Salvation!

Introduction

The dangers of the water!

Jennifer Gardner

a few years ago, with her 11 year old daughter Violet were traveling in Sweden.

Rented a Kayak and went for short trip around on the water around Stockholm.

Except, an hour and a half later, they were among some large tankers and cargo ships approaching a water lock, the last step before you hit the ocean.

Strong current pulling them further and further out.

She calls them and lets them know what has happened. They tell her that she needs to immediately turn around!

And one of their employees makes his way out to guide them back in.

Sometimes we are in a situation where we need someone to step in and rescue us.

Maybe at work - someone to show us the ropes.

Maybe being a parent - and we can turn to our own and ask them questions.

Maybe financially - and you have a conversation with a financial advisor.

Maybe emotionally or mentally - and you start seeing a therapist.

What we need to understand is that it is okay to get help!

This certainly is true in our spiritual lives.

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We are lost and in need of rescue.

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Paul’s shipwreck gives us such a perfect picture of what that looks like:

We See Salvation

v. 39

Paul and the rest of his shipmates had been in a storm on the Mediterranean Sea for 14 days.

They had just eaten a little and settled in for the night, having heard the crashing of waves on rocks.

Can you imagine the anticipation? Their inability to sleep because of the anticipation of what they might see?

And as the dawn breaks, they look and they can see land! Salvation! Hope!

Malta

St. Paul’s Bay

They know what they want. They can even see it. It is so close!

They just have to get there.

Here’s the reality -

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Everyone wants to go to heaven.

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According to a 2014 poll by Pew Research -

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72% of Americans believe in some form of a heaven.

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Even those who said they don’t really believe anything in particular (not identifying as a religious or adhering to any form of religion) - 50%.

Even atheists, who would say there is not God - 5%.

People see heaven - and they want to go there!

Why often as people face their own mortality (maybe because of an illness or an accident or age) tend to become more religious. They believe that there is something out there for after life, but the question is,

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“How do I get to heaven?”

Well, we can see a first option:

Our Best Efforts

v. 40

You notice what the sailors did? They did everything that they could do.

They gave their very best efforts to get to the land - to salvation.

They cast off their anchors and loosened their rudders so that they could just go with the hopes of running aground on the beach.

They thought if they just tried really hard that surely it would set them on the right course and land would be inevitable!

This is how some consider salvation. If I just do everything right here, then I have to get there.

Build up enough

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“Good Work Momentum”

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and I can’t miss heaven.

God has to let me in because look what I did (or did not do). After all, I’m better than ol’ so-and-so!

But, what is the result?

On Our Own

v. 41

They could not get there on their own.

They struck a reef. And there is actually a sand bar there from two creeks that run into this bay.

This is probably what they ran into - and they were stuck.

They discovered that they couldn’t just do enough of the right stuff and get to the land.

They just simply got stuck again!

Can you imagine their disappointment?? Finally thought they had it heading in the right way.

Maybe even surprise and disappointment combined together as the boat lurched to a sudden and violent stop.

Can you imagine, for just a second, someone who had trusted in their own good works for salvation and when they wake up in eternity? Their sudden shock.

“But…but....but I went to church and I helped people and I never robbed a bank and I provided for my family and I did this and I did that...”

All things that they did on their own. And now, a sudden and violent stop to their Good Works Momentum.

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Your best efforts cannot get you to salvation.

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But, does it matter? Why is salvation even important?

Inability

v. 42

Their boat is about to break apart and they can see the land not too far away.

And now the plan of the soldiers is to slaughter each prisoner.

The motivation behind this is that a soldier who loses a prisoner will be sentenced to replace them.

So, with multiple prisoners, you can just stack the years that they would be imprisoned - or may have to face execution.

To protect themselves they decide to just kill the prisoners because then none of them can escape.

The failure of their best efforts has now brought the threat of death on Paul and all the other prisoners.

These guys would have gone from despair to hope to despair, the extremes, in just a few minutes!

Having survived the storm they are now facing certain death by the swords of the soldiers.

When we think about the afterlife: The Bible informs us of two possible outcomes. Heaven and Hell.

Heaven, being a place of indescribable glory and peace in the presence of our Savior Jesus.

Hell, being a place of indescribable pain and sorrow absent the presence of Jesus.

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Our inability to save ourselves leads to an eternal sentence greater than death.

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Just as Paul needed someone to step in as his protector, we all, as sinners, need someone to step in and intercede on our behalf.

An Intercessor

v. 43a

This centurion, who had trusted Paul to go ashore and had finally listened to his advice, took charge.

And he chose to stand up for their lives by interceding on their behalf.

And consider the personal risk that he is taking. If just one of the prisoners runs off, it could be him facing the executioner or spending years in a Roman prison.

Yet, he orders his men to let them live.

Jesus did something greater. He actually took on all the pain, all the sorrow, all the judgment that we deserve.

It wasn’t just a risk He took, it was a certainty.

He took those things when He went to the cross. It wasn’t just an excruciating death, but the spiritual component as well.

That suffering He endured was what I deserved. And what you deserved.

But Jesus went to the cross to be your intercessor.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:17 ESV

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

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Jesus came to save you.

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Mark 10:45 ESV

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

When salvation is offered to you, what will you do with it?

Carried To Salvation

vv. 43b-44

I love the image of those guys grabbing onto whatever broken bits of the boat that they can and floating.

And just picture them rolling onto the sand of that beach. Finally being safe!

And notice how that verse ends, “all were brought safely to land.”

They were brought - passive verb.

They didn’t bring themselves, they didn’t work to get there.

There was something else bringing them to salvation on the shore!

Just as there had been protection through the storm and through the shipwreck and through the water, they were now protected and brought all the way to the salvation of dry land.

This is the essence of being a follower of Jesus.

We don’t get ourselves to salvation. We cannot.

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Jesus is the only way to salvation.

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We receive salvation as a gift.

Not something we have purchased. Not something we can purchase.

It comes only from Jesus!

These guys couldn’t save themselves, but they didn’t need to.

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You cannot save yourself.

You don’t need to.

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Conclusion

What about you? Are you lost?

Let’s define that term:

It means that you are not yet a Christian.

It means that you have never prayed and asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and committed your life to Him.

Have you done that?

Not, do you think that God exists or that Jesus is who He says He is.

All those things are part of it, but just saying those things are true is not the same.

Asking for forgiveness for your sins. Committing to following Jesus.

This is salvation.

This is what it means for Jesus to rescue you from your sin.