Hoax, Hallucination, Or Historical Fact

I Cor. 15:12-21 “Hoax, Hallucination, or Historical Fact?”

Intro: The Key to our Hope is found in the Resurrection of Christ…PREACH!

Without it our faith, hope and lives are empty….

I. WAS IT A HOAX?

Some claim that it was a Hoax!

A. They stole the body….EXPAND!

1. Somehow got past the numerous guards…..EXPAND! (They feared the soldiers…they fled from them before…) -quietly rolled the stone away….etc.

2. Took time to unwrap Him and fold the linens where He had laid….

Grave robbers would not take the time to neatly fold the linens…

3. They created a lie that He had resurrected…

Then they had to have a look-a-like

a. There were hundreds of eyewitnesses… over 500 in one instance…

b. The lie cost them their lives….persecution….

Many false disciples have died for their leader but not after perpetrating a

hoax…stealing the body…etc…

c. No one has ever been known to die for a lie and “KNOW” it was a lie.

They may have died not knowing as in the Guayana tragedy…many drank the poison believing a lie but they thought it was truth…

II. WAS IT A HALLUCINATION?

A. If so then hundreds of people had the same hallucinations…..

It is highly unlikely for a mass hallucination account….

B. They had the wrong tomb…

-It was unheard of to have a squadron of guards posted at a tomb….

-The exact grave clothes were there…..

-There still was no body found…..

C. Perhaps a case of Mistaken Identity…

-Then even His own Mother was fooled….

-How did the imposter walk through walls…appear and disappear…etc…

Consider these points now:

1. The birth and continuance of Christianity….something happened…

2. The change in the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday….

3. The radical change in the disciples…power, boldness, miracles faithful to death.

4. The high moral character of the eyewitnesses…

5. The empty tomb…..no corpse ever found…

6. The numerous resurrection appearances…

7. The multitude of fulfilled O.T. prophesies….

8. The claims of Jesus…That He would be crucified, and rise again…

-Either liar, lunatic or Lord….no other options….

9. The reliable written facts…the Gospels….

III. WAS IT A HISTORICAL FACT?

A. We have a written account of an innocent man maliciously and falsely condemned and then murdered….by the religious church and the government, openly….

PREACH!

-Jesus did miracles….

-He was falsely arrested….they were jealous….people followed Him

-Beaten and crucified…..Pilate – Barabbas -

-Veil was rent in the temple…

-Dead saints rose from the grave…

-old Satan thought he had Him…..

-Gabriel busted that tomb open to make way for the LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS

If Jesus did in fact rise again…..there are some in this auditorium that have something to worry about….

We must live out His commands…..He’s coming as a Judge..never crucify Him