You're listening to Key Life Fellowships Pulpit ministry
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learn from God's Word together. If you would like more
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Amen. I pray that you are thankful for
Christ, the cornerstone because it is truly in him that we
stand, and if we don't stand in Him, we don't stand at all.
Amen. You have your Bibles.
If you would turn to 1st Corinthians and the 15th chapter
as we continue in our series entitled There is One Gospel, we
will be looking today at verses one through 11 there in the 15th
chapter of the First Corinthian letter and a message entitled
Key Elements of the True Gospel. We know that it is no mystery
that in our day and in our time, there are many things that call
themselves in quotation the gospel, which are really no
gospel at all, as we learned the Apostle Paul taught there in
Galatians and our opening message to the series.
But in our day, we have all kinds of gospels.
We have the prosperity gospel, which many of you are familiar
with, that comes out of the charismatic movement that
proclaims a message that says that God wants you to be healthy
and God wants you to be wealthy. And if you're not rich and if
somehow you become sick, well, God is obviously mad at you and
you've got a spiritual problem. However, we know this, that
that's a false gospel, that because the Scriptures do not
confirm any such of a gospel at all.
We also see in our day the social justice gospel, that is
the gospel where Jesus came to fix all the problems in this
world, all the social injustices, all the man made
problems. Jesus came to this earth just to
fix those things so that you can have a better life, live a
better life and enjoy life more. That's no gospel at all either,
though it is very popular in our so-called church culture.
Then we know that there is the morality gospel where we we
simply preach the gospel that says just do right and live
right. Try to get your act together and
if you do right, you live right and you get your act together
and perhaps in the end the good is going to outweigh the bad and
God's going to just go ahead and let you in.
The problem with that is that's a legalistic gospel.
That is a law it has been set up for you to follow, whether
that's God's law, that's some law you made-up in your own
mind. But the morality gospel is no
true gospel at all because no one will be justified by the law
only through faith in Christ. Then we have in our culture the
self help gospel. You, you know what I'm talking
about. Everything is about you helping
you deal with your problems, helping you deal with your
struggles, and helping you with this and you with.
That and everything is ME centric.
Focus on us. Well, the problem with that
gospel is that's not found in Scripture either.
Since Jesus preached the gospel of self denial, I don't think
there's any room for us to preach the gospel of self
inflation. So we know that's not a true
gospel. What about the universal gospel
that we see so prevalent in our time, right?
Everybody gets to heaven. They're just all going there,
their own different ways, and they're all going to end up in
the same place in the end because God's a good God who
would never, ever, ever contemplate even sending one
single person fell, right. So at the end, universal gospel
says, you know, we're all going to find our way somehow.
Some of us, we're going to find it easier than others.
Some of us, we're going to have a more difficult journey, but
we're all getting there in the end.
Well, the problem with that is you're going to have to talk to
those in the last part of Revelation there who are cast
into the lake of fire for their unbelief because all people
won't be saved. And so we know that the
universal gospel just doesn't work, does it?
Universalism is a lie and it's a heresy.
We also have in our day very popular, the gospel of love.
Now before you stand up to leave or you freak out, I'm not saying
that God is not love, and I'm saying that the Gospel does not
contain a message of love. For greater love has no man than
this. Then he would lay down his life
for his friend. And God demonstrates his love
for us in this that while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us. Of course the gospel is a
message of love, but it's not just love.
And the problem with the gospel of love that we have in our
modern. Culture is this, It elevates
God's love over all the other attributes and characteristics
of God, making God only love, right?
If he's only love, then there can never be any wrath.
There could never be any indignation towards sin.
There could sure never be any judgment and hell for any
unbeliever. And the one thing that all of
these gospels have in common is this.
They're not true gospels and they're not true gospels as
we're going to see today, because they're missing some key
elements that the apostle Paul is going to teach us here in
First Corinthians chapter 15. And I want us to look at those
key elements. But before we do that, I want us
to look at the context of this give you give you a little
backdrop and a background on what's going on here.
Paul's addressing this congregation here at Corinth and
he's addressing them on the topic of bodily resurrection.
There were some who said we're going to be bodily bodily
resurrected just as Christ bodily rose from the grave.
There were others who were saying, no, it's just going to
be a spiritual resurrection. And they ran a debate about
this, and Paul is addressing them because he wants to clear
up the debate. And he does that very eloquently
as you read the entirety of chapter 15 here.
But before he clears that up for them, what he's going to do,
he's going to get them to refocus on the gospel that they
believed, the true gospel that has saved them, in fact, the
only gospel that saves sinners. And today, what I don't want to
do, as I don't want to expose at the entire 15th chapter and talk
to you about the fact that there is a bodily resurrection because
there will be. That's pretty cut and dry, but.
What I want? Us to do is I want us to revisit
Paul's teaching on the importance of the one true
Gospel and I want us to see the elements that he includes in the
one true gospel so that you will not fall into the trap of
believing an untrue unbiblical gospel.
And he makes this very clear again in light of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why?
Because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a very important
element to the one true gospel. In fact, without the
resurrection of Christ, you don't have a true gospel at all.
That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 10, verse nine, that if
you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If you don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
you're not going to be saved because you're not believing in
the one true gospel or a gospel at all for that matter.
So in teaching this lesson to us today from first Corinthians
chapter 15, Paul's going to revisit the essential or the key
elements of the gospel message that the Corinthians would have
heard, that they would have believed as we're going to see
the message that would have save them.
So he says in verse 1 of chapter 15, he says, now brothers, I
want to remind you of the gospel underline that in your Bible.
I want to remind you. Of the gospel.
For those of you who you say, man, you know I want to hear
something other than the gospel. No, Remind yourself constantly
of the gospel. Be reminded constantly of the
gospel. Not only do you preach the
gospel to other people who are lost and in need of a Savior,
preach the gospel to yourself so that you get it right.
