Let us turn again to God's Word
in the epistle that we were reading, 1 Corinthians. We were reading
in chapter 1, but I want us to turn now to the last chapter,
or I should say the last but one chapter, that great 15th
chapter that we have in this epistle, and I'll read the first
four verses in chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verses 1 to 4. Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are
saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you. unless ye
have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which 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. And in particular,
tonight I want to center your attention upon the words that
we have in the third verse. and to say something with regards
to the great doctrine of the atonement. Last Lord's Day evening
we were looking at those words in Psalm 65 and verses 3 and
4. The blessings of sovereign grace. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee and so forth. and thought of the blessing of
that sovereign grace in terms of the doctrine of the Trinity,
that all that God is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is involved
in the salvation of sinners. But here, of course, when we
come to address the matter of the doctrine of the Atonement,
it concerns in particular the second person in the Godhead.
It was not the Father that came in the fullness of the time,
nor was it the Holy Spirit that became a man. It was God the
Son. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. The child was born what was conceived in the womb
of the Virgin Mary, that holy thing, that human nature, a true
man, body and soul, but that holy thing was joined to the
eternal Son of God, He was given. Unto us a child was born, a son
was given. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman made under
the law to redeem. them that were under the law. The great work of redemption
then was accomplished by the eternal Son of God. And here is Paul writing to the
Corinthians and in a sense, I think I've said this before when we've
looked at parts of this passage of Scripture, he's defining something
of the Gospel. He speaks of that which he had
preached. in the opening two verses. Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand, by which
also ye are saved. What is this gospel? Well, he
defines it really when we come to verses 3 and 4. For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received, Now 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. The Gospel is all in accordance
with what is written in the Word of God and it concerns principally
the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember,
we find something very similar, of course, in the opening verses
of what Paul writes to the church at Rome. Again, he defines the
gospel. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. And then
the second verse is really a parenthesis. It's what God had promised in
the Holy Scriptures. It's all according to the Scriptures.
But having spoken there at the end of verse 1 of that Gospel
that he was separated unto, he then defines the Gospel concerning
his Son, Jesus Christ. Our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the
Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead." Whenever he defines the Gospel,
he's defining it always in terms of this man, the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and this great work that he accomplished, his
atoning work. And that's what I want us to
consider this evening for a little while as we see it set before
us here in this third verse of this 15th chapter in 1st Corinthians. Christ's atoning death. And four
heads really that I want to look at. First of all We have to recognize
the nature of the death. What was the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ? It was no natural death. It was judicial. It was a penal death that the
Lord Jesus Christ died there upon the cross. And so in order
to his death there was something of a mockery of a trial that
must take place there must be some process of law that's attended
to it's not to be an arbitrary punishment
what sort of a trial was it? well as I said it was somewhat
a mockery of a trial but he was ultimately executed
and executed as one who was being treated as a criminal. In that trial we know that there
were various witnesses that were called. Mark speaks of that in
chapter 14 at verse 55 and the following verses and we're told,
aren't we, that their witness contradict one another. How cruelly he was treated, false
accusations, things being said that were not true. And how in
the course of that trial he seems at times to be passed from pillar
to post. Initially, he's taken before
the Jewish Council, Caiaphas is the High Priest, but they
have to acknowledge that they don't have the authority to execute
a man. In John 19.31, it is not lawful
for us to put any man to death, they admit it. So what do they
do? They brought him before their
own council, there he's been somewhat mocked, and then they
send him off to to Pontius Pilate, who as the authority, he is the
official, he is the Roman governor. And so he is taken from Caiaphas
and sent, it says, to the judgment hall. It's a judgment hall, it's
a trial. And His judge begins to question
him and then we're told aren't we that he discovers that this
man is of Nazareth in Galilee and why King Herod whose jurisdiction
is in Galilee is there in Jerusalem. And so Pontius Pilate sends him
off to King Herod who would want to see Jesus. He longed to see
him that Christ might perform some miracle for him. But then
Herod sends him back to Pontius Pilate. How he's passed from
pillar to post and all of these parts of the awful trial. That's such a mockery. He's an
innocent man. And that's the conclusion that
his judge comes to. It's interesting that in the
Creed, in the Apostles Creed of course, we have that statement,
he suffered under Pontius Pilate. And it is a significant statement
of the faith. There is the admission, you see,
that his trial is judicial. His death is penal. That's an
important aspect of the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
suffered under Pontius Pilate. But what a man was Pontius Pilate.
