1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000
All right, good morning everybody.

2
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,000
Good morning.

3
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Welcome to our Resurrection Sunday service here.

4
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,000
So glad you're all here to join us.

5
00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,000
If you are here at Hosanna in our sanctuary for the very first time,

6
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,000
or if you're watching online for the very first time,

7
00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:18,000
we especially want to say welcome.

8
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,000
We're so glad you're here to worship with us today.

9
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:27,000
And we are here today to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

10
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:33,000
The Lamb of God who was foreknown, the Bible says, before the foundation of the world.

11
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:37,000
The Lamb of God slaughtered for the sins of the world,

12
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,000
sins of all mankind, the Bible tells us, as a perfect atonement.

13
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,000
But you see, today we're here to celebrate that Jesus didn't just die on the cross,

14
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,000
but He rose again.

15
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,000
Not just paying the price for our sin, which is important enough,

16
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:58,000
but defeating the power of sin and death permanently and forever.

17
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:04,000
And then by putting faith in Him, granting us new resurrection life,

18
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000
everyone who would put their trust in Him.

19
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,000
You know, this is a truth for us.

20
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,000
It is a life-changing truth for those who know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

21
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,000
It is a truth that many of us have experienced.

22
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:22,000
We have experienced the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in our changed lives,

23
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:26,000
but it's not an obvious truth for a lot of people.

24
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,000
And there's a question sometimes around this time of the year when people say,

25
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:36,000
what is it that makes Christians celebrate Resurrection Sunday so passionately?

26
00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,000
What is it that makes this one day out of the year such a big deal

27
00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,000
for those who are part of the church?

28
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,000
What is the big deal about the resurrection?

29
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,000
Well, the answer is this.

30
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:56,000
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to everything that makes Christianity Christianity.

31
00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,000
You know, Paul the Apostle said in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 17,

32
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:06,000
he said, If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.

33
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,000
You are still in your sins.

34
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:12,000
Those then who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.

35
00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,000
But if we have put our hope in Christ for this life only,

36
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,000
we will be pitied more than anyone.

37
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:23,000
You see, if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, Paul says our faith is worthless.

38
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,000
That word there means it has no effect.

39
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,000
It's a pipe dream.

40
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,000
It doesn't do anything.

41
00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:32,000
It has no purpose.

42
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,000
It's a false hope.

43
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,000
He says, If Jesus Christ didn't rise from the dead, we are still sinners.

44
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000
We are still in our sin.

45
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:46,000
And the reality of that means that we are still unredeemed standing before our Creator.

46
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,000
But if he did rise from the dead, then we have hope for all eternity.

47
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,000
We can be saved.

48
00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,000
We can be redeemed.

49
00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,000
We can be forgiven and know for a fact that we are.

50
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000
You see, the truth of the resurrection means that there is a real hope.

51
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,000
There is a real future for all of us.

52
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,000
It means that there can be real change in our lives.

53
00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:15,000
It means that there could be real reconciliation now between us and God

54
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,000
and between us and one another.

55
00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:22,000
It means that everything can be different.

56
00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,000
And the truth and the reality is that he did indeed rise from the dead.

57
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:27,000
It's not a story.

58
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,000
It's not a myth.

59
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000
It's not a fairy tale.

60
00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:37,000
There is a tremendous amount of very good evidence supporting the fact that Jesus Christ,

61
00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:45,000
A, really died on the cross, B, that he was buried and securely buried in a tomb,

62
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:53,000
and C, that he physically rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples and hundreds of others.

63
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:59,000
Christianity is based upon this amazing, wonderful, historical event.

64
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,000
And that is why we make such a big deal about our belief in the resurrection.

65
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:09,000
So today I'm going to walk through a little bit of why we believe this really happened,

66
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:14,000
why we dismiss the idea that it's just a fairy tale, that it's just a story told by some people,

67
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,000
that it might be a lie made up, that we dismiss all of that and say,

68
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:27,000
no, this man Jesus, who was God in the flesh, truly, really, indeed died and then came back to life

69
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,000
because it is foundational to everything.

70
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,000
And if you don't know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior today,

71
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:36,000
you may have come to church to support your friends or family,

72
00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:40,000
and you know, you do that twice a year on Christmas and Easter.

73
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,000
I'm so glad you're here.

74
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,000
I'm really glad you're here.

75
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:44,000
And you are welcome here.

76
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,000
And I hope today you would just listen to what I'm sharing out of the Word of God

77
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:54,000
about the truth of the resurrection, because I believe you are here today as a divine appointment,

78
00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:00,000
that God has brought you here to hear this message specifically because God loves you.

79
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000
He loves you so much that He died for you on the cross,

80
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,000
and that's what we celebrated on Friday, and that He rose from the dead.

81
00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:11,000
And if you put your faith in Him today, you too will have forgiveness and new life.

82
00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,000
It is a wonderful thing.

83
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,000
But before we get into all of that this morning, we're going to spend some time in worship, praising God,

84
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,000
because what else are we going to do on Resurrection Sunday?

85
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:26,000
We want to worship Him as so many worshiped Him on that first Resurrection Sunday, and we want to praise Him.

86
00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:27,000
Now, I do want to say this.

87
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,000
You know, when we have these big moments and these big times in the church that we want to celebrate,

88
00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,000
the devil is never happy.

89
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,000
The enemy is never happy, and there is always spiritual attack.

90
00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:40,000
And I just wanted to start today by praying for a member of our worship team.

91
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,000
You'll notice we don't have a drummer this morning.

92
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:48,000
He had a personal emergency this morning that prevented him from being here to worship with us today,

93
00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,000
but we know they're in God's hands.

94
00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,000
And so our youth pastor Rick is sitting on the percussion right there.

95
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,000
He's ready to step in and lead us and be a part of the worship today.

96
00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:58,000
And so we're just grateful.

97
00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:04,000
We're grateful for the people that God has raised up in this body to lead us in praise and worship.

98
00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,000
But let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll get into that.

99
00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,000
Lord, God, we're so grateful for You.

100
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,000
We're so grateful for who You are and what You've done.

101
00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:17,000
And Lord, this day, this day is the foundation of everything we believe.

102
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,000
And so, Lord, we're excited to be here to celebrate together, to look into Your Word,

103
00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:26,000
to be reminded and encouraged, Lord, that, yeah, You rose from the dead.

104
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,000
And it's provable, Lord.

105
00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,000
There's evidence to support this, God.

106
00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,000
It's not a blind faith we have, Lord.

107
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:39,000
And so, God, we just want to be reminded and encouraged at Your resurrection, Lord,

108
00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:46,000
because the fact that You were raised means that all the promises connected to that resurrection are true in our lives.

109
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,000
So, Lord, may You be just praised today, Lord.

110
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,000
We thank You, God, for this opportunity to worship You.

111
00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,000
And, Lord, we pray for our drummer.

112
00:06:53,000 --> 00:07:00,000
We just pray, God, that You would bring just Your presence and Your healing and everything needed in his situation now.

113
00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:04,000
That, Lord, today as he is just dealing with that personal emergency, Lord,

114
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:08,000
that he would remember, God, that You dealt with the most personal emergency we all have, Lord.

115
00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:13,000
And that he would find that hope and that faith and that comfort and that reassurance in You, God,

116
00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,000
in just dealing with what he's dealing with today, Lord.

117
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,000
And so we commit him into Your hands, Lord.

118
00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,000
Just keep him safe. Keep him whole. Keep him at peace.

119
00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,000
But, Lord, for those of us that are gathered here today, Lord, God, do the same.

120
00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,000
Bless us as You bless all Your children.

121
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,000
We love You so much and we thank You.

122
00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,000
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

123
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:36,000
And so today we are, again, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

124
00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,000
We're so blessed to be able to do that.

