Well, good morning. Good to see
so many people here this morning. We're thankful. I've asked Brother
Roland Browning, if he would come, read scripture and lead
in prayer to open our worship service this morning. So Roland,
you come. Good morning, everyone. If you
will, open your Bibles with me to Psalm number 25. This is a prayer of every believer. Psalm number 25. Unto thee, O
Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not
mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee
be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which trespass
without cause. Show me thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait
all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy lovingkindness, for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth,
nor my transgressions. According to thy mercy, remember
thou me. for thy goodness sake, O Lord. Good and right is the Lord, therefore
will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in
judgment, and the meek he will teach in his ways. All the paths of the Lord are
mercy and truth, and as such as keep his covenant and His testimonies. For Thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my iniquity, for it is made. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
Thee. Thank You for allowing us this opportunity to come and
to hear the Gospel once again. As we enter into these doors,
we realize and we know, we understand what we're about to hear. We
may not know the text, we may not know what book, what chapter,
but we have confidence that by your grace these men will preach
unto us the unsearchable riches of Christ. As we heard last night,
that you consider sinners, that you have provided an escape,
you have provided one to take our place, a substitute, which
is Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us hear it over and over
and over again as we meet in these meetings, not only this
morning, but as the ministers come to preach tomorrow. Give
them grace that they may preach Christ and Christ's honor. And
give us ears. Oh, give us ears and give us
hearts to receive thy gospel. For it's in Christ's name we
pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing number 7-0. 7-0. Holy, holy, holy. Aren't we glad we worship a holy
God? Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Early in the morning Our song shall rise to Thee Merciful and mighty, God in three
persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adore thee, for thee, which were dead or
had Holy, holy, holy, though the
darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may
not see. Only Thou art holy, there is
none beside Thee, perfect in power, in love and purity. Lord God Almighty All thy works
shall praise thy name In earth and sky and sea Holy, holy, holy
Merciful and mighty Thank you. Be seated. And turn in your hymnal
to 283. We'll sing just the chorus of
this song. It's a good chorus. And we'll
sing it through twice. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never,
glory to His name. Thank you. That's great singing. Now we'll have a some special music by Pastor
David Edmondson. And he didn't clue me in on what
he's gonna do, so it's gonna be a surprise. In the garden of Gethsemane He
sweat great drops of blood for me alone, alone, alone. Played father, may thy will be
done. I came to save the so chosen
ones alone, alone. Yet they could not watch and
pray. With him for just an hour, didn't
see his time had come. Told the soldiers who came, let
my disciples go, and I will go alone. Alone, alone, my Savior died
alone, Took all my sin as his own, Could have called ten thousand
angels, Yet died for the sinful ones alone. Mocked trials and false testament,
To the cross my Savior went alone. Alone. Put the cross upon his bleeding
back, Let him up, gal, got this track alone. Alone. The nails were long and rough,
as they pierced God in the flesh, and the blood of Christ was shed. Sovereign love, amazing grace,
the rock of ages hung in my place alone, alone, alone. Alone, alone, my Savior died
alone, Took all my sin as his own, Could have called ten thousand
angels, Yet died for the sinful ones alone. Then he said, it is finished,
paid a debt that he did not owe alone. Alone. He is the way, the truth, the
life, so put all your trust in Christ alone. David's probably too humble to
tell you, but he wrote that song. That was a song, wasn't it? I
wish y'all could have seen what I saw, everybody's faces. That
was reverent, wasn't it? All right. But if you would open your Bibles
with me to first Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians
chapter 15. I titled the message this morning,
the gospel. The gospel. The apostle begins in verse one
of first Corinthians chapter 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received and wherein you stand. And notice the apostle says,
I declared unto you the gospel. You didn't say I declared unto
you a gospel, but the gospel. And he said that because there
is only one gospel. There's only one gospel of God.
