I need a pop case to stand on. I invite you to turn with me
this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Chapter Mark read
a portion to you. I'm going to use those verses
as my text. Good to be back and see the faces,
familiar faces. that I hope to spend eternity
with. We don't think much about that,
do we? Not like we ought to. We're just here for a little
bit. Then we're going to our long home. And we're going there
with those who believe. Those who believe. It's a wonderful thing to me
to be able to gather ourselves together with some knowledge. The more I studied, the more
I realized how little I know. But we have some knowledge and
we need to be thankful for what knowledge we have that we can
get together and talk about these things with some amount of assurance
and joy. It's a joyful thing to think
about with all the stuff that goes on in this world. What a
joy. And this world can't rob us of
that joy. That's ours. And it's a wonderful
thing. A lot of waters passed over the
dam since I first met this group. I was trying to remember the
exact date, but I think it was somewhere around 1978. And you all were meeting in the
basement of a bank over here in Danville. Yeah, here in Tampa,
Kentucky. Somewhere over in Baca, the best
I can remember over in Baca, Burke's Bakery. And I met this
group for the first time, and I've preached to them many times
since. It's the gospel that I hope to
talk about this morning. There's nothing else worth talking
about, is there? It's the gospel. The gospel,
the good news. The apostle opens his address
to the saints with these words, I declare unto you the gospel. The gospel. The gospel is a declaration. I went to Washington, D.C. to
visit my son up there, and he was taking me to all the sites,
and we went down to the Library of Congress, After many inspections
and searches and everything else, they led us in this little room
and down under this glass was the Declaration of Independence.
It was a declaration. What it said, it said. It didn't
say there's a possibility of it. It was a declaration. And the gospel, I was thinking
about this in my study, the gospel's not a question. Sinners ask questions,
the gospel answers the questions. The gospel is not a question.
I used to go to church and those men would say, are you saved?
That's not the gospel. You don't want to go to hell,
do you? Questions, questions, questions. That's what I got out of religion,
a lot of questions. Who would want to go to hell?
What a crazy question. It's not a question. It's not
a suggestion. Now here's what you need to do. The gospel is not a suggestion. You
need to do this and that. You need to get your life in
order. The gospel is not even an opinion. Well, I'll tell you
what I think. No, it's not worth hearing. It's not an opinion. The gospel
is not a question. It's not a suggestion. or an
opinion, the gospel is a declaration. And that's what Paul said, I
declare unto you the gospel. The gospel. Now watch this. He said, which I preached unto
you. See it there in verse one? I
declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. What's that mean? That means
preaching is a declaration. That's what that means. It's
a declaration. It's a declaration of the gospel.
It's God's counsel and purpose to call men into the ministry,
reveal His Son in them, which enables them to preach His gospel. Isn't that what Paul says? When
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son. You can't preach if
you don't, if He don't reveal His Son, everything's in the
Son. He that hath the Son hath life. Anybody can grab a book
and memorize doctrine. I did it. But doctrine won't save you.
Christ saved me. It's God's counsel and purpose.
He calls men into the ministry to reveal his son in them, which
enables them to declare the mysteries that have never entered into
the thinking of natural man. Never. He can sit around and
speculate and talk about what grandma said and great-grandpa
said and all these things, but he can't enter in to those things
which God has prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them. unto us. How'd he do it? By spirit. By
spirit. God's left us with a divinely
inspired book. It's a complete record or testimony
of God concerning his son. To him give all the prophets
witness. That's what Paul says. But until the Spirit, who inspired
it, opened its mysteries to us, it's a closed book to fallen
men. I used to read the Bible out
of duty. They told me that's what I needed
to do, and that's what I did. And I read it, but I didn't get
anything out. I was more confused after reading it than I was before
I started. All it did was generate more
questions. Oh, my soul. When our Lord ascended up to
glory, it says in Ephesians 4, He gave to His church some apostles. We read from one today. He gave
some apostles. He gave some prophets. He gave some evangelists and
some pastors, teachers. And He did this, He said, for
the work of the ministry. for the edifying of the body
of Christ, and for the perfecting of his saints, that is, revealing
to them their perfection in Christ, that perfection which God demands. Perfection. That's what it's
all about, ain't it? When we learn something about
perfection, we'll quit worrying about our works. We'll quit defending our works. He said, for by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. What'd he
do? He perfected them. In Hebrew
7.9, it says, for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing
out of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. It's this perfection in Christ
that enables us to draw nigh unto God. And to preach is to
declare. It's to stand and deliver. That's
what it is. And what God declares by His
preacher, He reveals to His people. He shows them the truth and reasons
with them out of the Scriptures. If you finish reading those verses
that I quoted to you a while ago, that's out of 1 Corinthians
2. He hath revealed them unto us
by Spirit. If you go on and look at that,
Paul said, which things we preach. This revelation that God gives
us by the Spirit is what we preach. He reveals those mysteries. He
uncovers those mysteries. I'll be reading along sometimes
and the Lord will open something to me. Man, that's it. That's
it. Why couldn't I see that? I've
read that a hundred times. Why didn't I see that? That's why He reveals them to
us. And then when I preach those things, He opens your heart and
you say, that's it. And you see it the same way. Oh, He reveals to His people.
