1 Corinthians 15:1-12, PRBC April 25, 2010

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1 Corinthians 15:1-12, PRBC April 25, 2010

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As we look at this very important text, let's ask the

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Lord to bless our time together. Our Gracious Heavenly Father, we would ask that you would help us to set aside and carry the world of things that would distract us.

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Focus upon your truth. May you, by your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and minds. Help us to be obedient servants of Jesus Christ, to hear his voice and his word, and to pray in Christ's name.

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Amen. There are certain texts in the

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New Testament that Christian scholars have identified as being very primitive.

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What we mean by that is that they go back to a very early time in the writing of the

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New Testament. We need to remember, of course, that the New Testament was not written

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Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, in that particular order. In fact, most believe that the

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Gospels are written substantially later than a number of Paul's epistles.

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Even within the writings of, for example, the Apostle Paul, or that of James, for example, which is also considered to be one of the earlier books to be written, you will find strata of writings.

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Paul, for example, makes reference, when he writes the Philippians, in Philippians chapter 2, to what seems like a fragment of an early hymn of the church.

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Now, this would mean that very early on, within the first few years, the

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Christian people recognized the newness and uniqueness of what

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God had done in Jesus Christ, and had even gotten to the point at that very early time of writing music, of putting together what would be called the primitive confessions and creeds of the

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Christian people. And one of those sections that we can identify is here in 1

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Corinthians chapter 15. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the Apostle Paul is addressing the issue of the resurrection.

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As we will note, he's going to say, how is it that there are some among you who are denying and saying there is no resurrection of the dead?

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And this is one of the lengthier chapters that goes into the most depth on the subject of the resurrection.

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But before he goes into correcting the errors, and in essence arguing with at least some of the people there at the church at Corinth, The Apostle lays out the

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Gospel, and in so doing, demonstrates the concept of resurrection is absolutely definitional to the

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Gospel itself. And therefore, to hold a false opinion in the matter of resurrection, that which died coming to life again, that's what the resurrection was, that's how people understood that term.

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We've come up with all sorts of substitutes for that in our day. There are many people today who would say, well, you know,

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Jesus was alive in their hearts, and so that's the resurrection. And it doesn't really matter what happened in regards to a corpse in a grave, as long as we live our lives for Jesus, then he's been raised from the dead.

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And there are churches that you could go to within a very short driving distance of where we are right now, where that's exactly what you would hear from the pulpit.

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It might be a much higher voice, because it might be a woman preaching it, but that's what you would hear from any pulpit not very far from where we are right now.

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But the resurrection was not something about a corpse in a tomb. It was not something about an empty tomb that was literally really empty.

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It was that, well, the disciples, they just loved Jesus so much that they just continued to live for him, and that's what the resurrection was all about.

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And that unfortunately has become a very common belief amongst many people today, because it fits with our nice naturalistic society, where there aren't any miracles.

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And let's face it, we're all a little bit embarrassed once in a while to talk to somebody and say, yes,

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I believe a miracle took place, and it was a tremendous miracle, the resurrection of Christ, or something like that.

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And so there are many people who find it comfortable to go this direction, and Paul's whole point is, here's the gospel.

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This is the gospel that's been proclaimed to you, and you will notice that absolutely central to this definition of the gospel is the resurrection.

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Not a false resurrection, not a just spiritual resurrection, but the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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He was seen after his death in a physical body, and here is the people who saw him.

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This is the gospel by which you are saved and in which you stand. And therefore, to hold false views here is to abandon the gospel of Jesus Christ itself.

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So, most would see that this is really the heart of this epistle to the

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Corinthians. And it's a church that had a lot of problems, but it's interesting to me that in the midst of all their problems, there is a doctrinal problem that becomes the center of Paul's focus here in 1

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Corinthians chapter 15. Now, most believe that what we have in at least verses 3 through 7, and maybe all the way down through 11, certainly 3 through 7, goes before Paul.

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Now remember, and this is so very important, if you have the opportunity, I know that at the beginning of each year, there's this push to get people to read through the

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Bible in a year. That's a wonderful thing to do. I would highly recommend it to you. But, try to make some room in your memorization of scripture, in your study of scripture.

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Try to make some room to at least read those background sections if you've got a study

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Bible. You know, the ESV study Bible is all the rage today, if you've seen it.

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You can always tell someone who's carrying it, they walk with an anvil. Because it is so huge.

