When we're in the throes of this battle, and we're second-guessing our salvation because

of our ongoing sinfulness and our battle against sin, this is where the simple distinction

between justification and sanctification is really helpful, because we are looking

to our ability to be sanctified and to continue to trend up as the sole evidence of our justification.

We're justified in Christ, and then we work to this process of sanctification. And again,

that's Christianity 101. But when you're in the throes of that spiral of second-guessing,

am I even a Christian? Remember, you're a Christian because of what Christ has done,

you're hidden in him, and then now you begin to sort of work out your salvation as a act of

worship because of what has been done. When we're justified, we're saved from the penalty of sin,

and then we're saved from the power of sin as we're being sanctified. We're working our salvation

out. But eventually though, in the eschaton, we're saved from the presence of sin glorified.

But that'll preach to you. That's the third pee I'm going to add to you.

So in a future day, in that final event in God's plan, we're saved from the presence of sin,

and that is our eschatological hope.

Applying the riches of the Reformation to the modern church,

this is White Horse Sin, a weekly roundtable discussion about theology and culture.

Because of God's redemptive work, he will wipe away all our tears. We look forward to the day

when grief will be banished. Therefore, you can have hope, which invites you to grieve and be

honest. But we grieve like those who actually have hope, first Thessalonians 4. We grieve with hope

because Jesus' resurrection is proof to us that God is about healing, redeeming, and making all

things new. Therefore, we can have confidence that God is at work, even though we don't see the

fullness of all he promised. And that's what we've been discussing in the series of the tension

...