You may be seated. Please turn again in your copy of the scriptures to first Corinthians chapter 15. Today, we will be reading verses one through 11. The entire chapter of Corinthians, the 15th chapter is about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. the fact of it, the validity of it, and the benefits of it to us as believers. So over the next several Sundays, we’ll be taking a look at the importance of the resurrection and the life of the believer. But today, we’ll be looking at just the first 11 verses.
And so give your attention now to what Paul says to the Corinthian church and what God indeed says to us, church today. Paul says to them, 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 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, that he appeared to Cephas and 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 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. Amen. May God add his blessing both to the reading of his word, but also the preaching of his word. You perhaps remember Jesus telling the parable of the sower.
He says a sower went out to sow and this sower went out to sow without the technology of North Carolina State University and all the agricultural studies that are at every technical and agricultural institute around our country. He went sowing without the technology of John Deere tractors and New Holland farm equipment and all the rest. He went out sowing and it was very inefficient.
He would walk and as he stepped, he would grab a handful of seed from his bag and throw. And just the cadence of stepping and throwing and stepping and throwing and stepping and throwing meant that the seed fell on all sorts of ground. The seed would fall on the path. The seed would fall on the rocks and the seed would fall on the thorns. Jesus explains the parable of the sower to his disciples, and he explains that the seed that falls along the path is trampled underfoot.
And it is because Satan comes along and when the word of God is sown, when the word of God is preached. When the word of God is read, when evangelists carry the gospel into the various places of the world, Satan snatches that seed. He snatches away that gospel so that a person cannot believe and they cannot be saved. That is the deceitful and deadly and dangerous work of Satan when God’s word is being read and preached and proclaimed.
Well, the seed also falls among the rocks and that seed quickly grows, but it withers. It bears no fruit. That is because the person does not believe and is not saved. And so the seed also falls. It falls. Among the thorns and those thorns, Jesus tells us, are the cares of this world, the riches of this life and its pleasures. And there is no maturity. There is no fruit. There is no lasting plant. Jesus tells us the gospel is the good seed. The gospel that the sower sows is the preaching of the gospel. It’s the spreading of the word, we say.
And it does indeed on occasion fall on good soil where it produces a hundred fold. And Jesus says of the good soil, the good soil are those who hear, those who believe, and those who hold fast with a good heart, those who hold fast with a patient heart, when they are tested because that seed has grown and matured and taken root, because it is planted in good soil, it lasts. There is patience, there is a harvest, and there is righteousness. Jesus also tells another story, another agricultural story, where he says that the seed is sown and then the evil one comes and sows weeds among the seed.
We understand from Jesus’ teaching that inside the church, in the church visible, in the church, There are wheat and there are tares. There is the wheat that will grow and be found at the last day in the harvest. But there are also the seeds of weeds, the tares. And one day the angels will come and they will reap the harvest and they will separate the wheat from the tares, the wheat being the righteous carried off to heaven, but the tares being sent away like the wind to everlasting destruction.
And so the challenge for us as believers by God’s grace is to hear the gospel, to hear it for the first time and to believe it, to hear it over and over and continue to receive it in grace so that we grow in our faith and we grow in the knowledge of Christ and we grow in the way of the Christian life. The Lord Jesus has given us the gospel and we present it to everyone. We cast the seed, we cast it far and we cast it wide. But one day we will see its fruit. Now think of the apostle Paul, not too many years after the Lord Jesus. Not too many years after the Lord Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended back to heaven, he’s got his church established on earth and it’s growing by leaps and bounds.
But there is this guy named Saul who hates the fact that the church is growing, that it’s taken root. And so we understand from the book of Acts, he is persecuting the church. He is standing there holding the clothing, the cloaks of those who stone Stephen. Those who end that great apostle, that preacher’s life.
And a little time later, Saul, still breathing murderous threats, the Bible tells us, is making his way to Damascus. He’s making his way to a place where the church is thriving. Now, little does he know that someday Damascus will be the place where his Christian faith is nourished. It’ll be the place where hands are laid on him and where the people with tears and with prayers send him on his handful of missionary journeys around the world. But it’s on the way to Damascus that first time where he has letters from Jerusalem giving him permission and blessing to persecute the followers of Jesus, the people of the way. And so he, on the way, is met by the risen Lord, Saul. Why are you persecuting me? And he’s blinded, he’s struck, he’s sent off to Damascus where he meets with the people, he’s discipled, he’s off to Arabia for 10 or so years where he is taught by God himself the goodness of God and Christ.
