The Resurrection of Christ (A)

  • Text: Acts 4:10-12,18-20; I Corinthians 15:3-17, KJV
  • Series: Non-Negotiable (2014), Pt. 3
  • Date: Sunday, September 21, 2014 — AM
  • Venue: Lindsay Missionary Baptist Church — Lindsay, Oklahoma
  • Speaker: Jared Byrns
  • Download Audio: mp3

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The following rough transcript has not been edited, proofread, or corrected. It is a draft transcript and is not certified to be true and correct. It has been produced by AI and may contain inaccuracies. It is presented here primarily to enable users to search the audio by keywords.

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We’re going to be in we’re going to start in Acts chapter four this morning. Acts chapter four, we’ve been looking in the last few weeks, at some things that I’ve called non negotiables some things that we as Christians, these are some of the hills, we have to, to stand our ground on. Some of the places where we fight and dine. I don’t mean literally, you know that week, guys, we are not ISIS, where we’re going to go out and slaughter people, if they disagree with us. That’s not what I’m talking about. But I’m talking about theologically. These This is ground, we don’t give up. There are some things that we may look at as important, and believers can agree and disagree about and we can fight but it doesn’t, it doesn’t make you any less of a it doesn’t make you any any less of a Christian one. One example of that would be what we think is going to happen in the end times there. And there may be a variety of opinions, even within this church. There are there are those in Christian circles, who who think that Jesus is going to come back before the tribulation for his believers, there are some who take he’ll come back partway, and through the middle of the tribulation to take believers to heaven, there are those who think it’ll be afterwards and you know, we can argue about that we can debate about that, hopefully, politely debate about that. But it doesn’t really make you any less of a Christian, if you believe one way or the other. But there are some things that are just non negotiable. They’re sort of the dividing line between what is what is Christian teaching? And what is heretical, or what is another religion. And we talked two weeks ago about the Trinity, that there is one God, and yet there are three persons described as God in the Bible and described as having the attributes of God. And somehow that works together that there’s one God revealed in three eternally distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we talked about what the Bible teaches on that. And do I completely understand how that works? No, I don’t and neither do you. But we from what we do understand that we take it on faith that God says that’s the way it is. And so we believe it. And that is, for us a non negotiable if you start talking about the Godhead being anything other than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all being three persons, and one God, it undermines the foundations of the gospel, the gospel doesn’t make sense anymore, because the gospel is that we’ve sinned against the Father. And so now the Holy Spirit draws us to the Son, and the son has made peace between us and the Father, we need all three, for the gospel to make sense. We talked last week about the deity and the humanity of Christ, the DNA being that Jesus Christ is fully God, and that at the same time, he’s fully human. Again, I don’t completely understand how that works, because we’re not talking a 5050 split in his nature. Here, we’re talking about 100% and 100%, that seems to defy the, the the boundaries of my understanding, at least, maybe you don’t have a problem with that. But I have trouble comprehending that. And yet, it’s what’s taught in the Bible. And that’s a non negotiable for us. It has to be that way. Because Ladies and gentlemen, if he was not man, if he was not fully man, he could not have died on the cross for us. God is eternal. The Bible says from everlasting to everlasting, he is God, you can’t go kill God. You can’t go kill God. So for him to die for us on the cross, to die for our sins, he had to be man, and yet to rise again from the dead, and prove that he wasn’t just anybody who got himself, guys, I can go get get myself killed today. I don’t plan to, but I could probably go get myself killed today. And I can tell you ahead ahead of time that I was going to die for your sins. But if I’m not God, doesn’t matter what I tell you, I can’t die for your sins. And if he wasn’t fully God, he couldn’t rise again from the dead, proving that he had the power to forgive your sins. Now, again, do I understand that how the two natures fully work together? how all that fits? No, but what what God has chosen to reveal in His Word, I take on faith as much as or as little I should say, as I do understand it, and accept that that’s a non negotiable because the gospel doesn’t work apart from that. And like I said, last week, I’m sure it’s not real reassuring to you. If the preacher gets up and says today’s topic I don’t fully understand, but here we go, anyway. But I can tell you what, what little what little part of it God has revealed to us in the scriptures. You know, I gave a Friday in the end of the Friday at the end of the day, excuse me, I’m a little tongue. time this morning, at the end of the day on Friday, we did a science experiment in my class, because I’ve been talking to the third graders about molecules and how they work in science. And by Friday, they still couldn’t even remember the word