In speaking of His sheep the Lord quotes the following words, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand" Jno 10:27- 28. This is an unconditional statement of fact, not a promise, and implies two things at least. First, the sheep have been given eternal life, and second they are in the Lord's hand. In the Lord's hand denotes above all, possession; that is to say that the sheep are the Lord's personal possession. Given these two facts all relevant and apparent contradictory scriptures must line up with these facts. Without question, there are a number of scriptures, which, on the surface, seem to imply something different. These notes are written to solve this problem that. For those who struggle with this difficulty the answer lies in the fact that we must first be thoroughly grounded in the Lord's work of our redemption and salvation. We must know what He has done, and who He is before we begin to look at apparent disagreements with the text at the head of the paper. Again, we must look at the whole position from the Lord's perspective and not ours. That makes all the difference for to do so removes all our subjectivity, feelings, surmising, and above all our doubts.

To do this we must begin with the creation and fall of man, and then we can look at God's remedy. Like almost all doctrines they start in the book of Genesis, therefore let us note what God has done concerning mankind. In passing, we are reminded that in Adam and Eve we have a type of Christ and the church, which these chapters so beautifully illustrate. We go to our subject is "man before God". First we find he was created in the image of God, Gen 1:27 or to be more precise Adam was created, Gen 2:7, and Eve was made, Gen 2:21-22 where both were placed in a perfect environment. We are reminded that they are in a state of innocence not knowing good or evil, owing their existence to the creator God. In Psalm 8, we rightly read the praise, which is due to Him particularly from both Adam and Eve.

Having been placed in a perfect environment, and in a state of innocence God makes a simple prohibition, "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 2:17. We must recognise that God had put them in a perfect environment, their every need was supplied, and they had need of nothing. Every day they should have been singing, "How excellent is Thy name in all the earth." Psa.8: 9.

In Genesis chapter 3 we find that obviously Eve was not continually singing the praises of God, for her reply to the serpent was not one of simple rest in the infinite goodness of God. The truth of God's Word did not hold her; in fact, her actions clearly indicate that in the final analysis she did not believe what God had said. She had lost her knowledge of, and affection for God. Eve was drawn by the "lust of the flesh', "the lust of the eyes" and "the pride of life", 1 Jno 2:16, "and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise.she did eat" Gen 3:6. She had shut out God and thus fell into Satan's trap. The knowledge of good and evil gave them a conscience, which also gave them "the knowledge of good without the power to do it, and the knowledge of evil without the power of avoiding it". C H MacIntosh, Notes on the Pentateuch. They were now the slaves of both sin and Satan, spiritually dead without the ability to communicate with God.

We thank our God and Father that He sought them and found them. "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them" Gen 3:21. Now into this previously perfect world sin made its mark, death. The imperfection of sin was covered by the death of another. This pointed to the Saviour "God manifest in flesh reconciling the world unto himself". In Genesis, we have the origin of sin and it points to the remedy.

Immediately man sinned in the garden, he died spiritually with physical death soon to follow. Man hid from God with their conscience condemning them, but we see the infinite grace of God finding them to rectify their position. It now behoves us to discover what the terrible results of Adam's sin are, and to fully understand our position before God as a sinner, the position of every human being on coming into being. Let us now consider these results.

1. Death spiritual and physical

2. All are short of God's standard.

3. Sin separates from God

Immediately on all three confronting God after Adam's disobedience God curses Satan, Eve, and then Adam. To Adam He says "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen.3:19. Here is the absolute assurance of physical death.

History has proven the word of God. It is the lot of all mankind to die, and it is directly due to Adam's sin. Every normal person knows the certainty of death. What most are not aware of is the fact that they are spiritually dead. That is, their spirit is not able to communicate with the Spirit of God.

In order to understand more fully we have the verse, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath He quickened us together with Christ." Eph 2:5. Here the Word of God clearly pronounces us dead, and in salvation we are given life, that is spiritual life. Quickened (suzoopoieo) means to make alive with, in this case, with Christ.

