First Corinthians 15. Off they go. First Corinthians 15, we'll begin reading in verse one. We're doing a series on know what you believe. Is it important that we know what we believe?

Yes. It is. And we need to be growing constantly in that, becoming better acquainted with the word of God, with our our faith so that the Holy Spirit can direct our steps and use us to tell others about the faith and the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. There are a lot of false teachers, we're looking into some of that in Sunday school over the next few weeks, that are deceiving many. Some who grew up in Baptist churches who did not know what they believed or why they believed it.

In any study on what we believe, this message this morning is obviously key because our faith is not in a church, a denomination, a doctrinal statement. Our faith is in a person. That person is Jesus Christ, our savior. He is under attack in the world in which we live. His identity as the son of God, his deity as equal with the father, his virgin birth, his resurrection from the grave, they're all under attack, not so much without the church as sadly within the church.

Praise God, not our church, but many churches and many schools today. It is vital that we know what we believe and what the Bible teaches about the son of God in whom we have put our faith and trust to guide us into eternity. In first Corinthians 15, Paul is discussing this very issue. We if we had time, we'd read the whole chapter. We won't do so this morning, but we'll just begin with the first few verses.

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, that he was seen of Cephas, and that would be Peter, and then of the 12. After that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James, and then of all the apostles, and last of all, he was seen of me also, as one born out of due time. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for our risen savior. Lord, thank you that we don't need to wait for Easter to come around to celebrate our risen savior. That we can celebrate you every day, every Sunday here together, and every day as we open our eyes and look to you in prayer and hope and faith to the one who is seated at the right hand of the father for us. Lord, I pray that you would be magnified this morning in your word, that you would stir our hearts, draw us ever closer to you. And if there be one here today that has not yet received Christ as Lord and Savior of their life today, may today be their day of salvation.

Amen. The foundation of our faith is found in a person, and that person is who? Jesus Christ. It says in first Corinthians three eleven, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, is Jesus Christ. The foundation of what?

The foundation of all that we believe. The foundation of our doctrine, our faith, our salvation. There is only one foundation. There is only one person in whom we must put our faith, only only Jesus Christ. In Ephesians two twenty, he is called the head of the corner and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. He is the the key, the foundation, the one stone upon which everything else, the church, not the building, but the people are built. His congregation to bring glory to him. He is the chief cornerstone to which everything is connected and which if it were taken out of the way, everything would what? Everything would fall because it is dependent upon him.

First Peter two six says, wherefore also it is contained in scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. In Matthew sixteen sixteen through 18, we read this. And Simon answered what what was he answering? Jesus Christ says, who do you who do men say that I am? And they said, well, some people say you're John or Elijah or some great prophet.

And Jesus said, who do you think that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the what? The Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel, the king of kings and Lord of lords. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. To which Christ responded, and I say also unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Sadly, many have taken this verse misinterpreted to mean that Christ was building his church on Peter. That is not what this verse tells us. He is building his church upon the confession of Peter. And what confession is that? That Jesus is the what?

The Christ, the son of the living God. Peter is not the cornerstone. Who is? Jesus. Peter is not the foundation who is.

Jesus. Jesus who is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies. Jesus who is the son of God alone and Jesus who is the redeemer of us today, who is building his church, not of stone, but of every born again believer in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way to the father, the only way to heaven. Jesus saith unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh to the father but by me. Jesus declared clearly, emphatically, there is only one way to heaven, and that is through Jesus. If you try to get to heaven any other way, you will not get there. It is a false way. It is part of the broad way that leads to destruction.

There is one narrow way, and that is that is Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. It says in Acts four twelve, neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Buddha, Muhammad, whatever name you want to put in there, there's only one by which you can get to heaven, and that's Jesus alone. For he is the only son of God who died on the cross for sins and rose again from the what?

From the dead. No other name. So who is he? And why should I put all my faith in him? All my eggs in one basket.

