The Resurrection an Historical and Present Truth

Now, in Matthew chapter 28, of course, this is the great story of the resurrection of Christ. We know it doesn’t the resurrection story doesn’t start in chapter 28. And I just want to tell you, I’m I am I am excited about the resurrection. As I look through what my notes and what I want to say today, especially this morning, I honestly don’t know what direction it’s all going to go. I I kind of have a general idea of what I want to say but when you read the when you read the various writers and things, I I try to do that to to just you know, expand my mind as I study and and prepare.

They don’t have a lot of interesting things to say to be to be honest. Matthew 28 because the resurrection, you know, is is such a common theme. You know, every every springtime, you know, there you you you hear messages on the resurrection and so it seems like we totally exhaust that truth. We don’t but it seems like it. So the commentaries don’t have a lot of good things to say about the resurrection as far as that goes, but the important thing to remember is, and this is the thing I wanna drive home to us all today, is especially the fact of the resurrection of Christ. Now, tonight, we’re gonna look at something the the implications or the effects of the resurrection of Christ but this morning, I wanna look at the fact of the resurrection.

We have heard that for so long, our whole lives, all all of our lives about the about the resurrection of Christ and it it is second nature to us especially for those of us who came up in, you know, in in church and things like that. It’s never been a question that Christ rose rose from the dead but in any other context, this would be the most outlandish, the most crazy, the most unbelievable, and incredulous claim that could ever be made and in fact, that’s exactly the way it was understood and seen in the time in which the resurrection actually happened. Isn’t it such a shame that we all look at something that is the greatest event in human history?

There is no greater event than this in Matthew 28. It cannot be topped. It cannot be there’s no trump to it at all and yet we look at it like, oh Jesus rose. Do we not? I’m say, I say we, I’m talking about me primarily. And as I read it, I I I honestly, I’m just being transparent with you. I feel I feel guilty that I don’t have more to say, more profound things to say about the resurrection than what I’ll give you to this morning.

But we’re gonna try anyway because this is where we are and we’re gonna cover it. Matthew 28 verse one, the Bible says this, in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. Let’s pause right there and just and ask god for his help as we study his word.

Our Lord, we come to you now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for your word again. Lord, there is no greater truth than what we’re reading here this morning. And I pray that it would be you would magnify it in our heart and in our minds and before our eyes today. I pray that we would not go away with the resurrection as a a minor trifle of biblical truth in our heart and mind but it would we would go away just absolutely stunned at what you did.

And Lord, we give you thanks that you are a living God. That Lord, you are a savior who is risen. And we thank you for all that that entails. So, lord, help me to say what you would have me to say to encourage and to help your people and I pray that you would help them as they listen to the word, as they as they allow it to penetrate their heart and go down deep that it would truly help them and it would transform them and cause them to grow in their faith and their walk with you.

So bless our time now. Meet with us. We pray for the power and help of your spirit. In Jesus name, amen. The first day of the week, which is what?

Sunday. Some of you want to say Monday. Your your lips started to form Monday, did it? First day of the week is Sunday and this is actually the resurrection of Christ is the reason why we meet on Sunday. You know, in in the book of in the book of Revelation, the Bible says that John, when he had his vision of of the which is the book of Revelation, the whole book is his vision. The Bible says that he was in the spirit on the lord’s day and some people have claimed that that’s the Sabbath day, the sixth day or the seventh day rather, but it’s but I think there’s strong evidence to indicate that that that was not the seventh day but the first day of the week, Sunday and the written the most I guess the most persuasive reason I think that although it’s not a it’s not an absolute provable case is the fact that he doesn’t say Sabbath at all.

If it was the Sabbath, he would have said Sabbath being a Jew raised up in Israel. He would have said Sabbath but he didn’t. He called it the lord’s day and the church we know met every every first day of the week. That’s clearly established in the book of Acts and in the the epistles and so the lord’s day, the the day in which Christ rose from the dead in which he was his tomb was found empty is the first day of the week which if you count if you count the weeks out in the creation, god’s original creation started on day one and it went through day six and then the seventh day god did what?

