Such Love III

Subtitle: Let's Be A People of the Spirit

John 16:8-11; John 7:37-39; Romans 8:5-8.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, April 16, 2023.

We will continue to look at the great love of God towards humanity, but now we are going to emphasize our response to God's great love.  God's amazing overture of love calls for a response from each one of us.  Tragically, some reject His love.  How can we say no to such a love?  Yet, people do it every day.

Our focus today will be on becoming a people of the Spirit of God.  This wording is group-oriented, but we should also personalize it.  I want to be a person of the Spirit of God. 

This is as opposed to being a person of the flesh.  I will talk more about this later, but we should recognize that those who live for their flesh will end up serving the purposes of the devil, the prince of the power of the air, and the god of this world.  Through our bondage to sin, the devil manipulates us on levels that we are not fully aware.  However, the Christian is given freedom from that by the Spirit of God.

Let's look at our first passage.

He directs us to believe in Jesus  (John 16:8-11)

In this passage, we have Jesus explaining to his disciples that he will send another "comforter" to them after he leaves.  This is described further in verse 13 as the Spirit of Truth.  There is no question that this is speaking of the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God.

The word translated as "comforter" is a word that describes someone who comes alongside of you for what you need.  Since our needs are various, it is sometimes translated as Counselor, Advocate, Helper, etc.  The Holy Spirit is all of these things and more.  The translation is not as important as understanding what it is saying.  The Spirit would come to help them similar to the help Jesus was giving them, i.e., another Helper to be in his stead.

This sets up a great act of God's love.  He sends His Spirit to dwell within those who put their faith in Jesus.  This Spirit would then fill God's people to overflowing.  Thus, God's love took on the nature of a man, sacrificed that life on a cross for you and me, and then takes up residence within us by His Spirit.  No one back then deserved this, and we have not arrived at a place where we deserve it today.  God simply loves us this much.

Ultimately, humans were designed to operate within intimate relationship with God.  The humbling thing is that we go all over the place morally and spiritually when we do not have a relationship with God.  Without a faith relationship with God by the Holy Spirit, we are forever put off-balance by our flesh through sin.  If it weren't for the gracious work of God's Helper, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of God, we would never see our need for believing in Jesus.

In John 16, we see that the Spirit of God is working on people even before they believe in Jesus.  Verse 8 tells us that the Spirit helps unbelievers through the work of conviction.

What is meant by conviction?  The context would influence what is mainly in view.  In this case, it is not a Judgment Day senario, but the Spirit working on the heart of an unbeliever in the present age. 

There are typically three aspects that are tied to this biblical word translated as "convicted."  The first has to do with exposing them to the truth.  As unbelievers, we work very hard to avoid such exposures to truth.  We often minimize, or ridicule, them as they surface in our life and in our mind.  We will typically create mental refutations to these exposures to truth. 

However, the second aspect kicks in with the Holy Spirit refuting our refutations of the truth.  A person may respond in resistance to the Spirit's work of conviction, but they are being hemmed in by Him as life shows them the emptiness of their "fig-leaf" philosophies.  This continues an ever tightening case by the Spirit of God in a person's heart that continually brings them back to a decision point.  We either are moved closer to God or further away.  No one remains static precisely because of the work of God's Spirit.

This brings us to the third aspect of conviction.  It has to do with the concept of proving the truth.  This doesn't mean that the person must surrender.  It just means they reach a point where they are convinced that they do not have a good answer, and the truth stares them in the face proven by God.  God will not force anyone to love Him.  We all still have a choice.  However, to reject God over the top of such conviction is to sear your own conscience, to cauterize your own spiritual eyes, and to harden your heart.

This work of the Holy Spirit's conviction is happening in everyone's life until the day that they die.  We can often underestimate just how much the Holy Spirit has worked on people that we think will never be open to the Gospel.  Some shout the hardest against the Gospel because they are fighting what they secretly know to be true in their heart, and yet don't want to accept it.

