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If I had preached a traditional Easter sermon today, I would have preached about the Bible as evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Believing in Jesus Christ is as much or more than anything, believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The defeat of death could be described as our salvation. If Jesus defeated death, and can defeat death, then He can save us from death. He did. He can. Can we trust the Bible as evidence? People treat the Bible like it can’t be evidence. Instead, to them that must come from outside of the Bible to be legitimate. However, faith comes by hearing the Word of God, not by hearing external evidence, non-scriptural evidence (Rom 10:17). We should not bow to secular, pagan faithless rejection of scripture as evidence. Even as a matter of history and science, the Bible stands as greater evidence, sufficient evidence for anything. As ancient evidence, there is nothing like the Bible. Everything else shrinks in comparison.
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Men by themselves don’t know what is the right or correct standard of evidence for the truth. As this is applied to believing the Lord, most men would say that they want more. If God gave more, would that be better? That is where God is right and we are wrong. The people God saves are those who believe the evidence He gives. This isn’t necessarily the most evidence or even the amount that men want. It is what God gives, what He wants to give, that is, therefore, perfect. God gives the exact right amount. If that’s not enough for a man, it’s not that it’s not enough. It’s just not enough for him. It’s enough, just not for him, and he’s wrong. He’s proven to be a rebel by what it takes for him to believe. From my perspective, there is far more evidence than man needs for what he normally says he needs. He’s being dishonest about the evidence. There’s a lot. The amount of evidence God gives is enough for the believer, the one who believes and pleases God.
When the most fundamental, foundational truths no longer are received or accepted as true, that is, we will not believe the truth, then we are left with a world of lies. The truth doesn’t matter any more, except as a matter of personal taste. In that sense it is just relative truth. It’s truth relative to me, if it is convenient for me. We start with truth about God and His Word, because this is most fundamental. Even if men construct a world of lies, it doesn’t mean that we can’t know the truth or that we are not responsible for knowing it. There is still the truth and we are supposed to know it and we will be judged based upon it. It also, as Jesus said, sets us free. We are free to live just like God wants us to live and not be fooled by the lies. We are free to believe the truth about ourselves so that we can either repent of our sin or persevere in the faith. We can live with confidence, knowing that God does not lie and our eternity is set. We can look at a world of lies and diagnose it.
I’ve preached on this in different ways in the last year, but I also talk about it with various people out in evangelism. God doesn’t want knowledge of His existence like knowledge that your foot exists, that is, recognition that He’s here. We see this all over scripture, which is the major means by which God reveals Himself. He has already manifested Himself in numerous ways satisfying to Him. He wants to be sought. He will be found by those who genuinely seek Him, but all over the Bible we can see that He has shown Himself through general and special revelation, and He wants us to seek after Him. The people who want Him are the ones who will get through that gauntlet, pass through the threshold into life eternal. They believed. Those that wait for God to jump through their hoops, do the dog and pony show, come beckoning life a heavenly bell hop – they aren’t going to find Him, know Him, or receive Him. When you do know Him, you’re life will change
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