There's only one gospel that God uses to save sinners. Now,
I know men preach many other messages, but those messages
are not the gospel. And I can show you that if you'll
turn over a few pages. Galatians chapter one. Galatians
one. In verse six. Paul says, I marvel that you're
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel. which is not another. But there'll
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. These other messages are not
the gospel. They're perversions of it. They're
deadly. I'll show you how serious it
is that we only preach and we only believe the gospel. Look
at verse eight. But though we are an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we've
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that you've received, let him be accursed. Now, God
will never use one of these other messages to save sinners. He's
never going to use a lie to save his people. These false gospels
are a curse. They're not a blessing to somebody,
they're a curse. People who are very nice, kind people, who are
wonderful neighbors, who are so nice and they're so religious.
I don't care how nice they are. They're not saved if they don't
believe the gospel, this gospel. And the gospel, what makes the
gospel the gospel? Well, it's the gospel of Christ.
The gospel declares this subject, the Lord Jesus Christ, who He
is, what He did, Why did he do it? And where is he now? It's
all about him. The gospel is only good news
if we have the Lord Jesus Christ to declare. All good news is
in him. If we don't have him, there's
no good news. The gospel is not about how God can give me stuff. The gospel really is not about
me at all. The gospel is about the Lord
Jesus Christ. in his glory and saving his people
from their sin. And I want to give you three
points this morning about the gospel. The first one is this. The gospel declares Christ crucified. Verse three. First Corinthians
15. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received. This gospel has got to be received
from God. God's got to give it to us. Paul says, I received
this. This is what I received. How that Christ died for our
sins, according to the scriptures. Now preaching Christ crucified
goes a whole lot deeper than saying Jesus Christ died on a
cross. If all I say is that Jesus died
on the cross for sinners, I'm not preaching the gospel. Paul
says preaching the gospel, he says I preached the gospel to
you. When I did, I delivered unto you how that Christ died. How that. If I would preach the
gospel, I must declare how Christ died. Why did Christ die? But first, Christ died sovereignly. He died according to the eternal
will and purpose of God. The cross was not God's last
ditch effort to save his people from their sin. The cross was
God's eternal purpose. This is how God always determined
to save those people that he chose to save. Christ died sovereignly. He died at God's appointed time
for God's appointed people. The Savior said, No man takes
my life from me. I lay it down of myself. That's
sovereign, isn't it? I lay it down of myself. And
we'll get to this in just a few moments. I got power to lay it
down. I got power to take it up again. Now that's sovereign.
He also said, I'm the sovereign savior. I laid down my life for
somebody in particular, my she. I laid down my life for all those
that the father gave me. He said before he went to Calvary,
I pray not for the world, But for them which thou hast given
me for their dying, that's who I'm going to die for. And they
shall be saved. This is the sovereign savior
dying when he would, for whom he would. He's sovereign. Second,
how did Christ die? Christ died for sin. And our
problem is a sin problem. Our problem is not our environment.
Our problem is, however you want to fill in the blank, our problem
It's our sin. And our sin is not what we've
done. The problem is our sin nature. We do what we do. We commit the
sin that we commit because we've got a nature of sin. A nature
that can do nothing but sin. And sin cannot be ignored by
a holy God. Can't do it. Sin must be punished. And it must be punished with
eternal death. My friends, that's a price we
cannot pay. Eternal suffering in hell will not pay for one's
sin. My suffering won't. Your suffering
won't. Because of our sin nature. The evidence that man has some
idea of sin's a problem. They don't know what sin is.
