Such Love—Part VI

Subtitle: Let's Be A People of the Righteousness of Jesus

Philippians 3:2-9; 12-14.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 7, 2023.

This will be our last message on the love of God through Jesus.  We talked about the Incarnation, and how God loved us enough to become one of us.  We then talked about how he laid that life down in order to Redeem us.  Third, we saw the gift of sending the Holy Spirit in order to live within us.  Fourth, we looked at the gift of a sure, confirmed, faithful record of His dealings with humanity in the Word.  Last week, we looked at the gift of prayer that allows us to communicate with God.  And, today, we will look at the gift of the righteousness of Jesus that God shares with us. 

Of course, these do not exhaust the ways in which God has lavished His love upon us.  However, they go to the heart of what God desires for you and for me.  None of us deserve to have our sins covered by another, and yet God loves us enough to make it possible for our sins to be covered by Jesus.  More than that, He also makes it possible for us to become the righteousness of Christ and to live it out.

It is sad that there are people in the Church who are still confused over just what God desires of those who come to Christ.  The apostles of the first century dealt with these issues, and yet they are still with us today.  It is the tension between legalism and hedonism /antinomianism. 

The legalist focuses on an outward conformity to certain rules and glories in their accomplishment of them.  They generally shame others who do not conform to their list of rules, and very often, they shame themselves internally because they know they fall short.

The word antinomian basically means a person who is against law, or rules.  In this context, it refers to a person who believes that they do not need to restrain themselves with sin because the death of Jesus "covers it all."

Both the legalist and the antinomian miss the heart of God in salvation.  The answer is not in finding the right balance between the two.  We should not advocate having some rules, but not getting to carried away with them.  The answer given by the apostles lies not in satisfying a list or rules, and not in having no restraint (i.e., self-discipline).  Rather, it lies in a transformation of the inner and outer man that is led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Let's look at our first passage.

Our confidence should be in Jesus alone (v. 2-8)

Paul continually had to deal with false teachers coming in behind him and bringing confusion into the churches that he had started.  A common false teaching was in this area of teaching Gentiles that it wasn't enough for them only to believe in Jesus.  They also needed to take on the works of the Law.  In this case, Paul deals with the pressure for Gentile Christians to be circumcised.

In verse 2, Paul refers to such teachers in three different ways.  He first uses an Old Testament metaphor for a person who does evil things, i.e., a dog.  Thus, the second way of referring to them, "evil doer," essentially defines the imagery of a dog.  The third reference is "the mutilation."  This is a play on the way that Jews would refer to themselves as "the circumcision."  This was a title of honoring the fact that they had the Law and were obedient to God, as opposed to the Gentiles who were ignorant of the Law and were not part of the circumcision.  However, Paul clearly picks a word that turns this on its head.  They are not the circumcision, they are the mutilation.  Obviously, Paul does not see them in a good light.

Paul tells them to beware, or to watch out for such teachers.  They are not going to help them to please God.

For us today, I don't think there are many groups that are promoting circumcision, but we should recognize that the heart of the issue is not so much circumcision as it is requiring something else to be added to our belief in Jesus.  Why do people tend to think that faith in Jesus cannot be enough to save us?

I think it generally has to do with a confusion about the work of God within believers, both its goal and its power.  Thus, Paul ends verse 2 with the recognition that a believer in Jesus will put no confidence in the flesh.

On what do I place my confidence when it comes to salvation?  What makes me know that I am acceptable, or right, with God?  I'm not perfect, but if I were to die today, would I be allowed into the presence of the Lord?  When it comes to salvation, my confidence should always rest upon Jesus, and him alone.

Thus, Paul emphasizes that Christians are to worship God "in the Spirit."  We are not relying on things of the flesh to draw near to God, but instead, we rely upon the Spirit of God to help us worship the Father.

The false teachers would take aspects of the Old Covenant worship, that were legitimate, and teach that they are necessary for believers under the new covenant.  Again, it is to say that faith in Jesus is not enough. 

The heart of worshiping God is to declare that He is worthy of our faith and obedience, of our trust.  Instead of being led by the Spirit of God who was establishing the faith through these apostles, they are being led by men to resist the Spirit and to establish a different wisdom as their guide moving forward.  It is interesting that Israel resisted the leading of the Holy Spirit in the wilderness when the Old Covenant (which was new then) was being established.  They resisted and retreated into the calf worship that they had picked up in Egypt.  Similarly, there is a resistance again as the Spirit leads them out from under the tutorship of the Law into the life of the Spirit of God.

Paul sees this in an enabling to worship.  We are enabled to worship God and please Him, be acceptable, by the help of the Holy Spirit, not by human wisdom, or skill.

Paul is telling Gentiles that "we are the circumcision" who worship God by the help of the Spirit, rather than by the help of the flesh.  They are the circumcision because they have had their hearts circumcised by God Himself.  By the way, this was spoken of even in the giving of the Law.  In Deuteronomy 30:6, Moses describes God's grace in helping them repent through a spiritual circumcision of the heart.  Thus, even under the Law of Moses, it is made clear that the physical circumcision, which they were commanded to do, was symbolic of an inner work that had to be done by God.  No man, or child, circumcises themselves.  They need another human to do it for them.  Who can help me circumcise my heart?  Only God can through faith in Jesus.

Now that Jesus had paid the price and the Holy Spirit was leading the remnant to believe in Him, the symbols of the Old Covenant were no longer needed.

Again, a true believer in Christ should have no confidence in the flesh.  I wish that this was true of most Christians today.  We are dazzled by the flesh today more than we even understand.  It is wonderful to hear someone sing or play music who is extremely good and proficient.  It is wonderful to see beautiful buildings.  However, it is a different thing if this is what dazzles me and gives me confidence in God.

The word confidence in English emphasizes faith.  However, the Greek word has a sense of persuasion.  They are similar, but there is a subtle difference.  Those who are persuaded by what they see and do in the flesh will miss the work that the Holy Spirit is doing.  Paul mentions this in 1 Corinthians 2:1.  Paul did not come to them with great speech, as the Greeks loved to hear.  He was among them in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  However, the Spirit of God showed up in powerful ways.  Salvation had come to them through the work of the Spirit, not the flesh of Paul.  Why would they now retreat back to following the flesh?

It was those who put their confidence in the flesh that had rejected Jesus and put him to death, both Jews and Romans (the Jews in a religious way, the Romans in a secular way).  Even the disciples followed Jesus partially because of the Spirit and partially because of the flesh.  Jesus did great miracles and they were convinced he could save Israel.  Their flesh was already to sit beside Jesus when he took control of Israel.  But then, Jesus went to the cross and nailed the flesh, that they had pinned so many hopes upon, to a cross.  I picture God being so fed up with our hunger for a superman, who is head and shoulders above the rest, to save us.  He sends us our superman and then nails him to a cross so that we can finally get the message.  Quit looking to the flesh to save you!

At the cross, we are shown that confidence in the flesh, be it me, another, or even the mortal Jesus, whether religious or secular, will always sacrifice the work of God's Spirit.  When Jesus was crucified on the cross, the hopes they had put on him in the flesh, on a work of the flesh, were crucified as well. 

It is easy to see this as somehow the message of someone who struggled with obeying God, a loser at obeying God's law.  However, Paul cuts this argument off in verses 3 through 6.  He had been one of the "Olympians" of fleshly religion in Israel so he lists his fleshly accomplishments.  It was outside of Damascus that Saul of Tarsus discovered just how much his confidence in his fleshly accomplishments impressed God.  God struck him blind and rebuked him.  "Why are you persecuting me?"

That is what God thought about the "best" that 1st century Judaism could produce.  I wonder what He thinks about the "best" that 21st century Christianity has produced.

Paul had to choose that day when Jesus confronted him.  To follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit, he would have to let go of everything that he had accomplished, and was trying to accomplish.  Those "gains" were keeping him from following God.  He could not have Messiah and hold on to his confidence in a system that focused on the outward.

In a way, the dynamics in Israel did him a favor.  Those in charge in Jerusalem would not be happy if he chose to follow Jesus.  Persecution would come to him.  He knew up front that to choose Jesus was to leave that system behind.  However, the gentiles in Philippi and other places could probably try to keep the Law of Moses and call themselves believers in Jesus.  Yet, Paul is showing them here why that can never be.  To follow Jesus, to follow the Spirit of God, is to  let go of anything else being the source of my confidence.

