Thanks for listening to the latest message from Him We Proclaim. In this encouraging series, Pastor John walks us through the resurrection of Jesus, the reality of eternal life. The grace of baptism, and the unshakable assurance believers have in Christ. I hope you have your copy of Scriptures along. We'll be looking at passages like 1 Corinthians, Luke, 1 John, and more.
To get gospel-centered reminders of God's faithfulness, power, and grace toward His people. Whether you're seeking hope, clarity, or a deeper understanding of the gospel, these sermons are rich with biblical truth and comfort. Let's dive into today's message. This one's called the Gospel. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul says that he Uh Make it make it.
The gospel to his People in court. The gospel.
So here is the question. What is the gospel? Right. What is the gospel? Listen carefully.
There's one thing that the church has that is completely. That it provides to this Whole world. There's one thing that it has. That is completely different from everything else. And guess what it is?
It's what Paul said, the gospel. The essence of other religions is advice. Life coaches. Self-help. But the gospel is not advice.
What is the Christian faith? The Christian faith is essentially news. That's what it is. This the Other religions say this. This is what you have to do to get Right.
With God forever. This is how you connect with God by doing these things. But that's not what the gospel says. The gospel says this is what has been done in history. You see, the gospel is not advice.
Mm-hmm. Me news. It's an announcement. The gospel says this is how Jesus This is how he died. Why?
So he could merit your way back to God. And so the Christian faith is completely different. It's completely different. That's not what people think. The Christian faith is joyful news.
So, here's the question. What is the joyful news? Paul tells us in the passage that we heard, First Corinthians chapter fifteen. He snares. Brothers.
I would Remind you of the gospel that I preach to you. What What what What was this gospel? He's sad. I deliver to you as of First importance, the most important thing. This gospel the most important thing What is it?
He said that Christ died for our sins. And he says in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried. That he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Paul says that this gospel is joyful news and it consists of three saving acts by Jesus that are of first importance. The most important thing about the Christian faith.
Here's the first saving act by Jesus Christ, Messiah. He said, died for our sins. Christ died for our sins. in accordance with the scriptures. Listen carefully.
The gospel doesn't say that Christ died on the cross. You might be thinking, oh. That doesn't sound right. The gospel is not that Christ died on the cross. There are three crosses up here.
to remind us of what happened at Calvary. There are three crosses. Three people died on that day with Jesus. Or two people died on that day with Jesus. Three people died.
They died on the cross. Two criminals died on a cross. That's not good news if you're those two criminals. Thousands of people were crucified on crosses. That's not the gospel.
Listen to what Paul says. Christ died for our sins. What is the gospel? That Jesus died on the cross. for our sins.
That is the gospel. That's the joyful news. The innocent substituted for the guilty. Stands at the center of the gospel. Without this, there's no gospel.
Now, you have to listen carefully to what the Apostle Paul said because this was explosive. I talked about this Friday night at Good Friday. But this was explosive. Jesus says that Christ died.
Now that Might not hit you hard in the 21st century, but in the first century, that was explosive. Hawaii. Because Christ simply means Messiah. Preaching Jesus. As the Christ who has been crucified, was the most explosive topic imaginable to a Jewish mind.
Because the burning question for a Jew in the first century was this. Is Jesus the Christ? Is he the Messiah? The Apostle Paul says to the Corinthian church, we preach Christ, we preach Messiah crucified. That's a stumbling block to Jews.
Why is it? Because The Mosaic covenant said Cursed is anyone who's hanged on a tree. And so a first century Jew listening to the Apostle Paul say, Christ Messiah died for our sins, they'll be thinking this question: how could Jesus be the Christ Messiah and end up dying, being crucified and cursed by God? On a tree. And this was the central of this joyful News that the Apostle Paul preached.
He said, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? By becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. And Jesus, he wasn't a victim.
He, out of love for us, laid down his life for us, and he suffered the curse of. Law as our substitute in our place, bearing in His body the punishment for sin that is due to us. He substituted, He took our place. It was for our sins. And Paul says, this is in accordance with the scriptures.
Don't think New Testament when you hear that. You have to think Old Testament. Because the Old Testament scriptures clearly spoke of the substitutionary death of Christ for our sins. Isaiah chapter 52. Surely he has mourn our griefs.
