What Must I Do To Be Saved

Firm Foundations • Sermon • Submitted a month ago • Presented a month ago

0 ratings

· 1 view

Notes

Transcript

The Story of Easter is a Rescue Mission

Who doesn’t love a good rescue story? From true stories like Hacksaw Ridge to real life inspired movies like Saving Private Ryan, to action fiction like Rambo, and of course the greatest rescue movie of all time— the Princess Bride; everyone loves a good rescue story!

When we open the stories of Gospels we walk into the story of God rescuing his people from sin and death; and when we arrive at Holy Week we reach the climax of the story- a crucifixion, a tomb, and an empty grave. But in confessing that the story of Easter is a rescue, we are in turn confessing some other things that come along with that.

Galatians 4:4–5 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

A rescue implies danger

If there is no danger than there is no need for rescue. No one needs to be rescued from good and peaceful situations. The story of Easter begins as a story of brokenness and sin. In order to tell the story of victory we must tell the story of sin.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

So here is the great plot- Adam disobeys God and sin enters the world, and with it comes death, and the whole world is turned upside down. The challenge for many, of course, is that this danger is not necessarily seen with the eye; its not like the danger portrayed in the movies or on the news; this is a silent danger of the Spirit. Which is why so many fall victim to it; they do not see the danger with their eyes so they deny that it really exists.

Vance Havner tells the story of a who lady came forward during the invitation in one of his meetings to be saved. She was a very sophisticated and refined woman. She had a graduate’s degree and was very articulate and intelligent.

When she came forward during the invitation, Dr. Havner asked her, "Why have you come forward?"

She said, "I want to go to heaven."

Havner doesn’t know why he said it this way, but he asked her, "Ma’am, do you realize that you are a hell-bound sinner worthy only of God’s judgment?"

She looked at him in shocked disbelief and said, "Why no. I’ve been good ALL my life."

He said, "Well, in that case ma’am, you cannot go to heaven. Why don’t you have a seat over there, because you can’t be saved."

Bewildered, she went to one of the front row seats. On the next verse of the song of invitation, she came forward again and said, "Sir, I would like to be saved."

He said, "Ma’am, to be saved, you have to have something to be saved FROM. To be saved is to be saved from SIN. Until you recognize that you are a lost, helpless sinner you cannot be saved. Jesus said, '...They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'"

Suddenly it was as if he saw a light go off in her head. "Ma'am, do you realize that you are a poor, lost, wicked sinner in need of God’s grace and unable to add to His work on Calvary through any works or goodness of your own?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks as the shame for her sin overcame her soul. "Yes! I do," she said. When she said that, she was in a place where God could save her, and Havner was able to lead her to Christ.

A Rescue Comes at A Cost

Follow any rescue story and you will find that there is always a cost that comes with the rescue. There is almost no scenario where the Savior of the story comes out unscathed, and the story of Easter is no exception. This rescue story came at the highest cost- the life of the Son of God.

1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

So Jesus takes our sin, all the things that we have done, all the wrongs we have committed, and takes them upon himself, and takes the punishment on his body for our sin.

Sin has to be dealt with, friends, there is no way around it. There is no sweeping it under the rug, or ignoring it in hopes that God missed it or forgot about it.

Romans 6:23 tells us “For the wages of sin is death” Sin brings death, not merely physical death but spiritual death- eternal separation from God. Because of sin every person has unrighteousness and the punishment for that is death.

But Romans 6:23 continues to say “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus knew the cost of sin, and stepped in. He laid down his life to pay the price for sin- it cost him everything. As the words to the old song go

“I had a debt I could not pay, He paid the debt He did not owe, I needed someone, To wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song, “Amazing grace” all day long, Christ Jesus paid the debt, That I could never pay.

A Rescue requires a Hero and a Rescuee

A rescue requires a hero, and as we have already established that hero is Jesus- and he has done his part. As Jesus declared on the cross- IT IS FINISHED and three days later he walks out of the grave in complete victory. Signed sealed delivered, he has won.

But in order for a rescue to take place, there must be a rescuee, someone who is willing to be rescued.

Can you imagine being in a state of great peril or a place where death is knocking at your door, and rejecting the rescue? There is a robber in your home and the police come and you say “no, just let him be” or a fire in approaching your home and you tell the fire department “no there is no need to try and save it” or Lois Lane telling Superman “I just dont think I need your help” we cant imagine such a scenario…

And yet that is how so many live. They deny their need of a rescue or they assume that they can rescue themselves. Maybe that is how you have lived your life. But friends, today I present to you this truth- you have someone who has already provided a way out of your life of brokenness and sin; your life of emptiness and despair- you have a Savior and even if you have denied him 1000 times or even if you have refused his rescue all of your life; he is still willing and able to be your Savior today.

And so today if you see the danger of a life of sin; and you know the cost of rejecting Jesus; and you are willing to accept his rescue you are probably asking yourself- what must I do to be saved?!? Well, let me tell you. And the answer is found in Acts 16:25-34.

Acts 16:25–34 (ESV)

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

This is no MacGyver rescue with a paper clip, a saw horse, and a blow torch; this rescue is quite simple- believe in the Lord Jesus.

Now, there are 2 things I want to point out about this encounter.

First, Jesus showed up before the jailer believed.

In other words, you can be in the presence of Jesus and even see Jesus work in the world around you and still not believe. And I believe this is happening in the lives of many Christians today- maybe even yours. They have been in the presence of Jesus, they have even seen him do miracles and change other people’s lives- they might even come to church every single week- but they themselves have never really believed.

Experiencing Jesus does not necessarily mean that you believe in Jesus- today I am asking if you believe.