If you will, turn back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. It's my prayer and my hope that
what I have to say this evening will be a source of joy and comfort
to you. I have no desire to ruffle feathers. I have no desire to debate and
argue all the things that religion revels in. But I did learn some
things, and I learned very quickly that not everybody loves the
gospel. They don't love the gospel. They love a lot of things. They like to sing, they like
to gather, they like activities, but they don't love the gospel. And I learned very quickly that
not everybody knows the gospel. See, that's how the Lord began
to work in my heart. I was religious, playing my guitar,
thought I was really doing something, and I'd go to all kinds of denominations
and play and sing and give a little testimony and sit down. I thought
I was really doing something. And so I got all zealous one
night and I invited this man to come to the service and he
said, why? He was wearing cut off jeans
and drinking a long neck blue ribbon beer and had his foot
propped up and he said, why? I didn't know what to say. Nobody ever asked me that before.
They say yes or no. He said, why? And I didn't know
what to say, so I said, well, I'd like for you to come hear
the gospel." And he said, really? He said, you wouldn't know the
gospel if it met you in the middle of the road. I said, what do
you mean I don't know the gospel? Well, if you know the gospel,
what is it? And for the first time in my
life, I realized I didn't know the gospel. Go into all the world
and preach the gospel. He that believeth. He that believeth
what? The gospel. You can't believe
what you don't know. Is that right? That's exactly
right. But you can be religious. I was. And not everybody knows the gospel
and not everyone believes the gospel. When you said it before
men, very simply, something that a child can understand, now feathers
get ruffled. Now you find out if he really
loves the gospel or not. Paul warns us over in Galatians
chapter 1 of those who will come preaching another gospel. But
he said it's not another. It's a perversion of the gospel. John said, if any man come, if
any man transgresseth, that's what he said, transgresseth,
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, he don't know God. He don't have God, and he don't
know God. This world's ignorant of God,
ignorant of God's Son, ignorant of his sacrifice and they're
ignorant of how God saves sinners. How does God save sinners? In
his son. Isn't that what he said? This is the record God has given
to us eternal life and this life is in his son. He that hath the
son hath life. The son is the gospel. You can
preach all kinds of things, but you haven't preached the gospel
until you preach His Son. It's all in Him. In Him, Paul said, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. So there's the question, am I
in Him? Do I know Him? If I don't, I
don't know the gospel. Now you can preach all kinds
of, it's easy to preach. Go get a book, find an outline,
stand up and preach it. Anybody can do that. But to preach the gospel of God's
Son. Romans 5, Paul tells us that
when we were yet without strength and due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Who did Christ did? A person
did. What does it mean to be ungodly?
What's that talking about? That talking about how long you
wear your dress or how you wear your hair? Do I frequent the bars? What's
it mean to be ungodly? Because he said in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. Ungodly men and women are those whose thoughts and
activities are contrary to the character of God. Ungodliness
is a gospel, a life, and a hope built on such things that run
contrary to God. It's ungodly. And we were all
ungodly. This world walks in the vanity
of their minds, Paul said. By their thoughts, their ungodly
thoughts, they both accuse or else excuse one another. And
when God saves a sinner, he enlightens him. He brings certain things
into focus. He begins to see. Blessed are
your eyes, Christ said, they see. Blessed are your ears, they
hear. And that's what I want to do
tonight, and every time I stand before a people assembled by
God, I want to preach the gospel. And as I studied this portion
of Holy Scripture, I found five things that he says here. Five,
one old pastor called them stubborn statements. That's what they
are. And may God the Holy Ghost be
our teacher as we examine these things. The first thing that
I see is the character of the message. That's what Paul's gonna
bring out here in 1 Corinthians 15. Now, if you go back one chapter,
you'll hear him talking about the ignorant. He said those that
are ignorant, leave them alone, they're ignorant. But this is
knowledge. And knowledge begins with the
character of the gospel. The gospel, you see, is a declaration. I never heard a declaration in
religion. Never did. It was always presented to me as something
that could be or might be or ought to be. I never heard a declaration.
