The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Is it a hoax or hope? Is it historical or Christians just
invented Jesus that didn't really die. He simply escaped to France with Mary Magdalene and then
years later Tom Hanks cracked the code, and all of this is just a bunch of lies? Now the word Easter,
what we call as Resurrection Sunday. Actually the word Easter is not in the Bible. And the word
Easter actually comes from a Saxon word which denotes a goddess of Saxons, in honor of whom
they sacrificed during the time of passover. So it is correct that Easter is not a Christian holiday.
Resurrection of Jesus is. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a crucial holiday and it's
a crucial event for a Christian. Because Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 :4. He says:
If you don't realize it, actually the foundation of Christian faith is not the Bible. It's the
event of Jesus's death, burial and resurrection. Our faith is in the person, not in set of
principles. There's been a lot of people who died. There's been a lot of people who said good
and wise things. But there has been nobody who was like Jesus, who rose from the dead and who claimed
to take our sins upon Himself. If there will be no resurrection our preaching is pointless, our
faith is foolish. Disciples will be deceivers. Sin will be sovereign. Death will have dominion and
our future will be futile. So since resurrection is such a big deal, everything is based on it.
We should take a moment and dive in a little bit more on: Did it really happen? What evidence do
we have that Jesus did rise from the dead? And I'll give you 10 things to consider as a proof
for the resurrection of Jesus. Number one is Jesus resurrection was predicted in the Old Testament.
This did not just happen. This has been prophesied about a thousand years before He came in Psalm
16:10. Number two is Jesus predicted His own resurrection in advance. Ever since He asked
His disciples what they thought of Him and they said, "You're the Messiah. And Jesus
started telling them about something that they did not want to hear. In fact Peter was rebuking
Him because Jesus was saying, "I will die. I will be rejected. I will be betrayed. I will be buried
and then I will rise again on the third day." They couldn't comprehend that because Jesus was on the
peak of ministry. His numbers were good. He was trailing in polls and He's saying all of that.
He predicted that in advance. Number three is Jesus's empty tomb. Now we have to remember that
Jesus did die. Some people say, "Well He didn't rise from the dead, He simply recovered from the
injuries He received." But He was scorched, He carried His own cross. Under the weight, He fell
under that cross. He was on the cross for over six hours in the scorching sun. And right before
He got pierced in His heart, okay. The Bible says, is that He already died, because when they pierced
His heart the blood and water came out. See when you die your blood begins to clot and it begins
to separate itself from all watery serum in your body. So the fact that blood and water came out
indicates He was already dead. But the empty tomb proves His resurrection, because this empty tomb
was found empty. If this was a fake story that was created by the disciples, which by the way if you
remember they didn't believe he would rise from the dead. This whole thing took them by surprise.
Disciples wouldn't put women as the first people who saw the empty tomb because women
were not verifiable witnesses during that time. But they did. Disciples could not have
stolen the body of Jesus Christ because the tomb was guarded. There was sixteen Roman soldiers
who were keeping watch of that tomb. Now the rumors started to circulate that these soldiers
fell asleep and they saw disciples stealing the body. Which is pretty dumb if you think about it.
How could you know who stole the body if you were asleep? And according to Roman law you will be
punished by death for falling asleep during your guard duty, and they were not punished
by death. That means they were never asleep. They were simply bribed as the Bible says,
because the angel came and removed the stone and they just did not want to accept the truth.
Now the fourth reason that we believe that Jesus rose from the dead is that disciples
were changed from cowardness to courage. Before this they were cowards. They were denying Him,
leaving Him, running away from Him, changing their story, going back to their old life. And now
they're so courageous. Now they're full of passion and faith and zeal. And now miracles and signs
are following them. Now for those of you who think, um they could have just came up with the
story on their own, because you know, they knew they're going to be founders of this new religion.
But you know people come up with fake stuff based on usually three reasons: power, wealth and sex.
Like I have a person who makes a profile, fake profile of me on Instagram and tiktok
because they're trying to get money out of people. So let's just say that they wanted to
become somebody and so they created this lie, that Jesus rose from the dead. Maybe one or two people
would come up with that if they're not mentally stable. But if you remember, disciples didn't
get any power, they didn't get any wealth and they didn't get any sex. They were persecuted,
they were killed. Peter saw his own wife being crucified and then he was crucified. Paul was
beheaded and the rest of them died. Nobody would do that for a lie. They had nothing to gain,
except they encountered this person named Jesus alive. The fifth reason that we believe Jesus
rose from the dead is because He appeared to 500 people over the course of fourty days.
