1. The Past: We have been Freed from Sin’s Penalty.  “Justification” is God’s work in saving us through Christ. “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18).  “Who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”  (Rom. 4:25).  “Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” (Rom. 5:18).  We need to think of justification as something that God has done for us in Christ.

            2.  The Present: We are being Freed from Sin’s Power. “Sanctification” in the believer’s life is a work in progress.  “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” (1 Thes. 4:3).  God is continually working in us to make us like Jesus (Phil. 1:6;  2 Cor. 3:18).  It is an ongoing process that won’t be complete until Jesus returns.  Justification is God’s for us, and sanctification, as the Bible sometimes uses the word, is God’s work in us. 

            3. The Future:  Free from sin’s Presence.  This speaks of “glorification.”  When Jesus comes again, we will be totally changed into His likeness.  What God has had in mind all along is to make you totally like Christ, because Christ is the image of God (Heb. 1:3;  Col. 1:15), and that’s what God wants us to be.  He is right now working to make us like Jesus spiritually, but when He comes again, the flesh will be completely done away with and we will reflect the image of Jesus completely.  “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”  (1 John 3:2).  While it is true that sometimes the Bible uses the words, glorification, sanctification, and justification synonymously, they are also used convey three very distinct phases of the salvation process.