LIVING IN THE STONE AGE
Dan. 2:31-35
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: GETTING WHAT SHE DESERVED
1. Have you ever gotten in an express line at a grocery store – to check out – and had someone got ahead of you who had a lot more than 10 items? That happened to Bonnie Jones.
2. Ignoring the sign, a woman ahead of her slipped into the express checkout line pushing a cart piled high with groceries. Bonnie fumed at the gall, the cheek, the nerve of the woman to do that.
3. Imagine Bonnie’s delight when the cashier looked into the cart and asked sweetly, "So which 10 items would you like to buy?" When the woman said “All of them,” the cashier directed the woman to move to a normal check-out line!
B. ORDEAL OF A HURRICANE
1. We just went through a week of no power – no lights, no electricity, no refrigerators, many stores closed due to no internet or working checkout registers, etc. It was like going back to the stone age. Many closer to the coast, like my sister Sharon, were still without power last night. They feel in desperation and are losing hope. Remember them in your prayers!
2. I’m glad I live in the days of modern conveniences. In my mind these are the best of times, with advanced medical care, cars & planes (swift & easy travel), AIR CONDITIONING, phones, ELECTRICITY, computers & internet, etc. Thank God for these inventions!
3. So we’re going to look tonight at the false and true IDEAS of what a Stone Age is, correct BEHAVIOR for a Stone Age, and WHO gets to enter the Stone Age.
4. The title of this message is “Living in the Stone Age.”
I. FALSE IDEA OF THE “STONE AGE”
A. LENGTHY OR SHORT PERIOD?
1. Now people talk about the “stone age” as if it’s something undesirable. THE “STONE AGE” is defined, in human origins, as, “The prehistoric period during which stone and stone tools were widely used. This period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, or 99.3% of human history.” In this view, humans have only been metalworking for 4-6,000 years. [WIKIPEDIA]
2. The Bible gives a completely different picture of the development of metallurgy. First, the Bible doesn’t believe in the evolution of man. Adam & Eve were fully developed homo sapiens, a modern man & woman. The Bible tells us that within 8 generations of Adam & Eve, metallurgy became a standard part of human civilization. Gen. 4:17-22, “Cain...Enoch...Irad...Mehujael...Methushael, Lamech... “Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron.” [from Seth to Methuselah (7 generations) was 744 years. Undoubtedly the time from Cain to Tubal-cain was something similar. So the “stone age” didn’t last 3.4 million years, but around 744 years!]
B. EVOLUTION & CONTROL TERMINOLOGY
1. But modern man is dumb enough to believe that he evolved from monkeys and lived for 3.4 million years in some half-human state.
2. Hence, the IDIOM, “stuck in the Stone Age,” is a common expression used to describe someone or something that is outdated, old-fashioned, or resistant to change. It implies that the person is living in a time period that’s long since passed and has failed to keep up with modern advancements.
3. CONTROL TERMINOLOGY. This phrase is used as a put-down to anyone who holds with earlier thinking or the way of life of their parents. It’s intended to push young people to leave all the wisdom about ‘how to live’ that has accumulated for thousands of years and to let a few immoral, destructive people – today – be the ones who tell them how to live.
4. These modern guides don’t care that your life will be destroyed by following them. All they want is to pull you away from your PARENTS CONTROL and get you in THEIR CONTROL! Let me ask you: who loves you more, your parents or the social media “influencers?” The influencers don’t know you and don’t care what happens to you – they just want to make money off of you from advertisers.
5. Your parents, on the other hand, have given their lives for you to live and want you to be happy and successful. They have a vested interest in you because you carry their genetic pattern; you’re related to them by the closest of bonds. Your parents don’t want you to suffer the same hurtful mistakes they made. In short, there’s no one more important for you to listen to, than your parents!
6. So I don't believe in a Stone Age -- in the past -- as anything important. But there is a Stone Age in the future that you most certainly want to be a part of. Daniel described in his book, chapter 2:31-35. Read with me.
II. WHAT THE TRUE “STONE AGE” LOOKS LIKE
A. BIBLE PASSAGE
31 “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image [appeared] ...whose splendor was...awesome. 32 This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You watched while a STONE was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 [They]...were crushed together, and...the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the STONE that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Dan. 2:31-35.
B. THE “STONE” IS COMING!
1. We are living in the time just before Jesus returns to destroy the kingdoms of this world and set up His eternal kingdom. What an exciting time!
2. The book of Daniel pictures the “Stone cut-out without hands” that destroyed the whole image, representing the Kingdoms of this world, down through time until today. Daniel’s Stone brought an end to the world system and then grew until it (the Stone) filled the whole world.
