The Acts of the Apostles 25

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense I

Sorry about the delay.  We lost power this week for several days :)

Acts 7:1-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 27, 2022.

Stephen has been arrested and put in front of the Sanhedrin.  They have charged with multiple counts of blasphemy.

This chapter is Stephen’s answer, or defense, before the court.  It will take a while to get through this chapter, but Stephen is pretty much making the same argument through a multitude of examples from the history of Israel.  He is simply obeying God like Abraham did, like Joseph, like Moses, and like all the prophets.  They, however, are resisting the Holy Spirit just like the tribal patriarchs, the Israelites in the days of Moses, and all of those who persecuted the prophets.

This whole chapter begs the question, “Just who is on trial here?”  Or, we might ask it this way.  Stephen knows that he is on trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin, but he also realizes that they are all on trial before the God of heaven.  If anyone is being blasphemous here, it is the council who continually sits in the seat of Moses, contravening the truth of God.

Let’s get into our passage.

Remember Abraham (vs. 1-8)

The high priest asks Stephen what he has to say in regards to the charges against him.  Stephen starts with reminding them of the patriarch Abraham.  He is extremely important to Israel, the father of the faith.  God’s covenant with Israel was an extension of a prior covenant, or a greater Promise, that God had made with Abraham, their forefather.

Clearly, these men have not forgotten about Abraham per se.  Rather, they have forgotten what is most important about Abraham, and how that should impact their activity.  The most important thing about Abraham is found in Genesis 15:6, “He believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”  So, how was this belief, this faith, of Abraham displayed in his life?

First, God had called Abraham to leave Ur and to travel to the place that God would show him.  When you read Genesis 12, it appears that God speaks to Abraham while he is in Haran (a town on the Turkish side of the border with Syria).  Ur is a city much further south between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.  We would call this Iraq today.  Historically it is also called Babylonia, Chaldea, Sumer, and Mesopotamia.  Yet, in Genesis 15, God tells Abraham, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit.”  God seems to date His call upon Abraham back to his time in Ur.  This was the traditional understanding in the first century AD as well.

Abram displayed his faith by leaving his home country and heading out on the road.  He first moved into Northern Aram, Syria.  There he lived until his father died, and then he moved south into Canaan.

It is not clear how to read this.  Was Abraham disobeying to stop in Haran?  Of course, God said that He would show Abraham, as in, Abraham did not know the destination yet.  It is quite possible that God first moved Abraham out of Ur, and then later told him to head south into Canaan.  There is no hint in the Bible that Abraham’s stop in Haran was a moment of wavering faith, so we should not try to force it into that narrative.  Stephen’s language is “He [God] moved him [Abraham] to this land in which you now dwell.” (Acts 7:4 NKJV).  I believe it is best to see this as God leading Abraham in a staged fashion.

Ultimately, Abraham is depicted as one who believed God.  He believed God to the degree that he held nothing of his family and ancestors sacred.  He let it all go in order to follow God.  Imagine God speaking to you such a thing today.  Of course, God’s calling is not always about geography as it was with Abraham.  However, it is always about the things that make us comfortable and shroud the truth of God to us.  Abraham needed to leave Mesopotamia, and eventually Haran, if he wanted to fully know God.  We too will have to let go of things in order to fully know God and walk in the inheritance that He has for us.

Once Abraham was in Canaan, God promised the land to his descendants.  Abraham lived as a nomad in the deserted areas between the cities and towns of Canaan.  Thus, Stephen says that he did not have an inheritance.  Abraham lives the rest of his life in a land that he has no inheritance in and has faith in God’s promise that it would be given to his descendants. 

There are two facts that add to the amount of faith that Abraham displays.  First, Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran and 99 years old when Sarah became pregnant.  So, this whole time he believed that God would help him, even though he did not have any offspring.  Yes, even back then, Sarah was considered past child-bearing years.

In fact, this is what led to the whole Hagar fiasco.  Sarah’s lack of faith led Abraham to also stumble in trusting God.  Yet, that stumbling was not without recovery.  God help us as spouses to be careful in this area.  We do not want to be a stumbling block to our mate.

All of us will have difficulty walking in faith with God without stumbling.  We must be quick to admit our fault when the Lord holds us accountable, and we must be quick to repent and turn back to the proper path.  In Abraham’s case, repentance would not erase the effects of his lack of faith.  God can redeem these things, even though they will add difficulty to our path.  Abraham learned a valuable lesson about waiting upon the Lord.  God always has a better plan than we can make for Him.

