Sunday Sermonette

January 27, 2013 Everlasting Contempt "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Daniel 12:2) Some claim that the Old Testament knows nothing of a resurrection, but this promise of God clearly refutes such a notion. Not only will some be raised to everlasting life, but some to everlasting shame and contempt! What a bitter end this will be for those who now look with contempt upon the Bible. The Hebrew word translated "contempt" is used only one other time, in the very last verse of Isaiah, but is there translated "abhorring." "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh" (Isaiah 66:24). There is probably no doctrine of the Bible more hated by unbelievers than the doctrine of everlasting punishment. It was this teaching (not the imaginary evidence for evolution) that turned Charles Darwin away from God. Nevertheless, it was verified by Christ Himself. "It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where . . . the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:47-48). Christ will say to the "goats" on His left hand, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: . . . these shall go away into everlasting punishment" (Matthew 25:41, 46). Paul also warned that those who "obey not the gospel . . . shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Everlasting contempt, everlasting fire, everlasting punishment, everlasting destruction--these await all who reject God and His saving word, through Christ. How much better to "awake to everlasting life!" HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

January 20, 2013 Let Them Alone "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." (Hosea 4:17) The Lord is long-suffering, and those who speak in His name should be also. There do come times, however, when further witness becomes useless or even harmful, or when continued interaction merely invites contamination with ungodliness. In such cases we must simply leave such people alone, following them with prayer and trusting God alone to deal with them. Such was the ten-tribe nation of Israel, led by the tribe of Ephraim, just before God sent them into Assyrian captivity. God, through the prophet Hosea, told Judah henceforth to let them alone--they were hopelessly given over to pagan evolutionist idolatry. The words "joined to" in today’s verse mean, literally, "under the spell of." The Lord Jesus used similarly harsh language in reference to the hypocritical Pharisees of His own day: "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matthew 15:14). There are other similar warnings. Of those who come, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," Paul says, "from such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:5). He has also warned us to "shun profane and vain babblings |that is, the empty philosophizing of those who reject God|: for they will increase unto more ungodliness" (2 Timothy 2:16). "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11). Most, if not all, such warnings seem in context to apply especially to people who once knew and understood the truth, perhaps even professing to accept it for a time, and then knowingly rejected it. When such men oppose our testimony, God says to let them alone; He can deal with them better than we. HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

January 13, 2013 If So Be "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." (1 Peter 2:3) The little phrase "if so be" (Greek ei per) is used four times in the New Testament, each time setting forth a vital spiritual result established on the basis of a vital spiritual premise. The premise in today's verse is that a new Christian has truly experienced the saving grace of Christ. The result will be that these "newborn babes" will truly "desire the sincere milk of the word" (1 Peter 2:2). The "word" (Greek logikos) is always both pure and reasonable. Then, "ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Romans 8:9). When a person truly receives Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells his body, and the result is that he will henceforth live in the guidance of the Spirit instead of the flesh. But this life in the Spirit will necessarily entail suffering for the sake of Christ, and this is the premise that assures our future inheritance and glorification. The indwelling Spirit bears witness that we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17). Finally, our future resurrection is assured by the certainty of the bodily resurrection of Christ. "We have testified of God," Paul says, "that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not" (1 Corinthians 15:15). Christ's resurrection is proved as well as any historical fact has ever been proved, so the dead surely rise also. These "if-so-be's" of Scripture, although seemingly expressed in the form of conditions, actually speak great assurances. The true Christian life is one of thirst for the logical words of God, guidance by the indwelling Spirit of God, certainty of future resurrection, and anticipation of a glorious inheritance in Christ. HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

