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You can turn in your Bibles to 
the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians. This morning we began a two-week 
investigation into the stuff of Acts 17 and Paul's proclamation 
there at Athens. One of the comments that is made 
or one of the statements that Luke observes there and then 
interprets or expands upon in Acts 17 verse 18 is that the 
Epicureans and the Stoics, in calling Paul an idle babbler, 
a seed picker, they insult him. And then there's something of 
a note there with respect to the proclamation of foreign gods 
and the fact that Luke interprets that as their response to Paul 
preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And so we probably don't need 
to ask, what does that mean, Jesus and the resurrection? Hopefully 
we know what that means, but to investigate something of what 
we have there in that language, Jesus and the resurrection, what 
did that mean? What did that contain? What does 
that shorthand, if you will, for the gospel's proclamation 
and the content of it mean? We can turn to 1 Corinthians 
15 and we do find that. What was the content of Paul's 
proclamation when he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection to 
the Athenians? Well, it's the same stuff that 
one chapter later in Acts 18 he would have proclaimed to the 
Corinthians. And here he reminds that same 
audience, the Corinthian churches, of what Jesus and the resurrection 
is and why it is so absolutely vital for the life and the heartbeat 
of Christianity. 1 Corinthians 15, I'll read from 
verse 1 to verse 20a. This is 1 Corinthians 15, beginning 
in verse 1. 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 
500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the 
present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, he was seen 
by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all, he was seen 
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 
so you believed. Now, if Christ is preached that 
he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that 
there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection 
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, 
then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty. 
Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified 
of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up, if 
in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, 
then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your 
faith is futile, you are still in your sins. then also those 
who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life 
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from 
the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 
Amen. Well, let's go again to God in 
prayer. Heavenly Father, we rejoice now again that a second time 
we can gather in this place for the worship of Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. We do pray again that you would 
bless us, that you would help us now as we seek to be informed, 
to be encouraged, to be roused in the things of the Scriptures. 
We would pray for that measure of the Spirit to help us in these 
things, that we might be all the more informed and built up 
in our faith with respect to a knowledge of our Savior, the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and Lord, that you would cause us to leave 
this place living for His glory's sake. We thank you again for 
the many blessings over the past week, for strengthening those 
who were unwell, Good news with regards to doctors. We thank 
you for the news regarding John Kroll and this good news regarding 
his kidney. We do just pray that you'd watch 
over him, that you would guard him, and that you would just 
keep good things coming to light with respect to his health. And 
each and every one that has been troubled and afflicted, that 
you would strengthen, that you would bless, that you would heal. 
And Lord, in the midst of the failing of physical bodies, we 
pray that you would uplift your saints and cause them to rejoice 
in the high things of gospel truth. We pray in the name of 
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, in 1 Corinthians 
15, hopefully we have obviously a passage that is very familiar 
to you. Here we have the Apostle Paul defending the blessed content 
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, what's going on in the first 
letter to the Corinthians is that there are a number of issues. 
You know, the Corinthians are a growing church. They're a church 
that is in need of the sanctifying and guiding power of the Holy 
Spirit. There's a sectarian spirit. There's sexual immorality. There's 
horrible conduct at the Lord's Supper. There's an abuse of the 
revelatory gifts. There's so much going on. And 
at every point, the Apostle Paul is answering these issues, answering 
these problems with with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with 
His cross, with His resurrection, with the glory of an incarnate 
Mediator and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in chapter 
15, what the problem is is that there are some, and in fact, 
if we wanted to see what the problem is in 1 Corinthians 15, 
verse 12 gives us the problem. Verse 12 is, now if Christ is 
preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among 
you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? There's a measure 
of marvel here. The same sort of marvel that 
we might have in Galatians where Paul marvels that the Galatians 
are so quickly turning from the Gospel of Grace to another Gospel 
which is no Gospel at all. Well, it's a similar marveling 
here. How does some among you say that there is no resurrection 
of the dead? If Christ is preached that He 
has been raised from the dead, why are you entertaining any 
sort of madness? And so that is why we have 1 
Corinthians 15 in our Bibles, because some were teaching, some 
were being taught, and some were being carried off to entertain 
that there is no resurrection from the dead. And so we want 