We might ask at this point why a person would want to hold onto a system of fleshly confidence.  At the heart of the answer, we should see the desires of our own flesh.  The Law of Moses did not set up a system that was focused on the flesh.  It was the leaders of Israel who had taken the Law and turned it into a flesh-based confidence system.  They did this over the top of the witness of that same Law telling them that they fell short and needed the help of God, the circumcision of the heart that only God could do.

Saul let go of those gains in order to have Jesus, to have "the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" for whom he went on to suffer (v. 8).  He wanted to know this amazing Jesus even if it cost him everything.

Am I a person of the Spirit who is persuaded by the Spirit of God and who places their confidence on The One in whom the Spirit was without measure?

We have a better righteousness (v. 8-9)

As Paul makes his argument, it was easy for people to portray him as advocating the life of the antinomian we mentioned earlier.  Even today, people will speak about a tension between Pauline theology and that of the apostle James.  However, if you read Paul's letters, you will find that he emphasizes doing righteous things, as much as he emphasizes resting in the righteousness of Christ alone for salvation.

Paul is emphasizing that through Jesus, and the Spirit of Christ, we are given a righteousness that is far better than anything we could accomplish under any flesh-oriented confidence system (be it Jewish or Christian).  Jesus himself stated in Matthew 5:20 that unless their righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees none of them would enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  He knew that this would shock his hearers because they thought of the Pharisees as the "Olympians" of righteousness.  However, in God's eyes, their external, flesh-based righteousness was as filthy rags.  It fell woefully short.  In truth, Jesus is not setting a high bar here.  He is merely speaking the truth.

So, we must start there as Paul points out at the end of verse 8.  My righteous works in and of themselves are rubbish, garbage.  Let me reiterate that point.  It doesn't just say that they fall short.  It is worse than that.  If I invited you over for dinner and overcooked the meal a little bit, it would fall short of being a good meal.  However, if I put garbage on your plate and attempted to serve it to you, it would be gross and insulting.  It isn't just falling short.  It is on the negative of the scale.

This is not to say that it was wrong to obey the Law of Moses.  It is to say that the human heart tends to turn religion into an external performance without internal change.  Saul's problem was not in trying to obey the Law.  It was in refusing to hear what the Spirit of God was trying to say to him through it.  There were plenty of Jews in his day who heard this message from the Spirit and were waiting for the Messiah to come and clean up the mess that the religious leaders of Israel had created. 

In the book of Romans, Paul saw that the Law of Moses served to slow down their fall away from God while at the same time showing them their true spiritual need.

It wasn't rubbish to try and obey God, but it was rubbish to think that his righteousness was enough to please God.  Our righteousness always falls short of true inner transformation that is led by the Spirit of God when its source is about demonstrating that we are good.

Paul contrasts a righteousness that is from the Law (my performance) versus the righteousness that is from God through faith in Jesus.  He is not against the Law.  It had served its purpose.  However, he is against developing a righteousness that merely adds Jesus to what the Pharisees were doing.  Our performance of the Law cannot be the source of our righteousness.

I picture this as an income tax form religion. We can focus on the letter of God's word, and come up with our list of do's and don'ts.  In a sense, instead of letting the Spirit of God audit our hearts, we make ourselves legalists who audit ourselves.  We create a system of understanding that creates people who are really good at doing their "spiritual taxes," but also others who are terrible at it.  O, well, they should be more like Saul of Tarsus. 

We should be hearing what the Word says to our heart about dead works, but our tendency (in the flesh) is to build a religion that pats certain fleshly people on the back.  They are promoted as "those who can get it done."  Then, the people look up to them as amazingly unsurpassable, religious icons. 

Paul found a different righteousness that day outside of Damascus.  When he quit resisting the Spirit of God and embraced Jesus, he was suddenly right with God, pleasing to Him.  Imagine all of the people that Saul had injured, and in a moment his sins are covered!  "That's not fair!"  No, it isn't because none of us will be saved if God gives us what is fair.  The grace of God was available to a man who had been leading saints off to their death.  Simultaneously, the grace of God was given to countless uncircumcised Gentiles who hadn't been keeping the Law of Moses, and now Paul is telling them that they shouldn't keep the Law of Moses.  They were saved when they obeyed the Spirit and put their faith in Jesus alone.  Paul emphasizes this in verse 9: "through faith in Christ..." 

Yes, I am still doing something, righteousness, but the motivation is different.  I went from trying to show God how good I am so that He will save me, to believing in the salvation of Jesus and following Him by the Spirit.  One has a confidence in us, and the other has a confidence in Jesus.

The confusion between salvation and discipleship (v. 12-14)

There continues to be a great confusion in the minds of many between salvation and discipleship.  This can only be because our pulpits are confused on this issue.  We can muddy the lines between being saved and being discipled.  Yet, ultimately, Paul sees the problem's source as evil workers (v. 2) who infiltrate and promote the confusion.

If you are saved, have salvation, you know that you would be with Jesus in heaven if you were to die today.  Discipleship on the other hand has to do with how much you look like Jesus.  We can too easily make a certain nebulous level of discipleship necessary for salvation, and this is a mistake.  In fact, it is not the Gospel.

How many times did the disciples fail, and were rebuked by Jesus?  I didn't count them, but it was many.  Peter himself was rebuked by the Lord with the harsh words, "Get behind me, satan!"  Yet, were they "kicked off the team?"  Did they lose their place in community of believers?  No.  They didn't work their way into the family of God and they couldn't fail their way out.  There is a caveat to that last sentence, but more on that later.  Salvation is based upon my faith in the righteousness of Jesus alone.  I am saved as long as I am trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be my salvation.  Discipleship also takes faith in Jesus.  Our weakness in being made more like Jesus does not cancel our place in the body of Christ.

It is clear that Paul in verses 8-9 is talking about salvation.  The righteousness of Christ alone can save me.  However, once we are saved, we are to move on to discipleship.  Verses 12-14 are not speaking of salvation.  Paul is not saying that he hasn't "attained" salvation yet.  It is not the "perfected" who "attain" salvation.  He is talking about discipleship.  He doesn't fully look like Jesus yet!  He is still on the path of discipleship, which ends when we enter the presence of Jesus and are resurrected (see v. 10-11).  Paul sees himself in this process of discipleship, being perfected.  Of course, discipleship is a component of salvation, but the point is that salvation is being a child of God, and discipleship is taking on the family likeness.  We do not lose our salvation because our discipleship isn't going so well at the moment.  God is faithful to treat us as sons and "discipline" us (Hebrews 12:5-6).

The Spirit of God is given to us to enable us to become like Christ.  We need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit by turning away from things in our past and turning towards Jesus.  Union with Jesus is what lies ahead.  The Spirit is leading us "upward" out of sin, and into full communion with Jesus as glorified sons of God.

The ultimate prize is Jesus Himself.  Yet, the righteousness of Jesus is not only about a legal exchange of his righteousness to cover my sins.  Just as resurrection will change our mortal bodies so the believer is in a spiritual transformation process in which we are made to be the righteousness of Jesus.  He is teaching us to live out the righteousness of Jesus.  This is discipleship.  The disciples did not disciple themselves.  They were taught by Jesus and the Spirit of God.  So too, we must be led by the Spirit to become more like Jesus.

If you go back to Philippians 2:12-13, Paul emphasizes that we should "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."  Many people don't know what to do with that verse because it sounds like the legalists are right.  However, Paul is not promoting a new legalism under a different law.

The key is in the phrase "work out."  This corresponds to the phrase in verse 13 "works in you."  Because you are saved, the Spirit of God has taken up residence within you.  He proceeds to work into you the things of God, and you should work that out into your life.  This is the New Testament picture of a believer in Christ.  We are daily working out what the Spirit of God is working in us.  Why should we fear and tremble?  It is not because God is capricious and may jerk the rug of salvation out from under us.  Rather, it is because I don't trust my flesh and its ability to resist and neutralize the work of the Spirit within us.  I take seriously that God is working in me and seek first to understand it, and then to cooperate with it.  Saul was not taking it seriously.  He was fortunate that the Lord in His mercy rebuked him so severely.

