The Reward of Faith

Matthew 8:10-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 5, 2021.

Today, there is much being made over trusting in science.  The problem is that science is not a being that can “speak for itself.”  It is a process by which men and women posit an answer, test it, and have their tests scrutinized by others.  The hope is that such a process will eventually bring the right answer to the forefront.  Notice that, in this method, scientific tests are done first and much later consensus occurs.  Today, we see the opposite happening.  An official consensus is declared and any contradicting tests, scientists, etc. are shut out.

Those who purport to speak for science often do so with an incredible lack of humility, and a great excess of personal interest tied into the outcome.  Governmental organizations along with medical, media, and business collusion, bully any scientist, or doctor, who doesn’t bow down to their unscientific decrees from on high.

This is an age-old problem.  The Bible warns believers, “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.”  Psalm 146:3. The psalmist goes on to point out that even someone who have a good plan to help you can die the next day and their plans die with them.  The frailty of humans, whether in body or in morality, is no place to put our trust.  There is only one son of man that we can trust, and that is the Lord Jesus.

Let’s get into our passage.

The feast of the Kingdom of Heaven

Although the word “feast” is not found in these verses, it will be shown in a bit that this is what is in view.  God has promised his people a time of feasting in a kingdom that has been established by heaven.  Amen!  This is in contrast to all of the attempts from this earth to create a perfect time of peace and feasting. 

Of course, Satan recognizes that the Bible prophesies such, and so his ultimate attempt at bringing in a global kingdom will appear to be from heaven in some way.  Whether pretending to be from the stars, or spiritual entities from a higher dimension, the world will be deceived by pretending usurpers who desire to strip Christ’s inheritance away from him.  In short, he will pretend to be bringing in a kingdom from “heaven,” and I am sure that he will put down some truly bad guys while he is at it, thus attempting to cloak his own evil.

The destiny of Satan and his angels is to be cast out of heaven completely.  Theirs is not a kingdom of peace established by heaven, but rather, a dominion of cruelty established by hell.

Our passage is on the heels of a centurion of Rome who comes to Jesus asking him to heal his servant.  Jesus agrees to go to his house and heal the servant, but the man begs him not to do so.  He proclaims that he is not worthy to have Jesus come to his house.  Instead, he asks Jesus just to command it, and he trusts that it will happen. 

The centurion is not telling Jesus how to do his business.  Rather, his faith in what Jesus can do is being expressed.  Jesus doesn’t have to come to his house to heal.  The man of military authority recognizes that just as it is in the natural with him, so it is in the spiritual with Jesus.  Jesus remarks that this centurion has “great faith,” and that he has not seen faith like this in Israel. 

Great faith is faith that doesn’t need any aids or helps.  Going to the house, laying hands upon someone, even praying out loud are not necessary in order for God to heal.  They simple help us to believe when we see them.  They are like training wheels to our faith.  However, the goal of riding a bike for every kid is to quickly get those training wheels off.  In what ways do I overly rely upon things I can see in order to trust God?  What if those things were taken away?  Is God any less trustworthy?  May God strengthen our faith, for we are in a day in which more and more great faith is needed.

This sets up a classic teaching moment that Jesus famously used to teach those who were watching and listening.  The issue at hand is the healing of the servant, but the great faith of this Gentile is worth stopping and highlighting.

Jesus refers to people coming to “sit down with” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  These are the patriarchs (father-rulers) of Israel.  This phrase “sit down with” literally means to recline.  It can mean to do so in order to rest, but most of the time it is used of laying down in order to eat, which was the custom in Israel at the time.  Their tables were short platforms and people would lie on their side angled away from the table.  No doubt, Jesus is not referring to people coming from all over the world to sleep with the Patriarch.  A feast is in view.

By the way, there is a humorous scene in The Chosen series in which Jesus builds a modern-style table.  His mom is asking him why it is so tall, and Jesus is trying to explain how chairs would be used.  The point being that the way we eat here in the USA would seem foreign to them.