He rested and then the next day was the eighth day, which was Sunday, which was the first day of the week. And this is why in scripture, the number eight is often associated with beginnings. And this is the primary cause because this is the new life that Christ Christ attained when he rose from dead on the first, which is the eighth day of the week. And so this is this is why we call it the the new life in Christ and the the the number eight having that significance.

A beginning of a new week. Now, what’s interesting about this this account of the resurrection in Matthew is it is the shortest of all of the gospels. It is the shortest and it leaves out a great number of details that we find in Mark, Luke, and John. For instance, we do not see Peter and John going to the tomb. We do not see Peter and John meeting Jesus. We do not see the the the conversation on the road to Emmaus that we find in the book of Luke. We don’t see the upper room meeting where Jesus tells Tom with doubting Thomas in John chapter 20. We don’t see that. There were actually two upper room meetings. We don’t see either one of those.

We don’t see the instance of the disciples fishing in Galilee after the resurrection when Jesus said, come and dine. If you remember in the book of John, we don’t see any of those things. In fact, it’s very brief, it’s very to the point, but it does have all of the elements and there’s only one element that’s missing in Matthew and that is the ascension. The ascension of Christ is not mentioned in Matthew, but that’s not actually directly tied to his resurrection, just an an additional point.

And so on the first day of the week, you have Mary Magdalene come to the sepulchre, it says at the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn, so it’s dark. Right? The sun is just trying to start to rise. And verse two says, and there was a great earthquake for the angel of the lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. Did you know there are angelic appearances attendant upon all of the major events in Christ’s life except one?

At his birth, you have the announcement of the angel Gabriel. You see angels, ministering to him in the temptation in Matthew chapter four. Then you go to the Garden Of Gethsemane after he prays and and he with, you know, great drops of blood and he suffers in prayer, you also see that he’s the angels come and strengthen him. And then you go to the you go to this point, you see the angels attendant at the resurrection, rolling the stone back from the door, and even at his ascension, when he goes back to his father where he is to the at this moment, after the as the apostles watch him go out of sight, there are two men who are angels standing there and they say, what? They say, you men of Galilee, why stand you here gazing into heaven? The same Jesus which is taken up from you shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.

And so in every case, you see the angels attending to this these events of our lord’s life with one exception, one major event. Did you miss it? The crucifixion. The crucifixion. Now, last Sunday, we talked about how the lord was forsaken because he stood as our representative, as he stood in our place, dying for our sin, bearing the punishment that everyone of us had earned rightly from god. He stood forsaken.

Indeed, I’ll say this, with with the notable exception of the cross, our lord was was had the angels with him at all times but when it came to the cross, he was forsaken of all of heaven. As far as we know, not even the angels were there. We I’m I’m reading into it a little bit but they were there in every other major event. And yet when he was forsaken on the cross, he could have called angels. He said that when he came to be arrest, when they came to arrest him, but he didn’t.

So the angels were not there apparently or at least not mentioned. Now, our Lord repeatedly told the disciples about His resurrection. Now, that’s an important point. So let’s look back at Matthew 16. This will be a little bit of review.

Matthew chapter 16. There were four times that the Lord mentioned His resurrection plainly before His before before it actually came to pass. Matthew 16 verse number 21 says this, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Verse 22, then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying, be it far from thee, lord, this shall not be unto thee. Do you notice in Peter’s rebuke, he completely missed.

The resurrection. In other words, Peter, Peter reacts to the to what to Jesus prophecy that he would be betrayed and killed but he doesn’t say anything about the fact that Jesus said he would rise from the dead. He doesn’t say, oh, wait, wait, what? What did you say? He didn’t say that at all. He just reacted to the one and totally ignored the other. Look forward at chapter 17 of Matthew.

