In the sermon titled 'Christ Died For Our Sins,' David Green discusses the core message of 1 Corinthians 15, emphasizing the gospel Paul preached to the Church of Corinth. Paul stressed the importance of the gospel, reminding the Corinthians of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection as the foundation of their faith. The speaker highlights the necessity of preaching this message both within and outside the church, as it offers hope and salvation. Green discusses the significance of the Lord's Supper as a commemoration of Jesus' sacrifice and a demonstration of the gospel. He underscores that the gospel message is of utmost importance, as it assures believers of eternal life, while rejecting it leads to eternal separation from God. The sermon concludes with an invitation to reflect on one's faith and the grace offered through Christ's sacrifice.

1 Corinthians chapter 15. And this morning I want us to start with verse 1 and go down to verse 6. First Corinthians chapter 15, beginning of verse 1, 6. 1 Corinthians 15, beginning of verse 1, 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 ye 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 scriptures, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures, that He was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve.

After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." Let's continue reading. Verse 7, After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time, for I am the least of the apostles. Let him not meet 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 which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they'd all, yet not I but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so you believed." Once again, go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, how thankful we are for your word, for the truthfulness of it. Lord, we're thankful for the gospel. We thank you for the fact that our salvation does not hinge on what we could do or what we have done, but rather we are saved by your grace, kept saved by your power and your grace.

And Lord, we thank you for this passage. We thank you for those who have come today, but most of all we thank you for your son who came into this world to die for our sins. Through him we could have life and have it more abundantly. We thank you our Father that we serve a risen living Savior one day coming back for us. Lord, help us to be faithful till that time comes that our race is done.

We call us home to be with you. Forgive us of our sins and our shortcomings. Work in Jesus, and then we pray. This morning, as we gather together for the service to worship. And indeed, as we come to the end of the sermon, we'll be partaking of the Lord's Supper.

I thought about this message. I'll take our text from verse 3, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to scriptures. Very simply, the title of my message is Christ died for our sins. As Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth, we know as we've been going through our studies of Corinthians, and you know as you've read no doubt this passage, you've read this chapter, you've read this epistle multiple times, and you know that that church had a lot of problems. That church had a lot of issues with it.

Paul, as he wrote to them, he had a great concern for them. He had founded that church, he'd organized it, all of those things. He had been with them from the beginning, and for months he had labored with them and among them. And he says, He says, I deliver to you first of all, and deliver to you as one translation puts it, as of first importance. Above all things, this is what he declared to them, the gospel message.

As he had labored with them and been with them, this is what he preached. And when he wrote this letter, yeah he did some scolding, yes he did some some rebuking, but in all of those things he took them back as they read this letter to the importance, what was of first importance, the gospel of Jesus Christ. A true Christian is a Christian because of the gospel of Christ. You heard the gospel from somebody. It's the gospel preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit, the reason why that you have life.

And when we think about a message like this, someone might say, well, why would you preach this in a church service? That message belongs out there. And yes, it does belong out there. This message does need to go out beyond the four walls of the church building, but it also needs to be proclaimed in the church building. For two reasons.

Number one, there may be among us at any given time someone who has never been saved. They need to hear the gospel. But number two, God's people never tire of the message of the cross. The old songwriter said, tell me the old old story, for I forget so soon. We need to hear the gospel message and indeed, we don't get tired of it.

We want to hear it more and more. Why? It's not about us, but neither is our salvation. Your testimony, my testimony, wherever you came from, you may have been a hardened sinner before you were saved, or you may have been raised in a Christian home, but the reality is that Christ is the hero in your story. He's the hero in mine too.

We have nothing whereof we can glory. While we enjoy talking about certain things, it does bring me some level of joy to talk about my work. It does bring me joy to talk about my hobbies. It does bring me joy to talk about the things of this world. But how much more joy is it to talk about what Christ has done?

How much more joy should we have to hear and to tell this old story? That Christ died for our sins. And indeed, when we come together, we aren't just coming together as a social club, we're coming to worship. We come because our Lord is risen, because He died, He was buried and rose again. We come.

And here in a little bit, when this church has the Lord's Supper, we come not just for the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine, we come not just for the Being together, although all of those things are well and good, but we come to commemorate our Lord's death till He come. Knowing that it's not a memorial service for someone who died. Oh, he did die, but he's alive. He rose again and one day he is coming back for us. And this ought to bring us great joy to worship the Lord on the Lord's Day as we come together for the Lord's Supper, we're reminded of these things.

Just as Paul reminded the church of Corinth in his letter there. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he had dealt with the supper with communion. Now there was some abuse going on, some things that were happening there with the Church of Corinth. But in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23 through 26 he says, For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread when he'd given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do and remember to me after the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying this cup is in the New Testament in my blood this do you as oft as you drink of it as you drink it in remembrance of me For as often as you eat this bread, drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come." Demonstrating the Lord's death in this supper, a reminder of the gospel. Paul had declared or made known to them the gospel message from the beginning.

