Well, we're very thankful this afternoon to be again here on the main street of Portland to preach the gospel. of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We encourage you to just take a little time aside and stand around in this beautiful Lord's Day and hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, hear the Word of God as it is preached, even in the town this afternoon. For I bring the Word that God has given for this meeting, want to unite in prayer, want us to seek the Lord, and to ask for his divine help and his assistance as the Word of God is preached this afternoon. So let's seek the Lord together in a brief moment of prayer, please. Our loving Father and our gracious God, we thank thee for this, the return of thy day, thy day that has been set aside exclusively for the worship of our God. the creator of the ends of the earth, whose glory he will not give to another. We pray that this afternoon great glory and praise might be brought to the man at thy right hand, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thank you for the great commission to enter all the world and to preach the gospel. I and to every creature, we pray Lord that thou will be pleased to take the word of God that's preached this afternoon, the salvation of sinners to the restoring of those who have drifted from God. and for the encouragement of the seeds of God as they sit and listen to the preaching of the everlasting gospel. We rejoice, O God, in our privileges and our freedoms. Lord, we do not take them for granted. Cry that thou wilt ever preserve this little nation, Lord, for the preaching of the gospel. Therefore we cry to thee. Give great help, I cry. Lord, send to this preacher the Holy Ghost. He know the infilling. the endowment, the empowerment of God, the Holy Ghost, that at this time they become consciously aware that God is speaking and that God is convicting of sin. Oh, we cry that thou wilt stop the passerby and be pleased, dear God, to get a hold of sinners in the gospel and be pleased, dear Father, to bring glory to thy name. Lord, to add to the church such as should be saved, and to answer now these our petitions, we offer prayer in the Saviour's precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. This afternoon I want to turn your attention to words that we find in the book of 1 Corinthians and the chapter number 15. 1 Corinthians and the chapter number 15. I want to read the opening four verses of this chapter of God's precious word. The inspired penman, he said, moreover, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preach unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved. If ye keep in memory what I preach unto you, lest ye have believed in vain, for I delivered unto you first of all that which also 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. The city of Corinth lies some 48 miles west of the great city of Athens. It has a history that stretches as far back as 900 BC. The advantageous location of Corinth as a seaport made it a very wealthy city in its heyday, insomuch that it rivaled even the wealth of the capital city of Greece, that great city of Athens, the center and hub of Greek culture and of Greek commerce. Sadly, the city of Corinth was a city that was known for its sinful vices. Immorality, sexual sins were rampant in that city, in part due to a pagan city within the city that was dedicated to the pagan goddess Venus, the Roman goddess Venus. She was the goddess of love, of beauty and of fertility and all kinds of sensual sins were practiced in this city of Corinth and it was into this wealthy and yet into this immoral ungodly sinful city that the Apostle Paul came to in his second missionary journey. As the Apostle Paul ministered in that city Under the inspiration and under the endowment and under the empowerment and baptism of God the Holy Ghost, God worked marvelously. God moved miraculously. God moved mysteriously and did a great and a glorious work in that city of Corinth in so much that we read in Acts chapter 18 and the verse 8 these words that many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. Not only did they hear the word, but they believed the word that Paul preached. And they proved that they had believed the word as they submitted themselves to Christian baptism. They were baptized once they believed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their baptism did not save them. Their baptism did not infuse grace into them, but rather they believed. And then they evidenced their faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized. Well, what did Paul preach? What caused this great happening in the city of Corinth? What caused many to believe and be baptized? What was the message that the Apostle Paul preached when he came to this ungodly This sinful, this sensual city of Corinth in the first century AD. Well, it is that message that I want to present to you this afternoon. A message that is instrumental in changing the lives of so many men and women. teenagers and boys and girls in the city of Corinth. Why do I want to bring that message to your attention this afternoon? For the very simple reason that I believe that 21st century Portland Owen is as sinful and is as immoral and is as