Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - The Necessity of Absolute Truth

Transcript

Voddie Baucham - The Necessity of Absolute Truth · Voddie Baucham Sermons

0:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, amen, it is a privilege to be here
0:13
Speaker 1: with you this evening, It really is. It's a privilege
0:16
Speaker 1: to be here with you on this weekend. And these
0:20
Speaker 1: are indeed strange days, are they not. It is amazing.
0:28
Speaker 1: We've lived in Zambia for the last five years and
0:32
Speaker 1: it has been amazing to watch things from Afar. We
0:41
Speaker 1: left here. Every couple of years or two or three years,
0:45
Speaker 1: we come back as a family. My wife Bridges, and
0:48
Speaker 1: I have nine children and seven of them are still
0:51
Speaker 1: at home with us, and so the nine of us
0:57
Speaker 1: try to come back every two or three years. And
0:59
Speaker 1: we were back a year ago. I had a preaching tour.
1:06
Speaker 1: I usually have a preaching tour in January, so we
1:09
Speaker 1: came back in December, hang out with family, then had
1:12
Speaker 1: the preaching tour and we left at the at the
1:15
Speaker 1: end of January beginning of February. And I usually come
1:20
Speaker 1: back three or four times a year to do a
1:23
Speaker 1: preaching tour like the one I'm on right now. Two
1:26
Speaker 1: weeks two and a half weeks, and everything this past
1:30
Speaker 1: year has been canceled, and so this is my first
1:33
Speaker 1: time back in a year, and so it's been very
1:38
Speaker 1: interesting to watch things develop both on this whole COVID
1:48
Speaker 1: nineteen front and seeing the way, you know, the whole
1:52
Speaker 1: world has been affected, and how we've been shut down,
1:56
Speaker 1: and how we you know, put our masks on and everything,
2:00
Speaker 1: and how people are losing their lives and all of
2:04
Speaker 1: the implications of that, and then simultaneously to see the
2:09
Speaker 1: way everything's been rocked by many of these issues that
2:16
Speaker 1: we'll be talking about over the course of of this weekend.
2:20
Speaker 1: These these these issues of justice and questions of justice
2:25
Speaker 1: and how we define justice and and what we do
2:29
Speaker 1: based on those those definitions. So it's it's been fascinating
2:34
Speaker 1: for me and sometimes frustrating for me, uh to to
2:40
Speaker 1: to watch that from Afar, But I'm excited about the
2:44
Speaker 1: opportunity to come back and for us to deal with
2:47
Speaker 1: these issues over.
2:48
Speaker 2: The course of this weekend. Tonight.
2:52
Speaker 1: My assignment is to deal with a question of the
2:56
Speaker 1: necessity of absolute truth. Why is it necess theory for
3:00
Speaker 1: us to think in those terms? Why is it necessary
3:03
Speaker 1: for us to hold to absolute truth? Why is absolute
3:07
Speaker 1: truth necessary to Christianity? And I want you to understand
3:13
Speaker 1: it from this perspective. Over the last few generations, Christianity
3:20
Speaker 1: has been sort of herded into a pin if you will,
3:25
Speaker 1: I can fucking borrow a ranching metaphor. There we've been.
3:29
Speaker 1: We've been herded into a pin. Right now, I am
3:35
Speaker 1: I'm a Texan, but I'm the worst kind of Texan.
3:38
Speaker 1: I'm a Texan by choice. I'm a Californian by birth,
3:44
Speaker 1: but a Texan by the grace of God. Right, wasn't
3:47
Speaker 1: born in Texas. I just got there as quick as
3:49
Speaker 1: I could, all right. And so you know, you you've
3:54
Speaker 1: got to you've got to understand ranching metaphors if you're
3:56
Speaker 1: going to be a Texan.
3:57
Speaker 2: Right, And so we have.
3:59
Speaker 1: We've been, we've been, We've been herded into this pen,
4:03
Speaker 1: and that this pin that we've been hearded into as
4:07
Speaker 1: a pen that says Christianity at its core, when you
4:13
Speaker 1: boil it all down to who we really are, to
4:17
Speaker 1: what really makes us unique, to what really gives us
4:24
Speaker 1: value is activism.
4:29
Speaker 2: Think about this.
4:31
Speaker 1: If you watch a movie or a television show and
4:35
Speaker 1: there is a positive portrayal of Christians and Christianity, what
4:41
Speaker 1: is it based on. Well, it's probably something about soup kitchens,
4:48
Speaker 1: something about dealing with orphans, something about hosting AA meetings.
4:54
Speaker 1: You know, something about it it's it's political activism on
4:59
Speaker 1: behalf of the poor. And the message that has been
5:03
Speaker 1: communicated and the message that in many ways evangelicalism has embraced,
5:11
Speaker 1: is this message that our worth and our value and
5:16
Speaker 1: the culture and the society at large is tied up
5:20
Speaker 1: in social activism. That's what's good about the church and
5:27
Speaker 1: what's good about Christianity. Now, what has happened is we've
5:32
Speaker 1: been herded into this pin. And the way that we've
5:34
Speaker 1: been herded into this pen is that the culture at
5:36
Speaker 1: large has basically said to us, if you will stay
5:40
Speaker 1: in that pin, if you will stay in that lane,
5:45
Speaker 1: then we will praise you, we will laud you, we
5:48
Speaker 1: will accept you, we will love you. But the minute
5:53
Speaker 1: you start talking about theology, you're out of bounds. The
6:01
Speaker 1: minute you start challenging in the areas of morality, you
6:07
Speaker 1: are out of bounce. Even when it comes to Jesus,
6:11
Speaker 1: the culture at large has said, listen, you can talk
6:14
Speaker 1: about Jesus. We're great. We're fine with you talking about Jesus.
6:18
Speaker 1: As long as you talk about Jesus the same way
6:21
Speaker 1: you would talk about Gandhi or Mother Teresa or any
6:25
Speaker 1: other person Buddha. As long as Jesus is just a
6:30
Speaker 1: guy who said some provocative things. As long as Jesus
6:37
Speaker 1: is just another guru, right, as long as Jesus is
6:42
Speaker 1: just someone who lived a moral life by the way
6:47
Speaker 1: defined by this same pen that we've been heard it into,
6:53
Speaker 1: then you can talk about Jesus. But the minute Jesus
6:58
Speaker 1: becomes any thing more, we got a problem. And what's worse,
7:09
Speaker 1: the minute you have a problem with Jesus being put
7:14
Speaker 1: on the same level with all other religious figures. And
7:18
Speaker 1: the minute you start to claim that Jesus has some
7:24
Speaker 1: unique place or some unique.
