Sermon: "The Resurrection Impact"
INTRODUCTION: SPREADING LEGENDS
Back in the ‘70s, I was a teenager. And I was a Christian. And I can remember becoming enthralled with the subject of Bible prophecy. Hal Lindsey’s book The Late Great Planet Earth was a best-seller in those days and it seemed that every Christian I knew had seen the film A Thief in the Night, a dramatization of the Rapture that pre-dated the Left Behind series by almost three decades.
There was a lot of literature and a great deal of discussion about end-time events back in those days. The 6-Day war in Israel in 1967 certainly did much to fuel speculation. And, speaking of fuel, the marked dependence on oil from the Middle East was directly affecting our economy, making these Bible accounts all the more pronounced in our lives. Many of us honestly wanted to know what the Bible said concerning things to come.
In the midst of all the excitement there was one story I had heard that was particularly intriguing. The headquarters for the European Common Market (now called the European Economic Community, or EEC) was Brussels, Belgium, and it was rumored that they had a huge computer there. This computer was supposedly capable of tracking every person on earth. And they called this supercomputer “The Beast”!
Well, anybody who knew anything at all about Bible prophecy knew that the Beast was another name for the Antichrist who would be the one-world ruler during the time of the Tribulation right before the return of Christ. Anyone who would want to buy or sell anything would have to have the mark of the Beast.
And now we were being told that there was already a computer capable of tracking everyone on earth and, to top it off, the computer was called “The Beast.” It seemed as though Bible prophecy was being fulfilled right before our very eyes.
There was just one problem. There actually never was such a computer! While it was true that Brussels was the HQ for the Common Market, they didn’t have a supercomputer nicknamed “the Beast”, either there or anywhere. The story of the Beast Computer from Brussels, Belgium was the work of a fiction writer named Joe Musser. It was for a novel he had written. He testifies that he never intended the account to be anything other than fiction.
But, at the time, the Christian culture in America got hold of this story and began to spread it as though it were factual.
For the record, the disciples of Jesus did not do this kind of thing when it came to their experiences with Jesus. In fact, the apostle Peter gives us his personal assurance of that when he writes…
2 PETER 1:16 – We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
What I want to show you on this Easter morning is…
The Resurrection was an actual incident in history, it was an event that emboldened the people who were living at the time, and it can have an astounding impact on our lives today.
Our main text for this morning is found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.
I. AN ACTUAL INCIDENT
1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-8 – 1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
As the name of this New Testament epistle suggests, Paul has written this as a letter to the people of the church in the city of Corinth. These were people he himself had evangelized. We learn about that in Acts 18.
ACTS 18:1, 4, 8– After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth…. 4Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks….
8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
The fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is sometimes referred to as the “Great Resurrection Chapter” of the Bible. It’s where Paul demonstrates that the believer’s faith is squarely founded upon the historical fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul honestly attests in verse 14 of this chapter that, apart from Christ’s resurrection, the Christian’s faith is groundless:
1 CORINTHIANS 15:14 – And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
Our hope is secure, however, for the resurrection is indeed an established fact of history. It actually occurred.
Let’s look at verses 1 and 2:
1 CORINTHIANS 15:1,2 – 1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
“Let me remind you”
Paul says, in verse 1, that he wants to remind them of the gospel that he had preached to them before. And it is here that we come to a most interesting text of Scripture:
1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-8 – 3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
A number of Bible scholars believe that what we have here in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 is a very early Christian creed. In fact, this may be the oldest Christian creed.
Now, some of you may be asking, “What is a creed?” Well, a creed is basically a statement of faith. It is written down in an organized manner. And it is meant to be part of a worship service. In other words, it’s meant to be read or recited aloud when the church meets as a group.
Some of you may be familiar with the Apostles’ Creed. It reads like this:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
While this is not part of our tradition here, the Apostles’ Creed is used by a number of other Protestant denominations. The reference to “the holy catholic church” is not speaking of the Roman Catholic Church.” It is a generic phrase; the word “catholic” means “universal.” It’s speaking of the entire Body of Christ in contrast to a local assembly of believers.
