 1 Corinthians chapter 15 We'll begin reading at verse 1 read to verse 11 1 Corinthians 15 beginning at verse 1 Paul writes more over brethren. I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you Which also you received and in which you stand by which also you are saved If you hold fast that word which I preach to you unless you believed in vain For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received 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 and That he was seen by Cephas then by the 12 After that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remained to the present But some have fallen asleep After that he was seen by James then by all the apostles then last of all He was seen by me also as by one born out of due time For I am the least of the apostles who am not worthy 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 But I labored more abundantly Then they all Yet not I But the grace of God which was with me therefore Whether it was I or they so we preach and so you believed chapter 15 of first Corinthians Is devoted entirely to one central doctrine the doctrine of the resurrection Someone said among the various false doctrines which had crept into the church at Corinth composed of those who had so recently been heathen and Who had so much to unlearn? Was one that the resurrection was only the resurrection of the soul from sin to a new life That this resurrection was already passed in the case of those converted and that a resurrection after death was impossible and So Paul is going to be correcting that error that has entered into the church We need to remember a little bit about what was going on during the time of the writing of first Corinthians We need to remember that Corinth was in the city or rather in the country of Greece and we need to remember that the Greek intellectuals believed that a faith in a resurrection was intellectually absurd I Was mentioning to you today If you were with us in our Sunday morning service how that when the apostle Paul was writing to the Romans He had asked the question and answered he supplied the answer What advantage? Did the Jews have and he said they have a great advantage in that they received the oracles of God the utterances of God He said they have a great advantage because they have the word of God And when you begin to look at your Bible you see how true that really is because for example You see in the book of Acts in chapter 8 how that an evangelist by the name of Philip is Out in an area of Gaza's desert and as he's there in this particular region He happens upon by the Holy Spirit's leading an Ethiopian eunuch who had recently been in Jerusalem celebrating one of the feasts and The Holy Spirit speaks to Philip and says to him attach yourself to that chariot and so Philip through obedience goes and approaches this man of great authority and as He does so the Lord makes a way for him to actually converse with this Ethiopian man and Philip asks him the question he says to him What is it that you're reading and The Ethiopian says well I'm reading this portion of scripture and the portion of scripture that he refers to is out of Isaiah 53 and So it's speaking concerning Messiah in that passage and so Philip asked him the question do you understand what you're reading and The man says to him how can I unless somebody teaches me how how can I unless somebody guides me? So from that portion of scripture the Bible tells us Philip began to instruct him concerning Jesus Christ in the resurrection and so When he finishes conversing with him The man begins to speak to him and Philip says to him something related to Baptism and the man says I'd like to be baptized What does hinder me from being baptized and Philip says you may if you believe in all your heart with all your heart Concerning Jesus Christ and he says I do believe and so we see that based on the fact that this man Believes in the word of God was reading the word of God How God used that to tie in so that he could minister to this Ethiopian and the Ethiopian could be saved based on the fact That he believed the word of God is the word of God And so you have that instance with an Ethiopian and yet you have another instance in the book of Acts in chapter 17 In the book of Acts chapter 17 We have the Apostle Paul and Paul is in the city of Athens the intellectual city and As he is there his heart is wholly moved because he sees that the city is given completely over to idolatry So he begins to reason he begins to share the gospel He does so in the synagogues as well as the marketplace and So he'll go to the place where there are religious individuals the synagogue and he shares the message of the gospel with them But he also goes amongst the Greeks and he ultimately is heard by the Stoics and the Epicurians the intellectuals of that day and They said amongst themselves wonder what this babbler has to say so they invite him to go to Mars. He'll in order that he might communicate this message to the intellectuals and They listen to him and as Paul goes up to share with them. He begins to share with the group of people Concerning Jesus and the resurrection Now when he speaks concerning Jesus, he's obviously using the Greek rendering of the name Jesus But when he says resurrection and that's what he's speaking concerning resurrection He uses the Greek word for resurrection, which is Anastasia So when he speaks of Jesus and Anastasia, they believe that he's speaking of two separate gods one referred to as Jesus and a female goddess called Anastasia When he begins to share with them that he's speaking concerning an event called the resurrection Well, these Greeks laugh him to score and they don't want to hear anything of it in Acts 17 31 and 32 Paul says that God has set a day when he will judge the world with justice By the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead When they heard about the resurrection of the dead Some of them sneered but others said we want to hear you again on this subject And so he didn't have a great fruit there because these intellectuals sneered at the resurrection. They didn't believe in resurrection false teachers had been entering into the Corinthian church and They began to infuse this kind of skepticism into the church Paul speaking about this in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verses 16 through 18 Gave a warning there by