The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

Rescued

John Newton (1725–1801) was a militant atheist, bully and blasphemer. He was a wild and angry young man. He was press-ganged into the Navy at the age of eighteen where he broke the rules so recklessly that he was publicly flogged for desertion. He was hated and feared by his crewmates and himself became a slave trader.

At the age of twenty-three Newton’s ship encountered a severe storm off the coast of Donegal and almost sank. He called out to God as the ship filled with water and on that day, 10 March 1748, God rescued him. He began a new life. He started to pray and read the Bible. Eventually he joined William Wilberforce in the campaign to abolish the slave trade and became a leading light in that campaign.

Newton is best known as the author of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’:

To be rescued is to be saved, set free, delivered from danger, attack or harm. Jesus is the one who rescues us. 

Psalm 73:15-28

1. Rescued from the slippery slope

Have you ever experienced the slippery slope of sin? You find yourself slipping further and further down a path that you do not really want to be on.

We saw two days ago how the psalmist found himself on the slippery slope of envy. ‘As for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked’ (73:2–3).

Your whole perspective changes when you enter ‘the sanctuary of God’ (v.17a). ‘Then, I understood their final destiny’ (v.17b). It is the arrogant and wicked who are on ‘slippery ground’ (v.18). Although they may seem outwardly successful and prosperous, they are on a road that leads to destruction (vv.19–20).

The psalmist realised that he was rescued from going down that same slippery path. He repented: ‘When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you’ (vv.21–22).

Although outwardly the ‘ungodly’ may be enviable, when you get a proper perspective, you realise how almost unbelievably blessed you are (vv.23–26).

There is nothing that compares to walking in a relationship with God, knowing his presence, his guidance and his strength, and his promise that he will take you into glory. You are far better off than the ‘ungodly’, both in this life and in the future.

When you see what you have been rescued from, you realise how good it is to be near God, and you want to pass the good news on to others: 

‘But I’m in the very presence of God –
   oh, how refreshing it is!
I’ve made Lord God my home.
   God, I’m telling the world what you do!’ (v.28, MSG).

Lord, please rescue me from the slippery slope. Thank you that there is nothing like the sense of your presence with me – you holding me with your right hand. Thank you that you promise to guide me with your counsel and afterwards take me into glory.

Acts 9:1-31

2. Rescued from darkness

Do you know anyone who is very antagonistic towards Christians and the Christian faith? Saul was like that. John Newton was like that. I was like that. When we read the account of Saul’s conversion it gives us hope that God can change the most unexpected people.

In this passage we see a double rescue. The church is rescued from the darkness brought about by Saul’s attacks, and Saul is rescued from his own inner darkness. God’s transforming power changed Paul from a persecutor of the church into one of its greatest advocates.

Saul had a privileged background. He was a Roman citizen from Tarsus. He was a highly educated intellectual. He was a qualified lawyer. He was a deeply ‘religious’ man with a strong belief in God.

Yet, Saul was living in darkness on a road that led to destruction. He was ‘out for the kill’ (v.1, MSG). He was trying to arrest Christians and put them in prison (v.2). He had a terrible reputation among the Christians because of ‘all the harm he [had] done to [them]’ (v.13) and the fact that he wreaked ‘havoc’ amongst followers of Jesus (v.21).

On the road to Damascus, Saul ‘was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light’ (v.3, MSG). Jesus appeared to him and said, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ (v.4). As Saul had never met him before, how could he be persecuting Jesus? In that moment, he must have realised that the church is Jesus. It is his body. In persecuting Christians, he was in fact persecuting Jesus. Later, he was to develop this understanding that the church is the body of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 12–14).

Saul’s physical blindness symbolised the spiritual darkness in his life at that point. When Ananias laid hands on him, his sight was restored and he was filled with the Spirit (v.17): ‘Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again’ (v.18). He was rescued from physical and spiritual darkness.

Not only did Jesus rescue Saul from darkness, but he also appointed him as his ‘chosen instrument’. He said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel’ (v.15).

At once, Paul began to preach that Jesus is the Son of God (v.20). He grew ‘more and more powerful … proving that Jesus is the Christ’ (v.22). Like a lawyer, he produced the evidence to show that something had in fact happened in history. Jesus had been crucified, raised from the dead and is the Christ.

Through the rescue of Paul, the church was also rescued. ‘Things calmed down after that and the church had smooth sailing for a while. All over the country – Judea, Samaria, Galilee – the church grew. They were permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God. The Holy Spirit was with them, strengthening them. They prospered wonderfully’ (v.31, MSG). For a moment their battles were over, and a period of blessing began.

However, God did not promise Paul an easy life. With great privilege would come suffering, ‘for I will make it clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for my name’s sake’ (v.16).

Lord, thank you that you have rescued me from the dominion of darkness and transferred me to the kingdom of your Son. Thank you that not only do you rescue me but you also fill me with your Spirit and appoint me to take the good news to others.

2 Samuel 22:1-23:7

3. Rescued from deep waters

As David comes to the end of his life, he praises God for rescuing him again and again from his enemies and from death and destruction (chapter 22 – the song is also found in Psalm 18). God is his ‘rescuing knight’ (v.2, MSG).

‘A hostile world! I called to God,
   to my God I cried out.
From his palace he heard me call;
   my cry brought me right into his presence –
a private audience!’ (v.7, MSG).

Many times he called out to the Lord, and the Lord heard his voice. ‘He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters’ (v.17). ‘He rescued me from my powerful enemy …’ (v.18). ‘He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me’ (v.20). (See also v.49).

When God rescues you, he does not want you to stay as you are. ‘When I cleaned up my act, he gave me a fresh start ... God rewrote the text of my life’ (vv.21,25, MSG). He wants you to lead a blameless life and to keep yourself from sin (v.24). He wants you to be ‘faithful’ (v.26), pure (v.27) and humble (v.28).

With God’s help, you can ‘advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall’ (v.30). God arms you with strength (v.33) and enables you to stand on the heights (v.34). He broadens the path beneath you so that your ankles do not turn over (v.37).

Joyce Meyer writes, ‘By faith you can receive strength to stay in a difficult marriage, raise a difficult child, or stick with a difficult job in which you have a difficult boss. You can receive strength to do great things even though you may have a physical impairment yourself.’

David, in the evening of his life, summed up his experience of God and of life (chapter 23). God had rescued him. God had anointed him (23:1): ‘The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue’ (v.2).

David had a sense of the ‘now’ and the ‘not yet’. God had rescued him and saved him. Yet, there was more to come: ‘Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?’ (v.5). God’s rescue plan of salvation will one day be brought to fruition. On that day the rescue will be complete.

Lord, thank you that you have rescued us from all our enemies – from guilt, sin, addiction and death – through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. Thank you that one day the rescue will be complete, when Jesus returns and we will be with him forever.

Pippa Adds

2 Samuel 22:33

‘It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.’ 

This is rather encouraging when I seem to make a mess of things so often. 

Notes:
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.