Gospel—C. Hendricks
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Tonight to 1St Corinthians 15.
I've spoken numbers of times from this chapter, but it impresses itself upon my own soul. The the beauty of the fullness of the gospel. The word gospel means good news, and we're glad for each one here tonight, present. Whether you're saved or lost, we have good news.
Good news. You pick up the daily newspaper and you read much bad news. But the gospel is God's good news to the lost, to those who are so wretched and poor and unable to help themselves that God comes in and blesses the gospel. Let's read it. Chapter 15 of First Corinthians, verse one. Moreover, brethren now he's addressing these words to those who had heard the gospel.
That he had presented to them these believers at Corinth, and they had received it. We'll read that, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand.
So now he's about to.
Restate to them the gospel that he had preached, which they had received, and they stood in the faith of that gospel. And then he says in verse 2, by which also ye are saved.
I remember when I was first saved, I used to talk to a a.
I believe she was a true Christian, though she was not really too clear on the the full gospel that.
Is set forth here in this chapter. And she said to me once, she said, you know, you're always talking about being saved. We don't talk that way in the group that I'm connected with.
And then I opened the Word, and I showed her passage after passage after passage from the Scriptures.
Where it speaks about being saved. Well, here's one of those passages, verse 2 again, by which also ye are saved. What are we saved from? We're saved from the consequences of our sins when we believe this gospel. The penalty of our sins, the awful destiny of those that die in their sins, which is eternal judgment from God. This is the resurrection chapter and.
One of the.
Solemn truths of the resurrection.
It's not found here, but it's found in the book of Acts, and I'll quote it. God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, for he hath.
Appointed a day in which he will judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead, one of the solemn consequences of the resurrection of that man.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who went into death on the cross for our sins, and whom God raised the third day according to the Scriptures, one of the solemn consequences of the resurrection is that he is going to be either as presented here.
In this 15th of First Corinthians, your savior or he's going to be as presented in Acts. I believe it's 17 your judge.
God does not ask you to repent. He does not plead with you to repent. He commands you to repent.
God commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
And while we're on that word, repent. It means to change your mind.
From high thoughts of yourself to God's thoughts of you to receive what God has to say about you.
God tells me that I am a lost condemned.
Sinner by nature and by practice. And that's true of you. We're not saying it of anyone in particular. It's true of the whole audience to whom I'm speaking tonight. It's true the whole world, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God by one man, Adam. Sin entered into the world in death by sin. If you weren't a Sinner, you wouldn't die. The proof, the absolute infallible proof that you're a Sinner, is that death is going to claim you someday.
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The only exception to that will be the Saints alive when the Lord comes.
They will not go through the article of death, but it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment, the judgment, solemn words.
Verse one again. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you.
Which also you have received.
And wherein you stand, by which also ye are saved.
If you keep in memory, why does he say that?
Because there was a false doctrine that we was being preached here to the believers at Corinth, which if they accepted it, if they imbibed it, they would have surrendered the truth of the resurrection and he develops that the false doctrine is in verse 12. Let's read that Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? And then he develops very logically.
You see, there's nothing wrong with logic. There's nothing wrong with reason.
As long as it's based upon the Word of God, reason, apart from subjection to the Word of God is disastrous. But the gospel is not unreasonable. It is the most reasonable message of truth that's ever been presented to man.
But it's God's good news. But they were There was a gospel going. There was a doctrine, I should say, going about among the Saints at Corinth, that there's no resurrection of the dead. And the consequences of imbibing that error were very serious. And he develops that. But let's back up again, verse 2, by which also ye are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, you see if.
If their faith which stood in the reception of the truth of the Gospel that he had presented to them.
If they departed from that, If they surrendered that, if they gave that up then.
They would not keep it in memory. They would not be holding it fast in the faith of their souls. You know, it was a danger of some among them that had, outwardly, it would seem, have embraced the gospel and believed it. And yet there was this doctrine that there's no resurrection of the dead. Christ was dead, There's no resurrection of the dead. Then he didn't rise. And if he didn't rise, everything is lost. He develops that very fully later on.
