What did Jesus mean by salvation?

[02 1859 321] May not these words, these last words, the only hope of any poor soul to whom God discovers its true condition, and assuredly the joy, and song, and rejoicing of all who for ever so great a length of time have known this blessed One, — may not these last words be regarded as a kind of key-note of the whole group of narratives that has now been read? Assuredly the Spirit of God in inditing Scripture had an object, not only in what was inserted, but in the order in which the matter is presented? and this gospel is remarkable, as is familiar to all here, for the grouping together, because of their moral connection, things which may even have occurred at different times. But whatever other secret there may be as to the why and wherefore of the order in which these narratives are arranged, may not this be one reason — the illustration which each and all afford of this grand, central, all-important foundation fact. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost?" In the parable of the Pharisee and publican you have a lost one sought, and found, and saved. In the case of the little children you have lost ones received and blessed. He had come to save even them. And in the case of the young man, the ruler, you have one who refuses submission to God's estimate of what he was; one who refuses to take the place of being lost: and he is the one who goes empty and sorrowful away. The case of the blind man is a plain one. He was lost, and Jesus was passing by. He is brought to Him, and mercy triumphs in his case too. And as for Zaccheus, it is his case which affords the immediate occasion for the words — words uttered by the lips of incarnate love, vindicating its own right to be what it is, and do what it does. It is the Son of man come to seek and to save that which was lost. This is the explanation the Lord gives to those who were not only rejecting Him, but quarrelling with the grace that received the lost. "This day is salvation come to this house," etc. "For the Son of man," etc. Now it is often of all-importance to get back to the very foundation-truths of all. There is no real progress if these be forgotten. And if there be one snare of the enemy, with which he is permitted to beguile the Lord's own beloved ones, more than another, it is in putting out of sight and memory God's estimate of what they are. We use even the Lord's own grace, and what it gives and does, to put honour upon ourselves, and to think highly about ourselves on account of it; and then we have to find, in one way or another, that whatever grace has given and done, it is grace, and that grace has for its object such as were lost. "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost."

Now from the crowd a general murmuring was heard: "He is gone in to lodge with a man that is a sinner." But with whom but a sinner could the Lord lodge anywhere upon earth?" There is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10). The strictest Pharisee, as well as the chief publican, was a sinner in God's sight. To meet the murmurings of the crowd Zacchaeus next spoke, and told the Lord what he did, his practice, and not, as some have thought, what he would henceforth do: "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation [or, wrongfully exacted aught of any man], I restore fourfold." In the one case he gave more than the law could demand: a half, not a tenth; in the other he did no less than it enjoined. The Lord heard all, the murmurings on the one hand and the answer on the other. Then He spoke: "This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Did the crowd murmur at His entering that house? Its owner was one of the privileged race, a son of Abraham, in common with all of them. Would Zacchaeus justify himself by setting forth what he did? As one of the lost the Lord came to seek him and to save him. All his doings had not saved him, nor could they. Never till then had salvation entered his door. The Lord brought it that day. Grace in the fullest way that publican received, the grace of free and everlasting salvation. Memorable in Zacchaeus's life must that visit have ever been. Memorable, too, have the Lord's closing words proved to many a sin-burdened conscience. He "came to seek and to save the lost." Zacchaeus had desired to see Him, and evidently never thought of speaking to Him. He came to save that publican. Now this was not done in a corner, for in sight of a murmuring crowd the Lord crossed the threshold of the house. There was from thenceforth one saved person, if only one, resident in Jericho. That one was Zacchaeus.

When the heart of Zacchaeus began to hunger for something better than gold, he climbed into a tree to see Jesus. It is more than likely that he could not then have given articulation to his deep longing, but Jesus knew it, and answered it in those words which must have filled the tax-gatherer with amazement, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house .” And when the Lord reached the threshold of that hitherto godless and joyless house, He said, “This day is salvation come to this house.” But why and how had salvation come there? It was because He, the Saviour, had come. Salvation is in Him, He is it; and in having Him we have salvation, and every other priceless blessing that God can give. He does not send salvation, He brings it; and where He is received there He abides, saying, “ I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee ” (Heb. 13:5). It is as though He said, “I have sought you so long, and love you so well, that never again will I allow you out of my company and care!” This is salvation—blessed, present, every day, and all-the-way salvation. It means to be protected, cared for, and upheld by the ever-present and infinitely tender Saviour, who has suffered for our sins, endured all our judgment, broken the dominion of the devil, and lives—yes, LIVES—as the Victor over death, for those who trust in Him.

