Sometimes we get confused about
just what the gospel is. We start babbling about creation and the rise of the
Antichrist in the last days. While all of that is interesting and true; the
gospel is much simpler than that. It is simply the death, burial, and the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yep, that’s it! The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
15:3-4, “For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, 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:” That’s the gospel. He died for our sins. He
was buried. He rose again the third day.
That’s it!
We must be very careful not to add
anything to that message either. We have a tendency to want to complicate the
things of God. I think it makes us feel a little bit better about ourselves. However,
in so doing we “frustrate the grace of
God” (Galatians 2:21).
The Apostle Paul said that a
person can be saved just by believing the gospel when he said in Romans
10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” To
add anything to that is to put faith in something other than the gospel.
You may ask, “Do people really
place their faith in other things besides the gospel for salvation?” Unfortunately,
the answer is yes. I hear it all the time, “Well, if you want to be saved, you
have to believe and be baptized.” I’m sorry, I don’t even see the word
“baptize” anywhere in those verses. If baptism was a requirement for salvation;
Jesus lied to the poor thief on the cross when He said in Luke 23:43, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou
be with me in paradise.” No, there is no mention of water in that
conversation.
I’ve heard others say, “If you
want to be saved, you have to believe and keep the sacraments.” Again, I’m
sorry but that’s not part of the gospel message either. As a matter of fact, it
says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace
are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not
of works, lest any man should boast.” That means that nothing beyond simple
faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ will save you.
What happens when someone puts
their faith in the gospel plus something else? They’ve forfeited the gospel and
are trusting in the “something else” to save them. One says, “It’s faith plus
baptism.” They’re trusting in their baptism to save them. Another says, “It’s
faith plus sacraments.” They’re trusting in sacraments to save them. It’s faith
in the gospel plus nothing that saves. Put your faith in the death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ and then find a church that teaches the simple
gospel of Jesus Christ as the only requirement for salvation.
Now, let’s look at verse 19 that
says, “Write the things which thou hast
seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;” This
is called the outline verse of the book of Revelation. Unless you understand
and apply this verse, the book will be very confusing to you. It says that the
book is divided up into three parts: “the
things which thou hast seen”, “the
things which are”, and “the things
which shall be hereafter”. It’s pretty straightforward and simple actually.
People struggle with it because they can’t wrap “their theology” around it, but
it’s true.
In a nutshell, the “things which thou hast seen” are found
in chapter one as John describes Jesus. The “things
which are” are the seven churches that are described in chapters two and
three. And the “things which shall be
hereafter” refer to chapter four and following. Next week, we’ll take a little closer look at
that.
No comments:
Post a Comment