Oops! We could not locate your form.

Sermon Notes

If you weren’t here on Sunday, let me say to you happy Easter. Before you think I’m crazy I know it’s Wednesday night but by the time we’re done tonight I want you to know that I don’t think it’s far off of Easter. I don’t mean in time. I mean every time we get together we are really, really close to the central point Easter.

Last week on Thursday a really amazing event happened. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution picked it up and ran up a feature article on Friday about it. Lewis Jordan on January 23 took his little fishing boat and left a dock not far from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. His plan was to just make this a very short trip. Not long after getting into the Atlantic a storm showed up and the boat capsized. Lewis Jordan was missing at sea since January 23^rd. On Thursday of last week, he flagged down a German commercial vessel in the Atlantic. They picked him up and they brought him back to North Carolina. He was reunited with his family for the first time on Friday of last week. Jordan said he lost 50 pounds. He said that he had a very limited supply of water so he personally rationed his own water supplies and drank less than a pint of water a day. He survived for most of the last half of the 66 days on fish that he caught out of the ocean. Every day Jordan’s family was praying for his safe return. I was impressed that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution carried the reunion between Jordan and his parents. When Lewis Jordan’s father, Frank Jordan, saw his son for the first time he grabbed him in a big bear hug and he made this statement, “The only thing that matters is that you’re alive.” Now you and I weren’t there and we can’t imagine the emotion this family went through. I will say this, if you were to take that kind excitement and emotion and multiply it by a thousand fold you would have a little bit of an idea of what the excitement was like when people saw Jesus alive for the first time after his death on that very first Easter Sunday morning.

There was some research done last year and more than 3000 people were surveyed. They were asked all kinds of questions about religion, about God, about the Bible, and about their beliefs. Ligonier ministries conducted the survey and it was reported by Lifeway research. One of the very specific questions that Ligonier ministries asked was, “Do you believe in a physical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ or was it just something else much more spiritual or mystic?” The majority of people who were surveyed said, “I believe that Jesus really was bodily raised back to life again.” There are still a lot of people in our country that either don’t know or just said no. Your friends in the Chattahoochee Valley, the men and women that you know, basically fall into one of four possible answers to this question about the resurrection of Jesus. There are many people who claim to be followers of Jesus and they would say, “I don’t doubt it one bit. That guy really was dead and really did come back to life three days later.” There are a lot of people in the Chattahoochee Valley that literally don’t know it happened. You may think that’s impossible but I’m here to tell you that it’s not impossible because of the huge multinational population that passes through Columbus, Georgia every year. There are a lot of people who have never heard of Jesus’s death and resurrection living in our city. There are a lot of people who would say, “I don’t believe it. It doesn’t matter what you say to me I won’t believe that that guy really died and really did come back to life to 2000 years ago.” I would say for the people who say they don’t believe, the skeptics, you’ve got a problem to deal with because that is not an option. Even for Jesus’ enemies after his resurrection that was not an option. The question was explaining away the empty tomb but nobody said that the empty tomb didn’t exist or didn’t happen. Here’s what breaks my heart, if we were honest this is most of the Chattahoochee Valley, they don’t care. It doesn’t matter to them if Jesus really did rise or not or if he really is who he said he was because it doesn’t make a difference to them personally.

Today what I want to talk about the guy who says, “I don’t care. It doesn’t really matter to me.” I don’t want to just look at the person who says they don’t doubt it, don’t know about it, or don’t believe it. I want to talk about the person who says it really doesn’t matter if Jesus rose from the dead or not. I’m convinced when you understand what the Bible is saying about Jesus’ resurrection this is the center of all that Christianity holds true. So three things I want you to see from the Bible.

I. Jesus died to settle our sin problem

I am responsible for the death of Jesus and so are you. You can’t blame this on the Roman officials that passed the sentence. You can’t blame this on the Jewish leadership that worked up this trial. It’s ultimately sin that led to the death of Jesus. I’m going to define sin for us. Michael just said a second ago that the wages of sin is death. Sin is essentially any time you do anything, say anything, or anytime you think anything that doesn’t measure up to God’s standard of moral perfection. Anything that you do, say, or think that doesn’t hit that standard is sin and as you heard from Romans the wages of sin is death. This is what we’re going to look at from First Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 15:3
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.

When he says, “I’m passing this on to you” Paul is making the statement that this is what somebody taught him and now he is teaching them, this Greek church in the city of Corinth. Paul says this is the most important thing that they’re going to hear from him. In fact, I would argue this is the most important thing you need to know in the New Testament. If you don’t understand this the rest of the New Testament doesn’t make any sense to you. This is the center pole in the entire understanding of who Jesus is and what he came to do. He really, no kidding, had to die to settle our sin problem. Somebody had to die because the wages of sin is death.

