Jesus Christ Was Raised From The Dead 3-11-07AM
Proof Positive Jesus Christ Was Raised From The Dead
1 Co 15:19(NIV)--(19) If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
Resurrection
I would like you for a minute
Tennis star Boris Becker was at the very top of the tennis world—yet he was on the brink of suicide. He said, “I had won Wimbledon twice before, once as the youngest player. I was rich. I had all the material possessions I needed . It’s the old song of movie stars and pop stars who commit suicide. They have everything, and yet they are so unhappy. I had no inner peace. I was a puppet on a string.”
Becker is not the only one to feel that sense of emptiness. The echoes of a hollow life pervade our culture. One doesn’t have to read many contemporary biographies to find the same frustration and disappointment. Jack Higgens, author of such successful novels and The Eagle Has Landed, was asked what he would like to have known as a boy. His answer: “That when you get to the top, there’s nothing there.”
I want to look at the evidence of the resurrection. Not the proof of the resurrection, because until you accept the evidence, there is no such thing as proof. There's a distinction between the two. I can tell you that this I believe, or that I believe, and I may talk about a distinction between proof and evidence, but the distinction is important. For instance, if I tell you I really believe Jesus has walked from the grave alive, I can't prove it to you, and you can't prove it to me, because we were not there. And even if I had been there, and I came to you and said, "Look, I saw it," you could say to me, "That was just a hallucination." We have to look the evidence. If you agree with the evidence, then it can become a proof to you.
I) Not A New Teaching
1 Co 15:1-9(NIV) --(1) Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. --(2) By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. --(3) For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, --(4) that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, --(5) and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. --(6) After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. --(7) Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, --(8) and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. --(9) For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1 Th 4:13-18(NIV) --(13) Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. --(14) We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. --(15) According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. --(16) For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. --(17) After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. --(18) Therefore encourage each other with these words.
II) Calling Our Witnesses
Dt 19:15(NIV) --(15) One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
A) Scripture
Ge 3:15(NIV)--(15) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
B) Jewish Leaders
Mt 27:60-66(NIV)--(60) and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. --(61) Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. --(62) The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. --(63) “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ --(64) So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” --(65) “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” --(66) So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
1) They lied about the truth
Mt 28:11-15(NIV) --(11) While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. --(12) When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, --(13) telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ --(14) If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” --(15) So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
2) Why didn’t they show the body of Jesus and stop all the claims
C) Roman Guards
3) He was dead so they did not break His legs
D) Disciples
1) Cowards to Courageous
2) Hiding To Hollowing
3) Jesus' appearance to 500 followers is evidence of the resurrection
4) Christians risking their lives is evidence of the resurrection
E) The Woman and the tomb
1) Jesus spoke to them
F) Paul
1) Paul's eyewitness account is evidence of the resurrection
2) Paul's transformation is evidence of the resurrection
a) Paul hated Jesus
b) Paul hated Christians
c) Paul hated Churchs
G) You, Me and People we know
1) I know my life changed
2) I have seen others change
H) His family
a) James was Jesus brother
b) The hardest people in the world to reach is our family
Mk 3:21-22(NIV)--(21) When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” --(22) And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
I) Jesus – The greatest Proof
Ac 1:8-11(NIV)--(8) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” --(9) After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. --(10) They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. --(11) “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
III) We Can’t Give Into The False Teachings
A) Paul spoke to the Galatians
Ga 1:6-8(NIV) --(6) I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— --(7) which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. --(8) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
1) The wording means to desert
The hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004 left thousands without electrical power. One man who used a portable generator to supply power until the electrical lines could be repaired reported a strange experience. Some daring thieves found the generator in full operation outside the man's house and stole it. The homeowner didn't discover the theft until he went outside to put gasoline in his generator.
How did the thieves cover up such an obvious crime? They started another gasoline engine and left it running right beside the generator. The robbers took off with their prize, while the owner was lulled into a false sense of security created by the sound of his own riding lawnmower.
Our church rented a theater to watch The Passion of the Christ on opening weekend. Afterward we gathered for dinner, discussion, and prayer. I returned home in a somber mood, deeply reflecting upon the sacrifice of Christ.
When I opened my mail that night, the first letter was from a local church, inviting me to visit their "special community." They listed the ways they were unique:
· No religious dogma—We encourage the freedom of individual thought and belief. A humanist view of life—Our faith is based on celebrating the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
· Warm, accessible services—Our Sunday services…typically include a mix of readings, music, moments of meditation or contemplation, and a sermon….
· Our children's religious education program—We teach our kids to be accepting of differing beliefs and the importance of each person seeking his or her own truth. They study the world's major religions and draw on the core values of each faith tradition….
· So if you're looking for a congregation that cherishes freedom of belief and opinion, with a warm sense of community and fellowship, please visit us!
I had watched the horrific suffering of Jesus and heard him say, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Hours later I opened an invitation to visit a group where truth doesn't matter. The contrast was overwhelming.
I’m tired of being pushed around. I know what I believe and I am not going to let anybody take my belief away.
I Know:
· Jesus is coming back
· My sins are forgiven
· Jesus paid a price I could not pay
· The loved ones that have gone home are not hurting
· One day I will walk into a Heavenly home