Results of Our Salvation
Christians know that the main focus of Easter is Christ’s resurrection providing salvation, but what does salvation really do?
Janet and Jocelyn discuss the benefits of salvation not only to the believer, but God’s self-glorifying plan of redemption. This week we are reminded that salvation of sinner is ultimately to the praise of God’s glorious grace.
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Resources
Resources
Books
Biblical Doctrine - John MacArthur and Richard Mayhew
Essential Christian Doctrine - John MacArthur and Richard Mayhew
Gospel Primer - Milton Vincent
Accepting God’s Forgiveness - C. John Miller
Leading Your Child to Christ - Marty Machowski
Websites
Biblical Counseling Training Conferences
Handout
Read Through the Scripture Challenge 2024
Transcript
Jocelyn: I don't just need to feel better. I need the truth. And ultimately that will make me better.
Janet: I just want to make it as totally simple as possible for ladies to see that the Bible is really applicable to their everyday life.
Jocelyn: When they understand theology, the application flows out of it quickly with joy.
Janet: It is a journey, but even the journey itself is joyful when I'm doing it, holding the hand of my savior and trusting him all along the way. This is the joyful journey podcast, a podcast to inspire and equip women to passionately pursue beautiful biblical truth on their journey as women of God. When you choose truth, you're choosing joy.
Janet: Welcome back, listeners. This is Janet here once again with Jocelyn.
Jocelyn: Hey friends.
Janet: So Jocelyn, as we get started, I would love to know we are now three months into our scripture reading challenge. How's that going for you?
Jocelyn: It's going great. You know what this year I shared my plan with a lot of people, and I have a bunch of people that are on the same plan as I do. Some husbands and wives
Janet: That's fun.
Jocelyn: are both on the plan with me and my husband and my daughter's on it. I have a bunch of coworkers that are on it, and so it's fun to be able to read our passage and then see the thoughts that all these different people from my different aspects of my life have to say about the scripture that we're reading. So I'm really, really enjoying it.
Janet: Oh, that's great. I'm doing a plan with a couple of friends, and I do enjoy that. One of my desires this year is to be less tied to electronics, and I've been doing them on YouVersion. Which is a fine thing, but I wanted to use my paper Bible.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: So I now write down the whole month of what I need to read each day and put it in my Bible so that I'm back to journaling and I took your idea of finding just a couple of words in everything that you read and I'd been praying about what I was gonna do, and it was at the end of last year, maybe the beginning of this year, that one of the songs in our worship service had the phrase merciful and mighty.
Jocelyn: Oh, that's cool.
Janet: And I thought those are the two things, because if he was only merciful, it's kind of like Santa Claus. If he was only mighty, it's terrifying.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: But because he's both. And so I've been reading, marking those in different colors.
Jocelyn: That's cool.
Janet: And that's been fun. So that's, it helps me think more about what I'm reading. And then I've got the people I'm reading with. So then I jump on you version when I'm done, I do it all in my paper Bible where I can mark things and all of that.
Jocelyn: You're so committed. I would lose my paper 20 days into the year.
Janet: Well, I have a whole journal now and so I'm like, I'll journal and then when I have time I'll get on and just mark that I read it all.
Jocelyn: That's smart.
Janet: And make my notes so I can read what they're saying. So just my little attempt at getting away from some of the electronics because I needed that.
Jocelyn: I love it that you can do it the way that you want to do because it fulfills a goal that you have, but you're still in the scripture and you're being faithful to it.
Janet: Yeah. And not perfectly. We'll talk about that, I'm sure all year long.
Jocelyn: Oh yeah. Totally.
Janet: There's gonna be times we miss, times we get behind, and then we catch back up. And all of it means we're learning from the word.
Jocelyn: Absolutely.
Janet: So I love it. I love it. So for this episode I am excited for you to give us a special topic as we head into Easter.
Jocelyn: Me too. I'm really excited about this topic. I really love doctrine itself because I really enjoy that it's organized. Like I really enjoy learning something in an organized, orderly way, like there's an outline and in my brain it makes sense. I have in the past tended to be too philosophical about my faith and not enough application. And so I've been trying to be balanced about that being both learning and applying. But at some points it's nice to have just like a little pause where you can say, we're gonna learn about a topic in a really organized way. And it allows you to do all sorts of things. First, learn, digest, think about it, and also do some compare and contrast. You know, there's just lots of different ways that you can make something that's big and really robust more understandable and to digest it in ways that are new this year as you think about it afresh.
Janet: So listeners get ready to dig deep into the word for this episode.
