Resting in Our Savior

Some verses are so pregnant with truth they could birth a thousand sermons.

John 3:16

2 Corinthians 5:17

Galatians 2:20

Hebrews 9:27

Our text today is numbered with those great texts of Scripture. While many have used this verse as an appeal for sinners to come to Christ that is not the primary purpose of the verse. The primary purpose of this verse is to encourage believers, those who have already come to Christ. It is secondarily an invitational verse.

We will preach this verse to the believer. Our intent is to strengthen believers. I want to share with you the wonderful truth of resting in our Savior.

We may ask “Why do we preach of salvation to those who are saved?”

We do not stop thinking of our salvation once we are saved. In fact, we may argue that many only started thinking of their salvation once they were saved. No one can appreciate salvation except those who have experienced it.

I thought very little of salvation until January 14, 1996 when I was saved. But I have thought of it every day since then!

It is like marriage, we wake up every day thinking that we are married!

It is like being a parent, we wake up every day with our new identity on our mind.

I am a husband! I am a father! I don’t just think of those days on the day they occurred. Those days define me now. So much more with my salvation.

Where does your joy come from? Your salvation!

Where does your peace come from? Your salvation!

Where does your patience come from? Your salvation!

Without salvation we have nothing to sing about.

Without salvation every sermon is a threat.

Without salvation there is no unity among the nations.

Our salvation is a well that we are meant to drink from for all of eternity. It’s important that we understand our salvation so we will think clearly concerning it.

Our text is full of truth that will help us understand and rest in our salvation. Please hear this, our salvation is meant to give us rest. Jesus said “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…”

I offer five reasons we can rest daily in our salvation.

1. We have a Savior who is able.

He is able. Three grand words!

More grand than She said yes!

More grand than It’s a girl!

More grand than No more cancer!

More grand than It’s paid for!

More grand than Supper is ready!

He is able. He is able to do what? He is able to save you.

What is implied here?

That we need to be saved. The law, our conscience. We are condemned.

That we cannot save ourselves.

Could you save a sinner? Could you save yourself? Could you save your children? Could you save just one?

Would you qualify to be a savior? Let’s see:

You must be perfect.

You must stay perfect.

You must want to save everyone.

You must endure the wrath of God and do so without sinning.

You must rise from the dead.

Those are just a few things.

There was a search made for a Savior in Revelation 5. They couldn’t find a man in heaven or earth worthy. John wept when he saw this.

The patriarchs were not able. Abraham couldn’t offer his son for our sins.

The prophets were not able. Despite Isaiah’s preaching or Jeremiah’s tears they were not able.

The priests were not able. They died one after another (23).

Christ is able! He was born perfect! He remained perfect! He loves the world. He endured the wrath of God without sinning. He rose from the dead!

He was able to open the eyes of the blind, He can open the eyes of the spiritually blind.

He was able to raise the dead, He is able to raise the spiritually dead.

He was able to cleanse the leper, He is able to cleanse the sinner.

You cannot do it! The greatest of parents cannot do it! The greatest of preachers cannot do it! Christ is able. He can do it. When Christ says “Come unto Me” He doesn’t mean Come unto Me and save yourself. He means Come unto Me and I will save you.

When you see a sinner in heaven it’s like seeing a turtle on a fence post. You know it didn’t get there by itself! Someone put it there. We’ll be in heaven because Christ will put us there. We are not able but He is more than able! Do not rest in your inability. Rest in His ability.

2. We have a Savior who is impartial.

He is able to save them.

Note it doesn’t say He is able to save:

Jews

Gentiles

Men

Women

White

Black

Young

Old

Good

Bad

He is able to save them.

Some cannot rest in their salvation because they are not sure God will save them.

Are you a whosoever?

Paul gave us a list of the thems in the Corinthian church who had been saved. Some of them had been:

Sexually immoral

Idolaters

Adulterers

Homosexuals

Thieves

Greedy

Drunkards

Slanderers

Swindlers

I’ve heard it asked “Can God save them?” Of course He can. My friend we are all in one category. We are all “them.”

Our Savior is impartial. He will save the vilest of sinners. You say “You don’t know what I have done.”

