Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20011209.htm

GOD'S ANGELIC CONFLICT CRISIS GUIDANCE GIFTS
Part II: Detecting GOD'S Dreams For Crisis Angelic Conflict Guidance
(Matthew 1:18-2:23; 2 Timothy 3:13-17)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Last Sunday, we learned that God will give us clear experiential signals of guidance to help us in a crisis angelic conflict issue.

We learned those guidance signals MUST be aligned with Scripture as experience in and of itself is not only inadequate, but can at times be deceptively errant!

Now, we saw that ONE of the experiential guiding vehicles God has used in Scripture is DREAMS: Joseph had FOUR of them and the Magi ONE as FIVE dreams TOTAL were used of God to guide these men to protect the infant Jesus from Satan's harm in Matthew 1:18-2:23!

And therein comes the "rub": we may ask, "How can I TELL if a given dream is from GOD or not, and how can I be SURE about it to avoid being misled?"

This question is backed up by incredible experiences with dreams that people have:

(1) A man by the name of Mohammed had what he claimed was a "vision" at age 40 after spending six months of meditation in a cave on Mount Hira. He believed God sent him a messenger, the Angel Gabriel in this "Night of Power" in 610 A. D. to be a "Prophet of Allah" and promote the religion of Islam to the world! The alleged angel told him, "Proclaim in the name of the Lord, the Creator who created man from a clot of blood! Proclaim!" Kerry Lovering, "The Man From Mecca," SIM NOW, July-August, 1989, p. 2-3.

(2) A minister named Benny Hinn claims that angels appeared in "his bedroom every night for a year" to give him messages from God. On one of his descriptions of what he says God told him, over the Trinity Broadcast Network, Mr. Hinn said, " . . . the Lord just told me, and I don't know it this is true or not."



If God then led Joseph and the magi with DREAMS, and IF some dreams (or visions for that matter) may be questionable to say the LEAST, HOW can we tell if GOD is leading us in a dream kind of experience or NOT?!