to see here that when we see the Gospel, being referred to 
here. Keep in mind the Jesus and the 
Resurrection language that we talked about this morning from 
Acts 17. What is, when we read that Luke 
narrating, commenting on this either misunderstanding or false 
accusation that Paul was preaching foreign gods, plural, what does 
it mean when he says, because Paul was preaching Jesus and 
the Resurrection? Well, we can draw an equal sign 
between the Gospel and Jesus and the resurrection. We want 
to look at four things from this passage this evening. And the 
first, we'll give them to you as we move along, but the first 
thing we want to observe here is the comprehensive reality 
of the Gospel for all of Christian life. In verses 1-2 of 1 Corinthians 
15, that's exactly what we have. The comprehensive reality of 
the Gospel for all of Christian life. Notice, first of all, we 
see that in that the Gospel is that which is preached or proclaimed. Moreover, brethren, verse 1, 
I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you. As we move 
through these things, you'll see that at every single point, 
the Gospel is in view with all of these various things that 
touch upon it. It is the fact that the Gospel 
is front and center with respect to all things in Christian life. Christianity is no Christianity 
at all unless the Gospel is at every part and parcel therein. Moreover, brethren, I declare 
to you the gospel which I preach to you. It is that which is preached. The gospel is the proclamation 
which comes to the ears of those in the context of that proclamation. We're just moving quickly. through 
some of these things because we want to get to some of the 
heart of the matter in the following verses. But secondly, it is that 
which is believed in. So the gospel is that which is 
preached. That's the language that we have 
here. I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you. And 
then secondly, it is that which is believed in, which also you 
received. You see, as he builds these clauses 
upon clauses, these phrases upon phrases, hopefully it brings 
to view this reality, the comprehensive nature of the gospel. First it's 
proclaimed, and then it's received. Now, before we look at the next 
three, basically this is what Paul is doing. Paul is drawing 
them back to reflect upon their conversion and their abiding 
in the truth, in order to bring out the absolute folly of departing 
from this Gospel that was proclaimed, that was received, et cetera. So that when he gets to verse 
12 and he says, he writes, how do some among you say there is 
no resurrection of the dead? How could you do that? How could 
you reject that truth? How could you do that in light 
of all of these things that constitute the comprehensive reality of 
the Gospel for all of Christian life? So it is preached, it is 
that which is believed in, and it is that in which we endure. 
Notice, the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received, 
and in which you stand. Our endurance in the Christian 
life hinges upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, it isn't 
the case that the gospel is just that which is proclaimed and 
received and then Done, we move on to other things in the Christian 
life. No, it is proclaimed, it is preached, it is received, 
that is, it is believed in, and it is that in which we endure, 
it's that by which we stand as Christians. Each and every breath 
we draw as Christians, we breathe gospel truth, gospel efficacy, 
gospel perfection. And when I say breathe, I mean 
the spiritual breath, if you will. Breath as it is, a metaphor 
for our Christian life. Every step we take, every breath 
we breathe, we are breathing so by virtue of the Gospel. It isn't just delivered and then 
rested upon and then set aside, but rather, we endure in it. 
Fourthly, under the comprehensive reality of the gospel for all 
Christian life, it is that by which we are saved. Notice again the language progressing, 
which I preach 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 preach to you, unless you believed in vain. So the 
Gospel is from first to last in the Christian life. It's at 
first proclaimed. At some point in our lives, the 
Gospel was delivered to us. Now our conversion story may 
not be this amazing day where we can remember where the The 
veil was open and the light shone through and angels were playing 
and all those sorts of things. We can remember the day, the 
hour, the minute. No, but at some point in the 
history of our lives on God's good earth, we heard the gospel. It was delivered to us. It was 
proclaimed to us. It was preached to us. At some 
point, by the grace of God, we received that proclaimed Gospel. We received the truth as it had 
been preached or delivered to us. And it didn't stop there, 
but we have, up until this very night in Chilliwack, we have 
stood by it. We have endured in it. And it 
is at the last, and finally by that gospel, that we will be 
saved. Now, this language here, by which also you are saved, 
salvation can have the three tenses applied to it. We are 
saved, that is past tense, we have been saved. And we don't 
suffer the loss, by God's grace, we don't suffer the loss of departing 
or being cast away from that salvation. We have been saved, 
and the Sovereign Christ, just like the Sovereign Father, holds 
us in the grip of His palm until that great day. So we have been 
saved, past tense. We are being saved is a language 
that the Scriptures use as well. Not that we constantly are being 
saved, we fall away from that salvation, we need to be plopped 
back in, but we have the reality of progressive sanctification 
that we are being saved, we're being by God's grace, we grow 
in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ the Lord, unto 
that day of our final salvation, if you will, the future reality 
that we will be saved. The day of our future redemption 
is the language in Ephesians chapter 1. And so there is past, 
present, and future tense with respect to salvation. And so 
we sort of have that in view here. By the gospel, you are 
saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless 
