Sunday Sermonette

August 14, 2016 Questioning God "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20)   Whenever one begins a question with “why,” he should realize that the answer must necessarily be theological, not scientific. Science can deal with the questions of “what” and “how,” sometimes even with “where” and “when,” but never with “why”! The “why” questions have to do with motives and purposes, even when dealing with natural phenomena. (“Why does the earth rotate on its axis?” “Why do we have mosquitoes?”) Even though we can partially explain such things by secondary causes, we finally encounter a “first cause,” and then the “why?” can be answered only by God.   The wise thing to do is simply to believe that He has good reasons for everything, whether we can discern them now or not. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). God the Creator “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11), and it is our high privilege simply to trust Him, not to question Him.   On the other hand, He often asks us: “Why?” “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Jesus asked His disciples when they thought they were in great peril (Matthew 8:26). “If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?” (John 8:46), He would say to those who question His Word.   Then, to those who doubt His deity, the apostle Paul, speaking in His name, asks: “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8). As the popular chorus goes: “God specializes in things thought impossible!” Our God is omniscient and knows what’s best; He is omnipotent, so He can do it. He is all-loving and will surely do what's best for those who trust Him. HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

August 7, 2016 He Knows Our Hearts “Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men).” (2 Chronicles 6:30)   Eight times in Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple, he beseeches God to “hear from heaven” (vv. 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 33, 35, 39) when His people confess their sins and pray for deliverance. It is marvelous that God, whose “dwelling place” is in heaven (vv. 21, 30, 33, 39) can actually hear the prayers of people here on Earth, but we remember that He is omnipresent through His Holy Spirit.   Even more marvelous, if possible, is the fact that He can hear prayers uttered only in our hearts. But He is also omniscient and thus knows the very thoughts of our hearts.   Then, as we read of Jesus’ wrath at the desecration of the temple by those who would commercialize their religion there, it was said that He “needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man” (John 2:25). This is direct confirmation that Jesus is God, for only God knows the thoughts of our hearts.   It is a wonderful day when we realize that God knows our hearts. It can be frightening, of course, if our hearts are not right with God, but it can also be of great comfort and exhilaration—it all depends on the thoughts and motivations of our hearts. As David wrote long ago: “Thou understandest my thought afar off” (Psalm 139:2).   We need, therefore, to guard our thought life just as much as our social life, “for he knoweth the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:21). May God help us to be “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). It is a good thing if our thoughts please Him. HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

July 31, 2016 God’s Image “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27)   On Days Five and Six, God created living things. First were the water and air creatures throughout the planet. On Day Six, He created the “cattle,” “beasts of the earth,” and “creeping things” that would live on the dry land. They were very different from the air and water creatures but shared the “life” that was so different from plants, which were designed as food.   Then, God paused for a very specific purpose. He wanted to create a being that would bear His image and be in His likeness. You may recall that God took some of the dirt that was created on Day One and “sculpted” a body and breathed into this unique body (God made only one) the “breath of life.”   These special biblical terms—image, a representative form of another form, and likeness, a copy (stronger word)—are only used of humans. While that may not seem that significant, there are a lot of Bible passages that speak of animals. None of them ever speak of any animal having the image or likeness of God.   The shape and capabilities of man are unique. When we read that God formed the body of Adam from the dirt of the ground and later made the body of Eve (Genesis 2:7, 21-22), we are being told that these two living creatures were unique among all of the rest of creation. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). HMM III h/t: HENRY M MORRIS III, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

July 24, 2016
The Dazzling Spider
“The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” (Proverbs 30:28)

 

There is incredible detail and beauty in a typical spider web. Scientists have found that web strands are comparable in strength to fused quartz fibers. Zoologists discovered that spiders have one to four pairs of spinnerets located in their abdomen (the normal number are three pairs). In addition, there are seven silk glands, each making a strand for a unique purpose.

 

One silk gland produces thread for cocoons and another for wrapping up the prey. The two seem to be the same, but they require especially designed silk. Other glands make the walking thread so the spider doesn’t get snagged herself, while another makes the sticky material that captures the juicy dinner. Some of the finer threads are almost invisible to us unless the light is reflected just right. Yet spider silk is strong! Typically it has a tensile strength five times that of steel and elasticity—strong enough to stop a lumbering bumblebee at full speed.

