Are You Saved?

“But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,” -1 Cor 1:23 (ESV)

We live on a planet that’s going a hundred miles an hour and it seems these days to be picking up speed. Yes, even in our churches and in Christendom. Who takes the time from the pulpit to the pew to the people to reflect and give deep thought and care to what the Gospel is all about? Who then can be saved if you don’t know these things?

Paul explained in 1 Cor 14:1-4 what his actual mission was from God. He said that this Gospel is one that the believers in the Church at Corinth understood. It is one is which they stood on. It is one that they believed in and were saved. (This is where the tire hits the road for you and me). But it was conditional; did you see the word “if”. This was the condition – if they held fast to their hearts and minds the word that he preached they were saved. And therein lies the foundation of our faith and what the Gospel is all about. It’s not about a one-time prayer you prayed at some visiting church or seminar or rally or gathering. This is a life-long culture of faith that you and I must live out.

As Paul preached and of first importance is that Christ died for our sins. We are all sinners, all of us and we sin every day, if not outwardly then in our thoughts. He bore the full punishment and paid the ultimate price so we could be saved from eternal damnation and separation from Almighty God. Who teaches this these days? Jesus Christ – God’s only Son came to this earth born of a virgin to teach us the ways of God – the path to believe, the essence of our faith. He was not well received or liked and eventually the people and the religious leaders of that time killed Him. They killed the Son of the Living God. Not a criminal, not a homey, not a regular person that we hear of then never think of again. This was God in the flesh who came to earth to show us His love and ways and we took Him out. How tragic! Who of us today would lay down a red carpet for Him one day and then next day say, “Kill Him”?

He was shunned by many and rejected by the church, suffered humiliating defeat and terrible persecution, He beaten to an unrecognizable state and then nailed to a wooden cross in full view of the public. And then He died.  He did this for us. He laid down His life for our sins. He did this from unimaginable love that we fully can’t understand at this point. But here He was the Son of the Living God who died (was killed) for you and me. Can you grasp this? Can you realize that God, the Creator of all you see and don’t see did this – sent His Son to tell us about Him and we killed Him. He was then buried in a stone-cold tomb cut out the rock.

Are you getting a better picture of who Christ was and is?

Then the Lord God Almighty raised up Jesus on the third day to show us that we can be raised up at our death to be like Him and live forever with Him in His Kingdom. He was raised like the Scriptures foretold and prophesied. The exact third day. For those that hold fast this word – who believe in the Lord, who believe who Jesus was and is – God Himself, Almighty God, the one who provided a way of salvation, a way to be with Him in eternity. Do you get this?

Almighty God sent His Son (the mystery of the Trinity we don’t fully understand now but will once our eyes are opened in eternity we see Him like He is -1 John 3:2). These three things that Paul preached – Paul’s main mission here on earth – are the Guts of the Gospel. The foundation of our faith. But … who teaches these rock solid truths today?

You can go to church till your feet fall off, be as Godly as one of the Pharisees but if you don’t know the Lord your faith needs careful reexamination and attention.

“Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; ²⁴ but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.”  -Jer 9:23-24 (NASB)

This friends is the essence of our faith and belief in God. We must get a hold of these facts to shore up our faith and bring us back to our first love – in Jesus. We can have all the Godly trinkets and a plethora of Bibles and dress the Godly part but if we miss who Jesus is in our lives and why He came, we are missing Christianity as preached in the Bible. Get back to the basics of your faith and reignite your relationship with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And along this way examine yourself to see if you are of the faith – 2 Cor 13:5.

Bottom line beloved … are you saved today? If not, why not? Consider Acts 2:21 and Rom 10:9-10.

 “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2- by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3- For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4- and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” -1 Cor 15:1-4 (NASB)

 

-BPWatcher, Internet Preacher and Bible Prophecy Watchman

GLORY TO GOD!