The person, purpose, and power of the Gospel 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

In your hearing is our text, just four verses of Scripture. Before we get into the text, let's go to the Lord in prayer, though, this morning. Heavenly Fathers, as I come before your throne, I thank you for the privilege and the honor to be in your house, God, today.

But even beyond that, Lord, to have the privilege and to have the honor of being able to open up your blessed and your holy word, and to read it, and to know, God, that according to your word, and based upon the truth of your word, to know that when we stand to preach the gospel, we know that it is not in vain.

I'm thankful today, God, for the truth that your word reminds me of, that your word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, that it cuts to the dividing asunder of the soul and of the spirit and of the joints and of the marrow, and your word, God, is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart of all men.

So, God, today, it is with this understanding and it is with this great respect that I personally enter upon this time that you have given us to preach your word with great reverence and respect. God, today, teach us from your word.

Instruct us out of your book today. And, God, I would ask this for the people right now, myself being included in this, people, that when we hear, read, look at your word, that we have an overwhelming sense of awe and respect for it as it is the very word of the living God.

God, save the lost. Rejoice the hearts and the minds of the saved in your word as we consider the gospel today. And, God, I pray that today would be a landmark day where your people, your people in this place, would have your truth undeniably engraved upon our souls and upon our minds that we would leave this place today, God, not only having heard the word of truth, but having applied the word of truth to our hearts and to our minds in such a way that when we do leave this place, that we share the gospel with our co-workers, with our friends, with our family members, with all those to whom you give us opportunity to share the gospel.

For it's in Jesus' name I pray, and this is what I ask in your name today, O God. Amen. I want to ask you this morning, if you would, please, if you're a note-taker, normally you're probably prepared for this, to take your pen and your paper out because I want to share a little bit about why we're going to look at what we're going to look at today with you for just a moment, but I want to encourage you today, if you've never done it before, for you today to take notes.

When we were in school, there were times when you would go to class and the teacher would say, there will be a test. Any of you remember that? That was the teacher's kind way of saying, you need to know what's being spoken to you today.

Our vision statement here at the church is that we desire to be a glory of God-centered, Bible-saturated, missions-focused, Holy Spirit-empowered body of believers. This evening at five, when we meet back here, we'll be going over some details about how the church was set up, but this morning, I want to say to you, confess to you, there are things that we've done good since the church began, and there are things that we've not yet moved really on to, to work at, and that's partially because I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, I'm not the quickest wit, I'm not the best study, I'm not the wisest and most eloquent preacher and teacher that there is.

I can only teach you what I understand and know, and if I were to try to teach you something that I did not understand and know, I'd be a fool, and by the way, you'd be a fool for listening to me. I think as a body, we've done well in understanding that our desire is to be glory of God-centered, that our desire, and we've done well in communicating that we want to be a Bible-saturated church.

It doesn't mean that we do it as good as other churches, or better than other churches, or even worse than other churches, it just means that we're striving to be in the text of Scripture every single week that we meet.

Holy Spirit-empowered, we understand that we must be strengthened, endued from power from on high by the Holy Spirit in order to be effective for the sake of the gospel. But then there comes the point of mission.

The Mission of the Church Is to Tell the Gospel

What is the mission of the church? What is the purpose of the church? What is the purpose of this church? What is the purpose of any church? The purpose of the church in general is so that those who are redeemed of God can gather together in a local body and can receive instruction from God's Word so that we can learn and know who God is.

For it's in knowing who God is that we understand who we are. This is what we're learning in Sunday school, having a right understanding of ourselves. But the mission of the church, I think, sometimes, a lot of times, many times, probably most times, is passed over, and it's this, that the church takes what God has done in and through the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we literally tell other people about it.

Some might say, well, preacher, that's your job. My job is to instruct you about what the Word of God says. By the way, I'm a sheep just like you are. There is one head of the church, and that is Jesus Christ.

I have truly the same calling in the general sense as you do to communicate, to tell the gospel to everybody and to anybody that is willing to hear it. That's the mission of the church. So the mission of the church is to tell the gospel.

