1 Corinthians 15:1-19
Joseph's Empty Tomb: Three Crucial Questions, Part 1
In "Joseph's Empty Tomb: Three Crucial Questions, Part 1," Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds on 1 Corinthians 15:1-19, defining the biblical meaning and importance of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. He meticulously details the three strands of biblical truth concerning the resurrection: Jesus' real physical death, his burial in a new tomb, and the actual raising of his same body, reunited with his spirit, from that tomb. Martin then emphasizes the resurrection's critical importance as the capstone of the Gospels, the crowning affirmation of apostolic preaching, and an assumed fact in the New Testament letters, concluding that belief in this historical reality is a matter of eternal life and death for all.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 12 sections · 77 min
- Introduction: The Context of 1 Corinthians 15 and the Purpose of the Sermon 0:00
- Setting the Stage: Easter Sunday and the Doctrine of Resurrection 6:11
- Question 1: What Does the Bible Mean by Jesus' Resurrection? 8:23
- Strand 1: Jesus Died a Real Physical Death 11:23
- Strand 2: Jesus' Dead Body Was Buried in a New Tomb 18:51
- Strand 3: The Same Body Was Raised from Death and Left the Tomb 26:09
- The Integrity of the Biblical Definition of Resurrection 41:26
- Question 2: What Importance Does the Bible Place on the Bodily Resurrection? 43:06
- Observation 1: The Resurrection is the Capstone of the Gospels 44:19
- Observation 2: The Resurrection is the Crowning Affirmation in Apostolic Preaching 48:26
- Observation 3: The Resurrection is Assumed in Letters to Young Churches 61:31
- Application: The Resurrection is a Matter of Life and Death 66:01
Key Quotes
“It's a pastoral effort to show people that ideas have consequences.”
“What do the Scriptures mean when they tell us Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead?”
“The same Bible that says Jesus rose from the dead tells us that again and again, when he appeared to people who above all others would wish he had been raised from the dead, they didn't believe it.”
“And while they still believed for joy. That's one of the most fascinating phrases in all of the Bible. They're so happy they can't yet believe it.”
“My friend, I don't want to have faith in a myth, faith in a lie, but faith is not going to be a myth. When the doctors say, he's dead, that's no myth, and I'll be placed in a grave, those are the great realities we face.”
“He died. He was raised from the dead. How important is the bodily resurrection? The fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus, I say, is the capstone of all four Gospel records.”
“Yes you are. And for this simple reason that it's a matter of life and death. It's a matter of life and death.”
“I'm bold to say to anyone sitting here this morning apart from a heart belief in this truth you cannot be saved you cannot be saved”
Applications
All listeners
- Ask what the Scriptures mean when they tell us Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, and be sure to answer it from the Scriptures.
- Do not take the Bible's word for resurrection and put your own meaning upon those words; do not have faith in a myth, but in the real, tangible, historical flesh of the incarnate God.
- Be concerned about the historical fact of Jesus' bodily resurrection, because it is a matter of life and death.
- Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead to be saved.
- If you refuse to embrace the risen Christ as your savior and your lord, you will meet the risen Christ as judge.
- Do not allow yourselves to be wrenched loose from what the Bible means when it says Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, and never be moved from a gospel which has as one of its immovable indispensable pillars the fact of his resurrection.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 177 paragraphs, roughly 77 minutes.
Introduction: The Context of 1 Corinthians 15 and the Purpose of the Sermon
The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, April 15, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.
Now may I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to a portion of the Word of God that I will not be expounding, but referring to several times this morning and then again this evening, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I shall read in your hearing the first 19 verses.
Now I remind you that the letters of the New Testament are not theological treatises drawn up by apostles who went off into some kind of a monastic life to think out the Christian faith and then to write various letters that are mini-treatises on systematic theology. They are letters, and letters that for the most part grew out of particular needs in the various churches or among individuals to whom the letters are addressed. And this was certainly true at Corinth. Paul has addressed a litany of problems in that church, now concerning, now concerning, now concerning.
And Paul has heard that there are some either in the church or seeking to infiltrate the church who were denying the fact of bodily resurrection. They were not explicitly denying the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, but on philosophical grounds. They were rejecting. The whole idea of bodily resurrection, period.
And in this particular chapter, Paul is concerned to demonstrate that if one accepts the premise, bodily resurrection is impossible, then Jesus of Nazareth could not have been raised, and if that's not true, then it's all disaster. And so remember, this is not a theological treatise written on the resurrection. It's a pastoral effort to show people that ideas have consequences. And now listen.
Listen then, as we hear what the Apostle said to this church. Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received, wherein also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except you believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins. According to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he has been raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he appeared, or better rendered, he was
seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, then he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep, then he was seen of James. Then of all the apostles, and last of all, as to the child untimely born, he was seen of me also. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not found in vain.
But I labored more abundantly. Then they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me, whether then it be I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? There's the isolation of the issue.
That's the issue. How is it that some are saying no such thing is bodily? There is no bodily resurrection. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then is our preaching vain. Your faith also is vain. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we witnessed of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised.
Neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable. Thus far the reading of God's holy word. Let us now again pray that the spirit of God will come. And minister to our hearts in this hour together.
Once again, our father, we approach you through our Lord Jesus Christ, pleading that you will fulfill your promise to your people to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask you. And we are asking that he will be given in copious measures here this morning, that he may rest in power upon your servant, that he may rest. With grace and power upon this entire gathering of men and women, boys and girls, that the very livingness of Jesus will be known as his spirit present with us, causes our hearts to burn.
As we look into your word, come then and meet with us. We plead for our good and for your praise. Amen. Now, by this time in the service.
