407: Darren Tappouras – The Resurrection of Christ

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Welcome to good Christophian
talks.

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Thank you for joining us this
week.

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On this podcast, we select one
talk a week to help us get the

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Bible in our Daily News feed.
Each week we post a talk that we

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previewed from suggestions sent
in by listeners from around the

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world.
Then we record a short intro

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beforehand as a personalized
recommendation to you on why we

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are sharing the talk.
And now let’s talk more about

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this week’s talk.
Hello and welcome back to good

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Christadelphian Talks.
My name is Gideon Ryan, I am a

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member of the Hunter Valley
Ecclesia in New South Wales,

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Australia and I’m your guest
host for GCT this July.

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The talk this week is from a
series called The Man Who

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Changed the World and it was
given by Darren Deporis in

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2025’s Summer School at
Rathmines.

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I was actually at this Bible
school and was fortunate enough

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to engage in much of the
discussion surrounding the

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topics.
In some of those discussions,

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Darren mentioned his delightful
surprise that the Bible School

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Committee went with this topic
of his because it was more

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focused on apologetics, that is,
the evidence for Christ’s

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existence, impact, and
resurrection than it was on

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exposition.
In the upcoming recording,

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Darren gives a bit of a recap of
his previous sessions, but I

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highly recommend listening to
the whole series on GCT Extended

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first to feel the impact of what
he says at the end of this talk.

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After a week of comprehending
just how significant the man

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Jesus Christ was and still is, I
was incredibly moved by Darren’s

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candidness, honesty, and
frankness as he closes his talk.

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It was a unique feeling because
it made me deeply sad for those

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that have rejected Christ, but
overjoyed and comforted in my

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own acceptance of Him and our
communities.

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So here is Darren’s talk titled
The Resurrection of Christ.

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All right.
Just a a quick recalibration of

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where we’ve come so far this
week.

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Now objective has been taken
from Philippians 3 to know him.

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So the focus has been on Jesus
Christ and the power of his

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resurrection.
And so that’s sort of been the

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the sort of guiding principle
that’s taken us through these

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studies.
And some of the things that

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we’ve expressed and focused on
are things like Jesus Christ is

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everything.
Jesus Christ is our Lord.

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He is the reason we wake up in
the morning.

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He’s the reason we live our
lives.

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It is for his sake that we do
things and that we don’t do

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things.
He is the also the, the

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biblically speaking.
He is the centre and the object

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of of God’s eternal purpose.
We’d looked at that in one of

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our early sessions.
He’s the fulfilment and the

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focus of the entire Old
Testament.

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The Spirit of Christ, as first
Peter says, saturated the entire

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Old Testament record.
The stories, the narratives, the

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events, the prophecies, the
types that were all screaming

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out Jesus in anticipation.
Historically speaking, and

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technically speaking, we saw
that Jesus Christ existed.

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He’s a fact of history, a
bedrock fact of history, and it

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is an incontrovertible fact of
history that he lived, that he

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was executed by Pontius Pilate,
the Roman governor of Judea.

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He was executed by crucifixion.
And history confirms that his

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followers proclaimed the
resurrection as the explanation

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of why there was an empty tomb
where he had been buried.

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And these are these are facts.
Now this morning we want to turn

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our attention to the empty tomb
and make some observations about

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that as we look at the power of
the resurrection.

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The reality is there were no
CCTV cameras, there is no

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footage of what happened at the
empty tomb.

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So we have reached a point in
which we have identified facts,

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historical facts that we can
know and which can be verified.

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But we reach a point where it is
now up to us to make a decision.

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We have reached a point where
historians and scholars can no

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longer help us.
They have no their, their

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opinions matter nothing at this
point.

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Their, their opinions do not
hold any more weight than you or

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I.
We’ve engaged with scholars

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because we want to know the
facts, the historical facts and

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be certain of that.
But at this point, we’re now

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looking into an empty tomb and
we’re now arriving at our own

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conclusions in regards to that.
I want to introduce you quickly

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to a, a mechanism used by
historians when they’re

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evaluating historical facts and
historical scenarios and

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historical claims in particular.
And it’s called the Ibe, which

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stands for your, the inference
to the best explanation.

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So it’s a, it’s a methodology to
look at the facts that surround

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a historical event or a
historical claim and look at

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what makes up the, the best
explanation to explain all those

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facts.
And we’re going to come back to

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that as we end this this session
this morning.

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So it’s an inductive argument
where we observe the facts that

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we know and we look at competing
and alternative theories as

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well.
And we evaluate them as we look

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at how they may work out.
Now, you might think, well is

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this is not a we don’t come to
Bible school for a logic lesson

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and to to learn about how to
evaluate facts.

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That’s not where we’re here to
study the Bible primarily.

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But I don’t think the two are
mutually exclusive.

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And I want to just introduce to
you a logic factor that comes

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through very early in the in the
story of Acts.

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Remember, the apostles are
arrested, they’re taken to the

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Jewish Sanhedrin, the Jewish
leadership at the time to, to be

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arraigned and, and, and possibly
sentenced.

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And on that occasion they’re,
they’re, they’re taken out of

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the room at the request of
Gamaliel.

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Now Gamaliel was a, a legendary
figure in, in Jewish history,

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won’t go into that right now,
but he was held in high honour

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as a text, he says in Acts 5.
And at the council, Gamaliel

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stood up.
And I imagine everyone in the

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council would have being in awe
of what Gamaliel says.

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So they sit back and they listen
to this revered person as he

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stands up.
And he says, men of Israel take

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care of what you’re about to do.
He says he puts to them this

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logic, this, this way of seeing
what’s happening and then making

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conclusions about it.
He says, man of Israel, I want

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to tell you a little bit about
our recent history, what’s

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happened in our local area.
He says before these days

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someone called Thudus rose up,
another pretender, another

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pretend Messiah.
He claimed to be somebody.

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He took a number of men, about
400, and they were claiming that

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he was going to be the Messiah.
What happened to him?

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He was killed and all those who
followed him were dispersed and

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of course his whole claim and
his whole movement came to

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nothing.
It just ended at that point.

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He says another, another
gentleman by the name of Judas

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from Galilee also like from
Galilee, like this Jesus

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character is, he rose up in the
days of the census, if you

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remember, and he drew away a big
following.

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He had a big following as well.
He too perished, probably

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brutally perished and those who
followed him were scattered.

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That was just the the natural
outcome.

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Once one of these pretenders is
is smashed and and, and and

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broken and everyone scatters.
So he draws his conclusion.

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He says, So in this present
case, if we’re just dealing with

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another pretender, he says if,
if, if this person, this Jesus

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of Nazareth is just like them,
He says just be careful in this

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case for if this is just a man
made claim, it will basically

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come to nothing.
It will also fail just as all

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the other attempts have failed.
In fact, Josephus records about

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30 different pretend messiahs
who had risen up around this

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period in history.
So it was not a not a unique

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thing.
And all of them, of course, were

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were brutally suppressed.
So he says this will come to

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nothing.
And that is logical, isn’t it?

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That’s absolutely logical.
That’s what happened to all the

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other claimants and all the
other pretenders.

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They came to nothing.
And he says, so would this will

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be the case here?
But he says, but but if it is of

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God, then that won’t be the case
because you cannot overthrow God

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and in fact you’ll be opposing
God.

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Now that is pretty logical and
tight, isn’t it?

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There’s been lots of pretenders.
They’ve come to nothing.

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If this Jesus character is also
a pretender, he’ll come to

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nothing.
And that really should have been

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the end of the story.
History would have forgotten him

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like they’ve forgotten all those
other people.

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No one’s ever heard of much
about these people.

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It should have all been over Red
Rover.

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That would be the end of it.
However, if it is from God, then

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it’s not going to be the end of
it.

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And that is the logic that we’re
drawing on this morning.

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So we spent a little bit of time
establishing the fact of Jesus,

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the reality of Jesus, that he is
a a character in history, a very

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central character in history.
As we saw our entire dating

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system is based on reference
back to him.

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We use those established facts
to go back into the Old

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Testament and look at some
messianic prophecies very

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quickly, I know, but these
prophecies gave really specific

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details about this Messiah
character that would come.

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And we saw how Jesus in these
very in his verifiable life

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fulfilled these prophecies that
were written.

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And we we did reckon that they
were written at least 2 or 300

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years before the fact.
And then we spent a whole

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session almost looking forward
in history from that established

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fact and seeing the effect that
Jesus has had in our world.

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And it’s undeniable.
So those two sets of facts

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anchored back to a historical
reality are very strong and very

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undeniable.
And we’ll talk more about that

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in a minute.
So we’re claiming that what we

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have here in Scripture and in
the historical record is a

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miracle.
The the the the explanation

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following Gamaliel’s logic, the
exclamation is this could only

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be from God.
This could not be a that no

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naturalistic explanation is
really satisfactory.

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Think of what what this entails.
Think of the facts behind this

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man.
He was a nobody and I can’t

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express that enough.
He came from a poverty ridden

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village in the back of nowhere
called Nazareth, from a from a

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very insignificant family who
lived in poverty.

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Even his birth is really low
level, isn’t it?

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He’s born in an animal shelter.
He grows up in poverty and

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there’s internal evidence for
that.

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He lived in this backwater
village called Nazareth, the

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back of nowhere.
He was a Carpenter, a person who

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worked with his hands and his
father had more than likely

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apprentice father is sometimes
called the Carpenter or

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sometimes Jesus is called the
son of a Carpenter.

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So would appear that his father,
who seems to have passed away in

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the story relatively early in
Jesus life, apprentice him.

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And if Jesus worked as a
Carpenter up until his public

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ministry commences, it’s a it’s
a long period of time, 18 or 20

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years.
The Son of God, this genius son,

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the divine begotten son of God
is learning obedience by the

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things he suffers in the
backwaters of this unknown

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village, working with his hands
day in day out.

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And that’s that’s how God works
with all his children.

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That’s all of us see ourselves
reflected in in that he had no

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armies at his disposal.
He has no education, he has no

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money.
He has no formal education in

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the sense of, of a classical
education like the like the

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Apostle Paul had.
He doesn’t travel.

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He does, you know, Jesus never
went more than 100 kilometres or

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so in his entire life from from
where he was born.

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His public ministry is 3 1/2
years.

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That’s, that’s nothing.
It’s, it’s a blip of time.

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Never travelled, never went to
the big centres of influence

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like Alexandria in Egypt or into
Athens or Rome itself.

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He just lived in this area this
sort of forsake an area Galilee

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of the Gentiles, this this sort
of backwater part of of the

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world.
And when he does eventually

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launch his sort of public
ministry, if you want to call it

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that is followed by 12 nobodies,
12 working class by and large

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00:13:50,320 –> 00:13:55,280
fishermen that that that that
are not extraordinary men at

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00:13:55,280 –> 00:13:59,360
that stage of their life at all.
How does this man change the

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world?
What what is the explanation for

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00:14:01,160 –> 00:14:04,520
that?
I just took this out of a from a

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00:14:04,520 –> 00:14:05,760
from a writer.
He says.

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00:14:05,760 –> 00:14:11,520
It’s really inconceivable that a
peasant class Carpenter with no

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money, no army, no social
position, no resources could

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00:14:15,120 –> 00:14:18,400
generate a world shaking force
like Christianity.

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00:14:18,720 –> 00:14:22,840
There is no logical, human way
to explain how his teachings

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00:14:22,840 –> 00:14:26,640
grew so rapidly and went on to
revolutionize human

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civilization, not just survive.
He’s early followers,

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uneducated, lower class, largely
illiterate, existing in isolated

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groups of believers bonded
together for mutual support in a

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hostile environment.
Not in the not in the sort of

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dominant culture, but though
they were underground in a

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00:14:44,200 –> 00:14:47,400
hostile environment.
Groups like that are rarely

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00:14:47,400 –> 00:14:51,800
noticed in history, not they
don’t even warrant a mention,

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let alone change history.
And this is, this is a

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00:14:55,840 –> 00:14:59,920
phenomenon that we’re
considering from a village in

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00:14:59,920 –> 00:15:04,600
the back of nowhere today.
There are people who claim to be

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00:15:04,600 –> 00:15:08,520
his followers, who look to him
as their, as their spiritual

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00:15:09,000 –> 00:15:12,240
inspiration, their spiritual
leader all over the globe.

