for a scripture reading this
morning, and this will also serve as my text, turn with me to 1
Corinthians chapter 15. I preached from this chapter
up in Missouri last week from verse 11, where he says, whether
it were I or they, so we preached, and so you believed. But I saw
something in the text that I wanted to expand a little, so I'm going
to preach from it again. And, being Easter, this is the
resurrection chapter, so nobody can accuse me of not bringing
a traditional message. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. It is the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand,
by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried,
and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, and after
that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of
whom the greater part remain under this presence, but some
are falling asleep. After that he was seen of James,
then of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me
also as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the
apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, because
I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am
what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me. Therefore, whether it were I
or they, so we preached, so ye believed. Now if Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there
is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain? Yea,
and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified
of God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so
be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins. Then
they also which are fallen asleep, or have died in Christ, are perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are all men most miserable. If just the days
we live, from the time we're born to the time we die, if that's
all we have, Of all men we ought to be most miserable. If that's
our hope. If that's all my hope. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and became the firstfruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all died, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's
that is coming. Then cometh the end, when he
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule, all authority, and power. For
he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. And the last enemy that shall
be destroyed is death. Turn back with me, if you will,
to 1 Corinthians 15. While you're turning, I'll say
this. It is for me, and I hope by the grace of God for you,
a privilege to be in this place. I count it a privilege to be
in this place and among the saints of God today. What a privilege. Many this morning will go off
to their chosen place of worship, observing what they believe is
the resurrection of Christ without knowing the purpose behind it,
or what was declared by it, or what it took to accomplish it,
or the power involved to bring it to pass. But they'll go because
it's Easter. I remember growing up as a child,
and when somebody mentioned Easter, the first thing that came to
my mind was an Easter basket. I'm going to get an Easter basket.
Maybe a chocolate bunny. And then we had Easter egg hunts
at church for the little ones. But we're told plainly in the
scriptures that not everybody that says, Lord, Lord, will enter
in. There's a lot who say, Lord,
Lord. There's a lot who stand behind
pulpits similar to this and speak to groups similar to this, and
they say, we know God, and our people know God, and we believe
the gospel, and on and on it goes. But we're told plainly,
not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter in. Some, Paul
said, will come preaching another Jesus. That's what he wrote to
the Corinthians. Be careful. For some will come
preaching another Jesus, another gospel by another spirit. And
then in Galatians, he warns them again. He said, if any come preaching
another Jesus, let them be accursed. If any man, he said it twice,
if any man, though he were an angel from heaven, if he comes
preaching any other gospel than the one I delivered to you, you
count him accursed of God. It's also a great and overwhelming
privilege to stand before you as an ambassador of God. It's
one I stand in awe of. I'm humbled by it every time
I think about it. So many out there, well-educated,
graduates from seminary and on and on the list goes, who want
to preach. They want to preach. Their desire
is to preach, but God's never called them. And it never worked
out. It's an overwhelming privilege
to me to be an ambassador of God. How do I know? Because it come to pass. It come
to pass. Paul said in the scriptures,
we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ's stead.
be reconciled to God. We're standing in the place of
God. That's hard to imagine, isn't
it? Here's a man, he's standing up here behind a wooden pulpit,
and he's talking to you on a certain day, and he's telling you that
he stands for God. That's awesome, isn't it? Somebody
said, boy, your head gets swept. No, no, it don't work that way.
It goes the other way. It's humbling. If I stand in the place of God,
and I'm His ambassador, as though Christ Himself did beseech you,
be you reconciled to God. That's humbling. That's humbling. It's my testimony that God has
revealed His Son in me, as He did to Paul and others. that
I might preach him among the heathen. You can't tell what
you don't know, Barnard said, any more than you can come back
from some place you haven't been. I was watching my son-in-law. We was in an airport, and this
young man just got out of boot camp. And a lot of his friends
and relatives are there, and he starts telling them what it's
like over in Iraq. Well, he wasn't in Iraq. He was
in Missouri in boot camp. And when he starts describing
all this stuff, my son-in-law just looked over at me and said,
he'd never been out of the United States. He'd not been on a battlefield. He'd not seen. He wouldn't be
talking about it if he had. You can't tell what you don't
know. My message this morning, I told
you something caught my eye, and this is what caught my eye,
and I believe it's the subject of the chapter. Special delivery. You ever gotten anything in the
mail special delivery? Yvonne said somebody bought her
a bouquet of flowers and it came special delivery. Just for you. A chosen agent brought that gift
and it was meant for you. Wasn't meant for everybody, just
meant for you. Wasn't for your neighbors, it was for you. And
that chosen agent handed you that gift, facial delivery. Things that are especially for
me, for my eyes only, things that require my signature, my
confirmation, my acknowledgment. Something trusted to a chosen
agent to be delivered personally to one marked out to receive. And this is the gist of what
