The Declaration of the Gospel

The message of the gospel is centered around the Resurrection. He’s not dead anymore. He arose.

And that basically is the heart of the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians.

And just as the heart pumps life blood to the body, so the resurrection is the very heart of the gospel pumping life into every other area of truth.

That is why the Gospel gives life, because the Gospel is living.

The resurrection is the pivot on which all of Christianity turns.

Take away the resurrection, Christianity comes out as wishful thinking and just another useless human philosophy.

Christians down through the ages have banked their destiny, have banked their life, have banked their hope on the fact that the shameful death of Jesus Christ was not the last word, but that He arose and triumphed over death and that when He said, “Because I live, ye shall live also,”

He granted to anyone who comes to Him by faith the same resurrection hope. And it was this belief and this belief alone, frankly, that turned the heart broken followers of a crucified rabbi into the courageous martyrs of the early church. It was the resurrection that gave birth to the fellowship of the saints that became the church.

And they found in those early years that they could imprison them and they could chastise them and they could beat them and they could verbally assault them and they could invent ways to persecute them and they could even kill them but they could never make them deny the reality of the resurrection.

The Resurrection has always been and will always be the cornerstone of the Christian faith. And because that is true, the most fierce blows struck at Christianity in its history have been struck at the point of the resurrection. Because if you wipe out the resurrection you get rid of everything. You eliminate salvation, you eliminate the deity of Christ, you eliminate eternal life, you eliminate the consequence of death, you just wipe it all out. And so the resurrection is always under attack.

Salvation is predicated on the Lordship of a Resurrected Christ.

Romans 10:9 KJV 1900

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

True Christians have always believed in the Resurrection. They had to in order to be saved.

The Corinthians did not have a problem with the Resurrection, their problem was they were denying the bodily resurrection of the Saints.

Because Christ literally arose, all Christians will literally, physically, bodily, and personally rise from the dead.

The Corinthian’s did not have a problem with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, because they were saved, however, they did have a problem with the ramifications of the Resurrection.

And so 1 Corinthians 15 is written primarily not to prove the resurrection of Christ to Christians, listen, you are not a Christian if you have not already come to that conviction.

And it isn’t written to try to convince the unbeliever that Jesus really rose.

It is written to try to prove to the Christians that because He literally rose, they too will literally physically bodily personally rise from the dead. That’s the thrust of the fifteenth chapter.

The Apostle Paul begins this doctrinal lesson with convincing the Corinthians of this fact and understanding.

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 KJV 1900

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. 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: 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. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

So Paul is telling them, You already believe in the resurrection, right? Right. Therefore realize this, Christ is just the firstfruits of all them that slept, so if you already believe in the resurrection of Christ bodily and physically and literally, why are you hung up on your own resurrection? That’s the issue of the fifteenth chapter.

With that in mind, Paul begins with the beginning of life, birthed by the Gospel, all the way through the end of life, eternalized by the Gospel.

Their Testimony of Salvation: vs. 1-2

1 Corinthians 15:1–2 (KJV 1900)

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 was Preached.

The Gospel was Received.

John 1:12 KJV 1900

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

The Gospel is Stood Upon.

You took your stand and you continue to stand on it. You haven’t changed. This is the permanent state in which you exist.

The Gospel Saved You.

Because of your commitment to this truth of the death and resurrection of Christ, you are the possessors of salvation.

Now you can see the impact of this statement to them only when you understand the point here. He is reaffirming that they already believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ as the basis for everything he’s going to say in the rest of the chapter. That’s the starting point.

Sometimes people will say, “Do you have to believe in the resurrection to be saved?” I said it before, I’ll say it again … yes. Absolutely yes. And so these are saved people. Now he says look, this is true of you already you believe in this bodily resurrection. But he adds an interesting footnote at the end of verse 2. “If you keep … and I’ll read you the Greek rendering so you’ll get the thrust of it … if you hold fast what I preached to you, unless your faith is worthless, or unless you have believed without effect, or unless you have had empty faith.”

You say, “Whoa, boy, they received it, they stand on it, they’re being saved by it.” Yes, if they hold fast to it. You say, “Oh no, you mean you could lose it if you didn’t hold fast to it? I thought you believed in the security of the believer?” I do. “Well what about this believing in vain?”

Paul also says that a true Christian is known by the fact that he continues to believe. And somebody who goes along for a while believing and then changes to unbelief gives evidence that he never was saved to begin with. He has believed in vain.

What do you mean? He has had a worthless faith, a useless faith. To put it another way, a non-committal faith. How many people do you know who believe Jesus died and rose again but aren’t Christians? I know a lot of them. In fact, I meet people some times and I’ll say, “Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe He died? Rose again?” Oh yeah, I believe it. They’re not Christians. Why? Because that’s a useless faith. It has no commitment to it. It’s like James says in

James 2:17–20 (KJV 1900)

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

“The devils believe in tremble.” And James says you tell me about your faith, let me see its evidence. And what is it evidence? Continuance in the manifestation of faith in the life.

Their faith was worthless. It was without effect. It was empty, that’s what vain means. It was empty faith. It was empty because there was no commitment in it.

For example:

John 2:23 (KJV 1900)

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

You say terrific, it’s a great revival. The next verse says,

John 2:24 (KJV 1900)

24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,

You see, it was a superficial empty faith with no commitment to it. That’s the point. That’s why in Romans 10 it says you’re not only to believe God raised you from the dead but you’re to confess with your mouth Jesus as … what?… Lord.

Romans 10:9 (KJV 1900)

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

You see, there’s the commitment that goes along with the faith.

But … I want you to notice just one thought that’s sort of is implicit here and that is this, in my mind the greatest subjective proof of the resurrection is the very existence of the church.