Preaching's a declaration. It's saying this is so and this
is not so. That's a declaration. Paul tells
the church here at Corinth, he said, I declare unto you the
gospel. We don't preach a could be, might
be gospel. There's nothing in the gospel
that's attractive to natural man. If I find some common ground
between the gospel and you, I'm not preaching God's gospel. It's
contrary to man. The spirit of the living God
who reveals this gospel, the spirit is contrary, isn't it,
to what's in us. Totally contrary. Cain brought the works of his
hands and God had no respect to it. He just walked by and
kept walking. He was so proud, I can just almost
picture him standing there with that Big ears of corn and whatever
he had, and he had it all laid out there, and man, it looked
good. He had it polished up clean.
He was proud. He couldn't wait to hear what
the Lord was going to say about his offering. And the Lord just
walked on by. Walked on by. Man has to be put in his place.
It riles him when preachers do it. One fella came in one night,
he was early, somebody giving him the wrong time and he was
there real early and he come in and he paced and he walked
and he sat back down and he get up and after a while we had four
or five people that come in and he said, everybody get around,
he said, here's what we're gonna do. He said, I'm gonna kneel
down here and pray and when I get done, He said, the Lord's going
to save me. And I said, no, sir, that ain't
what we're going to do. What we're going to do is you're going
to sit down and be quiet and listen, and we'll see if God
will save you. Isn't that what preaching the
gospel is all about? It's exactly what it's all about. God's gospel comes as a declaration,
and even more so than that, Sometimes it comes as an ultimatum. You go and preach my gospel.
Every creature, anybody. Open the door. Go in. Preach
for them. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's an ultimatum. That's not saying, won't you
please do this? He's God. I can't even get a
picture in my head of him doing that. Can you? God has nothing else to say to
sinners outside of Christ. He said all he's going to say. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And that statement follows the
gospel they were commanded to preach. And gospel preaching
is not a series of suggestions. Baptism is not a suggestion,
it's a commandment. Faith is not a suggestion, it's
a commandment. Repentance, a commandment. All
men everywhere are commanded to repent. It's a declaration. of his gospel
to men. Preachers, the scriptures say,
are ambassadors of God. They're not left to make up things
to say or entertain sinners so they can feel good about themselves.
They have a message from him whom they represent, and they
bring that message. Ambassadors, someone said, take
the message of the king and declare it to foreigners. So preaching
is a declaration. I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also you received, and wherein
you stand, and by which also you're saved, if you keep in
memory what I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. Preacher's a man called of God
to preach the gospel, and in his heart he's convinced that
without gospel preaching, nobody's gonna be saved. Huh? Oh, wait a minute preacher, I
know people. Yeah, I've heard the same thing. It's a bunch
of hooey. God saves men through the preaching of the gospel. In the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God. That's God's wisdom. They didn't
know God. They never gonna know God. But
it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Paul said, let a man so account
of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
of God. And then he said this to them.
This would floor most people if you just come out of nowhere
with this statement to them. But this is exactly what Paul
told these wise Greeks. Here's what he told them. He
said, with me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged.
I just don't believe you're a preacher. Well, who cares? Okay, if God called me to preach,
then your judgment of me is a very small thing, isn't it? That's
exactly what he told him. Boy, that floored most people,
most churches. It's a very small thing that
I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I don't
even judge myself. I want to be heard by men and
women. I want to be beneficial to God's
people. I want to be an asset and not
a burden, but my calling is of God. And he's confirmed that
to me and I don't need anybody else to confirm it. Not looking
for a confirmation. I'm looking for God's elect.
Looking for believers. If I'm not convinced God called
me to preach, I shouldn't even be up here. I'd never leave the
house. Preaching the gospel is a declaration. And then secondly, the gospel
is a saving declaration by which also you're saved. Isn't that
what it said? It's a saving. Those who believe
this gospel are saved. They're saved. And 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul talks about the power of
Antichrist. A great falling away. He said
before, don't let anybody tell you the Lord's coming back tomorrow.
