If the resurrection of Jesus were disproved, would you still believe?

This sermon today is a special sermon because it is a special Sunday, the Sunday we recognize and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you are a visitor here today, whether a first-time visitor or you’ve been visiting a while, I want to say two things to you.

The first is, welcome. We are glad you are here. I hope I get a chance to personally meet you before you leave.

The second thing I want to say to our visitors this morning is, this sermon is for you. We pray that you have a wonderful experience with us this morning but more importantly we pray you have an encounter with the risen and reigning Christ.

Several years ago, someone asked me a question that changed my life and so I’m going to ask you the same question today in hopes that you’ll have a similar experience. Fair warning: it is a trick question.

Here’s the question. Are you ready?

“If the resurrection of Jesus were disproven, would you still believe?”

There are different ways you can say this.

Would you still worship Jesus if He had died and stayed dead?

Would you still follow Him if the risen one had never risen?

If you could be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the resurrection as reported in the NT did not happen, would you keep on being a Christian?

Now, some of you are thinking that the answer has got to be yes. You’re thinking it’s a question of your commitment to Jesus. Would you love Him and worship Him and strive to obey Him even if it turned out that He didn’t rise from the dead? Some of you are thinking, I am so committed to Jesus that — yes — I would do all of this Christian stuff even if turned out that Jesus was just like everyone else.

Does it matter that the resurrection happened? If it didn’t, would that change anything? If it did, would that change anything?

I would like for you to listen as I read from the NT, the writings of the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul who more than any other apostle shaped the Christian faith after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus — the man who more than anyone else was in a position to say whether or not it matters that Jesus is risen. How important was it for him?

1 Corinthians 15:12–19 ESV

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Maybe Scripture means less to you than it means to other people. Then don’t take Scripture’s word for it. How many of you know the book The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe? The author of that book — C. S. Lewis — had this to say about the resurrection:

“People often say about [Jesus]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic…or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.” [Lewis, Mere Christianity, p52]

So we have authoritative sources telling us that if Jesus is not risen, that means that He is not in fact Lord; and if Jesus is not Lord, He is not the Son of God, not deserving of our obedience and our worship.

If the resurrection of Jesus were disproved, would you still believe? I wouldn’t. And you shouldn’t either.

Maybe it sounds strange that a pastor is standing up telling you you should not believe in or worship Jesus. That’s not what I’m saying. I am saying if Jesus never rose from the dead, He is not the Son of God, and that means there is no point in doing any of this.

So, can we know the resurrection of Christ really happened? The answer is yes.

First, though, let me talk to you about what the resurrection is not. What the resurrection is not.

What the resurrection is not

First, the resurrection is not reincarnation. In reincarnation, the idea is that when the body dies, the soul is transferred to another body and you get to live another life. But when we say Christ is risen, we’re not saying that; the disciples when they saw Jesus after His resurrection, they usually recognized him. The resurrection of Jesus means that His old body was raised up from the tomb and made new again.

The resurrection of Christ is also not resuscitation. Some years ago a book was written called Heaven Is For Real. Then they made a movie about it. Anybody see the movie or read the book? It’s a story about a three-year-old boy who had to have emergency surgery and then claimed to have gone to heaven during his surgery and the book is about his experience. We call that a near-death experience. He died, he came back to life again. But one day he will die again. But the Bible says, “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Rom 6:9 ESV).

The resurrection of Christ isn’t reincarnation; it isn’t resuscitation. The resurrection also isn’t a ghost. The resurrected Christ was not a ghost. It’s true that the Bible says that after He was risen Jesus He did things like appear in a room where the door had been locked.

But Jesus Himself dispelled the myth that he was a ghost. To his disciples he said, “‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:38-39 ESV). The same passage then tells us that Jesus asked for food and ate in front of them. If a ghost put a piece of fish in his mouth, what would happen? It would fall to the floor. He has no body. The resurrected Christ is not a ghost.

Resurrection is also not the same thing as achieving enlightenment or nirvana. Our Buddhist and Hindu friends say this is what eternal life is. You die, you are liberated from your body, and you become one with the universe.

The resurrection of Christ is not reincarnation; it’s not resuscitation; it’s not a ghost or achieving enlightenment. The resurrection of Christ is when God took the old, dead body of Jesus of Nazareth — the same body that was crucified and buried, with heart no longer beating and lungs no longer breathing — no brain activity, no signs or markers of physical, biological life whatsoever — and breathed life into it, making it new once and for all.

