When My Savior Reached Down For Me!

I Was Lost And Undone Without God Or His Son

(When My Savior Reached Down For Me -Lyrics by G E E Wright 1920)

[We are saved and kept by the Lord as we reach up and take the hand He extends to us in mercy and grace. He is the One that died for our sins and offers us forgiveness and “Newness of Life.” The world’s condition is “lost and undone without God or His Son.” Jesus came to change that for all those that will come to Him in repentance and faith. It is my hope that this article will show us the Lord’s great love for us and His saving and keeping power for all those that will hear His voice and come to Him. I know that His saving and keeping power is real because I was lost and undone when He reached down His hand for me! The greatest day in anyone’s life is the day they realize their need for a savior and come to the One Who loves them and has proven that love by His great sacrifice at the cross for their sins. That day came for me and I thank Him each day for His mercy and grace that saved me, and keeps me securely in His loving care.]

“I (Jesus) came forth from the Father (His Deity), and am come into the world (to die for your sins): again, I leave this world, and go to the Father (mission accomplished)” (John 16:28).

The above verse says it all. The Lord Jesus left His home in glory and became a man, the God/Man, to die on a cruel cross for our sins. We were dead in our sins and unable to free ourselves. The Father sent His Son out of His love for us in order to pay the debt owed for sin, and by our faith in His sacrifice on the cross, save us and free us to live a life pleasing to the Lord. He paid the price that we might not be a slave to the sin nature we were born into. The sin nature remains with us in our mortal bodies, but by faith in His finished work, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin (the sin nature) and therefore not yield to its demands. The Apostle Paul said the following about our relationship to the sin nature:

“Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead unto sin (the sin nature), but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. For sin (the sin nature) shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the Law, but under grace” (Romans 6:11,14).

What the Apostle Paul is saying is that, by faith in Christ and Him Crucified, the grace of God is extended to us to live a life pleasing to God. He is also saying that victory can never be attained by “Law“, any law. This means that, once we are saved by faith in Christ crucified, our efforts to serve the Lord by what we do will not bring us victory. The Christian disciplines (praying, reading the Bible, going to church, fasting, etc), although important, will not give us victory over sin. If they could give us victory then Christ need not have come to die on a cruel cross. The following verse makes this abundantly clear:

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21).

If we try to live for God by any other means than by faith in Christ and His great sacrifice at the cross then Jesus did not need come and suffer and die as He did. We place our faith in Christ and His sacrifice at the cross when we come to Him in salvation, but we must continue to have faith in Christ and the cross daily to realize our victory over sin. We are to “abide” in Christ. That means we are to remain “in Him.” We do that by faith, as has been mentioned; faith in Jesus and His sacrifice at the cross. The following verse tells us what happens to us when we place our faith in Christ and Him crucified:

“Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in Newness of Life” (Romans 6:3-5).

The above verse is not speaking of water baptism, but a spiritual baptism into Christ. When Christ died on the cross God saw it as us dying with Him, with Christ becoming our substitute, and our gaining all the benefits that His death provided. We were also spiritually buried with Him meaning that all of our sins were buried as well. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father; we are spiritually raised with Him to “Newness of Life.” Jesus put it this way:

“I am the Vine, you are the branches: he who abides in me, and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

We must walk in this “Newness of Life” by abiding in Him. Jesus made it very clear regarding those that do not abide in Him. He said, “without Me you can do nothing.” All life comes from God. We can be saved and live our lives only by receiving this Life” He offers us by placing our faith in Christ and Him crucified daily.

What about the Holy Spirit. How does He work in our lives? A very good question. The Holy Spirit will work mightily in our lives as we place our faith in Christ and His sacrificial work at the cross. If our faith is not in the cross, we limit what the Holy Spirit can do in our lives. Jesus said of Him “He shall glorify Me.” The following verse tells us how to Holy Spirit works in our lives to bring us victory over sin:

“For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death” (Romans 8:2).

We can see from the above verse that there are two laws at work here. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and the Law of Sin and Death. If our faith is in Christ and the cross the Holy Spirit will bring us victory over sin. This is how He works. He works in no other way! If our faith is in anything else we will fall under the Law of Sin and Death. We cannot move our faith from the cross to other things and have victory. The Law of Sin and death is a powerful law that we cannot overcome in our strength. The only law more powerful than the Law of Sin and Death is the Law of Life in Christ Jesus. We are to be strong in the Lord and His might. He has done it all. Our part is to come by faith.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10).

In conclusion, Christ left His home in Glory out of a love for us. He came to die on a cross to pay the debt owed for sin. By faith in Jesus and His great work, we are forgiven of our sins and walk in “Newness of Life.” When we abide “in Him” it allows the Holy Spirit to work mightily in our lives. As the song says ” we were lost and undone without God or His Son.” But God, in His love for us provided a way that fellowship might be restored. The following verse says it best, “We love Him because He first loved us (1John 4:19).“ Jesus paid the price for our sins at the cross that we might be with Him in eternity. How great is our God! But for God; where would we be? The following verses should cause us to praise and thank the Lord for all He has done for us:

“But God, Who is rich In mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are you saved); and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7).

In closing, I give you the following quote from Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) a well-known Scottish evangelist who wrote the classic devotional My Utmost For His Highest. He said:

The heart of Salvation is the cross of Christ. The reason Salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much.

It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.

Remember Always,

God Loves You!

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2022