Unless you have believed in vain, it's important what you believe. Don't believe the lie that is being propagated today. It doesn't matter what you believe. We're all headed for the same place. That's the lie of the devil. We're not all headed for the same place. And unless your faith is in the truth of God and in the gospel of God, that he's going to describe what he had preached to them. If you leave, that, if you.
Forsake that if you give that up.
If you imbibe an error which destroys that, you're not saved.
What was the gospel that he preached? Verse 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. The apostle Paul didn't dream this up in his own mind. This is not the product of man's thinking. This is not some philosophical conclusion arrived at after the greatest minds in the world got together. Oh no, he had received this as a revelation from God. This is God's gospel. This is God's way of salvation. It is not just a way of salvation. It is the only way of salvation. There is no other way.
The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
No other way. Only one way. And that's through Christ, I remember.
When I was a young man has a second job, I was pumping gas and I gave the gospel to one that I had filled his tank up for. And we got to talking. And he said there's many ways to heaven. It doesn't matter what you believe. What you believe is fine. I believe something else. We're all going to the same place. And he said to me at the end of the conversation, He said, by the way, I'm headed for Chicago, which way should I go? I said it doesn't matter. As long as you're sincere, just go any way you want. You'll get there.
He said, Come on, now, you know that's not true. And I said, but that's what you've been telling me about getting to heaven. As long as you're sincere, you're going to get to heaven because all the roads of sincerity lead to heaven. That's nonsense.
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And I think he saw the point that there was a way. I said the only way you can get to Chicago is to get your map out and to follow the proper route that will get you there. And if you deviate from that, well, this is our map right here. This is the word of God. This is God's word to us. It tells us how to get to heaven. It tells us how we can be saved. We don't tell God how we're going to be saved. He tells us. And there's only one way, and that is through the death and resurrection of our Lord.
Jesus Christ.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.
How that Christ here it is now how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
That, of course, is referring to the Old Testament scriptures, every sacrifice that the Jew offered on their altars.
Pointed forward to the to the final sacrifice that would be made by the Lamb of God John the Baptist when he saw the Lord Jesus coming. He said behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. He was the great anti type of all the offerings of the Old Testament.
All the blood of beasts couldn't take away our sins. All the sacrifices thousands offered in the Old Testament couldn't take away our sins. But one sacrifice did it, and that was the sacrifice of Christ.
We are redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ, which was shed on the cross in his death.
And if you are not under the value of the Blood of Christ, you're lost. Tonight, you're lost and on the broad, wide road to destruction.
There's only one way. It's a narrow way, and few there be that find it. But it's so simple. The hardest part that you'll have to get over in receiving the gospel is to accept the fact that you're lost.
You're lost. You're condemned. You're a Sinner. You're a guilty Sinner.
You're a condemned Sinner. You're a Sinner on the way to hell because one sin is so awful in the eye of God that that it will keep you out of heaven forever. One sin, and I've committed thousands, and so have you.
And God gave a sacrifice. He sent his son the great anti type of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament who died on the cross and shed his precious blood to cleanse our sins away before I ate supper tonight and went into the washroom and washed my hands to remove any defilement that would be there so that my hands would be clean as I ate. The only way that your soul could be clean before God is through the precious blood of Christ.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from all sins.
Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. He didn't die for his sins, for he had none.
Is the only altogether righteous man that was ever in this world the Holy One of God?
The one who never sinned.
He was impeccable, sinless, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.
Nothing less than that would have sufficed to be a sacrifice for us for my sins and your sins. But here was one who was sinless, who could offer that holy life as an atoning sacrifice for sin on the cross. Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. Can you say that? Can you say he died for my sins? Make it very personal until you make it personal. As long as you keep it in the distant hour. Put it off at a distance. Yes, he died for everyone's sins. But make it personal. Say oh he Thank God he died for my sins.
According to the scriptures. What are some of those scriptures? Well, Isaiah 53 is a beautiful example. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep dung before her Shearer. So he opened down his mouth. He was led so meekly to the cross.