125
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:42,000
You know, it is one of the biggest days of the year for us as Christians.

126
00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:46,000
You know, people have big days. You know, football fans have the Super Bowl.

127
00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000
Well, guess what? We have Easter, all right?

128
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,000
And Easter is far more important than the Super Bowl.

129
00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:57,000
Now, if you're a football fan, I hope you didn't take any offense at that.

130
00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:02,000
Super Bowl might be a close second for you, but still, Resurrection Sunday is it.

131
00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:07,000
You know, this is the biggest, most important day in our faith.

132
00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:12,000
And this day holds the biggest and most important historical claim of Christianity,

133
00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,000
that Jesus Christ did indeed rise from the dead.

134
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:21,000
And I say historical claim because the claim that Jesus rose from the dead

135
00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:26,000
is not something that is unsupported by historical evidence.

136
00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,000
You see, sometimes people go, oh, that's just a story you Christians believe in.

137
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,000
But there is evidence behind the belief that we have.

138
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:38,000
There are many individuals in our world today that have at one time or another

139
00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:45,000
set out to specifically debunk what they call this preposterous story

140
00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:50,000
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, thinking that such an implausible story

141
00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:55,000
that a person rose from the dead would be easy to discredit.

142
00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:00,000
You have individuals like Josh McDowell, who was an agnostic in college

143
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,000
and was actually studying to be a lawyer, very, very intellectual man.

144
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,000
And he sat down at lunch one day with a group of Christians

145
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,000
in the cafeteria there at the school he was at.

146
00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:14,000
And they were talking about Jesus, and he sat there and kind of, you know,

147
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,000
whatever about all the stuff they were saying, and they challenged him.

148
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,000
They said, well, if you're so smart and you're so intellectual,

149
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:26,000
why don't you go intellectually evaluate the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

150
00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,000
And he thought, well, that's going to be easy because that's just a fake story.

151
00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:34,000
And so he went out to investigate, and ended up becoming a Christian

152
00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,000
because the evidence was so overwhelming.

153
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,000
You have people like Lee Strobel, who was an investigative journalist, right?

154
00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:46,000
His job, his skill set was to investigate the details behind stories and claims.

155
00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:50,000
And his wife got saved one day, and well, no, he couldn't have that.

156
00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,000
So he wanted to set out to debunk this fake Christianity story,

157
00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,000
and so he applied all his powers of investigative journalism.

158
00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,000
Guess what? He became a Christian.

159
00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,000
J. Warner Wallace is another man.

160
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,000
He was a cold case homicide detective.

161
00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:12,000
That means he was a detective that would go and investigate cases that were considered dead,

162
00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,000
that they had run into dead ends, that the case was so old,

163
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:20,000
there was no way they can get fresh evidence, and that's what a cold case is.

164
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,000
And he was skilled at investigating these things,

165
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,000
and he decided to go investigate the claim of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

166
00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:32,000
And guess what happened to him? He got saved.

167
00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,000
You see, the evidence for what we believe as Christians is pretty overwhelming

168
00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,000
when you take time to look at it.

169
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:43,000
And really, as people piecing together evidence to come to conclusions,

170
00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,000
that's what we do, right? We do that all the time, every day.

171
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:54,000
For example, if I came to your house and noticed that your car wasn't there in the driveway or on the curb,

172
00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:59,000
and then I looked up and I noticed that, you know, the lights were all off,

173
00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,000
and then I snuck up to your windows like a creeper and peeked in the windows

174
00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,000
to see if there was any movement and there's nothing.

175
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,000
Everything's just dark, and it's the middle of the day, too, so I'm like,

176
00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,000
well, you're not sleeping, and there's no movement at all.

177
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:19,000
I open up my phone, and I open up an app like Life360 or something that tracks GPSs,

178
00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,000
and I see your phone is at the mall moving around.

179
00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:27,000
Would it be difficult to conclude that maybe you're not home?

180
00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,000
It would not be difficult at all.

181
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,000
Now, would you say because I'm not at the mall seeing you with my own eyes

182
00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,000
that it's a possibility to come to that conclusion?

183
00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:41,000
No, it's a thing we do, and it's easy to draw conclusions when the evidence is in front of us.

184
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,000
And so today, as we're here to celebrate this resurrection,

185
00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,000
this pivotal event in the history of Christianity,

186
00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,000
I want to look at some historical facts today wherein we conclude

187
00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:55,000
that the resurrection of Jesus Christ did indeed happen,

188
00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:00,000
and therefore all the promises that come from that resurrection,

189
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:05,000
all the promises that come with that resurrection are then indeed true as well.

190
00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,000
And so I do want to say as we get started that much of the hard work

191
00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:13,000
of researching these claims and presenting the following facts

192
00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:18,000
has been largely done by others like the man I just mentioned,

193
00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:22,000
Josh McDowell, who wrote a book called Evidence that Demands a Verdict.

194
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,000
If you're a skeptic, I really challenge you to get the book and read it.

195
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,000
Lee Strobel wrote a book called The Case for Christ.

196
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,000
If you're a skeptic, get the book and read it, please.

197
00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,000
J. Warner Wallace also had a lot of work too,

198
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:37,000
and then you have other apologists like Charlie Campbell and Pastor Mike Winger

199
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:40,000
that have put together so much of this material,

200
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,000
and I really urge you that if you want to dig deeper,

201
00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,000
and if you really want to find out if these things are true,

202
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,000
look up these individuals, get their resources, find them online,

203
00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,000
and study what they've put together because I believe that once you look at the evidence,

204
00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,000
your life will be changed.

205
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,000
But today I just want to deal with a few of these lines of evidence.

206
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:03,000
You know, and the first one that I think is important to look at when we want to say,

207
00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,000
did Jesus indeed rise from the dead?

208
00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:11,000
It's important to establish that he did indeed die

209
00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,000
because one of the claims of skeptics is that Jesus didn't really die on the cross.

210
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,000
He just kind of like passed out.

211
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,000
He just kind of fell asleep, and they thought he was dead,

212
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,000
and then they put him in the tomb,

213
00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,000
and then after being scourged and crucified,

214
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:28,000
he somehow got up and pushed a two-ton stone out of the way and flexed a little bit and flew off, right?

215
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,000
And you go, wait, you're going to believe that?

216
00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,000
Okay, so let's deal with this a little bit.

217
00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:38,000
You know, there isn't much contention between scholars today of ancient history

218
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:43,000
that there was indeed a person named Jesus who really lived on this earth,

219
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,000
that this man Jesus was really crucified by Pontius Pilate and the Roman government

220
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,000
at the time the Bible tells us this happened.

221
00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:56,000
Even secular historical sources support this.

222
00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:08,000
Now, it is well documented as well how well the Romans had perfected this specific type of death called crucifixion.

223
00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:12,000
Crucifixion was invented between 300 and 400 BC by the Persians,

224
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:16,000
but the Romans really turned it into an art form.

225
00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,000
Now, the Romans were pretty brutal people.

226
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,000
They were good at killing.

227
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:22,000
They were good at torturing.

228
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:29,000
And so crucifixion was something that, as historians have noted, was very, very, very, it was just bad.

229
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:30,000
It was painful.

230
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:36,000
And so it was considered the most painful death ever invented by man.

231
00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,000
In fact, we have a word in our English language.

232
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,000
The word is excruciating.

233
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,000
Have you ever experienced excruciating pain?

234
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,000
Yeah, some of you have stubbed your toe in the middle of the night, right?

235
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,000
That's pretty excruciating.

236
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:54,000
But others of us have experienced things that we would clearly define as excruciating pain.

237
00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:59,000
And that word excruciating means out of the cross,

238
00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,000
because it's meant to describe this horrific pain that crucifixion brought.

239
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:11,000
Now, crucifixion very simply was a process where a victim would be nailed to a cross in a particular body position

240
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,000
that would then cause them to suffocate to death.

