Fruit of the Great Rescue: Saving Faith and Thankful Love!
Redeemer Lutheran Church - LCMS
Charleston, WV

When we think of being delivered or rescued, we probably think of those unfortunates thrust into a terrible situation. A woman kidnapped and held against her will by some sadist needs rescuing. People forced by stronger people to be enslaved and so need deliverance. Victims of some terrible accident in a coal mine or on a highway need saving by heroic measures. But, from what do middle-class Americans need rescuing? A house payment? College debt? A bad marriage? We only imagine that these situations are the worst. They’re not.

Paul writes that we have been delivered “from the domain of darkness.” (Colossians 1:13) Eve’s sin and Adam’s fall have placed us in dire straits. We were, from conception, in the domain of the devil. We are not just hell-bound and bent on evil. We were born in the hellish and evil condition of sin. The wages of our sin is death. We need rescuing. We need deliverance. “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) asks Paul. Only one can. Only one has. Jesus Christ it is.

Fruit of the Great Rescue: Saving Faith and Thankful Love! is based on these scriptures:

Psalm 41;
Leviticus (18:1-5), 19:9-18;
Colossians 1:1-14;
Luke 10:25-37