The Glorious Gospel
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The Apostle Paul said: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand."
1. Paul had received his Gospel from Heaven. He proclaimed that which God had given him. For this cause Paul spoke of his Gospel as the Gospel of Christ. He certified that it was not after man, saying, "I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
2. The people received the Gospel from Paul. He says: "The Gospel * * which also ye have received." When we find the people of the pew heretical, it is, usually, because the minister in the pulpit is heretical. If the pulpit sounds forth a true message under the power of the Holy Ghost, the hearers may receive it.
3. The people not only received, but they STOOD in the Gospel. The expression, "Wherein ye stand," carries great weight. If we receive a truth we must stand not only upon it, but within it. The Gospel should be the environment which shelters us from every error.
4. The people were saved by the Gospel, PROVIDING their faith was genuine. Here is the way 1 Corinthians 15:2 reads: "By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain."
It is necessary, not only to have a real faith, but a real faith in a real Gospel. The faith that saves is the faith that receives the Atonement, that believes in the resurrection, and the Coming of the Lord.
5. Paul plainly declared the Gospel which he had received, and which he had delivered unto the Corinthians. That Gospel carried a threefold message.
(1) Paul said: "I delivered unto you first of all * * that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." This is the first great fundamental of the faith the fact that the One sent of God, the Anointed of God, the Son of God, died upon the Cross, the Just for the unjust.
He who has no crucified Christ has no Saviour, He is one who believes in vain.
(2) Paul said also: "That He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Here is a statement that is also vital to salvation. If we believe Christ died, but do not believe in His resurrection, we are of all men most miserable. Such faith is also vain, We will treat this more fully later on.
(3) Paul said, likewise, that the Gospel included the return of Christ. The Second Coming of Christ is indissolubly linked to the resurrection of the saints; and the resurrection of the saints, is indissolubly linked to the Second Coming of Christ: while both are indissolubly linked to the Gospel.
I. CHRIST'S APPEARANCES, AFTER HIS RESURRECTION (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)
We call 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 an attest to the infallible proofs of the resurrection of our Lord, inasmuch as each verse brings out one or more definite witnesses, who personally saw the Risen Christ.
1. He was seen of Cephas. Cephas is none other than Peter. We are all familiar with the fact of Peter's entrance, with John, into the empty tomb. We are also familiar with how Christ, afterward, met Peter alone. The scene was so sacred that the Bible merely says He "hath appeared to Simon." At least Peter knew Christ was risen.
2. He was seen of the Twelve. The first time He met the Twelve, Thomas was not with them. He had entered, the door being shut. He had breathed upon them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." The second time He appeared to the Twelve, Thomas was with them; and, to Thomas, He said: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing."
3. After that He was seen of five hundred brethren at once. Here was a great group of believers who certified the resurrection.
4. After that He was seen of James. James also was an eyewitness of the resurrection in some remarkable way.
5. Then He was seen of all the Apostles. This may have been when the disciples returned from their all night of fishing.
6. Last of all He was seen of Saul of Tarsus, as one born out of due time.
With these various post-resurrection appearances of Christ, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus was established. The people, as a whole accepted the fact that the Christ, who had been crucified, was risen indeed.
II. A GREAT PERSECUTOR, WHO BECAME A GREAT PREACHER (1 Corinthians 15:9-11)
1. Paul the persecutor of the Church of God. We are all familiar with the story of Saul of Tarsus, clothed with authority, as he went down to Damascus. We also know how Christ appeared unto him by the way and the suddenness of his conversion, as he cried, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
2. Paul the sinner saved by grace. In 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul says: "By the grace of God I am what I am." In Galatians it tells us that God had separated Saul of Tarsus from his mother's womb, and called him by His grace. What a wonderful grace that was!
3. Paul, the laborer more abundantly. Paul said: "I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." We delight to follow the Apostle in his great missionary journeys, as he went about preaching Christ.
