The Power of the Gospel

Transcript

Good morning, if I’ve not had a chance to meet you. My name is Greg Taylor. I serve as one of the pastors here, and this morning we’re going to be continuing in our series in 1 Corinthians. And believe it or not, we’ve made it all the way to chapter 15, which is the longest chapter in the letter. But this morning we’re only going to look at the first 11 verses. It is simply an amazing text, and it is going to take us right into the heart of the gospel. And I don’t know about you, but I certainly need it, and I am really excited about digging into this with you this morning. So if you would open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I am going to read verses 1 through 11. If you don’t have a Bible, there should be one under the seat in front of you,

and you’ll find this text on page 903. And as you’re able, if you would please stand for the reading of the word of God. Hear now God’s word to you.

Now, I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of 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

— 1 Corinthians 15

(ESV)

. Unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered 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. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me

— 1 Corinthians 15

(ESV)

.

Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask for His help this morning. Our Father and our God, we humbly ask You to help us see the glorious truths found in Your Word this morning. Found in the gospel. May this encourage us and strengthen us in our faith.

Gospel Preaching

May this powerful word of salvation be effectual for anyone here this morning who is without Christ. And may You use it to save now. We ask all of this for Your glory and for our good. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Amen. Well, upon R.C. Sproul’s death in 2017, John MacArthur recounts the following story.

He says, during the controversy over evangelicals and Catholics together in the late 1990s, I participated in a private summit meeting in Florida where R.C. Sproul, D. James Kennedy, John Ankerberg, and myself met with Chuck Colson, J.I. Packer, and Bill Bright to express our concerns about the ecumenical drift of the ECT document. R.C. pointed out that the document’s discussion of justification by faith omitted the all-important word alone, the sola in sola fide. That’s Latin for faith alone. This was and always has been the central point of disagreement between Roman Catholics and Protestants. By deliberately omitting that word and acting as if it were a non-issue, Protestants who helped draft the ECT document were deliberately capitulating to the main Roman Catholic error and undermining the gospel. At one point, R.C. became so passionate in making his argument that he literally climbed onto the table, making his plea on his hands and knees from the tabletop until each person on the other side

had made direct eye contact with him. There wasn’t a hint of malice in the gesture, and everyone in the room understood that. The passion that motivated R.C. Sproul was his love of the gospel and his zeal for making sure that the message is proclaimed without compromise or confusion.

R.C. Sproul’s very good friend, James Montgomery Boyce—they are both in heaven together now—said the following. He said, The gospel is the old message that needs to be sounded forth once again from our pulpits and in our seminaries, a message of the incarnate Son of God, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, in order that he might bring many sons into glory. And, friends, this should be the desire of all of God’s people in every period of church history to see the gospel proclaimed. Trinity Church, from its beginning, has been about proclaiming the gospel, the biblical gospel, the hope that is found in Christ alone that sinners can be forgiven of their sins and have eternal life. This is why we place Christ’s gospel at the center of our services each week, that it may reach those who come to church here who are lost

when they hear the gospel preached. And for those who are in Christ, that it may remind you who you are, the centrality of your identity as one who is in union with Christ. Each generation has to contend for the gospel, preserve the gospel, and ours is no exception.

In our text this morning, we will see that Paul had to remind the Corinthians of the gospel and its core truths, which point to Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, based on historical facts from eyewitnesses and written down for us in scripture. And this not only reminds us what the gospel is, but that it must be preached until Christ returns. God uses preaching to spread his message of the good news of the gospel, to reach the lost, and then by his grace to bring the lost people into saving faith in the Lord Jesus. So let me ask you a question this morning. When was the last time you told someone about the good news of the gospel? Now for all of you parents here this morning who have children who are old enough to understand the things that you tell them, I hope that your answer is that you very

recently told them about the gospel and about Jesus, because that is your duty before God to be evangelizing your children, to be teaching them the things of God daily. And it is also all of our duties to be sharing the truth of the gospel with the lost people that we live around and come in contact with. I want to also ask you, when was the last time that you preached the gospel to yourself? This too is something we must do in order to keep ourselves firmly grounded in who we are in Christ.

