Amen. All right, well, we're there in Matthew, chapter number twenty eight.
And of course, today is Easter and we are celebrating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we're currently in a series on the Christian home called Happily Ever After.
But we're going to take a break from that this morning.
And I do want to invite you to be back next week as we continue with that series.
And we learn principles about the Christian home.
But this morning, I want to speak to you on the subject of, of course, the resurrection there in Matthew twenty eight.
Look down at verse number five. The Bible says,
And the angel answered and said unto the women, You're not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
And then, of course, in verse six, you have some of the most beautiful words written in scripture
when the angel proclaims, He is not here, for He is risen.
As He said, Come see the place where the Lord lay.
I don't know about you, but I'm thankful today that we do not have a graveside with our leader in it
where we go to pay homage to Him, but instead we have an empty tomb.
We have a tomb as a testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there's, if there's something that I'd like you to understand about the resurrection
and about this doctrine is that the doctrine, the belief of the resurrection of Christ
is the foundational truth of our faith.
It's the bedrock on which everything is built upon and the resurrection,
and you might ask, well, why is that or why is the resurrection so important?
It's because of the fact that the resurrection affirms something.
The word affirm means to support or to state as a fact.
And the Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead
and this event that took place, this resurrection, it affirms certain things in regards to our faith.
And this morning I'd like to take a few moments and speak to you on the subject of what the resurrection affirms,
and I'd like to point out some things for you, and I hope that they'll be a blessing to you.
I want to encourage you to take notes in your bulletin.
You should have a sheet there for sermon notes, and you can take that out and maybe write some things down.
You're there in Matthew 28.
I'd like you to keep your place in the book of Matthew, if you would.
We're going to come back to it, but can you go with me to the book of 1 Corinthians 15?
1 Corinthians 15.
If you're there in Matthew, you're going to go past the book of Mark, past the book of Luke,
past the book of John, past Acts, Romans, and then 1 Corinthians,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, and then 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 15.
I'd like you to notice what the Bible says here in verse 1.
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 1, the Bible says,
Moreover, brethren, this is the apostle Paul speaking, and he's writing,
and this is maybe 30 years after the resurrection of Christ.
He says, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved,
if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that...
Once you notice, he's going to explain to us what the gospel is.
If you saw there in verse 1, he says that I declare unto you the gospel.
Now he's going to explain to us what the gospel is.
The word gospel means good news.
There in verse 3, he says, For I delivered unto you, first of all,
that which I also received, how that...
Number 1, Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture,
and number 2, that he was buried, and that...
Number 3, he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.
In this passage here, the apostle Paul is speaking to us about the subject of the resurrection.
I want you to notice that when it comes to the resurrection,
this is an event that was confirmed and affirmed by many eyewitnesses,
witnesses who saw Jesus die and then saw him resurrect or saw the resurrected Savior.
Notice there in verse number 5, he says,
Here's Paul telling us about the witnesses.
He says,
This is referring to the apostles.
Verse 6,
I want you to notice that when the apostle Paul is writing this letter,
because people today, 2,000 years later,
will try to act as though our faith is in some sort of myth or legend.
The fact that Jesus resurrected from the grave was something that was kind of made up after the fact.
But I want you to notice that when you read the New Testament,
this is not the account that we get.
In fact, when Paul is writing to that church at Corinth,
he was writing about 30 years after these events took place,
and he is telling them,
Here are the people which are still alive, which you can still question.
These are the people, Cephas the Twelve.
He says there in verse 6,
He said there's 500 people that saw him at once,
and most of those people are still alive today.
You can still go talk to them today, but some are falling asleep.
He says,
And then of all the apostles, verse 8,
I want you to notice and understand,
and this is just one passage, and we could spend the whole day,
and I'm not going through all the passages about the resurrection
and the eyewitnesses that saw it, but please understand this.
This was not just something that was made up.
It's not like Jesus lived and died,
and then 100 years later or 200 years later,
somebody decided to say that he had actually resurrected.
No.
At the time that it happened,
at the time while the eyewitnesses were still alive,
it was documented.
He was seen after his death.
He was seen resurrected.
Here's who saw him.
Here's when they saw him,
and I'm here to tell you something.
Christianity would not have made it out of the first century
if it wasn't for the fact that this was documented
as an actual event.
These were eyewitnesses who saw this,
and you say,
Oh no, they lied.
Many of these men died because of this testimony,
and I'm here to tell you something.