Truly, a great sinner saved, had made a great soldier and servant and preacher. When we think of Paul's journeying amid perils of waters, perils of robbers, perils of his own countrymen, perils of the heathen, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren, we simply bow our heads and ask God to help us to make full proof of our ministry.
III. VITAL ISSUES CONNECTED WITH THE RESURRECTION (1 Corinthians 15:12-16)
1. If Christ rose from the dead, how can the resurrection of saints be denied? Evidently, there were some who preached that Christ rose, but they did not preach that the saints would rise. Paul questions their contentions. He says, "If Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" Then Paul adds: "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen." This last statement of the Apostle makes us remember the words of our Lord: "Because I live ye shall live also." His resurrection positively assures ours. Our resurrection is positively dependent on His.
2. If Christ rose not from the dead, our preaching is vain, our faith is also vain. Christ has written "Vanity of vanities" over every pulpit that denies the literal, corporeal resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Even the Cross of Christ is without value, apart from the resurrection of Christ. Likewise, both the Cross of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, are without value excepting they certify the resurrection of saints.
We preach Christ who "died, yea, rather who is risen again. The Book of Romans says that Jesus Christ was "declared to be the Son of God with power, * * by the resurrection from the dead."
3. If Christ rose not we are found false witnesses of God. The Apostle positively proclaimed that God had raised up Christ, and had exalted Him, giving Him a seat at His own right hand in the Heavenlies. He also preached that the dead in Christ would rise. Now he says that if his preachment is not true, then he is a false witness. One thing is true: if Christ rose from the dead, the saints shall rise; and, if the saints rise not, then Christ is not risen.
IV. THE HOPELESSNESS OF A RESURRECTION-LESS FAITH (1 Corinthians 15:17-19)
1. "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain." When we think of the Christian Church, of those who have died for the faith, who have gladly given up their lives for the Christ whom they loved and trusted, then we remember that if Christ be not raised from the dead their faith was all in vain. And if we did not know the verity of the Lord's resurrection, we would stand aghast.
If the Risen Christ be taken away from the Church, the Church, at once, is thrown over into the realm of other false religions.
2. "If Christ be not raised, * * ye are yet in your sins." There is no such thing, therefore, as remission of sins, apart from the resurrection of our Lord. We know that the death of Christ saves us; we know, however, that if Christ be not raised, His Blood held no value, inasmuch as His resurrection is the one God-given proof that Christ was God.
When we read: "If Christ be not raised, * * ye are yet in your sins," we cannot but think that, apart from the resurrection of Christ, how dark our hearts would be.
3. If Christ be not raised * * we are of all men most miserable." Any religion that touches only the brief span of our earthly life is worth but little at the most. The present life is "but a vapor which passeth away." It is the great eternal, beyond, that really amounts to everything. What are a few brief days, compared to eternity.
It is folly to argue that we die like a dog and pass into eternal oblivion. We know that life exists forever. However, if we do not know this, then we know not that Christ is risen. Yea, we know not anything. Every hope in our sky is blotted out; every foundation of our faith is taken away.
V. THE GREAT AFFIRMATION (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)
The three verses before us contain three great affirmations concerning the Christian's hope.
1. "Now is Christ risen from the dead." The Apostle Paul, after having shown us the great and abhorrent perspective consequent to an unraised Christ, now throws such possible negations to the winds by stating an unchangeable affirmation: "Now is Christ risen from the dead."
He knows Christ rose from the dead, because He was seen of him on the Damascus road. He heard His voice. He saw His presence forthshining, as brighter than the noonday sun. Thus assured, he says: "Now is Christ risen."
We, too, can say the same. We have never seen His face, but we have felt His power; we have realized His presence with us by the way.
2. "Now is Christ * * become the firstfruits of them that slept." "First fruits" are the harbinger of a coming harvest. If Christ rose as the First Fruits, we shall rise as those: "afterward they that are Christ's at His Coming."
This is the result of the statement in 1 Corinthians 15:21
3. The contrast between the first and the second man. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, is now making His third affirmation, by presenting a true comparison between Adam and Christ. Adam is the first man: he brought death; Christ is the Second Man: He brings the resurrection of the dead. Adam is the first Adam: in him all die; Jesus Christ is the Last Adam: in Him all shall be made alive; that is, all shall be raised.
