“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”
Philippians 1:6 NKJV
God has begun a work in our lives and He hopes that we have the responsibility to do our part.
This sentence we read: “He will complete it until the day of Christ”, points to the process of his work that will not cease until it is completely consummated, until the return of Christ Jesus.
When God begins something He sees it through to the end, that’s what Isaiah said.
“I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” Isaiah 46:10 NIV
First: We must understand that “Our salvation is a gift from God”.
Second: “Our salvation is a process”.
Third: The Bible talks about our salvation “in three tenses: past, present and future.
So when I read the Bible these and I see these three statements: “we were saved, we are saved, we will be saved” I would get very confused, because I did not know what these tenses meant in terms of salvation.
Let’s see examples of these three biblical terms;
1st Past: “We believe that we were all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.””Acts 15:11
2nd Present:“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18
3rd Future: “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, we will be saved through his life!”
Romans 5:10 NIV
I would asked myself: was I saved?, am I saved? Or will I still be saved?
See that Paul says, “He who began the good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus”.
God blessed me a lot while I was in Brazil on holidays this year, I attended a conference with Pastor Luciano Subirá with the theme, Transformative Grace, (and I had also read his book with the same theme), and it helped me a lot in this mystery about salvation.
In Colossians 1:26,27 Paul speaks of the mystery of salvation which had been hidden for generations, but God has now made it known, and God has given us the revelation of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. I believe that the Christian life should be enthusiastic, joyful, full of hope.
Salvation is a mystery, it is a gift from God.
I believe it is very important to talk about the theme of salvation, because we have had many people who were recently baptised, who were born again, and those who became believers years ago, all need to know that salvation is a process.
That is why we are in a constant war and your soul is the “trophy” that is at stake, as apostle Peter writes in his epistle.
“The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”
1 Peter 1:9
Salvation is a process, it has a beginning, it has a middle and an end.
There is a “door”, a “difficult path” that will lead us to the “goal”, or a “destination” that is eternal life.
When we understand this, we will better understand the process of salvation.
Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep.” John 10:7
Jesus says. “I am the way, the truth and life.” John 14:6
Now see what Paul declares in the letter to the Philippians
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize” Philippians 3:14
Now let’s see what the Lord Jesus teaches us in the sermon on the mountain.
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”
Matthew 7:13 NKJV
The Lord Jesus makes it clear in his teaching that there are two doors, two ways and two destinies, and that our behaviour today will define our destiny and our future.
How can we better understand this? Let’s see what the Bible teaches us.
“May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I Thessalonians 5:23 NKJV
This verse teaches us how to understand the process of salvation, which takes place in 3 phases: the beginning of conversion, our Christian journey, and the arrival at our destiny.
See what apostle Paul highlighted here: May your spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus.
1° – The “spirit” / It was the beginning of everything / The door. (Past)
The beginning of our conversion, or of the Christian life, is marked by the regeneration of our spirit, also known as the new birth.
See what the Lord Jesus said.
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.””
John 3:3 NKJV
Now the apostle Paul will affirm in Titus 3.
“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,”
Titus 3:5
See that he says: “He saved us”, (past), by the washing of the Holy Spirit, the word here regeneration, means, to create again.
When you give your life to Christ, and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and go through the baptism you are being born again and your spirit is saved, recreated, regenerated. You are then only experiencing the beginning of the process of your salvation.
Here you only passed through the door, and Jesus said “I am the door of the sheep” John 10:9
When you pass through the door God begins the good work in your life. It is a Reconciliation, a regeneration or new birth that takes place on the day of your conversion to God.
We need to know that the experience of being born again in the “spirit” is instantaneous. We will see later that the glorification of the “body” is also instantaneous, but the restoration of the soul is process.
2° The “Soul” / The way. (Present)
The present time speaks of the work of restoring the soul. In our soul we have all the garbage we receive from the world, our pains, bitterness, hatred, resentment, pride, frustration.
We were all wounded, abused, rejected, betrayed, hated, because we were under the evil government and regime of Satan.
The world left us full of shame, left us scared and full of frustration. There are people who arrive at the church and feel ashamed and it takes time to approach them, to take their hand, give them a hug, because they are full of fear and distrust because of all the abuse from the past.