You may die for a lie that you were told that you believe,
but you don't die for a lie that you made up.
You don't die for something that you just told people.
These men went to their graves being tortured
and being put to death,
being told to deny the resurrected Christ,
and they refused to.
You say, how do you explain that?
Here's how you explain it.
Jesus resurrected from the dead.
And there is no event in history that is more documented
than the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For those of you that have struggled with believing in spiritual things,
if you believe in Napoleon,
and if you believe in Alexander the Great,
let me tell you something.
There is no historical figure in the history of mankind
that has had his life more documented than the Lord Jesus Christ.
This was an event that took place.
It's an important event.
It is the foundation of our Christian faith.
It affirms things for us in regards to Christianity.
You say, what do you mean?
Well, first of all, I'd like you to notice that in 1 Corinthians 15,
the resurrection affirms the Scriptures.
The resurrection affirms the Scriptures.
The Word of God is affirmed for us.
It is supported.
It is stated as fact by the resurrection.
Notice there again in 1 Corinthians 15.
Look at verse 3 again.
He says,
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins,
notice this phrase,
according to the Scriptures.
When Paul says according to the Scriptures,
he's referring to the Word of God and specifically to the Old Testament.
He says Christ died for our sins in accordance with what was predicted
or prophesied in the Scriptures.
Verse 4, he says,
and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day.
Notice, according to the Scriptures or in accordance with what was predicted
or prophesied in the Scriptures.
See, what you need to understand is that the Old Testament predicted the life,
the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Keep your place there.
You have your place in Matthew.
Continue to keep your place in Matthew.
And go with me if you would to the Old Testament book of Psalms.
Psalm 22.
If you open up your Bible just right in the center,
you will more than likely fall in the book of Psalms.
Psalm 22, just right in the center of your Bible, Old Testament book.
You have your place in Matthew and go to Psalm 22.
Do me a favor and put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in Psalm 22
because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it.
But let me just say this.
We are told that in the Old Testament there are around 400 prophecies
of the coming Messiah, the Christ, in the Old Testament.
There's about 400 of them and they've all been fulfilled.
All the prophecies in regards to the first coming or the first advent of Christ
have been fulfilled.
Obviously there are some prophecies about the second coming end times prophecy
that we're waiting to be fulfilled.
But I want you to understand when it comes to the Messiah,
the birth of the Messiah, the life of the Messiah, the death of the Messiah,
the suffering of the Messiah, and the resurrection of the Messiah,
there is all these prophecies that have been fulfilled.
Now we could spend weeks and weeks and weeks going through every single one of those.
I'm not going to do that this morning.
But I want to give you just an example.
And in Psalm 22 you have one of these messianic prophecies in the Old Testament.
Psalm 22 was written by a very well-known Bible character by the name of David.
You may remember King David or if you remember David and Goliath.
David was used of the Holy Ghost to pen down Psalm 22.
I want you to notice that David lived about a thousand years before Christ.
A thousand years before Christ David lived and he wrote or he prophesied
and predicted about the coming Messiah.
Now Psalm 22 is filled with predictions about the coming Messiah.
I don't want to spend all day on that so I'm just going to show you two.
Now there's lots more than just two in Psalm 22 and throughout the Old Testament.
But for sake of time I'm going to show you two of them and I want you to notice this.
Psalm 22, first of all look at verse 1 just to get a little bit of context.
Psalm 22 and verse 1, notice what the psalmist wrote David a thousand years before Christ.
He wrote, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
Now if you're familiar with the story of Christ and the death of Christ,
that should sound familiar to you.
Keep your finger right there in Psalm 22.
Now flip back and forth between Psalm 22 and the book of Matthew.
Go to Matthew chapter 27, you're there in Psalm 22.
Go to Matthew chapter 27 and look down at verse number 46.
Now I want you to notice in Matthew 27 and verse 46 we have the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross.
He's currently on the cross and he's speaking from the cross, Matthew 27 verse 46.
The Bible says in about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying,
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is to say, I want you to notice he spoke in the Hebrew tongue, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.
The Bible translates for us here what it is that he said.
That is to say, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
Now I want you to notice that when Jesus cried out from the cross,
my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
He's actually quoting the very first part of Psalm 22 and verse 1
My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
You say, why would Jesus quote Psalm 22 from the cross?
Here's why. Because Psalm 22 is a messianic prophecy of the death of Christ.
