Jesus is the Saviour

We have been looking at the titles of Jesus, and the various ways in which they display the attributes of Jesus Christ. And so far in our efforts to know the “Real Jesus,” and not the Jesus of the world, we have taken out time to view Jesus as the “Messiah” or “Christ,” “Suffering Servant King,” as “Lord,” as the “Son of Man,” as the “Son of God,” and as the “Word of God.” The prophet Isaiah wrote concerning the days of confusion concerning Christ in Isaiah 4:1 where he said, “and in that day’ (the days following Christ) ‘seven women’ (all types of false churches) ‘shall take hold of one man,’ (Jesus Christ) ‘saying, We will eat our own bread,’ (that is that they will bring forth their own doctrines and teachings, not being concerned nor satisfied with the true doctrines and teachings of Jesus, but preferring the doctrines and teachings of men,) ‘and wear our own apparel:’ (they will come forth in their own self righteousness, shunning the righteousness of Christ,) ‘only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach’ (this is the only thing that they want of Him, that is they want to use His name so that they can cover up their shameless actions and works).

And as I said in the beginning of this series, we will not try to look at all of the titles of Jesus and their attributes that they display. Time and space would never allow for such an undertaking. I’m reminded of the statement of the Apostle John in John 21:25 where he said, “and there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”

There are so many things that could be said about Jesus, and the Old Line Primitive Baptist have been preaching them for well over two thousand years. And there are other titles that we will mention here that are ascribed to Jesus. Just to mention a few, He is our “Rabbi” or “Master,” He is the “Second Adam,” the “fullness of the Godhead,” and He is the “Mediator between God and man.” But there is no other title that I believe shows His work more completely than His title as the “Saviour.”

God the Father gave Him that name in the person of the Holy Ghost even before He was born of His natural mother Mary. Jesus literally means “the Lord saves” (Matt.1:21). The Holy Ghost appearing to His step father Joseph instructed him to call His name “JESUS” The angel Gabriel also gave these same instructions to Mary the mother of Jesus, he said, “and, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS” (Luke1:31). All other titles that we have examined up until now bring forth and ascribe to the qualifications of Jesus to be the Saviour of His people. There is no other person in the world who has the credentials to offer up the atonement as our sacrifice to God. It is only Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, who has come forth triumphantly as “Saviour” over death, hell and the grave, bringing reconciliation to God’s elect.

This is as they say, “Where the pavement meets the road!” It’s in this title “Saviour” that we see, which is to us, the most relevant in our lives. Especially when we are made to see ourselves as we truly are. Unable and unwilling to rescue ourselves from the “body of this death.” When we look at Jesus, and we see that He, and He alone is our one and only hope. All other titles seem to pass away into insignificance. We may argue about many things. Perhaps we may argue about our religion, or maybe our various philosophies and points of view, about our ethics and politics, but in the end each of us is faced with one very personal issue, and that issue is, “what do I do about my sin?”

Beloved if we are honest with ourselves, and if we will all admit to one fact, that is that we all sin!. For the scriptures testify that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23). When we sin, we sin toward each other, and we sin against the holiness of a righteous God. And to our utter shame we sin for the most part willingly. We can deny our sin, or even deny the very existence of God Himself. But in the end we find ourselves to be like the Apostle Paul who cried out saying, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). We can go as far as to deny our sin. And we can even go as far as to deny the existence of God. We can claim as many today do, that we are not accountable for our lives. We can try to shift t he blame of our own personal sins on someone else, like our parents, or our teachers. We can claim that we have the human right to do whatever pleases our flesh. We can invent for ourselves a “god” who forgives, but only when we are willing to do our part, or perform some other so-called righteous work or requirement. And then we can even turn about and declare that because of what we have done, that we, ourselves have performed the one work that makes us acceptable to God, going so far as to declare ourselves as CO-SAVIOURS with Christ. But in reality all of our efforts are only a shame and a delusion. We never stop, nor do we understand the utter depravity of all men in the flesh, (and especially our own flesh,) nor do we comprehend the utter inability and unwillingness of man to recover himself from his sinful condition. And without that basic understanding we will never feel the need for a real Saviour. We will never know anything about the “Real Jesus.” And never come to the realization of the term,“free grace.” We will never know of the love of God for His chosen people, nor that He has loved all of His people so much that He sent His Son as “Saviour” for each of them without the lost of even one of them.

But there is only One who alone qualifies as “Saviour!” Jesus Christ, and it’s Jesus alone who has the desire through His great love for us, and He alone possesses the ability to solve our most abysmal dilemma, bringing us to God as our Father. It’s Jesus alone who can proclaim, and without the aid of any mere sinful man, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt 28:18). It’s Jesus as “Saviour” who alone has the power over life and death. Listen to Him as He declares, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:37-40).

It’s Jesus Christ of Nazareth who is “Saviour.” It’s His title as “Saviour” that gives us hope beyond the grave. It’s this title that will someday bring us from our graves to be with Him in His glory. As the “Saviour,” it’s His person and work that has fully and completely met all of the requirements of the righteous Judge of eternity.

May God bless each of us to know and understand these titles and their significance to our lives. 

Elder Thomas McDonald