May it please Almighty God to
bless us together as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let's turn
to the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 15,
and we'll read verses 19 and 20. The first epistle of Paul
to the Corinthians, chapter 15, and reading verse 19 and 20. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is
Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them
that slept. We should be very thankful that
we have the Word of God and how the Holy Spirit instructed those
writers that wrote the various parts of it to explain things
so well and to direct us quite clearly into the great plan of
salvation and to realize as again and again we are reminded in
the Word of God this is our earthly life and all of us have another
life an eternal life and what a blessing if this earthly life
that you and I are in now is a preparation for our eternal
life and that we don't come through this life on this earth without
any preparation for our eternal life And as a result, when we're
called to leave this earth, we sink into that abyss of darkness,
which is hell. And so we should be thankful
indeed to think that we, as people, indeed as a nation, have the
Word of God to be able to read, to consider, to meditate on and
to ponder, and to be blessed as the Word may be applied to
our hearts to realise that our hope is indeed based on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness and that the way of the salvation
was indeed set forth in the early chapters of Genesis and so it
flows right through the Word of God and as we come Indeed
to the latter chapters we see the glorious plan which involved
none less than the Son of God, who bore our punishment instead
of us, who indeed died that we might live. He took our sins
and washed them away in the fountain of his most precious blood. And so as we read the truth of
God, Maybe recognise the greatness of that salvation and to think
that it was planned back in eternity past. You know, I can't really
understand that. It's just beyond our comprehension.
But how true it is to know that Father, Son and Holy Spirit agreed
on a great and glorious plan of salvation to save rebellious
man. And now we see, right back in
the beginning of Genesis, Adam and Eve rebelling against God. And mankind continues to rebel
against God. Adam and Eve were told very clearly
that they must not eat of that tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. And yet, you see, under temptation
they listened to the evil words of the devil. My friends, don't
think the devil's got any softer, any weaker. He's more desperate
as he gets near to the end of time and realizing he works harder
to try and separate us from the things of God and to make us
believe that the truth of God is, well, not so important as
we might think. Well, just remember, The devil
has always been a liar. He was in the Garden of Eden.
He hasn't changed. He's still the same today. So
may you and I have grace not to, first of all, listen to him,
and more importantly, not to believe what he says. Let us
remember we have the Word of God, which God has given us as
that infallible guide You and I won't make any mistakes if
we follow the truth of God. If we depart from it and listen
to the devil, we'll no doubt make tremendous mistakes which
may end up in our eternal destruction. So we should thank God that we
have such an account in the Word of God to encourage us and the
details it gives to us of the plan of salvation and what, how
that was achieved. And it was achieved through none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, when he willingly came into this
world to fulfil the will of his father. Again, that well-known
verse is so amazing, John 3, 16, for God the father so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Isn't that wonderful? To think
that you and I, as unworthy sinners, who often turned our back upon
God, who often decided to try and plan our own path, and to
walk our own path. But what a wonder it is that
God is in control. And what a wonder it is that
God looks down from heaven, knows where we are, knows what we're
thinking, and comes and deals with us in love to our soul. Well, we should come tonight
and be so thankful for these great and wonderful truths. And so the apostle comes and
he starts this 15th chapter with glorious words. Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel. Isn't that a great statement?
And then he's honest. And as I often said, the children
of God recorded in the word of God are honest in what they say.
It's not through pride or anything. He's able to declare. I declare
unto you the gospel. which I preached unto you, which
also ye have received, and wherein ye stand." Now, it's only you
and I that know whether that word is true with reference to
ourselves. We've heard the gospel preached,
every one of us. And I hope you can all say, yes,
I have heard the gospel preached. And then the question is, The
Apostle says, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. Two statements there. First of
all, have we received the truth of God? Have we received the
Word of God? And are we standing in those
grand and glorious truths? that we've been able to read
and perhaps meditate upon and perhaps take to our heart and
hopefully rejoice in that great and wonderful plan of salvation. Because the Apostle goes on to
tell us, by which also ye are saved. And you and I need to
be saved from that place of destruction in hell. You and I cannot save
ourselves. We have no ability. We're poor
sinful creatures. But what a blessing to know that
we are saved because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says, by which also
ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
ye have believed in vain. The apostle puts it quite clearly
and frankly, doesn't he? Because all of us here have listened
to the Gospel. All of us here have listened
to the Gospel. And have we kept it in memory? Have we kept it in memory, the
things that we've heard? The devil doesn't want you to
remember. He wants you to forget all about it. And how often,
perhaps, you've sat and listened to a sermon, got outside chapel,
if anybody asked you, what did you hear tonight? You wouldn't
have a clue. You wouldn't know what was said.