Psalm 22 was written a thousand years before Christ and it spells out for us in detail the death of Christ.
So Jesus, who's the Messiah, who's dying on the cross, as he's fulfilling Psalm 22,
he cries out and he quotes Psalm 22 verse 1
My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
Now again, we could spend the whole day looking at even just Psalm 22 and all the prophecies.
I'm not going to take the time to do that, but I'd like you to look down at verse number 16.
Let me just give you two very clear examples of this.
Psalm 22 verse 16. Notice what the psalmist said.
David, a thousand years before Christ, Psalm 22 16,
This is David prophesying and he's speaking as the Messiah one day when the Messiah will die.
For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.
Notice these words. They pierce my hands and my feet.
Now David, in Psalm 22, a thousand years before Christ,
predicted that when the Messiah dies, his hands and his feet would be pierced.
Now here's what you need to understand.
At the time that David wrote these words, the cross as an instrument,
the cross as a tool of death had not yet been invented.
In fact, it wouldn't be for hundreds of years that the Greeks would invent the cross,
would create a cross as a tool in order to use people to death.
The Romans would take the cross from the Greeks and then perfect it.
At the time of David's writing, there was no systematic way or tool
or some sort of a pattern way in order to put someone to death
by putting a prince of nails and piercing their hands and their feet.
Yet David, I'm sure, not understanding why it is that the Holy Spirit was having him
say these things and write these things, he penned that when the Messiah dies,
that he would say, they pierced my hands and my feet.
Keep your place there in Psalm 22.
Go back to the New Testament with me.
This time go to John if you would.
You're there in Matthew.
You're going to go past Mark, past Luke, into the book of John.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
John chapter 20.
Look at verse 25.
John chapter 20 and verse 25.
This is after the resurrection.
And the other disciples therefore said unto him,
this is the disciples speaking to Thomas,
often known as doubting Thomas for this passage we're going to see here.
They said, we have seen the Lord. This is after they saw the resurrected Christ.
But he, Thomas, because he wasn't with them, said unto them,
except I shall see in his hands the prince of the nails
and put my finger in the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe.
Eight days later, Jesus shows up to Thomas, verse 27.
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands
and reach hither thy hands and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing.
I want you to notice, and again, I'm not taking the time to give you a lot of examples,
but I just want to give you a couple of examples, very specific examples,
that a thousand years before Christ the Bible prophesied
that when the Messiah would come to this earth and he would die,
that there would be, his hands and his feet would be pierced.
And I'm sure for hundreds of years people scratched their heads at that and wondered at that.
And probably were a little confused by that and what that meant.
But when Jesus came to this earth, it was fulfilled exactly like the Scriptures
according to the Scriptures what the Bible had predicted.
Let me give you another example. Go back to Psalm 22, look at verse 18.
Here's another example. And again, we can spend all day looking at examples.
I'm just going to give you two because I've got other things I'd like to show you this morning.
Psalm 22, look at verse 18.
Here's another prophecy of Christ's death a thousand years before he came to this earth.
Psalm 22, verse 18. Here's what the psalmist wrote in prophecy of Christ.
They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.
David, who by the way, is a documented historical figure.
Psalms, who is a documented book that was written.
Nobody argues the fact that the Psalms were written and when they were written.
In this book we have a prophecy of a coming Messiah.
And not only are we told that when he dies they will pierce his hands and his feet.
But we are told that when he dies they will part his garments among them
and cast lots upon his vesture or my vesture as the Messiah is speaking.
Go to John chapter 19. You kept your place in John. Go back to John 19.
Look at verse 23. John 19 and verse 23.
John 19 and verse 23, the Bible says this.
Then the soldiers, John 19 and verse 23.
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, notice, took his garments
and made four parts to every soldiery part and also his coat.
Now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout.
Remember Psalm tells us that they were going to part his garments
but also part his garments means they were going to take his garments
and divide them into parts but also they were going to cast lots upon garments.
Now even that in itself doesn't really make sense because it's like
okay are you parting the garments or are you casting lots?
Casting lots would be like rolling dice or flipping a coin.
They were doing something in order to figure out who's going to take the garments.
And Psalms tells us they parted the garments but they also cast lots for the garments.
In John 19 we are told and we understand why this happened
because verse 23, then the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus
took his garments, they took his clothes and made four parts.
They divided into four parts to every soldier a part but also his coat.
Now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout.