Because if you get it wrong. There are eternal consequences,
he says. Now, brothers, I want to remind
you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on
which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you were saved,
making it an exclusive gospel, Not by any other gospel, not by
any of the Gospels. That I mentioned.
To you before or any gospels that people could come up with,
he says. By this gospel you were saved.
If you hold firmly to the Word, I preach to you.
Otherwise you have believed. In vain from.
What I received I passed on to you as a first importance.
That Christ died. For our sins, according to the
Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter,
and then to the 12. After that he appeared to more
than 500 of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are
still living, though some have fallen asleep.
And then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles.
And last of all, he appeared to me also as to 1 abnormally born,
for I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve
to be called an apostle. Paul says the reason why?
Because I persecuted the Church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am.
And His grace to me was not without effect.
No, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace
of God that was with me, whether then it was I or they.
This is what we preach and this is what you believed.
Let's pray together, Father, in the name of Jesus.
We come to you now asking that your Spirit would give us
insight, wisdom into Your Word as it goes forth, that you would
use that wisdom and that insight as you give us discernment and
knowledge in regard to the Scripture that we would use.
This. We would use it in our lives and
sharing the gospel. We would use it and treating the
gospel to ourselves, reminding ourselves of these truths, God,
that we would truly stand in the one true gospel, that we would
stand with a heart and with an attitude that says we shall not
be moved. God, I thank you for these
reminders in your word. They call us to go back to the
true gospel to evaluate our lives in light of it.
May we do that now. Lord, I pray for the person
who's here does not know Christ. Lord, I pray that you would
shower Your mercy upon them today.
That you would open their eyes to see in their ears, to hear
the truth that we will uncover from Your word today, or that
You would allow them to hear them, to see them and to believe
them for the very first time. They would repent of their sin.
They would turn to Christ that they would be saved today.
God, I pray for every St. who's in this room as they hear the
gospel one more time. Lord, I pray that they rejoice
because this is the gospel that has saved them.
Thank you for it. Thank you that you have allowed.
US. To receive it, to proclaim it,
and to rejoice in it once again. And we give you all the glory
for it in Jesus name, Amen. So as we walk through these few
verses today, I want us to see three elements that Paul is
going to highlight for us that are essential to the true
gospel. And without these three
elements, I don't mean three together.
If you take one out, you don't have the true gospel.
Without these elements, there is no true gospel at all.
And I say this so that you don't fall into the trap that many
others have fallen into. So if you're taking notes, write
this down. Element 1, The true gospel
promises redemption. It promises redemption, he says
in the 1st 2 verses. Now, brothers, I want to remind
you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on
which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved.
By this gospel, you are redeemed, you are forgiven, you
are made right with God. Salvation has been declared to
you through this one true gospel.
It's the gospel that Paul would have preached and that the
Corinthians would have believed. So we see that he begins with
the first element, that the true gospel promises redemption.
And who does the true gospel promised redemption too?
Well, we know it doesn't promise redemption to everyone because
that would be the universalism that we talked about a moment
ago that we said is no true gospel at all.
But in fact, Paul makes it very clear.
He says, Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I
preached to you, which you received, which you received.
This true gospel promises redemption to those who receive
Christ. In fact, if you don't receive
Christ as your Lord and as your Savior, you will not be
redeemed. Redemption is promised to all
and to no more than those who receive Christ according to His
Word. According to the true gospel, in
fact, Acts chapter 10 verse 43 says this, All the prophets
testify about him. Excuse me?
That everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins
through His name. So we must receive Christ by
faith. Redemption is promised to all
who do receive Christ. How we do this?
We receive Christ by grace alone, through faith alone in
Christ alone. To make that clear for you,
grace is the offering of the gift.
The fact that God offered his only begotten Son and belief is
the receiving of that gift, John says.
This in John chapter one verse 12.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name.
He gave the right to become children of God.
Now I want you to understand what he's saying there.
Who gave them the right to become the children of God?
God himself. And how did he do this?
He did this by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ
alone, and for. Those who believe.
By grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, receiving
Christ as Lord and Savior, they have the promise of redemption.
And because it's grace, we know that it is a work of God, not a
work of man. As I said, grace is the offering
of that gift. Belief is the receiving of that
gift. The gift would have never been
offered had God not offered the gift.
And you would have never believed had God not birthed
faith in you to believe. Both His grace and your faith
are God wrought works. You say help us to have clarity
on that. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8-9.
Paul makes it ever so clear when he says this, For it is by grace
you have been saved through faith.
What did I tell you? I told you that the promise of
redemption comes to all who by grace through faith, trust in
Christ. So he says for it is by grace
you have been saved through faith and this is not from
yourself. He's saying you didn't do this,
he goes on. He says it is the gift of God.
What is the gift of God? Many would argue.
Is the gift grace or is the gift faith?
Look at it in its context, grace through faith.
This is the gift of God. It is God who graced us with his
Son, and it is God who gives us and gifts to us graciously.
The faith to believe in his Son, promising redemption to all who
believe in Him by grace through faith.
So the true gospel promises redemption to those who receive
Christ, who receive him biblically by grace through
faith, but who also resolved to stand in Christ.
He says. Now, brothers, I want to remind
you of the gospel I preached to you, what you received and on
which you have taken your stand. He says where you were planted,
where you were planted, where you are steadfastly standing,
that same gospel that you believed, that you're continuing
in. Those who receive Christ will be
resolved to stand in Christ. You will take your stand on
Christ. Christ will dictate every stand
you take in your life, whether that is in your marriage, that
that is in your home, that is in the lives of your children, that
is in how your children will be educated, how they will be
raised, The life of this church. Those who truly have found
redemption in the promise of redemption in Christ, they will
receive Christ and then they will resolve to stand in Christ.
