I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
verse 1, Paul the Apostle makes this statement, Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel. I've entitled this message, What
is the gospel? Now, I have two reasons for asking
that question. Number one, because I want to
know. I want to know what the gospel
is. And my second reason for asking
that question is I want to know if it's good news to me. I want
to know if the gospel is my gospel. If the gospel of God, the gospel
of the scriptures, I want to know if that is my personal gospel,
if it's good news to me. Now there are many passages that
you could look at that would give a formal definition of the
gospel. I think of Romans chapter 3,
Romans chapter 1. There are many short descriptions
of the gospel but the most complete comprehensive definition of the
gospel that you can find is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 where
Paul tells us at the very beginning Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel." And the thought is not over until the
25th verse of that chapter. Every verse begins with a conjunction. until verse 25 which tells us
the thought is not over until verse 25. Now in this space of
time I don't have time to deal with all of those verses but
I want to deal with the first part of this chapter where Paul
tells us what the gospel is. Now I've heard preachers on numerous
occasions say, well, I believe the gospel, 1 Corinthians 15,
Christ died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. That's
how the Bible defines the gospel. He died for our sins, he was
buried, and he was raised from the dead. I really believe that.
I believe he died for our sins. I believe he was buried, and
I believe he was raised again. Now, if I say that's the gospel,
I'm not giving what Paul gave. As a matter of fact, if I look
at you and say, Christ died for your sins, I'm not giving you
the Gospel. That's a half a truth. And a half a truth is a whole
lie. I want the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. Now, Paul didn't say, Christ
died for our sins. was buried and rose again. He said the gospel is according
to 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. The gospel is 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. How that, listen to the language,
how that. Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. When Paul wrote this epistle,
there was not yet a New Testament. As a matter of fact, most people
think that this was the first epistle Paul wrote. So when he
said how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
he was referring to the Old Testament Scriptures. There is no preaching
of the Gospel unless it lines up with the Old Testament Scriptures. Now, the Old Testament, people
call it the Old Bible, and they look at it quite often as useless,
not applicable to us, not relevant to us. And they think the New
Testament is more important, and they'll even think that a
lot of the stories of the Old Testament presented a different
God than the stories of the New Testament. Like God's real angry
and wrathful in the Old Testament and He's nicer in the New Testament.
Now that's not true at all and that's betraying a complete ignorance
of what the Old Testament is all about. There are others who
use the Old Testament as a character study, dare to be a Daniel and
they'll look at these different figures in the Old Testament
as examples and so on and they don't really see the Gospel Old
Testament. And it's my prayer that God will
cause His Gospel to be preached through this passage of Scripture.
It's how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture.
But let's begin in verse 1 of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He
says, "'Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel.'" The definite
article, the, tells us that there is one gospel. He doesn't say
a gospel among many, the gospel. There is only one gospel, the
gospel of God, with a particular definite content. And if that
content is not preached, the gospel is not preached. The gospel. Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel the good news. That's what gospel is. It's good
news. It comes to those who believe
as good news. And everyone that doesn't find
it to be good news finds it to be bad news. I declare unto you
the gospel, the good news of how God saves by His grace. Now
let's go on reading. He says, moreover brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. I'm giving
you the same gospel that I first gave you. It's the same now as
it was then. No modifications, no amendments,
no different packaging to adapt to the culture, no attempt to
make it relevant. I don't know how to express how
Irritating it is to hear a man say we can make the Bible relevant.
The Bible is not making an attempt to be relevant to you. It's the
eternal word of God. I want to know what it says.
Don't give me that. When you try to make the Bible
relevant, all you do is make yourself irrelevant. The Bible
is not trying to do that. The Bible is a declaration of
who God is, and the gospel is always the same. It's the same
message that everybody needs. What if I was a doctor and I
had one medicine that would cure every ill? You'd want to know
what that medicine is. Well, that medicine, spiritually,
there is one medicine that cures every ill. That is the gospel. It's the gospel that's needed
to be preached in this day. Oh, that the gospel would be
preached. Men are religious. Men preach
anything but the gospel. They try to tell people how to
live and how to have better lives and better home lives and so
on, and they'll perish without the knowledge of the gospel.
