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In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that holy Spirit of promise,
What is the
gospel of your salvation?
1 Corinthians 15:1 ¶ 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: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the
twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of
above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this
present, but some are fallen asleep. 7
After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of
one born out of due time.
Now, if you
believe that, you are saved. God has saved you. It’s real simple.
2Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ.
Romans 10:9 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.
Acts16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
After you
believed you were sealed. It’s done; finished. The gospel is not giving half
your income or church attendance. It’s what it is. Belief saves you, not works.
There are many things that are good like giving, church attendance, handing out
tracts, etc. etc. but they can’t save you or keep you saved.
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Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The
salvation of God is the earnest money on the complete redemption and receipt of
a glorified body in heaven.
Romans 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
How could
salvation be any simpler? We look at a person and if they don’t fit our idea of
what a Christian should be we immediately question whether or not they are
really a believer.
Earlier
Protestant Christians had an idea that carried them through doubt and difficult
times. They believed that the Holy Scriptures alone are sufficient to lead men
to salvation and that the Holy Scriptures alone are sufficient to sanctify the
believer.
As the early
Anglican churchman, William Chillingworth, said in 1638, “The Bible, I say, the
Bible only, is the religion of Protestants!”
(William Chillingworth, The Religion of Protestants: A Safe Way to
Salvation (1638, repr.
London:
Henry G. Bohn, 1846), 463. http://www.archive.org/stream/religionofprotes00chil#page/n3/mode/2up)
When you
divorce your faith from the words of God written on paper you come up with all
sorts of methods to control people and try to force them into the box you’ve
built. The Bible is very clear about how
you are saved. We love to muddy it up.
You’ve been
purchased by a ransom that the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, or God in the
flesh paid to God the Father, or in simpler terms a ransom God paid to Himself.
Exodus 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of
Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul
unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when
thou numberest them.
Psalm 49:7 None of them can by any means redeem his
brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
1Timothy 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be
testified in due time.
Your soul
has been redeemed but one day your body will be redeemed. You belong to God.
1Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1Corinthians 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the
servants of men.
Just imagine
what that time will be like.
1
Corinthians 15:51 ¶ Behold, I shew you a
mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
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