If the songbirds sing and they pray, it is morning in my heart. And I know that life for me begins again. This is morning in my heart. If it is morning, if it is morning in my heart, Jesus made the gloomy shadow so depart. Songs and gladdened I sing, Lord Jesus is my king. This is morning, this is morning, this is my heart. And now live from the studios of WBIG, the Shannon Hills Chapel presents Your Bible Says with H.G. McKay and J. Eddy Swartz. And now here's J. Eddy Swartz. Thank you. Good morning, friends. The Bible teaches that God forgives the sinner on the basis of the death of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in the book of Colossians chapter two and verse fourteen, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. It is said that in biblical days when a man died, Any debts that he might have left were taken. A nail was driven through these debts, and they were nailed to the door of his house, or to a nearby tree, so that all who passed by would know that the man had died, and consequently all his debts were cancelled. Sin is a debt, and no one is excluded. For the Bible says, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Christ paid the debt of sin, however. when he died on the cross. Peter tells us that he bear our sins in his own body on the tree. When one confesses to God that he is a sinner and receives Christ as his Savior, God reckons that one to have died with Christ removes his debt of sin from him as far as the East is from the West, and puts to the sinner's account God's own righteousness. What a wonderful salvation. blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. This is what your Bible says. There was one who was willing to die in my stead, That a soul so unworthy might live, And the path to the cross He was willing to shed all the sins of my life to forgive. They are nailed to the cross. They are nailed to the cross. Oh, how much he was willing to bear. With what anguish and loss Jesus went to the cross, but he carried my sin. I will cling to my Savior and never depart. I will joyfully journey each day with a song on my lips and a song in my heart. that my sin had been taken away. There I nailed to the cross. For how much he was willing to bear. With what anguish and awe Jesus went to the throne But he carries my sin with him. Shannon Hills Chapel is located at nine hundredth West Vandalia Road at Rehoboth Church Road, just off I-eighty-five south. Much prayer and preparation and planning is given to the various activities at Shannon Hills Chapel. In preaching and teaching the Word of God and exalting Christ, we have something not only for the Christians of all ages, but for the unsaved as well. How wonderful, though, to start off a new week by believers meeting together in obedience to the Savior's command to remember him in his death and to give him something in collective worship. We at Channing Hills Chapel observe the Lord's Supper each Sunday at nine-thirty. Then at eleven o'clock we have the Family Bible Hour. At this service we have classes for all ages and preaching for the adults in the main auditorium. And this morning at the eleven o'clock service I shall be speaking on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each Sunday evening at six p.m. the Chapel Teens meet, followed by the seven-thirty Sunday night service. And at the seven-thirty service tonight In addition to the message by our brother H.G. McKay, we will have an old-fashioned conversion testimony, and I'm sure you will want to be in on this service. On Wednesday night, we have our prayer and Bible study, and we look forward to seeing you today and this week at Shannon Hills Chapel. A warm welcome awaits you. He was wounded for our transgressions. He bore our sins in his body on the tree. For our guilty gave us peace From our bondage gave relief And with his stride And with his stride And with his Christ our souls are here. Who can number his generation? all the glories of the cross. Millions dead now live again. Millions followed in his trail. Victorious Lord! Victorious Lord! Victorious Lord! We're certainly glad to have you radio friends listening to the broadcast. We thank you for inviting us to come into your home or into your automobile or wherever you might be listening. And quite often we hear of new ones week after week who are tuning in. And we're certainly thankful for this. And trust you will continue to do so. Now before the message by H.D. McKay, let's listen to this favorite song. No longer burdened, no longer saddened, something has happened to me. Burdened on its death, sorrows are carried. I am as thrilled as can be I took all my troubles to travel free And I left there at the old country I wrote all my become. He will carry them home for thee. Now the Lord of my sorrow has died me, and my heart ached Skies are lost by snow, bird and bird, my friend. Skies are lost by snow, bird and bird feel like a king on a throne. All of our sadness, eager to our death, I took all my love and country, and I let them be all, God can see me. I wrote all my love. He took every and all of me And the Lord of my