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 Spirit of the Age

Ephesians 2:1-3; 6:10-13.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 6, 2020.

We have reached Mark chapter 13, which is a big transition in the book.  We will also have a visiting evangelist next Sunday.  Therefore, I have decided to go a different direction today and talk about the Spirit of this Age.

Throughout history, it has been noticed that people groups can be infected by an idea that seizes them to such a degree that they are caught up into something that is bigger than themselves.  The group energy often pulls the individuals that comprise it beyond where they would go on their own. 

Fyodor Dostoevsky, among others, saw this happening in his country of Russia, and, at the end of the 1860’s, published his novel The Possessed (depending on how it is translated it could also be called The Demonized).  At one point in the book, some revolutionaries have started a poorer part of town on fire.  During the pandemonium of trying to put the fire out, one character that has been a bit of a goof, even borderline mental, shouts one of the best lines of the book.  “You can’t put out the fire; the fire is in the minds of men!” 

We similar activity in our own country today, and must ask ourselves the question.  Just what has seized the minds of not just 21^st century Americans, but people all over the world?  The Bible refers to it by many names, but we are going to use “The Spirit of the Age.”

The reality of the unholy spirit

In the opening verses of Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul points out the reality of a spirit that is influencing this world.  Satan loves to mimic God.  If there is something that God has done then he will mock it with a false version of his own.  Just as there are true prophets of God so, he sends false prophets.  Those who pretend to speak on behalf of God, but delude the people.  Just as there is a true Christ so, he sends all manner of antichrists, or false Christs, in order to deceive the people.  The Bible warns of a coming, ultimate Antichrist who will deceive the whole world with the help of the ultimate False Prophet.  It should be no shock that there would also be the work of an unholy spirit, which represents the whole force of spiritual wickedness led by Satan.

Notice how Paul portrays those who do not follow Christ.  Yes, they are walking in their sins, but they are also under the influence of the “prince of the power of the air.”  In fact, he says more pointedly that this unholy spirit is presently “working in the sons of disobedience.”  They are those who refuse to follow the Holy Spirit of God and believe upon Jesus Christ.

There are some who disobey the Holy Spirit knowingly.  They believe that the God of the Bible and Jesus of the cross have misled the world.  They work directly against the Truth of God.  However, the great majority of people in this world participate in disobedience unknowingly.  They are simply following the course of this world that was laid out in front of them, and going with the overall flow of this Age.

Paul explains that this spirit uses the lusts of our flesh and the desires of our mind to influence and direct us.  Like a harness on a horse, we can be pulled around away from truth and towards the destructive ends of our own desires.

Satan didn’t make Eve want the fruit of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  He only influenced her towards the idea of rebellion against God’s command.  The Bible tells us, “when the woman saw [who saw?] that the tree was good for food [good for whom?], that it was pleasant to the eyes [whose eyes], and a tree desirable to make one wise [which one?], she took of its fruit and ate.”  The strong desires and appetites of our flesh do not want to be limited by the Truth of God.  The willfulness of our mind wants to go in particular directions that God warns against.  On top of all of this, there is a spiritual realm with beings who are working overtime to influence and manipulate us towards rebellion against God, whether knowingly or unknowingly.  This is the Spirit of the Age.

You should go ahead and read all of Ephesians 2.  When reading verses 1-3, it seems a rather dark image with little hope.  However, verse four says,

“But God, rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.”

Christians are no longer a part of the “walking dead.”  Instead, we have been delivered and made alive.  The biblical picture is not one of Zombie movies, or games, in which we are trying to slaughter all the zombies created by the evil spirit of this world.  Rather, we are the hand of Christ to touch the minds and hearts of the zombies so that they may have a renewed mind.  Everywhere he went, Jesus touched people and healed them.  He has given us the antidote to the greatest wound, the direst disease, that this world has.  We have compassion because, “we too were zombies once.” 

Let us never forget the battle that is going on all around us.  If we merely go through life trying “to get ours,” or trying to change the world according to the philosophies of this world, then we will find ourselves part of a fire that may promise a better future by which to warm ourselves, but in the end only leaves mankind in cinders and shackles. 

