So back to verse one of chapter
15, Paul writes, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand. The gospel which I
preached, past tense, I declare it to you now, and you stand
from here on in that gospel. The word moreover refers us back,
of course, to what Paul had just written, which showed that the
gifts, whether tongues or prophecy, had to do with the gospel being
preached. He mentioned more than once the
comforting of the sheep and the edifying, building up of the
church of God by these gifts, which that's the purpose of The
gospel is for people to believe on the savior and those who believe
to be unified and comforted Those who have no comfort now to be
comforted in him and those who are resting in him to rest all
the more Trust him all the more And so he's showing here moreover
That's what I do That's what I am doing is preaching you gospel
That is that that is the reason for the gifts Acts 17 to it says
and Paul as his manner was went in unto them and Three Sabbath
days reasoned with them out of the scriptures opening and alleging
that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead
and and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ as
his manner was. That's what he's saying right
here. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you that gospel. That's
what the gifts are for. That's what God sent me to do.
That's what a church is. An assembly of people come together
to hear of Christ and to pray to him and to rejoice in him
and worship him. When he what he mentions here
in Acts 17 to specifically the last clause of that and That
this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ We're not just
preaching Facts preaching a person The
The burden of his message was to identify a person, that this
Jesus whom I preach unto you, he's God's son, he's the Christ,
he's the Savior, he's our hope. And our text also in verse three
is the same message. You see in verse three of chapter
15, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received. What is this gospel that he's
talking about in verse one? What is it that he delivered
unto them? How that Christ died. And I know
we emphasize this all the time, but we have to constantly be
brought back, don't we? Like our Lord brings us back
to the table, as often as you drink this cup and eat this bread,
you do show the Lord's death. Whatever else we do in this church,
he brings us back to the table to remind us it's a person and
what he did. That's why we're here, literally
why we're here. And that's what he's saying here,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Same message, and we stress this,
we'll keep stressing this because this world's false gospel does
not concern a person. I've been in the middle of it.
Some of you have too. I know what it's about. It's
about going to heaven when you die. Everything is geared toward
that to make sure everybody gets to heaven when they die. And
what you have to do in order to get there. What you need to
do in order to get there. Like I say, I've been right in
the middle of it. When they had what they called visitation,
I don't know if they still do that in religion, but we would
go door to door and you talk about a clear evidence of what you're
all about, we would knock on people's doors and when they
would answer them, and I never did do the talking, I was always
kind of the sidekick, but whenever they would answer the door, they
would say, if you died tonight, do you know that you would go
to heaven? That was the question. And then if they said no and
they didn't slam the door in our face yet, they would ask
them certain questions and if they answered them right, they
would declare them saved and that now you can know that you're
going to heaven when you die. That's not the gospel. It's not
about that. Wanting to go to heaven and answering
some questions right is not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
to be saved, sinners need to hear that gospel concerning him,
how that he died for our sins according to the scriptures.
And according to the scriptures, Christ didn't die for everybody's
sins. He just did it. And religion
can say that all they want because they think that's fair. You know,
if Christ died for everybody, everybody's got an equal chance.
You know what an equal chance for everybody means? It means
we all wake up in hell one day. That's what that means. He's
got to say we need to. We need to learn what the word
save means. Save doesn't mean giving you
a shot. Save doesn't mean telling you
how to get there. If somebody is drowning out in
the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, I can't just say there's the
shore over there, man. If you can get there, that's
that's how you get. Just swim straight that way.
Have a good day. No, I'm gonna have to get them
out of the water to save them, ain't I? I'm gonna have to get
them out of the water and put them on a boat and take them
over there like the good Samaritan did for that man bleeding out
in a ditch that the law wouldn't look at and religion wouldn't
look at. but the son of God came where he was and picked him up
and poured in oil and wine and put him on his mule and took
him to the end and paid his way and say, anything else he owes,
put it on my tab. That's how you save somebody.
