Transcription
[Music] If you have your Bibles, and I hope you or someone around you does, would you turn with me? We are going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 this morning. We're going to continue our series where we've been seeing what we find in this book is that the Apostle Paul, he is writing to a church in the city of Corenth. And what he's been doing in this letter has been addressing a number of issues. It seems as if the church has been in correspondence with Paul. And in fact, first Corinthians is kind of a misnomer. It's probably not actually his first letter to the first uh to the Corinthians, but rather they've been writing back and forth. And it seems like in this letter, he is answering a lot of their questions. And so, he's been dealing with a lot of the controversy within this church.
And as we've seen through this sermon series, hopefully you've seen that the issues and the controversy that is going on in this church is also things that we see in the church universal today where we see within different church denominations um individual local congregations that they also struggle with some of these issues. And so we looked at things like the debate on the wisdom of the world versus the wisdom of Christ. We we looked at adultery, um sexual immorality. We looked at um lawsuits within the the the corporate uh body of believers. We looked at issues such as communion and what does it mean to to hear the words that this is my body broken for you. We looked at um spiritual gifts and we spent a lot of time looking at the the different um ideas and concepts behind uh the different positions on spiritual gifts. And and we see that Paul does not want us to be ignorant on this topic, but he wants us to to recognize that we have been given the Holy Spirit if we have trusted in Christ. That he has given us spiritual gifts and they are meant to be used for the edification of the body. That we are to serve and minister to one another. And so time and time again, we see that there's one issue after the other where this church is divided. And so we see that he's been hope hopefully helping them move more towards unity and and to find their hope in Christ.
And that kind of leads us now to really the the climax of the book in chapter 15. And really what we find here is this is the answer to our unity. If you have a divided church, if you have divided brothers and sisters in Christ, this right here is the answer. The answer is found in the gospel. And if you've actually seen through this series already, you see how he keeps pointing them back to their identity in the gospel, what the gospel means for church life. And so, as we look to this um first, you know, 11 verses this morning, what I think we'll see is that everything in our Christian life flows from this one message. Everything that we do flows from this one specific message and that is the good news of salvation found in our Lord Jesus Christ. And so hopefully this isn't going to be very controversial this morning. I know that I've been saying that for weeks that this is going to be a little, you know, controversial. There's going to be some debate here, but but hopefully we all can just say amen to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, uh, our plans were later this afternoon to have our community praise festival where we have a lot of different churches from different denominations united together in what we say as the alliance is that we are united around the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so that was going to be the theme and that will be the theme as we set a later date uh once the weather clears up in the next season uh or two. So what we what we were planning on doing though was preaching sermons throughout scripture and showing how wherever you look, whatever book of the Bible, whatever passage, you can see Jesus. You can see elements of the gospel in every passage of scripture. And that as the church is what we are to unite around.
And so as we look then this morning to the text, I think what Paul shows us is that the gospel is central. The good news of salvation found in Jesus Christ is or should be central in our lives. The gospel is and always will be the most important subject. There is no more important message that I could give you ever. No matter how persuasive, no matter how charismatic, no matter how many times I get you to to laugh or to cry as I speak, the most important thing that I could ever give you is this message. See, the gospel is not a message. The gospel is the message. I pray that we all just really just can can amen and just gather around that thought. This is the greatest message, the greatest news that you could possibly ever hear, imagine, or fathom. The gospel isn't optional for the church. The gospel is essential for the church. And so one thing you must always do if you are ever looking for a church family, if you don't have a local church home, the first thing you ask is not what's their praise team like? How good are they? What's the building look like? What about their youth program? Do they got a lot of cool things that they do they go on some trips? Those things are all great. If your church has some of those things, praise God. But the first thing if you're not asking the very first thing is who is God to them and what is his gospel then you have a serious problem with what you are looking for and I say that as seriously as I can possibly be. If your church does not have God and his gospel right then nothing else matters. Nothing else matters because that church is taking you on a one trip to hell if you don't have God and his gospel right. The gospel is essential.
