Is It Too Late To Remember?

IS IT TOO LATE TO REMEMBER?

By

JERRY FALWELL

As I think about the Twin Tower tragedy and our loss of peace and safety, I thought about Adam and Eve losing the peace and safety of the Garden. Then I began to put together some comparisons why Adam and Eve lost their peace and safety, and why we may lose our peace and safety.

FOUR REASONS WHY PEACE

AND SAFE WERE LOST

1. They forgot the good things they had.

2. They turned away from the One who gave them everything.

3. They focused on the Tempter rather than on the Creator.

4. Adam and Eve didn’t remember the commands God gave them.

FIRST REASON

A. THEY FORGOT THE GOOD THINGS THEY HAD.

1. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had everything they could ever want or desire.

A good God had given them a perfect environment, a wise God had taken care of all their needs, and a kind God made sure they had no needs.

2. They had any and everything to eat they could ever want.

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Genesis 1:29). God had made every tree available to them. In another place He said, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat” (Genesis 2:16). God didn’t say you may eat of a few of the trees . . . half of the trees . . . or a lot of the trees. They could eat of all of the trees except one. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it” (Genesis 2:17).

3. They had everything they needed.

The Garden had perfect weather, perfect water for growth and drink, perfect conditions; there were no such things as wild animals (predators), poisonous food, tick-borne diseases, or dangerous black widow spiders.

4. America seems to have forgotten what good things we had.

a. We have had peace and security for approximately 200 years. Of course we were bombed in a U. S. possession in 1941, i.e., Pearl Harbor, and England invaded the United States in the War of 1812. But for the most part, America has enjoyed peace, safety, security, and we’ve enjoyed freedom and liberty.

No other nation has given its people freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of the people to peaceably assemble. In addition we had the freedom to petition our Government for a redress of grievances.

America is so free, we let people freely criticize our nation that makes them free.

b. America has gotten its peace and security from God. Two years ago I preached a sermon from the Declaration of Independence, pointing out four things our forefathers included in the Declaration of Independence that bases this nation upon Almighty God:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

1. They believed in a Creator.

2. They believed God created them in His own image.

3. They believed that God’s supernatural act (i.e., miracle) to create mankind should continue to be extended to every person.

4. They believed in absolute truth which they call inalienable rights or self-evident truths.

SECOND REASON

B. THEY TURNED AWAY FROM THE ONE WHO GAVE THEM EVERYTHING.

1. Adam and Eve had been given everything, but when they listened to the Serpent’s temptation, they turned their back on the Creator.

Notice the first thing that the Devil said, “Yea, hath God said” (Genesis 3:1). The first thing the enemy does is to get us to doubt. When Satan got Eve to doubt, he had her in his clutches. The very fact that Eve was listening to the Serpent meant that she had tuned God out.

2. What happened when God showed up?

After Adam and Eve sinned, “They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden” (Genesis 3:8). Because they had turned away from God to listen to Satan, now they ran away from God, rather than running to God.

One good thing I have seen in the past month: America seems to have turned to God. I have seen people praying, I have heard national leaders ask us to pray. America has confessed her need of a Savior. Our new prayer is “God bless America.”

However, I have not seen America repent of her sin. We are scared, but we are not scared enough to tell God we are sorry for taking Him out of the public schools where we can’t read the Bible or pray. Are we sorry for ridiculing God in Hollywood and television? Are we sorry for allowing media, entertainers, musicians, and politicians to take His name in vain? Are we sorry for the young lives that have been killed through abortions? Are we sorry for all the ugly ways we have violated the Word of God?