241
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000
They were nailed through their hands.

242
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,000
And some people go, ah-ha, hands, that can't be.

243
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:23,000
Well, the actual word in the Hebrew for hand is referring to the elbow to the fingertip.

244
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:28,000
So we do believe that the nail went through the wrist as Jesus was hanging there on the cross.

245
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,000
And so he was also nailed through the feet.

246
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:36,000
And there was actually evidence of this discovered in an Israeli tomb in 1968

247
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,000
where they found a body that had a seven-inch spike driven through both the feet

248
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,000
as this victim was nailed to the cross.

249
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:48,000
And then the person was put in a position on the cross that would set up this horrific series of events

250
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:53,000
that just simply resulted in a very slow and very painful death.

251
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,000
Now, what happened is as they were hanging there on the cross,

252
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,000
their legs would get tired from supporting the weight of their body.

253
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:05,000
And so they would sink down, causing their entire body weight to be born on their arms and their shoulders.

254
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:10,000
And it was found through many different bodies that have been discovered that have experienced this,

255
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,000
that within minutes of being hung up there on the cross,

256
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:20,000
the shoulders and the arms and wrists would dislocate, causing the arms to lengthen by inches.

257
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:24,000
And then as the person would sink into this position, their rib cage would be lifted up

258
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,000
so they couldn't breathe out, they couldn't exhale.

259
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,000
And so in order to take a breath, they would have to push down on those feet nailed into the cross

260
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:36,000
to get their body up so they could go, oh, and take another breath.

261
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,000
But then their legs being nailed to the cross and all the pain and torture that they've already gone through,

262
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:44,000
they would sink back down and their rib cage would lift again and they couldn't take a breath.

263
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,000
And they would have to push back down on their feet to take a breath.

264
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,000
And so they would do this over and over and over.

265
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:56,000
But again, because of those tired legs and the feet in pain and the tiredness of just their body and everything,

266
00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,000
their heart would start racing, their breathing would become shallow.

267
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:04,000
And in Roman crucifixion, sometimes victims would hang there in that position,

268
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:12,000
going through that cycle for day after day after day, just slowly dying and slowly suffocating.

269
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:16,000
Now, medical doctors today have studied the physiological effects of crucifixion

270
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:20,000
and really concluded that nobody survived crucifixion.

271
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:25,000
It really was a peak art form in execution.

272
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:30,000
And due to the extreme, horrible cardiac, muscular, and respiratory trauma that the victims suffered,

273
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:37,000
it was pretty conclusive by even secular sources that a victim of crucifixion could not possibly live through that.

274
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:43,000
But before Jesus even got to the cross, we know, according to the records, that he was severely beaten.

275
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:47,000
He was severely beaten and abused throughout the entire previous night.

276
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,000
We read the stories that as a part of his mock trials and all of that,

277
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:56,000
that he was gathered in a place by the soldiers and they struck him with a flagellum repeatedly.

278
00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,000
The flagellum was a Roman whip that had all these bits of bone and metal in it,

279
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,000
and it was meant to not just strike you on the back,

280
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:07,000
but it was meant to really rip up your body and tear out your flesh.

281
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:12,000
And so he got beat by this before he even got nailed to this cross.

282
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:17,000
This beating that they would put him through before the cross was so bad, Romans called it a half-death,

283
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:24,000
because the beating was meant to halfway kill you before they even got to nailing you to the cross.

284
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,000
And then because the next day was Passover, as the story tells us in the Gospels,

285
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,000
they couldn't just let him hang there for days.

286
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:35,000
And so the soldiers went out to do what they would normally do to speed up the death of a victim.

287
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:40,000
They went out to break his legs, but they found that Jesus was already dead.

288
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,000
And as I said earlier, Romans were expert killers.

289
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,000
They knew what death looked like.

290
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:51,000
They knew what it looked like when somebody was dead, and they saw that he was there hanging on the cross dead.

291
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:57,000
But just to be extra sure, the Gospels tell us that they then pierced his side with a spear,

292
00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,000
and the blood and the water flowed.

293
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:05,000
It was a horrific, gruesome thing to be crucified.

294
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:08,000
And to think that somebody went through that with all the evidence we have now,

295
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:12,000
both biblical and secular, that somebody would survive this

296
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:20,000
and then be able to get their own way out of a tomb that was locked behind a two-ton stone is just preposterous.

297
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:26,000
You know, it's amazing. Four hundred years before this particular type of death penalty was even invented,

298
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:32,000
Psalms 22 describes to us exactly what happened to Jesus on the cross in great detail.

299
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,000
In verse 7 of Psalm 22, it tells us that he was mocked, and we read that in the Gospels.

300
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,000
Verse 14, it tells us that his joints were dislocated. We just talked about that.

301
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,000
Verse 14, it tells us about his failing heart.

302
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:50,000
Verse 15, it tells us about the dehydration that came because of the process of crucifixion.

303
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:56,000
Verse 16 tells us that his hands and feet were pierced, as he was by the nails on the cross.

304
00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:03,000
Verse 17 tells us that not a bone was broken, as we talked about the Romans went out to break his legs and found he was already dead.

305
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:08,000
And then verse 18 of Psalm 22, it tells us that his clothing was gambled for,

306
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:13,000
and we indeed know that that happened as the Roman guards cast lots for his clothing.

307
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,000
The reality is that Jesus died. He died on the cross.

308
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:21,000
He died by crucifixion, the most painful, horrible means of death ever invented.

309
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,000
This is historically verifiable, not just by the Bible, as I've said,

310
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:32,000
which itself, the Bible is a collection of historical documents by multiple authors,

311
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,000
but also by those outside of the faith.

312
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,000
You see, there's people like Flavius Josephus and Cornelius Tacitus,

313
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:48,000
which are well-known Roman historians, in their writings both mention that Jesus was crucified by Pontius Pilate.

314
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:53,000
And then you have people like Lucian of Samosada, Maimonides, and the own Jewish Talmud,

315
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:59,000
which is the Jewish writings, all corroborate that there were many, many, many Jewish,

316
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:05,000
or early Christian eyewitness accounts that Jesus did indeed die on the cross,

317
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,000
and also that they saw him resurrected a few days later.

318
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,000
Now, as you go through the story of the crucifixion, we find that when he died,

319
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:20,000
he was buried in a tomb that was provided by a follower of his, a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea.

320
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,000
And tombs in those days weren't like something we would find today.

321
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:29,000
It was largely a cave that was carved out of rock, so there was no back exit.

322
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,000
There was no secret hatch. There was no trap door to get out of this tomb.

323
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000
It was just a hole carved into the rock.

324
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,000
And then what they would do is they would wrap up the body tightly in these burial clothes,

325
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:46,000
and they would pack into these burial clothes about 75 pounds of burial spices.

326
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:49,000
Then they would put the body in the tomb, and they would close the tomb,

327
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,000
as I've mentioned already, with this big round disc stone.

328
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,000
It would kind of roll over the front of this tomb.

329
00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:00,000
And this stone was typically anywhere from between 1.5 to 2 tons.

330
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:05,000
And so it was also carved out of the rock, and it was set in this trough so it could be rolled over

331
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,000
with immense effort to seal up the tombs.

332
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:13,000
In Matthew chapter 27, we read about some of the security measures that were put in place

333
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:18,000
by the religious leaders because the Pharisees, it says, knew that Jesus had prophesied

334
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000
that he would rise from the dead on the third day.

335
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:25,000
And they thought, no, he isn't. We're going to stop it.

336
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:30,000
And so they put a guard in front of the tomb, trained soldiers.

337
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:34,000
They put a seal over the front of the tomb, like this clay type of seal,

338
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:39,000
so that if anybody actually moved the stone or tried to open it, it would break this seal.

