Sanctification by Faith

'If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.'
-Colossians 3:1-3

'But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.'
- Ephesians 2:4-7

'For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.'
- Galatians 3:27

'Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.'
- 1 Cor. 6:9-11

'Without our earning it, God declares us holy (sanctified) by virtue of our union with Christ.'
- Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace, p. 48


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

When we think about our sanctification, or our being made holy, we often mistakenly place an emphasis upon the progressive aspect of this part of our salvation. And while this is true, we must never forget that our sancitification is also definitive. It is correct, in one sense, to describe our sanctification as synergistic, but we must never emphasize the part we play in the pursuit of godliness to the detriment of our understanding that our sanctification is as settled as our justification. Christ has made the Christian holy. His righteousness, as demonstrated in His perfect obedience to the Law has been given to us. We cannot improve upon the holiness we have received from Him. Not only are we being sanctified, we have been sanctified. Period. Unfortunately, this causes a great deal of confusion in the Christian life. We often think that what has begun as a work of God in us by grace we finish by human effort. Like justification, sanctification will be shown to be God's work in us both definitively and progressively.

Grateful for the sure work of sanctification in Christ,

Pastor Dan

'Abba' - The Cry of the New Birth

'For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.'
-Romans 8:14-17

'The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.'
- Philippians 4:5b-7

'When God breathes new life into us, one of the results of this transformation is new impulse to pray. A natural result of the new birth is the presence of God's Spirit within us, prompting us to cry out to God (Rom. 8:14-17)'
- Dane Ortlund, A New Inner Relish, p. 155

'God gives us, his children, all things through the gospel. The gospel defines our destiny and our inheritance; it defines for us the whole plan and purpose of God. It is inconcievable that we should pray in a way that is not defined by the gospel.'
- Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, p. 79

'If it be man's chief end to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, then man has attained his end, the sole purpose for which he is made, the entire object for which he exists, when he enters into communion with God, abides in His presence, streaming out to Him in all the emotions, I do not say appropriate to a creature in the presence of his Maker and Lord, apprehended by him as the Good Lord and Righteous Ruler of the souls of men, but appropriate to the sinner who has been redeemed by the blood of God's own Son and is inhabited by His Spirit and apprehends his Maker as also His Savior, his Governor as also his Lover, and knows the supreme joy of him that was lost and is found, was dead and is alive again, - and all through God's seeking and saving love.'
- B.B. Warfield, Faith and Life, 'Prayer as Practice', p. 439


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

When a child is born the first reflex is to cry. And when the unbeliever is born again the first reflex is also to cry. The new birth's first utterance is a declaration of dependence and each day following is the same. As we pray we are declaring our need, dependence, and insufficiency. We are simply declaring what is true. We need God for all of life. We are dependent upon Him like a child for their father. And the older I get the more I realize my weakness and dependence, and the more I recognize God's fatherly care. He cares for me. He provides for my needs. He comforts me in affliction. He restores me. He protects and defends me. He assures me of a bright future. My impulse is to cry to Him, 'abba', as my Father because I am declaring what I know to be true; God has made me His own, and He has promised to be my Father.

Thankful for the Father's love,

Pastor Dan

Loving the Gospel's Power to Save

'For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.'
- Romans 1:16

' For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.'
- 1 Corinthians 1:17-18

'Your world is inhabited by a powerful and living Redeemer who is at work collecting all the spoils of victory on your behalf.'
- Paul Tripp, Broken Down House, p. 105

Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

There is great power in the gospel to save. I've seen it at work in others, and I've experienced it at work in myself. Hi salvation is immediate, ongoing, and final. God has promised that the holistic salvation purchased through His Son will accomplish its purposes. God intends to save us both thoroughly and finally. This we must believe and this we must encourage in one another. There is no true Christian life and experience without the saving effects of God's redemptive work. Today I'm mindful of Philippians 1:6, 'And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.'

I'm profoundly grateful for God's promised and thoroughgoing work of salvation in us,

Pastor Dan

Orphans No More

'Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.'
- Psalm 68:5

'I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.'
- John 14:18

'And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba Father!"'
- Galatians 4:6

'The New Testament reminds those of us who are newcomers of our adoption so we'll remember that we are here by the Spirit, not by the exertions of our flesh. Because we've been brought into an already-existing family, we ought not to be proud, as though we were here by family entitlement (Romans 11:11-25). We're here by grace.'
- Russell Moore, Adopted for Life, p. 30

'The kingdom of Christ is characterized in Scripture as a kingdom of rescued
children.... When we protect and welcome children, we're announcing something
about Jesus and His kingdom.'
- Russell Moore, Adopted for Life, p. 78

Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

What can be greater grief than a child without a father to love them, protect the, and provide a place for him to call home? The biblical storyline is a story of lost children being brought home. At the beginnings of the biblical record a story is told of alienation and wandering and from this point forward the story unfolds of search and rescue for those who are lost. The story of redemption is the story of children being rescued from danger and being brought home and forever protected and loved. God places the orphan in a family. And God also defines undefiled religion as a care for orphans, because this is the heart of God Himself. In an amazing story of love for orphans God's Son had become a castaway. He became an orphan. He became the despised and alienated one so that orphans might be brought into the household and claimed as true sons and daughters. This is a story of an unbelievable exchange. We were once despised and without hope, but now we sit in our Father's house as heirs of Christ Himself and free from all harm. This is the story of a Father's adopting love to weak orphans.

