OceanSide church of Christ

 Previous Return to Sermons Next  Click to download Audio

LIKE OIL AND WATER, THEY DO NOT MIX (1)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    It is a scientific fact that oil and water do not mix.

1.        Oil is less dense than water and will rise to the top.

2.       Water is a polar substance and oil is not.  Thus, water is attracted to itself and not to oil.

 

Why Oil and Water Don't Mix

 

B.      A sales pitch:  Buy now and save!

1.        A $10.00 item is advertised for $8.00.  The merchant entices the customer, saying:  “Buy now and save!”

2.       Any time you buy, you are not saving. When you purchase the item, you spend $8.00 that you could have saved.

3.       Spending money and saving money to not mix.

 

C.     In like manner, there are some things that do not mix in the spiritual realm.  The title of our lesson this morning is:  “Like Oil and Water, They Do Not Mix.”

 

I.             CREATION AND EVOLUTION DO NOT MIX

 

A.    Creation and evolution are two methods of explaining how the world and everything in it came into existence.

1.        Creation is based on God and the supernatural.

2.       Evolution is based solely on naturalistic processes.

 

B.      A Contrast

 

CREATION                                                           EVOLUTION

 

God                                                                                         Mass and energy

God spoke                                                                               Big Bang Theory

Immediately created (6 days)                                                  All things evolved (bl. of yrs)

Young Earth                                                                            Old Earth

Purpose                                                                                   Chance

Order and design                                                                     Denial of order/design

Life came from life                                                                  Life came from non-life

Man made in God’s image                                                      Man is an evolved animal

Good and evil exist                                                                 Good and evil are relative

Man needs a Savior                                                                Man must save himself

Man lives after death                                                              Man simply returns to dust

 

C.     Two quotes:

1.        “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).

2.       “From ‘zero time’ to a millionth of a second.  During this period, a very quick ‘inflation’ process takes place, and in an infinitesimal fraction of a second the cosmos becomes extremely large.  All the matter and energy, concentrated in a region small than a coin, being to expand at a very rapid rate.  Once inflation is over, the Universe continues the expansion at a much slower pace.  As it expands, it also cools. 

“When it is at a temperature of 100 GeV (about 10 million million degrees), the forces of nature assume their present properties (such as gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak forces) and the ‘quarks’, the elementary particles that are the building blocks of matter, wander freely.

 

“This is the most accepted theory.  For many scientists, this period is ‘speculative’.  There are no observations to confirm or disprove the theories” (ESA - So, how did everything start?).

 

D.    There are many passages of Scripture that cannot be believed by the evolutionist.

1.        Genesis 1:27

 

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

 

2.       Exodus 20:11

 

For in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is…

 

3.       Psalm 34:6

 

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

 

4.       Mark 10:6

 

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

 

5.       Hebrews 3:4

 

For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

 

E.      Some have tried to unite Creation and Evolution by teaching a concept known as Theistic Evolution.

1.        They admit that God created, but He used the means of evolution to bring everything into its present state.

2.       There are two lines of thought regarding theistic evolution:

a.       The Day-Age Theory:  each day of Genesis 1 involve eons of time

b.      The Gap Theory:  there is a gap of time found in Genesis 1:2

3.       One answer to both theories:  the creation of man and woman (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:21-22)

a.       Did man evolve?  Or, was he/she created?

b.      Is man a late comer to earth?  Or, was he here early in the Creation on Day 6?

c.       If evolved from an ape, no soul.  When did he get his soul?

 

II.           HUMILITY AND PRIDE DO NOT MIX

 

A.    How a person views himself and carries himself is very important when it comes to Christians living.

 

B.      We can walk in pride, or, we can walk in humility.  However, we cannot do both.  Humility and pride do not mix.

C.     Definition of the two words:

1.        Humility

a.       Strong (5012):  modesty, lowliness of mind

b.      Thayer:  a deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness

c.       Vine:  to be made low

d.      Dictionary.com:  a modest opinion or estimate of one’s importance, rank, etc.

2.       Pride

a.       Strong (5243):  haughtiness

b.      Thayer:  haughtiness, arrogance, the character of one who, with a swollen estimate of his own powers or merits, looks down on others and even treats them with insolence and contempt

c.       Vine:  literally “to appear over,” showing one’s self above others

d.      Dictionary.com:  a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority

 

D.    Two examples:

1.        Example #1

a.       One who simply does his job without the desire for fame or notoriety

b.      One who wants to do a job because in his mind he believes that he can do the job better than anyone else can do it.

2.       Example #2:  The Pharisee and publican  (Luke 18:10-13)

 

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

 

a.       The Pharisee looks upon himself as if he is significant to God and man.

b.      The publican looks upon himself as if he is a sinner before the Almighty God.

 

E.      The Bible often contrasts humility and pride.

1.        Proverbs 18:12

 

Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility

 

2.       Proverbs 29:23

 

A man’s pride shall bring him low:  but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

 

3.       James 4:6

 

But he giveth more grace.  Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

 

4.       I Peter 5:5b

 

…and be clothed with humility:  for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    Just like oil and water, there are some things in the spiritual world that do not mix.

1.        Creation and Evolution do not mix.

2.       Humility and pride do not mix.

 

B.      If they cannot be mixed, we would be foolish to keep trying to do so.

 

C.     There is one thing for which I am thankful.  Just as detergent can be mixed with water in order to cleanse our clothes, the blood of Christ can be mixed with our sin-filled lives to purify us and make us clean in the blood of the Lamb (I Cor. 6:11).

 

And such were some of you:  but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.