The Gospel - Christopher G. Brenyo

The Resurrection as the Heart of the Gospel

1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning in verse one. This is God's holy and infallible word. Moreover, brethren, 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.

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

For I am the least of the apostles, whom not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 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 I, but the grace of God, which is at work in me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believe.

Please pray with me.

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

And as we consider the gospel, 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 receive again and believe again and stand again on the gospel.

And we ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Paul Received the Gospel and Preached It

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

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

Bible.

I love First Corinthians 15. There's no passage I can think of that I would rather read than First 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, I would urge you to have your children, maybe as a family, you could memorize the first few verses of First Corinthians 15, particularly verses three and four, the actual content of the gospel.

There's so much there and the rhythm of it is such that little children can easily memorize those two verses. So Spurgeon called that the gospel in miniature. Verses three and four today will be looking at verses one through four 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, I should say, and to maybe expound on them a little bit more.

So we 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 Lord's.

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. First Corinthians 15 is an apologetic defense of the doctrine of the resurrection, an essential component of the Christian faith.

It is absolutely necessary that Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is one of those areas where false teaching had infected the congregation. Some were teaching and believing from the most extreme to various forms of it, that there was not a resurrection of Christ.

And 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. By correcting the error in the Corinthian church, Paul, here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us one of the most important and treasured passages in all of scripture.

The resurrection is essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's basically the thesis of my message today, but I'm attempting to answer the question, what is the gospel? So if there's a thesis statement over arching, this is the resurrection is essential to the gospel of Christ.

And today we're asking the question, what is the gospel? And Paul gives us an answer. You're taking notes, there are four areas that I've separated, it's going to be a little bit more less structured in delivery, but these are the four areas.

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

They stand on its firm foundation. It's not possible for true believers to apostatize and to go away, they continue to stand on the gospel. One of the things I think is wonderful about a gathering like ours is we're reminded that the gospel isn't just for lost people one time.

The gospel is for the Christian every day and the gospel is for the Christian every Sunday, every Lord's Day. We need to see, to hear the gospel. We need it as believers who I believe the gospel many years ago.

You need the gospel today. You need the reminder today about what Christ has done to save you. Third, I should say this most emphatically, the gospel is the only way of salvation. We all know that to be true, but we have to realize that those around us are entertaining other ideas.

The gospel, Christ, is the only way of salvation. You must hold fast to the word which was preached to you unless your believing was.

In vain.

Number three, the gospel is the only way of salvation. And finally, number four, the content of the gospel. The content of the gospel. Christ died for our sin, according to the scripture. He was buried.

He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. The content of the gospel, Christ died for our sin, according to the scriptures.

He was buried.

He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. What is so remarkable about the content of the gospel is the elegant simplicity in which a child can embrace it. And the greatest teachers and students of theology could never plumb its depths.

It's not remarkable how the gospel it can be simply stated. It can be an elegant and kind of a short way to find and explain man's need can be demonstrated. The provision in Christ, an 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? 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. 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.

Paul and the Corinthians Receive and Hold Fast the Gospel

Well, what is the gospel? Let's look at the text. This gospel apparently is very captivating. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel, which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand.

How did Paul hear and believe the gospel that squirrels start in Chapter nine, the book of Acts? This is important because Paul is an apostle. One of the qualifications for Paul is witness eyewitness to the resurrection.

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

This is a wonderful story.

Acts nine, beginning at verse one, then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the 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 down to Jerusalem.

Children, I want you to imagine this. The greatest opponent to the church in this time is probably the apostle, the future apostle 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 Christians that he might persecute them.

That was his job to find Christians and persecute them. And he's eager to do this business. 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 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. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, it is hard for you to kick against the goads. Now, I don't know if you caught that statement, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

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

Rationally, logically, I read that statement and I think I can't persecute Christ. How can Paul persecute Christ? He's the risen Lord. He's conquered sin and death. How could Saul possibly persecute the person, the Lord Jesus Christ?

Well, the answer is Christ is so united to us, his people, that he receives the persecution. He's not in any way harmed by it. But we are so in union with Christ as the bride of Christ that our suffering falls under his suffering.

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.

Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why are you saying bad things about me? Why are you dragging my people off to be condemned? Verse six, he responds, trembling and astonished. Lord, what do you want me to do?

And the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one. 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. And he was three days without sight and either ate or drank. There was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him, the Lord said in a vision Ananias, and he said, Here I am, Lord.

So the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called straight. And acquired the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying that street still there in Damascus, by the way.

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

And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon your name. 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, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake.

Now, there's a couple of things 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.

