17 September 2006: THE ARROGANCE OF MAN’S HEART – The Power of God’s heart!

TOPIC: Sovereignty – omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, transcendence
TITLE: THE ARROGANCE OF MAN’S HEART – The Power of God’s heart!
TEXT: Obadiah 1:1-4

The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom – We have heard a report from the LORD, and an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, "Arise and let us go against her for battle – Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you are greatly despised. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, 'Who will bring me down to earth?' Though you build high like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What then may we conclude about God’s enemies - the Edomites of the world?
CONCISE OUTLINE:

I. Nations or Men Are Seen Through the Same Glass By God.
II. No Matter the Heights They Achieve, It's Not High Enough to Avoid God’s Justice.
III. No Matter Where or When They Think They Are Unseen, God ...

A. Sees all [Hebrews 4:12]
B. And can destroy all

IV. Since God Is Unchangeable [immutable]

A. Our Edomites are under the same rules as Edomites of Obadiah's day
B. Our Edomites will reap what they've sown against His children

TRUTH/CONTEXT: There is a need for reassurance in the Church today.

• As I have said before the world out there is a mess ... but our God isn't!
• The world is weak from sin ... but our God isn’t!
• The Bride may be weak and ineffective ... but our God is not!
• Our nations may be torn and tattered from the world, the flesh and the devil ... but our God is not!

In fact, all that we are in weakness and un-righteousness ... our God is not!

The bible tells us: “If God is for us, who is against us?” It says even if all the nations of the world are aligned against us: “Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world!” And it reminds us though the war may are ours, though there may be many battles, and though we may lose many, our God has not lost one ... for He proclaims the battle may be yours but the victory is mine. [Proverbs 21:31]

[KILLER RABBITS] A counselor at church camp had an experience with a nine-year-old boy who started to cry when they turned out the cabin lights the first night.

"Was he afraid of the dark?" another counselor asked. "No," he replied; "he just didn't want to be attacked by the 'killer rabbits.'" Some older campers had told him there were killer rabbits in the woods that came out at night and ate newbie-campers.

We can spend so much time warning the flock about the dangers of being a Christian that we scare the heck out of them or breed a sense of hopelessness. It’s sort of Good News on day one, and bad news from there on out!

Jesus constantly reassured His disciples to "Fear not." When we trace this throughout the Bible, it seems one of man's constant needs is to be reassured of the presence, power, knowledge, and sovereignty of our God.

Watch out for "killer rabbits!" They can destroy your peace of mind throughout life.

Edom is the name given to Esau after Jacob fled from his father’s house out of fear of his twin [Note: these guys were in their eighties].

Esau founded the land of Idumea or Edom, which is south of the Dead Sea and north of the Gulf of Agabah, but east, not west, of the line between the two in what is known as Jordan today.

Follow along with the text –

VERSE ONE: More of a vision, a mental sensation while awake as opposed to a dream while asleep; Obadiah {Jah (God) Server}. He was minding his own business and God put up some real Power Points for him to see.

God has made a call for all Edom’s neighbors to join in the destruction Esau’s destruction.

Remember, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” [Romans 9:13]

VERSE TWO: Note the future tense in the first clause and the past tense in the latter. "God attributes to Himself the rise and fall of nations." [Clarke]

Thus, Edom will be small but is already despised. Some versions have both in the past tense.

VERSE THREE: Their presumptuousness and arrogance of their inner man (heart) has deceived the Idumeans.

Take thought of what it must be like to realize you are despised by God. God's threat is to knock Idumea down to size.

They are troglodytes or cave dwellers. Their caves are situated for height (loftiness) and security ... i.e., strongholds.

VERSE FOUR: Like Satan they are lifted up in pride thinking there is no thing and no one who can knock them off their perch to the ground.

Though they soar like the eagle, though they place their nest in the heavens (among the stars), from there God will emphatically throw them down, so saith Jehovah (YHWH).

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What then may we conclude about God’s enemies - the Edomites of the world?
EXPANDED OUTLINE:

I. Nations or men are Seen Through the Same Glass by God

A. He judges both

1. at the same bar and
2. with the same scale;

B. What is true for a man is true of a nation, and vice versa.

II. No Matter the Height They Achieve, It's Not High Enough to Avoid God’s Justice

III. No Matter Where or When They Think They Are Unseen, God

A. Sees all [Hebrews 4:12];
B. And can destroy all

1. like an eagle's nest in the top of the trees.
2. God will bring them down from there.

IV. And So Since God Is Unchangeable [Immutablity]

A. The Edomites of our day are no better off than the Edomites of Obadiah’s day.
B. What they have sown against His children in the midst of their disaster, they will reap.