7:29
Speaker 2: Claim, well now you're out of bounds.
7:39
Speaker 1: Now enter the modern social justice movement, and I'll be
7:47
Speaker 1: referring to it over the course of this weekend as
7:48
Speaker 1: the critical social justice movement, and I'll explain on tomorrow
7:52
Speaker 1: why I use that terminology. But I use the term
7:56
Speaker 1: critical social justice. It's not my term, but I think
8:01
Speaker 1: it's a very helpful term because it helps to remind
8:07
Speaker 1: us that the modern social justice movement is rooted and
8:11
Speaker 1: grounded in critical theory and critical race theory, so on
8:14
Speaker 1: and so forth, and it is part of a long
8:18
Speaker 1: standing ideological movement. So enter the critical social justice movement
8:28
Speaker 1: and the language of justice and the language of advocacy,
8:35
Speaker 1: the language of equality. That fits very well in this
8:45
Speaker 1: pen into which we've been heard, does it not. It
8:51
Speaker 1: fits very well until we start to listen, and until
9:00
Speaker 1: we start to learn, and until we start to figure out.
9:05
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, these ideas actually come from somewhere. These
9:13
Speaker 1: ideas are actually rooted in world views that are antithetical
9:21
Speaker 1: to and diametrically opposed to the Gospel and the worldview
9:28
Speaker 1: of Christianity. Now we need to have a discussion about
9:35
Speaker 1: whether or not the worldview and which these things are
9:38
Speaker 1: rooted are acceptable. Ah, stay in your pen. Stay in
9:49
Speaker 1: your pen, and will accept you, will even applaud you.
10:03
Speaker 1: Let your Jesus be wrapped and cloaked in our terminology,
10:09
Speaker 1: and you're great. But if you get out, and if
10:19
Speaker 1: you let him out, then we have a problem. Well,
10:28
Speaker 1: I stopped by to tell you you ain't hurting me
10:32
Speaker 1: in no pin, You're not hearting my Jesus into a pin.
10:41
Speaker 1: Because there is more to who we are than what
10:45
Speaker 1: we do. I'm not arguing that doing good is unimportant.
10:52
Speaker 1: It's absolutely important, but it is woefully insufficient because we
10:59
Speaker 1: don't do good for goodness sake. We do good for
11:06
Speaker 1: Christ's sake, We do good in Christ's name, and we
11:13
Speaker 1: do good because of who Christ is and who Christ
11:18
Speaker 1: is in us.
11:22
Speaker 2: And so.
11:25
Speaker 1: You have to have the whole package. And the truth
11:28
Speaker 1: about who Christ is matters. The absolute truth about who
11:30
Speaker 1: Christ is matters. But if you have your Bible's with you,
11:33
Speaker 1: open them to the book of First Corinthians, First Corinthians,
11:36
Speaker 1: chapter fifteen, First Corinthians, chapter fifteen. Let's look there at
11:45
Speaker 1: this penultimate First Corinthians, chapter fifteen, and I believe Paul
11:59
Speaker 1: here just really lays out for us in a very logical,
12:04
Speaker 1: systematic fashion, why it is that truth matters, and why
12:14
Speaker 1: it is that truth is necessary, and why it is
12:18
Speaker 1: that this truth ought to be held to clung to
12:23
Speaker 1: and defended. There's several arguments that he makes here for
12:32
Speaker 1: the truth of the Gospel. And again there are those
12:36
Speaker 1: who would argue that, you know, you can have Jesus
12:40
Speaker 1: without the theological necessities of the Gospel. He can just
12:46
Speaker 1: be good man and good teacher and so on and
12:49
Speaker 1: so forth, and that has to be rejected outright, and
12:54
Speaker 1: Paul does so.
12:55
Speaker 2: Here.
12:56
Speaker 1: He makes an argument from authority, and then he makes
13:01
Speaker 1: an argument from history or evidence, and then he makes
13:07
Speaker 1: an argument from logic. Makes these three arguments, and let's
13:12
Speaker 1: look at them in turn. First the argument from authority.
13:15
Speaker 1: And by the way, these arguments are all to be
13:18
Speaker 1: to be taken together, but each of them is powerful
13:21
Speaker 1: in its own right. The first one is the argument
13:24
Speaker 1: from authority verse Grianthian Is fifteen Versus one and two. Now,
13:30
Speaker 1: in order to put this in context, we'll see here
13:35
Speaker 1: in this chapter in what we're going to look at
13:37
Speaker 1: that there are individuals attached to adjacent to the church
13:42
Speaker 1: in Corinth who claim on the one hand to be
13:45
Speaker 1: followers of Christ, but claim on the other hand not to.
13:49
Speaker 2: Believe in resurrection.
13:53
Speaker 1: They don't believe that resurrections are possible, They don't believe
13:58
Speaker 1: that resurrection makes sense. They know that they believe that
14:03
Speaker 1: Jesus is a good man, good teacher, good prophet, all
14:06
Speaker 1: of that, but but they draw the line at this,
14:10
Speaker 1: at this supernatural side of things. You know, a famous
14:16
Speaker 1: example of this is is Thomas Jefferson. You know that
14:19
Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson Bible. Thomas Jefferson had a problem with some
14:22
Speaker 1: of the supernatural aspects of the Gospel, and that there
14:27
Speaker 1: are others who have you know, wanted to have Jesus
14:32
Speaker 1: and and recognize that you can't get around Jesus, right,
14:36
Speaker 1: I mean he split time in half literally between BC
14:43
Speaker 1: and A D. So you can't get you can't get
14:47
Speaker 1: around Jesus. So these individuals recognize you can't get around Jesus,
14:54
Speaker 1: you can't get around the.
14:56
Speaker 2: Impact that he's had.
14:58
Speaker 1: But but philosophically, that would say, I just have a
15:03
Speaker 1: I just I reject the idea that when people die
15:09
Speaker 1: there's something after that that they can be raised from
15:14
Speaker 1: the dead. So Paul's essentially taking on this argument. Paul's
15:23
Speaker 1: essentially saying, you can't do that.
