THE GOSPEL: NOT A RELIGION—A REMEDY (1 COR 15:1-8)

EASTER SUNDAY

GCEFC: APRIL 12, 2009

INTRODUCTION

1. Generally speaking, most people know why they believe what they believe.

a. We all believe that at some point tonight (7:32 to be exact), the sun will set in the western sky. And tomorrow morning the sun will rise in the eastern sky.

b. Why believe this? Because it’s a well-established pattern without exception.

c. Of course, it’s theoretically possible that the sun won’t rise tomorrow morning. But you’d be foolish to plan on it.

2. We believe that the stock market will eventually start going back up. Why believe this? Because it’s the established pattern for over 100 years.

3. Though the market goes up and down—the long-term trend is up. This is crystal clear if you just look at a graph.

4. I trust that most of us here believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe that he really died and that he really came back to life in 3 days. But why do we believe this?

a. It’s certainly not because resurrection from the dead is an established pattern. It’s actually quite unusual, quite rare to be sure.

b. It’s not because of our personal experience. I don’t know anyone who’s died and come back to life after 3 days. You probably don’t either.

5. So why do we believe in the Resurrection? If we know why we believe what we believe, then it would seem reasonable to know why we believe this.

6. How important is the Resurrection of Christ? A few verses down from where we just read, we see how important it is.

7. 1 COR 15:13: If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

8. That seems clear enough. The WOG is saying that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then I’m wasting my time preaching. And you’re wasting your time listening.

9. In fact, it says that the entire Christian faith is useless. Useless as in pointless, worthless, meaningless, and hopeless. There’s just no point to our faith whatsoever.

10. I would say that makes the Resurrection of the utmost importance. In fact, there may not be anything more important than this.

11. For the next few minutes, I want us to explore why the Resurrection is so important. And why we should not only believe it—but we should know why we believe it.

12. So—why should we believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Let me give 3 reasons.

A. BECAUSE HISTORY VALIDATES IT

1. The first reason we believe in the Resurrection of Christ is that HISTORY VALIDATES IT.

2. I dare say that most people who believe in the resurrection do so simply because it’s part of an established system of belief.

3. Jesus’ rising from the dead the third day is part of the Christian message. So if you claim to be a Christian, then it just kind of goes with the territory.

4. But the resurrection of Christ is one of the most certified of all events in the ancient world. The evidence for it is overwhelming.

5. But maybe we should back up a bit. Some people—people that are pretty smart and should know better, argue against the resurrection by claiming that Jesus was not even a real person who actually existed.

6. They argue that he was just a mythological character representative of the ideal man. But not a real person who actually lived in time and space. But how valid is this argument?

a. If you asked the typical historian whether men like Alexander the Great, Plato, Aristotle, and Julius Caesar really lived, they would answer yes, of course they did.

b. You see, the historicity of people in the ancient world is based upon 2 major lines of evidence—written ancient documents and historical impact.

c. Take Alexander the Great, for example. We know a fair amount about him. We know he became King of Macedonia at age 20. That he was a military genius. That he was handsome, arrogant, and ruthless as a military leader.

d. By his death at age 32, Alexander had accomplished more militarily than anyone in human history. They didn’t call him Alexander the Great for nothing.

7. But how do we know what we know about Alexander the Great? We know it primarily from a work by the Roman author, Plutarch entitled: Life of Alexander.

a. But this was written 400 years after Alexander’s death. Plutarch and other writers based their writings on the earlier contemporary accounts of Alexander.

b. But of the 20 contemporary accounts of Alexander’s life—not one of them still remains.

c. This is in stark contrast to the life of Christ. There are both religious and secular historical accounts of his life. They number in the thousands, many of which were written by his contemporaries.

d. The written, historical, reliable, documented evidence for Jesus’ existence is overwhelming, extensive, and extraordinary to put it mildly.

e. The independent accounts of his life that are both religious and secular in nature speak of a real person that lines up with the New Testament accounts.

f. Encyclopedia Britannica states: These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus.

g. In fact, the actual existence of Jesus as a real person in history has only been called into question in modern times. And the argument for his non-existence is weak, speculative, and frankly laughable.

h. By the way, there are 24,000 manuscripts of the New Testament. Writings from people that knew Jesus personally—not those who wrote 400 years after his death.

i. The second place winner for manuscripts from the ancient world is Homer’s Iliad—with 643 manuscripts. Final score: New Testament—24,000. The Iliad—643.

8. I wish there was time this morning to look at the historical evidence for the Resurrection itself. But previous Easter sermons are available through our CD ministry that cover it.

