Sugar Land Bible Church

Dr. Andy Woods: All right, let's open with a word of prayer and we'll get started. Lord, we're thankful for this particular Sunday which we've set aside to commemorate not just your death, but your resurrection from the dead. Because you have had victory over the grave, we are given that same right as your children.

We thank you, Lord, for that, and I just pray that you'll take the teachings today which deal with that subject and minister to the deepest needs of our hearts so we can understand what you've done and what we have in Christ Jesus. In preparation for that, we're just going to take a few moments of silence to do personal confession before you, if need be, not to change our position, but to put us in right fellowship with you so that we can receive from your word today.

We're thankful, Lord, for everything you've given us, none of which would be a reality if it weren't for your bodily resurrection. So be with us as we study this important truth this morning. We'll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. God's people said?

Guest (Male): Amen.

Dr. Andy Woods: Happy resurrection day to everybody. I guess we could do the ritual. The Lord has risen?

Guest (Male): He has risen indeed.

Dr. Andy Woods: Amen. Let's close in prayer. No. Let's take our Bibles today and open them to the resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 14. I am going to pause from our normal teaching material on Sunday school and deal today topically, given the special nature of today, with the centrality of Christ's resurrection.

Why is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ such a big deal? Apparently it is, because Paul, in the verse I had you open up to, says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain." All of Christianity seems to revolve around the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the empty tomb.

In the study this morning, I'd like to show you that if Jesus did not rise bodily from the grave, then it's like dominoes in a row. You knock over one domino and they all start to fall, and the Bible collapses very fast like a deck of cards. The deity of Christ isn't true. If the deity of Christ isn't true, then his crucifixion for us isn't of any use to us. He's not coming back. The whole thing is fraudulent.

Lord willing, what I'd like to show you today in this Sunday school lesson are seven reasons why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is such a big deal. The first of the seven is the resurrection of Jesus was necessary to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. No resurrection of Jesus, then predictions and prophecies in the Old Testament were never fulfilled.

One of the things to understand about what we call, as Protestants, the Old Testament, is that it all pointed towards Jesus. This was Jesus' conversation with the disciples on the Emmaus road while he was walking with them as he had already been resurrected from the dead. It says, "Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures." Scriptures there is a reference to the Old Testament because there is no New Testament yet.

Then in verse 44, it says, "Now he said to them, 'These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, the three major divisions of the Hebrew Bible, must be fulfilled.'" If you have been tracking with us Wednesday evenings in our study in the book of Acts, Paul made this same appeal to the Old Testament.

It says in Acts 17:2, when he went to Thessalonica on his second missionary journey, "According to Paul's custom, he visited them in the synagogue." There in verse one, at the end of the verse, it talks about a synagogue of the Jews. According to Paul's custom, he visited them for three Sabbaths, reasoning with them from the scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ."

The scriptures point towards Christ. The scriptures point towards the resurrection of Christ. Back to the Emmaus road, after Jesus made this statement here to the disciples, he said this in Luke 24 verses 45 and 46, just two verses later. It says, "And he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, the Hebrew Bible. And he said to them, 'Thus it is written that Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.'"

Let me give you one more reference to how the scriptures, the Old Testament, point towards the resurrection. Paul, when he explains the simplicity of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 and 4, says, "For I handed to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures."

The death, the burial, and in our case here, the resurrection of Jesus is something that was foretold in advance. One question is, well, where is it foretold? Where in the Old Testament do we find a reference to the resurrection? You'll find it in Psalm 16 verses 10 and 11. This was written a thousand years before the time of Christ.

David, I believe, is the psalmist here, and he says, "You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy, and in your right hand there are pleasures forevermore." When it talks here about "you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay," that is understood as a reference to the bodily resurrection of the Messiah.

Peter, in Acts 2, is going to make an issue out of this. Over in the book of Acts, chapter 2 verses 24 through 32, this is Peter's opening sermon on the day of Pentecost. This is what he says, "But God raised him up, speaking of Jesus, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says of him, 'I saw the Lord always in my presence, for he is at my right hand and I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exalted; moreover my flesh will also live in hope.'"

See if this doesn't ring a bell. Acts 2:24: "Because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay." He's quoting there Psalm 16 verse 2 as a text demonstrating a prophecy about the resurrection of Jesus. Peter goes on in this sermon in Acts 2:28, "You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make full of gladness in your presence."

