I want you to take your Bibles
this morning and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This has been on my heart for
some time and just might be that the Lord's gonna help me to deal
with it this morning. I believe this is something we
all struggle with I believe this is something that's
often awkward at the best. We've all tried to minister to
and talk to family and friends that don't know God, or at least
we are suspect that they don't. And some of them are religious.
They're very religious. They've gone to church for years.
My father was a Nazarene preacher for 50 years, the first time
I witnessed to him. Some have been going to church
for a long time, some are preachers, some are deacons, some Sunday
school teachers. Some are even seminary graduates.
I went up to Austin, Minnesota one time and held a three-day
meeting up there and one of the Lutheran, whatever they call
them, priests or preachers or whatever he was, came over, seminary
graduate, sat and listened to him and preached for those three nights. And then some are just walking
in the shadows of someone they loved from the past, their grandmother,
their mother, their father. Is it even possible to approach
people like this? It's hard, ain't it? It's hard to know what to say.
Where do I start? What do I say to these people?
I know that they've heard and listened and just have all this
stuff in their head. And then, let me ask you this,
does it matter how we approach them? Well, I believe it does. And
the scriptures are full of examples, but here in 1 Corinthians 15,
the Apostle Paul gives us a general outline of his first meeting
with the Corinthians. Now this is when he first came
to them. Here they are, these Corinthians. They were Greeks. They were wise men. They were
philosophers. They were businessmen. These
weren't like I am, a hillbilly. But these were somebody. These
were somebody. And Paul came to him and he tells
us what he said to him, tells us how he approached him, tells
us all of these things right here in this chapter. And I'll
tell you this before we even get into the message. It'll be
better for you to just invite them here to hear. And I'll tell
you why. Because every experience I've
ever had witnessing to my relatives, I barely get out more than about
five or six words, and then they have a comeback. And then from
that point on, they're not listening to what you say, but they're
thinking about what they're going to say next. And so it just kind
of goes downhill. So you're a lot better. We don't
charge admission. There's nobody here after the
service going to run back and we're going to sing 29 verses
just as I am and try to get you down the aisle or pressure you
to join the church. We just want you to come and
listen. Just listen. And when the gospel is preached,
not always, Sometimes, I had some ladies came one Sunday morning,
boy, and they stomped out, went out the door, and they hadn't
been back. And sometimes that's a reaction. But most of the time,
they'll sit and listen to you for at least 45 minutes. Now,
that's better than five, isn't it? So I would recommend that,
just to invite them to come and to hear. So what do I say to men and women? What do you say to somebody that
you highly suspect has a false profession of faith and they're
building this faith upon a basis that's not according to the Word
of God? It's more a traditional thing. It's more, well, this
is what our church believes. How many times have you heard
that? This is what we believe. Well, can I tell you something?
We don't believe anything. You believe. I believe. It's not a we. So what do I say to men and women?
Many women that I suspect are trusting in a false profession
of faith or trusting their souls to an understanding without foundation,
without any basis in the Word of God and have the whole world
to assure them that they're on the right road. What do I say
to people like this? Where do I start? How do you talk to a man that's
been teaching the Bible to his children and praying before his
family and is now an honored member of some denominational
church. How do you approach people like
this? How do you talk to people like this? Well, here's the answer. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse
one. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. Now that word preached,
I'm not going to go into a big spiel about words, but preaching
is a declaration. It's a declaration of a truth. People say, well, you're so dogmatic
in your preaching. Well, there's no other way to
preach. It's either right or it's wrong.
There's no gray area in the word of God. Otherwise, there couldn't
be a judgment. Something's true and something's
false. So if you have the truth, you have to preach it dogmatic,
don't you? You have to say this is it and
this is not. This is the truth. Why do you
know it's the truth? Because it says right here. And
because it says right here. I declare unto you the gospel,
he said, which I preached unto you, which also you have received
and wherein you stand. There's nothing you can do for
a lost man except to declare to him the gospel of Jesus Christ
and him crucified and pray that God will give him an understanding.
That's all you can do. Yes, I want folks to know they're
welcome here. Yes, I want folks to know that
I'm troubled about their souls and that I'm interested in them.