It would seem utterly impossible for them to be saved. And I would say Paul is just as far or further gone than that person. To be an enemy of the gospel, to be an enemy of Christ and in this conversion, in this moment, become the greatest herald and champion of Christ in his gospel, the world has ever seen.

Would it be amazing if that unbelieving relative who's so hostile to God, what if they became the great next Spurgeon or some kind of Christian like that? That's the kind of thing God has done in history.

There's something else. So let's look at this experience and say, I really wish the sky cracked open and I saw the Lord and I heard his voice and everybody went blind and deaf and all these things happened in my conversion.

Your conversion is no less supernatural than it solves. It's very important that you understand that we have a supernatural faith. God himself reached out of heaven and made you alive in Christ. It's just as earth shattering as Saul's conversion.

This is what the gospel does. It takes the enemies of God and makes them God's son's bride. They make the enemies of God, God's friends. It makes the enemies of God joint heirs with Christ and his kingdom.

That's what the gospel does. That's the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We'll turn back to our text of First 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. 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, 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.

Some people wanted other things. Paul came preaching Christ in him crucified. Let's look at our text again. The church that disrespects him, that doesn't recognize his authority, Paul lovingly here calls them brethren.

And he says, the gospel I declared to you, I preached it to you. You received it. And this is the basis of your standing. This is in which you stand. And this is where it's going. He's defending the resurrection.

He's saying, essentially, the resurrection is essential to the gospel. 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. The gospel necessitates the doctrine of the resurrection.

First, to.

This gospel is the basis of your salvation, I was thinking about this, I was trying to imagine the situation, allow me just a little bit of speculation. I'm thinking there is a lot of problems at Corinth.

Crazy problems. But there must have been a strong group of believers there, and 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.

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

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

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, it's essential to the gospel. You need to hold it fast, you need to not let go.

Justification by Faith and the Danger of Adding to the Gospel

Let's turn to the book of Galatians and Chapter three. Galatians, just a couple of books to the right, Galatians three, there's always two elements assaulting the church. There is what we could make synonymous with the Judaizing element.

And there's the libertine and antinomian element. The legalist, the Judaizing element is seeking to add something to the gospel.

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

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, make it essential to salvation. Galatians three, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as.

Crucified.

I was there, Galatians, I preached the gospel to you. I preached Christ in his elegant simplicity and all of his glory. I preached that he is the only way of salvation. You never heard me say you had to be circumcised in order to be saved.

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. First to 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?

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

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you, all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith. The law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Now, here's the question.

How can 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 in James, he says, Your works prove that you're a child of Abraham.

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

But there is no incompatibility. You see, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He simply trusted him. But after he trusted him, he obeyed him. It's not in competition at all.

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

That's the only salvation. The law never gets you salvation. You can never get there by keeping the law. You've already blown it. Does he then say the law is unnecessary? We have an entirely different relationship with the law of God as believers.

The Death and Resurrection of Christ According to the Scriptures

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.

Remove this foundation and the whole fabric falls. All of our hopes for eternity sink at once. What if Christ didn't rise from the dead? We are, of all people, to be pitied because we have no salvation.

But Christ has risen from the dead. Therefore, we are, of all people, most blessed. Paul says the gospel demands the doctrine of the resurrection. He must believe in it. There is no possibility of salvation apart from Christ.

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

For he who promised is faithful. Now, let me stop here. I want to ponder something for just a moment. Have you ever had a day of weak faith? Have you ever had a day where you had some uncertainty or questioned 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. You see, this gospel, this good news is so much better than anything we could come up.

With on our own.

Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Oh, Lord, my faith is weak. Help my unbelief. I believe you, God. I believe you, Lord Jesus, can preserve me. People who believe the gospel hang all of their hopes on Christ.

They don't hang on themselves. They don't put it on anyone else. Their life is Christ. Their life hangs in the balance in the hands of Christ. And there they find security and rest. Today, if you're struggling, if you're weak, hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering.

You might be wavering all over the place. You might be lacking assurance today. Today, in your lack of assurance, you lay hold of Christ who is unwavering. Lay hold of Christ again, faith, and remember his promise.

He keeps it.

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

We hold it fast to the end. And this is something that's very hard and it's very sensitive, even now. People of faith don't walk away from the faith, ultimately. Let me explain this. There is a kind of believing that's not saving.

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

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.

We hold fast. We stay.

We remain to the end because God is holding us there, keeping ourselves on the track. God is preserving us on the path. We must stand on this foundation of Christ with unflinching endurance. We must stand on Christ's gospel.