Those who aren't standing in Christ have no evidence that
they truly have received Christ. Paul addressing the Corinthians,
he says that's this is the gospel you received and the
gospel that you have taken your stand in.
This is why it's so important that we know what the true
gospel is, because if we don't know what the true gospel is,
how can we stand in the true gospel?
And if we believe a false gospel and we are standing in that, we
are standing in an untruth. We are basing our entire lives
on something that is not right and is not biblically accurate.
So the true gospel promises redemption to those who receive
Christ according to the Scriptures, receiving by grace
through faith, and that alone they resolved to stand in Christ
their entire life. This is true surrender.
I know in the American gospel this is left out so many times,
but if you're really going to stand in Christ, you have to
truly surrender to Christ. And we're going to see, as this
text unfolds, the men who have gone before us, who truly took
their stand in Christ, and they even took their stand unto
death. That one who has received Christ
will be resolved to stand in Christ forever, denying
yourself, denying your life, surrendering completely to
Christ. Jesus confirms this in Luke
Chapter 9 verse 23. It says Then he said to them
all, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross daily and follow me.
It is a gospel of self denial and it is a gospel of daily
standing in Christ surrendered to him completely.
And if someone is preaching you another gospel that does not
have these elements, it is no true gospel at all.
It is some man made gospel that comes through the depraved minds
of human. True gospel promises redemption
to all who received. Christ receiving by grace
through faith and who resolved to stand in him for their entire
lives because those who truly have received Christ will
confidently stand in Christ all of their days.
According to Colossians chapter 2 verse 6 Paul giving
instructions to the church there Colossae.
He says this so then, just as you received Christ Jesus as
Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built
up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and
overflowing with thankfulness. See to is that no one takes you
captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which
depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces
of this world rather than on Christ.
What is Paul saying to those at Colossae?
He's saying take your stand in Christ.
Be resolved to stand. In the true gospel, do not
compromise on any of these things.
And haven't we seen enough compromised enough compromise in
the so-called American Church? Let us not fall into the trap of
being guilty of doing the same thing.
We cannot compromise on the gospel.
All says this gospel. That you received and on which
you've taken your stand. It's the true gospel.
He's Speaking of those who receive Christ, but he's also
Speaking of those who remain steadfast.
Now, what I'm about to teach you is not real popular in the
American Church, and I'll go ahead and just give you that
preface. But though it not be popular in
the American church, you're going to see that it is quite
biblical. He goes on in that second verse
and he says by this gospel you are saved.
But then there's a clause. And I don't want you to miss
this clause because I'm afraid that many have missed this
clause. He says by this gospel you were
saved. If you hold firmly to the Word,
I preach to you otherwise. You have believed in vain
otherwise. You have believed in vain.
So the true gospel in this element that we're looking at
promises redemption to all who received Christ again by grace
alone through faith alone, and Christ alone who are resolved to
stand in Christ, but also only to those who remain steadfast.
We have all but erased the sin of apostasy from the American
mind in the churches. What is an apostate?
I'll give you an example. Judas Iscariot, who looked the
part, who played the part, who do all the lingo.
He did all the things, but in the end he abandoned Christ for
30 pieces of silver. That is an apostate.
And So what we have in our modern time, we have many people
who think that they can walk an aisle, pray a prayer to ask
Jesus into their heart, and then live any way that they want to
live outside of the church, doing their own thing, never
giving one inclination of their thoughts to Christ ever again.
And I know it because I see it all the time.
And then a man in a black suit is going to get up at their
funeral and he's going to preach that that person is somehow
going to have eternal life. But I present to you the fact
biblically a person who only has a profession of Christ, who does
not continue in Christ holding firmly.
To the word that was preached to them, they have believed.
In vain. What does that mean?
That means that their faith is not true saving faith.
It is human reckoning. All they did is they said, yeah,
OK, historically, I believe there was a Jesus.
And biblically I see him on the pages.
And yeah, I think it's cool if I get to have eternal life.
And so I want eternal life. And so they do what someone
tells them to do, and they parrot some little prayer after
some man who told him to repeat after him.
But never was there a work of God in their life bringing them
to the promise of redemption in Christ.
And they won't remain steadfast. In fact, they have no true
saving faith at all. John said this.
Before someone accuses me of preaching that someone can be
saved and then lose salvation, I'll make it very clear to you
that is untrue. There are many people who can
make professions, and then by their life and their lifestyles
and their true beliefs, they can deny Christ, proving that they
never knew Him at all. Jesus didn't say depart from me,
you workers of iniquity, for I knew you at one time and then
you forgot about me, he says. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity, for I never knew you. That's the language Jesus uses,
John says. They went out from us because
they were not of us. You know who John had in mind
there? I'm sure John had his old friend
Judas Iscariot in mind there. We spent over three years of his
life next to. So I'm not telling you that a
person comes to faith in Jesus Christ and can lose it.
I'm saying that a person can come to an intellectual
knowledge of the fact that Jesus Christ did exist and that he
did. Walk this earth, and that
perhaps he did die on a cross, and you still not have true God
wrought saving faith, because God wrought saving faith is not
a work of man, it is a work of God.
And the work that God does last forever.
That's why Paul says being confident of this, he who began
the good work in me will carry it on to completion.
And so if God has truly started this good work in you through
the preaching of the true gospel birthing in you.
True faith and true repentance. You're secured by that faith and
you'll remain steadfast. It's the hated doctrine of
perseverance that so many people don't like to entertain.
However, it is all over Scripture that God.
Preserves those who truly belong to Him securing them.
For all of their days. Because true saving faith does
just that, doesn't it? That's why the author of Hebrews
could say this. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse 39,
he could confidently say we do not belong to those who shrink
back and are destroyed, but to those who have.
Look at it faith and are saved, he says.
