The Acts of the Apostles 12

Subtitle: Peter Preaches Again part 2

Acts 3:17-26.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 7, 2022.

We pick up Peter’s second recorded sermon this morning, which we started last week.  Let’s get into the passage.

God had sent Messiah and they killed him

Peter has outlined how they have been fighting against God in their actions.  God had sent Messiah, but they had crucified him.  They were more than simply resisting God’s directions.  They were hostile to them.

Yet, in verse 17, Peter points out that they and their rulers had done it in ignorance.  Jesus on the cross had prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”  They didn’t realize that they were actually killing Messiah, but that doesn’t make what they did good.  It is simply a mitigating factor.  At many points, the rulers and people had mistreated Jesus, refused to accept the truth, and then put to death an innocent man.

Ignorance speaks to the knowledge and understanding that one has.  There are many things we simply do not know.  In fact, we are born 100% ignorant of life.  We begin to accumulate knowledge and understanding little by little.  Can we not see that the things of which we are ignorant are practically infinite?  What we do know only scratches the surface of all that can be known.  Thus, the most knowledgeable among us may not be ignorant compared to the average person, but compared to God they haven’t even reached 1% of what can be known, much less the stuff that we cannot know because God has not designed us with the capacity to discover them.  A wise person recognizes that the more they learn, the more they become aware of just how great their ignorance really is.

This brings up the subject of willful ignorance.  The truth can be staring us in the face, but we refuse to recognize it because of certain ramifications we are unwilling to accept.  Where is the line between inherently not knowing, like a child, and being stubborn and willful in refusing to accept the truth?  Only God can perfectly judge those kinds of issues of the heart.

Peter brings up the fact that God had foretold all of these things through the prophets.  They were told in advance that the Messiah would suffer in many different ways through many different prophets.  This doesn’t mean they should have had perfect understanding of what Jesus was doing and who he was, but they could have had enough understanding to be more careful.  Even John the Baptist, who demonstrated great understanding of the identity and work of Jesus, wrestled with the way things were going.

The people and their rulers could have had a better understanding than what they had.  They had become curiously incurious about certain passages and teachings of the prophets that would have at least helped them be more careful.  Yes, we can’t help a certain part of our ignorance, but some of it we can.

In fact, the most important part of this whole issue is not even our knowledge level.  It really comes down to being sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  Peter, John, James, and all the others, didn’t reject Jesus and call for his crucifixion.  They were able to get to that place by responding in repentance and faith at critical points in that 3 ½ years that Jesus ministered in Israel.

We are not so very different today.  The Church can be very proud about the great amount of knowledge that we have received through Jesus and the apostles.  However, that cannot take the place of sensitivity to what the Spirit of God is doing now.  Many very learned people have so systematized the biblical information that they are willfully ignorant to things that contradict their theological traditions.  Sound familiar?  We can become so enamored with the things of this world that we don’t seek God for the truth.  We can be happy with a surface knowledge of many things, or a rationale that we have adopted, but those things need to bow before the authority and power of the Lord Jesus.

Have I become a student of the Lord Jesus?  Think of it.  In the Bible we have a written document of the things that the Creator of all the universe wants us to understand, wants you to understand.  Many people who are ignorant in the eyes of the people around them will be found holding on to the Lord in the days ahead, having wisdom in the one thing that truly matters.  And, many who have the most biblical knowledge will be found fighting against what God is doing, lacking wisdom in the one thing that truly matters.  Jesus is working to give us a love of the Truth (2 Thess 2:10-12), so that it is love for him that will bring us through in the end, just like Peter all those years ago on the shores of Galilee in John 21.

Here is the good news.  God is still gracious.  Peter tells the crowd that they can still repent and turn to God.  In English, the word “repent” focuses on turning back to sorrow for one’s actions (for sin), as opposed to continuing forward in them.  This covers several important aspects of what the Bible says must happen in our hearts.  However, the word it is used to translate also has a meaning of a change of mind.  Of course, one must have a change of mind in order to turn back and have sorrow for sin, so I am not quibbling with the translation.  Rather, I am homing in an unseen aspect in this text.

We must have a change of mind about our life, and not just an alternate rationale created by us.  We really must adopt the mind of Christ.  We really must allow him to be the lord of our life.  This change of mind will turn us back from resisting and fighting what God is doing.  It will lead us to put our faith in Jesus, his commands, and the teachings of his apostles.  It will keep us from sacrificing Jesus for the sake of our willful way.

