This sermon emphasizes the importance of choosing to respond to the spirit and voice of God rather than solely to the desires of the body, highlighting the deception that living for oneself leads to a happier life. It explores the choice Adam faced between the created and the Creator, showing how choosing God's will leads to fulfillment. The speaker encourages surrendering to God's plan, trusting in His provision for every need, and dispelling the misconception that God restricts happiness.

In our last study, we were looking at the purpose with which God created man. And we saw that man was created to reflect God's image and to be a ruler. And he was created with a body made of dust, but a spirit which could respond to God. And whether we fulfill the purpose with which God created us or not, depends on which of these pulls we respond to. An animal responds only to the pull of his body, all he's interested in is food, sleep, sex, that's it. And take care of his little ones when they're born. And when a man is interested only in food, sleep, sex, and to take care of his family, think of it. Such a man is not doing anything more than any animal does for his family. It's when a man responds to the spirit, to the voice of his conscience, to the voice of God speaking in his conscience, that he rises above the level of animals and lives as a son of God, as God intended him to be. Why is it that so many Christians don't respond to the call of God in their life, and to be what God wants them to be, to surrender their lives to him? It's because they feel that if they do their own will, and please themselves, and respond just to the desires of their body, they can live a happier life. This is the great deception of Satan. He's portrayed God as someone who's come to spoil our lives like a spoiled sport, who doesn't want us to have any fun or enjoyment, which is not true. Jesus tried to remove that wrong image of God from the people in his time. Throughout history, one of Satan's greatest weapons has been to portray a wrong image of God before people, so that they will not surrender their life to him, but will hold back. And if God can be portrayed as someone who's out to make your life unhappy or miserable, then he succeeded in preventing man from surrendering himself to such a God. And I tell you, most Christians that I've met, and this is true even in people in other religions, have a feeling that God is not someone you can be very friendly with. God is not someone who's out to do you good. He's out to make your life miserable. And this is a lie. And when we're called to be ambassadors of Christ, part of our calling is to show forth this lie of the devil. God intends the very best for you. Whenever he tells you not to do something, it's for your good. We may not realize it. A little one-year-old child or two-year-old child doesn't understand why you tell him not to play around with a snake or with a knife or with fire. We know that that's harmful for that child who doesn't know how to use a knife or a fire. They can hurt themselves. But do you think those little children understand it? They disobeyed, they burned themselves in the fire, they cut themselves with a blade or a knife because they disobeyed. And man is exactly like that. When God tells us not to do something, it's because he knows that that particular thing will destroy us. There may be a temporary pleasure out of doing it, but in the long run, it destroys us. And that's why he tells us not to do something. And that's why God told Adam in Genesis chapter 2 not to eat from a particular tree. Now there's more than one reason for that which we can look at. In one way, God was testing him. God was testing him to see whether he would respond to God. You see, God can never make a man holy without that person choosing to be holy. God doesn't force us to be holy. He was not going to force Adam to be holy if he didn't want to be holy. Adam had to make that choice. So if God had sent Adam into the Garden of Eden and said, you do whatever you like, eat whatever you like, I'm not going to place any restrictions on you, there would be no opportunity for Adam to make a choice. And when he doesn't have to make a choice, he cannot be holy. It's when God gives us the opportunity to choose that we can become holy. What was the choice that confronted Adam? It is very similar to what we were considering in our last study. There was something God had created. A very beautiful tree with very beautiful fruit. And that was on one side. On the other side was God himself and his command not to take part of that. So when Adam and Eve stood before that tree, they were standing between that which was created and the Creator. And they had to make a choice. Which do you want now? Do you want what's created or do you want God himself? And you know what Adam chose? He chose what was created. And that was the origin of sin in the human race. And the devil tempted him just to choose that which was created. The devil didn't tempt Eve to kill her husband or slap him or any such thing or even be unsubmissive to him. He just tempted her to choose that which was created over the Creator. He knew that that would be enough to destroy her. And when she offered the fruit to Adam, he also faced that choice. Shall I choose the one who created me? Or shall I choose this lovely thing that is created? And he chose the lovely thing that is created and he destroyed his life too. Now today, we face the same choice too, every one of us. There are many, many attractive things that God has created. But some of those things are also forbidden. For example, God has not given every woman for you to lust after or commit adultery with or to have sex with. He gives you a wife. But when you want something which God has forbidden, someone other than your wife, and you want to, in a wrong way, enjoy her sexually, you're choosing something created, rejecting the commandment of God. It's exactly the same choice that Eve made when she chose something attractive God had created and rejected God. It could be money. Money is something very attractive God has created. But he never intended that man should live for it or worship it or choose that above God. Do you know the number of people, even among believers, preachers, pastors, who have chosen money above God? There's