Now let's take our Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 as we return to this epistle that
we have been studying together. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. In this chapter, the Apostle Paul
takes up a new question that had been asked him.
You'll recall that through the book beginning
with chapter 7, Paul answers specific questions
that have been asked him concerning the Christian
life or doctrine. And in chapter 15, he comes
to the important subject of the doctrine of the
resurrection. There were people at Corinth who
were teaching that those who had died were dead
and that there was no future resurrection coming
for them. Of course, that was much different
than Paul had taught them and that the Word of
God taught. And so he writes in this chapter
to refute that notion that those who have died
are just dead and that there is no resurrection.
This morning we're going to look together at
the first 11 verses of chapter 15. You follow
along in your Bible as I read. 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,
if you hold firmly to the word I preached to
you, otherwise you have believed in vain. For
what I received I passed on to you as of 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. then
to the twelve. After that he appeared to more
than five hundred of the brothers at the same
time, most of whom are still living, though some
have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles, and last of all he
appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
For I am the least of the apostles, and do not
even deserve 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 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
believe. Paul is calling them back to the doctrine
that he had delivered to them when he first visited
there and led them to faith in Jesus Christ.
He was not there a long time. He was there long
enough to impart to them the fundamental truths
of the faith. And now they were in danger of
wavering on this doctrine of the resurrection.
And so he writes in this epistle to warn them
about that kind of wavering. It is impossible...
to separate the future resurrection of believers
from the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that is really Paul's argument as he gets
later into the chapter here. Those who deny the
future resurrection of those who trusted Christ
must also deny that Jesus Christ rose from the
dead. If they believe he rose, then they must
also believe that future resurrection awaits
those who have trusted the Lord Jesus. Chronologically,
this may well be the first written account of
Christ's resurrection. We have, of course, the
account of Matthew and Mark and Luke and John
as our Bible is put together, but chronologically,
this may well have been the very first account
written down in God's Word of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of the narrative
is missing here, of course, but the truth of
His resurrection is nonetheless present. A gospel
which does not include the death and resurrection
of Christ is no gospel at all. Now in this text
that's before us, we have two words that seem
to be hovering frequently in the text. These
are two of the favorite words of the apostle.
The one word is the word gospel, which he uses
at least twice. In the first two verses he uses
it, I remind you of the gospel I preach to you.
He says, by this gospel you are saved. And then
the word grace, which is used at least three
times. In verse 10, by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And his grace to me was not without
effect. And then he says, yet not I, but the
grace of God that was with me. Of the 100 times,
rather of the 155 times that the word grace is
used in the New Testament. 100 of those times,
it comes from the pen of the Apostle Paul. When
you put together gospel and grace, you find that
Paul used both of those words more than all of
the other writers of the New Testament combined.
And so gospel and grace are two words that Paul
loved to use to preach and to write about. In
the first eight verses of our text, he speaks
about the gospel of Christ. And then verse 8
through 11, he speaks of the grace of God. Now
let's think together first this morning about
the gospel of Christ. As I have said, one cannot
separate the good news about Jesus Christ from
the historical record of his death, burial, and
resurrection. There are those today in theological
circles who try to take the word gospel and to
give it a brand new meaning, apart from Christ's
death and resurrection. They call it gospel of
liberation, and they mix with it Marxist economic
theory. There are others who call it the social
gospel, and they take the word gospel and apply
it just to social work. But neither of those
are truly good news, which is what the word gospel
means. For there is no real good news in the
world apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ,
and the record of the Bible tells us about that.
It is his death, his burial, and his resurrection.
I want you to notice exactly how Paul phrases
this. First he says, I received. What I received
I passed on to you as of first importance that
Christ died for our sins. Each of those five
words in that sentence are very significant.
Christ died for our sins. The anointed one of
God. The one that had been looked for throughout
the entire Old Testament. The coming deliverer.
The one who would reign and be king. The Messiah.
The Christ. It is this one who died for our sins.
