We are here in 1 Corinthians 15, the so-called resurrection chapter, and we are talking about the gospel. This is the letter G in our Alphabet of Bible Doctrines series. The word gospel is mentioned in 98 verses in the Bible, but they are all in the New Testament. A lot of people see this big division between the Old and New Testaments and think it must just be a New Testament thing. The gospel is a very basic topic, but there is a lot of confusion and false doctrine on it, so even the basic things we can learn valuable things from the Bible.

Point 1: What Is the Gospel?

Notice what it says in verse 1: "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." Verse 1 is talking about the gospel, verse 2 is giving more information about it, and then verse 3 is going to explain what the gospel actually is.

"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." As we would say, the gospel is the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not too complicated. But I want you to look at this very closely, because notice what it says in verse 4: "And that he was buried." Let me ask you a very basic question — when it comes to us having a body, soul, and spirit, which of those do you bury? The body. You do not bury a soul. You do not bury a spirit. You bury a body. So when we say what is the gospel, it is the physical death, the physical burial, and the physical bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not merely the fact that Jesus was in hell and is no longer in hell — and that is true, we are going to look at that — but what is the gospel? The death, burial, and resurrection of the body. That is the context. So when it comes to salvation and what a person must believe to be saved, they must believe that the body of Jesus died, was buried, and that he rose again.

Turn to Acts 2. It is possible to get too zealous or too extreme on topics. We are a different church than most Baptist churches and there are a lot of doctrines we teach that other churches do not, but just because certain things are very clear and we teach them does not mean you have to believe those to be saved. There are many people in this room who were saved probably a decade before you ever listened to a sermon online, because you heard the simple plan of salvation — Jesus died for me, he was buried, he rose again, and he is offering you a gift that lasts forever. There are people in this room who got saved before they knew anything about the Rapture, before they knew anything about the soul of Jesus going to hell. All you knew was the death, burial, and resurrection, and you believed it. That is the gospel. That is the plan of salvation.

Acts 2:31: "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." Now there are two aspects to the resurrection of Christ that we see here. But we need to understand that with salvation in 1 Corinthians 15, the part you must believe is the bodily resurrection. It is important to make this distinction. I have seen people in the past who got really zealous and said, I do not care what you say — if you do not believe Jesus went to hell for three days and three nights, you are not saved. Well, now I question your salvation, because you are adding to the gospel. It is possible to get too extreme. I believe the soul of Jesus went to hell according to Acts 2:31 and other places — as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. You bury a body six feet under — to get to the heart of the earth you need a big shovel. That is referring to his soul being in hell, in the heart of the earth. We get that. But what you have to believe to be saved is the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Now, before you call me watered down — Acts 2:31 at the end says "neither his flesh did see corruption." What does that mean? It means that before the body of Jesus could decompose, before animals and creatures would eat it, he rose again. Lazarus was dead for four days — already stinketh, the Bible says. At some point if you put a body out in the sun it is going to decompose. The Bible is saying the flesh of Jesus did not see corruption because he was dead for three days and three nights and rose again before that point. Your body seeing corruption is a bad thing, and your soul being in hell is also a bad thing. Basic English grammar tells you that when two things are being linked together in the same sentence, if one is a bad thing the other is also a bad thing. His soul was not left in hell — not good. Neither his flesh to see corruption — not good. This shows us that the soul of Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights. But here is what I am saying: I got saved many years before I believed that. I was saved, I believed Jesus was buried and rose again, and I remember when I came across this verse I thought, sounds like Jesus went to hell — but my pastor said that is not true, I must be wrong. And you know what, I was still saved, because I did believe the gospel even though I did not yet know about the soul of Jesus being in hell.

Point 2: The Gospel Has Always Been the Same

Go to Romans 10. Romans 10:15: "And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" It mentions the gospel here — the gospel of peace, the glad tidings of good things. When it says glad tidings of good things, it is describing the gospel. The gospel is the good news, the Good Tidings. Romans 10:15 is obviously New Testament, however it is a quote from a couple of verses in the Old Testament.

Go to Isaiah 52. I told you the word gospel is not in the Old Testament. I did not say the gospel is not in the Old Testament. I said the word gospel is not in the Old Testament. There is a big difference. Because this is actually a quote — when it talks about the gospel of peace and the glad tidings of good things, it quotes back to the Old Testament with the good news, which is the gospel. Isaiah 52:7: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" When it is talking about bringing good tidings or the good news, publishing peace — remember the gospel of peace — it is referring to the gospel. And it says bringeth good tidings of good, publisheth salvation. Salvation is linked to the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Go to Nahum chapter 1. Nahum 1:15: "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!" So the gospel is not just mentioned in the New Testament — it is mentioned in the Old Testament, just not with the word gospel.