Paul's writing in these first 11 verses here in 1 Corinthians
15. God the Father's chosen a people.
He chose a people unto salvation. He chose them to salvation. Through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto
he called them by my gospel. That's what he said. God the Father has chosen a people
to save for the glory of His name and this His purpose to
do in the person and work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God is not a creature of
time. Time is something God created for the sole purpose of manifesting
His glory. There was no time before, and
when everything is wrapped up and done, He's going to put one
foot on the sea and one on the land, and he's going to cry,
time shall be no more. Time is just a little space in
eternity that God's chosen to reveal the glory of His name
in His Son. He's not a creature of time.
When He's finished the work, He'll tell us, time shall be
no more. Time run out. Everything God does, he does
according to his purpose. He worketh all things, the scripture
said, after the counsel of his own will. And he wrote to Timothy
and he said, God saved us. He didn't say God's going to
save us or we got saved. He said, God saved us. How did he do that? Well, he
saved us, and then he called us. That's how we know we're
saved. He called us, and he called us with a holy calling. A calling
that's... It's not a breach of his character. It doesn't go contrary to the
character of God. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works. but according to his own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. The gospel is not something men
are free to make up as you go. That's not how it is. Something
they choose to suit the religious climate of the crowd, whatever
it is. Something clever to say to fill up a building. If you're
a good entertainer, you can fill up a building. That's why ours
ain't full. I'm not a good entertainer. The
gospel is something ordained of God, something personal, something
particular, marked out for His elect. It's not for everybody. It's
for His people. Most people just hear it and
go, hmm, that's interesting. and go on about your business. The gospel, the glorious gospel
is not free for the taking. I've heard preachers who ought
to know better say it's free for the taking. Oh, I beg your
pardon. You get something special delivered,
it ain't free for the taking. It comes to you. And that man
ain't going to turn loose of it until he knows who you are.
You're going to be confirmed before Him before He hands you
the gift. It's sent from God. The glorious
gospel of Christ. How shall you hear without a
preacher? How is he going to preach if God doesn't send him?
That's what the scripture says. It's sent from God. And the one
who sends it does so by His chosen means. Paul said, we're ministers, now
listen to this, we're ministers by whom you believed even as
the Lord gave to every man. That is every man he sent this
gospel to. The gospel is not a set of directions. It's not a how-to. He doesn't give you a set of
directions and say, now you put it together. The gospel is not
a multiple-choice decision. You want to go to heaven? Yes.
You don't want to go to hell, do you? No. It's not a multiple-choice
decision. The gospel is not a last-effort
means to save sinners by a frustrated God. He's done all he can do.
Now it's all up to you. No, that's not what it is. The
gospel is a person. When we talk about the resurrection,
the resurrection would be nothing if Christ was not raised. The
resurrection is about the Son of God. It's about our Savior.
It's about that one appointed as our provision from all eternity
being raised from the dead. The Gospel unveils the very heart
and character of God. And the gospel tells us things
we could have never known apart from it. We'd never know. How shall you hear without a
preacher? How shall he preach except he be sinned? And oh,
when I think of the casual, insignificant attitude of men and women who
come to the house of God because it's Sunday, or the Sabbath,
whichever suits or on Wednesday night, or on Easter, or on Christmas. Come to fulfill some obligation
of conscience or legal righteousness. Oh, what an abomination this
is to God. The Gospel is a special declaration. It's a revelation, if you will,
of the very glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's a message designed to show
us God's eternal provision for us in Christ. He's our provision. Christ is our salvation. Paul
said, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Is that all your hope?
