025.

We are going to continue with Paul on his storm-tossed journey to Rome.  But before we do that, I want to share some similarities and contrasts between the Apostle Paul and the prophet Jonah.

Both of these men were tasked by God with taking a message from Him to Gentiles and their king or kings.  Paul of course has a scope that is much larger than Jonah who was only sent to the capital city of Ninevah.  They both end up in a storm that threatens their lives, but are spared by God in order to deliver their messages.  Finally, they both end up in water that could kill them, but are helped by God.

Yet, there are some big contrasts between Paul and Jonah.  Paul goes toward his task as a willing voice to the Gentiles.  Whereas, Jonah is running away from his meeting as an unwilling voice to the Gentiles.  We could add to this that Paul has a heart of love for the Gentiles (not wanting them to perish), and Jonah wants the Gentiles to be destroyed.  Paul is taken in chains by others to his task, even though he would freely go.  However, Jonah uses his freedom to flee from the task.  Of course, there is great irony in this.  We can see that spiritually Paul is the man who is free and that Jonah is the man who has a spiritual bondage to vindication.  We also see that the storm is sent to chastise Jonah for disobedience.  Whereas, this is not the case for Paul.  The storm only helps people to see God’s mark of approval upon him.  Finally, Paul is happy to see Gentiles saved, but Jonah is sad that they are spared.

Of course, a person could come up with more.  All of this gives us insight into the thorny ground of wanting justice from God while keeping true to His heart towards all people.

Now, let’s get back to our passage at hand.  We left them on a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, caught up in a storm so powerful that they are throwing stuff overboard to save their lives.

Hope is given (v. 21-26)

Verse 20 ended with the statement that all hope was gradually being lost.  However, God had different plans.  When we are in hard and difficult times, we can be tempted to complain about them.  Yet, their situation when from hard and difficult to an existential crisis.  They had come to believe that they were going to perish in this storm.

It is at this time that God speaks to the men through the Apostle Paul.  Paul encourages them and gives them hope in this time.  However, this would not be a hope of circumstances, what their eyes could see. 

Our hopes are generally pinned on what we can see, what seems most probable.  However, Christians are told to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Now, that passage is not telling us to ignore the things we can see and to suspend our thinking.  Rather, it is calling us to remember that God is greater than all of the things we can see.  Such a hope is something that is deeper than what we can see.  In a situation absent anything that gives visible hope, a man stands up and says he has been given hope by God, a word from God.  Of course, this begs the question who is this guy.  Men like Luke, Aristarchus would draw great hope from Paul’s words.  He has proven trustworthy to them.  Perhaps a man like Julius the centurion would also draw some hope.  Perhaps everyone else would simply draw hope from the courage it took for him to stand up and say that there is still hope.  Regardless, Paul stands up and speaks hope to them, “after many days” of fighting the storm and going without food.  All told, they would spend 14 days fighting this storm.  We don’t know how close to the end that Paul received his message.  I would think that God did it at just the right timing. 

As Christians, all of us would like to receive a concrete word from the Lord.  However, when God uses someone else to speak into our lives, we are generally not as thrilled to rely upon it.  We balk with the thoughts of how trustworthy they are.  We even balk at whether we think it is possible or not.  This is not a game of “hearing things from the Lord,” as if we are trying to see who can get the best record.   God speaks into every situation generally through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.  However, from time to time, He will speak specifically.  If God has given a word, then it will bear out to be true every time.  If you have been in a situation where you think that God spoke something to you, or someone else told gave you a word from the Lord, and it failed to happen as was said, then the failure wasn’t with God.  You have to go back to God in prayer and humble yourself.  Perhaps you jumped to conclusions about what the word meant.  Look closer.   Perhaps you wanted something so badly that you let your imagination get away from you. 

What we have here is a man who has faith in what God has said, and it will bear out exactly as God told him.

Paul gives the classic I-told-you-so, but it is not given in a vindictive spirit.  Rather, he is really trying to help them.  “You didn’t listen to me before, but listen to me now.”  He is coming alongside of them to encourage them.

We have to be careful not to let our spirit become bitter when people don’t listen to us.  People are free to choose and learn their own lessons.  Yes, your ego may have been hurt, but God is not working in order to spare your fragile ego.  Perhaps we fear that our experience is overly tied to how they respond.  Listen, God is quite capable of helping you regardless of who listens to your godly counsel.  Yet, the foundation question is this.  Am I truly giving godly counsel?

