Remember the Gospel

I ask you to remain standing in honor of God's Word as we read it together tonight. If you would please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Chapter 15 of Paul's first letter to Corinth is the fullest treatment of one of the most foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. Of course the doctrine of the resurrection.

Not only the resurrection of Christ but also the resurrection of all who are in Christ, of believers. So tonight we'll consider the first 11 verses. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 11. Hear now the Word of the Lord. 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.

That he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 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. For I am the least of the apostles. Unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace toward me was not in vain.

On the contrary I worked harder than any of them though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they so we preach and so you believed. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord Jesus you are risen from the dead and because you live we also will be raised on the last day. And may we never forget that hope. The hope of resurrection life. And Lord may that hope fuel your church. May that hope enable us to be as Paul said at the end of this chapter. Steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in you Lord our work is not in vain. Now Holy Spirit would you take these words and give us faith and understanding to believe and obey what they say to us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

You can be seated. We've already observed in this letter from Paul to the Corinthians that Paul is responding to a list of questions or concerns that have come up presumably in a previous letter from Corinth to Paul. He's answered several questions already related to things like marriage or meat offered to idols, the sacrament of communion, spiritual gifts and so on. Well here in chapter 15 Paul takes up yet another issue and one that is perhaps more important than all of the other ones. That is the doctrine of the resurrection.

One theologian called chapter 15 here in 1 Corinthians the clothes and crown of the whole epistle and also the key to the meaning of the rest of the letter. Martin Luther the Protestant reformer said that if a person doesn't believe what Paul asserts in chapter 15 about the resurrection he must deny in total the gospel and everything that is proclaimed of Christ and of God. For all of this is linked together Luther said like a chain. Whoever denies this must simultaneously deny far more.

In brief he must deny that God is God. The resurrection of Jesus Christ and consequently of believers who are in Christ is a big deal. It's the biggest of deals according to Luther. On this foundation rests the whole of the Christian faith. If Christ is not raised from the dead, Paul will assert later, then we Christians are of all men to be most pitied because then all would be lost.

Nothing would be gained. The whole thing would be a lie. But it's not a lie. The gospel is true. And yet one of the effects of our fallen nature is the tendency to forget true things. Crucial things. Foundational truths of our faith. That's why scripture often has to stir up the people of God to remember important things. Scripture says things like remember that you were a slave in Egypt. Remember the Lord your God. Remember the deeds of the Lord. Remember your creator in the days of your youth. Remember God's covenant with you. Remember mercy. Remember the law of God.

Remember Lot's wife. Remember the words of the Lord. Remember that at one time you were separated from Christ. Remember Jesus Christ. Remember the predictions of the holy prophets. Remember the commandments of the Lord through the apostles. Remember from where you have fallen and repent. And on and on scripture reminds us not to forget important things. Life changing things. Far reaching eternal things.

All because we are prone to forget. Here we have a newborn church at Corinth. Not even a generation removed from the earthly ministry of Christ. And already Paul is having to remind them not of some obscure random footnote of the Christian faith. Not of some minuscule procedural matter of polity.

Not of who's got the nursery rotation or lockup. But of the gospel itself. They're forgetting the gospel.

And there's a warning for us here I think. If the early church was in danger of forgetting the gospel. When they still had access to living eyewitnesses of the resurrection. How much easier will it be for us who are 2,000 years removed from that first generation of post Calvary Christians. How much easier it will be for us to neglect and forget the most vital foundational doctrines of our faith. I think the realization of our predicament of how tragically forgetful sin has made us is frightening isn't it? It could very easily lead us to despair. If left to ourselves we are prone to forget the very gospel that can save us. Then what hope do we have?

Well here's the thing. We're not left to ourselves. The fact is the same gospel that covers our sin also covers our forgetfulness. And this is really at the heart of Paul's reminder of the resurrection in chapter 15. He's making the point that since Christ is raised from the dead. We who are in Christ will also be raised.

