The Evidence Doesn't Exist

What you believe to be true can be the very thing keeping you from seeing what's actually real.

On Easter Sunday, Pastor Jason explores one of the most overlooked moments in the resurrection story — and it doesn't start at the empty tomb. It starts in a garden, with a sword, a severed ear, and a disciple named Peter who had just made the worst mistake of his life.

Before Jesus went to the cross, He did something extraordinary: He healed the man Peter had just wounded — and in doing so, erased the evidence that would have destroyed Peter's future. No conviction. No case. No record.

That's the real power of the resurrection. It doesn't just offer forgiveness — it erases the evidence. The sin, the failure, the shame you've been carrying? The case against you has been dismissed. Because Jesus already paid the price.

At Generations Cowboy Church, we exist to be a church where generations can experience Jesus — and this Easter message is for anyone who's been carrying evidence that no longer exists.

Scripture: Matthew 26:50–56 · Luke 22:51 · 2 Corinthians 5:17

Visit us at Generations Cowboy Church for more info about our church or find ways you can support what God is doing at GCC!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm fired up. It's Easter Sunday. Are you ready? Here we go. Matthew 26. If you want to click there, you want to flip there? I'm going to get there in just a moment. This message, the title of this message is this right here: The Evidence Doesn't Exist. 1995. Anybody around in the 90s? Come on. Whoo, made me feel a little better about myself. All right. 1995. Did you ever hear the crew that was called the Lemon Juice Robbers? Have you ever heard it was a factual story? Go Google it. It's worth a read. I'm going to give you the brief version, the Wikipedia version. The lemon juice robbers. See, they had this idea that invisible ink was made from lemon juice. And it is. And so they thought, I can rob a bank, cover my face in lemon juice, and the camera will never be able to see. It'll make my face invisible to the cameras, and I can get away with this. And so they tested this theory out and they put lemon juice on their face. I'm guessing they must have got some in their eye when they were trying this. And this was back in the day of the old Polaroid cameras. Any of you guys remember those? You kind of wait for that thing to develop a little bit. Well, they must have tried a selfie with the Polaroid while they had lemon juice in their eyes, and either the film turned out bad or they totally missed their face, but their face didn't show up in the Polaroid. And so they believed the evidence that they saw that it worked. My face is invisible. I won't show up on the cameras. Crazy. And so they go on January 6, 1995, and rob a bank. Five days later, they get arrested. Because they looked at the film inside of the bank and they saw their faces. And literally, as one robber was getting hauled away in cuffs, his words that he was saying over and over again, but I wore the lemon juice, but I wore the lemon juice. Like he was still convinced in his mind the evidence that he saw was real, even though it wasn't. And if you understand psychology, this actually became the case where some psychologists they came up with this term, their last names, the Dunning-Kruger effect. The simplified real version. Sorry if you don't like these words, but what it simply means is that our own stupidity blinds us to where we're stupid. That's the sixth grade version of what the Dunning effect means. Like essentially, where you think you're right makes it almost impossible for you to see where you're wrong. Because it blinds you. Because you've got evidence that you think is real when it's not. And I think anybody that's been in a relationship or been married at some point or had kids, you know what I'm talking about. There has been an argument that you have gotten in with your spouse, or maybe your kids, and you were convinced you were right. You were ready for the fight, right? Until the evidence came out and you realized I was wrong. But you were so adamant when you thought you were right, and you were blinded to where you were wrong. The evidence often blinds us to what's really happening in our life if the evidence isn't real. And I believe Satan knows how to leverage this against us so well in our life. Because you see, for some of us, we really believe that God is mad at us and he can't wait to get us and punish us. And if that's the version of God that you believe is true, here's what happens to us: is everything we look at, we see through that lens, and it shapes that outcome for us. And everything we read in scripture, man, we can pick out the parts where God must have punished somebody and so see what God did. He destroyed them. And if he did it to them, he must do it to me. I hear so many people tell me, I can't read the Old Testament because God seems so angry. And I'm like, that's because that's the lens you're looking for. If you look for God's grace in the Old Testament, man, it's all over the place there. But the evidence you think is real is jading everything that's really there for you. In a moment where you believe I've sinned too much, God could never forgive me, God could never use somebody like me. If that's the evidence we believe is real, it shapes everything else we look at in our life. And I don't know if you realize this, but everybody