The Gospel - Christopher G. Brenyo

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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1st Corinthians chapter 15, beginning at verse one.

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This is God's holy and infallible word. Moreover, brethren,

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I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved.

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If you hold fast that word which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

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For I deliver to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve, and after that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some had fallen asleep.

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After that he was seen by James, then by all his apostles. Then last of all, he was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

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For I am the least of the apostles, whom not worthy 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 in his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not

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I, but the grace of God, which is at work in me. Therefore, whether it was

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I or they, so we preach, and so you believe. Please pray with me.

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O Lord Jesus, we treasure your gospel. I can't believe that you would save a sinner like me.

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I'm so thankful, Lord. I pray that these familiar truths, the very foundation of our lives, would be fresh and new to us today as we consider the gospel.

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Holy Spirit, I pray for your unction. I pray that you would illumine our understanding, and that your people would be stirred and alive and blessed, because they remember again, and perceive again, and believe again, and stand again on the gospel.

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And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

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Problems create great opportunities. I'm so thankful the church at Corinth had the problems it had, because in light of those troubles, and because of them,

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Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, wrote these tremendous words.

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1 Corinthians 15 is easily in the top two or three most favorite chapters in my

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Bible. I love 1 Corinthians 15. There's no passage I can think of that I would rather read than 1

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Corinthians 15. I've said this before, but parents, if you want your children to have a nice little answer for the question about what is the gospel,

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I would urge you to have your children, maybe as a family, you could memorize the first few verses of 1

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Corinthians 15, particularly verses 3 and 4, the actual content of the gospel.

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There's so much there, and the rhythm of it is such that little children can easily memorize those two verses.

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So Spurgeon called that the gospel in miniature, verses 3 and 4.

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Today we'll be looking at verses 1 through 4, with an allusion to a couple of verses after, but I reserve the right even next week to come back to these texts, these verses

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I should say, and to maybe expound on them a little bit more. So I'm going to give you a little bit more of a summary overview of the first four verses, but we may go back and deal with more of the intricate parts in the coming weeks, if the

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Lord is willing. In our text today, Paul introduces another subject that really needed to be addressed, and that doctrine, that subject was nothing less than the resurrection of Christ.

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1 Corinthians 15 is an apologetic defense of the doctrine of the resurrection, an essential component of the

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Christian faith. It is absolutely necessary that Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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This is one of those areas where false teaching had infected the congregation.

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Some were teaching and believing, from the most extreme to various forms of it, that there was not a resurrection of Christ.

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By extension, more of us. They denied the resurrection, or they severely diminished or limited its scope and did not appreciate what the resurrection meant to the church and her members.

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By correcting the error in the Corinthian Church, Paul, here under the inspiration of the

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Holy Spirit, gives us one of the most important and treasured passages in all of Scripture.

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The resurrection is essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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That's basically the thesis of my message today, but I'm intending to answer the question, what is the gospel?

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If there's a thesis statement overarching this, it is the resurrection is essential to the gospel of Christ, and today we're asking the question, what is the gospel?

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And Paul gives us an answer. You're taking notes.

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There are four areas that I've separated. It's going to be a little bit less structured in delivery, but these are the four areas.

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First, Paul received the gospel and preached the gospel. Paul received the gospel and Paul preached the gospel.

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Number two, the Corinthians, and by extension all Christians everywhere, also received the gospel and continue in the gospel.

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They stand on its firm foundation. It's not possible for true believers to apostatize and to go away.

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They continue to stand on the gospel. One of the things

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I think is wonderful about a gathering like ours is we're reminded that the gospel isn't just for lost people one time.

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The gospel is for the Christian every day, and the gospel is for the Christian every Sunday, every

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Lord's Day. We need to see, to hear the gospel.

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We need it as believers. So I believe the gospel many years ago. You need the gospel today.

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You need the reminder today about what Christ has done to save you.

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Third, I wish I could say this most emphatically, the gospel is the only way of salvation.

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We all know that to be true, but we have to realize that those around us are entertaining other ideas.

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The gospel, Christ, is the only way of salvation.

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You must hold fast to the word which was preached to you unless your believing was in vain.

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That's number three. The gospel is the only way of salvation.

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And finally, number four, the content of the gospel. Content of the gospel.

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Christ died for our sin according to the scripture.

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He was buried. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

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The content of the gospel. Christ died for our sin according to the scriptures.

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He was buried. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

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What is so remarkable about the content of the gospel is the elegant simplicity in which a child can embrace it.