It’s not my purpose to try to institute the recitation of the Apostles’ Creed, or any other creed for that matter, into our service this morning. I just wanted to give you a well-known example of a creed. Portions of the Apostles’ Creed probably date back to within 50 years of the completion of the New Testament books, so this creed dates back to early Christianity.
I don’t have time to go into all the detail for you, but there are a number of reasons why scholars look at 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 as a creed, a statement of faith that goes back to the time of the apostles themselves. In fact, some believe that this statement of faith dates back to within two to five years of the resurrection of Christ!
Let’s read it once again:
1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-8 – 3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Notice that Paul says in verse three: what I received I passed on to you. It seems Paul first learned this creed from the apostles in Jerusalem right after he first became a believer. It was part of his training. And, when he went to Corinth as a missionary, probably sometime around 50 AD, less than 20 years after Jesus’ resurrection, Paul taught the new Corinthian believers this same creed. What he received he passed on to them.
And what does this statement of faith say? It gives the message of the Gospel, that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. And it gives a list of people who saw Jesus after He arose. The passage tells us that most of these people were still alive at the time Paul wrote his letter. The implication is that most of them would have been available to personally testify to what they had seen. After all, it had only been about twenty years since these events had happened.
How many of you here were alive in 1987? How many of you were older than age 21 in 1987? How many of you were older than age – well, we’ll just stop at 21! Twenty years is not a long time at all.
The point of all this is simply to demonstrate that the resurrection of Jesus was a real event in history. People witnessed the results. They saw Jesus physically alive. They touched Him; He ate with them. And they were willing to testify publicly to that fact. It was not a myth or legend that developed over time, for there wasn’t enough time for that to happen. Remember what Peter, one of the eyewitnesses to the resurrected Christ, had said:
2 PETER 1:16 – We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
The apostle John also proclaimed what he had seen and heard and touched, as he writes at the beginning of his first epistle:
1 JOHN 1:1-3 – That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
And, because they witnessed such an extraordinary event, their lives were changed forever. The resurrection of Jesus was…
II. AN EVENT THAT EMBOLDENED
Here’s an interesting verse of scripture:
MARK 14:50 – Then everyone deserted him and fled.
Do you know the context of this verse? It was when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He was arrested – then all of His disciples “deserted Him and fled.” That verse sounds so lonely, so forlorn. Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him in His darkest hour.
As he stood outside the judgment hall in Jerusalem where Jesus was on trial that night, Peter denied to the crowd of curiosity seekers that he even knew Jesus. It seems that everyone who was there was aware that Peter was one of Jesus’ disciples. But Peter, out of fear for his own safety, didn’t want to be associated with Jesus at all.
At the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion, it appears that John was the only disciple present. None of the others are mentioned. When Jesus later came to His disciples after His resurrection, where were they? They were in hiding! They were in a room with the doors locked. Now that Jesus was gone (to their way of thinking) His disciples were living in fear.
Compare the fear of these men to the boldness of the man who expressed the following:
ACTS 2:22-24 – Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
It’s hard to believe this when you hear it, but this is the same disciple who, having once denied knowing Jesus, is now speaking to a crowd of thousands in the same city where he had denied knowing Jesus just seven weeks earlier!
Do you think there were people in the crowd thinking, “Isn’t this the same guy who said he didn’t know who Jesus was?”
How could this happen? What changed in Peter that made him so bold?
Shortly after preaching this message, Peter and John are used by God to heal a crippled beggar in the temple courts in Jerusalem.
ACTS 3:11-15 – While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.”
While Peter spoke to the people after healing this man, the priests, the temple guards, and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John. The Sadducees were especially upset with them for proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. The Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection so that’s why they were ‘sad, you see.’
The next day, the very ones who had tried Jesus now called Peter and John to appear before them, to answer for healing the crippled man:
ACTS 4:5-12 – The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Once again, these men boldly proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Jewish leaders sent Peter and John out while they heatedly discussed this issue…
ACTS 4:18-20 – Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
“We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard!” “We can’t help it!!”
