Responding to the Holy Spirit

John 16:7-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 24, 2021.

We have been talking about repentance the last two weeks.  Repentance always begins in the Holy Spirit working on the heart of a person.  He works upon believers and unbelievers for different purposes, but today we are going to focus on how the Holy Spirit works on unbelievers.

It is clear from Scripture that the Holy Spirit works in partnership with and through believers.  However, He is not limited to only working through us.  It is important for us to focus on how the Holy Spirit works in the unbeliever’s life so that we can better cooperate with Him. 

Let’s look at our passage.

The Holy Spirit works on unbelievers

The Bible doesn’t give us a detailed explanation of the ability and limitations that are work here.  We know that the Holy Spirit only resides within believers.  So, unbelievers do not have the Spirit of God inside of them.  In that sense, they are not spiritually alive to His presence and voice.  Thus, He works through the various inputs in their life, drawing their attention to some.  I will not pretend to understand its entirety, but is important for us to know that it is happening, and to learn how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit.  It should be noted that there is a spirit of this world that is also working on the unbeliever.  This spirit has far more leverage on the unbeliever because of the self-serving desires that the person has.

When we share the Word of God, and live the life of Jesus, we are giving the Holy Spirit more to work with in their life.  Yes, Jesus could personally visit every unbeliever on the planet with a vision of himself giving them the Gospel, but he wants us to partner with him and learn to speak into their lives.  The Holy Spirit works in tandem with us, or better, through us.  This is why it is so important to prayerfully ask the Spirit of God to lead us in the things we share with unbelievers.  The Holy Spirit knows them far better than I do.

Our passage mentions 3 things about which the Holy Spirit brings a conviction to the heart of the unbeliever.  Before we look at them, let’s take a second to mention what is meant by “to convict.”  This has to do with correcting, refuting, and bringing light to the truth of a person’s legal position before God.  So, we use this word in reference to an external thing that happens.  For example, in a courtroom, a criminal may be convicted by the court, but that tells us nothing about what is going on in his heart.  Did the moral and legal arguments of the prosecutor and the decision of the judge make it into their heart and cause them to sorrow over their criminality?  This is when the external work becomes internalized and the criminal agrees that they have done wrong and need to make things right.  Many people are convicted externally, but their hearts are hardened towards any inner conviction about their sins.

The unbeliever is guilty of not putting their faith in Jesus.  This is the first conviction the Holy Spirit attempts to bring to the unbeliever.  Jesus is the savior that God has given to the world, and He will not send another.  Yes, unbelievers are guilty of all manner of sins, but these can only be removed and forgiven when we deal with this foundational sin.  Unbelief towards God, and His Rescuing Son, is the reason we pursue all manner of sinful activities.  People need Jesus more than they need to quit getting drunk, aborting babies, and being hateful to others.  Without putting real trust in Jesus, we will be powerless to achieve real, lasting reform in the other areas of sin in our lives.  The believer must be careful not to lose sight of this.  We can focus so much on the problems of sin in their life, and forget to point them to their lack of trust in Jesus, that is what needs to change foremost.

The unbeliever is guilty of a woefully inadequate righteousness.  Everybody believes that they are pretty good and can always point to other people that are far worse than them to justify themselves.  Jesus is not currently on this earth, and thus people do not see how perfectly righteous he is.  They can only see his righteousness when believers share God’s Word with them, and by how believers live.  Those who put their faith in Jesus will listen to the Holy Spirit in order to do and to be the righteousness of Christ.  This is a righteousness that can only come from trusting Jesus and saying, “Yes!” to the Holy Spirit.  When confronted with the Word of God and the life of a believer who is crucifying the flesh, the unbeliever will be convicted that their “righteousness” does not stack up to the righteousness of Jesus.  Only the life of Jesus was perfect and acceptable to God.  Only the death of a perfect man could both pay the price for our sin, and allow for us to live.  Praise God that He not only desires that we live, but that we live in an eternal relationship with Him.  He invites us into His family, but we have to let go of the trust that we have in our own righteousness outside of a faith in Jesus.

