Is it Reasonable to be a Christian?
Series: Let's be Reasonable
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 4th January 2026
Passages:
00:00:00 --> 00:00:04 Hello. Good morning, everyone, and Happy New Year to you all.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:09 If you've not met me before, I'm named Steve, the lead pastor here at St. Paul's.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:15 I hope that this year, 2026, is a year of you know God's richest blessings.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:21 One of the things, I'm not sure what you have planned so far in your New Year's resolutions
00:00:21 --> 00:00:26 and what you're hoping for 2026, but one of the things that we can all look forward to
00:00:26 --> 00:00:35 in 2026 is that it is a census year, and so expect that at some point this year to have
00:00:35 --> 00:00:41 people knocking on your door and having copious amounts of questions about your life to fill out.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:51 The last national census we had, happens every five years, 2021, revealed that 45% of our
00:00:51 --> 00:01:02 neighbourhood here in Chatswood have no religious belief at all. In fact, it is more than 10% higher
00:01:02 --> 00:01:12 than the average in New South Wales and across Australia, so we are a highly non-religious area
00:01:12 --> 00:01:19 where we are. We also rate rated much lower than the state and the national average.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:24 For those who are claiming, those who do have religious belief, those who are claiming to have
00:01:24 --> 00:01:30 a Christian faith. So not only are we not religious, we are very low when it comes to
00:01:30 --> 00:01:39 the idea of those who would identify as Christian. And so as we kick off a brand new year in 2026,
00:01:39 --> 00:01:48 the question I'm asking is, is it reasonable to be a Christian? Not just in this area, but is it reasonable
00:01:48 --> 00:01:56 to be Christian at all? And so over the next four weeks, we're going to be unpacking that question.
00:01:58 --> 00:02:04 And really, the answer to it, we're going to keep landing on is very much a resounding yes.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:14 As time goes on, more and more are resounding yes. We'll be exploring why faith in Jesus Christ
00:02:14 --> 00:02:26 is reasonable, why it's plausible, why it is good, why it is desirable, in fact. And so if you are,
00:02:26 --> 00:02:37 for instance, maybe an agnostic, tuning in over the next few weeks, I want to ask whether you are 100%
00:02:37 --> 00:02:49 certain that you want to stay uncertain about God. If you are a sceptic tuning in, I maybe want you to
00:02:49 --> 00:03:02 consider what kind of God it is whose existence that you would deem implausible. What kind of God
00:03:02 --> 00:03:09 would that be? And if you are a Christian tuning in, my hope is in the next few weeks,
00:03:09 --> 00:03:19 you become more confident in terms of hope in Jesus, but also that you would be more confident
00:03:19 --> 00:03:26 that it is good and plausible and right and desirable to continue to grow deeper in Jesus
00:03:26 --> 00:03:33 in 2026 and you'd have a plan to do so. And so this morning, what I'm really wanting to do is just
00:03:33 --> 00:03:41 to briefly consider whether it's reasonable to be a person of faith in an increasingly secular era and
00:03:41 --> 00:03:48 neighbourhood, and whether it is reasonable to have faith in God and particularly to have faith in Jesus.
00:03:48 --> 00:04:01 That's our journey this morning. So is faith reasonable? Now, history is full of famous and brilliant people
00:04:01 --> 00:04:11 looking at evidence for God's existence and moving in two totally different directions. At the one end,
00:04:11 --> 00:04:17 for instance, you might have the British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:30 He was asked very late in life, you know, if he, what he would say if he discovered there was in fact a God
00:04:30 --> 00:04:39 after he died. What would you say in that moment? And his reply was, God, you didn't give us enough evidence.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:46 That would be his reply. On the other hand, you've got other people on the other end of the spectrum,
00:04:46 --> 00:04:53 again, likewise, brilliant people, famous people, Elizabeth Anscombe, who may not be famous to you all,
00:04:53 --> 00:04:59 but in actual fact, one of the most famous philosophers in the English language, Elizabeth
00:04:59 --> 00:05:10 Anselm, she actually looked at the evidence for God and moved from atheism towards and to Christianity.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:17 So looking at the same evidence and at the same time as Bertrand Russell and moved in two different directions.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:25 And the list on both sides is long and distinguished. So how do we account for that? How do you account
00:05:25 --> 00:05:29 that you've got same people looking at the same or different people look at the same evidence and going
00:05:29 --> 00:05:37 in two different directions? Now, the more common argument used today in our culture to solve that
00:05:37 --> 00:05:48 problem is that religious people, they ground their life in a thing called faith, but secular people
00:05:48 --> 00:05:59 ground their life in logic and reason and science. Hence, the title of this series is Let's Be Reasonable.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:09 Religious people have faith and something deep inside of them that they need fulfilling and they
00:06:09 --> 00:06:17 therefore have a bias towards religion and an emotional need to believe in something beyond
00:06:17 --> 00:06:25 themselves. Secular people are just, well, they're just not, they're just unbiased. They don't have that
00:06:25 --> 00:06:35 bias, they're objective and they look at life entirely rationally. That's how it's generally argued in our
00:06:35 --> 00:06:44 society nowadays. And frankly, it's just simply not true. In his book, A Secular Age, Charles Taylor,
00:06:45 --> 00:06:53 what he calls this view, the subtraction story. This is where a person might say, well, you know,
00:06:53 --> 00:06:59 I used to believe in God and the supernatural, but because of science, because of reason,
00:07:00 --> 00:07:09 I just subtracted God. And now I just see things the way they actually are. You know, I'm just unbiased.
00:07:10 --> 00:07:15 It's a common view that, you know, you'll see an atheist will debate with a Christian.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:21 You believe in one God, what about everyone else who believes in multiple gods? You've deleted all
00:07:21 --> 00:07:26 those other gods and I've just gone one extra step and deleted your God as well. That's all I've done.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:30 The same principle. That's how an atheist will argue with the subtraction of story.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:44 The reality is though, to move from belief in God to non-belief is a shift from one set of beliefs
00:07:44 --> 00:07:51 beliefs to an entirely new set of beliefs. It is not a move from belief to non-belief.
00:07:52 --> 00:07:56 It is a move from one set of beliefs to an entirely new set of beliefs.
00:07:58 --> 00:08:05 One of the very first sets of beliefs a secular person adopts, an atheist will adopt,
00:08:05 --> 00:08:16 is called exclusive rationalism. And it's the belief that science is the only arbiter of what is real
00:08:16 --> 00:08:25 and factual and that nothing should be believed that unless it can be decisively proven with evidence
00:08:25 --> 00:08:36 and observation. Now, that sounds reasonable. It's, of course, it's actually irrational, but it sounds reasonable.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:49 For instance, just take that statement on the board. What is, for instance, the observable proof?
00:08:49 --> 00:08:57 What is the factual evidence that that statement is true?
00:09:01 --> 00:09:06 That is, the very claim of exclusive rationality can't even meet its own criteria.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:13 That statement can't be proven factually at all.
00:09:13 --> 00:09:20 Even reason and proof must start with faith in reason and proof.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:31 In some kind of concept, exclusive rationality depends on the belief that human senses,
00:09:32 --> 00:09:37 our eyes, our ears, our minds, our memories, are not tricking us in any way.
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 It has to start with that assumption.
00:09:40 --> 00:10:03 Observation and scientific evidence can neither prove that there is a God nor disprove that there is a God.
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 They can't do either of those things.
00:10:05 --> 00:10:12 And so all varieties of secularism are set to beliefs,
00:10:13 --> 00:10:19 not just simply the absence of a belief or the absence of faith.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 And therefore, it needs to be proven.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:32 I saw an interview between the comedian Ricky Gervais and US comedian, talk show host Stephen Colbert.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:39 Gervais is an agnostic atheist.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 Colbert is a confused Catholic.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:43 So they go well together.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:51 And Gervais was explaining how his entire worldview relied completely on science.
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53 That was it.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:58 Completely on science, evidence, fact, logic to explain all things.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:02 He made it clear that he was not a person of faith.