Let us note some further scriptures: "The soul that sinneth it shall die'' Ezek 18:4; "For the wages of sin is death...." Rom 6:23. " and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" Rom 5:12.

It is at this point that we should note the difference between sin and sins. Sin is the root or what we are, sins are the fruit borne by that root, and sins are a natural outcome of the natural life. In fact, everything we do is short of God's standard. In the ultimate, of course, God has the final say. He says, "for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God", Rom.3:22-23.

"....there is none that doeth good", Psa 14:1: "....There is none that doeth good, no, not one", Psa 14:3: "....there is none that doeth good" Psa 53:1: "there is none that doeth good, no, not one" Psa 53: Finally we read, "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" Rom 3:12. As sin simply means falling short of God's mark then all are under the judgement of God. This is not the only result of sin, there are others.

We read, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear" Isa 59:2; also we read, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot not look upon iniquity: ...." Hab 1:13. In all other references of God hiding His face from people it is always followed by judgment. We will notice this again when we consider His Son.

God hates sin with an infinite hatred. As we have already read, He is of too purer eyes to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity. Now we must very carefully look at, "...and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Jno 3:36. This verse should dispel any thought that God has any affection for the wicked. He does NOT!

In these and many other verses we see that God is angry with the wicked every day. We may ask, who are the wicked? They are the unsaved without Christ. We have seen that all have sinned, that the unsaved can only produce sins as the fruit of a rotten tree, the old nature.

All are aware of the judgment on Adam in the garden, physical death. However, it takes the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God to an unsaved soul to see that physical death is only the beginning of an eternity of God's judgment upon the wicked. Now let us turn to the word of God to see just what the sinner's judgment is.

We have seen that God hates sin and the sinner and the final lot of the sinner is clearly shown in the scripture. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." Heb 9:27.

Now we look at the description of the final judgment upon all unsaved as described in Revelation chapter 20. In verse 11 we are introduced to a great white throne that was terrible in extreme upon which sat the Judge. He is to judge individuals, not the living, not the nations as previously described, but the unsaved dead.

It is a great white throne, pure, thus showing the holiness of God who is light. It is great for the occasion demands it. It is the final judgment of the dead, their eternal state has been decided, and now perfect judgment is to be executed upon all who have died in their sins. Him that sat upon it was the Lord Jesus Christ in deity and majesty even though the Son of Man.

"From whose face the earth and heaven fled away" not ceased to exist but fled away from such an awful scene. This is outside human history and the final act of deity toward those who have died in their sins. This judgment is final and eternal.

"And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne". At this point, we must remind the reader the resurrection of the just has already taken place, and this event is some 1000 years later. It is interesting to note that the order here is, great and small whereas previously in scripture the order given by God is small and great. That was a different place and different time, but here judgment escapes none who have died in their sins either the greatest or the least.

They stood before a throne, which had no altar; there was nothing to signify mercy, but only wrath. It was great and white, no hiding place and no escape. There would be perfect unerring judgment and execution thereof.

"And the books were opened, and another book was opened which is of life: and the dead were judged out of the things written in the books, according to their works." The books kept a perfect record of every event of their unsaved life. Each event is written in entirety and perfectly so each is guilty and inexcusable.

It is true that the root, that is the natural man can produce nothing but sin, but what they thought of the Father and His son is another matter altogether. If the book of life is the record of each saved person then the unsaved person's name could not possibly be there, as we will prove later. You see the fact that their name is not in the book of life would demonstrate the unsaved person's utter hatred of God and His Son. Irrespective of the Father giving all that He had, His own Son, they despised and rejected both Father and Son. We then must conclude God is holy, just, and righteous in all His ways.

