WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.679 And do turn back to 1 Corinthians 15, page 961 in the Black Church Bibles. 00:00:06.679 --> 00:00:10.279 And if you're here as a guest of somebody, you're really welcome. 00:00:10.419 --> 00:00:11.839 I'm really pleased to see you. 00:00:12.380 --> 00:00:16.440 And I'm going to be speaking mainly to you this evening, so it's great to have you. 00:00:19.539 --> 00:00:20.059 Quote, 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:24.699 I believe that humans cannot bear to look directly at the face of death, 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:28.760 and so have invented the face of God as a shield. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.380 I believe that humans cannot bear to look directly at the face of death, 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:36.820 and so have invented the face of God as a shield. 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:42.340 That's David Baddiel, the comedian, in his 2023 book, The God Desire. 00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:52.939 And with no shortage of wit, obviously, Baddiel argues that humanity's deep-seated desire for an answer to death 00:00:52.939 --> 00:00:58.000 has led us to fashion a God who can deal with that problem. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.200 Now, the book is badly argued, and it's just a bit silly, 00:01:02.380 --> 00:01:04.780 but David Baddiel is right about one thing. 00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:08.420 We have a problem with death. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:15.060 Both the inevitability, we can't avoid it, one out of one dies, 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.480 and the finality, we can't reverse it. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:25.640 And the implications of that for our lives are almost too much for us to bear. 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:31.320 The Russian author Leo Tolstoy understood this and puts it as well as anyone when he said this, 00:01:31.319 --> 00:01:35.979 My question, that which at the age of 50 brought me to the verge of suicide, 00:01:36.859 --> 00:01:42.019 was the simplest of questions, a question without an answer to which one cannot live. 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:46.759 It was, what will come of what I am doing today or tomorrow? 00:01:47.299 --> 00:01:49.219 What will come of my whole life? 00:01:49.859 --> 00:01:52.159 Why should I live or do anything? 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:52.280 Anything? 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:56.119 The question can also be expressed like this, 00:01:56.500 --> 00:02:02.959 Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy? 00:02:05.099 --> 00:02:06.759 Do you see Tolstoy's point? 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:12.419 If death is the end of everything, what grounds do we have for thinking that anything matters? 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:14.340 Here was Tolstoy. 00:02:14.519 --> 00:02:19.000 He'd written some of the greatest works of literature that have ever been written. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.460 He had what we would say to be a decent legacy. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:29.419 And yet, when he thinks of the inevitability and the finality of death, he just can't see the point. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:33.240 Can you fault his argument? 00:02:33.819 --> 00:02:36.280 When you think about it, can you fault his argument? 00:02:36.379 --> 00:02:37.219 It's true for us all. 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:40.539 When you think about our lives, if death wins in the end, 00:02:40.580 --> 00:02:44.180 how can our lives or the lives of our loved ones have any meaning? 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:48.260 If our existence is entirely accidental, as some would tell us, 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:54.819 we just come and we go, it doesn't really matter whether we use our time to build things, 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:58.860 families, businesses, create jobs, or tear things down. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:05.140 Whether you paint the Mona Lisa or destroy the Mona Lisa, it doesn't matter. 00:03:05.139 --> 00:03:11.459 The Epstein files have been pretty shocking when we've looked at them. 00:03:12.339 --> 00:03:14.879 Sordid, corrupt, and all that has gone with that. 00:03:14.939 --> 00:03:16.619 And we kind of knew that was coming. 00:03:17.019 --> 00:03:21.139 But it is true that when we've seen the emails and read some of the things that were in there 00:03:21.139 --> 00:03:24.079 and seen some of the pictures, it is still pretty shocking. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:30.600 If death, Jeffrey Epstein's death, and then our death, and then the death of everyone who comes 00:03:30.600 --> 00:03:36.220 after us, if that is just the end, all that they did, Epstein and all of his cronies, it doesn't matter. 