Jocelyn: Awesome. So today we're gonna be talking about the results of our salvation, and we're gonna be celebrating Easter by thinking about this. It's cool. At Christmas we focus on Christology.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Which is a the theology of Christ. And at Easter we tend to focus on soteriology, which is the study of salvation. And one of the reasons that's important is because the doctrine of salvation is the pinnacle of Christian theology. Because salvation is the heart of the gospel and it's the center of redemptive history. I'm gonna read two paragraphs from one of my favorite books called Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhew. It's wordy, but it's very, very helpful. Man was created in the image of God and was charged with ruling over creation as God's representatives on earth. Yet man has utterly failed in that commission, having sinned against God in Adam's disobedience, and failed in that commission, having sinned against God in Adam's disobedience, and fallen from the original state of blessed fellowship he experienced in the garden. As a result, all of Adam's descendants are conceived in sin, and are born enemies of God. By nature, man is both relationally alienated from God and judicially accountable to him, both unable to enjoy the fellowship with God for which he was created. And required to pay the penalty for breaking God's laws and belittling his glory, namely death. And yet, God is a Savior who has acted in saving grace to redeem from sin and death those who would believe. His plan of redemption began in eternity past as God the father set his electing love on undeserving sinners, determining to rescue them from the fall, and the deserved consequences of their disobedience. He appointed the Lord Jesus Christ, God the son, to accomplish redemption on behalf of the elect by becoming man, by rendering perfect obedience to God as a man, and by dying as the substitute in the place of his people to pay the penalty for their sin. The father and the son have sent God the Holy Spirit to apply to the elect all the saving benefits that the son purchased for his people. That extended quote is from the book, Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhew. And it's just, it's so robust, a concluding kind of summary of what is the gospel and how does it relate to salvation.
Janet: That is a lot of words.
Jocelyn: It is.
Janet: And I know we're gonna be focusing on one aspect of that, but we could really chew on that for a long time. Any listeners, if you're struggling to comprehend that number one hit pause and go back. You can listen to it slower, you can tear it apart, all the things that Jocelyn mentioned earlier, but join the club.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: We can spend the rest of our lives understanding this more and more.
Jocelyn: And there are so many doctrines that flow out of those two paragraphs. I just read topics like election and reprobation, atonement, calling and regeneration, repentance and faith union with Christ, justification, adoption, sanctification, the perseverance of the saints and glorification. And today in this episode, we're gonna be looking at just a couple of those doctrines more closely. It like kills me to not look at all of them, but we're gonna break it down. First though, before we talk about the details, let's talk about the big picture. So let's think about what was driving God in accomplishing any of this for us. We have to remind ourselves, and remind ourselves often that God's chief purpose in offering us salvation, was to bring glory and honor to himself. So today we're gonna be talking about the results of our salvation, and sometimes it's super easy to forget that us being blessed is not the chief purpose God had
Janet: what
Jocelyn: in saving any of us. I know how. Wait, what? Why are we not the center of the universe? We get such immense blessings from salvation and God's saving grace, that it's easy to misunderstand the real purpose in humans being saved. God's chief purpose in salvation is not to the sinner themself. It is a privilege to be chosen by God for salvation. It is a benefit to be provided a substitute that is capable of satisfying the wrath of God. It's unspeakably valuable to receive new birth, to be united with Christ declared righteous, apart from our works, adopted into God's family and conformed into Jesus's image. But the scriptures make it absolutely clear. God thought up and executed salvation for humans for one purpose. And Ephesians 1:6 tells us that God saves sinners so that his glorious grace would be praised. Why don't you read for us, Janet, Psalm 106:8.
Janet: Yet he saved them for his namesake that he might make known his mighty power.
Jocelyn: And Isaiah 42:1-7 tells us that God promises to establish justice on the earth, to open blind eyes, and to free prisoners from darkness. But why? Isaiah 42:8 says, I am Yahweh. That is my name and my glory, I will not give to another. So to summarize, God is not saving any human because they are worth it. He saves people because he is worth it, and his plan for salvation highlights his worthiness. Again in the book Biblical Doctrine, there's a quote that says this, any view of salvation that exalts man as God's chief regard necessarily denigrates the glory of God, God himself and the glory of his name are uppermost in God's affections.
Janet: Oh, it's so true and I love, what's amazing is that his glorious grace, his name, is bound up in love, and I think about that.
Jocelyn: It's amazing.
Janet: When he said, I did this so that people would see my glory. Well then what does that mean his glory is? Undeserved love.
Jocelyn: Absolutely.
Janet: That's, that is amazing. We're told to love others as a way to represent him, because that's what he's like. He could not be praised rightly if it didn't include praising his undeserved love and affection for us. So with that big picture reminder, let's talk details.
Jocelyn: Okay. Details. To be honest, details are often not my fave part of life, but today the details are delicious. Today to celebrate and prepare for Easter, we're gonna be looking at five topics of soteriology, which is the doctrine of salvation that will help us to understand the amazing gift we've been given in salvation, and I'm really hoping that as we understand it more like your result will be what God's goal was: that you would praise the glory of God's grace.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Even more as you learn more about this topic.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: So these five topics are some of the results of our salvation, and I'm gonna list them first and then we'll break down each one to talk about a little bit more. And it's really, honestly, it's only a little bit, believe me. Like Godly men and women have been studying these topics for centuries.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And I'm sure like there's PhD dissertations on like one small point of one of these topics.
Janet: Talk about details.
