I want to preach this evening from 1 Corinthians and chapter 15 and the very, very last verse, 58. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 58. I was going to say, please follow me, but I heard the rustle of notes. Your pages are open. You're there in God's Word. And so God's Word reads, therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know your promise that you will be where two or more are gathered together. We know your promise that you said that you will strengthen and help. We know your promises, oh Lord God, but may this evening we experience them. May we feel your presence. May Your Holy Spirit work powerfully in our hearts and our lives as we hear Your Word proclaimed. May You, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, enable me to proclaim Your Word. Take away anything that is not of You. And may we hear Your voice clearly and loudly through Your Word. And may the Holy Spirit apply it into our hearts and our lives. And may we not just be hearers, but may we be doers also. Meet each and every one of us at our point of need. And may it be to your glory. In Jesus' name we've prayed. Amen. Our verse starts with the word, therefore. That means we're gonna have to work. We have to see what's happened before to bring this word, therefore. We need to appreciate what's gone before to understand what this means to us now. Maybe you've been in a situation and you're not sure what to do and you're thinking of your options and someone's given you the sage words of advice. What is the worst that can happen? That young man whose eyes have been opened to that young girl and he's desperate to ask her on a date. And someone wisely says to him, or unwisely, what's the worst that can happen? Well, I'm sure his imagination runs wild and can think of all sorts of horrendous things that could happen when the friend only meant that the worst is a no. For Paul, in this chapter, and I underline in this chapter. The worst that could happen was if the Corinthian believers turned their back on the resurrection. If the Corinthian believers, rather than believing what had they been taught of the resurrection, the resurrection of Christ, they no longer believed it. That was what was at stake. And that, in that moment, and this chapter was, in Paul's mind, the worst thing that could happen. But for many, it seems that the worst thing that can happen in this life is to die. And that may sound a little bit flippant. When I was involved in young people's activities, and I'm glad that I stopped when I did because this would drive me mad if I had to keep on doing it, we had to do risk assessments. And I used to always smile to myself and wind those up around me by saying, well, it always ends up in death. The risk assessment of the hide-and-seek wide game, well, the worst that could happen is death. And while I wander around Montville and New Jersey, I am staggered, shocked by the altars to death that I'm seeing in the yards of people. skeletons and ghouls coming out of the ground. And death has been made light of, and yet at the same time, no one is wanting to die or think about it. And as you see someone's yard erupting into some horror scene, next door you see a health center and a gym, and someone offering alternative medicine with the hope of allowing you to live a few days longer. And the healthcare sector advises on how we can live longer. And the cosmetic industry is doing all it can to make us look younger and keep us from aging. And the entertainment industry is doing its best to distract people. But the reality is this friends, the reality is this, this evening, the truth is that for some of you, death is the worst thing that can happen. Maybe this evening as you let yourself think about it, as you hear this accented preacher bringing the word death before you, and you're thinking that's very un-English. It's very true. Some of you, as you're sat here, you're probably scared of that thought. You probably don't want to think about it. You're probably saying, how dare he bring this? Because frankly and sadly, life is all that you have and life is slipping away. Paul's fear was not death. Paul's fear and Paul's concern at that moment in time was that the Corinthians would stop believing in the resurrection. In short, we could just say about this chapter 15 to this last verse that if there is no resurrection, there is no hope. Paul, in this chapter, in this letter to the Corinthians, sets out the irrefutable facts around the resurrection. He labors this point. He keeps going back to this point. He keeps screaming loudly to these Corinthians as he writes with them, to them. and He's showing them that the resurrection is real, that Christ's resurrection is real. And then He comes and He brings these words that we know so well in 56, the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. And that's what divides this room. There's some of you, many of you, Although you may not want to physically die, you are ready to die. And it's not the worst. It's the beginning of eternity. It's the beginning of joy beyond joy. And yet, this evening, there are those of you here that had you died yesterday, you would have died in your sins. And the sting of death is sin. Your sin has to be accounted for. Your sin is set before the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the King of all glory. And none of you will be able to look Him in the eye and laugh. And it won't be like a scene from Halloween. It will be an eternal nightmare. of you paying the price of rejecting the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And as Paul says, the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, and his people are condemned by that. In 57 he goes on, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. But, but what? Thanks be to God. What are we thanking God for? We're thanking God that there is a victory. We're thanking