Those of us who did not live during the time of Christ's resurrection have been given a special blessing by Christ. We're told in John 20 verse 29 Jesus saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed Thomas had the evidence right in front of him. He saw the resurrected Christ All the Apostles At first hand view The resurrection of Christ they saw him they witnessed him 500 other people witnessed the resurrection of Christ How much faith does it take to believe That Christ resurrected from the dead when they viewed him die on the cross and They saw him sealed in a tomb, and then they saw him after he'd raised from the dead. How much faith does it really take? In fact, the evidence was so overwhelming, it changed all of the apostles' lives, did it not? In fact, they were all martyred except John for the cause of Christ. They were willing to die because they knew that God had the power to raise them from the dead if He raised Christ from the dead. Of course, they've also seen the resurrection of Lazarus. But for us who were not present, Christ said that we've been given a special blessing. He said, blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. How can we believe having not seen Jesus raised from the dead? The only way we can believe is if we've been given the faith of Christ. It wasn't something that we drummed up to believe in the resurrection. It was something that for Lack of a better way of putting that God himself drummed up in us by giving us Christ's faith, right? We have the faith of Christ Hebrews 12 to tells us that he is the author and the finisher of our faith He authored our faith He gave us the faith to believe that Jesus Christ had been resurrected Paul tells us without the resurrection we would be yet in our sins We would have no salvation On the cross Jesus Christ said it is finished And he also told us heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away Well I'm sure that if we had seen firsthand evidence of Christ's resurrection, it would have had a profound impact on us. But according to Christ, the special blessing that we've received has had an even greater impact because it has to be given to us by Christ's faith and not by sight. Matthew 13 17 for barely I send you many prophets and righteous men of desire to see those things which you see And have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them But we have seen them God has opened our eyes to see the truth 2nd Corinthians 418 while we look not at the things which are seen but the things which are not seen for the things which We are seen or temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal The only way we can see the resurrection, the only way we can see the completed work of Jesus Christ, the only way we can believe Christ died for our sins, if we've been given the faith of Christ. If we've been given the faith of Christ. He's the author and finisher of our faith for the joy that was set before him He endured the cross despised the shame is set down him Set down, you know Ephesians 1 3 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ and No, we didn't see first hand the resurrection. No, we weren't there when he hung on the cruel tree. No, we didn't see first hand all the miracles. The raising of Lazarus from the dead. the Giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf We didn't see those things firsthand, but we believe they actually happened. Don't we? We believe they actually happened How wonderful are these things that we believe because of Christ's faith that he's given us I Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book The disciples saw all kinds of things that are not even given. We're not even given account of But it says but these are written that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing he might have life through his name The Word of God is a revealer of truth to his people. You know, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway. I'm glad that all these things were revealed. the resurrection, the miracles of Christ, the virgin birth of Christ, even creation itself, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I'm glad that we have a record of all these things. The reprobate have the record as well, but they don't believe, do they? Why is it that there are two kinds of people on the face of the earth, those that believe the word of God and those that don't? Because it's all because of the faith of Christ in those that do believe. Thomas Jefferson didn't believe the Bible. He said he didn't believe the miracles of Christ. He said he didn't believe the virgin birth. Thomas Jefferson had the same record that we have, but he did not believe it because the Bible says there are those that have not faith. Thomas Jefferson didn't have faith in the word of God. In fact, he told his nephew not to read it. And people want to put Thomas Jefferson on a great big pedestal. Isn't that interesting? Well, Charles Darwin didn't believe it either, did he? What about all the people today that are upholding evolution as truth and denying six-day literal creation? They don't have the faith of Christ. Well, I'm glad that God has given us the faith of Christ. And I'm glad for those of us who were not present during all these things that God has given us the faith to believe it. Aren't you glad of that? I'm glad of that. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. Blessed are they. I'm glad we're a blessed people this morning. May the good Lord be with you in a special way. It's my prayer. God bless.