Jocelyn: Yeah, talk about details. That's why I am not going for my PhD. And so we're skimming the surface of the amazingness and the benefits, but at least we're gonna briefly address each of the topics.
Janet: And we'll have lists of resources for people that are thinking, I want more on that one.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Yeah, yeah. And today, as we look at each of these concepts, let's do it through the grid of these three questions that I'm gonna ask you.
Jocelyn: Okay.
Janet: What is it? What is the concept or the topic? Is it a one-time act, or a process? And does God do it alone, or does God enable man to do it?
Jocelyn: Awesome. So the five concepts we're talking about today are regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification and glorification. And we could talk about any single one of those for an entire episode, but we're not gonna.
Janet: For sure.
Jocelyn: Today, we're just gonna get a high flying overview. So let's jump right in. Salvation concept number one, regeneration.
Janet: Okay, so to begin with, what does that even mean? What is it?
Jocelyn: Regeneration is the concept where God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, give new spiritual life to those who were spiritually dead in their sins. Romans 3:23 and Ephesians 2:1 and 5 remind us that all humans have fallen short of the glory of God and are dead because of their sins. They basically missed the mark of what God had expected of them, which was to live for him alone, to obey his directives and, because they missed the mark-- that's what sin means-- as a consequence, they immediately died spiritually and will eventually die physically. Regeneration refers to the fact that because of salvation, we are essentially born again. So we're born a second time.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: The first time we're born physically, the second time we're born spiritually. And it's cool to hear this kind of more deeply understood in the original language. In John 3:3, when Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again, he was using a Greek word that basically meant to be born from above or spiritual rebirth by God who dwells above. So it's saying, Jesus himself said, you have to be born a second time. You have to be born from above. Regeneration also refers to spiritual cleansing. Like 1 Corinthians 6:11 talks about when we're washed clean of our filthy sins. It also refers to us being made new again or renewed. Titus 3 talks about that. At Salvation, God creates a new nature for us with spiritual capacities. So the regenerated believer is declared righteous. They are alive to God, where before their sins cause them to be dead. Regeneration means I have been made alive. Regeneration finally refers to us having been resurrected and given life. And Jesus gives us life when we used to be dead, like John 5: 21 talks about.
Janet: Okay, so, is this a one-time act or a process?
Jocelyn: Regeneration is a one-time act. From birth, humans are dead because of the heritage that we receive from Adam. And at one point in time, God makes them alive.
Janet: Excellent. So does God do that alone or does God enable man to do it?
Jocelyn: In this case for regeneration, God does it alone. And I learned this concept from my dad, from Romans in the old King James version, and I've never forgotten it. I was having this time when I was really doubting my salvation, I was worried that I could lose my salvation and he showed me Ephesians 2:1 in the KJV, and it says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And he was like, Jossi. It was God who quickened you. He made you alive. There's nothing you or anybody else can ever do that will unquicken you because you didn't do the job of quickening yourself.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: God is the one that quickened you, so you can't unalive yourself. You weren't the one that made yourself alive in the first place.
Janet: I think that's so clear from Ephesians 2:1, and I love that. For those of us who think, well, you know, God's pretty pleased with me. I just need a little bit of help. You were dead.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Like
Jocelyn: dead.
Janet: How much does a dead person contribute to being resurrected?
Jocelyn: Yeah. Nothing.
Janet: They're dead.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: So I love that. And honestly, how reassuring, because God does it alone. I am safe and I'm secure. 'cause it's not relying on my faithfulness.
Jocelyn: Right.
Janet: Only his.
Jocelyn: Or your level of faith. Like
Janet: yes.
Jocelyn: Did I have enough faith? Did I say the right words? Like,
Janet: yes.
Jocelyn: Your faith
Janet: I was dead.
Jocelyn: Yes. Yes. Okay. Second concept. The word that we're gonna look at for the second concept is conversion.
Janet: Okay. So we talked about what the first word means. What does conversion mean? What is it?
Jocelyn: Okay. So to be honest, this was the concept when I was studying for this episode. This was the one that was the hardest for me to get. And so just be ready. It's a little bit challenging. Conversion is a mixture of both repentance and faith. So a lot of theologians like to describe conversion like a coin, and repentance is one side of the coin, and faith is the other side of the coin. That was really a helpful image for me as I was studying this. So a sinner is declared righteous before God by faith, and we have faith by believing what God has said about the gospel and his remedy for our sin. So saving faith is always repentant faith, it always means you're turning away from something.
Janet: Yes. Because what does repent mean?
Jocelyn: Right. Repent means to turn away.
Janet: Yes. Yes.
Jocelyn: So Acts 26:17 and 18 tells us that faith that turns to Christ for salvation necessarily is turning away from sin and self-righteousness. So you can't be like, yes, I want God and I also wanna do it my own way. That's impossible.
Janet: That's not repentance.
Jocelyn: That's not repentance.
Janet: Because repentance is turning. You can't walk two directions at the same time.
