1. BY NATURE WE WERE OBJECTS OF GOD'S WRATH 1-3
The legal process from disobedience to destruction:
a. Through Man's Way of Disobedience. Isaiah 53:6a
You were rebellious:
You followed the world 2a;
You followed the flesh 3;
You followed the devil 2b.
b. To Man's End of Destruction. Matthew 7:13; Proverbs 14:12, 16:25
As a result:
You were under God's anger 3b;
You were sentenced to death 1b, 3c.
2. BY GRACE WE ARE SUBJECTS OF GOD'S REDEMPTION 4-10
The regal progress from salvation to service:
"But God... brought us to life" 4-5.
a. Through His Way of Salvation. Isaiah 53:6b
i. Through faith we share Christ's penal death: "we were dead" but He died
5a; Romans 6:3 (baptised into his death). So now we are dead in Him.
ii. Through faith we share Christ's risen life: "He brought us to life with
Christ" 5b. So now we are alive in Him.
iii. Through faith we share Christ's ascended glory: He "gave us a place
(sitting place, throne) with Him in heaven" 6-7. He is our King; and He has
made us "kings and priests unto Him" (Revelation 5:2). So now we are reigning
in glory with Him.
b. To His Goal of Service.
i. We are saved by grace through faith 8-10a. Saved by grace; not by our
works, but by His: we are His "work of art" 10a: literally His "poem", POIHMA
(Apocrypha, 2 Esdras 8:7-8). We cannot boast or claim the credit. But we were
not saved to be idle:
ii. We are saved to serve through works: "to live the good life" 10b; cf
John 10:10. There is a foreordained slot for us to serve in; not of our
predeliction but of His preordination.
_______________________________________________________________________
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