The Content of the Gospel: Christ Died, Was Buried, and Rose Again

Well, we talked a little bit about Paul's experience, and now we have to get into the content of the gospel, verse 3. Again, there's this apostolic progression. Paul received something, and he delivered it.

And it's true for every Christian, isn't it? A Christian hears about the gospel because someone preaches the gospel to them. For I deliver to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

We were talking about sin today in our Sunday school. We concluded in some ways that we don't think so much about sin. We know it to be true. We know it's bad. We know that Christ had to come and all those things.

But we've forgotten that man's fall into sin brought us into a state of misery. And the people who are enjoying their guilty pleasures in the world today without Christ will have an eternity filled with misery.

There's nothing appealing for you out there, I promise. It always splashes. It always looks good. It's always appealing. Tugs on the flesh. They have nothing for you out there. They have sin and death and misery.

Christ died for our sins. 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. I 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. You know how strong it is and how powerful it is. It's so strong and so powerful that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had to die on the cross for it.

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

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

By Christ.

All of that sin, all of that treachery against the Holy God, all of it, Christ is able to pay for on the cross. An incredible statement. Christ died for our sins. Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures.

Something else that's important about this concept, the Christ that we believe in can't be the Christ of our own devising. He has to be the Messiah of the scriptures. There are a lot of false Jesus figures out there because they created a Jesus who's not the Jesus of the Bible.

If you're a Christian, you better begin your image of Jesus from the pages of scripture, not from your own sentiment and emotions or impressions or what people think. It better be formed by the Holy Word of God.

Let's turn to Psalm chapter 16, Psalm 16, I should say. There are a number of prophecies. I know there are more than 300 of them, some extremely overt, others a little bit more shadowy about the coming person of Christ, what he would do.

It's important doctrine of resurrection. Psalm 16, a big time of David, preserve me, O God, for in you, I put my trust on my soul. You have said to the Lord, you are my 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. Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer nor take up their names on my lips.

Oh, Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance in my cup. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel.

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest and hope for you shall not leave my soul in shale.

Nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption. You will show me the path of life and your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Did you catch that language in nine and ten?

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 holy one will not undergo corruption. You see the connection to our Lord and Savior here and by extension us.

Because he's the first fruits of resurrection, we too have a resurrection. Start over to Psalm 22. This is so compelling. Of course, places like Isaiah 53, Hosea 6, Daniel 9, all of these prophesy of Christ and his coming.

But we think about Christ died for our sins. Listen to this song of David Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And Christian, I want you to lay hold of something today. 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. Because on that day, the son of God was forsaken by his father. You will never be alone because of what Christ has done.

You will never be cast off. The wrath of God will never fall upon you because it fell upon him. Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because his father forsake him on the cross. What happens to you or to me?

Because we're in him. The great picture of the gospel in Genesis 22 is one of my most favorite things. Someday I'm going to commission a painting of that scene of Isaac being offered on the altar and the ram caught in the thicket.

What's so amazing about the story of Genesis 22 is we all, our heart is kind of, there's a tension there. 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. I see something in Isaac. I really, truly believe one of the things that's left out of the story is Isaac's actual submission and obedience to his father.

I think Isaac, as a young man, could have run away from old man Abraham and escaped. So there's a sense in which Isaac is a type of Christ because he willingly lays himself down and obeys his father. 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.

Christ died for our sins. He suffered. He died for our sins on the cross. There's not another atonement that can be made. There's not a ram caught in a thicket. There's not another potential Messiah. He's the only one qualified and he does it.

Let's go back to our text. Sometimes it's important to know that Christ was also buried. Of course, lots of theories abound by unbelievers about what happened to Christ because they can't find his bones.

Clearly, he's risen.

He's in heaven now.

And he was buried. And one of the things that's very important about his burial is that Jesus actually died on the cross. There's a lot of speculation, some mystery about what was going on on those three days.

One of the objections, if you talk to someone about the third day, rising from the dead, you have to understand the Jewish conception of time. If Jesus died at roughly 3 in the afternoon on Friday, let's say, that would have been one day because the Jewish clock kind of worked from 6 in the morning to 6 at night, a 12-hour clock.

And so if he was on any part of any of those days, it would say a day. It would be attributed to that. And so for Jesus to rise early on Sunday morning, he would be touching on the third day. But it's important to know that Jesus was in the grave.

His body was in the grave. And you and I, our bodies will go into the grave, but we don't stay there. God's not going to leave us in shale. And wonder of wonders, mystery of mysteries, there's a spiritual resurrection, and I can't even fathom the mechanics, the physics of this.