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And there is, as we speak,
particularly in the third world

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in, in Africa and Asia, a boom
of people interested in Jesus.

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It’s it’s incredible.
In Asia there’s 300 million

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00:15:24,560 –> 00:15:27,600
people claiming to follow Jesus.
China, 100 million.

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00:15:27,600 –> 00:15:31,280
In fact, I read an article just
this week that says by 20-30

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China will be the largest
Christian nation in the world.

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I mean, that’s just phenomenal
from a communist nation only

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decades ago. 480 million in
South Africa, 3 in South America

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00:15:43,560 –> 00:15:46,760
rather 360 million in Africa and
growing all the time.

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00:15:48,560 –> 00:15:51,800
Two out of three followers of
Jesus, if you like living either

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00:15:51,800 –> 00:15:55,800
Asia, Africa or South America.
So no longer is Christianity the

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00:15:56,600 –> 00:16:01,000
the the the the colonial
religion of of of the white

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00:16:02,040 –> 00:16:03,680
cultures that it that it once
was.

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Now it’s now now most followers
of Jesus are are brown and black

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00:16:08,760 –> 00:16:11,800
who live in in far-flung parts
of of the world.

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And so even places like Iran,
Christianity is is is grap

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00:16:16,240 –> 00:16:19,600
growing rapidly.
I put this quote up from an

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00:16:19,600 –> 00:16:23,000
atheist historian just to show
you the effect that Jesus has

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had on the world.
And I’ll quickly repeat it now.

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00:16:24,760 –> 00:16:27,760
And it’s from Bird Ehrman, who’s
an atheist who is not a

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00:16:27,760 –> 00:16:31,200
Christian at all, quite anti
Christianity, but he’s a an

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00:16:31,200 –> 00:16:35,880
expert in in in this history.
He says the profound impact of

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00:16:35,880 –> 00:16:40,520
Jesus ethical teachings, love,
compassion and concern for

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00:16:40,520 –> 00:16:45,160
others were revolutionary when
they were given and continue to

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00:16:45,160 –> 00:16:47,040
be so.
Jesus teachings about loving

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00:16:47,040 –> 00:16:51,040
your neighbor, caring for the
poor and the marginalized, even

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00:16:51,040 –> 00:16:53,920
loving your enemies were
groundbreaking in their

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00:16:53,920 –> 00:16:57,680
historical context and have had
a lasting influence on western

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00:16:57,680 –> 00:17:00,920
moral thought.
I mean, how do you explain this

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00:17:00,920 –> 00:17:04,599
naturally from a village, a
peasant in a village in the back

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00:17:04,599 –> 00:17:09,720
of nowhere, to now influencing A
lasting influence on on on

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00:17:09,720 –> 00:17:12,839
Western thought.
We said all over the world,

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00:17:12,839 –> 00:17:15,640
every day of the week, the date
pops up on mobile phones,

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00:17:15,640 –> 00:17:19,079
computer screens, business
transactions, banking documents

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00:17:19,160 –> 00:17:22,680
all over the world is a
testimony to the existence of

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00:17:22,839 –> 00:17:26,160
Jesus of Nazareth.
Everything that happens in our

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00:17:26,160 –> 00:17:31,320
world, world wars, political
events, catastrophes are all

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00:17:31,320 –> 00:17:34,160
anchored back and dated to the
birth of this man.

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00:17:34,400 –> 00:17:36,880
How do you explain that?
That that is just a phenomenon,

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00:17:36,880 –> 00:17:41,760
isn’t it?
And so we want to this morning

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00:17:41,760 –> 00:17:46,360
just add some more, if you like,
weight to the reality of Jesus

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00:17:46,360 –> 00:17:48,800
and particularly the reality of
the resurrection.

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00:17:50,400 –> 00:17:52,920
We’re going to look at very,
very briefly this morning the

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00:17:52,920 –> 00:17:56,840
power of what we call eyewitness
reports, because as we said,

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00:17:56,840 –> 00:18:01,560
there was no video footage.
And even today with AI, you

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00:18:01,560 –> 00:18:03,600
can’t even trust video footage
anymore, can you?

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00:18:03,600 –> 00:18:06,880
So, so how do we, how do we know
anything happens in history at

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00:18:06,920 –> 00:18:08,440
all?
How do we, how do we, how are we

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00:18:08,440 –> 00:18:11,680
confident of any historical
figure or any historical event?

291
00:18:12,840 –> 00:18:17,680
Well, like every other
historical event or character,

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00:18:18,280 –> 00:18:22,160
we are, we, we have attestation
is a technical term or we have,

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00:18:22,800 –> 00:18:26,280
we have eyewitness reports.
It’s not unique to Jesus.

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00:18:26,360 –> 00:18:29,960
It’s not unique to the Bible.
It’s how we know every single

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00:18:29,960 –> 00:18:31,760
thing that’s ever happened in
history.

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00:18:31,920 –> 00:18:34,880
It’s eyewitness reports.
And so it’s, it’s up to us to

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00:18:34,880 –> 00:18:38,080
look at the credibility of those
reports and to believe it or

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00:18:38,080 –> 00:18:41,560
not.
You know, as I think we might

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00:18:41,560 –> 00:18:44,280
have mentioned this, the Bible,
the New Testament particularly,

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00:18:44,280 –> 00:18:47,760
is evidentiary.
It’s, it’s written as a piece of

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00:18:47,760 –> 00:18:51,200
evidence.
It’s evidence of something as

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00:18:51,560 –> 00:18:54,800
John expresses it in his
gospels, evidence that Jesus is

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00:18:54,800 –> 00:18:58,560
the Son of God.
Acts, the preface to Acts, the

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00:18:58,560 –> 00:19:01,280
preface to the Gospel of Luke.
These are evidentiary documents

305
00:19:01,280 –> 00:19:04,720
written from that perspective to
give you and I confidence that

306
00:19:05,000 –> 00:19:09,000
God’s son walked this earth and
and we saw him and touched him

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00:19:09,000 –> 00:19:12,760
and felt him and and and we have
the witness statements from

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00:19:12,760 –> 00:19:15,720
these these characters.
And this is how the apostles

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00:19:15,720 –> 00:19:19,160
actually saw their role when
Judas is replaced, The

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00:19:19,160 –> 00:19:21,280
replacement had to have been
with Christ from the beginning,

311
00:19:21,520 –> 00:19:24,880
had to have seen the risen law.
They were because then primary

312
00:19:24,880 –> 00:19:29,560
role would be living testimonies
to be to to be living pieces of

313
00:19:29,560 –> 00:19:32,120
evidence that the Lord had risen
from the dead.

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00:19:32,440 –> 00:19:35,080
That’s what the apostles primary
role was.

315
00:19:36,120 –> 00:19:39,240
So how can we know living 2000
years later, how can we have

316
00:19:39,240 –> 00:19:44,280
confidence in this character
that existed and lived that we

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00:19:44,280 –> 00:19:46,840
know from history, but also that
he rose from the dead?

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00:19:47,440 –> 00:19:50,840
Well, the same way we know
anything in history, the

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00:19:50,840 –> 00:19:56,320
testimony of eyewitnesses.
So we have this really beautiful

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00:19:56,320 –> 00:19:59,320
statement of the Lord’s in John
20.

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00:19:59,320 –> 00:20:04,040
This is the record of where, if
you remember, Jesus appears to

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00:20:04,040 –> 00:20:06,160
the apostles when Thomas was not
with them.

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00:20:06,840 –> 00:20:09,760
Thomas refuses to believe and
says unless I touch his hands

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00:20:09,760 –> 00:20:11,080
and his side, I’m just not going
to believe.

325
00:20:11,080 –> 00:20:14,320
I want that tactile physical
evidence, that direct evidence

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00:20:14,320 –> 00:20:17,680
or I’m not going to believe.
He gets the privilege of that

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00:20:17,680 –> 00:20:21,480
evidence presented to him and he
falls down at Jesus feet and and

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00:20:21,480 –> 00:20:25,040
believes.
Jesus says you are very blessed,

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00:20:25,040 –> 00:20:27,880
Thomas, to have received that
level of evidence.

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00:20:27,880 –> 00:20:32,040
And he says in verse 29, Thomas,
because you have seen me, you’ve

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00:20:32,040 –> 00:20:37,560
physically seen me, you have
believed, that’s wonderful.

332
00:20:38,480 –> 00:20:44,080
But he says blessed are those
who have not seen me.

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00:20:44,840 –> 00:20:49,200
That’s that’s us.
This is a special blessing

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00:20:49,720 –> 00:20:56,560
directed at us who have not seen
me and yet have believed and

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00:20:56,560 –> 00:20:59,200
then the verse next verse goes
on to say Jesus did many things

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00:20:59,200 –> 00:21:02,240
in the presence of his disciples
that a lot of them aren’t even

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00:21:02,240 –> 00:21:04,640
recorded in the in the
eyewitness testimonies.

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00:21:05,000 –> 00:21:13,400
But verse 31 says, but these are
written, there is under the

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00:21:13,400 –> 00:21:18,280
inspiration and the guidance of
God, enough data collected and

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00:21:18,280 –> 00:21:22,040
recorded for us that we can have
absolute confidence that Jesus

341
00:21:22,040 –> 00:21:24,320
existed and that Jesus rose from
the dead.

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00:21:24,560 –> 00:21:28,160
These are written, So here’s
our, here’s our source, our

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00:21:28,160 –> 00:21:31,880
source documents and the purpose
behind these source documents.

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00:21:32,280 –> 00:21:37,760
These are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the

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00:21:37,760 –> 00:21:41,120
Christ, the Messiah, the
anointed one, the Son of God,

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00:21:41,800 –> 00:21:44,840
and that believing.
So we’ve looked at the subject

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00:21:44,840 –> 00:21:48,600
of faith with brother Ken by
believing, living that belief in

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00:21:48,600 –> 00:21:52,160
your life, you may have life in
his name.

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00:21:52,160 –> 00:21:54,240
And that’s how we’re going to
end our session in a sense,

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00:21:54,240 –> 00:21:58,120
going back to the the power of
the resurrection and the power

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00:21:58,120 –> 00:22:00,240
of life that comes from this
reality.

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00:22:00,440 –> 00:22:04,240
So we’ve got these written
eyewitness statements that have

353
00:22:04,240 –> 00:22:08,720
been preserved by God for us.
Thomas got direct evidence.

354
00:22:08,720 –> 00:22:12,120
He got the touch physically and
tangibly interact with the risen

355
00:22:12,120 –> 00:22:14,320
Lord.
We don’t have that evidence, but

356
00:22:14,320 –> 00:22:17,200
we have what we might call
indirect evidence as all history

357
00:22:17,200 –> 00:22:23,000
is and all history is based on.
And then in in John 17, in that

358
00:22:23,520 –> 00:22:27,480
beautiful little discourse and,
and, and, and prayer that Jesus

359
00:22:27,480 –> 00:22:30,400
offers before his arrest, he’s
praying for his immediate

360
00:22:30,400 –> 00:22:32,880
followers because they’re about
to be stressed and put under

361
00:22:32,880 –> 00:22:35,400
pressure.
But he adds us to the prayer as

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00:22:35,400 –> 00:22:37,200
well.
He says, I don’t pray for these

363
00:22:37,200 –> 00:22:39,240
alone.
God, they need you.

