• Nowhere in Scripture are we told to set aside a day to commemorate this special day called Easter. NO WHERE!
• Likewise, nowhere nowhere in the scriptures are we told to set aside a day to commemorate Christmas. NO WHERE!
BUT CHRISTIANS THROUGH THE DECADES OF TIME HAVE SET ASIDE THESE TWO SPECIAL DAYS BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY MEAN TO THEM.
All over this nation today in every Bible-preaching church preachers like myself are preaching on the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
Illus: This makes me think of a fellow who only came to church on Easter.
• Every Easter you could count on him being there. But one Easter he did not come and a Christian man in the church decided to check on him.
• When he did this man told him he decided he was going to stop attending church on Easter.
• A man in the church asked him why he quit coming to church on Easter.
• He said I quit coming to church because the preacher only has one sermon. Every time I come to church he preaches that one sermon on the resurrection of Christ.
All over this nation every Bible preaching preacher are preaching on the Resurrection of Christ.
It is not because it is the only sermon they have, it is because everything in Christianity HINGES ON THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST and should be preached often.
It is the most important sermon that will ever be preached from this pulpit or any pulpit in this nation.
Illus: In the year 1770, the British were sent to Boston.
A silversmith named Paul Revere, and a friend of his named William Dawes, found out about a mission the British troops had, to steal the guns and gun powder from the Americans living in Lexington and Concord.
They decided to act quickly.
We are told by some historians that at 10:00 at night, Revere and his friend got their horses and started off to Lexington. They wanted to warn the people that the British were on their way.
Paul Revere is credited for those famous words, “The British are coming! The British are Coming!”
Some historians say that is not an accurate account. They say that as Revere and Dawes were traveling to warn the people, the British soldiers caught them and quickly arrested them. However, while they were being arrested, a man named Dr. Samuel Prescott got past the British soldiers. Prescott got to Concord, and the town’s people were ready for the attack.
These historians say that Samuel Prescott was the hero, but everybody has always given Paul Revere the credit for his midnight ride.
WHAT CAUSED THE CONFLICT?
The historians say that the reason Paul Revere receives the credit for delivering this life saving message, was because of a poem written by a man named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called, “The Midnight Cry of Paul Revere”.
Longfellow named Paul Revere as the man who warned the people of Concord that the British were coming. So, even today many believe that Paul Revere is the main hero.
We probably never will know who delivered that very important message.
But the most important message that has ever been delivered is the message of the resurrection.
Never has so much depended on this one solitary message that, CHRIST AROSE FROM THE GRAVE AND IS NO LONGER THERE.
WHY IS THIS THE MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE THAT HAS EVER BEEN DELIVERED?
• If He did not rise from the dead, we do not have a Savior, and we still remain in our sins.
• If He did not rise from the dead, He is the biggest deceiver that has ever existed in the history of mankind.
• If He did not rise from the dead, every nickel and dime we ever gave toward the spreading of the gospel was a waste.
• If He did not rise from the dead, every missionary that left his home to carry the gospel to the four corners of the earth, wasted his time.
• If He did not rise from the dead, every church building that has ever been built for the preaching of the Bible, and for worship, was a waste of time and money.
• If He did not rise from the dead, then every hour that ministers have spent studying God's Word, and preparing messages, was a waste of time.
Again look at I Cor. 15:16-19. We read, “For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.”
Without the resurrection we all would be hopeless!!!
Illus: This reminds me of a young boy received his 7th grade report card that showed the grading scale on the back of it. A, B, C, D, F, but this young man did not receive any of those grades.
He received a grade we have never heard of before: the letter G!
• His parents thought that the letter “G” meant GREAT!
• But they later found out it was G was worse than an F! It meant HOPELESS!
Because of the resurrection of Christ we are not HOPELESS WE ARE HOPEFUL.
The fact is, IF THERE HAD BEEN NO RESURRECTION, it would be the world’s GREATEST TRAGEDY!
Illus: We have famines, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes but these are regional tragedies.
But if Christ had not been resurrected we are not talking about a regional tragedy that affected a certain region, but a tragedy that affects every mortal who has ever lived on this earth.
If Christ be not risen it would be worse than all tragedies that has ever occurred put together if CHRIST’S NOT RISEN FROM THE DEAD!
Let us look at…
I. THE DOUBT OF THE RESURRECTION
Before there can be a resurrection there first have to be a death.
DID CHRIST REALLY DIE?
According to the Word of God, yes; He really died!
Those who claim this was not true have several different explanations as to what could have happened that made it appear that Christ died.
You see, there are documented cases on record of people who appeared to have died, but who were revived.
For example-
Illus: Remember the story of the young man from a small town in South Carolina, Jackie Bain. During the Viet Nam war he was shot. The medics pronounced him dead. He was placed in a truck to be transported to the morgue when something very strange happened. As he was in transit, he revived. He began to make some noise and almost scared the driver to death. The driver stopped the truck, jumped out and opened the door to investigate. Upon checking in the back, the driver could see immediately Jackie was not dead. He slammed the door and instead of heading to the morgue, he went to the nearest hospital. When they arrived the doctors began to give Mr. Bain the medical care he needed. In a few weeks he walked out of the hospital.
