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Retain a Risen Gospel By Paul Thompson

We come to one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible.
Here we find truths so profound, so transforming,
as to defy our imaginations and surpass our wildest dreams.
The greatest miracle in the history of the world is the resurrection of Christ.
Can be no doubt about that.
It is the foundation on which Christianity stands or falls
and our faith stands or falls upon the historical proof
for the resurrection of Christ.
Prove the resurrection and you prove Christianity to be true
beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Disprove it and it is just one of many religions.
Now this is not only one of the greatest chapters in the Bible,
but it's one of the most important.
And surely the supreme reason in which we meet here tonight
as the body of Christ is that we worship the God of the living
and not the God of the dead.
What did Jesus say as he stood at the grave of Lazarus?
His great words, I'm the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.
And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
But you believe this.
What a tremendous life-transforming statement
if the world would only take that to heart.
What a different place it would be.
Now brethren, this is not an academic exercise tonight
to show our orthodoxy to the teaching of the resurrection.
This is a matter of life and death.
As we read in verse 14 of our chapter,
and if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is empty
and your faith is also empty.
I might as well go and sit down.
Verse 17, if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile
and you are still in your sins.
As I hope to show, we are either persevering
personally and as a church in this glorious truth
or we're on the slippery slide of apostasy from it.
Why then did Paul write to the Corinthians concerning this matter?
And there is some dispute about whether he heard about this in a letter
or he was told this by word of mouth.
But as you know, Paul was a good correspondent.
He was an excellent communicator.
He had learnt from Chloe's household that there were contentions amongst them.
In verse 7, he says, now concerning the things for which I wrote, you wrote to me.
And then in our chapter here in verse 12, he says, some among you say,
I've either heard it, I've written it in your letter,
that there is no resurrection from the dead
and the warning bells click in Paul's mind straight away.
It seems they had thought it was rather crude, this teaching,
not of a spiritual resurrection, but of a physical resurrection.
And so they thought they'd modify it a bit.
We shouldn't be surprised that modern Liberals also have denied
the physical resurrection of Christ, and I'll refer to that a little bit later.
Old heresy's friends have a habit of returning sooner or later.
Who were these people?
Well, we can't be certain of the recipients of this letter for sure,
but there are some possibilities.
We can't be certain of the people who Paul was writing to here,
but remember that there were Sadducees who denied the resurrection.
And of course in Acts 24 and 26, they clashed with Paul
and these may have been some of the Jews that were converted.
And obviously this would be something that they would be struggling with.
Another alternative is that they were the Athenians.
Remember they mocked when Paul preached on the resurrection of the dead.
Now Grecian thought, believed in the immortality of the soul.
The Greeks had no problem with the immortality of the soul.
It was with the whole question of matter being the source of evil
and that it wasn't suitable for some future state.
So hence the difficulty in believing that the body would be resurrected again.
And this is supported by verses 35 to 38.
We won't read them in our chapter.
And so it's no surprise to learn that others also denied a future resurrection.
You remember Philetus and Hymenas mentioned in 2 Timothy 2, 17 and 18,
who taught that the resurrection was already over.
Well, what are the pieces in the puzzle of this chapter?
In verses 1 to 11, we have the fact of the resurrection.
In 12 to 19, the necessity of the resurrection.
20 to 28, the logic of the resurrection and friends,
the logic is devastating, let's face it.
And the nature of the resurrection in 35 to 50.
And finally in 51 to 58, the glorious triumph of the resurrection.
So we ask the question, what is the problem here?
It's the real possibility of apostasy from the gospel
because of the subtle denial of the physical resurrection of Christ
and hence the resurrection per se.
It is a direct attack upon the clutter gospel
to reunite the body and the soul into a new glorified body
and hence God's ability to reverse the heinous results of Adam's fall.
Now Christ of course is our forerunner.
He is the great protege.
We may gather that the real nature of this difficulty,
we may gather the real nature of this difficulty by Paul's treatment of it.
So we ask the next question, what is Paul's purpose then in these first 11 verses?
And I humbly suggest to you that Paul wants to convince his hearers all over again
that this is imperative, that they persevere in the glorious gospel
of Christ's physical resurrection.
And if they are to be saved, they must persevere in the glorious resurrection,
in the gospel of Christ's glorious resurrection.