Jocelyn: Exactly. And sin, the concept of sin means I've missed the mark of what God has required. So I can't say, yes, I wanna do my own thing and I also want God. It just, it can't both be true.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: The gospel is always a call to both repent and believe. Like Mark 1:14 and 15 talks about. So conversion-- which is the concept we're talking about-- conversion, indicates the concept that at salvation we were turning away from something wicked before we turn to something righteous. We're changing from one thing to another, which is, that's the dictionary definition of conversion. Conversion means you changed from one thing to do another thing.
Janet: It's convert. We're, when we talk about we're converting anything,
Jocelyn: right,
Janet: it's a change,
Jocelyn: right.
Janet: To a new thing. Yep.
Jocelyn: So we're changing from believing and living one way-- which is thinking that we can write our own standards of what's right and good-- to begin believing and living a different way-- which means submitting ourselves to God's plan for being made right, and then living according to his standards of what's right and good. So just to kind of hit home with this a little bit, because conversion is what it is, you can't just say, I trusted God that I won't go to hell when I die, but I'm gonna keep on doing whatever I feel like doing. That's not
Janet: That person is not converted.
Jocelyn: They're not converted.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: They're not actually saved if they're like, yeah, I just wanted hell Insurance.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Like a get out of hell free card.
Janet: So is this a one-time act or a process?
Jocelyn: Conversion is a one-time act. We used to believe that we could do whatever we wanted and be happy and satisfied, and then we realized we could only be happy and satisfied by living according to God's standards of what is right and good.And, we are incapable of doing what is right and good, and we have to have that problem fixed. So we could only be in relationship with him in a way that he describes as possible of happening.
Janet: Excellent. And is this again something that God does alone? Or does God enable me to do it?
Jocelyn: This is a situation where God enables a man or a woman to do it. He's not doing it for us. He's making us able to do it. Ephesians 2:8 through 9 tells us that our faith to believe is a gift from God. No one can boast that they were able to just change themselves. Only God can enable humans to repent and have faith, but it is humans who do the repenting and having of the faith.
Janet: Which gets deeper. It's like what? And our mind starts to get blown, which I think is awesome because it's such a reminder that God is so big.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: He is so big. What we know is God draws, God enables. And I am responsible to acknowledge and to turn and trust, which turning is the repenting. And it's God who even gives me the desire to do any of that.
Jocelyn: Isn't that, isn't that amazing?
Janet: So, praise God. Yes.
Jocelyn: All right, so salvation concept number three. This concept is justification.
Janet: Okay, so again, what is that?
Jocelyn: Justification, of all the ones that I studied for this script, justification was the one that made me the most, like deliciously excited about. I was like grinning as I was working on this because it's so unfair. It's so, it's
Janet: in every good way.
Jocelyn: So unfair. In every good way.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: So justification is the immediate result of a believer's union with Christ, and it means that God declares believers to be righteous because of their union with the righteous one, Jesus Christ. In justification, God legally declares that believers are no longer deemed guilty under the divine law, but they're forgiven and counted righteous in God's sight.
Janet: Totally unfair.
Jocelyn: Totally. It's so unjust.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: It's so not right. Justification helps us understand how a perfect Holy God can ever be in relationship with ruined sinners. Because to be in a relationship with a perfect holy God requires righteousness and holiness. No one who's ruined can stand in the piercing, consuming gaze of the holy one and not be consumed. It's not possible.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: So justification is the instantaneous change of one's legal status before God. So it's similar in a marriage ceremony when the pastor says, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. So seconds before that, man and wife, those were two independent people.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: But on the basis of only the authority of that pastor, those two independent individuals become one married entity.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: So when God justifies a human, he is pronouncing that they are not guilty and fully righteous. Not necessarily because that individual is innocent, but because another person has paid in full the penalty for his or her crimes. Like that blows me away.
Janet: I, when I think. When you said earlier that it, everything is to draw attention to the glory of his grace.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Here it is.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: That what draws attention to him the most is that with all of that power, this is what he chooses to do with it, is just justify us, so that we could actually stand before him. That's unbelievable.
Jocelyn: It's like literally unbelievable. My favorite passage about this is from Colossians 2:14 and 15. I'm gonna read it for you. It starts in verse 13, and you who are dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, of your,
Janet: so once again, we already see here we were dead. We had nothing.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: We did not participate.
Jocelyn: No. So. You were dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. So when I teach on this, I like to actually explain what a certificate of guilt is legally and what all it entails. And so if you've never been to court, you won't know this. If you've never had to be with someone who has a criminal record, this just won't be something that you think about.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: But when you have to go to court and you stand in front of a judge, what happens is the law is read. So the legal code is read that says what is expected of the citizen of this kingdom or the state or whatever. And then the prosecutor presents the evidence that is being held against you.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: So it's saying, here's evidence that this person has violated,
Janet: Did not uphold this law.