The doctors explained that when Jackie was pronounced dead, he was probably so close to death that life could not be detected. It could be that his heart even momentarily had stopped beating while he was in the ambulance, but as they traveled on the bumpy road, the bumps jarred his heart and caused it to begin beating again.
Could that be what happened to Jesus?
Some surmise that something similar did happen, and that He actually did not die.
There are all kinds of theories being put forth by ungodly people as to what happened to Jesus.
A. The thief theory.
These would have us believe that instead of Jesus having been raised from the dead, His body was stolen from the tomb. After the body was stolen, then the apostles began to preach the lie that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
B. The swoon theory.
Would have you believe that Christ did not actually die on the cross. Instead, He fainted. Then later, He mysteriously became conscience and appeared to the disciples. They began to spread the lie that He had been raised from the dead.
C. The hallucination theory.
Those who believe this say that rather than actually seeing the risen Lord, the disciples simply imagined they saw Him. That is, they wanted so much to believe He was raised from the dead that they allowed their imaginations to control their reasoning.
D. The wrong tomb theory.
These simply say that the Lord’s body was placed in the wrong tomb. Instead of being put in Joseph’s tomb, He was put into another tomb. Therefore, when they arrived at Joseph’s tomb, they found it empty because Jesus’ body had never been placed there from the beginning. Then they claimed that the disciples went everywhere preaching about the empty tomb.
There are those today who will believe anything rather than believe what this Bible tells us about the resurrection of Christ.
Why do men so bitterly detest the resurrection of Christ?
Because, evil men know if He was really resurrected from the dead it validates everything He said about Himself being the Savior of the world. This mean they will stand before Him on the judgment day and give account of their sins.
Did Jesus die? YES!!!
Look at Matthew 27:46-51, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, YIELDED UP THE GHOST. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”
Notice, the Bible tells us Jesus did die.
But also notice the scripture tell us once he died the veil in the temple was ripped from the top to the bottom.
Is this significant?
Yes it is significant for two reasons.
(1) Before in the Old Testament the priest would have to go into the temple and once he entered the holy of holies to make sacrifice for the sins of the people.
Only the priest was allowed behind that veil after he offered sacrifice for his own sins and he offered a sacrifice for the people.
But now the veil was ripped so that we all could come before God. That is, why we no longer need a priest to offer a sacrifice for our sins we now have access because we are all made priest unto God.
Look at 1 Peter 2:9-10 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
This is significant because now every believer is a priest unto God and we no longer need the priesthood.
It is significant for another reason…
(2) Notice, the curtain is ripped from top to bottom.
The temple veil was a curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place in the tabernacle and the temple.
According to the Bible and the Talmud, the temple veil was 60 feet long, 30 feet high and 4 inches thick.
It was so heavy that it took 300 priests to hang it. The temple veil was torn in from the top to the bottom when Jesus died on the cross.
Notice how it was ripped!!!
It was ripped from top to the bottom. It would be impossible for mankind to rip this veil four inches thick, but not with God.
If man could rip the veil it would have been ripped from the bottom to the top.
God ripped it from the top to the bottom because He wanted us to have access to His presence.
Yes, Jesus did die!
The Bible tells us Jesus “...gave up the ghost.”
That means that JESUS DIED!
The infallible inerrant Word of God tells us clearly that Christ REALLY DID DIE!!! And yet HE WAS RESURRECTED!
Jesus is the first-fruits of the resurrection. He said, “...because I live, YE SHALL LIVE ALSO.”(John 14:19)
HOW CAN CHRIST BE THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE RESURRECTION?
There are fourteen resurrections in the Bible and some of these took place before His resurrection.
1) Resurrection of the widow’s son in Zarephath (1 Kgs 17:17–22)
2) Resurrection of the Shunammite’s son (2 Kgs 4:18–37)
3) Resurrection of the man thrown into Elisha’s grave (2 Kgs 13:20)
4) Resurrection of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:41)
5) Resurrection of the young man at Nain (Luke 7:14)
6) Resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:38–44)
7) Resurrection of unknown saints during the crucifixion (Matt 27:52–53)
8) Resurrection of Christ (Matt 28:1-6)
9) Resurrection of Tabitha/Dorcas (Acts 9:36–42)
10) Resurrection of Eutychus (Acts 20:7–12)
11) Resurrection of the Church (i.e., Rapture, 1 Thess 4:13-18; 1 Cor 15:23)
12) Resurrection of the Two Witnesses (Rev 11:7–11)
13) Resurrection of OT Saints and Martyrs (Revelation 20:4)
14) Resurrection of the Wicked (Revelation 20:5)
Some of these resurrections took place before Christ resurrection took place so how can He be the first fruits of the resurrection?
