Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to the Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Today's message is from a series I did on the Genesis account of creation. The heavens and earth are introduced in a chaotic state without form and void. What occurred that turned God's once beautiful creation into this calamitous state? Learn this and more in part one, the recreation of heaven and earth.

R. G. Hardy: So, Paul was physically blind for three days. But during those three days, boy, did he get a spiritual transformation. Revelation took place in his spirit. So, when God sent his servant, Ananias, to come and lay hands on him, the Bible says there fell, as it were, scales from his eyes, and he could see again.

I looked that word up, scales, and it says like a covering that you would have to peel off. A covering that you would have to peel off. I'm not saying this is what it was, but some people get very dense cataracts and it really obscures their vision, and they have to go in there and peel them off. Amen. And then their sight is restored.

And so, he received his natural sight after three days when the servant of God laid hands on him. But oh, it was during those three days that he was blind and he didn't eat and he didn't drink. I'm telling you, you talk about being in the crucible. I mean, that's being in a crucible.

But oh, God was opening up his spiritual eyes, and God was taking him back through the scriptures, I believe. And taking him back through the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms, and he was seeing the Messiah in all of those verses. And he was seeing that Jesus is Messiah and he fulfilled them.

Now, later on, much, much later towards the end of his life, we know he was imprisoned a couple of times. In Acts 22 and Acts 26, he's called to give a testimony of why he's in prison and why he's being tried. And I love to read them in connection with Acts 9, the original story, because he tells you some things, especially in chapter 26, that are not told in chapter 9.

For instance, Acts 26:16. He's standing at this point before King Agrippa. "But rise and stand upon your feet. For I have appeared unto you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of these things which you have seen and of the things in the which I will appear unto you." Now this is Jesus talking to him. He's telling you more than we saw in Acts 9.

"Delivering you from the people and the Gentiles, unto whom I now send you." Now, that is a huge thing because none of the apostles were sent to the Gentiles in this way. But look at verse 18. I love. "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 you."

So, Paul stood before Agrippa. Said, "I'll tell you exactly why I am now a Christian. And everybody knows full well my history. Knows what I was like as Saul, the Pharisee, and how I hated the Christians and had them condemned to death.

But oh, that day on the road of Damascus when a bright light hit me and blinded me. And for three days I could not see. But during that time, Jesus, he appeared unto me, he spoke to me, and he said, 'I am now going to send you forth.' He said, 'You're going to stand before kings and princes of this world. I'm going to send you to the Gentiles because the Gentiles were steeped in darkness.'

They were steeped in darkness. They were serving the sun, the moon, the stars, Zeus, Jupiter, and all those other gods of mythology. "I'm going to send you to them. And when I send you, the message that you're going to give them is going to open their eyes and they're going to come out of darkness into light, from the power of Satan to the power of God."

That's what the light does. It brings people out of darkness, but it also brings them out from under the power and the authority of Satan. Amen. And Paul said to King Agrippa, "Oh, whereupon, oh King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision."

Basically, he's saying, "That's why I'm here in trouble today. That's why I'm in prison right now. That's why I'm in these fetters and these chains because I was not disobedient. I counted the cost. I counted everything lost for Christ that I can declare the glorious gospel.

One time I sent men to their death, thinking I was doing God a service. But now I'm trying to bring people out of eternal death into eternal life through the light of the gospel. And Paul was saying, "I'm going to be just as zealous for the gospel of Christ to win people to God as I was trying to kill God's people. I'm not disobedient to the heavenly vision," he said.

Satan works in darkness. And God commissioned him to bring them out of darkness. And let me tell you, God has not changed his commission. He has not changed his vision. He still wants us to go out and bring people out of darkness into the light. And I want to be able to say with Paul, "I will not be disobedient to the vision."

I'm going to pray, "Lord, remove the mind blinders. Remove them." When you have done all that you can to reach people, you've told them practically the whole Bible and it goes over their head, it's time to start doing some prayer and fasting. God, remove the blinders. I've preached the word, but their mind is blind.