Later in the letter, Paul touches on this spiritual dimension again.

Our battle is not with people, but with the Spirit of the Age

In Ephesians 6:10-13, we are reminded of our real enemy.  Jesus has given us a clear directive, but it is easy for us to lose sight of the one we should be fighting.  Paul reminds us that our battle is with the spiritual powers that are enslaving people by their own lusts and self-will.

An important part of any battle is one’s protective gear.  Paul tells us to put on the armor of God.  The things that he lists involve the very things that often make us afraid.  The Spirit of the Age (SotA) warns us not to tell the truth because it will cause us trouble.  The SotA tells us that doing the “right thing” will only get us into trouble.  The SotA tells us not to share the Gospel because we will look stupid; don’t trust God because He doesn’t exist; don’t trust Jesus to save you, take your salvation into your own hands.  And, the antibiblical messages never stop.  Through fear, the Spirit of this Age convinces people to lay aside the only things that can protect them from it.

Christians, we cannot put our faith in Jesus without also trusting his armor.  Too many Christians are wearing the armor of Saul, the armor of this world.  However, Christ calls us to wear the armor that the world can’t see and it can’t understand.  It is an armor that protects our hearts and minds from the lies of a deceptive enemy.  Now is the day to stand on the Truth of God’s Word even when the world says it isn’t true.  Now is the time to do what God says is right rather than what the world says is right.  We need to be a people of the Gospel, walking in faith, and holding onto the salvation of Jesus through prayer.  This is the only protection we have against an enemy that is to us much more than Goliath was to little David.  However, always remember that is sufficient for the task.

Paul does list one offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit.  He makes it clear that he is talking about the Word of God, the Bible itself.  It is powerful and able to cut to the hearts and minds of people.  It is the Good News of Jesus, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.  Becoming a student of God’s Word, and a follower of the Holy Spirit of God, will enable us to both stop attacks against ourselves, and rescue others from the grip of the spirit of this world.

Jesus said that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  This world tells us that our problem is that we don’t have stuff that other people have.  But, the truth of God tells us not to covet anything that belongs to our neighbor, much less steal or destroy it.  It tells us to love our neighbor like we love ourselves.  Yet, the spirit of this age stirs up envy, jealously, resentment, and then anger and rage.  It seeks to light a fire of passions in you that can be used to destroy you and your neighbor (and our communities, nations, world). 

The spirit of this age tells us that our problem is all the differences that we have: gender, race, economic status, etc…  But, the truth of God tells us that there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  It is not that these distinctions and affect on our lives aren’t real, but that they are used to manipulate us.  Men and women fighting against each other, blacks and whites, the have-nots against the haves, these are the things that only destroy us further.  In Christ, believers are to cease living for their distinctions.  They are to lay down the bloody flag of earthly revolutions in the flesh, and join God’s revolution against the spirit of this age.  If we will do this then we will truly find life.

Spirit Age Audio

Your Personal End Times

Multiple Passages.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 26, 2018.

There is much talk from both the secular and the religious world about the end of the world, or at least the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI).  In such discussions we have come to use words and phrases like: Armageddon, Extinction Event, Antichrist, One-World Government, Seed Banks, and… the list goes on.  As we look forward and contemplate the idea that the world as we know it could come to an end (whether we cause it to happen or it comes upon us), we should keep in mind that the majority of mankind will not experience these events.

This is not an attempt to minimize those foreseen or unforeseen forces that could alter the systems of the world and mankind’s destiny.  It is instead to make us think about the reality that for most of mankind the end times have to do with the end of our life on this earth.  It is our own personal world coming to a close as we leave our bodies in death.

