Show Notes
Easter Sunday
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen. Why don't we stand this morning as we go to the Lord in prayer?
[00:00:05] And, you know, I know not everybody came forward, but I do believe in our lives there are challenges. As a matter of fact, I think if you serve God wholeheartedly, you're gonna run into opposition. That just makes sense, right? Because we are. We're in a spiritual battle, folks, and sometimes we kind of forget that and we start thinking people are the problem or circumstances are the problem. But we know that we're in a huge battle. And I just really do believe that we need to lay these things at the feet of the cross, lay them before Christ and say, lord, you know, God, you can move stones. You know, just think about what I shared this morning. There's always things before us, and I know we carry burdens. And what happens many times in church is we start focusing on the problems. And so I'm going to have you do something very special today. I want you to just not think about your problem this morning and just listen to God's word. I want you to just cast it in God's hands and say, lord, this is beyond me. And just let God start working in that situation. Amen. So, Father, we do come before you today and we thank you that you are a burden bearer, that you bring comfort to us, especially if we're going through a season of difficulty and challenge in our life. Lord, there are many perplexing problems that we face, many things that we can't seem to wrap our mind around or get an answer to. And especially when it deals with other people because we can't change others. We recognize that. And we recognize there needs to be a work of your spirit in our lives to bring about transformation. And we pray today that you would open our hearts, that you would prepare the soil of our heart. Because as we hear your word, if we hear it with an open heart, it's amazing what happens. Your seed goes into our soul just like a seed goes into the ground and it now becomes a living plant. Something dynamic, life giving is produced in our lives. And I pray that today that what you're going to share with us through your word is going to be life giving and transformational in nature. And we thank you for that. I pray all of our burdens right now, we just want to cast them on you because we know the scripture talks about your care for us. Lord, you're the good shepherd. You're taking care of your sheep. Lord, we're your sheep of your pasture. We recognize that you're going to Lead us in the right paths because of your namesake, Lord, you're going to lead us beside those quiet, still waters. You're going to anoint our head with oil. You're going to bring renewal in our lives. And we thank you for that, Father, in Jesus name and God's people said, amen. Amen. I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles this morning. And if you don't have one, good news is we have one for you in the pew. Just grab it. You can use it this morning. It's found in First Corinthians, chapter 15. We're going to look at that amazing chapter. I'm only going to look at the first 11 verses. There's 58 of them, but I'm not going to deal with them all. Okay, but it really deals with this whole issue. Can there be life after death? You know, I'm going to speak on the certainty of experiencing the fullness of both life, both in life as well as in eternity. God promises these things to our lives. And so a number of years ago, and I mean, this is quite a few years ago, I remember reading Charles Colson. Some of you may be acquainted with him, some of you maybe before your time, but he wrote a book called Loving God. And in that book he tells about this incredible conspiracy that happened in the US presidential office in the 1970s, and it's been coined Watergate. And some of you probably know about this. He said, In June 1972, I was at home on a weekend with my wife and family. President Nixon was the president at that time. He was in Key Biscayne, Florida, he said, my phone that was connected to the White House rang and John Ehrlichman told me someone had broken into the Democratic national headquarters in Washington, D.C. he said, I started to laugh. I thought to myself, of all the ridiculous places for anyone to break into in Washington, D.C. right. I went away from that phone call shaking my head, and then I felt a little despair. And I thought, well, now this is going to become an election issue, but it'll go away after the election, he thought, but it didn't. Records began to show that in the months immediately following the 1972 election. He said, I was the one aide that was with President Nixon more than any other aide, and Watergate never came up. We first started to discuss it in February of 1973, when Irvin hearings started. On March 21, John Dean walked into the Oval Office and said, Mr. President, there's a cancer growing on your presidency. And that's the first time the President became aware that there was a conspiracy in the White House, that's the first time it now had become a criminal act inside the White House. John Dean's memoirs records that three days after that meeting in the White House, he became nervous about his own role. He went over to the prosecution, he hired an attorney. He bargained for immunity so he would not be prosecuted. He would then later testify against the President. And he said in his memoirs, I did it to save my own skin. When the other aides started hearing about this, they too turned over to the prosecution what they knew. And the Watergate cover up was actually over because the Nixon presidency was now doomed. Now if you stop to figure it out, he says, you'll see that the White House cover up lasted all of three weeks or less. This is amazing. Between March 21 to April 8, 1973. Now, he says, now put yourself in our position here we are the 12 most powerful men in the United States. All the government, power of government is at our fingertips and we could not keep this lie together for three weeks. That's interesting. The most powerful men in the world could not move, could not hold on to a lie. So weak is man that we could not work this conspiracy. Are you going to tell me, he says in his book that powerless followers of Jesus who were outcasts in their own land would be persecuted and beaten and eventually martyred over the space of nearly 40 years, never once denying that Jesus was raised from the dead. How many think that's absolutely amazing? He goes on to say, impossible. This is humanly impossible. Unless they had seen the risen Christ face to face. He says, otherwise