Now that we have dealt with what conviction is, there are three particular truths that the Spirit is working to expose, to refute, and to prove to them.

The first of these is sin.  The Holy Spirit convicts sinners of the truth of their sin.  Our society makes a big deal over defining sin.  It wants to define sin because then you can game the system in order to declare yourself not a sinner.  Such definitions are based upon the whims and desires of society, or even myself personally.  Such definitions can never be trusted because a future society (tomorrow, next year, decades, or centuries later) will come up with different ones.  You can never trust such definitions.

This is why the heroes of yesterday are often crucified as the blasphemers of today.  For example, many women who fought for feminism through the last half century are now being thrown under the bus today for the new and improved righteous cause of transgenderism.  I am not commenting on either, but rather, I am pointing out the unstable nature of such ungodly definitions.

Thus, the Spirit convicts unbelievers of God's definition of sin.  That is often done through the effects of the sin and the things they experience throughout life.   By the way, the worst sin really is unbelief.  The two thieves on the crosses next to Jesus were both sinners.  However, the difference was that one believed on him and the other didn't.

We could bring up the Apostle Paul as well.  He is forgiven of murder because he put his faith in Jesus.  However, he is not running around pretending like that is no big deal.  Rather, he pleads with others to join him in this deadly serious love of God.

The second thing the Holy Spirit convicts people about is righteousness, first, that they have none, and second, that Jesus has enough to save all of us.  Most humans are inclined to think that they are good enough, whether they believe in heaven or not.  Notice that Jesus says that the Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness because Jesus went to the Father.  While Jesus was still on this earth, the people could see for themselves the righteousness of God.  Even sinners instinctively knew that there was something convincing about the righteousness of Christ that was missing in the lives of the Sadducees and the Pharisees.  With Jesus gone, the Holy Spirit is needed to replace that perfect witness.  We need the righteousness of Jesus.

The third thing the Holy Spirit convicts the unbeliever of is judgment.  He convinces us that God's judgment is looming over the heads of the whole world, but also ourselves individually.  He connects this to the fact that the ruler of this world has been judged.  He refers to the devil here, who is the ruler by the fact of his manipulation of sinful men.  If the ruler of this world is judged, then so too are those who serve his purposes.  The Spirit of God convicts us that we are on the wrong side and will not survive judgment, whether globally or individually.

Let's go to our second passage.

He works within the believer  (John 6:37-39)

A convicted sinner is readied and prompted to come to Jesus in faith, to switch their allegiance to Jesus.  In this passage, Jesus gives a promise to those who will come to him in faith.  That promise is the Holy Spirit.

Jesus pictures the Spirit as a river of living water flowing out of the heart of a person who comes to Jesus and drinks of him.  Just as a watershed captures the water that falls upon it and channels it through the ground to streams, then to creeks, and eventually to a river, so too the believer will receive water from Christ that will come forth from their heart like a river of living water.  Some rivers are bigger than others, but he speaks of the Holy Spirit who is immeasurable by definition.

This reminds me of Ezekiel 47.  There, he has a vision of water coming out from the threshold of the temple.  The further out it goes the deeper it becomes, until it ends up at the Dead Sea.  It begins to cure the waters of the Dead Sea until all manner of fish and plants are living in and around it. 

This is a picture of the individual who has the river of living water, the Holy Spirit, springing up within their soul.  Believers should not be a Dead Sea that hoovers up all the grace that God sends its way, but without cooperation with the purposes of God.  We can be like a person eating a plate of "grace" with our head down crying out, "I'm running out; Give me more!"  God help us to wake up to the vast volume of grace that He is pouring out upon us, and see it for what it is, a holy thing from Him.  May we treat it as such.

Instead of fighting against the external workings of the Holy Spirit as unbelievers do, the believer is pictured as cooperating with the internal working of the Holy Spirit.  The same Spirit that led us to believe in Jesus will now work within us to make us a new creation: a disciple of Jesus, and a child of God.  We allow the Spirit of God to spring up within us, and then flow out through us to be a blessing to the people around us.  We are to be a source of the Spirit of God to the people in our life.

