Salvation 1 (Part 5)
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 1:10,11) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. All those who do evil hate the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John3:16-21) “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. Anyone who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John14:21)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.” John 1:1-5
God condescended to earth in human form to pay the price for our sins, personally. This is justice. Because He knew that we would not be able to pay for our sins, he had already determined, before the dawn of time, that He would make that substitutionary atonement; He would be our redemption. However, He will not force that redemption on you. You must be willing to be saved in order to be saved.
When God created man, he created them perfect for their place within the system. Part of this perfection was free will, and the ability to exercise it. The mandate was simple; if you love me, keep my commandments. The humans chose not to keep those commandments because they had been incited to accept a different concept; self-rule. They came to think through deception that they could be like God. Mankind has been trying to emulate God ever since; and has failed at every attempt.
This failure on the part of the first humans is called the Original Sin. When God made his mandate, he also stated the punishment, the price of reparation for transgression against that mandate; death. These humans didn’t suffer immediate physical death, they suffered immediate spiritual death. They were separated from the Spirit of God, who is life.
Psychiatrists understand that every person has a hole in their soul. Into this hole people shove food, alcohol, drugs, sex, hatred, violence, or any number or combination of all of these. Though they shove and shove as fast as they can, the hole remains empty. That hole is the hole that was created when Adam and Eve sinned. There is only one way to repair that hole; Salvation.
Salvation is a free gift. You can’t earn it, you can’t pay for it, you can only request it from God with the clear understanding that when you request salvation, you are entering into a life-long relationship with a person. This person expects certain things of you because he made you. This also means that he knows what’s best for you, and what will work, and what will not work.
Many humans stumble through life trying to figure out the secret to success. We all understand that if you do things a certain way, success will follow. The simple truth is that God is the designer of everything. He knows how all things work within the system that he designed. When He sets a law to prescribe a certain action he’s simply trying to tell you which way is the way that was designed for optimal operation within the system. It is difficult to watch a child fail at a task time and time again. Yet we humans beat our heads against the wall every day trying to do things the wrong way and we’re miserable.
When Adam and Eve died spiritually, God had already established a way for his creation to continue in righteousness. Because the created cannot be the creator, He had already known that the fall would eventually occur. To save their physical lives, and to allow for the continuation of his creation, God had already established a means of physical reparation; blood sacrifice. The blood is life, but no person was ever saved by the sacrifice of an animal. The animal was a substitution, a shadow of the one sacrifice which was yet to come; the Messiah, the Christ. The animal sacrifice was a price of payment, and an awful reminder of what sin is, and does.
In the perfect time, at the perfect place, God sent his Son into the world. This person lived as a man, and died on the cross. His resurrection is the single most astounding event in history. This one single event destroyed an empire, and changed the course of human history forever. This one man did more to change the world than all the armies, all the disease, and all the money ever created. When He came, he stated one simple truth; “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the father but by me.”(John 14:6)
What is that way? And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Deut. 6:5 - Matthew 22:37)
In this way we must give ourselves to God. We must capitulate our own will for the sake of our posterity. We must accept the fact that God is GOD. Knowing that everything you are, were and will be had already belonged to him, you accept that understanding, and promise to live within his covenant with you. This covenant is simple; Love God above all else and He will love you. Giving yourself to God is an act of the will, an act of the intellect and never an act of words, or deeds, or money.
When you turn your life over to God, the Christ sends the Holy Spirit to you in order to teach and affirm the will of God. He chooses to forget your sins, because the price for your sins was paid on the cross. Because your sins are forgiven, you are free from death, free from guilt, free to live. You receive a new nature, a nature of life. This is the meaning of the term “born again.”(Ephesians2:1-6)
A human is born once in the flesh, but can be born again in the spirit. Being born again means that a dramatic change in one’s psyche is brought about. Just as a child who is first born is shocked at the first glimpses of light and hearing of sounds, so we too are shocked at each new revelation brought about by the renewing of our minds. God gives us the “light” of the Word and reveals to us the meaning of the Law(Romans7:7).
The Holy Spirit works within the mind to awaken each born again person to the real world around them(John14:26). Over time certain truths are revealed and made integral to those who are willing to listen(Isaiah28:13). Unfortunately, some refuse to release the thoughts and ideas of their old self. By holding on to how things used to be, they refuse to accept the new information. This is an unfortunate side effect of the human psyche. Occasionally, however, there are those who manage to break free of the bonds of the propaganda and indoctrination of the world, and can move beyond these things to see reality for what it truly is; simple, elegant, and designed with a specific order.
Part of this new nature, this new understanding, is a new thought process concerning sin. When a person is not born again, they are both dead to sin; it does not register with them as sin, and it’s effects are ignored, minimized, or rationalized into meaninglessness, (Romans7:8) and dead in Sin(Romans8:2-13). When one is dead in sin, it simply means that the sentence passed down for their transgressions is in effect. The wages of sin, each sin, every sin, is death. Everyone is appointed to die at least one death, but some will be condemned for their crimes and be sentenced to die continually(Hebrews9:27).
Remember the analogy of the traffic ticket. The moment you exceeded the speed limit you have convicted yourself and assumed the price of punishment. God is both the witness and judge of your transgressions(John3:17-18). When one realizes what sin is, and what it does, one begins to dislike it more and more. Eventually we reach the point where we, like God, hate sin(Deuteronomy7:10,26) because we truly understand what price sin extracts.
Hate has been changed over the years so that now it seems as though it is a “dirty” word. Many believe that hate is the opposite of love. There could be nothing further from the truth. Hate is a condition of love. We cannot truly hate something, unless that something causes harm to that which we love. If you love yourself, then you hate anything that challenges that relationship. If you love your children, then you hate anything that harms your children. Hate is a way of expressing deep resentment. Righteous hate is resentment against sin. Those who understand sin and it’s effects begin to hate sin. This hatred for sin drives them further and further away from any expression of sin, and subsequently closer and closer to Holiness(Amos5:15).
Only by keeping our relationship, and our attitude of relationship, with Jesus can keep our minds in the right mind set(Romans11:22). The Holy Spirit does not force his will upon us, but rather helps, guides and keeps us. In this same token God does not ever give us power over sin, or power over anything else for that matter. The power we have over sin comes from our new knowledge of what sin means, righteousness is, and the faith in the promise of God that the sacrifice of his Son is a sufficient sacrificial payment for all our sins. The power lies in the “blood of the lamb” and not within any man. Furthermore, those who are truly born again do not sin, because their attitude is not towards sin(Romans6).
If a person takes a pen from a bank teller unknowingly, that is not a sin. A person of God would then immediately turn around and give the pen back. A person who sins keeps the pen. A person who doesn’t fully understand the ultimate outworking of sin keeps the pen with the idea that they will take it back another day. The person of God works against sin and sinning. A person of God works each day to create new habits and thoughts that preclude sin and sinning. A person of God seeks each day the grace of the Father, the love of Jesus, and the help and learning of the Holy Spirit.
However, when one relinquishes this relationship, turns his back on this grace there comes a grave and serious consequence that many do not believe because of it’s frightening nature…
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