When we talk about the resurrection there are a lot of theories about how Jesus was able to come back out of the tomb. I want to dispel some of those by properly defining resurrection. I’ll start with what resurrection isn’t. How many of you in this room are hooked on the TV show The Walking Dead. This is the true resurrection and not zombies in the walking dead. It’s not halfway between alive and dead. Resurrection means he was all the way dead. I know some of you ladies in this room at least have seen the movie Princess Bride. The resurrection is not “mostly dead”. I mean he was no kidding all the way dead. Here’s the truth. His executioners, the Roman guards, were professional killers. He died relatively quickly by crucifixion standards. The Roman guards were called to give an account. Their boss asked them if he was really dead because it was awful quick. These guys knew death because they saw it regularly. For the Monty Python fans in this room it’s also not that I’m not dead yet. Jesus didn’t even fight the idea of having to die for sin. He willingly, graciously went to the cross. He didn’t resist and he didn’t hold back even when his disciples were begging him not to go. Jesus went willingly. For all of you gamers in this room, it’s not the respawning from Battlefield Heartline. This is not somebody else giving you another life, giving you another life, and giving you another life. In fact, if you understand the Gospel very clearly it is by his own power that Jesus walked back out of the tomb alive again three days later.

This resurrection thing is a Bible word and there’s really no good parallel in our society. There is no good parallel anywhere in the world to help you understand what it is except maybe this… were you watching the national championship in the NCAA basketball Monday night. Here’s what resurrection would be like. It would be like Southern Methodist University being brought back into the tournament and handed the championship trophy after having been disqualified weeks earlier because of a goal tending call. The call was overturned and they are not just back in the tournament they just won it all because of resurrection, which is exactly what Jesus went through. This event in human history is not a game changer; it’s the game changer. Read the rest of First Corinthians chapter 15 if Jesus doesn’t rise up on the third day then everything that you and I believe it’s all a hoax. It’s all a farce. But if it’s true it is the game changer because all sin is an offense against God. Since God is holy, there must be a sacrifice present because sin requires death. That sacrifice has to be a perfect sacrifice. Jesus, no kidding really did, died 2000 years ago.

II. Jesus rose to show that he is the Son of God

If you have a friend, somebody at work, or someone at school that’s not sure what they believe about Jesus, I want you to challenge them with these next few verses. If they are absolutely convinced that miracles don’t happen and therefore Jesus couldn’t possibly come back out of the tomb again, then challenge them with this verse.

1 Corinthians 15:4
He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

The words “raised from the dead” is not just the idea that air came back into Jesus’ lungs and he was walking on earth again. It is the idea that he is alive right now today and he’s in the presence of God the Father. There is not a hint of evidence any where in history that 2000 years ago people were arguing the tomb wasn’t empty. Everyone, even Jesus’ enemies, claimed that that tomb was empty. The only argument was what happened to the body. His disciples and many others said that he’s alive. His enemies recognized this would be a problem. At the moment of Jesus’ death, some of his accusers went to the Roman governor asked that the tomb be sealed close so that the person inside couldn’t get out because they thought if he got out it be worse for them. Everybody 2000 years ago, even his enemies, said that tomb was empty. The only argument was what happened to the body.

So let me talk to you about the timing of what we are reading for just the second. There’s great evidence that this book in the Bible, First Corinthians, was the oldest book in the New Testament. It was the first book written chronologically. It was written somewhere between the year 50 and 55 A.D. Let’s just call it like 52 1/2 A.D. We know Jesus died somewhere between 30 and 35 A.D. Let’s just call that 32 1/2 A.D. This book was written almost exactly 20 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. This phrase the apostle Paul used “I’ve passed on to you what somebody else passed on to me” has been researched. In fact in my opinion one of the greatest New Testament scholars, Dr. Robert Stein, wrote an article for the Journal of Evangelical Theological Society about this phrase. The title of the article was “Was the Tomb Really Empty?” Dr. Stein said it is common consensus today among scholars that this phrase that’s written down in First Corinthians 15 probably originated around 40 A.D. Do the math. How long after Jesus’ death did this phrase start? About 7 1/2 years after his death this phrase was being widely circulated and Paul was writing this down for us for the first time. This book was written about 20 years after Jesus’ death and every credible record and even the Roman historians said there really was a guy by the name of Jesus, he really did live 2000 years ago, he really did die on a cross at the hands of the Roman government, and three days later the body was missing. Every historian agrees with that. The argument is what happened to the body.