God is not in heaven saying, "Why can't you do it!"  Rather, He is inside of us saying, "Take my hand, and I will help you do it!"  How can I say no to such love?

Quickly, let me just remind us of similar verses from Paul in the book of Galatians.

In Galatians 6:7-8, Paul warns believers that even we who have been saved should be careful because God cannot be mocked.  This is what an antinomian does.  They not only believe that the righteousness of Jesus covers their sin, but that it also covers them continuing to sin without even trying to live differently.  This is to make a mockery of why Christ died.  He did not die to leave us stuck in our sins throughout the rest of our lives.  No true Christian will pretend that they can continue to give themselves to sin, and yet, be covered by their "Jesus insurance."  Jude calls this a "license for immorality" in Jude 1:4.  He then says that such an idea is a "denial" of Jesus.  You cannot put your faith in Jesus and deny him at the same time.  To embrace Jesus is to embrace his righteousness, both for salvation and as the work that the Spirit is doing in you.

In Galatians 6, Paul warns that our life is a sowing.  Your choices and actions are sowing seeds to the flesh or to the Spirit of God.  The seeds to the flesh will only reap corruption and destruction.

So, is it possible for our discipleship to become so bad that we "lose" our salvation?  Paul doesn't use that terminology here, but he does warn that if we continually give ourselves over to the flesh, then we will reap destruction.  He had warned them of this back in Galatians 5:16-21.  He counsels them to follow the Spirit and not the flesh.  He then states that the works of the flesh are obvious while listing some.  Notice that it ends with the warning that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.  Whether they were actually saved before or not, we should recognize that there is a whole class of people in Scripture who knew the truth, were part of the being saved community, and yet perished due to lack of faith.  The children of Israel in the desert, Lot's wife, Judas, and many others, perished and reaped destruction because of unbelief.  Thus, salvation is based upon faith in Jesus, but so is our discipleship.  They did not fall short because their discipleship wasn't perfect.  Rather, they fell short because their sowing to their flesh overwhelmed any faith they may have had in God.

Let me close with reminding us of Galatians 2:20.  Paul died on the day that he met Jesus.  From then on, he quit trying to do what he wanted and lived his life to do what Jesus wanted.  He wasn't perfect in performing that, but it was how he lived.  We are to daily crucify our flesh and its desires.  We are not to live out our desires and purposes, but to live out the desires and purposes of God in our life.

So, how is it that our works that are done by faith in Jesus and listening to the Spirit can be clean and acceptable to God?  They are purified by faith in Jesus and washed by the presence of the Holy Spirit as we cooperate with Him. 

This is a daily battle, but do not lose hope.  The Spirit of God will help you in this battle against your own flesh.  Keep your faith in Jesus, that he has redeemed you (saved you), and work on following the leading of the Holy Spirit to become like Jesus (discipling).  Ultimately, we all lay our heads down in death short of perfectly looking like Jesus, but through death and resurrection, He will finish the work in each one of us!  Amen!

Righteousness of Jesus audio

Such Love-Part 2

Subtitle: He Paid the Price for Us

Psalm 49:6-8,15; Isaiah 49:5-7; Luke 23:39-43.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Resurrection Sunday, April 9, 2023.

We continue our series on the love of God.  We talked last week about God loving us so much that He took on the nature of a human.  He became one of us.  This is called the incarnation.

However, God did not use His humanity to rule over us with an iron fist.  Instead, He uses it to pay the price required to help us get back everything that we have lost due to sin.  This can be regarding some of the immediate consequences of sin, but ultimately embraces all that we have lost eternally.

Let's look at our first passage.

The true predicament of my soul  (Ps 49:6-8,15)

The psalmist brings up the issue of redeeming a person.  Verse 7 says that the wealthy of this world (who are so used to being able to buy what they want) will not be able to redeem their brother.  Anyone who may be perplexed at this statement quickly has it cleared up in the next verse.  The psalmist clarifies that they are talking about redeeming the soul.  Redeeming the soul is soul costly that it "shall cease forever," as the NKJV reads.  The phrase can also mean to not be completed. This is most likely the intended meaning.  No matter how long, i.e., forever, a wealthy person saves up, they will always fall short of the cost of redeeming the soul of their brother. 

This concept of redeeming a soul is important to note.

The psalmist then declares that God will redeem them from the power of the grave.  In order to really absorb what the psalmist is contemplating here, we need to take a few minutes to talk about the concept of redemption.

Redemption is the idea of paying the price required to release something back to the original owner, whether that is yourself, or another person.

There were several situations in ancient Israelite society that would call for redemption.  The firstborn of every Israelite family, including of their animals, belonged to the Lord.  A husband and wife were required to redeem their firstborn child by paying a set price to the tabernacle. 

This was not a blatant attempt to make money off of the families of Israel.  Rather, it harkened back to their time in Egypt.  They were slaves, and God was using Moses to deliver them from Pharaoh.  This involved 10 plagues in which God essentially forced Pharaoh to all but drive the Israelites out of his land.  The tenth plague was the death of the firstborn.  A destroying angel would go throughout Egypt and kill the firstborn of every family and every animal.  God instructed Israel to offer a lamb and put its blood upon the doorposts of their dwelling.  God Himself would protect those households that had obeyed and applied the blood of the lamb to their doorposts.  This continuing redemption was to be a reminder to Israel of God's deliverance of the firstborn in Egypt. 

Another situation that required the concept of redemption had to do with property.  If a person became poor, they may need to sell their property.  They could then use the money to set up some other way of making it.  If this fell through, they may even need to sell their labor and become an indentured servant.  Regardless, it could happen that an Israelite would be so destitute that they would never get their land back, until the Jubilee (if that was being observed every 50 years).  Even then, they may be financially unable to do anything with it.  This is where a close relative could step in, pay the value of the land, and give it back to their kin.  This would be a righteous act of grace for one of your extended family members.  The story of Ruth has this issue at the center of its plot.

This sets up a specific word that is used for redeeming that literally means "to do the work of a kinsman."  It is sometimes translated as a Kinsman Redeemer.  This always involves a situation where a poor person who is unable to do so is helped by a rich relative who is gracious.

The idea that a soul may need to be redeemed is a powerful concept that relies upon the imagery provided in such situations as I have described.  God had made sure that this concept would crop up in different ways throughout their society so that they could understand a deeper predicament of humanity, the need for spiritual redemption.

This begs the question.  What was sold, and why are we so "spiritually" poor that we are unable to get it back?  Genesis three and the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden represents part of the problem.  We chose the knowledge of good and evil (I think we have received a good dose of both) over the top of a good relationship with God.  God had warned them against eating from that tree.  This breaking of faith with God had the consequence of separating them from Him, as well as mortality.  They exchanged their eternal relationship of goodness with God for the idea that they could be something without Him.

Yet, it is more than this.  We had opened the door to the idea of rejecting God's purpose, or plan, and moved in the direction of living life in our own wisdom (or was their own?).  Humanity exchanged immortality for mortality, and the sure plan of God for the sketchy plan that we could come up with on our own, or with help from fallen spiritual beings.  This was an immoral response to the goodness of God.  Such sin not only separated us from God, but it also began to stack up as we continued to double down on sinful actions.  At a basic level, humanity as a whole is a prodigal son in bondage to the things of this world and far away from the place we were meant to have next to Father God.  We have no means of getting that good place next to God back, and continue to descend into a hell of our own making.  We need redemption!

God promises a redeemer  (Isaiah 49:5-7)

Isaiah speaks about the redemption over 24 times between chapters 40 and 66.  It is interesting that this section has 13 chapters (40-52) and then the amazing chapter 53 gives us a powerful picture of God's answer for man's redemption.  In fact, throughout that section, there are 4 glimpses of God's Redeemer who would come forth to redeem both Israel and the nations.  These glimpses are called the "Servant Songs" by theologians.  This section builds up to chapter 53, which is the shocking reveal that the Redeemer would come forward to be a sacrifice for the people.  We then have another 13 chapters to the end of the book as a sort of resolution of the tension. 

Isaiah 49 is the second "Servant Song," which pictures the Redeemer of Israel.

