Easter - Resurrection

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Introduction

Happy Easter Everyone!

I Love Easter Sunday for Many Reasons

But I’ll Give You 3:

1.) I Started Preaching Here 5 Years Ago on Easter Sunday

2.) We Usually Expect Several Visitors to Join Us in Worship

3.) Around 2,000 Years Ago, Jesus Came Back to Life on the Day We Now Call “Easter”

Today Marks the Anniversary of His Resurrection…

Which is the Single Greatest/Most Important Event in History

I Want to Talk About Resurrection Today

And I Want to Look at it From 2 Angles By Asking 2 Questions:

1.) How Do We Know Jesus Resurrected?

2.) Why Should We Care if He Resurrected?

But Before We Ask Those 2 Primary Questions…

I Feel Like it’s Important to Look at Another Question First:

“What is Resurrection?”

Resurrection has Always Referred to:

A Dead Body Coming Back to Life

It has Never Referred to Some Non-Physical/Material Spirit…

Experiencing a Disembodied Life After the Death of the Body

It has Always Referred to a Physical, Dead Body Becoming Alive Again

So From Here on Out, Whenever I Mention Resurrection…

Don’t Think of a Spirit Going to Heaven or Anything Like that

Think of a Literal, Physical, Dead Body Coming Back to Life to Live a Physical Life

That’s What the Jews Always Believed Resurrection to Be

And That’s What Christians Since the 1st Century have Believed

With that Foundation Laid, Let’s Get to Our First Question:

How Do We Know Jesus Resurrected?

How Do We Know Jesus’ Dead Body Came Back to Life?

There May Be Many Christians Who were Raised in the Church…

Who Simply Take it for Granted that Jesus Resurrected

“The Bible Says it and I Believe it”

But We Now Live in a Time Where that’s Not Enough

America is Quickly Becoming a Post-Christian Society

It’s Very Possible that Christianity…

Will No Longer Be the Dominant Belief System in the Near Future

There are Many People All Around Us…

Who No Longer Believe in God or the Scriptures

And Therefore, They No Longer Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus

And There are Many More Who are at Least Questioning These Things

My Generation is Known as the “Why” Generation

We Don’t Want to Just Be Told What to Say, Do, and Believe

We Want to Know Why

That’s Not a Bad Thing in/of Itself

But the World has Done a Good Job Capitalizing on that…

Where Christians haven’t Done the Best Job

Too Many Younger Christians have Been Told What to Believe…

But They haven’t Been Told Why

That Opens the Door for the World to Swoop Right in…

And Give Them False Answers to Their Questions

And Before Long, We See Exactly What America is Experiencing Right Now

Religious “Nones” are the Fastest Growing Demographic

That is, People Who Claim to Belong to No Religious/Belief System

So, We Don’t Need to Just Know What We Believe

We Need to Know Why

Christians Believe Jesus Resurrected

But:

“How Do We Know Jesus Resurrected?”

Is it Possible to Be Confident in Our Belief that it Actually Happened?

I’m Here to Tell You that the Answer is Irrefutably “Yes!”

You can Go About Proving the Historicity of the Resurrection in 100 Different Ways

But I Like One Famous Scholar’s Approach

His Name is Gary Habermas

He’s the Leading Expert on the Resurrection of Jesus

He Developed the “Minimal Facts Approach”

In this Approach, There are About 12 Historical Facts…

That Practically Every Scholar (Even Atheistic Scholars) Agree on

He will Then Take a Handful/Minimal Amount of Those Facts…

And Prove that the Only Logical Explanation…

Is that Jesus Resurrected

You can Choose Any 3, 4, or 5 of Those 12 Facts…

And Make the Case for Jesus’ Resurrection

Here are 4 that We’ll Take a Quick Look at:

1.) Jesus Died By Crucifixion

Based Upon the Available Biblical & Extra-Biblical Testimony…

From the First Century…

It’s a Historical Fact that Jesus Died on the Cross

Virtually All Scholars Agree Upon that

2.) Jesus’ Tomb was Found Empty

If His Body Never Left the Tomb…

Christianity would Not Exist Today

But Look Where We are:

1 in Every 3 People (1/3 of the World) Claim to Be Followers of Jesus

What Better Way to Stop Christianity…

Than By Proving that the Resurrected Messiah Didn’t Resurrect at All?

But No One in the Past 2000 Years has Ever Found His Body

The Jewish Leaders Devised a Lie that the Disciples Stole His Body

But that would’ve Been Nearly Impossible Considering That…

They Placed Armed Guards in Front of the Tomb…

To Keep that Very Thing From Happening

Plus it wouldn’t Make Sense for Jesus’ Disciples to Steal the Body

Why?

Because They had Nothing to Gain By Doing So

They would Go on to Be Persecuted, Tortured, and Murdered…

For Claiming that Jesus Rose From the Grave

It’s One Thing to Lie in Order to Gain Fame and Fortune

But to Lie, Knowing that it’ll Get You Brutally Murdered?

