THE GOSPEL. Return to 1st Corinthians Main Menu

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1 THE GOSPEL I Corinthians 15: 1-11 Return to 1st Corinthians Main Menu The word Gospel appears some one hundred times in the New Testament. The word gospel is often referred to as good news, but it is not just any piece of good news. The gospel is a particular message. The gospel is not a broad, general message. It is a very narrow and specific message. Sometimes two people will be gossiping and one will say, Now that's the gospel truth. Well, what they are saying may be the truth, but it is not the gospel truth. There is all kinds of good news: You may be ill and go to the hospital. The doctor runs some test and when he gets the results he may say, I have good news for you. There's nothing major going on. That's good news, but it's not the gospel. Maybe you've been without a job and finally you get the call, You can report for work in the morning at eight o'clock. That's good news, but it's not the gospel. Again, the gospel is a message, but not just any message. Let me give you some examples of messages in the church that are NOT gospel messages. The gospel is not a message on stewardship. As important as stewardship is, stewardship is not the message of the gospel. Stewardship is a biblical message, but not a gospel message. The gospel is not a message on holy living. As important as holy living is, it is not the message of the gospel. The message of the gospel centers in Jesus Christ and what He did for mankind on the cross. The primary function of the Church is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. People ought to pass by our churches and say, That's where the gospel is proclaimed. When Paul begins I Corinthians 15, he starts off with a word of rebuke. The word moreover literally means but. But, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. The rebuke came because the believers in Corinth had come to the point in their church where they were emphasizing spiritual gifts, especially the gift of speaking in tongues, over the gospel. Most of the material in I Corinthians deals with the problems of Disorders in the Corinthian 187 church. Now I Corinthians 15 deals with the Problem of Doctrine.

2 The problem of Doctrine has to do with the Doctrine of the Resurrection. It was not so much that they denied the resurrection of Christ, but many doubted their own resurrection. See 15:12 The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the foundation stone of Christianity. It is also the heart of Jesus' teaching and the central message of the Church. I Corinthians 15:19: If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable. Romans 10:9 : 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. No wonder the resurrection has been the target of Satan's greatest attacks against the Church. Paul ties the gospel and his teaching on the resurrection together. I. The Substance of the Gospel What is the Gospel? It is the good news that: A. Christ Died for our sins 15:3 Why did Jesus have to die for our sins? 1. It was a Demonstration of God's Love Toward Us. Some think that God is mean and cruel and vindictive, but God is a God of love. John 3:16 2. It Provided Forgiveness of our Sins Hebrews 9:22 The word remission means forgiveness. God has not forgiven us on the basis of our merits or our service, but on the basis of the shed blood of Christ. 3. It Provided Redemption for our Souls. There is no other way for us to be redeemed or saved than through the death of Christ. 4. He Had to Die for our sins Because ALL of us are Sinners. Romans 3:23; 6:23, Isaiah 53:6 5. To Reconcile us to God Romans 5: That He Might Bring us to God I Peter 3:18 B. Christ Was Buried 15:4 188 I've had to go to many funerals as a preacher and I've never been to one that I enjoyed. And, yet, the Bible tells us that the funeral, the burial of Jesus, was part of God's good news.

3 What is a funeral? Why do we have funerals? What's their purpose? The purpose of a funeral is to provide finality or closure to that person's life. Jesus was buried because that's what we do with dead people. There was going to be some who said that Jesus didn't really die. It was just a plot. Jesus was buried to demonstrate the end of His earthly life. They not only buried Him, they sealed the tomb and rolled a stone before it. C. Christ was Raised from the Dead 15:4 I've been to funerals, but I've never been to a resurrection. Have your? The Bible says that He was dead, but is alive for ever more. II. The Sharing of the Gospel How is the gospel communicated? Through music, through the writing of books, through one-onone witnessing, through puppetry. The primary way is through preaching the gospel. Everybody needs to hear the gospel: the rich and the poor; the Jew and the Gentile; the uppity ups and down and outs, those in prison and the keepers of the prison. Everybody! III. The Source of the Gospel Where did the gospel come from? Paul said that he Received it and then he Delivered it to them. I received it... from another source. I didn't just dream it up. Paul didn't Design the gospel; he simply Delivered it. The origin of our gospel is from the heart of a loving God, manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. IV. The Singleness of our Gospel 189 It is the exclusive gospel Galatians 1:6-10; Acts 4:12 V. The Supply of the Gospel 15:1-2 What does the gospel do?

4 It Saves Instantly No person is saved in degrees. It is not something that takes place over a period of time. It happens instantly. The moment a person places their faith in Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection for salvation, they are saved. The process of one coming to that moment of trust and belief may extend over a period of time, but the salvation experience is instant. The Gospel Saves Eternally Notice the word stand in 15:1 and the words hold fast in 15:2. We were not just saved in the past. Rather, salvation is on-going. We are in the state of Being saved. That's what 15:2 means. This does not mean that genuine believers lose their salvation if they fall into sin or have moments or even seasons of doubt. Rather it is a warning against false profession. Phillips translates it like this: If you remain faithful to the message I gave you, your salvation is being worked out unless, of course, your faith had no meaning behind it. We are saved because God holds to us; not because we hold to God John 10:28-29 We can no more maintain our salvation than we can earn our salvation. That fact that we hold fast to God is the EVIDENCE that He is holding fast to us. A true believer may stumble or struggle with doubts, but his salvation is evidence in that through it all he holds to Christ. John 8:31 If you abide in my Word, you are my disciples indeed. VI. The Surety of the Gospel 15:12, The resurrection gives life to every other part and area of the gospel. If Satan could produce the body of Christ, Christianity would be finished. The resurrection was the message of Jesus: Mark 8:31 Jesus taught that the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priest and scribes, and be killed and after three days be raised again. John 11:25 I am the resurrection and the life: he who believes in me shall live, even if he dies. Jesus appeared to Peter alone. Then by the twelve this is a title. Judas was dead; Thomas was not there, but the ten that were there were called by the title. After that He was seen by over 500 at once.

5 Then He was seen by James, our Lord's half-brother. Then by all of the Apostles by all but Judas. Then by Paul. One day He will be seen by every saint.