Well, I hope that's not true. But it may well be true. It may
well have been true. And so here the apostle says,
if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain. We don't want to believe in vain,
do we? We want to be amongst those who, by the grace of God,
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. and his great and glorious finished
work. Well, the Apostle in this chapter
really homes in on the finished work of the Saviour. And not
only that, but what he then did, he rose again from the dead. You may ask, you young ones may
ask, why is that important? Because if Christ had died, there
would be no Saviour. Well, He did die because He followed
the plan of His Father in heaven. He finished the work that His
Father gave Him to do. And always be thankful and rejoice
in the words that Jesus spoke on the cross, His final words
on the cross before He died. I hope you all know what that
was. It is finished. He'd been on the earth for 33
years, enduring all the hardships and difficulties. He'd lived
a normal life with his family and in the world, and he had
to endure so much. And then, of course, the last
three years of his life, when he was revealed by John the Baptist
as the Son of God and was baptised in Jordan, and those glorious
words came from the father, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. And then for those three years
he ministered in so many places and preached the glorious gospel
and set before mankind the way of salvation. And then finally,
he gave his life as a sacrifice. There had been, through the Old
Testament, Sacrifices set forth so clearly showing the need for
sacrifices to take away sin and of course they could never really
take away sin. And then Christ came and gave
himself as that wonderful and complete sacrifice. He died upon
that cross at Calvary. But although he was laid in the
grave as one dead, He laid there for those three days as the prophets
have said and as the Saviour Himself said. And then He rose
from the dead. And He rose from the dead a conqueror. Yes, He'd achieved all that was
set before Him by His Father. A conqueror over sin. death,
hell and the grave. And what a blessing it is that
he rose from the dead to die no more, no more. He is alive
forevermore. And we've just read a little
bit about it here in this chapter and the Apostle said in verse
11, therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach And so
ye believed. How essential that is for all
of us to be amongst those who believe. None of us will go to
heaven unless we've believed the great and glorious truth
of the gospel. And that means that Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God, came into this world to satisfy
the holy demands of his father and to pay the price required
to free us of our debt of sin and that price was nothing less
than his life and so says the apostle now if christ be preached
that he rose from the dead why how say some among you, but there
is no resurrection of the dead. But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain. That means we needn't preach
at all. And your faith, that means faith in believing, is
also vain. Yeah, and we are found false
witnesses of God. That means we're not being truthful. Because we have testified of
God that he raised up Christ when he raised him not up, if
so be and the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is in vain. It won't achieve anything. Ye
are yet in your sins, lost and ruined in the fall. Then they
also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished eternally. Terrible, tragic thought. If
in this life only We have hope in Christ. We are of all men
most miserable. Well, my friends, you and I must
analyze our own thoughts, our own heart as to whether that's
true, that it's only in this life we have hope in Christ.
