The Gift of Salvation – 8. Perseverance, death and Glorification

The Gift of Salvation – 8. Perseverance, death and Glorification

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In this blog we will be briefly looking at the last three stages in the Order of Salvation.

i) Perseverance

If you are a Christian, you will persevere. A Christian is someone that remains faithful to Jesus throughout his or her life. This does not preclude moments of doubt and sin on the journey, but they always come back to Jesus.

‘The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God's power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again.’ (Wayne Grudem)

As Charles Spurgeon has said,

‘We believe in the perseverance of the saints, but many are not saints, and therefore do not persevere’. 

ii) Death

Death is an experience that we will all go through. Death for humans is the result of the Fall of Adam. As Christians we look forward to a day when death will be destroyed forever. As Paul says,

‘The last enemy to be destroyed is death.’ (1 Cor. 15:26)

We have great hope: death is the passing through of a doorway into the presence of God; it is to hold no fear for those who have received Jesus as Lord and Saviour. As the writer to the Hebrews said,

'Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil –  and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.' (Heb. 2:14-15)

iii) Glory

Glory is the last stage in the Order of Salvation. Christians are looking forward to the glory of God: they will see His glory, and they will experience His glory as they themselves are perfected.

This glorification will only be complete when Jesus returns and gives every Christian a renewed heavenly body in which they will serve Him, eternally, in a new heavens and new earth.

As we began these blogs, let’s end with a quote from Paul and a comment by John Piper,

Romans 8:30 ‘those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.’

John Piper wrote about this, ‘What’s the point of a chain of statements like this? The point is certainty and confidence and assurance and security. The point is that God is the one who saves his people, really saves them. He does not just offer salvation, he saves them. From beginning to end he is the One who decisively and infallibly acts so that not one of his own is lost. The point is that the chain cannot be broken: all the foreknown are predestined; all the predestined are called; all the called are justified; and all the justified are glorified. The point is to guarantee that everyone in the chain will reach the goal of glory!’

I hope that you are enjoying The Gift of Salvation. I hope you see God’s grace in you in the past and present and are believing His grace for the future. Be encouraged, be comforted, be inspired to press on to ever deeper joy and fruitfulness for our great God and Saviour.

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The Gift of Salvation – 7. Sanctification

The Gift of Salvation – 7. Sanctification

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In the previous blog, we saw how God graciously adopts us into His family; all Christians have God as their Heavenly Father and can be confident of His love.

God’s loves us as we are, but too much to leave us as we are! He is constantly working in us to restore His image in us, this is sanctification. 

We are like God’s work of art. He is at work to complete the work that He has begun in His church and its members. Michelangelo, when questioned about his masterpiece David, answered that the sculpture had always existed within the stone. He had simply chiseled away the rock around it.

Sanctification is God adding and taking away elements of our character that don’t conform to the image of Christ.

Wayne Grudem summarised sanctification as,

‘Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.’

Sanctification is the gift of God – it is He that is working in us; but it is a gift that we have to receive by active participation. How does God sanctify us:

·      The bible and teaching – As we read, are taught and apply the bible

·      Christian fellowship – The church community helps us to grow

·      Worship and prayer – As we spend time with God, He transforms us

·      Experience – God uses the experiences of our lives to train us

Be encouraged: however you think you are doing; however life is going, if you love Jesus, God is ‘working all things together for your good’. What is that ‘good’? To be like Jesus!

Be challenged: change is not easy. You need to apply diligent application to grow. Do you have bad habits, broken relationships, ungodly attitudes, a lazy approach to your spiritual life...? Let's respond to God's call,

'But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 3:13-14)

A couple of great quotes

‘Some object to saying that God and man "cooperate" in sanctification, because they want to insist that God's work is primary and our work in sanctification is only a secondary one (see Phil. 2:12-13). However, if we explain the nature of God's role and our role in sanctification clearly, it does not seem inappropriate to say that God and man cooperate in sanctification. God works in our sanctification and we work as well, and we work for the same purpose. We are not saying that we have equal roles in sanctification or that we both work in the same way, but simply that we cooperate with God in ways that are appropriate to our status as God's creatures. And the fact that Scripture emphasizes the role that we play in sanctification (with all the moral commands of the New Testament), makes it appropriate to teach that God calls us to cooperate with him in this activity.’ (John Murray)

“We need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

To memorise/meditate upon

Romans 6:19 Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

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The Gift of Salvation - 6. Adoption

The Gift of Salvation - 6. Adoption

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When my children were small we used to watch the Stuart Little films together. They tell of the adventures of a mouse – Stuart Little – who is chosen for adoption by a human family.

The films begin as the family walk around the orphanage; among all the cute and gifted children is Stuart Little who has given up hope of getting a family,

“Let’s face it” Stuart responds to their question on why he’s been in the orphanage so long “not everyone wants to adopt someone…like me”

Their son, to say nothing of the cute, but venomous cat, are not thrilled at the prospect of Stuart, a mouse! Joining the family.

Have you ever been chosen for something? Chosen for a team, for a university, for a marriage… Being chosen for something gives us a great sense of worth and joy. Whether or not you’ve ever been chosen for anything, if you’re a Christian, God has chosen to adopt you as His very own child!

J. I. Packer, in his book Knowing God says,  ‘What is a Christian? The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as a Father.’

Adoption is something we can know on two levels:

i) What the bible says.

The bible is your adoption certificate – believe what it says! Agree and rejoice with John as he writes, 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1) 

ii) The immediate testimony of the Holy Spirit:

The Apostle Paul says about the Spirit and adoption,

Romans 8:15-16 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

‘In using the verb ‘crying out,’ Paul stresses that our awareness of God as Father comes not from rational consideration nor from external testimony alone but from a truth deeply felt and intensely experienced. If some Christians err in basing their assurance of salvation on feelings alone, many others err in basing it on facts and arguments alone. Indeed, what Paul says here calls into question whether one can have a genuine experience of God’s Spirit of adoption without its affecting the emotions.’  (Douglas J. Moo)

A couple of great quotes

‘We may define adoption as follows: Adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family.’ (Wayne Grudem)

‘In regeneration God gives us new spiritual life within. In justification God gives us legal standing before him. But in adoption God makes us members of his family…adoption focuses much more on the personal relationships that salvation gives us with God and with his people.’ (Wayne Grudem)

To memorise/meditate upon

Romans 8:15-16 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Galatians 4:4-7 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,  to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.  Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."  So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

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