ARE YOU SAVED, YET?

DAILY DEVOTIONAL: DAY 213

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, KJV).

“Are you saved?” You may have heard this question many times in your life. It is common in Christian circles, especially among those who actively engage people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. You may have asked others this question yourself. Or, someone else may have approached you with it. You will often see “Are you saved?” on Gospel tracts, flyers, church bulletins, or inside the pages of Christian books. The goal is to get people to face the reality of their eternal destiny and, hopefully, turn to Jesus for salvation.

But the vital question that is often missing is: Saved from what? Here is where today’s opening Scripture comes into focus. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, encouraging him to take Mary as his wife. He told Joseph to name the soon-to-born child, JESUS. Then, the angel added a very important detail regarding the name of the child. He said, “for he shall save his people from their sins.” The name JESUS carries with it the mission of the Person who bears the name. And the mission is: He shall save His people from their sins. This is Jesus’ primary mission.

Based on this, the more accurate question we should pose is, “Are you saved from your sins?” When Jesus returns, He is not going to deal with sin again. Why? Because He has dealt with it one time, for all time. As the Holy Spirit testifies, “but now, once at the end of the ages, He [JESUS] has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26; NKJV, see also v. 27-28).

Saved from sin means: forgiven, washed clean of all sins, and redeemed (made free, liberated) from sin’s bondage so that the saved person stops sinning. Jesus explained why this is important. He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:34-36, NKJV, emphasis added). Notice that the freedom Jesus is talking about here is freedom from sin, i.e. freedom from committing sin. Jesus went to the Cross and rose from the dead to give us this precious freedom. 

Jesus wants you to be free indeed. Get hold of the truth of His salvation, and become truly saved and truly free. Amen.

For further study: Romans 8:1-17