Before he comes back, there's going to be a great falling away.
Antichrist. Going to rear his ugly head.
He's going to deceive millions. He's going to do it through lying
wonders and deceivableness of unrighteousness. And he's gonna
do this to perishing sinners. They're all perishing, the scripture
said, because they receive not the love of the truth that they
might be saved. Now that's not so much talking
about your love as it is God's love revealed in it. That's what
he's talking about. They won't receive the love of
God in that declaration. God don't have to send you the
gospel, my son. I can't even put a number on
the amount of people who never heard the gospel, never will
hear it. Raised over in the jungle somewhere with a bone in their
nose, bowing down to a statue, dancing naked around in front
of a fire. They don't know God. And God
never sent them a man to declare the gospel to them. If he does,
it's a high privilege. Because you can't be saved without
it. The Gospel is a saving declaration. And Paul is talking to these
people, these perishing sinners. And they are perishing because
they received not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. God commended His love toward
us in the death of Christ, the suffering of Christ. His love
is in this message. His love is in the sacrifice
of his son. We love him, John said, because
he first loved us. If I have any love toward that
gospel, toward Christ, if I have any love, it's because he loved
me first. That's how that love is transmitted,
isn't it? Sure it is. And those who embrace the gospel
do so because they truly see the love of God manifested in
it. This is God's love for me. That's
what he's talking about. He didn't have to send me a preacher.
He didn't have to declare the word of God to me. He didn't
have to do any of these things. I'm a guilty sinner. But these wouldn't receive the
love of God, and they were given over to strong delusion to believe
a lie, because they wouldn't receive this love of God. But
Paul said, I thank God for you, brethren. A little group just
like this. I thank God for you, brethren.
Why? Because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. you're gonna be saved no matter
what. That ain't what he said. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Whereunto or for this cause he
called you by our gospel. It's a saving declaration. Epiphras, a faithful minister
of Christ by whom the Colossians learned the gospel, declared
their love in the spirit and gave a confirmation of their
faith to Paul. And upon hearing these things,
he thanked God who made them meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of who? Enlightened saints, or saints
enlightened. The gospel's a saving mission.
It's the means God has chosen to call out His elect, and not
only call them out, but preserve the faith that He gives them.
He's gonna give them faith. He's gonna maintain that faith.
How's He gonna do it? He's gonna feed them with the
gospel of Christ. Oh, they'll get tired of it after
a while. No, they won't. No, they won't. I told our folks
the other day, every Sunday, my mom fixed fried chicken when
I was growing up. Rest of the week, we might have
beans, but on Sunday, the whole family came over and she fried
chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Man, I can smell it right
now. I never got tired of it. I had it every week the whole
time. I never got tired of it. And
brethren, if you get tired of the gospel, something's wrong
with you. Something's wrong. We don't get tired. God gives
us a nap. That's what I look for when folks come to visit.
I look for the appetite of the gospel because they'll keep coming
back. The gospel is a saving message. Paul said that both he and Apollos
were ministers by whom they believed even as the Lord gave to every
man. Think about that. And then thirdly,
the gospel is a scriptural declaration. He said Christ died for our sins
according to the scripture. That's what I declared to you.