in scripture from Genesis to Revelation, there's not one perfect person other than Jesus that God ever used to accomplish his will. In fact, I know this is gonna mess some of you up, he picked some pretty shady characters to use. The fact that we're sitting as a church today is due to a man who started off murdering Christians first. And God saved him, turned this murderer's life around, Saul, he became named Paul, and we're here today because God saved a murderer and used him to build his church. Man, if we believe the evidence and it's not really real, it blinds us to what God is trying to do in our life. And so the beauty of the cross, the beauty of his resurrection is this that the resurrection erases all the evidence that exists against us. That when we surrender our life to Jesus, for some of us, we still believe this life from the enemy's voice, that there's a stack of evidence as to why God couldn't love me or you, somebody like me. We believe that there's a stack of evidence that disqualifies me from being somebody that God could use like you. But the evidence doesn't exist. That Jesus offers a paid in full receipt for every sin you and I have ever committed. He didn't pardon you, he paid the price, and then he write paid in full, and he gave you the receipt and said it's paid for. That you're not defined by your past, you're defined by Christ and his perfection. But if we believe the wrong evidence, we miss the real outcome. And so I'm gonna take a journey. It's gonna feel like a bit of an odd journey for Easter, I promise. Somebody said you should subtitle your message Earster. Just follow along for a minute, you'll get it in just a second. I did it. Felt like a dad joke. Like I need to fill up here on the drum still, but we're gonna pick up the story where Judas is coming in the garden to arrest Jesus. And he's got an angry mob, he's got religious leaders, he's got Roman leaders, and they're coming to arrest Jesus. And we pick up the story right here in Matthew 26, verse 50. Jesus said, My friend, like this is a different sermon for a different day, but Judas is literally in the act of betraying Jesus, and he still calls him friend. So just in case you think, man, I've been hurt and I don't know how I could love somebody, here's Jesus calling the guy who's literally about to betray him, my friend. But that's a different sermon for a different day. Go ahead and do what you've come for. And then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest slave, slashing off his ear. How many of you guys are gonna be the ones like that? Like, I got my sword, Jesus. Let's go. Like, I got your back. There's no way I'm gonna let him take you, right? Like that would be, I would like to think that would be me. Like, I got you. No way, Jesus, ain't gonna happen this way. Put away your sword, Jesus told him. What? Those who use the sword will die by the sword. I've tried to defend Jesus and I just get corrected by Jesus. Isn't that wild? You wonder why these guys had this moment? I mean, this moment had to feel terribly confusing for people as it's happening. Don't you realize I could ask my father for a thousand angels to protect us and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now? And then Jesus said to the crowd, Am I some dangerous revolutionary that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn't you arrest me in the temple? I was there teaching every day. But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the scriptures. And at that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled. They were ready to defend Jesus. And by the end of these few sentences, they're ready to desert Jesus. Man, what a whiplash moment, if we could just be honest. I thought you were gonna be the king. You told me he may have a sword, so we strapped up before we came. Angry mob showed up. I thought you gave me this sword to defend you. And you told me not to do that. And so now I deserted you because this isn't going the way I thought it was gonna go. A moment that if we could be honest, like we can fit into because doesn't it seem confusing sometimes to figure out what God's up to in our life? Like I'll be honest, like, even as a pastor, there are moments where I still feel confused, like what God's up to. Like I know you say you have a plan. It seems rather confusing on my end, God. I I don't see what you see. This story kind of gets me in a few ways because the reality is, man, it's so easy to find friends who will fight for you. It's so hard to find friends who will suffer with you. And and man, to me, like we we skip ahead in Peter's story, but I think we've got to get this moment. Peter's story starting right now. Jesus has rung the school bell for Peter, and he's teaching him a lesson. And this lesson is starting with reminding Peter, I know that you want to fight for me, but I need to know if you'll suffer for me. And if you know the trajectory of Peter's life, he ends up getting crucified upside down because of his faith in Jesus. It's so easy to say, I'll fight for you. It's so hard to say, Jesus, I'll suffer for you. And this moment is like this moment that even though it's so confusing, here's Peter in this moment that, man, he's the one who chopped the guy's ear off. If you know the story at all, you can read in another version. Peter is the dude who pulled his sword out and chopped the man's ear off. He, the hot-tempered guy who's quick to action. Describe anybody