The Gospel - [1 Corinthians 15:1-8]

I don't know if you caught that. I did, but I think Mark, while he was up here, skipped verse 4 almost. Did I catch that right, Mark? How could you do that? That's the best verse of the hymn. But I love you.

I'll forgive you for that. Much warmer up here. Pastor Mike and I concur that that was the coldest water ever yet. It was about 20 or so years ago when I was living and ministering in New York City back in the mid -90s.

The Gospel as the Heart of Ministry

One of my ministries was, surprise, to college students. And I was ministering on the campus of NYU, and the campus group used to have a meeting every month, I believe, and I had spoken there on a number of occasions.

And I was going there again to speak about the topic I want us to look at briefly tonight about the gospel. And I was getting in the elevator to go up to this NYU meeting room in New York City. There was a guy and a gal there who later on went to get married, Brad and Angela, I remember their names specifically.

And Angela made the comment in the elevator, she said, we're so glad you're back to speak to us again today. And I thought to myself, wow, I felt kind of good. You know, I'm making an impact here with these students.

But then she went on to explain why she was happy that I was coming. Well, when I used to teach the students in NYU, it was more like an IBS class, so I would pass them notes with manila folders. And she informed me that she was running out of manila folders for her classes, and she knew she would get more for my class.

So that's why she was excited that I was there. But I addressed the students and asked them the simple question, what is the gospel? And of course, many times you get the response, many people think it's a genre of music, along with country, rock, R &B, heavy metal, and the rest of them.

Some might possibly even say, well, it's the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That's the gospel. But I went on to explain to them that the gospel is something that begins with God himself.

And we first looked at who God is. Then I said, after that, we need to look at who we are, who man is, in light, of course, of who God is. And then, of course, who Jesus is, and what was his work for us.

And then finally, what is the response to the gospel? Every person responds to the gospel, but what is that response? And we got to examine the gospel together with those NYU students. So I'd like us tonight to look at that a little bit.

If you would turn with me in the New Testament to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. If you go back in the recesses of your mind when Pastor Mike was going through this book, back four years ago, we're going to look at verses one through eight together.

Chapter 15, verses one through eight. Now, if you're interested in an outline the way this portion of this can examine the whole chapter, but we're not going to. Verses one through eight. The first two verses are really the messenger of the gospel, the messenger of the gospel.

And verses three to eight are the message of the gospel. And actually, he expands on that through the rest of the chapter. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised in the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

In these first two verses, as we said, we see here the messenger of the gospel. It's the apostle Paul. And it's really broken down, these first two verses, into two parts. The first one is, as you will see from the very outset of the chapter, the proclamation of the gospel.

We see here the proclamation of the gospel. Paul, from the very outset, introduces his topic. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel. And by introducing the chapter in the way that he did, now I would remind you, Paul is drawing attention to his readers, to his audience, to the Corinthian church.

Pay attention to what I'm about to say because this is very important. The gospel, the apostle Paul was consumed, that's a light word, with the gospel. Listen to what he said to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, verse 24.

But I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course in the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. In Romans 1, Paul said he was set apart for the gospel.

In that same chapter, he said, I am not ashamed of the gospel. And in his last letter that he ever wrote, 2 Timothy chapter 1, he said that of this gospel, he was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher.

Even in this book, in 1 Corinthians, he said earlier in chapter 9, I do it all for the sake of the gospel. The apostle Paul was consumed with the gospel. He lived the gospel. He ate the gospel. He slept the gospel.

He breathed the gospel. And it was that way till the very end of his life. It's no wonder that at BBC, we talk about gospel ministry. I was reminded as I was studying this in my certificate of ordination, it says the following words, solemnly and publicly set apart and ordained to the work of gospel ministry.

That's what ministry is all about. It's about the gospel, along with understanding God's distinguishing and electing love and choice of you that will get you motivated for the Christian life. As we heard this morning, the gospel is what pushed the apostle Paul through to the very end.

But the question arises because unlike the book of Romans, it seems like Paul might be taking a detour here. Corinthians, unlike Romans, is not very heavily theological. I mean, there are theological things in there, of course, but it's not like the book of Romans where he outlines and delineates in a logical fashion, like in a courtroom, the gospel.

In Corinthians, he addresses issues that the Corinthian church faced, sexual immorality, lawsuits, a misappropriation of spiritual gifts and a misunderstanding of it, factions, divisions. And in the midst of all that, he speaks about the gospel.

