Escape of Notions

Yesterday, Bro. Dave's message was on "Satan's Best Sermon."  Genesis 3: 1-6 was the reference passage.  This was the Fall of Man segment in the Bible.  You know, the serpent was "prudent," which means sly or crafty in a negative sort of way, when he approached Eve and seduced her into eating from the forbidden tree of good and evil.  One can only speculate as to why Eve was the easier target.

This was the first account in the Bible of the Fallen Angel Lucifer preaching False Doctrine.  Interestingly enough, Bro. Dave said the Angel Lucifer first appears in the the 3rd Chapter from the beginning of the Bible (Genesis 3) and disappears after the 3rd chapter from the end of the Bible (Revelation 20).  How about that?!

He went on to say Angel is from the Greek word "Evangelos."  Meaning Angel comes from the middle of Evangelism, or "to tell the good news."  Yes, even Satan tells the good news, but distorts it into false information.

Bro. Dave's 3 points were:

1) Scriptures are reliable - only Satan makes you doubt God's word.  How ironic - it is so much easier to believe Satan's lies than God's Truth.

2) Sin will Ruin - Satan makes you think that when you sin, it will not harm you.  But, Sin WILL ruin anything it touches.  It ruined the Perfect Couple in the Perfect Garden.  Adam and Eve already new Good, but Satan convinced them that knowing Evil wouldn't harm them.  But, it did!  It brought the curse of sin and death to mankind.  You've heard the old cliche' 'Be sure your sins will find you out."

3) Salvation is by Grace through Faith - Satan wanted Eve and Adam to believe that they could save themselves by being like God.  Even the Pharisees aren't righteous enough to work their way to heaven.  No one is good enough, or equals God, so we must accept his gift of GRACE through Faith in Jesus Christ the Savior, God's only Son.

Once I heard that the acronym for GRACE is God's Riches at Christ's Expense.  Good way to remember, huh?!

So, to end Bro. Dave told a story about Bob.  Bob was someone who was good person.  He always carried his umbrella in case it rained.  He kept his car in good working order, and had an extra car so he would never be without transportation.  Sadly, Bob was killed in a car wreck and stood before God at Judgment.  Sadly, God said, "Bob, you made sure everything went as planned, and carefully laid out your life so it would be as easy and as stress free as possible.  But, you forgot the most important thing.  You didn't prepare for where you will spend eternity.  Depart from me, I never knew you." 

God is a fair judge.  He says "Come unto me all ye who labor and I will give you rest."  He also says, "for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Rm 6:23"  We will spend eternity either in the "smoking or non-smoking section."  That was a little joke by Bro. Dave.  But, so true.  Either we will be in Hell where we are not welcomed because the lake of fire was created for Satan and his fallen angels.  Or, we will be in heaven with Jesus the Savior, and God the Father where we will be more than welcomed, we will walk with the Creator Himself.

It's your decision.  Time is short, choose wisely.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”- Isaiah 55:8-9