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And the greatest teachers and students of theology could never plumb its debts.

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Isn't that remarkable about the gospel? It can be simply stated.

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It can be in an elegant and kind of a short way defined and explained.

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Man's need can be demonstrated. The provision in Christ. The appeal for men to come to Christ. All that can be done in a very short way, but who can plumb the depths of the gospel?

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It's so unsearchable. Who can go to the bottom or to the top or to the side? The breadth, the length, the width, the depth of the gospel.

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It's amazing how God has done it. And you see it's suitable character for every person in the assembly from the youngest among us, the most learned or the most advanced in theology, the gospel.

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Well, what is the gospel? Let's look at the text. This gospel apparently is very captivating.

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Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel, which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand.

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How did Paul hear and believe the gospel? That's the start of chapter nine, the book of Acts.

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This is important because Paul is an apostle.

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One of the qualifications for Paul is witness. I witness to the resurrection.

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Let's look at Acts chapter nine. The story is amazing.

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This is a wonderful story. Acts nine, beginning at verse one. Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the

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Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any who are of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

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Children, I want you to imagine this. The greatest opponent to the church in this time is probably the apostle, the future apostle

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Paul, here known as Saul. He was given permission by the chief priest to go to the synagogues and root out and round up the

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Christians that he might persecute them. That was his job to find

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Christians and persecute them. And he's eager to do this business.

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No doubt he believes this is the work of the Lord that he's doing to drive out this new little sect within Judaism, the

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Christians. But God had different plans for Saul. Verse three, as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

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Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

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And he said, who are you, Lord? Then the Lord said, I am

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Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goats.

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Now, I don't know if you caught that statement. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

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You might be asking yourself, how is this possible? Well, the church is the body of Christ.

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And one of the things we're trying to make much of in our communion service, the end every Sunday, is to see and picture our vital union with Christ.

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Rationally, logically, I read that statement and I think I can't persecute

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Christ. How can Paul persecute Christ? He's the risen Lord.

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He's conquered sin and death. How could Saul possibly persecute the person, the

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Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the answer is Christ is so united to us, his people, that he receives the persecution.

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He's so in union with Christ as the bride of Christ that our suffering falls under his suffering.

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We need to share in the sufferings of the Lord. The Lord has empathy to our condition because of his love for us, because of the union that we have with him, which he established at the cross, atoning for our sin.

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Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why are you saying bad things about me?

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Why are you dragging my people off to be condemned? Verse six, he responds, trembling and astonished.

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Lord, what do you want me to do? And the

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Lord said to him, arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.

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And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one.

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And Saul arose from the ground. When his eyes were open, he saw no one, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

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And he was three days without sight and either ate or drank. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named

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Ananias. And to him, the Lord said in a vision, Ananias. And he said, here I am,

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Lord. So the Lord said to him, arise and go to the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called

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Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. That street's still there in Damascus, by the way.

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And the vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight.

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And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

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And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon your name.

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But the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel.

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For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. Now, there's a couple of things

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I'd like to point out about this conversion experience. First, I want you to imagine someone, public figure, atheist or your friend, neighbor, family member, someone who seems very far away from God.

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It would seem utterly impossible for them to be saved. And I would say

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Paul is just as far or further gone than that person.

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To be an enemy of the gospel, to be an enemy of Christ in this conversion, in this moment, become the greatest herald and champion of Christ in his gospel, the world has ever seen.

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Would it be amazing if that unbelieving relative who's so hostile to God? What if they became the great next

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Spurgeon or some kind of Christian like that? That's the kind of thing God has done in history. There's something else.

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So let's look at this experience and say, I really wish the sky cracked open and I saw the

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Lord and I heard his voice and everybody went blind and deaf and all these things happen in my conversion.

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Your conversion is no less supernatural than it solves.

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It's very important that you understand that. We have a supernatural faith.

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God himself reached out of heaven and made you alive in Christ. It's just as earth shattering as Saul's conversion.

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This is what the gospel does. It takes the enemies of God and makes them

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God's son's bride. They make the enemies of God, God's friends.

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It makes the enemies of God joint heirs with Christ and his kingdom.

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That's what the gospel does. That's the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's turn back to our text of 1

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Corinthians 15. Paul had a dramatic conversion and he spent the rest of his days telling everyone a simple message, repent and believe the gospel.

