Thus the eternal counsel ran,
almighty love, arrest that man. I love that hymn. I have entitled the message for
tonight, I Declare Unto You The Gospel. It took God from Genesis
1-1 to Revelation 22, 21 to declare
his gospel. And there are some passages in
God's word that God uses to summarize the entire message of this book. And I believe 1 Corinthians chapter
15 to be one of those passages that give us a very simple clear,
formal definition of the gospel. From 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
verse 1, down through verse 25, each sentence begins with a conjunction. What does that mean? The thought
is not over until verse 25. This could be looked upon as
one real long sentence, but in this passage of scripture, Paul
declares unto us the gospel. Now we're going to spend six
or seven weeks looking at these first 25 verses. Paul's declaration of the gospel,
but I want to confine our thoughts to the first two verses tonight. Let's read those again. Moreover, brethren, that's such a sweet
word, brethren, men and women who have the same
father. Moreover, brethren, I declare,
I Make known, I certify, I give you to understand. I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. Now the message I'm preaching
today is the same message that I preached when I first came
to you. There's been no modifications.
There's been no adaptations. There's been no change. It is
the precise same message. Now, I love the way the gospel
is like that. It's always the same. It's an
eternal message. It's called in Revelation 14,
six, the everlasting gospel, the eternal gospel. It's a gospel
that never began to be. and it will never end. Therefore,
it can't change like its author. What it was, it is. What it is,
it shall forever be. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel, that same gospel, which I preached unto
you, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. I love the way
Mark's gospel begins. Verse one, the beginning of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Don't you love that?
That's the way he begins. And that's the way he ends. Now, if this is not the character
of the gospel I believe, one that never had a beginning, one
that will never end, one that knows no change, if that's not
the gospel I believe, I don't believe in the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. Now, the gospel Paul preached
is called in scripture, the gospel of the kingdom. I love that. You see, this kingdom has a king
and he's the king of kings and Lord of lords. And he has something
called his kingdom, his jurisdiction, it's everything. He rules over
all. There's no place where this king
is not ruling. It's the gospel of the kingdom,
the sovereign rule of the king of kings, the reign of Jesus
Christ, the reign of God. It's called the word of the gospel. There are specific words used
in the preaching of the gospel, and if those words are not used,
the gospel is not preached. The word of the gospel. Don't you love the way the Lord
Jesus Christ is called the word? In the beginning was the word. The word was with God as a distinct
person, and the word was God. The same was, eternally was in
the beginning. with God. He's the word of God. We read of the word of the gospel. What comes out of my mind? Words. There are words that are used.
And like I said, I'm not talking about looking for some kind of
few words people are looking for. If they don't say that,
the message is not sound. I don't want to do that. This is a big
book. But there is a content to the
gospel. There are words that are used. We read of the truth of the gospel
as found twice in Galatians chapter two, the truth of the gospel. You know, only the gospel tells
you the truth. There is no truth apart from the gospel. I love John's words in John 1
18, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth come by Jesus
Christ. It's called twice, the glorious
gospel or the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. Now I love
the fact that God gets all the glory in the gospel. I love that. I love it because I love him,
but I've got a reason that's really more real to me. If he
doesn't get all the glory in salvation, that means there's
something required for me to do. And I can't handle that. The reason I love him getting
all the glory is because he does it all. That's who I rest in. Not me having to do something
to make it work. He did it all. The gospel of
the glory of the blessed God. It's called in 2 Thessalonians
2, the gospel of your salvation. Well, I like to hear about my
salvation, don't you? My salvation from sin. My salvation
by what he did. You see, when you hear the gospel
of your salvation, you find out God saved you. That's what you
find out. God has saved me. He saved us
and he called us. And you and I hear preaching
that makes me wonder whether or not I'm saved. Maybe I'm missing
something. I'm really not hearing the gospel.
I want to hear the gospel of my salvation. You know, the preaching
that I love is the preaching that lets me know I'm saved.
I'm in Christ. I believe the gospel. That's
the preaching I love. Somebody says, well, really,
really, really? That's the only kind I want to
hear is the preaching that tells me of my salvation by Christ.
