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The Essence Of The Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)
I. The Gospel Is All About Christ
II. The Gospel Fulfills The Scriptures
III. The Gospel Is Confirmed By Eyewitnesses
I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Today we are celebrating our 40th anniversary. On a church anniversary like 40 years, which is a significant milestone, often times people would like to focus on the things the church had done throughout the years. Instead, through all the song presentations that you have heard and will later on hear too, you will notice that the focus is from creation to the resurrection, and it is all about one person and one person only, and that is Jesus. Jesus Christ. Basically, it is about the gospel.
If someone were to ask you what is the essence of the gospel message, if you have to summarise the gospel into some essential points, what would be your answer? Our text for today's message is taken from 1 Corinthians 15:1–11. If you have your Bibles, you can refer to that passage. Here in this passage, the Apostle Paul was speaking about the essence of the gospel, which is the title of our message.
Our first point is the gospel is all about Christ.
Beginning with verse one, Paul said, "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preach unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand." Firstly, the gospel has to be preached in order for it to be heard, and then the gospel has to be received, which means believe and accepted by faith. For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And finally, the gospel has to be the foundation whereby the believer stands on.
Sometimes we think of the gospel just as something only for evangelism. It is only good for the unbelievers. It is true that the unbelievers need the gospel. However, the believers also need the gospel. It is our foundation. Verse two said, "By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preach unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." Here it does not mean that we are saved because of our ability to remember the gospel. That will mean salvation is by works, which is not true. What about those people who suffer from dementia and have no memory of the gospel?
Remember there are three parts in our salvation. In the past, we were delivered from the penalty of sin. Presently, we are being delivered from the power of sin. And one day, we would completely be delivered from the presence of sin. It is through the gospel that we have been justified, and we are being sanctified, and ultimately we will be glorified.
In other words, if you are a true believer, you have been justified. You are saved. Your sins have been forgiven. And that justification will be evidenced by your sanctified life, by your transformed life, by your behaviour and actions. And there will never come a time whereby you and I do not need the gospel. It is our foundation. Unless ye have believed in vain, which means your faith is not true.
Dear friend, our present life on this earth, saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ, is a very powerful testimony. Take a moment and consider this. How our Christian testimonies can impact the lives of the unbelievers. Look at so and so. He was my neighbour. I knew him. He used to lie. He is very quarrelsome and petty. But today he's a changed person. Or so and so was my classmate. She was very vain, worldly, immoral and proud. But today she is a changed person. Or so and so was my colleague. He used to gossip and slander the other colleagues. Nobody liked him. But today he is a changed person. It is by the power of the gospel.
So the gospel is something that we have heard, we have received, and we stand on it. We build our lives on it. It is that which we keep on persevering. The gospel is the good news that the Saviour of the world has come.
Whenever people hear the word gospel, some would think of the four gospels, as in the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Well, that is true. But what is written in those gospels? Matthew begins with the genealogy of Christ and ends with the Great Commission. Mark begins with John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah. The word Messiah is the Hebrew word for Christ, the anointed one. Luke begins with the prediction for the birth of Jesus Christ and ends with the ascension of Christ. John begins with, "In the beginning was the Word," and ends with Jesus appearing to his disciples.
Notice something common in all these four gospels. They were all focusing on Christ. His birth, his ministry, his teachings, his suffering, his crucifixion, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, everything about who he was, why must he come, what he taught, what he did, and what he promised to do. Essentially, the gospel is all about Christ. You miss him, you miss everything.
Paul said in verse three, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." Which means this is what matters. This is what is foremost. This is of great importance when it comes to the gospel message. If you have to preach and share the gospel, where would you begin? The birth of Christ, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables of Christ or the miracles of Christ. While all these things are important, what is of great emphasis about the gospel? It is that Christ died for our sins.
Verse four, "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." Why is it necessary to mention about his burial?
It is not so much about his burial per se, but what it communicates. It means he really died. Jesus was not just beaten, spat upon, whipped, had a crown of thorns put on his head, crucified, mocked. He did not just suffer. His burial communicates this most important truth that he actually died. You don't bury a person if he is still alive. If Christ was not buried, then it means he might not have died. If he did not die, then it makes his resurrection meaningless. So his burial is like a bridge between his death and his resurrection.
Notice the phrase "according to the scriptures". It is a reference to the Old Testament. So the gospel is a historical gospel. It is a biblical gospel. It fulfils the Old Testament. It is not a new message. It has been preached throughout the Old Testament from Genesis all the way to the last book of the minor prophets, Malachi. The gospel is not something that is unique only in the New Testament. It is the gospel that Paul had received from the Old Testament, and he was able to confirm that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah.
Why is it so important for Paul to say "according to the scriptures", "according to the scriptures" again and again? Is the Old Testament really that important? Dear friend, do you realise that without the Old Testament, you and I would not know that Jesus is truly the Messiah, that he was born of a virgin in Bethlehem, that he was the suffering servant as described in the book of Isaiah. He was rejected, crucified and buried. But prior to that, there were many other prophecies about him shedding his precious blood to save his people from their sins. Without the Old Testament, we will never be able to confirm that Jesus is the one who fulfils all the prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the promised Messiah. And truly, he is the promised Messiah.
