The Resurrection of Christ

Grace Fellowship Church iconGrace Fellowship Church

0 views

February 20, 2022 | Steve Cortez on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.

0 comments

00:00
This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.
00:15
Well, good afternoon, everyone. It's good to see everyone back. It's good to welcome everyone back to Grace Fellowship Church.
00:20
To those visiting, welcome. We're happy to see you guys. And we're back again in 1 Corinthians. Today, like my brother
00:27
Jason just read, we're in Chapter 15, verses 1 to 11. So, again, just to give a quick recap, especially as we keep in mind the context of the verses that we're going to be looking at today.
00:39
We just finished a few weeks of study in spiritual gifts. Shane mentioned that at the top of the service. We've been talking about all matters of worship.
00:47
We talked about how to conduct a corporate meeting of the body. When the body comes together, we've talked about spiritual gifts and so on and so forth.
00:55
Wrapped up just a few weeks of this. And if I could make the analogy of our study through 1
01:02
Corinthians to that of possibly an airplane or a plane in flight to its destination.
01:09
We are just at that point in our flight as we can just start to make the descent.
01:15
So we are in the eclipse of the flight and we can start to see the end. So if you guys are flyers, you guys can just know there's a point where we can start to feel like, okay, we'll be landing.
01:24
And sometime there's an end to this flight and we can see the horizon at this point. So we're not there yet, though.
01:31
For Paul's last section of teaching, he's going to close out this last section.
01:37
So this last lesson, he's going to close out in the same way that he opened in his letter to the
01:42
Corinthians. And that is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you guys can remember all the way back when we first began our study in 1
01:52
Corinthians. This was almost about a year ago, if you can believe it. We began by looking at the first nine verses of the book.
02:01
Paul began by rejoicing in the faith and the testimony of the Corinthians. It's a very hopeful message, if you guys remember those first nine verses.
02:11
Paul did, after all, he did plant the church and he was the one who brought the gospel to them from the outset.
02:18
The Lord had used him to preach the gospel to the Corinthians. So like any good teacher and any good writer,
02:25
Paul is going to keep the main thing the main thing. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
02:31
That is the message for today. So right off the bat, I really want to be really clear about this.
02:36
Today is going to be a gospel message. Shane was really clear about that. And I have been looking forward to preaching this, but also
02:43
I'm looking forward to hearing the gospel yet again. This is this is the main thing. However, with any gospel message,
02:50
I do have to warn you that there are dangers that do come with a message like this. Our first instinct as a fallen people, as a carnal people, is to shun or dismiss the gospel.
03:04
Even for those believers here, we'd be first to admit that the gospel isn't the first thing that maybe pricks our interest when we when we go to open the
03:12
Bible. What can I learn today? It's not the first thing that comes to mind. A couple of reasons that come to mind.
03:18
You know, if I could just come off the top of my head, you know, something like I already know this. I already know the gospel.
03:24
Or another one is, you know, we've already talked about this. We've talked about this for the weeks and weeks that we've been here. Another one might be, well, this can't possibly be true.
03:33
You know, I don't know if I can believe that. Or maybe my personal favorite. You know, and this is one that, you know, I neglect to say that this has applied to me at some point or another.
03:41
This doesn't apply to me. This message won't apply to me. This is this is for somebody else. This and many other reasons instantly come to mind as we start to speak of the gospel.
03:54
Again, we're fallen creatures. We're fallen. We're fallen men. For some of us, as we begin to explore all that the
04:01
Bible has to say, over time we find that the areas of study that we like will tend to lean towards.
04:07
Some of us like doctrine. Some of us like eschatology. Some of us like different manners of study. And that's good.
04:14
And I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from doing that. However, I do have to warn, though, like the church in Ephesus in Revelation, we need to be careful not to lose our first love.
04:28
Unfortunately, this is a danger that is all too real for us. And this is one that we need to be made mindful of.
04:38
As I was thinking about the gospel message, about how it is that the gospel binds and how the gospel is the foundation for the
04:46
Christian faith. It is what binds our life to Christ. I came across this quote.
04:51
Actually, I was given this quote by Julius Kim. And I thought that it summarized very well what it is the gospel represents in the
04:58
Christian life, the effectual power of the gospel. So, again, Julius Kim, he summarized it perfectly.
05:05
He said this. Many Christians think that the gospel is only needed for two doors of life.
05:14
That is, when we first become a Christian by believing in the good news that Jesus died for us, that's the first door.
05:23
And after we get through that portal, we don't have to worry about the gospel until the end of our life. That's when we need the gospel to get us into that portal into heaven, the second door.
05:34
So look at the picture he's painting, two portals. What Christians may not realize, and this is something we need to realize, is that the gospel is not just the power to get in and out.
