I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of 1st Corinthians. 1st Corinthians 15, we'll consider a portion of 1st Corinthians 15 that can be found on page 1142 in the Pew Bible. 1st Corinthians 15, beginning at verse 1, we'll read through to verse 8. Now I remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. Well, as we look forward this week to Easter, to Resurrection Sunday, and this Friday to Good Friday, today is Palm Sunday, isn't it? And so with these holidays upon us, there is much expectation. You see, as with all holidays, there are expectations of family time, food, and gatherings. But after those festivities, after those holidays pass and are gone and life returns to the normal grind that we are accustomed to, what will your expectation be? Where will your expectations be? As Christians, we have the greatest expectation imaginable. we have the great expectation of the certain hope of eternal life the forgiveness of sins that we have in jesus christ and that's what this passage before us is all about isn't it it's all about the gospel paul begins by saying now i would remind you brothers of the gospel i preached which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved this section of the book here is a is a reminder isn't it it's a reminder of the gospel paul reminds the church at corinth here of the gospel of jesus christ now he does that at other times in other books as well right he reminds the church at corinth of the gospel he reminds the church at rome of the gospel but here he reminds the church at corinth you see the corinthian church was an immature church and as immature converts they were they were struggling with leaving behind their non-christian ways of thinking and living we really see the the crux of the issue that paul is dealing with here in verse 12 if you look down at verse 12 now if christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead apparently some at Corinth did not believe in a physical resurrection. So they were teaching that the resurrection was something of a spiritual resurrection. Now this really isn't surprising given the Greek thought, the dominant Greek thought of the day. See, the teaching that the body would be resurrected would have been a difficult teaching for Greek Corinthian converts to christianity to accept in the ancient greek mind the physical body was something of a prison house of the soul and at death that soul which was thought to be pure or the pure part of man was was released from that prison house therefore to speak of a physical resurrection made little little sense to the ancient greek mind and this greek thought still had its foothold on some of the Christians there at the church of Corinth. And so they weren't attempting to redefine the gospel, but they were inevitably in danger of compromising an essential truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the resurrection. And in doing so, the gospel was, yes, at risk. And so Paul takes the time here. He takes quite a bit of time if you think about it. If you look down, the entire chapter covers the resurrection and the gospel and this chapter here is actually the biggest chapter in the entire book so ball takes his time here to remind these christians at corinth of the of the significance of the gospel and he gives them a definition of the gospel and so those two points are going to serve as our points this morning the significance of the gospel and a definition of the gospel paul begins as we've already seen saying now i would remind you brothers of the gospel i preach to you which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved with some at corinth seemingly denying a physical resurrection they were in danger of compromising the truth of the good news of christ paul understands this and he understands that what is at stake if they make this mistake you see the resurrection is foundational to the gospel and the gospel is foundational to christianity and so everything for this church was in jeopardy the gospel itself was being threatened in the heart and minds of these christians and paul was not about to allow that to happen paul realizes the significance of the gospel for the life of christians for the life of a church for the truth of the Christian faith. In Christianity, everything hinges upon the good news of Jesus Christ. Get the gospel wrong and everything else is ruined. Get the gospel wrong and you lose Christianity itself. It's Palm Sunday. We know that Palm Sunday marks the day when Jesus triumphantly entered into Jerusalem. And as He entered into Jerusalem, there was much celebration and much expectation, right? People were singing, Hosanna, Hosanna to God in the highest. But you see, the Jews were under the impression that Jesus, the Messiah, had come to deliver them from Roman rule. And in believing that, they too missed an essential part of the mission of the Messiah. The essential part of his suffering and his death for the forgiveness of sins. An essential part of the gospel. And that's why when they realized that he wasn't going to deliver them from Rome, they essentially turned on him. Even to the point of crying out that a man by the name of Barabbas would be freed instead of Jesus the Christ. You see, we as people are so fickle, aren't we? One moment we may be praising God and the next we forget essential truths of our faith. And that's why Paul must remind this church at Corinth of the significance of the gospel. If they get the gospel wrong, they have nothing, nothing to stand upon and nothing by which they are being saved. For us here this morning, the gospel is just as significant, just as crucial for us. And that's why it's important for us, too, to be reminded of what the good news of Jesus Christ is all about. See, we are a forgetful people, aren't we? We see that in Scripture over and over again. God's people forget what God has done for them. And so it's important and significant and crucial that we, too, be reminded. It's important that we have a clear understanding of what the work of Jesus Christ was all about. And that's why when we hear popular Christian slogans that risk altering the truth of the gospel, it's crucial. It's crucial that we have already a firm foundation of what the gospel is and we don't make the mistake of what some of those slogans say. Things like our lives are the gospel. Our lives are not the gospel. We hear things like that more and more today. We don't live the gospel. The gospel cannot be lived. It's not something to be lived. Certainly we are shaped by the gospel. The good news of what Jesus Christ has done for us shapes and transforms our lives. We now live lives of thankfulness because of the