We don't belong to a group of people who are going to
apostatize. We belong to a group of people
who are truly saved. And because they are truly
saved, they will remain steadfast, holding firmly to the
word that was preached to them, and they will remain steadfast
all of their days, secured by the faith that saves them.
A man with intellectual faith alone says I have faith,
therefore I'm saved. The man who understands true
biblical faith says faith has me, therefore I am saved.
Aren't you thankful for those of you who are in Christ that faith
has you? You couldn't unbelieve if you
wanted to. Why?
Because it is a work of God, and that work of God secures us.
Therefore we remain steadfast as Paul was declaring here.
We're not going to be like the example in Luke chapter 8, verse
13. You know it as the parable of
the sower. He presents us with many
examples, but in 813 he gives us the example of the seed that
fell on the rock. I want you to pay.
Close attention to this it says those on the rock are the ones
who received the word with joy when they hear it, but they have
no root. They believe for a while, but in
the time of testing they fall away.
What happened? There was never a route.
It didn't say there was a route and it rotted.
The route doesn't rot. There was never a route.
There was never a life changing encounter with Christ.
It was never true faith. They heard the old ABC's of
Christianity and told, and we're told that if you don't submit to
this, Hell's your option. If you do submit to this,
heaven's your option. Now, I don't know about you, but
I can't speak for me without any spiritual activity going on in
my heart. I can tell you in my mind I can
reckon that heaven is a better option than hell.
But did you know the gospel was never intended as a message to
sell real estate in heaven instead of real estate in hell?
The gospel is a message about Christ and true surrender and
true repentance and true faith in Christ.
And if it's true faith, you'll be.
Secured by that faith. If it's true faith, you'll be
striving in that faith. It will be your entire life.
It's funny, in American Christianity, we look at someone
who their life is consumed by Christ and we look at them as if
they're an anomaly and say what is wrong with this person?
We use terms like they're radical.
No, they're not. They're biblical.
We think something that is biblical is radical.
It's not a person who truly comes to faith in Jesus Christ.
They will be striving in that faith.
They will abide in him. They will live in Him.
They will walk in Him. They will fellowship with him
constantly. That's true Christianity.
The problem is the American church has sold a false gospel,
so we have false converts. We have false Christianity.
True Christians will strive in the faith.
Hebrews chapter 3 verse 14 says We have come to share in Christ,
if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very
end. So, well, Kirk, I don't like all
these stipulations put on it. I don't care if we like it or
not. This is what Scripture says.
Jesus himself in Matthew chapter 24.
He who endures through the end will be saved.
What does that tell us? Those who make a hollow
profession and then they fall back into the world, they won't
be saved. Because the true gospel preaches
striving faith, the faith that Paul speaks of in Colossians
chapter one verse 22, when he says, but now he has reconciled
you by Christ's physical body through death, to present you
wholly in his sight, without blemish and free from
accusation. Watch if if you continue in your
faith established and firm. This is striving in the faith,
not moved from the hope held out in the gospel, he says.
This is the gospel that you heard and that has been
proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I,
Paul, have become a servant. He says this is the gospel.
That I, the apostle Paul preached to you that if you
strive and you continue in faith in this one true gospel,
remaining in the truth, never shrinking back, he.
Said you'll be saved, but for all of those who have fallen for
the bait and switch of pray this little prayer and ask Jesus in
your heart only to go back and live your life just as you've
always done. You won't strive in faith.
Soon as things get difficult and you're tested, you know what
you're going to do. You're going to run right back
to the world that you're familiar with.
You're going to bury yourself in it just like you've always been
buried in it. True believer will strive in the
faith, persevering in the faith, remaining in the truth.
And so the true gospel promises redemption to all who come to
Christ, believing that he is the Christ, the Son of God.
The one who came to. Offer Himself as a sacrifice to
rescue and redeem helpless sinners.
That promise of redemption is for all who trust in Him and
continue in their faith. For all who trust in Him and
continue in their faith, they will be saved because continuing
in your faith is the proof that your faith truly is genuine.
We move to the second element today as we examine the true
gospel according to Paul. Element #2 The true gospel
always, just as it always, promises redemption.
The true gospel always preaches Christ.
Without the preaching of Christ, there is no true gospel.
Paul says for what I received in verse three, I passed on to you
as of first importance that Christ died for our sins of
first importance. Now when you see Paul say
something is of first importance, you might want to
listen up. He says that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures.
Underline that according to the scriptures.
What scriptures are he is he referencing here?
What are we talking about? He's not talking about the New
Testament because he's pinning the New Testament right now
under the power of the Holy Spirit.
So he's obviously talking about the Old Testament scriptures
that we talked about last week that prophesied the cry.
We know that those scriptures did declare that Christ died for
our sins, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
day. According to here it is again
the Scriptures. And so a gospel message, a true
gospel message must contain the element of Christ centered
preaching. Let me help you out the gospel
message. This is going to force some of
you. Are you ready?
Is not your testimony. I'm glad your life has changed.
I'm glad you're different than you used to be.
There's lots of people who are different than they used to be
and they've never heard the one true gospel.
They found Alcoholics Anonymous or they found some other kind of
help for whatever problem that they had.
The one true gospel is not your testimony.
It's not your story. Stop thinking that when you
share your testimony that there's power in your testimony.
There's not power in your testimony.
Paulson I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
Why? It is the power of God, the
gospel. Now you may be involved in that
meaning that you heard the gospel story and the power of
God revealed through the gospel saved your soul.
Share that story. Why?
Because it points all the glory to Christ and it takes the glory
away from you. So it's not your story and it's
not your testimony. The true gospel will be centered
around. Christ.
So many modern gospels leave this out, don't they?
It's about us. It's about our life and it's
about our eternal existence, and it's about what makes us.
Happy or that makes us content or full of joy.
That's not the gospel that Paul. Has preached to these
Corinthians that they have believed because the true gospel
preaches Christ and places him in a preeminent.
Position Paul says it's of first importance that you can't have a
gospel unless you preach. Christ, that's for all of you
who know you should share the gospel with your lost family
members or your lost friends, and instead of sharing the
gospel, you invite them to church.
Inviting someone to church is not sharing the one true gospel.
Did you hear that? I'm glad you're inviting them to
church. But you know what I would
rather? And you know what God's Word
would rather you do? Sure.
With Him the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
Sure, within the gospel and when they believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, then invite him to church because then they're a
part of the church, then they'll fit in just fine.
Around here. You're afraid to preach Christ?
What if it offends people? What if it does?
What if it bothers them? What if it does stop?
Thinking like that, what if they hear the true gospel and they
see the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, and God uses that to open their eyes to their need
for a savior and they repent of their sin and they turn to that
risen Savior for salvation that day?
Stop using your what ifs incorrectly.
What if by design you go out and you share the gospel boldly and
by design God adds to the number of believers, those who are
being saved. So the preaching of the gospel
will always be an element of the true gospel.
The preaching of the gospel will contain a proclamation first of
Jesus sacrificial death. We have people standing in
pulpits today who claim to be preaching the gospel who are not
going to talk about the sacrificial death of Jesus.
Christ at all. Can I help you?
If you are not declaring the sacrificial atoning work of
Jesus Christ for the Sinner, you're not preaching.
The true gospel. You are entertaining.
People in a social club that you call a church.
Preaching of the gospel will contain a proclamation of Jesus
sacrificial death. Every time you present the
gospel, you will present the death of Jesus Christ.
Paul says this is a first importance, what I received and
how do you receive it? From Christ himself.
He says, and I passed it on to you as of first importance, that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
What does that tell us? This sacrificial death provides
atonement. For sinners, what does that
mean? Atonement.
Such a big churchy word, right? And in modern churches, what
we're supposed to do is not give you churchy words.
Instead, what we do around here, we give you churchy words and we
tell you what they mean. How about that?
You actually walk out the door and you understand the
substitutionary atoning work of Jesus Christ, and we don't water
it down. We'll just tell you exactly what
it means. When we talk about the atoning
work of Jesus Christ, the fact that He was the propitiation for
our sin, what does that mean? Means that Christ presented
himself on a cross, died a brutal death under the weight of
our sin, and that in his death the Father's justice was
satisfied. Now I want you to pay attention
to that because a lot of people think like this in the American
church. They think this, that Jesus
because of grace just overlooks your sin and you get to go to
heaven. If you hear anybody preach that
that is not the gospel. He doesn't just turn the cheek
away and not notice your sin. In fact, He noticed your sin,
and He noticed your sin to such a degree that he came to this
earth, and He died to bear the punishment and the wrath that
belonged to you because of your sin.
He didn't just look away from it, He took it upon himself.
That's what substitutionary atonement really is.
Why would I water that down? So that you can feel good about
yourself? No, he who knew no sin became
sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.
That's the gospel Jesus. Atoning work on the cross
satisfied the Father's justice, Isaiah said it pleased the Lord
to crush him. He was pleased because Christ
bore the wrath. Of all those who the Father
desired to save, making it possible so that they could be
reconciled with the Father, you want to talk about an atonement.
You can't talk about atonement without reconciliation.
It is through the blood sacrifice of Jesus.
Christ, I promise I don't have tuberculosis, I don't think.
It is through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
That we are. Reconciled with the Father.
Why? Because sin severed that
relationship, didn't it? Go back to the Garden, see Adam
and Eve and see what happened. But Christ, there was death on a
cross. That sacrificial death
reconciled us to the Father, making atonement for the Sinner,
bringing to us expiation. Expiation.
What in the world, pastor? Our sin removed, the guilt and
the punishment of that sin removed and placed on the back
of Christ fulfilling the picture of the scapegoat in Leviticus
chapter 16. If you know the Bible, where the
sin of the entire nation was placed on the back of that
scapegoat and he was sent off never to return again.
Christ being our scapegoat who bore the punishment and the
wrath that belonged to us through His sacrificial death.
So the true gospel preaches Christ first.
It preaches Christ sacrificial death, the fact that Jesus truly
died as a sacrifice in our place willingly to appease the
Father's wrath so that we could be reconciled to the same
Father. The preaching of the gospel will
contain this always. If you hear something called
gospel preaching that doesn't talk about the death and the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it's not gospel preaching.
But it will also include another element that Paul shows us here,
not only Jesus sacrificial death, but also Jesus sure
resurrection. He says in verse four that he
was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the
scriptures. Why did he mention the fact that
he was buried? It's pretty simple, isn't it?
Do we bury people? Who are alive?
No. Only dead people get buried.
This is for all the skeptics who say that Jesus didn't really
die. He just was knocked into an
unconscious state and they're in the coolness of the tomb.
The coolness revived him, and then he walked out, never to
really have died. That's heresy.
That's not true. Or that his disciples somehow
stole him. He wasn't really resurrected
from the. Dead.
That's all False, and the true gospel declares that his sure
resurrection. Can I insert this?
Everything that we hope on and everything that we bank on as
Christians revolves around the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If Jesus Christ wouldn't have walked out of that tomb, you
would have no claim to eternal life.
You would have no claim to any hopeless salvation, any claim to
forgiveness of sin. You would have no claim to
anything that belonged to God. I know you're you're floored
right now. We're always supposed to talk
about these things on Easter, pastor, every Lord's day, we are
to talk about these things. We're to talk about our
resurrected Savior and the life that we have in him because we
died with him. We were buried with him and we
were risen to new life in him with him.
So Paul's saying here, the gospel you believe included this
must include it. His sure resurrection.
First Peter chapter 1 verse 3 says His praise be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy He has given
us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, new birth into a living hope.