Yes, I want folks to know that. But I can't do anything for you
except tell you the truth. And something I learned a long
time ago, the only way you can tell anybody the truth is to
tell them the truth. Just tell them. Just tell them. You're not going to sneak up
on them. You don't put a little medicine in the milk. I thought
that at the beginning. I'd just stay in that Armenian
church and I'd mix a little gospel in. Yeah, that don't work at
all. There's nothing you can do except
to declare to them the sinfulness of man and the glory of God in Christ
and to tell them that there's a Savior, there's a way There's
a way. He said, I am the way. And then
wait on God to enlighten them. Enlighten them. Make them see
the danger of their present state before God. You know, I thought
in the beginning, I made the circuit that every young man
makes, and you You get out from under daddy's hand and you get
out here in the world and you do this and you do that and then
later on you get married and then you come back and now you
got a child and you start looking at your life and seeing what
a mess it is and well I need to straighten things out so you
do what dad always told you to do. You go down and join the
church and you make a profession of faith and you read your bible
and do all these things. Problem is, it don't take that
guilt out of that conscience, not one iota, not one iota. That conscience still screamin',
you're guilty, you're guilty, you're guilty. You're not givin'
enough, you're not doin' enough, you're not prayin' enough, you're
not this enough, you're not that enough. Finally, I had a man,
after all them years, I mean, my daddy was a churchgoer. And
he, we went every night. We'd go to the old mission churches
in downtown where the drunks gathered. He'd set me up on feed
sack and listen to that guy preach to them down at the mission.
And we'd go on Wednesday night and we had young people's meetings
and we'd go to them and we just went to church all the time.
But after all them years, I didn't know anything. And then I was
inviting a man to come to a revival And he was sitting there, and
he looked at me, and he said, why? And I said, I didn't know
what to tell him. I said, well, we got an evangelist
down here. He said, so? What's he do? I
said, well, he preaches the gospel. Oh, he said, you wouldn't know
the gospel if you heard it. And I said, what do you mean
I don't know the gospel? He said, well, if you know it,
what is it? And for the first time in my
life, I realized I did not know the gospel. I couldn't take you
to a Bible and say, this is the gospel, this is what I believe.
Couldn't tell him. Well, there's no other way to
speak to a man in that condition except just tell him the truth.
Just tell him the truth. And if God's in that witness,
if God's in what you're doing, if God's in this, he'll stir
this man's heart and he'll cause him to start reading this Bible.
And when you say, well, it's written over in Romans 3, guess
what? He'll turn over to Romans 3 and
read it and see if what you're telling him's the truth. There's no other remedy, there's
no other way, no other means, no other deterrent. You'll hear
the gospel and believe or die in your sins. That's what the
scripture said. Well yes, preacher, but don't
that open kind of a Pandora's box concerning what the gospel
is? It does. It does. But somewhere along the line,
This gospel must be said aright before the sinner. He's got to
hear the gospel according to the testimony of God. So what is the gospel? Where
do I begin with the gospel? We know that the gospel was born
in eternity. It's the everlasting gospel.
We know that the gospel is concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, who's
the Son of God. He didn't come into existence
through the womb of Mary. He existed long before Mary,
and the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He's eternal. So where do I start
with them? Where do I start when I tell
them this gospel? Listen to this. Verse 3, 1 Corinthians 15. where I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. Now my friend, I've been hearing
about Christ dying since I was old enough to have a memory.
But nobody ever told me how Christ died according to the Scriptures. A preacher told me that. He told
me that. And then he says in verse four
that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. So here's the first thing I'm
gonna tell him. I'm gonna tell him that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. And the first thing is this,
who is this Christ who died? Who is he? Why is his death so
important? Who is this man, Jesus? Who is
he? You see, the gospel's four things.
