Crossroads: The need for a Saviour

Ryan is the last surviving son of four brothers — three of whom had been killed during the war.

The policy of the United States government was that no parent should be left bereaved of all their sons.

Therefore, a regiment of soldiers had the specific mission to search for, and rescue, Private Ryan who, as a paratrooper, had been dropped behind enemy lines.

The story begins in the modern day with Ryan standing before a gravestone — the gravestone of the captain who was responsible for the mission to save Ryan.

In tears and gratitude, he thinks of the sacrifice made by the captain and the men assigned to rescue him from the enemy and to safely deliver him home.

The movie depicts something along the lines of the Gospel message in the New Testament.

That all men and women are trapped and in the cross-hairs of the enemy.

That enemy is what is called sin.

Sin is like a virus that has overcome the world and has infected every person.

As I liken sin to a virus, I liken the lockdowns to a social distancing from God.

In other words, sin has kept us alienated from God.

People have tried to compensate for this by doing some good things, or by being a ‘nice’ person as if that would remove the ‘sin virus’.

However, that is like saying that the virus can be defeated by our own superior efforts, and we all know how that went, don’t we!

However, God, who created us, realises that we need to be rescued from this sin virus that has brought us death and sent us a Saviour to defeat the killer virus of sin.

Through the sacrifice of His life, Jesus, who had come to earth from God, has defeated the sin virus and restored or reconciled us to God.

In other words, no more social distancing from God.

This is why this message of Jesus is called the Good News or Gospel.

It is the gracious gift of God given without cost to the recipient.

Like any rescue, however, the person needs to accept the rescuer, as the rescuer can always be rejected, just as Private Ryan initially rejected getting rescued.

If that is the case, no saving is possible, and the person will forever be separated from God.

This is important to be thinking about.

God is the One who has granted us life and we gratefully accept it, but too often take it for granted.

Common sense would say that we should be thinking about matters beyond the grave because one day it may be too late to change one’s mind.

Just because we are healthy now, doesn’t mean that will always be the case.

The promise of God is that all who come to Jesus and accept the free offer of His rescue will be raised or resurrected to everlasting life.

The evidence is in the resurrection of the Rescuer Himself.

Jesus’s resurrection proves Him to be the sin virus killer and, therefore, the One who can bring a person into everlasting life.

— Pastor David McAllan, Echuca Community Church