In this life, we will have a continual need for learning.  Thus, repentance will always be a part of the believer’s life.  It must never become a thing of the past.  Instead, it must become the daily path on which we walk.  Many are the exits that will take us off the road of repentance.  May the Spirit of God keep us on that Highway of Holiness, that good path, that we can only know through relationship with Jesus and the Word of God.

This brings us to verse 19.

Repentance will bring blessings

If we repent, then there are some good things from God that we will enjoy.  But, if we do not repent, then we stiff-arm the blessings that God wants to give to us.

Peter tells them that they need to change their mind and turn back into their sins being blotted out.  The direct result of changing their mind about Jesus and putting their faith in him will be the blotting out, or wiping out, of their sins.  It is the cancelling of the official record of our sins.  Sure, the fact that there are blots speaks of sins, but the fact of them being blotted out means they cannot be held against us before God.  Oh, this world will continually try to pin you to your past sins.  However, God offers freedom from those sins, and will not use them against you in the future.  Hallelujah!

In Isaiah 44:22, God promises Israel that, “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (ESV)  Praise God that our sins can be blotted out when we repent, take on the mind of Christ, and exercise faith in the Son of God and the Word of God.

A second blessing is mentioned in verse 19, “that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”  The word “may” here does not question that they will come, but rather repentance removes a hindrance that keeps the Lord from sending them.  When it is removed, then he will send them as he determines.

In this life, we cannot get very far without being refreshed.  However, don’t settle for mere refreshing of your body and mind, your flesh.  I guess we could call those “refleshments.”  We not only need our bodies and minds refreshed, but more importantly, we need our spirits refreshed by the Spirit of God.  This is what Peter is talking about.  We need God’s periodic spiritual refreshment in order to successfully navigate this life, and He knows when we need it.  Yet, the problem is that our flesh and the enemy seek to consume us with refreshing the flesh to the exclusion of our spirit.  Another problem is that His refreshment doesn’t always look like such to us.  They had destroyed the refreshment of Messiah in their midst, but here was God offering them a second chance to drink from the wells of salvation and receive the Messiah back into their lives.

This is intended for them as individuals, but also as a nation.  Salvation gives us a relationship with the Lord of Life who cares for our soul and is the good shepherd.  Yet, it is clear that Peter ties in their repentance as a nation to the next blessing- a Second Coming of the Messiah.  It is interesting that the book of Zechariah pictures a great work of repentance in Israel where they will “look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zech. 12:10 NKJV).  Then, in chapter 14 of that same book, God promises to save Israel from complete destruction at the hands of the nations of the world by coming down out of the heavens Himself.  This is the Second Coming of Christ that pictures his feet touching down on the Mount of Olives and splitting it in half.  What a refreshing time that will be for the nation of Israel!

Thus, the next blessing Peter mentions is that God may send Jesus back and begin the Restoration of All Things (verses 20-21).  Jesus must stay in the heavens until the time of The Restoration of All Things.  The earlier refreshments by God’s Spirit would keep them sustained until they came to that Great Refreshing that God has promised in His Word.  All the prophets pointed to a time when all that has gone wrong in this world and in the heavens will be restored to their proper state.  The Bible can be seen as a story of how everything went wrong (think Genesis), and yet how God is bringing everything back to a restored state that is even better than the original (think Revelation with its New Heavens and the New Earth).  That day is set by God.  We have a destiny in the future that cannot be avoided.  Yet, there is a sense where repentance could perhaps speed it up.

Peter specifically reminds them of the prophecy of Moses found in Deuteronomy 18 (esp. vs 18).  Moses leads up to this prophecy by warning Israel against listening to spiritists and those who practice divination.  God had not given Israel over to these lesser Elohim.  They had a greater destiny than the nations who were following the wrong Elohim.  Their destiny was to first receive the word of the One True God through Moses in building up the nation of Israel, and then later, God would send them another Prophet like Moses. 

Hebrews 3:1-6 emphasizes this connection by pointing out that Moses was faithful as a servant of God to build the house of Israel.  However, Jesus Messiah was faithful “as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” (Heb. 3:6 NKJV).  This speaks of the “house” of the Church.  We don’t have time for it today.  However, this language of a house being built by the son for himself so that the Church can live with him is the wedding analogy that Jesus used so often.

