Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1227 | Jase Investigates a Santa Claus Crime Scene & Stumbles Into a Bigger Cover-Up

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

Jase treats a fallen yard Santa like a full-blown crime scene, sparking an investigation that leads the guys into Matthew’s account of the original resurrection cover-up. They break down the guards��� panicked story, the bribe that launched history’s first disinformation campaign, and why sin can make even smart people believe the most irrational explanations. Al walks through what John and Peter actually “saw” at the empty tomb and how the evidence pushes every person to confront the truth for themselves. In this episode: Matthew 27, verses 62–66; Matthew 28, verses 2–4 and 11–15; Luke 24, verses 36–43; John 20, verses 1–10; Mark 1, verse 15; Luke 19, verses 10–27 and verse 38; Colossians 3, verse 15; 2 Corinthians 4, verses 13–15; Psalm 116, verses 8–15; John 5, verses 24–29; John 11, verses 23–25; 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3–4  Chapters: 00:00-09:45 Jase resurrects Santa from the dead 09:46-17:42 Jesus reappears after his resurrection 17:43-27:00 Disciples have a ghost encounter 27:01-37:02 Two kinds of people in the world 37:03-48:06 Mary’s reacts to Jesus’ missing body 48:07-55:55 Fear of suffering keeps us from the resurrection — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to the Unashamed podcast. Jase you got any good stories for us during the Christmas season? We are firmly in the Christmas season. I have actually a good Christmas story. It's it rides the roller coaster of depression, sadness, but with a happy ending. So I actually told this story last night. I preached last night at the hub.

And this was a perfect story. It was a perfect illustration because, you know, the first thing I say when I get up to speak is that I'm not a preacher, but I will preach when called upon. And I say that kind of in an indirect way to say the only reason I'm here, because I didn't get paid for speaking last night, is because I believe this to be true. Of course, then I talked about Jesus and the King of Kings.

So I kind of told two stories. The first one was we took my neighbor duck hunting yesterday in the spirit of love your neighbor. And as soon as we sat down in the blind, Jay was out, get the decoys out. And my neighbor, who's a fireman and a farmer, he said, hey, I heard a message you gave. on TikTok, which I've never been on TikTok, but I'm familiar with what's happening.

And then, you know what he said? He said, I didn't know you were a preacher. And so, well, that's my opening line to my speech. So I said, well, I'm actually not. I'm a believer. And so then I just started that morning off in the blind with my neighbor telling him what I believe, which went down on a nice, rabbit hole in introducing Jesus to my neighbor, which was awesome. So I started that, but also when I,

when I got back home, we had a little man. And of course, since I was gone in the morning, he was so excited when I got there. And he's like, let's go see if Santa Claus is back from the North Pole. Now, for you, that might not mean much. But what happened is last year, my next door neighbor, Willie's in-laws, they put up this ladder. I think I told this story before, and there's a Santa Claus that climbs up the ladder. Well, for a little man, this was the most awesome thing he had ever seen. And I tried to go into this. This is the image of Santa Claus. I'm trying to get in his head. We're created in the image of God, or reflection. This is little Santa Claus reflecting big Santa Claus. at the North Pole, but I'm not sure he's getting the concept.

But he has asked me for the last 11 months when Santa Claus is coming back. Let's go see if he's back. And so I wasn't sure, but I thought there's a chance because now that we're past Thanksgiving, so I was like, here we go. Of course, you've got to remember this. So for 11 months, this trip has ended in disappointment. And so I pulled around the corner and Santa Claus is back on the ladder. And this boy went nut.

I mean, just unbridled joy. Santa Claus, big Santa Claus is on the way. I mean, he got in front of the ladder. I took pictures. We did a video. He wanted to touch him. You know, it was awesome. In fact, he was so joyous.

that my neighbors came out of their door trying to figure out what the ruckus was all about. And it gave them a lot of joy. Here's where the problem happened. So we go back to our house, you know, eat lunch. And he couldn't stand it. And he's like, let's go see if he's still there. I'm like, oh, he's still there.