It says the Christ died for our sins. He did
not live for our sins. He had to die for our
sins. The good example of his life is important.
The sinlessness of it was essential. But it is
not his life that saves us from our sins. It
was his death that saved us. Death was the condemnation
of God upon sin. God said the soul that sins
shall die. The Lord Jesus Christ paid that penalty.
Christ died for our sins. And then even that
preposition for is significant because it means
that he died on behalf of our sins. It places
him in the position of the substitute. The one
who takes the place of, the one who deserves
the penalty. Christ died for, on behalf of, our
sins. That personal word is so important. It's
not that Jesus died for the sins of the whole
world, though that is true, but that he died
for our sins, for your sins, and for mine. Then
when he came, he dealt with. us in the point
of our greatest need, the point of our sins.
Christ died for our sins. It was our sins that
had separated between us and our God. And so
he came to meet us at the greatest point, the
most urgent point of our needs, the point of
our sins. Christ died for our sins. And then
it says he was buried. I have wondered why that
particular thought is included. It seems to be
so that there is no doubt that he died, for there
were some who questioned, and there are still
some today who question that Jesus died. Some
say that he simply passed out, or he swooned,
then came back to consciousness in the grave
and got himself out, and thus it was purported
that he died and rose from the dead. But the
Bible says that he died and that he was buried.
The burial was proof. of his actual historical
death. He was buried for three days. His body
was cold in the grave, wrapped in burial cloth.
Spices were upon it. Even the disciples did not
expect that he would rise from the dead and were
surprised when that word came. He was buried.
But then it goes on to say he was also raised
on the third day. That, of course, was according
as he had promised it would be. Without the resurrection,
the death of Christ is of no effect. Paul makes
that clear later in the very chapter. He says,
if Christ is dead only, then our faith is in
vain. We have no living hope if Christ only died,
but the truth of the good news is that Christ
died, was buried, and rose again. Now, there
are two prepositional phrases that are very significant
in that whole text there. First, it is that Christ
died. For our sins. He dealt with our sins. And
the second prepositional phrase that's significant
is the one that says, according to the scriptures.
Because his death, burial, and resurrection were
all spoken of in the Old Testament. Both in words
of prophecy and in types or in pictures. The
death of Christ was spoken of. His resurrection
is spoken of. Even the three days. is suggested
in the fact that Jonah was in the belly of the
fish for three days and three nights. And so
every aspect of his saving work was spoken of
in the Old Testament. It was all according to
the Scriptures. It had to be that way for it
to be effective. That's the record of the gospel.
Consider the responsibility of the gospel. That
is what Paul sensed so heavily. For instance,
in verse 1 he says, I want to remind you of the
gospel I preached to you. In verse 2 he says,
by this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly
to the word I preached to you. Earlier in this
book, in chapter 8, and maybe it would be good
for us to go back and just review, or rather
chapter 9, what Paul said concerning this. Beginning
in verse 19, he says, Though I am free and belong
to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone
to win as many as possible. He says, To the Jews
I became like a Jew to win the Jews. To those
under the law I became like one under the law,
though I myself am not under the law, so as to
win those under the law. To those not having
the law I became like one. not having the law,
though I am not free from God's law, but am under
Christ's law, so as to win those not having the
law. He says, To the weak I became weak to win
the weak. I have become all things to all men,
so that I by all means might save some. I do
all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may
share in its blessings. What is Paul saying?
He is simply underscoring his commitment. his
sense of responsibility for the gospel. He said,
I am willing to accommodate my lifestyle so that
I can build bridges in the lives of other people.
He is not saying that he compromised his doctrine.
He is not saying that he lived a sinful lifestyle
in order to appeal to those who were living sinful
lifestyles. But he is saying, so far as was possible,
he put away every barrier that he could between
himself and other people. whether they were Jews
or pagans or whoever, so that by all means he
might win some of them to faith in Jesus Christ.