In Jesus, Messiah had come to make an offer of betrothal to Israel.  As a nation, they rejected it, but Christ takes a remnant and sends them to the nations in order to raise up a bride that will be married to him at the end of this age.  All the prophets warned of this critical period, and Moses stated that those who rejected this Prophet, Messiah, would be destroyed from among God’s people.  They were in danger of losing their place, their lot, their inheritance.

In verse 25, Peter reminds them of their heritage.  They are the sons of the prophets, and the offspring of Abraham.  This means that they had inherited the writings of the prophets, and the promise of Abraham that the families of the whole earth would be blessed through them, i.e., Israel.  All that we know of God is passed to the Gentile nations through the people of Israel.  Israel is far more important than any other nation in the sense of God’s work in the world.  However, His work is for the sake of all the nations of the world.  In fact, God did not just choose Israel from among the nations back in the days of Abraham.  Rather, God rejected all of the nations, and instead, created a new nation by His own hand as Adam was created directly by God.

This is why God sent His Servant Jesus to Israel first.  They had been and still were the instrument through which God had spoken to the nations.  They were God’s witness to the world.  However, the word first, implies others.  The Gospel of Jesus would go to the nations through his faithful believers, and thus, all the earth would receive a second witness through the Church of Jesus.  Here we are today hearing these same words that Israel heard 1,990 some odd years ago.

O, how America needs a time of refreshing in which we are turned away from our sin into full faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus the Messiah.  It will only happen as Spirit-filled believers, who are keeping in step with Jesus, interact with a people who are steeped in all manner of ignorance.  May God refresh his people today so that we can renew our battle against the works of Satan upon those around us!

Peter Preaches Again 2 audio

The Acts of the Apostles 9

Subtitle: The Lord Increases His Church

Acts 2:40-47.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 17, 2022.

We have come to a point where the people listening to Peter are asking what they can do.  To which, Peter responds that they should repent.  This brings us to verse 40.

Let’s get into the passage.

Many people repent (40-41)

As Peter speaks to the crowd, people begin to repent from among them.  We don’t know the size of the crowd, but it appears that a large percentage who were listening repented. 

Yet, repentance is more than intellectually believing something.  They could not deny that something real was happening with these Galileans who had been speaking far-flung languages unknown to them.  However, repentance is believing something enough to act upon it.

We are told that Peter preached many other words.  However, the message essentially boiled down to this: You crucified the Messiah, but you can repent and save yourself from this perverse generation.

The word translated “perverse” has the sense of something that is crooked and twisted.  In the context of that which is good or bad, crookedness represents something that is ruined.  It will only make the problem worse.  It cannot fix.  I don’t believe there is a society on the planet today, or that ever existed in the past, that is without a level of perversity.  Even believers in Jesus are tempted to twist their ways just enough to fit in with the culture around them.

Here's a question.  Just how much twisting, perversity, can the Word of God take before it ceases to be True anymore?  God’s Word is either truth or it is not.  But, let us not pretend that it is something we can fashion, like clay, and somehow make it better.  No, the Gospel was fashioned by God to actually save you.  You cannot make it any better, period.

John the Baptist came out of the wilderness quoting Isaiah 40:3-4. 

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth…’”

Repentance is all about recognizing that the proud strongholds of sin in my life have to be thrown down into the deep valleys of hurts in my life, and a way must be made for the Spirit of Truth to come into my heart.  God is in the saving business and we will all see it.  The real question is will you see it happen to you? 

Road building is difficult work, but the Spirit of God will help all those who humble themselves and recognize their own perversity.  If you are stuck looking at the perversity of everyone around you, you will insulate yourself from hearing the powerful word, that “You are the man!”  You are the one who needs to repent, and until you do, then no one else matters, period!

We are told in verse 41 that 3,000 souls were added that day.  It is most likely that there were some who would not soften their hearts enough to have a change of mind and then do what required doing, that is publicly identifying with Jesus.  Some of them let that moment pass for one reason or another.  Yet, the mercy of God will continue to try and reach us until that last breath that we breath in this life.

The 3,000 new believers in Jesus were water baptized right away.  Even though Luke doesn’t say it is a water baptism, verse 38 shows a clear progression in what Peter says.  They should believe, be baptized, and then they will receive the Holy Spirit, which is called Baptism in the Spirit, or Spirit Baptism.  He is clearly not saying to believe, be Spirit baptized, and then you will be Spirit baptized.  Rather, he is saying to believe, be water baptized, and then you will receive the Holy Spirit.