Setting the Stage: Easter Sunday and the Doctrine of Resurrection
This morning. I hope I need not inform any of you seated in this place that this particular Lord's day has been marked out and designated both in the world and by the professing Christian church as Easter Sunday. And I'm equally sure that most, if not all of you gathered in this place know that Easter Sunday in some way or another is to one degree or another related to the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I have neither the desire nor the
intention to enter into a discussion or a debate as to whether or not there should be such a day marked out in the calendar of the world and much of Christendom and designated Easter Sunday. I'd be very surprised if there are not at least a few who would love to have me enter into that discussion or that debate. I'm sorry to disappoint you. I have no intention to do so. Rather, it's my purpose
to preach to you today on various aspects of the biblical doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. And I propose to do this by addressing three lines of biblical truth under this very simple title, Three Crucial Questions Concerning Joseph's Empty Tomb. Three crucial questions concerning Joseph's empty tomb. We shall take up the first two questions this morning and then, God willing, tonight we will take up the third. The first two questions, as we take them up and
seek to answer them from the scriptures, we will be primarily didactic. There will be an overdose of instruction and teaching. As we take up the third question tonight, it will be primarily application. And that's why I said earlier, the morning and evening ministries are one fabric, and I trust you will be present for both preachments. Question number one, then. What does the Bible mean when it asserts that Jesus of
Question 1: What Does the Bible Mean by Jesus' Resurrection?
Nazareth rose from the dead? What does the Bible mean when it asserts that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead? It is absolutely essential that we consider this question because we live in a day when biblical terms and the currency of biblical words have been greatly devalued and debased. There was a time in our own country, which has never been a Christian nation in the truest sense of the word, that if you were to ask any stranger, do you believe in the resurrection
of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead? You could assume that their answer, yes or no, was an answer to a question that matched your meaning by the words, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. You could assume that what they would interpret those words to mean would be fairly close, if not identical, with what you meant by using them. But you see, when biblical terminology is devalued and debased, you may speak a biblical term, but by the time it returns to the Bible, you are not a Christian. You are a Christian. You are a
Christian. You are a Christian. You are a Christian. You are a Christian. you're a Christian.
You're a Christian. You're a Christian. You're a Christian. You're a Christian. I'm a Christian.
Registers on the brain of the one to whom you're speaking, they have put an entirely different meaning upon that word. The combined influences of skepticism and agnostic or atheistic materialism and anti-supernaturalism producing in religious worlds, in the religious world, what is called religious liberalism, neo-orthodoxy. And in recent years, certain theories of language, which attack the very notion that concepts can be passed from one mind to another by means of verbal constructions.
The land and the world is filled right now with men and women with Ph.D. degrees who are committed to this idea that ideas cannot be transferred from one mind to another by means of words. Now, the humorous thing is, they're using words to tell us words have no meaning.
And they don't like it when you look them in the eye and point out their contradiction. But there are brilliant people, blind spiritually, but nonetheless brilliant, so that the very words, resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead, have very little meaning with many. And so it's vital that I, as a pastor, you, as people, who desire to be grounded in the truth of Scripture, ask this question and be sure to answer it from the Scriptures. What do the Scriptures mean when they tell us Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead?
Strand 1: Jesus Died a Real Physical Death
And a biblical answer to that question has three strands. And it's when these three strands are woven tightly together, but not so tightly that they lose their distinctive identity that we can, as it were, unravel and see, what the Bible means when it asserts that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead. Strand number one. The Bible informs us that Jesus of Nazareth died a real physical death while hanging on a cross outside the city walls of Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha.
To say Jesus of Nazareth rose from... And to think biblically about that affirmation is, first of all, to come to grips with this simple, basic fact that Jesus of Nazareth died a real physical death while hanging on a cross outside the city walls of Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha.
The unadorned record in the Gospels direct us to this fact again and again. Differing details, but this fact is unmistakably established. Look at Mark 15 for a specimen statement of this first strand of our answer. Mark 15, and I begin reading at verse 21.
And they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear... And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted the place of a skull.
And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. And they crucify him, and part his garments among them, casting lots upon them, what each should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. So there's the simple, unadorned record, of someone who is brought to a place called Golgotha, and there he is impaled upon this cruel instrument of Roman execution reserved for the worst of criminals and for slaves.
And while he is hanging upon that cross, and his life is ebbing from him, we read in this same Gospel record these words, verse 37, and Jesus uttered a loud voice. In the old translation, he gave up the ghost, which gives all kinds of strange ideas to our children. He breathed out. He expired would be a better rendering of the Greek verb.
He is there upon the cross. He speaks with a loud voice, and we learn from the other Gospel records what he said with that loud voice. He gave the shout of triumph to Telestai. It is finished.
It stands accomplished. And we know then from another, Gospel record that his last words were, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit, and he expired. He breathed out. His head dropped upon his lifeless chest.
He was dead. Dead. Dead. Were we to bring to that body on the cross all of the tools of modern technology by which the medical profession establishes that someone is dead, every single one would have registered without, without any question, he is dead.
No brain waves. No pulse. Nothing that indicates the semblance of even a smidgen of life left within him. He is dead.
Dead. Dead. He is not in a coma. He has not swooned.
He has not entered some other altered state. He has died. And because he died much sooner than the criminal on the left and on the right, and because the Jews did not want to have this disgraceful thing as they spend their holy day on that Passover weekend, they want to see him dead dead. And so word is sent to the Roman authorities, and the Roman authorities send soldiers.
And we read this in John chapter 19. John chapter 19 verses 33 and 34. We can back up to 31. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the day of that Sabbath was a high day, asked the Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
By the breaking of the legs, they would make it impossible for the person impaled upon the cross to push himself up to get breath. And that's what they would do. And the descriptions are gruesome. By breaking the legs, they would hang there, unable.