That's what he had preached to them. And then in the supper, we see it demonstrated. Reminded of the body of Christ as He died for His people, who drink the wine and eat the bread, were reminded of the blood of Christ that was shed for us, His body that was willingly broken, He willingly died for us. We proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. The gospel message is preached.

The gospel message is proclaimed. The gospel message is demonstrated until that time comes when He comes. When that which is a picture becomes real, when our faith becomes sight. You and I, we don't know when the Lord's coming back. We do know He's not back yet.

That's why we come and we worship the way that we do and we partake of the Lord's Supper. One of these days, the time for this will be over. Indeed, thinking about that song in Christ alone, till he returns or calls me home. Here in the power of Christ I'll stand. What a joy it is to be able to meet, to worship, and what a joy it is to be able to talk about Jesus, what a joy it is to partake of the supper.

But oh, one of these days, one of these days, all this will be over. And then 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. When we die, these old bodies will be laid to rest in the grave.

But we will be with the Lord. What a joy that is to think about. But while we're here, while we're here, we have to be like Paul. And as he said to them, he said, this is my message first of all. Yeah, Paul liked to talk about tent making.

He made friends with tent makers and all that stuff, but that wasn't what defined Paul. Paul enjoyed, enjoyed no doubt giving a report about his labors. He did that quite often. Paul enjoyed preaching the whole counsel of God, but first of all, above all else, is that Christ died for our sins. Oh, there's many things that may identify us.

Our work, our lives, our hobbies, all of those things. But what is most important? On the ground level, what is most important for you as an individual? What's most important for us as a church? And that is the message of Jesus Christ.

This was the solid foundation upon which the church at Corinth was built. And in their squabbling and their fighting and all of those things as they were trying to sort out who was better, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, in their divisions, they had lost sight of that. No other truth stands as high as this truth. The truth that Jesus came and died for our sins. Without this truth, nothing else matters.

Do you realize that if Christ did not die, if he was not buried, if he did not rise again, there'd be no reason for us even to gather here today. No reason for us to exist as a church. No reason for me to stand up and preach anything else. In fact, there'd be no hope. Not only in this life, but in the life to come.

He says in our text, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. For our sins, That means that Jesus made an atonement for sins. Sin is the transgression of the law. We were all in our flesh, a bunch of lawbreakers.

We committed high treason and rebellion against Almighty God. No one is exempt from this. All of the human race was corrupted. We indeed, without Christ, we indeed stand without any hope. Without Christ, there would be no hope.

You know, it's a terrible thing to break the law, break the law of our country. There's going to be a payday someday. You get caught, stand before a judge, the trial happens. Depending on what you've broken, you may have to pay a fine. You may have to go to jail or prison.

You may even face the death penalty. Breaking the law is serious. Indeed, how much worse it is to be a law breaker against Almighty God. But that's where we all were. When you stand before God, if Christ has not died for your sins, if you have not trusted in Him, there will be no hung jury.

There will be no lawyers. I would argue your case. When you stand before God, there will be a sentencing to an eternity of hell, torment. But that's not the whole story, is it? Christ came.

Christ came and died for our sins according to the Scriptures. You were not there, and I was not there. We did not see Him on the cross. He died long before we were born. But according to the Scriptures, Christ died for our sins.

We have hope. We have faith, and we can trust in Him to know that He died for our sins. He took our place, paid the penalty so that we do not have to worry about it. In Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, Peter addressed the crowd that day, he said in verse 23, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it." There were wicked hands that day, no question of it. The Roman soldiers, the Jews who were there, all of those things happened.

But Jesus' hands were not wicked. There were some wicked hands that day, but Jesus was clean. He had no sin in of himself. Death in that court was unjust as Jesus died for, not for any crime against the Roman Empire or against the Jews, he was sinless. Over in Matthew chapter 27, Over in Matthew chapter 27.

Matthew chapter 27 we read of the crucifixion. If we start in there about 35 it says, and they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, they parted my garments among them. Upon my vesture did they cast lots. Sitting down they watched him there. He set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus the King of the Jews.

There were two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another on the left, and they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priest mocking him when the scribes and elders said, He saved others himself he cannot save if he be king of Israel. Let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God.

The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthanai, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood by, when they heard that, said, this man calleth for Elias. Straightway, one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, put on a reed and gave him to drink.

The rest said let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. The Roman court system, the Jewish court system, all of those things were pretty terrible. This sad commentary, when you look at all this from a human perspective, the way that Jesus was treated, their hands. But understand, beloved, there was a higher court in session that day.

Jesus, the very creator of the world, the Son of God, hung there on that cross, and the lights went out. It wasn't just a little bit dark, it was darkness over the whole earth for three hours. But for three hours, and in that darkness, in the cry from the cross, Jesus didn't say, my pilot, why have you forsaken me? He didn't say that. He didn't say, oh Jews, my Jews, why have you forsaken me?