Yes, it is true that they don't need people to have the Holy Spirit working upon them.  However,  the work of the Holy Spirit on their conscience is like mercy drops in the dessert.  It is not intended to take the place of our submission to God's will.  The Spirit of God ALSO wants to work through us so that they will hear from Him like a river of living water.  That is so much better than an either-or scenario.

Jesus is telling us that we will become like a river of living water if we come to him in faith.  This is God's purpose and plan.  It will always be more than you ever knew it was because you are cooperating with an unlimited being.  You may feel like you really messed it up.  Yet, ten years later a person is sharing a testimony about how the Spirit of God really broke through to them by your willingness to be used of God.

Yet, even Christians have their struggles with the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. This brings us to our last passage.

Our flesh is hostile to the Spirit of God  (Romans 8:5-8)

In many passages, the apostles use the words body and flesh.  The body speaks of the organized system of physical appendages, organs, and other things, working together in a body system.  It emphasizes the natural and physical aspect of a human, pretty much what you thought.

Flesh can be used as a synonym for body, but also can take on an added sense that body does not have.  It can point to a nature that is rooted in the body, its senses, and desires.  It is sometimes translated as "sinful nature," and this is close.  It would perhaps be better to think of it as a nature that is rooted in the bodily sense, which leads to bondage to sin.  This nature is bent towards the pleasures of the body as opposed to what?  It is as opposed to being rooted in God Himself, the Spirit.

This is what Paul is talking about when he says that our flesh is hostile to the Spirit of God.  We use our body against God's work, but that resistance is directed by an inner nature that is rooted in the wrong thing.

For an unbeliever to surrender to the Holy Spirit, there must be a dying to the desires of the flesh, and a coming alive to the Spirit of God.  This internal battle may have been won at the moment of believing upon Jesus.  However, there is still a battle to be fought.

The Holy Spirit takes up residence within the believer and begins to teach them to root themselves in Him, in Christ, instead of in the desires of the flesh.  Though the flesh has been defeated at this point, there are still innumerable ways in which our inner man is rooted in the sense of our body.  Over time, the Spirit helps us to gain victory over the flesh, i.e., less and less roots down into our sensual nature, and more and more roots into the Spirit of God.

I like the image of Joshua leading Israel into the Promised Land.  It is full of giants and walled cities, i.e., strongholds, but God has promised to giving them possession and victory little by little.  It didn't happen all in one day, otherwise they would not have been able to truly possess the land.  Similarly, Yeshua leads us into the inheritance of our own soul by placing his Spirit within us to help us gain the victory one day at a time, one battle at a time.  This will only be done by a person who lives for the Spirit of God instead of living for the flesh.

In verse 5, Paul talks about what we set our minds upon.  A person of the flesh thinks about the things of the flesh.  They are motivated by a lower nature that is rooted in the body.  It prompts their purpose and desire.  It supplies the "strength" and vigor that they have for going after these things.  Such people spend their lives seeking to maximize their pleasures and minimize their pain.

This doesn't always look the same.  There are some unbelievers that are extremely self-disciplined in order to make money.  Their life may look extremely disciplined compared to another person who is a believer.  We can make our life look extremely noble by working for the most pleasure for the most people.  However, if all of this is driven by our flesh, then it is still for ulterior motives.

Contrarily, a person of the Spirit has their mind set upon the purposes and desires of the Spirit of God, which are the purposes and desires of Jesus, which are the purposes and desires of the Father.  God wants us to help one another to walk by faith in Jesus in love for Him and one another.

Of course, we must be alert to the tactics of the devil, who uses the world around us as pressure and temptation to live for the flesh.  They fill their minds with all manner of fleshly things, but not of God.

