Does Your Saviour Support You?

I was a youth when I first saw the comedy starring James Garner called "Support Your Local Sheriff."  Garner becomes the sheriff in a rowdy western boom town and employs some unorthodox tactics to maintain order.  It wasn't long before he arrested a lawbreaker.  He had a major problem though:  the new jail still did not yet have bars or doors installed in the cells.  The quick-thinking sheriff painted a black line on the ground to delineate the boundary of the cell, and dripped a copious amount of red paint on the outside of the line.  The sheriff convinced the ruffian that if he valued his life, he'd stay in that cell without bars or a door - or he'd be like the fictitious previous prisoner who tried to cross the line and was shot for his trouble.

When the family of the ruffian came to break him out, they were surprised to see the effectiveness of the cell without doors and bars.  It wasn't too long before the bars and doors arrived and were installed - with the help of the willing prisoner.  This is a good object lesson to illustrate a spiritual truth.  The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  People can be taken captive by the devil to do his will.  Both Christians and unbelievers face this risk.  The main difference is that when a Christian is taken captive, those bars and doors are not yet installed.  He has the power to walk out through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  But people can be tricked to think there is no escape possible for them.  A unbeliever is destined for eternal damnation because of sin.

But no matter the fortifications of the prison of sin man or Satan builds, the power of Jesus Christ is able to completely overcome by God's grace.  Ephesians 2:13-15 reads, "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵ having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace..."  We don't have the strength, courage, or willpower to overcome sin.  But the blood of Jesus is able to do for all what no one is able to do himself.  Even if we were to stop sinning, we could not cleanse ourselves of our guilt.  We also are incapable of making ourselves righteous.  That is what makes the Gospel so wonderful:  when we repent and trust in Jesus Christ we receive forgiveness, are made pure, are born again through the Holy Spirit, and are reconciled to God through the righteousness of Christ.  That's Good News indeed!