Peter stops quoting the psalm, and he says this: "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day." So Peter says, "Yeah, this psalm was written by David, but it's not about David because David died." When it says his soul will not undergo decay, obviously that can't refer to David because there's his tomb.

I've actually been to David's tomb. There's a picture of it. You can journey there today in Israel, but we were able to get there in '98, I think it was. We actually saw where David's tomb was. That's Peter's point. Psalm 16 is not talking about David. Did he not undergo decay? This cannot be talking about David, Peter is saying, because we know where David's tomb is.

This must be a prophecy about the future Messiah who will resurrect from the dead. Peter goes on and he says around verse 31, "He looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh suffer decay. This Jesus, God raised him up, to which we are all eyewitnesses."

Arnold Fruchtenbaum has a great quote here, and he's showing that even in Jewish tradition, they understood Psalm 16 verse 2 as speaking of a Messiah figure. Arnold Fruchtenbaum writes, "Either way, this type of quotation would be considered as a literal prophecy plus literal fulfillment because in the context of Psalm 16, the psalmist was most clearly speaking of the resurrection of the Messiah. Even some rabbis," Fruchtenbaum says, "understood this passage to be Messianic."

For example, in the Midrash Tehillim, that's rabbinical writings on this verse, it states, "My glory rejoices over King Messiah who shall rise up out of me, David." Peter thought that Psalm 16 verse 10 is a prophecy about Jesus' resurrection. Fruchtenbaum says some rabbis thought Psalm 16 is a prophecy about Christ's resurrection. Paul, all the time when he defends the gospel, including the resurrection, says it was according to the scriptures.

Jesus, when he was walking with the disciples on the Emmaus road speaking of his resurrection, appealed to the scriptures. What is my point? My point is, if there was no bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead, then the scriptures have been broken and Old Testament prophecy has failed. That's the first reason that the resurrection had to transcribe.

The second reason that the resurrection is a big deal and had to transcribe is it was necessary not just to fulfill Old Testament prophecies, but Christ's own prophecies when he walked this earth. Jesus appealed constantly to his ability to predict the future as evidence of his deity. He said this in the upper room, John 13 verse 19, "From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am he."

Then a chapter later in chapter 14 verse 29, Jesus told his disciples, "I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe." There are a number of times in Christ's ministry, I'll give you two examples, one occurs towards the beginning of his ministry and one occurs towards the end of his ministry, where he categorically said, "I'm going to die and I'm going to rise from the dead on the third day."

The first time he made this prediction is in John 2 verses 19 through 22, where he cleansed the temple. He drove the money changers out of the temple. In the process of doing all of that, these verses say Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It's taken 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

When he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. Right out of the gate, when he started his ministry, he said, "I'm going to die. I'm going to rise from the dead." Then very near the end of his earthly ministry, just prior to his crucifixion, on the Mount of Transfiguration, he made a similar prediction.

In Matthew 17 verses 22 through 23, he said, "While they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, 'The son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.'" The disciples, when they heard this, were deeply grieved because they were focusing more on his death than the rest of the prophecy that he would rise from the dead.

If there is no bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead, out of the gate here we've got two problems. Old Testament prophecy, Psalm 16 verses 10 and 11, is unfulfilled. It was never fulfilled. Jesus' own predictions, one he made at the beginning of his ministry and one he made at the end of his ministry, remain unfulfilled, which means he could not predict the future, which means he was just an ordinary person, which means how can you trust anything he has to say?

Christianity starts to dissolve very fast if there was no bodily resurrection from the dead. Let me take you to a third area, a third thing as to why Christ's resurrection had to happen. Number three, it was necessary to solidify the nation of Israel in the first century in unbelief. Don't get me wrong, individual Jews get saved all of the time. In fact, the remnant or the early church was filled with individual Jews, but the leadership of the nation, the majority of the nation's population, remained in unbelief throughout Christ's whole earthly ministry.

To reveal their hearts, he said something in Matthew 12:38 through 40. Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees said to him, "Teacher," notice they're calling him teacher, they're not calling him Messiah because they don't believe he's the Messiah. "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." But he answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign." When he says an evil and adulterous generation, he's speaking of the unbelief of first-century Israel.