9. The second line of evidence for the existence of a person in the ancient world is the impact they had on the world.

10. The great historian Thomas Carlyle said: No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men. His point is that it’s real people, not fictitious mythological ones that impact the world.

11. So has Jesus made an impact on the world?

a. What is today again? Right, it’s Easter. A day recognized worldwide that marks the rising of Jesus from the dead. And what did we celebrate December 25^th?

b. And what year is it? 2009 A.D.—Anno Domini—in the year of our Lord. I would say this qualified as impact.

c. More books have been written about Jesus than about any other person in history. Why? Because he had the most impact of any other person.

d. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount established a new ethic and new standard for morality.

e. Schools, hospitals, societies, and missions have been established in his name. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Oxford were established to train gospel ministers.

f. Jesus has inspired more art, music, and books than anyone in human history. There’s no counting the paintings, buildings, songs, and books that he’s inspired.

g. We have songs about love, peace, and relationships. But how many songs are there about one particular person? Hundreds of thousands if not millions of songs.

h. The elevated role of women in western culture traces its roots back to the teachings of Jesus that women are not inferior non-persons—contrary to what the culture taught.

i. Historian and author H. G. Wells was once asked who has left the greatest legacy on history. He replied: By this test, Jesus stands first.

12. So why would an otherwise intelligent person reject the historicity of Christ? Why would they claim that he didn’t even exist?

13. There are no ramifications for questioning the existence of Alexander the Great. Believe it if you want. Or doubt his existence, it doesn’t really matter.

14. But to acknowledge that Jesus was born, that he said what he did, that he died on the cross for our sins. That believing in him or not determines eternal life or eternal death.

15. This is not theoretical stuff. This is life-changing and world-impacting stuff. To affirm his existence puts a skeptic in a very delicate position.

16. In many ways it’s easier to simply deny his existence than deal with it. Kind of like covering your ears when you disagree with what someone is saying.

B. BECAUSE THE WORD OF GOD AFFIRMS IT

1. So why should we believe in the Resurrection? First of all because HISTORY VALIDATES IT. History validates who Jesus was, what he said, what he did, and that he rose from the dead on the third day.

2. For the second and third reasons we go to 1 COR 15, the passage read a few minutes ago.

3. The second reason we should believe in the Resurrection is that THE WORD OF GOD AFFIRMS IT.

4. 1 COR 15:3: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

5. The first affirmation is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It could hardly be stated with any more clarity.

6. The Bible teaches that all people everywhere are sinners by virtue of not meeting God’s perfect standard of righteousness.

7. The penalty for our sin is death—eternal separation from the presence of God. And not being able to rescue ourselves, Jesus died on the cross to make our rescue possible.

8. Then in V4 it says: that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

9. Why say that he was buried? Is that not obvious? Well, Jesus said that he would die and be raised from the dead the third day. So it was extremely important that he actually die.

10. The Romans and Jews made certain that he was dead. They didn’t want him to only look dead or fake his death and then make it appear that he came back from the dead.

11. NO—he was dead. And his burial is confirmation that he was.

12. V5: and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living.

13. So why belabor the point that people saw Jesus alive after three days? To verify that he was alive! He said he would die and he said that he would be raised the third day.

14. His death was confirmed by experts and by the fact that he was buried. His rising from the dead was confirmed by eyewitnesses who saw him—and it was noted who did.

15. But what about mentioning that he appeared to 500 people, some of whom were still living? So just in case anyone doubted the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead, there were people still living who saw him that you could ask!

16. Here are 500 people who saw him alive after three days. Feel free to interview or question any of the 500. At least the ones who aren’t dead yet.

C. BECAUSE OUR SALVATION REQUIRES IT

1. The third reason we should believe in the Resurrection of Christ is the most important of all—OUR SALVATION REQUIRES IT.

2. The Bible says this in many places in different ways. But maybe the simplest way is in ROM 10:9: That 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. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

3. Jesus wasn’t a military leader. He wasn’t a political leader. He wasn’t a social reformer. He wasn’t a philosopher. He wasn’t a moralist.

4. Jesus was a Savior. He still is. He came to save people from the penalty of their sin. He came to offer them forgiveness of sins against God.

5. The world has had plenty of philosophers and social reformers and religious teachers. But it’s had only ONE SAVIOR! What separates Jesus from all who came before him or after him is that he didn’t just come with a new philosophy—he came with a remedy.

6. Don’t let another Easter pass by without confronting the reality of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. The gospel is not a religion—it’s a remedy.

7. We close with a brief video that says the same thing visually that I’ve said verbally.