FAITHFULNESS - God keeps His Word!

UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS! [Isaiah 55:11; Expectations]

Our Sunday evening song leader carefully and thoroughly prepared the congregation to learn a new chorus: “I Am the God that Healeth Thee,” by Don Moen. With a certain flourish, he pressed the PLAY button on the tape deck … suddenly the velvet-like tones of Dean Martin filled the sanctuary with “When the moon hits your eye, like a biga pizza pie … that’s amore!”

Life is like that … we all get lulled into false expectations and are surprised by the results.

Martha expected Jesus’ support but was humbled instead. [Luke 10:38-42] The Pharisees expected to trap the Lord with their conundrums but had the tables were turned on them instead. The lame man expected silver or gold but received healing instead. [Acts 3:1-8] And the rich man, because of his worldly success and wealth, expected to see heaven only to awaken to his worst nightmare. [Luke 16:19-31] Another rich man expected to live out his retirement satisfied with his good fortune, never suspecting his soul would be required of him that very night. [Luke 12:16-23]

The redeemed will do well not to count on anything this side of heaven … except that the Lord God Almighty will keep his word.

APOLOGETICS - I'm sorry but your wrong!

CONFUSING, ISN’T IT? [Genesis 11:1 & 9; Babel]

Back in 1993, the Trenton Times carried a story of “a 46-year-old Massachusetts man who walked away from a car accident with an unexpected problem: He spoke with a French accent.” This, they reported, is an example of “a rare neurological problem” known as Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a brain disorder caused by sudden head trauma. The phenomena has been documented “about two dozen times since 1907,” the article continued. [Parade, January 2, 1994]

Isn’t it amazing that the one field of study which continuously and persistently ridicules the faith of Jews and Christians is the same group which discovers and reports on phenomena (such as FAS) which tend to cast light upon the biblical stage? The Bible first says, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” Shortly thereafter, it says, “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth.”

MORE THAN A FOOTPRINT! [Isaiah 7:14; advent (both), Christmas, creation, signs (as in seekers of signs)]

Sometime ago someone shared with me that Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe needed just a single footprint in the sand to convince him: 1) that a two-footed human inhabited the island with him, 2) of the direction in which that inhabitant was going, 3) that the inhabitant had come from the opposite direction, 5) that the inhabitant was a man, 6) that he was alive, and 7) that he had recently passed this way.

The Creation as well as Christ's First Advent and His soon Second Coming have more evidence than this ... still, man insists on more evidence. Norman Geisler, a great Christian apologist, was right: "Many people suffer from a terminal case of unfalsifiable bias against the truth."


WHAT A FRIEND I HAVE! [Psalm 119; bible, scripture, word]

I’ve a friend (we’ll call him Jude) who’s been acquainted with another friend of mine (we’ll call him Ward) for about five years. In fact Ward has been my best friend for over twenty years.

Jude talks to me about Ward: he says there’re many things he likes about him but, bottom-line, he couldn’t be trusted. I asked him to explain why. He gave a few vague references to some negative things he had heard from other friends. He also mentioned a few mistakes Ward was supposed to have made which these other people had seen or heard about. I told Jude I didn’t think any of these accusations had any substance. But he countered, “Why would my friends lie to me?”

I also reminded Jude that I’ve known Ward for over twenty years and that he’s never let me down. I explained I’d never known him to be in error about anything unless it was a misunderstanding. I did admit some things he’d said had the appearance of error but they were apparent only. I added I had other friends and acquaintances who had know Ward all their lives and their testimony concerning him was matchless. Jude responded that I felt that way because I’d grown too close to him. He said he preferred to be more cautious.

I challenged him to join me with Ward and go over his concerns, taking them one by one to see what he would say about each of them. “No thanks,” Jude said. “You know Ward, you can make him say anything you want him to say.”

No matter how I reasoned with Jude, I couldn’t get him to see that he possessed a bias against truth which was unfalsifiable.

Many people are very much like my friend Jude, in their approach (or lack thereof) to the Word of God. No matter how you approach them, they are more convinced by rumors, myths, half-truths, and lies … after all, why would anyone lie to them about something as serious as the Bible?

