The Necessity of Absolute Truth

Yeah, well, amen, it is a privilege to be here with you this evening, It really is. It's a privilege to be here with you on this weekend. And these are indeed strange days, are they not. It is amazing. We've lived in Zambia for the last five years and it has been amazing to watch things from Afar. We left here. Every couple of years or two or three years, we come back as a family. My wife Bridges, and I have nine children and seven of them are still at home with us, and so the nine of us try to come back every two or three years. And we were back a year ago. I had a preaching tour. I usually have a preaching tour in January, so we came back in December, hang out with family, then had the preaching tour and we left at the at the end of January beginning of February. And I usually come back three or four times a year to do a preaching tour like the one I'm on right now. Two weeks two and a half weeks, and everything this past year has been canceled, and so this is my first time back in a year, and so it's been very interesting to watch things develop both on this whole COVID nineteen front and seeing the way, you know, the whole world has been affected, and how we've been shut down, and how we you know, put our masks on and everything, and how people are losing their lives and all of the implications of that, and then simultaneously to see the way everything's been rocked by many of these issues that we'll be talking about over the course of of this weekend. These these these issues of justice and questions of justice and how we define justice and and what we do based on those those definitions. So it's it's been fascinating for me and sometimes frustrating for me, uh to to to watch that from Afar, But I'm excited about the opportunity to come back and for us to deal with these issues over the course of this weekend. Tonight. My assignment is to deal with a question of the necessity of absolute truth. Why is it necess theory for us to think in those terms? Why is it necessary for us to hold to absolute truth? Why is absolute truth necessary to Christianity? And I want you to understand it from this perspective. Over the last few generations, Christianity has been sort of herded into a pin if you will, I can fucking borrow a ranching metaphor. There we've been. We've been herded into a pin. Right now, I am I'm a Texan, but I'm the worst kind of Texan. I'm a Texan by choice. I'm a Californian by birth, but a Texan by the grace of God. Right, wasn't born in Texas. I just got there as quick as I could, all right. And so you know, you you've got to you've got to understand ranching metaphors if you're going to be a Texan, right, And so we have. We've been, we've been, We've been herded into this pen, and that this pin that we've been hearded into as a pen that says Christianity at its core, when you boil it all down to who we really are, to what really makes us unique, to what really gives us value is activism. Think about this. If you watch a movie or a television show and there is a positive portrayal of Christians and Christianity, what is it based on. Well, it's probably something about soup kitchens, something about dealing with orphans, something about hosting AA meetings. You know, something about it it's it's political activism on behalf of the poor. And the message that has been communicated and the message that in many ways evangelicalism has embraced, is this message that our worth and our value and the culture and the society at large is tied up in social activism. That's what's good about the church and what's good about Christianity. Now, what has happened is we've been herded into this pin. And the way that we've been herded into this pen is that the culture at large is basically said to us, if you will stay in that pin, if you will stay in that lane, then we will praise you, we will laud you, we will accept you, we will love you. But the minute you start talking about theology, you're out of bounds. The minute you start challenging in the areas of morality, you are out of bounce. Even when it comes to Jesus, the culture at large has said, listen, you can talk about Jesus. We're great. We're fine with you talking about Jesus. As long as you talk about Jesus the same way you would talk about Gandhi or Mother Teresa or any other person Buddha. As long as Jesus is just a guy who said some provocative things. As long as Jesus is just another guru, right, as long as Jesus is just someone who lived a moral life by the way defined by this same pen that we've been heard it into, then you can talk about Jesus. But the minute Jesus becomes any thing more, we got a problem. And what's worse, the minute you have a problem with Jesus being put on the same level with all other religious figures. And the minute you start to claim that Jesus has some unique place or some unique. Claim, well now you're out of bounce. Now enter the modern social justice movement, and I'll be referring to it over the course of this weekend as the critical social justice movement, and I'll explain on tomorrow why I use that terminology. But I use the term critical social justice. It's not my term, but I think it's. A very helpful. Term because