May 9, 2004

 

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most successful defense lawyer in the world is Sir Lionel Luckhoo, who succeeded in getting 245 successive murder charge acquittals! That’s an absolutely astonishing feat that nobody has come close to replicating – 245 murder trials in a row, won before a jury or on appeal!What skills do you think he needed to rise to that level of courtroom success?He must be smart and savvy.He must have tremendous analytical skills to dissect what may appear on the surface to be an air-tight case.And he must be a world-class expert on what constitutes reliable and persuasive evidence. All of that describes Luckhoo, who was knighted twice by Queen Elizabeth.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to get an opinion from an expert like Luckhoo on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ?Well, we’re in luck, so to speak.During his own spiritual journey, Luckhoo turned his expertise to the question of whether the resurrection of Jesus Christ stands up to the test of legal evidence.And here was his conclusion: “I say unequivocally that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”Amazing, isn’t it?Our everyday experience tells us that pigs don’t talk, regardless of the movie Babe; that Santa Claus doesn’t slide down chimneys; and that dead people don’t spring back to life.And yet here’s the most successful attorney in the world applying the test of legal evidence to the case of Jesus Christ and concluding with absolute confidence that His resurrection is reality!And then Luckhoo did the only thing he could – trusted Jesus was his Savior!

Well, today, you and I are going to examine some of the facts ourselves. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Cor.15:17: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”So the resurrection is the linchpin of Christianity and the ultimate authentication of Jesus’ claim that He is God.Let’s examine the evidence – I will summarize it with three E’s.

The first E stands for “EARLY.”The account of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection date back very early.For instance, a creed recited in the early church and preserved for us by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 clearly affirms that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”This creed has been dated back to as early as two or three years after the crucifixion, and the beliefs that underlie it go back right to the cross itself.This completely rebuts the idea that legends about the resurrection developed in the decades after Jesus’ death.There wasn’t enough time for that to have occurred.In fact, when Paul mentions that Jesus appeared to 500 people at one time, He specifically states that many of them were still alive.In effect, He was saying, “Hey, these people are still around – ask them yourselves if you don’t believe me, and they’ll tell you it’s true.”That’s how confident he was!There were people around to verify his story!

The second E stands for “EMPTY.”The empty tomb of Jesus.Nobody to this day has ever uncovered the body of Jesus!His body was laid in a tomb, sealed, and placed under heavy guard, and yet it was discovered empty on Easter morning by – and this is significant – several women!You see, the fact that the ancient documents say women discovered the tomb empty lends even more credibility to these accounts.The reason is that women had low status in Jewish society at the time and didn’t even legally qualify as witnesses!So if the disciples were making up this story, surely they would have claimed that men discovered the empty tomb because their testimony would have been more credible in that culture.

But here’s the most powerful fact concerning Jesus’ tomb: nobody ever claimed it was anything but empty!Even His opponents admitted it was vacant on Easter!They tried to bribe the guards to say that the disciples stole the body while they were asleep, which is ridiculous because they didn’t have the motive or opportunity – and, besides, how did the guards know it was the disciples if they were sleeping?But the point is, when the disciples declared the tomb was empty, Jesus’ opponents didn’t respond by saying, “No, it’s not.” Or, “You’ve got the wrong tomb – his body is over there.”Instead, they admitted it was true – the tomb was vacant!

Now, the question is, how did it get empty?There’s many possible suspects, but no reasonable explanation.For instance, the Romans wouldn’t have taken the body.They wanted Jesus dead.The Jewish leaders wouldn’t have taken the body.They wanted Him to stay dead.Either the Jews or the Romans would have loved to have paraded Jesus’ lifeless body down Main Street of Jerusalem because this would have instantly killed the growing Christian movement that they were expending so much energy trying to destroy.But they couldn’t because they didn’t have the body!And the disciples had nothing to gain and everything to lose by stealing the body.Why would they want to live a life of suffering and then be tortured to death for a lie?And one of them surely would have broken ranks under torture and told the truth!Friends, the unanimous testimony of history is that the tomb was empty on Easter Sunday!The only explanation that fits the facts is that Jesus really did rise to life again!

Especially because of the third E… “EYEWITNESSES.”Over 40 days Jesus appeared alive a dozen different times to more than 515 individuals!To men and women, believers and doubters, groups, individuals, indoors, and even outdoors in broad daylight.He talked and ate with them.He even invited one skeptic to put his finger in the nail holes in his hands and put his hand in the spear wound in his side in order to verify that it was Him.And that disciple became so convinced that he ended up proclaiming the resurrection until he was killed for it!

