Open Hand Ministries, Inc.
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BACK TO BASICS, PART II

PHYSICAL BIRTH INTO THE DOMAIN OF DARKNESS

What can be more beautiful and precious as a new born child? Can anything be more magical, delightful and awesome? If you can think of anything, let me know. But our subject is spiritual in nature, not physical. And biblically speaking, that precious newborn, that gift from God is born spiritually dead and doomed to an eternity to hell if he does not accept Christ as his savior. And again, I am not interested in debating whether or not a child who dies in infancy will go to hell. I am interested in addressing those readers who have reached an age of accountability, whose ability to reason is in place. It is to these individuals that God's word addresses. God speaks to those who have the intellectual ability to make a decision. Those without such an ability, I do not believe will suffer hell. But that's my opinion. What is beyond my opinion or anyone else's regardless of IQ is this one fact: those whose IQ is above the level of moron and have the capacity to make a decision from a set of facts concerning Christ as Savior will be held accountable. And the decision they make will indeed determine their eternal destiny.

Now let's get back to our precious child born into this system of Satan's. This new human being is composed of a body, a soul (that part of man which thinks and holds certain beliefs as essential to his well-being) and a spirit. He has a physical body and he thinks. We all readily acknowledge this. But just as important, he has a spirit. And here is where some would depart with us. But we take God's word as fact. And God tells us we have a spirit. We have a spirit because we are created in the image of God. God is spirit. Like God, every human being conceived will live forever. The question of course is, "Where will he spend eternity after death?"

This question of our eternal destiny is settled at death when:

the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the whell at the cistern is crushed; then the dust [our physical bodies] will return to the earth as it was, [a collection of chemicals] and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

Death is the end of our temporary existence and the beginning of eternal existence. The state of our spirit at our physical death, whether it be dead or alive, determines our spirits final disposition. By spiritual death we mean the inability to have discourse with God. It is a state of continue d and perpetual enmity with our Creator. He who is spiritually dead is said to be a child of satan, a child of wrath, and therefore, have not the means to communicate with God. Spiritual life occurs with belief in Christ. Without the spiritual ingestion of His words, there can be no spiritual life. His words are spiritual food that have the ability and power to regenerate our spirits and transform our thinking.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. John 6:63

Simply put, the rejection of Christ and His works is eternal death. The full acceptance of Christ and His words is eternal life. Christ, and Christ alone, has the words of eternal life, John 6:68.

To be crystal clear, and to state again, God imputes to every child conceived, the original sin of Adam and a sin nature. So complete is his separation from God, that there is nothing he can do in his own strength, will and determination to close this insurmountable gap. No amount of good, noble or sacrificial works and righteous deeds can placate and please God. The very best man can offer will not move or touch God. Such works simply have no spiritual value. Such works are tainted with sin though they may a ppear pure. And such works unto salvation God cannot except.

WHY WE ARE BORN "IN SIN"

So salvation is never a matter of works. It is a matter of grace as we shall see. By why? What is the basis for such a plan? It was not always this way, was it? Adam and Eve were created pure and without sin. But as we know, they fell into sin and separated themselves from God. We can under stand that. It was due them. But after their fall, their progeny were born in a state of sin as though they sinned like their parents. But why, we must ask? They had done nothing wrong. Perhaps they would succeed where their parents failed. And why not create all beings perfect and without sin as our first father and mother, Adam and Eve. It seems absolutely unthinkable that a loving God would doom His creatures to eternal death by imputing to all Adam's original sin. For the "wages of sin is death." But in fact, the imputation of Adam's sin and sin nature is an act of a loving and compassionate God and an indication of His genius. Let me explain.

Let's go back to the question, "Why are not all men created sinless and pure before God? Isn't this the only fair thing to do by a just and perfect God ?" It is a good question and one which I needed an answer if I was to go forward in my own spiritual growth. The short answer is this. If God did indeed create all men free of sin, salvation would then be by works not grace. So think about that. God demands perfection for He is perfect. Anything less is unacceptable. Let me ask you, "Could you live a sinless, perfect, and spotless life before God?" If salvation would be by works, you would be required to be without sin...without spot or wrinkle. This God would require of you. Therefore, if God required such perfection to gain eternal life, you WOULD be condemned forever to hell.