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:39.640 What about our relationships? 00:03:39.980 --> 00:03:43.080 We invest time and energy in establishing loving relationships. 00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:45.080 We put ourselves out for people. 00:03:45.420 --> 00:03:46.540 We do things for people. 00:03:46.720 --> 00:03:47.740 Sacrifice for them. 00:03:47.939 --> 00:03:48.840 We take risks. 00:03:49.180 --> 00:03:50.520 We put other people first. 00:03:51.320 --> 00:03:52.120 And then we die. 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:58.240 And we're no different to the person who spent their life destroying other people's lives, 00:03:58.640 --> 00:04:00.539 abusing people, treating them badly. 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:04.759 If the grave wins, how you treat people just doesn't matter. 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:10.900 If you cared for them or you used them, ultimately, nobody will care. 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:18.180 I'll never forget standing in the A&E, accident emergency, of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:20.300 30 years ago last week. 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:22.660 I'd been playing rugby. 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:27.379 My flatmate appeared at the side of the pitch, very strange, telling me I needed to come. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:29.420 There was something wrong with my dad. 00:04:30.780 --> 00:04:32.079 He drove me to the hospital. 00:04:32.580 --> 00:04:33.840 I walked into the A&E. 00:04:34.280 --> 00:04:36.319 I was still wearing my rugby boots. 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:37.500 I skidded on the floor. 00:04:37.620 --> 00:04:38.980 I still had my mouth guard in. 00:04:39.259 --> 00:04:40.540 I was completely in a daze. 00:04:40.620 --> 00:04:44.819 I was led to a room where my family there, I was told my dad had had a brain hemorrhage, 00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:46.139 and he wasn't going to make it. 00:04:48.139 --> 00:04:50.759 I can still tell you the signs that were on the walls. 00:04:51.459 --> 00:04:57.019 I can still see the pattern of the fabric on the chairs in the room. 00:04:57.019 --> 00:05:03.099 But I remember most of all standing there and just thinking, is that it? 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:06.799 Is that what life is? 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:09.680 Here and then gone. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:12.120 Here and then not here. 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:15.500 David Baddiel is right. 00:05:16.459 --> 00:05:18.620 Death is a big problem. 00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:22.019 Maybe even bigger than he realizes. 00:05:23.300 --> 00:05:24.500 But here's the thing. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:31.120 What if our instincts that tell us that life does matter are actually real? 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:39.639 And our desire for meaning and hope in the face of this is something that God actually put in all of us. 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:42.439 David Baddiel says that atheists, quote, 00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:47.699 are too hard and adult to require comfort and hope in the face of death. 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:53.139 Too hard and too adult to require hope in the face of death. 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:59.899 But what if there was actually real hope, regardless of what those atheists thought, 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:01.120 however grown up they were? 00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:07.139 Well, the Christian claim, the Christian claim is that because of today, 00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:14.759 because of Easter Sunday, there is hope that enables us to stare in the face of death and not fear. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:16.159 And do you see the hope? 00:06:16.259 --> 00:06:17.339 It's there in verse 4. 00:06:17.599 --> 00:06:18.419 Look at verse 4. 00:06:18.419 --> 00:06:22.479 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:25.719 that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 00:06:25.939 --> 00:06:29.079 that He was buried, that He was raised. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:33.259 On the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures. 00:06:33.659 --> 00:06:36.360 And then go all the way down to verse 20 on the other column. 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:41.680 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:45.740 The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:52.100 The great banner over Easter is that three days after He was professionally executed, 00:06:52.740 --> 00:06:57.020 Jesus Christ walked from the grave and death has been defeated. 00:06:58.520 --> 00:07:01.040 And He didn't just defeat death for Himself. 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:02.360 Do you see that verse 20? 