Come Back In
When God created Adam and Eve, they were a delight to God and God was a delight to them. They had a delightful relationship. Eden means "pleasure, delight" in the the Hebrew language. (Strong 1983)
God talked with them and walked around with them in the cool of
the day. Adam and Eve were happy. They had blessings in abundance! There was
plenty of food, the animals were friendly, and they felt no shame or guilt. God
was their friend, not the police, and He only gave them one law: “don’t go
under the law.”
Well, literally, God said, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17 NIV)
In today’s language, another way to say “knowledge of good and evil” might be, “a list of do’s and don’ts.”
In other words, the above verse might say, “don’t follow a list of do’s and don’ts, because if you do you will die.”
But satan lied to Eve to make the list of do’s and don’ts look really appealing; he told her that she would be just like God if she ate the fruit. She did, and so did Adam.
Now when satan lied, Eve had a choice. She could keep her delightful friendship with God, or she could choose the list of do’s and don’ts. Unfortunately, of course, she chose the list of do’s and don’ts. It was her choice; her free will.
And, what happened?
Immediately, Adam and Eve felt shame and guilt (a feeling they had never known before) for being naked.
They hid from God.
Adam blamed Eve
Eve blamed satan.
They were kicked out of Eden. (see Genesis 3:6-13)
Shame, guilt, fear, blame, and broken fellowship with God . . . why did Eve do it? Why did she trade in her life of delight for all this misery?
Of course she didn’t do it on purpose; she was tricked. Looking back in my own life, there was a time when I, too, was tricked into following “religious do’s and don’ts” over a friendship with Jesus.
I became a Christian when I was 14 years old and enjoyed a sweet friendship with the Lord for several years. But then I went to college, and in just one week, I went to a party and had my first drink. I got caught up in all the fun and partying, and for the next five years I pretty much ignored Jesus.
I finally repented and returned to the Lord, but now I found myself among Christians that taught a very legalistic gospel, and unfortunately, I didn’t know the difference.
It became a tremendous problem. I had a hard time feeling God’s love again, because I was constantly being reminded of my past. I was told, directly and indirectly, that I didn’t deserve forgiveness. And I heard it so much that eventually I believed it. So, instead of the friendship with the Lord that I had once known, now I felt like God was always angry at me.
Like Eve, I felt like I had lost my right to live in the Garden. I felt like I had lost my friendship with God. I felt that I was resigned to a life of “do’s and don’ts.”
Because of the legalistic teaching, I began to believe that the way to please God was to follow certain standards. This went on for years. I got married and started a family, and tried to live in a way that I thought a “good” Christian would live. I tried my best to be a good wife and Mother, volunteered in the church, and prayed and read my Bible daily. But no matter how much “good” I did, I was always feeling guilty, like I wasn’t “good” enough.
I felt heavy and burdened all the time. And then, there were parts of the Bible that made me feel especially guilty. One of the chapters that gave me the most trouble was Matthew 5. Let’s read some of it, starting in verse 21:
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.
Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell…
… “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell…
… Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:21-48 NIV)
One night I was chopping the little branches off of a stalk of broccoli for dinner. While I did this I complained to the Lord about Matthew chapter 5.
I said, “Lord, if I’m going to have to chop off a body part every time I sin, I’ll look like this stalk of broccoli with all the branches cut off. I wouldn’t even make it a week – I’d be dead in a day.”
Suddenly I imagined the crowd around Jesus holding up their broccoli stalks and joining with me, saying, “what’s the deal Jesus? We can’t do this. We can’t be perfect.”
And then the light came on inside my brain. And Jesus was answering them- and me. He was saying, “I know you can’t. That’s why I came.”
I really think that Jesus was getting the people hungry for Him. He was talking to a crowd of people who still hadn’t made up their minds about Him. They were still following the Jewish Law. Maybe Jesus wanted to lead the people to the point where they could see their great need for a Savior.
You can think of it like this: There are really two ways to be right with God, two ways to make it to Heaven. You can follow the Ten commandments everyday of your life. And the Jewish Law had hundreds of other laws as well. So that’s a lot of laws and rules to follow. But if you want to get to Heaven by following all the laws, that’s fine. You can do that.
The only problem with getting to Heaven that way is that Galatians 3:10 tells us that, “cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
That means
that even if we only sin
This is why being a good person or having a big heart doesn’t get anyone into Heaven. Because it’s not enough to be good – you have to be perfect, and no one is. The Bible says that we all sin. It's a catch-22.
So thank God, there’s a different way, a better way – the way of grace – the way of believing in and following Jesus.