No One would Ever Do that

And Yet, Christians were Famous for Accepting the Most Brutal Deaths…

Because They Refused to Denounce the Resurrection of Jesus

People will Give Their Life for a Lie that They Believe to Be the Truth

But No One Gives Their Life for Something They Know to Be a Lie

By Stealing Jesus’ Body…

The Disciples had Nothing to Gain and Everything to Lose

3.) Jesus’ Friends Claimed to have Seen the Risen Jesus

They Spoke with Him, Touched Him, Ate Meals with Him

1 Corinthians 15:3–6 (NASB95)

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;

Many People Saw Jesus Alive After His Death

Not Only Did These Disciples Claim that They Saw Jesus Alive Again…

But They Began Living Radically Transformed Lives

The Apostles Went From Cowering in Fear of the Jews…

To Openly Preaching to Thousands of Jews in Jerusalem

They Went From Being Terrified of Persecution…

To Rejoicing Whenever They were Persecuted

Only Experiencing Something Truly Life-Changing…

Can Bring About that Type of Transformation

The Radical Transformation of the Early Disciples…

Is One of the Greatest Evidences of the Resurrection

Virtually All Scholars Agree…

The Early Disciples of Jesus Definitely Saw Something

And What They Saw Encouraged Them…

To Spread a Message that would Change the World Forever

4.) Jesus’ Enemies Claimed to have Seen the Risen Jesus

During Jesus’ Life, His Brother James Didn’t Believe that He was the Messiah

But Just a Short Time After Jesus’ Death…

We See James as One of the Leaders of the Jerusalem Church

What Happened to Change James’ Mind?

If Jesus’ Miracles and Teachings couldn’t Convince His Brother, What Did?

1 Corinthians 15:7 (NASB95)

7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;

James Saw His Brother Jesus Alive After His Death

The Apostle Paul was the Greatest Persecutor of the Early Christians

He Hated Christianity with a Burning Passion

But Then We See Him Become the Greatest Christian Missionary in the World…

Who Wrote More Books of the NT than Anyone Else

What Happened to Change Paul’s Mind?

If the Scriptures Which He Knew Better Than the Back of His Hand…

Couldn’t Convince Him of Jesus’ Identity, What Did?

The Book of Acts Tells Us Exactly What Convinced Him

And Paul Sums it Up in the Next Verse

1 Corinthians 15:8 (NASB95)

8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

On His Way to Persecute More Christians…

He Saw Jesus

Based Upon the Historical Facts…

The Only Conclusion that can Be Drawn is:

Jesus Really Did Raise From the Dead

But Here’s a Question that is Just as Important:

Why Should We Care if He Resurrected?

Why Does it Matter that Jesus Rose From the Dead?

How Does that Impact My Life?

I’ll Give 3 Reasons Why Jesus Resurrection Should Matter to You:

1.) His Resurrection Confirms that He is the Messiah (God’s Anointed King)

Acts 2:32–36 (NASB95)

32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

If Jesus is King, then that Makes You Subject to Him

You’ve Got 1 of 2 Options

You can Submit to the King in Obedience to His Teachings…

And Be Given Everlasting Life

Or You can Rebel Against the King in Disobedience to His Teachings…

And Be Destroyed When He Returns

Why should We Care About Jesus’ Resurrection?

Because it Proves He is King

And He’s Going to Return Bringing Life and Death

And He Offers Us the Opportunity Now to Choose Life

2.) His Resurrection Proves that He Defeated Death and Secured Our Salvation

Revelation 1:17–18 (NIV)

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

1 Peter 1:3 (NASB95)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Death has Been Conquered and Believers Now have a Living Hope

An Expectation of Life Instead of an Expectation of Death

Why should We Care About Jesus’ Resurrection?

Because it’s Proof that Death No Longer has Power Over Us

Salvation From Sin and Death has Been Secured

3.) His Resurrection is the Guarantee of Our Resurrection

Romans 8:11 (NASB95)

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

1 Corinthians 15:20–23 (NLT)

20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

Why Should We Care About Jesus’ Resurrection?

Because Whenever Jesus Returns…

All Those Who have Placed Their Faith in Him…

Will Be Physically Resurrected

Our Bodies will Be Alive Again…

And They will Be Transformed

1 Corinthians 15:51–53 (NLT)

51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

We should Care About Jesus’ Resurrection…

Because it is the Guarantee of Our Eternal Life…

In Our Own Resurrected, Glorified Bodies

Jesus’ Resurrection is a Historical Fact

And it Matters to All of Us Today Because:

It Confirms that He is King

It Proves that He has Saved Us From Death

It Guarantees Us Our Own Resurrection

Have You Surrendered Your Life to King Jesus?

Have You Repented of Sinful Living?

Have You Been Baptized into Jesus…

Receiving Forgiveness and the Holy Spirit?

Are You Obeying His Teachings and Living Like Him?

Is Your Hope Set on the Resurrection that He is Bringing His People?