And everyone who trusts in the Risen Savior, when He returns, you will experience the very same everlasting resurrection life. In the death of Christ, death has been defeated. The resurrection is the evidence.

Next month I’ll turn 44. Many of you tell me that I am still young. And I have to say that I have mixed feelings when you say that. Because, I hear you when you say that 44 is young. But, I’ve never been this old before.

And there are things that I could do at 24 that I can’t do as easily now. When I was 24, I could stay up until 3-4am, no problem. Now at 44, when Shawn schedules a lock-in, I’m like “I can give you until 11pm.” When I was 24, I would look at someone my age and think, “That poor old guy — he has so little to live for.” When I was 24, I would look at someone who was 34 and say, “he’s an older guy.”

But Pastor Dustin, I look around me and everywhere I look I see signs of death. That’s true. Some of us need look no further than the candles on our birthday cake. Does your birthday cake have enough candles to start a wildfire?

We all will die unless we are still alive when Jesus comes back. We live in a world where there are so many different ways that death can come for you. There are ways that death can come instantly. There are ways that death can be prolonged.

How many of you would like to die in your sleep? Guess what? I can’t put in a good word for you to make sure that happens. That’s not the way it works.

We must not put our hope in our good health.

We must not put our hope and trust in medicine and technology.

We must not put our hope in dying in our sleep, undisturbed and in no pain.

We must put our hope in the risen One who has defeated death so that no matter how our death comes to us, we will share in the resurrection life of Christ.

I like country music, I know a lot of you do too. In 1996, country artist Tracy Lawrence recorded a song called Time Marches On — any of you remember this song? Good song. Really good song.

The song follows a family through three generations — from childhood to old age. By the end of the song, the little girl in her crib has become a grandmother. Her brother with Indian features on his head is dealing with old age and health problems. The mom and dad who were doing the normal things young parents do in the first verse of the song — the dad is dead and the mom “lost touch with reality”.

As he tells this story he pairs each generation with the songs that were on the radio at the time. Hank Williams Jr. gives way to Bob Dylan who gives way to the Angels. “Time marches on” — is the name of the song and it’s a phrase you hear a lot.

I like the song — listened to a couple of times this past week when I was thinking about the sermon. But it’s hopeless.

Ecclesiastes 1:2–8 ESV

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

I’m 44. Very quickly I will be 54. Even quicker and I’ll be 64, then 74, then 84, God willing. I will die. (And my wife is thinking, “He’s gonna die a lot quicker than that if he doesn’t stop scraping his food off the dinner plate instead of putting it by the sink.)

Chances are my great grandkids will barely know me. Most likely, my great, great-grandchildren will hardly know I existed. Paul is right when he said “if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1Cor 15:19 ESV).

Death is wired into the world we live in. The only hope we have is if someone from outside our world — someone with power we don’t have — someone with power over the forces of death — intervenes, and rescues us.

That is exactly what the Bible says has happened with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Something completely new has taken place.

What the resurrection is

The world has seen near-death experiences. The resurrection is something new.

The world has long been familiar with the idea of reincarnation. The resurrection is something new.

The world has long been familiar with the tired old phrase “death is just a normal part of life”. Nobody believes that, so why do we say it?

The resurrection is something entirely new. We’re not talking about dying and receiving CPR and coming back. We’re not talking about dying and coming back as an animal or a different person. We’re not talking about our soul being released from the prison of our body and flying off into eternity.

I don’t mean to say that there are not other theories of what really happened. If you’ve ever watched the History Channel or National Geographic or PBS, you’ve heard people explain what they believe really happened. We Christians need to expose ourselves to those other theories and be aware of them, but we do not have to accept them ourselves. With all respect to those who hold these views, these views are extremely weak.

The opinions of the skeptics

Some say that Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, because he never really died in the first place. They say, “Jesus was injured on the cross and unconscious when he was buried but in the cool, moist air of the tomb he revived and strengthened and went on to live a normal life from there.

But there’s just one little problem: people didn’t tend to survive being crucified. Sometimes the beatings prior to the crucifixion itself were so severe that the prisoner was already in critical condition when he was hung up on the cross. Blood loss, dehydration, suffocation. And even if he was alive when he was buried, you don’t just get up go about your day after a little rest after being crucified.

Some say Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead because the body was in fact stolen by his disciples. The disciples stole the body to make it look like he was risen and then they spread the lie of his resurrection.