Peter would have been just another John Dean. I mean, he had already turned in state's. He would have gone and turned in state's evidence. He had already denied Jesus three times. It is likely then that a deliberate cover up, a plot to perpetuate a lie about the resurrection, could have survived the persecution of the apostles and the purge of the first century believers who were thrown to lions by the thousands for renouncing Christ. Question. Of course not. It's not probable that at least one apostle would have confessed rather than being beheaded, crucified and stoned. It's not likely that some smoking gun document might have been produced exposing the Passover plot. Surely one of the conspirators would have made a deal if Jesus was raised from the dead. He goes on to say, as I am absolutely intellectually positive that he was, and the evidence of history is overwhelming, it's only a matter of Faith. It's not just only a matter of faith, but a matter of the deepest intellectual conviction. It's pretty powerful. So what is he basically saying? He's saying, look, guys, he said, nobody could have sustained this during the first century. Wouldn't have happened. And look at all the things that happened. But we're going to look deeper into this question. Colson later went to prison for his involvement in Watergate. But during that season of his own personal life, he came to faith in Christ and not only became a follower of Jesus, but he also started a ministry to prisoners that impacted the lives of thousands. One of the reasons I actually lead trips to the Holy Land, I'll give you the number one reason I do it. I want to bring people to understand that our faith in Christ is tied to the reality of both history and geography. Biography. Okay, that's powerful. Which we read about in Scripture. Benjamin Warfield, a noted theologian of the 19th century, wrote the Incarnation of the eternal God. That's God coming in the flesh, which is actually the message of Christmas. He said it's dogma, and he's a theologian, so he's going to explain to us what dogma means. Dogma means that nobody's witnessed it and it's supernatural. You think about it, you know, follow the story. But he said the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the message we're talking about today, which is the message of Easter, is a fact, because human beings witnessed it, is that powerful. You know, it is upon this cardinal teaching that the other teachings in the Bible all hold together. If you can destroy the resurrection, you have nothing left to believe in. And Paul talks about that in 1st Corinthians 15. He says, if Christ be not risen, your faith indeed is futile. But then he goes on to say, but he did rise. And then he's going to explain in First Corinthians 15 some very compelling evidences of this thing. Dr. Simon Greenleaf. Sorry, he was an eminent professor of law at Harvard, one of the key people in bringing to its eminent standing as a law school, produced a very famous law treatise called A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, which is considered still today one of the greatest authorities on the subject of literature, of legal procedure. What it means is this guy has written a massive volume on how to go about securing and developing evidence in order to produce it in a court of law so you can help people understand what's really going on. Greenleaf examined the value of the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and his findings were published in a book in which he came to this conclusion. There is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history.
[00:10:52] That's pretty powerful. You know, most people have gone after this. You know how many people have tried to discredit the resurrection? Quite a few, actually. A journalist from the Chicago Tribune by the name of Lee Strobel tried to do it. You know what happened? He was an agnostic. His wife became a Christian. He wanted to disprove everything she believed in. He went in at it just as a journalist would to try to disprove the thing. And he became a follower of Jesus because he could not dispute the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's very hard, fast stuff. And we're going to look at these evidences this morning. You have Colson, Warfield, and Greenleaf, brilliant men, all coming to the same conclusion regarding the most important reality concerning Jesus Christ. As the early witnesses reported, Jesus rose from the dead. And it literally changed human history. Our whole Western society has been affected by this one major event. It's very powerful.
[00:11:53] So the Apostle Paul rightly understood and declared this in First Corinthians 15, that this great chapter on the resurrection, and as I've said it, if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless. So is your faith. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep or have died as believers.
[00:12:19] Okay, so I'm saying all of this to conclude by saying Easter is the most important day in the Christian calendar. There's no day more important than this day. We're celebrating this event because until this happened, that Christ rose from the dead, everything that the prophets talked about hadn't happened yet. But the moment this occurred, it fulfilled all of these prophecies, and it now brought an answer to the greatest problems of humanity, which is sin and the power of darkness and death itself. We have an answer for these things. We have an answer for the evil in our world today because of what Jesus did. This one evidence. Jesus said, I am the Messiah, and I'm going to give you one sign. It's the sign of Jonah. Remember how Jonah actually came back from the belly of the fish after a few days? Right. He said, that's the sign you're going to have. He says, I am who I am based on what I'm about to do. I'm going to come back to life. How many know it's pretty hard to make a Decision. Yeah, I'm going to die. I'm going to come back to life.
[00:13:26] Good luck with that. Don't try that trick. May not work. You know, it's like those TV commercials that says, this could be hazardous to your health. Don't do this. You know what I mean? I'm just telling you, this is so powerful. And you know what? I was reflecting and meditating. I was up really early. I was praying, I was reading and thinking and meditating on this thought about Jesus being raised from the dead. And one of the great theologians that I was reading, he said, really simply said, think about this. He said Jesus was raised, not. He didn't raise himself. He was raised by the spirit of God.