It's a guarantee. The resurrection gives concrete proof that the atoning work of Jesus Christ is effectual. It will accomplish exactly what God intends it to accomplish. Despite our depravity.

Despite what we deserve. Despite our bent towards forgetting the gospel itself. God will save his children. And one of the sweet evidences of that is the fact that 1 Corinthians 15 is in the Bible. God's spirit has ensured that the church for all time would have a divinely inspired reminder of the very thing we are prone to forget. The reality and effect of the gospel as demonstrated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul begins by saying in verse 1. Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you. His focus in this chapter is going to be on the resurrection specifically.

But that was the point at which Corinth was being particularly forgetful. But understand there's a danger in omitting any facet of the gospel. Whether we omit the deity of Christ or the humanity of Christ.

The nature of original sin or the sufficiency of Christ's death to actually atone. Any omission renders the gospel incomplete. And church an incomplete gospel is a different gospel. A powerless gospel. A gospel that ultimately demeans Christ. And leads sinners as we will see to hopeless complacency. A complete gospel on the other hand leads to hope.

Which in turn leads to steadfast usefulness in God's kingdom. That in fact is where chapter 15 concludes. Look at the very last chapter. The very last verse of the chapter very briefly.

And let's just see where Paul is heading ultimately. He says, Therefore my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Everything that Paul says in chapter 15 leads up to that final verse. His purpose is to exhort Christians to faithfulness. And that is accomplished by reminding Christians of what truly matters. That Christ died for our sins. That he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

Well with that in mind let's stir ourselves up tonight to confident faithfulness. By jumping into this apostolic reminder of the gospel. In these first 11 verses we see the call of the gospel. We see the content of the gospel. And finally we see the consequence or effect of the gospel. First we see the call of the gospel in verses 1 and 2. How does the gospel get to us? What is the means by which events that occurred two millennia ago reach people in Cabarrus County and change our eternal destiny?

The whole thing sounds a bit far-fetched doesn't it? And yet the gospel reaches us and changes us today the same way it did in the first century. Through the preaching and believing the good news of Jesus Christ. That call, that process by which the gospel takes root in a heart is not in itself impressive or profound. In fact God did that on purpose. He determined that the gospel would spread through the foolishness of preaching. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 21. So that neither those who do the preaching nor those who respond in faith to the preaching can boast.

The call is intentionally unimpressive precisely so that God gets the credit. But understand church that what is taking place in the souls of sinners as the gospel is preached and believed is immeasurably profound and impressive. A miracle of resurrection proportions. Something that was dead is being brought to life as this exchange is taking place.

It truly is amazing. Notice how Paul describes this miracle in verses 1 and 2. He says three things. First that Corinth received the gospel. And that reception goes far beyond merely hearing and accepting it as true. It means that when they heard him preach they staked their very souls. Their eternal destinies on the gospel that Paul proclaimed. Secondly he says this gospel is something in which they presently stand. So not only did they receive it in the past when they first heard it.

They are presently standing resting in that same hope. And then he adds and by which you are being saved. In other words this gospel call changed them in the past is keeping them in the present and will forever save them in the future. You see the gospel call is not some mountaintop experience that just gives us a brief emotional high.

It's not just some future incentive that we have to look forward to. It's so comprehensive, so life changing that it affects the believer past, present and future. It is so profound in fact that the Bible tells us it makes a believer a new creation.

It turns us into something that we weren't before. Church we need to let that sink in. Lest we forget who we are and forget what God has done and is doing and will do in us. If we forget what the call of the gospel has done in us and to us. We run the risk of growing weary in well doing. Of believing in vain.

Of failing to hold fast to the only word that can save us. I think we would do well to recall from time to time the gospel's power in us past, present and future. Do you remember how the gospel first took root in your heart?

Think back to that. How God brought someone into your life to preach to you this ancient message of how you could have peace with God. God didn't have to do that. He would have been perfectly just to leave you in the darkness and rebellion of your sin but he didn't.

