Firmly Established in the Truth- Part 2 (2 Peter 1:12-16)
Notes
Transcript
Sermon
Sermon
Key Passage
Key Passage
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Introduction
Introduction
We are taking a unique journey through this Easter season.
Normally we will open up the Bible and look at the Biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus.
We will do that today, but in a very different way.
Last week and this week, I wanted to move forward like there was no assumptions in the faith.
We looked at the topic of truth
Truth is exclusive.
We looked at the question, “Does God exist?”
God is not a preference of opinion. Either He exists or He does’t exist.
We looked at the staircases that lead to the conclusion of faith that God exists or doesn’t exist
We concluded that at the very least, it is reasonable to believe that there is a God.
We looked at the Bible.
It was not a book written thousands of years ago that has changed through the years.
Rather, what the Bible said when it was written is the same as it says today.
This is where we are going to pick up from last week.
We have laid the foundation that there is a God and the Bible is reliable.
This is very different from most Easter sermons.
I want to take ground for the Kingdom of God, not hold to what people expect from church on this day.
Some in this room might not believe in God or may have questions:
Please go look at the prior sermon
Some may struggle with doubt and need a foundation:
I hope this brings stability to your faith
Some of you may need some tools to help answer questions from your friends/family/coworkers.
Maybe one or two of these topics will resonate with you.
Last week, we said we are going to cover these topics:
Is God real?
Is the Bible authoritative?
Did Jesus actually die and resurrect?
Who is Jesus, according to the Bible?
Why does this matter?
With that, we will dive into today’s topic
REMEMBER, THIS IS JUST A SUMMARY!!! (THIS IS NORMALLY A 5-6 WEEK SERMON SERIES!)
Sermon
Sermon
Did Jesus Actually Die and Resurrect?
Did Jesus Actually Die and Resurrect?
Picking up from last week, we looked at the Bible and saw that it is a valid translation from its original writing
If you were to question the Bible’s validity, you would have to discredit every book of antiquity.
However, just because the Bible has been handed down to us the same as it was written, does not mean that the Bible is true.
We looked at Homer’s Iliad last week. It is a work of fiction.
It was handed down to us with 95% accuracy. But it was fiction when it was written and it is still a work of fiction.
We are going to hold the life of Jesus up to Historical events that were recorded during the time of Jesus and see how He holds up.
The claims of the NT and the accounts of Jesus are pretty extraordinary! Other people had to have seen them. They had to have been recorded in other places and in other ways.
This is what we are going to look at:
First, we are going to look at some of the writings of people who did not follow Jesus:
NON-CHRISTIAN HISTORICAL WRITINGS
Cornelius Tacitus (Roman Historian 55-120 AD)
“Hence to suppress the rumor, he (Nero) falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius.”
Cornelius Tacitus (Roman Historian 55-120 AD)
Jesus existed
Christians were named after Jesus Christ
Jesus was put to death by Pontius Pilate
Julius Africanus 52 A.D., Chronography, 18.1
“Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away this darkness as an eclipse of the sun—unreasonably, as it seems to me (unreasonably, of course, because a solar eclipse could not take place at the time of the full moon, and it was at the season of the Paschal full moon that Christ died)”
Julius Africanus 52 A.D., Chronography, 18.1
Jesus existed
Jesus died
It got dark when Jesus was crucified
Talmuds (written by the Pharisees)
“It has been taught: On the eve of the Passover they hanged Yeshu (the Nazarene)…because he practiced sorcery and enticed and led Israel astray.”
Talmuds (written by the Pharisees)
Jesus existed
Jesus was hanged (crucified)
Jesus died on the eve of the Passover
Jesus was a from Nazareth
Jesus did miraculous things
Jesus was a teacher, contrary to the teaching of the Pharisees
CHRISTIAN HISTORIANS
Just because someone is a Christian, doesn’t mean that they can’t be seen as a reliable source of information for our journey.
We have already established from critical sources that Jesus came, taught, did miracles, and died under Pontius Pilate.
