Participants:
Series Code: ICJ
Program Code: ICJ190003B
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00:04 We're talking about why the resurrection of Jesus
00:06 was not a myth. 00:07 And we've just talked about the 5280 00:10 some documentation or early documentation that we have. 00:14 But in addition to that, we have another 17,000 plus 00:18 from early church fathers. 00:19 In fact, we have so many quotes on the New Testament 00:22 from early church fathers that we could actually 00:24 reconstruct the whole New Testament 00:26 just from their sayings alone. 00:29 So when you put all of this together, 00:31 you come to a powerful conclusion. 00:34 And the conclusion is this. 00:36 That is we reject the authenticity of the testimony 00:40 of the New Testament based on the textual grounds, 00:44 we'll have to reject all that history you learned in school. 00:48 We'd have to reject every work of antiquity prior to AD 1000 00:53 since there's less manuscript evidence for their authenticity 00:58 than there is for the New Testament. 01:00 So we have powerful, powerful evidence 01:03 that the New Testament is a legitimate testimony 01:08 of what happened in the life of Jesus. 01:11 Now let's turn to that accurate testimony 01:13 and talk about the resurrection just from that standpoint. 01:17 Now some of our friends, as I mentioned earlier, 01:19 said, "Oh, well, Jesus didn't really die. 01:22 He just swooned." 01:25 And you want to say, "Really?" 01:27 "Just swooned. Yeah, He just swooned. 01:28 He didn't really die. 01:30 So He wasn't resurrected." 01:32 Well, you know, the Roman soldiers 01:34 were good at killing people. 01:35 In fact, as far as we know, there's no one 01:37 that's every survived the death of crucifixion. 01:41 We have no known records of it. 01:43 The Roman soldiers did not break the legs of the two thieves, 01:47 did not break Jesus' legs because He was already dead. 01:51 But they did break the legs of the two thieves. 01:53 Why did they do that? 01:55 Because of Jewish law. 01:56 Jewish law demanded that you could not leave the bodies 02:00 on the cross over the Sabbath hours. 02:03 They had to complete the execution 02:05 and they had to bury them before Sabbath began. 02:09 So we know that even according to Jewish law 02:12 they couldn't leave Jesus on the cross 02:15 over the Sabbath if He was still alive. 02:17 No, He didn't swoon. 02:18 He was dead. 02:21 And John, who was an eyewitness, said he saw blood and water 02:24 coming out of the wound from the soldier. 02:27 If the nails hadn't killed Jesus, 02:28 the soldier's spear certainly would have done it. 02:31 And the water coming out, blood and water, was a sure sign 02:35 that Jesus was dead. 02:37 The other thing is that Pilate, the Roman governor, 02:40 had to have certification. 02:42 He not only had to have certification 02:43 from the centurion, but he had to have several other 02:46 of his company certify with him that the prisoners were dead. 02:52 And they brought that certification to Pilate 02:55 or Pilate would have never, ever released the body 02:58 of Jesus to Joseph of Arimathea. 03:03 There was one person who wrote in to somebody 03:07 by the name of Eutychus I think who gives answers to people, 03:11 and so forth. 03:12 He was complaining about his preacher, 03:14 which he probably should have, because his preacher said, 03:17 this is a Christian preacher, so called, 03:20 said, "Well Jesus didn't really die." 03:22 Well Eutychus wrote back and said this, 03:24 and I'm going to read it because it's very good. 03:27 It says, "Dear Bewildered..." 03:29 He was bewildered because of his preacher's statement. 03:32 It says, "Dear Bewildered, beat your pastor 03:36 with a cat of nine tails 39 times, 03:40 nail him to a cross, hang him in the sun for six hours, 03:45 run a spear through his side, embalm him, 03:48 put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours, 03:51 and see what happens." 03:53 Yes, Jesus died. 03:55 There's no question that His death was true. 03:57 And then we have the burial, of course. 03:59 Joseph of Arimathea was well known. 04:02 He was part of the Jewish Sanhedrin. 04:04 And so was Nicodemus. 04:06 These guys were not somebody who just came up 04:08 out of the woodwork somewhere. 04:10 They were known all over Jerusalem. 04:13 And it was Joseph of Arimathea who brought Jesus 04:16 and actually buried Him in his own tomb and embalmed Jesus. 04:20 If this had not been true, when the disciples preached this, 04:24 not in some faraway place, they preached it right in 04:27 Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. 