Lasting Testimonies Concerning the Resurrection

1
(No Transcript)
2
Lasting Testimonies Concerning the Resurrection

• A Special EASTER Message
• 1 Corinthians 151-11

3
WHAT IS RESURRECTION (VS. WHAT IS NOT)?

• Resurrection is NOT resuscitation.
• Resurrection is to come back to life from death
  with an immortal body that will never face death
  again.
• Resurrection is NOT spiritual survival.
• The resurrection of Jesus was a bodily
  resurrection (so will each believers be).
• Resurrection is NOT about subjective truth.
• The resurrection of Jesus was a historical event
  that can be verified as objective truth.
• Resurrection is NOT irrelevant to irreligious
  people.
• The resurrection of Jesus changes EVERYTHINGthe
  eternal destiny of EVERYONE depends on it!

4
WHAT ARE THE LASTING TESTIMONIES CONCERNING THE
RESURRECTION?

• 1) Testimony 1 The Birth and Rise of the
  Christian Church
• 1Now I would remind you, brothers, 
• of the gospel I preached to you, which you
  received,
• in which you stand,2and by which you are being
  saved,
• if you hold fast to the word I preached to you
• unless you believed in vain. (vs.1-2)
•  
• The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation on
  which the Church stands.
• Had there been no resurrection, there would have
  been no New Testament, and no Christian Church.
• It was the central message of the gospel during
  the first century Church.
•  

5

•  29"Brothers, I may say to you with confidence
• about the patriarch David that he both died
  and was buried,
• and his tomb is with us to this day. 30Being
  therefore a prophet,
• and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
  him that he
• would set one of his descendants on his
  throne,31he foresaw and
• spoke about the resurrection of the Christ,
  that he was not
• abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see
  corruption. 
• 32This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all
  are witnesses
• 36Let all the house of Israel therefore know for
  certain
• that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
• this Jesus whom you crucified." 
• Acts 229-32,36
•  
•  

6
WHAT ARE THE LASTING TESTIMONIES CONCERNING THE
RESURRECTION?

• 2) Testimony 2 The Prophecies of the OT
  Scriptures
• 3For I delivered to you as of first importance
  what I also received
• that Christ died for our sins in accordance with
  the Scriptures,
•  4that he was buried, that he was raised on the
  third day 
• in accordance with the Scriptures,  (vs. 3-4)
•  
• Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the
  Scriptures.
•  

7

• 3 He was despised and rejected by men   a man
  of sorrows, and acquainted with griefand as one
  from whom men hide their faces   he was
  despised, and we esteemed him not.
•  4 Surely he has borne our griefs   and carried
  our sorrowsyet we esteemed him
  stricken,    smitten by God, and
  afflicted.5 But he was wounded for our
  transgressions   he was crushed for our
  iniquitiesupon him was the chastisement that
  brought us peace,    and with his stripes we are
  healed.6 All we like sheep have gone
  astray   we have turnedevery oneto his own
  wayand the LORD has laid on him   the iniquity
  of us all.
• Isaiah 533-6
•  
•  

8
WHAT ARE THE LASTING TESTIMONIES CONCERNING THE
RESURRECTION?

• 2) Testimony 2 The Prophecies of the OT
  Scriptures
• 3For I delivered to you as of first importance
  what I also received
• that Christ died for our sins in accordance with
  the Scriptures,
•  4that he was buried, that he was raised on the
  third day 
• in accordance with the Scriptures,  (vs. 3-4)
•  
• Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the
  Scriptures.
• Jesus was buried in accordance with the
  Scriptures the empty tomb is a historical
  evidence for the resurrection.
•  because you will not abandon me
• to the realm of the dead,
• nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
• Psalm 1610 NIV

9
WHAT ARE THE LASTING TESTIMONIES CONCERNING THE
RESURRECTION?

• 2) Testimony 2 The Prophecies of the OT
  Scriptures
• 3For I delivered to you as of first importance
  what I also received
• that Christ died for our sins in accordance with
  the Scriptures,
•  4that he was buried, that he was raised on the
  third day 
• in accordance with the Scriptures,  (vs. 3-4)
•  
• Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the
  Scriptures.
• Jesus was buried in accordance with the
  Scriptures the empty tomb is a historical
  evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.
• Jesus was raised on the third day in accordance
  with the Scriptures.
•  

