Salvation: 3 tenses

Ironside SG

I know that this posts will be elementary to Christians who have been in the faith quite a long time but there might be baby Christians here who doesn't know much about the salvation experience plus there are also souls here who are curious about the salvation offered by the Lord Christ on the cross and so to meet that need i hope this posts will minister to them.

3 Tenses of Mans greatest experience

What could be more great an experience than the experience of salvation. It is mans greatest need. It is a past event, an on-going journey and a future accomplishment. Salvation is really a composite experience, it is composed of so many stuff within it. Salvation is a) being born again, b) being regenerate, c) being forgiven of all sins, d) Christian, e) redeemed f) justified g) sanctified h) possessing eternal life and etc.

Salvation also has tenses in it. It has a past tense, a present tense and a future tense. If you read the New Testament, often times you can read that the readers [Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians and etc.] are already SAVED, but upon further reading you can read that the readers are as of yet BEING SAVED, reading on, you will find that they are told that they WILL BE SAVED. Which is true? Are they already saved? Are they being saved? Or will they yet be saved? Answer : all are true.

The Christian has been saved, is being saved and will be saved. To put it in other words the Christian has been justified, is being sanctified and will be glorified.

*Salvation: the Whole Package*

What is justification?

It is the act of God the Father whereby He DECLARES as righteous anyone who has trusted in the work of God the Son in Calvary while they are still in their sinning state. This takes place in the twinkling of an eye, the very moment the sinner trust in the saving work of the Lord Jesus in Calvary.

For by grace you have been SAVED [justified] through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

What is sanctification?

it actully means 'set apart'

Has three aspects: a) positional sanctification or positional setting apart b) progressive sanctification or gradual moral setting apart from the character of the world to Christ our Lord's character and c) completed sanctification which is glorification. This is where the position (a) has been reached by progressive sanctification (b).

Picture a potter in his warehouse full of broken jars. He selects jars from the multitude of broken jars in the warehouse. The ones he selected he then takes or sets it apart from the other broken jars by placing it in his working table. That's positional sanctification.

Now, he begins working the broken jars to conform it into the same image of a beautiful picture of a jar on the wall of his working station. His working the separated broken jars is progressive sanctification while the picture of the perfectly beautiful jar is the Lord Jesus Christ.

a) Positional sanctification is when we are set apart unto God permanently the moment we place our faith in Christ. Eventhough we are still imperfect and sinning in this side of glory. WE are wholly God's regardless of who and what we are here on earth because of the work of the Savior.

b) progressive sanctification. To put it in another term it is the holification of the justified sinner. It is the process by which God the Father MAKES righteous the justified sinner through the agency of God the Spirit.

Justification is being DECLARED righteous through faith alone in the work of the Savior. Sanctification [progressive] is being MADE righteous through the work of the Holy Spirit indwelling in the sinner. This is the process where God conforms the justified sinner to the likeness and image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Will a saved [or justified] person live an ungodly and profligate life because he is already saved [justified]?

No. Because any saved or justified person will undergo sanctification. God sanctifies the justified through His Holy Spirit working in good and bad events, through the reading, listening and studying Gods Word, the Bible, through temptations, through trials and just about anything he or she encounters in this life. This process of sanctification takes place in the whole life time of the justified sinner. This doesnt mean that a justified or a saved person will be perfectly sinless rather he or she will sin less and less as time passes by for the Holy Spirit is working in him conforming and molding him into the likeness of the One who saved him, Jesus.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved [sanctification] it is the power of God. 1 Cor. 1:18

Being saved signifies an on-going salvation presently experienced by the Corinthians in their time.

What is glorification?

It is sanctification completed. The justified sinner who has undergone sanctification is now completely and perfectly ridden of the sinful nature. This is the stage where the DECLARATION [justification] has reached its REALIZATION through TRANSFORMATION [sanctification]. It will be impossible for him or her to sin upon reaching this stage. This is reached upon the death of the justified and sanctified sinner in heaven. Like justification, this happens also in the twinkling of an eye, at a very immediate moment.

What if those who are in heaven will commit sin? Answer: that will not happen because the justified-sanctified sinner has been completely ridden of the sinful nature already. In the resurrection of the saved he will also be given a glorious physical body that is also perfect, one that is impregnable to sickness and diseases.

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is NEARER than when we first believed. Romans 13:13

Paul is now saying that their salvation [speaking of the glorification aspect of salvation] is near.

In closing salvation takes away three Ps in a sinner. It takes away the PENALTY of sin which is hell [justified]. It progressively takes away the POWER of sin [sanctified]. And it takes away completely the PRESENCE of sin in the sinner [glorified].

..the christian has been saved, is now being saved and will be saved..and it all starts with justification..trust in the saving work of the Lord Jesus in Calvary.