And now look at the _character_ of these witnesses. They were _sensible_ men. They knew what they were doing. They could not be mistaken about the fact of Christ’s resurrection. They had seen him put to death upon the cross. They had seen him buried. On the third day after his burial they had found his tomb empty. His body was gone. Then they saw him alive. They could not be mistaken about his person. They knew him too well for this. They had seen the print of the nails in his hands. This made the proof of his resurrection perfect. And then they were _honest_ men. They had no motive for preaching the resurrection of Christ but the sincere belief that it was true. If they could have made money or gained honor by preaching the resurrection, that would have been a reason for their doing so even if it had not been true. But the very opposite of this was the case. Preaching the resurrection brought on them the loss of all they had in the world. It caused them to be persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death. And yet they went on preaching that Christ had risen. And they would have been guilty of the greatest folly if they had done this without being thoroughly convinced that it was true. But they were perfectly satisfied of the truth of what they preached, and _this_ was the reason why they went on preaching it. And then, if Christ had not risen from the dead, it would have been the easiest thing in the world for the enemies of his cause to have denied it. That would have ended the matter. _But they never did this._ And the only reason why they did not do so, was that they knew it was true that Christ had risen. They could not deny the fact. And when we put these things all together, we see how perfectly convincing is the proof of the resurrection of Christ. And now let us look at some of the lessons taught us by our Lord’s resurrection. _The first lesson we may learn from this great fact is about—THE POWER OF CHRIST._