Springs Article 2021-11 (1)

Genesis 3:1-6
Genesis 3:7-13
Genesis 2:15-18

Why did God rest on the 7th day?

  • Because His works were finished and they were perfect
  • Everything God made was good!
  • Every good and perfect gift comes from above, James 1:17

Why did God plant the Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 2:8?

  • The Garden of Eden was God’s idea, not man’s idea
  • The Garden of Eden was planted as a paradise home for mankind
  • The Garden of Eden represents the Blessing

What was man’s duty in the Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 2:15?

  • To tend it and keep it!
  • It’s God’s gift to provide the Garden; it is man’s responsibility to maintain the Garden

Why does man need to ‘tend and keep’ the Garden as recorded in Genesis 3?

  • Because mankind has an adversary called the Serpent (Satan)
  • 1 Peter 5:8-9

What is the greatest commandment as recorded in Mark 12:28-30?

  • Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind and strength
  • Put God first in all things, including your time, money, skills and energy
  • Exodus 20:1-3, Deuteronomy 6:4-5

What commandment did God give Adam regarding the Garden as recorded in Genesis 2:16-17?

  • You can eat of every tree except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
  • The forbidden tree was to be reserved for God only
  • The forbidden tree was God’s tree, placed at the centre of the Garden
  • The commandment was God’s way of asking man to respond back to His love by putting God first
  • The love commandment is the master key to maintaining paradise

What was man’s possible motivation for obeying this commandment?

  • He had to trust and love God!
  • Both faith and love are based on what man has already received from God
  • Faith and Love are based on your responding positively to your knowledge of who God is and what God has done
  • God cannot force you to trust and love him. You have to choose it voluntarily

What was God trying to achieve by forbidding man to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?

  • God was trying to keep them in innocence, so they enjoy the blessing
  • God was trying to keep them from the knowledge of evil
  • However, that was only achievable if they embraced it voluntarily
  • God cannot force you to do His will because God is love; you have to choose it voluntarily

What does the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represent?

  • The tree is God’s mechanism of keeping you from evil
  • Man had been experiencing only good from the day he was created
  • The tree reflects the principle of tithing and sabbath which is based on trusting and honouring God in every aspect of your life, Proverbs 3:9-10
  • In tithing, you give God the best part of your income (at least 10%)
  • In Sabbath, you give God the best part of your time and energy (at least 1/7)
  • Idolatry is the pursuit of self above God
  • Idolatry is to love the creation more than the creator
  • Idolatry is to consume for yourself what God has reserved for Himself

2021: A Year of Sanctification

To find out more, listen to the audio sermon.