"and the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death, and hell (Hades), as seen in Luke 16 where the rich man went) delivered up the dead that were in them." It is similar to death row. Unsaved are reserved there till the great white throne judgment. Now all the hiding places (as it were) from God are emptied at judgment time. "And they were judged, each according to their works." There is no equality with God either in heaven or in the lake of fire. It would seem "according to their works so be it". "and death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, final and irreversible. "and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire". We shall see later that it is impossible to be registered in the book of life, and then have your name removed.

Should the Holy Spirit enlighten the mind of the unsaved he becomes aware of the following things:

1. Physical death is inevitable

2. He is not able to reach God's standard

3. He is separated from God

4. There is a final judgment for sin.

The reality of spiritual death may not be realised, but as he responds to the leadings of the Spirit of God, future judgment becomes a greater reality, and he is warned to flee from the wrath to come. At this particular stage, the convicted sinner knows with some assurance that he must do something about his position before God. Furthermore, at this stage the person is totally self-centered. It is his problem; he must do something about it. The last thing he realises is that he can do nothing except believe, God has done everything.

In the first place, God is indeed the true centre of salvation, and most certainly not man. God has a perfect picture of the situation, which is as follows:

1. Man "I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" Psa 51:5.

2. "and you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins" Eph 2:5.

3. "for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" Rom 5:6

4. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" Rom 2:23.

5. "...saved by grace through faith...and not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph 2:8-9.

6. His face is against the sinner every day: and the wrath of God abideth on him. Hab 1:13, and Jno.3:36.

These verses picture the sinner as completely without strength, in fact dead, without the remotest ability to do anything for himself. God sees man as a dead body without the ability to help himself, and at this point God's intervention becomes absolute pure infinite grace. If man could help himself, it would not be grace but some assistance from God, or if God had affection for the sinner then it would be God doing man a favour. God will not share His glory with another. Salvation is none of these. It is wholly and solely God's work, all is absolute grace and NOT OF WORKS lest any man should boast.

When convicted by the Word of God the sinner can do nothing to save himself except exercise non-meritorious faith (the gift of God) the sinner is like an inanimate object. The saved one had no part or lot in the matter whatsoever. God exercises love (agape) which is not, repeat not, the love of affection but the determination to do good to an object in which He can see no worth or value. See W.E.Vine's Expository dictionary of New Testament words. The salvation of hateful and worthless man is only by the exercise of the divine sovereign will, an exercise of His will in granting non meritorious faith, to an object in which He could see no value, thus He glorifies Himself. In any other way, the glory would not accrue to Him, and as we have seen, He will not share His glory with another. This doctrine is vital for young christians to know thoroughly for most wrong doctrine starts with a wrong doctrine of salvation.

From the human point of view, the salvation of mankind poses a difficulty, in fact an impossible problem to solve. In the face of God's holiness, how can He forgive or excuse the sinner? The problem is that God has declared that the "wages of sin is death" there is nothing but the lake of fire ahead for every human being. God has said, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My mouth" Psa 89:34. "God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent: hath He said and shall He no do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good" Num 23:19. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away" Mat 24:35. Man therefore must be judged! There is no escape, but what can God do?

It is utterly beyond man to help himself, but God had a plan before the foundation of the world. He must retain His holiness or integrity, and at the same time execute perfect justice. That is to say He must be righteous, and God is righteous. The Greek word for righteousness is (dikaiosune). It is used to denote an attribute of God, e.g. Rom 3:5 the context of which shows that, "the righteousness of God" means essentially the same as His faithfulness, or truthfulness, that which is consistent with His own nature and promises." W E Vine N.T. Dictionary. This perfect consistency must be evident in the salvation of sinners.

Perhaps we should look at Hebrews chapter 10 where we read, "In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do Thy will O God." v6-7. "Then said he, Lo, I come to do Thy will O God" v.9.