They don't know how big of a problem it is. And the evidence that
man cannot find a way to put away sin is men keep coming up
with all kinds of different messages, different religions that would
put sin away. But none of them found a way
to do it. Not in truth and not injustice to heaven. But God
in his wisdom and in his grace provided the way. And that way
is the Lord Jesus Christ through his death as the sacrifice for
the sin of his people. The Lord Jesus was made sin for
his people. He took the sin of his people
away from them and he made it his. And the father dealt in
truth and justice with his son. The father didn't say, well,
it's like my son has made sin. Christ the Savior was made sin
in every way except the commission. Now nobody's saying Christ was
a sinner, but he had made sin. He felt the guilt of it. He felt
the shame of it. He said, I'm not able to look
up. He felt the guilt and the shame. He wouldn't have felt
shame if it wasn't his sin, would it? No, it was his. It was made
his. And he suffered the full condemnation
of it for his people. The father, the holy father,
could never have put his son to death if he hadn't made him
guilty first. Because that would have been
unjust. And God's just. He's always just. Christ died
for sin. Thirdly, Christ died successfully. Everyone for whom Christ died
is eternally saved. If that wasn't so, I wouldn't
waste my time preaching the gospel. I wouldn't waste my time trying
to talk people, dead sinners, into doing something they can't
do. But if Christ saved all of his people, by his sacrifice. Oh, let me go preach him. Let
me preach him. Oh, let me tell you about him.
Everyone for whom he died is eternally saved. Let me read
you a few scriptures. Acts 13 verse 39. By him, all
that believe are justified. They're justified from all things
from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Justification,
being made without sin, doesn't happen because we kept the law.
It's because Christ kept it for us and He put away our sin with
His blood. Romans 8 verse 1, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. There's
no condemnation because Christ already bore it all away. Our
Savior said in John 6 verse 37, all, without exception, all,
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me, I will no wise cast out. You know why he won't cast them
out? Because he drew them to him in the first place. In John
10, verse 16, this is only the successful Savior can make this
statement. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring. And there shall, without any
doubt, be one fold in one shepherd. Christ is the successful Savior.
That's how he died. He died successfully. The gospel
declares Christ crucified. All right, my second point, the
gospel, is the gospel of the scriptures. At the end of verse
three, Paul said, how that Christ died for our sins, according
to the scriptures. And by the scriptures, Paul means
the Old Testament scriptures. They were the only scriptures
in existence at this time when Paul was writing this epistle.
Now there's not one God of the Old Testament and one God of
the New Testament. There's not a God of the Old
Testament that is inflexibly holy and harsh and a God of the
New Testament who's forgiving and loves everybody. The Old
Testament and the New Testament are in perfect harmony with one
another because there's one God and one Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Old Testament is written
to give us pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ who's coming. The
New Testament tells us that Christ has come. Here's who he is. Here's
what he's done. Here's how he put away the sin
of his people. Here's why he did it. Here's
how Christ put away the sin of his people. And the New Testament
tells us, actually the Old Testament does too. Job told us the same
thing the New Testament tells us. Christ's coming again. He's
going to stand on this earth and in my flesh I'm going to
see him. I'm going to, in resurrected flesh, I'm going to see him.
And he won't be a stranger. He's coming again. You know why?
Because he's the successful savior. He's coming to gather his people
to himself. In all the scriptures, I don't
care where you turn, Old Testament, New Testament, I promise you
this, the subject is Christ. And if you read a scripture and
you don't see that the subject is Christ, keep reading. Because
until you see the subject is Christ, you don't see the true
meaning of the verse. It's all written to speak of
him. So if I preach the gospel, my
gospel must agree with all of the Old Testament scriptures
or it's not the gospel. That's why Paul says Christ died
for our sins according to the Old Testament scriptures. Now, what did the Old Testament
scriptures have to say about the death of Christ? The Old
Testament scriptures tell us that Christ is going to accomplish
something in his death. The writers of scripture knew
that what Christ would accomplish in his death. And the evidence
of it is in scripture, the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and
Elijah appeared, the law and the prophets. And you know what
they did when they appeared? They spoke to the Lord about
the death that he should accomplish at Jerusalem. My death is not
going to be accomplishment. It's just going to be the end
of sin in this flesh. but our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
something in his death. And the Old Testament scriptures
tell us what it is. You know, 11 times in the New
Testament, the scriptures say that our Lord Jesus did something
that the scriptures might be fulfilled. He was fulfilling
the scriptures to show us how the Old Testament and the New
Testament are in perfect agreement. They're all written of him. Let
me give you a few examples. And this word according that
Paul uses here, Part of the meaning of that word means more excellent,
more excellent. The person who fulfilled all
these pictures is more excellent. The person is always more glorious
than the picture. Let me give you a few of them.
