Sin Started

He Restoreth My Soul
Is It So – Part III

We’ve covered Gen 3:1-18 in the two previous messages. We have seen how Eve was off guard against the very thing the Lord had cautioned her about. "Do not," the Lord had said for if you do "you shall surely die."
We heard the Lord come looking for them, "Where art thou?" It was not that He didn’t know but more to get them to understand their current need. When they heard the Lord’s voice, they hid themselves. Why? They now had conscience’s plagued with guilt and shame.

So, at this point the damage is done. The Edenic pair had been created in God’s image. They had been given everything they needed for happiness in the garden. They were privileged to have daily walks and talks with their Creator. They had each other in a way that few have known since then. Six thousand years have passed and we can only look back in amazement at what they had given up.

The Creator could have just wiped the slate clean and destroyed what He had made. He could have thrown up is hands in despair over the reckless will of man to do exactly what He had told them not to do. He could have said to Himself, "I will start over. I will make them better than before. Perhaps I shouldn’t give them free will this next time and insure no more sin in the Universe."

There was just one big problem. God, our creator, couldn’t do any of that. If He had, it would have totally been against His character. He had created them in His image. He had invested His love in deciding what they should be. He had given them free will for a grand and certain purpose.

Adam and Eve had been given "free will" so that they could have a loving relationship with God willingly rather than forcibly. God isn’t looking for robots. Robots could have been easily made but there would have been no spontaneity of love in the experience.

So what was God going to do? He wouldn’t destroy them. He couldn’t let sin become the excepted norm. He couldn’t and wouldn’t just walk a way and say, "Oh well." He had created them in His image. Now He must recreate them in His image.

But this time it would be different than before. The first creation effort was all according to God’s will. This time God had to work within the parameters of Man’s will. If the image of God was to be restored in man, it would have to be with the consent of Man. God would need Man’s permission to restore the Divine image. God would have to convince Man that he would want to be restored to the Divine image.

Man’s heart was now perverted. What was once perfect in reflecting the image of God was now muddied with a sinful desire. It was a desire that only wanted to satisfy selfish interests. Even though Adam and Eve may be brought to admit what they had given up, it was beyond them to again desire it without selfishness mixed in. Mankind could no longer reflect God’s perfect character nor have that personal communion that had satisfied so deeply.

Then the Universe looked at this tiny little speck of a planet and wondered what would God do? His great name was on the line. What He had created in love was now in rebellion. How would He turn the blight of sin into a testimony for His love?

Mat 5:48 Therefore be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect. KJV

Even though we find this verse in the New Testament, it is God’s remedy for Mankind. At first thought this probably doesn’t resonate with the basic Bible student. There is no way we can be perfect as if to say we can be God. That would be absolutely true in that context but that is not was this verse is demanding. The created cannot be turned around to be the creator.

In Psalm 23 it says , "He restores my soul, He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake." Anything that is being restored is being returned to its original condition. Man’s original condition was to reflect God’s image. In this reflected image, Man was perfect because God was perfect. Let it be understood. Man’s character was perfect in the reflection of God’s perfect character. After sin, all that changed. Now God must step in and restore man but only in the context of Man’s will allowing Him to do so. How would He accomplish this?

After sin, Man only deserved to die, because the "wages of sin is death." Rom 6:23. This was known going in because God told Eve, "thou shalt surely die."

God must step in with a plan. First, He would give grace to the condemned couple. Grace is unmerited favor. What was the favor? The favor was to lift the death penalty and offer man his will back so that he could choose to be reconciled back to God. When Eve believed a lie told by Satan, her will was now under the deceiver’s control. Her plight and Adams was now helpless. By God’s promise in Gen 3:15 of the coming Savior, Adam and Eve were given their will back. They would now have the opportunity to choose to be recreated in God’s image. Of course, mankind could also choose to stay estranged from God and turn down a relationship with the Creator.

God was taking a big risk. He was putting His good name on the line. Would Man choose Him over sin and thusly death? How would God win Man’s heart back to Him?

1Jn 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. To restore the image of God, it would take the very expression of that image to start the cure. We left God – He didn’t leave us. He continued to love both Adam and Eve even thought they had made a very grave mistake in believing a lie. In fact, that is the very problem even now in mankind that we are either believing a lie, such as evolution for example, or we are believing God’s truth as written in the Bible and interpreted by the Holy Spirit.

God’s love for mankind is a natural result of who He is. God hates the sin but He loves the sinner. God’s love reaches out to the sinner with this question, Eze 33:11 "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" God pleads with mankind that death is totally unnecessary. He has offered grace. He has offered restoration and regeneration of our hearts. He wants to restore His image in us and this is non-negotiable if we are to inhabit eternity.

Psa 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

The precursor to this promise made by God to each interested sinner is that we must "delight ourselves in Him." The sinner who has no interest in loving God and accepting a commuted death sentence might as well cut off his ears from listening. It would be incredibly stupid to turn down eternity but there will be those who insist on being left alone.

But, the man who sees and appreciates the grace offered to be restored into harmony with our Creator can believe that God knows exactly how the process needs to work in each individual heart. All we need to do is submit, ask to be saved, believe the promise, and claim the results in advance with complete faith in His Faithfulness to be the Author and Finisher of your salvation.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Faith is the key the turns the lock allowing entrance into eternity now even before the Second Coming of Christ. The Holy Spirit is given as a guarantor of that promise. We can go to the bank on it because it is God’s word. All we must do is diligently seek him. What does that mean? We must seek Him every day and ask His will to be done in our lives. We must learn to recognize His voice by studying His word the Bible and knowing Him in character and truth. Then when He speaks to us, we will recognize His leading from the myriad of other voices in this world. That includes the voice of he Devil himself and his evil angels. They will seek to deceive if possible.

The reward of our faith is Eternity with Him. When Christ comes in the cloud of angels, he will be looking for those who reflect His image. That image is agape love. This is a love above anything the human heart of a sinner can produce. This love must be restored in us by the power of God’s word. He must recreate us in His image.

Mat 5:48 Therefore be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect. KJV Are you ready to submit? Are you ready to believe? Are you ready to be restored? Will He recognize you when He returns?

When we read a promise made by God in His word the Bible, will we spontaneously say, "It is so what God has said."