LIBERTY IN JESUS

Time with Jesus - Saturday, 18 February 2012

Hi all,

The fall of man had a terrible effect on Adam and Eve and all their offspring all the way down to us today. They may have been tricked into Disobeying God. The fact remains, Adam was influenced by his wife and he ate the forbidden fruit. This is not intended as a slur on women. If we look carefully at the dialog between the serpent and Eve it is clear that she wasn’t quite sure of her facts. She should have been.

In the world God created, God spoke initially with Adam. At that time, Eve was only there in the sense that she was still within Adam. God gave very clear instructions to Adam. ¹⁵ The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden. He put him there to work its ground and to take care of it. ¹⁶ The LORD God gave the man a command. He said, "You can eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden. ¹⁷ But you must not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you can be sure that you will die." Gen 2:15-17 NIrV

There is nothing ambiguous about this statement. Before the fall Adam, was in full possession of his faculties. It’s likely that he was able to do and understand things that we cannot begin to comprehend. There’s no question about it. He was “the boss” on earth. He was the pinnacle of God’s creation with authority over the entire planet. Now Eve was taken out of Adam. God did all that was necessary with one of Adam’s ribs. Personally, I cannot possibly believe that the woman brought to Adam was a great big “dumb blond”. She wasn’t there as his plaything. She was his companion; His helpmeet. There is no evidence to suggest that she was mentally inferior to Adam.

Now God usually says things once only. In normal circumstances, once is sufficient. It follows that God expected Adam to communicate His prohibitions and restrictions. The question is, did he do it properly. This seems unlikely. Look at the dialog; ¹ The serpent was more clever than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. The serpent said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden'?" ² The woman said to the serpent, "We can eat the fruit of the trees that are in the garden. ³ But God did say, 'You must not eat the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die.'" ⁴ "You can be sure that you won't die," the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ "God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will know things you have never known before. You will be able to tell the difference between good and evil. You will be like God." ⁶ The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good to eat. It was also pleasing to look at. And it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate it. Gen 3:1-6 NIrV

Reading this I get an uncomfortable suspicion that Adam had not briefed Eve adequately. So she didn’t tell the serpent what God had told them. Then, after eating her forbidden fruit, she gave some to Adam. He was standing with them. Adam should have sent Satan packing. He didn’t. He copped out and did what his wife told him to do. At that point they submitted to Satan, sinned and lost their liberty.

It was a catastrophe. Satan was now in charge and sin was the order of the day. Sin would be passed down from generation to generation. As far as Satan was concerned, it was permanent. As far as man was concerned, liberty was lost forever and they were slaves of sin. As far as God was concerned, He would redeem man and destroy Satan. As we know, He achieved this in and through Jesus.

In some ways, the entire Bible is the account of how God achieved this. In and through Jesus Christ, man again has access to liberty. In Romans, Paul expounds on this. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Rom 8:2 NASB

To misquote Shakespeare; “To sin or not to sin; that is the question”. This is now the situation confronting us. Through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been given liberty. We are no longer compelled to sin. It is no longer a foregone conclusion.

Today’s meditation traces our Biblical history from the birth of Seth to where we are today and deals with what took place in more detail.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

liberty in Jesus

According to the records, Seth was son number three. The first son was a murderer; what a catastrophe. Cain had murdered Abel, ‘cause Abel did what’s right. He offered up a sacrifice; one pleasing in God’s sight. Cain brought God the produce he’d worked for with his hands. Abel brought a sacrifice in line with God’s commands. Cain became so jealous; he simply had to kill And Abel was his victim in defiance of God’s will. The line of Cain was wicked. The line of Seth did right. They tried to do their very best to keep God’s ways in sight. But Cain and Seth had something they shared throughout out their days. A heart inclined to evil and to follow Satan’s ways. It came in at conception; a drive to follow sin. They couldn’t really help themselves and Satan had to win. We have the self-same problem because we are sin’s slave. We have an inner instinct to always misbehave. Even if we want to, we cannot change our ways. We’re dead in sin and trespasses, until we end our days. But there is a solution. The Lord has bought us back. The cost was astronomic for us to change our tack. We have to trust in Jesus, that He has paid the price; Believe He’s done it properly by His blood sacrifice. For as we start to follow Him and trust in Him alone, We know His Spirit tells us, we’re no longer on our own. The spirit that was ruling us and bringing sin and death, No longer is controlling our each and every breath. Instead, His Holy Spirit, seeks to make us whole; And live a life for Jesus Christ, where He is in control. It’s Jesus Christ Who does this. It isn’t you or me. Satan wasn’t willing to ever set us free. He thought he was victorious and Jesus Christ had lost. It was a little later he found what it had cost. Jesus had defeated him and set His people free. We’re not in Satan’s kingdom, in chains of slavery. We needn’t be entangled by sin and death and law. And liberty in Jesus means we’re Satan’s pawns no more! So let us praise the Father, for all that has been done. And thank Him for the freedom; we have in Christ His Son. Jim Strickland – Written 18th February 2012