by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
Genesis 3:1-4, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
“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.”
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:”
In verse 1 it says, “the serpent said” and in verse 3 it says, “God hath said” and in verse 4 it says, “And the serpent said.” Now we see the battle for man’s soul!
God made Adam and from his wounded side he took the rib and made his wife Eve. God had prepared wonderfully for Adam. God had given Adam and Eve taste and then provided delicious food for Adam and Eve to eat. God never creates an appetite in man without giving him the fulfillment of that appetite. No matter where around the world you may go, mankind is always talking about a Heaven of some kind or a supreme being. If God has placed in man a desire for a Heaven, then God must also provide a Heaven for man to choose to go.
God had given Adam and Eve sight while providing beauty for them to see with that sight. God gave them hearing while providing the singing of the birds for their hearing pleasure. God gave them love and provide someone to love. God gave them a desire to love and then gave them His love with the love of a mate as well. He gave them thirst while providing refreshing waters for them. He gave them speech while providing someone to whom they could converse.
God provided the sun, moon, stars, lakes, rivers, streams, the rose, the lilac, the magnolia, the daffodil, the palm trees, the orange, the apple, the pear, the corn, wheat, barley, the Earth, heavens, and the seas. All of these things God provided for man, and by the way, all of these things were there when man arrived on the scene. All of these preparations God had performed for man. God gave man dominion over it all. God put all things under man’s feet. God made man a little lower than the angels. All of these things our great God did for man along with many other things.
I have just listed three types of water, three types of flowers, three types of trees, three types of fruit, and three of each. God had provided all of these marvelous things for man.
God put all things under man’s feet. God made Adam and Eve a little lower than the angels. God gave them fellowship with Himself.
The lion and the bear obeyed man. The deer and the peacock entertained them. The nightingale serenaded them. It was a wondrous Eden splendor. All of this God made just for Adam and Eve.
Every tree was pleasant to their eyes. Rivers flowed peaceably in verdant valleys. Every sound was a melody. Every scene was a delight. There was no war to disturb the heart, sickness to cause the fear of death, no leaf ever withered, no wind ever chilled, no perspiration ever moistened the brow.
WOW, isn’t God wonderful to man! All of these things God prepared for man. There was no profanity to curse the ear, no weariness, no heat, no sleet storms, no cold, no blossoms were smitten by a tempest, no withering frost chilled the rose, no sorrow of guilt clouded the mind, and no need to weep or sigh.
It was wonderful! These were just some of the preparations God made and did for man. Please note this carefully, for suddenly another appears. He was attractive but he had done nothing for man but talk! NOTHING! Not one single thing did he do for man! He was just attractive and that was all. He had not done one single thing for man. Adam and Eve now find themselves having to choose. They have a choice of whom to listen to and follow.
Genesis 1:1-4 it says, “the serpent said,” then it says, “And God said…” Once again we see where it records again “the serpent said…” with a follow up of “God said.”
Man has a choice to believe the one who has done nothing for them or the One Who had done everything for them. One who had not given them one bit of enjoyment or pleasure verses the One Who had provided the sun, the moon, the stars, the fruit, the vegetables, the lakes, the hills, the mountains, and all of these wonderful things that man enjoys. All of this was placed for the pleasure of man, and all of them under man’s feet, by a great Omnipotent, Eternal God, Who had done every thing for man.
Then enters this attractive personage who had done nothing for man. They choose to believe and obey the one who had done not one blooming’ thing! All he has is his attractiveness! Adam and Eve, what is your answer to whom you will follow?
They chose the one who had never given them a drop of water, or air to breathe, or the sun by day, or the moon by night, or the stars to light the sky. They chose the one who had never done one single thing over the One Who had done everything for them. This is unbelievable, unthinkable, and irrational.
It has been 6,000 years since that day, and not much has been changed. The same thing happens in the homes of America every day.
MOTHERS
A woman can suffer for nine months, enter into the jaws of death for you, travail to give life, clean your house for a life-time, wash your clothes, iron your clothes, cook your meals, can feed you from her own breasts, feed you when you could not feed yourself, teach you to eat, buy your clothes, change your dirty diapers, bathe your body, carry you in her arms, teach you how to walk, teach you how to talk, sit by your bed side, feel your fevered brow, and give you medicine to keep you alive. That woman can teach you how to bathe yourself, shop for your groceries, and you believe in someone who has done nothing for you over that mother who has done everything for you? Ridiculous!
Perhaps an attractive professor whose done nothing for you, and you will believe him before you will believe your own mother? Perhaps another young person whose done nothing for you, but just because they are attractive you will follow them before you will believe and follow your own mother. Maybe it’s a pretty face or a pretty form? Perhaps it’s a handsome or a big physique, and you will choose to follow some young peer before you will believe your own mother?
It just does not make sense to me. It doesn’t make sense that man would be the recipient of all that God did for him and then follow a dirty creature like the Devil just because he is attractive. The Devil has done nothing for man! It does not make sense for young people to follow a bunch of children who have done nothing for them while turning their backs on their mothers who have done everything for you!
FATHERS
6,000 years has passed and not much has changed. A man suffers for a lifetime providing food, working to make the house payments, pay your utility bills, light bills, heat bills, water bills, work hard to buy food for you to eat, the bed in which you sleep, the chair in which you seat, the table where you eat, the lamp that gives you light, the tub in which you bathe, the water you drink, the tuition that sends you to school, the car that transports you, gasoline that fuels that car, the roof that keeps you dry, the cabinet that holds your food, the food in the cabinet, and the refrigerator that keeps the food fresh.
