Welcome, my friend, to our Bible study program, In Search of the Lord's Way to become a Christian and His way to live the Christian life. It’s all revealed in the Bible. Furthermore, you won’t find it in its completeness anywhere else. Oh say, it is a genuine pleasure to have you join us today. It's our prayer that we will both be blessed.
The gospel of Christ is by its very definition a good-news message. We can stand some good news nowadays, can't we? So much of the news in the media is bad news. And, we become so accustomed to bad news, we might even slight the good news when it does come along-- may even not notice it. Maybe we have become a bit calloused or insensitive to the good news, or the good in the news, which ever way we might say it. That may be what is happening with the gospel of Christ, too. The message of God and His Son Jesus Christ is not bad news, my friend. If you are thinking that it’s bad news because it puts so many restraints and restrictions on you, and you want to remain free to do as you please, reason with me today, will you? If you think it is so because it's too legalistic, or exclusive, I hope you will stay with me because we're going to be talking about the good news of the gospel today.
The word “gospel” is a New Testament word. I mean, it doesn’t appear in the Old Testament at all, or in other world religions in their literature. But in the old King James Version it appears more than a hundred times in the New Testament. It is a modern word, too. Occasionally we hear someone say-- “and that’s the gospel truth.” Well, the Scriptures say that three times: once in Galatians 2 and 5, again in Galatians 2:14 and again in Colossians chapter 1, verse 5; the Scriptures say “the truth of the gospel.” So, the gospel of Jesus Christ is truth.
But first, let me remind our regular viewers and inform our new ones that our program is presented here, free of all appeals for money by friends of yours-- and ours-- in churches of Christ in the area served by this station. Pay them a visit real soon, will you? If you need help in finding the address of a congregation here in your city, let us help you. You might want somebody to pay you a visit and get acquainted with you before you attend a meeting of the church. And if we can help you find such a person, write us, In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may use our toll free telephone number 1-800-321-6633. Ken Helterbrand is our music director. He will lead us now as we sing together; and then I'll be back.
For our Bible text today we are going to be reading the first five verses of the resurrection chapter of the Bible; and that would be 1 Corinthians chapter 15. “Moreover, brethren, 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.” And we read through verse 5. Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are thankful to You for the gift of Your Son upon the cross; for His burial in Joseph’s new tomb; and for His glorious and powerful resurrection from the dead in which we also have the hope of resurrection to the life eternal. And we are thankful and we thank You in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The word “gospel” literally means "good news." It could be used with reference to a good news story in the newspaper. It may be about someone who has given a sizeable gift to some worthy cause, or some needy cause; or someone survived a freak accident. Well, that would all be good news, wouldn’t it? Or maybe someone of character and principle has been elected or appointed to some high position in government or education or perhaps you, yourself, have been chosen as a valedictorian of your class or a CEO for your company. Hey! It's good news! Oh, you can think of any number of examples of good news that could be called "gospel." But we don't use the word when we speak of that kind of good news, do we? We have reserved it almost exclusively for use in religious purposes, or for religious purposes and then-- only in the religion of Christ. It’s interesting: Islam doesn’t use the word gospel. It isn’t good news! We speak often of gospel music, gospel literature, gospel television programs such as this one.
So the gospel of Christ is good news of Christ and is translated in some versions of the New Testament as so. The apostle Paul defined the gospel of Christ as well as it has ever been defined when he wrote the passage that we read awhile ago-- 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 to 3 especially, and on to 5: "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, wherein you stand; by which also you are saved, if you hold fast to 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 Scripture, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures...”
Oh, there is lots of good news in that passage, isn’t there? Notice first that he said, I preached the gospel to you. Oh say! That really is good news! You see, Romans 1:16 says that the gospel is God’s power to save people. Paul not only had been saved by the gospel, he gave his life to telling others about it. And (2) you received the gospel. That is great news for sure! A lot of people hear the gospel, but you have received it. (3) You stand in the gospel. And (4) you are saved by it, if, if, if you hold fast unless you believed in vain.
Furthermore he said, "I preached to you, just what I received." From whom did you receive it, Paul? Well, it was not from men. Paul was not told or taught by other men like Peter or James or other pillars in the church what to preach. He was not taught it. In Galatians chapter 1, verses 11 and 12 he said, "I make known to you, brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to men. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Well, that's more good news, isn't it? Oh yes! However, we cannot; well, it would be a fatal mistake to conclude that since Christ revealed the gospel directly to the apostle Paul that He is revealing it to men and women in the Twenty-first Century in that same way. No my friend, we must be cautious or wary of the person who says that. Well, all of that is interesting and profitable, but what is Paul's definition of the gospel?
First, it's that "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." There is no good news in the fact that Christ died apart from the fact that He died "for our sins." Christ's death has been described as the darkest hour in world history. Well, that could be so only because it was by crucifixion. And crucifixion was the most cruel, the most inhuman form of executing the death penalty that mankind has ever conceived. And it was reserved even then for use only in the case of the most violent and hardened criminal of the day. Surely no civilized person can give serious study to the story of our Lord's crucifixion without being emotionally moved! The apostle Peter was taught when he said that, well I should say he was right when he said that Jesus, whom God had approved among men with miracles and signs and wonders, was slain by the wicked hands of men (Acts 2, verses 22 and 23).