Nope, I had to go see. So we get back in the golf cart. We ride over there. Well, something had happened, which I've found out now, that this thing's on a timer. And so when we pull in, he's just stuck on the ladder. Uh-oh. Al, this kid had a meltdown.

He's like Santa has died. He's frozen on the ladder. Tears were poured out. And I mean, I couldn't think of anything to say. I was like, this kid is devastated. No Christmas. I'm not getting any presents. He just went down just a rant of like Christmas has died because this Santa Claus probably built in China has stopped working.

And so then it hit me. I said, no, he's not dead. He's taking a nap. And he was like, oh, oh, yeah, he's taking a nap. And you know where I got that from? I thought this is why the English translation of the Bible got into this when people die, they just fall asleep. Because we just don't know how to deal with it.

And I thought, thank you, Lord, for doing that. So we go back home. I felt like I made the best of a bad situation. Meanwhile, I'm sending a text to my neighbor. I'm like, whatever you got to do, we need to get that thing back working, which is then, he said, well, it's on a timer. And it caused panic from their point of view. because I was like, you dashed this kid's hopes and dreams.

And he's like, well, I don't know if I can get to it today. Because you're not sure how long the nap analogy is going to hold if you keep going back over there. I got lost when you said you were, you took your neighbor hunting to share Jesus with him. And I was going down the road. Different neighbor. Different neighbor. Because all the neighbors are family. I'm like, who are we talking about here?

Is it Willie? Is that how? The point is, love your neighbor for trying out loud in the spirit of feelings. say that how hard is it to love God and love your neighbor? What I was just wondering, what's the downside? What's the downside to that, Dash? Hey, Dash, give me a break. Love your neighbor.

They're living next to you. So I have honey neighbors, and then I have yuppie neighbors, because I have to live up in town. So long story short, right before I go speak, he comes to me, and he's like, can we see if Santa Clause has woken up. And I thought, well, I'm not sure where we are in that process, but I thought, I don't have time.

So, sure, I'll just continue that narrative. So we round that corner, and he's back working. And he looks at me, and I said, he has been raised. He's back. The joy of resurrection. And so I actually think it mirrored the gospel and I turned a very difficult situation into a foundation for teaching him about resurrection. So there you go. Which is kudos to your story, first of all.

It's a good one. And secondly, we had this discussion a while back talking about Christmas because there's controversy about should we even do Santa, blah, blah, blah. But I love it because the wonder of a kid and able to do. to then teach spiritual truths through imagery is a good thing. And so, I mean, I've been a proponent of having kids enjoy Christmas, eventually tell them, you know, what they need to know. But while they're doing it to make those spiritual truths, which are good ones. I mean, the ideas behind that are good.

It's just, you know, obviously it's commercialized, blah, blah, blah. But I think at the same time, you can decide, especially a young kid like that when you're framing their words, worldview that you can use spiritual themes to do that. That was brilliant. I thought that was really good. Well, I mean, and it leaked into my sermon because we were talking about all this, no kings on the planet except the king, you know, that's in heaven.

But he's made us to be a kingdom and priest. But look, no one likes a dead Santa Claus and no one likes a dead king. I mean, that's what, if you're following someone who's dead, that's a dead in. Yeah. So I think it was a, it was a good nugget to one day segue into Jesus is the reason for the season. Yeah, which is important. Obviously, family is important. We were talking about Thanksgiving. I got a really nice Thanksgiving text from an old friend of my Tony Perkins, who is the head of the Family Research Council in D.C. And he's been a good friend for a long time. So he'll send me notes like that.

And I appreciate that because he's one of those. guys that's really standing in the gap in D.C. for us, for believers, FRC, which is Family Research Council, stands firm, they defend faith, they defend family and freedom on the front lines, but they can't do it alone. They need us. They need believers standing shoulder to shoulder with them, or we risk losing what generations before us fought to protect. And we want to pass that on generationally, as Jace was just talking about with little man. So give today, frc.org slash unashamed of this great organization. All right, anything else before we get into our text?

Let's go. Let's just get into the Bible. So last podcast, we sort of set up by way of a classic Jay's rabbit hole into his king of king's sermon, which I was very interested in listening to because I'm preaching this Sunday on something similar from a series we're starting at our church. and the idea of this Jesus being our king, which I think is so crucial. And it's not something we often think about in terms of the Christmas season, but it really is the key to everything.

