Teachinghearts	Good News! The Plan of Salvation (Law, Grace and Faith) "Explore the Word. Change the World"	Statistics: Time: 20 minutes Print: 4 pages

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Sin Fruit of the Spirit

If by one man sin and death can enter the world, then by one man's obedience life can be restored. This is the basis and justification for the plan of salvation.

After the fall in the Garden of Eden, God promised a deliver who would "bruise the head of the serpent and in turn would be bruised in his heel". Four thousand years later, Christ was crucified and gave us back the right to live with God. But while Adam made us inherit his death sentence. Christ can only give us back life by a free choice from us. We must ask to receive it. It is a gift, not a birth right.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life". John 3: 16

Salvation by Faith alone

• Salvation is through faith alone. Believe that God has forgiven you with the one sacrifice of Christ, and that He will change you through the work of the Holy Spirit.
• The Bible only as the rule of life. If there appears to be any contradiction, this is the order of precedence for guidance:
  • What God Himself wrote in the past
  • What God said in the past
  • The words of Jesus
  • The words of the respected ancient prophets
  • The words of the twelve apostles
  • Any other messages must not contradict the written words of God.
• There is no human representative of God on earth.
• Pray to God for forgiveness of sin. There is no need to punish yourself. You are forgiven.
• Nothing that you do will earn salvation. You begin to do good and love the good because of the success of the Holy Spirit in your life.

The Failure of Works Not Capable Not Enough

Getting to Heaven through our own efforts will lead to failure. The standard is too high for us to reach. The price is too high for us to pay. The disabled cannot jump over a hurdle that is 1500 miles high. The poor cannot buy a city of gold.

Everyone who attempts to explain this gets into trouble.
So let me say from the start ... there is nothing you can do to get into heaven, except trusting in God. What you eventually do - your "works", and the changed characteristics you exhibit ... your "fruits" are all the work of the Holy Spirit who is changing you. Therefore, if you are becoming the person God wants you to be, you will eventually do good things - it is now your nature to do so. You cannot do otherwise. Anything less is foreign to your new nature.

Now, this is where the trouble begins. Other human beings will try to make preliminary judgments by focusing on your works and your fruits, but they have no right to do so because you are still a "work in progress" just like they are. In some aspects they are right. They should expect one who seems to have been a faithful Christian for twenty years to not rob banks, sell drugs, take drugs or commit adultery. However, we would be more understanding of a newly converted drug addict.
But because they focus on this outward evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit, it is sometimes hard to separate the concept of works from justification by faith alone. We expect to see good behavior and we want to see good behavior. We are human. We cannot examine your motives, so we will examine your behavior.

Christianity is the only religion that teaches righteousness through a gift or an act of God - not on our deeds. It is true that many branches of Christianity teach that we must do something to earn our salvation, to avoid punishment or to lessen punishment. So, before we answer that, let us see how these concepts are related?

If salvation could be bought, then the rich and the healthy would have an advantage.

The Function of a Mirror You are Dirty I Cannot Clean You The mirror shows you that your face is dirty. But you cannot clean your face by rubbing it on the mirror. You need something else.

The Law
The Law functions as a teacher or a guide book, it tells us what the rules are so that we can know that we have done something wrong. But it has no power to make us clean again. If we use the analogy of a mirror and a dirty face then the law is the mirror, it lets us see our dirty faces but it cannot clean us. The only thing that the law can say is that we need to have our faces washed. The law can only condemn, it cannot save.

It is God who can make us clean if we come to Him.

Is it logical for God to say we are clean by abolishing the law? If we break the mirror, do we suddenly become clean? Of course not! The law has a purpose. If we did whatever we wanted to do, eventually the result of this will be chaos and pain. Even if we did not have a law to define and condemn chaos and pain, we would experience its effect. Therefore, it is not the presence or absence of a law that creates evil. The law is a wise system that defines evil. But that is all it can do. It does not create evil by defining it.

Grace
Grace is God's kindness to us. He was wronged but He is willing to extend forgiveness and reconciliation to us. He made the sacrifice needed for us to find our way back to life. The law is powerless to clean up the sinner and it was also powerless to save an innocent life. Christ died and He was not a sinner.

Now the law has a dilemma.

