“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

If we are saved and justified by faith, and if our salvation is guaranteed by the work of Jesus on the cross, how come we continue to struggle with sin?

That’s a fantastic question!

When God justifies us through the work of Jesus on the cross, we are made new. Our status before God is changed from sinners into children of God. But while our status has changed before God, we still live in the same flesh and body as we did before we were saved. Our flesh hasn’t changed. Our bodies will not be changed until Jesus returns. When Jesus returns, we will be given new bodies.

In the mean time, we who have been made new will need to learn how to live as God’s children in this fleshly body. We need to keep striving and working at becoming more like Jesus. This is sanctification.

The root word in sanctification is sanctify. Sanctify literally means to become holy.

When Paul writes, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” Paul is not talking about our standing before God. Our standing has already been changed. What Paul is referring to is the call for children of God to become more like Christ. This process is called sanctification. We, who have been saved, should become more like Christ as time goes by. We ought to be more like Christ today than we were when we first received Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Sanctification doesn’t mean that we no longer have a sinful body and sinful desires. Sanctification means, since we are new creations, we are at war with the flesh as long as we remain in our earthly bodies. We will continue to be at war with our flesh until the day we die or until Christ returns.

While justification is 100% the work of God through Christ on the cross, sanctification is a partnership between the work of the Holy Spirit who is constantly at work in us to make us more like Christ, and our obedience and submission to the Holy Spirit so that God’s Holy Spirit can mold us and make us more like Christ.

Struggling with the flesh and sin?

Fantastic! Good job! That means the Holy Spirit is at work in you. It is when we give into sin that we lose.

So, keep at it. Keep striving after Christ!

“For it is 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 should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Did you know that salvation has three tenses: past, present, and future?

• Past Tense – What God has done for sinners through the work of Jesus on the cross – Justification
• Present Tense – What God continues to do through the Holy Spirit to make us more like Christ – Sanctification
• Future Tense – What God will do at the second coming of Jesus when he comes to judge and rule – Glorification

Today, we will be looking at justification.

How are sinners saved?

By God’s grace. It is all God. God loves you. Not because you are lovable or because you are worthy. God loves you because he is God. God’s love for sinners has nothing to do with us. God’s love for sinners has everything to do with God and God’s character.

Jesus tells us in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son so that whosoever should believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

This is all God. This is all grace. God loves you. Because God loves you, God made a plan for you to be changed from sinner to a child of God. This is all God’s doing.

All those who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior have been saved. This is a done deal. God did it all. Jesus paid it all. When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior our status and standing before God is changed to sons and daughters of the King. We are justified by Christ through faith. We stand before God just as if we had never sinned because Jesus takes on our sin and receives the wrath of God’s anger and judgment on our behalf. But this is not the whole story. Jesus rose again from the dead so that those who received him as Lord and Savior rise with Christ as sons and daughters.

That’s justification. This is all God. This is all grace.

Just as we did nothing to deserve God’s grace, there is nothing we can do to make God forsake us. Once we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are God’s own.

If you’ve received Jesus as Lord and Savior, you need not ever doubt your standing before God. God is your Father.

This is the good news of salvation!

Rest and be encouraged by the truth of Justification. God has done it all. Jesus has paid it all.

Amen!

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

God takes forgiveness seriously.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:13).

Jesus, in expounding the need for forgiveness taught, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15).

God takes forgiveness seriously. Why? Why does forgiveness matter so much?

The reason why God calls us to forgive others is not because others deserve forgiveness but because you deserve peace. There is no peace without forgiveness. That is the way it is with us and God. And that is the way it is with us and others.

We forgive because forgiveness is the pathway to experiencing God’s peace.

Who do you need to forgive today? Who has been the stumbling block to you experiencing God’s peace?

Go to God and release them and yourself from turmoil and experience God’s peace by forgiving them.