That's what I preached to you. That's where you stand and that's
how you're going to be saved. If you keep in memory what, huh? Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures and he was buried and rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. Well, here's what I think. I've had enough of that. Tell
me what God said in His Word. Really and truly, this is the
only information we have on God is what He was pleased to reserve
for us in that book. That's it. The Bible's the greatest
source of information we have concerning God and His Son. He's
given us a little bit of light in our conscience giving us a
little bit of light and creation. But the great light is in Him,
in His Son. Paul said to Timothy, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. For doctrine. For reproof. For correction. And for instruction
in righteousness. And Peter said this, he said,
no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
That's not talking about your interpretation of it, but those
who received it and wrote it down. It wasn't up to them. Or he said this, the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of men. but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And men and women are encouraged
to read the Scriptures. I encourage our folks, read the
Scriptures. Whether you understand them or
not, read them. And then when you hear them, I read that. God said that. Read them. You reckon Eunice, when she sat
down and read the Scriptures to Timothy, he just a little
He wasn't very big. And she said, now, you reckon
he had any understanding? Uh-uh. No. But later on, somebody
stood up and said, God said, he said, that's right. I read
that. I read that. My grandmother read
that to me. My mother read it to me. Read
the scriptures, whether you understand them or not. God may give you
an understanding. But for sure, you'll know if
that man standing up there telling you the truth. Yvonne got mad. She was in religion. She found out what the gospel
is. She got mad. She said, somebody lied to me. Somebody lied to me. And that's
exactly what they did. Men and women are encouraged
to read the scriptures. The Bereans searched their scriptures
daily, and they were commended for it. And then John tells us believers
have an unction of the Holy One and an anointing of the Spirit.
Does that mean they don't need the preaching of the gospel?
No. It means that they can understand what's being preached. I can study, and I can outline,
and I can tell you things, but I can't make you believe them.
But the Spirit of God can. He can convince you that this
is the message. This is the message. The gospel's a declaration. It's
a saving declaration. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Preaching is a scriptural declaration. Preaching apart from the Holy
Scripture, just beating the air. That's what Paul said. And then
fourthly, the gospel declaration is concerning Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
I've been through them all verse by verse, preached from them
many hundreds of times. They give an eyewitness account
of a man named Jesus, don't they? They tell you about his birth,
tell you about his genealogy, tell you about even some of his
childhood, but especially about the preaching of the gospel.
Him being Christ. He is the Christ the promised
Messiah the Redeemer Deliverer of God's people called in scriptures
You know I hear that word Jesus Christ all the time Christ is
not Jesus last name. That's his office and When you
preach Christ, I'm preaching that one foretold of God, whose
office is savior, mediator, redeemer. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. He's the Christ. All hope for
fallen man's tied up in Christ. And throughout the Bible, it's
example time and again, the utter impossibility of man to save
himself. He can't do it. If the Lord releases
his restraint, the slightest bit, I'm going to take my man
Moses, now y'all behave yourself, I'm going to go up there on the
mountain and give him my law. Moses was just gone a short time. Holy people, aren't they? He
comes back, these people got a golden calf, and they're dancing
naked around it. Release that grip. Oh, it's example
time and again throughout the scripture, the utter impossibility
of man. The more God turns him loose,
the worse he gets. And the more God leaves him to
himself, the more vile his thoughts and actions become. And to save
a sinner, God must enter into a union with him. No other way to save him. I had
an old Ford pickup, 1951 Ford pickup. My dad bought it, I think
it was a year old when he bought it. Old nog hide seats in it. It was a rough old truck. And
I was the last one to own it. in the late 60s. And it just
quit running. We used to change the plugs,
put new points in it, and it kept going. Finally one day it
wouldn't run. I did everything I knew to do.
That thing wouldn't run. So we put a chain on it, pulled
it up to the Ford dealer. And the factory representative
there, the head mechanic, he come out and jammed the truck. He called me up and said, you
need to come up here. And I come up and he said, son, he said,
she's past fixing. That man, ain't he? He's past fixing. If God gonna
save a single sinner, he gonna have to go into a union with
that's the only way he can save him. He can't save himself, there's
nothing good in him. This is floor most religious
folks. Paul said, I know. This is a preacher, not only
a preacher, an apostle. Divinely inspired. And he said,
I know. I don't think. It's not a possibility. I know that in me dwelleth no
good thing. Boy, I hope I know that. I hope
I know that. Because I'm not gonna turn to
Christ till I do. Ain't no good thing in me. To save a sinner, God must enter
into a union with him. He must become one with him.
