Future Salvation

Introduction

Back when I was just starting out on deputation, we would travel to all kinds of churches and even in bible college we would be exposed to a variety of preachers. I have run into periodically some preachers usually from the old SE camp meeting style of churches and I could name names but I don’t want to be mistaken on who I believe said what. But these would get up in the pulpit and hack and snarl “Bless God I am not being saved I have been saved. My salvation is a done deal. I am not cowering over in the corner waiting to be saved” These statements were made really to mock those who have said that we are being saved. This argument often comes up in the translation debate as well, but those who make these statements while I understand what they are saying are denying the clear teaching of scripture. What they reveal is a lack of knowledge about what the bible actually says.

When you look at the bible what you will find is that salvation is experienced in three tenses. Now before we jump into an explanation, let me be clear I believe that salvation is a finished done deal the moment we place our faith in Jesus Christ, but the experience of the benefits and working out of that salvation is not. When we talk about salvation, Salvation occurs in three tenses or time periods: Just read this slide before going into individual explanations.

Past Salvation = justification

Present Salvation= sanctification

Future Salvation= glorification

Past Salvation- Romans 8:24 “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” The bible was originally written in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic so the actual words of God that he has preserved are found in those languages. That is why a preacher needs to be able to look at the Greek. In this verse the words are saved are in the Past tense verb in Greek lit We were saved… Because it is something that is still true the translators chose a present tense verb. This is our justification or our salvation from the penalty of sin. This salvation happens at a specific point in time when we place our faith in Jesus. I know some people who don’t know when that point happened because over time they realized they truly did believe, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened at a specific point in time.

Present Salvation- 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” This is literally a present continuous participle which would be translated are being saved. This is probably the hardest tense of salvation to wrap our minds around and I am not intending for us to focus on this tense today because Paul does not focus on it today. But this work of present salvation is what we call sanctification. I want you to turn to 2 Thessalonians 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” This is progressive salvation from the power of sin. It is the ongoing work of the Spirit to change us into the image of Christ.

Future Salvation- The salvation in our text today is a future salvation. Notice the words now justified/ shall be saved in vs 9 and then in vs 10 were reconciled/ shall be saved.The word shall tells us that this is a future event. We use the word glorification to describe this experience. Here we are saved from the presence of sin Jeremiah 50:20 “In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: For I will pardon them whom I reserve.” Romans 13:11 “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” There is coming a day in the future when I will be saved from all remnants of sin, I will shuffle off this fallen, decaying body for a new perfect body, and I will be made like Christ for I will see Him as He is. That is the completion of this work that God has started.

What we see from these texts is that our salvation which was secured in the past when we placed our faith alone in Christ alone; works its way out in our lives on a daily basis today, but will find its ultimate culmination in the future. I am not saying that people need to get saved again as if it happens multiple times until we die; nor am I saying that salvation is a process by which you become more saved over time. But the salvation we received is experienced and affects our lives more than just in one moment when we placed our faith in Christ. Salvation and the gospel are not something you are supposed to do once when you came forward in an invitation and then you move on. They are intended to influence your life at all stages of life until you see Jesus because you have been saved, you are being saved and you will be saved.

So with that in mind, we turn to Romans 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” I have written a series of questions that I think it is fair to ask of this text if we are going to understand it fully.

What does it mean to be saved from wrath?

Romans 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

One of the things that will happen when we get to heaven and experience this future salvation is that we will be saved from wrath. But what is this wrath that we are saved from?

Paul has already introduced this topic of wrath in the book. Back in Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” But in Romans 2:5 “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;” We are introduced to the day of wrath.

Right now, all those who are enemies of God, rejecting his salvation consciously or not are under God’s wrath. God has reached out to them through the common grace of general revelation, the witness of nature, their conscience and the working of God in this world and yet they have suppressed the truth and exchanged God for idols. While they are under God’s wrath currently, they do not experience that wrath fully. There is coming a day when they will face the entirety of God’s wrath. I am not going to get into a theological lesson on when the day of wrath begins, but at the very least it includes the day of judgment.

Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

The book of 1 Thessalonians speaks of this wrath, but the main take away is that we will be saved from that wrath. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Whatever it is and whenever it is expressed, the Christian is exempt from it because God’s wrath fell on Jesus Christ for us. When the day of wrath comes, you and I as believers will not have to face that wrath.