339
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:44,000
And they put all this there to make sure that nobody got in because they wanted to make sure

340
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:48,000
that the disciples themselves didn't break into the tomb and steal his body,

341
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:52,000
and therefore grow out and tell a lie that, hey, look, the body's gone.

342
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,000
He rose from the dead.

343
00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:00,000
And it's important to understand that if you were a Roman soldier at the time

344
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:05,000
and you somehow fell asleep at your post, weren't paying attention,

345
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,000
you didn't just get slapped on the hand. You didn't just get written up.

346
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,000
It was the death penalty.

347
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:15,000
So it's not like the guards here were like, well, we kind of fell asleep and didn't know,

348
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,000
but we're going to see later that that's exactly the lie they were told to tell after the fact.

349
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:26,000
Then as the gospel narratives record, we see what I believe is a strong second evidence

350
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:31,000
that speaks to the truth of the resurrection. Jesus did indeed die.

351
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,000
Then in Luke chapter 24 verse 1, it tells us,

352
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:38,000
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning they came to the tomb

353
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,000
bringing the spices that they had prepared.

354
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,000
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

355
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,000
They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

356
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:52,000
Jesus is talking about a group of women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James,

357
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000
and others who wanted to go anoint his body after these three days.

358
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,000
It says they found the stone rolled away from the tomb and they went in

359
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,000
but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

360
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:07,000
While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes.

361
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,000
So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground.

362
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,000
Why are you looking for the living among the dead? asked the man.

363
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,000
He is not here, but he has risen.

364
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,000
Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee saying,

365
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:26,000
It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men

366
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,000
and be crucified and rise on the third day.

367
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,000
And they remembered his words.

368
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,000
Returning from the tomb they reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

369
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:42,000
Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them

370
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:47,000
were telling the apostles these things, but these words seemed like nonsense to them

371
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,000
and they did not believe the women.

372
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:55,000
Now you might think, how is that an evidence that Jesus really rose from the dead?

373
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,000
You have to understand something here.

374
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,000
In all of the major resurrection narratives that we have in the Gospels,

375
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:10,000
women are credited as the first and primary eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus Christ.

376
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,000
Why is this evidence that it really happened?

377
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:18,000
Because in ancient Jewish and Roman culture, ladies you have to understand this,

378
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,000
this is not meant to be offensive or derogatory in any kind,

379
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:28,000
but in ancient Jewish and Roman culture, women were considered of very, very low value.

380
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,000
Women had no rights.

381
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,000
Women's opinions were considered incredible.

382
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:38,000
In fact, a woman's word, their testimony was not even allowed in a Jewish court of law

383
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:42,000
because they were considered so untrustworthy and incredible.

384
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:46,000
It was a really, really difficult time for women.

385
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,000
Now Dr. William Lane Craig said this,

386
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:53,000
when you understand the role of women in first century Jewish society,

387
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:58,000
what's really extraordinary is that this empty tomb story should feature women

388
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,000
as the discoverers of the empty tomb in the first place.

389
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:06,000
Women were on a very low rung on the social ladder in first century Israel.

390
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,000
In fact, there are old rabbinical sayings that said,

391
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:13,000
let the words of the law be burned rather than delivered to women.

392
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:19,000
And blessed is he whose children are male, but woe to him whose children are female.

393
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:23,000
A woman's testimony was regarded as so worthless in this time

394
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,000
that they weren't even allowed to serve as legal witnesses in a Jewish court of law.

395
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:35,000
In light of this, it is absolutely remarkable that the chief witnesses to the empty tomb are these women.

396
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:42,000
Any later legendary account or made up account would have certainly portrayed male disciples

397
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:46,000
as discovering the tomb, Peter or John for example.

398
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:50,000
But the fact that women are the first witnesses to the empty tomb

399
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,000
is most plausibly explained by the reality that like it or not,

400
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:58,000
they were indeed the discoverers of the empty tomb.

401
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:04,000
This shows that the gospel writers faithfully recorded what happened

402
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:08,000
even if it was embarrassing to them culturally.

403
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,000
See the idea of saying women, hey the women are the one that discovered it

404
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:17,000
and they came and told us, everybody would be like, that's ridiculous.

405
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,000
Like it would be like in our modern day.

406
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:24,000
You know if you wanted to make up a false story about the resurrection of Jesus

407
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:29,000
and have people to believe it, the last thing you would do in their culture

408
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,000
was to record that the first people who saw it and the first people that gave testimony

409
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,000
that it happened were women.

410
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:40,000
Now yeah, we understand today this is pretty unconsciousable, right?

411
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,000
This is a pretty ridiculous thing in our modern world,

412
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:48,000
but then we just simply have to understand that's how it was culturally.

413
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:51,000
And so like today it would be like finding someone,

414
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,000
the least credible person you could possibly find in our society,

415
00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:00,000
the least respected, the least trusted person

416
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,000
and have that person to be the first one to go out and try and convince the world

417
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,000
of the truth of a fake story.

418
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,000
You can all imagine that if we did that today people would be like, come on,

419
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,000
nobody believes you, your word means nothing.

420
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:20,000
And yet that is exactly what we have recorded in the gospels.

421
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:25,000
That itself lends credibility to the truth of the story because if they knew it was fake

422
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,000
and if they were trying to get people to believe this fake story

423
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,000
they would not have had the least credible people in their culture

424
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:39,000
recorded as the ones who first declared it, first saw it, and first spread the news.

425
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,000
And then a third evidence I want to look at this morning

426
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,000
that I really believe supports the resurrection on the third day

427
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:52,000
is really just a demonstrably sincere eyewitness testimony by so many people that saw this.

428
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,000
1 Corinthians 15 verse 3, Paul says this,

429
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,000
For I passed on to you as most important what I also received,

430
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:02,000
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,

431
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:07,000
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,

432
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:11,000
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve,

433
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,000
then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time,

434
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:19,000
most of them are still alive, but some of them have fallen asleep,

435
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,000
which is a euphemism for they've died.

436
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,000
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

437
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:31,000
last of all as to one born at the wrong time, Paul says he also appeared to me.

438
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,000
Why is this important?

439
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:38,000
Paul is claiming multiple independent eyewitness experiences

440
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:44,000
of people seeing Jesus alive after his resurrection.

441
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,000
That's key.

442
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,000
He says Cephas, that's actually another name for Peter,

443
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,000
we know Peter one of the apostles, he says the twelve,

444
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000
then he says five hundred at one time, then James,

445
00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:00,000
Jesus' half brother, and then all the apostles, and then Paul himself.

446
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,000
But I want you to notice there, when he says they appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters,

447
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,000
he says most of them are still alive.

448
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:11,000
Some of them have died, but most of them are still alive.

449
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:16,000
If you were making up a lie about an event,

450
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:21,000
and you were claiming that there was hundreds of eyewitnesses to this event,

451
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:30,000
hundreds of them, you wouldn't indicate that, oh, and by the way, you can go ask them.

452
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,000
You don't do that if you're making up a lie and you know it's a lie.

453
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,000
If it's a lie, we find that people will go, oh yeah, hundreds of people saw this,

454
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,000
but you know, they're out of town, you can't talk to them,

455
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,000
so there's no way to verify what I'm telling you.

456
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:49,000
But even in Paul's time, he was saying these people are still alive that saw it with their own eyes.

457
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:54,000
You can go talk to them, you can interview them, you can ask them.

458
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,000
And Paul is essentially saying, don't take my word for it.

459
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:06,000
Go verify these eyewitnesses, because they saw him with their own eyes.

460
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:10,000
That alone is something that we do all the time.

461
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,000
You go into a court of law, you have eyewitness accounts,

462
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,000
the court of law goes, hey, that eyewitness account is likely credible.

463
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,000
We do know people lie.

