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

The Acts of the Apostles 5

Subtitle: Peter Preaches to the Crowd

Acts 2:14-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 12, 2022.

Today, we pick up at the Day of Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus.  As the Law was given at Mt. Sinai, so the Spirit of God was given in Jerusalem, or Mt. Zion.

A crowd had gathered due to the commotion caused by about 120 people speaking in foreign languages about the wonders of God.

Luke doesn’t clearly describe exactly what the scene looks like.  Are they still in the room with Peter speaking through a window?  Have they come out onto an open balcony?  Have they walked out into the outer courtyard around the Temple?  In the end, we have a large crowd that has gathered and Peter is given an opportunity to speak to the crowd, but now he is filled with the Holy Spirit.

We should be careful to recognize that the Holy Spirit does not take over people and control their body or speech.  There is a cooperation between the Spirit and the person He fills.

Let’s look into the passage.

The Holy Spirit speaks through Peter

Peter starts out by telling the crowd to “heed my words” (vs. 14).  The Holy Spirit had been giving the people languages to speak that many in the crowd had overheard and understood.  We can think of this as a particular way that the Holy Spirit can speak to people through believers.  Even more important, the activity itself is symbolic of things that would have meaning to those with eyes to see and minds to understand.

However, the event of mass speaking in tongues appears to be more about getting the attention of people in Jerusalem so that the Holy Spirit could speak to them in the regular language that would have been spoken in Jerusalem.  Peter is speaking by the Holy Spirit, but this time he is not speaking in a language unknown to him.  He is speaking with understanding of what he is saying.

How important it is for us to pay attention, to understand, and to properly respond when the Holy Spirit is speaking.  That may be in the occurrence of things that we do not understand, or when another person who isn’t perfect speaks to us.  In fact, sometimes the Spirit of God may speak to us through the unwitting words of sinners.  We must always be open and listening for what the Spirit is saying in the midst of what others say.

In John 16:14-15, Jesus said, “He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.”  (NKJV).  When the Holy Spirit is speaking, He is giving to us what Jesus is saying, and Jesus is giving Him what the Father is saying.  These are not merely words to hear and use for our own inspiration.  God has a purpose in those words and we should not co-opt His words for our purposes.

Thus, it is not enough to merely hear the words of God.  We should so thirst for the word of the Lord that we treat it all as precious.  I must understand these things!  Even then, it is not enough to merely understand the words.  I must live wisely in the counsel of those words.  In this life, we should put our faith completely in those words through willing obedience to the Spirit of God.

Now, we can get to Peter’s message.  He first counters the mockers who are saying that they are drunk.  Wherever God is moving, there will be mockers to ridicule it and put it down.  Don’t doubt that the devil and his spirits weren’t recognizing that this event of the Holy Spirit could really wreck their control on Jerusalem.  In this crowd, they find willing accomplices and assets that they can stir up and depend upon to do their will.  In fact, it is the opposite of what Peter is doing.  He is surrendering to the Holy Spirit, but the mockers are surrendering to the work of an evil spirit that seeks to thwart the good work of God.  We see this same spirit at work today, whether through false-believers, or non-Christians, whenever God is speaking.

Peter rejects the accusation that they are drunk.  He points out that it is the third hour.  In Hebrew reckoning, 6:00 AM would begin the morning hours, thus it was about 9:00 AM (+3 hours).  People who get drunk generally do so at night.  Of course, there are some who do get drunk in the day, but usually they are not up at 9:00 AM.

Those who give themselves to alcohol to the point of drunkenness are not following the Spirit of God.  Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:18, “do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” (NKJV).  Drunkenness, or better intoxication, leads to the oppose of a life that is being saved, fixed, and healed.  The phrase in Ephesians, “in which is dissipation,” actually uses the word for saving something and then fixes a “not” in front of it.  Instead of leading to a life that is filled with healing and life, it is a life that is falling apart and leading others around them to do the same.

