We Live by Faith

The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Faith is a perfect fit with God’s future grace. It corresponds to the freedom and all-sufficiency of grace. And it calls attention to the glorious trustworthiness of God.

One of the important implications of this conclusion is that the faith that justifies and the faith that sanctifies are not two different kinds of faith. “Sanctify” simply means to make holy or to transform into Christlikeness. It is all by grace.

Therefore, it must also be through faith. For faith is the act of the soul that connects with grace, and receives it, and channels it as the power of obedience, and guards grace from being nullified through human boasting.

Paul makes this connection between faith and sanctification explicit in Galatians 2:20 (“I live by faith”). Sanctification is by the Spirit and by faith. Which is another way of saying that it is by grace and by faith. The Spirit is “the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29). God’s way of making us holy is by the Spirit; but the Spirit works through faith in the gospel.

The simple reason why the faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies is that both justification and sanctification are the work of sovereign grace. And it’s faith that corresponds to grace. Justification and sanctification are not the same kind of work (justification is the imputation of righteousness; sanctification is the impartation of righteousness), but they are both works of grace. Sanctification and justification are “grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

The human corollary of God’s free grace is faith. If both justification and sanctification are works of grace, it is natural that they would both be by faith.

John Piper 

Hope for Imperfect Christians

By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)

This verse is full of encouragement for imperfect sinners like us, and full of motivation for holiness.

It means that you can have assurance that you stand perfected and completed in the eyes of your heavenly Father not because you are perfect now, but precisely because you are not perfect now but are “being sanctified,” “being made holy” — that, by faith in God’s promises, you are moving away from your lingering imperfection toward more and more holiness. That’s the point of Hebrews 10:14.

Does your faith make you eager to forsake sin and make progress in holiness? That’s the kind of faith that in the midst of imperfection can look to Christ and say, “You have already perfected me in your sight.”

This faith says, “Christ, today I have sinned. But I hate my sin. For you have written the law on my heart, and I long to do it. And you are working in me what is pleasing in your sight (Hebrews 13:21). And so, I hate the sin that I still do; and I hate the sinful thoughts that I contemplate.”

This is the true and realistic faith that saves. This is the faith that can savor the words, “By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

This is not the boast of the strong. It is the cry of the weak in need of a Savior.

I invite you, I urge you, to be weak enough to trust Christ in this way.

 

John Piper 

Justified, Sanctified, Glorified

 

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 JOHN 3:2
 
PONDER THIS

When you get saved, you are justified immediately in your spirit. This means you are made right with God. The Bible speaks of the spirits of just people being made perfect. Every sin, every blot, every blur, every blemish, every stain is buried in the grave of God’s forgetfulness.

Not only are you justified immediately in your spirit, but you are also sanctified progressively in your soul. God is working on you each day to make you more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then, you are glorified ultimately in the body. One of these days, He’s going to change my vile body so that it might be like His glorious body. What I’m going to be like, I don’t know, but I know one thing: I’m going to be like Jesus, and that’s good enough for me. We can’t be dogmatic about details we can’t understand. We just hold onto the hope and joy that we are going to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. That is not just a far-off hope but a present reality that we see more each day and will see ultimately in glory.

What are some ways God has shaped you to be more like Him during your time as a Christian?
What are some areas of your life that don’t reflect Jesus? How can those areas begin to change and reflect Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God to help you in the areas where you don’t reflect Him. Ask Him to make you more like Him each day.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Purposed to Be Like Jesus

PRAY OVER THIS

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30

 

PONDER THIS

God has a Son He loves so much. He said, “I’m going to make a lot more like Him. I’m going to make a family in His image, and I have determined they’re going to be like Jesus.” This is the purpose of every Christ follower. When you are saved, your life changes. Now you have a new purpose: to be like Jesus.

And Paul spoke of these things in the past tense. Verse 30 says, “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Now wait a minute. I thought you said the glory that will be revealed. Yes, but God says, “It’s as good as done. In my mind, in my heart, I don’t speak of it as something that’s going to happen. It is done. It is finished.” God has predestined it. And what has been decreed in Heaven cannot be annulled by Hell: it is done.