Why did Paul take that attitude? Because he sensed
a great responsibility. He sensed a heavy indebtedness
on his part to get the gospel to every creature,
to every person on the face of the earth. In
Romans he said, I am debtor to all men. He says
furthermore in our text in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, For what I received I passed on to you as
of first importance. In other words, he felt
that there was no greater priority or import
in his life than the priority of passing on what
he had received. That's simply a great way to
say what a witness is. It's one who passes on
what he has received. One does not have to have
a theological education or be through an evangelism
training course to be a witness. I would not
demean those. They can be important. But a person
can be a witness the moment he's saved because
all it means is to pass on what one has received.
Paul saw that as a priority. As we face 1982,
I'd like to suggest that all of us set that as
a priority too. In fact, it would be a marvelous
priority for each of us if we were determined
by the grace of God that during this year we
would seek to win one person to faith in Jesus
Christ and then to see that one person begin
to grow by discipling him. Wouldn't that be great?
What a blessing it would be to our own lives.
Paul said, I want to give the gospel out so that
I may share in its blessing. If you want to share
in blessing, one of the greatest ways is to give
the gospel to people. It brings such a joy to
the life. This last week we had over a hundred
young people who came from the Campus Crusade
Conference here in town, and they went out calling
in our neighborhood. as representatives of our
church. They won four people to Christ. And I
was sitting in the office in there doing some
work as they were coming back reporting out here
in the lobby area. And I tell you, they were
excited. It was a thrill to be able to hear the
excitement of these young people as they came
back and reported about the opportunities they
had to share their faith and those who had won
others to Christ to see the exuberance, the blessing.
You see, when we share the gospel, it's a blessing
to the person we share with. It's also a blessing
to us. It brings joy and happiness to us. And
so, during this year, I hope that each of us
will set as a goal before God that we might see
another person come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, right now, in your mind, you may be able
to zero in on somebody that you work with or
who's in your family or that neighbor next door.
You're going to focus on in your witness. I'm
not suggesting that you go home this afternoon
and ring your neighbor's door and grab him by
the lapels and say, buddy, I have set you as
my goal this year, and you're going to get saved
this year, so help me by the grace of God. I'm
not suggesting you do that. That would not be
very effective. What I am saying is that in your
mind, in your heart, you begin to pray for that
person next door. And you know what will happen?
The burden you have for that person, that couple,
that family will grow. And then God will begin
giving you opportunities to share your faith.
It may be only a word or two or a sentence at
a time, but God will open doors. And then there
will be a time when he will ask you, or when
the door will be so wide open that you can't
help but fall into it and give the gospel to
him. Is that... a priority with you? Do you sense
the responsibility that Paul did? You say, well,
he was an apostle. It doesn't mean that we don't
have responsibility as much as he did. We have
that responsibility. I'm glad that we talk in
our church a great deal about the multitudes
around the world and the lost in lands who've
never heard the gospel, but let's never get our
eyes off the fact, folks, that there are lost
people all around us. And they need us. And they
need the gospel that we're talking about this
morning. Paul then refers to their response to
the gospel. He says in the first place, verse
1, which you have received. What does he mean
by that? Well, he simply means that they took
it. That's what received means. He doesn't say
that they worked for their salvation. He says,
I preached you the gospel. and you received it.
And in verse 11, he says it a different way.
This is what we preach, and this is what you
believed. What does it mean to receive Christ?
It means to believe on him unto salvation. What
does it mean to believe on Christ? It means to
receive him into one's life. The two words really
are synonymous or complementary in Scripture.
John 1 .12 says the same thing. As many as received
him. As many as believed on his name. To believe
is to receive him into one's life as Savior and
as Lord. To receive him means to believe and
to commit the keeping of one's soul to him, to
him alone. That was their response to the gospel.
