Isn't it great to have Rich back?
I saw him walk by and I was, my mind was transferred about
24, 25 years ago. I can remember the first time
he came to Grace Chapel over on Limestone Street. And I remember
he had a trench coat on, wrapped up in that trench coat and came
in. And I remember after the service,
first thing he said to me, he sat there and listened. And after
the service, he said, did I understand you to say that Christ didn't
die for everybody? And I said, yes, you did. And I thought that's
the end. And he's been with us ever since.
What a blessing he is to this congregation. Glad you're here,
Rich. First Corinthians 15. I've entitled this message, What
is the Gospel? Now, that's a question we're
continually asking. We answer it and we have to have
it confirmed to us over and over again. It's not something where
we say, well, I've got that down pat, let's go on to other things.
No, this is something that we have to have confirmed to us
over and over again. What is the gospel. Now this question is answered
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 25. Paul says, moreover
brethren I declare unto you the gospel. And his thought is not
over to the 25th verse. You'll notice that in all of
these first 25 verses they begin with a conjunction. And that
lets us know that his thought is not over concerning what the
gospel is when he says, I declare into you the gospel until he
ends with in verse 25, for he must reign till he has put all
enemies under his feet. Now, this is perhaps the most
formal and comprehensive definition of the gospel found in the word
of God. Now God uses the whole Bible to tell us what the gospel
is. Every word of this book is essential in understanding and
believing the gospel. But in this passage of scripture,
we have a summary given to us as to what the gospel actually
is. What is the gospel? The definite article, the, tells
us that this is an objective message. It is not subject to
what we think it is. It is what it is. It is what
it is. It's the gospel. Not a gospel,
but the gospel. It has a definite content. And
if that content is not preached, The gospel is not preached. It's an objective message. What is the gospel? The word
means good news. So it's an objective message
that becomes subjective to those who find it to be good news. I tell you what, this message
is good news to me. So in my experience, it becomes
subjective. It's the objective gospel. But
in my experience, it's a very subjective, personal thing. What is the gospel? What we're going to look at tonight
is the first four verses. That's enough for us to consider,
because if I tried to go through those first 25 verses, I just
don't believe we'd be able to do them justice. Now, Paul says
in verse three, well, let's read these first four verses together. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you It's the same message
I had already preached, which also you have received, and wherein
you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you 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 notice in verse three, Paul
says, for I delivered unto you first of all, that which is of
primary importance. I delivered unto you first of
all, that which I also received. I delivered it to you. As a mailman
delivers a piece of mail, what does the mailman have to do with
the content of the letter? Not a thing. He simply delivers
it. And that's what the preaching
of the gospel is. It's saying what God has already
said. I delivered to you, like a mailman
delivers a letter, that which I also received. I'm delivering to you that which
I received. I'm simply stating to you the
gospel exactly as the Lord stated it to me. Galatians chapter one,
turn over there for a moment. Galatians chapter one. Verse 11. But I certify you, brethren,
I assure you that the gospel, the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. It's not derived from any human
source. It's not man's concoction. It's
not man's invention. The gospel which was preached
of me was not after man, for I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, the gospel I preach, Paul
says, is the one that God gave to me, and I'm delivering it
to you exactly as He gave it to me. And here the gospel is,
verse 3, it's 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. If I say Christ died for our
sins, that's a good statement. But if that's all I say, I have
failed to preach the gospel. And that's a strong statement.
I want you to hear me. If all I say is that Christ died
for our sins, I have failed to preach the gospel. The gospel
is how that. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures, according to the Old Testament scriptures. Now, how many times do we read
in the New Testament regarding the death of Christ and the things
that surrounded his death, that certain things took place that
the scriptures might be fulfilled? As a matter of fact, we read
that 12 times just with regard to the death of Christ. These
things took place that the scriptures might be fulfilled. I love what
Paul said in Acts chapter 13, verse 29. He says, and when they
had fulfilled all that was written of him, They took him down from
the tree and laid him in a sepulcher. What did they do? They fulfilled
all that was written of him. Now, what is this thing of how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures?
And he's talking about the Old Testament scriptures. The Old Testament
scriptures, first of all, give us the details of his death.
You know, it's almost like when he was being crucified, it's
almost like they were reading a script and just, well, said, okay, pierce
his hands and feet, cast lots for his garments, all the things
that they did. Give him vinegar now. It was
all foretold in the Old Testament. All the events of his death were
given in the Old Testament scriptures. But not only do they give us
the details of his death, they tell us why he died. Why did
the Lord die? He died as a sin-bearing substitute
according to Isaiah chapter 53. It tells us why He died. He died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. To preach that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures is to say He died for our sins according
to the manner the Scriptures present it. For instance, the
Passover. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Was the blood over everybody's
door or just the Israelites? just the Israelites, wasn't it?