Paul said later on in Timothy, "God saved me, and I'm the chief of all sinners. For what I did to God's church, I'm the chief of all sinners." And Paul was saying, "Look at me. I'm the poster child. I'm the poster child for the worst of the worst sinners. And if God can save me, he can save anybody.

It doesn't matter how great their sin is. It doesn't matter how far they have fallen in the pit. It doesn't matter how great their darkness is. Paul said if he could open my eyes and save me, he can save anyone. Don't you give up on them. Don't you give up on them.

I don't know if there's any place darker than the prisons and the penitentiaries. They're dark. They're dark. Satan rules those places. But there are people in there that God can bring into the light. What can be darker than a crack house where people just lay around? Their bodies are skin and bones, covered with sores, and they just live for the next hit.

Their brains are even deteriorating from all the drugs. Alcoholics lying in their own body fluids and vomit. What can be darker than that? Let me tell you something. To the utmost, Jesus saves. To the utmost, Jesus saves. He can pick you up and turn you around. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus saves. Jesus saves.

My God, I've got the vision. But you know you can't get the vision unless you have spiritual eyesight. And we've got to pray, "Lord, remove those mind blinders." Amen. Paul said in Ephesians 4:17, "This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind."

Now here in this verse, we get a little more understanding of the condition of the Gentile mind, which aka today is any unbeliever. In that time, it meant any non-Jew. But today we have Christians and we're not Jews. We're Gentiles, but we believe in Christ. So, that's why I want you to understand aka any unbeliever, think of that when you read Gentile here.

And they walk in the vanity of their mind. The vanity of their mind. That word, mataiotēs, means to be void of the truth, to be perverse and depraved. They walk in it. You know, when I see some of the photos and the videos of some of the fashion that they've got out there now.

Men, not only saying dressed as women, I mean dressed as weirdo women. Even women won't dress like they're being dressed. Amen. And now there's one celebrity who has a whole line of fashion for children and it's all gender-fluid. So, you can't tell which gender. And a lot of skulls and crossbones and all that sort of thing.

I'm telling you, they're walking in the vanity of their mind. Their mind is perverse and void of truth. The word mind there, nous, means your perception, your understanding, your ability to determine and make decisions and to judge. They have lost the ability to make rational decisions. Amen.

He says they walk in the vanity of their mind. Verse 18. "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart." So, Paul has used these words so many times. Understanding again, your ability to perceive, to make decisions, to rationalize, to judge in a sane and reasonable way.

Darkened, that same word I told you before, skotos. Spiritual, spiritual darkness. Alienated, that word means to be estranged from someone and have no intimacy with them. At one time many years ago, probably in the '50s before there was no-fault divorce, people got divorces sometimes on alienation of affection.

They couldn't get it on adultery. Nobody was committing adultery. So, they got it on alienation of affection, meaning he ignores me or she ignores me, we have no more intimacy, we're living like we're two roommates in the house. And so that was to be a means for divorce. Amen.

Now, let's bring it in the arena of the church and of God and of the people that are out there that God created. He loves them. Wicked, filthy, perverse, depraved, ungodly as they are, he loves them. He created them for fellowship. That was the whole purpose of creating man. Amen.

But he said, "They are alienated from me. They're estranged from me and they don't even know me. And some of them don't even believe in me." Amen. Alienated. Paul said in Colossians 1:21, "That we were sometime alienated and enemies of God in our mind by wicked works." See, the wicked works only follow what's in the mind.

Amen. We've got to get the blinders off the mind. You know, trying to get them to stop taking drugs is a wonderful thing. But if they've been to rehab 49 times and they're relapsing again, that's not the answer for them. Something's got to be done in the mind, in the spirit has got to be transformed. Amen.

Alienated by the wicked works of their minds. And here he says the ignorance that is in them, the blindness. Now here is a different Greek word for blindness. A different one. And this one here, I think, is very interesting because it doesn't refer to the eyes, it refers to the heart. The blindness of their heart.

