Salvation

Toward the end of his life Peter wrote to some of the Christians that he had known and taught. He knew that his life would soon come to an end. But there was something that he wanted to do with the time left to him.

I intend always to remind you of these things, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 2 Peter 1:12

Today, we’ll be continuing our series in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. And my goal in this is to remind you of things you know. I want to remind you of the Gospel. I can’t imagine anything more important for me to do as your pastor than that. Living out the Gospel is the only way to live well. I also hope to challenge you to dig a little deeper into that Gospel. There will always be more to know, more to understand, about what God has done and is doing by the Gospel.

Here’s the next bit of Romans.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1.16,17

Let’s start by looking at this word ‘salvation’. I’m sure that it’s familiar enough to all of you - which is why I need to use a different word. The word that I’ve used in the past seemed to work, so I’ll use it again: ‘rescue’. The Gospel is about our being rescued. Let’s explore this.

First, what are you rescued from? Some people might talk about being rescued from hell. We can understand why someone might do that. But even a little thinking about this will show that it’s not the best answer. Hell, after all, is a place that God created. And He is the one who condemns people to exist there forever. Being rescued from hell, then, is being rescued from God. There are problems if we give that as the answer to our question. For one thing, it misses an opportunity to see something important.

Let me offer a better answer to our question. What are you rescued from? You are rescued from yourself. I’m hoping that there is a little jolt to that answer that gets your attention. You are rescued from yourself.

This fits what the Scriptures teach. Consider what the angel said to Joseph.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1.21

Jesus has come to save you from your sins, to save you from your foolish and evil choices, to save you from yourself. Seeing it that way puts a slightly different spin on things. The problem isn’t something over there, sin. The problem is you.

Now, this rescue has three tenses. The one that Christians are most familiar with is rescue in the past tense. There was a point at which the Spirit did His most gracious work in your life, and at that point you were saved. Past tense. Some of you have a date for when that happened. Some of you don’t. It doesn’t matter, as long as it has happened. That’s when you were rescued from yourself. Past tense.

It’s important to understand that rescue isn’t limited to one tense. There is also the future tense. And most Christians are, at least, somewhat familiar with this tense. The day will come when Jesus will return and every remnant of our sin will be gone. We will have completely pure bodies bound to completely pure souls. Sin will be gone forever. Rescue complete. Future tense.

However, there is still another tense to consider. This tense of our rescue isn’t as well appreciated as the other two. It’s the present tense. We are being rescued. And if you think about it, that really is good news. After all, we still choose to sin. And that results in so many problems. So, we need to be rescued from ourselves now, in the midst of this life. Salvation by the Gospel includes this ongoing rescue. Present tense.

So, we are rescued from ourselves, from our sin. And that is so good. But, it’s incomplete. Aren’t we are also rescued to something? If we forget this, we forget half the story. What are we rescued to? What’s the goal of all of this rescue?

Well, here’s one thing that we are not rescued to: our happiness. Sadly, we live in a time and place where we are told, in so many different and subtle ways, that the focus of everything is me. It’s my happiness, my comfort, my pleasure, that is the point of my living. Very selfish, even egocentric. And so very sinful. But the fact of the matter is that this creation is not egocentric, not unless the ego we’re talking about is God’s. He is the focus of everything. So, what we might say is that what matters is His happiness, His comfort, His pleasure, regardless what it might cost us. And that is something that is hard for us to remember. So, let’s be aware that we are not rescued to our happiness. That’s not the goal.

Instead, the point of this rescue is that we might be restored to what Adam and Eve were like before sin entered the picture. And here’s one thing about those two that’s key. Adam and Eve were created so that they could serve their Creator. That sums up quite nicely the reason for their existence - and ours. The point of our rescue is so that we can return to that task, to that reason for existence.

The point of our lives has always been to serve God in this creation of His. The foolish and evil things that we did, our sin, interfered with that. So, we were rescued, past tense, from our sin. And we will be rescued, future tense, with this goal in mind. But it is also important for us to bear in mind that this also relates to the present tense of our rescue. We are being rescued from our sin. And all of this is happening so that we will be restored to our calling to be servants of the living God.

All right. We have looked at what we’ve been rescued from and to. Now, on to the next question. How does this happen? And you know the answer. We are saved by faith. That’s what Paul wrote. Salvation is, ‘to everyone who believes’, and ‘the righteous shall live by faith’.

We have another opportunity to examine this key word. So, again, time for a definition. This is what I told you last week.

Faith is just another word for trust. To believe in someone is to trust that person in terms of whatever it is that he or she is promising. … When it comes to the Gospel, we are entrusting ourselves to God, the Father, through Jesus, the Son.

That’s still a good definition. But I want to add to it. And I want to do this by looking at a contrast. If I trust God for my rescue that means that I don’t trust myself for it. And there are good reasons for me not to trust myself in this. And one reason is obvious: my complete inability. I can’t rescue myself. No matter how hard I might try, doing that is an impossibility. I can’t rescue myself.

Now, when I say that I think that it’s fair to say that most Christians will understand those words in terms of the past tense of rescue as well as the future tense of rescue. We were saved by faith and not by works, right? And when Jesus returns there is nothing for us to do but to enjoy the change that He will bring about. Our complete inability is clear when it comes to the past tense and the future tense of our rescue.

But I think we need some work when it comes to the present tense of rescue. When it comes to our continuing need to be rescued from our foolish and evil choices, our sin - the present tense of rescue - there is, likewise, nothing that we can do. There is no, ‘I have to get more organized’ or ‘If only I pray and read my Bible more’ or ‘I am such an undisciplined person. If I could fix that it would solve my problems’ or even ‘I have to try harder to put these four biblical truths into practice’. What is all of that? It’s trying to rescue yourself from yourself. It’s putting your faith in yourself. There’s no Gospel there. It is trying to do what you simply cannot do.

How freeing it is to see that the rescue that the Gospel provides includes the present tense. Faith, when it comes to present tense rescue, prays like this, ‘Father, help me. Rescue me from this damnable sin of mine. I choose it over and over. That is so wrong. I know that, but I still do it. Rescue me because there is nothing that I can do to rescue myself.’ It’s when you do that, when you pray in terms of simple faith in the Gospel, that the Spirit responds. That’s when He guides you and teaches you and frees you from more and more of your sin. That’s when He rescues you in the present tense.

Too many Christians are running themselves ragged, or have just given up, because they try to rescue themselves. It can’t be done. Only God can rescue us from our sin, past tense, future tense and present tense.

So, what do I want you to do with all of this? The answer isn’t complicated. I want you to believe it. I want you to believe the Gospel that rescues you. Why do I want you to do that? Well, for one thing, I want that so that you can do better at following Jesus and, as a result, do better at serving your Creator. That is the point of all this rescue. And while it may sound contradictory - though it isn’t - this is how you will find true happiness.

There’s another reason why I want you to believe this Gospel and thus be rescued from more of your sins. I want you to become an advertisement for the Gospel, a billboard that the people around you will see. Evangelism.

I think that it’s fair to say that most unbelievers these days are in one of two camps. There are those who just aren’t open to listening to the Gospel. For whatever reason, it is simply dismissed without a hearing. Not interested. Then, there is the other camp. These are the people who think that they know enough about the Gospel. And that’s why they don’t need to listen to you talk about it.

So, what we need to do is earn the right to speak to them about this rescue. What we need to do is get them to want us to talk to them about the Gospel. And the way that we do that is by showing them what the Gospel can do. We show them, by the way that we live, how the Gospel rescues from foolish and evil choices. So, believe the Gospel so that, more and more, your life will reveal the power of our rescuing God and thus draw people to Jesus.