What Is The Hope of the Gospel?
Pastor Ed Riddick - Sunday, March 20th, 2005Download MP3
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Introduction:
For some, Easter is a day for family, bunnies, chocolate and eggs. For others, it’s the end of spring break, a week of kicking back or running wild. For many, it’s a deeply spiritual day, set aside to reflect upon a great miracle that happened long ago. But for those with eyes to see, it’s a day that gives us answers to some of life’s biggest and most profound questions – answers seen only through the eyes of Resurrection.
We’ve all been to funerals. Palm Sunday. Jesus is on his way to one. His own. But the thousands of people greet Jesus on his way into Jerusalem. Less than a week later he will be crucified and buried.
So often the focus phrases like this…”gone into the presence of the Lord” “entered into glory” “enjoying the splendors of heaven”
Without mention being made of resurrection of the dead as our great Christian hope. Now that they’ve gone to heaven it is almost as if they have no need for resurrection.
Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead?
Do you believe that Jesus is 100 percent human right now as well as divine?
The 3rd largest chapter in the New Testament (the longest are Luke 1 and 22) is 1 Corinthians 15. This chapter is the resurrection chapter of the entire Bible. The most positive subject that we can imagine forms the peak of this somewhat negative letter.
In an important sense, this chapter anchors the whole Bible.
Every major creed has affirmed the twin teachings of Christ’s bodily resurrection and the bodily resurrection of believers.
Two themes here:
1. The Reality of the future resurrection of the dead, 15:1-34
Paul is deeply concerned that some are saying there is no
Resurrection. And he isn’t arguing this to pagans but believers.
The resurrection of Christ and future resurrection of believers is inseparably connected to the gospel message. 1 Cor 15:1-34
2. The resurrection body will be a new creation that is connected to our present earthly body but is radically transformed. 15:35-57
This morning I want to ask and answer two questions:
I. What is the gospel in its simplest form?
2. What is the hope of the gospel?
I. What is the gospel in its simplest form?
What would you include?
What would you exclude?
“I want to remind you of the gospel.” 15:1
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance.”
So, what is it?
Central Thought: The gospel is inseparably connected to Christ’s resurrection, 1-11
A. The Basics of the Gospel – 3 historical events:
1) Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures
Paul does not talk about Christ’s birth, his sinless life, his miracles.
But his death and why he died
Christ died = the event. Nothing new. Thousands did. But…
For our sins = the divine significance
On behalf of our sins: to released us from sin’s guilt and sin’s power!
According to the Scriptures
John 1:29 ” The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
1 Corinthians 5:7 ” Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
Isaiah 53:5 ” But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” NIV
Hebrews 1:3 ” The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” NIV
Hebrews 9:25-28 “Christ …has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” NIV
Hebrews 10:12-18 ” But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.” NIV
2. Christ was buried
Jesus died a real death. Said to counter-act a growing Gnostic-like teaching that downplayed the real body of Jesus and his real death. His real bodily death and real physical resurrection is central to the gospel. He was buried because he was dead.
3. He was raised on the 3rd day according to the Scriptures
Just as his death and burial actually happened in our world and time.
So, his resurrection was a historic reality.
The centrality of the resurrection! His main focus!
Hosea 6:1-2 ” “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” NIV
Psalm 16:8-11 “I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Matthew 16:21 ” From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” NIV
Matthew 17:23 ” They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.” NIV
Luke 9:22 ” And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”” NIV
B. The Benefits of the Gospel
1. It gives us a foundation on which to stand
“on which you have taken your stand”
ILL: Hunting story – lost and walking through a marsh
I preached it – you received it and have taken your stand on it.
It becomes our foundation!
It isn’t an initiation ritual that we went through
It isn’t our family name or our heritage.
It isn’t our education. It isn’t the theological camp we are in, which school or seminary we attended. It isn’t the amount of passion
And it isn’t our good works.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand
Galatians 6:14 ” May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” NIV
2. It provides us with salvation
“By this gospel you are saved”
Romans 1:16-17 ” I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”” NIV
a. Saved from the punishment of sin – Romans 3:22-26
b. Saved from the power of sin – 1 Peter 2:24
” He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” NIV
~ Has the power to change our destiny!
~ Has the power to change our standing before God. Nothing else can
“if you hold firmly to the word”
He is underscoring the fact that our salvation is not based on head knowledge or intellectual understanding. The proof that you have not believed in vain is that you do hold firmly to the word.