15:28
Speaker 2: That the truth.
15:30
Speaker 1: That these principles, that the essence of our message and
15:34
Speaker 1: of our gospel, the facts of it are essential. It's
15:40
Speaker 1: no good for you to have a Jesus without the
15:44
Speaker 1: absolute truth of the Gospel. It's insufficient. And here's three
15:51
Speaker 1: reasons why. First, the argument from authority. Verse one. Now,
15:57
Speaker 1: I would remind you, brothers of the gospel I preach
16:02
Speaker 1: to you, which you received, in which you stand, and
16:05
Speaker 1: by which you are being saved. If you hold fast
16:09
Speaker 1: to the word I've preached to you, unless you believed
16:13
Speaker 1: in vain. Now let's unpack this a little bit. Paul's
16:18
Speaker 1: arguing here, and by the way, he starts off the
16:21
Speaker 1: Book of First Corinthians by identifying himself as an apostle.
16:26
Speaker 1: So Paul has apostolic authority. He's writing this letter as
16:31
Speaker 1: one with apostolic authority. And he says here, I would
16:35
Speaker 1: remind you of the gospel, but not just of the gospel.
16:39
Speaker 1: He's being very specific here, of the gospel I preached
16:43
Speaker 1: to you as an apostle, with the authority of an apostle.
16:52
Speaker 1: So Paul here is saying, it's not just any gospel
16:55
Speaker 1: that matters. It's not just the gospel that you like.
16:59
Speaker 1: It's not just the gospel that you're comfortable with. I
17:01
Speaker 1: am reminding you of the gospel that I preached to you. Secondly,
17:08
Speaker 1: which you received, the gospel I preached to you, the
17:13
Speaker 1: gospel which you received from me when I preached it
17:16
Speaker 1: to you, and the gospel in which you stand. All
17:20
Speaker 1: three of these things are important, beyond important, they're essential.
17:25
Speaker 1: The gospel has to be preached to you, you have
17:27
Speaker 1: to receive the gospel, and you have to stand on
17:30
Speaker 1: the gospel thus preached and received. That is non negotiable,
17:36
Speaker 1: negotiable and then something comes from that. There's a fruit
17:40
Speaker 1: of that. You know, you have a sinder and a
17:42
Speaker 1: receiver and a message for effective communication to take place. Right,
17:46
Speaker 1: And here we have a sinder, this Paul, who's preaching
17:51
Speaker 1: this gospel. We have a receiver, right, these individuals at
17:55
Speaker 1: Corinth who received this gospel that he preached. And what
17:59
Speaker 1: is the message? The message is and we'll see this soon.
18:02
Speaker 1: Here the information that he preached to them about Jesus.
18:06
Speaker 1: This is what they're standing on. And then verse two
18:09
Speaker 1: and by which you are being saved? By which you
18:18
Speaker 1: are being saved. I preached this gospel as an apostle.
18:27
Speaker 1: You receive this gospel from me as an apostle. You
18:34
Speaker 1: took your stand on this gospel, and you were saved
18:42
Speaker 1: by this gospel. And then there's this controversial clause if
18:47
Speaker 1: you hold fast to the word which I preached to
18:50
Speaker 1: you unless you believed in vain. Now there's a couple
18:54
Speaker 1: of things that Paul could be saying here. Paul could
18:56
Speaker 1: be saying, you know, I preached the gospel, you receive
19:00
Speaker 1: the gospel, and you took your stand on the gospel,
19:03
Speaker 1: and you're being saved by the gospel. If you hold
19:06
Speaker 1: fast to the word that I preach to you. But
19:09
Speaker 1: if you don't hold fast to the word that I
19:10
Speaker 1: preach to you, then you started out being saved, but
19:14
Speaker 1: now you're not being saved anymore. Well, the context here
19:20
Speaker 1: doesn't allow for that, nor does the rest of Pauline
19:24
Speaker 1: theology allow for that. Paul knows nothing of a salvation
19:30
Speaker 1: that is potential. He knows nothing of a salvation that
19:34
Speaker 1: is partial, nothing of a salvation that comes and goes.
19:40
Speaker 1: But what he is saying is this, You're being saved
19:47
Speaker 1: by this gospel if you hold fast to the word
19:50
Speaker 1: that I preached to you. In other words, you're only
19:56
Speaker 1: saved by the gospel if.
19:59
Speaker 2: It's the God that I preached to you.
20:03
Speaker 1: If it's not the gospel that I preached to you,
20:06
Speaker 1: that gospel won't save you. Remember the context here. The
20:10
Speaker 1: context here is people saying, yes, I believe this and
20:13
Speaker 1: I received this, but I just got a problem with
20:16
Speaker 1: this part. All of the elements of the gospel I'm
20:19
Speaker 1: fine with and I'll take it, But this thing about resurrection,
20:23
Speaker 1: I'll leave that. I'll be committed, I'll do everything I'm
20:26
Speaker 1: supposed to do. I'll be a good Christian, I'll be
20:29
Speaker 1: a faithful Christian. I'll come to church, I'll do whatever,
20:33
Speaker 1: I'll serve, I'll do all of these things. But this
20:36
Speaker 1: is the one issue here, this resurrection issue. Here, I've
20:39
Speaker 1: got a philosophical problem with it. And Paul says, there's
20:45
Speaker 1: an issue because there is only salvation if you receive
20:54
Speaker 1: the gospel that I preached, if you take your stand
20:59
Speaker 1: in the gospel people that I preached. But if you're
21:03
Speaker 1: taking your stand in nine out of the ten things
21:08
Speaker 1: that you heard from me, and you're rejecting one of them,
21:12
Speaker 1: then you believed in vain. You believed in vain. You
21:25
Speaker 1: don't get to do that. You don't get to do that.
21:34
Speaker 2: So this is the argument from authority.
21:38
Speaker 1: The way I like to illustrate it is like this,
21:43
Speaker 1: I am a graduate of the University of Miami, John
21:49
Speaker 1: and I know that I'm a Miami grad.
21:54
Speaker 2: How could you not know that I'm a Miami grad?
21:59
Speaker 2: Right now?
22:02
Speaker 1: I couldn't find the University of Miami to save my life.