They received it. And then he says something
else interesting there in that same verse, verse
1. He says, which you received and on which you
have taken your stand. He says, Corinthians,
don't ever be forgetful of the fact that you
there in that city have taken a stand for the
gospel. There are pagans and there are religious
Jews around you who observe you and who are witnessing
you. They watch your life. You have taken your
stand on the gospel. And the subtle and perhaps
not so subtle suggestion is, because you have
taken a public stand on this gospel, then don't
be easily removed from it by this false teaching
that you are hearing. And then he speaks of the
result of the gospel. He says the result of the
gospel is that they are being saved, verse 2.
By this gospel, he says, you are saved. There's
nothing wrong with the word saved. It is a Bible
word, and it expresses a beautiful truth. To
be saved means to be rescued, or it means to
be delivered. It means to be taken from a place
of peril and brought to a place of safety. When
a person trusts the gospel, Christ's death, burial,
and resurrection for his sins. He is delivered
from God's condemnation. He is brought to the
point of safety. He is rescued. That's what it
means. But I want you to notice what else Paul
says. By this gospel you are saved if you hold
firmly or if you keep in mind or keep in your
memory the word I preached to you. otherwise
you have believed in vain. Now there are some
who look at that and they say, well, Paul is
saying here that if you don't keep on hanging
on and believing, then you're going to lose your
salvation. I'd like to say to you that is not
what Paul is saying in these verses, in this
verse. What is he saying then? Well, by the word
if, Paul is not doubting that they are saved.
He is not doubting that they are saved. But he
is warning them. He says, if you do move from
the gospel delivered you, or if we may use the
word apostatize, if you fall away from the gospel
that I have preached to you, then it is evidence
of the fact that you have believed in vain, that
your faith was not a genuine faith. I think we
can prove that that's the interpretation because
this idea of holding firmly is used elsewhere
in the New Testament. Turn back to Luke chapter
8 for a moment. And we see this word illustrated.
Luke chapter 8, beginning in verse 11. What we
have here is the explanation of the parable of
the soils. We're not going to take time to read
that parable, but we'll simply read the interpretation
of it. The words of our Lord, verse 11, Luke
8. This is the meaning of the parable. The seed
is the word of God. Those along the path are
the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and
takes away the word from their hearts so that
they cannot believe and be saved. What Jesus
is saying is, as the Word of God is sown, as
the gospel is preached and people receive it
into their hearts and their minds, there are
some whose hearts are like the pathway here where
the seed falls. The seed can't take root in it.
It's heavily traveled. And the devil comes and
he takes away that seed from their hearts. He
steals it so that they cannot believe and be
saved. He says, then that which falls on the
rock are the ones who receive 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. That's how some other people
respond to the gospel. There seems to be immediate
conversion. Oh, there's joy, there's excitement,
and it lasts about two weeks. And then it's gone
completely. And he says, the seed that fell among
thorns stands for those who hear, but as they
go on their way, they are choked by life's worries,
riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.
Now verse 15. But the seed on good soil stands
for those with a noble and good heart who hear
the word. retain it, and by persevering, produce
a crop. Now the word retain there is exactly
the same Greek word as the word that we've looked
at in 1 Corinthians 15, 2, where it says, hold
firmly. This last classification of the seed
on the good soil refers to those who genuinely
believe, who hear the word, and take it in deeply
into their lives. It takes root in them, and
then it produces fruit. And that's what Paul
is saying. He says if there is not fruit produced
in your life, then it means that you have never
truly been saved. Paul says the result of the
gospel being believed in the life is that a person
is being saved. And by the way, that's in the
present tense. He says, you are being saved.
In other words, the gospel is continuing to make
an impact in your life. When you give a testimony,
it's not, well, I was saved 40 years ago on a
certain night. Implication, and there hasn't
been a change in my life since. What he's saying
is that when a person is genuinely saved, the
gospel continues to produce fruit. and changes,
transformation. It continues to make an impact
throughout the life. Else you have believed in
vain, he says. In this land of ours, a person
can turn on the radio nearly any time of the
day and hear the gospel. Many have been raised
in churches, while though maybe formal or...
ritualistic, nonetheless talk about Christ's
death, burial, and resurrection, which is the
essence of the gospel, the historical record
of it. And somehow they grow up with these words
and these thoughts and these ideas about the
gospel and Christianity and the Bible, and it's
almost a cultural conversion instead of a personal
conversion. And that is something to be feared.
