Good morning.  As we all know, today is Easter.  Today is the day that we come together and celebrate something, but just what is that something?

I heard about a grandfather who wanted to see how much his four-year-old granddaughter knew about the Easter story.  He put her on his lap and asked, “Julie, why do we celebrate Easter?”  Without hesitating, she said, “Jesus was crucified.  After He died, His body was put into a grave.  They rolled a big stone in front of the opening.  A bunch of soldiers guarded the tomb.  On the third day, there was a big earthquake and the stone rolled away.”

Grandpa was pleased with how much his granddaughter knew about the Easter story but then she continued, “When the earthquake happened, the entire town came out by the grave.  And if Jesus came out and saw His shadow, they knew there would be six more weeks of winter!”  Well at least she had part of the story right.

Maybe Easter is all about the eggs.  I mean that is what we do on Easter isn’t it?  We color, hide, and hunt eggs with the kids.  And then we wonder why kids only associate the Easter Bunny and Egg Hunts with Easter.  Now I am not saying that those things are bad, because we are doing that with the little kids today.  But we have to make sure that they also know the true meaning of this day.

A pastor was talking to a group of young people about the high cost of dying.  “People today waste thousands of dollars on coffins and monuments,” he said.  “Jesus was so unconcerned by His death that He had to use a borrowed tomb.”  Leave it to our youth to get to the bottom line and put things in perspective.  A teen-ager raised her hand and said, “Yeah, but Jesus only needed it for three days.”

Well, this morning I want us to take a look at the Resurrection, and see if we can’t focus on the main meaning behind this day that we celebrate.  This morning, I want to ask you to serve on a jury.  Imagine that this sanctuary is really a courtroom and each of you are sitting in the jury box.

Before we do that though, allow me to begin with a word of prayer.  Let’s Pray!

In my Opening Argument I want to help you get the whole story right about what happened on that first Easter.

With all the information available in the world today, I will show that most of it is irrelevant and not very useful.  It’s just data floating around cyberspace.  It doesn’t really matter.  What does matter supremely is whether or not Jesus rose from the dead.  Jesus staked His entire reputation on the Resurrection…if it didn’t happen, everything that Jesus said and did is open to question.

The issue before the court this morning is not that of a crime, but a claim.  It is a claim so spectacular and so crucial that it is either the cornerstone of Christianity or it is the fatal flaw behind what we believe.  So, members of the jury, the claim is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  The Resurrection is the supreme miracle of Christianity.  It is at the very heart of our faith.  If it never happened, Christianity collapses into mythology and billions of people have been deceived.  If it did happen, it authenticates everything Jesus did and said, and believers have the guarantee of eternal life and forgiveness of sins.

Let me say it as strongly as the Apostle Paul said it in I Corinthians 15:17: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.”  Another way to say that, “If Christ has not been raised from the dead, this faith, Christianity, it is worthless.”  The Resurrection is either the most wicked, heartless, and vicious hoaxes ever, or it is the most fantastic fact of history.

This morning, I will show you overwhelming proof that Jesus Christ did exactly what He predicted He would do.  That on the third day He rose from the dead.  Acts 1:3 states that, “After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the Kingdom of God.”

That’s what I intend to do this morning.  I’m going to present 4 pieces of evidence, that when taken together, will provide convincing proof that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead.  Thus validating Christianity for all eternity.
The first piece of evidence that I want to bring before the court is Exhibit A: The Empty Tomb.

The Bible teaches that after professional executioners crucified Jesus, His corpse was placed in a solid rock tomb.  After His body was covered with about 100 pounds of spices, it was extensively wrapped in strips of linen cloth.  A very large stone, estimated to weigh about 2 tons, was then rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb.

After this boulder was in place, a large group of up to 16 Roman soldiers was assigned to secure the tomb.  Some pictures you may have seen show 1 or 2 men standing around in mini-skirts, holding a spear in their hands.  That’s simply not the case.  These men were human fighting machines.  These gladiators were trained to protect the area around the tomb against an entire battalion.

Matthew 27:66 tells us that in addition to the Roman guard, they put a tamper-proof official Roman seal on the stone.  Anyone who happened to make it past the Roman soldiers would then have to break this seal, thus incurring the wrath of the Roman law.

In spite of all these precautions: the stone, the soldiers, and the seal, the tomb was empty that first Easter morning!  When the first people arrived to peer in, they saw only one thing: the blood-stained burial cloths, as if Jesus had materialized right through them.