Well we come to our first point and that is found in verse 1 and 2.
And that is simply this, the gospel rebukes.
The gospel does rebuke.
And under that first sub point here in verse 1a,
the gospel rebukes us through preaching.
The gospel rebukes us through preaching.
Moreover brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you.
And of course we've got a new section here, a doctrinal section.
Previously of course Paul was dealing with problems in the church, problems ecclesiastical.
Now we have the doctrinal problem to be sorted out.
What is the background here?
What was the background to Paul coming and preaching the gospel?
Turn back to Acts 18 chapter 1.
Acts 18 verse 1, sorry.
And he came to them.
So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them.
And he worked for by occupation they were tent makers.
Now, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath
and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia,
Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.
But when they opposed him in blaspheme, he shook his garments and said to them,
Your blood be on your own heads, I am clean.
From now on I will go to the Gentiles.
Friends, that's the background to the preaching of Paul here in 1 Corinthians verse 15.
Moreover brethren, or more literally, moreover dear blood brothers,
notice again the great sympathy of Paul.
I declare to you, there's a tone of reproachfulness here.
Have I to declare the gospel again to you?
Paul almost, you can almost hear Paul sigh,
I'm going to have to go right back to first principles, the gospel.
So he lays again the foundation.
And what a foundation it is.
A grand foundation and a sure foundation
for his preceding arguments following verse 11.
So why does he want his Corinthian hearers to understand the gospel all over again?
Moreover brethren, I declare the gospel,
I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you.
Isn't Paul repeating himself?
As a faithful pastor teacher, he proclaims the truth.
Now notice, in the precise area that the gospel is under attack.
And this is what pastor Paul does.
As a shepherd he knows that the sheep will soon become sick,
if the solid food, as we're told in the book of Hebrews, becomes poisonous.
And so he attacks a denial of the resurrection, the bodily resurrection,
by proclaiming the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ.
Notice how whenever there's a problem in the church,
or things that Paul wants to say, he preaches the gospel.
Remember that in the early chapters, in chapter 2,
he said to the Corinthians,
for I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not in enticing words of men's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the spirit and power.
Now listen, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God.
And isn't this exactly what he does in Ephesians and in Colossians
and in Galatians and in Philippians and in Romans?
He always starts with the gospel and then he deals with the problems.
So two simple lessons we learn from this opening verse here of 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1.
Firstly, we need to constantly pray for our past.
That just as Paul preached the gospel to solve pastoral problems,
so they will not shrink from doing the same.
Brethren, they have a charge to watch over our souls.
They have the awesome responsibility and charge to preach the word.
Remember Jesus when he said to Peter,
Loveless thou me Peter, feed my sheep.
Loveless thou me Peter, feed my lambs.
Our confession of faith helpfully says that the work of pastors
is to constantly to attend to the service of Christ in his church
and the ministry of the word and prayer,
watching for their souls as they must give an account to him.
Now friend, the question to me and to you is this,
how often do we spend time praying for our pastors and those who preach?
Now I know some of you do this.
Let me suggest it will be a lot less quick to be critical of the preaching
if we spend more time praying for the preacher
and the bonuses will come away fed.
Are you heeding the gentle rebuke or rebukes of your pastor?
Our pastors speak to us week by week, week by week,
we hear the word of God, the gentle rebukes come.
Why do they rebuke us?
Because we are silly sheep.
We're just like a whole lot of sheep
and we need shepherds to gently tend us and to feed us.
Secondly, so we ourselves will not forget the gospel.
The continual assaults of the world upon us dear friends,
materialism, consumerism,
our souls are being bombarded almost hourly.
The media subliminal messages,
he who has the most toys wins.
It's sickening isn't it?
The mentality, but we can imbibe it.
And then of course there's our own flesh
that can crave every imagination and at wars with the spirits.
And lastly, the great Apollyon,
the devil who fires those great fiery arrows into our hearts
who would attempt to fire them into us.
So it isn't any wonder that we tend to lose the sweet fragrance of the gospel
and of Christ that would melt our hearts Sunday after Sunday, day after day.
So our second little subheading here as we move on
is the gospel not only rebukes through preaching
but the gospel rebukes us concerning our position.
And we read here,
which you also received and on which you stand.
Here Paul reminds them
that they of their grand gospel position,
the one who was risen for their justification.
