Acts chapter number one in your Bibles will be our first passage for the lesson today acts chapter number One we will pick up where we left off back in September we are studying the person and And the work of Jesus Christ, our doctrinal statement at the Bible Baptist Church says, we believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be God, manifest in the flesh, that's his deity and his humanity, virgin born, which was necessary for his dual nature to be a reality, without sin, that was necessary in order for him to die for our sins, crucify, that is the reason that God became a man. And then this word is our focus both last time, this time, And we'll see if we're able to wrap this up. Risen. Risen. Jesus Christ died for our sins. The gospel, the good news, able to save your souls. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. We believe that Jesus Christ is risen and coming again to receive his church, then returning to establish his kingdom. I'm sure that you remember from a month and a half ago, but just in case you need a refresher, here's what we studied. The resurrection was foretold by Jesus Christ. Throughout his earthly ministry, he made references to the fact that he would be crucified, he would die, but that he would rise The third day, he gave the sign of the prophet Jonas, as Jonas was three days, three nights in the heart of the earth, son of man, or three days, three nights in the belly of the whale, son of man be three days, three nights in the heart of the earth. And not just there in Matthew 12, but over and over throughout the Gospels, the resurrection was foretold by Jesus Christ. Once he died and rose and ascended, the resurrection was then declared by the Apostles all throughout the Book of Acts. The emphasis of the message that they preached is that we have a living Savior that sets Christianity apart from any other religion in the world. There's no other religion with a living Savior who carries the hope and promise of forgiveness and everlasting life. And so that was the main focus of the apostles' messages. They declared the gospel throughout the world in the book of Acts. The resurrection was declared by the apostles. The resurrection is an essential part of the gospel. If there is no resurrection, there's no such thing as biblical Christianity. If there's no resurrection, there's no forgiveness. There's no salvation. We have no hope. We are yet in our sins, 1 Corinthians 15 says. The resurrection must be believed. For salvation, confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart, God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. If you're saved this morning, it's because Jesus died, buried, rose again, and it's because you believed that full gospel, entire gospel, complete gospel, that Christ died, was buried, and rose again. He resurrected, it's tough to say those both at the same time, but here's what the resurrection proves. Number one, it proves the deity of Jesus Christ. He's declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. We're still reviewing. Last time, it proves the deity of Jesus Christ and the resurrection proves the power of God. It is a great demonstration, a display. of God's incredible power that Christ rose from the dead. He rose again. You can't say those both at the same time either. I'm gonna stop trying that. Okay, so here's the power from the New Testament. Resurrection is the proof that God has the power to forgive sins. God has the power to raise us up, give us resurrection, and God has the power to change our lives. Now we're shifting this morning from what the resurrection proves to proofs for the resurrection. proofs for the resurrection. It is an essential element of the gospel. It is the foundation of the Christian faith and it is historical fact. It is something that we don't have to have blind faith to believe. There is credible evidence to support our belief in the fact that Jesus Christ is alive and well today, and as the Bible says in Hebrews 7, able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him. Starting in Acts chapter 1 verse number 3, the Bible says this, in Acts chapter 1 verse 3, To whom also he, Christ, showed himself alive after his passion, that's his crucifixion, his death for our sins, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." So Jesus is crucified on Passover. Three days, three nights later, he rises from the dead. For 40 days, he would show up. He would appear to his disciples and teach them and instruct them and then he ascended back to the Father. And even later on in the New Testament, there are appearances that Jesus made to certain disciples following his ascension. But what Luke is introducing the book of Acts by saying is this, there are many infallible proofs for the fact that Jesus Christ rose up from the dead. the grave he showed himself alive he was seen for 40 days so there are many proofs for the resurrection and those proofs are said to be infallible without fallacy consistent with logic with truth with the facts as they are displayed come to first corinthians chapter 15 next passage first corinthians chapter number 15. We will study together some of those proofs for the resurrection this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse number 12. We read these verses last time. Let's read these again. Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain. If Jesus isn't alive, there is no reason for us to be here this morning doing what we are doing. This is pointless, meaningless, an exercise in vanity. The hymns we sing, the Bible we read, the lifestyle we choose, it's all a joke. if Jesus isn't alive. So that verse just said, verse number 15. Yay. And we are found false witnesses of God. Jesus isn't alive. I'm a liar. I've been, I've been saying that Jesus is alive. He's not. We're all kidding ourselves because we have testified of God. They'd raised up Christ and we raised none of it. So be the dead rise. Not for, if the dead rise, not that is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. 