Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
What if Jesus didn't really die? What if you was
simply unconscious or able to achieve some catatonic state? Does
it really matter?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Can we know for sure?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well that's today.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thank you for being with us for this edition of
Living on the Edge with Chip England. Chip serves as
our Bible teacher for this global teaching and discipleship ministry
helping Christians develop an authentic faith. We're grateful you've joined
us as we pick up where we left off in
our newest series dealing with doubts reaffirming your personal faith. Now,
last time, Ship revealed the historical, verifiable evidence proving that
(00:52):
Jesus truly did rise from the dead. But before we
get to the second half of that message, if this
is your first time listening to Living on the Edge,
or you want to learn more about what we do,
go to Living on theeedge dot org. You'll find resources
on tons of topics and countless programs to enjoy. Or
if you prefer, the Chipping gramp is also a great
(01:13):
way to get plugged in with our ministry. Well. As
you settle in for Chip's talk, he'll begin by reminding
us why Jesus' literal physical death is crucial evidence for
his resurrection. So with that, let's dive in.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
There was a history named Plenty the Younger in one
eleven AD, and we have an actual document from him
writing a letter to the Emperor explaining about this sect,
these Christians. And so he writes to the Emperor, and
the letter goes something like this. He goes, I really
don't understand this sect. We give them an opportunity to recant,
(01:50):
and yet they refuse to worship idols, They refuse to
worship Caesar. They meet early in the morning and claim
that a dead man came back to life. They claim
that this dead man is God. They love one another radically,
and they do strange things, greeting one another with a
holy kiss. He says, why they won't recant, They would
(02:10):
rather die because they claim that this savior is in
fact God. And so what we know is from historical
documents that this claim that Jesus was God happened in
the first century.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Pause.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I'm talking to a friend. You're talking to a friend.
There's not a finger pointing, there's not a preaching. It's
we're on the same side with our arm around. A
person who has an honest heart that wants to explore truth,
and so we ask very honest questions. Did Jesus exist?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Was he a good man, absolutely the best man who's
ever lived? Well, did he actually do miracles? Verified as
much as any miracle with thousands of eyewitnesses? Well, who
did he really claim to be? Friend foe? External evidence
says he actually claimed to be God. Well, we're moving
our way, and as I was talking to my doctor
(03:05):
friend this happened over a period of months, and we
went back and forth and you know, what about this
and what about that? And then we get to sort
of the crux of the matter where it gets real
specific because you have to ask the question did he
really die? I mean, did Jesus really die? Maybe he
took you have heard people say maybe he took some
special herbs and he got his heart rate to go way, way,
(03:27):
way slow, and it only appeared as though he died. See,
if Jesus didn't die, then he wasn't resurrected. And if
he's not resurrected, atheist and the apostle Paul would agree,
nothing works, Everything rises and falls on the resurrection. And
so let's look and ask ourselves, did in fact he
really die. At the time of his death, both friend
(03:51):
and foe thought he had died. Why the Roman Guards
were the most formidable group of soldiers in the world,
I think Navy seals in our day. They were professional executors.
There was a reason why they didn't break his legs,
because it was already dead. But to make sure, they
took a spear and they put it in his side.
(04:12):
And if any of you doctors are here, or you know,
people into biology, you know that around the heart, it's
called the pericardial sack. There's a fluid around the heart
and it says when that spear went in, both water
and blood comes out. Putting a spear right through someone's
heart is a pretty high indication that he actually was killed.
But it goes beyond that, beyond the medical evidence. He
(04:36):
has a burial in which about seventy pounds of spices
and linen are wrapped around him. It's absolutely, absolutely incredible
to think that he didn't die his burial was secure. Well,
then the next line of argument is, Okay, if I
assume he's a good man, if I really believe he
(04:56):
did those miracles, and if I believe he really died,
the Disciples actually went to the wrong tomb. Maybe it's
just a really big mistake. Well, his tomb was very
public and it was very secure. A man named Joseph
of Arimathea, who was a wealthy, high profile member of
the Sanhedron, the Roman guards, they put a seal on
(05:18):
this burial spot. Everyone knew where it was. The size
of the tomb. I wish you could have been there.
I wish you could see it. I've actually been to
Israel and watched right there at the Garden tomb. And
the tomb is think we tend to think of, you know,
like graves like we have. It's more like a cave.
And there was an opening in the cave and then
(05:38):
there was this long kind of like a ditch about
this deep, and a huge stone that weighed tons that
took four or five men and then it would drop in.
And so it was then had a Roman seal around it.
