By Grace Alone at God's Expense

By Justin Edwards

I am nearly finished with the short work of Sinclair Ferguson titled, By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me.  The inspiration for the book came from the beautiful hymn written in 1946 by an African pastor, Emmanuel T. Sibomana, titled "O How the Grace of God Amazes Me."  Christians can take the grace of God for granted, often forgetting exactly how costly the price of grace was for sinners.  When we realize just how costly it was for Christ to purchase His sheep for which He died, understanding that God created the heavens and the earth to display His glory and humans to bestow the immeasurable riches of His mercy and grace, we can rest and stand in awe of the wonder and beauty that is in Christ.

The following excerpts are from chapter 3, At God's Expense, and I thought they were fitting and timely for a Good Friday article.  The most amazing part of what today represents is that Christ could have saved Himself from the bloody cross. He could have called forth the armies of heaven to crush His enemies.  He could have escaped the torment of that cross, but He didn't, and He sustained the furious wrath and devastating punishment from God, His own Father.  He refrained from doing any of these things for one reason alone:  in order for Christ to save sinners, He could not save Himself. There is no greater love than this!

I highly recommend Sinclair Ferguson's book, which can be found at a reasonable price at the Ligonier Store.

At God's Expense

"O How the Grace of God Amazes Me" takes us, step by step, through various dimensions of God's saving grace. The third verse brings us to the theme of this chapter - salvation was costly to God. E.T Sibomama writes:

Jesus, God's Son,
Suffered on Calvary's tree -
Crucified with thieves was he -
Great was his grace to me,
His wayward one. 

Into Loneliness

...The whole story of Jesus' passion, His arrest, His trial, His suffering, and His public execution is one of appalling loneliness and isolation voluntarily experienced in order to restore us to fellowship with God.

After the meal in the upper room, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsamane. There He sought consolation from His Father and encouragement from His disciples.  He took Peter, James, and John (His "inner circle") and separated them from the others in the group.  Then He isloated Himself even from them, and was entirely on His own.

In the hours that followed, this movement into isolation continued and intensified.  He was further separated from His disciples, friends, and family members - although they came, bravely, to be with Him at His execution.  This was surely the hour the aged Simeon foresaw when he said to the young Mary, "a sword will pierce through your own soul" (Luke 2:35).

From His arrest until He was helped to carry His cross by Simon of Cyrene, Jesus had no close contact with human help - indeed, His one sighting of Simon Peter was when curses rang out from the disciple's lips (Matt. 26:74; Luke 22:61).  Did Jesus also feel a sword piercing His soul as He heard the words, "I do not know the Man!" Only at Golgotha did He have further contact with those who had known Him best and loved Him most.

But there was much more - and much worse.  Jesus felt Himself to be abandoned by God and cried out on the cross:  "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46)...

The Christ

...Jesus is the Christ:  He fulfills all three of these roles [prophet, priest, and king].  The ultimate role of the prophets, priests, and kings was not merely to minister to their contemporaries but to point them forward to Christ - who Himself would be the very Word of God, who would offer the ultimate sacrifice that would take away sin, namely Himself, and who would be the Monarch whose kingdom would never end.

Such a person had been promised in the Old Testament - a prophet greater than Moses (Deut. 18:15-19), a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4), a king who would reign forever as the Son of David (Ps. 2:6).  Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Christ...

...Contrary to what those who wanted to destroy Jesus thought they were doing, they were themselves caught up in the purposes of God to bring salvation to sinners through His Son (Acts 2:23).

Before their blinded eyes, Jesus was fulfilling His messianic ministry.

Prophet, Priest, and King

Notice how all of this emerges.  The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating Him.  They blindfolded Him and demanded:  "Prophesy!  Who is the one who struck you?" (Luke 22:64).  They played with Jesus:  "Prophet! Prophet!  If you are a prophet, prophesy!"

Then, as Jesus' passion progressed, Herod and his soldiers also ridiculed and mocked Him.  They dressed Him in elegant, regal robe, then sent Him back to Pilate (Luke 23:6-12).  It was as if they were saying, "If you are a king, you should be dressed like a king."

Then, as people sneered at Him and mocked Him during His crucifixion, one of the criminals crucified beside Jesus said, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us" (Luke 23:29).