1 Corinthians 15 is arguing for the fact of a resurrection in general. It is using the resurrection of Jesus Christ as an argument, as an example. And biblical Christianity, as we read here, hinges on the fact of the resurrection of Christ. In your lesson notes, here's what I'd like you to write down. If the resurrection is not a fact, then Christianity is not true. If the resurrection is not a fact, then Christianity is not true. But, the reverse of that is also true. Okay? Here's what I want you to do. After you write down, if the resurrection is not a fact, then Christianity is not true, I want you to cross out the not in the sentence. Both nots. I want you to cross out the not. Because this statement is equally true. If the resurrection is a fact, then Christianity is true. Okay? If the resurrection is not a fact, Christianity is not true. But on the other hand, if the resurrection is a fact, that means Christianity is true. And the resurrection is a fact, and Christianity is true, and we're gonna explain why we believe that to be the case this morning. The resurrection issue takes the question, is Christianity valid, out of the realm of philosophy and makes it a question of history. Does Christianity have an historically acceptable basis? Is there sufficient evidence available to warrant belief in the resurrection? Whether the resurrection of Jesus took place or not is a historical question. At this point, it's inescapable. So the question has to be decided on a level of historical argument. Okay, so let me give you some of those evidences, some of those arguments, reasons why we believe in Jesus. the resurrection. Ultimately, God recorded the Bible. This book is true, accurate in every way. The word of the Lord is right. Here's some evidences that he gives us. Number one, the empty tomb. The empty tomb. Come to Luke chapter 24. We'll read some verses here in Luke 24, this chapter describing the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Luke chapter number 24. Verse number one, upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came into the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them. They were coming to further embalm Christ's body. They were not expecting him to be alive. He had over and over said that he would rise again, but they never understood it, or they just refused to believe it. And in verse number two, they found the stone away from the sepulcher. And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. They didn't come to welcome Christ coming out of the tomb. They didn't go that resurrection morning to celebrate the fact of his triumph over death. They went to find his body there. But when they got there, the tomb is rolled away. The tomb is empty. Christ's body is nowhere to be found. And it came to pass they were much perplexed thereabout. They saw the empty tomb, didn't find his body, and it didn't jog anything in their memory. It didn't click. Oh yeah, he said, Now they're like, what in the world is going on? They're perplexed, verse number four. But they saw two men stood by them in shining garments, as they were afraid, and bowed down their face to the earth. They said to them, Why is Sheki the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered in the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. Then it clicked. And they remembered his words, verse number 8, and returned from the sepulcher, taught all these things in 11 and all the rest. If you read on the passage and the comparison passage, they get Peter, they get John, they run to the tomb and they go in and they find it just as the women have described, the tomb is empty. Verse number 13 of Luke 24, Behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus. Now these are two disciples, it's the women in the first part of the verse, and these are some other disciples, and they talked together of all these things which had happened. It came to pass while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were holding that they should not know him. So here are two guys, and they're leaving Jerusalem, they're going to Emmaus, and Christ begins to take this journey with them. They just don't know that it's Christ. And he said to them, what manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad? So they're talking about the fact the tomb is empty, but they're not happy. They're sad about it because they're perplexed, they're confused, they don't understand. And Jesus is saying, hey guys, what's going on? What are you talking about? One of them, the name was Cleopas, answering said to him, art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and has not known the things which come to pass there in these days? He said to them, what things? They said to him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which is a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people, how the chief priests and rulers, they're going to be condemned to death, crucified, but we trusted that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher. And when they found not his body, they came, saying they had also seen a vision of angels, which said he was alive. Certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, found it even so as the women had said, but they saw him not." So they hear these reports, first from the women, then from Peter and John. The tomb is empty, but these disciples yet do not believe. They are sad. They are perplexed. They are wondering what is going on. But the fact of the matter from Luke 24 is that, repeated several times, is this fact that the tomb of Christ was empty. Joseph of Arimathea, you'll remember, begged Pilate for the body of Jesus, placed Jesus' body in his own tomb, fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53, who will make his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. So Christ's body is placed in a borrowed tomb, but it only had to be borrowed. He only needed it for three days and three nights. That tomb was vacated on resurrection morning. And here's the thing. Because 40 days after this, 47 days after this, there's something