My life will one day come to an end.  If I use the numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics, I could determine approximately how much life I have left, at least on average.  In 2017 it was listed in rounded numbers as 76 for men and 81 for women.  However, both of my grandfathers lived to be 86 and 97 respectively.  They were +10 and +21 above the average.  Though that may make me confident in what I have left, my father passed away at 61 years of age, -15.  I have a cousin who died in his 40’s a niece who died in her early teens.  Ultimately, none of us can really know how much time we have left, short of a doctor giving us the terminal news.  When you consider disease, tragic accidents, or purposeful attacks/wars, you recognize that our personal future is not as firm as we tend to think it is.  In fact, I cannot guarantee that I will have any advance warning.

Many, who either fear the future or are prudently prepping in various fashions for what may come, have given less time to prepare for the event that all of us will have to face, and that is death.  I am not talking about getting a will in place and having burial insurance.  Those things are to deal with the stuff that is left behind.  What about that part of you that is not physical, the soul or spirit?  I am not trying to make us afraid of the end of our life, but it is important to make sure that you are prepared for it.  Few of us are ready to die in the sense that we want it to happen right now.  But we can all be ready in the sense that if it were to happen today, I would be ready for what’s next.

I am going to physically die.

Let’s bring a couple of passages to mind.  Genesis 2:16-17 is the command that God gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If they did then, “you shall surely die.”  The phrase translated here does emphasize that the death will be sure.  However it also does so in a construction that allows for it to be a process- translated more literally it is “Dying you shall die.”  It is clear that at this time Adam was not a dying being.  But I will come back to that.

Of course we must think about Genesis 3:17-19.  After Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God places a curse upon them.  As he speaks to Adam he mentions that “in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”  Though humanity was originally formed from the dry ground, our original state or condition was not one of a dying species.  It isn’t exactly clear from the Scriptures whether this was an inherent immortality or if it was dependent upon something else like remaining sinless or eating from the tree of life.  Regardless, it is clear from Scripture that something happened at the beginning of humanity, and this event set in motion our current state of existence.  We are born, grow old, and then die.  The statistics so far are impressive.  100 out of 100 people do not survive life on earth.  They all physically die.  This was not God’s plan in making humans.  However, He did allow it to happen and has worked it into His overall plan.

Another verse to keep in mind, from the perspective of God’s Word, is that of Hebrews 9:27.  Here we are told that God has appointed for men to die once, and after this the judgment.  Thus the idea that we keep coming back, reincarnate, until we “get it right,” is never supported by the Bible.

So when we die, we are told that the body decays, returns to the ground, but Scripture is clear that a part of us remains and is not destroyed.  We can call this the soul or the spirit depending on your theory of the metaphysical part of humans.  We are more than just brains, heart, and blood.  Otherwise we would have to recognize that all human “thinking” is a mere firing of synapses that none can take credit for.  They are just operating along the lines of physics much like a penny dropped on the ground can end up in any number of places, but physics will define them all.  No.  Humans are able to make true choice, though at times we surrender to the external stimuli around us.  There is more to us than just the physical processes that make us up.

Even if you are not a Christian who believes the Bible, you are facing the same issue.  Christians see a biblical answer to this predicament and prepare in a biblical way.  For others the answer is to use their wealth to create technology that will overcome the defects of our body and the limits of our life.  Whether mankind comes up with a technical solution to physical death or not, most of us will not be alive when it does.  So where are you putting your hope?  Brady Hartman reported in the Financial Times that Ray Kurzweil, the famous futurist who also works at Google, used to eat 250 pills a day, but now he is down to 100.  In an interview a few years back, Kurzweil told Caroline Daniel of the Financial Times that he spends a few thousand dollars per year on vitamins and supplements.  He also spends one day a week in a doctor’s office receiving intravenous longevity treatments in a bid to stay alive longer.  His hope is to be alive when the technology is perfected for downloading our brain to a new, designer, human body, whether cloned or not.  Of course even if one was to be able to transfer the data of the old brain and then successfully write it onto the new brain (a big if), the question would remain, would that really be me?  God’s Word makes it clear that there is a different way to prepare ourselves for our own death.  So let’s look at His plan.