05:45
But it also is the power for living in between both those portals. As we study the passage today, my prayer is that we would have the assurance for the salvation of our souls that is in Christ Jesus.
06:02
If you are not a believer, or if you're unsure about where your stake in life would be, I want to warn you.
06:09
This is going to be a warning message. It's a gospel message that you are living in a very dangerous situation and that, in fact, you are living on borrowed time.
06:21
So with that in mind, with this premise in mind, I want us to devote ourselves to the study for the next 45 minutes here that we're going to study this.
06:30
I want us to study this diligently and earnestly. Thanks, brother. So without further ado, let's pray.
06:38
Dear Father, Lord, thank you.
06:45
Lord, thank you for the greatest privilege that can be given to any man. The opportunity to preach the gospel of our
06:52
Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater privilege than this.
06:59
How patient and how good of a God are you, Lord, that you would use sinful man, fallen man, to proclaim your glories to one another.
07:09
Lord, you neither need us nor require anything that we can do. We add nothing to you, Lord, other than the sin that we bring towards you.
07:19
But Lord, however, how beautiful a privilege it is for us to pronounce the name of Jesus Christ to one another and to ourselves,
07:25
Lord. The privilege and the salvation that comes through the blood of Christ, Lord. What a privilege that is.
07:34
However, Lord, we also understand, Lord, that we come before you as flawed humans, Lord, and ultimately,
07:40
Father, we fail. I will fail, Lord, to proclaim the ultimate glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
07:46
I will not, Lord, expound Jesus Christ as he ought to be.
07:52
I will inevitably fail. However, Lord, how much of a blessing, how much of an encouragement is it,
07:59
Lord, that it is your mouth and your words in which, Father, I am being used to speak. Lord, these are your words.
08:05
This is your gospel. So, Father, I pray that you would be honored, that Jesus Christ would be magnified, and that despite my human fleshly fallenness, that,
08:15
Father, Jesus Christ would be so clear to us today, Lord, that we would see him clearly and beautifully and magnificently.
08:24
Lord, I pray that those of us, all of us listening, Father, would have the ears to hear and the eyes to see,
08:29
Father, Jesus Christ and his glory and his beauty. I pray, Lord, that you would use me, Father, to open up eyes,
08:34
Father, and if it would please you, Lord, that you would save people this very day. Lord, we thank you. So, Father, with this in mind, we pray in the all -sufficient, all -precious, mighty name of the
08:44
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. So, like it says in our bulletin, and like my brother
08:52
Jason read earlier, we are in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 1. So, we're starting here, right at the top of the message.
08:59
And the first point, again, if you're taking notes, is a rhetorical question is, where is your faith?
09:04
So, if you're going to write a heading, where is your faith? And we're looking at verses 1 to 2. So, if we're going to get right into the text, we begin today as Paul reminds the
09:15
Corinthians of the gospel of Jesus Christ that he preached to them. After all, the
09:22
Lord had used Paul to plant the church, and looking back at the intro of the letter, we can surmise, we can understand that Paul truly did care about those in Corinth.
09:32
He loved them. He loved them dearly. He loved this church very much, and he loved the people within it. And as a part of that love, he wanted them to be assured of the salvation that is made available to them.
09:45
So, before we read these two verses, I want us to just make a couple observations about them. I want us to note how it is that Paul went about doing the work of an evangelist.
09:55
This method of evangelism, this method is by all measures the same as it is today.
10:00
So, when we look at these two verses, we're going to see how it is he did it. So, let's read them. So, verse 1, it says, So, right off the bat, like I said,
10:21
I want us to note the process by which this took place. So, believers were sent, in this case,
10:28
Paul. Paul was sent with the message of the gospel, with the salvation and the salvific message of the Lord Jesus Christ.
10:33
He was sent to the Corinthians. After that, next, people received the gospel.
10:39
People received him. They heard the message. One would surmise that they also confronted him with questions, that they worked with him.
10:49
Next, you could look at the mindfulness to stand. So, the next process is, there was a mindfulness to stand.
10:55
And I'll speak to that mindfulness, and I'll speak to the mind of someone who seeks to understand
11:01
Jesus Christ. That will come later. But then, in the last part, people begin to be saved.
11:10
Again, this is not a revolutionary method. So, when we're looking at the text, we're not looking at something that is extraordinary, that the gospel is an extraordinary power.
11:19
But it is achieved by normal human means. People are sent, people listen to the gospel, they consider it, they stand in it, and they are saved.
11:28
This is the same message that Jesus Christ commanded his disciples at the end of Matthew, in chapter 28, in the
11:34
Great Commission. It's the same message that he commanded them to do. If we're looking at the
11:40
Great Commission, Matthew 28, verse 18, it says, Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold,
12:03
I am with you always to the end of the age. This is not a revolutionary message. But it is powerful, and it is the power of salvation.
