You and I want to hear people everywhere saying, “God is our salvation” (Ps. 68:19).
This month, you can help reach more people with the message of God’s salvation when you give a gift of any amount to Ligonier Ministries. We’ll also send you two copies of Dr. R.C. Sproul’s book Saved from What? as our thanks for your support. More on that below.
Perhaps you’ll remember a story from the early days of Dr. Sproul’s teaching career. As R.C. was crossing the campus on the way to class, a student stopped him. Not knowing R.C. was a Christian, the student asked, “Are you saved?” Dr. Sproul responded, “Saved from what?” That question, which left the man at a loss for words, cuts right to the heart of the gospel, doesn’t it? Yet many people, even many well-meaning evangelists, cannot give a sound answer.
Christians must be equipped to answer that question—“Saved from what?”—biblically and confidently. Dr. Sproul reminded us that “the gospel is only good news when we understand the bad news.” The bad news for sinners is that God’s wrath is revealed against us because of our sin and that this wrath remains on us apart from His grace (see Rom. 1–3). We need to be saved from sin because sin incurs the wrath of God. But thanks be to God that, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, Jesus “delivers us from the wrath to come.” In the gospel, we are saved by God and from God.
This fuller view of salvation is breathtaking, isn’t it? But it doesn’t stop there. R.C. also stressed that God saves us from Himself so that we will be purified to experience the vision of His glory. As Christians, we will see the Lord face-to-face forever. That beatific vision of our Savior will fully satisfy our souls. There will be no tears or sadness. For all eternity, we will know God more and more and never reach the full depths of His infinite beauty. Don’t you long for the day when our faith will finally become sight?
If we fail to get this message right—that we are saved from the wrath of God and saved to enjoy the vision of God—then the gospel becomes diluted and distorted. Like R.C., I’m convinced that a failure to understand that we’re saved by God, from God, and for God has led to pulpits where the reality of hell is never proclaimed or the hope of glory is eclipsed, to flashy personalities who proclaim a prosperity “gospel,” and to churches that offer nothing but a social “gospel,” which is no gospel at all.
You stand with Ligonier because you know, by God’s grace, we’re determined never to defect from the truth. Your support this month can help send 100,000 free copies of R.C.’s book Saved from What? to people who are hungry for God’s Word and for faithful Bible teaching. Your generosity will help raise the substantial funds needed for this significant printing and distribution.
Because it brings readers to the central truths of the gospel, this short, clarifying book can be used in evangelistic encounters. It can give growing Christians a fuller understanding of God’s saving grace, which stimulates courage in sharing the gospel. It can help inquirers encounter the biblical message of salvation through Jesus Christ for the first time. Imagine families reading this book together, pastors and elders equipping their congregations with many copies, and prison chaplains handing this resource to souls seeking answers to this ultimate question.
To thank you for your donation of any amount this month, we will send you two copies of Saved from What?, one for you to keep and one for you to give away as part of your personal outreach. Your generosity will also be used to place this book into the hands of people looking for Ligonier resources, including prison inmates, members of the military, and residents of under-resourced continents such as Africa. All of this belongs to our goal of distributing 100,000 copies of this key resource to people around the world.
You can help more people provide a biblical answer to the question “Saved from what?” Thank you for your prayers and generosity in support of this great work.
Ligonier Ministries