All this is very striking as an illustration of the apostle's teaching in Romans vi. The believer needs to know his entire emancipation from the dominion of his old master, the flesh, before ever he can, with confidence, apply himself to the service of Christ. We have felt the bitterness of serving the flesh; as the apostle says, "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death." It is impossible to walk in peace and liberty of heart until we know where death and resurrection have placed us. Until we know and believe that sin has no dominion over us, we must, of necessity, be occupied about ourselves, for we shall be constantly discovering the working of indwelling corruption, and thus be filled with apprehension of being delivered over into the hands of our former oppressor. We may be very clear as to the theory of justification by faith; we may understand what it is to rest in the accomplished work of Christ in reference to sins that are past, and yet be so troubled about indwelling sin as to be quite hindered in our service to Christ and His Church. The gospel of the grace of God, when entered into in its divine fulness, sets the soul at rest, not only as to the past, but also the present and the future. The Lord forgives ALL our sins, not _some_ of them; and not only does He forgive sins, but also delivers from the power of sin, as we read in Romans vi.,--"Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." This is a truly precious truth for those who are daily harassed with the seeds of evil within. Though sin _dwells_, it shall not _reign_. And how is this deliverance accomplished! By death and resurrection. "He that has died is justified from sin" (R. V.). What claim has sin upon a dead man? None! Well, then, God looks upon the believer as dead--dead with Christ, and risen again; and his power to deny the working of sin consists in his reckoning himself to be what God tells him he is. Thus, as David's oath set the young man's mind at rest, and enabled him to act with him against the Amalekites, so the word of Christ banishes fear and hesitation from the heart of the believer, and enables him, through the Spirit, to act against his former master--the flesh. Grace assures us that all our interests, for time and eternity, have been most fully provided for in the death and resurrection of Christ, and gives us to see that our only business now is to live to the praise of Him who died for us, and rose again.