How are we saved by his life?

Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

The next verse makes a parallel statement that not only will we be saved from wrath in that future salvation but we will be saved by his life. So what does that mean?

We have seen already in Romans that the death and resurrection of Jesus are both necessary for our salvation. Romans 4:25 “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” So the resurrection of Jesus Christ is what is being spoken of here when it says we are saved by his life. So what is so important about the resurrection? There are many answers to that question but I am going to give you three:

Jesus resurrection overcame death for us

2 Timothy 1:10 “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:”

By dying for us Jesus fulfilled the punishment and conquered death on our behalf. Think of it like this, if a convict is locked up in prison serving a sentence for 5 years, he stays in that jail cell that entire time. When he finally comes out one would assume the sentence has been completely served. Jesus by dying for us was serving our sentence, but in coming out of the grace, he was saying that the sentence was completely served. Without the resurrection our sentence would still be in place. That is why Paul says in

1 Corinthians 15:17 “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”

Jesus resurrection allows him to intercede on our behalf

Romans 8:33–34 “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

When Satan makes his accusation which he continually does, Jesus only has to remind him of the blood that was shed on our behalf. In the judgement, we will not have to face those accusations because Christ will intercede on our behalf. Our sins are paid for and completely paid for.

Jesus resurrection guarantees our future salvation

Back in 1 Corinthians 15:52–57 “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We will be raised and we will be changed. The sting of death which is sin is overcome because while we die physically, we do not die spiritually and our physical bodies will be raised again.

What does our past experience have to do with our future salvation?

If you noticed, I skipped over some phrases in my explanation of these verses. I did that on purpose because the main point I want to make, really the main point Paul wants to make is tied up in the connection between the first phrase of each verse and the second phrase.

Phrase 1: being now justified- past experience

Phrase 2: we shall be saved- future experience

Phrase 3: we were reconciled- past experience

Phrase 4: we shall be saved- future experience

Paul is making some kind of a connection between our past experience and our future salvation. So what is the relationship between our past experience and our future salvation? the word then in vs 9 connects this passage to the previous discussion of hope in vs 2 and vs 4. Our past experience is our reason to hope in future salvation.

The key to understanding why our past experience is the reason to hope in future salvation is found in the words much more then which occur in both verses. Paul is arguing from a major to a minor from a greater truth to a minor truth.

Essentially what he is saying is if God has already taken care of this big thing than couldn’t he take care of this smaller thing.

illustration taking a homeless man off the street, giving him a house, cleaning him up and giving him a job. If I had done all that for him, why would he hesitate to ask me for a sandwich one day for lunch.

Here is what Paul is saying God has already done the hard part, so why could he not finish the job. Think about everything he did to justify us, to reconcile us to God when we were enemies. That was the hard part; so is it beyond his power to make sure you are going to experience the future salvation. Can he not finish the job?

Conclusion

In conclusion, here is the application I want to make and I believe Paul is trying to make. We can rest secure knowing God will finish what he started. This passage has been about hope which we define as confident expectation, but another word we could use for hope is assurance.

Hope = confident expectation = assurance

Think about those wordsYou shall be saved- like saying you will get through this. Not only is it a promise about what the future holds, it is a guarantee that we can depend on.

Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

If God loved you so much that he sent his son to die for us so we could be reconciled to God even when we were enemies, do you honestly think there is anything you do now that is going to cause him to cast you off?

Our assurance here is abased on who God is and what he has said he will do. It is not about you and your failures. If God has already done all this other stuff for you reconciling, justifying, redeeming us even when we hated Him and were his enemies, then why should we doubt that he will finish what he started.

The Steve Pettit Evangelistic team once sang as song called Settled at the Cross

I would be the first to admit I don't deserve

The kind of favor You have always shown.

But You don't have to tell me,

You proved how much You love me,

And I know, I still know

That if You never speak another word of blessing,

And the silence leaves me with a sense of loss,

I'll remember when my heart begins to question,

Any doubt that You love me was settled at the cross.

Every word was mercy, every breath forgave,

Every drop of blood testifies of grace.

So if You never speak another word of blessing,

And the silence leaves me with a sense of loss,

I'll remember when my heart begins to question,

Any doubt that You love me was settled at the cross.