God has two standards by which mankind can be righteous before him.

1. The Standard of Grace: Personal Relationship based upon absolute TRUST.
2. The Standard of Law: Being perfect as God.

In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve lived before God in a state of Grace, having a personal relationship of Trusting obedience to him. They were in a state of innocence. There was no need for the Law to measure up to Gods standard in the Garden of Grace.

Adam and Eve decided to leave the state of Grace after they were persuaded by Satan not to Trust God. Adam and Eve felt God had cheated them. In human reasoning they wanted what belonged to them. They wanted to be all they could be. They wanted to become God! God gave them everything they asked for.

They didn’t want to have a personal relationship with God. They wanted to become God. They didn’t want to worship, but to be worshipped. They did not want to submit to the power of the universe. They wanted to be the power of the universe. True to his word, God said, "have it your way." You want to be God, then here is what you have to do to be God. He then gave them a standard of legalistic perfectionism to measure their progress.

God is perfect in all ways. Man is not God and can never be perfect. Our best efforts are light-years away from God’s standard. ALL have fallen short of the Glory of God. Few however realize that God never intended mankind to keep the law.
God only wanted trusting obedience from Adam and Eve to enjoy a life-giving personal relationship with him. The law was a teacher, standing in testimony Satan was a liar in that humanism will not elevate mankind to God’s level.

With the exception of one person, NO human has ever been able to measure up to God. Jesus is the only human to keep the law of God perfectly every second of his life. Christ becoming the law in human flesh and fulfilling the law removed it as the standard of righteousness. It was nailed to the Cross and died with Christ.

Jesus did not live the law for us.
Jesus did not live the law to show us that we need to live it.
He lived the law so that it could pass away!

The problem with religion is not only do they worship the resurrected Christ, they also resurrect he law to some degree or another. The law as a measurement of righteousness is COMPLETELY DEAD. It was replaced by the standard of Faith (Trust). Any religion that attempts to elevate man toward what is perceived to be God’s standard in legalism fail to realize the law is DEAD. The law has been forever removed from us.

The bible is a testimony that God is true to his word. When God told Adam and Eve that they would surely die, he meant it.
We have been dying since. God is not a liar. He is the source of life that could be trusted. Satan is the liar – not God. The Bible testifies that Salvation is not by works of the flesh, but the works of the Spirit.

Mankind basically is not good, and knowledge is not salvation. Education is not enough; we cannot produce Godliness by human hands. All of mans righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags in comparison to God. And a miss is as good as a mile. None measure up; we are all unrighteous in Gods eyes.

The Church cannot save you, your Pastor cannot save you, and Sabbath keeping cannot save you. You cannot be saved by what you wear (or don’t wear). What you eat, drink, wear, what Church you belong to is nothing before God. The works of the flesh are nothing more than menstrual rags before God! Get that straight. Only Christ CAN save! We are saved by our faith in Christ, which will produce the fruits of the Spirit.

The Church CANNOT save you. Your pastor CANNOT save you. Keeping the Sabbath CANNOT save you. What you eat, drink, and all the "do’s and do-not's" of Christianity has NEVER saved one person. ALL the works of the flesh are nothing before God. We are justified in Christ. When God looks upon us he sees a finished product, and sees us as Christ. We stand before him COMPLETELY redeemed, ransomed, with all our debts paid for in full, by the blood of Jesus Christ.

It is so simple. All he ever wanted was voluntarily trust from us. He wants to have a personal relationship with you. With nothing standing between. This is not a just a friendship relationship, it is private, personal, and real. It is a marriage type relationship.

Because of the works of Christ we have available before us the opportunity to have what Adam and Eve lost. As Adam and Eve made a choice to leave the Grace of God, we invite you to make the choice to return to the Grace of God, in Trusting faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and eat of the fruit of Life.