"No signs for you, even though he had done plenty. No more signs, except one." What's the big sign that's coming? It's in verse 40, "For as Jonah," he's drawing an analogy. Notice Jesus believed in Jonah in the whale. That's not just a Sunday school lesson. It's not just something you put on a felt board to entertain kids. This is a historical event as far as Jesus is concerned.

By the way, Jesus also believed in Adam and Eve. He believed in Noah in the ark, and he believed in Sodom and Gomorrah and everything people just write off today and say was just fiction. You'll notice Jesus believed in all of those things and took them very literally and historically. He says, "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Meaning after that period is over, he's coming out of the heart of the earth. He's coming out of the grave. Why did Jesus do things this way with the nation of Israel? It was already clear that they weren't going to believe in him. He says, "You know what? I'm not going to accommodate myself to you any longer. I'm not going to keep doing miracles because you've already demonstrated you have no interest in believing in me. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to do the ultimate miracle."

"If you reject the ultimate miracle, then these little miracles I've been doing, the feeding of the 5000 or whatever, you won't accept those either as proof of my Messiahip. So I'm going to do the ultimate. I'm going to go just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish, the sea monster, for three days and three nights. I'm going to go into the earth for three days and three nights and I'm going to come out. I'm doing that now because all of these other miracles that I've been doing won't convince you. I know that you're going to stay unconvinced. So now I'm going to do the ultimate miracle. When you reject that, you're rejecting all the other miracles in the process."

This is a way that he used to confirm his own elect nation in its unbelieving status. It was actually a sign of their own guilt before God. Dr. John Walvoord says it this way, describing Matthew 12:38 through 40, "Having thus been challenged to face the evidence that Jesus was indeed what he claimed to be, the Pharisees in their unbelief, that's why they're calling him teacher, not Messiah, in their unbelief asked for a spectacular sign."

Jesus answered them in an unsparing indictment. He declared an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall be no sign given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. He then recited the facts of the experience of Jonah, how he was three days and three nights in the great fish, and he described this as a prophetic incident, anticipating that the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

In other words, he was predicting his death and resurrection as the supreme sign, the ultimate sign, we might say, for those seeking evidence of his claims. In the incident of Jonah, the men of Nineveh repented even though they were unbelieving Gentiles. Here, Jesus, who was far greater than Jonah, was before his own people and they would not believe.

"I'm not going to waste any more time with you people related to little signs which I already know you're going to reject because you're about to reject the major sign. If you reject the major sign, then you're not going to believe anything else I've ever done." In that sense, the resurrection of Jesus was strategically used to take his unbelieving nation and confirm it in its unbelieving status. It was actually a sign of their own guilt before God.

That becomes one of the major reasons Jesus had to die on a cross and rise from the dead. Not just to fulfill Old Testament prophecy, not just to fulfill his own predictions about himself, but to solidify Israel in their unbelieving status. There is of our list of seven here, a fourth reason why Jesus had to rise from the dead. It was to vindicate his own deity.

I hope you realize that as you go through the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, Jesus claimed to be God over and over and over and over and over again. My mother, who's now 90, she's having her birthday this month and she's turning 90, was raised in a home where she was told by her mother, my grandmother, a very intelligent woman, told her as a little girl that Jesus never claimed to be God.

Jesus was a good moral teacher and a good moral philosopher, but he actually never claimed to be God. She was in essence brainwashed with this mindset from her youth, really from her infancy. When my mom got saved and started reading the Bible, she realized that all this propaganda was nothing but propaganda she had been fed. Of course Jesus claimed to be God. He does it all the time.

One example of it is John 10 verse 30. He says, "I and the Father are one." If that's not a claim to deity, I don't know what one looks like. Over in John 8 verses 58 and 59, it says this. Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Now, if you know anything about the Old Testament, you know where that phrase "I am" comes from. That's God's title.

That's a title that God uses of himself when Moses was wondering, "If I go and speak to Pharaoh, who shall I say sent me?" God answered Moses in Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, "I am who I am." And he said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I am has sent you.'" When Jesus says, "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was," I mean, Abraham existed 2,000 years before the time of Christ. How could Jesus say "before Abraham was, I am"? Because he's God, he's eternally existent.

"Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." The Greek there is ego eimi. He took a divine title and he applied it to himself. There was no ambiguity here. They knew exactly what he was saying because John 8:59, right after he says this, says, "Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him," the unbelieving Jews. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Why did they pick up stones to throw at him? Because to them, he had committed blasphemy. They were trying to fulfill the Old Testament law which says, "Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall surely stone him." Jesus takes a divine title that belongs only to God, that God used to reveal himself to Moses, and he applied it to himself. They understood him crystal clear and they said, "We've got to kill this guy on the spot" because they didn't believe he was God and he's blaspheming.

There's zero ambiguity that he claimed to be God. Absolutely zero ambiguity. As you go through John's Gospel, he makes seven "I am" statements claiming that same title. "I am the bread of life," John 6:34. "I am the light of the world," John 8:12. "I am the gate for the sheep," John 10:7 and 9. "I am the good shepherd," John 10:11 and verse 14. Here's a good one for today, "I am the resurrection and the life," John 11:25. "I am the way, the truth, and the life," John 14 verse 6. "I am the true vine," John 15 verse 1 and verse 5. Every time he says "I am," he's taking a divine title and applying it to himself.

The most obvious example of it is there in John 8 verses 58 and 59 where the Jews were going to kill him on the spot for doing that. Anyone can claim to be God. You have crackpots and crazy people all of the time claiming to be God. So what makes Jesus unique? Jesus is unique because he attached his claim to deity to his bodily resurrection from the dead. He didn't just say, "I'm God." That would be one thing.

But it's quite another to say, "I'm going to attach my claim to deity to the fact that I'm going to go into the tomb, into the grave, and I'm going to rise from the dead on the third day." Again, it's one thing to claim that. It's quite another to pull it off. Jesus didn't just make the claim, he actually pulled it off. That's why the tomb is empty. That's why no one has been able to come up with a feasible explanation for the empty tomb.

None of these things would be realities if the resurrection didn't happen. If the resurrection didn't happen, then you can just take all of Christ's claims to deity and just throw them away. He's just another crazy crackpot lunatic. But it's completely different when he says, "Not only am I God, I'm going to prove I'm God through my bodily resurrection from the dead," and then actually resurrecting from the dead.

Here's where he does this in John 10 verses 17 and 18. He says, "For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I might take it again. No one has taken it from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father."

Don't get this idea that Jesus was sort of on Holy Week, circumstances beyond his control rushed him to the cross. He could have stopped the whole thing, and he said that during one of his trials. "My Father could summon angels and shut this whole thing down right now." But nevertheless, not my will be done, but thy will be done. So don't get the idea that the crucifixion is circumstances beyond Christ's control just overwhelmed him and he was rushed to the cross.

That's not what happened at all. He laid down his life volitionally. This is one of the big arguments in the book of Hebrews as to why the sacrifice of Christ is higher than the sacrifices of animals. Animal sacrifices pointed to the sacrifice of Christ, but what Christ did was so much higher than the animals being sacrificed because the animals, they had no choice in the matter. Once it was determined that they were going to be killed, so be it. It's not like the animals get a vote in that whole thing.

But Jesus was unique and different in the sense that no one took his life from him, but he laid it down on his own accord. People today are saying the Jews killed Christ. Podcasters are saying that. Well, the truth of the matter is, if you want to know who killed Christ, all of us killed him if you want to play that game because he died for all of our sins. I think there's plenty of blame to go around here. Don't just blame everything on the Jews, certainly they had a role, but so did the Romans and everybody else.

But the truth of the matter is nobody killed Christ except Christ because he said, "Everything I'm doing, I'm doing voluntarily. I'm doing volitionally." He specifically says as he's explaining these things, "I lay down my life on my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, I have authority to take it up again." He attached his claim to deity to his bodily resurrection from the dead. If there was no bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the tomb is full rather than being empty, then you can take every, we have these red letter editions of the Bible don't we, where Jesus spoke.

You can take all the red letters and just throw them out. They don't mean anything. That's why Paul said, "If Christ does not rise from the dead, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain as well." Why the centrality of the resurrection? To fulfill Old Testament prophecy, to fulfill Christ's own prophecies, to solidify Israel in her unbelieving state, to vindicate his deity.

That takes us to number five, to foster the growth of early Christianity. Jesus said this in Matthew 16 verse 18 in Caesarea Philippi up north on an Israeli Bible map. "I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." Then he, with the help of Paul, explained how he's going to build the church. Paul uses this metaphor of a temple. Just like a physical temple is being constructed, the church is being built.