And so what I believe is that every sermon preached must possess elements of the gospel, if not outright just proclaiming the gospel. And if you notice and if you've some of you have I've already spoke about this before, but you will know and see as I am preaching a sermon that there will be times where I will go right into and it almost sounds almost the same because I'm trying to give you a very um systematic packaged version of the gospel for you to be able to hear regularly on repeat, remember, and then be able to proclaim to others. And so whenever I share the gospel, you'll hear it every week. I try to put it in to my sermon because once again, if you're in the Bible, if you're in the text, the text will naturally lead you there at some point. And so, the gospel must be preached in every sermon or at least elements of it. And so, if you are ever listening to a sermon and you're not hearing the name of Jesus ever, that's a problem. Charles Spurgeon said this that if if a man preaches a sermon and the words of or the name of Jesus is never mentioned, it should be his last sermon. I don't care if you're in the Old Testament. I don't care if you're talking about Moses at the burning bush because the the I am who speaks is Jesus. Wherever you look in scripture, you will find Christ. And so, we must hear Christ. We must hear the name of Jesus. We must see the elements of the good news of salvation found in him in every single sermon.
Why? Because what Paul shares with us in the very beginning, he says, "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel," which once again just means good news. I declare to you the good news which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I deliver to you first of all that which I also received. I want to stop right there. So of first of all the most important thing is this message that he has received that he proclaims and that they have received. And so he says this is the message of of firstmost importance. And why he says in this passage, it says because the message here, it saves us. It sustains us and it shapes everything we do. See, the gospel has to be received and held on to. That's what he says here. The good news of salvation, it's something that we are called to receive. When it is preached, we need to hear it. We need to receive it. We need to apply it to our lives. Because once again, it's how we know we can have confidence that we are saved, that we are in a right relationship with God, that we actually are partakers of eternal life right now, that you have eternal life. You are now a part of the kingdom right now in Christ. You are saved. Salvation has come today for you if you have received this message. And if you hold on to it, it's what will sustain you through life. Because there's going to be hard times in your life. There are going to be times where you feel stressed out, where you feel anxious, where you are let down, where you fail, where you fall short, where you feel like all hope is lost. But the one thing that reminds you that there is always hope, that there will always be a new day, new mercies every morning. It's found in the gospel. It says life might be hard right now, but there is a glory that is not to be compared with that is to come. The kingdom is coming. The king has come. We have hope. We have salvation. That is how we can be sustained in this life.
And so once again, everything we do should be impacted by this message. Think about it for a second. If we really believe what it says that you are saved, that God, the one who created the entire universe, also created you in mind, he has a purpose for you and he has made a way for you to know him and spend eternity with him forever. Not not you just get to see him once or you get to hear his voice maybe one time or you get to know that he's out there somewhere. No, you get to be in his kingdom and in his family forever. And it says in his pres uh presence is is the fullness of joy. There is nothing I could ever give you that would compete with the fullness of joy. Anything you've ever experienced in this life that was good, that was just a glimpse of him. Think about that. You were seeing Jesus when you saw a child that gave you a hug. When you when you when you first met and and came to love your wife, when you tasted a food that was just your your favorite thing to eat. When you heard beautiful music that just moved you to tears or to joy or to want to dance. Anything good in this life is a glimpse of our God. and you get to be with him in the fullest sense of the word forever. That's what the gospel is. So now, if you really receive that, believe that, hold on to that, hold fast to that, yeah, life's going to be hard. There's going to be times that you are just, you know, knocked down. You fall to your your face sometimes and and you just you're just looking and you're like, I don't understand what God is doing, why he allows this. But you have to remember the full story of the gospel. The gospel is that yes, the world is fallen. We have sinned against God. But there is hope of redemption and restoration. The kingdom is coming. Eden will be restored. That's the hope of the gospel. And so, yes, this moment could be bad, but it is not to be compared to the glory that is to come. I I've used this analogy before, but there are these multiple colors on the carpet right now. And if you were to just pick out one little dot, one little color, that is what our life is like in the scope of eternity. Now just zoom out on the floor. Look at all the other dots now around. Can you even find the dot that you first looked at? You probably won't be able to find it. And then just move it out to the next room. Think that we go further. There's other rooms back there that have the same carpet. And then go out to the neighborhood. Go out of the city. Go out of the state. Go out of the the continent. Go out of this planet. go out of this solar system, go beyond this universe. And that little dot was this life compared to what is to come in his kingdom. Do you see how small this time is compared to what is offered to us through Jesus Christ? We truly just can't fathom what is being offered to us. Our whole life should be centralized around this message. Everything we do should be motivated by this message.
