The Gospel
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Introduction
Introduction
Introduce Self
Thankful for our life group leaders and those involved with them. It is such a wise decision to give of your time and resources to be able to grow closer to God and each other. It’s hard for that to happen on a Sunday morning. Being apart of a life group makes it so much easier to do life together with the Christians the Lord has put in your life.
If you haven’t signed up yet, we have three groups going on. Ladies, Men, and a group for men and women called spiritual formation. be sure to scan that qr to sign up or sign up at a table in the back on your way out today.
Family Room-not to hang out in
Nursing Room
How you all doing today?
I love traveling and I love preaching. Last week I got to preach at a small country church in Tennessee that was celebrating it’s 175th anniversary. That church was planted 13 years before the Civil War Started. They had a full house of about 40 or so. It was a sweet time. It made me reflect on the Old Country church I grew up in. I love a church of our size and larger. However, there is something special about that Old Country church back in the holler, at least to me.
More important than a type of church though, is the gospel that has been faithfully preached there for 175 years. That has been preached for 43 years at this church. And is the topic of our message today.
Open up to 1 Cor 15 please
We have been in the series ReThinking church for 16 weeks now. It’s been amazing to go through this book of 1 Corinthians and understand better what a church is to be by analyzing what Paul wrote as a means of correction to the church at Corinth. He planted the church at corinth abotu 50 AD and is now writing back to them 5 years later addressing unity, immorality, and a list of questions they sent to him.
We are looking today at what he says about the gospel by which we are saved.
If I were to ask you…what is the gospel? What would you say? Some may answer..the good news…maybe..the truth…or the bible…the story of Jesus…and while all of those answer the question in some way…Paul is very clear in this passage about what the gospel, greek word euangellion, by which we are saved is...
Now, if you are here and your a believer…you know what the gospel is…but dont’ tune out on me. If your here today and you think you know what the gospel is but you aren’t sure…Buckle up. We are about to go on a ride to find the truth. If you are here and say “Pastor, I don’t beleive in Jesus.” Well, I do and I want you to as well. If you’ll listen to me today you’ll hear something for you too. I promise. If not, I’ll take you to lunch.
Follow along with me and let’s see how Paul started out this passage on an vitally important subject.
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1 Cor 15:1-2
Exegete:
Short but powerful intro to the passage. Paul is closing out is letter to them and this is one of the last topics he addresses.
There is something important to understand the context and importance of this passage to the Greeks in Corinth. In Greek philosophy, which drove much of the culture at the time, there is no resurrection of the dead. Many of the philosophers saw the body as a prison and death a gateway to freedom from it. If that is the case then a resurrected body wouldn’t make sense because you would find yourself going back into a prison.
When Paul would preach to the masses they would treat him just like many are treated today when they speak of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ…they would laugh at him
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
They mocked him.
The truth of the gospel has been mocked since the earliest days of its preaching…I’m just glad Paul didn’t let that stop him.
So here he is declaring the gospel to this group of people that he has obviously already preached it to. Why would he reiterate it? Because we need to be reminded sometimes don’t we?
Zig Ziglar said “Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”
He has not only taught it to them, they have recieved it…meaning they believe the gospel and stand on it…
Remember the receipients of this letter have been a church or ekklesia, group of people gathered together for about 5 years now. They have stood on the truths of the gospel for that long.
Then the important part of these two verses. By which you are saved.
The gospel is the only thing that saves.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:8-9
Faith in the good news of Jesus. He’s calling on them to remember this, don’t forget this vital truth, don’t forget this foundational teaching…If you forget this foundational teaching your faith is in vain…
It will be without success. You can’t live a victoriuoius Christian life and not remind yourself of the Gospel. You can’t live a life glorifying to God and forget the gospel. You won’t have victory over the sin in your life and you won’t be able to impact others for Christ if you forget the gospel.
Illustrate:
I recently ready that if you want people to remember something, you need to repeat it so many times, that if you were to say it just once more, you’d likely puke. Just when you get tired of repeating yourself, you can expect that people will almost get it! But once you get to a place where the people around you smirk, or roll their eyes, because they know what you’re about to say, then you’ve reached your destination. However, keep repeating it anyway if it’s still important.
This applies to both good and bad thing. This happened in WW2 with Hitler. It’s in conversations on Hitlers leadership I always hear the saying “If you say something long enough and loud enough, people will believe it.”
