BAC Sermons
Satan Sows Soporific Seed |
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2004-09-12 | Mt 13 |
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 "but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 "But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 "So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 "He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 "But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."‘"
37 He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 "The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 "and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
I. Satan specializes in deception and counterfeits.Anyone who denies his work is naïve & DUI (Demonically Unconsciously Influenced). Denial and fakes are his stock and trade. He will attack truth with roaring denials and stealthy fakes (humanists, cults, liberal dead theology)
A. Denials: Evolution; no flood; billions of years; reliability of Scriptures; holiness, goodness, and trustworthiness of the Creator God
B. Counterfeits: Distorted history (prehistoric man); Deceptive history (Gilgamesh, Sumerian and Egyptian parallel accounts); Dates
II. Something is True if it reflects realityTruth = best explains all the facts; Infinite truth transcends time and culture (absolute)
A. The only way a finite being can know infinite Truth (where we came from, future) is if an infinite being reveals it to him 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day
B. Is there any evidence for an infinite being? Either something came from nothing or something is infinite (not the universe) 1st Law of Thermodynamics=Conservation of Energy/Matter; 2nd Law= entropy, move toward randomness, higher to lower energy state
C. Proof: Scientific = observable, repeatable, controlled environment; Legal/Historical= eyewitness testimony, exhibit A evidence.
III. Supreme Being with ability to Create would have the power to Communicate and preserve it so the intended audience could get it.
A . Reliability 10 Classical authors: 1000 yr gap, avg 10 MSS, 95% accurate; NT 10k MSS, 100-300 gap. Prophecy. Dead Sea Scrolls, moved us from AD900 to 250BC copies of events 600BC. Scroll of Isaiah, 99.5% accuracy Ch 53 17 characters. 10-4-3
B. Bible Time line: Creation: 4004BC; Flood ~3000BC; First Civilizations didn’t appear until 3000BC; Exodus ~1500 (1441)BC Sumerian King lists (1000 yr gap): 8 Kings before Deluge 36,000 yr reigns (no Adam nor Noah) base 60~1k yrs . Monotheistic Pharaoh
Myth (story explaining the world-view of a culture, usually cartoonish) vs Religion (system of worship of Creator or Ultimate Reality)
We would expect that spokesman for the supernatural would validate their claim with super-natural evidence (miracles).
C. Young Earth A. How do you catch a wooly mammoth? Lost Squadron=250 ft of ice in layers in 50 years.
B. How do you fossilize a jellyfish? Mt St. Helen = 30 feet of +100,000 layers in 3hours. Particles sort in layers in water flow.
C. Radiodating Mt St Helen 10 yr old rock dated at 350k-2.8mm yrs old, also NZ. Wood in lava –AIG,
16 Unproven assumptions http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/06dat6.htm; 5000(150) See also The Genesis Record by Morris. Resource: OLB Library; Creationism; Refuting Evolution (Sarfati, AIG); Chapter 8-How Old is the Earth
Questions for Reflection/Discussion/Response:1. Why are folks so willing to embrace an unproven “unscientific science” that contradicts everything we can prove about science? 2. How does someone usually differentiate fact from fiction? How to concepts differ from conclusions and convictions? 3. How can you safeguard yourself from Satan’s deceptions and counterfeits? |