_THE GOSPEL_ ‘Brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel.’ 1 Corinthians 15:1 The Gospel! How familiar are the words! What a grand thing is the Gospel!—the good news which nobody would ever have found out by himself. The good news sent down straight from heaven. The great foundation upon which all t... [ Continue Reading ]
_A FACT AND A WARNING_ ‘By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.’ 1 Corinthians 15:10 This is the confession of a soul truly devout and humble, because it knew the exact truth about itself—‘by the grace of God I am what I am.’ The duty of each... [ Continue Reading ]
_‘NOT IN VAIN’_ ‘Grace … not in vain;’ ‘Labour … not in vain.’ 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Corinthians 15:58 St. Paul, of all men, was ever keen on Christian men and women not only enjoying their privileges, but also discharging their responsibilities consistently. I. BECAUSE IF WE DO NOT, GOD’S GRAC... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE CALL FOR SERVICE_ ‘I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God.’ 1 Corinthians 15:10 The Gospel of Christ appeals to you in your strength as well as in your weakness. It is pitiable to think how many miss this truth in the fulness of their manhood, in the glory... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL_ ‘So we preach, and so ye believed.’ 1 Corinthians 15:11 According to the context there seem to be two principal reasons why the Apostle speaks in this way of the death of the Redeemer. One is on account of the place which it occupies in the _ redemption of man_. The othe... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE DILEMMA_ ‘And if Christ be not risen, then is out preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.’ 1 Corinthians 15:14 The Apostle justly argued that if Christ be not risen it is another Christianity; if it be a gospel at all, it is not the Gospel committed to us, not the Gospel on which we hav... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE ARGUMENT OF COMMON SENSE_ ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.’ 1 Corinthians 15:19 Let me seek to show to any one who has any heart-love for the Lord Who died for him, how, when we begin to doubt as to the reality of the Lord’s Resurrection, we are... [ Continue Reading ]
_HE IS RISEN_ ‘Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.’ 1 Corinthians 15:20 Two distinct truths are taught us in these blessed words:— I. ‘NOW IS CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD.’—Here is the assurance— (_a_) That the _ souls_ of all believers are safe. (_... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE END_ ‘Then cometh the end.’ 1 Corinthians 15:24 It is not possible to rule these words out of life. They are perpetually recurring. We contemplate a man’s life from childhood to full manhood and old age; all the works that he will do; all the associations he will form; our eye runs along his... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE RESURRECTION BODY_ ‘With what body do they come?’ 1 Corinthians 15:35 The Prayer Book contains several phrases which express the Christian Faith as regard the future life: ‘I believe in the Resurrection of the body’ (Apostles’ Creed). ‘I look for the Resurrection of the dead’ (Nicene Creed).... [ Continue Reading ]
_DEGREES OF CONDITION_ ‘There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.’ 1 Corinthians 15:41 We may not overlook the point insisted upon by the Apostle—namely,... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE FUTURE LIFE_ ‘It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.’ 1 Corinthians 15:44 There is no more wonderful or impressive chapter in the Bible than this fifteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Corinthians, which deals with the transfiguration of this present life into its future... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE CHANGE_ ‘We shall be changed.’ 1 Corinthians 15:52 These few but momentous words place before us a mystery, a profound mystery. I. WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURES?—Three passages there certainly are, all of them in the writings of St. Paul, in which the fact, and to some extent the circumstances... [ Continue Reading ]
_VICTORY!_ ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ 1 Corinthians 15:54 There are very few who do not sometimes think about the life beyond that which they are living now. It is an instinct of the human race. Death forces itself on us as a universal fact. And in all ages and in every land men have bee... [ Continue Reading ]
_A SONG OF TRIUMPH_ ‘Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 1 Corinthians 15:57 It is in this high strain of triumph that the Apostle concludes his magnificent Hymn of the Resurrection. He had spoken of the Resurrection of Christ; first as a fact in history,... [ Continue Reading ]
_‘NOT IN VAIN’_ ‘Grace … not in vain;’ ‘Labour … not in vain.’ 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Corinthians 15:58 St. Paul, of all men, was ever keen on Christian men and women not only enjoying their privileges, but also discharging their responsibilities consistently. I. BECAUSE IF WE DO NOT, GOD’S GRAC... [ Continue Reading ]