January 6, 2013 God's Day of Rest "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." (Genesis 2:2-3) Why would God sanctify His day of rest (cessation from creating)? Four observations point us toward the answer. First, His rest is the perfect conclusion to His work of creation. After God completed His creation work (Genesis 1), we don't find Him scrambling around the universe to fix poor designs, to educate Himself on parts of the universe beyond His knowledge, or to quell opposition to His reign. Instead, He rests--perfectly in control of all He has done, knowing everything about all He has created, and ruling absolutely in supreme freedom. What a fitting celebration of His character! Second, His rest is ongoing. "The works were finished from the foundation of the world" (Hebrews 4:3). Since creation, God has never second-guessed His activity, tried to create the universe again, or given any hint that His initial creation was somehow flawed. It was exactly how He designed and planned it from the start. Who else could create so perfectly and completely? Third, His rest is holy. No man has ever created like God did, and, therefore, no man ever rested like God did. While man enjoyed a measure of rest (from toil) in the beginning, he lost it when he sinned (Genesis 3:17-19), and he has been laboring against opposition to his rule ever since then. God's rest is utterly unique. Fourth, His rest is wonderful. God can withhold rest from His fallen and depraved creatures. Yet He offers rest to those who believe through Christ! "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). What profound and glorious reasons God had to set apart His day of rest! NTJ h/t: INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

December 30, 2012 Firstfruits "Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase." (Proverbs 3:9) There are seven New Testament references to "firstfruits," all of which are metaphorical applications of the Old Testament commandment to offer the firstfruits of one’s increase to the Lord. We now have to give our own firstfruits to the government in the form of "withheld" amounts from our wages. It is still good, nonetheless, to honor the Lord with the "firstfruits" equivalent of our increase, regardless of the government. The New Testament references are all beautiful spiritual applications of this concept. At His resurrection, Christ Himself has "become the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20). When we receive Christ, we receive our eternal salvation first of all in terms of "the firstfruits of the Spirit" (Romans 8:23). Furthermore, we ourselves are, to Him, a sort of firstfruits pledge of future growth. "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18). This thought is also applied to the first converts of a new mission field. Paul speaks of "the firstfruits of Asia" (the western part of Asia Minor) and "the firstfruits of Achaia" (southern Greece) in Romans 16:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:15, respectively. He also speaks of believing Jews as having preceded Gentiles into the kingdom as a holy firstfruit (Romans 11:16) to the Lord. The last of the New Testament references to firstfruits relates to the 144,000 Israelite witnesses in the coming great tribulation. "These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb" (Revelation 14:4). Beautiful and pointed though these metaphors may be, however, they in no wise lessen our responsibility to honor God with our own firstfruits. HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

December 23, 2012 We Can Know that We Know Him "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." (1 John 2:3) The apostle John's vocabulary in his gospel, epistles, and even in Revelation is quite distinctive. The verb "know," for example, occurs more in John than in any other gospel, and more in 1 John than in any other epistle. He emphasizes by this that the Christian life is based on knowledge. In the words of today's verse, for example, we can test the genuineness of our knowledge of Christ as Savior by whether or not we keep His commandments. Note some of the other tests listed in John in his first epistle, as follows: "Ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him" (1 John 2:29). "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (3:14). "Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us" (3:24). "But whoso keepeth |i.e., 'guards'| his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him" (2:5). "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (5:13). There are other similar "tests of life," but these make the point. A person who has been really born again through faith in Christ and His saving work can have assurance of his salvation, if he truly believes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; if he guards and honors God's Word; if he manifests the presence of the guiding, purifying Holy Spirit in his life; if he keeps His commandments and lives righteously, and if he manifests real love for his Christian brethren. This is not to say that if he fails one or more of these tests he is necessarily unsaved. There are, however, no grounds for real assurance of salvation without them. Therefore, as Paul suggests, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (2 Corinthians 13:5). HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH

Sunday Sermonette

December 16, 2012 God Is Faithful "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:9) When we place our trust in Jesus Christ as omnipotent Creator and gracious Redeemer, He then faithfully undertakes to provide everything we need to live an effective, fruitful, victorious Christian life. For example, when we are tempted to sin or are tested in any other way, "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13). In this connection, He undertakes to ground us firmly in His truth and to keep us from moral and spiritual harm. "The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil" (2 Thessalonians 3:3). When we do sin, however, He assures us that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). With all our failings, He has undertaken to eventually perfect us in Christ, and He faithfully will continue this until it is done. "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; . . . Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). All that He has promised, He will do. Even when we are unfaithful to Him, He remains faithful to us. "If we believe not [that is, 'are unfaithful'], yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). Today's verse above, assuring us of God's faithfulness, follows the promise that He will "confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8). Therefore, we seek also to be faithful. "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)" (Hebrews 10:23). HMM h/t: HENRY M MORRIS, INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH