MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX
ILL. If you have had your TV on late at night during the past year you’re probably aware of the fastest growing businesses of 1996 & 97. They have made millionaires many times over of their owners who have saturated the late-night TV advertising market. Can you guess what businesses I’m talking about?
They are the psychic hotlines where you can dial a 900 number & for a few dollars a minute receive personal attention from one who is advertised as a psychic & therefore supernaturally gifted in knowing your deepest needs. If love or happiness or peace of mind are eluding you, then dial a psychic hotline & they advertise that your needs will be met.
People by the thousands have dialed these 900 numbers, spending hundreds & even thousands of dollars each in desperate attempts to fill some void or seek some guidance in their lives.
But sadly, even though their advertisements mention love, happiness, & peace of mind, in most cases they’re offering something they can’t deliver. Yet the psychic industry boasted profits of over $3 billion last year alone.
APPL. Now if you really want love, joy, & peace in your life, then pay particular attention to the 5th chapter of Galatians. It’s a chapter of contrasts, contrasts between freedom & slavery, between law & grace, & between walking in the Spirit & walking in what Paul calls "the sinful nature."
He tells us that if we’re walking in the sinful nature, then we’ll produce the fruit of a sinful nature, & he lists some of them, things like "sexual immorality, impurity, ...hatred, discord, jealousy..." He goes on to say, "I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God" [Vs. 21].
But on the other hand, if we’re walking in the Spirit, then we’ll produce the fruit of the Spirit - "...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control" [Vs. 22].
PROP. Well, we’ve recently talked about love & joy, so let’s now talk about peace - peace with God, peace within ourselves, & peace with one another.
I. A TIME OF PERFECT PEACE
A. Maybe the best thing to do would be to go back to a time of perfect peace & look at it as a lesson for us today. But to what time shall we go?
What about when Jesus was born & the angels sang "Peace on earth, good will toward men"? No, even though the Prince of Peace had come, it was not a time of peace for Rome ruled the world with a cruel & oppressive hand.
B. Well, was there ever a time of perfect peace? Yes, there was. But to see it we’ll have to go all the way back to the book of Genesis, chapters 1, 2 & 3. There we see Adam, created in the image of God & placed in the Garden of Eden, surrounded by all the ingredients that make for perfect peace.
1. First of all, he was in a perfect place, a paradise designed & created by God, Himself. And God gave Adam a perfect body with no flaws or blemishes in it, & provided him with a garden in which there was perfect food to eat.
2. Not only did he live in a perfect place with a perfect body, & had perfect food to eat, but Adam had perfect work to do, perfect because he was doing the work that God told him to do. Here is Adam naming the animals & tilling the soil without any worry about weeds, exploring his new world without any of the dangers of exploration.
3. And to top all that - perfect place, perfect body, perfect food, perfect work - God gave Adam a perfect companion. God saw Adam’s loneliness, & He fashioned Eve just for him. Genesis 2:23 tells us that when Adam saw Eve he said, "This is now bone of my bones & flesh of my flesh; she shall be called `woman,’ for she was taken out of man."
ILL. Tim Timmons suggests that something must have been left out of the record. He says that he just cannot imagine Adam seeing this perfect woman for the very first time now please don’t misconstrue this because this is before sin entered the world - he just can’t imagine Adam standing there & calmly saying, "She is bone of my bones & flesh of my flesh; she shall be called `woman,’ for she was taken out of man."
He says, "I picture Adam turning flip-flops, cartwheels, whistling, shouting at the top of his voice, & saying to God, `God, she’s perfect. Wrap her up. I’ll take her home. On second thought, don’t wrap her up, I’ll take her just the way she is!’"
C. The Garden of Eden was their home, a perfect place for a perfect couple. And it was also a place of perfect peace.
1. Notice what it says in Genesis 2:25, "The man & his wife were both naked, & they felt no shame." There was perfect peace within them & perfect peace between them - no depression, no guilt, no baggage from the past.
ILL. Can you imagine it? Eve never bragged about all the other guys she could have married, & Adam never said, "I wish you could cook as good as my mother." It was a perfect marriage.
2. Genesis 1:28-31 says, "God blessed them & said to them, `Be fruitful & increase in number; fill the earth & subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea & the birds of the air & over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ Then God said, `I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth & every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth & all the birds of the air & all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw all that he had made, & it was very good."
SUM. So it was a time of perfect peace, peace within themselves & with each other, peace with their environment, & peace with God.
B. Genesis 3:8 says that God came to the garden & walked in it with them. And it appears He did it regularly. Can you picture that? Listen again to the words of the beautiful hymn we sang this morning.
"I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses,
And He walks with me & He talks with me, & He tells me I am His own."
SUM. Perfect peace in a perfect place - it was a beautiful scene wasn’t it?
II. SATAN’S METHODS HAVEN’T CHANGED
A. Well, it wasn’t that way long. Genesis 3:1 says, "The serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, `Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’"
Now I want you to notice that Satan’s methods haven’t changed. You would think that after thousands of years of Satan doing exactly the same thing he did to Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden, that we would wise up & tell him, "Get thee behind me, Satan."
But we don’t, & we’re still falling for it just like Adam & Eve did. So let’s analyze what happened.