it helps to remind us that the modern social justice movement is rooted and grounded in critical theory and critical race theory, so on and so forth, and it is part of a longstanding ideological movement. So enter the critical social justice movement. And the language of justice and the language of advocacy, the language of equality. That fits very well in this pen into which we've been heard, does it not. It fits very well until we start to listen, and until we start to learn, and until we start to figure out. Wait a minute, these ideas actually come from somewhere. These ideas are actually rooted in world views that are antithetical to and diametrically opposed to the Gospel and the worldview of Christianity. Now we need to have a discussion about whether or not the worldview and which these things are rooted are acceptable. Ah, stay in your pen. Stay in your pen, and will accept you, will even applaud you. Let your Jesus be wrapped and cloaked in our terminology, and you're great. But if you get out, and if you let him out, then we have a problem. Well, I stopped by to tell you you ain't hurting me in no pin, You're not hearting my Jesus into a pin. Because there is more to who we are than what we do. I'm not arguing that doing good is unimportant. It's absolutely important, but it is woefully insufficient because we don't do good for goodness sake. We do good for Christ's sake, We do good in Christ's name, and we do good because of who Christ is and who Christ is in us. And so. You have to have the whole package. And the truth about who Christ is matters. The absolute truth about who Christ is matters. But if you have your Bible's with you, open them to the book of First Corinthians, First Corinthians, chapter fifteen, First Corinthians, chapter fifteen. Let's look there at this penultimate First Corinthians, chapter fifteen, and I believe Paul here just really lays out for us in a very logical, systematic fashion, why it is that truth matters, and why it is that truth is necessary, and why it is that this truth ought to be held to clung to and defended. There's several arguments that he makes here for the truth of the Gospel. And again there are those who would argue that, you know, you can have Jesus without the theological necessities of the Gospel. He can just be good man and good teacher and so on and so forth, and that has to be rejected outright, and Paul does so. Here. He makes an argument from authority, and then he makes an argument from history or evidence, and then he makes an argument from logic. Makes these three arguments, and let's look at them in turn. First the argument from authority. And by the way, these arguments are all to be to be taken together, but each of them is powerful in its own right. The first one is the argument from authority verse Grianthian Is fifteen Versus one and two. Now, in order to put this in context, we'll see here in this chapter in what we're going to look at, that there are individuals attached to adjacent to the church in Corinth who claim on the one hand to be followers of Christ, but claim on the other hand not to. Believe in resurrection. They don't believe that resurrections are possible, They don't believe that resurrection makes sense. They know that they believe that Jesus is a good man, good teacher, good prophet, all of that, but but they draw the line at this, at this supernatural side of things. You know, a famous example of this is Thomas Jefferson. You know that Thomas Jefferson Bible. Thomas Jefferson had a problem with some of the supernatural aspects of the Gospel, and that there are others who have you know, wanted to have Jesus and and recognize that you can't get around Jesus, right, I mean he split time in half literally between BC and A D. So you can't get you can't get around Jesus. So these individuals recognize you can't get around Jesus, you can't get around the impact that he's had. But but philosophically, that would say, I just have a I just I reject the idea that when people die there's something after that that they can be raised from the dead. So Paul's essentially taking on this argument. Paul's essentially saying, you can't do that. That the truth. That these principles, that the essence of our message and of our gospel, the facts of it are essential. It's no good for you to have a Jesus without the absolute truth of the Gospel. It's insufficient. And here's three reasons why. First, the argument from authority. Verse one. Now, I would remind you, brothers of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved. If you hold fast to the word I've preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Now let's unpack this a little bit. Paul's arguing here, and by the way, he starts off the Book of First Corinthians by identifying himself as an apostle. So Paul has apostolic authority. He's writing this letter as one with apostolic authority. And he says here, I would remind you of the gospel, but not just of the gospel. He's being very specific here, of the gospel I preached to you as an apostle, with the authority of an apostle. So Paul here is saying, it's not just any gospel that matters. It's not just the gospel that you like. It's not just the gospel that