Fallen Humanity (The Human Conditions)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins... Ephesians 2:1
The Bible teaches that all people everywhere are fallen. It means that all people, by nature, are spiritually dead. Completely dead. A person who dies physically is completely dead. So it is in the spiritual realm. The Bible says that by nature all people are spiritually dead - with closed hearts (Act 16:14), darkened minds (2 Corinthians 4:6), closed ears (Matthew 13:9-17), and blinded eys (John 9:35-41). Because we are completely dead, we are unable to believe in God without God's help.
Adopted by God (The Father's Solutions)
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. - Ephesians 1:4-5
Humanity's fall into sin separated all people from God. But there is a solution. Before the creation of the world, God chose, or elected, some people to be memebers of his family. Even as an adoptive parents selects a child to love, God predestined some people to be adopted into his spiritual family.
This adoption is not based on anything a person is or has done. God's choice is not based on a person's faith, for those who are spiritually dead do not yet have faith (1 Corinthians 2:14). God chose simply "in accordance with his pleasure and will" (Ephesians 1:5).
Intentional Atonement (The Son's Provision)
Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." - John 10:14-15 (NKJV)
Jesus God's Son, is the only person who never sinner. As a sinless person, he was able to be the perfect sacrifice, to pay on the cross the death penalty for sin that satisfied the demands of God's justice. Jesus opened the way for people to be reunited with God. His atonement on the cross was intentional-it was intended for believers from every people group around the globe (John 10:16).
Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient for the sins of all people, but it is applied only those whom God has adopted. Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them... " (John 6:44). The Father draws people to believe in Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Transformed by the Holy Spirit (The Spirit's Transformation)
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. - John 3:3 (KJV)
Being "born again" or being born anew spiritually is the work of God the Holy Spirit. People are transformed by the Spirit. Regeneration (being "born again") is not a result of our placing our faith in Jesus. Regeneration precedes faith. It enables people to believe. Since people are spiritually dead, the Holy Spirit does for them what they are unable to do for themselves. The Spirit brings them to life spiritually. In fact, the Bible says that Holy Spirit gives them the gift of life (Ephesians 2:8:9).
Held by God (God's Preservation)
Jesus said, "My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand." - John 10:27-28 (MSG)
Believers are held securely in God's grip. Their salvation is secure for all eternity. If their salvation depended at all on them, they would be in danger of losing it during a lapse of faith. But salvation, from start to finish, depends totally on God. Christians do not hang on to God; rather, they rest securely in God's loving hands.
The Bible says:
- "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand" - John 10:29
- "[Nothing] will be albe to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" - Romans 8:39.
- "[You who believed in Jesus] were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance" - Ephesians 1:13-14.
F.A.I.T.H
Notice that these biblical facts have given us an acronym:
Fallen Humanity
Adopted by God
Intentional Atonement
Transformed by the Holy Spirit
Held by God
Use this acronym to remember that God is the complete Savior. This faith brings peace of life, security for the future, and all the glory to God.
Finally...
Things are not always as they seem. Think of the gate of heaven as having a wrought-iron arch over-head. As you approach the gate you read the words "Whoever Will May Come" and you decide to walk through the gate. Once inside you turn and read the arch from heaven's perspective: "Chosen from All Eternity." Those who believe in Jesus for their salvation realize that it is God who gives them faith and God who keeps them in the faith. They can take none of the credit. All the glory belongs to God.