The Fruits of Righteousness
Did the Israelites feed on the sacrifice when it was slain?
So do we, spiritually, on Christ.
Believers are united to Him in one Spirit, and partake of the benefits of His death, through which they live a spiritual life of grace on earth, and shall live a life of glory in heaven.
This subject plainly points out the great end which our Lord had in view, in suffering and dying for His people, namely, that He might put away sin, by the sacrifice of Himself. He gave Himself for us, says the Apostle, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, that is, from the whole punishment due to our iniquities, by dying for us, and causing us, in return to show our gratitude, by a life of devotedness to God. Hence you see that evidence, which flows from love on our side, as well as forgiveness on God’s, is a fruit of our Lord’s atonement [ransom].
To hope for one, without being careful to maintain the other, is to put asunder what God has joined together. But this can never be; the blessings of pardon and sanctification always go hand in hand; all the people of Christ are, for His sake, in a state of favor, and those who are really so, are careful to excel in all the works of practical and undefiled religion.
And let it ever be remembered, that our works do not precede us to the bar of God, so as to open the door of heaven, nor yet as heralds to clear our way there; but simply as witnesses, to give in their evidences, and deposit their attestation to the reality of our election, redemption, and conversion.
By Augustus Toplady
Jesus is LORD! 
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