22:07
Speaker 1: Never been on the University of Miami campus. Never, never,
22:12
Speaker 1: not one time in my whole life have I been
22:15
Speaker 1: on the University of Miami campus.
22:17
Speaker 2: Now, I've seen a lot of.
22:18
Speaker 1: You giving me the you know the you right, like, Wow,
22:22
Speaker 1: I can't believe that. Now you're sitting there and what
22:25
Speaker 1: are you thinking. You're thinking, Well, if you've never been there,
22:27
Speaker 1: you don't even know where it is. You just lied
22:33
Speaker 1: to us. You can't be Miami grad if you didn't go.
22:42
Speaker 1: I'll give you one better. What if I had been
22:46
Speaker 1: but I didn't finish. What if I went and I
22:50
Speaker 1: took ninety percent of the courses necessary for my degree
22:55
Speaker 1: and didn't take the last ten percent of my courses
22:58
Speaker 1: and then left the University of Miami and stood up
23:00
Speaker 1: here and claimed that I was a Miami grad, I'd
23:06
Speaker 1: be a liar, And the University of Miami would have
23:10
Speaker 1: the authority to call me a liar because they're the
23:14
Speaker 1: ones who get to determine who's a grad and who's not.
23:20
Speaker 1: Are you smelling want to step it in? That's the
23:26
Speaker 1: argument from authority. And if you have a problem with
23:31
Speaker 1: Paul making this argument, then you believe that Christianity has
23:35
Speaker 1: less authority than the University of Miami because you believe
23:41
Speaker 1: it's fine for the you to say I'm sorry you
23:45
Speaker 1: didn't complete what re required, but somehow you believe it's
23:49
Speaker 1: mean and insensitive for Paul to say, no, all the
23:53
Speaker 1: Gospel are not. But that's exactly what he says. There
24:06
Speaker 1: is a truth, it is absolute, and it is necessary
24:16
Speaker 1: for you to hold to that truth. Now, let me
24:18
Speaker 1: tell you what Paul's not saying. Paul's not saying that
24:22
Speaker 1: in order to be a Christian you have to know
24:24
Speaker 1: everything there is to know. If that's the case, you
24:29
Speaker 1: won't even be a Christian in when you're in heaven
24:32
Speaker 1: because we'll spend all eternity, all eternity unfolding the matchless, endless, measureless,
24:44
Speaker 1: infinite glory and beauty and knowledge of God.
24:50
Speaker 2: Amen. So that's not what he's saying.
24:55
Speaker 1: If that was the case, why would we need to
24:57
Speaker 1: continue to sit under the word of God. Why would
25:00
Speaker 1: we continue to study to show ourselves approved?
25:05
Speaker 2: Why? Why? Why? That's not what he's saying.
25:07
Speaker 1: He's not saying you can only be a Christian when
25:09
Speaker 1: you have every piece of information that there is to have.
25:12
Speaker 1: What he's saying is when the Gospel is presented to you,
25:18
Speaker 1: you receive the Gospel as it is presented. Now he
25:24
Speaker 1: can say this because he's speaking with apostolic authority. I
25:27
Speaker 1: can't say this unless what I'm preaching is what the
25:30
Speaker 1: apostles have said. Amen, I get to add in and
25:34
Speaker 1: taking away stuff, then I'm guilty of the very thing
25:37
Speaker 1: that he's talking about.
25:43
Speaker 2: He's talking about the individual.
25:44
Speaker 1: Who hears the Gospel as presented by the Apostles and says,
25:51
Speaker 1: I have a presuppositional commitment to an ideology that you
25:59
Speaker 1: just contradict. And when the gospel that I hear from
26:07
Speaker 1: the apostles contradicts my presupposition, my presupposition wins, not the gospel.
26:16
Speaker 1: You're outside the camp. You're outside the camp. That's the
26:26
Speaker 1: argument from authority. Now he gets the argument from history
26:31
Speaker 1: or from evidence, begin to give verse three, For I
26:37
Speaker 1: delivered to you as a first importance what I also received. Again,
26:41
Speaker 1: this goes back to his apostolic authority. Why is this important?
26:45
Speaker 1: Not why because I'm Paul and because I'm smarter than
26:48
Speaker 1: you know? Why must you receive the Gospel from me?
26:54
Speaker 1: Now I wouldn't say this, I can't say this, but
26:58
Speaker 1: Paul says this, and he has the authority to say this.
27:03
Speaker 1: I don't have apostolic authority. He does, and he's explaining
27:08
Speaker 1: why he can make the argument from authority. Four, I
27:11
Speaker 1: delivered to you as a first importance. What I also
27:14
Speaker 1: received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with
27:17
Speaker 1: the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised
27:21
Speaker 1: on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures. That
27:23
Speaker 1: he appeared to Sephuss or Peter, then the twelve. Then
27:27
Speaker 1: he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time,
27:30
Speaker 1: most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
27:33
Speaker 1: Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
27:37
Speaker 1: and last of all, as to one untimely born. He
27:41
Speaker 1: appeared also to me. There's the argument from evidence. The
27:58
Speaker 1: argument from authority says, there is a truth that you
28:01
Speaker 1: must receive. There is a truth that you must believe.
28:07
Speaker 1: It is absolute, and every bit of it is necessary. Now,
28:14
Speaker 1: the argument from evidence says, the reason that I can
28:23
Speaker 1: make the argument from authority is because.
28:31
Speaker 2: It happened.
28:35
Speaker 1: Christianity doesn't say, as some religions do, that you need
28:40
Speaker 1: to search within yourself to find the truth.
28:46
Speaker 2: God forbid.
28:48
Speaker 1: The heart is desperately wicked above all things who can
28:52
Speaker 1: know it? Amen, That's what my Bible says. Forget that
28:58
Speaker 1: follow your heart, stuff it lead you to a ditch.
29:01
Speaker 1: Don't follow your heart, Luke. In Luke Chapter one, beginning
29:14
Speaker 1: of verse one, he says, inasmuch as many have undertaken
29:17
Speaker 1: to compile a narrative of the things that have been
29:19
Speaker 1: accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning
29:22
Speaker 1: were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them
29:26
Speaker 1: to us, it seemed good to me, also, having followed
29:29
Speaker 1: all things closely for some time past, to write and
29:33
Speaker 1: orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may
29:36
Speaker 1: have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Then
29:44
Speaker 1: if you go over to first John chapter one, we
29:49
Speaker 1: get first John chapter one, that first paragraph in first
29:51
Speaker 1: John chapter one, that which was from the beginning, which
29:57
Speaker 1: we have heard, which we.
