SERMON OUTLINE:
The Empty Tomb – The Facts:
• The Gospel writers
• The Roman Soldiers
• The Senhedrin
• The Jewish people
The Missing Body - Three options
• Fraud (stolen body)
• Swoon (resuscitation)
• Miracle (resurrection)
The Proof:
• Direct evidence
Eye witnesses
• Indirect evidence
Life of Jesus demands it
The change in the disciples
Existence of the Christian faith
Personal experience
The Implications of the Resurrection
• Key to life’s most important questions
• It shows us which is the true religion
• The cross atoned for our sins
• Proves deity of Jesus
• Jesus is relevant today
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
Joke:
• Beethoven died in 1827 and is buried in Vienna.
• Joke: A tourist went to visit his grave and found it a deeply moving experience;
• As they stood looking at the gravestone they could hear music;
• It was Beethoven’s music only it wasn’t quite right, there was something wrong.
• Then the tourist realised that it was Beethoven’s music;
• But it was being played backwards;
• He saw a gardener in the cemetery and asked him what was going on.
• The Gardner replied; ‘O, that’s just Beethoven decomposing!”
• Transition:
• Easter Sunday is a reminder that the body of Jesus did not decompose!
• It was resurrected in glory!
Ill:
• When Pepsi Cola was first launched in China:
• Its marketing managers wondered why its famous slogan, ‘Come alive with Pepsi,’
• Was not achieving the impact, that it had achieved elsewhere in the world.
• After an investigation it was discovered;
• That the translator had rendered the famous catch phrase as:
• ‘Pepsi brings your relatives back from the dead.’
Transition What Pepsi Cola was and is unable to do:
• God did!!!
• He raised his own Son from the grave.
Quote:
"Christians believe in a Christ who was dead and is alive,
Not a Christ who was alive and is dead".
Therefore Christians do not meet to together to merely remember the teaching or the memory of Jesus:
Ill:
• As an appreciation society meet to remember a performing artist:
• i.e. Writer may live through their works (i.e. Shakespeare),
• i.e. Or a singer may live through their songs (i.e. ‘Elvis lives’).
• i.e. Communists remember memory of Karl Marx's (i.e. live through his ideas).
Christians believe that Jesus himself, the historical man of history, is still alive:
• We don't just follow his teaching.
• We don't just follow his example,
• Christians follow him!
The fifth book of the New Testament is called 'Acts' (or ‘Acts of the Apostles’):
• It is the history book of the early Church;
• It is an historical record of the very first Christians & how Christianity spread.
• We find in this book exactly what the very first Christians believed,
• It is history in the making,
• The earliest record of what happened and how.
•
• In the book of Acts 13 sermons were preached, 13 messages are recorded:
• 7 By Paul, 5 By Peter & 1 By Stephen.
• There is only 1 common thing mentioned in all those 13 messages:
• That is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he is alive & that he is able to change people.
Christians believe that the Jesus of 2,000 years ago is very much alive today:
• Not physically on earth.
• We read about his ascension back towards heaven.
Ill:
• Recently we showed a children’s DVD story version of the resurrection;
• To our Friday Night Kids Club.
• As I summarised what the kids had been watching with the words “Jesus is alive”.
• Callie (aged 7) one of the kids turned to her friend and said; “Where is he now?”
• Her friend Jenna-May (aged 7) replied; “Perhaps he’s down the pub!”
• Please note that when we talk about Jesus being alive:
• We are not talking physically alive on earth anymore.
• Earlier in the service we read about his ascension back towards heaven.
• Jesus is alive by his Spirit (Not his memory).
• The Holy Spirit Jesus indwells each and every Christian.
Ill:
• One reason Jesus ascended back into heaven was to be with all believers;
• Had he stayed on earth his body limited him to one place at a time.
• i.e. Jerusalem or the road to Emmaus etc.
• But by the Holy Spirit Jesus can now be with all Christians everywhere!
• i.e. With Christians in Jerusalem, in Australia, in UK etc.
