All right. Let's take our Bibles
and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I'd like to read the first
four verses. 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. 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. Let's pray
together. Our Father, we ask You this evening,
bless the Word to our hearts, teach us, blessed Holy Spirit,
and these things we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you, now listen to this, the Gospel. The Gospel. What Paul is saying is there
is but one Gospel. There are not different Gospels,
there are not different interpretations, different ways. One way, I am
the truth, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The Gospel. is the gospel of God. It's the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this gospel that Paul said
he declared unto those at Corinth was a gospel of which Paul was
not unsure. It was taught, the gospel, by
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now you think about that. Christ
himself taught Paul the gospel. The Lord did. Listen to this,
Galatians 1, 11 and 12. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. So the gospel, the gospel, this
is the gospel of God. It's the gospel of God's choosing. to be the means of calling out
a sheep for the preaching of the cross, that is, the preaching
of the gospel. Preaching of the cross is the
preaching of that which the cross actually completely manifests,
everything that God everlastingly purposed to do in Christ for
His people, the preaching of the cross. For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish, that are perishing. Foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
or the literal is, unto us which are being saved, it is the power
of God. So Paul says, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. Now, declare. That's an amazing
word. The word declare, this is the
meaning. I thought this was so wonderful. It's a word that means I make
known, but it has this connotation in making known. It is to recall
to your mind as though what was made known had escaped. So what he's saying is, I am
declaring that which you have heard, but I'm telling you this
as if you had never heard it before. When I stand to preach,
when any gospel preacher stands to preach, what the desire of
our heart is, is for you to understand what is being said. Now it's
going to take the Spirit of God to reveal the heart of it, the
message of it, Christ in it. But we ought to always preach
so you can understand what I'm saying. Glenda has told me many
times, she said, people may not believe what you're saying. But
she said, believe me, they know what you're saying. You're making
it clear. I said, good, good, I want to
make it clear. So we must never assume that
anyone has ever heard the gospel in their heart. So Paul said,
I'm making known as if this was the first time you had ever heard
the gospel. He said, what I'm preaching to
you, what I've preached before, the gospel, the only gospel,
The gospel through which the Holy Spirit calls out God's elect. That's the gospel that I declare
unto you. He said that gospel which you
have received, that gospel which you have welcomed or accepted
or embraced, through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. He said, that gospel wherein
you stand, wherein you persevere, that gospel wherein you continue
to abide. And then verse 2, he says, by
which also you're saved. The gospel which is the power
of God unto salvation. He said, if you keep, if you
hold fast in memory, If you persevere in the faith, what I preached
unto you, unless you have believed in vain, unless what you have
believed has had no effect upon you. When a man or a woman is
regenerated by the grace of God, it changes them. They are a new
creature. Created in Christ Jesus, they
walk, they talk, they think like a believer. I've said that before. I'll be the first one to say,
are you saying that they are without sin? Au contraire. No,
I didn't say that. No, every believer knows the
presence of sin. But I tell you that they walk
in a spirit of humility before God. They walk realizing who
they are in Christ and what they are in Adam. They grieve over
what they see in themselves, thankful that God Almighty has
had mercy upon them. So, the evidence of a sinner
being saved is revealed this way. He holds fast to the gospel
of God, to the gospel of God's grace in Christ. And that holding
fast evidences itself in a walk. That's consistent. Listen to
Philippians 1.27. Only let your conversation, let
your walk, let your manner of life be as it becometh the gospel
of Christ. Adorn the gospel that you believe. John 6.37. talking about holding
fast, coming to Christ, continually casting yourself upon the Lord. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. He that cometh, that commits
to one's instruction, Commits to continually entering into
fellowship with the Lord. That's what a believer does.
