Key Life Network

Steve Brown: They got together and made it up. Let's talk about that concept on Key Life.

Guest (Male): This is Key Life. We're here to communicate the freeing truth that God's not mad at his children. Steve invited our friend Pete Alson to teach us all this week. Pete is a former pastor, founder of ForgeTruth.com, and the author of Like Father, Like Son.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. If you're just joining us, Pete Alwins is teaching us. And we're, and we're talking about the resurrection of Christ. And it, it, and we're getting down.

Man, yesterday, I had dreams. You know, we talked about how we knew Jesus was dead. Some people say he swooned and then healed and then showed up, because dead men don't get. But he was dead as a doornail.

Guest (Male): Oh man.

Steve Brown: And man, you went into such detail. I was wincing here. But you got to know that. Okay. Since we're doing the apologetic thing, I've heard people say, you know, they lied. You know, they loved Jesus a lot. There's no doubt about that.

And they wanted the world to know this wonderful teaching that Jesus gave. And they said in a meeting, was a committee meeting.

Guest (Male): (laughs)

Steve Brown: Bad things are done in committees. And they said, they discussed it and they said, you know, why people, how we can get people to listen, let's tell people that he got out of his grave. Man, they'll listen when they hear that. What do you, tell me why that's not true?

Guest (Male): Interesting. You know, like, like this whole, this whole thing of Christianity was just a backroom smoke from a smoke-filled plotted plotting. And, you know, that would be interesting, it, and, and certainly some people are going to believe that.

The one thing that we see as we read the accounts that we have available, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, but then really the Book of Acts as well. And as we look at Paul's teaching in First Corinthians 15, which is the basis of this. We see first of all that the disciples were all there at the cross.

And let me let me back up. I'll say let me say one other thing. Judas actually, apparently, went out and committed suicide even before the crucifixion took place.

Steve Brown: Right.

Guest (Male): Right. You agree with that?

Steve Brown: Yeah. Of course.

Guest (Male): Well, why? Because he knew that once Jesus was arrested and put in Roman hands, it was a done deal. It was a done deal. He was dead. And many people think that Judas was was really trying to get Jesus arrested so Jesus would claim to be Messiah and and bring in the kingdom.

Steve Brown: A zealot.

Guest (Male): A zealot. But, but but at that point, Judas commits suicide. And he wasn't looking forward, he didn't really envision a resurrection. Even though Jesus talked about being raised from the dead with his disciples, they didn't understand it.

Steve Brown: No, they, we think we're, we're so provincial. We think that in 26, we're the only people whoever had these questions who thought that, and, and they were not sophisticated. That's nonsense.

Guest (Male): They were very sophisticated people.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Guest (Male): Right. And then the disciples were there at the cross. And then after the body was taken down and given to Joseph of Arimathea, which was shocking, by the way. Usually if you were crucified, you were left on the cross so the birds could eat you. Or they threw you into a common grave. Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body to put it into into his tomb.

And the disciples followed that whole process. And they were shocked. They, talking about shell shock.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Guest (Male): They weren't expecting any kind of a of a resurrection.

Steve Brown: No, it was over.

Guest (Male): It was over. Peter said, I'm going fishing.

Steve Brown: That's you know what that meant? I'm going back to my old ways. This was a nice dream.

Guest (Male): I know.

Steve Brown: But it was just just a pipe dream. And it's not true and I'm going fishing.

Guest (Male): It's all over.

Steve Brown: Yeah, exactly.

Guest (Male): It's all over, but I got to eat. I got to make some money.

Steve Brown: That's right.

Guest (Male): And, and so the disciples weren't expecting this. And the women, who are very, very faithful, were going to anoint the body on the first day of the week. And, son of a gun, the tomb was open and the body was gone.

Steve Brown: You know, and something changed these disciples.

Guest (Male): Yeah.

Steve Brown: You know, Peter gave up his fishing trip, threw the worms away. What happened to him? I would suspect that the only thing that explains it is that he met Jesus after Jesus died.

Guest (Male): That's right.

Steve Brown: That'll that'll mess with your head.

Guest (Male): Oh man. Oh man. And so, so it changes everything.

Steve Brown: Yeah. And, and that's why the gospels as the primary teaching book of the discipleship for the early church, has the resurrection right there because everything is based on it.

And then Luke, not only writes a great account, but of, of Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection, but he follows it up with Acts.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Steve Brown: And the spread of the, this is how we know, this is how we know that the disciples didn't make this up. They were shocked as anybody by the resurrection. And but they start launching out. A lot of these guys had never gone more than 100 miles from their home.

Guest (Male): Yeah.

Steve Brown: Galilee, Jerusalem, now it's the world.

Guest (Male): Now it's the world. And these people start going all over the place. And, and they don't even have visa cards or anything.

Steve Brown: And there's no explanation for that, rational explanation.

Guest (Male): No.

Steve Brown: I mean, that's stupid. That's you can't understand. And you know one thing too, when people say, well, they made it up because they love Jesus so much. If you made up a lie and somebody told you, was that a lie or the truth? And if you lied to me again, I'm going to shoot you dead. Would you insist it and keep insisting on a lie?