And so that burial grave was absolutely secure. Some say
it would take up to twenty five people to move
(05:59):
that stuff. And so as we go through the line
of thinking his death was undisputed, his burial was public
and secure, and I think at this point then you
get where you start to weigh this evidence, and I
love what someone has done. What is the evidence? Is
there any convincing evidence? In other words, if we took
all that we could know in history, and all that
(06:21):
we know from the New Testament documents, and all that
we know from extra biblical resources, and we could just
sort of weigh them like a lawyer weighs evidence. Is
there enough evidence to convict Jesus of being raised from
the dead. Now this is really interesting because I don't
know why, but it seems like lawyers find themselves doing
(06:42):
this and then something amazing happens to their life. There
was a lawyer named Simon Greenley. He actually was one
of the founders of Harvard Law School. He was an atheist,
and one of his students, who was an evangelical believer,
questioned him and said, you should dig into all the
evidence and weigh it just like you in a trial,
and see what happens. Well, he ends up becoming a Christian.
(07:05):
A man named Frank Morris, in an earlier time same thing,
was an atheist and he decided he is going to
check it out and he'll destroy this whole story. And
he became the author of a book called Who Moved
the Stone. Josh McDowell did the same thing in our day.
A guy named Lee Strobel, he was a journalist, and
he decided, you know, his wife had come to know Christ,
(07:25):
and he thought, oh my gosh, I have such a
great wife. But she's off on this religious tangent. And
he shares in his book The Case for Christ. He says,
you know, her life was so winsome, so loving, It
had such an impact as she began to follow Jesus
that he said, I had to explore it for myself.
I had to disprove it, to show her that this
is just a fairy tale. So what I want to
(07:48):
do is I want to walk through some very specific
evidence that legal minds have gone through to ask and
answer the question could this possibly be true? And this
is what I went through with my friend. And again,
the way I went through it was not like you
ought you should. It was, hey, what do you think
about this? I mean, this is strong evidence. First and foremost,
(08:10):
his death and resurrection were predicted by the prophets, foretold
hundreds of years before it happened. Very specifically, Jesus actually
openly predicted his own death numerous times, and his future
resurrection we know there's eyewitness accounts of over five hundred
witnesses and twelve different locations. The transformation of the Disciples unexplainable.
(08:33):
I mean, these are guys that were scared to death
and now they boldly proclaim this the transformation of the
Roman Empire. I mean the transformation I wish. I'm reading
a book right now by Jeremiah Johnson called Unimaginable, and
what he does it's the best research I've ever read
about what it was actually like in the first century.
(08:54):
And he talks about the poverty and the slavery and
the suffering and the early deaths. Talks about just how
difficult it was for people and how marginalized women were,
and then he talks about the power that the gospel
of these ordinary people. In fact, the early Disciples were uneducated.
(09:14):
We hear in the Book of Acts that these uneducated
and untrained men, we know that they were with Jesus
because despite their lack of education, this bold, loving, winsome
faith literally turned the world upside down by three point thirteen.
Ad Rodney Stark, in his excellent book The Rise of
Christianity and later The Triumph of Christianity, talks about the
(09:38):
Roman Empire being transformed by this man named Jesus and
his followers who risk all their life and staked all
their life on one thing, and this was their message.
He was dead and now he's alive, and we are eyewitnesses.
We have seen him, we have touched him, we have
(10:00):
eaten with him for forty days. He talked to us
about the Kingdom of God, and this resurrection power that
raised him from the dead dwells in us. Now it
dwells in every single believer. And now that power is
in us to live this radical new kind of life.
And as they did, the world changed. Women were treated
like human beings, slavery, some of the worst things that
(10:24):
were happening in the Roman world, little by little begin
to change.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram,
and he'll be back to continue our series dealing with
Doubts in just a minute. But let me quickly tell
you that we are more than a broadcast ministry. We're
supporting pastors globally, developing helpful resources, and sharing the Gospel
with this next generation. So if you'd like to join
us in these efforts, become a monthly partner by going
(10:50):
to living onbeedge dot org. Thanks for your support. Well,
here again is chip.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus. I mean, think of
the worst leader in the world, Think of the head
of North Korea and hearing that he just became a Christian.
That's how radical it was. Saul of Tarsus to the
apostle Paul. I mean, he was a great intellect. He
was zealous, And what we know in our day is
when very zealous religious people are convinced of something, they
(11:20):
can do radical things. And he was going through and
killing Christian after Christian after Christian. Christians were public enemy
number one, and he's going to get rid of him.
And he thought he was on the right track, and bam,
he meets who the resurrected Jesus, and the world changed.
Thirteen of those twenty seven books in the New Testament
(11:42):
are written. So we have this amazing transformation of the
Roman Empire, all this evidence piled one upon another. The
best legal minds have weighed the evidence and say it's conclusive.