Jocelyn: They violated this law. So then the judge will make a declaration. Or if it's a jury case, the jury will make a declaration, and say either they're guilty or they're not guilty. And if they're guilty, then there's a sentencing hearing where you stand in front of the judge and the judge says, the legal code of our state says this crime is this level of a misdemeanor or a felony, and this kind of misdemeanor or a felony is responsible to receive this kind of sentence, taking into account all the stuff that you've presented in court.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: This is the sentence that I'm giving you. And then if you're guilty and you're sentenced, you go to prison from that room, you go serve your sentence.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: So the legal proceedings, all of that is, that's like a legitimate process where the law is presented, the evidence is presented, a verdict is reached, and then sentencing is reached. And when I explain this in counseling or to my kids or whoever I'm talking about, I say, every single time you sinned, it was a separate certificate of guilt. The law that you violated will then have the evidence of your guilt, the verdict, and the sentencing. And picture yourself with your arms stacked with millions.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Millions of certificates of guilt, because you are guilty millions of times over. And that passage from Colossians tells us that that huge stack of certificates of guilt that I am responsible for-- and you are responsible for-- has been nailed to Jesus on the cross. I was guilty.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And he paid for it. And now, totally unfairly, God declares that I am not guilty and fully righteous.
Janet: Wow.
Jocelyn: Doesn't that blow your mind?
Janet: Should we just stop and have a praise service right here? Yes. Yes.
Jocelyn: It just, it blows my mind and it makes me feel so unworthy. Like who am I? That God would take my guilt.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: And put it on Jesus on the cross, nailing it to the cross and say, I look at you and I declare you. You are not guilty, and fully righteous.
Janet: So one more time. Is this a one-time Act or a process?
Jocelyn: Justification is a one-time act. I am guilty,
Janet: yes
Jocelyn: and at one point in time, based upon my regeneration and my conversion, God declares that I am not guilty. Even though I am not innocent.
Janet: Only God. Yes. So does God do that alone or does God enable man to do it?
Jocelyn: Well, God does it alone. If I'm left to my own devices, all I'm doing is adding certificates of guilt to my stack.
Janet: Yeah. I know totally.
Jocelyn: I am not innocent. I have sinned egregiously, but God declares that I am not guilty because someone else has paid for my crimes.
Janet: More to praise him for. I sinned and he paid, and now I am hidden in Christ. And again, as we've said before, completely secure because of that. And because of God justifying me, I think about in Hebrews where it says we are to run boldly to the throne, which is now a throne of grace. You know, in the Old Testament there was no running boldly to the throne.
Jocelyn: No way. How dare you approach the throne.
Janet: Exactly. And you said earlier, we can't stand in his presence. And now because I am covered in the righteousness of Christ and because God has justified me, I get to boldly approach that throne. What a privilege.
Jocelyn: What a privilege. Okay. Fourth salvation concept is sanctification.
Janet: Okay. What is it?
Jocelyn: Sanctification is the process by which God's people become more and more like Jesus Christ, increasingly manifesting what the image of God is supposed to be. You know, from my favorite topic ever in Genesis where it talks about why God made us.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And the purpose is, God made us to bear his image and likeness accurately so all the world would know who he really is.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Sanctification is God working especially by the Holy Spirit helping believers to become more and more holy, subduing the power of sin in their lives and enabling them to bear the fruit of obedience in their lives. So it's like sanctification is kind of like a magic eraser . My true nature is getting erased more and more. And Jesus's true nature is becoming more and more declared.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: More and more seen by anyone that I'm around. So this one is a little bit of a tricky concept because it has two components and they seem opposite. But God is able to have both things true without negating each other. So remember that as I say this next part. Sanctification has two main components. One is positional sanctification, and the other is progressive sanctification. So the process of sanctification positionally has a definite beginning at regeneration. I am positionally made Holy.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: When God gives sinners new life and positionally sets them free from sin and death, that is sanctification. He's cleansing them. Because of positional sanctification, we no longer have to sin.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: That's the cool thing. Because of positional sanctification, sinning is not our only option anymore. And before that we had,
Janet: it really was.
Jocelyn: We really were dead. We had no choice but to sin. Positional Sanctification says that we have been freed from the power of sin. Romans 6:2 says that believers have died to sin because they've been united with Christ in his death and resurrection. So the other part of sanctification is progressive sanctification. Only because of that freedom from death and sin can we learn to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies. And that's what progressive sanctification is. It's this process of learning how to let what is true positionally become our practical experience. So though the penalty of sin is paid for and the power of sin is broken, the presence of sin still remains in the believer's flesh, and so then it has to be continually put to death.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Progressive sanctification is ongoing and continuous, and it's the action of putting to death the behaviors of sin, and the behaviors of righteousness are being revealed in daily life. So there's a beautiful passage that's very, kind of summarizing of this concept in Ephesians 4:22 through 24. It talks about the process of putting to death anything from the old life, having our mind made new by the word of God, and then putting on the new person who is created to be righteous and holy. And so sanctification is the process of letting what's true be more evident in our life.
Janet: Okay, so then here's a hard one. Is that a one time act or a process?