1. The first thing Satan did was to cast doubt upon the Word of God. "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’"
Satan is still doing that. "Did God really say that there is only one way back to Him?" "Did Jesus really say `I am the way & the truth & the life, & no one comes unto the Father but by me?’" "Did God really say that we are to love our enemies & to forgive them & pray for them?" "Did God really say that sex is something special to be saved just for marriage?"
That’s pretty narrow, don’t you think? How could God make those kinds of demands? The first step down is to begin doubting God’s Word.
In vs’s 2-3 "The woman said to the serpent, `We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, & you must not touch it or you will die.’"
Now you can search all through Genesis & you’ll never find where God said to Adam & Eve, "Don’t touch the tree." Yes, God said not to eat of it, but evidently Eve added to the law of God. And people are still doing that today.
So let’s be very careful that we "speak where the Bible speaks, & are silent where the Bible is silent." It’s not our ideas or opinions that are important, but what God says in His Word.
3. Now the third thing that happened is that God’s Word was denied. Vs’s 4 & 5 tell us, "`You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. `For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, & you will be like God, knowing good & evil.’"
"It isn’t true," Satan says. "God didn’t say that, & if He did, He didn’t mean it. If you eat of this tree, you’ll not die. You’ll become wise. Your eyes will be opened. You’ll know the difference between good & evil. You can become your own god."
ILL. Some may call it "New Age," but it’s not new. It’s as old as Satan in the Garden of Eden. You see, we’re still being told that we can be our own god, do our own thing, & make our own rules.
4. Then what happened? Vs. 6 says that Eve saw the fruit, that it was good for food, pleasing to the eye, & desirable for gaining wisdom. You see, sin usually has an appealing appearance. It looks good on the surface. So Eve took some & she ate.
Well, it isn’t long until here comes poor, unsuspecting Adam. He has no clue as to what has been going on. Eve says, "Adam, I’ve just discovered something that is really good to eat." And Adam eats, too.
B. Vs. 7 says, "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, & they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together & made coverings for themselves." The age of innocence was over as sin & death entered the world.
1. Man was no longer at peace with God. Vs. 8 says, "Then the man & his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, & they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden."
That hasn’t changed. As long as there is sin in our lives, we’ll find the closest bush, or any other place we can find, & try to hide from the Lord.
2. They were no longer at peace with each other, either. "The Lord God called to the man, `Where are you?’ He answered, `I heard you in the garden, & I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid’" [vs’s 9-10].
The Lord said, "`Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man said, `The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, & I ate’" [11-12].
Adam handled it like a real man, didn’t he? He blamed his wife. Then God asked her, "`What is this you have done?’ The woman said, `The serpent deceived me, & I ate’" [Vs. 13].
That ancient blame game is still going on. Over & over again we hear people saying, "It’s not my fault. I’m a victim. If everybody else wasn’t like they are, I wouldn’t be like I am." So it’s our parents’ fault, or our grandparents’ fault, or our kids’ fault, or our husband’s or wife’s fault. It’s somebody else’s fault. We’re the victims.
APPL. I’m convinced that healing will never come until we accept responsibility for what we have done, & be able to stand before the Lord & say, "I know I’m guilty. I’ve sinned, & I ask your forgiveness."
III. HOW CAN THERE BE PEACE IN A SIN-TORN WORLD?
A. Have you seen the bumper sticker that reads, "No Jesus, No peace peace)"? Then underneath it are these words, "Know Jesus, Know Peace." That’s not only a clever bumper sticker, it’s also scripturally accurate. If you know Christ you will know peace. If you don’t know Christ, there will be no peace in your life because Jesus Christ is the source of our peace.
Once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, once we have repented of our sins & are faithful to Him in Christian baptism, & begin our new life in Christ, then we’ll have peace with God.
Phillips paraphrases Ephesians 2:17 this way, "He came & told both you who were far from God & us who were near that the war was over." I like that!
B. However, I must tell you that the war between the evil one & the kingdom of God is not over. It is still going on.
ILL. Even as we rejoice over victories throughout the world for the kingdom of God, we face the reality that two years ago all of our missionaries had to leave Zaire because of the terrible civil war that was going on. Our missionaries had been in Zaire for 35 years, but because of the dangers there, & because of the opposition of the new government, we had to bring all of our missionaries home from there.
And it is happening in the Ukraine also. For a few years after the iron curtain fell the doors were open wide, but now the government officials have changed, & it’s almost impossible for missionaries to work there any longer.
But don’t think the battle is just in Africa or the Ukraine. It’s here, too. So as we come together, let’s encourage one another, & lift each other up in our prayers. And remind each other that the victory has already been won.
ILL. Several years ago a submarine was being tested & had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to base, the captain was asked, "How did the terrible storm last night affect you?" The captain looked at him in surprise & exclaimed, "Storm? We didn’t even know there was one!"
The sub had been so deep that it had reached the area known to sailors as "the cushion of the sea." No matter how fiercely high winds may churn the ocean’s surface, the waters there are never disturbed.
CONCL. Folks, if you want a peace that the storms of life cannot disturb, a peace that will sustain you no matter what comes your way, then it is my privilege to point you to Jesus, & extend His invitation to you. Will you come as we stand & as we sing?
