Let's read from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the first 11 verses. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, reading from verse 1 down to verse 11. Let's hear God's word. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you. which also you received, and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, 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 by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that he was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present. But some have fallen asleep. After that, he was sinned by James, then by all the apostles. Then, last of all, he was sinned by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy 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, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach, and you believed." Thus far the reading of God's holy word. It was in 1517, more than 500 years ago, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses onto the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. And as you know, this event triggered the Protestant Reformation. And at the very heart of this Reformation is the recovery of the gospel from the corrupt, Roman Catholic Church. Now you might ask, what did the Roman Catholic Church do to the gospel? Well, the Roman Catholic Church distorted or deformed the gospel, and the gospel became so deformed that it could no longer be considered goodness. In the Roman Catholic Church, the gospel is not Good, but bad news. The Roman Catholics, for instance, will tell you that you can work your way to heaven by being good. In other words, if you want to be saved according to the Roman Catholic Church, what you need to do is do good works. You are saved by doing good works, or by prayers to Mary, or by indulgences, and by other man-made works. Now, of course, this is not the gospel according to the Bible. Therefore, the kind of gospel that you can find in the Roman Catholic Church is not the true gospel, but another gospel. In Galatians 1, verse 6, Paul talks about that, another gospel. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are returning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we are, or an angel from heaven should preach to you the gospel, or sorry, preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be anathema, let him be accursed. And so, there is only one true gospel. Now, the question is this, what is the gospel then? What is the gospel? Well, I'm going to answer that question in this message, and what I will do is this. First, I'm going to define the term gospel. And then secondly, I'm going to give you the six elements of the gospel. And then finally, we will end with the proper response to the gospel. So first of all, let's define the gospel. Now, I'm afraid that there are many people today who talk about the gospel but do not really know what the gospel is. They either have a distorted or oversimplified understanding of the gospel. That's why it is extremely important that we define the gospel. Now, here in our text, look at our text, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 1, Paul says to his fellow believers, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand. I proclaim to you the gospel." Now, the Greek word for gospel is euangelion. And this Greek word is a compound word, which means it is a combination of two words, eiou, eiou, and then angelion. Now, this prefix eiou, eiou, means good. That's why in English, for example, we have the word eiology, eiology, eiou, Logi, so two words, eu, good, and then logi coming from the word logos means word. So what is eology? Good word, right? A good word given in honor of a dead person. Now, so keep that in mind, eu means good. Now, angelion comes from the word where we get the word angel, like angelus, angelion. So angelion literally means to proclaim, to proclaim. An angel is a proclamator of God's word. What an angel does is it proclaims the gospel, the message of God. And so when you combine the two, a euangelion, Literally it means good to proclaim or you can say good messenger or good message. Good message. So the gospel means good message. Now the English word gospel comes from the English or Old English Godspell Godspell so you have two words there again good and then spell the spell means to give or write the letters of the word and so the gospel is really means good spell, good word, good message. And with the article, the, the definite article the, Paul wants to make it clear that there is only one gospel in the world. That's why he says, I preached, or moreover brethren, I declare to you the gospel, not a gospel, but the gospel, the good news. There is no other gospel other than this one that I preach to you. And that's why for the apostle Paul, anyone who preaches, teaches another gospel, let him be anathema, let him be accursed. May God's curse rest upon him. Now, so the gospel is good news. What is good about the gospel then? Well, we will not really appreciate the good news unless we understand the bad news. It's like this. You will not have a better appreciation of your flashlight until there is blackout or brownout, right? When it is dark, that's when you appreciate your flashlight. And the same is true. We will not appreciate the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ unless we understand the darkness of sin, the bad news. And here's the bad news. Romans 5 verse 12. Who is that one man? Adam. and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned." Now, Adam was our federal head. What it means, he represented us. And therefore, when he fell in sin, we also fell in him. And because he sinned, his guilt, Adam's sin, the guilt of Adam's sin was also transferred to our account. And so we all became guilty, deserving of death. That's why we are by nature dead. and deserving of God's wrath because of Adam. That's bad news. But we have this good news. We have the second Adam. What the second Adam did, he fulfilled God's law. He satisfied God's justice. He satisfied God's wrath. He died on the cross. to save us from our sin. If Adam brought us death, brought us sin, brought us guilt, brought us condemnation because of his sin, the second Adam brought us perfection, righteousness, life, everlasting life, heaven. and so on and so forth. So that, the Bible says, whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And that's the good news. That's the good news. Now, let's move to my second point, the elements of the gospel. And I really want you to grasp this, the six elements of the gospel. We have the three elements here in our text, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let me read verses two and three. So I preached to you, which also you received, in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word, referring