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I think one of the reasons that Paul was not considered to be an eloquent speaker in Corinth, if you remember the early chapters and our early discussions about the sectarian spirit there,

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I think one of the reasons that he was not esteemed among the people is he came with the message of the gospel of Christ and some people wanted other things.

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Paul came preaching Christ and him crucified. Let's look at our text again.

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The church that disrespects him, that doesn't recognize his authority, Paul lovingly here calls them brethren.

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He says the gospel I declared to you, I preached it to you, you received it and this is the basis of your standing.

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This is in which you stand and this is where it's going. He's defending the resurrection.

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He's saying essentially the resurrection is essential to the gospel.

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You can't say yes, I believe Jesus died on the cross to save my sins, save me from my sins and also deny the resurrection.

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The gospel necessitates the doctrine of the resurrection.

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Verse two, this gospel is the basis of your salvation.

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I was thinking about this. I was trying to imagine the situation. Allow me just a little bit of speculation.

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I'm thinking there is a lot of problems at Corinth, crazy problems, but there must have been a strong group of believers there.

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I think Paul is really reaching out to those people who really believe the gospel and saying effectively, don't be persuaded by these other arguments that came in.

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Do you remember when I came and preached the gospel to you? Do you remember how it transformed your life? Do you remember how you became a pagan, going to the temple, all that stuff and now you're a true worshiper of Christ, you love

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Christ, you've repented of your sin, you're trying to live for him. Don't be persuaded by some other doctrine.

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So I think sometimes in Paul the preaching against the false teachers is less to kind of get the false teachers to come back because there may be apostate unbelieving people and more directed at the people who believe the gospel to prevent them from being swayed.

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Does that make sense? Don't you let these false teachers come in. Don't you let them persuade you that there is no resurrection.

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It's essential to the gospel. You need to hold it fast.

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You need to not let go. Let's turn to the book of Galatians in chapter 3.

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Galatians, just a couple books to the right. Galatians 3. There's always two elements assaulting the church.

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There is what we could make synonymous with the Judaizing element and there's the libertine antinomian element.

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The legalist, the Judaizing element is seeking to add something to the gospel.

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That's what they do. It's the gospel plus something else. The antinomian side says because you have the gospel you don't have to do anything.

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If you have the gospel you can live any way you want. Both of those are counterfeits to the true gospel.

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Here in Galatians, Paul is dealing with the Judaizers. Those who wanted to add the doctrine, the practice of circumcision and making it a part of the gospel.

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Make it essential to salvation. Galatians 3. O foolish

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Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes

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Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified.

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I was there, Galatians. I preached the gospel to you. I preached

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Christ in his elegant simplicity and all of his glory. I preached that he is the only way of salvation.

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You never heard me say you had to be circumcised in order to be saved.

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So there's kind of a similar argument. Paul preached a pure, simple, plain gospel to Corinth and a pure, simple, plain gospel to Galatia and forces came in trying to rock that.

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Verse 2. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

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Is there a way for you to work your way into heaven, Galatians? Are you going to be able to do it? Are you so foolish?

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Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?

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Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

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Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

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And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying,

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In you all the nations shall be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed with believing

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Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,

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Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

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But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith.

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The law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them.

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Now, here's the question. How can

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Paul and James, for example, Paul in two instances, Galatians and Romans, James, use the same story to talk about two different things, the same account.

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In James, he says, your works prove that you're a child of Abraham.

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And on this Reformation week, this Reformation Sunday, Luther said,

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I really, in his early days, don't like this epistle so much, because it challenges my doctrine that I'm building this great movement on.

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But there is no incompatibility. You see, Abraham believed

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God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He simply trusted him.

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But after he trusted him, he obeyed him. It's not in competition at all.

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What Paul is arguing against, both here and in Romans, is that you doing something to earn your salvation, performing some ritual, doing something that would merit

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God's favor. He said, no, your salvation is found only in Christ and his gospel.

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That's the only salvation. The law never gets you salvation. You can never get there by keeping the law.

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You've already blown it. Does he then say the law is unnecessary?

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By no means. We have an entirely different relationship with the law of God as believers.

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Now, let's go back to 1 Corinthians. Matthew Henry said that the doctrine of Christ's death and resurrection is at the foundation of Christianity.

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Remove this foundation and the whole fabric falls. All of our hopes for eternity sink at once.

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What if Christ didn't rise from the dead? We are, of all people, to be pitied because we have no salvation.

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But Christ has risen from the dead. Therefore, we are, of all people, most blessed.

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Paul says, the gospel demands the doctrine of the resurrection.

