“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
– Galatians 5:24-25
God designed that the salvation of his people not only involve his undisputed sovereignty in the matter (aka, unconditional election), but also the perfecting work of his Spirit; a work that seeps down into the nitty-gritty of our lives and wields the victory of the gospel one swing at a time. This is high-voltage power — power that we find in looking backward and in looking forward.
As one pastor stated, “The only sin that we can defeat is a forgiven sin.” A forgiven sin is something we see in light of the cross (past event) where Jesus bore the wrath we deserved and kicked the teeth out of our guilt. This forgiveness fuels the sin-conquering power needed now in the present. The past work of Christ secures the life and joy of our future with Christ. Looking backward, it’s set. Done. Game-over.
There is also great power in hope – the faith we find in future grace. “Sin can’t enslave a person who is utterly confident, sure, and hope-filled in the infinite happiness of life with Christ in the future” (1) Therefore, growing in spiritual maturity is a life-long journey and it’s one we will never complete until the day we “will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2). This is what we see looking forward — as Paul the Apostle encourages all believers to “work out your salvation” (Phil. 2:12). Much like our contemporary use of going to the gym and “working out,” the application of grace is a type of spiritual exercise. It is breaking old patterns of thoughts, behaviors, habits, and tendencies through the process of grace. It is what Jesus referred to when he commanded his disciples to take up their cross each day and follow Him. It is what Paul references above in Galatians 5 as “keeping in step with the Spirit.”
In my mind, sanctification can be boiled down to this gospel-driven progression — we become
convicted by the Law that we cannot perfectly keep;
liberated by the grace of the gospel that we are so undeservingly given;
united with Christ in his death & resurrection we find so difficult to comprehend;
empowered by the Holy Spirit to grow in holiness as we seek to experience God’s Word like never before.
As Charles Spurgeon once said,
“God is full of grace…he is overflowing with it, and this grace in covenant he has given to us; that it is ours to cleanse us, ours to keep us, ours to sanctify us, ours to perfect us, ours to bring us to glory—all this should tend to make us glad in him. This gladness in God is as a deep river; we have only as yet touched its brink, we know only a little of its clear, sweet, heavenly streams, but onward the depth is greater, and the raging current more impetuous in its overwhelming joy.” (2)
So, let us not forget what Christ has done, but let us also not forget the task at hand: “to live in light of eternity.” This is the trail-head of the path of holiness — the realization that Jesus, the ultimate law keeper, died for us, the ultimate lawbreakers, in order to satisfy God, the ultimate lawmaker. We love because Christ first loved us. We obey because He first demonstrated the ultimate act of obedience for us. We seek out and kill our sin (mortification of the flesh) not simply because we are commanded to, but in light of the glorious fact that Christ first took to the grave all of our past, present, and future sin.
This we encounter, and so much more, in our walk with Christ, the path of sanctification, the trail-head which leads deeper and deeper into the thick, dense, and intricate forest of Life — all the while becoming more mature disciples of Him who first loved us.
GREATER DEPTHS 