When you study construction projects like this going back to the time of Christ, what you'll see is there's an order. First, the cornerstone goes in. The cornerstone is the stone that you use to measure where all the other stones are supposed to go. So no cornerstone, you don't know where any other stones go. Then after the cornerstone comes in, then come the foundation stones.

A lot of you guys do building projects and things like that, and you know that the foundation is the big deal, right? We had foundation problems when we were living in the Dallas area. We would wake up and there would be a crack right through the wall that wasn't there the night before. We don't sit there and complain about the color of the curtains. It's a foundation issue. Doesn't matter how well the carpet looks and the curtains look and the drapes look and the paint job looks if the foundation is problematic, then you've got a big problem on your hands.

Cornerstone goes in first, then go in the foundation stones. Who are the foundation stones? They're the apostles. In Ephesians 2:20 it says, "Having built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone." Cornerstone in first, then come in the foundation stones. This is why Jesus is ministering to these apostles because they're like a big deal in the construction project that's coming, the church, which is to be birthed on the day of Pentecost.

Let me tell you something about these apostles. They had no interest in being these foundation stones. It's like, "God, go get somebody else." Because when the events of the crucifixion happened and the trials of Christ and Passion Week, they were scared out of their minds, even though he told them in advance what was going to happen.

In Matthew 26:56, it says, "Then all the disciples," that's all, right? "Left him and fled." They were very fearful. They doubted him even when he rose from the dead. Luke 24 verse 11, "But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them when the women reported to him he actually came out of the grave like he said."

Luke 24 verse 16, "But their eyes were prevented from recognizing him." John 20 verse 15, one of the women at the tomb thought he was the gardener. Why did she think he was the gardener? Because she didn't really think that he would actually do what he said he would do through his bodily resurrection from the dead. Doubting Thomas, you know that account well. It says, "So the other disciples were saying to him, 'We have seen the Lord.'" You know Thomas's response, "Unless I see his hands and the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

These guys are the foundations of the church? Give me a break. In fact, during Holy Week, after the resurrection, and I think a whole week has gone by, what are they doing? They're huddled in the upper room. The doors are shut because they're afraid. John 20 verse 19, "So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews." They were just frightened, they were scared, they didn't recognize him, they didn't believe.

Yet these guys are going to become the foundations of the church, which is about to be birthed on the day of Pentecost. What happened to these guys? Their whole character changed. Here is a record of the 12. James the son of Alphaeus went to Jerusalem where he was clubbed to death. It looks like he got over his fear issue. He became a martyr. All of them were martyred.

The only one that died of natural causes, we think, was John. That's not because they didn't try to kill him. They tried. They tried to boil him in oil, but the son of a gun wouldn't die, so they just put him out on an island, which was God's purpose for him because there he would write the book of Revelation down on Patmos.

Simon the Zealot went to Jerusalem where he was martyred. James the son of Zebedee went to Judea where he was executed. Thaddeus went to Mesopotamia where he was beaten to death. Peter went to Babylon and/or Rome where he was crucified upside down. Matthew went to Parthia, Tehran, where he was beheaded. John went to Asia Minor and Patmos and Ephesus where they tried to kill him by frying him in boiling oil. Philip went to East Turkey where he was tortured and crucified. Thomas went to India where he was speared to death. Bartholomew went to India where he was flayed. That's a form of death that's so disgusting I can't even describe it properly in polite company, so I won't. Bartholomew went to India where he was flayed and crucified. Andrew went to Ukraine, Russia, and Greece where he was hanged.

What I'm trying to figure out is what happened to these guys? What transformed them? How do you go from fear to your willingness to go out into the world, fulfill your ministry to the point of death? To my mind, there is no explanation for this sudden change in these disciples other than the bodily resurrection of Jesus. It dawned on them, and maybe it was the giving of the Holy Spirit that helped their understanding. I don't know, but they became absolutely convinced that he was who he claimed to be because he said he was going to go into the tomb and he was going to rise again.

That transformed them from fear into courage. We wouldn't have Christianity today without these guys. We wouldn't have the gospel spread all over the world without these guys. We wouldn't have the gospel to us today here in North America without these foundation stones. There really is not much of an explanation for their emotional transformation if the bodily resurrection of Jesus never happened. If the bodily resurrection of Jesus never happened, then how could the gospel ever get out from these foundation stones? That alone makes the resurrection of Jesus such a big deal.