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He must believe in it. There is no possibility of salvation apart from Christ.

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This salvation comes through his death and resurrection. Our hope is built on this.

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We don't have time to go there. You can just listen. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

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For he who promised is faithful. Now, let me stop here. I want to ponder something for just a moment.

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Have you ever had a day of weak faith? Have you ever had a day where you had some uncertainty or questioned

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God's plan or his purposes? On those days, in your weakness, in your frailty, you look again to the one who is faithful, who keeps his promises.

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You see, this gospel, this good news, is so much better than anything we could come up with on our own.

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Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Oh, Lord, my faith is weak.

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Help my unbelief. I believe you, God. I believe you, Lord Jesus, can preserve me.

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People who believe the gospel hang all of their hopes on Christ. They don't hang it on themselves.

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They don't put it on anyone else. Their life is Christ. Their life hangs in the balance in the hands of Christ.

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And there they find security and rest. But today, if you're struggling, if you're weak, hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering.

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You might be wavering all over the place. You might be lacking assurance today.

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Today, in your lack of assurance, you lay hold of Christ, who is unwavering.

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Lay hold of Christ again, faith, and remember his promise. He keeps it.

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If you believe in me, you'll be saved. If you believe in me, you'll be secure in heaven.

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If you believe in me, you could never be snatched out of my hand. This faith that we describe is ultimately a persevering faith.

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We hold it fast to the end. And this is something that's very hard and it's very sensitive, even now.

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People of faith don't walk away from the faith, ultimately.

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Let me explain this. There is a kind of believing that's not saving.

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There's a kind of person that says, yes, I want to go along with the church, or I want to be baptized, or I want to participate in the life of the church.

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They seem like nice people over there. But those people sometimes fall away.

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To you who are Christians today, you will persevere to the end, not because of your skill or your talent, but because of divine preservation.

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We hold fast, we stay, we remain to the end, because God is holding us there.

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We're not keeping ourselves on the track. God is preserving us on the path.

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We must stand on this foundation of Christ with unflinching endurance.

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We must stand on Christ's gospel. Well, we talked a little bit about Paul's experience, and now we have to get into the content of the gospel, verse 3.

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Again, there's this apostolic progression. Paul received something, and he delivered it.

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And it's true for every Christian, isn't it? The Christian hears about the gospel because someone preaches the gospel to them.

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For I deliver to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures.

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We were talking about sin today in our Sunday school, and we concluded in some ways that we don't think so much about sin.

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We know it to be true. We know it's bad. We know that Christ had to come and all those things.

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But we've forgotten that man's fall into sin brought us into a state of misery.

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And the people who are enjoying their guilty pleasures in the world today without Christ will have an eternity filled with misery.

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There's nothing appealing for you out there, I promise. It always splashes. It always looks good.

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It's always appealing, tugs on the flesh. They have nothing for you out there.

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They have sin and death and misery. Christ died for our sins.

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I don't want you to think about your individual sins, but I want you to think about your sinfulness, the pattern of sinfulness in your life.

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I don't want you to wallow in the individual sins. I want you to think about your own propensity, your own tendency toward sin, your own inclination toward sin.

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You know how strong it is and how powerful it is. It's so strong and so powerful that Jesus Christ, the

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Son of God, had to die on the cross for it. That's how severe it is.

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That's how devastating it is. And it's how powerful Christ is.

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When you see it in your own life, how comprehensively corrupt you are, then you see something of the extent of God's mercy showed to you in Christ.

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And then you multiply it in all of the churches and all of the saints who've been redeemed by Christ.

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All of that sin, all of that treachery against the

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Holy God, all of it, Christ is able to pay for on the cross.

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What an incredible statement. Christ died for our sins.

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Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

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Something else that's important about this concept. The Christ that we believe in can't be the

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Christ of our own devising. He has to be the Messiah of the scriptures.

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There are a lot of false Jesus figures out there because they created a

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Jesus who's not the Jesus of the Bible. If you're a Christian, you better be getting your image of Jesus from the pages of scripture, not from your own sentiment and emotions or impressions or what people think.

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It better be formed by the Holy Word of God. Let's start to Psalm chapter 16.

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Psalm 16, I should say. There are a number of prophecies.

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I know there are more than 300 of them. Some extremely overt.

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Others a little bit more shadowy about the coming person of Christ, what he would do.

