Would you turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15? 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I have no long introduction for
you this morning. I want to simply get into this
passage of scripture found here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
beginning in verse one. Paul here writes, moreover brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. Now
I want us to pause right there for just a moment. Paul does
here what he always does. To those he writes, he declares
the gospel. And when he was with folks, he
preached to them the same gospel. He had both visited and written
to the church at Corinth. And this is what Paul always
did. He had said in another place,
woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. Not woe unto me if I
don't preach, but if I don't preach the gospel. Paul is saying
the same thing here that he did in our text last week, if you
remember, found in Philippians chapter three. He said, to write
the same things to you is not grievous. He said, it's safe. And we saw that that word safe
means necessary. You see, it's necessary to have
the gospel preached to us. It is very necessary. The gospel
Paul preached is the gospel. There is no other gospel. We
have that little word the there again, the definite article.
And that one gospel is the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. Stick your bookmarker here and
turn back a few pages to Romans chapter one. Let me show you
this. Romans chapter one. Paul wrote here in chapter one,
verse one, he said, Paul, he addresses himself as Paul, not
Pastor Paul, not Reverend Paul, not Bishop Paul, not Dr. Paul, not even Elder Paul, just
Paul. And then he says, a servant of
Jesus Christ. He continued by saying, I'm called
to be an apostle. You see that? He said, I'm separated
unto the gospel of God. This is God's gospel. Paul called
it my gospel. He continued and said, I'm separated
to the gospel to preach this gospel. The man that wrote the
majority of the New Testament scriptures refers to himself
just as Paul, a servant, God's servant, no one special. And
not only that, but he, as we saw, refers to himself as a man
who was separated by God. God separated him. Men don't
call themselves to be servants. We saw in our study of Exodus
this past Wednesday that God told Moses how to build the tabernacle
in the wilderness, and then God called and equipped two men to
do the work. It was God who gave that man
named Bezalel and that fella named Aholiab their particular
talent. God does the calling, God does
the separating, and God does the equipping for his service.
It's always been that way. And the problem we have today
is that we've got a lot of self-called men, and women too, I might add. They've called themselves. Paul
said, God made me a servant and he separated me unto his service. And what was that service? Well,
it was to preach the gospel. Plain and simple. The true gospel
is the gospel of God. It's the gospel of God's grace.
That's what this book calls it. It's about God's amazing grace. It's the gospel of his tender
mercy to sinner. I want to hear a gospel of God's
mercy concerning sinners. Don't you? Because that's what
I am. I'm a sinner. Look at verse three
here. Paul says this gospel of God
is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. Don't you miss that.
Christ is the gospel. This gospel is concerning Jesus
Christ, God's Son. He's the Son of God and He's
God the Son. And then in verse 16, Paul adds
that this gospel, why it's the power of God. It's the power
of God unto salvation. In 1 Timothy, Paul told Timothy,
he said, this is the gospel of God's glory. This is the glorious
gospel of God. And it most certainly is that.
In Ephesians 1 verse 13, Paul calls it the gospel of your salvation. Without this gospel, Lou, there's
no salvation. John in Revelation chapter 14
calls it the everlasting gospel. It's a gospel that never ends.
Do you know this gospel? That's the question. Now I'm
not asking you only if you know what it is, I'm asking you if
you love it. Do you love this gospel? Is this
gospel your life? Is your life centered around
this gospel? Is your life centered around
this Christ? They're one in the same, same
question really. Jesus Christ is salvation, salvation's
in a person. The gospel of God is concerning
his son. Isn't that right? Do you rejoice
in this gospel? Do you think about this gospel
all the time or hardly at all? Now, back in our text in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, Paul said again in verse one, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel, the same gospel which I preached
unto you. And I might add the same gospel
that he always preached. He said there's another gospel,
but it's no gospel at all. The gospel of Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That's the gospel Paul is referring