Who is this man? Why did he come? What did he
do? And where is he now? That's the
gospel. Find out who this man is. He's
God. This is God come into the flesh.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Grace and truth came
through Him. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal it. Who is this man? Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about some image
projected on paper by ignorant men or the imagination of wicked
men. I'm asking a question based on
the word of God. Who is Christ? Who is he? Well, the Jews said
to Jesus in John 10, verse 24, they said, how long do you make
us to doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us
plainly. He said, I told you. I told you. I told you plainly. But you believe not. Now listen,
because you're not my sheep. They already told him in the
scriptures, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And then he tells them, You don't
believe, you don't understand, you don't receive God's testimony
of me as the Christ because you're not my sheep. As I said unto
you, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them. And I call them and they come
out. And they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life. And they'll never perish. Nobody's
gonna pluck him out of my hand. And even if they could, they
can't pluck him out of my father's hand. He's greater than all. He died for our sins according
to the scriptures. And the scripture says his death
is particular. He died for a people. God chose
him from the beginning. You can read Ephesians chapter
one. I don't know of any place in the Bible that's actually
more clear than this over here in Ephesians chapter one. Paul outlines this whole thing
of salvation and he said, blessed be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ according as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love, that is, being loved. Having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the blood, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. Who had that? Who did Christ redeem? All those given to him by the
Father, blessed by the Father before the foundation of the
world. Now that's what God says. I know what men say. Men said
he died for everybody. Then his death was worthless
because Judas perished. Cain perished. The whole world
except for eight souls perished. And hell has to enlarge its borders
for people who will yet perish. Does that sound like Christ's
death? No. Christ redeemed whom he died
for. They're redeemed. They'll never
perish. That's what he said. They'll
never perish. Well, you say God's not willing
for any man to perish. That's not what that scripture
says. That scripture you're talking about over in 2 Peter said, God
is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. And they all will, they all shall. None of them gonna perish because
Christ died for them. He died for them. The Christ is the promised Redeemer
from Genesis 3.15, called the seed of the woman, all the way
to Malachi 4.2, called the Son of Righteousness with healing
in His wings. That's all the Old Testament
talks about. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Who is the Christ? Secondly,
He's the Son of God in whom all the elect have been chosen and
blessed and predestinated to be sons. And God worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. God's gonna have his
way in this thing. If God didn't have his way, I
couldn't, I wouldn't have anything to say to you. Where would be
the good news if God don't go do it? God said, I'm gonna save
a people for the glory of my name. I'm gonna save them. I'm
not gonna try to save them, I'm gonna save them. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save, now listen, his people. from their sins. And he did and
he shall. That's what the scripture says.
And this is what Paul said. These Jews didn't believe that. They thought they were the elect.
They thought all the physical sons of Abraham were God's elect. And everybody else in the world
thought that. But then he comes to the Gentiles
and preach to the Gentiles. And he said, boy, when the Gentiles
heard this, they was glad. They was glad. This is not his
elect. Those natural born sons of Abraham,
these are not the children of God. That's what it says in the
scriptures. In Isaac shall thy seed be gone. Gentiles are elect. Some Jews
are elect. But Israel, natural Israel, is
not the elect of God. He has a spiritual Israel, and
he tells us about it. He's not a Jew, which is one
outwardly, but he's a Jew, which is one inwardly. Circumcision
is that of the heart. Has nothing to do with the bloodline.
Has to do with faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. And how does
that faith come? God sends you a witness. And
his witness will tell you, he'll tell you the truth. Christ died
for our sin according to the scriptures. Well, Preacher, how's
a man... I don't understand, I don't understand
how this works. Well, let me tell you how it
works. How can a man know his election of God? Now, we know
God has an election, I just read it to you. I can read you several
other places. Peter starts out talking about
it. How can this man know that he's
an elect of God? If Christ didn't die for everybody,
he died for his elect, then it's vital that I find out, am I elect? How you find that out? You come
to Christ. Isn't that what he said? All
that the Father gave us may shall come to man. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
he wrote there in First Thessalonians, chapter one, he said, knowing,
brethren beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but it came in power, and it come in
the Holy Ghost, and it come with much assurance. That's how you
know your election of God. You come to Christ. You come
to Christ. I don't understand. Where does
all of the will of man, where does all this stuff play in?
He said, my people, are you listening? We're still talking about God's
elect. My people shall be willing in the day of my power. He doesn't
override their will. He doesn't save men against their
will. He makes them willing. You know
how you're made willing? You hear the truth and you acknowledge
the truth. Now you're willing. Now you're
willing. You find out you ain't nothing
but a worm. You're nothing but a mass of sin before God. You got no ability. You got no
righteousness. There are none righteous. No,
not one. None good. No, not one. None that seeketh
after God. None that understandeth poison
of asp under our lips. No fear of God before our eyes.
We're just a mass of sin. Man at his best state, altogether
vanity. God makes that man to know that
he hears the truth, and then he begins to talk to him about
Christ. Oh, you willing then? You willing then? Well, you're
gonna have to go down yondering here. I'm willing. Yeah, but
it's 50 miles. I'll drive. You willing then,
ain't you? Sure are. You're willing to come
back, and come back, and come back, and come back. Some went
out from us, John said, but they were not of us. Had they been
of us, they no doubt would have continued with us. Who is this Christ? Well, he's
the federal head and representative of all God's elect. That's why
he came into the flesh. Isn't that right? Isn't that
what the scripture said? That's what we're talking about. He
died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was made of
a woman. Now listen to this scripture.
