Well, good evening. The man said I was from Texas, which means you have to do better than that. So we'll try again. Good evening. Oh, that sounds wonderful. The only way you can make that better is if you say howdy. No, we won't do that. That's all right. That's all right. We actually don't say that. So if you go to Texas and say that to somebody and they look at you crazy, I'm sorry. It's my joy to be here with you on this evening. It has been good to be here over the course of this weekend. And they asked earlier, I was up here in the front facing this way, so I didn't get to see. How many of you were here for the weekend, for the weekend retreat? Excellent. Wonderful. And I want to, this evening, kind of wrap up what you guys have been doing in First Corinthians. and also sort of put a bow on what we did this weekend in talking about the resurrection and the importance of the resurrection. The resurrection is the capstone in the arch of Christianity. Christianity rises and falls with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul is addressing a group of individuals who are arguing on the one hand that They are somehow connected to this community of faith. But on the other hand, that somehow they do not believe in not just the resurrection of Christ, but they don't believe in resurrection at all. They are philosophically opposed to the concept. They do not believe, they are convinced, they are persuaded otherwise that resurrection does not happen, that resurrection cannot happen, that resurrection will not happen. And therefore they deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, as I said, while denying this concept of resurrection and denying the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they don't necessarily want to deny Christianity. that may sound odd to you. It should sound odd to you. Why would a person claim to be a follower of Christianity and deny one of the essential, not just one of the essential, but the essential of the historic Christian faith? And this is not just a first century event. We have individuals in our day and in our time who claim, on the one hand, to be followers of Christ, and on the other hand, deny essential historic Christian doctrines, and specifically the resurrection. For example, John Shelby Spong, in his book, A New Christianity for a New World, says these words. He says, I do not believe that Jesus was born by the miracle of a virgin birth, nor do I believe that virgin births occur anywhere except in mythology. I do not believe that angels sang to hillside shepherds to announce his birth, or that he fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod. I do not believe that the events Christians celebrated at Easter was the resurrection of the three days dead body of Jesus. Now you may think, why does it matter what that guy says? Well, here's why it matters. He spent 30 years as a pastor, was a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School. claims on the one hand allegiance to Christ and on the other denies the historic Christian faith. Now beside the question of how can this be there's another question and that question is how do we respond to that? What is the proper response to that? Is the proper response to just sort of say, well, that's great. I mean, that's what works for you. I guess that's your interpretation. I guess that's your position. Is that the proper response? We'll go back to what we talked about this weekend. You know, the whole, what would Jesus do scenario? What would Jesus do when an individual, you know, made that kind of a denial? Well, we don't have to wonder what Jesus would do. In Mark chapter eight, we know how Jesus responds to these things. In Mark chapter 8, in the whole who do men say that I am discourse, some say that you're Elijah, some say John the Baptist, some say one of the prophets. But whom do you say that I am? Peter chimes in. You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. It's real good, Peter. Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. In other words, good answer. You have no idea what you just said. And then he proceeds to say, I'm going to be crucified. Not just killed, crucified. executed, not just executed, but executed by the scribes and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Peter comes and rebukes him. Why? Because that doesn't fit with Peter's interpretation of who the Messiah is supposed to be. So he rebukes him. And Jesus looks at Peter and says, Get thee behind me, you men with a different interpretation of who I am. That's not what he says. He says, Get behind me, Satan. He does not merely accept an alternative interpretation. He says there's one interpretation that is correct and that is accurate and there's another one that's from the pit of hell and never the two shall meet. That's how Jesus responds to it. How does Paul deal with a very similar issue of individuals who on the one hand claim allegiance to the community of faith and on the other hand deny the bedrock, essential, doctrinal truth surrounding all of Christianity. I'm so glad you asked. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he responds in three ways. He has three different responses here in several verses of Scripture. Response number one is a response from authority. Response number two is a response from evidence. And response number three is a response from logic. Got those? Response number one, all together now, response from authority. See this side over here, they did well. We'll try it again, okay? Response number one is a response from authority. Excellent. Response number two is an argument from evidence. See somebody just, too early. Argument number three, An argument from logic. Oh, that is so wonderful. Let's look at these three responses. First, the argument from authority. Chapter 15, verse 1, Now I would remind you, brethren, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if... It's a very important word. If you hold fast the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of 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. It's the argument from authority. In order to understand the argument from authority, you need to understand the conversation that happened when we were sitting out in front, we were waiting for our ride today. Okay, it didn't really happen, but, you know, in my mind. And so, imagine this with me if you will. We're sitting down there, we're waiting for our ride to Colorado Sanctuary, and there's a couple guys and they start talking. Then you just kind of, hey, how you doing? You know, where you from? All this kind of stuff, small talk stuff. And one guy goes, yeah, you know, great. You know, so and so and so. I came here to go to school. Really? Yeah. Did you go to Stanford? Went to Stanford? Oh, great. You went to Stanford? I'm a Stanford grad. Really? Yeah. That's awesome. What'd you get your degree in? The guy goes, I don't really have, like, degree. Really? What did you study while you were there? You know, study, that's kind of a real, that's a broad term there. Really? Who was your favorite professor when you were there? Well, I didn't really have any professors. Well, you told me you were a Stanford grad, but you didn't get a degree, you didn't have a major, and you didn't take a class. Yeah. How does that work? Well, I just, I mean, I really like the place. Now we chuckle at that. Why? Because all of us understand that Stanford University or wherever you went to school, has the right to grant degrees to individuals who meet its standards. We all agree that you can't just go around saying that you are the graduate of an institution if you didn't meet the requirements that that institution set, nor would we go around looking at the institution saying, mean, mean, mean university, not allowing people to be graduates without paying money and going to class. How dare you? We wouldn't say that, right? Folks, that's what the argument from authority is all about. Paul's making an argument from authority, and here's what he's saying. Okay, you are saying that you are a Christian. Small problem. There are things that you must believe in order to call yourself a Christian, and you are denying those things that you must believe. Therefore, you are lying. You are not a Christian. That's the argument from authority. You're claiming that this is who you are, but you have not met the requirements necessary to be categorized as such. That's the argument from authority. Look at it again. I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. It means it's the foundation upon which you have based your life. If, there's the if, If you hold fast to the Word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." In other words, if you believe the Gospel as it was proclaimed, if the Gospel as it was proclaimed, according to apostolic authority, is what you believe, then you are standing firmly on that Gospel and by that Gospel you are saved. However, if you are not believing the Gospel as it was proclaimed, you are not saved. Because you have believed in vain. Your belief is useless. It's like saying you're the graduate of an institution that you never attended. Now, he's very clear about what is necessary here. Look at what he says. Verse 3, For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received. Now, these matters of first importance, that's actually a common phrase. Common New Testament phrase. Common first century phrase. It means the matters that are rudimentary. The matters that cannot be left out. And here's what he says, I declare to you of first importance. I declare to you as those things that cannot be left out. What I also received that Christ, that's the first one. Stop there. We're wrong on Jesus. We're wrong on Christianity. You can't be wrong on Jesus and be right on Christianity. Can't do that. Doesn't work that way. The first area is that of Christ. Let me see if I can explain this for you. Imagine if you will, you know, I have keys in my pocket, let's say I had some keys in my pocket, and I was just feeling real generous tonight, and I was going to give away a Mercedes, okay? Big, black, four-door, you know, big, big, you know the big, stank, nasty, big one, big for no reason at all, big one, that one right there, okay? And I was just going to give you the keys to this Mercedes, alright? Some of y'all may have a problem with the way I'm saying that. That's because you don't have one. See, if you had one, then every month you'd have to pay a note and you say, Mercy, these payments are killing me. So it's a Mercedes, all right? And so you, it's out there and it's big, it's black, it's a Mercedes, it's got the keys in my pocket and I'm going to give it to somebody. You are that person and you come up and you get the keys to the Mercedes and you're going outside and as you go outside to get in this big Stank nasty huge laid-out Mercedes black four-door BAM You walk past a white two-door convertible that you like better and you take the keys that I gave you and attempt to to use them to drive away in the white two-door. Well, you do that where I'm from, you get shot. Around here, maybe you just go to jail. Or you might catch a beatdown. I don't know. But here's what's not going to happen. You're not going to take the key that I gave you to the big black car and use that key to drive away in a little white car. Same deal, folks. Jesus is who the Bible says he is. So here's what we don't get to do. We don't get to say, you know what, the Jesus of the Bible, that's, that's, he's okay. But I want to reshape him. I like him more like this over here. That's the Jesus that I like. Wrong on Jesus, wrong on Christianity. that would be like you leaving here. Somebody says, where were you? Oh, I was at Sanctuary. It was great. Oh, it was wonderful. How'd it go? It was great. We had this guy, this, oh man, Texas, big guy, he's voting. And they go, wait, Votibakam. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Votibakam. Oh, oh, oh, the Votibakam. It could happen. And you go, yeah. was that your deal? That's awesome!" They go, yeah. Like, Votie Bockham, it's for real. Little white guy from Mississippi. Now see, at this point, you've got two choices. Choice number one, you could say, well, that's your interpretation. Choice number two, you could say, actually, you must be talking about somebody else. Why is that easy to understand about me? But not about Christ. Why is it easy to understand that once you redefine me to something that I'm not, you're no longer talking about me, but someone else. But when it comes to Jesus, it's okay to have a cafeteria-style approach to the Son of the Living God. Paul says it's a matter of first importance that Christ And that Christ died for sin. No understanding of the death of Christ. The substitutionary atoning death of Christ. I love those words. There's another one. Penal substitutionary atonement. It just flows, does it not? And I know it's theological language. And I'm okay with that. You know why? Because we don't have people going around to football coaches going, you know what coach, why do you have to talk about centers and guards and tackles? Why don't you change the language and just say, the big fat guy on the right next to the not so fat guy. We don't have people walking around talking to their, you know, their swim coach saying this whole, the whole breaststroke thing. Why do you have to call it that? Why don't you call it, like, something else? We don't say that, you know? If you were a figure skater, you know? A triple salchow, come on, can we find something else, Coach? No! You learn the terminology. Why? Because the terminology is very important. Those words. Penal, substitutionary, atonement. Penal means it was to pay a price. Substitutionary means it was to pay somebody else's price. Atonement means it satisfied the wrath of God on the behalf of those for whom it atoned. Those are good words. Christ died for sin. That's the Gospel. And He was resurrected on the third day. These are the rudimentary principles of the Gospel. Paul says, if we want to consider ourselves part of the community that follows Christ, then we must understand it in the context of the gospel that has been proclaimed by Christ and His apostles. That's the argument from authority. If you're claiming on the one hand that this is who you are and this is what you are, then you have to be held accountable for whatever it is that the requirements are from that group of individuals. Secondly, there's an argument from evidence. Look at what he says here, beginning verse 5, that he appeared to Cephas, 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 or died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me. This is incredible. Jesus dies. He's crucified. He's resurrected. And then we have eyewitness accounts of his resurrection. The eyewitness accounts of his resurrection include Peter who saw him. Then it says the 12. Now if you're sharp, I know you sharp individuals, you caught that. And I get this all the time from people who are like, wait a minute, I'm out. There's a problem there. There's a contradiction there. Is there not? It says that Jesus appeared to the 12 after his resurrection. One old boy had hanged himself. He's gone. Jesus only appeared to 11. Contradiction right there in the Bible. Really? Let's imagine that there's a basketball game. And let's say that our Houston Rockets start coming up here and they're going to play the Golden State Warriors. And just beat them down. And so they come, you know. But let's imagine, uh-oh, something happens. There's 12 men on that roster, the Houston Rockets, 12-man roster. One of them is rather large. His name's Yao Ming. He's like 7'6", 7'7". Let's say Yao got hurt. And so they come up here and they leave Yao back in Houston. Here's what the announcer's not going to say at the Golden State game. And now introducing the Houston Rockets minus Yao Ming. He's not going to say that. Why? Because the unit is still the Houston Rockets regardless of whether or not Yao's with them. When you talk about the unit, you refer to the name of the unit. Why did they refer to them as the 12? If you remember what happens in the upper room later on, the first thing they do even before the day of Pentecost is that they replace Judas. Why? Because the number 12 is significant. There had to be 12 of them. Had to be. We read about the 12 in the book of Revelation. 12 tribes, 12 elders, 12 apostles, very important number. He's talking about the unit here, not a number of individuals. And then Jesus appears to more than 500 brethren all at once. You know, there are theories to try to explain away the resurrection. One of the theories to try to explain away the resurrection is called the hallucination theory. There's actually a PhD given based on the hallucination theory that Jesus wasn't really resurrected. You've got to explain this thing away. Because I don't know if you know this or not, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most well-attested fact in all of ancient history. There is no historical fact in all of antiquity that is as well documented and well attested as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Period. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. When 1 Corinthians is written, if you do the math, 500 brethren saw him at once. Most of them are still alive now, although some have fallen asleep. If you do the math with the 12 and with all the apostles and the 500 brethren, when 1 Corinthians was written, there were still at least 300 eyewitnesses to the resurrection alive when 1 Corinthians was written. Nothing in all of antiquity has that kind of testimony. Nothing. And so here's what they do, the hallucination theory. They hallucinate it. So the women, they come to the tomb after Jesus has been crucified, and he's not there. But it was just a hallucination. The first two of the disciples get there, they join the women in their hallucination. the men on the road to Emmaus, completely separate instance, have the same hallucination. They go to the upper room and now all of the disciples together hallucinate. Ah, wait a minute, Thomas was missing. Thomas comes in later, they restart the hallucination for his benefit. Then 500 brethren at one time all have the exact same hallucination. I got two questions. Number one, I thought crack was more recent than that. And secondly, if they hallucinated, there would have still been a body in the tomb. Somebody would have been able to go and say, excuse me, guards, would you move the stone for a moment, please, so that we can demonstrate to these people who are high that Jesus is still dead. That didn't happen. Didn't happen at all. This is his argument from evidence. The argument from authority. Those individuals who are claiming on the one hand that they are followers of Christ, but on the other, denying some essential aspect of the gospel. The argument from evidence. He makes the argument for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from eyewitness evidence, as well as fulfilled prophecy from the Old Testament. Finally, the argument from logic. Look at the argument from logic, beginning down in verse 12. And basically what Paul says is that if there's no such thing as resurrection, there are seven things that must follow as inexorably as night follows day. Seven things that have to be true if there's no such thing as resurrection. By the way, he just demonstrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so watch what he does in verse 12. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection from the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. Folks, he just won the entire argument on point number one. He's got seven points. He won the argument on point number one. How? Because he just proved that Christ was raised from the dead through his argument from authority and his argument from evidence. We have over 600 eyewitnesses who saw the resurrected Christ. We have numerous eyewitnesses at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as He is executed by Roman soldiers. And so He's already won the argument here based on point number one. But that's okay. He's not finished yet. He's just warming up. But point number one, if there's no such thing as resurrection, not even Christ has been raised. But I just demonstrated to you that Christ was raised. But that must follow inexorably if there's no such thing as resurrection. Secondly, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain. Preaching is empty. It's useless. Powerless. It's nothing. Not only that, but thirdly, your faith is vain. If there's no such thing as resurrection, what are you believing in? If there's no such thing as resurrection, why do you need to have faith? If there's no such thing as resurrection, then the object of your faith is non-existent. And if you have faith in an object that is non-existent, you just have wishful thinking. Next, we were even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. That's the fourth thing that must follow inexorably. If Christ has not been raised, if there's no such thing as resurrection, Christ hasn't been raised, preaching is vain, faith is vain, and everyone who preaches the resurrection is a liar and a blasphemer. Because we lie on God and say He did something that He never did. I love this point in his argument, because most people who would argue, well, I don't necessarily believe in a resurrection per se, would never look at those who do, or preachers of the gospel and say, you're a bald-faced liar and you're a blasphemer because you're lying on God because you say he did something that he didn't do. No, they just say, well, you know, that must be true for you, or it's, you know, essential to your faith, or it's, no. Paul says, uh-uh, you don't get to be politically correct on this one. If there's no such thing as resurrection, you can't pull the old what's true for you is not necessarily true for me bit. If there's no such thing as resurrection, you gotta look me in my eye and say you are a liar and a blasphemer because you're saying that God did something that he never did. It must follow as inexorably as night follows day. You have to say that everyone who preaches resurrection is a bald-faced liar. Fifthly, look at the next part of this. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. No resurrection, no penal, substitutionary, atoning death of Christ. The price hasn't been paid. If there's no resurrection, we're still in our sins. If there's no resurrection, we're not clean, not right before God. If there's no resurrection, I still owe a price that I can never pay. Sixth, Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If there's no resurrection, there's no hope for anyone who has gone before us. They're dead like dogs. We'll never see them again. There is no hope if there is no resurrection. And finally, seven, if in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. If there's no such thing as resurrection, Those who believe in resurrection are the most pathetic lot on the face of the planet. Because we are living a hopeless existence. And our lives are being conformed to a standard that is absolutely unnecessary. But I told you that Paul won the argument on point number one. He's already demonstrated that Christ has been raised. Which means we can flip the script. And because we can flip the script, we can take those seven things and turn them upside down. There is such thing as resurrection. Therefore, Christ has been raised. He is no longer dead. He is alive. He is risen and seated at the right hand of the Father, forever making intercession for us. We need not mourn Him because He has risen with all power in His hands as King of kings and Lord of lords. Secondly, preaching is not vain. It is the power of God unto salvation. It is foolishness to those who perish, but to those who are being saved, it is the gospel, the power that brings forth life. It is not empty and vain talking. Thirdly, faith is not vain, but we have faith in the one who raised Christ from the dead and placed our hope in that same one. Fourthly, we are not liars, but truth tellers. Because we are proclaiming that God did exactly what He did in raising Jesus Christ from the dead. Number five, we are not in our sins. I've been washed, I've been cleansed, I have been made whole. My price has been paid. There was one who was my substitute, and as a result, I am atoned and made right with Almighty God. And we'll be able to see Him face to face. Six, those who have perished in Christ are not dead like dogs. They too will rise like Christ rose, the firstborn from the dead. And seven, I am not pathetic. Don't you dare pity me, because there's going to come a day when you hear that Votibachim is dead, that he's gone. Don't you believe that for a moment. Because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. You can believe all you want that this is as good as it gets, but I know better. Because there are things I yearn for. There are parts of me that ache. There are things that hurt. There's stuff that I want that will never even satisfy. But there is a day that is coming when I'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye and be present with Almighty God. And when I am transformed and face to face with my King, I will experience the fulfillment for which I was created and understand why satisfaction never came before that moment. Don't you dare pity me. You pity an individual who on the one hand says that he's a follower of Christ, but on the other hand doesn't even comprehend, understand, or believe that Christ has won victory over death, hell, and the grave, and therefore holds out promise for all of those who follow Him. That's what's pathetic. That's what's pitiful. Not those who believe in the resurrected Christ. Whether it's the argument from authority, or the argument from evidence, or the argument from logic. Any way you want to slice it, here's where you come out. Christ died for sin. He was resurrected on the third day. Has ascended to the right hand of the Father. Will one day return to judge the living and the dead. Those of us who remained will be changed, transformed, Those of us who have died will be raised like he was to experience a brand new life. Folks, this is the essence of Christianity. Not just a philosophy of life, not just rules to live by, but a hope A hope of something beyond anything that we can see or perceive or even comprehend. A hope that the grave is not the end. A hope that we were made for something more than this. A hope that there is a reason that the human condition is perpetual dissatisfaction. And that hope is And we were made for something more. And that something more waits for us at the resurrection. The same resurrection that was experienced by Christ, that was witnessed by over 600 eyewitnesses, that was recorded by the apostles, provided, preserved, and protected for those of us who follow in their footsteps. A hope. A real hope. A lasting hope. The only hope. And a hope that will someday be realized. And my prayer for you is that you would know this hope. That you would grasp this hope. That you would glory in this hope. And that one day, your hope would be realized. Let's pray. Father, I thank you that you have not left us to be hopeless or to wander aimlessly in the dark. but have instead provided, protected and preserved for us your self-revelation in the Bible. So that we can know who you are. So that we can know what you're like. So that we can know what life is all about. So that we can know why we are perpetually dissatisfied So that we can know that we were made for something more. So that we can know that death is not the end. So that we can know that there is hope beyond the grave. And we can know that because Christ has risen. He is alive and well. and actively involved in the world that was made by Him and for Him, and in the lives of those who have placed their faith in His finished work on the cross, so that they too, someday, may rise.