Father. Since I took all my troubles to Calvary, This is H.E. McKay, friends, and I'd like to speak to you on an unusual expression or a very blessed expression found in the first chapter of the Book of Acts, living by many infallible proofs. You know, I'm not at all surprised that the immature and inexperienced are confused these days. There's so many things of such a contradictory nature that I'm often confused in some areas myself. And I'm in my middle sixties and have seen quite a bit of life in my day. Take the matter of government and religion. We've lived to see the Bible and prayer banished from our public school systems. We ask for a reason for this. We're told there must be separation of church and state. Oh, I know that those who defend this course of action claim that only compulsory prayers have been prohibited. But that's a purely semantic cover-up. You know as well as I that in actuality prayer and Bible reading have been banished from our schools. So the church and the state must be kept separate. Okay, now explain to this confused individual why then the governor of our state designates a week in honor of an obscure Persian religion that only a comparative handful of North Carolinians ever heard of, and most are not sure how to pronounce it. The dictionary says Baha'i. Some of its adherents prefer to call it Baha'i. But whatever you call it, it's still a religion that degrades Jesus Christ to the status of a mere man, and places him on the same level as Muhammad, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, and other prophets, both false and genuine. That's enough to turn me off. But I still can't understand how the state government can designate a weak for this Persian religion, when you can't go into our schools and mention Christ. I wonder who calmed the governor into that one. Now, if anyone wants to believe Baha'ism, that's their privilege here in America. They have liberty to believe it, to defend it, and to propagate it. By the same token, I have the liberty to state why I don't believe it. I've already done so. The acid test of any religion, any system of teaching, is containing Christ's own words. What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? As I've said, the followers of the prophet Baha'u'llah deny the deity of Christ and claim that he was but one in a line of prophets sent from God. That's one of the main tenets of their faith. Where does that leave us? Simply here. No true Christian can accept or condone such a Christ-dishonoring doctrine. It only takes one word from Christ to prove that. Listen to his words as recorded in John chapter six. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto Father but by me. In Matthew's Gospel chapter sixteen we have our Lord declaring the very basis of true Christianity and the foundational truth of the Christian church. His initial question was a general one. Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Matthew sixteen, thirteen. The answer from the disciples was, Some say that there are John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah, so are one of the prophets. Now comes the personal question. But whom say ye that I am? It's not what the general public says about Christ that's important. It's what an individual believes in his own heart. Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Christ on many occasions, unequivocally, declared that he was the Son of God. That is why they condemned him to death, for blasphemy. But you object to anyone can say they're the Son of God, but that doesn't prove they are. You're correct. And Christ recognized the force of that argument. And so he said on one occasion, the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I'm in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works sake. And what was the one great work that proved Christ to be more than a man? More than Muhammad or Buddha or Krishna or Zoroaster or Baha'u'llah? It was the mighty work that we remember in a special way at Easter, the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is the keystone of Christianity. Norman H. Camp has well said, The resurrection of Christ is the gibraltar of the Christian faith and the waterloo of infidelity. But how can we be sure that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Muhammad did not, Buddha did not, Krishna did not, Zoroaster did not, Baha'u'llah did not. How can I be sure Jesus Christ did? That's an intriguing question, hence a vast one. But it's a question that has been adequately answered. Arnold Rugby said long ago, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best attested fact in human history. In just three verses in First Corinthians fifteen, Paul produces five hundred and twenty-five witnesses to the resurrection of Christ. The Acts of the Apostles, in which is recorded the first thirty years' history of the Christian church, opens with these thrilling words. to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs. Luke, who's been described by competent authorities as one of the great historians of all time, declares that there are many infallible proofs of the