you believed in vain. Now that language at the end 
of verse 2 is not what we might call prescriptive for salvation. In other words, it isn't by our 
holding fast that we are saved. but rather the proof, the testification 
of the veracity of our salvation is seen in that we hold fast 
and we are not believing in vain, but rather we are believing in 
faithfulness and in truth. So the comprehensive reality 
of the gospel for all of Christianity, what does this bring in view 
but the importance of the continual proclamation of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ? That's why in churches we continue 
to preach from 1 Corinthians 15, John 3.16, 1 Timothy 1.15, 
where we preach from those places in the scripture where the gospel 
is simple, where the gospel is clear, where the gospel is set 
forth. It's because we live and breathe 
by the gospel. We don't believe it and then 
move on to an in-depth eschatology chart about what the trumpets 
of Revelation mean and we cast off the stuff of Christ's life, 
death, resurrection and ascension. No, we live and we breathe and 
we take our Christian steps by virtue of the gospel which is 
comprehensive. for the entirety of our Christian 
life. That's why we should never thumb 
our nose, or I don't even really know what that looks like. I 
know it's an idiom to thumb our nose at the gospel. Maybe someone 
can show me afterwards. We never roll our eyes at the 
preaching of the gospel. Why? Because it is the Christian 
breath that we breathe. That Savior, bruised, battered, 
beaten, bloodied upon Calvary's cross, but risen victoriously 
the third day, ascended to the right hand of the majesty on 
high, the blessed content of the gospel is the air that we 
breathe as Christians. And so whenever it is proclaimed, 
whenever it is preached, and it always ought to be, I think 
it's Spurgeon who said something like, any sermon or any preacher 
that does not preach Christ in every sermon is not worth his 
weight, or whatever Spurgeon said, something like that. There 
are sermons that a preacher might preach or sections of the Bible 
that a preacher might preach that directly in view or that 
on the face of it explicitly may not be the gospel of Jesus 
Christ. I'm going to qualify this statement 
in a moment, but if you look at the book of Esther, just by 
a reading of the book of Esther, one might say, well, where is 
Christ there? And so, in a preaching of Esther, how do you work in 
the Gospel of Christ? Well, you would exegete the book 
of Esther, and as you move along, you would always bring to bear 
upon the audience that Esther really is pointing us to Christ, 
and it has a Christward trajectory because God in His providential 
care, even through the motions and the movements of a pagan 
empire is protecting that national body from which the Savior would 
spring so that in the fullness of the times he might be brought 
forth to redeem guilty sinners. So you see, the gospel is to 
be preached. We are to have Christ set forth 
at every proclamation of the Word of God. Secondly then, the 
certainty of the events of the gospel. I want you to observe 
that. So if in the first place we had the comprehensive reality 
of the gospel for all of Christian life in verses 1 and 2, well 
then in verses 3 to 8, we have the certainty of the events of 
the gospel. Now here Paul is continuing to 
stress the importance or to pack in the weight of evidence to 
inform this statement, this marveling in v. 12, where he says, how 
do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 
That is marvelous. Not in a good way, but in a bad 
way. I marvel that you are entertaining such a thing. Why? Because v. 
3-8, the certainty of the events of the Gospel. Now notice first, 
under this head, notice the primacy of the Gospel for Christianity. The primacy of the Gospel for 
Christianity. It's given in this introductory 
statement, if you will, in verse 3. For I delivered to you, first 
of all, that which I also received. Now, you may have heard this 
before, but Paul isn't saying that that's the first thing that 
he delivered to them chronologically. He's not speaking in chronological 
terms when he says, for I deliver to you first of all that which 
I also receive. The language is, for I deliver 
to you of first importance that which I also receive. That is 
the language here. He's highlighting, he's bolding, 
he is underlining the reality of the primacy of the Gospel 
in the Christian life. I deliver to you of the utmost 
and the first importance that which I also receive. And you 
know, this is brought into view in other letters. We reference 
the Galatians. You can turn to the book of Galatians 
for a moment. Just to see this reality. We have the primacy of the Gospel 
for Christianity, that it is the matter of first importance. 
Notice in Galatians 1, and this is what I was just referring 
to with the language of marveling, Galatians 1 at verse 6. Now, this comes after he has 
rehearsed the gospel of Jesus Christ as that which delivers 
us from our sins and from this present evil age according to 
the will of God the Father. Now notice verse 6. that you 
are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace 
of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there 
are some who trouble you who want to pervert the gospel of 
Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any 
other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let 
him be accursed. As we have said before, so now 
I say again, if anyone preaches to you any other gospel or preaches 
any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him 
be accursed. You see, the importance of the 
Gospel comes right out of the gate. As the Apostle Paul is 
penning this letter to the Galatians, he marvels that they're so soon 
turning away from the grace of Christ to a different Gospel, 
which is no Gospel at all. And then he pronounces anathemas, 
you know, curses, devoting to destruction anyone who would 
preach another Gospel that is not the true and saving Gospel 
of Christ. The importance is clear there. 