because he knew that this was an innocent man, and three times
before the Jews he states that fact, at the end of John 18,
38, I find in him no fault at all, he declares. And then he
repeats it in the following chapter, in chapter 19, at verse 4, and
again at verse 6, I find no fault in him. Three times then he declares
the innocence of this man, But weak-minded as he is, he bows
to the mob who are demanding away with him and crucify him. But then he thinks, well, it's
the season of the Passover, and at that time he was wont to release
some prisoner to the Jews. And he thinks, well, maybe I
can release this man. the Lord Jesus Christ but then
they cry out Barabbas and Barabbas was a murderer but this is all
part and parcel of the sufferings of Christ, his penal death he
is associated with a murderer, a murderer is released this man
is to be crucified now he was numbered with the transgressors
even when they lead him away. There are two other malefactors
led away with him to be put to death. He's very much in the
company then of those who are criminal in their lives. It's
a judicial death that this man is to suffer. And remember how
it's prophesied there in Old Testament Scripture, in Isaiah
53, He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His
death. Because there is one who comes
forward, Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, a disciple of the
Lord Jesus, begs the body of Christ from Pontius Pilate and
then is able to take that holy body and to put it in his own
new tomb, it says. It was a new tomb. A tomb in
which never man had laid. There was nothing of corruption
in that grave where they laid the holy body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Bedau is numbered with the wicked. With the criminal fraternity,
we might say. in his death, but also numbered
amongst the rich men of this world, the fulfillment of Scripture.
It's all according to the Scriptures, both his dying, his burial, and
his resurrection. Twice we have it here in verse
3, again in verse 4, according to the Scriptures, the fulfillment
of the Word of God. But when we think of his death,
the penalty that is visited upon him there's a deeper spiritual
significance because it says Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures he dies as a public person and of course in this chapter
we're reminded of that Adam the first man was a public person
Adam stands at the head of all the human race, representative
of all those who will descend from him. We're all descendants
of Adam and Eve. And isn't Adam spoken of in the
chapter? Verse 22, As in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And then later on,
verse 45, So it is written, the first man Adam was made a living
soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Verse 47,
the first man is of the earth, the second man is the Lord from
heaven. There are two men here. And it
was the Puritan Thomas Goodwin who would say that in the sight
of God there were but two men. There's the first man, Adam,
and there's the last Adam. the Lord Jesus Christ, Adam the
first, is a type of him who was to come. A man there is, a real
man, with wounds still gaping wide, from which streams of blood
once ran in hands and feet and sides, says Joseph Hartz in the
hymn, or the man Christ Jesus. And Adam, a remarkable type of
him, We see it not only here in this chapter, we have it again
in the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans and the language
that the Apostle uses in that chapter. Verse 12, Wherefore
as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so
death passed upon all men. for that all have sinned, or
as it says in the margin in whom all have sinned all we sinned
in Adam but there's another there's the last Adam, the second man,
the Lord from heaven and so it goes on doesn't it later here
in the chapter verse 17 for if by one man's offence death reign
by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one man or by one
Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life." And surely, friends, the vital question for
us tonight is which of those two men are we found in? All
by nature we're all in the first Adam, of course we are. But by
the grace of God there are those who are in the last Adam. And how are they found in Adam
in their soul's experience? By faith. or to be those who
by faith are in that man. The first Adam, he sinned so
grievously. But this, the last Adam, how
he has fulfilled all righteousness. How he has honoured and magnified
the law. How he came to pay the great
ransom price. And this is what the Apostle
speaks of here. He died for our sins, he says. according to the Scriptures,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, to pay the redemption price, to attend that they might
receive the adoption of sons, or that they might come to possess
that eternal adoption, to know that in the sonship of the Lord
Jesus Christ they become the sons of God. He is that one who
is the only begotten Son of the Father. But they have from in
that spirit of adoption whereby they can cry, Abba Father. Here
we see then what the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was and
the consequence of it. But how the Lord of God must
be honoured. The Lord demands the punishment
of sin. God can by no means clear the
guilt. No remission without the shedding
of blood. This is what the Lord demands
us all that sinneth it shall die. The wages of sin is death. It's inevitable. It must be so.