Essentially, Paul tells them that no one will die, but the ship is going to be lost and destroyed.

It is then that he describes how the word of God came to him.  A heavenly messenger spoke to him that very night.  The message is this: don’t be afraid, you must speak before Caesar, and God has granted you all those who sail with you.

There are two things here.  First, the message is really to Paul and about what he will experience.  He doesn’t need to fear because God wants him to appear before Caesar.  Yet, it is also clear that Paul has been praying for the lives of these sailors, soldiers and passengers.  God has heard his prayer and is granting him this request.  I don’t believe the angel is sent to convince Paul that he will survive.  Rather, he is sent to assure Paul that all the others will live.

This is important because Paul shouldn’t even be there in one sense.  He was unjustly arrested without due process, and he is protesting trumped up charges about Jewish religion.  Their salvation physically is going to be due to the intercession of this man.  This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about them.  God cared enough to put His special man on their boat.  As God spoke to Jonah, we can see here.  Jonah didn’t care about Ninevah, but God saw 120,000 people who couldn’t even distinguish their right hand from their left hand spiritually.  They were lost and in the dark, but God cared about them and sent Jonah, sent Paul, sends you and me!

Paul understands this.  He was a man who was supposed to have the light of God, but was absolutely clueless to the truth, until God had mercy and showed him the light.  How much more are these Gentiles worthy of a hearing who have only known darkness and lies?

Paul gives them his conclusion.  They should keep their courage (take heart) regardless of how tough it is going to become.  We don’t always receive such information from God.  When we are in difficult situations, part of us may want to use that to accuse God.  However, faith is not found in knowing the future.  Faith is found in knowing the One who not only knows what will happen, but can work it to our good in impossible ways.

The real question is this.  Do I really know God?  If I do, then that knowledge will help to strengthen my faith, as well as the Spirit’s help.  Yet, this kind of knowing is a knowing of experience.  I can know what God’s word says, but I need to experience times of trusting God (or failing to do so) and finding out that He is trustworthy for myself.

The sailors attempt to save the ship (v. 27-38)

As we said, these men have been caught in this storm for nearly two weeks.  Regardless of when Paul told them this message, the sailors try everything they can (probably with the help of all able-bodied passengers) to save the ship.

We are told that around midnight the sailors sense that they are approaching land.  Even though it is pitch dark with howling wind and rain, they probably hear the sound of the waves dashing against something other than the ship and other water.  Years of sailing had attuned their senses to recognizing that distinct sound.  Was it wishful thinking, their mind playing tricks on them?  Regardless, they were convinced enough to take some sounding with a plummet line.  They soon discovered that the depth went from 20 fathoms to 15 fathoms.  They were sailing towards shallower and shallower waters, which is a hallmark of land.  All ships have a certain depth of water that they can sail in without the bottom of the boat bottoming out.  To keep this from happening, the command is given to throw out anchors.  This is dangerous because of the wind and the waves.  Yet, they had to try something to buy them time for a chance to make it to land.

Some of the sailors used this command as a pretense to try and escape on a small skiff, a lifeboat.  However, Paul recognizes what they are doing and warns the centurion and the soldiers that none of them will live if those men do not stay with the ship.  This may seem strange, but in 2 Corinthians 11, we are told that Paul had been shipwrecked three times and had spent a day and a night in the water.  He had spent a lot of time traveling on ships, so he knew that they were not throwing out an anchor.

Why would Paul say that the soldiers would not survive if those men didn’t stay with the ship?  This does not seem to have been a part of the earlier angelic message, but it may have been something that Paul did not mention.  It is also possible that the Holy Spirit prompted Paul’s mind in the moment that this was not part of God’s plan.  Think about it.  They are buying time for a shot at navigating any rocks and making it to land.  For these sailors to abandon ship in this moment, is to leave the rest of the people to sure death.  It would take everyone of them just to have a hope of getting to the shore.

This is where we should recognize an important fact.  These men’s skills would not be used to save the ship, but they would be used to help get the ship to a place where the people could make it to land.  God wanted to save the men of the ship, but He also wanted to use these sailors, at least partially.

This brings up the mystery of how God uses our actions at times versus sending a miracle.  We could call it the miracle of God including our efforts, even those of unsaved people. 