Same thing happens here, verse number 22. And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, the son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they shall kill him and the third day he shall rise again. Here it is, and they were exceeding sorry. You notice what they missed? They reacted to his death but apparently, the whole resurrection part went in one ear and right out the other. Look at chapter 20.

Matthew chapter 20. 19. Well, verse 18 says, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and the son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priest and unto the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock him and to scourge and to crucify him and the third day he shall rise again. Chapter 26. Look at that if you would. Chapter 26.

Chapter 26 verse 32. Pick up in verse 31 and Jesus then said Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad but after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Again, Peter in verse 33 completely ignores it and just goes back. He leaps over the resurrection to go to the part where everyone would be offended and he reacts to that. So is it any wonder that when the day of the resurrection came that literally nobody, there was not a human being on Earth.

So far as we know from the Bible that was expecting his resurrection. Not one. Not one at all. And yet our lord before his resurrection, numerous times told them with unambiguous language that he would rise from the dead. And that is the first major evidence of the resurrection. Is that the Lord Jesus said, this is exactly what would happen. He would rise again from the dead. The fact of his predicting the resurrection is a strong proof of it when it does come to pass. It’s not a surprise to him. He told us that this is exactly what would happen, but as I said with the disciples, that is not what we see. They were not prepared for that. Look at chapter 28 again.

So Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, and we know from the other gospels that there was also Salome, as well as some other ladies, Joanna and such that came with these ladies, to anoint the body of Jesus and in fact, Mark, chapter 16 tells us that they came to the the grave and they were concerned because they were they didn’t know how they were going to move the stone.

And the Bible says in I think it is in Luke, that they came to the grave with spices because they wanted to anoint the Lord Jesus. What does that tell us? That tells us that these ladies were not expecting Jesus to be alive. They were expecting the stone to be in its proper place sealed. They were expecting, they had no idea how they were gonna get that out of the way, but they were expecting it to be there because they were questioning what they were gonna do about it. And they brought spices to anoint a dead body. So not the disciples who are totally MIA, they are completely gone, but not even the disciples, not the women, no one was expecting the Lord Jesus to rise again from the dead.

And so we see in chapter 28 verse two, there’s a great earthquake and the angel descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. Now, aren’t you glad that the angel rolled the stone back away from the door? The Bible calls it a great stone. No, a very great stone which itself provides evidence for the resurrection. We we see in Matthew, if you look ahead a little bit, we’ve already covered this so I won’t rehash it all but in Matthew 28 verse number nine, I’m sorry, verse number 11, the watch comes back into the city to inform the priests about this vision of the angel that they had seen, and and they tell the priests and the elders what had happened, and of course, their bribe keep their mouth shut and the story they’re given that’s put into their mouth is that the disciples stole his body away. Well, that’s hard to do when you have a very great stone that’s that’s that’s in the way. Again, another evidence of the resurrection of our lord.

And so, and and another one I’ll mention since I’m already here is they said that Jesus, if you look down at verse number verse number 13, the bible says saying, say ye his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. Now how would you know what they did with his body if you were asleep?

I mean the the the the narrative itself doesn’t make sense. Besides all of the other aspects of that that actually turn to prove the resurrection rather than deny it which they had no idea that’s what they were doing but back in chapter 28 verse number two with the great stone, I’m glad that that that the angel came and rolled the stone back so that Jesus could get out of the tomb. Amen? Amen.

No. No. According yeah. Listen. Do you think the you you you think listen. Do you think the Lord Jesus overcame death itself just to be locked in a tomb because of a rock? No. He rose from the dead. He he shows he is king of kings and lord of lords. A rock in the in the doorway of the tomb was not gonna stop him from leaving. So and not only that, I’m being, I’m joking of course but but of course, the the angel rolled back the stone away but by that time, according to the timeline, Jesus was already gone.