good news of what Christ has done for us. But you see, there's too much at stake for us to fool around with popular slogans simply to be catchy or relevant. In Jude 3, Jude says, Beloved, although I was eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude also understood the significance of the gospel, didn't he? It must be contended for. It must be struggled for. It must be fought for. That was the case in the first century in the church of Corinth. It was the case in the Middle Ages with the reformers. and it's the case today for us. So whether we are Jews in Jerusalem, Greeks in Galatia or Corinth, or people here today, we always need to be contending for the good news of Jesus Christ, the faith that was handed down to us. As I said, everything, everything in Christianity hinges upon the gospel. It's really the lifeblood of the Christian faith. It's the heart and soul of the Christian faith. No gospel, no faith. No gospel, no hope. No gospel, nothing to be saved by. Paul says, he asks this church at Corinth, he says, unless you have believed in vain. Unless you have believed in vain. Paul takes the time to show the significance of the gospel by reminding this church. But he also shows the significance of the gospel by which he says this is what he preached to them. He says that twice in this passage, doesn't he? The gospel is what I preach to you is what Paul says. You see, the gospel is the quintessential message of the Apostle Paul. It's what his ministry to the Gentiles was all about. It was what that ministry was based upon. In fact, Paul says that he has nothing else to offer this church. He says that back in chapter 2 when he says, I came to you brothers when I came to you I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and power that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of god power of god the power of the gospel the power of god unto salvation as paul says in romans right paul doesn't want the faith of these christians to rest in anything else because if their faith does and their faith sadly is in vain children i know some of you are working on memorizing question and answer 21 of the heidelberg catechism question that asks what is true faith and if you know that question and answer then you know that part of the answer says that the holy spirit works true faith in our hearts by the gospel by the gospel what does the holy spirit use to work faith into our hearts the gospel of jesus christ get that gospel wrong no faith our faith is in vain now don't get me wrong paul has much to say in this book other than just strictly speaking the gospel of jesus christ right he talks about a whole host of other issues that this church is facing issues like division issues like love right we have that great chapter chapter 13 the love chapter but you see everything that paul says in this book or anything that paul says in scripture for that matter are all derivative of the good news of christ why can call paul call this church to be united but because christ has lived and died so that his people will no longer live for themselves but live for him that they would be a sacrificial people a people who are united why would paul talk about love but that this is love not that we have loved god but that he loved us and gave his son for us as a propitiation everything everything in christianity is derivative of the gospel it's all connected back to the gospel and so paul focuses his readers first and foremost upon the truth of christ's work it's the essence of what he preached to this church and he was careful to make sure that nothing hindered that message and that's why he says things like this over and over chapter one for christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom lets the cross of christ be emptied then again in chapter one verse 22 Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, the wisdom of God. The gospel was so significant for Paul that he based the entirety of his ministry upon it, didn't he? Everything, he said. He was careful not to use words of eloquent wisdom he was careful not to rely on on the wisdom of men on anything other than the message of christ now today in many churches it's easy for us to miss this point isn't it to not see the gospel as so significant to base the entirety the entirety of the ministry of our church upon it today like in corinth we too love signs and we too love wisdom we've heard a lot about that through our study in hebrews haven't we if we could produce signs and wonders people would show up won't they if we could produce signs and wisdoms we could pack this place out it would be standing room only, but preach the good news of salvation through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And sadly, people are tempted to skip church altogether, to simply stay home, to not see God's service to them as so crucial, as so significant. So sadly, in many churches, the gospel will not be preached. Men will preach themselves. They'll preach uplifting stories, words of affirmation, pop psychology, even a man-centered gospel. You can do it. Believe in yourself. You can do it. But sadly, in many churches, Jesus Christ, His life, His death for the forgiveness of sins will not be preached. It won't be taken serious. It won't be proclaimed it won't be the the substance and the heart of the ministry of those churches but you see brothers and sisters what does a church really have but to offer the gospel to a dying world what do we have but that message just as paul he had nothing to offer but the message of christ life and death for the forgiveness of sins see we can give the world stories about ourselves we can give them stories of success and prosperity but sadly that will not save them will it no one will be saved by those stories significance of the gospel is also seen here and that the gospel is the message that has been handed down to the church paul says at the end of verse one the gospel was the message that they received and in which they stand the term that paul uses here when translated as received is a is a technical term and it refers to the the receiving of sacred tradition at one point in second corinthians chapter four paul calls the message received and handed down a treasure a treasure and then in the very next text he's careful to say that this treasure has been entrusted to him by god himself see the message of the gospel was not a pauline idea it was handed down to paul entrusted to him he received it from christ himself didn't he and he emphasizes this point over and over in regards to his ministry as an apostle he says in galatians chapter 1 verse 11 i would have you know brothers that the gospel that i preached