This comes out of Galatians. He said he was made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law
that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you're sons,
he said, God has sent forth his spirit into your heart, and now
you cry and have a father. And you have a basis for it,
have a reason for it. He's the federal head and representative
of all God's elect. God made him so. Paul said, God
has saved us, wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1.9. He said, God
has saved us and 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. Who is this man? Who is this
Christ? He's the Son of God in whom all
God's elect have been chosen and blessed and predestinated
unto sonship. He's the one mediator. Scripture
said there's one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. There's only one who can reconcile
these two, Christ. No other basis. Well, you say, I need the Lord.
That ain't enough. That's not enough. I want to be saved. That's not
enough. There's one mediator, there's
one man who can reconcile you to God, and that's the man Christ
Jesus. One mediator. Another thing that
a mediator is, he's not just one who settles the differences
and reconciles two parties together, but it also means to do the will
of God. He has to satisfy God to reconcile
you and God. He has to satisfy God. He's the
one mediator. And he tells us in Hebrews chapter
10, he said, Lo, he said, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me to do thy will, O God. You know what that means?
That do means to mediate the will of God. That's what it means. I come to mediate the will of
God by the which will, he said, you are sanctified by one offering
forever, forever. The doing of the will of God,
accomplishing of the will of God. And what is God's redemptive
will? He tells us in John 6, 39, this
is the Father's will which has sent me that of all which he
hath given me I should lose nothing but raise it up again at the
last day. That's why he sent him, and that's
what he did, and that's what he's doing in glory right now. He's not gonna lose anything
God gave him, anything God trusted to him. He's gonna raise it up
at the last day. And he said, and this is the
will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son
and believeth on him may have everlasting life. I'm not calling
for you this morning to be a theologian. I'm not calling for you to get
in and study the Bible for 40 years to come up with some kind
of a solution. What I'm saying to you is exactly
in accordance with the Word of God. This is God's testimony
concerning His Son. He died for our sins according
to the Scripture. And according to the Scriptures,
His death accomplished the will of God. And his death satisfied
divine justice. And his death put the period
at the end of the righteousness which he requires from sinners.
Isn't that what that says over there? He become obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly
exalted him, giving him a name above every name. I'm going to tell you something.
The Christ, according to God's declaration, according to the
Word of God, according to God's testimony, the Christ is not
some poor defeated reformer whose life was no more than a failed
attempt to do what God wanted him to do. I hear that so much
in the preaching of men on the radio and television and books
that I read. God wants you God never wanted. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. Why would I tell you? I created the cattle. The cattle
on Thousand Hills, they belong to me. I give them to whomsoever
I will. It's my reign that falls on the
just and unjust. If God needed something, he wouldn't
tell us. But God doesn't need anything.
He doesn't need anything. He's not trying to do something. God does. He don't try, he does. He does. He's the very son of God who
is the very focal point of everything that is. His death was particular, not
universal. Gave his life for the sheep.
Listen to this over in Romans chapter 8. He said, what shall
we say to these things? Talking about the predestination
of God, their eternal calling and all of these things. What
are we gonna say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? You know what it says next? Listen
to this. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who's gonna condemn them? His
elect. It's Christ that died. Died for
who? His elect. And now what that
passage is saying? God justified his elect because
Christ died for his elect. But he not only died for them,
but God raised him from the dead. And now he's at the right hand
of God, whoever liveth to make intercession for them. And nothing's
gonna separate them from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. He says this in the scripture,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Fully justified, that's what
it says, by the grace of God. The full, free, and accomplished
redemption. Romans 4, 25. He said, He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. So Paul said, I preach first
of all how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
He died as a divinely appointed substitute. He died in our room
instead. When God killed him, he killed
me. When they buried him, they buried
me. When God raised him from the dead, Paul said in Ephesians
chapter 2 that he raised us up together with him and seated
us together with him in heavenly places. He's one into whom we have been
joined in an everlasting union, made one with him. Our life is
hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. And then secondly, Paul goes
on to say that Christ was buried and rose again the third day
according to the scriptures. He hung on that cross in our
room instead, bearing our sins and his own body on the tree.
Suffering a shame we'll never know. Suffering a hell we'll
never experience. Suffering a torment not possible for us to
bear. And he finally cries out, it
is finished. Not a down payment. It's done. It's done. Do you believe that?