saying avoid godless chatter Because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly Their teaching will spread like gangrene Among them are hymenias and phyletes who have wandered away from the truth They say that the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the faith of some and So the resurrection was a central question It's one of the questions that the Corinthians are asking of Paul and they want instruction concerning it The resurrection of Jesus Christ is of utmost importance to the gospel message That's because Christianity in its essence is a resurrection religion The concept of resurrection lies at its heart and if you remove the resurrection Christianity will be destroyed And so Paul is speaking concerning resurrection here in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 and he's going to give a lot of information related to it So as we begin allow me to present five reasons why the resurrection is Central to the faith of a believing Christian five reasons And I want you to hear these things and hopefully follow these things and understand them as I try to share them one Why is the resurrection central to our faith? Well first Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh and His divinity is proven by the resurrection His divinity is proven by the resurrection We saw this in Romans chapter 1 verse 4 how it says that Jesus was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead and so One of the reasons the first reason is is that Jesus's divinity is proven by the resurrection Secondly the lordship of Jesus depends on his resurrection in Romans again chapter 14 verse 9 Paul said to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living The lordship of Jesus depends on his resurrection third our personal justification rests on his resurrection in Romans 4 verse 25 it says that he was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our Justification so our personal justification before God rests on the resurrection fourth our personal salvation depends on the resurrection Romans 10 verse 9 if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you shall be saved So your salvation depends on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and then finally our own Resurrection rests on whether or not Jesus was raised from the dead again in the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 11 If the spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit who dwells in you our own Resurrection rests on whether or not Jesus was raised from the dead So his divinity is proven by the resurrection is a lordship depends on his resurrection Our personal justification rests on his resurrection our personal salvation depends on his resurrection and our own Resurrection rests on whether or not he was raised from the dead That's why Paul writes at such length concerning the doctrine of the resurrection You see Satan has worked to undermine the central fact of resurrection But the entire ministry of Jesus Christ rests on whether or not he was resurrected from the dead the whole ministry does You see if the Lord Jesus Christ was not resurrected from the dead then there's no reason to believe him Because his whole ministry from the beginning all the way back in John chapter 2 to its conclusion rests on whether or not he died was buried and raised the third day the whole ministry depends on that if Jesus Christ had not been resurrected Then we have all people are most foolish We'll see that later on when we move into verses 12 following because there Paul is going to be giving us some Information related to that but of all people we would be most miserable because we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and If Jesus Jesus wasn't raised from the dead then our faith is in vain our preaching is in vain Our whole life is in vain and even as Paul would say we of all people are most miserable Because we have a hope that goes beyond the present lifetime. I Mean many of us go through some terrible times you go through and endure hardships and difficulties that that if you didn't believe There's something better waiting for you. You'd be overwhelmed by it. You'd be torn up by it But because you know that you're just passing through that you're a sojourner that you're a pilgrim and that this earth is not your home That it's a place where the Lord is refining your faith and preparing you for a better place as a believer I could say I can endure all things because of Jesus Christ because I have something waiting me for me That's more enduring than anything I have right now That's why Moses was able to to go out into a wilderness and spend so many years with these people who who were really rebellious and rejecting it and all of that are the things of God when he had the throne of Egypt waiting for him Yet he chose to be with the children of Israel and to suffer alongside of them Because he saw something more enduring and something more permanent and something much better That was awaiting him and it all related to his final resurrection and his being with the Lord in eternity That's what keeps us going Jesus Christ taught concerning this He spoke of it often one example mark chapter 8 verse 31 how it says he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and Of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again And so our faith rests on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ If Jesus Christ was not resurrected then our faith is In vain and we have believed in a foolish fashion. We have believed somebody who did not tell us the truth When you study through the book of Acts You will see the sermons that were preached and there are some powerful sermons in the book of Acts You will see that the sermons Center on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a matter of fact Peter's first sermon centered on the resurrection After that the Holy Spirit had come upon The hundred and twenty who are there in that upper room there in the city Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and after they had poured out into the that that that courtyard area and They're speaking in these languages that they had never learned and they're proclaiming the wonderful works of God and the people began to listen to them even mock them and And it was given an opportunity to the Apostle Peter as he saw this taking place to give his first message And