We just sang about that living hope a moment ago.
Why is our hope alive? Because the one who we put our
hope in is alive. So we must preach the sure
resurrection of Jesus Christ, that because he is alive, we are
alive. What does this resurrection do
for us? Well, it affirms his person and
His power, doesn't it? We talked about that last week,
that the true gospel is faith in the person and the work of Jesus
Christ. And part of the work of Jesus
Christ is the fact that He walked out of that tomb, isn't
it? I know what many people say.
Well, that's just almost unbelievable.
It is. It's foolishness to those who
are perishing, but it's not foolishness to those of us who
are in Christ. We know that our Savior lives
because His Word declares it, just as it was predicted in the
Old Testament Psalm 16. Verse 8 just skip to 10 where he
says because you will not abandon me to the realm of the
dead, nor will it will you let your faithful one see decay.
That is a prophecy in the Psalms of the Lord Jesus Christ who did
not see decay. In fact, that's one of the
things that he would have spoken with the believers about there
in Luke chapter 24 when he met with them in that house where
they were all afraid. The Old Testament predicted sure
resurrection of Christ. Isaiah 53.
You saw last week in Isaiah 53 the suffering servant.
If you keep reading in 53 you also see the risen Savior.
It says yet it was the Lords will and verse 10 to crush him
and calls him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his
life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and
prolong his days in the will of the Lord will prosper in his
hand and after he has suffered he will see the light of life
and be satisfied by his knowledge.
My righteous servant will justify many and he will bear
their iniquities. After he has suffered he will
see the light of life. The prophets declaring sure
resurrection of Jesus Christ before the gospel message must
preach the sure resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It affirms this person is power, but also assures eternal life to
those who believe. I told you before, you have no
eternal life if Christ is not alive.
You have no mediator of a new covenant.
You have no intercessor to your. Prayers.
You're in heap of trouble. You're exactly what you once
were. Unfortunately, that's what some
of you still are. But you've always been.
The resurrection of Christ assures eternal life for those
who believe, just as promised in His Word.
Does He not promise eternal life to all those who by faith
believe and trust in Him? John chapter 3, verse 36.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever
rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on
them. What is He saying?
And those who reject the Son, the wrath of God is already upon
you. He doesn't have to deliver His
wrath to you. You're walking in it.
But to those of you who receive His Son by true faith, believing
in the resurrected risen Savior, what does He say to you?
There's no more wrath upon you, because He bore the wrath on the
cross and He bore the wrath on the cross through then He died
and then He was buried, and then He rose again, and you rose with
them, assuring you eternal life. So the sure resurrection of
Christ gives us that assurance, doesn't it?
First, John chapter 5, verse 11. John says this, and this is the
testimony. God has given us eternal life
and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life.
Whoever does not have the Son. Does not have life.
It's that simple, isn't it? Here in the sun, you have life.
Here in the sun properly. What is being in the sun
properly? Recognizing his death, his
burial and his resurrection. My faith, earnestly believing in
that, gives us the assurance of eternal life.
I'm thankful for that. How about you?
I'm thankful that for that every time I read the Gospel accounts
of Jesus walking out of that tomb, that tomb being empty when
his friends and his followers showed up there that next
morning. I'm thankful for that because of
the fact that because he lives, I'm in him and I too live.
I don't ever forget that we have to trust in and to preach the
sure. Resurrection of Christ because
there's no eternal life without it.
This is for what I received. I passed on to you as a first
importance that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures that he was buried and that he was raised on the
third day according to the scriptures.
He's saying it's all according to the word of God.
He's a sacrificial death. Jesus, sure, resurrection,
firming his person and his power, assuring eternal life
promise to all who believe, but not only that, even giving us
confidence of a future physical bodily resurrection.
I told you the context of this, of this is Paul telling the
Corinthians that yes, there will be a bodily resurrection that
brings hope, doesn't it? Because we preach the doctrine
of glorification. It's going to be very difficult
for us to be glorified in our body if we don't have a body
that is then glorified. But I love that scripture is
very clear on this. I'm just going to give you some
thought and before we leave this section, John chapter 5, verse
28, the Lord says this, do not be amazed at this for a time is
coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and
come out. Those who have done what is
goodwill rise to live and those who have done what is evil will
rise to be condemned. Great cut and dried, isn't it?
There will be a future bodily resurrection.
Those who are in Christ will be raised to eternal life.
Those who are not in Christ will be raised through eternal death.
That's why John calls it the second death.
In the Lake of Fire. First Thessalonians chapter 4,
verse 16 says this. For the Lord himself will come
down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the
Archangel, with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first. After that, we who are still
alive and are left will be caught up together with them in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
What does that sound like? That sounds like we're coming
out of the grave. Why?
Because just as Christ came out of the grave bodily, we too will
come out of the grave bodily in His own image, conformed to him.
And it's because of His sure resurrection that we have that
hope of a future resurrection, that hope that Paul talked about
when he spoke to the Corinthians in the 15th chapter again down
there in verse 52 in this text concerning the resurrection.
He says this in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the
dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be
changed. For the perishable must clothe
itself with imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
And when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable
and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written
will come true. Death has been swallowed up in
victory. Where O death is your victory?
Where, O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and
the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, he gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, our risen Savior.
So true gospel message, we'll always preach the sure
resurrection of Jesus Christ. It will always preach Jesus
sacrificial death. Thomas Watson said this.
The true gospel, it will preach Christ.
He says this. We are more sure to arise out of
our graves than out of our beds. We're more sure to rise out of
our graves as believers than out of our beds.
You might not have gotten out of bed this morning, but if you're
truly in Christ because of the sure resurrection of Jesus
Christ, you can have confidence of this that day that you don't
get out of your bed. You will one day still get out
of the grave according to what God's Word promises.
That's why He says according to the Scriptures.
