INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Preparing for next week’s celebration of the greatest event in human history; the resurrection of Jesus, last week we took time to examine why Jesus said He came to the world.
• The reason for Jesus’ coming was not about eradicating poverty, disease, or the injustices in the world, He came proclaim the good news, or the Gospel!
• Today we are going to continue in our preparation our celebration of Easter by taking time to examine what the good news is and how it can be a blessing.
• Since Jesus has ascended into heaven, He is not out there preaching the gospel, that job is left up to us, so we need to know what we are called to share with others.
• If you are a follower of Jesus, it is important for you to know what Jesus wants shared with a lost world.
• We can use all the marketing, psychology, and social media we want to attract people, but ultimately when it gets to the time to bring them to Jesus, we simply need to share the gospel with them.
• The book of 1 Corinthians was written about 25 years after the resurrection of Jesus.
• The resurrection had been the central theme of the preaching of the church since the event happened.
• As we look at our text today we do need to remember that it was written while many who saw the resurrected Jesus were still alive.
• Let’s begin by looking at verses 3-4 of chapter 15
• SLIDE #2
• 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (HCSB) 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? V 1,3-4
• The Good news, glad announcement
• The word “gospel” literally means, “good news”, “glad announcement”.
• SLIDE #4
• Isaiah 52:7 (HCSB) 7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
• As this passage begins we are told that Paul passed on to them as most important what he received.
• What is contained in 1 Corinthians 15 is not the entire gospel but that which is most important, it is the foundation of the gospel.
• It is the part of the gospel from which the rest of our faith most spring forth.
• If there is no resurrection from the dead as Paul says later in 1 Corinthians 15, we really have no foundation for our faith.
• IF we do not believe in the most important part of the gospel, then why would one believe any of it?
• Because there was philosophical skepticism about the whole foundation of the gospel message Paul is going to “pass on” to them what they had already accepted as truth in the past, the gospel!
• They had apparently forgotten what they what they had initially believed. We do not know what caused this wavering.
• This passage is a gentle rebuke for their lack of trust in the truth.
• The Gospel literally is the good news about what Jesus has done for us.
• The Gospel contains facts to be believed (like the resurrection), commands to be obeyed (like love other people), and promises to be received and enjoyed (peace, joy, eternal life).
• As I stated earlier, in this brief overview of the gospel, Paul does not give us all the elements of the good news, but instead he gives us the foundation of the gospel.
• What is that foundation? What is the “good news” of the Gospel?
• Jesus died
• There are those who said He did not die, but that does not fit the record we have.
• When the soldiers reported what happened on Resurrection Sunday, the religious leaders paid the guards to say they were asleep at their post. (Matthew 28:11-15)
• His own followers thought He was dead. (John 20:19)
• Jesus died, but why? According to the Gospel, it was for our sins! (1 John 2:2, 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 8, Isaiah 53.
• Attest to by the Old Testament. The Old Testament Scriptures tell us that the Messiah would die for the sins of the people.
• SLIDE #5
• 1 Peter 1:10–12 (HCSB) 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. 11 They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Angels desire to look into these things.
• Isaiah 53; Psalm 22; Daniel 9:26; Zechariah 12:10 are just a few more passages that attest to what would happen to Jesus.
• Next we see…
• He was buried. All of the gospels affirm the burial. The burial was recorded carefully in all four gospels; this was an important fact to show He did not survive the crucifixion.
• He was raised on the third day! The great thing about the gospel message is not that Jesus died.
• In verse four we have a verb-tense change. In the end of verse 3 and beginning of verse 4 the verbs died, and buried indicate a one-time past act that took place once and for all.
• When we get to the verb “raised” its tense indicates something that took place in the past time, whose result still remains. He REMAINS ALIVE, AND HE WILL ALWAYS BE ALIVE (Gareth Reese 1 Corinthians Syllabus)
• This also indicates that Jesus did not raise Himself, but that He was raised by the work of God.
• John MacArthur Jr. in his commentary on 1 Corinthians writes, “A follower of Buddha writes of that religious leader, “When Buddha died it was with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains.” Mohammed died at Medina on June 8, 632, at the age of 61, and his tomb there is visited yearly by tens of thousands of Muslims. But they come to mourn his death, not to celebrate his resurrection. Yet the church of Jesus Christ, not just on Easter Sunday but at every service of immersion baptism, celebrates the victory of her Lord over death and the grave. (John MacArthur Jr. commentary on 1 Corinthians)
• There are many proofs of the resurrection. Jesus’ life, the empty grave, transformation of the disciples, existence of the early church, the gospel record, and the eyewitnesses.