And he willingly gave his life for you.
For your sins and mine, Are you saved tonight? Can you make it very personal and say yes, he died for my sins?
And then it says.
And that he was buried. You only buried dead people.
Now this is the gospel that they had received. This is what they had heard. And now they were in danger of imbibing the error that the dead don't rise. He was dead. He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, Paul says. And he was buried. He was put in the very place of death in testimony to the fact that he was truly dead.
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Every Lord's Day Morning. Tomorrow morning we will celebrate the Lord's Supper.
Who will remember the Lord in his death? This is the ongoing commemoration of the very foundation truth of Christianity. Attack that, destroy that, and everything is lost. First grand truth of Christianity is Christ died and He died for our sins.
Can you say he died for my sins? Thank God. I can say that tonight and many others in this room. Is there anyone that can't say he died for my sins? Make it personal. Make it your own tonight and you'll be saved. And that he was buried. These are facts. These are facts. He's stating He's not reasoning upon the facts. Now He is stating facts, historical facts which are irrefutable, which are infallible.
Truths that God has given. Christ died on the cross and he died for our sins. Praise God. We only know that by revelation.
And he was buried, put in the very tomb.
Men appointed his grave with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death, because he had done no.
Sin. Neither was there any violence in his mouth.
He was given a royal burial in a tomb where never man was laid, though men appointed it. Otherwise God prevented man's appointment.
He was buried, placed in death.
But he didn't stay there.
He said in Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Think of a mere man saying such a thing and say he was crazy.
He was talking about the temple of his body. The Jews thought he was talking about the temple of Herod that had been in building.
For many years, no. He was talking about the temple of his body. He went into death and he raised himself from the dead. God raised him from the dead. Here we have it. God raised him from the dead.
Verse 4 Again. And that he was buried and that he rose again the 3rd day according to the Scriptures. The Old Testament Scriptures speak of the resurrection of Christ.
Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
That will make known to me though paths of life, in thy presence's fullness of joy at the right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Scriptures that speak of the fact that he was not left in death, that God raised him out of death. The resurrection of Christ is the proof to everyone that believes the gospel that his sins are gone, gone, forever, gone before the eye of God.
God who knew them, laid them on him. And believing thou art free, He no longer has any of our sins upon him. They're gone. They were laid upon him at the cross. He went into death. God raised him from the dead. And when he was raised from the dead, our sins were no longer upon him, because he had put them away by his death.
The resurrection is God's testimony to us that He has accepted the work of Christ and the cross for our sins, and He's put them away. He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, that's our part. Believing it, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you have that piece tonight? Peace with God? Do you know that the sin question was settled?
By the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross. And you can say, I believe that, and I have peace.
Now this is the gospel that Paul preached to these Corinthians.
It involved 3 truths. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
He was buried.
Truly dead and he was raised again the 3rd day according to the scriptures.
So the gospel is.
The death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ.
He lives and our sins are gone.
Is he your savior tonight? Now that was the gospel that they had received. That's the gospel in which they stood, by which they were saved, he says. If you keep that in memory, if they gave that up, if they imbibed some error that destroyed one of those essential truths, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, they would have given up the truth of the gospel. Very serious.
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Now in the next verses starting at verse five, we have the witnesses that he calls upon to be a testimony as to the resurrection of Christ.
There isn't any truth of scripture that has been more attacked by the enemy.
Than the truth of the resurrection.
And so we have an abundant testimony here.
And says he was seen of Cephas. That was Peter.
He was the apostle that denied the Lord three times with oaths and curses, he said. I don't know the man.
I don't know him. I don't know him. Three times the Lord said he would do it, and then the Lord turned and he looked at Peter.
And when Peter saw the gaze of the blessed Lord who had told him that he would do it, and Peter said, no, I'd die for you, die for the Lord. I would never deny thee, but he did.
Didn't know the weakness of the flesh.
He did, and he saw that look of the Savior. He went out, and he wept bitterly, and he becomes the one who, in resurrection the Lord Jesus appeared to.
