Could You Not Watch One Hour?

Mark 14:32-42.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 6, 2020.

We are often focused on our needs that we want God to satisfy.  It is not nearly as often that we may be reminded that God needs or desires some things from us. 

Today, we will see the need that Jesus had of companionship during the time leading up to his arrest.  However, this reflects something that is about more than just that day.  In Jesus, we see the difficulty that God has in dealing with the sin of the world and the heavens.  It is not difficult in the sense of power, but as an emotional and heavy weight upon His being.  Jesus represents the heart of the Father to forbear, to forgive, to redeem, and yet ultimately to judge.  We will never be able to explain it perfectly, but it is clear that, though we could say that God doesn’t need humans to a degree, He refuses to go forward without making redemption available to all.  And, He does this at great expense and suffering to Himself.

In these last days, the Spirit of God is looking for people who will stand in the heat with Him, much like the three Hebrew Boys did in the book of Daniel.  When we stand with God, He stands with us. 

In our flesh, we fall short, but let us not stay there.  Let us hear the Spirit calling, “Will you not watch with me?  On that evening so many years ago, the Lord Jesus shows us the key to following him.  Yes, we pick up our cross and follow him, but just as important is this.  Take time to wrestle with God in prayer, until you are yielded to His will, whatever it may be.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus prepares to pray

Jesus and his disciples had been inside of Jerusalem and, at some point that night, Judas had left them in order to betray Jesus.  Having said what he needed to say to his disciples, Jesus leads the eleven outside of Jerusalem so that he can spend time praying before his arrest.

They towards the Mt. of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem into a garden in the area of Gethsemane.  Such a garden likely would have had a rock wall around it with some kind of entrance.  Now, Gethsemane means “olive press.”  This is significant since the suffering and death of Jesus would supply the oil of the Holy Spirit to God’s people.  Some homework to do on this would be to read Zechariah 4 and its image of two olive trees supplying oil into a lamp that is lit.  This same image is connected to the two witnesses of Revelation 11.  Their ministry during the Great Tribulation will supply oil for the spiritual lights of those who reject the beast and his kingdom.  Jesus was going into a metaphorical olive press that would supply the oil of the Spirit to the whole world that the light of God might be seen.

Jesus tells them that he is exceedingly sorrowful and he wants to spend time in prayer.  The scene is that he leaves 8 of the disciples in one area- probably at the entrance to the garden.  He then takes Peter, James, and John a little further away from the group.  They had become those who were closest to Jesus from The Twelve.

We should be careful in reading too much into the sorrow of Jesus.  God wants us to understand that He does agonize over all that He does in helping to redeem mankind.  However, God’s agony is not the same as ours, nor for the same purposes.  Think of a Being who suffers the assault of every sin on earth and in the heavenlies that occurs, both external sins and internal ones.  We are only aware of a small amount of the evil and wickedness that occurs, but God experiences and sees it all.  No one knows sorrow like the Creator of the Universe does.  In those moments when we are exceedingly sorrowful, we are only getting a taste of what God feels.  In fact, those times are His invitation for you to join Him in His sorrow.  It is a time of communion with Him where we can know Him at a deeper level, to bond with Him.  Thus, Jesus asks The Three to stay near him and watch.

In the New Testament, watching is often connected to praying.  It involves a vigilance over one’s spiritual condition and external circumstances through prayer.  If we are not a praying people then we are not a vigilant people, and the enemy will trip us up in many ways.

The prayer of Jesus

In verses 35-36, we get an intimate glimpse into the heart of Jesus.  However, at the same time, he is letting us know that he can see into our hearts.  We are not alone.  God knows just how difficult it is to do what He asks of us because He has already gone on before us. 

It may seem unlikely that Jesus would agree to take on a human nature, and then balk at the cross.  However, we must understand that he truly had a human nature, additional though it was.  He completely understands the sorrow over injustice, and the fear of futility in doing the right thing (as God defines it).  Sometimes, we can be resistant to God’s will, thinking that what He asks is impossible.  However, the truth is that we must crucify ourselves internally before we can do the difficult things that He has called us to do.

