WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.379 to obey everything I've commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:07.000 This is God's Word. 00:00:10.779 --> 00:00:15.580 So, if you have your Bibles open, we'll think about that Matthew 00:00:15.580 --> 00:00:22.800 text and also 1 Corinthians 15. So, we're working through the statements of the Apostles' Creed. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:29.379 This time we come to that truth that we believe that the third day Jesus rose again 00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:38.519 from the dead. So, today the resurrection is on trial. I want to begin talking about a chap by 00:00:38.519 --> 00:00:45.420 the name of Simon Greenleaf, a really interesting character. He was one of the founders of the 00:00:45.420 --> 00:00:53.280 Harvard Law School back in the early 1800s. He was known in his day as a brilliant legal mind, 00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:02.460 has written some key documents and textbooks. And this guy in the 1840s decided to set about to 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:09.740 disprove once and for all the gospel accounts of the resurrection. And he figured the best way to do 00:01:09.740 --> 00:01:16.140 that was to look closely at the text themselves. And his presumption, if we look closely at the 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:25.299 gospel text, we'll see the inaccuracies, the errors, we'll come to understand that they cannot be trusted. 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:33.680 Well, by careful examination of the documents, the exact opposite happened. Greenleaf was surprised by 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:43.540 his findings. He became a follower of the Lord Jesus. And in 1846, he wrote this document called 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:51.719 The Testimony of the Four Evangelists. And it's a wonderful piece of writing, because he, as a lawyer, 00:01:52.060 --> 00:02:00.320 he uses the trial setting. So, he introduces in this document the four witnesses, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:08.800 and John, and he sets out lines of evidence. And he is confident by the end that he could prove the 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:15.600 resurrection accounts are reliable in any court in the U.S. And it's a really interesting document, 00:02:15.700 --> 00:02:22.200 because he applies certain tests, he follows certain lines of evidence, so he talks about the test of 00:02:22.200 --> 00:02:29.640 honesty. He acknowledges that when you read the gospel accounts, they're very honest about their prior 00:02:29.640 --> 00:02:35.840 weaknesses, their struggles to understand what Jesus was talking about when he talked about dying and 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:43.920 rising, their confusion and their fear and their disappointment, but also how after the resurrection, 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:53.759 they'll testify boldly despite facing any number of terrors from enemies. So, the test of honesty was 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:59.900 one that he used. He applied the test of reliability as well. So, sometimes, and maybe you've noticed this, 00:02:59.939 --> 00:03:05.300 you read the gospel accounts, and you'll notice that in one gospel there's two women mentioned, 00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:11.180 in another one there's three, sometimes there's one angel, sometimes there's two. And as a lawyer, 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:18.740 Greenleaf says, that's not a problem. We expect eyewitness accounts to differ. In fact, it's a good 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:25.700 sign that Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John didn't somehow conspire to cook up a story, and they all stuck 00:03:25.700 --> 00:03:32.260 to exactly the same lines of evidence. Greenleaf would go to a famous trial in his day, and he would 00:03:32.259 --> 00:03:38.919 point to ten big differences in eyewitness testimony that were delivered then, but nobody was questioning 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:43.219 the integrity of the witnesses or of the trial itself. 00:03:44.699 --> 00:03:49.620 He applied the test of experience, I think, in a really helpful way. So, he was writing at a time when there 00:03:49.620 --> 00:03:54.620 was guys like David Hume was about. You know, he rejected miracles. Many people rejecting miracles. 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:58.620 You know, we can't observe them, therefore we can't trust them, therefore they can't happen. 00:04:00.379 --> 00:04:05.860 Greenleaf would apply the test of experience and humility and say, well, have I really experienced 00:04:05.860 --> 00:04:10.379 all there is to experience in the world? Can I really say I have absolute knowledge of everything 00:04:10.379 --> 00:04:17.439 in the world over all time and space? Do I really claim to have a superior knowledge to God, 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:23.459 that I can say that the God who made the laws of nature is somehow bound by them? 