Milo

4 JUNE (PREACHED 2 JUNE 1771)

A sad choice

‘And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.’ Genesis 13:10–11
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Luke 18:18–30

Lot’s choice: though he feared the Lord, his great possessions blinded his judgement. He made too light of the privilege of dwelling with Abraham and was more intent upon providing well for his cattle than for himself. Because the land of Sodom was well watered and fruitful, he went to reside there, though they were notoriously wicked. See what was the consequence—he was soon involved in the effects of war. He had not been long in Sodom before he was taken prisoner and lost all his flocks and herds which had occasioned the strife and had tempted him to take up his dwelling in a place where there was no fear of God. He recovered them afterwards, but this was owing to Abraham’s kindness, who forgot the slight put upon him and undertook his rescue. While he dwelt in Sodom his soul was daily grieved with the wickedness of the inhabitants [2 Peter 2:8], and while Abraham was honoured, he was despised, opposed and persecuted for his profession’s sake. At last he saw the place he had chosen destroyed with fire from heaven [Genesis 19:24] and he was glad to escape for his life, leaving all his substance behind him.
FOR MEDITATION:
How hurtful was the choice of Lot,
Yet still he seemed resolved to stay
Who took up his abode
As if it were his rest;
(Because it was a fruitful spot)
Although their sins from day to day
With them who feared not GOD!
His righteous soul distressed.

A prisoner he was quickly made,
Awhile he stayed with anxious mind,
Bereaved of all his store;
Exposed to scorn and strife;
And, but for Abraham’s timely aid,
At last he left his all behind,
He had returned no more.
And fled to save his life.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 25 [3/4], GENESIS 13:12–13

As many as received Him to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that
believe on His name. JOHN 1:12

Depersonalization, estrangement, isolation, the lonely crowd-these are the terms that characterize our age.

We play the role. We pretend that it doesn’t matter. But inside we’re alone, desperately alone. We seek acceptance and identity in strange ways. We join street gangs, organizations, societies, bridge clubs, peace marches, protest groups, country clubs, service associations, political parties and even churches.

Yet we remain dissatisfied, unfulfilled, unloved. Beneath our thin facade of sophistication we battle disconcerting doubts, haunting fears, and crippling anxieties. Silently we cry out for someone who will listen, who will understand, who will care.

Many of us conclude with the Psalmist of old, I look to the right and watch, but there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me, no man cares for me. (Psalm 142:4).

Is there, then, anyone who cares?
Is there perhaps someone beyond the world who cares?
Is there even anybody out there?

If there is, is it possible that He, the great infinite God of the universe, is even aware of the individual member of the species homo sapiens on His microscopic planet Earth, let alone concerned?

Jesus Christ-who, confessedly, must be a liar, a lunatic, a legend, or the truth-once asked, What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8: 36).

He plainly implies, in other words, that the soul of one man out values the combined worth of all the world’s treasures. He asked, moreover, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10: 29-31).

Not only is the God of the universe aware of us, He has numbered the hairs of our heads. To God, the individual matters, matters so much that, He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

To become one of “his own” you must abandon the facade and admit you, too are a lost sinner. You must repent of your sin, be willing to turn from it. You must invite Him to become your Shepherd, and your Lord.

You must ask Him to make you a child of the heavenly Father. You must believe that He will. To deny God’s ability or longing to meet your deepest needs is to deny the authority of His Son. It is to deny the unanimous
testimony of His children down through the centuries.

To accept His offer of love is to find your hope for real peace and real assurance in this age of insecurity. To do so is to find authentic personal identity. It is to find a Friend who has said, I will never fail you or forsake you.

Who cares? God does.
He sent His Son to die for you.
He raised His Son to live in you.
He brought this message to you.