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:06.040 He defeated death for all who have put their faith in Him. 00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:13.580 He is the firstfruits of a big old harvest of men and women and boys and girls who will share in His resurrection. 00:07:14.060 --> 00:07:18.680 This is the only answer to the inevitability and the finality of death. 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:23.660 But let's be honest, it's all very well me simply stating this. 00:07:23.939 --> 00:07:27.699 How do we know that this isn't just an invention to help us cope? 00:07:27.780 --> 00:07:31.680 This isn't just the shield against reality that David Baddiel suggests. 00:07:32.340 --> 00:07:35.960 Well, we've got to start here where the apostle starts in this chapter. 00:07:36.340 --> 00:07:38.160 And that is with the history. 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:39.460 That's point number one. 00:07:39.699 --> 00:07:40.460 Look at the history. 00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:43.560 Christianity stands or falls at this point. 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:47.459 If the resurrection hasn't happened, everything is a waste of time. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:48.459 We'll come to that in a moment. 00:07:48.699 --> 00:07:50.439 It all stands or falls at this point. 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:53.600 People rising from the dead, that's not run of the mill. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:55.879 So we need to go to the eyewitnesses. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:57.500 Here's how Paul puts it. 00:07:57.560 --> 00:07:58.180 Look at verse 4. 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:01.379 Christ was buried, raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:05.319 and then He appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:08.240 Then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:10.759 most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 00:08:10.759 --> 00:08:14.719 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, last of all, 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:18.539 as to one untimely born, He appeared to me. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:23.759 Paul is saying that there are eyewitnesses who have seen the risen Jesus. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.039 When He was raised from the dead, He wasn't just seen by one special person 00:08:29.039 --> 00:08:31.740 whose word we have to take for it. 00:08:31.939 --> 00:08:33.419 It didn't happen in secret. 00:08:33.819 --> 00:08:37.840 Nor was it just an in-group who could very easily have cooked up the story to suit themselves. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:40.879 They get the story out, and, you know, that's it. 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:43.500 No, He appeared in full public view. 00:08:43.620 --> 00:08:44.399 Verse 6, do you see? 00:08:44.460 --> 00:08:46.440 More than 500 people at the same time. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.700 And what Paul is saying here, by listing these eyewitnesses in this way, 00:08:51.180 --> 00:08:54.379 is saying, check with them to see if it's true. 00:08:55.639 --> 00:09:02.759 Because he's writing to these people who are within the generation of those who saw Jesus firsthand. 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:05.819 Now, some have died, verse 6, some have fallen asleep, 00:09:06.139 --> 00:09:08.679 but there are plenty who will corroborate this account. 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:11.700 These eyewitnesses, they're very important. 00:09:12.059 --> 00:09:17.240 Cephas, that is Peter, then the 12, then 500, then James, then Paul himself. 00:09:18.319 --> 00:09:22.460 If David Bedale is a critic of Christianity, he has nothing on the apostle Paul. 00:09:23.439 --> 00:09:28.120 If you've got problems with Christianity, take your place in the queue behind the apostle Paul. 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:30.899 His whole mission was to destroy the church. 00:09:31.179 --> 00:09:34.500 He held the coats of a group of people who killed one of the early preachers. 00:09:35.560 --> 00:09:42.980 He wasn't a nice church boy, but on the Damascus Road, he was met by the risen Christ. 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:44.659 It was in a different way to the others. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.019 That's why he says he was as one untimely born. 00:09:47.419 --> 00:09:49.779 And in that moment, he was convinced. 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:56.100 Every single one of these people that he has listed here knew that dead men don't rise. 00:09:56.100 --> 00:09:59.159 It's very—I hear people all the time say to me, 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.860 Oh, it was a common thing back then. 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:03.440 People used to rise from the dead all the time. 00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:04.100 No, they didn't. 