The plan, so simple yet so costly, was that the Judge would pay the penalty for man's sin Himself. This plan included the virgin birth. In answer to Mary's question the angel said, "the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" Luke 1:35. The eternal Son, the eternal Word "which was with God and was God" would become a man. A man without sin, "who knew no sin", who was "holy harmless and undefiled, and separate from sinners" came to pay the penalty for sin. Having no sin of His own, He took our place.

The Lord Jesus Christ could say "I do always those things which please the Father’ He could say, "I have glorified Thee on the earth". Yet when "He became sin for us He who knew no sin" and hung on the cross we read that He cried "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" We read, "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour, and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" Mat27:45-46. You and I know the answer; He paid the penalty for my sin. He came to do His Father's will.

1. The Father could have decided not to inflict infinite suffering upon His son, but He hated sin, and would not alter His word.

2. The Lord had the power to come down from the cross, but would not

The Father hated sin and it must be punished. Furthermore, He has determined to save man at infinite cost, delivering up His Son who had become sin, He who knew no sin.

1. He was determined to do the will of His Father

2. He would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.

The Lord Jesus Christ came to do the will of His Father, which was to bear our sin in His own body on the tree. He came expressly to suffer for sin "the just for the unjust that He might bring us back to God." "Lo, I come to do Thy will O God". It was a work given to Him by the Father, a work that He would accomplish whatever the cost. This was the first step in God's plan of salvation, and that which would glorify Him. The obedient Son therefore would not deviate from this plan, which was determined before the foundation of the world. He would glorify His Father.

Even whilst suffering on the cross the Lord was completely satisfied with the results of His work. Above all, it glorified the Father.

4. "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day" Jno.6:39-40.

We read "and being found in the fashion as a man He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:" Phil 2:8-9. Let us now consider the four passages of scripture above. He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. The work that He was doing on the cross glorified God, and it is an eternal work. It would glorify God throughout all eternity. The work on the cross visibly manifested the character of God, which up to that time had not been demonstrated. The unseen beings, angels, knew God as their Lord and Master, but had never seen the extent of their master's holiness, righteousness, love, grace, and mercy. The cross displayed this for all creation to see.

When the Lord Jesus Christ became sin for us the Father turned His face from His Son. The result was that the whole world became dark for a space of three hours. In agony the Lord cried, "My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?" We know the answer; God is of too purer eyes than to behold evil, and therefore in taking our place the Lord is forsaken. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. It must be judged.

God is consistent. He will not alter that which is gone out of His mouth. The wages of sin is death, and the spotless One in our place paid the penalty in full. He offered Himself without spot unto God; the perfect offeror and the perfect offering. Irrespective of the infinite love, the Father had for the Son the determination of the triune God was that the penalty should be paid, and it was. There was no shadow of inconsistency.

"For God so loved (agape) the world" Jno 3:16. Once again, we stress that agape love is NOT the love of affection, but the determination or act of sovereign will whereby God determined to do good to an object (the sinner) in which He can see no value or worth. So on the cross we see that the Father "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all..." Rom 8:32. This is beyond the thought of created beings, and in the cross, we see infinite righteousness & love in contemplating the cross we see the greatest love of all. The Son, "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" Phil 2:8. What love (phileo), the love of affection of the Son for the Father. For this reason the Father draws the seeking sinner to the Son as a gift. John 6:44.

We read, "By grace are we saved through faith" Eph 2:8. Before looking at the word "grace", we must first note that in this verse it is contrasted with "work". Meaning we are saved by grace and not by anything we can do; "works". Salvation is freely given on the part of God without any action on our part except to exercise non-meritorious faith. Grace is for the lawbreaker and rebel. Grace (charis) "on the part of the bestower, the friendly disposition from which the kindly act proceeds" "there is stress on its freeness and universality, its spontaneous character, as in the case of God's redemptive mercy, and the pleasure and joy He designs for the recipient" W.E.Vine NT dictionary. The believer feels this in the operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart; love, joy peace etc.

