Salvation & Christ’s Church
BIBLICAL AUTHORITY
Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a WISE MAN who built his house on the ROCK…but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand,” Matthew 7:24-26. “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very WORD which I spoke will CONDEMN him in the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So, whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say,” John 12:48-50. “Let God be true, and every man a liar,” Romans 3:4.
SIN IS THE PROBLEM
“Your iniquities have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you.” Isaiah 59:2.Jesus said, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go youcannot come,” John 8:21. Paul stated, “There is no one that is righteous, not even one,” Romans 3:10. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 6:23.
Jesus Is the Solution
After Jesus’ RESURRECTION and before his ascension he told his APOSTLES, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my WITNESSES in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” Acts 1:8 Note the message the Apostles witnessed: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God RAISED him from the DEAD, freeing him from the agony of death,because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him,” Acts 2:22-24. “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet,’” Acts 2:29-35. Note the simple message: Christ DIED and was RESURRECTED was preached throughout the Book of Acts. Consider: After Peter and John healed a crippled man in Acts 3:1-10, they were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Sanhedrin ordered them not speak to anyone in the name of Jesus, Acts 4:1-18. Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourself whether it's right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard,” Acts 4:19-20. Peter and John were placed in prison for teaching the name of Jesus. “But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. Go, stand in the temple courts,’ he said, ‘and tell the people the full message of this new life.’ At daybreak, they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin…and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there,” Acts 5:19-22a. “Then someone came and said, ‘Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching people [about Jesus],’” Acts 5:25.
They were brought before the Sanhedrin and were told, “‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,’ he said. ‘Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.’ Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must OBEY GOD rather than MEN! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead - whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as PRINCE AND SAVIOR that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him,’” Acts 5:28-32.
After Saul, later to have his name changed to Paul, became a Christian and an Apostle to the Gentiles. “At once he [Saul] began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God,” Acts 9:20. “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I called them,’” Acts 13:2b. Paul, speaking of Jesus, preached the SAME MESSAGE the apostles preached on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:22-35. “When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God RAISED him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has FULFILLED for us, their children, by RAISING up Jesus.” Acts 13:29-33a. It is biblically clear the message the Apostles taught the Jews on the Day of Pentecost and Paul taught the Jews and Gentiles is the good news or the gospel Jesus charged his apostles to teach. “He, [Jesus], said to them, ‘Go into to all the world and preach the good news [or gospel] to all creation,’” Mark 16:15.Consider the writings of Paul, “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the GOSPEL I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word, I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first IMPORTANCE: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was RAISED on the third day according to scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Paul further wrote, there is only one gospel regarding salvation: “I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an Angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again. If anybody preaches you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned,” Galatians 1:6-10. Additionally, Paul wrote, the one gospel must be obeyed. “God is just he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you because you believed our testimony to you,” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10.
After Peter had proclaimed the Jews killed Jesus, but God raised him from the dead, he said, “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers what shall we do?’” Acts 2:36-37“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call. With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourself from this corrupt generation.’” Acts 2:38-40
“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day,” Acts 2:41.
“Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the LORD ADDED to their number daily those who were being saved,” Acts 2:47. Many translations also correctly record, “The Lord added to the CHURCH (from the Greek word ekklesia) those who were being saved, Acts 2:47.
The church they were added to was CHRIST’S CHURCH. When Paul was addressing the elders at Ephesus he told them, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way,”Ephesians 1:22-23. He further wrote, “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the first born among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy,” Colossians 1:18. Only Christ can save, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved,” Acts 4:12. ONLY CHRIST ADDS TO HIS CHURCH, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God,” John 1:11-13.
Individuals are SAVED today as they were on the Day of Pentecost. “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles. ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call,”Acts 2:37-39.
“And the Lord added to their [the church] number daily those who were being saved,” Acts 2:47. Paul was asked, “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name,” Acts 22:16 He was baptized, Romans 6:1-14, saved, and added to Christ church, Acts 2:47. God bless you as you read this tract. I wrote it because I love the Lord and you. Please study it with intellectual honesty. If you find incorrect information, please contact, and advise me.
“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly,” James 3:1.
