Easter 2009

“IS IT A MATTER OF PERSONAL OPINION?”

(Luke 24:1-12)

This morning I want to expand an inquiry we began two years ago. Under the public opinion (in our culture) of assuming the fact that there is no such thing as “absolute truth”, I challenge all people to seriously ponder the main claim of Christianity. The central tenet of Christianity is that the founder of this system of belief literally, physically rose from the dead, after being murdered. To be specific, this resurrection was accomplished by the power of a God who loved people enough to send His Son through such an experience in order to provide a sacrifice to alleviate the penalty of sin. If this thought is false, then everything is “up for grabs”! If it is true, then absolute truth does exist and there is one way to bring sense and stability to life as we know it. That is to accept the resurrection of Jesus as fact and base one’s entire existence on this fact as the center focus of personal life. In actuality, it means accepting an invitation by God to put one’s faith in this historical claim, of the Bible, and to give oneself totally to living under the authority of this Jesus, in all of life. 

A French thinker once told Thomas Carlyle he was going to start a new religion to replace Christianity. “Very good,” Carlyle replied. “All you need to do is be crucified, rise again the third day, and get the world to believe you are still alive and changing lives.”

From the very first Easter until now, the Christian faith has moved forward based on the belief that Jesus did rise from the dead; that He is alive: and He is changing lives. The skeptic believes the resurrection is not fact. Such a person believes it  is myth and that changed lives are explained psychologically. Such a doubter firmly believes Christians are deluding themselves by believing in a living Savior. To most people today, belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is sheer nonsense!

To be honest, many people today believe the resurrection did not take place. For such people the stone that sealed the tomb of Christ is still in place. Just recently; (a month ago), ongoing attempts were made to tell the world the remains of Christ have been found. Our contemporaries (maybe some of you here today) are a part of the current religion called “nothing but” faith!

v Christian faith is “nothing but” wishful thinking:

v If a teen is converted it is “nothing but” a phase of adolescence:

v Christian faith is “nothing but” neurotic people reaching for a crutch:

v Sin is “nothing but” an emotional hang-up:

v “Nothing but”, “nothing but”, “nothing but”!

In light of the verses I just read and the whole history of Christianity:

I have 4 quick questions to ask you; if you find yourself in such a position!

1.)   WHY IS IT SO INCREDIBLE THAT GOD CAN RAISE SOMEONE FROM THE DEAD? (verses 9-12)

·        In the age of science surely we can’t believe a dead person could rise again? Such thought goes against the “law of uniformity”! Things are always the same: uniform!!!

·        Why not? Science can’t rule it out because resurrection is a unique event. Science does not deal with unique events: whether a universal flood, resurrection or exceptions of any kind!

·        You might be tempted to say, “Well it doesn’t matter: I can’t believe my neighbor down the street, Tom Smith, could be dead for hours and then come alive”

·        Well, we’re not talking about Tom Smith! We are talking about one who was unique: in his teaching, in his life, in his personality, in his sinlessness, in his being the living Son of God.

·        But I have to ask you: is your problem intellectual or possibly is it that you do not want it to be true? I mean if it is true, then Jesus must become the main focus of your life. That would be uncomfortable and limiting wouldn’t it?

·        God, by definition and Biblical revelation is not limited in any sense at all. He is portrayed in Scripture as being Omnipotent (all powerful), Omnipresent (everywhere at all times) and Omniscient (all knowing). If that is God, as understood down through history, why is it so incredible for Him to raise Jesus from the dead?

2.)   WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS IS JUST SOMETHING SOMEONE MADE UP? (verses 5-6)

·        In the Old Testament, alone, there are over 300 distinct prophecies of Jesus Christ that lay like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. They only fit together when Jesus of Nazareth arrived on the scene.

·        Dr. Peter Stoner Chair of the Depts. of Astrology, Mathematics, and Engineering at Pasadena City College worked with over 600 students for several yrs. By applying the “principle of probability” to Bible prophecy: they took only 8 prophecies of the OT about Jesus and found that the chances of all these being fulfilled in one person in one lifetime simply by chance was 1 in ten followed by 32 zeros!

·        If we had time today we could go through a huge list of the same calculations concerning Jesus and his resurrection. It all comes out the same. The evidence is in!

·        Add to this evidence that Jesus claimed to be God! Very few leaders have made such claims. Henry J. Heydt wrote: “No founder of any religion has dared claim for himself one fraction of the assertions made by the Lord Jesus Christ about himself. No religion has claimed for its founder what Christianity has claimed for Jesus Christ. No founder of any religion has been as highly acclaimed by those of other faiths as has the Lord Jesus Christ.”

·        Most of the world’s religious founders stressed the importance of their teachings, Christ focused on Himself. He made it clear that man’s eternal destiny depends on how we regard him: “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins!” (John 8:24)

3.)   WHY IS IT HARD FOR YOU TO BELIEVE THE HISTORICAL DATA RECORDED THROUGH HUMAN HISTORY CONCERNING THIS EVENT? (verses 2-3)

·        The Apostle Paul, who, like many, started out not believing in the resurrection of Jesus, tells us in the Book of Acts “What I am saying is sober truth! It was not done in a corner somewhere.” (Acts 26:22-27)

·        Thousands have believed these facts and base their belief on historical record.

·        Dr. J.N.D. Anderson, Dean of the faculty of law at the University of London addressed hundred of students. His address surveyed the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the eyes of a lawyer sifting through the evidence. He spent two hours smashing the theories trying to explain away the resurrection. This came after devoting over 10 years to research concerning the historicity of the resurrection. After the two hours of negating the arguments against the resurrection, he closed his address by listing a series of historical facts that could not be true if the resurrection was false! Here they are!!!

o   The history of the church from 1^st century to 21^st century.

o   The ongoing success of the early church.

o   The thousands who faced death for this single belief.

o   The phenomenal impact of Christian faith on cultures.

o   The impossibility of opponents to produce the remains of Christ.

o   The demise of any and all anti-Christian schemes.

This learned scholar later wrote a book entitled, The Book that Refused to be Written.

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4.)   WHAT IS YOUR LIFE BASED ON, THAT HAS A MORE SURE BASIS THAN LIVING FOR A RESURRECTED, LOVING, PERSONAL LORD? (verse 12)

The following aims of life have been tried by all sorts of people, without success. The Book of Ecclesiastes has        spelled it out well for people!

·        Personal self-sufficiency and self-effort is empty and doesn’t work.

·        Personal riches and materialistic things don’t fulfill life.

·        Personal achievement is temporary and only for a time.

·        Personal pleasure is also temporary and never satisfies.

·        Personal education never brings one to a position of “arriving”.

·        Personal experience (not based on facts) is only a moment in reality.

B.B. Warfield asserts, “Christ, Himself, deliberately staked His whole claim to the credit of men upon his resurrection.     When asked for a sign, He pointed to this sign as His single and sufficient credential!”

James Orr perceptively notes, “No single example can be produced of belief in the resurrection of an historical          personage such as Jesus was: none at least on which anything was ever founded…. The Christian resurrection is thus             a fact without historical analogy.”

The credential for Christ is his resurrection from the dead. It is the resurrection event that separates Jesus Christ from any      other individual. It is the resurrection event that separates Christianity from any and all other religions.

In brief form, we have laid out the facts. Much more documentation could be added to those I have chosen to give you       today! The data is overwhelming. Yet, every person here has to make a choice of accepting such evidence or rejecting it.         The issue is that your life depends on the choice you make. Many of us in this room hope you will choose as we have:        THAT YOU WILL DECIDE FOR CHRIST! That means surrendering your life and all you are to the control of Christ           who loved you and gave himself up for you!