know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ

— Galatians 2:16a

God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth.

— 2 Thessalonians 2:13b

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

— 1 Peter 1:2

5 He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

6 This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior

— Titus 3:5-6

And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

— Romans 8:30

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

God’s abundant and free grace to those who believe in Jesus Christ is the eternal salvation. The three phases of the amazing salvation is to justify, to sanctify and to glorify the believers of His Son, Jesus Christ. God counts it as believers’ righteousness when they trust in His Son’s accomplished redemption work. The justified believers enjoy the complete freedom of sin’s penalty as soon as they believe in Jesus Christ.

Those who put trust in Christ through faith are also brought by the indwelling Spirit into a lifelong purifying, cleansing, renewing, growth-in-life, and sanctifying process in the second phase of salvation. The believers who are being sanctified are provided overcoming freedom from sin’s power. And ultimately Christ provides His believers the complete freedom from sin’s presence and the perfect and pure fellowship with God the Father at the third phase of salvation — glorification.