The third thing the Holy Spirit brings is the reality of what that guilt means.  God’s judgment hangs over their head along with the ruler of this world.  Are you convinced that the judgment of God is even now looming over this world?  The only reason it hasn’t fallen yet is because God is merciful and is not willing for so many to perish.  This world is guilty of surrendering itself to the influence and control of the devil and his infernal cohorts.  The Holy Spirit is working to convince the unbeliever that they are in danger; but are also able to switch allegiances.  This is the good news of the Gospel.  God is calling you to switch sides before He lets the hammer fall.  In fact, the judgment will be meted out by Jesus himself.

Knowing that the Holy Spirit targets these three things: to convict them of their unbelief in Jesus, to convict them of their woefully inadequate righteousness, and therefore to convict them of their looming judgment, believers should pay particular attention to these areas in their life and speech to unbelievers.  Unbelievers need to see us living out faith in Jesus.  They need to see the righteousness of Christ in those of us who are rejecting the spirit of this world.  No one will ever be saved by us becoming more like the lost world around us.  They will only be saved by receiving a powerful revelation of just who Jesus is, who they are, and the judgment that he will save them from, if they will trust him.

The response to His work

Of course, there are different responses to the Holy Spirit’s work (and our partnership with it).  A person may respond one way, and then later change in their response.  No one is locked into any particular response, and this is the weakness of the devil’s hold on people, but more on that in a bit.

Some people are simply unmoved by the Holy Spirit’s convicting work, and basically pay it no attention, if they even see it at all.  This is probably the response of the majority of people.  Like a dead man who cannot respond no matter how hard you shake them, many continue on with life content to embrace the world system around them.  In a sense, we must “leave room” for the Holy Spirit to bring them to the place of repentance.  Having shared the Word of God, and continuing to be a picture of trusting Christ, we pray for them, and we pray for ourselves that we will be led by the Holy Spirit if there is anything more to do.  Jesus did not run after the rich young ruler as he walked away sadly.  You can only do so much, and the rest is up to God.  Yet, always open to his leading down the road to say or do more.

Some people are enraged by this convicting work and become hostile to it.  This hostility will often be focused upon Christians and the Church.  In fact, we must recognize that even those who are outwardly apathetic are internally hostile to the Gospel.  However, for some, that hostility easily bubbles to the surface and targets believers.  Hebrews 12:3 reminds us, “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”  The writer then speaks of that very hostility as a kind of discipline, or chastening, for believers.  When you run into hostile responses, do not be discouraged.  This will test your trust in Christ, and train you to fight the spiritual battle.  Such unbelievers do not understand that they are becoming the “tip of the spear” for our spiritual adversary the devil.  However, God will use this in your life to make you stronger if you persevere.  On top of this, continue to give room for the Holy Spirit to work in their life.  Pray for them, and don’t give up on them even when they tell you to go away and never bring it up again.

The third general response is that some go on to believe.  There is a mystery of salvation that we can never figure out and forecast.  Some will be interested and want to hear more, but then become like King Agrippa in Acts 26.  “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”  Some believe quickly and embrace faith in Jesus.  Whereas, others believe after a long period of apathy, or hostility.  The Apostle Paul has ever stood as an example of one who was so hostile to the work of the Holy Spirit that most believers had a hard time believing that he really had changed.  It doesn’t matter how hard people are, some days the Holy Spirit just breaks through and their defenses fall like a house of cards.  God will never overpower a person’s free choice, but He does powerfully work in our lives.

Part of having faith in Jesus is knowing that no one is unreachable simply because of their apathy or hostility.  Our faith in him gives us the faith to keep looking for an open door in their life.  May God help us to embrace the work of the Holy Spirit in our life, and partner with His work among unbelievers.

Holy Spirit audio

Refusing to Repent

Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 11:20-24.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 10, 2021.

Repentance in the Bible is not just a word that means to change your mind.  The etymology of the word breaks down into that concept, but the biblical texts make it clear that a change in mind needed to include a change in action, i.e., a real change of mind that involved remorse over error and desire for the righteousness of God.

When we think about the Garden of Eden, we see that Adam and Eve are place in a paradise and have perfect fellowship with God.  However, they are cast out of this paradise because they rebelled against God.  On top of this separation, a curse is placed upon the world, Adam and Eve, as well as the devil.  The Bible calls mankind to repentance, and proper repentance will involve turning away from our ways, and back to God and His ways.  When we do that, God helps us to get back “home.”  Yes, a person may have never been a believer when they turn to faith in Christ, but in a very real sense, salvation is coming back home where we were meant to be and what is good and right.  Only God can help us know how to get back home as an individual or humanity as a whole.