To lift themselves up and asphyxiation would take over much more quickly. And they have excavated the remains of people who were crucified and seen them with shattered leg bones. So again, this is real stuff. This is not fantasy.
And they come. And we read in verse 32. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first and of the other that was crucified with him. And when they came to Jesus and saw that he was crucified with him, they came to Jesus.
And they came to Jesus and saw that he was crucified with him. And they came to Jesus and saw that he was crucified with him. And they came to Jesus and saw that he was crucified with him. They came to Jesus and saw that he was crucified with him.
And they were not waiting for Judas. He had not beenаздused during their prayer. They had not seen him. And when Jesus came and they saw that the cross had broken, or that the cross had broken and they saw Jesus dead already, they did not break his legs.
They had not broken his legs. There are soldiers accustomed to discerning whether or not someone executed was dead, whether someone on a battlefield was dead. They had not been здeliang . There he was.
And they come to the conclusion that the one on the middle cross is dead, dead, dead. No life in him. But now notice what one of the soldiers does. How be it?
How be it? soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and straightway there came out blood and water. Why did he pierce the side? Well, most likely, you've seen pictures, perhaps seen in a movie, soldiers going through a battlefield where people are lying there apparently dead, and they'll hit them with the butt of the rifle to see if they get any response of life, might jab them with a bayonet. It could well be that that's what this soldier did,
that as he looks at him, he looks dead. Let me poke him and see if he jumps, and when he pokes him in the chest cavity, out comes blood and water. He's dead, dead, dead. In the meaning of the word dead, as the body apart from the spirit is dead, James says, so when we think of this question, this vital, vital question with respect to Jesus of Nazareth, he is said to have been from the dead. What was his state of death? It was a real, physical death. No twitching
when his ribs are poked with a spear. No murmur comes from his lips. No cry of pain. He was dead.
Strand 2: Jesus' Dead Body Was Buried in a New Tomb
Strand number two, when the Bible asserts that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, that Bible not only informs us that he died a real death, but secondly, the Bible informs us that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead. That Bible not only informs us that he died a real death, but also informs us that the dead body of Jesus of Nazareth was prepared for burial and placed in a newly hewn, unused tomb. When the Bible says Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, it informs us in giving us its meaning of those words that the dead body of Jesus of Nazareth was prepared for burial, placed in a new, unused tomb.
But when he died, his spirit was immediately in the presence of his father. Luke 23, verses 43 and 46, we have the clear account of where Jesus' spirit was when he died. Luke 23 and verse 43, he says to the thief who has just been rescued from the judgment of God as he has turned in faith to the Son of God hanging on a cross, he said unto him, verily I say unto you, today you shall be with me in paradise. I know that in a
short time I'm going into paradise, into my father's presence. You will join me subsequently. And then we read in verse 42, and he said, Jesus, I'm sorry, remember me? And Jesus says to him, you shall be with me this day, verse 46. And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father,
into your house, into your house, into your house, into your house, into your house, into your house, I commend my spirit. And having said this, he gave up the ghost, he expired. So the disembodied spirit of Jesus has gone into the immediate presence of his father. Well, what happens now to his bruised, blood-spattered, brutalized body? What happens to it? The Bible is clear.
That very body was taken down from the cross by two disciples of Jesus, one who was fearful to confess him, who came to him at night, Nicodemus, the other a wealthy man, part of the Sanhedrin, who no doubt did not cast his vote for Jesus' execution by crucifixion. And we read the account in John 19 of what they did to that lifeless, dead body of Jesus of Nazareth. John 19, beginning in verse 38. And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he might
take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave, gave him permission. He came, therefore, and took away his body. And there came also Nicodemus, he who at the first came to him by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds, in terms of our weights and measurements, as best I've been able to track it down, it would be the equivalent of about 65 pounds. And he gave him permission to take away the body of Jesus. And he gave him permission to
take away the body of Jesus. Now, relive this. He's impaled upon the cross. He has at least a spike in each hand or wrist. A spike through his feet. May have been bound as well, we do not know. But now they come and they're going to remove that corpse from that cross. Now, I don't want to go into the gory details. Use your imagination.
Now, I don't want to go into the gory details. Use your imagination.
And yet, bodies were left on the cross to be plucked by bits and pieces by buzzards and vultures. They have too much love for the one in whom they have come to hope and trust as the Redeemer of Israel. And so they go through whatever physical action was necessary to get the nails out of his hands, to pull the hands over the nails. I don't know how they did it. But you just use your imagination. If there was any semblance of life left, surely, by the time they got there, they would have done it.
If they had not got him disengaged from the cross, they would have seen it. But no. Now, by means perhaps of servants, for these were wealthy men, at least Joseph of Arimathea was. There's some indication that Nicodemus was certainly not to lower middle class. And perhaps the servants washed the body, clearing away the blood that had caked all over his body, the horrible laceration from the scourging.
And then in the custom of the Jews of that day, they take this. Linen cloth. And they spread the spices on the cloth, and they wind the body. And then we are told that they then take that. Verse 40.
So they took the body of Jesus, bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now, in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. There was not a long distance between Golgotha and the garden tomb. And in the garden, a new tomb, wherein never man was yet laid. That's a significant word. God so ordered this matter providentially, that this was a new tomb.
People had walked by when there was this excavation, this digging into and chipping away of the rock, in order to have a vault, an above ground burial place. And everyone who had ever passed by that way in the last months knew. That this was a new tomb. Nobody came there to bow silently and reflect upon the life of the one who was entombed in that tomb.