to the gospel, which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received." Now, this is the first element of the Gospel. That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. The first element, not in order obviously, but I'm going to use the order here, The first element of the gospel is the death of Jesus Christ. Now, why is this important? Well, because without the death of Jesus Christ, there is no atonement. There is no payment for our sin. And so that is so important, the death of Jesus. Now, second, verse four, and that he was buried That he was buried. So the second element is his burial. Now why is that important? Well, his burial confirms his death. That he really died for our sin. Third element. Verse 4 again, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. His resurrection! Now, why is that important? Well, imagine if there's no resurrection, what's the point of his death? As Paul says in verse 14 of the same passage, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. If Jesus has not been raised, imagine believing in a dead Savior. What's the use of our faith in Him? So there you have His death, His burial, and then His resurrection. In addition to those three elements, we also have His birth, which should come first, by the way. His birth as another element of the gospel. Listen to what the angel said to the shepherds in Luke chapter 2 verse 10 The very birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is the gospel. It is an element of the gospel Burial, resurrection, birth, and then I add His ascension. That He ascended into heaven. And why is that important? Well, because now we have our intercessor there. What is Jesus doing right there? He is preparing a place for us. While He is there, He is preparing a place for us. And as He is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, He is making an intercession for you and for me. Now do you know that the reason why we will not fall into sin, and by that I mean like fall back or that we will not lose our salvation, is because of what Jesus is doing right now there in heaven. He is interceding for you and for me if you are a child of God. And this is really my comfort too because I confess I am not consistent in my Christian life. I am not consistent in my prayer life. But here's my comfort, even when I forget to pray, and even when I am backsliding, I have a savior, my ascended savior, there in heaven, interceding for me, always praying for me. And then the final element of the gospel is his second coming. If If the gospel ends there in his ascension, it's not really complete. But we know that Jesus will come again. As he himself says, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also. Hallelujah to that. That's all what I want. where i am you may be also so jesus will come again and when he comes again he says here he will take you to himself so that where he is there you will also be Where Jesus is, where He is in the new heaven and new earth, there you will be also spending your eternity with Him forever and ever. So there you have the six elements of the gospel. Maybe let's change the order. You can say His birth. His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension, and His second coming. Now, if you notice, All these elements of the gospel, they all center on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why, really, when you study the Bible carefully, you will discover this, that the gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ, and that Jesus is the gospel. For instance, In Mark chapter 1 verse 15, I want you to listen carefully. Mark chapter 1 verse 15, Jesus says, repent and believe in the gospel and you will be saved. Now notice what Jesus says here. Repent and believe in the gospel and you will be saved. Now note, Jesus does not say here, believe in me and you will be saved. Instead, he says, believe in the gospel and you will be saved. On the other hand, when you read the account about the Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16 verse 31, remember that story? The Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved? What did Paul and Silas say? Believe in the gospel and you will be saved. No, they could have said that, that was also accurate. But instead, Paul and Silas replied, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Now here in Mark chapter one, verse 15, Jesus says, believe in the gospel and you will be saved. Paul and Silas say in Acts 16, believe in Jesus and you will be saved. Now there you see, There you see that Jesus and the gospel are essentially synonymous. You can use them interchangeably because the truth of the matter is to believe in the gospel is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe in the gospel. And so when you ask the question, what is the gospel? The answer really is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the good news. And so apart from Jesus, there is no salvation. Apart from Him, all that you have is death. But with Jesus, you have life everlasting. That's why, you know, one of the problems today in many churches, especially evangelical churches, is the so-called moralistic preaching. When you say moralistic preaching, what a preacher does is he gives many moral lessons, but really devoid of the gospel. So for instance, when you study the life of David, that story of David and Goliath, it's all about how to fight a giant, when in fact, really, David there is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when you only have a moralistic kind of message, your message is not different from other religious groups. Even the Catholic Church. Because the Catholic Church, they can give you a lot of moral lessons. Be good. In fact, they are really good when it comes to moral lessons. They champion, maybe they can put us to shame. Because in their mind, salvation is by good works. Salvation is by morality. You need to be morally good. You need to keep the the ten commandments We need to be kind to your neighbors and in doing so you will earn god's favor for them. That's the gospel Well, it's it's good That you be kind to your neighbors, but that's not the gospel. That's another gospel because the gospel is the lord jesus christ and that means that Salvation is by faith alone in Him alone, apart from our works. However, if we are truly saved, if we really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that faith is not alone because it will produce good works. And so our works, our good works, confirm the genuineness of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, quickly, let's go to my third point, the proper response to the gospel. The question is this. So what? What shall we do to the gospel? What shall be our proper response? Well, the proper response that the gospel calls for is found in our text. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 and 3. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received. And then verse 3. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. My point is this. Our proper response to the gospel is to receive it. to believe the gospel. The gospel brings us not a work to do, but a word to believe about the work done. We need to realize that all that we need to do in order for us to be saved has already been done by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He says it is finished. What is finished? Well, the work of redemption. You don't need to add to it. To do so would be an insult to our Savior. If I may illustrate my point, it's like this. Let's say I happened to see Adlai at this restaurant, and because Adlai is such a generous man of God, he said to me, Pastor, you don't need to pay for your food. In fact, I just paid for it. But what I did, After I was done eating, I went to the cashier and tried to pay again. And you happened to be there standing, and you saw me. What would you feel? What would you feel? Would you not say to me, Pastor, I told you, I already paid for you. Now what if I said to you, well, I did not see it. I did not see it. Who knows, maybe you were just teasing me. I did not see it. Who knows, maybe you were not really telling the truth. And so I wanted to make sure, that's why I paid again. You would be insulted. Because even if I didn't see it, it's a matter of trust. That shows that I did not trust your word. Now, did you see Jesus die on the cross? No. That was more than 2,000 years ago. Did you see his blood shed? Did you see Him on the cross. No. But the Bible says, if you believe that message, even if you don't see it, if you trust Jesus, if you embrace, receive the gospel with all your heart, then you will be saved. You will benefit from it. Paul says to Timothy 1 Timothy 1 verse 15, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." Now, notice what Paul says. The saying, referring to the gospel, the gospel is trustworthy and deserving of what? Full acceptance, or it is worthy of all acceptation. The gospel deserves our full acceptation. You know, we Reformed people, we tend to be allergic to the word accept because the evangelicals, especially Bible-believing people, they love that expression. You need to accept the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And so for us to, when we hear that, no, no, no, no, that's very Arminian, accept. No, no, it's a biblical expression. We just read about it. That's what Paul says to Timothy, that the gospel is worthy of all acceptation, deserving of full acceptance. We need to accept the gospel in its entirety, not just this one or that one. No, no, no. 100%, as Augustine of Hippo once said, if you believe what you like in the gospel and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. And so we need to accept the gospel. Well, for us believers, You might say, well, I'm already a Christian. Wonderful. And you might say, this message is not really for me because I don't need the gospel now. I have already embraced the gospel. I am already a Christian. Well, you are wrong. Because the gospel is not just for the unbelievers. It is also for the believers. And I tell you this, I cannot imagine what life would be without the gospel. Whenever I have a trial, challenge in life, what comforts me is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily. We need the gospel. Yes, not for our salvation, because we are already saved, but for our sanctification. Someone put it this way, there are two parts to the gospel. The first part is believing it, and the second part is behaving it. Yes, you believed the gospel, you are saved, praise the Lord, but now you need to behave the gospel. That is to say, you need to act according to the gospel principles. You need to smell like the gospel so that when the people around you see you or meet with you, they will sense the gospel in your life. You will smell like the gospel. You will see the glory and beauty of Jesus in your life. I remember this story. A missionary approached a native whom he had not seen before and asked, Have you ever heard the gospel? He replied, No, I have not yet heard the gospel. He said, I have seen it. I know a man who used to be the terror of the neighborhood. He was a bad opium smoker and as dangerous as a wild beast. but he became completely changed. He is now gentle and good and has left off opium. I have not heard the gospel, but I have seen it." You know, you sometimes wonder if that would be the comment that we might receive from our friends, from your co-workers, classmates, Neighbors, when they meet you, will they say, you know, I have not yet heard the gospel, but I think I have just seen it in your life. I have just seen Jesus in you. That's what we want, don't we? That's a wonderful comment to receive from, especially from an unbeliever. So, may I ask you this question with love? Parents, for us parents, do our children see the gospel in us? You know, we love to talk about the gospel. We reform people. We're almost like, sometimes we use the term gospel in our daily conversation, but sometimes, like what I said, we don't really know what it is. Or if we do, but we don't behave We believe it, but we don't behave it. Well, our children, do they see the gospel in us? You see, the gospel is like a soap. Only useful when it is applied. I will end with this illustration. A soap manufacturer and an evangelical preacher were walking along together. The former not being a Christian, so the soap maker said, the gospel you preach has not done much good, for there is still a lot of wickedness and thousands of wicked people. The preacher was silent a while, and in a few moments, they passed a child making mud pies in the street. He was exceedingly dirty. Then the preacher's turn came. Soap has not done much good in the world, I see, for there is still much dirt. There is still much dirt. And ever so many dirty people. Oh well, said the manufacturer. Soap is only useful when it is applied. Exactly, replied the preacher. So it is with the gospel. So it is with the gospel. Now, I have just preached to you the gospel. It will be of no use to your life if you don't apply it. Just like that bar soap that you have. It's there. If you don't apply it, if you don't use it, it will not clean you from your dirt. And the same is true. I'm presenting you the gospel. Do you want to be changed? Do you want to live a life honoring, pleasing to God? Then apply the gospel. Believe the gospel. Receive the gospel. Accept the gospel in its entirety. And you will be surprised you will have a changed life. I guarantee you, because I know it firsthand. Let us pray.