As we have stated, God did not create humans initially to die.  However, Scripture tells us that He has a plan to bring mankind out of this dying state, or mortal state, which is our current status.  Let’s look at Daniel 12:2-3.  “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.  Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”  Though the Old Testament is somewhat cryptic about the fate of the souls of men, here we have a passage that gives an astounding prophecy detailing some of what it will be.  1 Corinthians 15:51-52 gives us a similar idea from the New Testament.  “Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  Thus the Bible speaks of an incredible event, in which wise and foolish, righteous and wicked, will be made to come back to life in what is called resurrection.  It may sound unbelievable to hear that God’s plan involves a time in which He will resurrect those who have died.  It is easy to scoff at the idea, but we cannot escape the reality that this is God’s plan according to His own word.

In fact, God’s plan has one aspect that is far better than a human technological solution.  Even if we can get to a point where we can essentially keep ourselves alive forever through genetic therapies, etc., we will still have the problem of the sin nature.  God’s plan leaves behind the mortal flesh and the sin that goes along with it and takes on an incorruptible body.  No matter what man designs as an answer, it will be tainted by our own sin nature.  We cannot heal ourselves.  Only the untainted Creator can heal us.

There is a special case that is spoken of in Scripture and it is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.  Here it says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”  Paul makes it clear that the dead will rise first and then those who are still alive will be instantly changed.  1 Corinthians 15 says, “in the twinkling of an eye.”  Whether that is in a Planck second or not, it will be extremely fast.  So there will be a group of people who will still be alive when the resurrection of the righteous occurs.  However, that moment will catch them much like death catches us now.  They will need to have already made the necessary preparations for their body to be transformed (not unlike death as the mortal dissolves and immortal takes its place) and made immortal.

Thus for all the body of this world will come to an end at some time.  Then we will wait for the day of resurrection in a state in which we have no body.  For some that has been thousands of years.  For others it may only be 5.39 × 10 ⁻⁴⁴ s. 

Regardless, we are left with the question.  What will be my condition during that waiting period?  We can call it the intermediate state between physical death and immortal resurrection.  In the following weeks we will look at what the Bible says about this intermediate state.  However, today I ask you this.  Have you prepared for your physical death in the way that God’s Word tells us to do?  God is offering all mankind forgiveness of our sins and eternal life beyond this world.  How can I accept that offer?  We must simply confess that we are sinners and fallen in our nature.  We must then put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior of our soul and the Lord of our life.  Lastly, we must publically stand with Him before the world.  If you have and are doing that, then you are prepared for your physical death.  But, if you have not, then I beg of you to rethink this question of what will happen when I die.  Don’t put it off.  Make the choice to trust the Creator today.

Personal End Time Audio

Faults of the Evil Generation II

Today we are looking at Luke 11:37-44.

We have been looking at the things Jesus pointed out about his generation which evidenced their wickedness.  Their unbelief always wanted more signs.  Also their ability to see spiritually had been lost.  Today we will see how sin had caused them to give greater attention to superficial things over the top of the deeper and more important issues of their hearts.  Such a superficial existence not only fails to do good things, but actually causes us to do evil.  In this passage our favorite bad guys (the Pharisees and the Lawyers) are on the whipping post.  However, we need to ask ourselves today this question.  How am I like this?  Or, at least, how have I been dealing with this reality in my life?

They Focus on Image over the Inside

Now in this passage there is a Pharisee that asks Jesus to come to his house and eat with him.  During this situation Jesus recognizes something that is going on inside of this man.  There is no indication that the man had said anything openly.  Yet, Jesus is not content to have image without an accompanying inner reality.  That which looks good on the outside but is poisonous on the inside is more dangerous than that which looks bad on the outside.  People will be tempted to accept something into their life that looks good on the outside but can hurt them, whereas something that looks bad is generally rejected outright. 