In John 18:38, Pilate asked, “What is truth?” That question is one of the best questions asked in the entire Bible…and it was asked by an unbeliever. “What is truth?” The answer to this question is very important since various religions, secular movements, ideologies, etc., all claim to ultimately base their presuppositions on the answer to that question. Of course, in Christianity, we hold to the truth that Jesus is God in flesh (John 1:1,14; Col. 2:9), that He died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3-4), and that on the cross He bore our sins in his body (1 Pet. 2:24).
But truth to others can consist of believing there is no God, to believe God came from another planet (Mormonism), to God being an eternal divine essence emanating in the universe (New Age), to whatever other position that the human mind can conjure up. The problem is that they cannot all be true since truth does not contradict itself. God cannot be a man from another planet and NOT a man from another planet. We cannot have God exist and not exist.
So, what is truth? I like to say that truth is what corresponds to reality. Look at it this way. Reality exists. Reality is not an illusion (if it were, the statement “reality is an illusion” would be an illusion and not true). Therefore, truth is that which conforms to reality. Truth is not self contradictory and truth exists. Since truth exists and is not self contradictory, it is absolute. Therefore, what is absolutely true is that which corresponds to absolute reality.
Is it reality that Jesus is God? that He rose from the dead? that He walked on water? Yes, yes, and yes. Of course, there are those who will disagree with these statements. To do so, they would have to say that they are not ‘real,’ they are not true. But that is another subject for another time.
The Bible does not defend itself as the truth. It simply assumes it is the truth. It assumes that it is the revelation of God who is true and the creator of reality. It is self attesting and carries the prophecies, fulfillment, and history of Jesus who, according to the eyewitnesses, died and rose from the dead. The fact is that truth corresponds to reality in the Bible. The Disciples preached and taught based upon the resurrection. Their “truth” reflected the “reality” of Christ conquering death.
When Pilate asked “What is truth,” the answer could easily have been, Jesus is the truth (John 1:17; 16:4).

Answer: When one examines the biblical passages, it is clear that the flood was global. Genesis 7:11 states that “all of the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” It is apparent from Genesis 1:6-7 and 2:6 that the pre-flood environment was much different from that which we experience today. Based on these and other biblical descriptions, as well as the fossil record and present geological findings, it is reasonably speculated that at one time the earth was covered by some kind of water canopy. This canopy could have been a vapor canopy or could have consisted of rings, somewhat like Saturn’s ice rings. This, in combination with a major layer of water underground, both being released upon the land (Genesis 2:6) would have resulted in a global flood.

The clearest verses that show the extent of the flood are Genesis 7:19-23: “And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.”

In the above passage we not only find the word “all” being used repeatedly, but we also find phrases such as “and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered,” “the waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered” (enough to allow the ark to pass over them safely), and “all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man,” etc. If these descriptions are not meant to describe a universal flood covering the whole earth, I don’t know how God could have made it clearer. Also, if the flood was only localized, why did God instruct Noah to build an ark instead of merely causing the animals to migrate and telling Noah to do the same? And why did He instruct Noah to build an ark large enough to house all of the different kinds of land animals found on the earth today. One might note that even dinosaurs start out small, and it would not have been necessary for Noah to have brought fully grown animals onto the ark.

God did instruct Noah to put two of every land animal (aquatic wildlife was excluded) onto the ark (Genesis 6:19-22) with the exception of ceremonial clean animals and for all birds, of which he was to have seven of each kind on the ark (Genesis 7:2-3).

Peter also describes the universality of the flood in 2 Peter 3:6-7 in which he states: “by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” In these verses Peter compares the “universal” coming judgment to the flood of Noah’s time and states that the world that then existed was flooded with water. Also, God’s promise (Genesis 8:21; 9:11, 15) never again to send such a flood has been broken repeatedly if it were only a local flood. Further, all men in the world today are said to have descended from Noah’s three sons (Genesis 9:1, 19) and many later Biblical writers accepted the historicity of the worldwide Flood (Isaiah 54:9; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 11:7). Lastly, the Lord Jesus Christ believed in the universal Flood and took it as the type of the coming destruction of the world when He returns (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26, 27).

There are many extra-biblical evidences that point to a worldwide catastrophe such as a global flood. The vast fossil graveyards found on every continent, the large amount of coal deposits that would require the rapid covering of vast quantities of vegetation, the fact that oceanic fossils are found upon mountain tops around the world, the over 270 flood stories from all parts of the world, and the large extent of geological formations showing vast layers of sedimentary deposits (including those found in the Grand Canyon) all lend credence to the occurrence of a global flood.

June 3rd

The secret of the Lord

The secret (friendship R.V.) of the Lord is with them that fear Him. Psalm 25:14.

What is the sign of a friend? That he tells you secret sorrows? No, that he tells you secret joys. Many will confide to you their secret sorrows, but the last mark of intimacy is to confide secret joys. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys, or are we telling God our secrets so continually that we leave no room for Him to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God, then we find that God wants to get us into relationship with Himself, to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so wedded to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer—“Thy will be done”—that we catch the secrets of God? The things that make God dear to us are not so much His great big blessings as the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us; He knows every detail of our individual lives.
“… him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose.” At first we want the consciousness of being guided by God, then as we go on we live so much in the consciousness of God that we do not need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing any other will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified God guides us by our ordinary choices, and if we are going to choose what He does not want, He will check, and we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never reason it out and say—‘I wonder why I shouldn’t?’ God instructs us in what we choose, that is, He guides our common sense, and we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually saying—‘Now, Lord, what is Thy will?’