A Call for Help
David Urey was desperate. His wife lay critically injured from an automobile accident in West Virginia. Doctors said she needed immediate attention from a neurosurgeon if she were to survive. Urey tried to charter a helicopter to fly her to Washington, D.C., where the nearest adequate medical care was available. He was unsuccessful.
Finally he declared, “I’m going to call the White House!” It was a bold and desperate act, but somehow Urey got through. As a result, President Nixon’s private helicopter was immediately dispatched to Urey’s aid. *
Due to our sin, WE are in desperate need of salvation, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Our own attempts to save ourselves are futile. Unless we receive outside help, we are doomed.
God invites us to “call” to Him for salvation. Although He is Lord of heaven and earth, it is not an imposition for us to call upon Him. We need not feel hesitant or unworthy to approach Him, for He WANTS to save us! He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
Peter was preaching to a large audience who had assembled in Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Pentecost (see Acts 2). He told them of the man called Jesus who had been crucified in that very city just fifty days earlier. He pointed out the ones who were responsible for His crucifixion: “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, YOU have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death” (Acts 2:23).
YOU and I share the blame for placing Jesus on the cross, for He died for the sins of the whole world: “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
But Peter had GOOD NEWS for his audience – and for US! He said that the things that had happened that day were in fulfillment of a prophecy made by the prophet Joel many years before (see Acts 2:16-21). The conclusion of the prophecy contains these hopeful words: “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved” (Acts 2:21; from Joel 2:32).
How do WE “call on the name of the Lord”? How can WE be saved?
In response to the question, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:36) asked by those who realized that the Man that they had crucified, “God had made both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:37), Peter responded:
“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will CALL” (Acts 2:38-39).
God was already “calling” them – and now US – through the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus (see 2 Thessalonians 2:14).
And we can “call upon Him” for salvation in the same way they did on that Day of Pentecost by: placing our faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turning from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confessing His name before men (see Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (immersed) in His name for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
God is waiting for your call. In fact, He’s already answered it through the GIFT of His Son!
Won’t YOU call upon Him for salvation through your trusting obedience?
David A. Sargent