I AM A CHRISTIAN FOR TWO REASONS:
• (1). It is true. (2). Because it works.
• It is only those two things, because Jesus is alive!
Question we are asking is: Jesus - Dead or alive?
• Now no-one claims to have witnessed the resurrection:
• There were people very quickly on the spot (at the tomb) soon afterwards,
• But nobody claimed that they actually saw God raise him up.
• They could not;
• Because there was a whopping big stone preventing anyone seeing into the tomb!
• One reason the stone was rolled away was not to let the body out;
• But to let people see that the body of Jesus had gone!
ILL:
• Sorting out what happened to the body of Jesus;
• Is rather like investigating a murder case.
• But in reverse.
(a).
• In a murder case a body is found e.g. suppose I shot ????????????
• But no one saw the murder take place,
(b).
• You may suspect the motive for his murder was robbery,
• For we all know that he was a wealthy man,
• And we know that his wallet was stolen;
• (That may suggest more than one person was involved – it would take two to carry it!)
(c).
• In the car park a blood stained axe was found
• Next to an empty wallet.
(d).
• On the wallet was ??????????? fingerprints.
• The Police also found a large amount of cash hidden under ??????????? wardrobe.
(e).
• Police believe this to be the same money because:
• Queen Victoria is on the notes, suspected that was the last time ????? opened his wallet.
• Now what would happen in this instance:
• Is that detectives, and then lawyers and a jury,
• Would try to discover the most likely explanation for each of the facts or clues.
Now the same thing happens with the resurrection but in reverse:
• We are not dealing with someone who has been murdered,
• But someone who has said to come alive again from the dead.
• No one saw what happened to the body,
• But certain related facts have come to light.
• These facts demand an explanation,
• Just like the axe and the wallet with fingerprints demand an explanation.
Question: What happened to the body?
Quote: Val Grieve:
“Contrary to popular opinion, a lawyer does not begin a legal case by considering how much he or she intends to charge, they start with the facts”.
KEY FACT IN THE CASE OF THE RESURRECTION IS:
• The tomb was empty.
• Of that we can be sure.
(a).
• All four gospel writers affirm this:
• When a group of women came to anoint the body of Jesus for burial, it was gone.
• Peter & John heard this news, ran to the tomb, and they found it empty.
(B).
• The Roman soldiers guarding the tomb,
• Went back into the city and reported to the Chief Priests that the tomb was empty.
(c).
• The Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish council (the religious leaders of Jesus’ day)
• Also bear witness to the fact that the tomb was empty.
(d).
• The Jewish people venerated these types of burial places,
• They held them in deep respect and these places often became a place of pilgrimage.
• But not so the tomb of Jesus (No record of that happening in the gospels or Acts).
• Because the body was not there so there was no point going there!
Note: Now the point of this incident – this narrative:
• Is not that the tomb was empty,
• But rather how did it become empty.
I believe that there are only:
• 3 possible alternatives to the resurrection.
• We will look at then briefly.
(1). Fraud.
(a). The disciples stole the body:
• This was the very first explanation as to what happened that first Easter,
• The disciples stole the body.
Quote Matthew chapter 28 verses 11-15:
"When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan,
they gave the soldiers a large sun of money, telling them,
"You are to say, his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.
If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble".
So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed".
REASONS WHY THIS COULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED:
(a1). The tomb was being guarded by a body of Guards:
(1st):
• If it was a Jewish guard (some have suggested).
• They would be badly beaten if a prisoner escaped.
• Jewish guards were also forbidden to sit down or lean against anything when on duty.
(2nd).
• If it was a Roman guard (as most scholars & historians believe).
• That would mean 16 soldiers on guard,
• Each man trained to protect six square feet of ground.
• They alternated on three hour watches,
• They would not all have been a sleep.
• Because the punishment for an escaped prisoner, dead or alive, was severe, even death.
ill:
Love to hear them give evidence in a court of law.
• Question: "How many were on guard?"
• Answer: "Sixteen soldiers sir".
• Question: "So that's eight watching and eight sleeping".
