Towne South Church of Christ

Today I want to talk to you about a story that I know is absolutely true. It’s about a man who was raised from the dead. He wasn’t just resuscitated to come back from the beyond in the same body only to die again. He was resurrected from the grave and He lives eternally. That’s the Easter story and it’s absolutely true. At the tomb of Jesus on the first Easter morning the angels proclaimed, “He is not here; he has risen…” (Matthew 28:6)

I like the way the Apostle Peter shares the resurrection story when he preaches the first gospel sermon. He says:

I love the way he states it in verse 24: “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

There have been many great men who have lived throughout time who have accomplished great things – conquering lands and building empires – from Alexander The Great, to Genghis Khan, to Napoleon. But there has always been one force, one obstacle, one barrier, one hurdle that has stopped every single one of them, and that insurmountable, impassible barrier is death. But 2000 years ago in the land of Palestine one man – the God-man, Jesus Christ – came bodily out of the tomb. Jesus Christ defeated death once and for all, and He is alive today.

But how do we know that’s true and what difference does it make in our lives today? That’s what I’d like for us to consider for the next few moments this morning. Let’s begin by looking at:

I like the clear, concise way that the Apostle Paul talks about Christ’s victory over death. He says:

That is a hinge of human history and the focal point of the Christian faith. But there are an increasing number of people who do not believe in the resurrection. They may state a variety of reasons for why they do not believe, but I want you to see this morning that the gospels are quite specific. Each gospel account shares some detail that helps to substantiate the physical death and bodily resurrection of Jesus. Let me share with you four details that confirm the reality of Jesus’ victory over death. First of all:

· Jesus really died.

That’s an important detail because there are some people who don’t believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ because they don’t believe that Jesus was ever really dead. They say that he was unconscious when they took him off the cross (that he was near death), but after they placed him in the tomb, he woke up, unraveled the grave clothes, and walked out of tomb. But the Bible says:

Notice it says that the centurion saw him die. And notice again the phrase “WAS the Son of God”; that’s past tense, meaning Jesus is dead. And keep in mind that this isn’t just the uninformed observation of a casual bystander. This centurion was a professional executioner who saw death on a regular basis.

Roman soldiers would not take a person down from a cross unless they were 100% certain they were dead. But just to be sure, the Bible tells us they thrust a spear into his side and water and blood poured out. That water and blood is just another sign, another medical proof that Jesus was indeed dead.

A second detail is that:

· Jesus’ body was buried in a tomb.

A lot of times people who died on a cross weren’t buried. They were just left there and the predatory animals would come and rip their bodies apart and devour them, unless there was permission granted from the Roman Government to take them down. Well, the Bible says:

When Jesus was buried in the tomb, Mary wept, the disciples hid, the enemies of Jesus gloated, and the Father waited. And if the story had ended there, it would be a sad story indeed. But that’s not the end of the story because the next thing that happened was that:

· Jesus came bodily out of the tomb.

That’s important because some people don’t believe that Jesus came bodily out of the tomb. The reasoning goes something like this: Since a bodily resurrection has not been seen by anybody in this century and since it can’t be proven, there’s no way it could have happened. What probably happened was the disciples got together in the upper room after Jesus died. They said, ‘Oh we’re so disappointed what are we going to do? We love Him so much, and no one ever taught like He taught. We thought He was the messiah and now He’s dead; what are we going to do?”

And one of the disciples said, “I know what we can do. Let’s not let Him die. Whatever He said, let’s say. Whatever He did, let’s do. Wherever He would go, let’s go. Yes! Let’s let Him live in our hearts.” And they went out and said Christ lives!

But the problem with that kind of reasoning is that it ignores what the Bible clearly states. Listen to the Biblical account.

If Jesus did not raise bodily from the grave, the angels could have said, “This is His body, but His spirit is no longer here. His spirit lives on.” But that’s not what they said. They said, “He is not here; he has risen!”

Jesus Christ came bodily out of the tomb. And fourthly:

· The Biblical narratives are reliable.