It wasn't just to the inner circle that He appeared. He appeared to other people
who were still alive at the time of writing of the New Testament. Now some people say,
"Well those people might have hallucinated and saw Jesus because they wanted to see Him."
One or maybe two people can hallucinate, but five hundred people at the same time during the course
of fourty days? It's just not possible. The sixth reason is that Jesus's followers remain loyal to
Him and they actually started to worship Him. Now for Jewish people to worship a human being
is breaking first two commandments. For his own family, mom and dad. His dad was already passed
away most likely, but his brothers and sisters to worship Him? Like Jesus was their step-brother.
For them to do that was crazy, unless they believed that He was God, otherwise they
wouldn't worship Him. This was a big deal for Jewish people. Number seventh reason is that
Jesus followers changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in the memory of His resurrection. This
was also a huge deal. Sabbath for Israel is the fourth commandment; to break that and to move it
to another day was like a big no-no. Why would they do that? Because Jesus claimed to be the
Lord of the Sabbath and sometimes He broke it to tell people that Sabbath was made for a man, not
man for the Sabbath. And because He rose from the dead on Sunday. This was such a big deal to them,
they started to worship Him and gather together on Sunday morning. Number eight reason is Jesus
followers practice communion and baptism. This was such a big deal, the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
because communion remembers His death and baptism identifies with His resurrection. If you go into
water, you're symbolizing that you're identifying with His death, burial. And when you're coming out
of the water and thankfully we all do. When we get baptized you're saying, "I identify with His
resurrection." This principle continued throughout the church history until even now, because it's
identification with His resurrection. Not just with His good teachings but with His death and
His resurrection. Number ninth reason is Jesus's public enemy number one was converted. Guess when?
When he met Jesus Christ. This guy's name was Paul. Now some people say, "Well disciples of
Jesus were not educated you know, even Pharisees said that they were not educated but they were
bold because they've been with Jesus but see like they did not have a lot of smart people." But Luke
wrote the gospels and Luke was a doctor and Paul was hugely against Christianity. He wanted to
destroy Christianity. He was educated. Some people said actually that education that he received is
equivalent to three PhD's in today's age. And guess how Paul became a Christian? It wasn't by
going to a church. He actually encountered Jesus Himself. Resurrected Jesus. And that changed his
life. Paul was not easily fooled and so this had to be a real genuine encounter that changed
this man into an apostle, who eventually paid with his life for the message of Jesus Christ.
And the tenth proof of Jesus resurrection is that it's also verified by history. There's a Jewish
historian Josephus and he talks about Jesus. I'll actually read the whole quote. It says, "Now about
this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call Him a man. For He was the one
who brought surprising miracles and was a teacher of such people as except the truth gladly. He
won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon hearing him
accused by the man of the highest standing amongst us had condemned Him to be crucified, those who
had in first place have come to love Him did not give up their affections for Him. On the third
day He appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless
other marvelous things about Him, and the tribe of the Christians so called after Him, has still
till this day not disappeared." Scholars tell us that there's more evidence for Jesus Christ coming
out of the grave than there is for Julius Caesar ever been alive. A German philosopher said the
following, "The evidence for Jesus resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it, except
for two things. First it is a very unusual event, and second if you believe it happened you have
to change the way you live." See this is the real reason why many people don't accept Jesus Christ.
It's not because there's not enough evidence. It's because the evidence demands that we do something
with that evidence. For Christians, faith is when the unexplainable confronts the undeniable. It's
true that supernatural things like resurrection are hard to understand but also when the evidence
is facing right in your face, as a christian you have to take a leap of faith. Our faith is
not blind. Our faith is not fiction. Our faith is not based on our feelings or experiences.
Our faith is built on the concrete evidence and proof that Jesus was alive. That He was on this
earth. He spoke the things that He spoke. He died on the cross for us and He rose from the
dead and today we have to receive Him or reject Him. 1 Corinthians 15:14-19 says the following:
The purpose for the resurrection of Jesus. There's eight of these purposes. Number one.
It's a sign for the unbeliever. In fact even Jesus confronted Pharisees and told them, when
they asked Him for a sign that the sign He will give them is His resurrection based on the sign
of Jonah. The second purpose of the resurrection of Jesus, is it's the answer for believers doubt.