Somebody asks you tomorrow, what's your hope? What are you going
to tell them? You're going to go in this big, long thing about
Calvinism and all, you know? No. Christ, that's my hope. He's all my hope. I have no righteousness,
but He is. I have no sin offering, but He
is. I have no merit, but He is. I have nothing that's not given
to me by Him. He's all. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now listen to this, here in 1
Corinthians 15. He said, moreover brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also
you have received, and wherein you stand." When that man preached,
they heard something. A foundation was laid. Something
went beyond their natural reasoning. Something went into that heart,
and it caused them to stand on it. Here's something solid. Here's
some solid ground. Here's something with some hope
in it. I can stand on this. I can hope in this, wherein you stand, by which also
you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless you believed in vain." Well, how does a man or a woman
know their election of God? Paul said his gospel came to
him in power and in the Holy Ghost. What's that man? They run around speaking in tongues? Healing people? No. No, that's
not what that means. What that means is the power
of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Christ to you. That's what it
is. How do I know if the Holy Ghost
is in a meeting? Does He reveal Christ to me?
Then He's here, because you can't know it apart. His gospel comes
to them in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance.
That is, we see Christ's Sacrificed, we see his obedience, we see
his resurrection, and we're satisfied. God's satisfied, and we're satisfied
with God's satisfaction. His gospel comes in such a way
as to bring you to Christ, to teach you what only God can teach
you. And every man who learns of the
Father, he said, comes to the Son. And all who come to the
Son are those given to him by the Father. Now watch this, 1
Corinthians 15.3, for I delivered unto you, special delivery, I
delivered unto you, first of all that which I also
received, it was delivered to him. How that Christ died for
our sins according to the scripture. If the scriptures don't declare
it, it's not of God. I don't care what it is. They can talk all they want to
and they have plenty to say. I've listened to it over the
years. They have plenty to say. They've written books, volumes
of books. But if the scriptures don't declare
it, it's not of God. If they speak not according to
this word, Isaiah said, it's because there is no light in
them. The gospel is a special delivery.
God has a people marked out from all eternity, set apart as objects
of his mercy and grace, set apart as objects of his love. We talk
about the love of God like it's a passion, and we kind of compare
our our emotions to His. There's
no comparison. God's love, if He loves you,
He'll never quit loving you. Read Romans chapter 8. See what
it says? Who's going to separate you from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Things to come,
things present, life, death. Nothing can separate you from
the love of God. And we're objects of His love. There's no difference. God's
elect are no different from the rest of the world. I wasn't born
into religion and raised in religion. No. My father was a drunk when
I was born. He was going off to make moonshine
for Al Capone. I was going to be an abortion,
if you want to know the truth. And then he got religion somewhere
along the road and come back and promised to raise me if she
wouldn't have an abortion. Named me after some false prophet. We're no different than anybody
else. We're sinners, all of us, sinners. Sinners saved by grace. But God made a difference. He
said, I'm going to save him, and I'm going to save her, and
I'm going to save him. And that's the only hope you
got. God's not going to kill them all. He's going to save
some. Why? For the glory of his name. And
he's going to save them and his son. And that's what Paul said. God has saved us. And then he
called us. He called us. There's no difference in us or
from any other men except for the grace of God. In 1 Corinthians
15, 10, Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God. By
the grace of God. God has a people. And for them,
he entered into an everlasting covenant of grace. A covenant. With who? With himself. God made
covenant with himself. A covenant drawn up with full
provision. A covenant to which He ordained
a surety. This covenant demands certain
things. It demands a satisfaction that's
pleasing to God. It demands just payment for sin. It demands pure obedience. None of which we could fulfill. None of which we could produce.
But Christ did and He's the surety of the covenant. One responsible to all its terms
and provisions, and that surety is Christ. His blood shed on
the cross is called in Hebrews 13.20, the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Isn't that what it says? Our Lord's covenant surety ship
is talked about, pictured throughout the Old Testament. In fact, David's
dying words were about that covenant. Although it be not so with my
house, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, this is all my salvation and all my
desire. We have a covenant. And then
the terms of this covenant call for a legal reckoning, a just
satisfaction. Mankind, every man, Every son
and daughter of Adam is under the condemnation of God. Read
Romans chapter 5, it will tell you. He tells us right here in my
text in chapter 15 verse 22. In Adam, all died. How many? All of them. You had to be quick
if you were dead. When did you die? I died in Adam. A lamb was slain in the garden,
and untold numbers were slain in picture and type throughout
the Old Testament. They were slain to set forth
Christ and his accomplished redemption. They were slain to set forth
God's Son as our propitiation. Who set him forth? God did. And
all the legal demands for our reconciliation set forth from
Genesis through Malachi. Sin has ruined mankind. He's
ruined by the false. He has nothing in him to recommend
him to God. All his potential is gone. None
righteous, none good, none that understandeth and none that seeketh
after God. That's what the scripture says. All gone astray, together become
unprofitable. No fear of God before their eyes.
