Why the Resurrection Matters
Notes
Transcript
Illustration
Me shooting a bird
I checked to see if it was alive.
I put it back in a tree.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not revive that bird.
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
The Bible tells us that Jesus rose from the dead after He was crucified and buried.
We see this in the Gospels, but more importantly, the Gospels speak of Jesus' resurrection!
Most of the New Testament books allude to Jesus' resurrection.
That is how important the resurrection of Jesus is!
Paul writes about it clearly in 1 Cor. 15:3-6
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;
We see in these verses that not only do the Gospels and other New Testament books claim Jesus rose from the dead, but the disciples saw Him—more than 500 others even saw Him.
But that is just the Bible… what if there were secular accounts about Jesus?
Reporting on Emperor Nero's decision to blame the Christians for the fire that had destroyed Rome in A.D. 64, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote:
Nero fastened the guilt ... on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus (Latin for Christ), from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty (crucifixion) during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of ... Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition (Christ Resurrection), thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome....
One historian suggests that Tacitus is here "bearing indirect ... testimony to the conviction of the early church that the Christ who had been crucified had risen from the grave."
Although this interpretation is admittedly speculative, it helps clarify the otherwise strange emergence of a rapidly growing religion centered around a man who was crucified as a criminal. How else could this be explained?
Another important source of evidence about Jesus and early Christianity can be found in the letters of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan.
Pliny was the Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor. In one of his letters, dated around A.D. 112, he asks Trajan's advice about the proper way to conduct legal proceedings against those accused of being Christians.
At one point in his letter, Pliny describes some of the information he has gathered about these Christians.
They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food – but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.
If Christ's resurrection was a lie, why did people still gather regularly, and why would they risk being arrested as Christians?
Not only that, but they dedicated their lives to the teachings of Christ and the Bible.
Perhaps the most notable mention of Jesus outside the Bible appears in the writings of Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian.
About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he ... wrought surprising feats.... He was the Christ. When Pilate ...condemned him to be crucified, those who had . . . come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared ... restored to life.... And the tribe of Christians ... has ... not disappeared.
Josephus confirmed the historical accounts of Jesus:
Jesus performing miracles.
His crucifixion.
His resurrection.
He highlighted the steadfastness of the Christians who followed His teachings.
There is no evidence in any of Josephus's writings that indicates he had become a Christian, so his writings were simply the proof of evidence he had gathered on this man named Jesus.
References to Jesus in the Babylonian Talmud, a collection of Jewish rabbinical writings compiled between approximately A.D. 70-500.
These religious writings include accounts of what happened historically among the religious sects of that time.
On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald ... cried, "He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy."
It would seem that the religious leaders intended to stone Jesus to death, but of course Jesus made sure his case went before Pilate, so the prophecies of Him would be fulfilled as spoken throughout the Old Testament.
Lucian of Samosata was a second century Greek satirist. In one of his works, he wrote of the early Christians as follows:
The Christians ... worship a man to this day – the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.... [It] was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.
Lucian witnessed both Jews and Gentiles worshiping this Jesus together. No one in their right mind would do that for something that wasn't real.
Clement, an early church leader ordained by Peter, wrote about his firsthand knowledge of speaking with Peter regarding the accounts of Christ and the confidence with which Peter spoke.
Polycarp, who was sent by the Apostle John to Smyrna, spoke very similarly about John.
There are actually about 110 facts about Jesus, including his life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection, outside of the Bible.
Historically, we know that all of the Apostles, except John, died horrible deaths for the cause of Christ.
Nobody would die the deaths they did for a lie.
We need to understand how significant this is. There is little collaboration and supporting evidence written on other subjects during this time era.
For there to be so much written about a man named Jesus;
Who had no political power
Was not a Roman emperor
Was not a leader of a military rebellion
In fact, not only was He none of those:
But He was from a hillybilly, redneck town named Nazareth.
He was hated by His religious contemporaries.
He went on trial before Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified,
Then raised Himself from the dead.
Let me clarify the crucifixion, however. Jesus was not killed against His will.
Parable of the good shepherd
“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
“No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Jesus loves us so much that He willingly sacrificed His life, yet He also rose Himself from the dead.
Man can't do this; only God Himself can raise Himself from the dead.
Do you remember me killing that little bird when I was a kid?
There was nothing I could do to give life back to that bird. The same idea applies to us. When we die, that's it… There are no do-overs.
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
This judgment is for those who have not trusted in Christ for salvation.
The result of that judgment is eternal separation from God in Hell, where they will be in torment, suffering continuously for their sins.
For those who trust in Christ for salvation, however, death is just the start of real life!
Jesus talking to Martha after He raised Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
The same power Jesus used to raise Himself from the dead is the same power He will use to raise those who trust in Him for salvation after they die!
Jesus offers life… Without Him, there is no life; instead, there is only death, and that death is eternal in hell.
If you don’t know where you stand before God, I want to encourage you to make a decision today.
You may have gone to church your whole life but never truly believed.
You might be visiting today and feel unsure.
However, there are a few things we can be certain of:
First, we don’t know what tomorrow may bring, so waiting to believe isn’t an option.
Second, you don’t need to clean yourself up first; you just need to believe.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
I am going to have Mr. Jim come up and lead us into an invitation.
If you want to come forward to trust Jesus as your Savior, this is the time to do it.
Maybe you have been a Christian for a while, but you have not fully given your life over to Christ.
Then this offer is for you too… it is time to get off the bench and commit your life completely to Christ.