Jesus’ disciples went from being terrified men in hiding to being bold, provocative preachers and church leaders who preached this same message with joy and confidence and with power, and they kept on doing this even when it was dangerous. Would they have been so transformed by a lie? Would they have been willing to endure torture and death for a lie?

Some say Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead because the disciples simply hallucinated. They thought they saw Jesus, but it was a desert-in-the-oasis type thing. They wanted to see him alive, so their subconscious mind created a false image.

So then, did all the disciples have the very same hallucination, at the very same time? And they went on, apparently, having the very same hallucination for a really long time because all their writings and preaching and teaching featured the resurrection. And at any time, the Jewish leaders could have been like, “Hey, guys, come back to earth. Here’s his body right here. He’s dead.”

The Christian message is a factual message

The Christian message is a factual message. It is. The Christian message is a factual message.

The Christian message tells us about a real man, Jesus of Nazareth, in a real place, first-century Palestine, who died by execution from the Roman state.

This man who died was buried and wrapped and embalmed and put into a tomb.

The tomb was sealed with a boulder placed in front of the opening.

The tomb was then guarded by Roman soldiers to make sure that no one stole the body.

The Christian message then says that a few women and later a few of the male disciples found the soldiers lying on the ground, the tomb open, the burial cloths folded up neatly, but no Jesus.

The Christian message then says that hundreds of eyewitnesses saw Him after He had risen.

Four written, historical sources — Matthew, Mark, Luke, John — give us their eyewitness testimony.

The Christian message says Jesus’ disciples went from being terrified men in hiding to being bold, provocative preachers and church leaders who preached this same message with joy and confidence and with power, and they kept on doing this even when it was dangerous.

The Christian message says all 12 of the apostles except one were martyred — put to death for preaching this message. Even as the flames consumed them or the pains of torture overwhelmed them, there was a joy and a boldness and a certainty that unnerved the ones putting them to death.

Those are historical facts with as much historical support as any other ancient, widely-known event.

What they experienced was real or was it not? Which of the theories best accounts for those facts?

Call for response

I’ve presented this to you and now you, before God, have to do with it what you think is best.

You remember our question: If the resurrection of Jesus were disproven, would you still be a believer?

Let me turn the tables and ask:

If you were persuaded that the resurrection really did happened, would you stop being an unbeliever?

If you’re with us this morning and you are unbeliever — first of all, we are glad you are here. We hope you feel welcomed and we hope you will come back.

If you are an unbeliever this morning, can I just be bold and say you’re missing out? You’re missing out.

We all know there is suffering in the world. We know part of that suffering is that people abuse their power and harm those under them. It can feel like goodness and power are not in the same hand. Is God both good and powerful?

If Jesus is risen, and we believe He is, you are missing out on the assurance that ultimate goodness and ultimate power are on the same side, and goodness will triumph.

We all know death is coming for us and our loved ones. No matter how much money we acquire or how well we do in our jobs or how healthy and strong we are, death is waiting in the wings to snatch all of it from us. Death is the great equalizer — it is our most powerful enemy and our worst nightmare.

If Jesus is risen, you are missing out on the assurance that life — not death — will have the final say. And though our bodies die here, our death is not the final loss of all things but rather the very beginning of the true life we were created for.

But most importantly, if Jesus really is risen, if He really is the first person to take on death and come out swinging, He must — must — be God, because power over death is something only God has.

And if Jesus is God, then that means He is Lord. Everything He promised will happen, and everything He commanded is binding. To reject Him is to shut yourself off from all hope of life and goodness after the grave. There is no other way. The One who is risen says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Rom. 14:6 ESV).

The secular world says that is an intolerant, exclusive, narrow-minded, maybe even hateful thing to say. And yet, if Jesus is risen, truly risen, it matters very little what we think about Jesus and His words. It matters very much what we do in response to do Jesus and His words.

Trust Him today. Commit to follow Him today. Don’t wait. Don’t delay. If He is calling your name this morning, risk it all and decide to follow Jesus today. Tell him, “I am yours. Save me.”

We’re about to stand and sing. But if He is calling your name, bow your head and close your eyes and get alone with him right here and now and tell him: “I am yours. Save me.” I’m here if you want me to pray with you down front. Or you can pray right where you sit. The important thing is not where you do it. The important thing is that you respond to the claim that He is making right now on your life.

And then find me after the service or another one of our leaders and tell us about your decision so we can celebrate with you and help you.