12:10
It is the gospel, and it was commanded by Jesus Christ. I want us to think about every single one of us in this room, maybe our own personal experience, and maybe just as a point of self -reflection.
12:21
At some point in your life, everyone here, the
12:27
Lord sent someone, or maybe a certain people, to tell you of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
12:33
This was not by accident. And the gospel message that they brought to you in some form or fashion was that the spotless
12:40
Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, came in perfect obedience to the Father. A plan in the fullness of time, before time began, this plan was set in motion, and having lived the perfect life,
12:54
He went to the cross as an atoning death, the atoning sacrifice for sin of man, so that you could be reconciled to the
13:02
Father. And that your sin, the one that broke, that schismed your relationship to the
13:08
Father, to the God in heaven, could be washed away, and that you could be reconciled to Him. That is the gospel message.
13:16
If we're going to look at, I'll have you turn actually to Romans chapter 3 for a moment. And if we're going to, and as you turn there,
13:24
I just want to make a couple notes. Many commentators, so many brothers and sisters that have studied this in the past, many commentators will say, will make the argument that Romans is the most important book in the
13:36
Bible. And if we consider chapter 3, some people will say that chapter 3 is the most important chapter in the most important book, which is
13:45
Romans. And if we're going to take one more step, we're just going to zoom in one more time, and we're going to look at verses 21 to 26.
13:53
We have some of the most important verses in this chapter, so I just want us to realize that we are dealing with a very important message here.
14:02
So Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 26. And again,
14:08
I'm just going to read it, and we'll just go through it. Verse 21, it says, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witnesses to it.
14:19
This is Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus, or Jesus Christ, for all who believe.
14:27
For there is no distinction for all who believe. Verse 23, and I want us to recognize this.
14:34
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned.
14:40
Not one of us in this room claims that this is false of them. This is true of every single one of us.
14:46
We have all sinned, and we all fall short. However, verse 24, And are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
14:56
Amen. Whom God put forward as propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
15:02
This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, again, before the foundations of the world were laid, this plan was in motion.
15:11
He had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
15:24
Now this is a theologically rich text. This is the, again, if we're going to order it in a number of importance, this is one that you ought to memorize.
15:32
This is a very important text, brothers and sisters. However, this is also the gospel message that Paul brought to the
15:41
Corinthians. This is what he preached to them. And if we're going to look back at our main passage,
15:49
I need us to look for a second how it is that he ends this first point. So I need us to look at the verse number two.
15:54
It says this. And I want us to note the tone of the message or the shift in the tone. It says,
16:11
All of a sudden there's a tone shift, and I need us to recognize this. While it began as a hopeful message of the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ, this message is actually a warning passage.
16:22
Looking at the word used for in vain in the Greek, it actually is more serious than it sounds.
16:28
The definition of the word actually goes further and is defined as without success or without effort.
16:37
Paul is talking about two separate people here. On the one hand, we have the first group that fails to understand the gospel.
16:47
Despite their labors and their best efforts, they fall short and do not understand it.
16:53
Leading to a lack of fruit in their lives that is obvious. And then you have the second group, the group that is deluded into thinking they are believers.
17:03
And unlike the first group, put no effort into their walk of faith. This is a faith that can be described by James.
17:14
James chapter two, verse 14. You don't have to turn there. I will just read it. But it says this, James chapter two, verse 14.
17:20
It says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
17:27
Can that faith save him? A rhetorical question. If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them,
17:35
Go in peace and be warmed and be filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that?
17:42
Verse 17 says, So also by faith itself, if it does not have works, it is dead.
17:51
So this is a dead faith that we're talking about here. This is a delusion of the mind. And this is the second group of people.
17:58
In other words, you have two groups of people who stand condemned under a righteous God for not having put their faith into Jesus Christ.
18:06
Or they put their faith into a Jesus of their own creation, of their own sinful man -made thoughts.
18:14
And by extension, they live a false faith, a dying faith, a faith that is dead. So then we come to the conclusion of our passage.
18:23
What do we do with this? How is it that we avoid this? How is it that we correct this?
18:29
So if we're going to write down some application for the day, it is this. Test your faith. You have to test it.
18:37
Test your faith. I won't devote too much time into application for this section because Paul is going to show us how it is that you do that.
18:45
How it is that you can test your faith and know that the gospel that you've received is the correct one. Again, Paul is going to appeal to the mind of those listening now and answer the question,
18:56
Can God really be known? Can this be true? Is the gospel true? If Jesus Christ did die for my sins, if he is the propitiation for sin, if I'm connected to an eternal
19:07
God, how can I know that this is true? Paul will answer that in the next point. But we need to be testing our faith.
19:15
And before we move on, I need to make a point of the warning passages of the
19:20
Bible, like this one. The warning passages should not be lost on us. We should not lose the severity of these passages.
19:27
Many like these in the New Testament should always be taken seriously, and we should use them to test our faith.