you're comfortable with. I am reminding you of the gospel that I preached to you. Secondly, which you received, the gospel I preached to you, the gospel which you received from me when I preached it to you, and the gospel in which you stand. All three of these things are important, beyond important, they're essential. The gospel has to be preached to you, you have to receive the gospel, and you have to stand on the gospel thus preached and received. That is non negotiable, negotiable and then something comes from that. There's a fruit of that. You know, you have a sinder and a receiver and a message for effective communication to take place. Right, And here we have a sinder, this Paul, who's preaching this gospel. We have a receiver, right, these individuals at Corinth who received this gospel that he preached. And what is the message? The message is and we'll see this soon. Here the information that he preached to them about Jesus. This is what they're standing on. And then verse two and by which you are being saved? By which you are being saved. I preached this gospel as an apostle. You receive this gospel from me as an apostle. You took your stand on this gospel, and you were saved by this gospel. And then there's this controversial clause if you hold fast to the word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. Now there's a couple of things that Paul could be saying here. Paul could be saying, you know, I preached the gospel, you receive the gospel, and you took your stand on the gospel, and you're being saved by the gospel. If you hold fast to the word that I preach to you. But if you don't hold fast to the word that I preach to you, then you started out being saved, but now you're not being saved anymore. Well, the context here doesn't allow for that, nor does the rest of Pauline theology allow for that. Paul knows nothing of a salvation that is potential. He knows nothing of a salvation that is partial, nothing of a salvation that comes and goes. But what he is saying is this, You're being saved by this gospel if you hold fast to the word that I preached to you. In other words, you're only saved by the gospel if. It's the God that I preached to you. If it's not the gospel that I preached to you, that gospel won't save you. Remember the context here. The context here is people saying, yes, I believe this and I received this, but I just got a problem with this part. All of the elements of the gospel I'm fine with and I'll take it, But this thing about resurrection, I'll leave that. I'll be committed, I'll do everything I'm supposed to do. I'll be a good Christian, I'll be a faithful Christian. I'll come to church, I'll do whatever I'll serve, I'll do all of these things. But this little one issue here, this resurrection issue here, I've got a philosophical problem with it. And Paul says, there's an issue because there is only salvation if you receive the gospel that I preached, if you take your stand in the gospel people that I preached. But if you're taking your stand in nine out of the ten things that you heard from me, and you're rejecting one of them, then you believed in vain. You believed in vain. You don't get to do that. You don't get to do that. So this is the argument from authority. The way I like to illustrate it is like this, I am a graduate of the University of Miami, John and I know that I'm a Miami grad. How could you not know that I'm a Miami grad Right now? I couldn't find the University of Miami to save my life. Never been on the University of Miami campus. Never, never, not one time in my whole life have I been on the University of Miami campus. Now, I've seen a lot of you giving me the you know the you right, like, Wow, I can't believe that. Now you're sitting there and what are you thinking. You're thinking, Well, if you've never been there, you don't even know where it is. You just lied to us. You can't be Miami grad if you didn't go. I'll give you one better. What if I had been but I didn't finish. What if I went and I took ninety percent of the courses necessary for my degree and didn't take the last ten percent of my courses and then left the University of Miami and stood up here and claimed that I was a Miami grad, I'd be a liar, And the University of Miami would have the authority to call me a liar because they're the ones who get to determine who's a grad and who's not. Are you smelling want to step it in? That's the argument from authority. And if you have a problem with Paul making this argument, then you believe that Christianity has less authority than the University of Miami because you believe it's fine for the you to say I'm sorry you didn't complete what re required, but somehow you believe it's mean and insensitive for Paul to say, no, all the Gospel are not. But that's exactly what he says. There is a truth, it is absolute, and it is necessary for you to hold to that truth. Now, let me tell you what Paul's not saying. Paul's not saying that in order to be a Christian you have to know everything there is to know. If that's the case, you won't even be a Christian in when you're in heaven because we'll spend all eternity, all eternity unfolding the matchless, endless, measureless, infinite. Glory and