And so, being Resurrection Sunday, of course, I'm going to be preaching on that topic, topic
of the Resurrection.
If you look there in Romans chapter 1, beginning of verse 1, it says, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle separated under the gospel of God, which he had before
a forepromised by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ
our Lord, which is made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be
the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from
the dead.
So, of course, there are many very important doctrines in the Bible.
You know, I never want to say one doctrine is the most important, but certainly the Resurrection
is right up there.
Anytime you're dealing with the nature of Christ or the things that he did, you're dealing
with some very significant doctrine and things that you have to make sure are correct.
And we can see the significance of the Resurrection here in Romans chapter 1 because of the fact
it says there that Jesus Christ, in verse 4, was declared to be the son of God with
power.
There wasn't just, you know, a general declaration.
This wasn't just something that was kind of floated out there and hopefully people would,
you know, get it.
No, the Bible says he was declared to be the son of God with power.
So there was power in this declaration and it was done how?
Well, it says there in the end, by the resurrection from the dead.
So you can see how important the resurrection is.
The resurrection is the decrelation of the fact that Jesus Christ is the son of God and
it was done with power.
So the resurrection this morning is a demonstration of God's power.
And there's several other ways we could look at that.
We could see other ways that it is the power of God.
First of all, it is the power to save a sinner.
It is the only thing a person needs is Jesus Christ.
They don't need anything else in order to be saved.
That's what the Bible clearly teaches and that's a whole other sermon in and of itself.
But the Bible says in Romans chapter 1, look at verse 16, Paul said, I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation.
So what is the power of God this morning?
It is the gospel of Jesus Christ and what is the gospel of Jesus Christ?
It is his death, burial and resurrection.
Bible clearly teaches that is the only thing we need that is sufficient for all of our
sins is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So that is the power of God.
We can see again the power of the resurrection.
Not only is it the power to save the sinner, but it also, we have to understand that the
resurrection validates Christ's sacrifice.
Christ's sacrifice we know is sufficient for our salvation because of the fact that he
rose again from the grave.
And I'm going to have you turn around a little bit this morning if you could stick with me.
Go to Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5.
What is the power of God this morning?
What is the power of the resurrection?
Well, the power of the resurrection is the fact that it can save a sinner and it's so
powerful in fact that it is, you know, the only thing that we need.
We need of course Christ's death, but without the resurrection of Christ, the death is insufficient.
You have to have the resurrection.
You have to have both.
And there's been a lot of, you know, semantics that I've heard lately of people saying, well,
it's the blood that saves.
No, it's, you know, it's his body that saves or no, it's the fact that he went to hell
or didn't go to.
It's the fact that he grows, actually it's all of it.
It's all of it.
It's his perfect life.
It's his virgin birth.
It's the fact that he's got, it's all of these things.
And we know we're focusing significantly this morning because of the fact that this is resurrection
Sunday.
This is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
And the power of the resurrection is that not only does it save us and not only is it
sufficient for us, but it actually validates Christ's death.
That's how we know that the sacrifice that he made on our part is sufficient once and
for all for us to be saved.
Romans chapter five, look at verse nine, it says there, much more than being now justified
by his blood.
So are we saved by the blood?
Yes, we are.
We're saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
The fact the Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.
It was necessary that Christ would shed his blood for us.
It goes on, it says, we being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him.
For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled by his death, by the death of his son, much
more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
You need both this morning, folks.
You need the death, you need the blood, but you also need the life.
You need to have the resurrection.
Go to first Corinthians chapter 15, first Corinthians chapter 15.
It doesn't do a person any good if they say, yeah, there was a guy named Jesus.
He was a good teacher.
He's a historical figure that even the unsaved secular world will acknowledge, and I'm sure
he died a death.
He was very likely crucified by the Romans.
Look, that doesn't do you any good unless you believe that Jesus Christ rose again from
the grave.
That is the gospel.
And when we say something like the fact that he rose again from the grave, that is to acknowledge
the fact that he is God, that God played a part in that.
Now if you look here in first Corinthians chapter 15, it says verse 12.