But what, by what he did, we read of the gospel of peace. The only way I have peace is
if all the question of sin is entirely taken care of and I
stand before God without guilt. That gives me peace. Christ is
my peace, the gospel of peace. I love that. We read of the mystery
of the gospel. Mystery. I love that word mystery. It's something we would have
never known had not God made it known. And the mystery is
really not something that you intellectually comprehend. It's
something you believe. I can't comprehend God being
one God and three distinct persons, but I believe it with all my
heart. Don't need to understand it. As a matter of fact, if I
could understand it, there wouldn't be that much to it. But I believe
the mystery of The gospel. Moreover, brethren, I'm declaring
unto you the same message I first brought to you. Now we don't
need to speculate. As to what the content of that
message was, because he tells us at the very first of this
epistle turned to first Corinthians chapter two for a moment. And I brethren. When I came to
you, he's talking about his initial coming to them. When I came to
you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. I wasn't trying to wow you with
my philosophy or my oratorical abilities. What did you come
with? Verse two, for I determined. not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came with this determination.
This is all I was gonna preach. This is it. This is the whole
counsel of God. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, would to God that every time
anybody stands up and preaches, they make this determination.
Every time, I determined not to know anything among you. To
esteem anything as important as even worth saying, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Now, it takes the whole Bible
to tell that. This entire book is the message of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It's not just repeating that
phrase over and over again, but it's preaching it every time
I preach. And if I do not preach Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, the gospel was not preached. And Paul says, I determined not
to know anything among you. There are no other issues to
be brought up, but this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look in verse 17 of chapter one. For Christ sent me not to baptize, Now, I love to baptize people
when the Lord saves them. This is not saying we're indifferent
about this thing of baptism. Don't you love it when somebody
confesses Christ back here and believe it's baptism? We rejoice
in it. We love what baptism teaches. But he's saying, Christ didn't
send me to get results. If my purpose is results, I'll
accommodate my message to that. And he didn't send me to get
baptisms. He sent me to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, not
trying to dress it up to make it less offensive to the natural
man or more attractive to the natural man. If I do that, the
cross of Christ is made of none effect. No one hears the gospel
if it's being marketed or packaged in such a way as to make it more
attractive to the natural man. Christ sent me not to baptize
but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect for the preaching
of the cross. Now that word preaching is the
word Logos, the word of the cross, the doctrine of the cross, the
message of the cross. Jesus Christ nailed to a cross
is the whole counsel of God. Jesus Christ nailed to a cross
is the eternal purpose of God. He's called the Lamb having been
slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ nailed
to a cross is the reason for the creation of the universe.
Jesus Christ nailed to a cross is the purpose of the fall. of
our father Adam in the garden. Jesus Christ nailed to a cross
is the reason for everything. Jesus Christ nailed to a cross
is the most God-like thing God ever did. The doctrine, the word, the preaching
of the cross, Jesus Christ, the sinner substitute, nailed to
a cross, suffering the wrath of God, bearing the sins of his
people, putting them away, died, buried, raised from the dead.
You see, when you're preaching the cross, you're also preaching
the resurrection of Christ. You're preaching the ascension
of Christ. You're preaching the saving work
of Christ. Everything in this Bible is the
preaching of the cross. Now he says, the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. Now I love Paul's concluding
statement with regard to the cross in Galatians 6.14 and I
sure never want to preach the cross in a knowing it's the right
thing to say, cliche kind of way, I pray that the Lord will
enable me to preach the cross with a fear and trembling of
knowing the glory of the message and this is God's message. But to those that are perishing,
it's foolishness. But unto us which are being saved,
it, the preaching of the cross, is the power of God unto salvation. Now look what he goes on to say,
verse 19. Remember, this is what he first
came preaching. For it's written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom, what knew not God? It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now he's going to get
into the content of that preaching. For the Jews, the religious fellas
require a sign. I need to see something before
I can believe. I can't just believe. I need to see something that
proves to me that what is being said is real. I need to see a
changed life. I need to see something that
shows me that God's at work. I can't just believe the naked
word without seeing something. I need a sign. I need a miracle.
