@DW2025X@EllaFlash It is my position.
We have to ask, are we saved by the power of Christ, or by our behavior?
If we are the keeper of our salvation, what causes us to lose it?
If sin is the answer, who can honestly be without sin? Was sin not paid for on the cross?
NOT EVERY MESSAGE ABOUT JESUS IS THE GOSPEL
Walk into ten different churches and ask one simple question:
"What must I do to be saved?"
You may hear ten different answers.
Some will tell you to reform your life.
Some will tell you to keep commandments.
Some will tell you to persevere to the end.
Some will tell you to join a church.
Some will tell you to be baptized.
Some will tell you to prove your faith by your works.
Yet the most important question is not what men say.
The question is:
๐ท What does God say?
The tragedy is not that the world rejects the gospel.
The tragedy is that many people sit in religious environments for years and never clearly hear it.
That is why Paul wrote:
๐ท "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel..." (1 Corinthians 15:1 KJV)
Notice that Paul did not assume everyone understood it.
He declared it.
He defined it.
He made it known.
And what was the gospel?
๐ท "How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried,
And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV)
The gospel is not a process.
The gospel is not a program.
The gospel is not a religious system.
The gospel is news.
Specifically, it is the good news of what Jesus Christ has already accomplished.
Many messages focus primarily on what man must do for God.
The gospel focuses on what Christ has already done for sinners.
That distinction is enormous.
๐ท RELIGION SAYS: DO.
๐ท THE GOSPEL SAYS: DONE.
Religion places the focus on human effort.
The gospel places the focus on Christ's finished work.
Religion asks:
"Have you done enough?"
The gospel answers:
"Christ paid it all."
Religion points inward.
The gospel points upward.
Religion magnifies human performance.
The gospel magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is why the cross stands at the center of Christianity.
Jesus did not come merely to teach.
He did not come merely to provide an example.
He came to deal with the greatest problem mankind has ever faced: sin.
๐ท "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23 KJV)
Every person has failed God's perfect standard.
No amount of self-improvement can erase sin.
No amount of religion can remove guilt.
No amount of good works can undo what has already been done.
That is why mankind needed a Saviour.
Not advice.
Not inspiration.
Not motivation.
A Saviour.
When Jesus Christ went to the cross, He was doing something no sinner could ever do for himself.
He was paying the penalty for sin.
๐ท "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree..." (1 Peter 2:24 KJV)
Think about that.
The debt belonged to us.
The punishment belonged to us.
The judgment belonged to us.
Yet Christ willingly took our place.
The innocent died for the guilty.
The righteous suffered for the unrighteous.
The Son of God bore what we deserved.
Then He was buried.
And on the third day He rose again.
The resurrection was God's declaration that the payment had been accepted.
Death could not hold Him.
The grave could not keep Him.
Sin had been dealt with.
Victory had been won.
๐ท WHY THE GOSPEL MATTERS
Many people know facts about Jesus.
They know He was born in Bethlehem.
They know He performed miracles.
They know He died on a cross.
Yet knowing facts about Jesus is not the same as believing the gospel.
The gospel is not merely believing that Jesus existed.
The gospel is trusting what He accomplished.
The object of saving faith is not our performance.
It is Christ's death, burial, and resurrection for our sins.
That is why Paul wrote:
๐ท "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth..." (Romans 1:16 KJV)
Notice where the power is found.
Not in rituals.
Not in ceremonies.
Not in human effort.
The power is in the gospel itself.
๐ท A LESSON EVERY BELIEVER SHOULD REMEMBER
The enemy does not always attack by denying Jesus.
Sometimes he attacks by replacing the gospel with something else.
Add works.
Add rituals.
Add human merit.
Add religious performance.
Once the focus shifts from Christ's finished work to man's efforts, confusion follows.
That is why believers must continually test every message by Scripture.
Not by popularity.
Not by tradition.
Not by emotion.
But by the Word of God.
๐ท "Let God be true, but every man a liar..." (Romans 3:4 KJV)
๐ท THE GOSPEL FOR THE LOST
If you have never trusted Christ as your Saviour, God is not asking you to earn salvation.
He is offering it as a gift.
The Bible declares:
๐ท "How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried;
And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV)
Jesus Christ paid the debt sin created.
He died for our sins.
He was buried.
He rose again the third day.
Salvation is not found in what we do for God.
Salvation is found in trusting what Christ has already done for us.
The gospel is not good advice.
It is good news.
And it is the greatest news this world has ever heard.
@McJuggerNuggets No one can condemn you to hell. The whole world is condemned already if we haven't believed The Gospel.
18ย He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
@nypost@McJuggerNuggets Nothing you post is making this better or making you look better. ๐คฆ Instead of burying him you had him cut to bits and suctioned out. Downs syndrome isn't a death sentence. They can live well into adulthood. 60s maybe older.
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
@Alexoo4@zagovornika0@McJuggerNuggets V.24 Donโt judge by sight but by the truth of God. The Word of God is our standard.
What will you do with Jesus Christ?
What will you do with the teaching on Scripture? This applies whether you are a believer or not.
https://t.co/J9vypJLR5u | John 7 https://t.co/gegJg35s8c