I think the first thing that religion needs to learn is what
the word save means. He saved us. And that's what
our text says. by which you are saved if you
keep in memory. And we'll talk about that in
a minute. It's not just about having a good memory. It's not
about wanting to go to heaven when you die. That's not what
the Lord asked that blind man in John chapter nine. He didn't
come up to him and say, would you like to go to heaven when
you die? He said, do you believe on the son of God? That's what
he asked him. Do you believe on the son? According to the scriptures,
Christ didn't die for everybody's sins, but he died for his sheep. And John 10 is so clear about
that. You know John chapter 10. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. You're not of my sheep. You believe
not because you're not of my sheep. That's why you don't believe
on me, because you're not one of my sheep. The only way you
can believe on the Son of God is if God has loved you from
the foundation of the world and you're one of his sheep. and
he gives you faith in him. He died for his sheep specifically
in John 17. He's going to the cross. My hour
has come, this is it. Father, I pray for those that
you've given me. I pray not for this world, but for those that
you've given me, that they should be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory. That's his intercessory prayer.
That's who he's representing when he goes to Calvary. His
sheep, his elect, those that the Father gave him. That's according
to the scriptures. That's how Christ died, according
to the scriptures. According to the scriptures,
Christ dying for your sins is salvation. Another word to say
that, to describe that is when he died, it was effectual. It
got the job done. Everybody he died to save are
saved. Every one of them. Some of them
don't know it yet. Some of them do. Some of them
are already in his presence. but everybody he died to save
are saved. That's how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. He did so effectually. He did not create an opportunity
for everybody. Romans 8, 33 and 34. If Christ died for me, if it's
Christ that died, if he died in my place, then I'm not chargeable
with sin. That's what he did on Calvary.
That's how that he died. He died in such a way that whoever
he gave himself for have no sin before God. The gospel is not just that he
died, it's how that he died. And that's how. Effectually,
according to the scriptures, the blood of Christ is eternal,
so that the love that is defined by his death, and that's the
only love there is now, the love that's defined by his death,
here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us and sent his son to be the sin offering for our sins. That's
what our text is talking about. He died for our sins. according
to the scriptures. That's what the word propitiation
means, sin offering. So the love defined by his death
is eternal love. Think about this when you lay
your head down tonight with all of the worries and fears and
concerns and the things that weigh upon your soul. Think about
this. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world and he hath loved us with an everlasting
love, the scripture says. You're believing on Christ and
putting your trust in him is an effect of that, not the cause. The reason you're safe is because
the omnipotent God has always loved you and always will. Christ That's what happened on
Calvary Tell you what it's worked for
me for a long time To get to sleep to be able to sleep. I
will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only
You gave yourself for my sins according to the scriptures and
only you Can make me to dwell in safety Safe though the worlds may crumble According to the scripture Christ
died for our sins you think about that love He died for our sins Scarcely for a righteous man
would even any one of us die But in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. He died for our sins. First Peter
3.18, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God. That's salvation. That's heaven. Being with him wherever he is Being put to death in the flesh But quickened by the spirit The
spotless sinless perfect lamb of God in the Old Testament a
lamb had to be without blemish and without spot in order to
be a suitable sacrifice for sin and Even in picture and type,
it shines, doesn't it? His glory shines. It is Christ's sinless perfection,
innocence, and holiness that makes Him the only acceptable
sacrifice for sin. You making a decision is not
gonna be meritorious before God. That's not gonna cut it. It must
be that Christ has died for you, the just for the unjust. It was my sins that burdened
the Savior and made his soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death in the garden. He was bearing my sins. It was
my sins that he bore to Calvary and suffered the wrath of God
for there. It was my sins that my Savior
put away by the sacrifice of himself. Paul said that when he preached
the gospel, they received it. That means to take to yourself. And they stood in it, wherein
you stand. You stand. Believing on Christ
has to do with a standing. It has to do with a position
before God. It's like when Moses said, Lord,
show me your glory. And he said, I'm gonna have to
put you in the rock. He didn't say it that way, but
you see where I'm going here. The only place that you can see
God's glory is if you're standing in the cleft of the rock. The rock. Lord Jesus Christ. We stand in him by grace through
faith Him This is the experience of salvation
you received it and you stand in it You you you take your place
in Christ before God Instead of trying to work out your own
salvation like the Jews did except those that the Lord had mercy
on and You take your place in Christ
before God, the only hiding place, the only shelter from the storm,
the only refuge without the shedding of blood. There's no remission
of sins. Second Thessalonians 2.13, we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren. Beloved
of the Lord, we give thanks to God for you. because he's the
one that hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. He chose
you to salvation through, by means of, he chose you in eternity,
and at some time and place in time on this earth, the spirit
You were born from above the Spirit set you apart from everybody
else the Lord hath put a difference Between his people in this world
And he did it by his Holy Spirit through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth These are written that you might
believe What's the truth? What's the truth that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name? There's a lot of truth, but the truth is Christ. The election of God's love he
hath from the beginning chosen you, that's the cause of salvation,
and the work of the Spirit in you is the experience of it,
and part of his work in you is to give you faith in Christ.
