Sermon for the Sullivan SDA Church
June
8th, 2002
Sermon for the Bourbon SDA Church
June
29th, 2002
The 2nd
law of Thermodynamics
And
the Plan of Salvation
John 15:1-6
“I am the true
vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.2 “Every branch in Me
that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He
prunes, that it may bear more fruit.3 “You are
already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in
Me.5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He
who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do
nothing.6 “If anyone does not abide in Me,
he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them
into the fire, and they are burned.[1]
Kids ask "why" until it drives you crazy!
I
wish to avoid "The Whichness of Why" or, The philosophical reduction of an argument to the
absurd.
I'm
going to introduce some "school room" things into the spiritual
realm. This may be painful, and upset you because it appears that I'm mixing
the common and profane with the holy and spiritual. But we must understand that everything we encounter whether it be
hard reality, or the workings of the mind are part of the creation, and exist
in their present state because of the "Great controversy" that is
going on in the universe this very moment.
Some basic Ideas:
God exists
God
decided to create peoples to populate the worlds of the universe.
Or if you want to keep it local, God decided to
create man on this planet.
There
are the technical details of how God planned to do this, and those details are
not trivial, but I'll pass them by this morning.
Where the mountains and seas were to be, and how
they would interact with each other. The flow of air, the currents in the seas,
the rains and the rivers. There are the details of chemistry, neurons, and
synapse, the brain, and the mind. And you can ask "why" for all of
these details.
For
our discussion this morning, I will explore the question of how God intended
his creation of man and woman or men and women, as they were to become, were to govern themselves.
How they were to relate to the rest of creation; the
world, the other creatures, and most importantly,
how they were to relate to God the creator.
And also, very importantly, how they were to relate
to each other, and to the other entities of creation throughout the universe.
There
were various options:
Zoo
Jungle
The
natural order of things:
The basic equation of Civil Engineering
Sewage
runs down hill!
Clocks run down, their batteries run
down, their springs unwind
Fires burn things up until there is
nothing left to burn
Your house gets dirty
You get tired
When something dies, it rots.
Genesis
3:19
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
Without the controls of the intelligent brain, and the
correct operating systems of the human system we would soon turn into
putrefying sores, run away cancers, idiots, and die. In general the extent that we suffer sickness and disease is a measure
of how well the control systems of our body are working.
Any change in the nature of energy from one form to
another is done with some losses. These losses are almost always occur as heat.
Any transfer of information will result in the opportunity of confusion
and the loss of data.
These are all examples of the 2nd Law of
Thermodynamics.
In a
closed system entropy increases!
Entropy is a measure of disorder
Anything and everything in the universe tends to
become less ordered.
Even systems that seem to become more ordered as
energy is removed are actually moving into configurations of lowest energy.
All systems tend to move to their lowest energy
state!
So,
back to the original question:
We
are exploring the question of how God intended his creation of men and women were to govern themselves.
How they were to relate to the rest of creation; the
world, the other creatures, and most importantly,
how they were to relate to God the creator.
And also, very importantly, how they were to relate
to each other, and to the other entities of creation throughout the universe.
Because
God created the universe with the laws we see:
The
important point is that the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics as I've
discussed above applies not just to engines, and mechanical things, but to
information systems, electronics, organizations, governments, social
structures, human minds, and the very
nature of human beings.
In
the original scheme of creation God provided mechanisms and connections by
which we could live
Jeremiah 29:11-14
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.12 Then you will call upon Me and go and
pray to Me, and I will listen to you.13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when
you search for Me with all your heart.14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from
your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places
where I have driven you, says the Lord,
and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away
captive.
These
mechanism and connections form much of the body of Christianity as we know it
today!
God
intended man to always be in communion with him!
Genesis 3:8
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
God
set up laws by which man would regulate his live. Rules that specified the
relationship that would exist between man and God, and man and his fellow man.
2“I am the Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage. 3“You shall have
no other gods before Me.[5] … 8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is
the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male
servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is
within your gates. 11For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is
in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.[6]
THEN SIN ENTERED
Chapter XXIX. - The Origin of Evil. {GC88 492.2}
To many minds, the origin of sin and the reason for its
existence are a source of great perplexity. They see the work of evil, with its
terrible results of woe and desolation, and they question how all this can
exist under the sovereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and in
love. Here is a mystery, of which they find no explanation. And in their
uncertainty and doubt, they are blinded to truths plainly revealed in God's
Word, and essential to salvation. There are those who, in their inquiries
concerning the existence of sin, endeavor to search into that which God has
never revealed; hence they find no solution of their difficulties; and such as
are actuated by a disposition to doubt and cavil, seize upon this as an excuse
for rejecting the words of Holy Writ. Others, however, fail of a satisfactory
understanding of the great problem of evil, from the fact that tradition and
misinterpretation have obscured the teaching of the Bible concerning the
character of God, the nature of his government, and the principles of his
dealing with sin. {GC88 492.1}
It is
impossible to so explain the origin of sin as to give a reason for its
existence. Yet enough may be understood concerning both the origin and the
final disposition of sin, to fully make manifest the justice and benevolence of
God in all his dealings with evil. Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture
than that God was in nowise responsible for the entrance of sin; that there was
no arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine
government, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin
493
is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be
given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it, is to defend it. Could
excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its existence, it would cease to
be sin. Our only definition of sin is law of love which is the foundation of
the divine government. {GC88 492.2}
THEN SIN ENTERED
And
communion with God was destroyed!
Isaiah 59:2
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.
The Law of God was disdained and made of no value
Psalm 50:16,17
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
17 Seeing you hate instruction
And cast My words behind you?
Psalm 19:7
7 The law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord
is sure, making wise the simple;
Jeremiah
predicts the coming of destruction from the Babylonians that will descend on
Israel because Israel has not obeyed the commands of their Lord.
Jeremiah 13:20-23
20 Lift up your eyes and see
Those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21 What will you say when He punishes you?
For you have taught them
To be chieftains, to be head over you.
Will not pangs seize you,
Like a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart,
“Why have these things come upon me?”
For the greatness of your iniquity
Your skirts have been uncovered,
Your heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
Since the fall of man, God has been trying to
restore man to God's original plan.
WHY???
1 John 3:1
Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know
Him.[11]
HOW???
The plan of Salvation:
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to
Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 “Take My
yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls.30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
John 14:5-6
5 Thomas said
to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the
way?”6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through Me.
John 17:3
3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.[14]
Jeremiah 31:33-34
33 “But this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
says the Lord: I will put My law
in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people.34 “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,
says the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
{SC 69.2}
Do you ask,
"How am I to abide in Christ?" In the same way as you received Him at
first. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
Him." "The just shall live by faith." Colossians 2:6; Hebrews
10:38. You gave yourself to God, to be His wholly, to serve and obey Him, and
you took Christ as your Saviour. You could not yourself atone for your sins or
change your heart; but having given
70
yourself to
God, you believe that He for Christ's sake did all this for you. By faith you
became Christ's, and by faith you are to grow up in Him--by giving and taking.
You are to give all,--your heart, your will, your service,--give yourself to
Him to obey all His requirements; and you must take all,--Christ, the fullness
of all blessing, to abide in your heart, to be your strength, your
righteousness, your everlasting helper,--to give you power to obey. {SC 69.2}
Consecrate yourself to God in the
morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, "Take me, O
Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy
service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee." This is a
daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender
all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall
indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God,
and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ. {SC 70.1}
[1]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[2]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[3]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[4]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[5]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[6]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[7]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[8]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[9]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[10]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[11]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[12]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[13]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[14]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.
[15]The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
1982.