He wants us to do what we can even when it will never be enough.  Imagine a disheartened dad facing his inability to do a good job with his kids.  He may recognize that he is not up to the task and is failing these kids in many ways.  So, what then?  Do we just quit?  Don’t give up in such situations.  There is a sense in which none of us are enough for every relationship and purpose that God gives us to do.  However, God is not only able to use our weak and feeble attempts, but He intends to use them.  He intends to use your weak efforts, not just to help your kids, but to help you.  In the midst of your weakness, you will find God’s assistance as you give yourself to the task.  You will find yourself growing in ability, but even more, in faith that God can and does work through you and in you.

As it gets close to daylight, Paul encourages the men to eat food for their strength.  “Not a hair from the head of any of you will be lost!”  Yet, pay closer attention to how Paul presents the bread to them.

Luke’s phrasing about Paul giving thanks and breaking the bread suggests that this was also treated as communion for the Christians on board (Luke and Aristarchus).  There is something spiritual happening here as they prepare for the final push to survive.  God is using Paul to implant in the minds of all of these men this crazy man giving God thanks for bread when their lives were in danger.  They don’t know God, but they now have experienced life with a man who does know God.  These 273 (276 minus Paul, Luke and Aristarchus) souls are being touched by the God of heaven who cares for their souls.

At this point, sensing that this is their last chance at land, they send the last of the cargo (the grain) over into the sea.  This would lighten the boat and give them the best ability to steer the ship and maneuver to land.

They fail to save the ship, but God delivers them (v. 39-44)

These men will fail to save the ship, but God does not fail to save their lives, at least physically.

Once there is enough light to see, they make a run for the beach.  This involves putting up the mainsail and cutting away the anchors at the same time.  They don’t recognize the land, but they do see a place on land that is their best chance.  As they put up the sail and cut the anchors, the ship lurches forward.  At some point, they become stuck on a sandbar (often these also have clay under the sand).  The wind and the surf begins tearing up the back of the ship.  It is time to abandon ship and pray to make it to the shore without drowning or being dashed against the rocks.

Things are happening fast at this point.  They will need to swim for their lives.  We are told that the soldiers were preparing to kill the prisoners.  This was common policy for Romans and many cultures of the ancient world.  Those charged with the custody of a prisoner pledged their own life for the life of the prisoner.  If they lost a charge, then they would be put to death.  In situations where there was no way to guarantee their custody, prisoners would be put to death.  Yet, God has been working on Julius the centurion.  He normally would be okay with killing the prisoners, but he favors Paul.  Thus, he tells his men not to kill the prisoners.  Of course, then it comes down to how much they trust him.  They had to respect him enough to follow such an order.

The instructions are quickly given.  Those who can swim are to jump in first and make for land.  Others are to grab a board or something from the ship so that they can hopefully float to shore.  I love the phrase, “so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.”  This was a miracle; but even more, it was a miracle that Paul had proclaimed well in advance.  Paul had testified and witnessed to the fact of his God’s grace for them all.

In the end, the greatest shipwrecks are those that metaphorically happen in the lives of people, individuals, groups and even Republics.  Paul uses this metaphor in 1 Timothy 1:19 for a shipwrecked faith.

Sometimes there are things in our lives that God does not intend to save, even though He intends to save us.  This can bother us.  We are so used to serving Him with those things that it can be unclear just exactly what we are trusting.  Satan tested Job in this way.  God wouldn’t let him kill Job, but he could take away many of the good things in Job’s life.  Would Job curse God and die?  Did the things mean more to him than God?  These are the questions we face as we do life with God.

God always intends to save the souls of people.  The loss of ships and things in our life are not proof that He doesn’t care.  Rather, He cares about much bigger things (like eternal salvation) than we often do.  No matter what we face, God wants to save us, to save our family, to save our church, to save our State, to save our Republic, to save our world.  He is not willing that anyone perish.  So, He is working every day to the ends of saving everyone’s soul.  The real question is do you have enough faith to stand in there with Him like Paul did?

When you face a time of losing things, don’t ask God why He is doing it to you.  Rather, put it on the altar and let Him know that He means more to you than those things.  Then, ask Him what it is that He has for you to do in this situation so that other might know who He is.  Yes, sometimes our trials are just as much about the people watching us go through them than they are about us.

Shipwrecked audio