And that's why he came was to be our king. I mean, and the coronation, as we established on the last podcast, was at his resurrection. And then his reign, which is ongoing to this very day, which is the whole point of the ascension. And now we're in that not yet now, is that caused it, period. So it takes us back to John 20, which is going to be the actual resurrection, which is where we are in our text. But to segue to that, Jay's, I wanted to take one more detour about something we haven't discussed, because I've been trying to kind of, as we've been studying John, look at the other gospel accounts of the crucifixion and the burial and the resurrection,

because you get these little nuggets that John doesn't necessarily cover everything from his vantage point. And one of those was the burial, which gets us right up to the point of John 20 from John 19. And there's a story in the Matthew account that gives us a little bit of a different perspective on this moment. But I think it sets up the resurrection beautifully. And I want to read it to you. It's from Matthew 27. It starts in verse 62. And so this is the point where they've taken Jesus' body.

they put it into the tomb. And then Matthew records this. He says the next day, the one after preparation day, the chief priest. So you're getting this is a behind the scenes report. And let me just give you my totally speculation, but my theory is that Matthew, who, you know, remember was a tax collector. The reason he probably has a little more insight and some of this behind the scenes stuff that was going on is he's got a lot of contacts inside both Roman power and Jewish leadership power. just from his friends that are still tax collectors.

So I think probably that's why he would know this. But here's what he said. He said, the chief priest and the Pharisees went to Pilate. So this is while Jesus is in the tomb. And they say, sir, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, so this is what they're calling Jesus, the deceiver. After three days, I will rise again. So give the order for the tomb to be made secure.

cure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first. So a couple of things just before I read the rest of it, obviously they were listening to this idea about resurrection. They knew. They knew the possibilities of what had been said. And so they're thinking, you know, preventatively, we need to guard the two. So Pilots says, take a guard. Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. And you can read a lot of background about what that meant to put a Roman seal on this tomb meant that if you desecrated this grave, if you did anything

to this stone or anything to the grave, that you would be held accountable under Roman law, which would mean you could wind up in a hole in the ground yourself. So that's exactly what happened. happens, you know, in terms of the protection. In chapter 28, verse two, Moses, I mean, Matthew records, there was a violent earthquake. An angel, the Lord came down from heaven going to the tomb. He rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid. So here's the guards are there. They're so afraid that they shook and became like dead men. So the angel shows up, rose the stone away, and Jay, to your point earlier, it wasn't because

Jesus needed a way out. He had been raised him the dead. It was so that people could see in. But also, Matthew gives us another little nugget here. It was also to deal with the guards who were there at the tube. And then I don't know what it means they became like dead men, but whatever happened, it frightened them to the point that they went into some sort of seizure or something. in the moment. And then let me read you one more in verse 11 of the same chapter. Because then he appears to Mary, which we're going to read about in a moment in John 20. But then one little nut more nugget.

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priest everything that had happened. So they told about these men in white appearing, the earthquake, the stone rolling back, you know, them becoming his dead men. When the chief priest had met with the elders and devised a plan, here we go again, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, you were to say his disciples came during the night, stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money, did as they were instructed. And this story, Matthew says, has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

So once again, our old pals who can accept who Jesus is are now coming up with a lie to cover what happens at the resurrection. I just find it fascinating that some people never learn because they're still trying the same old tricks of deception and lies in spite of everything this happened. Again, what did happen? They can't answer that. So they come up with this lie. So I just thought it was interesting, again, this idea of the fear of believing that Jesus is doing exactly what he said he would do. And so Matthew gives us a little more insight into this stuff that's going on behind the scenes, which I find to be fascinating. It reminds me of the, of, you know, I think the question you've got to ask is you would think that if you saw something so miraculous that you would kind of yield.

to that, that you would bend to that, that you would obviously see that power and, like, oh, I'm going to submit to whatever forces behind that. But one of the things, I think the dangerous part about sin is that it really does distort the mind. And if you read throughout scripture, it's like it talks about the futility of their thinking or the darkening of their understanding. So the idea is that you can be looking at something so powerful and still, in your own, like, futile thinking, justify yourself out of that.

