Brother Josh Wormley, Missionary to Kenya

this year has been designated a special month.

The flags are unfurled and we are particularly

focused on missions and I wish everyone would

have been in the Sunday school hour as Josh updated

us what's going on there in Africa, particularly

in Kenya and Nairobi with the Somali believers

there or the Somali people, I should say. Very

few believers. But, you know, we're so very fortunate

that God has blessed us and he's blessed us with

men like Josh who's willing to go to difficult

places. And this is where his heart is. And if

you were there in Sunday school, most of us would

say, I would rather not be in that part of the

world. And yet God has placed that calling on

you and given you a courage, dear brother. Thank

you. And then we have John and Barb Wendler and

their family there in Paraguay. And they're not

just working with the... People, they're working

with different indigenous groups there in Paraguay,

different language groups, and we're so very

thankful to have you guys. They've been our missionaries

for many years as well, and may the word continue

to bless you, dear brother. Josh, we want to

hear from the Lord this morning. Would you come

and open the word of God to us? All righty. Well,

good to be back with you again. Journey told

me when I went to pick her up from Sunday school,

she asked me if we could stay at this church.

So, not sure what type of bribery's been going

on downstairs, candy and whatnot, but apparently

Sunday school's pretty good. So, I don't know

who her Sunday school teacher was, but whoever...

Ah, yes. You did a good job, apparently. She

wants to stay. If you have a Bible, please turn

to the book of 1 Corinthians. Book of 1 Corinthians,

chapter number 15. I'm sorry for the loss that

your church has experienced, and it just so happens

by the providence of God that the title of the

sermon today is Hope in the Resurrection. Hope

in the Resurrection. Yeah, it's never easy to

lose a loved one, especially when it's unexpected.

My grandfather just passed away. I was telling

Pastor Ryan that. And so also on Friday we'll

be having a funeral back home. And there's much

sorrow in the loss of a dear friend, relative,

someone that you love. But at the same time there's

that knowledge of the hope of salvation for those

who are in Christ Jesus. And so we do rejoice

in that. I would like to read verses 1 through

9 this morning, and then we will get into the

introduction of this letter. It says in 1 Corinthians

15, 1, Wherever, 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 the Scriptures, and

that he was buried, and that he rose again the

third day, according to the Scriptures, and that

he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After

that he was seen of about five hundred brethren

at once, of whom the greater part remain unto

this present. But some are fallen asleep. 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, that am not meet to be called

an apostle, because I persecuted the church of

God. Now, we're jumping in the midst of this

text here, 1 Corinthians 15. It's already been

14 chapters that have come before, and so a lot

has happened, of course. Just by way of a brief

introduction, we know that Paul wrote, we have

at least, two of Paul's letters written to the

church there at Corinth, a church that he was

heavily invested in. We know that Paul was there

at the inception of this church, and Acts 18

we're able to read about. while Paul is on his

second missionary journey, the about year and

a half that he spends there preaching and teaching

to the believers that are there in the city of

Corinth. We know many things about the city of

Corinth itself. We know that it was a large city,

that it was a hub not only for market and agricultural

and business in general, but also it was a hub

for various religious beliefs. Poseidon, Aphrodite,

different deities that were worshipped in various

temples scattered across the city. And so in

a big city with diverse religious beliefs, diverse

economic income from slaves all the way up to

the rich and powerful in the elite class, there

is a small church. There is a church of... Gentiles

and Jews, followers of Christ, those who have

believed the gospel. And in this church, we know

as we begin the book of 1 Corinthians, we know

that Paul greets them. And then right away, Paul

begins to address issues that were going on in

the church. He begins to tackle some problems.

Now, I'm sure there are no problems here. I've

not heard of any. And judging by from what Journey

has said, there are none. But in this church

that the Apostle Paul had helped start, there

were some problems. There were some issues. In

chapter 1, Paul begins to tackle the problem

of division and factions. Those who were wanting

to follow after this leader and some who were

wanting to follow after another. deals with this

for several chapters. Then in chapter 5, he begins

to deal with sexual integrity and church discipline

and specific issues going on in that realm within

the church. Then he begins to deal, as we continue

on into chapter 8 through 11, he begins to deal

with Christian liberty. He begins to deal with,

can you eat this meat that was offered to idols

or not? Are you actually worshiping at the table

of demons or not? And he begins to work through

some of these issues. Then, Paul addresses problems

concerning the church and how they worship God

together, specifically around the Lord's table.

What to do, what not to do. And finally, as we

get to chapter 15, and of course there's more,

you can drill down deeper into each one of those.

But as we get to chapter 15, Paul begins to deal

with doubts concerning the bodily resurrection.