Because that's what he is asking. He is asking that we put all of our eggs, all of our hope, all of our faith to get to heaven, forgiveness from sins and eternal life, and peace with God in one basket. And that basket is who? That is Jesus Christ alone. Why should I place my life and eternity in his hands?

What can he do for me? Well, we start out this morning by ask asking the question and answering, who is Jesus? Who is this Jesus that I should put all of my faith in? Well, first of all, he is God. He is God.

Thomas confessed in John 20. He said, upon seeing Jesus after his resurrection, my Lord and my God. He is God and the son of God. If you have a child, what is that child? Human because you're what?

Human. Jesus is the son of God. He is also the second person of the trinity. But as the son of God, he is God. As the son of deity, he is what?

He is deity. Just as you have a child, he is what? He is human. The unique thing about Jesus is he's with both God and man, both the son of God and the son of man. And that's what he became for us that we might be saved.

For he had to become one of us to take our our place and to take our penalty on the cross. But it does not make him any less God than God the Father or God the Holy Spirit. He is the all powerful, mighty God, as Isaiah says, when foretelling of his coming. A child is born, a son is given. His name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty one.

The mighty God. He is the all loving creator of all that is. We'll look in John one in just a moment. Not just in John one, but in several other passages in the New Testament, it declares plainly that Jesus is our what? He is our creator.

He is the king of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Jews promised messiah. He is the only savior of the world. He was born of a virgin. The only person in this world ever born of a virgin without a human father as foretold in Isaiah seven fourteen.

Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. How will you know? This is how you'll know. The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.

Two things in that verse are vitally important. Number one, Jesus fulfilled that unique prophecy. Only one born of a virgin so that we might know he is the true Messiah and savior. Number two, his name shall be called what? Emmanuel in this verse.

Why? Why not Jesus? Why Emmanuel? Because it's not giving us his his name that everybody called him. It's telling us who he who he is.

The word Emmanuel means God with us. He is God with us. Not less than God, not sort of God, not but actually God in human flesh. God with us. Born of a virgin.

He was born. Why? He came. Why? To save his people from their what?

From their sins. That's why he came. The name Jesus, that's what it means. The Lord is salvation. The word save means to rescue or to deliver.

What is it that that all humanity, not just the Jews, all humanity needed to be delivered from? Sin and hell, the lake of fire. Why did Jesus come to deliver us from that terrible fate that was ours due to to our sin? He came to save us from our sins. That's why he put on human flesh.

He existed before he was born in Bethlehem. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son. Sent him from where? From heaven. John one third one, three, and 14.

In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And the word was made what? Flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory. The glory is the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. Who is the word? The word is Jesus, the son of God, who was there when the world was made and took part in it. Everything was made by him.

He was not only with God, but he he was and is God. And he became what? He became flesh. He didn't begin on the day of his birth. He came to earth and became a man on the day of his birth.

In Philippians two, we read, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, what that means, was God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God because he was, but took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he became obedient unto death even the death of the what? Of the cross. He was with God, the father in heaven, and he left and he became a man for us. When asked about who he was in John eight fifty eight, he says, before Abraham was, I am. What is he doing?

He's referring back to Exodus chapter three where Moses asked and said, who should I tell them sent me? And God said, tell them I am that I am has sent thee. Jesus is saying, I am that same person. I am that I am. In John 14 in John ten thirty, he says, I and my father are are one.

In John fourteen nine, he says, if you've seen me, then you've seen who? You've seen the father because we're we're one and the same. We're just alike. And in Matthew sixteen sixteen, Peter confessed, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Christ means Messiah.

Peter was confessing, you are the promised one. You are the son of the living God. Come to take away our sins. Sadly, most of the Jews weren't looking for deliverance from sin, they were looking for deliverance from Caesar, and they missed it. Praise God.

He came unto his own. His own received him not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. Who is he? He's God, the son of God, come from heaven, become a man to die in our place. That's who he is.