Well, he makes a missionary journey and he goes through the region of the Galatian churches. He ministers there. Second missionary journey, where he finds the Corinthians, he goes a little farther west and he ministers in Philippi, where he’s shamefully treated and beaten there in the prison. He goes on to Berea, where those good people heard the word of God, received it with joy, but they also went to the scriptures to see if what he said was so.
And then he makes his way to the Thessalonians, a beloved people, on to Athens, where he preached of the God of the unknown idol, the unknown or blank space in their marketplace. And then he lands in Corinth for 18 months. And the Corinthians were a wild bunch of people, an undisciplined church, full of trouble, full of hardship.
And now they’re full of false teachers. And he’s ending his second letter to them. He is begging them. He is pleading with them. He is giving them his solemn word. As in verse one, he says, now I remind you, brothers, of the gospel. Everything else we’ve talked about, everything else we’ve done together doesn’t matter. Perhaps you’ve been with someone when they are near death. Perhaps you’ve been with someone whose life is near its end and it comes down to brass tacks.
What do they want you to know? Well, hopefully they want you to know Jesus. Hopefully they want you to know the nuts and the bolts, the building blocks of the gospel. They want you to know that apart from Jesus, we are nothing without Christ. his life, obedience, his death, but especially his resurrection from the dead. We have no hope.
And so the apostle Paul across the sea at Ephesus ministering to that church writes this second letter and he reminds them of the gospel that he preached to them. He reminds them of their response. He reminds them of the source of the gospel and he reminds them that they must continue to walk in it. And so we want to think for just a few moments about the life of the Corinthian church in relation to the gospel, and then also our own. First, we want to think on just the simple gospel.
What is the gospel? It is a word that means good news. You probably heard me say a handful of times that there are words in the New Testament, in the Greek language, that are words about communicating content to people. And there is a specific verb that is preaching the gospel. It’s where we get our evangelism word. And so Paul begins this section saying, I evangelized you Corinthians. I gave you the good news. I gave you the gospel. Verse one, I remind you of the gospel. I preach to you. I remind you of the content of my evangelism.
He gave them all he had. He gave them both barrels. He gave them the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he reminds them of the gospel there in verse one. But he secondly reminds them of his gospel ministry. If you look in verses one and three, but also in verses 10 and 11, he speaks of preaching. He speaks of delivering to them of first importance. He speaks in verse 10. He speaks of God’s grace towards him.
The grace of God that is within him and how he continued his life was a ministry of continually preaching the word. You’ll think back through the book of Acts. You’ll think back through the little nuggets we pick up of the life of the apostle Paul in his 11 or so or 13 or so epistles.
He worked night and day. He worked night and day and sometimes he worked two jobs. He would tent make. That was his trade. He would tent make and then preach the gospel at night. He was relentless. He was tireless. It didn’t matter if there was a shipwreck. It didn’t matter if he was beaten in a Philippian jail. It didn’t matter what came his way. He kept on going. tirelessly preaching the gospel.
And so not only does he remind them of the gospel, but he reminds them of his gospel ministry. It was entrusted to him by God himself through Jesus Christ. And he even says, I believe down in verse 10, I worked harder than anyone else. This man was a gospel minister. This man, through thick and thin, would proclaim the gospel. Now, why does he say that to them? If he’s reminding them of the gospel, and then reminding them of his gospel ministry among them, and even that he worked night and day, what does that seem to say to the Corinthians?
This man believes this. This man has never stopped believing this, and he has not stopped proclaiming it. and far away across the little body of water that separates us from him at Ephesus and us back at Corinth. This is his concern. This is his desire that we continue walking in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This past weekend, the ACC Atlantic Coast Conference football coaches and some of their star players were down in Charlotte doing the media days. And I watched a few of the different teams. I still haven’t gotten to Duke yet, but I watched a few of the teams and all their star players would speak of the confidence they have in their coach because he lives the life. He walks the walk and he talks the talk. And so why will they excel in their athletic careers under that coach? It’s because they have someone they can believe in. And we do need that. And so the Corinthians have the apostle Paul.
He lives the life. He walks the walk. He talks the talk. He bleeds gospel. And he works and ministers the gospel among these people. But importantly, and the third thing I want to point out to you is the gospel content. It is one thing for Paul to say, I remind you of the gospel. It is another for him to say, this was my gospel ministry among you, but what of the content of the gospel? This is important. He says, I delivered to you of first importance. Okay. If, if, if we interviewed a preacher today, you wonder what would be a first importance?
