Isaiah 61 1 through 4 this is I mentioned this last week in this portion of Isaiah that many of the scenes in Isaiah are looking forward to the coming of the Son of David the greater one and I know that's the case for this one because Jesus will read this passage in Luke 4 He will say this is fulfilled in me. So I'm on good good ground there to say this is all about Jesus Isaiah 61 1 through 4 The spirit of the Lord God, capital G, capital O, capital D is telling you that in the Hebrew, that is God's personal name. Yahweh, the spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me because Yahweh, the Lord, has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. And he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted. To bring liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. to proclaim the year of the Lord of Yahweh's favor, Jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified. And notice then the result of what God has done in this one referred to here. Notice the result in those whom he has liberated and rescued. Verse four, they shall build up the ancient ruins. They shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. So then we go to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 1st Corinthians 15. It's page 961 you want to have your Bibles open here for this? 1st Corinthians 15. This is the great resurrection chapter all 58 verses of this very long chapter are all about Jesus and his resurrection and notice where it begins starting in verse 1 Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel of Preached to you which you received in which you stand and by which by which you are being saved if You hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed 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 and then to the 12, and 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 the 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 believe. What I read to you from Isaiah 61 and from 1 Corinthians 15, it is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Mighty God we thank you for the gospel that has been handed down to faithful men and women through the centuries and passed on to us That we might pass it on to others Thank you that by this gospel. We are being saved So give us your aid to hold it fast and herald it faithfully for the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen You may be seated So we launched into this new series last week. What is the gospel? It's a question. And we're going to answer the question referring primarily to the contents. And so we relaunched into this series last week, what is the gospel? And we reviewed, we reviewed last week, if you remember, the serious confusion people have with regard to the contents of the gospel. I gave you two samples and several of you groaned here and there, but they were, you know, I got it, right? So I'm giving you samples. And then we moved on from there last week and we described that the foundation piece of the gospel, The glad tidings of the reign of God the enthronement of his son Jesus Christ your God reigns Isaiah 52 verse 7 In his name is the Lord Jesus So that's the foundational piece inside the gospel The gospel is all about your God reigns and lo and behold you meet him and it's Jesus So today we're gonna dive a little bit deeper into But first, let me recall to your minds what I mentioned last week, a quotation I gave you last week. And you have this, I believe, in your sermon notes in the back there. And this is from Dallas Theological Seminary Professor Daryl Bach. And he wrote this. The cross is the hub of the gospel, but Jesus dying for sin is not the entire gospel. In fact, only to speak of Jesus dying for sin, even to speak of Jesus dying for sin and rising again, is to give only about half of the gospel message. I think he's spot on, and that helps us to realize that the gospel is a larger message that includes several things that are very important for us to remember and pass on when we talk about the gospel. And so as we begin today thinking about the question, what is the gospel? Let's work our way through Paul's statement here in 1 Corinthians 15. So now hopefully your Bibles are open to 1 Corinthians 15. First off, you will notice that this gospel is a gospel which Paul received A gospel which Paul received. And he passed it on to the Corinthians and they received it. You see it in verse one and then verse three, when he says, this is the gospel I preached to you, which you receive. Verse three, I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. Now here's what we have to remember. This is not about the contents of the gospel, but this is an essential aspect of the gospel. And I'm going to ask the kids to help me out. I want all the kids to stand up because your parents won't listen to me. So you need to help them to listen to me for a minute. Come on, stand up. I want you to do some hand motions. All right, put your hands up. All right, we're gonna receive. Go like this, receive, you see me? Receive, and then we're gonna own, so hug yourself, own, and then we're gonna pass on. Right. So the gospel is something we're supposed to receive. And then we are to own it. And then we are to