Water baptism is to the New Covenant like circumcision was for Israel under the Old Covenant.  It is that outward expression that a person has become a part of the believing community in relationship with God.  In water baptism, a person makes a choice for themselves.  It is not about your parents being Israelites, and you being genetically predisposed to be an Israelite too.

It is unlikely that they all trekked 20 miles down to the Jordan river to be baptized.  It is most likely that they went to the public mikvehs nearby (small pools used for the cleansing ritual before going to the temple).  Perhaps they had already been ceremonially cleansed to participate in the Feast of Pentecost, but now they would go back and be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah!

That day “about 3,000 souls were added to them.”  I mentioned in a prior sermon that Luke is using language that makes a clear allusion back to Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32:28).  God was signaling to them that they were in a similar situation with the New Covenant.  At the giving of the Law, “about 3,000 of the men of the people fell that day.”  However, at the giving of the Gospel of Jesus Messiah, about 3,000 souls were added to the people of God.  There is a reversal that is happening.  Israel under the law had become a fallen and plundered people.  The giving of the Gospel speaks to God restoring that which is broken and twisted, perverse.  The temple mount had become the site where the New Covenant with God’s Messiah was established.  If they wanted to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, they would need to connect to Jesus and follow his leadership.

It would be nice to see 3,000 people being saved all at once.  Perhaps, you have been to a stadium where someone like Billy Graham gave an appeal for people to accept Jesus as their savior.  These things do happen even today.  However, we should recognize that a lot of work went into preparing the people of Israel to hear the Gospel that day and believe.  There are seasons within the heart of an individual and with cities, nations, regions, and this world.  We cannot control the seasons, but we can faithfully do the work of spreading the truth of the Gospel, watering it, and then calling people to repentance.

Church life in Year One (42-47)

In these last verses, we get a snapshot of the early Church in that first year, even that first summer.  Down the road, their situation will change in many respects, but the many things that the believers did would not change.

There was an overlap of the new Church that Christ was building and the Old Covenant institution of national Israel and the temple.  It lasted almost 40 years.  Thus, they stayed in Jerusalem and met at the temple as long as they could.  Yet, the local of our meetings is not what is important.  It is what was being done.

There are four things in which Luke says they continued to be steadfast.  This means they were focused on these things and did not leave them undone, day in and day out.

First, they were steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine, or teaching.  The apostles of Jesus were the official representatives of Jesus.  They had spent years listening to the teachings of Jesus and helping him in his ministry.  Jesus himself had said that they would be the foundation of his “called-out-ones,” the Church.  We must not fool ourselves.  We cannot follow Jesus without hearing, learning, and obeying the teaching of the apostles, which is called the New Testament of the Bible.  Of course, our salvation is not based upon our perfection in following Christ.  Rather, repentance and faith become a new way of life for a true believer.  This is a relationship with truth, yes with propositional truth, but even more, with the One who is Truth.

They also continued steadfast in fellowship.  This word covers a lot of things, but it essentially speaks to having a portion, a share in something.  Like the children of Israel received lots according to their tribes, clans, and families, so the people of God have a portion in this new people of God.  This common lot creates a kind of camaraderie among the group.  In this case, it is a communion, a relationship, with God that infuses itself in our relationship with one another.

The also were steadfast in the breaking of bread.  Some see this as only a ritual reference to communion.  However, verse 46 says, “breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart…”  It is better to see this as speaking of hospitality, and visiting in one another’s homes.  The effect of fellowship was that they often ate together (clearly not all 3,000 plus in one home).  Of course, this would include times of celebrating communion, the Lord’s Table.

Fourthly, they were steadfast in prayers.  Prayer is both a private and a group activity.  Prayerlessness in our life will open the door for a fast retreat from the edge of a repentant life.  Compromise is nursed in the life of prayerlessness.  You start with establishing a discipline of talking with God alone, and from that foundation, also participate (perhaps lead) in praying with others.

May Jesus help his Church to be steadfast in these things today.

Verse 43 mentions that fear came upon every soul.  I believe that this is connecting back to a fear of the Lord for the believing community, and a fear of the unknown for those who weren’t believing.  Scripture tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It is that reverent, respectful fear that one has in the presence of someone who is very powerful.  God is not whimsical.  We do not need to fear Him like a child would fear an abusive parent.  However, picture the perfect parent who speaks to their child about what they shouldn’t do.  A child who doesn’t have some level of a fear of disobeying their parents has not become something better.  They are not on the path to becoming an Uber Mensch. They are actually on the path to losing their soul.

