Yearly Archives: 2021

A Man Who Wasn’t Full of Baloney – Acts 11:24-30

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

Verse 23 says Barnabas exhorted those believers to cleave to the Lord “for” he was a good man (v. 24) who cleaved to the Lord himself, despite the disappointment he must have felt when he wasn’t picked to replace Judas.  He was filled with the Spirit ever since Acts 2:4, which shows that that filling lasted more than just a day.  It must have ended by Galatians 2:11 though, or else Peter wouldn’t have needed rebuking.

But if you don’t know that it lasted for a few years, and that John wrote his first epistle during that time when the disciples were filled with the Spirit and couldn’t sin, you’ll change I John 3:9 to mean something else to try to make it fit believers today who can sin.  And once you start changing the Bible to fit your understanding of the Bible, they can stick a fork in you, for you’re done, spiritually speaking!

Barnabas was also full of “faith” (11:24) or faithfulness (cf. Ro. 3:3), so “much people” got saved.  That made him send for Saul to help teach all those people (Acts 11:25).

But why send for Saul, and not one of the twelve?  Well, be-fore Barnabas risked exposing the twelve to Saul (Acts 9:26, 27) he would have talked with Saul extensively, of course.  That means he would have known that Saul had been given a new ministry among the Gentiles, and that he would need a base of operations, just as Jerusalem was the headquarters for the ministry of the twelve among the Jews.  And what better base for a ministry to Gentiles than among these Grecians in Antioch who spoke the language of the Gentiles?

Grace believers who know that Peter called kingdom saints “Christians” (I Pe. 4:16) often ask if that’s what we should be called (cf. Acts 11:26).  But Paul didn’t respond to Agrippa by saying, “I’m not trying to make you a Christian” (Acts 26:29), which suggests he accepted the term.  And Paul said we are “named” of Christ (Eph. 3:14,15).  I don’t know what that name would be if not Christian.  Don’t over-rightly divide the Word or believers will dismiss right division altogether when they see you trying to point out dispensational distinctions between us and Israel that don’t exist.

We’re not told why some prophets came to Antioch from Jerusalem (Acts 11:27), but when verse 28 says they prophesied that a “dearth” or famine (cf. Gen. 41:54) was about to fall, that seems to hint that those prophets traveled the 300 miles to Antioch to suggest that those Grecian saints should send those saints in Jerusalem some “relief.”  Those saints didn’t lack for a thing after they sold all their investment properties to be saved, as the Lord told them they had to do to be saved (Luke 18:18, 22; Acts 4:34).  But the pooling of their resources was only meant to help them get through the 42 months of the Tribulation. That’s also why the Lord told them to not worry about having clothing to wear or where their next meal would come from (Mt. 6:31-33), for living with all things in common like that would supply their needs.

But when God postponed the Tribulation and introduced the dispensation of grace, the saints who lacked for nothing soon ran out of money and became the “poor saints” at Jerusalem (Rom. 15:26).  Of course, if you don’t understand that the dispensation of the mystery interrupted God’s prophetic program, you’re going to think He gave poor financial advice in telling them to liquidate their investment properties —or worse yet, you’ll try to follow that undispensational advice and become poor yourself!

Now the reason the saints in Antioch had the “ability” to send relief to Jerusalem was that the Lord’s “sell all” policy only applied to Judaea.  God had a separate plan to feed Tribulation Jews in outlying areas.  He planned to feed them with manna (Ex. 16:14 cf. Micah 7:14) for one thing.  And when James 5:17 associates Elijah with the three and a half year of time covered by the Great Tribulation, that suggests that God will also command the ravens to feed them (I Ki. 17:1-6) and the Gentiles as well (I Kings 17:7).

God has always wanted His people to help others “according to their ability” and not by overextending themselves (II Cor. 8:13).  But under grace we can choose to respond to God’s grace by giving financially to others and the Lord’s work beyond our ability to give (II Cor.8:1-4).  What makes believers choose to do that?  They “first” decide to give themselves to the Lord (II Cor. 8:5).  Have you?

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: A Man Who Wasn’t Full of Baloney – Acts 11:24-30

Grace Takes Over Where Mom Left Off – Titus 2:12

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“The grace of God… appeared… teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11,12).

When I was a boy, my mother taught me to be good.  I wasn’t under grace, I was under law—the law that Solomon called “the law of thy mother” (Pr. 1:8)!  When I was good, she’d reward me, but when I was bad, she’d punish me—just like Moses’ law did for the Jews (Lev. 26).  Her “rod of correction” (Pr. 22:15) was one of those long leather straps that barbers used years ago to sharpen their razors, and I can assure you it sharpened my behavior on many occasions!

But as every parent eventually learns, the day comes when a child is too old to take over your knee.  The Apostle Paul had that in mind when he wrote, “a child…is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father” (Gal. 4:1,2).  In those days, children had tutors who taught them and governors who punished them with a rod.  But that only went on until Dad realized his boy had become a young man.  After that, he’d correct his son with words, the way you parents of older children correct your adult sons.

