By Pastor Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951)
Moreover, 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 ye 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." (1st Corinthians 15:1-4)
What
then is the content of this Gospel? We are told right here, 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 ye have believed in vain. There is such a thing
as merely believing with the intelligence and crediting some doctrine with
the mind when the heart has not been reached. But wherever men believe this
Gospel in real faith, they are saved through the message. What is it that
brings this wonderful result?
It is a simple story, and yet how rich, how full. I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. I think his heart must have been stirred as he wrote those words, for he went back in memory to nearly thirty years before, and thought of that day when hurrying down the Damascus turnpike, with his heart filled with hatred toward the Lord Jesus Christ and His people, he was thrown to the ground, and a light shone, and he heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he cried, Who art thou Lord? And the voice said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
And that day Saul learned the Gospel; he learned that He who died on the Cross had been raised from the dead, and that He was living in the Glory. At that moment his soul was saved, and Saul of Tarsus was changed to Paul the Apostle. And now he says, "I am going to tell you what I have received; it is a real thing with me, and I know it will work the same wonderful change in you. If you will believe it. "First of all, "That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." Then, "that He was buried." Then, "that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."
SOURCE: WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?, by Harry A. Ironside