He shows them the truth, reasons with them out of the Scriptures.
And these means He calls the things of the Spirit of God. Preaching is one of those things.
Revelation is one of those things. The Word of God is one of those
things. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. That's what he want. You mean
I have to hear a preacher? That's what God said. That's
what the Holy Spirit said. But we ain't gonna do that. Well,
you don't receive the things of the Spirit of God. That's
what he said. He plainly tells us that the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for there's foolishness
unto him. And to preach is to declare, and what we preach is
to be received. Listen to this, which you have
received and wherein you stand, now listen, by which also you're
saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you
believed in me. This is not for a single time. It's not like passing a test
and getting a degree and then I just put the degree on the
wall and fall back on that. I don't have to know anything.
I got a degree. No, this truth goes on. and on,
and it increases, and we grow in grace and knowledge of Christ.
And these things is what moves us. These things are what controls,
dictates the way we live. You receive these things, he
said, and whereby you'll be saved if you keep in memory what we
preach. God hath from the beginning, Paul said. That's farther back
than we can calculate, ain't it? God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by a gospel." To
do what? To the obtaining of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, to partake of its benefits,
to partake, to see it, to rejoice in it. I'm going to tell you something.
There's no amount of seminary training, college education,
or memorizing facts that can accomplish what God has purposed
to do. Paul said not that we're sufficient
of ourselves to think anything about it. I'm not sufficient
to cause you to be born of God. Not that we're sufficient, he
said, to thank anything of ourselves, but he said, our sufficiency
is of God. That is God, the Holy Spirit
works through us. If you don't, I don't want to
preach no more. I just don't. And God said, or Paul said, God
hath made us able ministers of the gospel, not by the letter,
but by the spirit, for the letter killeth. But the Spirit gives
us life. And this is not a difficult process
to understand. What makes it difficult, what makes it confusing, is all
the things that we already believe that are just not so. I would have bet the farm at
one time that man has a free will. Wouldn't you? Some of you. Preachers told me that. My father,
whom I love, told me that. I read it in books. Yeah, read
it for yourself, you know. Yeah, man, that's what it says.
I'd have bet the farm on it. I would have stood toe-to-toe
with any man to defend the doctrine of God's universal love. God
loves all men the same. I would have. And I could and
did rest my soul on the fact that Christ died for all men.
That's what I was taught. And I was told and was convinced
that men and women could be saved anywhere, anytime, by any means. But let me tell you, none of
those things are true. None of those things are true. Nor did I take time to see if
they were in the Word of God, which they're not. And when your
head, this is my point, when your head is full of lies, you
can't process the simplest truth. God chose a people. How simple
is that? Little kids in our church understand
it. They understand what I'm saying.