From the purely human perspective, adding to the criminality of the crucifixion of Christ is more bad news in the fact that He was the supreme instance of the totally innocent (He who knew no sin) dying for the absolute guilty--"for our sins." "And all (of us) have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We are all under sin (Romans 3 and 9). So, again from the human point of view, that is the bad news of it, because that means He died for our sins, yours and mine. It's sad but true that some people are in a state of denial of that harsh reality. Some preachers adamantly refuse to tell people they are sinners. They think it is being negative and judgmental and people won't come back to church to listen to what they sometimes call “a harangue about their sins.” But from Heaven's point of view, the good news of Christ negates the bad news. Were it not for the bad news of sin, Christ's death for sins would not be the good news that it is. No, the preacher is not being judgmental or negative when he talks about our sins. The good news of the deliverance from sin by death of the Son of God is more good than it is bad, than the bad news is of our sins. Well, we think we have not sinned, or we have sinned only a little; if we think that way then Christ's death will mean little to us.
Jesus explained that once while in the house of Simon the Pharisee in Luke chapter 7. A prostitute woman came barging in and fell weeping at His feet. She washed His feet with her tears. She wiped or dried His feet with the hair of her head. And she anointed His feet with a very costly ointment. Old self-righteous Simon was critical of her-- and even more so of our Lord for allowing this woman to do that. And then Jesus said, “Simon, I have something to say to you...Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." It is obvious in our present-day situation that churches are packed with people who having never seen the gravity of their sins, take their relationship with the Lord so very lightly. They are lukewarm, lackadaisical, careless, casual-- casual is the word for the day, and often even disrespectful. No, friend, no preacher has done you a favor by refusing or failing to remind you of the sinfulness of your sins, washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ. How sad! That's what the gospel is all about. Yeah, that is it! Oh, there are lots of serendipities, but that is the heart and the soul of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This paradox of the bad news and the good news of the story is expressed both by the apostles Peter and Paul. And we just noted from Peter's affirmation on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, verses 22-23: that He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God to die for sin. And Paul affirms in 2 Corinthians 5 and 21 that in this instance the Innocent died in behalf of the guilty-- that the guilty might become the righteousness of God in Him. In 1 Peter 2, and verse 24 Peter wrote about Him, "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness-- by whose stripes we are healed.” So you see, the good news of Christ is, well, it delivers us and frees us from sin and death. And that is so good news! Yes, "Christ died for our sin" so that-- we do not have to die the second death in hell.
The second aspect of the good news story of Christ is that He was buried and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. In John 19:34 it is said that "One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." So He was dead, alright; oh, yes He was! He was dead! The Scripture continues through verse 38: "And after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. Then they took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher [a place to bury], wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulcher was nigh at hand."
Paul's third element of the good news is that "He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." Then he follows with the evidence, and what powerful convincing evidence it is. He says, "He was seen by Cephas (that would be Peter), and then the twelve. And after that He was seen by five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained until that time, but some have fallen asleep, he said. But, after that He was seen by James, and then all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also...” He was seen by all these people and had engaged many of them in conversation. And some of these appearances and conversations are recorded in our study of the gospels. One of the surest evidences of the resurrection of His dead body to life is that these witnesses gave their lives testifying under severest persecution to what they had seen and heard (Acts chapter 4, verses 18-19). They refused to be silenced on the subject. They stand in sharp contrast to modern ministers today and theologians who live their lives in denial of it. Thomas Arnold, Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, is sometimes quoted as saying, "I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God has given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead."
In conclusion and based on the facts of His death, burial and resurrection the best news of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15 is yet to come. It is in verses 12 to 23: "If Christ be preached that He has been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead. 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 raise.” Let’s pray. Holy Father, we are thankful to You for the assurance that we have of the forgiveness of sins by the blood of Jesus shed on Calvary; and for the hope that we have of resurrection and life with You in eternity. All is seen in the gospel; oh, what good news. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen!
So the “good news” of the “gospel” of Jesus Christ is the story of His death for our sins, His burial in Joseph’s new tomb, and His resurrection from the grave on the first day of the week. "Oh, well," you say, "I've believed that since I first heard it many years ago.” But, have you obeyed it? That is a good question, friend, and the Bible speaks to “obeying the gospel,” doesn’t it? That is in Romans chapter 10, verse 16 for one place. We can't obey facts; we believe facts. But you can obey a form of those things that you believe in, those facts. Let’s see! In Romans chapter 6, verses 16 and 17: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that you, you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness.” How does a person do that? The same chapter, verses three and four: The message about God’s grace to salvation. It says, “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.” That is the form of the doctrine. Oh say friend, have you believed; have you obeyed the gospel? Oh, I hope so. I really do hope so. But if you haven’t, would you? Would you do it today?
If you would like to study the message again in the privacy of your home, let us send you a free printed copy, a CD or an audio cassette tape. Our address is In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By e-mail it is searchtv@searchtv.org. You may use either of those addresses to make your request. Or you may use our toll-free telephone number, and that number is 1-800-321-8633. Don't be afraid if you give us a mailing address, we are not going to hassle you for money; neither are we going to put you on our mailing list or come banging on your door. Oh! We would like to come out and get acquainted with you and study with you, but we are not going to come without your invitation. So if you would like one of us to help you with your Bible studies, please remember our program. And God bless you now. We love you.
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