Jesus describes what lies ahead as “an hour.”  It is the hour of trial and testing, and it is the hour of saving mankind.  It is also described as a “cup.”  We can see it as a cup of suffering that the Father is asking Jesus to drink, but this falls short.  It is a cup of the wrath of God for the sins of mankind.  To drink that cup, is to experience and suffer the wrath of God.

The greatest horror of the cross for Jesus is not so much the physical suffering, but the experiencing of wrath from the One whom he has eternally existed in a bond of supreme love.  So, Jesus asks that the hour, or the cup, might pass from him.

He then says that all things are possible for the Father.  Yes, the Father could change the plan at the last moment.  By the way, this does not mean that God can do illogical things (like make a round square, or create a rock so big that He can’t lift it, etc.)  Neither does it mean that he can do things that are contrary to His nature.  He cannot lie or do evil.  Rather, “all things are possible” means that, in matters of power and authority, there are none that He answers to.  He is the supreme authority and has the power to back up His decisions.

In the end, Jesus yields to the will of the Father.  “Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”  I do not believe that Jesus is merely play acting for our sakes.  I believe that Jesus truly agonized over going through with the cross.  However, we see his yielding to what He knew the Father desired.  Can I get to a point in prayer where I know that God has heard my heart, that I know He loves me, and yet this difficult thing before me is necessary? 

Too often, we see difficulty as proof that God does not love us.  The reality is that it is often proof that He does.  We shield little children from the difficulties of life, but as they mature, we teach them to face and shoulder more and more of the duties and responsibilities of life, out of love for God and others.  Some believers have almost ridiculed such a yielding prayer, as if it lacks faith.  There is no greater prayer than the prayer of surrender.  This is what I want, Father, but nevertheless, Your will be done and not mine!

The sleepiness of The Three

Jesus did not need the disciples to watch in order to keep him from being arrested.  He needed them to watch in order to keep themselves from being spiritually taken out by the enemy.  O, how our flesh fights against the needs of our spirit.  You will never be sleepier than when you decide to try and pray.

Jesus comes back from praying to find The Three sleeping.  “Could you not watch one hour?”  Notice that Jesus connects watching to praying in verse 38.  Here, Jesus gives a command and a statement.

The command is to watch and pray so that they don’t fall to the temptations ahead.  If we are having trouble fighting sin and experiencing spiritual failure in our life, it can usually be traced back to prayerlessness, which itself is a symptom of weak faith and reliance upon Jesus.

The statement is this.  “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  This is exactly what we need to understand today.  It is not enough to have great spiritual desires and to love God with all of your heart.  Peter vehemently declared his devotion to Jesus.  His spirit wanted to do what was right, and even excel at it above all of the other disciples.  However, he is headed into a trial for which he is not yet spiritually ready.  His flesh was weak, and not just in falling asleep.  Their physical sleep is an external symptom of an internal problem.  The good news is what we talked about last week.  If it wasn’t for Jesus praying for us, none of us would make it.   Jesus makes all the difference. 

In prayer, we wrestle with our flesh before the Lord, and come to a place of surrender ahead of the trial so that we can do the will of God in the difficult hour.  The problem is not only that your flesh is weak, but also that you haven’t done anything to strengthen yourself against the weakness of the flesh.

We are told that Jesus comes back and finds them sleeping three different times.  Their inability to stay awake is connected to their perception of safety.  Of course, they don’t know that Judas is even now headed out of the city with a detachment of soldiers having betrayed Jesus.  Yet, this is all of life.  We think we are safe, physically or even spiritually, but our greatest trial may be just around the corner.

Can you imagine them complaining in their hearts, “But Lord, we have been up so long and we are tired… can’t we pray tomorrow after breakfast?”  It seems too hard.  Yet, even this is a lie from our flesh.  What if they had woken up to find a large spider on their chest, or perhaps, a coiled serpent?  How quickly would they have come alive in that moment (and so would we).  We are lulled to sleep by the spirit of this world through entertainments and gadgets so that the spiritual serpent can slip up and capture our souls.  Yet, Jesus is faithful to come along from time to time and shake us awake.  Wake up and watch over your soul before it is too late!