Jesus was already gone because when the ladies went in there and when Peter and John went in there, they saw the grave clothes, they were already gone. Now let me pause here about the grave clothes, and I know I mentioned the grave clothes last week, but let me say a little bit more about that. If someone did come and steal the body of the Lord Jesus, you know, tomb tomb raiding has always been a a I mean, back in Egypt, that’s always been something they’ve done to get all the jewels and things out of the tombs, but if you’re gonna steal a dead body, you are not going to unwrap a dead body and leave the linen clothes there. If you’re trying to steal the body, you’re taking body clothes and all. In fact, that’s a more believable story because it’s like they vanished.

So even the clothes themselves beside the napkin over his head which was folded neatly by itself which we saw already, The clothes, the fact of the clothes laying in the tomb at all is evidence that his body was not stolen. In fact, we would say, he just kind of came out of that, you know, that those clothes.

And so going back to the stone, by the time we get to this point in in the story, at this time of day, on the, as it began to dawn on Sunday, the lord Jesus is already risen. He has already left the tomb.

In fact, we know that besides all of the things we’ve seen already, we know that a rock was not gonna stop the lord from leaving the tomb because in Luke 24 verse 31 and in John 20 verse 19, we see Jesus invading closed up rooms to meet with his disciples after the door was shut. So, that was never an issue and besides that, he could travel to Galilee and come back and meet with him with Emmaus and vanish out of their sight and we saw that over and over after his resurrection.

So the tomb was no problem. But it does raise a question. It does raise a question. Why then did the angel roll the stone away? If it wasn’t to allow the Lord Jesus to leave the tomb, then why did the angel roll the stone away at all? It wasn’t so that the Lord could get out of the tomb, but rather it was so that people could come into the tomb.

It was actually the very reverse of what we think. Because you see here, notice what it says, verse number three, the angel I love the fact the angel just comes at he rolls the stone back and he sits on. I don’t know. He’s just, I just see him sitting there just kinda like the thinking man, you know, just just sitting there. His countenance was like lightning. Verse three, and his raiment white as snow and for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became his dead men. You’ll note that in verse number four, they fainted. Basically, they fainted.

They were not witnesses of the the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And what you will find if you study scripture, you will not find one example. The movies notwithstanding, you’ll not find one example of any unbeliever ever being a witness of the resurrected Jesus Christ. Because that was a privilege that were was reserved only to those that the lord specifically appointed for that for that role. If this world wants to know that Jesus rose from the dead, they will, they must, There’s no other way to know except they believe the testimony of witnesses. And for you and for me, we have that testimony written in the scriptures.

Amen. That’s why listen. That’s why it’s important for us to understand that there is absolutely a satanic attack on the scriptures and one of the primary lines of attack is to say that Matthew was not really written by Matthew and John was not really written by John and Luke not by Luke and first Corinthians not really written by Paul and on and on to attack the authorship.

You know why that matters? Here’s why it matters. Because it is those witnesses of Christ’s resurrection who are the authors of the New Testament. If some impostor was lying about their identity and wrote in Matthew’s name about these things that Matthew supposedly had seen that would that would deeply undermine the truth of the resurrection. You see why? So, on its face, it’s like, well, this is what the scholarly consensus said. Listen, there’s more to it than that and I wanna tell you something. At the at the core, listen, in these arguments where the integrity of the scriptures is being attacked, it is, I’m not generally, you know, some some of us like conspiracies more than others. I’m not generally one who’s kind of tuned into conspiracies but I’ll tell you this, that is a conspiracy.

It’s a satanic conspiracy and it’s the the face of it, the facade of it is scholarship. The facade of it is learning. The facade of it is study and intelligence and it’s about, well, it was this really written by Matthew or is this actually the original text and is this an but really at the core of that is an attempt by Satan to undermine the truth of the resurrection along with other truths so that the identity of the lord Jesus Christ can be under my bee.

