Resurrection, Believe It or Not!
Notes
Transcript
Robert Ripley was an unusual man who lived an unbelievable life of adventure. For thirty-five years he explored the uncanny and witnessed the amazing. He began as a cartoonist at a young age and became a world traveler who visited over 200 countries, seeing places few people had heard of and documented them as cartoons in the New York Globe. Places such as the tombs of the Ming Emperors of China to a town named Hell in Norway.
Wherever Ripley went, he searched for the odd and unusual. In his quests, he documented the customs and beliefs of many ancient and exotic civilizations. Whenever possible he brought home artifacts from his journeys, which today form the heart of the greatest collection of oddities ever assembled. These artifacts can be seen in Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museums around the world where millions of people can experience a journey into the unusual and ponder the question, “Do I Believe It or Not?”
The most odd and unusual event that has ever taken place is the resurrection of One from the dead. And today humanity is posed with the very same question as those who visit Ripley’s museums, “Do I Believe It or Not”!
Text; Mt. 28:11-15
11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.
12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
13 saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’
14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.”
15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Talk about odd and unusual happenings, that Passover week was probably the most unusual ever.
Jesus comes riding in on a donkey being praised as the “Son of David”, the Jewish Messiah
He throws the religious leaders/money changers out of the temple
He’s put on trial [out of regular order and custom, 4 times] and charged with blasphemy by the high priest Caiaphas
He is tried before Pilate and found not guilty by him, but still charged with being the king of the Jews and sent to be crucified by Pilate.
For three hours in the middle of the day it was like nighttime as Jesus hung on the cross
Two earthquakes happened within three days in Jerusalem [1 @ Christs’ death and 1 @ His resurrection]
A guarded/sealed tomb is found empty on the third day after Jesus was laid in it
Angels, women, His disciples and the guards realize something supernatural has happened and the question still remains, “Do We Believe It or Not”
1. Excuses for Not Believing in the Resurrection; 11-13, 14
1. Excuses for Not Believing in the Resurrection; 11-13, 14
While the women were running to find the disciples and tell them of the Resurrection, the guards were running to counteract the truth.
Let me give you some excuses that are commonly used to not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[11-13, 14] Disciples Stole the Body- Now this is common among the Jews and that is one reason why they are still looking for the Messiah to come. But how foolish an excuse this is.
If they were asleep, how did they know what happened to the body? And if they were awake they wouldn’t have let anyone steal the body!
Who would want to steal the body anyway? Not the disciples, they were in fear of what had happened. They were hiding! and beyond that, why would they scheme up a plan to steal the body of the One who taught them never to steal, and then tell lies about the one who taught them not to lie, all so they could be persecuted, arrested, tortured and killed for a false hope of a murdered Messiah? Right!!
Swoon Theory- Some have suggested that Christ faked His death and later escaped from the tomb. According to the eyewitness testimony, Christ was beaten, tortured, lacerated, and stabbed. He suffered internal damage, massive blood loss, asphyxiation, and a spear through His heart.
26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
44 Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time.
45 So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
There is no good reason to believe that Jesus Christ (or any other man for that matter) could survive such an ordeal, fake His death, sit in a tomb for three days and nights without medical attention, food or water, remove the massive stone which sealed His tomb, escape undetected (without leaving behind a trail of blood), convince hundreds of eyewitnesses that He was resurrected from the death and in good health, and then disappear without a trace.
Hallucination- an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present. Many people say that the disciples and others were “hallucinating” when they claimed to see Him after three days.
12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.
13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
We can all make any excuse we want to to not believe something. But one thing you cannot do is deny the truth!
2. Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection;
2. Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection;
Eyewitness testimony- people who actually witnessed with their eye the events of Jesus’ death, burial and His resurrection. Eye witness testimony is crucial for any case in a court of law to prove either the innocence or guilt of a person.
Women- they were the first to see the empty tomb and the Jesus alive from the grave. [vv.9-10]
Women were regarded as second class citizens and not worthy to be a legal witness in a Jewish court of law.
There are old rabbinical sayings that said, 'Let the words of Law be burned rather than delivered to women' and 'blessed is he whose children are male, but woe to him whose children are female.'
Yet each gospel begins with the apparent embarrassment to that writer that women are the first to see the empty tomb and the resurrected Christ! Each gospel writer simply recorded the truth through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Peter/Disciples- men who denied Jesus and cowered from the cross willing stood up and preached the resurrection of Christ on the day of Pentecost and charged His death upon the religious leaders and the people.
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Apostle Paul- a man who zealously persecuted the church, putting christians in chains and killing them, became the most selfless defender of Christ after salvation on the road to Damascus. Like many early Christians, Paul suffered impoverishment, persecution, beatings, imprisonment, and execution for his steadfast commitment to Christ’s resurrection.
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
The Church- the body of believers throughout history that began in Jerusalem 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection and continues even today!
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.
And I was added to the church and you were added to the church and Terry was added to the church, etc...
Jesus- He had a specific reason for coming and He completed it in the Resurrection
Mark 10:45 (NKJV)
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Matthew 28:18 (NKJV)
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
John 6:39 (NKJV)
39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
Close;
You have been presented this morning with either one of the most ludicrous, ridiculous, unusual events that has ever been claimed to have happened, or you have heard truth about the most unusual event in history, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!
The question still remains, “Believe It or Not!”