[00:13:58] And he said that same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead going to resurrect you as well. So even though when you and I die physically, here's the good news. Even though you and I can't do anything for ourselves, God's spirit is going to raise you up again just like you did Jesus. Is that a beautiful hope? That's the hope we have as believers. And it's so exciting. So I want to look today at just. I'm going to limit myself to two evidences regarding the resurrection of Jesus. And the first element is simply this, its essential nature. As a matter of fact, I would say without the message of the resurrection of Jesus, the life of Christ would be like every other significant religious figure in human history. But it's the resurrection that makes Christianity unique. Isn't that beautiful? There's no other religious leader that ever made a declaration that when they would die, they'd come back to life again. Only Jesus said that, and only Jesus did it, because Jesus is unique, as we're about to see. So this is actually the very foundation upon which Christianity is built upon, is the trustworthiness of this evidence that Jesus actually died and came back to life again. So as we've already said here, without that resurrection, our faith in Christ would have no real significance or meaning. It would be an empty belief system. The gospel or good news is based upon this important reality. I've discovered one thing as a pastor over the years. You know, people go to church, they hear all kinds of sermons, and I've actually said this to people. But do you understand the gospel? And I've been really not surprised that some have said I don't quite get it. So this morning, I'm hoping to give you, as simply as I can, an understanding of what Christianity is all about. And when you understand the gospel, it can literally transform your entire existence and give you a hope that will help you for the rest of your life. Let's take a look at this gospel here. Paul summarizes it. First Corinthians 15, verse 1 and 2. He says, now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the Gospel. That's an old word meaning good news that I preach to you which you received and on which you have taken your stand. This is. This is the foundation now on which you are building your life. By this good news or gospel, you are saved. Saved from what? Saved from sin, Saved from death.
[00:16:30] Powerful if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain.
[00:16:38] Okay, Paul now goes on to give us this essential message. Here it is. For what I received, this is given to Paul I pass on to you as a first importance. So this is first importance means this is the most important thing. If you don't get this, you're in trouble. This is the most important thing. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. That's the gospel right there. That's the gospel. The good news, Jesus died, he was buried, and he came back to life on the third day, all to fulfill Scripture. Well, what scripture? The New Testament certainly wasn't there. It was the Old Testament. They were fulfilling all of the prophecies and promises God made throughout the Old Testament. Jesus, life and death and resurrection is fulfilling what God was promising all through those centuries.
[00:17:42] Okay, now there's three basic truths that we're going to share with you right now. These are the simplest things I can say, Christ died for our sins according to the scripture.
[00:17:55] Notice how Paul personalizes this gospel.
[00:18:01] He died for whose sin?
[00:18:05] Our sin.
[00:18:07] No, it's got to even be more personal. That's plural.
[00:18:11] He died for my sin. And here's what I'm going to say to all of us. You know, we can talk about sin in a very general sort of way. As a matter of fact, I find it fascinating that we might believe Jesus died for the sins of the world. And it may not even benefit us.
[00:18:29] We could say that he's died for these people over there. But until it becomes personal and I apply it to my life, it's not going to do me any good.
[00:18:42] This is the big problem, I think, in so many people's lives, we have more information and not enough application.
[00:18:53] If you're a teacher, some of you are teachers. I'm looking at a teacher over there. I'm going, hey, listen, information is great, but application is better.
[00:19:01] Because if you don't apply things, it's not going to do you any good. You know, it was really funny. I had a little discussion with my grandkids. My grandson, he loves math. My granddaughter, not so much. She's the literary freak. So I tried to point out to them they're different and they're both talented, and they both have totally different talents. And she goes, I don't see a need for mathematics. And I said, well, you're gonna have to use it every day of your life.
[00:19:26] Well, I don't. Who ever created this stuff? I don't. I said, be careful. God created math.
[00:19:33] Go back to Genesis. He created the first day and the second day, he did this the third day. That's all math. He's telling you there's a sequential chronological thing. It's all part of life. It's important. So, of course, Ezra felt pretty good after I told him, because he was giving him a bad time. I kind of stuck up for him. But then I pointed out to her, but you love literature, you love writing, you love learning. I said, you know, the Bible's full of literature. God loves communicating, and he loves to do it in story form. You know, God could have given us theological bullet points. You know, this is what you got to believe. But he didn't do it that way. He lived it out. He incarnated. He made it flesh. He made it story. He made it narrative. How many love story? I love story. I love poetry. I love narrative. And he's bringing these powerful truths through story.
[00:20:22] But, you know, story connects with us, doesn't it? Because we all identify with a story. We all identify with the main characters in a story, or we don't, but we can identify with somebody in the story. Isn't that true? And God wants it to be personal.
[00:20:39] And this good news has to be personal. When you and I have to come to a recognition that, you know what? He died for my sin, think of Paul. Paul writes this. Here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.