We are of all men most miserable. But then the apostle says, but
now. But now when it was written,
and it's a but now still today for you and me, but now is Christ
risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that
slept. You may perhaps wonder why he
uses an illustration like that, well of course In the Old Testament
times, when they had harvests, they always had to bring the
first fruits, that's the first part of the harvest, the best
part of the harvest, and to offer it up to God. That's why it's
worded like this. But now in Christ, is Christ
risen from the dead and become the first fruits he gave himself,
as that perfect sacrifice. And here was the glorious harvest
of the church of God. And he was the first fruits. And it goes on, for since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam, all die. All
die, think of that. Adam and Eve's sin brought death. into the world and ever since
that day death has come upon all mankind apart from those
who were taken up to glory without physically dying but nonetheless
that's the situation and so we're told for since by man came death
By man came also the resurrection of the dead, for as in Adam all
die, so even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Eternal life. It's a very attractive
thought, isn't it? To be one that spiritually never
dies. We are eternally alive. We're
eternally alive because, not of what we've done, but for what
Christ has done in order to come and to redeem our souls. Well, it's a wonderful consideration
and how true it is. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die in vain. He died to complete the will
of his Father and to stand in our place We were due to receive
that punishment for our sins, but the Lord took that punishment
Himself, that punishment due to you and me. Amazing, isn't
it? If we look at ourselves, what
do we see? Well, the Apostle Paul tells
us, in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Do you
view that as true? You look at yourself, your flesh,
you realise you're sinful. There's no really good thing. And therefore you need a saviour. I need a saviour. And what a
wonderful gospel we have which sets before us the finished work
of salvation to know that we are saved with an everlasting
salvation. And so, as the apostle says,
but now, is Christ risen from the dead. Yes, death could not
hold the Saviour, and He rose a conqueror over sin, death,
hell, and the grave. And as we know, at least I hope
you know, He lived on the earth then, or at least He lived another
40 years when He was revealed a number of times to the people
on the earth. It was seen very clear only to
His children, the redeemed, the Lord, but then he ascended up
to heaven. Ascended up to heaven. What a wonderful picture we have
of that when the Lord Jesus did indeed ascend up into heaven. And we can read that in the first
chapter of the Acts and the last chapter and 24th of Luke. We
have those beautiful pictures of Jesus going up into heaven. And we're told he will return
in all his glory. to receive his church on that
great day when the end of all things will occur. But now we
need to realise, yes, that the Lord Jesus Christ, he conquered
and indeed he is risen from the dead. It's a risen saviour that
we have. He's not a dead saviour. Death could not hold him. Death
could not hold him. He rose a conqueror from the
dead. And what a wonderful truth that
is and how important it is for us because as we pray, in our
prayers, we come in our prayers and our prayers come in that
way. We pray to our Father in heaven
through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his work. And he tells us in the third
chapter of Philippians, the last very verse, we're told, well
let me read the 20th verse. For our conversation is in heaven,
for whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, it's good to examine such
a word as that and to recognise whether that's true of us, whether
our conversation is heavenly conversation. It's very often
not heavenly, isn't it? We're very earthy, but may it
be our desire that our conversation is in heaven from whence also
we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even
to subdue all things unto himself. That's a wonderful prospect,
isn't it? To think of, as you and I look at ourselves and realise
how sinful we are, How easily we sin in thought, word and deed,
and yet there's this glorious promise to the Church of God
that the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, will do. He'll change
our vile body. Do you sometimes think of that
like that? You look at yourself and think,
what a vile character I am. Naturally, we don't want to think
like that. But when the Holy Spirit shows
us what we are before a holy God, we'll realise we are indeed
a vile character. And we won't disagree with what
the Apostle tells us here, that it may be fashioned like unto
his glorious body, made like unto him, the wonderful and glorious
Saviour, according to the working whereby he is able, even to subdue
all things unto himself. Now that's a very grand statement. To understand and to know that
our sins can be subdued. God can subdue them. I wonder if you understand what
that means. When sometimes we appear to be
overcome with sin, perhaps in our thoughts, Perhaps we don't
want them. Perhaps they flood in. The devil