That one should grow up with just the idea of
the gospel, using the language with essentially
the right quote -unquote lifestyle, and never
make a personal commitment to believe on Jesus
Christ and to receive him as Lord in the life.
Maybe that describes you today. I don't know.
If it does, then your greatest need, the most
urgent thing before you today, is to make a personal
commitment commitment to Jesus Christ by faith
and to receive this gospel that we're talking
about and the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation
of your soul. We need to move ahead to the last
few verses of our text in which Paul emphasizes
the second of his favorite words, and this is
the word grace. After recounting the appearances
of the Lord Jesus, proving, of course, that he
rose from the dead. He comes to verse 8 when
he says, And last of all, he appeared to me also
as to one who was aborted. That's literally the
translation. Or as one who was miscarried. What
does he mean here? Well, Paul is speaking here
about his salvation experience. And though he
doesn't use the word grace in this verse, we
certainly can include this as a part of the last
half of our text because salvation is by grace.
He is talking about the saving grace of God in
his experience. You see, Paul saw himself as
not fitting in. He says, I did not walk with
Jesus during his earthly ministry. I was not
with the apostles in the upper room when he appeared
to them after his resurrection. I don't really
fit in with them. He says, here I am a Jew. I
have now been saved by the grace of God, and
yet I don't really fit with Israel either. Because
national Israel is still in rejection and unbelief.
He said, I'm like one who is abnormally born.
He is speaking here of his salvation experience,
and he talks about this again. If you'll turn
to 1 Timothy 1, verse 16. He says, For that very
reason I was shown mercy, so that in me the worst
of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited
patience as an example for those who would believe
on him. and receive eternal life. In passing,
may I point out again the tandem words there,
believe and receive. Paul says, I was the chiefest,
the worst of sinners, yet I was saved. There
are some people who think that they are too bad
to be saved. Paul says, I was the chief of sinners.
There is no way that you could be too bad, too
much in sin, too stained. God is able to cleanse
you, to forgive you, to bring you salvation and
eternal life. On the other hand, there are others
who think they're too good for salvation. I tell
you, if you were to match up your life, if you
have that attitude, if you were to match up your
life with that of Paul before his conversion,
he would far surpass you. For outwardly, he was
a very religious and righteous man. He was even
a Pharisee. As much as he knew, he kept the law
of God outwardly. You could not surpass him in
your goodness, and yet Paul saw himself as a
sinner. And before you can be saved, you must
see yourself as a sinner too, and in need of
God's salvation. Paul speaks of God's saving
grace. And then he goes on in verse 9 to speak
of God's calling grace. He says, I'm the least
of the apostles. I do not even deserve 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 to me was not without effect.
Because Paul had been such a blasphemer, of Jesus
Christ, and such a persecutor of God's people,
he did not feel that he deserved the exalted
office of apostle. And yet he says, by the grace
of God, I am what I am. God's grace had called
him to serve in that office and made him fit
to be what he was. And yet he had this overwhelming
sense of unworthiness. Do you know that anyone
who is going to serve God effectively must have
that same attitude, the sense of unworthiness
to do whatever he is doing? Whether it be teaching
a children's Sunday school class or preaching
in a church or serving in the nursery or singing
in the choir, the attitude that God blesses is
the attitude that says, I am not worthy to do
this. That was Paul's attitude. I overheard the
pastor of a church of 7 ,000 people say on one
occasion, I am not worthy to stand in that pulpit
and to preach to 7 ,000 people. One of the great
preachers of America. Why is it that God is blessing
his ministry? Because of that spirit, that humility.