By the way, how did the people get saved in the Old Testament? By faith. They look forward to the cross. How did the people in the New Testament, including all of us sitting in this room, get saved?
By looking backward to the cross. It is always the cross. The gospel is always about Christ. And when Paul received the gospel, what did he do about it? He received it, believed it, accepted it by faith, and passed it on to someone else. The gospel is not something we receive and keep it only for ourselves. I'm happy that I'm saved. I am going to heaven. I'm blessed. So, I keep it to myself. No, it has to be passed on to someone else. And that someone has to pass on to someone else. And it goes on and on and on until our Lord Jesus returns.
Dear friend, how do you get saved? It was because someone did not keep the gospel to himself or herself, right? He or she passed it on to you. That was how you were saved. Now that you have received the gospel, the question is whom have you passed the gospel to? When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone else or passed a gospel tract to someone else?
When I was serving in the military in Singapore, I had an army buddy and he is a Christian. Every time he meets someone, he would try to share the gospel. In those days, the unbelievers around him were very unkind and they said a lot of nasty things about him, made fun of him. "Look who's here. Surely he's going to talk to you about Jesus. Surely he's going to share the gospel with you." Why did they say that? What did they mean by that? It means that was his habit. It means evangelism was his way of life. Passing on the gospel to someone else was the thing to do. Today, by the grace of God, he is serving the Lord as a pastor in the United States.
Dear friend, can that be said of us about our lives, that passing on the gospel to someone else is our habit? Evangelism is our way of life.
Next, the resurrection, which forms a critical part of the gospel, was confirmed by eyewitnesses. When Jesus died and was buried, the disciples were so fearful that they went into hiding. But when Jesus rose again from the dead, all of a sudden they became a group of strong and courageous men. They went all around testifying and preaching the risen Saviour. They were beaten, imprisoned, and even killed. People do not die to preserve a lie. They were willing to die because it was the truth. The eyewitnesses' account of the resurrection is another amazing testimony to the power of the gospel.
According to Acts 1:3, over a period of 40 days, between his resurrection and ascension, Jesus appeared to all these people, beginning with verse 5. "And that he was seen of Cephas, or Peter, then of the twelve."
The Bible does not tell us the reason why the Lord appeared to Peter first. Maybe it was because of Peter's great remorse after he had denied the Lord three times. If that is true, then in going to Peter first, it was an emphasis of God's grace, love, and mercy. Peter might have forsaken him, but the Lord had not forsaken him. And this is very encouraging to all of us here. Think about those times we have failed the Lord. We have forsaken him. We have denied him. We were ashamed of him. We have drifted away from him. Just like Peter, [snorts] sometimes we hear testimonies of people who had backslidden and had stopped attending church services. We are very sad for them. Then all of a sudden they came back to church again and they shared how the Lord had turned their hearts back unto him. You and I may be unfaithful, but our Lord remains ever faithful. He will never forget, neither will he forsake us.
Then Jesus appeared to the 12. Here the remaining 11 apostles minus Judas Iscariot were still being referred to as the 12. The apostles laid the foundation of the church. They were used by the Lord to write the holy scriptures, the New Testament, and establish the church on this earth. Therefore, it was important for Jesus to appear to them.
Verse six, "After that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." We do not know who these 500 brethren were, but they all saw Jesus alive after his resurrection, all at the same time and at the same place. In a sense, Paul was saying, if you do not believe in the gospel, well, you can check it out with these 500 men. Go and ask them. Some of them are still alive. Others have died. They have all seen the risen Saviour.
After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. Many theologians believe that this James was the half-brother of Jesus because his name was introduced separated from all the other apostles. Initially, like the other brothers, he did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But later he not only became a believer, he became the key leader in the Jerusalem church. Some people believe that it was this experience of seeing the risen Saviour, the resurrected Christ, that finally brought this saving faith to him.
And last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. Here the Apostle Paul was referring to the experience he had on the road to Damascus when Jesus appeared to him in Acts chapter 9. That experience happened several years after the ascension of Christ. That was why it was last of all. In comparison to all those apostles who had seen the resurrected Christ, Paul described himself as one born out of due time. Now this is a very interesting word. It can mean a premature birth or miscarriage, something unexpected.
Remember Paul was persecuting the church. Actually, he was on his way to persecute the Christian when Jesus appeared and called him. Of all the persons to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, of all the persons to be called an apostle, Paul would be least expected. It was in this sense that he said, "I am one born out of due time. I am like a premature baby with no hope of survival. I am spiritually dead until my Lord Jesus touched my heart and he saved me and he called me out of darkness and into his marvellous light."
Dear friends, have you ever looked into your own hearts and asked yourself, of the millions and millions of people out there, why would God choose me to be his child? What is so special about me? We are just like the Apostle Paul, least expected. We do not deserve God's love, grace, and mercy. Yet in his own good time, he has saved us.