He's continually entering in fellowship. It's a continual
walk. It's a continual coming. Now
if there's anything that I do want to be sure it's this. That
I have heard and I've received and I'm standing being saved
according to the gospel. I want that. So the Apostle Paul
says, he says in verse 3, For I have 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. Now, what
I have received from the Lord, the Apostle Paul says, that's
what I've told you. That's what I've delivered unto
you. And having received the gospel
from the Lord himself, I can speak with absolute confidence
and authority as to what the gospel is And secondly, the foundational
truth of it. Paul said, I've received of the
Lord and I've taught you concerning the gospel. Now, as to what the
gospel is, that is, what is declared when the gospel is preached.
That's what I wanted, just two things. Is it to hear the gospel? What
is the gospel? What is the gospel? And then
secondly, what do you base that on? What is the foundational
truth of what we're saying? So, here's the message of the
gospel. Paul says how that Christ died
for our sins. That's what He said, I delivered
unto you, verse 3, first of all, how that Christ died for our
sins. And then, verse 4, and that He
was buried, and that He rose again the third day. Now that's
the setting forth of the redemption of God's people. The substitutionary sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the heart, that's the message of
the gospel, the good news. That God's people are redeemed.
So, when the apostle Paul says how that Christ died for our
sins, here's the first thing that I'm going to ask. Who are you talking about? Now
remember, I'm preaching this, Paul said, to you as though you'd
never heard the gospel before. Now just imagine, this is the
first time you've ever heard the gospel. You heard it for
the first time sometime. And you don't know who's sitting
next to you, or beside you, or around you, or something like
that, that has never heard the gospel before. So I'm going to
preach for just a few minutes on the gospel as if you've never
heard it before. I delivered unto you how that
Christ died for our sins. Now let me ask you this. How
can I find out who Paul is talking about? Well, let me ask you this. Who is he writing to? Turn to
1 Corinthians chapter 1 where the book starts and look at verses
1 and 2. Now listen to who Paul is writing
to. And I'll tell you who the hour
are. Paul, 1 Corinthians 1. called
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes,
our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth."
Okay, that's the church of God. Who are they? To them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be, as in italics, called
saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord both theirs and ours." Now, unto the church of
God which is at Corinth, and then he qualifies exactly who
he's writing to. To them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus. Let me tell you exactly what
that means. To those who have been eternally set apart and
chosen in Christ Jesus, sanctified. That means justified by the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, this
is who I'm writing to. I'm talking to all those who
have been set apart by the Spirit of God, chosen in Christ Jesus,
justified by the blood and righteousness of Christ. That's who I'm writing
to. I'm talking to God's elect, that's what he said. Alright,
so if he's talking to God's elect, then I now know who he's talking
about when he says, I delivered unto you first of all that which
I have received, how that Christ died for our sins, who? The chosen,
the elect, called to be saints, though they were eternally loved
and chosen in Christ, They were born dead in trespasses and sin
and therefore must be quickened, must be made alive from the dead,
from the spiritual death by the Spirit of God and called out
of spiritual darkness and unbelief through the hearing of the gospel
and given faith to believe it. That's who Paul's writing to.
So when we hear the gospel preached, here's what we're going to hear.
We're going to hear of the death, burial, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus. No doubt about it. But, hearing
of the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is not the gospel unless What we hear is based
upon the foundational truth of God's Word. No one will ever
dispute that Christ died. No one will ever dispute that
Christ was buried. No one will dispute, historically
speaking, they'll agree with you, that He rose from the dead
on the third day. But I'll tell you what men will
dispute. is that he 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. What Scriptures? The Old Testament Scriptures.
The Apostle Paul, when he was writing this letter, this New
Testament had not been put together here like we have it. It was
letters and God was moving, the Spirit of God was moving on Paul
to write these letters. And these are inspired letters
of Almighty God as the Spirit of God moved upon these holy
men to write these things down. But when Paul was talking about
according to the Scriptures, he was talking about the Old
Testament Scriptures. Now I can tell you this, We have
no problem. When I tell you, I can tell you
who Christ died for. Who did he die for? I can say,
well, turn over to John 10, 15. That's one I use all the time.
