By grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship (masterpiece, handiwork), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
A Great Summary
Our salvation in Christ is complete. It involves justification, sanctification, and glorification. By grace, through faith, God justifies Jesus’ believers in an instantaneous act. Christ was born, lived, died, and rose for His people in order that the penalty for our sins be paid, and Jesus’ righteousness might be counted to us. We are declared just before God when we believe. Once justified, Christ by the Holy Spirit saves us from the power and practice of our sins through the lifelong process of sanctification. In sanctification, Christians are made more and more like Jesus. But that lifelong process never ends, and the final goal is never reached until our death or Jesus’ return, whichever comes first. At that time, Christians are glorified and made completely perfect for the first time. (Jay Adams)
Christian Living in the Home, P&R Publishing, 1972, p. 10-11, Us
“Amazing Grace” is Americans’ favorite hymn, according to the Gallup Poll, and was written by the former captain of a slave ship. John Newton (1725–1807) was the writer, and he called himself a wretch (a morally wicked and miserable person) in the hymn because his way of life was so far from what God requires of us. The hymn describes how God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) began to save and transform Newton, and how the Lord would do the same for anyone who truly called on Jesus for salvation and cleansing. Newton eventually became an Anglican minister and worked to abolish the slave trade.
He once wrote: “I am not yet what I ought to be, want to be, hope to be in Heaven.
But still, I am not what I once used to be.
And by God’s grace I am what I am.” (paraphrase)
Let’s examine the 3 phases of the Christian life that both Jay Adams and John Newton discussed.
God’s Glorious Future Is Ahead of Us
Jesus’ followers admit that we fall short every day and stumble in many ways, because sanctification is a lifelong process.1 God the Father adopts us into His family entirely because of what Jesus has done for us. But He doesn’t stop there. God the Holy Spirit molds us into Christ’s likeness, making us resemble Jesus, as His little brothers and sisters.2
The Lord’s work in us is not yet done, perfected, or completed. So we say with Paul: “What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… For I desire to do what is right, but I lack the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”3 We still struggle with our own remaining sin and admit with Paul: “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”4 Bless the Lord. His grace is greater than all our sin!
Newton said: Imagine a Christian sitting down with a blank page and pen. He begins to write out his perfectly scripted life, explaining how he would love others, how he would structure his prayer life, or how he would build a beautiful Christian family. But indwelling sin and Satan crouch at his elbow, disrupting every pen stroke and messing up every word and sentence as our Christian friend tries to write the script.
At every point in the Christian life, our own flesh (sinful nature) and Satan jab our elbow, and our pen skids across the page as our perfect plan is reduced to scribbles. This is a metaphor of the Christian life with indwelling sin. Yet the biggest problem is that sin is not at our elbow—our sin is in us!
Our glorious future as believers in Christ involves ultimate glorification: the resurrection of our bodies as imperishable and heavenly forms, free from pain and sin. We will live in God’s renewed creation, seeing Jesus face to face, reigning with Him, and sharing in His glory. Our future in Jesus is a certain, preordained destiny that brings us eternal joy.
ligonier.org/devotionals/our-glorious-future, June 4, 2012
So we sing: Face to face, I shall behold Him, far beyond the starry sky.
Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by!
(Song by Carrie Ellis Breck)
God Put Our Sinful Past Behind Us
“Praise be to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through Christ’s resurrection from the dead.” Thank God, Jesus’ followers are already born again and made new creatures.6 “We were buried with Him…into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”7
By God’s grace, we have taken off our old self with its practices and have put on the new self. The Lord is renewing us to resemble Him in knowledge, true righteousness, and holiness.8 Praise God, we are no longer His enemies but His bride, friends, and adopted children, at peace with Him.9 We are no longer far away from God, but brought near by Christ’s blood.10 True Christians are now redeemed, pardoned, accepted, and reconciled to God, never to be rejected, condemned, or cast out. Bless Him for saving us!
Enough for me that Jesus saves. This ends my fear and doubt.
A sinful soul, I come to Him. He’ll never cast me out.
(Song by Eliza Edmunds Hewitt)
The Lord Enables and Equips Us to Serve Him Now
“By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.”11 “God works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose.”12 “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”13 We must never boast or brag about our good deeds or progress in the Christian life.14 We need to keep on praying for God’s daily preserving grace to help us persevere in following and serving Him.
Martin Luther says Jesus’ followers are both sinners and saints at the same time, and that the whole life of believers should be a life of repentance and running back to God to walk with Him by faith. John Newton exemplified this lifestyle.
The whole of the Christian life is centered on Jesus. Like Paul, the contemporary Christian can say: “To me to live is Christ.” But often, in Christian experience, we are tempted to look elsewhere for direction, example, counsel, and guidance. We lose sight of the fact that everything we need to live the Christian life is to be found exclusively in Jesus. For spiritual life, growth, and endurance, we must think first of all about Christ.
Grow in Grace, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1989, p. xi.
How about us? R. C. Sproul comments: “In and of ourselves, under the analysis of God’s scrutiny, we still have sin. We’re still sinners. But, by God’s imputation (giving us Christ’s perfect record) and by faith in Jesus, His righteousness is now transferred to our account, then we are considered just and righteous. This is the very heart of the gospel.”
Who has the power to part the sea? Who has the power to rescue me?
Who has the power to save my soul? Only my sweet Lord.
(Song by David Crowder)
What About Us?
This chart may be helpful:
| Christians are already | declared righteous because of Jesus’ doing and dying for us | Christ’s work for us as SAVIOR | regeneration, justification, and adoption are instantaneous, completed all at once |
| Christians are not yet fully | practicing righteousness, Jesus-like living, holiness | Christ’s work in us by the Holy Spirit as SANCTIFIER | sanctification has 3 stages: initial, ongoing, and final cleansing |
Adapted and expanded from Jack Wellman, Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane, Kansas.
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 James 3:2. 2 Rom 8:19,29. 3 Rom 7:15-19. 4 Rom 7:24-25. 5 1 Peter 1:3. 6 John 3:1-8; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15. 7 Rom 6:4. 8 Col 3:10; Eph 4:23-24. 9 Rom 5:1,10. 10 Eph 2:13; 2 Cor 5:19-21. 11 1 Cor 15:10. 12 Phil 2:13. 13 Eph 2:10. 14 Eph 2:8-9.