OceanSide church of Christ

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THE FACTS ABOUT THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST (3)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   We are involved in a series of lessons entitled, “The Facts about the Resurrection of Christ.”

 

B.   The resurrection of Christ is the single-most important event in all of history (I Cor. 15:17-19).

 

And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

 

C.   Let’s continue exploring more of the facts associated with our Lord’s resurrection.

 

I.          CHRIST’S RESURRECTION IS ESTABLISHED BY CREDIBLE EYEWITNESSES

 

A.   Acts 2:32

 

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses.

 

B.   Concerning the appearances of Jesus after His resurrection:

1.     There were many appearances, at least eleven.

2.    He appeared for many days.

3.     He appeared to a large number of people.

4.    He appeared to a large variety of people.

 

C.   There were over five hundred to which He appeared (I Cor. 15:6).

 

After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

 

D.   To be discounted, all of the eyewitnesses would have to be proven unreliable.

1.     The tests of a credible witness

a.    Present at the scene, no hearsay

b.    Honest

c.    Competent

d.    Gain or loss from the testimony?

2.    The witnesses of Christ’s resurrection would all be proved to the credible.  They certainly had nothing to gain by their affirmation.  Many lost all by their testimony (Phil. 3:7-8).

 

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:  for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

 

II.        ALL THREE MEMBERS OF THE GODHEAD WERE INVOLVED

 

A.   The Godhead is a very unique:  three spirit beings who make up the one God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

 

B.   These individuals all work in close harmony with one another.

1.     The creation

a.    Father (Gen. 1:1)

b.    Spirit (Gen. 1:2)

c.    Son (John 1:1-3)

2.    Redemption

a.    God planned (Eph. 3:8-11)

b.    Jesus executed (Eph. 2:12-22)

c.    Spirit revealed (I Cor. 2:9-13)

 

C.   All three were involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1.     The Father (Acts 5:30)

 

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

 

2.    The Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; I Pet. 3:18)

 

For Christ also suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.

 

3.     Jesus (John 10:18)

 

No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father.

 

III.      THE RESURRECTION PROVES JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD

 

A.   Romans 1:4; Acts 13:33

 

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

 

1.     Dead and in the grave, Jesus was a mere man

2.    Alive and an empty tomb, Jesus is the Son of God.

 

B.   Peter understood the weight of the resurrection of Christ and used it in the first gospel sermon.

1.     The affirmation (Acts 2:24

 

Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death:  because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

 

 

2.    The authority of the scriptures (Acts 2:25-31, esp. v. 31)

 

He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption.

 

3.     The attestation of witnesses (Acts 2:32)

 

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses.

 

4.    The assurance (Acts 2:36)

 

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

 

C.   No other being, no other religious leader has ever been raised from the dead never to die again.  Only Jesus (Acts 26:23; I Cor. 15:20, 23; Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5).

1.     He is the Christ.

2.    He is Lord.

3.     He is the Son of the living God.

 

IV.       OUR FAITH IS ROOTED IN CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

 

A.   Romans 10:9-10

 

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

 

1.     If we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, it is implied we believe in His resurrection.

2.    Why?  He cannot be the Son of God without having been raised from the dead.

3.     NOTE:  Our conversion to Jesus Christ should not be based upon shallow knowledge.  There are some serious facts that we must believe to be saved.  Christ’s resurrection is one of them (I Cor. 15:1-4).

 

Moveover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

 

B.   Right here is a part of the difference between our faith and the faith of the thief on the cross.

1.     Our denominational friends like to bring up the thief on the cross as an example of salvation by faith only (Luke 23:42-43).

2.    Our arguments involved the fact that the salvation of the thief and our salvation do not involve the same components.

a.    He was saved when Jesus was on earth.  We are saved after His resurrec-tion and ascension to heaven (Matt. 9:6; Mark 2:10).

b.    He was saved when the Old Law was operative.  We are saved under the New Covenant.

c.    He was saved without the knowledge of Christ’s resurrection.  We are saved believing that God raised Christ from the dead.

 

V.        TO BE SAVED, WE FOLLOW IN CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

 

A.   T – F    We are saved by the gospel.  True (I Cor. 15:1-2).

 

B.   T – F    The gospel involves the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  True

(I Cor. 15:3-4).

 

C.   T – F    We are saved when we obey from the heart the form of doctrine, the

Gospel, delivered unto us.  True (Rom. 6:17-18)

 

D.   How do we follow Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection in our salvation process?

1.     We die to our sins in repentance (Rom. 6:7, 11).

2.    We bury the old man of sin in the waters of baptism (Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12).

3.     We rise to walk in newness of life just as He rose from the dead the third day.

a.    Romans 6:4

 

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:  that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

 

b.    Colossians 2:12

 

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

 

E.   NOTE:  Those who believe that salvation is by faith and repentance have one saved in a dead state.  They claim that one can be alive before he has been raised from the dead.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   Did the Lord’s resurrection play a part in your conversion?

1.     Did you believe in your heart God raise Him from the dead?

2.    Did you follow His resurrection by coming forth from the waters of baptism as a new creature in Christ?

 

B.   Perhaps you need to do this today.