How is it that the Old Testament scriptures say Christ died? Well,
he died according to God's promise of the seed of woman, Genesis
chapter three. Adam in the garden was the representative
of his entire race. Everybody that would come from
his loins, Adam was their representative. Everyone who is in Adam did exactly
what Adam, our representative, did. And all of us were plunged
into sin and to death because of Adam's sin. When Adam sinned,
I sinned. Jason, when Adam sinned, you
sinned. That's how we became guilty. Brother Henry said, I
didn't become guilty when I stole a watermelon. I became guilty
in Adam. That's how I became guilty. And
there's no hope of me earning a righteousness before God with
this sin nature. Because all this nature can do
is sin. And as Adam was being kicked
out of the garden, oh, I just can't imagine what a horrible
day that was. God didn't leave him without
a promise of the Redeemer. He gave him a promise of the
seed of woman. That seed of woman's coming.
And he shall bruise Satan's head. He's going to crush his head.
He's going to put him out of business. Now Satan's going to
bruise his heel. The Lord's going to use his heel
to crush his head. His heel will be bruised, but
he's going to crush Satan's head. And Adam and Eve knew exactly
what that meant. They knew there's a second man
coming. When Eve had her first son, she said, I've gotten a
man from God. She thought this is him. The second Adam is coming. The Lord Jesus Christ He's the
seed of woman. That's important. He's the seed
of woman. Because if he was from Adam's sinful seed, he can have
Adam's sinful nature. But he was born without the aid
of a man. He's the seed of woman. So he did not partake in Adam's
sin. And he came to do for his people
what they could not do for themselves. He came to undo for his people
everything Adam did to us. He came to establish righteousness.
not by enabling them to keep the law, but by him keeping it
for them. He came to put away the sin of
his people, not by their sacrifice, but by the sacrifice of himself.
As we heard last night, Satan and Calvary thought he was carrying
the day. And this wasn't Satan's purpose. This was God's purpose. Our God allowed Satan to think
he was killing the son of God. And the best Satan was able to
do was bruise the Savior's heel. When Christ was crucified, you
know what he did? He destroyed Satan's power. And you know how he did it? By
taking away the sin of his people. Scripture calls Satan the accuser
of the brethren. Now he's still going to accuse
you, but if Christ died for you, there's not one charge will ever
stick. He took away his power by taking away the sin of his
people. He made his people righteous. He redeemed him from all of their
sin. That's the seed of woman. Then
Christ died to fulfill the picture of the Ark of Noah. That picture
tells us that salvation is had one place by being in Christ. Just like Noah. How was Noah
saved from drowning in that flood? By being in the Ark. If you and
I would be saved, that's how we're going to be saved. God
is holy. God must punish sin. He must
punish every sin. He can't ignore one sin. Well, then how? This is the age
old question. How can God be merciful and save
sinners and still punish their sin? How is that possible? How
can I die and God still be merciful to me? One way, Christ our substitute. In the flood, God's wrath. Noah
wasn't any better than anybody else. He was just as sinful,
just as rotten, just as depraved as everybody else on the face
of this earth. And God's wrath against Noah's
sin still fell from heaven. You know why Noah didn't drown?