And so, the moment of betrayal had come.  There was no more time for praying alone with God.  Now, there will only be praying in the midst of a pack of jackals.  More than likely, Jesus leads the three back to where the eight are no doubt sleeping as well.  Here, they will be met by Judas, but we leave that for next week. 

Let me close with this.  I do not know what things you will face in the future.  There are trials in our personal life, trials among our family and friends, trials in business, nations, and even global trials.  However, we can be rest assured that those trials will come.  Hear the Spirit calling you to prepare yourself and come into communion with the Lord of Glory, who was a suffering servant.  Perhaps our hour of betrayal has come in this nation, or perhaps it will tarry a few more years.  Ultimately, this world has rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ and will double down on the path of self-will.  Yet, there are many poor souls out there who do not know their right hand from their left.  They are lost and wounded.  May God wake us up spiritually so that we can help those who sleep, and some who are even spiritually dead.  Even now, the Lord tells us that the fields are white for harvest!

Watch One Hour audio

The Sheep Will Scatter

Mark 14:27-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 29, 2020.

Although our passage is immediately about the events leading up to the crucifixion, it also points to all those places along the path of our walk of faith where our faith will be tested.  We can call this the crucible.  The crucible is a place where we are melted down and the impurities float to the surface.  The purpose is to remove the impurities identified in that event.  The crucible experience always asks the question, “Will you continue to follow Jesus, or will you stumble?”  Or, in the words of John 6:67, “Do you also want to go away?”

The truth is that we all stumble at times in this walk of faith.  The real point is whether or not we will stumble to the point of falling away completely.  I pray that you will remain loyal to the Lord Jesus in the days ahead regardless of any stumblings.

We are living in a time where no people on earth are going to be able to escape the trap that the whole world is heading into.  You can escape its destruction, but the trap will be there nonetheless.  The wonderful news is that in Jesus there is a way through the trap.  You can’t avoid it, but you can be saved through it by putting your trust in Jesus completely, by letting your fears and idols be purged from your life in the refiner’s fire of these times, and by clinging to him, no matter what.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus tells the disciples that they will be made to stumble

This discussion seems to take place on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mt. of Olives, east of Jerusalem.  Jesus tells his disciples that they will all stumble because of him this very night.  This word for stumble is the same word that Jesus used when John the Baptist was in prison.  John was having second thoughts on whether he was right about Jesus.  Thus, he sends his disciples to Jesus with the question, “Are you the Coming One, or do we wait for another?”  Jesus tells them to tell John the miraculous stuff that he is doing, but then ends with this statement.  “Blessed is he who is not offended because of me.”  This gives the wrong impression to us today, one of a person’s feelings being hurt.  It would be better translated as this, “Blessed is he who is not made to stumble because of me.”  Jesus is using the Old Testament stumbling block imagery we find throughout the prophets (see Isaiah 8:14-15 and its context).

The stumbling that is being referred to is a spiritual stumbling, and is tied into the Greek term for a stumbling block, skandalon.  This actually points to a whole series of things.  To stumble is to waver in our faith in such a way that we lose our balance on the path of following the Lord.  This can lead to a person falling to the side of the path, even landing on the ground, injured.  If the problem is not rectified at each point of the situation then it can lead not only to falling off the path, but a person may continue on an alternate path that does not follow the Lord, that is either deception, or apostasy (leaving the faith completely). 

Stumbling and falling away are spiritual terms that Paul uses in Romans 11 when he explains what God is doing with national Israel.  As a nation, Israel had stumbled and fallen away from the path of God.  To some of the early Christians, it appeared that God was replacing Israel with the Church and that Israel would be no more.  Paul explains that the fall of Israel was not for nothing.  It had opened the door for the Gospel to be sent to all the nations, and, when this time of the Gentiles was completed, God would open the eyes of natural Israel that they may believe in Jesus the Messiah.  Of course, through the centuries, anyone of natural Israel could believe on Jesus and be recovered, but they would not be recovered to the faith as a nation until the end times.  This is what Isaiah is talking about in chapter 8 and is what Jesus means.

