Jesus, Savior of the World

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich.” 

2 Corinthians 8:9

     Central to the significance of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Angel’s statement to Joseph, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The name of Jesus means “the Lord is salvation” or “Savior.” All human beings are sinners by birth and therefore in need of a Savior. David aptly reminds us of this when he says, “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalms 51:5). This is the genetic heritage that each of us has received as a result of Adam and Eve’s fall. We are not only sinners by inheritance, but by practice as well. Paul reminds us that “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10); and again, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). There is only one way to be saved from our sinful natures, and that is through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

1. He saves us from the condemnation, guilt, and penalty of sin: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).

2. He saves us from the pollution of sin. We are reminded by Scripture that the human heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9); and Jesus reminds us that “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies…these are the things which defile a man” (Matthew 15:19, 20).

     “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness…” (Ezekiel 6:25)

     “…. Just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her by 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” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

     “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus….let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

3. As our Savior, He saves us from the power of sin. Sin is too strong for us. We are absolutely powerless to do anything about sin in or of ourselves. As Paul so effectively reminds us, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Indeed it is only through His power that we overcome by putting on the “whole armor of God that we might be able to withstand in this evil day.”

     “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

     “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”
(1 Corinthians 1:18).

     “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might” (Ephesians 6:10).

     What a Savior our Heavenly Father has given us! He is indeed the Savior of the world; ours (the Bride’s) now, but of the entire world in the age to come because He “gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:6). Indeed, a time is coming when “at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). PRAISE GOD! “Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

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