molecule. So we may have to go back and revisit that. But we were talking about molecules and how they work. And so we tried a little experiment with putting a marshmallow in the microwave. And we took a little poll, I put five options on the board, and I said, Well, you know, raise your hand, if you think it’s going to do this, I gave him it’s gonna get bigger, it’s gonna shrink, it’s gonna explode, it’s gonna melt, or it’s gonna catch fire. And we just kind of took a poll to see what all of them thought. And what it’s going to do. If you put a mic marshmallow in the microwave for 30 seconds, it’s gonna puff up really big, then when the microwave is off, it starts to shrink back down not to its original shape, it kind of flattens out. And it’s terrible to try to clean off of a plate. So just take my word for it. But I told them at the end, no, most of them didn’t say it’s just going to get bigger, they were hoping it was going to explode or catch fire. I would have had some explaining to do if I cut the classroom on fire with a microwave and a marshmallow, but it got bigger. And so I began to explain to them how or why it got bigger. It’s because there are water molecules inside the marshmallow just like in most food that when it heats up, it’s going to cause it to expand. Now I didn’t go into it with them an explanation of how the radiation from the microwaves zaps the the water molecules and provides energy and excites the molecules for lack of a better word they turn into to gas form, and there’s pressure that builds as they’re slamming off of each other, and there’s nowhere to go. And so it expands until they’re not slamming off of each other until the it’s expanded so much that the pressure doesn’t build anymore. And then it cools it goes by I didn’t go through the explanation of how all of that works, and the heat and the energy and all of this. They didn’t they didn’t understand that. Now they might have if we’d spent a long time trying to explain that. But I didn’t have a long time, they understood the water molecules heated up and it got bigger. Okay, they didn’t understand all the mechanics of how it worked, that the marshmallow got bigger, but what little bit they understood, they accepted and it was enough for them to get the idea of the project, guys, that’s how it sort of is with these non negotiables. There are always going to be questions that are not answered for us, there are always going to be things that we’re wondering how does that work, but God for whatever reason, and probably for the fact that we are not as brilliant as God is, none of us are as smart as God is. And all of us together are not as smart as God is. And that may be the reason he is he said you can’t understand anyway that he has not chosen to reveal to us all the mechanics of how these things work. And yet what he has chosen to reveal to us in His Word, we can take on faith and say I don’t understand 100%. But I do believe this is what the Bible teaches. And so I’m going to stand on it. So I don’t want you to think just because something is hard to understand from the Bible, that it’s not true, or it’s not important. We don’t take that we don’t take that view of the world and anything else and say, well, it’s not true, or it’s not important, because I don’t understand it. I didn’t until this year understand how our refrigerator work that it wasn’t actually making cold, it was just removing heat. That didn’t mean it’s not important how the refrigerator works or that it works. So we can look at these things and say I understand enough to know that he’s fully God and fully man, I may not understand how all that fits together. But what I understand what a little bit I understand, I believe what we’re going to talk about this morning is one, I think I have a little better grasp on I hope so because I have spent a long time talking to you about it back in the spring. Some of for some of you this may be this may be familiar. For some of you, you may go, Oh, he’s talking about the resurrection. Again, some of you were not here when I when I went through all the historical and scientific evidence for the resurrection. So this will be a little sneak peek of that for you. The rest of you it’s going to be a review of but the resurrection is a non negotiable. The resurrection for Christians absolutely is a non negotiable. When I was growing up, I thought it was just another Bible story. Not that I just believed it. I believed it was true. But I thought okay, it’s just another Bible story. We talked about it every once in a while here in children’s church here in Sunday school. It’s it’s pretty neat but not that big of a deal. How foolish to say that it was not that big of a deal that’s somebody died and rose again from the dead. When I’ve never personally seen that happen. There are people who may be clinically dead on the operating table but for somebody and and and then are up walking around alive again. But for somebody to be dead for three days to be buried and dead for three days and be back alive again. It’s not something I’ve ever seen. I’m sure it’s not something you’ve ever seen. It is one of the most incredible things that ever happened. It is. Ladies and gentlemen. The reason why we’re here this morning. It is I I don’t care what other churches say the resurrection is central to the Christian. Faith. And the reason I say that is because, you know, some of you live out in the country and may not have this problem, but I have Jehovah’s Witnesses come to my door every now and then who teach that Jesus Christ came back, his body dissolved. And then he came back as, as a spirit