this year has been designated a special month.
The flags are unfurled and we are particularly
focused on missions and I wish everyone would
have been in the Sunday school hour as Josh updated
us what's going on there in Africa, particularly
in Kenya and Nairobi with the Somali believers
there or the Somali people, I should say. Very
few believers. But, you know, we're so very fortunate
that God has blessed us and he's blessed us with
men like Josh who's willing to go to difficult
places. And this is where his heart is. And if
you were there in Sunday school, most of us would
say, I would rather not be in that part of the
world. And yet God has placed that calling on
you and given you a courage, dear brother. Thank
you. And then we have John and Barb Wendler and
their family there in Paraguay. And they're not
just working with the... People, they're working
with different indigenous groups there in Paraguay,
different language groups, and we're so very
thankful to have you guys. They've been our missionaries
for many years as well, and may the word continue
to bless you, dear brother. Josh, we want to
hear from the Lord this morning. Would you come
and open the word of God to us? All righty. Well,
good to be back with you again. Journey told
me when I went to pick her up from Sunday school,
she asked me if we could stay at this church.
So, not sure what type of bribery's been going
on downstairs, candy and whatnot, but apparently
Sunday school's pretty good. So, I don't know
who her Sunday school teacher was, but whoever...
Ah, yes. You did a good job, apparently. She
wants to stay. If you have a Bible, please turn
to the book of 1 Corinthians. Book of 1 Corinthians,
chapter number 15. I'm sorry for the loss that
your church has experienced, and it just so happens
by the providence of God that the title of the
sermon today is Hope in the Resurrection. Hope
in the Resurrection. Yeah, it's never easy to
lose a loved one, especially when it's unexpected.
My grandfather just passed away. I was telling
Pastor Ryan that. And so also on Friday we'll
be having a funeral back home. And there's much
sorrow in the loss of a dear friend, relative,
someone that you love. But at the same time there's
that knowledge of the hope of salvation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. And so we do rejoice
in that. I would like to read verses 1 through
9 this morning, and then we will get into the
introduction of this letter. It says in 1 Corinthians
15, 1, Wherever, brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel which I preached unto you, which also
ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which
also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what
I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all,
that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
that he was buried, and that he rose again the
third day, according to the Scriptures, and that
he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After
that he was seen of about five hundred brethren
at once, of whom the greater part remain unto
this present. But some are fallen asleep. After
that he was seen of James. then of all the apostles.
And last of all, he was seen of me also, as of
one born out of due time. For I am the least
of the apostles, that am not meet to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of
God. Now, we're jumping in the midst of this
text here, 1 Corinthians 15. It's already been
14 chapters that have come before, and so a lot
has happened, of course. Just by way of a brief
introduction, we know that Paul wrote, we have
at least, two of Paul's letters written to the
church there at Corinth, a church that he was
heavily invested in. We know that Paul was there
at the inception of this church, and Acts 18
we're able to read about. while Paul is on his
second missionary journey, the about year and
a half that he spends there preaching and teaching
to the believers that are there in the city of
Corinth. We know many things about the city of
Corinth itself. We know that it was a large city,
that it was a hub not only for market and agricultural
and business in general, but also it was a hub
for various religious beliefs. Poseidon, Aphrodite,
different deities that were worshipped in various
temples scattered across the city. And so in
a big city with diverse religious beliefs, diverse
economic income from slaves all the way up to
the rich and powerful in the elite class, there
is a small church. There is a church of... Gentiles
and Jews, followers of Christ, those who have
believed the gospel. And in this church, we know
as we begin the book of 1 Corinthians, we know
that Paul greets them. And then right away, Paul
begins to address issues that were going on in
the church. He begins to tackle some problems.
Now, I'm sure there are no problems here. I've
not heard of any. And judging by from what Journey
has said, there are none. But in this church
that the Apostle Paul had helped start, there
were some problems. There were some issues. In
chapter 1, Paul begins to tackle the problem
of division and factions. Those who were wanting
to follow after this leader and some who were
wanting to follow after another. deals with this
for several chapters. Then in chapter 5, he begins
to deal with sexual integrity and church discipline
and specific issues going on in that realm within
the church. Then he begins to deal, as we continue
on into chapter 8 through 11, he begins to deal
with Christian liberty. He begins to deal with,
can you eat this meat that was offered to idols
or not? Are you actually worshiping at the table
of demons or not? And he begins to work through
some of these issues. Then, Paul addresses problems
concerning the church and how they worship God
together, specifically around the Lord's table.