There were some in the church, apparently, who

were doubting whether or not there was indeed

going to be a bodily resurrection from the dead.

And Paul addresses this question. And of course,

he gets into it more in 12, verse number 12 there.

He says, Now if Christ be preached that he rose

from the dead, how say some among you that there

is no resurrection of the dead? And then in verse

14, And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching

vain, and your faith is also vain. And so Paul

is now going to answer this issue, this problem

within the church of Corinth, where there were

some who were doubting whether or not there truly

was a resurrection of the dead. And as he does

this, as he answers this question, he's going

to lay out for us the hope of the resurrection

by giving us a brief synopsis of the gospel,

by laying forth these core and fundamental truths

that we believe in the gospel. And so that is

what I want us to spend time here this morning

thinking about and looking at in chapter 15,

these verses that we have read. What is this

hope of the resurrection of the gospel that we

have? So as we begin, verse number one. Moreover,

brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which

I preached unto you. So Paul is reminding these

believers. He's reminding brothers here. He says

brothers, brothers and sisters, believers, those

who have claimed the name of Christ to be believers.

He is reminding them. of something that they

already know, something that they should know,

that they should have at the forefront of their

mind, but it is good to be reminded. And he's

going to give a fuller account of what this gospel

is that he has preached unto them. But here,

as he begins this, he says, I remind you of the

gospel I preached to you. He's reminding them

of the message that they had received, which

also ye have received. Paul says, the message

of the gospel that was preached to the believers

who were there in the church at Corinth, it was

a message that was received by them. Of course,

the gospel message, I'm sure it has happened

to you, but you have maybe shared that message

with someone at work, a family member, someone

on the streets, and it has not been received.

Most of the time, that's how it seems to go.

Many times we feel as if we're banging our heads

against the wall as we try to share the gospel.

It is not a message that is received oftentimes,

but to them it was. To these believers, they

did receive it. And just by way of thinking about

that reception of the gospel, it is good for

us to be reminded that the gospel is not something

that we can choose to ignore. The gospel message

is not a message. That we can simply walk away

from without consequence. Jesus spoke of the

parable of the sower in Matthew 13. As the gospel

or the word is spread into the soils. Which he

would later go on to tell us is the hearts of

men. There are some soils where it is hardened

and it is snatched up by the evil one. There

are some where the gospel is briefly seen to

be something to be treasured. But soon it is

choked out by the cares and concerns of this

world and others as well as the parable goes

on. But the gospel demands a response. The gospel

demands that we receive it. And so the only real

proper response to the gospel by the grace of

God is that in faith we do receive it. That in

faith we do cling to the message of Christ. And

we don't want to take for granted, even in a

place like this, I think, is this considered

-ish, the Bible Belt? Maybe the very tip of the

belt? You guys might just briefly be at the tip

of the belt. But even at a place like a Sunday

morning service in a good Baptist church, close

to the Bible Belt, Even within the walls here,

the message of the gospel, we must be reminded

for those who believe of the sweet truth, but

also for those who have not yet believed in faith,

that the only proper response for the gospel

is that we indeed receive it in faith. The only

way for the application of the work of Christ

to our account is through the receiving of the

gospel message of Jesus Christ, Again, we will

get into here soon. But Paul says, the gospel

message that I have preached to you, which you

have received, and wherein ye stand. This is

where you stand. Not only did they believe when

Paul first preached to them, not only was there

a reception, yes, there was a life -giving faith

that they had in that moment when they believed

the gospel. When God opened their eyes and the

scales fell from their eyes and they, in faith,

clung to the gospel. Not only did that happen

at a point in time, but they are continuing,

Paul says, to stand in that same gospel. They

continue in the same belief, in the same gospel

message, up to the present. Their faith was not

only a one -time event that faded, but rather

it was a living faith. It was a faith that continued

to abide in Christ, in the same message that

they had received. Paul goes on to say, By which

also ye are saved. By which also you are saved.

There is a sense in which salvation is a once

-for -all event. But the Scriptures speak...

Of salvation, past, present, and future. That

you are being saved. That you will be saved.

There is a sense in which we are saved when we

place our faith in Christ Jesus. But we are continually

being saved by that same gospel message each

and every day. As our faith continues in Christ

Jesus. And ultimately on the day when we stand

before our Lord in glorified bodies. When we

will be fully in the presence of our King, where

we will experience salvation in its fullest.