And what did he say? He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Was there anybody that was so
bad that God went ahead and destroyed them? If he saw blood over the
door? No. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Think about the great David Toman,
Leviticus chapter 16. There's so many examples in the
Old Testament how the Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. Now, I repeat, to say that Christ
died for our sins and to say nothing else is to fail to preach
the gospel. It's to tell a half a truth.
And if I tell a half a truth, I'm telling a whole lie. Now,
that's so. We're to preach how, though.
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Now I've got
six words I want to give you that tell us how that He died
for our sins according to the Scriptures. Now here's the first
word. Sovereign. Sovereign. Christ being nailed to the cross
was neither more nor less than the sovereign will of God being
done. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken Him with
wicked hands, have crucified and slain. The death of Christ
on the cross, how that He died for our sins according to the
scriptures. The first word for us to understand regarding this
is this was God's will being done. This was God's purpose
being done. Turn to Acts chapter 4. I love
this verse of Scripture. Acts chapter 4. I think this
is so powerful. And the early church knew this.
This is right after Pentecost. You'd think in this high, deep
doctrine what you're talking about. Well, yeah, it is high
and it is deep and it is glorious. But it's what the early church
believed. Look here in Acts chapter 4, verse 26. The kings of the
earth. This is the Church speaking in
unison, the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were
gathered together against the Lord and against Christ for the
truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles of the people
of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. Everything that happened
to our Lord was determined before to be done. Who determined it
before? God Himself, the sovereign God. So the first thing I must
understand about the cross of Christ is it is the will of God
being done. He's called the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. So the first word is sovereign. Here's the second word. Sin. He died for our sins, according
to the scripture. And we don't really know much
about what sin is until we see it in light of the cross. And
do you want to understand what sin really is? Do you want to
understand what you really are? Now, I want to understand something
about myself in a limited way. I don't want to know everything
about myself. Ignorance is bliss. I'd rather most of the information
be not known. But I want to know enough about
myself that it's going to drive me to the Lord Jesus Christ and
cause me to believe on Him. I want to know that much. Now,
here's what the cross tells me. The cross tells me that I am
so evil that when left to myself, when men were left to do what
they wanted to do, they nailed God to a tree. Now that's the
truth regarding you. That's the truth regarding me.
The only way you'll understand anything about your own sinfulness
is not by looking within and seeing how bad you are and seeing
the wicked thoughts or the wicked deeds. That's not really going
to tell you the truth about yourself. What tells you the truth about
yourself is a look at the cross. You want to find out what you're
really like, look at the cross. Christ died. Why? For our sins. Men put Christ to death. This shows how evil men really
are. But it doesn't only show that, it shows God's hatred of
sin. Do you know that God would part
with His Son before He would let one sin go unpunished? That's what God thinks about
sin. Christ's death on the cross has
something to do with sin. Why do people die? There's only
one reason, isn't there? And that reason is sin. That's
the only reason for death. It's sin. Sin was laid upon Christ. The sins of his people became
his and God killed him. He died because of sin. We find
out something about what sin is only through the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's the third word, substitution. First word, sovereign. Second
word, sin. The third word is substitution.
He died for our sins, according to the scripture. The Bible teaches
a real substitution. He died for our sins. My sin
became His. What I am, He became that I might
be who He is. He died for our sins. He was
made sin. There's a real substitute, a
real substitution took place. And you know, I talk about this
all the time and I hope I die talking about this. I hope it's
the last thing that comes out of my mouth. I love what Charles
Spurgeon said. He said, if a man confined himself to preaching
on nothing but the cross and never mentioned anything else,
it would be a widening rather than a narrowing of his ministry.
I believe that. A real substitution took place. We don't understand it. We can't
get a hold of it, but we believe it. He had made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Substitution. Here's the fourth
word that describes how the Christ died for our sins according to
the Scripture. Satisfaction. Satisfaction. And you know whose
satisfaction I'm talking about? I'm talking about God's satisfaction.
I'm not talking about my satisfaction. Now, I'm satisfied with the blood
of Christ. Believe me, I am, but that's not really what I'm
talking about. I'm talking about God's satisfaction with the blood
of Christ. God was completely satisfied with what Christ did.
He said, I'm not looking for anything else. When I see the
blood, I will pass over you. God is satisfied. And I find
my satisfaction in God's satisfaction. You know, if God's satisfied
with what his son did, I am too. I really am. I'm not looking
for anything else. Satisfaction. He satisfied the
claims of divine justice. He satisfied the offended law. Now when God looks at me, because
of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of what He did on the cross,
God looks at me and He says, I'm satisfied with Him. I'm not
looking for anything else. It can't get any better. Now
that's gospel, isn't it? Satisfaction. And the fifth word
would be substitution. I'm sorry, not substitution,
successful. Successful. Notice all these words start
with an S. That makes it easy to remember. Successful. That
means when he said it is finished, all of the elect were saved.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged. Everybody he died for must be
saved. He succeeded in what he did.