What to do, what not to do. And finally, as we
get to chapter 15, and of course there's more,
you can drill down deeper into each one of those.
But as we get to chapter 15, Paul begins to deal
with doubts concerning the bodily resurrection.
There were some in the church, apparently, who
were doubting whether or not there was indeed
going to be a bodily resurrection from the dead.
And Paul addresses this question. And of course,
he gets into it more in 12, verse number 12 there.
He says, 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 in verse
14, And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain. And so Paul
is now going to answer this issue, this problem
within the church of Corinth, where there were
some who were doubting whether or not there truly
was a resurrection of the dead. And as he does
this, as he answers this question, he's going
to lay out for us the hope of the resurrection
by giving us a brief synopsis of the gospel,
by laying forth these core and fundamental truths
that we believe in the gospel. And so that is
what I want us to spend time here this morning
thinking about and looking at in chapter 15,
these verses that we have read. What is this
hope of the resurrection of the gospel that we
have? So as we begin, verse number one. Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which
I preached unto you. So Paul is reminding these
believers. He's reminding brothers here. He says
brothers, brothers and sisters, believers, those
who have claimed the name of Christ to be believers.
He is reminding them. of something that they
already know, something that they should know,
that they should have at the forefront of their
mind, but it is good to be reminded. And he's
going to give a fuller account of what this gospel
is that he has preached unto them. But here,
as he begins this, he says, I remind you of the
gospel I preached to you. He's reminding them
of the message that they had received, which
also ye have received. Paul says, the message
of the gospel that was preached to the believers
who were there in the church at Corinth, it was
a message that was received by them. Of course,
the gospel message, I'm sure it has happened
to you, but you have maybe shared that message
with someone at work, a family member, someone
on the streets, and it has not been received.
Most of the time, that's how it seems to go.
Many times we feel as if we're banging our heads
against the wall as we try to share the gospel.
It is not a message that is received oftentimes,
but to them it was. To these believers, they
did receive it. And just by way of thinking about
that reception of the gospel, it is good for
us to be reminded that the gospel is not something
that we can choose to ignore. The gospel message
is not a message. That we can simply walk away
from without consequence. Jesus spoke of the
parable of the sower in Matthew 13. As the gospel
or the word is spread into the soils. Which he
would later go on to tell us is the hearts of
men. There are some soils where it is hardened
and it is snatched up by the evil one. There
are some where the gospel is briefly seen to
be something to be treasured. But soon it is
choked out by the cares and concerns of this
world and others as well as the parable goes
on. But the gospel demands a response. The gospel
demands that we receive it. And so the only real
proper response to the gospel by the grace of
God is that in faith we do receive it. That in
faith we do cling to the message of Christ. And
we don't want to take for granted, even in a
place like this, I think, is this considered
-ish, the Bible Belt? Maybe the very tip of the
belt? You guys might just briefly be at the tip
of the belt. But even at a place like a Sunday
morning service in a good Baptist church, close
to the Bible Belt, Even within the walls here,
the message of the gospel, we must be reminded
for those who believe of the sweet truth, but
also for those who have not yet believed in faith,
that the only proper response for the gospel
is that we indeed receive it in faith. The only
way for the application of the work of Christ
to our account is through the receiving of the
gospel message of Jesus Christ, Again, we will
get into here soon. But Paul says, the gospel
message that I have preached to you, which you
have received, and wherein ye stand. This is
where you stand. Not only did they believe when
Paul first preached to them, not only was there
a reception, yes, there was a life -giving faith
that they had in that moment when they believed
the gospel. When God opened their eyes and the
scales fell from their eyes and they, in faith,
clung to the gospel. Not only did that happen
at a point in time, but they are continuing,
Paul says, to stand in that same gospel. They
continue in the same belief, in the same gospel
message, up to the present. Their faith was not
only a one -time event that faded, but rather
it was a living faith. It was a faith that continued
to abide in Christ, in the same message that
they had received. Paul goes on to say, By which
also ye are saved. By which also you are saved.
There is a sense in which salvation is a once
-for -all event. But the Scriptures speak...
Of salvation, past, present, and future. That
you are being saved. That you will be saved.
There is a sense in which we are saved when we
place our faith in Christ Jesus. But we are continually
being saved by that same gospel message each
and every day. As our faith continues in Christ
Jesus. And ultimately on the day when we stand
before our Lord in glorified bodies. When we
will be fully in the presence of our King, where
we will experience salvation in its fullest.