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It's even larger than the Mormon quad. Have you ever seen the Mormon quad? The Book of Mormon, Dr. Coz, Poetry at Price, and King James Version Bible.

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All in one beast. I think the ESV study Bible actually now has that beat as far as how many pages you can cram into one volume.

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It's massive. But one of the nice things about any study Bible, ESV study

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Bible or any others, is that there is this introductory material. And it will be very helpful for you in your study of the

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Word of God. To understand Paul's travels and the context from which

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Paul was speaking. Very important to know something about the backgrounds and when most people feel these books were written.

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When we look at the Corinthian correspondence, we look at what's going on. We find things out about the church, the context.

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It was in much paganism. Tremendous amount of debauchery in Corinth. And it becomes very important in the interpretation of it.

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But we also see that a couple of decades have passed since the events of Jesus' life.

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And so, what have people been doing during that time period? The New Testament has not yet been written.

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Maybe some of the earliest books are starting to be written. Paul probably starts writing toward the end of the 5th decade.

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That's the end of the 40s. We had all that problem back in 2000, thinking that was the end of the millennium.

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And it really wasn't. And all the rest of that stuff. But probably beginning to write toward the end of the 40s.

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Some people put Galatians in that area. And writing in the 50s. 51, 55.

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These years of the 1st century. Well, were Christians saying nothing or doing nothing during that time period?

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No. The church was expanding, primarily through the ministry of the eyewitnesses.

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The people who had seen Jesus. A body of his teachings has developed.

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Paul even makes reference to those teachings. For example, in the Church of Corinth.

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He says, I have a commandment from the Lord. And he quotes from what we have in our

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Gospels about marriage. But then he says, I do not have a commandment from the Lord on this. And he addresses something that we don't have in our

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Gospels. And he references Jesus addressing that. So, there was a fixed body of what we call oral tradition.

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That is, the oral teaching of Jesus. The apostles are still there. There are eyewitnesses that were still there.

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And it becomes a fixed body over that period of time. But there also would need to be summaries.

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Think about it. Many of you who are regulars here teach the children at some point or another.

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And you have found it to be useful to have a catechism. The children's catechism.

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Which provides a short, brief summary. Now, it would not be enough for us to just use the children's catechism every single

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Sunday. It's there for a purpose. There needs to be summary statements. Just as we have a confession of faith.

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But if you've noticed, our confession of faith is considerably smaller than the Bible itself. That's the whole point of confessions, is that they are a summary.

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And since the Church is coming out of, at least initially, a Jewish background. It would not have been at all surprising for the people to seek these kinds of summaries.

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Because, what did every good Jewish person do every morning when they arose?

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They said the Shema. Deuteronomy 6 -4. Shema Yisrael Yahweh Eloheinu, Yahweh of God.

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Hear Israel, Yahweh is our Lord, Yahweh is One. And so they were a people who were bound together by a common confession.

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And so, it would actually be extremely strange, if over that number of years, that had elapsed between the outpouring of the

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Holy Spirit and the establishment of the Church, and now the Church is spreading around Asia Minor, and into Greece, and into Italy, toward Rome itself.

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If there had not been a summary of the Christian faith that was produced.

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And so most scholars believe that verses 3 -7 is an ancient fragment of a confession, or all of that confession, a summary of the

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Gospel itself, that some even very liberal scholars have dated to literally within months of the crucifixion itself.

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A very, very early summary of the Gospel message, which might be the earliest

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New Testament material that we have. Even though it's not written down for another 15 or 20 years after that.

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In Paul's epistle here. And so notice what he says. Now I would remind you, or make known to you, brethren, the

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Gospel which I evangelized to you, which I proclaimed to you.

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It's the same root as the Gospel. The Gospel which

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I evangelized to you, which also you received, and in which, that is the

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Gospel message also, you stand, or have taken your stand. And by which also you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word which

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I preached to you. Unless you believed, and I think most of your translations here will say, in vain.

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But that suggests the idea that there is saving faith that can be vain faith, which really isn't the case.

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The term there, believed unto emptiness, or really I think the proper way that I would suggest it to be understood, is you believed without proper understanding, without properly examining what the

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Gospel itself is. For I delivered to you, standard term used for passing on a message, the ancient form of what we do today electronically, but it was done word of mouth, passing on a tradition, a message, a story.