And in fact, the church, not only are we called to receive it, are we called to hold on to it, should it be centralized in every single one of our worship gatherings, but it's also our mission. The gospel is our mission. See, our mission is not to feed the poor. Now, that's great. That's because we love them. That's the overflow of the love of Christ. But the gospel message is for not just this life. We want to give them the living bread. We want to give them living water. Now, once again, that doesn't mean we don't meet physical needs, but the the most important thing I could ever give to anyone is the gospel. Jesus is the bread of life. He is the one that says, "You will never hunger or thirst ever again." That's what I want to make sure. Now, if I do that as I'm giving them literal physical bread, that's great. Praise God. Be generous. We are called to be radically generous. But we just have to make sure that the gospel is not do some nice things for charity. The gospel is that God did something for us and it is having an eternal consequence. The gospel is our mission. We are to preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15 says, "And he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." I just want to pause for a moment and have you just really reflect on your life. The gospel is central. Just add on in my life. Is that true? Is this message central in your life? Do you talk about this message very often? Are you talking to other people about this? This is not just for the pastor to preach and talk about and think about all the time. Every saint, every person who has received, held fast, is called to proclaim it. He commisss his church with this message. It is selfish and it it is actually I think it is wickedness to not share if this message is true and you have this gift that you could offer and tell somebody and you just say I don't want to be controversial. I don't want anyone to not like me. I don't want to look silly for Christ. We need to be fools for Christ. Paul said that in this letter already. Let us be fools for the gospel of Jesus Christ in your family right now. You might not want to offend them. You might not want them to be upset with you about forcing religion. And I'm not telling you to make them make a decision. I'm telling you just to share with them the good news. We need good news in this world. We need hope. We need this message. Every single person you see, they're seeking Christ. Now, they might not know it. They're probably trying to find it in all the wrong places. But when they seek for peace, when they seek for joy, when they seek for for meaning in life, that's who it is. It's found in Jesus Christ. And so, we need to share that message and risk relationships for it. So, in your home, if you have non-believers, you are called to proclaim that message. If you have co-workers, you have to proclaim that message. I'm not saying every single time you go to work, you clock in, you just preach at them non-stop for 40 hours a week. But you do need to be intentional. Think, how can I have this gospel conversation with my co-workers or your classmates, your neighbors, other people that you have a sphere of influence. The gospel must be centralized. This is for every single one of us.
So the gospel we we are reminded here it is it is central. It is the the of first most important to Paul. But we also see in verses 3b to to verse 8 that the gospel is historical. It should be the thing that that drives us. It should be centralized in our lives. But it's also historical. It's so important that we remember this and this is also what's going to encourage I think that centrality. See, the gospel isn't just a viewpoint or a philosophy. It's the announcement of real events in history that changed everything. This is the message that the early church proclaimed. They started as a small minority movement in the Jewish religion and they ended up overcoming the entire Roman Empire and to this day it is the most populated worldview. The most populated worldview, the most known name is Jesus Christ 2,000 years later. And it wasn't because they were trying to be the smartest person in the room all the time. Paul even says, "I preach Christ crucified. I don't try to know everything else." He says, "I give this simple message." That is Jesus said, "Here is the main message. You need to give them this. The gospel." He says, "Go with this message." And it radically transformed the