WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAVED?  #328

Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…I recently saw a posting on Facebook that prompted me to choose today’s subject.  A friend of mine posted a powerful clip portraying a man hanging from a cliff, and the verse read, “Before man can be saved, he must first learn that he cannot save himself.”  Unfortunately, for those who have never been exposed to the truth of God’s Word, they do not even realize they are living in Sin, and in need of a Savior.  They are just living according to the standards of this world, doing what everyone else is doing, while being completely oblivious to the truth found in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” (I will complete this verse later in this post, because the completion of the verse is the solution to the condemnation).

As I have stressed before in previous messages, the insurmountable obstacle standing between Man and an eternal relationship with God is SIN.  And what is Sin?  When used as a noun, it refers to a “state of being”, meaning we are living with the focus on “self” rather than on God.  As a verb, it points to our actions, meaning we are disobedient to God’s will and to His standards. (The Ten Commandments)

If we go back to Genesis (2-3) and look at God’s plan, we see that Man was created in His image, for His pleasure, and for His purpose. Man was also created to be spiritually connected to God, but that changed when Eve succumbed to satan’s  deception and disobeyed God’s stern warning: “You may freely eat from any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If you eat of this fruit, you will surely die.” (Genesis 2: 16-17)  But satan, as he always does, offered an appealing alternative to God’s plan: “You won’t die the serpent hissed.  God knows your eyes will be opened when you eat of it.  You will become just like God, knowing everything both good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5) In other words, you won’t need God; you can be your own god.  (FYI…that’s the same lie satan uses today)

Through that one act of disobedience, Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve took the focus off of God’s will and put the focus on satisfying their own will.  That was the original sin that caused the spiritual connection between God and Man to be severed.  As a result of that action, Adam and Eve were cursed and put out of the garden. Therefore, every generation following that event inherited the same curse that befell Adam and Eve. We, too, are born spiritually disconnected from God. 

To see how this happens, let’s look at the delivery room in a hospital. When a baby enters the world, what is its first action?  It cries.  Why?  He/she wants something… to be held, to be nursed, to be cuddled, to be made to feel safe?  In other words, the first thing a baby becomes aware of is “satisfying self.” So, here is a sobering truth to ponder. If our life is all about satisfying our own lustful passions and desires, that “state of being” is referred to as living in Sin. In other words, we are separated from God because our focus is on “self” and not on Him. We are told in Matthew 6:33 to “seek first the Kingdom of heaven”, and all of these things (blessings) will be added.”

Before we can understand our need for a Savior, we first must be aware of our separation from God and the ramifications of that condition. Without knowledge of Him and His ways, we develop our own thought and behavior patterns from what we see and hear going on around us. The sad reality is… most people today aren’t even aware that they are living in Sin, because most people are ignorant (uninformed) of the truth of God’s word.  Satan, the god of this world, has done a great job of clouding the minds and hardening the hearts of unbelievers to that truth.

2 Corinthians 4:4 states: “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God”.  Apostle Paul, thank goodness, shared the antidote for that dilemma. “Don’t conform to the behaviors and patterns of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.”  Romans 12: 2

Remember, God has a plan and a purpose for each of us.  Regardless of who we are or what we have done, He wants nothing more than for us to engage in vibrant relationship with Him. He delights when we humbly come and admit our dependence on Him. James 4:10 tells us, “He will lift us up and give us honor.”  As stated in the previous Scripture, His plan for our life, is both “pleasing and perfect”.  When we are in line with His will, He promises to bless us abundantly.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-34, “So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing.  Why be like the pagans, who are so deeply concerned about these things?  Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day, if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” 

While the connection between God and Man was severed by Man’s sin (disobedience) at Creation, the good news is…that connection can be restored any time we are ready to repent, meaning, we are ready to turn from our plan and seek His plan is for our lives.  As the prophets of Old Testament proclaimed, “turn from your sins and turn to God”. (Matthew 3:2).  The history found in the Bible clearly shows that when we are in line with God’s will, we are abundantly blessed; when we are out of line with His will, there are consequences to pay.  In Malachi, God even challenges the people to trust Him; “Try it!  Let me prove it to you!”  (Malachi 3:10).

It would seem that unless some transformation takes place in our thinking, we are programed (by the world, the flesh and the satan) to live in a state of Sin.  That is absolutely correct. Romans 6:23 is also correct, “the wages of sin is death”. But because of God’s loving kindness, and because He wants an eternal relationship with us, He provided THE answer to Man’s dilemma. The whole verse reads, “For the wages of sin is death, BUT the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

God’s plan for our salvation is perfect.  He knows that we are weak; He knows that we are slaves to our sin nature; He knows we live in a fallen world; He knows that we live in our fleshly bodies, and He knows that we have to contend with satan, who mocks all of God’s standards by offering the delights that titillate our weaknesses.  Therefore, He, in His loving kindness, gave us a Savior to do for us what we proved (from Creation until 2020 years ago) that we were/are incapable of doing for ourselves. That, My Friends, is how we overcome the dilemma of sin.  Because we are in Christ (meaning we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior), “We are a new creation…the old is gone (meaning we are no longer slaves to our sin nature), the new has come” (the Holy Spirit is living in us, empowering us to become the person God created us to be).

So, what does it mean to be saved?  It means that we made a choice to repent…to turn from our sins and to turn to God. Because of that one choice, we also inherited eternal life and the indwelling Holy Spirit who empowers us to do greater things than what we could ever do through our own best effort.  As Jesus so boldly stated, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

So, my question to you is…Have you accepted God’s free Gift of Grace?

Feel free to “like” this message, and please share it with other social media friends.

May God Bless You abundantly,

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)