It’s all about Jesus. It’s all about denying him. If thou be the son of god, that’s all it’s about because that’s always where it goes. No, you and I, no one in this room has been a a a personal witness to the resurrection of Christ but God in his wisdom has preserved the personal testimonies of those witnesses.

The ones that God had appointed to be witnesses because you you and you might ask you might ask yourself, why didn’t Jesus just show himself to everybody all at once? Wouldn’t that prove to the world? No. It wouldn’t have. Look, think about these, think about these elders and these chief priests. Here they are, they set a watch with these this Roman guard and I what I read, there’s a little bit of a ring, brother. Can you check on that? I I don’t know if anybody else hears it but might just be a little too juicy.

So, the Roman guard which from what I read might have been up to 60 soldiers. So, they come back and some of them report seeing an angel fainting, waking up, and the tomb is open, the body is gone, and that was a great, a very large stone, right? So they come back and they tell the elders about what had happened.

Think about it. Are these Roman soldiers, disciples of Jesus? Are they friendly to his cause? Are they people who are going to support the narrative that Jesus rose from the dead? Absolutely not. Here you have an unfriendly testimony, an unfriendly testimony to Jesus Christ coming back to the elders and saying, we saw this angel and it was bright and it was like lightning and and we just we fainted and we woke up, the stone was gone.

Listen, they’re telling it to the same group that condemned Jesus the day before or a few days before anyway. Did they believe then? Nope. If Jesus had presented himself and said, I am risen to the world at large, this world would not have received him. This world would not have received him. So he chose to show himself to his disciples, and then they were to be his witnesses.

So you see the stone rolled away from the door in verse number two, so that the disciples could enter in. Notice verse number six, or verse five rather it says, and the angel answered and said unto the women, fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here for he is risen. Here it is. This is why the stone is open. The the middle of verse six, the stone is rolled rolled away rather.

As he said, come, see the place where the lord lay. You see the the the angel rolled the stone back from the the the mouth of the tomb so that the so that those who came to the tomb could see that Jesus had risen indeed. If that tomb had been sealed still, even if Jesus had risen, could the could the lord Jesus have risen and the tomb still be sealed?

Is that is that a thing? Yes, that could have happened. Just like we we said a minute ago, he could have showed himself to the disciples and all of that, and that would have been fine and good. The disciples could have said, hey, Jesus is risen. We have seen him. And then the Jews would have said, well, hold on because we checked and that tomb is still sealed.

We don’t believe you. But they couldn’t say that if that stone because this only because the stone was removed could the disciples credibly claim that they had seen the risen risen Christ. So, this stone being removed was on purpose. It was it was partially for the comfort of the disciples, right? They could go in there and see all of these things and provide these evidences to us by way of personal testimony, but it was also for this world so that these disciples could indeed credibly claim that they had seen Christ risen from the dead.

Because no one can say that the tomb is still sealed. No one can say that they had seen ghosts or hallucinated when the tomb is open and the body is not there. The tomb can be inspected.

But not only that, the the stone was rolled away so that the disciples themselves would know that they were not hallucinating because you know what? They were, there were times when they did think that. Luke twenty four thirty seven, the Bible says, they were afraid because they thought they had seen a spirit and that’s when I don’t know what’s happening with the the radio here. They were afraid and they thought they had seen the spirit and that’s when that’s when they when Jesus said, look, look at my hands and look at my feet and my side. See, a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me have. Remember that? So, they were already thinking Jesus was a ghost.

They were already thinking their eyes were playing tricks on them that he wasn’t actually alive. But he was alive and the fact of the tomb being open and vacant helped settle in their own heart that he was risen indeed. The same body that had died upon the cross that was wrapped and then laid in that tomb was the same body that was now missing. The opening of the tomb helped prove that. This is why the angel says come, see the place where the Lord lay.

So that’s the stone being rolled away. But in what way was Jesus raised again from the dead? Is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ important? We’ve already seen the fact that Jesus, his his they go into the tomb and his body is not there. Remember, that same is the very same body that is the bodily resurrection of Christ important. We’ve already seen that the same body that was upon the cross was the one that was laid in the tomb which was then the one that went missing.