And the last word is sanctification. And here's my scripture for this.
Hebrews 10.10 says, by the witch will we are sanctified. We are
declared to be holy through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. His death made everybody he died
for holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Now that's the gospel. Those
words tell us how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. Now look in verse four. It says
that He, in verse 3, that He died for our sins according to
the Scriptures and that He was buried. He actually died and
they put Him in a tomb. And that He rose again the third
day according to the Scriptures. Now this is the proof of the
success of Christ. This is the theme of Gospel preaching.
God raised Him from the dead. He died. They brought Him into
that tomb dead. And He went into that tomb with
all my sin. And he laid in that tomb three
days. And what happened during those three days? I don't know.
And nor does anybody else. But I know that after three days,
he opened his eyes in that dark tomb. He had been dead and he
opened his eyes. He got up. And God said by that,
when he raised him from the dead, I'm satisfied. I do not need
anything else. This proves the success of what
He did. You see, this is the object of
our faith. The fact that He was raised from the dead. That means
He did what He came to do. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Paul said, O
that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection. I
want to know the power of His resurrection, don't you? I'm
not just talking about the fact of it. I'm talking about the
justifying power. When He was raised from the dead,
all the elect were justified. the life-giving power. He said, because I live, you
shall live also. When He was raised from the dead,
all of God's people were raised in Him. I want to know the soul-cheering
and comforting power of the resurrection. Isn't it wonderful that right
now there's a man in glory representing me? who was dead and now he lives,
he liveth and he'll never be dead again. Oh, the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's such a glorious thing. Now look how Paul says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. He says in verse one, moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you. I'm declaring the same message
I preached previously. It is the eternal gospel. It
knows no changes. It knows no revisions. It doesn't
adapt itself to the times, the culture, or circumstances. It
makes no attempt at relevance. You know, it kills me to hear
a preacher say, you want to hear relevant preaching. You know, let's get
a real, you know, the Bible doesn't intend to be relevant. It is what it
is. It's the truth. It doesn't try to adapt to human
need and human culture. Well, we need to make this relevant.
No, it is what it is. We make no attempt at that. It's
the eternal gospel. It's called the eternal gospel. It doesn't change or adapt or
modify itself in any way. It is what it is. He said, it's
the same message I preached previously. And notice what he says in verse
one. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also you have received, you welcomed it. You receive this as good news
to your souls. You embrace this. This is the
gospel that must be received. And I tell you what, what I'm
preaching, I do receive it. It's good news to me. It's good
news to me that Christ Jesus actually accomplished my salvation. It makes me so happy. It fills
me with such joy. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. It's good news. It's not just
some kind of theory. It's the best thing I've ever
heard. how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
I receive this. It's good news. I rejoice in
it. It's the gospel that must be
received. Look what he says next. In verse
one, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also you've received and wherein you stand. It's the
gospel for which you've taken your stand. You stand in the
gospel, that's your standing. But what this means more than
anything else, this is the gospel for which you've taken your stand. This is a non-negotiable. This
is not up for debate. This is the only gospel and you're
willing When you take your stand for it, that means you're willing
to die for it. You're willing to die for the
gospel. Now, is the gospel you believe a gospel worth dying
for? Is it? It is to everybody who
believes it. Your life would be well spent
in dying for the gospel, wouldn't it? I love what that one martyr
said. He said, to die for Christ is
an honor I don't deserve. And that's the way every believer
feels about the gospel. It's a gospel worth dying for.
You've taken your stand. It's a non-negotiable. You won't
back up here. And then he says in verse two,
it's the gospel by which also you are saved. This is the gospel
that saves. It's the only gospel that saves.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. You see, this is the gospel that
saved me. This is the gospel I receive. This is the gospel
I take my stand in. This is the only gospel that
saves. And no one is saved apart from
hearing and believing the content of this message. How that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. That is the gospel. And this is the message, according
to this passage of scripture, that we must persevere in and
hold on fast, hold on to and hold fast to all the way to the
end. Look what he says in verse two, by which also you're saved
if, if, if. You keep in memory if you hold
fast to what I've preached to you. You hold it like it's the
only thing that will keep you alive and you're not going to
let go. You persevere in the gospel. You won't give it up
for anything. It's the only hope you've got.