You’ll see in our text this morning that the gospel is made up of the historical truths about Jesus dying to save sinners. It is primarily his death, burial, and resurrection. It has great power and it is salvific for all who believe. When accompanied by God’s grace, it is made effectual for salvation. And now to see this morning, I’ve divided our text up into four sections. This morning we’ll see gospel preaching, gospel effects, gospel facts, and we’ll close with gospel grace. So let’s look at our first section this morning, gospel preaching. Let’s read together verses 1, 2, and 11. Follow along with me. Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of 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. Look now at verse 11. Whether then it was I or they, so we

preach and so you believed. Paul starts by reminding them of the gospel that he preached to them and that they received the gospel. And despite the many, many issues that Paul was seeking to correct in them by writing this letter, he says, in which you stand. So they were still standing on the gospel when Paul wrote this first letter to them. Let’s take a little trip back to chapter 1 and let’s see what Paul began with when he opened this letter to the Corinthians back in chapter 1 verse 4. He said this to them, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking

in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord. So at the get-go, right out of the gate with the letter, Paul affirms the gospel’s acceptance and work in their lives through his preaching ministry to them.

Back in chapter 9 verse 16, Paul told them, for if I preach the gospel that gives me no ground for boasting, for necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I don’t preach the gospel. After his conversion, Paul’s entire life of ministry was one of preaching the gospel in far away places. He would then fulfill Matthew 28, 18, and 19 by teaching those people everything Christ commanded. This is how people come to believe in Jesus Christ. Someone preaches the truth of the gospel to them. Let’s look over for a minute at Romans chapter 10.

I’m going to start reading at verse 13 and go down through verse 17. Paul wrote this to the Romans. He said,

for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He’s quoting from the Old Testament book of Joel there. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us, here’s the key. Verse 17, so faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ

— Romans 10

(ESV)

. The gospel is preached to a person and God enables that person to hear and respond to the

truth. This is how it happened for the Corinthians and this is what Paul is pointing them back to. Look again at verse 11 at the end of it where he says, we preach and so you believed. This is the second of the two bookends. The first one was in verse 1 where he talks about preaching. This is the second one where he talks about preaching and he says that in verse 1 that they received the gospel. Here he says they believed the gospel and that’s the pattern and that’s the pattern, received and believed. Paul wants the Corinthians to know and he also wants us to know that the gospel that he preached is the same gospel as what the other apostles preached. That’s why he says here in verse 11, whether then it was I or they, they is referring to the other apostles. Now the gospel came from Jesus to the apostles and then to elders and

Gospel Effects

evangelists down through the millennia. It has all been written down for us in scripture and we like the Corinthians have received it and believed it because someone preached the good news to us just like it was preached to the Corinthians. Now let’s look at what happens when the gospel is preached in our next section, gospel effects. We’re going to look at verses 1 and 2 again. Now I would remind you brothers and sisters of 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. Now notice that the main effect of the gospel being preached is salvation. There’s a past tense to this. When they heard Paul preach they believed. Then there is a present tense to this at the end of verse 1 when he says in which you stand

to stand in the gospel is quite obviously to not fall. It is to continue on maintaining your witness for Christ no matter the cost. I think it’s a beautiful thing when we consider that Paul would write another letter to them second Corinthians and at the beginning of that letter in 124 he says to them for you stand firm in your faith. They are still believing the truth of the gospel when Paul writes the second letter to them. Now there’s also a future tense to being saved by which a person continues throughout their whole life and that is to hold fast to the word. The word there is shorthand for the gospel. The historic truths about the person and work of Christ which we’ll look at in a minute that brings a person safely to the end at home with the Lord. Paul is not unaware of the need to remind us that we too must continue

in the gospel continue standing and believing and holding fast. Now it’s interesting in this section he offers two warnings. Listen carefully to these. One is an if the other is an unless. In verse two he says by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed in vain. Paul often uses warnings. He’s done it several times already in this letter. The author of Hebrews uses a fair amount of warnings. Now we don’t know exactly what Paul might have been referring to here. It could have been that some of the people were straying away from their faith. It could have been that some of the facts about the gospel were getting twisted up and distorted and so he is reminding them of the truth the truths and the facts of the gospel. Listen to this quote from Tom Schreiner about warnings. He says this

warnings and admonitions are a constituent part of the Pauline gospel. Eschatological salvation and that’s just a fancy word that means at the end when it’s all finished at the end judgment day is conditioned on perseverance in the gospel. Paul never views faith as a static reality that cancels out the need for present and future faith. Get that it’s very important. If you’ve ever read the Pilgrim’s Progress and you think about how many characters John Bunyan wrote into that allegory that were actually people who believed in vain. They were false converts, worldly wise men, pliable, talkative, ignorance, formalist, hypocrisy. They all proved to have believed in vain. Hence the warnings that Paul is giving the Corinthians and us of if and unless.

