For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb. 4:12 NIV).
Monday, January 31, 2011, 8:13 a.m. – When I woke this morning, this song was playing in my mind:
The Reason / Bob Kauflin / Ed Nalle / Group: Glad
…There will never be another reason
For the life that you’ve been given
Let the song of heaven pierce to your heart
Like a nail that’s firmly driven
Hear the earth rise up and sing
Giving glory to our King…
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Acts 13:
…While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Barnabas and Saul on Cyprus
4So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went… When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time." Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
… And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it." 16So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:
"Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen… 26"Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. 27For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30But God raised him from the dead, 31and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus… Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. 40Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
41 "'Look, you scoffers,
be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.'"
… The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
"'I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"
48And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
My Understanding: The first thing I noted about the apostles was that they were sent out by the Holy Spirit. If this is not the case in our lives, then we need to stop right there, get on our knees before God, seek his face, confess and repent of any known sin, and ask for the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts, to convict us of sin, to rebuke us when necessary, and then to encourage, strengthen and empower us to be his witnesses. In other words, before we preach to others the message of the gospel, we need to make certain we are first of all cleansed before God of any impurities in our lives that might hinder our witness or that might hinder the power and authority of Almighty God speaking through us. Then, when God is ready to send us out, he can send us out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Once they were sent out by the Holy Spirit, and not in the flesh of man, they were able to proclaim the word of God with boldness, power and authority. And, there were people who sought them to hear the word of God spoken from their lips, because they honored God with their lips. If we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ, we need to first of all be cleansed from any impurities that might hinder our witness, but then we need to speak the word of God with boldness, power and authority, never compromising the truth of scriptures in order to please man or to tickle his ear with what he wants to hear. The passage I quoted at the beginning of this writing from Hebrews 4:12 describes the word of God as a double-edged sword that is living and active and that judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. In this second stanza of this song (the only stanza quoted here), it says “Let the song of heaven pierce to your heart like a nail that’s firmly driven.” The word of God is not fluff to make us feel good, warm and fuzzy all over or to make us feel good about our own selfishness and sinfulness. No, it cuts through to the heart and it exposes our sins. So, when we preach the word of God, it should convict as well as encourage and give hope.
Yet, when we are sent out by the Holy Spirit of God and we preach the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness and in the power and authority of God speaking through us and through His Word, we will face opposition. And, the apostles did, as well. Their first opposition in this recording in the 13th chapter of Acts is through a Jewish false prophet. He opposed the message taught by the apostles and sought to turn the proconsul – the man who summoned the apostles to hear the word of God – away from the faith. Paul, in the power of the Holy Spirit, addressed the man as a son of the devil, an enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy who would not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord. When we are truly preaching “the straight paths of the Lord,” we will face opposition from those who would try to twist the truth of God’s word to try to appease man and man’s ways, thoughts and human desires, i.e. to try to water down the gospel in order to tickle the ears of man and say what man wants to hear. We can’t do that! We have to remain strong in our faith and our commitment to preach the word of God in all truth.
As a result of the apostles not compromising their faith, witness and message, the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, “for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.” He saw the power of God at work! He saw the authority of God in the words of the apostles. And, he was drawn to faith in Jesus Christ by the apostles’ uncompromising faith and message and by the working of the Holy Spirit on his heart. So, when we are sent out by the Holy Spirit of God and we face opposition, we should remain strong and we should not retreat in fear or give up in defeat, and we should never compromise the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to please man. As a result, the Holy Spirit will come in conviction upon man’s hearts and people will believe in Jesus Christ. This may not happen immediately, as it did with the apostles, due to the hardness of man’s hearts, yet the word of God will never return empty:
So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Is. 55:11).
After this, Paul and his companions went to the next place where they were asked to give a word of encouragement to the people, so Paul shared the gospel message with the people. He told them that, through Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to them and that by Jesus, everyone who believes is freed of all the things that they were not freed of under the law. Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and through him we can be freed – not only from the ultimate penalty of sin – spiritual death – but we can be freed from bondage to and the control of sin over our lives on a daily basis. This is truly good news!! And, this is so encouraging to know that we can have complete forgiveness of our sins and that we can be free from the power and control of sin over our lives!! This is better than someone telling you that he has a cure for your terminal illness and that you can be guaranteed a long life here on the earth when you thought you were going to die a premature death! This message of hope guarantees the believer in Jesus life everlasting with God in heaven!
Yet, Paul did not stop there. He immediately followed up this message of hope and encouragement with a warning. And, there is good reason for this, too, lest anyone take the gospel of Jesus and his grace lightly and think God is now a doting grandfather who looks lightly on our sin and just forgives us, so it is ok if we continue sinning. NO! May that never be!! God still takes sin seriously! And, Paul recognized this, which is why he followed up the message of hope with a warning to anyone who would take the grace of God lightly. The passage he quoted from is found in Habakkuk 1:5-11 in which God warns of a time when God would raise up a bitter and hasty nation who would march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. He said that this nation would come for violence and they would gather captives like sand. They would scoff at kings and at every fortress they would laugh and they would pile up the earth and take it. V. 11 says, “Then they will sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Sadly, this is happening today in our world and in our time and it is happening at the hands of the government of the USA, the U.N., NATO, and the U.N. Security Council - all comprising the New World Order which is now conquering kings and kingdoms world-wide and is ruling the earth, one nation and one government at a time. The Bible told us ahead of time that a time like this was coming upon the earth when the beast and his false prophet and the dragon (Satan) would rule the earth for a time, times and half a time. What we are seeing right now in our world is a fulfillment in real-time of this passage in Habakkuk 1 and also in other prophecies of scripture with regard to the last days. I don’t know exactly where we are in the timeline of events, but I do know that the end of all things is near and that God is judging the earth and man because of their refusal to believe, like the Jews who were given the gospel first, yet they thrust it aside, so God gave the message to the Gentiles and from them the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ has spread to the ends of the earth.
Even after the warning was given, though, the scoffing continued by the Jews because they were filled with jealousy, and so they began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling (insulting; abusing) him. And, this will happen to us, too, especially as The Day draws near. Yet, the hope and joy in all of this, as was with Paul and the other apostles, is that despite, or because of, the opposition to the message of the gospel, many believed the message and the Word of God spread – amen! And, the persecution continued, as well. And, when it did, the apostles shook the dust off from their feet against those who were opposing and persecuting them, and they moved on to the next place and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit – amen! We don’t have to allow opposition and persecution to discourage us or to get us down. If people refuse our message, just move on to the next place and keep on keeping on in sharing the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all who would listen and who would believe and would receive the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
…There will never be another reason
For the life that you’ve been given
Let the song of heaven pierce to your heart
Like a nail that’s firmly driven
Hear the earth rise up and sing
Giving glory to our King…
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