One day Ally and I were at home and heard the chickens in our yard unusually squawking. I went out to find two dogs from one of our neighbors terrorizing the chickens. One dog had Speckles in its mouth. Speckles is a white chicken with speckles of black. I saw the dog run off up the road with Speckles bouncing in its mouth like a limp noddle. I was pretty sure that was the end of her. But just in case she was still alive, after I scared off the other dog, I got in my car and followed the dog up the road. As I got close to it, I got out of the car and called the dog, the dog stopped and looked at me and dropped Speckles who just laid flat and motionless on the ground. After several seconds I couldn’t believe it, Speckles hopped to her feet and ran into the woods. I chased the dog off, then found Speckles hiding in a little crevasse under a rock. I pulled her out. She was missing some patches of feathers and was a little bloody. So Speckles was saved. Ally made a little paste with her essential oils and doctored the chicken and she fully recovered.
Imagine a swimmer is out from the beach. He is caught in a current and begins to struggle to keep his head above water. His distress is noticed by an alert lifeguard on the beach who dashes into the surf. He reaches the swimmer who is now lying motionless just under the surface. He pulls the swimmer to shore and begins chest compressions and breaths into his mouth. A minute goes by, then two, then finally the swimmer gasps and coughs up water. The swimmer has been saved.
In these situations, it’s natural to use the word “saved.” It’s obvious what “saved” means in those contexts. It’s clear what the need and danger was and what needed to be done.
But when God’s word talks about the salvation we all need and that God offers it to all, it’s not always so clear to everyone what is meant. When most think of being saved by God, they think of a onetime event in which you are granted forgiveness of your sins and permission to enter heaven after you die. But often the Bible means much more than that when it speaks of salvation. And also in the Bible, salvation is not a onetime event.
The word “save” occurs in three verbal tenses in the NT: past, present and future. By grace you have been saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). So followers of Jesus have had an experience of salvation in the past.
But salvation isn’t just a past event. I Corinthians 1:18, “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.” Disciples of Jesus are being saved. I Corinthians 15:2, “by the gospel you are being saved, if you hold fast the word I preached to you.” You are not completely saved the day you are converted. Rather you begin to be saved on that day. Salvation is a process, not a one-time event. Scripture speaks of “the way of salvation,” it’s a path, it’s a journey. I Peter 2:2 says we are to grow into salvation. Did you know, in a sense, we can get more and more saved? We can become more and more delivered, more and more free; more restored into the ideal, useful, delightful masterpiece God intended us to be.
And none of us have yet to experience full salvation. Hebrews 9:28 says Christ… will appear a second time… to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. Romans 13:11, “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” So full salvation is still in the future for all of us
I’d like to talk to you this morning about three phases of salvation. Some fancy Biblical words for these three phases are: Justification, sanctification and glorification. Those three together make up Biblical salvation. Salvation is not complete until we’ve experienced all three.
Justification
… is the beginning. This is when we are saved from the penalty of sin. Justification is a legal term describing a judge rendering a not-guilty verdict in a court of law. To be justified is to be declared not-guilty, innocent or righteous. When we are granted the legal standing of righteous before God, we are justified.
I like the translation that’s in the New Guinea Bible. It’s translated in Pidgin English. Instead of the word “justified” it says, “God – ‘e say I’m alright.” That’s justification. When God says, “He [or she] is alright. Doesn’t matter what anyone else says about him, I say he’s alright.” Its sets us free from the penalty of sin.
In scholarly circles, justification is often described as God imputing righteousness to us. We have lived unrighteous lives, but in justification God imputes righteousness to us that covers all our unrighteousness, so we stand before God completely acceptable.
How could God possibly do that? How can God be moral and righteous and yet declare the guilty, innocent… declare sinners, righteous? I mean just imagine a man on trial in a court of law for numerous crimes… multiple accounts of theft, murder, bearing false witness, abusing his family and neighbors. It comes time for the verdict, the jury says, “We find the defendant guilty on all accounts.” Everybody knows he committed all these crimes. What would you think if the judge said, “I think this man is sorry for what he did. I think he wants to be a good law-abiding citizen from now on. Let’s just drop all the charges. Let’s just forget about all this. Let’s consider him innocent and not make him pay for any of the things he’s done.”? You’d say that’s not right. That’s downright immoral for a judge to dismiss a criminal as innocent. So how could a just God justify us who have been so unrighteous in our lives?