515 people – that’s a lot of witnesses!Imagine – if we were holding a trial to determine the facts concerning the resurrection, and if we were to call to the witness stand every eyewitness who personally encountered the resurrected Jesus and we cross-examined each of them for only 15 minutes, and if we went around the clock without a break, do you know how long we would be sitting here?The first-hand eyewitness testimony would start now, and go straight through until about 3 AM on Friday morning!And after listening for more than 128 straight hours, who could possibly walk away unconvinced?There has never been a trial with that much testimony!The appearances of Jesus weren’t hallucinations, they weren’t wish fulfillment, they weren’t mythology or mistake. They’re real events that changed the lives of those who encountered Him!

Look at what happened to the disciples!Before Easter, they were dejected and depressed because they thought their leader was gone forever.Peter denied Christ three times.They fled and hid.But history clearly shows that after Easter, they began boldly proclaiming Jesus is alive!Suddenly, these once cowardly men are transformed into people filled with courage, willing to fearlessly proclaim to their death that Jesus had conquered the grave!

OK, you say, but lots of people have been willing to die for their beliefs!Look at the Muslim terrorists who keep blowing themselves up and killing people in Israel.Why are they willing to die that way?Because they sincerely believe they would go to be with their god in paradise.But what the disciples did was very different from that.People will die for their beliefs it they are convinced their beliefs are true – like the terrorist.But people will not die for their religious beliefs if they know their beliefs are false.And the disciples were in the unique position to know first-hand – to know for sure – whether Jesus had really risen from the dead!They encountered Him.They talked and ate with Him.And they declared it was true – He was resurrected!And that’s why they were willing to die for it!Nobody willingly dies for a lie!

Friends, Luckhoo was right:the evidence is absolutely overwhelming.The three E’s add up to a powerful and persuasive equation:EARLY Accounts + an EMPTY Tomb + EYEWITNESS Testimony = Certainty that Jesus indeed was resurrected!But you didn’t need all this evidence to believe that Jesus is alive.You already have the most powerful evidence – the gospel message in Scripture!You can be sure Jesus is alive!And his resurrection is the ultimate authentication that He is who He claimed to be – the one and only Son of God.But more than that, the Resurrection has profound implications for you and me!It changes our lives!

Let me tell you a story, one made up by Alfred Hitchcock, that has a lesson for us.It’s the story of a woman who murdered her husband years ago and was sentenced to life in prison.She vowed that somehow, some way, she’d escape.As her prison bus approached the penitentiary, she saw an old man, another prisoner, covering up a grave in a small cemetery outside the prison walls.Right then and there, she hatched a plot.Once inside, she befriended this prisoner.He was going blind and needed cataract surgery.“I’ll give you the money for your surgery if you’ll help me escape,” she said.And he agreed.

Here was the plan: the next time she heard the bell toll, which indicated an inmate had died, she would sneak down to the workroom where he made the casket and slide inside with the body and pull the covering closed.He would wheel the casket out to the cemetery, lower it into the grave and cover it with dirt.But that night, when nobody was watching, he’d return and dig up the casket and set her free.Late one night, the bell tolled.The woman sneaked down to the workroom.It was dark, but she found the casket, lifted the lid, slipped inside next to the body, pulled the cover over her, and waited.

Sure enough, a few hours later she felt the casket being rolled toward the grave site.She smiled as the casket was lowered into the hole.She heard the clumps of dirt hitting the casket and covering her up.She had done it!She could barely contain her excitement!Silence followed as she waited in the dark.Time began to drag.Hours passed, then more hours.Finally, she began to worry.She broke out in a cold sweat.Where was that old man?What was keeping him?Can you imagine the emotions running through her?In a moment of panic, she reached into her pocket and took out some matches.As she lit one, she glanced at the corpse beside her – and saw that it was the old man himself!Her only hope lay buried right next to her!

The lesson for us is obvious.This woman had placed her hope in another human being whom she sincerely thought would be able to save her – but he went to his grave and ended up taking her with him!Friends, listen: every single religious leader in history is in his grave right now: Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, all except One – Jesus Christ!His tomb is empty because He had the power of God to overcome the grave!So let me ask you: Who are you going to put your hope in to help you overcome the grave?You just heard the evidence: it points out that Jesus was telling the truth when He said in John 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life.He who believed in Me will live, even though He dies.”

One thing we haven’t talked about today is the “why” of Jesus’ death.You see, your wrongdoing has separated you from a perfect God, and out of his love for you, Jesus chose to suffer the pain of the cross as your substitute, to pay the penalty that you deserved for your sin so that you could be reconciled with God.His Resurrection is the ultimate proof that He is done paying for your sins and that you ARE made right with God again!And so now, you can have confidence that you, too, will overcome the grave and spend eternity with Him in heaven!Go ahead, do what Luckhoo did.Look at the evidence yourself.But keep the image of that hopeless woman in mind while you ask yourself this question:“Who is the only One who the evidence has demonstrated can offer you hope for your eternity?”Amen.

Much thanks to Lee Strobel and his investigative evidence for this sermon. It was largely taken from material from his books, The Case For Christ, and The Case For Easter.

 

Back to the XXXX page
Back to the Pastor's Messages page