God had warned Adam and Eve that if they chose the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die.
Why did God say they would die?
We know that their bodies had been created to live forever, but that now they began to grow old and die, so of course they eventually died physically, but I think there was also another kind of death.
Living under the law is like death. I know because I lived under the law for years.
And I understand why God calls it death to live under the law, because under the law, you will never feel good enough.
It’s part of Adam’s curse, actually. When God kicked Adam out of the garden, He said to Adam:
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground. (Genesis 3:17-19 NIV)
In other words, God told Adam, “all your life, you will work very hard – painful toil, sweat of your brow – and still you will produce thorns and thistles. You’ll get just enough food to squeak by, but there will never be quite enough to satisfy you.”
How different the curse is from the blessing that God gave the Israelites in Deuteronomy 28, where He said
your
basket will be blessed,
your
barns will be blessed,
everything
you put your hand to do will be blessed,
the
Lord will open the Heavens to you
and give you abundant prosperity!!
I’d much rather live in the blessing than the curse, wouldn’t you?
But living under the law is like living under the curse.
Paul tells us that we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23 NIV)
Just like Adam would work really hard and never quite have enough, under the law, we will work really hard at trying to be good but we will always fall short – we will never quite be good enough.
That’s why Paul also called the law the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2 NIV).
If you are trying to get to Heaven under the law, by trying to be good enough, you will never be good enough. You have to be perfect, remember?
And you will always carry with you a heavy burden of guilt and shame and condemnation.
Jesus said, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:11 TLB)
Why did Jesus use the word “yeast?”
Because yeast rises – it grows! You just put a little bit of yeast into dough and it festers and bubbles and rises and grows until your dough doubles in size! Yeast grows and grows and keeps on growing!!
And that’s exactly what the law does.
For me, when I fell under the law, that system of do’s and don’ts, at first, I felt like I needed to read one chapter of the Bible every day to keep me right with God.
That was okay, I could handle that. But just like yeast, that one law began to grow.
Soon, I felt that I couldn’t be right with God unless I prayed 15 solid minutes a day as along with reading my chapter.
Then that 15 minutes grew to an hour.
Now it was getting harder, because I had 4 little kids at that time. I could usually manage it, but, oh, the guilt and the condemnation I felt when I couldn’t.
Then the law grew some more – now I felt like had to witness to one random stranger once a week. Then it grew to every time I went somewhere I had to approach a stranger and give them a little tract – a little book about Jesus.
These things all sound like really great things to do, and on the outside I may have looked like a great Christian, but on the inside, where no one could see, I was a mess.
Because all these laws were such a strain to keep up with, and whenever I missed one of these obligations, I really felt like I was in danger of going to Hell.
I was one of those whitewashed tombs that Jesus talked about - I looked okay on the outside, but inside I was full of death- shame, guilt, condemnation, fear of messing up and going to Hell. (Matthew 23:27 NIV)
The law had grown and grown and grown into such a huge pile of dough! And it grew from there until I didn’t feel right with God unless I fasted every Monday, gave up drinking coffee, and never took second helpings at dinner. It was getting nearly impossible to feel right with God. Such a heavy burden!
And it was affecting my whole family. My little daughter, six years old, came to me crying one day. She had gotten into a fight with her brother and called him a dummy, and she said, “Mama, am I going to Hell?”
Jesus had said, if you are angry with your brother, you are in danger of going to Hell. I was devastated that my daughter was now carrying this heavy burden, and I honestly didn’t know to help her.
People live under the burden of so many laws. I’ve met women who
Can’t wear pants or shorts or t- shirts, because they’re afraid they’ll go to Hell
Can’t watch TV, or go to the movies, or use a computer, because they’re afraid they’ll go to Hell.
I’ve become friends with some of these women, and some of them have shared their stories with me. And you know what? They were just like me when I was under the heavy burden of the law. They love God with all their hearts, they look happy on the outside, but on the inside, they are dying.
Once you go under the law, it never stops growing; it always demands more and more and more, and you will always fall short. You will never be good enough.
I was fortunate to be able to break out of the law, but some people live under its heavy burden all their lives, and they never feel close to God because they never feel good enough.
One woman I knew was in her 70’s, and she confided to me very quietly one day, “Andi, I’m beginning to think that maybe it’s not a sin to be happy.”
The law had grown in her to make her feel that happiness was a sin. Praise God, she finally at age 70 began to see the truth!
