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1 Corinthians 15:1-18 Now, brothers, I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which you have received, and in which you stand. 2 Through it you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 was buried, rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and was seen by Cephas, and then by the twelve. 6 Then He was seen by over five hundred brothers at once, of whom the greater part remain to this present time, though some have passed away. 7 Then He was seen by James and then by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, He was seen by me also, as by one born at the wrong time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles and am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. And His grace toward me was not in vain.
The Gospel is based not on emotions, a set of opinions, not a system of ideas, or moral principles. The Gospel is based on three facts that we find in 1 Corinthians 15.
VS 1- I declare to you the Gospel
VS 3- Christ died for our sins
VS 4- Christ was buried
VS 4- Christ rose again on the third day
Without Jesus, there is no gospel. The Christian faith is completely different from every other faith/religion today because of a couple of things.
-It’s not based upon rules (not what you can do to please God), it’s all about what God
has done for you.
-It is not a religion (religion is our attempt to reach God), but it’s about a relationship
with God that He has made available to us.
-In that relationship, God is coming and living within us and making us a brand new
person, and we are made into brand new people (old, sin is gone). He takes our old life
and gives us His life.
-All that is required is faith (believing, confessing) - Romans 10:9 - if you confess with
your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved
-It's founded entirely in the person of Jesus Christ.
In other religions, you may have a teacher who gives forth moral teaching, religious ideas, or a system of ideas.
Jesus didn’t just merely give teach the truths, but the entire Gospel is centered in him. It’s in His life, death, and resurrection that the whole of the Gospel is founded on. In other religions, you can remove the teacher and still have the teachings in place. That is why you can find some of the religious founders' tombs that our world has seen and still see that religion in existence today.
But you can’t take away Jesus. You can’t take away what He has done. Everything He taught revolved around what He was going to accomplish on the cross.
Everything He promised, including abundant life, and salvation was centered in not only what He said but what He did and would do. If the events didn’t happen, then you can’t have the Gospel.
If He only died and was buried, then as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14 – then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain (useless, pointless) and we are miserable (VS 19) ... Jesus had to die for our sins, He had to buried, and He had to rise again for the Gospel to be valid.
The question is how do we know it’s true? Paul, in this passage from Corinthians, outlines three sources of confirmation or proof. From verses 5 to 10 we find the first two.
VS 5-6 - Many Reliable Witnesses - 5 and was seen by Cephas, and then by the twelve. Then He was seen by over five hundred brothers at once (Acts 1)
VS 9-10 - It is verified in personal experience. - 9 For I am the least of the apostles and am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. And His grace toward me was not in vain.
As experienced by Paul, the Gospel declares in those who believe (the three facts and believe in and adhere to the teachings outlined) … there will produce in those persons a supernatural powerful experience and change that could not be generated by any other mechanism.
The third proof is the highlight of this post.
VS 3-4 – According To The Scriptures - 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 was buried, rose again the third day according to the Scriptures
In the life of Christ, the Old Testament (OT) prophetic scriptures (remember Paul is talking about the OT because the New Testament didn’t yet exist) had to be fulfilled which not only verifies that Jesus is the Savior but also confirms the accuracy and truth of the Bible.
We see in the OT (hundreds and even thousands of years before Jesus came) prophets (called by God) prophesied (predicted) many of the events in the life of Jesus with 100% accuracy.
Examples:
-Micah (500 years) said that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
-Zechariah (500 years) said that Jesus would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey and the
colt of a donkey.
-Isaiah (700 years) said the Jesus would be born to virgin.
These had to happen in the life of the Messiah according to the scriptures, which were fulfilled by Jesus. It was the same for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
1 Peter 1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that should come to you have inquired and searched diligently, 11 seeking the events and time the Spirit of Christ, who was within them, signified when He foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, concerning the things which are now reported to you by those who have preached the Gospel to you through the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven—things into which the angels desire to look.
The good news of salvation was the theme of many OT prophets. The OT prophets predicted this grace that was going to come by what Jesus did. It is incredible to think that God had prepared all this for us. God loved us so much that He had this all pre-established (see Ephesians 1 - it was all planned) because God wanted to make way for us to have a relationship with Him.
He began to reveal this plan to the OT prophets by working in them through the Spirt of Christ VS 11 (through the Holy Spirit). According to 1 Peter, the Holy Spirit revealed or spoke of two things concerning Christ the Messiah: the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow out of His sufferings.
Jesus said about the Holy Spirit - John 15:26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me.
The Holy Spirit bore witness to the OT prophets (told of the things) that Jesus would suffer and the glories that would come out of His sufferings.
It is incredible to understand detailed the plan of God is. How everything God did, how everything Jesus did was intentional, and because of it, we can have complete confidence and faith in what the Bible says, and what Jesus did for us.
The following section will outline some of those prophecies from the OT, specific to the cross, and see how they were given and how they were accomplished in the life of Jesus
1- The Rejection of Jesus by the Jewish People
Isaiah 53:1 & 3 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 3 He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we did not esteem him.
John 12:37-38 - The unbelief of the Jews - 37 Though He had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe in Him. 38 This fulfilled the word spoken by Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
2- Jesus Was Silent Before His Accusers
Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
Mark 15:5 But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate was astonished.
Notice in some of the prophecies that the prophet is speaking in the first person. The first person is with the I/me perspective. Meaning the things they are writing is like it is happening to them (autobiography in a sense). Yet if you look at what is written and you examine the person writing it, you will see that the events they are describing (in many cases) never took place in their life. The reason is the Spirit of Christ was speaking and writing through them about events that were going to happen to Jesus.
We find this as we look into this next truth that was written by David.
3- The Soldiers Divided His Garments and Cast Lots for His Clothing
Psalm 22:17-18 I can count all my bones; they look and stare on me. They part my garments among them and cast lots for my clothes. We never see this in the life of David because it is not talking about Him.
John 19:23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took His garments and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier; and also His tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven from top to bottom.
4- Not One Of His Bones Would Be Broken
Numbers 9:12 They will leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they will keep it.
John 19:31-37 Since it was the Day of Preparation, to prevent bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 Therefore the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they did not break His legs.
5- They Would Pierce His Hands And Feet
Psalm 22:16 For dogs have encompassed me; the assembly of the wicked has enclosed me; like a lion they pin my hands and my feet;
Remember doubting Thomas – John 20:25 - Unless I see the nail prints in His hands, and put my finger in the nail prints
Jesus revealing Himself to the disciples after He rose again - Luke 24:39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Feel Me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
6- He Would Be Whipped/Scourged
Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.
John 19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged Him.
7- The Would Offer Him Vinegar (Sour Wine) To Drink
Psalm 69:21 They also gave me poison (gall) for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Matthew 27:34 they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He tasted it, He would not drink it. VS 48 Immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with wine, and put it on a stick, and gave it to Him to drink.
Gall was a bitter and likely poisonous substance that might have acted as a sedative in small quantities. Jesus did not take it because He had to suffer as our Substitute in full consciousness.
8- Jesus Will Die As A Sacrifice For Our Sins (Glories)
The Bible says for the Joy that was Set Before Him – He endured the Cross
Isaiah 53:5-6 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
VS 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was struck.
VS 12 Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, thus he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
1 Peter 2:24 He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. “By His wounds you were healed.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
9- Jesus Was Buried In A Rich Man's Tomb
Isaiah 53:9 His grave was assigned with the wicked, yet with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
It was planned for Him to be buried with the criminals, but God overruled, and He was with the rich at His death.
Matthew 27:57-60 When the evening came, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out of the rock. And he rolled a large stone to the door of the tomb and departed.
10- Raised from the Dead
Psalm 16:10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You suffer Your godly one to see corruption.
Matthew 28:5-6 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid. For I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
11- Christ Would Be Seated At The Right Hand Of God (Glories)
Psalm 110:1 The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
Hebrews 10:12-13 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He has been waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.
Closing
Jesus is the Saviour we can trust in. He came to give us life and so that we might not perish.
John 10:10 The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
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