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:08.580 Or they might say, Oh, well, people were more gullible back then. 00:10:08.659 --> 00:10:10.399 You know, they would believe this sort of thing easily. 00:10:10.540 --> 00:10:13.220 That's what C.S. Lewis called chronological snobbery, 00:10:13.220 --> 00:10:17.379 the idea that with the passage of time, we're more superior in some way to them. 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:21.460 None of these people expected to see Jesus after his death, 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:23.879 but he appeared to them, and they were convinced. 00:10:24.180 --> 00:10:25.460 One historian says this, 00:10:25.460 --> 00:10:41.300 If you're looking into the Christian faith, can I ask you, 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:43.320 when it comes to the resurrection, 00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:47.620 have you allowed yourself to take these historical accounts at face value? 00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:49.620 It's easy. 00:10:49.620 --> 00:10:49.960 It's easy. 00:10:50.060 --> 00:10:54.679 I would say it's even lazy to draw your conclusions before you've considered the evidence. 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:59.500 To say, Resurrections don't happen the end, 00:11:00.039 --> 00:11:02.700 it's easy to say that. 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:12.560 But to conclude that something doesn't happen as a matter of course means that it can't happen is actually a fallacy. 00:11:12.740 --> 00:11:15.020 Let me ask you, what do you do with the historical records? 00:11:15.700 --> 00:11:20.740 The accounts of the eyewitnesses who would have said that if the story circulating at the time, 00:11:20.800 --> 00:11:23.780 that this man who was dead was now risen, had been made up. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:24.780 They would have said that. 00:11:25.500 --> 00:11:27.900 These people hadn't seen them when Paul said they did. 00:11:27.899 --> 00:11:29.519 They could have debunked the whole thing. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:31.220 Go to Cephas. 00:11:31.340 --> 00:11:31.879 Go to James. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:33.459 Go to all those 500 people. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:35.179 He's saying some of them are still alive. 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:36.240 You can go and talk to them. 00:11:36.459 --> 00:11:39.259 If you'd done that and it was all made up, they would have said so. 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:42.579 Paul's point is it isn't made up. 00:11:43.259 --> 00:11:44.439 It is credible history. 00:11:47.259 --> 00:11:49.439 I want to say, look, if you reject these things, 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:52.779 you need an alternative explanation to the account that Paul provides here. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.019 What's your explanation? 00:11:54.019 --> 00:11:58.879 My oldest friend isn't a Christian, 00:11:59.860 --> 00:12:02.500 and he doesn't want to discuss Christianity. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:07.699 And a few weeks ago, we were in the car together, driving somewhere, 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:14.159 and we were talking together about, you know, motivation in life 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:16.939 and the things that we want to achieve and that kind of thing. 00:12:17.059 --> 00:12:18.259 We're both middle-aged men. 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:21.819 We're both, I think, probably on the cusp of a midlife crisis. 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:24.240 And so those are the kinds of things you talk about. 00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:25.260 What do you want to achieve? 00:12:26.100 --> 00:12:27.700 Why do you ask somebody that at 53? 00:12:29.660 --> 00:12:32.020 Anyway, he was saying about something he wanted to do. 00:12:32.280 --> 00:12:37.300 And I said, as a throwaway, I said, well, I've got eternity to enjoy that. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:40.060 And it was a kind of throwaway comment. 00:12:40.280 --> 00:12:41.140 And he said this, 00:12:41.139 --> 00:12:45.860 You've staked everything in your life on the resurrection. 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.460 What if you get to the end and find it isn't true? 00:12:51.299 --> 00:12:52.319 I said to him, 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:56.539 You've staked everything on the resurrection not being true. 00:12:57.500 --> 00:13:00.220 What if you get to the end of your life and find that you were wrong? 00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:02.179 Here's the thing. 00:13:02.179 --> 00:13:08.639 All of us stake our future on whether we're right about the resurrection of Jesus. 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:12.179 Are you sure enough to write it off? 00:13:16.339 --> 00:13:18.859 Well, if you're ready to take another look, and I hope you are, 00:13:18.959 --> 00:13:22.399 come back to the Christianity Explored course. 