"For the Son of Man is come to seek, and to save, that which was lost." How does He save? He saves by His death; He saves by the work He accomplished for us on the cross. The only way we can be saved is through the death of the Saviour. Sin is on us; we have all sinned, and our sins must bring us into judgment. But what has taken place? The blessed Lord Jesus Christ has gone to the cross, and borne our sins, and the judgment of God, in respect of sin that He may bring us to God, through the work that He alone could accomplish. It is wonderful news, that the "Son of Man came to seek, and to save, that which was lost."

My little boy was sitting on the floor playing with a small toy, and as I looked at him I realized that to reach the conscience and heart of an obviously dying man I must speak to him as simply as I would to my boy. I told him that nothing we had done or could do, availed for salvation. We had all sinned — done what was wrong in God's sight, and God must punish sin. If we had to bear the punishment we should be sent away from the presence of God for ever. But God Himself had provided a way — the only way — in which we could be forgiven and have our sins washed away. God's own Son — the Lord Jesus Christ — had come from heaven to earth. He was sinless, spotless and holy, and He alone could be our Saviour. His Name was to be "JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins." To do this He must pay the penalty of sin, which is death; and so He died on Calvary's cross — the "Just for the unjust." He shed His precious blood, and it is "the blood of Jesus Christ (God's Son) which cleanses us from all sin." God offers us salvation through faith in Christ, ceasing from our own efforts to keep the law, and putting our trust in that finished work which He did on the cross; owning Him as our Saviour and Lord. "Neither is there salvation in any other."

To be saved, then, is to be brought consciously in the faith of the soul on to the ground of accomplished redemption through believing the glad tidings of the remission of sins. And this is accompanied by the Holy Ghost taking up His dwelling-place in the forgiven person.

The salvation, the glad tidings of which we have heard, is the deliverance or transfer of the person out of the old state and place in which we were in Adam into an entirely new place and relationship with God in Christ.

The present salvation of God which reaches man through the gospel, is the power of God in operation to free man from every force which holds his soul in bondage, whether it be Satan (Col. 1:13), the world (Gal. 1:4), or sin (Rom 7:24); that being delivered and supplied with new divine power in the gift of the Holy Spirit, he may be able to serve God acceptably in the midst of a hostile world.

There are many aspects of salvation. In Matthew 1:21 we read of Jesus coming to save His people from their sins; and in Luke 1:71 Zacharias spoke of Jesus coming “that we might be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us.” The death of Christ has saved us from the consequences of our guilt, from the power of sin, from the power of Satan, and from the fear of death. Soon, at the coming of the Lord, we shall be saved from the judgment that will overtake a world that knows not, and desires not, God and His Christ, a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5).

While waiting for the coming of Christ to save us from all that is around us in this world, we have already received what faith brings, the salvation of our souls (1 Peter 1:9). In Romans 10:9 we also learn that faith brings us salvation, for the Scripture reads, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” This is “the word of faith” that Paul preached (verse 8), the word preached to the keeper of the prison at Philippi (Acts 16:30-31), and the word that is the “power of God to salvation to every one that believes” (Rom. 1:16). Ephesians 2:8 also testifies that we have salvation through faith.

“I am the door: by Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” That is the first thing—salvation. Was there any salvation in Judaism? That was a system of probation. Every single person that was tested failed, and every failure under the law must be fatal. “The soul that sins it shall DIE.” The meaning of probation is that you are under trial, whereas the meaning of salvation is that you have got a Saviour. This salvation carries with it the settlement of God’s wrath against sin, and our deliverance from it. When Christ came as the door God appeared not as Judge but as Saviour. And it also carries with it the thought of deliverance from all those untoward influences that surround us all through our life down here. There are temptations of the flesh, the world and the devil, and all the fearful power of the enemy arrayed against us. We want salvation from these things, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the One who can give it. Finally we need salvation in connection with our bodies, and the Lord Jesus Christ will not be content until He gives us that salvation. Our salvation is not complete until the word “redemption” is spelled out in full, and redemption is not spelt out in full until Christ comes to take us to be for ever with Himself. “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom. 13:11). Our salvation draws nigh, because the Redeemer is drawing nigh. The Lord is coming.