world. The world you live in would not be this way if it was not for this message. But the gospel once again it is an announcement of real things that happened. They were eyewitnesses and they were declaring what they saw, what they experienced. So there is actually content in a core to the gospel and he actually lists it for us here perfectly. So we're going to work through what he actually gives here. What are the historical events that that contain the core message of the gospel? Well, it says here that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. That's the first thing. Christ, who is Christ? He is the long awaited Messiah, the king that was prophesied for hundreds, thousands of years before he came. There are there are Old Testament passages that you can read that everyone universally knows were written several hundred years, thousands of years before Christ and he fulfills them. Jesus is the Christ, the fulfillment of prophecy. And what we also find is that the Christ is divine. So not only is is the Christ a man, a long fulfilled prophecy, he is God incarnate. So we have God died. God came to the earth, took on a human nature so that he could suffer, experience shame, and die on a cross. That is what our God did for us. See, so many other religions are saying this is how you get up the mountain to God. The gospel is God came down the mountain for us. Christ came and died. He experienced some of the most excruciating things you could possibly imagine. just to have his nails or his hands and his and his feet put into wood by nails to be whipped, scourged repeatedly, marred so much he doesn't even look like a man. Put a crown of thorns on his head and a robe around him just to mock him. They they spit on him. They slapped him. and they made him carry that cross before they crucified him. But none of that was even the worst part. The worst part was that he suffered the fullness of God's wrath on the cross. That he felt separation from his father. The son had to experience hell on the cross for us. That is what we're talking about when we say Christ died. We're saying that God willingly came to the earth to experience this torment and to experience separation from his heavenly father on the cross. And it says for our sins. See, he doesn't just do it just because he gets kicks out of it. He did it because he loves you. God came in the person of Jesus Christ to die on a cross because you messed up. Because I messed up. Because we sin, we rebel. We fall short of the glory of God. We see his holy word and his standard here. And you read passages and you say, "I don't do that. I'm not doing that." Or, "I do it sometimes." But we all if we are honest, if we if we have an examination of our hearts, our words, our minds, our actions, we all know that we fall short. And I've said I said this before, and if you're someone that's so hard-hearted that you're just like, "No, not me." If we really had the ability to just put on the screen this past week, all the thoughts you had, all the words you said, everything that you did that you didn't think anybody else saw but God saw, and we just picked all of the absolute worst moments in your life, and we put them on the screen, I bet you none of you would come back because we are sinners. But God loves you anyway. He loves you so much. John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. That's what we're saying here. When we say Christ died for our sins, we are saying the gospel message. We are saying the good news that we find in John 3:16. And I've heard it said before that the gospel can be summarized in four words. It's Jesus took my place. In three words, him for me. In two words, substitutionary atonement. And in one word, grace. That's the gospel. That's what we say when we say Christ crucified. Christ died for our sins. And because of that, you are free. If you have received this message, because of this, you are forgiven. You are redeemed. You are chosen. Every single mistake, everything you have ever done, anything that you are ashamed of deep down, it is all washed white as snow. Not because of how great you are, but how how fantastic, how beautiful, how magnificent our Lord is. He is so perfect. He is so worthy of our worship that his one life of approximately 33 years was more impactful, more significant than every single one of our sins through all of human history. That is what we're saying here with this simple phrase, Christ died for our sins.