When we get to the point of seeing ourselves
as very qualified and very worthy to do certain
things, we have suddenly disqualified ourselves
from effective service. Not until we are broken
and humbled to the point of seeing ourselves
as unworthy servants is God able to bless our
ministry. Paul says it's God's calling grace
that makes me fit to be in this office. And then
he says, I worked harder than all of them, talking
about the apostles, yet not I but the grace of
God that was with me. And here he speaks of God's
enabling grace. He said, God has not only by
grace called me to be an apostle, but God is
now enabling me to fulfill the functions of this
office. He says, I have worked hard. The Bible
teaches a hard work ethic, whatever we're doing.
But he says, it wasn't really my hard work, it
was the grace of God that was with me. He says,
God's grace was not given to me in vain. In other
words, he says, God's grace in my life was not
wasted. God gave me grace. I drew upon that grace,
and therefore, by his grace, my life, my ministry
has been effective. It may be that today, as
you begin a new year, you are completely without
strength to go on. And in your job, or in your
commitment to your family, or in the church,
in some area of your life, you feel like giving
up today, and you say, I'm finished, I'm washed
up. I say to you that God's grace is powerful
to enable you to go on. It is not an unhealthy
point for us to come to, to run out of our own
strength. For it's only at that point that God's
grace can carry us on. Maybe you need today to
appropriate a fresh and new God's enabling grace.
Paul says it doesn't make any difference whether
it was me or the apostles. He says this is what
we have preached to you and this is what you
have believed. It is the gospel of grace, the
good news of grace. And grace is good news. Recently
I was chatting with a man who was explaining
to me some of the rituals involved in his particular
church. He was trying to tell me that he believes
in the grace of God for salvation. And yet he
said he went through a certain activity. I said,
why do you do that? He said, because when I do
that, it helps me to make up for my sins. I said,
my friend, you've just explained to me that you
have never known the grace of God. Because when
we understand what grace is, you see, it means
that I can't make up for my sins. It means that
I ask forgiveness for them. And in this congregation
this morning, though most of you have been here
time and time again, there may be one or two
or more who have grown up culturally in the Christian
faith, but you have never made a personal commitment
to Jesus Christ. I hope today you'll make that
personal commitment that makes all the difference
between life and death and heaven and hell. Let's
pray together. Father, we thank you for the good
news of Jesus Christ, that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, that he was
buried and that he rose from the dead according
to the Scriptures. This morning we have preached
that, and I pray that... If there be some friend
who's here who's never received that message
and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for the
salvation of his soul, that today saving faith
would go out from that heart, that one would
come into the family of God by faith. Then may
those of us who have trusted Jesus and who know
what it means to be saved by grace, sense...
afresh as we begin a new year, our indebtedness,
our responsibility to declare this message. With
our heads bowed and our eyes shut and as we wait
upon God, I wonder if there's some friend here
who would say, Pastor Call, today I am not saved.
Oh, I've heard about Jesus' death and resurrection.
I have used the word gospel. I've sung about
it. But I'm not saved. There's been no change
in my life. The faith that I thought I had was
in vain. And today I want to trust Christ truly.
I want to be sure of my forgiveness. I'd like
to pray for you. Would you allow me to do that?
Though I will not embarrass you by pointing you
out or calling you by name, I would like to know
for whom I'm praying, and if you will simply
lift your hand and put it down, that will help
me to pray more intelligently, more personally
for you. Would you say I'm not saved today? But
I understand what it means. Pray that I'll make
the right decision. Dear Father, apparently all
of us today have trusted the Lord Jesus. And
we have sensed and have experienced in our lives
the change that comes through genuine conversion.
Together we thank you for the Word of God, for
the gospel that has taken root in our lives and
which is bearing fruit. We pray that that fruit
will be to your glory during this year. And should
you tarry until 1983, I pray that this will be
the most fruitful year that any of us have ever
known. in our personal witness, as well as in
the ministry of our church. In Jesus' name, amen.
I'd like for us to sing together a verse of what
Mark is playing. What is that number, Mark? 297.
297.