The empty tomb serves as Exhibit A.  It is a powerful testimony to the Resurrection of Jesus.  Critics down through the years have not been able to refute the empty tomb.  Instead they’ve come up with other possibilities.  Maybe the disciples stole the body?  But this seems far-fetched when you consider that this group of cowards would have had to overpower armed soldiers, roll away a two-ton boulder, dispose of the body, and then manufacture a myth about His resurrection, a myth that they gave their lives for.  That just doesn’t seem plausible.

Another possibility would be that the religious leaders disposed of the body.  But, this has some serious flaws as well.  If they had removed the body, all they would have had to do is parade the remains through the streets of Jerusalem and they would have derailed Christianity from the very start.  But, they couldn’t produce the body because the body was no longer dead, for Jesus had been raised to life again.

So, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Christianity rises or falls on the empty tomb.  It is the one silent and infallible witness.  Critics cannot explain it away.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then where is the body?  Leaders of every other religion died and stayed dead, and their bones are decaying in the ground.  But that’s not the case with Jesus.  He claimed that He would rise from the dead on the third day, and that’s exactly what He did.  The empty tomb validates His claim.

While this alone provides substantial evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, I will grant you that this fact was not convincing in itself to the original followers of Jesus.

Even though Jesus had predicted that He would rise from the dead, it’s obvious, from their behavior, that they were not expecting it.  They needed more evidence -- something that would remove all doubt from their minds.

So at this time, men and women of the jury, I’d like to enter into evidence Exhibit B: The Multiple Eye Witnesses.

The early Christians did not believe Jesus had risen just because of the empty tomb.  They believed because they saw Him with their own eyes.  When they talked to others about Jesus, they did not say, “We found an empty tomb.”  Instead, they said, “We saw Jesus alive!”

The most outstanding proof that Jesus rose from the dead is that more than 515 eyewitnesses saw Him on 12 different occasions.  Once again, Acts 1:3 says that, “After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus gave unquestionable proof that He was alive!  After His resurrection, He made an appearance to a woman in the cemetery.  Later that same day, He walked through a closed door and talked with His frightened followers who were huddled in Jerusalem.  In the evening, He walked side by side with 2 men as they made their way down a road.  He appeared to believers and doubters; to tough-minded people and tenderhearted souls.
Several people saw Him on more than one occasion, some alone, and some with large groups; sometimes at night and sometimes during the day.  The apostle Paul, when writing a letter to a group of new Christians, laid it all out in I Corinthians 15:3-7.  In that passage Paul tells the new believers something that he was able to talk about first hand.  In I Corinthians 15:3-7 Paul says, “1”

Let me illustrate.  A friend of mine was in a car accident several years ago.  Since the accident happened early in the morning, there were no eyewitnesses.  When the police officer arrived on the scene, the first thing he wanted to know was whether or not anyone had witnessed the accident.  Because no one had he couldn’t really be sure what had happened.  My friend had an account of how he saw it, and the guy who plowed into him had his own story.  As a result, the police officer concluded that they were both 50% at fault.

Now, imagine if there was just 1 eyewitness who saw everything and testified that my friend’s version of the story was true.  The Police Officer would be more inclined to believe my friend’s account, wouldn’t he?  How about if there were 3 eyewitnesses corroborating my friend’s take of what happened?  It’d be even stronger if 12 people were willing to testify that my friend was in the right as he drove his trusty Ford through that fateful intersection.

My friend’s case would be even stronger if 100 people saw what happened.  It would be airtight, and totally convincing if over 515 people were lined up on the corner and saw everything unfold in front of their very eyes.  I’ve never heard of a trial that had over 500 witnesses.

To put this in perspective, if we were to call each of them to the witness stand to be questioned and cross-examined for just 15 minutes each, and we went around the clock without a break, it would take from breakfast on Monday until dinner on Friday to hear them all.  After listening to nearly 129 straight hours of eyewitness testimony, who could possibly walk away unconvinced?

So, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that’s how strong the case is for the resurrection of Jesus!  Over 500 different individuals were willing to testify that they had seen the resurrected Christ.  When Christianity was launched on the scene, these eyewitnesses were still alive and could be questioned.  In effect, the early church could say, “If you don’t believe us, you can ask those who saw Him with their own eyes.”

Peter, who was one of those eyewitnesses, got up one day and preached his first sermon.  After summarizing what the prophets wrote about Jesus, and how Jesus lived, Peter laid out the details surrounding His death.  A copy of his sermon notes has been preserved in the Bible.  This is how he formulates his conclusion in Acts 2:32.  He says, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.”

It’s interesting that Peter preaches this sermon right in the heart of Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus was crucified and buried.  People knew that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had appeared to hundreds of people, it was verifiable.