He says, have you forgotten who you are?
Have you forgotten your position in the gospel?
Have you forgotten that as many as received Him,
to them He gave the power to become the sons of God?
To as many as received Him in which you stand.
There's an interesting verse in 2 Corinthians 1, 24,
where he says, not for that we have dominion over your faith,
but as helpers of your joy,
for by faith you stand.
Brethren, are we standing tonight?
If we've received Christ, are we standing
in the glory of our justification
and our unassailable position in Christ?
Christ is in me. I am in Christ.
Therefore, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.
But then we see thirdly here in our subpoint,
the gospel not only rebukes us concerning our position,
but it rebukes us to persevere.
Verse 2b, by which also you are saved,
if you hold fast that which I preach to you.
Now, here we come really to, I believe, the whole crux,
the tool, if you like, that Paul is using, the prod,
the gentle prod concerning this whole question
of the physical resurrection of Christ.
He says literally, hold on fast if you keep in memory.
Hold on fast, retain in your mind the gospel,
the resurrection of Christ.
If any of you have seen the film Titanic,
I haven't seen a new one, but I've seen some of the older ones.
And you'll remember vividly
when the ship is at this most precarious angle,
there is no way that these people can hold on.
They just slide down into the water.
But Paul here says to his hearers,
I want you to hold on to the physical resurrection of Christ
as it's contained in the gospel
because your faith depends upon it.
He says, by which you are saved,
if you hold fast the word that I preach to you.
So what is he saying?
In a word he's saying, both persevere in the gospel,
persevere in the gospel.
The history of the church, friends,
records that with momentous regularity,
it is usually only one generation away from apostasy.
We sow or we may be sowing the seeds
that will lead inevitably to our death as a church
or our continued life.
And so this is a word to us.
Let us not shrink back in abhorrence
from sowing the seeds of a corrupt gospel
that is man-centered.
Churches that preach a man-centered gospel,
friends, are sowing the seeds of apostasy.
Let's continue, God help us, to preach a Christ-centered,
a God-centered gospel.
And let's continue to sow the precious seed of Christ.
In 1988, the Newtown Baptist Church
celebrated 150 years of gospel witness.
Doesn't that thrill your heart?
Isn't that glorious?
And the center of that heathen Mardi Gras city of Sydney.
Well, this year it's our 25th anniversary.
Let's, friends, persevere in the,
let's persevere with the gospel and this glorious resurrection.
What will help us not to apostasize
and to persevere is to know experientially
the power of the gospel morning by morning,
evening by evening, Sunday by Sunday,
as it rings its bell of melody and hour
in the chambers of our hearts and we're melted.
How often did I weep?
How often did you weep over the gospel
and over the souls who are perishing around us here
and slipping daily or maybe hourly into hell?
Would God help us to melt our souls again,
can see the gospel?
And then he finishes off here by saying,
unless you have believed in fame,
and of course this sniffs and smells a bit,
doesn't it, of easy believism,
easy believism,
been around 2,000 years
and wasn't any different in current.
You are saved if you persevere, he says.
And of course the errorists in Corinth
wanted to tamper with this glorious gospel.
They were in danger of believing in vain,
a vanity of emptiness.
So let's come on then to our second point,
the gospel record, verses three to four.
We need to hurry on.
Our gospel record, the gospel record in verses three to four.
Verse three, for I delivered to you first of all
that which I received.
Of course, you'll recall that Paul received the gospel
by direct revelation from God.
You remember that God took him out into the desert for a time.
He was a man who was brought up in the school of Gamaliel
and he was trained in the Old Testament scriptures
to such an extent as takes place in Israel
and even in Sydney and other centres of Jewry today
where he would know off by heart
large portions of the Old Testament.
How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
And of course, he was a faithful messenger
and minister of Christ to deliver what he had received.
And here, brethren, we come to the very centre
in circumference.
How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
Now, Stanley makes a helpful remark here.
He says verses one to 11 contain one of the earliest known specimens
of what may have been a creed of the early church.
And you'll remember that I think it's in Timothy
there's some of these short little creeds that are repeated.
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
What would it have brought back in the mind of Paul's hearers?
Well, of course, it would have brought back to them
the fact that they were sinners,
that their first parents, that historical Adam,
had passed on to them a deadly disease.