It is conclusive Jesus rose from the dead. If you
have an open heart and an open mind and you
actually look at the facts. These brilliant minds from every
(12:04):
era have said it's true. And what I can tell
you is something that's very experiential, but it's really important
to me. I don't have the best legal mind, but
I can tell you He changed my life. I grew
up in a home where I had a dad that
really loved me, but went through a very painful war,
and they didn't talk about PTSD and he became a
(12:26):
full blown alcoholic. And I can tell you about a
life that gets changed, and marrying a woman whose father
was an alcoholic, and how God can stop what's happened
in your past and break addictions and bring two people
together and create a family that's completely different. My mind
was changed, my life was changed, My values have changed,
(12:46):
my morals have changed. God has given me a love
for people that I'll tell you it I didn't even
care about, and some of them I hated. And there
is no explanation except the resurrected Christ. Are you ready?
He lives inside of me, in the person of the
Holy Spirit. These seven reasons are while I'm still a Christian.
That's what I shared with my friend. I said, I'm
(13:07):
still a Christian because when I had my moment of doubt,
and doubts are okay, doubts drive us to find the truth.
But this is why I'm still a Christian. But it's
not why I became a Christian. I became a Christian
because of one single word. You ready, here's the word Punky.
That's the name of my sister. You see, the most
(13:30):
powerful apologetic is not lots of reasons, lots of history,
and lots of smart lawyers. I appreciate all of that.
I needed to hear all that. My sister Punky, and
high school had a friend named Tammy, And unbeknownst to
me or my family, Tammy came from a strong Christian
family and my sister came to know the Lord in
high school. Here's what I can tell you. My sister
(13:52):
is the kindest, most loving, most wonderful person I had
ever known and ever met. And if any of you
have been in a family with addiction and any know,
he wasn't like to live in an alcoholic family and you
walk on eggshells and dad might blow up, and mom's
enabling and there's a lot of junk going on. My sister, Punky,
it was like, Wow, I would come in with my friends,
(14:13):
my basketball buddies, and hey, can I get you guys
a sandwich. I grew up in an area where drugs
were everywhere, and I didn't I never took a drug.
But I didn't not take drugs because I believed in God.
I didn't take drugs because I thought it would hurt me.
I didn't take drugs because I thought to myself, Punky
would be so disappointed. And all I knew was someday,
(14:34):
some way, I wanted to be like my sister. You see,
the most powerful apologetic people didn't come to Jesus because
he had all the answers. Even though he had all
the answers, They came to Jesus because he was so approachable,
He was so loving, he was so kind. There was
a winsomeness and a holiness to his life. And when
(14:55):
he takes up residents and people surrender their life, this
becomes how they live. Doesn't mean they're perfect, but they're different.
They're holy, they're godly, they're caring. So here's our conclusion.
What we know is the evidence is overwhelming with regard
to the resurrection, and here's what it means. It means
(15:18):
it validates Jesus' claim that he's the way the truth
and the life that no one comes to the Father
except through him. Second, it gives us absolute hope for
the future. You know, I travel a lot in China,
and I travel a lot in the Middle East, and
I'm not afraid to die. But I'm not afraid to
die because Jesus promised. Because I live, you will live also.
(15:39):
But when you're going to go preach at a pastor's
conference and a black SUVs in front of you, and
a police car is behind you, and the guy has
a machine gun, who gets in where you're going because
it's not very safe where you're going to go, there
are a little quivers that go on inside. But I
have to tell you now, I want, I pray, I
live a long life and I get to see my
grandchildren grow up. But here's power. My future is absolutely secure.
(16:04):
I can tell you I'm not afraid to die. And
that means you don't have to be afraid of what
people think. That means you don't have to be afraid
of all the political correctness. This means that you have
the power within you. Your future is secure, and we
live out of that. The third thing it means is
not only his claims are validated and we have absolute hope.
(16:27):
It offers spiritual life. Right now, one of the things
I like to do is write my name in verses,
you know, sort of personalize them. And most all of
you are followers of Christ, and I think that's wonderful.
But maybe this will ring true, or maybe some of
you are thinking to yourself, I would really like to
explore this, but I don't know exactly what it looks like.
(16:50):
Let me read for you one of the most famous
verses in the Bible, and then I'm going to ask
you to do the same. God so loved hip that
he gave of his one and only son, that if
Chip believes in him, Chip shall not perish but have
eternal life. For God did not send his son into
the world to condemn Chip, but to save Chip through him.
(17:14):
We are living in a day where Christians are intimidated
and afraid. We're living in a day when people need
hope and deliverance from addictions and from struggles. I have
lived in a world where I've watched people believe and
receive the gift of eternal life through the resurrected Christ,
and I've watched them break addictions. I watch them say
(17:35):
no more to materialism. I've watched them come out of
homosexual lifestyles. I watched them decide to give their time
and their energy and their money to help people that
no one else cares about. And it is the very
life of Christ in them. Here's the takeaway. If you
believe that Jesus rose from the dead, you have all
the power you need to be a Christian who lives
(17:58):
like a Christian by His grace. And so, Father, I
ask that you help this to move from our heads
to the very depths of our heart. Lord, that rather
than whine or complain or see the problems in the world,
may we grasp that everything we need we already have.
Would you help us to love those who oppose us?
