The Complete Gospel of Easter (2017)

I like that last phrase, "Bought with the precious blood of Christ." Those of us who are redeemed, we have been bought. We are very thankful for the blood of Christ. I really enjoyed that worship. Thank you very much. I'll take your Bible this morning, and if you would, turn with me to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Most of you know that we are in our verse-by-verse study through the Gospel of John. We have pause there to look at an Easter message. I was sharing with one of the men this morning that all through the week I've studied various, various things.

Really and truly had three or four different directions to go, but this weekend this is where the Lord landed me in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We'll be in verses 1 through 8, and we'll read these verses a little later. Now today as a church, we are here this Easter morning in the tradition of celebrating Easter. I think that's pretty obvious for you, for me. This is part of our culture, part of what we do, and it's a very good thing. Now I don't know if you realize it, but in the history of the church, celebrating Easter is rather murky.

What I mean by that is the word Easter is not found in the New Testament scriptures except for the King James version of Acts chapter 12 verse 4, but there it is speaking of the Jewish Passover. Now surprisingly to some, there are no examples of the New Testament church celebrating Easter like we do. The closest scripture reference to a possible celebration is found in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7 where Paul states that Christ was and is that precious Passover lamb.

Now the Jewish Christians there in the first century church, they continued to celebrate the Jewish Passover, but they also recognized in their celebration that Christ was the true Passover lamb. They commemorated the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus, so this naturally turned into an Easter feast or an Easter celebration within the first century church. Now there was a large debate in later centuries as to the time to celebrate Easter, but Easter became and it is one of the most important dates on the Christian calendar.

Now this naturally leads us to a question, some of you might not realize the importance of it, but the question is why is Easter so important? It's really hard to answer that question without posing another question. The other question is why is Christmas so important? Christmas is very important to us because in Christmas we have what theologians call the incarnation. For some of you, you may need a definition of that word incarnation. Simplistically the incarnation was the act of the eternal Son of God taking on the form of a man, that being Jesus, and he did this without diminishing or degrading his divine nature.

We learned about the incarnation at the beginning of our study in the Gospel of John, specifically chapter 1. Verse 1 and 2 read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Verse 2, "He was in the beginning with God." In these two verses we see the eternality of Jesus taught by John. Then in John chapter 1 verse 14 it reads, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." So in these two verses we see the eternal Word of God, Jesus. He became flesh and he dwelt among men.

So in summary, Christmas is vitally important because we have God the Son becoming a man and living as the God-man with mankind. This is the incarnation. Now back to the first question. Why is Easter so important? Easter is vitally important in that it represents three of the most important events in the life of Christ after the incarnation. First, it represents the death of Christ on the cross. Second, it represents the burial of Christ in the borrowed tomb. And third, it represents the bodily resurrection of Christ on the third day. Now chronologically these events happen in a particular order. Jesus ate with his disciples that last meal.

We call that the Lord's Supper or the Last Supper. And he ate with those disciples on a Thursday evening. Then after he was arrested that Thursday night, Jesus was put on trial. He was condemned to die. He was crucified and he died before sundown on Friday, which is called Good Friday. And then according to all of the gospel accounts, he was bodily raised from the dead on Sunday, the day we celebrate as Easter. So in summary, Easter is the celebration of the death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ Jesus. And without either of these, we would have no Christian faith.

Now although we do not see the celebration of Easter in the New Testament church, we do see the message of Easter in the New Testament church. Isn't it sad that today in our culture, the opposite seems to be true. In our day, we seem to have the Easter celebration without the complete message of Easter. This morning I want to go to Paul's writings to the Corinthian church and I want us to examine the gospel message that Paul preached. And I want us to see that although there was seemingly no celebration as we would recognize it there at the church at Corinth, there definitely was the complete message of Easter there. There in Corinth.