And all they had to do was they had the ability to bear children
who in turn would at one time fall into the grave and die.
That they had the scrumptious nature.
That they had a bad record and a bad heart
before a holy and a just God.
But they also heard of this Messiah that had been promised
from long ago in the Old Testament.
This one who would come and who would be born of a virgin,
the Immaculate Conception, the incarnation,
the one who would be without sin
and who would work as a simple carpenter
and then go about the countryside for three years
preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
But they heard something too.
That it was too much for the people.
He got them mad and angry.
Some sinners got glad but many got mad as the saying goes.
And he was arrested.
He was betrayed by one of his fellow disciples.
And he was brought to trial on trumped up charges
for a little bit of pocket money.
And Pilate washed his hands, his bloody hands
and passed the buck to Herod.
And of course the people demanded that they release Barabbas
but that Christ take the rap
and go to be executed on the local rubbish tip.
And that he would suffer the just punishment
of all known criminals in that time.
But of course they didn't know that he was fulfilling
the prophecy of scripture absolutely perfectly
and that this had been foretold and prophesied to the very letter.
And then of course you'll recall the sad hour on the Easter Friday
when the clouds came over dark
and a cold shiver ran through everyone.
And his mother was there.
And he said to Peter look after my mother
and the two men on either side.
The reprobate, the apostate
and the man who saw that he was a sinner.
And the here was the Savior.
And the cry went out from Christ's lips.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
And the Son of God was separated from God the Father.
But isn't that glorious?
He was separated that you and I
wherein Christ this evening might be brought back to him.
And then he didn't even have enough money
for his own tomb or his own burial.
But this very large hearted Joseph of Arimathea said
he can use my tomb.
And so he was interned in this tomb.
The disciples, his followers were deeply depressed.
They ran away and they forgot everything really
that Christ had told them.
But then as we read tonight, the excitement,
the absolute excitement.
Could it be true that he's risen?
Peter, you hear there, he out runs.
He's just, this is typical of Peter.
He's just so excited.
It flashes back into his mind.
He's alive.
That's Christ is alive.
And then they go and tell the other disciples.
He's alive.
He's risen from the dead.
But he has to stop them from holding on to him
because now he's immortal.
He's in a glorified body.
And he sits down and he cooks the fish,
barbecues it and has a meal with them.
And he eats it.
And yet he walks through the door.
He breathes on them.
He says to receive the Holy Spirit.
But their hearts are just thrilled.
I can't believe it.
This new life, new resurrection life
pulsating in their very hearts.
But doesn't that life trickle right down over the years
to the 18th of January, 1998?
And it's still going on.
And it'll still go on
until we see him come in the clouds
should the Lord spare us.
So he was risen on the third day.
Some will say it's a myth.
You know, just a story.
I was a big hoax.
And they nicked in and they stole the body.
You know, what do you expect?
And of course Herod and Pilate,
they wanted to dampen it all down.
And then of course our liberal friends
who will deny the resurrection.
In New Zealand in 1967,
there was the first, I believe, heresy trial.
of a professor of New Testament theology,
a one Lloyd Gearing.
And a prima facie case
was brought against this man
for teaching in the Presbyterian seminary
that Christ did not physically
arise again from the dead.
The Presbyterian Church in New Zealand
was on the verge of being split a thunder.
The charge that was brought against him
was successful.
The church continues to this day.
But sadly, in its midst,
there are still many men
who deny its resurrection.
But as in this country,
there are a faithful band
of Presbyterian ministers
who proclaim the physical resurrection of Christ.
And one of them is in our midst.
And we will be praying for him
that he will be able to continue.
Thirdly then,
Thirdly then, verses 5 to 11.
We've got to hurry on here.
The Gospel is real, friends.
The Gospel is real.
Verses 5 to 11.
Firstly, because of the prophetic proof
and we've already alluded to that.
Genesis 3, 15.
Start the ball rolling if you like.
I will put enmity between thee and the woman
and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head
and thou shall bruise his heel.
Three chapters into the inspiration,
into the writing of the scriptures
and we've got the first real clear prophecy
concerning the fact
that the Gospel hope for Adam and Eve
and all their bumbling and fumbling
would be that God would make it right
through sending a special one
to bruise that dirty, evil snake's head.
And then in Isaiah 53, verse 3.