364
00:22:40,920 –> 00:22:45,360
But I also pray for those who
believe in me through their

365
00:22:45,840 –> 00:22:51,280
word, their word.
They will be then the custodians

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00:22:51,280 –> 00:22:55,160
of this this reality.
They will write down their

367
00:22:55,160 –> 00:22:56,560
memoirs.
They will write down their

368
00:22:56,560 –> 00:22:58,680
testimony.
Those things will be preserved

369
00:22:58,680 –> 00:23:01,440
through the Providence of God
and they will be for us.

370
00:23:01,520 –> 00:23:05,280
Jesus prayer is fulfilled as we
sit here today and we read their

371
00:23:05,280 –> 00:23:09,200
testimony that God is with us
and he’s provided us this

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00:23:09,200 –> 00:23:13,240
written eyewitness evidence for
the existence of His Son and we

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00:23:13,240 –> 00:23:16,560
can believe through his word.
These things are written for us

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00:23:16,920 –> 00:23:21,040
to have absolute confidence.
And I want to really emphasize

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00:23:21,040 –> 00:23:23,400
this is the how the apostles saw
their work.

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00:23:23,400 –> 00:23:25,080
This is what the apostles were
all about.

377
00:23:25,880 –> 00:23:28,640
I just run through a number of
references just very quickly,

378
00:23:29,240 –> 00:23:34,560
beginning with the baptism of
John and right up until Christ

379
00:23:34,560 –> 00:23:39,760
was literally taken from them.
The apostles helped to be

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00:23:39,840 –> 00:23:42,560
witnesses, witnesses of the
resurrection.

381
00:23:43,600 –> 00:23:47,280
God has raised this Jesus to
life, Peter says in Acts two of

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00:23:47,280 –> 00:23:49,120
which we are witnesses to this
fact.

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00:23:49,480 –> 00:23:52,320
That’s their role.
You kill the author of life in

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00:23:52,320 –> 00:23:55,760
Acts 3, but God raised him from
the dead and we are witnesses.

385
00:23:56,120 –> 00:23:59,040
This is evidentiary
documentation.

386
00:23:59,880 –> 00:24:01,920
Peter and John replied, judge
for yourselves whether it’s

387
00:24:01,920 –> 00:24:04,680
right to in God’s sight to obey
you rather than God.

388
00:24:04,840 –> 00:24:09,480
We cannot help speaking about
what we have seen and heard.

389
00:24:09,480 –> 00:24:13,560
We are living, walking, talking
witnesses, pieces of evidence,

390
00:24:13,560 –> 00:24:15,440
if you like, to the reality of
what has happened.

391
00:24:15,680 –> 00:24:18,920
We are witnesses of these things
and so is the Holy Spirit.

392
00:24:18,920 –> 00:24:22,160
We are witnesses of everything
he did in the country of the

393
00:24:22,160 –> 00:24:24,800
Jews in Jerusalem.
They killed him by hanging him

394
00:24:24,800 –> 00:24:27,000
on a tree, but God raised him
from the dead on the third day

395
00:24:27,400 –> 00:24:30,800
and caused him to be seen.
And we are the witnesses to

396
00:24:30,800 –> 00:24:33,880
that.
You do not follow Peter says

397
00:24:33,880 –> 00:24:35,960
these really well known words to
us as Christadelphians.

398
00:24:36,360 –> 00:24:39,520
We did not follow cleverly
invented stories as we told you

399
00:24:39,520 –> 00:24:41,720
about the power and coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ.

400
00:24:41,720 –> 00:24:45,120
But we were actually
eyewitnesses to His Majesty.

401
00:24:47,600 –> 00:24:50,400
John records one of the soldiers
pierced his side with a spear

402
00:24:50,400 –> 00:24:52,880
and a flow of blood and water
came from his side.

403
00:24:53,800 –> 00:24:56,240
And the man who saw it has given
testimony.

404
00:24:56,240 –> 00:24:59,560
That’s another word for, for,
for witness, for evidence.

405
00:25:00,280 –> 00:25:03,480
And his evidence is true.
He saw it happen and he recorded

406
00:25:03,480 –> 00:25:07,200
it in the Gospel of John.
Because you have seen me, you

407
00:25:07,200 –> 00:25:08,760
have believed.
We saw this quote already.

408
00:25:08,760 –> 00:25:11,160
Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet believe.

409
00:25:11,680 –> 00:25:13,960
This is a beautiful 1, isn’t it?
First, John one says from the

410
00:25:13,960 –> 00:25:18,480
beginning of his ministry, right
right back up, even as he was

411
00:25:18,480 –> 00:25:21,440
baptized of John, etcetera.
We have seen him with our own

412
00:25:21,480 –> 00:25:23,240
eyes.
We, we are the eyewitnesses

413
00:25:23,240 –> 00:25:25,640
here.
We’ve looked at him, our hands

414
00:25:25,640 –> 00:25:27,840
have touched him, we’ve felt
him, we’ve interacted with him.

415
00:25:28,040 –> 00:25:29,880
We listened to him and heard his
voice.

416
00:25:30,480 –> 00:25:33,760
We are witnesses.
So the question remains for us

417
00:25:33,760 –> 00:25:37,200
to think about is how reliable
is this witness?

418
00:25:37,200 –> 00:25:40,160
How reliable is their account of
what happened?

419
00:25:41,520 –> 00:25:46,040
One way that historians gauge
the reliability of an eyewitness

420
00:25:46,040 –> 00:25:49,560
account is the proximity to the
event itself, the time gap

421
00:25:49,560 –> 00:25:54,320
between when the event happened
and when the recording took

422
00:25:54,320 –> 00:25:56,760
place.
So we’re going to quickly think

423
00:25:56,760 –> 00:25:58,840
about that.
How reliable is this eyewitness

424
00:25:58,840 –> 00:26:02,480
testimony?
How close to the event can we go

425
00:26:02,480 –> 00:26:07,760
back and dead reckon it?
Because that isn’t that is a

426
00:26:08,160 –> 00:26:14,000
measure of reliability.
Well, I want to look at the

427
00:26:14,000 –> 00:26:16,560
section of Scripture that Nat
read for us earlier on in First

428
00:26:16,560 –> 00:26:20,680
Corinthians 15, and maybe we’ll
turn to 1st Corinthians 15

429
00:26:20,680 –> 00:26:23,920
because we’re going to come back
to that a little bit later on in

430
00:26:23,920 –> 00:26:26,920
that chapter.
We’ve got this really

431
00:26:26,920 –> 00:26:31,080
interesting statement and I want
to make some comments about it.

432
00:26:31,680 –> 00:26:34,560
And again, the evidence I’m
going to look at now is not

433
00:26:34,560 –> 00:26:39,400
controversial.
This is again consensus view of

434
00:26:39,400 –> 00:26:42,760
scholars across the spectrum,
atheist scholars, Jewish

435
00:26:42,760 –> 00:26:45,160
scholars, Muslim scholars and
Christian scholars,

436
00:26:45,160 –> 00:26:47,640
conservative, liberal right
across the spectrum.

437
00:26:47,640 –> 00:26:52,800
This evidence this this
information is non controversial

438
00:26:52,800 –> 00:26:54,760
accepted by by scholars across
the board.

439
00:26:55,920 –> 00:27:01,960
These verses verses 3 to 8 are
considered to be by all scholars

440
00:27:02,120 –> 00:27:05,920
inserted by Paul in this
particular context but not

441
00:27:05,920 –> 00:27:11,720
originating with Paul.
Paul is recording here what what

442
00:27:11,720 –> 00:27:14,240
is called an antiquity is a
creed.

443
00:27:14,480 –> 00:27:16,160
We’ll talk a little bit about
creeds in a minute.

444
00:27:17,440 –> 00:27:21,160
Paul is inserting his whole
chapters on the reality of the

445
00:27:21,160 –> 00:27:22,800
resurrection and the power of
the resurrection.

446
00:27:22,920 –> 00:27:27,840
And he starts off with this
creed to sort of set the reality

447
00:27:27,840 –> 00:27:30,200
of what he’s talking about and
set the evidence and the

448
00:27:30,840 –> 00:27:32,360
authority of what he’s talking
about.

449
00:27:33,280 –> 00:27:39,320
And he says, I delivered unto
you first of all, that which I

450
00:27:39,480 –> 00:27:41,440
received.
And we’re going to come back to

451
00:27:41,440 –> 00:27:44,160
those statements in a minute,
but let’s see what he’s

452
00:27:44,160 –> 00:27:46,880
delivering unto the believers in
Corinth.

453
00:27:47,800 –> 00:27:53,440
One, Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures.

454
00:27:54,040 –> 00:27:59,240
We touched on that a little bit
with Isaiah 53 already, but you

455
00:27:59,240 –> 00:28:01,440
can you can explore that more in
your own time.

456
00:28:01,880 –> 00:28:07,480
He died as a historical fact,
but it is theologically linked

457
00:28:07,480 –> 00:28:12,120
to his roles as predetermined by
the foreknowledge of God for our

458
00:28:12,120 –> 00:28:14,880
sins.
He was buried.

459
00:28:15,280 –> 00:28:19,440
It’s a fact.
He rose again on the third day,

460
00:28:19,440 –> 00:28:25,160
again according to the
Scriptures, and then #4 he lists

461
00:28:25,160 –> 00:28:27,520
a number of eyewitnesses to this
account.

462
00:28:27,960 –> 00:28:32,000
He was seen by by Cephas, who of
course is the apostle Peter.

463
00:28:32,880 –> 00:28:35,520
He was seen by another large
group about 500.

464
00:28:35,880 –> 00:28:39,480
It’s like a Bible school full of
people who all saw him at one

465
00:28:39,480 –> 00:28:42,840
time.
And the majority of those people

466
00:28:42,840 –> 00:28:47,520
are still alive as this epistle
written in the probably the mid

467
00:28:47,520 –> 00:28:52,600
50s of the 1st century.
Those eyewitnesses who saw him

468
00:28:53,040 –> 00:28:56,000
in that group appearance is
still alive today.

469
00:28:56,160 –> 00:28:58,800
Majority of them, some have,
some have died as would be

470
00:28:58,800 –> 00:29:01,840
natural.
After that he was seen of James

471
00:29:02,360 –> 00:29:05,760
and then all the apostles and
then Paul says and last of all

472
00:29:05,760 –> 00:29:08,600
he this is a bit that Paul adds
himself to this creed.

473
00:29:09,240 –> 00:29:14,640
After that he was seen of me
also as a as a later witness.

474
00:29:15,160 –> 00:29:20,200
Now the scholars, as I said,
across the board, this is not

475
00:29:20,200 –> 00:29:25,800
just scholars that believe in
Jesus, you know, critical

476
00:29:25,800 –> 00:29:29,560
scholars believe this is a creed
that’s been inserted by the

477
00:29:29,560 –> 00:29:31,000
Apostle Paul.
What what’s a creed?

478
00:29:31,440 –> 00:29:34,080
Well, creeds are from the Latin
turn.

479
00:29:34,080 –> 00:29:36,840
That means I believe.
So it’s, it’s a list of beliefs

480
00:29:37,600 –> 00:29:41,800
and, and it’s was a, a teaching
mechanism, particularly in a, in

481
00:29:41,800 –> 00:29:44,640
a, in an oral culture where
there was not remember that they

482
00:29:44,640 –> 00:29:48,200
didn’t have magazines or books
or printing press or anything.

483
00:29:48,200 –> 00:29:51,880
So writing and, and, and owning
or having access to written

484
00:29:51,880 –> 00:29:54,360
material was only for the very
elite in, in society.

485
00:29:54,360 –> 00:29:58,480
The average person didn’t have
documentation and, and books

486
00:29:58,480 –> 00:30:00,560
and, and, and, and scrolls and
things like that.

487
00:30:01,080 –> 00:30:04,920
So a creed was used a bit like
the instructor for those who

488
00:30:04,920 –> 00:30:07,320
remember that from Sunday
school, you would, you would

489
00:30:07,320 –> 00:30:11,240
recite and learn certain
passages and, and, and certain

490
00:30:11,240 –> 00:30:13,040
statements that reflect the
truth.

491
00:30:13,880 –> 00:30:18,800
And so this was a, this was a
creed that had been passed down

492
00:30:19,000 –> 00:30:23,080
to Paul and then Paul was now
passing that creed on to the

493
00:30:23,080 –> 00:30:24,680
people that he taught the truth
to.

494
00:30:25,480 –> 00:30:27,720
So why did they use creeds?
And I won’t go through these

495
00:30:27,720 –> 00:30:31,800
reasons for creeds, but they
were a powerful mechanism in

496
00:30:31,800 –> 00:30:35,400
those oral cultures where were
written documents and things

497
00:30:35,400 –> 00:30:39,640
were not, were not well accessed
and and where people were

498
00:30:39,640 –> 00:30:41,600
largely illiterate.
In the Roman Empire, most people

499
00:30:41,600 –> 00:30:44,520
were illiterate anyway.
So memorizing creeds was a way

500
00:30:44,520 –> 00:30:46,760
of passing on information, not
controversial.

501
00:30:46,760 –> 00:30:48,680
This is not controversial.
This is accepted.

502
00:30:48,680 –> 00:30:51,560
This is quite accepted.
So let’s have a look at this

503
00:30:51,560 –> 00:30:54,400
passage and just look at the the
creedal nature of it.

504
00:30:54,400 –> 00:30:56,280
What why scholars say it’s a
creed.

505
00:30:57,520 –> 00:31:00,240
First, the technical term.
There I delivered.

506
00:31:00,760 –> 00:31:05,880
So Paul is using this technical,
technical term, which is used to

507
00:31:05,880 –> 00:31:09,880
describe passing on a religious
tradition.

508
00:31:11,000 –> 00:31:14,680
And then he says, I also
received, again, that’s

509
00:31:14,680 –> 00:31:19,280
receiving a religious tradition.
I received it from somebody and

510
00:31:19,280 –> 00:31:23,480
we’ll talk about who that was
and I passed it on.

511
00:31:24,320 –> 00:31:26,600
And so Paul would have gone to a
new city like Corinth.

512
00:31:26,600 –> 00:31:29,520
He would have preached, he used
to go to the synagogue first to

513
00:31:29,520 –> 00:31:31,720
get the attention from the Jews.
He would go to Mars Hill.

514
00:31:31,720 –> 00:31:35,960
We’d do whatever he took.
But once he then had people

515
00:31:35,960 –> 00:31:38,600
interested, then he would have
to use other mechanisms to

516
00:31:38,640 –> 00:31:41,080
educate them.
As I said, they’re largely

517
00:31:41,080 –> 00:31:44,520
illiterate, no access to books
and Bibles and things.

518
00:31:45,280 –> 00:31:47,240
And so he would educate them
with creeds.

519
00:31:47,240 –> 00:31:48,920
That’s, that’s exactly how it
was done.

520
00:31:49,520 –> 00:31:54,240
We, we, we sort of because we
have access to Bibles everywhere

521
00:31:54,240 –> 00:31:55,520
today.
We don’t, we don’t think of that

522
00:31:55,520 –> 00:31:58,240
too much.
So this is a creed delivered and

523
00:31:58,240 –> 00:32:01,120
received.
There’s a repetition of the word

524
00:32:01,120 –> 00:32:03,880
that it’s got this, that, that,
that, that, that, which is where

525
00:32:03,880 –> 00:32:07,920
the the scholars say this is,
this is like not Paul’s normal

526
00:32:07,920 –> 00:32:10,320
flowing textual way of writing.
This is a creed.

527
00:32:10,600 –> 00:32:14,040
He says that Christ died for his
sins and that he was buried and

528
00:32:14,040 –> 00:32:16,240
that he rose again and that he
was seen by Cephas.

529
00:32:16,480 –> 00:32:18,960
After that he was seen of 500.
After that he was seen of James

530
00:32:18,960 –> 00:32:21,080
and the apostle got that, that,
that, that, that, that, that.

531
00:32:21,080 –> 00:32:24,000
So that’s a, the structure is
creedal, if that makes sense.

532
00:32:24,760 –> 00:32:26,640
And it’s not a normal flowing
passage.

533
00:32:28,240 –> 00:32:31,400
It if, if you look at the
context in First Corinthians 15,

534
00:32:31,400 –> 00:32:36,480
it drops out of his flow and
then he then he inserts it in

535
00:32:36,480 –> 00:32:39,760
the flow and then he goes back
to his own, to his own wording

536
00:32:39,760 –> 00:32:41,560
again.
And you can see how that works.

537
00:32:41,560 –> 00:32:45,120
So you got the words before he’s
in Paul’s own voice.

538
00:32:45,120 –> 00:32:48,200
He’s talking about how he
preached the gospel to the

539
00:32:48,200 –> 00:32:49,760
people in Corinth in his own
voice.

540
00:32:49,960 –> 00:32:53,240
Then he moves out of his own
voice into this sort of more

541
00:32:53,240 –> 00:32:56,480
structured and formal way as he
lists these points.

542
00:32:56,720 –> 00:33:02,120
And then later on, he gives his
personal connection to the facts

543
00:33:02,120 –> 00:33:06,280
on this creed that he too was a
witness that came later on in

544
00:33:06,280 –> 00:33:08,160
the story.
So this is again, not

545
00:33:08,160 –> 00:33:10,240
controversial.
This is this is very much

546
00:33:10,240 –> 00:33:14,280
accepted across the board that
this was Paul had inserted this

547
00:33:14,280 –> 00:33:16,720
this creed here.
And it’s the the scholarly

548
00:33:16,720 –> 00:33:19,680
consensus amongst New Testament
scholars.

549
00:33:20,320 –> 00:33:23,040
It’s also interesting to see
that the the format of this

550
00:33:23,040 –> 00:33:26,080
creed, and I’m only going to
give you 2 examples, but this

551
00:33:26,080 –> 00:33:30,120
format is followed in a lot of
the presentations of the Gospel

552
00:33:30,360 –> 00:33:33,840
and particularly the
resurrection account across the

553
00:33:33,840 –> 00:33:35,280
New Testament.
It follows this creed.

554
00:33:35,280 –> 00:33:38,240
So first creed this 15 says
Christ died for our sins.

555
00:33:38,240 –> 00:33:41,040
He was buried, He was raised
from the third day and then he

556
00:33:41,040 –> 00:33:43,760
appeared to witnesses.
So, so keep that four fold

557
00:33:44,040 –> 00:33:48,200
structure of the creed in mind.
Acts 13 and Mark 15 are examples

558
00:33:48,200 –> 00:33:50,640
that follow this.
So they found he was killed,

559
00:33:50,640 –> 00:33:54,600
which corresponds to him dying.
He was laid in a tomb, which

560
00:33:54,640 –> 00:33:58,240
corresponds to him being buried.
God raised him from the dead and

561
00:33:58,240 –> 00:34:01,360
then he appears to witnesses so
that that same structure follows

562
00:34:01,360 –> 00:34:07,320
true Mark 15, another account of
the of the resurrection starts

563
00:34:07,320 –> 00:34:09,199
with A and follows a similar
format.

564
00:34:09,520 –> 00:34:13,280
He breathes his last or he dies.
He’s laid in a tomb, he’s raised

565
00:34:13,280 –> 00:34:15,560
and then he appears to his
followers again.

566
00:34:15,560 –> 00:34:21,120
So, so this is a, a standard way
of presenting the resurrection

567
00:34:21,120 –> 00:34:23,719
of Jesus because it all hinges
on the resurrection, doesn’t it?

568
00:34:23,719 –> 00:34:27,639
Is, it is the, the fact of
history that changes everything.

569
00:34:27,639 –> 00:34:30,159
If there was no resurrection,
Jesus would have just

570
00:34:30,600 –> 00:34:32,880
disappeared into history like,
like everybody else.

571
00:34:32,880 –> 00:34:36,159
And so when the apostles
presented the story of Jesus and

572
00:34:36,159 –> 00:34:40,679
the reality of Jesus and the
consequence and, and the outcome

573
00:34:40,679 –> 00:34:43,520
of what happened to Jesus, and
it’s the personal implications

574
00:34:43,520 –> 00:34:46,840
for us, this is how they
presented it, which is quite

575
00:34:46,840 –> 00:34:50,040
profound.
So this creed, this is where it

576
00:34:50,040 –> 00:34:55,920
gets interesting.
This creed is called a pre

577
00:34:56,239 –> 00:34:59,320
Pauline creed.
What do you think is pre

578
00:34:59,320 –> 00:35:01,600
Pauline?
Is it talking about Pauline

579
00:35:01,600 –> 00:35:04,640
Stone?
No, sorry, sorry, Pauline, I had

580
00:35:04,640 –> 00:35:08,920
to pick on you.
It’s pre Pauline because it

581
00:35:09,520 –> 00:35:14,960
predates, it predates the
conversion of Paul to Christ.

582
00:35:16,160 –> 00:35:18,240
That’s why it’s so profound.
Remember, we’re trying to say

583
00:35:18,240 –> 00:35:21,560
how reliable are these accounts?
How much gap is there?

584
00:35:21,560 –> 00:35:24,840
How much time is there before
the, the gospel records are

585
00:35:24,840 –> 00:35:27,640
written and, and look in, in all
honesty, there’s a lot of

586
00:35:27,640 –> 00:35:30,800
controversy about the dates of
the Gospels and they range from,

587
00:35:31,200 –> 00:35:33,640
you know, written in the 50s
right through to the 90s.

588
00:35:33,640 –> 00:35:35,840
There’s, there’s, there’s dates
about when the gospel records

589
00:35:35,840 –> 00:35:38,640
were written and that’s a,
that’s an area of controversy.

590
00:35:39,720 –> 00:35:43,040
So we’re saying, well, how close
to the actual event do we have?

591
00:35:43,040 –> 00:35:46,480
Well, these these creeds and the
creed here in first Corinthians

592
00:35:46,480 –> 00:35:50,000
15 is pre Pauline.
This creed was in circulation

593
00:35:50,000 –> 00:35:53,920
before Paul was even converted.
Now we’re going to quickly,

594
00:35:53,960 –> 00:35:56,280
quickly turn to the book of
Galatians with the Galatians 1

595
00:35:56,280 –> 00:35:58,600
and I want to make a few
comments.

596
00:35:58,840 –> 00:36:01,600
I’ve tried not that I really
care about what scholars say.

597
00:36:01,600 –> 00:36:04,040
That’s not I care about what God
says.

598
00:36:04,040 –> 00:36:07,600
I’m not that I’m not really
focused on what scholars might

599
00:36:07,600 –> 00:36:11,960
say about things, but I’m using,
I’m trying to use the minimal

600
00:36:11,960 –> 00:36:15,280
facts type of argument in a
sense to, to say what is agreed

601
00:36:15,280 –> 00:36:17,680
upon, what is non controversial,
what can we know?

602
00:36:17,920 –> 00:36:19,840
And that is agreed upon across
the board.

603
00:36:19,840 –> 00:36:27,640
And Galatians as a book is, is
extremely accepted right across

604
00:36:27,640 –> 00:36:30,560
the, the, the spectrum of
scholarship as a genuine book

605
00:36:30,840 –> 00:36:34,640
written by Paul, written when it
claims to be written probably in

606
00:36:34,640 –> 00:36:38,840
the in the 50s.
And I’m preserved intact for us

607
00:36:38,840 –> 00:36:40,400
today.
That’s, that’s a, that’s not

608
00:36:40,400 –> 00:36:42,480
controversial either.
And that’s accepted by all

609
00:36:42,480 –> 00:36:45,600
scholars across the the board.
Not all Paul’s letters are

610
00:36:45,600 –> 00:36:49,840
accepted by critical scholars in
that way, but Galatians is one

611
00:36:49,840 –> 00:36:52,080
of the seven that, that are
absolutely intact.