Let me just speak to a fad in some parts of the Church that act like and teach that being filled with the Holy Spirit is just like being drunk.  This passage is saying the exact opposite.  It is not a God thing for Christians to appear to be completely out of control and stumbling over themselves.  There is a contrast between being filled with alcohol and what it leads to, and being filled with the Holy Spirit and what it leads to.  When a person is truly filled with the Holy Spirit, they will be a spring of life, a spring of salvation, healing and restoration, and they will be all those things the people around them.  The mockers are the wicked ones in this setting, but they are trying to slander this righteous remnant of Israel that was following God.

Peter then points us to Joel 2:28-32.  This is the first of three Old Testament Scriptures (the only ones at that time) that illuminate what God has been doing in Jerusalem for the last 2 months.  This is a small part of a larger prophecy about God’s dealings with Israel and the nations.

Joel opens up in chapter 1 talking about a locust army that seems to have literally destroyed the crops of Israel in his day.  This then turns into a prophecy about the Day of the Lord.  It is called the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord in Joel 2:31. The literal locusts of Joel’s day were a portend of a spiritual locust army that will come in the last days.  We don’t have time to deal with it today, but suffice it to say that the wording and imagery of Joel 2 is all throughout Revelation 9 and the locust army that comes out of the Bottomless Pit.  Remember that the Bottomless Pit is a prison for rebellious spirit-beings who were so bad that God had them locked up until the Day of the Lord’s judgment on heaven and earth would come.  There is a recurring theme of a supernatural army of evil beings coming on the earth out of the north, really a spiritual or cosmic north.  They come to torment mankind, and they come to destroy God’s people, even Israel.  Only God can rebuke this supernatural army and save His people.

In the middle of this terrible vision and prophecy of the Day of the Lord, God calls Israel to repentance.  Yes, the Day of the Lord is coming, but what you are doing today sets the table for what you will be eating then.  Israel is called to repentance and is told of the good that God has for them when they do.  So, Joel 2:28-32 is God’s promise that He will pour His Spirit out upon all those who repent and turn towards Him.  This contrast of God pouring His wrath out upon some and pouring His Spirit out upon others is an important understanding of all prophecy.

Notice in Acts 2:17 that this pouring out of the Holy Spirit takes place in the last days.  We have technically been in the last days since that day 1,990 years ago (give or take a few years).  We are in the last age of God’s work before He brings in His kingdom under the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Day of the Lord is the conclusion to this age and the transition into the Kingdom Age.

Some may ridicule (mock) that if the last days last for almost 2,000 years then the phrase is meaningless.  That is not true.  It is a harbinger to every generation that we must make our decision because God is getting ready to wrap things up.  The Day of the Lord is a day of judgment upon all nations, and upon the spiritual powers that deceive the nations.  In fact, when Jesus the Messiah was rejected, God has him sit at His right hand until the day that He makes the enemies of Jesus his footstool (i.e., Revelation 19 and the Second Coming).  Meanwhile, we are in a time of harvest (the feast of Pentecost was a feast of harvest).

Yes, Jerusalem would be destroyed and Israel taken into exile completely, but God’s judgment was not complete then.  God put pause on continuing to pour out his judgment on the nations, and instead sent His terms of peace to anyone on the side of His enemies who wish to switch sides.  Can you imagine playing a game where it is almost over and a Champion walks on the court or field for the other team that spells your doom?  Then, imagine that time-out is called and it is announced over the loud speaker that any team member that wants to switch sides can do so and they will be considered a true member of the other team?  This is the grace of God.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon whosoever would choose the side of Jesus, the side of God the Father, is pictured as having no barriers.  Both men and women, old and young, free and slave would be full recipients of God’s Holy Spirit.  This Spirit would cause them to prophesy, and to have dreams and visions from God.  Everyone of God’s people would become prophets.  If all of God’s people would be prophets than who would they prophesy to?  They would be God’s voice to the nations of the earth.

O Christian, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit in these last days so that our mouths, hands, and lives will be full of the eternal life of God, so that it will flow out upon a dry and thirsty world that is lost under the power of the darkness of the devil and those humans who are in league with him.  We are closer to the Day of the Lord than they were in the first century.  Instead of asking how much longer is God going to offer terms of peace, we must be faithful to be His voice, His emissaries, holding out life to the lost saying, “Don’t die; choose life!”

