1. What if Jesus did not rise from the dead?
I remember back when I was in seminary I took a philosophy class, and the professor posed a hypothetical situation, he said, “hypothetically speaking, what if someone found the bones of Jesus, and could prove it was his bones beyond a shadow of a doubt.” Then he asked this penetrating question, “Would you still be a Christian?” If they found Jesus’ bones it meant he obviously did not rise from the grave. He died and that was that. Jesus’ resurrection was just a figment of the disciple’s imagination, wishful thinking if you will, perhaps because they missed Jesus so much. Or perhaps they were guilty they abandoned Jesus in his time of need and so they made up the story about his resurrection. If they discovered his bones how would it impact our faith?
How interesting that a recent television documentary on the Discovery channel called “The Jesus Family Tomb” tries to prove that they have found the burial box and therefore the bones of Jesus. Perhaps some of you have seen it. The story begins back in 1980 when a 1st century burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem which contained some burial boxes, called ossuaries. Ossuaries are quite common because the family tombs were limited in room, once the bodies decomposed they would put the bones of the dead in these boxes. In this particular site six boxes were found with the following inscriptions: “Jesus, son of Joseph; Maria (Mary); Mariamene; Matthew; Judas son of Jesus, and Joses (Newsweek, “Raiders of the Lost Tomb, March 5, 2007, 61).” The documentary tries to convince us that statistically speaking it is almost certainly the family tomb of Jesus of the Bible. They concluded that the chances are 600 to 1 that all of these names together in one family indicate it is the holy family. Therefore they believe they have discovered where Jesus’ bones once lay (the bones are no longer in the box because the bones were removed to a graveyard after the boxes were found).
Sounds pretty convincing, doesn’t it? Did they find Jesus’ bones? Well before you go give up your faith I want you to realize how ridiculous this is. It is not what they make it seem. Of the six burial boxes only three are of any possible historical connection to Jesus of the Bible, the boxes which read; Jesus, son of Joseph (because Jesus’ adopted earthly father was named Joseph), Maria (or Mary) which is Jesus’ mothers name), and Jose which was one of Jesus’ brothers name according to the Bible. What are the chances that these names would be together in a Jewish family in the 1st century? As it turns out, quite likely. One of the most common names among Jews in the 1st century was Jesus or other derivatives of the name Joshua. In fact, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary has “a first-century letter written by someone named Jesus, addressed to someone else named Jesus and witnessed by a third party named (you guessed it) Jesus (Ibid, 62).” That’s how common of a name Jesus was. The most common name for women in that period was Mary, or derivatives thereof. Scholars claim that 25% of all Jewish women in that time were named Mary or a derivative of that name. We don’t have to go very far in the Bible to demonstrate how common a name Mary was. In the gospels we read of Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Joseph was also a common name as well. The point is these names were so common that the chances are actually quite high of finding similar names to the holy family at that time in history.
Why do people go to such great lengths to disprove the resurrection of Jesus? Because the resurrection is the key to our faith. I asked before what would it mean for our faith if Jesus had not risen. Listen to what the Apostle Paul states in 1 Cor. 15:17, “And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins (NLT).”
According to Paul, if they found the bones of Jesus, and could prove that the resurrection did not occur than our faith is useless. Our faith hinges upon the resurrection of Jesus, and without the resurrection we have nothing because the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus was who he said he was, and he did what he said he would do.
2. The Consequences of an Unresurrected Jesus
Without the resurrection it calls into question all of Jesus’ teachings because it meant he lied. He lied when he taught on three different occasions that he would die and rise on the third day. If there was no resurrection then he lied when he said he could forgive sins. Without the resurrection we cannot believe a word Jesus said.
Paul reminds us that without the resurrection of Jesus our faith is useless and we are still under condemnation for our sins, which means our sins have not been forgiven. According to the Bible, all of us stand condemned before God for two reasons 1) we have inherited sin from the first man, Adam, and 2) we have all sinned ourselves. We have done something wrong at some point in our life: we have lied, cheated, stole something, cursed, desired something which wasn’t ours, hated someone, gossiped. We have done something which harms ourselves or someone else, or violated God’s commands. Whether we like to believe it or not, the Bible says that as a result of our sin we stand condemned before God, we all deserve death sentences because God cannot just overlook our sin without some atonement offering.
“Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man (v. 22).” (Why is it that Eve always gets off the hook?)
NLT Romans 3:23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
NLT Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death.
Without the death and resurrection of Jesus we are in a hopeless situation because there is no way for our sin to be forgiven and for us to be reconciled with God.
3. Assurance of Jesus’ Resurrection
Fortunately, Paul reminds us, that the resurrection of Jesus really did happen, it is an historical fact, no one is going to find Jesus’ bones (v. 1-6, 20). Paul said:
NLT 1 Corinthians 15:20 But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.
