We might think that the idea of a savior or being saved is a remote idea or requirement, but I can think of several examples involving water.
One example of a savior involving a river was the “Miracle on the Hudson.” On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 made a forced landing in the Hudson River after bird strikes knocked out both engines of the airliner on departure from LaGuardia Airport in New York. Of course, in that instance, we know that the savior was Captain “Sully” Sullenberger.
One fact of life that people who live near great rivers like the Mississippi and the Missouri must deal with is flooding. For many decades flooding was uncontrolled along these rivers, and that led to several cultural responses. One of these was to include floors in buildings near the river that were made of glazed tiles, for water resistance and easy cleaning. Another was the writing of songs like the one Johnny Cash sang, “How high’s the water mama? Five feet high and rising.”
Of course, we know that people who live along the great rivers have a savior. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spent billions of dollars constructing over 25,000 miles of levees, like the one near our church on what we call the “berm road.” That is the equivalent of the circumference of the globe at the equator!
We also might remember the story of the little Dutch boy who stuck a finger into a leaking dike and thus saved his homeland from flooding.
We often have used the phrase that someone “saved our life” when they have rescued us from an awkward or an embarrassing moment. So, saviors are not as uncommon as we might think. In fact, the Bible is replete with the stories of many saviors. Yet, as we will see in our Scripture for today, there is one Savior who is the greatest of all. That One, of course, is Jesus, who is the Greatest Savior. Let’s read Hebrews 2:1-4.
We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.
People Need a Savior:
People quite commonly get themselves into a situation that they can’t get themselves out of on their own. This happened to me years ago when I drove out to a hunt club one afternoon to attempt to harvest a deer. As I was parking on the side of a dirt road, the minivan we had at that time became stuck on a hump of dirt and dead grass. No one else was hunting that day, and I was miles from the main road, and I was going nowhere on my own.
Fortunately, I had a first-generation cell phone, one of the so-called “bag phones.” I called my dad, who drove out to rescue me. He took a quick look at the situation, and said, “Boy, get in your van.” He then carefully snuggled his truck against the bumper of my vehicle and literally pushed me over the hump. At that point it was dark, and I was cold, and hunting was over for the day. But, I was also saved from spending the night in the cold darkness!
The Bible records many occasions people have gotten themselves into situations from which they cannot rescue themselves. After the Tower of Babel, people had become so wicked that God decided He would purge the world because of their sin. He sent a flood to wash it clean and start over. Despite the sinful state of humanity, some followed God. What were they to do?
Abraham’s nephew Lot settled in Sodom and Gomorrah. Those towns were so evil that their name has become a phrase we used to describe places of wickedness and depravity. God decided to purge that area by fire from heaven. Despite the dreadful state of Sodom and Gomorrah, some followed God. What were they to do?
For the Children of Israel, Egypt under the stewardship of Joseph was a place of refuge and prosperity. When a Pharoah came who did not know Joseph, it became a place of oppression and slavery. Despite their state of bondage, some followed God. What were they to do?
God led the Children of Israel to the Promised Land, but they failed to purge the land of all the heathen tribes. They allowed those heathens who lived among them to tempt them into sin, and the heathens also attacked them from within as well. At times, the Children of Israel could not even travel between their towns for fear of ambush, robbery, and murder. Despite their state of bondage, some followed God. What were they to do?
So far in this discussion we have considered large groups of people, but individual people need rescuing also. One day during King’s Solomon’s reign over Israel, a woman had her baby stolen from her. Despite her state of desperation, she followed God. What was she to do?
Not only does the Bible record that helpless mothers need to be rescued, but so do influential members of the Jewish hierarchy. This is what Paul wrote about himself in Romans 7:15-24,
For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this principle:[g] When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. For in my inner self[h] I joyfully agree with God’s law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?
Despite his state of confusion, Paul wanted to follow God. What was he to do?
What state do we find ourselves in today? Are we enmeshed in our own sin, or are we being oppressed by the sins of others? What are we to do?
God Sends Saviors:
The Biblical record demonstrates that when people cry out to God, He sends them a savior.
When people sinned to the point that God purged the world through a flood, what did He do for those who turned to Him? He sent them Noah to build an ark.
When Lot’s family was surrounded, literally, by sodomites, and God had determined to burn that place with fire, what did He do for those who turned to Him? He sent them Abraham to intercede on the behalf of the faithful few.
When the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, and Pharoah was practicing the earliest form of genocide and ethnic cleansing ever recorded, what did God do for those faithful to Him? He sent Moses to lead them to the Promised Land after the Angel of Death had punished the wickedness of the Egyptians.
When the Jews were ensnared in the cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, restoration, and sin that they were addicted to in Canaan, what did God do for those faithful to him? He sent judges like Deborah, Shamgar, Gideon, and Samson to save them and bring them back to a righteous walk with God.
When a woman desperately wanted her child back, what did God do for her? He sent her to King Solomon, who wisely discerned the truth of the situation.