Okay, not the eyes, the blindness of their heart. The word here for blindness is a different Greek word. And it means to cover something with a callus until it's hard. So, that means the heart gets covered with a callus. I don't know if you've ever been to the foot doctor to get a callus removed.

But I have. Because I had one callus that was so thick that I felt like I was walking on a stone on the ball of my foot. So, every time I walked, it was shooting pain in my foot. So, I was starting to limp to try to avoid putting pressure where you have to walk on the ball of your foot. I mean, how long can you try to walk without putting pressure on there?

And finally, I bought one of those little Petty things that you do yourself. And I mean when I would grind and grind, and it still was there. So, I finally went to a podiatrist. See what had happened, I not only had the callus on the outside, which I was shaving off with that little Petty thing, it had a callus that was under the skin, pushing in the inside of the foot.

That's why it felt like I was walking on a rock. He had to take a blade and cut that callus out. He didn't numb anything. And you know what? I sat there and let him do it. I didn't even flinch. You know why? I didn't feel it. I didn't feel it. He had that blade and he cut it out and then he said, "Here, see that?"

It looked like a little stone, but it was skin. It was hardened callus skin. That was the one that drove me to the doctor. The other one I would have put up with. So then he started looking for other—you know, I had one on the side and one here. And so, you know, I'm talking, I'm blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, I'm talking.

He's taking off these calluses. And all of a sudden, "Hey, I felt that one!" Because all of a sudden he got down to flesh, living flesh. All the other calluses, I sat there and just talked away while he took them off. But boy, when he hit that one. So, what I'm trying to tell you is the heart can get so calloused that the word of God doesn't penetrate.

You know, you can preach and it doesn't penetrate. Their heart has gotten so calloused. Amen. He's saying that is the condition of many of them out there in the world. And we shake our heads and we say, "How can they do these things? How can they commit these evils? How can they believe this stuff?" Because their heart has gotten calloused over. Amen.

And Paul brought it out in Romans, the first chapter, verse 21. "Because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, their foolish heart was darkened. And professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Their foolish heart was darkened.

This is a powerful verse because he goes on later and tells you some of the things that they do. And we all know them. I'm not going to read the catalog. You can read that some other time. But he said they became vain. It's that same word I talked to you a moment ago. Void of truth, perverse, depraved.

The word imagination here is two Greek words. Dia means through. And logismos comes from logos, means word or dialogue. So, what it means is to have a dialogue with yourself. To discuss with yourself. To deliberate within your own self, your own inward reasoning, to come to a conclusion or to calculate something.

How many know we all do this from time to time? We talk to ourselves within ourselves. Don't you? How many do that? Can I see your hand? You should be happy to raise your hand because that's a healthy thing. When you're born again and spirit-filled, that's a wonderful thing.

Have you ever said to yourself, "Sharon, why were you so upset over that? It wasn't that bad. So why did you get so bent out of shape about it? I mean, looking back, was it really that bad?" No. "So why were you so upset?" Okay. "Why was I so upset? Well..." Usually, the answer is not very flattering. Amen.

And you think, "I don't want to see that in myself," but okay. I just saw it. I can't deny it. I'm looking in the perfect law of liberty, I see what it is. "Lord, I don't like this in myself. And obviously you don't like it either. That's why you're bringing it to my attention. Lord, forgive me, number one. And number two, help me going forward to have this understanding." Amen.

So, that's in the good sense for us as people of God with the Holy Spirit guiding our consciences that are pure before the Lord. But what about people that they're darkened and they reason within themselves? See, this is where this whole phenomenon's come out. Everybody's got their own truth.

How many hear that everywhere now? "You be true to your truth. You be true to your truth. I'll be true to my truth. Well, you got to live out your own truth. Well, you got to do your own truth." But I mean, it doesn't even make sense even outside from the word of God because sooner or later, we're going to be colliding.

And who is going to be the referee to say whose truth is the one we're going to do? Amen. That's what happens when you reject the truth of the word of God. And so now we've got everybody living by their own truth and the world is in chaos. And everybody's trying to figure out how to fix it.

