What Do I Need To Be Saved From?

The message was brought by Bro. Tim Surber

Ephesians chapter 2 tells us several things. (1) It tells us who we were.  We were dead in sin and have been saved by grace and raised from a spiritual death. We are alive through Christ. (2) It tells us what we are now. Verse 15 says we are a new person (“new man”). We are God’s workmanship. (3) It tells us where we’re going.  We have a home in heaven.

We use the phrase “I’m saved” a lot. Have you thought about what that means? The lost can’t comprehend it. What in the world do I need to be saved from?  That’s what I want to talk about in this message.

Verse 2 says “wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”  We were under the control of the devil. Some think they can be free from him by themselves, but it cannot be done without the death of Jesus on Calvary. We’ve been washed and by the grace of God—not our works—we’ve been saved.  Satan’s power is strong. Before I was saved I tried to turn over a new leaf. It wouldn’t work. Salvation is by the power of God. It took the operation of God to free us all from the power of Satan. Greater is the One in us that the devils of this world. Even though we are saved, we still fight the devil, but we can overcome by the power of Christ. Jesus knew we needed to be set free. That’s why he came.  Satan still tempts us, but we are no longer under his control.  The person who chooses to go to the place prepared for the devil after this life goes as an intruder. Jesus came to seek out the lost, and one must realize he is lost before there can be salvation in his soul. Jesus came to destroy the power of the devil and arose victorious over death and the enemy. We have been saved from his hold over us, and one day we’ll go to heaven, the place where there is no devil!  We needed to be saved from the control of the devil.

Sin had a hold on us. The Bible says we’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God.  A Christian doesn’t practice sin as a way of life. Romans chapter 6 says “what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.” We no longer live in the kingdom of darkness. Jesus broke the power sin had on us.  I couldn’t do it myself no matter how many times I tried. We will sin as a Christian, but we are to repent. Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins. We won’t continue to live the way we did before we were saved. There is a newness of life after salvation. We can’t go back and change the past, but we can be forgiven and begin a new walk with Jesus. If we say we’re saved but continue to live in sin, we need a reality check.   Verse 12-13 instruct us.  It says “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God….” The key to living this new life is by yielding to God. Verses 14 and 15 give us more. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” We cannot sin just to be forgiven of it. We are a new creature. Then Romans 6:23 sums it up. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Do you have the gift? If you’re saved you do. This gift comes by our faith in the finished work of Jesus, and through him we have life. God’s grace is stronger than the hold of sin. We are saved from the hold of sin over us.

We are free from God’s wrath.  Before I was saved, I was afraid to die. I had heard of the literal fires of hell. It scared me to death. One day I found out God would free me from his wrath by faith in his son.  God doesn’t want anyone to perish.  We live in the age of grace, but the time will come when the church will be called out in the rapture. The wrath will come. It’s real.  John 3:36 says “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”  We deserved to die, not Jesus. If we reject the salvation of God, we have something to worry about. God doesn’t want us to suffer; he made provision for us all.  First Thessalonians chapter one says unbelievers will be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” Revelation says unbelievers will be cast into hell. Your name must be in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  God gave his son to die for us while we were still sinners.  We are saved from the wrath to come when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.

Because of grace we can look forward to heaven. We have a lively hope. By faith we have an inheritance in heaven. In John 14 Jesus said he was preparing a place for us “that where I am, there ye may be also.”  Aren’t you thankful for the grace of God? We’re saved from the control of the devil, the hold sin had on us, and the wrath of God to come.