beauty and knowledge of God. Amen. So that's not what he's saying. If that was the case, why would we need to continue to sit under the word of God. Why would we continue to study to show ourselves approved? Why? Why? Why? That's not what he's saying. He's not saying you can only be a Christian when you have every piece of information that there is to have. What he's saying is when the Gospel is presented to you, you receive the Gospel as it is presented. Now he can say this because he's speaking with apostolic authority. I can't say this unless what I'm preaching is what the apostles have said. Amen, I get to add in and taking away stuff, then I'm guilty of the very thing that he's talking about. He's talking about the individual. Who hears the Gospel as presented by the apostles and says, I have a presuppositional commitment to an ideology that you just contradict. And when the gospel that I hear from the apostles contradicts my presupposition, my presupposition wins, not the gospel. You're outside the camp. You're outside the camp. That's the argument from authority. Now he gets the argument from history or from evidence, begin to give verse three. For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received. Again, this goes back to his apostolic authority. Why is this important? Not why because I'm Paul and because I'm smarter than you know? Why must you receive the Gospel from me? Now I wouldn't say this, I can't say this, but Paul says this, and he has the authority to say this. I don't have apostolic authority. He does, and he's explaining why he can make the argument from authority. Four. I delivered to you as a first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures. That he appeared to Sephuss or Peter, then the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born. He appeared also to me. There's the argument from evidence. The argument from authority says, there is a truth that you must receive. There is a truth that you must believe. It is absolute, and every bit of it is necessary. Now, the argument from evidence says, the reason that I can make the argument from authority is. Because it happened. Christianity doesn't say, as some religions do, that you need to search within yourself to find the truth. God forbid. The heart is desperately wicked above all things who can know it? Amen, That's what my Bible says. Forget that follow your heart stuff, it lead you to a ditch. Don't follow your heart. Luke. In Luke Chapter one, beginning of verse one, he says, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me, also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write and orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Then if you go over to first John chapter one, we get first John chapter one, that first paragraph in first John chapter one, that which was from the beginning, which we. Have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. By the way, who's the we? This is the apostolic we, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands. Concerning the Word of life, the life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified to it, and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaimed to you also, that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed, our fellowship was with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. We've seen, we've heard, we've touched, we've handled. This happened, This happened, Paul. Says, First, look at how he hands out the lays out the evidence I delivered to you as the first importance. But I also received Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. So his first piece of evidence is the scriptures and the fulfillment of the scriptures. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. The Bible said it was going to happen, and it did that. He was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The Bible said it was going to happen, and it did that. He appeared to Cephis or to Peter. After not only does he fulfill the scriptures and being born and dying and resurrecting, but after he is resurrected, he is seen by multiple eyewitnesses. First he seen by Peter, and then he's seen by the twelve. I'll just pause here for a moment, because it's always necessary to pause here. Because if I don't, somebody comes up and ask me this question. Right, They're like, well, actually, you know there there seems to be a contradiction there. And sometimes I'm asked this question by a sincere believer who just has a I mean, they that text and they just immediately go, I was that seems problematic? Sometimes though it's not a sincere believer, it's a it's a sincere skeptic, you know them, right, They read the Bible looking for contradictions or any any whiff of controversy, and they look at this and immediately red flags go off and they go, wait a minute, how does he appear to the twelve if Judas had already committed suicide? Riddle me that, batman. Well, what's interesting is when they come together in the Upper Room in Acts chapter one. Do you remember what happens? They replace Judas, but they rep placing with one and the criteria was he has to have been with us from the beginning, who witnessed all the things that we've witnessed, and they replace him with Matthias. Why do they need to replace Judas? Because they are the twelve and the numbers kind of important all the way through in the Book of Revelation. The number is important. Twelve tribes, twelve apostles. The number twelve is incredibly important. So Matthias comes to complete the number. And by the way, part of the criteria was Christ had to have appeared to. Him as well. So when Paul refers to the twelve here, he's referring to the twelve with Matthias. Not the twelve with Judas. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, to all the apostles that would have probably been over the one hundred and twenty being referenced there. Anyway, here's what's interesting. Paul makes this argument and he says Christ came, he lived, he died, he was resurrected according to the scripture. So you have. The evidence of the scriptures being fulfilled. That's good. But beyond that, you have the evidence of eyewitnesses. And if you do the math, there are over three hundred eyewitnesses to the resurrection still alive. When Paul writes First Corinthians, they're still alive, which means that his claims are falsifiable. Now that may sound bad, but it's a good thing. If you make a claim that's falsifiable, that means that there are people around who can say you lied, and I can prove it. Now, if I make a claim and there's nobody who were your witness of where there weren't any witnesses, that's not a very strong claim. But if I make a claim and you go, who are you witnesses? And we go and I say, well, there's over six hundred witnesses and more than half of those people right now can be questioned. That means you can falsify my claim. You can prove that I'm lying, which strengthens my argument rather than we can again. And then I love the last part of this verse eight. I love verse eight. And the reason I love verse eight is because it comes at the end and not at the beginning. This is a huge problem we have in modern culture. In modern culture, verse eight would not only have come at the beginning, but it would have been the only thing Paul would have said, you need to believe this because it's my truth. Can't say amen, you ought to say out If I hear one more person say I just have to live my truth. I just don't even know. I don't even know what I'm gonna do. I just have to live my truth. No no, Paul says, last of all. And that's not just last of all, but least of all. As to one untimely born, one born out of season. He appeared to me also. In other words, Paul doesn't make the argument, this thing is true, and I know it because of my personal experience. No no, no, Paul makes the argument, this thing is true, and this thing is true, and I know it first because of the scriptures. Secondly, I know it because of the historical evidence and the eyewitnesses. And thirdly, oh, by the way, me too, if you need that. For I'm the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me, whether then it was I or they. So we preached, and so you believe by the way I am they all the way through. This is what apostles first argument the argument from authority, and specifically apostolic authority. The second argument the argument from evidence. And he comes back at the end of it with what apostolic authority. Now he's going to make a third argument, and this is an argument from logic, and I love it. I just do. Beginning in verse twelve, Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead. Remember they have a philosophical disagreement here. You're saying that Jesus raised from the dead. I'm saying that kind of thing can't happen. I'm with you on all the rest of the stuff, but I just that's a non starter for me. Verse thirteen. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. By the way, here's the wonderful thing about all of this. Paul is getting ready to lay out a logical argument. Well why, it's why, this is why this is problematic. But first he wins the argument before he makes it. In verse thirteen, he wins the argument. Look at it again. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. What did he do. In verses one through eleven, he proved that Christ has been raised. Now he's about to give seven things that logically have to be the case if there's no such thing as resurrection. By the way, already demonstrated that Christ has been raised. Now he's saying, you believe there's no such thing as resurrection. You got a huge problem because you got over three hundred eyewitnesses and the Bible which say as Christ was raised from the dead. So you got your philosophical commitment, and your philosophical commitment is staring at a fact, and that fact demands a response from you. And while you think about how you're going to respond, here's seven things that must follow if there's no such thing as a resurrection verse fourteen. And if Christ has not been raised. One, our preaching is vain. Our preaching is vain. If Christ has not been raised, preaching is the dumbest thing in the world, because we preach Christ and him crucified. Now, unfortunately, there are some in this world whose preaching is unaffected by the resurrection because they preach self help and not the Gospel. So when I say preaching, I'm talking about gospel