It was a new tomb. None had ever been laid there. No one else had been placed there since it had been hewn out of the rock. Jesus went into a virgin tomb. Very significant. And when these devout men had finished winding his body, and by themselves, the two of them, or most likely with their servants, carried.
The body of Jesus, they laid it in that tomb. So when the Bible says that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, it is affirming that he died a real death, and secondly, that that dead body was prepared for burial, placed in a new, unused tomb. Now here's the third strand. It brings together the Bible's meaning of the resurrection of Jesus.
Strand 3: The Same Body Was Raised from Death and Left the Tomb
The Bible informs us that the very same body of Jesus, which lay in Joseph's tomb, now reunited with its departed spirit, was actually raised from the state of death and left the tomb. That's what the Bible means when it says Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead. The very same body of Jesus. Which hung upon the cross, which lay in Joseph's tomb, now reunited with the departed spirit, that very body actually was raised from the state of death and left the tomb.
The combined witness of the four Gospels is succinctly and beautifully summarized in the language of that one that spoke to the trembling woman. Turn please to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. The women have come to the tomb with additional spices that would be something akin to embalming, though they did not embalm, open up the body and take out the viscera, etc., and stuff it with spices, but they had hoped to give some additional respect to their departed Messiah.
And as they come, they are saying among themselves, verse 3, Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the tomb? And looking up, they see that the stone is rolled back, for it was exceeding great. And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white robe, and they were amazed. And he said unto them, Do not be amazed.
You seek Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Come, behold the place.
Where they laid him. Now could words be more simple and straightforward?
The message of this angelic creature was this. Don't be amazed. You're seeking Jesus the Nazarene, Jesus of Nazareth, who has captured your confidence in your faith and your affection, and you've come now to pay respects to his bodily remains. You seek this Jesus, but he is not here.
The one who has been crucified is risen. Behold the place where they laid him. Now what do we see in these words? Although it's clear from some specific details given to us in the biblical records that the resurrection body of Jesus possessed faculties that it did not have before the resurrection.
You know the incidents? He appears in a locked room out of nowhere. Some of the details here show that he passed through. The windings that Joseph and Nicodemus had placed around him.
And there is the shape, as it were, with the flattened linen cloths there in the place where he had been laid, and then the head napkin folded in another place. His resurrection body was able to pass through the grave cloths. The stone was rolled away, not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in. He could pass through doors, pass through.
That resurrection body possessed faculties and qualities, properties that were not present before his resurrection. But, but, there was such continuity between the body that went into the tomb and that which came out of the tomb that the scriptures speak very plainly. This Jesus whom you seek, who was here, is no longer here. He is risen from the dead.
It was not another body, the same body that had been hanging on a cross, bleeding, bruised and brutalized, washed and prepared for burial, laid in Joseph's tomb. In that body, Jesus of Nazareth rose again from the dead. And you see the whole notion that the idea of the resurrection is the concoction of the followers of Jesus, who after he was crucified, and who knows what happened to him after that, the more they thought about Jesus, and how wonderful he was, and he lived on in their memories, while they came up with the doctrine that he rose from the dead in order to give some concrete expression to their religious faith. That's nonsense.
The same Bible that says Jesus rose from the dead tells us that again and again, when he appeared to people who above all others would wish he had been raised from the dead, they didn't believe it. God had to overcome. The unbelief of the most devout of the followers of Jesus. Look at two examples of this.
Luke chapter 24, verses 36 and following. Luke chapter 24, And as they spoke these things, he himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed they had beheld the Spirit. Here Jesus appears in the midst.
And everything about him looks like Jesus of Nazareth. But in their minds, he died. He was taken from the cross and placed in a tomb. Whatever this thing is we see, it can't be that same Jesus.
It must be an apparition. It must be a ghost that is taking some kind of material substance to itself and looks like Jesus. But it can't be Jesus. They had a disposition that far from being prepared to project an idea of resurrection, everything in them, psychologically and emotionally, was tuned out to any thought of resurrection.
So what does Jesus do? Verse 38, And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? And wherefore do questionings arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet, it is I myself.
Ah yes, but people report having seen apparitions. Ah yes, but do they touch and feel apparitions? Can you put your apparition around you? Can you put your apparition around a wrist and feel flesh and bone as your hand closes around it?
No, the apparition will squeeze out through your fingers like water. You can't grasp water. You can't grasp an apparition. So Jesus said, Look, see, use your faculty of sight.
See my hands and my feet, it is I myself. Now he says use your faculty and sense of touch. Handle me and see. For a spirit has not flesh and bones.
As you behold me having. He invites a sensory encounter with himself. See, try to bend the forearm of this apparition. Flesh and bones.
See, feel. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Now look at this. And while they still believed for joy.
That's one of the most fascinating phrases in all of the Bible. They're so happy they can't yet believe it. Disbelieved for joy. But yet it can't be.
But it can't be a ghost. We've touched, we've felt, we've seen. He showed us his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and wondered, he said unto them.
Now I'm really going to convince them. This is really me. He said, You got anything to snack on here? You got any food left over?
And they gave him a piece. Apparently he just had a little leftover. They gave him a piece. Of a broiled fish.
And he took it and ate before them. Now, I know there are people who say there's no humor in the Bible. That if Jesus was the true man that he was, could weep at the weepable. And be pensive at that which ought to make us pensive.
Can you imagine the look on our Lord's face? He says, You got anything here to eat? They're still disbelieving for joy. So in this state, it's him but it's not him.
They still haven't come to a settlement. They still haven't settled confidence. The Lord says, You got anything to eat? And someone hands him.
Can you imagine the other's looking? His hand reaches out and takes the thing. What do you think Jesus had on his face as he bit off a piece of the fish? Began to chew it.
Fascinating to think about, isn't it? Why was he doing this? He wasn't hungry. He was doing this to overcome their unbelief.
