Genesis 3:10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

God told Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam disobeyed the one and only command given by God where He said don’t. This is the result of disobedience, fear, vulnerability, and separation.

These are the attributes of all mankind that comes with birth because of original sin. This is what God wants to undo by faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Restoration begins in reverse order, the last becoming the first.

First on the list is restoration of relations with God where we do not have to hide our faces from our God.

Second is losing the sense of vulnerability, that God loves us and wants to protect us.

Third we stop being afraid of our past sins and accept that we can begin again,

Fourth and last because it is the most difficult is obedience.

• Luke 1:35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
• John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
• John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
• John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

I include Luke 1:35 because when we are born again the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. In John 3:8 we can see that the Spirit comes and goes where it wills, being the third person of the Trinity of God. The power belongs to the Most High, we are not in control of that power.

Having free will is a demonstration of God’s love and trust He has placed in us by faith. Choose to obey and demonstrate to God that His love is doing what He set out to do in conforming us into the image of the Son. Disobey and expect correction, not punishment. 

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Here in the last book of our bible is an encouragement to repent.

“But I have done nothing worthy of repentance!”

Then repent of that attitude.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

The fact that we are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ doesn’t make us Jesus Christ. Conformity is a life long pursuit only to be finished when we receive our own incorruptible body once we leave this earth and are resurrected into the eternal realm.

1 John 1:5-10 English Standard Version

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Sinning, repenting, confessing and forgiveness is our life cycle as long as we walk this earth. It does not end until we are taken up to be with the Father in His heavenly realm. We will never be so good, so faithful, so clear of conscience that we do not need Jesus. That is our reality.

So what is the point of salvation if it doesn’t change that truth?

John 8:31-32 (English Standard Version)

 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We will be set free from the power of sin and the penalty of sin, but we have not yet been set free from the presence of sin. As long as we are alive on earth, sin will constantly hound us to put those chains on again.

Romans 6:13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

We have to practice what we preach.