Here’s what I want you to see about the fact that the bodily resurrection of Christ and why it’s important. If Jesus Christ did not rise again in his actual body, if he had some sort of spiritual resurrection, which is exactly what the the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other other cults and false teachers teach, they teach that his resurrection was some sort of he he was indeed a ghost. They basically believe exactly what the disciples thought.

They believe that Jesus resurrected some of with some sort of spiritual resurrection. But if it is a spiritual resurrection, then it is no resurrection at all. Because if his body, which was on the cross and died is not alive, then that’s that’s actually not the definition of resurrection whatsoever. And so it is indeed required that Jesus rose again in a physical body. And without a physical body, there’s no reason to believe that Jesus was victorious over death. If he’s just a ghost, the spirit, he didn’t defeat death and get this. So I was doing a little bit of research on because Jehovah’s Witnesses are one of the prime, not the only, but one of the primary groups that pushes this spiritual resurrection idea.

And so the question naturally is, then what happened to his body? And they just out of whole cloth, make it up that god took the body of Jesus and put it somewhere. Just make it up because because the scriptures are screaming at them. His body is missing. His body is missing, which directly contradicts what they’re they’re what they’re teaching. Now notice in verse number verse number eight, And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word.

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying all hail. Now here’s the key, and they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.

Another evidence, another truth of Jesus bodily, physical resurrection. They fell at his feet and touched his feet. We’ll we’ll see we’ll see later in John how that they they touched his body. They saw him eat. They saw him drink. They felt the wounds, they saw with the sense of the tactile sense of touch that Jesus, the same body that had been crucified was the same body that was now before them alive.

So the fact of the bodily resurrection of Christ is absolutely vital. It is absolutely vital. And without it, if Jesus is not risen actually in truth in a body, there is no salvation. There’s no way for any of us to be saved because there is no resurrection.

Putting the word spiritual in front of the resurrection does not make it a thing. In fact, and that’s actually been one of the ways the infidels have tried to deny the resurrection is by simply developing this rationale for which is another way of rationalizing unbelief. It was a spiritual resurrection.

Now go to Acts chapter 17 if you would. Acts 17. The last point I want to make to you is this, so we have if you’re taking notes, have the stone was rolled away.

We have Jesus rose a resurrected body, not a spirit. And the last one is, the resurrection is both an historical and a present truth. Now as we read the testimony of the resurrection of Christ, we’re looking at at an event that is 2,000 years old. We’re looking at an event and at an event that happened many many many years ago.

And our tendency then is to is to say, if I were to say to you, do you believe that Jesus rose again from the dead and you and I, I was posed that question, I say, yes, I believe that about 2,000 ago, Jesus did indeed come out of come out of the grave. He indeed rose again from the dead. But I’m talking about primarily a historical truth.

But here’s the thing I want you to see. It is not just that. Because just as the disciples went to the tomb and because the stone was rolled away, they were able to enter and see that it was empty. Come, see the place where the lord lay. To this very day, the tomb is still empty.

Let me say that again. To this very day, the tomb of Christ is still empty and so that means to this very day, the same resurrection that is an historical event is a present truth to us now. He is still alive. He is alive forevermore. Now, I know I say this but I let me just let me just go through the paces here. Do you believe that the lord Jesus is alive at this moment? Amen.

Do you believe that Christ is indeed risen and he is alive and he sits at the at the right hand of the father. The same body that was on the cross, that was wrapped in the linen cloth, that was laid in the tomb, the same body that came out of the grave, the same body whose feet these ladies held and who showed his hands and his feet. The same body is the body that is now still alive in heaven. Do you believe this?

So, that means it is a present truth. You see, the resurrection of Christ is not just historical, it is current, it is present, it matters now. Here’s what I mean, Acts chapter 17. This is Paul’s preaching to Mars Hill. Notice what he says.