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 if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
Now here's the consequences.
If Christ be not risen, here are some consequences.
And if Christ be not risen, verse 14, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also
vain.
What's Paul saying?
Look, if Jesus Christ isn't risen, let's just pack up and go home.
What's the point of being here?
I mean, you could go get a good moral lesson.
You could go to get advice on life.
You could do that on YouTube, the comfort from your home.
But we know that he is risen, you know, and our faith is not in vain and the preaching
is not in vain.
We're here this morning to be reminded again of the power of the resurrection.
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're saying something that didn't
happen.
We're getting up this morning and we go around and we tell people, hey, Jesus Christ rose
again from the dead.
If that didn't happen, then we're false witnesses, we're liars.
Because we have testified of God that he has raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if
so, Christ be that the dead rise not.
Verse 16, for if the dead rise not, then Christ is not raised.
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins.
So not only did you need the death of Jesus Christ, not only did you need the blood of
Jesus Christ this morning, but you also need to know that Christ is raised up from the
dead.
Otherwise, what?
Ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
The inverse is then true, isn't it?
If not only in this life we have hope in Christ, then of all men we are not most miserable.
In fact, the Bible teaches us that the fact that Jesus Christ is risen again should be
a great source of joy and hope and rejoicing for the Christian.
Like we just sang, he lives, right?
That song is, you know, hallelujah, Christ arose, all the songs that we sing.
Those are songs of exaltation, those are songs of rejoicing, those are not somber songs.
Now we sing the somber songs about the cross, about the death, and so on and so forth.
But when it comes to the resurrection, it is the power of God and it is a great source
of joy and hope for the believer.
And I want to preach to you this morning some proofs of the resurrection.
What are some proofs of the resurrection?
Now I can't take you over to Israel or, you know, over there and show you some archeological
fact, you know, although the fact that maybe the grave is empty, we're going to talk about
that in a minute, but there's nothing I can pull out from behind the pulpit and present
to you and say, here's proof.
Ultimately it all has to be believed by faith.
But the greatest proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the Bible itself, the testimony
of the Word of God.
And people will scoff at that and they'll mock at that and say, well, that book was
just written by men, you know, how do you know they didn't just make that up?
And I really don't want to go off on all that, but it's a remarkable book and it's a remarkable
sequence of events how that book came into existence, the Bible, considering the fact
that, you know, you have four gospels that are all giving testimony to the life, death,
burial and resurrection of Christ written by different authors at different times.
It's a historical fact that was prophesied thousands of years before it ever happened
by multiple different authors.
And then you have just the fact that the gospels, you know, if it was just all, you know, collusion,
if it was men conspiring to try to pull the wool over people's eyes or something like
that, the gospels would then be so perfectly succinct that there would be no question as
to whether or not it was faked, okay?
Hear me out.
When people are trying to make their stories match, they match so perfectly well that it's
obviously fake.
You see what I'm saying?
We go to the gospels and we say, it seems like there's contradiction here.
And then we have to work hard and look and study and then we see the harmony.
It's the opposite, if that makes sense.
So the proof this morning, one, is the Word of God.
Every proof that I'm going to give you is from the Word of God, and that's good enough
for me.
And that's where I've put my faith is in the Word of God and nothing else.
So proof number one, proof of the resurrection this morning.
Again, the resurrection is the power of God.
The resurrection is a source of rejoicing and hope for the Christian, for the believer.
We say we believe it, but why?
Why do we believe it?
Well, let's look at some proofs.
As I mentioned a minute ago, the empty tomb.
The empty tomb.
The fact that we do not have Christ's physical body.
We don't have a bone, a finger, anything that people will hold up and say, this is the body
of Christ.
It doesn't exist.
They say, well, could that really have happened?
Sure it could have.
Think about it.
If Christ died and never rose again, don't you think somebody would have gotten a piece
of that?
Someone would have grabbed a femur or whatever.
Someone would have held on to some kind of earthly remains.
People do it today.
Do people today not preserve earthly remains?