God right now that in this room, there are people who know that their sins have been forgiven, that they are right with God. They're not saying that they're better. They're not saying that they are good. They're saying that they've been made right, being justified, being clothed in Christ's righteousness. It's Christ who gives the victory. Jesus kept the law. Jesus never sinned. Jesus did what no man could do. He kept the law completely and not just outwardly. Never a bad thought, never a bad motive, never a bad imagination, nothing. Absolutely, totally and utterly pure. And he did not deserve the sting of death. He did not deserve death. But He took the sting of death, He took sin upon Himself, He took the sins of His people so that everyone who believes on the Lord, whoever calls on His name, should be given the victory. And so, before I carry on, I have to ask the question, do you know Jesus? Now, do you know Jesus as your Savior? Has the sting of death been broken for you, or are you wriggling in your seat, uncomfortable at that thought? Does Jesus' resurrection guarantee you your eternity? Or does Jesus' resurrection mean that when He is your judge, you will be condemned for eternity? You see, I have to urge you this evening. I have to urge every one of you here this evening to think of these things. And if you haven't taken it seriously to this point, now is the moment. And do not leave here. until you know Jesus is your Savior. And why do I say that? Because I can't guarantee you life. Nobody can guarantee you life. And one of the hardest things that I've had to deal with over the past little while, this last five years since I've last been with you, is seeing death of people that we would naturally think shouldn't die. People my age, I was going to say young people my age, but some of you might disagree with that. A young man who just got married, age of 26, was celebrating the graduation of his friends, went to get lunch and passed away in his car. A young girl of the age of 23 got a tumor on T7 in the back of her neck and is now in glory. Friend of mine who was just climbing a mountain with me said, the one thing I love about this type of climbing is you don't know what's going to happen next. And half an hour later, he was in glory. Don't leave here. Don't leave here unless you know where your eternity is going to be. And our eternity is only going to be secured in the risen Christ. And that is what Paul was saying to the Corinthians. He was reminding the Corinthians of what Christ had done. He was reminding the Corinthians of the hope of the resurrection. And the therefore here to the Corinthians was the victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. And for those of you who have been hearing me bring this gospel message of truth. And you've been humming and smiling, and this is because you know Jesus. This, therefore, is for you. Therefore, my beloved brothers, Paul is speaking to his beloved brothers. He's speaking to the brethren. He's speaking to the whole of the church. This isn't just for the spiritual elite. This is for everyone. It's for everyone who knows the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we need to take heed to this. And then you see Paul in this letter to the Corinthians, which I'm assuming you know, and I'm sure you do know, is full of the failings of these Corinthians. This church is a mess. There's serious problems in this church. But Paul is turning to this church in this chapter 15, in this last verse, and he's saying, beloved brothers and sisters, they're a mess. And then you may feel like you are a mess right now. And you could well be. And there could be a catalog of open or hidden sins behind you. And there were with these Corinthians. But that doesn't stop Paul calling them his beloved brothers and sisters. And it doesn't mean that this verse doesn't mean you should not be thinking about it. It does. You should. We all should. This is for everyone this evening. This charge is for every believer this evening. And so now we're coming more into the meat of this verse. And as I'm a Baptist, I've got three points. And as I'm not Al Martin, I've got three very, very short points. And my first point is be, be, be steadfast, immovable. This word steadfast in the Greek had a meaning of firmly or solidly in place. I was going to talk about rugby, which should be of no value at all. So it's a defensive football line. It's to be like an army, how you want your army to be. Back in the Second World War when England was going to be invaded, they set up the defensive line on the coast and you can see these immovable pillboxes, concrete obelisks that are still there now. They were not to be moved. That defensive line was not to give in. And this is what we are seeing here. This is to be unbreakable, unmovable, unending. The word steadfast is used over 200 times in the Old Testament, and the majority of these times it's connected with God's steadfast love. You know something of God's steadfast love, an unchanging, unmovable, unending love. And that's this steadfastness, and this is a steadfastness that we are being exhorted to hear. Paul is effectively saying, in the light of the resurrection, in the light of eternity, in the light of salvation, be steadfast, be unmovable. We've just heard it in the verses before, you are on the victory side. You are on the victory side, you have no need to move. You can be resolute. You are to hold fast to the Word. That's what verse two says. At the very beginning, there's a great correlation between that first verse and this last verse. And in verse two, they were told to hold fast to the Word, to hold fast to the gospel. And from verses 12 to 17, we're seeing that they're to be steadfast and immovable in believing in the resurrection of Christ and our own. And in verse 32, we can see a sense of being steadfast and immovable in regard to