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:30.099 He applied the test of contemporary facts. So, one reason when Greenleaf began to look into it as a 00:04:30.099 --> 00:04:37.699 skeptic, he said, well, I bet if I compare the gospel stories to the writings of Jewish historians or 00:04:37.699 --> 00:04:43.679 Roman historians, I'll find big differences. And actually, he found they agree that they show that they are 00:04:43.679 --> 00:04:52.699 teaching reliable history. So, Greenleaf is worth a read. It's online. How he begins his defense is telling. 00:04:52.699 --> 00:05:00.300 He said, in examining the evidence of the Christian religion, it is essential to the discovery of truth 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:09.539 that we bring to the investigation a mind freed as far as possible from existing prejudice. I think 00:05:09.539 --> 00:05:15.099 that's maybe the challenge that we have, isn't it? So many people have already made their mind up. 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:22.560 Can we still believe in the resurrection today? I guess the common belief already beginning to emerge 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:28.820 in Greenleaf's Day, reason and science, well, that's based on facts. It's observable phenomena that can be 00:05:28.820 --> 00:05:34.560 trusted, whereas religion, well, that's based on faith. And especially often people talk about faith in a 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:43.199 skeptical way. It's unobservable. David Hume is famous for his shiny big toe on the Royal Mile, 00:05:43.639 --> 00:05:49.660 and also famous for saying miracles can't happen. You know, to think about that claim, because that's 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:57.939 the challenge, miracles can't happen full stop. To make that claim is to say, I have all knowledge. 00:05:57.939 --> 00:06:06.680 I can see the whole story. I have an understanding of physical and spiritual realities. Here is truth. 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:14.159 That's a big claim. And I think where Greenleaf and others are helpful is in the reminder that the 00:06:14.159 --> 00:06:23.120 resurrection, our belief in resurrection, is based on public truth. The events of Christianity are public 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:31.360 events. The resurrection is an event recorded in history to those friendly to Christianity, enemies 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:38.399 of Christianity, all recorded. So, we don't need to fear it being put on trial. Actually, in some ways, 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:44.259 it'd be a wonderful thing if people were exploring, is the resurrection actually true? Because as we'll come 00:06:44.259 --> 00:06:52.819 to see, the resurrection is something that changes everything. But our faith is a reasonable faith. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:07:02.019 The reason for our faith is that we have confidence in the events that we read in the Gospels to which 00:07:02.019 --> 00:07:11.100 eyewitnesses are giving their testimony to. And those eyewitnesses then explain the significance of 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:19.720 the resurrection for us. Think about the world of science. You know, I don't know anything much about 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:24.980 science, but I know that they talk about things like the Copernican revolution. You know, Copernicus 00:07:24.980 --> 00:07:32.460 who discovered that the sun and not the earth is the center of the universe. Or folks like Pythagoras 00:07:32.460 --> 00:07:39.300 who came to understand that the earth is spherical rather than flat. You know, there are within science 00:07:39.300 --> 00:07:44.980 those moments where new information comes along and it overthrows and it challenges old beliefs. 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:51.759 And a new hypothesis needs to be formed. And that can be a challenge because we have pre-existing 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:55.280 data, we have pre-existing beliefs, and we don't easily shift from that. 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:05.560 But we need to allow new and true information to reshape how we see things. That's true in science, 00:08:05.640 --> 00:08:12.200 that's true in general knowledge, and it's also true in religion. Because the resurrection of the 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:23.560 Lord Jesus is a huge revolution in religion. Here is Jesus, and He announces that He is God. He reveals 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:33.539 in His person the glory of God. He dies in the place of sinners. He rises in victory. And these public 00:08:33.539 --> 00:08:41.319 events of the ministry of Jesus are attested to by friends and enemies alike. And they're so significant 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:48.660 that we need to allow those events to shape and to reshape us. 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:56.960 So, we're going to do two things together. We're going to consider some lines of evidence for the 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:02.980 resurrection from Matthew 28. And we're going to consider, more briefly, why the resurrection 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:11.140 matters. And we're going to use 1 Corinthians 15, which is a very early document. So, as we begin, 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:24.900 with Simon Greenleaf's urgings in our minds, let's keep an open mind. Let's encourage in ourselves and 00:09:24.900 --> 00:09:35.280 others careful examination of the evidence, because it's vital for faith. Can we believe in the resurrection? 