In Matthew 28, 19 and 20, Jesus said, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Therefore, He said, therefore, go. There's a lot of concern. There's a lot of worry a lot of times. A lot of people, every time that you come in, you look around and you see the empty chairs, and we wonder, what in the world can we possibly do to fill these chairs?

There is nothing outside of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers that will fill these chairs effectively and efficiently. But in order to tell others about Jesus Christ and about what He has done, you must know what and how to do such a thing.

Amen? That eludes many of us. Many of us, it's a challenge to talk to people. It's a challenge to tell people. But there are three things that I want you to take away today concerning the gospel. I want you to know and to be able, when we give the quiz at the end of the message today, I want you, Bill, when I look at you to say, and I ask you this question, who is the person of the gospel?

I'm going to go ahead and give everybody the answer. Jesus is the person of the gospel. Who is the person of the gospel? Jesus is the person of the gospel. The next thing that I desire for you to know is what is the purpose of the gospel?

What is the purpose of the gospel? And the answer is, the purpose of the gospel is to tell and to inform the world concerning the good news of what Jesus Christ has come to do. Now, this is going to seem very basic.

It's going to seem very elementary. But we cannot neglect the basic nor the elementary. Nor can, as a preacher, I get up every week and just assume that you're doing these things. It is the word of God that we are to obey.

So the purpose of the gospel is to evangelize, to tell the good news about what Jesus Christ has done. The purpose of the gospel is to tell the good news about what Jesus Christ has done. And the last thing, the last question that will be on the test, if you'll have it, that you need to know, is I want you to know the power of the gospel.

The Person, Purpose, and Power of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

In 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 -4, this is what the word of God says. The word of God says, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, 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 I know there's a comma there, and I know that's not the end of the thought because the following verses tell us about the eyewitness accounts of those who saw Jesus literally and physically with their eyes.

But concerning the gospel, how many of us in this place, though you hear the gospel, that word gospel used so much? Last year when we were in Philippians, there was one man, after having listened to one of the messages, I was assuming it was a sarcastic comment.

He said, Do you love the gospel or what? To which my answer was yes, because outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I personally have no hope. The truth be told, outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you personally have no hope.

And outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ, this world personally has no hope. So we need the gospel of Jesus Christ. So noticing here what the text says, in the context, Paul is addressing the Corinthian church.

By the way, the Corinthian church was a church that was very troubled. They had a lot of issues. They had a lot of pride problems. They had a lot of people that wanted to do their own thing, their own way, on their own schedule, and do their own agenda.

Not any different than Rephramada Baptist Church, concerning the people of God. They had a problem of believing the false teachings that were brought in, the false narratives that were introduced to them, and particularly, they had the misguided notion, they had the wrong-headed understanding that Jesus Christ had raised from the dead, and because Jesus Christ had raised from the dead, that they one day would be raised from the dead.

But it was that very truth that they began to deny. It's very easy to stray from the truth if we do not hold our compass constantly before us. And so it's addressing the issue of them refusing or rejecting the resurrection of Christ after they had already believed in it.

Now they're trying to go back on it. But Paul says, Moreover, I declare to you the gospel. The Greek word used for gospel is euangelion, which means glad tidings or good news. Now what's interesting here is this.

He said, I declare to you the glad tidings, the good news, and then he says, which I preached to you. That word preach there, another form of that euangelion is used in the Greek for that word preach, but it's just the active tense of doing that.

It means to do. He said, I euangelized you. I told you the gospel. And Paul says, I told you the gospel. And then he says, by which you also received. He gives us a past, a present, and a future concerning the gospel.

He says, which I preached to you, which in the past you received. There are many today who are sitting in chairs just like you are sitting in or in pews like a lot of churches have, who have heard the gospel preached week after week after week, and yet tell, they are lost as a man could be.

Paul is reminding the church at Corinth here. He said, in the past you received the word. You had the word preached to you. You had the gospel preached to you. And then he says now, and then he says, and now it is in the which you stand.

Where we stand now is in the gospel. You have received the gospel in the past. You're standing in the gospel in the present. And then he says, by which also you are saved. In the future, we will be saved by the gospel.

There's a lot that is within this, but we just want to move on and hit these basic things so that we can get this in our minds. He reminds the person of the gospel, the purpose of the gospel, and the power of the gospel.