The mercy of God is for those that are distressed. It is an outward manifestation of pity, and assumes need on the part of the recipient. "In the order of the manifestation of God's purpose of salvation grace must go before mercy. Only the forgiven may be blessed", W E Vine NT Dictionary.

Each of these five attributes is clearly seen in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It magnifies and glorifies God.

On believing every believer is baptised into the body of Christ 1Cor:12 13. Time does not permit in these notes to study the body of Christ which is the church, and is so fully described in 1Cor 12, Eph 5:30, Rom 12:4-5, and in Eph 5:23, Col 1:18&24, Eph 1:23. Not only is every believer baptized into the body of Christ, but also they are eternally joined to Him in the heavens. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 20 we find that Christ was raised from the dead by the Father who "set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places" that is back to His eternal place with the Father.

That place is, "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under His feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Eph 1:20-23. Look at Him the highest of the high, and the church joined to Him.

One may ask why? Because the Son glorified the Father the Father will eternally glorify Him. He, together with the church, is visible evidence of the whole character of God. The church is the possession of the Lord, but she has no glory of her own. She shows forth all the wonderful attributes of an infinite holy God, and the unspeakable value the Father and the Son placed on each other.

Did you or I have any discussions with the Father and His Son about our salvation before the foundation of the world? Most certainly, we did not! Did we exist in the execution in His plan for our salvation? Again, most definitely not! Then just what did we do? Absolutely nothing! We were: dead in trespasses and sins", again we say dead. Just think, just what can a dead man do? Again absolutely nothing. Death implies the loss of all strength, and weakness in the extreme. Please keep this in mind: each member of the church did absolutely nothing to earn or merit anything whatsoever from God, but absolute pure grace has taken the lowest and placed them with the highest. Hallelujah what a Saviour. Wonder of wonders "that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" Eph 5:27.

The real situation is that the believer is no more than a pawn. God is the centre of activity in salvation, and the believer is quite inanimate, making no decisions most particularly with respect to his future or ownership, as we will see later.

We have looked at some aspects of God's character with respect to the work on the cross, which gives us a greater appreciation of God Himself. However there are numerous benefits coming to us as a result of the Lord's work on the cross, and we stress they come to us as acts of pure grace.

Let us look at just some of them, and we hope one may gain a greater appreciation of the value of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Together with that, we pray that we may gain a greater knowledge of our own position in the Lord.

Adoption (huiothesia) means, "a placing or the place and condition of a son given to one to whom it does not naturally belong", W E Vine NT Dictionary. "Having predestinated (proorizo) - the position to which the subjects "us" of His foreknowledge are predestined) us unto the adoption of children by Christ Jesus to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will", Eph 1:5. The believer is given this position when he believes. There are many references to a child of God, sons of God etc.

It is vitally important to realise that the believer is immediately baptised with the Spirit immediately he believes. "....but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence", Acts 1:5. Before Pentecost, the christians were told that they would be baptised with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:2-4 at the day of Pentecost and event took place, which will never be repeated. The church was born with signs; tongues of fire, and some spoke in a foreign language!

What we must understand is that the outward signs of this baptism were never seen again after A.D. 70 because speaking in tongues was a sign to the Jews only see Isa. 28:9-13. If one wants a Pentecostal experience, it is about 2000 year too late and 15,000 kilometers too far away. They were to gather at Jerusalem. Again even those who are wrong about tongues, never mention tongues LIKE as of fire.

Further, the baptism of the Spirit had a three-fold operation, and in a sense left an assurance.

In whom referring to Christ

ye also trusted "also trusted" is added in the English to make sense

after that ye heard "having heard"

the word of truth the The scriptures

gospel of your salvation in particular the saving message

in whom also Christ

after that ye believed *having believed

ye were sealed * (sphragizo) to seal, showing ownership and security together with destination being certain, when they believed

WITH that Holy Spirit Note WITH not by, the Spirit indwells

of promise. this indicates the destination.