Witnessing the resurrected Jesus totally changed the lives of His disciples. They went from cowering in a dark, locked room to boldly and openly testifying in the streets of Jerusalem about what they had seen and heard. The fact that Jesus had bodily risen from the dead had fundamentally altered the way these men thought and lived, and they couldn’t do anything else; they had to preach the Gospel!
III. AN ASTOUNDING IMPACT
The resurrection of Jesus can have an astounding impact on your life today.
Because it is a real event in history, the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead inspires hope and faith in a way that mere words and ideas could never accomplish. It is truly life-changing.
As Paul said to the Corinthians, let me remind you! Jesus had entered the realm of human history. He willingly surrendered His life upon a cruel Roman cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. He died upon that cross, and His dead corpse was wrapped in a burial cloth and was laid in a tomb right outside of the city of Jerusalem. Three days later, on the first Easter Sunday morning, it was discovered that this tomb was empty. Then He began to physically appear to His disciples – to Peter, and to the twelve. He walked with two of them on the road to a small town called Emmaus, telling them all that the Scriptures had to say about Him. He physically appeared to hundreds at one time. And He ascended to heaven. And it changed those lives forever.
And, if you allow it, the historically factual, bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead can completely change your life today and forever. Once you come to grips with the reality of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, you’ll never see things the same way again. All aspects of life have new meaning.
Because of what Jesus has done, you can be delivered from your sins and have your life made right with God your Creator. You can be forgiven and find acceptance in Him. Peter said it well:
ACTS 4:12 – Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
And, if you come to Jesus for salvation and you believe on His name, you will have a hope that lasts beyond the grave to life eternal.
CONCLUSION
While I didn’t state it in a structured and ordered way, this, ladies and gentlemen, is my creed. This is what I believe. And its power is offered to you today to change your life.
In his book, The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel conducted an interview with one of the world’s leading scholars on the resurrection of Jesus, Gary Habermas of Liberty University. Back in 1995, Gary’s wife Debbie died of stomach cancer. He told Lee Strobel the story:
“I sat on our porch. My wife was upstairs dying. Except for a few weeks, she was home through it all. It was an awful time. This was the worst thing that could possibly happen.
“But do you know what was amazing? My students would call me – not just one but several of them – and say, ‘At a time like this, aren’t you glad about the Resurrection?’ As sober as those circumstances were, I had to smile for two reasons. First, my students were trying to cheer me up with my own teaching. And second, it worked.
“As I would sit there, I’d picture Job, who went through all that terrible stuff and asked questions of God, but then God turned the tables and asked him a few questions.
“I knew if God were to come to me, I’d ask only one question: ‘Lord, why is Debbie up there in bed?’ And I think God would respond by asking gently, ‘Gary, did I raise my Son from the dead?’
“I’d say, ‘Come on, Lord, I’ve written seven books on that topic! Of course he was raised from the dead. But I want to know about Debbie!
“I think he’d keep coming back to the same question – ‘Did I raise my Son from the dead?’ ‘Did I raise my Son from the dead?’ – until I got his point: the Resurrection says that if Jesus was raised two thousand years ago, there’s an answer to Debbie’s death in 1995.
“And do you know what? It worked for me while I was sitting on the porch, and it still works today.
“It was a horribly emotional time for me, but I couldn’t get around the fact that the Resurrection is the answer for her suffering. I still worried; I still wondered what I’d do raising four kids alone. But there wasn’t a time when that truth didn’t comfort me.
“Losing my wife was the most painful experience I’ve ever had to face, but if the Resurrection could get me through that, it can get me through anything. It was good for 30 A.D., it’s good for 1995, it’s good for 1998, and it’s good beyond that.
“That’s not some sermon. I believe that with all my heart. If there’s a resurrection, there’s a heaven. If Jesus was raised, Debbie was raised. And I will be someday, too.
“Then I’ll see them both.”
Paul closes out the Great Resurrection Chapter in 1 Corinthians with these words:
1 CORINTHIANS 15:50-57 – I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.