For some people, what we’ve said so far doesn’t carry a whole lot of weight for them because they just don’t believe the Biblical narratives are true. They believe it is all just a fabricated story. But if you will read the Biblical narratives objectively, you will notice that they just don’t read like a lie. For instance, the Bible says:

You see, during that time, in that culture, women were not held in very high esteem. They were not even considered credible to give testimony that would be valid in a court of law. Even though the women may have been more honest than the men, because of the way women were viewed they were not considered credible.

The reason I point this out is because if someone were going to try to fabricate a story about something as difficult to believe as a resurrection, they certainly wouldn’t write down that his first appearance was to a woman, for such an account would have never made it out of the first century . . . unless it was true.

Someone once said, “The Bible just doesn’t read like a lie.” But let’s not stop there, consider some of the post-resurrection evidence for Jesus’ bodily resurrection.

The Bible goes on to tell us that after the resurrection Jesus ate with the disciples. He cooked fish. He walked with them along the sea shore. He touched them. They touched Him. This wasn’t some spirit wafting through the air. He was in bodily form. And He didn’t just appear to a handful of witnesses. Listen to what the Bible says in the Message paraphrase.

Now, the Apostle Paul is the writer of this passage we just read. And he writes these words some 20 years after the resurrection of Christ. That’s plenty of time for the excitement of a rumor to wear off. That’s plenty of time to interrogate and discredit any unreliable witnesses. And there were many who wanted to do this, but 20 years later there are still hundreds of eye witnesses giving testimony to the bodily resurrection of Christ.

And consider the lives of the disciples. After Jesus’ death, did they just go back to their old jobs? Was it just business as usual for them? That’s what you would expect if Jesus had died and not been resurrected.

But instead, they became bold witnesses and with the exception of the Apostle John, historians tell us that every single one of them went to their death because of their belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus really didn’t raise from the dead do you honestly believe that the disciples would have gone through persecution and death knowing that it was a lie?

All it would take is for one disciple to say, “Okay, okay, it was a lie. Please don’t torture me. Please don’t kill me.” But none of them said that. Even in the face of torture and death, not one of them backed down from their claim that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.

The disciples and thousands of others have gone to their deaths because of their belief in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. It’s obvious that there’s no way people by the thousands would willing to be tortured and executed for what they knew was a lie.

It just doesn’t make sense that it’s lie. Someone once said, “If Christianity is not true, then a lie has done more to civilize the world than all the truth combined.”

The simple truth is:

The reality is, Jesus defeated death!

But that was a little over 2000 years ago; what does that have to do with us today? How does that affect my life in the year 2017? Let’s look at:

The Bible says:

Christ destroyed death. It was not just a marginal victory. He wiped it out. And what that means to you and me is that Jesus’ resurrection paves the way for us to gain the victory over death also. How can that be? The Bible explains:

You see, just as Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden affected all mankind by bringing death into the world, so Christ’s resurrection from the dead is not a one-time event in history past that has nothing to do with us today. On the contrary, His resurrection is an example and demonstration of what will happen to us someday if we are in Christ.

His resurrection does not mean that we will never die. It means that when we die, it is not the end. It means that there is life beyond the grave. Jesus said:

For some of you, you’ve already experienced the saddest day of your life. Someone came to you and said, “I’m sorry, he’s dead or she’s gone, and you won’t see them ever again.”

But because Christ came back from the grave and defeated death, that doesn’t have to be the case. You may have experienced the saddest day of your life, but because Jesus Christ came back from the grave and defeated death, you’ve not yet experienced the happiest day of your life. That’s why the Bible says:

Because Jesus was raised from the dead, the sting has been taken out of death. In Christ, when someone dies, we grieve, and there is sorrow, because we miss that person. But we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We experience sadness in death, but we know that we’ve not yet experienced the happiest day of our lives.

In Christ alone we have this promise of victory over death. Jesus said:

The best news the world has ever heard came from a graveyard. “He is not here, he has risen just as he said.” Christ defeated death and we can too, if we will place our faith in Him.