He was seen of Cephas. The Lord had a personal meeting, risen Christ now.
With Peter Cephas.
He was to be the stone. He was to be the one that was a picture of every believer, a living stone built upon Christ the Rock.
And then he was seen of the 12, the 12 apostles.
Everyone had to see the risen Christ was absolutely essential. That was the requirement.
The Church was built upon the apostles and prophets.
And of the New Testament, And everyone of them, in order to be an apostle, had to have seen Christ.
In resurrection the one who wrote this, Saul of Tarsus, was his name. Now Paul the Apostle, he saw Christ in glory on the road to Damascus. He didn't see him as a risen man on earth, but he saw him in glory, the proof that he was risen.
But every apostle had to see Christ as the risen 1.
After that he was seen of above 500 brethren, at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
500 Brethren It's possible to fool a few.
It's possible to arrange with a few to perpetrate a lie.
We have religions that exist today that are founded on that very thing. But not 500 brethren at once. No, that's virtually an impossibility. And here they are all witnessing to the glorious truth of the resurrection. They saw the risen Christ. How important. Another truth I want to mention is when the world nailed the Lord Jesus on the cross.
That's the last view that the world had of Christ His own. Took him down, loving hands, took him down, laid him in the new tomb, prepared him for burial, laid him in the tomb. And then when he rose from the dead, the only ones that saw him during his 40 days as a risen man on earth were his own. Those that had faith. The next time the world sees Christ well when he comes back will be when he comes back in judgment.
Then every eye will see him.
And those which pierced him, and they will wail on account of him.
Because he will come back as judge. For 2000 years he's been presented to the world as a savior. As a savior, you can have him tonight as a savior. But if you refuse to meet him tonight by faith, as a savior, you'll meet him in that coming day as a judge. But meet him you will. Meet him. You must, for God has decreed that every knee will bow.
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And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
You will do it. Everyone in this room will do it. Everyone in this world will do it. Thank God. Each of us who have done it already can say it is with delight. I bow my knee and confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, for he is God raised him from the dead and exalted him to his right hand, and made him Lord and Christ. And he's now judge. He's now Savior, and he will be judged.
In that coming day.
Solemn thing to think that if you reject him, you will stand before the Great White Throne one day.
And seated on that throne will be this blessed person that we're talking about.
The Lord Jesus Christ, a man in glory, a glorified man, and he'll be there as a judge.
And he will judge you for your sins.
The books will be opened, and then the book of life will be opened, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life.
Was cast into the lake of fire.
Is your name written there? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your savior? He who said I am the resurrection and the life?
Do you know that person personally? Is it personal with you, young boy, young girl here tonight? Do you? Can you say Jesus is my savior? Have you made it personal? Don't. It's not Jesus. Daddy's savior and Mommy savior. That's not good enough. Is he your savior?
And if you're not sure, be sure right now. Just lift up your heart just now in a short prayer to God and say Lord Jesus, I accept thee as my savior. You may not understand all these things. That's not important. The important thing is that vital link between your soul and the living God and the living Christ.
And the Spirit of God alone can produce that.
After that he was seen of about 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain under this present some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James. James was one of his the Lords brothers, his half brother.
Through Mary's mother and, it says in John 7. Neither did his brethren believe in him.
Did God do these things, Show thyself to the world, they said. Neither did his brethren believe in him. James did not believe until he saw.
The Risen Christ.
He saw him dead on the cross, and now he sees him in resurrection.
And he was going to do a mighty work. He's going to occupy a very prominent place in the early church. We read of him all through the book of Acts, James.
Who was very prominent there, And so he was.
Scene of James, then of all the apostles.
That's repeated. We read of the 12 and now it says all the apostles that would include.
Paul Barnabas, He's mentioned also as an apostle.
All the apostles saw the Lord Jesus in resurrection. That was essential because they were going to be called upon to suffer tremendous sufferings according to church history, which is not inspired. We're not sure of it. But the only one of the 12 That didn't suffer martyrdom was the Apostle John and he did suffer banishment. The Isle of Patmos. What? We don't know if that's accurate or not.
