Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (Romans 13:12)

Redemption: past, present and future. Although our redemption was purchased in its entirety—once for all time—on the cross of Calvary, it manifests itself in our lives as a process. Therefore we can say that our redemption is past, present, and future. We were redeemed the moment we received Christ as our Lord and Savior; we are being redeemed by the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit; and we shall be redeemed in our bodies when the Lord Jesus appears from Heaven with the saints and holy angels.

Our redemption is confirmed when we continue faithfully to the end of our discipleship.

For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; (Hebrews 3:14)

As we have stated, man is spirit, soul, and body. Our spirit, soul, and body already have been purchased, provided we have accepted by faith our personal Redeemer and have been baptized in water according to His commandment.

We do not experience the fullness of the fruits of the Divine redemption the moment we receive Christ. It is necessary that we press forward each day in faithful discipleship in order to lay hold on the redemption of our spirit, our soul, and—when Jesus returns—our mortal body.

When Christ was crucified, He carried our sins out of the camp and descended with them into the interior of the earth. He left them there in the "land not inhabited" (Leviticus 16:22). No matter what we may have done in this life, as soon as we receive the forgiveness of God through Christ our sins are gone! buried! removed! There is no guilt left behind.

We now are without condemnation in Christ. We who have believed in Christ have left the authority of Satan and are under the authority of Jesus. It is the Lord's intention that sin no longer be able to rule us (Romans 6:14).

Yet there still is apparent in most of our lives the power of sin, the bondage, the hold that the committing of sin has on us, the lusting, murdering, hating, criticizing, evil speaking, coveting, envying, idolizing, unforgiving that we (saved and unsaved alike) cannot seem to stop. These all are proceeding from the law of sin that is working in our flesh.

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Genesis 4:7)

The above verse may be explained as follows: when we conduct ourselves in a righteous and holy manner we are accepted of God. When we disobey God, then Satan—that author of all sin—crouches at our door desiring to snare us.

To be continued.