Here is the thing: if Romans 10, which is after the resurrection of Jesus, is quoting Isaiah 52 and Nahum 1 — which are obviously before the resurrection of Jesus Christ — and they are being linked together, publishing peace and salvation, what is that showing you? The gospel has always been the same. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The way of salvation has always been the same. That is what the Bible teaches.

Go to Isaiah 61. Someone might ask, well, how did people get saved in the Old Testament? By burning various animals? Well, why did Jesus even come to die for us if you get to heaven based on burning animals? That is not how they got saved. They got saved because they believed the gospel, and the gospel has always been the same. Before Jesus, they were looking forward to the day of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Saviour. Of course we look back. But it is still the same gospel, because the old and new are being linked together.

Isaiah 61:1: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek." What is good tidings referring to? The gospel. The good news. The Good Tidings. And notice — good tidings unto the meek. Why the meek? Because arrogant people do not get saved. Meek people get saved. Meek is very similar to humbleness — humble people get saved, not arrogant people. Of course we preach to everybody because we do not know who is arrogant and who is humble. But it is talking about preaching the gospel. "He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." That actually gives us a great picture of a person getting saved. A person that is in prison and behind bars is stuck — they cannot get out. Unless somebody has the key. Likewise an unsaved person is stuck, unsaved, unless somebody frees them, unless somebody says, hey, here is the key — let yourself out by believing on Jesus Christ. People are captive and bound up with no hope of getting out unless somebody proclaims the gospel.

Go to Revelation 13. Someone might ask a well-intentioned question like: how could people have been saved from their sins if the sins were not yet paid for by Jesus? Notice what it says in Revelation 13:8: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." It says from the foundation of the world. Now of course we understand Jesus was born of a virgin 2,000 years ago, and then died roughly 33 years later, and then rose again after three days. But God is outside of time, and certain things do not make full comprehension to us. I mean, you read the book of Revelation — you have got to the end of your New Testament reading in the last couple of days — and you read about yourself. They talked about the great multitude in heaven. That is you. That is me. If you are saved, you are reading about yourself, part of that great multitude. How is it writing about something that has not yet taken place? Well, God is outside of time. The best way I can explain this is: imagine you have a two-dimensional world and you put a three-dimensional object in it. A two-dimensional person is not going to comprehend what a three-dimensional object is because that is a dimension beyond their grasp. If you put a sphere inside a two-dimensional world it is going to look like a circle. Well, God is not three-dimensional — God is outside of all dimensions. I do not understand a world where there is no time. I do not understand how God has always been here. It does not make full sense to me. But you know what? It makes more sense than saying nothing exploded. And it actually makes a little bit of sense that my God would not be able to be fully comprehended, because he is not me. He is above me. He is outside of time, outside of everything. Great is the mystery of godliness. There are a lot of things we do not fully comprehend. But if you look at Revelation 13:8, what you see is Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world. God knew this was going to take place. That was the plan, because there is none righteous, no not one — and they were not righteous in the Old Testament either. So the gospel has been the same and the way of salvation has been the same. It always has been, it always will be.

Back to 1 Corinthians 15. This is the only option. There is no other secret way to get to heaven outside of Jesus Christ dying and paying for your sins. No man can die for you because they are a sinner. Your works cannot pay for it. So the only answer is Jesus. The only answer in the Old Testament — Jesus Christ. The only answer in the New Testament — Jesus Christ. What about the burnt offerings? Number one, those are a picture of Jesus and that he would die for us. But it is like getting right with God in your relationship with him. If your child sins against you and does wrong, you have certain things you require them to do to get right with you. But salvation in the Old Testament was not burning animals. Salvation was the fact that Jesus would come and die and pay for your sins.

1 Corinthians 15:3: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." According to what scriptures? It is not referring to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — those books of course explain the death of Jesus Christ, we get that. It is referring to the Old Testament scriptures. "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." Let us go to those scriptures.

Genesis 22:6–8: "And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." Abraham is confident that he and Isaac are going to return because he told the people to wait for them — he said we are going to be back. Now this statement by Abraham is very interesting. In modern versions it is worded differently. The way it is worded here you could easily read over it and just assume Abraham is saying God is going to provide a lamb to be the burnt offering. But that is not exactly what Abraham is saying. I think there is a dual application. What Abraham is saying is God will provide himself a lamb — in other words, God will be the lamb. God will die. The lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God will be the lamb for the atonement of sins.