But we do know that they were called upon to suffer because they were going to witness to the world of a risen Christ.
The last witness.
Starting at verse eight was himself the Apostle Paul. He says. Last of all, he was seen of Maine also.
As of one born out of due time.
Now here was a man, Saul of Tarsus, that had as the common saying is, he had everything going for him.
He was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, great doctor of the law.
He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the righteousness which was in the law. He was blameless.
He was like you were hearing about this afternoon.
I like to look at Saul of Tarsus and say that's the job of the that's the job of the New Testament. And Job is, of course, the job of the Old Testament.
Saul of Tarsus had to learn that all his righteousness, all his law, keeping all that in which he trusted by his own efforts, was nothing, was worthless.
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And then now he had learned that getting Christ, he had a righteousness which was divine.
Gave him a standing before God which met all of God's thoughts.
Divine righteousness.
Well, he says, last of all, he was seen of Maine also as of one born out of due time. What does that mean? I believe it means that the nation Israel, is going to be born again, as it were.
In the coming day, he was a Jew. He was a hater of the name of Jesus. There wasn't a man living that hated the name of Jesus so much as Saul of Tarsus, he says. I verily thought with myself to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus. He was the champion. He was the Goliath, you might say, of the enemy to stamp out the hated, despised new religion of Christianity.
The religion of the Nazarene.
And Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus with letters from the chief priests to bind all that called upon the name of Jesus.
To cast them into prison. To persecute them.
And he saw light from heaven.
And he heard a voice. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the ******.
Who art thou, Lord?
He knew it was the Lord, but he didn't know who that Lord was.
And then he heard I am Jesus.
Whom thou persecutest? He was persecuting the Christians, the Lord said, You're persecuting me.
For whatever anyone does to Christians, they're doing it to the Lord Jesus because they are one with him.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Saul said, And he was 3 days and three nights.
Without sight, and a revolution took place in that man's soul.
And he who had been the very champion of the Jews to stamp out the hated new religion of Christianity.
Now becomes the avid defender of the faith.
And the very, the very kind of evil that he had handed out to those Christians now came back to him in increased intensity.
And he suffered.
As none has ever suffered.
Outside of Christ, of course.
Why did you do it?
Because he saw.
He saw Christ in glory. He heard his voice. He spoke to him. He saw him.
Impossible to believe that he would have given up everything.
Prestige, fame, wealth, honor, glory in this world. For that's what he had right at his fingertips. And when he accepted the hated, despised Jesus of Nazareth, all those doors closed for him.
He was number longer the friend, but to the Jew he was a traitor.
He was not fit to live. Those were their very words.
Away with such a man, it is not fit that he should live.
And they would have killed him there at Jerusalem, had the Romans not come down the Roman soldiers, and stopped them.
And they tried over and over again to put him to death.
But until God's time came for Saul to lay his life down.
In death, they couldn't touch him. Oh, they could. They could injure that body.
They could flog him, they could whip him, they could stone him even.
But until his time came.
They couldn't take his life.
Well, he says.
Last of all, he was seen of me also as a one born out of due time.
And it's this man who wrote 14 of the Epistles of the New Testament. It's this man who was the chosen vessel of the Lord Jesus.
The greatest opponent to Christianity becomes the greatest defender of the faith. It was to this man that the great truths of the Christian.
Faith were given the truth of the Church, the truth of the Lord's coming.
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The Rapture, The truth of justification by faith apart from works.
All the glorious truths of Christianity were given to him, and we have them in His epistles.
But he suffered for those truths.
He says in verse nine I am the least of the apostles that have not made to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain.
But I labored more abundantly than they all.
Was he boasting immediately? He says. Yet not I I get no credit for this labor, this labor of love on behalf of the Saints, but the grace of God, which was with me? He gives all the credit to the grace of God, which had picked up such an enemy of the truth and had made him a defender of the truth.
Therefore, whether it were I or they, the other apostles, so we preach.
And so ye believed.