Before they can protest this statement, Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7.  This is an interesting passage.  In chapter 12 of Zechariah, he talks about Israel, “they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son.”  This is in the context of a great salvation from many, if not all, of the nations of the earth marshalled against her.  Zechariah 14 actually describes the second coming of Jesus, which also spares Jerusalem from total destruction.  However, in Zechariah 13, nestled in between those other chapters, God calls upon one who is “My Shepherd, and My Companion (or Associate).”  It pictures the shepherd (the good shepherd) that God sent to teach and to lead Israel (this shepherd who was a close companion to God, being struck and the people of Israel (his sheep) being scattered.

It is interesting that Zechariah doesn’t mention stumbling in the verse Jesus quotes, only “scattering.”  The prophets not only spoke of stumbling, but also of falling, broken, snared, and taken.  It speaks of such a bad stumbling that Israel is removed from the land and scattered throughout the nations.  A scattering that only Messiah could recover.  This the verse in Isaiah 8:14-15.

“He will be a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken.”

Yet, in Luke 21:35, Jesus says, “[The Day of the Lord] will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.”  It is not just the disciples of the days of Jesus that need to beware spiritual traps that lead to us being snared.  Jesus promises that the trap is not done.  There is a great end times trap that has been set by the Lord.  This world is quickly rushing headlong into it.  The only ones that will survive are those who put their full faith in Jesus and do not stumble to the point of not recovering.  God help us to keep our bearings, not to be deceived, nor to lose faith in Jesus.

Jesus then tells them that he will go ahead of them to Galilee after he is resurrected.  This helps us to understand why Jesus was telling them that they would stumble.  His purpose was not to rub their nose in their coming failure, nor to tell them what a bunch of losers they are.  Jesus is not vindictive and angry at their weakness.  He had told them many times that he would be killed in Jerusalem, and yet, rise on the third day.  Now, he is adding that he will meet them in Galilee afterwards.  Yes, the sheep will scatter when God’s shepherd is struck, but then the Good Shepherd (who was struck on our behalf) will rise up and seek out his sheep who were scattered “on a dark and cloudy day.”

We have our own dark and cloudy days, not just on the horizon, but even now.  These are times of testing in which all of us have our times of wavering in faith.  The Spirit of Jesus is here today, drawing us to his side, saying, “Stand with me and I will give you rest.”  For those who stumble, we are called to help them to keep their balance, and keep walking in faith.  Even those who fall to the side of the path, we are to warn them of the destruction, bandage their wounds, and help them back into the way of the Lord. 

There is a great falling away from the truth of God and His Messiah that is moving throughout the earth.  We must guard our hearts and prepare for greater storms yet.

It is at this point that Peter protests what Jesus is saying.  True to form, Peter is only saying what he wants to be true.  “Even if everyone else is made to stumble, I will not be made to stumble!”  This sounds like a great statement of faith, similar to Joshua’s, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”  However, Joshua spoke his statement as a battle-hardened warrior who had been fighting the battles of the LORD.  For him, it was not bravado, but a faith that had been tried in the furnace and purified.  Peter and the disciples were still wet behind the ears.  They were only now headed into the first of many furnaces that lay ahead for them.  In fact, in Luke 22:31, Jesus tells Peter that “Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.”  Like with Job, Satan had requested to try Peter and his pretentious words.

Jesus prophesies that Peter will deny him three times before the rooster crows a second time that very evening.  Peter and the other disciples then vehemently protest this statement.  I know that in your heart you may want to be something great for Jesus, but be warned.  We are only now in a time of furnace that is itself what purifies our motives and hearts.  These are not the times to be talking smack, but rather to be removing the impurities that come to the surface. Jesus knows that we are weak and frail in ourselves.  Without him we are fodder for the enemy.  Yet, he loves us.  In Luke, Jesus tells Peter a wonderful thing in this exchange.  He says, “I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”  How beautiful is that?  When we couple this statement with the events after the resurrection in John chapter 21, they are like bookends of the love and forgiveness of Jesus.  He is not expecting you to be a robotic faith machine.  He loves you; He will not forsake you; He has prayed for you that your faith will not fail!  Yes, the sheep will scatter, but in the Name of Jesus we are empowered and authorized to go out into all the world and draw God’s sheep back into the fold.  Amen!

