Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20070812.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Corinthians: Discipling Believers With Very Sinful Backgrounds
VIII. Overcoming Secularism's Denial Of The Bodily Resurrection
A. Supporting The Resurrection In Defense Of The True Gospel
(1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 11)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

For decades, you have been taught from this pulpit that eternal life is by faith alone in Christ and His work alone on the cross.

However, because of confusing signals coming from various Christian leaders, the man in the pew or even many pastors in conservative Christian churches may not be sure this gospel is correct:

(1) For example, Billy Graham praised Pope John Paul II "as a preacher of the true gospel" in the January/February, 1980 issue of Saturday Evening Post (cited in Dave Hunt's, "A Call to Repentance," The Berean Call, November 2006, p. 3). Yet, John Paul II in his Last Will and Testament of March 6, 1979 "entrusted that decisive moment [of death] to the Mother of Christ and of the Church . . .'" (Ibid., Hunt).

Other evangelical leaders who have claimed Pope John Paul II held to the truth are Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Pat Robertson and Jack Van Impe who calls the Catechism of the Catholic Church "biblical". (Ibid.)

Well, does this all mean we are saved by faith in Christ plus reliance on Mary the Mother of Jesus, and heeding the sacraments of baptism, mass, confirmation, etc. as the Catholic Church claims in The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1987, p. 534-535? How can we be sure?

(2) Even in my very conservative Baptist background, the way to be saved was often very confusing! Some pastors and tracts taught us to repent and trust in Christ, or to repent, confess our sins and believe, or to pray to receive Christ, or that we were to repent and pray or repent, confess, believe and pray to receive Christ in order to go to heaven! Well, what happens if we left out one of those steps when we thought we were being saved? What if we prayed to receive Christ, but failed to confess our sins -- are we still going to heaven? What if we committed a sin four years, three months, one day, six hours, thirty-two minutes and one-and-two-fifths-seconds before we prayed to receive Christ that we forget to confess when we were praying -- will that keep us from heaven? How is one to KNOW for SURE?!