Verses 19 and 20 of Acts chapter 2 speak of signs and wonders that will come before the Day of the Lord.   Some of these will be in the heavens and some will be on the earth.  Let’s be clear that the Day of the Lord culminates with the Second Coming of Jesus to literally reign on this earth as God’s King.

Now, there were signs and wonders that occurred at the birth of Jesus.  The magi came out of the East having seen a star that portended a special king in Israel.  Also, a glorious band of angels appeared to shepherd in the fields of Bethlehem.  The life of Jesus was full of signs and wonders as he did the miraculous over and over again.  At his death, a darkness filled the land that cannot be explained by a solar eclipse due to it lasting too long.  All of these are signs pointing us to the reality that the Day of the Lord is near, but so too that the promise of pouring out the Spirit is even now here.

There are still signs to occur.  Zechariah 14 is a prophesy about the Second Coming of Jesus.  Jerusalem will be nearly destroyed and Jesus will break the clouds and deliver them.  In verses 6-7 of that chapter, he speaks of a unique day.  During the day it will be dark and at evening time it will be light.  It is also described as “neither day nor night.”  It appears that the light of the sun will be diminished to the point that throughout the day there is darkness, but at evening time it will be light.  This light presumably coincides with the return of Christ to deliver Israel.  I would assume that all of this is in relation to Jerusalem time.  It is worth noting that Revelation 16 also speaks of the 5^th bowl being a darkness on the kingdom of the beast that causes pain.

Thus, the tribulation period will see these signs of blood, fire, vapors of smoke, the sun turned to darkness and the moon to blood.  Those will be signs to those who are alive at that time just as the signs surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus were signs to those alive back then.  The strange events of darkness and an earthquake that ripped the temple curtain had no doubt circulated among the visitors of Jerusalem.  They had been prepared to hear what the Spirit of God had to say, what Jesus had to say, through Peter on that day.

The key point of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Joel 2 and quoted here in Acts 2 is that it will introduce a time where everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.  The Hebrew word for “saved” can be translated as delivered, or even escaped.  Remember the context is about this looming judgment of the Day of the Lord.  Those who call upon the Lord will be delivered from that judgment and escape it.  This is what Jesus was saying in Luke 21:36, “Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.”  (NKJV).

Listen, friend.  God doesn’t just want to give you a golden ticket into heaven, or a badge of honor saying, “I’m saved!”  He wants you to escape that horrible day of judgment that is coming upon this world.  His promise is that all who put their faith in Jesus will prove worthy to escape that awful day.  No, we won’t escape persecutions and suffering in this life.  But we will escape the destruction that the powers of this age are orchestrating for humanity.  And, we will escape the destruction that God has determined upon them and those who stand with them as His wrath is poured out.

It is important to remain humble and understand the tension between being the survivors of this age and also being the overcomers.  Both concepts are critical for us as believers.  We are not victims.  We are those who will survive the most devastating things that will ever come upon the earth, and even more, we will be those who overcame the powers of the devil and his angels, and the kings and powers of this earth.  Amen!

Peter Preaches audio

Where Are We Headed? Part 5

Isaiah 25:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 17, 2022, Resurrection Sunday.

We will finish this series today.  We started off by talking about the fine sounding promises of the elite of this world: creating utopia, everyone learning to get along, science solving every problem, etc.  The problem is that at the end of every one of these promises is a road full of brokenness and being used. 

It is not like science was invented 20 years ago and we just need to give them more time.  The great powers of this world know that people see this, and so they build ever new forms making the same old promises.  They manipulate us to rebel against the old forms, which they created by the way, and put our hopes in the new forms. 

Of course, we should start asking ourselves a couple of questions.  Can they actually deliver such promises?  And even more insidious, do they really intend to deliver these things for every one?  Perhaps, this is their utopia and it requires a seething mass of humanity in shackles everywhere.

Twenty-nine centuries ago, God showed the prophet Isaiah that the capital cities of each nation, even Israel, were full of sin and tyranny over the people.  He promised two things: judgment on the cities and their elite, and salvation for the oppressed.