Paul answers that very question in Romans 3:24-26. He tells us the way God can be both just and the justifier of sinners is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. He says Christ was offered as the propitiation for our sins, the sacrifice that satisfies God’s demand for justice. The sinless perfect Son of God, God in the form of a man, took all the punishment for our crimes upon Himself. God Himself paid the price of justice, so God can be just and justify sinners.
God has one condition, one requirement of us if He’s to grant us this amazing grace of justification. Paul the apostle calls it faith, faith in Jesus. It’s doesn’t mean to just agree with some theological truths about Jesus. Faith in someone is much more than faith that someone is and did something. Everybody I know believes that I exist and that I am a white male who lives in Montana and some other facts about me. But not everybody I know believes in me very much. Many people I know would not give me a key to their house if I asked them for one. If I pulled up next to them in a van and said, “Get in, I got a surprise for you. I don’t care what you were going to do today, it’s better if you come with me, so hop in.” Not everybody would get in, because while they believe some things about me, they don’t believe that much in me, they’re not convinced of my love for them and wisdom and that I’m completely trustworthy. Faith in Jesus in the Bible is talking about so trusting Jesus, so believing in His goodness, His love, His wisdom and power that you will do whatever He tells you and follow Him anywhere, like a sheep who follows its shepherd wherever he leads. Faith in someone is a perception of a person that makes you devoted and loyal to that person. The latter half of James 2 clarifies in unmistakable terms that if you have some sort of belief that doesn’t produce works of obedience (it’s just some theology in your mind that doesn’t affect what you do), that’s dead, useless, un-saving faith. God’s requirement for justification is esteeming His Son to the extent that you will obey Him and follow Him in your life. You will turn away from what He commands you to turn away from. You will be baptized in His name. You will start learning from Jesus how to love people, how to be in your home and in your work place and so forth. That’s faith in Jesus. And on that basis God will justify a person. He will credit righteousness to their account.
Do you believe in God’s Son? Have you been baptized? Will you listen to Him and learn from Him and do as He tells you? Are you loyal to Him? If you are, then hear what God says to you (Just feel it for a moment…), “All your sins have been paid in full. There is no sin on your account. There are no charges against you. You are completely acceptable and welcome to Me. You are my child whom I love dearly.” That’s amazing grace!
But that’s just the beginning of our salvation. The next phase is…
Sanctification
In justification we are saved from the penalty of sin. In sanctification we are saved from the power of it. This is a process for the rest of your life, being saved from the power of sin. Sanctification is the process by which we are made holy, Christlike righteousness in our character. So in justification righteousness is imputed to us, and justification has to do with our status or position with God. Sanctification has to do with the transformation of our thinking and attitudes, speech and behavior and treatment of God and people.
Sanctification is really inseparable from justification. You can’t just be justified and not yield to the process of sanctification. Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with everyone, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” Without sanctification we won’t see the Lord.
Now, we certainly have a part to play in the process, but it’s not something we can do on our own. Like justification, sanctification is a gracious work of God. I suspect we all discovered in our youth that sin has surprising controlling power. We just wanted to try a little of certain sins to see what it was like, or certain sins just seemed like a convenient way to get something we wanted quickly. We didn’t intend to do it more than once. But we soon found it was harder to resist the temptation the next time and the sin began to corrupt thinking and desires and character. Proverbs 5:22 says, “The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.”
The latter half of Romans 7 describes the bondage we all get ourselves into. It’s written from the perspective of a Jew who knows God’s law, knows it’s right and good and he would like to be an admirable person who lives that way. He wishes he lived like that. But because of how he has sinned in his life, sin has become a master that controls him. Listen to this. “14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh [or literally “fleshly”], sold under sin. [Paul is not describing how he was as a servant of Christ. He had been freed from this bondage. But he’s describing how he used to be and how we all are before Christ saves us from this bondage.] I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [Without the help of Christ it’s like a natural law, like the law of gravity, you can’t change. When you want to do right, evil lies close at hand. You’re going to mess up again pretty soon. That’s the way it is.] 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [The law of sin is that you can’t quit sinning. When you want to do right, evil lies close at hand.]