 

Each spider engineers a style of web characteristic of its species and builds it perfectly on the first try. These complex glands and intricate design patterns have every evidence of design. It is obvious that the spider does not have the intelligence in its brain to learn how to do this. It is equally obvious that the ability to do so is already designed into the genetic instructions that were placed in the original spiders by their Creator.

 

Our text begins by Solomon noting “four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise,” and he lists the spider as one of those that are “wise.” Perhaps we could learn “wisdom” from them. HMM III

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

Sunday Sermonette

July 17, 2016 Partakers of the Promise “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” (Ephesians 3:6)   There are many Christians who regard themselves as almost exclusively New Testament believers, arguing that the Old Testament was for the Jews under the dispensation of law and thus not applicable to Christians today.   Nothing could be further from the truth. While the old animal sacrifices, temple rituals, and Levitical priesthoods have indeed been superseded by Christ’s “one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Hebrews 10:12), there are many “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4) of the Old Testament that can be properly and joyfully appropriated by Christians. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable,” wrote Paul (2 Timothy 3:16), speaking particularly of the Old Testament Scriptures.   In the context of our verse for the day, Paul is stressing that his own new revelations, given in connection with the Christian gospel, actually involved bringing Jew and Gentile together as one body in Christ. The “dispensation of the grace of God . . . by revelation he made known unto me,” he wrote, but in previous ages, it had not been “made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:2-5).   And what was it that had not been made known? The hidden mystery was simply “that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs” with the Jews, and therefore “partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).   Thus, Gentile believers can now share in all the gracious promises of God in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalm 23; Isaiah 26:3; etc.), except those directly dealing with the future of Israel as a nation, “that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:14). HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

July 10, 2016 How Does God Hear? “Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.” (2 Chronicles 6:21)   No less than eight times in Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the temple does he beseech God to “hear from heaven” (see 2 Chronicles 6:21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 33, 35, 39). But the obvious question is just how can God hear our prayers, especially those uttered only in silence?   The answer is in both God’s omniscience and His omnipresence. Although God is indeed on His heavenly throne, He is also right here! “O LORD,” David prayed, “thou hast searched me, and known me. . . . thou understandest my thought afar off” (Psalm 139:1-2). He can, and does, hear our prayers. “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?” (Psalm 94:9).   In a manner of speaking, He hears the prayers of redeemed children today even more directly than in David’s day, for we who trust in Christ have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. “God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them” (2 Corinthians 6:16). “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers” (1 Peter 3:12).   God can indeed hear our prayers. But there are times when He refuses to hear! “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). “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 . . . that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).   Yes, but if we ask anything according to His will (and this implies first living according to His will), “he heareth us: and . . . we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15). HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS,  INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

July 3, 2016 Lights in the World “The sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:15)   The Hebrew and Greek terms for “sons of God” are essentially the same, but the Old Testament always uses the phrase in reference to angels, whereas the New Testament always references the twice-born saints of God.   Our text for this day emphasizes the precise reason that our Lord Jesus prayed: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. . . . They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:15-16). We who share this marvelous relationship bear both the “love the Father hath bestowed upon us” and the unique rejection that “the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not” (1 John 3:1).   Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), and we who are His disciples are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14. We, unlike the angels, are to remain in this unfair and distorted world as lights. Consider this! We are the light that the Lord Jesus left in this world to represent Him and His message after He returned to heaven (John 9:5).   That is why the Scriptures refer to us as saints (holy ones) and disciples (followers); even the pejorative term “Christians” (Acts 11:26) identifies us as representing the King! We must therefore shine with the truth (John 3:19) and shed the “light of the glorious gospel of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4), attempting to “lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9).   Finally, we are surely commanded to “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (1 John 1:7). Our light should never be covered in a “bushel” (Matthew 5:15), but set on a “hill” for all to see (Matthew 5:14). HMM III  h/t: HENRY M MORRIS III, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH