The Resurrection: Fact or Fiction? John 20

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Know there are many lovers of history in this room and personally
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I Have always loved history when I was in elementary school a teacher noticed
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My interest and predicted that one day. I would be a history teacher in fact when
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I was in high school This same teacher now retired He was a substitute for one of my classes
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And he remembered what he said to me way back in elementary school, and he said to me again
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Seth You're gonna be a history teacher Now when I was in college,
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I was on a business route and specifically I wanted to work in sports But I still loved history enough to be a history minor
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Now let's fast forward to now Obviously I'm not a history teacher right
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I'm a pastor So was this teacher wrong. I don't think he was a
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Pastor Cannot be a good pastor unless he loves history what a biblical pastor does is
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Proclaim the story of life by proclaiming the Bible The Bible tells us world history, and this is the story that all of us
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Find ourselves in When we look at the most important events in the history of the world
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The Bible tells us those events it tells us the creation of the universe the fall of humanity the global flood the beginning of the nation of Israel the deliverance of Israel from the
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Egyptians through the power of God and Once you get deeper into the Old Testament you get into the monarchy where you have
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David and Solomon then Israel forsakes
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God Plunges themselves into sin and God judges them and he judges them by first sending the
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Assyrians To judge the northern kingdom of Israel and then about a hundred years later he judges the southern kingdom of Israel through the
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Babylonians and They're taken into exile And not only was
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Jerusalem destroyed when this invasion happened, but so was the holy temple But then later on God graciously sent back
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His people to the Holy Land to rebuild the city and to rebuild that temple
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This is Old Testament history in a nutshell But then we get to the
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New Testament era the first century AD Where the most fascinating part of world history happens
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The same one who created this universe and is the author of all history enters the story
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Think about that the writer of the story of life becomes a character in the story
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Now it is of course true that God was a character in the Old Testament as he worked in every event
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But what happened in the first century is unique God Almighty This is the creator of all things becomes a human
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He becomes one of us He breathed the same air we breathe He drank the same water
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He ate the same food God in the second person of the
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Trinity took on a new nature he is Fully God and he is fully man
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He comes to this earth on a mission on a rescue mission First Timothy 115 tells us
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Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 2 ,000 years ago
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While the God -man Jesus was in his 30s The story of human history reaches its peak
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The great enemy of God Satan tried to ruin Jesus, but he failed
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When he tempted the first human thousands of years before he succeeded when Adam fell into sin
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But the most evil of all creatures would not succeed with this man He tried to tempt
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Jesus, but he failed After tempting him Matthew 4 11 records that Satan walked away in defeat
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But do you think Satan was done at this point? He wasn't done He knew
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That God's plan was that this man before him Jesus would reign forever
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This was predicted in the Old Testament and Satan knows the Bible Do you guys that Satan knows the
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Bible better than we do he's been reading it for thousands of years He knows the Bible. He knew that Jesus would reign forever
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But what Satan did not know is that Jesus needed to be sacrificed
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To be to bear the sins of the ones who would be God's children Satan probably believed that it was enough for people to believe in God with no
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Permanent once -for -all sacrifice Necessary I say this because who was the primary one behind the crucifixion of Jesus?
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The answer is Satan John 13 to records that the devil put it in the heart of Judas to portray
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Jesus Satan thought he could still win and so he thought that by getting
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Jesus off the scene He would be victorious and when we sit back and we say well, this is irrational. Well, it is
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But when you're that prideful you believe irrational things He failed in the temptation
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But but he believed he would not fail here But what Satan didn't realize is that this crucifixion he planned through the
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Jews and through Judas would be his undoing By delivering Jesus up to be crucified.
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He was committing suicide When Jesus went to the cross he bore the holy wrath of God and God's wrath was satisfied the only way any human can be saved at any point in history and be brought into fellowship with God is through the death of Christ Through the crucifixion
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Satan was defeated Keepers 214 says that through his death He destroyed the one who has the power of death.
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That is the devil. So through the crucifixion Christ is victorious But the authors of Scripture can only say that the crucifixion was
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Satan's undoing because they knew what happened two days later in this intro
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I've explained many Important historical events described in Scripture and all these events needed to happen
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For the Bible to be any help to anyone Including what happened 2 ,000 years ago at Golgotha and the tomb not far away
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If what we are remembering today is not history, then we're wasting our time and there's no meaning and hope in life
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Any other effort that meaning and hope is false meaning and hope so as you can see there is a ton riding on the historicity of the
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Bible and Specifically the bodily resurrection of Christ Where our focus is today
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We are going to look at the history the historicity of the resurrection through the accounts of The closest eyewitnesses we're going to do that today
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So at this time, I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to John chapter 20 Of course, we've been to Matthew today
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We're gonna go to another gospel the gospel of John if you use it a red Bible in the fuse.
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It's on page 1077 and 1078 this sermon is titled the resurrection fact or fiction and here's our big idea
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Jesus bodily resurrection is the best Explanation for the events occurring on Easter Sunday.
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Okay, that's what I'm arguing That's what we believe Jesus bodily resurrection is the best explanation for the events occurring on Easter Sunday And we're gonna see four reasons why in this text what we're gonna see today should be an encouragement to us as we see
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The legitimate the legitimacy of this. This is not a fairy tale. That's what we're gonna see. This is history
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We'll see four reasons why and the first reason why is this? Grave robbers did not take the body
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Let's begin by looking at the first ten verses of John 20 Now on the first day of the week
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Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb
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So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple the one whom Jesus loved and said to them
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They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him So Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb
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Both of them were running together but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first and Stooping to look in he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb
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He saw the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth Which had been on Jesus head not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed
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For as yet, they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead
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Then the disciples went back to their homes for 2 ,000 years
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People have speculated as to what happened to the body of Jesus Now as Bible -believing
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Christians, I know which which many of us are in this room We think well, I've never speculated. I've always just believed but the world has speculated about this and One popular view is that grave robbers came and took the body
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In order to determine if this is true, you need to look at the evidence Just like anything else and many have speculated that random grave robbers came and took the body
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But an even more popular view is that the disciples themselves the ones who spent so much time with Jesus his loyal Followers that they were the ones who stole the body
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What's interesting is that the Bible addresses this? Addresses this question
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Now this view the grave robbers stole the body originated With some of the chief villains of the
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New Testament's the Jewish leaders. We've seen these villains over and over again in our sermon series through Matthew and these are the ones who delivered
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Jesus up to be crucified and We learned this from Matthew chapter 28 verses 11 through 15 in that passage the
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Jewish leaders when the Soldiers come to them and say what happened that an angel appeared the stone rolled away and his body is gone
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What they told the Romans is that just tell everyone That the disciples stole the body so the
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Jewish leaders lied and this became a myth that spread among the Jews and Many Jews and non
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Jews still believe it today It's hard to fathom how hard were the hearts of the
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Jewish leaders They were eyewitnesses to Jesus miracles. They saw him do things that no one else can do
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At this moment deep down. They probably realized that he was resurrected from the dead but they just hated him so much that they didn't want to believe it and so they
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Wrote this false narrative they fabricated this story So let's look at the evidence about how we know the body was not stolen
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I'm gonna I'm gonna zero in on verses 2 through 5 to start here So she
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Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple the one whom Jesus loved and said to them they have
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Taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him So Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb both of them were running together and Stooping to look in he saw the living claws lying there, but he did not go in So as we see here verse 5
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Says that the linen claws were lying there If a grave robber were stealing the body.
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Do you think they would take the time? To take off his clothes Okay, that's one clue a grave robber would take the body as is with clothes on When thieves steal they do it quickly
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This is the first piece of evidence But here's the second one in verses 6 and 7 Those verses say that Simon Peter came following him and went to the tomb
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He saw the linen claws lying there and the face cloth Which had been on Jesus head not lying with the linen cloth, but folded up in a place by itself
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So it's not interesting Jesus had a face cloth on his head when he was buried and Did you notice that detail in verse 7 the face cloth was folded?
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interesting Do grave robbers fold a face cloth before they leave? of course not a
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Grave robber is not going to fold a face cloth as they as they steal the body The Apostle John who wrote this by the way, he's writing for skeptics.
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He wants people to believe that this is history This is why he deliberately includes this detail here
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He's saying Jesus is the one who took off his clothing. He's the one who folded his face cloth and then he walked out of the tomb
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Now John Who was running to the tomb with Peter was persuaded by what he saw as verse 8 says then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed
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Peter may also have believed at this point by what Mark read in Luke chapter 24 verse 12
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When Mark read there was that Peter marveled at what he saw that indicates that Wait, maybe that all that talk about me rising from the dead.
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I didn't just make up They believed even though at this point they were a bit confused about how a resurrected
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Messiah Fit into their Old Testament idea about who the
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Messiah was going to be Verse 9 says this they did not understand the scripture and scripture.
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Here is the Old Testament They did not understand what the Old Testament was saying about who the Messiah was going to be and what he was going to do
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And what verse 9 says is that he must rise from the dead Remember, I've explained already in our sermon series through Matthew that the
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Jews largely had a very wrong Understanding about who the Messiah was going to be and what he was going to do when he came on to the earth they thought he was going to come and deliver
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Israel from their enemies and Israel would be the superpower of the world as the
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Messiah reigned They did not understand the suffering of the
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Messiah During Jesus ministry the disciples were always perplexed
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When Jesus told them that he was going to die and then on the third day rise from the dead, you notice that They were always perplexed because They had a wrong understanding just like all the other
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Jews did They failed to understand that the death and resurrection of the
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Messiah Even though the Old Testament predicted that this would happen They loved the passages about the
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Messiah reigning, but the suffering passages were thinking that can't be him Isaiah 53 is the most vivid picture of the suffering
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Messiah and they didn't see it in Psalm 16 talks about the resurrection of the
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Messiah That his body would not Reap corruption corruption, but would live on forever so as we see in these verses
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Jesus bodily resurrection is the best explanation for the events occurring at Easter Sunday and the first reason why is that clearly grave robbers did not take the body and that's what the disciples are seen here as they
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Stoop in and look into the tomb Now the second reason why
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These verses tell us that the Jesus that the body resurrection of Christ is the best explanation for what happened on that day is this women played a
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Prominent role in the events of that morning Women played a prominent role in the events of that morning
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We're going to see in the following verses that Mary Magdalene and several other women
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Played a huge role in what took place on this day. So verses 11 through 18, but Mary Stood weeping outside the tomb and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb and she saw two angels in white
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Sitting where the body of Jesus had lain one at the head and one at the feet
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They said to her woman. Why are you weeping? She said to them they have taken away my
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Lord and I do not know where they have laid him Having said this she turned around and saw
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Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her Woman, why are you weeping?
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Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener. She said to him sir If you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away
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Jesus said to her Mary She turned and said to him in Aramaic Rabboni, which means teacher
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Jesus said to her do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to the father
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But go to my brothers and say to them. I am ascending to my father and to your father to my
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God and your God Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples. I have seen the
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Lord and That he had said these things to her So what we see here is that the narrator
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John The Apostle John the disciple whom Jesus loved He states that Jesus was standing near her, but Mary Did not know immediately that it was him
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This suggests that while he was still him Jesus did look different than before his resurrection
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Okay, Jesus had an earthly body like our earthly body but after his resurrection
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He had a glorified body. And so he looked a little bit different here because when she saw him
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She thought he was the gardener What we see in verse 15 is that Jesus talks to Mary and Mary thinks that he's a gardener and he's taken the body somewhere
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But the moment Mary knew it was Jesus was the moment when
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Jesus Said her name in verse 16 let's look at that again Jesus said to her
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Mary and She turned and said to him in Aramaic Rabboni, which means my teacher
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Isn't it amazing how we can recognize each other's voices As some of you know mark recorded a
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CD this past summer that's a great what wonderful CD in fact, there's copies in the back if you want to grab one and Brianna and Laurie sing along with him in a couple of songs and there's one song on there.
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That's worse than the others the song that I sing The instant my voice comes on that CD Isaiah my son just lights up It's the only song on the
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CD that he wants played even though it's the worst song He's like play it again because he's like that's daddy's voice
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He recognizes my voice and it's interesting that if you think about it, of course, we know that Abbie's having a baby
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Not too long down the road Like Kyle the baby knows your voice already
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Is that fascinating and we know each other's voices you call on the phone. I don't even need to say to you
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This is pastor Seth, you know what my voice sounds like But I usually say it anyways
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So once Mary recognizes that this is Jesus he tells her in verses 17 and 18 to tell the disciples
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That he will be ascending To the father so she knows it's him. This is
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Jesus. It's his voice it's not someone else and Jesus tells them here
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He tells Mary That he will only be with them a short time before he goes to heaven the place where he is now
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Jesus right now is sitting at the right hand of the father, but here he's still on the earth He's talking to Mary and he's gonna appear to many people during his time on there during his 40 days on the earth after his resurrection
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But there's a very important point that we need to notice here Mary is the first person that Jesus appears to and The other two women that Jesus appeared to were the other women described in Matthew chapter 28 verse 9
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In Mark 16 tells us their names. They are Mary the mother of James James was one of the twelve disciples and Salome who was the mother of the disciples
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John and James okay, so there's three women here Mary Magdalene Salome and Mary the mother of James the fact that women
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Were the first eyewitnesses is important because the testimony of women at this point in history
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Was not considered trustworthy And now that's not okay, but that was
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I'm telling you what the culture said Women were the ones here though who found the tomb empty to begin with and now they're the first ones to see him alive
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Now, why do I bring this up as we talk about the historicity of this account?
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if the disciples were trying to fabricate a Story that Jesus rose from the dead
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They would not have made up that women were the first ones to see him because the witness the testimony would not have been reliable They probably would have wrote that a prominent member of society who was dead and couldn't verify it
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Was the one who witnessed? the resurrection But the women were the first ones to see him alive
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Once again, we see the evidence suggests a story is not being fabricated Women playing an important role is what really happened and what
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John is doing here is he's just presenting the history That's what a historian does they present the facts as is
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That's what he's doing So Jesus bodily resurrection is the best explanation for the events occurring on Easter Sunday And the second reason why is that women played a prominent role?
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They were the first ones to see him And the second reason why Jesus bodily or the third reason why
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Jesus bodily resurrection is the best explanation for the events occurring on Easter Sunday is this The eyewitnesses were not mistaken.
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I once heard a Christian apologist Apologist is someone who defends the
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Christian faith. I once heard him argue Effectively for the legitimacy of the bodily resurrection of Christ and This apologist once debated a man who agreed with him but a skeptic and opponents
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He agreed with this Christian apologist that the disciples really thought they saw Jesus But what this man said?
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Was that they saw a twin brother of Jesus? Okay, so they couldn't deny that they really saw
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Someone who looked like Jesus, but they wouldn't say of course the resurrections don't happen.
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It can't actually be Jesus So he must have had a twin brother that no one ever knew about You look at the extremes that people go to to try to explain this away
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But in verses 19 through 20 23 we are going to see that the same person who was crucified was the same one who appeared to them
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So let's read verses 19 through 23 On the evening of that day the first day of the week the door is being locked where the disciples were for fear of the
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Jews Jesus came and stood among them and said to them peace be with you And when he had said this he showed them his hands and his side
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Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord Jesus said to them again peace be with you as the father has sent me even so I am sending you
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And when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them Receive the Holy Spirit if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them if you withhold forgiveness for many
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It is withheld So as we see here the disciples at this point in the story they were hiding
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They were afraid The one they followed for three years was crucified and they're thinking what's gonna happen to us
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They're hiding What are the Jews gonna do to us? What are the Romans gonna do to us? Peter and John Would have been absent because Luke 24 12 says that they left after the women told the disciples the tomb was empty
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But the rest of the disciples would have been present This is likely the fifth appearance that Jesus made he appeared first to Mary Then the other women then the two men on the road to Emmaus which
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Luke records then he appeared to Peter Then right here to these disciples
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So as the disciples are sitting there the rumors that he is alive prove true
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I Say that because Jesus appears to them suddenly Could you imagine that whoa?
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Now you will notice that the doors were locked What we see here is a miracle obviously the resurrection is a miracle and the fact that he could just suddenly appear is a
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Miracle as I already mentioned Jesus has a glorified body a body that can do miraculous things
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It tells us about the body that one day all who trust in him all of his disciples will have
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You imagine that you just appear in places So in verse 20 Jesus shows them his hands and his side
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This is an obvious reference to the wounds that he suffered from his crucifixion It was at that point that they knew it was him the second half of verse 20
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What they say is that the disciples were glad when they saw the
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Lord they knew it was him Immediately when they saw him the same man who went to the cross and died is the same man who stood before them when the
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Apostle John Had a vision of heaven in Revel in the book of Revelation in Revelation chapter 5 verse 6
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He said that he saw a lamb as though it had been slain Okay, so he saw Jesus in heaven and he saw
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Jesus like he is here wounds in his hands wounds in his side So why is this
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Isn't the glorified body supposed to be flawless No marks, no wounds, this is an interesting question to ask why is this
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I think the answer is clear Because we will always be reminded of what
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Jesus has done on our behalf and every time we see Jesus and we see those wounds We will be reminded of what he did
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Because we won't have wounds We'll have a perfect body So we can conclude that the disciples did not see a look -alike or as one scholar has has said up to a twin brother
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They saw crucif a crucified man who was now risen So Jesus bodily resurrection is the best explanation for the events occurring on Easter Sunday And the third reason why is that the eyewitnesses were not mistaken the same man
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They saw was the same man who was crucified And here's our fourth and final reason
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That Jesus bodily resurrection is the best explanation for the events occurring on Easter Sunday.
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And that is the greatest doubters were persuaded the greatest doubters were persuaded as we have seen thus far as Different people saw
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Jesus they believed one by one that it was really him, but there was one disciple
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Who had yet to see Jesus? And you can guess who it is Thomas The well -known saying doubting
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Thomas comes from this account in John's Gospel Thomas was not with the other disciples when
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Jesus appeared. So let's see how Jesus appeared to him verses 24 and 25
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Now Thomas one of the twelve called the twin was not with them when Jesus came So the other disciples told him we have seen the
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Lord But he said to them Unless I see his hands The mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side.
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I Will never believe So it's interesting here.
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Thomas did not believe their word I mean he sees them he can tell if they're not making this up.
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They're not playing some joke on him is it we have seen him and Thomas doesn't believe him
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He would only believe if he could see Jesus with his own eyes and feel him and Jesus is gracious to him.
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He would get his chance verses 26 through 29 Eight days later
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His disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them Although the doors were locked
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Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you Then he said to Thomas Okay, we see the supernatural nature of Jesus here put your finger here and See my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side
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Do not disbelieve but believed Thomas answered him my
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Lord and my God Jesus said to him have you believed because you have seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed
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As Jesus appears to him he tells him to put his hands in his wounds After feeling
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Jesus he finally believes It took a lot for Thomas to believe what he eventually did
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After seeing him and it's important to note what Thomas says in verse 28.
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He says my Lord and my God He calls Jesus God here one of the several places in the
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New Testament That ascribes Jesus deity, this is no mere man. He is
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God Furthermore in verse 29 Jesus says something that we need to hear this morning because he's talking about us
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Jesus said to him have you believed because you have seen blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed
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This is all of us None of us here today have seen Jesus with our eyes None of us were there 2 ,000 years ago.
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We are depending on the testimony of eyewitnesses and an eyewitness testimony
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Only is good if it's reliable Obviously you hear people people can say whatever they want
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But is the testimony? reliable What we've seen today is that it is indeed reliable and what
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Jesus says is that we are very blessed if we believe their testimony All of us have a propensity to doubt because seeing something supernatural like what happened on Easter Sunday is not common
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You probably have never seen someone suddenly appear in your room Many people go through their life without seeing a supernatural event with one's own eyes
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It is true that we see miracles like lives transformed and prayers answered
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The new birth is a miracle But we probably have never seen the lame suddenly walk or the blind suddenly see
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There's a different there's a different kind of miracle that happened in the first century and even at times in the
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Old Testament and that These are visible miracles where someone who doesn't have a hand suddenly has a hand where Jesus walks on water
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We're a dead person who's been dead for several days It suddenly comes to life and the reason these miracles were there was to show that a great work of God was being done on the earth
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God was in the flesh and God wanted everyone to know that and so that's why those visible miracles were there
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But we do see God working right through through people being saved through prayers answered
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So on and so forth and we must realize that that was a unique time in history
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But God is still working every day And we must believe the testimony of these eyewitnesses that it's trustworthy and these miracles did happen
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And if you think about it The creation of the universe is a miracle How do you explain all of this other than the fact that it was a miracle?
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What the Bible says is that everything that you see was created out of nothing in an instant
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God Spoke all of this into existence So we came from the supernatural we came from God He created it and that is the only explanation that makes any sense to explain reality
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Secular science is effort to explain reality. I mean frankly is embarrassing It's not scientific not even close it's propaganda
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And and by the way, we see a lot of propaganda in the world today. That's what they always do that's what the world does that's what
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Satan does and The whole world lies in the hands of the evil one.
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So you see if you wonder why is there so much propaganda? Why is there so much falsehood? That's why?
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The truth comes from God lies come from Satan. That's all he does is lie
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So when we realize that the very existence of all that we see came about through a supernatural event creation
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It is not hard to believe that God is able to do a miracle within it like the resurrection
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You hear it said that people don't rise from the dead for the most part. That's true But 2 ,000 years ago, that's precisely what happened.
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It is the only conclusion that makes any sense given the evidence And with all this in mind our doubt should be taken away
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Think about these eyewitnesses particularly John and all the other disciples Think about the trajectory of their life from this point
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If you see the risen Lord You're gonna believe everything he says it's gonna change the way you live and that's exactly what happened all of the disciples
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Lived the rest of their lives Passionately following Christ. They devoted a 100 % of their life to spreading the news that Jesus was crucified and Risen and what church history records is that all of them not only lived for Christ, but they died for him
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They suffered brutal martyrdoms The lone exception was
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John the one who wrote this and John didn't have it good either he was exiled to Patmos and I an island in the
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Mediterranean and Paul the Apostle Paul was it was the greatest one of the greatest persecutors of the early church
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He saw the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus and he too suffered greatly and was executed in Rome after following Jesus for 30 years
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People do not risk their life for a lie. No one does
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They believe they saw Jesus and gave it all for him And that's what is a clear application for us, okay if this is true and it is
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Are we giving 100 % are we living like the disciples? Are we living every day for him?
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Are we ready to die for him? I once had a friend and He said to me he's like I would die for Jesus and at that point
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He wasn't really walking closely with the Lord. I said, I said, will you live for him? You're only gonna die for him if you first live for him
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The same Jesus who rose from the dead is the same one who lives in every true believer
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And I see the faith in so many of you. He lives in you 1933 hymnist
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Alfred Ackley. He wrote a hymn titled he lives And in the chorus, he writes you asked me how
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I know he lives. He lives within my heart He's he lives in me.
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That's how I know Let's just throw it all the evidence Evidence is good.
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But that's the most persuasive thing at all. He's changed my life. I know him personally in Anyone who believes in Christ he has changed you are a new creation in Christ That's what
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Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 517 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
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The old has gone the new has come So as we think about what happened 2 ,000 years ago, no, you weren't there.
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You weren't even close to being born at that point But you believe the eyewitness testimony and the most convincing way
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You know, he is risen is you know him and you love him I love what Peter says in 1st
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Peter 1 though you have though you have not seen him You love him though. You do not now see him you rejoice with joy
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That is inexpressible and filled with glory concerning the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls
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We know him he's changed us. So if someone ever asked you how do how do you how do
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I know that he lives? Before you even go to the evidence just say Because he lives in my heart
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Just like the hymn is said Thomas looked at the resurrected Christ and his doubt was taken away
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And when you look at the mountain of evidence that he was raised what we've seen today and the testimony of a transformed life
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Your doubt should also be taken away So this passage of Scripture from John 20 is making the argument that the best
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Explanation for the events on Easter Sunday is that Jesus really was raised bodily from the dead
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There's you realize that there's churches today who are saying that this is talking about a spiritual resurrection
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Because because physical resurrections can't happen. That's blasphemy If you ever hear that that's a false teacher if anyone believes that they're not
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Christians, they're a false Christian We believe in the bodily resurrection everything depends on it
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So today we've seen four reasons why this is the best explanation Grave robbers did not take the body women played a prominent role in the events of that morning.
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I Witnesses did not see a look -alike and even the greatest doubters had to believe like Thomas The reality of the resurrection of Christ means that this is information that you cannot be indifferent toward We look at history, right?
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It doesn't matter I mean, it's interesting looking at history right and learning about Napoleon and learning about Alexander the
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Great and learning about the Roman Empire Learning about ancient Egypt. It's so interesting.
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But if you die and not knowing that who cares This is a historical event that everyone needs to hear because your eternal destiny hangs in the balance
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Based on what you do about it. Jesus Christ went to the cross
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He died for your sins He rose on the third day and if you believe in him you have eternal life and John 3 36
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Shows us the two roads whoever believes in the Sun has eternal life But whoever does not believe does not have life, but the wrath of God remains on him
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So if you receive Christ you believe that he died on the cross for your sins You see how sinful you are and that he is the only one who can save you
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And if you believe that and you believe that he rose from the dead you are saved heaven is your future, but if you do not
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Then hell is your future. And so I plead with everyone here. I Know many of you have believed, but if you have not believe in the
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Lord Jesus this day We can't be indifferent toward it
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This is the news the whole world needs to hear. Let's pray father
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I Thank you for the truth. I Thank you Lord that the
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Holy Spirit Helps us see the truth and I pray right now If there's anyone here who has not believed in the
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Lord Jesus Christ the crucified and risen Savior, may they do that today? No ever say
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That this is a fairy tale The evidence does not say that it says the opposite.
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It says this really happened And Lord, we know why people don't believe it's not because it's it's not intellectual it's because they don't want to believe and In my prayer
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Lord is that people would see That everyone in this room would understand that to believe in the crucified and risen
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Savior That's the meaning of life To know him is to have life to know him is to have fullness of joy
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To know him is to is to be a conqueror over death is to be a conqueror over Satan Is to have the brightest future possible
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That's what we're talking about today. And so Lord May everyone in this room know
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Christ may anyone who's listening or watching Know Christ as their Lord Savior and treasure