Our Relationship With God

This message will be long, but it is important to understand the basics of the beginning to understand the glory we will receive in the end. This message will try to detail and explain the holy, perfect, and sinful relationships mankind has had, is having, and will have with our God. We will discuss the past which is now over, the present where we are living, and the future which will come.

# In the Past mankind was created by God as a holy and perfect man and woman.

*And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Gen 1:31 ASV

*So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Ge 1:27 KJV

Our God is love. Our Heavenly Father wanted children to love, wanted children to love Him back. Our Father knew the problems we would cause, that His Son would have to become man and die a physical death to save us. Yet our God loved us and desired a large family that His Son could be part of, that we were created.

*God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1Jn 4:16 KJV

*We love because he first loved us. 1Jn 4:19 KJV

*For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Ro 8:29 NIV+

We were created with a spiritual being, our soul and spirit, or heart; and a physical being, our mind and body, or strength.

*And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mk 12:30 KJV

Our Heavenly Father used the words image and likeness to describe the characteristics His new creation would be given. These two words were used to define our relationship with God, His relationship with us, and our relationship with everything on earth.

Though God is a spirit with three unique personalities, our Heavenly Father in this passage is also referring to all the angelic spiritual beings who sit around His Heavenly Council, who hear what He says. We were made in the image, the likeness of God that is also shared by all of the Heavenly beings who were created before we were.

*And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Gen 1:26 KJV

This describes our Father’s Heavenly Council:

*And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. 1Ki 22:19- 21 KJV Also see Gen 11:7, Isa 6:1-8, Jer 23:18, Mt 18:10 in NIV or KJV

All spiritual beings, whether angelic, or our spirit and soul, are created by God. No spiritual being reproduces, they are created mature by the Holy Spirit.

*When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. Ps 104:30 NIV+

*For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Ps 139:13 NIV+

*At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Mt 22:30 NIV+

Our spiritual being was given a free will, the choice of loving, obeying our God, or rejecting Him. It was also given the ability to think, to gain knowledge from the Spirit.

*For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 2Ti 1:7 NASB+

*For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb 4:12 ASV

We were also created as a new and different creature, a physical being. Our physical being, our body and mind, would be a tent for our spiritual being to live in.

*Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Gen 2:7 NASB++

*¹Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Cor 5:1 NIV+

Our physical mind was created with the ability to think, to gain knowledge, with a free will, an ability to love and obey our God or reject Him like our spiritual being. Our physical mind also has the power to overrule our spirit as it matures and gains knowledge.

*The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Rom 8:6-7 NIV+

Man and woman, male and female would be physically different, the woman a helper to the man.

*The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Gen 2:18 NIV+

*And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." Gen 2:21-23 NKJV+

Man and woman were to reproduce and populate the earth. They were to unite as one flesh, of two becoming one for the rest of their lives. The Father allows them to conceive a tiny physical being in the woman’s womb. At the same time the Spirit creates an eternal spiritual being within this body, thus giving life to the newly created baby at conception.

*And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: Gen 1:28 KJV

*For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Gen 2:24-25 NASB+

We were created a little lower than the angels. Yet we were put in charge of managing the earth, not the angels.

*what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. Ps 8:4-6 NIV Also Heb 2:6-7

*Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, Yea, and the beasts of the field, The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. Ps 8:6-8 ASV

We were created without the knowledge of good or evil, though this knowledge was given the angels.

*And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen 2:16-17 KJV

# In the Past our spiritual and physical beings would become unholy, imperfect as sin entered the world. We no longer had a relationship with our God, we could no longer be in His presence. Our spiritual being was condemned to eternal damnation when our physical body would die. When our physical body died it would return to dust.

*Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— Rom 5:12 NIV+

Satan, probably an archangel would reject God, and sin was created.

*And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. Rev 12:9 ASV

Satan would likewise deceive Eve, and Eve would entice Adam to disobey God. They had now sinned, they could no longer be with their God and He would no longer allow them to be physically eternal. Adam and Eve were thrown out into the world to live a hard life until they would die.

*To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you." Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. Gen 3:16-19 NASB+

*And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. Gen 3:22-23 NIV+

# In the Past under the Old Covenant a believer’s spiritual being would become holy, though imperfect, and their physical being would remain unholy, imperfect. The Father made a covenant to save believers until Jesus would come and die as atonement for all believers’ sins. Those who had faith in God and His promise to send a Savior, could have their sins forgiven by obeying moral and ceremonial laws given by the Father.

*But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Gal 3:22-24 NIV+

Our Heavenly Father promised Adam that He would send His Son to destroy Satan, though Satan would strike Jesus’ heel. For Jesus would have to die to redeem us from our sins.

*And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Gen 3:15 NIV+

We would all inherit Adam’s sin as we are reproduced in his likeness and spiritually inherit his image.

*When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. Gen 5:3 NASB+

Our Heavenly Father made moral laws for us to obey forever. For since mankind now knew good and evil, we could do evil things as well as things pleasing to our Lord. All moral laws come from two spiritual laws. Loving our God above all things, and loving our neighbor as our self.

*Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets. Matt 22:36-40 ASV

Our Father also gave ceremonial laws which required believers to do specific things including sacrificing animals to become righteous before God. These laws would point them to the Savior who would come.