So if you would, let's look at our verses together starting in verse one. We're going to go down to verse eight. First Corinthians 15 starting in verse one. "Now I," this is Paul, "I make known to you brethren the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and which also you stand, by which also you were saved. If you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." Verse three. "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

And that he appeared to Cephas," and that is Peter, "and then to the twelve, and after that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep," speaking of death. And then verse seven. "Then he appeared to James," and then to all of the apostles, "and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, he appeared to me also." Now out of these verses we're going to look at what I'm calling the complete gospel of Easter. The complete gospel of Easter. We're going to look at four truths out of these verses.

The gospel or a gospel that was impactful, a gospel that was received, a gospel that was complete, and then a gospel that was verified. Very easy for you to write down. I encourage you to take notes to develop that discipline so that you can study and retain and learn and go back and just let the Lord impress upon your heart and mind what He wants us to see this morning. So we have a gospel that was impactful, a gospel that was received, a gospel that was complete, and a gospel that was verified. Now before we jump into the message, I want to give us just a bit of background information.

The church at Corinth was a problematic church, and it was in a very pagan city. Corinth, the city, was a fairly large Roman city. It was noted for its wealth, its luxury, and especially its immorality. To live like a Corinthian, it meant to live a life worshiping Roman gods, especially the goddess of love, which was Aphrodite. It also meant a life of revelry and drunkenness. It is no exaggeration to say that Corinth had no rivals when it came to debauch living. Now Paul, who is authoring this book, had first come to Corinth on his second missionary journey as we see in Acts 18.

He had a special revelation from God not to return to Thessalonica, and he was told to speak boldly and freely in the city of Corinth. After rejection from the Jews, then he turned with great success to the Gentiles, thus the church at Corinth was born. So here in this letter, Paul is writing while he is on his third missionary journey, and he is writing to a church that is riddled with problems. We're going to see the problem that he was addressing as we get into the message. So let's look at our first main truth. I want us to see, number one, a gospel that was impactful. A gospel that was impactful.

Verse 1 and 2, "Now I make known to you brethren the gospel which I preach to you, which also you receive, and which also you stand, by which also you were saved." So what we see out of these verses, we see that Paul calls their attention to the fact that he preached the gospel, and then he is reminding them of this gospel. This is nothing more than a refresher course for the Corinthians. Even though they needed reminding, we still see that this was an impactful gospel. Now I want you to notice there's clear evidence of how the gospel impacted these people. First of all, I want you to notice that he calls them brethren.

Now I make known to you brethren. If you're not careful, you can overlook that language. But then second, I want you to see that he says they received the gospel. The gospel which I preach to you, which also you receive. And then third, I want you to notice he says that they have stood in this gospel. I make known to you brethren the gospel which I preach to you, which also you receive, and which also you stand. And then fourth, he says that they were saved, by which also you were saved if you hold fast. As he goes on to mention the fact that there were some who were not truly saved. But what do we see here?

This is clear, definitive language that communicates that these people receiving this letter were indeed impacted by this gospel. Now remember who these people were. They were thoroughly pagan in every way before they met Paul. Remember that they would have had no church background at all. They would have had no Sunday school training. They would have had no Christian education. They would have had no memory of the vacation Bible school stories. Most likely they did not even have the Old Testament scriptures like their Jewish neighbors would have had. They were pagans and they were aliens to the things of God in every way.

But now they were brothers. They were sisters. They were saved. They were standing in the faith. They had received this gospel that Paul had preached and we see that this was a gospel that impacted their life. Now you know my habit, and that is not only do I want to explain the word, but I want to apply the word. And what can we learn just from these two verses which really seem to introduce the problem that he's going to address? What can we learn? We must see that the real gospel impacts people's lives. And we must see that the real gospel must be at the heart of the message of our church.

There are some churches, many churches in our culture, they have a watered down gospel. They have an altered gospel. They have a gospel and they preach a gospel that does not alter people's lives. There are many people, they are affected by what many call "decisional regeneration." There are many people, they are affected by that dreaded profession of faith. Now let me explain something to you. You can profess Christ all day long.