19:33
When we read these, when we come across these, these things should be like a litmus test to our soul.
19:38
Am I really saved? What is this say of me? Is this real to me? If you can read a passage, in other words, like this one or many others in Scripture, if you come across them, and your heart does not sink, or your conscience isn't pricked, or you're not concerned in any way,
19:55
I have to be honest, I am concerned for you. It's no difference than the reverence we approach the
20:05
Lord's table with. It is that same reverence that we approach the
20:11
Lord's table. If we do not have reverence for those warning passages, if those don't speak to our soul, if they don't cause us to at least stop us to stir in the slightest, then we have a problem, ladies and gentlemen, and we need to correct those.
20:29
So the idea is this, examine your heart. So weekly at the Lord's table, for those of us who are in Christ, examine your heart, test your faith, right before you go to the
20:37
Lord's table, weekly, at least once a year, when reading your word, do it daily and during your meditations, as you're reading, as your conscience is consuming the word, meditate, test your faith.
20:48
This is vital. We cannot afford to take the blood of Christ lightly. It is too high of a cost.
20:56
So, test your faith. I know that seems like a lot of application, but we'll get into the second point in just a minute.
21:04
I actually want to maybe involve the kids here, maybe just build a little bit of a mental picture for us as we move along here.
21:11
This is going to be important for the next couple of points. So, I have a couple of questions. Again, you guys can feel free to raise your hands, adults, if you'd like.
21:17
But, has anyone here ever been, ever thought about being a lawyer? Are you guys familiar with courtrooms and things?
21:24
Okay, perfect. Thank you, Christine, I appreciate that. So, imagine, for example, we're trying to build a courtroom drama.
21:30
We're thinking about a courtroom drama. I think we've all seen some level of courtroom something, and we're all familiar with this.
21:37
So, imagine, like I said, I'll speak to the kids here. But, if you were a lawyer, if you were a prosecutor, a defense attorney, something of this nature, if you were going to be one of these things, and you were trying to win a case, what things would you need if you were going to win a case?
21:54
If you were going to, yeah, Scarlett, what are you? Evidence. Yes, evidence. You're going to need evidence.
22:00
No lawyer worth his salt is going to approach without having done his homework, so he's going to need evidence. What's something else that we're going to need?
22:15
Scarlett, yeah. Witnesses. Witnesses, that's right. We're going to need a witness. We're going to need witnesses. And, along that same line of thinking, so we have a witness.
22:23
What does a witness need to have? Yeah, that's right.
22:31
Proof. That's right. A witness is going to need to have a solid testimony. So, we're going to need those three things.
22:38
We're going to need evidence. We're going to need solid evidence. We're going to need witness statements. But, also, we're going to need a solid testimony.
22:44
Someone to take the stand and to testify. So, again, if we're going to return to this later,
22:51
I just want you imagining, again, a courtroom drama. Where all these things are taking place, you're going to need these three things. And this is going to lead us to our second point for today.
23:00
And the second point is this, another rhetorical question. The resurrection, can it be so? Is it true?
23:08
We're going to examine that. That's the next point. The resurrection, can it be so? So, we ended our first point with the conclusion that we need to test our faith.
23:19
So, again, that's this idea that we're going to need to test our faith when we read the Word. When we're confronted with these warning passages.
23:27
But, in other words, another way that you could say this is, what evidence is there for that faith? So, if you're going to be confronted with the
23:34
Gospel, if this is something that is going to be true of you, what evidence is there for that faith? As Paul labored in his preaching to the
23:42
Gospel, or of the Gospel to the Corinthians, he doesn't lean into dismissible arguments. He's not just appealing to human emotion, emotionality.
23:51
He wants to appeal to the mind of the Corinthians. That they would, as Paul says many times in his letters and all his epistles, that they would know and would stand persuaded in the
24:02
Gospel. He's trying to change people's minds. He's trying to win souls. So, let's read verses 3 to 8.
24:44
So, right now, at this current moment, Paul is laying down facts for the Gospel. He's not appealing to human emotionality.
24:51
Although we are made in the image and likeness of God, and God has written his law in our hearts so that we would know that there is a
24:57
God that exists, Paul isn't appealing to that. Paul is appealing to hard evidence. And before we even talk about what it is that we observe in the passage,
25:05
I want us to look at, for a second, what the text doesn't say. Never does
25:13
Paul say that Jesus Christ was a real person, or attempt to convince the
25:19
Corinthians that Jesus Christ walked the earth as a man. In other words, this is assumed.
25:27
In the economy of words, the testimony of Jesus Christ walking amongst his creation as a man is never put into question.
25:36
Instead, Paul focuses mainly on the resurrection, and there is a reason for this.
25:43
During this time in history, just as a historical aside, many people knew of the name of Jesus Christ, and the reputation that name carried.