Easier said than done, eh?  Let’s look at our first passage today.

Jesus calls us to repentance

When Jesus started preaching, he called people to repentance (vs. 15).  In fact, repentance was the core of the message that he proclaimed.  He is essentially saying, “Change your mind and believe God’s Word!”  We will come back to this in a moment.

First, let’s ask ourselves, “How many things am I doing because I don’t really believe what God’s Word says?”  This is important because many people who say they believe in God’s Word fail to actually do what it says.  When you ask them why, it always boils down to some kind of excuse.  “God can’t expect me to …”  Anything that follows those words is just me rejecting God’s Word.  Let’s put that on the back burner for a bit and let it simmer.

In the first century AD, the times were changing.  They were changing specifically because God was beginning to do something different.  Israel’s service under the law was coming to an end.  They needed to step into a “mature son” status.  You see, God’s goal is not for mankind to be laboring under 613 laws on into eternity.  Like parents giving their children a bed time, it is not their intention that their kids will always go to bed at 9 PM, or whatever, when they become adults.  Instead, they hope to train them in good habits so that they can make good decisions for themselves later.  This is the picture of a mature son, one who is able to step into the family business and even run it, without running it into the ground.

The times were changing for the Gentiles too.  For over a millennium, they had been stumbling in the dark of false religion, worshipping false gods, and chasing false hopes.

How did they get in that situation?  When 8 humans stepped off Noah’s ark, all mankind knew the truth of God.  Over the years, different families began to wander away from the truth of God, until they were seduced to reject God’s command and build a tower to the heavens.  In an attempt to connect with “gods” other than the true God, they rebelled against the King of Heaven.  This brought judgment and scattering.  Like the casting out of the original parents, the Gentiles are cast out of favor with God.  He gives them over to their faulty thinking, and the doctrine of demons.  They end up in a place of letting go of the truth and embracing lies, walking in darkness, and their minds debased.  God was gearing up to change this through Jesus.

Israel and the Gentiles were actually in the same boat spiritually.  We would expect the Gentiles to be lost and far from God, but Israel had the truth of God and gave lip service to it.  Yet, Israel had become lost like the blind nations around them.  They did so by layering their own reasoning over the top of God’s Word.  Little by little they had created a false system that only paid precious little tribute to the blazing truth delivered by Moses.  Yet, despite this, God was ready to bring the grace of truth to them.  Always remember this, in your life, or the life of a nation, the world, there always comes a day when God steps in.  He does so to change the situation.  The question is, “What will you do in that critical time?”  Listen, friend, none of us can change ourselves, but we can believe God when He purposes to change us.  This is what Jesus, and John the Baptist, were doing.  They were telling people to come and receive from God the grace of the changing of their situation.  They could go from being lost without hope, eating pig slop, in destitution, to coming home to the Father where they belonged.

Jesus tells us to repent, and believe in the Gospel.  The Gospel, the good news, is that both Jews and Gentiles can now enter into the Kingdom that God had promised through the prophets.  It was happening in their day!  Imagine how incredible this must have sounded.  For 400 years before John the Baptist, Israel had not had a true prophet give them a new word from God.  For 600 years, they had been under the thumb of the Gentile powers.  Even before that, their kings had been mostly evil and the nation languished under the lack of righteousness and favor from God.  It was during this time that God promised Israel through His prophets that an Anointed King would come forth to save Israel and even the Gentiles.  He would fix all that is wrong with the world under the administration of a global messianic kingdom.  However, precious few qualified to enter this kingdom because most people had quit truly believing.

Israel and the Gentiles represent two classes of people.  Those who have the truth, some believing, but most not.  And, those who are trapped in the lies and ignorance that they have inherited from their father, who inherited it from their father, on and on.  Both classes can be boiled down to the essential problem: they are not believing God.  So, the bad news is that our sins separate us from God and His coming Kingdom, but the good news is that we can participate in it if we will repent.