This idea of people gathering to eat with the patriarchs in the kingdom of heaven would have been unmistakable to the hearers.  They would immediately be thinking of the Kingdom that would be set up by God’s Anointed King, Messiah.  This feast was prophesied in the Old Testament.  One such place is in Isaiah 25:6-9.

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

The main point I want to draw from this passage is the promise that God gives of a feast that He will throw when he saves his people.  Notice that verse 8 is picked up by John in the Revelation connected to the Millennial Kingdom.

Now all of this is true already in a spiritual sense.  We can spiritually eat at the Table of our Lord and feast with all who have gone on before us.  Jesus is a spiritual food, and a spiritual drink, to those who put their trust in him.

However, there is something more than a spiritual blessing promised in this.  When we think about Revelation 19, we tend to think of the Second Coming, and that is appropriate.  However, the chapter also features two very different feasts.  The first feast is the Wedding Supper of the Lamb (Marriage Feast of the Lamb).  Of course, this is a feast in which you want to participate.  This is a post-resurrection celebration as all who have put their trust in Jesus are joined with him both spiritually and physically (we will have heavenly bodies as he does now).  Thus, those who have spiritually feasted upon Christ in this dark day, will then literally feast with him in the light of that day.

The other feast is the Supper of the Great God in which birds feast on the bodies of slain soldiers.  You do not want to be a part of that feast. 

Our salvation is not just spiritual it is both spiritual and physical.  People often make one of two mistakes about God’s salvation.  They can see it as a purely spiritual thing in which we exist forever as spirits who are beyond or above the physical plane.  In fact, such a concept smacks of the pantheist vision of ascending from this illusory world into a non-physical plane.  This is not the biblical picture.  It is a false religion.  The other mistake is to let our sinful flesh corrupt the physicality of that time.  Thus, for some, heaven is wine, women, and song for eternity.  It has an over emphasis upon the physicality.  Heaven to them is getting every pleasure you didn’t have on this earth without end.  The wisdom of God is to first save us spiritually, so that we can be tested and formed into the likeness of Jesus.  Our salvation is a complete spiritual and physical thing.

This feast with a resurrected Abraham, et. al., will literally take place in the future.  This was part of the hope and expectation of Israel.  Imagine that.  God has fixed a point in time ahead of us in which the righteous of every generation will feast together with God in a perfect kingdom of peace.  Looking at the world today, it does not appear that this is our destiny.  This is where great faith comes into play.  Who, or what are you putting your trust in?

What wasn’t part of Israel’s understanding was what Jesus emphasizes.  Those coming from the East and the West, in the mind of an Israelite, are the scattered tribes of Israel that did not come back from the Assyrian exile, or the Babylonian exile.  They viewed the Messiah as quelling the nations of the earth, bringing home the exiles, and setting a table before them in the presence of their enemies, the Gentiles.  To them, the proper place for Gentiles was to be shut out, watching them eat.  Yet, Jesus is clearly picturing this centurion as part of those who are coming from the East and the West.  In other words, there will be many Gentiles gathering into the kingdom in order to feast with believing Israelites, even the patriarchs (who technically weren’t Israelites, but Hebrews).  This would smack the hearer in the face.  Similar to John 3:16, Jesus declares that everyone of every tribe and language who will simply believe God are invited to this feast.  As shocking as that would be to them, the next verse will make their jaw hit the ground.

The sorrow of those who are shut out

This whole scene hinges on the “but” (NKJV) of verse 12.  In contrast to the feasting of this mixed multitude of believing Gentiles and Hebrews in the Kingdom of Heaven, there are those who have been cast out, or “shut out” as the parable depicts in Matthew 25.