Let me put this in perspective. You may remember in April 19, 1993 the US government led by Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and a couple of other US government agencies assaulted the Branch Davidians camp in Mount Caramel Ctr., Texas. The camp caught on fire and everyone inside the camp died. The leader was David Koresh. You may have seen the fire on the TV. David Koresh had many, many followers, some of which left before this event. Koresh said he was the son of God and many people believe it. Then this camp was assaulted, the fire started and David Koresh died in the fire. Do you want to know where David Koresh is right now? I can tell you exactly where he is. He’s in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Tyler, Texas. No one questions where David Koresh is right now. And, here’s the truth, no one believes David Koresh was the son of God. Roughly 20 years ago this guy was claiming to be the son of God and many people were following him but today there’s nobody that’s following David Koresh. There are no Branch Davidians anymore because he’s in the ground right now. However, if David Koresh was alive right now today everyone of us in this room would have a problem that we would have to deal with. We would have to decide to believe that he’s the son of God or not. He is standing in front of you and he’s claiming to be the son of God. We saw him die on TV and now he’s alive today.

The truth is if Jesus is alive (this is the argument that First Corinthians is making) then he’s telling the truth. If Jesus really did come back from the grave then he has the power over death. If Jesus is alive today than he was God in the flesh. He is the ruler over all creation. One day all of us will rise again, some to Heaven and some to Hell. Jesus said, “No one gets to the Father except through me.”

III. Jesus is alive now to show he can transform you

This is Jesus’ way of proving he is who he said he is and he can do what he said he can do. He can make you into a new creation. He can give you eternal life. I wrestled with this whole other part of First Corinthians just to get to these last few verses. I want to give you an argument that I want you to use with your friends and your next-door neighbors who say they don’t know, they don’t believe, or maybe they would say they don’t care. Look at these next few verses from First Corinthians 15. Look at the list of witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:5-9
⁵ He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. ⁷ Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. ⁹ For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.

Please tell your disbelieving friends and family that I challenge them to disprove that the tomb was empty. I dare them to do it boldly to God. I think God is big enough that he can handle it. If you’re going to say that you don’t believe or you don’t care, then you have to wrestle with this list. So let’s look at this list for just a second. It only makes sense that Peter, Jesus’ number two guy, would claim he was alive. Remember three days earlier Peter was so scared of a little servant girl when she said he was one of Jesus’ followers that he called down curses on himself. After seeing Jesus alive, Peter was standing on the street corners and boldly preaching that Jesus was alive. When he was threatened with death he said they could kill him if they wanted but he saw the Jesus with my own eyes.

It only makes sense the rest of the 12 followers would claim he was alive. However, these are the 12 followers that were hiding behind locked rooms when Jesus was crucified. They were thinking to themselves that what happened to him would happen to them. Jesus has to go through locked doors to get their attention to prove to them that he’s alive.

Here’s the truth this one’s going to be really hard to explain away because Paul says 500 people at one time saw Jesus. If you saw something totally crazy in this room right now and you said to everybody else, “Hey did you guys see this totally crazy thing?” If all the rest of us in this room say we don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about. Maybe you saw it, maybe you didn’t but the rest of us are saying it never really happened. If all of us in this room say we all saw the exact same thing right now it doesn’t matter how crazy it is none of us are going to say it didn’t happen. All of us would still have to say as crazy as that was because it was all of us at the same time it definitely wasn’t a hallucination. We all saw it. Which is what happens with these 500. I think the very reason that Jesus appears to 500 people at one time is so they can all say yes that they saw him. If 500 saw it at one time there’s no question he really is alive.

The next on this list of names is James, Jesus’s brother. If you’re saying Jesus’ brother is claiming to see him alive? Go home and read Mark chapter 3. In Mark, Jesus’ family heard Jesus preaching and they thought he was crazy for telling people he’s God in the flesh and for telling people he is the only way to Heaven. His brother, James, and his whole family show up and tell the disciples they will take Jesus home with them because he’s obviously crazy. Now James is saying Jesus is the son of God. In fact, James became the preacher of the first church in Jerusalem. James boldly told everybody Jesus really was the son of God. Before you try to explain James away let me ask you this question, do you have a sister or brother? What would it take to convince you that they are God? Jesus was saying he was God and in Mark Chapter 3 James was saying now he’s crazy. After the resurrection James was telling everybody Jesus really was God because he saw Jesus die and he saw him alive again after that resurrection.

Maybe the strongest argument in this entire list is a guy by the name of Paul. The apostle Paul said he was not even worthy to be called an apostle because Paul was a terrorist. He was the religious terrorist by the name of Saul who persecuted and murdered Christians for following Jesus. Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus Then Saul started to go to the street corners and to the synagogues telling people that Jesus really was the son of God and he is alive. It would be like the leader of Isis today becoming a total follower of Jesus Christ and telling everybody Jesus is real and he is alive because I’ve seen with my own eyes. That’s how spectacular this guy’s turnaround was.

