God had plainly told Adam not
to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which He had
established in the garden. He also declared what would occur
when he ate of it. There were no ifs involved, either
in the prohibition or the outcome of his disobedience. It is part
of the natural disposition of men to desire knowledge. This
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 himself to possess
a certain degree of wisdom which enables him to develop his own
philosophy and standards which he would prefer to those of God.
Satan appealed to this natural desire for knowledge when he
introduced a lingering thought 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 initiated, Satan tells the first
and greatest lie ever introduced to men. Ye shall not surely die. Thus he began 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?
He owes you a fair chance and a square deal. Because of her
weakness and his subtlety, she was deceived thereby and ate
the fruit. 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 is manifested the carnal pride and presumption of men,
that they can, by their own wisdom, search out and find the way of
God. He demonstrated Paul's words,
because that 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. 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, which he has inherited
from Adam. At the heart of this desire is
the denial of the very principle which Satan cleverly deceived
the woman with, saying he shall not surely die. Practically all
of the religions of men, in one fashion or another, believe that
men possess an innate immortality. 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. Man goes about strutting and
preening in his wisdom, natural understanding, and fleshly religion,
supposing that he can approach God in the power of his own free
will. Men never grow weary in their
determination to worship God on their own terms and choosing.
Man, in his supposed wisdom, does not consider that the work
of Christ alone is sufficient for the salvation of his people.
The preachers of modern religion speak of Christ as having made
salvation possible, but that only man, by his free will, can
make it complete by believing it. 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
as to perish. If the work of Christ on Calvary's
cross is not sufficient to purchase the eternal redemption of His
people, how could men in any wise conclude it? E-mail us at 4theCORE at windstream.net. That's 4theCORE at W-I-N-D-S-T-R-E-A-N
dot net.