Destruction and misery in their way. There's no hope, that's
what I'm telling you, apart from Christ. None. Christ died for
our sins, not sins in general and not sins universal. He died
for our sins, Paul said, according to the Scriptures. Let me ask you something. Israel
brought a lamb. Everybody had to bring a lamb
and have you hand it to the priest. The priest would look it all
over. He'd go over there and offer that lamb. Who was that lamb slain for? Those who brought it. Nobody
else. That Gentile king over there,
that had nothing to do with him. His servants and his nation and
all their idolatry, that lamb had nothing to do with him. Had
only to do with those who brought the lamb. It had nothing to do
with those in Israel who didn't bring the lamb, only those who
brought it. The lamb pictured in the law
was a lamb penned up, a lamb examined. There was a lamb, and
it was set apart from the rest of the flock, and they watched
this lamb. They looked at it. They examined
it. They turned it upside down. It
had to be without blemish and without spot, and they had to
watch it. It couldn't be a sick lamb. It
had to be of the first year. He was to be observed. Look at carefully, examine completely,
lest God ignore your lamb altogether. He died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. Both the death of the lamb and
the sins of the people are according to the Scriptures. But there's
more. In this Gospel, God shows us
the full provision for an acceptable righteousness. He was not only
our sin offering, our propitiation. But He's our righteousness. God
demands perfect righteousness. What's that mean? You've got
to be as good as God. That's what that means. Can you
produce that? Can I produce that? Absolutely
not. Absolutely not. Well, how am
I going to get it? It's in Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness for everyone to believe in. Ain't that what
Scripture says? But now he said the righteousness
without the law is preached. It's set before you. That's what
I'm doing this morning. I'm showing you a righteousness that has
nothing to do with the law. It's the righteousness of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the only acceptable righteousness there is before
God. We believe God's testimony concerning His Son, the same
as Abraham did, and it's counted to us for righteousness, the
same as it was counted to him. So let's get the whole picture
here. God has ordained His Son to live and die and intercede
for chosen sinners. He's not going to leave Him in
a tomb. He's going to raise Him up. He's going to exalt Him into
the heavens. He's going to seat Him at His
own right hand. And there he's going to intercede
for those he died for. This is the picture. And then
in the fullness of the times, he comes and he lives and he
dies on the cross. And this life and death is exactly
as it was prophesied throughout the whole Old Testament, right
down to the very words that he cried on the cross. Every event,
this happened that the scriptures must be fulfilled. over and over
and over. It tells you that all through
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And there he lies. The disciples saw him die on
the cross. They saw the spear in his side,
the blood and the water shoot forth. He gave up the ghost.
He was lifeless. He wasn't breathing. They come
along. They were going to break his
bones, and they saw that he was already dead, so they took him
down. And they took him over and they wrapped him in a linen
cloth, and they put him in the tomb of a rich man, in a borrowed
tomb, and then they sealed it up with a stone. And there he
sits. That's our hope. And the disciples,
they said, well, we trusted that he should have been the Christ.
We were convinced that he was, but now he's gone. He's gone. And he said, some of the women
went down there and they said, stone was rolled back or something.
Now they're talking to the resurrected Christ. And he said, O fools, and slow
of heart to believe all that the Scriptures have testified
of me. God raised him from the dead,
and he was in no hurry. He lay there on a stone bench
in that, what I've read is true. They laid him on a stone bench
inside this rich man's grave. And there he lies in his linen
clothing and everything, and he rises from the dead on the
third day, and he's not in a hurry. He takes the linen garments off
and folds them up. When they came in, the garments
were folded and laying on the bench. He was in no hurry. And he walked out of that tomb.
Angels rolled the stone back. God sent down the angels to roll
the stone back. Stone was rolled back. He walked
out of that tomb. Those soldiers were so fearful
of all that they saw that they ran and hid. And Paul tells us here, if Christ
be not risen, if he be not risen, then our preaching is in vain.