The key to the Kingdom promised by God is to repent and believe Him.  Change your mind about all the ways in which you have not believed Him, and start believing Him in your life.

Repentance is a little different for each one.  A gentile would have to leave his religion and embrace a new religion, the truth.  Whereas, an Israelite would have to let go of some tradition, but others they would keep.  In essence, they would get back to the simple truth of God’s Word instead of following the human reasoning of rabbis.

In the first century AD, God was giving a new prophecy, a new decree.  The Law of Moses was ending with its sacrificial system, dietary laws, and laws of cleansing.  It was time to enter the Kingdom of God.  No one would get in (gets in) because of their race, religion, or pedigree.  Jew and Gentile alike can only get in through repentance and believing God’s call to enter the Kingdom.  Particularly, He requires all men everywhere to believe that Jesus was sent by Him to be the Anointed King over that Kingdom.  To believe this is to become something radically different than you were the day before.

Now, let’s go to Matthew 11:20-24.

Jesus rebukes the squandering of grace

When you don’t take advantage of grace, you don’t realize how important it was when you had it.  Like the prodigal son, most in Israel had wasted the immense grace that God had given them as a people.  They were headed the wrong way and would miss out on the Kingdom if they didn’t change.

Jesus points out that the cities of the Galilee had received a large measure of grace in the fact that Jesus did most of his ministry and miracles in them.  If you were to plot the ministry of Jesus geographically and by amount of time, you would see that the cities of the Galilee received the lion share of it.  Why?  Most likely because Jerusalem rejected him and tried to kill him when he went to it and its surrounds.  The grace of God was there for them, but they kept pushing it away, and therefore others received more grace than they would have.

It is not enough to be the recipient of a lot of grace.  We can make our prayers focus on asking for more grace, but we should be careful.  What are you doing with the grace that He is giving you?  Are you pushing it away like Jerusalem, or are you sucking it up like the cities of Galilee and yet not truly believing in Jesus?  The cities of Galilee were fortunate because of the hardness of other cities, but that just puts them in a place of being even more accountable.

Jesus warns Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum that they are headed for a harsh judgment.  There are two aspects to the judgment of God.  There are temporal judgments that happen throughout life and attempt to draw us back to God.  Like a shot across the bow, they are to get our attention, and warn us of a greater judgment looming over us.  The second aspect is eternal judgment.  This is a final judgment and it is too late to repent when you receive it.

These temporal judgments are times when God holds us accountable for our choices, good or bad.  I believe that America is in such a time.  We are under the temporal judgment of God.  What we do today, repent or continue in obstinacy, will determine what we experience next.  Yes, this is a dangerous time because choices have consequences.  However, even now God is offering us grace by showing us how great our sin has become.

Clearly, Jesus is looking ahead to the eternal judgment because he speaks of Sodom.  Sodom was no longer in existence.  There could be no more temporal judgments for Sodom.  She was in Hades awaiting the Judgment Day in which they would receive their eternal judgment.

So, what is meant by this statement?  “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”  I believe it is left cryptic on purpose.  It is intended first to shock the hearer, and second to warn them of harsher judgment.  How could it be harder for a person from Capernaum to survive The Judgment Day than a person from Sodom?  And, what would that look like; what does that mean?  Again, it is not spelled out.  However, the power is in neutralizing that inane ability of people to look at others and think they are better than them for all the wrong reasons.  Sodom is surely in big trouble when it comes to The Judgment Day, but Capernaum was in even bigger trouble.  Are the cities of America in any less trouble?

We didn’t have the physical ministry of Jesus like they did, but we have received far more grace than Sodom, and many other cities of this world.  In fact, we should not take credit for the great amount of grace we have received.  Like Capernaum, we have received such great grace because it was actively being rejected and pushed away by other places.  To have received great grace is to be held to a much higher standard at Judgment Day because God is just and hands down judgments that are righteous.

Repentance is better late than never.  We have received a great light.  The Gospel has been powerfully preached all across this great land.  However, we have been rejecting the truth of Christ and his rule.  We have been refusing to enter the Kingdom of God as decreed by the Father, and we have attempted to blaze our own path to an alternate Kingdom of our own making.