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 He had no faith at all whatsoever.
00:11:04 --> 00:11:08 He was just purely a person of logic and fact.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:19 He then made a comment in the course of the interview about how the universe started from this freakish,
00:11:19 --> 00:11:24 minuscule burst of light that happened billions of years ago.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:28 And Colbert, in this moment, was very sharp, very quick.
00:11:28 --> 00:11:32 He jumped in and said, can you actually prove that statement?
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 Can you actually prove that statement?
00:11:40 --> 00:11:45 He said, aren't you just relying upon what Stephen Hawkins himself was,
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 declared an opinion?
00:11:48 --> 00:11:56 And at that moment, you can see Gervais was really thrown back a little bit.
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 And then Colbert jumps in and rescues the thing.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 And they had a bit of a laugh and they moved on kind of stuff.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:04 But in other words, what he did was, it was actually a step of faith.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:07 It was actually a step of faith.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:14 His entire worldview was began with a step of faith, with a belief in something.
00:12:14 --> 00:12:24 You see, theism nor atheism can be 100% proven by data.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:32 They are systems of thinking and believing that need to be compared to one another
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 to determine which one makes the most sense,
00:12:36 --> 00:12:42 which makes the most sense of our experience of things we know and need to explain,
00:12:42 --> 00:12:46 which one makes the most sense of our social experience
00:12:46 --> 00:12:52 and addresses the problems we face in living together as human society.
00:12:53 --> 00:13:01 And which of these is most logically consistent internally as a belief system,
00:13:02 --> 00:13:06 without importing ideas from other worldviews and systems?
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 Which brings me to the second point.
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 Is faith in God reasonable?
00:13:15 --> 00:13:21 If, therefore, we can establish that all people exercise faith to some degree,
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 is it reasonable to have faith in a God?
00:13:25 --> 00:13:32 Believers in God have argued that God's existence cannot be proven empirically
00:13:32 --> 00:13:39 empirically as if God were like a physical object that you can put in a science lab and test.
00:13:40 --> 00:13:47 But the existence of God can be logically inferred.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:49 Logically inferred.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:58 And, in fact, many scientific theories work on exactly the same principle,
00:13:58 --> 00:14:02 the logical inference that something is true.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:08 Physics is mainly based on logical inference.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:18 And Christianity suggests there are very significant clues that point to the existence of God.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:26 Psalm 19 in the Old Testament tells us that God has put his fingerprints everywhere in the universe.
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 The heavens declare the glory of God.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 Day after day, they pour forth speech.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 Night after night, they reveal knowledge.
00:14:35 --> 00:14:36 They have no speech.
00:14:37 --> 00:14:37 They use no words.
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 No sound is heard from them.
00:14:39 --> 00:14:45 And yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
00:14:47 --> 00:14:52 So what I'm going to do is I'm going to mention just two clues.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:58 There is at least more than 30 big systems of clues.
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 They're big systems of clues.
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 I'm going to just mention two very briefly.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:04 There is the cosmic wonder clue.
00:15:06 --> 00:15:12 Modern science is completely insufficient to explain the existence of the world.
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 Because there are two unavoidable questions.
00:15:16 --> 00:15:20 Two unavoidable questions that need to be asked.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:29 First of all, how did the indescribably variety of life in this universe come to be?
00:15:30 --> 00:15:36 You know, there's more than 900 species of just insects.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 How did all of that variety come to be?
00:15:40 --> 00:15:53 How did we go from a single-celled life in prehistoric soup to mosquitoes and giraffes
00:15:53 --> 00:15:57 and the billions of other things in between?
00:15:57 --> 00:16:07 Now, there's an infinity of articles or books or conferences or TV programs or PhD theses.
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 Studies have been devoted to that topic.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 And it's a widely discussed topic.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 And the general view is a thing called evolution.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:24 And that is it all happened by accident and it's just kind of evolved from there.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:30 It's become, it's no longer a theory, it's become regarded as fact.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:39 But the second unavoidable question, and biologists want to talk about evolution all the time,
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 but the second unavoidable question is this one.
00:16:43 --> 00:16:49 What happened to bring life into existence in the very first place?
00:16:49 --> 00:16:50 What happened there?
00:16:51 --> 00:16:57 And that question is very rarely ever asked.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:04 Much less is it answered with any scientific credibility.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 How does, and this is the massive question,
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 the massive question,
00:17:14 --> 00:17:19 how does life come from no life?
00:17:20 --> 00:17:21 How does that happen?
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 In 1952,
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 at the University of Chicago,
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 two scientists tried to replicate
00:17:34 --> 00:17:37 what you might call the Big Bang,
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 to get life from no life.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:47 It became known as the Miller-Urey experiment.
00:17:47 --> 00:17:48 It's quite a famous experiment.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 In 1952.
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 And they were able to produce
00:17:54 --> 00:18:00 a change
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 in four elements.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:07 But they weren't able to produce life.
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 And certainly not able to produce life
00:18:10 --> 00:18:11 that would produce life itself.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:14 In the end,
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 in 1952,
00:18:17 --> 00:18:18 it was a
00:18:18 --> 00:18:19 failed experiment
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 to produce life from non-life.
00:18:24 --> 00:18:24 That's
00:18:24 --> 00:18:25 1952.
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 Think of the
00:18:28 --> 00:18:30 scientific advancements that we've had
00:18:30 --> 00:18:31 since 1952,
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 in the last seven decades.
00:18:33 --> 00:18:33 I could
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 rattle off a long list.
00:18:35 --> 00:18:35 Initially,
00:18:36 --> 00:18:37 I did have a long list of everything that's happened
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 since 1952
00:18:39 --> 00:18:40 in scientific advancement.
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 And the Miller-Urey experiment
00:18:47 --> 00:18:48 has never been advanced upon
00:18:48 --> 00:18:49 since 1952.
00:18:54 --> 00:18:54 No one,
00:18:55 --> 00:18:56 no scientist,
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 has been able to go
00:18:58 --> 00:18:59 take life
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 out of no life.
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 And this is the question
00:19:04 --> 00:19:05 that science,
00:19:05 --> 00:19:06 frankly,
00:19:06 --> 00:19:07 cannot answer
00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 and their entire
00:19:09 --> 00:19:10 worldview hinges on it.
00:19:12 --> 00:19:13 That an atheist worldview
00:19:13 --> 00:19:14 hinges on this one.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:16 You see,
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 what Christians have been saying
00:19:19 --> 00:19:20 for centuries
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 is that the existence
00:19:22 --> 00:19:23 of God
00:19:23 --> 00:19:24 is inferred
00:19:24 --> 00:19:24 from the existence
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 of life itself.
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 Life must come
00:19:31 --> 00:19:32 from something
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 that is already
00:19:34 --> 00:19:34 alive.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:37 It cannot come
00:19:37 --> 00:19:38 from something
00:19:38 --> 00:19:39 that is dead,
00:19:39 --> 00:19:40 that doesn't exist.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:43 In his book,
00:19:43 --> 00:19:44 The Language of God,
00:19:44 --> 00:19:44 scientist
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 Francis Collins
00:19:46 --> 00:19:47 puts it like this.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:48 we have this
00:19:48 --> 00:19:49 very solid conclusion
00:19:49 --> 00:19:50 that the universe
00:19:50 --> 00:19:51 had an origin,
00:19:51 --> 00:19:52 the Big Bang,
00:19:52 --> 00:19:53 15 billion years ago.
00:19:53 --> 00:19:54 The universe began
00:19:54 --> 00:19:55 with an unimaginable
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 bright flash of energy
00:19:57 --> 00:19:57 from an infinitely
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 small point.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:00 That implies
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 that before that,
00:20:02 --> 00:20:02 there was nothing.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:05 I cannot imagine
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 how nature,
00:20:06 --> 00:20:07 in this case,
00:20:07 --> 00:20:08 the universe,
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 could have created itself.
00:20:11 --> 00:20:12 And the very fact
00:20:12 --> 00:20:12 that the universe
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 had a beginning
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 implies that someone
00:20:15 --> 00:20:16 was able to begin it.