In the rest of Galatians 4, Paul uses this as a simple illustration of the difference between law and grace.  Under the Law, God treated His people in Israel as children, rewarding them when they were good but spanking them when they were bad with the correcting rod of droughts, famines, pestilences, and—when all else failed—by allowing their enemies to take them captive.  But under grace, God treats us as adult sons, correcting us with words—the words of the Bible.  The apostle of grace wrote: “All Scripture…is profitable…for correction” (II Tim. 3:16).

See the difference?  Under the Law, God corrected the Jews with the rod of correction.  Under grace, He corrects us with words of correction—the words found in His rightly divided Word.  That means when you get some pestilent disease, or your community is going through a drought or famine, you don’t have to wonder if God is punishing you.  He’s not!

Now there’s no question that God’s people in Israel learned to be good under the law.  They often fell into idolatry (Lev. 26:30), but after God spanked them with 70 years of captivity in Babylon they never messed with idols again.  So the Law used to work well in making God’s people godly.  That’s probably why legalists insist that the law be taught today.  They just don’t seem to understand how grace can teach us to be godly.

If you’re not sure that you understand it, consider how Paul spoke to the Ephesians about “fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness” and “filthiness” (Eph. 5:3,4), and then added,

“…because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.  Be not YE therefore partakers with them” (v.6,7)

Paul is saying, “Someday God’s wrath will come on unsaved people in Hell because of their sins, so don’t you partake of sin just because you know His wrath won’t come on you.”  What kind of person would continue in sin just because he knows he won’t be punished for his sins?

There is an answer to that question.  In New York, diplomats from all over the world meet to represent their countries in the headquarters of the United Nations.  These ambassadors have what is called “diplomatic immunity.”  That means they can break the law without being prosecuted by the law.  Occasionally diplomats take advantage of this by flagrantly violating our laws.  We have words for people like that, and none of them are very pretty!  The word “ingrate” comes to mind, because you have to be pretty ungrateful to your host country to act like that.

But the same word applies to us when we choose to break God’s laws just because we are immune from His prosecution.  Grace should teach us to deny ungodliness out of gratitude to God for saving us.  If you’re not, why not begin to “live in denial”!   You’ll be eternally glad you did.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.



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The Chattering of the Scattering – Acts 11:19-23

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

The “scattered” disciples chattered about Christ, of course (v. 19)—but only to Jews!  That shows that they knew when the Lord told them to “teach all nations” (Mt. 28:19) that they knew He meant “all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Lu. 24:47), and that they couldn’t teach all nations until the nation of Israel was saved, so God could use them to reach the Gentiles.  God might have just finished teaching Peter that Gentiles were no longer unclean in Acts 10, but that didn’t change what God told the Jews to do.

“Grecians” (v. 20) were Greek-speaking Jews.  But some new Bible versions mistranslate this as “Greeks,” the Bible word for Gentiles.  But we know that they were Jews because some Grecians tried to kill Saul for preaching that Jesus was their Christ (Acts 9:29), and only Jews were upset to hear that their Messiah was a poor carpenter from Nazareth.  Plus, these Grecians later sent Paul out to preach to the Gentiles and, when he returned, he reported that while he was out God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.  That means the door was not opened when these Jews preached to the Grecians.

Now if God didn’t approve of preaching to only Jews, He would have been against these Jews, but verse 21 says the hand of the Lord was “with” them.  How’d they know it was with them?  The hand of the Lord is associated with the Spirit (Mt. 12:28 cf. Lu. 11:20), so they knew God’s hand was with them when those Grecians cast out devils, etc., by the Spirit.

The leaders of the Jewish kingdom church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to minister to these new Grecian believers (v. 22) because he was “the son of consolation” (Acts 4:36).  That is, he had a consoling personality.  The word “sole” means single, as when we say someone was the sole survivor of a disaster, the lone survivor.  And “con” means against, like when you are trying to make a decision and you make a list of pros and cons.  So when you con-sole someone, it means you’re against them being alone—especially when they’re in distress and need consoling.  God was able to use Barnabas’ consoling personality when Saul got saved and tried to meet up with the 12 apostles and they were afraid of him (Acts 9:26).  It looked for a while as if Saul would have to remain alone, but the son of consolation consoled him.

And this explains why the 12 sent Barnabas to the new Grecian believers.  Grecians and Hebrews didn’t always get along, even when filled with the Spirit (Acts 6:1).  The 12 didn’t want those new Grecian believers to feel alone and unaccepted by the Jewish church, so sent Barnabas to console them.  The Greek word for “exhort” (v. 23) is similar to the one for “console.”

To do something with purpose of heart (v. 23) means with determination (Dan. 1:8).  So when Paul says we should give with purpose of heart (II Cor. 9:7), we should be as determined to give as Daniel was not to eat forbidden meat!

Of course, Barnabas told the Grecians to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart (v. 23).  The word “cleave” can mean to stick with (Gen. 2:24), or to divide (Zech. 14:4), but the Grecians were obviously being exhorted to do the former.

