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How Are We Being Saved Right Now? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Welcome back to this new week on the podcast. While the Bible says Christians
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  have been saved in the past, we have been saved, and it says
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  we will be saved in the future, and it says we are being saved
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  right now, being saved. We're gonna look at that last one, the
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  present tense one today. In a question from a listener named Jessica, Hello,
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  pastor John, thank you for answering so many questions on this podcast.
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  Here's mine. I recently read First Corinthians one eighteen with new eyes. I
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  noticed that the word saved in my King James version is translated as being saved
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  in many other modern translations. I've heard this explained by teachers with the following
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  rationale for being saved. Number one, we were eternally saved from judgment of
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  our sin as Jesus paid it all on the cross, past tense. Number
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  two, we are presently being saved from behaving sinfully by walking in the spirit.
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  And number three, we will be saved from a world filled with sin
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  after our life on earth is over and we are given our glorified bodies.
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  The church mainly addresses the fact that we have been saved. Past tense,
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  But can you explain to me the second one and first Corinthians one eighteen that
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  we are being saved? Right now, Let's nail down past salvation and future
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  salvation and then focus on what the Bible means by our being saved in between
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  those two acts of salvation. But let's be clear from the beginning that all
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  three stages of salvation were secured purchased by the decisive act of God in Christ
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  on the Cross, all three, not just the past. Yeah, here's
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  the utterly glorious foundation for that statement. Romans eight thirty two maybe my favorite
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  verse in the Bible. He who did not spare his own son, but
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  gave him up for us all that's the Cross. How will he not also
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  with him graciously give us all things? Here's the meaning. Because of the
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  Cross, every aspect of salvation will most certainly come to God's people, past
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  present, future. So, whether past, present, or future, we
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  are not talking about three different foundations of salvation, but the different applications of
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  the one achieved foundation Jesus Christ crucified for sinners. So first past salvation Ephesians
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  two eight. By grace, you have been saved through faith. This is
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  not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result
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  of works, so that no one may boast, For we are His workmanship,
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  created as past created your new creation. You were created. That was
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  a point in time, at the new birth created in Christ Jesus, for
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  good works set ongoing, which God prepared before him, that we should walk
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  in them. So the decisive work is done. The moment we believed we
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  were united to Christ, we're justified in Him, were forgiven, adopted,
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  We became new creatures and were once for all saved to the uttermost as Hebrews
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  says that past salvation, Pulse says, is the absolute guarantee of our future
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  salvation, and usually that future salvation is spoken of as a rescue from the
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  future wrath of God. So here's Romans five nine. Since therefore we have
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  been justified by His blood, that's past, and that's the guarantee of what
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  much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God? For
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  if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God past by the death
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  of His son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be
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  saved by His life? And there are numerous other texts to speak in that
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  way. First the Salonians five nine and ten, Romans thirteen eleven, Second
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  Timothy four eighteen. First the Salonians one ten, Hebrews nine twenty eight.
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  Now what about the words are being saved? And first Scrinton's one eighteen.
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  That's what Jessica is asking about. The word of the Cross has fall to
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  those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the
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  power of God. Same wording in next two forty seven. The Lord added
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  to their number day by day those who were being saved. Same thing in
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  Second Corinthians two fifteen. We are the aroma of Christ to God among those
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  who are being saved. So in what sense is God saving us now?
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  Between the past salvation of the new birth and redemption and justification and forgiveness of
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  sins an adoption which are all fixed and firm and unchangeable, and the future
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  salvation of deliverance from the wrath of God in judgment and as she said,
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  complete eradication of sin and the transformation of our bodies into glorious bodies like Christ.
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  What is God doing now that qualifies as part of this salvation? And
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  I think the key verse that launches us into a right understanding of this is
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  Second Thessalonians, Chapter two, verse thirteen. God chose you as the first
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  fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth saved
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  through sanctification by the Spirit. That is what God is doing now. He
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  is sanctifying us, and that is salvation, a necessary part of salvation for
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  three reasons. One, it says right here in this text, we are
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  saved through sanctification. Sanctification is the work of God through which we make it
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  to final salvation. Number two Hebrews twelve fourteen says there's a holiness, a
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  sanctification without which we will not see the Lord. So God is at work
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  saving us now by seeing to it that we attain the holiness without which we
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  won't see the Lord. And number three Second Peter one ten says, therefore,
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  brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.
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  For if you practice these things, that is, if you're sanctified, as
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  Paul said, you'll never fail, you'll never fall. So I conclude that
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  Christians are being saved now by God in that he is sanctifying us as the
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  necessary confirmation of our election through lives of sanctification. God is doing that saving
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  work in two senses. Number one, he's keeping us back from soul destroying
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  patterns of sin, as it says in verse Corinthians ten thirteen, no test
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  no temptation will overcome us to destroy us or Jude twenty four, he will
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  keep us from stumbling and presents us blameless to God. And number two,
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  the other sense in which God is doing that sanctifying work, that saving work,
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  is by causing us to positively walk in paths of righteousness, as he
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  Brews thirteen twenty one says, He is working in us that which is pleasing
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  in his sight. Now, if we ask how God is saving us in
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  this sanctifying way, the answer given over and over is by the Word of
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  God, by the Gospel. So Jesus prayed, Father, sanctify them in
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  the truth. Your word is truth, so God sanctifies by the truth.
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  Paul said in First Corinthians fifteen one and two, I would remind you brothers
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  of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you
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  stand, and by which you are being saved. If you hold fast to
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  the word I preach to you. In other words, the words of God
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  the Gospel. God uses too in an ongoing, present, saving, sanctifying
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  work in believers, keep us, hold us, save us by the Gospel.
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  By trusting the promises of the Gospel, day by day, the power
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  of sin is broken and we walk in the freedom of holiness. James puts
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  it like this James one twenty one. He says, to Christians, receive
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  with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your souls. So daily
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  welcoming, receiving, daily embracing of the Word of God is the ongoing way
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  that God keeps us from destruction and saves us. Peter puts it like this
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  in verse Peter two two. After saying that we are born again by the
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  living and abiding Word of God, he says to new Christians like newborn infants
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  long for the pure spiritual milk. I take that to be the word that
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  by it you may grow up into salvation. We grow into final salvation by
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  living on the Word of God. That's how the Gospel goes on saving,
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  which leaves us now with one final question. Can we count on God's present
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  saving work to be as infallible and as sure as our past salvation is the
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  past seems so firm, so fixed, so finished. It's wonderful to dwell
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  on the past. Thought, I am justified. The past can't be changed.
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  But what about the present, ongoing work of God to save us through
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  sanctification. And here's Paul's answer in First Thessalonians five twenty three. Now,
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  may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your hold,
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  spirit and old and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
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  Christ. He who calls you is faithful, he will surely do it.
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  So yes, yes, it is sure. Present salvation is as sure as
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  the past, because the past is in fact what secures it. So let's
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  end where we began with the spectacular logic of heaven in Romans A thirty two.
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  He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for
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  us all as past, how will he not also graciously give us all things?
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  So yes, yes, our present and future salvation is as sure as
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  God's commitment to the worth of his son's death, which is infant, secure
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  and sure in the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you pastor John
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  for that gospel reminder, and thank you for joining us today in the podcast.
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  If you want to ask Pastor John, email your question to us to
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  ask Pastor John at Desiring God dot org. We'll ask three people to explain
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  what it means to be spiritual and you'll get four different answers. That's a
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  humorous way to stay the problem. Definitions of spirituality are squishy. It means
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  something different to everyone. So what is biblical spirituality? That's next time.
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  I'm your host, Tony Ragie. We'll see you back here on Thursday.