In the Grip of Grace: Your Father Always Caught You. He Still Does. (Premier Library Edition) by Max Lucado

Author:Max Lucado [Lucado, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2009-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Christ has taken your place. There is no need for you to remain in the cell. Ever heard of a discharged prisoner who wanted to stay? Nor have I. When the doors open, prisoners leave. The thought of a person preferring jail over freedom doesn’t compute. Once the penalty is paid, why live under bondage? You are discharged from the penitentiary of sin. Why, in heaven’s name, would you ever want to set foot in that prison again?

Paul reminds us: “Our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin. Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control” (Rom. 6:6–7).

He is not saying that it is impossible for believers to sin; he’s saying it is stupid for believers to sin. “It’s not the literal impossibility . . . . but the moral incongruity” of the saved returning to sin.2

What does the prison have that you desire? Do you miss the guilt? Are you homesick for dishonesty? Do you have fond memories of being lied to and forgotten? Was life better when you were dejected and rejected? Do you have a longing to once again see a sinner in the mirror?

It makes no sense to go back to prison.

THE VOW HAS BEEN MADE

Not only has a price been paid, a vow has been made. “Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ when we were baptized?” (Rom. 6:3).

Baptism was no casual custom, no ho-hum ritual. Baptism was, and is, “a pledge made to God from a good conscience” (1 Pet. 3:21 TJB).

Paul’s high regard for baptism is demonstrated in the fact that he knows all of his readers have been instructed in its importance. “You have been taught that when we were baptized into Christ we were baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:2 TJB, italics mine).

What form of amnesia is this? Like a bride horrified to see her new husband flirting with women at the wedding reception, Paul asks, “Did you forget your vows?”

Indeed, baptism is a vow, a sacred vow of the believer to follow Christ. Just as a wedding celebrates the fusion of two hearts, baptism celebrates the union of sinner with Savior. We “became part of Christ when we were baptized” (v. 3).

Do the bride and groom understand all of the implications of the wedding? No. Do they know every challenge or threat they will face? No. But they know they love each other and vow to be faithful to the end.

When a willing heart enters the waters of baptism, does he know the implications of the vow? No. Does she know every temptation or challenge? No. But both know the love of God and are responding to him.

Please understand, it is not the act that saves us. But it is the act that symbolizes how we are saved! The invisible work of the Holy Spirit is visibly dramatized in the water.

That plunge beneath the

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