What is the gospel? Well, it's the gospel I preached
unto you. Knows no modifications, knows no change. It's always
the same. Which also you have received. It's the gospel you've
received and found to be as good news. And wherein you stand. This gospel makes a man stand
before God and be accepted. Oh, my standing is in the gospel.
It's not in my works or my preaching or anything I do. My standing
is in the gospel. Being found in Christ. And this
is what I'm taking my stand on. This is something, by the grace
of God, I'm willing to die for, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says in verse 2 that it's
the saving gospel, by which also you're saved. There's only one
way a sinner can be saved, and that's through the gospel. Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek. It's the saving gospel. You will
not be saved, accepted by God, delivered from hell, saved from
your sins. You will not be saved apart from
the gospel. And then he says, by which also
you're saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
you believed in vain. It's the gospel that must be
persevered in. You've got to be, he that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. You persevere in the gospel. Somebody quits. God never did
anything for them. If God's ever done anything for
you, you will continue in the faith grounded and settled and
not be moved from the hope of the gospel. And then he says
in verse three, for I delivered unto you, first of all, This
is what was first and most important. I delivered unto you first of
all that which I also received. Now what Paul is referring to
is when Christ took him up into the third heaven and taught him
the gospel directly. Paul wasn't taught the Gospel
by man. He was taught the Gospel by Christ Himself. And that's
why we believe what he says. I mean, he's the man God used
to expound the Gospel. And he says, I delivered unto
you like a mailman delivers a letter. The mailman doesn't have anything
to do with the content of the letter. He simply delivers it.
And Paul says, I'm delivering to you the content of what Christ
said to me. I'm delivering to you, first
of all, that which I also received. And here's the first thing he
says. It's how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. Now, he's speaking of the Old
Testament Scriptures. And you cannot understand the
gospel apart from the Old Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament
is just as important, just as inspired as the New Testament. And the New Testament is meaningless
without the Old Testament. You know, the Lord said, you
search the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life. And they are they, talking about the Old Testament scriptures,
which testify of me. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And he's including the Old Testament
scriptures. And they are they, which testify
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is the gospel according
to the scriptures? The issue is, always has been,
and always will be, what is the Gospel? You know, Abel found
this out very early when his brother murdered him. And you
know what the issue was? The blood. What is the Gospel? Now, how does the scripture answer
this question? Not what do you think the gospel
is or what do I think the gospel is, not what does this church
or this denomination believe, not what does this particular
movement believe, but what does the Bible say the gospel is? Well, it's how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. Now, there's so many
Old Testament scriptures that I thought of. First thing I thought
of was the first gospel message where God said to the serpent
right after the fall, the seed of woman, speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember, he was born of a virgin.
The seed of woman shall crush the serpent's head and the serpent
shall bruise his heel. That's talking about the cross. Christ had his heel bruised,
but that same heel that was bruised by suffering for the sins of
his people, crushed and utterly defeated Satan. Now, the gospel
is the gospel of Christ's victory. Not his desire for good things
to happen, but his absolute victory when he crushed the serpent's
head. Now, the next thing that I thought
about, Christ dying for our sins according to the scriptures,
the Old Testament scriptures, is when God appeared to Abraham.
And he said, take now thy son, thy only son whom you love, and
offer him up as a burnt offering to me on a mountain that I'll
show thee of. Now can you imagine how painful
that was to Abraham? Which of us have not thought
whether we could render such obedience to God, to actually
offer up, slit our child's throat, and put him on fire if that's
what God told us to do? Here's how Abraham did this.