Just like God's wrath against everybody's sin fell. You know
why Noah didn't drown and everybody else did? Noah was in the ark. And that ark bore all of the
punishment that Noah's sin deserved. And he was saved alive by that
ark. Now, God's wrath against the sin of his people still must
fall. If God's going to save any sinner,
their sin still must be punished. His wrath still must fall. And
you know what the gospel tells us? Here's good news. God's wrath
has already fallen against the sin of his people. Where? On
Christ our substitute. Christ bore it all. And because
of the sacrifice of Christ, God is merciful to his people and
he saves them in justice. He's merciful and just because
his wrath already fell on Christ, our substitute. Now, if you and
I would be saved, I'll tell you what we must do. We must hide
in Christ. We can't try to build a refuge
by our own good works, by our own morality, by our own whatever
it is people might be impressed with. We must be in Christ. Then I'll tell you what to do.
You seek Christ. You seek to be found in Him.
Not having your own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. The righteousness which
is of God by faith. Hide in Christ. That's salvation's
in Him. Then Christ died to fulfill the
picture of Abraham's ram that he offered up instead of his
son, Isaac. Abraham offering up that ram instead of his son,
Isaac. There's another clear picture
of substitution in it. So clear. Why did Isaac live? The ram died in his place. There's
got to be a sacrifice. Well, God provided a sacrifice.
It wasn't Isaac. It was that ram caught in the
thicket by its horns. But this is also, we heard this
last night, this is also a picture of how God provided a sacrifice
for God. Before God can do anything for
the likes of you and me, God first got to do something for
himself. There's got to be a sacrifice for God that pleases God, that
satisfies God. And the sacrifice has got to
be perfect. It can't be the blood of bulls
and goats. It can't be your sacrifice, my sacrifice. It's got to be
a perfect sacrifice. And it's got to be a perfect
man if he's going to save sinful men and women. So you know what
God did? He provided himself. You think what he did to put
away the sin of his people? He provided himself as the sacrifice. He gave. himself. He's the only
perfect lamb. So he provided himself. What
a miracle that the son of God could become a man and be as
much God as if he were not man and as much man as if he were
not God. God manifest in the flesh. What
a mystery. And then that he would sacrifice
himself. Oh my. Who did he sacrifice himself
for? Not good people. Sinners. Oh, he gave himself as the lamb
for the sacrifice. God provided a lamb that would
satisfy his holy character. And at the same time, that lamb,
through his sacrifice, would save his people from their sin.
He took away the sin that made God angry. Christ died to satisfy
God's holy character, to enable him to be both just and the justifier
of sinful men and women. Now that's the picture. That's
the picture that Christ came to fulfill it. And I tell all
of us here this morning, the same thing John the Baptist said,
now you behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world. You look to him. That brings me to the next thing.
Look at John chapter three. Christ died as the brazen serpent
lifted up on the pole. John 3 verse 16. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now this is a favorite
verse of false religion. who likes to say that Jesus died
on a cross for sinners. He just died to make salvation
possible for anybody who might accept him. But I don't know
if this will be a surprise to anybody in this room or not,
but let me tell you, there's no gospel in John 3.16. The gospel
is in John 3.14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up.
There's the gospel. The reason for John 3.16 is John
3, 14. Now you know what the Lord is
talking about here. The people in the wilderness,
children of Israel, they were bitten by all those fiery serpents
and the people were dying. And Lord told Moses, make you
a brazen serpent. Looks just like these fiery serpents.
And you put it on a pole and you lift it up and you tell everybody,
look, and everybody who looks will live. And that brazen serpent
looked exactly like those fiery serpents. One exception. There's no venom. There's no
venom in that brazen serpent. And scripture tells us everybody
who looked at that brazen serpent lived, was healed. Now, our Lord
said that he must be lifted up in the exact same way. He must
be lifted up to accomplish the redemption of his people who've
been bitten by sin. Sin's already killed them. So
God's Son became a man. The Lord Jesus is God. He is God. Yet He's a man, just
like you and me too. He looked just like us. There
was no halo over His head. There was no glow, you know,
around His head. He didn't stand six foot five, stand above everybody
else. No, He looked just like you and
me. With one exception. No seed of
woman. No venom is in Him. He's a seed
of woman. He didn't partake in Adam's rebellion. And he was lifted up upon the
cursed tree, lifted up between heaven and hell, lifted up in
scripture for all to see. And everybody that looks to him
is saved. Everybody. Now, what does it
mean to look to Christ? Those of you who attend this
congregation know how often I say this. Let me tell you one more
time. Look to Christ. Look to Him. Well, what does
that mean? I remember Brother Henry saying
that to me. Oh, I wish I knew what he meant. If he didn't tell
me where he was, I'd look. But he was telling me. I just
did. What does it mean to look to
Christ? Tell you what it means. It means to trust Him. It means
to trust Him. Trust that His sacrifice is all
it takes to put my sin away. Looking to Christ is trusting.