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



Need: "We previously learned God can use dreams to GUIDE us in crisis angelic conflicts. Yet, SOME of my dreams are VERY unbiblical, so how would I DISCERN a dream GOD sends me?!"
  1. We've learned Satan tried to kill Jesus at birth (Rev. 12:4), so God used DREAMS to guide men to PROTECT Him, Matt. 1:18-2:23.
  2. Yet, we must WATCH that we NOT be MISLED by dreams which are EXPERIENTIAL in nature, for Deuteronomy 13:1-4 WARNS us NOT to place EXPERIENCE ABOVE WRITTEN SCRIPTURE.
  3. Thus, studying SCRIPTURE on HOW God USED dreams to guide men to protect the infant Jesus, we can DISCERN if GOD is the SOURCE using a dream to guide US in angelic conflict crises:
    1. Criteria One: God's dreams fit relevant Scripture contexts:
      1. The dream for Joseph to wed Mary fit relevant Scripture context:
        1. When God urged Joseph to wed Mary in a dream, He also revealed Mary's child would be named "Jesus" since He would save His people from their sins, Matthew 1:20-21.
        2. Now, the idea that Messiah was to be key to Israel's cleansing from sin is CLEAR in the Scripture prophecy of Isaiah 53:4-12.
        3. Isaiah 7:14 also predicted a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and Matthew cited it in this dream's context, Mtt. 1:23.
        4. So, it was Biblically valid to for Joseph to accept the dream's word as being from God so he would wed Mary, Mtt. 1:24-25!
      2. The dream for Joseph to enter Egypt fit relevant Scripture context:
        1. Being under the Law, the righteous Joseph (Mtt. 1:19a) might not dare flee to Egypt for security lest he violate Deut. 17:16!
        2. Yet, God's angel explained this was a temporary arrangement for Jesus as opposed to a permanent trust in Egypt for national security which was condemned in the Deut.17:16 CONTEXT!
        3. Also, there was a Scripture precedent for God's directing Israel into Egypt on a temporary basis in Genesis Gen. 15:13-21, and note how Matthew's Gospel identifies Jesus with infant Israel in relation to a similar sojourn in Egypt, Mtt. 2:15 with Hos. 11:1!
      3. The dreams leading Joseph to Galilee fit relevant Scripture context:
        1. His 3rd dream guiding him back to Israel (Mtt. 2:19-21) and his 4th dream alerting him to avoid Judea (Mtt. 2:22-23) left Joseph no room but to return to his Galilean home, Mtt. 2:23; Lk. 2:4.
        2. Yet, such a Galilean destination fit Scripture context: (a) the Isa. 11:1 prophecy of Messiah being of David's line as the "Branch" was thus fulfilled, for Jews of David's line who felt they were that "Branch" as Natsarenes' settled in Nazareth of Galilee, cf. Ron Allen, Kindred Spirit, Winter 99, p. 3, 11; cf. Mtt.2:23b. (b) Also, Isa. 9:1-2, 6 foretold Messiah who would be born unto Israel would be God's Great "Light" in spiritually dark Galilee!
    2. Criteria Two: God's dreams fit relevant Biblical precedents:
      1. When Joseph dreamed God told him to wed Mary OPPOSITE his previous plan, and the dream claimed new upright reasons to do so, he saw the dream was not from his own sub consciousness, but from an UPRIGHT outside Source, I.e. GOD, Matthew 1:19-25!
      2. Also, when God gave Joseph his 2nd dream to flee to Egypt, its content built upon the precedents of God's leading to that date:
        1. Joseph's 2nd dream fit the witness of the shepherds (Lk. 2:1-19) and the magi (Mtt. 2:1-11) that Jesus was God's Savior for man in accord with his 1st dream's content (Mtt. 1:20-21)!
        2. His 2nd dream's warning also fit the previous magi's dream warning in accord with the record of Matthew 1:12-13!
      3. As Joseph's 2nd dream revealed God would speak to him again (Mtt. 2:13), it set the precedent to verify his later dreams, 2:19-23!
      4. [Note: using precedents fits Paul's teaching on handling deception:
        1. Paul warned Timothy of a general trend for deception and deceivers who would go from bad to worse in 2 Timothy 3:13.
        2. Yet, for Timothy to avoid being deceived, he was to rely upon the precedents of (1) what he had been led by God to learn was true (v. 14a), of (2) the truths Timothy had previously been persuaded were true in his life (v. 14b), of (3) the characters of the men who had taught him these truths in the first place (v. 14b, 10-11) and (4) how these truths fit the Scriptures Timothy had known were reliable since he had been a child (v. 15-17).]
Application: (1) We must trust in Christ to become a child of God, John 3:16. (2) Then, IF we have an unforgettable DREAM, we TEST it for CREDIBILITY before HEEDING it by (a) seeing if it fits an applicable Scripture in its CONTEXT (b) and if it fits God's PRECEDENTS of His Biblical leading in our LIVES! (3) IF the dream is from God, know He gave it to us to HEED Him "STAT"!

Lesson: (1) As DREAMS are EXPERIENTIAL, they must be VERIFIED as being from God BEFORE being heeded! (2) We DISCERN a dream of GOD'S as one whose message (a) fits the relevant Scripture's CONTEXT and (b) the PRECEDENTS of God's BIBLICAL leading in our lives! >

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

 (1) We can discern the lack of validity in the "visions" or "dreams" introduced in the beginning of this message as follows:

(a) Mohammed said he had a vision by the Angel, Gabriel to "Proclaim in the name of the Lord, the Creator who created man from a clot of blood! Proclaim!" (Ibid., SIM NOW)

However, Genesis 2:7 records God created man "of the dust of the ground." Since the entity from which man was created in this vision differs from Scripture, Mohammed's vision and views are false!

(b) Benny Hinn's claim to have many visions from God is marked by his statement of one vision he had that " . . . the Lord just told me, and I don't know if this is true or not." The problem with this statement is the way it counters Scripture's teaching of " . . . let God be true, but every man a liar . . . " in Romans 3:4a! Hinn's word questions God's character, so his "visions" or "dreams" are unreliable!

(2) On the other hand, here is a "dream" a Christian man in our area reported having that appears in every respect to be from the Lord:

(a) The believer had experienced a break in fellowship with very carnal believers, and grieved over it in his heart!

(b) After this relationship break, he dreamed he saw these same folk in his Church sanctuary, and felt estranged from them!

In the dream's next scene, he saw his Church holding a "going away" banquet for the sinful, and was horrified this would happen! He also dreamed the banquet's punch was all wrong: it had lightly-mixed, luke-warm chocolate milk in a glass bowl topped with orange slices!

He then awoke convinced that, in keeping with 2 Tim. 2:16-26, though he had grieved at his relationship "break" with the carnal, for him to fellowship with them was intolerable in GOD'S view!