There's a sixth reason why the resurrection is so critical. It's to form the basis of early Christianity's proclamation and message. In the book of Acts, what were the apostles talking about over and over and over and over again at every opportunity? They were talking about the resurrection. They had been with Jesus for three years. They could have talked about any subject. They could have talked about the Sermon on the Mount, which teaches these wonderful concepts and ideas that doesn't mention the resurrection of Christ. They could have been talking about the feeding of the 5000. They could have talked about how he cast demons out of people.

They didn't talk about any of that stuff, even though they were there as eyewitnesses to see it all. They talked over and over again about the resurrection. That was the defining content, if you will, in their message. Dr. Norman Geisler makes this wonderful statement. He says, "Of all the wonderful things Jesus taught them about love, Matthew 23:36-37, the golden rule, non-retaliation, Matthew 5, truths about the kingdom of God, Matthew 13, the prevailing theme of the apostolic preaching was none of these. It was the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Here is Peter on his opening sermon there, beginning of the church age. There's an outline of his sermon in Acts 2. Of all the things Peter could talk about, what does he talk about? He talks about the resurrection. It's in Acts 2 verse 24. I've got it underlined. This is where he quotes Psalm 16. "But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power."

One chapter later, Peter preaches the temple sermon. What does Peter talk about in the temple sermon to the religious leadership of the nation? He talks about the resurrection of Jesus. Acts 3 verse 15, "But put to death, you put to death the Prince of Life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses."

One chapter later, he's talking to the Sanhedrin. That's the legal religious body of first-century Israel. It says in Acts 4 verse 10, "Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name this man stands before you in good health." This healing that you just saw was fulfilled by Jesus who's at the right hand of the Father in his high priestly ministry after his ascension, something that can't happen unless he rose from the dead and went back up to heaven.

The resurrection is the content of Peter's preaching in Acts 2, in Acts 3, in Acts 4. As the apostles went out, this is what they talked about over and over again. Acts 4 verse 2, "Being presently disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead." Acts 4 verse 33, "And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them."

Are we really emphasizing the resurrection of Jesus in our evangelism the way we should? Sometimes I wonder. We say things like "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." I don't doubt that's true, but the apostles weren't saying stuff like that. The apostles were saying, "This guy rose from the dead." We talk a lot about the death of Christ. We're going to have communion a little later focusing on his death. But folks, we don't serve a dead Savior, right? We serve a living Savior because he rose from the dead. This is what this particular Sunday is all about.

By the way, remember Judas committed suicide? They have to have 12, so they're trying to figure out who's going to replace Judas. They settle on Matthias, but in the process they give the criteria for who we're going to pick as the next apostle. What was the criteria? It was the resurrection. You had to have seen the resurrection.

Acts 1:21 and 22, "Therefore it is necessary that of men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection." "Well, I never saw the resurrection of Jesus." Okay, then you need not apply for apostleship because that's how an apostle was selected.

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 1, "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle?" "Wait a minute, Paul, why should we accept you as an apostle?" Because Paul says, "Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?" "I'm an apostle and I'm different because I wasn't there on the ground floor. I didn't see everything everyone else saw, but I did see a vision." A dead person can't come to you in a vision, can he?

"So I've seen the Lord too." If you're not a visible observer of the bodily resurrection of Christ or its after-effects as in the case of Paul, Paul calls himself the least of the apostles, the one born out of due season, then you can't be an apostle. That's how significant the message of the resurrection was in the early church. If you've got no resurrection, what did the early church have to talk about? There's nothing to talk about. Every chance they got, they kept saying, "Resurrected Christ, resurrected Christ, resurrected Christ."

Why the big deal about the resurrection? To fulfill Old Testament prophecy, to fulfill Christ's own prophecies, to solidify national Israel in unbelief back in the first century, to vindicate Christ's deity, to foster early Christianity's growth as the disciples went from fearful to fearless. It was necessary to furnish Christianity's central message, which is not just a crucified Christ, but a risen Christ.

It is absolutely necessary to guarantee future resurrections. I'm going to have a chance to talk about this during the sermon today, about how his resurrection guarantees everyone else's resurrection. A lot of times we come to resurrection Sunday and we try to give people an apologetic for why Jesus rose from the dead, and all of that teaching is good and it's wonderful and it has its place. But I'm wondering if we've forgotten something. There's more to this than an apologetic that Jesus is God. There's a hope component.

