The word of God speaks of "salvation" in three tenses - past (Eph. 2:8),
present (Phil. 2:12) and future (Rom.13:11) - or in other words, of justification, sanctification and
glorification. Salvation has a foundation and a
superstructure. The foundation is forgiveness of sins and justification.
Justification is more than the forgiveness of
our sins. It also means that we have been declared righteous in God's
eyes, on the basis of Christ's death,
resurrection and ascension. This is not on the basis of our works (Eph.
2:8,9), for even our righteous deeds are like
filthy rags in God's sight (Isa. 64:6). We are clothed with the
righteousness of Christ (Gal. 3:27). Repentance and
faith are the conditions for being forgiven and justified (Acts 20:21).
True repentance must produce in us the fruit of restitution - returning
money and things and taxes due, that are
wrongfully in our possession (that belong to others), and apologizing to
those we have wronged, as far as possible
(Lk. 19:8,9). When God forgives us, He also requires that we forgive
others in the same way. If we fail to do this,
God withdraws His forgiveness (Matt. 18:23-35). Repentance and faith
must be followed by baptism by
immersion in water, whereby we publicly testify to God, to men and to
demons that our old man is indeed buried
(Rom. 6:4,6). We can then receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit,
whereby we are endued with power to be witnesses for Christ by our life
and our lips (Acts 1:8). The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a promise to
be received by faith, by all of God's children (Matt. 3:11; Lk. 11:13).
It is the privilege of every disciple to have the witness of the Spirit
that he is indeed a child of God (Rom. 8:16) and also to know for
certain that he has indeed received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2).
Sanctification is the superstructure of the building. Sanctification
(meaning `being set apart' from sin and the
world) is a process that begins with the new birth (1 Cor.1:2) and that
should continue throughout our earthly life (1
Thess. 5:23,24). This is a work that God initiates in us through the
Holy Spirit, writing His laws upon our hearts
and minds; but we have to do our part, working out our salvation with
fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12,13). It is we
who are to put to death the deeds of the body through the power that the
Spirit offers us (Rom. 8:13). It is we who
have to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2
Cor. 7:1). Where a disciple is radical and wholehearted in cooperating
with the Holy Spirit in this work, the work of
sanctification will progress rapidly in his life. The work will
obviously be slow or stagnant in the life of one whose
response to the Spirit's leadings is sluggish. It is in times of
temptation that our wholeheartedness in desiring
sanctification is truly tested. To be sanctified is to have the
righteousness of the law fulfilled inside our hearts -
and not just externally as under the old covenant (Rom.8:4). This was
what Jesus emphasized in Matt. 5:17-48.
The law's requirements were summed up by Jesus as loving God
wholeheartedly and loving our neighbor as
ourselves (Matt. 22:36-40). It is this law of love that God now seeks to
write in our hearts, for that is His own nature
(Heb. 8:10; 2 Pet. 1:4). The outward manifestation of this will be a
life of victory over all conscious sin and of
obedience to all of Jesus' commandments (Jn.14:15). It is impossible to
enter into this life without first fulfilling the
conditions of discipleship that Jesus laid down (Lk.14:26-33). These are
basically to give the Lord the first
place above all our relatives and our Self-life and to be detached from
all of one's material wealth and
possessions. This is the narrow gate that we have to go through first.
Then comes the narrow way of sanctification.
Those who do not pursue after sanctification will never see the Lord
(Heb. 12:14).
While it is possible to be perfect in our conscience here and now (Heb.
7:19;9:9,14), it is not possible to be
sinlessly perfect until we have a glorified body at Jesus' return (1 Jn.
3:2). We can be LIKE Him only then. But we
must seek to WALK as He walked even now (1 Jn. 2:6). As long as we have
this corruptible body, unconscious sin
will be found in it, however much we may be sanctified (1Jn.1:8). But we
can be perfect in our conscience (Acts
24:16) and be free from conscious sin (1 Jn.2:1a), even now, if we are
wholehearted (1 Cor. 4:4). Thus we wait for
the second coming of Christ and for our glorification - the final part
of our salvation, when we will become sinlessly
perfect (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21).
For more articles by Zac Poonen go to:
www.poonen.org/zac