[00:20:59] And he was a bad dude because he was killing people and arresting people who were doing good. How many go, that's not a nice person?
[00:21:06] And he had a certain ideology, and he was driven by that wrong ideology. And I'm telling you, what you believe is going to drive your lives.
[00:21:14] And if you believe the wrong things, it's going to affect you in the wrong way. You Got to have the right understanding.
[00:21:21] And Paul said, you know, I came to this conclusion I was a sinner. And then it says, but for this very reason, I was shown mercy. How many are so happy today that you finally admitted to yourself, it's not my brother, it's not my sister, but it's me, oh Lord, standing and in need of prayer. I had to come and, and take full responsibility for my life and stop blaming the past, blaming other people. And that's all that our society does today. And take personal responsibility and say, you know what, I'm part of the problem.
[00:21:50] I think it was G.H. chesterton, who was a journalist about 100 years ago, and somebody said, what's gone wrong with this world? And he wrote back in the editorial, two words, I am, I'm what's wrong with this world. In other words, we have to see it. You know, it's easy to say, this person's doing this, this person's doing that, this group says this, this person believes that. But until you and I come to that place where we say, I'm the problem, I've got issues in my own soul. I'm a sinner and I need to receive God's grace, his gift of forgiveness. I need this new life that he's offering me when I get to that place. That's the good news. God loves. S thank God is right. And Paul says, christ Jesus, you saved me to show that even the worst of sinners can be saved. You know, sometimes we get really, you know, self righteous. We go, I'm not a bad person. I don't need salvation. I think sometimes the people that have too much going for them are, that are disadvantaged because they think of themselves as too good. And they don't see the fact that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Because, you know, what's the nature of sin? You know, because I think we think of sin as. I think we have a very limited view of sin.
[00:23:05] You know, Paul says this in Romans, he says, for all of sin, it's a universal problem and none of us escapes it. And what it means to sin is to fall short of God's glory. And the Hebrew word harmartia, it's actually a picture of an archer shooting at a bullseye, and the. And the arrow keeps falling short of the bullseye. And you say, well, what does it mean to sin? You know, I think we think of sin as murder, you know, or bad things like that. And I go, yeah, those are bad things. But sin is Simply not bringing glory to God in our lives.
[00:23:39] And if we are really putting ourselves above God, we're sinning, we're violating the greatest commandment. You know, we shall have no other God before God. And so many North Americans are idol worshipers because they worship themselves and they put themselves above God.
[00:23:55] You know, it just goes on and on. You know, the fact that we're not content in life, that's a sin. Because that's what Captious is. You know, I want this, I want that, I want this. No, God says, you have. I've given you what you need for life. Actually, Peter says, you've been given everything you need for life and godliness. We have really no excuse.
[00:24:20] My attitude is, if I need it, I just have to ask my Father. If he gives it to me, great. If he doesn't, that's fine. I don't need it. It's a simple way to live. How's that? I don't get excited about it. You know, the second aspect of the gospel is the fact of Christ's burial. You may say, well, that's obvious, Pastor. I mean, why would you even have that line in there?
[00:24:41] You actually do bury the dead. But in a skeptical world, there have been people that have argued that Jesus never really died. He just simply swooned and revived again. And there were people in the past and even presently who are docetistic in their viewpoint. What do you say? That's a fancy theological idea. Let me explain it to you. The idea that Jesus only appeared to have flesh and blood, there's actually people that believed, and this is part of the Greek philosophy that believed that the material world was evil. And therefore, for Jesus to be God and be in the material world wouldn't jive with their way of thinking because they saw the material world as evil. So they said that Jesus only appeared to be a man.
[00:25:25] Well, that's not the Hebrew understanding. The Hebrew understanding goes all the way back to the book of Genesis where it says, and God created these material things, and he said it was good. And so if these things are good, it's good. And what happened in our world and what was the great tragedy is that sin entered the world and took all the good things and tainted them and marred them. And that's why every human being is made in the image of God. Human beings are good, but they've all been marred by sin. That's the problem. And so I get tired of people saying people are intrinsically good. I go, no, we're not. We're intrinsically Sinners.
[00:26:06] Even though we were created in God's beautiful image, sin enters in and it affects us in a negative way. And if we don't address that problem in our life, it becomes destructive to ourselves. It diminishes us, and it destroys the people around us. It's problematic. It's got to be addressed.
[00:26:25] And let me just say this, and I'm not against psychology or anything else, but I'm going to say this. You can't just fake it, folks. And you can't just tell people to think a little differently. There's more to it than that. Fundamentally, something that's so wrong has to be addressed. And God addressed it on Good Friday when he came and died for our sins so that you and I could have his nature restored within us. The nature of God, this beautiful nature implanted inside of us. And now we become a new creation. We move from that caterpillar state into the place where we actually, in a sense, spiritually speaking, we die to ourselves in the cocoon and we fly away. A new creation. We're like a butterfly. It's a brand new experience. It's transformational in nature. And then we begin a journey walking with God. And so the things of our old nature are still a part of our lives. And we begin to renew our minds from the word of God. And it brings about transformation in our lives. And God now is on a journey with us. And from this day forward, he's moving our lives through a series of events.
