The Power of Salvation

The Word of God and coffee; a great way to begin the day.

I love to speak to others about salvation. Think about this with me: the God of this world demonstrated His wealth of love and grace to sinners by bringing them into relationship with Him through His Glorious Son; Jesus Christ. I love Romans 5:6-11. Read that today. My friend Ben read that this morning and texted me of how he felt such love in his soul. What a great way to begin a Saturday; the power of salvation.

Recently, I slipped, "Jesus wrote" and was kindly corrected by someone. So, I'd better be careful how I word things on here! Anyways, PAUL WROTE in 1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." What a powerful passage! I want to show you a few words that were used here in the text. The first word is, moria (mo-ree'-ah, meaning: silliness, i.e. absurdity -- foolishness.) Paul gives us the first extreme of the passage; the message of the cross is MORIA for those that are perishing; those that are 'lost." Compare this passage to what Paul wrote in Romans 5:6-8, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The thought of someone dying for another is crazy to some. I know I would die for my wife. I know I would die for possibly a few others, but to someone that I know in my heart is not worthy of my death; why even have the thought? It is foolishness! It is moria!

The second word is sozo (sode'-zo; meaning: to save, i.e. deliver or protect -- heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole). We must understand that we have broken the law. We are sinners in need of deliverance. We need the protection from God's just wrath. We need to be healed. This can only be found, my friend, throught the blood of the Risen Savior! To be saved isn't just to receive a ticket to heaven. It means to be delivered, protected, healed, preserved, made whole, made well, and so on. Why abuse such a beautiful gift? Why pray a prayer and then move on like nothing has happened? Why live our lives as if nothing has changed? I like this word Paul uses. For those that are indeed radically delivered from the domain of darkness, the cross of Christ is...the final word of the day... the POWER of God!

The final word here is dunamis (doo'-nam-is, meaning: force; specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself) What is this miraculous power you may wonder? My friend, it is the power of His grace bringing the dead back to life. It is the power of God burning within us the gift of rebirth (Look at John 3-1-8). It is the gift of a new creation (Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17). It is the power of God!

Perhaps some may have prayed a prayer and not experienced a transformation? Perhaps there is no evidence of salvation because there is not evidence of the power of God in the soul? I'm convinced salvation was given to demonstrate God's amazing glory, love, and grace to this created world. That is why I call my blog: SOLI DEO GLORIA!

I wonder, do you know of His grace? Do you know of His power? Do you know of His salvation through His Son? May His Spirit lead you today to His marvelous Light. I close this blog by quoting something I read this morning in A.W. Tozer's book, God's Pursuit of Man.

" The message of the Gospel, then, is the message of a new creation in the midst of an old, the message of the invasion of our human nature by the eternal life of God and the displacing of the old by the new. The new life seizes upon the believing man's nature and sets about its benign conquest; a conquest which is not complete until the invading life has taken full possession and a new creation has emerged. And this is an ACT OF GOD without human aid, for it is a moral miracle and a spiritual resurrection."

Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.