You can make a decision for Christ, but unless you were born from above, born from God, unless the gospel of God through the power and the work of the Holy Spirit has changed you and given you a new life, you have not been impacted. Now, it wasn't the case with these Corinthians. Now remember, they were thoroughly pagan. A decision for Christ would not have changed them. The profession of faith would not have changed them. Even being baptized wouldn't have changed them. One of the most terrific things that I've witnessed in churches is people abuse baptism. I've seen people be baptized for all kinds of things.

Even being baptized for particular sins in their life. But that is not biblical baptism and I've led you slowly and methodically to see what baptism is. Baptism is a symbol of the fact that the gospel has impacted your life. And no doubt there could be people here even this morning. You've been baptized, but the gospel has not impacted your life. If that's the case, it's done you no good. If anything it has done you harm because it has given you a religious facade. It has given you maybe a false sense of security. Maybe you do have Sunday school education. Maybe you have Christian school education.

Maybe you know all of the vacation Bible school stories. Maybe you have taught Sunday school, but has the gospel impacted your life? Have you gone from an old sinner, a rebel against God where God has come and God has done what only God can do? He's given you a new mind, a new heart, and a new life. You were pagan, an alien, and a rebel against God. But a miracle upon miracles came. You were impacted by the gospel never to be the same again. Do you really see the gravity of these two verses? Brethren, you have received the gospel. You stand in the gospel and you have been saved. And I say it again.

I ask you this question with a deep burden on my heart. Has the gospel impacted your life? There are so many people in the Baptist church. They've made a decision. They've made the profession of faith. They've been baptized. They've joined the church and they still are not born from above. They are not a new creation in Christ. The gospel has not impacted their life. Let's move on. I want us to notice truth number two. I want us to see a gospel that was received. A gospel that was received.

Paul said in verse 3, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received." Now at first glance, the beginning of verse 3, we can think that this receiving is the people receiving the gospel that Paul preached to them. But that's not the case. Paul is referring to the fact that the gospel he preached was not from man, but he received it directly from God. We see this in Galatians chapter 1 as Paul is defending his message, his ministry against those false teachers that dogged him wherever he went.

Galatians 1 verses 11 through 12 read, and I quote, "For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel." Verse 12, "For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." Here we must see that this was the process by which God was giving his word to those chosen apostles and those early church fathers. They were chosen instruments of God to pin the Word of God in that first century. These men were literal instruments of God for this task.

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, and I quote, "All scripture is God breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." What is Paul saying there, "I received a gospel that was breathed by God into my mind and in my heart, and that is the gospel that he preached." Go back to verse 3, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received." This was not Paul's idea. This was not Paul's spin on what God said. This was a gospel message directly from heaven, for you, for me.

For us as a church, this is a reminder that we must be true to the gospel message that has been breathed by God. We must work hard to study the Word of God and to know what the Word of God says, chapter in verse, chapter in verse, chapter in verse. It does not matter about trends in other churches. It does not matter what some of the famous preachers in churches may do. What matters is that we remain true to what God breathed. That's why it's so important for you, Nola, to be faithful to the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God.

That's why we take very serious teaching the Word of God systematically, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. That's why we take it very serious when we must address issues that are in the culture and in your life and in the life of the church. That's why it's important for us to be students of the Word of God, because listen, if we back away for one moment, it will become what we think. No, it wasn't Paul. He says that I gave you that which was given to me. And they received it because he received it directly from God. Truth number three, I want you to see, this was a gospel that was complete.

This was a gospel that was complete. There's a transition here in the middle of verse three, "For I delivered to you as the first important, what I also received." And here's the transition, "That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." So right here in these verses, we have a complete gospel. Here in these few verses, Paul gives the heart of the gospel message. That's why. Why was Paul doing this? Paul was giving this message, this information as a reminder.

And it was because of false teaching that had crept in concerning the resurrection. Paul is reasserting the complete gospel message. It is interesting that this chapter, chapter 15, has more teaching on the resurrection than anywhere in the Bible. Both the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the believers are both taught in chapter 15. So we see a gospel that was complete, and I want us to notice what Paul was teaching. First notice, he taught that Christ died for our sins.

We see that in the second part of verse three, "For I delivered to you as the first important, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins." Now, this portion of verse three speaks of what Bible theologians called our propitiation. Now some of you might ask, "What in the world is propitiation?" Propitiation is Christ's sacrifice that bears God's wrath in its fullness and in so doing changes God's wrath to favor toward us. Let me read you a few verses that will help you see Christ as our propitiation or our sacrifice.

Romans 3, verses 22 through 25 read, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," verse 25, "whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to receive, to be received by faith." The New International Version reads, "Sacrifice of Atonement." Another verse, 1 John 2, 2, reads, "He," talking about Christ, "is the propitiation," borrowing the language of the New International Version, "He is the sacrifice of Atonement for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 4, 10, it reads, and I quote, "And this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." So here we see that Christ is the substitute supplied by God for our sins.

Notice also that the text reads, "According to the Scriptures." The Old Testament Scriptures spoke of the sacrifice of the coming Messiah. We see that in Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Daniel 9, Zechariah 12, and that's just a few. So Christ died for our sins as our substitute, that atoning sacrifice, that substitution, that propitiation. Christ died for our sins. Then second, notice that Christ was buried. Christ was buried, for I deliver to you as a first important, what I also receive, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, verse 4, and that He was buried.

Now all four of the gospel accounts tell us that Jesus' body was cared for and was buried. Specifically, it was a man named Joseph of Arimathea. And with the help of Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus in John chapter 3, they prepared the body for burial, and then they placed the body in that new tomb which had never been used. And not only was He buried, but the Scriptures tell us that He was in the tomb for three days. So Christ was buried. And then third, I want you to notice that Christ was raised on the third day.

Let me go back to the verses, for I deliver to you as of first important, what I also receive, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Now the resurrection was discounted. It was debated and it was denied in that day. And it has been throughout the centuries. And it is today, but that is not the main point here. Proof of the resurrection was important, and that is why Paul will revisit proving the resurrection starting in verse 5. But what needs to be seen here is the nature of Christ's resurrection.

His resurrection was not a simple coming back from the dead like Lazarus had experienced in John 11. If Jesus' resurrection was the same as Lazarus, then He would be subject to the same things Lazarus was subject to, human weakness, the aging process, and then eventual death again. We must see that Jesus was the first fruits from the dead. He was resurrected to a new kind of human life, a life in which His body was made perfect and no longer subject to physical weakness, aging, or death. He was resurrected to a new, perfectly good body, able to live eternally. So Christ was raised on the third day.

So here we see that Jesus did far more than one might realize. Jesus died as that bloody substitute in our place. He was buried but was resurrected to a new, perfect body, thus demonstrating His victory over sin, the effects of sin, death, and the possibility of eternal punishment. Paul is correcting serious error here in the church. Later, he says in verses 15 through 16 that if the dead are not raised and if Christ was not raised, then their faith is worthless. He is saying that the gospel without resurrection is no gospel at all.

He had taken such stands at other times as in in Galatians chapter 2 by saying that if anyone preaches a gospel other than what he has preached, let them be accursed or eternally condemned. So what do we see here? We see the total gospel that he preached, that Christ died as a sacrifice, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day. Now an application for you, for me, for us, what can we learn? We must see that Paul is teaching and preaching a gospel that was complete. That's the problem in so many churches today. That's the problem that so many people that sit on so many pews face today.

Many people have not come to understand that Christ was our substitute. He took upon himself the wrath of God for my sin, for your sin. He took upon himself the wrath of God for all of those in all of eternity who would ever come to know Christ. What do we see? It is more than Christ gave us an opportunity for heaven, it's that he died in our place. He's the substitute. And in Christ there is the hope of resurrection. And I echo what Paul said. Paul said that without the resurrection, the resurrection of the dead and the resurrection of Christ, we have no faith. Let's move on, I want us to see Truth number 4.

