If you would please open your Bibles and remain standing, you'll turn to First Corinthians, chapter 15, the very beginning of the chapter. First Corinthians, chapter 15, we'll be looking at the first 11 verses this morning here, the word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul. Now, I want to 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 believe in vain. For I delivered to you as a 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 500 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 towards 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 preached and you believed. Let us pray. Almighty God, we come to hear from you this day. We come to hear this gospel that has been passed down to the Apostle Paul and from him to us this very day. We ask that you would change our hearts and that you would soften us to hear the truth of the gospel this morning. We ask that you would mold us and shape us. We ask that you would encourage us where we need it, rebuke us where we need it. And most of all, we ask that you would change us. Oh, Father, help us to see the bigness. Help us to see the the majesty of the Lord Jesus and his work. And we pray all of these things in his name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, it is my opinion, and I will say it is my opinion only, that Paul has saved addressing the most serious problem to the end of the book or the end of this letter. Now, I say that because this problem that he is going to start addressing in chapter 15 has some effect on their understanding of the gospel and who Jesus Christ is. And so what we start and what we embark on in chapter 15 is dealing with their understanding of the gospel, particularly their understanding of the resurrection, the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the resurrection of the physical body. So we're going to look at that over the next coming weeks or the next month or so. We'll we'll walk through chapter 15. But before we embark on the meat and the magnitude and the fullness of the resurrection and how important that it is, he first takes up the whole gospel of Christ. And he does have an emphasis on the resurrection that we're going to see today. As we start to look at this passage, I want to ask you to think of something that you would consider the most important thing that you have. or maybe the most important thing that you do on a daily basis. Now, we probably all have slightly different answers to that. Some of you will give the Sunday school answer and the proper Christian answer and say, reading God's word and praying is the most important thing to me. And I hope that it is. But if we're really honest, it probably depends upon the situation that we're in. What is the most important thing that is going on right then? The thing that is of first importance, for example, If you are in the desert heat or if you are mowing the grass in Houston, when you get done, you know what is the most important to you? Ice water, because it is hot. That is the thing that you crave the most. If you were in the deluge of rain that we have had in the recent months and you're out in it, the thing that you probably seek most is shelter to get out of this, this pouring rain, it becomes your top priority. Those of you who have been out to sea, I have been on a couple of boats out into the deep water and a first priority to me was hoping that they had gasoline to get us home. All right. I don't like being out there. If you've been without food for very long, it becomes your most important priority in life is to feed your hunger. So depending on our situations, these things become first priority to us. Well, Paul today in this passage lays out the gospel and says Christ and his work are of first importance to the church, to the people of God. Understanding the gospel is to be of first importance. So his his main point in this passage is to remind them and to help them to remember what the gospel actually is. What are the points of the gospel? What is required of you? What must you believe to be called a Christian? So in helping to to get this point across, he first explains the gospel to them. Secondly, he tells them that the gospel is of first importance. And then he shows the effects that the gospel has on the life of those that believe. So let's. Let's look at this gospel message today. Let's look at the gospel explained. Paul says he's going to remind them of this gospel. They have heard this before. They have received this. They have believed this. And this is the gospel that is actually saving them. And we're going to we're going to start with that today. So I'm going to read it again. And I want you to be reminded of the gospel. Sit and hear the gospel proclaimed. For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received. And here's the gospel 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. He appeared to Cephas in the 12th. He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James and the apostles. Last of all, it's the one untimely born. He appeared also to me. That is the gospel message. Let's examine it. Let's remember and review these parts of the gospel first. He doesn't say it explicitly, but it is clear that the gospel comes from a God who is holy. Now, notice Paul doesn't use those specific words, but this is what he's pointing towards, that there is a holy God. He says that Christ has died for our sins, and this assumes that we have sinned or transgressed against a God and a God who is different from us, one who is one who is not sinful. Therefore, there must be this holy God if we have sinned against him. And so Paul says you have sinned. Christ has come for your sins. So first we see that there is a holy God. Secondly, we see that man is, in fact, sinful. Paul says that Christ came and he died for our sins. He is clearly pointing to the fact that we are not like this holy God. We are sinners. And this is why we sin. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. And the punishment for that, the thing that is due to us is death, is God's wrath poured out upon us. I heard it said more recently that every death is an execution. God is executing his judgment upon mankind when people die. We see that right here. Christ came and died for our sins. He took that execution for us more than just a physical death. He received all of God's wrath being poured upon him and he perfectly extinguished it. You see, he came for us. We see that God is holy. We are sinful. We deserve this death that Christ has. Thirdly, Christ has come for us. He has died for our sins. This means while he was still perfect, without any sin at all, he willingly went to the cross for us. I love how Paul words that Christ died for us. It doesn't show any struggle, it doesn't show that he went In a way that he didn't want to go, he wasn't drug there, kicked or screaming. He went there and he died for us, according to the scriptures. But that's not where it ends. It's not where it ends. There's more to his death than him on the cross. The big news is that the grave didn't hold him. Pay close attention to this part of Christ's death. I will call it part of Christ's death. Because Paul is highlighting this, and it's very important because he will be arguing, as we will see later, against the incorrect view the Corinthians have of the resurrection. On the third day, Christ rose from the dead. The grave could not hold him. He suffered our punishment for us, but he didn't stay in that punishment. He conquered it and he came up from the dead. Paul highlights the importance of this because he reminds the Corinthians that Jesus has appeared to Cephas, the twelve, the more than five hundred, the apostles, to James, and also to myself. He actually rose from the grave. Most of those five hundred are still alive. Go find one and ask them. Brothers and sisters, if you doubt that Christ rose from the grave, ask one of the people who saw him. Read the scriptures. Paul has clearly said he is He has revealed himself to me. The New Testament clearly proclaims in this witness that Christ has been raised from the dead in accordance with the scriptures. It shouldn't have been a surprise. Now, some of you may be thinking in that term, maybe looking back at all of your scripture, where exactly is Paul referring? Because this is what I did. Maybe you didn't do this, but this is what I did when I got to this part. One of my first tasks was to see what passage specifically Paul was referring to. What I found out is. He's not referring to a particular passage. Something much bigger than that, Paul is referencing something bigger than one verse, he is referencing the whole corpus of Scripture. When Paul talks about Scripture, he's specifically talking about the Old Testament. Paul is calling that all of the Old Testament, this is what he's telling us, all of the Old Testament speaks of this majestic work, that Christ has died and he has been risen from the grave. All of the Scriptures point to this. He could have referred back to one quote, but he didn't. I think Paul's doing the same thing that Jesus himself did. Paul says this has been has been given to me, I have received it and I pass it on to you. I think also when he talks about being in accordance with the scriptures, he's talking about what has been passed on to him. We see Jesus on the road to Emmaus very clearly. Refer to all of the scriptures as being concerning himself. In Luke 24, starting in verse 27, We see Jesus on the road and he speaks to the disciples there that are on the road and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he being Jesus, interpreted to them all of the scriptures, the things concerning himself. Jesus didn't just go to Isaiah, chapter 52 and 53. Jesus didn't just go to one passage. He opened all of scripture and said it is about me. Paul is telling the Corinthians and telling us this day that this Christ who has died for our sins and has been risen from the dead is the one of old. All of the scriptures point to this. And this resurrection is a very important part of our understanding of the gospel that Jesus has returned. I know oftentimes we focus on different parts of the gospel depending upon the season. We focus on different parts of it, depending on how we share the gospel with people. And oftentimes I find myself doing this and I find that my explanations of the gospel to people in hindsight are lacking because. I don't emphasize the resurrection enough. We like to focus on the passion, on Jesus, on the cross, and then almost in passing, we say, and then he rose from the grave on the third day. This is very significant. Without the resurrection, we are doomed. Without Christ coming back, we are doomed. This shows his completed work. Christ's work is completed. Now, the parts of the gospel in review. God is holy. Man is sinful. Christ has died for us. He has been buried on the third day. He has risen from the grave. He did not stay dead. And lastly, All those who believe will be saved. Paul says very clearly in the first two verses. This is the gospel I preach to you that you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved. Believing in this Jesus, this good news, this gospel and presenting this faith is what brings salvation. We are saved by God's grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters, we easily take for granted the gospel. I'm convinced in my own life, at least, that I don't often dwell on the gospel enough. Paul is reminding them of this good news that Christ has come to take punishment for our sins. He has died, been buried, resurrected. We know that he's ascended. He sits at the right hand of the Father. This is good news that we should dwell on. Be encouraged today. Know that all of your sins have been laid on Jesus. All of them, they have been paid for. And if you believe and you trust in this Lord Jesus. You will be saved. This gospel and this truth should be above all the lies that we are told about salvation. They should be above all the lies that we tell ourselves about our sin, that Christ has indeed paid for all these things and we can trust in it. This is the same gospel that has been handed down to us from the very beginning, and it is good to this day to save us. Let me ask you, are you trusting in this gospel? Church members, believers, do you actively trust in this good news on a daily basis? When you wake up in the morning, When you struggle midday with work, when you are tired in the afternoons, when you have conflict with your wife, when you have conflict with your parents, when you have conflict with your children, do you trust in this gospel that all of your sins, everything that you've messed up has been paid for by Jesus? And do you work? Do you work to trust in this on a daily basis and to know that you are forgiven? For those of you that are here that may have never placed your trust in the gospel, this is good news for you. This is good news. There is one who can save you from your sins. There is a holy God that we all have sinned against, but there is one who has come and he has paid the price for his people. And if you call upon him and trust in him and trust in his work, you