And what did he do? Now some of these kind of already these dovetail with one another. So pardon me if I repeat myself a little bit, but our faith, what we believe, first of all, has to do with who Jesus is, but also has to do with what he did. What did he do? What is he doing?

What is he yet to do? Let's start with with what he did. What did he do? Well, he obeyed the will of the father. He left heaven.

He became obedient to the will of the father, became a man. John six thirty eight, he says, lo, for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me. And he obeyed even to the what? To the death of the cross. He said, let, he said, thy will be what?

Thy will be done. Now he was agonizing right before the cross because he knew what was coming. And he's but yet he said, let thy will be done. And he was obedient even to the death of the cross. What did he do?

Well, he chose and trained 12 to follow in his footsteps to set the church on a sure foundation. That foundation being him, For he spent three years with them teaching them and showing them who he was that they might in turn point others to Jesus. He healed the sick and the lame, the blind, the deaf and the dumb, the paralyzed whom he also forgave his sins. The woman with the issue of blood, the lepers because not only did he demonstrate his power as the Messiah and son of the living God, but also that he was a man and a God of compassion. He fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish because he was a God of compassion.

He spoke to the woman at the well because he is a God of compassion as well as power. He calmed the sea in Mark four twenty nine. He rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace be still, and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He walked on the water. He raised the dead, at least three that are mentioned in scripture, Jairus' daughter, Lazarus, and the widow's son.

He preached repentance and deliverance from sin. Unless ye repent, you shall all likewise perish. What was that message? Turn from your sin to the savior. Receive the Messiah that God has sent.

Some did not repent until the day of Pentecost. Praise God, some did. And 3,000 souls were saved. But Jesus began to teach even then. He came to seek and to save that which was what?

Lost. We tend to be drawn to those who know who they are, who have it all together, who are profitable to us, who we can have something in common with. Jesus Christ didn't come to seek and to save those who were who already found. He came to seek and to save those who were what? Lost.

And praise God he did because really all were lost without him. Luke nineteen ten, for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Like the one lost sheep that the shepherd leaves, the 99 safe in the fold to go after. The the lost coin that the housewife searched diligently for until she found it. We are the lost sheep and we are that lost coin which Jesus spared no expense to find and to save.

He left heaven. He became a man and he died on a what? And he died on a cross to pay our penalty. He spared no expense. That's what he did to save us from death and hell, to save us from ourselves, to save us from eternal slavery to sin.

For the wages of sin is what? Death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. He died on the cross for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. Isaiah 56 fifty three five and six. Isaiah wrote before the birth of Jesus, but he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah prophesied that ahead of time because God told him.

And then Jesus came. He came to save his people from their what? From their sins. First Peter three eighteen, Peter writes, for Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he being just and we being the what? The unjust.

That he might bring us to God because we were separated by what? By sin. Being put to death in the flesh but quickened or made alive again by the spirit. In first John two two, it says, and he is the propitiation, the payment for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. That whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be, what?

Shall be saved. But only Jesus died for their sins. Only Jesus is son of God come from heaven. Only Jesus is the redeemer and mediator who can save your soul. Not for a cause did he die, not for religion, not for a way of life, not for a delusion, not for breaking the law, not for blasphemy or hatred of the Jews.

He died on that cross willingly to pay for our sins, to pay for my sin. He suffered there to pay our debt. Who else did that? No one. Only who?

Only Jesus could and only Jesus did. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by him. And how do we know that that's what he did? He did something else nobody has ever done.

He rose again from the dead. That's why Paul writes in Romans ten nine that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath, what? Raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Why? Because his resurrection proved that he was who he said he was.

His resurrection demonstrated that he had conquered sin and the grave when he rose again from it. His resurrection assures us that there is a resurrection coming for all who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for he conquered death for us also. Thus, it is a vital part of what he did because it shows that when he said it is finished on the cross, it indeed was finished as he paid the price there for you and me. Some of you might be familiar with a guy named Paul Harvey. He used to have a little show on radio.