[00:27:35] And as we yield to his will and say, yes, I'm going to do and obey you, God. God starts changing us and we become more Christ. Like, what an amazing journey that is. That's powerful stuff.
[00:27:49] So he was buried.
[00:27:51] We know it. The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus died a physical death. The Jewish religious leaders were concerned that he was dead. They first of all had this tomb sealed before that. You know, they begged for Pilate to take Jesus body off the cross because they didn't want to violate the Passover high day. And so they talked to them about breaking the legs of the people that were crucified with Jesus and Jesus.
[00:28:19] And they broke their legs so that these sufferers and crucifixion would asphyxiate faster. They had no support, and they would choke to death, and they would die fast.
[00:28:30] But when they got to Jesus, he was already dead.
[00:28:33] They had brutally beaten him so badly that the loss of blood, he didn't last that long on the cross, but he lasted long enough to say a few powerful words. And then he died. And when they got to Jesus, these are the executioners. You don't think these guys know what death is? When they got to Jesus, they saw that he was dead. And one Roman soldier, instead of breaking legs, just took a spear and shoved it up into the side of his body. And it said blood and water flowed out. And, you know, people recognize, people in the medical profession recognize that that's a sign that Jesus was dead.
[00:29:10] I could read all these scriptures here, but I'm just going to fly over them. I kind of reiterated them to you. Finally, it states that Christ was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
[00:29:20] We know that there are a few texts in the Old Testament that speak about on the third day being raised. But, you know, I was immediately thought about one particular text, and Peter uses it on the day of Pentecost. This is like 50 days after Jesus death on the cross. Peter's now having denied Jesus, has been restored. His whole life has changed. He gets up and preaches that day because, you know, he's filled with the Spirit of God. God's Holy Spirit came, and God now incarnates himself not in the life of a person called Jesus. You know, that's. You know, we talk about the incarnated Word, but now the Word is now incarnated in believers. God's spirit comes inside of us. He makes himself known to the world through the church, powerful. And here's Peter's sermon. He's preaching to these people on this day. And he says, because, you know, he's quoting from Psalm 16. He said, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor would you let your Holy One see decay. He's talking about, you know, death and the decomposition of the body. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence. Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day. In other words, he said David was not talking about himself when he wrote Psalm 16. David is dead. He's got a tomb. As a matter of fact, when you go to Israel, one of the highlights, I mean, I go to this room and there's the body of King David's tomb. They have it enshrined there in Israel. You can walk up and go, that's the tomb of King David. David died. And he's, you know, immortalized by this tomb that you're looking at.
[00:31:01] He said, that's not what happened to Jesus, he says. Then he goes on. But he was a prophet. David was a prophet. In other words, he had an understanding from the Spirit of God what was about to happen. He knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor his body, see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life and we are all witnesses it.
[00:31:32] So he's basically saying, look at the scriptures taught that Jesus or the Messiah would come back to life.
[00:31:39] And so he's explaining it to these group of people because you have to remember something. This is Jerusalem, this is the holy city. And they had, you know, they had witnessed all of these things. The crucifixion of Christ. And now the day that Peter's preaching, they're witnessing an outpouring of God's spirit. This has attracted a lot of attention. These are very devout people.
[00:32:01] Let me move on to the second element. Showing the significance of the message of the resurrection is evidences of it. And what kind of evidences are. These are personal appearances of Jesus after his death. The Bible and the history of the Christian movement reveal some incredible facts that undeniably support that Jesus rose from the dead. And the first one are the eyewitness accounts.
[00:32:26] Christ's resurrection and the impact that they had on the lives of his followers. It was the resurrection that empowered them to leave the upper room differently than the state that they were in immediately following the crucifixion. I mean, these people were shattered. They actually believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but they had misunderstood. Their whole expectation was wrong. I brought that out last Sunday when I talked about Palm Sunday. They thought he was coming to take over and, and kick the Romans out and set up an earthly rule. But Jesus said, no, I'm going to be a long time in coming, but I will come back.
[00:33:00] Okay, Then he says they were hiding, the Bible says, for fear of the religious leaders and what would happen to them. So they were in a state of grief and confusion and perplexity and fear. I mean, they were not in a good emotional frame of mind. I think that's a good way to describe them. But something happened to change those guys. And the answer is really simple. Jesus showed up, you know, and appeared to them and they were overwhelmed. It says here in John chapter 20. On the evening of that first day of the week when the disciples were together, the doors were locked for fear of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. And after he said this, he showed him his hands and side. And the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
[00:33:47] You know, this is pretty powerful. Some people say, oh, these guys are hallucinating. Well, a little later on we're going to find out. Jesus shows up to 500 people at one time. It's pretty intense hallucination for 500 people to see the same thing. No, this is reality.
