![\"Living](\"http:\/\/www.all-creatures.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/lambleft.jpg\")
<\/a>A Sermon Delivered to<\/p>\n
The Compassion Internet Church<\/p>\n
20 October 2013<\/p>\n
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor<\/p>\n
Scripture References:<\/p>\n
Psalm 19:1-14
\nJeremiah 31:27-34
\nLuke 18:1-8
\nRomans 1:20<\/p>\n
Relatively few people seem to be living in God\u2019s heavenly will.<\/p>\n
We hear from people all the time who see the almost unbelievable and seemingly unending cruelty inflicted upon animals in the world, and question why God isn\u2019t doing anything to end it.<\/p>\n
And many of them are losing their faith in God because of it, but at the same time they continue to do everything in their power to end the cruelty.<\/p>\n
The odd fact is that this is exactly what God commanded us to do when He gave us rule and dominion over the animals in the world in the last paragraph of Genesis 1:26-31.<\/p>\n
This is our command to protect the animals from all evil and harm.<\/p>\n
This is living in God\u2019s heavenly will.<\/p>\n
The other side of the coin is that most of the Christians, who claim to have a strong belief and faith in God, are the ones who are also major contributors of the infliction of the pain, suffering and death upon the animals, which in turn is turning others away from the church and God.<\/p>\n
In Psalm 19:1-14, we are given a look at God\u2019s creation in the way that we should see it from His creation intent, which is also God\u2019s heavenly will.<\/p>\n
1. The heavens declare the glory of God;
\nthe skies proclaim the work of His hands.<\/p>\n
2. Day after day they pour forth speech;
\nnight after night they display knowledge.<\/p>\n
Our space telescopes and scientists have shown us that the extent of God\u2019s creation is seemingly endless, for every time they think they know the size of the universe, they find something even farther away.<\/p>\n
This is just one of the ways that God shows us that there is no end of His magnificence and glory.<\/p>\n
God has no limits.<\/p>\n
3. There is no speech or language
\nwhere their voice is not heard.<\/p>\n
If we are not open to hearing God\u2019s heavenly will and creation intent, God\u2019s voice will not be heard, even though it is streaming out all around us, just like radio and television signals are all around us.<\/p>\n
Unless we are willing to turn our receivers on to hear God\u2019s voice, instead of our fellow human beings who lead us astray, we will not hear Him any more than we can hear the radio or watch television, if we don\u2019t turn them on.<\/p>\n
4. Their voice goes out into all the earth,
\ntheir words to the ends of the world.
\nIn the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun,<\/p>\n
5. which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
\nlike a champion rejoicing to run his course.<\/p>\n
6. It rises at one end of the heavens
\nand makes its circuit to the other;
\nnothing is hidden from its heat.<\/p>\n
The movement of the earth around its axis and the sun is just as easy to understand as God\u2019s voice, but we have to be willing to listen.<\/p>\n
7. The law of the LORD is perfect,
\nreviving the soul.
\nThe statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
\nmaking wise the simple.<\/p>\n
The psalmist is telling us that our understanding of God\u2019s heavenly will and creation intent is not too difficult to comprehend.<\/p>\n
8. The precepts of the LORD are right,
\ngiving joy to the heart.
\nThe commands of the LORD are radiant,
\ngiving light to the eyes.<\/p>\n
9. The fear of the LORD is pure,
\nenduring forever.
\nThe ordinances of the LORD are sure
\nand altogether righteous.<\/p>\n
In other words, we really don\u2019t have an excuse for not understanding these things for they are all around us and right in front of our eyes.<\/p>\n
10. They are more precious than gold,
\nthan much pure gold;
\nthey are sweeter than honey,
\nthan honey from the comb.<\/p>\n
The psalmist isn\u2019t telling us to harm bees by eating their honey; he is just using the sweetest thing in his day to describe the preciousness of God\u2019s words.<\/p>\n
And with this understanding, the psalmist looks inwardly at himself.<\/p>\n
11. By them is your servant warned;
\nin keeping them there is great reward.<\/p>\n
12. Who can discern his errors?
\nForgive my hidden faults.<\/p>\n
13. Keep your servant also from willful sins;
\nmay they not rule over me.
\nThen will I be blameless,
\ninnocent of great transgression.<\/p>\n
14. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
\nbe pleasing in your sight,
\nO LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
\nNIV<\/p>\n
This should be a constant prayer of our heart, mind and soul all the days of our lives.<\/p>\n
This is living in God\u2019s heavenly will.<\/p>\n
Paul picks up on this psalmist\u2019s theme, and summarizes it in one verse: Romans 1:20.<\/p>\n
20. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
\nNASB<\/p>\n
Yes, we are without excuse if we don\u2019t understand these things, and continue to turn away from God, or corrupt His beautiful creation, or intentionally harm any of His created beings.<\/p>\n
In Jeremiah 31:27-34, Jeremiah writes about God\u2019s eternal desire for His people, if we will listen.<\/p>\n
27. “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.<\/p>\n
28. “And it will come about that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy, and to bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.<\/p>\n
29. “In those days they will not say again,
\nThe fathers have eaten sour grapes,
\nAnd the children’s teeth are set on edge.’<\/p>\n
Jeremiah wrote this about 2,500 years ago, and this message of God\u2019s heavenly will, His desire for us, was not new then, and it is still true today.<\/p>\n
Since the very beginning of creation, God has always wanted to do good things for us and the rest of creation.<\/p>\n
This is God\u2019s heavenly will.<\/p>\n
We need to constantly remember that after God had created everything, He looked back upon everything He had made and declared it to be very good.<\/p>\n
This has never changed.<\/p>\n
Human beings have changed by turning away from God\u2019s heavenly will and creation intent.<\/p>\n
30. “But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.<\/p>\n
This is also the state of the world today, and explains why there is so much evil in the world around us.<\/p>\n
31. “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,<\/p>\n
32. not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.<\/p>\n
33. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.<\/p>\n
34. “And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
\nNASB<\/p>\n
This has always been God\u2019s heavenly will for our lives, but the vast majority of people keep turning away from the Lord and following the ways of the world.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s continue our discussion of living in God\u2019s heavenly will as we look at Luke 18:1-8.<\/p>\n
1. Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,<\/p>\n
This is exactly what is happening to many of the people who see all the evil in this world, particularly the atrocities committed upon animals, which we talked about in the beginning of this study.<\/p>\n
2. saying, “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, and did not respect man.<\/p>\n
3. “And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’<\/p>\n
This is very much what it\u2019s like to convince politicians to pass legislation to protect all animals from human indifference and outright cruelty.<\/p>\n
4. “And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man,<\/p>\n
5. yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wear me out.’ ”<\/p>\n
This is why we need to keep the pressure on in our efforts to end the cruelty in the world around us, but at the same time we also need to pray.<\/p>\n
6. And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said;<\/p>\n
7. now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?<\/p>\n
8. “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
\nNASB<\/p>\n
This is God\u2019s heavenly will for us and the whole of His creation.<\/p>\n
Even we stumble over the word \u201cspeedily\u201d when we think about the horrible suffering of the animals and how long it has been going on, or of the warring madness that always seems to plague our society.<\/p>\n
But we continue to pray and work to free creation from its present corruption, for we know that God\u2019s time is not our time.<\/p>\n
And, we also pray fervently for Jesus to return and usher in His peaceable Kingdom forever and ever, for this is also a part of living in God\u2019s heavenly will.<\/p>\n
Amen.<\/p>\n
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