Honied Words Lead to Bitter Ways

Honied Words Lead to Bitter Ways

In Preparation...

  • Research how much of the New Testament Paul wrote.
  • Write in your journal your opinion of who Paul was, what impact his words should have, and how much authority you believe he should have in relation to the other apostles.

12   Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
13  At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
14  And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
15  And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
16  But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
17  Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Acts 26:12-18 (KJV)

Jesus Commissioned Paul

The words of Paul are every bit as valuable, pertinent, and just in scripture. They are no less authoritative than anything else. Jesus Himself imbued Paul with this authority to help us turn from the “…power of Satan unto God…” To turn from. That should mean something but wherein lies the power of Satan?

 

Sin is the power of Satan. In Genesis, Satan as the serpent argues against the directive of God to not eat of the Tree of Life. It is this first event where Satan twists the words of God around and uses things outside of God’s words to convince Eve that the thing God said wasn’t the whole truth (Read all of Gensis 3 for the interaction of the Serpent and Eve HERE.). We are suffering the consequences of that decision to this day as a result of her willingness to discard the obedience to God and listen to the honied lies of Satan.

Today, we have well-meaning people who are the useful tools serving that same purpose. In almost every case these people believe they have the right of things having been convinced by those self-same honied words that again God has not given Man the whole truth. And once again, the consequences of deciding to believe those honied words will have lasting impact on many lives.

 

6  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.

9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

10  And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

13  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

15  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

Revelation 22:6-16 (KJV)

Speaking to Paul, Jesus leaves no ambiguity about what His purpose is. To have the words of Paul lead people out of darkness and into the light, to turn from their sins and receive forgiveness that they may have an inheritance through Jesus Christ. This inheritance is again mentioned as the closing words in the Revelation to John and that book’s last chapter.

 

The serpent used half-truths to complete his lie in that the Tree of Life did indeed have fruit that was good to eat. It was a pleasant tree, and it did have good things about it. However, the makeup of the tree was not the point. Obedience to God was the point. It was the point then, and it is the point now.

 

The greatest commandment isn’t to love all mankind. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy mind. The second commandment is to love thy neighbor as thy self, but only after first having loved God.

 

It is God’s word, God’s ways, and God’s approval we should seek. First. We seek Him before we seek anything else. Only after we seek God are we in a condition to then seek to deal with others. Doing otherwise has us moving about outside of God, outside of God’s word, and outside of God’s ways and that is exactly what the honied words of the serpent want: Mankind outside of God’s ways.

37   Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38  This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 22:37-38 (KJV)

Digging Deeper

  • Revisit what you wrote about Paul and write down anything that may have changed.
  • Consider what things people do that might be listening to honied words and what you might do to either avoid those things or provide an example of a better way that leads to light rather than darkness.
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