00:20:17 --> 00:20:19 And it seems to me
00:20:19 --> 00:20:21 that had to be
00:20:21 --> 00:20:22 outside of nature.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:25 And so,
00:20:26 --> 00:20:27 ironically,
00:20:28 --> 00:20:29 for the rickage of aces
00:20:29 --> 00:20:30 and so on of this world,
00:20:31 --> 00:20:32 science itself
00:20:32 --> 00:20:33 has given us
00:20:33 --> 00:20:34 a strong case
00:20:34 --> 00:20:35 that there is something
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 beyond the natural world
00:20:37 --> 00:20:37 that brought it
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 into existence.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 And which even now
00:20:42 --> 00:20:43 upholds the existence
00:20:43 --> 00:20:44 of this universe.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:44 universe.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 That's the first clue,
00:20:48 --> 00:20:49 the cosmic wonder clue.
00:20:49 --> 00:20:50 The second one,
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 which builds on that one,
00:20:53 --> 00:20:54 the second clue
00:20:54 --> 00:20:54 for God's existence,
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 is the fine-tuning
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 design of the world.
00:21:01 --> 00:21:02 At one point,
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 the most famous atheist
00:21:04 --> 00:21:05 in the world,
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 a guy named Christopher Hitchens,
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 admitted that the fine-tuning
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 of the universe argument
00:21:12 --> 00:21:15 was an argument
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 that was not trivial.
00:21:17 --> 00:21:18 The most difficult one,
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 you had to think about it hard,
00:21:20 --> 00:21:22 the most difficult one
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 to actually get over.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:26 And so,
00:21:26 --> 00:21:27 the fine-tuning argument
00:21:27 --> 00:21:28 is kind of like this.
00:21:29 --> 00:21:30 Think of existence
00:21:30 --> 00:21:31 as a set of dials.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 Every one of those dials
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 must be at exactly
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 the right point,
00:21:39 --> 00:21:42 precisely at the right point
00:21:42 --> 00:21:43 for life to exist.
00:21:45 --> 00:21:48 Even a slight variation
00:21:48 --> 00:21:51 on any one of those dials,
00:21:51 --> 00:21:52 on any one of them,
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 would be enough
00:21:55 --> 00:21:56 for life to no longer
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 be able to exist.
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 On any one of the dials.
00:22:00 --> 00:22:04 And the irony is,
00:22:04 --> 00:22:05 it's with the advance
00:22:05 --> 00:22:06 of science
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 that we're discovering
00:22:08 --> 00:22:09 that this clue
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 is getting stronger
00:22:10 --> 00:22:11 and stronger
00:22:11 --> 00:22:12 and stronger.
00:22:16 --> 00:22:19 The scientist Carl Sagan
00:22:19 --> 00:22:19 once said
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 that there are only
00:22:20 --> 00:22:21 two parameters
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 for life to exist.
00:22:22 --> 00:22:22 In other words,
00:22:22 --> 00:22:23 there's only two dials
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 on the deck.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:26 With the advance
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 of the decades,
00:22:28 --> 00:22:28 science has discovered
00:22:28 --> 00:22:29 literally
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31 hundreds of parameters,
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33 hundreds of dials
00:22:33 --> 00:22:34 that need to be
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 fine-tuned perfectly,
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 not just in this world,
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39 not just in human life,
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 but also in the universe
00:22:42 --> 00:22:43 for life to exist.
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45 And the possibility
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 that those dials
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 came to accidentally
00:22:48 --> 00:22:49 be set
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 at exactly the right spot,
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 at exactly the right time
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55 for life to begin,
00:22:55 --> 00:22:56 and
00:22:56 --> 00:22:59 to have stayed
00:22:59 --> 00:23:00 statically
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 in those spots
00:23:02 --> 00:23:03 for life to continue
00:23:03 --> 00:23:04 to go on existing
00:23:04 --> 00:23:07 is a massive leap
00:23:07 --> 00:23:07 of faith.
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 And it's also
00:23:12 --> 00:23:13 a rejection
00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 of scientific evidence
00:23:15 --> 00:23:16 that shows
00:23:16 --> 00:23:16 the universe
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 is not static at all.
00:23:17 --> 00:23:22 You see,
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23 believers in God
00:23:23 --> 00:23:24 suggest
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25 the fine-tuning
00:23:25 --> 00:23:26 of physics
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 makes much more sense
00:23:28 --> 00:23:28 in a universe
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 in which there is
00:23:30 --> 00:23:30 a creator
00:23:30 --> 00:23:31 and a designer
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 who constantly
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 has his hands
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 on those dials.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:39 To quote
00:23:39 --> 00:23:40 Collins again,
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 if any one
00:23:42 --> 00:23:43 of those constants,
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 one of those dials,
00:23:45 --> 00:23:45 was off
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 by even
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 one part
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48 in a million,
00:23:48 --> 00:23:49 or in some cases
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 one part
00:23:50 --> 00:23:50 in a million million,
00:23:51 --> 00:23:51 the universe
00:23:51 --> 00:23:53 could not have come
00:23:53 --> 00:23:53 to the point
00:23:53 --> 00:23:54 where we see it.
00:23:55 --> 00:23:56 Matter
00:23:56 --> 00:23:57 would not have been
00:23:57 --> 00:23:59 able to coalesce.
00:23:59 --> 00:24:00 There would have been
00:24:00 --> 00:24:03 no galaxy,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:03 no stars,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 no planets,
00:24:04 --> 00:24:05 all people.
00:24:05 --> 00:24:08 And so it would be
00:24:08 --> 00:24:10 more reasonable
00:24:10 --> 00:24:11 to conclude
00:24:11 --> 00:24:12 it was something
00:24:12 --> 00:24:13 intended
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 and designed.
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16 Even the
00:24:16 --> 00:24:17 famous atheist
00:24:17 --> 00:24:18 Richard Dawkins
00:24:18 --> 00:24:19 says that
00:24:19 --> 00:24:20 the characteristics
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 of our world
00:24:22 --> 00:24:23 is the characteristics
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 of design,
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 even though he himself
00:24:26 --> 00:24:27 rejects a designer.
00:24:30 --> 00:24:31 Is that
00:24:31 --> 00:24:33 conclusive proof?
00:24:33 --> 00:24:36 Not at all.
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 Because it suggests
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40 only that it's
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 more likely
00:24:41 --> 00:24:42 that there is
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 a God
00:24:43 --> 00:24:44 than there is
00:24:44 --> 00:24:44 not a God.
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 But even
00:24:46 --> 00:24:47 those two
00:24:47 --> 00:24:48 cannot just
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 be dismissed.
00:24:52 --> 00:24:52 The distinguished
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 physician
00:24:53 --> 00:24:55 Lewis Thomas
00:24:55 --> 00:24:55 wrote,
00:24:56 --> 00:24:57 I cannot
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 make peace
00:24:58 --> 00:24:59 with a randomness
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 doctrine.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 I cannot
00:25:01 --> 00:25:02 abide the
00:25:02 --> 00:25:02 notion
00:25:02 --> 00:25:03 of purposeless
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 and blind
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 chance
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 in nature.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:07 And yet
00:25:07 --> 00:25:07 I do not
00:25:07 --> 00:25:08 know what
00:25:08 --> 00:25:08 to put
00:25:08 --> 00:25:09 in its
00:25:09 --> 00:25:09 place
00:25:09 --> 00:25:10 for the
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 quieting
00:25:11 --> 00:25:11 of my
00:25:11 --> 00:25:11 mind.
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 So there's
00:25:15 --> 00:25:15 just two
00:25:15 --> 00:25:16 of the
00:25:16 --> 00:25:17 at least
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18 30
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 extensive
00:25:19 --> 00:25:20 clues
00:25:20 --> 00:25:21 for the
00:25:21 --> 00:25:21 existence
00:25:21 --> 00:25:22 of God.