Verse 12: "And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." That is a great picture of a father sacrificing a son — God the Father sacrificing God the Son to pay for our sins. But notice what it says in verse 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns." It certainly does not say a lamb — it says a ram. Now yes, those words rhyme, but just because words rhyme does not mean they are the same thing. And it says a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Why is it telling you caught in a thicket by his horns? There is a purpose. Did Abraham know that purpose? Probably not. Did Isaac? Probably not. But you can know it — think of the crown of thorns upon the head of Jesus Christ. Caught in a thicket by his horns. Around his horns a thicket of thorns, just like the crown of thorns on Jesus Christ. Is the Bible not amazing? This was not written by a man. And it is picturing Jesus Christ. The ram was not the fulfilment of verse 8. The fulfilment of verse 8 is the fact that God would come and die and pay for our sins.

Go to Isaiah 53. Now I am not saying that everybody in the Old Testament fully understood all of these pictures and verses. It is easy for us to look back and say well of course — a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. But what I am showing you is the gospel is mentioned in the Old Testament, and we are seeing the pictures of salvation there. Isaiah 53:5–7: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."

Point 3: The Gospel Must Be Preached to You

Go to Acts 8. Point number three: the gospel must be preached to you. We have actually already seen that in a lot of the verses we have looked at. Even in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says, I delivered unto you that which I also received. Paul is like: I received the gospel and I am delivering it to you, because everybody gets saved by having the gospel delivered to them. That kind of prevents you from being arrogant. Well, how did you get saved? I got myself saved reading my Bible 15 years ago. Nobody could say that. You get saved because somebody preaches the gospel to you and you believe it. Every one of us has somebody. It could have been a sermon online, it could have been a documentary, it could have been somebody who talked to you and explained the gospel. But what I know for sure is that if you are saved, somebody explained it to you. That is what the Bible teaches.

Acts 8:26: "And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship." This man comes to Jerusalem. He has some understanding of spiritual things but he is not saved. He realises well, Jerusalem is where the truth is, so he goes there. Verse 28: "Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet." This man is reading what we just read — Isaiah 53 — literally the chapter about Jesus Christ.

Verse 29: "Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?" And he said, "How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him." Before a person gets saved, this is usually how they feel — I cannot understand the Bible. Before I was saved I would have thought, no, I cannot really understand it. People do not read their Bibles and think, how can I understand it? And that is actually significant because after you get saved, you do not necessarily fully realise that now you can start to figure it out on your own. The Bible says read therein all the days of thy life, because if you are saved you can actually understand the Bible. You can pick it up and it can make sense to you. And reading this book transforms you into a different person. When I am reading my Bible I can tell I am a different person than when I am not.

The eunuch said to Philip: "I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?" Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Now I said point number three is the gospel must be preached to you to get saved. Let us say for the sake of argument that I was wrong — which I am not. But if a person could get saved on their own, the eunuch would have gotten saved on his own. He is reading about Jesus, he is a humble guy, he has gone all the way to Jerusalem to worship. He is trying to do right. If you can get saved on your own, surely this man would have. And you say, well, I am not convinced. What about if you fear God as an unsaved person? A couple of chapters later you have a man called Cornelius, and the Bible says before he was saved he feared God — but he was not saved. Why? Because you cannot save yourself.

If you could save yourself we would see it in the Bible, but this man does not get saved on his own. He has to have someone explain the gospel to him. It is not about intelligence — it is something spiritual that you just cannot understand unless somebody explains it to you. That is just the way it is. It does not matter how smart you are. You still did not get saved on your own, and you could not. You could read this book a thousand times, 10 hours a day, and you still would not get saved on your own. Somebody had to explain it to you, or it is just not going to happen.

Go to 2 Chronicles 17. You see soul-winning in the Old Testament, not just in the verses we have already looked at. 2 Chronicles 17:9: "And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people." What are they doing? Bringing the book of the law of the Lord with them and teaching the people. They are preaching the gospel. When I go soul-winning I usually bring the Tagalog New Testament side by side with me, but sometimes I bring this whole Bible because you never know what verse you might need. I mean, when they are bringing the book of the law of the Lord with them — given the thickness of paper in those days — it is probably a pretty big book. But obviously if you are going to go soul-winning you are going to bring the Bible with you. That is what they are doing. They are bringing the word of God with them and going out to preach the gospel. You see soul-winning in the Old Testament.