3 Stages in people coming: Curious…Convinced…committed
John 6:53-54,60,64,66 “Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day…On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”” …Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him…From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” NIV
The reason why some fall away is that their faith was superficial.
Let me share with you something from the personal experience of Ray Stedman, who is now with the Lord, but was then pastor at the Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California:
ILL: Some years ago a young man called me up and said, “I’m tired of being a Christian. I’m fed up with it. I’ve tried my best and nothing seems to work so I’m going to quit. I just wanted to let you know.” I said, “I think it’s a good idea. Why don’t you do that? Why don’t you give it up?” He said, “What do you mean?” “Well,” I replied, “you said it. You said you were going to quit, and I think it’s a good idea. Why don’t you stop trying to be a Christian and go ahead and live the way you like? Pay no attention to the Bible, or the church, or the Word of God, or anything, and just enjoy yourself. Why don’t you?” He said “You know I can’t do that.” I said, “Yes, I do, and I think it is about time you knew it too!” No, the test of true faith is that you cannot quit. [quoted from Ray Stedman, Of First Importance,
Our challenge is to receive the Gospel with all our heart, no strings attached and no conditions added. Then to take our stand on the gospel as the foundation of our lives.
C. The Proof of Resurrection:
The evidence of eye witnesses! The evidence of changed lives!
He appeared to Peter and many others
Appeared = objective appearance. Not
“was seen by” = subjective experience
Why was Peter mentioned first?
Changed from a sniffling denying coward to a confident witness!
The groomed and recognized leader of the Apostles:
Mt 10:2; Lk 6:14; 24:34; Jn 21:7-19; Acts 1:15; 15:6
Why no women mention? May be indirectly in the 500.
Maybe in that culture their testimony was not viewed to be a legal witness in the courts.
500 = impossible to be an hallucination.
James = the half brother of Jesus, not the brother of John.
Changed from a sibling skeptic who led the abuse
Into the principal leader of the church in Jerusalem: Ac 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Gal 1:19; 2:9, 12; James 1:1
Last of all to Paul: Ac 9:1-9; 22:1-21; 25:9-18
Abnormally born = aborted fetus; miscarriage = incompetence as an apostle. His former life when he persecuted the church was like an aborted fetus until he was reborn.
By the grace of God I am what I am
Paul’s sense of awesome generosity of God in all His dealings with Paul. He is totally undeserving.
ILL: Special needs teenage girl at Crescent Lake Bible Camp
~ Paul is very aware of his unworthiness and is overwhelmed by God’s grace.
There is hope for even the worst of sinners.
No one is beyond hope.
Paul “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:13-17
God’s grace was not wasted in him. Saving Private Ryan “Earn it”
TS: Paul’s audience is believers, not unbelievers, 15:11
II. What is Christian “hope”? What Did He Purchase For Us?
~ It is not wishful thinking. Children, what do you hope for?…
~ It is confidence based on God’s promises and historical reality.
What is the Christian’s hope in the gospel?
1. Hope in Christ.
2. Hope of forgiveness.
3. Hope of resurrection!
What is the nature of the problem:
1. A group unable to believe in any form of life after death.
2. A group that held the resurrection already happened some time ago. But they were denying any resurrection, not just a future resurrection.
3. A group unable to accept the resurrection of the body from the dead. This view rests on Paul’s extensive elaboration in 35-49 on the nature of the resurrected body.
Round #1: Denial of resurrection negates the gospel, 12-19
Round #2: Because Christ has been raised, all who belong to Him will be raised too. 20-28
Round #3: Otherwise, hope, suffering and faithful service would be pointless. 15:29-34
Round #1: Denial of resurrection negates the gospel, 12-19
The issue at hand – some deny the resurrection
3 elements of the gospel which the apostles preached and they believed are linked together: To deny any one of them breaks the chain of God’s saving purposes in Christ.
These links are inseparably connected!
“If the dead are not raised, then Christ is not raised.
If Christ is not raised then the dead will not be raised.
And salvation by faith is destroyed
Along with the forgiveness of our sins.”
Thinking the unthinkable….What if we leave this out?
ILL: Chocolate pie!
A. No faith – in Christ
Hebrews 6:18-20 ” God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” NIV
Hebrews 10:19-22 ” Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” NIV
B. No forgiveness
1 Corinthians 15:3 ” I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.” NLT
Isaiah 53:5 ” But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” NIV
1 Peter 1:18-19; 2:24 ” knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ…..and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. ”
Hebrews 1:3 ” The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” NIV
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” Galatians 3:13
How much is your car worth?
