Good morning. So our text this morning will be 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 11. That's on page 961 in the pew Bibles. So as you're turning there, just really excited to preach, but also really excited for the announcement that Jason made. So it's before we go on a fall retreat with the youth, normally we invite one of my friends to teach. And so I'm excited for my students to meet my friend, but I'm also really excited for my friends to meet the students. And so with Rick coming, I don't know him, he seems great. I'm really excited for him to meet you all. because you guys have been a blessing to me and I know you'll be blessed by you as well. So let's read now 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 11. Now I would remind you, brothers of the gospel, I preach to you which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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 toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. If you would join with me. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever. Amen, let's pray. Father, we believe in the Holy Spirit, so we believe that Your Word is powerful to convict and to encourage, to spur us on, regardless of who's preaching. So we thank you that your Holy Spirit is here empowering our worship today. I pray that your word would be the cleft in which I hide, that you would get all the glory this morning. I pray this in your son's name. Amen. So generally when I preach a one-off sermons, this isn't part of the Living in Grace series, but when I preach I try to pick a psalm or something at the beginning of a book so you don't have to spend a lot of time going through the context of the sermon. That's not the case today. There's only one chapter left in 1 Corinthians, so we chose basically the end of the book. So we'll do a quick recap of the entire letter of 1 Corinthians really quickly, because it's great. All right, so we've been going through it down in the youth, and it's good because Paul covers Just a lot of different things in 1 Corinthians. And so we think of some of just the most well-known passages in 1 Corinthians. We think of, you know, he starts out with the divisions in the church. Then he talks about food, sacrifice to idols. He goes on to talk about immorality and marriage and love and spiritual gifts. Paul talks about all these different things, like a teacher that kind of opens the floor for questions. And the students have plenty of questions, and so Paul has a lot of answers. But then when he begins to land the plane here in chapter 15, he wants to make sure that the Corinthians remember the most important thing. He wants to make sure that the Corinthians remember the gospel. We too, we have a lot of ideas and a lot of thoughts, but I think Paul would have us remember the gospel today. Because we forget. We forget it all the time. And so, in response to our forgetfulness and the Corinthians' forgetfulness, Paul reminds us of four things in this passage. They're all in your bulletin, so you can follow along there. So Paul reminds us that the gospel is fundamental in the Christian life. The gospel is fundamental to the Christian life. Paul reminds us of the facts of the gospel. And Paul is going to remind us of the results of the gospel, the outcome. And finally, Paul reminds us of our response to the gospel. So four things. We'll start off then with that Paul reminds us that the gospel is fundamental in the Christian life. That statement is pretty obvious. I don't think anybody would disagree with that. I don't think anybody's mind is blown by my creativity on that first point. The gospel is fundamental to our life, but why does Paul feel like he has to remind the Corinthians of the gospel? Well, it's because they forgot about it. That's why you remind anybody of anything, because they forget, they have forgotten, or they're prone to forget it. And we, too, forget the gospel, right? We're prone to think that we've kind of moved beyond the basics. We've moved beyond the gospel, and now we're ready for specific advice. We would never say that out loud, I don't think. But think about how quickly we move on from the gospel sometimes. So with the youth, I hear this often. They say, Travis, I know the gospel. I need some advice on how to know what college to go to. Or, you know, I know the gospel, but my New Year's resolutions failed two weeks ago. I need some advice on getting my life together now. Or maybe in the past few months you've thought, all right, we've got the gospel, I understand that. We really need to figure out how to go through a pastoral transition. We're quick to move on from the gospel, but Paul would remind us of the gospel. In fact, verse 3, if you look at it, Paul says that the gospel is of first importance. It's the soil from which all doctrine and godly advice are going to grow out of. Moving past the gospel is like a mathematician forgetting addition or subtraction. It's like a musician forgetting their scales, I think. I don't know a lot about music. It's like an author forgetting to spell, or a hockey player, this is for me, forgetting how to skate. The gospel for Christians is fundamental. It's the foundation of the Christian life because it's at work in every stage of our growth and holiness. It's at work in every stage of our sanctification. So look at the timeline here in verses 1, kind of at the end of verse 1 and into verse 2. Paul says that the gospel