Going Postal – Acts 23:12-15

Have you, in anger, ever called someone a fool?

If whether or not you have called someone a “fool” determines your true spiritual condition, will you spend eternity in Heaven or Hell?

If there were no other factors involved, but your anger or your hatred, will you go to Heaven when you die?

I sometimes hear people say that they hate certain people or that they would like to kill someone.

I have heard words like that in this room even in the last couple of weeks.

And to be honest, it frightens me.

But my fear is not that the person who said those things will actually do it.

My fear comes from another direction.

When the Lord Jesus was outlining some of the rules of His Kingdom, He had some strong things to say about anger and murder.

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill; & whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

The word “raca” is Aramaic for “an empty headed person,” and “fool” is the Greek word which has been transliterated into “moron.”

Have you ever called someone an “empty-headed moron” or something similar to that?

Then based upon the authority of Christ, I tell you that you stand on the edge of eternal judgment.

These are not Christian words; these are not Christian principles.

But, praise the Lord, there something else in the equation: the grace of God.

Another thing that the Lord Jesus does in the Sermon on the Mount is tie together hatred and murder.

The distance between hatred, threatening murder and the commission of murder are so slight that even the omniscience of God has a hard time determining the difference.

If, as we see later in Jesus’ same sermon,

lust is essentially that same thing as murder,

then we might assume that hatred in the eyes of God is the same thing as pulling a trigger.

We are told here in our Scripture in Acts that more than 40 men conspired to murder the Apostle Paul.

They came up with a reasonably good plan, but they needed to lure Paul out of the Roman castle.

So they brought the leaders of Israel into their scheme, telling them to tell the Chief Captain that they needed to talk further with Paul.

This small army of men then planned to ambush the guards conveying Paul to the council chambers.

They were hoping that they kill their quarry swiftly and efficiently, so that none of them would be killed in the process, but they were willing to take that risk.

And then they even sought the blessings of God in this murder, placing themselves in a vow before Him.

It would be either the heretic’s life or theirs.

In thinking about all of this we come to the question: Why do people commit murder?

I asked myself that question,

and because I couldn’t find any experts, the answers may be rather unscientific,

But here are some suggestions:

A few people murder for money; it is their job, just as other people tend bar and others grow cocaine.

A few more people murder on behalf of others without the exchange of money.

These people might take other people’s lives because they owe some sort of debt.

Some do it under orders, and others do it thinking that it will please another person.

Many times gain is the reason for a murder: money or advancement of some sort.

Of course, a great many murders are cause by anger or hatred.

And then there are many people who are murdered out of revenge.

I suppose that revenge is a type of hatred.

Alright then, based on these answers, why did these forty people want to kill Paul?

Money? Personal gain? Revenge? None of these.

It appears to me that they were motivated by some sort of hatred – apparently religious-based hatred.

They hated Paul for telling people that Jesus was the Christ.

And they hated Jesus for being the Christ.

Of course there is no one among us this morning who hates either Paul or Jesus.

So in this sense there is no direct connection between any of us and these forty men.

But some of things that we are taught here about the general subject of hatred can still be applied to us.

I think that this is a very important lesson.

We are reminded here that HATRED BINDS A CURSE to people.

Because of their hatred, these men placed an “anathema” upon themselves.

These men devoted themselves to death – either Paul’s or their own.

Whether it was really sincere or not, it was promise that Paul would die,

Or if he wasn’t killed, they would starve themselves to death.

The hatred of these men bound a curse upon them.

But when they placed this “anathema” upon themselves, they didn’t mean what I would like you to see.

The Greek word “anathema” is usually translated “curse” just as it is in this verse.

But there is one occasion in the Bible where the word is transliterated rather than translated.

In other words, it is carried over into our Bibles without translation.

I Corinthians ends with the words:

“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.“

“Maranatha” means “coming” and refers to the Second Coming, or the return, of the Lord Jesus.

So I Corinthians 16:22 means: “If someone does not love Christ, let him be condemned to eternal judgment at the return of Christ Jesus.”

In the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament, “anathema” is used to translate “herem” which means “accursed” or “devoted to destruction.”

The murderers vowed that someone was going to die.

But Christ Jesus shows us that the true “anathema” means ETERNAL death NOT PHYSICAL death.

Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The final result of sin is the second death, which stands in contrast to the divine gift of eternal life.

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Now the thing that I’d like you all to see and fully understand is this:

We know that murder is a terrible crime.

It is a CAPITAL crime which according to the Bible deserves the DEATH PENALTY.