He was despised and rejected of men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid as it were our faces from him.
He was despised and we esteemed him not.
Surely he bore our griefs
and carried out sorrows.
Yet we did not esteem him
as stricken, smitten of God, afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him
and by his stripes we are healed.
And then of course the prophecy
concerning the resurrection in Psalm 16.
For thou will not leave my soul in hell,
neither will thou suffer
thine holy one to see corruption.
Thou will show me the path of life.
In thy presence is fullness of joy
and at thy right hand are pleasures evermore.
So the Gospel is real
not only because of the prophetic proof
but also the Gospel is real
because of the public proof.
And we've seen that here in verses 5, 6 and 7.
And we've already alluded to that
so we'll pass on to that.
Just to comment that Paul of course
was a legal eagle.
He had a legal mind.
God knew what he was doing
when he chose Paul to be an apostle
and not much of the New Testament.
And of course the apostles had to be a witness
to his death and to his resurrection.
Remember the Ivan Milat case?
Horrendous case.
Goes down in the history books
of crime in Australia.
And they had thousands of leads
and so much information
and the detectives
and the investigators were stumped.
And this young man in England,
Mr Uns, in the providence of God
heard about this case.
And I suspect saw pictures,
heard about it
and lo and behold
that involved me.
He got me.
I saw the car.
He tried to kill me.
I ran away.
The next minute he's on the phone
and all of a sudden
there's a watertight case.
We've got a witness.
And he being a witness
was the watershed
to the conviction of Ivan Milat
because he was able to personally identify
that this was the man
who tried to murder him.
So we come now.
The gospel is surely real
because of private proof in verses 8 and 10.
And of course
this is Paul here.
Let's read it.
Then last of all he was seen by me also
as one born out of due time
for I am the least of the apostles
who was 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 towards me was not in vain
but I laboured more abundantly than they
yet not I but the grace of God
that was with me.
What a glorious testimony of the apostles here.
And he says that
I then last of all
one is born out of due time
and it's interesting here
Wilson says concerning this
in his word study
one born out of due time
literally the word means
an abortion
a stillborn embryo
a dead child
pretty strong isn't it?
Paul said that I
was basically an abortion
as compared with the other disciples
who knew him
and Wilson says
that he was rightly named
the abortion by his enemies
and that's beyond refute.
Now the proof of all this of course
Paul said that
was that I was a personal witness.
He was a personal witness
and there was great transforming grace
in his life was it?
Okay well let's conclude then dear friends
because our time is just about gone.
Finally verse 11
Therefore whether it was I or they
so we preach and so you believe.
He's really digressed
in those previous verses
and here he comes back
and he says
as it were
that therefore whether it was I or they
so we preach and so you believe.
So really we could say then
then last of all
he was seen by me also
as one born out of due time
therefore whether it was I or they
so we preach and so you believe.
So he comes back
to his original point.
Now I believe it would be remiss of me
if I stop just here
with a message
what's going to be the lesson?
What's going to be some of the personal application
to us this evening?
Andrew helpfully prayed
that we would be challenged by the word
and that we would go away
being prepared to be changed.
Well of course the great reality is
that someone preached to us
and we believed.
Isn't that glorious and wonderful?
But a challenge too is that
we would not waver in our faith
but that we would continue to believe.
Now we have to ask ourselves the question tonight
in light of the glorious resurrection of Christ
are you continuing in some known sin tonight?
Are you willfully holding on
to this darling sin
to your chest
as the very stench of it
burns as a fire out of control
and fills your nostrils?
Have I been lying?
Have you been lying?
Is there deep hatred for a brother or sister
here this evening?
Your relationship as boyfriend
and girlfriend
is it pure
and honest before God?
Maybe there's things I've stolen
that I've got to return.
Christ's physical resurrection dear friends
will have a direct result
upon how I live.
Someone has said my
how you do something
is just an extension of your theology.
Another is what you believe
will shape how you live.
The truth of God's grace
must be transforming.
Transforming grace.
What does Paul say in Romans chapter 6 and verse 3
and you can turn to it if you want to.
Know you not
that so many of you were baptised
into Jesus Christ
were baptised into his death.
Therefore you are buried with him
by baptism into death
that like as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father.
Now listen,
even so you should walk in newness of life.
In newness of life.