The truth is your friends that argue away that Jesus really isn’t alive and doesn’t matter here’s probably the strongest argument: he showed himself to me. If you’re a follower of Jesus he showed himself to you too. He is alive! I can prove to you he’s alive because he radically and totally transformed me. He gave me supernatural peace in the midst of a firefight where I was convinced I was going to die. I’m not just talking me but billions of people over thousands of years that said that Jesus radically and totally transformed their life. The Jewish Rabbi that died 2000 years ago is alive today. I’m talking about people like Mickey Mantle who in 1995 just a couple days before his death did an interview and he said, “I am trusting in Jesus Christ alone to take me to Heaven.” People like Vincent van Gogh who called Jesus the matchless artist. Van Gogh said Jesus, “never made a painting, never wrote a book, never compose a score but he proclaimed loudly by making dead men immortal through his death and resurrection.” Men like Theodore Roosevelt who said, “The office of President has enabled me to preach the practical moralities of the Bible to my fellow countrymen and to hold up Christ as the hope and the Savior of the world.” John Grisham the best-selling author who said, “When I was in third grade I fell under conviction and talked to my mother. My mother led me to Jesus. The following Sunday I made a public confirmation of my faith. In one sense, it wasn’t terribly eventful for an 8-year-old boy but it is still the most important event of my life.”

This church, every church, stands boldly to declare that Jewish rabbi really did die 2000 years ago and of his own power came back up out of the grave. For us every Sunday and every Wednesday night that we gather together is Easter because we celebrate the risen Savior. So here’s the truth. You can say you don’t doubt it. You can say you don’t believe it but today you can no longer say you don’t know about it. I would challenge you that don’t care is no longer an option. You’ve got one of two choices from this point. Either you don’t doubt it or you don’t believe it but saying I don’t care and it doesn’t make a difference to me is no longer an option

Here are a couple of questions that you asked about Heaven.

In Heaven will we act just like we do on earth without sin? The truth is I think a lot of who you are is not based in how you look or your life experiences it’s based in your personality. So I think perhaps yes you will act a lot like who you are here on Earth except all of those character flaws that everyone has will no longer exist when we’re in Heaven. I think a lot of your personality is going to be lived for eternity like that in Heaven, especially the awesome stuff.

Our next question, Will we know unsaved people when we when we get to Heaven? Will we know the people that we knew here on Earth that didn’t go to Heaven? Will we know they are in Hell? I tend to say no to this one. I think for two reasons you perhaps won’t know that unsaved person. Not that your memories will necessarily be gone because I don’t think that’s the case. I think you’ll be so consumed by the presence and the glory of God that those things will fade away. Maybe you don’t forget them but they’ve faded away because you have been overwhelmed by the glory of God first. Secondly Scripture teaches us there are no tears, no suffering, and no pain in Heaven. The people that are dearest to me that don’t know Jesus that sits on my soul every day my desire to see them come the faith in him. I can’t imagine for eternity thinking and knowing that they’re not here with me. So I think that will probably be eclipsed by the glory of God.

Lastly do we wear clothes in Heaven? Yes, but not True Religion jeans. I think you’re probably going to wear clothes and probably wear robes when you get to heaven. I mean the kind of really awesome clothes that Jesus is preparing for us because in the in the book of Revelation when he’s writing to the church as he’s telling them that he has a white robe that’s stainless, pure, and brilliant white waiting for you when you get to Heaven. I don’t know that that necessarily means long flowing baptism robes as much as it is awesome looking clothes that are unstained by sin and bring glory to God.

Next Steps

• I want to know more about what it takes to be with God in Heaven.  Please contact me about how to become a Christian.
• Today, for the first time, I understand that the resurrection is real.  So, I am turning from my sins to a relationship with Jesus.
• I believe that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is also available to me through faith.  I commit this week to allow Jesus’ power to work though me this week.
• I’m struggling with some stuff right now.  Please pray that I will rely on God’s power this week.

Discussion Questions:

1. What difference does it make that Jesus rose from the dead?

2. Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

• Can you be a Christian and not believe in Jesus’ resurrection?
• Where did Paul get these words from?
• Describe for the group how Paul became a Christian.  What does Paul’s faith teach about God’s ability to change a sinner?
• Why did Paul work so hard after becoming a Christian?

3. Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-26

• What happens to our hope of Heaven if Jesus was not raised?  (Explain your answer)
• What is the penalty for being a “false witness” in the Bible?
• What is the difference between “falling asleep” and “perish” in v. 18?
• How did Jesus’ resurrection fix Adam’s failure?
• How does Jesus’ resurrection defeat death?

4. Pray that we would rely on the power of Jesus’ resurrection to help us in our struggle with sin and to show the world that we are different because of Jesus.