The last effect in this text is in verse 11 so we preached and so you believed. The gospel affects people who come to believe its message not in vain but they believe in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. They have authentic faith, lasting faith, living faith and it is because the gospel has great power. Paul told the Romans I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Friends this is the power of the gospel in the present as you stand and in the future as you hold fast and continue to believe. Milton Vincent says this he says God did not give us his gospel just so we could embrace it and be converted. Actually he offers it to us every day as a gift that keeps on giving to us everything we need for life and godliness. The wise believer learns this truth early and becomes proficient in extracting available benefits from the gospel each day. We extract these benefits by being absorbed in the gospel speaking it to ourselves when necessary and by daring to reckon it true in all that we do. So let us be people who not only apply the gospel to stand but hold fast to this word which is based on undeniable facts which we’ll look at now in our next section gospel facts.

---

Gospel Facts

Let’s read verses 3, 4, and the first part of 5. For I delivered 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. So the four key facts that Paul states that are of first importance are Christ died, Christ was buried, Christ was raised, and Christ appeared. Now the two primary ways that those facts are substantiated first is in accordance with the scriptures. He says this twice once after he says Christ died for our sins and then again after he says that Christ was buried and raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Paul would have been referring to the old testament scriptures where God’s plan and promises find their fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus as proclaimed in the gospel.

Now let’s look at these four primary facts. The first one, Christ died. This is the centrality of the gospel that Jesus Christ died for our sins. This is what Paul meant earlier when he said that he preached Christ and him crucified. When Charles Spurgeon lay on his deathbed, he testified to a friend. He said my theology now is found in four little words. Jesus died for me. He said I don’t say this is all I would preach if I were to be raised up to good health again, but it is more than enough for me to die upon. But it is more than enough for me to die upon.

Now the second fact is that Christ was buried. This is the fact that he was truly dead. Believe it or not there’s people that dispute that and believe in a crazy thing called the swoon theory which I won’t go into. There’ll be time for that later in this chapter because there is a definite finality to somebody being buried. Pretty much proves they’re dead. We read about this in the gospels in Luke 23. Luke records this for us. In verse 50 he says, now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man who had not consented to their decision and action and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone

where no one had ever yet been laid. The fact is Jesus really died and was really buried. So the third fact, it is that Christ was raised on the third day. Now this is the first reference in our chapter to the resurrection which this chapter will talk a lot more about in the coming weeks as we go through it. The crowning glory of the gospel, as one commentator puts it, the resurrection is God’s receipt to us that our sins have been paid in full.

We no longer owe a debt for our sin. The verb tense for raised indicates to us that Christ is risen and will always be the risen Lord. Jesus actually predicted all of this several times to the disciples which was always very confusing to them. They didn’t get it until the end. In Matthew 17 he said to them, the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day and they were greatly distressed. Can you imagine, you follow Jesus around for a couple of years and now he’s telling you this and then you actually go on to see it play itself out in real time. He gets crucified before them.

In Psalm 16 David writes about the Messiah. He says, for you will not abandon my soul to sheol or let your holy one see corruption because God’s plan all along was to raise his son back to life after he died for his people.

So look at the fourth fact now which follows right on the heels of the third and it is that Christ appeared. He not only was raised but he appeared. Let’s read verses five through eight here. And that he appeared to Cephas, that’s Peter, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than 500 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. Now this shows us the second way these facts are substantiated and it is by eyewitnesses seeing Christ’s appearances. Paul says he appeared and then reels off six instances. It’s not all of them but he reels off six instances of Christ’s appearing after his resurrection. So in the same way his burial proved he was actually dead,

these post-resurrection appearances prove he was actually raised back to life by the father. And friends these appearances are compelling evidences of truth. Let me tell you how compelling they are. Simon Greenleaf was a law professor at Harvard in the 18th century. He was a renowned legal scholar. He was an avowed atheist. He believed the resurrection of Jesus was nothing more than a legend. After being challenged by some of his students he began to look into the claims of the gospel and scripture and he concluded that everything written about Christ was in fact true. He went on to reject his atheism, was converted, and became one of the most influential thinkers and developers of Christian apologetics in that century.