Another aspect of chapters 40-52 is that Israel was supposed to be the servant of God to help take back the nations for God.  However, God's servant Israel was a deaf and blind servant.  Just picture for a moment how helpful a deaf and blind servant would be to their master.  Israel had become deaf and blind because of their sins.  How would they ever get back the position that God had made for them next to Him in redeeming the nations?  It would only happen through God's a special and unique redeemer sent from God.  Israel could not do it for themselves; they were spiritually too poor, but God would help them.

This is something to understand.  With sin, no amount of money, or even good works, could pay for what we have done.  The penalty is to die as a slave and go into eternity out of relationship with God.

In Isaiah 49:6, it is said that it would be too small of thing for this coming Redeemer only to redeem Israel and cause their scattered exiles to be gathered back to God in the land.  This Redeemer would also become a light to the Gentiles, i.e., the nations, and He would be God's salvation to the ends of the earth.

This may help you to understand why it was so important for Mary and Joseph to name this special child that she carried, Yeshua.  It means "Yahweh's Salvation." 

The early Scriptures are a story of humanity's relationship with God continuing to fracture into a worse and worse predicament.  The Fall in the Garden causes humanity to be kicked out of the earthly paradise and close relationship with God.  Of course, there was interference from a spiritual interloper, the devil.  This happens again in Genesis 6, which causes mankind to become extremely evil.  After the flood, we see the Tower of Babel rebellion.  Their sin causes the judgment of God.  They are cast off to serve those false pretender gods that they were seeking, and God goes to Abram to make a new nation for Himself.  Yet, this nation of Israel essentially fails to be the servant that God wanted because...you guessed it!, because of sin.

God knew this would happen all along, but we needed to both live it out and see it for ourselves.  We are too easily manipulated by evil spiritual forces, and  too stuck in our sins to be free, and that includes the so-called "righteous" among us.  Thus, God's promise through Isaiah that He would raise up a special Redeemer who would do what humanity could not.

Redeemed by the life of our kinsman  (Luke 23:39-43)

Jesus was not just coming to give us the good example, though He truly is a perfect picture of what we should be.  He became human, and then lived a perfect life, a sinless life, so that he could perform the work of a near kinsman, that is, pay the price to help us get our inheritance back.

Jesus could pay the price of death that was owed by Israel, but also by all the nations of the earth.  None of us were worthy, and none of us are worthy today.  We still need the redemption of Jesus.

That is what Jesus was doing that day in which we nailed him to a cross between two thieves.  This is just how "righteous" we are.  When God gave us the perfect person, we killed him.  If God were to do it again, we would just kill that one too.  Thus, all the prophets who had a glimpse of God's coming Redeemer also saw that he would be despised and abhorred by many. 

We are all in the same predicament, no matter how good we are compared to others.  We have lost our inheritance to dwell eternally with God, and we are bereft of any spiritual value to get it back.  Yet, in this state, God knew that some would believe.  For those who will stop demanding that God accept their life as "righteous enough," and simply admit that they cannot do it themselves, Jesus comes to pay the price.

Jesus became your kin so that he could pay the price for your sin, and restore you to the eternal inheritance that God always intended for you.  This is particularly on display in the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus.

These thieves are real men, and this is what really happened.  However, they are more than just incidental, accidental, parts of the story.  They are symbolic of all of humanity.

All of humanity is destined to die as sinners.  Yes, we can point to another person and rightly say that we are better than them to some degree.  However, we are still spiritual beggars who are unable to pay the full price for our sins and live with God.  Our relative righteousness is like a person bragging that they have one million dollars in the bank and laughing a person who lives paycheck to paycheck.  Comparatively, they have it better.  But, if the analogy is to properly fit mankind, the person who has a million dollars in the bank, and the poor person, both owe a debt to God that is astronomical.  A debt that they cannot ever pay back.  They will be in the same boat on the day that they die and their debts come due.

These two thieves are both dying for their sins.  Yet, in that state, they have two very different hearts.  One thief is full of self-righteousness and challenges Jesus to save himself and them.  You can notice that he is only thinking of the natural problem.  Jesus is no good to him, unless he can help him get out of this predicament in a natural way.  There is no sense within this thief that he is guilty, but Jesus is innocent, none at all.

The other thief is a different story.  He recognizes that he deserves what he is getting.  These are the just desserts of a thief, even if it is the dirty, rotten, no-good Romans doing it.  Yet, he simultaneously recognizes that Jesus does not deserve the death that he is receiving.  Something comes alive in him in this moment.  He comes to believe that somehow this Jesus must really be the Messiah.  He doesn't know how, but in some way the God of Israel will do something powerful, and this man Jesus will be the king of a Messianic Kingdom.  Like Abraham offering up his child in faith, so the man gives a prayerful request to Jesus.  "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."

We want God to come down and get us out of our mess, but instead, God came down and let himself be crucified among us.  What good does that do for us?  Yes, we all believe that the biggest problem in life is all those other evil things, people, nations, etc. out there.  God come stop the Russians, the Chinese, Washington D.C., etc.  God stop that race; God get those greedy bankers; God make the rich give us their money.  In our self-righteousness, we call for God to "solve" our problems.  However, those things are not our true problem.  Our true problem is the sin within us.  A willfulness to reject God and try to make our way without Him, and then rail against Him when there are bad consequences.  

The day they were caught and sentenced to execution was the greatest days of their lives because it would put them in a place to see God's great Redeemer.  In our pain and suffering, God is not only there, but He has been there long before we ever made it there.  When God created the heavens and the earth, He did so in tears.  He was the One going forth sowing in tears, knowing that He would doubtless come again rejoicing with a harvest.  Our sense of suffering is only the tip of the iceberg of the timeless assault of evil, pain and suffering upon the heart of God.

God used the wicked Romans that day to help one of those thieves come face to face with His sin, while also coming face to face with the righteousness of Jesus.  He believed that day, and Jesus told him that he would be with him in Paradise that very day!

This bothers some people.  This man had lived the life of a thief.  We can make it noble by saying he only stole from Romans, but we don't know that.  Sin always pulls us lower than we ever intended to go.  This man would die within hours.  He has nothing to offer God.  Why would God save Him knowing that He is not going to get any good works out of this man?

This begs the question.  What does God really want?  The answer is that He simply wants you, your heart, mind, and love.  On that day, that man quit rebelling against God, turned, and embraced the truth about whom Jesus was. 

God is looking for whosoever will let go of demanding that their righteousness be accepted as enough.  He wants whosoever will let go of their way of thinking, their plans, and whosoever will yield to His wisdom, purpose, and plan.

Yes, that man had nothing to offer God that day, but himself.  All of mankind is symbolized in these two guys.  We are all sinners who are going to die.  Some will die doubling down on their own righteousness and despising Christ, and yet, some will yield to Christ and ask for mercy, forgiveness.

God wants you to have the place that He intended for you all along, a place at His side in a loving, eternal relationship, where there is no sin, no evil, no pain, no suffering, and no consequences of our sin wrapped around us like chains.

Jesus came to redeem you from the bondage of your sins.  God doesn't want you to wait until you are dying nailed to a cross.  But, if you delay and one day find yourself nailed to a cross, know this.  It is the grace of God use our sins to nail us to a cross.  Can I even now let the Spirit of God and the Word of God nail me to a cross that I deserve, and in that moment, not only recognize my need for a redeemer, but recognize Jesus as the One who loved me so much that He paid the price for me?

O friend, yield to Jesus today.  Quit trusting your way, and the way of the world.  Submit and follow the only one who ever laid down his life, and then three days later rose up out of the grave, with over 500 witnesses to this fact.  Give yourself to Jesus today!

Such Love 2 audio

The Acts of the Apostles 37

Subtitle: Saul Sees the Light

Acts 9:1-9.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 26, 2023.

We sometimes talk about "seeing the light" when someone becomes aware of something big that they were overlooking before.  This finds its roots in our story today, and is really talking about a religious conversion.  Saul was acting in ignorance, but is going to have that "light-bulb" moment in which he comes to understand just who Jesus really is.

Jesus is the light of the world, but not all see it.  It is like a room in which the light is off.  If the light is turned on, people who can see will recognize it.  However, those who are blind will not know that the light has been turned on.  Of course, Jesus is spiritual light.  He helps us to see the truth about what is really happening on this planet.  Praise God that the lights were turned on 2,000 years ago. 