Let’s begin to look at Isaiah 25.

The world’s false promise of salvation

We should note that chapters 13 to 23 in the book of Isaiah are prophecies of judgment against each nation and its leading city that was around Israel.  Israel is included in this series of dooms (Samaria in Isaiah 17 and Jerusalem in Isaiah 22).  Chapter 24 becomes the climax and template for the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, or The Apocalypse.  It is sometimes called Isaiah’s Apocalypse.  It pictures the whole earth devastated under the wrath of God’s judgment.  This is not just a judgment on a particular nation, or city.  This is something that encompasses all of the nations. 

On the heels of this, chapter 25 is essentially a hymn of praise, a rejoicing over God’s saving judgment in chapter 24.  Humanity has been oppressed by other humans who have prostituted themselves to power, money, and even wicked spiritual beings who truly manipulate things on this earth.  The day will come when God will unleash a final salvation of the poor and needy from the oppression of the wicked.

In some ways, nothing has changed today, other than the oppression becoming more sophisticated and deceptive.  However, Resurrection Sunday and the Cross of Jesus the Christ is a reminder from God that He has not forgotten His promise.  The death and resurrection of Jesus shows us that our greatest problem is not billionaires and an elite shadow-government.  Rather, our greatest problem is our own sin and tendency to rebel against trusting God and His promise. In a sense, we are discouraged by the “success” of the wicked, and drawn into their world of compromise to whatever individual degree we choose.  If Christ did not do what he did 20 centuries ago, none would be saved from the wrath of God that even now looms over this world like a dark shadow because we all would be complicit.

Chapter 25 speaks of a particular city, even though the preceding chapters make clear that all the great cities of the earth will be judged.  It is called a “fortified city,” “a palace of foreigners,” and “the city of the terrible nations.  Note that the term terrible has the idea of awe and fear inspiring.  The shock and awe of the great nations of the earth is seated or headquartered in a particular city.  This is parallel with the city Babylon the Great that is destroyed in The Revelation.

This city is the city that rules over the world, and has changed locations throughout the centuries.  In fact, in keeping with Revelation’s harlot imagery, we should see the capital cities of the world as prostituting themselves saying, “Pick me!  Pick me!  I want to be the seat of power and authority in the earth.”  Of course, they do not cry out to God and His Anointed One Jesus.    Instead, they build an Olympus like system of oppression over the common people, and propagate themselves through a dog-eat-dog climbing of the mountain.  Those who are able to raise themselves up out of the sea of humanity and sit atop the pinnacle of earthly power become the modern demi-gods of this world.  Such is the true actions of Satan, always promising godhood to those who serve him and his purposes. 

This “godhood” is not all it is cracked up to be as the “demi-gods” realize that they are simply slaves to the devil and his angels.  The revelation of the One True God is that these beings will all suffer the second death and their greatness will be no more. 

Today, we see this same model and struggle.  The powerful cities of the earth merely struggle with one another for the “privilege” of being the next city that rules the world and oppresses at will, projecting power globally at will.  This final city is the one that Isaiah refers to and John as well.

In verse 4, we are shown that the poor and needy are under great distress.  The terrible ones of the earth blast against them like a storm against a wall, and like a hot desert wind serving as the furnace of their affliction.  They need refuge from the storm and shelter from the heat.  The elite have never cared for the average person of this world, the poor and needy.  No matter how much they may give lip service to it, they only care about themselves in the end.

Verse 7 mentions a covering of evil that has been cast over the nations.  This covering can also be seen as a veil.  It has several layers that are spiritually connected.  Ultimately, there is a veil of spiritual deception that has been instigated by the devil and his angels and cast over all the world.  Second Corinthians 4:3-4 says,

“…even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.…” 

Also, those powerful men and women of the earth, who have learned to also operate behind veils of intentions and actions in order to manipulate the masses for their ends, create evil covers.  Of course, at our current stage there are often competing veils.  However, even this competition is a kind of a veil.  In the end, they are all on the same team working towards the same ends.  Things are never as they seem with these people, and with these spiritual beings.  There is always enough truth to sell the poison and lies mixed into it.  This is their mode of operating.

