Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080713.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VII: Explaining God's Plan To Bless Men Regardless Of Apostasy
G. Man's Great Need To Revere And Trust God ACUTELY Illustrated
(Genesis 18:1-19:38)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Disorder, indecency and stress afflict many in society, including many Christians, raising the question if anyone can be at peace today:

(1) A teacher in an area middle school has told me how the State's legal shackling of teachers and administrators against curbing undisciplined acts of students is leading to great disorder in the school!

He also reports that not only have some of the students practiced every kind of vice, but others along with their parents claim to be "pagans" who reject all gods and worship only nature's elements!

(2) Also, many public schools now teach students in the lower grades that same gender marital unions are upright regardless of even the opinion of a majority of American voters to the contrary!

(3) Disorder exists in legal circles, too! On the Judge Judy TV show last Tuesday, July 8th, a defendant admitted he called the Child Protection Services on the plaintiff to get even for her alleged wrong against him involving a car. Judge Judy called this "outrageous!" and fined him $1,000 for causing the agency to investigate his bogus call!

(4) Churches are not immune to disorder and indecency, either: Dr. John F. MacArthur, Jr. reported that a big, well-known church in the heart of America's Bible belt had its pastoral staff stage a wrestling match in a Sunday service where they threw each another around the ring, pulling hair and kicking shins! (MacArthur, Jr., "How Shall We Then Worship?" in John H. Armstrong, gen. ed., The Coming Evangelical Crisis, 1996, p. 175-176 in citing E. Gustav Niebuhr, "Mighty Fortress: Megachurches Strive to Be All Things to All Parishioners," Wall Street Journal, 13 May, 1991, A:6)

(5) I have also heard reports of many dysfunctional marriages and divorces in large churches both on the East and West coasts!

(6) Along with such disorder and indecency, stress is mounting: the July 10, 2008 Forbes magazine web site listed America's top five growing jobs, and, behind the job growth of in oil, gas and aircraft assembly fields, the next fastest growing job in America is counseling!

Indeed, in a recent Yahoo.com report on America's best cities for couples, as a priority, cities were chosen for the list that had the largest number of counselors available to help keep marriages healthy!

So, one may ask, "What is behind the increasing disorder, indecency and stress in today's world, and what is the solution?!"