• According to the scriptures. The Old Testament attested to all that was going to happen. After the resurrection Jesus meets up with two men on the road to Emmaus Jesus used the Old Testament scriptures to tell them all about the Messiah.
• SLIDE #6
• Luke 24:25–27 (HCSB) 25 He said to them, “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
• Let’s turn back to verse 2
• SLIDE #7
• 1 Corinthians 15:2 (HCSB) You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose.
• SLIDE #8
II. WHAT BENEFIT IS THE GOSPEL TO ME? VERSE 2
• It offers me salvation. By it you can be saved!
• Verse 2 tells us the gospel saves us! (EXPLAIN forgiveness, peace, etc)
• SLIDE #9
• Romans 1:16–17 (HCSB) 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
• The gospel of Jesus Christ offers us eternal life!
• The gospel was the center of the preaching of the early Church. Acts 14:21 and many other places we see people were won to Jesus through the preaching of the Gospel!
• The only chance we have for salvation is through Jesus.
• SLIDE #10
• Acts 4:12 (HCSB) There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.”
• I have a question for anyone here today that has not given their lives to Jesus.
• Where do you place your hope and on what evidence do you place that hope?
• I really pray that you will think long and hard about that question, I do not know what your experience with Christianity had been in the past, for many it had been bad.
• Maybe it is time to give things a fresh look. God is not afraid of your skepticism.
• Just be willing to be open to God!
• The gospel is the power of God, let’s make sure we do not dilute that power by watering down the message or adding things to the gospel that would make it more difficult for people to accept it!
• Let’s turn back to verses 1-2!
• SLIDE #11
• 1 Corinthians 15:1–2 (HCSB) 1 Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. 2 You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose.
• SLIDE #12
III. HOW CAN ONE RECEIVE THE BENEFITS OF THE GOSPEL? VERSE 1-2
• I am going to give a brief overview of what we must do to receive the benefits of the gospel.
• We must receive it. To receive the gospel means in part that we accept the facts as truth. Paul said the Corinthian’s received the message, they accepted it when it was preached to them.
• There is a lot of discussion in the church world as to how to RECEIVE the gospel.
• The Bible tells what we are to do after we receive and believe the gospel message. (FAITH, REPENTANCE, CONFESSION, BAPTISM, NEW LIFE)
• We must stand on it. This is a kin to taking a stand for something. If you believe in something enough you will take a stand for it.
• Without the facts of the gospel, we have nothing to stand upon. We receive the gospel at some point in the past, but we now stand upon that message.
• Without the facts to stand on, Christianity is just another worthless religion. This is why the resurrection is attacked so much. Destroy the foundation, and the whole thing collapses.
• We must hold on to it. (Faithfulness) Not only must we stand on it, but we must continue to hold on to it in the future. This is faithfulness to the gospel.
• SLIDE #13
• Hebrews 10:23 (HCSB) Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
• Holding fast means that we do not give up, that we put forth a lot of effort to hold on to what we believe. You cannot come and go as you please, God calls us to be faithful until death.
• SLIDE #14
• Revelation 2:10 (HCSB) Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will have affliction for 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
• Failure to do these things will make our faith worthless and empty. If we quit before the race of life is over, there will be n reward for us. The faith we possessed for a time will have been a waste.
• Let’s put some icing on the cake now!
• SLIDE #15
• 1 Corinthians 15:5–8 (HCSB) 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He also appeared to me.
• SLIDE #16
IV. Eyewitnesses who saw the raw power of the Gospel!
• WE have the list of those who saw Jesus AFTER He was raised!
• Peter, the 12, over 500 at one time who most of were still alive when Paul wrote this!
• James, the skeptical brother of Jesus, later becomes a pillar of the church who eventually dies for his faith.
• The 12, scared to death when Jesus was being crucified, running, denying, hiding, scared.
• Then they boldly go into the streets of Jerusalem preaching Jesus, all but John dies as a martyr for their faith!
• The POWER of God to change! The Power of God to salvation! The Gospel!
CONCLUSION
• So for those of us who belong to Jesus, what do you need to know so you can help lead another to Jesus?
• The GOSPEL! 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
• What are you basing your salvation on? What promises and what guarantees do you have?
• Do you want to clean the slate of your life? Do you want to spend eternity with the God who created everything AND HE loves you!
• If you base your eternity on the Gospel of Jesus Christ you will have facts to believe, not just some pie in the sky baseless hope.
• You will have real promises to claim, not a bunch of false hope!
• Today we offer you eternal life through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• When you understand that there is a God in heaven and that Jesus is His Son and that you are a lost soul without Him, it is decision time for you.
• Next week we are going to look at the resurrection of Jesus and we will see why it is the foundation of the Gospel message.