Lastly, in verse 11, Isaiah prophesies that God will bring down their great pride and the trickery in their hands.  Their tricks are similar to the veils.  The tricks represent the plans they operate behind the veils.  Their cunning craftiness seems to work to their great gain, but God will eventually bring it down on their heads.  “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”  Matthew 8:36 (NKJV).  This judgment day is true for the individual powers as each empire replaces another one, and it is true globally as God promises an end to this dog-eat-dog wrestling of the terrible ones on the earth, and the oppression is puts on humanity.  In fact, it is time to admit that even Washington D.C. has taken its place as a city of the terrible nations oppressing the poor as they vie for power over the world.  Like little children, our state capitols are in her tresses scooping up what little tidbits they can from their mother’s industry, i.e., prostitution.

Enough about the wickedness of this world and its judgment.  This is a chapter about celebrating God’s final judgment!  Hallelujah!

Rejoice for Yahweh really saves!

Yahweh is the name given to Moses at the burning bush.  It speaks to God’s eternal being.  He is not only the always existing one, but also, He is what He always will be.  This word has historically been transliterated into English as Jehovah.  Regardless, it is not important to get hung up on the change of language and misunderstanding of scholars.  In the end, the One True God knows when we are faithfully referring to Him.  Many people knew the proper spelling and pronunciation of God’s name in the first century, but they perished because their hearts were far from Him. 

As I said earlier, this chapter is a hymn or psalm of praise as the dust settles from chapter 24. The righteous are seen rejoicing that God’s counsels of old have proven to be faithful and true.  Imagine it.  In Isaiah’s time (700s BC), the counsels of God were already ancient, starting with Adam and then to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, to Isaiah and lastly to Jesus.  In all of these, God has counseled us to trust in Him and His plan to save us.  If we do, we will not be put to shame, but all of those who cast Him aside and join the terrible ones will be put to shame.  Yes, it doesn’t look like that here on earth, but what we see today is not the whole sum of reality, nor of our existence.  Even now, those same counsels are a strength for the needy.  It gives us faith and purpose.  It gives us understanding and wisdom. 

We understand that Christ came to deal with our greatest enemy first, and it is our job to go to war against that great enemy within that seeks us to join the prostitution of the earth.  My sin and the desire of my flesh for it is the Goliath that I must slay!  Before we can deal with the tyrants of the world, we must all deal with our own inner tyrant screaming to get out.  This is why all revolutions ultimately fail.  Without facing truth, we only replace the old system with a new system destined to be corrupted and prostituted.  Praise God that He has revealed the things behind the curtains of today in the days of old, and we have these counsels faithfully preserved by His grace.

The salvation of Yahweh of course involves His judgment of those terrible ones.  You can picture the 2^nd Coming of Christ and his judgment against the kings of the earth along with the spiritual interlopers operating on the earth.  That day is coming as sure as the dawn.  We can even rejoice today as the Spirit of God opens our hearts to the truth that only He can deliver.

The great corruption across the world is part of the deception of the devil.  When his man the Antichrist comes forward, it will be a mockery, a trick, that pretends to put down the “wicked of the earth” for the sake of humanity.  Yet, his true intentions will quickly become seen.  By his fruits you will know him.  I don’t plan on being around to have to figure it out, but the counsels of God have warned the world of an arch-deceiver that will stand over all the earth at the end of time with an iron fist over religion, politics, and the economy.

Yes, there will be a revolt against the current political world in order to make room for a “grand new age of enlightened global governance.”  However, it will be done by people who are spiritually in chains to their sins, and they will only build a platform for the greatest evil this world has ever known.  Hallelujah that He promises to bring it down and remove it completely!  Here is a quote from Isaiah 24:21-22. 

"It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth.  They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished.”   

Note that it is referring to heavenly and earthly beings.  The rejoicing is not so much about their fate as it is about God’s relief for our oppression, and His restitution of righteousness.

