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After God created the heaven and the earth, and the things He placed on earth for man's
comfort, He created man in His own image. The divine record says, "And God saw everything
that he had made, and behold, it was very good (Gen. 1:31). God gave man a law. As the
Creator was all wise, He had a perfect right to give the creature a law. Man transgressed
that law and was banished from the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:16-17; 3:1-21).
Transgression of law is sin, and sin separates man from God (1 Jn. 3:4; Isa. 59:1-2). So man was separated from God's favor. But God still loved man whom He had made in His image, and in course of time, God promised him a Redeemer (Gen. 3:15; 12:3). Redemption means to purchase back, so Christ came to buy man back to the favor of God (Acts 20:28; Eph. 2:13-18). God made that promise to Abraham about 2,000 years before Christ came to earth. But God has time for all He desires to accomplish, so He saw fit to train and prepare the children of Abraham for the coming of the Redeemer. That included giving Abraham's descendants, the Israelites, a law to govern them until Christ should come (Gal. 3:19). Under that law, God required them to offer animal sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. But these sacrifices were only typical of a greater sacrifice to come, and did not completely take away sin (Heb. 9:6-28; 10:1-4). But at the time appointed by the Heavenly Father, Christ came to redeem mankind. He died on the cross to redeem men of all ages of the world. His atonement reached backward to them who lived before Him, (Heb. 9:15; Rom. 3:24-25), and forward to us who live this side of the cross (Col. 1:13-14; Heb. 9:11-28). The great work of redemption through Christ began on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ (Lk. 24:46-49; Acts 1:6-8; 2:1-47). Since the plan of redemption was purposed and inaugurated by God's divine hand, has He placed any conditions in that plan for man to comply with in order to be redeemed? And, where is this redemption found? Paul says redemption is in Christ (Col. 1:13-14; 2 Tim. 2:10). To be in Christ is to be in His body (Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 2:16; 2 Cor. 5:9). To be in His body is to be in the church (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18, 24). Therefore, since redemption — salvation — is in Christ, in the body of Christ, or the church, what must one do to enter into Christ's body? There are three changes that must take place in man for his redemption. He must have a change of heart, a change of life, and a change of relationship. The heart that is changed in conversion is the inner man — that part of man that thinks, reasons, understands, believes, loves, and purposes. The Bible says the heart does all these things. So, when a man's mind, his affections, his desires, and his purposes are on sinful things, he needs a change of heart. But what effects a change of heart in man? Peter said the heart is changed by faith (Acts 15:9). When man's faith in God and Christ gets strong enough to lead him to take his mind, his affections, his desires and purposes from things that are low and sinful, and places them on things that are good and holy, he has had that change of heart. But the unredeemed man must have a change of life also in order to be redeemed from his sin. He must not only cease to love sin, but he must cease to practice it as well. That change of life is effected by a true repentance. That's what Peter and John told that multitude at Solomon's Porch: "Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). And the prophet Isaiah said, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God for he will abundantly pardon" (Isa. 55:7). So the sinner is made free from the love of sin by faith, and he is made free from the practice of sin by repentance. Many religious teachers will tell you that these are all the changes necessary. But there is another change that is very important — the change of relation or state. The man who has believed and repented is not yet in Christ. He has not yet come to where redemption, the blood, and the forgiveness of sins are found. Hear Paul again: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:13-14). Since we have learned that the blood is in Christ, and the forgiveness of sins is in Christ, it is necessary for man to be translated into Christ to reach those blessings. While the sinner is made free from the love of sin by faith, and from the practice of sin by repentance, he still bears the guilt of sin which only the blood of Christ can remove (Heb. 9:11-28; 1 Jn. 1:7). How then can the sinner get into Christ where the blood will cleanse him? That is done by baptism. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:26-27). "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" (Rom. 6:3). Baptism changes our state of spiritual being. It puts man into Christ and into Christ's death, bringing him to the blood of Christ which cleanses from the guilt of sin. The sinner is freed from the love of sin by faith, the practice of sin by repentance, and the guilt of sin by baptism. That's a complete salvation from sin. Then he has the hope of eternal salvation in heaven when he continues to live the Christian life (Matt. 25:31-46; 2 Pet. 1:5-13; Rev. 22:14). |