How do we know the resurrection is true? Paul tells us it is true because the risen Jesus was seen by Peter (Cephas) and all of the apostles, by five hundred people at one time, many of whom were still alive when Paul wrote this letter. The resurrected Jesus was seen by Jesus’ own brother James, who went from being an unbeliever to a believer in Jesus and eventually a leader in the early church, and lastly the risen Jesus revealed himself to Paul who had been a religious Pharisee persecuting Christians until Jesus appeared before him on the road to Damascus.
Think about it, what would take a bunch of scared disciples and turn them into courageous spokespersons for the risen Jesus in front of the very people who killed Jesus? What would take an unbelieving brother to be a leader of Jesus followers? What would take a persecutor of Christians to become a missionary to the Gentile world? The answer is…the resurrected Jesus. Jesus really did come back from the dead to a new order of life, and he is seated at the right hand of God the Father. The tomb was empty and no one ever produced a body because he rose from the dead, and he is alive today. When we believe in the resurrected Jesus we have hope because we have victory over sin and death.
4. Victory of Resurrection
A. Victory over Past Sin
Paul writes at the end of our passage from 1 Corinthians this morning.
1 Cor. 15:57 How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!
First, because Jesus has been raised from the dead we, who have faith in the risen Jesus, are given victory over past sin. We are no longer under condemnation of sin. When we ask God to forgive our past sin, the Bible says he is faithful and will forgive us from all unrighteousness (1 Jo. 1:9), why? Because Jesus paid the price for us by taking our sins upon himself just as the OT prophet Isaiah predicted 700 years before Jesus was even born:
Is. 53:5 But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! 6 All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all. 8 From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people realized that he was dying for their sins-- that he was suffering their punishment? 11b And because of what he has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we have the confident assurance that our sins are forgiven. He took all of our sin and buried in the tomb 2,000 years ago, and when he rose from the dead he proved he had victory over sin.
B. Victory over Present and Future Sin and Evil
But the resurrection doesn’t just prove that we have been given victory over our past sin. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, Scripture tells us we are also given victory over present and future sin and the forces of evil. When we believe in the risen Christ, the Bible says that our old sinful self has died with Jesus on the cross, and now we are raised to new life in Jesus (Rom. 6). We are new persons, like the caterpillar which has come out of its cocoon and has turned into a beautiful butterfly, we are totally transformed and made into something new, and sin and evil no longer has any control over our new self.
You may say, ‘if I have victory over sin and it has no control over me, why do I continue to fall on occasion or possibly even regularly?’ It is because you haven’t realized your identity in Jesus, and you’ve fall back into your old habits. You continue to believe Satan’s lie that you are still your old sinful self, rather than a saint by God’s grace. How many of you would say you are a saint? Not many of us would because it seems arrogant, or perhaps we think of saints as those super Christians, but the Scripture is clear that believers in Jesus are saints, not because of what we have done, otherwise we would become prideful, but because of what God has done for us, he has made us into a new person. Satan’s lie is to get you to believe you are just a sinner, and will never be anything more than a sinner even in you are saved and going to heaven. God’s word says you are now a saint, one of God’s own children. He has given you victory over Satan’s lies and temptation to sin. We fall for sin and Satan lies only because we allow it to happen.
Beginning next week we will begin a new series looking at how we can reclaim that victory Jesus has given us over sin and the influence of Satan in our life. We are going to look at how the risen Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit gives us victory over areas like anger, anxiety, addiction, and even depression. I hope you will be able to join us.
C. Victory over Death
Ultimately, the resurrection means we have been given victory over death. “O death where is your victory, where is your sting?” Paul wrote. There is no sting of death for believers in the resurrected Jesus. Death’s stinger has been plucked out. We don’t have to live in fear of death because Jesus rose from the dead and conquered death. Jesus proved to us that there is life after death, and he has made it possible to enter that heavenly home he has prepared for those who love him. Death can be a passage from life to life.
Rom. 6:8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life. 9 We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and he will never die again.
Because Christ rose from the dead, those who have died with Christ will never die again. What a promise!! Jesus has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again. We know that when the first fruits of the harvest comes it proves that the rest of the crop is soon to follow, Jesus as the first person to come back from the dead assuring us that more will follow. We too will be raised to new life when he returns. We too will have resurrected bodies like Jesus when he comes back for us. These bodies will live forever. This assurance is given to all those who believe.
“If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
I hope that you have confident assurance in the resurrected Christ so you do not live in fear of sin or death. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-discipline (2 Tim. 1:7). Can you say with confidence, “I believe Jesus died for me and is risen from the dead?” When we say this and believe it with confidence we live as victors, without fear, and we can keep on keeping in serving the Lord until we rise to meet him face to face.