The second fact that adds to the amount of faith Abraham had is that God revealed to him that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land and not return to take up this promise for 400 years.  God makes some awesome promises to Abraham about judging that nation, and giving Canaan into their hands, but why let them become slaves in the first place.  Also, it would be such a long time down the road.  Can you imagine God calling you to a place in which you have no inheritance and dwelling as a nomad all your life, and it won’t truly “pay-off” for your descendants until 400 years down the road?

Knowing the future is not all that it is cracked up to be.  God in His mercy reveals enough of the future that we can have confidence, yet not so much that we would be overwhelmed.  Of course, people lose confidence in God every day, and feel overwhelmed with life.  However, this is not a lack of God’s grace, but a lack of my faith.

Following God is never easy.  It always calls us to live a life of faith and pass the torch on to the next generation.  Abraham’s life seems grand in the telling of it, but it was quite domestic in the overall living of it.  Long periods of time can grind a weak faith into powder.  However, that same time can increase our faith little upon little, layer upon layer.  Abraham’s journey to a life of great faith was a series of days in which he kept trusting God.

Stephen then touches on something that Israel took great pride in.  They were the circumcised as opposed to the uncircumcised Gentiles.  In Genesis 15, God cuts a covenant with Abraham, but it is in Genesis 17 that God reconfirms His covenant and gives Abraham a task.  He must circumcise himself and his offspring.  This circumcision is a sign, a symbol, or a token, of the covenant that God was making with Abraham.

Now, the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 3 makes a big deal about the fact that this covenant with Abraham is technically a Promise, whereas the covenant at Sinai had a great number of requirements that Israel had to do.  Yes, Abraham needed to walk before God in blamelessness and circumcise his offspring, but Israel would receive a whole set of laws that involved stuff beyond the moral realm of right and wrong.  This covenant of Sinai and its laws become the works of the Law versus the fruit of the Spirit shown in Abraham’s life.

May God give us a heart like Abraham’s that was not afraid to follow God into new places that we have never seen.  You will stumble along the way, but He will be faithful.  He will always show you your fault, and He will always point out the door of repentance.  Let’s walk through that door into life every day!

Defense I audio

The Acts of the Apostles 7

Subtitle: Peter Preaches to the Crowd III

Acts 2:25-33.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 3, 2022.

We are continuing to look at Peter’s sermon to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the disciples of Jesus.

Let’s review his main points so far.

• He countered the mockers who said they were drunk.
• He then reminded them of the prophecy in Joel 2:28-32 where God promised to pour out His Holy Spirit upon all flesh in the last days.
• He then points them to everything that has just happened with Jesus: he was publicly proved by God to be from Him, he was given into the hands of the religious leaders, they had him executed and buried, but he was raised from the dead.

This last point that Jesus has been raised up from the dead leads Peter to point out another prophecy to Israel.  Why would Peter say it was impossible for Messiah to remain dead in the grave?

Peter points to Psalm 16:8-11 (vv. 25-28)

Psalm 16 speaks to Peter’s point of the impossibility of Jesus being held by death.  Peter will interpret this psalm in the next verses, so let me just point out some secondary points from these verses.

This whole psalm lays out the confidence that David has in the Lord to be his ultimate shepherd.  David had confidence in the present because he knew that the Lord was at his right hand (Psalm 16:8; Acts 2:25) no matter what he faced.

Do you have confidence that God is by your side?  That kind of confidence can only truly be ours if we are repentant of our sin before God and working to do His will in our life.  This world needs Christians who have a confidence that is not just based on theory, but on the reality of a repentant, humble relationship with Jesus the Messiah who is our savior and Lord.

Yet, this confidence also had a forward-looking hope while he was in the present.  God had given David a promise that was a secure hope that gave him rest, inner peace, in the now.

The world often argues that Christians are too focused on heaven and the future.  They don’t do enough for the present.  Whether that is true or not, the fault is not in having a future hope promised by God.  Just like David, we have promises from God of a future glory that cannot be taken from us.  This can enable us to have an incredible peace even when we face great obstacles and threats from the Goliaths of this world.

In Psalm 16:10-11, David brings up the hope of resurrection.  The truth of the resurrection of the righteous filled David with the knowledge that he would one day be full of joy in the presence of God.