Reason men rebel against it and say, well, that's, man, that's
deep. It ain't deep. What keeps us from understanding
is all this junk that we got in our head. We can't process
truth because of all that. It don't fit. It don't fit. But it don't have to. It's God's
way. And that's why preaching is a
declaration. Huh? Oh my. Preaching is a declaration and
believing is a revelation. It's the reconciliation, it's
the reconciling of God's reconciliation in you. That's exactly what it
is, 2 Corinthians 5, read through there, you'll see it. He's gonna
reconcile us to that reconciliation in Christ. That's what he's gonna
do. And my hope as I stand here this morning is to preach from
the scriptures five irrefutable declarations. Five things that
God says that there's just no argument to it. I can stand and
preach that to anybody, anywhere, anytime. They're unquestionable,
irrefutable. These things were preached by
Christ. They were stated by his prophets
and declared by his apostles. They preached from the history
of the church up to date, all of these things. And these facts
are the basis and fundamental doctrines of the gospel without
which there is no hope. There's no hope apart from these
things. This is what gives us hope. If these things are not
revealed to us in our heart, we're not gonna see Christ. And we won't know what to seek
until he preaches Christ to us. So my hope this morning is that
the Lord will be pleased to use these things today in the hearts
of his people for their everlasting good in his glory. Five irrefutable
declarations. Here's the first one. The gospel
declares the fall and ruin of all men. We don't have to believe
that. Huh? Dead. Dead. I preached to dead folks. He got his prophet. Spirit carried
him out to a big valley. He said, what do you see out
there? Bones. A lot of bones. They're all dead. They're all dry. Yeah. He said, that's my people. My people dead. out here in the
valley. In 1 Corinthians 15, 22, he said,
for as in Adam, all die. All die. That's what the text
says. This is irrefutable. These are not complicated terms. In Adam, all die. All die. First Corinthians is sometimes
called the resurrection chapter. We use this chapter out of the
Bible at funerals a lot of times. But the reason behind the resurrection
is that in Adam, all die. There has to be a resurrection. Verse 21, for since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. Romans 5.12 says,
By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men. Sin's not just something you
do, sin begins with what you are. Out of the heart, that's what,
it didn't say it went into the heart, he said it come out of
the heart, it's already in there. Evil thoughts, adultery, fornication. David confessed to God in Psalm
51, 5, saying, behold, I was shaping an iniquity. He said
the Lord desired truth in the inward part. And he said, I'm
confessing these things to you. I was shaping an iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive
me. The wicked, he said in Psalm
58, are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. And preaching the gospel of Christ
is the preaching of salvation from sin. Salvation from sin. Men talk about salvation today,
but they know nothing about sin. They don't understand what salvation
is. Salvation is salvation from sin,
and sin is what we are. It's a nature, it's a force within
that overrides the mind and heart in all mankind. In Ephesians
2, 1, the apostle writes, and you hath he quickened who were
dead, dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom we all had our conversation,
he said, in time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and listen, And
we're by nature. By what? By nature, the children
of wrath, even as others. The Bible plainly declares that
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, none righteous,
none good, none that understandeth and none that seeketh after God.
They're all gone astray. Destruction and misery in their
ways and no fear of God before their eyes. The gospel declares the total
depravity of man, no ifs, ands, and buts, and no exceptions. All right, here's the second.
Incontestable declaration of the gospel. Christ died for our
sins. Now listen, according to the
scriptures. Isn't that what they say? according
to the scriptures. He said, this is what I declared
to you, this is what you received, and this is how you're gonna
be saved. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He not left the death of his
son to the fallen reasoning of men or speculations of religious
men. His death for sins is according
to the scriptures. Well, what do the scriptures
say about the death of Christ? Well, the Word of God tells us
that his death was according to the eternal purpose of God. Sin didn't sneak up on God. But that's how religion presents
it, isn't it? That's how men talk about it.
He didn't know what to do. And so he tried this, and that
didn't work, and he tried the prophets, and that didn't work.
And so he sent John the Baptist, and that didn't work, and on
and on goes. Finally, he didn't have a choice.
He just had to send his son. And even his son couldn't redeem
everybody, just those that led him. What a bunch of garbage. And that's what's being preached.
That's what's being preached. They might dress it up a little,
but that's exactly what they're preaching. His death was according to the
eternal purpose of God. When Christ came into the world,
His very appearance, coming into the world, said that He was come
to do the will of God. Read it in Hebrews chapter 10.