This is the stuff of first things. This is the stuff of delivering 
of first importance matters of the Christian religion. Notice 
as well in Galatians 3 v. 1, O foolish Galatians, who has 
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose 
eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? Hopefully you see the importance 
and the weight of the gospel there. Oh foolish Galatians, 
first of all, for departing from the true and saving gospel, or 
entertaining a departure from it. Who has bewitched you that 
you should not obey the truth? And notice this interesting language. 
Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you 
as crucified. It's interesting language because 
obviously Jesus Christ was not portrayed before the Galatians 
as crucified. That is, they didn't witness 
the crucifixion with the eyes of sight. Paul is using this 
language of the proclamation of the Gospel, that the proclamation 
of the Gospel is so powerful, it is so effectual, it is so 
important to our point right now, that it is as if Jesus Christ 
is crucified before our very eyes when the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ is proclaimed. See, this is why Calvin could 
see in the Lord's Supper an argument for a Galatians 3 type of reality. We shouldn't thumb our nose and 
roll our eyes and neglect or slight the Lord's Supper. Why? 
Because it is as if Jesus Christ is clearly portrayed among us 
as crucified. We have a living symbol of the 
death of Christ set before us at the table of the Lord. and 
it is of the utmost importance. Not because of the bread and 
the wine, but because of what they are emblematic of, because 
of what they symbolize, the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Paul writes, 
I deliver to you first of all that which I also receive, that 
is, that which is of first importance. Notice secondly then, the certainty 
of the events of the gospel. Secondly, under this head, notice 
the biblical testimony to the events of the gospel. Where does 
Paul go first? Where does Paul go first in order 
to argue for the veracity that simply means the certain truth 
of a thing? Where does he go to argue for 
the veracity of the events of the Gospel? Notice he goes to 
the Scriptures. Not only do we have that, where 
he goes to argue for the certain truthfulness of the events, but 
we see those events as the content of the Gospel brought out. Notice 
the language in verse 3. 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. So you see, 
the certainty of the events of the gospel are brought out by 
the Apostle Paul here by virtue of, or with respect to, the biblical 
testimony, the scriptural witness to those events. And you know 
what he's doing here? Now it's easy for us to say, 
of course. Of course Christ died for our 
sins according to the scriptures. was buried and he rose again 
the third day according to the scriptures because, you know, 
we have Matthew through Revelation and it clearly says that. Of course, Paul, why are you 
being so obvious? Remember, Paul didn't have, they didn't have, 
the Corinthians did not have a completed New Testament canon. 
He's going back to, and He's pointing them to, He's calling 
into evidence the Old Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament. In the Old Testament, we have 
Christ proclaimed as the One who would give His life for guilty 
sinners, the One who would be buried, and the One who would 
rise again. Paul is going to the Word of 
God in order to show forth the veracity, the certain historical 
truth with regards to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, you know 
what that Gospel is. Paul gives us what the Gospel, 
a definition of the Gospel here. That Christ died for our sins 
according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that 
He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. If anyone 
asks you what is the Gospel, that is the Gospel right there. That blessed historical truth 
that in the fullness of the times God sent forth His Son, born 
of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under 
the law, and the content of that redemption is seen in the historical 
events of His death, His burial, and His resurrection, and it 
is efficacious and perfect and glorious for all who believe 
in His name. Paul goes to the Scriptures, 
to the Word of God. You know, that is among many 
other applications that brings forth the importance, the absolute 
importance of the Word of God. Yes, the light of nature shows 
that there is a God who is to be trusted, worshipped, fallen 
down before and gloried in. But you see, without the Holy 
Scriptures, we don't know, we don't have the information on 
the God that we are to worship, how we are to worship Him, and 
how we are to approach Him. We only have that in the Scriptures. 
We have that in the Scriptures as it sets out for us that special 
revelatory content wherein the Gospel of Jesus Christ is promised 
in the Old Covenant, executed in the New Covenant, and exegeted 
and opened up and theologically commented on in the New Testament 
so that we can, as Christians, avail of the glorious simplicity 
and the majesty of God's plan of redemption in Jesus Christ 
the Lord. The scriptures are absolutely vital. I noted this 
morning for anyone who is here, and if you remember, I made a 
note that the Epicureans were like deists, the deists of the 
17th century, and that our Baptist forefathers added a chapter in 
our confession that the Presbyterians didn't have and that the Congregationalists 
didn't have. And what it argues for is the 
absolute necessity of the Scriptures to bring a man, a woman, a boy 
or a girl to salvation in Jesus Christ. You see, because the 
deists said that one can be saved simply by our knowledge of God 
revealing himself in creation. We do not need the aid of special 
revelation. And so our Baptist forefathers 
said, of course, no. I am the way, the truth, and 
the life, Jesus Christ proclaimed before a listening audience. 