04:29 They preached it right in Jerusalem where there was 04:31 the Sanhedrin that had actually ordered the death of Jesus 04:36 and had Him crucified. 04:38 They preached it right under the nose of Pontius Pilate, 04:41 the governor who had Jesus crucified. 04:45 No, Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea. 04:49 If that were not true, then they would have quickly 04:52 called the apostles liars and probably 04:56 had arrested them for misleading the people. 04:59 But they didn't have any evidence on which 05:01 to do that, of course. 05:03 And then as we continue to look at the record, 05:06 we understand that the disciples are not going to 05:08 make up the names of Joseph of Arimathea, 05:11 they're not going to make up the names of Nicodemus. 05:14 The hostility was so bad between the apostles and between the 05:18 Sanhedrin that if the Sanhedrin had just had any kind of 05:21 evidence, they would have been glad to have called 05:23 the disciples, not only liars, but they would have 05:26 probably put them to death. 05:29 Well, let's go to the empty tomb itself. 05:32 The tomb is empty. 05:34 Now the Jews came up with this crazy idea that 05:36 the disciples stole the body. 05:39 Really? 05:40 Twelve frightened disciples in the upper room, 05:45 scared of their own shadow, behind locked doors 05:50 on the Sabbath, the Saturday, before the morning 05:53 of the resurrection? 05:55 And they got themselves together and went out 05:58 and took on a hundred Roman soldiers, with a two ton rock, 06:04 and with a Roman seal? 06:06 And if you broke that seal, 06:07 you were going to find yourself crucified. 06:12 Nah. 06:13 They weren't going to take on a hundred Roman soldiers. 06:16 And I doubt that they even had the strength to 06:18 push that two ton rock back. 06:21 They were frightened. 06:23 And they suddenly had the courage to do this? 06:26 No. 06:28 The Sanhedrin, nor the Romans, by the way, had the body. 06:31 If they had the body of Jesus, they would have produced it. 06:36 And they had every interest in wanting to 06:39 find the body of Christ. 06:40 Believe me. 06:42 And if they had produced it, either the Romans 06:44 or the Sanhedrin, Christianity would have been finished. 06:50 It would have been done. 06:51 It would have been over with. 06:53 Because the resurrection of Jesus is central 06:56 to everything that we hold dear and believe. 07:02 Now another thing that's very interesting is this. 07:05 You know, the soldiers came back and they were, 07:09 they were just overwhelmed that Jesus was resurrected. 07:13 They saw Him resurrected. 07:14 They were telling this to the Sanhedrin, 07:16 or at least the leaders of the Sanhedrin. 07:18 And you know the story of how they bought them off with money. 07:22 You know, I remember old H.M.S Richards. 07:25 He once said, "You know, money buys a lot of things." 07:28 And he was referring to how these soldiers 07:32 were bought off with money. 07:33 They went in with the truth and came out with the lie, 07:36 "The disciples stole the body while we slept." 07:39 Really? 07:41 This is a big deal. 07:43 The penalty for sleeping on the job 07:46 for Roman soldiers was death. 07:51 Think about that. 07:53 And there's something else to think about. 07:56 If the disciples stole the body of Jesus 07:59 while they were asleep, how did they know that 08:03 it was the disciples that stole the body of Jesus? 08:07 Of course not. 08:10 The disciples didn't steal the body of Jesus. 08:12 Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week 08:15 on Sunday morning, to the glory of God. 08:19 And of course, there's the testimonies that we have. 08:21 We have a lot of testimonies. 08:24 We have first, of course, the hundred soldier's testimonies. 08:26 They went into the leaders of the Sanhedrin 08:28 that we just talked about. 08:30 And then we have the testimony of the women. 08:33 And the women were the first to see the resurrected Christ. 08:37 They're the ones that ran to the disciples and said, 08:39 "We've seen the resurrected Jesus. 08:41 We've seen Him." 08:43 In those days people wouldn't include the testimony 08:46 of the women, but they included the testimony of the women here. 08:50 And then you have the testimony of Mary, 08:53 that she saw Jesus and that she talked with Him. 08:56 It's one of the most beautiful pictures in the New Testament. 09:00 There is Mary, she's weeping. 09:03 Her brother has been resurrected by Jesus; Lazarus. 09:08 And now the tomb is empty. 09:09 She thinks somebody has taken the body of Jesus. 