And it is generally agreed that murder ranks up there toward the top of all sin.

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

Hands that shed innocent blood are an abomination to God.

Hands that shed innocent blood are anathema – cursed – devoted to eternal destruction.

But in addition to that I want you all to realize that TO HATE another man is just as evil in the sight of God.

To hate as these men hated Paul – bound the curse of God upon them.

Listen carefully to these words of the Apostle John from I John 3: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

So again I go back to my earlier questions: Do you hate anyone?

Have you ever in anger called someone a fool or a moron?

Do you have uncontrolled anger? Do you talk about hating people?

Do you ever talk about killing people?

These are not Christian characteristics or principles.

These are characteristics of Satan-controlled people like the forty men of Acts 23.

These things bind the anathema of God upon the guilty soul.

And if you think that I am over-reacting, then you need to find some scriptures which lessen the strength of the words of the Lord Jesus and the Apostle John.

Another lesson here is that HATRED SUPERSEDES LOGIC.

Let’s say that one Sunday I was preaching a message on the omnipotence of God.

Let’s say that I read a dozen scriptures which demonstrate Christ’s ability to heal the sick and wounded.

Let’s say that I got you all shouting “Amen,” clapping your hands and stopping your feet.

And then I reached under the pulpit here and raised up a big fat rattlesnake, wrapping it around my neck.

What if at that point I told you that the power of God is great enough to cure me even if this rattlesnake strikes me in the juggler vein?

Would say that I was a man of faith or that I was behaving foolishly?

When the Lord Jesus was being tempted by the Devil,

He was taken to a pinnacle of the Temple and encouraged to jump, because God had promised that His angels would catch Him before He hit the ground.

How did the Lord respond?

“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

And I might add that it is not logical to tempt the Lord thy God.

It is stupid to tempt the Lord thy God.

Not only was this vow to kill Paul illogical from a spiritual standpoint, it was illogical in other ways.

Did those men really think that they were going to overcome armed Roman soldiers without spilling any of their own blood?

And did they think that by killing Paul they were going to put a stop to the spread of Christianity?

Did they think that God would bless and honour them for their sin of murder?

Their hatred supercedes logic.

And their hatred SUPERCEDES BASIC HUMAN NEEDS.

Their vow was that they would not eat until Paul had been killed.

It is one of the characteristics of all normal living things to eat in order to sustain life.

Starvation is something abnormal, and in some cases, demonic.

Furthermore the hatred in these men made them say that they would not drink until they saw the blood of Paul.

Did they mean that they were giving up coffee and wine; or were they talking about water too?

Generally speaking most healthy adults can live more than a month without food.

Some of us, like me, can probably go two months without food.

But water is another matter, and most could not last more than a few days without something to drink.

The hatred that these men had for Paul, made them say that they would not eat or drink.

And this is just the top of the list of things that hatred will cause people to sacrifice.

Hatred will make some forsake father, mother, wife and children.

I have heard of people who burned down their homes and everything they owned rather than let someone whom they hate take them.

Hatred makes people give up their own lives.

Hatred robs people of basic human needs.

The problem with hatred, as with a great many forms of sin, is that we don’t know for sure how far it will go.

So you have tried marijuana, or beer, or tobacco, or pornography and you liked the buss that it gave you.

Your parents have told you that it was a sin for a Christian give himself to these vices,

but you’re a strong person and you are in control of your body, your emotions and your life.

Right!?! How long do you think that you’ll stay in control?

How many beer drinkers so control their appetites that they never taste wine or whiskey?

How many pot smokers never try any of the stronger narcotics?

How many cigarette smokers figure out that they should quit, but they can’t?

Generally speaking, there are hundreds of sins that once we taste we begin to crave unceasingly.

And hatred can be one of those sins.

It may begin with a little anger which is left to fester for a while.

Then that person who irked you, does something else, and you find that your anger is just a little stronger.

And then he is promoted or honoured by some of your friends and you are ignored.

Now you not only get mad thinking about him, but you actually hate him.

Who is to say that like thousands of other before you, you will not eventually take some sort of weapon and take that person’s life?

The English language has developed a new phrase over the last few years; maybe you’ve heard it:

The man “went postal” and shot and killed several of his former co-workers.

The illustrations of evolution of anger and hatred are too frequent and too chilling to ignore.

I suppose that we could start in the early chapters of the Book of Genesis with the murderer Cain.

Down in Texas there was a professing Christian named Wanda Holloway.

She claimed to be a believer in Christ, a fundamentalist;

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she was a Baptist, but I don’t know that for sure.