00:25:22 --> 00:25:23 Now none
00:25:23 --> 00:25:23 of these
00:25:23 --> 00:25:24 clues
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 are so
00:25:25 --> 00:25:25 strong
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26 by themselves
00:25:26 --> 00:25:27 as to
00:25:27 --> 00:25:28 false
00:25:28 --> 00:25:28 belief.
00:25:29 --> 00:25:30 But
00:25:30 --> 00:25:31 they do
00:25:31 --> 00:25:31 make it
00:25:31 --> 00:25:33 entirely
00:25:33 --> 00:25:34 rational,
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36 entirely
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38 rational to
00:25:38 --> 00:25:38 believe in
00:25:38 --> 00:25:39 the existence
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 of God.
00:25:42 --> 00:25:42 And in
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43 actual fact,
00:25:43 --> 00:25:43 with the
00:25:43 --> 00:25:44 advance of
00:25:44 --> 00:25:45 science,
00:25:45 --> 00:25:46 and it is
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47 rapidly
00:25:47 --> 00:25:47 advancing,
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 it becomes
00:25:49 --> 00:25:50 more and
00:25:50 --> 00:25:50 more
00:25:50 --> 00:25:51 irrational
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 to be an
00:25:53 --> 00:25:53 atheist
00:25:53 --> 00:25:56 based on
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 scientific
00:25:57 --> 00:25:57 evidence.
00:25:57 --> 00:25:57 evidence.
00:25:59 --> 00:25:59 I can
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 cope with
00:26:00 --> 00:26:00 an
00:26:00 --> 00:26:00 agnostic,
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 but an
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 atheist to
00:26:03 --> 00:26:03 say that
00:26:03 --> 00:26:03 they are
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 rational is
00:26:05 --> 00:26:06 to deny
00:26:06 --> 00:26:06 the
00:26:06 --> 00:26:06 scientific
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 evidence.
00:26:10 --> 00:26:11 Now the
00:26:11 --> 00:26:11 clues for
00:26:11 --> 00:26:13 God not
00:26:13 --> 00:26:13 only do
00:26:13 --> 00:26:14 not prove
00:26:14 --> 00:26:14 God's
00:26:14 --> 00:26:14 existence,
00:26:15 --> 00:26:15 but all
00:26:15 --> 00:26:15 they really
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 do is
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 they get
00:26:17 --> 00:26:17 us to a
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 point where
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19 there's a
00:26:19 --> 00:26:19 potential for
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 some abstract
00:26:21 --> 00:26:22 God out
00:26:22 --> 00:26:22 there.
00:26:22 --> 00:26:25 what Christians
00:26:25 --> 00:26:27 believe is
00:26:27 --> 00:26:27 that the
00:26:27 --> 00:26:28 main way
00:26:28 --> 00:26:29 we know
00:26:29 --> 00:26:30 specifics about
00:26:30 --> 00:26:31 this God
00:26:31 --> 00:26:32 is that this
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 God has
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 revealed
00:26:34 --> 00:26:36 himself in
00:26:36 --> 00:26:37 the person
00:26:37 --> 00:26:37 of Jesus
00:26:37 --> 00:26:38 Christ.
00:26:39 --> 00:26:39 And so
00:26:39 --> 00:26:40 is faith in
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 Jesus reasonable
00:26:42 --> 00:26:43 in 2026?
00:26:43 --> 00:26:47 Now God
00:26:47 --> 00:26:48 has not
00:26:48 --> 00:26:48 revealed
00:26:48 --> 00:26:49 himself,
00:26:49 --> 00:26:50 not first
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 through our
00:26:51 --> 00:26:51 thinking,
00:26:52 --> 00:26:53 but through
00:26:53 --> 00:26:53 God or
00:26:53 --> 00:26:54 through our
00:26:54 --> 00:26:54 assumptions
00:26:54 --> 00:26:55 about God,
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 but that God
00:26:56 --> 00:26:57 has specifically
00:26:57 --> 00:26:58 spoken to
00:26:58 --> 00:26:59 us.
00:27:00 --> 00:27:00 He speaks
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 to us
00:27:01 --> 00:27:01 according to
00:27:01 --> 00:27:02 Psalm 19
00:27:02 --> 00:27:03 in the
00:27:03 --> 00:27:03 Creator,
00:27:03 --> 00:27:03 all his
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 fingerprints
00:27:04 --> 00:27:04 everywhere,
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 but he
00:27:05 --> 00:27:05 speaks to
00:27:05 --> 00:27:05 us very
00:27:05 --> 00:27:06 specifically,
00:27:07 --> 00:27:07 very
00:27:07 --> 00:27:08 specifically
00:27:08 --> 00:27:09 in his
00:27:09 --> 00:27:10 Son,
00:27:10 --> 00:27:10 the Lord
00:27:10 --> 00:27:11 Jesus.
00:27:12 --> 00:27:13 Hebrews
00:27:13 --> 00:27:13 1,
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 read out
00:27:14 --> 00:27:14 to us
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15 by Janet,
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 is referring
00:27:16 --> 00:27:17 to Jesus
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18 when it
00:27:18 --> 00:27:18 makes the
00:27:18 --> 00:27:20 claim that
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 Jesus Christ
00:27:21 --> 00:27:22 is the
00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 final and
00:27:23 --> 00:27:24 decisive
00:27:24 --> 00:27:25 communication
00:27:25 --> 00:27:26 of God
00:27:26 --> 00:27:26 to humanity.
00:27:27 --> 00:27:28 In the
00:27:28 --> 00:27:28 past,
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29 God spoke
00:27:29 --> 00:27:29 to our
00:27:29 --> 00:27:29 ancestors
00:27:29 --> 00:27:30 through the
00:27:30 --> 00:27:30 prophets
00:27:30 --> 00:27:30 at many
00:27:30 --> 00:27:31 times and
00:27:31 --> 00:27:32 in various
00:27:32 --> 00:27:32 ways,
00:27:32 --> 00:27:33 but in
00:27:33 --> 00:27:33 these last
00:27:33 --> 00:27:34 days,
00:27:34 --> 00:27:34 he has
00:27:34 --> 00:27:35 spoken to
00:27:35 --> 00:27:35 us by
00:27:35 --> 00:27:36 his
00:27:36 --> 00:27:36 Son,
00:27:37 --> 00:27:37 whom he
00:27:37 --> 00:27:38 appointed
00:27:38 --> 00:27:38 heir of
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39 all things,
00:27:40 --> 00:27:40 and through
00:27:40 --> 00:27:41 whom also
00:27:41 --> 00:27:42 he made
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 the
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 universe.
00:27:45 --> 00:27:45 The
00:27:45 --> 00:27:45 Son is
00:27:45 --> 00:27:46 the
00:27:46 --> 00:27:46 radiance
00:27:46 --> 00:27:47 of God's
00:27:47 --> 00:27:48 glory and
00:27:48 --> 00:27:48 the exact
00:27:48 --> 00:27:49 representation
00:27:49 --> 00:27:50 of his
00:27:50 --> 00:27:51 being.
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 And so
00:27:54 --> 00:27:54 it's not
00:27:54 --> 00:27:55 surprising if
00:27:55 --> 00:27:56 that's true,
00:27:57 --> 00:27:57 that there
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58 is a
00:27:58 --> 00:27:59 God and
00:27:59 --> 00:27:59 this God
00:27:59 --> 00:28:00 has revealed
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 himself by
00:28:01 --> 00:28:02 sending
00:28:02 --> 00:28:03 his Son,
00:28:03 --> 00:28:03 the person
00:28:03 --> 00:28:04 of his
00:28:04 --> 00:28:04 Son,
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 the second
00:28:05 --> 00:28:05 member of
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 the Trinity
00:28:06 --> 00:28:08 into his
00:28:08 --> 00:28:09 world so
00:28:09 --> 00:28:10 that we
00:28:10 --> 00:28:10 might know
00:28:10 --> 00:28:11 God.
