We come now to the cream of the crop at the end of this series on our union in Christ. What is this whole change and transformation, the moment we believe the gospel, unto? What is it for? What is the purpose of it all?

We have seen who we were in Adam: condemnation, the abomination, and the alienation. We have seen the operation of God that took us from Adam and placed us into Jesus Christ. And we have seen what we have in Him: justification, sanctification, and glorification. Everything that we need to be saved from, and that we need to still be saved from, we have in Jesus Christ by virtue of who He’s made us to be in Him.

Knowing who we are in Christ, and knowing what we possess and the provisions, is designed to produce inward blessings: peace with God, joy, rejoicing, comfort, strength, patience. But simply put, it’s not supposed to stay there. Just as our identity in Adam did not stay with lustful thoughts, but rather deeds of the body, evil deeds, so too our identity in Christ is not supposed to stay there.

Identity Was Never Meant to Stay in the Mind

That is the burden of this article. If we leave our identity in Christ as knowledge alone, it will never leave the mind. Lived out, it will utilize the body in which it resides, and it will manifest a life that is not our own. It will manifest us glorifying God, both in word and deed. Knowing that we are holy in Christ is meant to lead us to perfect holiness, and imputed righteousness is meant to bear the fruits of righteousness. It is what it is in and of itself, but it is to produce more.

Come with me to Ephesians chapter 2, and read verses 8 through 10.

For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8–10)

Not of Works, and Yet Unto Good Works

Notice the drastic change from verse 8 to verse 10. In verse 8, Paul wants to clarify that issue of “through faith,” and so he says, “And that not of yourselves.” Faith is non-meritorious. It is something you do that has no merit, because faith is trusting in something other than yourself. It is the gift of God, “not of works, lest any man should boast.” If our salvation is of ourselves, if it is of works, then we have something to boast about. But this salvation is by God’s grace, and therefore we cannot boast.

But in verse 10 he brings up works again, in a completely different context in one sense, even though the context remains. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” If it is of Him and His grace, if it is His gift and not something we work for, then truly we are His workmanship. And then notice those next three words: “Unto good works.”

Notice also the difference between works in verse 9 and good works in verse 10. That implies, and we can back this up with Romans chapter 3, that the works done prior to being in Christ Jesus unto God are not good works. There are none righteous, no, not one, and there is none that doeth good, no, not one. There is one that is good, and that is God. But we are created in Christ Jesus, and thus we are put in a situation now where we can do good works.

The very thing that is done differently is not something that we’ve ultimately done; it’s something that He’s ultimately done, which is the purpose of this whole series. You are not who you thought you were, and you are not doing what you thought you were doing before you were saved. The motivation, the provision and the means by which you do the same thing outwardly has drastically changed. You might have done it before in order to be recognized, or to earn your way to heaven, or by your own wisdom. But you do not do those things now to earn your salvation, because you know you’re already saved. You do them because you’ve been taught the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that love constrains you. That is a world of difference. That is an eternal difference. It is a heavenly to earthly difference, a spiritual to carnal difference.

Created Unto Them, Ordained That We Walk in Them

We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. We now are able to participate in good works, and not only are we able to, that is the whole purpose of this all. A non-practical theology is not a Pauline theology. The purpose of being a new creature is to be put in a place in which you are unto good works. This is life. This is where abundance is. You want peace, you want charity, you want harmony and unity, you want all the blessing that you’ve been blessed with to be experienced in your life. It is to live in those good works you’ve been created unto.

Notice that this is not an afterthought of God. It is part of His eternal purpose in Christ: “which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We are created unto them, and He has ordained them before that we would walk in them. Created unto them is like you just got started; the purpose is that you would walk in them. And we do not walk in them in order to stay saved, or to maintain our justified status before God. That is a done deal. This is now what we have the honor and privilege to do.

If you’re not considering your life in Christ Jesus, you’re not living in what you’ve been created unto in Him. And so if there’s some discontentment or some inward difficulty in your life, or your relationships aren’t what they ought to be, here is a reason: you are not walking in them. It doesn’t mean it’s easy. But it is the remedy.

The Word Works Effectually in Those Who Believe

How does the inward become outward? It begins with the Word of God working in us. Paul reminds the Thessalonians that when they received the word of God which they heard of him, they received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, “which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). It effectually worked in them to justify them and to sanctify them, and there is an ongoing working of it when they believe the word of truth.

When we uphold the authority of God’s Word, and He says to do something, what do you think it’s going to do? It’s going to do it. When He says, if you believe this in order to be comforted, guess what it will do? It will comfort you. But you’ve got to believe it. This is oftentimes an exercise of faith, of how much you uphold your own wisdom, or the world’s wisdom, psychology, philosophy, and so on. It will always work when you believe it.

You might not feel very loved today. But do you know God loves you? Do you know the greatest thing that He could have ever done in all of creation in order to commend and to demonstrate His love for you? He did it for you. He gave His very best to you. He sent you His Son to die on the cross for you poor, miserable sinner, who is deserving not just of a poor, wretched life, but of eternal condemnation. And it’s yours, freely by His grace. If you don’t remember, if you don’t believe it, believe it again, and let it stir up within you this immense weight of the height and depth and breadth and length of His love. We make the gifts, even of God, greater than the giver, when we just need to dwell by faith in Him, the person and work of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Mind of Christ, Worked Out

Look at Philippians 2. The Philippians were a very mature group of believers, yet there were some things that they needed to work out. Paul knew that the only way they were going to work these things out is if the mind of Christ was in their midst. He calls them to be “like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind,” and “in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” They have it all in Jesus Christ, but it is not practically being exercised. So he says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The very same mind of Christ can be in us. Each. The very same mind.

Then he says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Your mind and your fellowship are at stake. I think he is saying that in view of the fellowship and the one accord that are at stake, the salvation here is relational. And notice verse 13, which makes sense in view of all that he said prior to it:

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

Before you can do, He must will. The will is the spring of every deed, and God does not begin with the deed. He begins with the spring. To work to will is to work in the will itself. God doesn’t merely press the believer from without. He moves the inclination from within, so that what was once unwilling is made willing. He doesn’t force you. He doesn’t go against your will. He works in your will to will, so that you see His reasoning, His purpose, the glory, the goodness, all of it, and you’re so moved that now you do. And you can’t say, really, it was my will to do. It was Him working within me.

And God doesn’t stop at the will. He works to do. The inward working is ordered toward the outward deed. This is the hinge of this lesson: what is wrought within is meant to be wrought out. Yet we are responsible. We are to work out our own salvation, but our work is the taking of resources, once not ours, now ours, and working them out. He is the first cause, the prime agent in us working out our own salvation.

This is not just having good feelings about someone, or choosing to think better of them because you have to work with them. This is wholly different. This is gospel-oriented, purpose-driven life, the real kind, the Christ-kind. And what happens when the flesh gets in the way? I’m doing my part, but the other each isn’t doing their part, and therefore I will not do my each. You’ve got a breakdown. But you’re not going to help the situation by not doing what God has called you to do. You will only help the situation when you do what God has called you to do in spite of them. Because that’s the mind of Christ. He did for you what you couldn’t do for yourself in spite of us. It is the complete abandoning of self.

Created in Righteousness and True Holiness

What does it mean to be created in Christ Jesus unto good works? Look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 24, where Paul says to put on the new man:

Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)

We have His imputed righteousness, but being created in Christ means we are created in righteousness and in true holiness. What do you think should come from that? Righteousness. Holiness. We have been set apart, and so too our lives are to be set apart.

We are going to be, in view of Ephesians 1, holy and without blame before Him in love. Since we are identified with that, and that is where we are headed, what ought to be our walk? We ought to walk consistent with it. We are not talking about sinless perfection. We are talking about a consistent walk with who we are in Christ, and recognizing that is what we are called unto.

The believer holds Christ’s righteousness as his standing. That is the righteousness reckoned to us. The righteousness we are created in is therefore the righteousness worked out, the mind of Christ being applied to each. We take those things that He says are righteous, and we put them on, and then we live in accord with them. We are to perfect holiness in the fear of God, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7:1, cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, motivated by the promises of God in 2 Corinthians 6.

Possess Your Vessel, Yield Your Members

This is where the inward becomes outward, in the body. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul says:

For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. (1 Thessalonians 4:2–3)

Fornication here, in my understanding, is the issue of embracing the will of man, embracing the will of the world in your body, and executing its will instead of God’s. It’s a spiritual one. It can lead to physical things. And in verse 4 Paul says that every one of us should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.

Do you know how to possess your vessel? If it’s God that works in you both to will and to do, according to His good pleasure, then there has to be the intake of His will, and then a responsibility on our part to believe it and to do it, and that is how we walk. You are already sanctified in Christ. He has already glorified you and honored you. And you now possess your vessel consistent with that. And notice what he says: “He therefore that despiseth.” Despise what? What he just said. If you despise it, you’re not despising man, you’re despising God, “who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.”

Romans 6:13 adds another layer:

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:13)

That same word, instruments, is translated weapons in 2 Corinthians and Ephesians, dealing with spiritual warfare. Here it is the believer’s own internal battle. Who are you going to yield your body to, as weapons against God or weapons against sin and evil? The body is not our master. It is a vessel we are to hold, and we hold it as those that have been bought and are alive unto God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). We have the responsibility to possess it, and the responsibility to yield it to our commander-in-chief, our head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to utilize the body in warfare against that which is carnal.

“Isn’t the Victory Already Won?”

Here is where an honest objection arises. Here’s what used to creep into my mind in regards to our camp grace message: Man, if I do anything, I must be doing it out of my flesh. I’m not called to fight. God already did that for me. Christ did that for me. The victory is won. And it is. We’ve got verses for that. But we’ve also got verses about fighting, and we have to make sense of all that.

Look at 2 Corinthians 7:11. There was sin in the Corinthian church, and there was a sorrow to repentance. And here is what that looked like: what carefulness it wrought in them, what clearing of themselves, what indignation, a word used for God’s wrath against sin, and it is now to be in the mind of the believer against their own sin. Then, “what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal,” and then, “yea, what revenge.” You know how you revenge your disobedience? By obedience. You fight.

Both are true. We need to understand that the victory has been won in Christ, but yet the victory is not experienced yet in its fullness. Thus there is still a fight. And we are to utilize the victory we have in Christ to have victory in our life now. This is how our identity is used, not just inwardly, but outwardly.

And that is why the identity does not automatically work. There is a theology out there that will say if you just believe hard enough, then somehow this life is just going to do, and it will be a passive, overwhelming thing that takes place to you and you will just start living godly. If that was the truth, you would not need any of the instructions from our Apostle. You need to be built up, and then you need to live from that identity. You need to think about God’s Word. You need to pray about God’s Word. You need to make decisions in view of God’s Word. And the combination of those things, you’ll begin to see the life of Jesus Christ in a way that you’ve never sought or experienced it. And oftentimes it’s in the difficult things where His life is most manifest in us.

Word and Deed in the Divine Institutions

The way in which we manifest this identity outwardly is going to take place in two things, mainly: word and deed. How you speak, what you speak, and what you do. How you use your time with your words and how you use your time with your deeds. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” The deeds are the body moving through the day, in the context that God has ordained, doing the deeds that He’s ordained for us to walk in. We do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, and to the profit of others, and not just our own.

We do this in the context of His divine institutions, in marriage, in family, the church, at work, and every other name that is named as our neighbor. We take this mind of Christ and we have it work in us, and it works our will, and it boils up with zeal, and we now go to do something, and we do it in these institutions. You do it as a wife submitting yourself to your own husband. You do it as husbands as you love your wives and are not bitter against them. Children, you do it in obeying your parents in all things, in things that are true and godly. Parents, you do it by not provoking your children to anger.

To your neighbor, love worketh no ill. You seek to live peaceably, and to do that which is right amongst them. At work, if you are a supervisor or manager, you don’t threaten those underneath you. You can instruct, you can inform, you can teach, but you don’t bring down the hammer. You try to reflect your master who is in heaven, Jesus Christ. If you’re an employee, you’re called to obey in all things, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. All of this we’re doing not simply for the other, but first and foremost unto God.

Don’t Let It Stop

The same word ultimately comes to all of us in the various contexts in which we come. Take what Christ has done for you and measure it within the relationships that you’re in. Let it motivate you, let it constrain you, let it work to will in you, and do not let it stop at the will, but do it.

And when you have gone against that time and time and time again, you’ve got to start fighting. You have to start revenging your disobedience. You have to start taking up arms, spiritually speaking. Fight against yourself by taking God’s Word and letting it work in you and believing it. And start fighting against the wisdom of the world, so that you can start functioning in the way that God created you unto these good works. Don’t let it stop.

Look Up,

—Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is article ten in the Union in Christ series, based on Lesson 10, The Uses of Identity Outwardly. You can listen to the full lesson here.

This concluded the Union in Christ series. Next up: Letters to the Nations, beginning with an introduction and overview of the Pauline Epistles and then the journey through Paul’s letters begins chapter-by-chapter starting with

Romans chapter 1.

We have just closed our series, Union in Christ. The one now before us, Letters to the Nations, is a chapter-by-chapter walk through all thirteen of Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon. Before a single verse of Romans 1 is opened, though, there is a question worth settling first: who is this Apostle Paul, and what exactly was he sent to do?

A Servant, Sent

Romans 1:1 opens plainly:

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God... by whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name.”

Paul is an apostle, a servant of Jesus Christ, separated unto the gospel of God. He had received an apostleship from the risen Lord, and grace particularly in regard to that apostleship — authority to proclaim the revelation God had in the dispensation of grace, to the nations generally and to the believers specifically. He is calling out a people from all nations unto the obedience of the faith.

His commission comes into fuller view in Acts 9. Paul had another name, Saul — the name of one of Israel’s first kings, a man taller than all the other Israelites. When Saul takes the name Paul, it is a name of humility and little stature, reflective of what Jesus Christ has done to him. At that point he is an adversary to the church of God, breathing out threatenings, slaughtering and imprisoning believers — a blasphemer, though he did not think himself one, because he was rejecting God’s anointed by attacking those of the Way.

“And he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest... And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”

Saul was not persecuting Jesus directly — Jesus was already resurrected and ascended. He was persecuting those who believed, and the Lord took that personally; he is bound to his own. The Lord then sends a disciple named Ananias to Saul, and what he tells Ananias is the clearest statement we have of Paul’s apostleship:

“Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

We often draw a hard line between Jew and Gentile, but the Lord’s own words to Ananias cut against drawing it too hard here: Paul is sent to the nations. That is all nations — Gentiles and Jews alike. Whatever we find in these letters to the nations is going to include everyone.

This apostleship bears fruit in the letters themselves. Through his apostolic journeys Paul forms the very churches he later writes to, and a chosen vessel bearing Christ’s name to the nations is exactly what we watch him be, letter after letter.

A Hebrew Pedigree, Counted as Loss

Philippians 3 fills out Paul’s pedigree. He was a Hebrew, a Jew, an Israelite, and he had every reason for confidence in the flesh — yet he counts it loss.

“Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

Circumcised the eighth day — received as an infant, not an adult. The tribe of Benjamin was privileged among the twelve. There is no more Hebrew pedigree than Saul’s, and among the Pharisees he belonged to the strictest sect, zealous enough that it led him not only to the crucifixion of Jesus but to persecuting those who followed him. His response once he meets Christ is telling: “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” — past tense. Then: “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss... for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” He has not changed his mind since.

Everything Paul names there, he is not naming in its pure form. He is naming the Pharisees’ corrupted version of it, the oral tradition and the tradition of the elders laid over it. That was his righteousness, his pedigree, and all of it stood contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ.

“For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

A drastic shift happens in Paul’s life when he meets the risen Lord and receives grace and apostleship. We have the benefit of all of it.

A Dispensation of Grace

What Paul is given is a dispensation of the grace of Christ. John writes that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, full of grace and truth: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The law came by Moses; grace and truth comes by Jesus Christ. Paul is given a dispensation — a stewardship — of that grace, which is in the risen and ascended Lord. It is special revelation, not given to anyone prior to him.

A dispensation is not a period of time. It functions within one, but the word itself is an issue of stewardship, the management of a household. The King James translators, in choosing “dispensation,” were thinking management, household stewardship. A household is in view. God had his house in mind before the world began — the house is Jesus Christ. Ever since he made man he has been building it, through various dispensations regarding what he wanted to reveal.

This same word is translated “stewardship” repeatedly in Luke 16, and “edifying” in 1 Timothy 1. The doctrine Paul teaches, and commends others to teach, is what produces the godly building up of his house, which is in faith. It is not the apostle, and it is not the teacher, that does that — it is the doctrine. That is why it can be followed irrespective of the man who brings it: if I go the wrong direction, abandon me, but do not abandon the truth.