That can be hard in the face of life’s many disappointments, but Barnabas knew a thing or two about disappointments.  “Joses… surnamed Barnabas” (Acts 4:36) was probably “Joseph called Barsabbas” (Acts 1:23).  If so, do you think maybe he was disappointed that God picked Matthias to be the 12th apostle and not him?  Acts 1:15-26 says Judas’ replacement had to have followed the Lord for all three years of His ministry, so Barnabas must have. He left everything behind to follow Him as Peter left his fishing boats and nets.  Then, even after he was passed over for apostleship, he sold all he had when God asked him to (Acts 4:36,37).  If anybody had a reason to not cleave to the Lord, it was Barnabas.  He had every reason to get bitter and walk away.  But he cleaved to the Lord instead.  Who better to tell these Grecians to?

You should cleave to the Lord too!  Under the law, God promised to reward Jews who cleaved to Him (Deut. 11:22, 23).  But we’re not under the law (Rom. 6:15).  God blesses us with all spiritual blessings in Christ (Eph. 1:3) and then asks us to walk worthy of Christ (Col. 1:10) by cleaving unto Him.  So if you’re thankful for your blessings, cleave to Him.

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Chattering of the Scattering – Acts 11:19-23

The Wrath of God That Bringeth Salvation – Titus 2:11a

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“…the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11).

Christians often wonder about the apostle Paul’s words here, for they know God’s saving grace hadn’t appeared to “all men” everywhere in the world in Paul’s day.  But what Paul was doing with those puzzling words was announcing a revolutionary dispensational change.

You see, before God raised up Paul, the grace of God that brought salvation couldn’t appear to “all men,” it could only appear to Jewish men, for under the law the Lord declared: “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).  But once the Lord’s death on the cross “abolished in His flesh the enmity” between Jews and Gentiles (Eph.2:15), He sent Paul to announce that He had “broken down the middle wall of partition” between them (v.14), and now “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him” (Rom. 10:12).

Of course, if you really know your Bible, you may be thinking that this wasn’t a revolutionary change, that the grace of God that brings salvation had appeared to the Gentiles long before Paul.  After all, didn’t David declare:

“The LORD hath made known His salvation… in the sight of the heathen… His mercy… toward… Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God” (Ps.98:1-3).

On the surface, David seems to be saying that God’s saving grace had appeared “in the sight of the heathen” Gentiles back then.  But this psalm isn’t saying that “the grace of God that bringeth salvation” had appeared to the heathen.  It’s talking about the wrath of God that brought physical salvation to Israel, when “His right hand…got…Him the victory” over Pharaoh (v.1).  The “new song” in this psalm (v.1) is the new song that Moses sang after God parted the Red Sea:

“Then sang Moses… the LORD… is become my salvation…  Pharaoh’s chariots… hath He cast into the sea… Thy right hand… hath dashed in pieces the enemy” (Ex.15:1-6).

The salvation God wrought for Israel at the Red Sea is the “salvation” Moses told the Jews to “stand still, and see” (Ex. 14:13) right before God drowned the Egyptians in His wrath (v.28). That’s the salvation David said the heathen had seen—the wrath of God on Pharaoh that brought “mercy” to Israel (Ps.98:3), not the grace of God that brought spiritual salvation to the Gentiles.

But the physical salvation wrought by God’s wrath for Israel did bring spiritual salvation to at least one Gentile, a woman named Rahab in Jericho.  When the inhabitants of her city heard about the Red Sea crossing it terrified them (Josh. 2:9-11), just as Moses said it would (Ex. 15:14-16).  But it prompted Rahab to believe on Israel’s God and turn from being a harlot to a seamstress who had “stalks of flax” on her roof (2:6) instead of men in her parlor.  When she then complied with the terms of salvation for Gentiles under the Law by blessing Israel (Gen. 12:2,3 cf. Josh. 2:12), the grace of God that brings salvation appeared to her in that way, and she received it!

But as you know, God is not parting the Red Sea for Israel these days, nor for anyone else.  So how are men supposed to see the grace of God that brings salvation today, in the dispensation of grace?  I mean, it’s offered to all men today, but what can they see with their eyes that will help them believe, as the physical salvation of the Red Sea deliverance prompted Rahab to believe?

The context of Titus 2:11 provides us with the answer.  If people are going to see the grace of God that bringeth salvation today, they are going to have to see it in the “aged men” (2:2) to whom the grace of God appears, as well as the “aged women” (2:3), the “young women” (v.4), the “young men” (v.6) and the “servants” (v. 9).  When all those different kinds of men “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things” (v.10) by doing what Paul tells them to do in this passage (2:1-10), the grace of God that brings salvation appears to all men in a very practical way.

May we ever be found faithful in this most holy of callings in all of our walks of life!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.



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The Rehearsal of the Reversal – Acts 11:1-18

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

The Jews had been receiving God’s word for 1500 years, but now the Gentiles had received it (v. 1).  You’d think the 12 apostles would have been happy about that, but they gave Peter grief about sharing the Word with Gentiles (v. 2,3).  They knew Gentiles weren’t supposed to receive the Word until “every one” of the Jews was turned from his iniquities (Acts 3:25,26).  They thought Peter had committed a serious sin, so they “contended” with him (Acts 11:3), a word that’s only used in serious matters (Nehemiah 13:11,17; 13:25).