Jocelyn: This is the trick question. Because sanctification is both a one-Time Act. Positional sanctification is a one-time act. And it's a process. So Progressive sanctification says, over time, my holiness is becoming more and more evident. So at one point I'm freed from the power of sin by God. But then throughout the rest of my life, I'm participating in changing my habits from sinful to righteous.
Janet: So that kind of leads to this one. So then, is that something God does alone? I. Something that God is enabling man to do.
Jocelyn: So God does the positional sanctification, and then God enables us to participate in the progressive sanctification through the power and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, as we learn and obey the word of God, which is one reason we're so passionate that our listeners are reading the word of God.
Janet: Yeah, I need it.
Jocelyn: I need it because sanctification. Is only going to be possible if we know what God says is the right and good way to live. And the only way we know that is by reading the scripture. Then the Holy Spirit helps us to understand it and digest it and apply it so that then if we can see it being lived out in our life. But it's only because we were trained by the word of God.
Janet: Good. So practically speaking. God sees me as righteous because Christ gave me his righteousness, and now I have his help to continue to grow in living that out.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Now I have his ability inside me, so my life will more and more reflect his.
Jocelyn: Exactly. Okay. This is the most exciting one. Glorification.
Janet: Bring it on. What is it?
Jocelyn: Glorification is the final result of salvation when both the body and the soul are radically transformed, perfecting them in holiness, fitting them for eternal life on the new Earth, in perfect communion with the triune God.
Janet: I'm ready.
Jocelyn: Yeah, me too. This is the complete and final redemption of the whole person, where they will have integrity of body and spirit, utterly and completely conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. In glorification, we're finally freed from the very presence of sin in both body and soul. Romans 8: 23 tells us that all of creation right now is groaning under the presence and influence of sin, but we have eager anticipation for the day that we will be freed from that in glorification. So the glorified body is gonna be imperishable. Instead of weak and dying. It's gonna be marked by glory instead of dishonorable because of the curse of sin. It's gonna be raised in power instead of weak, and it's gonna be completely spiritually whole. Instead of having a heart disturbed by the deceitful lust of sin, having truly godly ambitions and aspirations and able to carry out those holy impulses without a moment's distraction or weariness, and able to fully enjoy the bounties of the new creation God has created for his people.
Janet: I can't even really imagine that.
Jocelyn: I know.
Janet: What is it like to just worship God, live for him, love others, the joy, the fullness, and not have all the other battling going on?
Jocelyn: To not doubt anything.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: To not be deceived.
Janet: To not be selfish.
Jocelyn: To just think doing what God wants is the best.
Janet: It's coming. It's coming.
Jocelyn: I'm excited.
Janet: So glorification, is that a one-time act or a process?
Jocelyn: Glorification is a one-time act. We are corrupted, and in the twinkling of an eye we will all be made like Jesus Christ, as he physically and bodily raptures us to take us out of the world to be with him before he judges the world who has rejected him.
Janet: And one more time, does God do this alone? Or does God enable man to do it?
Jocelyn: Well, if we could do it, we would all be trying.
Janet: I'd be doing it.
Jocelyn: God does it alone. I am separated from him, although part of his kingdom, and then suddenly Christ, my Savior appears and he instantly changes me to be like him. Which just shows the power of his glory.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: When we see him. We'll be changed to be like him. Uniting our redeemed souls to our redeemed bodies, and we will enjoy eternity with him forever. Doing all sorts of amazing things with and for him in the millennial and eternal kingdoms.
Janet: And all because of his faithfulness, and amazing, glorious love, I can know for sure that I will be glorified. I know if I've been converted.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: I know it.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: I will have a sinless body. And can I just say, not just sinless, but not even a hurting, suffering body that wakes up in pain.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: All of that's gonna be gone, enjoying him and others forever.
Jocelyn: And I'm so sad that there was some really, really elemental concepts about salvation that we just don't have the time to talk about.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Like Union with Christ. Blows your mind.
Janet: Oh, oh, there's an episode.
Jocelyn: Yeah. Adoption, perseverance of the Saints. Like maybe those could be future Easter episodes, but they're just so beautiful and so rich.
Janet: But for now, why don't we spend the rest of our time talking about how might, this has been a lot more doctrinal
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Than application.
Jocelyn: Yep.
Janet: The first application, I would say is for the whole rest of the year, as you read the scripture, as you listen to our podcast and anything else that you do for your faith, let these truths motivate you to change.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Consistent with what you're reading in the word. So in general, I think that's the big takeaway.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: But let's think about how the truth of our salvation affects our lives right now.
Jocelyn: Well, the first thing that I wanna encourage all of our listeners to consider is all of us have to confront the truth of what I've just shared today. So the first application is, have you thought about the truth that God created you for a purpose, which was for him? Have you acknowledged the fact that you've sinned, you've missed the mark, you've not lived the way that he said?