I am going to share with you the Historical records of a guy named Justin Martyr.
Remember, this is just a summary.
Justyn Martyr- First Apology, 34
“Now there is a village in the land of the Jews, thirty-five stadia (approx. 4-5 miles) from Jerusalem, in which Jesus Christ was born, as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing made under Cyrenius, your first procurator in Judea.”
Guess how far Bethlehem is from Jerusalem? Around 5 miles
We are not taking Justin Martyr’s word for the birth of Jesus. What does he say here?
Look at the registers of the procurator of your area. You can verify when and where Jesus was bor for yourself.
This lines up with the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
Justyn Martyr- Dialog with Trypho, 77
“For at the time of His birth, Magi who came from Arabia worshipped Him, coming first to Herod, who then was sovereign in your land. “
Justin identifies that Magi came to worship Jesus from Arabia and visited Herod first.
I don’t need to look that up, but you can read the account for yourself in Matthew 2.
Justyn Martyr- First Apology, 50
“Accordingly, after He was crucified, even all His acquaintances forsook Him, having denied Him; and afterwards, when He had risen from the dead and appeared to them, and had taught them to read the prophecies in which all these things were foretold as coming to pass, and when they had seen Him ascending into heaven, and had believed, and had received power sent thence by Him upon them, and went to every race of men, they taught these things, and were called apostles.”
Jesus was crucified
Jesus was forsaken and denied
Jesus resurrected from the dead
Jesus taught after His resurrection
Jesus ascended into Heaven
The Holy Spirit empowered the church
They went into the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus.
Flavius Josephus- Antiquities, XVII, 33
“Now there was about this time Jesus a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.
He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him;
for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and then thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.”
It is debatable to say that Josephus was a Christian.
Critics will say, “He was a Christian, because this sounds really Christian.”
But there is nothing to say that he was or wasn’t a Christian.
What we know about Josephus was that he was a Jewish Pharisee who was captured by the Roman empire. He went on as a historian to write “The Jewish War” and later “The Jewish Antiquities”. He died around 100 AD.
As a Pharisee and among the Jews, there wasn’t a lot of love for Jesus, but whether he was or wasn’t a disciple of Jesus, you still have to consider the words that he said.
I wish I could go into more detail than this, but the events of Jesus’ life are accounted for without using the Bible.
History builds the case for the life, teachings, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, without even using the Bible.
Who was Jesus?
Who was Jesus?
Here is the jump we will make for this question.
We see that history points to the validity of the Bible
But the question of who Jesus is (other than a historical figure), is the key.
If he simply existed, it would be a neat story, but there is more to the identity of Jesus that we must consider.
Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh and the Messiah.
His disciples were eye-witnesses to the teachings and life of Jesus.
The eye-witnesses of Jesus certainly held that Jesus was more than simply a man.
Our key passage today reminds us of this fact.
For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Jesus’ disciples claimed to be eye-witnesses to Jesus, to His teaching and to the mission of the Gospel.
In essence, they saw the resurrected Jesus and went out telling the story of Jesus.
Not for a historical account. But for something completely different.
Connected to the story of Jesus’ life was the life-changing plan of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
Without Jesus, there is no salvation.
Jesus Himself said this: John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The disciples had no motivation other than the truth of the Gospel to tell the story of the Gospel.
What did the disciples get for their testimony?
Money?
Power?
Acceptance?
Money?
None of the Apostles became rich. Jesus himself was homeless and they followed His lead.
They gave to anyone as they saw need and used money to build the Kingdom of God, not their own kingdoms
Power?
Jesus directly said that His disciples must become the servant of all.
Acceptance or relevance?
They were arrested, tortured and killed for their testimony.
What did they get?
Peter- crucified upside down
Paul- beheaded
Andrew- crucified in Greece
Thomas- run through with spears
Philip- Converted the wife of a Roman proconsul, so the proconsul had him arrested and killed
James (son of Alpheus) -Stoned and clubbed to death
Luke- Hanged from an olive tree
Simon the Zealot- killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god
Matthias- killed by being burned
John- the only disciple who died a natural death, but he was boiled in oil and banished to Patmos.