And so Paul reminds them that they have received

this message, that they are standing in this

message, that they have been saved by it, and

they indeed are being saved by it. He goes on

to say, If ye keep in memory what I preached

unto you, unless you have believed in vain. Paul

reminds them that they are to keep in memory

what had been preached. They are to continue

in this faith. They are not to forget and so

easily set aside as we read about in Galatians

where Paul says, you know, I'm shocked, I'm amazed

that it seems that you have so quickly forgotten

the gospel. That you have so quickly forgotten

the one who has saved you and now are turning

to. These works, these other things, and Paul

goes off on in Galatians, there in Galatians

1. But Paul is reminding the believers, remember

this gospel message. Remember what has been preached

to you. Continue in your faith, unless, he says,

unless you have believed in vain. Now, I don't

believe that Paul is saying here that if indeed

you do forget the gospel, You will fall away

from the faith. I'm not saying that if you...

I love the song, He Will Hold Me Fast. All of

us, if we were capable, we would. We are prone

to wander. We would run. We would fall away from

the faith. And it is only by the grace of God

that we continue in the faith. And so, I'm not

saying that you can fall away from the faith

here. But I believe what Paul is saying here

is that the faith that we have, the faith that

a true believer has is a living faith. It is

an abiding faith. It is a persevering faith that

will keep you unto the end. And so the saving

faith that we experience in the gospel is a faith

that is not brief, but a faith that continues.

A faith... that abides. And so Paul is again

reminding the believers to continue in this faith

that they received, to continue living out the

gospel in their lives. And so as we persevere

in faith, we don't lose sight of the fact that

it is Christ's finished work on the cross that

saves us. It's not our persevering. It's not

that I am believing good enough today, but rather

we are saved because of His righteousness. Not

because of ours. We're saved because of His work.

Not because I'm good enough at having faith.

We can never work our way into heaven. Our only

hope is in Christ. It is in Him and His message

that we put our hope and our faith in. And that

hope and faith, it continues by His grace. We

continue to believe. And so we continue to persevere.

But Paul continues on. He says, For I delivered

unto you, first of all, that which I also received.

Now, in our context, context, I don't know what

that is. That's from Iowa. That's where I'm from.

That's how we say context. In our context with

Muslims, many times, well, basically every time,

Muslims hate the Apostle Paul. Don't ever bring

Paul up because they hate him so much. They think

Paul was the one who created Christianity. They

think Paul was the one who warped everybody's

mind and created all these doctrines and all

sorts of problems. And so Muslims, they hate

Paul. But I love this here because Paul says,

I delivered unto you, first of all, that which

I also received. Now, of course, we don't believe,

as Muslims do, that Paul created a bunch of doctrines

and things. But Paul here is using the same wording

about delivering as he does back in chapter 11,

verse 2, chapter 11, verse 23. He is informing

his readers that he is passing on believed Christian

doctrine. These are things, these are crucial

truths about the gospel that Paul... did not

create on his own, but these are things that

Paul himself received from others. We know from

Galatians 1 that Paul went and spoke with some

of the apostles and Peter. We know even as well

that Paul himself heard from the resurrected

Lord. That Paul himself had experienced an intimate

communion with The resurrected Lord. And so Paul

is not making up something here. These are things

that Paul is passing on that he has received

from the Lord or he has received from the other

apostles as well. And he says, of first importance,

these are important truths. These are the crucial

and bedrock foundational truths that we as believers

must confess and hold to. And so Paul says in

verse 3, For I delivered unto you, first of all,

that which I also received, how that Christ died

for our sins. Christ died for our sins. And again,

coming from our context, it is not believed by

Muslims that Jesus indeed died for our sins.

For them, Christ never died. That is something

that is made up. But I love how even one of the

most famous atheists, Bart Ehrman, says that

one of the most sure facts of history is that

Jesus Christ was crucified by Pontius Pilate.

If that's not true, then we cannot be certain

of anything in history. And so the gospel message,

as we begin to look at it, as Paul begins to

unpack it here, it is a historical... It is a

historical faith in which we believe in. The

gospel is not something that we have dreamed

up or has been crafted over years. It is indeed

a fact of history that Jesus Christ died on the

cross. And there's a fact and a reason here that

we see. We see that Christ died for our sins.