His resurrection guarantees my resurrection and your resurrection. I'm looking at you right now, you need a resurrection. I need a resurrection too. We're in these bodies that are decaying, and yet Paul says, "I don't lose hope." "Why would you not lose hope, Paul?" "Because it's just temporary. Because he came out of the grave, it guarantees I'm going to get my resurrected body."

That's what Paul is saying here in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 20 through 23. I'll just read verse 20 and verse 23. "But now," the resurrection chapter, "but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who've fallen asleep." Verse 23, "But each in his own order," the Greek there is tagma, there's an orderly process to these future resurrections. "Each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; after that those who are at his coming."

Firstfruits is something the Jewish mind reading that would immediately recognize because the book of Leviticus was very clear, as was Exodus, that the Jews are to collect the harvest in three phases. There's firstfruits, general harvest, then the gleanings. Ruth met Boaz at the gleanings, the third harvest. The gleanings is you don't harvest anything, you leave it for the poor. God gave the poor dignity to let them come and work like everyone else.

The full harvest is the main harvest, but firstfruits is the first crop that comes in. When it comes in, you say as a farmer, "Whew," because firstfruits guarantees the general harvest and gleanings. Firstfruits gives you hope. Firstfruits gives you hope that the other harvests are going to come in. That's why Christ's resurrection is called the firstfruits. It gives us hope of the main harvest, which is our resurrection bodies.

Firstfruits is a guarantee. Daniel 12 verse 2 talks about at the end of the age there will be two great resurrections. He says, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt." Everyone's getting resurrected. Did you know that? Even unbelievers.

Jesus said in John 5 verse 29, "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth; those who did good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." Paul spoke of it in Acts 24 verse 15 in his testimony there, "Having hope in God which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked."

Two big resurrections are coming, it's just with the first resurrection, it takes place in phases, just like Israel's harvest cycle. Firstfruits, which guarantees the rest of the harvest, then the general harvest, then the gleanings for the poor. Firstfruits is Christ's resurrection from the dead, which guarantees the general harvest, which is you. You get your resurrected body at the point of the rapture. "Well, how do I know I'm going to even like my resurrected body?" Well, come back in the second hour and I'll show you. Once I describe this to you, you're going to be like, "Let's get the show on the road. I can't wait. I'm tired of looking at myself in the mirror."

Then the gleanings, now those are non-church age saints, people that lived before the church age, righteous people, and then tribulation martyrs. They all get their resurrected bodies at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. There's two great resurrections, it's just the resurrection of the righteous takes place in these three phases. Then a thousand years pass, called the Millennial Kingdom, and then comes a terrible resurrection, which I don't want any part of.

In fact, it says here, "Blessed and holy is the one who has the part in the first resurrection." I don't want any part in that last resurrection because that's where the unsaved people are emptied out of Hades, and as they stand before the Lord at what is called the Great White Throne Judgment, after the kingdom age has transpired, they are cast into the lake of fire. There's a giant train of resurrections coming, and you can live with absolute hope and confidence that your resurrection is going to happen because Jesus rose from the grave. He's the firstfruits. His resurrection from the grave is a guarantor of all the other resurrections.

Is this resurrection of Jesus a big deal? It's a huge deal. It's necessary to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. It's necessary to fulfill Christ's own prophecies. It was necessary to solidify Israel in her unbelieving state back in the first century. It was necessary to vindicate Christ's deity. It was necessary to foster Christianity's growth as the disciples went from fearful to fearless. It was necessary to furnish Christianity's central message, which is not just a crucified Christ, but a risen Christ. And it is absolutely necessary to guarantee future resurrections, and you're on the list as a believer to get that resurrected body at the point of the rapture. The resurrection's a big deal. Can I get an amen on that?

Guest (Male): Amen.

Dr. Andy Woods: Let's pray. Father, we're grateful for this special Sunday and the truth of the resurrection, what it means. Help us to relish these truths and help us to live in hope and optimism in a very dying and fearful world. Help us to spread the message to people that need to hear it. We'll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. God's people said?

Guest (Male): Amen.

Dr. Andy Woods: Happy intermission.