The Partaking
Sunday, April 26
Teaching Series: The Blood of Jesus
In the beginning, God was not only the Creator, He was also Adam’s and Eve’s best friend. The Bible speaks of God coming in the cool of the evening to walk with Adam and Eve, as one would walk with a friend. Because Adam and Eve were innocent of any sort of evil or wrong, they had a perfection that allowed them to be in God’s company. The Bible says only perfect people can live in the presence of a perfect God.
At this time in history there was a bridge of friendship between God and man. The world was a perfect place in which to live. It was the way God created things to be.
Problem – God’s Enemy
God tested his relationship with Adam and Eve; he gave them a genuine choice. And with the arrival of Satan in the garden, that choice had taken on a new dimension. God said one thing; Satan said another. Adam and Eve had to decide whether to trust God or Satan. Who was telling the truth? Whom should they believe? Who was their real friend?
When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. (Genesis 3:6)
It is important to understand that Adam and Eve’s choice to sin was not the result of something they had been programmed to do. It wasn’t their fate or some sort of karma. No. They had freely chosen to trust Satan all on their own. So they ate.
Their choice made a statement. They didn’t quite trust God – they weren’t sure God was telling the truth. They considered Satan’s words more reliable. In their mind, Satan made the better friend, and in making this choice, they sided with Satan against God. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation [Satan] rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).
The Bible teaches us that sin’s effects are very costly. Adam and Eve’s defiant choice to follow Satan’s lies opened a vast gulf in the relationship between God and man. After Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they “heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard” (Genesis 3:8).
What was going on here? One doesn’t hide from a friend. Well, that is true, but according to the Bible, trust is the basis for all relationships. When trust is broken, relationships break apart, friends split up, and marriages end in divorce. If you distrust a person, it means you don’t have faith in him, you don’t believe him, and you don’t take him at his word. When Adam and Eve put their faith in Satan’s word, in essence, they said that God had lied to them. Their friendship with God was shattered. So they hid.
But the consequences went even further. The children of Adam and Eve, and their children’s children – indeed all mankind to this day – have been born into this world separated from God. The relationship between God and man is so thoroughly finished, so profound, so complete, that even though we live physically, God views all mankind as being “dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).
When mankind abandoned friendship with God, he joined the ranks of those who rebelled against God; he joined hands with Satan, who is “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). The Bible says, “whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy” (James 4:4). All the enemies of God – whether human or spirit – will one day be cast into the “eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
When the Bible speaks of man’s relationship with God as being finished, it speaks with intensity. It is truly cut off – it’s dead. We all have this problem. This is all very discouraging. But there is good news.
Promise – Restored Relationship
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11)
The good news comes down to this one question: “Will you trust Jesus as your own personal Saviour – the one and only God-man who paid your sin-debt?” If in all sincerity you trust the Lord Jesus, believing that he is God, that he died for your sin and rose again, then based on what the Bible says, you can rest assured that your sins are forgiven and that your friendship with God has been restored. You can have complete confidence that your Certificate of Debt has been paid in full.
And even though you were dead in your transgressions … he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)
Your sin-debt was nailed to the cross 2,000 years ago. Because of your trust in him, God now says that your “sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). God’s forgiveness is total. “For as the skies are high above the earth, so his loyal love towers over his faithful followers. As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us” (Psalm 103:11-12).
Now instead of eternal death in the Lake of Fire, Jesus says,
Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. And you know the way where I am going. (John 14:1-4)
As a believer, life still goes on, but now you are assured of a future destiny in heaven. Jesus says he is preparing a dwelling place for you. With confidence you can now say that you are a citizen of heaven. Your relationship with God is now restored.
Just as you were once born into an earthly family, the Bible says you have now been born into God’s family. And just as your earthly parents will always be your parents regardless of what happens, so it is that once you are born into God’s family, you cannot be un-born. It is important to understand that when it comes to your relationship with God, your eternal destiny is settled once for all. You belong to God’s family for eternity. “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
Paradox – Fellowship Breakable
Even though you are now part of God’s family (relationship), the Bible says that you will still sin. When that happens there is a break in your family fellowship.
Fellowship is different than relationship. For instance, if a son is asked by his dad to tidy up his bedroom but instead he goes out with his friends, things will not be right when dad arrives home. There will be a barrier between father and son, and you would probably sense it if you were there. It is true that the son and dad are still related – their relationship has not changed – but the family fellowship has gone sour.
However, the Bible has a solution for broken fellowship. When we sin we are told to acknowledge that fact to God, and if we have wronged our fellow man, then we must seek to be reconciled to him as well. God has promised that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Our fellowship with God will be immediately restored when we acknowledge our sin.
The Bible says that the life a person lives is determined by the focus he maintains, on what he fixes his attention. This is not some sort of mind game. It has to do with your center of attention. If you focus on yourself, you will become very self-centered. If you focus on God, you will find your life bringing him the honour and glory that He deserves.
There are obstacles that will destroy your focus and hinder your spiritual growth.
1. OUR HUMAN NATURE. If there ever was a case of being one’s own worst enemy, this is it. The Bible says that our sinful human nature is never satisfied. It always desires more money, more attention, better looks, nicer this, greater that, and the list goes on. It may be satisfied momentarily, but then it will desire something more. Our human nature has one focus – our self. The Bible says, “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify [carry out] the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16).
So how do we live by the Spirit? It comes back to this matter of focus. As we focus on the things of God, the desires of the sinful nature are replaced with a stronger desire to please God. We are told to “put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth [or the sin nature]“(Colossians 3:5). God wants you to put that behind you and be caught up in pleasing him and in serving others. “We must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed [or focus] on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
2. THE WORLD SYSTEM. The Bible says that the temptations put before us by the world system shift our focus from Jesus to those things that are fleeting. We are responsible to discern what tends to drag us back into old, sinful patterns and avoid those things that destroy our focus.
For the grace of God … trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:11-13)
3. THE DEVIL. Even though Satan has been defeated, he still actively tries to influence us. From the very beginning he has tried to destroy us. God didn’t obliterate the devil when we became believers. Rather, we are responsible to resist his temptations and seek strength from God alone. “So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
Satan cleverly uses the influence of the world and our self-centered human nature to tempt us, to shift our focus. You can expect him to plant doubt in your mind, even about the choice you have made to trust Jesus. He will say your faith was not big enough or question whether you really understood. Remember, he did that with Adam and Eve too. Resist him and do what Jesus did. Go to the Bible for help.
It is interesting that, as we combat the influence of these three enemies, as we maintain our focus, we grow strong spiritual roots. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Let him be your focus. Study the Bible regularly. The road will not always be smooth, but God will be with you – he has given you his promise.
The Blood of Jesus series