Posts Tagged ‘salvation’
Even a Caveman Can Do It
by Zeke Flores Remember the old insurance commercials that claimed to be so simple, “even a caveman can do it”? We had become so “politically correct” that no one wants to insult anyone else, so Geico came up with a victim they were sure we could poke fun at with impunity, since there are no…
Read MoreIs It Still a Mystery?
by J. F. Dancer, Jr. Some people read the Bible every day. Others read it occasionally, and some never open it. All have different views on what it teaches. Do you think God had it written so that we would “understand” it differently, allowing each of us to believe what we want to believe? I…
Read MoreGod’s Power to Save
by J. F. Dancer When Paul wrote the letter to the saints at Rome, he explained to them why he had not yet visited them. He had promised to come and still intended to do so (Romans 15:24), but had been prevented (Romans 1:13). Then he set forth the basic principle of salvation – “…the…
Read MoreSaul’s Conversion
by Keith Greer I watched a DVD that contained a religious debate between Brother Larry Hafley and his opponent, a man whose last name is Ross. The subject of the debate: “Is baptism necessary for salvation?” One of the passages considered deals with Saul’s conversion. Brother Hafley presented a powerful chart showing the impact of…
Read MoreAmazingly Saved and Radically Changed by the Cross
by David Gibson Why did Jesus die on the cross? To save our souls? Indeed, He did, but that’s not all. For Him His death means the end of our self-centered living and the beginning of Christ-centered living: “he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him…
Read MoreBaptism
by J. W. McGarvey Since it has been announced that my subject would be baptism, I think it is highly probable that the question has arisen in the minds of some, Why another sermon on that old, hackneyed theme? Perhaps the objection has arisen that this subject has been discussed and debated for hundreds of…
Read MoreOur Inheritance in Heaven
by Ron Boatwright Today, many people fail to recognize that the inheritance in Heaven is far more valuable than all the riches in the world. They fail to realize its worth. Our Lord says in Matthew 16:26, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own…
Read MoreBaptism and Jesus Blood
by Dub McClish Despite the most explicit statements of Scripture to the contrary, most Protestant denominations deny that baptism is a condition of God’s forgiveness of our sins. Some reason that acceptance of such would equal salvation by one’s own works. Others reject the necessity of baptism because of their erroneous dictum of salvation by…
Read MoreWhen I See the Blood
by Terry Wane Benton The Israelites were instructed to be ready to travel because God was going to do one last plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt that would break Pharaoh down and cause him to release the Israelites from the bondage he held them in. It is recorded in Exodus 12 that “the Lord’s Passover”…
Read MoreHe Died for My Sins
by Allen Dvorak via Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015 What would you be willing to do for your enemy? To the Romans, Paul wrote that God demonstrated His love for us “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). We (men in general) were enemies of God because…
Read MoreGo Away for Now
by Terry Wane Benton Felix trembled at Paul’s word regarding righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come (Acts 24:25). His best chance at salvation was right then, but he knew he would have to change, and right then was not a good time to change, he thought. Eternity was hanging by a thread. He said…
Read MoreWhat If This Was My Last Sermon?
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/What-If-This-Was-My-Last-Sermon.mp3 by Raymond Warfel Download Audio
Read MoreBeing Crucified with Christ
by Terry Wane Benton Formerly, Paul was an enemy of Christ and made it his mission to stomp out His church if possible. He thought he was doing God service as he searched to persecute and kill Christians, those Paul sincerely thought were heretics of the Jews’ religion. According to the law of Moses, those…
Read MoreGod Appeared in the Flesh
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/God-Appeared-in-the-Flesh.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Timothy 3:14-16 I. Before the first century ended, several varieties of false teachings arose. A. One set has been referred to as the gnostics. The name derives from the Greek word for “knowledge.” – I Timothy 6:20-21 B. These were a diverse group, but they were tied by a belief…
Read MoreChrist, the Conqueror
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Christ-the-Conqueror.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 110 I. The Jews long looked for the Messiah of God A. They saw him as a leader, like David, who would throw out the oppressive Gentiles and restore Israel to its glory days B. However, Jesus was not the conqueror they expected 1. They even tried to force Jesus and…
Read MoreWill Only Members of the Church of Christ Be Saved?
by Jeff Cavender via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 31, 1989 While talking to some friends, I stated that I attended worship services at a local church of Christ when one of them asked, “Is that the group that believes that only the members of the church of Christ will be saved?” I…
Read MoreCan We Be Sure We Are Saved?
by Sewell Hall via Gospel Guardian, 23 December 1965 Many people spend much time worrying about whether they are saved. Some believe that salvation involves some miraculous “better-felt-than-told” work of God within their fleshly heart, and they spend a lot of time trying to interpret the past events of their lives to determine if this…
Read MoreWithout Christ, All Are Lost
by Floyd Chappalear via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, 1987 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). That love was shown by Jesus Christ when he willingly died for all mankind, even those who participated in his crucifixion. While we were yet…
Read MoreGod’s Plan for Our Salvation
by Stephen Harper God, “according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (II Timothy 1:9), had a plan for our salvation, and Jesus Christ “was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (I Peter 1:20) as the sacrifice for our sins. This plan, though, was…
Read MoreWhy Didn’t He Save?
