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Voddie Baucham - The Substance Of Our Faith - John 20_24 - 30 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Take your seats, please. If you have your Bibles with you,
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  Speaker 1: please open them to John chapter 20. John chapter 20.
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  Speaker 1: As we continue to work our way through the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: of John.
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  Speaker 2: We'll finish chapter 20 today and then make our way
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  Speaker 2: to the last chapter in this great.
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  Speaker 1: Gospel. John chapter 20. We'll begin at verse number 24.
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  Speaker 1: John chapter 20, beginning at verse 24. If you'll remember
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  Speaker 1: on last week, We looked at the earlier portion of
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  Speaker 1: this where Jesus came and appeared to the disciples and
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  Speaker 1: Thomas was absent. Now we look at the next encounter
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  Speaker 1: where Thomas is present. And so we'll begin reading at
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  Speaker 1: verse 24. Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin,
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  Speaker 1: or Didymus in some of your translations, was not with
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  Speaker 1: them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him,
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  Speaker 1: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them,
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  Speaker 1: Unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails,
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  Speaker 1: and place my finger into the marks of the nails,
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  Speaker 1: and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.
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  Speaker 1: Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas
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  Speaker 1: was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
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  Speaker 1: Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and
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  Speaker 1: see my hands, and put your hand and place it
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  Speaker 1: in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him,
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  Speaker 1: My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Have
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  Speaker 1: you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those
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  Speaker 1: who have not seen and yet have believed. And then
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  Speaker 1: here's that important thesis statement in the Gospel of John. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples,
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  Speaker 1: which are not written in this book. But these are
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  Speaker 1: written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
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  Speaker 1: the Son of God, and that by believing you may
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  Speaker 1: have life in his name. Amen. I've titled this message
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  Speaker 1: The Substance of Our Faith. The Substance of Our Faith.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody believes in something. Most people believe in God. James
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  Speaker 1: chapter 2 verse 19 says you believe in God and
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  Speaker 1: this is good. Even the demons believe and shudder. The
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  Speaker 1: demons believe in God more than you believe in God
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  Speaker 1: because they know God personally once lived and ministered in
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  Speaker 1: the very presence of god and we might say well
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  Speaker 1: yes that that's that's just believing in god but but
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  Speaker 1: we're different because we believe in jesus and you're right
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  Speaker 1: to say that that being a christian is about at
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  Speaker 1: least in part believing in jesus but you can believe
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  Speaker 1: in jesus without being a christian Believing in Jesus in
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  Speaker 1: and of itself is not enough. The question is, what
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  Speaker 1: is the substance of your belief in Jesus? We've talked
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  Speaker 1: about this before, but it bears repeating. Jews and Muslims
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  Speaker 1: believe in Jesus. They believe that Jesus is or was
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  Speaker 1: a great prophet, and yet they are not Christians. Jehovah's
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  Speaker 1: Witnesses believe in Jesus. They believe that Jesus is a God,
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  Speaker 1: but that he is not Jehovah. They do not believe
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  Speaker 1: in the Jesus of the Bible. They are not Christians.
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  Speaker 1: Mormons believe in Jesus. However, Mormons believe that Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: the spirit brother of Lucifer who became the God of
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  Speaker 1: this world. They do not believe in the Jesus of
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  Speaker 1: the Bible. They are not Christians. Hindus and Buddhists believe
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus was a great enlightened holy man, a guru,
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  Speaker 1: if you will. However, they do not believe in the
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  Speaker 1: Jesus of the Bible. They are not Christians. Atheists and
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  Speaker 1: secular humanists believe that Jesus was a great historical figure.
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  Speaker 1: But they do not believe in the Jesus of the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: They are not Christians. Christians. Many liberal denominations believe in Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: but do not believe in the Jesus of the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: And although they are part of denominations, many of them
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  Speaker 1: that are historically Christian, many of them are not Christian.
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  Speaker 1: Many people here in our midst believe in Jesus. We're
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  Speaker 1: here today because we believe in Jesus. But unless the substance...
