EASTER FESTIVAL – April 4, 2021 – 1 Cor. 15:1-11
“THE SIMPLE GOOD NEWS”
Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from 1 Cor. 15. We begin with prayer
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- The message of the Gospel is relatively simple. However, it is the greatest good news that any human being can ever hear. Now, it might not seem so great when we first hear it. But if we take life seriously, including the horrid reality of our sin, the gospel gets better and better. Finally, if we are honest as we go through life, the gospel is the best thing we can have. This is why Paul refers to the gospel as “of first importance.”
- It doesn’t start out with victory, but rather the dark and dismal path of the cross, death, and burial. But it results in resurrection for Christ, His glorification and ascension, and His glorious return on the Last Day. Then comes our resurrection and glorification as well.
- This is what we celebrate on Easter, and every Sunday when Christ’s church gathers for worship. We celebrate in the face of horrid sin, mass murders, wars, sexual perversions, illnesses, accidents, injuries, pain, suffering, aging, and death – precisely because of the joy of Christ’s resurrection victory. It signals how the story of human history ends, with joy and resolution, not despair and destruction.
- In the face of human suffering, no mere human being would have the audacity of inventing the gospel. In fact, forgiveness is in many respects contrary to our natural thinking. How hard it is, so very often, to forgive. So the adage: “To err is human; to forgive is Divine.” So the gospel is of Divine origin, as Paul puts it: “I delivered to you . . . what I also received.”
- Everything was done “in accordance with the Scriptures.” It was planned long before it happened, it was predicted long before it happened, and it came to pass exactly as described centuries prior. Why? So that all would know that this is God’s thing, God’s doing, God’s loving plan for us!
I. The Simple Good News Is That Christ Died For Our Sins
Text: “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins.”
A. He Died Just As The Scripture Teaches And Describes
Text: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.”
1 Pet. 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”
1 John 2:2 “He is the blood atonement for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Is. 53:5,6 ”But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
B. Jesus Was Buried, But Rose Again Just As Scripture Teaches And Describes
Text: “Christ died for our sin in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
Is. 53:9 “And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth.”
Psalm 16:8-10 “I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your Holy One see corruption.”
C. His Resurrection Had Numerous Human Witnesses
Text: “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.”
Is. 53:10 “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.”
Statement: Our sins have been taken away from us by Christ. He died for them in our place, under God’s wrath and punishment, on the cross. He suffered forsakenness of God, the torments of hell and eternal punishment. Now “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” [Eph. 1:7] And though He died and was buried, nonetheless on the third day He rose again from the dead. He now lives and reigns eternally. And we shall live forever too, we who believe in Him, for He assures us: “He that believes the Son has everlasting life. . . . I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, even though he die, yet shall he live.” [Jn. 3:36; Jn. 11:25]
Application: It is all fairly simple and straightforward, although God’s love for us is very deep. And it truly is gospel, all good news. Having forgiveness means having peace with God. Having forgiveness means there is nothing to keep us from eternal life with God. You remember the thief next to Jesus who confessed his sin and his faith in Jesus. Jesus assured him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” [Lk. 23:43] Jesus assures us: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.” [Jn. 14:2,3] And so:
II. This Reality – The Gospel – Is Everything To Us
A. It Is The Means By Which We Stand
Text: “The gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand.”
B. The Gospel Is The Means By Which We Are Saved
Text: “The gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the Word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.”
C. The Gospel Is How We Come To Faith And Eternal Life – The Gospel Preached
Text: “If you hold fast to the Word I preached to you. . . . Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”
Rom. 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.”
1 Pet. 1:23 “You were born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed, by the Word of God that lives and abides forever.”
Rom. 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.”
Statement: How can we not have courage and confidence if we know God’s love for us and that He has saved us from all sin, guilt, and condemnation? How can we not draw near to Him with utter gratitude when we hear that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” [2 Cor. 5:19] So as Paul concludes: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Rom. 5:1]
Application: And if God is reconciled to us, having taken away all of our sin and guilt, we can be reconciled to Him through faith! And if God is for us in this way, who can possibly succeed in being against us? It is as the apostle reminds us: “Not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword; not death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Rom. 8:35-39]
Conclusion: So you can see why “this is of first importance.” The gospel – the message and the reality of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus – is the means by which we are saved, brought to faith, and stand our ground through all of life, and also in the face of death.
With the apostle we assert: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.” We too can confess to being poor, miserable sinners, but we are also “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God foreordained that we should be walking in them.” [Eph 2:10] And when we are finished in this life we too shall hear the commendation of Jesus: “Well done, good and faithful servant . . . enter into the joy of your Master.” [Matt. 25:21]
Then it will also be true of us: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yes says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.” [Rev. 14:13]
“THE SIMPLE GOOD NEWS” is the greatest news any human being can receive – thanks and praise be to God, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.