That the very same Jesus who went in to Joseph's tomb was now alive. He had been raised from the dead. And he gives them these sensory exposures to the validity and reality of his resurrection. And then, when we turn to a passage in John chapter 20, we see how he deals with one individual who was peculiarly gripped by his unbelief.
And we know him by the descriptive adjective, doubting Thomas. Now we find the Lord has appeared to them. The door is being shut. Has spoken to them.
But Thomas was not there. Verse 24. Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, or the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord.
They're now persuaded. We have seen the Lord. Not we think we have seen. We believe, but we still quite know they were confident.
By now, the eleven, that the one who was placed in Joseph's tomb was indeed alive. We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Apparently by now, whether by word of mouth or whether they had lingered at a distance, all of the disciples knew.
That not only had he been crucified, but they knew about the soldier who jabbed him to see if he were really dead. And Thomas is so held in the grip of his doubts that he said, Prince in the hand won't satisfy me. Maybe there's someone who looks like Jesus that was crucified somewhere else. I want to see the spear jabbed in the side.
When that happens, then I'll accept your testimony. So what happens? Verse 26. And after eight days again, his disciples said, And the disciples were within, and Thomas with them.
Jesus comes, the doors being shut. Here are the faculties and properties that resurrected body had. Unlike Lazarus who was raised from the dead, but the body that he brought out of his tomb was still a body of humiliation that would go back into a tomb in time. The widow's son, these were all raised from the dead, but they did not have resurrection bodies as our Lord had.
He is able to pass through the walls, no doors being opened, no window left open. He appears in the midst, but he appears not as an apparition, but with real physical substance. And he says to them as he did the week before, Peace be unto you. Then said he to Thomas.
How did he know about Thomas? Well, John told us way early in his Gospel, chapter 2, Jesus needed not that any should testify of man, for he himself knew what was in man. Just like he knows every one of you sitting here, inside out. He knows us totally.
And whether someone communicated this to Jesus during the week, for he appeared no fewer than five times on the day of his resurrection, as recorded in Scripture, at least five other times, this is one of them, subsequent to the day of his resurrection. Whether it had been passed on by word of mouth, whether Jesus knows, because he is God and knows all things, he knows. That is the frame of mind. Then he said to Thomas, Reach hither your finger, and see my hands, and reach hither your hand, and put it into my side, and do not be faithless, but believing.
That's very interesting. It doesn't say Thomas ever actually did it. All the text says is, Thomas answered and said unto him, Ho kuriosmu kai ho theosmo, My Lord and my God. He's persuaded.
Did he actually have? I don't know. But all I know is the Lord was willing to accommodate himself to doubting Thomas. Now you see, when the Bible says, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, you must be persuaded, if you take the Bible's definition of what the resurrection means, that Thomas was not confronted with an apparition.
He was not confronted with an idea, not some noble myth. He was the same Jesus who hung upon the cross, was laid in Joseph's tomb, that now says, Here, see my hands. Reach hither your fingers. Here's my side.
I am Jesus. So we have before us, then, three strands of the biblical testimony in answer to the question, What does the Bible mean when it says Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead? Do you have the three strands? Well, the Bible tells us that Jesus was really dead.
And the dead body of Jesus was placed in an unused tomb. And that body, reunited with his spirit, came out of that tomb as the same Jesus with the new properties and faculties of a resurrected body. And he showed himself alive, as Luke tells us in Acts 1, by many infallible proofs. Now it is these three realities that comprise what the Bible means by Jesus of Nazareth rising from the dead.
The Integrity of the Biblical Definition of Resurrection
It is all this, nothing less than this, and nothing other than this. And we're not at liberty to take the Bible's word for resurrection and for Jesus being raised from the dead and put our own meaning upon those words. I marveled at many men who call themselves biblical scholars, say, yes, I believe in the resurrection, but this is what I believe the resurrection was. Whether or not the body that actually lay on the slab in Joseph's tomb came out of it is irrelevant.
It is the resurrection event as an element of faith that that's what matters. My friend, I don't want to have faith in a myth, faith in a lie, but faith is not going to be a myth. When the doctors say, he's dead, that's no myth, and I'll be placed in a grave, those are the great realities we face. And we don't want to face them with some idea that up above and beyond and outside of the real stuff of touchable, tangible, seeable flesh of the incarnate God that we can stack our hopes on noble ideas, on religious myths my soul wants something
more substantial than that. And I trust yours does as well. So that's the first question that we must ask in response to Joseph's empty tomb. What, what was the resurrection?
Question 2: What Importance Does the Bible Place on the Bodily Resurrection?
Now we take up a second question. What importance does the Bible place on the historical fact of the bodily resurrection? See, we've answered the question, what does the Bible mean by the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? Now we move on to the second question.
What importance does the Bible place on the historical fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? See, now I hope every one of you puts the same meaning on those words that we've seen the Bible puts on them. The resurrection of Jesus is precisely what we've seen it in these three strands of biblical truth. Now what importance does the Bible place on this?
In considering this well attested fact of biblical revelation, how important is it in the whole fabric of the Christian faith? What issues are at stake if we question this fact, if we deny it, if we are indifferent to it? Well let me answer this question by three simple observations. The contents of the New Testament in relationship to the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Here's my
Observation 1: The Resurrection is the Capstone of the Gospels
first strand of response. The fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the capstone of all four Gospel records. The fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the capstone of all four Gospel records. When we take up Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, only one of the four Gospels takes us into the pre-temporal state of our Lord.
It's only John who takes us back to the beginning. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. A full ascription of deity to the eternal Word who John says in verse 14 became flesh.