Peter, contending with the Jews in his day in Jerusalem, said 
that salvation is in no other than that name given in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. There is no other name under 
heaven given by which we might be saved. Save for Jesus Christ 
the Lord. The scriptures come to us with 
the sweetness of the gospel and they disclose the glory of Christ 
in giving himself in his death and in his burial and in power 
and in great victory, rising again the third day that all 
who believe in him might not perish but have everlasting life. 
Have you ever thought, and hopefully you have, okay, so in the Old 
Testament, Where do we go to see Christ? Christ would probably say to 
the law, to the prophets, and to the psalms, so the entirety 
of the Old Testament. But there are some verses, aren't 
there, that specifically speak with a clarity, with respect 
to a direct and explicit promise of one who would come to give 
his life for guilty sinners and to rise again the third day. 
You can investigate many of those on your own time, but they begin 
right at the outset of Revelation in Genesis 3. the skull crushing 
the seat of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. 
And revelation builds upon that. Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 with regards 
to the death of Christ. That's just a quick handful of 
verses that... You know, Isaiah 53, no doubt you've heard this 
before. Isaiah 53, you may have that in the marginal notes as 
a verse that's in view when Paul is saying Christ died for our 
sins according to the scriptures. If you ever consider Isaiah 53, 
and let's just say you're, you know, if you think about someone 
just transplanted in front of Isaiah 53, perhaps it's a persecuted 
brother and sister in Christ. They were once, like every Christian 
was, they were once an unbeliever living in the jungles of Indonesia. and a Christian missionary comes 
to them, preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. They don't quite 
have a full Bible, let's say, yet. Maybe they have the gospel 
accounts, and then someone brings to them Isaiah 53, but just on 
a piece of paper that perhaps they wrote out because they couldn't 
bring a full Bible. whatever happened. And they just 
happened to read Isaiah 53. Without knowing that Isaiah was 
written 750 years prior to the coming of Christ Jesus, dying 
upon Calvary's cross for our sins, they would think that it 
is a New Testament theological reflection upon what is going 
on at Golgotha's cross. Because Isaiah speaks and writes 
and promises with such a glorious character of Him being bruised 
for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace is upon Him, All 
of those things that the prophet brings out. Christ died for our 
sins according to the Scriptures. Beautiful. And He rose again, 
or He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according 
to the Scriptures. Psalm 16, I think your marginal 
reading, if you have the biblical references, might even reference 
Genesis 1, 9-13, where we have the first fruits coming out of 
dry earth on the third day. Later on in the passage, we have 
surely a more theologically developed approach to first fruits, but 
that third day language is at the outset of creation. Christ 
being the new creation, He is, as it were, those things that 
spring out of dry earth, the first fruits of our second creation, 
of our regeneration. But getting back to the text 
then, we have that second aspect of the certainty of the events 
of the gospel, the biblical testimony to the events of the gospel. 
And then we have, notice, the eyewitness testimony to the events 
of the gospel. You see, Paul is building an 
argument here to drive these Corinthians to reflect upon the 
folly that it is to deny the resurrection of the dead. Notice 
the language here. after the biblical witness to 
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the Gospel, we have 
v. 5, in that He was seen by Cephas, 
then by the Twelve. After that, He was seen by over 
500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to 
the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, He was seen 
by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all, He was seen 
by me also as by one born out of due time. You see, the argument 
is airtight. The argument is inescapable. 