So why was Jesus invited to dinner?  We do not know the man’s motivation.  More than likely he hopes to find reasons to discount Jesus and thus move up in the ranks of his religious group.  Thus pretended favors always lead to real attacks.  Yet, maybe this man simply wants to have the attention of one who had Jesus at his house.  Jesus was widely popular and to be associated with him in anyway would reflect upon the Pharisee.  Or, perhaps the man is interested in Jesus and wants a closer look.  No matter which of these is the truth, remember this one thing.  When you invite Jesus into your house, he is not going to content himself with only looking good.  Jesus is going to point out those hidden issues of our heart that need to be dealt with.

Now something happens before dinner.  Jesus neglects the traditional washing that the religious did before eating.  Now this washing wasn’t about hygiene.  It was a symbolic washing that represented being spiritually clean from sin.  It seems impossible that Jesus simply forgot.  Even if he didn’t normally observe this washing, Jesus knew the teachings and practices of the Pharisees all too well.  Thus it seems that Jesus purposely neglected washing because he knew it would provide a situation in which he can speak to the heart of this Pharisee’s life.  Although we are talking about the faults of an evil generation, we need to recognize that Jesus is also pointing out precisely where they needed to change in order to be saved.  It is like a surgeon.  Yes, cutting a person is bad.  But if a surgeon cuts a person precisely where they need to be cut then it is actually a good thing.  When God points out our sin it is not in order to condemn us, but in order for us truly to be set free.

Now when the Pharisee sees that Jesus does not do the traditional washing, he “marveled.”  Instead of seeing the heart of Christ he was stuck on this outward act or lack thereof.  We must understand that focusing on the outward without working on the inside is utter foolishness.  Jesus uses the metaphor of a cup to illustrate this.  Have you ever opened the dishwasher to pull out a cup or bowl that looked clean but when you turned it up there was some crud still left in the bowl?  Someone didn’t rinse it well enough for the machine to clean.  Although it looks good on the outside, you are not going to eat from it.  This is how God saw the Pharisees.  On the outside they looked like good followers of God and He should be happy to have them and use them for His glory.  But the problem was that they were full of sinful things.  Jesus points out that God had made mankind both material and spirit, or with outer and inner parts of their being.  Would God be satisfied for his people to clean only the outward?  The Pharisees were right that God was concerned with man’s need to be cleansed of sin.  But they focused only on the outward things.  In fact in this case the washings were merely symbolic.

In Matthew 15:11 Jesus makes the case that we are not defiled by outer things.  Rather we are defiled by what flows out of our heart into our material life.  Thus a person can make their life look good, but if their heart is wicked, it is not only unacceptable, but is even a worse evil.  Are we not a generation that fights against the reality that our inner man is more important than our outer man?  Do we not focus far more on image and material things than on truth, reality, and inner things?  It is an evil thing to focus on the outward and ignore the inner.

In vs. 41 Jesus tells him to give alms of what he has and then he won’t have to worry about washing his hands before dinner.  That is he will truly be clean spiritually.  Notice that it is possible to use external actions to wash internal sins.  This man was guilty of greed and wickedness (vs.39).  He focused solely on the symbolic act of washing, but never actually did anything about the greed and wickedness in his heart.  Did he not know he was greedy?   That is unlikely.  By his actions he was testifying that he would rather live in shadows and hide from the Truth than walk in the light of God.  Not all who come to Christ and go to Church seek His light and life.  Many are merely looking for shadowy places in which to hide themselves.  But where Jesus is there will always be a confrontation which such wickedness.  We must wash our hearts by actions that crucify those inner sins.  Are you proud?  Then take a humble position and seek no credit for it.  Become a servant of others and in so doing crucify the pride in your heart.  Such a person will be seen as clean by God.

They Focus on Trivial Matters over Heavier Things

Similar to focusing on the external is this problem of focusing on trifles over the top of heavier issues.  In another place Jesus used the picture of straining out a gnat, but then swallowing a camel.  The inability to truly face and deal with the inner issues affects how one prioritizes outward actions.  This imagery has to do with light and heavy objects.  Do you remember in the old cartoons how the character would be weight lifting and the two round weights would have 1,000 painted on them?  Yet, later you would find out that they were just black balloons.  This helps us to see several issues.  So keep this metaphor in mind.