But that was only because they didn’t know God had sent Peter to that Gentile.  They had no clue God was reversing His policy of not allowing His people in Israel to fraternize with Gentiles, but they found out from Peter’s rehearsal of it

“Rehearsal” (Acts 11:4) means to repeat (I Sam. 17:31). Peter is about to repeat everything God told him when He sent him to Cornelius.  Since Peter’s brethren asked him to explain himself, he “expounded” what happened (Acts 11:4), a word that means explained (cf. Mark 4:34).  “In order” (Acts 11:4) means he gave a step-by-step rehearsal of God’s reversal.

And the reason God included Peter’s repetition of what happened is that Acts 10 is so significant the Bible repeats it as it does with the story of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9:22,26.

The reason God told Peter that unclean animals were no longer unclean was to introduce Peter to the dispensational change He made when He cleansed the Gentiles and saved Paul and sent him to the Gentiles. Peter accepted this change, but when you try to introduce men to the Bible’s dispensational changes, they often say God never changes (Mal. 3:6).  Take believers like that here to Acts 10,11 to show them that God never changes, but His rules often change.

Not the rules based on the principles of morality and righteousness, like the laws against lying, stealing, etc.  But the sabbath law was changed because that was a temporary, artificial rule that God made to illustrate how someday believers could rest in Christ (Mt. 11:28).  But when you tell your 7th Day Adventist friends we are not under the law of the sabbath (Rom. 6:15), they often point out the sabbath preceded the law (Gen. 2:2,3).  But we know that no one before Moses was told to keep the sabbath because Nehemiah 9:13,14 says that God made known the sabbath to Moses when He gave him the law.

God told Peter three times that unclean animals were no longer unclean (Acts 11:10) to make sure he made the connection that Gentiles were no longer unclean when 3 Gen-tiles knocked on his door (v. 11).  But in case he missed it, the Spirit spoke up and told him to go with them (v. 12).

When the angel told Cornelius that Peter would tell him words to help him get saved (v. 13,14), that shows Cornelius was saved into the kingdom program, for the kingdom gospel of Acts 2:38 is the only gospel Peter knew.  But before he could talk about how men had to be baptized to be saved, the Spirit interrupted him (Acts 11:15).  We know that that’s what he was about to say for it says he was interrupted as he “began” to speak, but he’d already spoken 225 words!  It must mean he began to speak the gospel, but was interrupted.

All of that made Peter think of how the Lord said water baptism was just a means to receiving the Spirit (Acts 11:16).  How would that help him make sense of what was happening?  Well, when people were trying to figure out why Paul was going to the Gentiles before every one of the Jews was saved, he quoted verses that talked about how the Gentiles were supposed to be saved through the Jews that God sent Christ to (Rom.15:8-12).  That’s not how it was happening, it was happening through Paul instead.  But it was happen-ing, so who cares?  And when the Lord said men had to be baptized before being saved, that wasn’t how it happened with Cornelius, but it happened, so who cares?

Peter’s brethren rejoiced when they heard about this dispensational change (Acts 11:18), as believers always should. Later we’ll see that unsaved Jews didn’t receive this change, and tried to make the Gentiles be circumcised and keep the law. That means when believers today don’t rejoice when you show them dispensational changes, they’re acting like unbelievers.  But don’t be smug.  You do too when you sin!

Video of this message is available on YouTube: The Rehearsal of the Reversal – Acts 11:1-18

A Certain Man

Posted on by Pastor Jeff Bertram

In order to review the text for a message I was preparing, I opened my Bible to a familiar passage in Acts chapter 10. In my pastoral ministry I had been preaching through the Book of Acts, so the story of Cornelius was vivid in my memory. But before I could get into the body of the text, the first five words almost seemed to jump off the page at me. It was as though they were written in bold print and capital letters: “THERE WAS A CERTAIN MAN.”

My mind was suddenly flooded with the realization of the extent of the love of God for man, and the individuality of it. There must have been a lot of people living on the earth during the time of Cornelius, but God was interested in this certain man. I am sure there were many things that could have captured God’s attention at that moment, but He was interested in him.

It made me think, with all the things going on in the world today, that we can lose sight of what is important—but God never does. He is interested in our lives and desires to be involved in them. God is so great that even with all the trials and turmoil we experience in life we can pray and He will hear our prayers. And He doesn’t just hear them, He is also concerned with our well-being.

You may think that Acts 10 is just the story of how God used Cornelius to illustrate the breaking down of the middle wall of partition in the flesh, and the transition from God’s kingdom program to His program of grace. That’s true, but this story also shows that God is concerned with individuals. He wants all men to be saved.

But that’s not the end of His involvement. He also wants men to come unto the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). The more truth we can know about Him, the more we can trust Him. He wants a personal, intimate relationship with you. He loves you and is sensitive to your needs (Heb. 4:15).

So when the trials of life get you down and it seems that all hope is gone, remember: you are a certain man or certain woman, and He cares for you.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.



Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

The Unpardonable Sin

Posted on by Pastor Kevin Sadler

One pastor told the following true story: “When I served as pastor of a church in North Alabama during the early 1980s, there was an usher in our church named John. He was a sweet man who was always present in his regular spot to greet people and hand out bulletins, but John was a very troubled man. On several occasions, I met with him, and he began to weep as he told me that during World War II he had done something he thought was so evil that he was certain he had committed the unforgivable sin.

“I tried to help him by telling him God could forgive every sin except the sin of unbelief, but that didn’t change his mind. John never told me what he had done, but he was convinced he never would go to heaven. He attended church and served the Lord faithfully. His family was active in the church, and his children were talented singers; but he was tormented with the belief that he had committed the unpardonable sin and never would make it to heaven.”1

That man is not alone. Many people have the same fear and live in dread that they might have committed such a sin and that there’s no hope for them to be saved. Perhaps you have wondered if somewhere along the line you blasphemed the Holy Spirit, and it lingers in your thinking that you may never be forgiven for it.

There are a lot of ideas as to what the unpardonable sin is. Some think it is murder, suicide, adultery, or other forms of sexual immorality. Others believe it has to do with thinking or saying horrible, blasphemous things against God, that it’s something like hating God or shaking your fist at God and cursing Him.

What is the unpardonable sin? To that question we ask, what does the Bible say? That should always be our first question, because God’s Word is our first and final authority in all matters of faith and practice. And when we rightly divide the Word of truth, the answer to the question of the unpardonable sin becomes clear.

The Context

“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (Matt. 12:31,32).

What is often called the unpardonable sin is based on this portion of Scripture and its parallel passages in the other Gospels (Mark 3:28-29; Luke 12:10). To understand what the Lord meant, His words need to be interpreted by both their immediate context and their dispensational context.

In the immediate context, we learn about a miracle that Christ performed, which prompted opposition from the Pharisees who were present that day. Matthew 12:22-24 records that a demon-possessed man who was “blind, and dumb” was brought to the Lord. Being the Son of God and Israel’s Messiah, the Lord had authority over both the supernatural realm and the physical realm. Therefore, He very simply cast out the demon and healed the man so that he could see and speak. This amazed the people who saw the miracle, and they wondered out loud, “Is not this the son of David?” (v. 23), meaning Israel’s long-promised Messiah and King. Hearing the crowd say this, Christ’s enemies reacted:

“But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (v. 24).

This should have been a moment of rejoicing over the healing of the man who had just been freed from the demon and could speak and see. Instead, the unbelieving Pharisees were infuriated. They could not deny the miracle, so they tried to explain it away by calling it evil. They would not allow themselves to believe the possibility that Jesus of Nazareth was the King, the Son of David, so they attributed the miracle to another ruler, claiming that the Lord did it by the power of Beelzebub the prince of the devils, which is Satan. The Lord, in turn, addressed their unbelief and this accusation, telling them,

“And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?” (v. 26).

Their accusation of Christ casting out demons by the power of Satan made no sense, because Satan would be working against himself by relinquishing control of someone in his clutches and repairing the damage he had done to the man. The Lord advanced His wise argument a step further when he asked,

“Or else, how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house” (v. 29).

In this verse, the “strong man” is Satan. His “house” is the sphere in which he holds sway, which is the world, because Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). “His goods” are his demons and their evil works. Christ is the One who came from heaven and entered the world, the strong man’s house, and bound the strong man, and plundered his goods and cast out a demon.

Right before their eyes, Christ had just freed this man from the grip and bondage of Satan. Christ did not perform this miracle in the power of Satan. Christ is not subject to him. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that Christ is greater and more powerful than the strong man, Satan, because Christ is God, and He demonstrated it by casting out one of Satan’s demons.

Then the Lord issued the stern warning of the unforgivable sin to these Pharisees who did not believe in Him and were opposed to Him: “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.”

We need to note to whom the Lord is speaking. First, He is specifically addressing Israel’s unbelieving religious leaders. Accusing Christ of being in league with Satan and casting out a demon in the power of Satan was sin and blasphemy by these religious leaders. Blasphemy is something that is done or said against God. By declaring that what they had just accused Him of was blasphemy, Christ affirmed His Deity, that He
is God Almighty.

Second, in the overall sense, in the Gospel records, Christ is speaking to Israel. This is made obvious a few chapters later where the Lord said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). In Romans 15:8, Paul wrote, “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision [the Jews] for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” Christ was sent to and ministered to Israel. In the Gospels, during the Lord’s earthly ministry, you find Him ministering the truth of God and confirming the promises made to the fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—according to the law, Israel’s covenants, and prophecy.

That’s important to keep in mind whenever you read and study Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, because we are Gentiles under grace, not Israel under the law. In the Gospels, there are promises of blessing and punishment made to Israel that are not for us today under grace, such as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and the unpardonable sin.

Rejection of the Father and the Son

Christ taught that “all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men” (Matt. 12:31). In other words, these Pharisees could still believe that He was the Son of David and Israel’s Messiah and their sin and blasphemy could be forgiven. “But,” Christ pointed out, “the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men” (v. 31b).