I’m going to read to you a quote at the risk of boring you terribly because Simon Greenleaf was not only very smart but he wrote in a style of English that we don’t use today. I want you to listen to this. I think it will be helpful. He said their master had recently perished as a malefactor. He’s talking about the disciples. By the sentence of a public tribunal the fashion of the world was against them. They could expect nothing but contempt, opposition, revilings, bitter persecutions, stripes, imprisonments, torment, and cruel death. Yet this faith that they zealously did propagate and all these miseries they endured as one after another was put to a miserable death, the survivors only prosecuted their work with increased vigor and resolution. They had every possible motive to review carefully the grounds of their faith and the evidences of the great facts and truths which they asserted and these motives were pressed upon their attention

with the most melancholy and terrific frequency. It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths that they had narrated had not Jesus actually risen from the dead and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact. That’s hard to understand because of the way he writes but that is one of the most powerful quotes that I’ve ever read about the evidences of the appearances of Christ that prove that he was really raised from the dead and these are the gospel facts that buttress our faith in Christ as the promised Messiah who became incarnate to live as a man to die for the sins of his people to be buried and then to be raised on the third day and to appear to many as proof of his resurrection and fulfillment of God’s promised redemptive plan and that leads us

Gospel Grace

to the grace that brought all of us to faith in him. So let’s look at this last section gospel grace. Let’s read verses 9 and 10. For I am the least of the apostles unworthy 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 on the contrary I worked harder than any of them though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me. Paul considered himself to be an unworthy apostle because at one time he persecuted the church of God. Paul first shows up in our Bible in Acts 7 and this is an amazing chapter that introduces us to Stephen man who would go on to become the first Christian martyr and Stephen confronts the Jewish leaders in fact he confronts the high priest himself

with the claims the truth claims that Jesus is their long-awaited Messiah and they refuse to hear him especially after he calls them stiff-necked people they rush upon Stephen and stone him to death so let’s pick up the story at the end look with me at Acts 7 58 then they cast him that Stephen out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul continued on to 8-1 and Saul approved of his execution and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him but Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison

but Saul—who would later become Paul (God sometimes changes the names of his people after he saves them)— was confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus where he was on his way to further ravage God’s people in the church in Acts 9 Jesus said this about Paul he said he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name our culture often speaks of people who have made a radical change from one way of life to another as having had a Damascus road experience. If ever there was a man that the Lord took and radically changed him to then use powerfully Paul seems to be the quintessential example in verse 10 Paul attributes his salvation in his life of ministry to the grace of God

he said by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace toward me was not in vain on the contrary I worked harder than all of them though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me in Acts chapter 20 Paul gives this incredible summation of his ministry to the Ephesian elders and I’m not going to read the whole thing but I think it’s worth our time to go look at a little bit of it because it really helps us understand Paul better he says the following in Acts 20 starting in verse 17 Luke recounts this story for us so well he says now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him and when they came to him he said to them you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole

time from the first day that I set foot in Asia serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and now behold I’m going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit not knowing what will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God I love this man

Paul became the recipient of the grace of God through the very gospel he would later go on to preach and refer to as the gospel of grace John Newton was also a man who knew something of God’s grace he was once the captain of a ship that carried slaves from West Africa to the West Indies he was converted by God’s grace through the preaching of the gospel having had his own Damascus road experience while aboard a ship in a storm he would go on to become an abolitionist an Anglican priest and a great hymn writer he wrote one of the most beloved hymns of all time amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I’m found was blind but now I see and friends it is God’s grace that has saved you and me through the preaching of the

Living the Gospel

gospel and it will be God’s grace that sustains you and me as we walk through this crooked and perverse generation so how is it that we live this out how do we stand on the gospel as Paul said the Corinthians were doing well first I need to ask you have you received the gospel and are you believing it are you trusting in Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins

because if not that’s where you need to start you must know that having your sins forgiven by God through Christ is the single greatest need you have as a human living on planet earth there is nothing more important nothing more important to settle than that if you have questions about what that means how to become a Christian you’re welcome to come after the service and speak with myself you could ask anyone almost in this sanctuary I’m sure and they would be delighted to speak with you about this risen Lord Jesus who died for our sins was buried was raised on the third day and who appeared

now if you’re here this morning and you’re a believer I’m so thankful and now it is my duty to exhort you to receive teaching and preaching that can often provoke corrections that you need to make and remember even though the Corinthians were commended for standing and believing on the gospel they had many areas of their Christian lives that were not right

primarily they needed to grow into maturity because they were big babies—we heard that in the early part of this series. I think one of the sermons was called ‘Big Babies.’ but one of the ways you grow as a Christian is by sitting under preaching in the Westminster Shorter Catechism question 90 asks this question says how is the word to be read and heard that it may become effectual for salvation answer that the word may become effectual to salvation we must attend to it with diligence preparation and prayer receive it with faith and love lay it up in our hearts and practice it in our lives that’s one of the things that preaching seeks to do friends allowing the word to have its place in your life will then help you to grow into spiritual maturity which Paul told the Ephesians grow up in every way into him who is the head into