It says it more than once, two or three times. John chapter
6, I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which
He hath given me I should lose nothing. I'm gonna raise it up
again at the last day. His appearance declared he would
come to do the will of God. In verse seven, he said, lo,
I come in the volume of the book, it's written of me, I come to
do thy will. What's the Old Testament telling
us? It's telling us that one man, the God man, is going to
appear once in the end of the world. and put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. That's what he's gonna accomplish,
the will of God, the redemptive will of God. And then in verse
10, he said, by the witch will we're sanctified, now listen
to this, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. The death of Christ is the fulfilling. The satisfying, the bringing
to pass the eternal purpose of God. And then secondly, his death
according to the scriptures was vicarious. What's that mean? That means he died for certain
people. Boy, you want to see a tsunami,
preach that to First Baptist Church. He died for certain people. He
didn't die for everybody. He died for certain people. Oh, he just died in general,
and then we, no. He died for individuals. Individuals. In John 10, 11, he said, I am
the good shepherd. Now here's all these religious
folks, these self-righteous Pharisees, and they've been having council
after council after council, and been going on for over a
hundred years at least, And they've got all these things refined,
and they know exactly what they can say, and all these situations
and everything else, and they're trying to argue with the Son
of God, who's the incarnate Word of God, and they're saying all
of these things, and Christ looked at him, and he said, let me tell
you something. I'm the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his
life for his sheep. Huh? I don't have to read a book
to understand that. Two sentences. I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. And they went on and they said,
if you be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you.
And here's the problem. You're not of my sheep. The privilege of hearing this
was not bought for you. It was purchased for my sheep. Call his name Jesus. Here he
is, this little baby. Call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sins. Scriptures tell us that his death
was a picture. He died the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. And the scriptures declare that
his death manifested the glory of God. He died for our sins
according to the scriptures. In the death of Christ, that's
where his love, you want to know something about the love of God?
There it is. There it is. He manifested his
love on the cross. The glory of it, the glory of
his mercy, the glory of his grace, his kindness, his justice, righteousness,
And holiness is all of those things working in union. And
he even did that on the cross. Just and justifier. And just
before going to the cross, he lifted up his eyes to heaven
and he said, Father, the hour has come. What's he going to
do? Glorify thy son. Why? That thy son also may glorify
thee. You see the difference what they're
talking about when religion talks about the death of Christ and
when the gospel declares the death of Christ? What a difference.
His death is manifest in the glory of God. He died for our
sins according to the scriptures. Then the third irrefutable, unquestionable
declaration of the gospel is that the imputed righteousness
of Christ is the only righteousness there is. Huh? Boy, we just want to. We look for it. We look for some
reason at something we've done and then won't stick them fingers
in them lips, you know. Huh? We don't have a righteousness
except that imputed to us by Christ. All our so-called righteousnesses,
he said, are as filthy rags. Man at his best state, altogether
vanity. Beloved, there is no righteousness
except that of God apart from the righteousness of Christ.
Listen to this. Of God, Are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God was made unto us wisdom? What else? Righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. What are you saying, Preacher? I'm
saying if you're in Christ, in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. That's what
I'm saying. I have a perfect righteousness already accepted
of God. I'm not waiting to see if it's
going to be accepted. It's already accepted. All of these things are ours
in Christ. He's the end of the law for righteousness. Now listen to everyone that believe
it. And listen to this, 1 Corinthians
15, 17 on this same subject. He said, if Christ be not risen,
Your faith is vain and you're getting your sins. Why is he
saying that? Because Christ is our righteousness.
All right, here's the fourth irrefutable, incontrovertible
declaration of the gospel. That Jesus Christ himself is
the resurrection. Jesus said to a heartbroken Martha, Why is she so heartbroken? Her
brother died. And she wasn't expecting it. We ought to be expecting to die,
shouldn't we? He died. And she had sent word
for Christ to come, but he didn't come. She was upset. She was confused. And the Lord said, Martha, he
said, thy brother shall rise again. That's what we say at funerals
a lot, don't we? I know he's going to rise again.
I know that. And Martha quickly replied, I
know that he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last
day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection. You're looking
at the resurrection. And he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me will never die. He said, you believe that?
You believe that, you can rejoice. You can't rejoice in the other.