Is it getting a building built? Is it making sure that we have all the transportation available to get kids off to camp? Is it to build a gymnasium? Is it to build a life center? Is it to build whatever it is churches are building? What would you hear from a minister?
Would he say it is of first importance if we’re meeting under a tree? It is of first importance if we’re meeting in a cathedral. It is of first importance no matter where we are, that you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is important that you hear Christ died for our sins. It is important to hear that he was buried, that he was raised and that he appeared. Why are these the gospel content? There are other things you could say. Uh, and the Bible does say other things. Even Paul says other things that are gospel content, but at least here he says, Christ died.
Christ was buried. Christ was raised. And Christ appeared. He died for our sins. That little word for, that little preposition makes all the difference in the world. Christ died for our sins. Paul will say to the Corinthians in his second letter that we have, his fourth letter to them, that just at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. He who knew no sin became sin for us. Christ died for me, we say. We deserve to die. We are the sinners. We are the disobedient ones. We are the ones that should be under God’s wrath and curse that is due to us for sin, because we disobeyed, we fell short, we are full of iniquity and sins. But it says here, Christ died for our sins. The whole Old Testament points to that. It says Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He died in accordance with Isaiah 53, which we read a bit ago.
He died in accordance with all the Old Testament sacrifices, all the lambs, all the pigeons, all the doves, all the bulls and the other beasts that lost their lives until Christ would come and die on the cross once and for all for sins. So what is the first importance? It’s the gospel. And what does the gospel include?
Christ died for our sins. He was buried. Sometimes we say in church, the apostles creed, and some of you will squirm a little when we get to that line that says he descended into hell. And all the creed is saying, all the apostles creed is saying is that when Jesus died and was buried, he was good and dead.
The wages of sin is death. And there is no illusion. There’s no faking it. There is no secret. conspiracy of the apostles, Jesus on the cross took our sins in his body. He bore them in the tree and he cried out at it. It is finished. And his last breath was taken from him and he really died. And he was put in the grave.
Remember Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph of Arimathea and also Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night and wanted to know about being born again. Those two members of the council of the leaders at Jerusalem secretly admired Jesus and we believe had faith in him. And Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for Jesus’ body and it fulfilled the prophecy.
He has made his grave with the rich. Joseph had a wonderful tomb recently cut and prepared for his own death one day, but he gave it to Jesus. He took care of the Savior’s body and buried him. But we remember the story of Easter. We remember the people went to the tomb and found the stone was rolled away. The grave clothes were folded. The tomb was empty. The sunshine was brighter. And what did the angel say at the tomb? Why do you look? for the dead. Uh, why do you look from the, uh, why do you look for the living among the dead? And we knew Jesus was raised says he appeared to Cephas.
That’s Peter. Peter was one of the ministers who stopped by Corinth. He appeared to James. That’s the half brother of Jesus. He appeared to the 12, the disciples, and he appeared also to 500 brothers. But then Paul says, he appeared to me. I remember on the road to Damascus, Jesus confronted Paul, why are you persecuting me? In order to be an apostle, you had to be an eyewitness of the resurrection. That’s what John tells us when he writes his little bitty letters. He says, we saw him. Our eyes were laid on his risen body. Peter or Paul, who was born late. He was untimely born, as he says, met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus.
So we have the gospel. This is what the Corinthians need. We have the gospel ministry of Paul. We have the gospel content. But we also have the gospel response. And this is what Paul is calling the Corinthians to. This is where we need to land for a moment or two today and think on ourselves. The gospel response in verses one and two.
I remind you of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved. And if you hold fast to these things, what is the proper response? What is the proper response to the word of God, the gospel of Jesus? What is the proper response to the knowledge that Jesus saves?
It is to receive it. The reason we read those catechism questions this morning, we want to receive it with joy. We want to receive it with faith. We want to receive it with thanksgiving. We want to lay it up in our hearts. We want to think on it in our minds. We want it to marinate in our souls. We want it to come bursting out in song, saved people sing. We want to stand in the gospel. Remember the famous J. Gresham Machen, one of the warriors of the Northern Presbyterian Church during the liberalism of a century ago, on his deathbed, his last words, his last telegram to our friend was simply this, the active obedience of Christ. is my hope and there is no hope without it.