Sometimes we will doubt like Thomas whether Jesus truly rose from the dead. And His resurrection,
the evidence of that resurrection and Thomas's testimony help us to conquer our doubts. The
third reason is, it's the guarantee that Jesus's teachings are true. Come on. Anybody who says
whatever they're gonna say, if they predict their death and resurrection and pull it off.
Sign me up. I'm gonna believe that person and Jesus has my vote. Jesus has my loyalty, and
my allegiance because I believe He's the Son of God. Number four is that resurrection of Jesus is
the center of the Gospel. It's the center of the preaching. It's the center of what we talk about.
We're not preaching just, love your neighbor and be good to other people, think positive thoughts
and be nice. You know, a lot of religions talk about that. We have something very different
because it's about the Person. And the center, when we talk about this Person, is not necessarily
that He died at the age of 33. It's the fact that He was God. He is God. He died for our sin.
And how are we sure of that? Because He rose from the dead. His resurrection is God's
"Amen!" to Jesus's, 'It is finished!" The fifth purpose of His resurrection is it's
the key indicator of believer's daily power to live the Christian life. The Bible says,
"The same Spirit lives in us that raised Christ from the dead." The Bible says that we are, as
we come out of the water during our baptism, we're pretty much identifying with Jesus's resurrected
life. Meaning we can experience newness of life. The sixth reason for His resurrection is,
total commitment of our lives. The Lord expects us to pledge our life to Him. And believers did that
all throughout the last 2000 years, they gave their life. A lot of them give up their
possessions, they give up their hate, they give up their evil, sinful ways because of Jesus's
resurrection. The seventh reason is, resurrection of Jesus helps me to conquer my fear of death.
Because He died. See when He died He defeated my sin. When He rose from the dead He defeated death.
He's the only one who did that. There are people who conquered nations. There are people who wrote
books and songs and built universities. There are people who are probably going to go to mars,
and people who went to moon and space. Nobody conquered death except Jesus. And the eighth
reason and the purpose of resurrection of Jesus is, it's a blueprint. An example, a sample of
what's going to happen to us. We will also rise again. We will see our loved ones. Jesus is the
first fruit. We are going to follow Him, meaning there's hope for us in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Therefore resurrection of Jesus is not a hoax. It's historic. Resurrection of Jesus is
not a hoax; it's our hope. I want to encourage you today to give your life to Jesus Christ. If you're
watching this or maybe you're skeptic or agnostic or maybe an atheist, I want to tell you something.
You have nothing to lose by placing your trust in Jesus Christ but you have everything to lose if
you reject the real facts. If you're not convinced I encourage you dive in and study the topic
of His life and resurrection, and you will come to that point where the evidence will stare in your
face. But you will still have to make a decision. You will still have to place your trust in Jesus,
because Jesus told Thomas after he touched Him. He says, "Thomas be believing." Meaning just because
you experienced Me, you saw Me, you still have to trust in Me. Demons believe, they're still demons.
But we have to trust in Jesus, meaning we put our full weight on what He said and
what He did. And then we repent of our sin, we change our mind about God, about our evil life,
our self-centeredness and we redirect and focus our life on pleasing Him and thus
loving other people as well. If you are ready to make the decision to give your life to the Lord,
would you let me lead you in this prayer. Now mind you prayer doesn't save you, Jesus saves
you. But prayer is just you saying, "Lord I need you," and sometimes people just need help
in how to say that to God. Just say this with me. "Jesus I'm a sinner. I need you to save me.
Forgive me my sin. Thank you for taking my sin and wrongdoing on yourself.
I believe you are the promised Messiah. You're the son of God. I don't understand everything,
but I trust you. I want to follow you. I choose to leave the old life of sin
and make you my Lord and Savior and live my whole life knowing more about you. Amen."
If you pray that prayer the Bible says, "When we confess with our mouth and believe with our heart;
God gives us the gift of life." New eternal life. He gives us His Spirit. Begin to dive in Jesus's
Word, go to a local church, surround yourself with other believers and learn more about your faith.
And hey, let me know if you prayed that prayer. Let me know that in the comments below or just
go to hungrygen.com/getsaved and then just sign up there so I could receive that, hey, you prayed
that prayer. And I want to celebrate with you and also send you some resources. Hey thank you
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