which you received, that's the past, that's our conversion when we receive the gospel. The gospel in which you currently stand, that's our present reality. We're standing in the gospel if we're Christians. and in the gospel by which you are being saved. That's our future hope, the ongoing process of sanctification. That doesn't mean that we're not completely saved now. We are completely saved now, but Paul's talking about our growth and holiness. So we can think of it, you know, we've been rescued from the icy waters that we were drowning in. That's our sin. And we've been hoisted up into that Coast Guard helicopter. So we're saved, but we're not yet home. We're not wrapped up on a blanket on our couch yet. So the gospel is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the Christian life, and it will impact every decision that we make and every struggle that we face and every hope that we have unless, look at the end of verse two, unless we believe in vain. That means the gospel will save us unless we believe for no reason or unless it doesn't produce any fruit in our life. So remember that warning, unless you believed in vain. Paul's going to flesh that out in verse 10. So when I was taking notes, I printed the Scriptures out on a piece of paper so I could scribble on it. And if you draw a circle around, unless you believed in vain, in verse 2, you can draw a line all the way down to verse 10. I wouldn't do that in your Bibles, it makes it hard to read, but that's like a pillar, right? So unless you believed in vain, verse two, and then in verse 10, his grace towards me was not in vain. So you see this connection, and this pillar's gonna kind of hold up the rest of the passage, right? Everything's gonna kind of be connected back to that. So Paul's driving home the point that the gospel is never irrelevant. It's always applicable to our lives. So no matter what's going on in your life, remember the gospel. And let it be the core of your life, the foundation upon you build every other part of your existence. Don't let it be just a nice piece of advice that has no impact on you. Don't believe in vain. We've all had advice that we don't really listen to. Some well-meaning person gives us some advice and we politely listen, but we don't actually care that much. My favorite example of this was when I was living back in Charlotte, I was in seminary, and me and my best friend went to Chipotle for lunch. So we left campus, went to Chipotle, got some burritos, got a Coke or something, a big soda, and we were going to bring it back to school to eat. And these drinks were massive. You could have probably bathed a small child in how big. this cup was. We couldn't eat in the car. We got stuck in traffic. Charlotte traffic is not as bad as Atlanta. It's pretty bad. So we got stuck in traffic. My friend was sipping on the Coke the entire way back. So we finally got back to campus. We sat down to eat. And as soon as we sat down, another gentleman came and saw us drinking these massive Cokes and started off with this man. Do you know how much sugar is in that Coke? Do you know how unhealthy that is? You could just eat a handful of sugar instead. You're going to crash after you drink all that and your sleep schedule is going to be thrown off. What sleep schedule, right? We're in grad school. But we knew it was true. We knew this gallon of Coke we were drinking wasn't good for us, but we didn't care. So as the guy finished with, you know, I hope you don't drink all of that, my friend who had been slurping on this drink for 30 minutes now took the last sip, threw it in the trash, and just looked at him. So we believed everything that this guy was telling us, but we kind of believed it in vain because it didn't change our actions. Paul isn't giving us some sort of take-it-or-leave-it advice for the Christian life. He's reminding us of the core principle of Christianity. The gospel isn't an add-on to what we're supposed to do, or what we're supposed to believe, or how we're supposed to act. The gospel is fundamental to the Christian life. Secondly, Paul reminds us of the facts of the gospel. Let's look at verses 3 through 7 now. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. And then he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelfth, and he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, than to all the apostles. So the first fact of the gospel is that Jesus died for our sins. The anointed one, the Christ, took on the full punishment for our sins. So let's look at those two words. Christ died for our sins. So our sins. This eliminates kind of two caricatures that I think a lot of non-Christians have about Christians. And it exposes two false ways of living that we can fall into. So Paul could have said, you know, Christ died for your sins. That would have brought to mind, you know, the overbearing preacher, red in the face, leaning over the pulpit, yelling at the congregation, your sins nailed Jesus to the cross. Your sins are the reason Christ died. But that's not what Paul wrote. You know, Paul could have said, hey, you know, Christ died for my sins. bringing to mind kind of the arrogant Christian. Christ died for my sins. I don't know what you're going to do, Corinthians. That's not what Paul wrote either. Paul writes Christ died for our sins, showing his own desperate need for a Savior and the Corinthians' need for a Savior as well. So if you're here today and you've been singled out