We want to stand and stand on Christ alone, his active obedience. He lived and he obeyed in our place. That’s why when we speak of justification, it’s just as if we never sinned. God has wiped away our sins through Christ, but it’s also just as if we’ve always obeyed. The obedience of Christ is ours by faith and we want to stand in that just when your mind thinks.
Well, I’m going to do some good deeds. I will help a little old lady across the road. I will be the number one giver at church. I’m going to, you know, I’m going to do this, this or this. The Christian life is not about doing. You can’t do anything that would please God. The Christian life is about what has been done for you. And that is that Jesus obeyed in your place. He suffered in your place and he died in your place.
And so the proper gospel response is to receive that knowledge with joy and to stand in it, never changing from it. And what’s the Corinthian problem? They’ve got false teachers in their midst saying, you need Jesus plus something else, probably their teaching. And so the temptation is to no longer stand in the simple good news of Jesus Christ.
And he says, it’s the gospel by which you are being saved. You know, well-meaning evangelists come up to you and they say, are you saved? And if you’re a smarty pants. And you’ve been around Covenant Presbyterian church long enough, you know that the gospel in the scriptures has three tenses. You are, or you have been saved. You are being saved and you will be saved. Start at the end there. You will be saved when you land safely on heaven’s shores. You will be saved when you are glorified and saved to sin no more. You are being saved now.
And that’s the phrase Paul uses there in verse two. It is the gospel by which you are being saved. You need to hear the gospel over and over and over again. Yes, there is a time where you come to faith in Jesus. You are justified. Never a sinner in his sight again. There is that. But the Christian life is a life of repentance. It’s a life of faith. It’s a life of obedience. And we are being saved. But there is a sense where we are saved. It is a past fact, but it has present and ongoing benefits and blessings. But a proper response is to keep dwelling in the gospel, keep Loving and living the gospel. I don’t know about y’all. I’m maybe the middle aged guy in the room. When I was younger, I think I would hear you need to be saved. So in order to get saved, you believe in Jesus. Okay, that’s great.
Well, you bump along in life and some hurts come. You bump along in life and some hardships come. You bump along in life and there are things that shake you. There are things that your mind and your heart and your soul Never thought they would run into.
And that’s when the gospel is most meaningful. You are back to that other word. You are standing on the gospel that you once received the gospel. What does that song say? The longer I serve him, the sweeter he becomes. And so we stand in the gospel that we received and that is saving us. But there’s a little phrase here in verse two, and it upsets us reform people. If you hold fast to the word I preach to you, it sounds sort of like there is no eternal security. You’ve got to bare knuckle, hold onto the rope lest you fall into the chasm of losing your salvation.
Now we believe what the Bible teaches. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. We believe, I guess you gotta say it like culture says it, once saved, always saved. But we also believe that There’s got to be true faith. There’s got to be a true change of heart. There has to be a true work of God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit.
So when we hear the gospel, receive it, and it is saving us and we are standing in it, it becomes more or less evident if the seed fell on the good soil or on the rocks or on the path or among the weeds. And that’s something for each of us to consider. Paul will say to the Corinthians in one of his other letters, Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. And this is a good moment to take stock of that.
What has been your response to the gospel? Are you just a good Southerner who goes to church because you’re supposed to? Or is the gospel everything to your mind and your heart and in it you stand and it doesn’t matter what comes your way, you will not be shaken because by God’s grace, you are holding fast. to the word that is preached. This is the challenge Paul gives to the Corinthians.
We’ll see on in the weeks to come, the dangers of not believing in the resurrection. But I hope you are challenged today. I hope you’ll take a moment to think about what God has offered to you in the gospel. He has offered to you his son. He has offered to you his obedience.
He has offered to you his sacrifice for sins, which must be paid for by his justice. They must be paid for under his wrath. Jesus took that wrath. Jesus went under the justice of God, the weight of his curse. And he’s done that for those who believe.
And so I hope today that you have believed the gospel and not in vain, but that it has fallen on good soil and perhaps is beginning to produce. Let’s make that our prayer now, join with me. Father, there is nothing else in this life that matters now except this, that we repent of our sins and we believe on the Lord Jesus. And you promise that if that is the case, we are saved. And so work faith in every one of us today, maybe for the first time, For those of us who’ve walked with you, work a deeper and a stronger and abiding faith so that we stand in the gospel that we have heard and received. And may there be joy in every one of our hearts today because we know firm that we stand and rest in the arms of Jesus. Hear us and help us and bless us, we pray in his name, amen. Let’s respond to God.