(18:19):
Will you help us to live holy lives? Will you
help us to be men and women with a resurrected
power every moment of every day in Jesus name.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Before we go any farther, I want to ask you
a very important question, In fact, it's an eternal question.
Have you accepted the evidence? Have you ever placed your
faith in Jesus Christ to be your savior. Have you
ever come to the point in your life where not religion,
not morality, not just trying to be a good person,
(18:56):
not hoping your good deeds will outweigh your bad deeds
someday in some way. But have you ever recognized fully
that apart from what Christ did on the cross, we
have no opportunity to be with the Holy God forever,
And that Jesus died on the cross in your place
and in my place to pay for our sins. The
(19:18):
biblical world is to atone for. In other words, he
covered our sins, all the punishment that I deserve, for
all the sins that I've ever thought, ever said, or
ever done, Jesus took upon himself, and he received the
just punishment of God and covered yours and covered mine.
(19:40):
And then he says to you, and he says to me,
I want you to know it's a gift, for by
grace you are saved through faith. That's not of yourselves.
It's not a result of works. Least any man should boast.
It's a gift. Jesus would say, as he was speaking
in that first century, he said, to anyone who believes,
(20:01):
if anyone receives me, the scripture is very clear, as
many as receive him, not just intellectually, believe he lived,
not try and follow his good moral teaching, but as
many as receive him to them, he gives the right
or the authority to have eternal life. And what I
(20:22):
want to ask you right now, have you ever done that?
And if not, would you be willing write where you're at?
You can pray in your mind or out loud wherever
you are and cry out to God and say Lord,
I need you. Of course I've sinned. I know I
don't measure up today. I believe Christ died in my
(20:43):
place for my sin and rose from the dead to
prove it's true. And I'm asking you at this moment,
will you forgive me? Will you come into my life
right now? Father, make me your son, make me your daughter.
I believe trust fully in you as you would declare
(21:03):
that in your heart and then profess it with your mouth.
The Bible is very clear you shall be saved.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I know for many of you right now you're in
a crucible and you're feeling a lot of emotions, and
you feel this tug that says, yes, yes, yes, this
is true. And there's something else inside your mind and
heart that says, well, maybe I'll wait till later. Or boy,
the implications of this could be radical, or what will
my friends say or what will my family think? And
(21:33):
I can't really do this, and I'm afraid. Jesus said,
if you deny me before men, I will deny you
before my father in heaven. The Bible says today is
the day of salvation. You know, we all are concerned
about what other people think. We're all concerned about implications
in the future. But we make decisions, and to not
(21:55):
decide as a decision, it's to reject eternal life. So
don't procrastinate. He's a good God. If you've prayed to
receive Christ, please contact us. We have some information to
help you grow. It's absolutely free. God bless you and
welcome to the family.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, if you pray to receive Christ, we do have
a free resource we'd like to put in your hands
that was created specifically for new believers. This tool will
help you understand what it means to trust in Jesus
and what to do next. Request this free resource by
calling Triple eight three three three six zero zero three,
or by visiting living onbeedge dot org and clicking the
(22:37):
new Believer's button that's Living on the Edge dot Org.
We're called Triple eight three three three six zero zero three.
Let us help you get started in your faith journey. Well,
Chip's still with me in studio, and Chip, you had
a quick word you wanted to share with our listeners,
and we have a few minutes left, So why don't
you go ahead.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
And do that, Dave, I appreciate that. I just want
to stop and pause with a very select group of people.
You're people that pray for living on the edge. I
know because you write and tell me and your people
who give financially to living on the edge. And as
I have communicated the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is
(23:17):
the power of God to salvation. And we know that
when we share the gospel like this on a broadcast,
literally hundreds and hundreds of people come to Christ. And
so you're a part of that. And we have reaped,
not because we're special, but because the gospel is the
power of God to salvation. But I want to just
celebrate that reward and thank every one of you who pray,
(23:39):
and thank every single person who gives to this ministry.