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  Speaker 1: of your faith is appropriate and biblical then that belief
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  Speaker 1: in Jesus is insufficient and you are not a Christian
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  Speaker 1: you are dead in your sins the content and the
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  Speaker 1: substance of our faith matters folks demons don't just believe
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  Speaker 1: in God demons also believe in Jesus Mark chapter 5
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  Speaker 1: Verses 6 through 8. You remember this? The man who
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  Speaker 1: is possessed by a legion of demons. Mark 5, 6
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  Speaker 1: through 8. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he
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  Speaker 1: ran and fell down before him. And crying with a
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  Speaker 1: loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God,
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  Speaker 1: do not torment me. For he was saying to him,
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  Speaker 1: Come out of the man, you unclean spirit. That was
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  Speaker 1: the unclean spirit talking to Jesus. The unclean spirit believed
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  Speaker 1: and knew that Jesus was son of the most high God.
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  Speaker 1: So there's something more than just believing in Jesus that
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  Speaker 1: is required for salvation. It is the content. It is
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  Speaker 1: the substance of your faith that matters. It is of
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  Speaker 1: critical importance. It is not merely your experience. It is
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  Speaker 1: not merely religious observance. We must be clear about what
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  Speaker 1: we believe and why we believe it and what the
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  Speaker 1: source of those beliefs are. So in our text today,
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  Speaker 1: We'll look at this substance of our faith. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: and we've seen this before in a number of places
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  Speaker 1: in John, there will be consistency here because John is consistent.
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  Speaker 1: He's consistent from the beginning to the end. At the end,
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  Speaker 1: he's making the same point and reiterating the same point
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  Speaker 1: that he made in the beginning. And that is we
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  Speaker 1: believe in the Christ Jesus. history our faith is rooted
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  Speaker 1: and grounded in history i've said this before i'll say
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  Speaker 1: it again because john is making this point verse 26
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  Speaker 1: eight days later or after eight days his disciples were
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  Speaker 1: inside again and thomas was with them now that that
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  Speaker 1: may seem like an insignificant phrase but it's not Because
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  Speaker 1: the Bible is replete with geographical and chronological and other
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  Speaker 1: factual references that make its claims both verifiable and falsifiable.
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  Speaker 1: I've said this before. Christianity is unique among world religions
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  Speaker 1: in its falsifiability. Now, for those of you who might
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  Speaker 1: not be from a science background, I say falsifiable, and
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  Speaker 1: that sounds like a bad thing, right? Like false is true,
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  Speaker 1: it's good, and false is bad. Amen? Amen? And so
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  Speaker 1: it seems like to be falsifiable would be a bad thing.
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  Speaker 1: But no, falsifiability is a very good thing. If an
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  Speaker 1: argument is falsifiable, that means that there's evidence available that
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  Speaker 1: could prove that it's not true. You're not just saying
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  Speaker 1: something that nobody can go and investigate. Christians make claims
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  Speaker 1: that can be investigated right here, right now, today. We
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  Speaker 1: can investigate these claims. It's interesting. Some of you may remember,
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  Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be leaving for Israel on Thursday to
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  Speaker 1: lead a tour there. And it would have been the
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  Speaker 1: fourth time for me to go and lead a tour
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  Speaker 1: in Israel. And I love leading tours in Israel and
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  Speaker 1: taking Christians on tours in Israel and some non-Christians on
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  Speaker 1: tours in Israel because there are places when you can
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  Speaker 1: stand there and say, X marks the spot. Here's where
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  Speaker 1: it happened. Read that verse in the Bible. That verse
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  Speaker 1: in the Bible that you just read. That happened right
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  Speaker 1: here on this spot. Look up. You see that place
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  Speaker 1: right there? That's what the text is referring to. Look up.
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  Speaker 1: You see that place right there? That's what the text
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  Speaker 1: is referring to. Look up. When you read about the
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  Speaker 1: place of the skull where Jesus was crucified outside the
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  Speaker 1: city gates, there's the fortress of Antonia. We're north of
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  Speaker 1: the fortress Antonia, outside the city gates. Look up at
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  Speaker 1: that rock. What does it look like? Looks like a skull.
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  Speaker 1: He was crucified right there. He was buried right over there.