Peter later wrote a letter that appears in the Bible.  He wants his readers to know that he didn’t make the resurrection up, that he saw Jesus, he talked with Him, and even had a fish fry with Him on the beach one day.  Here’s what he wrote in II Peter 1:16.  “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

As you ponder the facts that I’m presenting this morning, I urge you to consider Exhibit A: The Empty Tomb, and Exhibit B: The Multiple Eye Witnesses.  And at this time, allow me to make another compelling argument for the Resurrection.

Distinguished members of the jury, I enter into evidence Exhibit C: The Changed Lives.

Those who met the Resurrected Jesus have had their lives totally transformed.  The Resurrection is validated by the changed lives of His followers.  Something happened to radically reorient this original group of followers.  After Jesus was put to death, the disciples scattered.  The Bible tells us that they were gathered in a locked room on the top floor of a building.  They were filled with fear.  Their leader had been executed.  What would happen to them now?
In John 20:19-20 it lets us in on a scene that would forever change their outlook and their lives.  In John 20:19-20 it says that, “2”

Instead of confronting the disciples for not standing with Him in His time of need, Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.”  This overwhelming peace cut through their own guilt and feelings of failure.  Their fear was replaced with joy.  Peter was changed from a coward who had denied Christ 3 times to a man of rock who became one of the pillars of the new church.

These ordinary men were transformed from frightened wimps into one of the most effective missionary organizations the world has ever seen.  Let me ask you a question: “What motivated them to go everywhere and proclaim the message of the risen Christ?  Was it for money?  Power?  Fame?”  No!

Every one of them had come from doubt to determination, from confusion to conviction, from fear to faith.  It was simply because of what they had to gain in Christ that they went into the world sharing this new message.  Just listen to how they died and see if it sounds like they were just making up the Resurrection story.
• Matthew was killed in Ethiopia
• Mark was dragged through the streets until he was dead
• Peter, Simeon, Andrew, and Philip were all crucified
• James was beheaded
• Bartholomew was flayed alive
• Thomas was pierced with lances
• James, the less, was thrown from the temple and stoned to death
• Jude was shot to death with arrows
• And Paul was boiled in hot oil and beheaded

Members of the jury, may I suggest that the only thing that could have possibly changed their lives so dramatically was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?  Every one of these guys could have lived if they had said just one statement: “He is dead.”  But they refused because they knew He was alive!

Exhibit C is the changed lives.  Not only did the resurrected Christ impact this group of individuals, but His life-changing power has transformed people from then down through today.  The combined testimony of changed lives attributed to the risen Christ runs into the billions.  From every race, and tribe, and language, and nationality in the world.  Despite the various intellectual and social backgrounds, believers are united in their conviction that Jesus Christ is alive.

Jesus has changed my life.  And, from talking to many of you, I know that He has changed your lives as well.  His life-changing power is just as available to us today as it was to that group of frightened followers on that first Easter Sunday.

So, members of the jury, you have before you Exhibit A: The Empty Tomb, Exhibit B: The Multiple Eye Witnesses, and Exhibit C: The Changed Lives.  Will you allow me to share with you one last piece of evidence?

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I now give you Exhibit D: The Remembrance That He Established.

Take a look at Matthew 26:26-29 with me.  In that passage, Jesus established this remembrance that we celebrate each week.  Matthew 26:26-29 it says, “3”

At this time, allow me to share with you a video clip.  In this clip, you will hear a song by Third Day called Communion.  Listen to the words of this song, and begin to prepare yourself for this remembrance that Christ established for us.

(Play Video Clip of Third Day’s Communion Song)

Today, we are going to do Communion a little differently than we usually do.  The men are going to go ahead and pass out the emblems, and I want you to just hole them until we all have them.  Then the men will lead us in a word of prayer, and then we will all partake of the emblems together.

If the men would go ahead and come now and pass out the Communion, and just hang on to that for a moment.  (Pass out Communion)

In I Corinthians 11:23-29 it says, “4”

(Have men pray, partake of communion, and collect the empty cups while song plays again.)  (Play video clip once more.)

I would now like to make my closing argument.  In considering the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, first of all, how do you explain away the empty tomb?  Second, how do you argue against multiple eye witnesses? Thirdly, how do you get away from the fact that the Resurrected Christ changes lives?  And finally, how do we view the remembrance that He established through Communion?

The evidence is strong and compelling.  In fact, many skeptics have approached the resurrection with the goal of disproving it.  As they gathered all the data, they discovered that the evidence demands a verdict.  So, members of the jury, what is your verdict on the Resurrection?

You can’t sit in judgment forever.  The evidence for the Resurrection is overwhelming, and it is relevant to your life.  The evidence demands a verdict.  It’s time to make your decision.  It’s time to encounter the living Christ for yourself.  If you want irrefutable proof for the Resurrection, then let Jesus change your life today.

Let’s Pray!