How much is your house worth? What someone is willing to pay for it.
How much is forgiveness worth? It cost Him his life!
We all like have a gift or two in our closet someone gave us but we found little use for. The gift is paid for but is not used.
Story of graduating senior. Wanted a car for graduation, even looked at them with his father. Graduation came and the son had his heart set on a car. But his Christian father gave him a new Bible instead.
The son was mad. Wanted nothing to do with Christ or the Bible. Left home. Left the church. No time for Christ. One day years later his father died. Looking through the odds and ends of his youth left in his father’s home he came across that Bible. He opened it and began to casually page through its pages. And there, in the middle of the Bible was the title to the brand new car his father had purchased as a graduation gift.
Have you ever asked why God’s forgiveness is of any value?
It is possible to want forgiveness for reasons that prove you don’t have it at all.
You might want forgiveness because you are miserable with guilt and you want relief. Do you think God gives forgiveness to those who use it only to get his gift and not himself?
What did Jesus purchase for us on the cross?
C. No future 1 Corinthians 15:19 ” If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” NIV
1 Corinthians 15:19 ” If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” NIV
“Those who died, in Christ are lost”
For Paul it is not the continuation of the life of the soul that gives hope for those who’ve died. It is the resurrection of the body. This hope of resurrection is grounded in and can’t be separated from the resurrection of Christ from the dead.”
And this hope of physical resurrection is based on Christ’s.
“If only for this life we have hope in Christ”
“We are to be pitied more than all”
Without the hope of future resurrection of the dead, all the negative consequences of 13-19 would then be true.
Christ is not raised
Our preaching is pointless
Your faith is void.
There is no forgiveness of sins
And the dead are lost.
If no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Round #2: Because Christ has been raised, all who belong to Him will be raised too. 20-28 Two points
a. First, Jesus’ resurrection is not merely a paradigm of the future resurrection but is actually the beginning of the future resurrection.
Christ’s resurrection is the beginning of a new creation in a new age. The whole future of God’s purposes is wrapped up in Christ’s resurrection.
Firstfruits: a metaphor drawn from the OT harvests.
A small portion of the anticipated grain harvest was offered up symbolically, dedicated the whole future harvest to God.
The firstfruits came first and contained in them the whole rest of the grain harvest to come.
Exodus 23:16 ” “Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.” NIV
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 ” When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you…take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that …He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O Lord, have given me.”NIV
Romans 11:16 ” If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.“
Christ is part and parcel of the future resurrection of all who belong to Him. Christ alone now, the rest to follow.
b. Second, people will be raised from the dead in the future because they participate in and are identified with Christ now!
“in Christ” “belong to Christ”
Biblical anthropology in miniature:
Two Adam – Christ analogies: 21-22; 44-49
Both are historical figures and at the same time representatives.
Representative headship!
In same real sense all human beings are under the judicial sentence of death pronounced on Adam’s one trepass.
Adam’s free choice to sin brought the same condemnation of death on all of us.
And, only a divine act of new creation can provide a new order!
Christ brings to all who are “in Him” the same resurrection from the dead.
Millennial issue: 15:24-28
pre-mil (Christ comes, resurrects, rules, end comes)
vs a-mill (no millennial kingdom)
vs post-mill (Cx comes, rules, resurrects at end of millennium)
15:24 “then” eita” implies an indeterminate duration between the
parousia and the end.
Has to be harmonized with Revelation 20.
“after he has destroy all dominion, authority and power…
Romans 5:16-17 ” And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins. The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” NLT
2 Tim 2:12 “we also will reign with him”
Revelation 20:4 ” Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus, for proclaiming the word of God. And I saw the souls of those who had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their forehead or their hands. They came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” NLT
Kingdom Reign, 15:27b-28
“so that God may be all in all” =
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:36
Not the ontological relation between the Father and Son in the beikng of God, but the incarnate, obedient Son’s mission as the “second man” who will subjugate all God’s enemies including death, to the Lordship of the triune God. Then, as man, will remit into the Father’s hands the authority given him for his mission as the messianic King. We must emphatically deny any notion of subordinationism in the Trinity itself, which would clearly lead into heresy.
This refers to the mediatorial office of Christ in his incarnation.
“When scriptures say of the Son that he is less than the Father, the Scriptures mean in respect to the assumption of humanity. When the Scriptures point out he is equal they are understood in respect to his deity.” St. Augustine