Have Been...Am Being...Will Be

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #131ab Re-Written 21FEB09 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

Save Me Today—Part Twenty Eight: Have Been...Am Being...Will Be

by rev dave c

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2Ti 1:8-10; NIV). While Paul uses the past tense in these verses to describe the act of God’s saving grace for the believer (has saved—called—brought) it is interesting to note how these verbs are to be meaningfully applied to my life and yours. Paul is saying that salvation is a past event (God has saved us—when we came to Christ), salvation is a current process (called us to a holy life—you and me right here and right now), and salvation as a future hope (brought immortality to light—our “next life”). I have been saved. I am being saved. I will be saved.

Because of Acts 2:21 we know that all who have called on the name of Jesus have been saved [e.g.; "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses" (Ac 13:38&39)]. We know they are being saved [My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified (Jn 17:15-19)]. And we know that they are going to be saved [When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Co 3:4)]. Believers have been saved—we have been justified. Believers are being saved—we are being sanctified. Believers will be saved—we will be glorified.

In Romans 5:1 Paul succinctly outlines this triadic nature of salvation: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith [saved as justification], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand [being saved as sanctification]. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God [going to be saved as glorification]. Briefly, justification means that we have been saved from the future consequences of our past sins because we have been declared legally righteous through the substitutionary/atoning sacrifice of Christ. Glorification means that through the miracle of resurrection we will some day perfectly reflect the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—we will be made holy (and wholly) in the image and likeness of the Son of God. Justification, then, is a past event that carries present and future ramifications, and glorification began upon receiving Christ’s proffered forgiveness and salvation, but won’t be fully actualized until the next life.

Justification and Glorification are summed up by the Apostle to the Gentiles in Ephesians 2:4-9: ...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. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast (NIV).

Sanctification, on the other hand, involves all of the earthly life that exists between the First and Second Advents of Jesus Christ...for the individual and for the Church Universal. Sanctification is about you and me and He today...the decisions we are making at this very moment. Functionally, there are two primary meanings for sanctification. Firstly, we are adopted into the family of God; that is, we have been sanctified by being set aside away from the ways and means of the world, and for the honor, the glory, and the use of God. Secondly, we are being sanctified, where sanctification is a process of learning to live increasingly obedient lives through the ministering and the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Ga 5:4-6; NIV). Through our decision of faith alone, we have been justified by the body and blood of Jesus Christ (that is, positionally declared righteous)—we have been saved from the penalty of sin. As we learn and grow in a committed hope of our faith, we are being sanctified through obedience to the written and living Word of God—we are being saved from the power of sin. Finally, and ultimately, as we stay the course of a life surrendered in and to love, we will pass through the door of physical death into the presence of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ (2Co 5:7-10; Phil. 1:21-24). Upon receipt of our resurrection bodies glorification will be made perfect—we will be saved from the presence of sin. Hallelujah, and amen.