[REAPING] The farmer who plants certain seeds knows what to expect. He knows he will reap what he sows. He may not know exactly how many bushels of corn he'll get to an acre, but he knows it will all be the result of the seeds he planted.

That is an unbreakable law of nature: man reaps what he sows, but he can never know exactly how much the harvest will be.

This also holds true in the spiritual realm. We find immutable laws of sowing and reaping there also.

I know some people try to deny the existence of the Kingdom of God. They are like moles which are ignorant of the existence of the sunlit world because they are blind.

Today’s Edomites may deny that God will deliver a bumper crop of wrath for the evil they have sown; but He will, all the same.

APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: Jesus tells us in Matthew 10 ...

"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Paul says in Romans 8:38-39 ...

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to sepa-rate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

James says …

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Submit to God, draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you.!”

Concluding truths for God’s enemies from verses 5-15 ...

1. Burglars (inside) can't take all possessions, but God can. [v. 5a]
2. Rustlers (outside) won't take all cattle, but God can. [v.5b]
3. The will be stripped of all he has. [v.6]
4. Their allies will betray them on the front line [v.7a]; and their peaceful neighbors will attack and defeat them [v.7b]; and those who sit at their table will jump them from behind [v.7c]; and they will not understand or anticipate what is happening [v.7d].
5. Those who are brothers by blood to the Children of God will be shamed on Judgment Day and will be banished to Hell forever. [v.10]
6. Even if they don't directly participate in the ruin of Israel, they will be considered as one with them by God. [v.11]
7. It is a bad to stand and watch and do nothing as to join in. [vv. 10, 11]
8. Three forbidden observational actions [v.12]: gloat on Israel's "day of ... misfortune"; don't rejoice over Israel's "day of destruction"; don't boast in "the day of distress."
9. Three forbidden direct actions [v.13]: join in; take opportunity with communal property; or loot their personal property "the day of their disaster."
10. Two forbidden post-defeat actions [v.14]: lurk behind the lines to slay or imprison their survivors.
11. "For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations." [v.15a]

To summarize the application for God’s children ...

1. No matter how the enemy comes against us, God knows who they are! [Omniscience]
2. No matter how they come against us, God will thwart them! [Om-nipotence]
3. No matter their powers or positions, they won't go unnoticed! [sev-eral: Omniscience, Omnipotence, Sovereignty; Hebrews 4:12]
4. No matter how big they build their fortifications, they protect can't themselves! [Omnipotence]
5. No matter where they build their fortifications, they cannot prevent God! [Omnipotence]
6. No matter what they build their fortifications with, they cannot stop God! [Omnipotence, Omniscience]
7. No matter how many join him, God is not surprised! [Sovereignty]
8. No matter how many battles they win, God remains victorious! [Deity, Perfection, Omnipotence]
9. No matter how big they get in their own eyes, God "will make them small among the nations" and they will be "greatly despised."
10. No matter how they acquire the "arrogance" of their inner man, it will deceive them.
11. No matter where they hide from Him, He will find them.
12. No matter man's ability to defeat him, God will!
13. No matter where they establish their kingdom, God "will throw them down."

Are you one of God’s children? Well, ain’t that encouraging?

Don’t you feel better knowing that God knows all and is over all? I do!

LET THE ENEMY COME!
GREATER IS HE WHO IS IN ME THAN HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD!
AMEN!

RELATED LINKS: SHEEP'S CRIB SERMONS

SPECIFIC TAGS: Attributes, Enemies of God,
Obadiah, Sovereignty

GENERAL TAGS: Homoletics, Preaching, Sermons

10 September 2006: FAMINE OF THE HEARD WORD – Not of Eating and Drinking!

TOPIC: Word (of God); Apostasy, End Times, Faith, Famine, Scripture
TITLE: FAMINE OF THE HEARD WORD – Not of Eating and Drinking!
TEXT: Amos 8:11-12

Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD. People will stagger from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What may we learn from Amos and the Israelites?
CONCISE OUTLINE:

I. THE REALITY OF THE PAST!
II. THE REALITY OF THE PRESENT!
III. THE REALITY OF THE FUTURE!

TRUTH/CONTEXT: What we have here is a sheepherder and fig grower … not “a prophet or the son of a prophet” [7:14]; a contemporary of Hosea in the north and of Isaiah and Micah in the south. His messages were to the Northern Kingdom, even though he was a Judean.

The bible tells us …

… the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:17

How do we find this righteousness, peace, and joy? God is not here to tell us! There are no Johns the Baptists, no prophets, no apostles, no Pauls, no seers, no diviners … how are we to find these things?

Clearly the only revelation we have is His revelation, the Scriptures Old and New!

I must admit I’m somewhat surprised by the lack of concern here … a kind of “que sera, sera”! What ever will be, will be!

After all the Scripture says, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment …” [Hebrews 9:27].