He says verse 29, just picking up in the middle, for as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone or graven by art in man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commanded all men everywhere to repent. Because here it is, he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.

Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. You know what Paul was saying? This one who died on the cross, this one who is raised again, this same one is the judge because he is alive. And so, the the fact of judgment rests upon the resurrection of Christ. But I’ll I’ll say this as well. The fact of salvation rests upon the resurrection of Christ. When you come to God, listen, when you come to God as a sinner and you come to God guilty, and you say, Lord, it’s a you you you know that you need Christ to save you. Who are you crying out to? Are you crying out to a corpse somewhere? Are you crying out to a savior who is alive?

Because he is alive, he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto god by him. All of that depends upon a present truth. That truth that started two thousand years ago when Christ came out of the grave, he is alive to this day. He is the judge right now. He is the savior at this moment because he rose again from the dead. Because the tomb is empty and the stone is rolled away from the door.

Verse 31 says, he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. Whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead. So you know what the resurrection is? It is the proof. It is the assurance. It is the guarantee.

It is the guarantee to every man on earth of a coming judgment. The resurrection itself is that proof. So with the truth of the resurrection comes the truth of judgment. It’s no wonder this world don’t wanna believe it. You know, you talk about this thing with Noah Noah’s ark. I know you guys have seen the stuff with Noah’s ark. Right? This thing in Turkey. Who knows what what that actually is, if it is or isn’t? Truth is it makes no difference as to the reality of it but you know, there there’s a lot of people invested in that to say that that can’t be Noah’s ark because with that fact comes what?

The truth of the Bible and a bunch of other things that come along with that. Well, the same is true with the resurrection. If Jesus is actually alive, this world is in some serious trouble.

If that true, if that historical truth is real, then that means he’s alive now and that means this world has has some serious answering to do. That’s the assurance to all men that god has given. Not only that, it says this, He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.

See, the Lord put his mark of approval on the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father put His mark of approval, His seal of genuineness and authenticity upon the Lord Jesus Christ by the resurrection. The resurrection is one event, historical, but now modern, that makes everything else that Jesus said and did true.

How can you deny that Jesus walked on water or healed lepers or gave sight to the blind? How can you deny that he stilled the Sea Of Galilee in the storm? How can you deny literally and how can you deny his words when he said I am the way, the truth, and the life? How can you deny anything that he said or did when you have a living savior standing?

It’s the proof. By that man whom he hath ordained. And the seal of that selection, his election as the chosen of God was his resurrection. And this is what makes the Lord Jesus indeed and the faith that surrounds him unlike any other.

Did you know every other group denies the resurrection of Christ no matter what the religion is? Everyone denies this. This is unique. The bodily resurrection of Christ is unique in all faith systems. Islam denies that Jesus even died, much less rose.

Islam says that god raised Jesus alive to himself which is the same thing as saying a spiritual resurrection. Judaism, of course, believes in a general resurrection like we read in Daniel and they also believe that some have some have risen in history but risen to die again.

They do not believe that Jesus rose again from the dead. The one exception is the Latter day Saints, the Mormons. They believe in a bodily resurrected Jesus, but they also believe that God the Father has has a body too and is not a not a spirit.

So I put that in a separate a separate group. The Baha’i faith, Zoroastrianism, Shikism, Hinduism, all of those deny the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. Hinduism teaches Hinduism and Buddhism both teach reincarnation which is a flat denial of the resurrection. Of of any kind of resurrection but it’s but then also of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The bottom line, Christianity, its whole center point, its whole truth, its whole heart, and core, and soul is the fact that Jesus Christ is alive today because he rose two thousand years ago and without that fact, the whole system, the whole faith, every hope, everything we believe is null.

But with that with that one fact, everything that Christ said or did is true. I would say that the truth of the resurrection is an important truth, wouldn’t you? Let’s pray.