3. Jesus is “the Stone” who, at His 2nd Coming, will crush all this world’s systems and sets up His Kingdom on this Earth. This refers to the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, set up for a 1,000 years. If you want to know what the real “Stone Age” looks like, this is it.
4. The Lord Jesus will COME with His saints, both humans & angels, and will DEFEAT the forces of the ANTICHRIST and all their followers. Satan & his angels will be cast into the bottomless PIT. Jesus will cause wars to cease (Ps. 46:4; Mic. 4:1-3; Isaiah 2:1-4; 11:1-5). He will RAISE the Tribulation MARTYRS from the dead. The BEMA Judgment Seat will take place – similar to an Olympic Metals Ceremony – where Christians will receive their rewards for how they served the Lord on Earth. The NATURE of animals will be CHANGED (Isaiah 11:6-9), the deserts will blossom, thorns, thistles, and sick & handicapped people will be healed (Isa. 55:13; 35:5-6). DEATH will become almost unheard-of (Isaiah 35:5-6). Lions will lay down with lambs. The great MESSIANIC BANQUET, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will take place. A millennium TEMPLE will be built (Joel 3:16-18; Ezek. 40), and Israel will dwell in their land, and all God’s promises to them will be fulfilled. King David will reign with Christ as co-regent.
5. After the 1,000 years, eternity will begin where we will receive our heavenly mansions and live in New Jerusalem forever. We get the Holy Spirit within us NOW – as proof that we will inherit all these things.
III. WHO WILL ENTER JESUS’ KINGDOM & HOW MUST WE LIVE TO BE ELIGIBLE?
A. WHO WILL GET TO LIVE IN IT?
1. Only those who are New Creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Old creatures from the fallen world are excluded. But all those “In Christ,” having His pure implanted nature, are compatible with the New Heavens and New Earth.
2. The resurrection power of Jesus is in us. We shall survive death because HE did. That power which brought Him through the barrier of death will bring us through too. All we need to do is stay grafted into the Vine and keep receiving the ‘sap’ of eternal life in the Holy Spirit
B. HOW MUST WE LIVE NOW?
1. DETACHED, NOT ATTACHED. As the song says, “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.” Hebrews 11:13-16 describes God’s people, “All these people were...admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth....[they were] looking for a country of their own....a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” We should live as those going to our heavenly mansions!
2. BEHAVIOR? A HOLY LIFE. We should live holy lives. If you get full of the Holy Spirit you won't want to sin. The Holy Spirit will put strength in your soul, grease your wheels, put wind in your sails, and muscle/conviction in your spirit. “They that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled.”
3. HAVING A MISSION. Jesus’ last instructions before going to heaven were to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” We all have a purpose. Salvation is not only about making it to heaven, but advancing the Kingdom of God in other’s lives. The fire on the Day of Pentecost wasn’t meant to bless the church, but to empower them to touch their world! People need the Lord! We must maintain fire in our souls. Live and speak with passion and conviction and persuasion. Give people hope. Tell them, "Jesus saved me, He’ll save you too. There is hope!"
CONCUSION:
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. It was a very hot Saturday morning when John White and his brother stood with their Dad looking over their large garden. It needed a lot of work; Dad told them all they’d have to do. "But Dad, it’s Saturday and everybody’s going swimming at the swimming hole down at the creek!” His stern answer was, "If you work hard and do a good job, you’ll be through by late lunch time. Then you can go swimming."
2. John says, “A bit later Dad and Mom drove off on their long monthly drive to town to do the family shopping. We knew they wouldn’t be back ’til sundown. The day was a real scorcher; our bodies were in a sea of "sweat." We heard the boys coming down the lane, running and yelling, and talking about the cool water and diving. Visions of splashing in those icy cold depths became too much for our heat-fevered brows to withstand. What harm could a short swim do? Then we’d work harder in the late afternoon.
3. But Dad came home early that day. We certainly didn’t know the "hour of his coming." We had not "occupied" until he came. We were like the foolish servants in Matthew 24. Dad definitely came at an hour when we "thought not" & his coming was a most unhappy one.
4. I’ll spare you the details of the loving correction consistently applied by our Dad on that day, but, needless to say, the memory still smarts in my mind today. And I can’t read I John 2:28 without remembering the shame I felt on that, "Judgment Day;” “And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."
B. THE CALL
1. Someday soon we’re going to be living in “THE STONE AGE” – UNDER THE RULE OF JESUS! Paul said in Phip. 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
2. Are you ready for Jesus to come back? Are you living like He would want you to? Are you pure? Are you witnessing to Jesus & His salvation? Is there something you need to get under the Blood of the Lamb?
3. PRAYER