Because God is a holy God. and the righteous God. A God of eyes too pure to behold
iniquity, he cannot look upon sin. He will not clear the guilt
without the shedding of blood, the giving of life. And that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. He has paid that dreadful
penalty. He has died, the just for the
unjust, to bring sinners unto God. God is so well pleased with
him. Oh how God owns and acknowledges
him. At his baptism you remember the
voice from heaven, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. As he begins now that great work
that he came to accomplish. As he enters into his public
ministry. And then later on the Mount of
Transfiguration the Father repeats it. This is my beloved son in
whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him, all those favourite
three of the Lord's disciples. They see through all the veil
of His humanity and His humility, they see something of the glories
that belong unto Him as the eternal Son of God. He's transfigured. And the Father owns Him as He's
executing the work that the Father had given Him to do. And He knew
that the Father heard Him always. because his one desire was obedience. We were thinking of it only on
Thursday when the strugglings that he knew in prayer there
in the garden of Gethsemane. But his human will always subject
to the divine will. He comes not to do his own will
but the will of Him who has sent him to finish his work. And so
he makes that great sin atoning sacrifice. And the Father so
pleased. Oh, He was holy. He was harmless. He was undefiled. He was separate
from sinners. And yet He dies. He hath made
Him to be sin for us, says Paul, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. he was delivered for our offenses
and so this death is penal he died for sins not his own he
died for the sins of others he died for our sins according to
the scripture so the second thing we observe with regards to this
atoning death of the Lord Jesus is the fact that it was prophesied It was prophesied in the scriptures
of the Old Testament. And as I've said, that's declared
twice. The end of verse 3, again the
end of verse 4. And remember how the Lord speaks
to those two on the road to Emmaus. after his resurrection from the
dead that first half of the week they're journeying and talking
and they can't understand all that's happened and now this
talk that Jesus who died on the cross is risen again from the
dead and this stranger joins himself with them and their eyes
are holding and they don't recognize this is the Lord Jesus and he
begins to talk with them and to question them And remember
what it says there in that remarkable record that is recorded by Luke
in the final chapter of his Gospel, chapter 24. Verse 24, they say
to him, as certain of the number, certain of them which were with
us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as women had
said. But him they saw not, they were
speaking of him being risen from the dead. Then he said unto them,
O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things
and to enter into his glory and beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expanded unto them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself all is foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures
and in later we read about how he appears to all of those who
were gathered together in Jerusalem all of his disciples now gathered
together these two have hurried back to Jerusalem and again the
Lord appears and what do we read concerning
His conversation with them. Verse 44, He says to them, These
are the words which I have spoken to you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law
of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then open thee their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures. and said unto them
thus it is written and thus it beholds Christ to suffer and
to rise from the dead the third day. Oh, it's prophesied. It's prophesied
there in the Old Testament Scriptures and others would bear testimony
to that. Paul, Paul before Festus at the
end of Acts in chapter 26 What does Paul say before that
man? He says that what he's been preaching
is none other things than those which the prophets and Moses
did say should come to pass, that Christ should suffer, and
that he should be the first to rise from the dead. These apostles,
they knew that they were preaching that which was foretold in Old
Testament scriptures. and not just the prophets. But when we think of Moses we
think there of course also in terms of all the types and all
the figures. There we have the shadows, in
Christ we have the substance. He is the great anti-type of
all those typical sacrifices, those various offerings of sin
offerings, and trespass offerings, and burnt offerings. All is there,
it's all in prophecy in the Old Testament. This man is witnessed
by the Law and the Prophet, we're told. And it's not just his dying, is it? It's also his rising again from
the dead, Psalm 16. All these things are there for
a purpose. And they have to have their fulfillment
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is something then
that in the Old Testament is prophesied. Everything is according
to the Scriptures. But then in the third place,
this work of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be preached. And that's the great task of
these apostles. This is the message that they
are proclaiming. As I said, there's a connection
here between what Paul says in the first two verses and what
he goes on to say in verses three and four. And the significant
word, of course, is that little word, for, which opens the third
verse. He is declaring unto them the
gospel, The message that he preached, they'd received it, they believed it, they were saved.
And then he defines it, for I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received. Now, I think the expression first
of all is interesting and significant here because we're not to understand
it in terms as if this was the very first thing that ever he
spoke of to them. but it indicates really the primacy
of that part of his message or the great gospel truth you see
of substitutionary atonement and that's the great message
is it not writes in the earlier chapters of this epistle, and
we read the words there in chapter 1 at verse 23, we preach Christ
and Him crucified, he says. He repeats it then in the second
chapter. I determine not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the great
message that he will preach the person, the person of the Lord
Jesus. And of course in defining the
gospel there in the opening verses of Romans he speaks of the person. Made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. He's David's son. He's in the
line of David, he's the promised Messiah. Made of the seed of
David. according to the flesh, his human
nature, he derives from his mother, but she's of the house of David.
As was the case with her betrothed, Joseph. They're both of the house
of David. And he has a real human nature,
but he's also declared to be the son of God. And that strong
word that she used there, declared, marked out, distinguished as
the son of God. How is that? by the Spirit of
Holiness in the Resurrection, or the importance of the Resurrection,
God owning Him, vindicating Him, justifying Him. The message that these men preach,
the Gospel they preach, concerns the person of the Lord Jesus.
I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ.
but then the work, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, His obedience
and He is obedient unto death, even the death of the cross obedience
runs all through His life His obedience to every commandment
of God in living all that righteousness that was wrought the Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness sake. He is the Lord our righteousness.
