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