Salvation is not something you “do” or something you “get”. Salvation is something done “for you” or something done “to you”. Can you remember a movie with a jungle scene where the actor walks off into some quicksand. The guy is stuck and starts to sink lower and lower the more he tries to get out. He has nothing solid to push against so he has no leverage and can’t push his way out. He can’t reach anything outside the quicksand to pull himself out. It’s only a matter of time before his head sinks below the quicksand and he’s a goner. The only thing that’ll help him now is salvation. Someone other than himself must recognize his danger, be able to assist him and be willing to provide the help. The analogy of quicksand gives us a good picture of salvation. Other word pictures of salvation would be a drowning man needing a lifeguard and a man needing a doctor for a lifesaving operation. You get the idea. Salvation comes from something outside of ourselves.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Hebrews 7:25 – Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 – For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Psalm 35:9 – And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation.
Jeremiah 29:13 – And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
God has put eternity in the hearts of men so we’ll seek him out. We may have lived at different times and in different places but our search is the same. We all seek a higher authority than ourselves. We seek God. Every religion says their god is the right one but none of them have any proof to back it up save one. Only Christianity has a body of proof that is irrefutable. There can be only one God and Jehovah is his name. There can be only one way to God and that is by faith in Jesus. The problem is not enough people take the time to look for the right answers. Anyone who reads the Holy Bible with an open mind will find the answers they seek. They’ll find God in its pages.
They’ll also find hell in the pages of the Bible when they realize God is real and without Christ their immortal soul is in danger of going to hell forever. Every believer in God reaches that moment of realization and commitment. All their lives unbelievers have thrashed about in spiritual quicksand without even realizing they’re stuck. When they suddenly learn the truth of God the unbeliever knows they need help from the outside to save them. They need the salvation of God. The wise will turn to God for their salvation but the fool will say to himself, there is no god or I can save myself. They will feel the wrath of God on the last day. They will end up in hell forever.
2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Jude 24-25 – Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
Jeremiah 31:3 – The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
1 Chronicles 22:19 – Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.
The person stuck in the quicksand is actually very lucky if he sees his peril in time and takes the right course of action. Knowing you’re in danger is half the battle. He was made by the one true God, Jehovah, and as a child of the Most High God he is loved by the Father. A mother can be in a deep sleep but when her baby cries out she is instantly awake. She knows the sound of her baby among all the other crying babies. She can pick her baby out in the dark. God is the same way. God never takes his eyes off his children all the days of their lives. God is always nearby and hears when his children cry out to him for salvation. God knows you’re in danger of eternal death and he is waiting for you to return home to his loving arms. The Bible story about the prodigal son is really about the father’s enduring love for his son. This story should be called, “the loving father.” The prodigal son is our story too because it draws attention to our Father’s everlasting love for us no matter how much we sin. This is a Bible story but it’s also an example for us to follow. God is telling us no matter what happens we can always return home to him because he’ll waiting up for us with the light on.
Isaiah 43:13 – Indeed before the day was, I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?
Isaiah 43:11 – I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.
Isaiah 45:5 – I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.
Isaiah 45:22 – Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth!
God has been waiting expectantly for us to return home, to call out to him. God is our strength and salvation. God is the only one able to save us and he is willing. Our salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Jesus saves! Only the hand of Jesus can reach out to us from solid ground and pull us out of the quicksand. Only Jesus can throw a rope to us while we’re in the quicksand and pull us out of the fires of hell. God made man with the free will to choose whom to serve, God or Satan. God has one rule when he sees us in the quicksand of life. God won’t help us unless we ask him for help. God will abide by our choice no matter how much it hurts him.