Three Stages Of Salvation Series

III. THE THIRD STAGE OF SALVATION IS CONSUMMATION – verse 18c, – “…that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Once a person repents of his sin and turns to Christ for forgiveness, God consummates a number of wonderful, miraculous works in the heart of the believer. In this verse, Paul only mentions two of them, but they’re two of the most precious:

1. The first is FORGIVENESS OF SINS

This points us to one of the most marvelous truths in the Bible. It has a big theological term for it—“justification,” which in shorthand simply means that God declares us as “just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned.” It means that when you trust in Christ, from that day forward, God sees me “just-as-if-you’d-never-sinned.”

If today, you would turn to God and put your trust in Jesus, God will declare you JUSTIFIED—just-as-if-you’d-never-sinned. All the lies you’ve told, anything you’ve ever stolen, every time you took God’s name in vain, every evil or lustful thought you’ve had, every time you’ve coveted—you’ll never, ever, for all eternity, be held accountable for these again—because the judgment for those sins were already poured out on Jesus—IF you have been saved by faith in Jesus.

Illus. – Over the years I’ve had the joy of leading many people to Christ. The first thing I ask them is, “How do you feel now?”

It’s amazing how often I hear the same answer. They almost always say, “I feel like a load’s been lifted off my back.”

To some, it almost feels as if they’d been lost a PHYSICAL load. What happened?—Their sins have been forgiven; the load of sin and guilt are gone!

Wouldn’t you like to have your sins washed away and paid for by Jesus’s sacrifice on Calvary? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to start out with a clean slate? Wouldn’t it be great to be rid of a guilty conscience? You can, if you’ll come to Jesus and be saved today.

2. The second work of Christ our text tells us about is that God guarantees the believer an eternal INHERITANCE – verse 18c: “…and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith…”

The word inheritance here is the Greek word kleros (??????) which means “share, portion, lot, place.” Today, the word inheritance is understood as what someone receives when a person dies, and there’s certainly that sense here I suppose, since we receive our inheritance because of the death of Jesus for our sins.

But this word really harks back to the share or portion of land that the Israelites were promised when they went into the land of promise. Remember, the promised land in the New Testament often symbolizes heaven.

Well, actually, it may surprise you that we won’t actually live in heaven. Did you know that? The Bible teaches that at the end of the age, the sinful universe we now live in will be utterly destroyed, and a new heaven and a new earth will be created, and it is on this new earth we will live eternally.

So, our inheritance is referring to the share or place, reserved for each believer in that new creation, and includes all the wonderful things we will share in—perfect fellowship, wonderful community, unparalleled worship, the most refined culture, incredible feasting—all without any taint of sin.