We are given a measure of joy in this life that can even reside with us in troubled times.  However, David foresees a time of dwelling in God’s presence like we see pictured in Revelation 21-22.  The joy of the Lord in this life is a foretaste of that eternal joy that will know no subsidence.  What we have ahead of us can only be described as Life Eternal, of which we get a taste in the present. 

May we become more like David in these difficult days that require us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Yet, Peter is focused on why Jesus couldn’t stay in the grave, and that is found in Psalm 16:9, Acts 2:27.

Peter applies the passage to Jesus (vv. 29-33)

In verse 29, Peter respectfully points out that David is still dead and buried.  His flesh saw corruption, or the full process of decay. His tomb in Jerusalem stood as a witness to this.  It would be easy to ignore the words and say that it is not clear what he means.  Yet, Peter points out that David was not speaking about himself.

Now, I would point out that Peter clearly sees all of Psalm 16:10 as speaking about Christ.  However, he doesn’t exactly explain the interpretive method that he is using.  I am of the opinion that his “interpretive method” was simply witnessing the events and then learning from Jesus what it meant.  Even without a special revelation from Jesus, there is something going on in this verse.  David first says, “You will not leave my soul in Hades…”  Yet, in the second phrase he speaks of “Your Holy One.”  Though we can see this as pointing to David, it is quite possible that it is scoping out and David has in mind a greater being, the Holy One of God.

On top of this, the lives of the Patriarchs, and later men like David, were often prophetic enactments of things that pertained to God’s dealing with humanity.  So, even David’s reference to his soul not being left in Hades can speak to a greater Son of David, the Messiah, (of whom David is a picture) not being left in Hades as well.

Peter points out in verse 30 that David was a prophet.  Yes, his psalms were not collected and placed among the books of the prophets, but David was a prophet nonetheless.  In fact, all three Hebrew sections of the Old Testament have prophecy.  The Torah, or the Law, has plenty prophecies throughout it, even Moses pointing to “the prophet like me” in Deuteronomy 18:15-18 that Israel should listen to.  Psalms is placed among the Writings, or Wisdom literature.  However, not only are the psalms full of prophecies, but the book of Daniel, and even Job speaking of a time in Job 19:25-26 when his Redeemer will stand in the last days and, even though Job’s skin will be destroyed, he will see God “in my flesh.”  Our categorization of Scripture can be helpful, but it can also get in the way of hearing what the Holy Spirit is saying.

David was a prophet and Psalm 16 is not just some quaint worship song to sing at the temple.  It contains a prophecy about resurrection, yes of David, but even more so, of the ultimate Son of David, Messiah.  Yes, David had the hope of his own personal resurrection, but he knew that this hope was pinned in the person, the One, who would come from among his descendants that would be the Anointed One of God.  He foresaw that the Anointed King who would rule upon the throne of David forever, would also run into trouble just as he did.  He recognized that the spirit of this world would come against Messiah and slay him too.  Like Job, David knew that he had a redeemer that would come down into the grave and release him from its grip because it was impossible for the grave to hold Messiah, or to deny his plundering of its spirits.

Peter wants them to take David seriously.  David stated that the Holy One would not be held by the grave or see decay, which means he must first be killed and then resurrected!  Thus, in verse 32, Peter states that the 120 people that had been filled with the Holy Spirit were witnesses of all that Jesus had done, especially his resurrection.

I will point out that verse 24 and verse 32 use a word saying that God “raised up” Jesus.  This word can also be translated as to set up, or to establish something above.  In this sense there is a dual raising up.  To his enemies, it looked like Jesus was down and out as he died and went to the grave, Sheol, Hades.  However, he had been raised up from the dead and set, established, upon the earth.  For 40 days, he interacted with his disciples.  Yet, another raising occurs in verse 33.

Jesus has been exalted to a position at the right hand of the Father in the heavenlies.  It wasn’t enough to just raise Jesus up out of the realm of the dead like Lazarus.  He was raised up with an immortal body and further raised up into God’s heavenly domain, and further raised up to sit at His right Hand, the highest place.

This point is always difficult on our flesh.  Like the disciples in Acts 1 speaking to the resurrected Lord, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?  Why didn’t he (doesn’t he even now) remain on earth and fix it?  The point is that in our flesh, we will always have an enemy to fight due to the fact that the enemy of sin is inside of us all.