No, no. It wasn't that either. He didn't cry out for the church. He didn't cry out for anything on this earth, but he cried out and said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Lots of people had been crucified.

The Romans didn't invent it, but they sure loved to use it. It was the worst of the punishments that they could dole out on anybody. But as Jesus hung there on the cross, He was dying for your sins. Isaiah 53, the prophet said, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He was bruised for our iniquities.

You see, what Jesus suffered on the cross wasn't for crimes against the Romans, wasn't for crimes against the Jews, it was for the sins of his people. As we think about this and consider it, some might say, well, my sins weren't that bad. It wasn't as terrible as so-and-so. I didn't do such-and-such. You understand something that the Old Testament tells us that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

If you took your very best ten minutes of your life, And if that's all that you were ever judged for as your best 10 minutes, you still would have no hope. In fact, Jesus died for your best. The only thing that you could offer to Him is your sinfulness. Praise God, Jesus took that and went to the cross, died for our sins. Realize, beloved, that if you were the only sinner on all of God's green earth, if you were the only sinner that ever lived in all the history of the world, you still have enough sin to necessitate Christ's death on the cross if you would ever be saved.

That's where we're at. To put it another way, that if we took our self-righteousness, we said 10 minutes is a long time, if You took a second of your life, a nanosecond, and offered that to God. They said, just judge me on this, and I'll be okay. That second, that nanosecond, would never be good enough to merit heaven. We had to have Christ dying on the cross for our sins.

Without that, you reject the message of the cross if you don't believe in Him. So I'm going to try it my way. It will lead to death. There is no hope except for in the cross. Over in John chapter 3.

John chapter 3. Verse 16 is very familiar to all of us, no doubt. Well, let's start reading at verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on 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 see, all of this is tied together as Jesus took and proclaimed the gospel that night to Nicodemus. And I thank God for that. I thank God for this passage. I thank God for what Jesus did on the cross.

Do you believe it? Have you trusted in him? You and I, we might be able to put a good show on it to our friends, our loved ones, our neighbors, our spouses, whatever. Some people live a double life. There'd be no way to get past Jesus.

No way to go through life without Him. No way to get to heaven but through Jesus. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21, For he hath made him to be sinned for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Those of us who believe we're accepted in the beloved, We have a home waiting for us in heaven. I may have a lot of concerns and worries and frits in this life, but I'm not worried how it's all going to turn out, because I know that Jesus took my place at the cross.

He died for my sins. The hell that I deserved, the penalty should have been mine, but He took my place. When I go somewhere, I'm concerned about how I'm going to get there. If I travel back to Ohio, what's the route I'm going to take, and how's the traffic going to be, and all that sort of thing. And I worry about getting there safely, but I don't worry about heaven because it's not dependent on me.

He did it all. My hope is secure in him. Does that mean that I'm not going to see some troubles and trials on the way there, no, it doesn't mean that at all. You will, and I will. But at the cross, there was a great transaction that took place.

Your sins and mine was placed upon him, and because he died there, and when he cried out, it is finished. That is exactly what he meant. He came to save, not just to make salvation possible, he came to save His people from their sins. He died for our sins and His righteousness is on me. His righteousness is on you.

You believe and trust in Him. This verse isn't just words on a paper, it's reality. He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made to righteousness of God in him. This was all done according to the scriptures. Let's notice back in our text as I begin to bring this to a close.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 3, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." You'll notice there in your King James Bibles there's a semicolon. If you're using the legacy standard Bible, there's a comma. Other translations will be similar. Why is that? Because the story doesn't end there.

The Gospel message does not end with Christ on the cross dying. Yes, we rejoice knowing that He died there for our sins, But beloved, let us remember as we rejoice in verse 3, let us remember verse 4, that he was buried, that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Yes, it's important to recall Jesus died on the cross, but it's also important to remember that he was buried. It rose again the third day according to scriptures. Jesus is alive and as we keep reading down through there, we're seeing that there were multiple witnesses of it.

You and I have in our hands an eyewitness account of Jesus. So that we can say according to the scriptures. This isn't just some legend, It's not some story that people told. No, no, there were eyewitnesses, so much so that Luke, when he penned the book of Acts, he talks about infallible proofs. Infallible proofs.

Praise God. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and praise God he was buried and he rose again. There's victory over death, hell, and the grave. Because of that, you and I will have victory over the same as well. This is the gospel in a nutshell, death, burial, and resurrection.

And so as we think about that, consider your own lives. Where are you? Do you believe? Have you trusted in him? There's been many who have, and there's room for more.

Thank God for his grace. And so as we As we now move on to the next portion of the service, I invite the members of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church to come and sit in the front rows either that side or this side. I'll let y'all pick and we'll observe the Lord's Supper. We do observe close communion. It's not our table, but his.

So You all come forward.