00:13:22.899 --> 00:13:27.839 We're running this three evenings, the 13th, the 20th, the 27th. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:34.340 You can come and consider one of the firsthand historical documents of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 00:13:34.740 --> 00:13:36.139 What the eyewitnesses saw. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:37.560 Have a look at it again. 00:13:37.920 --> 00:13:38.700 Bring your questions. 00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:40.320 You can ask any question you like. 00:13:40.940 --> 00:13:43.560 You'll not be a bigger critic than the Apostle Paul was. 00:13:44.139 --> 00:13:45.200 Come and ask your questions. 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:46.160 We'd love to see you. 00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:48.160 Come and talk to me about that afterwards. 00:13:50.139 --> 00:13:51.860 Come back on any given Sunday. 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:53.480 We're here every Sunday. 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:55.019 We talk about these same things. 00:13:55.019 --> 00:14:01.840 If this really happened in time and space, it changes absolutely everything. 00:14:03.379 --> 00:14:07.360 And that's the other point I want us to see this evening that Paul really presses. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:11.179 So he moves point number one from history to point number two, hope. 00:14:13.019 --> 00:14:15.399 Do you see how unashamed he is to start with? 00:14:15.740 --> 00:14:17.819 To stare in the implications. 00:14:18.419 --> 00:14:20.100 To stare at the implications of death. 00:14:20.100 --> 00:14:26.899 If, verse 14, if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:32.920 We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.220 If it is true that the dead are not raised. 00:14:35.560 --> 00:14:38.139 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:42.700 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. 00:14:42.700 --> 00:14:48.660 If there is no resurrection, if Easter Sunday didn't happen, what I'm doing now is pointless. 00:14:49.860 --> 00:14:54.740 And if you're a Christian and you believe this stuff, what you're doing is wasting your time as well. 00:14:55.520 --> 00:14:59.400 In fact, he says you're lying about God and you're lying about the goodness of Christianity. 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:01.360 If that's the case, David Baddiel is right. 00:15:01.560 --> 00:15:05.240 You've invented something to shield yourself from reality. 00:15:06.140 --> 00:15:10.240 Apostle Paul, he is unflinching when it comes to the implications of this. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:18.560 Here he is, like Tolstoy, if death is the end, Christ has not been raised, there is no meaning, no point, and no hope. 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:28.759 But then why this intuition that our lives should be meaningful when the only world that we've ever known is one where everyone dies? 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.320 Well, the Bible teaches it's because death is an intruder. 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:34.460 It's a sign that something has gone wrong. 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:41.200 It's a sign that our relationship with the source of life and meaning and significance, the God who made us, is broken. 00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:44.420 That's why Paul introduces Adam. 00:15:44.540 --> 00:15:46.360 Right down at the end of the reading, verse 22, 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:48.540 As in Adam all die. 00:15:49.420 --> 00:15:54.340 Saying we have inherited the sinful nature that we have from our first parent, Adam. 00:15:55.040 --> 00:15:59.080 And we've chosen to follow his lead by living life on our terms in God's world. 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:01.280 We've said no to God. 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.960 We've taken all of his gifts and we've said no to him. 00:16:04.160 --> 00:16:06.020 And we've lived life on our terms. 00:16:06.220 --> 00:16:07.700 That is why death exists. 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:10.360 Death is not just a biological accident. 00:16:10.800 --> 00:16:15.160 It is a moral and spiritual reality that leaves us guilty before God. 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:28.360 And yet, it's into this dark and selfish and broken and painful world that the Lord Jesus steps. 00:16:28.439 --> 00:16:29.100 Verse 20, 00:16:29.839 --> 00:16:33.620 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 00:16:33.839 --> 00:16:40.419 For as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. 00:16:40.419 --> 00:16:46.860 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:51.839 Yes, Adam plunged our world into sin and death. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:56.419 But the Lord Jesus, the second Adam, defeated death that first Easter. 00:16:56.860 --> 00:16:59.360 And so he brings us life and hope. 