being or I’ve even heard one say a hologram. I don’t know that they knew about holograms, 2000 years ago, guys, I don’t care what they say the resurrection is central to what we believe. I live so close to the the main mormon church for South Oklahoma City, that you can walk out on my porch and practically spit and hit their parking lot. They don’t teach the resurrection the way we do. And that doesn’t change the fact that the resurrection is central to what we believe. And guys, not just the ones we would look at and say that’s a fringe group, or that that’s maybe a cult. Guys, there are Christian, there are churches that use the name Christian, I don’t know about here in Lindsay, but in Oklahoma City, I know of some that we would say teach liberal theology and say, well, the resurrection is just a story. The resurrection is just a story that the disciples made up to teach the idea that God gives new life to things. Well, God does do that. But God also literally gave new life to God in human flesh. When Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. I don’t understand the purpose of being a Christian, if there’s no resurrection, I’ve come to that conclusion over the years, I don’t understand the purpose of claiming to be a Christian, if you don’t believe the resurrection, I don’t understand the purpose of being in church. If you don’t, if we’re not teaching the resurrection, you realize that if this church doesn’t stand firm on the resurrection, if we don’t stand firm on the resurrection, the only purpose for you and being here this morning is to hear about how to be good, which we can’t do anyway. Or to show other people how good you are, which you’re not. And I don’t mean that to be insulting. I’m not I just like everybody else on earth am a sinner and happen to be a sinner who saved by grace I didn’t deserve. And if you’re a believer this morning, you are a sinner saved by grace that you don’t deserve. None of us by God’s standards are good people. And so the idea to form an entire religion and entire practice, take, take maybe the one day out of your week that you could sleep in and say instead, I’m going to get up and go to this place and sit and listen to some guy drone on for the better part of an hour. Just to show people how good I am. That doesn’t make sense to me. Folks, the reason we are here is because 2000 years ago, Jesus was nailed to the cross for our sins, he died, he was buried and he rose again, he came back to life after three days, it is the most incredible story that has ever been told. It’s the most incredible thing that has ever been happened. And it is the very reason for should be the very reason for what for why we do everything that we do as Christians and as a church. Without the resurrection. There’s no reason for the church. Without the resurrection. There’s no reason for Christianity. Without the resurrection. There’s no reason for you to be here this morning. But there was a resurrection. We’re going to start in Acts chapter four this morning, we’re going to look at a few verses here. This is taken from some of the earliest days of Christianity, where Peter and john shortly after Jesus rose from the dead. And shortly after he ascended back to heaven, we’re out preaching in the streets of Jerusalem. And I’m going to start in verse. You know, I’m just gonna start in verse one. And as they speak into the people, the priests and the captain of the temple, and the Santa sees came upon them being grieved that they talk to people and preach through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead. So they were preaching to the people of Jerusalem, that not only had Jesus Christ risen from the dead, less than a year before they’re speaking. But that because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, we also had the hope of a resurrection as well. And it says here for once it’s not the Pharisees, because the Pharisees, even though they didn’t believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, they did believe in a resurrection. They did believe that at the last days, God would raise everybody up to be with him. Now, the sagia C’s were another group who were on the other end of the spectrum, they didn’t believe in angels didn’t believe in spirits didn’t believe in an afterlife or resurrection. And so they were upset. And it says they were agreed that they were preaching the resurrection guys, the resurrection was not an idea that was made up 10 years later, 20 years later, 100 years later, 300 years later that people made up to build a religion. within less than a year. We already have evidence and really going back to Acts chapter two, just 50 days after all of this took place. They were already preaching the resurrection. But here we have less than a year. They’re preaching again, the resurrection and they’re preaching so hard on the resurrection, that they are making the people upset. There’s about to be a riot, not by the common people. But the religious leadership is about to blow a gasket because they’re out there preaching the resurrection. And they laid hands on them verse three, and put them in hold on to the next day for now. It was even tide he’ll be at many of them which heard the word believed and the number of men was about 5000. Guys, this wasn’t a fairy tale. They were so convincing about what they had seen and heard that they were out there preaching about the resurrection. And they were so convincing that 5000 men converted and believed in the resurrection and trusted Christ as their Savior. It doesn’t say how many men and how excuse me how many women and children there might have been kind of like with the feeding and 5000, I always thought it was 5000 people, and it says 5000 men, you factor in their wives and children, we may be looking at the feeding of the 20 or 30,000. But they were upset because these people were Peter and john, were preaching the resurrection, and men were turning and trusting Christ. And it came to pass verse five, it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers and elders and scribes, and Anis, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and john and Alexander, and as many as were of the Kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked by what power or by what name, have you done this, I love this exchange that they have. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them, there they’re asking these, these men have sort of cornered Peter and john together. And I’ve said, Who told you that you could preach this way. And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit says, You rulers in the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he has made home Viet known unto you and all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom he crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him that this man stand here before you whole. So prior to this, there had been an incident where a man was lame and he was at he was not able to walk, and he was asking for money from people at the temple gate. And Peter and john said to him, silver and gold have none but such as I have I given to the in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk in the Bible said, the man rose up and walk. And everybody was so astonished by this, that Peter and john had an instant audience outside the temple, wanting to know, how are you able to do this? And so the the ruler, they begin to preach about the resurrection, and the rulers, corner them and say, Who told you you could preach preach like this? And Peter and john, don’t answer the question, they answer the question they want to have been asked. And they said, If you examine the good deed, by the way, this was not so evil trick, if you examine the good deed that was done this day, where the lame man was able to walk, so I want you to know that it was because of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who you crucified, but God raised up from the dead, that this man was made whole. So they’re saying it was Jesus who healed him. And yet they’re, they’re reminding them again of the resurrection, because their their purpose never was to just win the argument. It was to get across the idea, the importance that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And they reminded him, you crucified Him, you tortured him in every way possible. Everything you knew how to do, you did to him, everything you had in your arsenal you threw at him, and you thought you had rid yourself of the problem rid yourself of the problem. One of those is right. You thought you’d gotten rid of the problem with everything you had, and it still wasn’t good enough because you crucified Him. And yet God raised Him from the dead. And it’s because of him that this man stands before you home. And then he says in verse 11, this is the stone which was set up, not of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. And Neither is there salvation in any other. Here there’s Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. He lets them know, you kill them. God raised Him up, and God’s plan is for him to be the way to salvation. There’s no other name we can claim by which were saved. Ladies and gentlemen, this morning, the name Baptist will not cut any ice with God, being a member of Missionary Baptist Church, and Lindsey, Oklahoma does not cut you any ice with God, who your family is. Maybe grandpa was a preacher, daddy was a deacon, some mom taught Sunday school, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t cut you. It doesn’t get you any favor with God. We’re not saved through the name of our denomination. We’re not saved through the name of our church, we’re not saved through our family line. Through our family name we are saved in and only through the name of Jesus Christ, the one who died for us and rose again from the dead. This would have been upsetting to them who were claiming salvation through the lineage of Abraham. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and john and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, thank God he can use even unlearned and ignorant man, they marveled they were amazed that these two fishermen, these two lowly fishermen, were able to speak with such authority of the things of God. They marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. They said the only the only explanation here for why these men are able to do the things that they do is because of their relationship with Jesus and beholding the man which was healed standing with them. They could say nothing against it. Yeah, you really don’t want to be the political officials who stand up and say how terrible it is that this man was his man was healed. So they say, okay, that’s, that’s fine. But in verse 15, they say What? But when they had commanded them to go outside of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men for that, indeed, a notable miracle have been done by them as manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. They said, we’re What are we going to do about these men because we can’t go and say, Oh, nothing, you know, there’s no miracle here, they’ve done a miracle. everybody’s seen it, everybody knows there’s no covering it up. But that it spread no further among