John 4: 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”

To understand Jesus’ role as Saviour, we must understand our own desperate situation. Humans have sinned against God, rebelling, and voluntarily separating themselves from the God of life (Romans 3:23; 5:12).

Sin is: transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4); Sin is rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7; Joshua 1:18); Sin is lawlessness (I John 3:4“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness). The Greek word for sin is “hamartia”, which is “missing the mark.” Sin is not just making a miscalculation in judgment in a particular case, but missing the whole point of human life; not just the violation of a law, but an insult to a relationship with the One to whom we owe everything; not just a servant's failure to carry out a master's orders, but the ingratitude of a child to its parent. The basic concept of sin is a failure— a failure to live up to a standard.

Sin produces death, and so everything in our world is now dying (Romans 6:23; James 1:15). Because God is holy, He will punish sin, leading to eternal separation from Him (Matthew 10:28). Without Jesus, humans are helplessly enslaved by sin and cannot ever achieve holiness on their own (Romans 3:9–20). We were born on a one-way track to hell, rightly condemned for our sin (Ephesians 2:1–3).

Sin comes with consequences which are such that sinners are condemned to eternal punishment and cannot save themselves. “For the wages of sin is death”- (Romans 6:23). God has evidently declared that the penalty of sin is spiritual death and separation from God. We cannot save ourselves. We need a Saviour.

That is where Jesus steps in. Being God, Jesus is perfect and never sinned. He lived a perfectly righteous life, and therefore did not deserve to die (2 Corinthians 5:21). However, He chose to die a horrific death on the cross for us, paying the price for our sin (Romans 6:23; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2). Then He rose again three days later, establishing His victory, and He is coming back soon to remove evil from the world completely. Because of His death and resurrection, anyone who trusts in Him can have eternal life. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  To the person who trusts in Him, Jesus Christ becomes the Saviour.

Pilate without recognising what he was doing wrote the name "Jesus" over the head of our Lord on the cross. This simply confirmed that Jesus is our Saviour – the Saviour of the world. In John 4:42 - The Samaritans said unto the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Jesus is without doubt our Saviour

 

PASTOR ABRAHAM GEORGE