The question must be asked, why would Paul mention the gospel to the Corinthian church after addressing such behavioral issues? Very good question to ask. To understand that question, turn with me briefly to Acts chapter 18.

And then from Acts 18, we're going to look at the first chapter or 1 Corinthians 1. Why is Paul in chapter 15 addressing the issue of the gospel when he has just finished talking to them about factions, divisions, a wrong sense of leadership, sexual immorality and lawsuits?

This is on his missionary journey where Paul comes to Corinth. Acts chapter 18, beginning in verse 1. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Verse 4. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Verse 7. And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household.

And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. Now turn with me to chapter one of our book, 1 Corinthians chapter one, beginning in verse 10. That was Paul's introductory ministry in Corinth.

As we read in Acts 18. Crispus believed. You'll see his name mentioned here again in chapter one. Many of the Corinthians believed and they were baptized. Verse 10 of chapter one. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul or I follow Apollo. So I follow Cephas or I follow Christ.

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.

I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else for Christ did not send me to baptize, but what to preach the gospel. Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

But wait, we just read in Acts 18 that Paul did baptize and he just admitted here that yes, I baptized Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanas. What's his point? His point is that the primary ministry that God had called him to was as we read in our text in chapter 15 was the proclamation of the gospel.

Yes, he baptized. What does this have to do with the problems that Corinth was facing with the factions and the divisions? Paul made it very clear here. I wasn't the one crucified. It was Christ. You weren't baptized in my name.

It was in the name of Christ that you were baptized. So in bringing forth the gospel and elevating the gospel to its rightful place in chapter 15, Paul is in essence saying to the Corinthian church, it is the gospel that will bring unity among you and not factions.

But if you focus on who baptized you, well, Apollos or I'm with Paul, I'm of Cephas, then of course it's going to be factions and divisions. But because it was Christ who was crucified, the gospel is what brings unity within the body of Christ.

That is the connection why Paul gets into the gospel in chapter 15. Back to our text in verse one. Now we remind you brothers of the gospel, which what did he do? I preach to you. He says this twice. Verse two, if you hold fast to the word, I preach to you the preaching of the gospel, the proclamation of the gospel.

He said earlier in in the book in chapter nine, verse 16, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. Woe to me. In the Greek, it literally means what he says here, the gospel I preach to you, the gospel I gospelized to you.

The same noun is the same verb form in the Greek. If I get your come from two words, which means to announce as a herald. As a representative of a king to announce something that is good, good news. It's the same word where we get the word angel in the New Testament.

An angel was a messenger on behalf of God. So a person who proclaims the gospel is sent by God because it is the gospel of God to announce, to declare, to proclaim good news. Of course, I believe it was attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, preach the gospel at all times.

If necessary, use words. I knew only a sissy would say that only use words. If necessary, what about Romans 10? The apostle Paul says, and how are they to believe in him who they have never what heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. That is why in our text, Paul says, if I get Lisa, I proclaim, I announce, I declare the gospel with my mouth.

Paul did not say notice in the first verse. Now I will remind you brothers of the gospel. I lived before you. Paul did not say, I would remind you of the gospel. I experienced the gospel cannot be lived.

It's a message to be proclaimed. The gospel cannot be even experienced. It's good news to be announced. The proclamation of the gospel, but it doesn't end there. As we see in verse two, there's a response to the gospel.

Whenever there's a messenger, there's always a response to the message that the messenger is sending. And what was the response to the gospel? Well, actually begins in verse one, the gospel I preach to you, which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved.

Paul had a unique relationship with the Corinthian church. He said in chapter four of this book, listen to this for through though, for though you have countless guides or tutors in Christ, you do not have many fathers for, I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

It's gospel ministry. And he says to the Corinthians verse, verse one, you receive the gospel. Did they truly receive it? It's the same idea as the Thessalonian church. First Thessalonians chapter two, verse 13, Paul explains this idea of receiving the gospel.

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but as it really is the word of God. They received it as the word of God, but they didn't stop there in which you stand the end of verse one in which you stand.

It's in the perfect tense, the verb, which literally means in which you stand and you are still standing continuously, but he doesn't end there. And by which notice verse two, you are being saved. You are being saved.

