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Date of message: 27 October 2002
Subject: The LORD Respects Our Free Choices
Shalom, Boker-tov (good morning),
Last week I shared how we are created by God and not descendents of primates
( apes, gorillas ) and that we are created in the image of God Himself.
God is a Spirit and therefore each one of us has a spirit and each of
our spirits must find its life with His Spirit. When that happens, we
will enjoy spirit-filled lives with His Holy Spirit and this will last
for eternity. However if we are joined with the wrong spirits, then we
will not be able to fellowship with the Source of life and will therefore
be destined for eternal separation from God.
In the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, He set them up in the
Garden of Eden and in the middle of the Garden, God planted two trees
- the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil ( Genesis 2: 17 ) and the
Tree of Life ( Genesis 3: 22 ). He gave them instructions that they were
free to eat of the fruit of every tree in the Garden except that of the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. His intention was that they would
eventually eat of the Tree of Life which will grant them eternal life.
However, this was not to be as we discovered in Genesis chapter 3 how
Eve came to be tempted to do that one thing that God explicitly forbid
them to do - eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil. The devil was very subtle to her. He aroused her curiosity and made
her question what God had actually commanded them. In fact she even misquoted
God by saying that they cannot touch the fruit of that Tree. God did not
command them not to touch the fruit except not to eat of it. The devil
is extremely subtle in that he tempted her in the only thing that God
had commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of that tree. Eve could
have rejected the devil's temptation and that would have saved the day.
Unfortunately for us, she succumbed to the temptation and thus we are
now with sin.
The Bible then went on and recorded for us that Adam also ate of the fruit.
He could have rejected the offer from Eve and thus could have avoided
falling into sin as well. Adam loved Eve and decided to join her in sharing
the fruit and henceforth all mankind share the same fate - we have all
sinned and now because of that sin we cannot come before God because He
is holy.
You may ask, "if that be the case, why did God not eliminate the
source and not have the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? And why
did He not get rid of Adam and Eve and start all over again?"
Let us pause and take stock. God created all the trees in the Garden (
millions of them ) and He only placed one restriction on them. How generous
of God! His only restriction of not allowing them to eat of that particular
tree was to test their worship of God. By not eating of that tree, it
would signify that they want to honor God and worship Him. That is the
principle of the tithe. God is no 'kill-joy'. He is generous beyond what
we imagine of Him. Adam and Eve literally had millions of good things
going for them and it would be easy for them to obey.
Unfortunately that is not the case and the same is true for all of us.
If there is any rule saying we cannot do any particular action, our natural
man would instinctively rise and be urged to 'investigate' and push the
limit and test to see the consequences. We inherited this from Adam and
Eve.
Next one would then ask, "if they were not to eat of the tree, then
why did God place the tree there? Why did He not place the tree later,
after Adam and Eve had eaten of the Tree of Life?" That would have
been too easy for God and for man, he would not have worshipped God. Worship
can only take place voluntarily. Involuntary worship is never considered
worship because the heart is not involved. True worship involves the will
and so, having the tree there was necessary and the tree must be placed
in the Garden right from the start.
As to the question why God did not eliminate Adam and Eve after they had
sinned and start all over again, I believe that God loves us too much
to do that. That would have been too simple for Him. He is the Creator
and creation is His specialty; there is no question about that. Because
God respects our free choices, He had to allow them to live with their
decisions even though it meant separation from Him. However, He did not
leave them in their state of separation for long. God killed an animal
and made use of the skin to make garments for Adam and Eve to cover their
bodies thus giving us the picture that through death there is acceptance
with God. Without the shedding of blood, there is no acceptance with God
and hence the great salvation plan of YHVH Elohim Shaddai ( Lord God Almighty
) was hatched. God did not want robots. He created human beings and planted
in each one of us the capacity for decision making and He respects that
no matter which way we chose.
Jesus, on the night of the Passover Feast, the night before He went to
the cross, was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying for us and for Himself.
In Matthew 26: 39 and Mark 14: 35 - 36, we read how Jesus was agonizing
and His perspiration even turned into droplets of blood. The very thought
of separation from His beloved Father on the cross was a difficult decision
for Him to make. Yet, praise the Lord, Jesus did not flinch from His mission
to come into this world for the sole purpose of dying for our sins so
that we will not be separated from God the Father. Jesus had a choice;
He could have decided there and then that He had enough and that He wished
to return to Heaven. Legally Jesus could do that and then there would
not have been any salvation for us. We would still be as hopeless as ever.
But praise be to Jesus, He chose to proceed on with His original plan
and went all the way to Calvary and died for all of us.
Because of the death of Jesus, we now have access to the Father through
His blood. We can stand before a just and righteous Father because Jesus'
blood has cleansed us from all our sins. When God the Father looks at
us, He does not see us in our own rights but He sees Jesus in us and that
pleases Him.
The decision to accept what Jesus had accomplished on the cross lies with
you. God will not force us to choose Him against our wishes. Even if we
do not want to accept Jesus' death for us, the fact remains that He had
died for all of us on Mount Calvary 2000 years ago. Our rejection of Jesus
and what He had accomplished on the cross will not change His love for
us at all. The fact remains, Jesus did come into the world and He died
on the cross for all our sins and all that is left for us now is to choose
to return to Him and start to enjoy His eternal life for us. Choose Jesus
and we will never be separated from Him forever but if one were to reject
Jesus, there is no longer any hope for that person; He has rejected the
only way back to the Father. So, what will it be? Have you chosen the
path that leads back to the Father through the blood of Jesus? Why not
spend a couple of moments to pray through this simple prayer of faith.
All it takes is a simple act of faith in Jesus and we will be able to
enjoy the presence of Jesus in our lives.
Our Abba Father, thank you that You created me in Your image and that
like You, I have the freedom to choose. Thank you that You love us so
much that You sent us Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who came,
loved You and loved us and was obedient to You even to the point that
He died for all our sins. And because of His blood, now we are made righteous
before Your presence.
Thank you Lord Jesus that You took upon Your body all our curses so that
we can receive Your blessings for our lives. Thank you that we are made
righteous by Your righteousness and that we are now children of the LORD
and joint heirs with You in Your kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus, into my heart
and take up precedence over my life.
Thank You Father that because of Your Beloved Son's death, I am now a
child of Yours and I am greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved.
Thank you and I pray all these in the most precious and holy name of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
If you have prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the Family
of the Father (and it is a very large universal family). It is important
that you are not alone facing your personal trials but that you can obtain
good help wherever you are. Why not take the time to find your own local
Christian family (local church) and worship the Father together? You will
be greatly encouraged when you meet together to worship the Father, for
fellowship and for the study of the Word of Christ.
The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all
your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 - 26
Have a blessed week ahead, Shavrou-tov
Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee
This and other archived messages can also be found on the following URL
http://www.oocities.org/fibredrive/index.htm
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