Part 3 - The Fall and the Restoration

Restoration in Christ: Life in Christ

The foundation of a right relationship with God is the person and work of Jesus Christ. Upon that foundation is built rest. This is the rest of the believer, who refrains from trying to duplicate Christ's finished work of redemption. Upon rest is built faith. Faith in Christ and rest in Christ go hand-in-hand and are interdependent. A third essential element in a right relationship with God is to abide in the life of Christ by walking and living in the Holy Spirit. This is shown in Jesus' statement, "I am ... the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

Regeneration

Scripture records, "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:37-39). Accompanying faith in Christ is regeneration. Regeneration is where one who is spiritually dead and separated from the life of God becomes a partaker of God's life, becomes spiritually alive, and is indwelt by the living God, the Holy Spirit. Regeneration comes from being joined to the risen and living person of Jesus Christ.

John the Apostle said, "He who has the son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). There is no life with God apart from Jesus. Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). Jesus also said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). The fall of mankind resulted in spiritual death, and restoration to life occurs only through Christ.

Self-sufficiency vs. God's sufficiency

In the fall, Adam and Eve sought to enrich their souls, to become possessors of something that would make them self-sufficient. But instead they found, in themselves, lack and emptiness. The path they took was rebellion against the sufficiency and supply of God Himself. The restoration from the fall that God provides answers this aspect of the rebellion of man.

When Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me," part of that denial of self is the denial of the soul of man. This is the denial that, in and of himself, man is sufficient. It is the denial that man has possessions and abilities, apart from God, that have lasting value. It is to agree with Jesus' view of the soul of man who stands apart from God, that he is "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev. 3:17). God loves each lost sinner and puts such a value on mankind that He gave His only Son to redeem them. Yet each one is so bankrupt that he has no fulfillment or satisfaction apart from God. Jesus said, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:35-36).

To deny oneself and follow Jesus by way of the cross, in part, is to account that one cannot live apart from the living presence of God. It is to account that one has no possessions to rely on, but rather that it is the fullness of God in one's life that one must rely on. It is to account that one cannot do anything of eternal value by oneself, and to rely on the living God in doing all things. Jesus said, "for without Me you can do nothing," and yet Paul the Apostle said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (John 15:5 and Phil. 4:13).

Walking in the Spirit

To live this way depends on the presence of the living God. It requires that God be actively guiding, providing for, and working through the believer. It requires communion and fellowship with God. Through Jesus Christ one finds this in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus made provision for life in Him by sending the Holy Spirit after His ascension to the Father. Life in Christ is to be one where God's fullness is as "rivers of living water" flowing out of the heart.

Walking in the Spirit requires both rest in Christ and faith in Christ. Without an accounting that one's standing before God is established by the finished work of Christ, a person will try to earn that standing. But to earn a standing before God, one must prove that he has attained righteousness and has become worthy by his works. This is opposite to walking in the Spirit, where one is accounting that God, by His resources, is doing the work in one's life. To earn a standing before God is an attempt to glory in man's work and resources, whereas to walk in the Spirit is to glory in God's work and fullness.

Likewise, faith in Christ is necessary in order to walk in the Spirit. This is faith that one is in Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Father. It is faith that God is present and available to help through grace. It is faith that as one goes forward, Jesus is present to lead and fulfill His promises. God has called the believer to a life of good works and has sanctified the believer to such. This calling is fulfilled in Christ through the Holy Spirit. It is fulfilled when one, by faith, allows God to do the work, all the while trusting that one's standing and righteousness have already been established by Christ.

God's living presence

The second of the Ten Commandments forbids the making of any image or likeness of the creatures that God created in the heavens, the earth, or the waters. The creation account is a type of the sanctifying work of Christ and foreshadows the consecration of the believer to a life in the Spirit. In the four points of a right relationship with God that the commandments model for the redeemed, not making a dead copy of God's living works is one of them. Rather than glory in man's dead works, the redeemed are to glory in God and allow the fullness of His living presence to manifest itself in love and good works.