Because of the Father's love for us, may God give us great love for those still waiting for adoption,

Pastor Dan

God's Remembering Mercy

'O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.'
-Habakkuk 3:2

'But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."'
- Matthew 1:20-21

'Justification is present deliverance from the eschatological wrath of God, a verdict, already rendered, of acquittal and right standing at the final judgment.'
- Richard Gaffin, Right With God, p. 124

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
- Horatio Spafford, It is Well, v. 3


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

If your trust is in Christ there is good news, both now and to come. A verdict has already been rendered. An acquittal has already come. For those whose trust is in Christ future judgment has already been executed. In our pervasive sinfulness we have earned the just wrath, judgment and condemnation of God. The glory of the gospel is that the guilty have received pardon. Because of Christ's comprehensive atoning work and because of an inestimable price paid, future judgment has been given now. The declaration? Not guilty. The entirety of my sins past, present, and future have been forgiven. In His wrath God has remembered mercy.

Continually amazed by grace,

Pastor Dan

The Storyteller's Story

'Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.'
-Luke 24:24-27

'Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.'
-Hebrews 1:1-2

'The entire Bible finds its unity in what can be best called holy history - Heilsgeshichte. It is a record and interpretation of the events in which God visits men in history to redeem them as persons and also to redeem them in society - in history. This means finally the redemption of history itself.'
- George Ladd, The Pattern of New Testament Truth, pp. 110-111

'The story is God's story. It describes His work to rescue rebels from their folly, guilt and ruin. And in His rescue operation, God always takes the initiative.'
- Edmund Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery, p. 11


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

The Bible is all of a piece. Sixty-six books with a variety of authors from varying backgrounds and written at various times in various places, and all with a unified story-line. This book stretches over thousands of years of history and each author contributes to the integrated whole. The voices and nuance are different, but the refrain is the same and continues to build to a crescendo. The God of history has a story to tell and of His initiative He will tell it. Starting from the beginning, in a garden, paradise was lost. The ruination and sorrow that would follow would be retold in stories of treachery, war, betrayal, misery and bloodshed. Thankfully, throughout the story of fallenness and depravity another story is told. From the beginning a promise was made. The Storyteller would not let sin have the final say. Genesis sets the trajectory with a paradise lost and the promise of One who would come. Revelation ends with paradise restored through the One promised. The plot line winds its way through the multiplicity of stories like a crimson thread. At the end of the day our stories are woven into the whole. It is a story of grace unbound and mercy throughout. It is a story of perilous rescue. It is a story of incomprehensible love at unfathomable cost. The God of history has a story to tell.

Thanking God for inclusion in His Story,

Pastor Dan

Light and Darkness

'And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.'
-Genesis 1:3

'In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.'
-John 1:4-5

'Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."'
- John 8:12

'For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'
- 2 Cor. 4:6

Cold blackness, a night that’s felt
Aloneness, like Leviathan’s fate
Hope has died, now faith removed
Opress’d at the spell of ebony weight

A clock ticks, each second pounds
Calm belies the gathering storm
Haunting memories take on flesh
An apparition now a darkened form

The talon’d grip holds fast and firm
Has grace forgot that ancient pledge?
Can one be lost, cast far away?
Is mercy left for foulest dredge?

Lazarus' stench, alive but dead
Eyes drawn tight from Eden's stain
One word uttered, death has stuttered
Can these graveclothes dance again?

Declare your word, a whisper’d voice
A lightning flash from mercy’s arc
A Cross suspended, a world upended
Begone! that devil of the dark

Darkness mine, now His became
Exchanged brightness for deepest night
Imputation and transformation
Death became the brightest light
-Dan Morse, Dark, 2009

Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

The Bible portrays the Christian life as a startling contrast to the non-Christian life. New life is radical and pervasive. It leaves no stone unturned. It is as alarming as being born all over again. It is as different as day is from night. It is like a resurrection from the dead. No, it is a resurrection from the dead. It is shocking, alarming, and absolute. The gospel does not come to us to make slight improvements, it comes to make us new. Like Lazarus, without resurrection we always carry with us the odor of death. We are like dead men walking. But when God changes us it is like a transport from death to life, from darkness to light. In this new birth we are made new, a new creation has begun, and old things have passed away.

May God give us a true sense of the radical nature of the new birth and may God let us never settle for anything less.

Pastor Dan