It is at this highest position that Jesus receives from the Father the Promise of the Holy Spirit.  In a sense, this is talking about authority.  It is given to him, or he is authorized, to pour out the Holy Spirit as he sees fit.  In fact, that is exactly what Jesus was doing.  He was in heaven pouring out the Holy Spirit on that very day (and today as well!). 

Back in John 16:7, Jesus had told Peter and the disciples, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”  The sending of the Holy Spirit is the same as the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  The first accentuates his personhood.  The Holy Spirit is another comforter who is like Jesus, but different.  The second phrase accentuates the water analogy.  We need to be baptized, cleansed, by the Holy Spirit in order to be filled with Him to overflowing.

This is the same Spirit that we need in this hour.  We need the same Spirit that David had when he faced Goliath (an uncircumcised Philistine), and later King Saul (an uncircumcised in heart Israelite).  We need the same Spirit that Peter had as he spoke to the crowd that day and later gave his life in the Roman Colosseum.   We need the same Spirit that Jesus had in all that he did while he was on this planet.  This is the same Spirit that we can have as we daily open our hearts and minds to His leading and His purposes.

Let’s ask Jesus every day to fill us with the Holy Spirit in order that we may be his voice, his hands, and his feet in these the Last Days!

Peter Preaches III audio

The Acts of the Apostles 1

Subtitle: Jesus Promises The Holy Spirit

Acts 1:1-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 24, 2022.

Today, we begin a journey through the book often called Acts.  We will take our time to go verse by verse, which will make this a long journey.  From time to time along the way, we will pause the series for special occasions.

The setting of the book (1:1-3)

First up, let’s talk about the setting and situation that gave rise to this book of our New Testament.

The author is not identified, but there is basically no dispute that the author is Luke the physician.  This is attested within the 2^nd century and there is no dispute from anyone at the time. 

We should note that even the Gospel of Luke does not identify the author in its verses.  However, the oldest copy of the Gospel of Luke that we have dates back to the 2^nd century (AD 100’s) and has written on it in Greek “According to Luke.”

In verse 1, the author refers to a former account, “The former account I made…”  He explains the subject matter of the earlier account.  It was about “all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up…”  This clearly describes a gospel account, and makes Acts a second volume that essentially starts where the Gospel of Luke leaves off.

As for the title of the book, there is no title given by the author.  It is simply an account describing what happened from the ascension of Jesus forward.  Thus, it is historical with a theological emphasis throughout it, much like the gospel.  Since the Gospel is about what Jesus did and said, so this book has been referred to as The Acts of the Apostles, and the shorter form Acts.  Of course, we should recognize that Jesus is still acting through his disciples by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts are addressed to an individual named Theophilus.  The name means “friend of God,” and is used only in Luke 1:3 and Acts 1:1.  It is a Latin name, so the person is most likely a gentile convert.  I say this because Luke states that he wants Theophilus to be certain of the things in which he had been instructed (Luke 1:4).  Also there, Luke states that he had a perfect understanding of all things from the very first that he was writing about.

All of the Gospels portray a transitional period after the Resurrection of Jesus.  There are 50 days between the feast of Passover and the feast of Pentecost (called the feast of Weeks in the Old Testament).  Note that Pentecost is a Greek word for 50.  During the first 40 days, Jesus appeared on multiple occasions giving them commands, proving that it was really him, and that he was not just a spirit.  Luke states in Acts 1:3 that Jesus gave them infallible proofs of his resurrection to establish its reality beyond a doubt.  We see this with Jesus having them touch him and eating food in their presence and yet appearing and disappearing within locked rooms.

These first appearances happened in and around Jerusalem.  Then, there was an appearance in the area of Galilee.  This seems to be the situation that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15:6 in which he mentions Jesus appearing to “over 500 brethren at once.”  The end of the Gospel of Luke places the ascension of Jesus on the east side of the Mt. of Olives near Bethany.  This is a short distance from Jerusalem towards the east.

Verse 3 also tells us that Jesus used this transitional time to speak of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.  This would be particularly important to the disciples because they were perplexed at how the crucifixion, and now resurrection, of Jesus would connect to the awaited Kingdom of God.