612
00:36:52,080 –> 00:36:53,840
And this is what you don’t hear
on the ABC.

613
00:36:53,840 –> 00:36:57,160
This is what you don’t hear in
our culture, in our education

614
00:36:57,160 –> 00:37:02,560
system, that these books of the
Bible are absolutely verified

615
00:37:02,560 –> 00:37:04,360
and, and accepted in, in
history.

616
00:37:04,840 –> 00:37:08,600
So all scholars accept this was
written by Paul, genuine letter

617
00:37:08,600 –> 00:37:12,240
written by Paul written when it
claims to be written and it was

618
00:37:12,240 –> 00:37:14,920
being transmitted.
We have pretty good ancient

619
00:37:14,920 –> 00:37:17,600
texts for those who are
interested in Texas P46 if

620
00:37:17,600 –> 00:37:18,800
you’re interested in these
parts.

621
00:37:18,960 –> 00:37:21,880
Ancient parchments has got big
slabs of Galatians in it.

622
00:37:22,400 –> 00:37:26,040
So we we we are really confident
that the transmission of of

623
00:37:26,040 –> 00:37:29,680
Galatians is is quite is quite
accurate and quite profound.

624
00:37:30,840 –> 00:37:36,280
So let’s go to Galatians.
One Paul is expressing here.

625
00:37:36,280 –> 00:37:39,960
He’s he’s he’s under criticism
and he’s and he’s been resisted

626
00:37:39,960 –> 00:37:44,000
by certain people in in Galatia
and he’s responding to that

627
00:37:44,000 –> 00:37:46,600
criticism.
And one of the criticisms that

628
00:37:46,600 –> 00:37:48,320
he has is that he’s not a real
apostle.

629
00:37:48,320 –> 00:37:52,920
He’s just a Johnny come lately.
And he makes an argument against

630
00:37:52,920 –> 00:37:58,080
that and he says, I actually
received the gospel direct from

631
00:37:58,120 –> 00:38:01,680
Jesus.
And he sort of shows in that it

632
00:38:02,040 –> 00:38:05,160
wasn’t that he’s a Johnny come
lately and he’s just tagging on

633
00:38:05,160 –> 00:38:08,120
the end of what the other
eyewitnesses have said.

634
00:38:08,400 –> 00:38:09,920
He directly interacted with
Jesus.

635
00:38:09,920 –> 00:38:14,640
So after his conversion, if you
have a look at verse 11, the

636
00:38:14,640 –> 00:38:18,320
gospel, so the gospel, the
doctrinal gospel, the, the, the

637
00:38:18,320 –> 00:38:20,760
facts of the gospel, he says, I
didn’t get that from anyone

638
00:38:20,760 –> 00:38:22,840
else.
I got that direct from the Lord.

639
00:38:23,040 –> 00:38:26,680
So it was not according to man
verse 11, neither did I receive

640
00:38:26,680 –> 00:38:31,160
it from man, but I was taught it
through revelation from Jesus

641
00:38:31,160 –> 00:38:34,440
himself and in in a in a place
that the scriptures called

642
00:38:34,440 –> 00:38:39,720
Arabia Arabia may well be and I
don’t have absolute proof, but

643
00:38:39,720 –> 00:38:42,320
probably Sinai that would that
would make sense to me if if

644
00:38:42,320 –> 00:38:46,480
that if that was the case.
So he goes, I received it direct

645
00:38:46,480 –> 00:38:49,680
from God in a vision, the gospel
message, the the gospel, the

646
00:38:49,680 –> 00:38:52,560
atonement, justification by
faith, all these beautiful

647
00:38:52,560 –> 00:38:55,880
concepts, I got them direct from
God, direct from Christ, rather

648
00:38:56,320 –> 00:39:00,520
by vision, by direct, sorry,
direct revelation.

649
00:39:01,560 –> 00:39:05,720
Verse 16, he says, I didn’t even
confer with flesh and blood

650
00:39:05,720 –> 00:39:09,760
about these doctrinal things.
I was not taught them by humans.

651
00:39:09,760 –> 00:39:12,840
I got them direct from God.
He said I didn’t even go up to

652
00:39:12,840 –> 00:39:15,040
Jerusalem after my after
Damascus.

653
00:39:15,040 –> 00:39:18,960
He said I went to Arabia and
then later on back to Damascus.

654
00:39:18,960 –> 00:39:22,840
So that that is the gospel.
OK, the core that is the gospel.

655
00:39:22,840 –> 00:39:25,480
In fact, the the doctrines of
the gospel.

656
00:39:25,480 –> 00:39:30,960
Paul got direct from Christ.
However, however, go to verse

657
00:39:30,960 –> 00:39:36,480
18.
After three years, I went up to

658
00:39:36,480 –> 00:39:41,640
Jerusalem to see Peter and I
spent two weeks with him, 15

659
00:39:41,640 –> 00:39:43,920
days.
It’s like a pretty good Bible

660
00:39:43,920 –> 00:39:45,400
school, isn’t it?
A two week Bible school with

661
00:39:45,400 –> 00:39:46,640
Peter.
That’d be awesome.

662
00:39:47,600 –> 00:39:50,480
And the only other apostle I
interacted with apart from Peter

663
00:39:50,480 –> 00:39:54,760
himself was sort of like the the
leader of the of the of the

664
00:39:54,800 –> 00:39:58,640
Jesus followers movement.
I met James, the Lord’s brother.

665
00:39:58,840 –> 00:40:02,520
So there’s two pillars in the
community he spends time with

666
00:40:03,680 –> 00:40:08,720
now, He says.
There, he says, ice, he says.

667
00:40:09,400 –> 00:40:11,640
I went to Jerusalem to see
Peter.

668
00:40:11,640 –> 00:40:15,480
You’re you’re if you’re using
the, the the the King James, the

669
00:40:15,480 –> 00:40:19,600
new King James, you have the
word CS EE to see Peter and

670
00:40:19,600 –> 00:40:23,440
you’ll think is that the word C
like Optus, the optical word of

671
00:40:23,440 –> 00:40:25,120
just seeing Peter.
I went to see Peter.

672
00:40:25,560 –> 00:40:27,760
It’s not it’s a really special
word.

673
00:40:29,520 –> 00:40:32,120
The NA TS got to get information
from Peter.

674
00:40:32,680 –> 00:40:36,040
It’s a word Historio.
What do you think?

675
00:40:36,040 –> 00:40:38,520
What word do you think we get
today from Historio Anyone

676
00:40:39,480 –> 00:40:41,320
history exactly.
It’s cut.

677
00:40:41,320 –> 00:40:42,800
That’s where we get the word
history from.

678
00:40:43,160 –> 00:40:45,680
So he wasn’t there to see Peter
just to go how are you Peter and

679
00:40:45,680 –> 00:40:48,160
have a yak.
He’s there to get data from

680
00:40:48,160 –> 00:40:51,280
Peter, not about the gospel.
He says I I knew the I knew the

681
00:40:51,280 –> 00:40:55,040
gospel from I got it from Jesus.
I want to know the history.

682
00:40:55,040 –> 00:40:58,840
I want to know all the details.
I want to know who saw him, how

683
00:40:58,840 –> 00:41:02,160
he was, how he appeared to
people, what happened.

684
00:41:02,160 –> 00:41:05,440
So he’s getting the, the, the
inquiring with Peter and getting

685
00:41:05,440 –> 00:41:07,120
all the, all the information
from Peter.

686
00:41:08,400 –> 00:41:11,880
But in Galatians 214 years
later, he has another meeting.

687
00:41:13,000 –> 00:41:15,320
And this meeting he makes it
very clear.

688
00:41:16,000 –> 00:41:18,400
He meets here in the second
meeting.

689
00:41:20,680 –> 00:41:24,040
He says in verse one, after 14
years, I went up again to

690
00:41:24,040 –> 00:41:25,920
Jerusalem.
So it’s a long, long time down

691
00:41:25,920 –> 00:41:29,840
the track.
He meets and it says in verse 6,

692
00:41:31,440 –> 00:41:34,560
no human at that meeting added
anything to my knowledge at that

693
00:41:34,560 –> 00:41:37,120
point because he’s making he’s,
he’s showing that he’s a genuine

694
00:41:37,120 –> 00:41:39,200
apostle in his own right.
He says, but On the contrary,

695
00:41:39,200 –> 00:41:44,120
verse 7, I actually showed them
how God was now directing me to

696
00:41:44,120 –> 00:41:47,400
go to the Gentiles.
And so they gave me the right

697
00:41:47,400 –> 00:41:50,800
hand of fellowship.
But it’s interesting to see in

698
00:41:50,800 –> 00:41:54,360
verse 9 who was at that meeting.
He said there was 3 at that

699
00:41:54,360 –> 00:41:58,000
meeting.
He said I met with James, Cephas

700
00:41:58,040 –> 00:42:01,320
and John.
Now that’d be an awesome

701
00:42:01,320 –> 00:42:03,120
meeting, wouldn’t it?
That’d be a pretty good meeting

702
00:42:03,120 –> 00:42:06,360
to go to between the four of
them, including Paul.

703
00:42:06,480 –> 00:42:10,160
They wrote 21 books out of the
27 books in the New Testament.

704
00:42:10,320 –> 00:42:12,440
So that’s a, that’s a nice
little meeting of mines right

705
00:42:12,440 –> 00:42:15,160
there.
But we do have to move on.

706
00:42:15,160 –> 00:42:20,400
I’d love to talk more about
that, but Paul has got the

707
00:42:20,400 –> 00:42:26,240
hysteria, the historical data,
and the facts from from his

708
00:42:26,240 –> 00:42:29,400
first meeting three years after.
So let’s try and put all that

709
00:42:29,400 –> 00:42:33,720
together in a bit of a timeline.
The scholars date Christ’s death

710
00:42:33,720 –> 00:42:36,600
around AD 30.
That is a fact of history.

711
00:42:37,840 –> 00:42:40,520
Paul’s conversion happens around
three years later.

712
00:42:40,520 –> 00:42:44,880
That’s accepted again across the
board by scholars, and that is a

713
00:42:44,880 –> 00:42:48,840
fact of history that this man
saw who changes his name to Paul

714
00:42:49,120 –> 00:42:52,880
and upended his entire life and
became a follower of Jesus after

715
00:42:52,880 –> 00:42:54,680
having persecuted the followers.
That’s a fact.

716
00:42:54,720 –> 00:42:59,320
That’s accepted as a fact.
Then we have these pre Pauline

717
00:42:59,320 –> 00:43:00,720
creeds.
I showed you one of them in

718
00:43:00,720 –> 00:43:02,640
First Corinthians 15.
There are others as well we

719
00:43:02,640 –> 00:43:04,920
haven’t got time to look at.
But these are creeds that get

720
00:43:04,920 –> 00:43:09,960
inserted into the New Testament.
These creeds had to have been

721
00:43:09,960 –> 00:43:14,760
formulated very early because
they’re in circulation within

722
00:43:14,760 –> 00:43:18,760
three before the conversion of
Paul, before Paul is even

723
00:43:18,760 –> 00:43:20,160
converted.
That’s only three years.

724
00:43:20,880 –> 00:43:24,880
So some scholars say months.
These are not Christian

725
00:43:24,880 –> 00:43:26,760
scholars, by the way, not
Christian scholars at all.

726
00:43:27,480 –> 00:43:30,280
They say the, if you look at the
logic and the evidence here,

727
00:43:30,480 –> 00:43:33,760
these creeds are in circulation
within months of the

728
00:43:33,760 –> 00:43:36,680
resurrection.
The early apostles are teaching

729
00:43:36,680 –> 00:43:38,520
these creeds to people straight
away.

730
00:43:38,840 –> 00:43:41,320
So they’re in circulation before
Paul’s conversion.

731
00:43:42,000 –> 00:43:44,480
So this is real history.
This is not controversial.