It's clear he's speaking of our Lord. Only one of the four Gospel records takes us back into the pre-temporal existence of our Lord. Only two of the four give us any details about his conception and birth. Only one in two. Luke 1 and 2.
Mark says nothing about his conception and his birth. And John, apart from the statement, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, he gives us no details. Only one of the four takes us pre-temporally to who our Savior is. Two of the four give some details of his conception and of his birth. Only two
of the four, if we accept the long ending in Mark, which is doubtful, only two of the four tell us about his ascension. But all four give us great details about two events. His death and his resurrection. You cannot pick up Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and read them in the most cursory manner.
Speed-read them without being struck as you move out of Matthew into Mark, Mark into Luke, Luke into John, and you get the differing perspectives of the four Spirit-inspired writers of the deeds and doings and sayings of the Lord Jesus, and you come away with this impression whatever the Christian faith is. Jesus of Nazareth impaled on a cross, and that same Jesus coming out of the tomb in resurrection life and power is foundational and central to the faith being propagated by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Spirit of God so super-intended the Biblical writers that God is saying in
essence, I will give you one clear statement about who Jesus of Nazareth has always been from eternity in his deity, in his divine essence. And God gives us one clear statement in the Gospel records, John 1 verses 1 to 3. He says, I'll give you some details about the conception and the early days of your Savior. And two of the writers give us some details.
I'll give you some details about how I took him back into my presence, and two of the writers give us some details. But with respect to his death and his resurrection, God says these things are so central and so crucial. While one Gospel might circulate in a given geographical area before the other Gospels are received among the believing community and eventually constitute the self-attesting documents that are Spirit-inspired, God says, I want every community where the message goes to know this is the central issue. He died. He was raised
from the dead. How important is the bodily resurrection? The fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus, I say, is the capstone of all four Gospel records. Secondly, the fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the crowning affirmation in apostolic preaching. It's the crowning
Observation 2: The Resurrection is the Crowning Affirmation in Apostolic Preaching
affirmation of apostolic preaching. As we've reminded you many times, the essence of proclaiming the Gospel is declaring in the name of Christ the grand indicative, the things God has done in Christ for the salvation of sinners. That's to be followed by the imperatives of repentance and faith. But now, open up your Bibles with me to the Book of Acts, and all we're going to do is look at a sampling of what are in the Book of Acts mere summaries of sermons.
When we read in Acts 2 that Peter stood up and said, Men of Israel, hear me now. These people aren't drunk. And he gives his reasons. And then we have his sermon. You can read that sermon
through in about two minutes, reading it out loud. Is that all Peter said? No. Even the text says, with many other words he testified and exhorted. So what we have are not
court transcripts of their sermons. When you read the sermons in the Book of Acts, you have synopses of the various sermons. Now, we're just going to take a sampling of those abbreviated statements of apostolic preaching. And what we're going to see is that the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth was the crowning affirmation in their preaching. Acts chapter 1,
notice what Luke says. The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days. So the common experience is we have seen repeatedly the exalted Lord. He has disclosed himself to his apostles. Now, in
waiting for the day of Pentecost, and the descent of the Spirit, from the Scriptures, God's people are persuaded that Judas, who has gone to his place, is to be replaced. There's to be another apostle. And what do they give as the necessary qualification of an apostle? Verse 21.
Of the men, therefore, that have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto the day that he was received up from us. Now notice, of these must one become a witness with us of his resurrection. Now isn't it interesting that the whole apostolic ministry is here distilled into this statement a witness of his resurrection, not a witness of his crucifixion. That was open before any of the multitudes gathered at that Passover weekend.
They could have seen Jesus immolated, but he chose for good and wise reasons to reveal himself after his resurrection to witnesses that he had before chosen. And this man is to become one of those who will in his message have as the crowning aspect of that message the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. So it should not surprise us then on the day of Pentecost, when Peter is preaching, the resurrection percolates through his sermon, verse 22, you men of Israel, Acts 2, 22. Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by
mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as you yourselves know, him being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay whom God raised up, having produced the pangs of death, because it was not possible that he should be held of it. And then he quotes from the Psalms to show that this resurrection has its tap roots in Old Testament prophetic utterance, verse 29. Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet in knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne, he foresees this, spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we are all witnesses. You see what he's saying? You want to discount the resurrection? Prove us all
to be a bunch of liars. Prove us all to be a bunch of religious charlatans who are seeking to float this notion of a resurrected Jesus. No, we are witnesses of this reality. He has overcome our doubts and our unbelief.
We were utterly indisposed to believe that he would die, let alone die and be raised from the dead. We saw him impaled upon the cross. Some of our number, the women especially, saw him being placed in a new unused tomb. And we were there when he appeared on that day in the evening. We were there a week later
when he appeared again. We were watching him when he spoke to one of our number and said, See, touch, it is I. I am Jesus. And this became a dominant note in the preaching.
We see it again in Acts 4 when the servants of God are apprehended. They're answering those who are seeking to shut them up. Verse 9 If we this day are examined concerning a good deed done on an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, states it in blunt terminology, this same Jesus of Nazareth you crucified, God raised him. Your sentence of him was, imposter, blasphemer, kill him.
God's sentence is, he is Messiah, he is Christ the Lord, I raise him from the dead and I sit him at my own right hand as the messianic king. Verses 32 and 33 The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul, and none of them said that all of the things that he possessed was his own, but they had all things common, and with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Their message is summarized as witnessing to the fact of the resurrection. It was a dominant note in their preaching.