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  Speaker 1: It's historical. It's verifiable and it's falsifiable. Our faith is
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  Speaker 1: rooted and grounded in history. There are names, there are dates,
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  Speaker 1: there are places. In the year that Quirinius was the
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  Speaker 1: governor of Syria. You know, for years people used that
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  Speaker 1: against the Gospel of Luke to say that the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: of Luke wasn't historic until there was another archaeological dig
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  Speaker 1: that found the name of Quirinius, the governor of Syria,
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  Speaker 1: and then they said, oh, okay. It's historic. In chapter
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  Speaker 1: 20 alone, we have these three references. Verse 1, now
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  Speaker 1: on the first day of the week. Verse 19, so
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  Speaker 1: while it was evening on that day, the first day
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  Speaker 1: of the week, And then in our text, verse 26,
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  Speaker 1: after eight days, his disciples were again inside. John is
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  Speaker 1: concerned with names, with dates, with places. Now, we've talked
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  Speaker 1: about this before, that John's gospel is centered around these
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  Speaker 1: seven signs. And he does not necessarily put these seven
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  Speaker 1: signs in chronological order however even though he's taking these
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  Speaker 1: signs and not putting them in chronological order when he
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  Speaker 1: talks about particular events he gives the historical accuracy of
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  Speaker 1: the event itself because it matters because he was there
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  Speaker 1: because he was a witness and because this matters to
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  Speaker 1: our faith It is important to God that we have
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  Speaker 1: this information, which is why it has been preserved. And
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  Speaker 1: all of the Gospels do this. In fact, that's the
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  Speaker 1: nature of the Gospels, to give us this historical picture
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  Speaker 1: of the life, the person, and work of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: The actual person. Christianity is not a religion that is
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  Speaker 1: based merely on theories, merely on ideas, merely on experiences.
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  Speaker 1: Our faith is rooted and grounded in history, in what
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  Speaker 1: actually happened. Please don't miss this. So many Christians do.
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  Speaker 1: So many Christians are anti-intellectual. We don't want, don't give
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  Speaker 1: me facts. Don't give me so much information. I don't
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  Speaker 1: want that. God wants you to have it. God wants
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  Speaker 1: you to have it. And then here's what happens. You know,
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  Speaker 1: these Christians who have this attitude toward Christianity, where we
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  Speaker 1: don't want to get bogged down in all these facts.
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  Speaker 1: We don't want to get bogged down in all this history,
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  Speaker 1: all these names, all these dates, all this place. We
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  Speaker 1: don't want to get bogged down. And then our children
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  Speaker 1: come to us and ask us questions about things in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible. And our best answer is, well, just because.
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  Speaker 1: And we wonder why they are on shaky ground. Because
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  Speaker 1: they ask the simplest questions. And not only do we
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  Speaker 1: not have the answers, we act like the answers don't matter.
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  Speaker 1: Just shut off your brain and believe. But that is
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  Speaker 1: not how God deals with his people. He gives us
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  Speaker 1: his word filled with names, with dates, with places, with times.
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  Speaker 1: with factual events. Because our faith is rooted and grounded
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  Speaker 1: in things that actually are and things that actually were.
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  Speaker 1: And it matters. It matters. It's interesting, we haven't said
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  Speaker 1: a word about it here, but there are historic events
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  Speaker 1: going on right now which is why I'm not going
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  Speaker 1: to Israel on Thursday. These historic events with people slaughtering
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  Speaker 1: one another that are rooted and grounded in historical events
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  Speaker 1: that you can find in the scriptures. How many of
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  Speaker 1: us have talked to our children about the fact that
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  Speaker 1: what's going on today in Israel is rooted in the
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  Speaker 1: same conflict between Isaac and Ishmael in the Bible? Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: the father of the Jews, And Ishmael, the father of
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  Speaker 1: the Muslims. Have we used that as an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: sit our children down and say, this is what the
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  Speaker 1: Bible teaches us. And right here, right now, today, we
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  Speaker 1: can see the implications of that because this book is true.
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  Speaker 1: Are we doing that? Or are we just saying, turn
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  Speaker 1: off your mind, close your eyes, and hope you feel something.
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  Speaker 1: nor the substance of our faith. It's rooted and grounded
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  Speaker 1: in the fact that what we believe is historical. We
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  Speaker 1: believe in the Christ of history. Not only that, but
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  Speaker 1: we believe that this Christ of history actually died and
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  Speaker 1: rose again. That it happened. Not that it's not that
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  Speaker 1: it's some fantasy, not that it's something that we just
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  Speaker 1: sort of hold on to and hope that it's true.