I need to see something before I can believe. The Greeks seek after wisdom. Why is it
this world? We're seeking wisdom. We're trying
to make this world a better place. We're trying to improve government.
We're trying to improve the economy. We're trying to improve education.
We're trying to improve health care. We're trying to make this
world a better place, and we're looking for wisdom to do it.
We want to make a utopian society. We want everything to do well.
That's what we want. But, verse 23, we preach Christ crucified. The Son of God nailed to a tree,
suffering the wrath of God, making the way for God to be both just
and justify the ungodly. The only reason that I'm not
sent to hell is because Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross,
bore my sin, put it away, gave me his righteousness. We preach
Christ crucified. I was talking about Tom Fitzpatrick,
the first time he contacted me, contacted me over the phone.
This has been 15, I don't know how long ago, 15 or 20 years
ago. And he had been watching the TV program. And he said,
you said that all you preach is Christ and him crucified.
And you said, I make no apologies for that. And he said, I want
to hear what you have to say. And he heard. We preach Christ crucified, and
to the Jews, a stumbling block. You mean to tell me that you're
saved wholly by Him being nailed to a cross without any works
from you? Why, that'll lead people to sin.
That takes away all motive for good works. You're saying salvation
is accomplished by Him being nailed to the cross, and you
have nothing to do with that? Yep, that's exactly what I mean.
Why? I stumble at that. That'll lead
to sin, that'll lead to indifference, that'll hurt people's life. They don't have a reason to live
a good life. You're saying everything's already
finished. I stumble at that. To the Greeks, how's that gonna
help education? How's that gonna help the economy?
How's that gonna help the government? How's that gonna help healthcare?
That doesn't do anything for us. Why, that's foolishness. But unto them which are, what? Called. Called by the grace of God. Please God who separated me from
my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son
in me that I might preach him called. To them who are called,
what? but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks." He calls Jews, he calls Greeks. Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now, how can God be just
and be righteous and save somebody who's unjust and unrighteous? How could that be fair? How could
that be right? I think it's interesting. We naturally think, well, how
could it be fair for God to send a man to hell? Or how could it
be fair for God to not save everybody? But the question we ought to
be asking is, how could it be fair for God to save us? That's
the question. How could that be fair? Well,
it took the wisdom and power of God, the wisdom of God to
make the way to be just and justify the ungodly, and the power of
God to execute it. We preach Christ crucified. Now this is the message, that
message that I first preached to you when I first got there.
Same message that I am still preaching. Salvation for Christ's
sake. Back to 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached to you, same gospel, which also
you have received. Now here's the second point behind
this message, which you received. What's it mean to receive? I got a $100 bill. I pull it
out of my pocket, I say, this is yours. You do that to me tonight, I'll
take it. I'll take it. To receive is to take what is
given. Now, if I don't receive it, it
can't be said it was given to me, can it? If I don't receive
it, it was never given. False religion makes the act
of reception the act of salvation. God loves you, Christ died for
you, God the Holy Spirit's calling you, but it's up to you to accept
what he did and receive what he did or you won't be saved.
That's called salvation by works. That's called salvation dependent
upon what men do. Everybody he gives the gospel
to, they receive it. as many as received Him. To them gave He the power to
become sons of God, even to them which believe on His name." Now,
is somebody saying, have I received Him? I might be full of myself,
I want to know, have I received Him? Well, let me ask you that
by asking you this, do you believe on His name? His name is who
He is. His name is His attributes. You're
calling upon His name to save you. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. When I'm calling upon
His name, I'm saying, save me by who you are. Save me by an
act of your sovereign will. Will my salvation. Turn me, save
me. Save me by your power. Save me
by your justice. Save me by your love. Save me
by your grace. I'm asking the Lord who He is
to save me. Now, what is it? Have I received
Him? Do you believe on His name? Are
you relying on who He is to save you? Yes, I am. Then you've received
Him. You've received the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's taking what has been given. Now, let's go on reading. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached to you, same message, which also
you have received and wherein you stand. Wherein you stand. I'd like you to turn, hold your
finger there and turn to Psalm 24. Verse three, who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. Does that describe you? I'll tell you what it does describe.