His coat was not parts that were seam together.
It was without seam. It was woven from the top throughout.
So instead of them cutting it up into four different parts, verse 24,
they said therefore among themselves let us not rend it or let us not tear it
but cast lots for it whose it shall be that the scripture might be fulfilled
which saith they parted my raiment among them and my vesture they did cast lots.
These things therefore the soldiers did.
Now you say why are you bringing this up?
And look, I'm bringing this up as two examples of many more examples,
not only in Psalm 22 but in Isaiah 53 and Genesis all throughout the Old Testament
we are given these very specific examples about the life of Christ,
the death of Christ, the burial of Christ, the resurrection of Christ.
We're given specific examples of where he would be born,
where he would die, where they would lay him.
We're given specific examples about the events and the things that would take place
at the time of his death, burial, and resurrection.
And I'm here to tell you when Jesus resurrected from the grave,
his resurrection affirms the rest of scripture.
It affirms. You might ask me,
Pastor Jimenez, do you believe the Bible is the word of God?
And I would have to say, and undoubtedly yes, I believe it is the word of God.
And you say why do you believe that the Bible is the word of God?
Because of the resurrection.
Because the resurrection affirms the Bible.
By the way, the resurrection affirms the Bible.
The Bible affirms the resurrection.
Jesus himself affirmed the Bible.
See, here's the truth. Those of you that are Christians, those of you that are saved,
when you got saved, nobody went up to you and asked, do you believe in Adam?
Do you believe in Noah?
Do you believe in Moses?
Now, you should believe in all those, and you need to believe in all those.
But the question that you were asked is, are you a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Is your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
And you say, well, why does that matter?
Here's why it matters, because I'm not an Old Testament Jew.
Now, please don't misunderstand me. I believe in Adam.
I believe in Noah and the Noahic flood.
I believe in Moses, and I believe in Joshua, and I believe in all those characters.
But my faith is founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
See, my faith is not necessarily founded upon those characters.
But I'm here to tell you something.
Jesus on this earth spoke of Adam, spoke of Noah, spoke of Moses.
Jesus in this life affirmed the Old Testament Scriptures,
and the Old Testament Scriptures are affirmed by his resurrection.
So you say, why is the resurrection so important?
And here's why, because it affirms the Scripture.
Because the Old Testament specifically spoke about a coming Messiah,
and then that was fulfilled specifically.
And when he resurrected from the grave, his resurrection affirmed the Word of God.
See, I don't know if I trust the Bible.
Well, if Jesus rose from the grave, you should trust the Bible.
The resurrection affirms the Scriptures.
I want to give you a second thought this morning.
Go back to Matthew if you would, Matthew chapter 16.
Not only does the resurrection affirm the Scriptures, for those of you taking notes,
here's point number two, the resurrection affirms the Savior.
The resurrection affirms the Scriptures as we saw specifically fulfilled prophecies.
Were done by Christ and therefore affirmed by Christ,
but the resurrection affirms the Savior himself.
See, here's something you need to understand about Jesus.
The ministry, think about this.
Here we are in 2022, 2,000 plus years after the Lord Jesus Christ,
and yet we are still not only talking about him,
but there is a movement of people who are actively following Christ.
Think about that.
Think about the fact that here we are 2,000 years later,
and there is people, there's 260 some odd people in this building right now
who are here because of the resurrected Christ.
And today being Easter Sunday, there are churches all across this country
and all across this world that are filled today
because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The resurrection affirms Christ, and here's what I want you to understand.
The ministry and the message of Christ did not hinge upon his teachings or his miracles.
See, oftentimes when you have a movement led by men,
the movement is not necessarily founded upon those men,
but upon the principles that are taught by those men.
I mean, think about our country, the United States of America.
It was founded by men. We refer to them as the founding fathers.
These men had principles. They had ideas.
They had thoughts about how government should be ran,
and they had ideas about how a government should be set up
and how we the people should be able to rule ourselves.
And they had all these thoughts and these ideas.
They led a movement, but here's what I want you to know.
When those men died and they died, the movement can continue with them.
Their thoughts and their ideas can continue
because their thoughts were that the movement of the United States of America
was not necessarily founded upon the person of George Washington
or Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson,
but upon the teachings of those men so when they die,
other men can carry on those teachings, and we have for the last 200 years.
However, I want you to understand that the ministry of Christ was not so.