We think about all the incorruptible saints right down here at San Xavier.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they bring in the bodies of saints every now and then,
like physical corpses, bones?
I've heard that.
Is that true?
I've got a witness.
It's out there.
That's something that the Catholic Church practices.
They have the bodies of saints.
You can go look at them on Google.
I'm just making the point that, look, when people venerate or want to preserve bodies,
they can do that.
They do it with Buddha.
Buddha is another religious figure that his earthly remains were preserved.
When they burned him, they burned him in a funeral pyre and they then saved the pots
that he was contained in.
They saved his ashes.
They saved the ashes from the furnace itself, the fuel that was used to burn him.
They actually split up those remains.
It's believed that the physical remains of Buddha are in over 84,000 stupas.
You say, what's a stupa?
I'm trying not to make a joke out of it because it would be a stupa joke, right?
But it's basically their temple.
The point I'm making is this, is that if people have enough forethought and people care enough,
they will preserve the body of somebody.
And they'll show it off.
And they'll make sure it's safe.
And they'll say, oh, look, here it is.
Don't you think they would have done that with Jesus Christ?
The most famous person that ever lived.
He's the centerpiece of time in history.
Our whole calendar revolves around his life and death and ascension.
Of course they would.
So what's proof number one this morning?
The fact that there are no earthly remains of Jesus Christ.
Not a hair, nothing.
They don't have anything.
You say, well, maybe they just didn't care much as they cared about Buddha or these other
saints.
Well, Jesus' body was very carefully considered at the time of his death when we think about
it.
Think about the fact that the Jews wanted it down before the Sabbath.
Go over to Luke chapter 25, Luke chapter 25.
I'll read from John 19.
It says, the Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation that the body should not remain
upon the cross on the Sabbath day, that Sabbath day was an high day, besought Pilate that
their legs might be broken and then may be taken away.
So even before Jesus is dead, they're already thinking about what they're going to do with
his body.
Hey, we need to get it down from the cross because tomorrow is the Sabbath day.
Consider the fact that Jesus' body was carefully considered by Joseph of Arimathea.
He wanted that who was a wealthy man and he wanted Jesus' body laid in his own tomb, wherein
never a man was laid, right?
And it was a rich man's tomb.
And it says in verse 50 of Luke 23, verse 50, and behold, there was a man, Joseph, a
counselor, and he was a good man and a just.
The same had not consented to the counsel and the deed of them.
He was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.
This man went unto Pilate and begged the body of Jesus.
So people from day one are concerned with what they're going to do with the physical
remains of Jesus Christ.
And he begs the body of Jesus and he took it down and wrapped it in linen and laid it
in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man was laid.
And this is significant because of the fact that we know from the story, as we'll see
in a minute, that a great stone was rolled in front of that.
A great stone, meaning it was very heavy.
In fact, when the ladies were going to anoint Christ's body, they said, who's going to roll
away the stone for us because they didn't have the physical strength and just the two
of them to get it out of the way.
So this shows us that this was a significantly large stone that would have taken a lot of
effort to move out of the way, which again, you know, tells us, you know, why is that?
Because of the fact that if you're a rich man and you're, you know, you're being buried
with things, you don't want to be, have that grave looted, right?
So that's where Jesus was laid.
The women that went to anoint it, they also were concerned with the body of Jesus Christ,
right?
The day after they're ready to go and anoint his body after he's been put in that tomb,
they're thinking, what else can we do with the body of Christ?
So we could see again that Christ's body was carefully considered by those even in his
own time.
It stands to reason, folks, that if there were any physical remains of Jesus Christ,
people would still have kept track of it and done things with it.
But it isn't there.
And that's one of the main proofs today, I believe, of the resurrection, the fact that
there are no earthly remains of this man, Jesus Christ.
If Jesus' body hadn't been risen, no doubt it would have been worshiped today.
It would have been idolized today.
That's my opinion.
But the scripture, we all know the story, you know, I'm not going to take the time to
go to Mark, Luke, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and look at all the different passages,
but we know the story, don't we?
That when they went there, that tomb was empty, that there was no one in it.
They said, he is not here.
He is risen.
