4/3/2021 - Resurrection Day

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together. It's reasoned, relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know.

From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio. And now, the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.

And His countenance was like lightning, His clothing white as the snow, and the guards scattered. And the angel says, in verse 5 of Matthew 28, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen as He said. And now the first evidential apologetic ever, Matthew 28, 6. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee.

So the women went quickly and told the others. And while they were going, verse 9 of Matthew 28, Jesus met them and said, Rejoice. So they came and they held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. And He said, Do not be afraid, go and tell My brethren, go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.

Welcome to the program, Alex McFarland here. So glad to have you with us on this Easter weekend program of Truth for a New Generation. And obviously the subject of the day is the resurrection of Christ, how Jesus rose from the grave. And let me say as we celebrate the resurrection this weekend, and the reality that mortality, sin, death, disease, our guilt before God, all of the things that have contributed to the downfall of the human condition, and the lostness of souls, the spiritual and physical bondage that has permeated the human race throughout all of history, Jesus resolved it by paying our sin debt on the cross and rising from the grave, and how we praise His name for that. And on this program this morning we want to take a few minutes to talk about the resurrection. And I want to talk about some things that the resurrection guarantees the believer, the promises, the secure absolute things that you can know with certainty if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're going to talk about the guarantees of the resurrection this glorious Easter weekend, and we're so glad that you're listening. You know H.G. Wells in his magnificent work, The Outline of History, H.G.

Wells, there are really eight books in it, but you can find it as a two-volume set. He kind of qualifies what he's writing. And I want to encourage you to be a reader of history.

Please read history, even apart from the history that is found very much on the internet. I would strongly encourage you to build a good Christian library. And you know, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said, at least this is attributed to him, those who read, lead. And Wesley and many others have believed that one of the Christian responsibilities of stewardship is to attend to the life of the mind.

H.G. Wells, he says when he's writing his world history, he said, we understand that we're trying to write as if this book would be read by as many Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists, and secular Americans and Western Europeans as anybody else. And he goes on, and Wells says, basically, we're going to have to apologize for making Jesus Christ such a central figure throughout history. And he says, the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he says they were, quote, Christian propagandists.

So clearly you can tell that H.G. Wells, while he's a good historian, he doesn't have any special favoritism toward Christianity, in fact, quite the opposite. And yet he basically says to his non-Christian readers, hey, forgive me for making Jesus Christ such a focal point of history, but the undeniable reality is that Christ is the focal point of history.

Isn't that amazing? More recently, John Meacham, who's a historian, he's a Pulitzer Prize winning historian, he's an invited fellow of the Society of American Historians, and he's a born again Christian. And he's a believer in Jesus Christ. And he quotes Albert Schweitzer, who, again, was not all that accurate in his handling of scripture, and Schweitzer, while he did some good things in the medical world, but in terms of his book The Quest for the Historical Jesus, Schweitzer, quoted by Meacham, says this fact cannot be denied, that Jesus and his resurrection are not only the focal points of the Christian faith, they are the focal points of history.

A.N. Wilson is an English biographer and respected writer and scholar, and A.N. Wilson talks about this, regarding the secularism of the modern world and the drift away from morality in Europe and America, but Wilson says this, the strange fact is that Jesus remains. Even in a world where institutional Christianity would appear to be on its last legs, where religious belief, in the West at least, would appear to be rapidly on the decline, Jesus remains doggedly there.

And we remain aware of him, not as a mystical presence, not as a figure of legend. Jesus is more real than Robin Hood or King Arthur. And indeed, he is real, because he is risen. And Jesus' resurrection is the great proof, the cornerstone, the foundation, the guarantee of all that we believe. Now Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, 12-19, says if Christ be not risen, we of all men are most miserable, we have no hope. And Paul points to the resurrection being really the crux, the kingpin of the Christian faith.

Because, why? Paul says if Christ is not risen, our preaching is vain, we are false witnesses, our dead loved ones that we thought were saved weren't, we have no hope, and we are most miserable. Because in all of history, in all of history, only one person under their own power has come out of the grave alive. Now Lazarus was raised from the dead by the decree of Jesus Christ. But Jesus beat death, conquered the grave, came out of the tomb alive, resurrected under his own power. And he says, for those that live and believe in me, you too will live again. Stay tuned, we've got to take a brief break.