And so Paul reminds them that they have received
this message, that they are standing in this
message, that they have been saved by it, and
they indeed are being saved by it. He goes on
to say, If ye keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless you have believed in vain. Paul
reminds them that they are to keep in memory
what had been preached. They are to continue
in this faith. They are not to forget and so
easily set aside as we read about in Galatians
where Paul says, you know, I'm shocked, I'm amazed
that it seems that you have so quickly forgotten
the gospel. That you have so quickly forgotten
the one who has saved you and now are turning
to. These works, these other things, and Paul
goes off on in Galatians, there in Galatians
1. But Paul is reminding the believers, remember
this gospel message. Remember what has been preached
to you. Continue in your faith, unless, he says,
unless you have believed in vain. Now, I don't
believe that Paul is saying here that if indeed
you do forget the gospel, You will fall away
from the faith. I'm not saying that if you...
I love the song, He Will Hold Me Fast. All of
us, if we were capable, we would. We are prone
to wander. We would run. We would fall away from
the faith. And it is only by the grace of God
that we continue in the faith. And so, I'm not
saying that you can fall away from the faith
here. But I believe what Paul is saying here
is that the faith that we have, the faith that
a true believer has is a living faith. It is
an abiding faith. It is a persevering faith that
will keep you unto the end. And so the saving
faith that we experience in the gospel is a faith
that is not brief, but a faith that continues.
A faith... that abides. And so Paul is again
reminding the believers to continue in this faith
that they received, to continue living out the
gospel in their lives. And so as we persevere
in faith, we don't lose sight of the fact that
it is Christ's finished work on the cross that
saves us. It's not our persevering. It's not
that I am believing good enough today, but rather
we are saved because of His righteousness. Not
because of ours. We're saved because of His work.
Not because I'm good enough at having faith.
We can never work our way into heaven. Our only
hope is in Christ. It is in Him and His message
that we put our hope and our faith in. And that
hope and faith, it continues by His grace. We
continue to believe. And so we continue to persevere.
But Paul continues on. He says, For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received.
Now, in our context, context, I don't know what
that is. That's from Iowa. That's where I'm from.
That's how we say context. In our context with
Muslims, many times, well, basically every time,
Muslims hate the Apostle Paul. Don't ever bring
Paul up because they hate him so much. They think
Paul was the one who created Christianity. They
think Paul was the one who warped everybody's
mind and created all these doctrines and all
sorts of problems. And so Muslims, they hate
Paul. But I love this here because Paul says,
I delivered unto you, first of all, that which
I also received. Now, of course, we don't believe,
as Muslims do, that Paul created a bunch of doctrines
and things. But Paul here is using the same wording
about delivering as he does back in chapter 11,
verse 2, chapter 11, verse 23. He is informing
his readers that he is passing on believed Christian
doctrine. These are things, these are crucial
truths about the gospel that Paul... did not
create on his own, but these are things that
Paul himself received from others. We know from
Galatians 1 that Paul went and spoke with some
of the apostles and Peter. We know even as well
that Paul himself heard from the resurrected
Lord. That Paul himself had experienced an intimate
communion with The resurrected Lord. And so Paul
is not making up something here. These are things
that Paul is passing on that he has received
from the Lord or he has received from the other
apostles as well. And he says, of first importance,
these are important truths. These are the crucial
and bedrock foundational truths that we as believers
must confess and hold to. And so Paul says in
verse 3, For I delivered unto you, first of all,
that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins. Christ died for our sins. And again,
coming from our context, it is not believed by
Muslims that Jesus indeed died for our sins.
For them, Christ never died. That is something
that is made up. But I love how even one of the
most famous atheists, Bart Ehrman, says that
one of the most sure facts of history is that
Jesus Christ was crucified by Pontius Pilate.
If that's not true, then we cannot be certain
of anything in history. And so the gospel message,
as we begin to look at it, as Paul begins to
unpack it here, it is a historical... It is a
historical faith in which we believe in. The
gospel is not something that we have dreamed
up or has been crafted over years. It is indeed
a fact of history that Jesus Christ died on the
cross. And there's a fact and a reason here that
we see. We see that Christ died for our sins.