The matters of the Gospel of Christ are serious matters, eternal matters.  If we don’t take them seriously, then we might find ourselves perishing in the wilderness like many did while being saved from Egypt.  They perished over the top of the overflowing goodness of God.

There is an overall lack of a fear of the Lord in the American Church today.  You can trust God’s Word.  He means what He says, but do you mean what you say?  May the Lord stir in us a sense of the seriousness of the times that men have always lived in, but particularly today for us.

Verse 46 also mentions that signs and wonders were being done through the apostles.  This is in the same manner as Israel saw with Jesus.  We talked about this earlier in this chapter and will see many examples throughout the rest of the book of The Acts of the Apostles.  Signs and wonders get people’s attention and point them in a particular direction, but they are always to be kept in the context of God’s Word.

The Word of God warns us of lying signs and wonders that will be prevalent in the last days.  2 Thessalonians 2 specifically warns us that those who have refused to receive a love of the truth will embrace a powerful delusion that God will send through the Antichrist and the False Prophet.

God has spoken through Jesus and his apostles like he did through Moses.  For 2,000 years, Christ has been building his Church like the nation of Israel had been built up following Moses for about 1,500 years.  Yet, this house of the Church will be tried in these times just as Israel was tried in her times.  Are you ready?  Make sure you are embracing the truth of God found in His Word.

Verses 44-45 are often read as if communism is being promoted there.  The problem with communism is not the phrase: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.  The problem is the State forcing something that God’s Word calls us to volunteer.  Of course, the State is not actually altruistic in this matter.  Rather, it is merely being used to leverage society into giving it more and more power.  The early Church did not abolish private property and disperse it through the help of “scientific leaders.”  Rather, it pictures that as anyone had need, those who could help would do so, even if it required liquidating some of their assets.  It was voluntary and out of love, not forced.

We should recognize that this was a unique time.  There was a sense of awe in what God was doing, and people didn’t want to miss out on that.  Like Mary and Martha, they were choosing to listen to the apostle’s teaching each day in the temple.  This is as opposed to going to work, or some even going back home to the other nations.  The day would come when Paul would exhort among the Gentile churches, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NKJV).  We need to understand the context of what is going on and what is actually being promoted.

Verses 46-47 point out that they were daily in the temple praising God, with the apostles teaching, no doubt.  It is easy to praise God when He is moving in such a powerful way and we are on the right side of it.  However, there would be difficult days ahead, and they would need to learn to praise God in those times as well.  Though God was demonstrating that He was with His people in power, He would not protect them completely from the persecutions of this world.

We don’t just praise God because He makes our lives have no problems.  We praise Him because, even in the tough times, He is a good Father who is watching over us for our good.  We don’t always know what God is doing completely, but we can be faithful to what we do know and trust!

The chapter ends with the point that the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved.  The Church was never intended to be a static group.  Like families are in the natural, new spiritual children always require everyone else to adjust, to make room, and to help them.  It is the Lord’s work that we are called to participate in doing.

There are still people whom God wants to save.  God needs people who are willing to live and speak the Gospel to them, including the message of repentance.  He needs welcoming spiritual mothers and fathers who will come alongside of young believers in order to help them face the spiritual battles that we all must face.

May God help us to see with the eyes of faith that there really is a harvest that even today is happening.  It may not be 3,000 in one day, but then again it may be.  It is our job to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be faithful in His leading each day!

The Lord Increases audio

What Does God Really Want from Me? Part 7

Acts 4:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday February 27, 2022.

We continue looking at this question of what does God really want from me.  We have talked about Connecting to Jesus and his followers, Growing to be like Jesus, and Serving one another like Jesus served us. 

Now, we turn our attention to our final purpose, and that has to do with Sharing Jesus with those who do not know him.  Again, we do so to connect them to Christ, and as an outflow of our living connection to Christ.  It is a part of our spiritual growth when we share the good news about Jesus with others.  Also, we are serving people who are spiritually lost when we do this.  Yet, it is unique enough to deserve its own place as another purpose that God has for us.