Scripture tells us that the tomb was empty.
So what is the proof of the resurrection this morning?
Ultimately, it's the scripture, and it's what the scripture testifies, the fact that that
tomb wherein he was laid was found empty, and there are no physical remains.
So that's another proof of the resurrection.
It's important we understand these proofs.
I mean, that's what our, you know, our salvation, we're relying on the resurrection of Jesus
Christ for our salvation.
We put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ that he was died, that he was buried, and
that he rose again.
We look at the resurrection with great hope, at least we should.
It should fill our hearts with joy and rejoicing, that knowing that even as he is risen, so
also we will one day rise again to be with him.
So let's look at some of those proofs.
Proof number one is the fact that the tomb was empty.
Proof number two, Christ's multiple appearances after the resurrection.
After the resurrection.
Well, they could have made that up.
Again, the stories match to, it's not collusion.
It's not a conspiracy.
It's what happened, okay?
Think about all the dumb things I get written about these days.
Just think about, you know, some celebrity stubs their toe and it's, you know, an Us
Weekly or whatever.
People Magazine, you know, they're on their whatever divorce, you know, some celebrity,
you know, and people write all about it, right?
People care about all these stupid trivial things that go on in the world.
You know, if there was somebody that did great miracles and did the things that Jesus Christ
did and then died and was buried again, don't you think somebody would have taken the time
to say, we should probably write about this.
We should probably make this a part of the historical record that this happened so that
other people know about it.
Of course they would.
And we, you know, not only do we read about and know about the death and the burial, but
we also know about the resurrection through what?
Through the multiple appearances.
Go over to Matthew 28, Matthew 28.
Matthew 28, one of Jesus's appearances there, but I'll read to you from John chapter 20
where we see Mary at the tomb, that Mary stood without the sepulcher weeping and as
she wept, she stooped down and looked in the sepulcher and seeth two angels in white sitting,
the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain and they
say unto her, woman, why weepest thou?
She said unto them, because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have
laid him.
That's interesting that Mary doesn't get it even yet, that she's, she doesn't connect
the dots here.
She looks in the tomb and she goes, oh, what'd they do with the body?
And it literally takes the angels coming and saying, no, that's not what happened.
Let's clarify here.
And when she had said thus, she turned herself back and what'd she see?
She saw Jesus standing and knew that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, woman, why weepest thou?
Whom seekest thou?
She's supposing him to be the gardener.
She said unto him, sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou has laid him
and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary, she turned herself and sayeth unto him, Rabboni, which is to
say, master.
So there you have another eyewitness account, a firsthand account of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ and Mary.
You see it also with the, with the ladies that went to anoint his body and they were
also confronted and it says in verse, Matthew 28 verse eight, and they departed quickly
from the sepulcher with fear and great joy and did wrong to bring his disciples word.
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, all hail.
And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.
Then said Jesus unto them, be not afraid.
Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, that they go into Galilee and there they shall
they see me.
And there's many other accounts that we read about in the gospels, the, the, on the road
to Emmaus, the two disciples that were walking, Jesus come alongside and begins to expound
to them all the things concerning himself and Moses and the prophets.
He sits down to have lunch with them and then the eyes are open, they realize it's
the Lord and he disappears and they go back and tell the disciples.
And we also have that account there in John chapter 20, if you want to go there, John
chapter 20 verse 19, the disciples in the upper room, you don't have to actually don't
go to first Corinthians 15, go to first Corinthians 15.
We all know the story here in the upper room, John 20 verse 19, then the same day and evening
being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled
for the fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, peace
be unto you.
So not only do you have Mary and the disciples on the road to Emmaus and Martha, but now
you have these disciples that are seeing the firsthand account of Jesus Christ and his
resurrected body.
You'll say, well, of course they're going to say that, they're in on it, right?
Well, what about first Corinthians 15, where a great multitude of people have seen him.
It says in first three, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried.
And then he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
And he was seen of Cephas, which is Peter, right?
Then of the 12, after that he was seen above 500 brethren at once.
Oh, they're all in on it.