It was called Paul Harvey and the what? The rest of the story. So if you're below my if you're younger than me, you might not be familiar with Paul Harvey and the rest of the story. How sad would it be if you had only heard of Pearl Harbor but not of d d day or victory day? How sad would it be if you had heard of the flood but not of Noah Or of Ishmael and not of Isaac?

Or of Saul and not of Paul? Or of David and Bathsheba but not of David and Goliath? What if you had heard only of smallpox and polio and tuberculosis and not the immunizations that freed people from it? What if you heard only of Jesus' death but not of his resurrection? The rest of the story is that he is alive and well today, and he can save all those who come to him.

For in Acts chapter one, he ascended back into heaven where he went to prepare a place for all who will put their faith and trust in him. That's what he says right here in John 14 to his disciples. They didn't know he was going away, but he did. He said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

If you don't believe in Jesus, then do you believe truly in the God of the Bible? The answer to that is no. It's it's it's an all or nothing thing. He said, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. We live in a dark and a wicked world and in a a evil age. We battle sin on every side, but there is coming a day when sin will be no more. There's coming a day when Jesus will return to take his children home.

It's all about who? It's all about Jesus. It is he who made you. It is he who died for you. It is he who rose again.

It is he who is at the right hand of the father preparing a place for us and interceding for us, and it is he that one day will come back to take us to the place he has prepared. It is he who promised the coming of the Holy Spirit who came on the day of Pentecost and live in lives in the heart of every believer. It is he who in Hebrews seven twenty five, it says, wherefore, he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto him by God, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. I have a secure hope of eternal life as I stand here today, not because of my good works, for they fall far short, but because of the work of Jesus Christ who now sits at the right hand of the father interceding for you and me. It's all about who?

It's all about Jesus. One day, he will come back to judge the world, and he will rule and reign forever. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, upon his kingdom to order it, to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Jesus is coming again.

This same Jesus is my Lord and King. This same Jesus is my shepherd, my redeemer and savior. This same Jesus is my friend who has promised never to leave me nor forsake me. When you are afraid, remember Jesus. When you are alone, remember Jesus.

When you are depressed, remember Jesus. When you are suffering, remember Jesus. When you are happy, remember Jesus. When you are confused, remember Jesus. He is the foundation of your life, your faith, and your eternity.

He is the truth that sets free all who choose him by faith. He is the narrow way that leads to life. Remember him. Worship him. Talk to him in prayer.

Trust in him to guide you, to protect you, to provide for you, serve him with every hour of every day. The gospel is not a message about a new religion, a new method, a new list of rules, a new invention or philosophy, or cause. It's about a person, the person Jesus Christ, in whom I have placed my soul and my trust. You saved me, to guide me, and to give me eternal life in him? What fundamental could be more vital than the identity of the central figure of all that we believe?

Jesus Christ. All depends on what you do with Jesus. He that believeth on him is not no longer condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned, what? Already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten.

Only begotten son of God. Only one of him. Just Jesus. There's a song in our hymn book. It's entitled, what will you do with Jesus?

Neutral, you cannot be. Someday your heart will be asking, what will he do with me? What he does with you depends on what you do with him. And child of God, a question this morning for you. He gave his all for you.

What have you given, done for him? Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for Jesus Christ, our savior. There's one that may be doubting this morning, unsure of their salvation. Lord, I pray that they would make that sure before they leave this place today and cry out to you in faith and repentance to receive you, Jesus Christ, as their Lord and savior.

Lord, I pray that they would come as we give this hymn of invitation this morning and and help them with that, Lord, today. And, Lord, for every one of us who claim the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, Lord, may we think a little more about our Savior. May we spend more time in prayer. May we spend more time in the written word, learning about the living word. And may we make it our purpose in life to bring glory to his name and to do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

Thank you, Lord, for the life that you gave us, that only you could give us, eternal life here and in eternity. In Jesus' precious name, we do pray. Amen.