You hear that? He has mourned our griefs. our griefs. He has carried our sorrows. Yet esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
He was pierced for our transgressions. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. You see, it was for us. Christ died for us. The Messiah was crucified for us.
That is the heart of the gospel. The innocent substituted for the guilty. It's the demonstration of God's great love for you. That's the first thing that Paul said, the gospel is. That's the joyful news.
He takes our punishment and we take his righteousness. But second, listen to what the Apostle Paul says. He says that the gospel doesn't just announce that Christ died for our sins, but that he was also buried for us. Look what he says. He says, I know.
Delivered to you as of first importance. The most important thing about the Christian faith, the gospel, is this: that Christ Messiah died for our sins. In accordance with the scriptures, And second, that he was buried. Christ's burial is joyful news. It's joyful news because why?
Well I'm going to come to that in a minute, but here's the application. If you've had to attend a family member Who has died? Their funeral, right? My father-in-law last year, this is our first Easter without him. It's been hard this weekend.
And you stand at his burial site. And you help. Your sons And your cousins Your uncles and everybody put your father-in-law into the ground and bury him. And you're standing over that burial growth lot. Looking At the consequence of death, And sin.
Christ's burial at that moment becomes very joyful news to you in comfort. Because when I was standing there last July. Do you know what I was thinking to myself? 1 Corinthians. 15 verses 1 through 4.
And just thinking it over and over and over, going.
Well warden? Here are all my blue chips. Right here. Let me ask you a question as a Christian. How often do you think and speak about the gospel?
Leave out Christ's burial. It's not to make you feel guilty. help you think about this. Paul says that his burial is of first importance, yet it often gets eclipsed by Good Friday and Easter today. But Christ says.
His burial, listen to me, is of First importance. First importance. Christ's burial was a fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures. Isaiah chapter 53, verse 9, Isaiah prophesies. 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. The Apostle Peter wrote on the day of Pentecost, he quotes Psalm 16:10. Which where David is prophesying of Christ, and he says, You will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see Christ. Corruption. We confess in the Nicene Creed each week in our church, which we'll do here in just a few moments.
For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Suffer death in. And was Buried.
Now, here's the question. Why is Christ's burial of first importance? Why is it joyful news? You have to go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible and get the story right. Genesis chapter 2, verse 17 is why Christ's burial is joyful good news.
Listen carefully. The Lord tells Adam. Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely. The eye.
Christ's burial is of first importance. And it's joyful news because it proves that he truly died, thereby he endured and he ended the curse that God has pronounced upon us for breaking his law. In the day that you eat of this, you shall surely... Die. Christ entered into that penalty.
He entered into that Curse by becoming a curse for us. And so his burial was the final part of the punishment and the curse, the humiliation for which you and I have merited, as God said to Adam, Genesis chapter 3, verse 19, for you are dust. For you are dust and to dust you shall return, which is why the psalmist said of Jesus, Psalm 22 verse 15, you lay me down in the dust of death. This is from what? the Mosaic covenant, God's law required Deuteronomy chapter 21.
It says, if a man has committed a crime punishable by death, He is put to death and you hang him on a tree. His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day. Why?
Because a hanged man is cursed by God. Jesus fulfilled that. And Jesus's burial makes. Certain to us as he was placed in that dust of death. That the curse that God had pronounced in the Garden of Eden for our breaking of his law, for our sin, was forever.
Yeah. Ended. John chapter nineteen, verse forty-one. John says that the tomb in which Joseph laid Christ was in a garden. Where did death come into a world?
Genesis chapter 3, in a garden. The Garden of Eden. Jesus brought death. To death. In a garden tomb.
He reversed Eden. Second, Jesus' miracle is of first importance. It's joyful news because these words, he was buried. Expresses the reality of and points forward to his resurrection. Christ's death was disgraceful.
But the Gospels show us that his burial. was great honor. In ancient practice, Again, John chapter 19, verse 39, John reports that Nicodemus brought to Jesus' tomb. Listen to this. Eh A mixture of myrrh.
Aloes in about 75 pounds. in wait.
