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What does it mean to be saved and
why do we need salvation?
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Part of the answer to that question
is because we are condemned.
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We need to be saved because we are
condemned.
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John wrote about Jesus,
"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of
God."
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A person who has been condemned to
death has been found guilty of a terrible crime and must pay for that crime
with his/her very life.
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Why have we been condemned? What
have we done to deserve condemnation?
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We deserve to be condemned because we
have rebelled against God.
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Whatever God says in the Bible is
good, we often find ourselves doing the opposite.
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Lying, cheating, stealing,
disobeying parents, wanting more than we need, and having unloving attitudes
toward others.
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Worshiping ourselves rather than God
and being so busy always doing that we do not know how to stop, rest, and be
present with ourselves, God, or others.
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Any or all of these make us rebels
against God, sinners worthy of being condemned.
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John tells us that God loves the
world and that God sent his Son into the world that the world might not be
condemned.
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We are condemned sinners; however, God
does not want to condemn everyone, no, He wants to show off his love, mercy,
and forgiveness.
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John tells us that the only way to
be free of being condemned is through faith in the only Son of God, Jesus
Christ.
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If we do not believe in Jesus, we
are condemned already.
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But if we trust Jesus to save us,
then we are set free from the power of sin and death.
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Today, I want us to explore four
basic questions.
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First,
what is salvation?
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Salvation
means to save, to rescue, to liberate, to deliver, to heal, or to set free.
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Cliff Barrows once told of how when
his children were small they had done something he forbid them to do. He told
them if they did the same thing again they would have to be punished. When he
returned home from work and found that they hadn't obeyed, his heart went out
to them. "I just couldn't discipline them," he said.
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Any loving father can understand
Cliff's tight spot. Most of us have been in the same position. He said,
"Bobby and Betty Ruth were very small. I called them into my room, took
off my belt and then my shirt, with a bare back I knelt down at the bed. I made
them both strap me with the belt 10 times each. You should have heard the crying,
from them, I mean. The crying was from them. They didn't want to do it. But I
told them the penalty had to be paid and so through their sobs and tears they
did what I told them."
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"I smile when I remember the
incident," he said. "I must admit I wasn't much of a hero. It hurt. I
haven't offered to do that again. It was a once for all sacrifice, I guess we
could say, but I never had to spank those two children again, because they got
the point. We kissed each other. And when it was over we prayed together"
(Swindoll, Oxcart, 544).
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We must understand that salvation is
not just about the physical but also the spiritual, meeting the deepest needs
of men and women, boys and girls.
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This brings us to question #2, why do we need salvation? Or what do we
need to be saved from?
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The Bible gives us three reasons why
we need to be saved.
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The first reason we need to be saved is because we are held captive to sin. We are prisoners of sin.
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People are slaves of sin and to the
sinful desires of their flesh.
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Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to
you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave
does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So
if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:34-36 (ESV)
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Just as a slave needs to be set free
from his master, we need to be set free from sin and the power it has over us.
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The second reason we need to be saved is we are condemned because of our sin.
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All of us are born sinful. Because
of this we are condemned to experience eternal death, eternity without God.
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We don't have good and right desires
in us that are pleasing to God.
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As long as we remain in that
condition, we can never have a relationship with a holy God.
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In Ephesians 2:1, the apostle Paul
tells his readers that we were dead and doomed forever because of our many
sins.
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All of us follow our inborn sinful
nature.
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But God gave a way for life when he
raised Christ from the dead and it's only by God's grace that we can be saved.
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We need to be saved because we are
condemned to eternal death without faith in Jesus Christ and God has done the
work of saving us and giving us a new life in Christ by putting faith in our
hearts.
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We need salvation because we were
born sinful.
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Third,
we need salvation because we are spiritually
sick, blind, and weak.
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Something is deeply wrong with us
spiritually.
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Imagine for a moment that you are
blind and that you live in a world where there is no Braille, no disability or
social welfare, your only means of sustaining your life is through begging.
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Now imagine your blind self in that
world sick with the worst case of the flu you ever had.
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You are completely helpless, unable
to care for yourself or improve your situation in any way.
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Paul wrote to the church of Rome,
"When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and
died for us sinners." (Romans 5:6)
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In his second letter to the church
of Corinth, Paul wrote that if the good news he preached was hidden from anyone
it was a sign that they are perishing and that Satan has blinded the minds of
those who do not believe so they cannot see the glorious light of the good news
that is shining on them and they do not understand the message preached about
the glory of Christ who is the exact likeness of God (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
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Our spiritual condition as revealed
in these verses is that we are sick, we are helpless, and we are blind to our
true spiritual need unless God shows us the reality of the good news about
Jesus.
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We cannot see our true spiritual
condition without God's help.
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We need to be saved because we are spiritually
sick, blind, and weak.
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Now that brings us to Question #3. Why does salvation exist and
why do we need it?
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Let's read what the word of God
says.
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In Romans 9:23, the apostle Paul
reveals God's motive for saving those who believe, "in order to make known
the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand
for glory" (Romans 9:23).
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Vessels of mercy are people who have
come to faith in Christ.
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God made all things for his glory
and our salvation is a large part of how God brings Glory to his name.
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God planned specifically to make his
glory great by showing his mercy to those who believe.
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Salvation
exists for the glory of God.
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Now, Why do we need salvation?
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First,
salvation provides a deliverer for the captives.
For everyone held captive by sin, as slaves and prisoners of sin, Jesus Christ
is our deliverer, our rescuer.
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Hebrews 2:14-15 tell us that Jesus
Christ came to earth and became a man and died as a man in order to destroy the
one who has the power of death, the evil one, the devil, and deliver all those
who through fear of death were put through lifelong slavery.
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Christ used death itself to destroy
the power of the devil and deliver us from slavery to sin.
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Second,
salvation provides a substitute for the
condemned. Jesus Christ substitutes his own life for the lives of the
condemned.
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Jesus took our place and took our
sins upon himself accepting our punishment.
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Third,
salvation provides a healer for the sick.
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Knowing that our souls are incurably
sick from sin, Jesus came so that we might find healing from sin in him.
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As Jesus read to the people of
Nazareth from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the
Lord's favor... Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing"
(Luke 4:18-19, 21).
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So then Question #4: How can we respond to this gracious gift of
God? How can we have salvation?
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The answer is simple: Through the cross.
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Jesus
Christ died on the cross to reveal the glory of God.
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The cross reveals the power of God
that goes beyond all greatness which is displayed in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
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The cross is the source by which
people are brought to God.
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Faith in what Jesus did on the cross
is how we get salvation.
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2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "for
our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God," and 1 Peter 2:24 says, "He himself bore
our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed."
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Jesus Christ took our place so that
we could be alive in him.
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Faith in the fact that when Jesus
died he took our place, yours and mine, he paid our penalty. Faith in the fact that we are free from our
sin and we are free to follow Christ.
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Trust. Trust Christ for freedom from
slavery to sin; trust Christ for power over our weakness. Trust Christ for freedom from slavery to sin;
trust Christ for power over our weakness.
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Trust
in the saving power of the cross and you have salvation.
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