03-28-10 AM - I BELIEVE THAT JESUS LITERALLY ROSE FROM THE DEAD

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Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, I saw him, too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time - 1 Corinthians 15:1-20

1 Corinthians 15:14-15
And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be true if there is no resurrection of the dead.

1Cor.15:17-18
And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished (lost)!

v. 20:
But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.

1. THE 1st PROOF IS THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE DISCIPLES

Acts 3:14-15 – You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him to life. And we are witnesses of this fact!

They had eaten with Him (John 21:12-13), and had touched Him    (1 John 1:1-2).

2. THE 2nd PROOF IS THE ABSENCE OF CHRIST'S BODY

"Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands"! And with those words he breathed his last. – Luke 23:46
Yet, on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women came to the tomb and found the large stone that covered the tomb opening rolled away, and an angel declared, "Do not be so surprised. You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. He isn't here! He has been raised from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.”   – Mark 16:6

The grave was empty. The women saw for themselves that His body was not there.

Alexander Maclaren observed that Christ's empty grave shatters all attempts, ancient and modern, to deny His bodily resurrection.

We know where the bodies of Mohammed and other great religious leaders are.

In John 20:2 Mary Magdalene declared, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!"

If Jesus' enemies had His body, why didn't they bring it forth and put to silence the disciple's claim that He had been raised from the dead?

Romans 6:4: Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father.

3. THE 3RD PROOF IS THE GOSPEL RECORDS

All four gospels testify to:

1. The empty tomb;
2. The disappearance of Christ's body;
3. Christ's appearances to His disciples on the 3rd day after His death and burial;
4. The numerous appearances during the following 40 days.

4. THE 4th PROOF OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION IS THE EXISTENCE OF THE CHURCH

But it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Counselor won't come. If I do go away, he will come because I will send him to you.”  John 16:7

Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. (15:3-4)

With God all things are possible!!!!