The Holy Spirit had not yet been given (Matt. 3:11; John 7:39; 16:7-8,13). The Holy Spirit was later sent by Christ on the day of Pentecost after Christ’s ascension to heaven. When Christ warned Israel’s religious leaders about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, it was because the Holy Spirit was soon to descend and come to Israel to give them their last opportunity to repent as a nation. It was when the Spirit was sent to Israel that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven unto men.

For emphasis, the Lord reiterated that “whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him” (Matt. 12:32). This double warning by Christ was a warning of love and concern. Christ loves the world, and though these religious leaders had made this wicked accusation and spoken a word against Him, He told them that they could be forgiven of it. But He also warned them, out of love, that there was coming a day when their blasphemy and speaking against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven.

The Lord’s teaching that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was unforgivable was not because the Holy Spirit is greater than God the Father or greater than God the Son, but because God the Holy Spirit arrived later than the Father and the Son. The Spirit’s
ministry was later, or after the Father’s ministry to Israel, and after the Son’s earthly ministry to Israel.

Throughout Old Testament times, Israel rejected and resisted God the Father. They did this through their unbelief and pervasive idolatry. They did not trust and obey the law of God, and we see this by how they reaped the curses of disobedience to His law. Not only that, but Israel killed the prophets that the Father sent to them to turn them back to Him. Israel also rejected the Father when they desired a king to rule over them like all the other nations. In 1 Samuel 8:7 we read, “And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.”

Yet, in love and mercy, God the Father sent His Son to Israel. In the Gospels, we learn how the Son labored, performed miracles, and taught Israel that she might receive Him as her Messiah and trust the gospel of the kingdom and be saved from her sins. However, when we consider this account in Matthew 12, we see that the religious leaders were rejecting God the Son and who He was, even accusing Him of performing miracles in the power of Satan. And the leaders’ rejection of Christ led to having Him crucified. The Lord told His disciples, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:22).

Nonetheless, on the cross, the Lord prayed in amazing mercy, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Their sin and blasphemy against Christ was forgiven by the Father in answer to the Son’s prayer. The reason is that the crucifying of God’s Son was a sin of ignorance.

A Presumptuous Sin

The Lord prayed for His Father to forgive Israel of His Son’s crucifixion because “they know not what they do.” Later, Peter told Israel, “And now, brethren, I wot [know] that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers” (Acts 3:17). Under the law, there were sacrifices and offerings for sins of ignorance, and God made a provision for their forgiveness. However, for willful sins of presumption there was no provision for forgiveness.

“But the soul that doeth ought [or sins] presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken His commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him” (Num. 15:30-31).

“Presumptuously” means with a high hand. To sin presumptuously is a bold, defiant act of transgression against the fullest evidence, and in spite of divine authority. This kind of conduct in Israel disrespected God, because it treated His commands as needless and unreasonable and as if His judgment wasn’t to be feared or regarded as authoritative. Under the law, that person was condemned to be cut off from Israel and to bear full responsibility for the iniquity, never to be forgiven.

This describes Israel’s sin after the Holy Spirit was sent to her. They sinned with a high hand. It was an act of transgression against the fullest evidence. The Holy Spirit bore witness to Christ’s resurrection and identity as Israel’s Messiah, and He did so with undeniable proof and power. Further, by the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit through the apostles, the Spirit brought the Word of the Lord to Israel and glorified God’s Son. God did not let Israel continue in her ignorance. He had Peter, by the Spirit, confront them with the truth that they had “denied the Holy One and the Just… And killed the Prince of life, Whom God hath raised from the dead” (Acts 3:14-15).

Thus Israel was no longer ignorant of what they had done in crucifying their Messiah. In response to the Holy Spirit’s ministry, many in the nation despised the Word of the Lord. By rejecting the Spirit’s ministry and message, those in Israel knowingly and willfully sinned against and blasphemed the Spirit. And for this, there was no forgiveness.

Rejection of the Holy Spirit

In the Old Testament, Israel rejected God the Father. In the Gospel records, they rejected God the Son. In early Acts, Israel rejected God the Holy Spirit. By blaspheming the Spirit in deliberate rebellion, they completed their rejection of the Godhead in totality. The Holy Spirit was their last chance to repent, believe, and be saved. That’s why blaspheming the third Person of the Trinity was unforgivable.

The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) and then worked mightily in Israel with signs and wonders. Those signs and wonders, done in the name of Jesus Christ, confronted Israel and its leaders with overwhelming proof of Christ’s resurrection and Messiahship (Acts 3:6-21). Israel’s continued rejection of Christ was inexcusable in light of the Spirit’s ministry. Rather than heed the pleadings of the Spirit-filled apostles, the religious leaders ignored them and initiated a persecution against them in which they were threatened (Acts 4:17-21), imprisoned (Acts 5:17-18), and beaten (Acts 5:40-42).

Israel’s rejection of the Holy Spirit reached its zenith in Acts 7, when Stephen confronted their sin and unbelief. Stephen was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 6:5). He stood before the Sanhedrin, Israel’s ruling religious body, and challenged them about their willful rejection of Christ, their refusal to open their hearts, and their guilt of resisting the Holy Spirit:

“Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, YE DO ALWAYS RESIST THE HOLY GHOST: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of Whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7:51-52).