00:28:11 --> 00:28:11 If that
00:28:11 --> 00:28:12 is true,
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 it's not
00:28:13 --> 00:28:14 surprising why
00:28:14 --> 00:28:15 Christians would
00:28:15 --> 00:28:15 call Jesus
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 Christ the
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 single most
00:28:17 --> 00:28:17 influential
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 person who
00:28:18 --> 00:28:19 has ever
00:28:19 --> 00:28:19 lived.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 A greater
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 percentage of
00:28:23 --> 00:28:23 the world's
00:28:23 --> 00:28:25 population than
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26 ever before
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 is Christian.
00:28:28 --> 00:28:28 And
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 Christianity
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 adds to
00:28:31 --> 00:28:31 its ranks
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 just under
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 19 million
00:28:34 --> 00:28:35 new Christians
00:28:35 --> 00:28:36 every year.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 And
00:28:38 --> 00:28:38 Christianity
00:28:38 --> 00:28:40 is the
00:28:40 --> 00:28:41 one major
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42 religion in
00:28:42 --> 00:28:42 the world
00:28:42 --> 00:28:43 that is
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45 most equally
00:28:45 --> 00:28:45 distributed
00:28:45 --> 00:28:46 throughout all
00:28:46 --> 00:28:47 the continents
00:28:47 --> 00:28:48 of the
00:28:48 --> 00:28:48 world.
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 No other
00:28:50 --> 00:28:51 faith has
00:28:51 --> 00:28:53 so extensively
00:28:53 --> 00:28:53 crossed
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 cultural
00:28:54 --> 00:28:56 divisions of
00:28:56 --> 00:28:57 humanity and
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 found a place
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 in so many
00:29:00 --> 00:29:01 diverse cultural
00:29:01 --> 00:29:02 contexts,
00:29:02 --> 00:29:03 from the
00:29:03 --> 00:29:04 intellectual
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 elites to
00:29:06 --> 00:29:07 the uneducated,
00:29:07 --> 00:29:07 for the
00:29:07 --> 00:29:08 poor to
00:29:08 --> 00:29:08 the rich,
00:29:08 --> 00:29:08 from the
00:29:08 --> 00:29:09 west to
00:29:09 --> 00:29:09 the east,
00:29:09 --> 00:29:10 everywhere.
00:29:11 --> 00:29:12 Why has
00:29:12 --> 00:29:13 Jesus
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 affected so
00:29:15 --> 00:29:16 much of
00:29:16 --> 00:29:17 humanity?
00:29:20 --> 00:29:21 The answer
00:29:21 --> 00:29:21 to that
00:29:21 --> 00:29:22 question can
00:29:22 --> 00:29:23 only come by
00:29:23 --> 00:29:23 looking at
00:29:23 --> 00:29:24 his life,
00:29:24 --> 00:29:24 his words,
00:29:24 --> 00:29:25 and his
00:29:25 --> 00:29:25 actions.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:27 You see,
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 in Jesus,
00:29:28 --> 00:29:30 we see the
00:29:30 --> 00:29:31 qualities and
00:29:31 --> 00:29:32 the virtues
00:29:32 --> 00:29:32 that we
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33 would
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 ordinarily
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36 consider,
00:29:37 --> 00:29:38 incompatible
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 in the
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 same person.
00:29:41 --> 00:29:41 That is,
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43 Jesus combines
00:29:43 --> 00:29:43 both high
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 majesty with
00:29:45 --> 00:29:45 the greatest
00:29:45 --> 00:29:46 humility.
00:29:47 --> 00:29:48 He joins
00:29:48 --> 00:29:49 the strongest
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50 commitment to
00:29:50 --> 00:29:51 justice with
00:29:51 --> 00:29:51 astonishing
00:29:51 --> 00:29:53 grace and
00:29:53 --> 00:29:53 mercy,
00:29:54 --> 00:29:54 and he
00:29:54 --> 00:29:55 reveals a
00:29:55 --> 00:29:56 transcendent
00:29:56 --> 00:29:57 self-sufficiency
00:29:57 --> 00:29:59 and yet an
00:29:59 --> 00:30:00 entire trust in
00:30:00 --> 00:30:01 and reliance
00:30:01 --> 00:30:01 upon his
00:30:01 --> 00:30:02 heavenly father
00:30:02 --> 00:30:02 at the same
00:30:02 --> 00:30:03 time.
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 We are
00:30:05 --> 00:30:06 surprised with
00:30:06 --> 00:30:07 the person
00:30:07 --> 00:30:07 of Jesus
00:30:07 --> 00:30:08 to see
00:30:08 --> 00:30:09 such
00:30:09 --> 00:30:10 tenderness
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 but without
00:30:12 --> 00:30:12 weakness,
00:30:13 --> 00:30:14 boldness
00:30:14 --> 00:30:16 without
00:30:16 --> 00:30:17 harshness,
00:30:17 --> 00:30:17 humility
00:30:17 --> 00:30:18 without
00:30:18 --> 00:30:19 an
00:30:19 --> 00:30:20 uncertainty,
00:30:21 --> 00:30:21 indeed
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22 accompanied
00:30:22 --> 00:30:23 by a
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 towering
00:30:24 --> 00:30:25 self-confidence.
00:30:26 --> 00:30:26 He's
00:30:26 --> 00:30:27 unbending
00:30:27 --> 00:30:28 convictions
00:30:28 --> 00:30:30 but
00:30:30 --> 00:30:30 complete
00:30:30 --> 00:30:31 approachability,
00:30:32 --> 00:30:32 his
00:30:32 --> 00:30:33 insistence
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 on truth
00:30:34 --> 00:30:35 but always
00:30:35 --> 00:30:35 bathed in
00:30:35 --> 00:30:36 love,
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 his power
00:30:38 --> 00:30:38 without
00:30:38 --> 00:30:40 insensitivity,
00:30:41 --> 00:30:41 integrity
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 without
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 rigidity,
00:30:44 --> 00:30:44 passion
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 without
00:30:45 --> 00:30:45 prejudice.
00:30:45 --> 00:30:49 That's
00:30:49 --> 00:30:49 his life
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 and it's
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 perplexing,
00:30:52 --> 00:30:53 it's a
00:30:53 --> 00:30:53 paradox.
00:30:54 --> 00:30:55 People
00:30:55 --> 00:30:55 who have
00:30:55 --> 00:30:56 read and
00:30:56 --> 00:30:56 pondered
00:30:56 --> 00:30:57 Jesus'
00:30:57 --> 00:30:57 words,
00:30:57 --> 00:30:58 his deeds,
00:30:58 --> 00:30:58 his life
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 have
00:30:59 --> 00:30:59 groped
00:30:59 --> 00:31:00 for good
00:31:00 --> 00:31:01 ways to
00:31:01 --> 00:31:02 explain it
00:31:02 --> 00:31:02 and to
00:31:02 --> 00:31:03 try and
00:31:03 --> 00:31:04 describe what
00:31:04 --> 00:31:04 they see
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05 in the
00:31:05 --> 00:31:05 person of
00:31:05 --> 00:31:06 Jesus.
00:31:07 --> 00:31:07 And many
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 throughout the
00:31:08 --> 00:31:09 history of
00:31:09 --> 00:31:09 this world
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 and 19
00:31:10 --> 00:31:10 million people
00:31:10 --> 00:31:11 a year
00:31:11 --> 00:31:12 continue
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13 to realise
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 that the
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15 remarkable
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 claims that
00:31:16 --> 00:31:16 Jesus had
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17 about
00:31:17 --> 00:31:18 himself is
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 the only
00:31:19 --> 00:31:19 way that
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 you could
00:31:20 --> 00:31:20 land with
00:31:20 --> 00:31:21 the person
00:31:21 --> 00:31:21 of Jesus.
