Jared C. Wilson “Gospel Deeps” , 41-42

If the gospel (the Good news of the life and work of Jesus Christ) is not the ABCs of the Christian life but the A to Z, we can expect that the gospel is for all of life, not just the moment of conversion.  The gospel’s saving work is deep work.  It is deep tissue massage, spiritual reparative therapy, and radial reconstructive surgery.  

The gospel forgives our sins once for all. It gives us a new identity.  It secures us citizenship in heaven and the hope of eternal life.  Once believed, it is the grounds for our justification; thereafter believed, it is the power of our sanctification; finally believed, it results in our glorification.  If we believe in the gospel, we are saved from the curse of the law, the condemnation of wrath, and the consequence of hell.  If we believe in the gospel, we receive all that Jesus is for all that we are.  All of this comes from what Christ has done.  

Hebrews 7:25 tells us “consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”  The author of Hebrews makes it a point to let us know that while the old covenant required repeated sacrifices for repeated sins, the new covenant is a better one because Jesus is its guarantor (7:22), and he has offered himself as a sacrifice once for all (7:27).  

God promises in the gospel to begin a work in us and then finish it.  And we will be as saved as Christ’s atoning work was perfect, which is to say ” totally”.