These people all claimed to be eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus.
Would they die for something they knew was a lie?
Would they die for something they weren’t entirely sure about?
No.
Why Does This Matter?
Why Does This Matter?
We can talk about the topics of God’s existence, the Bible’s validity, the alignment with History, and the testimony of the eye-witnesses.
All of that builds a case for this being real.
OK, lets say for a moment that these things are real. So what?
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
A few weeks ago, I said there is a strong connection between the concept of truth and the teaching of salvation.
We see this here as well. Paul is saying, “You know the story about Jesus that we taught you. In that story is salvation.”
What was taught to them?
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.
Jesus’ death was not just a historical event.
It was death for our sins.
This is according to the Scriptures
Have we talked about the truth of the Scriptures? Yes.
Jesus was buried and rose from the dead
This is according to the Scriptures
You will find that the Bible is not only Historical truth
It is Spiritual truth and in the Bible, we will find the Gospel
He didn’t just rise from the dead
He also appeared to people. It wasn’t done in a corner for only a few. It was done in the open for everyone to see.
I want to navigate the next few verses and close our sermon today:
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
There were people in Corinth that were not accepting the truth of the claims that Jesus resurrected from the dead.
They weren’t eye-witnesses, so they didn’t buy the story.
But Paul said, “That is a part of the Gospel. There is no Gospel without the resurrection.”
Paul says, “This is not just a historical debate. It isn’t just that we are misleading you. You have no foundation for faith if Jesus hasn’t resurrected from the dead.”
More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
Paul goes on to say, “It isn’t just that we are wrong, we are liars if Jesus didn’t resurrect from the dead.”
If there is no resurrection, Jesus didn’t resurrect either.
Either there is resurrection or there is not resurrection
Paul is giving the same argument of truth that we have given.
This is not a matter of preference.
We cannot pick and choose the truth we are comfortable with.
The truth is the truth and that is the only thing we can build our lives upon.
If Jesus didn’t resurrect, then there is no hope for your resurrection.
There is no point of faith if there is no hope.
Also, there is no hope for those who have died.
If Jesus, who really existed, who really died on the cross, has been conquered by death, then we have no victory in this life.
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then we are following a religion that will only impact the lives we live in this world.
There is no heaven if there is no resurrection
There is no justice if there is no resurrection
There is no purpose to this life if there is no resurrection
We are following something as hope. If that hope isn’t real, because the resurrection isn’t real, then the hope we are following is a lie and we are pitiful humans for following a mirage.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
But, Jesus did rise from the dead.
He is the firstfruits
This isn’t a word that we typically use in our culture.
To the Jewish people of that time, they would be familiar with the concept of firstfruits.
They would take the first bit of the harvest and give it to God as a sacrifice.
The first and the best would go to God.
In return, God would bless them and give them a massive crop following the firstfruits.
Jesus was the firstfruits and the idea is that there will be a whole crop of resurrections after His.
In Adam, sin entered the world and with sin, death.
Death became the great conqueror of mankind.
All men sin, therefore all men die.
But in Jesus, there is resurrection. So this is what Paul says about that.
But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death
Death doesn’t win. Jesus does.
My life is lived, knowing that eternity is waiting for me.
I can live for something other than this life.
It all revolves around this.
The only way to defeat death is for Jesus to conquer your sin.
Faith
Salvation
Truth
Discipleship
Conclusion
Conclusion
Real Life in Action:
Head- Follow Jesus
Heart- He will change you
Hands- Become a fisher of men
Apart from Jesus, your life will be defined by the final enemy, death. Regardless of how you lived, after you die, you will be mentioned in the past tense.
With Jesus, your life will be defined by eternal life through Jesus Christ. Regardless of how you lived, your savior conquered death and you are defined by grace.
Not deserving
Nothing to offer
Nothing to earn
Just Jesus