10

• 2After two days he will revive us   on the
  third day he will raise us up,   that we may
  live before him.
• Hosea 62
• For just as Jonah was three days
• and three nights in the belly of the great fish, 
• so will the Son of Man be three days and
• three nights in the heart of the earth.
• Matthew 1240
• Jesus answered them,
• "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
  raise it up.
• John 219
•  
•  

11
WHAT ARE THE LASTING TESTIMONIES CONCERNING THE
RESURRECTION?

• Testimony 3 More Than Five Hundred Eye
  Witnesses
• 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
  twelve. 
• 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred
  brothers at one time,
• most of whom are still alive, though some have
  fallen asleep. 
• 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the
  apostles. 8Last of all,
• as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 
  (vs.5-7)
•  
• Pauls first letter to the Corinthians was
  written only 20 years after the
  resurrectionwhich meant many of the eye
  witnesses were still alive.
• People dont die for hallucination or fabrication
  of factsbut so many of the Early Christians
  (i.e., eye witnesses) chose martyrdom for the
  Risen Savior!
• Risen Jesus appeared to more than 500 people.
•  

12

• Jesus appearances after the resurrection
• To Mary Magdalene (Mark 169 John 2011-18)
• To the other women (Matt. 288-10)
• To Cephas Peter (Luke 2434 1 Cor. 155)
• To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Mark
  1612 Luke 2413-35)
• To eleven of the disciplesexcept Thomas (Luke
  2433-49 John 2019-24)
• To the twelve a week later (John 2024-29 1 Cor.
  155)
• To seven disciples by the Sea of Tiberias (John
  211-23)
• To five hundred followers (1 Cor. 156)
• To James (1 Cor. 157)
• To the twelve at the ascension (Acts 13-12)
• To Paul then Saul (Acts 9 1 Cor. 158)
•  

13
WHAT ARE THE LASTING TESTIMONIES CONCERNING THE
RESURRECTION?

• 4) Testimony 4 The Changed Lives of Jesus
  Followers
• 9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to
  be
• called an apostle, because I persecuted the
  church of God. 
• 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his
  grace toward me
• was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder
  than any of them, 
• though it was not I, but the grace of God that is
  with me. 11Whether
• then it was I or they, so we preach and so you
  believed. (vs.9-11)
•  
• Pauls transformed life was a fact due to his
  notorious persecution of the Church prior to his
  conversion.
• The disciples who were once so afraid and
  deflated had been transformed into bold witnesses
  for Jesus.
• Believers throughout the history also have
  experienced the transformation of the Risen
  Christeven today, Jesus can transform your life
  inside out!
•  

14

• Whether then it was I or they,
• so we preach and so you believed (v.11).
•  
•  

15
You Must Make Your Choice

• A man who was merely a man and said the sort of
  things Jesus said would not be a great moral
  teacher. He would either be a lunatic on a
  level with the man who says he is a poached egg
  or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must
  make your choice. Either this man was, and is,
  the Son of God or else a madman or something
  worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can
  spit at Him and kill him as a demon or you can
  fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But
  let us not come with any patronizing nonsense
  about His being a great human teacher. He has not
  left that open to us. He did not intend to.
• - C. S. Lewis

16
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE

• Renew your hope and faith in YOUR RISEN SAVIOR
  WHO LIVES IN YOU.
• Put your hope in Christ who lives in you.
• Live by faith in Christ who loves you and gave
  himself for you.
• I have been crucified with Christ. It is no
  longer
• I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the
  life
• I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
  Son of God, 
• who loved me and gave himself for me.
• Galatians 220
• Share YOUR TESTIMONY concerning your Risen
  Savior Lord.
• Dont keep the Good News of EASTER to yourself!
• Live out your transformed life as a testimony.

17
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE

• 3. Believe IN JESUS CHRIST as your Risen Savior
  and Lord.
• ADMIT that you are a sinner.
• BELIEVE that Jesus died and rose again for your
  sin.
• CONSIDER the cost of following Jesus as your
  Lord as well as your Savior.
• DO receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord
  by faith.

18
(No Transcript)