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Important doctrine of resurrection. Psalm 16, a

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Mictam of David. Preserve me, O God, for in you

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I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my

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Lord. My goodness is nothing apart from you. As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

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Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood

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I will not offer nor take up their names on my lips. O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup.

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You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

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Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel.

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My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand.

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I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices.

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My flesh also will rest in hope. For you shall not leave my soul in shale nor will you allow your

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Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life and your presence is fullness of joy.

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At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Did you catch that language in 9 and 10?

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We have David offering this prayer, praise. We have prophecy and type of Christ here who have this promise that his soul will not be left in shale and that his

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Holy One will not undergo corruption. You see the connection to our

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Lord and Savior here and by extension us. Because he's the firstfruits of resurrection, we too have a resurrection.

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Start over to Psalm 22. This is so compelling. Of course, places like Isaiah 53,

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Hosea 6, Daniel 9, all of these prophesy of Christ and his coming.

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But when we think about Christ died for our sins, listen to this

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Psalm of David, Psalm 22. My God, my

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God, why have you forsaken me? And Christian, I want you to lay hold of something today.

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Grasp something. Please take this with you today. There's never a day where you can say that God has forsaken you if you're a child of God.

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Because on that day, the Son of God was forsaken by his

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Father. You will never be alone because of what

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Christ has done. You will never be cast off. The wrath of God will never fall upon you because it fell upon him.

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Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because his

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Father forsake him on the cross. That never happens to you or to me because we're in him.

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The great picture of the gospel in Genesis 22 is one of my most favorite things.

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Someday I'm gonna commission a painting of that scene of Isaac being offered on the altar and the ram caught in the thicket.

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What's so amazing about the story of Genesis 22 is we all, our heart is kind of, there's a tension there.

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We know how the story ends. I feel the anxiety of the moment. Abraham is hoping for a resurrection of his son, something to happen or some other provision of God, maybe

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I see something in Isaac. I really truly believe one of the things that's left out of the story is

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Isaac's actual submission and obedience to his father. I think

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Isaac as a young man could have run away from old man Abraham and escaped. And so there's a sense which

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Isaac is a type of Christ because he willingly lays himself down and obeys his father. But in Genesis 22, the drama that unfolds for us is not in the ram being caught in the thicket and Isaac being pulled up, but that the son of God dies on the altar.

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Christ died for our sins. He suffered, he died for our sins on the cross.

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There's not another atonement that can be made. There's not a ram caught in a thicket. There's not another potential

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Messiah. He's the only one qualified and he does it. Let's go back to our text.

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At times it's important to know that Christ was also buried.

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Of course, lots of theories abound by unbelievers about what happened to Christ because they can't find his bones clearly.

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He's risen, he's in heaven now. Verse four, and he was buried.

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And one of the things that's very important about his burial is that Jesus actually died on the cross.

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There's a lot of speculation, some mystery about what was going on on those three days.

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One of the objections, if you talk to someone about the third day rising from the dead, you have to understand the

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Jewish conception of time. If Jesus died at roughly three in the afternoon on Friday, let's say, that would have been one day because the

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Jewish clock kind of worked from six in the morning to six at night. And so if he was on any part of any of those days, it would say a day, it would be attributed to that.

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And so for Jesus to rise early on Sunday morning, he would be touching on the third day.

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But it's important to know that Jesus was in the grave. His body was in the grave.

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And you and I, our bodies will go into the grave, but we don't stay there.

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God's not gonna leave us in jail. And wonder of wonders, mystery of mysteries, there's a spiritual resurrection, and I can't even fathom the mechanics, the physics of this, but the dead in Christ, their bodies are gonna be risen and glorified in heaven one day.

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I think, well, they're just dust, they're just ashes. Where is the apostle Paul's remains today?

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It's gotta be nothing left, but we will see the glorified body of the apostle

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Paul in heaven. And we ourselves will have glorified bodies in heaven.

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The world can think we're crazy and nuts. I like the resurrection. I don't care what they say.

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I like the idea that I will know and I will see my redeemer. I know he lives.

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I'll see him face to face. I like that. Jesus actually died on the cross.

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He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

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You remember that account early in the gospels where he says, early in John's gospel, destroy this temple and in three days,

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I will raise it up again. What's particularly poignant to me is they said to him, it's taken 46 years to build this temple thus far.

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And I'm about to be 46 years old. And I can tell you that's a pretty long time.

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It's a lot of life that happens. Jesus predicting the resurrection early in his ministry.

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I'm going to go to the cross. I'm going to really die, but my body will not stay in the tomb.

