Sermon Tone Analysis

Our Scripture lesson this morning is from 1 Corinthians 15:1-11:

May God bless the reading of His holy and infallible Word.

As we are beginning a New Year, people naturally think about what they want to accomplish in this New Year.

We call these plans New Year’s resolutions.

It has become somewhat a running joke in our culture that most New Year’s resolutions are never kept.

This summer yard sales will be filled with the remains of broken resolutions: treadmills, unread books and craft starter kits.

However, there are a few resolutions that we must carry through.

When the doctor tells us we must lose 60 pounds or we will have a heart attack, the treadmill gets used.

When our livelihood depends upon a new skill, the books are read.

Our text today contains one of those essential resolutions—Stand Firm in and Hold Fast to the Gospel.

Paul is concerned about the Corinthians, already some have fallen away from the faith and within the Corinthian church there are attitudes, beliefs and practices that if left unchecked could shipwreck the faith of many more.

We saw this concern in chapter one, where Paul confronts their love for worldly wisdom and party spirit.

Now, as he closes his letter Paul returns to the topic of the Gospel, namely the faith destroying belief that the resurrection really did not happen.

Before he addresses this topic in detail, he first want to remind them what the Gospel is and then urge them to stand fast and hold onto it.

The Gospel message contains two parts:

First, that Christ Died for Our Sins in Accordance to Scripture.

Second, that Christ was Raised to Life in Accordance to Scripture.

These will be the first two points of my sermon this morning, and then I will close with Paul’s exhortation to stand firm and hold on.

Christ Died for Our Sins in Accordance to Scripture

The phrase “in accordance to Scripture”, that Paul uses in reference to Christ’s death and resurrection is more significant than most people understand.

Paul is not referring to a few isolated “proof” texts, but rather to the whole “story line” of the Old Testament.

It is a story of humanity’s exile from God because of sin.

First seen in Adam and Eve’s sin and exile from the Garden of Eden and culminating in Israel’s exile from the Promised Land.

Moreover, the storyline of Old Testament makes clear at the penalty of sin is death and the only way to atone for sin is through the shedding of blood of an unblemished sacrifice.

Of course, the hundreds of thousands of animal sacrifices that occurred during the Old Covenant did not atone for sin, they merely pointed to the sacrifice of the Promised One.

Paul probably had Isaiah 53:5 in mind as he wrote verse 3:

This forgiveness of sin, made it possible for us to end our exile from God.

The Exodus of Israel from Egypt is a picture of this, but Isaiah prophesied that there would someday be a Second Exodus:

This is just the first of many such prophecies in Isaiah, and taken together, it becomes clear that the return of some of the exiles from Babylon was not the fulfillment of this prophecy, because the final destination was not to be the Promised Land, but the New Heaven and New Earth:

This is why the message about Jesus called “Good News”.

The word “gospel” means “good news”.

Some news seems too good to be true.

Paul understands this.

This is why he says God has given us irrefutable proof; this evidence is found in vs. 4:

The first evidence Paul presents us with is Christ’s burial.

Some claimed that Jesus really did not die upon the cross, but Christ’s burial refutes this claim.

Not only were the Roman expert executioners, his followers would not have buried Him if He were not dead.

Of course, the Romans executed thousands each year, what evidence is there that His death atoned for sin?

Paul provides this evidence as well—the resurrection!

Christ Was Raised to Life in Accordance to Scripture

Once again, Paul points us to the Old Testament Scripture.

In both Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 for example, God’s suffering servant suddenly experiences victory!

Moreover, throughout the Old Testament, God delivered or manifested Himself to his people on the third day.

For example, on the third day, Abraham and Isaac climbed Mount Moriah; on the third day, the Lord came down on Mount Sinai; on the third day, Israel crossed the Jordan River; and on the third day, Jonah was delivered from the belly of the great fish.

Foreseeing the redemptive significance of Jesus’ resurrection, Hosea prophesied:

I hope you are seeing this morning how wonderfully all of Scripture is tied together and tells a unified story—the story of Jesus as our redeemer!

Jesus is not just the fulfillment of isolated “proof texts”; He is the fulfillment of all of Scripture!

As if this were not enough, the resurrection is grounded in eyewitness testimony.

In vs. 5-8, Paul carefully lays out the evidence.

Multiple people saw Jesus over the span of many days, in different locations and different circumstances.

Sometimes individually and sometimes in groups.

On one occasion, Jesus appeared to over 500 people at the same time!

Added together, these rule out explanations such as the Apostles were lying or that they were hallucinating.

Moreover, according to Paul, many of these witnesses were still alive at the time Paul wrote this letter and if you did not believe Paul, they could ask them themselves.

This message, the Jesus died for our sins in accordance to Scripture and rose to life in accordance to Scripture, is the Gospel—the Good News!

This according to Paul is the message all the Apostles preached and Corinthians believed:

As we saw earlier, belief in the Gospel is the beginning a New Exodus, and just as it was necessary in the first Exodus for God’s people to stand firm and hold fast to God’s promises in the wilderness, so it is necessary for us to...

Stand Firm in and Hold Fast to the Gospel

This exhortation is found in vs. 1-2 of our text:

Once again, Paul is harkening back to the great storyline of the Old Testament.

In their journey to the Promise Land, the Israelites did not stand firm and hold fast to their faith in God’s promises.

In our call to confession today, the author of Hebrews recounts this story for the very same reasons Paul does here.

It is a very sad story.

After their miraculous deliverance from Egypt, one after another, that whole generation (with the exception of two men) fell into unbelief!

As a young believer, I can remember reading this story and thinking to myself, “How could they have done this after seeing all the mighty miracles of God in Egypt and in the wilderness?”

As I have grown older and less prideful, I no longer ask this question.

I have seen repeatedly how easily my heart wanders from faith.

Paul understood this as well, and this is why he opens and closes his letter to the Corinthian’s with a warning no to fall away.

These warnings in no way contradict the wonderful promises we find throughout Scripture that God will uphold and preserve His elect in true faith.

Promises such as these:

and

To the contrary, these warnings are one of the means by which the Holy Spirit preserves us in Christ.

God’s sovereignty does not run roughshod over our free will, but rather, it works in concert with it, to bring about what God has ordained.

This is why God has allowed weeds to take root, alongside the wheat in the visible church.

As we see people who once professed faith in Christ fall away, we are reminded the danger is real.

The warnings we see in this text and many others are not idle words.

There is indeed such a thing as a faith that will be proven “vain” in the end.

So how do we make sure that we do not have a “vain” faith?

We make sure by standing firm in and holding fast to the Gospel!

Notice that this command contains the cure.

As we see in texts such as John 10:28 and Philippians 1:6, the Gospel contains the promise that Christ will uphold us, protect us and complete the good work He has begun in us.

Just like the First Exodus, the New Exodus begins and ends in faith, not by works.

Most certainly, there is effort on our part, but it is an effort empowered by faith, not our own will power.

Therefore, brothers and sisters let us look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

Plant your feet firmly in the Gospel and hold on to it with dear life.

If you do, Christ will take you safely through the wilderness of this world into the Promised Land of His eternal Kingdom!