resurrection of Christ. What are these proofs? For the sake of brevity and clarity, let's divide them into three categories. The scriptural, the historical, and the experiential. First the scriptural proof. The Bible emphatically declares that Christ rose from the dead. The Old Testament foretold it, and the New Testament emphasizes it. Each of the four Gospels record the fact. The resurrection of Christ is a theme of apostolic preaching in the Acts. There are over fifty references to it in the Epistles. And the revelation opens with a majestic statement of Christ, I am he that liveth and became dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Yes, you must discard the Bible if you deny the resurrection of Christ. The Bible tells about the empty tomb, the discarded grave clothes, the food eaten by the risen Lord in the presence of his disciples, his voice recognized by them. The Neoprint's in his hands and feet, which identified him to them, and his life with them for forty days. These, and much more, can be numbered among the infallible proofs. And then there's the historical proof. For almost two thousand years a Christian church has believed and preached the resurrection of Christ. The doctrine has withstood successfully the bitterest attacks of its foe. and has been skillfully defended by men of vast learning in every age. The continued existence of the Church on Earth is the undeniable evidence that she is founded on the solid rock of a living Christ, and that her head is the risen Christ in glory. That's the outstanding feature of Christian News. Good morning. There's a risen man on the CBS Radio Network. And so you have the scriptural proof, the Bible declaring in no uncertain tones again and again that Christ is risen from the dead. Then you have the historical proof. And now that brings us to our third proof, the Bible declaring in no uncertain tones again and again that Christ is risen from the dead. Then you have the historical proof. And now that brings us to our third proof, the experiential proof. Today, great emphasis is being placed on experience in religious matters. Now, this is good, but needs to be safeguarded by the constant reminder that all experience must be tested by the divine yardstick of inspired truth. The lay claim to an experience in spiritual or religious matters is not enough. There must be proof presented as to the biblical authenticity of the experience. But when you begin with the scriptures as your basis, Then experience becomes the most valuable credential. So it is with a resurrection. We began with a scripture proof. Then we considered the continuing historical evidence of the reality of the resurrection. Now we come to the proof of a risen Christ in the experiences of his people. Through the Christian era, millions of believers who had the same experience as a young sailor, who, when he was asked how he knew that Christ was alive, replied, why I was talking to him this morning. When I am asked how I know Christ is alive, my reply is this. He saved me forty-seven years ago, and through all the changing experiences of almost half a century, I've enjoyed his companionship. A dead person couldn't do that. I've enjoyed mountaintop experiences of joy and delight beyond expression, and I've gone down at the valley of suffering and the shadow of death, and he was there. I like the story about the little boy that was flying his kite when a stranger stopped to talk with him. What are you doing, son? Sailing my kite, sir. The man looked up and he could see no kite. It was out of sight in the clouds. How do you know the kite's up there, son? Can you see it? No, sir, replied the boy. I can't see it, but I can feel the tug. That's it. We can't see Christ the risen Christ enthroned at God's right hand, but we can feel the tug. And that tug constantly reminds us, he's alive, and all is well, for soon we shall live with him. That's the glory of Easter, to be a born-again, believing Christian. I hope it's yours. I hope that Easter season is not just a time of finery or even enjoying the new beauties of nature. but rather it's a time when you rejoice again that you belong to a living Christ and you're looking forward to being with him and like him forever. We hope you can visit us today at the Shan Hills Chapel. You'll receive a warm welcome until the same time next week, Easter Sunday morning when we hope we'll be back with you. Brother Swartz joins with me in saying the Lord's richest blessing on each one of you. May the good Lord bless and keep you, whether near or far away, May you find that long-awaited golden day. May your troubles all be small ones, and your fortune ten times ten. May the good Lord bless and keep you till we meet again. May you walk with sunlight shining, and the blueberry match of every cloud you see. Fill your dreams with sweet tomorrow, never mind what might have been. May the good Lord bless and keep you till we meet again. For the past thirty minutes, you've been listening to Your Bible Says, live from the studios of WBIG, presented by the Shannon Hills Chapel, with H.G. McKay and J. Eddy Swartz.