Jesus instructs the disciples (1:4-8)

This opens with the last appearance to them in this transitional period.  Jesus is giving them his last instructions before going into heaven.  Jesus commands them to wait in Jerusalem for the “Promise of the Father.”  This idea of waiting may seem strange or unimportant to us.  However, the followers of Christ (and even the followers of God throughout history) are to be characterized first as a people who have waited on God the Father. Isaiah 40:31 reminds us that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and be able to fly, run, and walk without growing weary.  We are not an inactive people, but we are not driven by the mission or task itself.  We wait upon the Lord and follow His leading like the righteous of every age.

The Promise of the Father is a reference to the prophecies regarding the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  In Joel 2, the Father promises that a time will come when He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.  This is as opposed to being poured out on a few individuals hear and there, which was how it was experienced before then.

If there is any doubt about what promise Jesus means, it is put to rest in verse 5.  John the Baptist baptized people in water, but they were about to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  We should remind ourselves of Matthew 3:11 at this point.  John himself said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  (NKJV). 

Salvation is sometimes pictured as the Spirit of God putting or baptizing a person into Christ.  The disciples present were all saved members of Christ and his body.  Here the picture is reversed and Jesus will immerse his disciples into the Holy Spirit.  Notice that this picture shows a person being completely surrounded by the Holy Spirit.

There is another picture that is used of the Holy Spirit and that is being filled with the Spirit.  At salvation, Christ dwells in the believer through the Holy Spirit.  However, being filled with the Spirit pictures the Spirit flooding forth and filling our whole inner being until it overflows.  Both these inner and outer pictures are pointing to the same idea. 

Of course, salvation and Spirit baptism can happen simultaneously or separately.  The reason the disciples had to wait was mainly about the fact that the coming of the Holy Spirit in this new outpouring needed to coincide with the feast of Pentecost.  Just as the death of Jesus happened on Passover and conceptually tied to the sacrifice they made in Egypt, so the coming of the Holy Spirit conceptually tied to Pentecost.  This was a celebration of the harvest that God had given up to that point and the further harvest that would be realized in the months ahead.  The baptism of the Holy Spirit is connected to the harvest of believers who would come into the Kingdom of God through the work of the apostles and the Early Church.  They would be like a rock in the pond causing ripples down through history to our very hour. 

We see in verse 6 that the disciples are more concerned about Israel and what Jesus was doing in regard to reestablishing the kingdom.  Old Testament prophecy pointed to a time when the Anointed One of God (Messiah/Christ) would: break off the Gentile dominion over Israel, bring back those of Israel who had been dispersed to Gentile lands, fix all that was wrong with Israel, and bring the world under his righteous administration.  They believed that this would happen up until the cross, where their hopes were dashed.  Yet, these hopes were now restored since the Resurrection of Jesus.  They are like kids often are, asking the Lord, “Are we there yet?” 

Jesus tells them that it is not for us to know the times or seasons that are under the Father’s authority.  The Father would determine when that would happen and He was not giving the disciples more information.  It is important that Jesus expects it to happen.  He doesn’t berate them for not understanding that the Kingdom was only a metaphor and would never happen literally.  This is the approach that many liberal Christians take with such prophecies.  However, Jesus refocuses them.  Our focus is not to be on the “when” of God’s Kingdom restoration of Israel. 

Instead, their focus is to be on receiving power to be witnesses of Jesus to the ends of the earth (verse 8).  This power would come when they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  We will talk more about this when we get to chapter 2.  However, we must always remember that the power behind our activity must always be the Holy Spirit.  We must not let the lesser power of institutional momentum and pride of a brand fuel the task of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.  The pouring out of the Holy Spirit would essentially be about giving a witness to the world of who Jesus is, what he did, what he has made available to us presently, and what he will do in the future.  We can be filled with the presence of God because of what Jesus has done.

In verse 8, Jesus highlights the concentric circles of the expansion of this witness.  It would start in Jerusalem, move to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.  Imagine, here we are today at the ends of the earth from Jerusalem talking about Jesus!  Yet, there are still many who need to hear about Jesus, and they also need to see Jesus in us.

May God help us not to run ahead without the help of the Holy Spirit in doing this work.  Without Him we will fail, but with Him we will succeed at doing the work!  That said, neither do we want to hang back when the Spirit of God begins to move.  May God help us to walk in step with His Spirit, and to stop in sync with His Spirit.

Acts Jesus Promises audio

The Most Negatively Positive Message

Hebrews 13:5-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 28, 2021.