We should share Jesus passionately with those who do not know him.  Some of those people barely know anything about Jesus, and they often have misconceptions about him.  Others will say that they are Christian, but they are clueless about what that really means.  This wide range of people who are spiritually lost is very diverse, and the believer needs to be led by the Holy Spirit in sharing Christ with each one.  No one tactic will “work” with them all.

Sharing Jesus involves more than a message, or a downloading of information.  The message of who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he is going to do, has ramifications for every person on this planet.  They really do need to know the information.  However, we are more than people with information.  We have come into relationship with the one who is presently changing us.  Thus, we share a message and the powerful effect of having Jesus in our lives.  In short, we share Jesus himself with them in a spiritual way that they will not understand at first.

Of course, this needs to be a passionate endeavor.  If I am truly in relationship with Christ, then I am will be challenged to connect, grow, serve, and finally share Jesus, by the Spirit of God working within me.  This is the work of God’s Spirit stirring us up to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do!

Let’s look at our passage in Acts 4.

The controversy of proclaiming Jesus

It is understandable that it would be controversial to publicly proclaim that the leaders of Israel had unjustly executed Jesus.  However, Peter and John are not just crying out publicly for justice against an unjust government.  At its core, Christianity is a call for all men everywhere to repent, be they an individual who has a low position within society, or be they part of a criminal cabal that rules a nation (even the whole earth).

Let’s dig a little deeper into the background of our passage.

This event happens about seven weeks after the crucifixion of Jesus.  Peter and John had been preaching under the large portico called Solomon’s Colonnade.  It is sometimes called a porch, but it wasn’t attached to any building.  It was a series of columns with a roof that gave covered access to the courts surrounding the temple.  This preaching was giving a stir itself as many started to believe them.

Acts 3 records an event that shocked the temple crowds.  There was a man who had been lame since birth.  People would bring him to one of the gates at the temple compound so that he could beg for alms.  Of course, this would be a target rich environment because the people are generally coming there for spiritual reasons.  This man would have been a regular fixture that everyone would recognize.  “Oh, that’s that blind man who begs by Gate Beautiful.” 

This man is begging for money when Peter says to him, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”  Peter then took him by the hand and the man was able to stand up, start walking, and even started leaping and running.  This is a miracle on many levels.  It caused such a stir and a crowd that Peter tells the crowd that this is done by the power of Jesus of Nazareth, and that they need to repent and believe on him.  Simultaneously, the commotion draws the attention of those in charge of the temple.  Peter and John are arrested and held overnight.

In a sense, the foundational human authority on this planet begins within each one of us.  You have authority over what you think, say, and do.  Peter had faced the truth about Jesus, and the truth about his own failure to stand with him.  The failure in that moment represented a greater failure of Peter to love God with his whole being.  Only such a person can then call others to face the truth about their own actions in the face of what God has decreed.  Without Christ, we are all rebels against the Creator-King of the Universe.  The Gospel is at once a sword into our heart, and a cure for our sickness.

This message of repentance sends a ripple up through the authority structures of this world, and challenges every authority (not just Israel).  You must bow the knee to Jesus, or perish as his enemy.  Verse twelve is a valuable statement of truth.  “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  This is an unyielding decree of God the Father, and the world chafes at it from the high and mighty to the low and powerless.  The reality of Jesus ruffles everyone!

We can focus on the miraculous healing of the lame man.  However, operating in the power of the Holy Spirit is more than doing miracles of healing.  Peter’s ability to challenge the people and the leaders with the blazing truth of God is itself a miracle.  His public declaration of the truth about Jesus was directly empowered by the Holy Spirit.  This is how we should operate in all that we do for Christ.  Parents must pray that God will empower them to speak and teach their children the truth of God in a powerful and God-led way.

Being responsible for a child can be intimidating in and of itself, but the challenges become greater as we scope out to where Peter finds himself that day, in front of the national leaders of Israel.  For the believer, however, this should be no different.  When you have grown spiritually to depend upon the Holy Spirit for whatever you face, then in that moment, you become like David when he faced Goliath.  He had already faced lions and bears by himself in the field.  God has prepared you for whatever moment you face, but you will still need to rely upon the power and direction of the Holy Spirit.  Whether you witness to a person on the street, or speak before Congress, the Lord will be there to help you in that moment.

