- 00:04
- The doctrine of the week for this Sunday is the gospel, which is salvation by grace through faith.
- 00:12
- The Greek word, Evangelion, which is where we get the term evangelical, it means glad tidings or the good news.
- 00:23
- In 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 4, the Apostle Paul writes,
- 00:28
- Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which
- 00:42
- I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which
- 00:47
- I also received, 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.
- 01:01
- So this is the gospel. Christ died for our sins and rose again.
- 01:08
- And those who receive and trust in the gospel receive the gift of eternal life.
- 01:14
- Now, the controversy regarding the gospel historically, as many of you well know, is this.
- 01:24
- It's between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Rome says salvation is by faith plus works.
- 01:33
- The Protestants say, no, it's by faith alone, and that works are simply the evidence of saving faith.
- 01:43
- So we would ask, well, which is correct? Well, how do you determine that?
- 01:49
- The word of God says this in Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
- 02:05
- For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
- 02:11
- God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So in conclusion, a great man once said, salvation is by faith alone, but the faith that saves is not alone, meaning that works accompany true saving faith.
- 02:34
- As the book of James says, faith without works is dead.
