A Word for the Wise!
Meditation for the week of February 10, 2013
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17)
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9)
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30)
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21)
Even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Ephesians 2:5)
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)
Years ago, I had a junker for a car. I was having the tires wear so I took it to a tire dealership that did front-end work. I remember the mechanic getting under the car and poking here and prodding there. He then rolled out from under the car and looked at me with a grin and said, “We can save her.” He was the man who could do it. So I drove that car for some more miles because the car had been saved.
The word “saved” or “salvation” is used quite frequently in the Scripture but it doesn’t always mean the same thing. The Scriptures that I have included with this meditation, all have to do with being delivered from the penalty that we deserve because of our sin. It is the idea of being delivered from danger. This concept of salvation is sometimes looked at in the Bible as a new birth (John 1:12-14, 1 Peter 1:23). Sometimes it is looked at as a resurrection (John 5:24). It is always an important event in the life of one who is going to heaven. When a person is saved, the lost is found, the unbeliever changes his or her mind and trusts in the Lord, and the spiritually blind begin to see or understand.
Salvation can also mean preservation. I believe that is what Paul is talking about when he writes to Timothy and says, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you (1 Timothy 4:16).” The word can also deal with the future deliverance of the Christian from the wrath of God that will be poured out on this world. This deliverance has to do with the Lord’s return. In Romans 13:11, Paul says, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” So believers in Christ have been saved (delivered) from the penalty of sin, they are being saved (preserved) from the power of sin, and they will be saved from the presence of sin at the coming of the Lord.
Salvation is the most important doctrine or teaching of Scripture. The Lord died to save us, God sent the Holy Spirit to draw us to the Savior so we can be saved, God gave us the Scriptures to tell us how to be saved and how to be sure that we are saved. God’s way of salvation shows us our value to God. It is the most sacrificial expression of love that the world has ever seen or can ever know. Yet in the so-called Christian church, often this doctrine is either ignored, watered down or changed.
When people tell me that they are saved, I like to ask them what it was like to be lost. Then I like to ask them how they are sure they are saved. I am personally sure because God says Christ died for me and I can give you a number of Scriptures that make me that promise. I am not saved and sure of it because somebody told me I was saved. I am saved because Christ died for me and I have the promise of God for that.
One thing I have found out over the years is that God is faithful and He keeps His promises. One of His promises is, "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18).” I take comfort in the promise of the first part of that verse. However, the promise to the unbeliever in the last part of the verse is just as dependable.
Are you sure you are saved? I am!
Bruce Collins