The resurrection of Jesus Christ stands as an essential element of the gospel: that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day (1 Cor. 15:3–4). Yet some denied the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12). Paul answered them directly, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17). At the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, and the resurrection is God’s public declaration that the payment was accepted and that righteousness has been secured. Scripture states, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God” (Rom. 4:25).
Tag: salvation by faith
How Do You Get to Heaven?
How do you get to heaven and avoid the Lake of Fire? Simple. God did the hard part. Man could not. Salvation is never what we do for God. It is what God has done for us in Christ. Jesus Christ bore the judgment we deserved, satisfied divine justice, and accomplished the work in full (John 19:30; Rom. 5:8). Our good works don't save us. His work on the cross does. The issue for the sinner is not effort, reform, ritual, or resolve. The issue is faith. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). One act of faith. One moment of trust. Eternal life is received as a free gift, not earned by good works (John 3:16; Eph. 2:8–9).
The Lake of Fire is Forever
Scripture presents the lake of fire as eternal because it is described with the same unqualified duration language used for God’s own life and for the believer’s eternal destiny. Jesus stated, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). The parallelism is decisive. The same adjective modifies both destinies. If eternal life is unending, eternal punishment must be unending as well. Any attempt to limit the duration of the punishment logically undermines the permanence of life. Scripture gives no contextual indicator that the term shifts meaning within the same sentence.
Totally by His Grace
Salvation is 100% the work of the Lord—grace from start to finish. It is all of God and none of man. No human effort, no good works, no religious activity can ever satisfy the perfect righteousness of God. Works do not save—they never have, and they never will. The only work that matters is the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, where He bore the penalty for sin in full (Mark 10:45; Rom 5:8; 1 Pet 3:18). He gets all the praise and glory.