John K. Jenkins Sr - The Doctrine of Salvation

Thanks! Let me take a moment to welcome all of you for joining us. We have people joining us from all over the country and around the world. Let 's see, we have participants from New Jersey, North Carolina, Connecticut, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Indiana, California, Illinois, Florida, Texas, and Georgia. Thank you all, wherever you are, for joining us today! Additionally, we have some international participants from Puerto Rico, India, Malaysia, Saint Vincent, and I believe that’s Grenada, but it says the Grenadines. I’m not internationally privy to how to pronounce all these names, and we also have attendees from Barbados and many other places! Feel free to shout out if you’re joining us from anywhere else; we’re so grateful to have you here this evening.

I am thankful and giving God all the glory and all the praise for your presence. I’m going to pray in just a moment, and then I 'll address a couple of questions. We only had two questions last week that I didn’t get to answer, so let me try to tackle them today.

Let 's start our prayer: Father, thank you for the privilege and opportunity to be here tonight. Thank you for waking us up, giving us the activities of our limbs, and protecting us all week long when we could have faced tragedy. But God, you protected us, and we thank you for that. You gave us a heart and a mind to be in Bible study tonight, and I thank you for that. I pray, Lord, that you would take these next moments and let us be your instruments. Let hearts be open and receptive to receive. Let Your Truth prevail, and may hearts be impacted and changed. In Jesus' name, amen.

Alright, it looks like we have some people from Antigua and England also joining us from Saint Martin and Holland. I never dreamed in all my life that God would help us reach the world like we are doing, and I’m giving God the praise for that. Thank you for joining us, wherever you are in the world.

Now, regarding the questions from last week: One of the questions was, «Why was the devil in the garden? Wasn 't he thrown out of heaven for being a bad angel?» Yes, the devil was kicked out of heaven, and he was sent to the earth. The garden was on the earth, and that’s where he was sent to have domain over the planet. So, that is where he was and still is. As a matter of fact, we’ll talk about that soon.

The second question was, «If there was no sin before they ate the fruit, what made them choose to disobey God? They were pure and without sin; why wouldn’t they do only what is right?» That 's a great question, and by the way, the Bible doesn’t specify that they ate an apple; it just says they ate the forbidden fruit. Everybody says «apple,» but the Bible doesn’t clarify what it was, so we really don’t know.

What made them choose to disobey God? They listened to the wrong voice, just like we do. We listen to the voice of the enemy and think that somehow there’s something better for us. The devil lied to them, and they believed the lie. That’s what happens to humans today; they listen to a lie and embrace it, accepting the lies of the enemy. Anytime you heed those lies, it tends to bring defeat, challenges, problems, and ultimately sin. That 's what Adam and Eve did; they listened to the enemy. The devil appealed to their flesh and said, " God knows that if you eat it, you 'll become wise and be like Him.» They wanted something more.

You know what I find amazing about human nature? Adam and Eve had everything they could possibly want in life. They had a relationship with God and resources to meet their needs, and whatever they needed was right there. God placed them in a position where all their needs were met. Yet, the devil convinced them they needed something else. Unfortunately, that happens today; the devil persuades us we need something beyond what God has provided for us, and we yield to that. It 's unfortunate and has affected all of us.

There 's no need for us to be angry at the devil or to blame Adam and Eve; if it had been us, we would have likely done the same thing. God knew it, and that’s why God made a plan. It’s exciting-God knew man would ultimately fail, and He had a plan prepared before the foundations of the world. He mapped out a way for us to have a relationship with Him and that we could know Him. He had a plan for salvation so that you and I could know the Lord.