"What if It's not True"
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Introduction
Have you ever had thoughts like, “What if it’s not true?”
What if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead and this is all a big money making sham?
What if we just all needed some kind of hope so we have created this whole religious system just to make ourselves feel better about the crappy world we live in?
If you are here today and your not a follower of Christ, I would imagine you have those kinds of thoughts all the time.
If you are a follower of Christ, I would imagine you hate the fact that you have thought like this. Doubting the very resurrection that has brought you salvation.
Imagine with me for a moment a world without the resurrection. Just like the writer of a movie, visualize with me a world without the lasting impression of Christ.
If Christ had not raised from the dead. He would not have forged a world religion practiced by 2.3 Billion people world wide today. 31.2% of the population from the most current censes.
There would be no Roman Calendar of A.D. which is Latin for “In the year of our Lord.”
Life would not have evolved as we know it.
I read in article by Ron Boehme entitled, “Twelve ways Jesus Changed the World.”
Christianity
Many of the freedoms we enjoy as Americans would be lost without the influence of Christianity through the resurrection and the teaching of Christ. Documents like the Magna Carta, British common law, and the declaration of independence where all framed through the teaching of Christ and the Bible, giving us republican governments, democratic principles, and human rights.
Women were first considered as equals from the teaching of Christianity.
We would not have the benefits of education the way we do now. Time Magazine was quoted in saying, “the printing of the Gutenberg Bible…is the most important event of the past five hundred years because it made truth and knowledge easily available to the masses.”
“Faith in him (Christ) has led his followers through the centuries to care for the poor; minister to the sick; start hospitals and schools; share the Good News around the world; apply Christian principles to government, economics, and social issues; and to influence every other engine of progress.”
The world without the resurrection is a dark place. Can you see it?
The world we live in is shaped by the Resurrection of Christ.
It is a place with no hope for the future. No since of brotherly love. No value of life either now or for eternity.
There are still places like this in the world today.
Places without the influence and protection of God. Billions of hopeless people having no idea why they exist. Having no relationship with God or his Son Jesus Christ.
We call these places “third world,” or “underdeveloped” countries that simply have not had the influence of the hope of the resurrection of Christ.
But for the grace of God, we would be just like they are. The only difference in us and them is the influence of the resurrection of Christ and the teachings of Christianity that have pulled us out of the dark ages and given us hope in this life and the life to come.
Today we have come together to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. But the celebration is much more than just a memorial of April 10, 30 A.D. when Jesus walked out of the grave. But a celebration of life that the resurrection has influenced from that day to this one.
I realize that many don’t celebrate this great day or the freedoms it has produced any longer. Many are full of doubt about if the resurrection is even real.
Let’s look at what Paul has to say about this in :
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
1 Cor 15:12
The 500 eye-witness to the resurrection would have all been in Jerusalem 40 years before this letter was written. To everyone else it was a matter of faith just as it is for us today.
The Resurrection of Christ is the foundation of all the hope and well being in our lives.
The Resurrection of Christ is the foundation of all the hope and well being in our lives.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 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.
Think about how much America revolves around the holiday. If there is no resurrection then Christmas is just about Santa Clause and Easter is just about bunnies and and hard boiled eggs.
Our preaching is in vain.
No wait, There would be no Santa Clause because St. Nicholas, born on March 15, 270 A.D., was a Christian Bishop that went around helping the needy. So take that joy out of the world. (Pic of Santa with Christmas Tree then he disappears).
Our preaching is in vain.
Our faith is in vain.
We have misrepresented God.
16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
1 Cor 15:16-17
Without the resurrection there is no forgiveness of sins. We are all lost and without hope of being with God.
But the power of the resurrection destroys sin and death and gives us hope for salvation.
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Cor 15:
If there is no resurrection there is no hope for those we have lost.
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.
The resurrection gives us purpose in living.
32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
1 Cor 15:
Without the resurrection life has no eternal value.
Grab all the gusto cause you only go around once.
Christ’s Resurrection has become our Resurrection.
Christ’s Resurrection has become our Resurrection.
1 Cor 15:
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
The fact of the resurrection can be seen all around us.
The fact of the resurrection should change our purpose in life.
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:
The resurrection has freed us from sin.
Today is resurrection day. Time to wake up.
34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Sober Up Man.
Quit Sinning.
People need to know God.
We are falling down on the job.
The Resurrection is Closer than You Think!
The Resurrection is Closer than You Think!
Our change is coming.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:51
Those that belong to Christ Jesus is coming back to get.
The trumpet of God will sound and we shall be changed.
Our salvation will be complete
Those that don’t belong to Christ must suffer through the wrath of God.
We don’t know when that moment will be.
There is no hope without the resurrection.
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
Closing thoughts:
The resurrection of Christ is all around us. We see it in every aspect of our lives.
It’s time to start living in it.
It is the life that sustains us.
It gives us purpose and meaning for today.
Maybe you have had your doubts in the past. Is it real? What if it’s not true?
The evidence is all around you.
It’s there when you turn on the news.
It’s there when you sit down to eat.
It’s there when you share holidays with your family.
It’s there when you go to a funeral of a loved one.
The resurrection is undeniable.
Are you living in the resurrection.? Have you come to Christ?
Those that live in the resurrection today are the same ones Jesus will resurrect later.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Eph 2:
There is no better time to come out of your grave and start living in the resurrection than right now during Easter.
God is ready to resurrect anyone and everyone that believes and receives Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
I would like to have everyone bow there heads and close or eyes for just a moment. I don’t want you focused on anything but the resurrection.
Can you feel it?
Can you see it all around you?
Are you living in it?
Have you been resurrected from this dead dark world and come into the light of Jesus Christ?
Today could be your resurrection day.
If you would like to be resurrected today. I want to help you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. The prayer of salvation is an outward expression of a change in your heart.
Dear God,
I see the resurrection of Jesus all around me. I live in the blessing of it every day. I want to be resurrected from the dead through the power of your son Jesus Christ. Please forgive me of my sin. I trust Jesus to save me from my sin. I take Jesus as my Lord and savior today. Give me strength to live with you and give me hope for the future. Thank you for raising me from the dead. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Our faith is in vain.
We are misrepres