McIntee, Arnot: Fargo Memorial Day Conference-01 ~ 1 Cor 15 - The Resurrection Chapter

Thank you very much, Gary. And what a delight it is to be back in Fargo. There are some places where you really enjoy preaching, and certainly Fargo to me has been one. I'm not sure the saints feel that way, but I do, and I have enjoyed it immensely. Thank you again for the invitation, and it is certainly a pleasure to be with JB. Uh, we haven't had too many opportunities to minister together, but I thank the Lord for this one. As you may have suspected, uh, I was closer in age to his father than to him. In fact, it's interesting that when his father came in the RAF, the Royal Air Force, to Canada to train, he came to St. Catharines, and the first Christian home in which he landed was the home of my parents, and it was back in forty two or three, I've forgotten the exact year. Um, and Boyd was there at the dinner table, and he was really enjoying the meal until mother put out the plate of steaming hot corn. And much to his dismay, he realized that's the stuff they fed to the cattle in his country, and now in the newfound land, this is what he's going to be eating. Well, he did come to acquire a taste of it, but they were precious days, and I thank God for every memory of my dear brother Boyd. He often said to me, Arne, we've enjoyed so many years of fellowship, and never once have we had a falling out or a disagreement on anything. Blessed indeed are the memories of the just. We thank God for them. During these five messages, it will be my pleasure and responsibility to speak to you. I'd like to look at Paul's first letter to the Corinthians and his fifteenth chapter. That's the chapter of resurrection. Very interesting that Jabe has already drawn one reference from it, unknown to him what I was going to be speaking upon. First Corinthians chapter fifteen verse one. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved. If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how 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, that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, and after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all, he was seen of me also as one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that I'm not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of Christ. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. Let's pause and pray. Holy Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the merits of the blood shed on the tree, oh, how we pray that each of us will continue to sense the working of the Spirit of God in our hearts this morning. Please, Father, we long to see no man save Jesus only, and we thank you for your grace, in his alone precious name. Amen. They were precious days, early nineteen fifties. I was teaching in our local high school. Being one of the new members of the staff, I was asked if I would be interested in sponsoring the Interschool Christian Fellowship Club. Of course, I readily accepted the challenge. I will never forget those young people. The administration gave us a room. It was a four-floor building, and they very graciously, in keeping with the word of God, gave us an upper room on the fourth floor, as far removed from everybody else as we could be. And that's where we were. Thursday noon hours, we came together, and what a delight it was to share the truths of God and the enthusiasm of young people committed to Christ. I remember one particular group, and we had a great time that noon hour. God was with us. We learned something of him. And that afternoon, as they opened the door and left from the fourth floor to walk to the first, they began to sing, I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know that he is living, whatever men may say. I see of his hands of mercy, uh, acts of love, and so on. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. And before those kids reached the first floor, hundreds in that school of fourteen hundred heard the gospel as they sang it, on the grounds and with the thrilling fact that the Lord Jesus Christ they served and lived for was alive. And beloved, he is alive this morning. And if there is anything that should motivate us to share the gospel as our brother has exhorted us to, it is this precious fact, he's alive. He's on the throne, and we have the honor, you and me, of serving him. What a privilege. Of course, the resurrection is the cornerstone to the great truths of Christianity. It's interesting that in the Corinthian epistle, chapter fourteen, the Corinthian church that was shot through with air has been wrestling with the, uh, abuse of sign gifts. The church was in a mess. And Paul begins to write to them now under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, not about the sign gifts, but the giver of the gifts and the fact that he's alive and indwelling each and everyone who has accepted him as personal Lord and Savior. I am sure you would agree with me that First Corinthians fifteen is one of Paul's great masterpieces. Laid alongside Romans seven and eight. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And brethren and sisters, that's where we are. Turn over to Philippians two and verse eight, another masterpiece. As he speaks of the one who was found in fashion as a man, yet he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So from the courts of glory, he comes down to the awful stoop of Calvary in one brief, precious, inspired verse. What a man. What a God. Resurrection is our theme. Resurrection, as far as the Greek was concerned, he believed in immortality of the soul, but never, never resurrection. The Greek proverb put it this way: The body is a tomb. The body is a tomb. What hope is there there? Another philosopher said this: I am a poor soul shackled to a corpse. Where's the hope? There's none. Seneca comes along and he says, it pleased me to inquire into the eternity of the soul. No, to believe it. I surrendered myself to that great hope when the day shall come which shall part this mixture of divine and human where I found it. I will leave this body myself. I will go back to the gods. Beloved, on the basis of the work of Christ at Calvary, you and I have a hope beyond the grave. This is not the end. This happens to be our time of opportunity to serve royalty, to be involved in the greatest task of the age, to proclaim the gospel and to share with men and women and fellows and girls the precious, precious truths of the word of God. Child of God believes in the resurrection of the body as taught in this holy book, and I trust and pray that before this weekend comes to a close, beloved, I'll appreciate it even more. I believe with all my heart, if I do, it will add impetus to my passion for the lost, and I pray that that will be the case. Think with me this morning about the gospel being declared, verses one and two, the gospel defined in three and four, the gospel displayed in five to eight, and finally the gospel demonstrated in nine to eleven. The gospel declared one and two. What did Paul say? I declare unto you the gospel, the good news of God's salvation through faith in Christ. He says, I wanted to make known unto you the gospel. And we shall see, beloved, that that gospel was very basic, simple, and beautiful. It was the fact that Christ died, he was buried, and he rose again. And we can thank our God for the precious truth of it. What does he say? He says, I preached unto you the gospel. This was Paul's passion, to preach the gospel. And I want to encourage each of you young men and older ones too, get a hold of the book, get a hold of the truth, make the gospel a part of your being so that it becomes natural to declare it, to speak it forth, to gossip it, to make it known that Jesus Christ, God's holy son, came from heaven, died on a cross, and then rose triumphant, is in the glory, and he's coming back. Beloved, learn it, learn it well, so that it becomes a part of you. I agree completely with what James says. What we need are young men, yes, and older ones too, with evangelist hearts. I remember one day a brother in our assembly took me aside, and in all seriousness he said, Arnett, the problem with you is this, every time you get up to preach, you preach the gospel. I said, brother, may it ever be thus. What's the point? Think of it. You and I are listening to the word of God for sixty minutes every hour right now. Those minutes were blood bought, and this man is speaking for a portion of that time, and the time he uses in speaking was blood bought. Beloved child of God, we've got tremendous responsibilities. Oh, that God would impress the truth upon us, that we have a message to declare. And Paul says, I preach the gospel. What did he say to the Corinthians in nine sixteen? He says, woe is me. Alas, if I don't preach the gospel. He will have missed it all. But now, with a passion ignited by Calvary love, he goes forward to declare it and to tell it in all of its life-giving power. It's not an easy task. We know that. There will be times of fear and trepidation. You don't know Gary Grewal. You haven't had the pleasure of meeting him. I had the joy of putting his hand in the nail-pierced hand, and I love him. He bombed out first year in university. Party, party, party. But God arrested Gary, and he trusted Christ. And as soon as he made that commitment, he was off and running. He got a s- copy of a excellent book on prophecy, and he went around to every one of his professors, and he gave them a copy. He said to me, Arnett, when I was finished, he said, I was dead scared with everyone, but I wasn't ashamed. I could have hugged him. He wasn't ashamed. He had a message of life, and he took it right into the place where all the corps were present and gave them the gospel that they in turn might accept it. Interesting thing. He's now a PhD and a professor in Guelph University. Going for God, flat out. Thank God. But beloved, let's have that passion born of the spirit. As someone has said, declaring or presenting the gospel is simply one beggar telling another beggar where he can find food. And this is it. This is the food that satisfies, and satisfies for all of eternity. Lord Jesus said, this is one of my favorite texts, John ten ten— I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I like a, I like another rendering. I think it's amplified, but I'm not sure. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have a super abundant life. Beloved, that's what I have, a super abundant life, bought and paid for with precious blood on Calvary's cross. That's what you have, and it should show and it should glow that you belong to Christ. Are you enjoying him this morning? You should. To know him and to love him and to share abroad this precious message. But there were some things that made it obvious that the saints at Corinth were enjoying God, and they knew something about God. He talks about them, and he says, this is the gospel I preached unto you. And what happened? You received it. Thanks be to God, for every sinner who receives the gospel, applies it to their heart and life, and stands now committed to him. And that's the second point in verse one. And wherein ye stand, they were rooted and grounded and standing firm, for the most part, in Christ Jesus the Lord. How exciting it is when we see dear ones accept the Lord as Savior, and then what happens? They start to stand, and then they start to run, and they bring honor and glory to God, and in their precious experience, and by the enabling of the Holy Spirit of God, things happen, and souls are saved. Oh, dear one this morning, stand firm in him. They had a faith and a confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, and there they stood. There was a purpose in their faith, and they were going to live that purpose, and they were going to share that purpose with those with whom they came in contact. Let us make certain that we're standing firm on the faith that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ, all by his enabling, by his grace, we're there to enjoy it and enjoy it to the full. I look out over this company, and it thrills me to see so many young people. Dear fellas and girls, give yourselves to God, and the best is yet before. He'll honor you in every respect of life. He must. He has promised that he would do that. Them that honor me, I will honor. That's a principle, just like a principle in chemistry says two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen makes water every time. God says, you honor me, I honor you, and it's as simple as that. It's simple enough for me to understand. You can understand it. All we have to do is apply it. First Samuel, there's the one. Chapter two, two. Verse thirty, there's the three. Go to First Samuel, one, two, three. First book, second chapter, thirtieth verse. You honor God, and I believe with all my heart you can go into his presence and say, Lord, I'm trying my best to honor you. You said here you would honor me. The ball's in your court, Lord. Now I look to you. And so Paul wants to present some exhibits as far as his, um, preciousness of his relationship with Christ are concerned. And his first exhibit for the proof of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had believed the gospel. It was there. It had changed lives. Who can argue it changed life? They believed it. They were pagans. Now they were in the body of Christ. What a contrast. You show me a man whose life has been changed, and I must believe your word. That's what happened. There used to be a brother in our assembly. He died, I believe, in his early thirties, if memory serves correctly. When he did, I'd ask the Lord to preserve that man's memory in my mind. Bill Green was a no good drunk, would come out of the beverage rooms on a Saturday afternoon, challenge people on the street to fight with him. But one day he met the man who defeated the apostle, and Bill Green too was defeated and bowed in acknowledgment of Christ as Savior. What a change. As the saints gathered in that square so precious, as we gathered to remember the Lord, the loaf of bread and the cup of wine on the table, you'd see a man, his head was bowed, and he was sobbing like his heart would break. And when the meeting was over, there was a puddle of tears. What had happened? Bill Green realized that his sins, which were many, had all been forgiven, and he was enjoying the fact the Lord Jesus Christ had died for him personally, rose personally for him, was coming back personally for him. Bill's with him this morning. The Lord took him home almost prematurely, but in his plan. Beloved, it happens, and may God in his goodness cause you and me to have such a passion, to know that we've been saved. He speaks here. We really have a a threefold salvation, don't we? They were saved, they were standing for him. And notice verse two: by which also ye are saved. We're saved. Past. Twenty seventh February, nineteen forty four. Young man in an Air Force uniform, backseat of a gospel service in the city of Vancouver. Little Irishman named McClurkin, preaching God's gospel. And the Spirit of God worked in this man's heart. At the close of that service, the man of God pointed me to the Savior. I was saved, but that's only part of the story. I am being saved. Preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness, but unto us which are being saved, it is the power of God unto salvation. You're being saved right now, saved from that stinking, foul, polluted world, and being kept by God for his son, to be of service to him who loved you and died for you. He's keeping you. He's got great plans for you, young fellow, young girl. He's going to land you on the streets of glory and gold, where you'll sing his everlasting praise. But we look forward not only to the day when we are being saved in the present, but