So how does this look?  Let's use the example of planning for dinner.  Both the spiritual and the fleshly will eat dinner.  We will die if we go too long without eating.  Thus, the Bible in no way pictures a super-spiritual person never eating.  They will fast from time to time, but they won't entertain notions of never eating.  So, the true difference between fleshly and spiritual thinking goes to the purpose and desire behind it.  The fleshly person only thinks about things of the senses like: what food would I rather taste tonight, what food would best impress so-and-so, etc.  In fact, people may fight and argue over what is for dinner because they are rooted in the flesh.  However, a Christian should not think like this.  We eat in order to better serve the Lord and bring honor to Him.  We make sure that the people we love in our life are getting the nutrition and sustenance that they need because that is part of a parent's duty to their children and dependents.  All things are spiritual things if you are a spiritually minded person.  Whereas, all things are fleshly, including church, worship, prayer, etc., for those who are fleshly minded.  This is why some Christians in churches will fight over the style of music, color of the carpet, who gets the solo, etc.  Let us always ask the question of our Lord, "How can I best please you and honor you in this?

In verse 6, Paul emphasizes that each of these lives has an effect.  A life of the flesh is death.  It doesn't just produce death.  The underlying verbiage says that it is death.  We must ask ourselves,  "What is the fruit of my life?"  Is it pouring death into my relationships and soul?  The fleshly mind can never fix the spiritual problems of humanity.  It can only double down on the problem and create an even worse hell on earth.  In our great human wisdom, we make decisions based upon our gigantic fleshly appetites and hope for Utopia.  We can build all the hospitals we want and even create buildings for mixed worship of all religions, but these things will only bring about more spiritual death.

However, a life of the Spirit is life and peace.  We could even add Galatians 5:22, which speaks of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control.  All of these are different facets of God's life, the living waters of His Spirit.  It is possible to enjoy all of the goodness of God's creation and still miss His heart.  This is because we become too enamored with His gifts, and fail to look to the Giver behind the gifts.  It isn't always an either/or situation, but if we were forced to choose between Jesus and all of the comforts and pleasures this life offers, we should choose Jesus.  Yes, God made us to be able to bodily enjoy many things in this world.  But, He never intended us to be rooted in those pleasures and to live for them.

This brings us to the last question brought up by Paul's words.  In verse 7, the question is this.  To what am I hostile, and to what am I submitted?  The fleshly mind is at odds and hostile to the things of God.  The woman who broke the flask of oil upon the feet of Jesus did so because the Spirit of God moved upon her to do so.  However, fleshly minded disciples nearby judged her and openly castigated her for her actions.  The flesh always persecutes the Spirit.

James touches on this in James 4:4.  He warns us that friendship with the world is enmity with God.  He then boldly states that whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God!  He is talking to Christians.  We should note how he addresses those "worldly Christians,"  adulterers and adulteresses!  To live in such a way is to be unfaithful to the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God that He has placed within us.  Our proper place as a child of God is serving the purposes of our Lord and following His Spirit.  Instead, we are like a wayward spouse, and a prodigal son.  When Christians fall back into fleshly living, it is called spiritual adultery.  We become led by the lusts of our flesh, the lusts of our eyes, and the pride of life.  We may even make it look noble by loving each other in our sin more than the Lord who calls us to help one another live holy.

The grace of God is that Israel did not cease to be Israel when they failed.  When Christians fail, the Spirit of God works discipline in their life in order to bring them back to God.  When God convicts us, it is always, "Take my hand and live!  Let me save you!"  He didn't hang on the cross for us to be an adulterer, and He didn't supply His Spirit for us to ignore Him and live for the flesh.  However, His had can only save us in this life.  We should take hold of it today!

This world cannot be saved with more flesh, even a fleshly life that is covered over with a veneer of Christianity.  I believe that this is what the high priest represented in the days of Jesus.  He was internally a fleshly, spiritually plundered man, but it was covered over with a veneer of God's commands and duties.  He looked like he was serving God to some, but others saw through it.  When God showed up in the person of Jesus and through the power of the Spirit of God, he had nothing internally to hold up that veneer.  He folded and caved in spiritually.  His following of God crumbled before the truth of what he really was.  Christians can be in danger of walking this same path.

