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When God created
Adam and Eve, they were created to live
inside the perfect love of God. God intended
that they should get their self-worth and
significance from Him! He was their creator
and he knew what was best for them. In a
sense, man was created with their “Batteries
not included”. We were created to get our
value from something, or someone outside of
ourselves. From God Himself.
God
alone had the blueprint for who they were.
If Adam wanted to know who he was he could
go straight to God to find the answers he
was looking for. God designed us that way.
There is a place inside of each and every
one of us that only God can fill (Eccl. 3:11).
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve’s
failure to trust God completely sent the
human race into a downward spiral that has
caused billions of people to live lives
separated and detached from God’s love and
without hope. By causing the woman to doubt
God’s word, Satan brought evil into this
world. Satan, the “deceiver” set out to
alienate the human race from God, and as our
“accuser”, he always strives to alienate God
from man, His crowning work of creation
(Gen. 1:27; Job 1-2; Zech. 3:1). Adam was
not deceived! He willing ate of the
forbidden fruit and deliberately sinned
against God (Gen. 3:6; 1 Tim. 2:14).
God condemned the serpent because it made
itself available to the tempter, who
orchestrated the fall of the first two human
beings. Accordingly, God placed a curse upon
the serpent that was more severe than any
other creature had to endure, and gave Adam
and Eve the first promise of a deliverer.
Genesis 3:14-15 says, “The LORD God said to
the serpent, “Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock and above
all beasts of the field; on your belly you
shall go, and dust you shall eat all the
days of your life. I will put enmity between
you and the woman, and between your
offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise
your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
“This verse is known in Christendom
as the protoevangelium, or “first good
news,” because it is the first foretelling
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Using an
emphatic Hebrew construction, God announced
here that a male descendant—He—would someday
deal the serpent (meaning Satan) a fatal
blow. The New Testament writers understood Jesus Christ
to have fulfilled this prophecy (Heb. 2:14;
1 Jn. 3:8). In an extended sense, the New Testament also indicates that God would work through
the church—those indwelt by the Spirit of
Christ—to destroy the works of the devil
(Rom. 16:20). The assertion that the snake
would only strike his opponent’s heel (as
opposed to head) suggests that the devil
will be defeated in the ensuing struggle
(Rev. 2:2; 2:7-10; cf. Col. 2:15; Rev 12:7, 8, 17).”
[1]
God
has overcome the results of the fall for us through
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God, in his mercy, made it possible for us
to be restored to the state He originally
intended for us to live in through his Son’s
personal sacrifice and the Holy Spirit
living through us.
All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as
our Lord and Savior.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal
life.”
Romans 6:23 says, “For the
wages of sin is death, but the free gift of
God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
John 17:3 says, “And this is
eternal life, that they know you, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent.”
John 5:24 says, “Truly, truly,
I say to you, whoever hears my word and
believes him who sent me has eternal life.
He does not come into judgment, but has
passed from death to life.”
And
Romans 10:9-13 says “That if you confess
with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and
believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. For it is
with your heart that you believe and are
justified, and it is with your mouth that
you confess and are saved. As the Scripture
says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never
be put to shame.” For there is no difference
between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is
Lord of all and richly blesses all who call
on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved.” (NIV)
Those who put their faith and
trust in Jesus Christ alone for their
salvation become part of the body of
Christ.
Paul’s starts off his wonderful letter
to the Ephesians with, “In love [God],
predestined us for adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:4-5). Then he goes on
to unfold all of the blessings that a
believer receives through Christ’s Spirit
who indwells them.
Ephesians 1:3-14
says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places, even as
he chose us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of his will, to the praise of his
glorious grace, with which he has blessed us
in the Beloved. In him we
have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to
the riches of his grace, which he lavished
upon us, in all wisdom and insight making
known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his purpose, which he set forth
in Christ as a plan for
the fullness of time, to unite all things
in him, things in heaven
and things on earth.
11) In him we have obtained
an inheritance, having been predestined
according to the purpose of him who works
all things according to the counsel of his
will, so that we who were the first to
hope in Christ might be to
the praise of his glory. In him
you also, when you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, and believed
in him, were sealed with
the promised Holy Spirit, who is the
guarantee of our inheritance until we
acquire possession of it, to the praise of
his glory.”
When we are in Christ, we
are: blessed; chosen;
predestined; adopted;
accepted; redeemed;
forgiven; enlightened; given an inheritance;
sealed with the Holy Spirit; and
assured of our inheritance.
Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians refers to the believer as being “in Christ”
twenty-seven times, and the phrase “in
Christ Jesus” (or something similar), occurs
ten times in Ephesians 1:1-14 alone. It is
referring to the spiritual union of Christ
with his followers. Paul frequently referred
to the Church as the “body of Christ” to
show our relationship with the Savior
(Eph. 4:12; 1:23; 2:16; Eph. 4:4, 16; 5:23, 30;
1 Cor. 12:12, 27). Christ has so identified
Himself with His church that we are considered to be part
of His
physical body.
“An important work of
the Spirit clearly is to protect God’s
people. The metaphor of a seal meant that
the contents of the document under it were
protected by the power of the official who
placed the seal and identified as belonging
to the official. Christians are protected by
the power of God and identified as His
because He put His Spirit on them as a seal.
This security is a great source of assurance
for Christians. Those who live with such
security and assurance, quite
understandably, experience boldness, joy,
and peace as a result (see Acts 13:42; Gal. 5:22;
cf. Acts 4:31; 9:31). The Spirit is
also a deposit or down payment. A deposit is
simply the first payment. The remainder will
come later. The gift of the Spirit is God’s
first payment to His people. The remainder
of His blessings will be given later, in the
life to come.”
[2]
Ephesians 1 is telling us that when we
accept Christ into our lives the Holy Spirit
comes and lives inside of us as God’s
guarantee that we will be with him for
eternity! God is living His life through the
believer as a pledge of our inheritance and
nothing can separate us from God’s love or
His indwelling Spirit (Romans 8).
The unity that
was lost with God because of Adam’s sin is
restored through the plan of
redemption.
In Christ, God
has called us to live holy lives. 2 Timothy 1:9 says, “who saved us and called
us to a holy calling, not because of our
works but because of his own purpose and
grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus
before the ages began.”
God’s offer
of salvation and calling are not due to our
good works. It is impossible for anyone’s
good works to earn them eternal life. Our
salvation was brought about through God’s
own purpose and plan (Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 1:11). Our redemption was not an
afterthought, God’s plan to save lost
sinners was made before time ever began
(Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8). God knew
the human race would fall into sin, but
still loved us so much he allowed his one
and only Son to suffer torture and death on
a cross to save us and restore the
relationship he desires to have with us.
Colossians 1:21-23 says, “And you, who
once were alienated and hostile in mind,
doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in
his body of flesh by his death, in order to
present you holy and blameless and above
reproach before him, if indeed you continue
in the faith, stable and steadfast, not
shifting from the hope of the gospel that
you heard, which has been proclaimed in all
creation under heaven.”
Our
sinfulness resulted in our separation from God
and created the need for our reconciliation
(Eph. 2:12; 4:18). As a result of our
reconciliation, Christ is at work in every
believer to present them to God as holy and
blameless, in him. Galatians 2:20 says, “I
have been crucified with Christ. It is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in
me. And the life I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me.”
Every
true believer is in Christ Jesus from the
moment of their salvation!
There are no
part-time Christians. We are either in or
out. Every true believer has the Holy Spirit
living inside of them from the moment they
accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Romans 8:9-11 says, “You, however, are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does
not have the Spirit of Christ does not
belong to him. But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from
the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ
Jesus from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through his Spirit who
dwells in you.”
Hebrews 13:5
says, “. . . I will never leave you nor
forsake you.”
And Romans 8:38-39
says, “For I am persuaded that neither death
nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to
come, nor height nor depth, nor any other
created thing, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
Christ
promised to
never leave us!
“The Holy
Spirit is God’s guarantee that we belong to
him and that he will do what he has
promised. The Holy Spirit is like a down
payment, a deposit, a validating signature
on the contract. The presence of the Holy
Spirit in us demonstrates the genuineness of
our faith, proves that we are God’s
children, and secures eternal life for us.
His power works in us to transform us now,
and what we experience now is a taste of the
total change we will experience in
eternity.” [3]
We will all
stumble and fall at times but we can know
for certain that we will be with Christ when
he comes back again because we love him and
trust that he has saved us because of the
love he has for us. “He saved us, not
because of works done by us in
righteousness, but according to his own
mercy, by the washing of regeneration and
renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
Nothing we do in this life can save us! It
is all the work of God in our lives through
Christ Jesus who gave His life up to redeem
us.
The gospel really is good news!
John 4:14 says, “But
whoever drinks of the water that I will give
him will never be thirsty again. The water
that I will give him will become in him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
If you are in Christ,
you have nothing to fear! You can know for
certain that you have been reconciled to God
through Christ Jesus our Lord. You can know for certain
that you have eternal life because of what
Christ has accomplished for us through the
cross
(John 3:16-18; 5:24). When you trust
in Christ, He will never leave you
or forsake
you. And when you trust in Christ,
He will never let you
down!
References:
1. CSB Study Bible: Genesis 3:15.
2. Disciple’s Study Bible: Ephesians 1:13-14.
3. Life Application Study Bible: Ephesians
1:13-14.
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