29:58
Speaker 2: Have seen with our eyes. By the way, who's the we?
30:02
Speaker 1: This is the apostolic we, which we have seen with
30:06
Speaker 1: our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with
30:08
Speaker 1: our hands. Concerning the Word of life, the life was
30:11
Speaker 1: made manifest, and we have seen it and testified to it,
30:14
Speaker 1: and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with
30:17
Speaker 1: the Father and was made manifest to us. That which
30:21
Speaker 1: we have seen and heard, we proclaimed to you also,
30:24
Speaker 1: that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed
30:27
Speaker 1: our fellowship was with the Father and with his son,
30:29
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that
30:32
Speaker 1: our joy may be complete. We've seen, we've heard, we've touched,
30:42
Speaker 1: we've handled.
30:45
Speaker 2: This happened, This happened, Paul.
30:51
Speaker 1: Says, First, look at how he hands out the lays
30:55
Speaker 1: out the evidence I delivered to you as the first importance.
30:58
Speaker 1: What I also received. Christ died for our sins according
31:01
Speaker 1: to the scriptures. So his first piece of evidence is
31:03
Speaker 1: the scriptures and the fulfillment of the scriptures. Christ died
31:09
Speaker 1: for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. The Bible
31:11
Speaker 1: said it was going to happen, and it did that.
31:14
Speaker 1: He was buried, that he was raised on the third
31:16
Speaker 1: day according to the scriptures. The Bible said it was
31:18
Speaker 1: going to happen, and it did that. He appeared to
31:20
Speaker 1: Cephis or to Peter. After not only does he fulfill
31:25
Speaker 1: the scriptures and being born and dying and resurrecting, but
31:30
Speaker 1: after he is resurrected, he is seen by multiple eyewitnesses.
31:36
Speaker 1: First he seen by Peter, and then he's seen by
31:41
Speaker 1: the twelve. I'll just pause here for a moment, because
31:45
Speaker 1: it's always necessary to pause here because if I don't,
31:47
Speaker 1: somebody comes up and ask me this question. Right, They're like, well, actually,
31:51
Speaker 1: you know that there seems to be a contradiction there.
31:54
Speaker 1: And sometimes I'm asked this question by a sincere believer
31:58
Speaker 1: who just has a I mean, they that text and
32:00
Speaker 1: they just immediately go, I was that seems problematic? Sometimes
32:05
Speaker 1: though it's not a sincere believer, it's a it's a
32:10
Speaker 1: sincere skeptic, you know them, right, They read the Bible
32:16
Speaker 1: looking for contradictions or any any whiff of controversy, and
32:22
Speaker 1: they look at this and immediately red flags go off
32:25
Speaker 1: and they go, wait a minute, how does he appear
32:28
Speaker 1: to the twelve if Judas had already committed suicide? Riddle
32:36
Speaker 1: me that, batman. Well, what's interesting is when they come
32:47
Speaker 1: together in the upper room in Acts chapter one. Do
32:50
Speaker 1: you remember what happens? They replace Judas, but they replace
33:00
Speaker 1: him with one and the criteria was, he has to
33:02
Speaker 1: have been with us from the beginning, who witnessed all
33:05
Speaker 1: the things that we've witnessed, and they replace him with Matthias.
33:11
Speaker 1: Why do they need to replace Judas? Because they are
33:16
Speaker 1: the twelve and the numbers kind of important all the
33:21
Speaker 1: way through in the Book of Revelation. The number is important.
33:25
Speaker 1: Twelve tribes, twelve apostles. The number twelve is incredibly important.
33:31
Speaker 1: So Matthias comes to complete the number. And by the way,
33:36
Speaker 1: part of the criteria was Christ had to have appeared
33:40
Speaker 1: to him as well. So when Paul refers to the
33:43
Speaker 1: twelve here, he's referring to the twelve with Matthias, not
33:48
Speaker 1: the twelve with Judas. Then he appeared to more than
33:55
Speaker 1: five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are
33:59
Speaker 1: still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared
34:06
Speaker 1: to James, to all the apostles that would have probably
34:08
Speaker 1: been over the one hundred and twenty being referenced there. Anyway,
34:12
Speaker 1: here's what's interesting. Paul makes this argument and he says
34:18
Speaker 1: Christ came, he lived, he died, he was resurrected according
34:24
Speaker 1: to the scripture.
34:25
Speaker 2: So you have.
34:27
Speaker 1: The evidence of the scriptures being fulfilled. That's good. But
34:31
Speaker 1: beyond that, you have the evidence of eyewitnesses. And if
34:34
Speaker 1: you do the math, there are over three hundred eyewitnesses
34:42
Speaker 1: to the resurrection still alive. When Paul writes First Corinthians,
34:52
Speaker 1: they're still alive, which means that his claims are falsifiable.
35:02
Speaker 1: Now that may sound bad, but it's a good thing.
35:06
Speaker 1: If you make a claim that's falsifiable, that means that
35:10
Speaker 1: there are people around who can say you lied, and
35:16
Speaker 1: I can prove it. Now, if I make a claim
35:19
Speaker 1: and there's nobody who were your witness of where there
35:22
Speaker 1: weren't any witnesses, that's not a very strong claim. But
35:28
Speaker 1: if I make a claim and you go, who are
35:30
Speaker 1: you witnesses? And we go and I say, well, there's
35:33
Speaker 1: over six hundred witnesses and more than half of those
35:37
Speaker 1: people right now can be questioned. That means you can
35:46
Speaker 1: falsify my claim. You can prove that I'm lying, which
35:53
Speaker 1: strengthens my argument rather than we can again. And then
35:59
Speaker 1: I love the last part of this verse eight. I
36:02
Speaker 1: love verse eight. And the reason I love verse eight
36:04
Speaker 1: is because it comes at the end and not at
36:06
Speaker 1: the beginning. This is a huge problem we have in
36:12
Speaker 1: modern culture. In modern culture, verse eight would not only
36:17
Speaker 1: have come at the beginning, but it would have been
36:19
Speaker 1: the only thing Paul would have said, you need to
36:23
Speaker 1: believe this because it's my truth. I can't say a
36:28
Speaker 1: man you ought to say out if I hear one
36:33
Speaker 1: more person say, I just have to live my truth.