The ministry and the message of Christ was not founded upon his teachings,
though he had wonderful teachings, and we still to this day go back and look and study
and learn from the teachings of Christ.
The ministry and the message of Christ was not founded upon his miracles,
though he had very many amazing miracles that are documented for us in the Bible.
Although the miracles and the teachings of Christ were wonderful and wondrous and amazing,
the ministry and message of Christ were not founded upon either one of those.
The ministry and the message of Christ all hinged on what Jesus claimed about himself.
See, our faith is not based on the teachings of Christ. They are based on Christ himself.
Notice in Matthew 16 this is highlighted.
Highlighted how Jesus, the foundation of the movement upon Christianity,
is founded upon who Jesus is.
In Matthew 16 verse 13, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi,
this is Jesus speaking, asked his disciples saying,
whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?
Notice that Jesus is asking this question.
He's very interested in what do people believe about me? Why?
Because the message, the ministry, the movement of Christianity was founded upon whom Jesus is.
So he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?
Verse 14, and they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias,
and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
Verse 15, he saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am?
Now he's looking at his followers, his disciples.
He says, who do you say that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ.
The word Christ means Messiah, the chosen one, the anointed one.
Thou art the Christ, notice, the Son of the living God.
He said, you're the Messiah and your deity.
You're the Son of God, you're God in the flesh.
You're God on this earth.
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Verse 17, and Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
I'm here to tell you something, the message of Christ hinges upon.
And by the way, today the message of Christ hinges upon who Jesus claimed to be.
The Christ, the Son of the living God.
But I want you to understand something.
You're there in Matthew, flip over to Luke if you would, Luke chapter 24.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter 24.
Put yourself in the place of these disciples.
They've forsaken all.
They have left their religion, they have even in many cases left their social connections.
Because of who this man said he was, the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The message and the ministry of Christ hinged upon what Jesus claimed about himself.
And I just want you to understand something.
Because when Jesus died on the cross, he was buried and there was a period of time,
three days before he resurrected from the grave.
And I want you to understand this and kind of put yourself in the place of the apostles
and the followers and disciples of Christ.
When Jesus died, everything he claimed about himself died with him.
Do you understand that?
Let me give you an example of that, Luke 24, look at verse 13.
Luke 24 verse 13, in Luke 24 we have a story of two disciples or followers of Christ
who are not aware that Christ has resurrected.
At this point he's already resurrected.
He resurrected on that same day but they're not aware of that.
That's not known to them.
I want you to notice what they said in Luke 24 verse 13.
And behold two of them, two disciples, went the same day to a village called Emmaus
which was from Jerusalem about three score-four longs.
On the day of the resurrection, they were not aware that Jesus resurrected.
These two disciples go on this walk from Jerusalem to this village called Emmaus.
Notice verse 14.
And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
What things were they talking about?
The death of Christ and now they know that there's a missing body.
They believe that someone has taken the body of Christ.
But they're not putting their faith in a resurrection.
They didn't expect a resurrection.
Look at verse 15.
And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned.
I love this.
This is where you really put yourself into the Bible and you realize the Bible is a real book.
Because Jesus himself drew near.
I mean how comical is that?
Here you've got two disciples going down the road.
They're talking about the fact that Jesus resurrected and now his body is missing.
And Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
They're going down the road and some other man is traveling down the same road
and he starts traveling with them and they start talking.
Look at verse 16.
But their eyes were holden.
The word holden means held back.
That they should not know him.
So they're walking with Jesus but their eyes are holden.
There's a miracle that's performed here where they don't recognize him.
Or they don't realize it's Jesus.
Verse 17.
Here we have the resurrected Christ walking down the road with two disciples
who are sad about and mourning about the fact that their Messiah
or the one they thought was the Messiah is dead.
And he walks up to them and says,
What are you so sad about?
And the one of them, verse 18, whose name was Cleop, was answering, said unto them,
said unto him,
They said, Are thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?
They said, You must be new around here.
Are you just traveling through?
And has not thou known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
And he said unto them, What things?
And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth,
which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people
and how the chiefest priests and our rulers delivered him,
notice, to be condemned to death and have crucified him.
Notice what they said, verse 21.
But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.
They said, We believed that he was the Redeemer.
We believed that he was more than just a man.
We believed that he was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
We trusted, we put our faith that it had been he
which should have redeemed Israel.
And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
I want you to understand something.
When Jesus died, his ministry died.
His movement died.