Five hundred brethren at once saw him.
Now either Paul's a liar or this is true.
Of whom the greater part remaineth unto this present, but some are falling asleep.
After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles.
And last of all, he was seen of me also as one born out of due time.
So you have all these eyewitness testimonies.
You have a grave that does not have a body in it.
These are the proofs of the resurrection folks.
Proof number three, this is one I like particularly is the fact that those that witnessed the
resurrection of Christ had changed life.
And I want to focus on just a couple of them.
If you want to go over to 1 Timothy chapter one, 1 Timothy chapter one.
I want to look at just two examples.
It's one thing to, here's the thing, it's one thing to make up a story and lie about
it to try and fool people.
And people sometimes they'll sacrifice a little bit to try to make that lie stick.
But people aren't really going to go so far to make that lie stick.
If I'm making up a story and I'm trying to get you to believe it, and then it's going
to cost me more than I'm willing to give in order to get you to believe it, you see what
I'm saying?
I'm just going to come out and say, yeah, I'm lying.
I'm just going to say it's not true, I'm making it up.
And I want you to understand that because you have to think about that when you consider
the apostle Paul, the apostle Paul.
His testimony in particular is interesting because of the change that we see in Paul.
Remember Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
He had a pedigree.
He was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.
He was well known among the Pharisees and Sadducees.
He was a teacher.
When they stoned Stephen, they laid their clothes at Saul's feet, which was Paul, right?
And he was consenting unto his death.
He was the one that was given letters to go hail a brethren and cast and haul them off
to prison.
That's what he was going to do on the road to Damascus.
He was going to arrest Christians.
He was zealous for the tradition of his fathers in Judaism.
So for him to have this about faith and now to preach the faith which he once persecuted,
something significant must have happened.
And what was that event that made such a dramatic change in the life of Paul?
Was it apologetics?
Could somebody come to him and show him a fossil and prove creation to him?
No.
What it was was the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Him, of course, very uniquely getting to see the resurrected form of Christ, hearing his
voice, that's what convinced Paul.
And because he understood that was true, he was then willing to give his entire life to
that truth.
You don't just turn your life over to a lie.
You don't give your life over for a lie.
I mean, think about that.
If Paul knew he was making this up and then he's beaten the multiple times that he's beaten,
suffers everything that we read about him suffering, you really think he'd go through
all of that for a lie?
Of course not.
So what's another proof of the resurrection this morning?
The fact that those who witnessed the resurrected Christ had such dramatic changes in their
lives.
This is probably the most prominent one.
Paul went from being a persecutor of the gospel to being a promoter of the gospel.
First Timothy chapter one, look at verse 12.
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for the economy faithful putting
me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor.
This is Paul's own words, I persecuted the church.
He was injurious, he said, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
So Paul's saying, look, there was a time when I was persecuting the church, when I was injurious
to the church, when I was a blasphemer, but now he's been put into the ministry.
Why is that?
Because of the resurrection.
To me, that's a great proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul's testimony.
His experience in Acts nine on the road to Damascus had such a profound impact on his
life that he was willing to turn it all over for Christ.
We're going through the book of Philippians and we know Philippians chapter three.
He said in verse four, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other
man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.
He's saying, look, if you think it's your pedigree, if you think it's your upbringing
or your education or your good life that you have to boast of, he said, I more.
He said, I can one-up you.
Paul's saying basically, you want to go there?
Because we can go there and we're going to find out that I can beat you there too.
That's what Paul's saying.
He goes on and says in verse five, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of
the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee concerning
zeal, persecuting the church.
He's saying, that's how zealous I was for the tradition of my fathers, for Judaism.
I was willing to persecute the church.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
So Paul's boasting himself a little bit, right, to make a point.
He's making a point.
But we see here that Paul was invested in Judaism.
Paul was invested in that religion, right?
He's doing all of these things.
What does he say in verse seven?
But those things which were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
He said, look, I was this, I was the tribe of Benjamin, I was the Hebrew of the Hebrews,
so on and so forth.
When I was walking down that road one day and I saw the resurrected Christ, all that
went by the wayside.
