What are You Standing On?

Throughout history, there have been things that have seemed immovable. They have seemed stable.

Titanic

I think of the Titanic, like most boats, there was no thought that this boat would sink, in todays world, it is very rare to get on a boat and think “I really hope that this doesn't sink.” because that is just not common.

But the Titanic seemed so strong to it’s creators that they literally felt the need to say “This boat will never sink.”

and then it did…

It seemed unsinkable, it seemed safe to stand on, but it wasn’t.

My question today is:

What Are You Standing On?

Satan wants us to believe that what we are standing on could never break, sink or falter.

Many people are “standing” on:

Good works

Church attendance

Good intentions

or Family heritage

While these are good things, none of them are firm. They will all fall short.

In Revelation 6, John is talking about the end times and asks the question - “Who shall be able to stand?”

The answer to his rhetorical question is “no one”

(Revelation 6:17 “17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”)

and the Bible also says that the wages of sin is death and sadly we have all sinned so we all deserve death.

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death…”

This death is talking about separation from God forever in the horrible place called hell.

Hell is real, hot, and permanent.

But luckily, the story doesn’t end there, that verse we just read says, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We each have a choice to make, will we stay standing on our sins and die and go to hell or will we accept God’s gift of eternal life.

I hope and pray that you will listen because…

from our passage in 1 Corinthians 15, we will see how to receive that gift of eternal life.

Very simply here is a statement that boils it down:

God wants you to stand in the gospel.

(Introduction) Paul’s Declaration - 1 Cor 15:1-2

1 Corinthians 15:1–2 “1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”

The gospel that Paul preaches brings salvation (v. 2).

The gospel is God’s good news about how we can receive eternal life.

The question today is

Why can we stand on the gospel?

We are going to look at 3 reasons…

Why we can stand on the gospel.

The gospel works - 1 Cor 15:3

1 Corinthians 15:3 “3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;”

Paul says that he is speaking from experience that the gospel does indeed work.

Paul is speaking of himself here and says this:

1 Timothy 1:13–15 “13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

Paul was the worst candidate imaginable and yet the gospel worked for him and that is what he wants people to understand.

Paul even goes so far to say that he believes Jesus saved him as a pattern to show that the gospel is sufficient to save anyone.

Paul is saying, “If the gospel works for me, then it will work for anyone”

You can be confident that the gospel will work:

There is no sin that you have committed that is too evil.

It doesn’t matter how much shame you feel.

The gospel will work for you.

Jesus death was sufficient.

The gospel is based on the scriptures - 1 Cor 15:3-4

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”

This passage talks about Christ, it is referring to Jesus Christ and I know that we all have heard of Jesus Christ but I want to be abundantly clear about who He is because it is key that we know who He is so that we can have confidence in Him.

Jesus is God's only son. He was perfect and He is the only person to ever live who didn't sin, He was amazing, He came to earth 2000 years ago and lived a sinless life and preached and healed people and did miracles for thousands of people, His work changed the world at the time. Sparking a new religion with thousands and thousands of converts and that movement has stayed alive even today and now there are millions of people who follow the teachings of Jesus today.

You might be thinking "wow thats really cool but what does that have to do with anything, like He was perfect and lived a couple thousand years ago but why should I follow Him now."

Jesus was the perfect person, He was honestly the best person to ever live. and we have death owed to us because of sin, and so God sent His son to die in our place.

pause

Christ Died

You may have seen a cross before, its all over churches and its a very common symbol for christians. Well what you might not realize is that it was a torture device used to kill criminals during the time that Jesus lived.

So you probably know where this is going, Jesus was put on that Cross and died one of the worst deaths imaginable and He went through that for us.

and because He is so perfect and so far reaching, His sacrifice was enough to cover all sins for the entire human race for all time. 

Christ was Buried

Jesus didn't stay dead, in order to prove that he was the sufficient sacrifice he rose from the dead. 

Christ Resurrected

God gave us the option to accept His gift or reject it. Man's default state is sin and rejection of God's gift. If you don’t accept it, that is a rejection of the gift and you will die and go to a horrible place called hell.

The gospel is confirmed by eye-witness testimonies. - 1 Cor 15:5-8

1 Corinthians 15:5–8 “5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”

In these section of verses, Paul systematically seeks to prove that the resurrection has been thoroughly proven.

The resurrection is the linchpin of Christianity so this makes sense.

Later on in this chapter, Paul literally says, if the resurrection didn’t happen then “our faith is in vain” and he vividly says “we are of all men most miserable”

I love how he says that many of the 500 that witnessed him are still “present” (this means alive). Paul makes it clear that those who have witnessed His resurrection can still be asked about.

When talking about the resurrection…

One Orthodox Jewish scholar who is not a Christian wrote:

“I accept the resurrection of Easter Sunday not as an invention of the community of disciples, but as a historical event.”

Pinchas Lapide. The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective. Translated by Wilhelm C. Linss. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1983.

…

A historian of Rome and who was not writing as an apologist said,

“I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort… than the great sign which God has given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”

Thomas Arnold. Sermons on the Christian Life—Its Hopes, Its Fears, and Its Close. London: B. Fellowes, 1840.

…

One theologian boldly wrote,

“Indeed, taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.”

Brooke Foss Westcott. The Gospel of the Resurrection: Thoughts on Its Relation to Reason and History. London: Macmillan and Co., 1866.

…

The Point of all of this is that Jesus’ resurrected and we don’t have to doubt that.

Conclusion:

Every single one of us is on our way to 1 of 2 places.

Heaven or Hell

Hell is real, it is hot, and it is permanent.

And the Bible says that every person who has ever sinned (which is all of us) will go to hell.

But there is ONE WAY to get to Heaven and that is by standing on the gospel.

Today we have seen that we can stand on the gospel because…

The gospel works

The gospel is based on the scriptures

The gospel is confirmed by eye-witness testimonies

So now that we know that we can stand on the gospel, let me quickly show you how to stand on the Gospel.

Wrap up everything by giving a salvation invitation for 1 minute.