732
00:43:44,480 –> 00:43:49,720
It’s not even, it’s not, there’s
no, no one, no one goes against

733
00:43:49,720 –> 00:43:51,800
this at all.
This is this is absolute bedrock

734
00:43:51,800 –> 00:43:55,040
history that we have these
creeds, some of them recorded

735
00:43:55,040 –> 00:43:58,520
for us in the New Testament.
They’re pre Pauline creeds that

736
00:43:58,520 –> 00:44:00,680
existed before Paul was even
converted.

737
00:44:01,800 –> 00:44:04,320
Then we’ve got Paul’s first
visit, the three-year visit that

738
00:44:04,320 –> 00:44:07,960
we saw with with with with Peter
and James the first where he

739
00:44:07,960 –> 00:44:11,200
gets the facts the the
historical facts about what

740
00:44:11,200 –> 00:44:17,080
happened and he gets those facts
about 3536 AAD That’s why the

741
00:44:17,080 –> 00:44:20,400
scholars say these creeds were
well and truly in circulation

742
00:44:20,400 –> 00:44:23,920
and accepted as in a sense
authoritatively authoritative

743
00:44:24,240 –> 00:44:27,840
before that three-year period.
Then in the book of Galatians,

744
00:44:27,880 –> 00:44:31,320
Paul refers to this meeting and
then in the First Corinthians,

745
00:44:31,520 –> 00:44:35,960
which was written in the mid
century, he then quotes this pre

746
00:44:35,960 –> 00:44:39,160
Pauline creed that takes us back
to within months of the

747
00:44:39,160 –> 00:44:42,600
crucifixion of Christ.
As I said, this is attested by

748
00:44:43,200 –> 00:44:45,880
you probably can’t read the
references there, but these are

749
00:44:46,120 –> 00:44:49,680
scholars in this area who are
not believers necessarily who

750
00:44:49,680 –> 00:44:52,320
are testified to that.
So I just want to show the

751
00:44:52,320 –> 00:44:56,280
evidence is extremely, extremely
strong that the eyewitness

752
00:44:56,280 –> 00:45:01,080
testimony that we have is
extremely close to the event

753
00:45:01,080 –> 00:45:03,200
itself, which makes it hyper
reliable.

754
00:45:03,200 –> 00:45:04,960
This is really reliable
information.

755
00:45:06,280 –> 00:45:09,520
Another indicator of reliability
is something called the

756
00:45:09,520 –> 00:45:12,080
embarrassment factor.
And this carries a lot of weight

757
00:45:12,320 –> 00:45:15,000
when you, when you analyse
historical sources, because a

758
00:45:15,000 –> 00:45:19,000
lot of historical sources are
written for publicity reasons.

759
00:45:19,000 –> 00:45:21,280
They might be written for
propaganda reasons.

760
00:45:21,280 –> 00:45:22,880
They might be groveling to the
king.

761
00:45:22,880 –> 00:45:25,640
And so they create people in a
good light because they’re

762
00:45:25,840 –> 00:45:28,320
they’re groveling to different
historical figures.

763
00:45:29,000 –> 00:45:32,000
When you get embarrassment
factors, which means the writer

764
00:45:32,000 –> 00:45:35,680
is seen in a bad light, that
carries a lot of weight in

765
00:45:35,680 –> 00:45:38,920
assessing their reliability.
The New Testament is full of

766
00:45:38,920 –> 00:45:41,520
embarrassment factors.
I’ll quickly run through a few

767
00:45:41,520 –> 00:45:44,640
with you.
The apostles are often presented

768
00:45:44,640 –> 00:45:47,720
in the Gospels as dimwitted and
not getting what Jesus is

769
00:45:47,720 –> 00:45:51,000
saying, failing to understand.
Like it shows them they’re the

770
00:45:51,000 –> 00:45:53,920
leaders of the early Christian
community and they present

771
00:45:53,920 –> 00:45:59,400
themselves in the Gospel records
as like create like, like not

772
00:45:59,400 –> 00:46:01,880
that bright in in some in some
instances.

773
00:46:01,920 –> 00:46:03,120
And you would know those
stories.

774
00:46:03,120 –> 00:46:05,480
Of course, they also seem to be
uncaring.

775
00:46:05,720 –> 00:46:07,840
They fall asleep when Jesus
needs them the most.

776
00:46:07,840 –> 00:46:09,280
These are these are embarrassing
things.

777
00:46:09,800 –> 00:46:11,680
If this is a human document,
they wouldn’t have put those

778
00:46:11,680 –> 00:46:14,160
embarrassing things in there.
They would have said I was

779
00:46:14,160 –> 00:46:16,960
really, you know, tight with
Jesus and I was there when he

780
00:46:16,960 –> 00:46:18,360
needed me.
It would it would be a totally

781
00:46:18,360 –> 00:46:20,720
different, different way of
recording things.

782
00:46:21,160 –> 00:46:24,120
They’re rebuked by Jesus.
They get told off by Jesus.

783
00:46:25,120 –> 00:46:26,720
They’re arguing about who’s
going to be the greatest and

784
00:46:26,720 –> 00:46:28,880
Jesus rebukes them.
They show themselves to be

785
00:46:28,880 –> 00:46:30,400
cowards and they run for their
life.

786
00:46:30,600 –> 00:46:33,560
In the story.
They doubt that the Lord has

787
00:46:33,560 –> 00:46:35,320
even been resurrected from the
dead.

788
00:46:35,320 –> 00:46:38,040
So these embarrassment factors
add a lot of credibility to the

789
00:46:38,040 –> 00:46:40,200
story.
But there’s a big one, a huge

790
00:46:40,200 –> 00:46:43,560
one that is hard for scholars to
get past.

791
00:46:44,920 –> 00:46:49,360
The fact that females, that
women were the first witnesses

792
00:46:49,360 –> 00:46:51,840
to the resurrection.
If you’re putting together a

793
00:46:51,840 –> 00:46:55,400
story and you’re trying to
convince the world of a story in

794
00:46:55,400 –> 00:47:01,720
this 1st century, you would
never have used women anyway.

795
00:47:01,720 –> 00:47:03,040
I’m not going to say I’m not
going to say anything.

796
00:47:03,040 –> 00:47:05,400
I, I, it’s too late in the week
for jokes.

797
00:47:05,400 –> 00:47:06,760
I’ve got to I’ve got to get a
bit serious here.

798
00:47:08,120 –> 00:47:09,480
Now I’ll just quickly give you
some references.

799
00:47:09,600 –> 00:47:14,000
Here’s one from Josephus.
He says you’ll never even a

800
00:47:14,000 –> 00:47:16,400
court in the 1st century would
not even accept the woman’s

801
00:47:16,400 –> 00:47:18,480
testimony.
So why would you concoct a story

802
00:47:18,480 –> 00:47:21,320
and use a female as the, as the
key witness to the, to the

803
00:47:21,320 –> 00:47:24,040
event?
And the rabbis had really

804
00:47:24,040 –> 00:47:26,640
misogynistic views of females
and they would, there was a

805
00:47:26,640 –> 00:47:29,600
rabbinical prayer that says, I,
I thank you God that I’m not a

806
00:47:29,600 –> 00:47:32,080
gentile or a female.
It’s like, that’s pretty severe,

807
00:47:32,080 –> 00:47:34,920
isn’t it?
So, so this is the way the, this

808
00:47:34,920 –> 00:47:37,040
is the ancient world, isn’t it?
That’s, that’s changed.

809
00:47:38,040 –> 00:47:40,120
And, and that’s how, that’s how
people view things.

810
00:47:40,120 –> 00:47:42,920
That’s a massive embarrassment
factor, a really massive

811
00:47:42,920 –> 00:47:45,520
embarrassment factor.
The last one I just want to

812
00:47:45,520 –> 00:47:50,520
present is that the eyewitnesses
died for their testimony.

813
00:47:51,760 –> 00:47:55,480
Now you might, you might respond
and push back and go, well, lots

814
00:47:55,480 –> 00:47:59,520
of people die for, for a lie.
You know, Islamic suicide

815
00:47:59,520 –> 00:48:02,720
bombers believe they’re going to
go to heaven, etcetera, and they

816
00:48:02,720 –> 00:48:04,400
blow themselves up.
They’re willing to die.

817
00:48:05,360 –> 00:48:07,960
There’s a big difference, a
massive difference in logic

818
00:48:07,960 –> 00:48:10,240
here.
Those suicide bombers are

819
00:48:10,240 –> 00:48:12,320
deluded.
They believe what they’ve been

820
00:48:12,320 –> 00:48:15,240
told.
They believe that their, their,

821
00:48:15,280 –> 00:48:17,680
their leaders have told them
this, this story and they

822
00:48:17,680 –> 00:48:19,120
believe it.
They’re deluded.

823
00:48:19,920 –> 00:48:22,600
If the apostles had made-up this
story.

824
00:48:22,600 –> 00:48:24,320
They didn’t.
They weren’t deluded, were they?

825
00:48:24,320 –> 00:48:26,560
They made-up.
If, if they made-up this story,

826
00:48:26,560 –> 00:48:29,840
if it’s not reliable, why would
you die?

827
00:48:29,840 –> 00:48:32,800
And in some cases were tortured
and died.

828
00:48:33,080 –> 00:48:36,760
Terrible death.
Why would you die for something

829
00:48:36,760 –> 00:48:39,320
you knew was a lie?
It’s different than the suicide

830
00:48:39,320 –> 00:48:40,560
bomber.
It’s a different logic.

831
00:48:40,760 –> 00:48:42,800
If if that makes sense.
Sorry to rush this but I’m

832
00:48:42,800 –> 00:48:44,520
running out of time.
But does that make sense?

833
00:48:44,520 –> 00:48:48,000
This is these people died for a
lie that they knew was a lie.

834
00:48:48,040 –> 00:48:50,080
They knew they made the lie up.
If it is a lie.

835
00:48:50,560 –> 00:48:54,600
Hopefully that makes sense.
We have some pretty reasonable

836
00:48:55,160 –> 00:48:57,840
historical information about
some of the apostles, how they

837
00:48:57,840 –> 00:49:00,800
died and how they were tortured
for their for their for what

838
00:49:01,000 –> 00:49:03,440
they believed.
And the others are more church

839
00:49:04,760 –> 00:49:07,680
like myths or, or tradition.
We don’t know for sure, but

840
00:49:07,880 –> 00:49:11,640
there’s a there’s some of them
are quite historically accurate.

841
00:49:12,560 –> 00:49:16,160
So let’s finish up with the,
the, this Ibe concept, this

842
00:49:16,160 –> 00:49:17,920
inference to the best
explanation.

843
00:49:18,760 –> 00:49:21,600
When we, when we, when we look
at the best explanation to a

844
00:49:21,600 –> 00:49:26,280
historical claim, we ask 4
questions. 1 is what what

845
00:49:26,600 –> 00:49:29,240
explanation has the best scope?
That means what, what

846
00:49:29,240 –> 00:49:31,600
explanation captures all the
relevant facts.

847
00:49:31,720 –> 00:49:33,520
So we’ve identified a lot of the
facts.

848
00:49:33,920 –> 00:49:36,760
What explanation captures all
those facts and puts them

849
00:49:36,760 –> 00:49:39,680
together in a coherent way?
What explanation has the most

850
00:49:39,680 –> 00:49:42,280
explanatory power?
Which means what’s the most

851
00:49:42,280 –> 00:49:45,160
probable what, which explanation
is most probable?

852
00:49:45,760 –> 00:49:49,280
What’s, what has the most
plausibility, which means it’s

853
00:49:49,280 –> 00:49:52,560
reasonable and persuasive.
And what is less contrived?

854
00:49:52,560 –> 00:49:56,000
It hasn’t got, you know,
spacemen coming into the story

855
00:49:56,000 –> 00:49:57,240
or things like that.
So it doesn’t have these

856
00:49:57,240 –> 00:50:00,160
external things thrown in to the
story to make it work.

