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Sometimes we may ask the question, “When were you saved?” or something similar. We all know what that means, and we might say, “I was saved at this place at this time.” Sometimes the Scripture seems to use the word saved in that same way. For example, “And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.” (Luke 18:42) Or, “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19:9) Or, “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:31) Or, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10) Another word for this experience might be justification.

But we also find, perhaps as often or even more often, the Scriptures speaking of salvation as a future event. We find the contrast between the two expressed rather clearly in Romans 5: “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:9-10) Again Peter expresses a hope for future salvation: “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” (Acts 15:11) And again in I Peter 1:5: “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

So we have two events, justification and future salvation. And the key link, the critical bridge between them is steadfastness. Steadfastness is the working out of our justification to be ready for our future salvation. It is the maintenance of our Christianity. If we lose it, our justification does not guarantee heaven. Justification prepares us for steadfastness.

It seems to appeal to our human nature to do something once and have it over with, never to be compelled to do it again. That is, in a way, how justification and the future salvation work. If we repent, are baptized, and are truly saved, we don't come back every week to be baptized again. We only need to have it done once. We only need to “get saved” once. Once Jesus comes and we are caught up in the clouds to be with Him, we won't need to come back to earth and go through the whole thing again every so often. We have it once, and we're done (of course, some people lose their salvation, and Jesus did raise a few people from the dead, but multiple baptisms in Jesus' name or multiple resurrections don't seem to be the rule). And so we want to apply this same type of thing to steadfastness, which links justification and the future salvation. We would like to just stop doing all the things we know are wrong and then have salvation assured to us. But, as someone recently told me, “As we learn more and our knowledge grows, our responsibility changes.” We have to continually be working on the maintenance of our salvation. As God shows us new things that we never knew before, we need to be willing to change, to give up even things whose righteousness seemed unchallengeable before, and to modify our lives to fit in with God's will.

Justification is as if I would go and buy a good new car. I don't (or at least shouldn't) have to go and buy another new car every week. But if I want to use this one, it needs gas in the tank and periodic oil changes and repairs, just as we need steadfastness for the maintenance of our salvation. If, for example, I fail to change the oil for too long, the car may break down and the repairs may cost so much that it wouldn't be economical to fix the car. I may try to keep the standards that I had before God showed me more of His will, but that doesn't assure my salvation, just as I may keep putting gas in my car and driving it until it can't move. But that will probably just cause more damage to the car and make repair less likely, just as my sticking to my old standards, and still trying to look like a good, solid Christian, may serve to help harden my heart and make me drift further away from God, and hinder people's ability to help me. Once I notice that the car has a problem, I am more likely to be able to save it if I acknowledge my failure and take the car in to get it fixed, and then begin to change the oil again. Even so, my spiritual losses are more likely to be recoverable if I admit my wickedness, turn from it, and begin to follow God's voice again.

We all need to focus our lives on God and stay steadfast. We will lose the benefits of our justification if we do not. “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (II Peter 3:17) “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” (II Peter 2:21)