464
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:24,000
But what we also know from psychology and other things is that when a group of people are all making up a lie

465
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,000
and you all interview them separately, what happens?

466
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,000
The story changes, doesn't it? That's why cops separate people.

467
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,000
That's why they put them in different interrogation rooms, because when you're telling a lie,

468
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:39,000
people start to embellish, because people naturally, when they know it's a lie they're telling,

469
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:43,000
they want to keep making it more grandiose so it's more believable in their mind.

470
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:47,000
That's one of the ways that cops and others know that people are lying.

471
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:52,000
Your story doesn't line up with their story, and yet you're both telling me you were eyewitnesses to the event.

472
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:58,000
But when the stories line up, when the details are the same, you go,

473
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:02,000
hmm, that's probably credible eyewitness accounts.

474
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:06,000
The fact that Jesus was seen physically alive after his death and burial,

475
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:16,000
it was and is verifiable, because eyewitnesses abounded for years after it happened, for years.

476
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,000
And not only do interrogators and cops use these type of principles,

477
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:24,000
but this is what historians look for when they're determining whether a story,

478
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:30,000
a claim is something that was true years after it was written.

479
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:35,000
What they do is they look at, does the claimant, does the person writing the story say,

480
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:41,000
hey, there are other people that you can talk to to verify my story?

481
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:45,000
Usually when people in history are making up a lie, they don't say that type of thing.

482
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:49,000
Why? Because they know if you go talk to other people, it's going to fall apart.

483
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:55,000
And yet throughout scripture, we have it multiple times, people saying, hey, they're still alive, go talk to them.

484
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:59,000
Go ask them. And then on top of that, those Roman historians I mentioned earlier,

485
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:07,000
Josephus and Tacitus, they claim in their writings, and again, these are not Christian writings, they're historians.

486
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:14,000
They claim in their writings that these Christians kept claiming this for years and years and years.

487
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:21,000
Yeah, Jesus is alive. We saw him with our eyes. Yes, Jesus is alive. We saw him with our eyes.

488
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:29,000
Yeah, he talked to this person, he talked to this person, and the claims down the line didn't change.

489
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:36,000
And then on top of that, you have the fact that the testimony of the resurrection started in the very place where Jesus died.

490
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:47,000
That's a big deal. Because if there is a message you were preaching about a man who died and who rose from the dead,

491
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:53,000
and you were preaching that he is God because his resurrection proves it, and if you put your faith in him,

492
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:58,000
the things he said, that if you trust in him, you will find salvation.

493
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,000
The truth of that being proven by the fact that he rose from the dead.

494
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:09,000
If you were preaching that in the very place where you can go over to the tomb and verify whether it was true or not,

495
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:15,000
in the very place where eyewitnesses who had actually seen him could be interviewed,

496
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:23,000
if it was a lie and all it took was somebody to go over to the tomb, open it up and go, there's the body, you're a liar.

497
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:27,000
Or they could interview witnesses and go, their story is not adding up, you're a liar.

498
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:33,000
If that was the case, the story of the resurrection would have never gained any significant following.

499
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:38,000
It would have been easily debunked. But we know historically exactly the opposite happened, didn't it?

500
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:44,000
The story got traction, more and more people, as they heard the story of the resurrection, Jesus got saved.

501
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:51,000
We read that in the book of Acts. He added to the church. We have a number. He multiplied, right?

502
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,000
We have numbers and then the church grew so fast they just stopped telling us the number.

503
00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:01,000
More and more, more and more. And then it kept growing and kept growing and kept growing.

504
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:06,000
And Christianity went on to change the entire world. It disrupted the Roman Empire.

505
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:12,000
It's still with us today as we are sitting here.

506
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:18,000
It's life changing. It's life changing. It's world changing.

507
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:23,000
Now, in Matthew 28, we read that even at the day, even at the time this happened,

508
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:28,000
there was already an effort to tell lies about it.

509
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:32,000
It says, after the priests in Matthew 28-12 had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan,

510
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:37,000
they gave the soldiers a large sum of money. And they told them, say this,

511
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:42,000
the disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.

512
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:47,000
Now again, remember I said if you were a Roman soldier at the time and you fell asleep on your post,

513
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:51,000
it was the death penalty. This is why they say if this reaches the governor ears,

514
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:55,000
we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.

515
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:59,000
Because they really had to convince these soldiers to put their life on the line to tell this lie.

516
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:04,000
How did they do that? Well, the soldiers took the money they were offered and did as they were instructed.

517
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:08,000
And the story has been spread among the Jewish people to this day.

518
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:14,000
Now, it doesn't tell us there, but it's not hard to surmise that it must have been an incredible sum of money.

519
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:20,000
To say, hey, we want you guys to tell a lie that can result in death.

520
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:26,000
And it wasn't like, hey, here's a dollar. It was probably a significant amount of money.

521
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:33,000
Now, if the disciples did indeed steal the body, as the claim started to spread there,

522
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:37,000
those disciples would have known their claim is a lie, right?

523
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:41,000
If they stole the body and then they were just making up the story that, hey, he rose from the dead.

524
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:51,000
We saw him. I don't think they would have been willing to suffer and die the way they did for this lie.

525
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:55,000
You know, people all the time that are lying about things, things they know for a fact or a lie,

526
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:59,000
once they're put under pressure, they recant.

527
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:03,000
They realize they're going to suffer either pain or loss, they recant.

528
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:11,000
But again, these independent extra-biblical sources record for us the very intense persecution

529
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:18,000
the apostles and the early Christians went under for their claim that Jesus rose from the dead.

530
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:22,000
They had this persistent teaching, and no matter what they did to these people,

531
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:27,000
they kept saying, no, he really rose from the dead. We saw it.

532
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:33,000
For example, Matthew, he was slain with a sword in the city of Ethiopia for the claim that Jesus rose from the dead.

533
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:38,000
Mark died in Alexandria, northern Egypt, after being drugged through the streets

534
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,000
for his claim that Jesus had rose from the dead.

535
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:46,000
Luke was hung to death upon an olive tree in Greece for his claim that Jesus rose from the dead.

536
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:51,000
You think after one or two of these guys would have died that way, the rest, if they knew it was a lie,

537
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,000
they would have been like, whoa, bro, do you hear what happened to Luke?

538
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:59,000
Maybe we should change our story a little bit. But because it was true, they stuck to their guns.

539
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:04,000
John was tortured and banished to the island of Patmos, we read about in Revelation 1.9.

540
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,000
James, the brother of John, was beheaded in Jerusalem, we read in Acts 12.

541
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:14,000
James the Lesser, as he's called in Mark 15, was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple.

542
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:19,000
Philip was hung against a pillar in Heriopolis in the province of Phrygia.

543
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,000
Bartholomew was skinned alive.

544
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:26,000
Andrew was bound to a cross and then left to die from exposure to the elements.

545
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:29,000
Jude was shot to death with arrows.

546
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:35,000
Matthew, who was the apostle chosen to replace Judas, was stoned and then beheaded.

547
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:39,000
Barnabas was stoned to death by the Jews at Salonica.

548
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:44,000
Paul, after a variety of tortures and imprisonments, was finally beheaded in Rome.

549
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:48,000
And Thomas was run through the body with a spear in East India.

550
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,000
And there's still a memorial to him today.

551
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:59,000
The horrific persecutions and deaths these men suffered for the claim that Jesus didn't just die,

552
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,000
but he rose from the dead.

553
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:07,000
The fact that they suffered these things is compelling evidence.

554
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:13,000
People don't suffer such brutality for something they know for a fact is a lie.

555
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:19,000
Now, yeah, people can die for something that they think is true,

556
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:24,000
and we see that all the time with terrorists and people that really believe in something

557
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,000
and they'll blow themselves up for it.