I counted it loss.
That's a dramatic change and I think that is a great proof of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
He said in verse 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
That was the change.
He said, you know what?
I went from being this somebody in the Jews religion to being willing to be made conformable
unto his death.
I'm willing to die for this truth that Christ is risen again.
Another great example I want to look at briefly here is concerning this proof of the fact
that those that witnessed the resurrection of Christ had such a dramatic change in their
life.
We looked at the example of Paul, but also the example of Peter.
I think Peter is another good example of this.
Of course, Peter being a disciple might not have been as dramatic a change, but we have
to remember the story with Peter and what happened with Peter.
Peter failed.
We all know the story that he denied Christ when he was arrested.
Jesus said to him, before the cock crowed, thou shalt deny me thrice.
That happened.
It says he went out and he wept bitterly.
Peter failed, didn't he?
We don't fault him for that.
We understand that.
The longer I've been saved and reading my Bible, the more I've come to appreciate Peter
and his testimony because he's so relatable, at least for me.
But Peter is one that went from failing to being very fervent for the Lord, didn't he?
What made that change?
Go to Mark 16.
Again we're looking at proofs of the resurrection.
Go to Mark 16.
Proofs of the resurrection, the empty grave.
We had the empty grave.
We had his multiple appearances.
He was seen by many, up to 500 brethren at once.
He walked this earth, Jesus Christ, for 40 days after his resurrection and then was ascended
to the Father.
We're looking last here again at the proof of the fact that those that witnessed the
resurrected Christ had a profound change in their life.
We looked at Paul.
Let's look at Peter.
We know the story that he failed.
It says in Mark 16 verse 6, and he, Jesus, saith unto them, be not affrighted, ye seek
Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified.
He is risen.
He is not here.
Behold the place where they laid him.
But go your way, tell his disciples, and it's very interesting these two words, tell his
disciples and Peter.
He specifically mentions Peter, and there's a whole sermon right there.
A great sermon's been preached about that, about the fact that even though Peter boasted
himself and failed miserably, God still loved him and said, you know what?
Go reassure Peter.
I know he's really beaten himself up.
God knows we're going to make mistakes.
We're going to fall.
We're going to stumble.
So on and so forth.
That's another sermon.
But you know, Peter here, this goes to show us that Peter failed to the point where Jesus
had to single him out, saying don't forget to tell Peter too, okay, that he goeth before
you in the Galilee.
There you shall see him as he said unto you.
And of course, if we recall the story in John chapter 21, where after Jesus, he tells them
to stay in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost become, Peter says, I go a-fishing, right?
And he takes some disciples with him, and he says, he still is beating himself up, I
believe what's going on in that story, and says, I'm just not cut out for this.
You know, I failed the Lord.
I'm just going to go back to my old way of life.
And he goes a-fishing, right?
And that's where Jesus finds them, right?
He calls out to them while they're out fishing and says, children, have you any meat?
And John says, it's the Lord.
And Peter's the first one in the water.
He gets there.
And then we know the story, right, where Christ gently, basically reproves Peter for not staying
in Jerusalem and going back to his old way.
He says, you know, Peter, loveth thou me more than these, right?
And that was Peter's boasting, that although all men forsake thee, yet I will not leave
thee.
I'm ready to die for thee, right?
These guys might go, but not me, Lord.
And then when Christ comes to him, he says, loveth thou me more than these?
I believe he's referring to the disciples.
And of course, Peter at this point has been very humble through everything that's happened.
He says, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
And we know the story.
He asks them that three times.
And it's the same answer every time, thou knowest that I love thee.
Thou knowest all things.
You know whether or not I love you, right?
And that was Peter being gently reproved by the resurrected Christ, right?
He denied Christ, he saw the resurrected Christ, and then he was gently reproved by Christ
after the resurrection.
And that made a very profound change in Peter, didn't it?
Because that's the book of John, right?
You're getting towards the end there in John 21.
You get into the book of Acts next, and who's leading the charge in the book of Acts?
Peter.