People's lives will be different forever and ever and ever
because of you. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Thanks Chip, Well, if you'd like to join us in
spreading the gospel and discipling fellow believers, consider becoming a
financial partner today. As Chip just said, your support can
have an eternal impact on someone's life. To learn more
about becoming a financial partner, go to Living on the
Edge dot org or call us at Triple eight three
three three six zero zero three. That's Triple eight three
(24:10):
three three six zero zero three, or visit Living on
the Edge dot org. App listeners just tap donate as
we close. Our mission at Living on the Edge is
to help Christians live like Christians, and one of the
best ways we can continue to do that is through
programs like this. So when you hear a message that
helps you pass it on to someone in your life
(24:32):
now you can easily do that through the chip ingram
map or by forwarding them the free MP threes that
you'll find at Livingotheedge dot org. And don't forget to
tell them how it made a difference in your life. Well,
until next time, missus. Dave Druy saying thanks for listening
to this edition of Living on the Edge
What if Jesus didn't really die? What if you was
simply unconscious or able to achieve some catatonic state? Does
it really matter?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Can we know for sure?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well that's today.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thank you for being with us for this edition of
Living on the Edge with Chip England. Chip serves as
our Bible teacher for this global teaching and discipleship ministry
helping Christians develop an authentic faith. We're grateful you've joined
us as we pick up where we left off in
our newest series dealing with doubts reaffirming your personal faith. Now,
last time, Ship revealed the historical, verifiable evidence proving that
(00:52):
Jesus truly did rise from the dead. But before we
get to the second half of that message, if this
is your first time listening to Living on the Edge,
or you want to learn more about what we do,
go to Living on theeedge dot org. You'll find resources
on tons of topics and countless programs to enjoy. Or
if you prefer, the Chipping gramp is also a great
(01:13):
way to get plugged in with our ministry. Well. As
you settle in for Chip's talk, he'll begin by reminding
us why Jesus' literal physical death is crucial evidence for
his resurrection. So with that, let's dive in.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
There was a history named Plenty the Younger in one
eleven AD, and we have an actual document from him
writing a letter to the Emperor explaining about this sect,
these Christians. And so he writes to the Emperor, and
the letter goes something like this. He goes, I really
don't understand this sect. We give them an opportunity to recant,
(01:50):
and yet they refuse to worship idols, They refuse to
worship Caesar. They meet early in the morning and claim
that a dead man came back to life. They claim
that this dead man is God. They love one another radically,
and they do strange things, greeting one another with a
holy kiss. He says, why they won't recant, They would
(02:10):
rather die because they claim that this savior is in
fact God. And so what we know is from historical
documents that this claim that Jesus was God happened in
the first century.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Pause.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I'm talking to a friend. You're talking to a friend.
There's not a finger pointing, there's not a preaching. It's
we're on the same side with our arm around. A
person who has an honest heart that wants to explore truth,
and so we ask very honest questions. Did Jesus exist?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Was he a good man, absolutely the best man who's
ever lived? Well, did he actually do miracles? Verified as
much as any miracle with thousands of eyewitnesses? Well, who
did he really claim to be? Friend foe? External evidence
says he actually claimed to be God. Well, we're moving
our way, and as I was talking to my doctor
(03:05):
friend this happened over a period of months, and we
went back and forth and you know, what about this
and what about that? And then we get to sort
of the crux of the matter where it gets real
specific because you have to ask the question did he
really die? I mean, did Jesus really die? Maybe he
took you have heard people say maybe he took some
special herbs and he got his heart rate to go way, way,
(03:27):
way slow, and it only appeared as though he died. See,
if Jesus didn't die, then he wasn't resurrected. And if
he's not resurrected, atheist and the apostle Paul would agree,
nothing works, Everything rises and falls on the resurrection. And
so let's look and ask ourselves, did in fact he
really die. At the time of his death, both friend
(03:51):
and foe thought he had died. Why the Roman Guards
were the most formidable group of soldiers in the world,
I think Navy seals in our day. They were professional executors.
There was a reason why they didn't break his legs,
because it was already dead. But to make sure, they
took a spear and they put it in his side.
(04:12):
And if any of you doctors are here, or you know,
people into biology, you know that around the heart, it's
called the pericardial sack. There's a fluid around the heart
and it says when that spear went in, both water
and blood comes out. Putting a spear right through someone's
heart is a pretty high indication that he actually was killed.
But it goes beyond that, beyond the medical evidence. He
(04:36):
has a burial in which about seventy pounds of spices
and linen are wrapped around him. It's absolutely, absolutely incredible
to think that he didn't die his burial was secure. Well,
then the next line of argument is, Okay, if I
assume he's a good man, if I really believe he
(04:56):
did those miracles, and if I believe he really died,
the Disciples actually went to the wrong tomb. Maybe it's
just a really big mistake. Well, his tomb was very
public and it was very secure. A man named Joseph
of Arimathea, who was a wealthy, high profile member of
the Sanhedron, the Roman guards, they put a seal on
(05:18):
this burial spot. Everyone knew where it was. The size
of the tomb. I wish you could have been there.
I wish you could see it. I've actually been to
Israel and watched right there at the Garden tomb. And
the tomb is think we tend to think of, you know,
like graves like we have. It's more like a cave.
And there was an opening in the cave and then
(05:38):
there was this long kind of like a ditch about
this deep, and a huge stone that weighed tons that
took four or five men and then it would drop in.
And so it was then had a Roman seal around it.