558
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:33,000
But we're talking about a first generation people who are eyewitnesses to a fact.

559
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,000
They didn't think it was true. They knew it was true.

560
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:40,000
And they also were able to know for a fact if it was a lie.

561
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:44,000
And yet they didn't recant. And so it's very unlikely that they would suffer

562
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:49,000
the historically documented suffering for their testimony that Jesus rose from the dead.

563
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:54,000
And, you know, again, just with so many hundreds of eyewitnesses,

564
00:39:54,000 --> 00:40:00,000
someone surely would have confessed to the ruse after all the suffering,

565
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:07,000
if not just to end their own suffering, to end the suffering of their friends or their family.

566
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:14,000
And really that whole first generation of Christians, they were absolutely brutalized for their testimony.

567
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:20,000
Tacitus, that Roman historian we've talked about, he wrote a book called The Annals of Imperial Rome.

568
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:27,000
And in his book, he wrote about the fire that burned a big part of Rome down in AD 64.

569
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:34,000
And this is what he says, Nero fastened the guilt and influenced the most exquisite tortures

570
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:39,000
on a class hated for their abominations called Christians by the populace.

571
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:44,000
Christus, or another word for Christ, from whom the name had its origins,

572
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:50,000
suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate.

573
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:57,000
And a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea.

574
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:03,000
The first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world

575
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,000
find their center and become popular.

576
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:10,000
The superstition he's writing about there is that Jesus rose from the dead.

577
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:15,000
He says, accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty.

578
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:21,000
Then upon their information an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of burning the city,

579
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,000
but as of a hatred against mankind.

580
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:27,000
And so mockery of every sort was added to their deaths.

581
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:32,000
They were covered with the skins of beasts and then torn apart by dogs and died.

582
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,000
Or they were nailed to crosses.

583
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:42,000
Or they were doomed to the flames and burnt to serve as a nightly illumination when the daylight had expired.

584
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:48,000
You see, we know from historical documents that Caesar Nero, the craziest of all the emperors,

585
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:53,000
would bind Christians up on torches lining the walkway into his palace,

586
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:57,000
and he would light them on fire to illuminate the path during the nighttime.

587
00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:02,000
All of this because people said Jesus had rose from the dead.

588
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:08,000
People wouldn't stick to it like that.

589
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:12,000
We know that from modern psychology, modern behavioral studies, you know,

590
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:17,000
but the deaths experienced by these early Christians, especially the twelve apostles,

591
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:23,000
as I said, it speaks volumes, volumes, that they would face all of this.

592
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:28,000
You know, reading through the Gospels, we see that the twelve apostles, I mean, gosh, they were pretty scared dudes.

593
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:31,000
Right? They were pretty meek. They were pretty fearful.

594
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:34,000
You know, Peter at the end, as Jesus was going through his trials,

595
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:38,000
we read that he fled from the accusations as a little girl at the fire said,

596
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:41,000
hey, weren't you one of those ones that traveled with Jesus?

597
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,000
I don't know the man.

598
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:48,000
And he denied Jesus three times and fled in fear.

599
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:51,000
It tells us that after the crucifixion, during these days that followed,

600
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:57,000
that the entire group of his disciples, they hid in fear in the upper room after the crucifixion.

601
00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:03,000
It tells us multiple times that the door is locked because they were afraid the Jews were going to come get them.

602
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:08,000
Yet following the resurrection, we read of these same fearful men

603
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:14,000
taking to the streets of multiple different cities, boldly proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ

604
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:17,000
despite the intensifying persecution.

605
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:21,000
What accounts for their sudden change of hearts?

606
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:26,000
What accounts for them going from so afraid, lock the doors, please Jews, don't come get us,

607
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:32,000
to I don't care what you say, I'm going to say what God wants me to tell you

608
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:36,000
in the face of the Sanhedrin, in the face of the authorities.

609
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:40,000
I'm going to tell you that Jesus is alive, that he rose from the dead.

610
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:44,000
What accounts for their sudden conviction?

611
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:48,000
It certainly wasn't financial gain.

612
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,000
It wasn't fame.

613
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:55,000
It wasn't worldwide accolades, right?

614
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:58,000
It wasn't that everybody liked them.

615
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:00,000
It wasn't TikTok followers.

616
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:04,000
It wasn't YouTube subscribers.

617
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:11,000
In fact, they gave up everything for this confession that Jesus was alive.

618
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:16,000
They gave up everything including their lives for the truth of the resurrection.

619
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:21,000
What accounts for that dramatic change in their lives?

620
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,000
Is that he's really alive.

621
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:26,000
That they really saw him with their own eyes.

622
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:31,000
And they went to their graves proclaiming that truth because that truth had changed their lives.

623
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:36,000
And they knew that truth would change people's lives, that it started to do all over the world.

624
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,000
And they died with that truth and for that truth.

625
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:46,000
Now, there are a number of other strong evidences for the resurrection of Jesus Christ that he is risen.

626
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,000
And we don't have time this morning to get into all of them.

627
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:55,000
But, you know, there's things like the conversion of extreme enemies of Jesus, right?

628
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,000
People that were just against him, against Christianity.

629
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:01,000
Saul of Tarsus is one of them, right?

630
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:03,000
He was seeking out people who claimed to be Christians.

631
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,000
People that said, yes, Jesus is risen from the dead.

632
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:07,000
He would seek them out.

633
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:14,000
He would get papers from the authorities so he could go throw these people in jail and divide families and put them to death.

634
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:17,000
And yet, he became a Christian.

635
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:18,000
Why?

636
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:22,000
Because he saw the resurrected Lord on the road.

637
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:26,000
And then you have strong skeptics of Jesus like his half-brother James, right?

638
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,000
We read about that in the Gospels.

639
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:33,000
Can you imagine having a little brother like Jesus, right, without sin ever doing nothing wrong?

640
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:36,000
James is like, ugh.

641
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,000
Why don't you be more like Jesus?

642
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:39,000
Stop saying that, Mom.

643
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:43,000
You know, I don't know what it was like for James, but through life, he was a skeptic.

644
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:48,000
As Jesus came on the scene and started doing miracles and stuff, I don't believe it.

645
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:53,000
And people are going, no, no, we believe he's the Messiah, not whatever.

646
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:54,000
Jesus dies.

647
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:55,000
Jesus is resurrected.

648
00:45:55,000 --> 00:46:02,000
And then Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that, yeah, Jesus appeared to him.

649
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:06,000
And we know that it's this James that became the senior pastor of the church in Jerusalem

650
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:08,000
during the early days of the church.

651
00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:14,000
To lead a church in the middle of the most hostile place against Christianity,

652
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:21,000
how do people that are that against Jesus get converted and become that passionate for him?

653
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:24,000
It's because of the truth of the resurrection.

654
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:29,000
And then you have things like the beliefs of so many Jews at the time, right?

655
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:33,000
The culture was go to the temple and make the sacrifices and do all this stuff.

656
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:39,000
And yet we have historical records outside the Bible that say at the time of the crucifixion

657
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:44,000
and the resurrection of Jesus, thousands and thousands of Jews changed their worship practices.

658
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:47,000
They stopped taking sacrifices to the temple.

659
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,000
Why?

660
00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:54,000
It's because the Lamb of God had been slain for the sins of the whole world,

661
00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:58,000
and there was no need for the old covenant anymore because a new covenant had arrived.

662
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:03,000
They stopped going to church on Saturday, on the Sabbath,

663
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:06,000
and instead started meeting on the first day of the week.

664
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:09,000
They called it the Lord's Day, the Sunday we gather.

665
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:15,000
Why? Because they wanted to commemorate the day that he rose from the dead.

666
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,000
And there's so many other things too.

667
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:22,000
I just again urge you if you're a skeptic, look up some of the people that I've mentioned.

