BBD 03.26.15 Can You Save Yourself? (Classic)
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The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2007
03.26.15
Can You
Save Yourself?
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should
boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:8-10.
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. - Titus 3:5.
For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. - Romans 3:23.
A 78-year-old woman was riding in the front passenger
seat of a taxi on the Autobahn in Germany when the driver suddenly had a heart
attack and died. The taxi slammed against the guardrail, but the woman did not
panic. Instead, she knocked the car out of gear, and then used the car’s hand
brake to bring the car to a stop about 300 yards later. Her quick thinking and
reaction most likely saved her life and the lives of others.
Can you save yourself? Sometimes. The 78-year-old woman taxi passenger was able
to save herself from serious injury or death by her quick and wise actions. Can
you save others? Sometimes. The woman by her actions very likely saved
others from injury or even death.
Because we can sometimes save ourselves and sometimes
save others from physical injury or death, we tend to think the same thing when
it comes to the spiritual. This is the most common misunderstanding about the
spiritual realities. We can save ourselves physically so we think we can save
ourselves spiritually. However, it simply is not possible. The most common
misconception about the spiritual realities is in thinking that we can bring
about salvation by doing good deeds. This misconception about the spiritual
realities would have you to believe that you just have to do more good things
than you do bad things and you will have saved yourself. The spiritual truth is
that all have sinned, fallen short of God’s perfection (Romans 3:23). James tells us in James 2:10, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one
point, he is guilty of all.” The penalty
for those sins is death (Romans 6:23).
The Bible tells us that Jesus died for our sins:
John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son….”
Romans 5:6 - “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly.”
Romans 5:8 - “…while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
Romans 6:10 - “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all.”
1 Corinthians 15:3 - “For I delivered to you first of all that which I
also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
Hebrews 9:12 - “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own
blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal
redemption.”
Hebrews 10:10 - “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
1 Peter 3:18 - “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made
alive by the Spirit.”
If we could save ourselves spiritually, why would it
be necessary for Christ to die? If there had been any other way for us to
be saved, if we could save ourselves, it would have been unnecessary for Christ
to die. If we could save ourselves, we would not need a Savior. If we could
save ourselves, we would not call Jesus our Savior. If we could save ourselves
the Name of Jesus would not be the Name above all names (Philippians 2:9), because our name would
be just as powerful. To say that you can work your way to Heaven by doing more
good deeds than bad, is to make yourself equal with Jesus.
No, we cannot save ourselves spiritually. Therefore, let us give all the honor, all the praise,
and all of the glory to Jesus because He suffered and died for us that we might
have a Savior.
Copyright © 2007-2015. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
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