by Chadwick Brewer Often, we hear people lament the loss of a loved one. They are hurting and mourning the loss of those they hold dear, and they struggle with the question of why Christ would not take away the pain, suffering, and loss – especially when He had done so for others while He…
Read MoreThis Generation
by David Gibson Bad News! Jesus assessed the Jews of His day as “this adulterous and sinful generation” (Mark 8:38), “this evil generation” (Matthew 12:45), and “O faithless and twisted generation” (Matthew 17:17). Note the pejoratives: adulterous, sinful, evil, faithless, twisted. The Great Physician has pointedly and accurately diagnosed the fatal malady of our fallen human condition,…
Read MoreThe Problem and Solution
by Doy Moyer Some people are particularly good at troubleshooting problems. Whether electronics, cars, or engaging in household fixes, some just have that knack for figuring out what is wrong and then finding the solution to fix it. We need people like this in service positions. We need them in businesses. We need them in…
Read MoreSpiritual Israel
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Spiritual-Israel.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Galatians 6:12-18 I. I ran across someone claiming that there is no spiritual Israel, that all references to Israel are to the physical nation. A. From this position, he claimed that the kingdom was postponed because of Israel’s unbelief. B. He claims that physical Israel doesn’t exist today but…
Read MoreAssurance of Salvation
by Terry Wane Benton “So, any Christian who keeps the faith never has to be worried about their salvation. Once Saved, Always Saved is not in the Bible. Assurance of salvation is. We can know that we have eternal life” [from a comment received]. The key here is “keeping the faith.” If you keep the…
Read MoreWork Out Your Own Salvation
by Terry Wane Benton Paul encouraged the brethren at Philippi to continue obeying as they had in the past to work out their own salvation (Philippians 2:12). This did not mean that they were to work it out on their own, earning or meriting their way to heaven without provisions of grace from the Lord.…
Read MoreI Never Knew You
by Terry Wane Benton Jesus said that some religious people who believed in Him and thought of themselves as doing things “in His name” would be surprised on the day of judgment about what He would say to them. “Not everyone who says to Me,’Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who…
Read MoreGod’s Invitation
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Gods-Invitation.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Isaiah 1:16-20 I. As mentioned in the text, God offers invitations to people to examine what He is able to provide A. Jesus gave a similar invitation – Matthew 11:28-30 II. No one has to be lost A. Everyone sins – Romans 3:23 B. And the result is that we die…
Read MoreMaking Reservations
by Terry Wane Benton When we plan an important trip, we know it is important to make reservations. We have made some trips without good planning and spent time looking for hotels that were disasters. We cannot go to heaven by rejecting Jesus all of our lives, and then, just before we die, we want…
Read MoreJustified then Sanctified?
by Perry Hall For those who don’t consider baptism the point at which God grants us His grace but rather an outward sign of inward grace, some propose moving baptism from the justification column to the sanctification column. Here are two problems with that. First, the scriptural problem considering Scripture is our authority. Notice how…
Read MoreThe Purpose of the Birth of Jesus
by Terry Wane Benton Jesus was born to bring about our salvation and reconciliation with God by means of His death and resurrection. He was born to provide a pardon for sin on condition of repentance of sin and baptism into union with Him, which begins a walk of fellowship with Him (Acts 2:37-41; Romans…
Read MoreThe Call to Act
by Orlando Gonzalez Conversion stories are quite fascinating to hear, aren’t they? For me, I’ve heard my fair share of interesting stories. I have heard of men who used to be devout worldly religious members of certain denominations who were fully convinced that they were right with God. Still, when they came into contact with…
Read MoreSimplifying the Thief on the Cross
by Perry Hall Forget for now that the thief lived and died under the Mosaical Law, and Jesus’s Covenant didn’t become effective until after He died (Hebrews 9:16-28). Forget for now that we don’t know if the thief had been previously baptized by either John or Jesus’s apostles before he was captured and condemned. Many…
Read MoreSalvation: Light and Glory
by Doy Moyer Shortly after Jesus’ birth, His parents took Him to the temple “to present Him to the Lord.” There was a righteous and devout man, Simeon, upon whom was the Holy Spirit and who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see…
Read MoreYour Faith Has Made You Well
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Your-Faith-Has-Made-You-Well.mp3 Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Luke 18:35-43 I. While looking at some of the miracles of Jesus in order to answer a question, I noticed something that I had not seen before A. If you look at the various miracles, you soon realize that faith on the part of the person being healed…
Read MoreMiraculous Gifts
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Miraculous-Gifts.mp3 Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 3:1-11 I. For decades many of the traditional denominations have been in decline. A. The more liberal the beliefs, the larger the decline. Those espousing conservative views show some growth. But the ones showing strong growth are the charismatic groups B. Name the largest groups in a region,…
Read MoreThe SAME as They
by Terry Wane Benton “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are” (Acts 15:11). The Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way by the same gospel (Romans 1:16-17). There is no difference between the gospel to the Jews and the…
Read MoreWe Depend on God’s Grace for Salvation
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/We-Depend-on-Gods-Grace-for-Salvation.mp3 by Raymond Warfel [The first passage was Acts 15:6-11]
Read MoreI Hate Death
by Zeke Flores I hate death. Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash Yet, it’s all around us. My office is in a building across the street from a city cemetery, and it’s not unusual to see mourners sitting and weeping at the graves of their loved ones days, weeks, and even months after they’ve passed…
Read MoreIs There Just One Way?
by Perry Hall Is there only one way to God? Contrary to popular thought and recent comments made by the head of the Catholic Church, Jesus is the only way. But do we deeply understand what that means? Jesus is called the Way (John 14:6), and Jesus’s followers were so identified with their Lord that…
Read MoreI can’t grasp the concept of grace and that I don’t need to punish myself to be forgiven
Question: Hello sir, I have questions about sin, repentance, and the importance of confession and restitution. I love your website, and I admire your wisdom and helping others, which are completely backed up by Scripture. Your input would be greatly appreciated, sir. I also hope that by asking these questions, I will help others on…
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