And somehow in your own mind, you can twist it up. And we see this all the time. And you guys mentioned Celebrate Recovery guys that showed up at Jace at your sermon and how, you know, excited and raucous they were. One of the reasons why they're so excited is because of what they came out of. And if you know anybody that's gone through serious addiction, I mean, they'll tell you, their best thinking is what got them there. And so that, you know, it's not just enough to have these, like, it's not, it's not

just a rational thing that we're dealing with here. We're dealing with something much deeper than that. And your thoughts can really mess you up and you can justify a lot of things. And so I think what you're seeing here is with these guys is, it's like we're going to, we're actually committed to our own sovereignty, our own, our own agenda to the point that we will use whatever means possible in our rational faculties to justify what we just saw we didn't, to make it where we didn't see it. We don't want to admit the power of God. And so we'll do whatever it takes to ignore it and explain it away. That's such a good point about the bribe that they took that knowing what they had seen.

I mean, they saw something dazzling and amazing. And if anybody should have been the first people to believe, it should have been those guards, even before the women, even before everything else. But you're right. Instead, they just swallowed the lie, took the money, and then, spread the lie, which is, man, it's terrible. I think we do the same thing, even in the religious world. Most people don't get past the one point of, well,

Jesus's resurrection just proved what he did on the cross was legit. And I'm like, oh, there's way more that happened besides that. Because I immediately think, to your point, Zach, you know, they had trouble wrapping their head around that, which I can forgive that because, when's the last time you saw something dead come back to life? I mean, even if it's close, we make TV shows about it. You know, I survived.

I mean, I was dead for seven hours or, you know, whatever they come up with. But there's a reason Jesus entered the world under Roman rule who were experts on killing human beings and making public displays. That's what they were all about. I've told you that story before in the times of Spartacus. You know, they line the road with 6,000 rebels on a cross so that the whole world who traveled those roads would say, don't mess with us. This is, can you imagine, you know,

driving down the highway and seeing 6,000 people hung upon a cross because they defied the powers? And so I really think those guards falling back at the sight of an angel, that kind of reminded me of when we had Chad Wright on, you know, the military guy. Remember, his whole conversion started with, and whatever the details of that,

I'm not sure it was a crazy story. But he was like, here I am a trained warrior, and I don't have the weapons to fight whatever is haunting this house. You know, it wound up him calling a pastor and being introduced to Jesus. Jesus. Through prayer, which was amazing, the ultimate weapon, right? Well, yeah, and I think you, you know, Jesus, what he brought with him were these supernatural occurrences that show the new creation is beginning, you know, through him. That's why he's

able to heal a disease or to raise Lazarus from the dead. These are all things when heaven and earth get combined that was saying this is a king even before the resurrection. I mean, that's why he would, you know, and Mark I was, his first statement that Mark recorded is the time has come. The kingdom is at hand here. And he showed you these acts. I think we take them for granted. And you would think, well, why wouldn't they believe? but it just defies our human logic and reasoning. And I wanted to read a verse that popped into my head when Zach was talking about how the mind works. That one in Luke 24 when he appears to his disciples, I mean, it's already, they've already had the encounter.

They've already heard about this. And Jesus is speaking to them in verse 36, saying peace be with you. They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. And he said, why are you troubled? them why do doubts rise in your minds look at my hands and my feet it is i myself touch me and see a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see i have well right there you think what they got it now look at the next verse this is verse 40 when he had said this he showed them his hands and feet and while they still did not believe because of joy and amazement he asked them do you have anything here to eat which is why

he did that because you're thinking, well, a dead man, he can't eat a piece of fish, which I really like this verse. So whatever that means, you know, in translation on they didn't believe because of joy and amazement, I mean, you're sitting there looking at a dead man and he's like, look at my hands and my feet, touch me, put your hand right here. And they still didn't believe it because of whatever those words, were to mean in the Greek language. I looked them up.