09:12 She thought, well, if Joseph's tomb was too good for Jesus, 09:15 she had an empty tomb. 09:17 A tomb that Jesus had made empty by His own power 09:20 when He resurrected Lazarus from the dead. 09:23 And then suddenly she heard that voice, 09:25 that wonderful voice of Jesus, "Mary." 09:30 She turned, and she thought maybe through her tears 09:35 it was the gardener. 09:37 And she says, you know, "Tell me where you've taken Him. 09:40 I'll take Him." 09:42 And Jesus says, "Mary." 09:46 And Mary recognizes Jesus. 09:50 She falls at His feet to worship Him. 09:53 Her heart is thrilled. 09:55 All their dreams that had been dashed, 09:59 all the hopes that had been dashed, 10:01 all that mournful Sabbath that they had spent together. 10:05 All of that time. 10:08 Now, now that flies away because there's great hope. 10:14 She's seen the resurrected Jesus. 10:18 And then of course, there's the testimony of two disciples 10:22 on the road to Emmaus. 10:23 They weren't part of the twelve. 10:25 And that is a fascinating story. 10:28 Here they are on the road to Damascus. 10:31 Not to Damascus, but to a small village of about 10:34 seven or eight miles away from Jerusalem. 10:36 The road to Emmaus. 10:37 And they're talking about all the events: 10:40 the death of Jesus, the Sanhedrin, and the crucifixion. 10:45 And then they're joined by a stranger. 10:48 And this is a point I want to make. 10:51 This stranger explained to them why the Messiah had to die 10:55 and be resurrected. 10:56 And He explained it to them from the Scriptures 10:59 starting from the Old Testament all the way through. 11:02 And their hearts were thrilled. 11:04 Who was this stranger? 11:06 They didn't seem to recognize Him. 11:08 They insisted that He come in for supper. 11:11 You know, you should always insist on the presence of Jesus. 11:15 And when He came in and started to have the blessing, 11:17 they suddenly recognized Him. 11:19 They couldn't contain themselves. 11:22 They ran all the way back to Jerusalem 11:24 over that seven or eight miles in the darkness 11:27 and knocked on the door of the upper room. 11:30 They were still up there, still scared. 11:33 They said, "We've seen Him. He's alive! 11:36 Jesus is alive!" 11:40 What great news! 11:43 Jesus is alive. 11:45 And then, of course, you've got the testimony of Peter and John. 11:47 They ran and found that the tomb was empty. 11:50 They talked to the two angels who told them that Jesus 11:54 was alive. 11:56 He was alive and He would meet them in Galilee. 11:59 And then you have the testimony of the ten disciples 12:02 that He appeared to. 12:03 You have the testimony of doubting Thomas. 12:06 Doubting Thomas. 12:07 So many people today doubt. 12:09 And that's why I want to do this. 12:11 You know, give up your doubts. 12:12 You can die with your doubts. 12:14 You can always find coat hangers to hang your doubts on. 12:16 But let me tell you, the evidence is overwhelming 12:20 that Jesus is the Messiah of the world. 12:22 That His death and His resurrection are reality. 12:26 The Christians do not serve a dead God. 12:30 We do not serve a dead Jesus. 12:32 We serve a living Christ. 12:35 Thomas said, "I wouldn't believe it unless I could just 12:37 touch where the spear went and the nails in His hands." 12:41 When he appeared to Jesus, he cried out, 12:44 "My Lord and my God." 12:46 Jesus said, "Blessed are those who don't see 12:48 what you see, Thomas, and yet believe." 12:50 And I hope that you will be one of those. 12:52 And of course, the resurrection changed the lives 12:55 of the disciples from despair to confidence, 12:58 from cowardice to boldness. 13:00 They were not afraid to die. 13:02 If you were going to lie about something, 13:04 lies are only for selfishness. 13:05 Why would you lie and get yourself crucified, 13:09 and killed, and murdered, and tortured, 13:11 as just about all of the disciples did except one. 13:16 Listen, you wouldn't lie about that kind of thing. 13:19 The power of Christianity has changed the world. 13:22 The resurrection of Jesus has changed the world. 13:25 Because it's a reality. 13:26 It's real. 13:28 Many people are still seeing visions of Jesus. 13:30 Many Muslims are seeing visions of Jesus, 13:32 just like the apostle Paul said. 13:34 It's changed our modern world. 13:37 It's made possible the rise of the United States of America. 13:41 Today it's still changing countless lives of people. 13:46 Listen, if you want your life changed, 13:49 put your faith in this resurrected Jesus. 13:53 A Jesus who is filled with power. 13:56 A Jesus who is no myth. 13:59 The resurrection is true. 14:02 It's real. |
Revised 2019-06-17