FORGIVENESS: We've an endless supply, why so stingy?

IN THE END, NOTHING! [Jeremiah 2:22; Atonement, Cleansing, Sin]

Once in the Bureau of Standards in Washington, a tiny tube of [less] than 2/1000 of an ounce of radium was accidentally dropped on the floor and broken.

They swept up the radium with a camel's hair brush and washed the floor to get the rest of it, but enough radium remained to render another washing necessary, and this time they washed the floor with acidulated water, and still another time with soda water, and a fourth time with hydrated water.

Each yielded about four hundred dollars worth of radium. Finally a carpenter came and scraped the floor. Three years later the shavings were burnt and the ashes were found to be strong in radium. (Robert G. Lee, Salvation In Christ and Other Messages, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1961], 57)

'Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me,' declares the Lord GOD.

Jeremiah 2:22

The oldest game in the world is its endless effort to hide sin, change its appearance, change its name, or redefine it. Man is destined to have his sins revealed, as they truly are:

But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Numbers 32:23

But in Christ Jesus we have forgiveness of sins. The Bible says ...

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

And when we have been cleansed there will be no residue, absolutely no trace will be found; and when we finally face the fire, only the wood, hay, and stubble will be consummed. (Added 3/1/06)


WINDSHIELD WIPER SERMON [Isaiah 43:25; 44:22; other topics - Cleansing, Sin]

A friend relates a rainy day experience:

I was driving along one of our main streets, taking all those extra precautions which are necessary when the roads slick; unexpectedly, my son declared, "Mom, I’ve been thinking." This disclosure usually meant he had been pondering a fact for some time and was now ready to expound on all his seven-year-old mind had discovered.

Eager to hear, I asked, "What’ve you thinking?" "The rain is like sin," he began, "and the windshield wipers are like God, wiping our sins away."

After the goose bumps raced up my arms, I was able to respond, "That’s really good, Matthew." Then my curiosity cut in: how far would this little boy take this revelation? So I asked, "Have you noticed how the rain keeps coming? What does that tell you?"

Matthew didn’t hesitate for a moment, "We keep sinning and God just keeps on forgiving us." [Author Unknown]

Cleansing is a daily routine for civilized people. The old but unbiblical saying, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," has as its roots the desire of civilized people to feel free from daily contamination, whether major or minor. The Children of Israel were the first to adopt cleansing as a way of life; the Christians and other organized and civilized people followed suit.

John R. Rice used to tell the story of a man he visited on his death bed. At the first visit a friend ask the man "Is there something I can do? What can I do for you?" The man said, "No, there isn’t anything you can do." The next day the same thing, "Is there anything I can do?" "No, no," he said. A third and fourth time he asked. The man, in obvious weakness and discomfort, said, "No! No! No! There’s nothing anybody can do. But, oh, if there were only somebody who could undo!" [Adapted from - “The Shortest Road to Hell: NEGLECT!” John R. Rice, The Sword of the Lord, Vol. XXIV, No. 15; Friday, April 11, 1953; p. 5]

Man desires also to feel free of spiritual contamination. Billy Graham is most often cited as the source of the Minninger quote attributed to the institute’s founder. Apparently when asked what would heal mentally ill people the quickest, he responded, "Forgiveness!"

TAGS: Christian, Devotionals, Forgiveness,
Illustrations, Preaching, Religion, Sermons

Relativism

Six of One - Half-dozen of Another [Isaiah 55:6]

A giant sea turtle, which is on the international endangered species list, has been rescued from a floating Taoist temple in Hong Kong harbor. A local magistrate said the temple violated animal protection laws by keeping the turtle.

The giant sea turtle was being kept on the floating temple because the Taoists believed it had special powers for predicting typhoons. The temple master said the turtle was calm until the weather turned bad.

What troubles me most about this story is that the animal rights activists are no better or worse than the Taoists; both are creature worshipers; one actually, the other virtually.

Storm or calm, man is to turn to His Creator; and the only right worth defending is every man’s right to know His Creator. But how will they know, if no one goes to tell them; how will they go if no one is sent. [Romans 10:14,15]