They were just in all. It was so shocking. They couldn't actually believe, even though they feel good about it. It just, how can this be a reality? Yeah, that's a great point, Jay. It's because the idea is sometimes you see things so amazing. It takes you a moment to wrap your brain around what you're looking at. And in fact, in John 20, which I'm about to read the first 10 verses, when you get into this situation, there's the word C, there's three different Greek words that are used when John and Peter are looking into the tomb.

And they all look like they're C or look, but they all have a different meaning. And the last one is when it says John looked and believed is that he then understood. the Greek word there means to experience. Like he got it at the deep level on what he was looking at, which is kind of what you're describing. Well, I think you'll see this kind of segue as we read John 20, because what I find fascinating is what you, it's not just that Jesus was raised, which is the greatest thing that's ever happened in human civilization.

but the result of that is equally as powerful because you see these three people that are singled out in John's gospel. You have Mary Magdalene, you have Thomas, and you have Peter, and you see this conversion of sorts in their mind. And it's all the things we struggle with as humans that keep us from looking to God with Jim Mary's case. she just seems like she's crying the whole time. And Thomas, he has doubts, which all these things are, they're not necessarily negative. They're just reality, their life. Things make you cry.

Things make you doubt. And then you see Peter, who had denied Jesus, and it captures that spirit of, well, how could he ever recover? after he went on record multiple times saying, I'll give my life for you, I'll never leave you, I'll never deny you. Jesus predicts that he's going to deny him, and he still doesn't believe it, and then he does what Jesus actually said he would do,

which is denied him, but somehow you see all of this be made new again because of the resurrection in their encounter. And I think it's fascinating. I think you see other passages that are kind of hard to wrap your head around when I talked about that I preached about Jesus being king and how we get to be ambassadors. It's not something that you have to just like conjure up to say, well, oh, I need to go do something for Jesus today. It's like however real the resurrection is and your surrender to this Jesus. because it's not that it was just a cross and an empty grave,

it was the person who pulled that off, which he's already been set up in his character in all four of the Gospels and who he was and what he represented. I mean, pure, faultless love act and taking on corruption, one act after another. And my whole sermon came from an obscure passage in Luke 19. and I just wanted to bring it up because it ties in with him being the son of man and introducing the kingdom on earth.

And you probably haven't heard it read in many Christmas sermons, but I just wanted to give you a thumbnail of it. So in Luke 19 in verse 10, after he had this moment was Achaeus, it says, the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost, which is why he picked a tax collector who was a little short fellow up in a tree. And who else in this life is going to invite a tax collector to have a meal with? What Jesus did. And then he tells them this parable because that's such an unusual thing.

And here we are. My point is, as ambassadors, we are to seek in to save the loss. But what motivates you to do that? And I would say it's realizing that why he's king, where he's king, why he's king, and my relationship to him. So he tells this parable, and he's like, verse 11, while they were listening to this, he went on to tell him a parable because he was near Jerusalem. And the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. and so people debate this verse they're like because most people in our religious faith they always take any verse about the kingdom and attach that to something later off in the distance when

Jesus comes back it's the only time it's addressed and Zach you brought up last podcast when Jesus said I'll build my church which is the only time the church is referenced you know in the gospels but he's like I'm going to build it and then he's like in that vein saying, I'm going to build my church. And then he says, I'm going to give you, Peter, the keys of the kingdom of heaven. So he's going to build something. He calls it the church. And he's going to give Peter the keys of this kingdom.

And so these people are like, what are they talking about? You know, in Matthew, John the Baptist is saying, the kingdom is near. Jesus preaching the kingdom is at hand. He has this standoff with the evil one. Remembering the temptation? and it's like this battle of kingdoms. The evil one saying, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world.

And Jesus quoting Scripture, so it has all this kingdom connotation. And watch what the story he tells. He tells this story about the parable of the 10 menace, which is in their day about three months' wages. So he gives one of the subjects, 10, but notice the language. I wanted to read this in verse 12,

A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. Well, why is he telling him that? He's going to be king now, and then he's going to return. Yeah. Isn't that fascinating? So he called ten of his servants. And remember, this is all coming from the fact that he met a tax collector in a tree, invited him to eat a meal with him at his home.