He brought the light to you. We would do well to remind ourselves not only of God's past work in bringing the light of the gospel to us but also of the present fruit that the gospel is bearing in our own lives right now. Maybe we sometimes take that fruit for granted.

But do you realize that it's not normal for sinners like us to have peace with God? That's a fruit of the gospel. We are standing in the light of Christ and that light is killing sin and increasing joy and giving us knowledge and building Christ-like character in us. It's bearing all sorts of fruit that will lead to joy and fulfillment.

Fruit that those outside of Christ do not have and cannot enjoy. The gospel is presently at work in you. We also do well to remind ourselves of the future effect of the gospel. Do you realize what the gospel is turning you into? Brothers and sisters, you are co-heirs with Christ, royalty, every one of you.

Subjects in the court of the most high God. This is not something we can boast in because we don't deserve it. It is most certainly something we ought to rejoice in and be emboldened by.

So we don't need to cower at the vain threats of the world. We don't need to succumb to the false accusations of Satan. We are being saved and one day that salvation that is perhaps obscured now by the dirt and grime of a sinful world will be evident to all.

Don't forget it. Don't forget what you were and how the gospel call came to you and changed you, is changing you, and will change you forever. The call of the gospel is powerful. So remember the gospel. That the gospel call is powerful is clear, but what exactly is the gospel?

What is this message of hope and transformation that so powerfully changes those who receive it? Paul tells us in verses 3 through 8, he explains the content of the gospel. Now admittedly, this is a most strange presentation of the gospel.

It's strange in that it's brief and it's strange in that it doesn't really explain a whole lot. Here it is, verse 3. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

And that's it. Jesus died, was buried, and was raised. It really doesn't sound like much, but embedded in that short, simple creed, we find the life-changing good news of salvation. That really is the content of the gospel in a nutshell.

Now when we think of evangelism, I suspect we think of a much more comprehensive explanation of the plan of salvation with proof texts and illustrations and strategically placed apologetic arguments, and certainly all of those things have their proper place. The question is, what really does constitute the gospel? Is it a specific set of Bible verses presented with explanations?

Is it a conversation that has to include James Kennedy's two diagnostic questions? Is it a particular set of doctrinal propositions? I think we can safely say that the gospel can be as complex and comprehensive as to include anything and everything that is included in the Bible, or as simple as Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and raised again to save sinners. The amount of detail we go into and the amount of explanation we include and the points of emphasis we make really depend to a large extent on who we're speaking to and what their deficiencies in terms of knowledge of the gospel are. In Paul's case, he was speaking to believers who had already received and been transformed by the gospel.

They didn't need a lot of explanation. They needed a reminder of what they already knew. More specifically, they didn't need a reminder of every facet of the gospel. They needed a reminder of the part of the gospel that they had treated with neglect, which in Corinth's case was the resurrection. And so Paul's brief statement of the gospel was really just a launching pad from which he could spend the rest of the chapter rebuking and correcting their misunderstanding at this point. And so we're going to spend a couple of sermons probably considering Paul's doctrine of resurrection.

But before we even get into that part of the chapter, let's not blow past this short gospel summary. Paul makes three simple points in verses 3 and 4. First he says that Christ died for our sins. If you ask a child what is the gospel or what does it mean to be a Christian, most children, especially children who grew up in the church, have been discipled in the faith, will say something like it means to believe that Jesus died for our sins. That is the gospel in its most rudimentary form, Jesus died for our sins.

And contained in that simple statement and implied by that simple statement is the doctrine of justification by faith and the incarnation of Christ and the preexistence of God and the full humanity of Jesus and the doctrine of original sin and total depravity and atonement and the perfection of God's law and the effectual work of God's Holy Spirit and on and on. All in that simple statement Jesus died for sinners. But then Paul adds he was buried. Now this one's interesting to me because from a theological standpoint Christ's burial did not have any atoning effect. The sins of all the elect were paid for on the cross at the moment Christ cried out, it is finished. So why would Paul mention the burial of Christ here?