tremendous attractiveness in wealth. Why has he made it so attractive? Why did God make the tree of knowledge of good and evil so attractive? If all that God wanted was to prevent madam from ever partaking of that tree, all he had to do was make the tree very ugly, repulsive, smelly, full of thorns or something like that, and Adam and Eve would never have gone anywhere near it. But then they wouldn't have been tested. If something God has created is ugly and repulsive and smelly, the fact that you reject that and choose God doesn't prove anything. The test is when God makes something that is really attractive and your whole being rises up in response to that attraction. And when you say no to that and you choose God, then you're on the pathway of holiness. No man can be holy without his making that choice. Which choice? The choice that I want my creator more than what he created. You know, even a man like Abraham had to make that choice 50 years after God first called him. When God first called him, this man was living, as we read in Genesis 12, comfortably 75 years old in his hometown of Ur of the Chaldees. And God called him to leave that, to leave the comfort and security and the enjoyment of the city he had grown up in, house, lands, everything he had, to leave all that and to follow the Lord. What was the choice Abraham had to make? All this attractive, creative stuff are God. What do you want? Abraham obeyed. That's why you read of him in the book. If he had not obeyed, if he had said like Eve, no, I would rather choose this creative stuff than you, you'd never heard of Abraham. God would have chosen somebody else. 50 years after that, the Bible says in Genesis 22, God tested him again. In fact, he tested him numerous times. But always the test was, what do you want? We read in Genesis chapter 13, of a time when there was a conflict between Abraham's servants and Lot's servants. The conflict was over property. Pasture for their sheep. Those are the things they valued in those days because their wealth was in cattle and sheep and they needed pasture. And God was watching what is going to be the attitude that Lot is going to take in this situation and what's the attitude that Abraham is going to take. And there you see how these two people responded in completely different ways. The choice before them was, God or all this attractive stuff that he's created. And we read there that Lot lifted up his eyes and looked at Sodom, which was a very attractive place. And he chose that. He said, I want that. I want this attractive thing. Even though the people there were living in sin. It was well known that there were all types of sinful things that were going on there. And here was Lot taking his family to go and live in that sinful surrounding. But it was a place where he could make a lot of money. So he chose to go there. And the result was that he lost his wife, he lost his children, and he almost lost his own life. But Abraham, even though he was a senior person, he said, I want God. God will choose for me. I will not choose for myself. So he told Lot, you choose for yourself. If you go left, I'll go to the right. If you go to the right, I'll go to the left. God will choose for me. And the Bible says Lot chose for himself. What did he choose? Just like Eve and Adam, that which was created. Abraham chose God. And you know, because he chose God, he didn't lose out. God said, Abraham, I've seen what you've chosen. You've chosen me. And because you've done that, I will give you all this land, including what Lot chose. You know, when you honor God and seek him, you don't lose out, even materially. The Bible says, Jesus himself said that. If you seek God first, his kingdom, and his righteousness, even these earthly things that you need will be added to you at the right time and in the right quantity. Not too much to destroy you, and not too little to starve you, but just the right amount. Whether it's money or comfort or house or anything, God provides everything. But he wants us to choose him. That's what he wanted Adam to do. That's what he created him for. Will you choose me above everything created? That's what he expected from Abraham. And I want to say to you, dear friends, that that's what he's expecting from you. And every day of your life, you're going to make a choice. You're going to make a choice between that which is created and the creator himself. What did Adam lose out on something? Was he going to lose out on something if he chose God? What does man look for in young people as they grow up? They want a job. They want a home. And they want a marriage pot. These are the main things young people look for as they grow up, get into their twenties. Think of Adam. Did God provide, did he make some provision for Adam in these three areas? He certainly did. We read there that before God made Adam, he had already made this beautiful garden as a home. God had made a wonderful home called the Garden of Eden. And then he made man. Employment, God had already planned an employment for Adam as the gardener in this garden. A marriage partner, God had already planned to create a woman to be his wife. Adam didn't even have to go to God and tell him, I need something here. That's what we see right at the beginning of the Bible. That God knew Adam's need and provided for it even before Adam asked him. He provided a home for him. He provided a job for him. And he provided a marriage partner for him. God is a good God. He's just the same today. And he provides for his children in exactly the same way today. If we trust him. And what he provides is absolutely the best. The Bible says that when God wanted to provide a partner for Adam, he said, I want to make someone suitable for him. That's what we read in Genesis 2, verse 18. I'll make him a helper suitable for him. That means something that exactly fits with his temperament and his nature. According to his need, I will create a wife who will be exactly suited for him. Now, do you believe that God loves you just as much as he loved Adam? I believe that with all my heart. I believe that as a young man. And I believe that God would, in his great love for me, provide me with a wife who would be exactly suited for me according to my temperament, my need, my ministry that God had planned for me, etc. And now we've been married