The law grows and becomes death to us. In Matthew chapter 5, I think Jesus was trying to get the people to see that. He grew the law for them. He said (and I’m paraphrasing),
The law says don’t murder. But now, I’m saying, you can’t even get angry. Or you’re in danger of Hell. So if you sin and hit someone, you’d better cut off your hand.
And, the law says, don’t commit adultery. But now, I’m saying, you better not even lust. Or you’re in danger of Hell. So if you lust, you’d better pluck out your eyes.
See, this is the nature of the law. It grows.
I’ve heard that in some countries, people have a tradition where once a year they walk on their knees for several miles. Just to make sure they stay right with God.
I’ve heard of some people who once a year at Easter they have people nail them to a cross, just for a few minutes. This is what they feel that God wants them to do to stay right with Him. Can you imagine how they must dread Easter every year?
The law kills. It demands more and more and it is never satisfied!!
But Praise God – Jesus says there is a better way!!
When people asked Jesus what “work” they needed to do to be right with God, Jesus said, “believe in the One He has sent” (John 2:29 NIV). In other words, if you want to really be right with God, just believe in Jesus!!
In the Old Testament, when God led the Israelites to the Promised Land, He told them, in essence …
I’m going to bring you to a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey. But there’s one catch: to get in there, you have to fight the huge giants that live there.
And they said, basically, there’s no way we can fight giants!!
And God said, I know, but I will fight the giants for you. You just need to believe.
It’s a picture for us of Heaven – God says to us, and again, I’m going to paraphrase:
I’ve prepared Heaven for you, and it’s an amazingly beautiful place, with a crystal sea, streets of gold, and filled with my glory! There’s one catch: to get in there, you have to be perfect.
And we say, there’s no way we can be perfect!
And God says, I know, but I will make you perfect with the blood of Jesus. You just need to believe.
The Israelites looked at the giants and they had a hard time believing that God could help. Maybe God seemed too invisible.
We look at our sin and we have a hard time believing that the blood of Jesus will help. We say, “I’ll try my hardest to get rid of my sin,” or “I’ll try my hardest to do right.”
But our hardest won’t work – God tells us over and over again that the blood of Jesus is the ONLY thing that will make us right with Him. The ONLY thing that will get us to Heaven.
If I asked you, “why are you going to Heaven?” and your answer has anything to do with…
Your big heart
Or your good deeds
Or your moral living
Or how much time you spend in prayer
Or how many chapters in the Bible you read each day
… then you are still living under the law.
You are getting to Heaven because you have been washed by the blood of Jesus and that’s it!! Halleluiah!!
Adam and Eve never had the chance to enter back into the Garden of Eden. An angel stood at the entrance with a flaming sword and no one could get back in after the fall. They lived out their lives and died under the painful curse of the law. They were never good enough.
Praise God, though, we can come back!!
When I came out from under the law it was like being born again – a ton of weight just lifted right off of me.
The day that my daughter came to me in tears over calling her brother a dummy, I cried out to God for help. I began to study Matthew chapter 5 AND the entire book of Galatians at the same time. All that week this was all I read.
Galatians is a letter Paul wrote to a church that had started out in grace but ended up under the law – just like Eve and just like me! And Paul was explaining to them the way of grace all over again.
And as I read Matthew 5 and Galatians together, at first I was confused, because they seemed like two totally different gospels. And I didn’t know which one was right.
And then it hit me – Jesus FULFILLED the law
So, when I am covered with His blood, it’s as though I have fulfilled the law. I am right with God, and I am going to heaven!!
From that point on, I stopped forcing myself to read a chapter a day.
Instead, I would pull out my Bible and say, “Holy Spirit, teach me something wonderful today.” And then I would open up and just read until I found something wonderful, and I would praise Him for that wonderful word all day long!!
And the devil would say, “you haven’t witnessed to anyone today. God’s mad at you. You’re a bad Christian.”
And I would say, “get out devil, that’s a lie! Because I am covered with the blood of Jesus and I am totally right with God!!
And then I would just start praising Jesus for His blood that made me righteous and set me free from that heavy, impossible law of sin and death!!
Halleluiah!! By one sacrifice, (Jesus) has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:14 NIV)
If you are covered by the blood of Jesus, you have been made perfect forever and you will go to Heaven when you die.
If you’ve been living outside the Garden, in that horrible land of do’s and don’ts, do the thing that Adam and Eve couldn’t do.
Come back in.
References:
Strong, James. Strongs Exhaustive Concordance: Showing
Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books,
and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order, Together with Dictionaries
of the Hebrew and Greek Words of the Original, with References to the English
Words. Baker Book House, 1983.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by
Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
worldwide.www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version”
are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by
Biblica, Inc.
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