The corrupt leaders of Acts 4 want to know by what authority Peter and John are doing what they are doing.  Who gives us the authority and power to call all people everywhere to repent, to call the great powers of the earth to yield and repent?  Yes, it is Jesus, but it is not us using Jesus as a poster child for holding governments accountable, or speaking truth to power.  It is me bowing the knee to the Lord of heaven and earth.  It is me agreeing with God the Father that I am guilty of a capital crime against heaven, and yet also rejoicing that He has given terms of pardon in the person and work of Jesus. 

We are all like that lame man of Acts 3 who suddenly finds that he can walk after 40 years of begging.  He was walking and leaping and praising God!  Who could shut him up?

God the Father has overruled all corrupt authorities, starting with myself.  Jesus is the Anointed King that He has installed over all authorities in heaven and on earth.  All people everywhere are under a death sentence until they flee to Jesus for shelter.  Each Christian is a person who has been set free from death by the grace of Jesus!  How can we keep silent, and who can shut us up?

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Responding to the Holy Spirit-Part 4

James 4:2-4; Exodus 34:12-16; Hosea 1:2; 3:1-2; Revelation 17:3-6; 18:4-5.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 21, 2021.

We continue today talking about those who respond to the Holy Spirit by joining Christ’s Church, and yet who then fall away from the truth.  Some of them walk away from the Church.  However, others stay in the Church and pervert its teachings into another Gospel, and its purpose towards another Christ.

The biblical image for this is an unfaithful prostitute.  Let’s get into our passages.

The biblical picture of the unfaithful bride who has become a prostitute

James 4:2-4 helps us to see that this metaphor really is being used of Christians.  James refers to these believers as “adulterers,” and “adulteresses.”  This is the spiritual problem of not staying faithful to Jesus and going after something, or someone, other than him.  These believers wanted things in life and were fighting each other in order to get them.  This adulterer metaphor is essentially the same as the prostitute, which just pictures the problem as far worse, or progressed.

This is the contrasting picture to the virginal chaste bride.  That bride was faithful to her groom, but this bride has not only gone after another, but has sold herself to them.  We see this picture throughout the Old Testament.

In Exodus 34:12-16, Israel is still at Mt. Sinai and Moses is going back up the mountain to have God put His commands on two new tablets of stone.  The first two had been broken by Moses when he came down the mountain and found the people worshiping a golden calf.  Moses had been up on the mountain for 40 days, and they didn’t think he was coming back.  God tells Moses that the people have “corrupted themselves.”  Here, God is warning Israel against further corruption.

Notice in verse 15 that what the other nations were doing in their religious rituals was considered spiritual prostitution as well.  “They play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifices to their gods…” The nations all around Israel were not made by God to worship false gods, or pretender gods.  They were made to worship the One True God alone.  However, God had cast them off after the Tower of Babel incident.  Israel was called and created by God in order to be different from the other nations.

This activity of worshiping other gods was a continual temptation for Israel.  It did not help that sexual immorality was used in all of the ancient religious rituals.  Through sex with a temple prostitute (male or female), a person could worship and connect to the power of that “god.”  This is how the story of Balaam ended.  He could not curse Israel, so he taught Balak how to get God to be angry with Israel.  The Moabite and Midianite women came to the edge of the camp of Israel, shook their booty, and invited the Israelite men to come join them in their worship ceremonies.  It was a worship ceremony that was both literally and spiritually prostitution.  The sexual immorality broke the law of God, but the worshiping of these pretending gods broke His laws and His heart.

The whole book of Hosea (another way of saying Joshua or Yeshua) focuses on Israel being a wayward wife of God.  It mixes the images of an adulteress and a prostitute.  Israel’s sin is so bad that her spiritual adulteries had descended first into being paid for her spiritual adultery (prostitution), and then, one prophet even decries Israel for paying others, making her the John instead of the prostitute.  It is best to see all of these as simply speaking to the same spiritual problem of being unfaithful to God.

In Hosea 1:2, God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute, so he marries Gomer and has three kids with her.  Some scholars believe that Gomer only became a prostitute later, but the text does not tell us this. Chapter two describes the harlotry of Israel and how God would bring judgment upon them followed by mercy.  Let’s look at the opening of chapter 3.

Hosea is instructed to “go again” (take back to himself) a woman who is being loved by another in adultery.  We then see Hosea paying money for his wife.  It is unclear what this money is for.  Some believe Gomer has actually ended up on a slave block to cover her debts incurred in paying for lovers.  Yet, this is not stated in the text.  It is more natural to understand that Hosea is somehow buying her out of her prostitution, such as paying her an amount to quit.  This would represent an unthinkable act of love from a jilted lover that would be equivalent to paying other prostitutes to leave her alone.  By the way, the imagery here is not intended to project that women are the ones who commit adultery and men don’t.  Remember, Hosea represents a picture of God Himself and Gomer is representative of Israel.