Guest (Male): No.

Steve Brown: If every time you insisted it was true, you were driving a nail into your own coffin.

Guest (Male): Oh man.

Steve Brown: No way.

Guest (Male): That that's powerful. Really if the the promulgation of lies is something that they they they were not that sophisticated. They were intellectual, they were smart people.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Guest (Male): But they they were not conniving people.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Guest (Male): And so, you're absolutely right. And all of them, we know, all of the disciples, right, died, except for John, they died a martyr's death.

Steve Brown: And John wished he had died too. I mean, that was not a pleasant old folks home where he was.

Guest (Male): Island of Patmos, it didn't even have any natural water.

Steve Brown: I know.

Guest (Male): Oh man. So, so yeah.

Steve Brown: And that's all because they insisted, they had seen a dead man walking.

Guest (Male): They they'd seen the risen Christ.

Steve Brown: Yeah. Exactly.

Guest (Male): The tomb was empty. The the ladies saw where they put the body of Jesus. Those those indicators are there in all of the gospels. They followed Jesus' to Jesus' burial. They knew where it was. They didn't put him in a wrong tomb. They didn't go back on the first day.

Steve Brown: That's another stupid thing that people say.

Guest (Male): It's it's crazy. Come on. And, and the graveyards weren't that big back then, anyway. They they knew exactly where he was. And there were soldiers posted at the tomb. We're not sure if they were temple soldiers or Roman soldiers, probably Roman soldiers. But they were they were posted there. And so it wasn't, it was well known.

Steve Brown: And they said, the soldiers said to their leaders, you're not going to believe this.

Guest (Male): That's right. That's right.

Steve Brown: And the leaders paid them to keep their mouths shut.

Guest (Male): That's right. And to spread the rumor that the disciples stole the body.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Guest (Male): You and I are, you and I are not going to die for something that is a lie.

Steve Brown: No, not, no way.

Guest (Male): We will, I think you and I will die for the truth, but you and I will not die for a lie. Normal people wouldn't do that. And they they all died martyrs' deaths because of the resurrection. They knew where they were going.

Steve Brown: And you know that has implications to all of us too. All of us that are Christians.

Guest (Male): Yes.

Steve Brown: You know, why do we follow him? Why do we go on a mission field? Why do we go to the prison? Why do we talk to our neighbors? Why do we feed the hungry? Why do we build hospitals? Why do we build schools? What do we do that for?

I'll tell you something, the power of the resurrection, spiritually, the spirit in us and Christ in us, but more than that, in a very human way, we've encountered the truth of the resurrection.

Guest (Male): That's right. That's right.

Steve Brown: And, and that's motivating, isn't it?

Guest (Male): It really is, Steve, and, and practical. The resurrection is not just an intellectual reality or a historical reality. It is the energizing principle of everything we do. That means that grace is real, that forgiveness is real, that God's power mediated to us as his people is real.

That, that when he gives us, the early church this worldwide commission, make disciples of every nation. And they said, all right, and they went out. And they started doing it. They had the power to do it because it was true and the gospel is true.

So, and they weren't afraid of death. And Christians today, we need to regain that sense of because the resurrection is true, I can live boldly. And I I don't have to fear death. I just don't.

Steve Brown: We forget that the part of the resurrection is that he said we could too.

Guest (Male): That's right.

Steve Brown: I mean, that's really important.

Guest (Male): Oh, that's right.

Steve Brown: He said, I'm going to show you something. And this is going to happen to you too.

Guest (Male): That's right.

Steve Brown: And, that reality for old guy like me who's cramming for finals is a really important thing.

Guest (Male): (laughs) Well, you know, and all of us, I started this this past year realizing and there and men, I know three men who are younger than me that died. And right at the beginning of the year.

Steve Brown: That'll wake you up.

Guest (Male): It'll wakes you up. And that's why it says in here, but but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who've fallen asleep. And so Jesus is the first fruits, and, and that's why his resurrection is paves the way for the reality that we will experience resurrection, too.

Steve Brown: And that's why Paul said, we're to be above anybody else, the most pitied.

Guest (Male): That's right.

Steve Brown: If this didn't happen.

Guest (Male): That's right. That's right.

Steve Brown: Because we've invested in something that's a lie. And then he proclaims the reality. You know, and we'll talk some more about it tomorrow. But, I think this is the one place God said, you keep asking for a sign. I'm going to give you one.

Guest (Male): That's right.

Steve Brown: That nobody can question, that nobody can turn away from, that nobody who considers it will in any way feel that they're being conned.

Guest (Male): That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right.

Guest (Male): That's right. That's right. We we we want a sign. So Christians, that's why we're doing trying to do and encourage you to do the intellectual work, the thinking work behind this, because once you have that foundation, it can help us in the emotionally disturbing, chaotic times of our life.

Steve Brown: Oh, it's a rock, it makes all the difference in the world. And that's why we're taking this week talking about the resurrection. And we're going to talk about some more apologetic points that'll blow you away tomorrow. Just remember that dead man got up and walked. You think about that. Amen.