pass it on. Very good. Let's do it again. The gospel. We receive it. We own it and we pass it on. Thank you very much. That's exactly what you need to recognize about the gospel It is a received owned passed on thing and Paul tells you that right here. That's the intention Secondly this gospel brings with it a It brings with it salvation, rescue, deliverance, all in the present tense. Notice how he puts it there in verse one and two. I preach the gospel to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved. It brings with it salvation, rescue, and deliverance. By it, you are being saved. Thirdly. Paul tells us that the gospel is of first importance. It is of primary position. Verse three, I deliver to you as of first importance what I also receive. Now, why is that significant? Because I've run across too many Christians who think that the gospel is what got me saved, but I don't need the gospel the rest of the way. I need the Holy Ghost. I need revival. I need health and well, I need power. I need whatever and they run over here. It's like no, it's a first importance the gospel now and forever and always. Does that make sense? Extremely important when you're struggling with sin. When you're struggling with your marriages, crumbling or hit a bumpy road, the very first place to go is the gospel because you screwed up and so did she or he or whatever. You both need the gospel. It's of first importance. Does that make sense? Okay. I'll leave that dead horse beaten to death. But notice, as you look at verses one through three, especially notice that the gospel is all about. Who? Jesus, it's all about who he is, what he has done is doing and what he will do, and that's even the rest of chapter 15 tells you more about what he will do. So I'm going to tell you this up front. The gospel is not about you. The gospel is not about you. It's not a very American thing. It's not about you. It's about Jesus. So it's about Christ, who he is, what he has done, is doing, and will do for his people. Fifthly, notice that as you move through chapter 15, you will notice already in verse 24 that the gospel seems to include, as we mentioned last week, Christ's reign. He reigns. That's part of the gospel proclamation. He is subjecting all of his enemies under his feet. Until the day when he trumps the last enemy down on verse 24 and following then comes the end When he delivers the kingdom to god the father after destroying every rule and every authority of power for he must reign Until he has put all of his enemies under his feet and the last enemy to be destroyed is death Lastly as you look at first corinthians 15 especially these first few verses notice that But this is all about Jesus, and it's all according to the scriptures. It's all according to the scriptures, said twice right there. Notice that he died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. What scriptures? The Hebrew Old Testament, in accordance with the scriptures. He was raised from the dead on the third day, in accordance with the Hebrew scriptures. Now, why is that important? because he is the fulfillment of all of God's Old Testament promises, of God's story flowing from Abraham through Israel. And so always the gospel is grounded in this outflow of God's promises and God's work and God's actions from the Hebrew scriptures into the present. And that's the pattern that Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 15. Who Jesus is what he has done is doing will do for his people and it's all related to the Hebrew Old Testament Well, let's take a little jaunt here and see if this pattern seems to hold And so we're gonna begin with who Jesus is and you're gonna have to flip your Bibles now to Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1 I don't know what page number it is because I forgot to check Romans chapter 1 we love Romans as good Protestants, as Presbyterians, and Lutherans love Romans a lot. I mean, really a lot, right? We all love Romans, because we talk about the gospel in Romans, but most people forget the first five verses, almost bypass them, and it tells you so much. So listen to what Paul says in Romans 1 1-5. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for what? the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Concerning what? Concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations and so forth. Notice that the gospel As Paul lays it out, I'm set apart for the gospel of God, and the gospel of God is according to the promises of scripture. The prophets of the Old Testament, and if you were a good Hebrew, you would know that the prophets don't mean just Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, but also include Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings. But then you also think about Moses. Oh, Moses was the greatest prophet in his day, right? Oh, so the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Oh, so the gospel is according to the promise of Scripture. And then in verse three, the gospel announces something. What is it announced? It says concerning the gospel of God concerning whom? His son. The gospel announces who Jesus is. Here, it's that he's the descendant of David, and thus Jesus is the