Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Happy Easter!

Y’all look nice!

That defining moment.

A defining moment changes everything.

It’s a pivotal point of our lives.

A defining moment in my life:

Teenage years (photo?)

fatherhood

Owning my faith

We need a defining moment - because at the moment things are all messed up

You can’t make dead things live.

We need the Resurrection!

1

Something changed Peter to go from a coward to a leader.

What changed Peter?

It wasn’t some great religious teaching / moral standard / fuzzy feeling.

He saw a dead man living.

What Happened?

*Answer: Jesus was who he said he was.

(The Empty Tomb)

What happened?

The tomb was empty.

John 20

Peter himself explains the change is because of the resurrection of Jesus.

This was the defining moment in his life.

Three facts that beg for a conclusion that can redefine your life.

With these facts we are looking for the TRUTH - not opinion, not preference, not feelings.

When we ask “What happened” we’re looking not for what is ‘true for me, or true for you.’

Instead, we are looking for what is TRUE.

Illust - you go to leave today and you get to your car and someone is already sitting in it.

You ask what they are doing in your car and they tell you that they feel that it is actually their car.

You tell them you don’t care what they are feeling - it is YOUR car.

(maybe not, I haven’t seen your car - maybe you’d say ‘Good luck and Godspeed - there’s a bill for repairs in the glovebox.’)

You’d tell them what they feel doesn’t matter - you can’t both be right - you don’t both have your own truth - it is either your car or it isn’t.

The reality of truth outside this building in the parking lot exists inside this building as well.

Either Jesus is God or he is not.

Christianity’s claims that the only way to God is through Jesus is either true or untrue.

It cannot be true for some.

Christianity is not one way among many different ways to God

Paul says if Jesus did not rise from the dead Christians are to be pitied.

If the resurrection did not happen, then Christianity is a lie, let’s go home and stop wasting our time.

But if the resurrection did happen, then Christianity IS true - and it changes everything - it can define your life.

Jesus really lived.

In his essay, “Why I Am Not A Christian,” philosopher Bertrand Russel writes:

“Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do not know anything about Him.”

However, it is actually the opposite which is true.

The claim that Jesus was a myth or a legend can be made, but cannot be made based on the facts of history.

In fact, there is virtually no credible scholar today that would deny that a man named Jesus lived in first-century Palestine, who had many followers claiming he could work wonders, and that he died under Roman authority around 33 AD.

All of these details can be gathered through historical writings completely apart from the New Testament.

The fact is, Jesus really lived.

Jesus really died.

The second fact is, Jesus really died.

Roman soldiers were expert killers.

It was their job and they were good at it.

In addition, the rule was that if they allowed a condemned man to live, the soldiers in charge would be condemned to the same death.

Jesus had been brutally beaten with scourges that would often times leave other men dead.

One historian writes it was not uncommon to see men disemboweled during the scourging or see the victim’s rib go flying.

In addition to the beating, Jesus had a crown of thorns shoved on his head, was forced to carry the patibulum, or the cross beam which could weigh up to 100lbs.

At the execution site, Jesus had nails drilled through his wrists and feet so that he would be literally hanging from the cross.

Victims of crucifixion died not due to blood loss but due to asphyxiation.

This is why they would often break the legs of the victims to speed death - they were unable to push their body to a place where normal breathing could occur.

Finally, we’re told that a Roman soldier thrust a spear into Jesus’ side and both water and blood flowed out.

This is a medical phenomenon that people in the first-century would not have understood - that upon death the sac surrounding the heart begins to fill with a clear fluid.

John Ankerburg and John Weldon conclude:

Indeed, survival from crucifixions was unknown; just as today, men simply do not survive the firing squad, electric chair, lethal injection, or gas chamber.

Because the law has decreed the prisoner’s death, even if a first attempt fails, procedures are repeated until death occurs.

Death by crucifixion was just as certain as by any modern method of execution; there was no escape.

McDowell, Josh.

Evidence for the Resurrection: What It Means for Your Relationship with God (p.

168).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

The tomb is empty.

The third fact to consider is that the tomb is empty.

Explanations for the empty tomb:

Swoon Theory - Jesus didn’t really die.

He passed out and was revived in the tomb and left on his own power.

Illust - I cant walk on a lego without screaming like a girl and limping for a week, and somehow we are supposed to believe that Jesus walked several miles with holes in his feet.

Wrong Tomb - Mary Magdelene and the disciples (and the Roman guards, and the millions of people who have visited the site for thousands of years were just a bit fuzzy on the directions.

The rightful owner of the tomb would have stepped forward

The many enemies of Jesus, the disciples, and Christianity would have, at some time, found the right tomb and produced the body.

Stolen Body - Someone(s) stole the body to make it look like Jesus was resurrected.

Neither the Romans nor the Jewish leaders would have stolen the body.

How would disciples who were terrified cowards be so bold as to brave a guard of soldiers to steal the body.

John mentions the grave clothes neatly folded.

I’ve never robbed a grave personally (wait . . .

no), but I would imagine it would be a rush job, not ‘take your time, no rush, the guards won’t mind if we tidy up a bit.”

The only conclusion that best fits the evidence of these three facts is that Jesus rose from the dead as he claimed he would.

*Have you ever honestly considered the evidence of these facts of Jesus’ resurrection?

(notice I didn’t ask ‘do you have any objections’)

Here’s the problem, many people suspend an honest review of the facts because of unanswered expectations.

Ex.

Dr. Bart Ehrman, professor of New Testament and early Christianity at University of North Carolina has stated “I came to realize that I simply no longer believed the Christian message.

A large part of my movement away from the faith was driven by my concern for suffering.”

ILLUST - (Going back to the car illust)- It would be as if you took the time to give the person who hopped into your car after church evidence that it was indeed your car - you show them the keys that operate the locks, the paperwork in the glovebox, the details you know about the car that no one else would.

But this person ignores those facts because they can’t understand how this could be your car since there is a complete collection of Justin Bieber CDs in it.

(there is an explanation - you’re a Beebs fan)

The unanswered expectation shouldn’t cause someone to ignore the facts.

When I get to heaven I have a lot of questions, but my questions about what I don’t know doesn’t negate the truth of what I do know.

There are additional evidences to support the claim that the best explanation of the three facts are that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead.

500+ witnesses - Paul was writing within a generation of the actual events and he claims that in addition to the Twelve disciples, there were more than 500 witnesses that can confirm that Jesus was alive.