That's good singing, folks. Really good to hear that. Thanks to Gordie for leading. Thanks to Brian and Ruth for singing again. Nice to have a new fellowship with them. I see Brian plenty, though. I join him on a 7 o'clock call every Saturday morning. So you can pray for the two of us at 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning if you're up. And that will do. We Bible study together. And I have no idea if he was there yesterday. I was asleep. But I'm sure he was there. And also Brian called me a footballer there. I think as the lads know, there's a difference between playing football and being a footballer. I think I fall, certainly of later years, I've fallen more into the playing football category. But anyway, it's good to see the fellas here as well. We're going to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Fairly well-known chapter, some familiar verses. I'm sure a lot of the children here will have learned some of these different verses. But we'll read it together, please. 1 Corinthians 15, we'll read from verse one down to verse 10, please. Verse one says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein ye stand, by which also you are saved, if you 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, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the 12. After that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some were fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that I'm 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. We'll end the reading there at the end of verse 10, and we know the Lord will bless the reading to us, and already Ruth opened there with that wonderful peace on the grace of God. It's only by the grace of God that any of us are in this place tonight, that any of us are saved, and we certainly do thank the Lord for his grace. In 1928, the first full edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was produced. It spanned 12 volumes that included over 400,000 definitions across 15,000 pages, and took almost 70 years to complete. Since then, new words have been added every year. Last month, it was the turn of the words brandscape, licky, and strip waffle. So you'd be glad to know all those are in it, and all their definitions are in it as well. It's really the definitions of the words that make it a useful volume. It's what makes a dictionary useful. It's especially helpful when you have someone in your family that still randomly uses words that you thought died out with the dinosaurs. Words like Jap, as in to splash, or to splash up on something, or to splatter, or jerkin, which apparently means a coat. I had no idea. That's one of my dads now. I think it's maybe a drum and ass thing. But in Christian circles, we can often be accused of using words without definition, using very Christian language, terms that aren't really common in everyday speech. And we use them without really explaining them, without putting them in context. And then we expect people to understand exactly what we're talking about. So I'm going to try and fix that tonight, at least for one word. And it's the word gospel. It's the word we're singing about. What is the gospel? Now in a purely linguistic sense, it's a word derived from the Greek word evangelon, meaning good news or good tidings. And it's specifically the proclamation of those good tidings. It's the telling of good news. It's where we get the word evangelist or messenger of wellness, which is what an evangelist actually means, bearer of good news. And that's where it comes from. But that doesn't really help us define it. What is the gospel? What is this good news that we proclaim? Well, I think Paul does a pretty good job of teaching that here in 1 Corinthians 15. He says, moreover, brethren, or a further thing that I would like to say to you. He's writing to the church at Corinth. He wants to encourage them to stand firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But to do that, they had to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you, I explain unto you the gospel which I have preached. Paul had already proclaimed the message. Men and women had already believed the message, but Paul didn't want them to just believe it. He wanted them to understand it. He wanted them to know it so that they could live it out and explain it to others. So what is it? What is this message? What is the gospel of Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, it's a gift. The gospel is a gift. Paul says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received. The gospel is a gift that's offered. And that's helpful because we understand gifts. We know gifts. Gifts don't require payment. They don't have to be earned. They're not in response to doing a particular thing. A gift is a gift. The only three things that you require to exchange a gift are a giver, a receiver, and the gift itself. The giver is the one who pays for the gift. The giver is the one who puts the effort into the gift. The giver is the one who presents the gift. The receiver doesn't do anything apart from take it. The receiver doesn't do any of that. And yet by the end of the exchange, it's the receiver, it's the recipient who now owns the entire gift. It doesn't need to be returned. It doesn't need to be shared. It doesn't need to be paid for. But it belongs fully to the one who just received it. Folks, God has given us a gift. The gift of the gospel, the good news that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. And if we simply accept his gift, the gift that he paid for, the gift that he put the effort into, that gift will become ours forever. It doesn't get given back. It doesn't need to be paid for. It belongs to us. And all we need to do is take it. All we need