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "In view of the great disorder, indecency and stress in our world, what causes it, and what is the solution?!"
  1. We read in Genesis 17 that "El Shaddai," the Creator God of male (El) and female (Shaddai) fertility, in ORDER, DECENCY and PEACE, would give Abraham and his wife a son in their old age.
  2. Well, Abraham, the men of Sodom and Lot and his family all made DIFFERENT CHOICES on REVERING and TRUSTING in THIS Creator God, "EL SHADDAI," Genesis 14:21-23; 13:10-13, et al.:
    1. Abraham chose to revere and live by faith in El Shaddai, including his refusal to associate with Sodom's evil king, Genesis 12:1-5; 14:21-23.
    2. The men of Sodom lived in the lush Jordan Valley where they did not see any need to trust in El Shaddai, so they turned very evil, 13:11-13.
    3. Though Lot was righteous, and fretted over the evil of Sodom (2 Peter 2:7-8), he with his family chose live there to rely on its lush growth versus having to trust El Shaddai in famines, Genesis 13:10-12.
  3. These CHOICES regarding REVERING and TRUSTING "EL SHADDAI" DIRECTLY affected the ORDER, DECENCY and PEACE each party involved came to experience, Gen. 18:1-19:38:
    1. For greatly revering and trusting the Genesis 17 El Shaddai, Abraham knew great decency, order and blessing in Genesis 18 and 19:27-28:
      1. For revering and trusting the Genesis 17 El Shaddai, Abraham was hospitable to Him and His angels who met him in Genesis 18:1-8.
      2. As a reward, El Shaddai, Creator of male and female and fertility, promised to give Abraham and Sarah a son in one year, 18:9-15.
      3. Abraham also obtained great insight and knew great intercessory power with El Shaddai in fulfilling fellowship (18:16-33), and he only saw the evidence of El Shaddai's wrath on Sodom, 19:27-28.
    2. For not revering and trusting the Genesis 17 El Shaddai, the men of Sodom knew great indecency, disorder, and judgment in Genesis 19:
      1. For not revering and trusting the Genesis 17 El Shaddai, the men of Sodom were inhospitable and intended to abuse His angels, 19:1-5.
      2. El Shaddai's angels thus made the men of Sodom blind to keep them from this intended atrocity, and to slay them with fire and brimstone especially for their perversity, Genesis 19:10-13, 24-25:
        1. Gay supporters say that what made the act the Sodomites willed to do a sin was that it was forced, not that it was homosexual.
        2. However, (1) as the Genesis 17 El Shaddai, the Creator of both male and female and their respective fertility, God would have been infuriated not only by the force involved, but by the abuse of His natural order set at creation, Genesis 2:24! (2) For this reason, Jude 7 holds God rained fire and brimstone on Sodom to make those who [lit.] "go after strange flesh", i.e., those having "unnatural" affections and unions aside from the Genesis 2:24 order, be an example of all who suffer His judgment of eternal fire, Arndt & Ging., A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1957, p. 84.
        3. So, El Shaddai slew the men of Sodom with fire and brimstone akin to His destruction of eternal fire to show His hatred not only for their intended forced violence, but especially for their perversion of His created natural order!
    3. For compromising reverence for and trust in El Shaddai via Sodom's influence, Lot and his family experienced a painful mix of both the good and the terrible in terms of order and decency, Genesis 19:1-38:
      1. Lot revered and trusted El Shaddai, seen in his hospitality to the angels, but he compromised this with Sodom's evil as evidenced by offering his daughters in place of his guests to be abused, 19:6-9!
      2. El Shaddai graciously heeded Abraham's intercession for Lot to save him and his family from the men of Sodom, and to warn them to flee from the city to avoid divine judgment, Genesis 19:10-14.
      3. Lot and his kin were so morally weakened by their stay in Sodom that the angels had to work hard to get them to safety, 19:15-23.
      4. Lot's wife came to love Sodom, so she looked back longingly at it, and the Genesis 17 El Shaddai Who did not tolerate Sodom's abuse of His natural order turned her into a pillar of salt, Genesis 19:26.
      5. Though El Shaddai's judgment had fallen, Sodom's sin still swayed Lot's daughters: they got him drunk, and by him incestuously bare him two sons, Genesis 19:30-38. Their sin tragically exceeded the Genesis 9:22 sin that Ham had committed against his father, Noah!
Application: In a world that greatly needs order, decency and peace, (1) may we revere and trust in Abraham's El Shaddai, Jesus Christ, for salvation from sin, John 3:16; 8:56-58. (2) Then, may we follow Abraham's example to (a) separate from vile apostates and (b) pray for the weak (3) to enjoy God's blessed order, decency and peace!

Lesson: To the DEGREE that each revered and trusted El Shaddai, Abraham, the men of Sodom and Lot and his family knew the same DEGREE or its LACK of ORDER, DECENCY and PEACE in their lives.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

Following our last Sunday evening service, one of our members gave me a note that had a printed saying on it by Sharon Fink of Central Point, Oregon. I cite it as follows:

"Feed me, Lord, Solid food that nourishes my heart. Everlasting food from Your Word, food that doesn't put me on emotional highs and lows. Soul food, heavenly food, the Bread of Life and Water from your well.

Feed me the life-changing meat of your Word to build my spiritual muscles and give me a strong heart. Food that will give me strength to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint.

Feed me, Lord, Bread of heaven. Feed me till I want no more."

Added to the note at the bottom of the page were the words, "I guess we will only stop wanting when we get to Heaven!"

However, at the top of the page, this member had written: "Pastor Shell -- This reminds me of what you help the Lord do for us!"

This member had expressed gratefulness for the Lord's work to feed the Church through this ministry of the exposition of His Word.

This is a remarkable statement in view of the fact that the party who added these words has experienced serious trials in life. To think that God has been encouraging this one in our ministry of the Word amid the challenges faced, and that in a world that knows so much indecency, disorder and sinful rebellion with its resulting stress testifies of the ability of the God of Abraham to bless us in our stressed generation just as he blessed Abraham in his day.



In view of the massive disorder, indecency and stress many face, may we FULLY REVERE and TRUST the God of Scripture for richest BLESSING in the MIDST of our TROUBLED world! May we find in HIM all we need for FULFILLMENT just like Abraham found in his needy era!