One Household, Not Two

In Ephesians 2, Paul connects Jews and Gentiles as part of the household of God. In chapter 3 he singles out the Gentiles directly: “For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles...”

God is building his household today, a house that spans heaven and earth. Ephesians 2 puts it together:

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Notice he does not say Israel there. God was building his house before Israel existed. Being in Israel never by itself meant being part of God’s eternal house — one had to be counted for the seed, having the faith of father Abraham, as Paul teaches in Romans 4.

In Ephesians 3 he adds:

“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given... that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ... and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God... according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

He is to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, that all men would see — the working out of what God purposed in Christ. This is what is given to Paul.

If the dispensing of grace builds the house, and it is given to Paul but is not Paul’s, who really builds it? Jesus Christ does, by the Spirit, through the instrumentality of Paul and the Word. Hebrews 3 puts the comparison plainly:

“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.”

Christ was faithful to the Father, as Moses was faithful in his house — an equal comparison in one sense. But Moses is part of the house; Christ builds it. The builder has more glory than the house. Christ builds his house, whether in time past or today — through the dispensation of his grace to Paul, as the means of doctrine for the management of the church: how it is built, and how we are to live within it.

Answering the “Neither Jew Nor Gentile” Objection

There is a lot of talk in recent years about chopping up Paul’s epistles — that he is writing only to Jews here, only to Gentiles there. He is writing to the nations and what he writes is applicable to both although he may be addressing one or the other. That is his apostleship, and it does not need to be divided to be understood. There are times he speaks to Jews because of Jewish culture, background, and what God was doing with them, and things he speaks to Gentiles about — but that is not confusion, that is simply attending to his apostleship.

Where Paul wants to draw a connection between what came before and what is now, he does so clearly. He says in 2 Corinthians 3 that he is an able minister of the New Testament — ministering that New Testament to Jews and Gentiles alike. The New Testament, in contrast to the Old, includes imputed righteousness and the forgiveness of sins. To the Gentiles, Paul does not use the phrase “New Testament,” but he does speak of the forgiveness of sins and imputed righteousness. That dynamic runs through these letters often.

There are things I do not even argue about anymore, because people often do not want to listen. Galatians 3 gets raised — “in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile” — as though the distinction simply vanishes. The question worth asking back is whether there is neither male nor female anymore either. Paul is addressing the Gentiles in Ephesians; he calls them that by name. A Gentile does not stop being a Gentile by believing, any more than I stop being Polish. God gave that diversity, that beauty. What changes is that we are no longer judging status by it. The one significant change we are now making judgments on is whether a person is in Adam, or in Christ.

My own understanding of Paul’s apostleship is twofold, and this is where the confusion usually starts. The reason people want to chop Jew and Gentile apart in his letters is a lack of understanding of his connection with what came before. It is not that Paul lacks that connection — it is that we do not often recognize the connection he does have.

Part of his ministry connects with what came before; part of it does not. This is why he can call Abraham “your father,” call Israel’s exodus generation “our fathers,” call himself an able minister of the New Testament, tell the Galatians “as Isaac was, so are you,” and call the Jerusalem above the mother of us all. Not everything Paul reveals was previously hidden, and his own writing tells us so.

Romans 1:1 says he is separated unto the gospel of God. What gospel is that? Verse 2: “which he, God, had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures.” Paul is separated unto something God had already promised, in the Scriptures — that is part of his apostleship. That is why, in Acts, Paul can say that all Moses, the Psalms, and the prophets said is what he teaches. Three times in Acts he alludes to teaching that which was revealed in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets. He says, “I preach none other than the hope of Israel” — the resurrection. That is why in 1 Corinthians 15 he says the gospel he preached was that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose the third day according to the Scriptures. He is preaching some things because he is separated unto some things, not everything — things God promised before but revealed only a little at a time, with Paul given the final revelation of it. And then there was revelation never spoken of before, given to him as well.

“Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David” — track the risen, ascended Lord back to David, and the Gospel genealogies become infallible proofs of who sits at the Father’s right hand, in view of who he was according to the flesh, even though we no longer know him that way. There is continuity there. “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” — some things regarding David, some things regarding the resurrected Lord, and this one has given Paul grace and apostleship. As these thirteen letters unfold, this is whose marching orders we are under: the one who died on that tree, was buried, rose again, and ascended. Paul carries the conclusion of the gospel of God, and the mystery of Jew and Gentile in one body — both, together, through all thirteen letters.

All the Profit of Scripture

Paul’s letters are framed a certain way. Doctrine is teaching that engages the mind and heart, but it is not meant to stay there. Paul typically ends every letter with what the doctrine is supposed to produce in a life, given as instruction. In Romans, the teaching of our identity in Christ is meant to produce a renewed mind and a life walked out. Teaching without the walking becomes heady and high-minded; walking without the teaching becomes religion, mere human wisdom. The whole letter is what we are after, not half of it.

This shows up in the instructions: live peaceably with all men. We have peace with God and with one another — what is that supposed to look like? Not complicated, though it can be made so. Everything taught earlier in a letter equips a reader for the latter half; unable to live peaceably, go back to the doctrine of peace with God, and let it reign in the heart. It becomes the source and supply for what is instructed later.

2 Timothy 3:16 names it directly: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” All four of these run through Paul’s letters. In 1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatians there is heavy reproof, correction, and instruction tied to the churches’ failures. Ephesians is mostly doctrine and instruction. Philippians and Colossians carry more reproof and correction. But all thirteen carry something of all four.

A doctrine-only reading gets one-fourth of the profit of Scripture. Doctrine-and-reproof is half. The whole is doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction together, so that, as verse 17 says, “the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Doctrine alone does not furnish anyone unto good works; it takes the instruction that corresponds to it. Paul says in Philippians 4: think on these things — and do. Thinking cannot be skipped to get to doing, so both are needed.

Where These Letters Are Headed

Paul’s epistles can be arranged several ways — chronologically, by apostolic journey, prison letters, pastoral letters. What matters here is their doctrinal order, which is their canonical order: Romans through Philemon. There is profit in the order they are placed in.

Romans lays the doctrinal foundation of the gospel — justification, sanctification, glorification — climaxing in chapter 8, then turning to instruction on the believer’s relationship to Israel, to one another, and to the world.

1 Corinthians corrects a church fractured by division, carnality, and disorder, calling it back to the mind of Christ and order governed by love.

2 Corinthians defends Paul’s apostleship and instructs the church in generous giving, godly sorrow, and the ministry of reconciliation.

Galatians corrects a drift back toward the law, reasserting that righteousness is by faith alone and that liberty in Christ is standing, not license.

Ephesians unveils the mystery of the one body and expands the believer’s position and inheritance in Christ beyond Romans — it picks up Romans 8 and enlarges it — then calls the church to walk worthy in unity, purity, and spiritual warfare.

Philippians strengthens a beloved, supportive church toward unity and joy amid suffering, holding up the mind of Christ as the pattern.

Colossians corrects an early error against the sufficiency of Christ, exalting him as preeminent and complete for the believer.

1 Thessalonians corrects confusion about the Lord’s coming while commending a young church’s work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope.

2 Thessalonians corrects the idea that the day of the Lord had already come, and the idleness that followed from it, calling believers back to steady labor.

1 Timothy instructs Timothy on ordering the church and confronting false teachers, so it functions as the pillar and ground of the truth.

2 Timothy, Paul’s final charge from prison, urges Timothy to guard sound doctrine and endure hardship in the face of coming apostasy.

Titus instructs on establishing order and sound doctrine in Crete, grounding godly living in the grace of God that has appeared.

Philemon, finally, is Paul’s personal appeal to receive the runaway slave Onesimus back as a brother — a living picture of how the gospel reshapes relationships in the local church, fittingly the last of Paul’s letters canonically.

Why This Is Worth the Walk

Most of the teaching in this church has run through Romans and Ephesians — wonderful books, and rightly central. But that leaves real room for a congregation not to be unified: some doctrinal people, some reproof-and-correction people, some instruction people, depending on what service or season a person came through. Walking all thirteen letters, in their own order, closes that gap. What remains is to learn it, believe it, and use it.

That is the stake in these letters. They protect against division. They keep a church from drifting back to the law. They humble self-sufficiency. They comfort and charge in view of the Lord’s return. They shape how a body of believers is governed, leadership held responsible and those under it. They give the foundation, the superstructure, and the capstone of what, in the dispensation of grace, a church ought to be built to be — faithful to what has been given, knowing all along that it is Christ who is building the house.

That is why these thirteen letters are worth walking through together, one chapter at a time, beginning in Romans.

Look Up,

—Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

Letters to the Nations, Article 1

This is the first lesson of our new series through Paul’s thirteen epistles — Introduction & Overview. You can listen to it here.

Next up: Romans Chapter 1

Now we ascend. The height of the love of Christ is where the series has been moving all along — because the depth was never the destination. It was the love of Christ going as low as the human condition required in order to take us as high as He Himself has gone.

The Ascent: Far Above All

The depth ended at the heart of the earth. The height begins there — and goes in the opposite direction without limit. “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10).

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We have taken the time to contrast Adam and Christ, and we have seen how we get from Adam into Jesus Christ: condemnation, abomination and alienation in Adam, and justification, sanctification and glorification in Christ. At every point that we were identified in Adam, we are now at every point in contrast, and abundantly so, identified in Jesus Christ.

And yet you might not feel very loved today. You might not feel peace, or joy, or any of the abundance that you possess in Christ. What is all of this for?

Identity Was Never Meant to Stay in the Mind

Essentially anything in regards to identity isn’t simply to stay in the mind as some academic attainment in which you know that someone else might not know. It’s never allowed to be that in the writings. We have to take these things out of their context to have them just be a form of knowledge in which we attain to or we possess. In their context, there’s uses to them. There’s fruit that is derived from it that we are to partake of and to benefit from.

Come with me to Romans 5, and look at how Paul does it.

Peace with God, Rejoicing, and Joy

In verse 1 he says, “therefore being justified by faith.” We have talked about justification in Christ in contrast to condemnation in Adam. And yet in view of that past tense, he says we have. We possess something. He says we have peace with God.

You’re talking about a relationship that was once hostile and once filled with enmity on our part towards God that is now gone away. It’s been dealt with, not because of us, but because of Jesus Christ. In view of Romans chapter 3 and verse 25, the propitiation means that God’s justice has been completely satisfied, not postponed and not simply managed as if it’s going to come out again at one point in time, but truly satisfied. And there’s a fruit that that word is supposed to have within you, connected to your justification: you have peace with God. There is a state of reconciliation now in oneness that you have with God in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m against goosebump theology. Usually what it is is just trying to give you a story and say things eloquently, or have the music playing in the background while you teach a story. But when you have sound doctrine and you have the understanding and the meaning of those words and you receive them by faith, He brings the weight of that upon you and the reality of that within your soul, the bed of your will and emotions. When you believe that and it hits you, that does produce something.

But he doesn’t stop there. In verse 2, “by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,” and what? “Rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” The issue of rejoicing and joy is in the heart. It’s down in your heart because that’s where He first went to work, and it produced, or it’s supposed to produce, the very things that God says you’re to have. He goes on in verse 3, “and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.” Again, an inward disposition that sure has an equivalent of outward countenance and demeanor and behavior, but first starts inwardly, from the inside out.

In verse 5, hope maketh not, what? Ashamed. The Word of God, in view of the hope here, is supposed to make us not ashamed. So what is it if, when we learn about this hope, we are being ashamed? Are we believing the hope in the way that it was intended to produce in us? No. We’re not believing God in His things the way that He wants us to believe them. And usually that could be because of shame. We think that He, in view of who I was in the past or in view of what I have done in the present, would not want me rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. I should be running around with the tail between my legs. But that’s just not what Scripture teaches.

Everything that he is expressing here in regards to His love is to make the case of having glory and rejoicing and joy because of who you are in Christ and what you possess because you’ve been placed in Jesus Christ. In verse 11, “and not only so, but we also joy in God.” Do you joy in God? I’m not saying you get up and you’re dancing all over the place. I think a lot of that is reflective, inwardly. I have a joy in God. I have a contentment between God and I now because of who I am in Christ. And I do have an excitement because of what I possess, even in spite of myself.

These are some of the uses of identity inwardly. For Paul, they are immediately attached to some kind of use, and that use is first and foremost inwardly.

The First Place God Works Is the Inner Man

What do we mean by inwardly? Look at what we don’t mean in Romans 1:24.

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. (Romans 1:24)

If those lusts can change to godly lusts, if I can put it that way, to godly affections, then instead of the dishonoring of the body, there would be an honoring of the body between ourselves. But we’re first not talking about the use of the body by word or deed. We’re talking about the use of our identity inwardly, the things of the soul, the spirit, the mind, and the heart, and what it’s designed to produce within you. These are the workings of God uniquely within you in your inward faculties, and that’s what we have God’s Word for: to articulate some of those things that we don’t really know how to express or know, but we can know because of His Word.

Look at Romans 2 and the importance of the heart.

...for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart in spirit and not in letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Romans 2:28–29)

Circumcision outwardly is a physical procedure, and it was supposed to be a token sign of the inward disposition of heart. Of not trusting in the heart’s lusts and the heart’s capacities, but rather utilizing the heart to trust in God. When there is a heart of faith, when there is a broken and contrite heart and spirit, there is a circumcised heart. A heart that isn’t trusting on its flesh to produce what God wants to produce.

It is the heart that is supposed to trust in God, and yet it is the heart against God that trusts in self. And so we need the Gospel to set things aright within us and give us clarity on the foolishness and the darkness of our heart. The Gospel comes as a light and it informs the heart and enlightens the understanding. “For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 4:6). He shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And part of that news was that you come short of that glory. But it is in Christ in which you can be glorified.

Paul prays that the “eyes of your understanding” would be enlightened. They have been in the Gospel, and they continue to be, and as he gives more knowledge, that enlightening takes place first and foremost in the inner man. That is ongoing. “We are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). The Gospel has set the tone. No flesh is justified by the deeds of the law. No flesh can glory in His presence. Christ needed to be made righteousness, wisdom, sanctification and redemption for us, so that we could glory in Him and not in us.

God Works in the Will, and Christ Dwells in the Heart

This is where God clearly goes to work. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). The “to will” is part of what we’re looking at in the uses of identity inwardly. The “to do” is next. He works within you what is His good pleasure, and His word is supposed to have its way within you, that you find that His will is pleasing.

When something is pleasing to you and you have affections for it, just like in the contrast, when you have a lust and affection for something, you will go out of the way to do it. The things you love, the things that you have affection for, the things that you will do. And that’s what sin does. It corrupts the whole workings. The working of it is not bad. It’s that sin and lust has taken the working and used it against God. Instead of being filled by God and His Word in your inner man to give you His will, to give you His affections, that then I do that it is not I, but it’s Him within me, and yet I am still doing it. So He first goes to work within us.

This is why Paul gives you the first three chapters of Ephesians, all this wonderful doctrine of Jesus Christ and our identity in Him, and then, as he bridges the gap into the instruction, he wants all of what you understand and know about Jesus Christ to dwell within your heart. It’s like the ocean taking its place within a gallon jug, so that it can be taken and poured out and be used somewhere else. And the more we exercise ourselves to it, it’s no longer the gallon jug that is the flesh that restricts it and just holds it in, but your heart begins to be enlarged. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 6. The borders and the boundaries of the flesh, and the restrictions that we place on the love of God and who Jesus Christ is and our identity in Christ, that we come along and say, “I’ll go this far, but not this far.” Your heart is able to hold more, that then you’re able to do more.

What’s so amazing about this, because of the nature of faith, is that you don’t need to say, well, when I’m 40, I’ll start doing some more of that stuff. Just believe it now. Just set your affection on things above now. But we always put the obstacles in our own way. I know I do. Paul prays:

I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. (Ephesians 3:14–16)

His focus is your inner man. I don’t think he’s talking here about the indwelling of the Spirit. I think what he’s addressing here is how the Spirit has revealed this information of Jesus Christ, and now he’s praying that you would be strengthened in your inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts. That this knowledge and understanding that now you’re enlightened with will dwell in your hearts by faith, that you’ll believe it. The measure of Jesus Christ is so vast, and He wants that to be in you. This is how you use it. It’s these things that He’s teaching, you use it by faith.

The Word Works Effectually in Those Who Believe

Paul addresses a group of mature believers in 1 Thessalonians 2. From essentially the get-go, faith, hope and love marked them.

...for this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

When he came to them and gave them the Gospel of God, they didn’t look at what he was giving them as if it was his word. They looked at it and received it as the word of God, “which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” It worked in them when they believed it at the first. It saved them. The Spirit did the operation of God. And it continues to work.