God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to be your sin-bearer, and Jesus has taken your sin to the cross. He’s your substitute. Your sin debt has been paid by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. When you believe this, your life is changed, and you have a new purpose: to be more like Him and to lead others to do the same.

Where has your life started to look more like Jesus as you’ve followed Him?

What are some things that make it challenging to become more like Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage another believer in the ways you have seen him or her look more like Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

For God’s Little People

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. (Luke 2:1–5)

Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that God ordained beforehand that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 5:2 shows); and that he so ordained things that when the time came, the Messiah’s mother and legal father were living not in Bethlehem but in Nazareth; and that in order to fulfill his word and bring two unheard-of, insignificant, little people to Bethlehem that first Christmas, God put it in the heart of Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be enrolled each in his own town? A decree for the entire world in order to move two people seventy miles!

Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a world of seven billion people, where all the news is about big political and economic and social movements and outstanding people with global significance and lots of power and prestige?

If you have, don’t let that make you disheartened or unhappy. For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes, without their even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake, but for the sake of God’s little people — the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields an empire to fulfill his word and bless his children.

Do not think, because you experience adversity in your little world of experience, that the hand of the Lord is shortened. It is not our prosperity or our fame but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart. And to that end, he rules the whole world. As Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” And he is always turning it for his saving and sanctifying and eternal purposes among his people.

He is a big God for little people, and we have great cause to rejoice that, unbeknownst to them, all the kings and presidents and premiers and chancellors and chiefs of the world follow the sovereign decrees of our Father in heaven, that we, the children, might be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ — and then enter his eternal glory.

John Piper 

Chosen and Called

God knew you before you ever became a human being.

You were chosen.

According to His great mercy, He sent Christ to shed His blood to redeem you.

Sinful man stands justified before a Holy God by the power of His Holy Blood.

Christ death enables you to be drawn to God.

Without that drawing from God, there would be no forgiveness!

Man, in his sin would not seek God!

Bow before Christ throne of grace!

Psalm 139:16

    [16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

    in your book were written, every one of them,

        the days that were formed for me,

        when as yet there was none of them.

Ephesians 1:3-8

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, [8] which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

 

Ephesians 2:8-10

[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Colossians 1:22

[22] he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

John 12:32

[32] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

John 6:44

[44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Romans 5:17-20

[17] For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

[18] Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. [19] For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. [20] Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

You are Saved for Good

PRAY OVER THIS

“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

Hebrews 10:14

 

PONDER THIS

I want to give you a challenge. Find anywhere in the Bible where anybody was ever saved twice. You can’t do it. Do you know why? It’s impossible to be saved twice. Nowhere in the Bible will you ever find someone who was saved twice. Some people believe you can get saved and lose your salvation. They believe you must be born again and again and again and again. They believe you keep on getting saved. But as today’s verse reminds us: by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Did you know for you to be saved twice Jesus would have to die twice? When you were saved, you received a ticket marked good for one salvation. You are perfected forever. Jesus is never going back to that cross. He’s never going to die again. By one offering we’re perfected forever.

What kinds of things cause you to question the validity of your salvation?

What might give you further assurance of your salvation? What might indicate that you’ve never been saved?

PRACTICE THIS

Spend time looking up passages that speak of the once-for-all assurance of salvation. If you have doubts about your salvation, ask God to reveal the truth to you based on His Word.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Hope for Imperfect Christians

By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)

This verse is full of encouragement for imperfect sinners like us, and full of motivation for holiness.

It means that you can have assurance that you stand perfected and completed in the eyes of your heavenly Father not because you are perfect now, but precisely because you are not perfect now but are “being sanctified,” “being made holy” — that, by faith in God’s promises, you are moving away from your lingering imperfection toward more and more holiness. That’s the point of Hebrews 10:14.

Does your faith make you eager to forsake sin and make progress in holiness? That’s the kind of faith that in the midst of imperfection can look to Christ and say, “You have already perfected me in your sight.”