That was the specific task of the high priest.  That was his unique and supreme ministry on Yom Kippur, the annual Day of Atonement.  He made sacrifices for the forgiveness of his own sins and then took sacrificial blood into the Holy of Holies - the holiest place of all, so sacred that it was entered only once a year, and then by only one man.  On that sacred day, he would sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed animal on the symbolic throne of God on earth and pray for the forgiveness of the people.  He entered the presence of God that day to "save others," endangering his own life as he did so (Ex. 28:35).

So when the dying thief turned to Jesus and said, "If you are the Christ, then be the Great High Priest - save Yourself and others," he did not realize that saving others was precisely what Jesus was doing.  To do that, He had to lose His own life.

They mocked Him as though He were not a true prophet.  But soon Jesus would turn to the dying thief who said, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom" (Luke 23:42).  He would speak to him with the majesty and authority of the final and true Prophet:  "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

That dying thief saw something that nobody else had eyes to see.  He saw that Jesus was the King, and that His kingdom would extend beyond the death of both of them.

He was indeed the Christ.

In the last hours of Jesus' life, the whole land became dark.  The Gospel writers simply note the fact without comment or explanation.  The event may have reminded them of more than one significant event in the past.  One of them surely would have been the Day of Atonement, when the high priest moved from the outer courts of the temple into the darkness of the hidden, inner room of the Holy of Holies in order to sacrifice and pray for the people.  In that hidden room, the sun never shone.  The great sacrifice was offered to God far from prying eyes.

On the day of Jesus' crucifixion, the whole land was turned into the Holy of Holies where Jesus the High Priest made not the annual but the final sacrifice for sins.  The symbolism was fulfilled in the reality.  Thus, the symbol itself was no longer needed.  The great curtain in the temple was suddenly torn in two - from the top to the bottom (Luke 22:45).  The way to God was now open.  God Himself deconsecrated the temple in this dramatic way.

Jesus really was the High Priest.  All earlier high priests were mere pictures, actors in a lengthy drama communicating a message to those who watched, pointing forward to the One who was to come and revealing Him to those who had eyes to see.  Jesus Himself was the reality.  Unlike the earlier sacrificial dramas, this time the High Priest went into the immediate presence of God.  On the altar of Calvary, He shed His own blood.  Because His was the real sacrifice, God confirmed that it was acceptable to Him by desecrating the temple from heaven.  It was as if He were saying "This is not needed any longer."  He destroyed the old order. It had served its purpose.

At the Cross

...Crucifixion was a horrible death.  It was a slow death.  Men eventually died by asphyxiation.  As they weakened, they could no longer raise their bodies sufficiently to make breathing possible.  Yet we read of Jesus crying out with a loud voice (Luke 23:46).  Was this only a great final effort on His part?

In addition, Jesus appears to have died long before He was expected to (John 19:31:33).  Is Luke drawing our attention to the fact that Jesus chose the moment of His death - that, in a special sense, He died deliberately, sovereignly, and actively?  It seems He chose the moment with regal authority, calling out with a loud voice, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:35).  Then He bowed His kingly head and breathed His last.

In Luke's account of the crucifixion, it is fascinating to notice the frequency with which the word save is used. "He saved others; let Him save Himself" (Luke 23:35).  "Save Yourself (Luke 23:36).  "Save Yourself and us" (Luke 23:39).

...At the cross, the word that was most frequently on peoples' lips, even in abusive statements, was the key to everything that was happening.  The One who was being despised as Prophet, as Priest, and as King actually was God's Prophet, Priest, and King - the Christ, the Savior.  He was actually doing what they were cynically calling out for Him to do.  They, however, spoke in ignorance; they did not understand that if He was to save others, He could not save Himself.

Here, then, is the mystery of the cross, its whole secret...

Blasphemy and Treason

...The two charges leveled against Jesus were blasphemy (that He had made Himself equal with God) and treason (that He had rejected lawfully constituted authority).

Why were those two charges so significant?  It was because these are the charges each of us faces before the judgment seat of God.

In that court, I am guilty of blasphemy, because I have made myself rather than God the center of the universe.

I am also guilty of treason, since I have sought to overturn His lawfully and graciously constituted authority over my life.

Blasphemy and treason were also the crimes of Adam.  These are the age-old crimes of which every one of us - old and young, rich and poor, wise and simple, famous and infamous - stands accused.  We are on the same charge sheet.  We are all guilty.

But Jesus has come!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned he stood,
Sealed my pardon with his blood:
Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

How well this is expressed in Christopher Idle's words:

He stood before the court,
On trial instead of us;
He met its power to hurt,
Condemned to face the cross.
Our King, accused of treachery;
Our God, abused for blasphemy!