What would it be if we heard the Gospel for the very first time and we understood we received the forgiveness of our sins, but then after a believer we sinned and there was nothing there? Oh, that truth of what we believed at the first is the truth now and the truth forever. And the same, hopefully, humility and the thrill and the joy and the peace that He gave at the first, when you sin as a believer, you recognize it’s still there. It still effectually works in you that believe.

And so these things don’t have a one-time use. It’s a bounty. It’s a supply. It’s given to you in abundance. It isn’t those words on the page the first time you read it and then you happen to go back and somehow the words have changed. They are what they are. And they effectually work when you believe it. If you don’t believe them, do not expect that they will work.

“But I Don’t Feel This Way”

In my 15 years in ministry, in seeking to help and counsel people to not only understand the Word of God, the thing that I have realized is the most difficult is the thing that the Lord Himself understood was going to be the most difficult. It’s faith. Because faith will take you from your flesh and your ill-gotten and unbiblical and fleshly thoughts about yourself to, I’m a son and daughter of God. I’ve been forgiven all my sins. He loves me, and nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. I know what I did was wrong because I agree with my God that this is sin. But I know who I am in Christ. That’s where faith will take you.

But you’ll hear, I don’t feel this way. Well, of course you’re not experiencing the joy. You’re not experiencing the peace. You’re not experiencing the fruit of the Word of God and your identity in Christ because you’re not believing Him. And the reality is you only do need the faith of a mustard seed, because the faith of that mustard seed will hang on a word for its life, for its spiritual sustenance. And it will be all that it needs. You love me? You really love me? God commended His love toward me while I was yet a sinner. It will hang on a word. It will hang on words. It will work when you believe it.

You have to forsake your feelings. You have to forsake your thoughts that are not godly. You have to put them off. He will not do that. He’s provided for you an ocean of thoughts for you to think. And if it’s not working within you, there’s either a couple problems. One, you don’t know His thoughts towards you. And usually the reason you don’t know His thoughts towards you is because you forsake the Scriptures, you forsake sound doctrinal sermons. There are podcasts that teach the Word of God now, books upon books. You have the book, which is all you need. But there is no scarcity of sound doctrine. So you’re either forsaking it because we put other things before it, or, I don’t have the attention span. Well, fine, but then don’t expect the fruit of the Spirit.

For me practically, this has come in that repetitive sin where I don’t feel saved. I don’t feel dead to sin. I don’t feel, I don’t feel, I don’t feel. And that allows the authority to be my own thoughts of how God views me instead of the authority of His Word and how He views me. But when you believe that, now you can go somewhere.

Delight in the Law, and the God of Hope

Romans 7:22 says, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” How can he say in one verse that you’re not under the law, and in another delight in it? The law is not the problem. The law was never the problem. The problem is within man. And once you understand that the problem is with you, and you understand that the law’s job is to continue to show that the problem is with you, but that the law does that by showing the righteousness of God, then you can delight in the law of God because you see it’s the righteousness of God. I’m not looking to be under it to produce righteousness in my life, but I can see what it is clearly. Now we recognize in Christ that we have a delight for that which is right, even though we understand that that isn’t the way in which we go to attain it. Where is that delight? It’s after the inward man. It’s not going to use the flesh to attain to that righteousness, but the inward man loves it.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. (Romans 15:13)

How are you going to get filled with not just some joy and some peace, but all joy and all peace? One, you need God. You need the God of hope. You need to learn that hope. When you believe the God of hope, the fruit of the doctrine of hope that God has for you in Christ, He’ll fill you with all joy and peace. If you’re wondering, man, I don’t think I’ve got much joy, and I don’t have peace, go to the God of hope. Learn Him. Study Him. Learn His hope for you. And believe it. Take Him at His word.

Sometimes I’ll read these things, I’ll study these things, and I don’t really know how that’s supposed to produce joy in me. But that’s what He has for me. And usually, if not always, it’s just a matter of time when all of a sudden that does its work in me and I start to see, ah, that’s why. Usually it has to do with when you start to see the contrasts of hope, or future expectation, compared to what our expectation was before. You begin to see what your former relationship with God was, and the peace of this world and how it’s not the peace of God and it’s not peace with God. You see how fleeting and how vain it is. And in that contrast, you compare spiritual things, the peace of the world, with spiritual things, the peace of God. And you begin to believe this and it begins to fill you, and you’ve got joy. And you get peace. But you’ve got to believe, and you’ve got to think on these things. You’ve got to stir them up. You’ve got to remember it.

A lot of that stuff that you might listen through the mediums of podcasts and YouTube, you can get the good stuff in those formats as well. So if that needs to be how to wean you off, use it. But listen, there’s nothing like sitting down with an open Bible and communing with your God. There’s something just pure and sanctified about it. Because of God Himself, because of His words, because of the living words. And what’s the really hard thing is, at least for me, everything I think I need, usually when I go to the Word of God, I realize those aren’t the things that I actually need. And then I have a question in front of me. Do I believe Him or do I believe myself?

Boldness, Fruit, and Strength

In Ephesians 3:12, Paul says, “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.” He no longer just says you have access. He says boldness. The humility that you approach God with is that you’re not approaching Him by your faith. You’re approaching Him by what Christ has done. But it’s because of what Christ has done that I approach Him with boldness. I call this a humble confidence. That dwells in the inner man. It might be articulated in the demeanor, it might be articulated in words, it might be articulated in the walk that someone has as they approach the Father. But it all really resides first and foremost in the inner man.

The same is true of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.” The fruit of the Spirit is first going to take residence within your inner man, and then it will produce the good works that we’ve been created unto. It’s going to produce those things within you as you believe.

And lastly, strength. Paul has a thorn in his flesh, and he seeks the Lord three times for it to depart from him. In verse 9 of 2 Corinthians 12, the Lord responds, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul doesn’t respond as I sometimes do: You didn’t take it away, you’re just making me strong in the midst of it. Thanks a lot. As if I know best. Instead, I can just receive it as truth, and if my Father is telling me that His grace is sufficient and that this is what He wants to give me and this is what’s best, then that’s what’s best. And then maybe I can learn why.

Paul says, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. It is in his suffering that this particular power of Christ rests upon him. If it’s taken away, you don’t get to experience this component of your relationship with Christ and with God. “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong.” A pleasure, a gladness, a glory in these sufferings because there’s something to avail yourself of. Works in the inner man. There’s a strength that is manifest.

Stir Them Up, Remember Them, and Believe Them

Those are some of the uses of our identity inwardly that we have because of who we are in Christ: peace with God, rejoicing, joy, delight, confidence and boldness, the fruit of the Spirit, and strength. And we ought to stir them up, remember them, and most importantly, believe them. And they’ll go to work in our inner man.

Look Up,

—Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is article nine in the Union in Christ series, based on Lesson 9, The Uses of Identity Inwardly. You can listen to the full lesson here.

Next up: the uses of identity outwardly, and how these things come out in word and deed.

We often think about glory only as something future. But we can think about being glorified in Christ as not only future, but present.

But God: The Turn From Dead to Seated

In Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 3, we see the contrast. What we once were: dead, walking according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, by nature children of wrath.

The only thing that changed that is the first two words of verse 4: “But God.” God was the change. He was the alteration. He was the operation that delivered us from that deadness and that walk and that identity, and put us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 5: “When we were dead, he quickened us together with Christ.” And then two more advancements of identity in verse 6: “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” That is present. That is the reality. That’s how God views it. It is as sure as done, even though we are not physically with Him. Our identity is with Him. God calls those things that be not as though they were.

If Christ is far above all authority, all principality and power and might, throne and dominion, and we are identified with Him and in Him, we have an inheritance in Christ above it all.

Romans 8:30 says it plainly: “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Glorify, in the old sense, means to praise, to magnify, to honor. He has given us a place. He has given us a name. He has given us an inheritance in which now is ours, in which we once did not have. Although we’re not necessarily receiving the praise, it’s to the praise of the glory of His grace — we are the ones in whom He’s done something that highlights His glory. And in that sense, we are glorified.

The Spirit of Adoption: Firstfruits of What’s Coming

As Paul gets into Romans 8, he emphasizes this issue of being children of God. Being declared righteous and set apart has brought us into the family of God, and by virtue of that, He has given us His Spirit — the Spirit of adoption.

Verse 14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Verse 15: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” If the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience led us to fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind, the Spirit of adoption leads us to fulfill some other things, contrary to all of that.

Then look at verse 23: “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” You look at both of those and think — well, which is it? Have we received the adoption, or are we waiting for it? It’s both, because he’s not talking about the same exact thing. The Spirit we possess is the Spirit of adoption. What we’re waiting for is the adoption itself.

The adoption we wait for is connected with glory — the redemption of our body, our new glorified body, glorious liberty, the glory which shall be revealed in us. There’s some kind of residue, some kind of firstfruits of that glory, by virtue that you have received the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God that leads you is the Spirit of adoption. Simply put: when you became a believer and the Spirit began to dwell in you, never to leave you, that self-same Spirit is the Spirit of adoption. He is the firstfruits of what is coming.

He has glorified us, and He is yet to glorify us.

If It’s Already True, Why Do We Still Groan?

We have been quickened, raised, and seated in the heavenly places. We have access to this kingdom, this light, His purpose, His destination. We have an inheritance in it all. It’s living above the fray. It’s having your head in the clouds, if you will — setting your affection on things above.

We know there’s a future glory, but the fact that future glory is tied to the issue of adoption, and we have already received the Spirit of adoption, means we have access and privilege and rights to it now. He has glorified us. He doesn’t wait. He could have said, I saved you, you’re justified, I’ve sanctified you, and now let’s just bring you to glory. But He doesn’t. He still has glorified us. He still has honored us.

Translated Into Light: A Kingdom You Already Belong To

Colossians 1:12-14: “Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Do you know what that kingdom is like? Do you know the dominion you’re under, the King you’re under? It’s one of light. That’s your dwelling place. You are not a citizen of this earth anymore — this is your temporary dwelling place. You’re a stranger. You’re a pilgrim.

Ephesians 5:8: “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.” We were so identified with darkness that we weren’t just in it — we were it. And now we are light, because He is light. We’re exhorted to walk as children of light, to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them.

What does this mean practically? We don’t need to hide our sin anymore. We should be able to understand that our brothers and sisters in Christ are still going to sin — and where do you go to deal with that, if not the church? It’s often the place that hides it instead. But it’s what the church should be involved in, because we’ve received the Spirit of adoption — to come along and call sin what it is. It’s wrong. It impacts your life, your marriages, your family, your children. But in love — there’s forgiveness, there’s restoration, there’s reconciliation, a power that isn’t in psychology, isn’t in philosophy. It’s only in the church.

This is why Paul could say, of the man who committed fornication with his father’s wife in 1 Corinthians 5, “I’ve judged already” — not that he stays out, but that he comes back in. And by 2 Corinthians, the man has a godly repentance, and Paul says, church, bring him back in, lest Satan gets advantage of you. All of that terminology — he’s living in line with the Spirit of adoption that’s leading him: holy, without blame, before Him, in love. Not that the act wasn’t wrong, but that there’s forgiveness in Christ.

Setting Your Affection Where You Already Belong

This isn’t just doctrine you attain to in an academic sense. This is real stuff — more real than anything you think is real in this life, besides the soul of people.

It’s in the change of tone when you speak to your spouse. It’s in the leading and nurturing and admonishing of your children. It’s in the obedience and honor of your parents. It’s when you live by the principles of grace and integrity and honesty and righteousness and holiness at work. It’s when you abound in grace toward someone, when you up the ante of your love, which means you up the ante of your sacrifice. That’s where it is. That’s the Spirit we have, and what He leads us in and teaches us.

We wait for the redemption of our body, and He will bring to pass what He purposed in Christ before the world began. We are glorified in Christ, and yet we wait for a glory. We wait for that adoption, and yet He’s given us the Spirit of adoption now — to lead us in the ways and the conversation and the life of the kingdom in the heavenly places we belong to.

Set your affection on things above. Not on this earth. Do that while you live on this earth, because that is where our life is — hidden with God in Christ Jesus.

Look Up,

—Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is the eighth article from Glorification in Christ Lesson 8 in a ten-part study on Union in Christ at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. Next up: “Uses of Identity Inwardly”.

You’ve believed the gospel. You know you’ve been forgiven, declared righteous, made new. And yet your mind still wanders to things that aren’t holy. Your affections aren’t automatically godly. Sin still has influence in your life. If you’ve truly been set apart to God, why doesn’t it feel complete?

Two Sanctifications, Not One

Sanctification is not a single, simple idea. There is a sanctification that has already taken place — immediate, permanent, needing no more work. And there is another sanctification still unfolding — a practical, ongoing possessing of yourself in holiness. If you don’t understand both, you will misunderstand both your identity and your purpose: you’ll miss what you once were and are no longer, and you’ll miss what it means to walk it out day by day.

Washed, Sanctified, Justified: A Settled Identity

Come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Paul names plainly what the Corinthians once were: fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves — unrighteous people who will not inherit the kingdom of God. That is not a flattering list, and some of the Corinthians were still acting in ways consistent with it. Paul doesn’t soften it. “Be not deceived,” he says — don’t let the world’s permission and pleasure in these things fool you into thinking they aren’t serious before a holy God.

Then comes the turn. “And such were some of you.” Past tense. That was who you were. “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” Not a water washing — the text itself says it was done “by the Spirit of our God.” The natural washings of the Old Testament, the washings we do with our own bodies, all pointed toward this greater washing, the one the Spirit performs the moment you believe.

We see this again in Titus 3. Before: “serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” Then: “after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” Regeneration — immediate and permanent, done once. This is the sanctification by which Paul can say to the church at Corinth that they are already “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” — not sanctified by their behavior, but sanctified in Him. By one offering, Hebrews tells us, He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. That is finished. That cannot be undone.

Dead to Sin: A Changed Relationship, Not a Changed Feeling

This settled identity also means something has changed in your relationship to sin itself. Come with me to Romans 6. Paul asks the question that naturally follows grace reigning where sin once reigned: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” He doesn’t answer by telling you simply not to sin. He goes deeper: “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Sin is no longer your jurisdiction. It’s not that sin is dead, or that you are dead — it’s that your relationship to sin is dead.

“Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.” Not that the body is destroyed, or that sin is removed from it — but that this body no longer belongs to sin the way it once did. Think of someone who was kidnapped and held under another’s dominion for years, then finally freed — and yet still hears the old captor’s voice, still struggles with what was said to them. The identity has changed completely. The relationship has changed completely. But the influence can still linger. That’s why Paul doesn’t call you a dead man, but says the old man is old — the way an old covenant is made old and is ready to vanish away, even before it’s gone. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” You don’t wait to feel it. You reckon it, because it’s true whether or not it feels true.

Possessing Your Vessel: A Daily, Ongoing Work

But sanctification is not only something done to you once. It is also something you do, day by day. Come with me to 1 Thessalonians 4. Paul writes that this is the will of God — “even your sanctification” — and that each of you should “know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.” Your vessel is your body. You possess it, moment by moment, in holiness.

We see the same ongoing dimension in Ephesians 5, where Christ “might sanctify and cleanse [the church] with the washing of water by the word.” Some of that washing happens the moment you hear the gospel — but some of it is an ongoing cleansing of your mind and your affections, which does not happen automatically the instant you believe. You don’t get holy thoughts and godly affections overnight. That’s why Paul can write in Romans 12, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This is how you possess your vessel — not by conformity to what’s around you, but by the ongoing renewing the Spirit does within you.

Two Realities, One Life

So the believer who feels incomplete isn’t wrong to feel the tension — he’s living in both realities at once. The positional sanctification is already finished: you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified, named by what God has declared rather than by what you once did. The practical sanctification is still unfolding: you are being renewed, possessing your vessel in honor, being transformed by the Word, fellowship, and prayer.

Both matter. Without the first, you have no identity to stand on — you’re still trying to become what only God can declare you to be. Without the second, you mistake a finished positional reality for an excuse to neglect the daily fight. God has made you holy. And God is making you holy. Walk in both.

Look Up,

—Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is the seventh article from Sanctification in Christ Lesson 7 in a ten-part study on Union in Christ at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. Next up: glorification in Christ.

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

In this concluding installment on redemption, Pastor Josh completes the qualifications of the Redeemer by adding a fourth: sympathy. Then he moves to the cross itself — the mode of payment. Why blood? Because life is in the blood, and Christ’s blood is precious because it is the blood of the God-man. That blood, willingly shed, was fully satisfactory to God. Justice and grace — which seemed to collide in every Old Testament pardon — met and were resolved at Calvary.