this is what he said in Acts chapter 2 verses 22 and 23 when he said you men of Israel Hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs Which God did by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God You have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Now that I promise you is not a popular message to speak to a group of people To say You are respond that's very pointed to say you are responsible and you with wicked hands took this man and you you killed him That is a powerful thing to say But he continues on at verse 32 of the same chapter and he says this Jesus as God raised up Whereof we all are witnesses you took him you put him to death, but God raised him from the dead So the entire gospel message rests on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and so that's why Paul here in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 is Going to pay so much attention to the central doctrine Beginning at verses 1 and 2 again He says more over brethren. I declare to you the gospel that word gospel We use it all the time means good news amazing use the gospel Which I preached to you which also you received and in which you stand By which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preach to you Unless you believed in vain Paul begins by addressing the Corinthians as brethren So he's speaking to Christians and I want you to notice how he is speaking concerning the fact that verse 1 that he Declars I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you So he's speaking them and he's declaring to them that word declare means to make known or to declare Clarify he's reminding them of what they have already been taught Sometimes you may think I've already heard that I already have heard that before I've heard that several times Well, it took me over a year to figure out that when my mom was saying David. She's talking to me Took me about a year to know that's my name and I discovered something I've discovered That some lessons are repeated over my spiritual lifetime there are things that I hear over and over and over again because repetition is Necessary for it to finally become inculcated in my being so that I finally receive it and act on it and understand it And then there are layers and layers and layers that God will give to you of truth Where you begin to see even deeper things than you first heard maybe 10 years ago or 15 years ago because truth as it is actually settles to a deeper and deeper level and you begin to understand more and more of what God is saying in that one scripture that you may have memorized 30 years ago And so he's saying something to them that they've already heard but he's declaring to them He said the gospel which I preached to you Which you also received and in which you stand So they had not only heard the gospel I want you to see that they had also received it When he speaks about them receiving that word received means to welcome it speaks of welcoming this message Not just because it's attractive But welcoming the message of the gospel with an intent intent to obey it The best way to know a scripture is to read it with the intent of obeying it It's not just the accumulation of information in other words It's it's God speak to your servant because I'm listening and I want to know your ways And so as you declare these things to me I want to be able to put them into practice so that I can have a depth of understanding in how you work And so he said you welcome this in you had a desire to receive it because you wanted to obey and You've been established. That's what he says when he's saying in which you stand that word stand means to be established in You you welcome this message of the gospel and you are established in it He says in verse 2 by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preach to you So receiving and standing in the gospel enables you to be saved You have heard it and you abide in it you continue in God's word and as you continue in God's word It demonstrates that you are saved. It's like what it says in Hebrews 3 14 We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end There are those who begin the race who never finish it they come forward at an invitation and Sometimes they're weeping sometimes. They're just all the outward signs of repentance and all But I've discovered over time that it's not always repentance that you see taking place there Sometimes what you're seeing is regret Sometimes what you're seeing is guilt they feel bad because they did something They feel bad because they did something and got caught most of the time Sometimes they feel bad because they did something got caught and they're going to do time for it and So sometimes I'll speak to those who have come forward and and you'll hear the stories and a Lot of times what it has been is I feel bad. I Wasn't good to my kids or I wasn't good to my spouse or I've been bad on the job And it's a lot of guilt involved But there's a difference between regretting something and repenting from something and a lot of times people regret but don't repent regret is a short-term response of sorrow even can create a sense of of Depression if you will where a person's so down. He's regretting. She's regretting what she did But when you say have you turned away from that now you take in a different path. Have you changed your mind concerning it? They haven't you see the word repent is a Greek word metanoia and metanoia speaks of a change of mind It's a change of the way you're looking at something when you repent from something You may not even have a sense of sorrow over it There is a godly sorrow and you may have a godly sorrow but it's not even necessary that this sorrow a company repentance because sometimes When you've repented I've seen this when people got saved sometimes when you've repented it's simply made sense I need Jesus and I need to be right with him and there aren't any tears involved It's just a change of mind where I'm going. I don't want to be I want to be someplace else It's wise for me to change my mind when I got saved. I went through this Emotional high I was just Praised God I was like I was sharing in service today. I was like that that that that woman who was forgiven much and loved much because because I had this tremendous sense of Sorrow over what I'd done in my life to my friends and and family and all so I got saved and I had this this sense of Praise the Lord but when Marie my my wife got saved she got saved like two or three weeks after attending a Bible study with me my sister Madeline led her to Christ and When Marie got saved she later on spoke to me and said you know I I began to question my salvation because I didn't have that kind of Response that you speak about that you had and that's that's because Marie didn't have the baggage that I had So for her as her entrance into the kingdom of God it made sense to her. It's the right thing to do She did the same thing. I did she repented she committed her heart to Christ She turned around and went in a different direction by changing her mind So some people will regret Other people understand repentance and you repent in order to have a relationship with God Sometimes people will come forward Only regretting they felt bad about what they did they got caught perhaps or they're afraid over the Circumstances or or the repercussions and then everything seems to pan out all right and before you know it They're back in their old lifestyle. They're back doing what they used to do in the past So there's a good reason to wonder whether or not they understood what it means to truly believe It's interesting how he adds this phrase unless you believed in vain Again, he's speaking against what would be called a non saving faith That's been referred to as a worthless belief It is a pseudo faith That produces no effects Because it's not genuinely placed in the Lord Jesus Christ in John 831 Jesus said to those Jews who believed him if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed So it's not just believing in Concept that there is a God that Jesus could be speaking truth faith and trusting in the Lord is putting your full weight and saying I 100% I'm committed to this and that when you do is not believing in vain. That's true faith The fact that they held fast to what had been preached Demonstrates salvation But as is true in every gathering some among them were not genuinely saved so Paul is warning those who intellectually believe Jesus's Lordships savior hood and even resurrection And so he desires he desires them to know whether they truly do follow after the Lord Jesus Christ They're gonna need to check out their own hearts to see if they're truly saved. I have this I Don't know what it is About me something about me that I've gotten people upset I know that surprises you but I've gotten people upset with me because Because I have an intensity That I don't know how to check to this day. I do better now than I used to I'll be up front with you on that I do better now than I used to and when I was in college back in 1974 And yes, they had colleges back then when I was in college back in 1974. I had a class and there was a young woman in the class that I attended Who told me that she was a Christian? She didn't have any fruit in her life. I didn't see the evidence is And so When I spoke to her Well, I spoke in such a way that apparently got on her nerves because I remember her saying to be one time She said David you speak to me as if I'm not a Christian and I've been telling you that I am and you know, it was it was only because I didn't well, I didn't believe she was and you know But she was she was like totally convinced that she was now who am I to judge whether she is saved or not I've learned since then not to have that attitude But I can do that with people and even here in the church when I'm given Bible studies Even believers who've been following Christ for 30 years can walk out of the Bible studies sometimes saying I think he thinks I'm not saved, you know and and and what what that is is just a it is just a glimpse into how I am with myself because I I look within myself daily and I test myself where I stand with the Lord Jesus Christ and and You may say oh, but it sounds to me like you've got poor self-esteem and you don't have any confidence Well, that's true But second Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5 says examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you unless of course you fail the test So I want to have this ongoing relationship with the Lord and and Paul desires them to know whether or not they really follow Jesus So he begins to speak to them concerning this gospel message that he had preached verse 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received 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 so he begins By saying I'm delivering to you that which I received I didn't make up this message I received the same message that I declared to you I received the gospel by faith and I share the same message to you by faith Paul had to be saved in order to preach salvation and he's making it clear. I didn't design this message I didn't invent the gospel. I'm simply giving to you what I have received myself I didn't invent it. It's like what he says in Galatians 1 11 and 12 When he spoke to them and said I make known to you brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man For I neither received it from man nor was I taught it But it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. He said this is not an invented message It is a message that has been Unicated by revelation through Jesus Christ and this is the gospel that I preach to you Now what is the essence of the gospel? we know that the gospel message is Built on the fact that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son That whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life We know that God Demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us so the fundamental foundational principle of the gospel is The love of God that has done something to rescue lost sinners has done something to transform sinners and That is through the giving of the son Jesus Christ And in the giving of the son Jesus Christ it transforms us from the way that we live To a new way of life. It's called being born again So what is the first principles while one Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures? I'll have sin and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death But the free gift of God is life through Jesus Christ So the first thing he points to as an essential is Christ died Christ died for our sins Now he says according to the scriptures because Isaiah 53 8 through 10 says this by oppression and judgment He was taken away who can speak of