or that they had any reason to consider that one would be coming. And you know, even though they cried out night and day to be delivered, they were not exactly sure that such was going to take place. We are in a much more blessed condition today because we know that our Deliverer has come and that He has accomplished our salvation. We are not waiting and hoping that somebody will come along and help us out of a jam because we already expect that He has performed all that is necessary to deliver His people. And so we come as the children of God desiring to hear about what our Savior has done, not for somebody to come along and tell us what we yet must do in order to have the benefits which He procured. I am thankful for the revelation of God's grace that gives us reason, dear brethren, to rejoice. Because you know a man that knows himself to be a sinner, he knows himself to have no power of his own, he knows what he is by nature, and he knows just how prone he is to forget the things that he's supposed to be seeking. And if a man knows that in the depths of his soul, he can't have any confidence whatsoever in anything he would ever do to gain the favor of God. I mean, you know, what would you do? I mean, and if you did it today, why do you think you would do it tomorrow? I mean, judging on past history and your unthankfulness and your disobedience to the things that you have known, why would you think that tomorrow you would not turn from Him? I mean, every one of us in this room, if it wasn't for the grace of God, we would depart from the Lord tomorrow. That's one of the reasons why we come together as brethren, is to remind one another of that. And to be reminded that the Lord has provided everything for us that we could stand in need of. get worried about that. They think that if you tell God's people that, well, they'll just all of a sudden say, well, there's nothing for us to do. We'll just go on out and do whatever comes up. Well, that's just simply not the case, is it? Because the same grace that brought about the salvation of God's people as he was pleased to send his son to die for us, that same grace is still operable in the work of the Holy Spirit to keep the people of God. And I don't know that pathway where it might lead each one of us down. I don't know the ins and the outs of everybody's life, but I know this, that if a man is born again by the Spirit of God, God has set His love upon that man, and He is drawing him, and He loves him, and He will bring him to the desired place that he has predestined for that man to be. And that's just a glorious thing. I rejoice every day that I think about that, because otherwise, where on earth does any of us think we would be any place but in hell? if that were not the case. I mean, that's the only way God's people are going to be delivered is the grace of God, the mercy of God, the kindness of the Savior to preserve and keep us and hold us in the palm of His hand. And as you read through the Scriptures, all of these prophets and all of these godly men testified to that thing, that they are kept by the grace of God and nothing else. And so Paul begins here in the 15th chapter of Corinthians right where he started off. One thing you can count on with Paul is that he won't go very long before he comes right back to the heart of the matter, which he's always speaking of the heart of the matter, but he always comes back just like a broken record as the needle just keeps going back to the same place and playing the same thing. You know, or of course, I guess now we don't think about the needle on the thing, we think about the CD player getting You know, hung up in a scratch, and it just keeps playing the same thing over again. And by the way, on that thing, I thought that was one of the things that when they came out with CDs, they said, well, that was a thing of the past. You know? I believe it's worse, actually, than it was with records. Every now and then, you'd get one that would get stuck like that, but it's a very common thing with a CD, isn't it? to have that. I mean, the least little scratch or whatever can cause that to happen. But the Lord, through Paul, taught him the Gospel, and he definitely kept coming back to the same thing. And so he wants to remind the Corinthians of this. And he says, Moreover, brethren, this is the 15th chapter of I Corinthians, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you." Now he says, I'm going to preach to you what I preached to you. Now a lot of people, they want somebody to tell them something new. You know, they want somebody to come up with something new that they hadn't heard. And you remember how those men there in Athens were. Religious men want something new. They don't want the same old thing. They want something new. But you see, the man who knows that his salvation is in Christ, he just wants to hear the same thing over and over again. That's what Paul said. The same thing I preached to you last week, he says, I'm going to preach to you again. And the thing is, it never grows old. I mean, you can talk about the grace of God every day of your life, and it never grows old, does it? I mean, the redemptive work of Christ never grows old. It is that same precious thing. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain under this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. Last of all, he was seen of me as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 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 labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believe. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain? Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God, that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, year yet, in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Now, I'm going to stop right there. It's really hard to stop anywhere in this chapter without reading the whole thing because it's all just a continuation of the same point. Now, when Paul says up here, he said, that which ye have preached, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye believe in vain." Now, is it possible to believe in vain? Now, some people look at this as though this is saying, Paul said, well, you believe, but then you quit believing and so now it's in vain. That's not at all what he's saying. He said, This is what I preached unto you, and this is what, if you hold in your memory, is the basis upon that which you believe, unless what I have told you is a crock of bull. He said, Now if what I have told you is not true, then you believe in vain. Because what does he go on to say? He said, If the dead rise not, your faith is vain. So the faith of God's people rests on one thing, primarily. Now, we know it rests on the whole work of Christ. But what Paul is saying here is it was boiled all down to it because here was a thing that had arisen among them. He said, there is some that say among you that he didn't write. Early in the days of the church, there was false doctrine that came in. I mean, we kind of think about that, oh, the apostles and all that were running around and teaching here and everything, and so consequently, everybody was just on the same page and the doctrine was pure and all of that. Well, just as soon as men get a hold of something, there's going to be corruption that's going to enter into the picture. And you can be sure that men will corrupt the gospel of Jesus Christ just given one little pinch of an opening to do so. They'll do it every time. And it's always denying something that God said or seeking to make man to be the linchpin in the matter of salvation. I'm telling you, the ways and the works of men have nothing whatsoever to do with the salvation which is purchased by Jesus Christ. They can't keep it from happening, and they can't add a thing to it, because what He did is a perfect work, and nobody can come along and improve it, and nobody can prevent what He has accomplished from taking place, because He's done it. But some say, some say that there is no resurrection, he said. And if that be true, then you have believed in vain. But he said, you haven't believed in vain because Christ did rise from the dead. He says, I've delivered unto you exactly what the truth is. He says, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. Now, how did Paul receive it? He received it from the mouth of God, the same way anybody receives it in reality. Now, the Lord is pleased to send preachers into the earth to declare the gospel. But the truth of God only comes to men one way, and that is that the Spirit of God enlightens them to the truth. Now, he may use messengers, but he must and will of necessity be present to open the ears of a man that he might hear. How shall they hear it? Without a preacher, for sure. That is in the natural ear. But how shall they hear it? A man can't hear the Gospel unless God is pleased to open his ears to hear it. No man ever heard except in that same way. Paul received this from the Lord that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. What Scriptures? The Old Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament Scriptures which were full of the testimony that Christ would pay the price for sin. all of the prophets, and testified to this, that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Now those are facts. These are things he said we preach to you. These are the things we receive from the Lord. And apart from believing these things, you have believed in vain. There is nothing that you could stand upon if these things aren't true. And I received them from the mouth of God, he said, so I know they're so. And I delivered them unto you, and God testified to you of these things because you believed." And this is just not me. He says, he was seen of Cephas and of the twelve. This is a well-established fact. Now, dear brother, make no mistake about it, that those things that we believe are based on fact. Now, the world likes to criticize the things that God's people believe, and they say that it's like, you know, a pie in the sky, by and by, and all of those things. But if this is a well-proven fact, he says, those things that we believe are based upon fact. And if these facts are not so, then we might as well all go home. Because if Christ didn't die for our sins according to the Scriptures, we're in bad shape. I mean, what are we doing? We've got no hope whatsoever. I mean, if He didn't pay the price for our sins, who's going to pay it? And what are we going to pay it with? I mean, if every individual man is going to pay for his sin, how is he going to do it? The Scripture says the soul that sinneth shall die. That's a pretty severe payment, is it not? I mean, how are you going to recover from that? You're not. But he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. Of course, we know Cephas is Peter. After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at one time. You know, 500 men all seeing the same thing, it would be hard to deny that such was true, would it not? I mean, two or three is one thing, but 500 people all seeing the same exact thing, that's a pretty strong witness to it, is it not? And that's what he says here. He was seeing the 500 brethren, of whom the greater part remained to the President. He said most of those people are still alive. I'm talking about people you could walk up to and you could tap on the shoulder and say, tell me what you saw, and he'd say, I saw Christ risen from the dead. After that, he says, but some are falling asleep now. Think about this. Those that had seen him, do you suppose they believed having seen them raised from the dead. I expect they did. I expect they did. And they fell asleep. Now this is important. They fell asleep in the knowledge that Christ rose from the dead, did they not? What a glorious place to die, dear brethren. What a glorious frame of mind in which to lay down our heads upon our deathbed, knowing that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Because if Christ has risen from the dead, then dear brethren, we have hope, do we not? But he said if he didn't, guess what? You don't have any hope whatsoever. I mean, you can pack it in. This is it. He said, this is the way it is. And he said, after that he was seen of James, his brother, and then of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me. Now Paul was following Christ when Christ rose from the dead, was he? But he said, I saw him. Now when did he see him? Yes, he saw him on the road, and then I believe he saw him in the days when he was in the wilderness, when the Lord