to. There are three words I want
to give you this morning briefly that begin with the letter S,
of which the gospel is born. And I point out that these words
begin with the letter S so that it might help you and I to remember
them. I remember what Spurgeon called
the three R's of the gospel. I've remembered it for some time
because I was able to associate those things with that letter
R. Ruined is the first. That's what man has done to himself.
He's ruined himself. Redeemed, that's what God does
for a man in the Lord Jesus Christ. He redeems him. And then regeneration. That's what God does for a chosen
sinner who trusts in Christ. Or we could say the three hours
of salvation could also be called ransomed. Well, that's a good
word. Redeemed. Reconcile. So I think the three S's of the
gospel help us to understand what the gospel actually is.
The first is sin. You see, we are ruined. It's
sin that ruined us. The second is satisfaction. Christ must redeem us in order
for God to be satisfied. substitution, reconciled by Christ
alone. Now you deal with those three
subjects from the scripture and you've preached the gospel. So
we see that the first reason why there is a gospel, and that's
a good way of saying it because it's so, and that is called sin. Without sin, there'd be no need
of the gospel. If man had not been ruined, he
would have not needed to be redeemed and reconciled. Is that not correct?
By one man, Adam, we are told sin entered into the world and
death by sin. Do you believe that? Not only
physical death, but spiritual death, eternal death, which is
separation from God forever. That's what hell is, being separated
from God forever. That same death, we're told,
passed upon all men and all women. It passed upon me and it passed
upon you. And it's that sin that gives
desperate need to the gospel. Jesus Christ came into the world
and became a man. Why? Because of sin. This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to what? Save sinners. Sinners. This gospel is good
news for sinners. It's not good news to the whole
world. It's good news for sinners. It's good news for the ungodly.
And you can't preach the gospel without preaching the need of
it. Paul in Romans 5 verse 8 says that God commended his love toward
us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The reason
for the gospel is man's sin. It just is. The gospel is the
good news that Christ died for chosen sinners. Jesus Christ
paid it all. We just sung that. He paid all
of what? Our sin debt. God's satisfied. God no longer angry with the
wicked every day. Why? Because Christ paid the
sinner's debt. It's His dying on the cross,
the just for the unjust, that brings us to God and brings also
all glory to God. They go hand in hand. That's
what pleases God. It pleases God by what the world
calls foolishness. It's not foolishness at all.
It's the power of God. and to those that believe. Then
we have the second word that begins with S, and that's the
word satisfaction. Boy, that's a good word. You
and I can't keep the holy law of God, but it will be obeyed. His law must be obeyed. God demands that his law be kept
and be honored. What the law sayeth, it sayeth
to everyone that is under the law, that every man, yours and
mine, may be stopped and all the world, you and me both, and
everyone we know, might become guilty before God, Romans 3 19.
Now we're guilty before God, whether we know it or not. And
God knows that we're guilty. But God is going to see to it
that all of his elect, every single one of them know it. He's
gonna have his people to profess it. I'm a sinner. Lord, I am
a sinner. I need mercy. I need help. And after you confess that, then
he's gonna shut your mouth. He's going to shut your mouth.
Guilty, says the law. But Lord, I did this, and I've
done that. Shut your mouth. Shut your mouth. There are no alibis. There are
no excuses. And there's no justification
for us to try to defend ourselves. The law says guilty. And we are. It's our guilt that
gives need for the gospel. Our sin must be punished and
it will be punished. Our sin debt must be paid and
it must be paid if we're ever to be saved. God put the elect
sin on Christ and Christ honored God's law and Christ satisfied
God's justice. And now God can be gracious and
merciful, but not at the expense of his justice. And that's why
Christ must provide satisfaction. If the wages of sin is not death,
then God ceases to be God. If God just ignores our sin,
He ceases to be God because He ceases to be just. Now we want
just judges ruling today, don't we? We want justice to be carried
out. How much more so is that with
God Almighty? He's a just God and a Savior. Oh, I'm so thankful that second
part, aren't you? He's not only just, but He's
a Savior. So He must provide a way that
He can be both just and still justify the ungodly. And that was by the satisfaction
that He, God the Son, provided for us and in our place. A holy
and just God will punish sin He must justly punish sin to
remain God, because the judge of the earth shall do right.