that takes place in Jerusalem called the Feast of Pentecost. And Jews from all over the world have gathered in Jerusalem for the observance of this feast. Do you remember what happens? The Holy Spirit fills the disciples there in the upper room as they're praying and waiting, and Jesus had instructed. And then they go out in Jerusalem, they preach the gospel, and 3,000 people are saved in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost. And what was the message that the disciples preached and the people received and believed and were saved? It's that Christ had died for our sins, was buried and rose again. Now, if you're in Jerusalem, when this message is being preached and the disciples are saying that Christ rose again, you can verify it for yourself. You could take the short walk to the garden there on the side of the mountain, outside the city where Christ was laid in the tomb, and you can see for yourself the tomb is emptied, is unoccupied, the body is gone. Anybody who heard the preaching in Acts chapter 2 could have verified the report easily and gone to see the tomb. Now, this is recorded in the scripture, but There are both Jewish and Roman sources, historical sources, historians that acknowledge an empty tomb. Outside of Bible writers, there are writers of first century history who make reference to the fact that after Jesus died, the tomb was empty. For example, the Jewish historian, Josephus, Now, when the Jews and the Romans confirm the fact of the empty tomb, this is called positive evidence from a hostile source. Hostile, depending on how you decide to pronounce it. H-O-S-T-I-L-E. Positive evidence from a hostile source. This is the strongest kind of historical evidence. Think about this for just a second. If a source admits a fact that is decidedly not in its favor, that fact is genuine. It did the Jews no favors to admit that Christ was alive. They would prefer not to have to admit that because they did not believe him to be the Messiah, but they had to admit it because it was a fact. The Romans are the ones who had him put to death. It was not in their favor to admit this in fact. So positive evidence from a hostile source is the strongest kind of historical evidence. If a source admits a fact that's decidedly not in his favor, that fact is genuine. Jesus was not popular with the Jewish authorities of his day. They were envious of him. After finding a way to have him executed, his resurrection would have been their worst nightmare. They would've tried everything in their power to disprove the event and stop the news from spreading, but they couldn't. The tomb was empty for all to see, okay? Let's go quickly to the second point because we have to move. The eyewitnesses. Point number two, proofs for the resurrection. The eyewitnesses. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, go there. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And this time, the first several verses of the chapter. 1 Corinthians 15. The Bible says in verse one, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. which I preached unto you, which also you received, wherein you stand, by which also ye are saved. This is the saving gospel message. Verse three, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and, we're not done with the sentence yet, verse five now, and that he was seen of Cephas. Peter, then of the twelve. After that he was seen of about five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained in this present, but some were fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also as one born out of due time. There were more than 500 eyewitnesses to Christ's resurrection. We have listed some of them for you there in your lesson notes. We're not going to review all of that this morning. Some came before his ascension. Some followed in the book of Acts after his ascension. But if each of these 500, more than 500 people saw him at one time after he rose from the dead. If each of these were to testify for only six minutes, which is a reasonable amount of time to give their version of what they saw took place and then take cross-examination, there would be, if all 500 just took six minutes, there would be an astounding 50 hours of firsthand eyewitness testimony. Not sure how familiar you are with legal proceedings, what takes place in a courtroom, in a trial, if you have 50 hours of firsthand eyewitness testimony, that is going to be very, very, very difficult for the opposition to overcome. That is going to be a very strong argument for this many people all to say, we saw the same thing and for their testimony to line up, this is very convincing, very compelling. In fact, when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15, most of those 500 were still alive, and he's basically saying, if you don't believe me, I can give you their names and their address, and you can contact them and ask them what they saw and what they heard. Now, here's what's noteworthy about the eyewitness testimony. First of all, the appearances are not Stereotyped, I'm challenging your spelling abilities this morning. Stereotyped, all together, one word, S-T-E-R-E-O-T-Y-P-E-D. I knew you could spell it. These appearances are not stereotyped. What does that mean? No two of them are exactly alike. For instance, the appearance of Mary Magdalene, occurred early in the morning. He appeared to the travelers on the road to Emmaus. That was the afternoon. The apostles, the upper room, that was the evening, probably after dark. He appeared to Mary in the open air. She was alone when she saw him. The disciples, he appeared when they were gathered together in a group. We read 1 Corinthians 15 about Jesus' appearance to more than 500 at once. The reactions were also varied. Mary was overwhelmed with emotion. The disciples were frightened. Thomas was obstinately incredulous when told of the Lord's resurrection, but worshipped Him when He manifested Himself. Each occasion has its own peculiar atmosphere and characteristics and revealed some different quality of the risen Lord. So