that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel i did not receive it from any man nor was i taught it but i received it through revelation of jesus christ now if paul's gospel was not the gospel that was handed down to all the churches if it was not the same gospel that the other apostles were preaching. Paul knew what this meant. It would mean that his apostleship was null and void, that he had been running the race in vain. But the good news that he preached was received, handed down to him and passed down fully. The story of God's redemptive work. God's story has its origins in God alone, the revelation of God. And that's why it's necessary for Paul to say in verse three, I delivered to you as a first importance what I received. And then he goes on to locate this, this message, this story, this gospel according to the scriptures. You notice that he says that twice in these passages, according to the scriptures, Paul received, delivered, and he did what was according to the scriptures see this is a treasure to paul the message of the gospel is a treasured a treasure to paul the gospel is so significant because it's the truth that god has handed down from generations to generations to his apostles or through his apostles and on to the church of jesus christ again it's what the church must be based upon paul's apostleship his ministry was based upon it. And so today, for us here in Escondido URC, the gospel of Jesus Christ must be what our ministry is all about. We too have this treasure in jars of clay. We too have been handed down this treasure. Do we treasure this message? Do we treasure it? Is it so significant to us that we are willing to contend for it, to struggle for it. Jesus in Matthew 28 and the Great Commission commissioned his disciples and by it passed on to them sacred scripture, not through some apostolic succession, but by the giving and receiving of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Again, that message that Jude says, contend for church strive for struggle for because it's the only thing that we as a church have to offer a dying and sinful world and haven't we seen over and over and over again how churches christian institutions seminaries universities colleges christian schools all losing sight of what the gospel is and in doing so they really lose what they have to offer to the world charles hodge the president of old princeton has this interesting quote he says i'm not afraid to say that a new idea never originated in this seminary what an interesting quote he's not afraid to say that not a new idea originated in the seminary what hodge was getting at is the truth of Christianity, the gospel which was handed down to him and his colleagues. They were careful to preserve and to hand down to the next generation. Sadly, we know what happened to Princeton, don't we? Brothers and sisters, the gospel is too significant to allow that to happen. As Christians, we're called to preserve it, to preserve that which is handed down to us, to contend for it. It's the substance of what we believe. And we should do that not only as a church, but also as Christian individuals, particularly for us as parents. We're to pass on the good news of Jesus Christ to the next generation, aren't we? As I said, there are probably a lot of festivities coming up with the holiday, right? You probably have a lot of plans. I think there is an Easter break for the school. And so maybe you're going out of town and you've talked about that with your children. And so there's much expectation in regards to this coming week. Well, how much time have we been careful to talk with our children about the good news of Jesus Christ? See, we pass that good news on to our children not only by bringing them to church. We pass that good news on to our children not only by dropping them off at youth groups or GEMS or cadets. We pass on that good news by talking to them about it. By telling them that we too as parents and grandparents, as aunts and uncles, we too need the good news of Jesus Christ. Because the fact of the matter is we too are sinners, right? We too are sinners and we need the good news of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sin that he earned for us through his life and death and resurrection. While it's not just the significance of the gospel that Paul shares here in this text, he also gives us a definition of the gospel. The gospel is ultimately significant because it's what we are saved by. There's no other name under heaven by which a person can be saved in the name jesus christ the person and work of christ is proclaimed in the glorious message of the gospel what is the gospel it's the message of salvation it's the message of the forgiveness of sins the message of redemption from the penalty and the wrath that we deserve for our sins we're sinners aren't we we're sinners and our sin deserves the wrath and punishment of god there is simply no way around it god is holy god is righteous god is just and in his holiness and righteousness and justice he requires that our sins be paid for that's the bad news that's the bad news that we deserve punishment eternal punishment for that matter right because when you offend an eternally righteous god the just penalty is eternal punishment that's the bad news but it's that bad news that makes the good news of jesus christ also good paul lays out the good news for us in one of the most clearest texts here in the bible beginning in verse three he defines the gospel i delivered to you as a first importance what i also received that christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures the message of the gospel is the message of the life death and resurrection of jesus christ each of these are elements and necessary parts of the good news of christ paul speaks first of the death of christ doesn't he something that we tend to focus on when we speak of the gospel we focus on the death of christ and rightly so because christ's death was unlike any other death wasn't it the death of christ was not like the death that you and i will experience it's not like the death that anyone will experience the death of christ was no ordinary death it was a sacrifice a sacrifice for the sins of the people of christ was a sacrifice my family and i this past week were uh down in barrio logan maybe you know of the place down in san diego we were down there with a family and we were having uh lunch there and there's a park there called Chicano Park. Maybe you know the term Chicano. Chicano is a term that Mexican-Americans refer to themselves as. And so at this park there was a lot of paintings and murals on the walls and particularly of Mexican history. And so as I'm walking with my children, I'm telling them a little bit about Mexican history and particularly about Aztec history, which is also up on the walls. And so I went on to tell them about how the Aztec Indians and natives used to worship pagan false gods. And they would sacrifice to these gods and even participate in human sacrifices. You see, throughout generation and generation, almost every culture knew that they needed to sacrifice to their gods, didn't they? They knew that there was a problem with man, a problem with humanity. They had to appease God or their gods. See, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was unlike any sacrifice that these cultures could ever have offered. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was not like the sacrifice of a bull or a goat or even sinful men for that matter, as if any man could atone for the sins of humanity the sacrifice of christ was a sacrifice of the son of god god himself the god man fully god fully man fully man in order to pay the penalty of man but also fully god so that by his divinity he could bear in himself the burden of god's wrath and as our catechism says obtain for us righteousness and life the bible testifies to this over and over and over again doesn't it first peter 2 he bore our sins in his body on the cross first peter 3 christ died for sins once and for all the just for the unjust mark 10 for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many second corinthians 5 for our sake god made him Jesus to be sin to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God each of these texts are beautiful and comforting passages and they comfort us because they contain in them the message of Jesus Christ Christ's work for the forgiveness of our sins and for those who acknowledge their sin before god and trust in christ there's no more sweeter of a message there's no more comforting of a message there is no more powerful of a message than jesus christ because by this message we are saved we are saved seen contained in the message of the death of Christ is the truth that our greatest problem has been dealt with. What's our greatest problem, friend? Our greatest problem is that we stand before God as sinners. Our sin. Our sin is our greatest problem. Think about dying with your sin. Think about dying and standing before God with your sin not covered with the blood of Jesus Christ. What a terrifying thought. What a terrifying thought. But then think about the work of Christ on your behalf so that now you can stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's why we call it good news. it is the good news of jesus christ that's why the hymn says my sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross i bear it no more praise the lord praise the lord oh my soul why is it well with your soul this morning is it because your sin has been nailed to the cross is it because christ has doubted fully and completely with your sin is it because you are forgiven and jesus christ again clothed in his perfect righteousness what a comforting message that is but there's more here to the gospel right paul reminds this church he wants them to to know what the gospel is in its entirety and so he goes on in verse four christ was buried he died and was buried but he also was raised raised the third day according to the scriptures i know many of us struggle with assurance our sins seem so great how can our sins be fully and completely dealt with in jesus christ can we be assured of that Can we have assurance? Well, the truth of verse 4 here is our assurance. Christ died for our sins, but He also resurrected. He arose. The resurrection means that His sacrificial death on the cross was sufficient for our sins. It was accepted by God the Father as sufficient, as truly and really and fully forgiving us of all of our sins. Paul understands the foundation of the gospel is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so he says, as in verse 17, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. Paul understands the direct connection between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of the death of Christ to atone for our sins. So when Christ rose again, when he resurrected, it was proof proof that god had fully been satisfied that his wrath had been smooth over propitiated that he atoned for our sins paul says in chapter one of this book jews demand signs greeks wisdom but we preach christ crucified but not only christ crucified right christ also resurrected you want proof this morning you want proof that you can have assurance jesus christ has resurrected resurrected from the dead he arose there's no better proof that our sin has been dealt with than jesus resurrected see resurrection of the resurrection of jesus christ grants us the assurance that we need we can't find assurance in ourselves can we we can't muster up assurance we find our assurance by looking to christ not christ dead but christ alive alive resurrected the resurrection is so crucial crucial for christianity no resurrection no gospel no gospel no Christianity. It's as if Paul said, if Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile and we are still in our sin. But Christ has been resurrected, hasn't he? He has. And so we're no longer in our sin. We've been delivered fully, completely, certainly. This is the gospel, brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the good news by which we are being saved. It's the good news that paul had preached it's the good news that had been handed down to the churches through generations hold on to this good news don't negotiate this good news don't undermine it don't allow yourselves to be tempted to trust in anything else other than the work of jesus christ it's in christ in christ alone that we trust right we sing that often he is our hope he is our light. He is our strength. He is our song. And so again, whatever your expectations are this coming week, hold on to the greatest expectation that you have, the certainty of your sins being forgiven in Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Father, what glorious news you have revealed to us in your word we thank you for our lord and savior jesus christ we thank you that in him lord we can have assurance we can have that certain expectation knowing our sins are forgiven father shape us fashion us by this truth transform us by the gospel make us people who go out into the world who speak about it, who live lives that are transformed by it so that a watching and hearing and listening world, Lord, might take attention and we might again sing your praises of all the wonderful things you have done for us in Jesus Christ. We pray this all in His name. Amen.