knows how to do that. And we have to realize how sinful
we are and then to realize that we have such a God which comes
and changes, changes us so that our conversation and our thoughts
are God-ward. And he relieves us sometimes
of the agony sin which sometimes grips us we don't seem to free
ourselves from it well bless God he does and he can free us
from these things and lead us sometimes into as the Psalmist
David says into green pastures pastures where we can rest and
where we can feed and rejoice in our Heavenly Shepherd. It's
a good scene, it's a good and wonderful thing to desire and
to understand and to appreciate and to realize it's all because
we have a risen Saviour. A risen Saviour. Now that risen
Saviour, where is He today? He's in glory. Where is he in glory? We're told
he's seated on the right hand of our Father. And what is his
wonderful purpose there? It's to intercede for us in our
prayers, as a glorious intercessor, as a high priest. In the Old
Testament times, the high priest, just once a year, just once a
year, went into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and then in
the temple and he couldn't go there without blood. Shed blood,
had to show that blood was necessary. The animal, which was symbolic
of the Saviour, had to be killed. He went in there to confess the
sins of Israel. And that was a picture of what
was to come. And then, of course, we have
the reality of it in the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave his self
as that one sacrifice, and there was no need for the Saviour to
then go into the holy place. He'd got in once. He'd given
himself, all of himself. He died upon that cross at Calvary. And so today, our access to our
Father in Heaven is through that glorious intercessor, our High
Priest. So superior to an earthly High
Priest. The earthly High Priest could
only go in once a year, and every time he went in, he had to cleanse
himself first before he could bring before God the sins of
the people. And never without blood. But
Christ Jesus has entered in to the holy place once, and there
he sits today to intercede for you and me to our Father in heaven. Well, isn't it wonderful to realise
we have such a glorious intercessor? And so these words are so true,
but now, is Christ risen from the dead? Yes my friends he's
risen and he's in glory and he's there. What a mercy then that
you and I as unworthy sinners can therefore come and approach
unto the majesty on high and gain access to our father through
what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished when he gave his life upon that
cross at Calvary when he shed his precious blood to show quite
clearly that he had given his life, and indeed what a painful
death it was, he bore the punishment instead. Well, you know, the
Apostle Paul who wrote this epistle also knew the great and wonderful
plan of salvation I often think with the Apostle Paul, of course,
he knew the law, he knew it very well, he'd been brought up a
Pharisee, and he was a Pharisee, he was pleased with himself,
what he could do, and he knew the law very well, and yet he
was against Christ. He was an enemy of Christ, until
that never forgotten day on that Damascus road when God came and
met with him. In his life it was a most amazing
occasion and in measure, in measure all of God's people have what
we might say a Damascus road experience. It may be nothing
as powerful as it was in the Apostle Paul's life, but nonetheless,
it does come to us and there is a change, a change in your
life and my life. When we begin to think about
the reality of eternity, and we begin to think about our sinful
condition, and perhaps we begin to come and pray to God that
he will have mercy upon us. Well, what a blessing that is,
if you and I know that. It may not, as I say, be anything
as powerful as the Apostle Paul had, but nonetheless, it will
have the same eventual effect, and we shall truly be able to
praise and thank God for his wonderful mercy and for his wonderful
blessings. The Apostle Paul, a number of
times, gave his testimony. You read the Acts of the Apostles,
and the Apostle gave his testimony. And you might say, well, what
does that mean? Well, he told those people who he was speaking
to what God had done for him, how God had converted him. He had a testimony. You know,
all of us need to have a testimony. Doesn't need to be long, can
be very short. But we need to have a testimony
that tells how God came and met with us. In whatever way that
may be, the Apostle Paul tells, and especially we have the account
when Paul became before Agrippa and various other eminent people,
You may think, surely, that you have been afraid of such an austere
company, to have to testify of the things of God, but not at
all. We read, Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted
to speak for thyself. Paul stretched forth his hand
and answered for himself, I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because
I shall answer for myself. this day before thee touching
all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews, especially because
I know that thee to be expert in all customs and questions
which are among the Jews, whereof I beseech thee to hear me patiently. Well, we won't go through the
long testimony. You can go home and read it.