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: And have you turned in repentance to believe on Jesus Christ and asked him to cleanse you, to give you new life? If you have never done that, today is the day.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: We urge you, take care of business between you and the Lord so that you can have a relationship with him. You can benefit from salvation. And if anyone has questions about how to do that, they can write us at Joyfuljourneyquestions@outlook.com. We would love to help anyone who has questions about that. But salvation is the most important application. Your own personal decision about what you're gonna do about God is the most important application. For those of us who are already believers let's talk about some applications of the different points that we've talked about. And I'm gonna start by talking about regeneration. So if I have been born again, if I've been cleansed and resurrected, my daily life should reflect that. I don't go back to the dead ways of living. I don't think dirty. I don't act like I'm still dead. I participate in the effects of that regeneration. I'm a new person. So everything about the saved Jocelyn should be radically different than the unsaved Jocelyn. And you should be able to look back over time and see like, wow. Who I was before I started following Jesus is radically different than who I am now. I am brimming with life.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And in the past, my practices and habits were just defiled by death.
Janet: And you might not be able to notice that between Monday and Tuesday.
Jocelyn: No.
Janet: But as you look back over a span, that should be pretty obvious.
Jocelyn: And you can see in the old way, I thought, however I wanted to think.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: But because of my regeneration, I don't think however I want to, I regularly discipline myself to think in ways that are filled with life, like God talks about. I think the new person way in, the old person I could look at the ways that I talked, and I talked however I wanted. Whatever I wanted to say came out of my mouth.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: But now I talk a new person way and my words are filled with life. They're not filled with death. I don't have the ambitions that I did when I was dead. I have a living person ambition and a living person purpose. So just to compare and contrast, like I don't think like a dead person anymore.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: I think and act and have motives like an alive person.
Janet: Well, let's think a little bit about conversion. So what we said is conversion is repentance and faith. It's a turning. So because I've been converted, because I've changed directions, one thing is I can be confident that I'm secure with God now, where before I know for me personally, I tried to be good. But I was never sure. Am I good enough? And it clearly was not good enough. It was very self-righteous. But from my perspective, when I was still dead there was never confidence. Now, after conversion, because you were clear to say God does it and it's one time, if that's happened, I can be secure. I love how Tim Keller puts it. Believers are the only religion that allows you to be humbly confident.
Jocelyn: Oh, that's so cool.
Janet: Humble, because my need for conversion shows what I brought to the table.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Nothing but wickedness.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: As you've just said, I was dead. But confident because my conversion means I'm in Christ now.
Jocelyn: So when you stand in front of God, it's not like, Hey, look at me. I'm so awesome. It's like I am in Christ.
Janet: I'm confident.
Jocelyn: I'm standing in front of you because of Christ.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: All right. Let's talk about some justification applications. If I'm justified and declared not guilty, even though I am not actually innocent, I certainly don't go around continuing to sin with a high hand and a hard heart. I realize that every single sin I participate in-- past, present, and future-- had to be nailed to Jesus' cross. I'll consider the penalty that sin has required and I will not lightly enter into sins now, as a believer. I think, as a person, I often think of that stack of certificates of guilt
Janet: that I'm still adding to
Jocelyn: that I, yes. Even as a believer,
Janet: yes.
Jocelyn: I, in my work, it's very legally oriented, so we talk a lot about the law and the code of the state that we live in. And so I think about law all the time, and so I think often of certificates of guilt and the legal process that will take place for every person one day.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: So unsaved people will stand in front of God, the judge, and they will account for the laws that he demands of his people, and he requires perfect righteousness,
Janet: yes
Jocelyn: according to his definitions. I think about the legal court proceeding that they're literally going to go through where the evidence of their sin is gonna be presented and it's gonna show they missed the mark. And all of that evidence will be used against them and they will be found guilty and they will be forced to accept the sentencing of that guilt. If I know that, I will beg my friends and my family to be reconciled to God in salvation, and then I will sacrificially support their growth in holiness.
Janet: That is so true. As you were saying, that, I was thinking about a loved one that did not know the Lord. And as I was sharing truth with him, his comment was, you know, I'm trying, I'm doing the best I can. But what you said is, what is it that he demands? Perfect righteousness according to his definitions.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: And I shared that. And what he said is, well, then I guess it's hopeless for me. And I said,
Jocelyn: it is
Janet: Yes. We have to realize that.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: And then, then we can beg them, accept what someone did on your behalf.
Jocelyn: Yes. Except that Jesus's death can cover your sins. Yes. Believe in him and confess your sins.
Janet: So now let's talk about sanctification. How would I apply? What would that look like in my own life? Well now because of the two aspects, I am positionally already set apart, sanctified, set apart for God.
Jocelyn: Yep.
Janet: That's done because of that. Now, progressively. 'cause you know what? My life does not perfectly show that.
Jocelyn: Right.
