They say the most dangerous eight seconds in sports is bull riding. That’s because when the beast is released from its gate, the rider must with one hand hold on and remain aboard for a full eight seconds until the horn sounds. Although I’ve never ridden a bull, I can imagine the tick of the clock would seem to be in slow motion!
In a way the sport can be used as an analogy for the experience of the Christian believer as they wait for the return of Christ. This paralleled example may seem a little off beat to many western Christians because they have been guaranteed salvation through following the rules of their church, or by adopting teachings such as “once saved, always saved.” But a false security is really no security at all. When we consider what the Bible really teaches it sounds more in line with what a bull riding coach may tell his young rider. “Look, I am coming quickly. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.” Revelation 3:11 Our eternal life coach, Jesus, alerts His followers that they will be “arrested, persecuted and killed… because of your allegiance to me, many will turn away from me and hate each other. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But those who endure (hold on) to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13* Projecting down to the end of time when the mark of the angry bucking beast system is issued God’s instruction to His faithful is, “Let this encourage God’s holy people to endure persecution patiently and remain firm to the end (until the horn, or trumpet, sounds), obeying his commands and trusting in Jesus.” *Revelation 14:12
We live in an atrophic world. Even after our hearts are made right with God, and we want to do what is right, there seems to be a constant negative pull upon us to do the wrong. But as we shall shortly see the Lord has laid out a linked chain of salvation to pull us out of this sinful world and from our own sinful condition. He even uses us to help each other remain faithful to our calling, “You must warn each other every day… so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” Hebrews 3:12-14
Perhaps the following commentary can help us better understand this salvific arrangement. “When Paul and other New Testament writers talk about salvation, they often use the past, present, and future tenses. Those in Christ have been saved, in the sense that our sins are forgiven and our place in eternity is secure. We are being saved; God is active right now in sanctifying us to be like Christ. We will be saved when the moment comes for us to stand before God in eternity, and we’re freed from all sin.” What does 1 Corinthians 15:2 mean? | BibleRef.com
These stages of redemption obviously refer to our justification, sanctification and glorification, a lifeline that rescues us spiritually (at justification), mentally (through sanctification) and physically (at glorification). Like links in a chain, they cannot be separated and fulfill their duties, neither can they be substituted one for another else their perfect linkage will be destroyed. For example, if we rely on our sanctified obedience as securing for us a right standing before God it will lead to legalism, an old idea borrowed from Traditional Religion, because it substitutes, or adds to, the role that justification is to solely play. Or, if after being justified by Christ’s merits we then go about living an unsanctified life as we did before we met Him, another concept stemming from Traditional Religion, then we are hanging on to a chain with a weak or missing link. Paul explains the work the Holy Spirit does through sanctification this way, “don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” Romans 12:2
*Let’s think of the relationship between justification and sanctification as two train tracks running parallel to one another but coupled together with ties of love for God and our fellow man. Their purpose is to get the payload of our salvation to the train station called Glorification. If the tracks intersect, or separate from each other, the train will derail. If they both maintain their proper tension then the train will reach its destination.
In a more practical sense of how this works in real time let’s say we come to realize our moral depravity and utter helplessness to provide ourself eternal life. Then we hear the gospel message, “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Jesus Christ, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment of our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. He is entirely fair… when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26 This is a classic Pauline explanation of JUSTIFICATION.
Paul continues, “well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?… Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given a new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.” Romans 6:1-13 Here we have, in a nutshell, SANCTIFICATION described for us.
But, correcting our bad habits is just the beginning of what the Lord seeks to accomplish in us. He is going for our hearts and minds. We have all heard the old saying “easier said than done.” As one who loves to store up knowledge of Biblical truths, I am constantly reminded there is a wide gulf between head and heart knowledge. Peter also understood this very well. He knew who Jesus was, confessed Him to be his Lord and Savior, swore he would never deny Him, yet did the very thing he promised he wouldn’t do before the rooster could announce the next coming dawn. He assures that “as we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life.” By relying on the (covenant) promises given to us by Christ, “you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in the divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:3,4 What exactly does this “sharing in the divine nature” mean? Peter explains, “so make every effort to apply the benefits of these (covenant) promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will have genuine love for everyone. The more your grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind, or at least, very shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their old life of sin.” Ibid, verses 5-9* Herein is revealed a psychological truth: the more we try to do the right the closer we will feel to God. Even when we fall, we know the secret to getting back up. This isn’t suggesting we are saved by means of our behavior, but simply that good behavior helps us feel better about ourselves, about others and about God.
Today it is popular to teach that all you have to do is accept and profess Jesus as your Savior. So, then, I suppose we can let go of the bucking strap now? Not so fast cowboy, as they use to say in the old west, “If you climb in the saddle, be ready for the ride.” By God’s grace through justification, we are saddled back in the position of Adam before he sinned, but we still have a choice of our free will. God doesn’t set us on an auto-pilot of obedience, but He does provide His Holy Spirit to direct us in our choices by speaking to our conscience what is right, and what is wrong. Though we have been born again through justification, we must now grow up through sanctification. The following is a common dilemma Christians face, especially just after they accept Christ, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight (but not the war) and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord… So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.” Romans 7:15-25; 8:12,13*
Some argue this vicious circle of wanting to do right but doing wrong is the experience of an unregenerate person, but this cannot be for the simple fact that those who have never been justified do not want to do right, and certainly by nature do not love God’s law. After we have been justified, we remain in a sinful condition and propensities to sin live on within us. Though we didn’t have any part in our spiritual birth (justification) any more than we did our physical birth, we do play a role in our spiritual maturation (sanctification), just as we did when growing up. And, it’s hard being a teenager and young adult. We make mistakes, and stupid decisions from which we are to learn. Like a parent teaching his child to ride a bike, the Lord is a patient father. He knows the best way to teach us is to allow us to fall and skin our knees. But please notice, when we do stumble and fall, He doesn’t leave us. His Spirit is right there encouraging us to get back up by believing that Christ’s meritorious victory is what sustains us, not our performance. John wrote, “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. He is the sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 2:1,2
As we monitor our Christian experience with the understanding of these theological principles, we are assured that we will one day see God! The believers at Ephesus were told, “do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption (or glorification). Ephesians 4:30 Oh, did I fail to mention how long this struggle between good and evil within us lasts? “Until that day when our Lord Jesus comes again.” See 1 Thessalonians 5:23 As inexperienced bull riders begin on a mechanical bull with safety mats to protect their falls, the Holy Spirit is there to encourage us to get up and try again. The farther we advance in the Christian life of obeying God rather than choosing our own way, the better we get at hanging on during this wild ride called the sanctification process.
If you have accepted Christ as the propitiation for your sinfulness then there is no need to worry about your performance at the rodeo. God is the best coach ever! If you but hold on by His grace, learning to trust His forgiveness when you fall off in the same way you trusted His forgiving grace when you first mounted, then the prize of your glorification is assured. “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are… All creation anticipates the day (when the eight eternal seconds are up) when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay (atrophy). For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Now that we are saved (through justification), we eagerly look forward to this freedom (at glorification). For if you already have something, you don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.” Romans 8:18-25*
Maybe a last tidbit of cowhand wisdom is appropriate here. Just remember, “when a cowboy comes to the end of his life, if his Bible is half as worn out as his saddle, then it’s been a good ride.” Anonymous.