Abraham believed God. God promised that the Messiah
was gonna come directly through that boy. And Abraham knew that
even if he killed him, God would raise him from the dead because
God never goes back on his word. He never says, I'm gonna do this,
and then he doesn't do it. Abraham knew that. And he actually
said to the men that went with him, you stay here and wait.
while I and the lad go yonder and worship and will return to
you." He knew that he and his son would return. He knew that
God would raise his boy from the dead. So when they're walking
up that mountain, Isaac has the wood and the fire. And he says,
my father, he says, here I am my son. He said, see, here is
the fire. Here is the wood. Where is the
lamb for a burnt offering? You know, I want to say that
about so much preaching. You got fire, you got heat, you
got wood, you got doctrine. Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb? And I think of the importance
of this. Christ, the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. In eternity future, worthy is
the lamb that was slain. Father, here's the fire, here's
the wood, where's the lamb for a burnt offering? And he said,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Three things I hear in that verse
of scripture. Remember, this is how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. First, you can't
provide anything. Me and you can't provide anything
that a holy God could accept. You might as well forget it.
God's holy. Me and you can't provide anything. But thank God
He does the providing. He provides for Himself a Lamb. You see, for God to do something
for me or you, He first had to do something for Himself. His
justice had to be satisfied. He can't just sweep sin under
the carpet. His justice has to be satisfied.
Sin has to be punished. For God to do something for me
or you, He's got to do something for Himself. When Christ died,
it was for God. Yes, it was for His people, but
it was primarily for God, to make a way for God to be just
and justifier. He provided for Himself, and
God provides Himself as the Lamb. God is the lamb. And that's pictured when, remember
when Abraham got ready to slay the boy, raised up his hand and
God stopped him and he found a substitute, a ram caught in
the thickets, in the thickets by his horns and he took it and
offered it up in the stead of his son. Oh, that's how Christ
died for our sins according to the scripture. The next thing
I thought about was the Passover lamb. God said, I'm going to
go through Egypt, and I'm going to destroy the firstborn in every
home. His judgment was upon Egypt.
You remember when Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should
obey him? I can just hear Abraham thinking. He's fixing to find out. because
he was. He had experienced the nine plagues
and his heart was still hardened. And then God says, this is the
last plague I'm bringing. And he says, I'm going to destroy
the firstborn of every home. But you take a lamb, a lamb without
blemish and without spot, a perfect lamb. You watch it for two weeks
and you take that lamb and you kill it and you take the blood
And you put that blood over the doorposts of the home. And God said, when I pass through
and I see the blood, I will pass over you. And this is how the
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. What was God
looking for? He didn't say, when I see your
faith, or your repentance, or your tears, or your moral reformation,
or your efforts. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Not when I see your sincerity,
not when I see your good works. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. There was one thing God was looking
for, the blood. And who had to see the blood?
He didn't say when you see the blood. If you were in the house,
you couldn't see it. He said, when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Now, was anybody in one of those
houses with the blood over the door, was anybody judged anyway? Did God say, well, that one's
so bad, I just can't let him go. I'm going to go ahead and
judge him. No, no. If you were in the house with
the blood over the door, you were secure. Was that blood over
everybody's door? No. just the Israelites. That's how that Christ died for
our sins, according to the Scriptures. He died for our sins, according
to the Scriptures. According to the Scriptures,
who's the our? Is that talking about every man to ever live?
No. Matthew 121 says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. That's how that Christ died for
our sins, according to the Scriptures. He died for His people. He died
for the elect. He said in John chapter 17 verse
9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you've given me, for they are thine. Now, this is good news, that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Everybody he died for must be
saved according to the, if Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. Now this is different than the way most people present
the death of Christ. They say Christ died for all
men, wants to save everybody, has made an offer of salvation
to everybody, but it's up to you to do what you need to do
in order to make what he did work for you. There's no gospel
in that message. That's not how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. Scripture doesn't
teach anything like that. You're not going to get that teaching in the scripture.
Oh, thank God, Christ died for our sins according to the scripture.
And it says he was buried. You know, Isaiah 53 tells exactly
how he was buried. And he rose again the third day,
like Jonah, three days in the belly of the whale's belly, three
days out, according to the scriptures. So the gospel is not Christ died
for our sins, that's only quoting half the verse. And if I only
quote half the verse, I've misquoted the verse. And I've misquoted
the verse willfully. It's how that Christ died for
our sins according to the Old Testament scriptures and was
buried and raised according to the scriptures. And then in verses
five through eight, we read of five appearances that Christ
made. And every time it says he was
seen, he was seen. He was seen. This is after the
resurrection. He was seen. He was seen. And every time that
word is in the passive tense, what it means is He was revealed. The reason they saw him is he
was revealed. Now, I can preach the gospel
as clearly and simply as can be, and you will never see it
or believe it unless he makes himself known to you so you can
see him. Salvation doesn't come by education. Salvation comes by revelation. Paul said, When it pleased 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 among the
heathen, immediately I conferred naught with flesh and blood.
Now, the only way I'm ever going to see Christ is if He reveals
Himself to me. The Gospel, I might have the
best preacher preaching the most easy message to understand, and
I still won't truly understand it until He makes Himself known
to me. This is a spiritual light. You
have to be born from above. You have to be born again to
even understand the Gospel. He gives you light through the
preaching of the Word, and you see. The gospel defined, it's
how the Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. The
gospel revealed, he was seen, he was made known to all these
different disciples. And finally, the gospel confessed. Wherever the gospel is known,
the gospel will be confessed. This is speaking of a public
confession. Now, what is the confession of
the gospel? Let's go on reading. Last of all, Paul says in verse
8, he was seen of me also. He was made known to me as one
born out of due time, for I am the least of the apostles. Now,
a confession that is not humble is no confession. You know, God
hates pride and arrogance. Six things that the Lord hate,
yea, seven are an abomination to him, a proud look and a haughty
spirit. Paul said, I'm the least of the
apostles. He went on to say, as he grew
in grace, I'm less than the least of all the saints. And shortly
before he died, he called himself the chief of sinners. But let's go on. For I am the
least of the apostles, that 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. Now there is the believer's confession. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Now, what is meant by the grace
of God? In Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, we read, And God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's talking about every man,
Noah included. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. God's grace is his completely
unmerited favor toward an individual. Noah was just as wicked by nature
as everybody else, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. You know, there was a time I
didn't know that. I know it now. I'm a sinner. And it's only by
the grace of God that I know that. You know, you don't find
many sinners. You find a lot of religious people.
You find people that have faults and make mistakes. But I mean
somebody who really believes himself to be a sinner, who deserves
to go to hell, who can't be saved by their works. I'm a sinner.
And I know it's only the grace of God that's taught me that. I'm elect. I am what I am by
the grace of God. I'm elect. God chose me before
the foundation of the world and it was a gracious choosing. According as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him. I'm redeemed. That means
all my sins were paid for and I'm redeemed because of grace. Oh, what grace God manifested
in giving his son to redeem me. I'm justified. Do you know what
justification means? It means you're not guilty. It
means you have no sin. It means when God looks at you,
He sees one who's never done anything wrong and always done
that which is right. You see, the righteousness of
Christ is my righteousness and I'm justified by that. That's
my personal righteousness before God and that's by the grace of
God. I'm a believer. I really believe
the gospel. I believe what I'm preaching
to you. I really believe Christ is all I need. Christ is all
I want. I really believe that. And that
faith that I have is by the grace of God. By grace you save through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. I'm repentant. I'm always in
a state of repentance. My mind is always being changed,
always looking to Christ, and that's the gift of God's grace.
I love God. I love His people. That's the
fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. It's a gift of God's grace. Salvation
is of the Lord. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Now, every believer will make
that confession. If they don't give grace all
the credit for everything in their salvation, they're not
really believers. That is the confession of the
believer. Now, we have this message on
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