Gooding, David: 1 - Back to the Gospel

Now, it is a tremendous stimulus, ladies and gentlemen, to see you in such great numbers coming out on a wild night like this to study Holy Scripture together. And I am the more encouraged when I remember that you have been straightly warned and suitably advised that these studies are going to be rigorous. I shall not, even if I could, be here to entertain you. I shall not be preaching sermons. These are to be rigorous studies of the thought of the Apostle Paul, as tis written for us in his first letter to the Corinthians. And such hard work will it be that they who have arranged these meetings have decided that you would not survive unless in the interval they recouped your strengths and refortified your brains and stomachs with suitable liquid and food, you'll say. So underneath all the rigor, there beats a kindly heart, at least on the part of those that have organized these sessions. A few small words, therefore, about these studies. Each one, I hope, will be more or less self-contained and make sense in itself, so that if you cannot get to all of them, yet is it worth coming to some of them. On the other hand, because it is a large book and our times are brief and few, it would be an enormous help to you and even to me, if I could count upon it, that in the interval between the various sessions, you have read recently yourselves and tried to think about the contents of this wonderful epistle. I shall not have the time, obviously, to expound every verse. There are in this epistle sixteen whole chapters, and we have four occasions to be together. Each of those occasions will be, uh, will contain a double session, eight in all, but one of those eight is reserved for your questions. And incidentally, while I am at that point, let me observe that the last session being devoted to questions, we welcome your questions, if it is possible for you to write them down, so that we may consider them, if you could have written them down and bought them at least on the third occasion. So I shall have opportunity to consider your questions, to organize them in the groups in which they fall, and time to give them a studied answer and not just an answer off the cuff. Thus, may we hope there will be more profit in my answers, you'll see. But that leaves us with seven sessions for actual study of First Corinthians, and seven into sixteen goes, uh, two and a bit, does it not? And covering two and a bit chapters in one session would be very difficult indeed. So let me just tell you what my aim is, not to expound every verse in this epistle. No, to be sure, every verse would wa- warrant a sermon in itself. My s- rather smaller aim will be to direct our thinking to two of the major themes that are to be discerned in this epistle. There are others, of course. I shall not be claiming that these are the only major themes, but these certainly are two of them, and as we shall discover, these two themes are related to each other. The first of those themes will occupy us in the first half of this evening. And that theme is this, the constantly repeated slogan, if you like, that rings like the tolling of a bell or the blowing of a trumpet through these sixteen chapters of the epistle. That theme is this, back, back to the gospel, back to the gospel. It might perhaps at first sight seem strange to you that I should put such a caption over this epistle, because it is said by many well-informed theologians, whose shoes I'm not worthy to carry, that this is to be classed as one of the church epistles, because it is full of directions and exhortations and regulations and advice how we are to run our Christian churches. And for that reason, without divulging any too, uh, carefully kept secrets, it is not necessarily a favorite epistle of all Christian people, because they feel that the nitty-gritty of church organization is at best a dull subject and not fit for our enjoyment. I want to make the point, therefore, straight away at the beginning of these talks, that while this epistle could well be classified as a church epistle and deals with the practice and activities of a Christian church, yet running through it all is this basic and constantly repeated exhortation that if we would run our churches right, if our churches are to be healthy and vigorous, their fellowship enjoyable and their testimony effective, we must, as Christian people, constantly come back to the gospel and check all our activities in church, our fellowships, our, our enterprises, our organizations. Check them all as we submit them from time to time once more to the basic gospel of our salvation, and make sure that all we do and think and attempt is consistent with that basic gospel. And so at this time, let me begin by certain observations of the church at Corinth. I shall have necessarily to say some hard things about this church, so that I would be guilty of complete misrepresentation if I did not remind you of the wonderful things Paul says about this ancient church in verses four to nine of chapter one. And to launch our study, let us read them together. One Corinthians chapter one, verses four ah following. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so, as you will see from these words, the church of Corinth was a brilliant, a brilliant church. Not only intellectually brilliant, unlike some of the churches that were composed altogether of humble people, here there were some at least that were intellectually brilliant. Not many, but some. But brilliant, what is more to the point, in their spiritual gifts. Paul could honestly say about them that they came behind in no gift. What a brilliant church, a scintillating church they would have been, with every gift that God has to bestow, whether it is prophecy or teaching or pastoral or whatever it was. Here was a church liberally and richly equipped by the risen Lord for the enjoyment of their spiritual fellowship. A brilliant church, therefore, and a church that, having every gift, had every means to prepare themselves as a church for that occasion, for that experience that is or should be the goal of all that takes place in a Christian church. When Paul says you are gifted, he says, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. That immediately puts all our church activities in their true perspective, does it not? Sometimes it is a little easy to forget. The meetings of the church become routine, the work that we do a little humdrum. Easy to forget what the goal of every church meeting is or should be, and every activity is or should be. To prepare us for that indescribably glorious experience that shall be. When one day God in his divine impatience, unable to wait any longer, will pull the very heavens aside and show to the world his glorious son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. When the blessed and only potentate shall stage in this universe the revelation of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Oh, what a magnificent day it will be for this universe when God takes all the bunting he can from the storehouses of heaven and decorates the whole universe at the revelation of Jesus Christ, our Lord, whom, having not seen, my brother, my sister, you love, don't you? Whom, though you still see him not yet believing, you rejoice with a joy that is already suffused with the glory that shall be. For it dawns on you sometimes more deeply and poignantly than others. Now at a prayer meeting, maybe, now at the Lord's Supper, now at the reading of a verse of scripture, and all of a sudden your heart leaps. You feel you can almost see already the glory that shall be. But oh, the reality. To look upon that face, to see which is the goal of a creature's existence. And we shall see him, not through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Scripture tells us that when we see him, such will be the effect of that vision, that instantaneously we shall be like him. What there is of us. An adult woman is like her parents. A little baby, you can begin to see the family likeness contour. And they're both like their father and their mother. What there is of Of them. them. While we shall all see the blessed Lord and be like him. The goal of an activity of a Christian church is ultimately this, that we might be prepared, that we might grow in grace, up unto him who is the head, so that we shall be formed in due spiritual re- proportions to him who is the head. For that blessed goal, God had equipped this church with every gift, fulfilled with all spiritual riches. And more than that, the blessed Son of God, so we are told, was committed to that church. For he had undertaken to guarantee this. He will confirm you, says Paul, unto the end, that you may be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful words, those. How shall I stand before him? Why, when his devoted apostle John on the Isle of Patmos saw the blessed Lord Jesus as he is now in his glory. John fell, say, so he tells us, at his feet as dead. Even he who in the upper room had nestled his head backwards on the very bosom of Christ fell at the feet of the risen Lord Jesus as one dead. How shall I see? Brighter than ten thousand suns. In all his external glory, in all his moral beauty and purity, how shall I stand and not wish to scurry away from the sight and relieve my eyes from the dazzlingness of his. What tremendous comfort it is to us to be told that that same blessed Lord Jesus shall confirm you to the end, that you may be unreprovable in the day of his revelation. Nor only strengthened and confirmed by the blessed Lord Jesus himself, but all of it backed home by the faithfulness of God. God is faithful, says Paul, who has called you into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is nothing if he is not a realist. And having hit upon this scheme of his own purpose and will and volition, who else would have dared to suggest it to the Almighty? To call us beggars of the dunghill, little mites of beings. What one undergraduate described in a more melancholy mood as exocresences on the face of the earth, and eczema, said he, on the skin of the world. Us tiny little beings. And God called us to the fellowship of his right royal and divine sons to be companions of Messiah, fellows of the Christ, and that for eternity. God is a realist. Perceiving all it would take by way of redemption and subsequent rigorous refinement, God, having put himself to that task, will be faithful to the project in getting us ready and preparing us for the enjoyment of the eternal fellowship of his son. And what is true of the Corinthians is true, mutatis mutendis, eh, of us all. This, let us remind ourselves, is the purpose of the church and the gifts within the church. It follows, ladies and gentlemen, that we