we're looking forward when we shall be saved from wrath through him. Gonna take us right out of here. And before the awful judgment of the tribulation descends, we're in the glory. Salvation, past, present, future. Isn't that what the world needs? It certainly isn't, is. Isn't that what you need? It certainly is. That's what Arnot McEntee needs. But then he goes from the gospel, and he wants to present the second exhibit. Not only change lives, but he's thinking here of the scriptures, and uh, he enjoys them. He appreciate. I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received of Christ, how that he died for our sins according to the scriptures. Beloved, get into the book, learn it, love it. Young men, young women, make it a part of you, so that automatically it comes out and it is lived out. I would like to think that there were occasions when this little Jewish author stands with a scroll, and from it he reads from the Old Testament text and preaches those precious passages. I wonder if he talked about the one who was wounded for his transgressions, bruised for his iniquities, and all the rest, and then presented to them the fact that this is the one who died for you on Calvary's cross. I wonder if he talked about the one whose hands and feet were pierced. What a message. Did he go to the book of Job and tell of the teachings of the great man? How that I know that my redeemer liveth, and that at the latter day he shall stand in that day, and I know that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. He knew it, he appreciated it. Do we fully appreciate it? I enjoy, when I can, to take a morning walk where Helen and I lived up until about a year or more ago. I would walk in one direction, and often I would pass a couple, and I knew that they were Jewish by birth. One morning, we're coming close to meeting, we'd say our usual good mornings and pass. Spirit of God said, Arnett, this is stupid. You got to stop and talk to these. But what do you talk to Jewish people about? My friend John McKim with, uh, Friends of Israel, he says, Arnot, you got to build a bridge, got to build a bridge. I agree, John, I got to build a bridge. We stopped that morning, started to talk. She, little Jewish, white haired, about my age, she said, you're a minister, aren't you? I said, I don't know about that, but I said I do a little preaching. She said, what do you preach about? Build the bridge, Arnett, build the bridge. John, not now. There's no time for that in the middle of the road. I said, well, to be honest with you, I like to tell people about my best friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for me, and he's given me eternal life. I waited for the response. She drew herself about five feet six, all she had to muster. She brought out her pointed finger and hit me in the chest, and she said, he was one of our boys, and don't you forget it. Praise God. I said, I know he was one of your boys, and I love him. Beloved, that's the message we have, and people, I believe, want to know where there's hope, and their only hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved and died for you and me. And this message must be presented, that Christ died, was buried, and rose again. Without the facts of the gospel, there is no gospel. Without the facts of the gospel, there is no hope for those needing the gospel. But then there was the gospel displayed. Paul declared it. Now in verses five to eight: And he was seen of Cephas, Peter, then of the twelve, and that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this day, and so on. After that, James, all the apostles, and last of all, last of all, Paul says, he was seen of me. I saw. I know he's alive. Doesn't this give authenticity to his message? It most assuredly does. Paul, when did you see him? You weren't a follower of his in his earthly ministry. Oh, he would say, I saw him from my vantage point of the Damascus Road, as I laid in the dust, surrounded by that glory brighter than the noonday sun. That's when I saw Him. I met Him there. I completely gave myself to Him. I became His servant, His slave, for His sake alone. And so the gospel was displayed by men and women, clay pots like you and me, walking among people and sharing with those people the precious truths of the emancipating gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There was another exhibit that Paul would present. He wants to call the witnesses. Peter, he was the one first mentioned. Oh, we know Peter. And if you're like me, you love Peter, because there's an awful lot of Arnot McEntee in Peter. Peter let the Lord down. I've done that. Peter was welcomed back by the Lord. Arnot McEntee's been welcomed back, and you have two, I'm sure. Peter, he's first mentioned. I love it, don't you? John chapter twenty. It's Resurrection morning. The disciples have come, led by Mary, and they have found, to their dismay, the tomb's empty. The stone's been rolled away, and he's not there. Eventually, through that precious discourse, you remember the Lord Jesus Christ said to them, you go tell my disciples and Peter. Don't forget Peter. I'll meet you in Galilee. You know, if that had been me, I would have thought, Peter, you rascal, you betrayed him. You let him down when he needed you most. We won't