Saved From What?

 

A fun catchphrase going around the various churches goes something like this: "Are you saved, brother?” “I am saved!” The word “saved” gets thrown around with great abandon in the churches; in fact, it is taken straight out of the Bible. It seems like a very spiritual thing to say, and it certainly sounds like something that we should be. The problem is, saved from what? What are we, or have we been saved from? In your average church, it’s taken to mean that all you need to do is just believe, and you will be saved, no baptism, repentance, or anything else necessary. Well, saved from what? What is it that I even need saving from? The popular idea is the law of Moses—that oppressive, old-fashioned creation of a human that failed in its very purpose. There are a couple of problems with this line of thought that should be obvious straight away. First, the law wasn’t from Moses; it was from God. Second, since it was from God and everything created by Him was excellent and perfect, then it was not weak or beggarly. 

Galatians 4:9 KJV But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 

That, supposedly, is what this section of scripture is talking about. However, being spoken to a gentile and formerly pagan congregation, it should be obvious that any former things they would be returning to were not the law of God but the empty rituals of their pagan worship! Being saved from that would certainly be nice! I don’t think that even this is what is precisely meant by the phrase “being saved.” Certainly, it is part of it, but it goes much deeper than that. We need to be saved desperately. We are in a war that we cannot win on our own, no matter how strong we are. We are dreadfully in need of a brave knight to ride in and slay the dragon and deliver us!

Well, what is the dragon that needs slaying? Satan indeed, but that is not the most pressing and dangerous enemy we face, now is it? No, it isn't. The most dangerous enemy we face is our human nature. It's always peeking over our shoulder, just waiting for an opportunity to butt in and trip us up. This is what we are being saved from: the burden of our human nature and our sins. That is true salvation. Tearing up the paper on which the law is written doesn't do away with the law, and most importantly, it doesn't do away with the sin that the law reveals. That is the purpose of the law, after all, to reveal the pitfalls so that we can be aware of them and not ruin our lives. The law is like the sign saying that the bridge is out. You can remove the sign, but the bridge is still out, and if you drive down the road thinking, "Well, the guy who put the sign up must have removed it," then you will crash and die. The law gives us an advantage; it's not something that we need to be saved from. The soldier carries the donkey in the picture above because they are walking through a minefield. If the donkey were allowed to wander around as it pleased, it would become a widespread donkey. 

We need to be saved from the burden of our sins, and that comes through the application of the blood of Christ and our repentance. The law shows us this sin so that we know there are things we need to repent of!! If the donkey didn't have the law of the soldier carrying him, he wouldn't do very well on his own, just like we do very poorly without the law of God.

Being saved isn't a one-and-done deal either. The blood of Christ and baptism get us on the train, but we can get off anytime we want to. Wait, baptism? Do we really need that goofy superstition to get on the train? Well, yes, actually, we do. Full immersion and the laying on of hands, to be precise. 

Mark 16:16 NKJV “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Romans 6:4 NKJV Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Baptism brings us in to share in the death of Christ, and without sharing in that death, we cannot be saved, for as Christ said, he who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it. We have to share in the death of Christ in order to be saved! 

What's that? What about the thief on the cross? Hmm. That's a good point. The thief on the cross wasn't baptized before Christ said that he was saved. It would seem that this one incident would prove that baptism is optional and not required for salvation, but we are overlooking something very important.

John 3:5 NKJV Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

This leaves us with two options. One, the thief had at some time previously been baptized, or two, as the creator of the universe, Christ was making an exception. We don't have the answer to this question, but either answer is enough for us to follow what Christ told us to do. He told us that baptism is necessary for salvation as the act of faith, and thus, we, too, must see it as necessary. One seeming exception does not break the rule.

Acts 2:38 NKJV Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is necessary to be baptized to receive the holy spirit. As Christ said, we must be reborn of the water and the spirit. So what about the gentile family that received the spirit before they were baptized? Once again, it is a single exception to demonstrate something fundamental to the early church. Even though Christ Himself had told the disciples that gentiles were part of His people, they still had yet to act upon it. The whole story with Peter was to drive the point home that Gentiles actually were part of His chosen people! Peter finally got the picture, but even after this, he still didn't always treat the Gentiles as part of God's people. God, however, gave them His holy spirit and grafted them onto the trunk of the tree, which is Christ. Thus, we call ourselves spiritual Israel because, through Christ, we are heirs to the promises made to Abraham and Israel way back in the first five books. 

We need to be saved to share in Christ's death and become heirs to those promises. Saved from our sins and the debt required of us for committing those sins; that is death. To wash away our sins, we need to be baptized, which makes us partakers in Christ's death and spiritually clean. 

Acts 22:16 NKJV ‘And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

The ceremony on its own doesn't accomplish anything; we as humans cannot wash away our sins no matter how many times we take a bubble bath. It's God who does the washing; baptism is the physical representation of the spiritual act, and it is a demonstration of our faith, as even David knew.

Psalm 51:2 NKJV Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

Baptism presents a moment in time when we commit our lives to God and pledge our lives to follow Him, and the very simplicity of the act requires faith. The story of Naman illustrates this point quite well. Naman had leprosy and sought God's prophet to be healed. He expected some flashy and extravagant show by the prophet and God; instead, Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan River. Naman scoffed at this and lacked the faith to do the most simple of acts. He couldn't believe that God would work through something so simple as just taking a bath. His aid convinced him, and he washed in the river, and God removed his afflictions even as He removed our burden of sins. When we believe God in what He says and follow His commands, He will do what He promised. 

The physical act of baptism is symbolic of a spiritual process, as I mentioned earlier, and the Word of God carries out that process. It is not the water that does anything; God's Word does the true cleansing. Christ, The Word of God, did the true washing through the blood of His sacrifice and the words that He caused to be recorded in the Bible.

Ephesians 5:26-27 NKJV that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

The Bible, as The Word of God, continues to cleanse us as we go about our lives even after baptism, and it shows us how we are to order our lives. It shows us what sin is so that we can avoid the pitfalls and steer clear of it. If we don't read the Bible, then the Word no longer is washing us, and we stumble right back into sin. We slip into a place where we need saving all over again, which requires repentance and turning back to God with our whole heart. We made a covenant that we must stick to for better or for worse. 

So, are you saved? Am I saved? For now. We are on the train if we get baptized and receive the Holy Spirit; if we partook in the death of Christ, then we have an opportunity for salvation. He saved us from our sins and gave us an opportunity at eternal life because He gave His life for us and cleansed us through His word. We are clean because of His mercy, sacrifice, and love. 

Titus 3:5 NKJV not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

He gave us His holy spirit to give us clean hearts, good hearts, for He cannot dwell where there is sin. He washed us from our disease so that He could dwell within us as His holy temple. That's how we are saved and why we are saved. His indwelling in us through the holy spirit gives us the chance of eternal life and frees us from the burden of sin in a way that just having it washed away wouldn't accomplish. He not only washed it away, He guards our hearts from seizing onto it again. 

Since we are saved from our burden of sins, we are on the train, but we can get off anytime we want to; we can always knock ourselves off, and unless we repent and get back on, we are off for good. 

Hebrews 6:4-6 NKJV For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

2 Peter 2:18-21 NKJV — For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

The law of God shows us where the pitfalls are, and it protects us. That's not what we need saving from; the weight of sin and death is. The note of debt that Satan holds that requires our lives for the wrongs we have committed is what we need saving from. Baptism is the physical act through which this is accomplished, but it is not the physical act that cleanses us; it is the Word of God. We have to keep our noses in the Bible and our eyes on God, and then we will truly have salvation at the time of Christ's return.