In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of the gospel message. He starts by declaring the gospel that he preached and that the audience has received and stands in. He highlights the key elements of the gospel: Christ's death for our sins, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day, all according to the Scriptures. The preacher emphasizes the seriousness of sin and the reality of death, urging the audience to consider their own sins and what they will do about them. He reminds them that the gospel is the solution to their sin problem and encourages them to take it to heart.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Can you hear me up on the balcony? All right. The mic isn't on yet. We think it will be. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let's read the first of five verses in 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, and which also you received, and wherein you stand, and by which also you are saved, if you keep in mind what I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. But I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I 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, and of me, and of twelve also. Now note carefully verses 3 and 4. Paul said, I won't tell you again the gospel by which you were saved. I preached unto you a very simple gospel, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. First of all, this is a gospel, and we ought to take it very much to heart, because the Bible has much to say about it. In Galatians chapter 1, Paul said, you wandered away from the gospel I preached to you. Now you say, well, you've got to be circumcised, you've got to keep the law of Moses, and you're forsaken this world's salvation by grace, he said. I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you. And he said in Galatians chapter 1, verse 8 and 9, he said, indignantly, by divine inspiration, he said, I declare unto you that if any man bring you another gospel than that which I preached unto you, let him be accursed. And he said the next verse again, I say unto you, if any man bring you another gospel than that which I preached to you, let him be accursed. Evidently, this is an extreme matter. No Christian must have patience with any other gospel, any other plan of salvation, because many, many people go to hell if they believe in the wrong kind of doctrine, the kind of salvation. In Matthew chapter 7, the Lord says that, many, many will come to me and say on that day, Lord, is that open to us? Lord, he said, I've cast out devils in your name. I've prophesied, I've done many wonderful things. Many people? Yes. And he'll say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. You mean there are lots of people that are religious and not saved? Yes. You mean lots of people that pray and go to church? Yes, and maybe even preach, but they're not converted. They have the wrong gospel. Paul said, now listen, this gospel by which you were saved, the gospel I preached to you, he said, if anybody brings a different gospel, let him be accursed, because this is the only possible hope for anybody to get to heaven and get saved, is this gospel. All right, let us then take to heart. Let us then take to heart this gospel and have very great concern about it. You know, in 2 John 9-11, John was inspired to write, and said, if anybody comes to you and brings not the doctrine of Christ, the Bible truth about Jesus, as he was born of a virgin, he lived a sinless life, he died an atoning death, he raised from the dead, he's coming again. Now, if anybody brings any other doctrine but this, doesn't abide in this, he does not have God, he's not saved, and so if anybody comes, don't receive him in your houses, and don't bid him God feed, if he doesn't preach this gospel. Ah, this is serious then, this gospel. And Paul said he's so much concerned about it, he said, but remember that every Christian ought to have clear in his mind the gospel. Now, there are other things that are important, but not as important as this. You remember in Matthew 23, Jesus said to the Pharisees and the scribes, You tithe meant an innocent coming, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law of judgment, mercy, and truth. He said some things are more weighty than others. You can be wrong about tithing and go to heaven if you're saved. You can be wrong about baptism and go to heaven. You ought to be right about it, but you can be wrong about baptism and go to heaven if you're saved. But you can't be wrong about whether the Bible's true, and whether Jesus is the Son of God, and whether he was born of a virgin, whether he died for our sins. You can't be wrong about that and be saved. This is the saving gospel, Paul said. Now, notice what it is. First of all, Christ died for our sins. First, our sins. Our sins, oh, the depth of this thought. He said, Our sins, not in part, but the whole, are nailed to the cross, and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Ah, you know, first thing everybody's got to say, I'm a sinner, I must get some question for my sins settled. What am I going to do about my sins? You know, I was thinking last night, oh, they met down yonder and they had lots of fun. I'm not against fun, but I thought I sure wished somebody said a good word for Jesus Christ and salvation. You know, certain things are not in jokes. Sin, that takes people to hell. That's no joke. Death, everybody's got to die. It's a point on the man wants to die, and after that, to judgment. Let's take that to heart. And