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:41.720 In Matthew 28. So, what we have, just by way of reminder, when we read Matthew's gospel, we have 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:50.199 eyewitness testimony written perhaps a generation after the events. Not a myth. People could be 00:09:50.199 --> 00:09:56.019 questioned. We're going to notice four different lines of evidence. There are many more we could pursue, 00:09:56.579 --> 00:10:00.779 but from Matthew we'll look at four. The first line of evidence, and it's a huge one, 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:08.620 is that of the empty tomb. So, back in Matthew 28, verse 5, we have an angel say to the women, 00:10:08.740 --> 00:10:15.579 do not be afraid, for I know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has 00:10:15.579 --> 00:10:24.399 risen. Just as He said, come and see the place where He lay. Now, one thing that Matthew makes clear, 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:30.600 along with the other gospel writers, is that everybody knew where the tomb of Jesus was. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:37.059 The Roman soldiers were there on guard, they certainly knew, and the women were watching as 00:10:37.059 --> 00:10:45.439 Jesus was placed in the tomb. They knew, the Jews knew where Jesus' body lay. Nobody ever claims 00:10:45.439 --> 00:10:53.480 that these women, these first disciples, went to the wrong tomb. So, there is an empty tomb that needs 00:10:53.480 --> 00:11:01.860 to be explained. And what is also clear is that the enemies of Jesus couldn't ever, didn't ever produce 00:11:01.860 --> 00:11:09.680 a dead body. When they had all the power of the Roman Empire at their disposal, all the resources of 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:15.820 the Jewish religious system determined to get rid of Jesus and His followers, they could have stopped 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:22.060 Christianity dead in their tracks simply by tracking down a dead body. But they couldn't. 00:11:24.060 --> 00:11:28.800 And we know that producing a dead body would have stopped Christianity in His tracks, because before 00:11:28.800 --> 00:11:34.320 the resurrection, the disciples were filled with grief and despair. They thought it was the end. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:39.800 There would be no Christianity without a risen Lord Jesus. 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:45.539 So, we hear today, well, the resurrection is impossible. 00:11:45.539 --> 00:11:54.259 We have to be careful, as C.S. Lewis speaks about, of chronological snobbery. If a resurrection isn't 00:11:54.259 --> 00:12:02.240 possible, why was no dead body ever produced? How do we explain the empty tomb? The question to ask 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:10.579 is which evidence seems more likely that are two different stories recorded here in Matthew 28. 00:12:10.580 --> 00:12:19.379 Now, I've recently read Tom Holland's book, Dynasty, which is all about Caesar and the Roman Empire, 00:12:19.860 --> 00:12:28.560 and there is a picture there of Roman soldiers in centuries B.C. and early A.D., of incredibly 00:12:28.560 --> 00:12:37.000 dedicated and courageous and loyal, responsible largely for taking over huge areas of the world. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:43.259 Now, we have to ask ourselves the question, which story seems more plausible? 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:56.559 Was there a violent earthquake as an indication of the activity of God, that an angel came and rolled 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:06.019 the stone and caused this supernatural fear to fall on these soldiers, or were the soldiers somehow 00:13:06.019 --> 00:13:13.860 overpowered by a group of grief-filled women, who, while the Roman soldiers were charged with keeping 00:13:13.860 --> 00:13:21.799 watch, they were able to roll away a huge stone and break the Roman seal and take a body away, 00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:25.939 when actually a dead body would be of no value to the disciples anyway? 00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:38.060 Matthew records truth. The tomb is empty because Jesus has risen. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:46.780 And that follows to the second line of evidence, which is that of fulfilled prophecy. 00:13:46.779 --> 00:13:51.799 prophecy. To go back to verse 6 of Matthew 28, we read, 00:13:51.939 --> 00:14:00.500 He is not here. He has risen, just as He said. So, it's suggested sometimes that resurrection 00:14:00.500 --> 00:14:09.339 was a late invention by the New Testament church, wanting to gain a following for Jesus, wanting to 00:14:09.339 --> 00:14:14.699 establish this new religion, something perhaps in the second century, they cooked up this idea 00:14:14.700 --> 00:14:25.320 that Jesus rose from the dead. It doesn't square with what we have in God's Word. Rather, what we have 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:33.740 in God's Word is an understanding that even in the Old Testament, there is the prophetic announcement 00:14:33.740 --> 00:14:41.720 that the Messiah would rise again. So, just a few minutes ago, we read, we sang Psalm 16. 