Cutting Through The Fluff

Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

Gospel means “Good News”

We are firmly standing on it.

We are saved by it.

Gospel is MOST IMPORTANT

Its more important than anything else. It alone has the power to rescue a person from Hell, and the wrath of God, and deliver them to abundant, victorious life here on earth, and life forever in heaven.

The Gospel Needs Defining

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 HCSB

For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

This is the Gospel- Died… For our sins. Was buried. Was raised on the 3rd day.

The Gospel Needs Verifying

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 HCSB

OLD TESTAMENT VERIFICATION

According to the Scriptures. Paul is saying that the Old Testament speaks about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

While there is single place where this is said specifically, the Gospel is a theme that is woven throughout the whole Bible.

Just take for instance

Psalm 16:10 HCSB

For You will not abandon me to Sheol; You will not allow Your Faithful One to see decay.

alluding to the resurrection.

Isaiah 53:8–10 HCSB

He was taken away because of oppression and judgment; and who considered His fate? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was struck because of my people’s rebellion. They made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man at His death, although He had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully. Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him severely. When You make Him a restitution offering, He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, and by His hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.

These were written hundreds of years before Christ walked the face of the earth.

EYE WITNESS VERIFICATION

1 Corinthians 15:5–7 HCSB

and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

The best way to verify the truthfulness of something is to go back to the closest sources. Paul is saying that the resurrection is not the invention of a few imaginative men who had tragically lost their leader. He is saying that all told there were more than 500 people who saw Jesus alive and well after He was crucified and buried.

Much has been done by scoffers to discount the resurrection. They rewrite history, reinterpret words to mean things they never meant, and even discount the eye witness testimony of more than 500 men as mass hallucination.

But it is hard to dismiss this massive amount of eye witness testimony.

The Gospel Demands Surrender

1 Corinthians 15:8–10 HCSB

Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He also 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 God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. However, I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was with me.

CS Lewis has said that

"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important"

Paul calls himself ‘abnormally born.’ These two words are made from one Greek Word- Extroma.... born out of trauma. and is only used one time in the whole Bible.

Paul was the “runt” of the litter. Born out of season. Converted after Jesus went back to heaven.

He came to Paul on the road as Paul was ramping up persecution of Christians. Paul frequently shared testimony of his own conversion from a persecutor to a preacher, from a hater to lover of Jesus. From a man full of himself thinking it would be his own goodness that would earn him a ticket to heaven, to realizing he had no power to overcome his own sin, to surrender to Jesus as the one who paid the price.

The Gospel demands surrender. You can’t believe that a man died for you, and then came back to life and give him half hearted lip service.