668
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:25,000
Charlie Campbell, Pastor Mike Winger, others.

669
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:28,000
Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, look them up.

670
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:31,000
I challenge you. I challenge you.

671
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:36,000
Because I would bet my very life on the truth that Jesus is alive,

672
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,000
that he has risen from the dead.

673
00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:42,000
And I've evaluated evidence myself.

674
00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:44,000
I mean, just my own testimony.

675
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:46,000
I grew up in the city of Bellflower.

676
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:52,000
I used to drive down the street past this church and shake my fist and go,

677
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:55,000
how dare they allow a church on the boulevard? That's an affront.

678
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:58,000
They should burn that place down.

679
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:00,000
Guess what I do today?

680
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:02,000
I am the senior pastor of that church,

681
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:07,000
and I get the opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to feed his flock.

682
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:12,000
God changes lives because it's true.

683
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:16,000
It is all really, it happened.

684
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:19,000
And you can't get past the evidence.

685
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:23,000
Now, I could point out all the intellectual stuff and demonstrate all the evidence I could

686
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:29,000
for hours and hours and hours, and you may still not want to believe it's true.

687
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:32,000
You know, Pastor Mike Winger puts it this way.

688
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:37,000
It's because it's not our brains that keep us from God, it's our hearts.

689
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:42,000
Our fallen, sinful hearts love sin.

690
00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:48,000
And we don't want to admit that there's a God who has a moral code

691
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:53,000
who says, do this, and it's sinful.

692
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:56,000
Do this, and you'll find forgiveness.

693
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:59,000
And that means you'll have to stop doing those sinful things.

694
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:02,000
Nobody wants that in their fallen nature.

695
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:04,000
They want to continue being sinners.

696
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:07,000
And so we try and rationalize that there's no creator.

697
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:11,000
We try and rationalize that there's no God we might have to answer to.

698
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,000
And so when we look at the evidence of the resurrection,

699
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:17,000
we come up with all kinds of silly stories that, yeah, after the crucifixion,

700
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:22,000
Jesus somehow pushed the rock away and snuck out by himself.

701
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:27,000
We go, well, I mean, I know there was like probably 16 trained Roman soldiers,

702
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:31,000
but these scared, frady cat disciples, they somehow overpowered them

703
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:33,000
and opened the tomb and stole the body.

704
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,000
Yeah, that's what happened.

705
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:44,000
And you go, that's silly. That's silly.

706
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:48,000
The reality is, if you were to die today without Jesus Christ,

707
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:52,000
God in the flesh is your Savior,

708
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:57,000
the one who died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins,

709
00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:02,000
to satisfy the wrath of God for your breaking of His law,

710
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:05,000
the one who then rose again on the third day,

711
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:10,000
demonstrating that He is indeed God, the one with authority and power

712
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:12,000
over life and death itself.

713
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:16,000
If you die without having received the promises that come from

714
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:23,000
your putting your faith in what He did, this resurrection,

715
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:28,000
God's Word says that you will suffer in eternity in hell, paying for it yourself.

716
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:33,000
But John 3.16 tells us God loved the world in this way,

717
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:37,000
that He gave His one and only Son,

718
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:45,000
so that whosoever, everyone, doesn't matter who you are,

719
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:48,000
it doesn't matter what you've done,

720
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:52,000
if you would put your faith and belief in Him, you will not perish

721
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,000
but have everlasting life.

722
00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:58,000
That is the promise of Resurrection Sunday.

723
00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:03,000
That God loved you so much that He came to this earth 2,000 years ago

724
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:07,000
and lived a perfect life without sin,

725
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:11,000
lived and example and taught how God wants us to be,

726
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:15,000
how He wants us to treat one another, to love one another, to serve one another,

727
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:18,000
how He wants us to be as the humanity He created,

728
00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:25,000
not evil, not wicked, not tearing each other down, not backbiting, but love.

729
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:32,000
And then He went to the cross to die for every sin you and I have ever committed.

730
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:38,000
Every sin you and I will ever commit in our entire life to pay the price,

731
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:44,000
so that when God our Creator would look at us, fallen sinful creatures,

732
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:49,000
Jesus would say, yeah, but I paid the price.

733
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:51,000
I died for them.

734
00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:56,000
And then God would say, come into my presence.

735
00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:59,000
Be restored. Let's have this relationship reconciled

736
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:02,000
because when I see you through the blood of Jesus Christ, I see you without sin.

737
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:06,000
You're spotless. You're blameless.

738
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:10,000
Enter into the joy of your Lord.

739
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:12,000
That's what Easter is for us.

740
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:14,000
Paul said again in 1 Corinthians 15,

741
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:19,000
for I passed on to you as most important what I received,

742
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:23,000
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

743
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:29,000
that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

744
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:33,000
That is truth. That is life-changing truth.

745
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:37,000
And I want to end on this. Why do Christians,

746
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:41,000
why do we make such a big deal about the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

747
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:43,000
I touched on it this morning at sunrise.

748
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:47,000
Because Buddha still lives in a grave at the foot of the Himalayan mountains.

749
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:51,000
Mohammed, the founder of Islam, is still buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

750
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:55,000
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, is still buried in Nauvoo, Illinois.

751
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:58,000
Charles Darwin is still buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

752
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:02,000
They are all dead and their graves still contain their bodies.

753
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:09,000
But Jesus proved that what He said was true by actually rising from the dead.

754
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:15,000
The tomb is empty. The tomb is empty.

755
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:18,000
Christian, our Savior, is alive.

756
00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:22,000
He is alive today. We don't follow the teachings of some dead guy.

757
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:28,000
We follow the teachings of a living God who rose from the dead,

758
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:31,000
who gives us the power to live for Him.

759
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:33,000
That is who we follow today.

760
00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:37,000
We live this life with the living true God in our lives,

761
00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:40,000
teaching and leading and guiding and directing.

762
00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:42,000
He's a God that we can know personally.

763
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:46,000
He's a God that we have a walk with, we can call on,

764
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:48,000
we can trust in every moment of every day.

765
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:50,000
It's Jesus Christ.

766
00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:54,000
And if you don't know Him today as your Lord and Savior,

767
00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:59,000
if you've never put your trust in Him, you can.

768
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:01,000
You can today.

769
00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:05,000
He brought you here today to hear this message so that He could tell you,

770
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:12,000
I'm alive. It's real. It's true. And I died for you, too.

771
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:16,000
We proclaim that He is alive. We proclaim that He has risen.

772
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:18,000
And He is calling on you today.

773
00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:21,000
Receive what He offers you.

774
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:27,000
Receive the new life, the forgiveness, and the eternal life to come

775
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:29,000
from the one who loves you so much.

776
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:32,000
His name is Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

777
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:36,000
Father, we love you.

778
00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:39,000
God, we're so blessed to celebrate this day.

779
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:45,000
We're so blessed to be here to celebrate your resurrection.

780
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:47,000
God, it really is the foundation of our faith.

781
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:51,000
It is what makes Christianity Christianity.

782
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:54,000
Lord, you didn't just die.

783
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:58,000
So many other religious leaders preached and proclaimed their message

784
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:03,000
and died, and they're still dead.

785
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:09,000
But God, you said you would come back to life in three days.

786
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:14,000
And that claim would be the proof that you were indeed who you said you are.

787
00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:17,000
God Almighty.

788
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:23,000
And Jesus, three days after you hung on that cross, you walked out of that tomb.

789
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:27,000
And Lord, you were seen by so many eyewitnesses.

790
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:30,000
Lord, in that eyewitness account was told from one person to another,

791
00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:34,000
and down through the centuries, God, we are here today still celebrating

792
00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:37,000
our resurrected Lord and Savior.

793
00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:40,000
God, we're so grateful for who you are.