• Answer: "No, that's Sixteen sleeping and nobody watching!"
• These were the top military force on the planet,
• I think they could have arranged a night patrol properly.
(B1). none of the disciples believed in the resurrection at 1st.
• They needed as much persuasion as the biggest sceptic.
• ill: Thomas “You lot can swallow that nonsense but not me!”.
(c1). People do not die for lies, history recalls:
• Peter was crucified.
• Andrew was crucified.
• Matthew was killed by the sword.
• John was Exiled, natural death.
• Philip was crucified.
• Bartholomew was crucified.
• James son of Alpheus was crucified.
• Simon the Zealot was crucified.
• James son of Zebedee killed by the sword.
• Thomas killed by a spear thrust.
• They died for their belief;
• That Christ had died and that Christ had risen.
(d1). Change of the disciples character.
• If the disciples stole the body how do you explain their change of character?
• From being frightened, timid, fearful men; cowering away behind locked doors.
• To men and women willing to confront & lay the blame for the death of Jesus,
• At the hands of the crowd and religious leaders.
• i.e. Day of Pentecost.
(e1). They also believed their faith was based on truth.
• If they had conjured up the story of the resurrection,
• Then they are discrediting their own message.
• They are bringing shame on the name & reputation;
• Of the very one they were proclaiming as the ‘TRUTH’.
Ill:
• Early Roman historians like Tacitus and Pliny:
• Commend Christians for their upright and moral lives,
• The early Christians were known as people of ‘The Truth’.
(B). The Jews or the Romans stole the body.
• That scenario is easily answered.
• Because all the Romans or the Jews had to do was produce the corpse;
• And Christianity was finished there & then!
• Yet the Jews & Romans couldn’t produce the body,
• Because they hadn’t got it.
(2). Swoon.
• This claim was first made in the 18th centaury.
• Some clever chap came up with the idea that Jesus did not actually die.
• He only fainted, or swooned, passed out on the cross,
• Then when he was placed in a cold tomb this rived him.
• According to the swoon theory,
• We are dealing with a case of resuscitation not resurrection.
REASONS WHY THIS COULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED - JESUS WAS DEAD:
(a). Roman executioners.
• When it came to crucifixion Romans were the experts:
• History recalls they executed 6,000 in one day.
• Roman executioners had reduced crucifixion to a science, a skilled art.
• They knew their job well,
• And followed a precise set of rules.
• With such a high profile celebrity figure like Jesus;
• One who was condemned by Pontius Pilot himself,
• They are not likely to make a mistake.
(b). Physically impossible:
• If you examine the physical demands of dying by crucifixion;
• You would know that if there even was a flicker of life in him after all his sufferings.
• The cold of a rock tomb would have immediately have induced a catatonic seizure,
• And brought death, in other words it would finish him off not bring revival.
Ill:
• With his hands and feet shattered by nails he was in no condition to:
• Climb out of his bindings & then lay them out neatly.
• As if his body had passed through them.
• Push away a heavy stone,
• That took several strong, fit soldiers to roll into place!
• Escape quietly & secretly past the soldiers,
• Walk quite a distance down the road into the city of Jerusalem,
• Then convince his followers he had not only risen again,
• But that he had risen in power and strength.
(c). Medical evidence:
• Roman guards were careful with their prisoners,
• And more so, with such a controversial figure as Jesus,
Ill:
• The gospel of John chapter 19 verse 34 record:
• Pierced his side with a spear,
• John records; “Out flowed blood and water”.
Quote Professor Rendall Short (used to be professor of surgery at Bristol University):
"As a result of the physical and spiritual agony endured,
A condition of an acute dilation of the stomach may have developed,
And the spear wound drew watery fluid from the stomach,
And blood from the heart and great vessels of the thorax,
Needless to say such a wound would be instantly fatal".
(d). Moral Evidence.
• Think of everything we know concerning the person & character of Jesus;
• Told the truth & claimed to be the truth.
• Question: Would suddenly change and become a con man & liar & deceiver?
(3) Miracle. Resurrection - Jesus rose again.