This faith says, “Christ, today I have sinned. But I hate my sin. For you have written the law on my heart, and I long to do it. And you are working in me what is pleasing in your sight (Hebrews 13:21). And so, I hate the sin that I still do; and I hate the sinful thoughts that I contemplate.”

This is the true and realistic faith that saves. This is the faith that can savor the words, “By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

This is not the boast of the strong. It is the cry of the weak in need of a Savior.

I invite you, I urge you, to be weak enough to trust Christ in this way.

John Piper 

Finally and Totally Justified

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. (Romans 8:33)

Paul could have said here, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” and then answered, “No one! We are justified.” That’s true. But that is not what he said. His answer instead is, “God is the one who justifies.”

The emphasis is not on the act but on the Actor.

Why? Because in the world of courts and laws where this language comes from, the acquittal of a judge might be overturned by a higher one.

So what, if a local judge acquits you, when you are guilty, if a governor has the right to bring a charge against you? So what, if a governor acquits you, when you are guilty, if the emperor can bring a charge against you?

Here’s the point: Above God, there are no higher courts. If God is the one who acquits you — declares you righteous in his sight — no one can appeal; no one can claim a technicality; no one can call for a mistrial; no one can look for other counts against you. God’s sentence is final and total.

Hear this, all you who believe on Jesus, and become united to Christ, and show yourself among the elect: God is the one who justifies you. Not a human judge. Not a great prophet. Not an archangel from heaven. But God, the Creator of the world and Owner of all things and Ruler of the universe and every molecule and person in it, God is the one who justifies you.

The point: unshakable security in the face of tremendous suffering. If God is for us, no one can successfully be against us. If God gave his Son for us, he will give us everything that is good for us. If God is the one who justifies us, no charge against us can stand.

John Piper 

THE CROSS AND CHRISTIAN SANCTIFICATION

2 Corinthians 3:18
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Sanctification is the process…
Justification occurs at a point in time; sanctification is
a process over time. (Rom. 3:21-26; 1 Cor. 1:18; Heb. 10:14)
Justification refers to how we stand before God; sanctification
refers to how we live before God. (Rom. 5:1-8:39; Gal. 2:15-21)
Justification knows no degrees; sanctification progresses
in degrees. (2 Cor. 3:18)

by which God…
We are sanctified by God the Father. (2 Cor. 1:21-22; 16:14)
We are sanctified in God the Son. (Exod. 34:29-35; 2 Cor. 3:16-18)
We become like what we behold.
The more we look to Christ, the more we look
like Christ.
We are sanctified through God the Spirit.
(2 Cor. 3:1-18; Jer. 31:31-33; Ezek. 36:26-27)
Spiritless Christianity…
Relies on external regulations.
Revolves around our performance for God.
Results in condemnation and death.
Spirit-filled Christianity…
Relies on internal transformation.
Revolves around God’s performance in us.
Results in salvation and life.

transforms our lives…
See the battle for transformation. (2 Cor. 2:11; 10:3; 11:13-15)
God transforms our minds. (2 Cor. 10:3-6; 11:3-6)
God transforms our affections. (2 Cor. 7:10)
God transforms our wills. (2 Cor. 5:9-10; 12:19-21)
God transforms our relationships.
We show the love of Christ to each other in the church.
(2 Cor . 2:4; 5:14; 6:1 1-13; 7:2-4; 1 1:2, 11; 12:14-15, 19)
We spread the love of Christ to others in the world.
Through a clear reflection of God’s holiness. (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1)
Through the urgent proclamation of God’s gospel.
(2 Cor. 4:1-6)
See your need for examination. (2 Cor. 13:5-10)

into the image of Christ...
Our sanctification will not be complete in this world.
(Rom. 7:18-19; 1 Jn. 1:8-10)
This is not an excuse for spiritual laziness. (1 John 2:1-6; 3:4-10)
This is an exhortation to spiritual perseverance. (Heb. 12:1-3)
Our sanctification will be complete in the world to come. (1 John 3:2-3)
Thanks Pastor David!