The reality fo Christianity Part 3
We have been able to establish the fact that salvation is to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth the lord Jesus. From the previous discussion, Paul alluded to this in Romans 10:6-10. Salvation occurs first in the heart and what happened in the heart is affirmed through the mouth. Further light was shone by Paul on how a man is saved in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
He iterates the facts of the gospel which are specific:
1. How that Christ died for our sins.
2. He was buried.
3. He rose from the dead according to the scriptures.
These are the facts of the gospel. When these facts are preached to an unsaved man and is believed, the hearer is saved.
Any gospel that doesn’t contain these facts is not the gospel of Jesus of Christ because embedded in this message is the mission of the Christ. In Matthew 1:21 “21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. The reason God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ was to save mankind from their sins. If any preaching is to be called the gospel of Jesus Christ, it must affirm the redemptive work of Jesus Christ and the things that man has received on the basis of Christ redemptive work. It is the message of the church.
1st Corinthians 15:14-15 “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.” The resurrection of Jesus is the crux of the Christian faith. It is the foundation of all that we lay claim to. The preaching of the gospel is the preaching of the power of God. The power of God need not to be spectacular always. It is supernatural. In Romans 1:16, Paul calls the preaching of the gospel the power of God unto salvation. It means there is no power of God outside of the gospel. The power of God to save is not found in human effort. It is not present in confessing your sins. It is present in the preaching of Jesus’ redemptive sacrifice.
In Acts 16:30, the jailer asked Paul and Silas a very important question which all believers should be able to answer when confronted with such. “The jailer, after Paul and Silas’s miraculous escape and the earthquake, brought them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Verse 31 provides their response. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”. They didn’t ask him to start rehashing to God his past mistakes. They didn’t ask him to cry or feel guilty as a result of his past actions that are not good. They simply told him “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your family will be saved”.
In Acts 8:5 -6 “5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ and the people that heard him became saved. There can’t be salvation outside the preaching of Jesus Christ. The only information anyone needs to hear to become saved is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t involve anybody’s dream or vision. The day salvation happens, the recipient becomes a partaker of everything which God wrought in Christ Jesus. There is no effort of anyone that can add to or subtract from Jesus’ redemptive sacrifice.
Confession: I believe that Jesus died for my sins, he was buried and he rose from death. I am saved. I have passed from death to life. I have eternal life.