As believers we begin to think that the gospel is just for those who haven’t trusted in Jesus. How wrong are we to think we have come to a place in our lives and walk with God that we don’t need the constant reminder that there is a God who loved you enough to send His Son to die on the Cross for your sins. To pay the debt you could not pay and satisfy His own wrath rather than asking you to do it. And He made that payment easily transferrable to us by faith in Jesus Christ.
We look at the gospel as the gateway to Christianity and then obedience as the means to which we keep it.
Paul Washer said “The devil would gladly give a Bible to every man and promote obedience to its commands if in exchange we would surrender to him the Gospel.”
“The devil would gladly give a Bible to every man and promote obedience to its commands if in exchange we would surrender to him the Gospel.”-Paul Washer
It’s by faith in the gospel that we have a relationship with God through Jesus and that relationship is eternally secured.
Apply:
Let’s put the jelly on the bottom shelf here.
Paul is writing to the Hebrews to remind them of the gospel that they have already bellieved in. They have already been living to an extent.
The repetition shows it’s important.
What can we take from this?
I. The Gospel is Foundational
I. The Gospel is Foundational
The Gospel is the foundation of our faith and it is the means by which our relationship with Christ is determined. Not our obedience.
Your relationship with God isn’t established because of how obedient you are nor is it dependnent upon that. That’s called conditional love.
God’s love is unconditional. God’s love isn’t based upon your good works…but His.
The Gospel isn’t something we should hear when we are first saved…it isn’t something we should only say to those who don’t know Jesus. It’s something we should plaster on our walls, write on our mirrors, and repeat to ourselves daily to remind us that we just humans, not good enough, never perfect, but always loved, cherished, and valued by the One who creates life.
The Gospel is foundational to our faith and our lives.
What is this gospel though?
Some of you may be sitting there and thinkin “O wow…welll that I know.” That’s great. Some of you, and this is perfectly ok, may not be so clear.
Let’s look at what Paul defined as the gospel by which we are saved.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
1 Cor 15:3-8
Exegete:
Here it is folks. IF you never write anything down. Write this down.
1 Cor 15:3-8, the gospel by which I am saved
The Gospel By which I am saved
Jesus died for my sins
He was buried in a tomb for 3 days
He rose on the 3rd day!
The Gospel By which I am saved
Jesus died for my sins
He was buried in a tomb for 3 days
He rose on the 3rd day!
^^^^^^Please put all of these on one slide appearing one at a time^^^^
BOOM
Straight forward, simple. Simple yet so deep. The God of the universe loved you so much despite of your sin and imperfection that He determined before you ever existed that he would have a relationship with you. To have that relationship he had to send His Son in the flesh to suffer in a way that you never would to pay for something you never could.
He provided this way for you and me and everyone esle
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Not only did He rise again, he was seen by no less than 500 people then. AND throughout history lives have been positively changed and impacted by the Gospel of Jesus.
Over and over again you can hear testimony of people’s lives being transformed by the life giving and life changing gospel of Jesus.
The disciples of Christ, the Apostle Paul, the 1st century believers, and believers thorughout time have been transformed by the Gospel.
If you are here and your life has been transformed by Jesus, would you raise your hand for a moment?
See, people right next to you.
Why do I bring this up?
Illustration:
A couple of reasons. There are some of you out there today that don’t believe in Jesus as your savior, and how glorious it would be if you did.
The other is because some of you have forgotten how amazing it is to be a child of God. To be saved into an eternal relationship with the creator of the universe.
We too often look at the bad parts of our lives or of church and begin to think that’s what its about. We see a badd week, bad year or three and believe life can change.
This reminds me of house flipping. Has anyone here ever flipped a house?
The best deals are not the ones that need the least work.
Look at these photos here of the worst house Chip and JOanna Gaines flipped.
That’s awful right.
Now, let’s think of ourselves. Many of us, and I say us too include myself, can find ourselves in that condition.
We see our brokenness, our failures, or how bad we percieve our lives to be and live in that. Now if you are a belliever in Jesus, you should know you are broken already. Jesus knew you were broken on the cross, and he still paid the price.
If you arne’t a beleiver, dont’ think you sit here among perfect people.
I was speaking with someone this last week that made mention of being in a situation where they felt like the odd one out, I said “well at Liberty your just one of the many odd ones.”
We aren’t perfect, there was only one person that was perfect and His name is Jesus. quit trying to be like Jesus.
In your brokenness you are loved and through the gospel you can be transformed…just like this house.
HOUSE Photos
Apply:
Hearing the gospel means we should rrespond to it. Whether you are a person that ddoesn’t believe and responds by trusting in Jesus or you are a believer that responds by reminder yourself who God is, what God has done, and who you are in Jesus.
Both of those responses will allow the gospel to do what the gospel does best. Transform your life.
How do I know tthat? Becuase time and time again the gospel has been preached, recieved, lived, and it has transformed lives.
Just like Chip and Johanna Gaines methods of flipping houses, the gospel is proven
II. The Gospel is Proven
II. The Gospel is Proven
There hsa never beeen someone put their faith in Jesus, get to know Jesus more, Grow closer to Him and others, Serve their community, and Share the gospel, that hasn’t had their life impacted by it’s transforming power.
It’s not just a snap of the fingers and POOF your changed. It’s a willingness to yield your desires and your heart to the Lord.
It’s amazing to know Jesus in that way. To have a connection to the Father beccause of His love for you and to know that love. To know that it isn’t about what you’ve done or what you do. It’s about who He is. And he is loving, He is gracious, He is just, and He never changes.
Paul wrote this foundational truth to them reminding them of the gospel they have their faith in and we get to remind ourselves today of who we would be, without Jesus..
IF your hear without Jesus and you are wanting your life transformed, trust in Him and buckle Up. Because it will be an amazing journey.
Paul closes out this section by discussing his own interaction with the gospel
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 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.
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
1 Cor 14:9-11
Exegete:
He humbly acknowledges his position as the least of the Apostles. He wasn’t aorund Jesus when he was alive. He waas pereccuting the church, he was responsible for the death and imprisonment of Christians. Yet God has seen fit to call him into servicce.
He gives God the glory…by God’s grace he is an apostle, he is saved, he is forgiven, he is loved. All of these things were not given in vain. He has taken the grace of God and labored, worked, given of His life to srve others and help them to know the grace of God that he knows.
God took Paul who trusted in the gospel and transformed his life.
Paul reminds the Corinthian church of this so that they cn recall the testiomny Paul shared with them.
To relate to who Paul was and to who Paul is now.
Paul is a changed man. He went from calling for the heads of believers to calling people to bow their heads and become believers.
He went from killing Christians to baptizing them. He no longer calls for them to physically die but for them to spiritually die to themselves and to live for Christ.
He planted this church 5 years prior, the belief is it has grown in that time. There are people there that may not have heard Paul’s testiomny. They have har about who Paul is now. He is humbly reminding them the only reason he is who they know Him to be, is becuase of God’s grace and he has labored for Him to grow into the man they know.
Illustrate:
Have you known anyone or heard of anyone that was an overnight success?
Do you know how long it takes to become an overnight success?
Anyone I’ve heard from or read about that is called an overnight success will tell you they worked hard for years to be seen an overnight success.
The Gospel will transform your life and one day people won’t know who you were before the gospel. The people you look at that have been following Jesus for years and are humble, kind, loving, engaged in service, and just a model of what a person would call a Christian. They weren’t always that way.
Paul labored for the Lord, he lived his life dedicated to Jesus and as a result of God’s grace and Paul’s obedience to the Lord used Him in a great way.
III. The Gospel is Transformational
III. The Gospel is Transformational
Apply:
Paul reminded the Corinthians that he wasn’t always who they know him to be.
He is a living example of the transforming power of the Gospel.
You have many sitting around you with testimony after testimony of who they were before Cchrist and who they are in Christ.
Reminding ourselves of the Gospel and how it transforms us should motivate us to continue loving and Leading for Him.
Time of Response
Time of Response
What’s your response to the Gospel this morning? Are someone who needs to trust in what Jesus did for you? Maybe you are a believer that needed to be reminded of the power of the Gospel in your life.
Are you a Jesus follower? Have you asked yourself how am I living out the Gospel in my life? How could I live it out this week?
Are you a someone that i wanting your life transformed but you keep trying to do it on your own? Why not call on jesus to save you and come into your life and change you from the inside out.