Justification is
not the same as Sanctification and Glorification. When we accept Yahushua as our
personal Savior we are justified. This alone does not assure that we will
remain in Yahuwah’s way for we are free moral beings who can at any point choose to
walk out of Yahuwah’s way. Here is an excerpt from an article titled “Can a Saved
Man Choose to be Lost?” by Joe Crews that illustrates this concept:
Bill Jones is fishing several miles out in the ocean. His boat capsizes and sinks to the bottom. He is unable to swim to safety. Just then, another fishing boat comes along, but it is so heavily loaded that it is impossible to take on another passenger. Because they want to rescue the doomed man, however, the crew throws him a rope. “Here, take this rope,” they say. “We will tow you to shore.” As he takes the rope, Bill Jones says, “Thank Yahuwah, I am saved!” And he is saved, as long as he holds on to the rope. Salvation is his, but he has a part to play in it. If he should at any time release his grasp on the rope and refuse to take it again, he would be lost. So it is with a person who has been rescued from sin. He remains saved as long as he holds on to the hand of Yahushua. If he should decide to release that hand and clasp the hand of the devil, he would be lost. His salvation depends on his decision and his action.
Actually, one can properly speak of salvation in three tenses - past, present, and future. He can say, “I have been saved” when he takes the rope, “I am being saved” as he is being towed to shore; and “I shall be saved” when he plants his feet firmly on shore. A converted person -has been saved- from the penalty of sin. We call that justification. He -is being saved- from the power of sin, and we call that sanctification. He -shall be saved- from the presence of sin when Yahushua comes, and that will be glorification. All three of these tenses are used in the Bible in connection with being saved.
In
Romans 8:24 is the expression, “We are saved by hope.”
Now let's make sure that no one gets the wrong impression from our illustration of the man being rescued from drowning. Does the fact that he must cling to the rope to be saved, mean that we can earn our salvation by our own works? Absolutely not, a thousand times no! Remember that he was being towed by a power other than his own. He was merely cooperating with that power. He was holding on to the rope. He had to do that in order to be pulled to safety. As Christians we must confess our faith in Yahushua, we must remain steadfast to Him, we must bring forth the fruits of obedience; that is our part in holding on to Yahushua. He will never let us go. The only way we can separate ourselves from Him is to cut ourselves off deliberately and disconnect ourselves from Him, but we have the power to do that. We are still free moral agents. Our will has not been removed merely because we have become Christians.
At
any point in our Christian life we can decide to turn back, to choose the
things of the world rather than the things of Yahuwah and heaven. We are saved only
through faith in Yahushua the Anointed as our Savior. “There is
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12. However, we show our faith by our works. It is a manifestation of
our love for Him. Keeping Yahuwah's commandments and doing right are merely the
result of His Holy Spirit dwelling in the heart. These are the fruits of the
Spirit. We do these things, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved,
and as long as we love the Master with all our heart, we are going to be obedient
to Him. We will not let go of the rope. We will continue to cling to Yahushua as
our only hope.
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team