I don’t know why, but she was a single mother of a daughter named Shanna.

Shanna and her best friend Verna Heath grew up together; they were always together.

But Verna was always a little ahead of her friend Shanna.

She was prettier, more popular, more athletic, maybe even smarter.

Perhaps this bothered the little girl, but it did more than bother her mother.

When they both reached high school, they tried out for the school cheerleading squad.

Once again Verna made the cheerleading team, but in this case Shanna didn’t.

And this time the jealousy and anger which Shanna’s mother had toward her daughter’s friend exploded.

Wanda Holloway conspired with her ex-brother-in-law to kill the mother of Verna Heath.

What I’m trying to say is that no one can know where his hatred will go.

In this case we are talking about someone who professed to be one of us,

but that woman’s anger, grew into hatred, which culminated in attempted murder.

And where will YOUR anger and hatred go?

Was that woman a Christian?

If I had to make a judgment based on the little evidence that I have,

I’d say that she only thought that she was a Christian.

And the same might be said of anyone who possesses a heart of hatred.

Another lesson that we have here is that hatred puts people into VERY WICKED COMPANY.

I suppose that it is possible that all of these four dozen men knew each other.

But it could have been that two or three of them went to a local tavern and started talking and drinking.

It may have been in their hearts to assassinate Paul, and lubricated with liquor they weren’t afraid to talk about it.

At first a couple of other low-life, some other men of a baser sort, overheard and walked over.

One thing led to another until more than 40 men, perhaps many who would never consider murder by themselves were signing up for this nefarious expedition.

And then some of them were marching into the offices of the chief priests and the infection was quickly spreading.

Who are the more wicked – the 40 assassins or the Sadducees who were agreeing and abetting them?

Hatred can often stand alone and strike alone, but it usually doesn’t enjoy being alone very long.

Very fortunately, a fifth lesson here is that HATRED IS POWERLESS AGAINST THE WILL OF THE LORD.

As we saw last Wednesday, the plot was foiled by the omnipotence and providence of the Lord.

In fact it is almost humorous to see how foolish the Lord made those men look.

A little boy overheard their plot and eventually took the news to the Chief Captain.

Everything about that revelation and Claudius’ reaction displays the power of God.

If it had been any of the other 99.9% of the young men of Jerusalem, that news wouldn’t have reached the right people, but this was a relative of Paul.

And against all reason, somehow the Lord put it into the heart of the Chief Captain to believe this kid.

Immediately, and under the cover of darkness, this hatred against Paul was thwarted – it was parried.

And then there were the undisclosed steps that the assassins had to go through to get out of the curse.

Does anyone really think they actually starved themselves just because Paul escaped them?

I guarantee that the anathema was in some way lifted.

Not only does the will and power of God reign victorious over the expression of the hatred of men, it will also prevail when those who hate stand before God at the final judgment.

Revelation 21 begins with the words: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Which definition of murder shall we use there in Revelation 21:8?

Shall we use the one that the dictionary has for us? Murder is the act of taking another human life.

Or shall we use one of the definitions that we find in the Word of God?

“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

Don’t try to wiggle off the Lord’s hook by arguing that hatred is murder only if it is hatred of our brother.

In this case the word “brother” means nothing less than any other human being.

And clearly no man’s hatred can stand against the power and will of God.

But there is one other part to the equation:

Paul confesses to the fact, which we know to be true, that HE was a murderer.

Not only did he hate Christ, hate Stephen and probably hated many of the other early Christians,

But he actually participated in the execution-style murder of Stephen.

And yet, the omnipotence of God was greater than Paul’s hatred in another fashion:

In grace God was greater.

The Lord, out of no reason but Himself, forgave that murderer’s hatred and bloodshed.

The Lord turned the murderer into a saint.

He made the child of Satan into a Child of God.

And there is no reason to think that God can’t do the same for any sinner, no matter what his sin.

Paul wrote to Timothy:

“And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

When the Lord presented to Paul the depth of his sin and wickedness, that murderer threw himself down before the Lord in humility and repentance.

He was given a new heart – a heart in which hatred had been permanent washed out by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it wasn’t just hatred and murder which were removed, but the Lord dealt with all the sin of that chiefest of sinners.

The salvation of sinners is not a problem for the Lord.

But I beg of you: if you find hatred in your heart or if you are prone to fits of anger, bring these things to the Lord’s throne of Grace.

Ask Him, if you really are a child of God; Ask him if you are a Christian, like Paul

Maybe you are actually one of the forty.