So, we may ask, "What is the TRUTH about HOW to go to heaven -- I REALLY WANT TO KNOW BECAUSE I REALLY WANT TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "With today's conflicting, controversial or confusing ideas in even conservative Christian circles on what to do to have eternal life, what IS the TRUTH?! After all, we DO want to go to HEAVEN!"
  1. In writing 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Paul DEFINED the GOSPEL of SALVATION he initially proclaimed to his readers in order to correct an error that had arisen that undermined the Gospel:
    1. Some of the Corinthian believers to whom Paul wrote had come to deny belief in the resurrection of the physical body, 1 Cor. 15:12b.
    2. This denial came from the impact of Greek philosophy that held the body imprisoned the soul in weakness and sin, making death welcome and the resurrection offensive, Wycliffe Bible Com., 1971, p. 1255.
    3. However, the salvation GOSPEL itself by which one believes to be saved calls one to believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ as clarified in 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4, 11.
    4. So, in countering this denial of the resurrection in order to defend the Christian faith (1 Corinthians15:13-14), Paul reasserted the GOSPEL by REPEATING it in DETAIL in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 11!
  2. We thus VIEW that Gospel as DETAILED by Paul in this passage to DISCERN the TRUE WAY of SALVATION (as follows):
    1. The true Gospel reveals the need for man's sins to be judged by God in accord with the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures, 1 Cor. 15:3:
      1. Paul held the Gospel he first preached at Corinth regarded Christ's death for man's sins in accord with "the Scriptures," 1 Cor. 15:3.
      2. From Acts 18:1, 4-5, we find these Scriptures were the Hebrew Old Testament used in the synagogue at Corinth, and Isaiah 53:5, 10b in that work claims Messiah would die as man's sin offering!
      3. Thus, the true Gospel starts with the news that man is a sinner (Rom. 3:23) and deserves God's eternal judgment (Rom. 6:23)!
    2. The true Gospel then shows Christ died in our place for our sins according to the Old Testament Scriptures, 1 Cor. 15:3b; Isaiah 53:5.
    3. The true Gospel also holds man is to believe Christ actually died for our sins in keeping with the Old Testament, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 11:
      1. Paul's reference to Christ's burial in 1 Corinthians 15:4a is given to show He actually died in preparation for His true resurrection :
        1. John 19:34 reports that blood and "water" (clear fluid) escaped Christ's side when it was pierced on the cross.
        2. C. Truman Davis, M. D. in "The Crucifixion of Jesus," Arizona Medicine, March, 1965, p. 186 claimed this verse supplies " . . . rather conclusive post-mortem evidence that [Christ] died . . ."! (cited in Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense, p. 224)
      2. The claim that Christ truly died agrees with Isaiah 53:10 where Messiah was predicted to be made a sin offering, and sin offerings atoned by the death of the sacrificial animal involved, Lev. 4:1-4!
    4. Yet, the true Gospel also holds that Jesus bodily arose from the dead on the third day in accord with Old Testament Scriptures, 1 Cor. 15:4:
      1. The verb "rose" (KJV) ["was raised" NIV, ESV] in 1 Cor. 15:4, egaygertai, is in the perfect tense, so Christ "is still alive," U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966 ed., p. 612; Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn.
      2. The Old Testament at Isaiah 53:10 predicted this resurrection, saying God would prolong Messiah's days (in His resurrection) though that same Messiah had died as man's sin offering!
      3. Also, Old Testament Jonah's time of stay in the fish signified Messiah would arise on the third day, Mtt. 12:39-40; Jon. 1:17.
    5. The true Gospel reveals that, in accord with Old Testament Scripture, one is justified by faith alone in Christ, 1 Cor. 15:11; Eph. 2:8-9:
      1. Though Paul's main thesis in 1 Corinthians 15 was not that faith alone in Christ alone saves, in 1 Corinthians 15:1, 11, he does reveal his readers were saved by faith in the Gospel he preached!
      2. We are assured by Paul's note in Ephesians 2:8-10 that nothing besides faith in the Gospel had led God to save his readers!
      3. This truth is certified by Isaiah 53:11: it predicted that by knowing and so personally trusting in the Messiah, God will justify people, E. J. Young, Isaiah, v. III, 1974, p. 357. (cf. also Isaiah 55:1)
      4. Indeed, changing this Gospel by adding any kind of human merit or work to simple faith is so serious an offense that, in Galatians 1:8-9 (with 1:4 and 3:2-3), Paul announced it required the guilty to be excommunicated from the Church! (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Gal. 1:8)
Application: (1) To receive eternal life, may we simply trust in Christ alone and in His death as our Sinbearer before God and in His bodily resurrection to be saved. (2) Then, may we REST in this truth about our salvation as the TRUE way of salvation!

Lesson: The Bible's TRUE Gospel of salvation is the news that IF we believe alone in Christ alone and His death in our place as our substitute for our sin, and believe He bodily arose from the dead, God will justify us so that we will escape eternal hell and receive eternal life.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 What various versions of the Bible read at Ephesians 2:8-10 are quite revealing in reference to the means of salvation (as follows):

(1) One of our members gave me a copy of The New American Bible. Printed in 1986, it is authorized by the Board of Trustees of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and Approved by the Administrative Committee/Board of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the United States Catholic Conference. It is a Bible for Catholics, and its cover reads: "Official Catholic Bible."

If we turn to Ephesians 2:8-10 in that Bible, we see it reads: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them."

The Mormons now give out copies of the King James Version of the Bible, implying they believe it just like so many fundamentalist Christians do, so, let's recall what the King James says there (as follows): "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

From the Greek Testament, I would translate these verses to read: "For by grace are you once-for-all-been-saved ones through faith; and that [salvation] not out of yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not out of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works that God before prepared that we should walk in them." (Ibid., U. B. S. Greek N. T., p. 667)

So, regardless if we read the version promoted by the Roman Catholic Church, or by the Mormon Church and fundamentalist Christians or even if we read Pastor Don Shell's translation from the Greek New Testament text, clearly, Scripture reveals salvation is by faith alone in Christ and His death for our sin and His resurrection. Thus, the gospel that faith plus human merit via works like keeping the sacraments of the Catholic Church, or the gospel that faith plus baptism and good works of the Mormon Church or the gospel of faith plus a host of other confusing "dos" like confessing, praying, etc. that even fundamentalists have long taught are false gospels!

The BIBLE says it, we believe it, and that settles it!