GOD'S PLAN
 
 


 

EXPLANATIONS FOR THE STEPS IN GOD’S PLAN

  1. God and people are in fellowship.

    When God made humans in His own image (Gen. 1:27), he created them to be in close fellowship with Him. He placed them in the Garden of Eden and walked with them in the garden (Gen. 3:8), thus indicating the close fellowship.

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  2. God gave people the responsibility of choice.

    God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and told them to dress and keep the garden. They could eat of all the trees but one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were given a choice, therefore, of whether they would obey God’s command or not (Gen. 2:15-17; 3:3).

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  3. People chose sin.

    Adam and Eve chose to eat of the forbidden tree (Gen. 3:6). But not only did Adam and Eve choose to sin, so have all the rest of us. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).

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  4. Sin separates people from God.

    The consequence of sin is separation from God. "Your sins have separated you from God" (Isa. 59:2). "For the wages of sin is death"--separation from God (Rom. 6:23).

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  5. Shall God punish our sins or forgive them?

    Now God must make a choice. Shall He punish our sins or forgive them. His justice requires Him to punish them. A righteous judge cannot allow a sin (crime) to go unpunished. His mercy and love, however, make Him want to forgive us so we return to fellowship with Him. How can God solve this dilemma to punish or forgive?

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  6. God sent Jesus to be punished for sins He did not do.

    In His great wisdom, God found a way to both punish and forgive. He punished our sins through the principle of substitution. Christ never sinned but was treated as a sinner. On the basis of this punishment, God could say that the debt for our sins was paid and He could, then, let us go free as forgiven. God is both "just and justifier" (Rom. 3:26). "By his stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:5-6).

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  7. We must choose Jesus as our Savior.

    While God opened the door for salvation, He does not take away our responsibility of choice. While He made salvation possible through Christ’s death, we must decide whether we will accept His offer. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes on him will not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). We choose Jesus by placing our faith in Him.

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  8. We must demonstrate our faith by obedience.

    God has never rewarded undemonstrated faith. James says, "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20). God’s plan for our demonstration of faith is that we must confess our faith, repent of our sins and be baptized for forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; Rom. 10:10). If we refuse His plan for demonstration, God has not promised to grant us forgiveness through Christ’s blood. Hebrews 5:9 says that Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to all "who obey him." Ananias told Paul, a repentant believer, to "be baptized and wash away his sins."

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  9. God takes away our sins and restores us to fellowship with Him.

    After we believe and obey, God rewards us by completely taking our sins away and returning us to a fellowship with Him. On Pentecost, believers were told to "repent and be baptized . . . for forgiveness of sins" (Acts 2:38). A person rises from baptism to "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).

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  10. God puts those He forgives into the body of Christ.

    "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). "The Lord added unto them daily those that were being saved" (Acts 2:47). We now have fellowship with God through Christ and have fellowship with all other saved He has placed in the body of Christ, His church.