Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. It is part of the natural disposition
of men to desire knowledge. This is certainly a blessing
from God. The quest for knowledge and wisdom is not in itself sinful,
yet as with all other things which the Lord has put at man's
disposal, his natural disposition is to use those things in a sinful
manner and to suppose that he has a degree of wisdom which
enables him to develop his own philosophy and standards which
he would prefer to those of God. There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
God had plainly told Adam of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Clearly, the Lord made a
prohibition against eating of this one tree. He also declared
what would occur when they ate of it. There were no ifs involved,
either in the prohibition or the outcome of their disobedience.
Satan appealed to this natural desire by introducing a lingering
question into Eve's mind, subtly questioning the sovereign right
of God to do with His own as He wills. And he said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of
the garden. Now while she is pondering this nagging question
which he had introduced, he then goes in for the kill and tells
the first and greatest lie ever introduced to men. And the serpent
said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. Then he begins
weaving his web of deceit by accusing God of unfairly keeping
something from them which they surely deserve and which will
enable them to be on an equal footing with God, in essence
saying, what right does he have to prohibit you from this quest
of knowledge? Now because of her weakness and his subtlety,
she was deceived thereby. She then gave the fruit to Adam
who ate it willingly and knowingly, demonstrating his love of the
flesh and his desire to know what he had no business seeking
out. Thus he manifested the carnal pride and presumption of men
that they can, by their own wisdom, search out and find the way of
God. When they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither
were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. Adam has passed this condition
down to all his posterity. So death passed upon all men
for that all have sinned. Man's desire to design his own
religion and develop his own philosophy is rooted in his conceited
opinion of his worth and supposed wisdom. At the heart of this
desire is the Nadal of the very principle which Satan cleverly
deceived the woman with, ye shall not surely die. Practically all
of the religions of men in one fashion or another believe that
there is an innate immortality which men possess. Men in general
simply do not believe that they can cease to be, or if they do,
they foolishly suppose that they shall not stand in judgment before
a holy God to give an account, and then be cast into an everlasting
destruction. They feel themselves possessed
of far too much worth and wisdom not to live on somewhere, whether
that be in heaven or some other higher state of consciousness.
Those who glibly profess their faith in the finality of the
grave expect, according to their own philosophy, no terror of
judgment beyond it. The simple pass on and are punished. Along with man's natural belief
in his own immortality is a deeply rooted notion that he possesses
a free will, which is for all intents and purposes sovereign,
since he believes that even God himself does not possess the
right or ability to control it. They say he cannot violate their
free will, as if God could somehow be held to account by them or
even accused of a violation of any kind. How presumptuous and
proud the potsherds of the earth are! We are continually amazed
that he does not annihilate the whole human race on the basis
of its impudence alone. Man goes about strutting and
preening in his wisdom, natural understanding, and fleshly religion,
supposing that he can approach God on some terms which he has
approved or accepted. The scriptures, however, deny
that such is the case, informing us that he only hath immortality,
dwelling in the light to which no man can approach unto, whom
no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. However, men never grow
weary in their determination to worship God on their own terms.
They glory in their wisdom, faith and confessions while making
a name for themselves. Man in his wisdom does not consider
that the work of Christ alone is sufficient for the salvation
of his people. The purveyors of religion speak of Christ as
having made salvation possible, but that only man by his free
will can make it complete. This is not the preaching of
the cross, but is a mongrel religion which tries to amalgamate the
work of God and the work of men. To cling to such delusions is
to perish. Christ is all. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.