that Christ is all it takes. He's all my salvation. Now you
look. Salvation is in a look. And somebody's going to say just
what I thought all those times, Brother Henry said, look to Christ.
You're going to say somebody's thinking, I know what you're
thinking, because I thought, but I can't see. I can't see. I don't understand. Oh, how we overcomplicate the
gospel. The Savior didn't say, see. Somebody's bitten by those
fiery serpent. You know, the three million people
out there in the wilderness, somebody so far away, they couldn't
have made out the shape of that fiery serpent. Moses said, look. He didn't say, see. He said,
look. Somebody been bitten and their eyes are swollen shut and
they, all they see is darkness. But you can look. Moses said,
look. I said, but I can't see. I don't
understand. The Savior didn't say see. He said look. He didn't say understand how
and why it is that God would save me. He didn't say understand
all the mysteries of Scripture. He said look to Christ. Now you
look and you trust. He's all it takes to save you.
And you'll be saved. You look. And you'll see. When you look, you know, when
you look to Christ, you know what you'll see? You'll see.
Oh, now I understand. Now I understand the gospel.
Now I see how it is God can be God and still save somebody like
me. You look to Him and then you'll see. Then Christ died
to fulfill the picture of the Passover lamb. Another clear
picture of substitution, isn't it? The only reason the firstborn
lived, that lamb died. But the Passover lamb also tells
us something very, very important. The importance of the blood of
the father. And the blood must be shed. It must be shed. But don't you ever forget the
blood's got to be applied. If the father in a home took
that lamb, he set it up for 14 days, he watched it perfect.
No blemish in it. He took that lamb and he killed
it. He roast his body with fire. Took it in and they ate it with
unleavened bread, with bitter herbs. And that's all he did. Firstborn born died. The blood
has got to be applied to the doorposts. Because God said,
when I see the blood, not when I see your faithfulness, not
when I see you've done everything right, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Because when God sees the blood,
you know what that means? Justice has been satisfied. The
debt has been paid in full. So no more wrath is required.
Now the blood of Christ must be applied to our hearts in the
new birth. If you would be saved, you must
believe the Lord Jesus Christ. You must. Now listen to me. I'm not giving you a work to
do. I'm not telling you you got to conjure up and produce this
faith in your heart. The only way we can believe Christ,
if God gives us faith, faith is the gift of God. And that's
what scripture says. Well, you know how God gives
faith to his people? Through the preaching of Christ. They tell you what I do. I'd
find out where the gospel is preached and I'd be there. I
mean, I wouldn't let the doors open without me being there.
And I'd come praying, God, give me faith to believe, give me
faith to see Christ, give me faith to look to him, because
this is how God does it, what we're doing this week, preaching
the gospel. Then Christ died to fulfill the
picture of the scapegoat on the day of atonement. On the day
of atonement, they did many things that day. And one of the things
the high priest did is he took the scapegoat. He put his hands
on the head of that scapegoat. He confessed the sin of all the
people on the head of that scapegoat. Now why is he doing that? Just
showing he was symbolically transferring sins of Israel to that scapegoat. And when he got done, that must
have took a long time, don't you reckon? I don't know how they
did that. How do you confess all the sins of a people? But
he did. And then he gave that scapegoat into the hand of a
fit man. And that fit man took that scapegoat out in the wilderness.