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver [save] me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” God through Jesus Christ our Lord delivers us from that sin-enslaved-body-of-death.
Look at chapter 8, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life [that is the way it is with the Spirit of life] has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. The law of sin and death is that you can’t quit sinning and you’re going to die forever. That’s just the way it is. But the way it is with the Holy Spirit and in a relationship with Jesus, He sets us free from the law of sin and death. In Christ we don’t have to keep sinning and perish. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do [the Law of Moses could not change our nature and free us from the slavery of sin. It would just show us how wrong we are.] By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Christ not only purchased our forgiveness on the cross. He also bought our freedom from the ‘control of sin,’ so that we might actually become righteous in character.
Drop down to 8:13, “If you live according to the flesh you will die [die forever, that is], but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” So the Spirit of God gives us power to put our sinful habits to death.
In Romans chapter 6, Paul describes how we enter into this power and freedom when we are baptized into Christ. Baptism is a sacred moment in which we are united with Christ and appropriate benefits of His death. Paul explains that our old sin-enslaved self dies and is buried in the water. The bondage to our old master is broken and we rise able to walk in newness of life. We can now present the members of our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness. And by His grace and help we can actually start living out His commands and progress into the likeness of Jesus.
There’s much we could say about the many different things God does to sanctify His sons and daughters throughout their lives; He will uses trials, He uses our brothers and sisters in Christ often times, His Spirit will convict us of sin and remind us of things we’ve learned, and work on us in many other ways.
But it’s not something we can be passive about. God requires that we cooperate with Him in the process of sanctification. II Peter 1:5 commands us to make every effort to add to our faith excellence, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, affection for the brethren and love. We add those by spending time in prayer and the word, examining ourselves and repenting as we see the need, and in good deeds and worshipping God and fellowshipping with believers. As we strive to become like Christ, the grace of God will work with us and make our efforts successful. He will conform us to the image of His Son. And it’s a process we will go through the rest of our lives.
Some may get further along in the process of sanctification than others. When it comes to us bearing the fruit of righteousness, Jesus said some 30 fold, some 60 fold, some 100 fold… And God will reward us accordingly. But regardless, without sanctification no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).
Then one day our salvation will culminate in…
Glorification
In justification we’re saved from the penalty of sin. In sanctification we’re saved from the power of sin. In glorification we are saved from the presence of sin all together and from all the effects sin has had on this world and ourselves.
It’s described by Peter as the restoration of all things in Acts 3:21; as the redemption of creation and of our bodies in Romans 8; a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells in II Peter 3:13. All causes of sin and all the law breakers will be removed and the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, Jesus said in Matthew 13:41.
Imagine no more sin, no more crime, no more bad parts of town, no more need for locks on doors or banks, no more war, no oppression, no more unkindness, no more slandering or gossiping, no more scams, no more lying (I’m so sick of people lying to me), no more politics, no more need for signatures and paperwork, no more rebellion against God. Imagine no more weeds, no more thorns or thistles. No more having to work so hard to live. Imagine no more disease or pollution. Imagine no more poverty, no more hunger. All the effects of sin undone. No more growing old and weak or getting sick. And no more death. And imagine all that is good and beautiful and right about this world being magnified and enhanced in its goodness and beauty. That’s the picture we’re given in the prophets of Scripture of where we’re headed when God has fully saved us.
God is so good. He so loves us. He longs to save us from sin’s penalty and power and presence completely. He wants us to live forever and enjoy His kindness and love. And He will do it if we continue to believe in His son. If we keep listening to Him, keep learning, keep letting Him correct and guide and change us, continuing to sanctify us. And He will bring us all the way to glorification.
If you’re struggling along the path, we want to help you. Tell us how we can help.
-James Williams