From the cross, Pastor Josh turns to the free gift: the righteousness and justification that the Redeemer’s work makes available, received by faith alone. He closes by reading John Flavel’s vivid meditation on the eternal counsel between the Father and the Son — the Son volunteering to bear every bill, every debt, every drop of wrath — so that we would bear none. The fitting conclusion to a series that began in Ephesians 1:7: in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

KEY SCRIPTURES

Ephesians 1:7

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

Romans 1:1–4

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

Romans 3:23–25

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”

Romans 5:1, 15

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God... But not as the offence, so also is the free gift.”

Romans 4:23–25

“Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

2 Corinthians 9:8

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

Romans 15:13

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

Philippians 2:13

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

EPISODE OUTLINE

1. Qualification 4: sympathy — Christ went to the cross with compassion, not reluctance

2. The seal of His uncompromised qualification — the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4)

3. The cross — the mode of payment for redemption

4. Why blood? Life is in the blood; Christ’s blood is the precious blood of the God-man

5. God set forth Christ as a propitiation — His faith in His Son’s blood before Calvary

6. Justice and grace collide and meet at the cross — God is just and the justifier (Romans 3:26)

7. The free gift — provision versus reception; unto all, upon all them that believe

8. Romans 4:23–25 — delivered for our offences, raised for our justification

9. Romans 5:15 — not as the offence, so also is the free gift

10. Saving faith as the first submission and the ongoing pattern of the Christian walk

11. John Flavel’s meditation — the eternal counsel of the Father and Son before the foundation of the world

12. We will never experience one drop of God’s wrath — every drop fell upon His Son

QUESTIONS DISCUSSED

1. What does Christ’s sympathy on the cross — “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” — reveal about His willingness as Redeemer?

2. How does the resurrection prove that Christ was uncompromised by sin and that His cross-work fully satisfied God’s justice?

3. Why is blood the instrument of redemption? What does “life is in the blood” mean for understanding the cross?

4. Pastor Josh distinguishes provision and reception — Christ’s work is “unto all” but “upon all them that believe.” How does this shape your understanding of the gospel?

5. John Flavel imagines the Son saying, “Upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.” How does meditating on that eternal counsel affect the way you think about your sin and your standing before God?

6. Pastor Josh closes by saying the cross is not only our justification but our wisdom. In what way is the cross your wisdom — what does it teach you about God and about yourself?

We’ve spent several lessons in this series looking at who we were in Adam — dead to God, alive to sin, named by our master in abomination; under sin’s jurisdiction, owing its wages, guilty before God in condemnation; under the power of darkness, led by a spirit not our own, darkness itself in alienation. Then we looked at the operation of God that moves a person out of all of that and into Christ. Now we turn to what we actually possess on the other side of that operation, starting with justification.

Romans 5:18 sets the two verdicts side by side in a single verse: “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” One man’s offense, one verdict, extended to all who are in him. One man’s righteousness, one free gift, extended to all who believe. Not by what you’ve done in either case — only by which man you’re identified with.

So we’ll take this in three parts: what justification actually means, by definition; what propitiation adds to our understanding of it; and three features of what it places you under — grace, forgiveness, and access.

What Justification Means

Justification is essentially the English word for “righteous-fied.” It’s a judicial declaration of righteousness — declared as final, declared as fully rendered. By definition, it’s the remission of sin and the absolution from guilt and punishment, an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as righteous on account of the atonement of Christ.

Picture a courtroom. You stand on trial, guilty, without excuse, and the verdict is condemnation — a sentence to be paid in full. And then someone comes in and says, I’ll pay their fine. I’ll take their place. But in God’s courtroom, that substitution isn’t allowed from just anyone. It has to come from someone qualified — someone not compromised by the very sin of the one being condemned. That’s what Jesus Christ does. He pays the fine. He takes the place. And the Judge, seeing the person and work of His own Son, seeing the payment made on the cross, is satisfied. He doesn’t just say, you’re free to go. He says, you’re righteous.

How can the Judge say that? Because He isn’t looking at you — He’s looking at what Christ has done. He doesn’t sweep the debt under the rug. Justice has actually been met, which is why He’s not merely permitted to forgive you, but righteous in doing it. No other religion can offer that. A god who simply forgives without His justice being satisfied is a god whose justice has been spurned — forgiveness for the offender, but no justice for the One offended against. The only way both are met in the same verdict is in the person and work of Jesus Christ, where justice is met because we couldn’t meet it, and He did for us.

What Propitiation Adds

This is why the word propitiation matters alongside justification. Romans 3:25 says God “hath set forth [Christ] to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.” Propitiation denotes the satisfaction of His justice — not that God waived His justice, but that it was satisfied. Isaiah 53:11 puts it prophetically: “He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” And Ezekiel 16:63 gives God’s own words to a rebellious Israel: “When I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done.” Pacified. Satisfied. Not because the offense was waived, but because it was met in Christ.

Why does this matter for our union with Him? Because a judge who waives a debt because he has no other choice hands down a reluctant verdict — well, I suppose, or I got paid off, even though justice isn’t really being met. But a judge whose justice has actually been satisfied hands down a verdict with pleasure. Not in spite of justice, but because of it. If God’s justice is truly satisfied in the person and work of His Son, and you are in Him, then your assurance doesn’t rest on a technicality. It rests on the fact that He is genuinely pleased with you — not based on you, but based on Christ.

So righteousness isn’t acquired by degrees. It’s declared. Whole. Complete. In a single moment. And from that moment, it’s never anything less than yours.

Under Grace

That verdict places you under something — a new reign entirely. Romans 6:14: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” To be under grace isn’t simply for grace to be available to you. It’s to be under its dominion, its protection, its reign, as its subject. We saw earlier that under sin named a dominion — not sin merely present in a life, but sin reigning as a master with you as its subject. Now Paul draws the same legal line in the other direction: you’re under grace. Under sin and under law both describe a reign you’ve been removed from. This is how God sees you — not just a record cleared, but a new dominion entirely, and you’re safe inside it.

2 Corinthians 9:8 describes the nature of this reign: “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” All grace. Always. Not sometimes, not in degrees, not limping along. The same “no difference” that once leveled every man under condemnation now levels every believer under this grace. Sin’s jurisdiction had no exceptions — you were simply born under it. Neither does grace’s. You’re born under grace the moment you believe, and that’s the dominion you now live in.

Forgiveness and Access

If He doesn’t forgive you all of your sins, it isn’t a true reign of grace. Ephesians 1:7: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Under the law, Israel brought animal sacrifices on a running account, because the blood of bulls and goats could never actually take away sin — it was a tutor pointing them to Christ. But when Christ sheds His blood, it’s a payment once for all. The forgiveness of your sins is given to you all up front. That’s how you can have assurance. It isn’t that He’s forgotten your sin — it’s an active act of His will to no longer bring it up, because of Jesus Christ. The ledger isn’t managed. It’s reversed.

And He doesn’t forgive you and then send you on your way. Ephesians 1:6: He has made us “accepted,” and notice where — “in the beloved.” The same Son in whom the Father was well pleased, whose soul’s travail satisfied Him, is the one in whom that same satisfaction now reaches you. And Ephesians 3:12: “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” Where we once stood before God in Adam with our mouths stopped, guilty, without escape or excuse, we now have boldness, confidence, and access. Accepted in the Beloved.

To the One Still in Adam

Everything here — the verdict, grace’s reign, the forgiveness, the acceptance, the access — traces back to one declaration already spoken. It’s offered to you free because it was paid in full, not because the debt was ever small, but because He’s just that great. What are you going to do with it? There’s no way attending church can get you to heaven. There’s no amount of money you could give that would justify you before God. There’s no amount of works that can pay a sin debt — at best they only mingle with more sin going forward. You need Jesus Christ. You’ve likely been treating acceptance with God as something to qualify for, when the verdict was already spoken: condemned. The only remaining question is whether you’ll receive His verdict of righteousness on His terms, or keep trying to earn what was never for sale. Jesus Christ bore your condemnation, paid your wages, and was raised the third day so that His justification could become yours. If you’ve never believed in what He’s done, today is the day of salvation.

To the One Already in Christ

This verdict, spoken, final, already in force — it’s yours. Familiarity with the doctrine must never be allowed to shrink the size of what you were actually given. You’re not almost condemned. You’re not almost accepted. Let your own thinking about yourself finally catch up to how God already knows you. Remember, you’re no longer under sin’s dominion. Remember, you no longer owe sin’s wages. Remember sin’s guilt, and that you are no longer guilty before God, because of Jesus Christ. And let this truth do its ongoing work — not as information you already knew, but as worship, something you stir up and remember, so that gratitude, not performance, becomes what moves you to live for Him.

Look Up,

— Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is the sixth article from Justification in Christ Lesson 6 in a ten-part study on Union in Christ at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. Next up: sanctification in Christ.

Because this fear proceeds from the Lord. It’s generated by Him, because of Him. He is the cause of it, whatever it turns out to be. So before we can talk about fearing Him rightly, we have to look at who He actually is — His name and His glory, His works that flow out of that name, and the strange tension that He is, in one sense, unknowable, and yet, in another sense, can truly be known.

His Name and His Glory

There’s no better text for this than Exodus 34, when Moses asks the Lord to show him His glory, and God does something remarkable — He proclaims His own name. Verse 6: “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.”

This is God speaking of Himself. Now who does that? The arrogant do that. The haughty do that, and they’re arrogant precisely because it isn’t true of them. But with God, this is accurate. This is truth. He can say this, and He’s not lying. Moses had already begun to experience this about Him, and now it’s confirmed by the very word of God’s mouth.

Think about what Moses asked for. He wanted to see God’s glory. We usually think of glory as a bright light. Here it’s a name — a description of who He is, and there’s none else like Him. There might be some who have a measure of grace, but He’s full of it. Some who have some mercy, but He’s merciful. Some who have some patience, but He’s longsuffering. Some who identify as good by their own subjective standard, but He’s abundant in goodness and truth. Some who keep mercy for a few, or maybe none at all — He keeps mercy for thousands. Some who sweep sin under the rug — and yet He will by no means clear the guilty.

And look at what Moses does in verse 8. He makes haste. Just that one word. He makes haste and bows his head to the earth and worships. Here’s the conviction in that for me: if it’s true that we get to see His glory in the face of Jesus Christ — the fullness of the Godhead bodily, beheld through the gospel — do we make haste? We might dismiss bowing the head as some outward, legalistic form. But Moses isn’t thinking about any of that. He’s just been confronted with the glory of God, and he moves.

Unimpressed

Here’s where this has to land somewhere real, because we live in a culture that trains us to be unimpressed. It engineers content for six seconds, then to swipe. We were built in His image, after His likeness, to be in awe of Him — and instead we’re in awe of everything else while we keep scrolling. And that disposition has a way of becoming the same reflex we bring into the church. It sounds something like: this church doesn’t have this program, this seating isn’t comfortable, they don’t sing the right songs. All of which quietly assumes it’s about you. And if you’re going for you, you’re going for the wrong reason. You’re gathering with others to be confronted with the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ through His Word. If that doesn’t hold some weight in you, if you’re unimpressed by that, there is a spiritual infirmity at work.

We can sing the songs, say the prayers, check the boxes, and go years without ever once feeling that we’re in over our heads with Him — that He’s that magnificent, that weighty. Instead we get handed two cheap pictures: an angry God to manage and keep at arm’s length, or a nice God to like and root for and keep in our corner. Rarely does anyone show us the real biblical tension — His weightiness held together with the staggering privilege of actually knowing Him. He’s more real than anything else in the room. Everything praises His name. Your heartbeat, the breath in your lungs, every hair on your head that He numbers.

And little by little, without announcing itself, this culture — this spirit of the age — makes God a little smaller in our lives. A little more casual. A little more distracted. More noise, less Word of God. We end up making Him more like us instead of becoming more like Him. But He has no rival. No equal. Nothing anywhere can be likened to Him.

It’s worth pausing on how much of our lives already run on fear — racing hearts, insomnia, catastrophizing, people-pleasing, hoarding, isolation, the fear of death underneath most of the others. If we never grasp the glory of God, we’ll never experience how fearing Him rightly puts every other fear in its place. His glory is the weightiest thing there is, and there is no other thing to set beside Him for comparison. The moment we start comparing what He offers to something else, we’ve already shrunk Him down, whether we realize it or not.

His Works

Once we understand who He is, we understand that He doesn’t stay still — His works flow out from His name. Scripture will not let you liken Him to anything. Isaiah 40 asks who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, who has meted out heaven with the span, who has weighed the mountains in a balance. You can’t lift a mountain — it would crush you. And to Him, holding the weight of the whole earth is nothing. That’s the kind of magnitude behind the mercy He extends in the gospel. If you understand His glory and attach it rightly to the gospel, you would never, for one moment, doubt your salvation. His love is abundant precisely because He is that great.

Isaiah 40 goes further still — He sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers. That verse has a way of taking the legs right out from under whatever you thought you were. And Psalm 136 ties every one of His works — the heavens made by wisdom, the sun to rule the day, the moon and stars to rule the night — to one refrain: for His mercy endureth forever. He is merciful, and what He creates out of that mercy is good.

But that same name that forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin also, by no means, clears the guilty. Nahum 1 puts both sides together in the same breath — slow to anger, great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked; the mountains quake at Him, the hills melt, and yet He is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows them that trust in Him. None else creates like Him. None else judges like Him. None else forgives like Him — because none else has ever had a name like His to live up to. And that’s exactly why He is to be feared.

Unknowable, Yet Known

Here’s the tension worth sitting in before we close: this God is, in one sense, unknowable — “canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” — and yet, in another sense, He can truly be known. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.” Paul prays that we would know the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ — praying to know what, in another sense, cannot be searched out to its bottom.

The fear of Him and the knowledge of Him aren’t two separate steps. They’re one growing thing. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and the knowledge that fear opens the door to only deepens the very fear that gave rise to it in the first place.

What This Means for You

We serve a big God. That’s the understatement running under everything here. There’s none else like Him in name, in glory, in works — unsearchable, and yet knowable. And who He is isn’t incidental to how we live; it’s the whole foundation underneath it.

Fear and love aren’t opposites in a relationship like this. A son can genuinely fear his father — know exactly what it costs to disappoint him — and still know, without a flicker of doubt, that he’s loved. Those two things hold together, not in spite of each other, but because of who the father actually is. So it is with our Father, except greater, because there is none else like Him.

So ask yourself plainly: why don’t we make haste? Why aren’t we bowing, worshiping, letting Him be the weightiest thing in our minds and hearts and in every corner of our lives? He has mercy on those who fear Him. He takes pleasure in those who fear Him. Rightly understood, fear isn’t something that drives you away from Him. It’s what draws you near, because there is finally something — someone — weighty enough to be worth being drawn to.

— Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is adapted from the opening session of a weekend conference on the fear of the Lord.

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

What does it take to qualify as a Redeemer? In this first installment of a two-part message on redemption, Pastor Josh opens in Ephesians 1:7 and traces the doctrine of redemption from God’s eternal counsel into the pages of Ruth. Redemption was no afterthought — it was the prudent provision of an all-wise God who foresaw the entry of sin and purposed in eternity past to purchase man back to Himself.

Drawing on the laws of the kinsman-redeemer in Leviticus 25 and the vivid typology of Boaz in Ruth 3–4, Pastor Josh identifies three qualifications that God has stipulated for any redeemer: he must be the nearest kinsman, he must be willing, and he must be able to pay the ransom price without compromising his own inheritance. Christ meets every qualification — and surpasses them all. For His riches are so vast that the price of redemption is only a portion. Part 2 will take up the cross and the free gift of that redemption.

KEY SCRIPTURES

Psalm 49:7–8

“None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)”

Colossians 1:16–18

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

Ruth 3:9, 12–13

“And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman... And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman’s part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the LORD liveth: lie down until the morning.”

Ruth 4:4–6

“And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.”

2 Corinthians 8:9

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

Ephesians 1:7

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

EPISODE OUTLINE

1. The need for redemption — what sin and death brought into God’s creation

2. God’s eternal counsel — wisdom, prudence, and the foreknowledge of evil

3. The law of faith versus the law of works — how God stipulated redemption

4. Colossians 1:16–18 — Christ preeminent in creation and in redemption

5. The book of Ruth — Boaz as a type of Christ the Redeemer

6. Qualification 1: the nearest kinsman — Leviticus 25 and Ruth 3:12

7. Qualification 2: willingness — “I will do to thee all that thou requirest” (Ruth 3:11)

8. Qualification 3: ability — paying the ransom without marring his own inheritance (Ruth 4:6)

9. The exceeding riches of grace — redemption as only a portion of what Christ possesses

10. 2 Corinthians 8:9 — though He was rich, He became poor that we might be made rich

QUESTIONS DISCUSSED

1. Why does God stipulate qualifications for the Redeemer, and what does this reveal about His justice?

2. What is the significance of the nearest kinsman requirement — how does Christ fulfill this in His incarnation?

3. Boaz said “I will” — in what sense is Christ’s willingness to redeem meaningful to you personally?

4. What does it mean that Boaz was “able” to redeem without marring his inheritance? How does this picture Christ’s infinite sufficiency?