That's why you get upset if somebody preaches something that's contrary
to you because it's taken away your hope. It's the only hope
you got and you hold it fast. You won't let go of it. It's
indeed gospel to your soul. It's the message that we must
persevere in. It's only he who endures to the
end that shall be saved. Now, I have just given you the
gospel of God. It's how that. Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. Now, I want to tell you how I
know that this is the gospel of God. Well, first of all, because
I've just given you the Bible. It's what the Bible says. It's how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. I don't need any other reason.
If this is what God's word says, well, I believe it. It's what
the Bible says. But do you know this is the only
gospel that I'm preaching to you? It's the only gospel that's
true of the Old Testament scriptures. You ever notice how a lot of
preaching, it's almost like the Old Testament is irrelevant.
They almost present a God that's different. The New Testament
God's different than the Old Testament God. That Old Testament stuff's
over. No, no, the Gospel answers everything
in the Old Testament. And you can't possibly understand
the Old Testament apart from an understanding of the Gospel.
You see God's holy law magnified in the gospel. You see all the
types and the sacrifices. You see all the feast days. You
see all the historical narratives that teaches the gospel. This
gospel that I preach to you is the only one that lines up with
the Old Testament scriptures. Therefore, I know that this is
the gospel of God. And secondly, this message I'm
preaching. This message that Paul preaches,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
this is the only message that gives God 100% of the glory. How much glory does God give
in my salvation? Every bit of it. All goes to
Him. And none goes to me. And I'm
so satisfied with that. I love it that way. I feel such
good. If any of them went to me, I'd be, it'd be suspect.
It'd be suspect because I know nothing's coming to me as far
as glory goes. But thank God this gospel gives God all the
glory. And this is the only message
that enables God to be both just and justify the ungodly. This
is the glory of this gospel. I know what I am to some extent
in myself. I'm ungodly. I'm ungodly. I'm a sinner. And I don't even
know what all that means when I say it, but I know I'm a sinner.
And yet, through this gospel, God can remain just and yet say,
Todd Nyberg is absolutely just. He's without sin. And he does
it in a way that magnifies his justice. Only God could... Is it right to say come up with
something like this? No man can come up with anything like this.
Only God can... Had this message, only God could
execute it. God could execute this message
to where He actually makes me just. I'm just before Him through
the gospel. This is a glorious gospel. I
have such confidence I can come into God's presence knowing I'm
without sin. I'm united to the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm perfect in His sight. I'm beautiful to God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is the only gospel
that can enable God to be both just and justify the ungodly. And this is the only message,
fourthly, that actually honors the law. You know, I read Exodus
chapters 19 through 24 this week. God's holy law. And it was so
beautiful. It was so glorious. Everything
he says is just perfect. It would be a blessing to you
to read Exodus chapter 19 through 24, reading concerning God's
holy law. It's a reflection of his holy
character and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ honors this
law. The Lord said, don't think I've
come to destroy the law of prophets. I've not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. Every bit of God's holy law is
honored in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is
the only message that gives the Lord Jesus Christ all the preeminence. I love that verse of scripture
in Hebrews 1 3 when it says he by himself purged our sins. Don't you love that? Doesn't
just say he purged our sins, he said he by himself. You know
what that means? Without any help from me and
without any help from you. He did it all by himself and
he bears all the glory of it. This is the only message that
gives the Lord Jesus Christ the preeminence in all things. And
this is the only gospel that can save the chief of sinners. Now this might be why I like
it the best. This is the only gospel that can save a man who's
dead in sins. This is the only gospel that
can save a man who can make no contribution. This is the gospel
that saves me. I love that passage of Scripture
in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, where Paul said, this is a faithful
saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought
to rejoice in this, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am the chief. Boy, it's such a blessing when
you really believe you are the chief of sinners. That's a blessing. You know, it's so easy to trust
the Lord Jesus Christ as your righteousness when you truly
have none. What a blessing. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost hath made him so. If you really believe you're
a sinner, God's done something for you. Oh, this is the only
gospel that will save the chief of sinners. And this is the only
gospel that will actually keep a man saved. This gospel. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. He successfully paid the debt,
honored God's holy law, fulfilled all the scriptures, saved everybody
he died for. That is the gospel. Nothing else is. This is the
one and only gospel. Now here's a question I want
to leave you with. How do you respond to this? How do you respond to this? One night at sea, And there was
a captain of a ship and he saw a light from another ship out
in front of him. And he had his signal man blink
to the other ship, change your course, change your course. The reply came back, change your
course. The ship's captain replied, I'm
a captain, change your course." To which the reply was, I'm a
seaman, first class, change your course. This infuriated the ship's captain,
so he signaled, you fool, change your course, this is a battleship.
The seaman replied, you change your course. is a lighthouse. Human will, rank, and pride have
no alternative except to change your course when confronted with
the unyielding, unchanging Word of God, even if it comes through
a lowly servant. This is the gospel. Is it good news to you? If it's not, change your course. Let's pray.