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:50.700 The apostles very quickly understood that while David was absolutely dead and buried, he was speaking 00:14:50.700 --> 00:14:57.379 prophetically of a greater king still to come. He was speaking of Jesus, who died and then rose. 00:14:58.460 --> 00:15:07.759 Now, we can go back to Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 10. We thought about this last week in Isaiah 53. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:16.159 We have this. It was the Lord's will to crush it. Sorry, verse 9, He was assigned a grave with the 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:22.019 wicked and with the rich in His death. Yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:30.179 And though the Lord makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, 00:15:30.179 --> 00:15:37.399 and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. After He has suffered, He will see the light of life 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:42.639 and be satisfied. So, we have in the Old Testament these anticipations that the Messiah will die 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:49.500 and rise. But more than that, we also have Jesus' own words. So, the angels say, as He said, as Jesus said. 00:15:50.259 --> 00:15:55.919 We have Jesus predicting many times His suffering, His death, and His resurrection. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:04.959 Jesus goes through His ministry with a self-conscious knowledge of His destiny. He will die on the cross 00:16:04.959 --> 00:16:11.759 to pay the price and penalty for sin and for sinners, and He'll be risen in glory and victory. 00:16:14.599 --> 00:16:19.919 So, while the disciples, before the resurrection, they couldn't understand, and they were filled with 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:27.799 grief and they think, this sounds like defeat and disaster. Jesus knew this was the plan of God. 00:16:29.620 --> 00:16:37.979 Even His enemies know that Jesus spoke of resurrection. So, Matthew 27 and verse 63, 00:16:38.699 --> 00:16:43.659 this is what the Pharisees say to Pilate. Sir, we remember that while He was still alive, 00:16:43.659 --> 00:16:49.379 that deceiver said, after three days, I will rise again. That's why the soldiers were keeping guard over 00:16:49.379 --> 00:16:59.720 the tomb. The empty tomb. The risen Lord Jesus says God's plan is fulfilled. The third line of 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:09.579 evidence is that of the encounters with the risen Jesus that we read of. So, here we read of two. 00:17:09.579 --> 00:17:16.359 In verse 9, suddenly Jesus met the women hurrying from the tomb. Greetings, He said. They came to Him, 00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:22.939 clasped His feet, and worshipped Him. And Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to 00:17:22.939 --> 00:17:31.039 go to Galilee. There they will see me. Verse 16, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:38.559 where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:48.240 Now, in 1 Corinthians 15, we are told that for 40 days, book of Acts, 40 days, the disciples would meet 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:55.039 with the risen Jesus. Sometimes it would be small groups, like these women. Larger groups, like the 00:17:55.039 --> 00:18:02.480 disciples. Sometimes up to 500 at one time, as we're told in 1 Corinthians 15. Even appearing to 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:09.660 His skeptical half-brothers to turn them into followers of Jesus and worshipers of Him as God. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.980 And to read accounts like this one that Matthew records for us of these eyewitnesses, 00:18:16.339 --> 00:18:19.799 we begin to recognize there's a ring of truth to them. 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:28.799 It's been widely recognized that if someone was writing a gospel looking to establish credibility 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:34.919 for it, the first eyewitnesses to the risen Lord Jesus that you would choose wouldn't be women. 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:41.980 First century, low value, their word not recognized in a court of law. But that's what's recorded by the 00:18:41.980 --> 00:18:51.500 gospel writers. Why? Because that's how it happened. Did you notice as well the honesty in the record? 00:18:51.500 --> 00:19:04.420 In verse 8, we have the women afraid and filled with joy and worshiping. In verse 17, we have worship 00:19:04.420 --> 00:19:13.220 and we have doubt. What we are being presented with here are real people processing an event that they 00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:20.200 never saw coming, an event with life-changing implications. In the first century, they knew as 00:19:20.200 --> 00:19:27.620 well as we do that dead men stay dead. But now they are discovering that Jesus is alive. And so, 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:32.740 they're working through all these emotions and they're beginning to recognize, well, this is 00:19:32.740 --> 00:19:39.559 evidence that Jesus is God and we need to worship. And remember that the Matthew who writes his gospel 00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:48.519 was there on the mountain. He saw Jesus. Our faith is an eyewitness testimony 00:19:48.519 --> 00:19:56.519 to the Jesus that Matthew saw, the Jesus that Matthew worshipped, and then wrote down his account for us. 