He said, when the spirit comes, he will show you, he will take
the things of mine and show them to you. That's the experience of God's
salvation. God did it for you. He chose
you and he died for our sins according to the scriptures. He also does the work in you. Verse two, let's talk about this
for a minute. Sinners are saved by the gospel. You think about that. We could
talk all night now about the cause of salvation that I just
mentioned is God's love. And when I say God chose a people,
that doesn't mean he chose every third one or every 10th one. He loved you. There was a people
he loved, and that's the greatest mystery of all. You're never
gonna figure out why in the world he loved you if he does. I guess he'll reveal that to
us one of these days. But I know this, the reason was
not in you. This is free love. I will love them freely, without
a cause, unconditionally. You met no condition whatsoever
to cause God to love you, but he loved you and he chose you
on that basis and no other. And that's the cause of salvation,
isn't it? But we need to understand what
verse two is talking about, by which you're saved. The gospel
is that by which sinners are saved. That's something we have,
right? We have the gospel. By God's
grace, we believe the gospel. We preach the gospel. You hear
the gospel. We worship Him around the gospel.
Sinners are saved by that gospel. Would that change anything in
the way you do things? If you happen to know anybody
that doesn't know Christ, bless God, sinners are saved like this. That's important information,
wouldn't you say? The gospel is able to say, these
are the words of eternal life. Paul said to Timothy, the gospel
that's able to make you wise unto salvation. Thank God when
he chooses sinners, when he loved you from eternity, by these means,
he put right in our hands. Please God After that in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God He looked down to
see if there was any that did Look to him follow him hear him
seek after him But the world by its wisdom knew
not God and but it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save. That's what we're talking about.
That's what this is now. Don't ever underestimate it.
Don't ever take it for granted. Don't ever look anywhere else
for any hope but in the gospel. I'm gonna keep repeating it because
your memory might be a little bit like mine. My advice to everybody,
every time, about everything, you need to hear from God. You
need to hear from God. I don't care what your problem
is, what your suffering is, what your difficulty is. I don't care how messed up you
are. You need to hear from God. Sinners are saved by the gospel. They please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
and what he did. We preach a person and his work. We preach how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures, but has risen again,
that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day,
verse four, according to the scriptures. The Jews a stumbling block and
under the Greeks foolishness But unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God And the wisdom of God If you keep in memory he said
if you keep in memory The word keep there means to
hold fast, to lay hold of it. And the word translated memory
here is a compound two-part word meaning a certain thing. One
of the words in the compound word is a certain thing, a specific
thing. And the other one is logos. If you hold fast this specific
word, if you lay hold of the truth,
if you receive the love of the truth, bless God for it, lay
hold of it. Didn't Solomon say, with all
thy getting, get wisdom and understanding? And God gives that. He speaks
that. unless you've believed in vain. Now, nobody believes in vain
if God gives them faith in Christ. That's clear, and we see that
all through the scripture. But to believe in vain is to
agree with it. You receive it in the sense that
you agree, and you give mental assent. You logically agree with
the truth of the gospel. And you might even get excited
about it. You might even love the fact
that very few know about election and predestination, but I know
about it. Oh, you know, I'm smarter than
everybody else. It's probably, you know, my mission
in life to inform everybody, you know, of the truth. To believe in vain is for your
faith and your zeal and your excitement and your and your
interest to be anything but Christ, the person of Christ. The difference in a sinner that is lost and one that is
saved is not made in that sinner's mind. by acknowledging facts and agreeing
with truths. The difference in a sinner is
made in his heart by a creative miracle of God's power and grace. And that change that God makes
in your heart is that you go from having driven the nails,
it's just as sure You hate the son of God just as surely as
if you were the one that spit on his face and drove the nails
in his hands from that. To falling in love with him.
And not being able to live without him. Saying I can't let you go. I've got nowhere else to go. You have this gospel. You have
the words of eternal life. I've got nowhere else to go. That's the difference. And it
changes everything up here. But the difference is made in
here. The difference is you're a new creature. You're a new
person. You're a person now that loves
Christ and bows to Christ and honors Christ and sees him as
he who is alone worthy of all of our adoration, our obedience,
our service, in our worship. That difference is made by God. God gives faith in his son, which
causes a sinner to lay hold of him, to love him. Listen to Hebrews
4.1. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it, for unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. Let us therefore fear, because
the gospel was preached to God's people, the Israelites, who are
not spiritual Israel. They're earthly Israelites, who
were a type of God's elect. But God didn't save earthly Israel. He saved spiritual Israel. And
all of his promises are yea and amen in Christ, not Abraham.