will be saved. This is good news for us now. It is such good news. That Paul says that this is a first importance for him, and this brings us to our second point, he has outlined the gospel clearly for the church in Corinth, what they should be trusting and believing in. And then secondly, I'll say outpouring from that. Secondly, he says it's of most importance or of first importance. And the ESV says first importance. Other translations say the most important thing. If you have the New King James, it says, first of all or before all things, this is this is the most important thing. Verse three, for I delivered to you as a first importance what I received. Before I did anything else with you, before we covered anything about the church. Before we covered any doctrine, any social issues, anything else of most importance, I gave you this gospel. Brothers and sisters, this gospel should be of first importance to us. It should be of more importance than any other understanding of doctrine, social issue. Problems we have in our life, all those things are important to work out and to have correct, but if you do it outside of the gospel, You are doing it in vain. The gospel is of first importance. For example, I'll give you some examples from scripture, actually, the last several weeks we have covered through Paul's letter, spiritual gifts, loving each other in the church, worship and underlying all of those things. It's the gospel of Jesus. It has to be the foundation for us, it is of first importance. Isn't first importance here at the church. If you're a part of this church or another church or someday you end up in another church some way down the road, make sure that it is the the foundation of all that is going on. Understanding Christ's work, savoring that work, dwelling upon that work and trusting in this work was a first priority for Paul. And it should be first priority for us also in this church. We can have opinions and discussions on secondary and third tier things, and those are important to do. But if we don't understand the gospel first and foremost, we have lost our way. We're going to end up like Corinth and going down all these other paths. We need to make sure that secondary things stay secondary, they don't move up the ladder. Now, notice what Paul didn't do when he defined the gospel. He didn't add a bunch of other things to it. It's not the gospel, plus you have to have and then a whole list of doctrines that you have to have right. That's what we would probably like to see is reform, folks. Most of us think in that way. You also can't do what some more of the liberal churches have done and take things away from the gospel. It must be defined exactly as Paul has done it, that Christ has come to us. He has died and those who believe will be saved. Now, I'm not the only one to say this. This is what Spurgeon said when he was preaching through this text. He says, now, we expect to hear a whole list of doctrines when the Apostle Paul says, I declare unto you the gospel. But instead of that, he simply tells us of the resurrection of Jesus, for that is the very moral of the gospel, the foundation of it, that Jesus has died and rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. Spurgeon goes on. That is the whole of the gospel. He who perfectly understands that understands the first principles, he has commenced a right. This is the starting point. If we wish to learn the truth, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and then he was buried and then he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. We need often to be pointed back to this gospel so that we don't run the risk of adding a whole list of doctrines to what the gospel is or removing key parts because we don't like it. This gospel is our starting point for all the other things that we do, for all the doctrine that we understand, for all the ways in which we work in the church. Now, the gospel of first importance should also be in our own personal lives, not just in the life of the church. And it's the habit in this country of Christians to live as undercover secret agents. We like to live our lives divided up into different segmented compartments and be in secret. And all the other parts are in secrecy to those around us if they're not part of that compartment. I think of spy movies and novels, how people don't know that they're undercover agents living next door or whatever may be. That's how we live sometimes. Those in our one part of life don't know anything else around us. When we're at home, We live in a way that is pleasing to ourselves and those in our families. Hopefully we're loving, caring people that love our children, that love our parents, that work in our families. At work, we live in a way that pleases our employers and hopefully helps in our advancements. At church, we function in a way that is of someone who is saved. Now, All three, I'll give you three compartments as an example. All of those scenarios can be completely different ways of living and acting, and they could all at the same time still be under the submission of the gospel. We can act differently at home and work in church, it's OK to do that, interact differently with different people and all of those parts still be in submission to the gospel, but But we can also live those parts of our life where some of them, the gospel is not the most important thing. It is not first priority to the way that we act. I'm not saying that you have to be perfect, but we have to act like people who are redeemed sinners and people who will one day be like Christ, as Paul tells the Colossians, when he appears and you will be like him, dear Christian. Is the gospel a first priority in your life? Is it a first priority in all parts of your personal life? Examine the way that you live. And then continue to look for ways to bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus. Tell others about him. Teach the gospel message to your children. Children, teach the gospel message to your siblings. Teach the gospel message to your parents. Make it a first priority in your life. And that doesn't mean that we don't go to work and work hard. We do all of those things, that we do them in a way that is under the submission of the gospel with all honesty. Now, we've seen Paul outline the gospel for us. We've seen that he has called it a first priority over all things. I love the way that he goes about missions when he goes into his town, into a town. His first priority is not to make sure that that he has a building set up and places to go. The first priority is to