The Kingdom of God is both present and not yet.  Those who truly believe can participate spiritually in the Kingdom of God, while we await the physical return of Jesus.  Meanwhile, we live out our faith in Jesus through daily repentance.  To enter the people of God is to join a group of repenters, penitents.  The problem is that we are blind to all the ways we are rebelling against God’s truth.  In His grace, He works by His Holy Spirit to open our eyes.  Thus, we are to be walking in repentance daily.  Always humbly keeping our eyes on Him.

I hope that you are part of the repentant remnant in this land that is believing God.  The beauty is that during temporal judgments you can still repent and believe God.  If you tarry too long, temporal judgments become eternal judgments for some.  Even now, many are dying and entering into eternity.  What will their judgment be?  Those who believe God will do the works of faith, the works of God.  May the Lord help us!

Repent audio

The Things that God Hates 3: A Lying Tongue

Proverbs 6:16-17; Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Psalm 109:1-4; Revelation 21:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; Ephesians 6:13-14. 

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 22, 2021.

Today, we will continue our look at the seven things that God hates.  Proverbs 6 lists a lying tongue as the second thing that God hates. 

Let’s get into our passages.

God hates a lying tongue

The word translated as “lying” in Proverbs 6 can be translated as: an untruth, a lie, a sham, falsehood, fraud, and deceit.  The phrase is literally “a tongue of falsehood,” or “a tongue of lies.”    It is like the tongue is the offspring of lies and belongs to them.  Of course, the tongue is not the real problem.  Even if God had not given us a tongue, we would still be capable of misleading and lying to one another.  The tongue is just a powerful tool for those whose hearts are inclined to mislead others.

At its core, a lie is a refusal to face the truth, to face reality.  This is precisely why we see much of what we see in these last days.  Mankind is in league with fallen spiritual beings, and are rebelling against truth and reality itself.  Of course, to rebel against reality is to rebel against the One who created it.

Many people object to a God.  They may never say it this way, but they feel that reality is a straitjacket that restricts them.  Only a liar would call reality a straitjacket because it is their own perversity that restricts them.  It is their own life of pursuing pleasure that leaves them shackled and bound to sin.  This is what we all would be, if it weren’t for the love of God calling us back from the precipice, saying, “I love you.  Why will you die?  Choose life!” 

The ninth commandment in Exodus 20:16 tells us not to bear false witness against your neighbor.  Of course, it is wrong to bear false witness against anyone, but the neighbor part is added to intensify the command.  It is not setting the limits of the command, but rather intensifying it.  How could you do such a thing to your neighbor, or even your brother?  If neighbors do not live truthfully with one another, if we lie against those we depend upon for mutual protection, then no society can last long in such circumstances.

There are different reasons why people lie.  Some people really will say anything in order to protect or promote themselves.  Others lie because they believe the ends justifies the means.  Lies are told to conceal activity from others, and in some cases, lies are told to protect others from harm.

Regardless of the reasons why we may lie, such reasons are only the superficial motivation.  There are deeper reasons that go to the core of our human nature, which brings us to the rub.

In Deuteronomy 32:3-4, Moses declares the nature of God.  He is something that is like a large Rock.  It cannot be moved and can be trusted.  You can build your life upon Him and it will hold up, as opposed to sand, which looks solid at first.  I mean, isn’t it just broken up rock?  However, sand is not dependable between sinkholes and liquefaction.  God doesn’t change, yesterday, today, or forever.  The words Justice, Truth, Righteous, and Upright are woven together to highlight God’s nature.  God by His nature is truth, but we are not.  Even when we speak of justice, truth, and righteousness, we are not generally being completely honest.  We just want the justice that is in our favor, and not that which hurts us.  Moses reminds Israel, and us, of just who God is, so that they will do the hard work of fighting against their own sinful nature.

Lies come too easy for us, and only a person who keeps their eyes upon God and has a healthy fear of Him, can be transformed into His image.  The choice is always to conform to the perversity of this world, or be transformed into the truth of who God is.  Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie.  Why?  He cannot lie because He is Truth.  It is His nature.  Whereas, lies are contrary to the nature of God and the reality He created.

In Psalm 109:1-4, David was able to take his prayers, his cries to God, and put them in poetic form.  Always remember that songs which move us deeply are crafted from the difficult things and the anguish that they have gone through. 