the people, let us strictly threaten them, that they speak Henceforth, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. So what we can do so that this doesn’t spread anymore and get out of hand, we can threaten them and say, okay, that’s fine. You preached, you’ve done your miracle, now go on, and you better not preach any more about this Jesus, and they call them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. It’s just like today, sometimes, in the most respectful way possible, when people try to tell us what we can and can’t teach, you almost want to grab them by the lapels and say, Who do you think you are? I don’t know what gave them the authority to say you’re not going to preach in the name of Jesus. But Peter, and john handled it much better than I would have, and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken to you more than unto God judgey. So he says to these very religious people, okay, if God tells us to speak, and you tell us to be quiet, you tell me who we should listen to, because they can’t very well say, Well, our word carries more weight than God’s, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge Ye, for we cannot, we cannot, but speak the things which we have seen in her. All we’re doing, all we are doing is telling the people the things that we’ve seen and heard, and it’s so incredible, we can’t stop talking about it. Now, they would end up being thrown in and out of prison for the rest of their lives, beaten, tortured, so many of these apostles, and many of them even martyred because they continued to speak and teach and preach about the resurrected Christ. It was that important. They were arrested, and they were threatened, don’t talk anymore about this. And they said, We cannot but speak of the things that we’ve seen in her. The resurrection, ladies and gentlemen, from the earliest days of Christianity was central to everything that we’ve done. It was central to everything that the apostles did, there was no reason to get out of bed in the morning. But for the resurrected Christ, you look back to where they were after he was crucified. They were defeated. They were beaten down, they went into hiding, they locked the doors behind them, and hidden from hid themselves from the Jewish authorities, because they were afraid they were going to be next. You don’t just come out of that suddenly feeling better. And we’re going to take on the world, there was no reason to go on, but for the resurrected Christ, and now for them to be out speaking to the people. There’s no reason for that. But the resurrected Christ, from the earliest days, all of Christianity has been built on the resurrection of Christ. Now, we won’t have time to finish all of this message this morning. We’ll come we’ll continue it tonight. I’m not through yet. But we will eventually come to a stopping point. And I won’t, you know, I won’t try to squeeze in all of this this morning and keep you here till 1230. We’ll finish it tonight. But I want to talk to you. First of all, as I already have a little bit about what the resurrection is, first of all, that Jesus Christ died for our sins. That’s important because there’s no resurrection if he didn’t die. First Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians chapter 15, tells us, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, for there to be a resurrection, he had to die. And the Bible says that he did die. Historical testimony tells us that he did die. And not just from Christians, Greeks and Romans and Jews, wrote who did not believe that he was the Messiah wrote that he lived and taught and ministered, and did what to them appeared to be miracles, and that he was crucified. He did die. And the Scriptures tell us that He died for our sins. He didn’t just get himself killed as a political revolutionary because he irritated the wrong people. He came for the purpose of dying for our sins, because you and I had sinned against the Holy God. We had sinned against a holy God. And there’s no amount of good that we can do to earn our own forgiveness. There’s no amount of good that we can do to work off the sin that we’ve we’ve committed any time we just obey God. It condemns us, and we sin because we’re sinners. We’re born under condemnation. And the Bible says Jesus died for our sins. Second of all, he was buried. There’s no proof for a resurrection if he wasn’t buried, because one of the best evidences was the fact that the tomb was empty and nobody could deny it. But if he’d never been put in the tomb, what does an empty tomb mean? might mean it was never occupied to begin with. But the Bible says that he was buried. The Bible talks about this man Joseph Avira. mithya, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council that condemned Jesus to die apparently was not there when the vote was taken. So it was not part of those who voted to condemn him. But it was part of that ruling council, who when the disciples term and fled when the disciples ran, ran away and hid, this Jewish leader named Joseph Avira. mithya was the one who went to Pontius Pilate and said, Can I have his body to give him a proper burial, and put him in a tomb that was been sealed by the Romans sealed under authority of the governor? Folks, what kind of sense would that make for that to be made up? Think about this here. They were not too happy with the early apostles, were not going to be all that happy with the with the ruling Sanhedrin. At that point, they were the ones who had condemned Jesus to die. And while they had run and hid, they fled, lock themselves away, not believing at that point what Jesus