Hi, this is Jay Webb for International Gospel Hour. We’re so glad you decided to listen to our program today. Our intent is to inform you and to encourage you.
This is Are You Listening? with Jeff Archie of International Gospel Hour. In a busy world with lots of distractions, we need to pay closer attention to God.
Are you listening to God’s Word today? Here’s Jeff.
Thank you, Jay, and greetings, everyone. It is always good to have you join us here on Are You Listening? brought to you by the International Gospel Hour.
We hope that our time together will be profitable and a blessing to you as we pursue the soul-saving riches of Jesus Christ. Dear friends, listen to this from Colossians 1, beginning in verse 27. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.
Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. Got a question coming up, but first.
Do you have any questions you would like to hear discussed on the International Gospel Hour? Maybe it’s a biblical question you’ve wondered about, or maybe it’s something you’ve come across in reading a text, and you’d like to have a text explained a little further. Well, dear friends, we would gladly consider your question for a future broadcast.
Please go to our website at internationalgospelhour.com and send us your question. We appreciate all of our listeners and thank you for your interest in spiritual things. Again, go to our website and click on the contact tab and let us know your question.
And that’s internationalgospelhour.com. We look forward to hearing from you. And now the question for this session.
Here’s the question. Can an individual save himself without Christ? Can an individual save himself without Christ?
The answer, no. And a thousand times no. Listen.
In Acts 4 verse 12, Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Listen, 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 9, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen again, Hebrews 2 and verse 10, For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Did you catch that? The captain of our salvation. Listen, Hebrews 5, 9, And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
Dear friends, there is salvation in none other. It can only be obtained by Christ. He becomes the captain that guides, and the author that pins our salvation, and that’s Jesus Christ.
Now, let’s think on our lesson text today about the salvation that is only in Christ. We once again go to Colossians 1 and verse 28, where Paul writes, Him we preach warning every man. First of all, let’s look at salvation as a warning.
When one is warned, there is a caution. It is for the good of someone to follow the right way. Be cautious.
Watch it. Careful. It is interesting to note that in preaching Christ, the first thing is men need to be warned.
Such is the beginning of preaching the whole counsel of God, as we note in Acts 20 verse 27. Man must realize where he is to see where he needs to go. I just shudder to think of those that wish to go across railroad tracks when they are warned not to do so, or those that start driving through high water when they are warned not to do so.
Folks, a warning is not necessarily a negative thing. While it is negative in the fact that don’t do it because something negative will happen, it’s placed there that we may have a positive reaction to it, accept the warning, and avoid it. Listen to 2 Thessalonians 1, 7-9.
Listen to the warning. And to give you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. Folks, as Christ is preached, every man is warned of the result, should one not accept the salvation that Jesus Christ offers.
There is salvation in warning. Him we preach, warning every man. You see, we’re warned what will happen if we fail to accept.
Now watch the verse. Back to Colossians 1, 28. Him we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom.
Now, folks, think on this for a moment. Sometimes folks will say, well, we need to be positive with our preaching. We need to emphasize the love and the grace of God.
Amen, I’ll grant you that. Some will say, well, we need to warn people of the dangers of an eternal hell. Amen, we’ll grant you that.
Folks, this verse here, if it teaches anything, it teaches of the balance to warn and then to teach. Why, if you simply warned without teaching, then how could you grow? And if you teach without warning, we can understand then or we would not understand that we need to turn away from the world.
God knew what he was talking about. It’s like a car battery. You need the positive terminal and the negative terminal, but when you hook it together, it works just right.
There is salvation in teaching. And when one is taught, one is presented the right way, and they know to turn from one way to another. Listen to Titus 2, verses 11 and 12.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. God’s grace teaches us to do two things, to deny the evil and to live for the good. When we think about 1 Corinthians 15, beginning with verse 1, it clearly shows Jesus Christ in the Gospel.
And the Gospel message must be obeyed by one’s response in faith. One must believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 8, 24, except you believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.
And in Hebrews 11 and verse 6, for without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Dear friends, one must believe the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 1 verse 13, Paul said, In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Dear friends, believing on or believing in Christ encompasses everything about the Christ, His life, and His commands, according to John 14, 15. If I believe on Christ or believe in Christ, I am going to do what Christ has commanded.
And in order to have this faith, one must hear the gospel of Christ. The Bible tells us in Romans 10, 17, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In Mark 16, 15, go unto all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
And then Paul asks the question in Romans 10, 14, how can one believe in what he has not heard? So therefore we need to be able to understand what we are to believe. And with faith, one must believe the Lord Jesus.
When we think about repentance, consider if one is to believe on Christ and the word of the Lord is spoken, then we understand repentance is necessary as it was taught by our Lord in Luke 13 and verse 3. And in Acts 2 and verse 38, Peter preached what Christ instructed him through the Spirit, for people to repent. In 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 10, the Bible says, For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Godly sorrow indeed should work us to repentance. That we are sorry for what we have done, and overtaken with sorrow so great, we can repent and change our direction, knowing the power of God will help make the difference. We understand we are to confess.
Well, after all, if one is to believe on Christ, and the word of the Lord is spoken, confession was taught in Matthew 10, 32, and 33. We also see in Romans 10 and verse 10, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And then, dear friends, according to the scripture, we are to be baptized into Christ.
He is the author and the captain of our salvation. Our salvation, again, Hebrews 2, verse 10. When we are baptized into Christ, according to Galatians 3, 27, we embrace the blessings therein that we may be saved based upon our faith, Mark 16 and verse 16.
Our sins are washed away, according to Acts 22 and verse 16. We are to rise anew, according to Romans 6, verses 1 through 7. And in Acts 2 and verse 38, our sins are remitted.
This is clearly taught with a salvation in teaching. Dear friends, we’ve noted today from Colossians 1, verse 28, that him we preach, we warn every man, and we teach every man to present every man perfect or complete in Christ Jesus, 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. We will then ask the question from Hebrews 2 and verse 3, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?
Dear friends, there is salvation in warning, salvation in teaching, and salvation in being perfect in Christ Jesus, and we’re able to do so through obedience to his word. Let us help you in your study of God’s word. Let us continue to study together, and let us help you in every way possible as we press onward and upward.
So let’s continue our study at another time, shall we? And dear friends, thank you for joining me today on the International Gospel Hour. I’m Jeff Archie, and keep listening.
Thank you for listening to our broadcast today. We hope first that it glorified God, but second, we hope that it edified you. Listen to it again if you need to or to other lessons in this series by going to the media tab at our site, internationalgospelhour.com.
On Jordan’s…