Go to Romans 10. Romans 10:13: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" Now it says a preacher — it is not referring specifically to a pastor or an evangelist or a deacon. It is referring to somebody preaching the gospel. The Bible speaks about women preaching the gospel. Obviously women are not going to be pastors, but of course we go soul-winning and the ladies at our church go out and preach the gospel. It is vital for a church for a number of reasons, one being that a lot of people are more comfortable talking to a woman than a man. That is not just something in the Philippines — in the US we always found that people in general are more likely to talk to women than men. Sometimes when a man approaches a woman soul-winning she might feel uncomfortable, whereas when women preach the gospel people often seem more open.

When it says how shall they hear without a preacher, whether that is me or you — if you are saved it could be you, whether you are a man or a woman. And "how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" Nobody is going to get saved without a preacher. Now I have heard some people say, well, Matthew was a preacher, John was a preacher, so someone could just read John 3:16 and get saved by reading it because John is a preacher. Here is the thing: when we go soul-winning somebody cannot get saved with only the word of God. You must also explain the verses. They are reading John 3:16, reading the word of God from a preacher. What they are not having is somebody explaining what the word of God says. You need both. If you go soul-winning and say, okay, Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10 — and just read every verse and get done after five minutes — you have not explained anything. It has to be explained. It is like putting up a calculus problem on the board and not explaining it. Nobody is going to understand that. This is just common sense. When it says how shall they hear without a preacher — they need the word of God, and they also need somebody to explain the word of God.

Verse 17: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Go to Ephesians 1. Sometimes when you are a preacher a lot of stuff feels pretty basic. But then you see videos online where people say, well, you do not need a soul winner to get saved, and you think — really? That shows you that even the basics need to be preached. Of course if this is new to you then yes, that makes sense, that is what it says. But even Baptist preachers will sometimes say things like, well, you can get saved on your own just reading the word of God. This is why we have to teach everything. We need to be reminded about these things.

Ephesians 1:13: "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise." You have to hear the gospel to be saved. Salvation is by faith. And you are eternally sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. Great verse. The gospel is linked to salvation, you must hear it, it is by believing, and you are eternally sealed with the Holy Spirit of God.

Point 4: Adding to the Gospel or Changing It Makes It False

Go to 1 John 5. 1 John 5:10: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." A record is what is recorded or written. When you talk about recording something in these times it is not an audio recording — it is a written recording. The record is what is written. You either believe what is written about Jesus Christ or you do not. If you believe it you are saying it is true. If you do not, you are saying it is a lie. You either believe Jesus died for all your sins or you do not — it is one or the other.

Verse 11 is going to tell us what exactly is written about Jesus, because most people are going to say they believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but they do not understand what that means in terms of their salvation. They must understand a few basics, and those basics are listed right here. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." There are actually three very important things mentioned here that you might quickly read over.

The last one first: this life is in his Son. If somebody believes their salvation is in Jesus and Muhammad — not saved. They must believe life is only in Jesus Christ. If they say all paths lead to heaven, your path is Jesus but other paths are okay too — not saved. Somebody must believe life is only in Jesus Christ.

It also says God hath given to us eternal life. Think about the gift of God as eternal life. A gift is something that is given. So in saying God hath given to us eternal life, what it is saying is you believe salvation is being given to you. If you think you have to be baptised to be saved — not saved. If you think you have to live a good life — not saved. If you think you have to do anything — not saved. If I said I am going to give you this Bible as a gift and then asked for one peso for it — well, that is not a free gift. A gift is 100% free. If you must do anything, it is not a gift. So if somebody believes there are any works involved in salvation — like the Catholic Church teaches — not saved.

It also says God hath given to us eternal life. You must believe it is eternal — that it lasts forever. At the end of a gospel presentation, when someone says but what if I committed suicide — would I go to hell? They do not believe it is eternal life. They are still thinking they must live a certain lifestyle to keep that salvation. Somebody must believe it is eternal life. And look at what Jesus Christ himself said — speaking outside of time before he rose again, he said, I am the resurrection and the life. He understood he was going to die and pay for our sins and rise again. Salvation is in Jesus Christ only.