The problem is not just simply sin - then eternal death, because under the law an innocent died, Jesus Christ. So the law is inadequate to determine all phases of justice. What to do? Trust the judgment of the one whose law was violated, and abide by the decision of the one who lived among sinners and was unjustly killed. Their decision was to wipe the slate clean and start over. He would cleanse us by writing the law in our hearts, making it part of us just as it is a part of Him.
Forgiveness became a partner with the sterile law. Why?
Because the law giver is not only law abiding, He is also loving and merciful.

All are Equal Jews, Gentiles. Male, female. Black, white. Disabled, healthy. Priest, sinner, saint. Beauty, beast. Genetically engineered, natural. Rich, poor. King, slave.

All Are Equal
Grace levels the playing field. All people are equal because God has first substituted the righteousness of Christ for our sins. Then He sends His Holy Spirit to make friends with us. This is the essence of the Gospel.

For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3: 26, 28).

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them ...
we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5: 19-20).

I beg you, be reconciled to God.

Faith
Faith is partly our response. We accept the pardon that God has given us and allow Him to work out His plan of salvation in us. To do this we must surrender any belief that anything we can do will pay for any of the crimes we have committed. There will never be any cause for boasting in us because on our own we can do nothing to achieve goodness.

Faith and Logic. I once answered a question and pointed out the illogical reasoning of the person by showing him contradictions from the bible. To this he responded, "We cannot go by proof, we must go by faith". He further said, "if it makes sense then that is how we know that it is not from God".
Faith does not suspend logic. It is God who said.
Come now, let us reason together. (Isaiah 1: 18)
Faith simply says believe God. This means that we wait until reason gives us an answer. Sometimes our modern world contradicts God. Years later we find that science was wrong. This means that there was always a reasonable explanation. We just did not have all the facts when we made our original conclusion. So faith says when we have such major disconnections in our world view, that we choose to believe God and wait for the explanation.
We do not know how Christ can substitute His death for ours, just believe that it will work.
In the same way, if our beliefs contradict the bible, we cannot choose one side and appeal to faith when logical proof contradicts this. The bible concepts are in harmony. If there is a contradiction, we choose the view that harmonizes all statements.
As I wrote all these lessons and I was taught by God, I became impressed with how meticulous, harmonious and scientific God is. The Bible became as cohesive as any great symphony, and as concrete as a mathematical equation. I serve a God of laws and reason and order and logic and such detail that I was simply impressed.

Works Versus Fruits
This is the point that causes all the controversy. On one hand it is fair to say that if God is in the process of writing His law into our hearts and changing us then we ought to demonstrate this by our works. This is technically true. As the Holy Spirit works to bring us back to God we soon start to exhibit the "fruits of the Spirit" - love, patience, kindness, gentleness, meekness, forgiveness, mercy, hope and purity. These change our value system - our internal desires. And, from this solid foundation of good motives and values, we do good works. We love our enemies. We feed the homeless. We obey the law.

Faith Works Fruit Famine

These are called "fruits" instead of "works" since we exhibit them because we have been saved and are being changed by God. Not in order to be saved by God.

Good works based on an external goal to win the favor God will wither and vanish if there are no incentives to do so. However, good works based on internal goodness will always bear fruit under any conditions.

A Christian will bear fruit automatically, because it comes from within a transformed life. A Christian cannot say that God should pay special attention or give credit because he or she is good. After all, should an apple tree be rewarded for bearing apples instead of lemons? Should a mother be rewarded for feeding her child instead of starving it?
"Look God see how wonderful I am, I hugged my children today. That deserves some points towards heaven". Ridiculous! It should be normal for a Christian to do good works, not abnormal.
"Faith without works is dead". The absence of goodness in your life shows that you are not being led by the Spirit of God. That is why the Bible calls the law a mirror. It shows you your progress. The presence of goodness is a cause for celebration of the power of God to transform, not as points to get on God's good side.

The Scope of the Plan of Salvation
In this debate about the plan and what Jesus accomplished, you will often hear critics complain that some people teach that the works of Jesus were not completed on the cross. When I hear such criticisms I see the argument as a matter of semantics. What does the plan of salvation mean and what does it accomplish?