Jesus came and suffered all this to take our place, to bear our judgment, to deal with our sin, and to save us.

All this we see in the intricate weaving of Luke's tapestry portraying Jesus' passion.  The central motif is now clear:  Jesus Christ died for sinners, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

The meaning of the cross is this:  "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

He took my place.  I take His grace.  He becomes my Savior.

Is that true for you?

Not for my righteousness,
For I have none,
But for his mercy's sake,
Jesus, God's Son,
Suffered on Calvary's tree -
Crucified with thieves was he - 

Are you able to sing?

Great was his grace to me,
His wayward one.

Why the Resurrection of Christ Matters

By Justin Edwards

And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” - Mark 16:4-7

The very cornerstone of our Christian faith rests upon the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we approach the memorial day of our risen Lord, let us meditate on His resurrection and the price that He paid to redeem a people for Himself, which He set out to do before the foundations of the world (1 Peter 1:20).

The resurrection matters because:

Our Lord is the Resurrection (John 11:25).

Without Christ, no man shall see God (John 14:6).

If there be no resurrection, then we are the most pitiful of humans (1 Corinthians 15:19).

My brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord has indeed risen from the dead!  His Spirit did not remain in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption or decay (Acts 2:31).  But He was given power over death and has destroyed the work of the devil! (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8).  In Him we have life, yet those apart from Him shall only see death. But,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. - 1 Peter 1:3-5

If you are walking in the Spirit of the Lord this Resurrection Season, you have much for which to be grateful.  Although you cannot repay what Christ did for you, the least you can do is offer your body as a living sacrifice to Him (Romans 12:1).  Pray that God draws you into His grace more each day, that you will find out what is pleasing to Him so that you may cast off the works of the flesh and practically walk in newness of life.  Pray that He gives you a fire, hunger, and thirst for His righteousness through the Word of God, helping you prioritize your day to spend time with Him in prayer and study.  And pray that God gives you a passion for the lost, that they might know of the Resurrection through your obedience to

Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. - Mark 16:15

Let us make much of the resurrection of Christ, for through the blood our sins are washed away, and through His life we are given Life Everlasting!

Between now and this Sunday, I encourage you to take your time reading through 1 Corinthians 15:1-58.  It is one of the most beautiful portions of Scripture where we find that if we only have hope in Christ for this life, then we believe in vain; but since Christ has been raised from the dead, like the Apostle Paul, we may

be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. - Philippians 3:9-11

For your convenience, you can spend time with Him now in the chapter posted below.  May you be found in the riches of God's grace and mercy, dwelling in the glorious Hope of the Resurrection and the Life, holding fast to your First Love, that you would share in His inheritance as a co-heir of Christ on the throne of the Eternal Kingdom of God. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come!

(If you are unsure whether you will be resurrected with Christ, please see: Eternal Life)

The Resurrection of Christ

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Take Heed - the Time is at Hand

COURTEOUS READER,

Though this be a small treatise, yet it doth present thee with things of the greatest and most weighty concernment, even with a discourse of life and death to eternity: opening, and clearing, by the scriptures of God, that the time is at hand, when, there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust; even of the bodies of both, from the graves where they are, or shall be, at the approach of that day.

Thou hast also in these few lines, the order and manner of the rising of these two sorts of people, wherein is shewed thee with what body they shall then rise, as also their states and condition at this day, with great clearness.

For here thou shalt see the truth, and manner of the terrible judgment, the opening of the books, the examining of witnesses, with a final conclusion upon good and bad. Which, I hope will be profitable to thy soul that shall read it. For if thou art godly, then here is that which will, through God's blessing, encourage thee to go on in the faith of the truth of the gospel; but if thou art ungodly, then here thou mayst meet with conviction: yea, and that of what will be, without fail, thy end, at the end of the world: whether thou continue in thy sins, or repent.

If thou continue in them, blackness, and darkness, and everlasting destruction; but if thou repent, and believe the gospel, then light, and life, and joy, and comfort, and glory, and happiness, and that to eternity. 

Wherefore let me here beg these things at thy hand,

First, That thou take heed of that spirit of mockery that saith, 'Where is the promise of his coming?' (2 Peter 3:4,5)

Secondly, Take heed that thy heart be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon thee unawares. (Luke 21:34,35)

Thirdly, But be diligent in making thy calling and election sure; that thou in the day, of which thou shalt read more in this book, be not found without that glorious righteousness that will then stand thee in stead, and present thee before his glorious presence, with exceeding joy. To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, world without end. Amen.