tell people of the gospel and that priority never leaves. He starts doing all of his other work. And this first part of the gospel is always there. Then we see the effects of the gospel. The first effect that we see here, the gospel. is that it is powerful to save people. Because we see Paul say that he appeared to me and by the grace of God, I am what I am. The gospel is powerful to save people. Do you believe that? Do you believe that the gospel is powerful enough to actually save people? that the Lord is powerful enough to use you to proclaim the gospel and that he will save people by that proclamation. Paul was saved. If there's anyone in this world that you could say was too bad to be saved, it would be Paul. He even says, I'm the most unworthy, unlikely person because I persecuted the church of God. But I was saved. I believe. In this gospel that was handed down to me and I have been saved. Christ can save those that are seen as the most undesirable and lost. That neighbor of yours, the one that you avoid, the one that you possibly look out the door to make sure they're not outside before you go get in your car and leave. The gospel can save that neighbor too. That person at work that you really, really don't like. That you dread when you get assigned to work on a project with them. The gospel can save them too. That sibling, that family member that just really gets to you at family gatherings, that's not a believer, that likes to argue with you about the gospel. This gospel can save that person too. One of the effects of the gospel is that God uses it to save his people. Do you believe that? Because if you are here and you don't think that is big enough to be saved, you're wrong. Just look around. There is a room of unlikely saved people here. All of us in our sin are unworthy of God's grace, but he has given it to us. The second effect that we see of the gospel in this passage is that it equips the church. Now, notice that Paul was not only saved, but he was also appointed as an apostle in the church. He also refers to the other apostles there, too. The gospel not only saves people, but God uses the Lord Jesus to equip the church for the work of the church, for the advancement of his kingdom. He will not only produce fruit. The Lord will not only produce fruit in his people by salvation. He will also send them apostles, pastors, teachers, deacons, churches full of people with complimentary gifts. Brothers and sisters, as we've seen in the weeks past, You have been equipped to be part of this body. Will you participate in that? Will you participate in the work of the gospel going forth? In the support of the church around you? Will you play your part as a hand, a foot, a mouth, an eye, whatever the case may be? So we see it right here that the gospel not only went out and saved people, but it also provided And God provided through people that he provided folks that are equipped to lead the church and to serve the church. The last effect that I see here in this passage, the gospel is is used to expand the kingdom and to build the church. I love the very last verse here. Paul is called out, the gospel has clearly has clearly said it. And then I think he's referring all the way back to the very beginning of the letter where they're they're they're arguing on who who they're to follow, Paul or Cephas or whoever. And he says, whether then it was I or they, we preached and so you believed. The gospel goes forth and builds the church, it goes forth and expands the kingdom. And it is not dependent upon one particular person to do that. Brothers and sisters, do you trust in this fact also? That as a believer, you have been entrusted with the gospel, you have been entrusted with the very thing that can bring life to people, that God can use you to save other folks. Trust in this fact that the gospel does save people, whether it's you or me or they. When the word of God is preached, people believe. People believe. God calls out his church in that way. And so as we enter into chapter 15 and some correction on the resurrection, Paul very clearly in this passage has outlined for us the gospel. He has showed us very clearly what are the main tenets of the gospel, the importance of the resurrection in that. He has said is of first importance for us. And then we have seen some effects of the gospel has on this world. So in closing, I want to go back to the beginning and ask you, what is of first importance to you in this world? And you may say, well, obviously, the gospel is of first importance. But if I was to come and watch from a distance and I was just to watch your actions and see how you live, what would I say is first importance to you? Is it the gospel or is it something else? And if it's not the gospel, let me ask you, why not? It has the power to bring salvation. It has the power to to to build the church. It has the power to equip the church. Why is this not first importance in your life? Brothers and sisters, by God's grace, you have been saved by God's goodness. The gospel has been proclaimed to you. You have received it. You stand in it and you are being saved by it. Rejoice in this. Rejoice in this gospel and make it first importance in your life. Let us pray. Father, we. We come to you now. And we ask that you would forgive us where we don't trust in the gospel. And we ask that you would put this work of Christ back before us, and it would always be on the forefront of our minds and that we would work hard. We would work hard to to please you, that we would work hard in the gospel Not because we are earning anything, but because we would find it pleasurable to know and to do this work. Father, today we ask for those of us that feel so distant from you right now, that you would draw us close and that we would indeed rejoice in this gospel. That we would dwell on the work of Christ, that we would have comfort in the fact that you have indeed taken our sins. That Christ has indeed paid the punishment for those and he has stood in our place, that he has taken our death for us. And he has defeated that death and come alive. Oh, Father, help us to rejoice and to find comfort in this fact. To not wallow in the pits of despair of our own darkness in our hearts, but rejoice in the light of the gospel. Father, we ask that we would be brought out. We would be brought out into this world as beacons that proclaim to others the goodness and the greatness of Christ, and it would be the first priority in all that we do. Father, we pray all of these things In the name of our Lord Jesus, the one who has gone before us. Amen.