Paul went on to say this. He said, you've believed it if you hold fast that word, which I preached to you. And then somewhat, maybe even sarcastically, he says, unless you believed in vain. Now that's a big statement there, because later in addressing this issue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he reminds them of this, that if Christ is not raised from the dead, he said, then your faith is vain.

It is pointless. It is useless. But in this verse three, he said, for I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins. Who is the person of the gospel? It is Jesus Christ.

So here in a few minutes when the test is given, and you're asked, who is the person of the gospel? What is the answer? Jesus. Who is the person of the gospel? It is Jesus. And we have this in the text.

Paul said, Christ died for our sins. He is the person of the gospel. It does not need to be confusing. It does not need to be convoluted. It is very plain and it's very clear. Jesus is the person of the gospel.

That Christ, the person of the gospel, and we see the purpose of the gospel in that same statement, that Christ died for our sins. Why did Christ die for our sins? What was the purpose of Christ's death?

To make atonement for our sins. That's the answer there. What is the purpose of the gospel? To make atonement for our sins. So the purpose, the person of the gospel is Christ. The purpose of the gospel is that he make atonement for our sins.

And this is all based according to the scriptures. Now as everybody that we go to and we share the gospel with, that we communicate the gospel with, that we tell them, let me tell you about the person of the gospel of Jesus.

The person of the gospel, his name is Jesus. Let me tell you why Jesus came. Because I was a sinner separated from a holy God who abode under the wrath of an almighty God who had no hope of anything good in this world, but by his mercy and by his grace, he saved me.

That's the purpose of the gospel. It is not an addition. It is not an add-on. It is not something that will make your life better. It is the only thing that will save your soul. Are you saved? Do you know the gospel today?

Do you know the person of the gospel? His name is Jesus. Do you know the purpose of the gospel? That he died for your sins. Do you know this personally? Is this reality in your life? Do you know that outside of the grace of God that you right now at this very moment could be in hell?

Do you realize this? Listen, if ever there was an urgent issue, it is this, that the world needs Christ. And it is your responsibility to tell this world about Jesus Christ because the world cannot instruct the world in truth and righteousness because the world is lost in sin, but the church of Jesus Christ has been given the hope of this world to tell this world.

And yet what we do, we come in week after week and we hear it preached and we take it for granted and we blow off the preacher and we blow off the church attendants and we blow off everything and so it's something that we're doing God a favor by doing all that we do.

No Christ has done the greatest favor this world has ever known when he came into this world born of a virgin. And perfectly fulfilled by anyone else. So the gospel was to accomplish what you and I could not.

That is what Jesus did. And last of all, do you know the gospel? If I walked over there to that light switch, lift that one set of lights off that's on, we'd still have a little light, but you'd be able to tell that power was gone.

If there was an issue, but if I flip that switch, the light is on and you're aware that something is taking place. Are you aware of your sins? Are you aware of your standing before a holy God? Are you aware that you have been saved by the grace of God?

Because if you are aware that you have been saved by the grace of God, that you've been made a new creature, that you have been born again, then my friend, you have a little bit of an idea of what the power of the gospel is.

We can see the power of the gospel at work in others' lives, but I'm not talking about others right now. I'm asking you, are you aware of the power of the gospel? Has the power of the gospel been made an evidenced reality in your life?

Is Christ changing you? Mark gives us a tremendous illustration of the person, the purpose and the power of the gospel. Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2, the word of God beginning in verse 1 says this, and again he entered Capernaum speaking about Jesus.

After some days, and it was heard that he was in the house, immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, no, not even at the door. And he preached the word to them.

Then they came to him, bringing a paralytic man who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you. And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts and said, why does this man speak blasphemies like this?

Now, keep in mind what's going on here. We've read to you what took place. The scribes are sitting there in the midst of this great crowd of people. They have saw this roof uncovered. They have saw these men who let down their friend through the roof just so that he could get to Jesus.

Jesus tells the man, not right yet, he tells this man, your sins are forgiven you. Now, some might say what this man needed was to be healed and not to have his sins forgiven him. But the reality is the world and a lot of the church world has everything backwards.