to do is receive the gift of salvation. That gift that forgives our sins and makes us ready for heaven. It's a gift. And it's a gift of substance. Now it might seem like a distant memory for some, but we're not that long past Christmas. And I'm sure some of you, and maybe you don't like to admit this, but I'm sure some of you when you opened your presents, you were a little tiny bit underwhelmed. Especially as you get older, people tend to think that you like socks and books and things for the kitchen. I mean, it's lovely, but it can be a little bit underwhelming. Especially if you're a big child like me that still likes toys and gadgets. Not so with the gospel. The gospel is a gift of substance. It's a gift that you can stand on. A gift wherein ye stand, that's what the verse says. And that's what the word substance means. Substance. Something physically beneath your feet that you can stand on. The gospel is a gift of substance. Now, in case you're struggling for gifts next year, let me give you an idea. And it's not socks. You can go onto Amazon and for 25 pounds, you can purchase an acre of land on the moon. There's a substantial gift for you. And it even comes with a certificate as well. You can even give it a name. You can name that part of the moon yourself. Your own piece of land on the moon. That's class. You see the gift of the gospel. It doesn't give you an acre on the moon. It gives you a mansion in heaven. A guaranteed spot with your name on it in the heavenly city of God. Now I could own land on the moon, and that would be pretty cool, but chances are I'm never gonna set foot on that land. But the Bible tells me that there is nothing in this world that's gonna stop me from setting foot on my mansion in heaven. Nothing. It's a gift of substance. It's a gift of salvation. Paul says in verse two, by which also ye are saved. That's another word that we know, saved. It's been in the news this week, the terrifying and destructive fires ripping through Pasadena and the Palisades in California. Firefighters working through the night to save people, to save homes, to save livelihoods, saving them out of the fire. Folks, the gospel is a gift that saves us out of the fire. It's a substantial gift. If you were caught up in those fires in LA and you were trapped with no way out, no way of escaping, the fire department came and they offered you a hand, they offered you a gift, an opportunity to live. Would you not accept it? Would you not take it? Would you not reach out and grab it? Of course you would. Because the only alternative is to die. Folks, that's the gospel. A free hand reaching out to snatch you from the fire. And yet so many reject it. For what? This week in the news, a man called Victor Shaw received instructions to evacuate his home in Altadena. The fire was advancing, whether he believed it was or not, it was coming his way. His home was in danger and his sister, Shari, who lived with him, she heard the same message and she made her plans to leave. But Victor didn't. He wouldn't. He refused to go. And on Wednesday morning, Victor's body was discovered lying at the side of his home with a garden hose in his hand. Folks, the gospel is a gift of salvation. Salvation from fire. The fire of God is coming, and whether you want to accept that or not, it's coming. Your little garden hose isn't gonna fight it. But if you accept the gift of salvation, you get saved from the fire. That's the gospel. It's a gift of substance, it's a gift of salvation, and it's a gift of simplicity. Paul says in verse three, for I delivered, first of all, that which I had received. Paul didn't go to Bible college to learn how to share the gospel. He simply delivered what he had received. Every single person who has received the gift of the gospel can share the gift of the gospel. A child of five, if they've received the gift, they can share the gift. A brand new Christian, if they've received the gift, they can share the gift. A struggling Christian, if they've received the gift, they can share the gift. It's a gift of simplicity. Because when you share the gospel, when you share the good news about Jesus Christ, you don't need big words. You don't need all the answers. You don't need to convince anybody. All you need to do is simply pass on what you've been given. What does it mean to you to know the gospel? What does it mean to you to know Jesus? What does it mean to you to have your sins forgiven? What does it matter to you that you've been saved from the fire? And how? How were you saved from the fire? Just tell them that. Paul says, I simply delivered, first of all, what I had received. It's a gift of simplicity. Folks, let's not overcomplicate the Gospel. Let's not talk ourselves out of sharing the Gospel, but simply speak of what God has already done in our lives. That's the Gospel. The Gospel is a gift, that's the first thing. The second thing is that the Gospel is undeniable. The Gospel is undeniable, and it's undeniable for two reasons. Firstly, because it's cemented in Scripture. The entire Bible is the story of the gospel. Paul says here that I have delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That's the gospel. Christ died. Right from the beginning of the Bible, we know that death is a result of sin. It's a result of wrongdoing against God, and that's the punishment. The punishment is death. But Jesus died. He was the perfect one. He was the one who didn't sin, but he died. So if death was the punishment for sin and Jesus never sinned, why did he die? Well, of course, that's the good news. That's the gospel. Jesus died for me. Jesus died for you. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Christ died and he was buried, and there's no doubt about his death, by the way. The historical evidence is clear. Christ died. He died, his body was prepared for burial, and he was buried, but on the third day he arose, so he definitely died. He was definitely buried, and yet on the third day, he arose. Why did he arise? Why did he come back? Why did he not stay dead? It's because Jesus, when he died, didn't succumb to the punishment of sin. He overcame it. He didn't surrender to death. He defeated it. He triumphed over it. That's why he rose. And that's why we can trust him today. It's how we can know him. It's how we can be sure that he's forgiven our sins. It's how we can know that we're going to heaven. And folks, that's the gospel. Christ died, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And interestingly, Paul doesn't mean, when he says the scriptures there, he doesn't mean the New Testament. He means the old. He means the part that was written before Jesus was ever born. This whole book of the Bible is about him. Even the bits written years before he came, Christ died according to verses of the Bible that were written 4,000 years ago. Christ was buried according to the parts of the Bible that were written 2,000 years before he ever lived. Christ rose from the dead according to parts of the Bible that were written and sealed and verified before he ever walked this earth. Folks, the gospel is undeniable because it's cemented in scripture. It's also undeniable because it's been confirmed by the saints, confirmed by the believers. It's been confirmed by those who experienced the risen Lord Jesus. Paul says in verse five that he was seen of Cephas and then of the 12, the disciples. After that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remained to this present. In other words, most of them were still alive when Paul wrote this. But some are falling asleep, some have died. After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also as one born out of due time. Paul's record of the risen Jesus is that he was seen, and then he was seen, and then he was seen, and then he was seen again. Now, many critics of the gospel claim that Jesus never existed. Well, that's just nonsense. Even when you take out the Bible, there's so much more historical evidence to the existence of Jesus than there is even to historical figures like Alexander the Great and Socrates or even William Shakespeare. Jesus clearly lived. But the question is, did he rise from the dead? That's the question that matters. Is he alive today? Because without that, there's no gospel. Without that, there's no salvation. Without that, there's no hope. The entire gospel hinges on Jesus being alive. One of the founders of Harvard Law School, Simon Greenleaf, probably the leading law school in the world. This founding member of Harvard decided one time that he would attempt to expose biblical Christianity as a fraud by taking a purely legal approach to it and effectively examining and cross-examining the witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15. He basically put them on trial. It was a move of extreme arrogance. He was convinced it was a lie, and so he set out, in his words, to expose the myth of the gospel. Well, just a few months into his work, Simon Greenleaf became a Christian. He concluded, legally, if you like, that these witnesses were entirely reliable, and there could be no other single explanation for their testimony than that they had indeed seen him. They had met with the risen Lord Jesus. And so concluding that he must then be alive, Simon Greenleaf committed his life to him. Folks, the gospel is undeniable. You talk to any one of the millions of genuine Christians across the world and they have no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is alive. There's people across the world willing to die for the fact that Jesus is still alive. They know he's alive because they know him. They talk to him. They feel his presence. They know his comfort. They hear his voice. The gospel is undeniable. Whatever argument you try and put up against that, it simply will not stand. The gospel is undeniable. It's like standing in the pathway of a tornado and trying to deny that the wind exists. It doesn't make sense. The gospel is a wonderful gift. The gospel is absolutely undeniable. And thirdly and lastly, the gospel is entirely undeserved. The gospel is undeserved. Speaking of himself in verse nine, the Apostle Paul says, I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet or not worthy even to be called an apostle. I'm not worthy to be called a messenger of Jesus because I persecuted the church of God. Before Paul became a Christian, he hated the followers of Jesus. Hated them. Hated everything they stood for. And after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul made it his mission to round up all the Christians and put them in prison. Now if someone like that suddenly turned up in our church and told us they'd get saved, I think we'd have a wee bit of suspicion. Because sometimes still we can fall into the trap of thinking that the gospel is something that you earn, something you deserve. But it's not. There is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. And because there's nothing you can do to earn your salvation or merit your salvation in any way, that means that your past is entirely irrelevant. Your past is irrelevant. How you've lived your life has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not you can have forgiveness of sin. Now that can make us a little bit uncomfortable. But think about it like this, if how I lived before salvation really mattered to my salvation, then how would I ever know if I'd done enough? If I was just weighing up the good and the bad and deciding for myself what was good