The feasting is synonymous with joy and rest.  The battle is over.  The victory has been won.  However, those who are not invited to this feast will have great sorrow.  The hearer would not be surprised that some are shut out.  However, they would be shocked at just who is being shut out.  Before we get into it, Jesus is simply pointing out that some who you would think should be there won’t be, and many who you thought should not be there will be.  This great switch of apparent destinies is part of the amazing grace of God.  The “sons of the kingdom” is a way of saying those who were born into Israel and had the promises of God.  Like natural Israel coming through the desert out of Egypt, they were promised many wonderful things from the Lord.  Jesus doesn’t use the word “many,” but simply states that the sons of the kingdom will find themselves shut out.  Clearly, he does not mean every single one of them.  Otherwise, none of the disciples could participate.  The contrast is meant to blow their confidence in their DNA, biology, ethnicity, etc. out of the water.  You cannot bank on these things, and neither will these things exclude you.

Finding themselves in a shut-out situation will be a source of great sorrow, which is described as weeping and gnashing of teeth.  The focus here is not so much on where they will be, but rather on what they will miss and how it will affect them.  A typical wedding feast would happen at night under the lights, or in a well-lit house.  Those who are not invited would be outside in the dark.  The outer darkness emphasizes that they are not in the light enjoying its blessings.  They are shut-out.

No matter how haughty and arrogant people are today about the promises of God, they will be filled with sorrow and regret when they find themselves in that situation.  Oh what deep pity we should have for those who seem so hard today. 

So, what makes the difference?  How could a Gentile be invited while a High Priest of Israel may be shut out?  Before I answer that, we must recognize that the same principle applies to the Church of Jesus.  Being born into a Christian family, hearing the Gospel all of your life, even joining a church, cannot in and of itself guarantee you a ticket to that feast.  Many “Christians” who should be there will not.  Why?  They will not be there because they didn’t put their faith in Jesus.  Oh, they may have said the right words, and gave intellectual assent.  Like Israel following the cloud through the desert, they to are headed in the “right” direction with their bodies, but their hearts are far from God.  In the desert, lack of faith revealed itself in an attitude of grumbling and complaining against the Lord.  It showed itself in a lack of obedience the commands of God.  It showed itself in a concern for the desires of the flesh more than a concern for the needs of the soul.  And so, God sent leanness into their souls (Psalm 106:5).  They stumbled along within an institution that could never do anything for them because they did not trust the God who gave them these things.

Oh, Christian, deliver yourself from such an awful fate of being shut-out from the joy of the Lord.  Only faith in Jesus can give us a place at this table.  No denomination, doctrinal formulation, or religious leader can take his place.  We must all live with a faith that is greatly placed upon him and him alone.  Who is your trust in?  Put it in Jesus only today.  I warn you even now that the aids to faith are one by one being kicked out from underneath our leaning frame.  You will either stand by faith in the days ahead or fall in the desert of this world, having fallen short of the Promised Land.

Reward audio

The Most Negatively Positive Message

Hebrews 13:5-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 28, 2021.

The promises of God are “yes,” and “amen!”  If He promises something then all that is left is for us to say, “Amen,” and then believe it. 

Today, we are going to look at a promise from Jesus that we need to hold onto more tightly in these days.  It is the promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us, even to the end of the age (where we are).

Let’s look at our passage.

We should choose to be content

The verses that we are looking at are in a series of exhortations to godliness.  In them, we are reminded to live in a contented way.  On one hand, we have very little excuse for not having contentment.  We are surrounded by plenty compared to others in the world.  Yet, on the other hand, that very fact can stir up a fear within us that we are going to miss out on what others are enjoying.  We can adopt an entitled attitude.  It is here that we see; contentment begins in the mind and heart of a person.

The writer to the Hebrews reminds Christians that they should live without the love of money.  The idea for conduct or living is that of the turnings of our mind in looking at things, which then lead to the turning of our life in its choices and decisions.  This “way of living” should not be directed by the love of money (the word is literally not a lover of silver).  People love money because of the power that it gives us to obtain whatever it is that we need, or desire.  The money is just a proxy, a stand-in, for the multitude of things that our hearts and minds desire.

