I am a Jesus pusher!!! After Peter’s sermon explaining the Pentecost event, with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation,” (Acts 2:40). Eugene Peterson renders this verse in The Message: He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!” The heart of his appeal is “Be saved.” This Greek word (sozo) is used fifty-four times in the Gospels. It is used fourteen times to describe deliverance from disease or demon possession; twenty times its usage is connected with the rescue of physical life from some impending peril or instant death. Spiritual salvation is the emphasis of the remaining twenty times.
The tone of its usage is the atmosphere of severe and serious peril. Demon possession, crippling disease, instant death, and spiritual damnation are all pending. As these monsters draw close, one must escape in order to survive. This Greek word (sozo) translated Be saved is the act of that escape. Peter makes it abundantly clear in his declaration: Jesus is our only salvation! There is no other to which we can turn. There is no certainty in the strength of others. No other provision is adequate. We have one single chance to escape. Jesus is the answer whatever form the peril of doom takes! It is not too late. Jesus can rescue! I am a Jesus pusher!!!