It's Acts chapter 26, and it's a very encouraging account. And
he tells him just very briefly, the first couple of verses, my
manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among
my own nation at Jerusalem. Now all the Jews, which knew
me from the beginning, if they would testify that after the
most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand in them judged
for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers. And he goes on and says, why
should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God
should raise the dead? And he tells them, he says, I
ought to do many things after, things contrary to the name of
Jesus of Nazareth, which things I also did in Jerusalem. And
you and I may have done many things against the Lord Jesus
Christ. we may have denied the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you may say, well, I don't
think I've ever denied the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let me just
oppose a position which it might have been. You know, sometimes
when we're in a crowd or with people, perhaps it might only
be two, whatever it is, and they may be speaking, and then they
may indeed speak about the things of God. we immediately inside
become a bit embarrassed. And what we do is we quickly
try and change the conversation so that we won't have to confess
that in actual fact we also are a Christian. And what are we
doing then? We're denying the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we don't
want Christ to deny us, do we? Surely we don't
want Christ to deny us. So we shouldn't deny the Lord
Jesus Christ. We should be bold. And here we
have the Apostle Paul. And really he was in a situation
of life or death. He knew that they could put him
to death. But you see, he wasn't afraid. And he declared the great and
glorious truth of God. And what a wonderful, wonderful
testimony he gives and just a couple of further points he tells us
the Lord said, but rise and stand upon thy feet for I have appeared
unto thee for this purpose to make thee a minister and a witness
both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things
in the which I will appear unto thee delivering thee from the
people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee, to
open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me. What does he say? Remember he's
before the king. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I
was not disobedient, unto the heavenly vision, but showed first
unto them at Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all
the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. And then he goes on, having obtained
therefore help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both
the small and great saying none other than those which the prophets
and Moses did say should come and here we have this grand truth
that Christ should suffer and that he should be the first that
should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people
and to the Gentiles. A faithful testimony of the Apostle
before Agrippa. And really it was to testify
so very clearly. But now is Christ risen from
the dead. It wasn't a dead Christ. He was a risen Christ. And it
would be a wonderful blessing tonight if you and I can testify
by the grace of God that we know that Christ is risen because
he's been with us, he's helped us, he's spoken to us, he's strengthened
us, he's encouraged us and to realise that our hope is based
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That means,
based on his finished work, that work at Calvary's Cross. Well, tonight, is that true in
your life and my life? Do we truly rejoice in such wonderful
wonderful statements and come and praise God for his goodness
and mercy toward us. Well God is faithful my friends
and God supports his people and we can call upon me he says in
the day of trouble. Whatever our situation may be
we may fear our weakness, we may fear our sinfulness, we may
fear denying Our Lord and Master, my friends, we can cry unto God
that he will give us strength and might in our inner man, enable
us to testify and to stand firm and to not be ashamed of the
gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and be able to
rejoice in these words that we have in this chapter. And if
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain. Well, I hope your faith and my
faith is not vain. And not vain because we have
the understanding, our spiritual innermost being, with that knowledge
that Christ is risen, He is risen, is on the Father's right hand,
and He does intercede for us. It's amazing, isn't it? to think
that God should intercede with God for such unworthy sinners. And when you think of the millions
and billions of people there are and have been and yet God
is mindful of everyone and to think that he's mindful of you
and me. Here we are sat in chapel tonight He knows what we've been
thinking. He knows what we are thinking.
And I hope we've been thinking good things and not bad things. Because my friends, all those
sins that we commit have to be paid for and to bring us back
to God. The work of God is spoken to
us in that wonderful word of atonement that really means at
one meant to bring us back to God those who've wandered away
which we no doubt have when we were younger we may have wandered
away and yet to think that God has watched over us we haven't
wandered out of God's sight we'll never be able to that's a grand
and glorious truth isn't it so may we indeed praise and Bless
God for his great salvation and thankful indeed that he has become
the first fruits of them that step. He was the first one to
rise from the dead. He satisfied the demand of the
things demanded of him by his father. He didn't fail and it's
good sometimes just to ponder what he endured when he came
to the end of his life in the Judgment Hall and in Gethsemane
and on the cross, what agony that pure and perfect man, because
it was his manhood, suffered in our stead, on our behalf. Do we not have to come and say
from the bottom of our heart, what a saviour, what a saviour. that you look upon such an unworthy
sinner as me and call me by his grace. No doubt was it that John
Newton was able to pen those words, dear old John Newton,
left to himself, he was a vile sinner, which he confesses and
he's able to write and tell us the great truth of God, amazing
grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. It's grace that set me free.
Well, I believe that's a song that the whole Church of God
can echo, and it would be a great blessing if you and I this evening
can come and stand four square with John Newton, thankful for
our great salvation. Well, may we rejoice tonight
in the fact that we have a risen saviour who will never die again.
He's alive forevermore. This is the greatness of our
God. And may we have that faith to
come and to believe in his finished work, so we come and say, is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That is a good and a firm foundation. That is a foundation that you
and I can rest upon that rock, Christ Jesus. Well, may all of
us be found there and indeed at last be found in glory forever. Amen.