act
04v12 Salvation
"SALVATION!"
Acts
"Salvation" - What a
blessed Word? It is perhaps the greatest word in the language of man. I know it
is the most blessed word there is to a lost, condemned sinner. “Salvation"
is a very inclusive term. It takes in all the blessings of grace and all the
bliss of glory. Salvation is the cleansing of our consciences from all guilt,
the redemption of our souls from the curse of the law, the renewing of our
hearts by the Spirit of God, and the deliverance of our spirits from the
reigning power and dominion of sin. To be saved is to be loved and chosen of
God, justified in Christ, born again by the Holy Spirit, forgiven of all sin,
adopted into the family of God, and accepted in the Beloved. If I am saved, I
am an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ! If I have salvation, I have
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption in Christ. Salvation is
the undoing of all that Adam did, and more -Salvation is the total restoration
of man from his fallen state. Salvation in Christ fixes our standing more
secure than it was before we fell. Grace finds us broken in pieces by the sin
and fall of our father Adam, defiled, stained, corrupt, and condemned.
Salvation heals our wounds, takes away our curse, washes us clean, and sets our
feet on the Rock Christ Jesus. And in its final end, salvation lifts us up
above all principality and power, and crowns us with eternal glory in Christ,
the King of heaven.
Some people, when they hear the word
"salvation", think of nothing but deliverance from hell and entrance
into heaven. But that is not salvation. Those two things are the results and
effects of salvation. We are delivered from hell and enter into heaven because
we have been saved. Spurgeon puts it this way: "Salvation begins with us
as wandering sheep; it follows us through all our mazy wanderings; it puts us
on the shoulders of the Shepherd; it carries us into the fold; it calls
together the friends and neighbors; it rejoices over us; it preserves us in
that fold through life; and then at last it brings us to the green pastures of
heaven, beside the still waters of bliss, where we lie down forever in the
presence of the Chief Shepherd, never more to be disturbed."