Satisfaction has to be made. Without satisfaction to the law,
there is no justice. And then the third word that
we have that begins with an S is that word, I bet you can guess
what it is. Substitution. You and I can't
honor God's law. You and I can't do anything about
our sin. Can the Ethiopian change the
color of his skin? No. Can the leopard change his
spots? No. Can we who constantly do
evil do good? Same answer. So what are we gonna
do? Well, we're gonna have to find
a substitute. Our substitute's gonna have to
find us. And he does. All his elect finds every one
of them. All that the father giveth me shall come to me. He'll
find you by having you come to him. There's only one man that
ever lived that is suitable and qualified to be our substitute. And that is the God man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And don't you see that is why
that we say he is the gospel. There's no salvation apart from
him. Christ is the good news for sinners. Back in our text
here, 1 Corinthians 15, verse one, Paul is saying, brethren,
and let me always add, ladies too, I declare unto you the gospel,
I declare unto you Christ Jesus. That's what he preached, Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. He said, I continue to preach
to you this message. Paul said, the gospel which also
you have received, you see that? Is the gospel wherein you stand. Now, what is it to receive the
gospel? Does it receiving Christ mean
to accept him? You know, I hear people say all
the time, oh, I accepted Jesus as my personal savior. Men have
taken that up to a whole new level, accepting Jesus. Men and
women make accepting Jesus the reason for their salvation. Did
you hear what I said? They make accepting Jesus the
reason for their salvation. They somehow believe that their
acceptance of Christ is what makes Him Lord. No, sir. No, sir. God made Him Lord before
the foundation of the world. Christ is Lord whether or not
anyone ever accepts Him. And the Greek word for receive
here, I found very interesting. In our text, it means to agree.
To agree. To receive the gospel is to agree
with God. You see where I'm going with
this, don't you? Even when it's against you, you agree with God. It's taking sides with God against
yourself. The Greek word for receive also
means to associate. By God's grace, the elect children
of God are enabled to associate themselves with their sin. And
they agree with God that sin is what they are. A true believer
would tell you that sin is not what they do, that sin is what
they are. They sin because they are great
sinners. We're not sinners because we
sin. Sin came first and then our sin followed. The wages of
sin is death. Death is what we deserve because
of our sin. Death is our just recompense
of reward for sin. The good news for sinners is
this, that Christ died for the ungodly. I never get tired of
saying that. I never get tired of hearing
it. When you see that you're ungodly, you won't get tired
of hearing it either. That's the gospel for sinners.
The good news is that we have a substitute. We fell in our
sin, we cannot satisfy God, and we need a substitute. I hope
that you're able to remember those three words. By this gospel,
we agree with God. By this gospel that we preach,
God enables us to give assent to the truth of what we are.
It's by this gospel, Paul said, wherein we stand. Now that word
stand simply means to continue. It means to endure. Salvation
is certain if we continue in the faith grounded and settled
and be not moved from the hope of the gospel, which ye have
heard, which is preached. Colossians 1.23. The word stand,
as I said, means to endure. Endure means to last. The Lord said, he that shall
endure to the end The same shall be saved. Matthew 10, 22. But
for some folks, they think that enduring to the end, it paints
to some a picture of just barely making it. Oh, he endured to
the end. And we picture somebody just,
I think I just barely made it. That's not what it means at all.
Absolutely not. That's not the case for the elect
child of God. This enduring is precious. This enduring is both a pleasure
and a privilege. How do sinners like you and I
endure to the end when we're just so prone to wander and leave
the fold of our Great Shepherd? We sing that song, prone to wonder,
Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. And we are, and
it's because of sin. That's why we are. John tells
us how we endure. Christ having loved his own,
which were in the world, he loved them until the end. Now, there
you go. That's why we endure to the end,
because Christ sent his affection on us and he loves us to the
end. And those he loves, he keeps,
we're kept by the power of God. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. He's the beginning and the end.