All three verbs, heard, believed, and sealed are in the aorist tense in the Greek. This with absolute certainty means that the sealing took place at the time of believing, a better translation would be; "In whom ye also (have trusted), having heard the word of truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, on believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."

The same thought is again given in Eph 4:30, "and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which ye have been sealed (for) the day of redemption." "for" (eis) is a special word in Greek and means more than just "till". It has the inheritance in view: the Holy Spirit of promise who is the earnest of our inheritance. The earnest (arrabon) meant a pledge, a divine pledge that the sealed one would have an eternal inheritance. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DOES IT MEAN THE HOLY SPIRIT PUT A MARK ON THE BELIEVER! NOR WILL THE EARNEST BE REMOVED!

Carefully note the following verses; "For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body" 1 Cor 12:13. "and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all" Eph.1:22-23. "And He is the head of the body, the church...." Col 1:18. "who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the church." Col 1:24.

Without question we are all baptised into the body of Christ the instant when we first believed. Furthermore when we read the wonderful passage in Ephesians chapter 5 every believer is described as being so close to the Lord that we read, "for we are members of His body, of His flesh, of His bones." Eph 5:30. No closer can we be. Baptised Into His Death, Buried with Him. No doubt, Romans 6, 7, and 8 holds the key to many vexing questions for young believers. Wonderfully all is so simple, for example, "Know ye not, that as many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death" Rom 6:3. The old nature, what we were in Adam, has been baptised into His death. God has sentenced the old nature to death, and when Christ died for the believer God counted the death of Christ as the death of the believer's old nature.

Not only is the old nature counted dead by God but it is described as buried: "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death" Rom.6.4a. Not only dead, but also dead and buried! It is no longer subject to any further action. God considers the old nature is dead and buried! So should we. Thank God, He does not leave the matter there. Look; "that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" v.4. Let us note another benefit.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature". The word creature in Greek is (ktisis) meaning the product of a creative act, not creature, animal; far from it. If we are in Christ, as every believer is, we are a completely new creation, we have a new nature one which loves God and can not sin, 1Jno3:9. The believer now must learn to walk in the strength of this new nature. One has said there are 36 things, which accrue to us from the death of Christ, and unfortunately these are only notes and we cannot cover them all. Among them are sanctified, chosen, justified, forgiven, quickened, foreordained, elect, delivered, and so on. His work on the cross gives us, at least, two more vital benefits we receive from. However, they are better described as divine sovereign acts of the Lord.

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hast made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood", Acts 20:28. Again, "for ye are bought with a price" 1 Cor 6:20. "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men" 1 Cor 7:23. "forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold.........but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot" 1Pet 1:18. The Greek word for "redeemed" is lutroo meaning to release on receipt of a ransom.

There can be nothing clearer in the whole of scripture, "we are not our own we have been bought with a price". We repeat not our own, bought with a price. This being the case our future is not in our hands. We have been ransomed, bought, purchased, and that when we believed, not at a later date. We have been recreated, and further, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HATH blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ". Eph.1:3

The old nature has been judicially buried with Christ, we have been recreated, and we have been given a new life that cannot sin. "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him" 1 Jno 3:9.

Does this mean a christian does not sin? To think so would be utter foolishness. We are asked to walk in the Spirit that is in the power of a new life so that we should not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Important Considerations First salvation is by faith, and not of works.

That sounds simple but there are so many young believers who think they are saved by faith but they have to keep themselves. Not true! You can NOT save yourself, and you can NOT keep yourself. What you can do is continually consider Christ who loved you and gave Himself for you.

You did not plan your salvation, nor were you in conference when God planned to redeem you, to baptise you into the body of Christ, AND to bless you with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. The Lord loved you, shed His blood for you, and took you to Himself. Do you honestly believe He has made a mistake, and has not done the job properly? Is He not perfectly capable of doing what He said He would do? "I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish."

Finally let us look at "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given us eternal life and that life is in His Son", 1Jon.5:10-11.