Now Jesus had counseled the man to give alms because he knew the man gave precious little that didn’t somehow benefit him.  The Pharisees had developed a meticulous system of rules about tithing (giving a tenth of your income).  Within this system of rules they were able to look like they were lifting a lot of weight spiritually, but in reality they were not lifting anything at all.  Here Jesus points out that they would make a big deal about tithing to the point that they would even give a tenth of the herbs in their herb gardens.  This scrutiny on a trivial area of “income,” became a mark of great piety; as if they had lifted such a great weight.  In another passage Jesus shines a light on some of the things that they were doing.  Under the Law an adult child was responsible to take care of their parents in their old age.   However, a tradition had developed that said if a person had already made a vow to give their extra money to the Temple then they could be excused from having to care from their parents.  Now which is the heavier weight that needed lifting; caring for elderly parents, or donating to the temple?  More importantly which was the greater responsibility for the shirker; caring for their parents or caring for the temple?  Clearly caring for the parents is the primary responsibility.  So why would they do such a thing?  They would do it because they would get more honor and prestige out of giving a great sum to the Temple than out of “merely” caring for their parents.  This is how upside down their priorities were.  God is more concerned that you care for your immediate family than he is to get 10% of your income.  He is concerned that we be clean on the inside, and money /wealth is one of the biggest defilers of man.  Now you may think I just made a case for why poor people don’t have to give.  You couldn’t be more incorrect.  Do poor people have the need to be cleaned from greed and materialism?  Of course they do.  Our greed will always tell us that we don’t make enough to give to God, whether at a Church or directly to others in need.  A person who gives in to such greed will not be condemned because they failed to give enough.  They will be condemned because they embraced greed and nurtured it with false logic.  The Pharisees had trivialized tithing.  It was intended to be a means that broke the back of greed in their life, taught them how to live within their means, and helped those that were hurting.  These are the big weights that God wanted them to lift.  But they turned it into a means of stroking their pride.

In vs. 42 Jesus gives us two “heavy things” God wanted them to work on: Justice towards their fellow man and Love towards God.  The whole time they were coming up with rules and loopholes in the area of tithing they did not lift a finger towards justice for their fellow man and truly loving the heart of God and His ways.  Micah pointed this out in his book (6:6-8), “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God?  Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?  Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?  Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”  Today social justice has become a code word for big government programs.  This movement has co-opted the biblical language for its own political gain.  They two are defiled by the lust for power and greed for money.  We do need to care for one another in our society.  But God’s plan has always been for individuals to freely choose to either serve Him or not.  Only then can they truly cleanse their hearts.  But the modern system of turning all compassion over to the State is not only hurting the poor, but defiling all of our hearts.  Ask yourself, what is due my fellow man, and do I love God and His ways more than the things of this world?  You will be cleaned or defiled by how you deal with those questions.

In verse 43 Jesus points out the vain things that they loved.  They wanted the best seats in the Synagogue (those that had the most social prestige) rather than being content with the place God would give them.  They wanted the kudos of their fellow Pharisees rather than the kudos of God.  They wanted people to notice them when they walked through the marketplace rather than to be noticed by God.  Respect, position, and power are not necessarily bad things.  But the love of these things causes much sin and defiles many.  These things are empty if they are sought over the top of God and a clean heart.

Lastly, Jesus points out how our neglected sins defile us and others.  What is the big deal?  Inner sins don’t just stay inside.  They grow and their defilement infects us and spreads into society.  We will end up defiling others by our sinful actions.  Jesus uses the picture of an unmarked grave.  To touch a dead body or grave made a person defiled under the Law.  This is something the Pharisees would have meticulously focused on.  Yet, here Jesus says they are like a person who made a grave but didn’t mark it (through negligence or purposefully).  People who interacted with them thought they were clean, but in fact they were being defiled unknowingly by them.  O friend, are you pretending to be all righteous and clean when in fact you are defiling everyone around you?  Take this to heart.  Begin to clean the inside of your heart in the fear of the Lord for He is the one that you will stand before and give account one day.

Faults II audio