Sheep Scatter audio

The Lord's Last Supper

Songs in our song service:

1. I Will Sing by Albrecht
2. Sing to the King by Foote
3. Our God is Lifted Up by Smith
4. Thank You Lord by Moen
5. Let the Worshippers Arise by Farren
6. My Country Tis of Thee by Smith
7. Let There Be Glory & Honor & Praises by Greenelsh

Mark 14:22-26.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 22, 2020.

Today, we join Jesus and his disciples on the evening of his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion.  Jesus knows that this will be their last meal together, and uses it to be a special time of communion before he becomes the Passover Lamb for the whole world.

Let’s look at it together.

Jesus is the Bread of Life

The context of this passage makes it fairly clear that this is a Passover meal.  The Passover meal in the Exodus emphasizes the lamb, but there were other kinds of food that would be present.  One of these is bread.  In John 16:33, Jesus says, “the Bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  Then, in verse 48 of that same chapter, he says, “I am the Bread of Life.”

Bread has great significance within the Bible because it represents sustenance, that which keeps a person alive.  When you are hungry and starving, natural bread is extremely important because it can save your natural life.  Israel faced just such a situation when they went into the desert following Moses, who was following God’s instructions.  They quickly ate the bread that they had brought with them into the desert.  God supernaturally provided bread that would sustain them in the natural.  However, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that they had a need that was greater than natural sustenance.  They needed something that could give them spiritual life and sustain their faith during the wilderness march and beyond.

Jesus tells his disciples that the bread in the meal that they were eating represented his body.  Not just the body, but also what he was doing and going to do with it in the near future.  Jesus would use his body to produce eternal life for those who put their faith in him.

This is important because the items of the Passover meal would be explained in relation to the Passover and the Exodus from Egypt.  However, Jesus is giving a new, or contemporary, explanation.  We might better call it a parallel, yet higher, explanation.  His explanation gives the old explanation a greater meaning because of its connection to the greater Passover, and the greater Exodus.  Jesus is the Passover Lamb that had to be slain in order to be protected from the Death Angel.  Jesus is also the unleavened bread that they carried with them and lived upon in the desert.  In the Exodus, the bread was unleavened because there was no time to put yeast in it and let it rise.  However, calling Jesus unleavened bread is a reference to the lack of sin.  Just as yeast puffs up, so sin puffs up a man to make him what he is not meant to be.  This is fine when eating food, but not when living life.  Jesus is without sin and we are to feed upon him.  Yet, we also purge all yeast or sin from our lives as we follow him.  The temptation for believers is to feed upon the leavened bread of this world that is full of sin and feels like it gives life, but in the end, it delivers death.

The bread that Israel ate in Egypt is referred to as the bread of affliction.  This phrase is used throughout the Old Testament.  The bread in the Passover meal is a reminder of the bread of affliction they ate as slaves in Egypt.  In Christ, the same bread that the world despises becomes the bread of life.  On the same night that they were delivered, the bread they would eat on the road would represent the life that they were walking towards.  Isaiah says in chapter 63 verse 9, “In all their afflictions He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity, He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old.”  Wow, what an explanation of what God was doing when He brought Israel out of Egypt.

In Jesus, God takes on a body not just to join us in our affliction, but that we may feed upon His affliction.  My affliction by itself cannot produce life, but His can.  Even greater, when I have Jesus as my Savior, my affliction now has meaning and purpose because He gives me eternal life, and I am joining, identifying, with him in his affliction, just as he did ours.  This communion of suffering becomes Life because the Lord of Life has joined us in it and leads us through it.