More and more we see people who are unable to understand the Scriptures ... why is that?

The world seems to be on an unstoppable journey to destruction and yet the Bride is silent … lives are lost and slip into Hell at an ever increasing rate; few are earnestly trying to prevent their eternal damnation!

People have been calling this the post-Christian era; that offends me. How could that be with over 80% of those surveyed saying they have an abiding faith in God?

Yet, more than half of those have never read the Bible, couldn’t tell you where Amos is located, nor could they to which category of Old Testament literature his prophecy belongs, and probably can’t tell you what you must do to be saved.

For example …

[SALT] Now we have Newsweek's mia culpa ...

Correction: In the original version of this report, NEWSWEEK misquoted Falwell as referring to "assault ministry." In fact, Falwell was referring to "a salt ministry"—a reference to Matthew 5:13, where Jesus says "Ye are the salt of the earth." We regret the error.

That's hilarious, where can I enlist for that ministry? But the point is that the reporter and the editors of a major magazine didn't recognize one of the most often quoted verses in the bible.

I have noticed a phenomena in this age … people don’t like to read like they used to. Bible reading has suffered the most from this, in my opinion …

[John Mark Reynolds] If we love God, then we will love His book. Why would we want someone else to read it for us? Why would we want someone else to tell us what it means when we could unlock those precious truths for ourselves?

The “post literate” Christian has turned over his theology to someone else. He could not possibly check the abuses of his leaders nor could he gain the joys of the text on his own. Both joys and sorrows will come from his masters who tell him what God’s word says. Why would any Christian do this?

God doesn’t have to send the famine upon us, we have imposed it upon ourselves.

Here we are living in a post-Christian era, evidently in a post-literate state; all the while standing in the shadow of judgment.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What may we learn from Amos & the Israelites?
EXPANDED OUTLINE:

I. THE REALITY OF THE PAST!

A. The bible tells us to learn from the Old Testament …

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

1 Corinthians 10:11

B. The context of Paul’s teaching was the wilderness experience.

C. And then in the days of Samuel’s youth when Eli’s sons were blaspheming the temple …

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 3:1

D. And in the days of Ezekiel …

Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders.

Ezekiel 7:26

II. THE REALITY OF THE PRESENT!

A. Judgment comes swiftly from God, not as man measures time however; thus the present to God is eternity past to eternity future.

B. The Jews would become wanderers (i.e., Wandering Jew).

We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, nor is there any among us who knows how long.

Psalm 74:9

C. So we don’t know when or for how long; but the evidence is everywhere seen, just as in the days of Amos and David.

D. It takes a great deal of mental gymnastics to deny the reality of the present.

E. Notice how Amos’ contemporary sees it ….

The seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be embarrassed. Indeed, they will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.

Micah 3:7

F. Is that not a picture of our day?

III. THE REALITY OF THE FUTURE!

Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.

Amos 8:11

Therefore it will be night for you -- without vision and darkness for you -- without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will become dark over them. The seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be embarrassed. Indeed, they will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.

Micah 3:6-7

A. J. Vernon McGee said …

“Amos … declared that all nations were responsible to Him. The measure of responsibility is created by the light which a nation has. … In a day of prosperity, he pronounced judgment. [The] judgment of God await[s] nations living in luxury and lolling in immorality.”

B. This was written close to 30 years ago, before the world’s developed nations became debauched.

C. And He said to the disciples,

"The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.”

Luke 17:22

D. Amos is famous (smile: “Famous Amos”) for his plumbline, a prophetic reference to the coming of the Meshua, Jesus Christ.

Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold I am about to put a plumb line. In the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer.

Amos 7:7-8

E. Jesus Christ has now come and gone; but the plumbline remains.

APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: I’m concerned this is now; haven’t we all noticed the lack of …

• Faith (i.e., an absence of “hearing”)?
• Knowledge of the word?
• A hunger for the word?
• An ability to apply what is heard?
• Obedience to the Word?

The book of Hebrews opens with this …

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

Hebrews 1:1-2

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard ….

Hebrews 2:1-3

Hebrews then quickly turns to an admonition to avoid being like the Israelites who tested God in the wilderness and thus suffering the same fate [Hebrews 3].

Our text says …

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD.”

How does this affect us?

So faith comes by hearing, and hearing [comes] by the word [Gk., rhema] of Christ.

Romans 10:17

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Ephesians 2:8

[DUST] Years ago Kitty Wells sang an old Americana standard "Dust On The Bible" (Kitty Wells, © MCA 1992). Need I say more?

The reproach to God is not that your bible goes unread, but that you dust it like any other piece of furniture!

GENERAL TAGS: Homoletics, Preaching, Sermons
SPECIFIC TAGS: Amos, Illumination, Word