I want us to see a gospel that was verified. A gospel that was verified starting in verse 8. "And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as it were, to one untimely born he appeared to me also." Like I said earlier, the resurrection has been discounted. It was debated and it was denied in that day. It has been throughout the centuries and it is today.

But we need to see that the resurrection of Jesus is found all throughout the New Testament Scriptures. All four gospels record the resurrection as well as the book of Acts. As a matter of fact, when you look at all of the gospels and the book of Acts, we have five books and four different writers. The book of Revelation constantly shows Christ as risen and reigning in heaven. So the gospel is verified right here in these verses. Notice the evidence that Paul gives of Christ's resurrection. First Christ was seen by the apostles. What do we see? He appeared to Cephas, that's Peter. He appeared to Cephas and to the twelve. And what do we see?

The apostles and then those great leaders like Peter and James and John, those who were well known, those who were not, they saw the resurrected Christ. Then third, I want you to see that he was seen by the multitude. What does verse 6 say? "And after he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time." Now this account is not mentioned anywhere else in the Scriptures but right here in chapter 15. But he was seen by the multitudes. And then we see that he was seen by Paul. Verse 8, "And then last of all, as it were to one untimely born, he appeared also to me." Paul saw on the Damascus Road the resurrected Christ.

So here we see Paul giving evidence that Christ was resurrected. He is giving witness to the resurrected Christ, all of which took place over a period of about forty days. And he is verifying the gospel that he is re-preaching to them and he is giving witness to the resurrected Christ. Now what can we learn by these verses, verses 5 through 8? Paul is saying that these men, these crowds, these individuals verified the resurrected Christ. For you, for me, for us, we need to see that our true Christian life verifies the resurrection. Let me say that again. Those of us who live for Christ, we are truly born again.

We verify the validity of the Christian faith and the resurrected Christ by the way we live, unless you profess Christ and you are like some of these that Paul has alluded to, unless you have received this in vain, unless you are one of those superficial Christ followers. We verify the resurrection of Christ. But those who are not truly born again, those who live that hypocritical life, those who say one thing and do another, they destroy the validity of Christ in so many ways. So the gospel was verified. Now as I move away from the message, I want to circle back around to some of those introductory comments that I made earlier.

We do not see the celebration of Easter in the New Testament church, but we do see the message of Easter in the New Testament church, and that is the complete gospel message. Paul worked so hard with these Corinthians, had a very lengthy ministry, very successful with the Gentiles, and now he is riding back. He is circling back around and he is bringing again this gospel message. So we don't see the Easter celebration, but we see the full message of the gospel given to this church. And we must never, ever allow the complete gospel to be altered in any way. If we do that, we have no gospel at all.

If we have no gospel at all, then we have lost the Christian faith. And Paul said there to the Galatians, he said, "And if we alter it, let them be eternally condemned a curse," the New American says. I'm thankful and I'm humbled to say that we have worked hard to recover the true gospel. We've not arrived, we're not perfect, no. But we have not altered the gospel. We're not like this Corinthian church, having a faulty view of the resurrection and needing to be reminded. God has done a work and we are able to proclaim the full gospel. And that is the only gospel that saves.

But there are some of you here, you've been victims of an altered gospel, a gospel that does not impact lives, a gospel that does not verify the resurrected Christ day in and day out. It's beyond you needing reminding, some of you need correcting because you have believed a man-centered, a man-altered gospel that does not change. Now, as I move to conclusion, I'll be real personal. As we minister more and more in places where a regular church will not make a difference, we realize more and more and more that we need the power of the gospel to save. That's the only hope some of you have for your spouse.

That's the only hope we have for our children. That's the only hope for the friends and the families that we're ministering to in our community, the full gospel. That's the only hope that we have is we seek to go around the world and take the gospel in the very darkest of places. Do you see? Do you see? Do you see? Paul took this gospel to those totally pagan people, the complete gospel of Easter. Let's pray.