David speaks of how the wicked have lied against him, that is within society.  Saul is a good example of what David is talking about.  Saul continually defamed David as a rebel insurrectionist, a usurper, but the truth is that Saul was the true rebel.  He was in rebellion against the path of God, and though he was not usurping the throne, he was usurping God’s place of leadership within Israel.  Still, Saul deflects the truth and paints David as the bad guy.  David also mentions that the wicked do this without cause.  Even their feigned reason for coming after him is a lie.  He has done nothing to them, but good!

Like the cry of Israel rising up from the mud pits of Egypt to God, the cry of the righteous reaches God’s ears.  Even people who lie against others often complain about those who lie against them.  However, notice what David’s answer is to all this frustration. “…but I give myself to prayer.”  David appeals to The Power that is higher than King Saul, or anyone else on this planet, or in this cosmos, for that matter.

If you are not convinced that God will deal with all liars, then read Revelation 21:8.  There, we are told that “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone…”  It may not look like it in this world, but God is committed to destroying those who give themselves to lies, and to lying.  This passage uses inheritance language.  They will have their part, their portion, their lot, in the Lake of Fire.  It becomes their inheritance.  They will not be allowed to enter into the new heavens and the new earth.

Any time a person complains that a good God should not allow so much evil on earth, remind them that they should be more careful.  God has set a day of recompense, but will you survive?  Will I survive and come through the coming Great Filter of God?

Let us not fool ourselves.  God hates lies and false causes.  He will bring to destruction everyone who embraces them, and He will separate them from His creation.

God loves truth

The flip-side of hating lies is that God loves truth.  I could have said that He loves a truth-telling tongue, but there is a deeper issue here. 

In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, Paul reminds us that part of what God is trying to do is to give us a love of the truth.  Think about that.  What is God doing right now?  He is working to help us learn to love truth.  To love truth is to love God because He is truth by nature.  You can’t separate these two.  This includes our wrestling with our sinful nature, and learning to cooperate with the lessons of truth that God is trying to teach us.

Paul pictures the end times as a time in which God quits trying to convince the world to love truth, and He hands them over to a strong delusion, a great lie that the whole world will believe hook, line, and sinker.

In fact, we should recognize that salvation itself, the Gospel, is all about asking people to embrace truth.  I am a sinner, that is the truth.  God’s judgment hangs over my head, that is the truth.  Yet, God doesn’t want me to be destroyed, that is the truth.  If I will throw myself upon His mercy, die to self, and put my trust in the person and the way of Jesus, then I will be spared.  Truth!  If you don’t love that truth, then something is very wrong with your heart.  Something is wrong with all of our hearts, but God can help us if we will trust Him.  Many today keep pushing away the love of God that continues to reach out to them. However, one day it will come to an end because God loves others too much to give you eternity of choosing lies over truth.

In Ephesians6:13-14, Paul reminds us that Truth is part of the armor of God.  Like Saul with David, this world offers us all kind of armor that it says will protect.  Lies and deception are the protection of the wicked.  David knew that he would not survive using this world’s armor.  His trust was in God and the truth.  The truth is that God has either sent Goliath and the Philistines to chastise Israel, or that God is looking for someone with enough guts to trust that He would be with them.  David was that man.

Of course, Jesus also trusted in truth, and it got him killed.  At least, that is what the world, and your flesh, wants you to think.  The truth did not get Jesus killed.  They were actually killing truth when they killed him.  He willingly laid down his life for us, that is the truth!  To overcome the attacks of this world upon our faith, we must love truth more than life itself.  This is the real battle.

As we close, I bring to our remembrance the warning of Jesus himself.  Perhaps Matthew 24 and the Olivet Discourse is what Paul had in mind when he wrote 2 Thessalonians 2.  There, Jesus gave his disciples a look at what lay ahead of them from the first century to the end of the age and his Second Coming.

Jesus emphasized and warned against deception, false prophets, false christs, and lying signs and wonders that are coming to convince the world of The Big Lie.  It will be convincing to those who have not clung to the truth of God and loved it.  Many who claim to be believers in Jesus will become believers in the anti-Jesus because they let themselves use lies as a defense instead of repenting before Christ.