The promises of God are “yes,” and “amen!”  If He promises something then all that is left is for us to say, “Amen,” and then believe it. 

Today, we are going to look at a promise from Jesus that we need to hold onto more tightly in these days.  It is the promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us, even to the end of the age (where we are).

Let’s look at our passage.

We should choose to be content

The verses that we are looking at are in a series of exhortations to godliness.  In them, we are reminded to live in a contented way.  On one hand, we have very little excuse for not having contentment.  We are surrounded by plenty compared to others in the world.  Yet, on the other hand, that very fact can stir up a fear within us that we are going to miss out on what others are enjoying.  We can adopt an entitled attitude.  It is here that we see; contentment begins in the mind and heart of a person.

The writer to the Hebrews reminds Christians that they should live without the love of money.  The idea for conduct or living is that of the turnings of our mind in looking at things, which then lead to the turning of our life in its choices and decisions.  This “way of living” should not be directed by the love of money (the word is literally not a lover of silver).  People love money because of the power that it gives us to obtain whatever it is that we need, or desire.  The money is just a proxy, a stand-in, for the multitude of things that our hearts and minds desire.

As Christians, we must choose to be drawn into this world where the power of money becomes the source of our thinking, the director of our life, and even the hope of our heart.  The reality is that there is no contentment in that world.  How much more money does a millionaire need to be content?  The answer is just one more million.  It doesn’t matter how much money you have, if your heart looks to it as your answer, then you will always need more to be content, which is another way of saying that you will always be discontent.

Instead of looking to money to get us the “things that we need,” believers are told to be content with what they have.  It is literally “the things that are present.”  What do I have right now?  This is what God has provided for me, and part of gratitude is learning to be content with what we have.  This doesn’t mean that we cannot pray and ask God for things.  However, it would be better for us to ask God for His help rather than asking for things.  When our focus is on the “things” themselves, we see God as a cosmic means to satisfying ourselves.  God knows how to help us, and what we need, far better than we do.

When Joseph was taken captive to Egypt, or later when he was in prison, he probably did not feel like he had everything that he needed, but God was helping Him all along, even through those very bad things that others did to him.  His brothers bound him and sold him as a slave.  Potiphar’s wife lied and said he tried to sexually assault her.  These were not good things, but God used them to put Joseph in the right place at the right time in order to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and cupbearer.  We can choose to be content and embrace the things that we have, and the situations that we find ourselves in, because we know that God has supplied them for us and is working it towards a good end (Romans 8:28).  Learn to embrace the things present in your life instead of always looking to the hills for something “better.”

Our Lord has given us a promise

The writer then reminds us of a promise from the Lord to his followers in the last part of verse 5.  In English, we see that he promises something good by stating that he will not do a bad thing.  He will not leave us.  This is a positive message that is stated in a negative way.  If he will not leave us, then that means he will always be with us!  However, there is more going on here than can be seen in English.  Here is the Greek text of the statement translated as “I will never leave you.”

Οὐ  μή  σε  ἀνῶ

The first two words that are underlined are both negations.  They are essentially the word “not.”  The third word is the pronoun “you,” and the last word is the verb, “I will leave” (roughly). 

Normally, to say “I will not leave you,” you would just use words 2-4.  However, in this case, a double negative is used.  Of course, they are not the same word, but more on that in a second.  In English, double negatives would cancel each other out.  “I will not not hurt you,” means that I will hurt you.  This is not the case in Greek.  A double negative actually emphasizes, or intensifies, even more that one will not do the thing.  It could be translated, “I will not, no not, leave you.”  The NKJV uses “never” to cover both negatives; “I will never leave you.”  This is well enough, but there is one more layer to this double negative.

They are not the same word, and therefore do not negate in the same way.  Together, they form a more powerful negation than either one of them can give alone.  The first word of negation negates that it will ever be a fact.  It will never be a fact that I have left you.  You may think and feel this, and others may say this, but it will not be a fact.  The second word of negation negates that it would ever be a possibility, or that it would never be a desire of the Lord.  Not only will it never be a fact, but it would never even be a thing that I could possibly desire.  It is hard to bring all that across in English, but now you have a sense of how strongly our Lord is trying to tell us that he will not leave us.

The second half of this promise from Jesus says the same thing, but it uses a different verb and adds another word of negation.  Here is the text of the second part translated as “nor forsake you.”