In a rage, these men then ran upon Stephen, seized him, dragged him outside the city gates, and stoned him to death. These religious leaders committed the exact unpardonable sin that Christ warned them about. Israel’s leaders had been presented with overwhelming evidence that Jesus Christ was alive and was both Lord and Christ.

The religious leaders blasphemed the Spirit by their rejection of His miraculous, powerful ministry in pointing Israel to Christ, by their refusal to accept the witness of the Holy Spirit as to who Jesus Christ was, and by their murder of Stephen. By stoning Stephen with wicked hands, in that time and place, at that moment of history, Israel’s religious leaders crossed a line they could never uncross. They sealed their fate. Their sin was unpardonable because it represented a decisive, national rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel, despite the testimony of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As Stephen was being stoned, in a prayer similar to that of his Savior, “he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (Acts 7:60). However, this prayer for forgiveness of the nation was not granted by the Father because it was not a sin of ignorance. It was a willful, presumptuous sin. They knew what they were doing. At this point, Israel as a whole had rejected God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

God dealt with His chosen people as a nation. When the majority of Israel obeyed, God blessed them, including the disobedient among them. When the majority were disobedient, God punished them, including the faithful believers in their midst. And so it is at this point that Israel fell. On the prophetic timeline, it was time to purge Israel and the world of unbelief through the events of Daniel’s 70th week, or the seven-year Tribulation. Instead of pouring out His wrath though, God ushered in a previously hidden
dispensation of the grace of God in which grace reigns and in which grace is greater than all our sin.

Grace Reigns Today

“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20-21).

Romans 5:20-21 is the solution for the anxiety that the unpardonable sin has brought to many. “Sin abounded” when Christ had been crucified and, after His resurrection, the Spirit’s ministry demonstrated powerfully that Christ was risen from the dead and was Israel’s Messiah—and yet, Christ’s enemies and Israel’s leaders willfully stood by what they had done and they stoned Stephen. Rather than the stoning of Stephen resulting in the seven-year Tribulation, God temporarily suspended His program with Israel, and “grace did much more abound” when God turned to the nations and ushered in the dispensation of the grace of God.

We live under a different program now, different from the program that was suspended because of the unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin cannot be committed under grace. That warning from Christ was for Israel and her religious leaders. Its dispensational context was that of Israel’s prophetic program and the coming of the Holy Spirit to Israel. It had to do with Israel’s rejection of Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit to Israel. The unpardonable sin does not apply to us today, nor has it applied to anyone since the stoning of Stephen. God has rendered it impossible to commit this sin today because His program changed from Israel to the Body of Christ. Thus, when we rightly divide God’s Word, the unforgivable sin does not need to strike fear in our hearts.

By rightly dividing the Word, we understand that today we are under grace. And under grace, grace reigns supreme. Grace triumphs over all our sin. When Paul wrote that “grace did much more abound,” it means that grace hyper-abounds, superabounds, abounds beyond measure. In other words, we’re not talking about normal, regular, everyday grace here. This is grace that the world has never seen before, because we are in the dispensation of grace in which grace reigns conspicuously.

Grace superabounds over any TYPE of sin that a person commits today. No matter what sin it is, it makes no difference; grace abounds over it and it can be forgiven. Murder, suicide, blasphemy, hating God, adultery, drunkenness, etc.—all sin is forgiven in Christ when one trusts Christ as personal Savior.

Grace superabounds over any AMOUNT of sin a person commits. You cannot sin too much to be saved by the grace of God. No person is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Anyone can be saved by grace through faith in Christ.

God’s superabounding grace freely gives those who believe “eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21). The warning of the unpardonable sin does not in any way need to cause us to worry or doubt, because God’s Word to the Body of Christ today tells us,

“In Whom [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

“And you, being dead in your sins… hath He quickened [made alive] together with Him, having forgiven you ALL trespasses” (Col. 2:13).

We are forgiven all our sins, past, present, and future, the moment we trust that Christ died for our sins and rose again. Christ’s precious blood washes away all our sins the moment we believe. To be perfectly clear though, those who do not believe do not have their sins forgiven; eventually, they will die in their sins and will be condemned to eternal, conscious torment in hell.

No one today needs to fear committing the unpardonable sin which the Lord warned about in His earthly ministry for three reasons: first, the unforgivable sin was a warning given to Israel and her leaders; second, God’s program has changed; third, today there is no sin that cannot be forgiven by God’s superabounding grace through faith in Christ Jesus and there is no sin that could ever cause God to take away our salvation.

As the old hymn of the faith proclaims—and we each should sing it out with all our heart— “Wonderful grace of Jesus, / greater than all my sin; / how shall my tongue describe it, / where shall its praise begin? / Taking away my burden, / setting my spirit free, / for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.”2

1. David O. Dykes, “What is the Unforgivable Sin?” Preaching.com, accessed January 8, 2021, https://www.preaching.com/sermons/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin/.

2. Haldor Lillenas, “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” Hymnary.org, accesssed January 8, 2021, https://hymnary.org/text/wonderful_grace_of_Jesus.