*The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Heb 10:1 NIV+

Our Father also chose a people to be His own, to bring salvation into the world.

*Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel: But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. 2Ch 6:5-6 KJV

*Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. Jn 4:21-24 NKJV+

Some who loved God were given the Spirit. Not an indwelling of the Spirit which would require Jesus’ atoning death, but the Spirit opening their hearts and minds to the truth our Father wanted us to know.

*"They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. Zech 7:12 NASB+

When Old Covenant believers died, those before Jesus atoning’ death on the cross, their bodies returned to dust, and their spirits returned to God. Their souls and spirits went to Abraham’s bosom, a resting place until the Savior would come to make their spiritual being perfect, allowing them to come into Heaven.

*and the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it. Eccl 12:7 ASV

*These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Heb 11:39-40 NIV+

# In the Present we live under the New Covenant of Christ’s atoning grace. Our spirit is holy, is perfect, yet our body remains unholy and imperfect. The Son came down from Heaven and became man, Jesus. He would bring salvation first to the Jews and then give His grace to all the gentiles.

*“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Heb 10: 16-18 NIV+

*That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Gal 3:14 KJV

Jesus was born as a man, created in our likeness, yet He still was the Son of God. His physical being was man, yet His eternal spiritual being was God. The Son willingly did His Father’s will and allowed His physical being to die to save us from our sins.

*who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Phil 2:6-8 ASV

*Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Heb 10:9-10 NIV+

Just like the sin of Adam condemned all of us, the righteous of Christ alone could save us.

*For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. Ro 5:19 NKJV+

*so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ro 5:21 NKJV+

The ceremonial laws have been replaced by the only sacrifice that can save us, Christ’s death on the cross.

*For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, Ro 8:3 NIV+

*Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. Gal 3:25 NIV+

Through Christ we are made into a new creation, our spiritual being is now holy, perfect.

*Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2Co 5:17 NKJV+

*that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Eph 4:22-24 NKJV+

The righteous spiritual beings in Abraham’s bosom could now be made perfect, could come into Heaven.

*because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy Heb 10:14 NIV+

*And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Heb 11:39-40 NKJV+

There will always be physical differences our God has established. Between the Jew and the gentile, between man and woman, and the different positions, and situations our Father will put us in the world. We must accept our Lord’s will, loving, obeying, and serving Him no matter what our status in life is.

*Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called. 1Cor 7:24 NASB+

*For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. Ja 2:26 NASB+

Yet our spiritual beings all have the opportunity to be equal in the sight of God. When we accept Christ we are all spiritually part of the family of God. Spiritually we are only measured on the love, the faith we have for our God. We are given blessings for obeying and doing our Lord’s work out of this love. Gender, nationality, status in life, or any other considerations are irrelevant to the spiritual relationship one has with their God.

*For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:26-28 NKJV+

Spiritually we will struggle trying to control our minds, be humble, so we can find the truth about Christ in God’s Word.

*Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 1Cor 2:12 NKJV+

God will give those who have a receptive mind the Holy Spirit. We are born again, also called baptized with the Spirit, as the Father washes the original sin of Adam from our minds, allowing the Spirit to dwell in our hearts. Not water baptism but an inner washing of the mind from the Father.

*he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Tit 3:5 NIV+

*And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Ro 12:2 NKJV+

The Spirit lives in our hearts so Christ may live there also, giving us all of His love.

*I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph 3:16-19 NIV+

We are the children of God when we are led by the Spirit.

*Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Rom 8:12-14 NIV+

*The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, Ro 8:16 NASB+

When the Spirit comes into in our hearts, our spiritual being enters into the Kingdom of God. Spiritually we live in the Heavenly Kingdom with the Father, the Son, the Spirit and all believers.

*And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Lk 17:20-21 KJV

*for the kingdom of God is not eating or drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Ro 14:17 ASV

Our spiritual being is made holy, perfect by Christ’s atoning grace. It is kept, holy, perfect by the love, faith we have in our hearts. For the Spirit sanctifies believers, forgives their sins immediately to keep them in the Kingdom of God, until they repent and are forgiven once more by Jesus.

* And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1Co 6:11 NKJV+

*that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Ro 15:16 ASV

Our spirit shows the glory of the Lord in everything we do.

*Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2Co 3:15-18 NIV+

Our body is dead yet our Spirit is alive

*Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. Rom 8:8-10 NIV+

When our body dies, our spiritual being shall go to be with God in Heaven above.

*But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Heb 12:22-24 NIV+

# In the Future when Jesus returns again for us, our physical being will be glorified, made holy, perfect, like our spiritual being. If our spiritual being has been separated from our physical being through death, and has been living in Heaven, it will come down and be reunited with our new glorified body. Then we shall live eternally in Paradise with our Lord.

*And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1Co 15:49-53 NKJV+

We must be faithful to the end, confident our Savior is coming back for us.

*May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Thess 5:23 NIV+

*And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Rom 8:11 NIV+

We will live with the Lord in a new Heaven in a new earth

*And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. Rev 21:1 ASV

*And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev 21: 3-4 NIV+

*He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. Rev 21:7 KJV

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