There are three great moves that God makes on your behalf – three initiatives of grace that have to do with securing and insuring your salvation. They are, first, justification, second, sanctification, and, third, glorification. In his mercy, God justifies you – that is, he pronounces you just. He gives you a right standing in his presence. Then, by his power, he sanctifies you. He makes you holy. He works to bring about in you what he has declared you to be. Then, finally, according to his gracious design, he will glorify you – which is to say that he will perfect in you the fullness of all that he intends for you. You will be completely conformed to the likeness of Christ.
Three great moves on God’s part, and each of them affect you in a benevolent way. What’s interesting is that in this third chapter of Philippians, Paul charts this whole process.
Last week, we focused on the first part of Philippians, chapter 3, and we read Paul’s words in verses 8 and 9, where he says, I want to “gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from [keeping] the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.” This is justification. It is the first of the three moves that we have identified in God’s work of salvation in your life.
The term justification comes right of the courtroom, where the defendant faces the judge and awaits the verdict based on the evidence presented. It is not difficult to imagine God as the judge – I mean, is it? And it is not hard for me to see myself standing before the bench, a guilty sinner, condemned by my own actions. But I am not alone there. I have a defense attorney, an advocate. In fact, when John wrote his little epistle of 1 John, he said at the beginning of chapter 2, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin” – and we do, don’t we? We sin! – “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate” – you see, there’s that word, advocate, our defense attorney who stands there beside us – “we have an advocate with the Father, [who is] Jesus Christ the righteous….”
Justification takes place at a moment in time. It’s not a process; it’s a verdict. And the verdict is “not guilty,” based on the fact that Jesus has died in your place. And when you put your faith in him, when you trust him to be your sin-bearer, God declares you to be righteous.
A good definition of justification is that it is “the act of God whereby he declares the believing sinner righteous…on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross” (Wiersbe). And this declaration is never repealed. That’s why Paul says that he wants to be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of his own, but the righteousness that comes from God and is received by faith.
That’s the first gracious move that God makes toward us. The second move is what the Bible calls sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which God make us holy – that is, he conforms us to the likeness of his Son. Unlike justification, sanctification is a process. There is no justification by degrees; it is a “done deal.” But sanctification is another matter. While justification never changes, sanctification may change from day to day.
Paul doesn’t use this word sanctification in Philippians 3, but it’s there. What he describes is what sanctification is. And, just as justification took us to the courtroom, so sanctification takes us to the field of play, where runners are racing toward the finish line, contending for the winner’s trophy.
So, Paul says, beginning in the middle of verse 13, “This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” This is runner’s talk. You can see Paul in his lane, running with all the strength and resolve he can command, and he is determined to make it to the goal.
Now, don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that sanctification is all up to you. This is God’s move on your behalf, remember. He is sanctifying you; he is making you holy. But you have a role to play. You have to keep your head in the game. What is it Paul says in Philippians 2? In that chapter, beginning in verse 12, he says to us: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” When Paul says to “work out your own salvation,” he is not talking about justification; he is talking about sanctification. He is not saying, “Work hard, and maybe God will save you.” He is saying, “Work hard because God has saved you.”
When Paul speaks in the first part of chapter 3 about justification, he tells us that the great obstacle we face is legalism. Legalism is believing that you have to do something in order to be saved. But the truth is: God has done everything necessary for your salvation. Christ has died for your sins. You are summoned to believe it. Justification doesn’t change the state of your soul. It changes your status before God. You’re still a sinner, but now you’re a sinner saved by grace.
While legalism is the great obstacle to justification, the great obstacle to sanctification is license. Some people come to think that, since they are saved by grace through faith, there is nothing more to do. And they become soft on sin. Paul calls such “enemies of the cross of Christ.” He says, “I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and their glory is in their shame.” Why? Because “their minds are set on earthly things.” While justification changes your status before God, sanctification changes your state within. But you can’t have one without the other. If there is no evidence of sanctification in your life, that may be evidence that there has been no justification either. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” That’s why Paul says here in Philippians 3:15, “If you think differently about anything” he has said regarding Christian maturity, “this too God will reveal to you.”
What motivates us to run this race with such resolve? God tells us in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. He says there that he will make a new covenant with us, not like the covenant that he made with Israel in the wilderness, “a covenant that they broke” – although they weren’t alone in breaking it. We, too, have violated God’s covenant. That’s why Jesus had to go to the cross. The old covenant was an external set of rules, written on stone tablets, but God says that he will write the new covenant on our hearts. What that means is that he will change our desires. When he saves us, we no longer look for ways around his law. We no longer test the leash to see how much slack there is in it. No, we have a new heart now, with new desires and transformed affections, and we want to please the God who has shown us mercy in Jesus Christ. And so, we run the race. We press on to Christian maturity. The way Paul puts it is: “I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has [already] made me his own” (Phil. 3:12).
So, the first two moves that God graciously makes on our behalf are justification and sanctification. In justification, God deals with the penalty of our sin. We do not face the penalty because Christ faced it for us. In sanctification, God deals with the power of sin. He equips us by his Holy Spirit to overcome sin more and more. The very room in which we are gathered is designed to call to mind Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” – see the clouds on either side above you, and see the witnesses on the south wall? You’re in the stadium, see, and those who have gone before you are in the stands, cheering you on! “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
The final move on God’s part is glorification, and, again, while Paul does not use the word, he describes the reality. He says in verse 20 that “our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” And when he appears, what will he do for us? Verse 21 tells us: “He will transform the body of our humiliation” – these humble bodies, subject to sickness and injury, but also subject to sin – “he will transform [our lowly body] that it may be conformed to the body of his glory,” and he will do it “by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.”
If justification takes to the courtroom, where we are pronounced right in God’s eyes and if sanctification takes to the stadium where, with the power which God supplies, we run the race set before us, then glorification takes us to the very throne room of God.
That is what glory will be. It will be to be in the presence of God forever. Just as in justification God dealt with the penalty of sin and just as in sanctification God is dealing with the power of sin, so in glorification he will deal with the presence of sin. It will be no more. And not only will our bodies become like Christ’s glorious body – that’s what we mean when we say in the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe…in the resurrection of the body” – not only that, but all things – all empires and thrones and systems, all nations and powers, all of it – will be subject to him. And our glorification will be to his glory.
Three moves of grace. Our record is cleared of sin. Our lives are conformed to Christ. And our destiny is sealed by God. Paul ends this section by saying, “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way.” In other words, determine to grow in the grace you have in Jesus Christ until he takes you to glory. Because of God’s faithfulness, you can run this race, and you can run it in a standing postion. This truly is a cause for rejoicing.