cannot afford to be doodling away our time in the church. It follows that we cannot be spending over much time on extraneous and irrelevant activities. All must ultimately somehow be geared to and contribute to the pre- the preparing of each member to stand before Christ and be his fellows for eternity. That said, it will be less than truthful to hide from you the brilliant church though they were. They were, in many respects, quite perverse. Now I must moderate my language about them, because I do remember I shall have to meet them one of these days, you'll see. And if I speak inadvisedly and exaggeratedly about their shortcomings, then when I meet them, what will they say to me? Do they listen just at this moment? Who knows? And if I'm not too careful in my criticisms of these ancient Corinthians, when my life's record comes out at the judgment seat of Christ, of course, they won't think of being unkind, not then, will they? But I don't know whether heaven's grace will allow them to say, you gave a fine sermon that Saturday night, my dear boy, and accused us of all sorts of things. And now do be honest with heavenly grace, were you really any better than we? I must watch what I say. So must you, actually. For this epistle was not written that we might feel superior to them, but that we shall not make the same mistakes as they did. They, after all, were the first generation churches, weren't they? They hadn't the long periods of history that we have had to teach us where mistakes can lead to. Of course we ought to behave better than they did. What experience lies behind us? Before we are finished, we shall have to judge ourselves quite critically, lest we are still guilty of the same mistakes as they were. There would be less excuse for us. So they were, in that sense, a reliable church. If there were two ways of doing things, a bad way, a right way, and a wrong way, they could be relied upon to do it the, the wrong way. They were, in that sense, very reliable, you'll see. And the cursory reading of this epistle will give you the impression that there was scarce anything but what they got wrong, you'll see, how like us they are. Interesting to me is this emphasis that we find throughout this first letter. When we consider what Paul says in order to correct this early church. How does he bring them back to where they ought to be? It is quite evident that he doesn't simply get out the rule book and say, now, my dear Christian brethren, you mustn't do that because it, uh, uh, it contradicts rule one thousand seven hundred and sixty four, subsection D, to say, in the book of canon law. Doesn't do that. He's not behind, of course, in laying down rules and regulations. He is an apostle, and is to be heard on one occasion at least saying, if any man thinks himself to be spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write are the commandments of the Lord. If you would ever be inclined to say about a certain regulation of scripture, that's only the Apostle Paul, then you better say it outside his hearing. Because if he heard you saying it, you would presently have the personal attention of the aforesaid Apostle Paul. What do you mean? That's only Paul. The mark of spirituality is now as it was then, that if any man is spiritual, let him recognize that the things that Paul writes are the commandments of the Lord. But in general, Paul doesn't set about putting these people right by quoting rules and regulations. What he does do constantly is to say in this effect, oh, you lovely Corinthians, my dears, but you can't do that. Oh, why can't we? Well, because it contradicts the basic gospel, you lovely believers, you'll see. And time and time and time again does he bring them back to the gospel and bids them review their behavior, their methods, their organizations, their heart attitudes, their activities in the light of the gospel? That is why throughout this epistle, every now and again, there is some outstanding reference to the great work of Christ that stands central to the gospel, his death at Calvary. Let us therefore trace this principle, and we notice it, uh, in passing, so to speak, as one of the major features of this epistle, one of the major features of Paul's pastoral work. Um, I must resist preaching, though I shall fail from time to time, but I, I want to point it out. Not to develop it in any great detail, but to point it out as one of the major themes, as one of my little contributions to your study of this first epistle. So in chapters one to four, Paul has to rebuke the church for a very serious wrong. At first sight, it doesn't look very seriously wrong. It is that they had developed the habit of dividing themselves up in the church around different church leaders, and then taking labels for their groups after the names of these church leaders. So some said, I am of Paul, and some said, I am of Apollos, and others said, no, I am of Peter. They not only made these little groups around these different Christian leaders, they not only labeled them their groups after the names of these Christian leaders, but presently they began to boast in their leaders and to fight each other as to which was the better leader and which was the superior group. More of that anon. Our interest now is to see how does Paul correct it? Oh, my dear lovely Corinthians, says he. He can't wait to get round to it. You can't go on