36:38
Speaker 1: I just don't even know. I don't even know what
36:40
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do. I just have to live my truth. No, no,
36:55
Speaker 1: Paul says, last of all. And that's not just last
36:59
Speaker 1: of all, but least of all. As to one untimely born,
37:06
Speaker 1: one born out of season.
37:07
Speaker 2: He appeared to me also.
37:11
Speaker 1: In other words, Paul doesn't make the argument, this thing
37:15
Speaker 1: is true, and I know it because.
37:16
Speaker 2: Of my personal experience.
37:18
Speaker 1: No no, no, Paul makes the argument, this thing is true,
37:21
Speaker 1: and this thing is true, and I know it first
37:23
Speaker 1: because of the scriptures. Secondly, I know it because of
37:26
Speaker 1: the historical evidence and the eyewitnesses. And thirdly, oh, by
37:29
Speaker 1: the way, me too, if.
37:34
Speaker 2: You need that.
37:44
Speaker 1: For I'm the least of the apostles, unworthy to be
37:46
Speaker 1: called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.
37:50
Speaker 1: But by the grace of God I am what I am,
37:52
Speaker 1: and His grace toward me was not in vain. On
37:55
Speaker 1: the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though
37:58
Speaker 1: it was not I, but the grace of God that
38:00
Speaker 1: is with me, whether then it was I or they.
38:04
Speaker 1: So we preached, and so you believe by the way
38:06
Speaker 1: I am, they all the way through this is what
38:09
Speaker 1: apostles first argument, the argument from authority, and specifically apostolic authority.
38:18
Speaker 1: The second argument, the argument from evidence. And he comes
38:22
Speaker 1: back at the end of it with what apostolic authority.
38:34
Speaker 1: Now he's going to make a third argument, and this
38:36
Speaker 1: is an argument from logic, and I love it.
38:45
Speaker 2: I just do.
38:48
Speaker 1: Beginning in verse twelve, Now, if Christ is proclaimed as
38:56
Speaker 1: raised from the dead, how can some of you say
38:59
Speaker 1: there is no resurrection of the dead. Remember they have
39:03
Speaker 1: a philosophical disagreement here. You're saying that Jesus raised from
39:08
Speaker 1: the dead. I'm saying that kind of thing can't happen.
39:17
Speaker 1: I'm with you on all the rest of the stuff,
39:23
Speaker 1: but I just that's a non starter for me.
39:34
Speaker 2: Verse thirteen.
39:35
Speaker 1: But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then
39:38
Speaker 1: not even Christ has been raised. By the way, here's
39:44
Speaker 1: the wonderful thing about all of this. Paul is getting
39:48
Speaker 1: ready to lay out a logical argument. Well why, it's why,
39:55
Speaker 1: this is why this is problematic. But first he wins
40:00
Speaker 1: the argument before he makes it. In verse thirteen, he
40:09
Speaker 1: wins the argument. Look at it again. But if there
40:13
Speaker 1: is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ
40:16
Speaker 1: has been raised. What did he do In verses one
40:20
Speaker 1: through eleven, he proved that Christ has been raised. Now
40:32
Speaker 1: he's about to give seven things that logically have to
40:39
Speaker 1: be the case if there's no such thing as resurrection.
40:42
Speaker 1: By the way, already demonstrated that Christ has been raised.
40:48
Speaker 1: Now he's saying, you believe there's no such thing as resurrection.
40:52
Speaker 1: You got a huge problem because you got over three
40:55
Speaker 1: hundred eyewitnesses and the Bible.
40:59
Speaker 2: Which say as Christ was raised from the dead.
41:06
Speaker 1: So you got your philosophical commitment, And your philosophical commitment
41:10
Speaker 1: is staring at a fact, and that fact demands a
41:18
Speaker 1: response from you. And while you think about how you're
41:27
Speaker 1: going to respond, here's seven things that must follow if
41:32
Speaker 1: there's no such thing as a resurrection verse fourteen. And
41:39
Speaker 1: if Christ has not been raised. One, our preaching is vain.
41:46
Speaker 1: Our preaching is vain. If Christ has not been raised.
41:51
Speaker 1: Preaching is the dumbest thing in the world, because we
41:56
Speaker 1: preach Christ and him crucified. Now, unfortunately, there are some
42:02
Speaker 1: in this world whose preaching is unaffected by the resurrection
42:07
Speaker 1: because they preach self help and not the Gospel. So
42:13
Speaker 1: when I say preaching, I'm talking about gospel preaching. I'm
42:17
Speaker 1: talking about preaching Christ. If there's no such thing. If
42:21
Speaker 1: Christ has not been raised, then preaching is useless. It's vain,
42:26
Speaker 1: it's futile. It's empty. Literally, it's empty. The preaching is
42:31
Speaker 1: empty if Christ has not been raised, because we preach
42:35
Speaker 1: Christ Christ, and we preach him crucified. Number two, your
42:38
Speaker 1: faith is vain. Your faith is meaningless if Christ has
42:44
Speaker 1: not been raised. Why because the object of your faith
42:48
Speaker 1: is the resurrected Christ. If the object of your faith
42:51
Speaker 1: is gone, it doesn't matter how strong your faith is.
42:57
Speaker 1: What if I'm you know, I'm standing here and I'm
43:00
Speaker 1: just saying this, not because it ever happened to me
43:02
Speaker 1: before several years ago in a church where I was preaching.
43:07
Speaker 1: But let's say that I was standing here and I
43:11
Speaker 1: had stood up from a chair, and I'd give my
43:17
Speaker 1: message having stood up from the chair, and somebody behind me,
43:22
Speaker 1: noticing that I was moving back and forth a lot
43:25
Speaker 1: decided that in order to protect me, they would move
43:27
Speaker 1: the chair while I was preaching. And I finished preaching,
43:35
Speaker 1: and believe with every fiber of my being that there's
43:39
Speaker 1: a chair right behind me when I go to sit down,
43:47
Speaker 1: Will it matter how much faith I have in the
43:51
Speaker 1: presence of the chair. No, because the object of my
43:56
Speaker 1: faith will no longer exist, and your faith is only
44:02
Speaker 1: as significant as its object. And if Christ has not
44:08
Speaker 1: been raised, then the object of your faith is ruined.