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  Speaker 1: But we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, which, oh, by the way, is the most
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  Speaker 1: well-documented fact in all of ancient history. Let me say
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  Speaker 1: that again. The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: the most well-documented fact In all of ancient history. It's
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  Speaker 1: not even close. It's not even close. We believe in
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  Speaker 1: what happened with Julius Caesar. Because of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars.
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  Speaker 1: How many copies of that do we have? Maybe a
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  Speaker 1: few dozen. How old is the earliest copy? Over a
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  Speaker 1: thousand years before the original? Aristotle's Poetics. Same thing. A
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  Speaker 1: handful of copies. Earliest one. Over 1,000 years older than
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  Speaker 1: the original. Homer's Iliad. There are more copies of that,
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  Speaker 1: but the earliest one that we have is more than 1,000
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  Speaker 1: years after the original. Yet with the New Testament, we
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  Speaker 1: can put our hands on more than 5,000 copies, manuscripts,
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  Speaker 1: or portions of manuscripts of the New Testament. Over 5,000.
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  Speaker 1: Let me say that again, over 5,000 manuscripts or portions
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  Speaker 1: of manuscripts of the New Testament alone. The earliest ones
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  Speaker 1: written within decades of the lives of the apostles. Right now, today.
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  Speaker 1: So yes, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 1: is the most well-attested fact in all of history. It happened.
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  Speaker 1: And this particular passage... is extremely important in that regard.
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  Speaker 1: Think about this. What is significant about this second visit?
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  Speaker 1: He came to his disciples. He appeared to his disciples.
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  Speaker 1: Not everybody's there during the first visit. Thomas is not
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  Speaker 1: there during the first visit. And what does Thomas demand?
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  Speaker 1: Thomas demands scientific evidence of the resurrection. You realize that's
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  Speaker 1: what happened. Thomas said, I need to see and I
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  Speaker 1: need to touch. I want factual, scientific evidence that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: rose from the dead. And he didn't get rebuked by God.
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  Speaker 1: How dare you? Demand factual, scientific. No, he didn't get rebuked.
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  Speaker 1: What happens? Jesus comes into the room. Verse 27. Then
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  Speaker 1: he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see
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  Speaker 1: my hands. Put your hand. put out your hand and
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  Speaker 1: put it in my side do not disbelieve but believe
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  Speaker 1: in other words because of thomas's absence and because of
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  Speaker 1: thomas's attitude the bible records not just historical evidence but
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  Speaker 1: But scientific evidence, factual scientific evidence that Jesus was actually
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  Speaker 1: killed on the cross, he still bore his wounds and
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  Speaker 1: rose from the dead. We believe in the resurrected Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: That is the substance of our faith. There are some
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  Speaker 1: who argue that, well, you know, whether the resurrection is
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  Speaker 1: real or not, you know, it doesn't matter. We still
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  Speaker 1: believe in Jesus. We still believe in his teachings. We
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  Speaker 1: still believe in his, no. No. Folks, if there is
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  Speaker 1: no resurrection, then the testimony we have in scripture is
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  Speaker 1: a lie. If there is no resurrection, then Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: still dead. Dead. And he did not overcome death, hell,
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  Speaker 1: and the grave. And you have no hope of ever
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  Speaker 1: overcoming death, hell, and the grave. And if that's the case,
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  Speaker 1: nothing that he taught matters. The resurrection matters. Thirdly, not
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  Speaker 1: only do we believe in this historic Jesus who lived
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  Speaker 1: and died and rose again, but we believe that this
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  Speaker 1: historic Jesus... That he is God. Again, verse 26. Eight
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  Speaker 1: days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was
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  Speaker 1: with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and
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  Speaker 1: stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus stands before Thomas. Jesus, the man. who was crucified,
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  Speaker 1: who died as a man, a literal physical death, stands
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  Speaker 1: before Thomas with the literal physical wounds of his crucifixion.