He'll finish what he started. Look at verse two. Paul says,
by which ye are also saved, talking about the gospel. It's the gospel
of God that saves us. Salvation is standing. Salvation
is enduring. Salvation is trusting in Christ
until the end. Being saved, enduring, and entrusting
in Christ is abiding in Him. It's receiving life from the
vine that keeps us forever alive in Him, who is the vine. Isn't
that what the Lord Jesus said? I'm the vine and you are the
branches, and without me, you can do what? Nothing. Nothing. You can't do anything. You're dead in trespasses and
sins. Now the word translated saved here in verse two, it means
much, much more than just being delivered. It means to be protected. It means to be preserved. We're
kept, as I said, by the power of God through the preaching
of God's gospel, the gospel concerning God's son. Now I've already given
you the three R's and the three S's that were the cause of Christ
coming to save his people from their sin. Let me quickly give
you four Ps. Boy, I'm gonna have you leaving
with alphabet soup today. First, the gospel of God was
purposed. Boy, I love that word. Not just
planned. No, no, plans fail, but God purposed. His purpose can't fail. The gospel
of God was purposed by God before the foundation of the world.
Secondly, the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ was performed by
the Lord himself. And becoming a man, living perfectly
as a man, and dying as the perfect God-man for the sins of his people. And then thirdly, the gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus, who is the gospel of our salvation,
is preached. Got to be preached. That's the
means that God uses to save them that believe. It's through preaching. That's the only means that God
has for saving sinners who believe. If you're one of God's chosen,
the Holy Spirit is gonna cross your path with a true gospel
preacher. That's just a fact. And fourthly,
the gospel of God's glory and Christ's goodness, the gospel
of the grace of God will be forever praised. Oh my. unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sin in his own precious blood and hath made us kings
and priests unto God, unto him be glory both now and forever. That's why we praise Christ.
He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
In other words, he's made unto us everything that we need, everything
that God requires. This is the gospel that Paul
preached. Our gospel is purposed by God. It's performed by Christ. It's preached by his servants
and it's praised by his people. This is the gospel that Paul
declared again and again. The gospel that you received,
the gospel you agreed with, the gospel that you gave assent to
as being your only hope of redemption. Again, verse two, this is the
gospel by which you are saved if you keep in memory what I
have preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain." Now
that word memory means to hold fast, hold fast. It means to hold fast. It means
to retain. It means to remember the gospel
of your salvation in your heart and in your mind. to be ever
mindful of the gospel that was preached unto you. Holding fast,
well, that's not dependent on your strength. To retain gospel
truth, it's not conditioned on our ability to remember. I walk
into a room and forget what I went into the room for anymore. Now
I'm telling on myself, but I bet you do the same. But to retain
gospel truth, oh, thank goodness it's not conditional on our ability
to remember. Our salvation depends solely
upon the steadfastness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Christ's faith to God and His faithfulness to us. He's faithful
that promised, Daydell. That's why I have a good hope.
He's faithful that promised. If He said it, He'll do it. If
He purposed it, it'll stand. And it's through preaching that
we remember. Preaching causes us to hold fast
and remember the knowledge that Christ has by the sacrifice of
himself saved us. That's how we remember. Paul
told Timothy in his first letter, he said, if thou put the brethren
in remembrance of these things, thou shall be a good minister
of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of
good doctrine. That's what preaching is. Reminding
sinners what God has done for them in Christ. In his second
letter to Timothy, Paul said, hold fast. There's that word. Hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou has heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. Did you notice that it's always
in Christ? If our preaching is not about
Christ, then we're preaching the wrong thing. In 2 Peter 1,
Peter said, I think it's fit as long as I'm in this tabernacle
talking about his flesh. He said to put you always in
remembrance of these things and to stir you up. We very often
need to be stirred up, don't we? That's what preaching does.
