|
Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
|
||
|
To Be Saved |
||
|
Acts
16:30 Twenty-sixth
Sunday after Trinity November
16, 2008 A man was climbing a mountain. He had just secured a rope to the face of the cliff when he lost his balance and fell backwards over a ledge. In desperation he clung to the rope, still in his hands. At a certain point the slack went out of the rope, leaving him hanging hundreds of feet above the ground. Knowing he could never hope to climb his way back to the ledge and safety, he cried out, “Help! Help! Is anybody out there?” To his great surprise, a Heavenly voice said to him, “I am here, My child. I will save you. Let go of the rope.” The man thought for a couple of seconds, then he cried out again, “Is anybody else out there?” That man had a problem. He needed to know how to get out of his dangerous situation. Or, to put it in more Biblical language, he needed to know, “what must I do to be saved?” Not long ago, that question was on the minds of most of the people who went to church on a regular basis. The salvation they were thinking about was spiritual salvation, and the question presupposes three things. First, all people are sinners. Second, God will punish sinners. Third, there is a way to be saved from that punishment. So “being saved” was a priority in the church, and preachers spoke on the subject frequently. Preachers don’t talk about that much anymore, mostly because people don’t want to hear it. So preachers talk about how to be a better you, or how to do anything you want and still call yourself a Christian. Today I want to turn the clock back to those days when people wanted to know, “what must I do to be saved?” Let me begin by saying this is a very biblical issue and question. The words come right from the Bible and were spoken by the Philippian jailer. But that is not the only place this issue is raised in Scripture. I could quote many verses dealing with it, but you know them as well as I, so I will go on to show why it is necessary to be saved. In short, those presuppositions I spoke of a few moment ago are true. Remember them? All people are sinners. Romans 3:23 confirms what we all know to be true. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The second presupposition was that God punishes sinners. Again the Bible confirms this, saying, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). This death is not primarily the death of the flesh. It is the eternal dying of the soul. The third presupposition was that there is a way to be saved from this punishment. Again the Bible confirms this, saying “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Basically, to be saved means to be rescued. Think of a drowning man. Can he save himself? If he could, would he be drowning? He must be rescued. He must be saved, or he will die. We were drowning spiritually. Because of our sin we were condemned to a place of everlasting sorrow and suffering, and sin. We were condemned to a place where souls are separated from the source of happiness and peace, without any hope of ever being rescued, or ever getting out, forever. If we are ever going to escape that fate we must be rescued, for, like the mountain climber we are dangling over the pit of hell, weak and wounded and unable to save ourselves. If God does not intervene, we will fall. To be rescued implies a rescuer. Someone must pull the drowning man out of the water and take him safely to shore. Someone has to catch the mountain climber and place him gently on the ground. Someone has to rescue our souls from the fate we have earned by our own sin. That Rescuer is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The whole point of that annual celebration for which the stores are already decorated, is, “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). He is The Saviour of our souls. Jesus took our sins upon Himself and suffered for them in His own flesh. He bore the punishment of our sins on the cross. The wrath of God for your sin and mine was poured out on Him. He took our places. He paid our debt. He suffered our punishment for us, and rescued our souls from the wrath of God. Of course, salvation is not a general amnesty. It’s not a birthright. It is a gift, but like any gift, it must be received. Receiving it is done by faith. Faith is the simple act of trusting what God has done in Christ to rescue you. It means to let go of the rope. Now when that mountain climber lets go of the rope, he’s not counting on sprouting wings and flying to safety himself. He’s not counting on being able to withstand the impact of falling hundreds of feet and landing on hard ground. He’s not counting on being able to do anything that will save him. He is counting on one thing only, the Being who promised to save him actually will save him. That is faith. We aren’t counting on anything we can do to make ourselves acceptable unto God. We’re just counting on Christ to rescue us. What must I do to be saved? Simply let Christ rescue you. Let us pray. Holy God, You alone are able to save us. Grant that we may trust you in faith. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
|
||
Copyright © 2006 Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church. All rights reserved For website information contact: E-mail Webmaster |
||
http://www.holytrinityanglicanorthodoxchurch.org/HolyTrinityHello.htm