The reason He is the first fruit of the resurrection is because when Christ was resurrected He never died again.
Notice, Christ is the first-fruits of the resurrection, but He is not the last! There are others to follow.
Paul was simply saying that what happened to Christ is going to happen to us.
His resurrection is the kind all of us believers will receive.
Now we believers have the same hope Paul had, that as JESUS WAS RESURRECTED, SO WILL WE BE ONE DAY.
Notice in I Cor. 15:12-19, Paul speaks of the resurrection in the conditional - “If...”
Look at verse 12. We read, “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, HOW SAY SOME AMONG YOU that there is NO RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD?”
But, as they preached this message some doubted.
Look at verse 12, “...how say SOME AMONG YOU that there is NO RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD?”
Illus: A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse.
In the defense's closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick of planting a reasonable doubt.
He said, "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom."
He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened.
Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I therefore put it to you that there is reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty."
The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty.
"But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt, I saw all of you stare at the door."
The jury foreman replied: "Oh, we looked, but your client didn't."
If Christ had not risen every preacher today who is preaching the resurrection of Christ would be FALSE DECEIVERS!!!
Look at verses 13-15. We read, “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.”
Illus: Michael Keating is known as one of the big deceivers in the national S & L scandal several years ago.
When restrictions were lifted from the Savings and Loan Institutions in this country, Michael Keating, and men like him in the banking business, misled people into investing millions of their hard-earned money and those people lost everything they invested!
When he was being tried for the scam operation he had been involved in, national television showed him walking down the corridors in a court house and as he walked there were elderly people there who had been ripped off.
They were swinging at him with umbrellas because he had deceived them. Some of those people were interviewed. Their faces reflected the devastation they had faced as they explained they had lost everything and did not know what they were going to do!
WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
The problem was that those people placed their faith in the advice of a man who had lied to them.
(1)If Christ be not risen every Preacher who stands in the pulpit today and preach Christ has risen has misled their congregation
(2)If Christ be not risen every Sunday school teacher that stood before their class and taught that Christ has risen has misled their class.
(3)If Christ be not risen every Song leader who led the congregation to sing HE LIVES has misled their congregation.
Why? Because if Christ be not risen, all we are going to do is rot in graves when we die!
If Christ was not risen we all have placed our faith in a lie. We are in pitiful shape!
We have looked at THE DOUBT OF THE RESURRECTION. Now let us look at...
II. THE DECLARATION OF THE RESURRECTION.
Look at verses 20-27. Here Paul speaks of the excitement of the resurrection.
The best way for God to prove He is able to raise a man from the dead is to RAISE A MAN FROM THE DEAD!
Look at I Cor. 15:20, “BUT NOW IS CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and become the first fruits of them that slept.”
Notice, we have talked a great deal about the CONSEQUENCES of our teaching Christ be not risen.
But now, Paul is going to show us the CONSEQUENCES of Christ having been risen.
Look at I Cor. 15:21-22, “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
• If Christ was not resurrected, neither will we who have placed our faith in Him be resurrected.
• But, if Christ has been resurrected, we who have placed our faith in Christ will be resurrected as He was resurrected. Notice,
Paul said in verse 22, “For as in Adam all die...”
Some believe just because they are born into this life, they will live in heaven after death. That is not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible says, “For as in Adam all die...” This also does not mean that when one dies that he ceases to exist.
We all understand what makes death so bad is that it separates us from our loved ones. They still exist in their eternal state, but death has separated us from them.
All those who live in Adam will die. That is, they will still be living in their eternal state, but because they lived “in Adam” they will eternally separated from God.
But notice what he says in verse 22. We read, “...even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Conclusion:
Illus: John Singleton Copley, one of the great legal minds in British history and three times High Chancellor of England, wrote, “I know pretty well what evidence is, and I tell you, such evidence as that for the resurrection has never broken down yet?”
We have many eye witnesses who saw Him on numerous occasions.
• He appeared to Mary Magdalene.
• He appeared to the disciples in the upper room.
• He appeared to two men on the road to Emmaus.
• He appeared the next week to the disciples especially to Thomas.
• He met with them by the Sea of Galilee and had breakfast with them.
• He appeared to five hundred people at one time according to the apostle Paul.
This is overwhelming evidence. If you do not think so, just take notice at what is required to win a case.
Illus: If just three credible witnesses had appeared in the O. J. Simpson trial and said, “I saw him kill his wife and her friend,” he would be behind bars today for life.
The Lord Jesus proclaimed the whole time He was here that He was God’s Son and that He and God were one.
He performed many miracles to confirm He was who He said He was.
THE FINAL PROOF WAS WHEN HE AROSE FROM THE DEAD. THAT HE WAS GOD’S SON WAS THEN UNDENIABLE!
I. THE DOUBT OF THE RESURRECTION.
II. THE DECLARATION OF THE RESURRECTION.