So we see that element #2 of the true gospel always preaches
Christ #3 and we'll close. The true gospel produces
disciples I don't want you to miss.
This. Because that is the entire point
of the gospel. That is what Jesus commissioned
his disciples to do, to go into all the world and preach the
good news in order to make disciples.
Verse 5 he says and that that he appeared talking about the risen
Savior. He appeared to Peter, then to
the 12:00, and after that he appeared to more than 500 of the
brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though
some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James.
This was talking about his brother James, or half brother
as you know him, and then to all the apostles.
And last of all he appeared to me also talking about Paul as
the one abnormally born. For I am the least of the
apostles and do not even desire to be called an apostle because
I persecuted the Church of God, he says.
But by the grace of God, I am what I am.
It's what Paul sees there and what he's proclaiming.
I don't deserve to even be called an apostle, but God in
his grace has made me one, he says.
And his grace to me was not without effect.
It did exactly what God desires for it to do.
There's no one who is here who is the recipient of God's grace
that that it hasn't truly affected you.
It's not without effect. He says.
No, I worked harder than all of them.
He's not braggadocious here. He's giving God glory.
Watch yet not I, but the grace of God that was in me.
He said God graced me with apostleship and He graced me
with a hard work ethic so that I would reach multitudes for His.
Glory, he says. Whether then it was I or they me
or the other apostles or the people that I mentioned, this is
what we preach. I love that they're all on the
same page. I wish the churches in this
world would get on the same page about the gospel.
This is what we preach. They're not divided on this.
They can't be divided on this. And this is what you believe.
You say this is the gospel. You believe the gospel we
preach. This is the death, the burial,
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is what God uses to make other.
Disciples and the true gospel will always produce disciples.
We are not here. Are you listening, Church?
We are not here to produce church members.
Everybody go like this. We are here to produce disciples
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are enough people trying
to make church hip, cool, and relevant so that they can
produce more church members. We're not going to do that.
We're going to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
as described and explained in Scripture, and he's going to add
to our numbers those who he desires to say.
He's going to make disciples. That's our objective.
And in order to make disciples, you have to preach the gospel.
And if you are preaching the gospel, it will always result in
the making of disciples. Always.
Produces disciples. It produces disciples who have
seen Christ. Look at this revelation here
that he's explaining. He's talking about those who saw
the risen Savior and this revelation that they received
was based on the revelation of Christ and Christ coming to them
graciously. Jesus reveals himself to true
disciples. Matthew Chapter 11, verse 27.
Look what the Lord says. All things have been committed
to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the
Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those
to whom the Son. Chooses to reveal him.
All of those examples that Paul just listed, those disciples,
all of them disciples of Christ, Christ chose to reveal himself
to them. Oh, I got him in order again.
He revealed himself to Peter, to the 12, to the 500, to James, to
the other apostles, and then to Paul in a unique.
Sort of way, but all who received the revelation of Jesus
Christ, the true revelation of Jesus Christ, will become
disciples of Christ. Because when he truly reveals
himself to you, there is no doubt in your mind who he is.
How many of you would say, well, you know, Kirk, I've never had
this apparition of the Lord like you're talking about these
people seeing you. You've had an apparition of the
Lord today, as the apostle Paul has taught you from the first
Corinthian letter, chapter 15. And God has revealed himself to
you through his word by his Spirit.
You're seeing Christ today. The fact that he lived and that
he died and that he was buried and that he rose again, you're
seeing Christ. But I pray that you're seeing
Christ with more than your human eyes this morning.
I pray that like these who Paul mentions, you're seeing God by
or Christ by God's grace. Did you know this?
Jesus didn't have to go to any of those men.
None of them. He chose to reveal himself to
them. He went to them.
He went to Peter. And why is that so important?
You know the story of Peter, He had faltered and he had failed,
and he had denied that he even knew Christ.
But yet one morning on the shore of Galilee, Jesus made a
breakfast appointment that Peter didn't know anything about.
Oh, you remember the story where Peter jumped out of the boat and
he swam to Jesus, and Jesus restored him by the same grace
that had saved him? Jesus graciously revealing
himself to Peter, to the other 12.
Why that? Why is that mentioned?
Precisely because they were all in a room, huddled together,
afraid. What were they afraid of?
They were going to be killed. They had just seen their Lord
and their master brutally crucified.
They're running for their life. Jesus walked through the walls
and appeared in the room. According to Luke's gospel in
the 24th chapter. He began to comfort them.
How did he comfort them? By revealing himself to them.
By letting them know that I am the one, the risen Savior, the
one that the prophets and Moses and the Psalm spoke of.
I am him. You need not fear any longer.
Don't be afraid. 500 other believers, you say, Who are
they? I don't know.
No one does. They're a group of believers.
I know what it does tell me. It tells me that the disciples
of Christ were doing their job because all of a sudden there's
500 other believers. They were sharing the true
gospel. Jesus reveals himself to them
and then to his brother James. Oh, his little brother James
that had doubted that he was truly the Messiah.
Did you know that about Jesus? Even his own brother John
Chapter 7 confirms this in verse 5.
Princess or even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Jesus is kind enough and gracious enough to reveal
himself to his brother James. And to say, James, I know that
you haven't had faith in me up until this point, but you're
going to believe now. And from that point on, James
the brother of Jesus. And we know when we read the
epistle of James, it is he that wrote that epistle under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this James who lived his life
for the glory of God and for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why? Because Jesus revealed himself
to him, revealed himself to the other apostles for 40 days and
40 nights. Acts tells us that, doesn't it?
Acts chapter one, verse 3. After suffering, he presented
himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was
alive. And he appeared to them over a
period of 40 days and spoke about the Kingdom of God.
Jesus took the time to reveal himself, his disciples, and
those who saw him and truly saw him, they believed.