That was the reason why Paul continued to say in verse 9, "For I'm the least of the apostles, and am not made means not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. But I laboured more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
I may be different from all the other apostles. I was not there with Jesus during his earthly ministry. I persecuted the church in a way I should not even be called an apostle, but it was all because of the grace of God. Therefore, today I work harder than all the rest of them, not in a proud sense, because he acknowledged it was the grace of God which was with me.
When we look at our church, indeed some people work harder than others. That is without doubt. We are not doing a comparison, but it is a true fact. They are willing to give of their time and resources because they truly understand it is the grace of God that I am what I am. They truly understand what a wretched sinner they were. How they deserve eternal damnation. They should be thrown into the eternal lake of fire. But God was gracious to pick them up from the miry pit, transported them out of darkness and into his marvellous light. He delivered them from the penalty of sin. Continues to deliver deliver them from the power of sin, and ultimately he would deliver them from the presence of sin, and they will dwell with him forever and ever in heavenly bliss.
So as they are standing on the gospel, on this very strong foundation, they are so thankful and grateful. [snorts] They are willing to serve and give sacrificially because they really love the Lord, the one who died and shed his precious blood on the cross of Calvary.
But do you know what is the most amazing thing about their services? It is the evidence of the grace of God in their lives. Whenever you and I see a brother or sister in Christ serving the Lord, having the opportunity to serve, the strength to serve, the joy to serve, the willingness to serve, and also the spiritual gifts to serve, we see the grace of God in that person's life. Is that not true? That is why we must never be jealous, but rather we must be very happy when we see a brother or a sister in Christ serving the Lord faithfully. It is because the grace of God is working in his or her life.
Paul loved the Lord so much that the only thing he wanted to do was to glorify the one who had saved him. Therefore, he ends this passage with verse 11, "That whether it was I or they," which means the other apostles, it doesn't matter whether it was Peter, John, Thomas, James, or Paul who had preached the gospel to you. It doesn't matter. What really matters would be that you receive it, believe in it, and accept it by faith.
Dear friend, what is the gospel? The gospel is all about Christ. The gospel fulfils the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah, and Jesus Christ is truly the Messiah. And the gospel is confirmed by eyewitnesses. It is not just hearsay.
There were living people who saw the risen Saviour. If you are still lingering outside the kingdom of God and you have not believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ, death will be waiting for you. Not the physical death only, but the eternal and spiritual death. The only way of escape is to turn to him and believe that the Saviour has come. The one who died on the cross and shed his precious blood is able to wash away all my sins, and for all eternity I will be saved if I believe in him and embrace him as my Lord and Saviour. If you fail to do that, once you swing into eternity, it will be too late. You know the old preachers used to say this. You will be swinging out there, hanging on the horse's hair. You will die for all eternity, separated from God. Come and believe in the Lord Jesus because tomorrow may never come.
If you have been saved by the gospel, you must not keep this gospel to yourself. You must pass it on to someone else, especially your unbelieving loved ones. If you love them enough, ask God for boldness and courage to share the gospel with them, and pray that the Holy Spirit will convict their hearts to believe in the only Saviour. Once you have been evangelised, you must make evangelism your way of life.
Bethel BP Church, by the grace of God, is 40 years old. Forty years have come and gone. People have lived and died. Some have believed the gospel, and they are now waiting for us in heaven. Sadly, others have rejected the gospel, and they would be eternally separated. One day we would have to say goodbye. But if we are all believers, that farewell is not really a farewell because in the sweet by and by we shall meet again on the heavenly shores. But if we are unbelievers, then it will be a final farewell, for we will never meet again.
We pray that Bethel Church, though we have our ups and downs, God is so merciful to us to use us as an instrument in this last of the last days. We may be small in numbers. We may have faced persecutions, rejections, hostilities. We may be turned away by our friends. But no matter what the circumstances and situations, we pray that Bethel Church, not this building, the people in this building, will always be a beacon of light, that the pure gospel, the gospel that is all about Christ, the gospel that is fulfilled or was fulfilled by Jesus, and the gospel that was confirmed by eyewitnesses, that pure gospel will always be preached in our church, whether it be on this pulpit or in the Sunday school, because this is the only gospel that can save the souls of men.
God bless all of you. A blessed 40th anniversary.
Let us look to God in prayer.
Our Father in heaven, we give thee thanks for this opportunity for us to come together to remember thy faithfulness in our church. This past 40 years, through ups and downs, thou hast been with us through it all. And we are so thankful that despite our failures, our shortcomings, and our lackings, thou hast still chosen us to be part of this local church. And we pray that we will always be the salt and the light of this earth. And as the salt and the light of this earth, we want to point the people to the very gospel that is able to save their souls. And we pray that thou wilt continue to use Bethel BP Church in this last of the last days. For truly we are living in perilous times, and we know that our Lord Jesus will return soon. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
But in the meantime, we pray that we will always remain faithful, and we will be bold and courageous to be steadfast, to hold to thy truth and preach the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, the only means of salvation. Outside of Christ, there is none. And we pray that thou wilt find us faithful as we serve thee and continue to serve thee, all to thy glory. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.