persecution and the struggles of life. Paul is, I believe, he using his imagination and said, what do I gain if? Humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus. I had the great privilege of being at Ephesus a few weeks ago, and you see the great amphitheater, and you can imagine in Paul's mind him seeing himself wrestling with beasts. And you're thinking, well, Paul, it's easy to have hypothetical illustrations. Flip over a few pages, please, if you will, to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11 moves from Paul's imagination of what this could be like fighting with beasts, if humanly speaking, what does he gain if he fights them? And then he catalogs in verse 23 what has actually happened. And most of us possibly can relate to the first one with far greater labors. How many of you here have had far more imprisonments with countless beatings? and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, 40 lashes less one, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, and night and day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from all these other things, there's a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches." And then in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians in verse 17, he has the audacity to call it this, get this? for this light momentary affliction." I'm struggling with this, yeah? I mean, what was Paul? A light momentary affliction, more imprisonments, countless beatings, near death, five times this, three times this, a little bit there, a massive thing there, and he says it is a light affliction. And why is it a light affliction? You see, Paul is practicing what he's preaching. He has been steadfast and he's been immovable in all the pressures of life through these light momentary afflictions. What is happening? The verse goes on, it is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison. What is the resurrection securing? the victory. And what is this victory? An eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Paul's belief in the gospel, in the resurrection affected the way that he lived. It affected the way he went about things. It affected the way he explained things and saw things for this light momentary affliction. That wasn't light. And yes, in the light of eternity, it was momentary, but a sleepless night? Does a sleepless night feel like a momentary affliction? I'm apparently a little bit jet-lagged at the moment, and sort of waking up at half three. From half three to about half five, it feels like an eternity. There's nothing momentary about that. And for us, these things feel like they are huge. And Paul is saying, they are not huge when you look at them from the right perspective. And the right perspective is an eternal perspective, and this eternal perspective is assured and underwritten by Christ's resurrection. And we too will rise from the dead because Christ has risen. And being steadfast and immovable is possible because the gospel means our eternity is secured. And friends, death is not the worst thing that's gonna happen to a believer. It's not. You see, this world and all it has to offer is not the best thing that can happen to a believer. And tragically, that's where we end up so often, isn't it? In the words of my late grandfather, he used to often say when we were leaving, keep looking up, the best is yet to be. And that's what Paul is saying to these Corinthians. But he was anchoring on the victory, and he was anchoring on the fact that Christ had risen from the dead. And the secret of being steadfast and immovable It is not to get caught up in the moment, but to remember the resurrection of Christ has secured our eternity. To be looking beyond this moment and focusing on the best that is yet to be. And I get it, life is tough, and it's painful. And maybe for some of you now, you are in the grip of that painful, difficult season, and you wonder, how can you carry on? And maybe like me at times, you question your ability to be steadfast and immovable. We have to remember that therefore, therefore takes us back to the victory that's been secured by Christ. The sting of death is no more because Christ has paid the price. We have an eternity to look forward to. And in our challenges, when we are being shaken, we have to look beyond the trial and we have to see the Christ, our Christ, the Savior who holds us and secures our eternity. But still we might be asking, how can I be steadfast and immovable? How can I be as I've been called to be? And so the second point is do. The second point is do. What should we do? Always abounding in the work of the Lord. There's no ambiguity here. Always. Always. We're not called to a part-time Christian life. We're not called to a life to do steadfastness when it suits us. Steadfastness is not just for the pastor's conference. It's not just for the ladies' retreat. Steadfastness is for all times. Our African students call the part-time faith a Sunday Sunday Christian. And you get dressed up in your Sunday Sunday, and it's all good on Sunday. Then Monday through to whenever it's just not there. Friends, you to be like those neon lights outside your gas stations that say 24 seven. That's what we're called to, a 24-7 always. There's no respite here. It's not, I'm going to pick and choose when I abound in the work of the Lord. No, it's always, always. And I think this is part of it, friends. We mess up and we are miserable because we're not doing the always. We're being seduced into other stuff that we're thinking is going to bring us happiness. In the busyness of life, we think it's going to work for our good and it's not. If we are always abounding, then there's no room for any other mess. Always abounding. Abounding is apparently a present continuous, which just means it keeps on going on and on and on. We used to have a battery, I think I've seen them for sale here, they've got a copper