Today, let us not only hate those lies that are told against us, but to hate the deceptive cause that is dripping with a false coat of righteousness and appeals to our sinful nature.  May God enable us to love truth because He is truth, and without Him, we will not survive what lies ahead of us.

A Lying Tongue audio

The Things that God Hates 2: Arrogant Eyes

Proverbs 6:16-17; Psalm 18:27; Proverbs 18:12; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Psalm 62:9-12; Psalm 131; 1 Peter 5:5-7.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 15, 2021.

Today, we will look at the first thing that is hated by God, arrogant eyes.  Arrogance is usually obvious to us when we see it in others.  However, there are times when it becomes infectious, or endemic, to a group of people, a nation, or even a whole world.

When the Titanic set out on her maiden voyage back in 1912, the world touted it as unsinkable.  Of course, they would not think they were being arrogant because they felt that they were just following the science.  The Titanic never finished that voyage and still lies at the bottom of the Atlantic to this day.  An iceberg flow that they were warned about became their date with destiny, a place where pride runs into reality and is cast down.

Since Proverbs 6 only lists the things that God hates, we will be looking at a number of other passages, but let’s start in Proverbs 6.

God hates arrogant eyes

The NKJV describes this first thing as “a proud look.”  Other versions use the word “haughty,” or “arrogant.”  The word that is being translated is a verb that would literally mean “exalting,” or “rising up.”  Secondly, it is literally talking about our eyes.  God hates exalting eyes, or eyes that are rising up.  It is understandable that the English translation has chosen understanding over being literal.  Of course, to have arrogant, or haughty eyes, one first has a pride problem that is going on inside their heart.  Before we get too deep into talking about pride and arrogance, there is one more aspect of this list of hated things that we should recognize.

The list involves parts of the body that are used in our sin.  It begins with the eyes and works down the body to the feet for the first five.  Things six and seven then point to things that actively extend from us towards others.  This will make more sense when we get there, but it involves the things we speak and the things we sow among others.

We could just treat this as a device to enable memorizing, or simply an artistic flourish of the writer, but we must not overlook the truth that God hates it when we use the body that He has given us for sinful things.  Our pride doesn’t stay in the heart.  If it is not humbled by us, then it will worm its way to the surface, and it will show itself on our face, and in our countenance.

Let’s look at some other passages on this issue.

“For You will save the humble people, but will bring down haughty looks.”  Psalm 18:27

“Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.” Proverbs 18:12

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”  Proverbs 16:18

In these verses, the arrogance of the proud is brought down and destroyed in contrast to the salvation and honor of those who are humble.  Of course, many proud people seem to avoid destruction in this life, and the humble often seem to know nothing, but it.  It is not always evident in life that God hates pride and will judge it.

Yet, if you were to look into the life of a proud person in the way that God can see, you would see countless ways that God has been rebuking their pride.  Like warning signs on a road, or messages about icebergs ahead, they double down on their pride and cruise on past it.  Proverbs pictures pride as an essential element to the destruction of anyone.  You can be poor and have nothing, and yet, still be proud.  Ultimately, all of us will face God one day after our death.  Remember, He hates arrogant eyes.  Many proud and pompous people will stand before God after their death.  It will not go well for them in that day.  You do not want to go into eternity as a person who rejected the rebukes of God concerning their pride.

Now, let’s look at 2 Timothy 3:1-5.  Here, we are warned that pride and arrogance will be prevalent in the last days.  Most of these phrases either list an aspect of pride, or something that is dripping with it: Lovers of themselves, boasters, proud, blasphemers, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, headstrong, haughty.  Wow, what a list!

These are the battlegrounds of our hearts today.  They are also part of what makes these last days so perilous and difficult.  We are a generation that loves to talk of love, but in our heart and actions, there is all manner of pride and arrogance against one another.  It is too little to say that God is not pleased.  Can we hear the Scripture warning us that God hates these things, and that our judgment is even now piling up, higher and higher?  It will reach heaven one day, and God will say, “Enough!”  He will send judgment upon this arrogant world, and many will be caught in the trap of destruction.