I lay down my life for the sheep. I mean, that just settled it,
didn't it? Who did Christ die for? Well,
the Lord said, I lay down my life for the sheep. So we said,
well, according to the New Testament scriptures, The Lord Jesus Christ
died a particular death for a particular people. He died, you know, that
was particular atonement. That's what we believe. That's
what we preach. Let me ask you this. Is that what the Old Testament
Scriptures taught? Is that what the Scriptures taught?
The Old Testament Scriptures? The Apostle Paul says, I delivered
unto you how that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures. Now we can start in Genesis. And we can start with the glorious
gospel of substitution in the Garden of Eden. You know, when
Adam and Eve was going to cover themselves with fig leaves and
the Lord killed an animal and covered them with skins, I can
tell you this, I had to preach all day long on absolute. I mean, there's the death of
Christ. How are they going to be covered?
Blood is going to have to be shed. He died for Adam and Eve. God
shed an animal for Adam and Eve. But I'm going to show you a scripture
that we often read. I picked one. They're all through
the scriptures. The smitten rock. The Red Sea
that was rent. It was rent and the nation of
Israel walked across, you know, delivered. That same Red Sea
that stood up and was the deliverance. There's a picture of Christ,
the deliverer. Well, when the Egyptians came
through, the water consumed them. The judge, he was the deliverer
for Israel and the judge for Egypt. It's all through the scriptures. But let me show you this. Turn
to Isaiah. Isaiah 53. I want to show you
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. How He died particular. This was particular redemption
right here. Isaiah 53. Now, let me just do something.
Hold your place right there. Isaiah 53. But before I read
this, because I'm getting ready to do the same thing that I read
in 1 Corinthians 15, how He died for our. I want to know this
before I read. Who is this book written to? Hold your place right there.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 1. I want to read something, Isaiah
1, verses 3 and 4. This is who God, the Spirit of
God, wrote to. Book of Isaiah, chapter 1, verse
3. The ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know my people, Israel, my people, does not consider
a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel unto anger. They are gone away backward. You know who this book was written
to? God's Israel. God's people. These scriptures are written
to God's people. So whenever we read anything
in this book and it's talking to a particular people, I'm going
to tell you who they are. The God of Israel has written,
he said, they're my people. They're my people. Now let's
look at Isaiah 53 verse 4 to 6. Surely He hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgression. Whose transgression? Israel's. Spiritual Israel. Now you know
that the Lord did not die for every national son of Abraham. You know that. Scriptures declare
they're not all Israel that are of Israel. But Almighty God has
a spiritual Israel, spiritual Jews. And that's who he was stricken
for. He revealed that in the New Testament. I lay down my life for the sheep.
So we know it's so. So that's so and this is so.
But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep gone astray,
we've turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. You know that he's not talking
about the sins of the whole world. You know he's not. Who's he talking
about? He's talking about how Jesus
Christ laid down his life for the sins of His people according
to the Scriptures. How He died for us according
to the Scriptures. So here's the Lord setting forth
in the Old Testament. So how does the Scriptures declare
that He died? How does the Old Testament Scriptures
declare that the Lord died? He died as a propitiation. He died as the appeaser of God. God was going to have to be appeased.
We had broken God's law, and we're guilty, we're guilty. And God's gonna have to be satisfied,
because He's a just God. And here's the Lord Jesus Christ,
He who laid down His life for the sheep, not to make salvation
possible, but the One who secured the salvation of all that the
Father had given Him in electing grace. Listen to His prayer again
in John 17 too. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, He does with all men as He will. All souls
are Mine. He owns all things. He said, You've given me power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. We're talking about particular
redemption, particular salvation for God's people. So how can
we be so sure that Christ died according to the Old Testament
Scriptures only for God's people? How can we be so sure? Well,
I want you to consider with me just one other Scripture, keeping
with the context of this Scripture here in 1 Corinthians 15, how
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. I want you
to turn, hold your place there in 1 Corinthians 15, turn with
me to Leviticus 16. Leviticus chapter 16. For the sake of time, I'm going
to tell you what has happened, and I'm going to bring you up
to a few Scriptures here. It's on the Day of Atonement.