resolution of God's story found in the Old Testament. But then in verse four, Paul goes on to point out that because of Christ's resurrection, he is declared Lord. Look at verse four. He was declared to be the son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then verse five gives you the result, and it has to do with allegiance. If you were here last Sunday, your bells should be ringing in your head to bring about the obedience of faith. My friends, the gospel includes who Jesus is. Here he is, the eternal son of God who became man and so was and continueth to be God and man in two distinct natures of one person forever. Physically, he is the offspring of David. According to all of God's promises to David, He was a physical man, he's a Jew. And then the father gave his seal of approval to what Jesus did by raising Jesus from the dead and thus elevating him to be Lord, he's king. The gospel is about who Jesus is. But it's also about what he has done. So who Jesus is and what he has done. Think back in your minds to Mark chapter one, verse one, we read that last week. Mark 1 verse 1 says, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark 1 verse 1 tells you what all of Mark is about, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And that expresses in clear and unequivocal terms that the gospel according to Mark is the gospel of Jesus the Messiah. Let your minds run through the gospel according to mark for a moment. What is that gospel account concerned with your self-actualization? What is that gospel account concerned with you being healthy wealthy and wise What is that gospel account concerned with? Yes, thank you my wife's been listening to my sermon i've been preaching it all week But it's our Lord. It's all about Jesus It's all about all about the actions of Jesus all that he did And then as you take the gospel according Matthew and Luke and John and you pile it on mark you realize that the gospel Includes all about what Jesus has done everything from the incarnation through his holy life how he withstood opposition, even opposition from his own disciples, like when he had to tell Peter, Satan, get behind me. You have the mind of man and you don't have the mind of God. When he withstood opposition from his own disciples and from the religious elites, it also has to talk about his grief in the garden where he was so struck in his soul with the anguish of the moment that he perspired great drops of sweat that were like blood. And then he was arrested and hauled off to this kangaroo court before the religious elites where they twisted justice and they twisted religion to damn him. And then he was brought before Pilate and all of Pilate's blunder and his final decision and the crucifixion. And is being buried, lying in a grave for three days. And then His rising again from the dead on the third day, body, blood, bones, toenails, and hair, never subject again to misery or mortality. His ascension to the Father's right hand, and even the great Pentecost, where He poured out, by baptizing His church, He poured out the Holy Spirit upon His church. Clearly my friends all that belongs in the gospel now you you can't Rehearse all those details every time you talk to somebody about the gospel or you think about the gospel yourself You just don't have time But they need to be in our heads and in our hearts. That's part of the gospel And so the gospel is about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done but it's also about what he is present tense doing and So we heard it again last week and I'm gonna bring it up again this week at the end of Peter's great sermon first sermon after Pentecost on that first Pentecost He ends his gospel sermon with this proclamation This Jesus whom you crucified God has made both Lord and Christ kingly language. He has made him king of kings and Lord of lords He has made him Lord and Christ This Jesus of you You heard it also when Wes was reading to us from the call to worship in Romans 14, that Jesus died and was raised again that he might be Lord King of the dead and of the living. This goes back to our last week's sermon. The ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is his enthronement. He now reigns. This is what he is doing now. He is a priest, he intercedes on our behalf, but he also is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And this rain, my friends, this rain, his raining is a rescuing rain. His reigning, His sovereignty is a reclaiming reign. His reign is a remitting of sins reign. His reign is a remediating reign. His reign is a redirecting reign and a recreating reign. So the fact that he's king doesn't mean he's at a distance. As I said last week, you come to submit to this king and you rely upon him. As you bow to him, you find him stooping down to us and taking our chins and lifting us up to look in his face. And you find him taking us and receiving us into his inheritance. And you find him taking us and drawing us into the royal family. And he takes us and he brings us in and cleans us up. It is a happy rain. It is a good rain to say that Jesus is king should not make anybody's skin crawl It should make you go Hallelujah. Jesus is Lord So you go back to Isaiah 61 that we read at the beginning The very passage Jesus says is being fulfilled in him you will notice that all the promises are the kind of promises that really only a king can breathe And so listen to why it's good to remember that Jesus is king of kings. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. Maybe there's a brokenhearted person here. You need to hear that now. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, Anybody remember what it was like to be held captive? Captive by your own addiction, captive by your own libido, captive in your own sins. I love when we sing, and can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me, where Charles Wesley pictures God breaking into our prison and he says, God comes in and he shines his light and the chains broke off and I rose and stood and was free. Only a king can set you free. Proclaim liberty to the captives in the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, the Jubilee and the day of the vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn. to grant those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness, instead of mourning, the garment of praise, instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called the Oats of Righteousness, the planting of the Lord. He may be glorified. And so. This is what he is doing now, he is king. And so the gospel is all about who Jesus is, what he has done and what he is doing. Thank God he is king now. But the gospel also is about what he will do for his people. And this goes to our reading of the scriptures for the law before the confession of sin. And if you look at that last verse, it's there in your worship guide. You look at the last verse, you will notice how the day of judgment is part of the gospel. According to my gospel, where God will come and judge the secrets of your hearts by Jesus Christ. My friends, that's part of the gospel. That Jesus is returning again. And he will judge the living and the dead. And for some, that's good news. For others, it's bad news. And Wes hinted at that as he was talking about it. When he comes to judge the living and the dead, he even comes to judge the secret thoughts and intentions. Have you ever sat with someone who was? Being miserably treated and abused, and they could not convince anyone because it was done behind closed doors and there was no marks, it was done without any marks. And there was no way to convince the judge. There was no way to convince the police that this abuse had happened. Have you ever sat with someone who went through that? Do you not hear some good news in that statement? He will come to judge the secret of your heart. Who's going to judge the one who hid their abusiveness? Anyone? Jesus, thank you. It's good news. It's good news. For some. That's bad news for others. And so that's part of what he will do. That's part of the gospel, which pulls us up a little short and makes us realize there's some urgency here. I'm hearing about who this Jesus is, what he has done is doing will do for his people. And he's going to judge me. Oh. Maybe I need to think some things through after all. Yes, you do. And the fact that he will come, and we sang it in one of the hymns, the fact that he will come back physically, bodily, this man, Jesus Christ, who is the eternal son of God as well, that he will be our judge, means that we will not be able to hide behind our lame excuses and defenses. We will not be able to say on that day to the judge, well, you know, You have no idea what it is to be human. Say what? Say what? None. All of our excuses utterly removed. And that's good news. For some. Bad news for others. So my friends, the gospel is about who Jesus is, what he has done, his doing, what he will do for his people. It is the proclamation of the reign of God through his son, Jesus Christ, the Lord, that flows out of and resolves the story of God from the Old Testament. And so with all of that in mind, and there's more, by the way, with all of that in mind, what do we need to do? Great question, glad you asked it if you did. If you didn't, you shouldn't. What do we do? First thing, right up front, repent and believe the gospel. The gospel puts us back on our heels and says, this is urgent. You need to submit to Jesus and rely upon him. He is your only comfort in life and in death. He is the only way. You'll be right with God, but he's the king. Bow to the king and you will find all of this that will come with it. He sets you free. And so the gospel first and foremost says to you, repent and believe. And whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. What are you waiting for? Repent and believe the gospel. You will find that, yes, the king. His hands are out to you and he draws you in. He welcomes you in. He cleans you up. And all the other great things that I said. There's a first thing you need to do. And I hope today, before you walk out of here today, you do just that. Repent and believe the gospel. Second thing you should do, recite the creeds. with joy and enthusiasm because the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed are all about who Jesus is, what he has done, is doing, and will do for his people. The creeds