As Christians, we must choose to be drawn into this world where the power of money becomes the source of our thinking, the director of our life, and even the hope of our heart.  The reality is that there is no contentment in that world.  How much more money does a millionaire need to be content?  The answer is just one more million.  It doesn’t matter how much money you have, if your heart looks to it as your answer, then you will always need more to be content, which is another way of saying that you will always be discontent.

Instead of looking to money to get us the “things that we need,” believers are told to be content with what they have.  It is literally “the things that are present.”  What do I have right now?  This is what God has provided for me, and part of gratitude is learning to be content with what we have.  This doesn’t mean that we cannot pray and ask God for things.  However, it would be better for us to ask God for His help rather than asking for things.  When our focus is on the “things” themselves, we see God as a cosmic means to satisfying ourselves.  God knows how to help us, and what we need, far better than we do.

When Joseph was taken captive to Egypt, or later when he was in prison, he probably did not feel like he had everything that he needed, but God was helping Him all along, even through those very bad things that others did to him.  His brothers bound him and sold him as a slave.  Potiphar’s wife lied and said he tried to sexually assault her.  These were not good things, but God used them to put Joseph in the right place at the right time in order to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and cupbearer.  We can choose to be content and embrace the things that we have, and the situations that we find ourselves in, because we know that God has supplied them for us and is working it towards a good end (Romans 8:28).  Learn to embrace the things present in your life instead of always looking to the hills for something “better.”

Our Lord has given us a promise

The writer then reminds us of a promise from the Lord to his followers in the last part of verse 5.  In English, we see that he promises something good by stating that he will not do a bad thing.  He will not leave us.  This is a positive message that is stated in a negative way.  If he will not leave us, then that means he will always be with us!  However, there is more going on here than can be seen in English.  Here is the Greek text of the statement translated as “I will never leave you.”

Οὐ  μή  σε  ἀνῶ

The first two words that are underlined are both negations.  They are essentially the word “not.”  The third word is the pronoun “you,” and the last word is the verb, “I will leave” (roughly). 

Normally, to say “I will not leave you,” you would just use words 2-4.  However, in this case, a double negative is used.  Of course, they are not the same word, but more on that in a second.  In English, double negatives would cancel each other out.  “I will not not hurt you,” means that I will hurt you.  This is not the case in Greek.  A double negative actually emphasizes, or intensifies, even more that one will not do the thing.  It could be translated, “I will not, no not, leave you.”  The NKJV uses “never” to cover both negatives; “I will never leave you.”  This is well enough, but there is one more layer to this double negative.

They are not the same word, and therefore do not negate in the same way.  Together, they form a more powerful negation than either one of them can give alone.  The first word of negation negates that it will ever be a fact.  It will never be a fact that I have left you.  You may think and feel this, and others may say this, but it will not be a fact.  The second word of negation negates that it would ever be a possibility, or that it would never be a desire of the Lord.  Not only will it never be a fact, but it would never even be a thing that I could possibly desire.  It is hard to bring all that across in English, but now you have a sense of how strongly our Lord is trying to tell us that he will not leave us.

The second half of this promise from Jesus says the same thing, but it uses a different verb and adds another word of negation.  Here is the text of the second part translated as “nor forsake you.”

οὐδ  οὐ  μή  σε  ἐγκαταλίπω

Words two, three, and four are exactly the same and have the same meanings.  The last word is a verb, but is clearly a different word.  This verb is more than just leaving, and has a sense of leaving so as to abandon or forsake someone.  This would broaden or deepen the first statement.  I will not leave you, and even more, I will not abandon you.

Now, the first word is another type of negation and would fit our word “neither.”  As in, I won’t do this, neither will I do that.  Again, it will never be a fact, neither something that Christ could possibly desire, that he has forsaken us.  The Greek has 5 negatives in this one promise, and is why I entitled this sermon, “The Most Negatively Positive Message.”  It is impossible to translate this word for word in English and still make sense.  “I will not not leave you, neither, I will not not forsake you.”