And there are numerous sacrifices that took place on the Day of
Atonement. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest, one day, one
day out of the year, one day, on the Day of Atonement, could
enter in to the Holy of Holies. Before that, he went into the
holy place, outside, but where that veil was, and to go behind
that veil, and to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, one
day out of the year, on the day of atonement, on the day of the
satisfaction. And on that day, now we're considering,
of the numerous sacrifices there was required, there was one sacrifice
that had to deal with two goats. And two goats were presented
before Aaron, the priest. And Aaron would cast lots over
these two goats. And one goat, whatever lot fell
upon this certain goat, that was the goat that was for the
Lord. And that goat was going to be
sacrificed. And the lot that fell on the
other goat was the scapegoat. And I'll show you what happened
concerning that sacrifice and that scapegoat. Look at Leviticus
16 and verses 20 to 22. Now you listen to this. When
he hath made, he's talking about Aaron, when he hath made an end
of reconciling the holy place, Aaron had to go in and a sacrifice
had to be made for himself. Because he was a sinner. And
even the type of Aaron being a picture of Christ. God Almighty
ordained that a sacrifice was going to have to be made for
Aaron. Because Aaron couldn't go into that. That was a picture
of the holy of holies. A picture of heaven. A picture
of going into the very presence of God. And even that had to
have a sacrifice. Not the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
No, not him. But Aaron did. Aaron did. Well,
after he had done all of that, when he had made an end of reconciling
the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar,
he shall bring the live goat. And Aaron shall lay... Now this
is the scapegoat. And Aaron shall lay both his
hands upon the head of the lied goat, and confess over him..."
What? All the iniquities of all the
people of the whole world? "...all the iniquities of the
children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,
putting them upon the head of the goat, and he shall send him
away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, and the
goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land
not inhabited, and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness."
Now, this was God's sacrifice. And that sacrifice of the goat
that was for the Lord was a picture of Christ, our substitute, our
redeemer, the one who put away by the shedding of his own blood
the sins of his people. And then this other goat, the
scapegoat, was all of the sins of the nation of Israel. How
about the Moabites? How about the Canaanites? How
about the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Jebusites? No. This was God's sacrifice
and Aaron the high priest, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
That scapegoat was a picture of Christ Himself who bore away
our sins, cast them as far as the east is from the west, put
them behind the back of God, cast them into the sea. He said,
I'm not going to remember them anymore. He put His hands and
in type, in ceremony, He confessed over that goat the sins of the
nation of Israel. only. And Almighty God was setting
forth that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Everybody will say He died for
our sins. We say He died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. So how did Christ die? He died
as a sacrifice for His people. That's what the Scriptures said,
the Old Testament Scriptures. And they're all consistent, all
of those sacrifices. Who were those pictures for? Israel. Israel. only Israel, and that he was
buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Isaiah 53, 9, and he made his
grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because
he had done no violence, neither was any deceit found in his mouth. According to his resurrection,
Psalm 16, 8-10, I have set the Lord always before me, because
He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore
my heart is glad, my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope,
for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to seek corruption. All of the prophecies concerning
the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ on the third day, the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, declares that they were fulfilled according
to the Scriptures. That's what the Holy Spirit had
Paul write, that they were set forth. This was the Gospel that
the Apostle Paul declared. This is the gospel that He said,
I preached unto you. This is the gospel that God's
people have received and wherein they stand. And they're saved
if they keep in memory that which was preached unto them unless
they believed in vain. And I'll tell you this, if they
keep in memory that which was preached unto them, they do so
by the grace of God because they're kept by the power of God through
faith. unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. So this gospel that we preach,
this is not inconsistent with the Old Testament. It's absolutely
consistent with the Scriptures, with the Scriptures of the Old
Testament. May the Lord bless the Word to our heart and our
understanding and our comfort for Christ's sake. Amen.