Complete Salvation

Text: Ro. 6:1-4

Introduction:

  1. Illus. Kentucky Pastor who was caught by police robbing a bank. The pastor had over the course of the past few years actually robbed 14 banks. He used the money to support his habit of frequenting prostitutes. One man decided to write a book about the Pastor from the perspective that the pastor was a saved individual. His angle was that it was possible to be saved and yet live a carnal lifestyle.
  2. While we can’t judge hearts (only God can), we are commanded to judge the fruits of people (1 Co. 5:12)
  3. Lifestyle of sin is an indication that regeneration has not taken place in the person’s heart (1 Co. 6:9-11)
  4. Christians do sin, and sometimes heinously. David, a man after God’s own heart, committed both adultery and murder. But this was not David’s lifestyle. In fact, 1 Kings 15:5 states that he "did right except in the case of Uriah the Hittite."
  5. Some of this confusion might be the result of an improper understanding of the word "salvation." We usually use the word to denote the time at which a person was saved. While this is a proper use of the word, it is not its only use.
  6. To erase the confusion, I want to define and compare 4 words so that we can understand exactly what salvation really is.
  7. Justification, Sanctification, Glorification, Salvation

Big Idea: Salvation is more than mere justification. Justification is not the sum of God’s work in salvation. Salvation includes all three: justification, sanctification, and glorification.

  1. Tenses of Salvation
    1. Past (justification)
      1. Ro. 10:9, 13; Eph. 2:8-9
      2. Predominant use
      3. Beginning of the process
    2. Present (sanctification)
      1. 1 Co. 1:18 "which are being saved…"
      2. Not a finished product as far as practice is concerned
      3. Process
    3. Future (glorification)
      1. 1 Co. 3:15; 5:5
      2. Completion of what began at justification
  2. Setting of Ro. 6:1-4
    1. All sinners (ch. 1-3)
    2. Justification by faith (ch. 4-5)
    3. Jews thought of salvation in legalistic terms
      1. You had to keep the law or legal prescriptions of the OT.
      2. To Jews, the opposite was antinomianism (without Law). They accused Paul of teaching that it didn’t matter how you live since you are saved by faith.
    4. 2 errors of grace misunderstood
      1. legalism
      2. licentiousness
      3. Grace is a work of God in the heart. Therefore, it excludes our own good works (legalism) because it is a work of God in our hearts and on the cross
      4. It excludes licentiousness because when God does a work it accomplishes its goal.
  3. Salvation as a Whole
    1. Justification
      1. Initial beginning
      2. Being declared "not guilty"
      3. Being positionally sanctified
      4. Being given the position of freedom from guilt and sin.
        1. Illus. criminal is declared not guilty has that position, even though he may not take advantage of it
        2. O. J. Simpson has been justified
    2. Sanctification
      1. Process of practical righteousness
      2. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, not material possessions, flesh, etc.
        1. Where is that thirst, hunger, or drive for righteousness in the church today?
        2. In our church, where are the people who are doing their best to live righteously?
      3. Conforming to the image of Christ
      4. Transforming the mind
    3. Glorification
      1. Finish of what was started
      2. Heaven
  4. Key Truths
    1. If you truly have justification, then you have sanctification and glorification (Ro. 8:28-32)
      1. Salvation includes all three aspects
      2. There will be evidence that God is working in y our life.
      3. Q? If you were to be put on trial, what evidence would you give that you are saved? The ground of your justification is faith in the finished work of Christ, but the evidence is the present sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
    2. You cannot separate justification and sanctification
      1. We do so for study purposes
      2. Can’t be done on the practical level, they are inseparable
    3. Salvation (Are you saved) is more than justification. It of necessity must include sanctification and glorification.

Conclusion:

  1. Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. John the Baptist told the Pharisees "You generation of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Therefore, bring forth works meet for repentance."
  2. Develop a hunger for righteousness, not mere religious experience or soothing.