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:05.500 The fourth line of evidence that we have in Matthew 28 to consider when we ask the question, 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:13.759 can we believe in the resurrection? It's about the global church. The question is asked, how do we explain 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:23.799 the global church? Verse 18, Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been 00:20:23.799 --> 00:20:29.559 given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:35.240 and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. 00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:44.259 And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. How do we explain a phenomena 00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:59.500 where we find a handful of believers in the Lord Jesus gathered in fear in the early hours of Easter Sunday 00:20:59.500 --> 00:21:12.319 to a room of 120, 40 or so days later, around the time when Jesus returns to heaven, to the reality today 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:21.319 that approximately 2 billion people identify as Christians, where hundreds of millions of people 00:21:21.319 --> 00:21:32.539 are worshipping Jesus today? And the only explanation that makes sense is that the church is formed by the 00:21:32.539 --> 00:21:41.599 risen Christ who sends His Spirit. It's the ongoing work of the risen Lord Jesus that's cutting across 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:48.019 history and cultures and continents and languages that enables the church to grow despite persecution, 00:21:48.659 --> 00:22:00.879 hatred, and attack. It's the real testimony of real Christians. I know that my Redeemer lives. 00:22:01.939 --> 00:22:10.240 We enjoy real fellowship with God. This isn't made up. This is reality. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:19.140 We know that He is with us and will never leave us. And so we have this phenomena of the church. 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:29.200 We have the phenomena of knowing our God by personal experience that again is evidence to believe in the 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:35.380 resurrection. Can we believe it's true? Matthew's eyewitness account says absolutely we can. 00:22:35.380 --> 00:22:45.640 The gospel record stands up to examination. Simon Greenleaf is not the only skeptic who set about to 00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:53.280 disprove the faith and became a believer. For a more contemporary reads, anything by Lee Strobel, 00:22:53.940 --> 00:23:00.540 the Chicago journalist who became a follower of Jesus, examining the case for Christ. 00:23:00.539 --> 00:23:06.819 You can listen to guys like J. Warner Wallace or William Lane Craig. There's loads of guys who speak 00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:13.519 about the reliability, the credibility of the resurrection. And it's good for us to know that 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:23.279 we have good reason for our faith. And actually, as Christians, we want the resurrection to be on trial. 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:32.920 We don't want people to dismiss it as being unhistorical and therefore unimportant. We would love, wouldn't it, 00:23:32.940 --> 00:23:40.859 for our friends and our family to be thinking deeply and to be open to truth. Because it's not just a fact of 00:23:40.859 --> 00:23:50.740 history, which might fascinate. It's a truth. A truth that transforms our destiny. And that's where we're going to go next. 00:23:50.740 --> 00:23:57.460 We're going to think about 1 Corinthians 15 and why does the resurrection matter. So, if you have your Bible, 00:23:57.579 --> 00:24:04.420 you can turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15 for a few moments. One of the things I think is really sad 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:11.539 when it comes to discussions about the resurrection is that challenges to the reliability of the physical 00:24:11.539 --> 00:24:17.559 resurrection of Jesus, they don't just come from outside of the church. Actually, they come from inside the 00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:25.740 church too. And you will find branches of the Christian church of liberal theology that want to say, 00:24:26.599 --> 00:24:34.779 well, Jesus didn't physically rise. The church did create a myth, but Jesus can still be alive in my heart, 00:24:35.339 --> 00:24:44.259 can be alive in my experience. Does that work? Would that transform a life? Would that change 00:24:44.259 --> 00:24:52.559 a world if it was all just a myth? And I think, again, that's where it's important that we remember 00:24:52.559 --> 00:25:00.799 we have evidence to say, this is not me. We have manuscript evidence. One of the great things about 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:07.400 modern science has been a great advance in dating techniques. Not relationship dating, but the dating 00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:12.440 of documents, let's just be clear on that. There are thousands of documents, thousands of fragments, 00:25:12.740 --> 00:25:21.700 New Testament fragments, New Testament letters, entire books that can all be dated to the first 00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:28.640 century AD. Again, simply to say there is no time there for a myth to develop. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:41.220 J.I. Packer wrote of that idea, you know, is it enough that Jesus is alive in our hearts 00:25:41.220 --> 00:25:49.020 if He's not physically alive? J.I. Packer says, the Jesus of the Gospels can still be your hero, 00:25:49.019 --> 00:26:00.599 but He cannot be your Savior if He did not rise. We need this to be truth, not just a nice story we 00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:08.000 tell ourselves. So, 1 Corinthians 15 is a really important document for lots of reasons. It's really 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:16.480 important, again, because we can go to verse 3 and hear echoes of a creed for what I received that I 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:23.799 passed on to you as of first importance, and we discover that the earliest church is passing on 00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:31.099 these basic truths that Jesus died, that He was buried, and that He rose again. So, even before 1 00:26:31.099 --> 00:26:36.759 Corinthians is written, and it's written maybe 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:43.140 in that gap there is this creed that has developed. There is no myth going on here. Christians are living 00:26:43.140 --> 00:26:50.300 and dying, declaring, Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus rose from the dead. Now, the section we're going to 00:26:50.300 --> 00:26:56.040 look at just for a few minutes, it deals with, and deals head on, I think, with that question, 00:26:56.200 --> 00:27:05.320 is the resurrection just a myth? Does it matter? We're going to be at verses 12 to 19. It's that section 00:27:05.320 --> 00:27:12.759 where Paul uses negative reasoning. He says, you know, if Christ is not raised, then all these things 00:27:12.759 --> 00:27:17.599 are not true. What we're going to do, we're going to hear that, but we'll also flip it to hear the 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:25.339 positive, because Jesus is alive, certain things are wonderfully true. The first place we're going 00:27:25.339 --> 00:27:30.940 to go is, let's just start reading in verse 12. If it is preached that Christ has been raised from the 00:27:30.940 --> 00:27:34.480 dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? So, there's the challenge. 00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:40.240 It's not a 21st century thing, it's a first century thing. If there is no resurrection of the dead, 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:46.460 then not even Christ has been raised, verse 14, and if Christ has not been raised, 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:53.059 our preaching is useless. So, there's the negative. Christ is not raised, the preaching of the apostles 00:27:53.059 --> 00:27:58.019 is useless. Positively, because Christ has been raised, the preaching of the apostles is powerful 00:27:58.019 --> 00:28:06.960 and useful and true. This is Paul who is writing, Paul who turned from being an enemy of Jesus to a 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:12.920 follower and apostle of Jesus because he met the risen Jesus, becomes an eyewitness, one of the most 00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:18.860 unlikely people to be converted, but he's saved by grace, and his preaching from that point on would 00:28:18.860 --> 00:28:26.180 focus on the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. His good news that he brings to the world 00:28:26.180 --> 00:28:34.400 needs both. It needs Jesus' death as sacrifice, as substitute to atone for sin, but it needs the 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:43.100 resurrection. It needs the evidence that God accepted Jesus' sacrifice, that God raised him in glory, 00:28:43.860 --> 00:28:50.740 that God vindicated him. It needs the resurrection so that we can trust Jesus and his words, because after 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:56.940 all Jesus said he would rise again, we need the resurrection in the preaching of Paul so that we 00:28:56.940 --> 00:29:05.299 can understand that in Jesus, trusting in him, we can know God personally. The resurrection matters 00:29:05.299 --> 00:29:18.099 for the good news that Paul then and the church today preaches. Connected to that, Paul went on to say 00:29:18.099 --> 00:29:25.319 in verse 14, if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. Verse 17, 00:29:25.379 --> 00:29:30.679 if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. Put that around because Christ has been raised, 00:29:31.219 --> 00:29:41.000 your faith is real. It's not a waste. The call to faith that we hear in God's Word is the call to receive 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:48.119 and to trust and to trust and to believe in Jesus as he is offered to us in the gospel. And the gospel 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:58.119 is a declaration that Jesus both died for us and rose for us. The gospel is only good news 00:29:58.119 --> 00:30:08.099 because Jesus is alive and has power to save. And remember, this is not a call to blind faith. 00:30:08.099 --> 00:30:17.099 This is a call to reasonable faith, logical faith in light of evidence presented in God's Word by eyewitnesses. 