He didn't preach a different gospel. He preached a fuller gospel than the others, but it wasn't different.
It was the gospel of the grace of God and the gospel of the glory of Christ.
The grace of God is that God has come down as a man, and as a man he has died.
Shed his blood, God has raised that man from the dead and set him in glory.
There's a man in heaven tonight. If you went to heaven, you could see a man there.
There's a man in the very glory of God tonight. That's the gospel of the glory.
The gospel of His grace is that He came down and became a man and shed His blood and put our sins away. The gospel of the glory is that man has gone to heaven. That's the pledge to you and to me, that if we recede in His Savior, that's where we're headed. We're going to follow him to that place which He has opened up for us as a man, as a man in heaven. And soon that place will be filled with the Saints of God, of Old and New Testament, those that have looked forward in faith to the coming Redeemer, and those of us who have looked back in faith upon a finished work.
And the glorious triumph from that death into which he went.
And now his present session at the right hand of God. He's coming back.
Coming back to take us who believe to be with himself.
You know Christians, There are many Christians here tonight.
The faith that we have.
Rests upon an infallible fact.
That Christ died, that he was buried, and that he rose again.
From the dead?
Destroy anyone of those truths and you've destroyed the Christian faith.
But you can't destroy them, because they're facts. They are facts that God has authenticated more thoroughly than any historical fact. You children can take history in school and any of the history that you read about events happening hundreds of thousands, even of years ago.
There's not anyone of them that even comes remotely close.
To the authentication that the Christian faith has.
For what they believe.
Not any of them that comes close. And yet none of those supposed facts of history are questioned.
But somehow or other man has attacked and attacked and attacked the facts of the Christian faith. Why?
Because man is at enmity with God.
You have a nature. I have a nature which is at enmity with God.
And so God came down to put our sins away and to give us a new nature.
A new life that we might have fellowship with himself.
And if you receive the Lord Jesus as the one who died for your sins, who was buried, and who rose again for your justification.
You will be saved.
For all eternity.
Verse 12 Now now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, I'll say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead.
Now that's the error that he was dealing with. You see, it's absolutely essential that they they be brought back to what was the original faith of their souls. They had heard the gospel that he preached. They had received it. They stood in the faith of it. They were saved by it. If they kept it in memory, and if they gave it up any part of it, then they would have removed themselves from the truth of the gospel.
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And so he says here.
If there is no resurrection of the dead, which is what was being proclaimed, then is Christ not risen?
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain? And your faith is also vain. You've believed a lie.
Christ isn't risen. You've believed a lie. Your faith is vain. It's worthless. It's.
Good for nothing.
There's not a minor point. This is a major point so serious that if it were true.
Christianity is a false religion.
Yeah, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised, not up. If so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised? If the doctrine that the dead don't rise, then Christ who was dead didn't rise. And if he didn't rise, your faith is vain, worthless.
Paul was a false witness of God, for he declared that Christ did rise and more.
Verse 17 If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. You're yet in your sins. Your sins aren't gone.
They're not forgiven. Christ is still in the grave if this damnable heresy is true.
That the dead don't rise.
And they also, which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. Your loved ones that have gone into death, they've perished. There's no hope for them. There's no resurrection. If Christ isn't raised, there's no hope that they'll be raised. You see, everything hinges upon the resurrection of Christ.
If he wasn't raised from the dead, my sins are not gone. They're not forgiven.
I've believed the lie and all my loved ones who have gone on.
I'll never see them again.
Oh, how serious what we believe.
What we believe Do you know what you believe? Do you know what you believe, young boy and girl? Do you really understand the gospel?
Understand, it's so simple. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried. He was a dead man. God raised him from the dead according to the scriptures in proof that his death was everything to God and that our sins are gone.
Verse 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ.
We are, of all men, most miserable. Why does he say that? Because he had given up everything.
That was going for him as a Pharisee, as a defender of the Judaistic.
Beliefs of the day that rejected the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, their true Messiah, they rejected him. The Mass of the Nation. The 12 apostles, of course, received him and some on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached, 3000, were saved. Afterward the number swelled swelled to 5000. But by and large, the Christian Church today is composed mostly not of Jews.