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I delivered to you of first importance, as a primary truth, what

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I also received. So Paul says, I'm standing with you in this, that Christ died for our sins according to the

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Scriptures. Christ died for our sins, in behalf of our sins.

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Substitutionary atonement right at the beginning, according to the Scriptures. And that He was buried.

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Standard term for burial, nothing spiritual about it. And that He rose the third day according to the

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Scriptures. And that He was seen, I'm sorry, that He appeared to Cephas, Peter, and then the twelve.

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And then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom abide until now, they're still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

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And then He appeared to James, then to all of the apostles.

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And last of all, as to one, and the term is a miscarriage.

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One untimely born. Last of all, as to one untimely born,

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He appeared also to me. For, Paul says, I am the least of the apostles.

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I am unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

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But, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace toward me has not been in vain or unto emptiness, it's not been a waste.

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On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not

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I, but the grace of God that was in me. Whether then it was

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I or they, so we are preaching, we are proclaiming, and thus you have believed.

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And then notice, at this point, He transitions into His argument. Now, if Christ is proclaimed, very same term that is used in verse 11 is used in verse 12.

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If Christ is proclaimed, why do I emphasize this? Because sometimes your English Bibles translate all these words as preached.

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And we'll see, probably, Lord willing, this evening, why this is important. But if Christ is proclaimed that He rose from the dead, how is it that some of you, some amongst you, not all of you, but some in the fellowship there in Corinth, certain ones of you are saying there is no resurrection of the dead.

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And then He goes on from that point to emphasize the fact that what

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He has just proclaimed then with the Gospel. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even

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Christ has been raised from the dead. To hold that position is to fundamentally deny the

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Gospel itself. So let's look at this testimony that is given by Paul.

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And in the few moments we have, let me mention just some of the most important things to remember about this. Once again,

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I mention to the young people in the congregation today, especially those of you who are either in, or will soon be in, university settings.

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Especially in secular university settings. But I'd love to be able to tell you, well, as long as you go into Christian college it won't make any difference.

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But that would be very foolish. Wherever you might be going, may I emphasize to you the importance of hearing what this text is about.

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You will be told constantly that the faith that you hold as a modern

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Christian was something that would have been completely unknown to the early believers.

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That your beliefs about who Jesus was and what Jesus did developed over centuries and centuries and centuries.

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And that your claim to be a Bible -believing Christian is simply deceptive.

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It's not true. But what you're seeing here, as I said, may well be some of the earliest writing that we have.

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Some of the earliest evidence of what early Christians believed in all the

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New Testament. It may be some of the first revelation that we see since the time of the

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Old Testament prophets. It goes back to that very time period. And so to hear what they said is vitally important.

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Notice that Paul identifies it as the Gospel. There is a definable

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Gospel. Despite the fact that we live in a day where there are Gospels a dozen to be found.

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This is the Gospel. This is the Gospel which the Apostles gospeled.

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You know what euangelion, good news, means. So Paul says, this is the

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Gospel which we preached, which we proclaimed as good news.

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So this is the apostolic Gospel. There is a Gospel that can be defined. Many today do not believe we can define the

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Gospel. Many have given up the effort. Paul says, here is the

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Gospel, brethren. I want to remind you what it is. So that you have a foundation upon which to hear my correction of those amongst you who have gone in error concerning the resurrection.

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And notice this, which also you received. So I'm not proclaiming something new to you.

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This is the same message which was delivered before. I'm not shifting grounds.

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I'm not editing things. Isn't it wonderful, my brothers and sisters, if you are a member of this congregation.

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God has blessed us with many things. But one thing that I don't think you really realize, because most of us don't, sort of homebodies, don't do a lot of visiting around.

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But the fact that you can come to this place, and the world says this is our problem.

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I consider it one of our greatest treasures. The fact that you can come to this place and you're going to hear the same message.

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Not the same message every week. You're going to hear the same Gospel. The consistent application of the

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Word of God week in and week out. If you don't realize it's one of the greatest blessings we have, you need to.

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Because that's not something that is a common blessing across our land today.

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In many places people come to church and they don't know on that Sunday morning whether they're going to get this perspective, or that perspective, or no perspective at all.

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It is a blessing and I hope we are thankful for it. So this is the

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Gospel we have proclaimed. This is what you've received, in which also you stand.

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This is the only place where the Christian church can stand. Luther was right.

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Because the Gospel is the only ground upon which the church can stand. When the church tries to make its own ground to stand upon, that is the falling church.