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:04.079 And can I say, this is really important. 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:08.039 He also brings us the justice that we long for in this world. 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:10.139 I mentioned Epstein earlier on. 00:17:10.299 --> 00:17:12.680 Epstein didn't get away with his filthy behavior. 00:17:13.460 --> 00:17:16.819 The resurrection means that he will one day have to answer for it. 00:17:17.099 --> 00:17:18.339 That's what we want, isn't it? 00:17:18.879 --> 00:17:23.259 We want these people that treat others so badly and seem to get away with it. 00:17:23.299 --> 00:17:24.940 We want there to be a day of reckoning. 00:17:25.259 --> 00:17:26.420 We want there to be justice. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:28.920 But here's the thing. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:34.599 It is also true that Jeffrey Epstein will give account for his life alongside the rest of us. 00:17:34.599 --> 00:17:39.219 We all have to answer for how we've lived in God's world. 00:17:39.659 --> 00:17:43.439 And our only hope on that day is the risen Christ. 00:17:43.779 --> 00:17:48.740 The one who has dealt with all of our sins in his death on Good Friday. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.059 And has been raised to life on Easter Sunday. 00:17:52.419 --> 00:17:55.819 Defeating death and uniting us to God. 00:17:56.679 --> 00:17:59.139 Can you see how this changes absolutely everything? 00:17:59.140 --> 00:18:06.460 When death, you see, goes from being our greatest enemy, the end, the final word. 00:18:06.540 --> 00:18:13.000 When it goes from those things to being a bump in the road to eternity, light cracks through the darkness and begins to shine. 00:18:13.259 --> 00:18:15.740 A weight is lifted off our shoulders. 00:18:16.100 --> 00:18:18.259 The great enemy of mankind is defeated. 00:18:18.259 --> 00:18:26.119 And if you put your trust in Christ, if you put your trust in the one who won this victory, you will share in his triumph. 00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:30.779 And your life will then be shot through with this kind of hope. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:35.519 As a minister, I've taken plenty of funerals. 00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:41.339 And the experience of a funeral where the deceased has put their trust in Jesus and one where they haven't is vastly different. 00:18:41.980 --> 00:18:46.160 One is, I am sorry to say, just nice thoughts and platitudes. 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:49.120 It's stop all the clocks and wind beneath my wings. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.600 The other is rock solid hope. 00:18:54.900 --> 00:18:59.100 I was at a funeral of a Christian lady this week and her husband and her children gave tributes. 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:00.960 And of course, they're sad. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.680 Death is that horrible enemy, the intruder I mentioned. 00:19:04.060 --> 00:19:10.820 But they know that because Christ walked out of the grave on that first Easter Sunday, their mother will one day rise as well. 00:19:11.820 --> 00:19:13.220 And that hope is sure. 00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:16.519 Can you see? 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:22.519 Jesus didn't die and rise again to resolve the philosophical problem of human experience. 00:19:24.180 --> 00:19:29.920 He died and rose again so that you could share his life for eternity. 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:37.660 The empty cross of Good Friday, the empty tomb of Easter Sunday, they invite you into this life. 00:19:37.660 --> 00:19:40.000 All your sins forgiven. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.820 The relationship with God that you were created to enjoy restored. 00:19:44.580 --> 00:19:55.160 And the assurance that the way that you live now, what you achieve, the relationships you invest in, those things will all have lasting effect. 00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:58.460 So can I urge you this evening? 00:19:58.460 --> 00:20:07.500 The end of this week of invitational events that we have had, can I urge you, take the invitation that Christ holds out to you this Easter. 00:20:08.460 --> 00:20:10.519 Put your faith in Jesus Christ. 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:20.119 When you do that, you can stare death in the face with hope, knowing that out the other side there is life. 00:20:20.819 --> 00:20:22.420 Life that is truly life. 00:20:23.420 --> 00:20:25.859 You know, if you want to do that, if you... 00:20:25.859 --> 00:20:28.199 These service sheets, we put a couple of prayers on here. 00:20:28.299 --> 00:20:28.979 Page 5. 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:37.719 As we go to the Lord's table, you can ponder the words in this prayer for belief and consider there how you might give your life to Jesus. 00:20:37.719 --> 00:20:41.099 The one who has defeated death so that you can have hope. 00:20:42.539 --> 00:20:43.379 Let's pray together.