But of Gentiles?
I'm a Gentile. Probably everyone in this room is a Gentile. Many Christians. There might be a Jew here that's been saved. Praise God for it, because they're not shut out. But there's a blindness over Israel.
And today it's a greater privilege to be born a Gentile than to be born a Jew.
I remember once in Chicago we used to preach on the street corner with a PA system and I pulled up on a park next to a park, which was.
Almost exclusively Jewish.
And I preach from Acts chapter 2, Peter's sermon to the Jews.
I didn't have to elaborate upon it. I simply read Peter's words. I read his words.
God hath made that same Jesus whom he have crucified, both Lord in Christ. What shall we do then? They said.
Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Then they that gladly received his Word were baptized there, added them to them about 3000 souls.
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Yes, you can read it yourself, but I never felt the power of Peter's words until I preached it.
To Jews.
They just stood there and they shook their fists at us. And you could see the hatred that was in their hearts to that wonderful message. Their hearts were hardened to it, just hardened to it.
The end of the book of Acts, Paul preaches once more to the Jews in the synagogue.
And they rejected it.
And he quotes from Isaiah, and he says God is going to send the message to the Gentiles and they will receive it.
And thank God many, many Gentiles have received the glorious gospel.
And thank God for those who are Jewish. They have received it as well. It's open to both.
It's not. None are excluded, Whosoever will may come and take the water of life freely.
Have you come?
Have you come?
Verse 20 says Now is Christ risen from the dead. That's a statement of fact.
Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. That means that every believer that goes into death and dies, Christ is the first fruits of that harvest. Farmer goes out in the fall and he takes a shock and he brings it in, shows his wife and he says this is what our harvest is this year. This is a first, this is the first fruits, the first sheep. He brings it in and shows it to her and that gives a pretty good idea what the rest of the field looks like.
Christ is the first fruits. He is the pledge on God's part that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
Even though you die, you will be raised even as he was raised, and those of us who are alive at his coming will be changed.
An event that will be equivalent to resurrection the change.
It will take place, if he would call it this moment, every believer in this room, The room would be emptied, almost, except for those who are still in their sins. You would be, you would be left behind in your seats, and the rest of us would be changed in an instant, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and we would rise to meet the Lord Jesus.
In the air that's at the end of this chapter. First Corinthians 15 is a great resurrection chapter. First part is about the resurrection of Christ.
The last part is about the resurrection of those who receive him as their Lord and Savior. The one follows upon the other. He's the first fruits afterward those that are Christ at his coming. Verse 23 says that every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits. Afterward. They that are Christ at his coming, he's coming again. If he didn't rise from the dead, there is no second coming.
If he didn't rise from the dead.
There is no gospel.
There's no message. There's no good news. There's no offer of pardon. There's no offer of forgiveness. There's no offer of justification. There's no offer of salvation. There is nothing. Our faith is vain if there is no resurrection. But now is Christ raised from the dead.
Everyone of the apostles may be one, with one exception, suffered a martyr's death. Why were they made so willing to suffer so for the Lord Jesus?
Because they saw him in resurrection, they saw him dead on the cross.
They took him down, they wound his body and prepared it for burial. And they laid him in that new tomb. And he said, in three days I will rise again. The Jews wanted a sign, He said No sign will be given you but the sign of Jonas the Jonas the Prophet.
For as Jonah was 3 days and three nights in the whales valley social the son of man be 3 days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Did Jonah perish in the whales bed a belly know it spewed him out and when he came forth to picture of Christ resurrection?
That was the sign that he gave to the Jews, that he would rise from the dead. It is a historical fact that has been attacked by the enemy of our souls and cannot be destroyed. Your faith rests upon a fact that he died, that he was buried, that he rose again, and that he's coming again at his coming. He's coming back to receive his own to himself.
Well, there's much more in that chapter and that's as far as we got tonight. How wonderful the gospel of the grace of God. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures.
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Let's sing that.