are all about the gospel. Every time you recite the creed, You are declaring the gospel. I believe in god the father almighty maker of heaven and earth I believe in jesus christ the only son our lord is right all that stuff. You are declaring the gospel Recite the apostles creed that I see creed with verb with vigor with joy Do you believe it? Yes, then act like it and sound like it Yes Third What do you do with the gospel? Remember what we did at the very beginning. Hey, kids, help us out now. We what we receive the gospel. We own the gospel and we pass it on. Right. So that's what we're supposed to be doing. We receive it. We own it. And we're busy passing it on. We want to be a part of all of that, but especially it's here at the end of the sermon. We want to be part about passing it on. Well, how do we pass it on? There's lots of ways we pass it on. Get involved in our mission trip to Carnegie, where we are passing on the gospel to our friends and the little kids who are Kiowas and some Apaches as we get to work with the church down there. Come and be a part of the mission trip to Carnegie. Plan now to be a part of our own Vacation Bible School here at Heritage. These are just very practical things because we're passing on what we have received and owned, the gospel. Come be part of VBS. Plug into Sunday School. to teach it, to support the teachers, or nursery. Nursery. How does that gospel work with stinky diapers and kids sucking on their thumbs and frozen carrots and whatever else they do in their teeth? Because when you get in the nursery, those little hearts, they can actually receive the gospel. Preacher, they're not adults. How could they do that? Well, you remember John the Baptist when did John the Baptist get filled with the Holy Spirit and leap? in Elizabeth's womb What did David say God made when did David say God made him believe Psalm 22? You made me trust you for my mother's breast right little babies Can come to faith. It's not about our abilities. It's about the gift of God and Get in the nursery and pass it on. Tell them about Jesus, who he is, what he has done, what he'll do for the gospel. I know that Susie is starting to get books together so that way you can have little devotional books to read to the kids in the nursery. Get involved there. Get involved in our new catechism class for kids in February and Wednesday evenings. Support it. Ask the Willinghams and ask the Salemans, how can I be a part of this? Get in there. Or in your own family worship. Take some time to sit down and go over a couple of weeks. Work through the Apostles Creed and work through the Nicene Creed and walk through each section, bouncing each section of the creeds up against the scripture. And own it. Pass it on when you have the opportunity, when it arises. You're sitting down with somebody and they say, hey, you're a Christian, you're weird. Can you tell me about this Jesus? Oh, I'd love to. Let me tell you about who Jesus is, what he has done, is doing, and will do for his people. I've given you a whole gospel outline you can use, okay? Let's try it again. Who Jesus is, what he has done, is doing, and will do for his people. Pray the gospel on. Well, you know, we support lots of missionaries, Dan Iverson, Youngs, the Quinns in South Africa, right? Pray for them. Pray for our Sunday school teachers. Pray for me. Pray for West Lord. Give them opportunities and give them words to say and help them to reach people with the gospel. Pray it on. Pray it into the lives of your loved ones. Does anybody have any kinfolk who need Jesus? Pray it into their lives. Yes, sir. Trade into their lives Lord Lord my uncle Omer That Yahoo, he needs Jesus May he come to believe who Jesus is what he has done is doing will do for his people And maybe I'm not the right person Lord, you know, we actually have kind of odds at each other Send somebody through the back door who will get to him. That's what happened with my dad Somebody came in the back Pray it on into their lives, pray it on into the lives of their friends, your foes, your friends, your family, and others. The gospel is to be received. We receive it, we own it, we pass it on. And the gospel's all about your God reigns, and his name is Jesus, and it's all about who Jesus is, what he has done, his doing, and what he's doing for his people. My friends, there's more, and so stay tuned, stay engaged. Good Lord willing that we all make it through this blizzard. I'll see you next week. Let's pray. What good news. You see how much truly your love is rich toward us. Far richer than we are entitled to, far richer than we have any call to, far richer toward us than we have any claim on. And it's all in Jesus. I pray right now, Lord, that someone sitting here or listening in who does not yet has not yet embraced Jesus Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel. I pray that today would be the day. The day would be the day to call on the name of the Lord and so be saved. Help all of us here be with each and every one of us that having received the gospel, having embraced the gospel, we would also get involved in passing it on. passing it on. Help us, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.