00:31:24 --> 00:31:24 You see,
00:31:24 --> 00:31:25 what is so
00:31:25 --> 00:31:26 surprising
00:31:26 --> 00:31:27 about Jesus
00:31:27 --> 00:31:28 is that
00:31:28 --> 00:31:29 his claims
00:31:29 --> 00:31:30 were so
00:31:30 --> 00:31:31 entirely
00:31:31 --> 00:31:33 self-focused,
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34 self-centred,
00:31:35 --> 00:31:36 but his
00:31:36 --> 00:31:37 character and
00:31:37 --> 00:31:38 his actions
00:31:38 --> 00:31:39 were so
00:31:39 --> 00:31:39 completely
00:31:39 --> 00:31:41 unself-centred,
00:31:42 --> 00:31:42 other-person
00:31:42 --> 00:31:43 centred,
00:31:44 --> 00:31:44 we never
00:31:44 --> 00:31:45 see him
00:31:45 --> 00:31:45 pompous
00:31:45 --> 00:31:46 or offended
00:31:46 --> 00:31:46 or standing
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 on his
00:31:47 --> 00:31:47 dignity,
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 he's
00:31:48 --> 00:31:48 approachable
00:31:48 --> 00:31:49 to the
00:31:49 --> 00:31:49 weakest
00:31:49 --> 00:31:49 person
00:31:49 --> 00:31:50 and the
00:31:50 --> 00:31:50 most
00:31:50 --> 00:31:51 broken
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52 person,
00:31:52 --> 00:31:53 we don't
00:31:53 --> 00:31:53 ever see
00:31:53 --> 00:31:54 him moody
00:31:54 --> 00:31:55 or irritable,
00:31:56 --> 00:31:56 there is
00:31:56 --> 00:31:58 an unsurpassed
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 moral and
00:31:59 --> 00:32:00 spiritual beauty
00:32:00 --> 00:32:01 about his
00:32:01 --> 00:32:02 character and
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03 the teachings
00:32:03 --> 00:32:04 of Jesus
00:32:04 --> 00:32:04 Christ.
00:32:08 --> 00:32:08 Houston
00:32:08 --> 00:32:09 Smith in his
00:32:09 --> 00:32:09 book,
00:32:09 --> 00:32:10 The World's
00:32:10 --> 00:32:10 Religions,
00:32:11 --> 00:32:14 he wrote
00:32:14 --> 00:32:14 there that
00:32:14 --> 00:32:15 only Buddha
00:32:15 --> 00:32:17 and Jesus
00:32:17 --> 00:32:19 so impressed
00:32:19 --> 00:32:20 their
00:32:20 --> 00:32:21 contemporaries,
00:32:21 --> 00:32:22 so impressed
00:32:22 --> 00:32:23 their contemporaries,
00:32:24 --> 00:32:25 that their
00:32:25 --> 00:32:26 contemporaries
00:32:26 --> 00:32:26 were asking
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 the question,
00:32:28 --> 00:32:28 not just
00:32:28 --> 00:32:29 simply,
00:32:29 --> 00:32:29 who are
00:32:29 --> 00:32:30 you,
00:32:30 --> 00:32:31 but what
00:32:31 --> 00:32:32 are you?
00:32:33 --> 00:32:34 Your life
00:32:34 --> 00:32:35 is not
00:32:35 --> 00:32:35 normal human
00:32:35 --> 00:32:36 life,
00:32:36 --> 00:32:36 what are
00:32:36 --> 00:32:37 you?
00:32:37 --> 00:32:38 Only
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 those two
00:32:39 --> 00:32:40 figures had
00:32:40 --> 00:32:41 characters that
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 transcended
00:32:42 --> 00:32:43 ordinary human
00:32:43 --> 00:32:44 life to the
00:32:44 --> 00:32:45 degree that
00:32:45 --> 00:32:46 that question
00:32:46 --> 00:32:46 was necessary.
00:32:50 --> 00:32:50 Buddha
00:32:50 --> 00:32:51 asserted
00:32:51 --> 00:32:53 with absolute
00:32:53 --> 00:32:53 clarity
00:32:53 --> 00:32:55 and with
00:32:55 --> 00:32:56 a deep,
00:32:56 --> 00:32:57 deep emphasis
00:32:57 --> 00:32:58 that he was
00:32:58 --> 00:32:59 not divine
00:32:59 --> 00:33:00 in any way,
00:33:01 --> 00:33:01 that he was
00:33:01 --> 00:33:02 not an
00:33:02 --> 00:33:03 angelic being
00:33:03 --> 00:33:04 in any way
00:33:04 --> 00:33:05 whatsoever,
00:33:05 --> 00:33:06 he was fully
00:33:06 --> 00:33:06 human.
00:33:07 --> 00:33:08 On the
00:33:08 --> 00:33:09 other hand,
00:33:10 --> 00:33:10 Jesus
00:33:10 --> 00:33:11 repeatedly
00:33:11 --> 00:33:12 and
00:33:12 --> 00:33:12 continually
00:33:12 --> 00:33:14 claimed to
00:33:14 --> 00:33:15 be the
00:33:15 --> 00:33:16 God
00:33:16 --> 00:33:18 who created
00:33:18 --> 00:33:18 all things.
00:33:19 --> 00:33:20 Jesus
00:33:20 --> 00:33:20 made that
00:33:20 --> 00:33:21 claim of
00:33:21 --> 00:33:21 himself
00:33:21 --> 00:33:23 clearly
00:33:23 --> 00:33:26 and that
00:33:26 --> 00:33:27 creates an
00:33:27 --> 00:33:28 enormous
00:33:28 --> 00:33:29 challenge for
00:33:29 --> 00:33:29 us
00:33:29 --> 00:33:33 because
00:33:33 --> 00:33:34 Jesus is
00:33:34 --> 00:33:34 one of the
00:33:34 --> 00:33:35 very few
00:33:35 --> 00:33:36 persons in
00:33:36 --> 00:33:36 history of
00:33:36 --> 00:33:37 humanity
00:33:37 --> 00:33:39 who founded
00:33:39 --> 00:33:40 a great
00:33:40 --> 00:33:40 world
00:33:40 --> 00:33:41 religion.
00:33:42 --> 00:33:43 He belongs
00:33:43 --> 00:33:44 to a very,
00:33:44 --> 00:33:45 very small
00:33:45 --> 00:33:46 group of
00:33:46 --> 00:33:47 people who
00:33:47 --> 00:33:47 have founded
00:33:47 --> 00:33:48 a great
00:33:48 --> 00:33:49 world religion,
00:33:49 --> 00:33:50 who have
00:33:50 --> 00:33:51 had a
00:33:51 --> 00:33:52 massive impact
00:33:52 --> 00:33:53 on millions
00:33:53 --> 00:33:54 of people
00:33:54 --> 00:33:56 largely because
00:33:56 --> 00:33:57 of their
00:33:57 --> 00:33:57 brilliant
00:33:57 --> 00:33:58 teaching,
00:33:59 --> 00:34:00 but also
00:34:00 --> 00:34:01 because of
00:34:01 --> 00:34:01 their
00:34:01 --> 00:34:02 admirable
00:34:02 --> 00:34:03 lives and
00:34:03 --> 00:34:04 characters.
00:34:05 --> 00:34:05 But the
00:34:05 --> 00:34:06 difference
00:34:06 --> 00:34:06 between
00:34:06 --> 00:34:07 Jesus
00:34:07 --> 00:34:09 and the
00:34:09 --> 00:34:10 others in
00:34:10 --> 00:34:11 that small
00:34:11 --> 00:34:11 group
00:34:11 --> 00:34:14 is that
00:34:14 --> 00:34:14 he was the
00:34:14 --> 00:34:15 only one
00:34:15 --> 00:34:16 who claimed
00:34:16 --> 00:34:17 to be
00:34:17 --> 00:34:18 God.
00:34:18 --> 00:34:21 God, the
00:34:21 --> 00:34:22 only one
00:34:22 --> 00:34:22 who claimed
00:34:22 --> 00:34:24 to be the
00:34:24 --> 00:34:24 God who
00:34:24 --> 00:34:25 created all
00:34:25 --> 00:34:26 things.
00:34:28 --> 00:34:29 Buddha
00:34:29 --> 00:34:30 emphatically
00:34:30 --> 00:34:30 said that
00:34:30 --> 00:34:31 he wasn't.