Why is Christ's burial included in the early creeds of the church, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed? I think the inclusion of this detail highlights the fact that Jesus Christ was really man. He was not some phantom that only appeared to be real.

He was human. His burial also establishes the fact that as a man he really died. He didn't merely swoon on the cross and survive the ordeal. He was dead dead to the point that they buried him in a tomb for three days. His burial highlights the reality and certainty of his death. But it also highlights the reality and certainty of his resurrection. If he was truly dead when his disciples buried him then he was truly resurrected when they went and found an empty tomb. His resurrection was not a group hallucination as some have claimed. It wasn't an imagined resurrection.

It was real, just as real as his death. And there was the evidence of an empty tomb where he had been intentionally and knowingly buried by his disciples to prove it. The third and final statement in Paul's brief gospel presentation is that he was raised on the third day. And this brings Paul to the topic at hand, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the consequent resurrection of all believers who are in Christ by faith. This is the point of the gospel that Corinth had begun to forget and was starting to deny.

This was the point at which Corinth needed a rebuke and a correction. And so this is the point where Paul will stop and linger for several verses. Notice what he says next, he belabours the point that Christ's resurrection is attested to by many eyewitnesses, including several who are still alive.

The implication being just go ask them. Look at verse 5, Jesus appeared to Cephas, that's another name for Peter, and then to the 12, then he appeared to more than 500 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. And this is a reference to Paul in the sense that he as an apostle was late to the party, untimely born. So there were any number of eyewitnesses that the Corinthians could go to to verify the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, Paul himself was one of those eyewitnesses.

Why does Paul belabour this point? Well, it's because there were those at Corinth who were denying the resurrection, not of Christ per se, but of believers, denying the resurrection of believers. We see this in verse 12, and we'll spend more time looking at this next time.

But verse 12 says, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? You see, the content of the Gospel is not something we are at liberty to edit however we want, and doing so can bring about devastating consequences, as we'll see in the remainder of the chapter. But this may be a good spot to pause and ask ourselves, what part of the Gospel do I tend to downplay or neglect or even deny? Do I overlook the gracious nature of salvation, like the Judaizers were doing in the book of Galatians? Am I denying the hope of the resurrection like the Corinthians and like the Sadducees before them? Have I minimized the sinfulness of my sin for the sake of self-esteem?

Have I in pride and arrogance placed undue emphasis on my personal morality? You see, any distortions we place on the Gospel have the potential to wreck and ruin us because those seemingly innocent distortions will begin to overtake and transform the good news of Jesus Christ into something that the Gospel isn't at all. So church, remember the Gospel. Well, having reminded Corinth of the call of the Gospel and of the content of the Gospel, Paul then drew their attention to the consequence or the effect of the Gospel.

And this really was the point at which Corinth was getting the most confused. They were forgetting what is arguably the most incentivizing and joyful aspect of the Gospel, and that is what the Gospel actually does in us. You see, the Gospel isn't merely about adopting a new belief system or wearing a new title called Christian. The effect of the Gospel is something that actually changes who we are through and through. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Anything less than new creation is downplaying and demeaning the actual effects of the Gospel on sinners, and in so doing is downplaying and demeaning Christ and what he accomplished through his atoning work. Corinth was guilty of this. They were denying the resurrection of believers, which was tantamount to denying the resurrection of Christ, and so they needed to be reminded of the extraordinary effects that the Gospel had had on Paul and was having on them. Verses 9 through 11 highlight these effects, these profound consequences of the Gospel, and those consequences essentially boil down to this. The Gospel gives grace to really bad sinners, and it enables faith in really faithless people. The Gospel offers grace to really bad sinners like Paul, and it enables faith in really faithless people like the Corinthians. First, Paul highlights his own testimony, God's work of grace in this man who called himself the least of the apostles. This wasn't false humility on Paul's part. He really saw himself as the least because he, unlike the other 11, had a criminal record, a rap sheet against the church.

He had aided and abetted the persecution of the very church of which he was now a part. And then he says, verse 10, But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace toward me was not in vain. Folks, God's grace can turn the archenemy of the church into an apostle of the church.