his descendants for he was cut off from the land of living For the transgression of my people. He was stricken He was assigned to grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death though He had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering He will see his offspring and prolong his days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand So Christ died for our sins. Secondly, he was buried and that was referred to in the passage I just spoke of through Isaiah how he made his grave with the wicked third. He says he rose again The third day he was resurrected again, you find that in scripture Psalm 16 verse 10 You will not abandon me to the grave nor will you let your holy one see decay? And so Jesus Christ was raised the third day in Matthew in chapter 12 verses 39 and 40 It says a wicked and adulterous generation asked for a miraculous sign But none will be given it Accept the sign of the prophet Jonah for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish So the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth He rose again the third day in verses five through seven. It says he was seen by Cephas and then by the 12 Well, that declares that Jesus's resurrection is attested by eyewitnesses That's an important point because he's saying that it isn't just a tradition and it's not just a story It's not something of fable that has been circulated amongst people. It is something that is verifiable. There were eyewitnesses This is not mythological. This is a real event. He was seen by Cephas The word Cephas there the name Cephas is the same as the apostle Peter and the apostle Peter would speak in this way In second Peter 1 16 when he said we did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and come in Our Lord Jesus Christ we he says were eyewitnesses of his majesty So he was seen by Cephas first six says he was seen by the 12 When it refers to the 12 that's simply another way of referring to the apostles and you see those Instances in the Gospel of John in chapter 20 When he says he was seen by over 500 brethren at once There's no specific reference to where and when this occurred But he's using it to those who would have heard that and it bolsters his statement concerning the resurrection In verse 7 he says after that he was seen by James Most likely this James that has been spoken of is the brother of the Lord Jesus. This is one who at one time doubted him You know, I find that Amazing let me take a moment to say this every time I I consider Jesus's brothers and sisters did not believe in him I ask you to think about that for just a minute How amazing that is I think that sometimes we ought to put ourselves in the position of Of that historic event in order that we might grasp it a little more fully Because when you read your bible very often you just read it as an outsider just viewing information But put yourself in the home with Jesus Christ and and And what it would have been like to live with if you have a brother or a sister to live with a perfect person A very few people have the opportunity to live with a perfect person, right? I mean it's outside of marie nobody else does You know, I mean think about it A perfect person I mean think about it and he has brothers and sisters. They're named for us in the gospel of matthew Brothers and sisters who saw Jesus as he grew up He never disobeyed He never lost his temper He never did anything that was wrong You think that you grew up with a brother that always got away with stuff and things Mom never caught him and he got away with it all the time That's what my brother would say about me But you knew he did something wrong You knew she lied you knew that They'd sit there and smile like an angel and mom would say oh my good little girl or my good little boy And they'd smile and mom would pat him on the head and say oh, why can't you be more like this? And you look at him and you know, he took mom's car out when joy riding she doesn't know about it You know that he's been drinking, you know, and she doesn't know about it And you just look at him and you think how do you get away with this? But you grew up with them You knew when they got mad you knew when they when they were doing wrong But Jesus's brothers and sisters never did anything like that Never saw anything like that Mama said Jesus son make your bed And he go no, she's made Made a new one Make your bed Think about that one for a minute And I don't think Mary ever even had to tell him to Never had to tell him to pick up his sandals or clean his room There just was no evidence of that and so James grew up with a perfect Brother yet. He didn't believe in him In john chapter 7 verses 3 through 5 it says Jesus's brothers said to him You ought to leave here and go to Judea So that your disciples may see the miracles you do No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret Since you're doing these things show yourself to the world And then john says for even his own brothers did not believe in him James didn't believe until after the resurrection After the resurrection James became a very firm and strong believer In Jesus He says then by all the apostles There are other occasions when he appeared That may have included a larger circle of disciples And then in verse 8 then last of all he was seen by me also Notice how paul describes himself as by one born out of due time That phrase born out of due time is an interesting phrase it means Born prematurely It speaks of a life unable to sustain itself He's saying god was merciful to me Because i was born without hope And now I have life I was born with The incapacity Of surviving I was born out of due time Today we have These amazing births of children That sometimes are Two pounds You know my own grandson josiah Was born prematurely I have a picture of him when he was born the day he was born and he was I forget two or three weeks early and We went to the hospital and and My daughter karin handed me her son And I have a picture of me holding him And my hands where my my finger is hitting the palm of my other hand. That's how small he was He's very small He only weighed a few pounds And I remember holding his this little boy holding his hand his head in my hand and and the rest of his body in My other hand And that's how small and tiny he was and then they then they do what they can to make sure that the lungs Develop and