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  Speaker 1: But Jesus, the God-man, walked into a locked room. Do
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  Speaker 1: you follow that? Twice John makes this clear. They were
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  Speaker 1: afraid They were in hiding. By the way, this is
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  Speaker 1: Easter Sunday and then the Sunday after. This phrase, eight
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  Speaker 1: days later, when you look at the inclusive timing, it's
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  Speaker 1: kind of like the resurrection on the third day. It
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  Speaker 1: uses inclusive timing, right? Dies on Friday, rises on Sunday,
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  Speaker 1: and you say the third day because you include Friday
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  Speaker 1: and you include Sunday. When he says eight days later,
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  Speaker 1: you include the first Sunday that happened as well as
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  Speaker 1: the second Sunday that happened. So you have the apostles...
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  Speaker 1: immediately after the resurrection, starting to meet on Sunday because
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  Speaker 1: Christ rose on Sunday. They are in a room that
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  Speaker 1: is locked because they are afraid because Jesus has been
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  Speaker 1: crucified and no doubt people will be after them next.
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  Speaker 1: And in the midst of this locked room where they
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  Speaker 1: are hiding, Jesus walks in. So there is something different
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  Speaker 1: about Jesus in his resurrected state. There is something supernatural
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  Speaker 1: about what Jesus in his resurrected state does in this room,
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  Speaker 1: not once, but twice. After Thomas touches the wounds, he
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  Speaker 1: makes a declaration. And that declaration is, my Lord and
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  Speaker 1: my God. My Lord and my God. He is declaring
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  Speaker 1: not only that Jesus is a great teacher, not only
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus died and that he rose again, but that Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: this great teacher, died and rose again and came into
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  Speaker 1: this locked room because Jesus is Lord and God. That
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  Speaker 1: must be part of the substance of our faith. That
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is God. That Jesus is the second person of
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  Speaker 1: the Trinity. That we worship God the Father, Son, and
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. One God in three persons. And that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is that second person of the Trinity. That he is
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  Speaker 1: very God of very God. That Jesus was there from
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  Speaker 1: the beginning. As John says when he starts his gospel,
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  Speaker 1: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
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  Speaker 1: with God, and the Word was God. He was in
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  Speaker 1: the beginning with God. Through him all things were made,
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  Speaker 1: and apart from him nothing was made that has been made.
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  Speaker 1: In him was light, and that life was the light
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  Speaker 1: of men. And the light shone in the darkness, and
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  Speaker 1: the darkness did not comprehend it. Jesus is God. God.
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  Speaker 1: This is what separates Christianity from everyone else who pays
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  Speaker 1: homage to Jesus. The Jew or the Muslim who says
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus is a great prophet will not go here.
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  Speaker 1: In Islam, the declaration of Jesus as God is shirk, blasphemy,
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  Speaker 1: punishable by death. You'll get your head cut off in
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  Speaker 1: an Islamic country believing and proclaiming this. Jehovah's Witnesses do
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  Speaker 1: not believe this. The New World Translation changes the word
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  Speaker 1: of God everywhere that this is mentioned. The New World Translation,
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  Speaker 1: John 1, 1, in the beginning was the word, and
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  Speaker 1: the word was with God, and the word was a God, lowercase.
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  Speaker 1: They do not believe that Jesus is Jehovah God, but
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  Speaker 1: that he is a lesser God. Mormons believe that Jesus
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: is a man who became God, but not that he
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: is very God of very God, that he is the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: eternal God. They don't believe that. By the way, they
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: also believe that because Jesus was a man that became
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: God and was given a planet to rule, that if
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: you are a good Mormon, that you can, in the
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: next life, become a God and be given a planet
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: to rule and essentially become another Jesus. That is the
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: substance of another faith. Amen? This is not the only
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: place where we see this, by the way. Titus 2.13
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1.1
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: with ours, By the righteousness of our God and Savior,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Our God and Savior, my Lord and my God.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: That is the substance of our faith. We believe in Jesus.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: We believe in the historical Jesus. We believe in the
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: historical Jesus who died and rose again. And we believe
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: in the historical Jesus who died and rose again, who
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: is and was and is to come, who is the
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: first and the last, very God of very God, not
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: like God, not close to God, not almost God, but
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: God Almighty. That's the substance of our faith. and nothing
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: less will do. And again, there are many who want
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: to identify as Christians, but are uncomfortable with this. Can't
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: have it both ways. Christianity is not just about gathering
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: and singing songs. Christianity is not just about keeping a
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: set of rules. Christianity is not just about a culture.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: It's about the substance of our faith. Fourthly, we believe
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: these things because we believe what is written. We believe
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: what has been revealed. We believe what has been recorded.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: We believe what has been handed down. Verse 29, Jesus
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: said to him, have you believed because you have seen me?