And for him, do what he cannot do for himself. What's he do? He resists sin. my representative, my substitute,
that one with whom I made one. He resisted sin until his blood
came out like sweat. Who does that? Who's ever done
that? Nobody. He resisted sin. He suffered for sin. He died
for sin. And by this holy representation
and substitution, he satisfied God's justice and wrought out
for me a perfect righteousness. Am I righteous? Well, let me
ask you this, is Christ righteous? Because he's my righteousness. Would you be righteous? It's
all in him. It's all in him. I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein
you stand, by which also you saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. For, here
it is, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
now that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures. What do the scriptures
say about his death? Well, he tells us in Isaiah 53,
he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. The whole time
I was in religion, they depicted Christ and his suffering being
all of man. All of man. That's not what Isaiah
says. He's smitten of God. Smitten
of God. and afflicted, wounded for our
transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Who's that? All God's elect.
laid on him. He was cut off out of the land
of the living. Now listen, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grave. When thou shalt make his soul,
who's the thou? That's God, isn't it? When thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that way. That's gonna prosper. In
whose hands? In his. The gospel's a declaration that
Jesus Christ died for the sins of his elect. Scripture said
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. The gospel's
a declaration that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree,
and we were reconciled in the body of his flag. How can this
rotten sinner be reconciled to God? What's going to cause God,
is he going to quit? quit his drug habit, and quit
his alcohol habit, and quit running around with women. What's he
going to do? Going to change his dress? What
is it that's going to cause God to befriend this sinner? How's
he going to be reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death? Reconciled. What would cause God favored
to suddenly come upon this man. Oh, it was upon him for a long
time. He just didn't know it. Now he knows it. Well, what causes that? He sees
you in the Son. And He's going to make you see
yourself in His Son. In His Son. We're complete in
Him. That's what Paul said. Gospels a declaration that our
substitute died in our room instead was buried and raised from the
dead on the third day according to the scriptures And according
to the scriptures his resurrection was God's declaration of the
full justification for all for whom he died Delivered prior
offenses now listen raised again for our justification Am I justified
is Christ risen I You see what I'm saying? Romans 3.24 said, Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus,
whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past. You mean just our past sins?
talking about Old Testament saints. Well, how do I know that? By
the next verse. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and justifier of him
that believeth in Jesus. And then lastly, this gospel
declaration which preached unto you is one that when truly received
is embedded into the heart and continues to be the source of
our hope and joy even unto death. Listen to this here in verse
two, by which also you're saved if, if what? If you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, huh? Boy, if you have to go back 20
years to know whether or not you're saved, you shouldn't have
to go back anywhere. What do you believe right now? Because if you drop that somewhere
along the way, you never was saved. If people gonna retain,
this thing has been embedded in their heart and in their mind.
In their mind, I'll write my law. Is he talking about thou
shalt not, no, he's talking about the law satisfied, the law honored
and exalted. I'll write it in their minds,
they'll never forget it. I'll put it in their hearts,
it'll be on their hearts when they come in to worship me. This
is my covenant, he says. They ain't gonna forget. The just, saved by faith. They live by faith. Hebrews 10,
38. But if any man draw back, my
soul had no pleasure in him. But we're not of them that draw
back under perdition. We're of them that believe to
the saving of the soul. He embeds that gospel in your
heart. Writes it in your heart. There are many in the days of
Paul who saw the risen Christ. Scripture said he rose from the
dead and appeared to Peter, all of the apostles, and over 500
brethren at one time, walked around on this earth for more
than 30 days before his ascension. But here's the conclusion of
the whole matter. Paul's preaching to these folks. He said, Whether it was Tim, or whether
it was me. Whether it was Drew, or whether
it was Paul. Whether it was I, or whether
it was we. Them or me, whoever. Here's the
point of the whole thing. So we preach, and so you believe. That's the gospel. It's a declaration. Oh, God, the Holy Spirit, help
me be our teacher tonight. Be my teacher. Help me to not
just preach this thing, but promote it. Promote it. Get behind it. Preach it. There's no other hope
for this world, is there? None I've ever seen. Preach it. Bite folks out. Well, I know,
but they might not come for the right reasons. Munich didn't
either until God sent him a preacher. Did he? But many a man who came
to church for the wrong reason heard the truth. Thank you.