• Now if you believe in the God of the Bible:
• You have to accept the fact he is powerful,
• He can do supernatural things i.e. Miracles (Bible is full of them).
• Raising the dead for God is an easy thing to do.
• i.e. Jesus himself did it again and again and again during his life on earth.
• i.e. Have you notice how he spoilt every funeral he ever went to (even his own!)
• God the Father raised God the Son by the power of God the Holy Spirit!
• This is what we as Christians believe happened,
• A miraculous God performed a miracle.
Note:
• Christians believe that the resurrection is based not just on faith,
• But also on facts:
• Quote School boys explanation of ‘faith’:
• "Faith is believing what you know isn't true".
• The resurrection involves faith:
• But if what we read in the Bible is based on true historical incidents,
• Then the resurrection is also based solidly on facts.
IF YOU WANT TO PROVE SOMETHING IN COURT; TWO TYPES OF EVIDENCE IS REQUIRED:
(1). Direct evidence.
ill:
• If I pulled out a gun and shot ????????
• You would have seen me do it,
• Your eye witness testimony is what is called ‘direct evidence’.
Regarding the resurrection we have plenty of direct evidence:
• There are 17 recorded sightings of the resurrected Jesus,
• Including one to over 500 people at a time (“many who are still alive.”)
• Don't forget people never just saw Jesus, from a distance,
• These people saw him, and touched him and ate with him.
Ill:
• Even Josephus a pro-Roman Jewish collaborator writing in the first centaury:
• Refers to the fact that Jesus:
• "Appeared to them alive again on the third day as the divine prophets had foretold".
ill:
Irish burglar:
• Police: "We have 5 people who saw you do it".
• Burglar: "I have 150 who didn't!"
• In a court of law:
• Those who saw the event, outweigh all those who didn't.
Don't forget:
• Those 17 post-resurrection appearances
• Jesus didn't just appear to those who believed in him,
• He appeared to Saul of Tarsus, a bitter enemy.
(2). Circumstantial (Indirect) evidence:
ill:
• If I shot ??????????
• Then circumstantial evidence involves people:
• Who didn't see me do it but can help the police.
• i.e. The person who sold me the gun.
• i.e. Someone who saw me in the area.
• i.e. The fact I had the opportunity and the motive.
• All of that would be circumstantial evidence,
• And essential in a court of law.
Question: What is the circumstantial evidence for Jesus?
(a). The life of Jesus demands it.
• I would never say that any person in this room or even in history;
• Could ever rise from the dead:
• So we are not just talking about anyone.
• We are talking about Jesus of Nazareth.
• The most influential person who ever lived.
• The one who was unique life, teaching, miracles etc.
• The life of Jesus confirms him as the Son of God.
• He and he alone, was raised by God from the dead.
(b). The change in the disciples demonstrates the
resurrection.
ill:
Peter (the failure) & Thomas (the doubter).
ill:
High ranking officer in the R.A.F. read the four gospels and he responded that:
“He understood well how men behave under stress. He knew that dispirited people aren’t creative people. He knew that men do not reassemble and organise themselves effectively, after the sort of crushing disappointment which Jesus’ disciples had experienced”.
(c). The existence of Christianity requires the
resurrection.
• Resurrection is not simply one aspect of Christianity:
• If you remove the resurrection, then you destroy the whole faith.
Ill:
Near the end of Jules Verne’s book ‘Round the World in Eighty Days’:
• There is a dramatic episode,
• When the adventurers are desperately hurrying back to Britain from America.
• To everyone’s horror, the ship runs out of coal to fire the boilers.
• Instantly the order is given to start pulling apart the superstructure of the vessel.
• Wooden railings, furniture, deck boards and so on.
• Finally they just make it to land,
• But by this time there is little left other than a hull, boiler and funnel.
• Yet, of course, they had to have at least that:
• They simply couldn’t dispense with these,
• Otherwise the ship would have gone down.
Quote: Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians chapter 15):
‘Dispense with the resurrection and you’ve nothing left - your faith will sink.’ Christianity cannot exist if the resurrection of Jesus did not really happen.