here's something that kind of backs up all this eyewitness testimony. They all agree as far as who saw Him at the same time in the same place, but they all had different experiences. It's not like they all got together and just came up with something. They're all unique appearances. They're not stereotyped. Another authenticating fact of the resurrection narrative is that the first appearances of the risen Christ were not to his disciples, not to his chosen twelve, they were to women. Jesus first appeared to women. Why is that significant? Well, according to Jewish principles of legal evidence at the time, a woman, sorry girls, was an invalid witness. I'm not going to comment on that at all, but according to Jewish legal principles in the first century, you didn't count. Okay, so what are we saying? Well, if these resurrection accounts were manufactured, that is not the way you would manufacture a compelling argument. You wouldn't put the women first if your society treats their witness as invalid. But this wasn't manufactured. This wasn't just generated. This wasn't just something that they did trying to convince people of something that didn't happen. This is just how it happened. And God reported it in the Bible this way. So we have the empty tomb. We have the eyewitnesses. Thirdly, turn to Matthew 28. Let's talk about the stolen body theory. That's point number three, the stolen body theory. You need to be familiar with this. Remember, what we're doing is learning what we believe and why we believe it, because we can expect those beliefs to be challenged. Here is one way in which your belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is going to be challenged. And if you're aware of it, that'll help you deal with it. Matthew chapter 28, verse number 11. Matthew 28. and verse 11. Now, when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city. It's the watch. Those are the guards that Pilate had ordered to stand by the tomb. Some of the watch came to the city, showed to the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled the elders and had taken counsel, they, as the chief priests, gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night, stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you. So they are promising protection and they were giving great compensation to those soldiers who were sleeping on the night of the resurrection. So they took the money and did as they were taught. And this saying, what? That his disciples came by night and stole him away. This saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Now that saying continues to be reported 2,000 years later. There are still people who say what happened is the disciples remembered what Jesus said and didn't want him to look like a liar, so they went in and they took the body and they stole the body and then did whatever with the body. If somebody tells you that the body was stolen, you can take them to the Bible and say you're just proving the Bible true because the Bible predicted this is what you would say. Let's talk about the stolen body theory. So the Bible predicted some would say the body was stolen, and they do. But we have to ask some questions because it was the fear of this very thing that caused the Jewish leaders to petition Pilate to have Jesus' tomb marked with the Roman seal and protected by Roman guards who were obliged to protect it under penalty of death. Remember, the Jewish leaders remembered what the disciples forgot. They recalled that Christ had said after three days, He would rise again, and they wanted to prevent anything that looked like that from taking place. Obviously, they did not believe it. Pilate seemed to maybe have believed it. You have your watch. Make it as sure as you can. If you can do anything, great, but I'm not so convinced that you can stop what's about to take place. But after the resurrection, the Jewish leaders bribed the soldiers to claim that Christ's body was stolen while they slept on duty. But to imagine that Jesus followers removed a stone that likely weighed two tons and stole his body while soldiers slept is absurd. And then, Not only how could the disciples move the stone while the soldiers slept? That's one question we have to answer. That's the second one in your notes. How could the disciples move the stone while soldiers slept? But how could sleeping soldiers know who stole the body? If you're asleep when something takes place, you don't know who did it. If you're asleep when something happens, you don't know how it happened. If you're asleep while something is transpiring, you have no knowledge of that situation. So the Stolen Body Theory is absurd on several letters. Number four, something else you need to be familiar with. The Swoon Theory. The Swoon Theory. Okay. S-W-O-O-N. I saw the pause and the hesitation. Maybe I just wasn't pronouncing it correctly. The swoon theory, S-W-O-O-N. This is the false and absurd idea that Jesus never actually died. Some just say like he kind of passed out, they put him in the grave, put him in the tomb, but he was really alive so he just walked out on his own because he wasn't really dead. It's the swoon theory. If anyone knew how to be sure a criminal was dead, the Roman army did. Jesus was brutally flogged with Roman flagrams, had spikes driven through his hands and feet, hung bleeding for six hours, and was thrust through his heart with a spear. You try surviving that. After the centurion proclaimed him dead, he was wrapped in linen with over 75 pounds of spices and laid in a tomb. The idea that Jesus merely fainted then revived on the third day is preposterous. Critics who claim this view also have to explain how he regained strength to move the stone and get past the guards. If you were beaten that badly that it appeared that you were dead, how are you going to pull that off? How could someone in such a beaten condition have been celebrated as the conqueror? of death. So some people, there are very few, try to deny that Christ ever existed. That is very difficult to do because all the historical