The very fact that the Corinthians had received it and stood in it and continued in it is evidence that Christ was alive because they were a mess.

Who else could have changed them but a living Christ?

Who else could have taken all these extortioners and thieves and homosexuals and fornicators and liars and adulterers and all of those gross things listed in the sixth chapter and transformed them into the community of the redeemed but a living Christ?

I doubt seriously that a system of ethics could have literally transformed that entire population of Corinth in a period of eighteen months, and that’s what happened according to Acts 18. It had to be a living Christ. Christ had to be alive. And here they are some years later still believing, still standing, still committed, still holding. And, beloved, let me add to that, here we are 2000 years later still believing in the resurrection. And I think we are the greatest subjective proof in the world of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.

Do you realize that for those 2000 years while we’ve been continuing in the faith the skeptics of the world have done their best to disprove the resurrection and never been able to prove … to disprove it at all to the true saved community? In fact, the longer we live, the greater the resurrection evidence is. And we are literally living evidence that He is alive.

So, what is this Gospel that brings salvation.

The Testimony of Scriptures: vs. 3-4

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (KJV 1900)

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:

You’ll notice that at the end of verse 3 he says this all according to the Scriptures and the end of verse 4 again, according to the Scriptures. In other words, the gospel of the resurrection was not some late edition. It was not some “Oh hey, we’ve got a new thing to drop on you, folks,” no. All predicted in the Old Testament. Paul says look, I delivered to you that which I received.

Now every good Apostle, every good minister of God is a delivery boy, nothing more. All God expects out of us is to get the right message to the people. Paul says I delivered what I received. And by the way, Paul received it first hand.

The Gospel literally means “good news”.

What makes good news - good.

Good news is made good by the possibility of bad news.

The Negative

Christ died for Sinners.

We are Sinners by Birth

We are Sinners by Nature

We are Sinners by Choice

We are Sinners by Practice

We are therefore Sinners UNDER Condemnation

Romans 3:23 KJV 1900

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:10–12 KJV 1900

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Romans 6:23 KJV 1900

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ Buried, but Lives

The Positive

Saved from the Penalty of Sin

Being Saved from the Pollution of Sin

I will be Saved from the Presence of Sin

How did this happen?

Christ dealt with the penalty of sin - Christ died

Christ dealt with the pollution of sin - was buried

Christ dealt with the power of sin - he arose

Christ died - once for all (aorist tense)

Christ was buried - once for all (aorist tense)

Christ rose from the dead - present tense - he is alive, he was alive, he always will be alive, there is never a time when he's not alive.

This was prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.

- over 300 prophecies

- Dr. Peter Stoner a statistician, a mathematician. Possibility of fulfilling just 8 prophecies. One in sextillion (a ten with 21 zeros after it

80,000 square miles - dimes packed edge to edge as tight as you can blindfold a man and drop in in this 80,000 square miles and have him pick a single marked dime out of them.

Just add 31 more prophecies to the 8 prophecies and you get a 10 with one hundred and eighty zeros.

The Testimony of Saints: vs. 5-11

1 Corinthians 15:5–11 (KJV 1900)

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.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

From Peter to over 500 brethren

to James to the Apostles

To even the Apostle Paul, who faces his reception of the gospel with humility.

“One born out of due time,” it means an abortion. And so he was … and apparently, and apparently that’s what he was called, “Paul the abortion,” or “Paul the dead fetus.”

And people were always condemning Paul. He was born at the wrong time. He was sort of a spiritual miscarriage. And he didn’t really rank with the rest of the sharp Apostles, boy, the front line guys. And so very often when Paul gives a message he will say, “I am delivering to you what I received from the Lord. I’m a first hand Apostle, not second hand.”

and Paul “labored” He proved his confession of Jesus as Lord.

So understand,

1 Corinthians 15:11 KJV 1900

11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

What’s he saying? He’s saying this, we all are preaching the same message. We all are believing the same gospel and it is a gospel of resurrection so we preach the resurrection. So you believe the resurrection. Whether it’s Paul or Peter or the twelve or James or whoever it is, it’s all the same proclamation and whether it’s Corinth or Galatia or Ephesus or Colossi or anywhere else, we all believe the same thing.

If you have accepted already the resurrection of Christ bodily, what’s the problem with the concept of bodily resurrection. Now watch this, go back to verse 8, and I’m going to close.

There are three great implications of the gospel right here for us and I want you to get these as we close. Implication number one, when you hear the gospel of the resurrection the first thing that should happen is

Implications of the Gospel

A Recognition of Sin.

1 Corinthians 15:8–9 KJV 1900

8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

“And last of all He was seen by me as a dead fetus, the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.”

The first implication the gospel had in the life of Paul when he met Jesus, he recognized he was a sinner.

Second, not only a recognition of sin, but secondly

A Revolution of Character.

The second implication of the gospel in verse 10,

1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV 1900

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

“but by the grace of God I am what I am in His grace, which was bestowed on me was not in vain.” In other words, he was changed. He was miraculously transformed. The first implication of the gospel is a recognition of sin. The second is a revolution of character.

The third is

A Redirection of Energy.

1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV 1900

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

“And so I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God in me.

Listen beloved, when you hear the gospel of the resurrection, number one you should respond with the sense of sinfulness. Number two, you should turn to Jesus Christ, the living Christ for a revolution of character and number three, you ought to be anxious to see a redirection of energy so that from then on, your life is given not so that grace is in vain, but so that grace fulfills it’s plan. Your life is given in a total commitment to bear fruit for His glory. So I hope the truth of the resurrection has those implications for you.

Is your Salvation vain?

Not if you

Recognized your Sin.

Revolutionized you Character.

Redirected your Energy.