This affirmation is plainly established in the fifth chapter of Romans. Read 1 Corinthians 15:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:17
VI. HOW THE RESURRECTION OF ALL SHALL TAKE PLACE (1 Corinthians 15:23-24)
The chapter clearly states that all, both saints and wicked, shall be raised. Now, in 1 Corinthians 15:23 we read that every man shall be raised "in his own order"; that is in his own group or company.
1. Christ the First Fruits. His resurrection has already taken place, and having taken place, it, as the first fruits gives assurance of the resurrections which are to follow.
2. Afterward they which are Christ's at His Coming. Language could not be plainer than this. Saints are to be raised at the Coming of the Lord Jesus. This is set forth in many Scriptures. In this same chapter in Corinthians, is one Scripture: "I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." When? When the trumpet sounds. Then, the story of the resurrection of the saints at His Coming is unmistakably set forth. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
In the Book of Revelation we read of the first resurrection, and then we read, "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." God truly said: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection."
3. Then cometh the end. There are various Scriptures which foretell the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, without distinctly setting forth the fact that the thousand year period, or that any period of time, may lie between the two resurrections, There are other Scriptures which likewise teach that all shall be raised. These latter Scriptures, however, plainly designate the fact that the resurrection of the two classes, will not be simultaneous. Thus, the threefold statement of our key verses is fully established by Scripture.
VII. CHRIST THE CONQUEROR (1 Corinthians 15:25-28)
1. 1 Corinthians 15:25 says that Christ "must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet." We know according to Hebrews, that He hath not yet put all things under His feet. Satan is still loose; the wicked still rule. However, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again to set up His Kingdom and He will rule and reign upon the earth, until He shall have put down all other rule, and all other authority and power. The length of His reign according to Revelation 20:1-15, will be one thousand years. During that period Christ will establish peace upon the earth.
2. 1 Corinthians 15:26 says, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." At the end of the thousand years, the wicked dead will be raised. Read Revelation 20:11; Revelation 20:12
At that time, when the sea shall give up the dead that are in it; and death and hell shall deliver up the dead which are in them; and the raised dead shall be judged before the great white throne, then it is that death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
3. 1 Corinthians 15:24 says : "Then (when all above is accomplished), cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father." Christ is to reign forever and ever. He reigns, however, one thousand years upon the renewed and blessed earth; then, with death and hell cast into the lake of fire, and with all things having been put under His feet, the Kingdom is transferred to the new Heavens and the new earth, where we read of: "The throne of God and of the Lamb." At that time the Son also, Himself, shall be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
AN ILLUSTRATION
"Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man" the emphasis being on the word "judge."
Obviously, here is an authentic story illustrative of how the light of His life did, and does, its searching, gracious work in the lives and hearts of men and women. This is an illustration of what happened then, and of what will always happen wherever the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is truly realized.
I remember years ago hearing Dr. Fullerton, whose gracious messages linger, I am sure, in many memories today tell how Dr. Meyer, during his ministry in Leicester, called to see a member of his congregation. He found that member had just been washing, for it was a Monday (a bad day for a minister to visit), and this good saint had been busy. She had finished her work, and the clothes were hung out on the green to dry. The doctor was invited into her spotless kitchen, for she had cleaned up, and now was preparing to have a cup of tea; she invited the doctor to join her, which he gladly did.
Looking out of the window, he saw the clothes hanging up to dry, and he made the remark, characteristically, how white the clothes were, how beautiful was her handiwork; and she was pleased. They sat and had their cup of tea, but while they talked the sky became overcast, and snow fell. Soon the whole land outside in view of the window was covered with a white garment of snow, and the doctor lifted up his eyes and said, "Look! these clothes that were so white: see them now they are gray." "Oh, sir," she said, "what can stand against God Almighty's white?" Rev. J. R. S. Wilson.