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That is the church sliding into apostasy. So I make known to you,

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I remind you of this Gospel. And it is the Gospel, verse 2, through which you are also being saved.

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That is the only way of salvation. There is only one Gospel and there is only one Gospel that saves.

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And that's why Christians are so concerned about this matter. And that's why Paul's going to write this really long chapter.

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We call it a long chapter, but a really long section. Because he is concerned as well.

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By which you are being saved, if... Now remember, he said there are certain ones amongst you.

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Are they false teachers? Are they just confused? Are they ignorant? He is addressing the whole group.

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And so, if you hold fast to the... And it's a very, very difficult

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Greek, by the way. It's a very unusual way. If you hold fast, what words

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I deliver to you. And then, unless you believe in vain.

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Like I said when I first read through it. I think the best way to understand that is not that...

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Well, you believe, but your belief isn't the right thing, but it is vain belief. I think the point that is being made here is that there might have been people who have not understood what the

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Gospel is. They've claimed faith, but they do not really understand what the Gospel itself is.

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And those would be those denying resurrection. I don't know how you could possibly say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the resurrected

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Lord. You don't know what resurrection is. Or deny the resurrection is even a possibility. And so this is the

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Gospel that brings salvation. To vary from this, to question this, to reject this, is to abandon the

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Christian faith. One of the reasons I emphasize this is that I have been deeply troubled by many conservative, well -known conservative people within our culture.

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Conservative in the sense of theologically and biblically. Who seem to have stepped onto a rather slippery slope of thinking that we can have unity with people outside of the

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Gospel, as long as we're Trinitarians. As long as we confess that, well, that Jesus even rose from the dead.

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We'll confess that Jesus rose from the dead, we'll be Trinitarians. But the Gospel is left off to the side as if it's a negotiable thing.

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As if it's no longer definitional of the faith itself. Paul would not even begin to understand such a perspective.

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Then you have something very important in verse 3. Please make sure you see this. For I delivered to you of most importance, of first import, what

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I also received. These are standard words for the passing on of tradition.

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Now, tradition is often used in a very negative light in the New Testament because of the scribes and Pharisees who overthrew the testimony of Scripture for the sake of their tradition that did not come from God.

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But obviously, given the context of this letter and this culture, the primary way in which the

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Gospel was being communicated at this time was through the spoken word. The New Testament is just now beginning to be written.

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And what Paul is saying here is that there is one message, one core teaching that has been delivered to all believers.

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And that's what I'm about to tell you. It says, which also I received. And then you basically have the

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Greek equivalent of quotation marks. Christ died for our sins according to Scripture.

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Here's the body. Here is what I delivered to you. It was delivered to me.

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Now immediately some people go, ah, ah, ah. But in Galatians chapter 1, Paul said he wasn't taught this.

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He received it from Lord Jesus. Well, two possible ways of understanding that.

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In this section, Paul is emphasizing his absolute unity with the

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Corinthian people, with all Christian people, in holding to the one

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Gospel that saves. That's what unites the Church. And so the emphasis here for the

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Apostle Paul would be the message I preach, the message that Peter preaches, the message that James preaches.

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We're preaching the same message. Now people today love to try to drive wedges between them and find all sorts of differences and divide the

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New Testament up all to find something new to write about. But this doesn't say how

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Paul received this message. For I delivered to you what

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I also received, the assumption being, well that means he received it from Peter, received it from someone else. Well, he did when he went to Jerusalem.

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There was perfect unity that existed between what he had received from the Lord Jesus Christ and what they had received from the

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Lord Jesus Christ. But the point is, Paul did receive this message.

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He received it in a divine fashion. But it's the same message. That's the whole point.

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It amazes me that there are people who try to look at this and go, oh well, there's just a glaring contradiction here.

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This can't possibly be the same person who says to the Galatians, I was not taught by men.

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I received it from Jesus. And here Paul is saying, and so I delivered to you what I also received. What that means is,

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I received it without divine intervention. I didn't receive it from the

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Lord Jesus or anything else. That's not what he's saying. What he is saying is, there is unity in the presentation of the gospel, no matter who, whether it's

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Paul, whether it's Peter, whether it's Apollos, we are all presenting the same message to you.

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I passed on to you faithfully. I didn't edit it. I didn't change it.

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I didn't insert myself in it just for the fun of it. And here's what was delivered to you.