Praise God that our eternity does not depend upon just one of our choices.  However, we want to take every single choice seriously, every single day.

May God help us to be a people of the Spirit of God instead of a people who are ruled by the flesh, and therefore, the devil.  Let's be a people who are led by Christ through his Spirit to do the works of our Father in heaven.

People of the Spirit 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 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

The Acts of the Apostles 18

Subtitle: Lying to the Holy Spirit II

Acts 5:7-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 18, 2022.

Last week, we dealt with the death of Ananias, and today we will deal with the death of his wife, Sapphira.

Ananias is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Hananiah.  It means ‘the favor of Yahweh,” or “the grace of Yahweh.”  Sapphira’s name is a reference to the sapphire gem.

Though one could think of their names as ironic in this story, it is more likely that they serve to emphasize the tragedy of their lives and their fall into judgment.  God was pouring out the greatest grace and favor that the world had ever seen in the work of Jesus.  He followed this up with the amazing gift of pouring out the Holy Spirit upon those who believed in Jesus.  How tragic to fall short of the grace of God.

Similarly, Sapphira’s name should remind us of God’s ultimate goal for believers, which is spoken of in the Old Testament.  Daniel 12:2-3 says that the righteous who are resurrected will “shine like the brightness of the firmament,” and “like the stars forever and ever.”  This imagery of shining stars is used in the Bible for spiritual beings.  It also is connected to gems.  Read Malachi 3:15-18.  God speaks of a day in which He declares that the righteous will become His.  “’They shall be Mine,’ says the LORD of Hosts, ‘on the day that I make them My jewels.  And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’”

This story is a tragedy of the highest level.  May God hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Let’s get into our passage.

His wife follows him in his sin

It might seem strange to us that Ananias is buried without his wife’s knowledge, but it would have been similar to her husband being in the morgue.  In those days, a family would typically have a tomb that had a platform in the middle.  The dead body would be laid on the platform and allowed to decompose over the course of a year.  Later the bones would be gathered up into a bone box called an ossuary and deposited within one of several niches that would be in the walls.  Whole families would be buried in the same tomb this way.  Also, It would be necessary to deal with a body right away due to the heat.

Verse 2 tells us that Sapphira knew what her husband was doing.  We should pause and discuss the difficulty of having a spouse who is pursuing sin.  Many Christians have had to deal with being married to unbelieving spouses.  In fact, the Apostle Paul encourages such to stay married as long as the unbelieving spouse is open to it because you never know how God may use it to save their soul.  It can be more nuanced if you have a “believing” spouse who is serving their flesh rather than Jesus.  Regardless, Sapphira had a choice to make.  She could refuse to stand with her husband in this sin, or she could join him in it.  Sadly, she chooses to join him in his sin.

Don’t get me wrong.  There is no reason to make Sapphira to be the instigator, or innocent bystander.  Perhaps she was like Jezebel goading Ahab on in worship of Baal.  Maybe she was not.  All spouses should recognize that their life deeply affects their spouse for good or for bad.

It is three hours after the death of Ananias that Sapphira shows up.  It would stand to reason that she is looking for him, wondering why he is taking so long.  She gets there minutes before the men who have buried her husband make it back to the place where Peter is. 

It is at this point that Peter questions Sapphira about the value of the property sold.  It would be easy to blame Peter here.  Couldn’t he have led with the fact that her husband had lied and had been struck dead by God?  Yes, he could have.  However, Peter questions her to see if she is in on it.  I mentioned last week that I don’t believe Peter knew up front that Ananias was going to die.  Otherwise, we would expect him to pronounce something so, like he does here with Sapphira.  God had made it shockingly clear to Peter that this was to be taken seriously, and Peter is only taking this seriously.  How bad has this wickedness spread?

