Genesis 3:2-3,
"And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it,
neither shall ye touch it, lest
ye die."
This morning, God's word is
under attack from all
quadrants. People are seeking
about to change the
commandments of the Lord, they
are denying the eternal
Sonship of Jesus Christ,
claiming that the Lord
created the universe by
evolutionary methods, denying
the virgin birth, and the list
goes on and on.
Unfortunately, this is not a new
concept. Solomon
said that there is nothing new
under the sun.
The Lord commands us not to add
to or diminish from
His word. (Deuteronomy 4:2)
However, look at Eve's response to the
serpent. She adds to and takes
away from the word of
the Lord. The Lord never once
commanded the man and
woman that they could not touch
the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. Eve
told the serpent that
the Lord had commanded such. Men
today add to the
word of God and lay burdens upon
men's shoulders that
ought not to be
borne.
Eternal salvation
is the easiest
example here. Man has no burden
of eternal
deliverance, because Christ has
finished that work
that was placed before Him.
Also, notice that Eve
diminished from God's word as
well. She left out the
word freely. The Lord told man
that he could eat of
all the trees FREELY. Eve left
that out. Oh, how
beautiful it is to know that the
Lord has freely given
us all things. How joyous a
knowledge it is to have
understanding of
FREE grace and mercy.
The beauty of
the doctrine of grace is not
just that it brings life,
but that it brings life freely.
God's riches are
ours, and we possess everything
that Christ possesses
since we are joint-heirs with
Him. May we never leave
off this all important theme to
salvation and the
goodness of the Lord. Changing
the word of the Lord
got man into trouble in the
first place, and may we
ever strive to hold fast those
things that we have
learned and earnestly contend
for the faith that was
once delivered to
the saints.
In Hope,
Bro Philip
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