Lord, that blessed robe of righteousness that reckoned to the account
of the sinner, that justifies the sinner, but not only Is he
obedient in living? Is he obedient in dying? Because
there must also be the payment of all that was owed to the Holy
Lord of God, the great debt. Sin must be punished. It was
punished in the person of Christ. And there's the exchange, of
course. He takes all the sins of his people to himself. and
pays a dreadful penalty, suffers the curse of the broken law,
and in exchange for their sins, He washes them, He cleanses them,
He gives them a robe of righteousness, garments of salvation. All this
is a message. They preach Christ crucified,
they preach the resurrection also. And we have it here in
verse 4. He was buried, He rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures. And Paul tells Timothy those pastoral epistles to Timothy
and the epistle to Titus also. And he says there, remember that
Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according
to my gospel. Oh, what is the gospel of Paul?
It's the resurrection of Christ. How we see him preaching it there
at Athens. He preached unto them Jesus and
the resurrection. And that was such an offense
to those great Jewish minds, that seat of great philosophers,
Athens. They couldn't understand what
he was speaking of. He preached Christ. and the resurrection
from the dead. This is the gospel, he'd received
it. I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. How did he receive it? Why it
was revealed to him. He didn't really receive it from
men, ultimately. As he says there to the Galatians,
he pleased God to reveal his Son in man. It's a revelation.
God makes use of the preaching, of course, there must be the
preaching of the Word, but with the preaching of the Word, there
must also be the ministry of the Holy Spirit,
to open the understanding, and to open the heart, and to move
the will. He makes the application. He
makes the application. And of course, this is the wonder,
isn't it, of the resurrection. I often think of what Paul says
there in Philippians 3 when he expresses his great desire to
know Christ, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his
death. It's interesting, isn't it, that
I often think this, he puts first of all the resurrection Then
he speaks of the sufferings. But of course, historically,
as we have it here in the text, first there are the sufferings,
the dying, the burial. Then there's the resurrection.
That's the order, verses 3 and 4. But there in Philippians 3,
he mentions, first of all, the power of his resurrection. And
that's what we need, is it not? If the Gospel is ever going to
mean anything at all to us, we must know the resurrection
of life of Christ in our souls. We have to be born again. A man
can receive nothing, except it's given him from above, says John
the Baptist there in John 3. You must be born again, you must
be born from above. Christ says Thy dead men shall
live, together with my dead body shall they arise. And those words,
remember, in Ephesians 1, concerning faith. Where does our faith come
from? Well, it's the exceeding greatness,
the exceeding greatness of His power to us who do believe. Not
just power, not just great power. Paul says the exceeding greatness
of His power to us who do believe. according to the working of his
mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead there was mighty power in the resurrection of
Christ and if we're going to know anything
of the gospel it must be according to that
after the same fashion in like manner or which exceed in greatness
of his power now Our salvation is bound up in all that the Lord
Jesus Christ has done, living, and dying, and rising again from
the dead. We need all that Christ is. There
is salvation. It's in Him, it's in His person,
and it's in His work. And this is the message that
is preached by these apostles. as they go forth and proclaim
the good tidings the gospel of the grace of God Christ's death then, it's a penal
death it's not a natural death, he
wouldn't die a natural death in a sense of course he could
know nothing at all of death there was no cause of death in
him there was no sin in him He was impeccable, it was impossible
that such a man could ever die. But he dies by a voluntary death. He had power, he had authority
to lay down his life, and he had the same power and authority
to take that life up again. That's his death, and this is
that that he's spoken of, prophesied, throughout the Old Testament
Scriptures, from Moses, and the prophets and the Psalms and this
is the message that is preached and as I said previously and
finally this great truth the primacy of it the importance
of it first of all first of all that which I also receive how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, or that great sin-atoning sacrifice. Are we those who know what it
is to receive it? Or do we receive it, do we believe
it? Is this where we rest for all our salvation, the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He poured out His soul unto
death? And after those great words it
is finished? bowed his head and gave up the
ghost remember what the Apostle says
there in Romans 5 11 we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom we have received the atonement by whom we have
received the atonement Christ has received gifts for men That's
what it says in the Psalm, Psalm 68, and it's applied to Christ
there in Ephesians 4. Psalm 68 is messianic, it speaks
of Christ. Paul makes that plain, quoting
it in Ephesians 4, verse 8. He has received gifts, and all
this precious gift, by whom you have received the atonement.
Have you received the atonement? How can we receive it? We receive
it by faith. How do we obtain faith? We look
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. It's Christ, you see. He's all
of salvation, in the accomplishment of it, even in the application
of it. It's by His Spirit, isn't it?
The Spirit comes as the Spirit of Christ, and comes to reveal
the things of Christ. This is the gospel of the grace
of God. Salvation is of the Lord. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received after 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. O God, grant
that we might know what it is to believe and to rest in the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless His word
to us. Amen.