25:52
Many historians, many in opposition to Jesus Christ, actually, wrote things about him and his followers, often to dissuade those around them, to write compelling evidence against the
26:03
Christians, against Christ. For historical reference, there are many sources that do cite things like this.
26:11
You're looking at Pliny the Younger. Pliny, P -L -I -N -Y, for those of you who are curious.
26:17
Pliny the Younger. You have Josephus Flavius. And you have the Roman official and historian, under Nero, Tacitus, another important figure in history.
26:28
You have historical sources that claim Jesus Christ, outside the Bible. Again, people who would have slandered, who would have hated
26:35
Jesus Christ, writing about him. In other words, his existence to the world, as fully man, as a matter of historical fact, was never in question.
26:48
And I wanted to spell the notion that Jesus Christ did not walk the earth. Jesus Christ walked the earth, was breathed in the same air, bled and died.
26:58
This is a historical fact. And Paul is not appealing to human sensibilities here. He is appealing to the evidence.
27:08
However, what did confuse the Corinthians, and what Paul is appealing to here, and what we need to be clear on, is that Jesus was crucified at the cross, and indeed rose from the grave.
27:21
So if we're looking at our analogy of a courtroom, or if we're looking at the way that Paul is breaking down his argument in the next couple verses, he does this, again, with hard evidence.
27:30
In verses 3 to 4, he does this from the Scriptures. Again, he's pointing right to the record, the facts.
27:39
And what he says from this, for those familiar with the Old Testament, the number of references to the crucifixion and the coming of Jesus Christ, the messianic prophecies and the text, the number of proof texts in the
27:54
Bible are staggering. They're absolutely staggering. I'm only going to pick a few select places, but I want us to understand that this is not by accident, that God's inspired word pointed to the coming and resurrection and crucifixion, or sorry, the coming, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
28:12
That this was a time that was expected. The people knew this was going to be coming. The first one that I want to point to comes very early on in our
28:20
Bibles, for those of us who are familiar, with Genesis 3 .15. This is right after the fall. The Lord curses man.
28:28
However, in this cryptic curse, he lays down a prophecy in Genesis 3 .15. He says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
28:39
He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. We have a cryptic prophecy about the coming of Christ.
28:45
What is this bruising of the heel? This would not have been completely clear to Adam in the moment, but to us looking back, we see this as Jesus Christ coming and being bruised.
28:57
What is that supposed to mean? If we're going to look ahead, we're going to look at Psalm 22, another messianic psalm.
29:05
This is a messianic psalm through and through. And actually, it was written close to a thousand years before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
29:13
And if you're going to turn there, I want us to just bear in mind how David, writing this psalm, this could not have been him.
29:24
This could not have been the description of David. And I want, again, to dispel the notion that this is not messianic.
29:30
It is, brothers and sisters. Again, just to read 16 and 17 for our purposes. It says this,
29:35
Psalm 22, verse 16. It says, For dogs encompass me, a company of evildoers encircles me.
29:43
Again, think about who that describes. Think about what moment this occurs at in Jesus's life. This next verse, they have pierced my hands and feet.
29:52
I count all my bones, they stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them, and from my clothing they cast lots.
30:04
Almost to the T about what transpired in the life of Jesus Christ. Again, this is a messianic psalm.
30:09
This was written a thousand years before the coming of Jesus Christ. Again, this is just something to consider.
30:16
This is forward looking. If we're going to look at one more place, again, I could badger you guys all day with Scripture about the
30:26
Messiah. But if we're going to look at a few select ones, and hopefully you stand convinced that these are all pointing towards Jesus Christ, I want us to turn next to Isaiah 53.
30:39
This chapter in Isaiah is the pinnacle of the book. If you guys know about any Jewish writing, you know that they're written in chiasm.
30:45
That's kind of a technical term. But the idea being that poetic literature or Hebrew style of writing always pointed in somewhat of a mountain, sideways mountain, if you could kind of picture that.
31:01
And Isaiah 53 is the pinnacle of that mountain. As Isaiah made his way to Isaiah 53, to this chapter, this is the pinnacle of the book.
31:15
So like this book and other references, they could not have originated from the author himself. So again,
31:21
I encourage you guys to go back and read this and study it for yourselves. The whole thing is utterly amazing.
31:26
For the sake of time, I can't get into every verse. But for our purposes for today, verses 3 to 6 should suffice.
31:36
Again, picking up from Isaiah 53, verse 3, it says, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.
31:45
And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.
31:53
I have a hard time arguing against this not being Jesus Christ. I just don't see it.
31:58
It is too clear to me that this is referencing Jesus Christ. Verse 4, it says,
32:04
Surely he has borne our griefs and has carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
32:12
But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
32:21
And with his wounds we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray.
32:28
We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
32:39
This chapter in the Bible was written roughly 700 years before Christ.