Verse 8 talks about God swallowing up death forever, and wiping the tears from all faces.  Note that this identical to the language given to John in Revelation chapters 20 and 21.  The death of death and the destruction of the grave is something that seems to be mere poetry.  However, the resurrection of Jesus becomes God’s proof that He is greater than all of the things that oppress and hold us back from the destiny that He has for us.  Even death will flee away before the power of our God! 

The salvation of Yahweh is not just a temporary salvation during my short existence on this earth, but goes forward into eternity.  The shocking salvation of Yahweh is just as awe-inspiring, and even terrifying, as the actions of the terrible ones, but it is different in that it is good and righteous.

The tender picture of the Creator of all things wiping the tears from our eyes is what God wants you to know about Him, and to believe in Him, to trust in Him, to bring you to that precious moment.

Verse 6 pictures God creating a feast for the poor and needy after He has put down the terrible ones.  This is already spiritually true in Jesus.  At the cross, Jesus neutralized the only true weapon Satan could wield against us, our sin and the law.  Even now, we have a spiritual smorgasbord that Christ has given us in His Word, and gives to us daily by His Holy Spirit.  We can walk in these ancient counsels that continue to prove faithful and true.

This leads to verse 9 where the people celebrate by saying, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He is saving us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!”  Some versions say that He will save us, or in the future.  That is a possible translation.  However, the word simply means that it isn’t done.  In the context of God’s recent judgment here (recent within the prophecy, but still future to the hearers of the prophecy), it is better to translate it as something that is started, but is still continuing.  It’s not completed yet.

Friend, God has loved you with an everlasting love, but He is also truth.  Your sin, my sin, has to be dealt with.  Jesus did his part to pay the price for our sins.  However, can we do our part by repenting of not putting our full trust in him?  Can we begin trusting in Jesus today and start walking a life that is founded upon God’s counsels?  May we realize that without God, this world has nothing for us, but with Him it is an amazing world of God’s grace!  Don’t prostitute yourself by casting off God in order to get more of this world.  It will only bring pain in the end.

Yahweh Saves! audio

What Does God Really Want from Me?

Connect to Christ through Whole Life Worship

John 4:23-24; Matthew 11:28-30; John 15:2-4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:14-17.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 16, 2020.

We are starting a series that looks at what God really wants from us.  It really is a simple answer.  Ultimately, God wants you yourself.  He simply wants us.

Of course, there is more to it than that, so we will take some time to walk through the issues and remind ourselves just how much God loves us.  We will also remind ourselves how much we should follow Jesus without wavering.

Let’s look at our first passage.

Whole Life Worship

In John 4, Jesus is speaking with the Samaritan woman by a well.  She is stuck in the old arguments between her people and the Jews over where the proper place to worship is.  She had unknowingly inherited lies in this matter. 

The history of the Samaritans went back to the beginning of the 7^th Century BC when the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom and deported them.  Other nations were brought to that area and told to live there.  Due to attacks from lions, and terrible things happening, the people complain to the Assyrian king that they don’t know how to please the god of this land.  So, the king sends some of the Israelite priests back to teach them how to please Yahweh.  Of course, they had been kicked out of the land because God was not pleased with their idol worship.  What transpired over the next century was an amalgamation of religious beliefs that rejected everything but the first 5 books of Moses, and they eventually promoted Mt. Gerizim as the place to worship- even built a temple there.

Now, the Jews were right about where to worship, but they were not without their own problems.  Where did they miss the boat?  The place of worship was important only because God had given them a command regarding it.  However, the worship itself was far more important to God than the place of it.  Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that God is looking for people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

So, what is worship?  Worship is everything we do to show God that He is the worthiest, most valuable Being in the Universe.  In fact, everything you do is showing what is valuable to you.  Everyone’s life holds something most valuable to them.  They may waver from one thing to the next, but they still value something higher than all else. 

The question is this.  Is it really God the Father that you worship?  Two people can both go to church.  For one it is all about showing God His value, but to the other it may be about being seen as a good, righteous person.  God is looking for people who truly want Him above all else.  You see why I said that He ultimately wants you?