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: That's the beauty of the Gospels. That the life of
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Jesus was recorded by eyewitnesses. And that we have that
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: which was recorded by eyewitnesses. We have our Bibles, which
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: attest to what happened internally. And we have other information
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: that attests to it externally. And this is handed down
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: to us. So God doesn't come to every individual and
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: re-reveal the person and work of Christ historically. That's not
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: how things happen. But we believe what has been revealed.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: We believe what has been written. Listen to this in Luke.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: These are several passages that are a bit substantial, but
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: they're important. So follow with me if you will. Look
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: at Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: And Luke writes, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: servants of the word handed them down to us, it
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: from the beginning, to write it out for you in
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: orderly sequence, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the certainty about the things you have been taught, not
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: so that you may have blind faith, but so that
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: you may know the certainty of the things that you
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: have been taught. Luke was a physician and a historian.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Look with me at 1 John 1. 1 John 1.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Those first four verses of 1 John 1. What was
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: seen with our eyes, What we have beheld and touched
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: with our hands concerning the word of life. And the
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: the Father and was made manifest to us. What we
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: have seen and heard we proclaim to you also so
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: that you may also have fellowship with us. And indeed
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. These things we have written so that our
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: joy may be made complete. Another one. 1 Peter chapter 1. Oh,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Beginning at verse 16. For we did not make known
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Christ following cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses of his majesty.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: For when he received honor and glory from God the Father,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: such an utterance as this was made to him by
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: the majestic glory. This is my beloved son with whom
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I'm well pleased. And we ourselves heard this utterance made
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: And we have... as more sure the prophetic word to
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: which you do well to pay attention as to a
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: and the morning star rises in your hearts. Know this
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes by
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: the will of man, but men being moved by the
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit spoke from God. We believe in what is
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: written We believe what is recorded. We believe in what
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: has been handed down. We believe in what has been
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: preserved for us so faithfully. Finally, we believe these things
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: unto salvation. Verses 30 and 31. Now, Jesus did many
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: not written in this book, but these are written so
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: Son of God, and that by believing, you may have
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: life in his name. You see, we don't believe these
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: things just as historians. One of my first... Bible classes
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: that I ever took. I took at a secular university
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: in the U.S. As you know, I never heard the
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: gospel until I got to university. And I was saved.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Later on the Lord called me to preach. I was
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: majoring in pre-law and international business. People ask me, you know,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: did you want to practice international law? Now, if you
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: had asked me when I was majoring in pre-law and
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: international business as an undergraduate, my answer would not have
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: been that I wanted to be an international lawyer. My
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: answer would have been that I wanted to be the
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: most powerful black man in America. Listen, that's where I was. Amen?
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: That's where this head was back then. And then the
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Lord calls me to preach. And so I switch and
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: I start taking all of the Bible and theology classes
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: that I can find. And so I take these classes
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: at this secular university, and I take a class on
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: the gospel of Mark, on a man who was at
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: the time considered one of the foremost authorities on Mark's gospel.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: Brilliant German scholar. Knew the gospel of Mark like the
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: back of his hand, right? And I'll never forget... the
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: turmoil that I was in when I learned that this
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: man was a professed unbeliever. A professed atheist. First of all,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: why do you become one of the world's foremost scholars
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: on the Gospel of Mark if you don't believe? Secondly, how? How?