The Lord Jesus Christ has clean hands. He has a pure heart. He's never lifted up his soul
to vanity. How many times have you done
that? He's never sworn deceitfully. This certainly describes Him,
but there's somebody else that describes. Everybody in Him,
they stand before the Lord. They stand accepted before the
Lord. I love that scripture. We shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And that standing
is being accepted. being saved, being perfect in
Christ Jesus, we shall all stand, not cringing, stand in the justifying
righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is my personal righteousness
before God. I'll stand accepted in the beloved,
complete in Him. We stand. by which this gospel,
the gospel of Jesus Christ, you stand. That's why it's good news. I'm
holy. This is why I stand before God,
because of what Christ did for me. I stand holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in his sight. And that's known by faith. It's
not known by feeling. It's known by faith. I stand. Now, just as many translations,
there's 19 different English translations that I have access
to, and half of them say, wherein you've taken your stand. And
I believe both can apply. You stand in the gospel. And
you've taken your stand in the gospel. You know, Paul was actually,
in some ways, a very tolerant, accommodating, and compromising
man. When he's dealing with wanting
Timothy to be able to preach the gospel to some Jews who knew
that they wouldn't listen to him if they knew he was uncircumcised,
he went ahead and bent over backwards to have him circumcised just
so they would listen. And Timothy did that. He would
bend over backwards. He was a very tolerant man. Now,
when they said with regard to Titus, he can't be saved because
he's not circumcised, he said, we didn't submit to that for
a second. He, when it comes to salvation, he won't, this is
non-negotiable. God doesn't negotiate with sinners.
And we don't negotiate the terms of the gospel. It's God's gospel. But let's turn back to Romans
14 real quick. Be good for us to read this once
again. Him that is weak in the faith,
kick him out. No, receive ye. But not to doubtful
disputations, wondering about him. For one believeth that he
may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not
him that eateth despise him that eateth. Not, what's wrong with
him? And let not him which eateth
not judge him that eateth. Why, he's wrong in what he's
doing. For God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest
another man's servant? To his own master he standeth
or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able to
make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above
another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth
it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the
Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the
Lord, for he giveth God thanks. He that eateth not, to the Lord
he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us live to
himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord. Whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Wherefore,
whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to
this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might
be Lord both of the dead and the living. But why dost thou
judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not,
thy brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. That one you're setting a knot,
he's going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And
you're setting him a knot? For as it's written, as I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, every tongue shall
confess to God, so that every one of us shall give an account
of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one
another any more, But judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling
block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. Now I know
I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus there's nothing unclean of itself,
but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved
with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably? Destroy not him
with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not your good be evil
spoken of. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. For that he that in these things
serveth Christ is acceptable to God and improved of men. Let
us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and
things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not
the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but
it's evil for the man who eateth with offense. It's good neither
to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother
stumbleth or is offended, or made weak. Hast thou faith? Have
it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not
himself in the thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth
is damned if he eat, because he is not of faith, for whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. Now do you see the toleration
Paul is calling on us to use? Paul was a very accommodating,
He said, you know, I'll eat no flesh while the world stands
if it's gonna offend my brother, even though he knew it was okay.
So understand, Paul was a very accommodating, nonjudgmental,
tolerant man. But when it came to the gospel,
when it came to the cross, there's no negotiating. Back to 1 Corinthians 15. the gospel wherein you have taken
your stand. Like Martin Luther said, here
I stand. I can do no other. My conscience
is held captive by the word of God. If I don't stand for the
gospel, I don't stand in the gospel. Those two things go together. The gospel by which you stand,
why are you gonna stand before God on judgment day and be accepted?
