The truth appears to be that when we begin the program of redemption the blood covers our transgressions. We see this prefigured in the red ram skins that covered the black goat hair of the tent over the Tabernacle of the Congregation. However, as we mature, the blood instead of only covering our sins actually cleanses us from them.

It may be true that in past time the emphasis of the Spirit was on our receiving by faith the covering of the blood of atonement. Now God is giving us the Spirit of judgment so we can confess our sins, the result being that the blood of Christ not only forgives our sins but actually cleanses us from all unrighteousness

We readily can understand that we have been kept by faith to the Day of Redemption. Now the Day of Redemption is at hand and the Spirit of God is directing us to confess our sins that they may be put to death and finally purged from us altogether. This is the doctrine of eternal judgment, the eternal judgment of sin and Satan.

Evangelical Christians, thanks to good teaching and preaching, understand God cannot forgive us just because we are sorry. The cancellation of the debt we owe can come only through our faith in the blood atonement made by the Lord on the cross of Calvary.

However, if the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ is to set us free completely from our sinful nature, it must deliver us not only from the guilt of sin but also from the compulsion to sin.

Deliverance from compulsion to sin has not, to our knowledge, been preached clearly and biblically in Evangelical churches. There are preachers who do an excellent job of pointing out, from the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans, that Christians are not to sin, and if they do there are severe consequences. However such preachers and teachers do not appear to be in the majority.

It is our point of view that even the preachers who do a good job of exhorting us not to sin do not emphasize strongly enough the disastrous consequences of continuing in sin after we have received Christ. They often conclude that if a Christian continues to sin there will be distressing results during his or her lifetime. They do not always stress, however that by continuing to sin we are affecting the nature of our resurrection from the dead—in fact, we may be placing in jeopardy our very salvation. There can be eternal consequences resulting from living according to our sinful nature, even though we make a profession of Christ.

It is not always stated emphatically that if we do not bear the fruit of righteousness we are in scriptural danger of being removed from the Vine, from Christ.

Whether we think of the parable of the talents, or the sower, or the ten virgins, the message is clear: there is a fearful future awaiting Christians who do not obey Christ and His Apostles by taking up their cross and following the Lord.

To be continued.