I have taken the time to go through this to ask this question.  Why would it be stated with so many negatives rather than just stating it in the positive?   This is exactly what Jesus does in Matthew 28:20, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV).  This is speculation on my part, but I think the prevalence of negatives has a power to it that is very different from the positive.  It reminds me of the circumstances of life that cause us to doubt the promises of God.  Such negative thoughts and fears, and turnings of our mind, are a kind of inner negative world that we can fall into.  It is as if the Lord says, “You want to be negative?  Then, I will say it in a way that might break into your negative mindset.”

Oh friends, if we really knew just how much He is committed to us, we would never doubt him.  It is one of the reasons why he hung on a cross for you and for me.  He did it so that we would never doubt his love for us.  The cross is itself stating a positive thing within a negative event.  “I love you this much!”

We must deal with fear

So, why do we doubt his promise to always be with us, even to the end of the age?  It is because we fear all the wrong things.  If I fear the Lord, then I would dare not doubt His promise to me.  But, if I fear not having all sorts of things that my heart wants, if I fear people and what they can do to me, then I will never have contentment.

Verse 6 says that we are to say, “The Lord is my helper!”  We are not to say this because we are arrogant and conceited, but because the Lord of heaven has stated it in such a way that you can’t deny it.  Wow, the Lord has come alongside of me to be my helper.  I don’t deserve such a thing, but I can’t deny it either.  He has loved me this much anyways.  Now, we might be tempted to say that we are supposed to be his helper and on his side.  That is true, but it is not what the Bible says here.  It is also true that he is on your side in order to help you.

This first statement should spur the next choice.  “I will not fear!”  Again, of course we will fear the Lord because He is our judge, but the context is everything else that we tend to fear.  I won’t be afraid of things that I don’t have, or enemies that I do have.  In fact, when we fear things other than the Lord, we diminish him and act as if he really isn’t enough.  The Lord is on your side; nothing else should matter.  Joseph didn’t need anything else, and neither do you!

Verse 6 pictures a person who is realizing that God is on their side and so they are choosing not to fear what they see around them, or the lack thereof.  They are choosing to disregard the messages of fear that come from their heart and mind, and instead, choose to trust in the Lord.  This is David before Goliath.  David did not do what he did because he thought he had the perfect slingshot, rocks, and aim.  He went against the giant because he knew that the Lord was with Him.  He was not cocky and arrogant like Goliath, but acted with faith in God alone. 

Satan’s greatest weapon against us is our own fear that God has left us, and abandoned us.  We fear that if we don’t try to make it happen, and “leave it up to God,” it will never happen.  Such cynicism, does not lead us to the joy and peace of God.  It leads to emptiness.

This leads to a question, “What then can others do to me?”  This question is not being asked in the literal sense.  Of course, others can beat me, put me in jail, kill me, etc.  The question is not about that.  The question is grander than that.  I mentioned Joseph earlier.  His brothers intended and did great evil to him, and so did Potiphar’s wife.  It appeared that no one cared for Joseph, and was on his side, but the truth is that God had not left Joseph, nor forsaken him.  His brothers couldn’t really hurt him because God was on his side.  What they meant for evil, God was turning to the good.

So, why doesn’t God get rid of Satan and his minions, and the countless people who do his bidding?  At least for now, He doesn’t because He is using it for our good.  Like Joseph, God is bringing us to that place where we can be raised up into an exalted position, and when we get there, we will be tried and proven faithful, warriors who know how to stand in truth against evil.  In the end, all man can do to you is promote you, unless you give into fear and do to yourself what they can’t.

Negatively Positive audio

Responding to the Holy Spirit-Part 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Holy Spirit pt 4 audio

Responding to the Holy Spirit- Part 3

1 John 2:18-19; Mark 4:5-6, 16-17; Mark 4:7, 18-19.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 7, 2021.

Last week, we looked at those unbelievers who positively respond to the Holy Spirit.  The image of the chaste, virginal, engaged bride is used of those who keep faithful to him in this life.