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What is the fundamental assertion? Christ died. Christos, Messiah.

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The Messiah died. The first two words, a stumbling block to anyone in that day.

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No attempt to soften it. No attempt to make it more acceptable.

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A direct assertion, the Messiah died, and he died for a purpose.

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He died for our sins. A word of substitution in our place.

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Because of our sins, Christ's death was an atoning sacrifice.

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And the assertion, notice, according to the scriptures.

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That is, just as you may recall, as we have looked in the past, at such texts as Luke chapter 24, when

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Jesus meets with the disciples after his resurrection, what does he do? He opens their minds to understand the scriptures.

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In what way? In regards to their testimony about him. The firm, fundamental, and frequently repeated assertion of the early church is that the message of what

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Jesus did is in perfect harmony with the law, and the prophets, and the writings.

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The Tanakh, the Torah, the Nevi, and the Kedavim. What we call the Old Testament. Perfect unity.

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So you'll notice, according to the scriptures, according to the scriptures, these are not people who are saying, we've got no connection with that Judaism stuff.

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These are people who are saying, what we believe is the fulfillment of the scriptures.

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Because remember, as these people are gathering, they don't have any testament to read. They read from the same book on Sunday morning and Sunday night.

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We only read from that portion on Sunday night, but they read from the same one, Sunday morning, Sunday night.

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In Corinth, they would have had what's called the Greek Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Genesis through Malachi.

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Well, the way they ordered it, Genesis through 2 Chronicles. But it was the same thing that we have. It's the

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Old Testament. And so this emphasis of according to scriptures, according to scriptures, according to scriptures, means they were going to the divine oracles to demonstrate these things.

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So the first assertion, Christ dies, His death is a real death, it is a sacrificial death, it is a propitiatory death, it has to do with our sin.

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May I suggest to you, just in passing, that a culture that gets to the point where it is so far underneath the wrath of God, that that phrase, our sins, is no longer even understandable to them, is a culture that will not long last.

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Is that not one of the most offensive elements of the Gospel today? Is that not one of the primary things we have to deal with?

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What do you mean, my sins? Only the Spirit of God can bring conviction.

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So that when a person hears those words, you say, yes, my sins. He died for our sins, according to scriptures.

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And He was buried. Standard word. It's a historical event.

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He died. It uses a form to talk about a reality in the past.

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He was buried. It happened historically. He was buried.

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And He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. And once again, the emphasis would be there, not so much, well, the scriptures say

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He rose again, as in New Testament writings. No. The idea being, the scriptures teach that these things were necessary.

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And from the Old Testament's perspective, they would primarily be prophetic. Maybe Isaiah 53,

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Psalm 2, Psalm 22, etc., etc. The text that the early church used,

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Psalm 110, to demonstrate these things. So here in the

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Gospel, you have historical events. Died, buried, rose again.

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Standard term to rise up. He rose again the third day.

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And when you put that term, rose, together with buried, all of the amazing ways that people have come up with to try to get around what's actually being said here, to try to spiritualize it, to try to make it something other than a true physical death, a true physical burial, and a true physical resurrection, it just doesn't work.

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You have to stretch the words beyond the boundaries to do so.

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But notice the emphasis that is then delivered. He was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, but that wasn't it.

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That's not all. And He appeared to people. He appeared to Peter.

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We don't know much about this encounter. We can speculate a lot.

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But we don't know much about it. We know He appeared to the Twelve, and it is interesting to me.

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I was looking at some of the textual data, and some Western scribes, hundreds of years later, but some

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Western scribes, changed that from the Twelve to the Eleven. Because they're going,

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Judas? No. Dead. There's only eleven left.

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As if it was not recognizing that the Twelve was a name for the group, rather than a one, two, three type of counting number.

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Paul did not work from the senses of that. Thankfully. But He appeared to Twelve.

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Now we have that narrated for us in a number of the Gospels. Then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time.

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Now, in a matter of weeks, I will be debating a man, and I will say more about this this evening, who says it is simply impossible that if this is a primitive

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Christian recollection of something that really happened, it's impossible that this didn't end up in the

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Gospels. Well, I wouldn't necessarily agree that it's impossible, but I also would point out that when

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Matthew records Jesus' appearance to a number of disciples, remember it's the same incident where in Matthew chapter 28, he,

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Matthew, honestly records for us, some doubt it. Some were just so amazed that they doubted it.

