What if it’s all a Lie?

Introduction

What happens when something is built on a lie?

In the show Lincoln Laywer, Michey Haller, is trying a case where his client is accused of stealing a diamond necklace from a married couple - the wife had received it as a gift from her husband.

But Mickey sees the necklace and immediately recognizes the diamonds as being fake.

He calls the oppossing side’s lawyer and says - those diamonds are fake. Do you want to drop the charges now or do you want to embarrass your clients by revealing that those diamonds are complete fakes.

It’s not that synthetic diamonds or cubic zirconia are bad…

But, it is definitely a let down to find out that your beautiful diamond engagement ring, that your husband said was worth thousands of dollars, can be bought of Amazon for $50 with free same day shipping.

You cannot build a solid foundation on a lie.

Knowing that something is true, that something really happened, that something is genuine is a very serious matter.

And if this is important when we are talking about an engagement ring, how much more important it is when we are talking about eternal matters, matters of life and death, matters of our eternal destiny.

In this case, I am referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that Jesus Christ died upon the cross and that on the third day God raised him from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.

…but what if it’s all a lie?

What if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead?

What if his body was stolen?

What if the disciples took his body at night and buried him, and pretended that Jesus Christ rose from the dead?

What if none of this is true?

What if we’ve all been deceived.

Paul takes on this challenge in his letter to the Corinthian church.

1 Corintios 15:17–19 ESV

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Paul says that if Christ did not rise from the dead…then we are still in our sins.

If Christ did not rise from the dead, then everyone who believed in Jesus, wasted their time.

If Christ did not rise from the dead, then of all the people who have ever lived upon the face of the earth, we are the ones that are most to be pitied, we should feel sorry for all Christians.

If Christ did not rise from the dead…then our entire life has been wasted because we’ve believed in a lie.

So, ultimately, the Christian faith depends on the resurrection of Christ being an actual event that occurred in time and history.

Without the resurrection of Jesus…our entire faith crumbles like a house of cards.

Without the resurrection of Jesus we have no hope.

But at the same time, since Jesus Christ rose from the dead…

1 Corintios 15:6 ESV

6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

More than 500 people were witnesses to the risen Lord Jesus.

Many of them were persecuted for believing that Jesus rose from the dead.

Because we know, through their testimony, that God raised Jesus from the dead we can have 100% certainty…that:

God is real.

Jesus is our savior.

Our sins our forgiven.

Death has been conquered.

…and one day, we too we die, will one day live again.