857
00:50:00,840 –> 00:50:04,480
So when we apply that to Jesus,
I’m going to quickly finish to

858
00:50:04,480 –> 00:50:08,000
the resurrection.
There are there are probably 3

859
00:50:08,000 –> 00:50:11,800
main alternatives, what we call
naturalistic alternatives that

860
00:50:12,000 –> 00:50:13,960
that atheists would would put
forward.

861
00:50:14,360 –> 00:50:18,400
Some of these are a little bit
sort of not as not as well held

862
00:50:18,400 –> 00:50:21,120
anymore, but I’ll put them up
there anyway just for your just

863
00:50:21,120 –> 00:50:23,040
for your interest.
And I’ll show you which one is

864
00:50:23,040 –> 00:50:26,520
the, the one that atheist
scholars hold true today,

865
00:50:26,840 –> 00:50:31,960
believe to be true today.
So one is called the conspiracy

866
00:50:31,960 –> 00:50:35,080
theory that’s the apostle simply
went to the grave, either paid

867
00:50:35,080 –> 00:50:38,840
off the the guards if that was
the story and they stole the

868
00:50:38,840 –> 00:50:40,560
body and then they made the
whole thing up.

869
00:50:42,240 –> 00:50:44,720
What sort of explanatory scope
does this story have?

870
00:50:45,280 –> 00:50:47,280
Well, it’s sort of good.
It does explain some of the

871
00:50:47,280 –> 00:50:49,800
facts does explain why there’s
an empty tomb because they just

872
00:50:49,800 –> 00:50:51,720
went and stole the body.
So that does explain that.

873
00:50:53,160 –> 00:50:55,960
It does explain the appearances
to the apostles because it’s

874
00:50:55,960 –> 00:50:57,520
they’re just lies.
They just made it up so it

875
00:50:57,520 –> 00:51:01,880
didn’t happen.
And and it does have some

876
00:51:01,880 –> 00:51:05,400
explanatory power.
It does, though, fail on a

877
00:51:05,400 –> 00:51:08,920
number of other pieces of data
that do not gel with this this

878
00:51:08,920 –> 00:51:11,080
theory.
Why would you have women as your

879
00:51:11,080 –> 00:51:13,640
chief witnesses, as the first
people to see Jesus alive?

880
00:51:14,400 –> 00:51:18,080
And it’s also very simplistic
to, to and, and how does it

881
00:51:18,080 –> 00:51:21,320
explain the multiple appearances
of different people at different

882
00:51:21,320 –> 00:51:23,240
times?
It doesn’t really explain that.

883
00:51:23,600 –> 00:51:26,120
How does it explain the
commitment of the apostles who

884
00:51:26,120 –> 00:51:29,200
would take this story into the
world?

885
00:51:30,400 –> 00:51:32,680
It’s very complex.
So that’s why it, it doesn’t

886
00:51:33,080 –> 00:51:36,080
pass the plausibility test.
Conspiracies are very complex

887
00:51:36,080 –> 00:51:37,760
things.
If you’ve got one apostle who

888
00:51:37,760 –> 00:51:39,920
gets upset with one of the
others for getting more

889
00:51:40,600 –> 00:51:43,120
attention than him, all, all it
takes is one of them to say,

890
00:51:43,360 –> 00:51:46,160
hey, we made this all up and
write a document to say that and

891
00:51:46,160 –> 00:51:48,320
the whole thing’s over.
OK, it’s blown.

892
00:51:48,320 –> 00:51:50,880
So it, it, it isn’t plausible in
that sense.

893
00:51:51,720 –> 00:51:53,920
And the idea of a resurrected
Jesus, which I haven’t got into

894
00:51:53,920 –> 00:51:56,560
much this week, it, it was not
in the expectation of anyone.

895
00:51:56,560 –> 00:51:59,480
No one expected anyone to be
resurrected during the history

896
00:51:59,480 –> 00:52:01,080
of the world.
They all, everyone believes the

897
00:52:01,080 –> 00:52:03,960
resurrection at the end of the
world, not during the world.

898
00:52:03,960 –> 00:52:07,160
And it’s a bit contrived to
imagine that fishermen have come

899
00:52:07,160 –> 00:52:11,240
up with this incredible story
that not only is quite

900
00:52:11,760 –> 00:52:15,120
convincing in its own right, but
ties in intimately with the Old

901
00:52:15,120 –> 00:52:17,040
Testament prophecies and the Old
Testament types.

902
00:52:17,040 –> 00:52:19,640
How, how, how smart are these
fishermen who have done that in

903
00:52:19,640 –> 00:52:22,000
a, in a in a couple of days to
put all this together.

904
00:52:22,560 –> 00:52:27,680
It just doesn’t seem right.
Another theory, and used to be

905
00:52:27,680 –> 00:52:29,520
called the swoon theory for
those who are a bit older who

906
00:52:29,520 –> 00:52:31,960
might remember that or is the
apparent death theory that Jesus

907
00:52:31,960 –> 00:52:35,480
didn’t really die on the cross,
he just went into a coma and

908
00:52:35,480 –> 00:52:37,680
then they recovered and got him
back to life again.

909
00:52:39,760 –> 00:52:42,280
It explains the empty tomb
because he’s not really dead,

910
00:52:43,040 –> 00:52:44,920
but it doesn’t really explain
much else.

911
00:52:44,920 –> 00:52:46,520
How did he get out of a sealed
tomb?

912
00:52:47,280 –> 00:52:48,880
How did he get past the Roman
guards?

913
00:52:48,880 –> 00:52:51,680
It’s not very convincing there.
The Romans don’t usually make

914
00:52:51,680 –> 00:52:54,280
mistakes when they kill people.
Rome was pretty good at a lot of

915
00:52:54,280 –> 00:52:56,960
things and one of them was how
to kill people and they would

916
00:52:56,960 –> 00:52:59,840
not have left him half dead or,
or whatever.

917
00:53:00,480 –> 00:53:03,600
Josephus has examples of people
taken from a cross where he saw

918
00:53:03,640 –> 00:53:05,440
friends that run across and he
was able to convince the

919
00:53:05,440 –> 00:53:07,720
commander to get them down.
They didn’t survive.

920
00:53:07,720 –> 00:53:09,320
They didn’t.
After you’ve been nailed up to a

921
00:53:09,320 –> 00:53:10,760
cross, you don’t, you don’t
survive.

922
00:53:11,920 –> 00:53:15,200
And again, it’s got this
conspiracy element to it, which

923
00:53:15,200 –> 00:53:17,880
could have been blown very
easily very early in the piece.

924
00:53:18,800 –> 00:53:23,320
The last one here is what’s
called the hallucination theory

925
00:53:23,320 –> 00:53:27,200
or or emotional experience is
another way it’s put this

926
00:53:27,760 –> 00:53:29,800
brothers and sisters and young
people, this is it.

927
00:53:30,800 –> 00:53:37,160
This is what the intelligence,
smart, educated, accredited, non

928
00:53:37,160 –> 00:53:41,560
believing historians and
scholars believe is the answer.

929
00:53:41,960 –> 00:53:43,320
Now this is it.
There’s nothing better than

930
00:53:43,320 –> 00:53:45,480
this.
You’ve seen the facts, you’ve

931
00:53:45,480 –> 00:53:47,080
seen the evidence, the
eyewitness evidence.

932
00:53:47,440 –> 00:53:52,360
This is the alternative, the
naturalistic alternative that

933
00:53:52,360 –> 00:53:58,880
all these people, the apostles
500 at one time, Cephas, the 12

934
00:53:58,880 –> 00:54:02,480
Thomas, they all had a
hallucination and they use this

935
00:54:02,480 –> 00:54:05,960
evidence that, you know, one in
eight Americans claim to have

936
00:54:05,960 –> 00:54:08,000
seen their grandmother or
grandpa after they’ve died or

937
00:54:08,000 –> 00:54:11,120
something like that.
This is the, this is what this

938
00:54:11,120 –> 00:54:14,960
is the because they’re so
committed to naturalism and to

939
00:54:15,240 –> 00:54:17,680
denial of miracles.
This is the best, this is the

940
00:54:17,680 –> 00:54:20,560
best explanation of all those
historical facts.

941
00:54:22,120 –> 00:54:24,960
Doesn’t explain the empty tomb.
No, there’d still be a body in

942
00:54:24,960 –> 00:54:27,480
the empty tomb.
It would be very easy to end

943
00:54:27,480 –> 00:54:30,800
this theory if people started
saying he, he’s alive.

944
00:54:30,800 –> 00:54:32,680
I go, well, actually, no,
there’s a body in there.

945
00:54:32,680 –> 00:54:36,240
So it’s not very strong as far
as evidence goes.

946
00:54:36,440 –> 00:54:38,800
Again, doesn’t explain these
other embarrassment factors.

947
00:54:38,800 –> 00:54:42,800
Why are the why do we have women
put into the role of key

948
00:54:42,800 –> 00:54:46,480
witnesses here, which would be
counter countercultural and the

949
00:54:46,480 –> 00:54:48,520
Romans could have put an end to
it very quickly and just

950
00:54:48,520 –> 00:54:49,600
produced the body, couldn’t
they?

951
00:54:49,600 –> 00:54:52,400
And just stop the stop close the
whole thing down.

952
00:54:53,400 –> 00:54:56,040
Does hallucination doesn’t
explain the diversity of

953
00:54:56,040 –> 00:54:58,480
appearances in different
locations, different places.

954
00:54:58,960 –> 00:55:02,120
And there’s no evidence that the
apostles were particularly going

955
00:55:02,120 –> 00:55:05,920
through a traumatic sort of
psychological state of mind as a

956
00:55:05,920 –> 00:55:08,200
whole, as a, as a group that,
that doesn’t make sense.

957
00:55:09,200 –> 00:55:12,080
Would every apostle have been
susceptible to hallucination?

958
00:55:12,080 –> 00:55:14,440
Would every single one have the
same personality type that,

959
00:55:14,800 –> 00:55:17,200
that, that maybe is more
susceptible?

960
00:55:17,680 –> 00:55:20,160
How come Jesus eats food?
How come they touch him and

961
00:55:20,160 –> 00:55:21,960
interact with him?
This, this hallucination theory

962
00:55:21,960 –> 00:55:25,320
doesn’t really hold water, but
it’s the best.

963
00:55:25,400 –> 00:55:27,680
It is the best.
It’s held by really intelligent

964
00:55:27,680 –> 00:55:31,240
people who know the historical
facts really well because it’s

965
00:55:31,240 –> 00:55:33,760
the only explanation that they
have.

966
00:55:33,760 –> 00:55:38,400
So I’m going to finish up now.
I’m putting my cards on the

967
00:55:38,400 –> 00:55:39,680
table.
If you’re wondering why the why,

968
00:55:39,680 –> 00:55:45,800
that’s there putting my cards on
the table and I’m going to read

969
00:55:45,800 –> 00:55:47,040
this because I don’t trust
myself.

970
00:55:48,000 –> 00:55:50,480
I really, I don’t want to sound
arrogant.

971
00:55:50,480 –> 00:55:53,160
I don’t want to sound
triumphant.

972
00:55:53,240 –> 00:55:55,960
I want I’m just stating the
absolute facts here, brothers

973
00:55:55,960 –> 00:56:04,040
and sisters and young people.
The most honest and rational

974
00:56:04,040 –> 00:56:08,720
explanation of these facts is
that Jesus Christ was

975
00:56:08,720 –> 00:56:11,600
resurrected.
How else do you explain the

976
00:56:11,600 –> 00:56:15,000
spread of Christianity, how the
influence it’s had on the world,

977
00:56:15,240 –> 00:56:18,360
the fulfillment of prophecy, the
eyewitness reports, the

978
00:56:18,360 –> 00:56:21,640
closeness of the of the
eyewitness testimony to the

979
00:56:21,640 –> 00:56:22,960
event?
How else do you explain it?

