No.
Adam had had a perfect relationship with his Maker, but then he disobeyed him, and that relationship was broken. It was no longer perfect; sin - rebellion against God - had come into the world. And whatever Adam DID, that relationship would not be restored again. If he had physically died at that point, he would have died separated from God, and that would have been that for him, for all eternity.
Adam and Eve died spiritually that day - and mankind was separated from God from that point on. They were given animal sacrifices, as a way to atone for their sin, and I am sure that God forgave people who offered the correct sacrifices, trusted him and lived by faith in his law.
But animal sacrifices were not perfect; people couldn't keep the law and still sinned. So then Jesus came, as the spotless Lamb of God, to offer his life once and for all.
It is his sacrifice, and only his sacrifice, that atones for us and mends the relationship between us and God. When we accept him, we are saying that nothing WE do will make any difference in getting to heaven or making us right with God. GOD has saved us and, as Abraham said, "provided the Lamb for the sacrifice". Anyone who believes this, confesses their sins, receives Jesus and asks for eternal life is saved - from spiritual death; from the consequences of having a broken relationship with God and dying in our sin, and without him.
So we ARE saved, but we are also BEING saved, or made whole - which we call sanctification.
We are saved, in the sense that if the world were rushing toward a cliff, under which was hell - we have been pulled back from that and are now on a different path.
We are being saved, because although we are on a different path - the narrow way - although we have new natures, and want to serve and worship only God; we are not perfect. We do not have restored and perfect human natures, we just have a restored relationship with God and are in Jesus, who IS perfect. We are still learning in our Christian lives. The devil is still around to try to force us off the path, and sometimes he succeeds. When that happens, we know that we can confess, be forgiven and the relationship between us and God will be restored again. As John says in his letter, "if we do sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defence; Jesus Christ, the righteous One." 1 John 2:1. He also says that if we confess our sins, God will forgive us.
Non Christians don't believe this. If they believe in God at all, they may feel that it is their own good deeds that will make up, or "atone" for the bad things they do. They may well feel that they aren't perfect but that they "haven't murdered anyone", so they are not so bad really.
I certainly believed this. Even though I went to church from an early age, I believed for some time that it was MY actions that would get me to heaven; that I was doing God a favour by being in church and that I was able to save myself.
But whatever I believed, and the world believes, the fact is that without Jesus; without accepting his atoning death for sin, were, and are, not saved from spiritual death and do not have a restored relationship with God. Only in Jesus is that possible.
There WILL be a difference in our words and actions.
We are under new management in Christ. HE is our Lord, not sin. It is HE who gives us love, security, peace and puts us right with God - NOT the number of possessions we have, etc.
We will find that we want to love God, serve him, put him first and do his will. We will look at the world as he sees it, and live by his teachings, and not the world's standards.
All I am saying is that being saved from spiritual death and separation from God - the drop off the cliff - is an instant thing. This puts us on the narrow road, which we will be on for as long as we live. And while we ARE still alive, there will be temptations and those who try to get us off the road.
I believe that one of the biggest lies the devil can tell us is, "you disobeyed God just then; God is not pleased with you. But don't feel you need to say 'sorry' to him; he forgave you 2000 years ago." If he can install that attitude in us, it won't be long before we are sinning more and more, and refusing to turn to the One who can forgive us, make us clean and restore our relationship with God again.
Exactly. That's why we need to confess when we mess up or stray from the path.
Yes, and so would I.
If I claimed to have a new heart, and new Lord, and still followed my old beliefs and actions, I, and others, would be justified in asking what difference Jesus made to my life.
But that is sanctification - BEING made holy and changed into Jesus' likeness - and is a lifelong process. Just because you mess up once as a Christian, it does not mean that you were never saved.