behaving like that. Well, why can't we? Why, because that contradicts, it flies in the face of the very basic principle of the gospel. I am of Paul, indeed. Was Paul crucified for you? Well, no, he wasn't, of course, but now come, you're talking about the gospel now. Well, yes, indeed we are. Yes, but you have to go after that, and you have to organize your church in various ways, and surely it is right and proper. What's wrong in it to call yourself the Pauline group or the Petrine group or the Apollos group or whatever. What's wrong with that? Ah, but Paul would say, if the very heart of the Christian gospel is the cross of Jesus Christ, our Lord, you must not subsequently organize your church in any way, that seems to go against the basic principle of the gospel. So there it was the question of the cross of Christ, and in our second session this evening, God willing, we shall consider that in more detail. When we come to chapters five, six, and seven, We meet at the outset another area in which the Corinthian church was in grave danger of disaster. It is commonly reported among you, says Paul, that there is such immorality practiced in your ranks as even would shock the Greeks, and pagan Greeks took some shocking when it came to sexual permissiveness. They did indeed. But here's a Christian church that was allowing sexual irregularity, such as would have disgusted even pagan Greeks. You'll have to stop that, says Paul. You really will. Why? Hasn't Christ set us free? Is it not true that we're no longer under the law, but under grace? Are we not free? Well, actually, you'll have to stop it. For what you've got hold of now is not true freedom at all. Listen, says he. When Christ died at Calvary, he died as our Passover lamb. And the very phrase evokes all kinds of memories of how Israel, the nation, once upon a time, were slaves in Egypt, and how God came down to deliver them, and they were delivered from the wrath of God through the shedding of the blood of the Passover lamb and set free from bondage, certainly free. But the divine regulation was this, that at the very same time as they were delivered from the wrath of God and from bondage to Pharaoh by the blood of the Passover lamb, from that very moment, without a second's interval, they were required to keep what in Israel was called the feast of unleavened bread. And Paul, interpreting that in the rabbinic and then in the Christian way, points out that that is, so to speak, a figurative lesson. Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us to deliver us from the wrath of God, from the bondage to Satan and all his works. But just as Israel being delivered had to keep the feast of unleavened bread, so we being delivered must keep our feast of unleavened bread. Now we're not talking literally, are we? We're talking of getting rid of the old leaven of malice and hypocrisy and corruption of every kind, and keeping the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And the two things go together. You can't have the Passover without the unleavened bread. They are not optional, neither of them. They go together. And the kind of sexual freedom that you are allowing in Corinth, says Paul, must stop. Why? Because that is a perversion of the true liberty into which the gospel of Christ introduces us. Allow that kind of perversion in your church, and you might as well stop preaching the gospel. Back to the gospel then. In chapters eight, nine, and ten, a similar argument is to be heard. Here it was a question of eating meats offered, food that had been offered to idols. The Corinthians, who once were pagans, had come to see that in one sense, an idol, a statue of gold or wood or something, is in that sense a nothing. And if some me- meat had been offered by somebody to an idol and then sold in the local butcher's shop. That hadn't done anything bad to the meat, hadn't conveyed any germs in it or spiritual defilement to the meat, so that if you could go along to the butcher shop, be it Sainsbury's or Tesco's, you could eat the old meat and not inquire where it came from, and it wouldn't do you any harm. So the Corinthians, being quite intelligent people, had come to see that in that sense an idol is nothing. But starting from that premise, they were now embarked upon behavior that was perilous in the extreme. They were saying to themselves, because an idol is nothing and the meat is not affected, it's OK if you arrange a dinner party in the heathen temple. You could do, you know. Heathen temples made quite a bit of money. With all the meat they had offered to the idols, they could afford putting on a decent banquet, you see, and you could invite your friends, like my lord and lady now, when they go to the races, they have an entertainment tent, don't they? And the big business houses have an entertainment hu- uh, thing attached to the racecourse while you're watching the GGs, uh, run round the course, you'll see. Well, in those days, if you were going to put on a little entertainment for your business friends, you took them to the, um, local temple, you'll say, lots of meat there, jolly good meat, fresh meat, and uh, uh, the the the temple would put on a dinner party for you, see, with the meat freshly offered to the idols in the idol's own very house. And these Corinthians were of the opinion that it was okay to do it. Free, aren't we? Which showed, Christians though they were, a fundamental misconception of the gospel. They were in danger of idolatrous disloyalty to the one true God. Paul reminds them of this matter by now quoting another aspect of the gospel, and talks to them in chapter ten about the table of the Lord. Delightful expression, isn't it? Mouthwatering expression, the table of the Lord. Ah, what God knows about cuisine. And what a table he can spread when he chooses to spread it. You can sense the delight in the voice and words of the Lord Jesus, can't you? When he depicts the glories of the kingdom of God as a banquet which a king made for his son. Oh, what a God ours is, and what a place heaven will be. But all the saints of every kind come and sit down at the royal messianic banquet of eternity. And the dishes, oh, how sweet. The bread, how rich. The wine, how sweet. When Jesus deigns his saints to meet forgiveness of sins and peace with God and reconciliation and sanctification and the blessed fellowship of the Holy Spirit and of God's own Son and God himself, he the host and we his guests. Oh, what a marvelous thing it is. And do you suppose for one minute you can sit at the table of the Lord and enjoy his food, and the next minute go down to the idol's temple and enjoy the idol's food? You say, what's wrong with that? Well, I don't know, ladies and gentlemen, how you view things. Hm. I suppose when you go on your weekend breaks to London, do they? Sometimes you go, um, to the Hilton. Good cooking there, isn't the Watto? And being tired of that, on another occasion, well, you go to the Dorchester. And wanting a change, you say, well, what's wrong with the Savoy? And getting fed up with both, you go to McDonald's. I know. You'll say, and you'll say it doesn't really matter if I've been going to the Savoy and I go to McDonald's, well, it's not a question of disloyalty to the chef at the Savoy. I mean, I use him when I, when I pleases me, and I'm not bound to him. You'll say, no, I can go to McDonald's. It's not a question of loyalty, it's what I enjoy doing at the particular moment. Do you suppose the table of demons and the table of the Lord are alternatives, like the Dorchester and McDonald's? You cannot enjoy the benefits of the death of Christ spread for us on the table of the Lord without involvement with your host. You cannot enjoy the benefits, be they never so small bits of meat of the table of demons, without involvement in that pagan idolatry. Don't you try it, says Paul to the Corinthians, don't you try it. For if you do, you provoke the very God of heaven to jealousy. You will say, well, this is coming tough on a little bit of eating a bit of meat, isn't it? Then you have not understood. Idolatry strikes at the very heart of the gospel. There is only one God. Look unto me and me who saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there's none else. And the cardinal sin that any human could be guilty of is disloyalty to the Creator. If we are disloyal to Him, that destroys the gospel, doesn't it? And it is, shall be when we come to study it another, on another occasion, a heart-chilling thing to observe how little by little by little these dear Corinthians were slipping into a habit that, had they persisted in it, would have involved them in basic and fundamental disloyalty to the God of their salvation. Back to the gospel, here to the table of the Lord, and what it means, and what are the basic conditions for enjoying it. And then in chapter eleven, Paul has to rebuke these ab- these Corinthians for their behavior at the Lord's Supper. And the reason why he has to rebuke them is this, that they were behaving in such a fashion that it was impossible, in fact, to eat the Lord's Supper. Such was their self-gratification, their selfish gobbling up of their own meats and drinks. They were not only offending the feelings of their less wealthy Christ- fellow Christians, but they lost sight of what the Lord's Supper was about even. What's the Lord's Supper is about? Oh, you say that's easy. The Lord's Supper is there to remind us that Jesus gave his body and poured out his blood so that we will be forgiven. That's all it is. A moment or two would be enough for that, wouldn't it? Would it? It isn't just about that, is it? As our Lord took the cup on the first occasion and gave it to his apostles, he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. New covenant? What was that about? Why, the new covenant is God's gracious covenant, guaranteed by the blood of Christ, that he will write his laws on our hearts, and on our mind will he inscribe them. So that when as a church we meet together and we take the holy cup in remembrance of the Lord Jesus, we remember not merely that he gave his blood that we might be forgiven. We remember and take hold of his gracious guarantee that he will write his laws on our hearts. And that means doing deep and profound business with the Lord, doesn't it? It means on my side, the examining of my heart, the confession of my sin, and the laying hold on Christ and his faithfulness, that cost what it may, he will continue to write ever more deeply his law on my heart. And here were these Corinthians coming to the Lord's Supper, and so full of their jokes and little entertainments and their food and their whatnot, that one was hungry and the other was nearly drunk. And as for thinking about Christ writing his laws on their heart, nothing was further from their mind. They couldn't think of it. And so there was obliterated from their mind, even in that sacred moment, what the very gospel of the New Covenant was all about. Oh, how could it happen, you'll say? But it is possible it happens still, isn't it? I have been in places where the solemnization of the Lord's Supper, the beat music was so loud I couldn't hear myself think, and as to concentrate on the sacred matter of the Lord writing his laws on my heart, that was quite impossible. All Or we we must must get back to the gospel, says Paul. And what the gospel is all about. For it is the gospel that controls the activities of the church. And then I gather, says Paul, as he comes to chapter twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, that when you meet together, it's somewhat of a hubbub, gentlemen. All of you talking all at once, parading your gifts. Now you'll have to stop that. Dear, oh dear Paul, you are so negative, always telling us to stop things. Why must we stop it? Not enjoyable to express oneself and let one's emotions go, it's marvelous. You come, you spoiled sport of an apostle. Why can't we do it? Well, you've forgotten two basics of the gospel, says Paul. Each of us with his gift or her gift, but we're not independent, are we? Independent little agents, each with his own independent stall putting out his goods. We're members of the body of Christ. And the function of each member is not to please himself or herself, but to serve the body. This idea that the church is a body, in which all members, as is appropriate on this occasion or that, shall exercise his or her own gift and not be dependent on just one person to do it all. That's not some narrow-minded ecclesiastical view. That goes right down to the basic gospel, doesn't it? For in one spirit, hear the lovely words of the gospel. Consider the miracle that God has done. This wonderful new thing in the universe. In one spirit, you have been baptized into one body and made to drink of one spirit. And God in Christ has done a new thing. Michael the Archangel hasn't got over the surprise of it yet. This that never was before. The great fruit of Christ's sacrifice, brought into existence on the day of Pentecost by God's Holy Spirit, a new entity that is the body of Christ. And you, my brother, are in it, and I am in it. It is because of that that we have any gifts to use. And so that we might use them well. We must use them in order and for the benefit of the body. And we must watch our motives. For to use my gift simply for I enjoy it, and it makes me feel good, would be in danger eventually falling foul of the very basic principle of the gospel, which is the very love of God. If I should seek gift, if I should use my gift from any other motive but love for the others, then I am falling foul of the very basic principle of Christian behavior. And finally, in chapter fifteen, Oh come, says Paul, you can't go on, really you can't, you delightful Corinthians, but you can't go on saying the things that you're saying, you really can't. What's wrong now? Why, this time it's their theology. Their theologically. You know, we do need theology, don't we? Let me say nothing disrespectful of true theology. We need to love the Lord our God with all our minds, as well as our hearts, and not to think through our faith. Not to be prepared to work as hard as we can work with the minds that God has given us, and love God with all our minds. Not to think in our, through our Christian faith. It's a breaking of the very first commandment, isn't it? That we shall love the Lord our God with all our minds. That said, it is the noticeable thing that every century or two the church has to be saved from the theologians, doesn't it now? From where have the heresies come? Well, not normally from that dear Mrs. Mops, whom God has saved by his grace, who shall shine as a veritable angel for the faithful work she has done for others throughout her life. The heresies have more often come from the theologians, haven't they? And that's where they come from now still. How easy for us academically inclined who love study to become so advanced in our thoughts that our thoughts are no longer governed by the basic gospel, and we start inventing theories that, carried to their logical conclusion, would deny the very gospel itself. How say some among you that there is no resurrection? For if there's no resurrection, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, the apostles who said he did rise are found to be liars. And what is worse, if Christ be not risen, then there is no resurrection for anyone. More than that, there is no salvation or forgiveness for anyone. We are yet in our sins, and we are of all men most to be pitied. In our churches, in our Bible schools, and in our theological colleges. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, we constantly need to come back to the gospel, lest imperceptibly wandering from it, we land ourselves in trouble, grieve the Lord, lose our power to grow in grace, and lose our effectiveness in our testimony to the world. One major theme then in First Corinthians. This is what I mean when I say that this major theme is back to the gospel. And now, not too soon, I'm sure you will be thinking, we need that, uh, strengthening and reviving, and you shall have it. Let us break there for our cup of tea.