And Peter goes on and he preaches some of the most powerful preaching that's ever been
preached in the book of Acts.
Go there.
Go to Acts chapter two.
If it's hot, is that on?
Could someone just reach up there and turn that on?
I see people fanning and I think people are sweating.
I'm sure it's not anything that I'm doing.
If you're nervous, just relax.
It is hot though.
You know, we're looking at this proof of the resurrection.
These changed lives.
The fact that Jesus Christ rose again changed people, changed the apostle Paul, it changed
Peter.
Says in Acts chapter two, verse 14, but Peter's standing up with the 11 at the day of Pentecost
in front of thousands of people, in front of the Jews that had crucified the Lord, that
had persecuted the church, standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice and said unto
him, ye men of Judea and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you and
harken to my words.
He said, listen up, I got something to say.
Jump down to verse 31.
Paul, Peter went from, you know what, I'm just going to go back to my old way of living.
He went from that to, listen up, I got something to say to thousands of people the day of Pentecost,
big day.
He said, you need to hear what I have to say, I have something to say.
Verse 31, a long sermon, right?
Long sermon.
Verse 31, he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ.
So what is it that he's getting up to say?
What is it that he wants these people to know?
The fact that Christ is risen again.
He's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
neither did his flesh seek corruption.
This Jesus, that God, hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses.
He said, look, we've seen it.
I was there when he showed up in the upper room.
I was there when he showed up when I was fishing and called me to the shore and reproved me.
I was there.
We're all witnesses of this.
You don't get up and do that unless you've actually seen it.
You don't get up and say things like this unless it actually happened.
Verse 33, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received the Father
promise of the Hegos, he has shed forth this which you now see and hear.
So we see this dramatic change in Peter's life, don't we?
Him going from this failure who denies Christ, goes back to his old way of living, goes back
to fishing, quits the ministry, takes other disciples with him.
He goes from that and just a few chapters later, he's standing in front of thousands
of people and preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I mean, isn't that why we do what we do?
Because we believe this?
Because we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
And of course, the book of Acts itself is such a powerful proof of the resurrection
of Christ.
Because Acts chapter, I'm running out of time, but Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter 5, it just
goes on and on.
That is the message that the apostles brought was the message of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
That's what they were willing to bleed and die for was this truth that they had witnessed
Christ resurrected.
And again, our ultimate proof is the Bible itself.
The Bible is the source of all of this information.
It's the source of all these proofs.
And if these testimonies aren't enough, if these proofs aren't enough, what about the
proof of Jesus Christ himself?
I mean, Jesus testified to this.
He said it was going to happen before it happened.
He said, I lay down my life that I might take it up again.
No man taketh it from me.
I lay it down that I might take it up again.
In Revelation chapter 1, it says in verse 17, when I saw him, this is John saying, when
I saw Jesus Christ in his glorified form, I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his
right hand upon me saying, fear not, I am the first and the last.
He goes on and says, I am he that liveth and was dead.
Look, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the testimony of the apostles.
It's the testimony of scripture.
It's the testimony of our Lord himself that I am he that liveth and was dead.
I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death.
So if we're saved this morning, if we've put our faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ
alone for salvation, it's because we believe the testimonies of scripture.
If you're saved, it's because you believe the testimony of the Bible and what it says
a person has to do to be saved.
That's why you're saved this morning.
And what does the scripture say?
The scripture very plainly states that Jesus Christ is alive from the dead, that he's resurrected.
And I want to close here with this thought.
The Bible says in John, go to 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1.
The Bible says in John 20, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.
Remember Thomas, except I should thrust my hand into his side and feel the holes in his hand,
I will not believe.
Jesus shows up to hold the holes in my hand, my side.
Be not doubtless, but believing, right?
And Thomas says, I believe.
Who wouldn't believe at that point, right?
And Jesus saying, look, because you've seen me, Thomas, you believe me.
I mean, who wouldn't?
And that's really, you know, what I'm talking about this morning with these testimonies,
the fact that people are going to testify those things which they have seen and heard.
