1 Corinthians Chapter 15 Verse 1
• Critical pattern to point out and unpack; preach, receive, stand; and the center of it all is the Gospel. All of this (this letter), …all of this correction, all of this “make sure the church is edified, make sure the Body of Christ is being served and loved and built up; make sure, understand, and walk in love; make sure you give others preference over self-service,” it’s all simply fruit of the Gospel. Apply the Gospel, this is what should be happening. This is the foundation of the church itself. The Mission, Vision and Goals of the reason Christianity exists in the first place…the Gospel.
• Without the Gospel there is no church. There is no hope. There is no reason for any of it! And so, Paul says, “Book end! Reason! Motivation! Calling! Teeth to it all! MOREOVER, I declare again to you the Gospel…by which the church, the faith, the hope, by which YOU stand.” Not because of the spirituals. Not because of the good works or the good people or the good times. We, even today, stand by the Gospel alone. The word means “we are set, this is our place, this is by what we are firmly established.”
• This is super duper important to properly navigating the rest of this chapter and settling in your salvation personally. [KEY POINT] You and I stand…by the Gospel preached AND by the Gospel received…we stand…the word means, “You are made firm, upheld and sustained in authority and in safety even in the midst of judges.” That is huge! So important. How are you saved? Not by the hearing and understanding of the Gospel…there must also be a receiving of the Gospel…personally…but once preached and once received…you stand!
• How? By good works? By good performance? No. You stand by the receiving of the Gospel….ok hold that thought…
1 Corinthians Chapter 15 Verse 2
• Is it possible to believe in vain? To hear the Gospel, believe the Gospel, and yet that belief does not produce salvation? The undeniable and obvious answer, (and here according to Paul), is yes! How? Why? You can believe all day and yet have you received!? The word in the Greek is “paralambano,” and it means to join one’s self to a thing. To associate. To champion. To take office! You can believe and yet not receive. Example, the demons. Example, the rich young ruler. Example, Nicodemus (before that fateful night alone with Jesus). Example, Judas Iscariot! There’s no way he didn’t believe but he never joined himself…he never received.
• He and they and many, I pray this is not you, can believe (as Paul says here) in vain. How do you know? Silly first test…is your faith clothed constantly in vanity? Is it all about you? The word literally means, “without effort.” Is there no fruit in your life unto salvation? Man…have you truly received the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Now the not so silly explanation…
• Paul says, “If you hold fast that word which I preached to you.” What does it mean to “hold fast?” Do you continue in it? Let me tell you what the Bible teaches about salvation…crash course style! You are saved by grace through faith! Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you HE MADE alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” And then in Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, MADE US ALIVE together with Christ (by grace you have been saved.” And then Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
• Not of works…so you didn’t do it. Made alive by God…not made alive by YOU…the gift of God…gifts from God cannot be ungiven lest He be found to go back on His own word. Therefore, you didn’t do it, you didn’t give it and so you cannot undo it or take the gift back! Salvation through grace is a promise and that promise is made by the One who never breaks His promises.
• Ok check this out. Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory!” These are solid commitment words from God! Sealed, promise, guarantee…inheritance! And finally, Galatians 3:18, “For if the inheritance is of the law (works/performance/rule following), it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise!”
• Salvation is a work of God offered as a gift and received through the free will resolution of faith in the believer! So how do you discern? Have you believed in vain or have you believed and received? Well you can’t search your heart! You can’t ask your heart. Why? Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it!” So, you can’t listen to your heart! HA! You have to judge your heart! How? By observing…no fruit, no works, no desire towards effort, no continuance…? I would be quite concerned…
• So, you say, what about those that have believed and have walked away…? The Bible would say that their belief was in vain, not unto salvation…because if they were saved, they could never have walked away…the walking away is the proof of vanity. 1 John 2:18-19 is the key. “Many antichrists have come…they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that hey might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” If this concerns you about your own faith, surrender your life to God. That is the receiving of the Gospel.
• You believe…this is what James 2:19-20 says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble! But do you want to know, o foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” You must receive the Gospel in order to stand in it…surrender your life, your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength and your will to the Lord Jesus…be filled with the Holy Spirit…do not, and in this church its simply not allowed, do not breathe your first breath in eternity surprised to find out your belief was in vain! I will do all that I can for you to know with complete assurance that when you die you are either going to heaven because of the blood of Jesus received or going to hell because of vain belief…
• So once again, for your consideration and I so hope for your receiving, the Gospel of grace…
1 Corinthians Chapter 15 Verses 3 – 5
• Man was created in the image of God. Perfect and without blemish and with the ability to grow, learn, explore and choose. Free will was God’s greatest application of all installed into His Creation. Something that man cannot copy or invent. That greatest gift became the primary target of the one who fell from heaven in rebellion and Satan tempted and led man to exercise God’s greatest element of creation to become God’s greatest betrayal.
• A mankind with an undo-able mess. An inescapable trap…done and cannot be undone…God has been betrayed and evil has corrupted. Perfection on the part of man was the design and it was the requirement…and yet the offense had taken place, the imperfection had arrived…and once arrived, there is no way to restore to the past. And so, God showed forth His love in that while He was the one betrayed, He forgave and He did the impossible…through Him, man again was born perfect.
• That perfect Man lived a perfect sinless life and then anointed the earth with His own blood to cleanse and overpower and overshadow and cover over for all time the imperfect blood of all men. And in a showing of victory over evil and the restoration of man to its original design, Jesus brought out of death, out of the grave…life as He resurrected from the dead. Now through Him we have eternal life, through Him we have the filling of the Holy Spirit, through Him we have freedom and we have life abundant. And I ask you today not only to believe, but to receive.