Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: I Corinthians 15:1-11

Theme: Of first importance to the ministry of the Church is the preaching of the gospel.

Date: 03/06/2022 File name: 1_Corinthinas_26.wpd

ID Number:

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.””

(Revelation 5:9, ESV).

The atoning death of Christ on the cross saves sinners.

“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin,” (Hebrews 9:22).

Unfortunately, there are those pastors and theologians within the church who insist we must de-emphasize the cross and Christ’s crucifixion.

These wolves-in-sheep’s-clothing (for that’s what they are) tell us that preaching a “crucified Christ” is too “unappealing” for a sophisticated, 21st century audience.

Take for example, Alan Jones is the Episcopal Dean Emeritus of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

He is internationally known as a “Christian academic.”

In 2005 he published his book, Reimagining Christianity: Reconnect Your Spirit without Disconnecting Your Mind.

He writes: "The Church's fixation on the death of Jesus as the universal saving act must end, and the place of the cross must be reimagined in Christian faith.

Why?

Because of the cult of suffering and the vindictive God behind it."

Jones goes on to call the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross a “vile doctrine” and the Christianity that believes it as “toxic”.

Unfortunately he is not alone in his beliefs.

How can a pastor reject the importance of the crucifixion, and then offer any hope for redemption to a congregation?

How do you de-emphasize the cross of Jesus and then sing, “My hope is built on nothing less, then Jesus’ blood and righteousness?”

This is not a “reimagining” of Christianity — it is a gutting of the gospel.

John Stott, one of the most influential churchmen of the 20th century, said: “We strongly reject ... every explanation of the death of Christ which does not have at its center the principle of ‘satisfaction through substitution.”

The Gospel the Apostles preached had teeth to it.

It bites hard into the kingdom of darkness and rips chunks from it wherever it is preached.

Too many pastors and too many churches preach a cheap grace and an “easy gospel.”

The result is that multitudes of religious people fill American churches, comfortable in their sin, living at ease in Zion in lukewarm pleasure-seeking religion, serving a “Jesus” that is not the Jesus of the Bible, but is rather the bi-product of their own worldly culture and carnal thinking.

1 Corinthians 15 is the third-longest chapter in the New Testament.

It is almost totally about the resurrection — Christ’s, but most importantly ours!

But before Paul plunges headlong into his description of and defense of the resurrection, he provides a synopsis of the Gospel.

[Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-11].

In this passage Paul writes of

The Declaration of the Gospel

The Efficacy of the Gospel

The Validity of the Gospel

I. THE DECLARATION OF THE GOSPEL

1. the Apostle opens this part of his letter to the believers at Corinth with a reminder of the core message of the Church — the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, who is the Christ

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,” (1 Corinthians 15:1, ESV)

a. the chapter is, first and foremost, a defense of the resurrection

b. but he begins with a defense of the gospel

1) it is a gospel Paul says, I preached to you

a) the gospel is a message for all people, of all eras, of all places and when it is preached, God’s Spirit will open the hearts of some to believe it

2) it is a gospel which you received

a) the Corinthian believers were themselves living evidence that the gospel is true

b) the fact that some of them came out of the spiritual blindness of paganism, and others out of the legalistic deadness of Judaism, into the light and life of Christ testified to the power of the gospel

3) it is a gospel in which you stand

a) they were delivered from sin’s power and condemnation, and now they hold fast to their profession of faith in the power of the Spirit

2. the proclamation of the gospel must have been the Apostle’s favorite activity in life

a.

Paul had encountered the risen crucified Christ on the road to Damascus and it had changed his life

b.

now he wants everyone to know that Jesus is Savior and Lord

3. but this all begs the question; What is the gospel?

a. so let me tell you what the gospel is ... The Good News is the message that Jesus of Nazareth is God the Son incarnate, who perfectly obeyed the Father in the place of His people who couldn’t, that he suffered for them, dying a substitutionary death for them, was buried, but who rose from the dead for our justification, and is coming again

b. that gospel is clearly spelled out by the Apostle Paul in vs. 3-4

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

(1 Corinthians 15:3–5, ESV)

c. now, for those of you who like to know these things, this is the oldest confession of faith in Christendom

1) when you follow the biblical trail of evidence this confession can be traced all the way back to the very year of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection

2) in other words, there never was a time when the core belief — the central message of the Church’s confession wasn’t the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus

3) the Apostles just didn’t “make it up”

A. CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED — That Christ Died for our Sins

1. all the major Creeds of the Christian faith confess that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, and that he was crucified

a. that simple statement fixes for us the historical certitude of the life of Jesus

b. how important is it to the Christian faith that we believe Jesus really lived, and really died?

1) it is everything

2. the sufferings of Christ are clearly outlined in Isaiah 53

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

(Isaiah 53:4–5, ESV)

a. four times the prophet uses the word "our" — our infirmities, our sorrows, our transgressions, our iniquities

b. in some profound, vicarious way, we were there at Calvary that day

1) it was our sins that nailed Christ to the cross

2) and in doing so " ... the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6)

ILLUS.

In our hymnal is a song entitled O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.

It is based on a 12th century Medieval poem by Bernard of Clairvaux.

Listen to the words of the second verse:

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered Was all for sinners' gain:

Mine, mine was the transgression, But Thine the deadly pain:

Lo, here I fall, my Savior!

‘Tis I deserve Thy place;

Look on me with Thy favor, Vouch-safe to me Thy grace.

c. that verse captures the whole problem of the entire human race — "mine, mine was the transgression"

3. Jesus Really Lived So That He Might Really Die

a. Jesus Christ died as our substitute

1) he took our place, He took the suffering that we deserve, He took the shame that we deserved, He took the sorrow that we deserved, He took the separation that we deserved, He took the sentence of death that we deserved, He took it upon Himself

2) and that’s good news — that our sins is taken care of

3) our sin was imputed to Christ ... he bore it’s punishment ... he experienced the wrath of God so that we might experience forgiveness

B. CHRIST WAS BURIED — That He was Buried

1. his death was the supreme reason for his life

a.

his burial was proof of his death

b. the burial of Jesus Christ is also part of the gospel

1) his burial reminds us of the penalty of sins — the soul that sins, it shall die according to Ezekiel 18:20

2) notice that the prophet doesn’t say, “The body that sins, it shall die”

c. every culture, every society, every religion recognizes this fundamental truth of life ... we die ... we all die physically

1) but the Bible teaches that the soul that sin shall also die

2) this means eternal separation from God in hell and ultimately the Lake of Fire

d. the gospel doesn’t only deal with the God’s judgment on sin, but with the penalty of sin — physical death and spiritual death

1) Jesus not only died to forgive what we did, but he died to change what we are