preaching. I'm talking about preaching Christ. If there's no such thing. If Christ has not been raised, then preaching is useless. It's vain, it's futile, it's empty. Literally, it's empty. The preaching is empty if Christ has not been raised, because we preach Christ Christ, and we preach him crucified. Number two, your faith is vain. Your faith is meaningless if Christ has not been raised. Why because the object of your faith is the resurrected Christ. If the object of your faith is gone, it doesn't matter how strong your faith is. What if I'm you know, I'm standing here and I'm just saying this, not because it ever happened to me before several years ago in a church where I was preaching. But let's say that I was standing here and I had stood up from a chair, and I'd give my message having stood up from the chair, and somebody behind me, noticing that I was moving back and forth a lot, decided that in order to protect me, they would move the chair while I was preaching. And I finished preaching, and believe with every fiber of my being that there's a chair right behind me when I go to sit down, Will it matter how much faith I have in the presence of the chair. No, because the object of my faith will no longer exist, and your faith is only as significant as its object. And if Christ has not been raised, then the object of your faith is ruined. So preaching is vain. Faith is vain. Number three, we are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testify about God that he raised Christ to whim he did not raise. If it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, that even Christ has been raised. I'd say that's three and four. Here's what's interesting that there are people who want to say, on the one hand that they don't believe in the resurrection, but on the other hand, they don't want to call me a liar. Isn't it interesting? Don't believe in the resurrection, So you're saying I'm lying beyond that, I'm not just a I'm a blaspheming liar because I'm saying that God did something that God didn't do. No no, no, no, no no no. I'm not calling you a liar. I mean because I'm sure that that's what you believe. Does it matter. Remember, faith is vain if there's no resurrected Christ. If you believe there's no resurrection. You believe that everyone who preaches Christ and him crucified is a liar and a blaspheming liar. But ironically nobody wants to take that step. But logically you have to. It's irrefutable. Again that fourth point. Don't miss that fourth point right in the middle of his argument. Not even Christ has been raised, which by the way, already proved verse seventeen. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is few. You are still in your sins. You are still in your sin. Christ's atoning death, the Bible says, was acceptable to the Father. And the resurrection Again, if the death of Christ is payment for your sin, the resurrection is your receipt. The resurrection is Christ being victorious over death and hell and the grave. The resurrection is Christ being the first born from among the dead, and you're only the first born if others are born after you. The resurrection is. Christ saying God's saying in Christ, Christ, that the payment for your sin has been accepted. All have sin and falls short of the glory of God. All of us, all of us have a debt to pay before God, and the wages of sin is death. Isaiah says all, we, like sheep, had gone astray. Each of us had turned to his own way. But God has laid upon him the iniquity of us. All again, Paul tells us God made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us and order that we might be the righteousness of God. And listen, listen. If there's no resurrection, none of that is true. If there's no resurrection, Jesus is still dead. He has not been victorious over death, and you will not be victorious over death. You're still in your sins, You're unforgiven, and the only thing that you have hoped for, it's the wrath of God to come. Eighteen. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. I was telling somebody that I've had to have three COVID tests in two weeks. Why because this whole traveling thing. Christmas morning, we got a call that my wife's mother died, and so she and I got things together and flew to Dallas. My mother in law made me promise to preach our funeral like several times, and so Bridget and I got on a plane and we went to Dallas to do our mom's funeral. And then We left there on the fourth and we got back to Lusaka on the sixth. Yeah, it takes that long. And then I had to turn around and fly back here, leaving on the twelfth. It's a thirty six hour trip. I tired, y'all, just tired. If Christ has not been raised, then we wasted our time. If Christ has not been raised, my wife will never see her mother again, or her father. I'll never see my father, my grandfather, and on and on and on and on any of those individuals. Because if Christ has not been raised, then those who have fallen asleep land, those who have died in Christ have perished. There is no hope for them or for anyone. Finally, verse nineteen, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are, of all people most to be pitied. We are the most pitiful lot on the planet. Some of you're