Home » Connections » Questions and Answers » What does it mean to "be saved?"

What does it mean to "be saved?"

In looking at the return of the Lord Jesus, we touched on another area which our listeners sometimes write about. That is: salvation - what it means to be saved. I confess that it is easy to use terms so frequently that they lose the impact they once had. Here are a few common responses to the statement, “You need to be saved:”

Man On Street:

I wish you religious people wouldn’t bother me like this. I’m already safe because I have my own church and keep the ten commandments. I don’t need to be saved. I should be able to live my life without you telling me this stuff.

Saved? Saved from what? I don’t think I’m in any danger, am I?

Well, in fact I don’t need to be saved, because when I was a kid my parents made me go to Sunday School at the big old red brick church on the corner. I remember one day, I was feeling bad because I lied to my mother and my Sunday School teacher told me if I got saved, God would forget all my sins. I told her I’d like that so she prayed for me and saved me that day. I don’t know if it worked though, cause I didn’t feel all that different.

I wish you’d tell me what you mean when you say that. My brother-in-law says the same thing and I just don’t get it. I don’t know what I’m in danger of. My conscience sometimes bothers me when I think bad thoughts. Is it about that?

You know, I’ve heard people talk about that but I have no idea what it means. You have to get saved to join some churches don’t you?

Let’s try to clear up some of these matters. Since the term as we are using it comes from the Bible, it is to the Bible that we will go to answer the questions.

First let’s look at the issue of the danger from which we need to be saved. What is threatening us to such a degree that we need salvation? Well let me sneak up on you with this thought. In the last few months, two families I know had their houses broken into and the valuable contents removed. They were sinned against. The sin in the hearts of the burglars was in a practical sense the enemy of these two families. But just as we would like to be free from the sinful acts of others, so others need to be saved from our own sinful inclinations. Looking at the broader implications, the sin in our own hearts is the enemy of each one of us. The fact is the our own sin is a much greater threat to us than the sin of others. Their sin may do us hurt during our lifetime, but cannot harm us beyond the grave. Our own sin may pleasure us in life, but will condemn us to eternal separation from God when this life is over.

Knowing that we need to be saved from our sin, Matthew records that the angel told Joseph to name Mary’s baby Jesus "for He will save His people from their sins." MAT 1:21. Notice the possessive pronoun used. He would save His people from their sins. We all have sin we need to be saved from. But that’s not all we need to be saved from.

As I was preparing this material, I had to help clean up the house of an elderly relative so that it could be sold. This lady had lived well into her 90s and over the years had accumulated all kinds of treasures - at least they were treasures to her. To the rest of us, many things in the home were simply garbage. What’s my point? Simply this, that physical death caught Grannie and swept her away, making all of the material things she valued useless to her. She would loved to have gone on living, enjoying the things with which God had blessed her. Yet an enemy lurked in the shadows and at last, death overtook her. Grannie died physically.

Let me say that for all physical death is abhorrent to us, spiritual death is worse. To die physically is to experience the separation of the soul from the body. To die spiritually is to experience the separation of the self from the source of life, God. The Bible speaks of the need to be saved from death and it is this spiritual death I just mentioned which is at stake. The apostle James wrote: Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. [JAM 5:19-20] When we are turned from the path of sin to we may experience more days of physical life, true, and thus avert physical death. But more importantly, we can be saved from eternal death through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have seen that we need to be saved from sin and its consequence of death, for indeed, the wages of sin is death. But that’s not all. In Romans 5, the apostle Paul talks about the need of salvation from the wrath or anger of God. Listen to these words: ROM 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. You see, those who are justified, or declared righteous by God through the blood of Jesus Christ are saved from the angry judgment of God against sin. God is offended by our sin. We have fallen so far from his standard, that we stand condemned. Through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, God takes care of our sin, washing it away and thus saves us from His anger against sin.

It’s all well and good to say what we need to be saved from. But the question remains, “How are we saved?” I’d like to take our remaining time to deal with this. First of all, we need to understand that we are not saved by the law, but by Christ: GAL 3:11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "The just shall live by faith." 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but "The man who does them shall live by them." 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"). Keeping the law is a good thing. Living by God’s standards is important. Doing your best to be holy is honourable. But these things will not save you. Our salvation only comes through the Lord Jesus Christ who has redeemed us, or paid the price to free us, from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us on the cross of Calvary.

We should also note that we are not saved by our own goodness or righteousness, but by grace according to God’s mercy: TIT 3:4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Our own good intentions and moral uprightness are not enough to save us, because no matter how hard we try, we cannot try hard enough and no matter how good we are we cannot be good enough. We still fall short of God’s standards and so we need Him to forgive us according to His mercy.

Finally, I’ll draw your attention to the fact that we are not saved by works, but by God’s grace through faith: EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. This is very close to what we talked about a moment ago, but there is a difference. Titus 3:5 reminds us that we are not saved by our personal righteousness, our goodness or morality. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us we are not saved by our behaviour - our works - things we do. But we need not lose heart because we still have the answer that we can be saved by God’s grace by faith - by believing that He has forgiven us on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice of himself on the cross.

Finally, let me take you to a passage which indicates simply and positively that we are saved by believing the gospel: 1CO 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. The core of the gospel as presented here by Paul has three aspects - that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins - that he was buried - and that he rose again.

When we believe something we act on it. When a store offers something for sale in an advertisement, we accept it as a genuine offer and go there to purchase it. When a young man proposes marriage and offers his girlfriend an engagement ring, she believes that he means it and begins to make wedding plans. When the company where you applied for work calls you and tells you the job is yours and you should report to the office on Monday morning, you have sufficient faith in the offer to show up.

When God offers us salvation on the basis of the sacrifice of his Son on the cross of Calvary, we believe it and it makes an huge difference in the way we carry on our lives. Of course, not everyone will respond positively, but if God’s Spirit is speaking to you today, stirring up a little flame of faith, we hope you respond positively. Settle your trust on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved as the Bible promises. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!