Now when Peter's before a group of Gentiles in the house of Cornelius, what is his emphasis? Acts 10 verses 39 to 41 He's preaching to Cornelius in his gathered household. We are witnesses, verse 39, Acts 10, of all things which he, Jesus, did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree, him God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made manifest, not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were chosen before of God, even to us, now look at this stroke, who ate and
drank with him after he rose from the dead. Isn't that a precious little, we ate and we, he could have said we prayed with him, I'm sure they had some time to pray, or we received further instruction from him, because that's true, Luke records that, he opened their mind to understand the scriptures, but Peter says, you doubt? We ate and drank with him. We saw his teeth masticate the fish. We saw
his Adam's apple when he swallowed. We saw him right his mouth with a napkin when he was done. He was a perfect gentleman. We ate and drank with him. Now you want to call
us a bunch of liars? You want to prove us all to be untrustworthy men? You want to prove us all that we've gotten together and schemed to concoct a message for which our lives have been threatened? For which we are willing to suffer and even to die?
No, the resurrection, you see, becomes a dominant note in the apostolic preaching. Here's Paul preaching at Antioch of Pisidia, Acts chapter 13, the same emphasis, Acts 13 26, Brethren children of the stock of Abraham and those among you that fear God, to us is this word of salvation, sent forth, for they that dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor the voices of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet they asked of Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him
in a tomb. Now you see those strands coming together? He was on the tree, down dead, took him down dead, put him in a tomb, dead. But verse 30, but God raised him from the dead, and he was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses unto the people.
He is alive, living witnesses saw him, and will affirm that God raised him from the dead. Acts 17, look at this summary statement of how Paul evangelized. Verses 1 to 3. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, and they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his custom
was, went in unto them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and alleging that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ. And then way over in Acts 26, in Paul's defense before one of the Roman authorities, notice this emphasis coming through again. Acts 26 and verse 19. Whereupon King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared both to them of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to
the Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. For this cause the Jews seized me in the temple, and assayed to kill me. Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand unto this day testifying, both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come, and how the Christ must suffer, and how that he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light both to the people, and to the Gentiles. Now I ask you, from just this sampling of what are summaries of apostolic preaching, what place does the bodily resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth have in the apostolic preaching? I hope I've persuaded you that it was the crowning affirmation in their preaching. They offer forgiveness, they offer pardon, the possibility of being right with God based upon this objective historical reality. Jesus of Nazareth, approved by his mighty works, crucified and slain at the hands of evil men, that Jesus had been raised from the dead. So
the Christian converts under apostolic preaching were converts who came into the Christian faith in a context where the resurrection of Jesus Christ was foundational to their faith. And as their faith is developed by apostolic instruction, it becomes molded by the fact of the resurrection. And wherever the apostolic gospel is proclaimed, the fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus will be a dominant note in that proclamation. Now we come thirdly, and quickly.
Observation 3: The Resurrection is Assumed in Letters to Young Churches
We're trying to answer the question, what place does the resurrection of Jesus, that fact, what does it have in the Christian faith? What is its importance in the whole fabric of divine revelation with regard to the gospel? We have seen that the bodily resurrection is the capstone of the gospel records, the bodily resurrection is the crowning affirmation in apostolic preaching, and thirdly, the fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is assumed as a well-attested fact in the letters to the young churches. The resurrection of Jesus is assumed as an established fact
in the letters to the young churches. So you see what I've done with you? I've addressed resurrection in the gospels, resurrection in the book of Acts. Now if you start in the letters to the young churches, Romans to Revelation, you can hardly turn a page where the fact of the resurrection is not assumed. It's there, wherever
you turn. Let me just give you a sampling from a couple of those letters. Turn to Romans chapter 1. The apostle writing to a church that he has never personally visited hopes to visit them with a view to establishing a base for a new gospel foray up into Spain.
And he's writing to this well-established church. Look at his language. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. There is but one gospel of God. Many man made gospels,
one gospel of God, which he promised afore through his prophets, in the holy scriptures, concerning his son, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. The Jesus whom he proclaims is one who has tap roots in the Old Testament prophetic scriptures. This is not some Johnny-come-lately Jesus. He is the Jesus who is the full fulfillment of all the hopes and aspirations pointed to in the prophetic scriptures.
This Jesus, who was declared, not made, but declared to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. And he says, from this living Christ, it is through him we receive grace and apostleship unto obedience of the faith among all nations for his name's sake. So the faith that he preaches, obedience to which is the great end of his gospel and apostolic labors, that faith has as a cornerstone block the fact of the resurrection. He doesn't pause to prove it.
He simply assumes the validity of it. Chapter 4 and verse 25. We'll look at this in more detail tonight. Speaking of Jesus, he says, who was delivered up for our offenses was raised for our justification. All
through chapter 6, when he's dealing with the question of, can a person who's a true believer continue in sin? He says no. And his basic answer is, union with Christ assures that no true believer will continue in sin as a practice. Union with Christ in what sense? In his death, burial,
and in his resurrection. Likewise, in chapter 8, he speaks of the ministry of the Spirit, not only in our present experience, but he will also quicken our mortal bodies. And we will share in the glory of Christ's resurrected body. He writes to Timothy and says, remember Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 2.8. And the first thing he says about him is, risen from the dead. Remember Jesus Christ, Timothy.
And remember him especially as the one who conquered death. We saw in our studies of 1 Peter. We've been begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And when the Lord Jesus is going to speak to the seven churches and he appears in vision to John, he says in chapter 1 verses 17 and 18, behold I am the one who was alive and dead and now is alive forevermore.
Application: The Resurrection is a Matter of Life and Death
You cannot work your way through the letters sent to the believing communities throughout the Roman Empire without coming to this conviction that a commonly accepted fact which was in inextricably bound up in their salvation and in their views of the Christian life is the fact of the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Now in summary and closing this morning, I do want to make this very simple but pointed application. You sit there and say, well you obviously believe this and I can see. You've shown me enough in my Bible believe they believe that but what's the big deal?