Yet, because this is a spiritual blindness, we can also talk about people shielding themselves from the light.  It is too bright and they don't like how it makes them feel uncomfortable.  Thus, they avert their eyes and cover them, lest they see.  This is the picture of humanity.

Saul had been persecuting the Church of Jesus, but notice that chapter 8 doesn't really focus on the persecution.  It focuses on what God was doing in spite of the persecution.  We can find ourselves stuck looking at the persecution that is happening to us, like it is the important thing.

Here in America, we have very little persecution compared to most places in the world.  We can be ready to faint spiritually when we encounter a small amount.  Meanwhile, people in Iran, North Korea, Syria, etc. are under severe persecution and are praising God, not for the persecution, but for His goodness in the midst of it.  This is what the early Church encountered.  Heavy resistance and persecution. 

We must remember that every salvation is a miracle of God, and a mercy of God.  Through Jesus, God tells us of our deafness, and shows us our blindness.  How can God expect us to hear and see?  All things are possible with God.  He makes them possible by His Spirit, and by His Word.

Let's look at our passage.

The conversion of Saul (vs 1-9)

The same Saul who persecuted the Church in chapter eight is now going to become a believer in Jesus.  Hallelujah!  The sweetest revenge is not seeing your enemy get theirs.  No.  The sweetest revenge is for your enemy to repent and join your side, i.e., not really about revenge.  Sometimes both of us are wrong and we both need to repent.  However, there are times when people abuse and mistreat us unfairly, without justice.  In these times, stuff can begin to surface in our heart that is not from Jesus.  It is from me, and it is not good.  Of course, the devil wants to pull you in the direction that is away from what Jesus is saying.  He points out how hurt you are, and how that other person deserves your anger.  Jesus shows us a better way, a sweeter way!

The term "conversion," or "convert," basically means to turn.  This begs the questions , and it is often connected to two things.  First, there is something from which we turn and then there is the thing we are turning towards.  Christians are those who have turned from chasing their sin and lusts, and have turned toward Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus is speaking to his disciples who had been arguing over who was the greatest.  Such an argument is an argument of fools.  Regardless, Jesus brought a child in their midst and said, "Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven."  They needed to turn away from trying to be better than the others, and turn towards a far more innocent  attitude towards each other, like a child.  God is serious about this.  It would keep them out of the kingdom, us out of the kingdom, if we don't turn away from it.

In Acts 3:19, Peter answers the question of the crowds during the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  They want to know what they must do.  He says, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."  Here the turning is initiated by the word "repent."  This is an internal thing where we change our minds.  They needed to change their minds about Jesus, which had caused them to chant for his crucifixion, and turn towards him in faith.  If we turn from fighting against God, and turn towards Jesus in faith, then God will give us refreshing times, even if we are being persecuted.  How?  You will know that you are right with Him and you will have fellowship and communion with Him by the Spirit of God!

There is a problem with the word "converted."  In English, it is a passive thing that happens to you.  However, in the Greek it is an active thing that you are doing.  You change your mind, and you turn towards Jesus.  Of course, none of us could do that without the grace of God confronting us of our sin and pointing us toward Jesus.  Together, these words emphasize the internal, mental change that happens in us, and the external, action-oriented, life change that occurs.

In this passage, Saul is increasing his persecution of the Way.  Most likely, word has come back from the surrounding areas saying that Christians are coming into their areas.  Saul comes up with the plan to go to Damascus and drag the Christians back for trial. 

In fact, Paul mentions in Acts 26 that they tried to get the Christians to blaspheme, that is to recant their choice to follow Jesus.  We will let you live if you reject Jesus. This has been a classic attack of the Church through the ages, and it wasn't just between religions.  Communist countries love to put the screws to Christians in order to get them to drop religion altogether, but especially serving Jesus.

We can say, "Thank God that we are not communist."  However, we have the same problem here, except it is a seductive attack rather than with brute force.  Yes, we are tempted by our culture to leave the stick-in-the-mud Jesus behind and come have fun with the culture in whatever favorite sin you like.  It is seductive like Delilah drawing Samson into a dangerous relationship.  This is a big problem, and the seduction is not always about sexual immorality.  It is a metaphor that can be as much about fixating on making a lot of money, and any other way we are seduced away from Christ by the lusts of our flesh.

So, in our story, Saul is headed for Damascus.  There were several synagogues (gathering places for Jews and those interested in Judaism) there with a sizeable Jewish community.

Notice that Luke uses "the Way" to refer to the followers of Jesus.  Jesus had told his disciples that he was "the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  The word picture of a path, a way, a road, a highway, etc. is all throughout the Old Testament.  To have a road, there needs to be someone who has blazed the trail, marked it off, and correctly navigated to the desired destination.  Of course, others will typically do the road/trail building.  This is Jesus.  He has made a path, a road, that leads a person to a right relationship with God the Father, and an eternal relationship at that.  Jesus had come to make a way, but also to show us the way, the way of the Lord.  So, it appears the early Christians actually referred to themselves as the Way.

If this brings to mind a group from the 1970's and 1980's called The Way International, don't confuse this with them.  They are a cult that tried to gain legitimacy by taking this word.  They have nothing to do with the true Way of the Lord.

Luke points out the kind of spirit that Saul had.  He was "breathing threats and murder."  Some versions say "breathing out."  However, the word actually has the meaning of inhaling.  If you are inhaling threats and murder, then it stands to reason that you will exhale the same.  This is important because of the biblical connection between spirit, wind, and breath.  Both the Hebrew and the Greek have a word that can mean all three depending on the context.

An interesting passage is Ezekiel 37, the Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.  God shows Ezekiel a valley of bleached human bones, and asks him if they can live.  Then, He has Ezekiel prophesy for the Spirit of God to come like a wind and move upon these bones.  Long story short, we get a scene where the same word is used for the Spirit of God, the Wind of the Spirit moving upon the bones, and the Breath of God breathing life into a new living army of the Lord.

You might see a dead person with no hope of life visible in the natural, like Saul was that day.  We must never forget that the Holy Spirit is still working on people who look impossible to save.  God is able to raise up an army of Gospel Preachers from the spiritually dead of our day.

We might ask ourselves about the spirit that was animating Saul that day.  It clearly wasn't the Spirit of God.  This is similar to James and John in Luke 9:55.  They had gone into a Samaritan village to find a place to stay, but the village denied them entrance.  James and John ask Jesus if fire should be called down upon the people for dishonoring Jesus.  Of course, James and John can't do this.  They are tempting Jesus to do this.  Jesus told them that they didn't know what manner of spirit they were.  Jesus hadn't come to destroy people.  He had come to show them the loving mercy of God.  Similarly, Saul did not realize what spirit was animating him either.  He wasn't possessed, but he was coming under the influence of spiritual forces that hated Jesus and anyone who had joined themselves to him.  His spirit wasn't right, and so he became easily manipulated by the spirit of this world.

We must learn to guard our hearts, and to be careful what we are spiritually inhaling because it will affect what we breath out to others.  A person can be breathing out hatred all the while thinking they are doing God's work.

We should also talk about authority.  Saul asked and received permission from the authorities in Jerusalem.  These letters would also help to authorize his activity in Damascus for the synagogue leaders there.

Technically, Jesus had all authority in heaven and on earth from the moment of his resurrection.  Their illegal execution of him nullified any authority that they could claim.  In the eyes of man, they were authorized, but in the eyes of Jesus they were operating unlawfully, under the color of law.

Yet, God generally allows earthly authorities, whether government or individuals, to abuse their authority, even when they have nullified it through their actions.  All the nations of the earth today are in rebellion and resistance against the Father's decree that Jesus is the King of kings over all the earth.  Just know that they will (you will) be held accountable for any use of authority that is contradictory to the commands of Jesus.  Christians need not fear false authorities.  Yes, they can hurt us in the natural, but Christ will deal with them in his chosen time.

These authorities can even be churches that are operating outside of Christ's commands.  They have become a law unto themselves, and have the attitude that, if Jesus hasn't stopped us yet, then we must be right.  This is a dangerous place to be.  Such a mentality will only show itself after the judgment of Christ comes down upon us.  When you find out, it may be too late to repent and turn back towards Jesus.

It is not stated how long it was from the death of Stephen to the persecution of Saul, and then to the conversion of Saul.  It is definitely months, but doesn't seem to be years.  This would put it somewhere in the range of 3 to 12 months.