But I can hear in the background, "Yeah, but if I was raised under the right circumstances and right environment and the right education, I believe I could do it." Oh, yeah! Well, there once was a man who was raised under such circumstances. He was born without sin, born in a perfect environment , and had the best the world could offer. And no, I am not speaking of Christ. I am speaking of Adam. Here was a man born without spot or blemish, who lived in the Garden of Eden, and had Christ Himself as a teacher, guide, and leader. He had no enemies, no problems, and no worries. Yet, he sinned. So if Adam, who had the best education and environment could not remain perfect before God, how could any man live perfectly before God? The answer, of course, he could not!

SIN'S SOLUTION

So what was God to do? Would all men conceived get a straight ticket to hell knowing no man could live in a state of perfection? Of course not. The solution would be a savior, Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son, who would come into this world through a Virgin. He would be born without sin or blemish. He would live His life in the perfect will of God, accomplishing only those things that were pleasing to the Father. Here in Satan's cosmic system, with all its temptations and trials, He would preach and teach eternal life and true faith. But He would be rejected by the religious elite, forsaken by His followers and closest friends, and crucified by the Roman government under the false charge of insurbordination.

Upon the cross, and lifted up for all to see, He would take upon Himself the sins of the world. God Himself imputed to Christ all sin and would once and forever deal with it. As Christ hung upon the cross bearing your sins, my sins and the sins of the world, Christ was for the first and last time, totally separated and apart from God. Such is the power of sin. Hear Christ's crying words as He screamed out,

"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me."

And at twelve noon, when the sun shone directly over head, the skies became pitch dark, the winds howled, and the clouds thundered. God was delivering His wrath and hatred of sin upon His beloved Son. The excruciating punishment elicted screams from Christ that only the howling wind could drown out. And for three hours, God's full fury bombarded Christ and relented only until every sin of man, past, present and future had been crushed by God's Holy wrath. And at the end of three hours, it was over, finished, and forever completed.

The howling winds stop, the thundered subsided, the Christ rang out these final words before He died. "It is finished!"

The rest is up to us. For every man who believes upon Him, God will not hold his sins against him, for they are forgiven. Furthermore, He will be seen by God as though he never sinned. And on top of that, God will impute to him Christ's righteousness. This is why Christ states, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me."

Salvation is not based on good works but belief in Christ. There is no other way man's sins can be atoned for. There are no backroads, alternative routes, and no detours. Christ Jesus is it. We all have the freedom to choose Him. And such a choice determines our eternal destiny. It is an awesome choice. Let's look briefly at the results of our salvation through Christ.

What exactly happens when man believes upon Christ. Quite a bit, actually. Upon belief, he is:

• justified before God and receives the imputation of Christ's righteousness.
• His spirit is regenerated and able to communicate with God on a personal level.
• He is redeemed from Satan's kingdom and born into the Kingdom of God.
• He is forgiven for all sins, past, present, and future. He is washed clean as the pure driven snow.
• He is baptised by the Holy Spirit being placed into union with Christ in Heavenly places. This is his positional sanctification.
• He is then filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to live righteously experientially.
• And lastly, he is given a spiritual gift.

But most amazing, God so honors our belief in His Son, Jesus Christ, that we are forever saved and there is nothing we can do to dissuade God from changing His mind. Why? Because God's integrity is at state. His Word is forever binding.

Jesus said to those who believe:

I give eternal life to [those who believe in Me], and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of my Hand.

Again, God says:

I am He; and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it.

Now this inability to lose our salvation due to sinful deeds contrasts to the unbeliever's inability to gain salvation based on works. As there is nothing the unbeliever can do to gain salvation; there is absolutely nothing the believer can do to forfeit his. Therefore, sin need never be over any man's head regarding his eternal status. It simply is never an issue with God as to you or I going to heaven. The issue will always be, "What do you think about the Christ?"/