When a Christian confesses a sin of deed, of speech, or of thought, and then gains victory over that sin through the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, it is the judgment of Christ on that sinful spirit.

Each member of the Body of Christ is to walk in righteousness, holiness, and obedience of deed, word, motive and imagination. God's judgment is on His own household in these days. God can have no fellowship with the evil works of darkness and neither can His children. We must learn to put to death the deeds of our body through the wisdom and power the Holy Spirit provides.

The second area of redemption, that of sanctification, is a protracted death of the urges to sin that we have. It is a protracted resurrection as we change over from walking in the sins of the flesh to walking in the holiness of the life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification consists of a long series of lessons in learning how to act, speak, think, fight and minister in the Spirit of God.

Sanctification requires a period of time for its accomplishment, and sometimes the saints become discouraged in the "wilderness." But there is an end to God's school. We shall graduate soon enough, so we do not allow ourselves to become discouraged with the seemingly endless problems. Our end will be glorious. But we have so much to learn about the Person, purpose, will, and ways of God!

We enter the Kingdom of God through patience and hope. Waiting for God can become almost more than we can bear. We must never, never, never give up in despair. Kings are formed in the pain and pressures of earth's heartaches. The light will come at the end of the tunnel.

Others have walked this way before us and they are in glory with Jesus. Everlasting joy has been promised to us. Let us continue praying, hoping, and waiting. We must never quit.

In the preceding paragraphs we have discussed the sanctification area of Christianity. Every person who would be in the Body of Christ must appear here. We must seek to follow the Holy Spirit of God. When we follow the Spirit of God we receive power to minister and power to bear the fruit of the image of the moral character of Christ (Galatians 5:22,23).

There are two main elements that must be present in the saint if he or she is to bear an eternal witness of the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. One element is the miraculous manifestation of the Spirit of God in understanding, in power, and in utterance. The second element is behavior that is in keeping with the example and teachings of the Lord Jesus.

These two elements are the testimony we present to the world. If either the supernatural manifestation or the righteous and holy behavior is absent, the testimony will be lacking in effectiveness. Both are necessary and both are the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit alone can bear the eternal witness of the death and resurrection of the Lord.

Salvation is the first area of redemption. Salvation has to do with receiving the gift of forgiveness of our sins on the basis of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus. Initial salvation, as we are using the term, also includes our being "born again" of the Spirit of God.

To be continued.