00:34:32 --> 00:34:33 Muhammad,
00:34:33 --> 00:34:33 of course,
00:34:33 --> 00:34:34 would never
00:34:34 --> 00:34:35 ever have
00:34:35 --> 00:34:35 claimed to
00:34:35 --> 00:34:36 be Allah
00:34:36 --> 00:34:38 and nor
00:34:38 --> 00:34:38 did
00:34:38 --> 00:34:39 Confucius.
00:34:41 --> 00:34:42 Jesus
00:34:42 --> 00:34:44 is the
00:34:44 --> 00:34:44 only one,
00:34:44 --> 00:34:47 God,
00:34:47 --> 00:34:47 but he's
00:34:47 --> 00:34:47 also part
00:34:47 --> 00:34:48 of a
00:34:48 --> 00:34:48 second
00:34:48 --> 00:34:48 group of
00:34:48 --> 00:34:50 people who
00:34:50 --> 00:34:50 claimed to
00:34:50 --> 00:34:51 be God.
00:34:51 --> 00:34:51 Of course,
00:34:51 --> 00:34:52 there are
00:34:52 --> 00:34:52 plenty of
00:34:52 --> 00:34:52 nut jobs
00:34:52 --> 00:34:53 out there,
00:34:53 --> 00:34:53 isn't there?
00:34:55 --> 00:34:55 And what
00:34:55 --> 00:34:56 makes him
00:34:56 --> 00:34:57 unique in
00:34:57 --> 00:34:57 this group
00:34:57 --> 00:34:59 of people,
00:35:00 --> 00:35:02 what makes
00:35:02 --> 00:35:03 in fact this
00:35:03 --> 00:35:03 whole group
00:35:03 --> 00:35:04 of people
00:35:04 --> 00:35:04 unique,
00:35:04 --> 00:35:05 apart from
00:35:05 --> 00:35:05 Jesus,
00:35:05 --> 00:35:06 is that the
00:35:06 --> 00:35:07 members of
00:35:07 --> 00:35:08 this group,
00:35:08 --> 00:35:08 this small
00:35:08 --> 00:35:09 group of
00:35:09 --> 00:35:09 people who
00:35:09 --> 00:35:09 claimed to
00:35:09 --> 00:35:10 be God,
00:35:10 --> 00:35:11 were only
00:35:11 --> 00:35:12 able to
00:35:12 --> 00:35:12 convince a
00:35:12 --> 00:35:14 very small
00:35:14 --> 00:35:14 group of
00:35:14 --> 00:35:14 people,
00:35:15 --> 00:35:16 that they
00:35:16 --> 00:35:16 were in
00:35:16 --> 00:35:17 fact divine,
00:35:18 --> 00:35:19 that they
00:35:19 --> 00:35:19 were in
00:35:19 --> 00:35:20 fact God.
00:35:23 --> 00:35:24 So why
00:35:24 --> 00:35:25 did Jesus
00:35:25 --> 00:35:26 succeed?
00:35:27 --> 00:35:28 Succeed as
00:35:28 --> 00:35:29 the only
00:35:29 --> 00:35:29 person who
00:35:29 --> 00:35:30 ever claimed
00:35:30 --> 00:35:32 deity and
00:35:32 --> 00:35:33 founded a
00:35:33 --> 00:35:34 major religion,
00:35:34 --> 00:35:35 in fact the
00:35:35 --> 00:35:36 largest one.
00:35:40 --> 00:35:41 How was
00:35:41 --> 00:35:42 he able to
00:35:42 --> 00:35:42 do that?
00:35:44 --> 00:35:45 Firstly,
00:35:45 --> 00:35:45 because his
00:35:45 --> 00:35:46 life was
00:35:46 --> 00:35:47 exquisitely
00:35:47 --> 00:35:47 beautiful.
00:35:49 --> 00:35:49 It is
00:35:49 --> 00:35:50 extraordinarily
00:35:50 --> 00:35:51 difficult to
00:35:51 --> 00:35:53 claim to
00:35:53 --> 00:35:53 be God,
00:35:54 --> 00:35:54 to claim to
00:35:54 --> 00:35:55 be perfect,
00:35:56 --> 00:35:57 to claim to
00:35:57 --> 00:35:58 be divine,
00:35:59 --> 00:36:00 and then at
00:36:00 --> 00:36:01 the same time
00:36:01 --> 00:36:02 get everyone
00:36:02 --> 00:36:03 you live with
00:36:03 --> 00:36:04 to be convinced
00:36:04 --> 00:36:05 of that truth
00:36:05 --> 00:36:05 as well.
00:36:05 --> 00:36:05 God.
00:36:11 --> 00:36:11 I mean,
00:36:12 --> 00:36:14 his disciples
00:36:14 --> 00:36:15 were with
00:36:15 --> 00:36:15 him for
00:36:15 --> 00:36:16 three years.
00:36:17 --> 00:36:17 On the
00:36:17 --> 00:36:18 most part,
00:36:19 --> 00:36:19 if we had
00:36:19 --> 00:36:20 12 people who
00:36:20 --> 00:36:21 lived with
00:36:21 --> 00:36:22 us for
00:36:22 --> 00:36:23 three years,
00:36:23 --> 00:36:24 you wouldn't
00:36:24 --> 00:36:24 get past
00:36:24 --> 00:36:25 lunch on the
00:36:25 --> 00:36:26 first day and
00:36:26 --> 00:36:27 your claims to
00:36:27 --> 00:36:28 divinity would
00:36:28 --> 00:36:29 be crushed.
00:36:31 --> 00:36:32 The evidence is
00:36:32 --> 00:36:32 there for all
00:36:32 --> 00:36:32 to see.
00:36:32 --> 00:36:38 The other
00:36:38 --> 00:36:38 reason that
00:36:38 --> 00:36:39 Jesus was
00:36:39 --> 00:36:40 worshipped by
00:36:40 --> 00:36:41 Jews as
00:36:41 --> 00:36:42 God very
00:36:42 --> 00:36:43 significantly is
00:36:43 --> 00:36:44 that he in
00:36:44 --> 00:36:44 fact came back
00:36:44 --> 00:36:45 to life after
00:36:45 --> 00:36:46 he was
00:36:46 --> 00:36:47 crucified on
00:36:47 --> 00:36:47 a Roman
00:36:47 --> 00:36:48 cross.
00:36:50 --> 00:36:51 And so in
00:36:51 --> 00:36:52 Jesus Christ is
00:36:52 --> 00:36:52 a man who
00:36:52 --> 00:36:53 claimed to be
00:36:53 --> 00:36:55 God, yet who
00:36:55 --> 00:36:56 lived a life so
00:36:56 --> 00:36:57 great that he
00:36:57 --> 00:36:59 became the only
00:36:59 --> 00:37:00 person to
00:37:00 --> 00:37:01 convince a
00:37:01 --> 00:37:02 sizable part of
00:37:02 --> 00:37:04 humanity and
00:37:04 --> 00:37:05 continues to do
00:37:05 --> 00:37:06 so, that he
00:37:06 --> 00:37:07 was in fact who
00:37:07 --> 00:37:08 he said he
00:37:08 --> 00:37:08 was.
00:37:10 --> 00:37:11 And what that
00:37:11 --> 00:37:12 means is that
00:37:12 --> 00:37:14 none of us can
00:37:14 --> 00:37:15 be indifferent to
00:37:15 --> 00:37:15 that claim.
00:37:17 --> 00:37:18 No one can be
00:37:18 --> 00:37:18 indifferent to
00:37:18 --> 00:37:19 that claim.
00:37:19 --> 00:37:20 It's not just
00:37:20 --> 00:37:20 for people of
00:37:20 --> 00:37:21 faith.
00:37:22 --> 00:37:23 We cannot
00:37:23 --> 00:37:25 resolve the
00:37:25 --> 00:37:27 issue by
00:37:27 --> 00:37:29 saying he
00:37:29 --> 00:37:29 was only a
00:37:29 --> 00:37:30 great teacher,
00:37:30 --> 00:37:31 good bloke.