In the world, we learn to avenge each other, the world teaches us to hate, deceive, betray, lie, steal, adulterate, prostitute ourselves and not to trust people.
Your soul is destroyed, it is full of old habits and customs, you think you know everything, that you are always right, that you do not need to listen or obey your leaders and pastors and this takes a while for God to restore.
Maybe you were born in church, or had a good family, but the root of sin and evil is in you in the same way.
Your soul is full of pride, rebellion, hardness of heart. It feels difficult submitting to a leader or boss, you do not forgive, do not ask for forgiveness, do not humiliate yourself, do not repent, you’re always full of reason, and your word is the only one that counts. All this is a sign of a soul that is still in sin, because it is sick, wounded and needs restoration.
We need to look inside ourselves and repent of these sins.
But the word of the Lord gives us hope
The law of the Lord is perfect and “restores the soul”. The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”
Psalm 19:7
Tiago also makes that same statement.
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21 NKJV
When you hear the word, you submit to the word taught by your leaders, then it is powerful enough to save and heal your soul.
This word used here “save” in the Greek original is “sozo” in the sense of healing, restoration.
After you were born again, you have a path to follow. You need to change values, you need the renewal of your old mind.
The mind is the center of all your attentions, reasons, feelings, desires and will and it must be transformed.
This is the way, we need to interact with the action of the Holy Spirit, with the government of God over our lives through his word, which requires submission, it requires obedience, change of attitude, behaviour, a change of values; you must let yourself be shaped.
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:2 NKJV
We see here that through the word of God we can heal our emotions, feelings and break our will through the renewal of our minds; this new structure of life that we receive from the Lord will affect our behaviour.
That’s why the Bible teaches us.
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV
This transformation is not instantaneous, the change of conduct is not instantaneous, it is a process, it is progressive.
As Paul writes to the Corinthians saying:
“We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
II Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
The Bible Version NVT says:
“Transforms us “gradually” to His glorious image, leaving us more and more like Him. 2 Corinthians 3:18 NVT
Now with the experience of the new birth and the truths revealed in us, it is up to us to interact and cooperate with God through the reading of the word, prayer, fasting, and with the help of the Holy Spirit.
3rd – Our “Body” / The Future.
The one who began the good work will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
“Not only that, but we also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
Romans 8:23 NKJV
The glorification of the body is the last stage of the work of redemption, in the process of salvation, to which the Bible refers as the time of the return of Christ.
See what apostle Paul says to the Philippians.
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” Philippians 3:20-21 NKJV
Christ has not only redeemed our souls, but also our body. His redemptive work completely transforms us.
However, the application of this work will only reach its fullness when our bodies are fully freed from the effects of sin. Then we will receive a glorified body similar to that of Jesus.
The teaching of theology it brings this definition.
In “conversion”, we are free from the “condemnation” of sin;
In “sanctification” we are free from the “power” of sin;
In “glorification”, we will be free from the “presence” of sin
Although glorification is a future event, it has already been decreed by God according to his purpose and Sovereignty in eternity.
Paul speaks to the church of Corinthians, revealing that we will receive a spiritual body, a heavenly body.
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” I Corinthians 15:42-44 NKJV
This is the instant salvation of the body; this transformation will occur in the blink of an eye and we will receive an immortal body.
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
I Corinthians 15:51-52 NKJV
We need to understand that between the experience of regeneration that happened in the past – and the experience of the glorification of the body that is in the future – we also have the experience of salvation that occurs in the present time, which is the restoration of the soul, and now it is up to us to cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
There is a race that you must keep running.
“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
Matthew 24:13 NKJV
Now your big fight is with your old soul! You entered through the door, you are on the way but you need to make your old nature die, your old man must go to the Cross every day, your will must die, you need to learn to walk in submission to God and to your Leadership.
Repentance and change of attitudes is the path of transformation for you to receive the crown of eternal life!
Without repentance there is no forgiveness of sins and God only forgives sins that have been repentant.
Look inside of you, at your rebellious soul and repent, ask God for forgiveness, ask for forgiveness to the people you have offended.
God has begun a beautiful work in your life; we must do our part and He will complete his work.