There is no wiggle room to say, you know, yeah, but, you know, 
there could be some doubt, I don't know, these false teachers might 
be right. No, the scriptures, first of all, proclaim and promise, 
and those scriptures are God-breathed, they are inspired, they are inerrant, 
they are infallible, so their witness is good on their own, 
but if that isn't good enough for you, we have the eyewitness 
accounts, many of which feed the biblical testimony in the 
first place. Christ was seen. Christ was made 
known by many infallible proofs. In fact, that's the language 
of the book of Acts. In Acts 1, we have the language 
of the infallibility of the demonstration of Jesus Christ Himself to His 
own resurrected glory. Notice in Acts 1, verse 1, the 
former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both 
to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after 
He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the 
apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself 
alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being 
seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining 
to the kingdom of God." You see, Christianity isn't an agnostic 
religion. It doesn't call upon potential 
adherents to seek after the secret things that are hidden in a conundrum 
and wrapped up in an enigma and listen to the gurus and all that 
sort of stuff. No, it is the stuff of simple 
disclosure by the sovereign Christ following his sufferings whereby 
many infallible proofs to many witnesses over the course of 
40 days he made himself known. Christians don't lurk in the 
darkness to propagate the machinations of a false religion. We operate 
upon the revelation of God Most High, that revelation which is 
fed and built up by Christ showing Himself by many infallible proofs. This is to cut to the heart of 
these Corinthians later when Paul will say things like, if 
Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You're still in your 
sins. Those who have fallen asleep, 
your loved ones, they've perished. And we're, of all men, the most 
pitiable. It's to cut to the heart there, to reflect back 
on this and say, wait a minute, yes, the Scripture's foretold 
and promised and disclosed. And the reality is that all of 
these saw the risen Christ. The disciples, the apostles, 
the 500 brethren at once. You know, I think there might 
even be something to the fact that Paul is saying, go talk 
to these people. All of the 500 haven't perished. 
All of the apostles had not perished. They had not yet died, that is. 
Some, yes, have fallen asleep. But he says, the greater part 
remain to the present. Go talk to them. If you don't 
believe the biblical witness, which you should, you should 
not be a sinfully obstinate Thomas who would not obey the Scriptures, 
the words of Christ, the miracles of Christ, what He cast His eyes 
upon. Be diligent if you will not follow 
after those things and go and talk to one of these brethren 
that still remain and say, what did you see? And they'll say, 
I saw the Christ. Don't be unbelieving but believing. 
It's glorious, the eyewitness testimony to the events of the 
gospel. I love the language of Peter 
in 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1, we have that language 
in verse 16. And Peter's setting before the 
audience that he's writing to that they did not follow after 
cunningly divide fables when they made known to them the power 
and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses 
of his majesty. Don't you love that language? 
We didn't follow after cunningly devised fables. If you're here 
tonight and you're a Christian, take great hope in that your 
salvation and your comfort as a Christian does not rest upon 
cunningly devised fables. It rests upon the revelation 
of God, eyewitnesses prior to the completion of the New Testament 
canon, These eyewitnesses could have 
been summoned and spoken to. But our religion does not rest 
upon cunningly devised fables. When the apostles made known 
to the recipients of their letters, to the recipients of their proclamation, 
the glory, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, they were 
eyewitnesses to His majesty. They weren't the Gnostic ascertainers 
of the ethereal whatever out there in the universe. They saw, 
they touched, they handled Christ. Read 1 John 1, that word of God 
which our hands touched. which our eyes saw, we beheld 
His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth. The eyewitness testimony testifies 
to the certainty of the events of the Gospel. Thirdly, I want 
you to notice from the passage, the grace, this is back in 1 
Corinthians 15, now the grace that is foundational in both 
the delivery and reception of the Gospel. Notice that this 
is delivered to us in the language of the apostle Paul with respect 
to his own apostolate, but as well to the receiving of the 
gospel by the Corinthians. Notice in verse 9, 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 so you believe." You see, Paul is 
connecting the proclamation and the reception of the Gospel to 
the grace of God. And so this continues to argue 
for and to feed the argumentation and to hopefully dispel the folly 
of rejecting the resurrection of the dead. Because by the grace 
of God, I proclaim this message, we proclaim this message, and 
you received it. It is to shun the grace of God. It is to stick your hand in the 
face of God's grace or to turn your back to the amazing and 
the free grace of God to entertain anything that rubs against the 
truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that He most certainly 
was raised the third day in power and in great victory. The gospel 
or the grace that is foundational to the gospel is there in both 
the delivery and in the reception of it. Isn't this just wonderful 
language by the Apostle Paul? I am not worthy to be called 
an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. You see, the 
Apostle Paul realized that it was by grace alone, that he was 
saved and that he was called into the apostolate. He says 
that he doesn't even deserve it. You know, Paul didn't somehow 
gain his apostolate by being a good guy, by being a good Jew, 
or a good, what do you call someone from Tarsus? A Tarsian? But he didn't gain his apostolate 
by being good, by being the best, by being a fabulous orator, by 
being X, Y, and Z, but rather by God's grace. He was plucked 
out from the horror and the despair and the wickedness and the darkness 
of sin, saved by grace alone and planted into his apostleship 
so that he might proclaim the riches of Christ died, buried, 
and risen. And so he realizes that it's 
the grace of God by which he had his apostleship, by which 
he preached, and by which you also, Corinthians, have believed. And lastly, we have the unconquerable 
hope of the gospel. Notice the unconquerable hope 
of the gospel in verses 12 to 20. First off, we see here what 
is the crux of the matter, what is going on in Corinth. Now, 
if Christ, verse 12, is preached that he has been raised from 
the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection 
of the dead? So Paul poses the question that 
addresses the problem, and it is delivered in that flavor of 
marveling. I marvel that you've so quickly 
turned. to use the language of Galatians, from an apprehension 
and a glorying in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead 
to a doctrine that completely rejects that blessed reality. Notice in the following verses 
here, Paul builds logical argument upon logical argument. He's using 
these if this, then that statements. These logical statements in order 
to see what the absolute absence of hope would be. We would notice 
first that all hope is lost if there is no gospel. If this Jesus 
and the resurrection, the truth of Christianity is false, then 
there is no hope. All hope is lost if there is 
no gospel. Listen to the language here. 
