SAVED!

Ephesians 2:8

Verses eight through nine are intended to confirm and amplify the statement of verse seven.
The thought clusters around three great gospel words: "Grace," "Saved," "Faith."

"Saved," when used in a Biblical sense, as here, speaks of a rescue
and suggests the imminent danger from which we have been delivered in Christ.

"Ye are saved" is the translation of a perfect tense in Greek.

• It points to a decisive experience in the past, but also emphasizes a present condition growing out of that past act.
• The meaning is: You were saved (at some point in the past), and you are now in a state or condition of salvation.

The experience of being saved is likened to that of a man in a shipwreck.
From the moment he is taken out of the icy water into the lifeboat, he is a saved man.
He may scarcely feel his safety or be relieved of his fears.
Many hours may pass before his feet will touch dry land and his rescue is complete.
Nonetheless, from the moment he is in the boat, he is safe.

The word, "saved," brings to our attention the most solemn consideration that can possibly occupy our minds.
Nothing is more important to us than our eternal souls.

What is it to be saved?

Before we can answer that question, we must ask another: What is it to be in danger?

• If I rushed up to a person on Main Street with frantic eagerness and grabbed his arm,
  and said: "Please let me save you!"
  That person would think that I have rocks in my head.
  Nobody would go up to his neighbor in that manner.
• But suppose that I am at the lake, and I see a boat overturned and a person struggling
  in the water and going under.
  I jump into the lake and swim out to the drowning man and say, "Let me save you!"
  No one would consider that out of place.

There Are Dangers To Be Saved From

The Phillippian jailer knew there was a danger from which he must be saved.
When he thought his prisoners had escaped, he was in grave physical danger for his life.
The penalty for allowing his prisoners to escape would be his own life.
Since the prisoners had not escaped, that danger had passed.
But he was still aware of a very real and threatening danger to his well-being for he cries:
"What must I do to be saved?"

There is the danger of sin!

Sin is in our nature.
The disease of sin has brought death and separation from God.
The word, "sin," is the word the Bible uses again and again to describe our condition without God
and the danger which that brings to us:

• "Be sure your sin will find you out."
• "The wages of sin is death."
• "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."
• "Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

• It promises good, but delivers evil.
• It promises happiness, but delivers sorrow.
• It promises freedom, but delivers slavery.
• It promises life, but delivers death.

There was a man -- a very good man.
He was honored and respected by many.
However, in a moment of lustful looking he took another man’s wife to be his own.
Then, to compound the crime, he sent the man into the front line of the war so he would be
certain to be killed, and he was.

Yet, this man apparently suffered no remorse, until the day that God sent one of His prophets to him.
The prophet came to him and told him a story.
It was a story about a rich man who had thousands of sheep on his rolling hills.
The rich man had a neighbor who was very poor.
His neighbor's sole possession was one little ewe lamb.
When company came to the rich man's house, he took by force the one lamb his poor neighbor owned.

As King David heard this story of injustice, he clenched his fists and his face raged with anger,
and with his eyes flashing cried, " The man who did that must die!"

The accusing finger of the old prophet pointed straight into the face of the king, and said: " You are the man!"

In Psalms 51 David declares, "Have mercy on me...wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin."

This is the way of sin! It always looks worse on somebody else.
We criticize it from a distance while excusing it in our own lives.
Jesus would save us from the treachery and dominion of sin.

There is the danger of eternal death!

Eternal death is to be separated from God forever.
This danger faces all who have not been saved by the Lord Jesus.
Eternal death is the destiny of all who reject Jesus and His great salvation.
Jesus warned about eternal death.
"These shall go away into everlasting punishment."
These, He said, will go away into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
At the great time of judgment He will say unto them: "Depart from Me... I never knew you."
Jesus will save us from eternal death and hell.

Jesus Will Save Us From The Danger Of A Wasted Life!

Life can be thrown away on nothing.
Jesus will save us from such a terrible loss.
He would free us from a present hell, to which some insist on committing themselves.

Once, a man who was a painter by trade asked a pastor to have the funeral service of his mother.
After they had discussed the details of the service, he stayed awhile to talk with the pastor.
Then, all at once, he broke into uncontrollable sobs.
This continued for several minutes.
Finally, when he got in control of his emotions, he said,
"We are going to bury my mother tomorrow, but my mother has actually been dead for eight years."
Then he related how she had become an alcoholic late in life and was a different person than he had known as a child.
Jesus would save us from such a tragedy as that of a wasted life.

Jesus Will Save Us From Our Guilt Of Sin! Saved by the grace of God frees us from all liability and punishment of past sins.
Isaiah 43:25 tells us plainly and clearly that when God forgives us, He never again will remember our sins.
Sin deserves to be punished.
Unforgiven sin will be punished.
Salvation takes all this away.
Isn’t it wonderful to be saved?