Quote: Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 14):
“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
…we are…… false witnesses about God.
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
……..we are to be pitied more than all men.”
Without the resurrection, the apostle Paul says:
• Christians are liars,
• They have no message,
• They are not forgiven by God,
• And they should be pitied more than all people!
(d). The experience of Christians endorse it.
• Since that first Easter Sunday.
• Every minute of everyday somebody somewhere in the world,
• Becomes a follower of Jesus,
• A committed Christian.
Ill:
• In his book ‘Water Baptism’ (ISBN 1-85240-338-1) David Pawson says that:
• People being baptised by immersion is;
• 50 a minute,
• 3,000 an hour,
• About 70,000 a day
• The Church may be struggling in Europe,
• But around the world it is growing at a fantastic rate (Biggest world faith).
• Before this service started we should have given out a public warning,
• “The victim of the cross is now loose and at large!!!”
Quote: Cliff Richard:
"Dead men don't change lives".
• Christianity is not ancient history.
• It is current events!
• Here is a church full of people who have there own testimony.
• Of how the living Lord Jesus Christ helps them.
Both Direct and indirect evidence support the resurrection.
Final Question: What are the implications (meaning) of the resurrection.
The first implication:
(1). The resurrection answers life's 3 big
questions.
• a). Is there a God.
• (Yes, no other human, logical explanation for the resurrection of Jesus).
• b). Why are we here.
• (Jesus explained and taught us that in his teaching).
• c). Life after death.
• (Jesus is living proof that death is not the end).
(2). The resurrection shows which religion to
follow:
• I don't mean by that, that Christians are:
• Bigoted or uncharitable or narrow minded.
• There is some truth in all religions & philosophies.
• But there is also a lot of superstition & myth & error.
• And you take an awful big risk to trust your salvation to a half truth.
• A half truth is a half lie!
• Jesus claimed to be:
• "The way, the truth and the very life, no-one comes to the Father BUT by him".
(3). The resurrection shows the cross atoned
for sins.
Quote John Bunyan.
"As Christian came up with the cross his burden loosed from his shoulders and fell from his back.
It began to tumble, and continued to do so until it came to the mouth of the sepulchre where it fell in, and I saw it no more.
Then was Christian glad and light-some, and said with a merry heart, "He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death.....
Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing".
• If Jesus could conquer physical death (visible).
• How can we be sure he conquered spiritual death (invisible)?
(4). The resurrection proves Jesus is the Son of
God.
• Jesus was no latter day Confucius,
• No Jewish edition of Socrates.
• The resurrection shows he was more than a religious teacher or philosopher,
• He was who he claimed to be; ‘The Son of God.’
Quote: Romans chapter 1 verse 14:
"Jesus...... was declared with power to be the son of God by his:
• Great teaching - No!
• Great life - No!
• Great death - No!
• "By the resurrection from the dead".
(5). The greatest implication of the resurrection is:
• That it means Christ is alive and therefore available.
• Quote: Cliff Richard: "Dead men don't change lives".
• And Jesus Christ more than anybody else changes lives.
• He does not simply inform us or reform us, he transforms a person.
Christians believe the Jesus of 2,000 years ago:
• Is alive.
• Ascended back to heaven.
• By his Spirit (not memory).
• Actually comes and lives within a person.
• This Jesus who died and rose is not a spent force.
• He is alive and well.
JESUS TOLD HIS FOLLOWERS JUST BEFORE HIS DEATH,
• That it would be a good thing for them if he went away;
• If he did not, the Holy Spirit would not become available to them.
• If he did go how ever, he would send the Spirit in his place.
• He would come to make his presence real to them,
• And that is exactly what they experienced.
On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) the disciples had an experience of the Spirit of Jesus:
• Not merely influencing them from outside,
• But coming to live inside them to:
• Changing their attitudes.
• Alter their life-styles.
• Breaking their habits.
• Enlighten their minds.
• Cleansing their consciences.
• Refining their characters.
Final Question: Do you know him?