I've got nothing else to say. Because it ain't about making
you a good member of the community. If God saves you, you will be.
If I want to stand up here and threaten you with all kinds of
stuff to keep you in line, I'm not going to come over to your
house and put my finger in your face. My soul, if I can't inspire
you with the glory of God in Christ, what good is that going
to do? You'll be a member in good standing
in your community if God does something for you. You will.
You will. If Christ be not risen, then
our preaching's in vain. And you that believe me, your
faith would be in vain too. I'd be a false witness. I'd be
up here talking about a resurrected Christ who's still in the tomb. When He walked out of that tomb
on resurrection morning, we walked with Him. You ever thought of
that? I was dead. My only hope of life
is that God put me into a covenant union with His Son. He made me
one with Him. He showed that union when He
took on Him the flesh of a man. great that union is. It's God
and man in one person. God and his elect in one precious
person, one glorious person. And when he got up on resurrection
morning and walked out of that tomb, all his elect walked out
with him. He was buried This is that gospel
that he preached to them. Verses 4 and 5, he was buried
and raised again the third day according to the scriptures.
Now watch this. And he was seen of Cephas, Peter's
son. Then of the twelve. And afterward,
above five hundred people all at the same time saw him. A multitude
saw him. He was here for 30 days after
his resurrection. A full month walking and talking
and eating and teaching among his sons. And in Ephesians chapter 2 verse
6 it said, He hath raised us up together. Now watch this. And made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. We're seated with him right now. Right now. See, it ain't about
you. It's about him. Religion's all
about you. This ain't about you. I've already
told you what you are. You're a sinner, same as I am.
This is about him. He was delivered, the scripture
said, for our offenses, but he was raised for our justification. You mean I'm already justified
before God? That's what Scripture says. Being freely justified through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth
to be the propitiation for our sins. He said He raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that,
that, in order that, in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
How's He going to do that? Special delivery. God got a man for every one of
His elect. And He's carrying with Him the
best news that man will ever hear. He's carrying with Him
the full justification of Christ. He's carrying with Him the perfect
righteousness of Christ. He's carrying with Him a knowledge
of Him who is above every man. God has highly exalted His Son. He had a day of humility. He
had a day when He served. But now God raised Him from the
dead. And He seated Him in glory at
the right hand of the Father, and He gave Him a name above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee is going
to bow. You're going to bow now, willingly, graciously, freely. You're going to bow and receive
Him, or you're going to bow before Him in that day in your sins. One or the other, but you're
going to bow. Either way. Oh, He raised us up together,
made us sit together, that He might show us the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Four, by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of
God. How did we get it? Special delivery. God chose an
agent, and He said, here's the gift, I'm going to give it to
you. I'm going to trust you with it. You're a steward of this.
You're my ambassador. Now you take this gift, and you
deliver it to this one, and that one, and this one. Oh, but I
don't know who they are. So I preach to everybody. But
I'm preaching to God's elect. That's who I'm looking for. That's
who I'm looking for. And you know something? It might
be you. You're here. You're hearing it. Might be you. Might be you. Might be what I'm
saying this morning. You might find something in that
to stand. To stand before God. Who cares
what men think? I have to stand before God. Can I stand before Him on that
old feeling I had, that old experience? Better not. Better stand on the
right. On this rock, I'll build my church.
The gates of hell should not prevail against it. Oh, what a special delivery it
is when God opens the minds and hearts of his people to hear
his gospel. To know they have a good hope
through grace. I told Brother Mahan when I heard
him on that particular day, I said I wouldn't take a million dollars
for that message. One message. I've been in church
my whole life. One message. And you know what
he says about that? He said, how are you going to
call on Him whom you have not believed? How are you going to
believe in Him whom you have not heard? And how are you going
to hear about a preacher? And how is He going to preach if
God don't send Him? But if He does, here's what you're going
to say. How beautiful are the feet of
them that bring this gospel. I don't even know that guy brought
me a special. I've had several of them in my
lifetime. I don't even remember what they
look like. They just come and say, special delivery. Sign here. You got any identification? Yep,
got my license. Here it is. OK, this is for you.
Sign right here. But you'll remember, you'll remember
that agent when God gives you this gift. You won't forget it. You won't forget it. Why do you always talk about
Henry Manning? Because he was the agent. I'll never forget
it.