DOUBTING GOD¡¦S GOODNESS
Gen 3:1-19
In 1874, James Eads completed the first steel bridge in America. It spanned the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri. No one believed that it would support its own weight.
Eads ordered 14 locomotives to stop on the bridge at the same time. The people then trusted the integrity of the bridge. But, its builder already had faith that it would stand and remain standing.
Guy who was getting married, had the ring in his hand and said: Sweetheart, I love you so much,
I want you to marry me. I don¡¦t have a car like Johnny green, I don¡¦t have a Yacht like him I don¡¦t have a house his size, I don¡¦t have the money of Johnny green But I love you with all my heart. She looked into his eyes and said I love you too, sweetheart, But could you tell me a little more about Johnny Green....
When we doubt the goodness of God, Several things happen:
I. WE WILL BELIEVE LIES ABOUT GOD. 3:1-5
A) Lies about His promises.
1) Positive---Sometimes it is very hard to believe that anything good can come out of our bad situations. Satan wants you to believe that God doesn¡¦t care. He wants you to believe that God has abandoned you so you may as well abandon Him.
2) Negative¡X¡§He doesn¡¦t really mean what He said.¡¨ ¡§You won¡¦t really die.¡¨ ¡§A loving God would not send anyone to hell.¡¨
B) Lies about His position.
1) ¡§God is just insecure about His power¡K¡KHe knows that if you eat of that fruit, you can become just as powerful as Him. You will become a god.¡¨
2) Ge de Purucker heretically says ¡§Though man is an invisible entity, he needs a physical body in which to live and with which to work upon this physical plane. He is a pilgrim of eternity. He came forth from the invisible part of cosmic being in aeons so far bygone in the past that mankind, except the great sages and seers, has lost all count thereof. He came out of the womb of cosmic being as an unself-conscious god-spark, and after wandering aeon after aeon through all the various inner worlds, passing at different stages through our own material sphere, and out again into the inner worlds, he finally became man, a self-conscious entity; and here we are. Future aeons of time will bring forth even on this our earth, into a far more perfect manifestation than at present, the locked-up faculties and powers existent in every human being; and in those days of the far distant future man will walk the earth a god, and he will walk this earth communing with his fellow gods, for he will then have brought forth the godlike powers now unevolved but nevertheless within his essence.
II. WE WILL OPEN THE AVENUES OF SIN. Vs. 6
A) I John 2:16-17 identifies the three avenues of sin.
1) Good for food---Lust of the Flesh
2) Pleasant to the eyes¡XLust of the eyes
3) To make one wise¡XPride of life
B) We will bring those around us down.¡X¡§She ate and gave to Adam.¡¨
Do we live so close to the Lord today, Passing to and fro on life¡¦s busy way, That the world in us can a likeness see To the Man of Calvary? Can the world see Jesus in me? Can the world see Jesus in you? Does your love to Him ring true, And your life and service, too? Can the world see Jesus in you?¡XSong lyrics ¡§Can others see Jesus in You?¡¨
If we are a professing Christian, we have a responsibility to draw people closer to God with our life, not draw them away.
In a court case in Oklahoma the defendant was being tried for murder. The body of the victim had not been found. The evidence was piled up against the defendant and so in a last ditch effort the defense attorney tried something clever. In his closing argument he told the jury ¡§in exactly 1 minute the supposed victim is going to walk through that back door.¡¨ Every juror anxiously looked at the back door. One minute passed and the defense attorney said ¡§O.K. he is not really going to walk through that door but you didn¡¦t know that. You had reasonable doubt as to whether he was alive or not.¡¨ After several hours of deliberation the jury returned. They found the defendant guilty. The defense attorney said ¡§I don¡¦t see how, every one of them looked at that door with anticipation of the supposed victim coming through it.¡¨ One of the jurors replied, ¡§Yes sir, we did; but your client didn¡¦t.¡¨
Do your words get backed up by your witness? Are you trusting in the goodness of God in good times or bad? During difficult times we have an opportunity to have a more powerful witness than we can ever have in good times.
C) We will refuse to take responsibility for our own actions. 3:11-13 ILL Caesar Barber loves fast food. For years, the New York city maintenance man ate four or five meals a week at McDonals¡¦s and Burger King. The more fast food he ate, the fatter he got, packing close to 300 pounds on a five-foot, ten inch frame. After Barber¡¦s first heart attack, his doctor told him to change his diet. Barber didn¡¦t. Three years later, he had another heart attack. Along the way, he developed diabetes. Finally he decided to take action. Caesar Barber didn¡¦t lose 100 pounds¡Xthat would have been difficult and not very lucrative. Instead, he sued the fast food companies that sold him the cheeseburgers, saying the food should have come with warning labels.--Readers Digest
III. WE WILL FORFEIT OUR OPPORTUNITY TO RECEIVE GOD¡¦S BEST.
A) Our communion with Him will be broken. 3:8-9
When we doubt God¡¦s goodness we will try to fulfill our PERCEIVED need anyway we can.
„Y Notice that God came for His walk in the garden just like every day before. It was Adam and Eve that were hiding.
B) They died immediately spiritually¡Xand began dying immediately physically. They were banished from the garden so that they could not eat of the tree of life and live eternally in their sinful condition.
C) Had Adam and Eve not eaten the forbidden fruit they would have theoretically lived forever in a sinless condition and all their offspring as well. But because they focused on what God hadn¡¦t given them instead of the many things He had given them, they lost it all.