794
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:43,000
And Lord, many of us have known you for a short amount of time,

795
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:47,000
a long amount of time, but God, we have experienced the changing power

796
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:49,000
of resurrection life.

797
00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:53,000
God, we are not who we used to be.

798
00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:57,000
Yes, Lord, we still struggle with our old nature, but we have been given a new

799
00:55:57,000 --> 00:56:04,000
nature that has the ability to say yes to Jesus, to say, God, I want to obey

800
00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:09,000
you, to follow you as a disciple.

801
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:11,000
And Lord, we're so thankful for that.

802
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:17,000
And while we're praying, heads bowed and eyes closed here, if you were here

803
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:24,000
this morning and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

804
00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:29,000
maybe you've never put your faith in Him, maybe you did at some point,

805
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:34,000
but you know, you know your life never changed because you never truly

806
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:36,000
yielded to Him.

807
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:43,000
But this morning, God has spoken to you about the truth of His resurrection

808
00:56:43,000 --> 00:56:47,000
and the truth of the promises that come with putting faith in that resurrection

809
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:50,000
and the God who resurrected Jesus Christ.

810
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:53,000
If God has spoken to you this morning while we're praying, just heads bowed,

811
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,000
nobody needs to be looking around.

812
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:59,000
This is between you and the Lord, and God is saying, you need to come to me.

813
00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:02,000
You need to receive me today as your Lord and Savior.

814
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:04,000
I just want you to wear your seated right now.

815
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:07,000
Just raise your hand so I could see it and let me pray with you.

816
00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:08,000
I see you in the back.

817
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:09,000
Anybody else?

818
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:11,000
God is speaking to you this morning.

819
00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:15,000
This Resurrection Sunday is the resurrection of your life.

820
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:17,000
God is saying, come to me.

821
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:20,000
Trust in me.

822
00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:21,000
I've spoken to you.

823
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:23,000
I've proved myself.

824
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:24,000
Step out.

825
00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:27,000
Receive the salvation I have for you.

826
00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:30,000
If you want to receive that this morning, you've never done that before,

827
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:33,000
raise your hand and let me pray with you today.

828
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:37,000
If you're watching online, obviously I can't see you.

829
00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:40,000
But if God has spoken to you and you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord

830
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:45,000
and Savior today, simply type in the chat right now so our moderators can see it.

831
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:48,000
I want to receive Jesus.

832
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:51,000
Anybody else in this room before we pray?

833
00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:52,000
God is speaking to you.

834
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:54,000
You know you need Him.

835
00:57:54,000 --> 00:58:00,000
And your salvation, your eternity is the most important decision you will ever make

836
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:02,000
in your entire life.

837
00:58:02,000 --> 00:58:08,000
Don't let anything be between you and the saving mercy and grace that is found in

838
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:12,000
Jesus Christ, your Creator.

839
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:15,000
Anybody else before we pray?

840
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:17,000
All right.

841
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:22,000
Those of you that raised your hand, those of you watching online, and if you're

842
00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:25,000
sitting there right now and for whatever reason you didn't raise your hand,

843
00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:28,000
but you know you need this, I want you to pray with me right now.

844
00:58:28,000 --> 00:58:33,000
Say, Lord Jesus, I believe.

845
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:38,000
I believe that you died on the cross for my sins.

846
00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:42,000
I believe you rose on the third day.

847
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:46,000
I put my faith in that, Lord.

848
00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:49,000
And it's not a blind faith.

849
00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:53,000
I believe in the eyewitness accounts.

850
00:58:53,000 --> 00:58:58,000
I believe in the Gospels you've given us.

851
00:58:58,000 --> 00:59:03,000
I believe in even the historians recording these things.

852
00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:05,000
It happened.

853
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:09,000
And I believe that it happened for me.

854
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:13,000
I put my faith in you today, Jesus.

855
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:16,000
Change my life.

856
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:18,000
Give me a new heart.

857
00:59:18,000 --> 00:59:21,000
Give me a new nature.

858
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:28,000
Forgive me of all of my sins and all the sins I will ever commit.

859
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:32,000
Teach me how to live for you.

860
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:42,000
Fill me with your Spirit that I would be and live who you want me and created me

861
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:45,000
to be.

862
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:51,000
Thank you for loving me so much that you would die for me.

863
00:59:51,000 --> 00:59:57,000
Thank you for loving me so much that you rose for me.

864
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:05,000
Thank you for loving me so much that you are alive today for me.

865
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:08,000
Help me to tell everybody I know about you.

866
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:12,000
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

867
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:18,000
Well, if you prayed that prayer this morning and you're here in the room, we have a little packet we want to give you.

868
01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:20,000
We called it New Believer's Packet.

869
01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:26,000
And it's really just a collection of resources to help you on this new relationship you've started with Jesus.

870
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:28,000
You know, because that's really what it is.

871
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:32,000
You've started a relationship with the God who created you.

872
01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:34,000
And it's important to get to know him.

873
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:36,000
That's why we encourage you to read your Bible.

874
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:38,000
If you don't have a Bible, please talk to me.

875
01:00:38,000 --> 01:00:39,000
We'll get you a Bible.

876
01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:42,000
It's important to just worship him and praise him.

877
01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:47,000
And we've provided Spotify playlists so you have some good worship music to listen to.

878
01:00:47,000 --> 01:00:50,000
We also have a baptism coming up next week.

879
01:00:50,000 --> 01:01:00,000
And one of the things that Jesus said is one of the first things in our obedience is to get baptized as a public proclamation of what Jesus has done in your life.

880
01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:05,000
You see, if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ, you are a brand new creature, the Bible says.

881
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:10,000
It says the entire hosts of heaven are celebrating right now every time one person gets saved.

882
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:15,000
And next week we're having an opportunity to make that public profession to get baptized.

883
01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:22,000
We're going to do it here in our sanctuary as a part of our service to say, hey, public, Jesus has changed my life.

884
01:01:22,000 --> 01:01:23,000
I belong to him now.

885
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:25,000
That's what baptism is all about.

886
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:33,000
And so if you've given your life to the Lord today and maybe you've done it in the past and you've never been baptized, I encourage you guys to get our church app, go to our website,

887
01:01:33,000 --> 01:01:40,000
sign up for the baptism so we know you're coming and let us celebrate that moment with you next week.

888
01:01:40,000 --> 01:01:47,000
But starting today and every day, all of us, let's celebrate Jesus.

889
01:01:47,000 --> 01:01:51,000
Let's celebrate him every moment of every day because he has changed our lives.

890
01:01:51,000 --> 01:01:57,000
Let us never forget the power, the glory, the majesty of the resurrection.

891
01:01:57,000 --> 01:01:59,000
It's not just a story.

892
01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:01,000
It's everything.

893
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:07,000
Not just internalize it and live the truth of it, but tell people about it.

894
01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:14,000
I know a lot of us are going places after church today, seeing family and friends, right?

895
01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:16,000
You're like, oh, no, here it comes.

896
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:18,000
I challenge you.

897
01:02:18,000 --> 01:02:26,000
Try and tell someone that doesn't know anything about Jesus about what you believe about this day.

898
01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:30,000
It's not about bunnies and colorful eggs.

899
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:36,000
It's about the God of all creation who rose from the dead for you and for them.

900
01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:39,000
And see where God blesses that conversation.

901
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:42,000
But have a blessed day.

902
01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:46,000
Have a wonderful day as we celebrate this wonderful event.

903
01:02:46,000 --> 01:02:47,000
Let God speak to you.

904
01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:49,000
Let him shine through your lives.

905
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:52,000
Let him be glorified in all you do and all you say.

906
01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:55,000
For he is risen.

907
01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:57,000
We're going to do that again.

908
01:02:57,000 --> 01:03:00,000
I know it snuck up on you, right?

909
01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:03,000
For he is risen.

910
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:28,000
God bless you guys.