And I'm going to tell you, I don't care how many mayors we get, how many police commissioners we get, how many governors we get, it's not going to fix it. I don't care what presidents we get or what senators we get or congressmen, it's not going to fix it unless people have a change of heart.

And their foolish heart was darkened. Now, you know in the Greek there's a word for foolish and fool, and it's mōron. And it's really not a bad word. They bring it over in the English and they make it a bad word. It's not. In the original language, it just means someone who does not understand. They don't understand.

But in the English, they use it in a derogatory sense. So, please don't use it and say, "Well, sister Sharon says it means you don't understand." Don't ever call your kid a moron. Amen. Even if they're acting like one.

But this is a different Greek word, asunetos. It's not mōron, it's asunetos. I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm going to close my eyes when I say it. One synonym translation, this Greek word means stupid. That's what it means. Their foolish hearts were darkened. Their stupid hearts were darkened.

And you and I both know there's a difference between being ignorant and that you don't know and you don't understand and being stupid. How do you get stupid? When you know something, you know it good and well, but you do the opposite anyway. Amen. That's what you call stupid.

And when you keep doing the same thing over and over again and keep getting the same results, that's when you're very stupid. See, this is the condition of the world. Their foolish hearts are darkened and their hearts are calloused and hardened.

And saints of God, that was the plight of every one of us before we came to the light. But thank God, Paul said in Ephesians 5:8, "For you were sometime darkness, but now are you light in the Lord." You were sometime darkness. But amazing grace, how sweet the sound. I once was lost but now I'm found. I was blind but now I see.

And the end of that verse, "Walk as children of light." So, in other words, now we need to walk in the light because we're children of the light. Amen. We need to walk in this truth. And when we do, we have fellowship with Jesus Christ and with his son and the blood of his son cleanses us from all sin.

And it only happens when we keep walking in the light. Amen. You stop walking in the light, his blood's not cleansing you until you confess your sin. And then he's faithful and just to forgive your sin.

So, here's the takeaway I want you to have. First of all, the vision. Get a vision of what we have to do to win the lost, especially those who are so blinded. And then, saints of God, when God speaks to you clearly through his word, hear no other voices.

Do not hear them. Do not meditate on them, ponder them, take heed to them. When God speaks, there're going to be many voices competing with God's voice. But you know the word. You know the truth and you're in the light. Walk in the light. Walk in the truth.

God said through his prophet Isaiah 8:20, "If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." That's Isaiah 8:20. Isaiah 5:20, he says, "They call evil good and good evil. They put darkness for light and light for darkness."

I am so glad that I was raised up under my grandmother and my parents. I was raised up on the word of God, rightly divided. Amen. And even today when there's so much compromise and men are turning their ears away from the truth and turning them unto fables, that I can obey the charge.

He said, "I charge you before God and at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preach the word! Be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Will turn their ears away from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." I'm going to keep walking in the light. What about you?

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. I hope you're enjoying this comprehensive study from my Genesis series, Part 1: The Recreation of Heaven and Earth. The Genesis account begins with the heavens and earth in a state of chaos that does not match the beauty of the unfolding creation of which God said seven times, "It is good."

Something calamitous occurred between verse one and verse two of Genesis chapter one that turned the earth into a dark expanse covered with water. The prophet Jeremiah used the identical language to describe the earth: without form and void and had no light. He said there were no animals, no birds, no humans, and the cities were destroyed.

This describes what occurred on earth as stated in Genesis of the first two verses. There was a traumatic event that plunged the earth into this state: Lucifer's rebellion. If you want more of this teaching, the entire three-part series is available on three CDs for your love gift of only $20 or more for the radio ministry.

You will receive part one: The Recreation of Heaven and Earth, part two: Recreation Days 2 through 4, and part three: Recreation Days 5 through 7. Send your minimum love gift of $20 to Sound of Faith, PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. Request SK777.

You may order online at soundoffaith.org, where MP3s are available. But to order the Genesis series, the complete set of three CDs by mail, send your love gift of $20 or more to PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. Request SK777. Until next time, this is Sharon Knotts saying, Maranatha.