looking down right now, you're looking at You're looking pretty. You know, you've got your masks on. But I can at least tell and you know, don't look like you've heard the greatest news in the world. That's pretty bad news. But remember what I said. He won the argument in verse thirteen, before he laid out the logical conclusion because in verse thirteen he demonstrates that Christ has been raised and that he's proved that Christ has been raised because he points to this absolute truth that is the foundation upon which our faith rest. That means we can actually flip the script. You see, if Christ hasn't been raised and all these horrible things are true, but he proved earlier that Christ had been raised. He reiterates that in verse thirteen, Christ has been raised. So my preaching is not in vain. It is not it is not. I preach Christ and him. Crucified, preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God unto salvation. Our preaching is not vain. It's powerful. It's the most powerful thing in the world. It's the most useful thing in the world. It's the most beautiful thing in the world. That's why, that's why we can say, beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. Your faith is not vain. Your faith is not empty. You place your faith in Christ. You place your faith in the God who raised Christ from the dead. Your faith is alive. Your faith is. Powerful because you place your faith in Christ. Thirdly, I'm not a liar. I'm not a blaspheming liar. I'm a truth teller, and I'm telling the most beautiful truth that the world has ever heard or will ever hear. In your sins, if you have placed your faith in Christ, Jesus, If you have placed your faith in Christ, then He nailed your sins to the cross. If you placed your faith in Christ, then God has cast your sins into the sea of forgetfulness, as far as the east is from the west, to bring them up. No more. You are clean, you have been washed of your sins. You are sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply, staying within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea hurt my despairing cry the waters, he lifted me. Now safe, am I I'm clean, I'm spillless, washed in his blood. Those who have fallen asleep have not perished. They've not been lost, because a thing can't be lost when you know where it is. They've not perished, They've received their inheritance. They've not perished. They've gone to be with their redeemer. And finally, don't you dare pity me, because there is nothing pitiful about one who's placed his faith in Christ. One day you're going to hear the oose that I'm dead unless the Lord comes first. Amen. Last time I checked, the death rate was one per person. I mean, I didn't look today, but I don't think it's changed. Amen. Nobody gets out of here live for me, to live as Christ and to die is gain. How can we pity those who die in Christ? How? See, the truth matters, The truth of the Gospel matters, And what the world wants us to believe is that we can just sort of go into this pen where we reduce Christianity to just doing good things for people, where we reduce Christ to just this guru and this teacher who gave some principles that can help you have a happy and fulfilling and successful life. But the truth of the Gospel is everything is necessary. An absolute truth, not relative truth, not my truth, not your truth, not Paul's truth. And I love the fact that when Paul lays out this argument, he makes it absolutely clear that this is a truth that he believes. This is a truth that he embraces, but it is not merely his truth. It is absolute truth, and he believes it because it's absolute truth, and therefore it's non negotiable. So whatever else we talk about, whatever else we do, whatever else we pursue, we must do so. In light of the truth of the Gospel. And we must do so from the foundation of and from the assumptions. Of the truth of the Gospel. So when we talk about justice, we can't take the absolute truth of the Gospel and put it aside and then begin to think through what justice is as though the Gospel doesn't matter, because if it doesn't matter, nothing does. We begin there and we end there and every step in between. Because this isn't necessary. Let's pray, Oh, our good and great God, God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. God, we bow before you tonight and humble adoration your majesty and your goodness, and your grace and your truth. We bow before you with gratitude for the person and work of your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the one whom you promised and foretold, the one whom you sent to redeem your people, the one who gladly gave his life for us, the one who died and rose again on the third day, the one who is seated at your right hand forever, making an accession for us, and the one who will come again at the end of the age to judge the living and the dead, and to receive us to himself. We thank you Christ, and we. Ask these things and his name, and for his sake, And by the power of your Spirit, whom you have shed abroad into our hearts, who opens our eyes to these trees and grants us grace to understand them. In the name of the Father and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we pray