Now, what I just explained most Baptists would disagree with me on completely. They would say that if you say a person must understand eternal security to be saved, you are adding to the gospel because you are adding an extra step. Well, I am sorry — show me one, two, three, repeat after me in the Bible, just say this little prayer and you are saved no matter what you believe. Is that what Baptists think? Just count your 55 million salvations because they said a prayer regardless of what they believe? No — we go soul-winning, we explain the gospel, and it takes time. It is not going to happen in five seconds because we have to explain it is a gift, it cannot be lost, it is through Jesus alone. And if somebody does not believe those things, they are not saved.

Let me tell you one story before we get to Galatians 1. I was on a missions trip in Guyana — which, contrary to popular belief, is in South America, not Africa. I was preaching the gospel to an elderly woman who could not see. Sometimes you talk to people and they say the print is too small — she could not read it. I was explaining the gospel, and she said she did not know if she was going to heaven. I kid you not — every single verse I quoted, she finished it. Every one. Revelation 21:8, Revelation 20:14–15 — I mean it was stunning. I have never seen that before in my life. This is an unsaved person, and as I am explaining the gospel it was like I was hardly saying anything because she was explaining it right back to me. I would say, you know, does it say you have to live a good life? She said no. Does it say you have to get baptised? She is like, no. I started thinking, I do not know what else to say. She got saved in less than 10 minutes and I was at the end of my conversation with nothing more to add. She said you could never lose it — it is eternal life. Can you ever lose it? No. Not even if you commit murder? Not even suicide? No — it is eternal. And she was right. My presentation is usually 15 to 20 minutes, and I did not know what else to say. But she was not saved until that moment. How is that possible? You cannot get saved unless someone gives you the gospel. Is it not sad that there could be an elderly person who might have died and gone to hell, who was probably more zealous for the things of God than maybe any of us, who had all those verses memorised — but still needed to hear the gospel to be saved.

Galatians 1:6: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." I would be amazed also if someone said they were saved, went soul-winning with us, and then all of a sudden was unsure about these things. That is what Paul questions in Galatians — he says I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Are you even saved? Because if someone hears the gospel they have the spirit of truth inside them. "Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." I have heard people say well, this is the gospel of Christ but there is also the gospel of this and the gospel of that. It says the gospel of Christ because the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is making it very clear they are perverting that the gospel is about Jesus.

Verse 8: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Let them be cursed. Let them be damned. That is what he is saying. If somebody preaches a false gospel, let him be accursed. Brother Stucky, you are extreme. I am just saying what Paul is saying. And I do agree with this. The distinction to make is that it says preach another gospel. This is not saying I hope everyone in the Catholic Church drops dead right now. What Paul is saying is he hopes the Catholic priest drops dead right now. Those that are preaching the false gospel — let them die and go to hell. You say, why would he say that? Because people preaching a false gospel are damning the world to hell. There are people we try to talk to who would actually listen, but they have already talked to the Jehovah's Witnesses. There are people who would listen, but so many religious people have already come to their door, some asking for money, that they are just closed off. When I invite people I even feel weird saying there is no charge — of course there is not going to be a charge. But people are just closed off because other churches are preaching false gospels.

It is also interesting that he says even if an angel from heaven preaches another gospel. A lot of religions start because well, an angel came and visited me. Islam — an angel visited Muhammad. The Latter-day Saints — the angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith. Do I think an angel visited them? I would say probably better than 50% — but a fallen angel. I am actually pretty convinced Muhammad was visited by something. With Joseph Smith he might have been faking it — I am not sure. But it is possible they talked to a demon. Not every story out there is fake. You might have been visited by something, but it was not an actual good angel. There is no angel Moroni. So do not listen to their gospel, because they are angels preaching a false gospel.

Verse 9, in case you missed it: "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." You thought I misspoke in verse 8. You thought it was too extreme. So as I said before, so say I now again — let him go to hell. Because adding to the gospel makes it false, which is what they are doing, and these people are damning the world to hell.

Conclusion

What is the gospel? Death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ — and more specifically, the focus in 1 Corinthians 15 is on the bodily resurrection. Somebody must believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ to be saved. The Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that — they believe in a spiritual resurrection only. So if you are preaching the gospel to a Jehovah's Witness, make sure you explain that he bodily rose again.

The gospel has always been the same — the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, both in the Old and New Testaments. The gospel must be preached to you — nobody gets saved on their own. And adding to the gospel or changing it makes it false. These are basics, but we need to know these things. This is the doctrine our church stands on. This is very important.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. I ask you to help us to understand these things — even the basics of the Bible. Help us to know these things and understand them, be able to teach others, and get people saved. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.