980
00:56:22,960 –> 00:56:25,640
There’s no other real rational
explanation.

981
00:56:26,640 –> 00:56:32,600
And I just want to, I’m, I’m
going to read out some responses

982
00:56:32,600 –> 00:56:36,560
and just, and I take no joy in
saying this because the, some of

983
00:56:36,560 –> 00:56:39,880
my family, some of my, my loved
ones have taken this approach.

984
00:56:39,880 –> 00:56:43,320
So I read these out with, with,
with humility and meekness and

985
00:56:43,320 –> 00:56:47,720
respect.
You might claim ignorance.

986
00:56:47,720 –> 00:56:50,840
So ignorance means I, I don’t
really know about the facts and

987
00:56:50,840 –> 00:56:52,760
I couldn’t really care less
about them.

988
00:56:52,760 –> 00:56:55,840
And I’m just not interested in
following up or reading them.

989
00:56:55,840 –> 00:56:59,200
I don’t know them.
I’m just ignorant to all this.

990
00:57:00,480 –> 00:57:03,920
Or you would die in your sins.
That’s a biblical term.

991
00:57:04,120 –> 00:57:07,280
That means you’ll die like the
animals and you’ll stay dead

992
00:57:07,280 –> 00:57:09,240
forever.
And you’ve made that choice and

993
00:57:09,240 –> 00:57:16,000
that is your your decision.
You may reject the resurrection

994
00:57:16,000 –> 00:57:18,080
on philosophical grounds.
You might say you’re a

995
00:57:18,080 –> 00:57:20,720
materialist.
You cannot accept miracles.

996
00:57:20,720 –> 00:57:26,000
You can’t accept that God would
intervene or there is a God that

997
00:57:26,000 –> 00:57:28,800
would intervene.
You go with the hallucination

998
00:57:28,800 –> 00:57:33,680
theory despite its lack of
coherence, because it’s the only

999
00:57:33,960 –> 00:57:37,760
viable one that make that that
fit your your philosophy.

1000
00:57:38,720 –> 00:57:42,480
You too will die in your sins
and you will die forever.

1001
00:57:42,480 –> 00:57:47,560
And you’ve made that decision.
You might have just accepted the

1002
00:57:47,560 –> 00:57:51,440
status quo.
You have absorbed the worldview

1003
00:57:51,440 –> 00:57:56,040
of our society, the worldview
that’s brought into your mind by

1004
00:57:56,560 –> 00:58:00,240
the media, by our education
system, by our entertainers and

1005
00:58:00,240 –> 00:58:03,280
our movies, etcetera.
Your favorite sports stars,

1006
00:58:03,360 –> 00:58:07,080
don’t you know, acknowledge
Jesus, your favorite actors and

1007
00:58:07,080 –> 00:58:10,000
musicians.
And so you have absorbed that

1008
00:58:10,720 –> 00:58:15,320
zeitgeist, that worldview and
you not interested, you’ve just

1009
00:58:15,320 –> 00:58:17,440
rejected it.
Your uni lecturer doesn’t seem

1010
00:58:17,440 –> 00:58:19,400
to believe in Jesus.
The people you see is

1011
00:58:19,680 –> 00:58:23,520
intelligent in our world, the
people producing documentaries

1012
00:58:23,520 –> 00:58:26,240
on television.
So you’ve just accepted that

1013
00:58:26,240 –> 00:58:29,840
worldview.
Sadly, you will also die in your

1014
00:58:29,840 –> 00:58:32,520
sins.
You have, you have rejected the

1015
00:58:32,520 –> 00:58:35,560
evidence that God’s presented.
And there are the consequences

1016
00:58:35,560 –> 00:58:39,240
of that are eternal and sadly,
very, very real.

1017
00:58:42,000 –> 00:58:47,000
Let’s just finish up with what
those who accept and believe the

1018
00:58:47,000 –> 00:58:51,080
testimony God has left on record
can take from the resurrection.

1019
00:58:52,320 –> 00:58:55,680
One of these outcomes is
something called assurance.

1020
00:58:56,160 –> 00:58:59,800
And Acts 17 is the greatest 1 of
arguably one of the greatest

1021
00:59:00,320 –> 00:59:04,080
preaching campaigns of all time
recorded in Acts 17 by the

1022
00:59:04,080 –> 00:59:07,600
apostle Paul in Athens.
He goes through talks about

1023
00:59:07,600 –> 00:59:09,200
these unknown God.
He says this unknown God you

1024
00:59:09,200 –> 00:59:11,880
don’t even know created the
world, the the, the heaven and

1025
00:59:11,880 –> 00:59:14,560
the earth and mankind and and
he’s got a purpose with this

1026
00:59:14,560 –> 00:59:15,720
earth.
He’s going to bring this purpose

1027
00:59:15,720 –> 00:59:18,440
to an appointed day.
And he gets to the last verse

1028
00:59:19,120 –> 00:59:25,120
and he says all the things that
I’ve talked about and told you

1029
00:59:25,520 –> 00:59:27,160
you’ve never heard of before
because they’re Gentiles,

1030
00:59:27,160 –> 00:59:29,320
they’re Greek, Greek
philosophers, etcetera.

1031
00:59:30,440 –> 00:59:34,320
Here’s the evidence.
He says the last verse of this

1032
00:59:34,320 –> 00:59:38,280
speech.
God has given assurance of this.

1033
00:59:38,280 –> 00:59:42,560
Everything I’ve talked about.
He’s given assurance to all by

1034
00:59:42,560 –> 00:59:45,280
raising this man Jesus from the
dead.

1035
00:59:46,440 –> 00:59:49,280
So the resurrection is your
assurance.

1036
00:59:49,880 –> 00:59:52,160
It’s your.
It’s your guarantee that God has

1037
00:59:52,160 –> 00:59:56,160
intervened in world history.
He intervened in US, undeniably

1038
00:59:56,160 –> 00:59:58,200
intervened in the creation of
our universe.

1039
00:59:58,600 –> 01:00:01,840
But we call that a singularity.
It’s where physics and science

1040
01:00:01,840 –> 01:00:05,040
cannot explain why there’s a
universe with its finely tuned

1041
01:00:05,080 –> 01:00:08,960
properties in existence.
Here is the second creation, the

1042
01:00:08,960 –> 01:00:13,480
resurrection from the dead.
That science cannot explain,

1043
01:00:13,480 –> 01:00:15,560
physics cannot explain.
It’s the intervention of God,

1044
01:00:15,560 –> 01:00:18,960
another singularity that’s
occurred in in time and space in

1045
01:00:18,960 –> 01:00:23,840
history where where the divine
has has in a very profound way

1046
01:00:24,120 –> 01:00:28,360
intervened in the in the world.
And we can take assurance from

1047
01:00:28,360 –> 01:00:32,080
this, brothers and sisters, we
can be assured that God has a

1048
01:00:32,080 –> 01:00:35,040
purpose.
We can be assured that God

1049
01:00:35,040 –> 01:00:37,240
created the world.
We can be assured he has a plan

1050
01:00:38,040 –> 01:00:41,440
in creating humans like you and
I, and we can be assured that he

1051
01:00:41,440 –> 01:00:43,440
has a plan for us as
individuals.

1052
01:00:44,400 –> 01:00:47,720
And we can be assured that we’ll
be resurrected from the dead and

1053
01:00:47,720 –> 01:00:50,320
that our loved ones will also be
resurrected.

1054
01:00:50,920 –> 01:00:54,240
So let’s just finish up.
First Corinthians 15 goes on to

1055
01:00:54,240 –> 01:00:57,600
say you can approach the
resurrection in two ways.

1056
01:00:59,080 –> 01:01:03,760
If Christ is not risen, he says
your faith is futile, it’s

1057
01:01:03,760 –> 01:01:08,280
empty, it’s a waste of time if
Christ didn’t rise from the dead

1058
01:01:08,600 –> 01:01:13,280
and you are still in your sins
and all your loved ones and

1059
01:01:13,280 –> 01:01:16,640
those who have fallen a sleep in
Christ, they’ve perished like

1060
01:01:17,200 –> 01:01:21,480
the perishable items of on a
food aisle, which just perishes

1061
01:01:21,480 –> 01:01:24,120
after the years, but it’s
finished forever and of no has

1062
01:01:24,120 –> 01:01:26,440
no life.
And he says if that’s the

1063
01:01:26,440 –> 01:01:28,800
reality, if there’s no
resurrection, if Christ did not

1064
01:01:28,800 –> 01:01:33,280
raise you and I of all men just
we’ve really wasted our lives,

1065
01:01:33,280 –> 01:01:35,240
haven’t we, coming to Bible
school, reading the Bible.

1066
01:01:35,240 –> 01:01:38,880
It’s like it’s a so we’ve we the
joke’s on us really, really if

1067
01:01:38,880 –> 01:01:43,040
Christ didn’t rise from the dead
and he contrasts that in verse

1068
01:01:43,040 –> 01:01:52,040
20, he says, but but now the
reality is Christ has risen and

1069
01:01:52,040 –> 01:01:56,640
he calls him the firstfruits and
says Even so all in Christ,

1070
01:01:56,640 –> 01:01:59,880
that’s you and I, we are in
Christ through faith and

1071
01:01:59,880 –> 01:02:03,000
accepting the call of God, we
are in Christ.

1072
01:02:03,360 –> 01:02:05,240
All in Christ shall be made
alive.

1073
01:02:05,240 –> 01:02:08,240
So the resurrection of Jesus
isn’t just theory and

1074
01:02:08,240 –> 01:02:13,240
intellectual and sort of a
mental thing.

1075
01:02:13,480 –> 01:02:16,320
It’s personal.
We are recipients of the

1076
01:02:16,320 –> 01:02:19,000
benefits of that resurrection
because all in Christ will be

1077
01:02:19,000 –> 01:02:22,440
made alive.
And that new creation that

1078
01:02:22,440 –> 01:02:25,880
happened at that day when Jesus
came out of that tomb, that new

1079
01:02:25,880 –> 01:02:29,040
creation, we are part of that
new creation.

1080
01:02:29,160 –> 01:02:32,200
If any man is in Christ, he is
new creation.

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01:02:32,200 –> 01:02:35,800
We’re part of that new creation.
And so we saw this runway, this

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01:02:35,800 –> 01:02:39,200
2000 year runway, it has 2 ends
to it, the first coming, the

1083
01:02:39,200 –> 01:02:42,480
second coming.
And 1st Corinthians 15 describes

1084
01:02:42,480 –> 01:02:44,600
the resurrection of Christ as
the first fruits.

1085
01:02:45,200 –> 01:02:48,560
He is the first fruits raised,
not just resurrected, others

1086
01:02:48,560 –> 01:02:51,080
have been resurrected, but
resurrected to eternal life.

1087
01:02:51,760 –> 01:02:54,240
He is the the first sheaf that
has been resurrected.

1088
01:02:54,240 –> 01:02:57,080
And he says, here’s the order,
Christ the first fruits

1089
01:02:57,800 –> 01:03:00,360
afterwards the whole harvest at
his coming.

1090
01:03:01,000 –> 01:03:03,520
So brothers and sisters, we can
have absolute assurance and

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01:03:03,520 –> 01:03:08,480
absolute confidence that we will
be part of that, that that that

1092
01:03:08,480 –> 01:03:12,720
harvest that is soon to take
place because of the work of God

1093
01:03:12,720 –> 01:03:16,000
through Christ at the first
fruits, at the original

1094
01:03:16,320 –> 01:03:17,840
resurrection and the new
creation.

1095
01:03:18,120 –> 01:03:33,400
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to the

1096
01:03:33,400 –> 01:03:35,000
good Chris Adelphian Talks
podcast.

1097
01:03:35,800 –> 01:03:38,240
We hope this talk helped you in
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1098
01:03:38,240 –> 01:03:40,640
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1114
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God bless and talk to you next
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