And then he said, the son of man came to seek him to save the loss. And so you remember how the story goes. To one he gave 10, one he gave five, and one he gave one. Well, the two, they got 10 and five, they doubled what they were given. And then the one that had one, he just dug a hole and buried it. And that didn't go well for him.

And so he uses real strong language in there when he gets to verse 26 and 27, he replied, I tell you that to everyone who has more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has, will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, this is why I wanted to read this, bring them here and kill them in front of me. And it's not, we've read over and over that Jesus died for all. Remember 2nd, 5? That's available for everything.

But in Jesus being king, two things happen for people. You're in two camps. You either crown him as king, you believe this happen, and give your life to him. And then that starts producing fruit because you can't help but talk about it. Or you kill him. You leave him dead. Those are the only two angles on whether Jesus is king and what happened in the death-bound resurrection. You either crown him in the resurrection or you're in the crowd saying kill him. He was

just a man. He died. And then the next thing that Luke records after this is the triumphal entry. Isn't that fascinating? Yeah. Which leads to verse 38, the crowd saying, here's this king coming on a donkey, which seems hard to wrap your head around. And they say, blessed is the king who comes in in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. So I just thought it was fascinating in that when you look on how that applies to your life today and how Jesus was already looking at having a kingdom on earth that's replicating and reproducing in the name of Jesus. So he tells that parable, which is fascinating, all from a question of thinking, oh, y'all think the kingdom is just going to happen all at once.

And I think my opinion is I think they thought, oh, he's going to destroy Rome and we can take over the world and have money and power and riches. But it wasn't the kingdom that they thought it was. No, and not only that, Jay's. So in verse 27, he says those enemies that didn't want me to be king, bring them here so they'll be killed in front of me. And then look what happens when he looks at Jerusalem. as he's writing in in verse 41, he weeps. And he says, if you, even you had only known on this day, what would bring you peace? But now it is hidden from your eyes.

The days will come upon you when your enemies will build on embankment. What's he describing? He's describing what's going to happen to Jerusalem some 40 years later. He is. And now you brought that up. And doesn't that sound a lot like Colossians 3. 5-3-16, 315. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body, you were called to peace and be thankful. I mean, it just has this connotation that the kingdom,

when he prayed, I pray that your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. And the whole four Gospels are centered around that. Even the conversation that we had in. John's gospel with Pilot when he's like, so you're a king then, huh? And he's like, well, my kingdom is not from this world, which I think people misinterpret to say that it has nothing to do with the world. And I think the point is that we just saw in Luke 19 here, that this kingdom he's bringing is for the world. Yeah.

And I love the picture you painted. There's a choice to believe or not believe. Zach, you guys just finished in Exodus. And when you look at the picture of those that came out, they had a choice. Do you believe that God is God or do you not? Would you rather go back to Israel? He gave him a 40-year period to make that decision. He does the exact same thing with the beginning of the church.

The people he's describing that wouldn't accept the kingdom, they had 40 years to come around. But those that didn't, guess what? They wind up dying in unbelief. And I think the belief is an interesting word, too, because it's, not when we say that word you read that word in the new testament it's not simply a cognitive acquisition it's not that i acquire a certain knowledge okay like for example i believe that it's cold outside well it is cold outside because i came in i have a belief that it's cold it's not that's not simply what it is because some people are going to struggle with belief in that way you're

going to have doubts that, you know, you remember the one gentleman that asked Jesus, help me in my unbelief. The belief that we're talking about, it's actually more akin to the word trust. I'm trusting in this revelation from God, trusting in Christ. I'm putting my trust in him. So I believe I'm leaning into that trust. And sometimes that's pretty broken, you know. That's why the Bible says that you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain. I mean, that's the thing that we're being called into, and the choice is really is to trust. And then what happens with the trust as you trust in the Lord, then what you actually believe to be true about him will increase, and you'll grow in that. The degree to which I believe in the truth claims of the Bible at 47 years old is a lot stronger than what I held at 19 years old or 20 years old or 21.