O friend, don’t be enamored and idolize the proud.  Don’t work to be like them.  Rather, choose to pick up your cross and become like the lowly Jesus, who is loved of God.  Such a person may suffer peril on this earth, but they will receive the wonderful welcome of God, His salvation and Life Eternal!

If God hates pride, then we should take some time to focus on what He loves, humility.

God loves humility

The flip side of all of these hated things, is that there are things that God loves, and the flipside of pride is humility.  Psalm 62:9-12 counsels us to put our trust in God and not in the things of this world.  It reminds us that God has mercy in quantities and in quality that this world can never understand, or give.

We can spend our whole life trying “to be something,” to the detriment of our own soul.  What do I mean?  Our psalm makes it clear that God only saves the lowly.  He does not save the proud; He brings them down in judgment.  Yet, the lowly receive His mercy.

Psalm 62 tells us something that we either don’t know, or too easily forget.  There is no difference between a person of low degree (as judged by this world) and a person of high degree (according to the world).  It tells us that the lowly person is just a vapor, here today, gone tomorrow.  When it says that the highborn are a lie, it is emphasizing that they are no different than the lowly person.  They too are but a vapor, here today, gone tomorrow.  So then, why be so proud over and against the lowly?  Or worse, why try to be one of the high and mighty?

The truth is that every human being on earth is lowly, and it is the most logical thing for us to be humble.  However, we use our minds and hearts to rationalize that we are better, smarter, more valuable than others.  Remember that God renders to each one according to his work.  If you have spent your whole life in arrogant judgment against others, rejecting God’s rebukes all along the way, then prepare for such from God when you get there.  He only saves the lowly.

Psalm 131 is a short psalm that I like to think of as the prayer of humility.  The humble person recognizes that there are things in life that are too great and difficult for us to solve, or figure out.  In such cases, we are faced with a choice.  Will I let arrogance and pride push me further into things that I am ill-equipped to face without God?  Or, will I remain humble and trust that God will help me through it even though I don’t understand it all?

The picture of trust in this passage is that of a weaned child.  The weaned child has grown up enough that it has learned to depend upon the mother’s care.  The weaned child is no longer dependent upon the mother as it once was.  As an infant, it screamed and cried until she nursed it, but now it has learned that it doesn’t have to scream and cry in order to get food.  Mom has been faithful in looking out for it.  The weaned child is still a child.  It cannot face life alone, but it doesn’t have to, and it knows it.  Such a child can face a big world, and big problems, with a calm and quieted soul, peace.  Peace like a gently flowing river can flood our souls when we learn to put our hope and trust in God.  I would say that this is a great prayer to pray each day, as we wake up to face the day.  Even better is to do what it says; trust Him!

Our last passage will be 1 Peter 5:5-7.  If you want the grace of God, then humble yourself in the sight of God, and the people around you.  Peter explains that part of the grace of God for the lowly is that He has a proper time of exaltation for them.  Of course, for us, the best time for exaltation is now!

We all have some measure of exaltation in this life, even if it is just maturing into an adult with abilities that no infant can have.  However, the true “proper time” of our exaltation is after we have shed these mortal bodies at the Resurrection.  Our mortal, and sinful flesh, is really bad at handling exaltation, which is proven every day.  As it is said, “Power corrupts, and absolute power absolutely corrupts.”  Can I live this life trusting God knows the amount of exaltation that I can handle without losing my soul?  And, can I trust that He holds in reserve for me an exaltation that I cannot begin to fathom?

Let me close by warning us of the trap of the proud.  Not all exaltation is duly deserved, and it is always a test of our character and choices.  When you are exalted in any way, you must work even harder to remain humble.  I am reminded of the warning that James gives to those who want to be teachers.  You will have a stricter judgment.  So, let us hear the warning to those who desire exaltation.  You will have a harder time wrestling with pride, and thus facing a tougher judgment.  Of course, someone has to lead, but let them not rejoice in that day.  The proud think that they are being exalted because that is their proper place (over the lesser others), but in truth, they are being exalted, like Pharaoh of old, so that God can make an example out of them.  The higher they rise the greater the fall. 

The end times will fall with a great crash as Jesus returns.  God help us to be a people who are feeding upon the humility and lowliness of Jesus, instead of the arrogance and pride of the spirit of this world.

Arrogant Eyes audio