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Now notice that Matthew doesn't tell us how many people were there. And it would seem rather obvious, especially given the chronological order that we're going in here, that this was the same incident.

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So it does appear in the Gospels, just without the specific number being mentioned.

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And notice Paul says, now some time has passed. And this was a day where there was lots of disease and amazing ways to die.

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And so some have fallen asleep. Some have died since that time, but a large portion of the 500 are still around.

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What does that mean? He's all the way in Corinth. These people, especially after the persecution in Palestine itself, are driven out into the churches.

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Where are they going to go? They're going to go to the churches. Christians gathering together. So these are people who are eyewitnesses, and they're out there in the churches.

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They knew of them. They might have even known some of those who had died. But the eyewitnesses are there.

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But that wasn't all. Then he also appeared to James and to all of the apostles.

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Now here is the difference between the twelve and the apostles. We know that after Jesus' resurrection, they chose someone to take

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Judas' place. And one of the requirements was that you had to have seen

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Jesus during his earthly ministry. We also know that a couple of other people are called apostles, just beyond the twelve.

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And so there were those who were seen in that way early on. Not so much as being amongst the twelve, but as having been a part of Jesus' earthly ministry.

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You know, we had his 70 and things like that. They were sent out at one point or another. And so Jesus continues to appear.

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He appears to James, then to all the apostles. And then we have the personal aspect.

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Maybe this ancient discussion ended with verse 7, and then we have the personal aspect.

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Paul's personal application of this tradition that he delivered.

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Because then he speaks of himself. And he speaks of himself as, last of all, as to one untimely born.

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One who comes into this situation late.

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Now you wonder why Paul would use that type of terminology. As I was thinking about it,

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I had to wonder. We can tell from the Corinthian correspondence that he had his enemies.

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That he had people who did not like him. He had people who questioned his apostolic authority. People, especially in the churches in Galatia, obviously.

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But even there in Corinth. He's not really an apostle. He wasn't Jesus. He's only seen a vision of Jesus on the road.

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And what's more than that. Remember, and I wonder if they had some names. I mean they could always say

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Stephen. Remember Stephen? They laid their coats at Paul's feet.

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As Stephen died a horrible death. And were there other names?

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I don't know. But I have to imagine that at some point or another.

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Paul may have had some conversations with the Lord. About these people who were constantly bringing these things up.

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How can he really be an apostle in light of this? In light of that? And so he reflects this when he says

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I am the least of the apostles. I'm not even worthy.

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I am unworthy of being called an apostle. Even though he does call himself that.

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Because I persecuted. I pursued the church of God. Paul does not try to dodge this.

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He does not try to come up with excuses. He recognizes that he is who he is by the grace of God.

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That grace has worked within him mightily. But he does not excuse what happened before his conversion.

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He admits it. And I think when he says I'm not worthy to be called an apostle.

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He calls himself an apostle over and over in his letters. When he says worthy. What he's talking about is the fact that this is a high, high calling.

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And I remember clearly what I did. I am so thankful for those who brought me in once the

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Lord changed my heart. And changed my life. And trusted me. There's all this background which we know from Acts.

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That is mentioned here. Paul doesn't go back through all of it. But obviously in his time in Corinth and preaching.

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He would have communicated these things. So Paul rightly recognizes it is by the grace of God that he is what he is.

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His calling to apostleship was not something earned.

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It was not something merited. It was something by the grace of God. And certainly we can stop there and camp on that for a long time.

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Because which one of us has anything other than what has been given to him or her by the grace of God.

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It's an attitude that we should cultivate amongst believers. We would have significantly less arrogance, friction and backbiting in Christian congregation.

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If we simply realized that everything we have comes by the grace of God. But if somebody else has more physical possessions than you do.

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That's only because of the grace of God. And it might be the grace of God to you that you don't have those things. If you trust

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God's wisdom. You have to think that way. We might look at someone else and say, wow, they're genetically blessed.

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She doesn't have to do anything. She's always gorgeous. He doesn't have to do anything.

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He's going to look the same until he's 98. Why not me

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Lord? I've got to count every calorie. If I walk by in McDonald's I gain 3 pounds.

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It's just not fair. And it's real easy for us to slip into that mindset.

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It's real easy to look at somebody else's house, somebody else's car, somebody else's kids. Whatever else it might be.

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And not realize that I am what I am by the grace of God. And you don't know what ruin might come into your life if you actually had the things that somebody else had.