But then it goes on according to the scriptures. Now, Paul doesn't mention all of the scriptures that could be referencing here in the Old Testament, but I know that there's some that come to mind like Psalm 22. I think of Isaiah probably most prominently. Isaiah 53, the suffering servant passage. And and I just want to read for you. This is 700 plus years before Jesus even came to the earth. Think about this. And you hear in verses 4 to 6, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. You have this innocent righteous individual who comes and carries our sorrows, our suffering, our transgression. transgression. That means lawb breakaking our our sins, our iniquity, all of it has been placed on him. And then you look in 2 Corinthians 5:21 and it says, "For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him." How amazing is that? Christ the righteous took our sin, became sin, and gave us his righteousness. That is the great exchange. On the cross, he says, "It is finished for you. I want you to live from this moment on in the reality of it is finished." Not it will be, not it might be. It is finished for you if you were in Christ. It is finished. The debt has been paid. And here's the beautiful thing about the gospel. Not only that, not only is the is your debt paid, your moral fine has been taken care of, but he doesn't just make sure that your debts are down to zero, but then he fills your spiritual bank account. He makes you rich. You're no longer not just in debt. You're now rich. You see the difference? If I just paid your bills for a month, that'd be good, but then you're going to start racking up some more. But no, I give you now an infinite amount of wealth. That is what Christ is doing here. Where the great exchange occurs, he gives us his righteousness, his kingdom, his family, his spirit that is offered to us. So Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
But then it says he was buried. Some like why does it have to mention that he was buried? I mean, he died. Like, that isn't that enough? I think the buried is meant to really remind us of how tangible this was. There was a real person on that cross. And that body had to be detached from the cross as it was lifeless and as it was bloodied and as it was probably cold to the touch. And as they are moving it, as as as the body is starting to get more strict and not being able to move as well, they are placing it into a tomb with a heavy stone to seal it. Also, I think this points to the historical record because if there really is a burial, if there really is a tomb, there's an easy way to disprove it because if there was no burial, if there was no death, if there was no tomb, and they're claiming that, they're like, "He's right there. He didn't die." But if you have an actual death that is public, and then you have a tomb that everybody knows where he's at. In fact, it's actually a well-known, it's a rich man's tomb in which no one has ever been laid before. Everyone knows where this tomb is at. And then in the same city, they're going to say he's not going to be in it just a few days later. You can disprove that in a heartbeat if that's not true. You can go say that's not Jesus. I don't know who you put in here, but that's not Jesus. But the thing is, there wasn't even another body. There was nobody. There was nobody. There was an empty tomb. But you don't have an empty tomb without a burial. And on on top of that in Isaiah 53, it also talks about this burial. So it also has to be part of fulfilled prophecy because in verse 9 of of Isaiah 53, it says, "And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth." Do you see how amazing this is? 700 plus years. His his death is with the wicked. dies with these two thieves, but then what where is he buried? But with the with the rich at his death, he gets buried in a rich man's tomb. See, we see that the burial is important. It points to the reality that our God really did have a face. He really did come and live a perfect life. Suffered and died for us and was buried as as as serious and as as as real as it can be.
But then one step further, he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. He didn't just say, "I came to do some things for you." He didn't just say, "You are going to be forgiven. I will redeem you. It is finished." He proved it. when he came out of that tomb and all of these people, it says in this passage, it says not only was did he rise again, but it says that he was seen by Cphus, that is Peter, by the 12, that would be the the the 12 proper disciples that primarily were with him. But then it goes on, it says, "And 500 plus believers all at once, a mixed audience all at one time seeing him." And then he says, "And most of them are still alive." So like he's like, "If you don't believe me, go and hear all of their eyewitness testimony." Around 500 people saying, "We all saw him at the same exact time." And these weren't hallucinations. They saw him eat and drink. They touched him. They felt the wounds. They saw this man. They heard his voice. He literally bodily rose from the dead. And all of these people saw it. And you're like, "Okay, but those are all believers. Maybe they all were just conspiracy theorists." But the next two people on the list don't make sense. Because James, his brother, didn't even believe in him. Wasn't even at the crucifixion. Was a skeptic. Mocked him. Thought he was out of his mind. He goes from that to becoming a bishop in the city of Jerusalem church and ends up dying for this belief. He dies because he believes Jesus is Lord. Once again, what would it take for you to say that your brother is the Lord and that you're going to worship him and you're going to die for that fact? And then of course it says in between James and Paul there's the apostles that that probably is referencing that there are more than just the 12 proper. There are many who had been sent out for this great commission. So they also had another encounter. This doesn't even talk about the women who saw him. So he's not even given an exhaustive list here. But then it goes to Paul and he says last of all he appeared to me. Paul was a persecutor of the church. Paul hated Christians. He hated Jesus. And he encounters the risen Christ and becomes the greatest evangelist to ever walk the earth. The reason that we have first Corinthians, the reason that we have majority of the New Testament is because this man who hated Christ had wealth. He had status already. He gave it all up because he encountered Jesus. He saw Jesus. And then he likewise suffers and dies because he believes that Jesus the Christ rose from the dead. That is amazing. Paul is showing us how historical, how real this world view is. And with this, he says it was a fulfillment once again of the scriptures. This is something we've been God's been showing us and preparing us throughout history for this time. He says it's going to happen because in that same suffering servant passage that he's going to suffer, he's going to die. He's going to be our replacement.