So the Gospel produces disciples, disciples who have
seen Christ. You say, what about us?
Didn't he graciously appear to you?
I know that He graciously appeared to me one day.
I'm not talking about in any weird, kooky, charismatic sort
of way. I'm talking about into the
depths of my being. For His Spirit crushed me and
convinced me of how sinful I truly was.
And He quickened me to new life to see that I needed a Savior
and that there is a Savior who loves me and not only loved me,
that He gave Himself for me on a cross.
And He died in my place to bear the wrath of the sin that
belonged to me. And then He was buried.
And then He rose again. And upon hearing that message, I
saw Christ personally for the very first time, although I
didn't see Him with my human eyes.
I longed for that day when I get to look at Him with my glorified
eyes after that bodily resurrection where I get to see
Him face to face. No, no, I haven't gotten to see
Him face to face because He did not appear to me in that way.
Oh, He has revealed Himself to me, allowing me to believe,
trust in Him to be one of His disciples.
Isn't that what happens when the gospel, the true gospel, goes
forth? Disciples are made.
Christ, by the grace of God, reveals himself to those who
hear that message, the message of one who has, like those
mentioned by Paul in this passage, witnessed the risen
Savior, witnessed his life and his ministry.
Oh, he graciously appears to us through his word, confirmed by
his Spirit, revealing the risen Christ to us, bearing witness
that our Savior truly is alive. I wish I was more eloquent in
saying that like Alfred Ackley when he said he lives, He lives.
Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with
me a long life's narrow way. He lives.
He lives salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives.
He lives within my heart, and He does because He took out that
heart of stone full of sin and full of envy and full of
wickedness and full of hate. He placed within me a heart of
flesh where He now abides by His Spirit.
And I know that He lives because He lives within me.
Oh, he makes disciples, producing them out of those who
have seen Christ, producing disciples who not only have seen
Christ, but who serve as witnesses of Christ.
That's our job, that's our duty. How do we do that?
We share the good news of the gospel.
We don't share stories. We don't share things that don't
mean anything. We share the very words of life,
the gospel, the death, the burial, the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, and the fact that if man does not believe and
trust in him. He will perish.
In his sin for all eternity we share the good news of the
gospel is that not what Jesus said would happen and the Spirit
comes upon his believers in Acts chapter one verse 8.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
True disciple will be a true witness of Christ.
They will be able to say I know He lives because I have seen him
through his word and it has been confirmed, confirmed by his
Spirit. I am His and He is mine, and I
just want to tell you about Him and how He saved sinners because
I'm thankful that someone once told me this old gospel message.
Are you serving as a witness of Christ, sharing the good news,
powered by the Spirit, making disciples?
I'm going to say a bold statement here.
There's no burning desire to do that in your life.
Don't dare claim to know the risen Savior because all of
these examples of those who knew the risen Savior, you know what
they did, they spent their entire lifetime even giving
their life as witnesses of the risen Savior of the Lord Jesus
Christ was displayed by their entire lives evidenced by the
change that he brings. Doesn't he bring a change when
you encounter the risen Savior, Amen.
I won't wait on you this morning.
The scripture confirms that if we're in Christ, we're a new
creation. All the old is gone.
Behold, all things have been made new.
Have you been made new? The surrendering to Christ after
hearing the gospel message. Is there an evident change in
your life? Have you truly been saved under
the power of the gospel? It was displayed by their entire
lives. They unashamedly continue to be
witnesses for Christ and His resurrection.
Why? Because the true gospel always
produces disciples who produce disciples who produce disciples.
Aren't you thankful that we're here because that's true.
Had someone 4 generations ago apart from me in the past not
shared the gospel when they had the opportunity to share the
gospel, I might not have ever heard the gospel.
I'm thankful that in God's plan He is always raising up those
who have seen the risen Savior, either by sight as these
examples or by faith as us. That's why Jesus said blessed
are you who have seen me and believed, but even more blessed
are those who believe and have not seen.
It was displayed by their lives. It should be displayed by ours.
It was declared by their message, teaching others the
good news, not shying away from that, appointing sinners to
Christ constantly. Luke chapter 24 and I'm done.
He says this, He told them, This is what is written.
The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
and repentance for for the forgiveness of sins will be
preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.
All of you, under the sound of my voice, are now witnesses of
these things, that Christ died, He was buried, and that he rose
again for all who would believe by faith and trust in him as
Lord and Savior. Gospel that doesn't produce
disciples is no gospel. Turn from your sin.
Turn from your life. And follow the risen Savior
today as one of his disciple. To the believer today as we
close, I take the time to walk through these truths for you
because we live in a world where there are so many gospels and it
can be quite overwhelming and it can be quite confusing.
But I ask you this question, does your gospel that you
believe, that you proclaim to others, and hopefully that you
continually proclaim to yourself, does your gospel look
like this gospel? Does it contain these elements,
the promise of redemption, preaching of Christ, the
production of disciples? Does your gospel look like this
gospel? This is the true gospel to the
unbeliever. I pray today that you have heard
the gospel, that you have seen the gospel.
My prayer for you is this, that Christ in all of his mercy would
reveal the truth to you today. And He is that truth that he
would reveal himself to you today, drawing you out of the
darkness of your sin and drawing you into his marvelous light to
be saved, to be forgiven. As you humbly surrender to him
as your Lord and Savior. May you repent and may you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today.
Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we
thank you for your word, but I thank You for the strength that
has allowed me to endure as Your Word has gone forth today.
We know that it comes by you and You alone.
God, I ask that you use it for your glory, that you use it to
call others disciples to your feet, to wash them, to cleanse
them of their sin as they surrender to and as they live
for and as they serve the risen Savior for all eternity.
But may you have mercy on sinners today.
May you encourage Saints today by the hearing of the gospel.
Once again we pray all these things in Christ name, Amen.
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