5. Pastor Josh says redemption is only a portion of the riches of grace. What does that say about how broadly we should understand salvation?

6. How should the truth of Ephesians 1:7 — redemption according to the riches of His grace — shape the way you think about your standing before God?

If God didn’t put this in His Word, there’d be no real importance to it. He chose to put it there because it’s important. And here’s why it matters: if you don’t know what was done to you, not by you, then your assurance will often collapse into performance. You’ll think you performed something, and therefore your new-creature-ness is dependent on you. Self-effort and religion never understand this operation. It’s always what I do, where I go, what I give — Jesus thrown in the mix as just a help to what I ultimately do. That completely negates the work of the Spirit. It negates the convicting work of the Spirit, the role of the ambassador and the Gospel being shared, and the ministry of the Spirit in the circumcision made without hands, the sealing, the regeneration no man can perform on himself, and certainly not some other man with holy water or a prescription. Only the Spirit of God can do that. Understand what was actually done to you, and your assurance gets more settled, not less.

We’ll take this in four parts: the diagnosis, applied in the moment the gospel is heard; the operation itself, and what it cuts and gives; and the result — the new identification that comes out the other side.

The Diagnosis, Applied

Every operation starts with the diagnosis. Before the scalpel is lifted, that’s where we begin. And a good doctor doesn’t operate blind, and neither does God. Jesus tells His disciples in John 16:7-8 that it’s expedient for Him to go away, because if He doesn’t, the Comforter won’t come — but if He departs, He’ll send Him. And when the Spirit comes, “he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Of sin, verse 9, because they believe not on Him. Of righteousness, verse 10, because He goes to the Father and they see Him no more — He’s their righteousness, and now the Spirit reproves them concerning where righteousness actually is. Of judgment, verse 11, because the prince of this world is judged. Three things the Spirit reproves the whole world of — not just Israel — and this reproving is illumination. It’s enlightening.

Remember, darkness is the cloak for the unbeliever’s excuse to keep sinning. The light of the Gospel comes in, penetrates the darkness, and doesn’t just address the darkness — it goes right to the issue. That’s why I love the Gospel. It cuts straight to the point. It doesn’t deal with the slogans people use to cover up their sin. It just says, that thing is sin, and you’re a sinner, and you’re guilty before God.

2 Corinthians 4:6 says it plainly: “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The same God who spoke light into Genesis speaks light into a darkened heart. You don’t see it take place, but it happens. And what does that light do first? It reproves the heart of sin. It reproves of righteousness — you can’t bring your own. And of judgment, because the prince of this world has already been judged.

This is part of the Spirit’s diagnosing ministry, and the darkness doesn’t want it made manifest. It’s done some good work keeping itself hid, filling a life with slogans and sayings to make it all right. And when the light of the Gospel comes blazing forth into that, there’s often offense, often a reaction of the flesh — but that’s part of the diagnosing ministry too. Because the conscience, once seared, gets scraped by the scalpel of the Gospel, and it cuts. That’s what the Word of God does. It’s sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the spiritual level. To the unbeliever it’s applying pressure. But it’s just light. Conviction is a good thing.

The Operation

This brings us to Colossians 2, where Paul is dealing with a church being duped and spoiled by philosophy and vain deceit, chasing something they’ve already been given in Christ. Verse 10: “Ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”

You want to subject yourself to an outward circumcision with hands, when you’ve already received the one made without hands. You want to engage in some outward washing of baptism, when you’ve already received the baptism of the Spirit into Christ. You want to engage in your own operation, when you’ve already participated in the operation of God.

There’s an acronym some use to help hold the pieces together — CRIBS: circumcision, regeneration, indwelling, baptism, and sealing. I don’t think these transpire in that particular order, but it’s a way to help remember what took place.

Circumcision without hands is spiritual surgery, cutting away the sins of the flesh. This is what happens in the mind of the one who believes: not just hearing the diagnosis as if it’s some kind of true thing out there, but believing it’s true of me. I have a body of sin. Sin dwells in me. I have sinned. I have the flesh. That’s fundamentally understood regarding my sin and the debt and penalty of it. The Spirit circumcises the heart, and now everyone who needs to be on the same page is on the same page.

Baptism here is not water — it’s the reality water baptism was always pointing to. It’s union with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6:3-4: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: 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.” Baptism encompasses the total and complete identification with Christ in His work — His death, burial, and resurrection.

Regeneration is the issue of death to life, and then reigning in that life. Titus 3:5 calls it “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” The Greek word is palingenesia — new genesis, new life. This answers directly what we already saw about being dead to God, alive to sin. Now, through the Gospel and the Spirit’s work, we’ve been identified as dead to sin and alive unto God. We’ve been quickened. We’ve been regenerated. And this life is eternal, not temporary. It’s fixed in Jesus Christ.

Indwelling is the Spirit now taking up residence. Romans 8:9: “But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Not a visit. A residence.

Sealing is the guarantee. 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13-14, and 4:30 all use the language — sealed with the Spirit of promise, the earnest of our inheritance, sealed unto the day of redemption. He sutures us up, and that can never be changed. These are eternal sutures. You can never be opened up again. You don’t need to. The procedure was so precisely done, so accurate, that the only thing left waiting is for this same inner man, already made new, to put on a body that matches it — which hasn’t happened yet, but must happen, because of the work already done within.

So the Spirit isn’t merely the physician who diagnoses. He’s the surgeon who performs the exact procedure needed. His incision and His technique are impeccable. He’s a master. And the work is finished. He closes it all up. He seals it, not to be reopened — not even by us.

The Result: A New Creature

2 Corinthians 5:17 lands the whole thing in one sentence: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” And 1 Corinthians 1:30 shows exactly what answers what: “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Righteousness — that’s your justification. Sanctification — that’s your sanctification, plainly. And redemption — that’s your glorification, the redemption of the body still to come. Instead of condemned in Adam, you are justified in Christ. Instead of abomination in Adam, you are sanctified in Christ. Instead of alienation in Adam, you are glorified in Christ. Your identity is total and complete, and He has the exact remedy for everywhere we needed salvation.

What This Means for You

These things transpire when the seed of the Gospel reaches the fertile soil of the believing heart — when the patient, having heard the grave diagnosis, willingly subjects himself to the hand of the operator, to the hand of the Physician. Many cuts, but one operation. Life given. A new resident received. A permanent seal set. An old identity buried and a new one raised. If you’ve never believed this Gospel, that’s the whole of it — not performing the surgery yourself, not bringing your own tools, just believing what’s true and letting Him do what only He can do. He’s already diagnosed exactly what’s wrong. He already knows exactly what needs to be cut away and exactly what needs to be given. The only question is whether you’ll let Him operate.

If you’re already in Christ, this is worth returning to whenever your assurance starts drifting toward performance. You didn’t do this to yourself. You couldn’t have. The circumcision, the baptism, the regeneration, the indwelling, the sealing — every one of them was done to you, by a Physician whose technique is impeccable and whose work, once finished, He closes up and doesn’t reopen. What’s left isn’t more surgery. It’s living like the operation actually happened — because it did, whether you feel the incision or not.

— Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is the fifth article in a ten-part study on Union in Christ at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. Next up: what it means to be justified, sanctified, and glorified in Christ — more teaching like this at beholding-christ.com.

There’s a false assumption people carry, and it isn’t merely ignorance of God. It’s an embraced ignorance — very studious, very knowledgeable ignorance of God. So we’re going to take this in four parts: first, what alienation is, and then three features of it — under the power of darkness, led by the spirit of this world, and darkness itself.

What Alienation Is

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:17-19 that Gentiles walk “in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”

We’re not left to speculation about how the world walks. We’re given a very precise diagnosis of the darkness that prevails — not physical darkness under the sun, but the darkness that dwells in the hearts and minds of men. He starts with the vanity of their mind. It’s not that they don’t have a mind, or that they don’t exercise it. Their mind dabbles in and engages in vanity. It’s useless. It’s empty. It’s purposeless. It has no value in how they exercise the very faculty God gave them.

Then he says, having the understanding darkened. They do not have the understanding of God. They do not have an understanding of themselves or of how God made them to operate. And why is the understanding darkened? Because they’re alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them — not ignorance God gave them, but ignorance they embrace. And why the ignorance and the alienation? Because of the blindness of their heart. Their heart, their affections, their desires, their pursuits — blinded. They don’t see what they ought to see.

He goes further in verse 19: past feeling. They’re blind, they’re darkened, it’s vain — and it’s not pretty. This is like going to a doctor, feeling a little sick, and being told you have stage-four cancer in your liver, your lungs, your heart, everywhere, and your brain is about to shut down. You have no hope. That is the spiritual reality every person is born into, and what the world at large is still a part of.

Webster’s 1828 dictionary gives alienation four senses: a legal transfer of title, the state of being estranged, a withdrawing of the heart’s affections, and — strikingly — delirium, derangement of the mental faculties, insanity. Paul’s language draws on nearly all four at once. This is biblical psychology. You don’t need to go to a psychologist about your individual spiritual problems. You need to go to the Word of God and learn what you were naturally a part of, and see how your inward faculties work, and how you’ve used them against yourself.

Under the Power of Darkness

Colossians 1:13 says God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” We’ve already seen sin’s jurisdiction. But there’s a dominion within that jurisdiction. Not only do we, as servants of sin, commit those things — the power of darkness is the master’s own education, his teaching, for us to continue embracing sin. It’s the reason, the cause, the knowledge behind the obedience. It’s the same territory as sin’s jurisdiction, just looked at from a different angle — what makes the jurisdiction hostile to God in every particular aspect. It’s a governing force. It’s a mechanism. It’s the engine. It’s the weapon. It’s what makes this thing persist and gives it motion. And the one who reigns in this dominion, the prince of the power of the air, rules this territory and wields the sword of darkness over us so that we continue to cater to it — appealing to us, working to keep us content in it.

Ephesians 6:12 widens the scope: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 2:2 names a single individual — the prince of the power of the air. But here we see rulers, plural. It’s not just an individual. There’s a whole rank — principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world. It’s layered authority. It’s organized hierarchy.

Led by the Spirit of This World

This prince rules according to “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2) — a spirit that educates, that dabbles in everything, because God has thoughts about everything He’s instituted, and this spirit has to counter every one of them. Colossians 2:8 warns believers plainly: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” It comes out through philosophies — vain deceit, not after Jesus Christ, even when it borrows His name. The question is always whether it aligns with the Jesus Christ of the Bible and what He actually said.

The leading of this spirit doesn’t begin with an act. It’s a counterfeit of the Spirit of God. How does the Spirit of God work? He teaches, He gives us words. That’s exactly what the spirit of this world does too, which is why you have to be mindful of what you allow in — the things themselves often aren’t evil, it’s what’s on the airwaves, what’s being taught, how you’re being educated by the spirit of this world. And it works through deceit, which is deliberate. Not an honest mistake — a trick designed to make a lie pass for truth, made harder for the light to penetrate the longer it’s kept hidden instead of addressed.

The Puritan William Greenhill put the pull of it plainly: “there is a great suitableness between the world and our corrupt hearts and natures — its pleasures, profits, and honors suit our fancies and our dispositions exactly, because the world is the devil’s instrument for leading men and women captive, offering each one the particular bait suited to his own taste.” We don’t serve this prince in Adam because he’s strong. We serve him because he’s crafty, and because he’s generous in giving us exactly what we already wanted.

Loving the Darkness

John 3:18-20 puts the sharpest point on all of this. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” And then: “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say men love sin — though they do. It says they love darkness. Light has come into the world to address their sinfulness, but it also has to deal with the darkness they cloak themselves in concerning it. The condemnation isn’t only that you’re a sinner. It’s that you love the very thing that keeps you in it. “Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” Pride would rather hold onto the deed than be corrected of it, even when the correction is the only door out.

“I’m Fine”

This is the objection every person still in Adam is quietly making, whether they say it out loud or not — I’m fine, it’s okay. It’s like someone shown a terminal diagnosis, stage four, two days to live, looking at the results and saying, I’m good, while they’re coughing up blood. That’s not confidence. It’s the darkness itself, functioning exactly as it’s designed to — convincing the patient there’s nothing to diagnose. But the doctor, Jesus Christ, doesn’t come along and say you’re fine. He says He came as the great physician to save sinners — to save you, from your terminal spiritual illness. He doesn’t just give the proper diagnosis. He gives the exact remedy.

To the One Still in Adam

Let me be plain about what a Christian actually is — not someone who attends church, or grew up around it, or found something appealing about it. A Christian is someone who believes this: that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, that He came and died not for the sins of the world in the abstract but for yours specifically, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day. And that He extends to you what He did on the cross — paying the debt and penalty of your sin — so that if it doesn’t get applied to you, you will pay for it yourself, for all eternity. You don’t have a righteousness before Him. The righteousness of God in Christ has to be given to you. And the only way you receive it — the only way — is not some pseudo-spirituality, not works you’ve conjured up because they once seemed practical. It’s by faith. I trust not myself. Not one iota. I abandon myself, I abandon all my own ways to God, and I only believe in Jesus Christ and what He has done for me. That’s the whole of it. And here’s the wonderful thing about it: it’s simple. It’s so simple. Because He did all the work. It only takes our own flesh and our own thinking to complicate it. A Christian isn’t defined by attending church or finding something appealing in it — it’s what you believe about Jesus Christ and what He’s done concerning your sin.

To the One Already in Christ

We don’t get to assume union with Christ makes us immune to this same darkness. We can still fall victim to the world’s alienation from God — still generate our own opinions and conclusions out of our own greediness rather than out of what God has said, still mistake a self-generated sense of pleasing God for actual faith in Him. What’s at stake in both cases is the same thing: the authority of Scripture, the authority of the Spirit, against a darkness that always insists it can see just fine.

We were sometimes darkness, Paul says — not merely once in darkness, but darkness, fully identified with it, the same way sin fully identified us as its servants. But now are we light in the Lord. Our whole identity has changed. Because of Jesus Christ we are light, led by the light so that we might be enlightened truly, and able to propagate that light inwardly in mind and heart and outwardly in works — the same way we once propagated darkness. Hold onto even a little of that light in a world this dark, and it will shine far brighter than you expect.

— Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is the fourth article in a ten-part study on Union in Christ at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. Next up: the operation of God that moves a person out of Adam and into Christ — more teaching like this at beholding-christ.com.

Episode Description

Why does a loving God allow suffering in the lives of His people? And what is God doing in our trials that we might not see at the moment? These are not merely philosophical questions -- they are the questions every believer will face at some point in their life. The question is not whether we will suffer. It is how we will respond when we do.

In this episode, Pastor Josh examines the origin, purpose, and proper response to suffering and trials. Suffering entered the world through sin (Genesis 3) and comes to the believer through three channels: the general effects of the fallen world, the persecution that comes from living godly in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:12), and the consequences of our own poor choices. But whatever the cause, God’s purpose remains the same: to conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29), to chasten us for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness (Hebrews 12), and to wean us from earthly comforts and fix our eyes on the eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). No suffering is wasted. The comfort we receive becomes the ministry we give. And we who are in Christ are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

Key Scriptures

Genesis 3:17-18 -- Cursed Is the Ground

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

John 16:33 -- In the World Ye Shall Have Tribulation

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

1 Peter 4:12 -- Think It Not Strange

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.

2 Timothy 3:12 -- All That Will Live Godly Shall Suffer Persecution

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Romans 8:18 -- Not Worthy to Be Compared

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Romans 8:28-29 -- All Things Work Together for Good

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 -- An Eternal Weight of Glory

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Hebrews 12:10-11 -- Chastened for Our Profit

For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 -- My Grace Is Sufficient

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Philippians 4:6-7 -- Be Careful for Nothing

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:6-7 -- Cast All Your Care upon Him

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 -- Comfort Wherewith We Ourselves Are Comforted

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Romans 8:37 -- More Than Conquerors

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Episode Outline

1. The Origin of Suffering -- Sin, judgment, and the curse upon the earth (Genesis 3:17-18)

2. Three Sources of Suffering -- The fallen world; living godly in Christ Jesus; our own sin and its consequences

3. In the World Ye Shall Have Tribulation -- John 16:33 and the certainty of suffering for every believer

4. What God Is Doing -- Conforming us to Christ’s image; weaning from earthly comforts (Romans 8:28-29)

5. Chastening for Our Profit -- Hebrews 12:10-11 and partaking of His holiness

6. Light Affliction and Eternal Weight of Glory -- 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 and the eternal perspective

7. My Grace Is Sufficient -- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; strength made perfect in weakness

8. The Believer’s Response -- Prayer (Philippians 4:6-7), casting care (1 Peter 5:7), worship not grumbling

9. Suffering as Ministry -- Comforted to comfort; our trials become testimonies (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

10. No Suffering Is Wasted -- More than conquerors through Him that loved us (Romans 8:37)

Questions Discussed

1. Why does a loving God allow suffering in the lives of His people?

2. What is God doing in your trial that you might not be able to see at the moment?

3. How can suffering become a means of growth rather than despair?

4. What are the three sources of suffering -- and do you know which kind you are in?

5. How does the eternal weight of glory change your posture toward present suffering?

6. Are you clinging to God through your suffering -- or severing relationship because of it?

7. How has the comfort you have received in a trial prepared you to comfort someone else?

Episode Description

What does it truly mean to walk in the Spirit? And what fruit or evidence should show up in the life of someone who is Spirit-led? Walking in the Spirit is not a vague spiritual feeling or a heightened emotional state. It is the most precise and practical thing in the Christian life -- a continual dependency on a Person who dwells within, teaches through the Word, and leads through the mind.