In verses 10 and 11 it says, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." Do you hear that? It says he's going to suffer. But then it says, but he's going to see his seed. He's going to see his offspring. He's going to have his days prolonged. How do you do that if you're already dead? The same suffering servant is also the one who that will have a new life. It will see the blessings that are to come. You are the offspring that he is rejoicing in that he sees today. And so we see that this message of the gospel is central. It's historical and this is the only worldview that can face death head on because death is the biggest problem for all of us. We know it. We all know no matter what you do in this life, we all get to the point where eventually we die. It might be in a couple of weeks, months, days. It might be several years from now. But here's the thing. 100 out of 100 people are going to die and we're going to have to give it an account of our lives. But in Christ, he is the only person in all of history that lives a perfect life, dies on the cross for your sins, and then rises from the dead and says, "I have conquered both sin and death. Follow me, and you will have eternal life. You will have the victory over all of these things. I have overcome the world." That is what Christ is offering you right now. No other worldview can offer that. Many of them say you just have to come to peace or or or don't think about death or you have some other people that are saying you just need to, you know, do everything you can to live as long as you can and try to avoid it. But none of those things overcome death. The gospel overcomes death. Your loved ones who have gone on to be with the Lord, they are more alive than us. They are alive in Jesus Christ. And that is why the final thing verses 9 to 11 is that the gospel is powerful. Now you don't have to know every single answer to every single question that someone asks you about Christianity. Now I want you to study to show yourself approved. But the one thing that every single one of you are responsible for is knowing this message, the gospel. Because the gospel is the power of God to salvation. It is a work of the spirit in people's lives. When it is preached, when it comes forth from your mouth, it will bring the dead to life. That is what this message does. The gospel is enough. It is so much better that I would preach the gospel every single week to us than anything else if we would just get this truth and hold on to it. The gospel is the only message that has the power to take anyone from sin to salvation, from hell to heaven, from death to life, from darkness to light. That is what this gospel can do. And that's what it did in Paul's life. See, the gospel grace, it doesn't leave you where you were. Grace is going to do something in your life when you experience it. When you truly encounter the grace of God, it will radically transform you. Paul was a persecutor of the church. He now by the grace of God, not because of him, is an apostle of the king. Sometimes we we we we know the story so well that we we don't really see just how amazing that is. A wild beast killing God's chosen people, the saints, and he moves to becoming one of them in the kingdom forever. The person that he killed, Stephen, he was probably cheering him on and was the first person to give him a hug when he came to glory. That's what grace can do in people's lives. Don't underestimate what grace can do in your life. I was just at a men's retreat the last couple of days spending several hours with men from all different types walks of life and I was seeing when when the gospel was clearly presented to them, I saw transformation happening. I saw dead people coming to life because this message was preached. They were addicts that were clean. There were people that were lost, that were found. Their life had no meaning, no significance to now everything matters. Grace truly transforms a life. And grace is offered to everyone who hears my voice right now. Grace is available. In fact, if you have received this message of the gospel, this powerful message that will transform everything, you have access to grace, but you have an unlimited supply of grace. And so, I'm going to close with Hebrews 4:16. It says, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Because of the gospel, because of this gift of grace to all those who trust in Christ as Lord and Savior, you now can approach God's throne whenever you want. Right now we are approaching the throne and it's not a throne of wrath or justice. It is described here as a throne of grace of gift of help of mercy for you. If you need mercy, if you need grace, if you need help right now, go to the throne of grace. You have an unlimited supply, unlimited access because of Jesus Christ. You can come boldly, confidently to the God of the universe. It's just amazing when we think about this simple message that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again according to the scriptures, and was seen by so many. If you believe that, it is finished. You're forgiven. All hope is found. Victory has been won. Once again, every other religion do our religion done. The gospel says done. Live in that today. Live in that every day. Preach the gospel to yourself every single day. Jesus offers us this.