It is not healing of your body that you need. You need to be healed of the sin in your soul. And only Christ can do that work. We see the person of the gospel there in the house. We see the purpose of the gospel because we know from the other gospel accounts, the purpose of the gospel is this.

As a scriptural definition, the purpose of the gospel, Jesus said, I have come to see and to save that which was lost. Jesus or the angel sent from God to Joseph when Mary had conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, Joseph really didn't know which way to turn, but the angel of the Lord came to Joseph in Matthew chapter one, verse 21.

He said, look, you will name his name Jesus and he shall save his people from their sins. That's the purpose of the gospel. And so Jesus says, your sins are forgiven you. And some of the scribes were sitting there and they began to reason in their hearts.

That's the religious way of saying, or not the religious. I don't want to say that. I want to say that's the hypocritical. They were hypocritically questioning God. That's what they were doing. They began to reason in their hearts.

And the Bible says this, they said, why does this man speak blasphemies like this? That was their first question. And their second question, listen, who can forgive sins but God alone? To which being where I am now, I say exactly, who can forgive sins but God alone?

But they did not understand this. They did not know, they did not understand that they were seeing the very son of God, God in human flesh, God and man, 100 God, 100 man. They were seeing him right before them and they are asking the question, who but God alone can forgive sin?

And then the Bible says, but immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said to them, why do you reason about these things in your heart? And Jesus looks at them and he says, is it easier for me to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven or to say arise, take up your bed and walk?

Jesus asked them a simple question. He said, basically, would you rather me have said, take up your bed and walk or to tell him your sins are forgiven? Would it have been easier for you to digest if I would have said that?

But Jesus says this, but that you may know, speaking to those scribes, those unbelieving hypocrites, he said, but that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. That's the power of the gospel.

The forgiveness of sins. So he said to the paralytic, I say to you arise, take up your bed and walk. The person of the gospel is Jesus Christ. The purpose of the gospel coming to this earth was so that we might have atonement made for our sins so that we might have the forgiveness of sins.

And so that, that power being put on display would be evident to all those who come in contact with those who have been changed by the power of the gospel. Are you changed? Is your mind different than it was before the time that you say that you got saved?

Is your speech different than it was before when you say you got saved? Is it different now? Is your walk different? Is your attitude, the attitude of our hearts, are they different? Because if they are not different, if there has not been a change, then you are not changed.

You must know the person of the gospel, the purpose of the gospel, and the power of the gospel. The apostle Paul, in the earlier part of his letter to the Corinthian church, he said this in chapter 1, verse 18, The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.

But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Let me say this, if you think the gospel is powerless, then you must be born again. There is biblically, I just don't know any other way to say it than to make this judgment call and to say if you are not aware of the change that Jesus Christ, that you claim has been wrought in your life, then you are not saved and you need not continue to live a lie.

You need not continue to believe the lie. Some may say, listen, there's been people in church their whole lives. Tim has this testimony. April has this testimony. They grew up in church. They heard the word preached, but the gospel was never effectual until they were born again.

And after you get born again, there ain't no denying it. You're not perfect in the flesh, but you certainly are different. And so Jesus said, arise, take up your bed and walk. And immediately he took up his bed and went into the presence of them all so that all were amazed and glorified God saying, we never saw anything like this.

And I would ask you today, do you have the testimony that you are saying? Has God so worked in your life that people wonder are like you all. And I'm not about to lean the way some folks say, some folks will say, you don't even need to speak the gospel to people.

You just need to live it before. And that is not biblical. You've got to tell the gospel. People will not get saved based upon your life. They're going to be saved by the life that Jesus Christ has lived and by the death that Jesus died and by the power of his resurrection.

The apostle Paul in chapter two in first Corinthians said this, and I brethren when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.

He said my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but was in demonstration of the spirit and of the power so that your faith, your hope, your confidence should not rest or lie in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

The gospel is powerful. The gospel is mighty to say. James talked about if you see your brother hungry or maybe that was Matthew, maybe that was Jesus. If you see your brother or sister hungry, destitute of daily food or drink and you don't give them anything, what good does it do them?

There is no more destitute that a man, a woman, a boy, or a girl can be than to be lost in their sin. And what they need is not the bread of this world. They need the bread of life. And do you realize that in your hands, if you're holding a Bible, you have.