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not 
risen. He starts with a very simple 
logical argument here. If you reject the resurrection 
of the dead, but you uphold somehow that Christ is still risen, you 
can't hold one and not the other. If there is no resurrection of 
the dead, then Christ is not risen. He goes on, and if Christ 
is not risen, you see the building of logical argument. If then, 
and then from that then there becomes another if. And if Christ 
is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also 
empty. You see a preaching of the word, 
so-called, that removes from the preaching of the word the 
reality of the resurrection, or we may say this, the liberal 
Christianity that treats the resurrection as just some sort 
of subjective, spiritual, ethereal reality. It didn't really happen, 
but if you believe it, that's great, because it helps you to 
walk old ladies across the street and mow your neighbor's lawn, 
so it carries some ethical value. It's madness. If there is no 
resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ 
is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also 
empty. If there is no resurrection of 
the dead, then we might as well close down this church because 
our preaching is empty. And you might as well cast off 
your faith because your faith is empty. You see how your faith 
hinges upon, your faith relies upon the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ from the dead and the resurrection of the dead. Because 
Christ is risen, therefore there is the resurrection of the dead. He continues to build upon this 
argument and to elaborate and to expand. Yes, and we are found 
false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that 
He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up, if in fact 
the dead do not rise. You see, Christian preachers 
are liars if we are proclaiming the resurrection of the dead 
when there really is no resurrection of the dead. We know, of course, 
that there is, and to let the cat out of the bag, there is 
the resurrection of the dead. So our preaching is not empty, 
and our faith is not empty, and neither are we found liars, those 
Christian preachers who proclaim the resurrection of the dead 
and the risen Christ. Why? Because he is risen, and 
so are all those who believe in him. Yes, and we are found 
false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that 
He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up, if in fact 
the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, 
then Christ is not risen. You see how he turns, or he reiterates 
rather that first logical objection. If the dead do not rise, then 
Christ is not risen. Now notice, and if Christ is 
not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. You 
see, there is an exclamation mark in your Bible. There isn't 
an exclamation mark in Greek, but there's one in your Bible 
to bring forth the Greek language that is emphatically bringing 
this forth to the reader. to emphasize this reality that 
if you reject the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, 
which by virtue of doing that, then Christ is not risen, then 
you are still in your sins. You are still under the wrath 
of God and divine condemnation justly rests upon you. You're 
still in your sins. Not only does the condemnation 
of God still rest upon you, but you have not been liberated from 
the power of sin, but you are marked by a perpetual iniquity 
dead in your trespasses and in your sins. You see the implications 
here. As we move to a close, the language 
continues. Then also those who have fallen 
asleep in Christ have perished. You know, if all of this hasn't 
yet worked for the Corinthians up until this point, hopefully 
they'll reflect upon this, that their family members, their friends, 
those who they love, who have died in Christ, they've perished 
and there is no hope for them. You know, sometimes there's different 
things that will pull the heartstrings, that will rouse the spirits of 
Christians back to a proper way, back to a proper reflection upon 
the old paths and upon those things which are good and true. 
And here Paul is pulling on many. The vanity of preaching, then, 
if there is no resurrection. Your faith is empty, then, if 
there is no resurrection. Your loved ones then have perished, 
and there is no future for them in the eternal state. If there 
is no resurrection, then also those who have fallen asleep 
in Christ, that is, died in Christ, have perished. And then we have 
this last argument before the blessed hope, 19. If in this 
life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable, 
because we've wasted our lives then in believing a lie. We've 
wasted our lives then in believing in the vanity of this faith that 
doesn't have that which marks it as a full faith. We have been 
wasting our time taking in Christian preaching. If there is no resurrection 
of the dead, which means then there is no Christ who has raised 
again, we are, of all men, the most pitiable. We could have 
spent our pursuits after... We could have been Epicureans. 
