Was saved, am being saved, will be saved (I)

A Salvation Army girl once asked an Anglican Bishop if he was saved. “Do you mean was I saved" he asked, "am I being saved, or will I be saved?” Perhaps a little over simplistically there are three aspects to our salvation. I was saved when I believed. This is sometimes referred to as justification, before the bar of God it is “it is just as if I never sinned” (see Romans 5:1). I am being saved, sometimes referred to as sanctification, but it is just one aspect of sanctification, the aspect of being transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). Finally I will be saved, sometimes referred to as glorification, when I am taken from this earth to be with Him forever in heaven. It’s a little bit like the illustration of a man who was shipwrecked and was picked up (was saved). He is "being saved" as he is carried to safety but is still at sea, and finally when he docks, he is fully saved!

“Was saved” happens when we respond to the invitation “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). It is about being rescued from the penalty of sin, “But now we have been delivered from the law …. (Romans 7:6a), so that (sanctification) we "should serve in the newness of the Spirit” (Romans 7:6b). We are not saved by works, but we are saved unto good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). When Paul admonishes us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), he’s talking about the “being saved” aspect of our salvation. In particular we are not to be in fear and trembling about whether we will make it to heaven. Rather we should fear and tremble less we miss our destiny and what will really fulfill us.

Being saved is about overcoming the power of sin in our lives. But it is easy to think of this only as the outward appearance, merely “cleaning the outside of the cup.” The alcoholic has a lot more issues than his drinking. I have described the first twenty years of my Christian life as that of being a dry drunk. I had not dealt with the issues that led me to drinking in the first place. But it’s not just about alcoholism! We seem to have this tendency to want to live by rules “touch not, taste not” etc., etc. But as the Scripture says these things have an appearance of wisdom, but they are of no value against the indulgence of our sinful natures (Colossians 2:21, 23). And the stuff that needs to be dealt with is hidden deep within us. It’s called denial! Even after the eleven had been with Jesus for three years, He told them “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12).

Father, thank You that when we full cooperate with You (as in working our our salvation with fear and trembling) You work in our lives in both our desires, and the wherewithal to do Your will (Philippians 2:13). We loose our life to find it, but we need Your help Lord. Thank you Lord that for those of us who have believed in You, that we have been saved from the penalty of sin. Help us to cooperate with You in Your deliverance of us from the power of sin, and to look to You with the sure hope that we will be delivered from the very presence of sin. For this and many other things we praise and bless Your holy name again this morning Lord, in Jesus Name and Amen