Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

June 29, 2014
When God Doesn't Hear
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)
 
People often complain that God doesn’t hear their prayers, especially when God does not respond in the way they would like. But He can hear, all right! “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear?” He even hears our thoughts. “Thou knowest . . . my thought afar off” (Psalm 94:9; 139:2).
 
It is not that God cannot hear, but it just may be that we have not met the conditions for answered prayer so that He will hear. Probably the most important of these conditions is obedience to His Word. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,” said Jesus, “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). But, “if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).
 
There are other conditions, of course. “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering” (James 1:6). “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do,” said Jesus (John 14:13). “If we ask any thing according to his will . . . we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
 
Even if we do meet all the conditions, however, He may not answer immediately or in the way we prefer, and He might even answer no. After all, He knows better than we just what is best for us, and He will see that “all things work together for good” for us if we truly “love God” (Romans 8:28).
 
But, first of all, we need to check our lives in relation to His Word. Then, “if our heart condemn us not . . . whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments” (1 John 3:21-22). HMM

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

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

June 22, 2014
The Days of Yore
“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?” (Deuteronomy 4:32)
 
This challenge was given by Moses to the children of Israel as they were preparing to enter the Promised Land. It was vital that they cease all complaining and begin to behave in a manner appropriate to their stature as God’s chosen people.
 
For this they needed to regain a sense of historical perspective, and Moses urged them to study the history of the world since the beginning. Presumably, this would be possible only through studying the book of Genesis “since the day that God created Adam [same word as ‘man’] upon the earth.”
 
It is significant that “the days that are past” were implied by Moses to have begun essentially at creation, with no hint of any long geological ages before that. The 25 or more centuries from Adam to Moses had provided enough history to instruct that particular generation about God’s plans for the world, to prepare them for their own key role in their accomplishment, and to appreciate the real meaning of their own lives as they awaited the promised redeemer who was to come someday with salvation.
 
Now if the Israelites needed a true historical perspective, we need one today far more. In addition to what they had, we now also have the history of Israel, the first coming of Christ, God’s completed revelation, and the Christian dispensation from which to learn and profit. Our understanding of God and His purposes should be far greater than theirs, so we have much greater responsibility. May God help us to study and believe and understand all that has gone before, as recorded in His Word, so that we also can be prepared to fulfill our own role in God’s great plan of the ages for eternity. HMM

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

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Father's Day Sermonette

June 15, 2014
The Glory of the Children
“[The] glory of children are their fathers.” (Proverbs 17:6)
 
Most Christian men are aware of the familiar exhortation to bring up their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) and the warning “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged” (Colossians 3:21). Biblical messages to fathers frequently reflect the very real societal need for family discipline and godly leadership in the home (Proverbs 22:6, 15; Genesis 18:19).
 
Our text is a bit different. Although the message certainly implies godly leadership, the immediate focus is on the children. Children, we are told, receive “glory” from their fathers! How is this to come about?
 
Glory, in the biblical sense, centers on the value, the worthiness, or the reputation of the person or event so recognized. For instance, the Scripture teaches that the Lord Jesus “shall come in the glory of his Father” (Matthew 16:27Mark 8:38; etc.), and that the reputation of God the Father was conferred on Christ Jesus: “For he received from God the Father honour and glory” (2 Peter 1:17).
 
So, fathers, please learn this critical principle. Your reputation is reflected onto your children. Your behavior in the workplace is assumed to be an indicator of your children’s potential. What you say or do in moments of unguarded or uncontrolled passion will pass on to your children—for good or ill. The common saying “like father, like son” is recognized across time and culture as an accurate measure of human existence.
 
The Lord insists that “the iniquity of the fathers” will be passed “upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7). Would it not be far better that your children receive glory from your righteous life than shame (Psalm 89:45) from your iniquity? HMM III

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

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

June 8, 2014
Wondrous Things
“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalm 119:18)
 
Wondrous indeed is the marvelous universe God has created. “Hearken unto this,” we are challenged, “stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God” (Job 37:14). And as we “consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained” (Psalm 8:3), we can only “stand still” in awe at God’s infinite power.
 
We are even more amazed as we study the intricate complexity of living creatures—especially human beings. “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works” (Psalm 139:14). God’s omniscience is more wondrous than even His omnipotence.
 
Then there is His miraculous ordering of history for the accomplishment of His purposes. “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done” (Psalm 78:4).
 
But even greater than the wondrous world He created or His wondrous works in history are the wonders of God’s written Word, for “thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2).
 
Note the testimony of the familiar 19th Psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” But then: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul” (Psalm 19:1, 7). As far as God’s works in history are concerned, God’s Word was completed before history began, and will endure after the present world is gone. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
 
There are “wondrous things” without end in “thy law,” and we will continue discovering them forever. HMM

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

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Sunday Sermonette

June 1, 2014
God's Shadow
“The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.” (Lamentations 4:20)
 
In the hot desert lands so familiar to the Israelites, a place of shade was considered a blessing wherever it could be found, and this was often taken as a symbol of God’s protection from the hot hatred of their (and His) enemies. In fact, the Hebrew word for “shadow” is used twelve times in the Bible as a type of God’s guarding presence.
 
The first is in Psalm 17:8: “Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.” Three other times “the shadow of thy wings” is used (Psalm 36:7; 57:1; 63:7). Isaiah speaks of His presence “as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” and as like being hidden “in the shadow of his hand” (Isaiah 32:2; 49:2; also 51:16). The Lord is compared to “a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain” (Isaiah 4:6). He is “a shadow from the heat” and like “the shadow of a cloud” (Isaiah 25:4-5).
 
The last reference to God’s shadow is in our text above in reference to the forced exile of God’s people into Babylon. In this sad context, Jeremiah laments that even “the anointed of the LORD”—that is, literally, the Lord’s Messiah (fulfilled in Jesus Christ)—has been taken captive with His people. He is even called “the breath of our nostrils,” recognizing implicitly that it was He who breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life in the beginning (Acts 17:25). Thus, He will even be with His people as they undergo their just chastisements; they can even “live among the heathen” under His shadow. No matter how dark our circumstances, we can say with the psalmist: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. . . . in him will I trust” (Psalm 91:1-2). HMM

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