00:30:17.959 --> 00:30:26.980 And more than that, it is faith with a definite object in view. Who is our faith in? Our faith is in Jesus, 00:30:27.539 --> 00:30:36.759 who is the Son of God, who made God and his glory visible, who brings salvation. Because Christ is alive, 00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:50.879 our faith is alive. Because Christ has been raised, we can be forgiven. Hear how Paul states it negatively, 00:30:51.079 --> 00:30:58.619 verse 17, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. 00:30:58.619 --> 00:31:08.979 The significance of the cross of Jesus is that God provided his Son to be our sacrifice. The cross is God's 00:31:08.979 --> 00:31:16.219 answer to the human problem of sin. Jesus, the Son of God, becomes one of us, becomes the sin bearer, 00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:26.079 becomes our substitute bearing our sin and its punishment in his body. That's wonderful news, 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:34.619 that it needs the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus tells us that God accepted that sacrifice. 00:31:35.879 --> 00:31:44.119 That we can now have confidence that the price has been paid in full. That sin and death have been 00:31:44.119 --> 00:31:54.220 defeated by the sinless Son of God. That in Christ there is real freedom from those forces that hold us 00:31:54.220 --> 00:32:03.880 in chains. When our faith is in the risen Lord Jesus, we have this wonderful confidence as the people of God, 00:32:03.940 --> 00:32:14.640 that in God's court, when we stand in God's presence, we know we will not be condemned. Why? 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:23.620 Because Jesus has been condemned for us. He has taken the full penalty. God will not demand from us what 00:32:23.620 --> 00:32:36.080 has already been paid for us by Jesus. We are united to our risen Lord Jesus, the one who has paid for our sin, 00:32:36.360 --> 00:32:42.860 now pleads our cause in heaven on the basis of that perfect sacrifice. So, we know, 00:32:42.859 --> 00:32:52.339 the verdict is already in. Now we can live knowing we are as loved and accepted by God our Father, 00:32:52.779 --> 00:33:02.799 just as much as He loves and accepts His Son, Jesus. The risen Lord Jesus secures our forgiveness. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:09.219 And because Christ has been raised, we have living hope. 00:33:09.220 --> 00:33:19.140 And the negative, it sounds desperate. If Christ has not been raised, verse 18, then also those who 00:33:19.140 --> 00:33:27.539 have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people 00:33:27.539 --> 00:33:36.440 most to be pitiful. Without a risen Lord Jesus, if this is all just a myth, all the effort, all the 00:33:36.440 --> 00:33:44.740 obedience, all the suffering, all the sacrifice that we make for our Lord and Savior would be a waste of time. 00:33:46.019 --> 00:33:51.799 It would be a tragedy. But since and because Jesus is alive, 00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:56.680 listen to what Paul says in verse 58, 00:33:56.839 --> 00:34:05.839 therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself 00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:11.519 fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:20.599 We know that we have a hope that is alive because we have a Savior who is alive. Trials and suffering 00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:31.780 are temporary. Reward is eternal. We have real, living, future hope. The Jesus who rose from the 00:34:31.780 --> 00:34:37.639 dead on the third day and then ascended to heaven, He will come back again. He'll come back and everyone 00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:45.699 will see Him in all His glory. And He will defeat and deal with sin and death and darkness and evil 00:34:45.699 --> 00:34:52.420 once and for all. And He will establish His kingdom here on this earth. He will renew this earth. He will 00:34:52.420 --> 00:35:01.319 renew His people. We will live with Him. We will enjoy God with us in a world made perfect, 00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:11.880 free of sadness and sin, free of darkness, free of death, a world of perfect love that will never end 00:35:11.880 --> 00:35:23.360 with our risen Savior. We need the resurrection in our faith. It gives us joy. It gives us hope. It gives 00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:30.800 us confidence. It gives us love. That's why the resurrection matters. As we close, 00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:39.160 hopefully we find some help in some of the evidence that Matthew records for us. Hopefully, 00:35:39.160 --> 00:35:44.940 you've heard some of the significance of the resurrection to our faith. Let me leave you 00:35:44.940 --> 00:35:50.620 with another statement from Simon Greenleaf at his trial of the gospel writers. He says, 00:35:50.700 --> 00:35:58.160 a person who rejects Christ may choose to say that I do not accept it. He may not choose to say 00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:06.299 there is not enough evidence. We have evidence, evidence that leads us to consider the significance 00:36:06.299 --> 00:36:13.679 of Jesus. May it be true for us, may it be true for others, that our lives are characterized by joyful, 00:36:13.940 --> 00:36:20.279 hopeful worship because we know the risen Lord Jesus. Let's pray together. 00:36:20.280 --> 00:36:23.280 He未来 close. 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:28.280 Amen. 00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:30.280 Thank you. 00:36:32.120 --> 00:36:37.400 기에 00:36:37.400 --> 00:36:38.100 Bennu 00:36:38.100 --> 00:36:41.700 L