32:48
Again, it could not have been speaking about Isaiah. This is not something that, although it had its use and its purpose for the current moment when
32:56
Isaiah wrote it, this is forward looking. This is future looking for Isaiah. And for us, it's past.
33:02
And we can see the Messiah as clear as day in this passage. Again, there are so many
33:09
Old Testament references, so I won't badger you all day. But for right now, I pray that you get the point that there are many verses to look at.
33:18
But if you look back at our passage, if we're back in 1 Corinthians, Paul next introduces the next round of evidence.
33:27
And in this case, he's now going to bring up the witnesses. He's going to call witnesses.
33:35
At the time of writing, so consider this for a moment. Again, picture yourselves in the time of the Corinthians. If you could imagine being within the congregation then, consider the list of people that Paul is referencing here.
33:48
So Paul references Peter, Cephas. He references the 12 apostles. He references 500 people whom
33:57
Jesus showed himself to after the resurrection. He references James. And then lastly, he references himself.
34:06
Now, again, there's more references than I can count, and I don't want to badger you, so I won't. But I need us to consider then that this is current day.
34:14
This is the year of our Lord, 2021. What do we do with this information? It's not like I can go and speak to them.
34:22
However, that isn't entirely true, actually, because we have the testimonies of these men. We have these testimonies of these church fathers, of these people who walked in history.
34:32
How diligent have been those who have preserved the history of the church that we can go and study these things, that we can see the testimonies of these people.
34:41
We have our Bibles, which is a historical book that we can know Jesus Christ through. Going outside of that, we have the church fathers.
34:51
We have so much information. We don't know what to do with it, honestly. If you began reading today, you would not finish the endless library of books that detail the church history, all the fathers, and all it is that they had to write about them.
35:07
So you might be asking, this is a lot of information. This is a lot to take in. This is a lot for me to consider.
35:13
What am I supposed to do with all of this? And the answer is quite simple. We need to study all facets of the gospel.
35:22
We need to study it, all of it. Now, I'm not saying that we need to be historians.
35:27
We need to be Ph .D. level historians that know all moments of church history.
35:34
However, this is important for our knowledge. This is important for our faith, brothers and sisters. In much the same way as the
35:41
Corinthians, we have the ability to go straight to the witnesses of the resurrection. We have the gospels.
35:47
We have the book of Acts. We have the epistles. We have the entire canonicity of the
35:53
New Testament. How beautifully preserved is God's word for us? If we want to understand the intricacies of the gospel, like any fine gem, we need to study all the facets.
36:06
Some rhetorical questions, some questions I want us to consider, every one of us here is, which one of us can claim that we know as much about the
36:14
Bible as we should? So if we're going to ask ourselves honestly, which one of us here can say,
36:20
I know enough of the Bible. I know as much as I should about the Bible. I don't want to see you raise any hands here.
36:26
I really don't. What about church history? Let's take a step outside of that.
36:31
How much of us can know church history? How much of us are familiar with the history of the Christian faith?
36:38
And maybe more importantly, how many of us know this to be true? How many of us know this to be historical fact?
36:45
At least true enough to be able to share this knowledge with believers and unbelievers alike.
36:53
In other words, are we really equipped to share this knowledge? Is this something that is true of us, that we would win souls with this information?
37:01
That it just doesn't puff us up, but this is going to have an effectual use in the lives of those around us.
37:10
Our brother Shane preached a couple weeks ago about having the mind of Christ. Now this has resonated with me, because I don't claim to have the mind that I ought to have.
37:21
To reach the human soul, we must win the mind. We need to be studiers of the Word. We need to be diligent studiers.
37:28
Many of the greatest soul winners of the past have been men and women that have aspired to win the minds of people.
37:36
We can still do this today, and I want to encourage us in that direction, that we can do this today. And it begins with knowing the foundation on which our faith is built on.
37:46
So if we're going to study the Gospel, if we're going to study the intricacies of the Gospel, if we're going to study its historical effects, if we're going to study its effect on different cultures and people, if we're going to study all of that, then like a fine diamond, like a precious gem, we need to know the facets of this gem.
38:03
It's been made available to us. I mean, we have the Bible, praise the Lord, beautifully preserved as it is, and it would be a shame to neglect it.
38:16
So that was our second point. So again, if we're just going to look to our analogy again of this grand court proceeding, right?
38:23
We have a court case taking place. We talked about two things. So I'm going to try to keep people, the kids engaged here.
38:32
So what did we talk about? So maybe, do you guys remember? We talked about three things. We've talked about two of them already.
38:37
Which ones are those? Do you guys know? You said it earlier.
38:49
Oh yeah, the proof. Yeah, evidence. That's right. We talked about evidence. So we've looked at evidence. So we have looked at evidence.
38:55
Paul talked about, what did he talk about next? He talked about the witnesses.