[00:34:02] How do you describe what happens moving forward? I think the reason why the church grew so dramatically on the day of Pentecost was not only that the Holy Spirit had come and empowered them with his presence, but their message of an empty tomb was indisputable.
[00:34:19] Jesus had not only died, but he had risen from the dead. You know what? Nobody could bring the body and prove that Jesus was, you know, not dead.
[00:34:30] They just couldn't bring that to light. And, you know, some people say, oh, yeah, but the disciples, they wanted to start a movement. I don't think so. I don't think they had the wherewithal. As a matter of fact, if you look at who he picked, these guys were not the top people in society. You know, he's not picking, you know, people that are going to come up with a great conspiracy. No, these are ordinary people, fishermen, practical people.
[00:34:55] It says, we also read in Matthew's Gospel, this is a very interesting fact. I mean, I read the story and I go, oh, my goodness, this is so amazing. Think about it. So this is what happened on Easter Sunday. Not only was there an empty tomb, but other things began to happen.
[00:35:12] And here's one of them.
[00:35:14] Matthew 27. It's a very obscure little verse. It kind of sneaks in here. It says, this goes back to Good Friday, the crucifixion scene. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two. That's another amazing evidence. You know, if I could show you a picture. I wish I did this for you. But the picture of that torn curtain between the holy place and the most holy place, it's not a little flimsy curtain. It's like, you know, three stories high or two stories high. I mean, it's really high. It's big, it's thick. No human being is going to tear with their hands, you know. No, it was torn from the top to the bottom.
[00:35:51] That was a miracle. God ripped that curtain wide open because he wanted to communicate to the priest, there's now a new way into my presence.
[00:35:59] You know, before, there was no way, except for the high priest. Once a year, on the day of atonement now there's a new way, you know? Then the earth shook and the rock split. The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
[00:36:15] And they came out of the tombs after Jesus resurrection. So now Jesus is walking around appearing to people. But he's not the only one doing it. A bunch of holy people are walking around, and they went into the holy city. That's Jerusalem, and they appeared to many people. Now, I don't know about you, but if you had, you know, Aunt Betty passed away three years ago, beautiful saint of God.
[00:36:38] And all of a sudden you get a knock on the door, Aunt Betty's there.
[00:36:45] Oh, my goodness.
[00:36:48] How many here would be a little bit overwhelmed? Anybody here might be a little overwhelmed if a dead person shows up to your door, says, hi, just want to let you know I'm on my way to heaven. Just stopping off here, I'm following Jesus, we're headed to heaven. I think that would get your attention. How many here would say, yeah, I'm buying in now.
[00:37:11] I helped bury her.
[00:37:14] What's going on here? You know? Do you follow what I'm saying? And so as a result of Peter preaching the sermon, Luke goes on, he finishes the sermon. He, you know, after Jesus rose from the dead, he went down to the place.
[00:37:27] I already said all that. Okay, Then it says, therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified. I took a little boldness to say to the religious leaders, they're all standing there listening to him, hey, you guys crucified him. He's the Lord and the Christ. You just crucified our Messiah.
[00:37:44] When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do?
[00:37:52] Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.
[00:38:10] And the Bible says, And then he says this with many other words. He warned them. He said, save yourself from this corrupt generation. I think that's applicable today. Save yourself from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized. And about 3,000 were added to their number that day. How many people were in the upper room? 120. You know, my mind works a certain way here. He is there. You know, you're pastoring a church of 120. You preach a sermon the next Sunday, you got 3,120 people. That's a little overwhelming.
[00:38:46] Something's happening.
[00:38:48] God.
[00:38:49] God is working. People couldn't refute it. They couldn't produce the body. People are going, we know what's going on here. We've been around Jesus do, you know, hang out with Jesus for three and a half years and all the things he's doing, and now this stuff starts happening. You're a believer. You're a believer. These guys were believers. Now, Paul goes on and mentions the first male by name that Christ appeared to. Now, interesting. He mentions the first male because we know who Jesus first appeared to was Mary. Mary Magdalene. Isn't that interesting. But see, in the New Testament times, in that culture, women's testimonies were not credible as witnesses in a court of law. So Paul brings up the first male. But I think it's interesting. He went to a lady. You know, the women who had come to bury him, they were committed. How many know the guys had a harder time wrapping their heads around this. You know, they're trying to process all that's going on. I'm not criticizing us as guys, thank God. We, you know, kind of try to figure this stuff out. But listen, you know, he shows up to these guys and he shows up to Peter.
[00:39:54] And it was Peter who had denied Jesus. How many know that Peter needed a little reassurance that Jesus was going to forgive him because he really messed up.