for a sin in your life or it's been communicated that you're beyond help, then hear the good news of the gospel that Christ died for our sin. You're in a community that goes much deeper than just living near one another. Our community is much deeper than cheering for the same football team or having similar hobbies. Church, we're bound together by the fact that Christ died for our sins. But let's also emphasize the rest of that sentence. Christ died for our sin. Our sin, right? Not our character flaws or our oddities or our shortcoming, but our sin, our rebellion and treason against the holy God of the universe. And that's an integral fact of the gospel, that it was our sin that separated us from God. So when the world tells us, you're not sinning, right? You're just following your true self. Or they say, you know, there is no sin, there's just difference of opinions. They're saying, the world is saying that there was no reason for Jesus to die. And the gospel pushes back on that and says, no, no, there was a problem, there was rebellion, there was sin in my life, but Jesus died for that. Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a loving God we serve. But Jesus didn't just die for our sins. If we keep going on, he was buried and he was raised on the third day. So death is supposed to be the most powerful weapon that the enemy has. So if we're living for ourself, to make a name for ourself, when we die, it's over. It's game over. That enemy was defeated. That power, that weapon, doesn't stand a chance anymore. What a powerful God we serve. And Jesus' death and resurrection wasn't just a last-minute project that turned out okay. I know if you've ever been in school, you've worked on a project the night before it was due. That's not what happened here. Look at the repetition in these verses. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried, he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. This was the plan all along. This was the plan from the beginning of time. What a sovereign God we serve. So I've really enjoyed this time where we've had a lot of different preachers. Dr. Koister, hearing him preach has been good and I really appreciate how he kind of just flows through a sermon. It's very just kind of conversational almost. And I know how important a good illustration is. My pastor in Charlotte would work on his sermons in the morning. So every morning that was sermon time, and his meetings were in the afternoon. And one whole day of sermon prep was just for illustrations. I just thought it would really drive the point home. People remember that. So 20% of his time was for making an illustration. As I tried to think of a good illustration for the gospel, nothing seemed adequate. And maybe that's the point. If the Gospels were a work of fiction, they would be the greatest story ever told. But they're not fiction. And it's still the greatest story ever told. Jesus really lived, and he really died for our sins, and then he really rose again. And we really forget that sometimes, right? Our lives get in the way. I know life is hard, right? We're focused on the playoff games that are happening this afternoon, right? Monday morning meetings, the upcoming test that we have, all the work we have to do around the house, right? All this stuff fills our minds and we forget about the gospel. That's why Paul reminds us of the facts of the gospel here. So our first two points have been that Paul reminds us that the gospel is fundamental in the Christian life, and then he reminds us of the facts of the gospel. But now we see that Paul reminds us of the results of the gospel. In verses 8 through 10, listen to the stark differences in Paul's life in the two stages. Then Jesus appeared to James and to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am." So what was wrong with Paul? He was untimely born. That means he was a professional Jew that had missed the fulfillment of Judaism. He was too young to have been called to be a disciple of Jesus. He was untimely born. And then he had persecuted the church. He had killed Christians. He was unworthy to be called an apostle, but despite this unworthiness, he was still an apostle. That's still what he was called. So he starts off this letter to the Corinthians. If you look in chapter 1, verse 1, he said, Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. So what changed? He was unworthy to be called this, but he was still called that. What changed? He changed. The gospel changed him. When theologians talk about the death of Christ, they generally break it down into two parts. It's called propitiation and expiation. There's a quote in your outline by Shai Lin. He's a Christian rapper, and he explains the difference between propitiation and expiation much more cleverly than I can, and also it rhymes, so it's helpful. But basically, propitiation means that the death of Christ satisfied the wrath of God, right? We just sung about that. And expiation means that the death of Christ washed away the guilt or the stain of our sin, So the wrath that God had built up towards Paul for killing his people, Jesus took that on the cross. And that stain or that reputation of being a Christian killer, Jesus took that too. And that's why Paul is called Paul the Apostle and not Paul the persecutor. Because Jesus took the stain of his previous sin away. I had a friend who interviewed at a church a few years after I got here in another state. It was actually