and what wasn't, then could I ever be certain that I'd met the standard? What if I'd sinned without knowing that I'd sinned? What if I'd considered something to be good when it was actually bad? What if I'd miscounted? Folks, that would destroy us. If we were constantly living under that kind of pressure, it would destroy us, having that uncertainty hanging over us for the rest of our lives. But by seeing the standard of God as far higher than anything I could ever achieve, and understanding that Jesus lived the only ever life that reached that standard, I don't have to live in fear and uncertainty because I'm trusting in him. And because he's already kept that standard and already paid that price, I don't ever need to worry that my salvation won't stick. Ever. Because it has nothing whatsoever to do with me. Folks, that's the gospel. My past is entirely irrelevant. And my position is entirely unmerited. Paul persecuted the church of God. Yet in verse 10 he says, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. I am a wretch, a vile, filthy, stinking sinner. But by the grace of God, and only by the grace of God, I stand here tonight as a Christian. saved from all my sins, adopted into the family of God, and ready for mansions in heaven. That's the gospel. My position is entirely unmerited, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. On the 18th of May, 1860, Four men awaited news of a vote at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. The vote was to appoint the nation's 16th president and would turn out to be won by none other than Abraham Lincoln. When Lincoln emerged as victor, his opponents were very angry. They greatly resented Lincoln for how he had run his campaign, but rather than cut them off, Lincoln surprisingly appointed them to key roles within his cabinet. One of his fiercest rivals, William Seward, was given the job of Foreign Secretary and went on to play a critical role in the Civil War, working with Lincoln to preserve the Union and bring an end to slavery. That position was entirely unmerited. Seward was angry with Lincoln. He hated him. And had things been allowed to play out, he would have done everything in his power to bring Lincoln down. But for no reason apart from the grace and mercy of President Lincoln, Seward was appointed to a position of power. Folks, our position in the family of God is entirely unmerited, undeserved. And yet here we are. Such is the grace and mercy and love of our God. That's the gospel. A past that is entirely irrelevant. A position that is entirely unmerited. And lastly, a potential that is entirely unlimited. Our potential is unlimited. Paul says again in verse 10, and His grace, the grace of God, bestowed upon me was not in vain, it wasn't pointless, but I labored more abundantly than them all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." Paul, who persecuted the church of Jesus Christ, would go on to become the single greatest Bible teacher the world has ever seen. Almost half the books in the New Testament were written by Paul. Most of our teaching on how we do church comes from Paul. Biblical teaching on marriage comes from Paul. We learn about the body of Christ from Paul. Teaching on the Lord's Supper is from Paul. And some of the best verses on the return of the Lord Jesus are from letters written by Paul. Paul wasn't eloquent. He probably wasn't overly dynamic. He could get very nervous. He had a history of anger issues. He wasn't the guy that you would pick to be your flagship apostle. And yet through the grace of God, Paul accomplished more in Christ than any other New Testament convert. Folks, our potential in Christ is entirely unlimited. Now you may not be long on the road of salvation. You may not feel like you're currently walking very closely to the Lord. You may feel small, insignificant, at a complete loss as to how God could ever use you. You might not even be saved as you sit here tonight. You might not even know the Lord. But God could have incredible plans for your life. He took a fearful runaway in Moses and made him a leader. He took a timid shepherd boy in David and made him a king. He took an arrogant womanizer in Samson and made him a warrior. He took a violent persecutor in Paul and made him a preacher. It's not about what you can do for God, it's about what God can do with you. What can God do with you? Your potential is entirely unlimited. Not because of you, but because of Him. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Folks, that's the gospel. That's it. The gospel is a gift. The gospel is undeniable. The gospel is undeserved. Maybe we complicate it too much. It really is that simple. A free gift, an undeniable reality to an undeserving soul. If you don't know the Lord Jesus tonight, why not trust him? Why not come and watch with anticipation to see what the Lord can do in your life? A life dedicated, a life transformed, a life willing and ready to serve him. The potential is unlimited. But whatever he does, just like in that first piece that Ruth and Brian sang, it is only ever by his grace. We're gonna sing our closing hymn. And it's this, it's what gift of grace, it'll be up on the screen in a minute, what gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? There is no room for heaven now to give. He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom, my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. And the chorus says, or the next part says, to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus. For my life is wholly bound to his. Oh, how strange, how divine. I can sing all is mine. And then the words of Paul, yet not I, but through Christ in me. Let's stand together, please, and sing this as we're closing him. Thank you.