And so that burial grave was absolutely secure. Some say
it would take up to twenty five people to move
(05:59):
that stuff. And so as we go through the line
of thinking his death was undisputed, his burial was public
and secure, and I think at this point then you
get where you start to weigh this evidence, and I
love what someone has done. What is the evidence? Is
there any convincing evidence? In other words, if we took
all that we could know in history, and all that
(06:21):
we know from the New Testament documents, and all that
we know from extra biblical resources, and we could just
sort of weigh them like a lawyer weighs evidence. Is
there enough evidence to convict Jesus of being raised from
the dead. Now this is really interesting because I don't
know why, but it seems like lawyers find themselves doing
(06:42):
this and then something amazing happens to their life. There
was a lawyer named Simon Greenley. He actually was one
of the founders of Harvard Law School. He was an atheist,
and one of his students, who was an evangelical believer,
questioned him and said, you should dig into all the
evidence and weigh it just like you in a trial,
and see what happens. Well, he ends up becoming a Christian.
(07:05):
A man named Frank Morris, in an earlier time same thing,
was an atheist and he decided he is going to
check it out and he'll destroy this whole story. And
he became the author of a book called Who Moved
the Stone. Josh McDowell did the same thing in our day.
A guy named Lee Strobel, he was a journalist, and
he decided, you know, his wife had come to know Christ,
(07:25):
and he thought, oh my gosh, I have such a
great wife. But she's off on this religious tangent. And
he shares in his book The Case for Christ. He says,
you know, her life was so winsome, so loving, It
had such an impact as she began to follow Jesus
that he said, I had to explore it for myself.
I had to disprove it, to show her that this
is just a fairy tale. So what I want to
(07:48):
do is I want to walk through some very specific
evidence that legal minds have gone through to ask and
answer the question could this possibly be true? And this
is what I went through with my friend. And again,
the way I went through it was not like you
ought you should. It was, hey, what do you think
about this? I mean, this is strong evidence. First and foremost,
(08:10):
his death and resurrection were predicted by the prophets, foretold
hundreds of years before it happened. Very specifically, Jesus actually
openly predicted his own death numerous times, and his future
resurrection we know there's eyewitness accounts of over five hundred
witnesses and twelve different locations. The transformation of the Disciples unexplainable.
(08:33):
I mean, these are guys that were scared to death
and now they boldly proclaim this the transformation of the
Roman Empire. I mean the transformation I wish. I'm reading
a book right now by Jeremiah Johnson called Unimaginable, and
what he does it's the best research I've ever read
about what it was actually like in the first century.
(08:54):
And he talks about the poverty and the slavery and
the suffering and the early deaths. Talks about just how
difficult it was for people and how marginalized women were,
and then he talks about the power that the gospel
of these ordinary people. In fact, the early Disciples were uneducated.
(09:14):
We hear in the Book of Acts that these uneducated
and untrained men, we know that they were with Jesus
because despite their lack of education, this bold, loving, winsome
faith literally turned the world upside down by three point thirteen.
Ad Rodney Stark, in his excellent book The Rise of
Christianity and later The Triumph of Christianity, talks about the
(09:38):
Roman Empire being transformed by this man named Jesus and
his followers who risk all their life and staked all
their life on one thing, and this was their message.
He was dead and now he's alive, and we are eyewitnesses.
We have seen him, we have touched him, we have
(10:00):
eaten with him for forty days. He talked to us
about the Kingdom of God, and this resurrection power that
raised him from the dead dwells in us. Now it
dwells in every single believer. And now that power is
in us to live this radical new kind of life.
And as they did, the world changed. Women were treated
like human beings, slavery, some of the worst things that
(10:24):
were happening in the Roman world, little by little begin
to change.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram,
and he'll be back to continue our series dealing with
Doubts in just a minute. But let me quickly tell
you that we are more than a broadcast ministry. We're
supporting pastors globally, developing helpful resources, and sharing the Gospel
with this next generation. So if you'd like to join
us in these efforts, become a monthly partner by going
(10:50):
to living onbeedge dot org. Thanks for your support. Well,
here again is chip.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus. I mean, think of
the worst leader in the world, Think of the head
of North Korea and hearing that he just became a Christian.
That's how radical it was. Saul of Tarsus to the
apostle Paul. I mean, he was a great intellect. He
was zealous, And what we know in our day is
when very zealous religious people are convinced of something, they
(11:20):
can do radical things. And he was going through and
killing Christian after Christian after Christian. Christians were public enemy
number one, and he's going to get rid of him.
And he thought he was on the right track, and bam,
he meets who the resurrected Jesus, and the world changed.
Thirteen of those twenty seven books in the New Testament
(11:42):
are written. So we have this amazing transformation of the
Roman Empire, all this evidence piled one upon another. The
best legal minds have weighed the evidence and say it's conclusive.