Notice that Jesus offers the bread to them.  They had to take what the Lord was offering them.  Though it was natural bread, he is telling them that they are taking hold of something that represents him.  Now, Jesus is an interesting character.  There are things about him that even the world admires and gives up lip service.  However, they want to pick and choose what part of Jesus to consume.  This will not work.  You must take Jesus as he presents himself completely, not partially.  Yes, he is the bread of affliction in one sense, but that affliction will be filled with life because of him.  No matter what I may have to face in the future, though the way be blessed with freedom, or it becomes a valley of the shadow of death, I must take what the Lord is offering me.

More importantly, we must eat it.  Jesus tells them to take the bread and then consume it.  Feeding upon the body and work of Jesus is a spiritual thing in which we draw sustenance in our faith journey from the past, present, and future work of our Lord.  He has joined us in our affliction; he has won us the victory with His affliction, and now we have eternal life with him, a portion in the eternal kingdom that will one day be realized upon this earth, and beyond.

The elite of this world are talking about taking advantage of Covid-19 in order to create a Great Reset of how the world is ran.  However, they willfully ignore that God has declared a Great Reversal of His own.  The kingdoms of this world will soon be taken from the great ones of this world, and will be given to Jesus and those who have fed upon him.  This becomes our bread in this dark world.  It is a bread that produces light within us to shine out into that darkness.  We also feed upon the words of wisdom and life that are written down for us that they may shine light upon our path through this world.

His blood cut a new covenant with God the Father

Jesus also took the cup of wine and gave a different meaning to it.  Like Moses led Israel into the desert and cut a covenant with God at Mt. Sinai, so too, Jesus came into our desert of a world and cut a new covenant with God at the hill called Golgotha.  This is the new covenant that God promised Israel, especially through the prophet Jeremiah (31:31).

Just as with the bread, they all drank from the cup that Jesus gave to them.  This too is a phrase that is loaded with meaning in the Bible.  Jesus referred to the events of his beatings, humiliation, and crucifixion as a cup of suffering.  Drinking from his cup would allow them to show that they would participate in the new covenant, but also in the suffering that lay ahead.  In Exodus, the blood of the lamb had to be wiped on the doorposts of their house, signifying a household that had faithfully performed the command of the Lord.  Similarly, we must apply the blood of Jesus to our own hearts.  We are those who have heard the Father’s command to receive his son as our savior and lord.  We not only see his death as paying the price for our sins, and bringing us into the family of God, but we also see it as an invitation to join him in his suffering.  We join him in the things that we are to face ahead, though that be times of ease or times of difficulty.  I do not believe that there are many times of ease left in this old world.

There is an interesting contrast in this.  The disciples of Jesus drink of the cup of his blood representing his affliction and his agony, yet also his victory.  However, in Revelation 17, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes holds a cup as well.

1  “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication… 6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.”

This is a spiritual prostitute that has led the world into a spiritual adultery against the Lord of heaven.  Notice that her cup also has blood in it, but it is not her blood.  It is the blood of the saints.  Yes, the kings of the earth are drunk on this cup of the blood of the saints, but so are the inhabitants of the earth.  We are headed into a time when the world as a whole, not just pockets here and there, will require mankind to enter into a “new global covenant,” but not God’s new covenant.  This is a covenant with death and will feed upon the persecution and death of the true saints of God.  This cup is already here in some regards.  The world is beginning to get drunk on the idea of removing the restraining influence of God’s people, who trust in His word over the top of the word of men.  What cup are you drinking from?

Jesus then states that he will not drink of this again until he does so with his followers in the Kingdom of God.  This is often called the Last Supper, but we should recognize that it is only his last supper in a mortal body.  At his resurrection, Jesus took on an immortal body.  In such, he will one day gather his people together for another great supper spoken of by the Apostle John in Revelation 19.  It is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God.  The picture is of Jesus fasting until he can drink and eat with us on that day.  Many believe that this marriage supper will take place in heaven before the return of Christ because it is mentioned immediately preceding the Second Coming.  Regardless of how and where it exactly takes place, what a day that will be!  The cup of suffering will have been drained to the dregs, and the world will enter into a time of righteousness and peace of which it has never known.  Amen.  Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