else in here. You ever have one of those moments where it's like, and then it's like, oh, wait a minute, I just made a big mess. That's Peter. So the good news is if he can use somebody like Peter, he can use somebody like you. But then there's this weird verse in here. If you skip to Luke and read the same story, he didn't just chop the guy's ears off. Luke 22, 51 says this. It says, But Jesus said, No more of this, and he touched the man's ear and he healed him. Like, like, wrap your head around this for a moment. Like, I want to know, Peter was either really good with the sword and got the man's ear, or he was really bad with the sword and he was going for the head, and all he got was the ear. Like, I don't know which. I kind of want to know. And there's some of these moments when we get to heaven. I don't know if you think this way, but like I've already asked God to reserve one of his movie theaters when we get to heaven because I want some playback film of some of these stories. Like Adam and Eve, I want to see this story. Like a talking serpent. Like, I can imagine some things. I'll put it on the screen and let me watch it when we get there one day. David and Goliath, put that one on the screen, baby. I'll pay for that one. Shadrach, Rak Shack, and Benny in the fire, fiery furnace. Let's go. I'll watch that one. But another one of those for me is this story. Jesus healed, touched the man's ear and healed him. Like I wonder this moment what it was like. Like, was the ear laying on the ground? Like, did Jesus kind of have to dig around the grass just a little bit? Pull it up, and like there's some dirt on it. Kind of, you know. I mean, what did he do? And then put it on the man's ear and healed? Says he touched his ear. Like, like, was it laying on the ground and Jesus touched his ear and he just grew a new ear, and the old one was laying on the ground and the new one just popped up? I mean, talk about freaky. There's my ear. Here's my ear. Like, like, this is weird. And I gotta arrest this guy. Like, you would think in this moment, be like, hold on, we gotta have the wrong dude. And I'm sure some of you are thinking this is the weirdest Easter sermon I've ever heard in my life. Just keep following me for a second, I promise. Because this is where the evidence matters. And I've read this story so many times and just gleaned over it because, to be honest, it seemed weirdly placed in the story. But I think there's a couple of contextual clues that I've missed along the way to get the heart of what Jesus was doing here. And one of those things was in verse 52, Jesus said, Those who use the sword will die by the sword. I don't think that was just a weird reference. I think Jesus knew Peter just messed up. Because, see, Peter cut the ear off a high servant's slave, and those Jews were in bed with the Roman government, and the Roman government was probably there as well with them, and he just cut that guy's ear off. So there's a pretty good shot that Peter's about to follow the same road as Jesus because of what he just did. He assaulted, attempted murder, a high official slave. And we know the back side of the story that God had a plan for Peter and he was going to deny him three times, but him and Jesus were gonna come together, and Jesus was gonna say, if you love me, feed my sheep. And then Peter gets to go preach the first message after Pentecost when he's got the power of God in his life, and 3,000 people get saved. That's the side of the story we know. And if you ever question whether God likes big church, he saved 3,000 people, the first sermon that got preached and built the very first mega church himself. So you're welcome if you want to knock on them, but God built it right away. But that's for again a different sermon for another time. And in this moment, Peter messed up Jesus' plan for him. Because that was the plan that Jesus had in store. Peter took things into his own hands and decided he was gonna do it his way instead of Jesus' way, and he messed up God's plans for his life. You ever feel like you've ever messed up the plans that God has for your life? I have. And I remember the shame. I remember the guilt. The embarrassment. The weight. But then Jesus does something interesting. He heals the man. And the evidence that once existed to convict Peter doesn't exist anymore. Think about that for a moment. The evidence to convict Peter is gone because Jesus made it go away. I mean, imagine if you're that guy. We're taking you to court, Peter. And you stand before a judge, this man caught off my ear. You got both of them. There's no evidence of what you claim. Because Jesus made the evidence go away so that it didn't exist anymore. So that Peter, even though he may have thought he messed up God's plan for his life, even as he's down the road, looks back on this moment and realizes that even my zeal to do things my way instead of God's way, and I thought I messed up so much he could never use me. I remember that time. Do you see where I'm going with this? The living gospel, Jesus in the flesh, before he goes and hangs on that cross, before he comes up out of that tomb to put the exclamation on what he's about to do, gives us a living example in this moment of what he's about to do. Satan. And he he stands trying to build this laundry list of evidence for him to convict you before the Father. This laundry list that honestly, if we're honest, we carry around that list too. And