Sunday, August 30, 2015

Sunday Sermonette

August 30, 2015
Milk or Meat
“For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:13-14)
 
The Scriptures are compared in these verses to our daily food—milk and meat. Milk is the necessary food for babies (1 Peter 2:2), but it becomes grotesque when a baby continues year after year as a baby, still incapable of partaking of anything but milk. This was the case with the Corinthian Christians who were, according to Paul, “babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2). It was also true for these Hebrew Christians: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again . . . the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat” (Hebrews 5:12).
 
Sad to say, this is still the situation with most Christian people today, even in Bible-believing churches. This is indicated not only by the many carnal divisions between them (1 Corinthians 3:3), but even more by the frothy nature of the Christian materials they read, almost always centered on introspective personal relationships rather than on the person of Christ, the deeper truths of Scripture, and the great purposes of God. The time spent in personal Bible study is minimal, and even most sermons repeatedly serve up milk for Christian babes rather than strong meat for spiritually healthy Christians “of full age” whose “senses” have already been strengthened by use to recognize the true and the false, the good and the evil. How urgently we need to heed the last words of the apostle Peter, just before his martyrdom: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). HMM

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

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Sunday Sermonette

August 23, 2015
Like the Most High
“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Isaiah 14:14)
 
These are two of the “I will’s” of Satan—or Lucifer—as he aspired to usurp the throne of God as ruler of the universe (see Isaiah 14:12-15;Ezekiel 28:11-17). Not content to be “the anointed cherub,” the highest of the angelic hierarchy (Ezekiel 28:14), he wanted to be God, and this monstrous pride became “the condemnation of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:6), so that he is now “fallen from heaven” and will soon be “brought down to hell” (Isaiah 14:12, 15).
 
Lucifer, of course, is not the Creator, for he was “created” (Ezekiel 28:15) himself. It would seem therefore that for him to rationalize his ambition to be like the most High, he must somehow persuade himself that he is like the most High—that is, that God is a created being like himself, and thus can be defeated. He only had God’s word that he had been created by Him, and he evidently chose not to believe what God said (just as do multitudes of men and women today).
 
He, like they, chose rather to believe that the eternal cosmos had somehow created them all by its own powers. The great cosmos (call it Mother Nature, perhaps) has “created” spirit beings, as well as men and women, and all the worlds inhabited by them. In this scenario, the true Creator God is viewed as only one of many. Therefore, He is vulnerable to defeat—or so Satan evidently believes.
 
Thus, Lucifer became the first evolutionist, and this great lie by which he deceived himself became the basis of his later deception of Eve and then of the founders of all the varied pantheistic religions of the world, as well as modern evolutionism and “New Age” philosophies. Nevertheless, God is still on His throne, and “the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings” (Revelation 17:14). HMM

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

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Sunday Sermonette

August 16, 2015
Stewardship Warfare
“A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” (Galatians 5:9)
 
Most of us have seen ripples created from a pebble dropped in a pond. They also make good illustrations of what atheistic and naturalistic science does to truth.
 
The Bible uses a number of illustrations about the importance of getting rid of the source of the problems. The psalmist cried out for strength when he saw the enemies destroying foundations (Psalm 11:3). Jesus warned about the “leaven” of false doctrine (Matthew 16:12). And the prophet noted that if the stump is left, the tree will grow again (Daniel 4:23-26; contrast with Luke 3:9). These principle illustrations warn us to focus on the cause of the error, not the symptoms.
 
It is tempting to go after only the symptoms. The pain of abortion, pornography, flagrant promiscuity, widespread STDs, easy divorce, victimless crimes, political corruption, and so on are very real and terribly destructive. But the core rationale in the educated Western world for all the anti-God, anti-righteous, anti-authority beliefs is atheistic and naturalistic science.
 
Ephesians 6:12 explains that the real battle is “not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” A great part of biblical stewardship must involve direct opposition toward these “rulers of the darkness.”
 
Our “intellectual” world needs the evidence that will expose the atheism in naturalistic science. Christian leaders must not only be trained biblically, but also in a defense of the faith “once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). That work is extensive, time-consuming, and expensive, and those called to so labor must have the prayer support of other Christians. Please consider co-laboring with us. HMM III

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

 

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Sunday Sermonette

August 9, 2015
Humanity's First Job
“God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
 
This verse is often called the Dominion Mandate and is repeated and amplified in Genesis 9:1-7. The purpose is clear: accept the responsibility to bring into subjection all of earth’s systems and creatures, effectively managing its resources, growing and expanding until the earth is filled with the fruits of that labor.
 
Man’s First Job Description: When God made the garden “eastward in Eden” (Genesis 2:8) and placed Adam there, Adam was to “dress [serve] and keep [guard]” that special and lavishly designed estate (Genesis 2:8-15) in the unique role as initial occupant, but more broadly as God’s steward for Earth. There were no instructions on how to serve and guard, only the general “orders” from the Owner to the steward.
 
Man’s Implied Responsibility: Since there were no instructions about the functioning systems of Earth, Adam had to first learn about the earth’s systems and processes (science) and then organize and utilize the discoveries in productive ways to help others and honor the Creator (technology).
 
The information about those practical inventions and products of technology had to then be accurately disseminated to everyone through business, education, communication, transportation, etc.
 
And finally, both the information and inventions had to be received so that the divine evaluation (“very good”) was detailed in works of music, art, and literature, glorifying and praising God for all He had done in creating and making all things.
 
The ongoing responsibility is still in effect in us “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). HMM III

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

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Sunday Sermonette

August 2, 2015
Fire in the Bones
“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jeremiah 20:9)
 
When God’s Word really becomes a part of one’s soul, that one can never be the same again. As dejected Jeremiah said in his imprisonment: “The word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily” (Jeremiah 20:8), he testified; so he said: “I will not . . . speak any more in his name.” But he could not quit! God’s Word was burning in his bones, and he must let it out. “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29).
 
The psalmist David had a similar testimony. “I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue” (Psalm 39:2-3). When the resurrected Christ “expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself,” the two disciples from Emmaus later testified: “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:27, 32).
 
Of all the symbols applied in the Scriptures to God’s Word, that of fire is the most awe-inspiring. Fire was not a discovery of some primitive man, as evolutionists imagine, but has always been an instrument of God’s judgment, from the flaming sword in Eden (Genesis 3:24) to the lake of fire in hell (Revelation 21:8). In fact, God Himself is said to be “a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).
 
The word of fire in the burning heart cannot be contained, but must be proclaimed at any cost. As Paul acknowledged: “Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). HMM

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