We rejoice in the salvation of our Lord

Of course, there is irony in the fact that they sung a hymn before they left to the Mt. of Olives, in particular the Garden of Gethsemane.  In Washington State, we are currently in a 4-week decree of Gov. Jay Inslee that Christians in Church must not sing during worship in song.  The singing of the saints has always bothered Satan, not to infer that the governor is Satan.  He is following the spirit of this world, that spirit that hates believers.  Like the Grinch hearing the singing of the Who village, so the faith of God’s people in the face of his undeniable logic is maddening to the devil.  That said, many times Christians have found themselves in tight spots with the world clamping down on its freedoms.  Yet, no government can control your heart and your mind unless you let them. 

In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul told them,

“17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.”

Today, we speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, but I pray that as you go home, the Lord will put a song in your heart, a song of joy, a song of deliverance.

May our songs spiritually prepare us for the challenges ahead.  These are not about great musicians and performers.  Rather, they are about the cry of the heart in the midst of the furnace, “Make me like Jesus!  Make me like you, Lord!”

Last Supper audio

Instructions on the Battlefield II

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22; 1 Corinthians 3:8-10; Jude 1:3. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 15. 2020.

Last week, we looked at how the real battle for believers today is a spiritual one, and how we must make sure that our character is shaped by Jesus, rather than the culture.

Today, we will look at the issue of prophecy.

What about those prophetic voices in Christianity?

There are some Christians and Christian groups that do not want anything to do with the idea of prophecy about the future, whether in the Bible or via a modern prophet.  Our church has always believed that God is not revealing new Scripture, but that He does gift some people to serve as prophets in His Church.  Let’s take a moment to remind ourselves some of what Scripture says on this matter.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, it is clear that the apostle does not advocate despising, or looking down on, prophecy.  He equates this to quenching the Holy Spirit, or putting out the Spirit’s fire.  Instead, believers are called upon to test everything and only hold on to that which is good.  To those voices that reject the reality of prophets and prophecy today, I would ask you to consider how you treat prophecy far different than the things that Paul mentioned before it.  He tells us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in everything.  No Church that I am aware of says that those things ended with the apostles of Jesus and the arrival of the completed written word of God.  No, rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks continue on in the Church Age.  Why is prophecy pulled out of this list?  Doesn’t it seem strange that the Apostle Paul would give strong instruction on how to deal with prophets and prophecy, if he knew that God would no longer use them after the first century?  Let’s look at another passage on this.

1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14 are within a larger section in which Paul deals with problems in the worship assemblies of the church in Corinth.  Chapter 12 and 14 talk about the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit has given them and the proper use of those gifts.  Chapter 13 is given as a parenthetical instruction within this area of spiritual gifts.  Paul’s point is that all spiritual gifts must be operated out of love and the goal to build up God’s people.

Near the end of chapter 13, we have one of the foundational passages used by those who believe that true prophets and true prophecy ended with the death of the first century Apostles.  This passage speaks of love never failing (this is better understood as “coming to an end”).  The point is that when Christ comes back and we enter into the next age, love will still be practiced by God’s people.  However, things like prophecy and knowledge (i.e. receiving it) will come to an end because the perfect will have come.  “That which is perfect” is usually connected to the writing down of the First Century Apostolic witness in the Bible.  They believe Paul to be saying that prophecy will cease when the Bible is completed.  This cannot be what the Apostle was teaching.

Paul never gives the idea throughout chapters 12 to 14 that these instructions are only needed while he and the apostles are alive, and then will become irrelevant.  Rather, he tells the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29,

“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” 

When the apostles were gone, it was going to be even more perilous and believers would definitely need the writings of the Apostles.  However, some of that writing is about spiritual gifts.    To believe that 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, and other such passages on spiritual gifts, were only relevant for 20 to 50 years of the Church seems to be special pleading.