Also, we do not know how many men are with him, but he will need some to help with arresting and transporting prisoners back to Jerusalem. 

Damascus was 150 miles from Jerusalem.  There are a couple of ways to go.  However, we are told that they were "nearing Damascus" when Saul is struck by a bright light.  Let's say that is somewhere in the vicinity of 10 miles west of Damascus, which is basically desert.  In Acts 26, Paul tells us that the light was "brighter than the sun."  He also says there that a voice spoke to him in Hebrew.

I would say at this point that God rarely confronts humans in such an over-powering way.  Perhaps, we may be tempted to think that God should do this to everyone, as if He hasn't proven Himself enough to people.  Some people have staked their eternity on the argument that God can't possibly expect them to believe on the evidence offered.  They are not going to fare well in the judgment.  History shows us that God gives such supernatural events at important times for His plan of salvation, when it is critical that things go in a particular direction.  Yet, it also shows that people who saw God do the most amazing miracles (the 10 plagues of Egypt, the Red Sea, mannah, quail and water in the desert, etc.) still had trouble following Him by faith.  Notice that it was not belief in His existence that would save them, but belief that God knows what He is doing and we should follow Him. 

I doubt Saul saw anything.  The light was brighter than the sun, so your instinct would be to close your eyes.  The voice says to him in Hebrew, "Saul, Saul..."  This double, direct address is important to note.  There are at least 10 other times that this happens in Scripture.  It happened with Abraham when he was about to sacrifice Isaac.  It happened with Moses when God called to him from the burning bush.  It is a Hebrew way of addressing that speaks of intimacy or an intimate moment.  Saul has been causing Christians to be killed, yet Jesus is calling him into intimacy.  It can also have a sense of urgency in it as well as stressing the importance of something by getting attention.

The question is this.  Why are you persecuting me?  Saul asks who this person is who is addressing him. and finds out that it is Jesus.  Of course, Saul wasn't physically persecuting Jesus.  Yet, to persecute the people of Christ is to persecute him.  Jesus emphasized this in Matthew 25.  There in the judgment of the sheep and the goats before the millennial kingdom, he stresses that this will be the main point of the judgment.  "In as much as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me."

The powerful of this world have not figured this out.  They think that because the judgment of God hasn't stopped them that it never will, or doesn't even exist.  What a rude awakening they have coming.  It is a rude awakening similar to the one Haman had at the end of a gallows noose when he had attacked Queen Esther and her people.

Jesus tells Saul that it is hard for him "to kick against the goads."  A goad is a thing that will prick or drive.  It was used with oxen pulling a cart to keep them from backing up.  When they did so, an object would poke them, keeping them going forward.  Kicking against the goad could actually injure an ox.  What are these goads that Jesus references?  They are the things in our life that God uses to help point us in the right direction.  Of course, we can ignore them, kick against them, and injure ourselves. 

We are not told exactly what the bumps in Saul's life were that God was using to get his attention, i.e., tell him that he is headed in the wrong direction.  I believe the death of Stephen was a big one.  It is hard enough to watch a wicked man be put to death.  However, watching a righteous man will trouble most souls.  Saul was not one of the stone throwers on that day.  He was holding the coats.  This meant that he was not in the heat of the fray, and is in an observer position.  Though he is caught up in the anger himself, the actions and demeanor of Stephen compared to the Sanhedrin had to stick out.  Stephen was at peace, speaking about God and even seeing God in a vision.  However, the leaders were screaming and throwing rocks.  Perhaps, Saul was hit with the thought, "We look like the bad guys!"  Yet, you stuff the thought and tell yourself that you are fighting the battles of the Lord like David of old.  It is possible to get around the goads, but it only leads to more sorrow and trouble.  The kinds of people Saul was dragging off to jail also may have been troubling his conscience.  Yet, he just kept stuffing that niggling notion that something was off.

At this point, Saul asks Jesus what he should do.  Jesus basically tells him to get up and go into Damascus, where he will receive further instruction.  This humbling moment continues.  Jesus is not just confronting Saul, he is transforming him, and that takes time.  Often God works and speaks slowly in our lives, or at least, slower than we like, because he is transforming our thinking and living from being self-focused to being God-focused.

When the blinding light stops shining, Saul opens his eyes only to find out that he cannot see.  I tend to think that Saul was "arc flashed."  An arc flash occurs in welding due to the electrical discharge occurring.  Without proper eye protection, it can severely damage the eyes.  This was a physical light that had a supernatural source, Jesus.  I would say that the flash was directly in Saul's eyes, whereas the other men were only nearby and would have closed their eyes too.  Thus, they are able to help Saul get to the city.

Saul receives a discipline from the Lord, like a child from a parent.  He thought he was serving God, but he has now been confronted with his sin.  Jesus is not being cruel to Saul.  Rather, he is trying to teach him and help him to learn. 

He had to be physically blinded in order for him to see the truth, see the light.  His eyes were too full of his ambitions and pride in order to see the Truth.  "But, I'm reading the Bible and have become a world-renowned expert!"  It doesn't matter.  Without a Spirit-led relationship with God, we are merely a blind man leading other blind people.  Any discipline in our lives from God is for our good.  It doesn't matter how "bad" we think it is.  We must be careful of fighting and resisting God about the "bad" things in our life.  We can be praying that God remove things through which He is trying to teach us.  Yet, praise God for His mercy in the face of our stubbornness, or even folly.

Jesus let's Saul sweat in Damascus for three days.  During this time, he cannot see, and he is going without food and water, no doubt fasting and seeking God for further instructions.  Saul is going to receive a partial healing.  He would be enabled to see, but would have difficulty from that point forward.  This was to help him let go of his pride.  Pride was Saul's besetting sin.  In fact, pride is the besetting sin of many religious leaders, that often goes unchecked over top of the goads of Jesus in their life.

Saul is in a transitional period where God has his attention, and he is ready to be led in "what he must do" in order to please God.  This is a critical place for anyone.  Plenty of people have an event or experience that gets their attention.  They may even start reading the Bible, or going to church for a while.  However, if they don't put their trust in Jesus and learn to do what He is showing them, then the moment will pass and they will fall away, just like every other resolve we make in the flesh "to be better."

May God help us to learn to follow the Lord, but also to wait upon him for the proper timing.  God has your best in mind, and you can trust Him!

Saul Sees the Light audio

The Acts of the Apostles 34

Subtitle: The Sin of Simon the Sorcerer

Acts 8:9-25.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 5, 2023.

We are going to look at a man named Simon in our text today.  He is often referred to as Simon Magus because it is a Latin transliteration of the underlying Greek term here.  Magus is behind our word for "magician," but this probably brings to mind something more like David Copperfield, an illusionist.  A magus would have trained in the occult, magical arts.  This is why I am using the term "sorcerer."  As in any field of endeavor, some were more adept than others in these arts.

We should note two things about this, whether we are talking about 20 centuries ago or today.  First, there are real evil spirits that some people are able to contact.  They can obtain information and a small degree of physical power through these spirits.  Of course, God warns us in the Bible against reaching out to such spirits because they are deceivers and manipulators. 

The second thing we should notice is that these sorcerers will, to more or less degree, employ trickery in their activity.  Sometimes a spiritist is 100% a trickster, a sham, a con artist.  Other times, there is a mixture.

An example from before 2nd century AD comes to us through Hyppolytus in his work The Refutation of all Heresies.  He tells the story of a sorcerer in Libya named Apsethus who trained parrots to say, "Apsethus is god."  He then released them in the area where they flew around saying that Apsethus was god.  This was used by him to manipulate the people to believe in his "magical" powers.  Apparently, a man figured out what was going on and captured some of the parrots.  He then taught the parrots to say, "Apsethus having caged us, compelled us to say Apsethus is a god."  Upon the release of the parrots, the Libyans were not happy with Apsethus and burned him to death.

Humans can be highly manipulable when we are not grounded in Truth.  Even many who give lip-service to Truth can find themselves being manipulated by others.

Today, we are going to talk about the importance of true repentance when we become a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ.  Philip has been preaching at Samaria along with amazing signs and miracles happening.  This brings us to verse nine of this chapter, where we find that there is a man in the crowd who is a sorcerer. 