bother telling you, you can find out for yourself. The Lord says, you go tell my disciples, tell Peter. A special invitation, a special commission to tell Peter he's alive. And off Peter would go. And Peter saw him, John, uh, Paul says, and I'm sure that these two men of God had often rehearsed that experience. Pete, maybe Paul's sitting this time at the feet of Peter, and he says, Peter, tell me it again. Tell me all the infinite details, those precious thoughts, those gestures associated with that conversation when you met him fresh from the tomb, and he would tell him, oh, between the garden tomb and the upper room, there was that precious time when Peter met of the Lord. What a time of fellowship that must have been. But then there were the twelve. They'd seen him, and there were the two on the road to Emmaus. They'd been walking on that road. They were questioned by the stranger. You only a stranger here? Don't you know what's happened in these last few days? We thought it was Jesus, the promised Messiah. He's been crucified, and they buried him. And if that isn't enough, some of our fellows have come and they've told us they've seen that he's alive. It's blown us out of our mind. You remember what happened? They took him and they pled with him to abide in their house, for it was toward evening, the day was far spent. He sat down with them, and he took right out of character that little bun. He wasn't the host. That wasn't his responsibility, but he took it, and he broke it, and he gave it to them. And I believe, beloved, in all my simplicity, that their eyes were transfixed, not by a broken loaf, but two scars and marks, one in each hand, and they realized this is him. He's alive. Yes, they saw him. He was seen of the twelve. He was seen of others as well. Five hundred brethren at once, they saw it. Thought to be that it was in Galilee, some fifty to sixty miles away. The disciples and the curious would join the procession on their way to see a man once dead, but living. Their faith would be rewarded. They had seen the Christ. And beloved, your faith is rewarded when you and I see him. You know, I had the most precious time that I've had, I don't know when, yesterday afternoon, um thirty five thousand feet in the air. I had my Bible and my notes, and I enjoyed fellowship with a risen, resurrected Christ. By the way, the same one who created those billowing white clouds over which we were flying. Oh, take time for his presence. That's my problem today. I read, I study, but I don't spend the time just thinking about him. The rewards are great. And so they wanted to see him, and they did, and they praised God for it. Their faith was rewarded by the sight, as will yours and mine be. Your faith will be rewarded if it is placed in the one who died for you, and your reward will be ever greater as you express your faith in that one and spend time in warm fellowship with the one who died for you. But the gospel was demonstrated in verses nine to eleven. Oh, dear Paul, I think I can hear him hesitate as he's talking about these ones you'd seen him. He says, and last of all, he was seen of me, an apostle. I didn't deserve to be an apostle because I persecuted the church. Oh, how he had. And that's when the Lord met him. Remember, the word of God says, and those that stoned Stephen, they laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, later to become Paul the Apostle. He says, I'm an apostle, but I don't deserve to be an apostle. Beloved child of God, you don't deserve to be a child of God this morning, nor do I, but for the sovereign grace of God. Thanks be to God. We're saved, and we can rejoice in this. And those five hundred brethren plus, they saw him and they rejoiced. Oh, that we might enjoy him to the full. He'd been seen of James, the Lord's brother. Then of all the apostles, last of all, he was seen of me. And Paul, as he went through his life of suffering for God, when he stood before the mob, when he stood before Agrippa, what did he do? He told them of the bright light that he had seen on the day of his conversion, the glory of the risen Christ, no less. He was alive. The gospel was demonstrated. He didn't deserve to be an apostle, but here he stands as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, one totally surrendered to the one who gave himself for him. What a wonderful thought and truth. By the grace of God, he said, I didn't deserve to be an apostle, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. He was a Jew by birth, a Greek by upbringing, a citizen of Rome, but he was a child of God. That was the greatest credential he had. He was in the family of God, but come to think of it, no greater than the credentials possessed by every child of God here in this company this morning. Oh, that this morning we might appreciate to the full we know and love him who loved and died for us. Thanks be to God, beloved, he's alive. He is alive in the glory, and we're looking forward to seeing him. Let's walk with him today, and through this weekend, as with JB, we're led to the precious truth of the greatness of our God, and as in the sovereign plan and purpose of God, we journey through First Corinthians chapter fifteen to go closer to him who loved and died for us. May it be so for his glory.