It is conclusive Jesus rose from the dead. If you
have an open heart and an open mind and you
actually look at the facts. These brilliant minds from every
(12:04):
era have said it's true. And what I can tell
you is something that's very experiential, but it's really important
to me. I don't have the best legal mind, but
I can tell you He changed my life. I grew
up in a home where I had a dad that
really loved me, but went through a very painful war,
and they didn't talk about PTSD and he became a
(12:26):
full blown alcoholic. And I can tell you about a
life that gets changed, and marrying a woman whose father
was an alcoholic, and how God can stop what's happened
in your past and break addictions and bring two people
together and create a family that's completely different. My mind
was changed, my life was changed, My values have changed,
(12:46):
my morals have changed. God has given me a love
for people that I'll tell you it I didn't even
care about, and some of them I hated. And there
is no explanation except the resurrected Christ. Are you ready?
He lives inside of me, in the person of the
Holy Spirit. These seven reasons are while I'm still a Christian.
That's what I shared with my friend. I said, I'm
(13:07):
still a Christian because when I had my moment of doubt,
and doubts are okay, doubts drive us to find the truth.
But this is why I'm still a Christian. But it's
not why I became a Christian. I became a Christian
because of one single word. You ready, here's the word Punky.
That's the name of my sister. You see, the most
(13:30):
powerful apologetic is not lots of reasons, lots of history,
and lots of smart lawyers. I appreciate all of that.
I needed to hear all that. My sister Punky, and
high school had a friend named Tammy, And unbeknownst to
me or my family, Tammy came from a strong Christian
family and my sister came to know the Lord in
high school. Here's what I can tell you. My sister
(13:52):
is the kindest, most loving, most wonderful person I had
ever known and ever met. And if any of you
have been in a family with addiction and any know,
he wasn't like to live in an alcoholic family and you
walk on eggshells and dad might blow up, and mom's
enabling and there's a lot of junk going on. My sister, Punky,
it was like, Wow, I would come in with my friends,
(14:13):
my basketball buddies, and hey, can I get you guys
a sandwich. I grew up in an area where drugs
were everywhere, and I didn't I never took a drug.
But I didn't not take drugs because I believed in God.
I didn't take drugs because I thought it would hurt me.
I didn't take drugs because I thought to myself, Punky
would be so disappointed. And all I knew was someday,
(14:34):
some way, I wanted to be like my sister. You see,
the most powerful apologetic people didn't come to Jesus because
he had all the answers. Even though he had all
the answers, They came to Jesus because he was so approachable,
He was so loving, he was so kind. There was
a winsomeness and a holiness to his life. And when
(14:55):
he takes up residents and people surrender their life, this
becomes how they live. Doesn't mean they're perfect, but they're different.
They're holy, they're godly, they're caring. So here's our conclusion.
What we know is the evidence is overwhelming with regard
to the resurrection, and here's what it means. It means
(15:18):
it validates Jesus' claim that he's the way the truth
and the life that no one comes to the Father
except through him. Second, it gives us absolute hope for
the future. You know, I travel a lot in China,
and I travel a lot in the Middle East, and
I'm not afraid to die. But I'm not afraid to
die because Jesus promised. Because I live, you will live also.
(15:39):
But when you're going to go preach at a pastor's
conference and a black SUVs in front of you, and
a police car is behind you, and the guy has
a machine gun, who gets in where you're going because
it's not very safe where you're going to go, there
are a little quivers that go on inside. But I
have to tell you now, I want, I pray, I
live a long life and I get to see my
grandchildren grow up. But here's power. My future is absolutely secure.
(16:04):
I can tell you I'm not afraid to die. And
that means you don't have to be afraid of what
people think. That means you don't have to be afraid
of all the political correctness. This means that you have
the power within you. Your future is secure, and we
live out of that. The third thing it means is
not only his claims are validated and we have absolute hope.
(16:27):
It offers spiritual life. Right now, one of the things
I like to do is write my name in verses,
you know, sort of personalize them. And most all of
you are followers of Christ, and I think that's wonderful.
But maybe this will ring true, or maybe some of
you are thinking to yourself, I would really like to
explore this, but I don't know exactly what it looks like.
(16:50):
Let me read for you one of the most famous
verses in the Bible, and then I'm going to ask
you to do the same. God so loved hip that
he gave of his one and only son, that if
Chip believes in him, Chip shall not perish but have
eternal life. For God did not send his son into
the world to condemn Chip, but to save Chip through him.
(17:14):
We are living in a day where Christians are intimidated
and afraid. We're living in a day when people need
hope and deliverance from addictions and from struggles. I have
lived in a world where I've watched people believe and
receive the gift of eternal life through the resurrected Christ,
and I've watched them break addictions. I watch them say
(17:35):
no more to materialism. I've watched them come out of
homosexual lifestyles. I watched them decide to give their time
and their energy and their money to help people that
no one else cares about. And it is the very
life of Christ in them. Here's the takeaway. If you
believe that Jesus rose from the dead, you have all
the power you need to be a Christian who lives
(17:58):
like a Christian by His grace. And so, Father, I
ask that you help this to move from our heads
to the very depths of our heart. Lord, that rather
than whine or complain or see the problems in the world,
may we grasp that everything we need we already have.
Would you help us to love those who oppose us?
