From the Desk of Pastor Toby Powers
Truth Baptist Church
Bremen, GA
www.trumpetoftruthonline.org
Do You Believe In The Resurrection?
Romans 10:9
Intro: According to this passage one primary requirement for being saved is to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Man has tried to do all he can to deny the resurrection.
* The Priests paid the soldiers about the tomb to claim the disciples stole the body.
* Others said that he never truly was dead in the beginning.
* Some have claimed that Mary Magdalene moved the body.
* People have claimed to have found the napkin that wrapped about his face, but can not substantiate it.
* Others have claimed to have found the tomb with his body and the bodies of his family members, but cannot substantiate it.
If Christ Did Not Rise From The Dead:
* All the Apostles told the same lie... consistently every time.
* The women who came to the tomb told the same lie consistently every time.
* All the Apostles died at the hands of evil men for a story they knew was not true.
* The moving and indwelling all believers experience is some sort of unexplainable hoax
* We are all still dead in our sins
BUT CHRIST DID RISE FROM THE DEAD THE RESURRECTION IS A REALITY, A DOCUMENTED FACT, AND OUR ONLY HOPE OF FORGIVENESS OF SIN AND A HOME IN HEAVEN
Do you believe in the resurrection? In the Scriptures we see the resurrection:
I. Predicted:
A. By the Prophets: Ps 16:10 “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
B. Personally by Jesus: Matt 16:21 “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” Mark 9:9 “And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.” John 2:19-22 “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.”
II. Pictured: we see multiple incidents in the scriptures that serve as pictures, types or foreshadows of the resurrection of Christ.
A. Abraham and Isaac (Gen 22): Heb 11:17-19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
B. Joseph’s Refusal to Allow Them to Bury Him In Egypt: in other words, he was only in a borrowed tomb in that foreign land. So it was with our Lord, for he only needed it a few days.
C. Jonah And The Whale: Matt 12:39-40 “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
D. Every time Someone Was Raised From The Dead, It Cried Out, “HE WILL RISE AGAIN ” One was raised by Elijah, one by Elisha, and one was cast into Elisha’s tomb dead and was brought back to life when he touched the bones of Elisha (II Kings 13:21).
1. Jesus raised the daughter of Jarius in Matt 9:25, and it cried out, “HE WILL RISE ”
2. Jesus raised the widow of Nain’s son from the dead in the midst of the funeral procession in Luke 7:15, and the testimony of it cried out, “HE WILL RISE ”
3. When Lazarus lay in the tomb for four days, our Lord called his name and brought him out. All the heavens must have shouted once more, “DEATH HAS NO AUTHORITY OVER HIM... HE WILL RISE ”
4. Even as he was taking his last breath on the cross, and he cried it is finished, some graves burst open and saints were resurrected from them (Matt 27:52). They went into town and were seen of many and told all they saw, “YOU WAIT AND SEE... DEATH CAN NOT HOLD HIM... HE WILL RISE ”
III. In Power: some came to the tomb, found angels with it empty, got Peter and John to come to the tomb, but it was empty. They all left except Mary Magdalene and she wondered what to truly make of it all. But as she cast her tear filled eyes off from the tomb she saw who she assumed to be the Gardner, but it was him. As long as they all were looking in the tomb, all they saw was what had been. They never saw Jesus until they looked past the tomb Unless you believe in the resurrection... look past the tomb, you will never see Christ. He is alive and well forevermore He appeared to the women on the road back to town, the two disciples in the road to Emmaus, to ten of the apostles once then eleven another time. He walked the earth for 40 days before ascending back into heaven with the promise that he will return
IV. Preached: I Cor 15:1-4. The resurrection was the subject of preaching The resurrection was preached:
A. In the Pentecostal Sermon: Acts 2:22-24, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”
B. In Peter’s Sermon to the Gentiles: Acts 10:38-41, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.”
C. Paul’s Sermon To Corinth: I Cor 15:1-4
Conclusion: The resurrection is still the sermon for today It still changes the lives of men. It’s still what gives us hope. It’s still what being a Christian is all about. That’s why Jesus said, “because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19). John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Do you believe in the resurrection? Without it, you have no hope, but because Jesus lives, you can have life abundantly. Today is the day to get to know him.
To hear audio of this sermon or hundreds of others go to www.trumpetoftruthonline.org click on the “Sounds of the Gospel Trumpet” and “Sounds Of The Old Time Gospel Trumpet”