This sorcerer appears to be saved at first, but his actions will prove to be false.  He was not actually converted to putting his faith in Jesus Christ.  Outward appearance without inner repentance will always express itself outwardly over time.

Let's look at our passage.

The Samaritans and Simon respond to Philip's message (vs 9-13)

Verse 6 mentions that multitudes were heeding Philip's words because of the miracles they saw him doing.  This brings us to the man Simon.

We do not know much about this man.  He has a Hebrew name, which would not be uncommon for a Samaritan.  He would not be considered a good religious Samaritan because of his sorcery.  However, he would most likely be familiar with Samaritan religious thinking, and Judean religious thinking to some degree.

Somewhere along the line, he was attracted to the magical arts of the occult.  He would have studied it and practiced it until he was adept enough to make a name for himself.  This is what he had done at Samaria.  He had been able to convince them that he had great power, even astonishing them to the point that they called him "The Great Power of god" (I refuse to capitalize god in this case).  There is no description of what great things Simon did to deserve this title.  Whether he used tricks such as parrots, or he was in connection with evil spirits, Simon was taking advantage of their spiritual ignorance.

Are we any wiser today?  It is easy to think of these Samaritans as ignorant, but not to see how much we can be like them.  Are we any less "wowed" by people and exhibit worship like activity towards them?  We may not call them gods, but we often act as if they are.  Whole groups today can come under the powerful persuasion of an individual, or an ideology, and it doesn't have to be religious.

Yet, the power of the One True God showed up one day in the person of Philip the Evangelist.  God is always "messing" with our little human rackets.  The power of the Holy Spirit through Philip clearly eclipsed anything that Simon had been doing.  He knew that he could not compete with what Philip was doing.

We are told by Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyon c. AD 120 to AD 150, that Simon Magus turned back to the dark arts and mixed Christianity with the occult.  This gave rise to what would later be called Gnosticism.

As the Samaritans are believing on Jesus and being baptized by Philip, Simon the "great sorcerer" was not leading in any capacity.  He wasn't leading against Philip and he wasn't leading towards Philip.  Simon was somewhat paralyzed by the power Philip displayed.  However, he gets in line of those who are saying they believe and want to be baptized in water.

I will point out, in light of the testimony of Hippolytus and others of the 2nd century, that it never says that Simon was saved, only that he believed.  What exactly did he believe?

Simon clearly made a confession of faith and he is baptized too.  However, biblical faith that saves has an object for which believe, i.e., a good future, and a subject (foundation) upon which, or because of which, we believe.  It is supposed to be Jesus and what he has done that upholds our faith that God will not judge us, but instead save us for eternity.  We are told by James that the demons believe in God (His existence); they even tremble (His power).  Yet, they do not mix such belief with faith upon Jesus and towards glorifying God.

This is important because some people treat water baptism almost as a magical thing itself.  The idea that water baptism itself causes a person to be regenerated, made spiritually alive, rather than faith alone is called baptismal regeneration.  Going through the "proper" ritual by an "authorized" representative is the typical mentality that tries to give people a stamp of approval based upon an outward action.  If a person has true faith, then there will be certain outward actions.  However, outward actions can be done without true faith in Jesus.  This means that the absence of outward confession and water baptism lets us know that there has not been an inner transformation.   But, the presence of outward confession and water baptism cannot reveal what is really going on in a heart.  Only time can reveal if true conversion has happened in a heart.

We are told that Simon attaches himself to Philip because of his amazement at the miracles that Philip was doing.  Simon is used to doing tricks and magical arts to astonish people, even if demonic power was involved as well.  He seems to be trying to figure out Philip's method, as well as enjoying the show.

In this text, there is no indication yet that his belief was false, or insincere.  Yet, he will prove not to be right before God. 

Isn't Philip filled with the Holy Spirit?  Shouldn't he have known that something was wrong with Simon?

There are reasons why God does things in a certain way.  Just because you have the Holy Spirit, it does not mean that He will reveal everything in the universe to you.  God has His purposes and reasons for doing what He does.  It is possible that God left Philip in the dark because He is setting up a clash between Simon the Sorcerer and Simon Peter the Apostle of Jesus Christ. 

Yes, God could have used Philip to do this, but He didn't.  It is not a matter of power, and not even a matter of position like we tend to think of it, i.e., only apostles can do this.  God was laying down the foundation of the Faith for His Church, so it was critical that these apostles be involved in the expansion of the Gospel from Jerusalem into Samaria.  It is not a deficiency in Philip, but in God's desire to use someone else.  We might find ourselves saying, "Why not me?"  And, it can sometimes be an envious thing.  We must stop this.  The Spirit of God distributes His gifts as He wills, and Christ deploys them as He wills.  It is not for us to whine and complain about how He uses us.  In fact, whining is a good way to be benched and receive discipline from the Lord.  No matter how gifted you are, you need the gifts of the Spirit working through other people to be ministered unto you.  The picture is all of the gifts of the Spirit working through each of us so that we all will be conformed to the image of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16).  It is not about any one of us becoming The Great Power of God!

Simon's sin is revealed (vs 14-25)

It will be through the Apostle Peter that Simon's sin is revealed.  We wouldn't be human if we didn't fear having sin exposed.  This is part of sin's power.  It drills into your brain, "I can't be exposed!  It will ruin everything if it is!"  Of course, this is a lie.

Jesus said that you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.  Yes, knowing Jesus (who is the Truth) is important, but it is also the Truth about me.  I am a sinner and in bondage to sin.  When I face this, I can truly understand the offer that Jesus is giving to me.  We can make the mistake of trying to make people feel good by saying, "You're not really bad."  However, we diminish the love of God when we do so.  If I am all that and God loves me, then I will have an attitude that is entitled.  However, if I know that I am a sinner in bondage to sin, then the love of Christ catches me off-guard, and captures my heart with the unbelievable sacrifice that He made for whosoever will believe on him.  Hallelujah!  This is the grace of God to Simon that God sends someone to rebuke him of his sin.  At that point, true salvation can take place because Simon will be operating from a place of Truth and not deception.

It is from this part of the story that we see that Simon was not actually saved.

We are told in verse 14 that the apostles at Jerusalem "heard that Samaria had received the word of God."  It may be that Philip sent word, realizing that he would need some help.  He may also have wanted the apostles there to help supervise, or even out of respect  for their authority in Christ.

Next, we are told that the apostles decide to send Peter and John to them.  We could think of this as an inspection, but I am not so sure that is how it is functioning.  According to Ephesians 4:11-16, apostles are one of the gifts that Jesus has given to his Church.  It would then seem logical that some of them should go and be the blessing that God intended them to be in Samaria.  Notice that there is no hint that Peter is running the show.  The disciples appear to decide as a group.  However, there choice of Peter and John recognizes that God worked extraordinarily through Peter, even more than the other apostles, except Paul.  Paul himself recognized that God worked effectively through him among the Gentiles in the same way that God worked through Peter among the Jews (and we should add Samaritans- see Galatians 2:7-8).

These apostles of Jesus laid down a foundation for the early Church among the Jews, Samaritans, and the nations.  This gift of a sure foundation is important for us today.  We must build upon that foundation, and not try to see how far off of the foundation we can build without it all falling apart.  Yes, I know about the science of cantilevering.  However, there's no cantilevering in Jesus!

When the apostles arrive, we are told that they pray for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit while laying their hands upon them.  We are not told why, but the Samaritans had only been baptized in the name of Jesus, and not yet baptized in the Holy Spirit.

The New Testament recognizes three baptisms among believers in that day.  The baptism of John the Baptist was a baptism of repentance that was to become ready for the Messiah.  This was specific repentance, but belief on the Messiah in general.  Jesus had not yet been revealed.  However, one day, John pointed out that Jesus was the lamb of God.  Baptism in the name of Jesus is still a baptism of repentance, but it also includes specifically believing that Jesus of Nazareth is that awaited Messiah.  From that moment on, the baptism of John would no longer be needed.  It's general function has now been specified in Jesus and by his apostles.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit was first shown in Acts chapter two.  You can think of it in this way.  At salvation, the Holy Spirit baptizes a person into the body of Christ.  This is the spiritual reality behind a godly person water baptizing one who has put their faith in Jesus.  At the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Jesus baptizes the believer into the Holy Spirit, completely immersed in God's Spirit (Matthew 3:11).

