Saved From?

Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Life is the one thing we all appreciate above all. We might say we value ‘love’ above all, but then, we have to be alive to experience love. We cling to life with all we have until we cannot cling any longer.

This is what makes death such an enemy to us. Then there is also the uncertainty of death. It has been well said, (and I think it reflects human nature,) “I don’t mind the thought of death so much; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

Hmmm. The question is: What can we do about it? Should Jesus tarry, death awaits us all. It is certain and looming, and it is completely unknown to us when it will occur. (So it is very difficult for us to arrange our schedule to not be there when it happens.)

It is fascinating the Bible tells us as long as we live in our sins we are dead already. Walking dead. Talking dead. As good as dead. And then…God in His great abounding mercy offers us an alternative.

And here is the really fascinating part: some people will knowingly choose to remain dead in their sins rather than receiving the salvation being offered freely by Christ. The reason is because they do not truly understand what they are being saved from. (And Satan has real victory in any heart in which he can make hell a fairy tale.)

Jesus saves us because we require being saved, in the same manner a drowning man requires saving. “Salvation” is not a flowery Christianese term; it has real meaning, because when the Bible speaks of “death’ it is speaking of eternal damnation. This is what Jesus will freely save us from, if we will but place our faith in Him – because it is by grace alone we are saved. We cannot do more than receive it, but we cannot do less than understand what it truly means – to be saved.  

-  Pastor Bill