That is a fact of history. It happened. And Paul

says, 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. These things happened. And they

happened because our sins. Christ died for our

sins according to the Scriptures. These things

where Christ died, where Christ rose from the

dead, Those things happened for our sins. The

problem is, today, with all of us, whether you're

from Kitz Hill or from Iowa or from Kenya or

anywhere else in the world, the problem is that

we are all sinners. The death of Christ is not

an accident. The death of Christ was purposeful

and planned. We know that. We can read that in

Acts 2 .23 or many other places all throughout

the Scriptures. We see how God is... planning

a way and making a way of salvation for sinful

people, people like you and I who have sinned,

who have ran from God, who deserve death, who

deserve to be severed from the presence of God

for all eternity. And we, living in this sin

-filled, plague -filled world of problems, of

passions, of pain, of death, in our sin, Christ

died for us. to save us from that sin, to save

sinners like you and I. His death shows the reason

why God would come from heaven to earth in order

to save sinful people like us. And so Paul reminds

us of this truth. This is the gospel that he

delivered unto those in Corinth, the gospel that

we still today, 2 ,000 years later, Hold to and

believe that Christ died for our sins. And again,

this is according to Scriptures. Now, we could

go into atonement and... 12 to 12 .05, and I'm

on like 2 of 20, so we're going to run. We're

going to run. So we're not going to go into it,

but we could go into and spend much time just

thinking and dwelling upon atonement. That is

exactly what Paul is describing here in... these

few words, that Christ died for our sins according

to the Scriptures. The fact that there is atonement

for our sins because there should be no atonement

for our sins. There's no reason for it apart

from the love of God and for His own glory. But

we continue on. Paul continues to say, For I

delivered unto you first of all that which I

also received, how 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. So this Next statement, buried,

affirmed that Jesus indeed died. He indeed was

crucified, unlike those who would say he was

not. No, Christ was buried. He was in the flesh.

He was put into a grave, as the Scriptures said.

And again, this is the second time Paul has used

that, according to the Scriptures. Throughout

the Old Testament, there were many prophecies

that pointed to the coming of a Messiah, pointing

to the one who would come and crush the head

of the serpent and provide a way of salvation.

for sinners. And of course, it was much grander

and much more peculiar and spectacular than people

were expecting or thinking. But indeed, it was

according to the Scriptures. It was according

to the plan of God as shown throughout Genesis,

throughout Isaiah. The prophecies had been fulfilled

in Christ. These are all fulfillments of the

plan of God to redeem a people for Himself. And

so he was buried and he rose again the third

day according to the scriptures. Now, Paul will

get into this later in this chapter. And he gets

into it in other places like in Romans 6. But

we are able to be partakers of the very same

resurrection of Christ. Christ was buried and

resurrected so that we might partake in his resurrection.

Because of his burial and resurrection, we also,

Paul will go on to make that case, will be raised.

And so the hope that we have in the resurrection

of Christ, the knowledge that he was buried,

yes, but he rose, is the same hope that we have

because we are in Christ. And so Paul will go

on to make that case more clear later. But continuing

on. He says, if you want me to stop, you don't

have to throw your Bible at me. If I said something

wrong, I'm sorry. I guess that's how you know

when to be done. All right, pastor throws the

Bible at you. All right, but continue on. It

says, verse 5, and that he was seen of Cephas

and then of the twelve. So, appearing to Peter,

of course, the resurrected Lord was seen of Peter.

And of the other disciples after the resurrection,

Christ, you know, he didn't roam around as a

ghost, but he was in a resurrected body. He ate

with them. Thomas was able, you know, Thomas

was told, come, touch. He ate with the disciples

in Luke 24 and John 20. We see the case with

Thomas. And so Paul is building his argument

that we've seen him. The apostles have indeed

seen the resurrected Lord. And he goes on to

say, Not only was he seen of the apostles, but

he was seen above 500 brethren. There's over

500 people who are witnesses. If I were to come

and tell you today some sort of crazy story,

like someone rose from the dead or something

crazy, that you would say, that's not possible.

And you were to say, well, who can verify that

story? And I'd say, well, nobody. It was just

me. You'd have to have an awful lot of faith,

an awful lot of trust in me. But if I say, you

know what? Hundreds of people that witnessed

this. And exactly what Paul is doing here, he

says, many of them remain up to this present

day. So if you want to go and fact check, if

you want to go and see whether or not this story

is reliable, go, talk to the witnesses. They

are there. You can talk to most of them. A few

of them have died. A few of them are gone. But

most of them are there. Again, pointing to the

reliability of the resurrection. Paul is building

his case for the resurrection. He continues on

and says, after that, he was seen of James and

then of all the apostles. Now, there's several

Jameses in the scriptures, which sometimes could

be confusing. But the James Paul mentions here

is most likely the brother, the half -brother

of Jesus, who became an important leader in the

church of Jerusalem. James, the son of Zebedee,

he would have been already mentioned in the 12.

Cephas in the 12 when Paul mentioned that previously.

