The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
“…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” (1 Cor. 15:1-4).
Beware of false gospels. Galatians 1:6-8 warns us of false teachers who would pervert the Gospel with additions of requirement: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
There are people who would want you to believe that we have to observe the Jewish calendar and feasts as part of our service to God. This is Jesus plus works. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
There are those who preach that we have everything we need within ourselves and that salvation is a matter of subordinating biblical principles to our own thoughts, experiences, and emotions. This is Jesus plus humanism. But Titus 3:3-7 makes it clear that our source of salvation cannot possibly come from within us: “For we ourselves also were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
There are those who would have us pick and choose what we will believe. They rewrite the Bible to reflect their own truth and leave out the uncomfortable parts. This is Jesus and only-part-of- the-truth. Titus 2:5 says, “But whoever keeps His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him.” Repeatedly the New Testament writers refer to and quote the Old Testament and each other. The whole Bible is the record of God’s dealings with humans and we need to study it in order to know what is truth and what is not truth.
We started in faith and grace. Let us not finish in bondage.
