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Miles City SDA Church

Diego Silva

If Jesus Had Not Risen

In the light of the fact that people are celebrating Easter and some are thinking of the resurrection of Jesus, that's what I'm going to preach on today.

First of all, if Jesus had not risen, what would be the implications of that?

And if Jesus did rise, how does that impact you?

These are the questions that we're going to be struggling with as we look at the Word of God and I'd like to begin by bringing to your attention a book written by Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, Killing Jesus.

It's a very well-known book in the United States, published by a best-selling author and very well-known cable news anchor.

O'Reilly is a Roman Catholic, so he does profess to believe in Jesus, And I'm not gonna make a case for or against the book, but I just wanna point out that the book, Killing Jesus, doesn't make any claim to the authenticity of the miracles recorded in the Bible that Jesus performed.

They are mentioned in his book as news of the miracles spread into the surrounding area, and the narrative ends with the crucifixion and burial and then the discovery of the empty tomb 3 days later.

So O'Reilly recognizes historically that Jesus lived, that he died, and that later there was a discovery of the empty tomb.

After that it's once again portrayed in the book as news of post-death appearances spread by supposed eyewitnesses, with no attempt to state any author but authentic belief in whether or not these events actually occurred.

So like many people, and we don't really know what O'Reilly's conclusions are because it's written as a historical narrative and he doesn't give us his own conviction theologically, There is no denial of the historical Jesus, but there's no clear statement on whether or not the historical Jesus, the Jesus of Nazareth that lived and died actually rose again by divine supernatural intervention.

You know the vast majority of scholars agree that Jesus existed.

Did you know that even atheists recognize that Jesus lived, that he existed, that he was born, that he grew up in Nazareth around 2, 000 years ago.

In other words, there is general agreement that Jesus lived, that he died, he was crucified by the order of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, but there isn't agreement regarding whether he was resurrected.

So today we're going to look at this question.

Why do some find it hard to believe that Jesus rose from the dead?

By the way, there are even professed Christians who are historical or critical scholars of the Bible that believe in Jesus but can't quite accept the idea that a dead body could be raised by God.

So there are even professed Christians that accept the historical Jesus but don't necessarily have faith in the Jesus that arose from the grave.

And why do you think that it is hard for some to accept or to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

Paul had to deal with this in his own day.

He wrote a letter to 1 of the churches that he founded.

It's in 1st Corinthians and Dennis just read from there.

And later on in the chapter, Paul actually explains the issues that he was confronting.

Paul said, But someone will say, someone will raise the question, how are the dead raised up?

And let's be honest, it is a difficult idea to grasp.

How many of you have ever seen a dead body come to life again?

How many of you can explain it scientifically?

How many of you can explain it philosophically?

How many of you have looked at a dead body before?

Can you understand why some people that didn't witness what the 11 apostles and a few others witnessed, the actual living Christ after his death and burial, how it would be difficult for people living in the Greco-Roman world, even people that had accepted Christianity, for them to grasp the idea that a dead body can live again.

The natural mind cannot accept the idea of a resurrection or the resurrection of a dead body because observation teaches us that after death the body disintegrates completely and being philosophers the Greeks reasoned that the resurrection of the human body was an impossibility.

In essence, they said it cannot be proved scientifically.

So there were Christians in the church of Corinth that were saying that there is no resurrection.

And Paul says, well, my friends, if there is no resurrection, then we have a serious problem.

Because if there is no resurrection of the dead, that means that Jesus did not raise from the dead.

If Jesus did not raise from the dead, then we are all just a bunch of deceivers.

We've all been following cunningly devised fables.

We should just pack up and go home we need to close the doors of our churches we have been believing in a fairy tale so what are the implications if Jesus did not rise from the dead very simply this Paul puts it this way 1st Corinthians 15 14 if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith also is vain.

And if you read the following verses, if you have your Bibles open to 1 Corinthians 15, if we just read a few more verses, Paul is making this argument.

He's saying, look, if Jesus did not rise, then we are all a bunch of fools.

Verse 15, Yes, and we are found false witnesses.

In other words, we're liars because we've been testifying of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up, if in fact, the way some people were saying, the dead do not rise.

For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

And if Christ is not risen, your faith is vain, futile, you are still in your sins.

Now let me ask you this, were Peter and John unsure as they went around preaching the gospel?

I know that when Jesus was being crucified they began to question whether or not they were following the right person but I'm talking about after Pentecost after After everything recorded in the book of Acts in the first few chapters as Peter and John went around preaching The resurrected Christ They were preaching this message that Jesus had resurrected.

As a matter of fact, they got in trouble with the Jewish Sanhedrin.

If you read in Acts chapters 4 and 5, Peter and John got in trouble and they had the option.

You stop preaching this nonsense or you're gonna have serious consequences.

Does that tell you that they were sure that Jesus was raised?

So do you think that on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being absolutely certain and 1 being very doubtful, where would you place Peter and John?

2 Peter 1.16 tells us, he speaks with certainty conviction, We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were, and here's the reason why Peter was so sure.

Look at 1st John 1 1 through 4 and I'm just gonna read it you can follow it along on the screen.

How could John be so sure that Jesus, the 1 that he lived and walked with for 3 and a half years, had actually resurrected after dying on the cross.

John writes this, that which we have what?

Which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, we declare to you and these things we write to you that your joy may be full." Let me ask you a question.

On a scale of 1 to 10, they were 10 in terms of the certainty that Jesus did raise from the dead.

By the way, before seeing, were they sure?

Had Jesus told them that he would resurrect?

And yet when they were looking at him dying on the cross, what were their feelings?

Do you remember the 2 disciples walking on the road to Emmaus?

We thought he would have been the 1, right?

So let me ask you this, Peter and John, why were they certain?

They saw, they touched, they handled, they They were in his presence.

So let me ask you this, how can God expect us to be sure on a scale of 1 to 10, a 10 if we have not seen, touched, handled, heard?

Or will God say, you know what, since you did not see, touch, handle, hear, I'll let you get away with a 6.

You know, if we were to survey the church, if we were to survey Christianity and everybody were to give an honest answer on a scale of 1 to 10, how certain are you that Jesus resurrected?

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If Jesus Had Not Risen

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