44:16
Speaker 1: So preaching is vain. Faith is vain. Number three, we
44:20
Speaker 1: are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testify
44:25
Speaker 1: about God that he raised Christ to whim he did
44:27
Speaker 1: not raise. If it is true that the dead are
44:29
Speaker 1: not raised. For if the dead are not raised, that
44:31
Speaker 1: even Christ has been raised. I'd say that's three and four.
44:39
Speaker 1: Here's what's interesting that there are people who want to say,
44:42
Speaker 1: on the one hand that they don't believe in the resurrection,
44:45
Speaker 1: but on the other hand, they don't want to call
44:48
Speaker 1: me a liar.
44:53
Speaker 2: Isn't that interesting?
44:55
Speaker 1: Don't believe in the resurrection, So you're saying I'm lying
44:58
Speaker 1: beyond that, I'm not just a I'm a blaspheming liar
45:02
Speaker 1: because I'm saying that God did something that God didn't do. No, no, no, no,
45:07
Speaker 1: no no no. I'm not calling you a liar. I
45:09
Speaker 1: mean because I'm sure that that's what you believe. Does
45:12
Speaker 1: it matter? Remember, faith is vain if there's no resurrected Christ.
45:20
Speaker 1: If you believe there's no resurrection, you believe that everyone
45:24
Speaker 1: who preaches Christ and him crucified is a liar and
45:29
Speaker 1: a blaspheming liar. But ironically nobody wants to take that step.
45:34
Speaker 1: But logically you have to. It's irrefutable. Again that fourth point.
45:48
Speaker 1: Don't miss that fourth point right in the middle of
45:50
Speaker 1: his argument. Not even Christ has been raised, which by
45:54
Speaker 1: the way, already proved verse seventeen. And if Christ has
45:58
Speaker 1: not been raised, your faith is few. You are still
46:02
Speaker 1: in your sins. You are still in your sin. Christ's
46:16
Speaker 1: atoning death, the Bible says, was acceptable to the Father,
46:24
Speaker 1: and the resurrection Again, if the death of Christ is
46:29
Speaker 1: payment for your sin, the resurrection is your receipt. The
46:38
Speaker 1: resurrection is Christ being victorious over death and hell and
46:44
Speaker 1: the grave. The resurrection is Christ being the first born
46:48
Speaker 1: from among the dead, and you're only the first born
46:51
Speaker 1: if others are born after you.
46:55
Speaker 2: The resurrection is.
46:56
Speaker 1: Christ saying God's saying in Christ, Christ, that the payment
47:01
Speaker 1: for your sin has been accepted.
47:06
Speaker 2: All have sin and falls short of the glory of God.
47:08
Speaker 1: All of us, all of us have a debt to
47:10
Speaker 1: pay before God, and the wages of sin is death
47:20
Speaker 1: Isaiah says, all we, like sheep, had gone astray. Each
47:23
Speaker 1: of us had turned to his own way. But God
47:25
Speaker 1: has laid upon him the iniquity of us. All again,
47:30
Speaker 1: Paul tells us God made him who knew no sin,
47:34
Speaker 1: to be sin for us and order that we might
47:38
Speaker 1: be the righteousness of God. And listen, listen. If there's
47:43
Speaker 1: no resurrection, none of that is true. If there's no resurrection,
47:47
Speaker 1: Jesus is still dead. He has not been victorious over death,
47:50
Speaker 1: and you will not be victorious over death. You're still
47:55
Speaker 1: in your sins, You're unforgiven, and the only thing that
48:00
Speaker 1: you have hoped for, it's the wrath of God to come.
48:07
Speaker 2: Eighteen.
48:08
Speaker 1: Then those who had fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
48:20
Speaker 1: I was telling somebody that I've had to have three
48:22
Speaker 1: COVID tests in two weeks. Why because this whole traveling thing.
48:34
Speaker 1: Christmas morning, we got a call that my wife's mother died,
48:40
Speaker 1: and so she and I got things together and flew
48:48
Speaker 1: to Dallas. My mother in law made me promise to
48:53
Speaker 1: preach our funeral like several times, and so Bridget and
49:05
Speaker 1: I got on a plane and we went to Dallas
49:08
Speaker 1: to do our mom's funeral and then we left there
49:12
Speaker 1: on the fourth and we got back to Lusaka on
49:15
Speaker 1: the sixth. Yeah, it takes that long. And then I
49:22
Speaker 1: had to turn around and fly back here, leaving on
49:25
Speaker 1: the twelfth. It's a thirty six hour trip. I tired, y'all,
49:37
Speaker 1: just tired. If Christ has not been raised, then we
49:53
Speaker 1: wasted our time. If Christ has not been raised, my
50:05
Speaker 1: wife will never see her mother again, or her father.
50:10
Speaker 1: I'll never see my father, my grandfather, and on and
50:13
Speaker 1: on and on and on any of those individuals. Because
50:17
Speaker 1: if Christ has not been raised, then those who have
50:19
Speaker 1: fallen asleep land, those who have died in Christ have perished.
50:26
Speaker 1: There is no hope for them or for anyone. Finally,
50:34
Speaker 1: verse nineteen, if in Christ we have hope in this
50:38
Speaker 1: life only, we are, of all people most to be pitied.
50:43
Speaker 1: We are the most pitiful lot on the planet. Some
50:51
Speaker 1: of you're looking down right now, you're looking at you're
50:53
Speaker 1: looking pretty. You know, you've got your masks on. But
50:55
Speaker 1: I can at least tell and you know, don't look
51:01
Speaker 1: like you've heard the greatest news in the world. That's
51:04
Speaker 1: pretty bad news. But remember what I said. He won
51:11
Speaker 1: the argument in verse thirteen, before he laid out the
51:17
Speaker 1: logical conclusion because in verse thirteen he demonstrates that Christ
51:24
Speaker 1: has been raised and that he's proved that Christ has
51:27
Speaker 1: been raised, because he points to this absolute truth that
51:31
Speaker 1: is the foundation upon which our faith rest. That means
51:34
Speaker 1: we can actually flip the script. You see, if Christ
51:38
Speaker 1: hasn't been raised in all these horrible things are true.