So 75 pounds, just excessive. gift to Christ He brought to Jesus his tomb when Jesus was buried. Listen carefully. That Large amount was only conferred upon kings. in the first century.
Joseph Gave Jesus this royal burial as a king. And he did it. with Nicodemus at the risk of both their lives and their fortunes. Jesus' body was adorned with this large amount of spices and costly perfumes fitting for a king. And so this is what one New Testament scholar says, Jesus may have been crucified in the manner of a criminal.
But he was buried in the manner of a king. And so the Gospels are showing us that his burial was not just the final stage of his humiliation bearing our curse. But it's the beginning indication of his exaltation. Right hand of the Father where he reigns in victory. over death forevermore.
This brings us to the third saving act of Jesus. about the gospel that Paul says is of first importance. He says, Christ Messiah was raised for us. I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received, that Christ Messiah died for our sins and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, in accordance with the Old Testament. The Old Testament, Genesis to Malachi, is about the person and work of Christ.
It's not Aesop's fables. It's not a bunch of different disjointed stories that teach it as a moral point to help you be a better person, to be like David and slay the giants in your life. That has nothing to do with the Bible and the Old Testament story. Nothing. That's not why those stories are there.
All those stories point to the promise of Genesis 3:15 of this serpent crusher who's coming. Champion seed of the offspring of Eve, Who is coming to crush God's enemies, to crush our enemies, God's people's enemies. and to bring them salvation and life at new creation again. And Paul says that Christ's death, that his burial, that his resurrection, it was all taught and proclaimed from the Old Testament. That's the whole point of Genesis 22, when Abraham sacrificed Isaac.
That's what the author of Hebrews says. Why would Abraham be willing to sacrifice the offspring who's to bring about this champion see? The other of Hebrews says, because Abraham believed that God was able to raise the dead. The whole Old Testament. Genesis Malachi.
teaches us of the person and work of Christ. This belief that Jesus is God, that he's Messiah, that he rose from the dead, it's the earliest belief of the first Christians. Here's an example. Paul's letter to the Corinthians that we're looking at here. This was written in AD 55, the latest, maybe AD 56, two decades.
20 years after Jesus' resurrection. Why is that amazing? Here's why. Because Paul was. But before he was a Christ follower, Before he trusted Christ, Listen carefully.
He was a monotheistic Pharisee Jew. And to profess faith in the divinity of a fellow rabbi in the first century was explosive. Who was crucified two decades earlier?
Now, what is more remarkable about Paul becoming a follower of Christ. preaching this gospel As he said that prior to this, he was a violent Persecutor of the church. He was. A terrorist. Listen to his description of himself.
He says, You've heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God. Listen to this. Oi. The Apostle Paul had an explosive temper. He was a madman.
He was a murderer. He was a terrorist. He says, I persecuted the church of God violently, and I tried to destroy it. And he says he did this because he was advancing in Judaism beyond many of his own age among my people, so extremely zealous. was I for the traditions of my fathers.
Something happened that changed this man. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 6. Here we see that Paul says that Christ appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time. He says most of this writing in AD 55, 20 years after Jesus had risen from the dead. still freshened minds.
He says most of them still remain. He says, but some have fallen asleep, some have died, but most of them, most of those 500 people remain. If you got this letter, In AD 55, from the Apostle Paul, who had 20 years earlier been the most violent persecutor of the church, everybody knew it. And you're saying now he's saying, go talk to Bob down the street. He was there and saw it.
If you don't believe me, go talk to Susan. Go talk to Mary. Go talk to Eric. Go talk to Adam. Go ask them.
Knock on their door and ask them, what did you see together at one time? And he would say five Hundred witnesses. saw him At one time. That destroys any notion of a hallucination. 500 people don't hallucinate like that together.
And so Paul says in here in 1 Corinthians 15: if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, though everything is in vain. Nothing matters. Nothing matters. As Josh Dowell says, he says, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is either the most wicked, vicious, Heartless hoax ever foisted upon human minds, or it's the most remarkable fact of history. You see, this is what the Apostle Paul was teaching us about the gospel.
The gospel is not philosophy. The gospel is not morality. The gospel is not advice. The gospel is not self-help. The gospel is not these ideas.