we forget the reality that when we surrender our life to Jesus, Satan's gonna stand there to open up the briefcase, and there's not going to be anything in it. The evidence doesn't exist anymore. Just like that man's ear was healed, whatever sin you and I think we've committed in our life, when we surrender to Jesus, the evidence is gone and it doesn't exist anymore. That in this moment there's a reality that Jesus begins to show us. If you question that today, then let me remind you. Miss Vanna White's coming to help me. Paying no attention to the lady on the left. See, I think we believe this lie, and Satan's really good at getting us to buy it. This is the Dunning-Kruger effect. This is the story. Like, like we buy into evidence that's not real and it shapes the outcome of our life because we keep believing this lie that the enemy speaks into our minds and speaks into our souls, and we keep claiming it as real when Jesus is trying to remind us that when you have surrendered your life to me, I don't care who you used to be, I don't care what you used to do, your life and my life is not defined by our past. Better yet, your life and my life is not defined by every sin or every failure that we have ever made. Our life is defined by the death and resurrection of Jesus, by his blood that was applied to our life to wash away all sins. And when we surrender our life to him, we are new creations in Christ. The evidence doesn't exist like you think it does. And for Peter, he's gonna have a moment with Jesus. And it's like we read the moment where Jesus comes back and they're having breakfast on the beach together, and Jesus calls Peter over and he says, If you love me, feed my sheep. And we think, man, that's the moment that changed things, but that was the moment that was first set in by this moment from Jesus. That Jesus first made the evidence disappear that could have convicted me. And he healed that man in an instance. And I denied him, I saw him crucified, and yet now he stands right here before me. And he doesn't just stand before me, he invites me to participate in his kingdom with him and reaching other people. Man, the reality for Peter became tangibly real in that moment. And man, my prayer as your pastor, my prayer as this opportunity in this moment would be that somewhere along the way, you would not just experience a saving moment with Jesus, but you would experience the life and the freedom that Jesus wants for you. Because we we believe these lies exist somewhere in our life. That somewhere if we're honest, you and I, man, we know. Everybody else might not know, but we know the struggle with lust that we have in our heart. I mean, I can just tell you stats, whether you like stats or not. A vast majority of the people sitting in this room in some way struggle with that. That's what statistics would tell us in today's world. And we could feel unqualified, disqualified, the evidence. Exists why he can never use me. Greed, man. Matthew 6:33. Like I'm more interested in stuff for me than I am thinking about how I can leverage what God has given me for his kingdom. Addiction, man, some of us are stuck in this pattern where we are trying so hard to break free. And yet that pattern of addiction is just like this broken wheel that keeps repeating over and over again, robbing us of opportunities and creating this guilt in our life because we want to get free and I do good for a little while, but then I fall again and I start to circle over again. And Jesus, He can never set me free in you, somebody like me, man. Manipulator, some of us, man, we're really good at trying to create our own outcomes like Peter. I know what you said, Jesus, but I think you need a little help here. So I'm going to manipulate the situation the way I think it should be instead of the way you want it, God. You're like, surely people don't really do that. They do. Like it just looks different than what we think. For some of us, I've learned this might be a really hard truth, but I promise uncomfortably real conversations. If if you're the eternal victim, you're great at being a manipulator. You have a knack for manipulating the circumstances back to it's never my fault and it's always somebody else's fault. And you have a knack for creating guilt in such a way that you can blame everybody else except yourself. And Jesus died and rose again to set us free from that. Depression, man, you're you're convinced that that, man, there's just something broken inside of me, and I can't seem to find a way out of this. And so I'm broken, and I just must be somebody God can't use. That we self-worth for most of us, when we say God died for you, it's easy to believe it was for everybody else. It's so hard to believe that maybe he died for me. Hypocrite. Ooh. And some of us like we come in, we got the church mask that we can slide on, ching, put that fake smile on. How are you doing today? Blessed and highly favored of the Lord. And I walk right out that door, and that mask comes off in the car, or maybe it comes off by the time I get home, and I know I'm not the person I put on here and pretend to be at church, but I don't know how to get free from this. And so I just put the mask on again and keep playing the game. Controlling, man, you got to manipulate every circumstance in your favor. I got to be in control. And the beauty is when we surrender our life to Christ, we think that this evidence is here to convict us. And when