In this episode, Pastor Josh examines what it means to walk in the Spirit day by day. The Spirit’s ministry is not merely influence; it is transformation -- teaching the mind of Christ, renewing the understanding, and producing fruit that the flesh could never manufacture (Galatians 5:22-23). Walking in the Spirit begins in the mind: filling it with the Word, meditating on what the Spirit teaches, and proving the will of God not as a formula but as a living, faith-driven outworking in the unique circumstances of each believer’s life (Romans 12:2). Sowing to the Spirit means engaging now with things that are eternal -- laying hold on eternal life while still in this body. The call is not to try harder, but to learn more and trust deeper.

Key Scriptures

Galatians 5:16-17 -- Walk in the Spirit and Ye Shall Not Fulfil the Lust of the Flesh

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Galatians 5:22-23 -- The Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Romans 8:5-6, 9 -- They That Are After the Spirit Mind the Things of the Spirit

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace... But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

1 Corinthians 2:12-16 -- We Have the Mind of Christ

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned... For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Ephesians 4:20-21 -- Taught by Him as the Truth Is in Jesus

But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.

Philippians 2:3-5 -- Let This Mind Be in You Which Was Also in Christ Jesus

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Romans 12:2 -- Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Galatians 6:8 -- He That Soweth to the Spirit Shall Reap Life Everlasting

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Proverbs 3:5-6 -- Acknowledge Him in All Thy Ways

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Colossians 3:16-17 -- Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Episode Outline

1. The Spirit’s Indwelling vs. the Spirit’s Filling -- Having the Spirit and being filled are not the same (Galatians 5:16)

2. The Battle Within -- The flesh lusts against the Spirit; the new conflict of the believer (Galatians 5:17)

3. The Spirit Leads Through the Mind -- Not through the belly or emotions, but through renewed understanding (Romans 8:5-6)

4. The Mind of Christ -- The Spirit teaches us Jesus; 1 Corinthians 2:12-16, Ephesians 4:20-21, Philippians 2:5

5. Renewing the Mind and Proving the Will of God -- Romans 12:2 and the objective/subjective distinction

6. Sowing to the Spirit -- Engaging now with eternal things; Galatians 6:8 and laying hold on eternal life

7. Fill, Meditate, Pray -- The practical sequence: Word in the mind, rumination, prayer in conjunction

8. Trust Deeper, Not Try Harder -- The walk is by faith, not formula; Proverbs 3:5-6

Questions Discussed

1. What does it truly mean to walk in the Spirit -- and how is that different from trying harder?

2. Do you know you have the Spirit? Do you know the role of His ministry in your life?

3. Why does walking in the Spirit begin in the mind rather than in outward effort?

4. What is the difference between having the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit?

5. What does it mean to prove the will of God -- and how does the objective and subjective distinction help?

6. Are you sowing to the Spirit or to the flesh -- and what are you reaping?

7. Are you partaking in the Spirit’s ministry of learning, meditating, and praying in view of all things of life?

By definition, condemnation is the judicial act of declaring one guilty and dooming him to punishment. It’s the state of being condemned. You are tried, the verdict has been dealt, the sentence has been given, and there is a declaration of guilty appropriate to the crime. And yet condemnation is often treated by the one who is actually condemned as if it’s a neutral thing — not a verdict already rendered, already enforced, but just a risk maybe hanging over the head. That is not what Scripture says. It’s not what it says at all.

Paul isn’t describing a gradual accumulation of guilt through personal sins, even though there is that too. He’s describing a judicial verdict rendered through one man’s offense that extends to all men legally with him. So you don’t become condemned. You’re born it. That’s what you inherit from Adam. Condemnation is what you stand under. What you stand under is sin itself.

We first took a look at the issue of abomination, the issue of our uncleanness — that has to do with our identity being unclean, and therefore the works produced from that uncleanness being unclean too. Condemnation is the legal shape of that same identity. So we’re going to look at four things: what condemnation means, by definition, and then three features regarding our condemnation in Adam — what it means to be under sin, what the wages of sin are, and what it means to be guilty before God.

Under Sin

Come with me to Romans 3:9, a few chapters back. Are we better than they, Paul asks — Jew better than Gentile? "No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." Under is the state of subjection, the state of being under control, governed and ruled by. Paul has spent two and a half chapters proving Jew and Gentile alike in this condition — not that individuals sin occasionally, but that both categories of humanity, without exception, live under sin's jurisdiction. Galatians 3:22 confirms it in sharper terms still: "The scripture hath concluded all under sin." Mankind confined, with no exit, no escape, no excuse. Every man in Adam already inside sin's jurisdiction, and therefore already inside its condemned state — not awaiting judgment, but already under it. Jurisdiction does not ask your opinion of its laws. It only asks whether you are standing inside its borders, and by birth you already are.

Grace Multiplies What Adam Multiplied

Here’s what makes this doctrine, grim as it is, precious rather than merely heavy. Romans 5:16 draws a contrast most people rush past: “The judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.” One offense brought condemnation. But the free gift addresses many offenses — not just Adam’s, but every one that followed him. Grace mathematics works this way: if Christ dies for Adam’s one sin, and one more, grace is already twice as powerful as what Adam brought in. If He dies for ten sins, it’s ten times as powerful. Do the math on a lifetime of sins and you start to see why this still brings me to tears every time I sit with it. It doesn’t mean He wants you to sin — God forbid. But when you start questioning your salvation over your own sin, remember the math. You never measured your standing by your record to begin with. Why start now?

The Wages of Sin

To add to all of that, you have the wages of sin. Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin’s payment isn’t a threat hanging over the guilty. It’s a wage already earned, the way any laborer is owed for service rendered. And a wage is not a one-time strike — it’s an ongoing payment for what’s been done, measured out, not just simply declared. Romans 2:5 shows the bill still growing: “After thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath.” Not freedom. Not grace. Not mercy. Not escape or excuse, leniency or clemency. Just wrath.

I was reading a book by a man named George Swinnock once, and in it he gave one of the most graphic descriptions I’ve found of the wages of sin. I remember reading it one night and it brought me to tears — Lord, don’t let me lose this sight of Your judgment, in which I would not open my mouth to proclaim the gospel as the remedy. He pictures a soul at the very moment of death, still reckoning, too late, with everything it had refused to reckon with before:

“Now your soul stands quivering upon your pale lips, ready to take its flight to its eternal home. You see devils, like so many ravening and roaring lions, looking and longing, for you—their prey. Your past sins trouble you. Oh, how you curse your pastimes and pleasures, your companions and possessions, which stole away your time and affections and hindered your preparation for such a dreadful hour! . . . Now, my day is past, my soul is lost, heaven’s gate is shut. Woe, it is too late! The blessed God, in whose favor is life, to whom I said, ‘Depart from me,’ has now fixed my doom to depart from Him forever.”1

Swinnock doesn't let the picture end there. He goes on to describe a misery with no end date to imagine, no arithmetic that makes it bearable — a mind still fully alive, but permanently cut off from anything that could be called living, endlessly arriving at a death it can never finish dying. That's what awaits man apart from Christ. And a wage is not a threat. It's a receipt that is already written, just waiting now to be collected. Every day one lives in Adam, unrepentant, treasures up more of it.

Guilty Before God

And finally, we're guilty before God. Romans 3:19: "That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Guiltiness needs to be understood two ways. There's the feeling of guilt, which a person can have or not have. And there's the legal standing, which doesn't move either way. There might be someone before a judge who truly doesn't think what they did was wrong, and yet the verdict and the sentence have already been passed, whether they feel guilty or not. Guilt today in our world is a feeling that just needs to be managed, a mistake to be corrected. But it's a legal standing before God to be known, not something received because you feel guilty or not. The Word says it, and the law was given so that you would know that you are. And it isn't partial — one point of failure implicates you under the whole law, because the One who made all the laws is God, and if you offend Him at one point, you offend Him at every point. Every mouth may be stopped. Not a partial stop, and not only a select group. Every mouth stops.

Two Ways to Get This Wrong

Condemnation is a legal problem, but it's a legal problem before God that has a solution. When there's a misunderstanding of condemnation, it can produce one of two errors: a false security — I'm not that bad — or a crushing despair with no remedy in view — I could never be forgiven. But when it's rightly understood, it presses you toward the only place where grace and mercy and forgiveness can actually be found. As grim as it is, harsh as it is, once you can't take either of those two erroneous positions, you're left only with Jesus Christ.

To the One Still in Adam

Everything we've discussed — under sin, wages earned, guilty before God — traces back to one thread: Adam. You're not on trial. The trial is over. The verdict was rendered the moment you were born in Adam, and every day since has just been you adding to the bill. You have likely been treating your standing before God as an open question — something still to be decided, still up for negotiation, still dependent on how the rest of your life goes. And yet it isn't open. It's closed. The verdict is already in. The only remaining question is whether you'll hear it from God now, on the terms of mercy, or later, on the terms of justice. There's only one way this verdict changes — not by good behavior improving your case, not by time reducing the debt, but by believing on the One who already paid it in full. Jesus Christ bore the wages your sin earned, was condemned in your place, and rose again the third day so the verdict against you could be reversed, not ignored. If you have never believed on what Christ has done for you, today is the day to be saved.

To the One Already in Christ

This was our verdict too. It wasn't hypothetical — it was the one we actually stood under before the grace of God appeared and we believed. The condemnation was real, the debt was real, the guilt was real, and every bit of it was paid — not waived, paid by Jesus Christ. So may we never let familiarity with the doctrine of justification dull the size of what it actually addressed. If looking at these things has only produced relief that you're no longer under this verdict, it has only done half of its work. It should also produce a genuine, trembling gratitude. We were not almost condemned, not partially guilty. We were under the full weight of everything looked at here — and Christ absorbed it. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). I pray that the weight of this would have its ongoing work in us — not just a fear, but something that leads us to worship. Not worship only in the sense of singing songs, but the kind that transforms you, that changes your thinking, that begins to educate you and change your life.

— Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

This is the third article in a ten-part study on Union in Christ at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. Next up: alienation — more teaching like this at beholding-christ.com.

Episode Description

Where does the Christian walk begin? Is it with willpower, religious discipline, or moral effort? And what is the difference between a believer striving in the flesh and a believer walking after the Spirit? The question is not whether to have activity -- Scripture calls the believer to good works. The question is where that activity comes from.

In this episode, Pastor Josh examines the two operating systems available to the Christian: flesh and Spirit. The flesh cannot produce what pleases God, even when pointed at good things like the law. Romans 7 exposes this failure; Romans 8 provides the alternative. Walking after the Spirit means the Spirit becomes the source, the Word becomes the instruction, and the inner man becomes the dwelling place from which true fruit flows outward. Two pitfalls threaten this walk: Galatianism -- the tendency to return to law-keeping as the path to spiritual growth (Galatians 3:3) -- and Corinthianism -- the drift toward the world’s wisdom as a substitute for God’s. The alternative to both is 2 Corinthians 9:8: God’s grace is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you may abound in every good work.

Key Scriptures

Ephesians 2:10 -- Created unto Good Works

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Romans 6:14 -- Not Under the Law, but Under Grace

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 7:7, 14-15 -- The Struggle of the Flesh Under the Law

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law... For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Romans 8:1, 4-5 -- Walking After the Spirit

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit... That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Romans 8:3 -- What the Law Could Not Do

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.

Galatians 2:20 -- Christ Liveth in Me

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Galatians 3:3 -- Having Begun in the Spirit

Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Galatians 5:1 -- Stand Fast in the Liberty

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

2 Corinthians 9:8 -- All Grace Abound Toward You

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.

1 Corinthians 2:9-12 -- Revealed unto Us by His Spirit

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God... Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Romans 12:1-2 -- Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Episode Outline

1. Where the Christian Walk Begins -- Not in willpower or effort, but in God’s grace (Ephesians 2:10, Romans 6:14)

2. The Flesh Defined -- Our natural infirmity, insufficiency, and inability to please God

3. The Law and the Flesh -- Romans 7 and why the law is holy yet weak through the flesh (Romans 8:3)

4. Walking After the Spirit -- Spirit as source, Word as instruction, inner man as dwelling place (Romans 8:1-5)

5. It Is No Longer I but Christ -- Galatians 2:20 and the grace that produces what flesh cannot

6. Pitfall One: Galatianism -- Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)

7. Pitfall Two: Corinthianism -- The drift toward the world’s wisdom in place of God’s (1 Corinthians 2:9-12)

8. Grace Sufficient for Every Good Work -- 2 Corinthians 9:8 as the operating principle of the Christian walk

9. Flesh-Driven vs. Spirit-Led -- Outward vanity and emptiness vs. inward transformation producing outward fruit

Questions Discussed

1. Where does the Christian walk begin -- and what is actually powering your walk?

2. What is the flesh -- and why can it not please God even when directed at good things?

3. What is the difference between walking after the flesh and walking after the Spirit?

4. What is Galatianism -- and are you susceptible to it?

5. What is Corinthianism -- and how does the world’s wisdom creep into the Christian life?

6. Are you striving in your own strength, or by His mighty power that effectually works in those who believe?

7. Is your Christianity outward effort with inward emptiness -- or inward transformation producing outward fruit?

This is the second lesson in a ten-lesson series on our identity in Christ. The first lesson laid the groundwork. This lesson, along with the next two, examines our identity in Adam before we turn to the mechanism by which that identity changes, and then to our identity in Christ itself. These next three lessons will be grim. But the doctrine of our union in Christ shines brightly only against the backdrop of who we are by nature.

The goal here is not to consider how you view yourself, how the world views you, or what your own heart or reputation might suggest. What matters is what God says. What is His verdict? Scripture is not vague on this point — and it is, in one sense, the offense of the cross. The cross says: I need to die for you, because you are so vile, so wretched, so wicked, from head to toe, inside and outside, that everything you touch becomes unclean because you are unclean. Christ has to come and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. People do not like to hear this. They do not want to admit how wretched they are.

Abomination in Adam

Titus 1:15–16 sets the starting point: “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”

Paul is writing to Titus about the believers on Crete. He notes that they profess to know God — but a verbal profession doesn’t always mean something. “In works they deny him.” That is their behavior, their conduct, their manner of life. And Paul doesn’t prescribe behavior modification as the remedy. He goes to the root: being abominable. Not merely what they do, but the essence of their being — the core of who they are — is abominable, and so their works deny Him. They are disobedient “unto every good work.” Every good work. Not “over here I need help, but over here I’m good.” As one in Adam, there is abomination — full stop.

There are only two places of union available from God’s perspective: union with Adam (Romans 5) or union with Christ. We are born in Adam by natural birth and natural inheritance. What Adam did gets passed on to us. We inherit it.

Three things are worth seeing here: God’s reckoning of us prior to anything we do is that we are detestable, unclean, profane — biblical words — with an identity with sin so total and so inherent that nothing less than justification, sanctification, and glorification in Christ can meet it.

This matters because most people carry a settled verdict of themselves: not perfect, but decent. “I’m good enough.” How many times has someone responded to the gospel by saying they’re good enough, or better than the next person? That itself is a self-verdict that concedes sin — “I’m better than this person, but I’m not perfect” still means you need forgiveness, a righteousness you don’t possess. And people assume that verdict is shared by God.

Psalm 50:16–17 exposes this: “But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes...? Seeing thou hatest instruction... when thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him... thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit... these things hast thou done, and I kept silence.” Verse 21 gives their interpretation of that silence: “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself.” That’s man making God in his own image — not some equal image, but a sinful one, so that adultery and theft become things God is supposedly fine with, simply because He hasn’t directly spoken. Yet these people had the law. They had the Ten Commandments. They knew what sin was.