(18:19):
Will you help us to live holy lives? Will you
help us to be men and women with a resurrected
power every moment of every day in Jesus name.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Before we go any farther, I want to ask you
a very important question, In fact, it's an eternal question.
Have you accepted the evidence? Have you ever placed your
faith in Jesus Christ to be your savior. Have you
ever come to the point in your life where not religion,
not morality, not just trying to be a good person,
(18:56):
not hoping your good deeds will outweigh your bad deeds
someday in some way. But have you ever recognized fully
that apart from what Christ did on the cross, we
have no opportunity to be with the Holy God forever,
And that Jesus died on the cross in your place
and in my place to pay for our sins. The
(19:18):
biblical world is to atone for. In other words, he
covered our sins, all the punishment that I deserve, for
all the sins that I've ever thought, ever said, or
ever done, Jesus took upon himself, and he received the
just punishment of God and covered yours and covered mine.
(19:40):
And then he says to you, and he says to me,
I want you to know it's a gift, for by
grace you are saved through faith. That's not of yourselves.
It's not a result of works. Least any man should boast.
It's a gift. Jesus would say, as he was speaking
in that first century, he said, to anyone who believes,
(20:01):
if anyone receives me, the scripture is very clear, as
many as receive him, not just intellectually, believe he lived,
not try and follow his good moral teaching, but as
many as receive him to them, he gives the right
or the authority to have eternal life. And what I
(20:22):
want to ask you right now, have you ever done that?
And if not, would you be willing write where you're at?
You can pray in your mind or out loud wherever
you are and cry out to God and say Lord,
I need you. Of course I've sinned. I know I
don't measure up today. I believe Christ died in my
(20:43):
place for my sin and rose from the dead to
prove it's true. And I'm asking you at this moment,
will you forgive me? Will you come into my life
right now? Father, make me your son, make me your daughter.
I believe trust fully in you as you would declare
(21:03):
that in your heart and then profess it with your mouth.
The Bible is very clear you shall be saved.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I know for many of you right now you're in
a crucible and you're feeling a lot of emotions, and
you feel this tug that says, yes, yes, yes, this
is true. And there's something else inside your mind and
heart that says, well, maybe I'll wait till later. Or boy,
the implications of this could be radical, or what will
my friends say or what will my family think? And
(21:33):
I can't really do this, and I'm afraid. Jesus said,
if you deny me before men, I will deny you
before my father in heaven. The Bible says today is
the day of salvation. You know, we all are concerned
about what other people think. We're all concerned about implications
in the future. But we make decisions, and to not
(21:55):
decide as a decision, it's to reject eternal life. So
don't procrastinate. He's a good God. If you've prayed to
receive Christ, please contact us. We have some information to
help you grow. It's absolutely free. God bless you and
welcome to the family.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, if you pray to receive Christ, we do have
a free resource we'd like to put in your hands
that was created specifically for new believers. This tool will
help you understand what it means to trust in Jesus
and what to do next. Request this free resource by
calling Triple eight three three three six zero zero three,
or by visiting living onbeedge dot org and clicking the
(22:37):
new Believer's button that's Living on the Edge dot Org.
We're called Triple eight three three three six zero zero three.
Let us help you get started in your faith journey. Well,
Chip's still with me in studio, and Chip, you had
a quick word you wanted to share with our listeners,
and we have a few minutes left, So why don't
you go ahead.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
And do that, Dave, I appreciate that. I just want
to stop and pause with a very select group of people.
You're people that pray for living on the edge. I
know because you write and tell me and your people
who give financially to living on the edge. And as
I have communicated the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is
(23:17):
the power of God to salvation. And we know that
when we share the gospel like this on a broadcast,
literally hundreds and hundreds of people come to Christ. And
so you're a part of that. And we have reaped,
not because we're special, but because the gospel is the
power of God to salvation. But I want to just
celebrate that reward and thank every one of you who pray,
(23:39):
and thank every single person who gives to this ministry.
People's lives will be different forever and ever and ever
because of you. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Thanks Chip, Well, if you'd like to join us in
spreading the gospel and discipling fellow believers, consider becoming a
financial partner today. As Chip just said, your support can
have an eternal impact on someone's life. To learn more
about becoming a financial partner, go to Living on the
Edge dot org or call us at Triple eight three
three three six zero zero three. That's Triple eight three
(24:10):
three three six zero zero three, or visit Living on
the Edge dot org. App listeners just tap donate as
we close. Our mission at Living on the Edge is
to help Christians live like Christians, and one of the
best ways we can continue to do that is through
programs like this. So when you hear a message that
helps you pass it on to someone in your life
(24:32):
now you can easily do that through the chip ingram
map or by forwarding them the free MP threes that
you'll find at Livingotheedge dot org. And don't forget to
tell them how it made a difference in your life. Well,
until next time, missus. Dave Druy saying thanks for listening
to this edition of Living on the Edge
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