1st Corinthians 15:1-6, “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 ye 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: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 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.”
There is a massive dangerous religious cult all across America and the world today, who errantly preach that the Biblical Gospel includes repenting of your sins. By repenting “of your sins” they mean that you must turn away from sin with all your heart, hating and regretting your sin, feeling sorry for committing them, and be firmly committed to stop living a lifestyle of sin from now on. If you don't have this attitude toward sin, so that you will no longer wilfully commit lifelong sinful bad habits, they teach that God will not save you no matter how much faith you have in Jesus Christ. This is another gospel, accursed by God (Galatians 1:6-9).
Pastor Lester Roloff (1914-1982) rightly said:
Not one mention is made in 1st Corinthians 15:1-6 about repenting of your sin, turning away from sinful bad habits, forsaking the world, turning over a new leaf, surrendering all to Christ as “Lord,” running the race, exchanging all that you are for all that Jesus is, making public confession, water baptism, keeping the Sabbath, repenting of sin for the rest of your life, persevering in holiness, doing good works, or anything else. “THE GOSPEL” as Paul defines it in our text passage, which he received directly from Jesus Himself (Galatians 1:12), plainly teaches:
- Christ died on the cross for our sins.
- He was buried.
- Jesus resurrected three days later.
This is the Gospel, meaning “Good News,” by which all men are saved who BELIEVE it. The Gospel is so simple that most men cannot help in their sinful pride but embellish it to include more. Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) made these profound helpful statements:
“More people will die and burn in Hell, because they're trusting too much!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”
“Everything that's hard and complicated about salvation is God's side of it!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”
I encourage you dear friend to take the time to listen to the preceding sermon. It is wonderful.
Again, when a Roman Solder asked the Apostle Paul in Acts 16:30 what he must do to be saved, Paul's reply was profoundly simple, just BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ! ...
Acts 16:29-31, “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
Paul didn't tell the man to repent of his sinning, did he? No, Paul simply told him to BELIEVE. Paul didn't tell the Roman soldier to surrender all to Christ as “Lord.” Nor did Paul tell him to go get water baptized, join a church, run the Christian race faithfully to the end, forsake a lifestyle of sin, pray a sinner's prayer, live a lifestyle of repentance, count the cost and pay the price, or anything else!!! Paul simply said: BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED!!! The reason why is so obvious if we simply take the Bible at face value—because JESUS PAID IT ALL!!!
Why oh why do foolish preachers pervert the Gospel, corrupting the grace of God, complicating the simplicity that is in Christ? Dear friend, we are saved by GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is by faith in Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” You see, neither you nor I have any righteousness to offer God. Our best efforts to please God are filth in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). That is why Jesus Christ, the sinless and perfect Lamb of God (John 1:29), went to the cross and took our burden of sin upon Himself, paying a debt that He did not owe because we owed a debt of sin we could not pay (2nd Corinthians 5:21). What a Savior!!!
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