Tragically, Sapphira lies to Peter, and therefore, lies to the Holy Spirit as well.  Peter rebukes her for her sin, and adds some further light to why this is taken so seriously.  Sapphira will fall down dead and breathe her last as her husband did.

The first part of this rebuke is in reference to the Holy Spirit.  Sapphira had agreed with Ananias to “test” the Holy Spirit.  The Greek term it translates is often used of the devil tempting us.  It typically means to test so as to make someone fail.  A test can be a good thing that measures your progress and helps you to see where you need to improve.  In general, teachers are not actually trying to fail their students, but they do have a duty to make sure that the kids are learning the material.  This will ensure that the student is able to get more work on the failed problems.

The plot of Ananias and Sapphira is not devised to strengthen the Church, Peter, or God.  They hope to get the social reputation of donating all the proceeds of their sale without having to do it.  Their lie is selfish, and somehow, they believe that God won’t do anything about it.  This begs a lot of questions.  Were they actually saved, or only going along with the group because amazing things were happening?  Did they actually believe God was behind these things, or did they somehow believe it was more like magic, the involvement of an impersonal force?  Of course, we cannot know.

I believe that America is testing the Holy Spirit today, and has been for a long time.  We have been coasting on the grace that prior generations have won for us, but now, the judgment of God is in our land.  Everywhere around us, we see the crumbling culture.  The principle of death is being breathed into the land through every action of sin.  Yet, there is still hope.  We can see the turmoil and repent. 

In fact, God generally sends his judgment in increasing waves.  This makes me wonder if Ananias and Sapphira hadn’t had some warnings from God earlier.

Peter tells Sapphira that the same men who were coming in the door from burying her husband will now bury her.  She then dies as Peter has prophesied.  No leader should ever dare to utter this kind of statement unless it is really from God.  As I said, God had made it clear that He wasn’t letting this pass.

Whether I am judged by God on the spot or after 80 years of this life, the testimony of Scripture is that Jesus is a righteous judge.  He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts.  You cannot fool God.

Yet, none of us can be good enough to merit grace in that hour.  I don’t believe that God wants us to be unsure of that day.  1 John 5:13 states that we can know that we have eternal life.  Still, there is a tension between being confident of our salvation, and yet not letting that become an excuse for sin.  The saved person will fight their own sin.  There will be losses and wins in that battle, but the Lord will deliver them from them all.  This tension can be described as a tension between being afraid of God and having a healthy fear of the Lord.

Luke mentions twice that fear came upon everyone who heard about the story (vs 5, 11).  For Christians, it would be the fear of the Lord that wisely fights against sin in their life.  For unbelievers, it is more than likely a fear of the unknown.  It would be a fear of not knowing what is really going on among those people.

Just because this is the Age of Grace does not mean that God is no longer making judgments.  If we eat up His grace and spend it on our lusts, instead of putting our faith upon Jesus, working to become like him, then we will pay with our life.  We will receive eternal life or eternal death, eternal glory or eternal shame.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It teaches us to stop asking how close to the cliff we can hang out without falling.  The whole point is to want to be close to Jesus, to have intimate communion with him.  I fear the holiness of God too much to try and lie to Him.

Of course, any time we tell Jesus that we love him, we are somewhat like Peter was in John 21.  My words may be greater than my flesh can back up right now, but Lord you know my heart.  You know that my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.  God is gracious and is not looking for an excuse to take you out.  That tells me something drastically wrong was going on inside of Ananias and Sapphira.  I should not try to look like anything more than a sinner being set free from my sins as Jesus helps me.

Now, let’s come full circle on God’s love for us.  Remember, God is not willing that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  More than that, God wants for you to be the recipient of His grace and favor.  He wants you to be at His side shining like the stars.  In fact, a beautiful thing about gems is that they don’t have internal light.  At His side, we will not only be gems, but the most dazzling light of God will be shining through us.  What a day that will be!

Lying to the Holy Spirit II audio