taught him the Gospel. Now he says, I was one born out of due time. He says, I went along and he said, my life has two chapters in it, just like the chapter of every one of God's people, before Christ and after Christ. And there's a big difference between those two chapters. It's all because of the grace of God. For He said, I am the least of the apostles. I'm not even worthy to be called an apostle, He said. Because He said, I persecuted the church of God. He said, it was my stated purpose. He said, my one desire in life was to kill the people of God. But He said, God who is rich in mercy with the great love wherewith He loved us, when it pleased Him, He called me by His grace. When I was yet breathing out threatens and slaughters against the people of God and hating Christ at every turn, but yet God who is rich in mercy, He calls me to call upon His name. Is it any wonder, do you reckon, that Ananias and these early believers were a little bit fearful when they heard that Paul was coming to see them? Do you suppose they said, Now, wait a minute. I mean, we believe the Lord can do anything, but this is about beyond Beyond belief. Paul says it is beyond belief. He said, I didn't have some inkling within me, something I learned in Sunday school, that one day I said, well, maybe I'll turn my life over to God. No, sir, he already figured he was following God. And it was only by the mercy of God that he was delivered out from the blindness of religious darkness. Dear brethren, if the Lord can save a man like the Apostle Paul, He can save anybody. Because I'm telling you, it's far worse for a man to be wrapped up in religion which is false than it is not to have any at all. Because you see, a man that doesn't have any at all, At least he's kind of like a blank piece of paper, but the man who is steeped in religion, buddy, he's got unlearned everything he already knew. And religion is a strong thing. I mean, you know, it's amazing, isn't it? I mean, you can see this in the cultures of men around the world. I mean, people predominantly, they stick with the religion that they're born into. And it's tough when a man is religiously oriented to get him out of that. Paul, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I mean, he was steeped in it. But he said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And dear brethren, there's not a man who ever has known the Lord who wouldn't testify of that very thing. Austin, wake up, buddy. By the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. Because nothing that the Lord does is in vain. It keeps using that word, in vain. Now, I believe it's on purpose. He said, if you hold these things, unless you believe in vain. But He said the Lord did this and it wasn't in vain. God doesn't call His people to believe something in vain. And he does not perform a work in a man for it to turn out to be nothing. Well, I thought old brother so-and-so was going to turn out to be, you know, a great preacher, and it turned out he wasn't nothing but a deceiver. And we're disappointed. Well, because he just turned out to be what he was by nature. But you see, when God is pleased to work in somebody to do the work that He would perform, it will not be in vain. It will be exactly what the Lord wants it to be. I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. He said the Lord constrained me to it. He said I would have quit a hundred times, but the Lord was rich in mercy. He kept me going and He caused me to labor more than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach and so you believe." He said, that makes a difference. Which one of these witnesses that comes to you and tells you these things, he said, the same thing is true. He said, Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day of which we are all witnesses. And he says, if you gather us up all in one room, we will all testify to the exact same thing. And it is upon this that our faith rests. Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some of you that there is no resurrection of the dead? He said, look, you're wasting your time and ours too to be telling us that there is no resurrection that Christ isn't risen from the dead if He be risen from the dead. For if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. If there is no such thing as a resurrection, then Christ is not risen. Now you know sometimes every now and then you get some smart people that will come along and they've figured it out that there is really no resurrection. No resurrection of the dead. No resurrection of human beings. No resurrection wherein the body is put into the ground and then one day the body will come out. Now we are certain that the body that comes out of the grave is going to be a glorified body. It is not going to be a corruptible body. It is going to be a spiritual body according to what the Scripture says. But it is going to be the person that went in the grave is going to come out of the grave. There is a resurrection. Because if we say there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen. Why do we know that? Because the Scripture says He is the firstfruits of them that slept. He is that One who has set the stage. He has proven. that there is a resurrection from the dead. And if lest we have believed in vain, dear brethren, we rejoice in the concept of the resurrection of the dead. And we know that the story of us does not end in the graveyard. Why? Because Christ is risen from the dead. Now how say some of you, he said, that there is no resurrection of the dead? Is it going on somewhere else? And tell everybody else that. But he said this is just a vain bit of work. What are you claiming to be a Christian for if you don't believe in that? Brethren, this is the basis of our hope. This is the ground upon which we stand. If Christ be not risen from the dead, then we are of all men most miserable, he said. If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith also vain? He answered the question, didn't he? Unless you believed in vain. He said, Christ be not raised from the dead, then you have believed in vain. But we do not believe that you have believed in vain. He says, and we're found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom if it be that He didn't raise Him up, then the dead don't