51:41
Speaker 2: But he proved earlier that Christ had been raised.
51:44
Speaker 1: He reiterates that in verse thirteen, Christ has been raised.
51:48
Speaker 2: So my preaching is not in vain. It is not
51:52
Speaker 2: it is not.
51:53
Speaker 1: I preach Christ and him crucified, preach the gospel of
51:57
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the power of God unto salvation. Our preaching
52:01
Speaker 1: is not vain. It's powerful. It's the most powerful thing
52:04
Speaker 1: in the world. It's the most useful thing in the world.
52:07
Speaker 1: It's the most beautiful thing in the world. That's why,
52:11
Speaker 1: that's why we can say, beautiful are the feet of
52:15
Speaker 1: those who bring the good news. Your faith is not vain.
52:20
Speaker 1: Your faith is not empty. You place your faith in Christ.
52:28
Speaker 1: You place your faith in the God who raised Christ
52:31
Speaker 1: from the dead.
52:34
Speaker 2: Your faith is alive. Your faith is.
52:38
Speaker 1: Powerful because you place your faith in Christ. Thirdly, I'm
52:43
Speaker 1: not a liar I'm not a blaspheming liar. I'm a
52:48
Speaker 1: truth teller, and I'm telling the most beautiful truth that
52:51
Speaker 1: the world has ever heard or will ever hear. In
53:00
Speaker 1: your sins, if you have placed your faith in Christ, Jesus,
53:05
Speaker 1: if you have placed your faith in Christ, then He
53:08
Speaker 1: nailed your sins to the cross. If you placed your
53:12
Speaker 1: faith in Christ, then God has cast your sins into
53:16
Speaker 1: the sea of forgetfulness, as far as the east is
53:20
Speaker 1: from the west, to bring them up no more.
53:23
Speaker 2: You are clean, you have been washed of your sins.
53:31
Speaker 1: You are sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
53:37
Speaker 1: very deeply, staying within, sinking.
53:39
Speaker 2: To rise no more.
53:40
Speaker 1: But the master of the sea hurt my despairing cry
53:47
Speaker 1: the waters, he lifted me. Now safe, am I I'm clean,
53:58
Speaker 1: I'm spillless, washed in his blood. Those who have fallen
54:07
Speaker 1: asleep have not perished. They've not been lost, because a
54:15
Speaker 1: thing can't be lost when you know where it is.
54:22
Speaker 1: They've not perished, They've received their inheritance. They've not perished.
54:28
Speaker 1: They've gone to be with their redeemer. And finally, don't
54:34
Speaker 1: you dare pity me, because there is nothing pitiful about
54:41
Speaker 1: one who's placed his faith in Christ. One day you're
54:44
Speaker 1: going to hear the oose that I'm dead unless the
54:48
Speaker 1: Lord comes first. Amen. Last time I checked, the death
54:51
Speaker 1: rate was one per person. I mean, I didn't look today,
54:56
Speaker 1: but I don't think it's changed. Amen. Nobody gets out
54:59
Speaker 1: of here live for me, to live as Christ and
55:12
Speaker 1: to die is gain. How can we pity those who
55:18
Speaker 1: die in Christ?
55:21
Speaker 2: How?
55:23
Speaker 1: See, the truth matters, the truth of the Gospel matters,
55:29
Speaker 1: And what the world wants us to believe is that
55:32
Speaker 1: we can just sort of go into this pen where
55:34
Speaker 1: we reduce Christianity to just doing good things for people,
55:41
Speaker 1: where we reduce Christ to just this guru and this
55:44
Speaker 1: teacher who gave some principles that can help you have
55:48
Speaker 1: a happy and fulfilling and successful life. But the truth
55:55
Speaker 1: of the Gospel is everything is necessary. An absolute truth,
56:07
Speaker 1: not relative truth, not my truth, not your truth, not
56:11
Speaker 1: Paul's truth. And I love the fact that when Paul
56:15
Speaker 1: lays out this argument, he makes it absolutely clear that
56:21
Speaker 1: this is a truth that he believes. This is a
56:24
Speaker 1: truth that he embraces, but it is not merely his truth.
56:29
Speaker 2: It is absolute truth, and he believes it because it's
56:32
Speaker 2: absolute truth. And therefore it's non negotiable.
56:47
Speaker 1: So whatever else we talk about, whatever else we do,
56:53
Speaker 1: whatever else we pursue, we must do so in light
57:02
Speaker 1: of the truth of the Gospel. And we must do
57:07
Speaker 1: so from the foundation of and from the assumptions of
57:12
Speaker 1: the truth of the Gospel. So when we talk about justice,
57:16
Speaker 1: we can't take the absolute truth of the Gospel and
57:20
Speaker 1: put it aside and then begin to think through what
57:24
Speaker 1: justice is as though the Gospel doesn't matter, because if
57:34
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter, nothing does.
57:41
Speaker 2: We begin there and we end there.
57:49
Speaker 1: And every step in between, because this isn't necessary. Let's right, Oh,
58:07
Speaker 1: our good and great God, God and Father of our Lord,
58:13
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. God, we bow before you tonight and humble
58:21
Speaker 1: adoration your majesty and your goodness, and your grace and
58:29
Speaker 1: your truth. We bow before you with gratitude for the
58:39
Speaker 1: person and work of your son, our Lord and Savior,
58:43
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the one whom you promised and foretold, the
58:53
Speaker 1: one whom you sent to redeem your people, the one
59:03
Speaker 1: who gladly gave his life for us, the one who
59:12
Speaker 1: died and rose again on the third day, the one
59:14
Speaker 1: who was seated at your right hand forever, making an
59:17
Speaker 1: accession for us and the one who will come again
59:21
Speaker 1: at the end of the age to judge the living
59:24
Speaker 1: and the dead, and to receive us to himself.
59:33
Speaker 2: We thank you.
59:36
Speaker 1: Christ, and we ask these things and his name, and
59:47
Speaker 1: for his sake, And by the power of your Spirit,
59:55
Speaker 1: whom you have shed abroad into our hearts, who opens
1:00:03
Speaker 1: our eyes to these trees and grants us grace to
1:00:10
Speaker 1: understand them. In the name of the Father and the Son,
1:00:17
Speaker 1: and of the Holy Spirit, we pray