For if you have been planted together
in the likeness of his death
we shall also
in the likeness of his resurrection.
As I said at the beginning
this is in Psalm clinical
to get off to orthodoxy.
Yes, we believe in the physical resurrection of Christ.
Now let's get on with something more interesting.
This has real gutsy practical implications for us.
Verse 11
Therefore reckon also yourselves
to be dead and dead to sin
but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body
that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye to its members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin
but yield yourself unto God
as those who are alive from the dead
and your members as instruments
of righteousness unto God.
It's almost as saying
it's almost as if he is saying
when Christ threw off those grave clothes
and popped out of that tomb there
you throw off your grave clothes
and you popped out of your tomb there
into newness of life.
Are you fearful tonight?
Fear of what the future holds
for yourself or a loved one.
Then come believing
believing in Christ.
He has risen
that your fears may turn to belief.
What does he say in John?
Whatever things you ask in prayer
believing you will receive.
Maybe your heart is growing cold tonight.
The fire of the gospels almost burnt out.
There's not enough heat to even boil a billy
let alone start a bushfire.
To you who don't believe the gospel tonight
how does this apply to you?
And I know that there are some here tonight
who have not professed faith in Christ
repented of their sins
and followed in the water of baptism.
Well the answer as we conclude
is very simple for you tonight.
The answer is simply believe
simply believe.
But hold on a minute you say
can't be that simple.
I was talking to a person in this church
and they said the church teaches
that faith is a gift of God.
Then they went on to say something about
and this doesn't make sense.
They said because the Bible teaches
that all men are dead and blind and deaf
when it comes to believing
I can't really believe anyway.
But they also said that God's Spirit
will open my eyes when I'm born again.
That's the part I don't understand.
So my question then is
how can you say it simple when I can't do it?
My friend you have the makings of a theologian.
When God converts you will send you
into a general Baptist Church
and you'll do much good.
Friend you've got the A side but not the B side
and that's what applies to you this evening.
God, a God who adains the end
yes the sovereign God has gone to the trouble
of picking out before he made the world
those who he would give the gift of faith to.
His elect.
Now the same God has also ordained the means.
Or the way people like you are to be saved
and that is faith to believe.
That's what the Bible teaches
when we read about receiving Christ
coming to Christ
looking to Christ
trusting Christ.
I want to close with
what I believe will be a helpful illustration
I know I've said that word close a number of times
God rebuke me.
You remember before Christmas
you may have seen it in the Newcastle Herald
that was this slip
the merchant patriarch
which was off Cape Canaveral
and there was the most full storm
and this merchant ship was taking in water fast
and captain knew it wouldn't be long
and she'd go under.
So the American Coast Guard
being the great Coast Guard
that it is of course received a mayday call
but the helicopters were scratching
the helicopter pilots and the rescue people
were scratching their head
because as the first helicopter
got bare around the side
got above the boat
they could see there's no way
that we can drop one of these big
nets into the water or a life raft
or even one of our men
because the waves are so fierce
and the wind is so strong
and they saw this little group
it's fearful
pick five men, twenty five of them
just huddled on the deck together
holding on
and just communicating what is
one of the pilots
had the brainwave
the only way
the only way that we're going to get these men
off the ship
is for them to jump into the water
and we'll drop down something and pick them up
so everything was ready
and what does it say here
so the pilot radio the ship to tell the crew to jump
one at a time
and as the rescue progressed
men were being rescued at the rate of one
every four to five minutes
now that's a beautiful illustration of faith tonight
you've got to jump
you've got to believe
it's not your jumping
it's not your faith
that will save you
it is Christ who will save you
but you are thinking
you are thinking under your sins
you are thinking into hell tonight
listen to me
and you must believe with all your heart
you must look to Christ
he drops down that rescue line
and he said hold of it
trust in me
and what I did on the cross
and the fact that there is undeniable that I
rose again from the dead
and that claims upon me
or upon the claims of my
believe in Christ now
if you're not a Christian
go home tonight
get down by your bed
and cry out to God
to join you to Christ
your blood is not upon my head tonight dear friend
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved
may God help us
may God burn this glorious truce
the risen Christ
walks amongst the churches
in our midst tonight by his Spirit
that he who was risen from the dead
will yet one day
why cause our bodies
to be risen from the grave
also
honey