Saved from what?

I think the most memorable sermon I heard all summer was on Sunday morning at the end of week eight. The speaker was Jamey Nichols, and he delivered the clearest presentation of the gospel that I heard all summer. I unfortunately did not have a notebook to take notes that morning, but I still very clearly remember the message.

He started his sermon by asking the campers what they thought of when they thought of God. Was he an angry German Shepherd or a rescue St. Bernard? Was he kind and gentle and loving or angry and to be feared? Of course, all the campers had different ideas. I remember how he allowed campers to speculate about what God was really like and then he gave verses to prove both.

He then showed a clip from The Chronicles of Narnia-the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe where Aslan (a symbol of Jesus) is fierce and the white witch (a symbol of Satan) bows to him.

Jamey then posed a question. When people tell you they're "saved", what do they really mean? What are they saved from? He worked up to reading Romans 5:9- "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through  Him." What is Salvation? What do we need to be saved from? God's wrath! God is rightly full of wrath against sin.

Jamey switched to an example to help us understand the cross more fully. He asked us whether Jesus was a coward. Paul said in Phillipians that to die was gain to him and he would much rather die and be with God than be here on earth. 11 of the 12 original apostles felt the same way. Stephen went gladly to his death, and we have many other countless reports of martyrs in the first century who boldly and fearlessly died for their faith in Christ. So why do we find Jesus on the eve of his death sweating drops of blood in the garden and praying that this "cup" of death would pass from Him if there was any other way? Was Jesus more of a coward and a lesser man than so many of His followers? Was Jesus so afraid of physical pain?

We find the answer by looking to the cross and all Jesus did for us there. It wasn't the physical pain Jesus felt that saved us. It was not that pain that He dreaded and feared-it was actually the pain of the separation he knew he would feel on the cross from His Father. For the first time in his life, He felt the weight of sin, for on the cross, He took our sins on Himself. "For He made Him who knew no sin [Jesus] to be made sin for us..." (2 Cor. 5:21) 

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus cried, as he felt the weight of my sin on his shoulders, and "God who is of purer eyes than to look on evil" (Hab. 1:13) turned His face away.

"I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way. The sin that promised joy and life had led me to the grave. I had no hope that you would own a rebel to your will, and if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still. But as I ran my hellbound race, indifferent to the cost, you looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross. And I beheld God's love displayed, you suffered in my place. You bore the wrath reserved for me, now all I know is grace." (All I Have is Christ)

"But God demonstrates His love towards us in this- while we were still sinners..."

While I was a rebel, deserving God's fierce wrath...

While I was a traitor, like Edmund and the law and God's wrath demanded my blood...

While I was like a stubborn child walking down slippery steps yanking her hand away from her father and screaming she can do it herself...

"...Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

When I was far away, running from God, not knowing or caring the cost, and yanking my hand away from His protective guidance, He flew to me, grabbed me by the hand and led me to the cross-the cross where He absorbed all the Father's wrath that I deserved.

Jamey used an illustration to show this. He had three glasses of Gatorade and asked for three volunteers to allow the Gatorade to be poured out on their heads. But instead of pouring the Gatorade directly on their heads, each time, he placed a buffer in between the Gatorade and the campers to absorb the Gatorade that would otherwise be poured out completely on the camper. The sponge completely absorbed the Gatorade. So did the diaper and the towel. The campers never had to experience the Gatorade being poured out on them because something else absorbed it for them.

Jesus absorbed the Father's wrath for me! God's law demanded blood. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin." Like Aslan stepped in and was killed in the traitor Edmund's place, so Jesus also stepped in and was killed for the traitor I was for defying God's law. God's wrath and punishment that should've been mine was completely poured out on Jesus!

There have been several times in this last year that I saw those around me who did not understand or accept the gospel, and I wondered, "Why me? Why did I care and understand the gospel? Why did I see the weight of my sin and understand the wrath I deserved, then turn to the cross, see Jesus' sacrifice, and fully trust in Him for my Salvation? Why do I understand the gospel and love Jesus and want to please Him?" I wondered if it was because of the home I grew up in. I was homeschooled, and grew up in a fairly conservative home where I was taught the Bible. Was my parents' work why I responded to the gospel? No! I see so many who were raised exactly as I was who have completely turned their back on God, and want nothing to do with the gospel. Was it because of my personality and the way I always questioned everything that I finally was able to understand the truth? No! I know so many other questioners like me who have asked the same questions and come to toally different conclusions about Jesus and Salvation. Was it because I knew the Bible so well and spent so much time memorizing it from a young age? No! I've known people that did the same and have now walked away from Christ completely.

What was it then? Consider Romans 9:16 in several translations:

"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." NIV

"So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it." NLT

"So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." ESV

There was no loveliness in me that God would choose me. It was not dependent on my work or my parents' work. Those questions in my mind were completely invalid! God showed me all those things. He unblinded my eyes. (2 Cor. 4:3-4) He did all the work. It was all His mercy!

"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:24-25