the same guy I was telling you about earlier. His interview, they asked him some practical questions, gave him some scenarios and asked, like, how would you respond to this as a pastor? And so one of the questions they asked was, there's a couple, they were non-Christians, they'd been dating a while, they slept together, but then they'd both been converted, and they repented of that lifestyle, and now they were seeking to get married. So they separated and now they're coming to get married. Could the woman wear a pure white wedding dress, even though by her own admission, she wasn't pure? My friend thought about it, but he thought about it a little bit too long, and so the pastor interviewing him answered for him. He said, yes, she could, the precious blood of Christ has cleansed her from her sin, and so she will stand in front of the God of the universe without a hint of that sin, without a stain on her, and so she can stand in front of us too. So if you've ever wanted to run from God because you think you're still tied to your sin, you're not. Paul is no longer Paul the persecutor, and you're no longer your name, the adulterer, or the thief, or the dropout, or the addict, or the convict, or the fornicator. In the eyes of the Lord of the universe, you are your name, the child of God, and that is the result of the gospel. Only the result of the gospel. So Paul has reminded us that the gospel is fundamental in a Christian life. He's reminded us of the facts of the gospel and the results of the gospel. And now our last point, Paul reminds us of the response to the gospel. The gospel is good news. It's life-changing. It's almost like you've won the lottery. And how many of us would never work again if we won the lottery? Not me. how many of us would never work again. But Paul wants to make sure we don't do that. Remember that word, in vain, that we talked about? That pillar from verse 2 to verse 10, right? Unless you believed in vain, but his grace towards me was not in vain. The gospel produced something in Paul. He had not believed in vain. And so he worked hard from that. So I think it was J.I. Packer that said this, and he said that the entire gospel rests on getting the order correct here. So grace changed Paul, and so he worked. That's the gospel. But if you flip it around, Paul worked hard, so grace changed him. That's a lie from Satan. Paul had gone from working hard to earn God's favor by killing Christians to working hard because of God's favor. And what's true for Paul is true for us too. And so the application isn't now to turn the focus inward. We've been talking about Jesus. Don't think now, man, I really need to work hard. This isn't a new age motivational pep talk. The application isn't that. The application is, man, isn't Jesus wonderful? Isn't the gospel beautiful? Isn't it worth everything that our lives have? Isn't the gospel worth working for and worth striving for? Isn't spreading the glorious message of the gospel of Christ in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and across the world, isn't that worth straining for? Because it's not easy. It's hard. Church, we could scrub for eternity and not be able to expiate the stain of our sin, and we could self-flagellate forever and not propitiate the wrath of God. But Jesus died for our sins and He rose again, so looking to Him, we can work hard for the kingdom of God. Paul gives us an insight into how he does this in 2 Timothy. So he's in jail at the end of 2 Timothy. He's waiting to be tried. He's about to be killed. But in 2 Timothy verse 4, he asked Timothy to bring him three things. He asked Timothy to bring him his cloak, his books, and he says, especially his parchments. These aren't law books. He's not using his last days to try to find a loophole in the legal system so he can defend himself. He's asking Timothy to bring him the Scriptures. Paul had a singular focus on God's glory even in his last days, and so he works hard to bring God the most glory he can, and so everything flows from that. But in reading the Scriptures in his last days, in some of the darkest times of his life, I'm sure Paul reminded himself of the gospel that had changed him. He reminded himself that the gospel was foundational in his life. He had reminded himself of the facts of the gospel, that Jesus had died for his sins and had been raised three days earlier. He reminded himself of the results of the gospel, that God's wrath had been satisfied and the guilt and the stain of his previous sin had been washed away. So he reflected on his response to the gospel, having the fertile soil from which his work grew. And so Paul was able to face death confidently. And so that's true for us as well. So let's pray now and reflect on the good news of Christ. Lord, we thank you for who you are and what you've done for us as individuals and as a church. Lord, we oftentimes are held up by our sin. We remember what we've done in the past, and we think we can never escape from that. It's like a shadow that follows us. But we bring you praise that, God, you don't remember our sin. There is not a single drop of wrath left for us because of our sin, because of the sacrifice of Christ. And so Lord, we praise Him. I ask that we would be motivated to work hard, not to earn Your favor, but because of Your favor. Let that love be the springboard from which we work off of. Be glorified now as we continue to worship You, I pray. I pray it in Your Son's name. Amen.