See, isn't it true that sometimes when a leader is killed or martyred,
it actually creates momentum behind their movement?
But with Christianity, this was not the case.
You say, Why? Here's why.
Because everything about Christianity was built upon who Jesus was,
who he claimed to be.
And when he died, everything he claimed about himself died with him.
So let me tell you something.
Go to John, if you would, John chapter 11.
You're there in Luke.
Just go past the next book there to John.
Let me show you this.
In John chapter 11, and please do me a favor.
Keep your place here in John.
We're going to leave it and come back.
In John chapter 11, you have the Lord Jesus Christ at a funeral service.
This is while he's still alive during his ministry.
He's at a funeral service for a friend,
a man that he loves very much by the name of Lazarus, who's died.
Jesus is actually about to resurrect Lazarus.
But when he's at this funeral service, before he resurrects him,
he's having a conversation with Lazarus' sister.
He's at a funeral service.
He's speaking to someone who's mourning.
John 11, 25, Jesus said unto her...
This is what I mean by the ministry of Christ was built upon who he was
and what he said about himself.
Because Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Believest thou this?
See, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus said, I am the door.
I am the bread that came down from heaven.
I am the way to salvation.
He said, without me, he said, I am the way, true life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
See, Jesus said too much about himself.
And when somebody says, I am the resurrection and the life,
and people believe that he is the resurrection and the life,
and then he dies, everything he said about himself dies with him.
But can I tell you something?
When he resurrected, everything he said about himself was affirmed and confirmed.
See, when a man says, I am the resurrection and the life,
he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
When a man says, I am the way, the truth, and the life,
I am the resurrection and life, and then they die,
and then they resurrect from the grave,
they affirm that they really are the resurrection,
that they really are the life,
that they really are who they said and everything they said they were.
You say, why is the resurrection so important?
Why is the Easter so important?
Why do churches make such a big deal about it?
Here's why, because the resurrection affirms the Scriptures
that predicted specifically the coming Messiah.
Here's why, because the resurrection is affirmed the Savior,
who said, I am the way, who said, I am the truth,
who said, I am the life, who said, I am the resurrection,
who said, I am the Son of God, I am the Messiah, I am the Christ,
I am the Redeemer, I am the Savior,
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which was and is and is to come.
He said all those things about himself,
and when he died, that died with him,
but when he resurrected, all of it was affirmed.
He really was who he said he was.
Let me give you a third one just real quickly.
Please keep your place there in John, if you would,
and go with me to Romans.
You're there in John, Acts, Romans, John, Acts, Romans.
If you're taking notes this morning,
I just want to tell you what the resurrection affirms.
The resurrection affirms the Scriptures.
The resurrection affirms the Savior.
Let me say this lastly, the resurrection affirms salvation.
You say, what is salvation?
What does it mean to be saved?
What is that?
Well, in Romans 10, chapter number 10 and verse 9,
we have this verse.
Very well-known verse, if you're a soul winner,
if you preach the gospel, you probably use this verse a lot,
Romans chapter 10 and verse 9.
The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth,
the Lord Jesus.
The Bible says that we have to confess.
In other words, it's used anonymously
with the word confess, is to call upon.
We have to call upon or confess the Lord Jesus.
Well, why are you calling upon him,
or why are you confessing him?
Why are you, what are you doing?
What does that mean?
And what it means is that you are confessing the fact
that you are a sinner.
You are admitting the fact that you're a sinner.
And by the way, every single person here is a sinner.
The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Nobody here is perfect.
Nobody here is without sin.
All of us have made mistakes.
You're not perfect.
You're not sinless.
And the Bible says that when you realize that I am a sinner
and because my sin has a payment,
the wages of sin is death and hell,
that I am condemned to hell.
The wrath of God abides, the Bible says,
on those that are not believers.
Then you call upon Christ for salvation.
You're asking him.
See, calling and confessing is a realization
that I cannot save myself.
You can't go to church enough.
You can't get baptized enough.
You can't read the Bible enough.
You can't repent of enough sins
in order to get yourself to heaven because you're a sinner.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
but it's not just that.
It's not just calling.
Notice.
And shalt believe.
That's the faith.
In your heart.
What are you believing?
In thine heart.
What are you believing?
Here's what you're believing.
That the church can give me salvation
if I go to a confessional booth.
Is that what it says?
And shalt believe in thine heart
that the baptismal waters can wash away my sins
if I'm simply baptized.
Is that what it says?