We're going to come back and talk more about the things that Christ's resurrection promises, guarantees the believer. Don't go away. Don't go away. Welcome to the podcast.

I hear you. We are so excited that you joined us. And this is just going to be a great new podcast dealing with issues around race, issues around friendship, and how do we deal with the tough issues. And I'm so excited to be here with my good friend, Alex.

It's great to be with you, Adele. And on the I Hear You podcast, we talk about race, we talk about culture, we talk about politics. And sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, but we find resolution and common ground. And you know what's really cool? Not only do we learn new things, we make friends, we grow. And that's good for all of us. We're just two friends, one white, one black. And we just invite everyone to come and join and share with us.

It's a big difference between hearing and listening. And we're going to show people. We love it. We look forward to it. And audience, thank you so much for giving us this chance. I Hear You with Alex and Odell, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program.

Alex McFarland here. Thank you for listening to Truth For a New Generation. You know, I wrote a book last fall, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late. And I talk about the need for the restoration of a moral compass.

I talk about the founders and how they really wove morality into their conception of this culture, this government, this nation. And the book, I Give God the Praise, but it was number one in three categories on Amazon, still selling very well. And you know, it's funny. Some of the things that I predicted in the book are in the news like every day. And it's funny because one of the publishers that was going to publish this book said, no way, it's too much over the top. Alex, these things like felons being given voting rights and opening the borders to hundreds of thousands of illegals and giving 12 to 15 million current illegals voting rights.

Yeah, it's called H.R. 1 and it's happening. And so I take no joy in that. But you know, it's not hard to see where we are and where we're going if we really don't have a revival of morality and turn to God. And I want to invite you to something really special. In fact, I would ask you to please just right now, today or within the next day or so, go online and register for this. I'm going to be at the COVE, the Billy Graham Training Center in western North Carolina, June 25-27. We're going to be talking about the book of Acts. We're going to go through the New Testament book of Acts written by Luke the Apostle. But we're going to talk about revival and spiritual awakening.

In my book, The Assault in America, the subtitle is How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late. And there is a way and there's a pathway, there's a roadmap to a spiritual awakening and we're going to talk about that. You'll be with people from all over the country. We'll pray together. I look forward to visiting with you.

Randall Murphree of the American Family Association, he'll be there, the AFA Journal. And we're going to study the book of Acts. So go to theCOVE.org. It will fill up. Please go to the website, theCOVE.org.

I would love for you to be there as we go through the book of Acts. But let me say a word about how the resurrection of Christ overcomes human feelings of futility and hopelessness. G.K. Chesterton, he once said, The one thing in the world that never makes any progress is progress. Think about this. Everything in this world points to some kind of a future.

A river drifts along and goes toward the sea. Children dream about what they're going to do when they grow up. We make plans. We make New Year's resolutions. And we think about what we're going to do in our day, tomorrow.

Buds come on the plants at spring and they grow leaves. Everything about this world points to what is called a teleos, or a design, a purpose. Now in the Word of God in Jeremiah 29, 11-13, God was speaking to Israel, but I believe this is applicable to all people. He said, I know the thoughts I think toward you. Thoughts of good, not of evil. To bring you to a predetermined goal. Everything about this world has a teleos, a purpose. And there's nothing in life that makes people more frustrated than the sense of futility, or hopelessness, or meaninglessness.

I've often said if you want to torture a man, set him on a shelf. That's why unemployment is so hard and so demoralizing. That's why I would say a welfare state is just so dehumanizing and debasing. Because when people have nothing to do and they just sit around and they're dependent on something else, it can be very disheartening and very depressing. And it's bad enough if we feel like a day is wasted. But what about if you had the feeling that life had no purpose? Life is not going anywhere. Life is hopelessness. That's why so many of the atheists, like Friedrich Nietzsche, said near the time of his death, he said the days are intolerable. Hopeless.

But let me say this folks, and I wish I could shout it from every mountaintop on the continent. The resurrection of Christ. Jesus's, as the old writers would say, spoiling of the grave.