We could have sought after pleasures. We could have sought after those 
things which, you know, put to death the troubles and the injuries 
of the body and the soul, and sought after a physical pleasure 
in this lower plane. But you see, now there is. Since the events of the Gospel 
are true, we have an unfailing hope. Paul in verse 20 brings 
this section not necessarily to a close, but our consideration 
closes well at verse 20. Notice there is this wonderful 
but. You know, usually when you see, or oftentimes, when you 
see a but in your Bible, a B-U-T but in your Bible, we have something 
glorious that follows. One of the, probably the most, 
you know, beautiful examples is Ephesians 1 to 3. which is 
followed by Ephesians 4. We're dead in our trespasses 
and sins. We walk according to the prints 
of the power of the air. We're the sons of disobedience. 
The children of wrath. Following after the lusts of 
our flesh. Then there's that glorious but. 
But God, who is rich in mercy because of the love with which 
He loved us, made us alive in Christ Jesus. By grace, you have 
been saved. We have a wonderful but here. 
But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits 
of those who have fallen asleep. You see what Paul is doing here. 
With one fell swoop, he is reversing all of the hypothetical hopelessnesses 
of the previous verses. Our preaching is not empty then. 
Our faith is not futile then. Christ then is risen because 
we will be risen. We are not of all men the most 
pitiable. We are not still in our sins. 
Why? Because Christ is risen from 
the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen 
asleep. Our hope, brethren, is built upon this Jesus and the 
resurrection. The hope of hopes. In fact, there 
is no true and lasting hope save for that which rests upon and 
is in this Jesus Christ and the resurrection. Christ died for 
our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and He rose again 
the third day according to the Scriptures. Hope of hopes is 
in that. You know what hope is? I think 
we can water down hope. I'm going to close in a minute 
and 13 seconds. We can water down hope when we 
apply to it a fleshly and a human and a weaker understanding. You 
know, I've used this imagery before and I'll probably use 
it till I die, but being a Vancouver Canucks fan for a number of years, 
I hope that they'll win the Stanley Cup, but let's be honest, they 
never will. You know, that's not the hope that we have in 
Christ. We don't just hope with this hope that, you know, we 
want, we strongly wish something to happen, but, you know, there's 
the possibility that it never will, but we really hope that 
it will happen. That's not a Christian hope. 
Our Christian hope is characterized by the certain and insuperable 
expectation that what God promises will most surely come to pass. God has promised that all those 
who believe in this Christ, who is risen from the dead, will 
be those after having fallen asleep, after having died in 
Christ, will be raised with that One who is our forerunner. The 
certain expectation that the promises of God will come true 
because they will, because God is truth and cannot lie. And 
in Jesus and the resurrection, we have that hope that cannot 
be stolen away, that we rest upon, that we glory in, and that 
we will take to our dying breath. And in due time, we will be brought 
forth from deadness to life in that resurrection reality where 
we'll cast our eyes of no longer faith but sight upon the risen 
Christ and the glory of his person. Well, brethren, hopefully we 
gain an appreciation of what Jesus and the resurrection means, 
and if you're here tonight and you're a Christian, you glory 
in this hope of hopes, you glory in this Christ, the only one 
who brings us into the presence of the Father, the only one in 
whom we have hope, the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. If you're here tonight and you 
don't know this Christ, you need to understand that outside of 
him there is no hope. So stop dilly-dallying, stop 
dangling upon a proposition, stroking your metaphorical beard 
or your real one, wondering if maybe someday in the future I 
could consider this Christ of hope. Believe on Him. Today is the hour of salvation. 
Now is the time to rest solely and alone upon this risen Christ 
for your salvation. And you will know the hope of 
hopes, that certain expectation that the promises of God are 
true, they are yea and amen. in this risen Christ. Let us 
pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your truth. We thank 
you for what we read here in 1 Corinthians 15. We rejoice 
in the hope that we have in Christ Jesus, knowing that it is certain, 
and knowing that it is beautiful, that it is glorious, that in 
Him we have certainty of salvation. We pray because it is possible 
only with you that by your grace each and every one would leave 
these two doors singing the praises of Christ, rejoicing in their 
hearts, rejoicing in the inner man and even in the outer self, 
that He is our Savior, that He is our Lord, that in Him and 
in Him alone we have the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. 
We do pray that you'd help us in this upcoming week to rejoice 
in you, to rejoice in our Christ and to live in such a manner 
that we bring glory to you. We pray in the name of Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen.