Come to LIFE this Easter Sunday
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 4th April 2015
Passage: John 20:1-31
00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 What a day to be gathering as we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Christ,
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 altering everything.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 And that's basically what we're going to look at here in John chapter 20.
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 I want to pray and then we're going to launch into this.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 If you've got a Bible handy or an iPad or something like that,
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 it'd be great if you could get to John chapter 20.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:19 Let's pray.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:25 Father God, we thank you for the opportunity just to gather now
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 to have your word open in front of us.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:35 We have just heard that what has been written has been written so that we might see Jesus
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 and that we might believe in him and that we might have life.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 And so we ask that you might do that for us tonight, that we might see him,
00:00:43 --> 00:00:47 that we might believe in him and that we might have life in his name,
00:00:47 --> 00:00:52 that we might live as he lives now forever and in perfection.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:53 And we ask it for your glory.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:54 Amen.
00:00:54 --> 00:01:02 There was an opinion piece in the Herald's Good Weekend yesterday.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:03 It's normally a good morning.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 Good Weekend yesterday.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:11 It was written by Benjamin Law and it was titled something like Holidays are Sacred.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 Benjamin describes himself as non-religious,
00:01:16 --> 00:01:24 not an atheist, but a happy agnostic, that is, a lifelong doubter.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:30 He suggested if he was to adopt a religious symbol at all, it would be a question mark.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:38 Having said that, he goes on in the short little piece to say that he does, in fact, love Jesus.
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 Not in the religious sense, obviously,
00:01:41 --> 00:01:45 but I think that everyone can agree that he sounded like a decent fellow.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 Jesus distrusted the rich.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:53 He helped the poor and embraced the most shunned and vulnerable members of society.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 He was the first Marxist radical.
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 He goes on to say,
00:01:59 --> 00:02:16 And then he makes his point.
00:02:16 --> 00:02:20 But why stop at Easter and Christmas?
00:02:21 --> 00:02:28 In our cities, especially with their Muslim and Jewish and Buddhist and Hindu communities,
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 wouldn't it make sense to celebrate and learn about these cultures too?
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 And he concludes that if we were to do that,
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 in fact, have a whole heap more public holidays,
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 and frankly, who wouldn't agree with that?
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 Or public holidays.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 He said not just have more holidays,
00:02:44 --> 00:02:48 but that we'd, in fact, be a more tolerant society.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:53 The piece wasn't militantly anti-religious.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:54 It was positive.
00:02:54 --> 00:02:58 It raised some questions in a fairly authentic manner.
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 He was fairly honest about where he stood and what his thoughts were.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 But for me, it raised the question,
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 and I think in some ways he's getting at this,
00:03:07 --> 00:03:12 it's the truth question and the meaning question.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:19 Is Christianity one of the cultural options that you can choose from
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 in a society like Australia at the moment,
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 including the option that he has chosen,
00:03:25 --> 00:03:29 and that is to be happily a lifelong doubter?
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 Is Easter, what we're gathered here to celebrate right now,
00:03:33 --> 00:03:38 one of the special religious holidays in a mixed bag
00:03:38 --> 00:03:44 of equally valid religious holidays that we could be celebrating?
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 Or are we gathered here tonight as we've just sung
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 and as we'll just hear from God's word
00:03:49 --> 00:03:54 to celebrate something totally unique and wonderful and life-changing
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 that means that Jesus,
00:03:57 --> 00:04:01 just something a little bit more than just a fairly decent bloke
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 and potentially the first communist?
00:04:06 --> 00:04:10 And so there are two questions for us here on this Easter Sunday,
00:04:10 --> 00:04:14 and that is the truth question and the meaning question.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 Whenever you talk about the resurrection of Jesus,
00:04:18 --> 00:04:22 the truth question and the meaning question are actually intertwined.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:26 The truth question is, well, did it actually happen?
00:04:26 --> 00:04:30 And the meaning question is, who cares if it happened?
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 Whether it happened or not, who cares?
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 What difference does it make to my life?
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 There are people who reject Christianity
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 because intellectually they don't think that it's true.
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 But there are other people who reject Christianity,
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 not because they're convinced it's not true,
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 but because they can't see why to make any real difference
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 in their life if it were true,
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 or they don't want to see
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 that it makes any real difference in their life.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 Recent survey came out,
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 and I'm going to fudge the figures a little bit, I think,
00:05:05 --> 00:05:06 because I can't remember them totally.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 Something like 19% of Australians
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 And about a similar sort of figure
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 are completely open to the idea
00:05:16 --> 00:05:17 that he rose again from the dead.
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 And yet only a very small number of people
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 actually go to church
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 and declare themselves to be Christian in our country.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 So it's not just a matter of truth,
00:05:28 --> 00:05:29 it's the matter of meaning.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:31 What difference does it make?
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 40 years ago, there was an assumption in the Western world
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 that there were fixed natural laws
00:05:38 --> 00:05:42 that made this world understandable
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 and scientifically manageable.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 And unfortunately, these laws did not allow
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 for the truth claim that someone who was dead
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 actually would come back alive
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 and certainly, in Jesus' case, live forever.
00:05:56 --> 00:05:57 The world at that time,
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 with its scientific understanding of natural laws,
00:05:59 --> 00:06:04 did not allow for things to come back from the dead.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 And so unbelief in the claims of Christianity
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 were often connected to those kinds of assumptions,
00:06:10 --> 00:06:11 an intellectual assumption.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 Today, there's a different assumption
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 behind unbelief in our world.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:16 Today, the assumption is
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 there's a personal law inside of me.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 You could call it individualism.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 One form of individualism
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 is a personal law that says
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 I do not have to adapt my life
00:06:29 --> 00:06:33 to anything that I don't find personally satisfying
00:06:33 --> 00:06:34 or personally helpful to me.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 That is, truth for me
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 is what I find personally satisfying
00:06:39 --> 00:06:44 or what I find useful or helpful for me.
00:06:45 --> 00:06:46 And so in the end,
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 don't give a rip whether Jesus rose from the dead or not.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 Because whether he did or not is not my issue.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 My issue is, do I actually care?
00:07:00 --> 00:07:01 Even if it is true,
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 what difference does it make to my life day by day?
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 And so if you can't see
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 why it actually matters for life now,
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 then this personal law
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 will just view the resurrection of Jesus
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 in the same way that you might view a UFO.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 I really don't need to bother about it.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:26 Unless it's hovering over my house
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 late at night.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:32 Now, some of us think, in fact,
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 if you're of a younger generation,
00:07:34 --> 00:07:35 you will definitely think this way
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 and probably not even know
00:07:37 --> 00:07:38 that's the way you think.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 It's just part of the cultural soup
00:07:40 --> 00:07:41 that you've been marinating in
00:07:41 --> 00:07:42 since you were born.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 Now, I think both questions,
00:07:46 --> 00:07:47 the truth question
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 and the so what question,
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 are important to address at the same time.
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 So let's deal with the truth question
00:07:54 --> 00:07:55 to start with.
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 The great C.S. Lewis,
00:07:57 --> 00:07:58 the writer of the Narnia series
00:07:58 --> 00:07:59 and a bunch of other stuff,
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 you know, he was a professor in Oxford
00:08:02 --> 00:08:03 and other things like that,
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 wrote that in a world
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 that was making such rapid advancement
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 in scientific understanding,
00:08:09 --> 00:08:10 he said there's a danger
00:08:10 --> 00:08:14 of what he called chronological snobbery.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 It's the assumption that any conclusion
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 that was made by previous generations
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 was based on ignorance.
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 For instance, chronological snobbery
00:08:25 --> 00:08:26 might lead some to conclude
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 that the people who were living
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 around Jesus' time
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 were just gullible peasants
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 who were just ignorant of reality,
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 just excitable, stupid people.
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 But that's not the picture we get here
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 in the first couple of verses
00:08:45 --> 00:08:46 of John chapter 20.
00:08:46 --> 00:08:47 If you've got your Bibles there,
00:08:47 --> 00:08:48 it'd be great if you could open them up
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 to the passage that Nick and Sam
00:08:50 --> 00:08:51 read out to us.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:52 John chapter 20,
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 look at the first couple of verses with me.
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 Early on the first day of the week,
00:08:57 --> 00:08:58 while it was still dark,
00:08:59 --> 00:09:00 Mary Magdalene went to the tomb
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 and saw that the stone
00:09:02 --> 00:09:03 had been removed from the entrance.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 And so she came running to Simon Peter
00:09:06 --> 00:09:07 and the other disciple,
00:09:07 --> 00:09:08 the one that Jesus loved,
00:09:09 --> 00:09:10 and said, notice what she says here,
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 they have taken the Lord out of the tomb
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 and we don't know where they've put him.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:20 Now, before he was crucified,
00:09:21 --> 00:09:22 Jesus had mentioned a number of times,
00:09:23 --> 00:09:23 after I'm dead,
00:09:24 --> 00:09:25 I'm actually going to come back to life.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:26 And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:28 He said a number of times
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 and then we kind of struck with the disciples,
00:09:30 --> 00:09:31 this is what's going to happen.
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 Even though it was mentioned so many times,
00:09:35 --> 00:09:36 Mary goes to the tomb,
00:09:36 --> 00:09:37 sees the tomb's empty
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 and she doesn't conclude
00:09:39 --> 00:09:40 there's been a resurrection here.
00:09:40 --> 00:09:44 The first assumption for her
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 is that the body has been removed.
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 It's down there in verse 13 as well.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:50 She's working on the assumption.
00:09:51 --> 00:09:52 Later on we find out
00:09:52 --> 00:09:53 that the Jewish leaders
00:09:53 --> 00:09:54 have come along in the middle of the night,
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 stolen the body of Jesus
00:09:56 --> 00:09:57 and dumped it somewhere
00:09:57 --> 00:09:58 outside the city limits.
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 Like us, Mary didn't just assume
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 that Jesus came back to life
00:10:05 --> 00:10:06 and even Peter and John,
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 two of Jesus' key disciples,
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 didn't automatically jump to the conclusion
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 that Jesus had resurrected either.
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 Notice verses eight and nine here.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 Finally, the other disciple
00:10:18 --> 00:10:19 who had reached the tomb first
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20 also went inside.
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 He saw and he believed.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:25 They did not,
00:10:25 --> 00:10:26 they still did not understand
00:10:26 --> 00:10:27 from scripture
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 that Jesus had to rise from the dead.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 So when he goes there,
00:10:31 --> 00:10:32 John sees and believes.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 He saw and he believed
00:10:34 --> 00:10:35 what Mary just told him,
00:10:35 --> 00:10:36 that Jesus' body's not there.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:38 So looks in the tomb,
00:10:38 --> 00:10:39 oh yeah, Mary's right,
00:10:39 --> 00:10:40 the body's not there.
00:10:41 --> 00:10:41 Tomb's empty.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 And yet they still hadn't clicked
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 that Jesus had risen again
00:10:47 --> 00:10:48 as he said he would.
00:10:49 --> 00:10:50 And so this tells me
00:10:50 --> 00:10:50 that the,
00:10:51 --> 00:10:52 at least three of the early disciples
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53 of Jesus
00:10:53 --> 00:10:54 were not just a bunch
00:10:54 --> 00:10:55 of silly peasants,
00:10:56 --> 00:10:57 easily excitable,
00:10:57 --> 00:10:58 gallible people
00:10:58 --> 00:10:59 who believe any sort of story
00:10:59 --> 00:11:00 that came along.
00:11:01 --> 00:11:02 Even though Jesus
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 had told them repeatedly
00:11:04 --> 00:11:05 that he would come back to life,
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 they weren't actually
00:11:07 --> 00:11:08 looking for it.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:11 And yet,
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 what they were confronted with
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 as they went to the tomb
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 was a bodiless tomb.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:20 There was no body in the tomb.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:23 You cannot play around
00:11:23 --> 00:11:24 with the resurrection of Jesus
00:11:24 --> 00:11:25 and see that maybe
00:11:25 --> 00:11:25 it was just some sort
00:11:25 --> 00:11:26 of spiritual resurrection.
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 There was no body.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 And one of the great
00:11:31 --> 00:11:32 historical evidences
00:11:32 --> 00:11:33 for the resurrection
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 is that the tomb
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 where Jesus was buried,
00:11:38 --> 00:11:39 which was guarded
00:11:39 --> 00:11:40 by the Romans,
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 handpicked by the Jewish leaders,
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 was actually empty
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 on the third day.
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 Even the enemies of Jesus
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 could never produce the body.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:54 And if they could have,
00:11:55 --> 00:11:56 we wouldn't be sitting here
00:11:56 --> 00:11:57 right now.
00:11:57 --> 00:11:57 They would have nipped
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 this early thing
00:11:59 --> 00:11:59 called Christianity
00:11:59 --> 00:12:00 in the bud
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 right there and then,
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03 dealt with it,
00:12:03 --> 00:12:04 over and done with
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 and it would have gone
00:12:05 --> 00:12:05 by the wayside
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 of every other nutcase movement
00:12:07 --> 00:12:08 that began
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 back in those times.
00:12:13 --> 00:12:14 Some have come up
00:12:14 --> 00:12:15 with the explanation
00:12:15 --> 00:12:16 as to why the tomb
00:12:16 --> 00:12:16 was empty.
00:12:17 --> 00:12:18 For instance,
00:12:19 --> 00:12:20 some have suggested
00:12:20 --> 00:12:21 that he never really died.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:23 He was just
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 really sick.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 And they put him
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 in the cool tomb,
00:12:29 --> 00:12:30 closed it over,
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 three days in pure darkness,
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 and nice cool weather
00:12:34 --> 00:12:35 and he revived
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 and revived enough
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 from the spear
00:12:39 --> 00:12:40 going through his side
00:12:40 --> 00:12:41 and the nail holes
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 and the crown of thorns
00:12:43 --> 00:12:44 and everything else
00:12:44 --> 00:12:45 that revived enough
00:12:45 --> 00:12:46 to remove the stone
00:12:46 --> 00:12:47 that took several people
00:12:47 --> 00:12:48 to put it in place
00:12:48 --> 00:12:49 and to disappear
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 and, I don't know,
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 wander off down the Sea of Galilee
00:12:53 --> 00:12:53 or something like that.
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 it really goes against
00:12:56 --> 00:12:57 the horrible realities
00:12:57 --> 00:12:58 of crucifixion,
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 against the rigorous steps
00:13:01 --> 00:13:02 that Pilate and the leaders
00:13:02 --> 00:13:03 demanded to make sure
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 that he was
00:13:05 --> 00:13:06 and that he was,
00:13:07 --> 00:13:07 in fact, dead.
00:13:09 --> 00:13:10 The steps that they took
00:13:10 --> 00:13:11 to make sure
00:13:11 --> 00:13:12 that no one got in
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 or out of that tomb.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 Others have suggested
00:13:17 --> 00:13:18 the disciples of Jesus
00:13:18 --> 00:13:19 stole the body.
00:13:19 --> 00:13:24 on one level,
00:13:24 --> 00:13:25 you think that's pretty odd.
00:13:25 --> 00:13:26 I mean,
00:13:26 --> 00:13:27 Peter and James,
00:13:27 --> 00:13:27 Peter and John
00:13:27 --> 00:13:28 go to the tomb.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:29 All they discovered
00:13:29 --> 00:13:30 is folded bedclothes.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:32 So why on earth,
00:13:32 --> 00:13:33 I don't get this point,
00:13:33 --> 00:13:33 why on earth
00:13:33 --> 00:13:34 would they go in,
00:13:35 --> 00:13:35 steal the body
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 and unwrap it all,
00:13:37 --> 00:13:38 first of all,
00:13:38 --> 00:13:39 take all the grave clothes off,
00:13:39 --> 00:13:40 put them in a pile
00:13:40 --> 00:13:41 on one side,
00:13:41 --> 00:13:41 fold them up neatly
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 and run off
00:13:43 --> 00:13:43 with a dead,
00:13:43 --> 00:13:44 naked body?
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 I don't get that.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:48 Who does that?
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 But more significantly,
00:13:52 --> 00:13:53 if they took the body,
00:13:54 --> 00:13:54 it would mean
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 that these disciples
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 began to risk their lives
00:13:58 --> 00:13:58 and in fact,
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 did in fact go to death,
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 give themselves up to death
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 for something that they knew
00:14:06 --> 00:14:07 was in fact
00:14:07 --> 00:14:08 nothing more than
00:14:08 --> 00:14:09 an April Fool's joke.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 A complete hoax.
00:14:12 --> 00:14:18 How else do you account
00:14:18 --> 00:14:19 for the dramatic change
00:14:19 --> 00:14:20 in the disciples
00:14:20 --> 00:14:21 after Good Friday
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 if it wasn't
00:14:23 --> 00:14:23 for the resurrection?
00:14:23 --> 00:14:24 The fact that they were
00:14:24 --> 00:14:25 utterly dejected,
00:14:26 --> 00:14:26 they were terrified
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 after the death of Jesus,
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 they did not have hope
00:14:30 --> 00:14:30 for a resurrection,
00:14:31 --> 00:14:31 they were ready
00:14:31 --> 00:14:32 to go back fishing,
00:14:32 --> 00:14:33 these were the guys
00:14:33 --> 00:14:34 who abandoned him,
00:14:34 --> 00:14:35 denied that they knew him,
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 all took off.
00:14:38 --> 00:14:39 They were scared
00:14:39 --> 00:14:40 of the authorities
00:14:40 --> 00:14:41 as we just read,
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42 the doors were locked,
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 they were hiding
00:14:46 --> 00:14:47 in a secluded room,
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 unwilling to believe
00:14:50 --> 00:14:51 the first reports
00:14:51 --> 00:14:52 of Jesus' resurrection.
00:14:54 --> 00:14:55 And yet in a matter
00:14:55 --> 00:14:56 of just a few weeks,
00:14:57 --> 00:14:58 these same men
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 were overflowing
00:14:59 --> 00:15:00 with joy
00:15:00 --> 00:15:01 and with courage
00:15:01 --> 00:15:02 and ready to die
00:15:02 --> 00:15:03 for Jesus.
00:15:04 --> 00:15:04 Why?
00:15:04 --> 00:15:05 What had happened?
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 their own explanation
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 is that the Jesus
00:15:11 --> 00:15:12 they saw dead
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 came back to life.
00:15:18 --> 00:15:19 Now the evidence
00:15:19 --> 00:15:20 is there for sure,
00:15:20 --> 00:15:21 but doubting the resurrection
00:15:21 --> 00:15:22 is pretty common.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:24 Strangely enough,
00:15:24 --> 00:15:25 the first person
00:15:25 --> 00:15:26 to doubt the resurrection
00:15:26 --> 00:15:27 was not a person
00:15:27 --> 00:15:28 opposed to Christianity,
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29 but in fact
00:15:29 --> 00:15:29 one of Jesus'
00:15:30 --> 00:15:30 chief supporters,
00:15:31 --> 00:15:32 a man called Thomas.
00:15:32 --> 00:15:33 He wasn't there
00:15:33 --> 00:15:34 when Jesus
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 first appeared
00:15:36 --> 00:15:36 to his disciples
00:15:36 --> 00:15:37 and he came
00:15:37 --> 00:15:38 to him soon after.
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 Down in verse 24,
00:15:40 --> 00:15:40 it says,
00:15:41 --> 00:15:41 now Thomas,
00:15:42 --> 00:15:43 called Didymus,
00:15:43 --> 00:15:44 one of the twelve,
00:15:45 --> 00:15:46 was not with the disciples
00:15:46 --> 00:15:47 when Jesus came
00:15:47 --> 00:15:48 and so the other disciples
00:15:48 --> 00:15:48 told him,
00:15:48 --> 00:15:49 we've seen the Lord.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:51 But he said to them,
00:15:51 --> 00:15:52 unless I see
00:15:52 --> 00:15:53 the nail marks
00:15:53 --> 00:15:54 in his hand
00:15:54 --> 00:15:55 and put my fingers
00:15:55 --> 00:15:55 where the nails were
00:15:55 --> 00:15:56 and put my hand
00:15:56 --> 00:15:57 in his side,
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 I will not believe it.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 Unless I see it
00:16:03 --> 00:16:04 for myself,
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 I won't believe it.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 I'll believe it
00:16:11 --> 00:16:12 if God shows himself
00:16:12 --> 00:16:12 to me.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:15 Now the odd thing
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 is that resurrection
00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 wouldn't have been
00:16:18 --> 00:16:19 a new idea for Thomas.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 He's an Orthodox Jew
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 and they believed
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 in everyone being resurrected
00:16:25 --> 00:16:26 to face judgment
00:16:26 --> 00:16:27 when God calls an end
00:16:27 --> 00:16:28 to this world
00:16:28 --> 00:16:28 as we know it.
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 But here he doubts
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 the resurrection of Jesus.
00:16:33 --> 00:16:34 His response
00:16:34 --> 00:16:34 to the news
00:16:34 --> 00:16:35 is absolute.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:37 He makes demands
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 in absolute terms.
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 Unless I see,
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 unless I place my hands,
00:16:44 --> 00:16:45 I will not believe.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:48 He demands
00:16:48 --> 00:16:49 exhaustive proof
00:16:49 --> 00:16:50 rather than
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 sufficient evidence.
00:16:53 --> 00:16:54 A number of years ago,
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 I was flying home
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 from Canada
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 and I walked up
00:17:00 --> 00:17:00 to customs,
00:17:00 --> 00:17:01 handed over my passport
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 and after the awkward
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 pause there
00:17:04 --> 00:17:04 of wondering
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 if I've done
00:17:06 --> 00:17:06 anything wrong,
00:17:07 --> 00:17:08 the guy says,
00:17:09 --> 00:17:09 hmm,
00:17:09 --> 00:17:10 says here
00:17:10 --> 00:17:11 that you're
00:17:11 --> 00:17:12 a minister.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:13 I said,
00:17:13 --> 00:17:13 yeah,
00:17:13 --> 00:17:14 that's right.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:15 And he goes,
00:17:16 --> 00:17:16 right.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:17 Okay,
00:17:17 --> 00:17:18 so what would you say
00:17:18 --> 00:17:19 to a person
00:17:19 --> 00:17:20 who says to you,
00:17:20 --> 00:17:21 show me God
00:17:21 --> 00:17:22 and I'll believe in him?
00:17:23 --> 00:17:23 And,
00:17:23 --> 00:17:23 you know,
00:17:23 --> 00:17:24 I'm sort of sitting
00:17:24 --> 00:17:24 there going,
00:17:25 --> 00:17:25 oh man,
00:17:25 --> 00:17:26 I just want to go home.
00:17:28 --> 00:17:29 And is this a test
00:17:29 --> 00:17:29 to see whether
00:17:29 --> 00:17:30 I'm actually a minister
00:17:30 --> 00:17:31 or,
00:17:31 --> 00:17:31 you know,
00:17:32 --> 00:17:33 somewhere else dodgy
00:17:33 --> 00:17:34 or is this guy
00:17:34 --> 00:17:35 a genuine,
00:17:36 --> 00:17:37 asking a genuine question?
00:17:38 --> 00:17:38 And I'm,
00:17:38 --> 00:17:38 you know,
00:17:38 --> 00:17:39 all these things
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 are running through my brain
00:17:40 --> 00:17:40 thinking,
00:17:41 --> 00:17:41 is this a test
00:17:41 --> 00:17:42 so I can get home
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 or what's going on here?
00:17:44 --> 00:17:44 And I thought,
00:17:44 --> 00:17:44 well,
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 best thing I can do
00:17:46 --> 00:17:47 is just go for broke
00:17:47 --> 00:17:48 and just give it to him
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 and see what happens
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50 and hopefully
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 I'll get home sometime.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 I said to him,
00:17:54 --> 00:17:55 great question.
00:17:56 --> 00:17:57 And Jesus said,
00:17:57 --> 00:17:58 interestingly enough,
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 if you see me,
00:17:59 --> 00:18:00 you see God.
00:18:00 --> 00:18:01 He declared to be,
00:18:02 --> 00:18:02 declared himself
00:18:02 --> 00:18:03 to be God himself
00:18:03 --> 00:18:04 and he did lots of miracles
00:18:04 --> 00:18:05 to prove it
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 and no question about that.
00:18:07 --> 00:18:08 He raised people
00:18:08 --> 00:18:09 from the dead,
00:18:09 --> 00:18:10 he healed people,
00:18:10 --> 00:18:11 he stopped water
00:18:11 --> 00:18:12 and storms
00:18:12 --> 00:18:13 and everything like that.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:14 And it's interesting
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 that in some of those miracles,
00:18:16 --> 00:18:16 a particular miracle
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 in case,
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 was he actually raised
00:18:20 --> 00:18:21 this guy called Lazarus
00:18:21 --> 00:18:22 from the dead.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:24 The Jewish leaders
00:18:24 --> 00:18:25 put him in
00:18:25 --> 00:18:26 to the tomb
00:18:26 --> 00:18:27 four days later,
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 Jesus comes along
00:18:28 --> 00:18:29 and in full view
00:18:29 --> 00:18:29 of everyone,
00:18:30 --> 00:18:30 he says,
00:18:30 --> 00:18:30 Lazarus,
00:18:30 --> 00:18:31 come on out.
00:18:31 --> 00:18:32 Lazarus came out
00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 and what they wanted
00:18:34 --> 00:18:34 to do to Jesus
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 in that particular moment
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 was actually kill him.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:41 That's because seeing
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 doesn't equal believing.
00:18:43 --> 00:18:47 And John chapter 20 says,
00:18:47 --> 00:18:48 blessed are those
00:18:48 --> 00:18:49 who don't physically see
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 and yet believe.
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 John chapter 20
00:18:53 --> 00:18:54 himself says
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56 that there is sufficient evidence
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 that what John has written
00:18:58 --> 00:18:59 was enough
00:18:59 --> 00:19:00 that you might see Jesus
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 and actually believe in him.
00:19:03 --> 00:19:04 But in the end,
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 it's a matter of the will.
00:19:09 --> 00:19:09 I said,
00:19:09 --> 00:19:10 God could appear to you right now.
00:19:11 --> 00:19:11 In fact,
00:19:11 --> 00:19:12 I could be God right now.
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 And I could prove to you
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 that I'm God right now.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:18 And you could see me,
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 but seeing doesn't equal believing
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 because believing
00:19:23 --> 00:19:24 is a matter of the will.
00:19:25 --> 00:19:26 It's not just about the intellect.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:27 It's a matter of the heart
00:19:27 --> 00:19:28 and the will.
00:19:30 --> 00:19:33 And so I would encourage you
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 to see that it might be
00:19:36 --> 00:19:37 a matter of the will
00:19:37 --> 00:19:38 of your heart
00:19:38 --> 00:19:39 of whether you actually
00:19:39 --> 00:19:40 believe the evidence or not.
00:19:40 --> 00:19:41 I said,
00:19:41 --> 00:19:42 that's basically
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 what I would say.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 And he said,
00:19:47 --> 00:19:47 fair enough,
00:19:47 --> 00:19:48 gave my passport
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 and away I went.
00:19:51 --> 00:19:52 And this is what Thomas does here.
00:19:54 --> 00:19:55 Thomas rejects the witness
00:19:55 --> 00:19:56 of 10 or more
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 of his trusted friends.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:00 He dictates
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 absolute terms to God
00:20:02 --> 00:20:03 about believing,
00:20:03 --> 00:20:04 believing,
00:20:04 --> 00:20:05 but he hasn't grappled
00:20:05 --> 00:20:05 with the fact
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 that seeing
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 is not necessarily
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10 believing.
00:20:11 --> 00:20:12 Many people saw
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 the miracles of Jesus,
00:20:13 --> 00:20:14 I just said,
00:20:15 --> 00:20:16 and yet they didn't believe.
00:20:16 --> 00:20:17 The Jewish leaders
00:20:17 --> 00:20:18 plotted to kill Jesus
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 the moment Lazarus
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21 walked out of the tomb.
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 There are further
00:20:24 --> 00:20:25 and deeper dimensions
00:20:25 --> 00:20:26 to believing
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 than just simply seeing.
00:20:28 --> 00:20:29 Belief in Jesus,
00:20:29 --> 00:20:30 belief in the resurrection
00:20:30 --> 00:20:31 comes down to a matter
00:20:31 --> 00:20:32 of the will.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:33 And so what happens
00:20:33 --> 00:20:33 with Thomas?
00:20:34 --> 00:20:35 Read verse 26 here with me.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:36 A week later,
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 his disciples were in the house
00:20:38 --> 00:20:39 again and Thomas
00:20:39 --> 00:20:39 was with them.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:41 Though the doors were locked,
00:20:41 --> 00:20:42 Jesus came and stood
00:20:42 --> 00:20:43 among them and said,
00:20:43 --> 00:20:44 peace be with you.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 Then he said to Thomas,
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 put your finger here,
00:20:47 --> 00:20:48 see my hands,
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 reach out your hand
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 and put it into my side.
00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 Stop doubting and believe.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 When Jesus finally
00:20:57 --> 00:20:58 did appear to Thomas,
00:20:59 --> 00:20:59 he said to him,
00:21:00 --> 00:21:01 stop doubting and believe.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:03 The call from Jesus
00:21:03 --> 00:21:04 to Thomas was
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 stop disbelief and believe.
00:21:06 --> 00:21:07 Now Jesus was merciful
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08 to Thomas here.
00:21:08 --> 00:21:09 He came to him
00:21:09 --> 00:21:10 and demonstrated
00:21:10 --> 00:21:11 his resurrection
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 and Thomas believed.
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 And Jesus' intention
00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 was not that everyone
00:21:17 --> 00:21:18 everyone would see him
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 and believe
00:21:19 --> 00:21:20 in the same way
00:21:20 --> 00:21:21 that Thomas would.
00:21:22 --> 00:21:22 He didn't appear
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 to everyone
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 after his resurrection,
00:21:25 --> 00:21:26 but he did appear
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 to well over 500 people
00:21:28 --> 00:21:29 at different times.
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 Enough saw him alive.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:34 And John,
00:21:34 --> 00:21:35 who wrote this biography,
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 was one of those eyewitnesses.
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39 And this is what he says
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 about how we come
00:21:41 --> 00:21:42 to see and believe.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 Jesus did many other
00:21:45 --> 00:21:46 miraculous signs
00:21:46 --> 00:21:47 in the presence
00:21:47 --> 00:21:48 of his disciples
00:21:48 --> 00:21:49 which are not recorded
00:21:49 --> 00:21:50 in this book.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 But these are written
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 that you may believe
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 that Jesus is the Christ,
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 the Son of God,
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 and thereby believing
00:22:00 --> 00:22:01 you may have life
00:22:01 --> 00:22:02 in his name.
00:22:03 --> 00:22:04 What he is saying
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 is that what is written
00:22:06 --> 00:22:07 in this biography
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 of Jesus' life,
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 his ministry,
00:22:10 --> 00:22:10 his death,
00:22:10 --> 00:22:11 and his resurrection,
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 is everything that you need
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 in order to believe.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:16 You don't need to know
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 anything more
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 than what is written
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 in John's Gospel
00:22:20 --> 00:22:21 or the other biographies
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 of Jesus
00:22:22 --> 00:22:23 to believe and to see.
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 And so my first challenge
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 is pick one up.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:26 Maybe you haven't done that
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 in a long time.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:28 Just pick one up
00:22:28 --> 00:22:28 and read it.
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33 What I think is fantastic
00:22:33 --> 00:22:34 about John 20
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37 is,
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38 and it particularly strikes me,
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39 is the transparency
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 of what John
00:22:41 --> 00:22:42 has written here.
00:22:43 --> 00:22:44 The first followers
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45 of Jesus
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 should have easily
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 believed in the resurrection.
00:22:50 --> 00:22:51 But they were the first
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 to significantly doubt it.
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 The New Testament
00:22:56 --> 00:22:57 doesn't even try
00:22:57 --> 00:22:58 to cover up
00:22:58 --> 00:22:59 their doubting.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 And that's good for us.
00:23:02 --> 00:23:03 It's good for us
00:23:03 --> 00:23:04 to see that it's not
00:23:04 --> 00:23:05 easy to believe
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07 just as hard
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 as it was
00:23:08 --> 00:23:09 then
00:23:09 --> 00:23:09 as it is
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 now.
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 There's a transparency
00:23:12 --> 00:23:13 to it.
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 If you don't find it
00:23:15 --> 00:23:15 easy to believe,
00:23:15 --> 00:23:16 that's okay.
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 Of course,
00:23:20 --> 00:23:21 there are also
00:23:21 --> 00:23:22 those who refuse
00:23:22 --> 00:23:22 to look into
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23 the sufficient evidence
00:23:23 --> 00:23:24 for Jesus' resurrection
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 because it's not
00:23:26 --> 00:23:26 a matter
00:23:26 --> 00:23:27 about having
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 sufficient evidence.
00:23:29 --> 00:23:30 It's more
00:23:30 --> 00:23:30 a matter
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 of the claims
00:23:32 --> 00:23:32 that Jesus
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33 has made
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35 about himself
00:23:35 --> 00:23:36 and his mission.
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 And this is the
00:23:37 --> 00:23:38 so what question.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:39 That is,
00:23:39 --> 00:23:40 it's not about
00:23:40 --> 00:23:41 the intellect,
00:23:41 --> 00:23:42 it's about the heart
00:23:42 --> 00:23:43 and the will.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:45 There is a
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 comfortable place
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 of happy ignorance.
00:23:48 --> 00:23:49 There is a place
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 of
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51 being
00:23:51 --> 00:23:54 happily
00:23:54 --> 00:23:55 a lifelong doubter
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 as
00:23:57 --> 00:23:58 Benjamin Law
00:23:58 --> 00:23:58 has put it.
00:23:58 --> 00:23:59 I'm happy
00:23:59 --> 00:24:00 to be a lifelong doubter.
00:24:00 --> 00:24:01 I'm happy
00:24:01 --> 00:24:01 to stay
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02 in this position
00:24:02 --> 00:24:03 is what he's saying.
00:24:05 --> 00:24:06 Notice what Thomas
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07 says when he realized
00:24:07 --> 00:24:08 that Jesus
00:24:08 --> 00:24:08 had come back
00:24:08 --> 00:24:09 to life.
00:24:09 --> 00:24:10 Verse 28,
00:24:10 --> 00:24:11 if you like,
00:24:11 --> 00:24:12 answers the so what.
00:24:12 --> 00:24:13 What's the significance
00:24:13 --> 00:24:14 of the resurrection?
00:24:16 --> 00:24:17 He says,
00:24:17 --> 00:24:18 my Lord
00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 and my God.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:22 They're the first
00:24:22 --> 00:24:23 words
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 that come out
00:24:24 --> 00:24:25 of Thomas' mouth
00:24:25 --> 00:24:25 when he touched
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 his hands
00:24:26 --> 00:24:26 and put his,
00:24:27 --> 00:24:28 touched Jesus' hands
00:24:28 --> 00:24:28 and put his hand
00:24:28 --> 00:24:29 in his side.
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 They're the first words
00:24:30 --> 00:24:30 that come out
00:24:30 --> 00:24:31 of his mouth.
00:24:31 --> 00:24:32 The first words
00:24:32 --> 00:24:33 were not
00:24:33 --> 00:24:34 about the resurrection.
00:24:34 --> 00:24:34 It's like,
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 how did you do that?
00:24:36 --> 00:24:36 Like,
00:24:36 --> 00:24:36 you know,
00:24:37 --> 00:24:38 how do you hold,
00:24:38 --> 00:24:39 how do you drink water
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40 with holes in your hands
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 and what was it like
00:24:41 --> 00:24:42 three days in darkness?
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 What was it like
00:24:43 --> 00:24:43 on the other side?
00:24:44 --> 00:24:44 Tell me about death.
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 It was a multitude
00:24:46 --> 00:24:46 of questions
00:24:46 --> 00:24:47 that he could have had
00:24:47 --> 00:24:48 but the first thing
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 that came out
00:24:49 --> 00:24:49 of his mouth
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 was the implications
00:24:50 --> 00:24:51 of the resurrection.
00:24:52 --> 00:24:52 My Lord
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 and my God.
00:24:56 --> 00:24:57 What he's
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 recognizing here
00:24:58 --> 00:24:59 is because of the resurrection
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 everything that Jesus
00:25:01 --> 00:25:01 said about himself
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 was true.
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 Every promise
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 that he's made
00:25:06 --> 00:25:07 is true.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:09 He is God.
00:25:10 --> 00:25:10 He is the king
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 of the universe.
00:25:11 --> 00:25:12 He is my Lord.
00:25:12 --> 00:25:13 He is my God.
00:25:13 --> 00:25:14 He is my boss.
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 He is the judge
00:25:15 --> 00:25:16 of all humanity.
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18 He is God.
00:25:20 --> 00:25:21 And the resurrection
00:25:21 --> 00:25:22 means that what Jesus
00:25:22 --> 00:25:23 promised
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 he must have delivered.
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26 He went to the cross
00:25:26 --> 00:25:27 on Friday
00:25:27 --> 00:25:29 taking upon himself
00:25:29 --> 00:25:30 the sin of the world
00:25:30 --> 00:25:33 so that we can have
00:25:33 --> 00:25:34 direct access to God
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35 and his resurrection
00:25:35 --> 00:25:37 proves that he was effective.
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 And I can have
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 direct access to God
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 because of his death
00:25:42 --> 00:25:42 on the cross.
00:25:43 --> 00:25:44 That's the answer
00:25:44 --> 00:25:45 to the so what question.
00:25:46 --> 00:25:46 The resurrection
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47 means that all
00:25:47 --> 00:25:48 human guilt
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 and sin
00:25:49 --> 00:25:50 and shame
00:25:50 --> 00:25:51 has been dealt with
00:25:51 --> 00:25:52 finally and fully.
00:25:52 --> 00:25:54 It means that death
00:25:54 --> 00:25:55 has not only
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 been confronted
00:25:56 --> 00:25:56 but it's been
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 conquered
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 by Jesus.
00:25:58 --> 00:25:59 It means that new
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 and true life
00:26:00 --> 00:26:01 can be experienced
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 before death
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04 and eternal life
00:26:04 --> 00:26:06 after death.
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 It means that hope
00:26:07 --> 00:26:08 for better things
00:26:08 --> 00:26:09 has gone from the
00:26:09 --> 00:26:10 category of
00:26:10 --> 00:26:11 maybe
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 to an absolute
00:26:12 --> 00:26:12 certainty.
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 It means that a new
00:26:15 --> 00:26:15 heavens and a new
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 earth where those
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18 who trust in Jesus
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19 will live forever
00:26:19 --> 00:26:20 like he lives
00:26:20 --> 00:26:21 forever
00:26:21 --> 00:26:22 is coming.
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24 that is what
00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 Jesus offers
00:26:26 --> 00:26:26 those
00:26:26 --> 00:26:28 who put their
00:26:28 --> 00:26:28 trust in him
00:26:28 --> 00:26:29 for those who
00:26:29 --> 00:26:30 believe in him.
00:26:30 --> 00:26:31 We don't just see him
00:26:31 --> 00:26:33 but believe in him.
00:26:35 --> 00:26:37 And what that means
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39 is that Jesus
00:26:39 --> 00:26:40 is a lot more
00:26:40 --> 00:26:41 than just a
00:26:41 --> 00:26:42 decent fellow.
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 The first
00:26:45 --> 00:26:45 communist
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 not that I
00:26:47 --> 00:26:48 agree that he was
00:26:48 --> 00:26:48 the first communist
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 he's a lot
00:26:51 --> 00:26:52 more.
00:26:53 --> 00:26:54 He isn't just
00:26:54 --> 00:26:55 one option
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 amongst many.
00:26:57 --> 00:26:57 Something
00:26:57 --> 00:26:59 incredibly unique
00:26:59 --> 00:27:00 and life changing
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 and world view
00:27:01 --> 00:27:01 shaping
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 happened
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 on that first
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 Easter Sunday.
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07 Do you see it?
00:27:09 --> 00:27:10 Do you believe it?
00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 And so
00:27:13 --> 00:27:13 sitting here
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 in 2015
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 we don't have
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18 Thomas'
00:27:18 --> 00:27:19 direct evidence.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:20 We're
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 sitting here
00:27:21 --> 00:27:22 a lot more
00:27:22 --> 00:27:22 like Mary
00:27:22 --> 00:27:24 and Peter
00:27:24 --> 00:27:24 and John
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 at the tomb.
00:27:27 --> 00:27:27 There is
00:27:27 --> 00:27:28 sufficient evidence
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 and either
00:27:30 --> 00:27:31 we see
00:27:31 --> 00:27:31 through it
00:27:31 --> 00:27:33 or we don't.
00:27:36 --> 00:27:36 And what
00:27:36 --> 00:27:37 John has
00:27:37 --> 00:27:37 written here
00:27:37 --> 00:27:38 is these
00:27:38 --> 00:27:38 things are
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39 written
00:27:39 --> 00:27:39 that you
00:27:39 --> 00:27:41 may believe
00:27:41 --> 00:27:41 that Jesus
00:27:41 --> 00:27:42 is the
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 Christ
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 the Son
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 of God
00:27:45 --> 00:27:45 and that
00:27:45 --> 00:27:46 by believing
00:27:46 --> 00:27:47 you may
00:27:47 --> 00:27:48 have life
00:27:48 --> 00:27:48 in his
00:27:48 --> 00:27:49 name.
00:27:50 --> 00:27:50 And so
00:27:50 --> 00:27:50 friends
00:27:50 --> 00:27:51 God has
00:27:51 --> 00:27:51 brought you
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 here this
00:27:52 --> 00:27:52 Easter
00:27:52 --> 00:27:53 for this
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 message
00:27:54 --> 00:27:54 for this
00:27:54 --> 00:27:54 bit of the
00:27:54 --> 00:27:55 Bible
00:27:55 --> 00:27:56 and for
00:27:56 --> 00:27:56 this story
00:27:56 --> 00:27:57 the resurrection
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58 of Jesus
00:27:58 --> 00:27:59 so that
00:27:59 --> 00:27:59 you might
00:27:59 --> 00:28:00 see
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 Jesus
00:28:01 --> 00:28:03 so that
00:28:03 --> 00:28:03 you might
00:28:03 --> 00:28:04 believe
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 Jesus
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 and that
00:28:06 --> 00:28:06 you might
00:28:06 --> 00:28:07 have life
00:28:07 --> 00:28:07 in his
00:28:07 --> 00:28:08 name
00:28:08 --> 00:28:09 a life
00:28:09 --> 00:28:09 in Jesus
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 that triumphs
00:28:11 --> 00:28:11 over death
00:28:11 --> 00:28:12 and beyond
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 death.
00:28:14 --> 00:28:14 And so
00:28:14 --> 00:28:15 my prayer
00:28:15 --> 00:28:15 for you
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 and for us
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 as a church
00:28:17 --> 00:28:17 here
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 is that
00:28:18 --> 00:28:19 this Easter
00:28:19 --> 00:28:20 that you
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 will now
00:28:21 --> 00:28:21 or that you
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 might very
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 soon by
00:28:23 --> 00:28:23 God's grace
00:28:23 --> 00:28:24 see
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26 and believe
00:28:26 --> 00:28:28 in Jesus
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 and in
00:28:29 --> 00:28:30 seeing the
00:28:30 --> 00:28:30 resurrected
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 Jesus
00:28:31 --> 00:28:32 and believing
00:28:32 --> 00:28:32 in him
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 that you
00:28:33 --> 00:28:33 will have
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 life
00:28:34 --> 00:28:35 that lives
00:28:35 --> 00:28:36 forever
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 as he
00:28:37 --> 00:28:37 lives
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 forever
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 Amen.
00:28:39 --> 00:29:09 Thank you.