July 26
Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 15
1 Corinthians 15:1-2, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
Sometime ago I read the book “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.” It tells the story of the sinking of the Lusitania. WWI was in its tenth month. German U-boats terrorized the shipping lanes. The Lusitania was a luxury ocean liner sailing out of New York for Liverpool. Though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone, the thousands on board were at ease, wrongly assuming their ship to be safe from harm.
They thought their ship was too fast and unsinkable. They thought that the Germans wouldn’t dare do such a thing. Then the unthinkable happened. A U-boat torpedoed the ship. Many died immediately. Others scrambled to get in the lifeboats. But because of the list of the ship, only some lifeboats could be launched. So, some jumped into the sea and looked for anything that would work to keep them afloat. It took a long time for rescuers to get there. And some people developed hypothermia. In the end of the almost 2000 people on board, 1200 people died. That event drew America into WW1.
Now, if you were one of those passengers on board that ship. One who found himself adrift in the ocean. And you were surrounded by water. And you saw something floating to grab hold of—a piece of wood, a chair or table, or something of the like. That would immediately become something precious to you. No doubt, you’d swim for it. And you would grab hold of it. And you would cling to it. And your fingers would hold fast to that. And nothing would matter more to you than that piece of floating debris. Because it would have the power to save you. It would be, for you, a matter of first importance.
The gospel is like that to us. Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth of the gospel message he had preached to them. By the power and inner working of the Spirit, they received it. They stood in it. They had gained right standing before God on it. They had been justified by faith through the truth of that gospel message. They were being saved by it. The word “saved” is in the present tense. And we rightly understand salvation to be in three tenses—past (justification), present (sanctification) and future (glorification). God’s work of salvation in their lives was more than a onetime transaction. They had been justified, declared righteous, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t more to be done (Philippians 1:6). They had a need to “hold fast” to the gospel. Like those people clinging to a piece of wood to keep them afloat. They needed to keep on clinging to it lest they drown. We need to keep on clinging to Jesus. It is the nature of those who are truly born again to do so. Those who are truly saved will be kept saved, but that truth does not diminish the need for the truly saved to hold fast.
Paul Washer, “In this small portion of Scripture, we find a truth that all of us must rediscover. The gospel is not merely an introductory message to Christianity—it is the message of Christianity, and the believer would do well to give his life in the pursuit of knowing its glory and making its glory known. There are many things to be known in this world and countless truths to be investigated within the realm of Christianity itself; nevertheless, the glorious gospel of our blessed God and His Son Jesus Christ ranks high above them all. It is the message of our salvation, the means of our progress toward sanctification, and the pristine fountain from which flows every pure and right motivation for the Christian life. The believer who has comprehended something of its content and character will never lack in zeal nor be so impoverished that he seeks to draw strength from broken, waterless cisterns hewn by the hands of men.”
That message proclaimed by Paul to the Corinthians two millennia ago has spread from those early days to the four corners of the globe. It has worked through the centuries to “save to the uttermost” those who have believed (Hebrews 7:25). This matter of first importance is a timeless, powerful, and glorious message of truth imparting forgiveness and life eternal! It represents the sole means by which anyone can be saved (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) and is the only answer to any of the problems that beset the sons of Adam. Someone shared it with you—you believed and were saved. God made it known to you that you might pass it on. There is a lot of bad news in the world, but Christ died for sins and rose from the dead, and that’s good news!
“The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing”—D. L. Moody
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away,
Rising, He justified freely for ever:
One day He’s coming—oh, glorious day.
LookingtoJesus 