nearly 40 years and I can tell you that's absolutely true. God provided exactly what was right for me. And if you honor God and you seek him and choose the creator above the created and don't grab for yourself, you'll find that he does that for you as well. He'll provide you a house, he'll provide you a job, he'll provide you a partner exactly suited for you. You couldn't find a better one yourself. A better job or a better house or a better partner. So that's what we see here. God intends to provide man his need. The Bible says, my God will supply all your need. In Philippians 4 and verse 19 we read that. My God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He doesn't give us all that we want. Only a foolish father would give his children everything they ask for. You think it's wise to give our children everything they ask for? That'll destroy them. A wise father gives his children everything they need. He doesn't give them everything they ask for. God is a much wiser father. He doesn't give us everything we ask for. A lot of prayers we pray, he doesn't grant them. His answer is no. Just like a good father, sometimes, many times, has to tell his children, no, I'm sorry, my son, my girl, I can't give you that. I won't permit that. But everything that we need, everything that Adam needed, God had already made provision for before he created him. That's the wonderful thing. It's not that he created him and then he said, hey, we've got to look around for a place for him to stay, and we've got to look around and make a wife for him. The wife that God had planned for Adam was planned before he created Adam. Adam, he was created later, but she was planned even before, because before he met him, made Adam itself. He says, let us make man in our image and according to our likeness. So he was planned, Adam and Eve were planned before they were created. So we see there that God had planned everything for Adam before he was created. And it's a wonderful thing to believe that. Many a time when we face situations in life where we can wonder, has God made some provision for this particular situation that I'm facing right now? It's wonderful to go back to Genesis and to see there that before a need arises, God has already made a plan for it. You know, it's a very wonderful thing to be a child of God. I found that for 47 years now. It's a very wonderful thing to be a child of God because God provides everything that we need, whatever it is, spiritual, physical, material. You know, every single person on earth should be a child of God, but why is it that people don't want this wonderful life? Because the devil has somehow portrayed before people that God is a hard, demanding taskmaster. Don't yield your life to him. You can be a much happier person if you live on your own. That's a lie. And I believe that's one of the things that we need to emphasize to Christians. It's a lie to imagine that you can live a better life out there on your own without consulting God about His will. The happiest Christians on earth are the ones who have decided, I don't want to plan my own life. I want God to plan my life and I want to fulfill His will exactly. Now, if you know God's nature, as a loving father who cares for you, you'd gladly say that. I can say that after 47 years when I was a young man. I was gripped by the fact when I was 21 years old that God had a plan for my life. And I began to think and I say, is it possible for me with all my limited knowledge and my ignorance as a human being to make a better plan than my Creator has made for me? You've got to be off your head and crazy to think that that is true. Definitely God can make a better plan for our lives because He knows the whole future. He knows all my temperament, what I'm like, and the dangers there are, etc., and different parts. And He plans the best for me. I cannot think of a better plan than that. And once I recognize that, that's faith. Faith is to believe that God's wisdom is greater than yours. It's really not difficult to have faith. Is it difficult to believe that God's wisdom is superior to yours? Is it difficult to believe that God loves you so perfectly? Is it difficult to believe that He's almighty and He can control all the factors in your life? Faith is just that. Lord, I believe. That's why I choose what you have planned rather than my own. That's what we need to learn from the first two or three chapters of the book of Genesis. And the reason I'm beginning there is because I found that a lot of Christians, their problem arises from the fact that they don't understand God's purpose. They don't believe that God's plan is better than anything that they can make for themselves. They don't believe that God has made provision for every single need that can ever arise in your life. Did you hear what I said? Every single need that can ever arise in your entire life. There's some provision God has made to meet that need. I mean, that just excites me to know that. That whatever I may face in the future, I don't know what it is. I don't know what I'm going to face next week, next month. But I know one thing. Whatever it is, God has made provision for it already. You know there's a very lovely word in Psalm 112 that reads like this. It's one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 112. Because it tells how blessed the man is who only wants to obey God. Who delights in His commandments and obeys Him. One of the things it says in verse 7 of Psalm 112 is He is not afraid of bad news. Now as long as we live on this earth, sometimes we may get some news which doesn't sound right. Why are we not afraid? Because God has made provision for something to solve that problem. Isn't that wonderful to live on earth like that? To say from now till the end of my life on earth, I don't know what's going to come in my way. But I know one thing. Whatever I face, God has made some provision for it. I learned that from Genesis 2. God made provision for every need of Adam's. And to teach me right at the beginning of the Bible that He knows my need and He has made provision for it completely. So let's get rid of this wrong concept of God that the devil's portrayed before people. And let's recognize He wants the very best for you, my friend. So surrender to Him and say, Lord, I want Your will for my life. God bless you.