And shalt believe in thine heart.
What do you have to believe to be saved?
That God hath raised him from the dead.
Notice these words.
Thou shalt be saved.
You say, how can I be saved?
Well, notice it doesn't say go to church.
It doesn't say read your Bible.
It doesn't say live a good life.
Now, look, I'm all for going to church, reading your Bible,
living a good life.
I'm all for all those things.
But when it comes to salvation,
what does the Bible say that someone must do to be saved?
The apostle Paul was asked this question.
What must I do to be saved?
And the answer he gave was believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.
Say, but what do I have to believe?
See, believe, the word believe means to trust.
It's not simply like I'm believing that he existed
like a historical figure.
No, it's that I'm putting my faith, my trust in him.
What are you trusting?
Here's what you're trusting.
That I'm a sinner.
I'm calling upon him for salvation
because I can't save myself.
Please, please consider this
because most religions today teach that
if you want to go to heaven, you have to live a good life,
you have to go to church.
They've all got their different checklists,
but they've all got checklists
of things you've got to do to go to heaven.
Here's the thing.
If there were things that I could do to go to heaven,
then why did Jesus have to come to this earth
and die on the cross for my sins?
If I could pay for my own sins by living a good life,
why would he have to come to this earth?
Here's why.
Because I can't pay for my sins.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus call upon him in a realization
that I am a sinner and I deserve to go to hell
and I need somebody to save me,
and shalt believe that's the faith in thine heart
that God hath raised them from the dead.
See, the resurrection is pivotal.
It's pivotal to our salvation.
You say, well, if he died,
the Bible tells us his soul was given as a sacrifice.
It went down to hell.
If he did those things in order for us to be saved,
wasn't that enough?
But here's why it's not enough.
Because if Jesus would have died
and his soul would have gone to hell,
that would have been no different
than any other man who's ever lived,
any other unsaved man, unbeliever who went to hell.
The reason that he had to resurrect
was to prove that he was who he said he was.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shalt believe it in thine heart
that God has raised him from the dead.
See, to believe that God raised him from the dead
means you have to believe that he first died and was buried.
Thou shalt be saved.
1 Corinthians 15, if you would, go back to,
if you're there in Romans,
go one book over to 1 Corinthians 15.
We're almost done.
1 Corinthians 15, what have we done?
Five minutes.
1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 14.
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 14, Romans,
and then 1 Corinthians.
Remember we saw this passage, 1 Corinthians 15,
it's all about the resurrection of Christ.
We saw the eyewitness testimony of his resurrection.
Here, Paul, in verse 14, he gives us hypothetical
because he says some people don't believe in the resurrection of Christ
and he says this,
and if Christ be not risen,
now he believes that Christ is risen
because he saw the resurrection of Christ,
but he's just playing the devil's advocate here.
He's being given a hypothetical.
He says, and if Christ be not risen,
he says, then is our preaching vain.
The word vain means shallow or empty.
He says, and your faith is also vain.
If Christ did not rise from the dead,
our preaching is vain, your faith is vain,
verse 15, yea, and we are found false witnesses of God.
He says, if we preach that he resurrected when he didn't,
that would make us false witnesses
because we have testified of God
that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not of,
if so be that the dead rise not.
Now again, Paul believes in the resurrection.
He's just saying, if it's true,
that he didn't resurrect, then I'm a false witness
because I'm telling you he did resurrect.
Verse 16, if the dead rise not,
then is not Christ raised,
and if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain.
Your faith is empty, it's shallow.
And he says, ye are yet in your sins.
Here's what he's saying.
If Christ did not rise from the dead,
you are not saved.
Ye are yet in your sins.
You have not yet been redeemed from your sins.
And he says, and then they also which are fallen asleep,
those who have already died in Christ
that were believers, are perished.
He says, if Christ didn't rise from the dead,
then the people that believed in Christ
and are already asleep are already dead.
They didn't go to heaven,
they're perished there in hell.
Verse 19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, if there is no resurrection,
if Christ did not resurrect,
then we are not saved.
That's what Paul's saying.
But then he says this, verse 20,
but now is Christ risen from the dead,
and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
He said, hey, praise God.
He said, if Christ be not raised,
then we are of all men most miserable.
He says, but praise God,
now is Christ risen from the dead.
He said he really did rise.
Here's the point.
Go back to John chapter 11.
We'll finish up.
John chapter 11.