JOHN BUNYAN.

From the Preface of John Bunyan's The Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Judgment

Dead to Sin but Alive to God

By Mike Ratliff
 

6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:6-10 ESV)

I write this on April 3^rd 2010, the day before Easter. Of all the markers we celebrate as Christians, Easter was the one I had the hardest time understanding when I was a small child. It seemed so wrapped up in chocolate bunnies and Easter baskets, Easter egg hunts, dressing up in new clothes for church, et cetera. My mother tried to help me see the Biblical connection with our Lord’s Resurrection, but I failed to make sense of it until I was older. I saw it as a teen and young adult, but did not really  “get it” until God had mercy on me, a sinner, and resurrected me unto new life as a Christian.


Even so, when God took me through spiritual boot camp in 2004, I found through it that I had also made the mistake after my salvation of attempting to be pleasing to God via obedience by my own will power (law keeping). After all, the Christian culture I was part of back then was that salvation was some sort of reward for believing and that that believing was within ones own faith and was manifest via one opening the heart to Christ or believing the Gospel by “making up ones mind,” et cetera. It is no wonder that those in that form of Christianity struggle so with the true nature of Christ’s Resurrection and the true impact it has on believers. One of the key passages God opened up to me during that that He used to line me up with His Word, His Truth, the true purpose of the Gospel, and how it works was Ephesians 2:1-10. Here are vv 8-10.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10) ESV)

Here we clearly see that we are not saved as a reward for believing, but our faith, through which we do believe, is part of the gift of God. We know this because in v9 Paul makes it clear that this is “not a result of works.” If we could look at our salvation and say we have it because we believed then it would be works. On the other hand, if we look at the Gospel and understand that we believed because of God’s resurrection work in us, then we have the scriptural sense right. In v10, Paul tells us that, in this resurrection from spiritual death to spiritual life, we are God’s workmanship, not our own. Also, in that verse, we see that this is a resurrection created in Christ Jesus for good words, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. What is this?

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4 ESV)

Our Lord’s death on the Cross atoned for our sins. He was our Propitiation. His death, burial and resurrection together is a picture of our salvation. When God saves us, we are new creations. Our old spiritually dead self dies and is resurrected unto newness of life. Paul tells us in these verses that our salvation is not license to walk according to the flesh. No, the fact that some Christian leaders and so many of their followers believe that is tragic. Paul isn’t comparing the Christian walk to law-keeping here. The key for us to understand this is to see the picture of our dying with Christ on that Cross, being buried with Him in that tomb, and being resurrected with Him on the 3^rd Day. We see magnitude of it. Our hearts become filled with gratitude expressed by a joyful surrender as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto Him. We devote our lives to being transformed by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Living sacrifices are those resurrected unto this new life in Christ to walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:5-11 ESV)

Our Lord’s death on the Cross was purposeful. He died because He took our sin upon Himself as our Propitiation before the Father. His resurrection makes clear that He has defeated both sin and death. What does it mean for the Christian to be dead to sin? It means that we have died to our pervasive love for and ruling power of sin. The reality of its power being broken in my life came during that spiritual boot camp I mentioned above. When these truths became part of my understanding of the Gospel and who I am in Christ, I saw very clearly that the mastery of sin had been broken in my life by God’s work of resurrection there. Since then, I am saddened when I see professing Christians so patterning their lives after the world and its ways. It does not bode well for the health of the Church when this is so prevalent.

2 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:12-14 ESV)

This is talking about our sanctification is primarily accomplished as God takes us through His cleansing regimen that includes the Mortification of Sin. We go through tests and trials. We learn to walk in repentance in the power of God. We never forget that we are in Christ by God’s grace, not by our works. He has saved us unto these good works, but they are for His glory and our sanctification. I love v13. This is dying to the desires of the flesh and, instead, seeking God for His glory. He will edify us if we do this as we present ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness.

These promises for the believer in no way promise perfection in this life. They do not remove the fact that we live in mortal bodies that age, get sick, and die. My dad was a good man, but, in God’s timing, he aged, got sick, and died. He was not under the dominion of death spiritually. In God’s timing his body will be resurrected as mine will. I so look forward to that and I can with confidence because both of us are in Christ by faith through God’s grace.

Soli Deo Gloria!