you know, you know what happens with premature babies and all and they're concerned about jaundice and a variety of things that happen well Paul is simply saying I was born With no hope of life I was born out of due time I I should have died. I was the living dead But god Was gracious to me He gave me life And that's something we all should rejoice in Because god gives us life without him. We don't have life So paul, what did you do? What did you do? When it dawned on you That you were one who was born prematurely You were one who shouldn't have lived How did that affect your life and paul would say oh man I partied hearty because You know I drank as often as I want because after all I have freedom and and I clubbed, you know in all the Greek clubs, you know, I What did you do? I slept around man, you know, I I say that facetiously, but I want you to think about it How does somebody act? Who knows that god has been merciful to them? How do they act Think about it because he's going to tell us We just read it. I'll read it again in a moment. He's going to tell us What is it that motivated the apostle paul To make it his chief aim To preach the gospel of jesus christ where jesus's name had never been spoken What motivated this man to travel For so many years To preach to be beaten to be shipwrecked To to to suffer the loss of all things to be imprisoned To to be looked at as being the off scouring to be rejected and to be Ridiculed and what is it paul? What is it that you did with the grace of god? He says I I labored He says I labored for the gospel He says in verse eight again last of all he was seen by me also As by one born out of due time I'm the least of the apostles who Who am not worthy 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 But I labored more abundantly than they are yet not I but the grace of god Which was with me. What did you do? I labored I was a man Who was saved wonderfully saved Joyously saved A man who breathed out Threatenings for those who are followers of jesus christ a man Who hated jesus and his followers so much that he obtained letters of authority To hunt down christians who were heretical in his sight To bring them back in chains to witness against them and to Encourage their death sentence. He speaks about it several times in his writings when he gives his testimony I persecuted the church of god to the death. That's what he says I wanted him to die. He was there holding the cloak of those who were stoning Uh the first christian martyr He was there watching as it took place and he was he was voting for the man to die That's what he did before christ But after jesus came into his life Listen when I was a young man and Before I got saved And and i'm so old now people might not believe this is true what it is If you said there was a party I'd be the first person to it And I'd be the last person to leave Like some of you in this room Party let's go Drink absolutely Smoke dope of course Get crazy. Why not? Why not Why not what else is there to do? And that's what I did Oh, we're going out on friday. Are you kidding me? Let's go out on monday Let's go out on tuesday Can we do it twice on wednesday? You want to go to party let's party let's party because I I can see you understand. I got a bunch of dopers in here Uh, but that's how it was that's how it was Full on committed totally You know totally totally into that life totally Loved it enjoyed it Did it because it was life It was also miserable But it was life. It's what I had it's what I thought was good After getting saved The energies that I used to put into running from god We're turned around And I began to pursue god So when you would have said in the past There's a party in lehabra I'd say let's go Someone would say there's a bible study in lehabra And I'd say let's go And that's what we did We'd get in my car And we'd sing songs all the way to the bible study We'd go to the study We'd open our bibles We'd read the word of god Some kid who'd be 19 or 20 Who didn't know Anything would be the bible teacher And he'd just say wow Isn't this cool Jesus died for us man And we go No, I'm talking like an old hippie. Some of you understand this language Far out Far out bad and it was And it hasn't changed 42 years You know stay with the lord And that's all paul is saying and he said once I was going away And now I follow him I was somebody who was given life How did I use that life To serve the lord jesus christ When he says in verse 10 I call this the papai verse and some of you are too young to know what that is But you oldsters will understand once I say it Papai used to say I am what I am and that's all that I am Well by the grace of god, I am what I am so papai caught hold of the teaching of the apostle paul and was brought into the cartoons But it's through the grace of god that I am what I am and his grace toward me Now notice this was not in vain Do you want to be able to say the same thing I do His grace to me was not in vain It was not wasted on my life He said I labored more abundantly But it wasn't me working. It's the grace of god Which was with me out of thankfulness. He said I serve god not partially But I serve god with all of my strength And his grace toward me isn't in vain Because he truly saved me And he filled me with his power And he works in my life therefore Whether it was I or they So we preach And so you believe And that's how it works Some of you have not really learned this yet But I'm praying that you will and that is this There is nothing you'll ever do That is more rewarding There is nothing that you will ever do That is more than more rewarding Than leading somebody to faith in jesus christ Nothing Nothing is more rewarding Than to see somebody's entire Life direction change And when they were on their way to hell To see them turn around And move on their way to heaven There is nothing more exciting Than to see people's lives change You can turn them on to a variety of things And see them diminish Or you can bring them to faith in jesus christ And you can see them live And for me the most exciting thing I do Is to help people to see god So that their lives are blessed by god And then one day when they close their eyes here They're going to open their eyes there To see him and the grace of god is not in vain For them And that's the greatest thing Make it your aim to understand that watch your life change