Sunday, March 30, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

March 30, 2014
The Doctrine of Christ
“If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.” (2 John 10)
 
This apparently harsh instruction seems at first to conflict with the many biblical exhortations to show hospitality, but it needs to be placed in context. The one-chapter epistle of 2 John was addressed to “the elect lady and her children” by John, who also extended greetings from “the children of thy elect sister” (vv. 1, 13). These unusual phrases, together with the general tone of the epistle, make it almost certain that John was not referring simply to two individual Christian women, but to two churches, symbolically personified as two noble ladies with the “children” being the new converts in the churches.
 
The warning, then, is primarily against the danger of allowing a false teacher to come into the church, as a pastor or a teacher or even as a visiting speaker, who would not bring “this doctrine.” The doctrine mentioned is obviously “the doctrine of Christ” (v. 9). This doctrine of Christ is not, however, simply a set of doctrinal tenets about the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is not the doctrine about Christ, but ofChrist—belonging to Him—His doctrine. The word “doctrine” is didache, meaning literally “teachings.” The meaning clearly is “the teachings of Christ,” that is, not just one or two least-common-denominator statements about Christ to which all nominal Christians could give assent, but the entire body of teachings that had come from Jesus.
 
Further, since He taught that all the Old Testament is inspired and authoritative and also promised the same to the writers of the New Testament, this “doctrine of Christ” includes “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), from Genesis through Revelation. How important it is not to allow false teaching to get a foothold in a local church. HMM












h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

March 23, 2014
Worship and Praise
“I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” (Psalm 138:2)
 
Praise and worship are widely taught in Scripture but are seldom used to describe the same actions. “Worship” describes an attitude of obeisance and reverence (usually by bowing or prostrating) during a formal act of sacrifice or some other structured observance. “Praise,” especially this word used in Psalm 138, emphasizes joyous thanksgiving, recognizing God’s specific blessing or God’s worthiness in character, power, deed, or authority.
 
There are only two events recorded in Scripture where the people of God both “worshipped” and “praised” at the same time. The first was at the dedication of the great temple of Solomon. When the prayer of dedication was finished, the fire of God’s glory descended on the temple and entered the Holy of Holies. That awesome event drove everyone to their knees “with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and [they] worshipped, and praised the LORD” (2 Chronicles 7:3).
 
The other occurred right after Ezra led a remnant back from Babylon. As the people heard the Word read to them for the first time in many decades, they became so convicted of their disobedience that they began to cry and confess their sin. They stood for about three hours and “confessed [same word as ‘praise’], and worshipped the LORD their God” (Nehemiah 9:3).
 
In neither case did the people jump up and down, clap, or otherwise demonstrate exuberance. They were so overwhelmed at the presence of God that they fell down on their faces! Then they poured out their heart in intimate worship and praise for His lovingkindness, His truth, His name, His being, and His attributes, because God has magnified His Word above all His Name. HMM III


h/t: HENRY M MORRIS III, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

March 16, 2014
The Everlasting Gospel
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” (Revelation 14:6-7)
 
When the Lord Jesus returned to heaven after His resurrection, He left the disciples with the Great Commission to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Unfortunately, over the centuries, there has developed much misunderstanding concerning the content of the gospel (“good tidings”) and many have preached “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6) which can never save. This false gospel wears many faces, but inevitably, at its heart will be found the false hope of evolutionary humanism, glorifying man instead of God, worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator (Romans 1:25).
 
We can be sure that the gospel preached in our text is the true gospel—in fact, it is called specifically the everlasting gospel! And its great burden is to call people everywhere back to faith in the one true Creator God, who made all things in heaven and Earth. The Lord Jesus Christ must be accepted, first of all, as God and Creator, before it can be meaningful to present Him as Savior and Lord. Otherwise, we preach “another gospel” and “another Jesus”—neither of which are even real!
 
The true gospel must also present Christ as the sin-bearing, crucified, resurrected Savior (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), and as the coming King of kings and Lord of lords (Matthew 4:23; Revelation 19:16). But it must first present Him as omnipotent and offended Creator. Then only, like the angel, do we truly proclaim the everlasting gospel. HMM


h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

March 9, 2014
The Christian Rest
“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:9-10)
 
This is an important New Testament affirmation that God’s work of creation was “finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:3). The reference is to Genesis 2:1-3, where the writer has told us that God had “rested from all his work which God created and made,” thus completely denying the contention of theistic evolutionists that the processes of “creation” (that is, evolution) are still going on.
 
In addition, it makes a significant comparison between the believer’s rest and God’s rest. The word “rest” here is not the usual word for “rest” and is used only this once in the New Testament. It means, literally, “sabbath rest,” or “keeping of the Sabbath.” In the context of chapters 2 and 3 of Hebrews, the concept of rest is being expounded with several meanings. The original warning was in Psalm 95:11, where it referred both to the Israelites entering into the promised land under Joshua and to God’s own rest after His work of creation. Psalm 95 is repeatedly quoted in Hebrews, where other meanings are also implied: the keeping of a weekly Sabbath in commemoration of God’s rest after creation; the promised future rest to the world and its believing inhabitants—possibly in the millennium but certainly in the new earth; and the believer’s present spiritual rest after he puts his faith in Christ, no longer trusting in his works for salvation.
 
With such a rich investiture of meaning in the fact of God’s past rest and the promise of our future rest, it is appropriate that there should be a perpetual weekly commemoration and expression of faith in that rest in every generation, until its ultimate fulfillment in the eternal rest in the New Jerusalem.
 
In the meantime, we are urged to “labour” to “enter into that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). HMM


h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

March 2, 2014
Blinded Minds
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
 
The “god of this world” is none other than Satan, who is also called “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) and the one “which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). It is sobering to realize that he and his demonic cohorts have the power to blind the minds of unbelievers, preventing them from comprehending even the simplest elements of the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
However, Christ can make the blind to see! In answer to prayer and through the faithful presentation of the Word of truth, “the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know . . .” (Ephesians 1:17-18).
 
The Lord desires that people come to Christ; therefore, He gives His witnesses weapons that can even vanquish Satan and open the eyes of the spiritually blind. These are the spiritual weapons of truth and righteousness, peace and faith, the Word and prayer (Ephesians 6:11-18). “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations [literally ‘reasonings’], and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought [same word as ‘mind’] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
 
Even though Satan is far more intelligent and powerful than we, or those we seek to reach, God still enables us to recapture their minds and bring them to Christ, as we proclaim His truth, in His name, by His grace! HMM


h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH