I'd like you to take your Bibles
this morning and open them to the book of 1 Corinthians. We're
going to be reading from chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. Now, the Lord willing, I'm going
to deal with the first three or four verses of this particular
chapter and speak to you on this subject. I declare unto you the
gospel. I declare unto you the gospel. And that's the way the Apostle
Paul begins this chapter. the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians,
verse 1, he says, My brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. My friends, there is but one
gospel. This same apostle in writing to the Galatians said,
If any man preach any other gospel, even if it be an angel from heaven,
let him be accursed. There is but one gospel, and
that one gospel is the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. Paul
wrote in Romans 1 and said, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ and
separated unto the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. And then this one gospel is not
only God's gospel, but it's the gospel of God's grace. It's the
gospel of his mercy, his tender mercies to sinners. And then
this one gospel is the gospel concerning his son. That's what
it's all about. It's about Christ. Who Christ
is, and what Christ did, and why Christ did this, and where
he is now. So he says, My brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel, the one gospel, which is the gospel of
God, and the gospel of his grace, and the gospel that is concerning
his Son. It's that one gospel. There's
always been just one gospel, and that's the gospel of Christ.
Now look at the next line. He says, Brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached to you, and which you received,
and wherein you stand, and by which you are saved." Now, he
said, this gospel of God, I preached it to you. Now, the preacher
is not important. What he says is important. Now,
he's not important. He says, who is he that soweth,
and who is he that ploweth, and who is he that planteth and watereth?
Nothing. We're nothing but instruments
or ministers by whom you believe. But God gives the increase. And
another time, this apostle said, I'm not one whit behind the chief
apostle, though I be nothing. So the important thing is not
the minister. It's not who says it. It's what
does he say. And he said, I preach unto you
the gospel. And he said, you received it.
You received this good news of Christ. He came unto his own,
his own things, his own people. And they received him not, but
to as many as received him. the Lord Jesus Christ. To them
gave he the privilege to become sons of God, even to them that
believed on his name. And Paul said, I preached this
gospel to you, and you received it. And he said, wherein you
stand, that is, you took your stand, and you have persevered
in that gospel without compromise. You refuse to compromise the
truth of God. You're standing in that gospel.
I preached it to you, you received it, and you took a stand. And
he says, and you've been saved by that gospel of Christ. Saved
from sin's penalty, saved from sin's power, saved from sin's
practice, and by God's grace, you have a hope of being saved
from sin's very presence. Isn't this beautiful? My brethren,
I declare unto you, The gospel, the one gospel. I preached it
to you. God has chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It's not the preacher
now who's important, but it's the message he preaches. If the
preacher does not have the message of God, then we're not to listen
to him. We're to listen to him only as
he exalts and magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ and as he preaches
to us the word of God. That was the commission. that
Christ gave to his disciples. He said, you go into all the
world and preach the gospel. He didn't just send them out
to preach. He said, go and preach the gospel. The apostle Paul
says, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. He didn't say,
woe is unto me if I preach not, but that I preach not the gospel.
That's what's important, the preaching of the gospel. And
Paul said, you've received it, and you stand in it, and you're
saved by it. Now, what's the next verse? I
deliver unto you, I deliver unto you that which I also received."
Now, this gospel, Paul says, didn't originate with me. I received
it. I received it from the Lord.
He often called it my gospel. He said, my gospel. But it's
my gospel, not that it originated with him, but it's my gospel
in the sense that I've been saved by it. I've been saved by this
gospel. It's my gospel in the sense that
I've been filled with this gospel. It's my gospel in the sense that
I love this gospel. And it's my gospel in the sense
that I've been commissioned to proclaim this gospel. So it's
my gospel, not that it originated with me, but that I've been saved.
It's God's gospel. He purposed it. He planned it. He promised it. He pictured it
through the scriptures, he purchased it, and he applied it to our
hearts by his grace. I deliver it unto you, I deliver
it unto you, that which I received. You know, when the Apostle Paul
was talking to the Corinthian church about the Lord's table,
he said, brethren, that which I have received of the Lord,
I deliver it unto you. And that is the same night in
which the Lord was betrayed, he took bread and break it, gave
thanks and gave it to his disciples. He said, this is not, this didn't
originate with Paul. It's not my supper. It's not
my gospel. That which I received, I delivered
unto you. Well, what was this that he received
and delivered unto us? He says how that Christ died,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. This is my hope. This is my plea. Someone said, I once was lost,
but now I'm found. And by God's grace, I'm heaven
bound. My only hope, my only plea, is
that when Christ died, he died for me. That's what Paul said
in Romans 8, verse 33. He said, who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies it. Who
is he that condemns it? This apostle could challenge
heaven, earth, and hell, and say, who can condemn me? I cannot
be condemned, not because I'm a preacher or an apostle, I have
planted churches, not because I've done good deeds. He says
none can condemn me because Christ died. Yea, rather, is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. This is our plea. Our plea is
not our work. That's what the false professors
pleaded in Matthew 7. Our Lord talked about many, he
said, shall say unto me in that day and the day of judgment,
wait a minute, Lord, we preached in your name, and we prophesied
in your name, and we cast out devils in your name, and we did
many wonderful works in your name. You see, the plea that
these people are putting forward is not what Christ did for them,
but what they did for him. They preached, they prophesied,
they cast out devils, they did many wonderful works. Well, Paul
doesn't claim these things at all, although he did more than
all of them put together. I don't suppose any man ever
established more churches or ordained more elders and deacons
or more bishops or preachers or suffered more persecution than
the Apostle Paul. And yet, when he talks about
his salvation, he says, who is he that condemned it? Christ
died. Christ died, yea rather is risen again. Christ died and
he says brethren I declare unto you the good news, the gospel
of God, the gospel of his grace and mercy. I preached it to you
and you received it and you took your stand in it and you're saved
by it and I just preached to you what God gave me, what God
taught me, what God delivered unto me, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. The hymn writer said
years. I spent in vanity and pride,
caring not my Lord was crucified. Knowing not it was for me, he
died at Calvary. By God's word at last, my sin
I learned. And then I trembled at the law
I'd spurned, to my guilty soul imploring turn to Calvary. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty God. that God
did span at Calvary. I'll tell you somebody who knew
something about substitution. When the Apostle Paul was talking
here about Christ died for our sins, according to the Scripture,
this is our hope, this is our plea, this is our gospel, this
is our refuge, this is our salvation. Christ died for me. He was my
substitute, my sacrifice, my sin offering. He died in my stead,
in my place. I'll tell you somebody who knew
something about substitution. He may not have known Christ
in saving faith. He may not have known Christ
in true repentance. He may never have been saved,
but he knew something about substitution. You know who it was? It was Barabbas. There was a criminal, a thief,
by the name of Barabbas. And he was in a dungeon. And
he had been sentenced to die on a cross. And he was to die
the next day on a cross, or that day. And they came down and told
him that he was free. that he could go free, that he
didn't have to die on a cross, that he didn't have to suffer
on the tree, that he didn't have to be crucified. And he walked
out of that prison a free man and did not die on a cross. Why?
Because a man named Jesus Christ died in his place. That's right. Pilate set Barabbas free and
crucified Christ in his place. And that's exactly what I'm preaching.
That's the gospel of God's grace. Christ died for our sin. according to the scriptures.
At Calvary, Christ died for our sins. On that mountain, back
yonder 2,000 years ago, he died in our stead. Oh, my friends,
great is Mount Sinai. We hear a lot about Mount Sinai,
robed in clouds, robed in clouds, covered with smoke, the lightning
flashing and the thunder rolling and the glory of God revealed.
There the law was written by the finger of God. on tablets
of stone and given to men. Great is that mighty mountain.
And we could talk about it, preach about it, and wonder about it.
And great is Mount Horeb. That's where Moses stood before
the burning bush. The bush that burned but was
not consumed and talked. Moses talked to God as a man
talks to his friend. That was some experience. What
an experience on Mount Horeb. And then great is Mount Pisgah.
We sing about it in that old song, Sweetire Prayer. It goes,
And from Mount Pisgah's lofty heights I view my home and take
my flight. That's where Moses viewed the
promised land. God had told him that he would
not lead the people into the promised land. You see, Moses
represented the law. It wasn't only because Moses
did not sanctify God, and because Moses lost his temper, and because
Moses didn't do what God told him to do, But Moses could not
lead the people into rest, into the land of rest, because Moses
represents the law, and the law cannot save Joshua. That's the
Old Testament name for Jesus. Joshua led them over the Jordan
and into the promised land. But Moses stood on top of Mount
Pisgah, and he viewed the promised land, and then God took him home. That was a great mountain. And
great is Mount Carmel. You know what happened there.
Elijah met 350 prophets of Baal and prayed that great prayer.
And the fire of God fell and consumed the altar and the wood
and the water and the sacrifice and everything else. And God
manifested his power and greatness on that mountain. And then Mount
Moriah, a lot of things happened on these mountains. Mount Moriah
was where Abraham endured his greatest trial. The man of great
trial endured his greatest trial. There the man of God, Abraham,
was willing to offer up his only son to God as a sin offering. And there God revealed to him
the gospel when the ram took Isaac's place. Abraham saw my
day, Christ said. He saw substitution. He saw a
lamb of God dying in the stead of his beloved. But, my friends,
put all of the glory of all of these mountains of all ages together,
and you won't find the glory which took place at Mount Calvary.
All that happened before pointed to Calvary, and all that transpired
since looks back to Calvary, for there on that Mount Calvary,
Golgotha's Hill, their God, their God with the power to destroy
our race with just a word, permitted his son to be nailed to a tree
and die on a cruel cross. Calvary, their God, their God
who delights to show mercy, poured out his wrath on his only begotten
son. Calvary, their God who clothes
the lilies, left his son to hang naked on a cursed tree. Calvary,
their God who hears the raven cry and feeds the hungry sparrow,
answered not the cry of his son who said, I thirst, I thirst. Calvary, their God, who never
leaves us alone, who said, I'm always with you even to the end
of the earth, did not respond when his son cried, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Have you been to Calvary? Have
you watched him there? That's what they did. The Scripture
says they nailed him to a cross and sitting down, they watched
him there. Well, I can say I've been to
Calvary. I can say I've seen the Lord.
I've been to Calvary through the witness of his word. I'm
not talking about taking a trip to the Holy Land. There's nothing
holy about that land or any other land on this earth. You can call
it the Bible lands if you want to, but don't call it a holy
land. I'm not talking about going over
there and standing looking at a spot where they said Christ
died. I'm talking about seeing it with our faith. I'm talking
about seeing it in the inspired word. I've been to Calvary through
the witness of his word, of his word. And each day at Calvary,
what a thrill of love divine, just to know, just to know that
this Savior, this substitute, this sin offering is mine. I want us to look at that statement.
Paul said, Now I declare unto you the gospel. He said before
he left to go to Jerusalem, or to Rome rather, he said, My hands
are free from your blood. I have not ceased to warn you.
I've warned you from house to house, I've preached to you the
gospel, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. This is the gospel that I preach.
This is the gospel that you receive. This is the gospel wherein you
stand, and this is the gospel by which you are saved. It's
that same gospel that I received, I received from the Lord, how
that Christ died. Who died? You used to sing an
old hymn 150, 200 years ago, and one of the verses goes like
this, the angel stood around that bloody tree, drawn there
by a strong desire, that amazing, wondrous sight to see, the Lord
of life expire. Isn't that something? Who died? Christ died. Somebody else wrote
this hymn, His Holy Fingers. formed the bough where grew the
thorns that crowned his brow. The nails that pierced his hands
were mined in secret places that he designed. He made the forest
whence there sprung the tree on which his body hung. He died
upon a cross of wood, yet he made the hill on which it stood. The sun that hid from him its
face by his own hand was hung in space. The sky which darkened
o'er his head by him above the earth was spread. The spear that
shed his precious blood was tempered in the fires of God. The grave
in which his body was laid was hewn in rocks his own hand had
made. Pilate wrote over his cross This
is Jesus of Nazareth, the King, the King. And somebody said,
oh, right up there, the King of the Jews, right up there,
he said he was the King. Pilate said, what I've written,
I've written. That's the best thing he's said
in all his life. What I've written, I've written.
He is the King. Christ died. That's the significance
of the whole message. That's the truth of the whole
message. It's not how much blood was shed, it was whose blood.
It's not how long did he hang on the cross, it was who was
on that cross. Christ died, Christ died. And
that centurion summed it up, after our Lord died, he stood
back and beheld him on that tree and he said, surely, surely this
man was the Son of God. Christ is no reformer, defeated. He's no example only. He's not
some frustrated do-gooder. Jesus Christ is God Almighty
in human flesh, the representative man, the federal head who died
on the cross. Why did he die? Well, look, he
died for our sins. That's what Paul said. Christ
died. Christ died, the Son of God, the only begotten of the
Father, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, God in human flesh, died
for our sins. What sent Christ to the cross?
What held him to the cross? What held him to the cross? They
stood down below that cross and they said, if you're the Son
of God, come down. Come down from the cross. We'll
believe you. You trusted God. Let's see if God will help you.
He saved others. Himself he cannot save. What
held him to that cross? It wasn't human weakness. He
could have called for 10, 12 legions of angels. It wasn't
human weakness. It wasn't the decree of Pilate.
Pilate's decree had nothing to do with his hanging on that cross.
He was hanging there by the decree of a king much greater than Pilate,
the decree of his Heavenly Father. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. And what held him to the
cross? It wasn't the nails in his hands,
it was my sins. My sins sent him to the cross,
and my sins nailed him to the cross, and my sins kept him on
the cross until every Every jot and tittle of the debt was fully
paid, every jot and tittle. My sins nailed him there. Christ didn't die as an example,
though he is an example. Christ didn't die as a reformer.
Christ didn't die as a religious messiah only. Christ died as
a substitute, a sin offering. He died that God may be just
and justify the ungodly. You see, the scripture says,
the soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. And when Christ Jesus
took our sins, became our substitute, our sin offering, he had to die
under the law of God, under the justice of God. The wages of
sin is death. The sin, when it's finished,
brings forth death. God has decreed that sin must
be punished. And if Christ has made sin for
us, then he must be punished in our place instead. That's
what Isaiah wrote. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. By his stripes,
by his stripes, we're healed. We're healed by his stripes.
Now, what's the last thing? And there's not a more important
statement in the Scripture. It brings together the Scripture.
I say this to you, and you remember this as long as you live. You
take the Bible, Old and New Testament, 39 books, 27 books, 66 in all,
and you compress the whole Bible together until you get the essence
of it, and the heart of it, and the substance of it. and bring
it out in one word, what would you say it is? The essence of
the whole scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, from Genesis to
Malachi, from Matthew to Revelation, and you compress it until you
get out of it, the essence and heart of the scriptures, what
would it be? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Moses wrote with
me, Abraham saw my day, to him gave all the prophets witness,
even to the Isle of Patmos. John the Baptist is still talking
about Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. He's the heart of the
scriptures. And it says here, Paul said, this gospel I declare
unto you is that Christ died for our sins in the state of,
in the place of, as a sin offering, atonement for our sins according
to the scriptures. He was buried and rose again
according to the scriptures. What scriptures? The Old Testament
scriptures. That's what he's talking about,
the Old Testament scriptures. When our Lord talked to his disciples
after he had risen from the tomb, in Luke 24, verse 44, he said
unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
were written in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, in the Psalms,
concerning me. All things must be fulfilled
which were written in the Prophets, in the Law of Moses, in the psalm
concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scripture." Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John wasn't even written there. Acts and Corinthians and
Romans and Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Jude,
Revelation, they weren't even written there. Our Lord took
them through the writings of Moses, through the writings of
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And it seems like today all these
preachers can find in these books is some kind of prophecy about
a kingdom to come later on. They don't preach Christ from
these scriptures. Our Lord preached Christ himself.
He said, these things are written concerning me. He said one day
to the Pharisees, you search the scriptures. And that's the
Old Testament Scriptures he's talking about, Genesis through
Malachi. You're searching the Scriptures. You're busy searching
the Scriptures. You study the Scriptures. In
them you think you have life. But they are they which testify
of me. Life is not in the Scriptures. It's in the Christ which the
Scriptures present. It's in the Christ of which the
Scriptures speak and about whom the Scriptures were written.
It's Christ. When our Lord said to Adam and
Eve that the seed of woman would bruise the serpent's heel, He
was talking about Christ. Christ is the seed of woman.
When Abel brought his sacrifice in Genesis 4-4 and offered it
upon the altar and God had respect for his sacrifice, that lamb
was Christ. That lamb was Christ. In Genesis
6, when God had Noah build an ark and he and his family came
in the ark and God shut the door and lifted that ark on the waters,
the floodwaters, of judgment and the people perished outside
the ark and the people in the ark were secure and safe and
delivered, that ark was Christ. And I take you down into Egypt
and the lamb is slain and the blood is put on the door, the
Passover lamb. And God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. Christ is our Passover. Paul
wrote that in the New Testament. When Moses smote the rock out
there in the wilderness and the water came forth and quenched
the thirst of the dying people, that rock was Christ. The Scripture
says that. When God erected the tabernacle
in the wilderness, the tabernacle where God met man and man met
God and the sacrifices were offered and the atonement every year
was presented on the mercy seat, that tabernacle is Christ. He
tabernacled among us and that's where we meet God in Christ and
that's where God meets us. And that great high priest each
year bringing the atonement under the veil into the holiest place
of all and covering the broken law with the precious blood,
that was Christ's blood. I know it was an animal blood.
It was typical of Christ. And when I see the blood, God
said, I'll pass over you. He's not talking about the blood
of an animal. The blood of an animal cannot put away a man's
sin. That's ridiculous to even think
about it. It takes the blood of God to
put away our sin. That Passover was Christ when
Moses lifted up the brazen serpent. That serpent was Christ. All
the way through the Scriptures, it's Christ. I do believe, I
now believe that Jesus Christ died for me, and through his
blood, his precious blood, I shall from sin be free. That's it,
my friend. I declare unto you the gospel,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.