Now this is normally the time that I say we're not yet, Al. You wanna say something? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

He just retired from his job. There's a different is there a difference, John? Maybe a little bit? Alright. The difference is right here.

Yes. Yes. I know. Oh, well. It's your fault.

You sat right behind him. We're glad to have John back with us today and some other visitors with us. We praise the Lord for you and we praise the Lord most of all for our our savior. They normally at this time, we'd be dismissing the kids for children's church. We're gonna let them stay in here for the service this morning.

If you would take your Bibles and turn to first Corinthians 15. If you don't have one with you, there are some, I think, in the pew there in front of you. First Corinthians 15. We're gonna read a few verses from there and look at a few verses on the screen, this morning as well. What we are here to celebrate today is the good news.

Or another word for it is the gospel. We are here to celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news. And Paul lays that out for us succinctly here in first Corinthians fifteen one through six. First Corinthians fifteen one through six. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, the good news, which I preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein you stand, by which also you 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. That he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And that he was seen of Cephas and then of the 12 after that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until this present, but some are falling asleep. After that, he was seen of James and then of all the apostles. We serve a what?

A risen savior. We celebrate today the gospel of Jesus Christ. That he came. That he died, he was buried. He died for our sins.

He was buried and he what? He rose again on the third day. In Romans one sixteen, Paul writes this. He says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Let's pray once more. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for our risen savior. Thank you. Thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for our sins.

Thank you, Lord, that you have reserved a place in heaven for all those who come through faith in Jesus Christ. And we pray, Lord, if there's some here today that are unsure of that, Lord, that you would help them to understand, and they might make that sure before they leave this place today. May you be exalted in our midst. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Again, Paul writes, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. It is the power of God unto salvation. When people come to me, especially kids come to me and say, I wanna be saved, I ask them a question. Be saved from what? That's an important question.

What is it you want to be saved from? What is salvation? Well, it tells us here in first Corinthians 15 that Christ died for our what? Our sins. What we preach is the gospel of salvation from sin.

It is the remedy for sin. It is freedom from the slavery of sin. It is forgiveness for all of our sins. It was released from the guilt of sin. It is justification before God from our sin.

Deliverance from the penalty of sin in the lake of fire. Salvation through faith. Through faith in the one who died on the cross to pay the price for our what? Sins. Who rose again from the dead declaring his victory over sin and death and hell to redeem fallen humanity from our lost estate in sin.

The gospel is not the gospel if it is not salvation from sin, a word that people don't like to say and people don't like to hear and, sadly, a lot of preachers don't like to preach about. The victory that we celebrate today in Jesus Christ is victory, salvation, deliverance from sin, and its eternal penalty in hell. The gospel is God's way of rescuing humanity from the clutches of sin and hell through the sacrifice and victorious resurrection of Christ from the grave. For all who what? For all who believe.

It is not universal, not universalism. This is an wholly unbiblical doctrine which teaches that all humanity must be saved since Christ died for the sins of the world. And while it is true Christ died for the sins of the world, it is not true that all humanity is saved because there is one very important necessity that you might be saved and that is you must believe. You must believe. You must put your faith and trust in the risen savior who died on the cross to pay your penalty and to save your soul.

What does the word of God say? That you must confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, then thou shalt be what? Saved. But you must believe in your heart in the risen savior and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. It tells us in John three eighteen, he that believeth in him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.

You must you must believe. If you reject Christ, then you reject salvation. Then you reject his invitation and you reject his offer and you will suffer forever when you don't have to. Galatians three twenty two says, but the scripture hath concluded all under sin. How many of us have sinned?

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It didn't matter, well, I'm better than somebody else because I I'm not a sinner or I sin less or no. The Bible says if you've you've you've offended in one point, you're guilty of what? You're guilty of all. It's like if I if I there's a clock on the back wall.

If I imagine that clock was a dartboard and I started throwing darts at it and I had several of every up you and you had one little spot about this big that you had to hit for the bullseye from back here. How many of you of us do you think would hit the bullseye? Not very many. But the only way to get the prize was to hit the bull's eye. That's it.