It's a tenses of salvation. Of course, when scripture talks about salvation or where the term saved is used, it can be referring to salvation in the past that God has saved us from the penalty of sin.

It can be referring to salvation in the present, which is what we call sanctification from the power of sin or to our glory salvation from the presence of sin. But salvation is a package from beginning to end.

And he says here, you are being saved. It's a present tense. And it's also in the passive voice. He wants to remind the Corinthians that it is God who does the saving. I don't save myself. You Corinthians did not save yourselves.

It is God who does the saving and by which you are being saved. And then he finishes in verse two with this phrase. If you hold fast to the word, I preach to you unless you believed in vain. Two possible interpretations.

One is this. Notice later in our chapter, chapter 15, verse 12, Paul brings forth one of the issues that the verse 12 says. Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

And that's why he addresses that issue on the resurrection for the rest of the chapter. Verse 14, if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and what your faith is in vain. Verse 17, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

So one possible interpretation, unless you believed in vain, well, if truly there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ wasn't raised. Then your faith is in vain truly. If you're trusting in Christ and he hasn't been raised.

Another option is what the Corinthians were dealing with constantly with some of their behavioral issues. Paul talks to them about carnality in chapter three. In chapter six, he talks to them about who can enter the kingdom of God.

In this second epistle, in chapter 13, verse five, he tells them, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. This term, as you see in verse two, hold fast is the same term that our Lord used in the parable of the sower or the soils.

Luke age 15. As for that in the good soil, there are those who hear in the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience. Pastor John MacArthur highlights this phrase by saying, quote, Paul's qualifying phrase.

If you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain, does not imply that true believers are in danger of losing their salvation, but it is a warning against non-saving faith. So a clear rendering would be if you hold fast, what I preach to you, unless your faith is worthless or unless you believed without effect, the Corinthians holding fast to what Paul had preached was a result of and an evidence of their genuine salvation.

End quote. Paul is saying you received the gospel. You are standing in it. Even now you are being saved by it. And it's evidenced by your holding fast to the word. That's the messenger of the gospel. He proclaims the gospel.

Paul does in this case in the Corinthians received the gospel. In verse three, he makes a little transition. He says, I'm the messenger of the gospel. I'm proclaiming the gospel. I'm preaching the gospel.

But I want to want you to understand what the message of the gospel is. And that's what he gets to into verse three. And the first thing he highlights is this, the priority of the gospel, the priority of the gospel.

Remember, I mentioned earlier in verse one, he used a phraseology. Now, I would remind you, brothers, which drew their attention to listen to what he had to say is very important. And look what he says in verse three, for I delivered to you as of secondary importance what I also received.

I delivered it unto you as of tertiary importance. I delivered unto you as of first importance. The gospel is a priority. Back in those years when I was in NYU ministering to the students there, I picked up a book.

It was entitled Coming Home, the subtitle, Why Protestant Clergy Are Becoming Orthodox. It intrigued me, so I picked it up. One of the men who went to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and for those who don't know, it's a very reputable school.

Men like D .A. Carson are there. One of the mentors of John MacArthur, his sons are teaching there. Others have gone by that school. It's a very reputable school. And this man graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and he writes in one of the chapters.

The book is basically chapters of people who were in the Protestant faith who believed the gospel, but then were drawn into the Orthodox church. But why were they? So this is Father Paul Waisenden, and he says this, quote, When we met Father John and Isabel Anderson and the Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Mission and its people and saw 2 ,000 years of faithfulness to the gospel in its liturgy, creed, and sacramental life, I could see no grounds for anyone to be a Christian and be separate from this church, end quote.

The gospel in its liturgy and in sacramental life, he said. Paul says the gospel is of first importance, but what is the gospel? There's confusion by even ministers who do such a thing. Why is the gospel of first importance?

Well, based from our context from the book of Corinthians, because it is the gospel that unites, that doesn't bring factions. Because it was Christ who was crucified, not Paul, as he said in chapter one.

We're baptized in the name of Christ, not in the name of Paul or Apollos or Cephas. But the gospel is of first importance also because of its origin. Notice what he says here in verse three. For I, Paul, delivered to you as a first importance, watch this, what I also received.

It's something that Paul received. He didn't make it up. How did he receive it? Galatians one, he gives us the answer. Verses 11 and 12, he says, Paul does. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul received the gospel from a revelation from Jesus Christ. It's not his gospel, he said.