The gospel. This is where you take your stand. And look what he says in verse
two, by which also you are saved. The gospel is what has saved
me. By which you also are saved. What a glorious word, saved. Saved from my sins. That's why
I call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. Saved in eternity past. When Christ agreed to be my surety
before time began, I was saved. There wasn't any doubt about
my salvation. When Christ came into this world and lived for
me and died in my place and said, it is finished, I was saved. Now, as far as my experience
goes, I'm saved looking to Christ right now. If I got to look back to some
kind of experience I had, well, I must've been saved then. I
missed it. I look to Christ right now. I don't look to something
I intend to do in the future. That's works. You look back,
it's works. You look future, it's some kind
of work you're going to perform. You look to Christ right now
only. That's what perseverance in the
faith is. You never graduate past looking to Christ only. Right now, to my dying breath,
this is what I want it to be. He's all I have. I have nothing
else, Christ only, by which also you're saved. I could bring another
message on that. It's a great thought by which
also you're saved. And I'm not saved yet. I'll be
saved when I no longer sin. Now is your salvation nearer
than when you believed? when I'm saved to sin no more,
when I stand before God no longer a sinner, perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. Now, notice he says, by which
also you're saved if you keep in memory what I've preached
unto you. My marginal reading says if you
hold fast what I have preached to you. It's only that one who
holds fast that is saved. And let me say this, the only
way I can firmly hold is if I'm firmly held. If he firmly holds me, I'll hold
out all the way to the end. That's the only way I can hold
out is if I am firmly held. I love the way he says this,
by which also you're saved if, if you keep in memory what I've
preached unto you unless you believed in vain. Now that if,
Colossians 1. Colossians 1. There's a lot of scriptures that
are very much like this, particularly in the book of Hebrews, but for
time's sake, I just want to read this passage in Colossians 1 verse 20. And having made peace
through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things
unto himself by him, I say, whether by Him to reconcile all things
to Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in
the body of His flesh through death to present you 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." Now, what is
it to persevere in the faith? It's to continue looking to Christ
only. into your dying breath. You have
nothing else. Perseverance isn't staying religious.
A lot of folks do that. There's a lot of people that'll
persevere being religious and they'll wake up in hell to their
own horror. I'm talking about continuing to look to Christ
only as everything in your salvation. Right now, I am relying on who
He is and what he did as everything in my salvation. I'm relying
on that. I'm not looking anywhere else. And then he closes by making
kind of a statement that if you don't understand it, it's scary. By which also you're saved if
you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. Now does that mean that you can
believe all this and it winds up being no good anyway and you
find out on Judgment Day it was all in vain and it didn't really
do you any good and you won't be saved? Can somebody believe
in vain in that sense? Can I rely on Christ and it's
all in vain and it doesn't really hold up on Judgment Day? Well, what do you think? What's the Bible teach? Can a
believer fall from favor with God? If Jesus Christ paid for
your sins and God saved you by the grace of God, can he end
up throwing you into hell after all that? He won't do it. It would deny who he is. It would
deny his character. Here's what it means. If I do not hear the gospel, the eternal message. If I don't
receive the gospel, if my standing before God is not in the gospel,
and if I don't take my stand for the gospel, it's non-negotiable.
If I'm not presently being saved by the gospel, if I am not persevering
in looking to Christ Only whatever faith I have is vain. It's not
real. Real faith hears the gospel,
receives the gospel, stands in the gospel, is saved by the gospel,
and perseveres in the gospel. We hold firmly for this one reason. We're firmly held by his almighty
hand. Do you rely only on Jesus Christ? Like Paul said, I know whom I
believed. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him against the day, that day. If he didn't do it all, I won't
be saved. I've committed the entire salvation
of my soul to him. And if he didn't do it all, no
hope for me. Somebody that doesn't make that
commitment has never really believed. You trust him only. And that being the case, all
of these things are true of you. You're one of those who have
heard and received and stand and continue in the faith. Now, let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of your son, the gospel of the glories of the cross of
thy son that magnifies all your attributes, that makes known
your glorious person. Lord, what a sure and safe foundation. Lord, we don't want to hold on
to anything else. And we know it's because we're
firmly held by your omnipotent hand. Keep us by your grace and
Lord enable us to believe Enable us to preach your gospel. Enable us to persevere, looking
to your son. In his blessed name we pray,
amen.