“Saved?”  From What?

The Bible reveals much about God and ourselves:

The one true living God is self-existent, with no dependencies.  He doesn’t need air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, or even a place to live.  He always existed and always will exist as He is, without changing in any way.  In other words, the ultimate reality is a Person, not a universe.  [See Bible passages:  Isaiah 43:10-13; Exodus 3:13-14]

God has revealed Himself to be all-knowing and all-powerful.  He is the highest Authority;  He is sovereign.  This means that what He decides to accomplish, no one can prevent, and what He decides to prevent, no one can accomplish.  [See Bible passage:  Hebrews 4:13]

God created the universe (“the heavens and the earth”).  Therefore, He owns the universe ‑ everything in it and everyone in it.  He has the right to do with it as He pleases.  He created this universe as a temporary place; it has a definite beginning in time and will have a definite end in the future.  [See Bible passages:  Isaiah 44:24; Genesis 1:1; 2 Peter 3:10-13]

God created us as eternal souls in temporary bodies.  God will not annihilate any soul.  [See Bible passages:  Matthew 25:46; Hebrews 9:27-28]

God is holy.  This means that He is purely, perfectly good.  He does not tolerate evil (sin) in His immediate presence.  God is rightfully angry about every sinful thought, word, and action.  [See Bible passages:  Leviticus 11:45; Isaiah 6:3]

God is just.  He always does what is right, with no exceptions.  Perfect justice requires the suffering of a punishment for every sinful thought, word, and action.  He will punish every sin by venting His anger (wrath) upon the one carrying responsibility for the sin.  [See Bible passages:  Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:8, 20:12-14; Hebrews 10:30-31]

We all have committed sins.  We have done things that we know are wrong, and we have refused to do things which we know are right.  If the wrath of the eternal God is vented upon your eternal soul, it will necessarily result in eternal torment for you.  This is what we need to be saved from!  No number or degree of “good deeds” can nullify the fact of our sinful thoughts, words, and actions.  [See Bible passage:  Romans 3:10, 23]

God loves us and wants to save all who are willing to turn away from sinful thoughts, words, and actions (repent).  However, God’s perfect love cannot violate His perfect justice.  He cannot simply declare us “pardoned” without the demands of perfect justice being satisfied.  God’s love alone cannot save us.

God is merciful.  However, God is not obligated to show mercy to anyone.  If He were to leave us alone and let each one of us receive the just punishment for our sins, He would still be purely, perfectly good and just.  However, His love has moved Him to devise a way to show mercy by satisfying the demands of perfect justice while protecting some of us (those who repent) from His eternal wrath against our sins!  [See Bible passage:  Romans 9:15-16]

Moved by His love for us even when we have hated and disobeyed Him, He has sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to save us from His wrath against us.  Jesus lived a perfect life in a human body, which we have not done.  Physically, He allowed Himself to be executed as if He were a sinner.  Spiritually, He accepted the responsibility for our sins as if He were a sinner.  God the Father poured out His wrath toward our sins upon Jesus instead of us.  Jesus, being God the Son, has an infinite capacity which enabled Him to bear the immeasurable suffering of full eternal punishment for our sins. This quenched, once and for all, God’s wrath toward the sins of those who will repent and trust in Jesus Christ.  [See Bible passages:  Isaiah 53:4-6; John 3:16-18, 3:35-36]

And God the Father resurrected Jesus on the third day to prove that Jesus is the Savior that He promised to send.

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

‑ Acts 17:30-31  (NASB)

If you want to have peace with God and you are willing to turn away from sinful thoughts, words, and actions, then please consider what God has said that you are to do:

·        Repent.  (Turn away from sin now and always.)  [Matthew 4:17]

·        Trust Jesus as Savior.  [John 6:40]

·        Love Jesus and trust Him as Lord.  [John 14:21]

·        Be baptized in the name of Jesus.  [1 Peter 3:21-22]

·        Receive the Holy Spirit.  [Acts 2:38-39]

·        Forgive others of their sins against you.  [Matthew 6:14-15]

·        Love God and love others.  [Matthew 22:37-40]

·        Start enjoying God’s gift of eternal life.  Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God the Father and God the Son (Jesus).  God provides the Bible and His Holy Spirit so that we can start getting to know Him now.  [John 17:1-3]

·        Join in worship and Bible study with a group of fellow believers (“brothers” and “sisters”) in Jesus Christ.  [Hebrews 10:23-25]

... we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),  and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,  in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

‑ Ephesians 2:3-7  (NASB)

All Bible quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), Copyright ©  1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995  by The Lockman Foundation.