Jesus Saves Us From The Wrath Of God!

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness.
God delivers us from this.
Jesus Saved Us From The Curse Of The Law!

We can recall the terrors of the lightnings and the thunderings that surrounded the mountain and how the law of God condemned us.
Israel discovered the horrible consequences of breaking God’s laws.
It is dangerous to break God’s laws.
Salvation delivers us from this curse through Christ who was made a curse for us.

Jesus Saved Us From The Fear Of Death!

Being "saved by the grace of God" takes away the sting of that last enemy.
Death holds no terror to those who are in Christ.
It is simply the door to our home in heaven.

There Is A Condition To Be Saved To!

Saved To A New Life!

The Bible uses glowing terms to describe this new condition which belongs to the Christian in Christ.

• It is like a man whose eyes are blind.
  He has never seen the beauty of a sunset or the smile on the face of a friend.
  He has always lived in darkness.
  He has always walked cautiously.
  Then, suddenly, his eyes are opened and he beholds the wonder of a world he has never seen.
  That is what it is to be saved.
• It is like a man whose life is drab and meaningless.
  Every day is the same. There is no thrill. There is no satisfaction. It is a monotonous existence.
  Then, there comes into his life a new birth.
  Christ comes to live in His heart, and miraculously life becomes completely new.
  Everything is different. Everyday is wonderful!
  That is what it means to be saved -- "saved" to a new life.
• It is like a dead body in a grave. There is no breath. There is no movement. There is no life.
  There is only the cold, corruptness of death.
  Then, God breathes the life of Jesus into that dead soul, and there is life and movement and activity.
  There is resurrection.
  That is what it means to be saved. "Saved" to a new life is resurrection.

Dwight L. Moody once told a group of friends: "Someday you will pick up a newspaper
and read that D. L. Moody is dead.
Don’t you believe it!
At that moment I shall be more alive than even I am now.
I was born in the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856.
That which is born of the flesh will die, but that which is born of the Spirit will live forever!"

We are "saved" and that salvation gives us grace to live day by day.

A man may be pardoned and get out of prison, and have no money or support for his everyday needs.
He is pardoned, but he is starving.
When we are saved, God takes us out of prison and provides for all our needs. (Romans 8:28)

We are "saved" and are being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is our helper. He is ever with us. He helps us in our infirmities.
He gives us grace in our times of need. "My grace is sufficient for thee."

When we are saved:

• We are reconciled to God and are brought into a state of peace with Him.
• We are born again of God with eternal life.
• The precious Holy Spirit of God is given to dwell within us forever, and we are sealed
  by that same Spirit and secured forever.
• We are given a perfect standing before God, as if we had never sinned because of the life and death of Christ.
• We are placed under the keeping and providing care of God for all our spiritual needs.
• Provision is made for the deliverance from the power and the dominion of sin in our earthly life.
• We become the object of the intercession of Jesus before His Father and the Holy Spirit's
  intercession in our prayers.
• We become subject to the Father’s loving chastening and discipline.
• We are being conformed to the image of the very image of the Son of God.
• We shall be with our Saviour and our Heavenly Father in heaven forever and ever.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above."

We are "Saved" By Grace!
"By grace" expresses the means by which we are saved -- not by weeping, not by our own willing,
not through our works or efforts -- but by the sovereign grace of God.

Since salvation is so completely God’s work and since human achievement is so conclusively ruled out,
it is little wonder that there is no room for anyone to boast.
All praise must be given to God and His great grace.

Many years ago in a large city a picture hung on a living room wall.
It was expensively framed. It was a very simple picture. It had just one word on it.
It was a picture of a telegram which had only one word on it.
The word was: "SAVED!"
It was framed by the lady of that mansion and was dearer to her than all the other expensive works of art.

One day, terrible news came to her through the newspapers that the ship on which her husband had
sailed had wrecked at sea.
Many lives were lost, and she feared her husband was dead.
Then that little telegram came to her door and saved her from despair.
That one word, "saved," meant her husband was alive!

Oh, let such a message go out today to every person up and down our streets and all over the world.
The Holy Spirit confirms it.
The angels echo it all over heaven.
Let us tell the world, "saved!"

"I've found a Friend who is all to me,
His love is ever true;
I love to tell how He lifted me
And what His grace can do for you.

He saves me from every sin and harm,
Secures my soul each day;
I’m leaning strong on His mighty arm;
I know He'll guide me all the way.

When poor and needy and all alone,
In love He said to me,
'Come unto Me and I'll lead you home,
To live with Me eternally.

Saved by His power divine,
Saved to new life sublime!
Life now is sweet
And my joy is complete,
For I'm saved, saved, saved!"

This sermon is by Dr. Harold L. White