Hit the bull's eye or don't hit the bull's eye. That's it. Well, some of us would be closer than others, but none of us would hit the what? The bull's eye because we have all come short of the the glory of God. And there's only one who hit the bull's eye and that's Jesus Christ, our risen savior who died not for his sins but for ours.

He is the only one who hit the bull's eye. And you must believe and trust and accept his sacrifice in our behalf. That those whose names, the Bible tells us, are not written in the book of life will be cast into the what? The lake of fire, Revelation chapter 20, a vast multitude. So, no, the Bible does not teach everyone is saved because Christ died.

You must believe. You must choose to receive Jesus Christ by faith. On then and only then can you receive eternal life in him. You must return to the fold and to your creator and Lord. Yes.

Christ died for the lost, but only those who will humble themselves and accept his offer shall be saved. The Bible does not teach universalism. It teaches salvation by grace through faith in Christ. The gospel is not a message that if we all follow Christ's example and just choose to to love one another and be good and kind and moral, then all humanity will be saved from its fallen condition and the the world will make a turnaround and God will accept us. That's called the social gospel.

That's not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible does not teach that if you just will become a better person and be more like Christ in your in your love and your actions that that God will receive you and that will turn this world around. That's not the gospel. So has this world turned around yet? Been working on it for a long time.

Sadly, it's not getting much better. Actually, in many ways, it just keeps getting what? Worse. Are things just getting better and better? No.

No. That that's that's not true, and that's not the gospel. One day, Christ is gonna make a new heaven and a new earth, and sin will be forever in the past. But salvation, the gospel is not the good news that you can save yourself. It's the good news that Jesus can save your soul, and he can make of you a new person.

Are you Christ? Are you the son of God? Are you sinless? You see, Christ is unique. Christ is the only one who can die on that cross for the sins of the world.

It won't do you any good for me to die for you, not eternally. Because I'm a sinner, I have to pay for my own what? My own sin. But Jesus Christ, what he could pay for all of ours. He didn't come to show us the way by being good and more loving as the means to heaven.

He came out of his love for us to die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins that we might be saved through faith in him in him. How does the Bible describe humanity? Let me read some verses for you from Romans chapter three. Starting in verse 10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.

There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.

No. Not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre with their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of ass is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.

Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's God taking stock of humanity. Does that sound pretty to you? No.

Bible says our righteousness are as what? Filthy rags. K? So if I took a grimy, dirty rag I just changed my oil with in my car and I walked up to your window at your house, I see a spot there and I took that grimy, nasty rag and I started washing your window, am I cleaning your window or I'm just making a bigger mess? That first, that rag has to be what?

Cleaned. And the only way to cleanse us from sin is through Jesus Christ, through faith in him. That is the way of salvation. Man just keeps making a bigger mess trying to get to heaven his way and thinking, oh, well, you know, Jesus was a good example. I'll just follow I'll I'll just be good and loving and and, you know, and that'll that'll God will let me into heaven.

No. It doesn't work that way. The gospel is Jesus, who is perfect, came to die for me, a sinner. Jesus died to radically transform filthy, rotten, reprobate wicked sinners into the children of God by grace through faith in his death and resurrection. That is the good news.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be what? Born again. Now, Nicodemus was a teacher of the scriptures. Nicodemus lived a better life than most of his compatriots. He was a deeply religious man.

And Jesus said, oh, that's enough. You must be born, what? You must be born again. And then he tells us in John three sixteen what that means. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, what?

Believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. What is the only way of salvation? Put your faith and trust in Jesus, the son of God who came to die for your sins. You will never, never be enough like Jesus to be made acceptable in God's sight without the cleansing power of Jesus Christ. You must be born again.

The gospel is not a message that Christ opened the door to heaven, but you must climb the ladder and do the works in order to earn your place there. Christ earned our place there on the cross. By his obedience and coming to earth, living a sinless life, dying in our place, rising again from the dead, ascending back to his rightful place in heaven, Christ earned our place and was received back to heaven where he ever lives to intercede for us. There's nothing we must add to the work of Christ. There's nothing we can add to the work of Christ to be saved.

The gospel is that Jesus did it all. We sing a song in our hymn book called Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. The gospel is that Jesus did it all, and all you must do is receive his offer and place your faith in him to save you from your sins.