ungodly as 1st century Corinth. And yet I believe that the message that Paul preached is still the power of God unto salvation. I believe that Paul's message in the first century is the message that is needed by the individuals, the citizens, the inhabitants of this town in Portlandown in the 21st century. And so I want us to look at the message that the Apostle Paul preached in the city of Corinth and what a message it was. I want you to note first of all the message that Paul preached. the message that Paul preached. In 1 Corinthians 15, and the verse 1, I read these words. No, he came to Corinth to preach one message. The gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, what is the gospel? Well, the gospel is good tidings. The gospel is good news. Thank God there's good news. for sinful man. There's good news and glad tidings for sinful woman and it's found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now we have went through a year that's been full of bad news. All that has befallen our little country and across the world The world is full of bad news. Thank God the gospel of Jesus Christ is good tidings. It is good news for fallen mankind. William Tyndale said that the gospel as a word it signifieth good. Merry, glad, joyful tidings, and maketh a man's heart glad, and maketh him sing and leap for joy. Oh, I'm glad this afternoon that I've got good news to tell you. Ah, what is this good news? Well, this good news, it centers upon the person and upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is good news. Why? Because it addresses this most serious problem that you and I have as human beings. And that problem is simply this. God is holy. God is just. And you and I are not. God is holy, God is just, and you and I are not. See, folks, at the end of life, you are going to stand before this holy and this just God. You're going to stand there before God, either in your own self-righteousness or in another's righteousness. either a deficient righteousness or in a sufficient righteousness. You're going to either stand in your sin before God or you're going to stand as one whose sins have been forgiven. The gospel brings to our attention how the sin problem can be dealt with. It brings to our attention how a man, a woman, a boy or girl, a teenager can be right before God, how they can be just before God. It brings to our attention how our sin, that which we have done against God and against His law, can be pardoned, forgiven, blotted out and it all happens at the place called Calvary. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ, he lived a perfect life, a life of obedience to the law of God and by that life he secured for us a righteousness. rightness before God. When we receive Christ as Savior, that righteousness is given to us and we stand as one who is now in a right position and a right standing. I am, thank God, in a right state with God. Jesus Christ, He lived the perfect life. He gave complete obedience and He did so for all that would trust in Him. He has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. He lived a perfect life. He obeyed the law completely and entirely. Not only did he do that, but then he went to a cross died. He died for the just, the unjust. He, the just one, would die for me, the unjust one. He, the innocent one, would die for me, the guilty one. He, the sinless one, would die for me, the sinner, the sinful one. He, the holy one, would die for me, the unholy one. He, the righteous one, would die for me, the unrighteous one. He, He would die for me. He would die for you upon the cross. Calvary. He lived the perfect life. He offered self as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy, yes, the justice and the righteousness of God. You see, if you're to understand this message, this gospel message, there are two basic, key, fundamental truths that you need to come to acknowledge and understand. The first thing that you need to understand is man's misery. Man's misery. You see God in his word leaves you and I in no doubt about our spiritual standing and our condition before God. When we set our standards right and wrong by how society sets its values and its standards. God has a higher standard. It is his holy standard and the Bible makes it very clear that none of us attain to the standard of God, Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We fall short of God's standard and that brings us to a place of misery, for we understand that in and of ourselves we can never appease God, we can never approach God, we can never come and stand before God in and of our sin. It is our sin that separates us from God, our blasphemy, our adultery, our idolatry, our Sabbath breaking, our disobedience to our parents, our covetousness, All of our sin, ay, it separates us from God. Oh, the miserable condition that we're found in, separated from Him. Separated from Him who is true and holy and pure. This is our misery, my misery, your misery. Sin brings untold misery into the individual life. into the life of a family, into the life of a marriage, into a community, into a nation. Sin brings misery, it brings mayhem, it brings shame, it brings disgrace, it brings guilt. All these things come along with sin. Oh, the misery of sin, misery