39:01
That's right. He talked about witnesses. And the third thing, the one that we're going to get into, is a compelling testimony.
39:07
So I'm glad you asked. It's a compelling testimony. Like any big court case, a compelling testimony is sometimes what turns the tide in winning a court case or losing the court case.
39:21
Because for a testimony to be good, it needs to be credible. If you're going to stand before a jury that is going to deliver a guilty or an unguilty verdict, that testimony needs to be compelling.
39:35
It needs to be true. So with that in mind, we're going to start with our last point here. We're going to look at our last point.
39:41
And that is, again, if you're taking notes, the outcomes of grace. So this is the inevitable outcome of grace.
39:48
We're looking at the last three verses, 9 to 11. And we're going to look about the testimony of Paul.
39:57
So again, if we're going to end our time, so Paul discusses the last point of evidence, his own testimony. So in our last point,
40:05
Paul detailed to the Corinthians, the witness statements. If Paul was seeking to bring the good news to those around him, part of that evidence, part of the evidence of the gospel, the evidence of grace is a life transformed.
40:23
Truly, if you want to convince those around you of the goodness of Christ, the redemption that is found in his blood, redemption needs to be evident in you.
40:38
Paul explains, we'll read this, we'll read this verse. And I just want us to note the humility with which Paul writes here. Verse nine, it says, for I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
40:52
If there's a man who did not deserve grace, Paul fits the bill. But by the grace of God, I am what
41:01
I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary,
41:06
I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is within me. Whether then it was
41:14
I or they, so we preach, you believed. If there was a criteria for apostleship, if there was a criteria for anything of the sort,
41:29
Paul would have failed. We would have all failed. We do not reach the stature, the infinite stature of our
41:36
Lord. Romans, we read Romans chapter three, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This is true of all of us, and we need to recognize that.
41:46
It was only because of grace and mercy that allowed Paul to be the apostle that he was, to do the work that he was allowed to do, that the
41:55
Lord set him out to do. And as the details go in Acts chapter nine, with order in hand on the road to Damascus, on his way to persecute
42:05
Christians with even greater intensity, it was then that the blinding light of Jesus Christ came upon Paul and opened up his eyes.
42:17
Again, Paul was the least deserving of all the apostles. And yet, as the verse says, it was not in vain.
42:25
It was not in vain, brothers and sisters. Neither is our salvation in vain. And actually, it's quite the opposite.
42:35
When having understood all that Paul had been forgiven of, when Paul understood the meaning of grace, that Jesus Christ dying for us, the atonement, sacrifice, and what that all meant for him,
42:46
Paul worked harder as a result. He recognized,
42:52
Paul recognizes the sin that he had caused and the damage and the hurt that he had caused, not just to those around him, but to the
42:59
Lord above. Psalm 51 says, You and you only have I ever sinned against.
43:05
If we know that to be true of us, as Paul knew it to be true of him, then when he understood that Jesus Christ cleansed him of all of that, all of that sin that mired his soul, he lived a life proclaiming love, the love of the one who loved him first.
43:24
And this is the outcome of true repentance and of grace. True repentance requires true transformation.
43:32
As the verse goes on, Paul's ministry, actually, arguably was farther than all the other apostles.
43:39
Although he would have considered himself the least of them. Actually, he had the widest reach of all the brothers who were considered to be apostles.
43:47
Jesus speaking in Luke 7, 47, he says this. Therefore, I tell you, her sin, and I would add ours, which are many are forgiven, for she loved much, but he who is forgiven little, loves little.
44:07
In other words, those who have little to apologize for, those holier than thou, for them, loving others is very little for them.
44:19
However, but those who understand that we are receivers of grace, that we are recipients of love and unmerited grace, it's not something
44:27
I can earn. Those understanding that ought to love even more, ought to love a lot.
44:39
These type of people should live with a Romans 12 verses 1 to 2 type of mentality.
44:45
Romans 12 verses 1 to 2. I appeal therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
45:00
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
45:09
A living sacrifice, a living sacrifice, being sacrificed every day for the cause of the gospel.
45:16
There is no other brother that I can think of that is described so aptly like our brother Paul in the
45:21
Bible that lived with this in mind. So that is where we're going to find our application.
45:27
The application, quite simply, preach the gospel, preach it. A life that is transformed by grace, that is drunk of the waters, the sweet waters of grace, is a life that truly lives and truly loves.
45:43
If we're looking at our passage today, it ends with this. And so we preach, and so you believed.
45:52
If the gospel is true of you, if you stand here, or you sit here before me today, and this is true of you, if the gospel is taking hold in your life, if you have been cleansed of sin and now stand in the light as Christ stands in the light, then you need to tell others about it.
46:15
If you do believe that the gospel is sweeter and more beautiful than anything that can be found on earth, then you know the importance of denying others that right of knowing.