Cephas being Peter, the one who is oftentimes

the leader, the spokesman of the disciples. And

so most likely the James here is the half -brother

of Jesus. Which is significant because there

was a time when you go into the Gospels, you

see that many of the family of Jesus did not

believe who he was. They did not believe that

he was indeed the Son of God, the Messiah, come

to save a people. from their sins. But this half

-brother, you know, you could talk to Journey.

Journey knows me quite well. She's only six.

But if you were to ask her and say, you know,

does your daddy ever get angry? Does your daddy

ever get upset? She could tell you the truth.

She's seen me. Many of you, you know, you're

going to see me for an hour, hour and a half.

We might exchange a few words. Josh seems like

a pretty okay, he's alright. You might throw

your Bible at him. Apart from that, he's alright.

But your family really knows you. And this half

-brother of Jesus, who at one time doubted, at

one time did not believe, indeed believes and

becomes a leader within the church and is a witness

of these things. And so Paul is just building

on this again. There are all of these witnesses.

And then, of course, the Apostle Paul himself,

the one who persecuted the church, the one who

hated Christians, who did what he could to snuff

out the embers of the growing church in the beginning.

This Paul who hated and persecuted Christians,

now a passionate preacher of this gospel, a preacher

of this hope of the resurrection. And he says,

you know, last of all, as of one untimely born,

he appeared to me. And so this zealous Pharisee

who persecuted the church is now a follower of

Christ. So, by way of quickly wrapping all these

things up and conclusion, that now leaves a question

for you and I. You and I don't have the exact

same experience as these eyewitnesses do. I wasn't

there in the room. We weren't there to witness

these that the disciples and others saw. But

if you receive the good news of Jesus in faith,

then you indeed have been changed by the very

same gospel that changed each and every one of

those men. Maybe you haven't received the gospel

of Jesus because you think you are too sinful

or too far gone. That's a possibility even for

someone in here today. Maybe you have stopped

praying for someone because you think that their

heart is just too hard. You think that person,

I've shared the gospel with them for 40 years,

they're still as angry and bitter as the first

time. There's no point. It's hopeless. Why even

try? But just as James and Paul were radically

transformed by the gospel of Christ, just as

we, who have believed in Christ Jesus, have been

radically transformed by the gospel, so also

that same message, which is the power of God

unto salvation, is able to change and transform

the heart of you or of that person you're thinking

of today. As we think of the beautiful words

of the Lord, of our Savior, when he says, Come

to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and

I will give you rest. The rest that we have in

Christ Jesus is this hope of an eternity with

God, a hope of a resurrection, a hope of a continual

fellowship with our God. And so the church at

Corinth was not a perfect church. It was filled

with people who did not perfectly love God, and

they did not perfectly love one another. They

sinned against one another at times, just like

we do. At times, they were even pressured to

follow the mindset and the thinking of the world

instead of God's Word. But Paul addresses many

of those issues throughout the book, as we've

talked about. But the advice that he gives, not

really advice, but the things that he writes

to them is not, just don't do that, just do this,

try to be happier because of that, try not to

sin because of this. It is always tied to the

gospel. It is always tied to the hope that we

have in Christ Jesus. We have been changed by

the gospel, therefore continue to live in light

of the gospel. We have a hope of the resurrection

in these broken and sinful bodies, and so continue

to strive to war for holiness, to war against

the flesh because of the gospel. It is always

brought back to the gospel. And so... This is

something that we are able to rejoice about as

believers. If we have believed in the gospel,

the fact that there is hope, that there is a

joy that we share in being together, praising

the Lord in song, in prayer, and through the

preaching of his word on Sunday, there is a joy

that we have. There is a hope that we look to,

a hope that we contain, not because of what we

have done, of course, but because of the gospel

of Christ Jesus, what he has done for us. And

so we rejoice with the words of Paul that there

is therefore now no condemnation for those who

are in Christ Jesus. The significance of the

bodily resurrection of Jesus is that our faith

in Him is not in vain. We do not have an empty

hope for the future. By this gospel message,

we are empowered through the Spirit of God in

us to live lives that do not conform to this

world, but rather conform to the kingdom of God.

And we have all the reason to remain firm in

our faith in Christ because... He lives. Thank

you. Amen. Thank you, sir, much, Josh. The same

gospel that the Apostle Paul preached, the same

gospel that has been handed down through history,

is the same gospel we rejoice in and we cling

to today. It's that same apostolic gospel. It's

the same supper that we're going to celebrate

that from that time of the apostles on, from

the time when Jesus instituted it, this is the

supper of the Lord. It's for those who have the

covenant sign of baptism. We belong to him. Let

us fellowship with our Lord and rejoice in this

good news, euangelion, the good news, the hope

of the gospel. Deacons, If you would come and

prepare the table, please.