You're there in 1 Corinthians.
Just go back, pass Romans into John.
John chapter 11.
Remember Jesus at this funeral?
Here's what Paul's saying.
If there is no resurrection, then we are not saved.
But praise God, there is a resurrection.
There is a resurrected Christ.
It has been affirmed.
It has been confirmed.
It has been predicted.
Please understand something.
What separates the word of God from every other
quote-unquote holy book,
the Quran, the Book of Mormon,
whatever book you want to point out,
is the fact that the Bible has specific prophecies
thousands of years old that were fulfilled to the T.
That was not orchestrated by man.
No man could have planned that.
No man could have made that happen.
That was orchestrated by God Almighty, God Himself.
Why?
To affirm that this is truly the word of God.
The resurrection affirms the Scriptures.
It affirms the Savior.
It affirms salvation.
If there was no resurrection, then we would all be damned.
We would all be condemned.
There would be no salvation.
But since there is a resurrection,
Paul says, you've got a choice to make.
And I'm here to warn you and tell you
that if you're here this morning,
the message of Easter is this.
Christ is risen from the dead.
And that means that you've got to make a decision
about who Christ is.
Because the resurrection affirms who He is,
but you have to make a decision
about what you believe about Christ.
Remember Jesus at the funeral?
He's about getting ready to resurrect Lazarus from the dead.
He's speaking to a grieving sister.
John 11 verse 25.
Jesus said unto her,
He tells her, you're going to see your brother again.
He says, I know that I'll see him again in heaven one day after resurrection.
He said, no, no, you're about to see him right now.
And Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live.
He says, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
He says, look, if you believe on me,
one day you may close your eyes on this earth.
Your heart may stop beating.
They might pronounce you dead, but you did not die.
You just went to heaven.
Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
And by the way, I don't have time to preach it,
but the Bible teaches the concept of the rapture.
And one day that body that they said was dead will resurrect.
If Christ be risen, then we have the faith and the belief
that one day we will be resurrected.
He said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
And then Jesus asked this question.
I call this the question of the ages.
This is the most important question that has ever been stated.
It is the question that you must wrestle with,
and it is a question that you must answer.
And if you refuse to answer it now, you will have to answer it one day
at the judgment of God, but by then it will be too late.
He said, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
And then he asked the question.
He says, believeth thou this?
And this is the question I'm asking you this morning.
I'm telling you he resurrected.
I'm telling you his resurrection affirms the scripture,
affirms the Savior, affirms salvation.
But I'm asking you, believeth thou this?
Do you believe that?
Do you believe that Christ came to this earth,
lived a sinless life, he died to pay for your sins
because you could not pay for them on your own
no matter how much religion you got?
That he died, was buried, and he rose to prove who he said he was?
Do you believe that?
Believeth thou this?
Maybe you're here this morning and you say, I don't know.
I don't know what I believe about that.
Please don't leave here this morning without letting us talk to you about that.
It would be such a tragedy for you to come to a place like this
where there are so many people that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and not allow us to help you call upon him for salvation.
We're available. I'm available.
We've got staff running around. You say, who do I talk to?
Just look for some guy in a purple coat, maroon coat.
Say, I'd like to talk to somebody because this is the question of the ages.
What do you believe about the Lord Jesus Christ?
And I'm here to tell you it was answered on Easter Sunday 2,000 years ago
when he resurrected from the grave.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you.
We thank you for the resurrection.
We thank you for what it affirms and what it confirms.
It affirms the Scriptures.
It allows us to know that the Scriptures are real.
The Scriptures are true.
It affirms the Savior who built his movement upon what he said about himself.
He said, I am the Lamb of God.
He said, I am the door.
He said, I am the water.
He said, I am the bread of life.
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
He said, I am the resurrection and the life.
And we know that when he died, all those things died with him.
But when he rose from the grave, all of that was affirmed and confirmed.
And the resurrection affirmed salvation.
If Christ be not risen from the dead, we are all men most miserable.
And Lord, I pray if there's somebody here today who does not know that they're on their way to heaven,
maybe they're trusting in their works.
Maybe they thought it was Jesus plus their works, Jesus plus their religion,
Jesus plus their church attendance.
Help them today to forsake all that and to put their faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Plus nothing, minus nothing, just Jesus.
Thank you for the resurrection and that it affirms the fact that you sent your son to die on the cross
to pay for our sins and you affirmed who he was through the resurrection.
We love you.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.