said, destroy this temple and again, I’ll build it in three days, forgetting Jesus words, Joseph Avira, mithya, this Jewish leader was one of the few people who had the courage who had the guts to go to the Romans and say, I’ll identify with Jesus Christ, I have a connection to this man, I have a relationship with this man, I’ll give this man who was condemned by them as a criminal. I’ll give him a respectable burial. If they were going to make up a story about Jesus Christ being buried later on, because it never really happened. We’re just gonna make up the story is part of the resurrection narrative. Why would they invent a character like Joseph Verma Thea, you would think it would be Peter boldly going back and telling Pilate I want the body or else you know, Peter drew out his sword when they came to arrest him. Where was Peter sword now he was in hiding. The only explanation for why that’s in there the way it is, is that’s really what happened. Why would they make it? Why would the apostles make up stories that made them look bad? So he died, he was buried, and folks, the tomb was empty. First Corinthians 15 says, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, 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. They heard the message that he’d risen again, the disciples heard the message from the women that he’d risen again, and they ran to see for themselves and the tomb was empty, and the tomb still empty today, nobody ever came along and produce the body, it would be really easy. If the tomb wasn’t empty, the authorities would have been only too glad to say, No, here’s the body right here. See, he’s still dead, they could have put a stop to this very easily. Jesus rose again, the third day in his tomb was empty. And folks, Jesus was seen alive again, he was seen to live again and to walk again and to teach again, and to do miracles, again, by hundreds of eyewitnesses. And they name some of them here. It’s not just Oh, yeah, a lot of people saw him, they name names, and that he was seen of Sisyphus, then of the 12. And after that he was seen of the 500 brethren at once, of whom a greater part remain under this president, but some are falling asleep and even goes on from there after verse seven, to talk about James and other apostles and then being seen last of all, by Paul himself. Now, I won’t go into all of it again this morning, like I did back in the spring, the the four facts surrounding the resurrection and how I believe it’s absolute historical fact. But that gives you an idea of what the Bible teaches is important about the resurrection story. He died, he was buried, his tomb was empty, and he was seen to live again, I don’t know about y’all, but one plus one plus one plus one to me equals four. Okay, I don’t know about the Common Core math, but the math I was taught one plus one plus one equals four, and dead and buried an empty two incredible eyewitnesses see him alive again, tells me he died and rose again from the dead. There have been all sorts of other explanations that were brought forward that we’re going to talk about what the resurrection is not what the resurrection is, not First of all, Jesus did not merely pass out. Have any of you heard this theory? They call it the swoon theory. I was asked about I was asked about it my ordination several years ago, you know, when they asked you questions to make sure you’re not teaching crazy things. They asked me some of the the basic stuff, you know, do you believe Jesus is the only way to heaven? Yes, I do. Do you believe in eternal security? Yes, I do. Do you believe in the swoon theory, and I laughed at him because nobody believes the swoon theory anymore. Not even not even secular people. Not even atheists don’t, they don’t even believe the swing theory anymore. The swing theory was really popular back in the early 1800s. And into the early 1900s. The idea that Jesus Christ didn’t really die. You know, he didn’t die die. He just kind of passed out where it looked like he was dead. And then he sort of revived on the cross. Or I’m sorry, he was taken down off of the garage, they put him in the tomb, excuse me, I’m getting ahead of myself here. They put him in the tomb, sealed it up and he sort of revived and got better to where on Sunday morning he was able to walk Down to the two. That’s crazy. That’s crazy for a number of reasons. First of all, there’s there’s no evidence to support that to begin with. But after all the beating he went through and the blood loss. And I know I described this more in detail, but hypovolemic shock and everything else that his body would have gone through several months ago. But everything guys, you’re should be familiar with the crucifixion story, everything that his his body went through all the trauma and the torture that he suffered, for him to go through that, and be so close to death that he fooled the Roman soldiers who were very good at what they did, as far as executing people. They didn’t just let people escape, and, oh, he’s not really dead, we’ll just let him go, to be beaten so close to death, that he could fool them. And then go lay in a dark, damp hole in the ground cave, in opening in the ground, sealed up with no medical attention for three days, and then have the strength to roll back the stone that took several men to roll into place, and walk out under his own power and look like the picture of health where he could convince people that he was alive again from the dead by the power of God. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? I can’t believe anybody ever believed that? I can’t believe that any real scientist, any real theologian ever believed that that’s insane. And yet people used to teach that. And the Bible tells us in john chapter 19, that it wouldn’t have been a possibility. Anyway, he was definitely dead when they took him off the cross. john chapter 19, verse 33, says, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break out his legs, okay, still, they could have just thought he was dead, even though it says he was dead already. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forth with came they’re out blood and water. They shoved the spear into his side. So far, ladies and gentlemen, they pierced his side, going upward while he’s on the cross to where the spear would have pierced the pericardium the sack of fluid around the heart would have pierced the heart, which is why there was a fusion of blood and water from the wound. You get a spear through the heart. You’re not you don’t come back from that. You don’t come back from that, especially without medical treatment. If he had not been dead before, which I believe he was because the Bible said they saw him dead. But even if he had not been dead by then he certainly was dead. When they put the Spirit through his heart. There’s no way he came down off that cross alive, and just sort of nursed himself back to health. Second of all, the resurrection is not this the disciples didn’t hallucinate. Now, this one’s still a popular theory. Oh, they just hallucinate it. People don’t tend to hallucinate all the same things together, do they? hallucination from everything I know about it. Everything I’ve read from psychologists usually is a one on one thing. And, you know, I’ve never I don’t know how accurate it is. I’ve never taken drugs myself. All I really know about what happens to you. I saw on reruns of dragnet from years ago, but they would have people on different drugs and they’re all seeing different things. They’re all hallucinating different things. One guy thinks he could fly one thinks he’s being chased by bears. They’re not all hallucinating the same thing. And psychologists will tell us that hallucination is an individual event. Do you realize how how incredibly unlikely it would be for 500 people plus the ones whose names were mentioned, to have all hallucinated the same thing at the same time. There he is. He’s coming in the back door, the upper room, he’s here. No, you might have one person hallucinate that, meanwhile, and other things you can fly in another is being chased by a bear. That’s not how hallucination works. Besides, if they were hallucinating, where was the body? If they were just hallucinating? The Jewish and the Roman leaders could have come and said, No, we’ll take you and show you where he still is in the tomb. We’ll show you where his body is. There was no body to show them. They weren’t hallucinating. Guys to buy the idea that we hear from atheists and agnostics today, that the disciples were just hallucinate. It was a mass hallucination that takes more faith than believing the actual resurrection story that goes against more scientific principles than the actual resurrection story. And besides, Thomas was allowed to put his fingers in the nail prints. He had just said, I won’t believe it unless I see him. He was not in a psychological frame of mind, first of all, to be inclined toward that kind of hallucination. See, just like with hypnosis, and hallucination, you have to be susceptible to these sorts of things. And he was not he was very much a skeptic at this point. And he said, I will not believe they had all told him we saw Jesus with our own eyes and he said, Unless I see the wounds unless I put my fingers in the wounds, I will not believe it. And Thomas Thomas gets maligned a lot but I’m thinking a lot of us might be in the same boat with him. That’s a pretty hard thing to believe. We have the we have the benefit of looking back 2000 years in hindsight and saying how the story turned out to hear this for the first time we saw him this morning, that would be pretty hard to believe. He was a skeptic. And then Jesus showed up and he was allowed to touch the wounds. He didn’t hallucinate that, and wasn’t inclined to hallucinate. So Jesus didn’t just pass out on the cross, the disciples didn’t just hallucinate. Guys there, there are more things that we’re going to talk about the resurrection is not that we will have to finish it tonight. I hope you’ll be back tonight. For the rest of it. We’ll talk about the rest of the things that the resurrection is not it is the things we talked about before that Jesus really died. He really was buried. his tomb really was empty. It still is today. And he was seen by eyewitnesses to live again. It really is that it’s not any of these theories that we’re going to talk about and why they’re, they’re not you might think, why are you telling us all these theories and things I don’t I don’t understand all this. I don’t care about all this. You’re going to run across people who are going to tell you these things, maybe even in your own families, maybe in your circles of friends, maybe in your neighborhoods. Well, you’re crazy to be a Christian. Everybody knows the disciples just hallucinating. There’s a mass hallucination Jesus didn’t really rise again from the dead. Guys, I’m giving you reasons to believe that’s not true and reasons you can take back and say, Well, what about this? Tonight? We’ll finish up with that. And we’ll talk about why the resurrection is such a non negotiable, why we cannot afford to give ground to these theories. Why we cannot afford to go back on this.

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