If a person never faces God’s actual verdict on them, they will settle for a false one of their own making — and trade Christ’s remedy for religion. This shows up even now: a resurgence of interest in religion, in behavior modification, in self-improvement — anything that doesn’t require being saved, because in their own estimate, they were never that far gone in the first place. But a false self-assessment cannot bear the weight of what the gospel actually cost: a Son crucified, penalty-bearing, substitutionary, on the cross under the wages of sin. None of that makes sense for someone who only needed a little correcting. They don’t need a raising from the dead.

Rightly grasping this is also what produces good works. Ephesians 2 says believers in Christ are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works — but those works don’t close a gap we’ve invented. They flow from knowing Him and what He has provided. Get the verdict about Adam wrong, and even good works become something we’ve done, something we can take credit for, rather than fruit that stems only from His grace, from beholding Him and being changed. The clear verdict doesn’t just tell us we need forgiveness — it tells us we need a radically new identity, and it becomes the basis of ongoing humility. God is not merely a one-time rescue out of Adam; He is our continual strength and refuge every day we remain in Christ.

Three Features: Dead to God, Alive to Sin, Enemies of God

Ephesians 2:1–3 lays these out together: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world... and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Here is a deadness that is nonetheless active — dead in trespasses and sins, yet walking (v. 2). That’s the abomination. Verse 3 adds God’s judicial verdict — condemnation — “children of wrath.” And there is alienation: separation, estrangement, no access to God.

Ephesians 4:17–18 develops the alienation: “That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Their heart blinds them, so they are ignorant of their own alienation — and they mistake that alienation for life itself, because they have pleasure in sin.

Isaiah 1:4–6 gives the illustration of sickness: “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” This is why, when the Lord comes to earth healing the sick and the blind left and right, it is a teaching and an illustration — real events that also point to His power to address the spiritual sickness of the inner man. He comes not for those who are healthy, but those who are sick — those who understand there is a problem.

Romans 5:16 distinguishes condemnation from the gift: “The judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.” The gift is greater — it deals not only with Adam’s offense but with our own offenses in Adam. Abomination is highlighted before condemnation because Scripture typically presents the identity and its fruit before the judicial verdict against it.

When God saves, He first judicially declares us righteous in Christ, then gives us a whole new identity: instead of abomination, sanctification; instead of condemnation, justification; instead of alienation, glorification — instead of eternal estrangement, immediate access, and one day, a glorified body before Him in love.

Dead to God

The word abomination carries the sense of extreme hatred, detestation, defilement, pollution — evil doctrines and practices that are moral defilements. In Titus 1, Paul describes those who profess to know God while their works deny Him: the profession is intact, but the mind and conscience are defiled, so nothing that follows from that root — however religious it looks — is actually pure. Abomination isn’t a verdict on isolated bad acts. It’s a verdict on the root.

Romans 6:11 states the positive, from which we deduce the prior condition: “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Before that “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” the reality was reversed — dead to God, alive to sin.

Man is not merely flawed toward God. He is dead toward Him. But this deadness is not inactivity — Scripture says he is “dead in his trespasses and sins,” which means he is doing a great deal of trespassing and sinning. The issue isn’t a cessation of activity; it’s the continuation of activity from a dead root — activity that can’t produce anything unto God. And men at large don’t even know they’re dead. They’re hourly active and unaware of their own plight.

Sin does what death cannot: it separates a man, while he is still very much alive, from God, who is the light and life of our lives. Nothing can separate a believer from the love of God — but sin severs relation to God in a man who is not yet in Christ.

James 2:26 defines physical death by comparison: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.” Death is separation — of spirit from body. In the same way, to be dead to God is to be wholly separated from Him — spirit, soul, and body (echoing 1 Thessalonians 5’s language of being “wholly” sanctified).

Paul himself is the case study: a religious man, certain of his own righteousness, persecuting the church while believing he was defending God. What he needed wasn’t more religious achievement — he needed to recognize he was a sinner like anyone else, needing to be quickened just as much as everyone else.

Romans 3:9–12 drives this home: “Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin... There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that seeketh after God... there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Dead men don’t know they are dead — that is precisely what makes them dead, not merely dying. You don’t ask a corpse whether it is a corpse.

Alive to Sin

Being dead to God is only half the diagnosis. The other half is that we are alive to sin. Man isn’t merely capable of sin — he pursues it, runs after it, the way a man runs after what he loves. Sin isn’t merely present in the unregenerate heart; it’s craved, loved, pursued with the passion a starving man brings to food — because to that heart, sin is food.

Romans 6 uses the language of servanthood, and it’s not a servant dragged unwillingly to his master — it’s a servant who loves his master, who runs to sin and calls that running freedom, liberty, progression. Job 15:16 pictures it starkly: “How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water” — the way water is a necessity of life. Proverbs 4:16–17 adds: “They sleep not, except they have done mischief... they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.”

Romans 6:14–19 develops the servant theme. Verse 16: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Verse 18: “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” — meaning that before, we were servants of sin. Jesus makes the same point in John 8:34: “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” Verse 20: “When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness... the end of those things is death.”

Consider the Old Testament picture of the bondservant who, given the chance to walk free, instead says, “I love my master, I don’t want to go out free, I want to live with him the rest of my life” — and has his ear bored through as a mark of devotion. That posture is usually preached toward those who love Christ. But it is the same posture the natural man holds toward sin. Not compelled — consenting. Not merely obeying — loving the one he obeys. It isn’t reluctant compliance; it’s approval, pleasure taken in the very things a man knows condemn him.

Romans 1:32 confirms this: “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” They know the verdict and delight in it anyway — and delight in others who do likewise, because misery loves company.

Where does this servanthood operate? Romans 7:5 answers: “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” It operates first in the body itself — sin’s motions stirring before a single outward act takes shape. Romans 6:13 calls the members “instruments of unrighteousness” — the same word used of weapons of warfare in Ephesians 6. What should have been offered to God is offered instead to self — to self-service, self-preservation, self-satisfaction. It is, in fact, warfare against God.

Paul calls this “the body of sin,” and two chapters later, “the body of this death.” This is the whole-scope wound pictured in Isaiah 1 — “the whole head... sick... the whole heart faint... no soundness in it.” And because the wound is total, the remedy must match its scope: not partial sanctification, but whole sanctification — spirit, soul, and body. Salvation operates in three tenses: saved from the debt and penalty of sin (dealing with condemnation), saved from the power of sin (dealing with abomination), and saved from the presence of sin (glorification).

The one in Adam is not merely sick with sin — he’s in love with it, even though it’s killing him, even though he’s dead. This isn’t a man merely infected with sin; sin has made him alive to it, and he calls it life. The exact things Scripture condemns, our culture now glorifies openly — nothing new, only unveiled. The one in Adam doesn’t serve sin because he must. He serves it because he loves its wages, even without having tasted them — every appetite fed is a debt collected, and what feels like life is truly death, taking its payment in installments.

Enemies of God

This is the stamp on it all. Romans 5:10 speaks of being “reconciled to God by the death of his Son” — implying the prior state was not merely sin committed and loved, but enmity: identification with sin so complete that our master has named us after his own works. We’re not merely those who commit idolatry — we become idolaters. Not merely those who commit adultery — we’re named adulterers.

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 lists the names: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers... nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Romans 8:7 sharpens it further: “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” An enemy is one who is unfriendly, who hates and desires to injure another — a foe, an adversary — which is the very meaning of the name Satan.

Iniquity was first found not in Adam, but in Lucifer — lifted in pride, and rather than taking that iniquity to his Father, he cultivated it, increased it, trafficked it, until it reached Adam and Eve. That which originated in him — the “seed of evildoers” of Isaiah 1 — is now in Adam and passed to everyone after him. Our father, apart from Christ, is not God the Father but the father of the lie. And the servant of sin embraces the name given him: “I’m an adulterer, I’m a fornicator, and there’s nothing you can do about it” — loving the wages of sin without tasting them.

This adversarial posture is not confined to the mind. Genesis says every imagination of the heart was only evil continually. Colossians 1:21 speaks of being “alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.” Psalm 10:4 notes it even in outward bearing: “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God.” And in activity — “none righteous... none doeth good” — they earn the name: enemies, fornicators, the covetous, the whoremonger, and they forfeit the inheritance of the kingdom of God’s dear Son.

Psalm 51:5 completes the picture: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Job asks, “How can a man who is born of a woman be clean?” We are born in Adam, servants to the sin whose name follows us, children of the father the Scriptures identify with sin and iniquity.

The Remedy

These are the three features of abomination in Adam: dead to God, alive to sin, enemies of God. Grim — but useful. Paul later reminds believers in Titus 3 not to forget what they once were, hateful and hating one another, until the grace and love of God appeared and changed that. It’s only by that same grace that it changes now, and believers become the lens and the manifestation of it to those around them.

Consider the Old Testament leper — unclean, unable to approach God, required to call out “unclean, unclean” and keep his distance, with the priest able only to identify the disease, not heal it. In the same way, sin leaves us with no one able to take it away — until the Lord Jesus Christ comes. And unlike the priest, when He touches the leper, He does not become unclean; He cleanses the leper. He is the way, the truth, and the life — there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved.

If the clarity of your predicament in Adam is not yet apparent, believe what Scripture makes plain: it is all there, and it is not a diagnosis without a remedy. He will not take you as you are — you are an abomination to Him, condemned, alienated — but He comes to you, and provides the way for you to come to Him. Give up your own righteousness; Scripture calls it filthy rags. Whatever you might bring to Him as though it could save you, He strikes down and replaces with the true remedy.

There is no promise of another day. The hope found in Jesus Christ, grounded in His resurrection from the dead, stands unlike anything any other religion offers — a hope that stabilizes, strengthens, and comforts through every trial, until sorrow and tears are wiped away and swallowed up in victory, and joy and true pleasures remain forevermore in the presence of our God and King.

Look Up,

—Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

Walking Circumspectly by Redeeming the Time in Our Walk

In Ephesians, it was only a matter of time (all pun intended) before Paul would address the matter of time in the believers walk. Whether physically walking or spiritually walking time is to be considered in one way or another. All is being drawn to the dispensation of the fulness of times (Ephesians 1:10) that the fulness of His purpose in Christ would be realized (Ephesians 1:9).

In Ephesians chapter 5, we are called to “redeem the time,” a concept that resonates deeply when we consider its context. As believers, interconnected with Paul’s imperatives and rooted identity in Christ, we are not just to see ourselves justified and sanctified in God’s sight, but to actively engage in the transforming of our mind. Walking circumspectly, not as fools but wise, we recognize the fleeting nature of time amid evil days. Paul illuminates our journey by contrasting darkness and light, urging us not only to distance ourselves from the unfruitful works of darkness but to manifest light and truth in these evil days. This duality between our past blindness and our current enlightenment in Christ motivates our every step. As we embrace who we are in Him, each moment becomes a divine opportunity to bring forth God’s wisdom and goodness into the world. Let us, therefore, meditate upon the glory and urgency of this exhortation, living with purposeful intent, redeeming each precious moment given to us.

Walking circumspectly involves more than just cautious living; it requires us to actively reprove and expose the unfruitful works of darkness that pervade our world. Our life is not just about avoidance of sin but about manifesting the light that now dwells within us. Redeeming the time calls for us to make wise decisions, aligning our daily lives with the purpose and identity we have in Christ. Inherent in this call is the recognition that the days are filled with evil, yet in this bleak landscape, we are called to be beacons of light, offering something uniquely different—a life infused with God’s wisdom and goodness. The concept of a “circumspect walk” is intricately connected with “redeeming the time” as it instructs believers to approach their daily lives with careful consideration amidst a world characterized by evil days. A circumspect walk involves looking around with spiritual awareness, being mindful of one’s actions and decisions in light of biblical truth, and aligning one’s life with the wisdom and righteousness that God provides. This approach to life encourages believers to be intentional about utilizing every opportunity, ensuring that their time is spent in ways that honor God and reflect their identity in Christ. By walking circumspectly, believers are equipped to redeem the time by bringing light into darkness and demonstrating the goodness, righteousness, and truth of the Spirit, thereby transforming mundane moments into spiritually fruitful ones.

Perspective of Time

When examining the concept of time, we observe two distinct perspectives that shape our understanding and utilization of it. The first perspective views time as a linear progression, a constant, unwavering march from past to present, and onto the future. From the beginning unto the end. This viewpoint often encapsulates the reality that our lives are bound by the constraints of minutes, hours, days, and years, each moment fleeting and irretrievable. This view inherently acknowledges the temporality of our earthly existence and implores us to make the most of the time allotted, consciously discerning how we, as believers in Christ, might align our walk with His will, redeeming every moment in these evil days.

Another perspective of time is akin to viewing it through the lens of opportunities and seasons rather than a mere succession of identical units. It recognizes the seasons as “splits” of time within this flow of time to be most fruitful and impactful. This view values the significance of moments—the appointed times ordained by God where His divine purpose unfolds in our lives. It suggests a qualitative rather than a quantitative examination of our temporal pilgrimage, understanding that in redeeming the time, we aren’t merely counting the hours but are earnestly seeking the God-given opportunities that each moment presents. Through this lens, time is not just a linear sequence but a tapestry of divine appointments entrusted to us, a chance to manifest the fruit of the Spirit and to reflect the light of Christ in a world shrouded in darkness. With such an understanding, we recognize the scarcity and transient nature of these opportunities, propelling us to utilize each season with wisdom to bear good fruit, unveiling the eternal amid the temporal.

The dispensation of the grace of God, the institutions of God, the seasons of age are God given, yet temporal and all contribute to these divine appointments. Each possess their own ordinances, consist of their own flow, integrated together, worked out, and experienced by those under them and fruitful in those exercised by them. Thus, we don’t wait for opportunity – we have therefore opportunity.

The Redemption in Redeeming the Time

As we delve into the phrase “redeeming the time,” one of the initial observations we make is the profound implication of the word “redeeming” itself. Inherent in this term is the concept of purchase, value, and even recovery. Redemption, both in the Old Testament context and throughout Scripture, involves buying back or purchasing for a purpose, be it people, lands, or even our own souls through the work of Christ. Therefore, when Paul speaks of “redeeming the time,” he presents us with the task of purchasing time as if it were a precious commodity—something inherently valuable that requires intentional action to use wisely. It challenges us to consider our daily walk, not just observing the passage of hours and days, but engaging actively with the time we have. It becomes an honor and privilege, unique to those in Christ, to view time not as a burden, but as an opportunity to reflect God’s will in a world marred by darkness.

Furthermore, “redeeming the time” is couched within the framework of recognizing that “the days are evil,” offering a dual motivation for this redemptive work. This observation underscores the urgency of our call as believers to perceive and react to the spiritual climate around us. Evil days signal an environment fraught with unfruitful works of darkness—a stark contrast to the light and goodness we have and are called to embody. The phrase thus demands that we appraise not only the quantity of time we possess but also the quality of our engagement with it. We are urged to discern the fleeting nature of each moment, recognizing opportunities to infuse God’s truth and light in every encounter and action. It is a call to influence and recover (from the evil) these precious instances—not through our power, but through the wisdom granted by the Spirit—to actively participate in God’s redemptive work against the backdrop of a world that often remains indifferent to the ticking clock.

Privilege of the Believer

The notion of “redeeming the time” inherently suggests a spiritual dimension that unbelievers, lacking an identity rooted in Christ, cannot fully embrace. The reason lies in the transformative redemption that believers have experienced through Jesus Christ—a redemption that renews our mind of how time is perceived and utilized. Unbelievers, still entangled in the works of darkness and without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, are bound by a worldview that does not recognize the eternal significance of their temporal actions; their engagement with time is often limited to self-fulfillment or worldly pursuits. In contrast, believers are uniquely empowered to redeem the time because they possess the light of Christ within them, having been enlightened and sanctified through faith, created in righteousness and true holiness in contrast to unrighteousness and uncleanness. This spiritual enlightenment grants them the wisdom to discern not only the urgency of acting in a world characterized by evil days but also the capacity to fill their daily lives with eternal significance – to lay hold on eternal life now. Through the lens of their new identity in Christ, believers are able to engage in actions that transcend the temporal, using each moment as an opportunity to reflect God’s truth, grace, and love in a manner that glorifies Him and edifies others.

Redeeming the Time: A Biblical Call to a Purposeful Walk

Brethren, we must consider the days in which we live, for the Word of God declares in Ephesians 5:15-16, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The Scriptures are plain—time is not ours to waste. Every moment we have is given by the Lord, and we are called to use it wisely. Many live as though they have an endless supply of days, yet the Bible warns us, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14). If we are to be faithful stewards of what God has entrusted to us, we must redeem the time, for the opportunities given to us will not last forever. Consider what God our Father grants in His Word to aid in impressing upon us to hearken to this instruction: 1) the value of time, 2) the motivations of redeeming the time, 3) the mechanics of redeeming the time, and 4) how to handle grief from wasted time.