Paul says that the gospel is historical acts by a person. This man called Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross for our sins. That's an historical fact. He didn't do that. He was buried in a grave.
That's an historical act. He did that. He rose from the dead. That's an historical act, verified by 500 witnesses at one time. They saw it.
You see, the gospel is completely outside of us. The gospel is news. It's the announcement of news about what somebody else did. On our behalf. And that's why the gospel is so powerful.
Because the gospel is objective historical facts. Here's the interesting thing: you have modern-day rabbis. Today in in Jerusalem who actually say, yes, Jesus at Nazareth lived. Yes, the Gospels are correct. He did die on a Roman cross.
Yes, he was placed in a tomb. And yes, he did rise from the dead. They actually teach that. But they say But we still reject him. But you see, there's no middle ground.
You cannot. You can't be indifferent to this. Paul says Jesus' resurrection connects us to the Old Testament scriptures, which taught the resurrection of the Messiah. This is important. Why?
Because if Jesus was not raised, how are we to understand him? who claimed that he was the Messiah. And in his own self-understanding, his resurrection was central to his whole identity as being the Christ, the Messiah. Here is one final question. Why is the resurrection necessary?
Why is it? One word. That none of us like Death. That's the elephant in the room. Every Easter, that's the elephant in the room every Sunday.
Death. Genesis chapter 2, verses 15 through 17. God took man and he put him in the garden of Eden to keep it to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat it, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Death was a penalty for breaking the covenant of works.
Listen to this. Horrible phrase that is in Genesis chapter five, right after death entered into the world. And the curse came upon the whole world. It's repeated eight times that covers the entire chapter. And this is the phrase.
And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he denied.
Methuselah, right, always laugh about that. He lived 900-something plus years. How could he do that? Because man was never intended to die. 900 years would just be an infant.
Because you were not intended to die. Death is our enemy, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. It's not our friend. It's not the way things are supposed to be, you see. That's what people say.
Well, there's the Lion King, right? I like the Lion King, but the Lion King's terrible theology. It's the circle of life, you know. No, it isn't. You're born, you live, you die.
It's just a circle of life. No, listen carefully. Uh Pagan false religions teach that history is circular. The Christian faith, the story of the Bible, the gospel, doesn't teach that. It says it isn't linear.
It has a beginning point, it has a high point called Jesus who came 2,000 years ago, then it has a concluding point called the new creation that we're coming to in a minute. It's not the circle of life. It's not how it's supposed to be. Jesus, if it was a circle of life, then Jesus' resurrection doesn't matter. And so, Adam, having broken this covenant of works, he brought sin and death into God's good creation.
Death is not a part of God's good creation. The good creation is Genesis 1 and 2, where God pronounced it good. He pronounced man very good. We've corrupted it. And so death is in charge of the human race illegally.
This is what the law pronounces, this curse, Ezekiel 18, 4. The soul who sinned shall die. And so, by his disobedience, Adam turned paradise, the Garden of Eden. He turned it into a foretaste of hell. But the joyful news of the Christian faith is that Jesus, by his resurrection, defeated death forever.
1 Corinthians, look at the end of 1 Corinthians 15, verses 54 through 57. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your stain? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God. who gives us the victory through Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 10. Our Savior, Christ Jesus and Messiah, has, listen, abolished death. And he brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
The hope of the gospel was resurrection. Again, this is what we confess in the Nicene Creed. We can look for. for the resurrection of the dead and life in the world to come. When a Christian dies, they go to be with Christ.
And that's a great comfort. As Paul says in Philippians, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But I want you to listen in 2 Corinthians Paul says there's something better in chapter 4. He says, waiting long. to be covered in our tent.
What's he talking about? He's talking about the resurrection. Because the hope of the Christian, the hope of the gospel... The central message of the Christian faith is this: when we die, it's not off somewhere over there. floating on clouds as a an ethereal spirit.
Harps f hopping on clouds, you know, all the stuff you see. Do you know where that came from? You know where that idea came from? Platonism. It's not the gospel.
The Gospel says that God's good creation that was. destroyed by the fall will be recreated so that there's resurrection. New heavens and new earth, new bodies glorified perfectly. The good news is that Jesus' bodily resurrection is the guarantee of our bodily resurrection. Philippians chapter 3, verse 21, the Lord Jesus Christ will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.