our sins, and what am I going to do about my sins? The truth of the matter is, you know, Oh, I'm not so bad. I know, but your conscience tells you you're a sinner. I said, visit a little girl. Oh, she's seven or eight years old. And I said, How are you? Are you a pretty good girl? And she said, ask Mama. She was embarrassed because she was conscious she was a sinner. And the Bible says, if you don't have the Bible, your conscience is accusing or excusing. You know when you're a sinner, and that's even heathen people, that's why they have animal sacrifices. That's why they have their religious ceremonies. They know they're sinners. Oh, some way to make peace with God. All right, now the gospel talks about you're a sinner, but thank God Jesus died for them. You know, sin's a terrible thing, a terrible thing, but here's a good remedy. In Dallas, Texas, I preached one time, and a woman sat out there and wept. She had a sad face. You know what sin does to a woman's face, a terrible business. You women want to be pretty. God bless you. God meant you to be pretty. I don't blame you. And I don't blame you. You buy all the stuff you can get in a drugstore. You're trying hard to be pretty. Bless your heart. But if anybody here wants to be a good-looking woman, I tell you now, you sure better hate sin. But it does to a woman's face as well as to her character. And that woman sat out there and wept as I preached. I gave an invitation to come to Christ. Others came and she didn't. I stepped out of the pulpit and went down to her, and I said, Why don't you come to trust Christ? You didn't hold your hand. You're a Christian. And I see you're distressed. Why don't you come? She said, I can't. I said, Oh, yes, you can. She said, Preacher, please don't torment me. There's nothing I can do. I can't. I said, Yes, you can. No, I can't, she said. She said, Please don't torment me. I said, Why can't you come? She said, Because I can't forget what I've done. I can't forget what I've done. I turned over to Hebrews chapter 10, and I read to her the Lord said, This is a covenant I'll make with them. And that day he said, I'll put my laws in their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And then he said, Their sins and their iniquities will remember no more, and there remaineth no more sacrifice or sin. And I said, If God will forget them, couldn't you forget too? And she said, Yes. If God will forget them, I will too. And she came and got saved. And so you call John Riser's name up in heaven, and all the angels of heaven say nothing against him. You say, But Father, Oh no, but Jesus paid for all that, and it's already marked paid and cleared out, and there's nothing against him. And so their sins will remember no more. Jesus died for our sins. Isn't that a wonderful truth? You can thank God for that. Our sins are paid for. That's right. Notice here that Christ died. For adventure for good men, some would even dare to die, but God commandeth His love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, to have somebody that went to such a trouble and pain and heartbreak and spittle in his face and a crown of thorns in his back torn with a scourge and nailed to a cross and mocked while he died, and God the Father turned His face. Well, what's that for, Jesus? That's for John Rice and Ron English and all these folks that ever trust Him. That's in their place. So He who was not a sinner was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Christ died for our sins. Isn't that good? Wait a minute. He died for our sins according to the Scripture and was buried. What do you mean? Because don't anybody think He just fainted. Don't anybody think He just suffered a little bit and then got... Oh, no. He died and was buried. It's all over. Why? Because it's appointed unto man once to die and Jesus to hide in our place. And Jesus couldn't take the place of a sinner unless He died. And so settled in that body laid in the grave. All right, so Jesus died. Thank God. I don't have to die. And the fact is I already have everlasting life. And now the Scripture says them that are asleep in Jesus. Oh, so if anybody come by, if one of these days, if I get old, I'm only 80 now. If I get old and if I die and have a funeral service and you come back by and say, Oh, doesn't it look natural? Don't nobody say, That's where I was dead. Say, He's asleep. Asleep in Jesus. Blessed sleep from which none ever wait to weep. Asleep in Jesus. So Jesus died in our place. He died, was buried. And then what? And He rose again. He rose again. What does it mean? That means deity. That means He's God in human form. That means He's the one who made the world. That means He is absolute deity. Don't say, I think Jesus is a good man. Oh, no, He's God in human form. That's right. Well, some of that. All right, then you have to go on to hell then. You're not into salvation unless Jesus is God in human form. The perfect sinless sacrifice fit to take our place and die for us. He died according to the Scriptures. And He rose again. Oh, I'm glad He's alive. He lives. He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. And we can know that, you know. We have a living Savior, so we don't go around as if we were lone men or orphans and nobody to help us. Thank God. A living Savior. And notice further He said here. He said Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Listen, something very interesting here. One time it says our sins. One time Christ died for them. One time He was buried. And one time He rose again. But twice it says in this same passage according to the Scriptures. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. If Jesus had died some other way or time, it wouldn't do any good. You know, last night, the gardener of Gethsemane said and tried to kill Him. He said my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. He's about to die. The burden of sin, the trouble everywhere. But an angel came. He prayed through. In Hebrews 7, 5, 7, the Scripture said, For in the days of His flesh, pride was strong, crying and tears unto Him was able to save Him from death and was heard, and it appeared. See that's another time, Bud. Notice this then, that this according to the Scriptures is Jesus died at the right time. He said, Father, let this cup pass. You mean Jesus is trying to get out of the crucifixion? No, He wants to leave the garden and die. The Scripture says, Must be nailed to a cross. The Scripture says, He'll have wounds in His hands and His feet. The Bible says that He's the fulfillment of the prophecy that Passover lamb was to be killed tomorrow and He's the God's Passover lamb. He had to die according to the Scriptures. If Herod had killed the baby Jesus, as He tried to, that wouldn't do any of us any good. No, He had to die according to the Scriptures. But He did, thank God, according to the Scriptures. That means the Bible, oh, how precious the Word of God. That's why we ought to be impatient if anybody doesn't believe the Bible. That's why we ought to say, anybody who doesn't believe the Bible, they're not a Christian. Christians believe the Bible. Only way of salvation is the kind in the Bible. Only kind of Savior you know is the one in the Bible. Somebody says, Well, I don't believe a loving God would send us to hell. Well, then, you make it up a God of your own, the God of the Bible would. By God, the Bible says sinners to hell won't repent. You won't turn down Christ. Somebody said, Well, the God of the Bible, He wouldn't be... But you're not... If you take the God of the Bible, that means the sinner must repent or perish. Oh, what wonderful truth. God loves sinners. An invitation in the Bible. You know, I was saved in Gainesville, Texas, nine years old. Let me see. That would be 71 years ago. I trusted Christ. But now my sister Bible showed me how to know a preacher, a priest, and a prodigal son. He said God would forgive me like that father took that boy back when he came home weeping. And so I came. But I didn't know all the promises God gave me. And my dad went home that day, and I said, Dad, what about me joining the church? And I couldn't tell him what happened. He wasn't there. And he said, Son, when you're old enough to really repent and be regenerated and so on, then, he said, you can join the church. I didn't know what all those big words meant, but my dad is the smartest man in the world. If he didn't think I was saved, I guess there wasn't. I went for three years, and then I found one day in the Bible, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Not going to have. As it now. As it now. And I said, Well, that's what I did. I got everlasting life. I have never, as far as I'm conscious, had a second's doubt since that day I found it in the Bible. You want to know what he said? Go to the Bible. Go to the Bible. A fellow called me a long distance the other day, as people frequently do, and I was troubled whether he could have done part of what he was saying or not. No, I didn't feel like it was all he ought to feel, and I wondered if he'd repented or not, and so on. I said, That's easy to settle. Romans 10, 13, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you call on Him, He saves you. Well, I called, but I prayed. Never mind if you didn't say if you called just right or said a certain word, but whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, they said, I don't care about how you feel, I said, if you trusted Jesus, called on Him to save you. He did. You know, God saves everybody who really wants to be saved. Yeah. Are you tired of sin? Want forgiveness? Oh, you can have it. It's free. Jesus died for it. It's all free. It's all free. You can have it. That's why we're happy today. I said, Well, I do. I just said, I'm going to pitch my doubts out to wonder, because I'm going to depend on Jesus and rely on Jesus and have that all settled forever. I'm turning this over to Jesus Christ, and that would be a good thing to do. Let me ask you a question. Think about the time you were saved. Now, in my case, I don't even know. It was on a Sunday. I think it was probably in November, but it was either long November or December, just before I was nine years old or just after. Well, I don't have to remember the dates, you know. If you find you've got money in the bank, it don't matter whether you remember what day you deposited it or not. Is that right? I see. I wonder how many say, but how many say, Yes, I remember the time I was saved. Let's see your hand. Do you remember that time? Well, all right. That's good. I wonder how many of you have had, sometimes had some doubts about it, and said, I wonder if I'm really saved. I don't look like I ought to. How many have? Let's see your hand. Have you? I did for years. You don't have to doubt anymore. Why don't you say, The Bible says, Christ died for it. The Bible says, For the trust in Him, a God everlasting life. The Bible says, Him that cometh to me out, and no lies cast out. Jesus didn't turn me down. And you can have that settled forever. Now, in a moment we're going to go. I'm glad you're here.