Must I believe the two thousand years ago someone who was put to death in nakedness and shame as a common criminal that he who was placed in that borrowed tomb came forth and is alive and I'm to get concerned about this? Yes you are. And for this simple reason that it's a matter of life and death. It's a matter of life and death.
In Romans 1.16 the apostle says I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation and there's only one gospel the power of God unto salvation that's the gospel and Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 1-4 that the resurrection is an essential element in that gospel. I make known to you brethren the gospel, the gospel which I preach to you. Not one of many not one that I thought you might be particularly inclined to receive that you would be psychologically and sociologically and religiously predisposed to embrace this gospel so I gave you this one but in a different set of circumstances I give another one no.
He said I preached unto you this gospel, the gospel which you received wherein you stand now notice by which also you are saved if, if you hold fast the word, the message which I preached unto you except you believed in vain. Well Paul what is that message? Holding on to which, belief in which is a matter of salvation or it's opposite damnation. What is that gospel? He said I'll give you the
heart of it. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I received I didn't concoct it it's not the result of my fevered brain I did not have a psychological and emotional breakdown on the road to Emmaus because I was loaded down with the guilt of killing Christians and in the midst of that breakdown I had an apparition. No he was fully sane and in possession of all of his powers on his way to get more Christians and apprehenders when the voice comes out of heaven in a shining light brings him to his face and Christ reveals himself to him and that Christ has given him his gospel I delivered unto you first of all that which I received and here's the heart of it
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures and was seen and four times he uses that verb was seen was seen was seen once seen what's he saying he's saying here the two massive pillars on which rests the salvation of hell deserving sinners Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures the validation that he died is he was buried you see that in the text he said my
gospel is that Jesus died a real death as we shall see tonight not just a physical death but he died a spiritual death loaded with the sins that were imputed to him and he felt the curse of God in the depths of his soul and he died and was buried the burial is the validation of the reality of the death and now he says he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and what's the validation he was seen he was seen not an ideal was embraced not a religious notion was concocted he was seen
and he said touch me feel me see and as I was preparing for the ministries today the song I used to sing as a young Christian out in the street corner at the top of my lungs he lives he lives Christ Jesus lives today he walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way he lives he lives salvation to impart you ask me how I know he lives I used to have the gall to say he lives within my heart no I do not know he lives primarily because he lives within my heart I know he lives because credible witnesses saw him and they ate with him and they touched him
and our faith rests upon apostolic testimony and witness not upon subjective feelings someone may come along and say he walks with me and talks with me someone else may come along and say that my alter ego from another state walks with me and talks with me and has given me meaning to life we believe he lives because those who saw him touched him ate with him have left their witness he was seen he was seen and Paul says he was seen of me what happened to me on the road to Damascus was not an emotional breakdown was not some kind of self induced
psychological or mystical experience the one who spoke said Saul Saul why do you persecute me who are you Lord I am Jesus and with that revelation he saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and he was never the same why is this issue so crucial it's a matter of life and death the one gospel which is God's power unto salvation has as its second massive pillar the Christ who died for our sins was raised again according to the scriptures now our last passage Romans chapter 10
I'm bold to say to anyone sitting here this morning apart from a heart belief in this truth you cannot be saved you cannot be saved Romans chapter 10 look at the language verses 9 and 10 because if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and shall believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you shall be saved for with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation here are the two elements heart and mouth
and what must the heart believe unto salvation unto righteousness not just some vague notions that Jesus is a religious figure best and the highest and the most noble and the wise and most gracious of all religious figures and somehow or other his noble life and his death as a martyr filters down to me showing me how I ought to live and so I believe in Jesus after that kind of notion no no no he says with the heart man believes unto salvation I'm sorry you shall believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead that is that his work on behalf of sinners was culminated in his resurrection
in which he burst the powers of death having fully discharged the debt that he had to pay on behalf of his people if you shall believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you shall be saved for with the heart man believes unto righteousness not anything content about Jesus of Nazareth and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation what significance does the resurrection have it's a matter of life and death my friend and if you refuse to embrace the risen Christ as your savior and your lord you will meet the risen Christ as we'll see tonight when we get into this third question what significance does all of this have
to the ultimate questions of life what happens when I die will there be a resurrection the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is God's great trumpet declaring the answer to those ultimate questions and I trust that as a result of our study this morning particularly you the people of God will not allow yourselves in any way to be wrenched loose from what the bible means when it says Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead and that you will never be moved from a gospel which has as one of its immovable indispensable pillars the fact of his resurrection
let's pray our father we thank you that this day we do not gather together in order to conjure up some sentimental thoughts that spring has sprung and the flowers have begun to burst through the soil and that all around us there are signs of life and that sentimentally we can think that somehow or other there is some life to be found in the church we bless you that we meet this morning because our Lord Jesus vacated Joseph's tomb we thank you that you raised him from the dead never to die again
and we thank you that he lives to apply his salvation in power seal then your word to our hearts for those who have sought to push aside their obligations in the light of the risen Christ that you would by your grace and power allow them and draw them to yourself that they may know the blessedness of sins forgiven and deliverance from bondage to their sins seal then your word and continue with us throughout this day that you may be honored in all we do and say we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage is read and expounded at the beginning to frame the entire sermon, highlighting the core message of the gospel and the dire consequences of denying the resurrection.
This passage is expounded to establish the first crucial strand of the resurrection's meaning: the undeniable reality of Jesus' physical death on the cross.
This passage is expounded to further confirm Jesus' death and detail the second strand: his dead body being prepared for burial and placed in a new, unused tomb.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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If this spoke to you, hear also…
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Implications of Christ's Resurrection
Romans 1:4
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