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Berean Searchlight – February 2021

Posted on by kevin

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Were Women Baptized?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“If the purpose of water baptism was to make the Jews a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:6), did women have to be baptized?”

It’s true that Jewish men were baptized because priests had to be baptized (Ex. 29:4), and only men could be priests. But water baptism was also “for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38), so women needed to be baptized under God’s kingdom program for Israel for that reason. That’s why we read,

“But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God… they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:12).

Don’t forget, when the Bible says things like, “God… will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), the Greek word for “men” there is anthropos, from which we get our word anthropology, the study of mankind, both men and women. Be sure to keep that in mind when you read Paul say to “live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:18), “do good unto all men” (Gal. 6:10), “abound in love…toward all men” (1 Thes. 3:12), “be patient toward all men” (1 Thes. 5:14), and “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery” (Eph. 3:9).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

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Cornelius Gets Some Respect! – Acts 10:34-48

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

God didn’t respect persons when it came to rich or poor (II Chron. 9:5-7), but He did respect the person of Jews over Gentiles—until He saved Paul and sent him to the Gentiles in Acts 9.  Of course, Peter didn’t find out about this revolutionary change until Acts 10 (Acts 10:34).

But Peter’s reference to working righteousness shows he may have understood that Gentiles were no longer unclean, but he didn’t understand Paul’s new message of grace.  Working righteousness is something the Jews had to do under the law (Ps. 15:1) by offering sacrifices of righteousness (Ps. 4:4,5) and keeping the rest of the law, but not us. And that message of the twelve never changed (I Jo. 2:29).

Christ was the prince of peace (Isa. 9:6) but only to the people of Israel (Acts 10:36-39) because He wanted them to get saved “first” (Acts 3:26) to use them to reach the Gentiles later.  But the words “ye know” (Acts 10:37) show that Gentiles like Cornelius had heard of the Lord’s ministry to the Jews, and how even John the Baptist only preached to Jews (Acts 13:23,24), despite how many Baptists believe the Body of Christ church of Jews and Gentiles began with John.

The Lord’s anointing by the Spirit (Acts 10:38) is what gave Him the “power” to do miracles (Jo. 14:10; Acts 2:22).

The 12 witnessed the Lord’s resurrection (Acts 1:21; 2:32; 3:12) but didn’t witness that His resurrection paid for their sins as Paul did (Rom. 4:24).  It is significant that this didn’t change after Pentecost (Acts 5:30), for many other Baptists believe the church of today began at Pentecost.

It’s tempting to think that if the Lord showed Himself to “all” the people (Acts 10:40,41) that they would have believed, but Luke 16:31 says otherwise. The Lord will show Himself to all Israel and the world (Rev. 1:7), but not to get them to believe.  It’ll be to get them to wish they’d believed.

The Lord ate with His witnesses to show He wasn’t a ghost, that He had risen bodily, a truth that is often challenged!

The Lord told the 12 to preach that He rose from the dead to be Israel’s Judge, not her Savior (Acts 10:42).  But it’s not like they didn’t have any good news for the Jews.  They told them that if they had “faith in His name” they could be saved (Acts 10:43), His name being “Christ” (John 20:31).  But that’s not enough to save you today!  Our apostle says you have to have “faith in His blood” to be saved (Rom. 3:25).  And to receive “the remission of sins” Peter offered the Jews (Acts 10:43) they also had to be baptized (Acts 2:38).  That was the only gospel he ever preached (I Pet. 3:21).

But don’t forget, in Acts 10, God is using Peter to introduce Paul’s new message about the dispensation of the mystery, a dispensation that interrupted God’s prophetic program for Israel.  And what better way than to interrupt Peter before he got a chance to talk about how baptism was required for the remission of sins—which is what God did in Acts 10:44.

That’s not how it was supposed to happen!  People were sup-posed to get the Spirit after they were baptized (Acts 2:38).  That’s one of the reasons Peter was “astonished” (Acts 10:45).  He was also astonished Gentiles got the Spirit at all—especially because he hadn’t been preaching to them!  He’d just been telling them what he preached to the Jews.  He did not expect God to save Gentiles before all Israel was saved.

How did Peter know they had the Spirit?  They spoke with tongues (Acts 10:46), as the 12 did (Acts 2:4).  By the way, the fact that they knew they magnified God when they spoke in tongues proved that tongues in the Bible wasn’t gibberish.

In Acts 10:47,48, Peter thought, “This wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did.  So can anyone think of a reason why we shouldn’t baptize them anyway?”  No one could, so they did!

But the Jews were given tongues to preach to Gentiles (Zech. 10:23). Why give tongues to Gentiles? It was a sign (I Cor. 14:22) to Jews (I Cor. 1:22) that God was judging them (I Cor. 14:21).  Isaiah said, “You didn’t listen when I spoke to you in Hebrew, so I’ll let the Gentiles conquer you and speak to you through them.”  When God gave the Jewish gift of tongues to Gentiles, it was a sign God was judging them.

Video of this message is available on YouTube: Cornelius Gets Some Respect! – Acts 10:34-48