Justification and Sanctification

A friend of mine asked about the relationship between justification and sanctification. Here's how I responded. There is so much more that could be said since this is pretty much what the Christian life is all about.

"Hey, I've been thinking about this some lately. I was talking about it with Tyler the other night. In justification, we get two things. Both are suited perfectly to the needs of the sinner. The sinner is in the hole, so to speak. He/she has a bad record before God. Having lived a life that has "fallen short", we have done tons of bad things are exposed to the just wrath of God because of those sins. That's one problem - a sinful record. The other problem is the lack of righteousness. Even if we didn't have the bad record, we would then only be back at square one. We still wouldn't have the positive side - a righteousness. So the sinner stands condemend because he has sinned (the negative) and he lacks righteousness (the positive). This is the very bad news that makes the gospel very good news. Christ died to grant forgiveness for sins (the negative) and He lived the perfect life to grant the righteousness (the positive). When the sinner attaches himself to Christ by grace through faith, he/she is then counted to have lived Christ's perfect life of obedience. The Father also counts Christ to have lived the sinners wicked life. This is what happened at the cross - double imputation. John MacArthur once said in a sermon, "God treated Christ like He lived your life so that He could treat you like you lived His." Unbelievable! Except by grace, then it becomes believable. How does justification relate to sanctification. One will not happen without the other. Sanctification will not happen unless justification already has. Those who have been justified will be sanctified and will progressinvely become more Christlike. Conversely, it is impossible for justification to happen without sanctification. In other words, Christians will be sanctified. This is why the Bible can say things like these without teaching works-based salvation:

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

According to this verse, we will not go to heaven if we are not sanctified. How do we reconciled this with Romans 5, which says that we are justified bny faith and Ephesians 2:8-9 which says that we are saved by grace through faith? It reconciles because those who are saved by grace through faith will also be sanctified. So there will be no Christians who are not sanctified. All real Christians will be progressively sanctified. This is consistent with other verses that seem to say the same thing. Compare Romans 8:13 and 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12. One of the questions is Tyler's catechism book, in speaking of the sinful heart that each of us has from birth, asks this question:
Can you go to heaven with this sinful nature?
Answer: No, my heart must be changed before I can be fit for heaven. Our hearts must be fit for heaven. My father in-law had a book in his study over Thanksgiving that was titled, "No holiness, no heaven." Good title! Piper says that the only sin that can be overcome is a forgiven sin. Thanks for the discussion."

Your thoughts?