Why? Because I've trusted in the Lord progressively throughout my life, and I've seen God show up time and time and time again. And so that evidence just starts to stack up. What evidence am I talking about? The evidence that God is who he says he is and that he has my best interest in mind. And so I can start to lean into his revelation and have true victory ever since. So that's the progress. And I think that's the choice that we, that we're making. what I think Jace was kind of alluding to when we're making this point is that so much of the Christian world is too focused on just the moment of justification and who's involved in that and are we participating in that? I'm like, it's way bigger than a moment in time. It's much more of a relational reality that we grow into overtime. So that choice that you're making, It's not a one-time choice.

It's a repetition of I'm choosing to trust in the promises of God. I'm going to trust. I'm going to lean not on my own understanding, but I'm going to lean on what he has said over and over and over again. And as a result of that, I'm actually strengthened over time in my faith, and my faith can grow stronger throughout my entire life. Now, a great illustration for what you just said is that 2 Corinthians 4, verse 13, when Paul said, it is written, I believe.

therefore I have spoken. With that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. All this is for your benefit so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to over. overflow to the glory of God. That's why the guy who received the one minute and went and buried it, well, that didn't make sense. It didn't make sense that this son was king.

Because he's like, oh, well, no big deal. You just can't help, but have it affect you and overflow out from you. And that quote from 2nd Corinthians 4 when he said, it is written. That is Psalm 116, and you were talking about belief is trust. Well, the context of that are people who die because of their faith in Jesus. And I'll just read the little excerpt of it at Psalm 116, verse 8, says, For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. Which is the theme of John 20 here when he has these little conversations with Mary, Thomas, and Peter.

That I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, therefore I said, I am greatly afflicted. And in my dismay, I said, all men are liars. How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of my salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. No, and if you think about it, Jay's,

you're describing with the guy with the one Mina is that remember the story you told a few podcasts back about the guy saying I'm on the fence the one Mina guy is on the fence what he's saying is you know I'm just going to stand pat and not risk anything

I'm just going to take what I know and bury it and not believe it not do anything with it and just stand pat and as the man told you rightly there is no fence right I mean, you've got to make a decision, am I in or am I out? Right.

Because now you don't have a purpose. What is your purpose? You buried that and you just go on and do what? Whatever you want to do. Exactly. It's like a detachment from the new creation that Jesus' resurrection created. And in that, the only way you can describe what I started this podcast with, where your fear is that he would be raised,

and then you hear this spectacular story from the guards who were there, and then you say, you know what, we're just going to pay these guys to say that his disciples came and stole. Now, the only way you can come up with a deal like that is if you just decided you're not going to invest any further. That's the end of where you're going. And you are fighting to believe. Why don't you read the first section now?

Yeah, let me read the first 10 because I want to make a point that kind of goes with what Zach was talking about by a process of belief too. So this is John 20. So J. I already described it. This is going to be, John is going to highlight the believers who first got to see Jesus, his appearance. And it starts with Mary Magdalene and, of course, even John and Peter in the story. So here's what it says in verse one, early on the first day of the week. And John has mentioned this several times, and NT Wright always makes the point that there's a reason why he keeps saying

first day of the week. This is something new. This is a new creation. While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, and she's her own story, by the way, seven demons cast out. I mean, this woman is amazing, but she's the first one there, went to the tomb, saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. And again, we're kind of working under the scholarly assumption that John is referring to himself and the third person, and said, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb.

And we don't know where they have put him. So that was her first take on the stone being rolled away as someone stole him. So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. he bent over and he looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. And let me just, since I made this point earlier, that word for look is blepo, which means to glance. So there's, because there's three different Greek words here for the same English word. So he looks in, he glances in, he sees the strips of linen, but he doesn't go in.

Then Simon Peter, who is behind him, arrives and goes into the tomb. He saw, there's another English word saw, but that word is thero, which means curious to theorize. So he looks in a little more intently as he gets in there. He sees the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. So this is all laid out as if a body is there, but the body's gone. The cloth was folded by itself separate from the linen. Finally, verse 8, the other disciple, this is back to John, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. So now he walks in as well.