Today, we are going to talk about the reality that not everyone who becomes a “Christian” is a believer, or remains a believer.  This is quite evident when you read some of the polls that are put out by the Barna Group.  Many people still like holding on to the label, but they aren’t holding on to the one it points to.  The former is useless without the latter.

Let’s get into our first passage.

Some who appear to believe never did

In 1 John 2:18-19, John is speaking about The Antichrist of the last days, and then transitions to talking about the many antichrists that were in his day.  Notice, though, where these antichrists came from, in verse 19.  “They went out from us…,” says John. In other words, these were people who were apart of the Church, “Christians,” for a time, but then left.  He calls them antichrists because they were leaving Christ behind, or at least the true Christ, and going after the spirit of this world.  John recognizes that such people were never really “of us.”  They can hang around the group for a long time, or they can be exposed and move on rather quickly.  Either way, these are people who were never really saved.  These are sometimes called false converts, or a false conversion.  They say the right words, join a church, and find a niche in it.  However, there heart is not with Jesus and His Spirit.

John knew that the people he was writing to were genuine.  Those who left did so because they weren’t.  In fact, they did so because they were really against all that is Christ, whether they understood that at first or not.  There can be a wide variety of reasons that people would come into the Church and not truly believe.  Some are not told the whole gospel and come in hoping for “there best life now.”  Others are charlatans and see the Church opportunistically. 

This raises a question.  Wasn’t the Apostle John guilty of this same thing when he left the synagogues of Jerusalem?  Of course, we should see that this question only looks at the issues superficially.  It is the same mistake that the false convert makes.  It looks like it is similar (i.e., one person leaving a larger group), but this doesn’t automatically make John an antichrist.

The truth is that the disciples of Christ were pushed out by persecution.  They were following the God that their leaders claimed to be following.  The problem is not a person leaving the group, but whether or not we are following Jesus.

This happens all the time in history.  Martin Luther of Germany was only wanting to see the Roman Catholic Church reformed, but they sought to put him to death.  Yes, he went out from the RCC, but it had become run by antichrists who stood in the way of God’s Spirit.  This is what John and the apostles faced in the first century.  The leaders of Israel had become antichrist (anti-messiah).  Oh, they gave lip service to a figment of their imagination upon which they put the label of “Messiah.”  But, when the true Messiah showed up, they hated him with a passion.  The institution had become antichrist, and true believers not only shouldn’t stay within it, but in fact, they would be put to death or pushed out.  This similar dynamic happened with in the Protestant Churches almost 400 years later with the rise of Pentecostalism.  These people were often run out of Protestant churches who should have known better from their own experience with Rome.

We see here that those who are not truly believers will generally leave a godly church.  However, some will remain, and over time (as they increase), they can come to influence the institution, even take it over.  This is not a problem for those other denominations.  It is a problem for any denomination of believers who are pushed out of antichrist systems.  Whatever they build will come under the same dynamics of the prior institution.  Constant vigilance and repentance are necessary to keep a church or denomination from becoming antichrist.

Of course, I will briefly recognize that some people who leave groups and start new ones are actually antichrist.  Yes, the antichrist spirit has raised up “churches” as well.

Perhaps, Judas was of this group.  It is most likely that he never believed because we see early on that he was already pilfering money out of the ministry fund long before he ever betrayed Jesus.  However, we should not be dogmatic on that point.  Yet, it is good to see that betrayal is exactly what spiritual adultery is.  The things that I have described here are exactly that, spiritual adultery.  We were called to be a faithful engaged bride, but instead, they go after a different christ, a different spirit.

Let’s look at another problem in the Parable of the Soils.

Some who believe fall from faith later

In Mark 4, the Parable of the Soils opens the chapter as Jesus refers to 4 types of soil.  Later in the chapter, he gives his disciples an interpretation of the parable.  I want to look at two of those soil types.  We will look at both the parable and the interpretation for each, one at a time.

