The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-11-16
Lesson for November Is, 1862

There IS q word older than the
Christian religion to express
what happens to a man when
God gets hold of him. The word
is saved" To its hearers in
times past the word meant res
cued. delivered, set free. That
is still what 1t means, though
many Christians are not aware
Of it. Some people, especially
people without religion, think
that when a man c m e S
a Christian he gives up his free
dom and his pleasure. and there
after lives a tied-down wretched
life. Quite the contrary. The
Christian is not tied, he is un-
tied. not chained but free set
free.
Saved from What?
So much is said about this in
the New Testament that we can
take only one single passage OF
the many that have been listed
for this lesson: EpheSianS 81
10. The great word here is
made alive" The new Chris.
tan hasn't stopped living. he
just never knew before what il
is to live. The difference be
tween before and after is the
difference between death an
life. What kind of life is the
dead" life? Three things art
said of it: it is a life enslaved
by the spirit of disobedience;'
it is a life enslaved to impulses
and passions shared with tn {
beasts; it is a life unde
wrath" To put it into our
everyday language, we may say
that what God saves us from is
a.: the habit of disobedience tt
God land how Sef-destructive il
is to be living as an enemy d
LifeD; ~ the habit OF piggist
sef-indulgence; and 81 an exist
erce Swallowed by the constant
fact that one has turned ones
back on God himself. From all
this. God calls us away.
Saved by What? \.
A reader will object at this
point. Does this mean that al.
Christians were at one tim
criminals, outright and out
rageous sinners? Ok l have tc
be Gods enemy before I car
be his friend? Not at all. Many
readers of these lines cannot re.
member a time when they did
not think Of themselves as Chris.
tlans. In many cities there are
rescue missions" in the dirtiest
and meanest parts Of town, fol
derehcts. hoboes, down and outs
These rescue missions do a
great deal Of good. But there
are also what can be called Pre-.
vention Missions if they do their
Job right: ordinary run-of-mine
unpretentiouS mainline Chris.
tian churches, which by thei,
lie and work are every day
saving their young people from
starting on the road that ends
in Skid Row.
Whether it's a prevention or a
rescue mission, what we're all
either dragged out of or KEEP
out OF. is all the same. So what
is it that saves us? Again it's
all the same. We are saved b,
grace" that is, God NIGH
nave let us go good rid
dance to bad rubbish" But in.
stead. he cared intensely for us
the pure and holy God actually
loved and loves the soiled ane
selfish race of man. The poini
IS that it is not because We
were so good. God was bounc
TO save us. He was 50 good thai
he saved US.
Saved through What?
One thing is made clear al,
through the Bible. If mantle
race OF man or some particular
man-is going to be saved. he
cannot save himself. God saves
him; Gods grace that is to say
his freely given love, saves us.
But a life preserver will not hold
a man up if he will not take
hold of it. A word Of wisdom
might as well be a word 81
foohShneSs if no one pays any
attention.
Saved for What?
IF q 1ifnm,o,J -.