WHY WE STILL NEED THE GOSPEL - 4

I remember going to see one of my favorite groups, New Edition, perform when I was in high school. That week all I talked about was going to the concert. I am sure that my parents were a bit unnerved by this, but it did not matter. I was going to hear Candy Girl, Popcorn Love and Jealous Girl live! I was hyped indeed. So much so that one of my friends said, "Sherard you sound like you are there now!"

What this story brings to mind is what the gospel is for us. I was going to the concert because I already had the ticket and, ticket in hand, was the certainty that I would be there without fail. The gospel is that for us, times infinity! You see, the gospel is not only about the fact that we have been saved from the power of sin and are being saved from the presence of sin. It is also the truth that you will be saved from the nagging realities of sin's presence.

The presence of sin is something that, while saved from it in the since that we are no longer bound to obey it, it nonetheless is like that fly that you corner but can't seem to swat. Yet, the gospel assures us that we will be saved from sin at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Justification is the ticket in hand that produces the joy to live for Christ in the present and it is all fueled by the real and abiding hope of future (glorification). My ticket to the concert fueled my joy because it was the proof of my future.

The Bible, however, teaches us something astounding about what it means to be glorified. Glorification is not a future reality only. In Christ, by faith, we are already glorified! Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:30, "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

Did you notice that the term glorified is past tense?

That is not a mistake. That is a glorious reality of the gospel. Paul is teaching us that the calling of God upon our lives included, from the start, not only being predestined and justified but also glorified. In other words, at the moment of our belief we were given the certainty that we not only belonged to God but that there would never see a day when that would not be the case.

We are, now, with the Father even though we are, at this moment, in our present locations on earth. Paul teaches us that at the moment of belief God "...raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus..."(Ephesians 2:6). At the moment in which my heart is captured by His grace and I, in humble adoration, trust Him my life is with Him in glory. What is amazing is that Paul said that it was at the moment of Christ's resurrection that we were raised!

Do you see that? God "raised us up with him...."

Paul is teaching us something rich and glorious here. Salvation is all of God - from beginning to end. Yet, there is no distinction with God between the beginning and the end of salvation. It is all one and the same. We are glorified at the moment of faith because our faith is a gift given to us by the Lord (Ephesians 2:8) and this gift was determined to be ours before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:3). In laymen terms, the Bible teaches us that since God chose us from the foundation of the world the moment we believe we become citizens of heaven - now... really... truly... even though we are here, on earth. This has led me to teach this principle often: "We are to live from heaven not simply for heaven."

This truth of our being glorified is powerfully connected to the hope that drives us to love and serve the Lord on earth. We know that we belong to Him and that we are citizens of heaven on the basis of grace alone. It is this hope that keeps us focused on that last day when Jesus will make glorification an eternal reality. On that day the truth I am glorified in Christ now, will meet its eternal reality when Jesus wraps all things up and we dwell in eternity with the Lord - fully freed from the penalty, power and presence of sin.

We still need the gospel. We still need to be reminded that we are His and that our life, right now, is with God in Christ in the heavenlies (Colossians 3:1-3).We are glorified NOW but NOT YET. We are in heaven, as true citizens of that holy habitation but it is not-yet, our full experience. It is this reality of my being there now (being in Christ) that drives my hope, faith and perseverance to adore and honor the Lord until the not yet (being with Christ in heaven) become my eternal now!