Have you murdered the husband of your lover? David is with the Lord

Have you tortured and killed Christians? Paul is in heaven now.

Have you publicly denied knowing who Jesus is? Peter is at the throne.

If you cannot rest because of how awful your sins are just remember there are people in heaven right now whose sins were worse than yours.

3. We have a Savior who is exhaustive.

He is able to save to the uttermost. Christ saves completely. This speaks of the extent of our salvation. Our salvation is not partial.

Illustration- I was recently reading of broken adoptions. This is when adopted children are re-homed. For whatever reason the adoptive parents decide they no longer want the child they adopted. This is a fear that some adopted children live with. Will I be abandoned again?

The Bible says that we have been adopted by God. Romans 8:15 says we have received the Spirit of adoption. God never sends a child back to the orphanage!

Romans 8:30 says “Whom He did predestinate them He also called and whom He called them He also justified and whom He justified them he also glorified.”

If you are a child of God you will always be a child of God. He saves to the uttermost!

Not only does this speak to the extent of our salvation but it also speaks to the entirety of our salvation.

We often say God saved our soul. That is true. He saves our soul. But God also saves our body. He saves all of us.

Romans 8:23 says we groan in these bodies. That’s true isn’t it? We groan!

Our back, our knees, our head, our hands, our stomach, our feet, our neck. We groan!

Romans 8:23 says we are waiting on the redemption of our body. There is a future part of our salvation known as glorification. We get a glorified body that will never cause us to groan.

No wheelchairs in heaven, no breathing machines, no dialysis, no arthritis.

Heaven wouldn’t be great in these old bodies! Christ saves us to the uttermost. This is a complete salvation. That means it endures to the end and it encompasses your entire being, body and soul. You can rest in that.

4. We have a Savior who is willing.

The text says He saves those that come unto God by Him.

Why do they come? Because He calls.

You may think “He would never call me.”

I’m not important- He called fishermen.

I’m a sinner- He called Paul.

I mess up too much- He called Peter.

He calls the weary.

He calls the thirsty. If any man thirst let him come to me and drink (John 7:37).

Christ calls those who are tired of carrying the heavy weight of their sin and sick of drinking from the broken cisterns of this world.

He calls us to himself. When we hear His call and come to Him what will He do? Will He look us over and think for a while? Will He wonder if He should save us? Will He do the math and determine if we are worth the investment?

John 6:37 says “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”

Last year in Boston the Red Sox were playing the Cubs. A man had planned a romantic proposal for his girlfriend using the Jumbotron. All eyes were on him as he asked his girlfriend to be his wife. The problem was she wasn’t interested. He didn’t get the answer he wanted. To top it all off the crowd started chanting “She said no! She said no!”

The good news is when we come to Jesus we never have to worry about that. When we come broken over our sins and with faith in Christ asking for forgiveness He will always say yes! You can rest in that.

5. We have a Savior who is eternal.

He ever liveth to make intercession for us. This was encouraging for the Jewish people who were used to seeing one priest after another die. Look at verse 23. There were many priests because they kept dying.

I can rest in my salvation because it is Christ who is keeping me. The only danger I have in losing my salvation is if the One who is keeping it dies.

I promise you Christ will not die again. He ever liveth. If Christ were to die so would we. We exist in Him. Our salvation is bound up in Him. Our salvation is ever dependent on Him. A dead Savior can save no one and a dead Savior can certainly keep no one.

Because Christ will never die we who are in Him will never die.

Jesus said in John 10:28-29 “And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of My Fathers hand.”

The point is simple: The only way to destroy believers is to destroy the One who is holding believers in His hand. This is a bold but a Biblical truth- Christ will perish before His people will. The only way for the saved to lose their salvation is if the Savior fails. The Savior can only fail if the Savior dies.

That’s why the phrase “He ever liveth” is so important. He ever liveth so we ever liveth! We are in Christ! Our salvation is eternal because our Savior is eternal. You can rest in that.

We have a Savior who is able. We have a Savior who is impartial. We have a Savior who is exhaustive. We have a Savior who is willing. We have a Savior who is eternal. Rest in your salvation. Rest in your Savior. He has saved you to the uttermost.