Here's the third time, Jace, this English word saw, but different Greek word. This word means, this is called Iden, to understand, to believe, to experience. So you see we're deepening the thought here. He saw and believed. and then in verse in verse 9 is a parenthetical by John, he's adding in this little commentary. They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. So he believed, and at the same time, he still was having, you know, not quite putting it all together. Well, they weren't connecting the dots from Scripture.

It's kind of like when Paul did the 1st Corinthians 15, that the gospel is the first importance that he died according to the scriptures. He's not just giving us some kind of handout to say, okay, this is first important. It's the gospel, the death, barrel, resurrection. He's like, according to the scriptures. And that's why it's okay to read the Bible from cover to cover and find that theme of God's plan from before creation. Because that's why the scriptures were there.

Every time you see the word scriptures, it's talking about the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament. And there was a fault line of how to deal with this anyway, because there are several scriptures that talked about the Messiah having to suffer. And then there are several scriptures talking about him dying. And then, of course, these are all prophecies. And then saying that he was going to reign.

But even the Sadducees and the Pharisees, that's why they differed over resurrection. Because the Sadducees believed that another Messiah would be the one to come forward. to rain, because how could you suffer and die and then rain? I mean, what are you going to do? Be resurrected. It's so interesting because they still didn't understand, and they don't understand repeatedly, even though Jesus had said it over and over again, that he would be crucified,

he would be buried, and that he would be raised. And what's funny about that, if you think about the psychology of this, that he told him the whole time about the resurrection. I mean, like in Luke 9, when he tells Peter, yeah, I'm going to die, I'm going to be buried, and be raised to the dead. And in Mark's account, same thing. Peter could not hear about the resurrection because he was so fixated on the death part. He was so fixated on like, wait, what?

No, you're not going to suffer. So it's the fear of suffering that actually block them from being able to see the resurrection. So as Jesus was talking about the resurrection, and this isn't a story that just popped out of nowhere. I mean, he repeatedly told them that the son of man will be crucified, he will be buried, and he will be raised. And so you would think that if they were paying attention and they had the right, maybe in that imagination,

that they would have just heard that resurrection part, and then they could have just wiped the death part away, right? Oh, if you're killed, well, who's your race from the dead? Who cares? If you're going to be raised from dead, who cares? But they could not hear the resurrection because they could not get past that part about the suffering. They couldn't get past that part about the cross.

And I think that if you look inside of Christianity today, if you look inside the church today, I think that the world, for that matter, that does seem to still be the big hang up. It is the cross. The cross is the hang up. It's why they couldn't see the resurrection until they saw the resurrection. Well, I think that's the hang up

and the other hang up is the present reality. that the resurrection offered, which is why I keep going back to these three moments. It altered their present reality, like living in the resurrection, in light of the resurrection of Jesus. And thank John 5. Remember when he was like, he seemed to be referring to the present time of dying and being buried and raised. And then he goes to the future occurrence when your actual body goes to that. And same thing happened in John 11 when he was talking about, oh, he's not dead.

Now, that was a literal present reality, because he's like, well, I'm going to go wake him up. And they're like, well, we all know that we're going to be resurrected at the end. But the ramifications is when you get to the New Testament letters by Paul, all of a sudden, it changes your view of belief and baptism. because Paul starts writing as you can be alive and yet dead. You can have an old self die and be raised. Think like Roman 6.

But we immediately want to do the same thing they were doing saying, oh, well, yeah, one day we're going to be raised. And even Ephesians 2, which we talked about before, he's like, God made you alive and seated you with him in the heavenly realms. I was confused for that on that for 30 years. Well, that's going to happen one day, but he's using present tense. And there's a conversion that happens when the resurrection is a reality. And I think that's what's caused all the problem.

We're only looking at it like, oh, there was a problem. Jesus came and solved it, and one day we'll escape from it all. That's about as far as it goes. Now, it's a really good point. And it really kind of describes what you read in Luke 24 with that to see something and yet at the same time out of all to have a problem really putting it together. And I love the way John describes that about himself here. He saw him believe, but then he's like, but I still didn't quite put it together until some time had gone by. And so I think that's why we're ever growing and ever learning. We're out of time. We'll pick it up here next time. Man, there's some wonderful appearances that. teach us some great things about the resurrection. So we'll pick it up next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast.

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