Look, if you were one of these guys that witnessed the resurrection of Christ,
do you think you'd keep that to yourself?
I mean, you'd be putting all your contacts in a group chat.
You'd be posting on Facebook.
You'd be making videos.
You'd be wanting to get the word out there.
You'd be telling everybody you could because you saw it.
That's perfectly natural, right?
Jesus told that to Thomas.
He said, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.
What do you go on and say after that, though?
Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.
And that's me and you.
You know, you're more blessed than the apostle Thomas this morning because you didn't see any of this.
We haven't seen it.
All we do is we open up the pages of scripture.
We read about what happened and we say, I believe that.
We haven't been we weren't there.
I didn't thrust my hand to his side.
I didn't see his face.
I didn't hear his voice.
I simply read the Bible and I believed it.
And the world will scoff at that.
The world will mock at that and say, oh, you believe in some focus, focus, focus fairy tale.
But Jesus says, no, you do that and you're blessed.
You're blessed because you didn't see and you believe.
Look at First Peter, Chapter one, verse eight, whom having not seen talking about Jesus Christ, we haven't seen him.
Whom having not seen you love.
Not only do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I love him.
I don't just believe in the resurrection.
I love the resurrection this morning.
I love the fact that Jesus Christ rose again from the grave because that means I'm justified.
It means my salvation is sure.
That his sacrifice was sufficient for my salvation and that I, too, one day I'm going to be as he is,
that I have hope that I also am going to be a a co-heir with Christ.
I'm going to be a partaker of that resurrection.
He said, and whom having not seen you love and whom though you see him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
And that's what Resurrection Sunday is really about, isn't it?
It's a reason that what we should be doing today, what should you be doing to celebrate the resurrection?
You should rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Look, I don't, if you're saved, I don't care what else goes on in your life.
You got that.
And we talked about it last Thursday, the difference between happiness and joy and why Paul was able to do everything he did and suffer everything he did,
because he understood, like Peter here, that he has something that not everybody has.
And it's a faith in a risen Lord.
Look, Buddha's still in the grave.
All these other guys, Muhammad still in the grave.
Their bones are somewhere, their ashes are somewhere.
There's an empty grave today where they buried Jesus.
And that gives me joy, because the Bible says it should be joy unspeakable, full of glory.
But I want to I want to apply it this way.
OK, that's you can take that away.
And that's that's the part to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
All right. That's the part, you know, and it should that should put a smile on your face that Jesus Christ has risen today.
There's you know, we should we should rejoice about that.
But I want to make application to.
Can we say that we've been affected by the resurrection the way Peter and Paul have been affected?
I mean, it's great that we believe it.
It's great that we saved us and we have that joy and we rejoice in that.
That's great.
But has it made the change in our life that it made for Paul, that it made for Peter?
Has it emboldened us?
It's certainly emboldened them, didn't it?
It emboldened Paul.
He forsook his old religion.
He forsook, you know, his pedigree and everything else he had going for him.
He said, I count it.
He said, I count it done.
That's what he said of all that when he compared it to the unsearchable riches that are in Christ Jesus.
He said, it's done.
Can't even compare it.
It emboldened him and we know all the things he suffered.
What motivated him to do that?
The resurrection, the truth of the resurrection, the gospel.
Has it done that for us?
Are we as emboldened as he is?
What about Peter?
It's certainly emboldened Peter, hasn't it?
He went out and he did great works for God.
He preached great messages.
He spread the gospel.
Are we doing that?
You say, oh, no, it's emboldened me.
Okay, who have you told?
Who have we told?
You know, and I hope it's somebody who would sit on news like this.
Why would we just sit on this and do nothing with it?
It doesn't make any sense.
That's what a challenge of the sermon this morning.
That's what I want to challenge you with about the resurrection.
Look, it's great to rejoice about it.
It's great to have that assurance, but we need to do something with it.
Yes, it should give us joy, but it should also affect us.
It should make us bold like Paul.
It should make us bold like Peter and cause us to do something with it, to go out and
tell others that Christ has died for their sins, was buried, and not only that, he has
risen again.
Let's go ahead and pray.