top, Duracell batteries. And when I was a little one, they used to advertise these with a little bunny that used to keep on going, keep on going, keep on going, keep on going. That is abounding in energy, keeping going. Toddlers abound in energy, don't they? We just are looking for that switch on the back. Why can't they go off? Politicians abound in promises. that fail. Fruit trees are abounding in produce. Abounding gives this sense of going beyond what is needed. And Paul is telling these Corinthians in regard to the work of the Lord, you are to be always abounding. There's nothing part-time. There's nothing half-measured. We have to roll up our sleeves and get involved with this. This is our calling. And this work of the Lord's, friends, is the calling for everybody. Beloved brethren, not just pastors, not just paid church workers, not just for the spiritual elite, this is for all of us, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and that begs the question, doesn't it? What is the work of the Lord? I'm sure you are well aware that the best way to understand the Bible is for the Bible to explain itself. And the disciples asked this exact same question of Jesus. So where better for us to go than to John 16 to see the answer that Jesus gave to his disciples when he answered this question? John chapter 6 is, and the passage we'll be looking at, the verses here quickly in 27 and 29 happen after the feeding of the 5,000, after Jesus walking on water, after Jesus saying that He is the bread of life. And then in verse 27, He says, do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal. Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? There's a question. And Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. That the first step of doing the work of the Lord is believing in Him whom He has sent. The first step is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the work of the Lord. Almost sounds too simple, doesn't it? It's just a childlike thing. What's the work? To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The implications are huge. The implications are eternal. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in the context of this is to realize that you've sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It's to realize that you've offended the living God. It's to realize that there is nothing that you can do personally to make yourself right, but to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ has made a way for you to be right with Him. The victory was won on the cross. The sins that deserve eternal punishment were lain upon Christ, and the wrath of God and the punishment that He deserved were meted out on Christ. And we, friends, are saved by the atoning work of Christ. And we're saved by grace alone. But friends, we must keep on pressing on. And we mustn't forget this, yes? Sometimes I think we think that we can be tempted to, and I'm sure you're not here at Trinity because you're far better taught than that. But there are many people that think that salvation is a moment in time, it's a point. And on that point, I trusted in Jesus. And at that point, it all happened. And here we see that the work of the Lord is a continual present tense thing going on. And every day you need to get up. And every day you need to be believing in Him who has been sent. Every day when you look in the mirror and you put your clothes on or whatever you do first thing in the morning, you need to be believing in Him. That's the works of the Lord. And when we don't do that, what happens? Our day gets messy, and it goes wrong. And it's simple. You see that there's this great work that every believer must do is trust in Jesus. trust in His Word, continually come to Jesus to meet our spiritual needs and have that neon light shining 24-7. We're always to be abounding in this. And then the second step is we must carry out the work that He's given us to do. What's He given us to do? Matthew 12, 28, you know where I'm going now, 19, The Great Commission, as some people call it. I think it's our daily instruction. Our daily instruction is we should believe in Him who He sent. And our daily instruction is to go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. We're all going to, we all have to do this. This is for all of us, to spread God's kingdom. But the reality is we're all different, and we have different gifts, and we have different abilities, and we have different friends, and we have different contacts, and we're all very, very different. And Paul underlines this early in chapter 12 of this epistle, this letter, he tells them that they're a body, and their body's got different parts, and you have all got different parts, and you are all here together as a body, but what you should be doing is proclaiming Christ, is sharing Christ, sharing Christ with your actions, sharing Christ with your love, sharing Christ with how you care for your neighbors, sharing Christ in the things that you say and the things that you don't say, sharing Christ in the jokes that you won't involve yourself in, sharing Christ in the way that you react and the way that you act, sharing Christ in opening up and telling people of Christ. We're not all called to preach, but we're certainly all called to do the work of the Lord, and that is to believe in Jesus and to share Jesus. But brothers, I particularly want to just share this with my pastor friends here. As you are in the ministry, I want to urge you to remember that it is the Lord's work that you're involved in, not your ministry. It's not your church. It's not your ministry. It's not your job, in a sense. It is the Lord's work. And we've tragically seen time and time again, we've seen this in Cyprus, how messy things get when we think it's about us. And it's not. It's the Lord's church, and it's not ours. But friends, all of us, this is called the work of the Lord, not the hobby for the Lord. not doing God a favor, not earning ourselves some merit. It is the work of the Lord, and work is not easy." And God's Word uses the athlete, the farmer, and the soldier to illustrate what this work is like. And none of those are the basket weaver or the artist. And if you're a basket weaver and an artist and you feel that you do work hard, then I'm sure you do. It's this notion and this idea of an athlete. Self-sacrifice, self-denial, dedication. And then a farmer too. I remember vividly, I was up in a great big office in London, the city, and I was being offered a job by an American firm. And the guy offered me this job within five minutes of the interview, and I felt cheated. And this big American CEO saw my quizzical, bemused face at why he'd offered me the job. And he said, I guess you want to know why? And I said, yes. And he said, you used to be a hog farmer. Okay, you read my CV, well done. Please explain. And he said to me, I can't teach someone how to work, but I can teach them the work. The farmer knows how to work. The farmer works. The farmer gets up because there's a need and he makes it happen. And the soldier works, and the soldier works because he's commanded to work and he knows his duty. And this is what it is, and this is what illustrates work, and we are to do this. It's work. It's hard. And so, practically, what does being steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord look like? It means getting up each day with a mindset and saying to yourself, I am going to live for God this day. I want to fight against sin and temptation. There needs to be a resolve. It's work. And by God's grace, I'm going to keep close to Him. And I'm going to keep close to Him by reading His Word, and meditating on His Word, and memorizing His Word, and hiding His Word in my heart. I'm going to pray for help to follow His Word, no matter how hard it is. And when God's word tells me to do something I don't want to do, with his help I'm going to do it because I'm going to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Every day I'm gonna pray for myself, I'm gonna pray for my family, I'm gonna pray for my neighbors, I'm gonna pray for my friends, and I'm gonna pray for Cyprus, and if not Cyprus, some other gospel endeavor that the Lord has laid on your heart. You're gonna pray. And each day is trying to witness to others and saying to yourself, I'm not going to give up when my efforts seem like they're being wasted. when Mrs. Jones doesn't listen to me anymore, when the office empties and people leave when I come in because they don't want to hear anymore. Instead of giving up, it's doubling down and it's trying to make more time to pray and to ask the Lord to show you new ways of how you can show the love of Christ to others. Being steadfast and immovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord means refusing to be discouraged. There is discouragement out there, absolutely masses of it. And then the devil magnifies it and makes it bigger. And we, friends, have to refuse to be discouraged. Even when your prayers don't seem to be answered, and I'm sure you know what that's all about. And our prayers always aren't answered the way we want them, or the way we expect, or the way we tell God that they should be. they always will be answered in eternity, and they will make sense one day. And daily we should confess our sins and our failures to God and ask Him for new strength to keep on going. And when the storms come in as they do, it's committing to trust on Him and trust God. And the devil in his craftiness is wanting us to fail and fall. And he's always ready to tempt us to take things easy and the advertising industry and the entertainment industry and just life itself is built up to try and make us take things easy. And then when we do, he accuses us of our failures and makes us feel miserable. And I'm sure as you and I look back over our life, we see how we've failed to be steadfast and immovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord. And if we are honest, we probably feel ashamed of how little and how badly we've done the Lord's work. But friends, we're still called as beloved brethren to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And so you can ask yourself, how's it going? And we could ask the Corinthians, how is it going for you? And frankly, they'd have to say, not very well. They've just had 15 chapters of a right royal slip ring because they've been bad. And at this point, in all their faults and in all their failings, God is still saying to them, therefore, my beloved brethren. And so friends, if you are feeling that it hasn't been going like it should have been, it's not the end. Think of it as the beginning. Think of this as a recommissioning, a reawakening, like the word of the Lord coming to Jonah a second time. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. And Paul doesn't leave it there. God doesn't leave it there because thirdly, we have the word no. No, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. As I brought the greetings, I said about the prisoners, And we haven't got a formal prison work. That's not how it works. There's several prisons that I go and visit, and we take literature and material to them and try and encourage them. And then we answer their questions and their queries and support them. And there's this one lad. And he was coming up to, I've got to get my words right here, because they always call it the payroll board, and it's the parole board, coming up for parole, hoping to get let out earlier. And three months ago he came up to the parole board And he was unsuccessful. And I'd been away at the time and I hadn't managed to get to see him immediately afterwards as I want to. And when I did get to see him, he was on very good form. And I was surprised. Because normally in that situation, it's a letdown. They were hoping to get home. And he said to me, he said, Pastor James, I have learned so much over these last three months. What have you learned? And he said, I've learned not to trust my feelings, but the facts. What a lesson to learn. What a place to learn it. Let him learn that lesson for you and don't go there yourselves. You see, his feelings were of disappointment and discouragement. His hope of leaving prison had been dashed. And all the other prisoners and inmates in that same situation were angry and depressed and getting themselves in trouble and fighting. And he simply said, the fact was that God had still got to work for him to do that. And his feelings were saying, I want to go home. And his feelings were saying, this is a disappointment. And his feelings were saying, this is not fair. And the facts were saying, God has a purpose for you. And he hung his life and he went on his way in the fact that God had got something there for him to do. It was not God's time for him to leave. So rather than getting upset and moody and angry and causing problems, he looked at the fact and he was doing the Lord's work. Friend, your situation right now may feel grim and bleak. I'm not denying that fact. And you may be in a season of pain and suffering. And it happens, I know it happens. I'm a pastor, I know my congregation, and I'm sure that you here are going through all different things and maybe have been through different things. And then life may be awful for you, and you may feel like you're getting nowhere. But this is the fact. This is the fact. In the Lord, your labor is not in vain. It is not in vain. Your neighbors may laugh at you. Your colleagues may give you the cold shoulder. The family members may disown you. Your prodigal child may be hurting you and breaking your heart. The cancer may be inoperable. The home and the retirement plan may be lost. The anxiety that you suffer may keep coming back. But my friend, this is the fact. In the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Your labor is not in vain. And brother, the church that you are serving on may feel like it is falling apart at the seams. And that person is just driving you mad. And you may feel that your sanity is hanging on like a thread, and you may never want to get up on Monday mornings ever, ever again. But this is the fact. In the Lord, your labor is not in vain. And why do you know that? Because Christ's body is not in the tomb. Our Savior sat at the right hand of God. He's there, and He's waiting for us, and it will be our turn in due course, and your labor is not in vain. But we have to remember this. We have to get this. And for want of a better expression, I'm gonna use the word a game changer, but it's far deeper and far better than that. The exhortation is in the Lord. Friends, if you're relying on yourself, it isn't vain. If you're relying on your friends or your pastor or something to get you out of this mess, it's not gonna work. It's in the Lord that your labor is not in vain. And very practically, we can say, if you can't do it in the Lord, don't do it. Because you'd be doing it for no reason at all. This vein is just emptiness. This vein is just nothingness. This vein is just hopelessness. You see, friends, the Lord's work is an eternal work. And it may seem like it's vain now. Your witnessing to your neighbor may feel like it is in vain. Your reaching out to some lost loved one may seem like it's vain. Your children as they've grown through their toddlers, to their preschool, to their schooling, to their high school, into the university, to their work, and you may feel it's all vain because they're in a far country. The Lord's work in the Lord is not in vain. It's not in vain. And you see, we don't know what is going on. We haven't got a clue, but we serve a heavenly Father who knows it all. And the Lord's work is an eternal work. And as we look at our moment in time, a tiny fraction of the whole big picture, it often looks like nothing is happening. But God knows what's happening. And God has an eternal plan. And friend, it will not be for nothing, because Christ didn't rise out of that tomb for nothing. He rose for a victory, and He is victorious, and He's waiting for us. Paul was here encouraging the Corinthians, and he says, because God raised Christ and the believers will rise, their work in the Lord is never in vain. And friend, it's not about how you feel about the work. It's not even about what you see. It's the fact. that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. And I think, and forgive me if this is wrong, but this is how I think. Eternity is going to be like an eternity of light bulb moments. Does that make sense? The light bulb comes on, the penny drops or whatever the phrase is you use. And we will realize again and again and again, when we see that tapestry from the right side of what our Lord was doing. And how these things that seem to be producing nothing, were not producing nothing. Because in the Lord, the labor wasn't in vain. And the Lord was at work. And it will be to God's glory and eternal glory. So therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we live in a world and as your Son knows, we feel pain because he has suffered and he knows it all. And we thank you, O Lord God, that in this painful world that we live in, we have this encouragement. And we ask that we, O Lord God, would be helped to be steadfast and immovable. that we may be encouraged by your word to abound in the work of the Lord. And may you help us through the eyes of faith to know that our labor, our challenges, our difficulties, our hardships in the Lord are not in vain. And one day, everything will be worth it. And one day we'll be able to bask in an eternity of your glory and in the wonder of seeing what an awesome God you are. But help us now in the in-between. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.