of our sin is the end of sin. Oh, what a miserable end that is. Sin when it is finished, James said, it bringeth forth death, eternal death, separation of body and soul from God eternally, the place that the Bible calls hell. Oh, the misery of our sin. You need to understand that key truth, man's misery. Yes, but also, if you're out to understand the gospel, not only do we think about man's misery, we think about God's mercy. God's mercy. God is holy. God is just. God is love. God is love. God in love devised a means whereby he could take sinners and he could reconcile them to God. This is the mercy of God giving us or feeling to give us what we do not deserve and then in Greece giving us what we do not deserve. God's mercy in the gospel. He provides a way of salvation. He provides a means of rescue. He provides that road of reconciliation between sinners and Holy God, and how does he do it? He does it by means of a substitute, by the means of sending his only begotten Son into the world, that he would take on flesh and be born from the womb of the Virgin Mary and live a life of perfection and then go to the cross. There he would die and suffer and bleed in our place. Christ, Son of God, who became sin for us, who knew no sin, we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Wisdom, thank God, wisdom found a way in which God could remain just and to be the justifier of them that believe. God in mercy, listen sinner, God in mercy, sent a Saviour and His name is Jesus Christ. This is who I preach to you this afternoon. I want to ask you, do you believe the record, God's word regarding your misery and God's mercy? You're a sinner. The only way in which sin can be dealt with to the satisfaction of God is through what Christ did for sinners at the cross of Calvary. If you believe the record, then, then, You are called by God to believe, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to exercise faith alone in him, to repent of your sin, to be converted, that your sins may be blooded out. This is good news indeed. Good news indeed. Oh, that you would believe the message, the message that Paul preached. I want you to see, secondly, I want you to see the essential elements to the message that Paul preached. You see, in 2 Corinthians, in chapter 11, in the verse 4, Paul spoke of those who preached another Christ. He spoke about those who preach another gospel. You see, there are other gospels, and it's not the gospel of Jesus Christ. other Gospels, but it's not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And you need to ask yourself this afternoon, are you believing the right Gospel? Are you believing the right Gospel? Is it the Gospel of Jesus Christ? You see, it isn't my Gospel. I'm not here to preach my Gospel. For I have no gospel. I'm not here to preach my church's gospel. For they have no gospel. I'm here to preach Christ's gospel. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are two essential elements to that gospel. The first element is the death of Jesus Christ. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. As a sinner substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ lived, died and rose again on behalf of sinners. God would accept the obedience of His Son instead of ours. He would suffer for us. He would bleed and die for us. He would take upon Him the sins of His people. He would endure the wrath of God for sin in His own sacred body. He would make His soul an offering for sin. He would give Himself over to the hands of His Father who would bruise Him, who would smite Him. who would cause him to become sin for us. Christ died for us. He didn't die for his sin. He had no sin. But he dies for us, for you sinner. There, upon the center cross, Christ dies for your sin. Yes, your great sin. Your grievous sin. Your heinous sin. Christ died for sin. He died for us. The Bible says He was wounded. for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. With His stripes we are healed. I read in Scripture these words in Romans 5 in the verse 8, But God commendeth His love toward us. In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. for us. I read there in 2 Corinthians 5 and the verse 21, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, but we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I read in Galatians 1, the verse 3 and 4, these words, Grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present even world. I read in 1 Thessalonians 5, in the verse 9 and 10, for God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. Titus 2. Verse 13 and 14, looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, to give himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. He died for us. The death of Jesus Christ is the key tenet of the gospel but there's something else that is a key tenet of the gospel not only the death of Jesus Christ but the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Paul said that Christ was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Christ was buried and he was and he rose again according to the scriptures. Let me say the death of Christ was necessary and so was his resurrection. Paul will say later on in this very chapter, words in verse 14, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. He goes on to say in verse 17, if Christ be not raised, then is your faith envying, ye are yet in your sins. How do I know that my sins are forgiven? How do I know that what Jesus Christ did on the cross satisfied the Father? I know it satisfied Him because He raised His Son from the dead. Jesus Christ is a living Saviour friend. have a saviour lying, decaying and corrupting in some Middle Eastern tomb, and indicate that his work that he came to do failed, and Jesus Christ did not fail. Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph for his foes. Christ is a living Saviour and He wants to come and live and reign in that heart of yours this afternoon. He would want to come and cleanse you of your sin, reconcile you to God, make you a child of His, bring you into the very family and into the very fold of God. The fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is proof that the work that he came to do is a work that he has successfully accomplished. The message Paul preached the gospel He turned himself, that gospel is the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Finally, and very quickly, I want you to think about the results of the message that Paul preached. The results of the message that Paul preached. You know, Paul, when he preached the gospel in Corinth, it resulted in the maddening of some and in the gladdening of others. Let me repeat that. Paul preached this gospel. It resulted in the maddening of some and the gladdening of others. You have to go back to Acts chapter 18 and read the account of when Paul came to Corinth for you to get the details of what happened. Paul went to the Jewish synagogue. It tells us that they blaspheme God. They rejected the message. They wanted nothing to do with it. Is that not the case this afternoon? Many hear the gospel. They want nothing to do with it. They reject it. They spurn it. They laugh at it. They ridicule it. Then we're told that Paul went to another grouping of people That grouping of people were told in Acts chapter 18 that many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized. Yes, some rejected, but others accepted the message. That's what happens in the gospel. Not all believe, not all receive, Others, yes, they gladly, they gladly take their place as a sinner before God. They humble themselves and they acknowledge their great guilt and sin. And they seek for cleansing of that sin in the blood of Christ. I am to believe and they receive and they're changed radically by the gospel of Jesus Christ. What type of people, what type of people believed Paul's message, this gospel? Well, we're told in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, the kind of people that believed the message. We're told that fornicators believed the message. We're told that thieves believed the message. We're told that idolaters believe the message. We're told that adulterers believe the gospel. We're told that the effeminate believe the gospel. We're told that abusers of themselves with mankind believe the gospel. We were told that drunkards believe the gospel. We're told that revilers believe the gospel. We're told that extortioners believe the gospel. We're told that they were washed. They were sanctified. They were justified. In other words, all kinds of sinners. came to receive and believe the gospel. You see, folks, I'm not here to ask you to believe what I'm teaching as such from my own mind, but I'm here to ask you to believe the gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel that presents to you the remedy for your sin, in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me ask you, have you believed the gospel? Then make sure it's the right gospel. Make sure it's the gospel of this book, the Bible, the word of God. Make sure it's not another gospel. Oh, would you believe the gospel? Will you receive Christ as your Savior? Will you give up your sin this afternoon? Will you repent? Will you believe in Christ, the saving of your soul? Come to the Savior, the gospel, it's good news, glad tidings. Oh, that you would receive those tidings this afternoon and that you would embrace Christ and receive him. forsake your sin and then live the Christian life, from this moment, by the help and by the grace of God and by the Spirit of God. May you do that for Christ's sake and may God bring you to a knowledge of sins forgiven Amen, and amen. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer this afternoon. Our loving Father, we commit this gospel open air service to Thee, praying that Thou would use that which has been preached to the salvation of the lost. We thank Thee that we come with good news. We pray that Thou will cause many to believe on Christ, who alone is the Savior of sinners, We point men and women away from churches and to Christ, to the cross, where Christ died for sin. We thank thee for our risen Saviour, one who is alive and in the glory. O God, come by thy spirit. Speak marvelously. Speak, O God, supernaturally into the soul. Bring men and women out of darkness and into the light of the gospel. We pray these hard petitions in the Saviour's precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. May the Lord bless the preaching of his word this afternoon for Christ's sake. Amen.