The Witness Of The Resurrection

1 Cor. 15:1-11

The Witness Of The Resurrection

- How do you tell thirsty people about your product?

- Pepsi’s ad campaign “Come Alive”

- Succeeded in America - but not else where

- Taiwanese translation of “Come Alive”

“Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead

- German’s were mystified at Pepsi’s claim that ran

for weeks -- “Come Alive Out of the Grave”

Do dead men drink Pepsi?

Might Pepsi bring their relatives back?

- This might not have been the right message but sales went up

- Resurrection sounds unbelievable we have never seen a dead person come alive

- Why should I believe the Resurrection?

1. Facts of the Resurrection I Cor. 15

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; - - - - {Acts 18:1-5}

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

• 1st Fact of the Resurrection Christ died for our sins

- We do not become sinners because of our sin

- We sin because we are sinners

-We miss the mark - as a dart at a dart board

• 2nd Fact v.4

4 And that he was buried,

- A tomb shows the place

- In other words he really died

- Tombs are for the dead

• 3rd Fact v.4

4 ...... and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

- Christ arose

- Facts 1 & 2 indicate a historical account

- Fact 3 indicates ---- abiding power

- He is still resurrected

- He will for ever be resurrected

- Christ’s resurrection burst in our lives to affect change

2. Witness of the Resurrection

- You can almost hear Come of it Resurrection?

- That’s as believable as a soft drink which brings ancestors back from the dead

- So Paul calls in his Witness

5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

- One imagines a court of law -- Witness taking the stand

- Questions fielded like baseball - being scooped up and tossed back in answer

- What did you see?

- Where were you?

- Who was with you?

- What did Jesus do?

- What did Jesus say?

- Do you have a history of mental illness?

- Would you be willing to take a lie detector

- Amazingly we believe any thing - Heaven’s Gate

- A car wreck in front of Wal-Mart - 2 or 3 Witness

- Why not the Resurrection Witness?

3. The Power Of The Resurrection

9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

- Witness do not prove Christ’s Resurrection

- They just attest to it

- They persuade you to believe

- Only as we come in faith do we than experience the

Resurrection for ourselves

-Dead people do not respond to life

- Resurrection power transforms the useless deadness

of sin of our lives into abundant living.

This is the actual text of a court order in a Kentucky county in 1858

It is ordered that Sam, a man of color, who was manumitted [to release from slavery] under the will of Joshua Childers, dec’d, be summoned to court to say whether or not he accepts his freedom.

- This is remarkable/

- We can hardly imagine that Sam did not accept his freedom.

- Yet 1,000’s have been offered a larger freedom

- Freedom from sin & guilt

- They have not accepted it