The Value of Time

Time is one of the most valuable resources we possess because it cannot be reclaimed once lost. The psalmist wisely prayed, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Numbering our days is not simply acknowledging their brevity but recognizing their worth. Every second, every hour, every day is an opportunity to glorify God.

The enemy desires to rob us of our time. Satan may not always tempt with overt sin, but he will gladly lull believers into complacency, filling their days with distractions that bear no eternal fruit. Satan holds the masterclass for spiritual slumber and slothfulness. Proverbs 24:30-31 warns, “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.” Time wasted leads to spiritual barrenness.

Thus our Father is desirous we would consider a few things that we may value time and thus redeem it:

1. It belongs to God – Our time is not our own; we are stewards (Psalm 31:15).

2. It is short – Our days on earth are few and fleeting (James 4:14; Psalm 39:4-5, 90:12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31).

3. It is uncertain, but death is – We do not know what tomorrow holds (Proverbs 27:1).

4. It is irreversible – Once gone, it cannot be redeemed (Luke 16:25-26).

5. It determines eternity – How we use our time here impacts our eternal state (not life, but estate) (Galatians 6:7-8).

6. It is to be used wisely – We are commanded to redeem the time and walk in wisdom (Ephesians 5:16).

Our Lord Jesus understood the value of time. He declared in John 9:4, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” If Christ, who was without sin, felt the urgency of using His time wisely, how much more should we who are but dust?

The Motivations of Redeeming Time

Redeeming the time requires both motivation and action. The motivation is clear: the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). We live in a fallen world where sin abounds, and we must use our time to stand for righteousness. We are called to be “steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58), knowing that our labor is not in vain.

The Father grants us ample motivation to hearken to His instruction – here are a few:

1. Because We Can: As believers, we have the ability to redeem the time through the wisdom given to us in Christ (Ephesians 5:15-16).

2. Because It Is Wise: Redeeming the time involves walking in wisdom, which is valuable and profitable (Ephesians 5:15).

3. Few Days to Redeem Opportunities: Our days are limited, and we should use them wisely to apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

4. Bearing Upon the Life to Come: Redeeming the time has eternal significance and impacts the life that is to come (1 Timothy 6:19).

5. Because the Days Are Evil: The evil nature of the days we live in should motivate us to redeem the time and overcome evil with good (Ephesians 5:16).

6. We Will Give an Account: We will be judged on how we utilized our time, making it important to redeem it wisely (Romans 14:12).

7. Fruit in Due Season: Redeeming the time leads to spiritual fruit that will be reaped in due season, reflecting the eternal value of our actions (Galatians 6:9).

Because the Days Are Evil

The immediate cause in Ephesians 5:17 to redeem the time is “because the days are evil”. Thus, the purchasing power of wisdom grants the believer to not squander this time, nor succomb to the vain pressures of the world, but to recover it from the grips of darkness, transform it for profit, and have it abound unto an eternal account of merchandise.
“Redeeming the time” serves as a powerful counteraction to the evil days by transforming opportunities typically wasted in vanity into moments of purpose aligned with God’s will. By applying the wisdom found in God’s word, believers can intentionally utilize their time for good, rather than allowing it to be consumed by the prevailing evil influences. This involves, but is not limited to, making deliberate choices that reflect God’s righteousness, showcasing His light and grace in contrast to the surrounding darkness.

The Mechanics of Redeeming the Time

Shining as lights as we walk in wisdom is the oversimplication of the mechanics of redeeming the time. Mechanics involve detail, the nitty-gritty, the operations of numerous parts. A watch much like the spiritual walk contains numerous component parts compressed into a small compartment but that functions for its purpose. We seek not to obtain the wisdom to be employed within each moment of each person in each place; however, we ought not divest ourselves from that which God has given us in Christ as the objective source of wisdom for every believer to effectuate. Wherefore, may these simply items suffice and encourage further study:

1. Remember the Value of Time: Recognize the importance and fleeting nature of time (Psalm 90:12; Luke 12:20).

2. Spend Time in God’s Word: Invest time in reading, studying, praying, and meditating on Scripture to gain wisdom which is the purchasing power to redeem the time (1 Timothy 4:15-16).

3. Take Heed of What Robs Your Time: Be aware of and avoid things that waste your time, such as slothfulness and worldly distractions (Ephesians 5:15-16).

4. Walk in Wisdom: Apply the knowledge and wisdom gained from God’s Word in your daily life and interactions (Colossians 4:5).

Handling Grief Over Wasted Time

Perhaps as you reflect on your life, you feel the weight of wasted time. Many look back with sorrow, seeing years lost to sin, apathy, or worldly pursuits. But take heart—God is merciful, and He forgives waste, and can restore hundredfold of what was lost. We know this concerning eternity, we read of it with Job, Joel 2:25 gives Israel this promise that we can learn from: “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten”, and ultimately, the resurrection in Christ is the modus operandi of God to redeem that which was once spent, wasted, or lost. Nonetheless, regret can be paralyzing, but it should instead drive us to repentance and renewal. The enemy wants to keep us bound in grief over the past, but God calls us forward. Philippians 3:13-14 urges, “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark.” While we cannot change the past, we can cede our future to God and walk in obedience today. What ought to be your response to wasted time? How are you do handle grief for such forfeiture:

1. Sorrow to Repentance: Allow godly sorrow to lead you to repentance and a change of mind (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).

2. Forget What Is Behind: Forget past failures and press toward future goals in Christ (Philippians 3:13-14).

3. Labor by God’s Grace: Recognize the grace of God and let it motivate you to labor more abundantly (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).

4. Speak Truth to Yourself: Take yourself in hand and speak the truth of God’s grace to your soul (Psalm 42:11).

Consider Paul

The apostle Paul is an example of dealing with the grief of wasted time through his own experience and response described in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul acknowledges his past as a persecutor of the church. Undoubtedly, his past hatred and malice, now contrary to love and wisdom in Christ, would fill Paul with regret and an overwhelming and debilitating guilt – a spiritual depression.

However, Paul emphasizes the transformative power of God’s grace in his life, which allowed him to move beyond his past. He states, “But by the grace of God, I am what I am,” acknowledging that despite his past actions, God’s grace has defined his identity and empowered him to work abundantly in service to the gospel. Paul’s response to his past mistakes is not to dwell in guilt or sorrow but to let the grace that was bestowed upon him become a motivation to labor even more for the Lord. Paul did not let his past failures paralyze him. Instead, he used the grace he received as a means to labor abundantly, thus redeeming the time in the present. His example teaches that accepting and embracing God’s grace enables believers to overcome their past, focus on the present, and strive toward fruitful service in the future, turning regret into a motivational force for spiritual growth and service.

Now Go!

Brethren, how will you buy the time that remains? Will you continue as before, letting the days slip through your fingers, or will you redeem the time? The Word of God calls us to wisdom: “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15).

What changes must be made? What pursuits must be laid aside? What priorities need to shift? Reflect upon your days and ask, “Am I using my time for the glory of God?” If the answer is uncertain, let today be the day of change.

The appearing of Christ is near, the day is at hand, and so is our Lord. The opportunities before us will not last forever. Do you count your steps? Do you mark your splits? Do you press toward the mark? Let us be faithful stewards of our time, so that when we stand before Him we will be neither barren nor unfruitful. Let us not delay, but redeem the time while it is still called today. Amen.

Look Up,
—Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

Quotes on Redeeming the Time

• “Kill time and you murder opportunity.”

• “Lost time is never found.”

• “To waste time is to squander a gift from God.” – John Blanchard

• “Give me a Christian that counts his time more precious than gold.” – Joseph Alleine

• “Life is too short for us to do everything we want to do, but it is long enough for us to do everything God wants us to do.”

• “We speak of spending time; the Bible speaks of buying it.” – John Blanchard”

• “There is nothing puts a more serious frame into a man’s spirit than to know the worth of his time.” – Thomas Brooks

• “Time is not yours to dispose of as you please; it is a glorious talen that men must be accountable for as well as any other talent.” – Thomas Brooks

Thankfully, God’s Word will not leave you there.

The Bible does not describe your identity in vague or borrowed terms. It reduces every person to one of two unions — in Adam, or in Christ — and if you are in Christ, that position is not something you are growing into. It is something you were put into, and it is fixed.

Four things will show us this, and they’re worth walking through slowly instead of taking my word for it. Your identity is declared, not discovered — you don’t dig it up, God says it. It’s defended, not doubted — there’s an accuser, and there’s an answer. It’s traced to a person, not a performance — one man’s act, not your own effort, decides it. And it’s anchored, not adrift — it holds when everything else in your life is shaking. Then we’ll deal honestly with the objection this doctrine always raises, before we land on what all of this actually means for you, this week, in your own skin.

In Adam, that’s what you’re born into. In Christ, that’s what you’re put into — and it isn’t a matter of degree. Just as at the moment of conception your DNA is already complete, though you’ll spend years growing into what your body will look like, so at the moment of faith your union with Christ is already complete, though you’ll spend a lifetime growing into what that union means. The union is fixed. The walk is lifelong. Don’t confuse the two, and don’t let go of either one.

Declared, Not Discovered

Look at Galatians 3:26-27: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Not may be. Not hope to be. Paul writes this to believers at Galatia who were flirting with the law and walking carnally — and he still says of them, plainly, ye are. What made them children of God wasn’t their performance. It was faith in Christ Jesus.

And notice who does the baptizing. Not a man, not water, not a ritual you could later second-guess. Ye have been baptized into Christ. No man can put you there. Only He can. If a man could do it, you’d have every right to question whether he did it right — was it the right water, the right formula, the right moment. But this baptism isn’t performed by hands. It’s performed by God, and it cannot be undone by asking whether it worked.

This is the difference between an identity you assemble and an identity you’re given. You didn’t build this one. You received it. That’s not a small distinction — it’s the whole reason it can hold.

Defended, Not Doubted

Romans 8 pushes the same truth further, into the place where it actually gets tested — under accusation. Verse 16: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Verse 17 follows the logic out: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Then, later in the chapter, verse 33: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.”

I’ve sat with believers who told me, through tears, I know I’m forgiven, but I don’t feel it. I’ve felt that myself — I spent years in a system that taught if you sinned a hundred times, you had reason to question whether you were saved at all. And I knew in my heart I had sinned a hundred times. But here’s what I’ve learned to say, to them and to myself: get over the feeling and believe the verse. The accuser will bring up your sin — the same sin, over and over — and God’s answer has never changed from one time to the next. “I justified them.” Not I’m working on it. Not we’ll see how this goes. Justified. Your accusations once had ground. They don’t anymore.

Traced to a Person, Not a Performance

Romans 5 traces the whole question back to its source, and it’s not a source most people expect. Verse 12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” And verse 15: “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

Everything Adam did gets applied to everyone in Adam — and you didn’t earn that, you inherited it. Everything Christ did gets applied to everyone in Christ — through a condition, yes, but a condition that isn’t merit. Faith. Nobody stands before God arguing they built their own identity out of good behavior, on either side of the ledger. You didn’t earn your place in Adam and you don’t earn your place in Christ. Both are given. Only one of them is good news.

Anchored, Not Adrift

This is where the doctrine stops being merely comforting and starts being useful, because none of us live in a controlled environment. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” Notice the difference between the pressure and the outcome. The pressure is real — troubled, perplexed, persecuted, cast down. But the outcome doesn’t follow from the pressure. It follows from the identity.

Suffering has a way of making people ask what they did wrong, as though pain were always evidence of God’s absence. An unbeliever going through hardship has no anchor for that question — nothing underneath the suffering except the suffering itself. But if you are in Christ, the pressure is not the last word on who you are or where you stand, because that was settled before the pressure arrived. You can be cast down without being forsaken, because those two things are not the same thing under God’s grace today - sure, under the law to chastise his people for their disobedience - but not today. You may reap what you sow, but the persecution is not God’s forsaking of you.

The Fair Question

Someone will say — fine, but if my identity is already fixed, what’s stopping me from doing whatever I want? It’s a fair question, the kind worth naming honestly instead of neglecting it. And Paul never leaves it unanswered.

He doesn’t say, you are, therefore do as you please. He says, you are, therefore walk like it. Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” The union is the foundation. The good works are what gets built on it. Take away the identity and you’re left trying to manufacture righteousness out of nothing — that’s legalism. Take away the walk and you’ve turned a settled truth into a license — that’s licentiousness. Paul holds both, refusing either error, and so should we. Identity isn’t the excuse for the walk. It’s the reason the walk is even possible.

What This Means for You

So which one are you in? Not which one do you feel like you’re in on your best day, or your worst — which one are you actually in. If you have never trusted Christ, Scripture doesn’t leave that vague either: you are in Adam, still under the sentence of wrath, still carrying a debt you cannot pay. But the offer stands. Trust in what He did — died for your sins, buried, and raised again — and everything changes, not because you feel different, but because He has said so.

And if you are already in Christ, this week is a good week to stop consulting your feelings for a verdict God already delivered. Stop letting a bad day reopen a settled case. When the accusation comes — and it will come, because it always does — you don’t need a better feeling to answer it. You need a better memory. You need faith. Don’t soon forget. You are not what you were on your worst day this week. You are not what the accuser whispers at midnight. You are what your Father has declared you to be, in His Son, settled once, and never up for renegotiation again.

Look Up,

— Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher

• Adapted from the sermon "Union in Christ" (Lesson 1), preached by Josh Strelecki at Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. Listen to the full message here: https://twincitiesgracefellowshi.subspla.sh/8xwkj2r

Episode Description

When the Bible speaks of the world, it means more than geography. Often it describes a system actively opposed to God -- marked by vanity, energized by the god of this world, and characterized by everything Paul catalogs in 2 Timothy 3. How should a Christian understand this system? And how should that understanding shape the way we live in it?

In this episode, Pastor Josh examines the Christian’s understanding of the world across four movements. First, the world’s nature: everything under the sun is vanity and passing away (Ecclesiastes 2:11, Psalm 39:5-6). Second, the world’s opposition: it is at enmity with God, blinded by the god of this world, and producing the perilous times of 2 Timothy 3. Third, the Christian’s response: not withdrawal, but love -- entering the system as Christ did, wielding the sword of the Spirit, transformed by the renewing of the mind, in the world but not of it. Fourth, the eternal contrast: the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever (1 John 2:17). The world is loud, flashy, and temporary. Christ is eternal, faithful, and unshakable.

Key Scriptures

Ecclesiastes 2:11 -- All Is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Psalm 39:5-6 -- Every Man at His Best State Is Altogether Vanity

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

Psalm 49:10-12 -- Man Abideth Not

For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

1 Corinthians 7:31 -- The Fashion of This World Passeth Away

And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

1 John 2:15-17 -- Love Not the World

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Romans 12:2 -- Be Not Conformed to This World

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

James 4:4 -- Friendship with the World Is Enmity with God

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

1 John 5:19 -- The Whole World Lieth in Wickedness

And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

2 Corinthians 4:4 -- The God of This World

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

2 Corinthians 10:5 -- Taking Every Thought Captive

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Colossians 3:2 -- Set Your Affection on Things Above

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 -- Glory in Knowing the Lord

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Proverbs 11:7 -- The Hope of the Wicked Perisheth

When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.

1 Corinthians 10:31 -- Do All to the Glory of God

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Episode Outline

1. The World Defined -- Not just geography; a system opposed to God, marked by sin (1 John 5:19)

2. The World’s Nature -- Vanity, perishing, and passing away (Ecclesiastes 2:11, Psalm 39:5-6, 1 Corinthians 7:31)

3. Man’s Folly -- Heaping up riches and calling lands after his name; like the beasts that perish (Psalm 49:10-12)

4. The World’s Opposition -- Enmity with God, friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4, 1 John 2:15-17)

5. The God of This World -- Blinding the minds of them that believe not (2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2)

6. The Christian’s Response -- Love, not withdrawal; entering the system as Christ did with the light of the gospel

7. Transformed by the Renewing of the Mind -- Romans 12:2 and taking every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5)

8. In the World but Not of It -- Using the world without abusing it; affections set above (Colossians 3:2)

9. The Eternal Contrast -- The world and its lusts pass away; he that doeth the will of God abideth forever (1 John 2:17)

Questions Discussed

1. When the Bible speaks of the world, what does it mean -- and how should a Christian think about it differently?

2. If the world is passing away, why are so many Christians tempted to live as if it will last forever?

3. What does it mean that the whole world lies in wickedness -- and who is the god of this world?

4. What is the Christian’s response to a system actively opposed to God?

5. What does it mean to be in the world but not of it?

6. Are your affections set on things above, or on the things of this world that are passing away?

7. What is the difference between the hope of the wicked when he dies and the blessed hope of the believer?