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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The Gift of Salvation - 5. Justification

The Gift of Salvation - 5. Justification

So far in the Gift of salvation we have looked at:

i) Predestination - God chose us in eternity past; ii) The Effectual Call - through the gospel God invited us to believe; iii) Regeneration - His giving us spiritual life to enable us to take the next step;  iv) Conversion - our response of repentance and faith in Christ; and today we will be looking at iv) justification - what God does in response to our faith in order deal with our sin. 

Justification has two elements to it:

i) Firstly, it is God declaring us ‘not guilty’ (and hence will never face condemnation);

ii) Secondly, it is God attributing (imputing) to us the perfect righteousness of Jesus!

So, a justified person, before God, has never sinned but has actually lived a perfect life!

Like a man who goes into his bank knowing that he has a debt that he can never pay but finds that his debt has been deleted! But it doesn’t stop there; his account is in limitless credit! So, justification has these two elements – we have something taken from us: our sin, and something given to us: Jesus perfect righteous life.

Martin Luther and justification as a gift

We owe a huge debt to Martin Luther for making a stand and helping the church to embrace justification by faith alone.

After a thunderstorm in 1505 struck the fear of God into him, the young 21-year-old Martin Luther became a monk.

After years of terrorising fear of God’s wrath He came to an understanding of justification by faith and not by doing good works.

Revelation of God’s grace came whilst teaching on the Psalms and studying Romans during 1513-1514,

"At last meditating day and night, by the mercy of God, I ... began to understand that the righteousness of God is that through which the righteous live by a gift of God, namely by faith… Here I felt as if I were entirely born again and had entered paradise itself through the gates that had been flung open."

A couple of great quotes

‘It is essential to the heart of the gospel to insist that God declares us to be just or righteous not on the basis of our actual condition of righteousness or holiness, but rather on the basis of Christ's perfect righteousness, which he thinks of as belonging to us. This was the heart of the difference between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism at the Reformation. Protestantism since the time of Martin Luther has insisted that justification does not change us internally and it is not a declaration based in any way on any goodness that we have in ourselves’ (Wayne Grudem)

‘Regeneration is an act of God in us; justification is a judgment of God with respect to us. The distinction is like that of the distinction between the act of a surgeon and the act of a judge. The surgeon, when he removes an inward cancer, does something in us. That is not what a judge does-he gives a verdict regarding our judicial status. If we are innocent he declares accordingly.

The purity of the gospel is bound up with the recognition of this distinction. If justification is confused with regeneration or sanctification, then the door is opened for the perversion of the gospel at its centre. Justification is still the article of the standing or falling of the Church.’ (John Murray)

To memorise/meditate upon

Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

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

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The Gift of Salvation - 4. Conversion

The Gift of Salvation - 4. Conversion

In the previous blog, we saw that a Christian is one that has been ‘born again’ or ‘regenerate’ by the Holy Spirit.

‘Conversion’ is a term that means ‘turning’; it sums up what happens after one is regenerate. Like any new birth, the bible points to crucial attributes (or fruit) that will always accompany this transformation.

Repentance always accompanies conversion

Repentance is a change of mind and life. Regeneration will always be accompanied by a desire to follow and please Jesus.

Faith always accompanies conversion

Faith receives Jesus as Lord and Saviour; a complete trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection for our sin will always accompany true salvation.

Wayne Grudem sums it up,

‘Conversion Is a Single Action of Turning from Sin in Repentance and Turning to Christ in Faith.’

Baptism should always follow conversion

Baptism is a vital act of faith; it is the symbolic action that the New Testament commands us to undertake in order to show our acceptance of the gospel and desire to live a new life for Jesus. Baptism is not essential in order to be saved – one can be a Christian without baptism; never the less, it is always to our detriment when we don’t follow the clear teaching of scripture.

A couple of great quotes

‘Conversion is our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation.’ (Grudem)

‘Trust involves the will as well as the mind. To have saving faith requires that we love the truth of the gospel and desire to live it out. We embrace with our hearts the sweetness and loveliness of Christ’ (R. C. Sproul)

To memorise/meditate upon

Acts 20:21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Acts 2:38 Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

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The Gift of Salvation - 3. Regeneration

3. Regeneration

Christianity is not principally a decision to believe that we make; it is a supernatural transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit. As Greg Haslem has written, ‘we believe in regeneration and not ‘decisionism’!

The conversion of C. S. Lewis sums up the supernatural work of regeneration,

‘I know very well when, but hardly how, the final step was taken. I was driving to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when I reached the zoo I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion (C. S. Lewis surprised by Joy)

Salvation is not just responding to the information of the gospel; rather, it is being acted upon by God to enable one to believe the gospel.

A couple of great quotes

Regeneration is a secret act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us (Wayne Grudem)

In the new birth, the Holy Spirit unites us to Christ in a living union. Christ is life. Christ is the vine where life flows. We are the branches (John 15:1–17). What happens in the new birth is the supernatural creation of new spiritual life, and it is created through Union with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit brings us into vital connection with Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. That is the objective reality of what happens in the new birth. (John Piper, Finally Alive)

To memorise and meditate upon

John 3:3 Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

Ephesians 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

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