John one twelve. But as many as received him who's the him? Jesus. But as many as received Jesus, to them gave you power to become the sons of God or the children of God, even to them what? That what?

Believe on his name. Ephesians two eight and nine. For by grace, that's God's giving, by God's grace are you saved through what? Faith. And that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God. It's a gift. Not of works, lest any man should what? I mean, God couldn't make it any clearer. We're saved by God's giving to us something we don't deserve and we haven't earned.

Through faith in the one who earned it on the cross of Calvary, and that's who? In Jesus Christ. And it's not of ourselves. It's not of our works. It is through the work of Jesus Christ, our savior, who took our place.

That is the gospel. That is the gospel. He didn't open the door for you to climb the ladder to make it in. No. He is the way.

He is the door. He is eternal life. The lurks works of the law will not do it. The sacraments of the church cannot do it. Baptism will not do it.

Whatever list of dos and don'ts you're trying to keep will not do it. Only calling out in faith to Jesus Christ will bring you salvation from sin and hell. Jesus is not the staircase or the ladder on which you must climb. He is more like the elevator you must step into by faith and then trust that he will get you there because he's already done it. And he can do it for you.

He can do it for you. You just have to step in by faith. He's done all the work. You just need to trust in him. That is the gospel.

The gospel is not a means of escaping responsibility. Some people Paul answers this in Romans six. We don't have time to read the chapter this morning. Accused Christians of saying, well, it's just a way for you to avoid responsibility. That is not true.

It is the opposite. It is instead an act of faith whereby you choose to take responsibility for your failures, your sin, your wickedness, your rebellion, and repent before the God who made you and sent his son to redeem you. There is no salvation apart from repentance. Unless you repent, Jesus said, you shall all likewise perish. We're told in Peter, God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to what?

Repentance. We're told in first John one nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What is this idea of repentance? That idea of repentance is that you take responsibility. You admit what you are and who you are and what you have done.

And then you come to God in repentance and faith to receive the mercy that only he can give. But sadly, so many in the world today are just unwilling to take responsibility, to own up to their what? To their sin and repent of it at the feet of who? At the feet of Jesus. The gospel is not a way for you to skirt the responsibilities for what you have done.

It is a way for you to own up to it, to humble yourself, and then receive the mercy of God. There is no gospel apart from repentance, admitting your sin, and crying out to God for mercy. In Titus three five, it says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy ghost. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his what? His mercy.

He saved us. What? Jesus told a story about a religious leader, a Pharisee, and a tax collector. They weren't looked highly upon in that day as they are today. And and the tax collect the Pharisee came before God in the temple and said, Lord, I thank you.

I'm not like that rotten tax collector over there. And the tax collector, it says, would not but lift his eyes up to heaven and cried out, Lord, be merciful to me a lot. Which one owned up to their sin? The tax collector. Which one of them walked away justified before God?

The tax collector. The Pharisee didn't own up to anything. You see, the gospel is the message. If you own up to your sin and you'll bring it to Jesus, He will take it away, but you must be willing to own up. Besides that, the Christian life is one of fulfilling our responsibilities as God's children, which we have been gifted by his grace.

Being a profitable disciple of Christ, denying ourselves, taking up our cross, following Christ each day, God expects much of his children which he has redeemed by his blood. It is a life of responsibility to the one who gave us life through his son. And finally, it is not merely an escape from life's problems and trials. Sorry to say there's a lot of people out there that have muddied the water today because they talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you'll just come to Jesus, everything will be great and fine, and you'll have no more troubles.

You'll have all the money you need. You'll you'll have good health and and you just won't have to worry about anything. That in some cases is called the the prosperity gospel. Bible says, God sent his son to die on the cross for our what? Our sins.

For our sins that we might be forgiven for our sins, that we might receive the gift of everlasting life that is to make you his child and take you to heaven someday where we will receive our inheritance in Christ, the eternal joys and pleasures in heaven, Complete deliverance from sin and pain and sorrow with him. Where? In heaven. In heaven. That he might save us from eternal suffering in hell and that he might deliver us to eternal bliss in heaven.