That is truly grace that is greater than all my sin. And to suggest that the Gospel cannot have this degree of consequence and effectiveness is to demean the Gospel and to demean the God of the Gospel. Corinth was toying with the lie that the resurrection of believers on the last day is impossible, and if that lie were true, then Paul's testimony of miraculous conversion would be pointless. His preaching would be in vain. Corinth's believing the Gospel through his preaching would be inconsequential. They were undermining the graciousness of the Gospel by denying the full consequences and effects of the Gospel.

Do we do the same thing? Do I find it hard to believe that God's grace could penetrate a stony heart like mine? Do I reckon my sinfulness to be too much for God's grace? Am I underestimating the power of the Gospel? Notice that Paul didn't overcome this tendency by pretending to be better than he truly was.

He readily admits the depths of his depravity. What he does do, though, is to acknowledge that God's grace is even greater than his depravity, that where Paul's sin abounded, God's grace superabounded. That's the power of the Gospel.

It covers all my sin, even the worst of it. Not only had Paul experienced the gracious consequence of the Gospel, Corinth had experienced it too. Paul says in verse 11, Whether then it was I, Paul, or they, one of the other apostles, so we preach, and so you believed. Faithless, carnal, idolatrous, unbelieving Corinth believed the Gospel and became children of God for all eternity.

If the Gospel can have that effect of bringing light out of darkness, then certainly it can ensure resurrection on the last day for all who believe. Corinth was beginning to doubt that power and in so doing were belittling and dishonoring the Gospel that had brought them salvation. They were allowing 100 different bad habits to cloud their thinking. We'll see what some of those habits were as we make our way through the rest of chapter 15, but they were things like misrepresenting God, living for the moment, keeping bad company, stubbornly continuing in sin, and loving foolishness. And so Paul reminded them of the Gospel's effect both in his own life and in theirs so that they would not forget their future hope, their future joy, the future consequence of God's power unto salvation. Christian, are you holding fast to your confession of faith? Do you remember how you were once darkness and now you're light? You realize that the same power that originally ushered you into the realm of God's grace will keep you there until the day of his return and will resurrect your perishable body on that day and transform it into something imperishable, created for glory, created for eternity with unspeakable joy?

Or are you wallowing in a thousand objections that cloud your confidence in God's ability to finish what he has started? Remember the Gospel. Paul's purpose in reminding Corinth and us of the Gospel's call and content and consequence is not just to restore our joy in God's ability to save. It does have that effect, and that's a good thing. Paul's purpose wasn't just to make sure Corinth had all of their theological I's dotted and T's crossed.

It does have that effect, and that's also a good thing. His purpose, however, is to make us unswervingly faithful in our labor for the Lord rather than spinning our wheels throughout our life just in guilt and fear. Chapter 15, as I mentioned earlier, culminates in that last verse, verse 58, which says, Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

We are children of the king. We're not called to scrape along, cowering in fear of ourselves, scared of the world, frightened by the devil. We are called to abound in the work of the Lord, and the ability and motivation to abound in that work comes, church, from full confidence that the gospel will accomplish exactly what God intends it to accomplish. It turns sinners into saints.

It turns faithless idolaters like the Corinthians, like us, into worshipers of the Most High God. So remember the gospel. Let's pray. Father, nothing obligated you to save us, and yet you have saved us. We are amazed at your grace to us, and yet we often doubt the fullness of that grace, sometimes because of our own sin, sometimes because we're swayed by the sin of those around us. But, Lord, we see tonight that the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ is so powerful that it not only saves us from hell, it makes us new creations, and because of that you will ensure that even our pathetic, groundless doubts and fears will not win the day. You're providing everything we need to be kept until the day of your return. So we ask that you would fill us with that hope, stir us up to confident labor in your kingdom, help us to not flit about wasting time and energy on faithless doubts that have no substance. But, Lord, by the power of your Holy Spirit in us, enable us to remember the gospel always and forever. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.