1 CORINTHIANS 15:2
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to The Word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
What gospel saves us but the gospel of repentance and redemption from sin through Jesus Christ, our hope of resurrection and new life in Him? When we read this whole chapter in 1 Corinthians 15, we are excited and empowered through the leading of The Holy Spirit to see what God is doing in the believer. What a revelation of grace God has given us!
This gospel saves us from certain death and God's wrath. For this gospel is for those who believe and hold firmly to The Word which they received. How do we hold firmly? By clinging to the cross and living out The Word of God within us, Who lives to see us changed and transformed into a holy people.
We hold firmly to this gospel of salvation when we move forward in life instead of backward. Returning to our sinful, sin-filled lifestyles is regressing not progressing. It is to turn away from God and turn to the devil. Going back to a destructive way of life is not holding firmly to the gospel: it is apostasy.
We need to hold firmly to The Word that is preached to us, for on every side there is temptation. Sometimes subtle, at times blatantly in-your-face temptations call us back to a life without hope, without love, without light, without God and His Christ in it.
We embrace The Word of God in our spiritual arms, bringing It near to us by reading our Bibles daily. We devour The Word of God when we dig in to it to discover what God is revealing to us. And The Spirit of God within us turns our world upside-down, changing how we process the world around us through the eyes of The Word of God, Jesus Christ.
We see that God loves everyone and that unless they believe and receive The Gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ, they, too, will die in their sins as others have before them. God loves us and He doesn't want us to die in our sins and be forever separated from Him. This is why He sent His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ to die instead, that Christ would be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Not just for some, but for all.
We cling to the message of the cross, rebuking the tempter with The Word of God Which saves us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Unrighteousness is violating God's standards. And when we violate God's standards of living, we are unclean, blemished; our souls are stained. More than our reputations are ruined: our souls are on the verge of judgment from God. We must repent and be sincere in our repentance by completely turning back to God and following Christ with a more dedicated spirit of trust and faith.
We clutch tightly to the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ, refusing to let go of this wonderful, glorious Savior Who loves us so much He died for us. In Christ we are made complete and whole. We are restored to the relationship with God that we lost in the garden of Eden through Adam's sin.
I call you now, you who have not yet made a declaration of dependence on The Name of Jesus Christ for your salvation, to come to Jesus and live. I call you, brother and sisters in Christ, to fully hold onto your Lord and Savior in these trying days and times. Christ is risen and a new day has dawned. The Day of Salvation is here and The Savior is calling your name. Come to Jesus.
Ephesians 5:15,16
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Romans 13:11
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
