|
|
|
Truth From Genesis God’s story of creation is believed in faith and His every promise is received by faith. From the beginning God explained His Truth and plan for our lives. The perfect environment given to Adam then is what God wants for His children today—we just need to believe Him and trust Him in faith. Two theories explain the origin of life—the evolution theory in public school textbooks, and the Creation story in God’s Textbook—the Bible. Both require faith to accept as true. The evolution theory is for those who will not believe, and the Creation story is for those who are willing to believe. Jesus said John 12:46 "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes [is believing] in Me should not abide [stay] in darkness.” With a willingness to believe, we can receive the Spirit of God who inspires us in faith to believe the Truth of God. Scientists say that the universe was created billions of years ago when super-dense matter exploded—but there is no scientific evidence to prove that. The Bible contains the divine revelation of God about why human life was created on earth, and how His creation is to conduct their lives. The evidence of a Creator is overwhelming. Psalm 19:1 ”The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies [firmament; expanse of the heavens] proclaim the work of his hands.” God has promised to reveal His divine Truth to anyone who sincerely wants to know. John 16:13 "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.” It begins with a willingness to believe God in faith—that all things are possible with Him Genesis 18:14; Matthew 19:26. The Bible also includes the story of God’s Son who came to show us God’s love and divine plan. He told Philip John 14:9 "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” God is present on earth, and it is our responsibility is to seek Him. Accepting God’s Truth and following His plan of faith for eternal life should be an encouragement; and it should be disturbing to know that accepting Satan’s lies and following worldly plans of no faith leads to eternal suffering. The result of no faith in God is always the lake of fire, and the result of enduring faith in Christ is always the eternal kingdom. God created two people to be happy and contented—two things everyone seeks. There was nothing to upset them because God had blessed them. Their spiritual outlook on things resulted from their right attitude toward God. They enjoyed health, protection, provisions, and peace without doing anything but loving, trusting, and obeying God. They enjoyed God’s personal presence and had a close relationship with Him. They felt comfortable talking with Him about anything—like a child to a parent. There was no fear—until they sinned. Genesis 3:8 ”Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” It is vital to understand how they lost that close relationship and happiness, because knowing the cause of their problems, reveals the cause of every other problem in the world. Governments implement social programs to make life better—but they have failed. Horrible crimes against humanity give evidence of Satan’s control of the human mind. This control of the sin-nature is the root cause of all the trouble the world has ever experienced. Proverbs 13:15 “The way of transgressors is hard,” and 1 John 5:19 “the whole world lies in the power of the Evil one.” When Adam disobeyed God and went his own way, his nature changed. This rejection of God and His Word continues to this day. Satan convinced Eve that if she would accept his lie and reject God’s Word—that would improve their life; instead, it ruined their life. The false doctrine once saved always saved, began when Satan convinced Adam and Eve that their choices in life would not affect their relationship with God. Genesis 3:3-5 “‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.’" False teaching today says the same thing—no matter how you choose to live your life, you are eternally secure. The only security we have is being under the blood of Christ and walking in the light of God’s Truth by a deliberate choice to trust in faith on the sacrifice of atonement of His Son. The other choice is to cut ourselves off from Christ through unbelief. Israel was broken off Romans 11:20 ”because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.” The apostle explained growing in faith Galatians 3:24 ”Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Only through faith in Christ are we free from guilt. When Adam rejected the truth and accepted the lie, his attitude changed from submission to rebellion. Instead of a loving God who would do anything for them, they accepted the lie that He would not do anything for them. Professing Christians think a person is foolish if they actually trust God in faith for healing without prescriptions, for finances without laid-up funds, for protection without seatbelts, or for justice without court action.
Professing believers think a person is out of touch with reality if they
trust God for suitable employment without hunting for one; if they trust
God for a house to rent without searching through classifieds; or if
they trust God for a Christ-like attitude in a loved one without forcing
them to change. They think it is very When Adam and Eve disobeyed, they were not close to God anymore—and the world just keeps getting further and further away from God. Ever since that fateful decision, humans have tried to prove that the Lord is wrong and the world is right—but they have failed! God’s plan of Truth in the Old Testament was right after Moses and Israel’s wilderness journey. God gave instructions Deuteronomy 28:2 ”All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God.” They tried in their own strength to follow God’s plan, and they carried through with sacrifices, offerings, and ceremonies, but failed! It eventually led to their crucifying God’s Son—that is how horribly they failed to obey by their own ability, and how wicked the sin-nature is. God later introduced a second plan that would change our nature by removing Satan’s control. The sin nature wants to disobey, and the divine nature wants to obey—that is why Jesus said, “Unless you change [be converted] and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 18:3. The difficulties and problems in life result from not knowing, or not being willing, to follow God’s plan of faith-righteousness. Deuteronomy 28:15 ”If you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” The Christian life is one of spiritual progress each day, as we meet things according to God’s Word. Fruits of repentance must be seen. The Holy Spirit in our heart restrains us from saying things with our mouth that would hurt people. The Holy Spirit within inspires us to give others the best, and we take what is left. We want to help others in a way that no one knows—as Jesus said to do Matthew 6:3. We want to give our employer our best effort—as if Jesus were our boss—because He is our Lord. A right attitude to God’s Truth, results in a right attitude toward everyone else. God’s Truth began when He gave Adam a choice—that choice, that Truth, and His Word of instruction continues to this day. Jesus said Luke 21:33, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Staying connected to Christ is a salvation issue. John 15:7 "If you continue in me and my sayings continue in you, ask what you will and it shall be done for you.” Because of the forgiveness given to every repentant sinner, we can claim our atonement rights, and we can live by the control of His Spirit—simply by a choice to believe in faith that our sins are erased. Hebrews 8:8-9 "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them.”
The New Testament plan of God’s Truth is based on the atonement work of
His Son, and the control of His Spirit. The Word of God is
the plan, and the power of God is the way.
The Holy Spirit takes wrong desires out of our heart, and
replaces them with Christ-like attitudes. Jesus said John 15:15-16 "I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” He then said, “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” Outward religious behavior has no value, but Galatians 5:6, ”faith expressing itself through love” has eternal value—it is what counts. If we truly love God, living His Truth will be the only desire of our heart—a Truth that began in Genesis, but still holds true today. Jesus prayed John 17:11, "Holy Father, keep them true to Thy name—the name which Thou hast given me to bear—that they may be one, even as we are,”—one in faith and in trust on the resurrection power of Christ. John 17:17 ”Sanctify them in Thy truth, Thy word is truth.” The Truth from Genesis is God’s Truth today. ††† |
||
|
|
First
Century Gospel Church © 2010 |
|