So let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For
unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the
word preached did not profit them. Why not? What was the difference? Not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it. When they heard it, they didn't
believe it. They didn't believe God. And by his grace, we did. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. You agree
with doctrine in vain. You make a decision for Jesus
in vain. All is vanity unless and until
God gives you faith in his son. These are written that you might
believe. God wrote it. He's the author
of the word that you believe, and he's the author of your faith
too, to believe. The author and finisher of it. So how then does God do that?
How does he mix faith in us as we hear the gospel? How do we,
how do we, how do we believe? Do we just get, Some epiphany
in the night or something? Nope. Romans 10, 17, so then
faith cometh by hearing. The way God will give you faith
is right through here. But not just that. Hearing by
the word of God. You've got to receive it like
we talked about the other day, I believe in the book of Thessalonians,
as the word of God himself. You've got to believe God. And as Paul said that happens
by grace. It's by grace through faith Look at verse 3 in for I delivered
unto you first of all That which I also received how 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 Didn't deliver to them his remarks on that his
opinions his deductions his thinking on it He delivered exactly what
he received The gospel Which is not just
that Christ died, but how that he died according to God When
he says how that Christ died according to the scriptures I
What he's saying there clearly is how that Christ died according
to God. What God says about how he died.
Not our sentimental sense of fairness or whatever. Religious reprobates have their
thoughts on it. They say that Christ died for
our sins to give everybody a chance to be saved. That sounds so sweet,
doesn't it? Problem is, if that's true, then
there is no God, and there is no hope. Because there's no God
like that, I guarantee you that. That's not God. He gives everybody a chance to
decide that they'll be saved. That's just blasphemy. That's
not according to the scriptures. How that Christ died has to do
with why he died. Listen to what God says about
that. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Again, what does save mean? Does that mean give you a shot?
If he came into the world to save somebody and they go to
hell because they didn't decide the right way, then he didn't
save them. He came to save them and he failed
to save them. That's not my Savior. That's
not my Savior. John 6, 38, for I came down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which he has given me. In other words, all the ones
that he interceded for as he went to Calvary. All that you've
given me, I pray for the ones that you've given me. Here's
why I came. Because the Father told me and
gave me this mission, that of all which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of him that
sent me. You wanna know how you get in on that tonight? Well,
wait a minute, did the Father give me to the Son? I don't know, and you don't either,
until and unless God gives you faith in Christ. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the
sun. How do you see the sun? He's
not down here, not visibly. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen, the substance of things hoped for. And faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the gospel. Everyone which seeth the sun
and believeth on him may have everlasting life. then I'll raise
him up at the last day. Am I elect, Chris? Is my name
in the book of life? Did the Father give me to the
Son in eternity? I don't know. Do you believe
on the Son of God? If so, then yes. To all of the
above. According to the scriptures,
what did Christ accomplish when he died? Hebrews 9, 11. But Christ
being come and high priest of good things to come, who did
the high priest represent? Israel, God's elect, spiritual
Israel, typified in that. by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves like they did then,
but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Everybody he represented
as high priest, those that the father gave him, his elect, his
sheep. He died to save his sheep and
when he died, he saved his sheep. That's what that scripture says.
And nothing could be plainer. The rest of this passage names
how many saw him die and saw him live again. He died for our
sins and he was raised again because he was and is the sinless,
spotless lamb of God. who was victorious in his death
simply because of who he is that died. God's eternal, sinless, perfect
lamb gave himself for our sins and was buried and rose again
the third day. What do you see when you look
to Calvary? Victim or a victorious conqueror Do you see sin Or do you see the Savior that
put away our sin Whatever you see tonight If you
see it all You will see for all eternity Because he was God's
lamb on the cross he's God's lamb on the throne. By his grace we sing now and we'll sing then
worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb for he was
slain and has redeemed us unto God by his blood out of every
kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue under The gospel's plain, isn't
it, and simple, but so powerful, so life-changing, so glorious. May God give us eyes and faith to believe on Him.
Let's pray.