How? By the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. That's the ultimate workout plan. That's the ultimate promise for an absolutely perfect body. that you've always longed for.
And I can promise you this: those of us who have physical illness and we suffer daily with them. cannot wait. to have a glorified body. Because one day I'm going to sit like Lornell Harris. And I'm going to sing my heart out just like my favorite singer of all time, Larne Harris.
If you've never heard of Larnell Harris, look him up. That man's got pipes like you would not believe. I'm going to sound just like that one day. And I can't wait. But here's the thing: the resurrection of Christ promises even more than our bodily resurrection.
The gospel announces the liberation of the whole creation from its bondage to sin and death. This is what the Apostle Paul says. He says, We with all creation groan inwardly. As we wait eagerly for the moment. for adoption as such, the redemption of our bodies.
Everyone is in Christ. He's a new creation. Old has passed away. Behold. That new has come.
Jesus himself says, He says, He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things. New. By his resurrection, Jesus has inaugurated the new creation. All creation that was fallen in the fallen Eden is restored and glorified again in a new creation. And so the scriptures teach us that death entered this world in a garden.
The Gospel says that Jesus was buried in a garden tomb. And the Gospels say that Jesus from a garden tomb rose triumphantly from the grave and defeated death. The Garden of Gethsemane is the second Eden. The garden tomb is the second Eden. The triumph of Jesus over that garden tomb is Eden now beginning to be glorified.
one day ultimately consummated when he comes again. And so the psalmist says in Psalm 16:10, death could not hold him because his father would not abandon his soul to Sheol to the grave. He would not let His Holy One see corruption.
So, as we reflect on the gospel this morning, the gospel is quite simple. Christ died for our sins, he was buried for us, and he rose for us. That's the gospel. That's the news. That's the joyful news.
That's the heart of the Christian faith. That is the Christian faith. Everything stems from that. This is the unique. message that the church has to offer to the world and nothing else.
Book was why nothing else has needed to be offered.
So, the good news for you today is that you can pass from death to life. You don't have to fear coming into judgment. Jesus promises to those who trust him, truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. And he does not come into judgment. but has passed out of death into life.
Everybody on this planet has a personal relationship with God. Don't ask people, hey, do you have a personal relationship with God? Don't ask them that question. Yes, they do. And this is what the scriptures teach.
You're personally related to God in Adam, which is death, or you're personally related to Jesus, which is life. Jesus promises those who trust Him. Do not come into judgment, but pass out of death, pass out of Adam. into life that come into Christ. Why is he lied?
Because he's in resurrection. I am the resurrection and the life.
So here's a simple question. Do you trust Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection? Is that what you're putting your blue chips? You cannot be indifferent to it. It's historical facts.
We can talk about the history if you want to. But it's undeniable. There was a man called Jesus of Nazareth, born of a Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life in obedience and conformity to God's law. Perfect righteousness was appropriated and merited by his perfect life. He merited that righteousness by his obedience to coming to the death on the cross.
He was buried in a garden tomb. He was raised with 500 witnesses plus who saw him. It happened. And it's not news that can just be indifferent to like. North Carolina lost to Alabama this past week.
Let's not talk about that news. That has no effect upon me whatsoever after the first hour of the loss. But this news, you cannot be indifferent to it. This is a joyful message. Our Savior has been released from the prison grave, and so our sin must be canceled.
And so, like the Apostle Paul, we say, Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And we say, Amen. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your mercy. To us in Christ.
And we thank you for this incredible announcement of good news. It's so simple, a child can get it. Yet it's so deep we could just ponder it for eternity and never plumb its depths.
So we thank you. And we pray that Holy Spirit, as we come to receive your sacrament, that you would, by the power of your Holy Spirit, open up our eyes and ears, as you said. He who has ears, let him hear. He who has eyes, let him see. Give us faith.
to have simple trust. In Christ, our Savior, who has died, buried, and risen again for our salvation. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today.
And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available only to find yourself feeling defeated again. This book may be just what you're looking for. With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity.
and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways. paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions or check out. Just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fonville on Amazon to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group.
Him We Proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.