00:37:31 --> 00:37:33 work because
00:37:33 --> 00:37:34 all of his
00:37:34 --> 00:37:35 declarations of
00:37:35 --> 00:37:36 what he said
00:37:36 --> 00:37:36 about himself
00:37:36 --> 00:37:38 do not allow
00:37:38 --> 00:37:38 us just to
00:37:38 --> 00:37:39 land at that
00:37:39 --> 00:37:39 point.
00:37:42 --> 00:37:43 We can't
00:37:43 --> 00:37:44 say, well, he
00:37:44 --> 00:37:45 never really made
00:37:45 --> 00:37:46 those claims about
00:37:46 --> 00:37:47 himself because
00:37:47 --> 00:37:48 all the historical
00:37:48 --> 00:37:49 evidence is there.
00:37:50 --> 00:37:51 We cannot be
00:37:51 --> 00:37:52 content with the
00:37:52 --> 00:37:54 explanation that
00:37:54 --> 00:37:55 he was deranged
00:37:55 --> 00:37:56 or that he
00:37:56 --> 00:37:57 was a fraud
00:37:57 --> 00:37:59 because of the
00:37:59 --> 00:38:01 clear evidence
00:38:01 --> 00:38:02 of his wisdom
00:38:02 --> 00:38:03 and his
00:38:03 --> 00:38:04 greatness and
00:38:04 --> 00:38:05 the impact of
00:38:05 --> 00:38:06 his life on
00:38:06 --> 00:38:06 his followers
00:38:06 --> 00:38:08 and because of
00:38:08 --> 00:38:09 the historical
00:38:09 --> 00:38:10 case for his
00:38:10 --> 00:38:11 resurrection.
00:38:14 --> 00:38:15 And that
00:38:15 --> 00:38:16 leaves us with
00:38:16 --> 00:38:17 the final
00:38:17 --> 00:38:18 possible
00:38:18 --> 00:38:18 explanation,
00:38:19 --> 00:38:20 namely, that
00:38:20 --> 00:38:21 Jesus Christ
00:38:21 --> 00:38:23 is who he
00:38:23 --> 00:38:24 claimed to
00:38:24 --> 00:38:24 be.
00:38:26 --> 00:38:26 And that
00:38:26 --> 00:38:26 is the
00:38:26 --> 00:38:27 creator God
00:38:27 --> 00:38:30 coming into
00:38:30 --> 00:38:31 earth,
00:38:32 --> 00:38:33 siding with
00:38:33 --> 00:38:34 us to
00:38:34 --> 00:38:35 reveal the
00:38:35 --> 00:38:36 God who
00:38:36 --> 00:38:37 made it all
00:38:37 --> 00:38:38 and who
00:38:38 --> 00:38:38 sustains it
00:38:38 --> 00:38:39 all.
00:38:40 --> 00:38:41 You see, as
00:38:41 --> 00:38:41 the creator of
00:38:41 --> 00:38:42 the universe,
00:38:42 --> 00:38:43 he makes
00:38:43 --> 00:38:43 claims on
00:38:43 --> 00:38:44 every single
00:38:44 --> 00:38:45 one of our
00:38:45 --> 00:38:46 lives.
00:38:46 --> 00:38:48 And what
00:38:48 --> 00:38:48 he said to
00:38:48 --> 00:38:51 Thomas in
00:38:51 --> 00:38:52 John 14,
00:38:53 --> 00:38:53 and it's a
00:38:53 --> 00:38:54 little verse
00:38:54 --> 00:38:54 that came
00:38:54 --> 00:38:55 straight after
00:38:55 --> 00:38:55 what was
00:38:55 --> 00:38:55 read,
00:38:57 --> 00:38:58 still stands
00:38:58 --> 00:38:58 for your
00:38:58 --> 00:38:59 life and
00:38:59 --> 00:38:59 for my
00:38:59 --> 00:39:00 life.
00:39:01 --> 00:39:01 This is
00:39:01 --> 00:39:01 still the
00:39:01 --> 00:39:02 claim over
00:39:02 --> 00:39:03 your life
00:39:03 --> 00:39:04 now.
00:39:05 --> 00:39:05 Jesus said,
00:39:06 --> 00:39:06 I am
00:39:06 --> 00:39:08 the way,
00:39:09 --> 00:39:10 the truth,
00:39:10 --> 00:39:10 and the
00:39:10 --> 00:39:11 life.
00:39:12 --> 00:39:13 And no
00:39:13 --> 00:39:14 one comes
00:39:14 --> 00:39:14 to the
00:39:14 --> 00:39:14 Father
00:39:14 --> 00:39:16 except
00:39:16 --> 00:39:17 through me.
00:39:18 --> 00:39:19 And so
00:39:19 --> 00:39:19 in the
00:39:19 --> 00:39:19 next three
00:39:19 --> 00:39:20 weeks,
00:39:21 --> 00:39:22 Nick and
00:39:22 --> 00:39:23 I and
00:39:23 --> 00:39:23 John,
00:39:24 --> 00:39:24 we're going
00:39:24 --> 00:39:25 to be
00:39:25 --> 00:39:26 unpacking
00:39:26 --> 00:39:26 each one
00:39:26 --> 00:39:27 of those
00:39:27 --> 00:39:27 claims.
00:39:29 --> 00:39:29 Jesus is
00:39:29 --> 00:39:30 the way,
00:39:31 --> 00:39:32 he's the
00:39:32 --> 00:39:32 truth,
00:39:33 --> 00:39:34 and he's
00:39:34 --> 00:39:34 the life.
00:39:35 --> 00:39:36 And as
00:39:36 --> 00:39:37 hard as
00:39:37 --> 00:39:38 it is to
00:39:38 --> 00:39:39 believe that
00:39:39 --> 00:39:39 he is
00:39:39 --> 00:39:40 God,
00:39:40 --> 00:39:40 come to
00:39:40 --> 00:39:41 earth,
00:39:42 --> 00:39:43 the more
00:39:43 --> 00:39:44 you
00:39:44 --> 00:39:44 investigate,
00:39:44 --> 00:39:48 it becomes
00:39:48 --> 00:39:48 harder,
00:39:49 --> 00:39:49 much more
00:39:49 --> 00:39:50 difficult not
00:39:50 --> 00:39:50 to believe
00:39:50 --> 00:39:51 it.
00:39:53 --> 00:39:53 It is,
00:39:54 --> 00:39:54 in fact,
00:39:54 --> 00:39:55 reasonable to
00:39:55 --> 00:39:55 be a
00:39:55 --> 00:39:55 follower of
00:39:55 --> 00:39:57 Jesus in
00:39:57 --> 00:39:58 2026.
00:39:58 --> 00:39:59 And I
00:39:59 --> 00:40:00 invite you,
00:40:00 --> 00:40:00 if you're
00:40:00 --> 00:40:01 someone who
00:40:01 --> 00:40:01 does not
00:40:01 --> 00:40:02 know him,
00:40:02 --> 00:40:03 I'd invite
00:40:03 --> 00:40:03 you to
00:40:03 --> 00:40:05 explore him,
00:40:06 --> 00:40:06 make that as
00:40:06 --> 00:40:07 a massive
00:40:07 --> 00:40:07 priority for
00:40:07 --> 00:40:08 your life
00:40:08 --> 00:40:09 in 2026.
00:40:09 --> 00:40:09 2026.
00:40:10 --> 00:40:11 And if
00:40:11 --> 00:40:11 you do
00:40:11 --> 00:40:12 know him,
00:40:13 --> 00:40:13 to make
00:40:13 --> 00:40:14 a plan to
00:40:14 --> 00:40:14 go deeper
00:40:14 --> 00:40:15 to know
00:40:15 --> 00:40:15 him more
00:40:15 --> 00:40:18 in 2026.
00:40:18 --> 00:40:20 as
00:40:20 --> 00:40:20
00:40:20 --> 00:40:20
00:40:20 --> 00:40:20
00:40:20 --> 00:40:20
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00:40:20 --> 00:40:20
00:40:20 --> 00:40:50 Thank you.