It stirs you up. It reminds you of who you are
and who Christ is and what Christ has done for you. Peter went
on to say, even after I'm deceased, after I'm dead and gone, I hope
you have these things always in your remembrance. And I hope
the same. The Holy Spirit puts us in remembrance. Our Lord Jesus said, but the
conqueror, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you all things and what? Bring all
things to your remembrance whatsoever I've said unto you. And the Lord's
table puts us in remembrance, doesn't it? The Lord said, take,
eat. This is my body, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. He said, this cup is the New
Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as you drink
it in remembrance of me. Now I want you to look closely
again at verse three here in our text. And this is where I'll
spend the majority of the time I have left. Paul said, for I've
delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received. Now
what Paul simply means by that is I preached to you what was
preached to me. Paul is saying I've told you
what I've heard and I heard it from Christ himself. What was
the gospel Paul heard and preached? how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scripture. Now the key word there is how. Now you think about this. The
gospel is not simply what Christ did, but how he did it. How did he accomplish his people's
salvation? We see a good picture of ourselves
when we see how. We see a good picture of what
we are by nature when we see how Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures. He did so by the way of the cross. He did so by his death upon the
cross. Our sin is so horrific that when
it's found on God the son, God is so holy and God is so just
that he must put his son to death. How did Christ die? Well, he
died as a criminal because that's what I was. It's how Christ died,
by way of the cross. How can God die on a cross? Well,
he had to become a man to do so. He became a man for one reason. He had to be a man to come and
redeem, give life to fallen men and women. Man's dead and trespasses
and sin. Man can't do anything for himself.
How did Christ die? Well, I know this much. It was
according to the scriptures. God cannot die, but the God-man
could, so he had to become a man. And when it says that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures, it's talking
about the Old Testament scriptures. You see, that's all that Paul
and Peter and the other apostles had was the Old Testament passages
of scripture. Matter of fact, the Lord Jesus
said that all the Old Testament scriptures are concerning him.
He said, Moses wrote to me, beginning at Moses, the book of Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the first five of the books.
Moses wrote of Christ. That has been so evident to those
of you who have been in our studies in both Genesis and Exodus. Just
everything pictures and points to the Lord Jesus. It's just
amazing why he's the seed of the woman that would come to
crush the serpent's head. He is the lamb whose blood was
shed to provide skins to cover Adam and his wife. He was the
sacrifice of Abel that God accepted. He was Noah's ark in whom refuge
and life was found. Well, he was the Passover lamb
whose blood God passed over when he saw it. He was the cloud Israel
followed by day. He was the fire that they followed
by night. He was the manna that fell from
heaven. He was that rock from which flowed living water. All
these things point to Him. This is God, the Son, and He's
coming to save His people from their sin. He was that brazen
serpent that Moses lifted high on a pole. He's the one to whom
dying men and women looked in order to live. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life. Christ was the lamb that was
substituted for Isaac. Father, I see the fire, I see
the wood. Where's the sacrifice? God is
able to provide Himself a sacrifice. And God did, and He was the sacrifice. Every promise, every prophecy,
every type recorded in the law and in the prophets and in the
Psalms are concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. All of them. Every promise, prophecy, picture,
and type has its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus. The Old Testament
contained the New Testament in picture and prophecy, and the
New Testament is the Old Testament fully and plainly revealed. To
Him give all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever
believeth in Him shall receive the remission of sins. Glory be to God. How did Christ
die? According to the scriptures.
were told how he died long before he died. And it was according
to the scriptures. Isaiah tells us how he died.
