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On our recent cruise in the Baltic I was talking to two of the crew members in the dining area. They were men in their early thirties and were in some sort of managerial position. One was from Romania and the other was from Serbia.I was entertaining them with a few jokes and was about to tell them my joke about how God created Eve. I always preface that joke by asking if they are familiar with the account of creation. I was dumbfounded when they said they were unfamiliar with how God created the world. Incredulous I persisted... you know, God created all the animals, he made the earth in six days? They said they had never heard that story. I asked them if they were some kind of muslim... they said no they were Christians but they didn't really read the Bible or attend church. Incredible!!!
So I got to teach the story of creation to two grown men on a cruise ship. I'm praying they start reading their Bibles.
In 1 Samuel 2 we read of two priests named Hophni and Phineas. They were sons of the main priest Eli. Hophni and Phineas were evil priests… they took the sacrifices the people offered and used them for themselves… they stole from God. In addition, they were having sex with some of God’s women servants.
Their father Eli had heard the reports about his two sons and confronted them about it. Here’s what he told them….
“Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?”
Now get this, all sin is against the Lord because he instituted the Law, but there is a type of sin against other people for which there is a sacrifice and another sin against God for which there is no sacrifice.
Blasphemy, or speaking against God, is one of those sins for which there is no sacrifice. There was no “I’m sorry” or “here sacrifice this lamb for my sin”. It required an instant death penalty. In fact that was the charge made against Jesus… that he blasphemed the name of God by claiming to be God.
OK, this information clears some things up for me.
In Acts 5 Ananias and Sapphira are killed by God… why? Because they lied and stole from God when they held back part of their offering. Hmmm, that’s a lot like Hophni and Phineas.
In Acts 12 God kills King Herod… why? Because Herod accepted the praise of the people after his oration. They said… “the voice of a god and not of a man” Herod blasphemed by accepting that praise and God killed him for it.
In Matthew 12 when Jesus (In conjunction with the Holy Spirit) cast a demon out of a man the Pharisees said he did it not by the power of the Holy Spirit but by the power of Satan. They Blasphemed the Holy Spirit and Jesus said that it was an unforgiveable sin (Just like Eli told his sons Hophni and Phineas) because they sinned against deity.
Most of our sins are against other people… fornication, theft, untruthfulness, etc. But it is possible to sin directly against God and have no hope at all unless God chooses to extend mercy.
Choose the path to conquer all sin because that path leads to eternal life… but I’m warning you don’t sin directly against God.
Near the end of the Apostle Peter’s life he sat down and composed a letter to a group of Christians. The letter wasn’t about himself or really anything about his life. It was about encouraging them to keep the faith so that they could inherit eternity.
Recently Julie and I were on an airliner and we were going through some rough weather and the pilot announced we were low on fuel and he was going to have to divert to another airport. As we were going through that rough weather I considered that this might be my last day on earth so I opened up the messages on my IPhone and started composing my last words to our children.
Peter’s last words to his spiritual children were to get busy and be diligent about developing their Christian character. He also warned them about false teachers who might lead them down the wrong path and shipwreck their faith.
He told them not to worry but to have confidence in God and if they would follow the path he had set out for them all would be well.
When I was on that airplane my last words to my children were about how proud their mother and I were of them and to tell our grandchildren how much we loved them. I told them to do their part in keeping our family strong and cohesive and lastly I told them to trust in God… to study his word everyday and to lead their lives by it.
I’m sure the people Peter wrote these words to were friends of his and that at his death they remembered his last words to them and treasured them. We should also treasure Peter’s last words and hold them dear to our hearts and not be lazy in our faith but to get busy. Those are timely words just like the words of a father to his children.
I hope God blesses each and every one of you.
There were two times God the Father sent angels to help his Son… after the 40 days of fasting in the wilderness when the Devil had tempted Jesus and in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was in distress anticipating the torture he would have to suffer.
These were arguably the two most dramatic and challenging times in the life of Jesus. One was the deprivation of his physical body screaming for the nutrients it needed (that he had denied it) and the other was his emotional anxiety screaming for calm and peace and self control in the face of physical torment at the hands of others.
In both cases God sent angels to administer relief.
2 Peter 2:9 assures us that God knows how to deliver his people out of temptation. That’s very reassuring because sometimes our bodies are so wracked with pain and disease that it can affect our behavior towards others and sometimes we suffer depression, anxiety and emotional distress which also affects our behavior..
Trust what God said… he knows how to deliver us out of temptation and he knows the things we suffer from and he might… just might, send Angels to help us. Just like he did with his Son Jesus Christ.