evidence that Christ existed. There is also strong historical evidence that the tomb was empty. So here are the attempts to deal with those facts that Jesus really did exist, that the tomb really was empty. Well, the disciples stole the body. It's absurd. The absurdity of the argument argues for the validity of the resurrection. Well, he didn't actually die. The absurdity of the argument argues for the validity of the fact of the resurrection. Let me give you one final consideration this morning. Number five, the spread of Christianity. The spread of Christianity. Did Jesus followers steal the body and produce a brilliant hoax? Well, think about this. History tells us 10 out of 12 were tortured and martyred because they would not deny the truth of their claim that Jesus was alive. Now, I am not saying that there are not people of other religions who are not willing to die for what it is they believe. I mean, that's how a Muslim has assurance of paradise, according to their religion, if they are willing to be a martyr, if they are willing to be a suicide bomber, if they are willing to die in the cause. I mean, they got paradise and 72 virgins. It's what their religion promises them. And they are willing to die for what they believe. But you know why they're willing to die? Because they really believe it. Why would all of these Christians in the early century who were persecuted and martyred 10 out of the original 12. Why would they die? If it's for something that they know is a lie, because if they just stole the body and made all this up, they know what they're saying is a lie. You're going to die for something you know is a lie. Now you're going to die for something you believe, whether or not what you believe is true. There has to be that element of belief in order to die for it. If you know something's a lie, you're not going to that extent. Had there been visible benefits accruing to them for their efforts, prestige, wealth, increased social status, we might logically account for their actions. As a reward, however, for their wholehearted and total allegiance to this risen Christ, these early Christians were beaten, stoned to death, thrown to lions, tortured, crucified, subjected to every conceivable method of stopping them from talking. Yet they were the most peaceful of men who physically forced their beliefs on no one. Rather, they laid down their very lives as the ultimate proof of their complete confidence in the truth of their message. The spread of Christianity is strong evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Okay, so what do we have? Many infallible proofs, the empty tomb, the eyewitnesses, the absurdity of the arguments against it, the spread of Christianity. We believe and there is good reason to believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and it changes everything. It is the foundation of the Christian faith and it is a very strong foundation. It ought to affect the way that we go about life. It ought to affect our choice regarding Jesus Christ. It ought to affect everything every single day. Now let me conclude with this information. Man by the name of Simon Greenleaf, you ought to remember that name. He is the one who is responsible for the vision of Harvard Law School among the legal schools of the United States. He wrote a book called A Treatise on the Law of Evidence. A Treatise on the Law of Evidence. Still considered one of the greatest single authorities on the subject in the entire literature of legal procedure. So what can be viewed as evidence? What will work in a courtroom setting, in a trial? This man wrote the book on that, okay? So this man examined the value of the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ to ascertain the truth. He applied the principles contained in his three-volume treatise on evidence, and his findings were recorded in a book by another very long title. He came to the conclusion that according to the laws of legal evidence used in courts, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ than for just about any other event in history. If we take what they use in the courtroom to try the evidence and we apply that to the resurrection, the resurrection passes every test. The people who write the book on evidence, the person who wrote the book on evidence says, this is probably the most historically verifiable fact that there is. Now, in light of all that, I don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because historians, or lawyers, or judges, or journalists, or archaeologists who say they believe it also. In fact, some of them say they don't. And if all of them said they didn't, wouldn't change our position. The fact of the matter is the problem is not a lack of historical evidence. It is prejudice against the truth. If we receive the witness of men, 1 John 5, 9 says, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his son. There's more proof for Jesus rising from the dead than there is for George Washington crossing the Delaware. But how many people have you talked to who say, oh, that didn't really take place? Right? There's an agenda behind refusing to face the facts. It's just like evolutionists who choose to believe a foolish notion runs contrary to all the known laws of science merely because the alternative is unthinkable. Okay? So proofs for the resurrection, infallible proofs for the resurrection. But here's the point of these lessons. You've got to ask yourself, do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? Are you able to articulate why you believe that Jesus rose from the dead? Here's what Christians in the first century had asked themselves. Were they willing to die for that belief? Here's what we have to ask ourselves. Are we willing to live? for that belief and in light of that belief. And that's a good question to ponder this morning. If you're interested in more material on historical evidence for the resurrection, I do have some books and articles that I'd be happy to recommend. But that is all for this morning. Let's close in a word of prayer.