HE ONLY SAVES

Tuesday 19 November

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16 (NKJV)

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV)

Most people believe in a God who seems to suffer from bipolar disorder.

One minute He’s loving, the next minute He’s angry. He kills some people and then saves some people. It’s no wonder that most Christians let alone unbelievers are confused about the nature of God when He is so misunderstood and misrepresented by so many.

Some think that God was angry and vengeful in the Old Testament but is a more happy and chilled out version of Himself in the New Testament, like He somehow changed His personality. What is the reason for this ignorance gone on rampage? The lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).

The assumptions of men and the consciousness of sin coloured the perception of how even the prophets saw and relayed information in the scriptures about God. This economy of words does not permit to go through every instance of presumption brought through men of the senses but lets look at an example from the Master, Jesus Himself.

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of… Luke 9:51-55

This was when Elijah destroyed two companies of fifty soldiers which is what James and John were referring to. He called down fire and consumed them. He was not doing it in God’s power but another spirit. Read the account in 2 Kings 1:9-12

In Luke 9:56a Jesus makes a doctrinally corrective statement ‘For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to SAVE them.’ Did you catch it? God is not the destroyer of men’s lives, He is the Saviour of men’s lives!

Satan is the thief who comes to steal from you. Satan is the murderer from the beginning who comes to kill you. Satan is the destroyer who comes to destroy you. Not God.

Think about this. Jesus said ‘I only do what I see my Father doing’. This means that what Jesus never saw the Father do, Jesus never did. Therefore it tells us what the Father has never done. He has never destroyed anyone.

Remember when Peter cut off the ear of a man when Jesus was being arrested. What did Jesus do? He took the severed ear and put it back into place.

Why? Because He did not come to destroy men’s lives but to SAVE them. What does this tell us? He only saves. He only brings salvation and never destruction. It is not in His nature to destroy but to ‘save to the uttermost all those who come to God through Him.’

APPLICATION

Draw your conclusions about the nature and character of God that climax in the epistles and not the partial, progressive revelations contained in the Old Testament.