[00:40:02] But Jesus, you know, the fact that Peter is preaching the sermon tells me something happened to Peter. He's reconciled to Jesus and he's. God's using him. And then we have. It says, and he appeared to Peter and then to the 12. And then we have Jesus appearing not to just 12 apostles, but to a large number of people. It says after that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of them whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. In other words, some have gone on and are with the Lord in heaven. You know, these are believers. But he said, Paul is writing this, you know, maybe 30 years after this account. And he's going, a whole bunch of these people are still alive. If you want to check out the story, go talk to, you know, a lot of these guys. And there's people. There were people running around at that first century saying, yeah, I was there. I saw Jesus appear. I was at that gathering when Jesus showed up. How many would say, hey, you know, there's a lot of people that they have memories. I remember I was at this event, you know, and you can all zoom in. You know, it's like almost like, I remember the day John Kennedy was shot, or I remember the day man landed on the moon. Well, these guys are saying, I remember the day Jesus showed up after his death.
[00:41:12] I mean, that was a pretty significant event in their life. I'm sure they'd never forget that.
[00:41:17] And it probably helped them through a lot of things in life that were very challenging. But they said, yeah, but Jesus, he conquered death, you know, pretty powerful. Then he goes on to a second name that he mentions in the list of Christ's appearance. He appeared to James and then to all the apostles. Well, who is James? Leon Morrison said it was certainly.
[00:41:40] It's not certain which James, because there's more than one James in the New Testament. But most agree it was James, the Lord's brother. Now, how many know that Mary and Joseph had children afterwards? And we know that from the Gospel of Mark. He lists their names, and James is one of them. And James, you know, I still remember this comedian, he goes, can you imagine having Jesus as your older brother?
[00:42:05] And Mary and Joseph are saying, why can't you be a little more like Jesus?
[00:42:10] It's just a great routine. Anyways, so James and all of his brothers did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They thought he was a little, you know, they said, you know, Jesus has always been a strange child. He doesn't do anything bad. He always, always makes us look bad. And they. I don't know, there was maybe a little tension there. They did not believe he was the Messiah. But then all of a sudden, you have James in the upper room now, and he becomes the leader of the church in Jerusalem. How did that happen? They all became believers because Jude was another brother, half brother of Jesus, and so was James. And these guys are writing Bible books because they saw Jesus alive after the resurrection. That was pretty convincing. They go, I believe you now, Jesus. I mean, I knew you were different, but this is really way different than I ever thought, right?
[00:43:00] And then we have the most improbable conversion, I think.
[00:43:05] And the fiercest opponent of Christianity is the person who's writing this book, Paul.
[00:43:11] His Hebrew name was Saul. He had a Roman name, Paul. He took his Roman name later on because he was traveling a lot. But Saul, this guy was a fanatic.
[00:43:21] He was a zealous Pharisee. You know, those Pharisees that opposed Jesus, Saul was one of them. And he did not believe Jesus was the Messiah. And when the church took off and started exploding and Growing. He was the greatest, number one opponent of the whole movement.
[00:43:38] And then he had a little experience, really messed with him, it says. And last of all, he appeared to me also as one abnormally born. Abnormal in the sense that how he became a follower of Christ was so different. I mean, he was traveling to arrest a bunch of Christians, and Jesus appeared to him and said, saul, why are you persecuting me?
[00:44:00] See, he was persecuting the church, but Jesus said, why are you persecuting me? Because we're the body.
[00:44:06] And who are you? I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting.
[00:44:11] It's kind of hard. Paul, you were watching what you did. He was actually there when they killed Stephen, the first martyr. They were actually. He was the number one witness. They were laying cloaks at his feet because he picked up stones and was helping kill Stephen. And you know, Stephen, when he was dying, he looked up and he saw Jesus standing because he was now going to enter into heaven. And he told these people that were killing him, I see Jesus standing, you know, and he said, father, don't lay this sin to their charge. Isn't that a beautiful prayer? They're killing him. And he's saying, I forgive them. You see, he now exemplified Jesus. Voice from the cross Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Stephen echoed that prayer in his own death. Saul standing right there. And the Bible says that he was so troubled by that comment, he could not get the voice of Stephen out of his brain. And when Jesus showed up, it blew him away.
[00:45:10] And so it changed his life. And then Paul goes on to say, you know, I'm the least of all of the apostles. I don't even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace to me is not without effect. No, I've worked harder than all of them, yet not I. But the grace of God, that was within me.
[00:45:31] Wow.
[00:45:33] Over and over, he kept telling the story. But I think. Let me just close with this. I've already told you this.
[00:45:40] Probably one of the most powerful arguments for a risen Savior is the transformation in people's lives. Isn't that true? And some of us have experienced it, and I love the story. In the 19th century, Charles Bradlaugh, he was a prominent atheist, and he challenged a Christian man to debate the validity of the claims of Christianity and the Christian who he approached us. The man was named Hugh Hughes. He was literally working in the slums of London, preaching the gospel and people were becoming Christians. And Hughes said, okay, listen, I'm going to agree to this debate on one condition.
