God has made full provision for our salvation. When we come to Jesus in repentance, the first thing he does is to forgive our sins (1 John 1:9). But wiping out the debt caused by our sin does not solve our problems. How much money do we have in the bank if all our debts are canceled? So Jesus does more—he puts a huge deposit into our empty bank account. He credits all our sins to his account and all of his perfect righteousness to our account (2 Cor. 5:21) so that we stand perfect before God. This is called justification.

Next we begin a life of walking with God known as sanctification. Our progress is generally upward, with some downers here and there. But several problems appear. Does justification stop at conversion? From then on, do we depend on our sanctification to save us? What would happen if we should die before we reach perfection? It must be that Jesus makes up our lack with his imputed righteousness so that in him we still stand perfect before God. Justification follows us through the process of sanctification.

But my college Bible teacher, Edward Heppenstall, had a problem with this concept. As we become more righteous, do we need less of the righteousness of Christ? Are we saved partly by our own righteousness and partly by Christ’s righteousness?

Bob Spangler (former editor of Ministry magazine) came up with a good solution: all of our life—our sins, our deficiencies, and our good deeds—are covered with the righteousness of Christ. Even our good deeds are not enough to save us. In God’s sight we are perfect only if we are covered with the righteousness of Jesus. Ultimately, we are saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:7–8).

John Wesley, the great evangelist who transformed life in England, had this to say at the end of his astounding life: "For many years I have been going up and down these isles telling people about the way of salvation, but as I look back on my life all I can say is that I am a sinner saved by grace." That’s how every one of us will have a right to God’s kingdom.

What part does the Holy Spirit play in our salvation? He is the one who "convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment" (John 16:8). He convicts us that we are sinners; he convicts us that we need Christ’s righteousness; and he convicts us that with that righteousness we can stand in the judgment. This is the Spirit’s role in justification.

The Holy Spirit is the active agent in sanctification. He is the one who maintains that vital union with Christ that keeps us growing into his likeness. Here is a mystery regarding the Godhead—when you have one member, you have all three. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit as his alter ego (John 14:16), then he added the promise: "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you" (NIV).

Amazingly, he goes on to say, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (v. 23, NIV). The gift of the Holy Spirit includes the presence of Jesus and the Father! It is through the Spirit that we experience the Father and Son in our lives.

Sanctification involves a close relationship with Jesus—like the union of the vine and the branches. We are a part of him—the loveliest part, the branches that bear flowers and fruit. It is by our union with him that we bear fruit—the fruits of the Spirit and the fruit of souls won to Christ. Separated from Christ we wither and die. But how do we abide in him? Jesus said, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15: 7).

Here are two secrets of abiding—meditating upon his incredible word, and then asking and receiving blessings from him. (In plain English this is Bible study and prayer.) Jesus’ life demonstrates sanctification: because he was in the Father, and the Father in him, the words he spoke and the deeds he did came fresh from the heart of God (John 14:10).

In his great prayer for all believers (John 17), Jesus describes the sanctified life as the oneness of the earthly family with the heavenly. First he prays that his disciples here on earth might be one with each other as he and the Father in heaven are one (v. 11). But he goes farther than that. The Trinity is not exclusive. He invites us right into the intimate fellowship of the Godhead—"that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.… I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou has sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me" (John 17:21, 23).

Jesus invites his followers into the great oneness of the Trinity—they in us and we in them. What a picture of the Christian Church! This oneness with God and each other is the greatest evidence to the world that Jesus came from God (v. 23). Oneness with God is not just a personal experience, but a corporate one. Jesus wants us to experience fellowship with him not only in our individual life of prayer and study, but also in fellowship with other believers. The closest bonds human beings can experience are forged when human hearts unite in seeking oneness with God.

Paul describes sanctification in exquisite terms—being "filled with all the fullness of God" (see his prayer in Eph. 3:14-19). I have often wondered what this might mean. In Jesus dwells "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." But we are not God. As I kept reading the passage, I concluded that it means to be intimate with each member of the Godhead. The Father is the head of the whole family in heaven and on earth (v. 14–15). The Spirit in the inner man strengthens us with might (v. 16). Through the Spirit, Christ dwells in our hearts (v. 17). Then the apostle lists the four dimensions of Christ’s love (breadth, length, height, and depth), saying that by comprehending the vastness of this love, we are "filled with all the fullness of God."

It is through this intimacy with God that the Spirit works within us to produce new life.

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