Plan Made		The Execution of the Plan of Salvation on the Day of the Lord
Eden	Sinai		Justification			Sanctification		Sons of God	Christ Comes	Millennium			New Earth
Separated		God Reconciled		Humans Reconciled (Day of Atonement)						Heaven Reconciled		Earth Reconciled
Law				Grace		Faith			Creation Being Freed From Corruption

• Eden ("Plan Made"). After sin, features of the plan were given to the world. We knew that an innocent must be sacrificed when the sacrificial system was introduced. Christ was offered up from the beginning!
  Christ, The Lamb of God. The Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13: 8)
  Eve also knew that her child would defeat Satan.
  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. (Genesis 3: 15)
• Covenant at Sinai ("Plan Ratified"). The details of the plan were written down and formally given to the earth in the form of the ceremonial laws.
• Crucifixion of the Lamb of God ("Spiritual Reconciliation"). Salvation was accomplished at the cross. There is nothing else that God needs to do to reconcile Himself to us. Some people define only this event as being the Plan of Salvation.
  
  » A Definition of the Plan of Salvation. We define the Plan of Salvation as all the efforts God does to remove all traces of sin from the universe. In this Great Plan God reconciles the whole world to Himself. This includes man, the planet, all creation, the seen and unseen worlds. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was the pivotal event that launched the execution of this plan. But the plan is not complete. As long as you wake up every morning and there is sickness and death and sin, we must recognize that the Plan is still being unfolded.
  
  » Jesus Paid it All. On the cross Jesus won back dominion of the earth from Satan, exchanged His life for us, paid the penalty of sin, suffered the curses and wrath of God for us, submitted to the wrath of Satan and provided the blood by which we can come to Him when we sin and the rights of intercession to mediate our requests for forgiveness.
  Jesus did everything that He could on the cross, the rest of the Plan depends on our response.
  » Justification ("Past Forgiven"). In this process Christ reconciles us to God by forgiving all our sins.
• Holy Spirit ("Mental Reconciliation"). However, even though God has opened the door of reconciliation, the fact remains that we choose to remain unreconciled. How does the Plan try to address this problem? After Christ, God sent the Holy Spirit to be the constant companion who would woo us back to God. Although we need to respond, God is still proactive in urging us to respond to what He has made available.
  Obedient Mind and Heart. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God and they will be My people. (Jeremiah 31: 33 and Hebrews 10: 16)
  
  The Holy Spirit transforms our thinking and then our behavior.
  New Mind. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12: 2)
  » Sanctification ("Present Change"). The Spirit changes us daily, to conform to the will of God.
• Jesus Our High Priest. Since the crucifixion humans are still in the business of sinning. So the crucifixion and the presence of the Holy Spirit has not stopped us from sinning.
  If the Plan was completed at the cross and there is nothing else to be done, then why are we sinning and why is Jesus now working as our High Priest in heaven?
  We have an indestructible High Priest who is executing the Plan of Salvation on our behalf in heaven. He gives us pardon when we sin and He is working as our advocate or defense in the judgment.
  who has become such [a high priest] not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. The former priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing. But Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.
  Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7: 16, 23-25)
• Judgment. At some point, the Plan of Salvation must eradicate all traces of sin everywhere and bring total restoration to the creation. The judgment ensures that God is just and fair as God finally reveals His legal case for removing sin and sinners.
• Second Coming and Millennium ("Physical Reconciliation of the Sons of God").
  For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope. That the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (Romans 8: 19-22)
  Paul says that the reconciliation of the rest of creation is still in the future. It will be done when the sons of God are revealed. That happens after the Second Coming when our bodies are redeemed at the rapture and resurrection.
  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8: 23)
  So Christ accomplished our spiritual redemption at the cross, because of this our entire body will be redeemed. But the other phases of redemption are stretched out over a long period of time because mental redemption can only occur when we choose to accept God's gift and repent. Physical redemption with new bodies will only occur when God changes the sinful bodies of those whose minds have been transformed. This is when the sons of God will be revealed. Then we are reconciled to all the unfallen beings in the heavens.
  » Glorification ("Future Restoration"). God completely restores us physically to the time before sin and He will restore Eden and place us there when the new earth is created.
• Hell Fire and New Earth ("Physical Reconciliation of the Planet"). During the millennium the earth is at rest but it is not reconciled. It is still broken and in a state of destruction and defilement with the bodies of the wicked dead. The Plan of Salvation will be complete when death and hell and sin are destroyed and a new earth is recreated. It will be populated by people who have no desire to sin.
  Only at this stage can be say that everything has been totally reconciled and the Plan of Salvation is complete.

In summary, the broken law was the event that triggered the Plan that was in place before creation. The grace of God, provided for this plan instead of the usual penalty of sin. Our faith accepts this gracious offer of pardon and reconciliation from God.