Christ is Risen!
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Text: 1 Corinthians 15:12-22
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:12-22
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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Introduction:
Introduction:
Easter sunday, I told you that I had thought about sharing evidence for the resurrection of Christ, but decided not to.
Today, I want to do that.
Why preach an apologetics type sermon?
I do not want you to believe in Jesus just becasue I said His message is true.
You should only believe in Him because He really did come to this Earth and give himself as a sacrifice for us and then rise from the dead to prove that He was God.
The resurrection is the central key to believing in Christianity.
If Jesus has not been raised from the dead, He is not God and we are believing in a false message.
The resurrection proves that Jesus is who he claimed to be - the Son of God, the third person of the Trinity, God himself
Towards the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus predicted that he would be killed and then rise again three days later.
Matthew 16:21 “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
The resurrection of Jesus is incredible, but is there any evidence that it really happened?
I would like to give you five pieces of evidence this morning that can only be explained by an actual physical resurrection from the dead.
HEART Acronymn
HEART Acronymn
We will use the word Heart as an acronymn to help us remember this information because the resurrection is at the heart of the Gospel.
Horrible Death
Empty Tomb
Appearances After the Resurrection
Record of Women as The First Witnesses
Transformation of the Disciples
Horrible Death
Horrible Death
Heavy loss of blood
A medical doctor cited in The Case for Christ said this: “Roman floggings… usually consisted of thirty-nine lashes… the soldier would use a whip of braided leather thongs with metal balls woven into them. When the whip would strike the flesh, these balls would cause deep bruises or contusions, which whould break open with further blows. And the whip had pieces of sharp bone as well, which would cut the flesh severely. The back would be so shredded that part of the spine was sometimes exposd by the deep deep cuts. The whipping would have gone all the way from the shoulders down to the back, the buttocks, and the back of the legs, It was just terrible. One physician who has studied the Roman beatings said, ‘As the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.’ A third - century historian by the name of Eusebius described the flogging by saying, ‘The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were laid open to exposure.’”
Even before Jesus made it to the cross, he had already lost a lot of blood, and was probably going into shock.
loss of blood explains why he could not carry the cross.
When his side was pierced, blood and water flowed out.
Doctors agree this is a sign that he was dead. If he was alive then blood only would have spurted out.
Soldiers didn’t break His Legs
legs were broken to speed up the death.
the soldiers (professional killers) knew He was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs.
Pilate asked for assurance (from the centurion) that Jesus was dead.
He was wrapped completely in bandages and laid in a tomb.
Non - Christian sources confirm the Crucifixion of Jesus
“One Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, … we crucified, but his disciples stole him by night from the tomb, where he laid when unfastened from the cross, and now deceive men by asserting that he has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven.” (Dialogue with Trypho, by Justin Martyr)
Empty Tomb
Empty Tomb
The Jews through history have admitted that the tomb was empty. They only give reason for the tomb’s vacancy - belief in the empty tomb is assumed.
Christianity could not have originated in Jerusalem within a few weeks of the supposed resurrection if there was no empty tomb.
Other explainations for the empty tomb are not reasonable.
The disciples stole the body.
If the disciples stole the body, then they died for something that they knew was a lie.
The Jewish or Roman authorities removed the body.
All they needed to do to squash the “rebellion” from the new religion was to produce the body of Jesus and prove that He did not rise from the dead, but they didn’t.
Swoon Theory
This is harder to believe than a resurrection!
He has been beaten and hung on a cross for several hours
He would then need to unwrap himself, role away a stone, walk out of the tomb, and overpower the guards there. That is impossible.
Appearances After the Resurrection
Appearances After the Resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 gives us a list of the people who saw Jesus after his resurrection. (written only 20-25 years later)
Peter
The twelve disiples
More than 500 brethren at one time (most of them were still alive when he wrote this letter, so they could confirm or deny what he was saying.)
James
Paul himself
The Gospels tell us that he also appeared to Mary Magdalene and some other women, and the two men on the road to Emaus.
Why believe them?
Most of these witnesses died for their testimony. People do not die for things that they know are lies.
Record of Women as The First Witnesses
Record of Women as The First Witnesses
The gospels record that the first witnesses to the resurrection were the women who went to the tomb to anoint the Body of Jesus.
Why is this important?
A woman’s testimony was not respected in court in those days, and the could not be considered legal witnesses.
If the disciples were going to make up a story they would want it to be believable, so you would have credible witnesses to His resurrection.
The fact that they tell us that Women were the first to see the resurrected Christ tells us that they were not making up the story but telling the truth of what really happened.
Transformation of the Disciples
Transformation of the Disciples
The lives of the diciples were radically transformed after they claimed to see the resurrected Christ.
Peter - He was transformed from a cowardly denier of Christ to a courageous proclaimer of the Resurrection.
Paul - The greatest antoagonist of Christianity became its greatest advocate.
James the brother of Jesus - He was skeptical of Jesus until the resurrection, but became a leader in the Jerusalem church after.
None of these men had anything to gain by claiming that Jesus rose from the dead, and they had everything to lose. (they all died for their testimony)
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
When you look at the facts we see that there was a man named Jesus who lived in the first century that claimed that He would be killed and then rise again in three days.
This man was definitely killed.
He was put in a heavily guarded tomb.
Many People saw him later in physical form.
The only logical conclusion is that Jesus really did die and raise again from the dead.
This means that Jesus is God.
We have not put our faith in some fairy tale, we believe in what Christianity teaches because it is the best explianation of the facts.
Next Steps:
Next Steps:
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ if you haven’t.
Rejoice that we serve a Risen Savior.
Share the truth of the Resurrection with someone this week.