Paul points out that we have prophecy because we are in a condition of having a partial knowledge of God’s mind.  The perfect has to be pointing forward to that time when not only Christ has returned, but we have entered into the New Heavens and the New Earth, where there will be no unrighteousness, and where God will dwell directly with us.  That seems to be a better “perfect.”  That perfected environment and perfected relationship with God will preclude the need of prophets and prophesy, like we have in this age. 

Finally, I would state that the Olivet Prophecy (that Jesus gave in Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21) warns of false prophets in the Church Age, both at the beginning and at the end in the Great Tribulation.  The presence of the false implies the presence of the true.  In fact, Revelation 11 has two witnesses who are clearly two prophets of God. 

Thus, Christians should recognize that prophecy did not cease with the Apostles of Jesus, and believers are called to the spiritual maturity of testing anyone who claims to have a word from the Lord.

This does not mean that such prophets can add new doctrine to the Gospel.  How can I limit it in this way?  Well, I can’t, but God’s Word itself states in Jude 1:3 (Yes, I know that there is only one chapter) “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Jesus had revealed the faith, or teaching we are to believe, to his apostles.  It was their job to establish this teaching in the Church.  They did this by establishing Churches, teaching them the Gospel, defending against false teachers, false prophets, and heretics, and writing all of this down so that we can have an accurate account of their teaching.  This Gospel content is God’s “once for all” instruction to His Church.  Yes, we could want more, but we are told that this is enough, and that we must contend for it.  This does not cancel out prophets and prophecy.  Rather, it becomes the rule or means by which we can judge whether a prophecy contradicts Scripture, or not.  The Gospel becomes the grounds upon which we wrestle internally to take in God’s Word and trust it, and we wrestle externally with those who would pervert and twist its meaning, or add to it.

Not all are prophets who claim to be.  We are to use God’s Word to judge them as well as the character of their life and the success of the prophecy.

There are voices on both sides of this election

That brings us back to the question, “What about those prophetic voices on TV and on the internet, who are talking about the 2020 USA Presidential election?

There are some prophets who are saying that President Trump was God’s judgment on America and now that we are making the right choice of Vice President Joe Biden, we can move forward in healing.  Other voices are saying that President Trump is God’s help to America in order to get us back on the path of freedom.  Obviously, one of these sides is clearly wrong by the rules of logic.  God either wanted Christians to vote for Trump or not, and the same is true for Biden.

This kind of confusion should be expected.  Throughout the Bible, we are warned against false prophets.  In fact, there are far more false prophets in the Bible than true prophets.   I actually believe that both sides have false prophets.  A prophet is not a prophet because they say that something will happen, and it does.  They are a godly prophet because they have actually stood in the presence of God and received a message from Him for His Church.

Let me just warn us all against surfing the internet looking for the latest prophecy about this election and the future.  Some are doing this because they are afraid and have no relationship with the Lord themselves.  If God thinks that you need a prophet then He will send one to you, but be careful of going out to look for a prophet, or prophets.  That is not something that we are ever told to do in the Bible, and it will most likely get you into trouble.  However, over time, prophetic voices have risen up with a platform that became noticed by the Church at large.  To me, David Wilkerson is an example of a guy who was used to speak prophetically to the American Church beyond the church that he pastored.

These are chaotic times, and in chaotic times, you have to turn off the sea of voices and lean into Jesus through prayer and God’s Word.  We are not simply seeing a political divide, but there is also a huge division within the Church, and maybe even a division inside of you.  Too many voices in our heads are not good.  We have to learn to tune out the talking heads in the news media, the talking heads in the blogosphere, whether they are secular or Christian.  This is a time to go back into your prayer closet and seek Jesus.  This is a time to seek His wisdom.

It is not enough to come to church and have a pastor dish up a plate of God’s Word for you.  You have to want to know God and His wisdom enough that you are prayerfully reading through what His word says to you.

Scripture tells us that the end times will be perilous times, and we can see that happening today.  2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us,

“1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

Does this not describe many on either side of this political divide?  This is a time that calls for those who will rise up and fight the battles of the Lord in the midst of great deception.  It is the Spirit of God who blows the trumpet across our land, even this world, in order to follow Jesus, not a man or a political party.  What will we do?

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