Do we not see the irony behind Hosea’s name being a variant of our Lord’s name, Yeshua, “Yahweh Saves?”  We can pride ourselves that this is about Israel, but doesn’t it beg the question about His Church?  Should it then surprise us that this metaphor would be used in regards to the Church of Jesus?  Are we insulated from the problem of spiritual prostitution, to which Israel often succumbed?  We clearly are not.

Back in James 4, verses 5-10 tell these adulterous Christians to repent of their wickedness and turn back to God.  “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Lament and mourn and weep!  Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Repentance is the solution to spiritual adultery, turning from the false loves and towards the only true love in this universe, Jesus!  Let us continually be a people clearing our lives of any sin and drawing near to God.  This is a heart issue that requires vigilant maintenance.

Yet, the truth is that some adulterous hearts can’t be cured.  The last words from the Apostles of Jesus come from John in Revelation.  There God shows him a horrible image of a great prostitute that would be prevalent in the last days.  She would even be the mother of many other prostitutes and abominations of the earth.  Before we read some of it, let’s think about history for a bit.

Noah and his family step off of the boat as the saved people of God who have the true worship of God.  3 to 4 generations later, Nimrod has most of them building a tower to connect to the gods in rebellion against God.  This is the Tower of Babel.  The project is judged and the people are scattered.  Basically, God gives them over to the spiritual entities that they were cavorting with at Babel (the Hebrew means confusion, but the original language speaks of a god gate).  They were adulterous against God’s command and against Him personally as in going after other gods.  It is then that God calls Abram out of this outcast community to become the new saved community that has the true worship of God. 

4 centuries later, the people of Israel have corrupted themselves in Egypt.  Yes, they are physical slaves, but the Bible tells us that many of them were worshiping the gods of Egypt, spiritual slavery and spiritual adultery.  Yet, Moses shows up and calls them to repent and come out of Egypt.  Most of them followed him.  In the first century, Israel had built their own false religion in rebellion to God.  In Jesus, God shows up to call out His faithful remnant.  This is the historical context to the end-times harlot.  Let’s look at Revelation 17:3-6 and 18:4-5.

It is important to recognize in chapter 17 that there is a historical aspect to her (Babylon), and yet she is still active.  Also, she delights in drinking the blood of the saints.  In other words, she loses restrain (gets drunk) on killing true believers.

It seems impossible that Christians or churches, whose Lord was put to death by people who claimed to love God, could become so corrupt.  However, it is exactly what we are seeing happen in our own day, much less what has happened throughout history.  Those who claim to represent God/Jesus, and love His truth, will sick the world upon believers who truly do love Jesus and want him more than the world.

This woman is pictured as riding the beast because she thinks that she is in control of it, but she is in for a rude awakening.  The same chapter tells us that God has put it in the heart of the beast, and the 10 kings who back him, to burn her with fire.  This leads to the warning in chapter 18:4-5.

God’s people have been continually coming out from the false religion of this world, which is just a corruption of those who earlier were brought out from an earlier corruption.  Noah is brought out of the corrupt ancient world.  Abram is brought out of the corrupt post-flood world.  Israel was brought out of Egypt, and the Church was a remnant called out of corrupt Israel.  All Gentiles are called out of the nations from which they were born.

All institutions and individuals deal with a kind of mission creep.  If they will not purify themselves through repentance, then they will become corrupt.  At this point, the Holy Spirit will lead true believers out of the institution, leaving it to the destruction that God will bring upon it.  It is easy to look at past institutions and say that it doesn’t apply to you.  Roman Catholics can look to Israel and tell themselves they are the saved group.  Orthodox and Protestants can look at the Roman Catholics and tell themselves they are the saved group.  Pentecostals can look at the Protestant denominations that threw them out of their churches and pat themselves on the back.  However, that paves the road to destruction.  This is a problem for us all.

Friend, let’s keep our hearts and our group focused on Jesus, His Word, His coming, and his truth.  Let’s avoid becoming and participating in the destruction of the great prostitute that is on the horizon.

Holy Spirit pt 4 audio