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Do you know the gospel of Mark inside and out
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: and the synoptic gospels as they relate to Mark? So
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Luke and Matthew as well and go back and forth.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: And I mean, this guy would be, you know, we're
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: working through this part of it. Yes. And over here
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: in Luke, you would read it this way, but he
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: would leave this line out and not that line. And
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: then over here in Matthew, he would just, just, just.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: And believed. None of it. None of it. The substance
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: of our faith is not just that this is historical,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: but that the Christ of history died for sin, rose
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: again for our justification. That the Christ of history is
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: God god himself and that he is our lord and
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: our god and that through faith in him we have
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: eternal life that the death that he died was a
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: penal substitutionary atoning death that christ died for sin once
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: for all but just for the unjust that he might
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: bring us to god And that in believing these things
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: and placing our faith in the Christ of history and
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: the Christ of the scriptures, the Christ who is the God-man,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: that we are saved. That we are rescued from our
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: sin and that he is our only hope of such rescue.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: That there is hope in no other that there is
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: life in no other that there is no other name
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: under heaven given among men through which we must be
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: saved to quote Acts 4.12 that's the substance of our
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: faith and that's what separates our faith from many others
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: who believe in Jesus, but not unto salvation. Who believe
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: in Jesus, but only that he did live in history
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: and maybe some of the things that we find in
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: the Bible are accurate. Who believe in Jesus, but believe
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: that the stories about his resurrection are completely made up
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: and irrelevant because the only thing that matters is that
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: he was a good moral teacher. Who believe in Jesus,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: but not That he is Lord and God. Who believe
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: in Jesus. But do not believe that there is salvation
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: to be found in him. Unless the substance of your
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: faith contains all of that. You've believed in vain. You've
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: believed in vain. Two things before I take my seat. First,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: look at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. And Paul
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: makes this very point. Now, I would remind you, brothers,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: of the gospel I preached to you, which you received
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: and which you stand and by which you are being saved.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: If you hold fast to the word which I preached
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: to you, unless you believed in vain, you don't believe
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the gospel as I preached it to you, then your
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: belief is useless. For I deliver to you as a
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: first importance what I also received, that Christ died for
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: that he was raised on the third day, in accordance
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: with the scriptures, that he appeared to Cephas, or Peter,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: then to the twelve. That's what we've been reading about
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: in John 20. Then he appeared to more than 500
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: though some have fallen asleep. By the way, that's what
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: makes the claim falsifiable. Paul claims that during the time
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: he was writing 1 Corinthians, there are hundreds of eyewitnesses
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: who are alive. You can go talk to them. That's
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: essentially what he's saying. There are hundreds of people alive
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: today who met the resurrected Christ, and right now today,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: you can go talk to him. You can prove or
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: disprove what I'm saying. Then he appeared to James, then
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: to all the apostles, last of all, as to one
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: untimely born, he appeared to me also. That's the substance
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: of our faith. I'll leave you with this. I'll leave
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: you with this. The Apostles' Creed was written somewhere third
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: or fourth century. And it is a creed that is
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: professed by Christians all over the world and Christians since
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: the third and fourth century. All Faithful Christians. Some of
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: you may know it. Some of you may have grown
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: up in confessional churches where you recited this, if not weekly,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: at least regularly. I believe in God the Father Almighty,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: only son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead,
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: and buried. He descended into hell The third day he
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven. He
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: From thence he shall come to judge the quick and
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost. I believe
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: in the Holy Catholic or Universal Church, the communion of saints,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: the life everlasting. Amen. This is the substance of our faith.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: And not ours alone, but all those who trust in
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: Christ for salvation and bear the name Christian. And beloved,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: if you are here today and any part of this
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: substance is foreign to you or alien to you, then
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: by all means, I adjure you, I beseech you, Flee
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: to Christ. Trust in Christ. Trust in the Christ of history.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Trust in the Christ who lived, who died, and who
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: rose again on the third day. Trust in the Christ
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: who is the God-man, the second person of the Trinity.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Trust in the Christ who is revealed in the scriptures.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: And trust in Christ in whose name alone there is salvation.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: For it is indeed your only hope. And trust in
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: him today. For tomorrow is not promised. Let's pray. Gracious
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: God and our Father, we thank you and we praise you.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: We thank you and praise you for your mercy toward us.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: For your grace. toward us we thank you and praise
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: you for the person and work of the Lord Jesus
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: Christ who lived and who died and who rose again
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: on the third day who lived a perfect righteous holy
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: life and who bore our sins on the cross who
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: paid the price that we could not pay, who lived
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: a righteous life that we could not live so that
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: our sin might be imputed to him and his righteousness
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: imputed to us so that you might be both just
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: in pouring out your wrath on sin and the justifier
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: of the one who places faith in the Lord Jesus.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: Grant by your grace that we might be found in
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: Christ and that being found in him, we might have
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: eternal life. This we pray.