Verifiable Truth: The Resurrection as Our Foundation

"Kath I think it's kind of ironic that here we are in the 21st century first third of the 21st century and perhaps the biggest proponent of verifiable facts and Truth is the Christian church because what's happening in our culture I just read a book by James Davis a hunter a friend of mine who was saying increasingly the culture doesn't believe in facts or truth it believes that people create their own truth they create their own facts there's no real certainty about what the right the right take on reality is and so here we have the Christian Church of all things being the the center of the uh of emphasis on there are historical facts that can be verified." [00:00:00]

"um and the point of calling the article about was that God worked it out so that we didn't have to take the resurrection just on trust he actually made it verifiable now I remember that article despite my advancing years I remember the article was a great article that's why I remember it's probably still running around the internet you can never lose anything anymore stuff just lives forever one of the things I remember very clearly though is First Corinthians 15 you quote it very important um place where Paul's talking about the resurrection and he says if Christ is not raised you are your faith is futile you're still in your sins and we of all people are most to be pitied if the resurrection is just a a nice story uh we're we're lost we're lost because the resurrection really had to happen and then Paul goes on to explain that there are eyewitnesses and this is absolutely verifiable historical truth." [00:01:19]

"and while we were on vacation one year long ago I got to Matthew 28 which is the resurrection and the women going to the tomb and I've had such a familiar passage I've read it how many times and thought well I'm not going to see anything near here that I haven't seen before and I was going to read it really quickly and you know again got it done but then I did see something new I mean you can read a passage in the Bible how many times and God will always show you something new that you said now that I ever miss that yeah that is that that is one of the reasons why because it's a Divine book because God speaks to us not only in it but sort of through it uh you really can't read the Bible too often you can never say oh I read that chapter I can skip it yeah never and so you went back you read it again and what was it you saw well it's the part where it's talking about the women are going out to the tomb to anoint Jesus body because of course he was buried very hastily after the crucifixion they didn't think that all of the rights had been done properly and they were in Mark um 16 it tells us that they were actually worried about how they were going to get into the tomb because of that huge rock that was like down in the declivity which would have been a problem not just for women but men I mean it's not meant to be moved so they were discussing that and going back to Matthew 28 it says when they got there the stone was rolled away and there was an angel sitting on top of it and you know I looked at that and I said okay Jesus didn't need the angel to let him out of the Tomb it's not like he's like knock knock you know get to let me out well he was the creator he was he was he was in charge of every molecule the universe from all those gorgeous images that the web telescope shows us to feeding of the well five thousand some commentators think it was more like twenty thousand if you count the women and the children because it was that was only men right and also the Risen Christ appeared to his disciples through locked door right with his resurrection but he could have gone through he really didn't need anything he did not need the angel to move it in fact he was gone by the time the angel got there he was on his way to Galilee is what the angel says he was already Elvis had left the building you know he was he had already he was already gone and the angel was there to say go in and look and what did they see when they went in and looked they saw the grave clothes which would have been you know wound around the body mummy's style the Gospel of John talks about that but they weren't Disturbed they weren't like ripped off or anything like that they were just all still wound up very neatly and he had passed through those and then he'd pass through the rock it's such a and then they went and told the disciples the disciples came and looked and they saw the same thing it says that Peter saw the grave clothes Etc the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out right but to let us in to trust but verify that the resurrection had actually taken place because it took place in time and in space and in history and to to take a slogan that I've heard used in other situations that I may not agree with history is on our side you can ask any question you like of Christianity and I'll help you look for the answer I'll help you ask the question because it can stand up to that it has to be factual it has to be it can by the way two really really important books to show this I knew there would be well Auntie Wright's book the resurrection of the Son of God which is a real doorstopper it is and another one is similar is Richard Balcom Jesus and the eyewitnesses but the main point I think that we need to make sure everybody sees is that other religions and other religions you're saved by following the teachings of the founder yeah yeah whoever the founder is the most important thing that that uh founder did was teach how do you behave so that you can be saved right and therefore um the teaching is the key thing but we do not believe you're saved by your good works or by anything you do we're saved we understand the gospels we're saved by what Jesus did did what he did not what we do in fact provable which means it's it's Jesus though he was a great teacher he was more than a teacher he was a savior and it wasn't just that we need to listen to what Jesus says which we do but we have to trust in what he did and therefore unless the cross really happened unless the resurrection really happened then we are still lost we're still in our sins as it were and it all started with an angel politely rolling the stone away and inviting us to come in and verify that if it actually happens." [00:02:37]