Janet: I wish that were the case. It is not. But I can confidently say this is a passage of scripture that I go back to a lot that I love. David, at the end of Psalm 1 39 says this, search me God, and know my heart, test me and know my concerns. See if there's any offensive way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. I look at that and say, that is a man committed to progressive sanctification. Because. I understand justification, I can then look at my sanctification and I don't have to either get involved in self-pity and say, I can't even know. I'm doing the best I can. Can't that be enough? I don't need to feel sorry for myself because I'm not amazing. Only Jesus is amazing.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: I'm also not caught up in self-righteousness, thinking I'm better than everybody else. Now I get to say, show me.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Show me my sin, and I'm not afraid because I know I'm already justified. I know you've accepted me. I know you've covered it. Now I'm free to focus on growing.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: I will take my sin seriously. You know, I was at a funeral and I later came away from that because we always say all the wonderful things about somebody at a funeral. I appreciate that, but I thought, I don't want my kids to say all that. Quite frankly, I don't know that they could. Here's my hope. At my funeral. I want my kids, , I hope they're able to say she took her sin seriously and worked at growing because Jesus is worthy. That's what I want them to say.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: And because I understand positional and progressive sanctification, I can be confident I can grow.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Like sometimes we think that's just how I am. No. If I understand sanctification, I can grow. I really can. And there's hope there.
Jocelyn: So to think about glorification applications. I love health stuff. I love thinking about and studying and pursuing a healthy body. It's basically what I do in most of my free time. But if I really understand glorification, I'm gonna know that I can't have unrealistic goals of having a disease-free pain-free body here on earth. I know my body is decaying and weak and un-whole.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: I know that. So I will do everything I can to be as strong as possible, as long as possible on earth, but it won't be my hope.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: If that's your hope, you're gonna be so disappointed.
Janet: For sure.
Jocelyn: Because the hope I have is that one day God will radically fix everything that is messed up in my body and my soul. And I won't despair when I'm fighting sin here and it's hard. Because I know that one day God will radically fix my soul and I will never want to or even be capable of sinning ever again.
Janet: Unbelievable.
Jocelyn: So I don't give up and just sin and I also don't Perfectionistically, try to act like I'm already perfect. My eyes are on future glorification that I know is coming even while I live in the reality of the here and now.
Janet: And that is a secure hope.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: I love it.
Jocelyn: So there are some really great resources. There's actually tons and tons of resources about what salvation is. I've mentioned this several times and I'm gonna give credit to where credit is due because basically everything we talked about. Is from the book, Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhew. I really love that book. It is a little difficult to read, and they have a simpler version of it called Essential Christian Doctrine, which is just smaller and it has like, it doesn't have all the controversial.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Examinations of controversies.
Janet: It's not a picture book, but
Jocelyn: No, no. The Gospel Primer is even more simple.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: It's very small. We both use it a lot
Janet: very powerful
Jocelyn: in our own life and in counseling. It breaks down what the gospel is in different sections. And one of the things that I like in the newer versions is that the first section is numbered one to 30.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And you can read one section a day in any calendar month, and you'll have a refresher of the basics of the gospel on every single day of the month. It's super handy. There's even a poetry section in the back for people who love poetry. I don't, and I still read it.
Janet: Well, I don't even really read it. So you would notice that in my book. It's very clean in that area.
Jocelyn: There's two little booklets that would be helpful and we'll have links to these in our show notes. One is called Accepting God's Forgiveness and one is called Leading Your Child to Christ. Those are two small booklets that are like $5 or less, and they're very helpful in just understanding what salvation is and what forgiveness is. And then I'm just gonna push a plug. I am just going to make a plug for our church's website that is the store part of the website. It's called Www.store.faithlafayette.org. There are. We are at a really cool time in history where there are a ton of children's books
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: That talk about the topics of salvation
Janet: and we can learn from children's books. Yes.
Jocelyn: I actually love children's books 'cause they break it down so simply. But there are a lot of children's books that are Specially devoted to teaching the children the gospel, like ABCs of salvation and things like that. So I would just encourage you to check that out. But it's just so-- I was just, my soul was just soaring as I was doing the research for this as I was thinking through these concepts and getting to study and just having my mind soak in the truth
Janet: yeah
Jocelyn: that we can read from God's word. God thought all this up. He executed salvation for humans for one purpose, Ephesians 1:6 God saved sinners so that his glorious grace would be praised. And here we are at the end of this episode, just praising
Janet: yes
Jocelyn: the glory of his grace. He's magnificent. And so in closing, I wanna go out reading Ephesians 1:3 through 10 just to help you digest this, to ponder it, and to prepare your heart to worship at Easter this year. All praise to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us, who belong to his dear son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ, which is to fulfill his own good plan, and this is the plan at the right time. He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ. Everything in heaven and on earth.
To keep from missing any future episodes, please sign up for our newsletter on our webpage joyfuljourneypod.com. From there you can also subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, or Spotify. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or Instagram at Joyful Journey Podcast. If you have questions or comments for us, you can email us at joyfuljourneyquestions@outlook.com. Joyful Journey Podcast is a ministry of Faith Bible Seminary. All proceeds go to offset costs of this podcast and toward scholarships for women to receive their MABC through Faith Bible Seminary.
Host Janet and her husband, Brent, also speak at a variety of conferences as a way to raise money for the seminary. If you want to look at what they offer or book them for a conference, go to their website.