οὐδ  οὐ  μή  σε  ἐγκαταλίπω

Words two, three, and four are exactly the same and have the same meanings.  The last word is a verb, but is clearly a different word.  This verb is more than just leaving, and has a sense of leaving so as to abandon or forsake someone.  This would broaden or deepen the first statement.  I will not leave you, and even more, I will not abandon you.

Now, the first word is another type of negation and would fit our word “neither.”  As in, I won’t do this, neither will I do that.  Again, it will never be a fact, neither something that Christ could possibly desire, that he has forsaken us.  The Greek has 5 negatives in this one promise, and is why I entitled this sermon, “The Most Negatively Positive Message.”  It is impossible to translate this word for word in English and still make sense.  “I will not not leave you, neither, I will not not forsake you.”

I have taken the time to go through this to ask this question.  Why would it be stated with so many negatives rather than just stating it in the positive?   This is exactly what Jesus does in Matthew 28:20, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV).  This is speculation on my part, but I think the prevalence of negatives has a power to it that is very different from the positive.  It reminds me of the circumstances of life that cause us to doubt the promises of God.  Such negative thoughts and fears, and turnings of our mind, are a kind of inner negative world that we can fall into.  It is as if the Lord says, “You want to be negative?  Then, I will say it in a way that might break into your negative mindset.”

Oh friends, if we really knew just how much He is committed to us, we would never doubt him.  It is one of the reasons why he hung on a cross for you and for me.  He did it so that we would never doubt his love for us.  The cross is itself stating a positive thing within a negative event.  “I love you this much!”

We must deal with fear

So, why do we doubt his promise to always be with us, even to the end of the age?  It is because we fear all the wrong things.  If I fear the Lord, then I would dare not doubt His promise to me.  But, if I fear not having all sorts of things that my heart wants, if I fear people and what they can do to me, then I will never have contentment.

Verse 6 says that we are to say, “The Lord is my helper!”  We are not to say this because we are arrogant and conceited, but because the Lord of heaven has stated it in such a way that you can’t deny it.  Wow, the Lord has come alongside of me to be my helper.  I don’t deserve such a thing, but I can’t deny it either.  He has loved me this much anyways.  Now, we might be tempted to say that we are supposed to be his helper and on his side.  That is true, but it is not what the Bible says here.  It is also true that he is on your side in order to help you.

This first statement should spur the next choice.  “I will not fear!”  Again, of course we will fear the Lord because He is our judge, but the context is everything else that we tend to fear.  I won’t be afraid of things that I don’t have, or enemies that I do have.  In fact, when we fear things other than the Lord, we diminish him and act as if he really isn’t enough.  The Lord is on your side; nothing else should matter.  Joseph didn’t need anything else, and neither do you!

Verse 6 pictures a person who is realizing that God is on their side and so they are choosing not to fear what they see around them, or the lack thereof.  They are choosing to disregard the messages of fear that come from their heart and mind, and instead, choose to trust in the Lord.  This is David before Goliath.  David did not do what he did because he thought he had the perfect slingshot, rocks, and aim.  He went against the giant because he knew that the Lord was with Him.  He was not cocky and arrogant like Goliath, but acted with faith in God alone. 

Satan’s greatest weapon against us is our own fear that God has left us, and abandoned us.  We fear that if we don’t try to make it happen, and “leave it up to God,” it will never happen.  Such cynicism, does not lead us to the joy and peace of God.  It leads to emptiness.

This leads to a question, “What then can others do to me?”  This question is not being asked in the literal sense.  Of course, others can beat me, put me in jail, kill me, etc.  The question is not about that.  The question is grander than that.  I mentioned Joseph earlier.  His brothers intended and did great evil to him, and so did Potiphar’s wife.  It appeared that no one cared for Joseph, and was on his side, but the truth is that God had not left Joseph, nor forsaken him.  His brothers couldn’t really hurt him because God was on his side.  What they meant for evil, God was turning to the good.

So, why doesn’t God get rid of Satan and his minions, and the countless people who do his bidding?  At least for now, He doesn’t because He is using it for our good.  Like Joseph, God is bringing us to that place where we can be raised up into an exalted position, and when we get there, we will be tried and proven faithful, warriors who know how to stand in truth against evil.  In the end, all man can do to you is promote you, unless you give into fear and do to yourself what they can’t.

Negatively Positive audio