46:27
You should know this. We need to preach the gospel, brothers and sisters.
46:34
If we have been loved much, we need to love others. We need to let them know. We need to let others know that they walk diametrically opposed to a righteous
46:43
God, to a God who is righteous, who feels indignation every single day, that we in our arrogance have turned from him, and we continue to turn from him.
46:53
And unless that gospel message is preached, how will they know? How will they hear? How will they understand?
46:59
How will we appeal to the minds of people who are so quick to go to the gates of hell? How do we do that?
47:05
We have to preach the gospel. Brothers and sisters, we have to love those around us.
47:14
Love them with the light of Christ. We have to labor. Let's labor with our minds and with all our souls to preach the gospel to every single one of us around us, to turn them from the light or to the light, and for us to join them in fellowship.
47:30
Oh, and fellowship's sweet. So as we wrap up today, as we keep this in mind, this has been a gospel message.
47:40
And I pray that, like I said, this has been compelling. This is not a message that you're quick to dismiss or quick to cast aside because you are a believer.
47:49
But if nothing else, we should dig deeper. We should know that the sweet milk and the sweet sustaining rejuvenance of the
47:58
Word, this is what our life is built on. The meats that come and the heavier foods that we're going to consume in the
48:05
Bible all come on the basis of the knowledge that Jesus Christ is our Lord and He is our salvation.
48:11
We do not move past this. We cannot move past this. It is too important.
48:18
So I pray, brothers and sisters, let this be true of us, that Paul's words would be our words, because we have been forgiven much, that we would love much more.
48:31
I pray that we would be people who win souls, who seek to turn the lost and to find the seeking, that the light of Jesus Christ would define us, and that the only thing that the world can say of us, of everyone in this room, is that we were too quick to urge people to turn from their sin, and that we loved people even to the point of death, that let this be true of us, that we loved like Christ loved us, that we preached the gospel day in and day out.
49:02
If that is the biggest thing that the world can levy against us, brothers and sisters, Amen. Let that be true of us.
49:11
I'm going to end my message with our weekly Spurgeon quote. I feel like we have a Spurgeon quote every week, but he said a lot of good things.
49:19
He really did. Spurgeon is just, the writings that Spurgeon has are amazing.
49:25
Again, just if I can recommend that you read some of it, it'll be a blessing, I guarantee it. But he really did have good things to say.
49:32
This quote in particular is one that weighs heavy on my soul. It will weigh heavy on my soul until the moment where I am with Christ in heaven.
49:40
And I pray that it weighs with you as well, that you will leave here with this mindset. And I pray, honestly, that it would define our walks with the
49:48
Lord Jesus Christ as we leave here today. Spurgeon said this, If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.
50:00
And if they perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay.
50:08
If hell must be filled, brothers and sisters, listen, if hell must be filled, at least let it be filled to the teeth of our exertions.
50:17
And let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for. We can't neglect those around us.
50:27
Let's pray. Dear Father, O Lord, we who fall so infinitely short of your glory and grace, how majestic is the name of Jesus Christ that we,
50:42
Father, before you have no right to claim this name. We come before you with nothing but our fallenness, with our sin in hand, clinging to it,
50:52
Father, although it kills us. And, Father, without the blood of Christ, without the redemption, washing of sins, without the assurance of faith in the
51:04
Lord Jesus Christ, Father, we would be dead in our sins, and we deserve ultimately much, much worse than what you deal with us with,
51:12
Lord. Lord, that if you were to deal with us as we appropriately is required of you,
51:19
Lord, if you dealt with us as we deserve, Lord, Lord, we would not be here. So, Father, we thank you for such unmerited grace, such unmerited mercy, and I ask,
51:31
Lord, and I beg you, Lord, as those here sit before me, Father, as those who listen to this,
51:38
Father, I ask and I beg, Lord, that you would save lives, Lord, that you would turn sinners from their path to hell,
51:44
Lord. If it would be your will, if it would please you, that you would use us to preach the gospel, to love these people, to beg them to turn from all the sin,
51:55
Father, that lays hold of their soul, Father, and which they are slaves to, that,
52:01
Father, that we would labor, that we would love, that we would live and die for these people, Lord, as Jesus Christ died for us, bearing only what can save, the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the salvation for our sins,
52:14
Father, the washing of sin that comes only through Jesus Christ and his blood. Father, make us people who win souls.
52:21
Make us soul winners. Turn this nation, Father, why ask? I beg, Father, save people. I thank you,
52:28
Lord, for this day. I thank you, Lord, that you've given us another opportunity to hear this blessed word, that Jesus Christ lives, seated at your very right hand right now,
52:38
Father, with the completed work of what he's done on the cross. No greater work is there than this.
52:44
Father, we trust and we build our lives in this. So it is in his name that we pray. Amen.