Christ you might remember back in chapter 7 Paul told the Corinthians that the appointed time has grown very short that’s what time it is the time is short James says our life is a vapor it is very small in the big picture you cannot be playing at church you must be serious you must participate you must give and count the cost and serve and for those of you here this morning who are at a higher level of Christian maturity it is your responsibility to help to see others grow in Christ and into maturity through discipleship get some of those young folks who aren’t quite sure what they’re doing and bring them along disciple them fourthly you must preach the gospel first to yourself every day you need to be reminded of your identity in Christ read another quote to you from Milton Vincent he wrote a little book called the gospel primer

this is from that book he says over the course of time preaching the gospel to myself every day has made more of a difference in my life than any other discipline I’ve ever practiced I find myself sinning less but just as importantly I find myself recovering my footing more quickly after sinning due to the immediate comfort found in the gospel I have also found that when I am absorbed in the gospel everything else I am supposed to be toward God and others seems to flow out of me more naturally and passionately doing right is not always easy but it is never more easy than when one is breathing deeply the atmosphere of the gospel when you yourself are grounded like that in the gospel that will enable you to then preach the gospel to others seek out conversations with people that you know who are lost

one of the ways you can do that is just start by telling people how Christ has worked in your life and how there is this free gift that you received that’s available to them as well—this free gift that you received the forgiveness of their sins invite them to church

for the majority of you parents out there you have little humans living in your home many of whom do not yet know Christ it is your duty and obligation before Almighty God to be raising those children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord lastly you need to draw near to the Lord constantly abide in Him like the catechism question we just read we do this primarily through his word and prayer the gospel is all through scripture two of the eyewitnesses who saw the risen Lord Jesus had a most wonderful and amazing encounter with Him I think this is one of my favorite narratives in all of the New Testament

Luke records it for us starting in 24 13. That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem and they were talking with each other about these things that had happened and while they were talking and discussing together Jesus himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him and he said to them what is this conversation that you were holding with each other as you walk they stood still looking sad then one of them named Cleopas answered him are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days Jesus said to them what things they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth a man who was mighty prophet indeed and word before God and all the people our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him

but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel yes and besides all this it is now the third day since these things happened moreover some women of our company amazed us they were at the tomb early in the morning and when they did not find his body they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said he was alive some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said but him they did not see Jesus said to them oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them all the scriptures the things concerning himself so they drew near to the village to which they were going he acted

as if he were going further but they urged him strongly saying stay with us for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent so he went in to stay with them and when he was at table with them he took the bread blessed and broke it and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight they said to each other did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road while he opened to us the scriptures and they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem and they found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together saying the Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the

bread now if you’re wondering why I just read this lengthy story on the risen Lord Jesus on the Emmaus Road it is because Paul told the Corinthians the four facts of the gospel that were of first importance and he used the scriptures and the appearances of Jesus as the two primary things that substantiate these truths Jesus points these men on the Emmaus Road to the Old Testament scriptures to teach them the things concerning himself as it relates to the gospel truths as they were literally happening in real time

we have the completed New Testament Gospels and Acts as well as the eyewitnesses to Christ after he had risen as well as all the things that make up the Gospels it’s all written down for us those guys on the road to Emmaus didn’t have that and friends Jesus is known to us we are known to him and one of the very best places that you can spend time with him and get to know him better is right in his word everything written down in our Bibles is ultimately pointing to God’s redemptive plan fulfilled in Christ meditate on the gospel truths and let the power that it possesses through the Holy Spirit working in you keep you holding fast the word

Jesus is worthy he is holy he is right now seated at the right hand of the father interceding for you and he will someday return and we will forever be with the Lord and it will be so glorious words cannot tell of it Paul has reminded us this morning of the gospel and its core truths of Jesus’s death burial and resurrection based on historical facts from eyewitnesses written down for us in scripture and this not only reminds us what the gospel is but that it must be contended for and it must be preached until Christ returns until Christ returns

oh that God would keep all of us faithful to his gospel standing on his word and sharing it with the people who desperately need it let’s pray our father and our God we are so thankful to you that the gospel has been made clear to us once again we need its truth and power to be brought to bear on our lives by the Holy Spirit working in us daily

help us and guide all of us in this church to stand on the gospel to hold fast to it to keep believing in the Lord Jesus and all he has done to save us and to be faithful to his word God help us to be your ambassadors to take this message to the people in our lives who do not know Christ thank you that we have your sure and reliable word and the indwelling Holy Spirit to provide us everything pertaining to life and godliness we ask you for your help and your blessing to continue worshiping this morning and that we will live worshipful lives throughout this coming week and throughout our entire lives we commit all this and pray this to you in the name of your son our savior Jesus Christ amen