Salvation

1 John 1:8-10 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he [Almighty God in Heaven] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

 

I was at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota the other day, and over-heard a couple shop employees discussing the “Original Sin” of our first parents Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:16-17 says, And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” One was explaining to the other how by eating the “Forbidden Fruit”, their eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3:6-7 says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened.” That was the “Fall of Man” where Sin and death walked through that open door.

 

I joined the conversation and added that the true “Original Sin” was not the disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit, but by first believing the devil and doubting God. Genesis 3:1, 4-5 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” With all sin, the thought comes before the action. They hadn’t thought of that before and concurred. 

 

Not only do we take for granted the enormity of the Fall of Man, but also the immensity of the sinfulness of Sin, the immediate and eternal consequences of God’s wrath and just judgment and the great price God paid to atone for the Sins of the world for our redemption. God’s Plan of Salvation is explained in Ephesians 2:1-8, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, [the devil] the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” This is speaking to all converted, repentant and redeemed born-again Believers with saving faith and the Holy Spirit.

 

Nobody is perfect means nobody is sinless. By our sin-nature, we have all sinned against God in thought, word and action at some time, and truthful more than we admit. We all need God’s love, mercy, grace and provision to provide forgiveness and salvation from sin. And 2 Corinthians 5:21 declares, “God made Him [Jesus Christ] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him [by the atoning sacrifice of the Savior of the world] we might become the righteousness of God.” No doubt, we have forgiveness and salvation in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

 

In Christ, Brian