Its origin is in God. That's why it's of first importance. And also it's of first importance because of man's condition. What is man's condition? Even if you just peruse and not go through the rest of the New Testament, just the book of first Corinthians, man's condition, first Corinthians 118, for the word of the cross is literally moronic to those who are perishing.

First Corinthians chapter two, verse 14, the natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God for their folly or moronic to him, and he is not able to understand them. So why the first importance of the gospel?

Because only the gospel, Romans 116, has the power of God for salvation. Nothing else does, according to the scriptures. Only the gospel has the power of God to save a person who's totally depraved and radically corrupt out of their sinfulness.

That is why it's of first importance. But Paul goes on there after saying that the gospel is of first importance. He then highlights this, the historical facts of the gospel, the historical facts of the gospel, verses three to five.

Many scholars, New Testament scholars, believe that this was an early creed in the church that predated Paul himself. Some of the language that Paul uses is not typical Pauline language. Oxford scholar Terry Meath says this, quote, most New Testament scholars point out that one of the ways we know first Corinthians 15, three through seven, is a creedal statement, is that it appears to have been a more primitive Aramaic, and it's also in hymnic form.

This means it was stylized Greek, non-Pauline words, and so on, which indicates that it predated Paul and was widely used, probably even used and recited in worship experiences as a form of worship or song or a hymn or a creedal statement.

And therefore, it was universally acknowledged. Paul didn't make up the gospel. It was a historical fact. I'll never recall when I was at Dallas Seminary and one of my favorite professors, J. Dwight Pentecost, was teaching us through this marvelous book, First Corinthians, and he said something that kind of perked my ears.

I came to chapter 15, and he's teaching through this, and he made this statement. He said, the gospel is not the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That perked my ears. I thought I knew I should have gone to masters instead, and I listened to him.

He said, let's look at the text, that Christ died, verse three, for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

He said, the gospel is the death, the crucifixion for our sins and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Where does a burial and the rest of it come in? We'll get to that. But notice what he says about the death, that Christ, the anointed one, the expected one, the Messiah, was to die for our significance in life, was to die to give us true meaning in our lives.

He died for our sins. That's the main issue to Paul. He died for our sins. That's the main issue to Paul because that is the gospel that he received from God, from Christ. That's the theological truth of the death of Christ, the historical fact of his death.

Martin Lloyd-Jones, quote, one thing about the evangelical position today that really does alarm me, so many people have this tendency to say that it does not matter very much what people believe, that the doctrinal definitions do not count as long as people talk about the cross.

It's very dangerous to assume that because a man is always talking about the cross, he may even have a cross suspended above the pulpit or somewhere else in his church, that he has the true doctrine of the cross.

No, the question is, what do you believe about the cross? The cross of Jesus Christ, Lloyd-Jones says, the death of Christ is still an offense to the natural man or woman, and I sometimes think that they show that most plainly when they talk about it in a wrong and false way, end of quote.

The historical fact is that he died. The theological truth of that is he died for our sins, because it is that sin that separates us from God, and our greatest need is forgiveness of sins and to be reconciled to God.

It's no wonder that Paul at the beginning of this letter said, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. But the historical fact of the gospel, as we see here in our text, is supported by prophecy even.

What did he say? That Christ died for our sins in accordance with what? With the scriptures, that which is graffiti written down. It's written revelation. It's not just Paul's idea. It was written down in the Old Testament.

That's why even when he began the book of Romans, Paul said the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son. We don't have the time to go into the prophecies in accordance to the Old Testament scriptures about the death of Christ, but just a couple.

Psalm 22, a messianic psalm. Verse one, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The words of Christ on the cross. Verse 16 talks about his pierced hands and feet. Verse 18, how they would cast lots for his clothes.

Or how about the prophet Isaiah, looking at it first from a human perspective, the death of Christ, and then ultimately from a divine decree. Isaiah says in Isaiah 53, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before it shures is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. As for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to crush him. Divine decree, the death of Christ, that's the gospel.

But then it doesn't end there. His resurrection, he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. The verb raised there again is in the perfect tense, means that Christ arose at a certain point in history, and now he is in his risen state.

He's the risen Lord. That's whom Paul met, the resurrected Christ, the risen Lord. Psalm 16, verse 10, you will not let your holy one see decay or corruption. Paul, Peter rather quoted from that in his message, his sermon in Acts chapter two on Pentecost.