He came out of the grave alive. That shows that there is hope. There is meaning.

There is purpose. There's every reason to be excited, encouraged, and as the early disciples were at that empty tomb, joyful. Because what do we know? If Jesus rose from the dead, what can we know?

Well for one thing, we have redemption. 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said Jesus was crucified for our sins. And it's been said that that stone was not rolled away so Jesus could be let out, but so that we could look in. If Jesus really rose, and it is the most documentable fact of the ancient world, of the things that are recorded about antiquity, one of the things we can know for certain, the best explanation in light of all the known facts is that Jesus rose from the dead. And if Jesus rose, your life has purpose and meaning. It's not futility. And it's not just we live, we die, as Macbeth said, sound and fury, full of sparks, signifying nothing. No.

No. Life has meaning and purpose. And you can be saved. And let me say, I know many listening to this broadcast are believers and followers of Jesus.

The Bible calls that a disciple. But if you're not saved, then we would say turn to Christ today, be born again, and know the Lord. And as soon as you hear these words, understand that Jesus loves you, Christ died for you, and you can be born again.

And we urge you to do that today. Now stay tuned because we're going to talk about five other things the resurrection guarantees the believer. Because of Psalm 16 10, quoted by Peter in Acts chapter 2, that the Holy One of God would not be abandoned to the grave. And the Holy One, the Messiah, would not see decay or decomposition.

Jesus's resurrection was predicted in the Psalms, preached by Peter at Pentecost, Acts 2 29 through 32. And proclaimed today, it's one of the great truths of reality, and it can be a great truth in your life as well, that Christ is alive. Stay tuned.

We're back after this. America today is like a patient struggling to live, yet is being forcibly euthanized by her quote doctors. The life force within the patient fighting for survival is the honest citizens like yourself.

The team of quote caregivers are the local and national leaders actually contributing to the demise of the patient. The economy is crashing, crime is exploding, the Constitution is being abolished. The assault on America, how to defend our nation before it's too late by Alex McFarland has one single purpose to get you prepared. Learn the real source of America's current problems that no one else is talking about. And what you can do now to face tomorrow, regardless of what tomorrow brings. The assault on America, how to defend our nation before it's too late.

Available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and local Christian bookstores. Are you tired of liberal agendas ruining our country, but you don't know what to do about it? That's why Truth and Liberty Coalition was founded. We want to equip you to take back our country and impact the world. Here's how we do it. We educate through broadcasts, conferences, and our website with resources that inform, equip, and motivate. We unify by collaborating with like-minded organizations like the Family Research Council, the Family Policy Alliance, and My Faith Votes. We mobilize by providing practical tools you can use to impact your local community.

As Christians, we are called to make disciples of nations. Together, we can change the course of our country for good. Join Truth and Liberty to connect with believers and organizations who not only want to see a change in our nation, but a community that is actually doing something about it. Join us online for our broadcast and subscribe for relevant updates on our website, truthandliberty.net. Welcome back.

Alex McFarland here. So glad you're with us on this day that we commemorate Christ's resurrection from the grave. And you know, over and over we've done shows, written books, written articles, done interviews about how none of the naturalistic theories that have ever been set forth to try to disprove the resurrection really accounts for all the known historical facts. Some people have said, well, the disciples stole the body, or the disciples mistakenly went to the wrong tomb, or Jesus lied and faked his own death and wasn't really dead, but pretended to have risen from the grave.

None of these naturalistic explanations take into account all the known facts, and in fact they really implode on each other. I mean, think about Jesus having been arrested, beaten, dehydrated probably three days, three to five days without food and water. And he's put in the tomb, sealed with a one and a half to two ton stone, guarded by a dozen Roman soldiers in peak physical condition at their post, guarding the tomb under penalty of death if they were to fail at their assignment. Jesus, in his weakened, beaten, bloodied, wounded condition, revives himself in the tomb, shakes off roughly 75 pounds of cloth and burial spices, moves that heavy rock by himself, overcomes a cadre, a dozen Roman soldiers, gets across Jerusalem incognito, regathers his scattered followers, and there in his bruised, beaten condition says I am the resurrection and the life, and they're willing to go out and die for him, it just doesn't make sense. Plus it makes the greatest moral teacher in history out to be a deceiver.