That is a fact of history. It happened. And Paul
says, that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and
that He rose again the third day according to
the Scriptures. These things happened. And they
happened because our sins. Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. These things
where Christ died, where Christ rose from the
dead, Those things happened for our sins. The
problem is, today, with all of us, whether you're
from Kitz Hill or from Iowa or from Kenya or
anywhere else in the world, the problem is that
we are all sinners. The death of Christ is not
an accident. The death of Christ was purposeful
and planned. We know that. We can read that in
Acts 2 .23 or many other places all throughout
the Scriptures. We see how God is... planning
a way and making a way of salvation for sinful
people, people like you and I who have sinned,
who have ran from God, who deserve death, who
deserve to be severed from the presence of God
for all eternity. And we, living in this sin
-filled, plague -filled world of problems, of
passions, of pain, of death, in our sin, Christ
died for us. to save us from that sin, to save
sinners like you and I. His death shows the reason
why God would come from heaven to earth in order
to save sinful people like us. And so Paul reminds
us of this truth. This is the gospel that he
delivered unto those in Corinth, the gospel that
we still today, 2 ,000 years later, Hold to and
believe that Christ died for our sins. And again,
this is according to Scriptures. Now, we could
go into atonement and... 12 to 12 .05, and I'm
on like 2 of 20, so we're going to run. We're
going to run. So we're not going to go into it,
but we could go into and spend much time just
thinking and dwelling upon atonement. That is
exactly what Paul is describing here in... these
few words, that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. The fact that there is atonement
for our sins because there should be no atonement
for our sins. There's no reason for it apart
from the love of God and for His own glory. But
we continue on. Paul continues to say, For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and
that He rose again the third day according to
the Scriptures. So this Next statement, buried,
affirmed that Jesus indeed died. He indeed was
crucified, unlike those who would say he was
not. No, Christ was buried. He was in the flesh.
He was put into a grave, as the Scriptures said.
And again, this is the second time Paul has used
that, according to the Scriptures. Throughout
the Old Testament, there were many prophecies
that pointed to the coming of a Messiah, pointing
to the one who would come and crush the head
of the serpent and provide a way of salvation.
for sinners. And of course, it was much grander
and much more peculiar and spectacular than people
were expecting or thinking. But indeed, it was
according to the Scriptures. It was according
to the plan of God as shown throughout Genesis,
throughout Isaiah. The prophecies had been fulfilled
in Christ. These are all fulfillments of the
plan of God to redeem a people for Himself. And
so he was buried and he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. Now, Paul will
get into this later in this chapter. And he gets
into it in other places like in Romans 6. But
we are able to be partakers of the very same
resurrection of Christ. Christ was buried and
resurrected so that we might partake in his resurrection.
Because of his burial and resurrection, we also,
Paul will go on to make that case, will be raised.
And so the hope that we have in the resurrection
of Christ, the knowledge that he was buried,
yes, but he rose, is the same hope that we have
because we are in Christ. And so Paul will go
on to make that case more clear later. But continuing
on. He says, if you want me to stop, you don't
have to throw your Bible at me. If I said something
wrong, I'm sorry. I guess that's how you know
when to be done. All right, pastor throws the
Bible at you. All right, but continue on. It
says, verse 5, and that he was seen of Cephas
and then of the twelve. So, appearing to Peter,
of course, the resurrected Lord was seen of Peter.
And of the other disciples after the resurrection,
Christ, you know, he didn't roam around as a
ghost, but he was in a resurrected body. He ate
with them. Thomas was able, you know, Thomas
was told, come, touch. He ate with the disciples
in Luke 24 and John 20. We see the case with
Thomas. And so Paul is building his argument
that we've seen him. The apostles have indeed
seen the resurrected Lord. And he goes on to
say, Not only was he seen of the apostles, but
he was seen above 500 brethren. There's over
500 people who are witnesses. If I were to come
and tell you today some sort of crazy story,
like someone rose from the dead or something
crazy, that you would say, that's not possible.
And you were to say, well, who can verify that
story? And I'd say, well, nobody. It was just
me. You'd have to have an awful lot of faith,
an awful lot of trust in me. But if I say, you
know what? Hundreds of people that witnessed
this. And exactly what Paul is doing here, he
says, many of them remain up to this present
day. So if you want to go and fact check, if
you want to go and see whether or not this story
is reliable, go, talk to the witnesses. They
are there. You can talk to most of them. A few
of them have died. A few of them are gone. But
most of them are there. Again, pointing to the
reliability of the resurrection. Paul is building
his case for the resurrection. He continues on
and says, after that, he was seen of James and
then of all the apostles. Now, there's several
Jameses in the scriptures, which sometimes could
be confusing. But the James Paul mentions here
is most likely the brother, the half -brother
of Jesus, who became an important leader in the
church of Jerusalem. James, the son of Zebedee,
he would have been already mentioned in the 12.
Cephas in the 12 when Paul mentioned that previously.