By the time a child is 15 years of age their dad has gotten up 3,150 times to go to work to keep their houses, clothes, food, and yet that young person can choose to turn their backs on their own dad whom they begin to call the old man, then on top of that choose someone who has done nothing for them all because this someone is attractive!
Please tell me what a liberal Baptist preacher has ever done for you? Please tell me what the liberal independent Baptist preacher who denies preserved inspiration of the King James Bible for the English speaking peoples has done for you other than being very attractive?
Would you please tell me what the bartender has ever done for you? Would you please tell me what the rebel at school has ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the rock star has ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the Hollywood Charlie Sheen’s, whores, and whoremongers have ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the young temptress has ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the young lose boy has ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the worldly neighbor kids have ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the dope peddler, worldly hero, Michael Jackson’s, famous athletes, schoolmates, boyfriend, or girlfriend, the rebel, rebel-bleached blonde, or the mini-skirt wearer female has ever done for you?
It just does not make sense for Adam and Eve to be the recipients of all that God made, all of God’s preparations, and here comes a suave, tempting, attractive, well spoken personage, then turn their back on God, and follow the attractive one. However, it makes as much sense as it does for you to believe someone who’s never done anything for you instead of your mom and dad. It bothers me when we send our young people off to college believing and trusting that they believe as we do at home then all of a sudden we find out the pastor there does not believe the same. All the sudden he says the King James Bible does not have preserved inspiration! WHAT? Where did this come from? Then because he wears $1,000 suits, sparkling cuff links, Jesse Jackson tie bar, an orator, and has a big church that all of that attractiveness overwhelms the investment of mom, dad, and pastor back home!
PASTORS
Please allow me to ask the question? Would you please tell me how a pastor could give his life for a lifetime and members flippantly turn their back on their man of God? Let me ask this question please, where did those buildings come from that your church enjoys? Where did the gymnasium come from that your church uses? Did it just drop out of the sky? Where did all of the ministries come from? Did you just wake up one day and all of a sudden there they were? Who was used to raise literally millions of dollars over a lifetime? Who was used to keep the doors of the church open for all of these years?
Who was it that literally taught thousands of Bible studies for you and your family? Who was the one who counseled with thousands of people for three decades? Who led you in adding missionaries to help reach the world with the Gospel? Who was used of God to lead in the building of your classrooms? Who walked around the ministries making sure they were kept from deteriorating. Who organized the Sunday schools, wrote Sunday school lessons, oversaw a staff, preached thousands of sermons, and who was it that kept the work going? Yet, you grow up, being taught character, work ethics, to dress right, pay your debts, say, “yes sir” or “no sir,” cut your hair if you are a male, to dress modestly, to stay pure, and chaste.
You then grow up, marry, then choose some young attractive pastor, and leave the man who’s given you his life. You are doing the same thing that Adam and Eve were doing in the Garden of Eden. If you grow up in your church and receive what your church has given you, then you owe a debt to that church. Please forgive me for writing this, but you owe a debt to your pastor, your mom, your dad, your Sunday school teacher, your school teacher, your principal, your youth director, the deacons, and you will go somewhere else simply because you want a new start with a pastor who has done not a solitary thing for you.
How about your youth director who gives his life for you? He gives his life for you, and what you do is simply walk away following someone who is more attractive, who has done nothing but are simply more attractive? Young people follow some worldly attractive personality over a man whose gives his life as your youth pastor. You end up following the attractive flashy lights of the world sometimes disguised as a church.
You who do such things are no different than Adam and Eve who had received all that God did and followed someone who had never done one solitary thing for you.
- Adam you owe a debt.
- Eve you owe a debt.
- Son you owe a debt.
- Daughter you owe a debt.
- Church member you owe a debt.
- Teenager you owe a debt.
- Parents you owe a debt.
- Staff member you owe a debt.
Hard to believe and understand how we are so blind to our debts. How about Sunday school teachers who have loved you? How about the countless others whom have sacrificed for you?
Adam? Eve? Did it ever dawn on you where that sun came from that is up there in the sky? Did it ever dawn on you where the river of life came from? Did it ever dawn on you where the tree of life came, those peaceful animals, and those stars came from?
Yet, here comes an attractive, beautiful, suave, and subtle personage who in reality is a dirty, stinking, thief, and liar! I’m writing to young folks who are attracted to attractiveness while being deceived into believing someone who has never done a cotton-picking thing for you. After all that God Almighty has done for you then you just simply turn your back on God in favor of attractiveness. No student knows as much as the teacher knows!
JESUS
The One Who left Heaven and came to Earth. The One Who was born in Bethlehem’s manger of Nazareth. The One who’s coming was announced to Mary and Joseph. Angels announced the One who’s coming as they sang to the shepherds watching their flocks by night. The One Who was here for 33 years away from Heaven. The One Who said goodbye to His Heavenly Father and for 33 homesick years spent His life on Earth.
Foxes have their holes, birds had their nests, and the Son of man had no place to lay His head. While others slept on their pillows in their homes, the Son of man used the rocks of the Mount of Olives for a pillow and the Mount for a bed.
Hated by His own generation, rejected by His own people, excommunicated by His own synagogue, expelled from His own city, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Wait a minute! He could have been in Heaven, being served by 10,000 angels, but He chose to come to Earth to suffer in your place and mine.
After 33 years He was wrongly indicted, tried, convicted, beaten beyond recognition, nailed to a cross, dipped his own soul into Hell, paid your penalty, and you follow the Devil simply because he is attractive? Did the Devil ever suffer for you? Did he go to the cross for you? Did he leave Heaven for you? Did he come to Earth to die for you?
What in the world has the Devil ever done for you? The Devil has not done one single thing for you except to try to allure you away from the One Who did everything for you!
JUST A THOUGHT!
Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com