You'll find no peace in it. But boy, if you know him as the
resurrection, then you know that one you buried out there that
was a believer, He didn't die. He's just absent from the body,
and just absent for a little time. And then God's gonna raise
his vile body. Oh, don't roll the stone back
by now, he's dinky. He's stonk when you put him in
there. I am the resurrection. Salvation's
in a person. It ain't in a bunch of bikes,
it's in a person. And that person is alive. He
ain't in a tomb over in Jerusalem. He's alive. And he tells that all through
this first portion of this. He's the resurrection. Not only
that, he's the life. Boy, I hope I get eternal life.
You better have it now. He's the life. According to our text in 1 Corinthians
15 verse 14 through 18, if Christ be not risen, that all preaching
is vain, faith is vain, hope is vain, and God's word is called
into question. And God's preachers are liars. Beloved, we're saved by virtue
of an eternal union with Christ. Full provision was given to us
and in time manifested in Him. And we, according to Ephesians
2, 6, have been something already done. We have been raised up
together and seated together with Him at the right hand of
God. Huh? I'm rejoicing in that. Oh my soul. Our text tells us
in verse 4 that he was buried, rose again the third day according
to the scriptures that Peter saw him and the twelve saw him
and was seen of over 500 brethren at one time. His resurrection
is one of the most documented of his works and cannot be denied
by any man who bases his faith on the Word of God. And then the last irrefutable
declaration of the gospel is that having been raised from
the dead, he ascended up to heaven and sat down at the right hand
of God. Well, what's he doing there?
He's running the show. That's what he's doing. Last
thing he said to his apostles, They were standing there looking
at him and could hardly believe their eyes. They were still thinking
about what he preached to them on the road to Emmaus when he
was there with them. And they said, didn't our hearts
burn within us? We opened to us the scriptures
and we talked to him. And now they told him to meet
him over here. And he went over there and he's
standing there talking to them. And he steps onto a cloud. There's what he said. Last words
he said to him before he ascended up into glory, he said, all power
in heaven and earth is given to me. You believe that? Then nothing's out of place. It's all according to God's purpose,
all of it. He said, all power in heaven
and earth is given unto me. Now you go preach. You go preach. You don't have to worry about
being frustrated. You reckon Christ sitting on the throne
could make this message effectual this morning? Huh? If I mumbled and jumbled and
forgot this and that, which I always do, He can make it effectual
because all power is given unto Him. He sat down at the right hand
of God, and then Paul said, he sat there expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool. He's not upset. He's not pacing.
He's not leaning over the banister of heaven crying. No, he's seated. Listen to this,
John said, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto
you. He's seated at the right hand
of God and the right hand of God is the hand of fellowship.
Fellowship. That which we've seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also might have fellowship with
us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his
son, Jesus Christ. And the right hand of God is
the right hand of power. He must reign. See it there,
1 Corinthians 15, 25. He must reign. Till he hath put
all enemies under his feet. Nobody gonna defeat him. He's
gonna reign. When he ascended up into heaven,
he ascended there victorious. And there's nothing more sure
than the salvation of God's elect. There's nothing more founded
in the word of God and his gospel. And there's nothing more factual
than the spirit of the living God who come to seal his promises
in the hearts of his people. Every believer is to the praise
of the Father's glory who first trusted in Christ. in whom you
also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, and whom also after that you believed you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And that's the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. And it's all under the praise
of his glory. I've been on my way for a long
time. And these five irrefutable declarations are still the flame
that causes my heart to burn within me. When I understand
that I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner, helpless, hopeless sinner, but
I have a sovereign savior whose work is all effectual. and that
God had given everything to him by way of provision for me. Everything
God demanded, he provided. And in time, he accomplished
it. And now in heaven, he seats on the throne to see that it's
gonna be delivered. And Paul said, I delivered unto
you, didn't he? Yvonne ordered some stuff the
other day from Amazon. That's our new Walmart. and I got a notification that
it's gonna be delivered. Such and such a day, it's gonna
be delivered. Early that afternoon, I saw the truck coming. Truck
pulled right up to the gate, said, I have a package for you,
hand it to me. Do you know that's what the gospel
is? That's exactly what Paul's saying here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. I declared unto you the gospel,
and you received it. What did you receive? What I
delivered. What I delivered. God sent this to you. Here's
his gift. Here it is. That's what happens
every time his gospel is preached. Every time. May the Lord add
his blessing to the preaching of his gospel.