[00:46:16] And Charles Bradlaugh said, what's the condition? He said, I propose that you and I will bring concrete evidence of the validity of what we teach to this debate. In other words, he said, I will bring a hundred men and women to talk about how Christ has changed their life.
[00:46:40] Why don't you bring a hundred people? We'll talk about what atheism has brought to their life.
[00:46:47] Bradlaugh didn't like that. He said, okay, don't bring 100, just bring 20.
[00:46:52] Well, you don't want that. That's too many. Bring one.
[00:46:55] He wouldn't agree to it and withdrew.
[00:46:59] How do you explain the church, its growth, the transformation in people's lives?
[00:47:08] It's amazing.
[00:47:11] Do you really know where you're going?
[00:47:15] If you're trusting Christ, you know where you're going because you know Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[00:47:23] No man comes to the Father except through me. I'm going to just say this. I get so tired. I'm not trying to be mean about it, but I get tired of listening to people telling me at funerals that everybody's in heaven. Because I know there's only one way. There is a door, and that door is Christ. And you've got to go through that door to get to the Father. He is the way. You have to believe that he died for your sin. You have to repent and turn from your sin. That's the gospel. That's the message we need to tell people. That's the only hope they have. And I love how Augustine insightfully stated it as God, Christ is the goal to where we are going. But as a man, Christ is the way to get there. Isn't that beautiful? We're going to stand as we close this service this morning, I have tried to communicate to you as simply as I can about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[00:48:24] And that's the foundation upon which we can present good news.
[00:48:30] Jesus died for my sin. He died for your sin.
[00:48:36] He was buried and he rose again, conquering death. And because of that, you and I have a hope that transcends this life. You and I can actually walk with confidence that there will come and listen. It's going to come to every last one of us. It's like taxes. They just show up and death will come and they'll be knocking at your door one day. Let me tell you that day, all the things that we've been chasing after on earth won't mean a thing to us.
[00:49:06] Only people around us will probably be, God willing. People that love us, our family members around our bed. That's what it'll be like unless you're tragically taken. But it'll be like that. And in those moments, all that will matter then is, where am I going?
[00:49:25] Am I going to heaven?
[00:49:28] And I can tell you with great assurance, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, at that moment you can rest, quiet, and say, lord, thank you for dying for me. I'm coming home. You created me and now I'm going to be with you for all of eternity. What an amazing hope. Let me tell you something.
[00:49:51] The longer you live, the more people you love, the more people that die before you, the more you see death and all the things that are going on around you and all the trouble this hope will sustain you even in this life. It's not just, you know, this will help you down the way it helps you right now. It gives you strength and confidence to handle every challenge that'll come your way. I know God is good. I know God is loving. I know he's all powerful. I know he's able to lead you and I right on through, right to the very end. Jesus said, I began this good work in you. I will complete it. What a great assurance.
[00:50:29] So with every head bowed this morning, I want to give you an opportunity. If you've never surrendered your life to Christ, or maybe you have, but you've gotten so far away, you've just gone in your own way. And you said, today is the day I'm surrendering to Jesus. I'm acknowledging I've sinned against you. You know, I'll tell you what happened to me.
[00:50:51] I believed in Jesus, but you know what? I just couldn't see myself as a big sinner until God said, no, you are. And I failed.
[00:51:01] Like Peter, you know, I failed.
[00:51:04] And then I came to it myself. Just like the prodigal, it says when he came to himself. I said, lord, if you'll forgive me, I'll serve you the rest of my life. I made a decision that day that I was going to serve Jesus for the rest of my life. And you know, from that day forward, I've never turned back. I've just kept going.
[00:51:25] I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just saying it's good. Big difference. And maybe you're here today and that's what you'd like to say. This is my day, Pastor. I'm choosing today from this day forward, I'm going to turn my back on where I was and what I was doing and all the rest of it. I'm going to. I'm choosing to say yes, if you'll forgive me, Jesus, I'll serve you the rest of my life. It's a real simple thought, but it's life transforming. And that's you today. Just raise your hand. I'm going to pray, pray with you right now. Anyone here today. From this day forward, I'm going to serve you. I'm turning my back. Yeah, that's good. You're turning your back.
[00:52:03] Very good. Let's pray. So Lord, I just come to you. I see people here and they're recognizing, they're turning their back on sin and they're turning their face towards you. And I pray for grace and forgiveness, forgiveness to flow into our hearts. And I pray, Lord, from this day forward, they're going to serve you every single day of their life. They're going to put you first in their life. There may be moments where they, you know, do the wrong thing, but we know we have an advocate with the Father. We can confess our sins and he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But from this day forward, they're putting a stake in the ground.
[00:52:48] I choose to follow you, Jesus. I'm now your child. I'm gonna walk with you every day of my life. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your forgiveness. I thank you for your transforming power. I thank you that I'm gonna live out your will and purposes for my life. And I know in my heart it's the best life possible. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave.