we surrender our life to Christ, the thing about this evidence is that it doesn't exist anymore. The thing about this evidence is we're trying to remember something, and little by little, Jesus is reminding us that these things that you think you struggle with, that you think are holding you back, that you think are keeping you from becoming who Jesus wanted you to be, don't exist anymore. I didn't burn the carpet down. We're gonna be okay. What evidence? It's gone. I I forgave you. I washed you in my blood. Yeah, but but what? Man, if we could get the reality of this and quit playing games with him. 2 Corinthians 5 17. I love what it says. This means that anybody who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun. The reality of this moment is very simple. The resurrection of Jesus erases the evidence against you that when you surrender your life to Jesus, you are a new creation in Christ. The old life is gone. For some of us, we need to experience that new life for the first time. For some of us, we need to forget that old life that He's forgiven us of and walk in the freedom that He's called us to. With every head bowed, every eye closed, nobody looking around. Here's the reality. I don't ever want to miss an opportunity for somebody to surrender their life to Jesus. Maybe you're here today and you have never really surrendered your life to Jesus. You put a mask on, you play the church game. Cool. Those things aren't getting you into heaven. There is one thing: those who call on the name of the Lord and surrender their life to Him. That's it. That's the grace. That's the good news. If you need a more fitting story, then look at the thief on the cross. He never got to write or wrong, he never got to do anything. But he said, Remember me this day. And Jesus said, Today you'll be with me in paradise. One simple moment of faith in Jesus, of surrendering to him, changes a lifetime for us. So if you're here today and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus before, but today is the day you're ready. I'm going to take that step. I'm going to surrender to him. I'm going to trust my life in his hands. If that's you, would you just slip your hand up and then put it back down so I can pray with you today? I see your hand. I see your hand. Anybody? I see your hand. Hey, can we do this? Can we all pray together? Pray this prayer out loud that we can just join in this moment as a step of faith. Say, dear Jesus, I need you to forgive me of my sin and make me brand new. Today, I surrender my life to you. Forgive me and help me to love you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. It's that simple. That's the beauty of grace. Yeah, but what when what do I do when I mess up? You there's no if, it's when. And here's what you do when you mess up: you get up and run to Jesus again. Dust off, forgive me, Father. I'm getting back up, I'm coming to you. Yeah, but what if I fall again? Then you get up, you dust yourself, forgive me, Father, and you keep going after Jesus. If we can stand all across this place, I'm gonna invite some of my friends to come down. We're gonna have a moment of worship and we're gonna have a moment of prayer together. But here's what I want to do because to me, today is just bigger than a moment of people experiencing new life in Jesus. That I think for some of us we've surrendered our life to Jesus, but but there's still something on the wall of our life that's got us bound up that we're staying chained to after he's already set us free from. Because we're believing a lie that's not real. Jesus didn't just die to save you, he died to set you free. That freedom is not something that you will walk in one day in eternity, but it's something we can start walking in right now, on this side of eternity. There's a story, if you know this, of how they would train and break elephants to stay in one place. I mean, when they're grown and old, they're massive, they're strong. And so what they would do is they would trap them and catch them while they were young, and they would take a shackle around one of their legs and a heavy chain and drive it into a tent peg in the ground. And they would make them stay there until they learned in life, this is as far as I can move. And over time, that elephant grew to where it was big enough to rip the temp peg up and could have gone free. In fact, big enough where they will remove the temp peg, just put the shackle and the chain on and have it on nothing. And that elephant would still stay in the same circle. Why is that? Because even though they were free, the evidence said you're free. They were believing a lie in their mind that I can't go past this space. And I think for some of us, if we would be brutally honest, I have embraced the life of surrendering my life to Jesus, but there's still some things I'm struggling with that I'm chained to because I've been believing a lie. And I believe Jesus wants to set some people free. So here's what we're gonna do. Cody's gonna lead us in a song of worship. And if there's anything at all that you would like somebody to pray with you about, no judgment here, just love, just grace, just somebody who wants to walk with you so that you can find the freedom that Jesus died and rose again to give you. If you need prayer for anything, come down. Let one of my friends pray with you as we sing this song. And let's just give the Lord a few moments in this space to work. Can we do that?