No Longer Enemies but Friends

Many times I meet people and try to bring up the topic of the Lords return they always say something like "I need to change my behavior and be a better person". Is this the ticket to heaven? Lets have a look at what we ought to know on a deeper level.




When God created Adam, we were in Adam meaning you did not exist yet physically but you were in him. Therefore when he sinned you automatically sinned because you were in him and you are his offspring (Rom 5:12). Now you inherited that sinful nature and that is why you commit sins. Now remember the sins ( bad behavior) is the fruit of the fact that you have a sinful nature that you inherited in Adam. Remember sin is not so much the action or behavior but the nature as well.If someone put you in one corner and asked you to stand there for your whole lifetime and you did not commit any sin in terms of bad behavior according to God you would still be a sinner.

  Now the dilemma is that Christ expects us to be perfect in order to go to heaven or have eternal life. Now how can he expect this from us who inherited a sinful nature? No matter how hard you try to be good and do good things you cannot fully (100%) keep his commandments with that sinful nature. You may try to be good for a week or a month..perhaps a year but eventually you will fall. Now the law of God demands perfect obedience in order for you to inherit eternal life. If you think you can go to heaven by trying to be good and doing good things then you have failed. Rom 3:20 says by the deeds of the law shall no man be justified in Gods sight. Meaning by the goods deeds of the law that you try to do you will not be justified or counted free by God. So what God did in Christ is Amazing! He decided to rewrite our history. He took the whole humanity..meaning all the people in the world and put them in Christ Jesus. Just like we were in Adam at the beginning so did he with Christ. Therefore whatever Christ did became your history just like whatever Adam did became your history. When Christ died on the cross you also died in him, and when he resurrected you also resurrected in him. On the cross your sinful nature died forever, and since it died and you had no life left, God gave you the life of his son, the perfect blameless life. So as a christian we believe that the life we now live, is the life of Christ. We no longer have that sinful nature, it died forever on the cross. And not only that but Christ perfect life has been put to my account. Therefore when God looks at me, he does not see my sinful self but sees me as I am in Christ, perfect and blameless. Rom 8:1 says therefore there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Meaning When you accept this truth by faith, then you become a new creature, the old is gone and behold the new has come. You cease to be afraid of God but actually come to him in faith knowing without a shadow of a doubt that you are his child. Through the cross we were reconciled to God meaning we are no longer enemies but his children, his friends and his begotten. You share his life, you will be resurrected on that beautiful morning because he was resurrected.

 Remember his history becomes yours by faith (Rom 6:8). If Christ had not resurrected then you also would not resurrect because his history becomes ours. Rom 6:7 says he that is dead is freed from sin..meaning if you believe you died with Christ and your sinful nature died forever than you cease from sinning. You will not sin willfully as you used to, and lots of sins that held you down will not hold you anymore. As you learn more about God by studying his word he will reveal to you the way in which you should go and thus recreate your character to be like him. By accepting his teaching and making them part of your life then you are changed from glory to glory. Therefore By believing on Christ sacrifice we have assurance of salvation and as we continue to spend time with God our lives change and eventually people will notice a great difference in your character.At the end ages the last people who will see Christ in the clouds will have a character just like his. They will reflect his character..but please do not forget your good works don't take you to heaven they are the fruits of accepting the fact that you are already a child of God and are basically just living as one. As a result You will be free to praise God and serve him out of love for what he has already Accomplished for you. It is my prayer that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free from fear of judgement and his return, from the sinful nature and its fruits ( sinful behavior). Thank God for his indescribable gift!