Cephas being Peter, the one who is oftentimes
the leader, the spokesman of the disciples. And
so most likely the James here is the half -brother
of Jesus. Which is significant because there
was a time when you go into the Gospels, you
see that many of the family of Jesus did not
believe who he was. They did not believe that
he was indeed the Son of God, the Messiah, come
to save a people. from their sins. But this half
-brother, you know, you could talk to Journey.
Journey knows me quite well. She's only six.
But if you were to ask her and say, you know,
does your daddy ever get angry? Does your daddy
ever get upset? She could tell you the truth.
She's seen me. Many of you, you know, you're
going to see me for an hour, hour and a half.
We might exchange a few words. Josh seems like
a pretty okay, he's alright. You might throw
your Bible at him. Apart from that, he's alright.
But your family really knows you. And this half
-brother of Jesus, who at one time doubted, at
one time did not believe, indeed believes and
becomes a leader within the church and is a witness
of these things. And so Paul is just building
on this again. There are all of these witnesses.
And then, of course, the Apostle Paul himself,
the one who persecuted the church, the one who
hated Christians, who did what he could to snuff
out the embers of the growing church in the beginning.
This Paul who hated and persecuted Christians,
now a passionate preacher of this gospel, a preacher
of this hope of the resurrection. And he says,
you know, last of all, as of one untimely born,
he appeared to me. And so this zealous Pharisee
who persecuted the church is now a follower of
Christ. So, by way of quickly wrapping all these
things up and conclusion, that now leaves a question
for you and I. You and I don't have the exact
same experience as these eyewitnesses do. I wasn't
there in the room. We weren't there to witness
these that the disciples and others saw. But
if you receive the good news of Jesus in faith,
then you indeed have been changed by the very
same gospel that changed each and every one of
those men. Maybe you haven't received the gospel
of Jesus because you think you are too sinful
or too far gone. That's a possibility even for
someone in here today. Maybe you have stopped
praying for someone because you think that their
heart is just too hard. You think that person,
I've shared the gospel with them for 40 years,
they're still as angry and bitter as the first
time. There's no point. It's hopeless. Why even
try? But just as James and Paul were radically
transformed by the gospel of Christ, just as
we, who have believed in Christ Jesus, have been
radically transformed by the gospel, so also
that same message, which is the power of God
unto salvation, is able to change and transform
the heart of you or of that person you're thinking
of today. As we think of the beautiful words
of the Lord, of our Savior, when he says, Come
to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. The rest that we have in
Christ Jesus is this hope of an eternity with
God, a hope of a resurrection, a hope of a continual
fellowship with our God. And so the church at
Corinth was not a perfect church. It was filled
with people who did not perfectly love God, and
they did not perfectly love one another. They
sinned against one another at times, just like
we do. At times, they were even pressured to
follow the mindset and the thinking of the world
instead of God's Word. But Paul addresses many
of those issues throughout the book, as we've
talked about. But the advice that he gives, not
really advice, but the things that he writes
to them is not, just don't do that, just do this,
try to be happier because of that, try not to
sin because of this. It is always tied to the
gospel. It is always tied to the hope that we
have in Christ Jesus. We have been changed by
the gospel, therefore continue to live in light
of the gospel. We have a hope of the resurrection
in these broken and sinful bodies, and so continue
to strive to war for holiness, to war against
the flesh because of the gospel. It is always
brought back to the gospel. And so... This is
something that we are able to rejoice about as
believers. If we have believed in the gospel,
the fact that there is hope, that there is a
joy that we share in being together, praising
the Lord in song, in prayer, and through the
preaching of his word on Sunday, there is a joy
that we have. There is a hope that we look to,
a hope that we contain, not because of what we
have done, of course, but because of the gospel
of Christ Jesus, what he has done for us. And
so we rejoice with the words of Paul that there
is therefore now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus. The significance of the
bodily resurrection of Jesus is that our faith
in Him is not in vain. We do not have an empty
hope for the future. By this gospel message,
we are empowered through the Spirit of God in
us to live lives that do not conform to this
world, but rather conform to the kingdom of God.
And we have all the reason to remain firm in
our faith in Christ because... He lives. Thank
you. Amen. Thank you, sir, much, Josh. The same
gospel that the Apostle Paul preached, the same
gospel that has been handed down through history,
is the same gospel we rejoice in and we cling
to today. It's that same apostolic gospel. It's
the same supper that we're going to celebrate
that from that time of the apostles on, from
the time when Jesus instituted it, this is the
supper of the Lord. It's for those who have the
covenant sign of baptism. We belong to him. Let
us fellowship with our Lord and rejoice in this
good news, euangelion, the good news, the hope
of the gospel. Deacons, If you would come and
prepare the table, please.