And it attributes a very high stupidity quotient to the disciples, because while the disciples may not have had electricity and many of the modern technological inventions that we've got, they weren't stupid. They knew the difference between a dead body and a person who was alive. The fact that they were willing to go out and preach the gospel and give their lives and die is because he really, honestly, truly had risen from the dead. And so the resurrection of Christ, if it happened, and the evidence is clear, compelling that it did, then what do we have? We have redemption. We have righteousness. Romans chapter 4 says that in the eyes of God, the one who turns from sin to Christ, the believer, is declared righteous.

I mean, think about that. You may have lived a life of sin, and we're all sinners, but maybe someone hearing this broadcast has for years been really doing things you know are wrong. Sin has had a hold on your life. If you will turn to Christ because of this resurrection, not only are your past sins forgiven, not only presently you're in right relationship with God, but when you stand before the Father one day, as we all will, in the eyes of Almighty God, God will see you as a saint, righteous.

Why? Because we earned it or deserved it? No. But the righteousness of Christ is accredited to you if you believe in Jesus, because he rose from the dead. But do you know with redemption and righteousness and the reassurance that we have, there's a responsibility. In Mark 16, 7, after the empty tomb was discovered, the angel said, �Go and tell.� Jesus told his disciples, �Go into all the world.� And so with redemption comes a responsibility.

But do you know what? There's reward in heaven for serving Jesus Christ. If Jesus rose, there's not only meaning and purpose in this life, there's encouragement through the tough times, the dark times, but there's understanding that there's going to be reward in heaven. You might think sometimes your life is very hard and things don't go right, and hope deferred makes the heart sick, as the Bible says. But do you know what 1 Corinthians 15, 58 says? This is the great chapter on the resurrection. Paul says, �Because Christ rose, be steadfast. Stay at it, dear friend. Hang in there. It's worth it for Christ.

He arose. The tomb was left empty so that your life could be made full.� And Paul says, �For as much as you know, your labor in the Lord is not in vain.� It really matters. Now think about this. It's worth it. Your walk, your witness, and you'll be rewarded in heaven.

You will. And one day, all together, the believers throughout the centuries will lay their crowns at the feet of Jesus and will say, �All glory and honor to the Lamb who gave his life for us.� So there will be rewards in heaven. Now I want you to think about this. We talk about this often, but doctrine and destiny. Doctrine are truths we believe.

Destiny is where we are headed. If Christ rose, what can we know? Well, God exists. God has acted in history.

Jesus is God incarnate. He said that we would know this by his resurrection from the dead. Scripture is inspired. Remember, Jesus affirmed the old.

He made provision for the new. He told his disciples in John 14, 26, and 27, �You are my appointed witnesses, and the Holy Spirit will remind you of all things whatsoever I have told you.� John 10, 35, Jesus said the scripture cannot be broken. So the Bible is God's true word, and Jesus' resurrection proves that the assessment of scripture by the only man who ever rose from the grave means the scripture must be authentic.

I mean, to the critic, the skeptic, the atheist, the doubter, the denier of scripture, I think we can rightly say, �Well, conquer your grave and then I might consider your dismissal of scripture.� But until you can walk on water, heal the sick, and rise from the dead, I am going to go with the assessment of the only one who ever did. I want to read this poem, so beautiful. It is called �The Name� a very old poem nearly 100 years old. �O that thy name may be sounded over all the earth and sea, till the dead awaken and praise thee, and the dumb lips sing to thee. Sound forth as a song of triumph wherever man's foot has trod, the despised derided message, the foolishness of God.

Jesus, dishonored and dying, a felon on either side. Jesus, the song of the drunkards. Jesus, the crucified. Name of God's tender comfort. Name of his glorious power.

Name that is song and sweetness, the strong everlasting tower. Jesus, the lamb accepted. Jesus, the priest on his throne. Jesus, the king who is coming. Jesus, thy name alone.� Thank you. Thank you.