"PRESERVE WHAT GOD DID
-- AND LEAVE IT ALONE
"

MICHAEL F. BLUME
October 3, 1999

Gene 2:8-15  And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first [is] Pison: that [is] it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where [there is] gold; And the gold of that land [is] good: there [is] bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river [is] Gihon: the same [is] it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river [is] Hiddekel: that [is] it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river [is] Euphrates. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

God PLANTED a Garden.

And he was to KEEP IT THE WAY IT WAS.
 
...put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.


But there was also the OPTION OF DISOBEYING GOD.

In that Garden there was also a means by which a person could choose to not serve God.

If you want to go off and do your own thing you can. The devil came and deceived EVE.
Gene 3:1-6  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
He made her think that she was lacking something.


Notice that the forbidden tree had two character\istics that were in the other trees.

  1. GOOD FOR FOOD.
  2. PLEASANT TO THE EYES
But it had something else.
    3.  ABLE TO MAKE ONE WISE.

The forbidden tree had all the characteristics of the other trees, BUT ALSO HAD AN ADDED CHARACTERISTIC THE OTHER TREES DID NOT HAVE.
 

God does not want you to ADD ONE LITTLE DETAIL TO HIS WORD.

God did not want this extra element in mankind. The devil was right. But God has a wisdom, also. Satan wanted Eve to take his devilish wisdom. The following texts foreshadow the great truth that IN CHRIST WE ARE COMPLETE.
 
HEBREW HOMES IN GOSHEN

Exod 12:21-23  Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip [it] in the blood that [is] in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that [is] in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite [you].

CITY OF REFUGE

Numb 35:25-28  And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled; And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood: Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.

IN CHRIST

Colo 2:7-10  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:


In the three texts mentioned today, there is the issue of being in a place of safety and remaining inside and not exiting.

There were 6 cities of refuge chosen in Israel, with three on one sidde of Jordan and three on the other. And then we read, thirdly, that we are placed in Christ upon salvation.

We must not let anybody “spoil” or Steal us from being in Him through any trick of philosophy or human tradition.

Colossians begins by speaking of our reward and hope in Heaven that is laid up for us.
Colo 1:5  For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
And then we read that The Father made us “meet” or fit to be a partaker of the inheritance that is laid up in heaven for those who will go there.
Colo 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Notice that God the Father is said to have already made us fit to be partakers. Verse 13 says that we already were delivered from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of Christ.
Colo 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son:
He HAS made us fit for the reward. And then we read that we will be presented blameless on the day of the Lord’s return if we CONTINUE IN THE FAITH. The thought of being presented blameless if we CONTINUE IN THE FAITH is some very good news! WE ALREADY ARE SAINTS IN LIGHT IF WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN TRANSLATED FROM THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS – v. 12-13 Its not our good works that brought us to this place of LIGHT but THE FATHER did it. Here is the problem that arises in some people’s minds.

If we do not feel worthy, we will seek to make ourselves worthy.
 

We read a great thought in respect to this issue here:

1The 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul prayed that the Thessalonians would be PRESERVED BLAMELESS unto the coming of the Lord.

PRESERVING something is keepin something you already have in the same state until a certain point. DON”T BE MOVED AWAY FROM THIS FAITH.

All of us had faith for God to save us.

But if the enemy has made you doubt your blamelessness in Christ, despite the many times that you asked forgiveness when you sinned and believed God to wash you, and then you, for some reason, doubted that such a state of being was good enough, you will have the feeling that you are incomplete. Paul said that he prayed for these Colossians that they might be filled with wisdom and knowledge. CHRIST IN YOU IS YOUR HOPE OF GLORY. Be so convinced of that until nobody convince you taht you are incopmplete now.
Colo 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

Colo 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Paul warned every body to STAY IN THERE, and said that we actually LEAVE when we stop believing that God made us FIT when he first saved us. JUST STAY THERE.
Colo 2:11-15  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
This is done!

God put away an entire body of sins of our flesh when we were baptized into Him.

And this was because of what we read in verse 12. The reaosn we are complete in Jesus Christ is because God put us in Him and made us fit. People who try to have us LEAVE this place of confidence and fullness, this place we are in due to our faith that God made us fit and we are to remain there, are people who DO NOT HOLD TO THE HEAD. All that we have need of is staying in the FAITH. How long can he stay? But guess what? He is exactly what we needed in order for us to ever get the hope of the inheritance laid up in heaven for us.
Hebr 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken [this is] the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens
There does not have to be another covenant than that which we have right now.  All the religions that came after Jesus can try to trick you into thinking they make up for what was missing in Jesus’ work already done 2,000 years ago.  This covenant REMAINETH. Let nobody say you are not worthy of the prize!! We don’t grow by an external or material approach. Don’t lower yourself into thinking that you must indulge yourself in outward restrictions. And we also read:
Colo 3:10  And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
We are in a new man. YOU INCREASE.

You become stronger.