Isaiah wrote, he's borne our griefs and he's carried our sorrows. He carried not his grief, but
ours. Christ carried the grief and
sorrow of his people. Are you weary and heavy laden
over your sin? Christ said, come unto me. I'll
carry it for you. I'll give you rest. We did esteem
or regard Him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted. None can
see how Christ suffered and not regard Him as stricken and smitten
of God. My, they beat Him so bad He didn't
even resemble a man. And then they took and hung Him
on the cross and pulled up seats to watch Him die. He was wounded
for our transgressions. Ours, not his, he had none. He was bruised for our iniquities. Ours, he had none. The chastisement
of our peace, he secured. And it was by his stripes, those
stripes inflicted upon his back by the whip that we are healed.
Well, we're like wandering sheep, Isaiah said. We've gone astray. We've gone our own way. We're
just like that lost sheep that the Lord went and got. The Lord
God of heaven and earth had laid on the Lord Jesus Christ the
iniquity of us all, meaning all God's people, not all the world,
And it pleased the Lord to do so. It pleased the Lord to make
you His people. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. With our sin upon Him, pleased the Lord to make you His people
by bruising Him. The Lord Jesus was oppressed.
He was afflicted. He opened not His mouth. He was
like a lamb brought to the slaughter as a sheep before her shears.
He opened not His mouth. Why? You know why He didn't open
His mouth? Because we were guilty. Standing
in our place, Christ, our substitute, was guilty. Standing in our place
under the curse of the law, He was made guilty and His mouth
was stopped. He became guilty for us before
God. He was made to be sin. He knew
no sin. It was our sin that was put upon
Him. And in order to satisfy God's wrath against our sin,
He had to die for it. Standing in our place, he was
cut off from the land of the living. It was for our transgressions
that he was stricken. It pleased the Lord to make his
soul an offering for sin. The room instead of the people
of God, Christ, Jesus made his grave with the wicked. But let
me tell you something, he didn't stay there. Look at verse four
in our text, and I'll try to finish. It says, and that he
was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures. This was proven by what Paul
tells us in the next four verses. It's in or by the mouth of two
or three witnesses that all things are established. So what does
Paul do here? Paul calls forth the eyewitnesses
of the resurrected Lord to prove that the Lord Jesus Christ rose
again according to the Scriptures. Look at verse five. It says,
he was seen of Peter. He was seen of Cephas. He was
then seen of the 12, Judas excluded. Verse six, he said, after that,
he was seen of above 500 brethren at once. He rose again. Verse seven, after that, he was
seen of James and then of all the apostles. Verse eight, and
last of all, he was seen of me also as of one born out of due
time. Now the question is this, have
you seen Jesus Christ? That's the issue, that's the
question. Have you seen him? Do you believe
the gospel? I'm asking you these things directly. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Are you putting all your trust
in him and in nothing else? Do you agree with me upon that
which I've agreed with God upon? And that is, is that we're sinners,
nothing and all, that Jesus Christ is our all and all. Have you
taken sides with God against yourself? That's what it is to
agree with God. Will you agree with me that we're
sinners that need a Savior? Will you agree with me that God
being a just God, that He must be satisfied and that Christ
is that satisfaction? Will you agree with me that we
need a substitute and that Christ is that suitable substitute? Will you agree with me that we
cannot satisfy God, His law, nor His justice? Will you agree
with me that Jesus Christ did? He fulfilled the law. He satisfied
God's justice. He's the only one who can save
us from our sin. Do you see these things concerning
yourself? Do you agree with God that you're
a sinner? Do you see these things? Do you
see that you need a mediator? That you need someone to stand
between you and God and mediate out a redemption and a salvation?
Well, if you do agree with me, I believe you've received the
gospel. I do. Do you see how Christ died for
our sin? If you do, I believe the Lord's
revealed the gospel to you. May God enable us to see with
the eyes of faith. If you see these things, blessed
are you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
them to you, but only God, the Father, which is in heaven can
do that for you. Now listen, Christ did not die
for people who don't believe in him nor his gospel. Christ
died for those who believe his gospel, the gospel concerning
his son, the gospel of their salvation. Do you believe the
gospel? May God make it so for Christ's
sake and for yours, I might add. May God be pleased to make it
so.