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If we would just recognize God's sovereignty and God's wisdom in His decree and His plan.

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Then we might just be very content with what the Lord has given to us.

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And find so much more joy in the small things in life. Realizing that they come from the grace of God.

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Paul realized that he had been put in the position he was put into. And it was a difficult position. By the grace of God.

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And God's grace had not been wasted on him. God had worked in his life.

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He worked harder than any of them. I'm not sure how

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Paul would do that. I'm not sure that Peter necessarily would have agreed.

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But Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles. He traveled a little bit more than most of the others did.

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Faced some rather interesting challenges. But even

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Paul recognizes. It was not I. It was the grace of God that is with me.

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Paul recognizes the source of his power. So the conclusion then was, whether then it was

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I or they. Whether it's me or Peter or Paul or whoever.

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Remember, thinking about 1 Corinthians. He's already talked about divisions in the church there.

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I'm Pope Paul. I'm Peter. Blah blah blah. The Corinthians were easy dividers along those lines.

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So whether it was I or they. So we are preaching. We are proclaiming.

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Que Russo. To proclaim. It's not the Evangelizo. It's not to evangelize. We are proclaiming.

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And thus you have believed. We have proclaimed this message.

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By the grace of God we have been sent unto you. We have proclaimed to you the Gospel that saves.

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And you have embraced that Gospel. You have believed. And on the basis then of that Gospel.

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He's now going to use that as the foundation. He's going to use that as the foundation to then bring correction within the church.

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So often. Error comes into the church.

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On issues that are not necessarily right here. They're right over here.

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Right over here. They are directly related to. And if you embrace these things. What it means is.

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That in the very core. You have a misunderstanding. Or what's worse. A denial.

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The only way the Apostle could do what he does in these words. Is if Christian truth is harmonious with his own.

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So many today. It is a true sadness of my heart.

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When I realize that so many people today. In theological seminaries. Are being taught by men who have absolutely no confidence.

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That there is a Christian truth. I don't know how you do it. I don't know why anybody does it. I can't imagine any more boring.

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To be a theological professor who doesn't believe theology is true. I mean go teach history or something.

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Crying out loud. Why are you doing this? But the only way the Apostle. Can do what he does here.

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The only way that he can bring correction. By reasoning from the center outward.

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Is if there is a harmony. In the Christian revelation. Which is the very thing that has been lost in so many churches today.

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And that's why. Oh why aren't your people so narrow over there? Why don't you allow for so much more freedom?

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Well. We should be free about the things the word of God is free about. But when it comes to the gospel.

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You become free on that. In the sense of allowing for all sorts of different gospels. You run afoul of scripture itself.

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So here you have the Apostle. He has reminded us and hopefully we have been reminded this morning.

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Here is the gospel. This is what God has done. Notice there wasn't anything in the summary of the gospel about what we've accomplished.

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Here is what God has done. In Jesus Christ. Now what

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I wish to do this evening. And to once again exhort you and encourage you to be here.

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We just looked at the text very closely. Yes. By nature I had to look at context and back off.

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And give some background information and things like that. That's just the way that I am. But we looked very closely at the text itself.

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Noticing the form of the words. And specifically the argument being made. And those things and that's all quite proper.

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But this evening I want to ask us to take a step back. And consider some broader issues.

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That likewise focus upon this text. But I felt at first. Especially on a

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Sunday morning. To look at these words and to be reminded as the

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Corinthians were. So long ago. This is the gospel of the

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Apostles. Which was proclaimed to you in which you have believed. We need a reminder.

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That the reason we have peace with God. Is because of what Christ has done for us. We need to be reminded.

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It was God's work. It was never ours. We need to be reminded. It was needed because of our sin.

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And that it is only in this gospel that we stand. A reminder given long ago.

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A reminder for us today. Let's be thankful. Our gracious Heavenly Father.

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We thank you once again for your word. And for how it continues to speak generation after generation.

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We thank you for the reminder that was given to the Corinthians. Of what the gospel is by which we are being saved.

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May we not be amongst those who have misunderstood. Not be amongst those who have missed the real message of what you have done in Jesus Christ.

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But may we all be amongst those who have bowed the knee in humble obedience. We have heard with ears that only you can give.

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If there be any here who have not heard this gospel. If there be any here who have not bowed that knee.

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May this be the day when they have heard of their sin and the perfect savior. May your gospel come alive in the hearts and minds we pray.