How often do we take this Bible for granted? How often do we take the preached word for granted? William McCain wrote a song back in the 1800s. I can't remember exactly. I think I've got the date. I may have put the date here.

It's around the 1850s or so. William McCain. And it's in the song book, Revive Us Again. Somebody say it to me. 370. On page 370 of the song book, William McCain, again, in the 1800s, wrote this song.

Revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for the son of thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. All glory and praise to the lamb that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain.

Revive us again. Fill each heart with our love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. Somebody say, yeah, what's the big deal?

Well, the big deal is that the man who wrote that song right there, he had to come to a place in his life where he realized just how precious this book is. I want to read you his personal testimony. William McCain, in his own words, by the way, he was an accomplished doctor, Scottish, he was a Scottish man.

This is his testimony. He said, my dear mother had been a godly, pious woman, quite often telling me of the Savior and many times I've been a witness to her wrestling in prayer for my soul's salvation.

But nothing had made a deep impression on me. The older I grew, the more wicked I became. And one day a seriously injured laborer was brought into the hospital where I worked and the case was hopeless.

He seemed to realize his condition, for he was fully conscious and he asked me how long he would last and I gave him my opinion in as cautious a manner as I could. Have you any relatives whom we could notify? I asked him.

The patient shook his head. His only wish was to see his landlady because he owed her a small sum and also wished to bid her farewell. He also requested that his landlady send him the book. I went to see him on my regular visit at least once a day.

McKay is telling this and what struck me the most was the quiet and almost happy expression constantly on this man's face. After the man died, some things about the deceased's affairs were to be attended to in my presence.

What shall we do with this, asked the nurse, holding up a book in her hand. What kind of book is it, I asked. The nurse responded, it's just the Bible of this poor man. As long as he was able to read it though, he did so and when he was unable to do so anymore, he kept it under his bed cover.

I took the Bible, McKay said, and I could not believe my eyes. McKay said it was my own Bible. The Bible which my mother had given me when I left my parents' home and which later, when short of money, I sold for a small amount.

McKay said my name was still in it, written in my mother's hand. With a deep sense of shame, I looked upon that precious old book. It had given comfort and refreshing to the unfortunate man in his last hours.

It had been a guide to him into eternal life so that he had been enabled to die in peace and happiness. In this book, the last gift of my mother, I had actually sold it for a ridiculous price. But McKay went on to say, be it sufficient to say though, that regaining possession of my Bible was the cause of my conversion.

Is this book precious to you? There are two things in this life that are precious to me, naturally speaking. That's my wife and my son. And I will hold them and I will hug them and to run the risk of sounding like that cartoon, I will care for them and I will love them.

He is the everlasting word of the living God. And when heaven and earth pass away, his word will endure. Church, when we gather, and when you hear the word of God read, you hear the word of God preached, and you hear the word of God taught, please, please, please consider what you are doing and consider how precious a privilege it is that we have.

That being said, knowing the gospel ought to be precious unto us. And being able to communicate and to tell other people in a simple way who the gospel is, what the purpose of the gospel is, and what the power of the gospel is.

And so, if we truly are going to be missions focused, we can have deep understandings of the doctrines that are within the pages of this book, but if we do not apply and tell the simple truth, then we are not fulfilling God's great commission and we are not being obedient as a church.

And this is something that we move into, that we grow into, and that way we get a better understanding. But it's these basic things, knowing the gospel. Linda, who is the person of the gospel? Amen. Amen.

Brandy, what is the purpose of the gospel? Amen. What is the power of the gospel? Anybody? The forgiveness of our sins. So, do you think there's people that need to hear the gospel? Oh yes, probably an understatement.

And if there truly are people who need to hear the gospel, consider yourself. Did you need to hear the gospel? Amen. Still do. I love that answer, because that's the truth. The apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 verse 16 told the Roman believers, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God.

Unto salvation. To the Jew and also to the Greek. So here's the test. Carolyn, who is the person of the gospel? Amen. Tom, what is the purpose of the gospel? Amen. Angie, what is the power of the gospel?

Amen. Amen. That's it.