You do if you believe that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. The debt's been paid, justice
has been satisfied, the sinners die. And all that he had accomplished
he committed into the hands of the Father to do with as he saw
fit. And they took his lifeless body
down from the cross And a certain rich man begged his body and
took him over to his own tomb and buried him in there. And
they sealed him in there, put the Roman seal on the stone,
sealed him up in that tomb, and nothing happened for three days.
But on the morning of that third day, God sent an angel down and
he rolled that stone back. You know why? Huh? Because he paid the debt, that's
why. He paid the debt. And here he is, he's bound head
to toe in clean linen laying in there and he sits up in that
tomb and carefully unwraps himself from that linen and it says it
was left folded on the stone there where they laid him. He
just folded it up, the linen, laid it back down there. He won't
be needing it anymore and neither will we. You see what, I'm telling
you, religion just, it'll say anything. Religion just says
whatever pops into their head. Religion says what they've been
taught by somebody. They've never really gotten into
the scriptures to see what the scriptures say. But apart from
the scriptures, we have no basis for our hope. We've got no basis. Preacher, you really believe
that the righteousness imputed to you by Christ, that God's
gonna look on you and say he's righteous. I absolutely believe
it. And I'll tell you this, may God
be true and every man a liar. God says Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to every man that believeth. And
he is. I sure don't wanna be found in
mine. Paul was the most self-righteous man who ever walked the earth.
And he said, oh, that I might win Christ and be found in him
not having my own righteousness. And I guarantee you, yours wasn't
as clean as his. On the third day, God raised
him from the dead, Ephesians 2.6, and having quickened us
together with him, raised us up together with him, securing
us forever. Romans 8.34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. All right,
so he died for our sins according to scripture. He was buried.
Prove he's dead, he laid in that tomb for three days. No question,
he's dead. Then God raises him from the
dead, raises him up, and sits him at his own right hand. So
what does all that mean? Well, here's what it means, Romans
8, 35. You might want to turn over and
read this for yourself. This is the most unbelievable
statement for a sinner to consider. Now, if we believe that He died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, that God sent Him,
we know why He sent Him. God loved us with an everlasting
love. God purposed our salvation and
committed it into the hands of His Son, and His Son gave His
life for us. All right? What's all that mean?
Look here, Romans 8, verse 35. Who then shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Tribulation means trouble. Trouble gonna separate you? What
about distress? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we're more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul said, that's
what I preached to you. And that's what you received.
And that's the foundation upon which you're standing right now.
And this is how you're going to be saved if you keep in memory
what I preached to you. Otherwise, you just believed
in vain. You just made an idle profession of faith and went
your way. Well, how can faith be in vain?
Well, true saving faith can't be in vain. We're not of them
which draw back unto perdition, but of them which believe to
the saving of the soul. But faith is a gift of God's
grace, and it's not of works, lest any man should boast. We're
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto these good works. But people can believe in vain
or hear in vain as Christ gave the parable about the seed falling
by the wayside and falling on rocky ground. People can hear
in vain. They can profess in vain. Men and women can pick up a doctrine
and be fascinated by it and carry it around for a little while
and then drop it for the next thing that's exciting to them. Paul told the Colossians that
Christ had reconciled them and the body of his flesh through
death to present them holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight if you continue in the faith grounded and settled
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've
heard. Now that's what you tell the
sinner. That's what you tell them. Well,
they ain't gonna hear me preach. They might not. But I'll tell
you this, if they're gods, they'll hear you. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. That's 2 Thessalonians 2.13,
you can read it for yourself. God hath from the beginning chosen
you unto salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You reckon God ain't
gonna have his way? God's gonna have his way, and
his sheep gonna hear. And there may be a hundred, stomp
out that door and go home. That's okay, we warned them,
we warned them. But I tell you, there gonna be
one who hears. Gonna be one who hears, maybe
two. Who knows, the Lord took a handful of men, turned the
world upside down. He might do that very thing yet
today, I don't know, I don't know. But I do know this, if
he does it, that's how he's gonna do it. He's going to tell you
the truth. He's going to tell you the truth.
Christ died for our sins. You got any other kind of good
news? Boy, no, I don't. I don't. But I'll tell you, when
he makes you know you're a sinner, that'll be the best news you've
ever heard in your life. Christ died for our sins. Put them away. Took them away.
They're gone. God said it's like they were
cast behind his back, wherever that is. Buried in the depths
of the sea, deepest part of the sea. They're gone. They're gone. Never to be remembered again. Boy, that's good news for sinners.
All right, folks.