Another way of thinking about these two baptisms involves the picture of being filled.  At salvation, the Spirit of God takes up residence within a person.  However, at the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a person is completely filled with the Spirit to the point of it overflowing their life.  Jesus connected it to an empowering of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).

That said, we can recognize that these Samaritans, who Philip baptized, were now believers in Jesus and the Holy Spirit had taken up residence within them.  This is a definite example of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit happening subsequent to salvation.

This same dynamic happened with the 120 Jews in Acts 2.  It seems illogical to say that they are not saved during those ten days that they are praying for the Holy Spirit.  Yet, we should recognize that the Bible never says that this is necessary.  A person can be saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit all at once.  God is able to do it as He wills.  This seems to be the case with Cornelius and those in his house in Acts 10:47. 

The apostles also placed their hands upon these Samaritans as they pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit.  This too is not a necessary component because we see the household of Cornelius being filled with the Holy Spirit without it, even as Peter is still preaching to them.  Thus, we should avoid terminology or ideology that treats the hands as if we are transmitting the Holy Spirit into people.  These hands are merely a symbol of the touch of God, and can be an aid to a person's faith in believing.

There is no ritual, or perfect way of doing things, to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.  In fact, isn't that the kind of thinking that Simon the sorcerer would have, one of occult thinking, magical thinking?

Believers in Jesus should be water baptized and also pray to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, also called being filled with the Spirit.  We should not fret over the timing of this, but simply focus on looking to God in faith for what He has promised, and trusting that His timing is perfect for us.

It is at this point that Simon the sorcerer recognizes the laying on of hands coinciding with the being filled with the Holy Spirit.  We don't know exactly what he saw, but it was something visible to those watching.  Was it tongues of fire descending upon them like Acts 2 says?  Or, was it that they began to speak in tongues?  Regardless, Simon recognized that something significant was happening when the apostles laid hands on these believers and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit.

Simon offers money to the apostles so that they will give him this power, i.e., the ability to lay his hands on people and give them the Holy Spirit.  Let's be clear.  The New Testament never represents the apostles simply giving the power of the Holy Spirit to others.  They are cooperating with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is from God and is a being that comes upon people.  He is working with the apostles, not being divvied out by them.

Notice the occult thinking that Simon employs.  These men simply have a greater power than him and he can purchase the ability from them.  Like buying a spell book, or paying a master craftsman to teach him, Simon is simply trying to better his "spirit-powers."  Simon pictures himself in the driver's seat with this power, and no doubt, making a lot of money off of it.

We all have cultural thinking that can cloud how we respond to the Bible and God's things.  We also have another layer of trade-craft, or professional, thinking like Simon's occult training.  We see this with the Corinthians.  The Corinthian Christians were having trouble because they were trying to be a church while using their culture's thinking.  By the 10th and 11th centuries, there were several voices within Europe that spoke out against these practices slipping into the Church.  These issues continued and became a big part of the Reformation in AD 1530.  The things of God are not for sale, and those who sell them bring judgment upon themselves.

To this day, simony is a word used to describe the buying or selling of something spiritual, even a spiritual office.  It could be buying a position of authority within the Church, trying to buy the gifts of the spirit, or buying indulgences that purport to remove the guilt of sin.

Let me remind us of a story in 2 Kings 5.  This is the story of Naaman the Syrian General who becomes a leper.  Nothing can help him until he told about a prophet in Israel named Elisha.  Naaman travels to see Elisha and asks to be healed.  In the story, Elisha doesn't even come outside to see the General, but sends a message to him to go and dip seven times in the Jordan river.

This seems to upset the General.  Elisha doesn't do him the honor of speaking to him, and then tells him to dip in the Jordan, which he saw as a muddy river that was not on par with the rivers of Syria.  Naaman heads home in a huff, but one of his servants talks him into just trying it.  Naaman complies, and, when he comes up from dipping the seventh time, he is healed.

He then goes back to Elisha extremely thankful.  He wants to bless Elisha with the wealth that he had brought, but Elijah refuses to take anything.  There is nothing wrong with what Naaman is doing.  He is simply grateful.  However, Elijah knows that this is a critical witness to this Gentile and those who will hear his story back home.  This is a holy moment, and he would not mess it up by sending the message that the God of Israel, the One True God, can be bought with money.  The power and work of God is so precious (it is paid for by the blood of Jesus) that we cannot let ourselves mix it with money.

The story goes on because Elisha's servant Gehazi is shocked that they don't take any money.  He sneaks out and catches up with Naaman on the road.  He lies and says that his master has changed his mind.  Of course, Naaman is happy to give to him whatever he wants.  When Gehazi comes back, hiding the stuff, Elisha confronts him.  He is told that Naaman's leprosy would now cling to him.  Gehazi immediately became a leper and ran out of the house.

There is too much commercialization going on within the Church of Jesus.  We need to repent and become far more careful about the things of God because we are sending the wrong message to the world around us.  God is not pleased, and judgment will come upon us (is coming upon us even now).

In verse 20, Peter rebukes Simon and details his sin.  The true problem in Simon's heart is fourfold.

First, Simon thought he could buy the power of God.  God's favor cannot be purchased.  You can't give God enough money to obtain His love, favor, or spiritual power.  This is the wealthy man's short-cut, and will only bring condemnation.  I am not saying that positions on church boards and deals don't happen.  I am saying that those people are bringing condemnation upon themselves.  Do not be deceived by the slowness of God's judgment.  Your sins will find you out; they will catch up to  you in the end.

The second sin, Simon's heart is not right with God.  He is not agreeing with God that he has been living a life of sin, and he is not humbly crying out for God's forgiveness.  This is a heart that is right before God.  Even after God forgives us, we walk in humility before him and our fellow man.  Learning how to become more like Jesus, not how to obtain personal gain from this new group of people.

The third sin, Simon is poisoned by bitterness.  The Holy Spirit helps Peter to see that Simon is sweet on the outside, but inside he is seething with bitterness.  Most likely, he is bitter with Philip for messing up the sweet deal he had going in Samaria, and he is probably now bitter with Peter and John.  Pretense on the outside and bitterness on the inside is not a person surrendered before God.

Lastly, Simon is still a slave to unrighteousness.  He has not died to the old life, and the old man.  He is not only looking back, as Lot's wife did, but he really hasn't even left Sodom.  He has lost power and position, and all he can think about is how to recoup some of that power and position.  This kind of passive-aggressive behavior is not of the Lord and is not pleasing to Him.  Such people are always looking for an opportunity for themselves and will stab you in the back if they can.

True believers do not have to worry about such people.  Yes, they can cause difficulty and pain in your life, but if you are filled with the Spirit of God, then you He will work all things to your good.

Peter tells Simon to repent and ask God for forgiveness.  Peter even adds the suggestion that God is not obligated to forgive Simon.  I believe this is more to impress the seriousness of the situation upon him.

Simon still doesn't get it.  He begs Peter to pray for him.  He still sees Peter as the magician who can fix his problem.  No one can repent for you.  Simon needed to be broken of that pride and cry out to God for himself.

It doesn't say here, but tradition tells us that Simon went back to his magical arts, mixing Christianity with his occult teachings.  This becomes a new form of Gnosticism that tried to used Christian ideas as a vehicle for their spiritual virus.  The Bible simply turns from Simon and moves on.  Simon's opportunity had come and gone.  God's grace had come to him and he was missing it.

The apostles then preach throughout Samaria and head back to Jerusalem.

Let me close with this.  We should put Simon the Sorcerer completely out of our mind because many today have the same problem.  They see the Bible, Philip, Peter, and John as merely religious charlatans.  Yet, the Bible is the Word of God.  There is a real power of the Holy Spirit.  When God shows up, all of the false powers of this world (whether outside the Church or inside of it) will take a back seat.  There was something different about Jesus and his apostles.  This true power of God is able to help us to become like Jesus.  It is not a power to make me famous, or powerful in the group.  It is about helping others, and them helping us.  Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit.  Let's be a people who are not trying to buy the Holy Spirit, or be good enough to deserve it.  Rather, we come to Jesus by faith with hands open saying, "Lord Jesus, fill me that I might be used to bless others, and help me to receive the gifts of your Spirit through others.  Amen!"

Sorceror audio