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As the story goes on, he rose again the third day.

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And there's that incredible statement according to the scriptures.

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Well, as this narrative continues, I'm going to give you a little bit of heads up about where we're going.

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And I'll try to draw a little word of application. This is incredible eyewitness testimony that Paul reminds us of.

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There are five eyewitness occasions where the risen Lord is seen after the resurrection.

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First by Peter, then by the 12. He came to all the apostles, save minus Judas.

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Then he came to 500 brethren at once. And this is found in Matthew 8 20.

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That was in Galilee. And Paul says, many of these people are still alive.

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They can tell you about it. They were there in Galilee. They were one of the 500. And they saw the risen

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Lord there. James saw him by himself.

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Then all the apostles, as he was taken up to heaven. Luke 24 50, beginning of Acts chapter one, verses two and five through seven.

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So we have the basic content of the gospel. Maybe the

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Lord will be pleased to allow us to go a bit deeper into each of those elements in the coming weeks.

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Now, the question that has to be asked in a time of like this, text like this, this is a very straightforward and didactic teaching kind of passage.

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It's full of indicatives. The question has to be asked, what do we do with this information?

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As the people of God. So I have a couple of ideas for how we can take the doctrine and lay hold of it, assimilate it and practice it in our lives.

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First, very simply, I don't care how long you've been a

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Christian, hear the gospel, receive it, believe it again and do what

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Paul did, preach the gospel to others. Hear the gospel, believe the gospel, receive the gospel, preach the gospel.

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We have a beautiful cycle to emulate in Paul. We can repeat it over and over and over again every day.

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Number two, build your life and doctrine on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Build your life and doctrine on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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And that's the question, what are you building your life on now? What is it that you're building your life on?

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Build your life and doctrine on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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I want to remind you, you've forgotten already, it's already been brought to your attention in this sermon, you've already forgotten.

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Your sinfulness demands the holy justice of God. You think sin is no big deal, but it is a huge deal because it is an offense to a thrice holy

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God. You cannot tolerate and be comfortable with your sin.

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Your sinfulness demands the holy justice of God. What is the gospel?

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Christ bears the just wrath of God in your place. That is hallelujah, amen.

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That is a transformative life of thanksgiving and praise and joy and thankfulness because of what

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Christ has done. He's also given us his righteousness.

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Do you remember this morning in our study, the confession said, the larger catechism said, there was a want of righteousness.

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Not only are our sins paid for on the cross, but in this glorious atonement and this wonderful redemption,

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Christ says, sinner, my child, I've taken your sins away, but you don't have enough.

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You don't have the righteousness required to enter into communion with God and to enjoy eternity forever.

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I'm going to give you my righteousness as well that you might have communion with me, my father in the spirit.

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This is the gospel. Number three, live a life of thanksgiving.

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The exclamatory Christ died for our sins. That's enough to cause you to live a life of thanksgiving.

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Every breath you take, Christ died for your sins. Emulate Paul, take the gospel to others.

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Number five, live in hopeful expectation of your resurrection. Do you know the whole world is trying to get younger?

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And I really, I've got to break the news to you guys. No matter what kind of tricks you employ, no matter how much money you spend on cosmetics, whatever you might do, you can't stop this train.

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I'm looking at you, 20 -somethings and late teens, and you think, I will never be old.

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One day, your skin will rot. Your bones will crumble. You better build your life and your hope on something other than your strength or your beauty.

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You better build your life in Christ. Finally, hold fast this truth of the gospel.

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Hold to it firmly, cling to it. This is going to be the way that you're going to stand in all the trials of life.

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Terrible things happen to every person. Everyone has a cross to bear.

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Everyone has problems. And in spite of all the problems that we have, there is this unwavering hope.

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We have Christ. He has us. We have security in Him.

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No matter what happens, no matter what befalls us, Christ will remain with us.

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We'll have communion with Him both now and forever. Friends, we've been deceived by other things.

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We thought when we got a financial windfall, that was good news. We've been happy about small things in our own lives.

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But have we fully appreciated the good news that Jesus Christ came in the world to save sinners like us?

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There's no news as good as that. Today, as we come to the table, let us again rejoice with thanksgiving for this great work which

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Christ has done. Let's pray together. Father, we come as those filled with gratitude.

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We thank you for the simplicity of the gospel. We also thank you for its unsearchable riches.

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Lord, I pray that you would keep this gospel and this resulting and consequential communion with God with you at the forefront of our thinking.