The Lord Jesus forgives our sins and then saves us from our sins.

There is a time when the grace of God needs to be emphasized. The discouraged, frightened sinner needs to know he doesn't have to release himself from his own chains and earn the approval of God. Divine grace stands ready to forgive, to cleanse, to heal, to completely restore.

Then there is a time when growth in Christ needs to be emphasized. We think we are living in such an hour. We are of little use for God's kingdom purposes until we begin to grow spiritually.

To grow spiritually is to be able to recognize the difference between good and evil and to have the desire and strength to choose the good and refuse the evil.

This is what salvation is—deliverance from the person and works of Satan.

There is a clear, decisive beginning of salvation when we recognize our need of the Savior and come to Him for forgiveness of sin.

There is a clear, Divinely guided working out of our salvation. The working out of our salvation includes deliverance from worldliness, the lusts of our flesh, and the bondage of self-will and self-seeking. It is an unwrapping of the graveclothes from Lazarus.

There is a salvation to come in the last days. The future salvation will include the clothing of our personality with a new body, a robe of righteousness that is being formed in Heaven as we patiently keep our present garment of flesh clean by confessing of our sins and turning away from them.

As we are being saved from sin we can live joyously in God's Presence and participate in the roles and tasks of the Kingdom of God.

It has been said that the purpose of the commandments given in the Bible is to bring us to Christ. The idea is that when we see how far we are from God's laws we will recognize we have to be saved by the merits of Christ. This is true if interpreted correctly.

There is more to the Divine plan, however. After we are forgiven through the blood of the righteous Jesus there is a life to be lived. In order to live that life as God would have us live it we must abide in Christ. We must continually look to Him so His Presence and virtue are overshadowing all we are and do.

When we abide in Christ the fruit of righteousness comes forth in our personality. We do not have to strain to bear fruit any more than a tree has to strain to bear apples. But we do have to abide in Christ. The fruit of righteousness is not the fruit of the Christian but the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of godliness comes forth naturally when we are abiding in Christ.

We are to do more than call Jesus "Lord." We are to keep His commandments. We can do this joyously and completely because the Divine Fullness is in Him and He is in us.