What Are We Saved From?

Saved From What?

Just the other day I had a great conversation with a young man that is half my age. It is amazing to see how God speaks in such a way that humbles us and God truly spoke to me through this young man. Our conversation was of the culture of the American Church today and the fact that it is common or accepted to be a “Christian” where we live and is all but taboo if you are not. We discussed the fact that many people who profess to be a “Christian” claim that identity because they simply go to church, they attend a gathering and their name may be on a roll.

When you look at the truth in scripture there is much more to it than that. The word Christian in and of itself shows the identity that believers are supposed to have. That is identity in Christ, hence the name Christ-ian. We see in Acts 11:28 that the New Testament believers were called “Christians” at Antioch. Why, because they were disciples- followers of Christ.  I like how the pre-conversion Paul called “Christians” Those of the “Way” in Acts 9:2. This shows the identity that believers have in Christ and is just what Jesus meant in John 15:6 when He said “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  Through Christ! Identity in Him.

The simple truth of the Gospel is that Jesus is THE WAY. There is no other way to salvation but the Way Jesus provides. So here is where I get back to that conversation I had with this young man. It was centered around salvation. This young man made this profound statement regarding the American Christian culture. “Many Christians do not realize what they are saved from.”  So the question is what are believers saved from? Simple answer is that we are saved from ourselves because there is nothing in us that is truly good and seeks righteousness on our own. We see this in  Romans 3:10-12 ¹⁰ As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; ¹¹ there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God. ¹² All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

So in essence God saves us from our destructive nature that condemns us to Hell eternally. It is the sin of man that condemns him to hell and only the grace of God through the blood of Christ that one is saved from that condemnation. I pray that sinks into our hearts and that we cherish this grace God gives even more. When we begin to understand and comprehend the magnitude of that Grace, the identity of being of The Way should be much more than simply attending a service or being on a roll but that He saved us from our destructive nature here and now.

Are we living like we know what we were saved from?