I would say that for this group we might not use the term false conversion, though some people do.  However, we should notice that Jesus never questions the sincerity of the response to the Holy Spirit and the implanted word for each of these soils.  The problem is that something causes their early faith to fall short of the goal.  Let’s look at the stony soil in verses 5-6, and then interpreted in 16-17.

Here, we are told about a soil that is filled with many stones.  The Word of God is unable to put down deep roots.  Jesus doesn’t get into what the rocks represent.  What is it in a Christian’s life that would keep the Word from putting down deep roots?  Perhaps, it is a pet sin of which we are avoiding God’s conviction.  It might be unforgiveness and a root of bitterness that we refuse to dig out.  Regardless, we are told that the growth caused by the Word withers during a time of trial, when the heat is turned up on them.  When our faith withers, it is directly connected to the withering effect of God’s Word upon our hearts and lives.

It is important to respond to God’s Word in our lives so that it can put some deep roots into our souls.  This only comes through responding to it in the works of repentance and the works of faith.  I say it that way on purpose because we are often unbalanced on the concept of works.  There are works that are acceptable to God, those done in response to the Spirit by faith in Jesus.

Jesus pictures the hot sun as tribulation and trials.  We all have trials.  In fact, Acts 14:22 tells us that part of Paul’s message was exhorting people to stay in the faith and not walk away.  “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”  God help us to dig up and roll out of the field of our life, those stones that may be preventing the Word of God from growing deep into our life.

The second problem soil is found in verse 7, and then interpreted in verses 18-19.  It is the thorny soil.  If the brute force of trials doesn’t knock out our faith, the seductive pull of the things of this world may work.  Jesus describes the problem thorns, weeds, as: the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things.

The cares of this world, the things that we fret over, can be things that are bad or good.  Jobs, houses, spouses, etc., can be things that we become so consumed with that it chokes God’s word from growing within us.  Notice that it is not just riches, but that the allure of riches is itself a deceit.  How many times do Christians think that the answer will come with more money?  The idea that money can solve your problems is a deceptive idea.  The third category is very general and pretty much covers anything that we desire that is not Jesus and His Kingdom.  Clearly, Jesus is talking about things in the natural that are part of this life.

In 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul refers to Demas forsaking him.  Demas was a companion and helper of Paul who is mentioned in the books of Colossians, and Philippians.  He had been with Paul through many difficult things, but this last situation, where Paul was imprisoned in the dungeons of Rome and did not look to get out, was too much for him.  Demas didn’t just forsake Paul.  Paul saw that his real problem was his “having loved this present world.”  Most likely he was afraid of death for himself.  It might be that he was tired of not having anything because his whole life had been helping Paul and pursuing God’s Kingdom.  Some Christians every day come to a point where God’s Word is so choked out in their life that they fall away from faith in Jesus.  They may grow weary of serving others and choose to “live for myself,” in life.  Regardless, if the Word is choked out, then the Holy Spirit’s conviction is choked out.  He then becomes grieved, until we one day don’t realize that He has left us.  Guard your heart from these things that come between us and our Lord.

Let me close by mentioning that both of these problems may or may not quit being religious, and going to church, even leading a church.  Like I said earlier, over time some churches and whole denominations have come to a place where they are led by a majority of men and women who are no longer true believers in Jesus and his Word.  They are no longer followers of the Holy Spirit.  Don’t get me wrong.  Most of them would be incensed if someone told them that this was the case.  Caiaphas the High Priest of Israel was such a man.  They have loved this world more than Christ, and they co-opt his Church for their own purposes, which they may believe to be Christ’s.  Like the Pharisees and Sadducees before them, they have become dressed up on the outside, but inside they are dead man’s bones.

Oh, friend, guard your heart and beware the things of this life that will choke out God’s Word from growing his righteousness within you.