rise. Because, dear brethren, that's a two-fold thing. If you say there's no resurrection, then you can't say that Christ rose from the dead. And if Christ didn't rise from the dead, you can be sure that nobody else will rise from the dead. So really it all boils down to that, does it not? An empty tomb where the Lord came forth from the dead. You're yet in your sins. And not only you, but they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. They're just gone. They went back to the dust. And the winds of time sweeping through the hallways of memory are gone. That's it. That's pretty bleak consideration, is it not? Now, I don't guess it bothers a man too much that's never been given the hope of eternal life. I mean, a man that just figures he's just going to die and that's going to be it, it ain't going to bother him a bit if that turns out the way it is. But Paul said, you know, those of us that have been given hope, he said that would be the most dismal of thoughts, would it not? Because we would be yet in our sins if the dead rise not. Because you see, if the dead rise not, then what Christ did didn't accomplish anything. And they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. Those that had expectations. You see, Christ is as big as the Lord Jesus when He walked upon the earth. If He be not raised from the dead, then everything He said is a lie. And you better be prepared to stand up and say that Jesus Christ, the biggest liar that ever lived, if the dead rise not. Because He said, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the earth. And He shall come forth from the grave. And He has come forth from the grave. And the basis of all that we believe rests therein. that our sin is taken away because what He said was that He would bury our sin. And when He rose, He didn't rise as a sacrifice, but He rose from the dead as a triumphant victor. And oh, what a glorious thing it is. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Because the dead would perish. We would perish. We would die in our sins. I can't think of a more awful place for a man who has been awakened by the Spirit of God to know what sin is and to know who God is than to contemplate dying in our sin. That's the most terrifying thing I can imagine, coming into the presence of a holy God in my sin. Can you imagine anything more frightening than that? I certainly can't. But dear brethren, if the things that Paul preached to those that we preach in the present time are not true, that's exactly what's going to happen. A lot of people do kind of think of it that way. You know, a lot of people, a lot of church people, it's just kind of a thing they do. It's not the thing that drives their life. It's not the thing that causes them to rejoice when they wake up in the morning and to rest in when they go to sleep at night. It's just kind of like, oh yeah, well that's church stuff, you know. And a lot of people are very faithful. in their church and religious life, but they don't have the life of Christ. They've never been born again by the Spirit of God. It's just something that they do. And they're happy in it. And you know, if it turns out not to be true, they'll be, well, just the way it is. But I'm telling you the most terrifying thing for an awakened child of God to consider would be to be separated from the presence of the Lord forever. That would be terrible. I mean, that would just be beyond thought. But now, he said, now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection." Now, this is the glorious part of the gospel the Lord would teach us, is the imputation. There are two things that a man has to come to grips with, and if he doesn't come to grips with them, he can't ever have any understanding of what it is that Christ did. One is the imputation of Adam's guilt to the human race. We're all guilty. In Adam, we're born guilty. We didn't have to do anything to get guilty. People look and say, oh, look at that little baby there. He's so innocent. And he is as innocent as he'll ever be. But in that infant is every evil thought in its seed form that could ever be. and given time and the lack of the restraining grace of God, it will develop into being exactly what it will be. But you see, the Lord, who is rich in mercy, He has shown us that even though the guilt of Adam's sin rests upon us from the day that we are born. According to His purpose, those whom He calls by His grace have also had the righteousness of Christ imputed to them before they ever drew their first breath. So it is kind of a conundrum of a thing that that little baby that's born in Adam is a corrupt individual by the imputation of Adam's sin. But those who are chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world are as pure and holy in His sight as we imagine that a little baby is. And they remain that way. till the time that they lay down these old corrupt bodies in the tomb, and one day, because of that which Christ did, they are raised in a glorious body, and so shall they ever be with the Lord." Brethren, that's the hope we have, unless we've believed in vain, Paul said. And he said we've not believed in vain. because I receive these things from the Lord." And he says, I'm telling them to you again, and by the grace of God you'll believe it if the Lord is pleased to open your eyes and give you a heart to embrace these things. And these things are the very words of life, and they enliven us, and they give us strength to go on. Not as those who just blindly hope that it's true, but those who by the grace of God believe it's true. It's kind of like I've shared this with you before, but it's an illustration of this very thing. Years ago when he was still alive, they were mounting up an expedition to go over to Turkey or wherever it was to see if they could find the remains of Noah's Ark. And they asked Lester Roloff, if they go over there and they find the ark, will this strengthen your faith? He said, if they load it up and bring it back and drag it up in my backyard, he says it won't make me believe it one bit more than I already do. And so it is there, brethren, when the Lord's pleased to give a man faith, he just can't help it, can he? He's just got to believe it. Thanks be unto God for that faith, for we have not believed in vain, dear brethren.