And Paul also wrote in Romans one, verse four, he was declared to be the son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Both the crucifixion and the resurrection were in accordance with the scriptures, but it doesn't end there.

The historical facts of the gospel are proven. How about the death of Christ? He died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. And then what happened? Verse four, and he was buried. That's significant.

That was proof that he was dead. Matthew 27, when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate ordered to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb. The next day, that is after the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, sure. We remember how that imposter said, well, he was still alive.

After three days, I will rise. Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day lest the disciples go and steal him away and tell the people he has risen from the dead. And the last fraud will be worse than the first.

Pilate said to them, you have a guard of soldiers. Go make it as secure as you can. So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. They wouldn't do that if there wasn't a dead body there.

The stone was it was set secure with a seal and with a guard. The burial is proof that Jesus truly had died. But how about the resurrection? He was raised in the third day in accordance with the scriptures and notice in the next few verses, verses five through eight, no less than four times.

Paul uses the term that he appeared. He mentioned six groups of people. He appeared first to Cephas, that is to Peter. He appeared to Peter. You recall from the gospels that it was Peter and John who ran to the empty tomb as they were running along.

He doesn't mention here, Paul doesn't as to when exactly he appeared to Cephas, but he did. Then he appeared to the 12 that is listed in the gospels, Luke 24. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you.

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet that it is I myself touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.

And even in Acts chapter one, Luke also writes, he presented himself alive to them after suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. Then thirdly, Paul writes here, he appeared to more than 500 and he emphasizes that it happened at one time and also that most of whom are still alive.

Why do you write that? New Testament scholar, C .H. Dodd says, quote, there can hardly be any purpose in mentioning the fact that most of the 500 is still alive unless Paul is saying in effect, the witnesses are there to be questioned, but he doesn't end there.

He appeared to James verse seven, the half brother of Jesus, who, according to John seven, five initially did not believe. But later we know that he did believe he was a leader in the Jerusalem council in Acts 15.

And according to Joseph is a Jewish historian. He says, quote, James was stoned to death illegally by the Sanhedrin sometime after 80, 60 for his faith in Christ. Then again, he appeared to all the apostles and verse eight.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. Paul mentions himself last, not first on the list. What does it mean when Paul says one untimely born? When did Christ call the disciples?

Luke six during his incarnate state, he went up to a mountain and prayed. When he came down, he selected the disciples and called them all apostles. When did he call the apostle Paul? Post-resurrection on the road to Damascus in Acts nine.

It was the risen Lord that Paul encountered. Also, one of the primary qualifications for an apostle, according to Acts one, when they were replacing, replacing Judas is what, that they were an eyewitness of what his resurrection.

Well, Paul continues to expound here in chapter 15. Paul was not an eyewitness of Christ's resurrection. So in that sense, he was untimely born yet God by his sovereign grace and infinite mercy called him by the risen Lord as one untimely born.

Paul is saying to the Corinthian church, this is the gospel. It's a historical fact. Christ died at a certain point in time and he died for our sins. And the proof of his death was that he was buried.

His tomb was secured. And then three days later, historical fact, he rose again the third day and he proved his resurrection through his post-resurrection appearances. Paul was consumed with the gospel.

Paul knew that it was this gospel that would help the Corinthian church with all its factions, with all its behavioral issues. Are you consumed with the gospel? Are you excited about gospel ministry? When you think of the term ministry, what do you think of?

The first thing that ought to come to your mind is the gospel that Christ died for sins and then he rose again the third day because it is by that gospel that people are saved. How about you? You heard the testimonies of people tonight, how God by his sovereign grace drew them out of their spiritual deadness.

These Corinthians had received the gospel. They held fast to it. Have you received the gospel? I close with the words of my daughter as she was telling her four-year-old cousin, the gospel is Jesus Christ died for your sins and you rose again the third day.

One day you will die. They will bury you and you will go to one of two places, heaven or hell. The only way to get to heaven is to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't want to go to hell, do you?

Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and for the truth that resonates with our hearts. Thank you for reminding us again of the simple yet profound and deep truth of the gospel that it is of first importance.

It's the power of the gospel that saves. And Father, help us to be consumed with gospel ministry like the Apostle Paul was to proclaim, to speak forth the historical truth of the gospel, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for people's sins.