Page 69 - The Marriage Covenant

according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy
Spirit...

“You were sanctified.” You have now been set aside to walk as one who is holy and
righteous. Having been freed from sin you have been made a bondslave to righteousness.

Romans 6:22
But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit,
resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

“You were justified.” God has made a way that we might lawfully be declared
righteous in His sight. He has placed our condemnation upon His Son and has placed His
Son’s righteousness upon is. The great exchange has taken place.

II Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.

What should be the result of this knowledge? Are we to continue in sin? God forbid.
How can those who have been freed from sin at so high a cost continue any longer in it? Will
we trample on the blood of Christ and act despitefully toward the Holy Spirit that has been
given?

Hebrews 10:28-31
Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of
two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve
who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood
of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." And again, "The
Lord will judge HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the
living God.

This passage is speaking of those who have been sanctified, and who continue to
transgress willfully. What can such ones expect? God will judge His people. If you have
continued in the same transgressions that required Christ to go to the cross for you, have
you not regarded as a common thing the precious blood of Christ? Have you not offended
the Spirit of grace? Do you believe there will be no reaping of that which is sown to the
flesh?
People of God, we have become accustomed to living carelessly, without any fear of
God’s righteous judgment. We should fear greatly if we persist in sins that He has redeemed
us from at the cost of the life of His beloved Son.
Perhaps you find yourself in this situation. Having been redeemed from a life of
transgression and sin, you continued in it as one insensitive to the great cost of your
salvation. Is there yet hope? Having acted with such carelessness and continued license,
having trampled on all that is holy, can you yet be restored?
The apostle Paul wrote to the church of Corinth among which there were many who
were continuing in sin. Some were sick as a result, and some had died. Some men were