Like Hagar in the wilderness, God saw this Samaritan woman.  She had clearly received religious teaching in her life, but she had not lived a very religious life.  Even then, much of what she had been taught was all lies.  God saw her and sent Jesus to speak truth into her life.  She needed to put her faith in the Messiah. 

Whole life worship of God the Father happens when we come to Jesus and connect to him spiritually by faith.  This spiritual connection will stir up other purposes that God has for us in this spiritual life.  They are not grades or levels that we achieve.   God wants us to connect to Him and His people, grow to be like Jesus, serve one another selflessly, and to share Jesus with those who do not know.  Notice that the Samaritan woman ends up connecting to Jesus and then sharing about him to other in the same day.  It would be hard to say that she hadn’t become more like Jesus by the end of the day, and she clearly served him. 

Over the next weeks, we are going to walk through these four purposes and draw out what God really wants from us.

The Call (Matthew 11:28-30)

Connecting to God is not mechanical like hitching a trailer to a truck.  It is organic like having a relationship with someone.  Jesus is the voice of God saying, “I’m here and I’m seeking a relationship with you.  I designed you to have relationship with Me!”  In Jesus, God shows us that we are valuable to Him, very valuable. 

In this passage, Jesus is inviting, or calling, to anyone who has grown weary of life.  He understands that life in this world without a living relationship with God is hard.  This world is a heavy taskmaster. 

Yet, Jesus doesn’t promise to make our life easy.  Instead, he will take your old burden and give you a lighter burden, even a better burden, to carry.  This world loves to load us up with heavy burdens and sometimes we can be the worst taskmasters to ourselves.  However, Jesus cares about your soul.  The burden that he has for you will feel light compared to the one you carry before coming to him.  It will give you rest for your weary soul.

The Connection (John 15:2-4)

Jesus has made an offer of relationship with you, but it is through the act of putting your faith in him that you actually make a connection.

Jesus pictures it as a branch that is connected to a vine.  The natural connection that we can see is symbolic of a spiritual connection that happens between us and Jesus whenever a we believe in him.  That real and living connection allows the life of Jesus to flow into our soul and spread out into our life.  The fruit of a person who is in a relationship of faith in Jesus is all kinds of life, even in the midst of hardship and death.  It is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Because it is a connection of faith, it must be maintained by faith.  It must persevere until the end.  So, recognize that this world has a counter-call that promises all kinds of “life,” but in the end such life is gravel in the mouth.

God actually cares about you, created you, and wants to help you to continually become more than you are.  This world sees you as a useful tool, a cog in the machine.  A cog that can be replaced if it doesn’t fit the ideas of the modern “aristocracy,” the “elite.”

A New Creation (1 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:14-17)

When a person puts their faith in Jesus, they really become a new creation, a new person.  I am leaving the old thinking and the old way of living behind, and I am beginning a new life of trusting the thinking and way of living that Jesus teaches.

Of course, the counter-call of the world means that I still have to maintain my rejection of the old and my embracing of the new every day.  Sometimes people get down the road of following Christ and they feel like its not what they thought it would be.  This can be because we aren’t treating it as a living connection that is a relationship.  You have to maintain relationships for them to last and to be fruitful.  The old you will always be calling, like an old friend from high school saying, “Don’t you want to go back and have some fun?”

Listen, coming to Christ is not about your feelings, and getting things from God.  It is about being adopted into His forever-family.  Those who are in His forever-family are given His Holy Spirit to come alongside of them and to help them.  He leads us and teaches us if we will listen and talk with Him through reading God’s Word and prayer.  It is about trusting The One who cannot and noes not lie.  He wants you in His family.  That ‘s what we were made for and why the Bible says that we were made in His image.  We aren’t gods, but we are able to be adopted into His family as His children.  That is an amazing destiny.

If we are His children, then we will inherit everything with Jesus as Romans 8:17 states.  Forget about the wealth of the world, and the power of this age.  All of these things are destined to be destroyed.  However, we who believe in Jesus are destined to step into a universe untainted by sinfulness, and full of beautiful potential.  Of course, this life is still important.  It is this life which gives us opportunity to be in His family!

Connect to Christ audio