But he did not say that we would experience all of those things here on what? On earth. You know, Christians still get sick. Christians still become addicts to foolish behaviors and substances. Guess what?

If you drink alcohol, you might become addicted to it. Or if you take drugs, you might become addicted to it. You're not immune because you're a what? Christian. We will still face sometimes terrible consequences for our bad decisions.

Check out David. He made some terrible decisions. Did God forgive him? Yes. Were there still consequences here?

Yes. There were. We can still suffer violence at the hands of the wicked. You can still be hurt in a car accident. You can forgive your brother, and he refused to forgive you.

Some crimes, Christians must deal with broken marriages and homes, must suffer for a time without a job. Sometimes, you will do something nice for your neighbor and they'll stab you in the back because we live in a sinful world. But one day, we won't. One day, we won't. We're going to a place preserved in heaven for us where there's no sin, no death, no pain, no suffering.

That is the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Not only that, but that God will be with you here as we go through the trials of life. A promise the world does not have. Jesus said all those who live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. He didn't say that everything will just be rosy and you'll never suffer.

No. It actually says the opposite. No. The good news is not that if you come to Christ, you won't suffer in this life, but that Jesus will be with you, that it will not be in vain, that there are awards rewards awaiting us in heaven who choose Christ as Lord and live for him, who went to prepare a place for those who believe in the resurrected Lord who will come again someday to take us to our eternal reward. That's the good news.

This life isn't all there is. And you don't have to go through this life alone. And you don't have to carry that weight of sin. Jesus can take that weight from you. Jesus can forgive you.

Jesus can give you a home in heaven, and Jesus can walk the road with you for however long you walk it in this life. That is the good news. And that one day, he's coming back. If you're still in first Corinthians 15 or if you wanna turn back there, I wanna read the end of the chapter as we conclude. Paul writes, behold, I show you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. What he means by sleep there is the death of a believer. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mourner shall put on immortality, Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory victory through through our our Lord Lord Jesus Christ. He is coming again to take us to our eternal reward.

But you must believe. If you will, he will receive you. Not because of your works, but because of his on the cross of Calvary. And he can only do so because he's a risen savior, for a dead savior is not a savior at all. But Jesus Christ rose from the dead to declare victory over sin and death and hell.

And he went back to heaven where he intercedes for all who come to him by faith. As we celebrate the Lord's Supper this morning, we're reminded of Christ's body which was broken on that cross for us as he suffered there. His blood that was shed and ran down that cross for us. His victorious resurrection from the grave, and his promise to return one day and receive all those to himself in heaven who by faith have chosen him as savior and Lord. If you're fir still in first Corinthians 11, look back to chapter first Corinthians, still look back to chapter 11, and we're gonna read verses 23 through 26.

Paul writes, for I received the Lord that which also I delivered unto him that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take heath. This is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner, he also took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood.

This do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. And in just a moment, that's what we're going to do just today. We're going to remember what he did for us. We're going to be reminded of the fellowship that we have in Christ Jesus, the forgiveness, and that one day he is coming again to take us to the place he has prepared for all those who put their faith and trust in him.

Partaking of this juice and this bread before me here will not save your soul. Will not save your soul. Only embracing Jesus Christ as Lord and savior by faith. Only calling out to him in faith as Lord. Only that can save your soul.

This is just a memorial, a reminder, an opportunity to show what who we have believed in who has saved our soul. The question this morning is not, will you drink this juice and eat this bread? The question is, have you put your faith in Christ alone to save you from your sins? He who died for you and he who rose again to prove that he could save you and will. He will today.

I'd like to sing a brief hymn of invitation. And as we do, if the ushers the deacons could make their way up to the front row, and we'll take the Lord's Supper together. But first, we're going to sing from our hymn book 249, and I'd like to lead us in prayer before we do that. Lord, thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior. Thank you for all you did on Calvary's Cross.

Thank you for the opportunity to be reminded here in the Lord's Supper. And, Lord, I pray if there's one who has yet to receive Christ as savior, that today, today, they might come, that they might believe, that they might receive Christ. Not not this juice of this bread, but Jesus Christ who died for them on the cross and who's risen again from the grave to be the Lord and Savior of their life. In Jesus' name, do pray. Amen.