And they watched, and they watched, and they watched. And a little
while, that man's coming back. He's coming back without that goat.
Sins are out there in the wilderness, a land, uninhabited, gone forever. And that's a picture to us of
what Christ has done with the sin of His people. Now, who is
it? Who, for whom, did Christ die?
He died for His people. When Christ was made sin, whose
sin was transferred to Him? It wasn't a symbolic transfer,
literal, wasn't it? It wasn't a sin of all of Adam's
race, it was a sin of his people. When the high priest was standing
there confessing the sins of the people on the head of that
scapegoat, what was he wearing? He was wearing the breastplate.
And on that breastplate were the names of the 12 tribes of
Israel. He transferred Israel's sin to
that goat. Not the Philistines, not the Amalekites, not the Amorites,
the tribes of Israel. When Christ was made sin for
His people, He was made all of the sin of God's elect. And He
took it away forever. He made it to not exist anymore.
So that sin can never harm and never condemn His people ever
again. And you don't have to fear facing
God in judgment if Christ died for you. Because you know what
the judge who sees all and know all will say? What's in? It's gone. The record is clean. Christ bore it away forever.
Now I'm going to tell you, now you trust him. Right where you
sit, you trust him. Christ died according to the
scriptures. Bless your heart. He didn't stay
dead. If Christ had stayed dead, we
would have no good news to preach. But here's the third thing. The
gospel declares that Christ rose again and he rose again according
to the scriptures. Look back in our text. First
Corinthians chapter 15 verse four and that he was buried
and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, died. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
took a dead body down from that tree and they laid a dead body
in Joseph's tomb. And our Lord laid there dead
for three days. And then he arose from the grave. And he appeared to his disciples,
Paul tells, continues on in there, tells how many of the disciples
saw him, saw him risen. And not one of them ever recanted
and said, No, I didn't see. He didn't rise from the dead.
Even if it meant being martyred, they would not recant. Why is that so important? Why
is it so important that Christ rose from the dead? Why is it
so important these men and women are willing to give their lives
for it? Because the proof that Christ
took away the sin of his people is he rose from the dead. His
sacrifice removed the sin of his people. He could not stay
dead. if sin was gone. And all the
sin charged to him is gone under his blood. And he arose from
the dead, giving us good news to tell. He was delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification. Raised
again is the evidence. His death justified all of his
people. Since Christ arose from the dead,
we know this. Everybody who believes him is
justified. They cannot perish. because their sin's gone. And
that was done according to the scriptures. You know the story
of Jonah and that great fish. Isn't that a wonderful story
everybody likes to tell their children? Our Lord in Matthew
12 verse 40 told us what it means. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And then
after those three days, he's coming out. He's coming out as
the mighty, victorious, successful savior because salvation is of
the Lord. It's all in Christ. It all is
Christ. Now you believe me, you trust
your soul to him. Now that's the gospel of our
salvation. Everybody, everybody who believes the Christ preached
in that gospel is saved. They won't leave it for anything
else. because nothing's better than Christ. Nothing is better
than Christ. Verse one, let's read verse one
and two in closing. First Corinthians 15. Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached
unto you, which you received. You believed it in where you
stand. You won't leave it. By which
also you're saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto
you, lest you believed in vain. And nobody, whoever believes
in Christ, believes in him in vain. And if somebody leaves
Christ, they never knew him, they never believed him. But
everybody who believes him will never leave him. Never, ever. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how can we ever thank you enough
for sending your darling son to be the substitute, the sacrifice
for your people? Father, how we thank you. How
we're humbled by your unspeakable gift Father, I pray you'd bless
your word as it's been preached. Bless it to your glory. Give
much glory to your name. Use it to reach the hearts of
your people, to save, to comfort, to encourage, and to feed the
hearts of your people. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, for his glory we pray.