Sermon Tone Analysis

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When was YOUR best day ever?

For some it was a major WIN on a court or a field.

For others, it was the day of your child’s birth.

Others might point to the day of your 2nd birth - the day you were born again in Jesus.

Still others remember their wedding day.

And then there was that day that 2 candy bars fell out of the vending machine at once!

Although the 1st followers of Jesus had many wonderful days with Jesus - watching Him heal and teach, laughing and praying with Him, and seeing Him do the most amazing things - like walking on water - I think they would say that the day we celebrate right here - Resurrection Sunday - was...

the Best Day Ever!

The reason it was SO GOOD was because it came on the heals of a day that was SO BAD.

For the first followers of Jesus, Good Friday was NOT a good Friday.

Their King had been killed.

After being beaten to a bloody pulp, spit on, and marched just outside the walls of Jerusalem, Jesus was nailed to a Roman cross and lifted up for all the Passover participants to see.

And the end of the day, the One they had hoped was their long awaited Messiah (Lk 24:21) was laying in a tomb while their dreams were buried with Him.

As the sun goes down and that Passover Sabbath begins, thousands of Jewish people are celebrating and resting, but the first followers of Jesus were mourning and moping.

Their hopes were dashed to the ground.

Scared for their own lives, most of these distraught disciples protected themselves inside locked doors (Jn 20:19), except for the women who dared to journey to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body for the last time.

Unbeknownst to them, the tomb had been sealed because of a major concern the enemies of Jesus had.

We read about that here.

Why Guard a Dead Body?

Matthew 27:62–64 The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day.

Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.

That would be a difficult deception to overcome wouldn’t it?

According to His disciples, Jesus had many times foretold that He really WAS going to rise from the dead.

Matthew 16:21 From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.

Matthew 17:22–23 As they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.

They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised up.”

And they were deeply distressed.

Matthew 20:18–19 See, we are going up to Jerusalem.

The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death.

They will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised.

And so, to counter these crazy claims, Pilate told the enemies of Jesus...

Matthew 27:65-66 “You have a guard of soldiers,” Pilate told them.

“Go and make it as secure as you know how.”

They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.

A guard is not a lone soldier, but a Greek term referring to a small group from 4 to 16 Roman soldiers (several soldiers are obvious later in same passage - Mt 28:11).

And so, the stage is set.

If anyone DOES attempt to steal Jesus’ body, they will be met with deadly force by the Marines of the day.

And yet, today, Christians gather, not to mourn a false messiah, but to celebrate The Best Day Ever! - the day that Jesus rose from the dead!

How is THAT?

Depending on the lenses you see through, it seems to me that we could approach this claim 1 of 3 ways.

1.

Many of you are Convinced.

You believe in Jesus written about in the Scriptures and you trust Him with your life.

But, I pray that you will do more than just trust what your parents, pastor, and church says.

I pray you will begin to examine the evidence for yourself and become confident that Jesus actually resurrected.

Before becoming a Christian, Josh McDowell wrote these words, “My heart cannot rejoice in what my mind rejects.”

You and I will never become passionate about something we aren’t convinced of.

And when you become convinced, you will be passionate and prepared to help answer the questions that others ask.

I pray today will help you to do just that.

2. Some of you are Confused.

You feel like you’re in the middle of a tug-a-war.

Some of your friends and family believe in and live for Jesus and others don’t.

But how are you supposed to determine whether what historical claims from 2000+ years ago are credible or not?

I pray that today will help you to seriously consider the claims of Jesus and His disciples.

3.

And then a few of you are Critical.

You’re here today because it’s your yearly duty to your family, but you wonder why others believe all this religious stuff.

Quite frankly, you likely haven’t put in the work to consider the historical claims of Jesus.

In fact, if someone could give you credible reasons to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, some would still choose to reject Him.

Josh McDowell once spoke with a man who told Josh he could not believe in Jesus.

Josh asked, “If I could prove the claims of Jesus beyond reasonable doubt, would you follow Jesus?”

The man told him, “No.”

Josh countered with something like this, “Then your problem is not an issue of the MIND, but an issue of the WILL.

Even if you were convinced that the claims of Jesus are true, you would STILL REJECT him, because you refuse to bow to His authority.”

If that’s you, today.

I pray you will listen over the next few minutes - regardless of how uncomfortable you might be.

I’ll be totally transparent with my intentions - I want to put a stone in your shoe, a challenge for you to deal with the historical claims of Christianity.

And here’s why this message matters so much.

The risen Jesus is the Cornerstone of Christianity.

Without the resurrection all we have is a miracle-working philosopher.

Further, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then He or His disciples were LIARS, as the New Testament writings are littered with the claim that Jesus WOULD and DID rise from the dead.

Did you know that

Gary Habermas:

“The resurrection is mentioned in over 300 verses in the New Testament.

It’s the center of almost every major area of theology…and practice.“

BIG TRUTH: If He rose from the dead, we can trust what He said.

Gary Habermas notes 4 Facts that Historical Scholars Agree On:

1. Jesus died on the cross and was buried.

This is a historical fact undisputed by credible scholarship.

What IS disputed is to WHY Jesus was crucified.

Some say Jesus was killed because He was a false teacher.

Jesus claimed to be the Messiah - God in skin, but He wasn’t.

Others say Jesus was killed because people misunderstood His message.

Jehovah’s witnesses, for example, don’t think Jesus claimed to be God, but that His audience misunderstood what He meant.

And many in our day claim that Jesus died as an act of love.

And while this was the ultimate act of love, it was much more than that.

Here’s what the followers of Jesus taught about His death.

John 1:29 “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Just hours before Jesus was arrested & taken to be killed, Jesus had the Passover meal with His disciples.

Matthew 26:26–28 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.”

Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you.

For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

If this is true, then it tells us 3 important truths: 1) Our sin is SERIOUS.

2) People are PRECIOUS.

3) And Our God is GRACIOUS.

Jesus died on the cross and was buried - this is undisputed by credible scholarship.

2. The tomb was EMPTY & the body of Jesus was never found.

I had the privilege of going to Jerusalem a little over a year ago.

I walked inside the walls of Jerusalem and journey 2 different burial sites that are claimed to have housed the body of Jesus just after His death.

However…I can report that His body is not in either place.