When Paul was desperately seeking how to control himself and how to live a righteous life in a body that was leading him astray from God, what did God do for Him? Paul told us in Romans 7 and 8,
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin. Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
When we are enmeshed in our own sin, or we are oppressed by the sins of others, what will God do for us? He sent us the Greatest Savior: Jesus!
Jesus is the Greatest Savior:
As grateful as we are to human saviors, we must remember that they have their limitations. Remember the Miracle on the Hudson? Captain Sullenberger did not save his passengers by himself. He had help from his co-pilot, First Officer Jeffery Skiles, and also the cabin crew, flight attendants Donna Dent, Sheila Dail, and Doreen Welsh. Sully couldn’t do it by himself.
Remember the US Army Corps of Engineers and all those miles and miles of levees? None of that helps if their construction is faulty, as was the case in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
Remember the little Dutch boy? That was a fictional account from an American author who had never been to Holland!
What about those saviors in the Bible? Noah got drunk. Moses got angry. Abraham couldn’t wait on God to have a child. The Children of Israel got tired of not having a king. King Solomon became foolish.
What about my dad? Well, to be honest, the last time I got stuck my dad was not around to rescue me. He’d gone on to be with my mom in the presence of the Lord. Many times since then, I have wanted to call on both of them to seek their help and guidance, but that’s just not possible.
But, what about Paul? What about Paul’s Savior? Jesus is the Greatest Savior of all!
Jesus doesn’t need any help to save us, and in fact, He is the only one who can save us. God confirmed that by signs and wonders that could only come from heaven above. After His death, burial, and resurrection He walked this earth for forty days, and He was seen by hundreds of His disciples. Jesus is no myth, He is not a work of fiction from a fertile mind, but He is our ultimate Savior. He is alive today, sitting at the right hand of God, making intercession for us!
Jesus has never wilted under pressure, the way that people do. He sweat drops of blood in the Garden, but the next day He faced His death for us with grace and determination.
Jesus is the Word of God, and He never lacks wisdom. In fact, He is the author of wisdom, and He gives it liberally to all who ask Him for it.
Jesus is our Great Physician, who frees us from slavery to our bodies. Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, who frees us from slavery to our minds and our hearts and our relationships. Jesus is our High Priest who frees us from slavery to sin and spiritual death.
When we are enmeshed in our own sin, or when we are being oppressed by the sins of others, what will we do with the Greatest Savior: Jesus?
We Must Not Neglect Our Savior:
First, and most important, we must not neglect the salvation provided by Jesus. This is the single most important question of all our lives. Romans 10:8b-13 tells us plainly,
This is the message of faith that we proclaim: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Now the Scripture says, everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
This is the most wonderful opportunity that will ever come into our lives, but we must take it! We remember well John 3:16, but what about John 3:17-18 that follow it? They go together!
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.
When our children were young, and they were struggling to get dressed or tie their shoes, Geri and I, or my parents, would offer to help them. Often, they would reject our help saying boldly, “I’ll do it myself!” Just as often, they would wind up entangled or frustrated and needing our help anyway. When we tell God that, however, we reject the Greatest Savior, and we create an eternal catastrophe for ourselves.
It is also important that we not neglect the sanctification provided by Jesus. When we are saved, we become babes in Christ, but He does not want us to stay that way! He sent the Holy Spirit to place His Word in our hearts, and He established the church to mentor us and guide us. In Ephesians 4:11-15 we read,
And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head—Christ.
In addition, we must not neglect the security provided by Jesus. He promised to be with us always, even to the end of this world. He will never leave us or forsake us. When we are in trouble, whether because of our own sin, or because of the sin of another, or simply because the world is no longer a perfect place, we don’t have to look around and wonder where God is. He is right there with us, offering us the salvation we need! We need no other Savior!
Another thing we must not neglect is our service to Jesus. We are intended to be laborers together with God in His Gospel ministry. Like Abraham, we have been chosen to take the Good News of the salvation provided by Jesus to the whole world, and like Isaiah, we must reply, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Finally, one last thing we must not neglect is, like the Psalmist, to shout “Selah!” to Jesus. He has done wonderful and majestic things on our behalf, and He deserves our praise and our admiration and our worship.
When we are enmeshed in our own sin, or when we are being oppressed by the sins of others, we must not neglect the Greatest Savior: Jesus!
Conclusion:
Let me conclude with this story. A massive flood was coming, and a man refused to evacuate. His neighbors drove by and shouted, “Get in the truck! We’ll take you to safety!” He waved them off: “No thanks—God will save me.”
The water continued to rise. A rescue boat came by. “Hop in,” the man in the boat said, “We’ll get you out of here!” Again, he refused: “No thanks—God will save me.”
The water rose even higher. A helicopter appeared overhead and the crew shouted, “Grab the rope!” He shouted back: “No thanks—God will save me.”
Eventually, the man drowned and found himself standing before God.
Confused and frustrated, he asked: “Why didn’t You save me?” God replied, “I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter. What more did you need?”
God has sent us the Greatest Savior! What more do we need than that?
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