"For I am not ashamed of the GOSPEL OF CHRIST:
For IT (the gospel) is the power of God unto salvation...."
Rom. 1:16
So then the gospel, or good news of Christ, is the power of God unto salvation. If we plan on obtaining a
resurrection and escaping, HELL
eternal death, it is the gospel of Christ which
holds the power to make resurrection possible. But what is this gospel?
What are we to believe is the good news of Christ? Paul tells us exactly
what the gospel is in 1 Corinthian 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. By which also YE ARE SAVED, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
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:"
So the power of God to save you and me is the belief that Christ died
for our sins and that he was buried and rose again the third day. Note that
there are no good works mentioned, no baptism, just simple FAITH that
what Christ accomplished on the cross was and is sufficient to obtain
unto the resurrection. For those that perish in 1 Corinthians 1:18, this
idea of simple faith is foolishness.
"Surely," people say, "there must be something we should do!"
But God is clear and tells us 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."
So there is nothing you can do to obtain a resurrection but believe.
Just as Adam was kicked out of the Garden of Eden, Paradise, there
was nothing he could do to get back in. Not baptism, not good works,
nothing. Adam had to look to the future for a Saviour sent by God, as we
must look back at Christ our Saviour.
But why do we need to be saved anyway? And saved from what?
The answer is twofold. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil,
1 John 3:8 and the last enemy Christ will destroy is death, 1Cor. 15:26.
It was by the means of the cross that Christ was and will be able to accomplish this, having;
"Abolished DEATH, and hath brought life and immortality to light
THROUGH THE GOSPEL."
2 Timothy 1:10
It is often said that there are two things in this life that are certain,
'death and taxes'. That fact is everyone dies, and will die
because of Sin.
"For the wages of sin is DEATH."
Romans 6:23
And it's that Sin that's the problem.
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Romans 3:23
No matter how good we think we are, the fact is, we have sinned
and if we have even sinned once, we are guilty before God. Think
of chandelier hanging from a ceiling by 10 links of chain, just how
many links do you have to break before it falls? Just one! And that's
exactly what we are, a fallen creature, sinful in the eyes of God without Jesus Christ as your
saviour.
Now this sin is a very big problem because God's ultimate goal is to be
all in all (1 Cor. 15:28) and His glory shall encompass the new heaven and
new earth. God is Holy, and as such, cannot look upon sin. Scripture tells
us in Hebrews 12:29;
"For our God is a
CONSUMING FIRE."
And that which He consumes is sin. God is pure energy on a scale
neither you or I can imagine or comprehend .
So here's the rub, even if you could live forever on earth, how could you
stand in the presence of a Holy and sinless Creator? The fact is you would
simply burn up! You would be destroyed just by your sinful presence in His
New creation. So you need a new body, and this is why you need to be saved,
for God alone can give you this newly created body without sin, enabling you
to stand in His Glory.
This is the new birth, or resurrection when those that are saved will receive their new bodies. In Phil. 3:21 Paul tells us Christ;
"Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His
glorious body,"
Please take the time and read 1 Corinthians 15:35-57. Paul goes into
great detail concerning this and tells us in 1 Thess. 4:13 that without
a resurrection to change our body, there is no hope;
"For I would not have you to be ignorant brethren, concerning them
which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as other that no hope."
Having no hope, simply means that you will perish when you die.
"For God so loved that world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him, should not PERISH but have everlasting life."
John 3:16
And what does perish mean? Perish comes the Greek word 'apollumi" and
means to destroy fully. In other words an eternal death. God is clear, an unbeliever
will not see life, John 3:36 and 1 John 5:12. But for the believer, the day is coming
"when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear
shall live."
John 5:25
Note that not everyone will hear His voice. Some will hear and live, and
the others, those who thought the preaching of the cross was foolishness, remain
dead forever to return to dust. (See article "The Soul and
Death")
So there remains two classes of people on this earth. Those that have life
through the promise of a resurrection through Christ, and those that are perishing.
This is the great subject of the bible, Life versus Death, a death that was brought
into the Universe by Satan when he fell. It is the last enemy to be destroyed by
Christ, and it was for this purpose that Christ came to die on the cross. To die
for your sins, the sinless Christ for the sinful individual, to make reconciliation
between a sinful universe and a sinless God, and to justify all those that believe.
This Christ did and proved by being the FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD, the
first to be born again in resurrection,( Rev. 1:5) This is the good news, the gospel of
Christ that is the power of God unto salvation.
"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to then that are LOST."
1 Corinthians 4:3
