I'd like to invite you to have your Bibles open to 1 John 1. I want to work through one verse, there in that great letter, to help each of us. We are here to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which by all human sense seems like mere myth. Hard for us to wrap our minds around, to grasp, to understand. But God is not unreasonable. He reasons with us through Scripture. All of creation declares His presence, and the Bible backs over and again the reality of Jesus Christ. In fact, it's truth. Jesus never has once said, close your eyes. Take off your thinking cap and just try to believe what I have said. But rather, Jesus says, check out the evidence. Be intentional and look at the autopsy reports of careful analysis. Look at this man, Jesus. Look at his birth. Look at his life, his death, and his resurrection. Look at him in all of his perfection and glory and believe. After all, seeing is believing. We pause today to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We pause today to lift up the reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to back all of his claims in a world where Jesus is intentionally being removed and seems to be disappearing. We reestablish with facts and arguments from scripture that it's the truth. I intend to argue with you from the Bible based on what God himself has said through the Holy Spirit as to the veracity of all the claims of Jesus. There's an adage, an understanding from the Mishnah, an ancient Hebrew text, that a true disciple is covered in the dust of their master's sandals, meaning that they walk so closely behind their master, witnessing every movement, listening to every word, watching every interaction so closely that they are actually covered by the dust that his feet kick up. Jesus, no doubt a master teacher, certainly had faithful disciples behind him. The twelve apostles would fit that mold. They watched almost every move of Jesus. They listened to lesson after lesson. They experienced almost everything that Jesus experienced. Literally speaking, they were eyewitnesses to the life of Christ. John, the beloved disciple, near Jesus through all of his earthly ministry. Watching and listening and interacting says this in 1 John 1.1, that which was from the beginning, note what he says, speaking of Jesus, we have heard. John is telling us in a world that would have you to believe that it is mere legend or myth. That it is isolated away in religious ideology. John is saying to us, man to man, human to human, I was there and I heard Him. I heard Him when He spoke in the synagogue and He talked to the crowd that was gathered and their response in John 7.46 is, never man spake like this. I was there and I heard him when he uttered his astounding claim and said, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. He's letting us know this is plain reality. I heard him in the garden of Gethsemane when the crowd pressed in on him and he said, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am he. And they were knocked to the ground. He said, I heard him do that. I heard him when he was in the boat and he told the wind and the waves to obey him, to be muzzled and they were calm. I heard him when he stood in the front of the tomb where Lazarus laid and he said, Lazarus, come forth, and Lazarus walked out from the dead. I heard him with my own ears and John who would live a long life. John, who would go through a myriad of circumstances, exiled on the Isle of Patmos, I'm certain would say to us, no matter how much time passes, I still can remember his voice. I still remember his words. They move me even now, I heard him. He'll continue on in that verse, and he will say, speaking of Jesus, I saw him, we saw him with our eyes. We looked upon him, we studied him. John is effectively saying, take it from me, I am an eyewitness. I know you weren't there. I know that I can't reinvent all of these occurrences, but I'm telling you, I was there. He was not a figment of our imagination. He was not developed over a period of time. It was fact, I was there. He'll continue and he will say this, our hands have handled. of the word of life. When he writes that he's being so intentional. Because no doubt they touched Jesus. Jesus was not averse to human and physical interaction. We recall the woman touched the hem of his garment and he knew that. He laid his hands on those that were lepers and blind, the lame. And John is saying, we touched him. I'm telling you, it's established fact. He was real. But here he changes the tense when he says, we have handled him. And I'm telling you, John is speaking of one specific moment. After the crucifixion, Jesus is buried and we're here to celebrate his resurrection. The disciples were afraid in Jerusalem, afraid of the religious Jews, so they locked themselves away, probably back in the upper room. And we get this account in John chapter 20, then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst. saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. They were in the upper room, and it's clear that they witnessed Jesus walk in and show them the scars on his hands. They were not confused as to who He was for Jesus held up His hands and He revealed His side and He showed them His scars and John is arguing with us. He's reasoning with us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and He is saying, I know that people will try to pressure you to imagine this is mythology. But I am telling you it's truth. I was there. I saw him with my own eyes. I heard him with my ears. I handled him. I touched those scars. Thomas the doubter wasn't in the room on that particular occasion. He'll come back in later and Jesus will help him as Jesus will allow Thomas to feel the scars in his hand. He will allow Thomas to feel the scar on his side. I'm arguing with you from Scripture. This is established fact. There were eyewitness accounts. Luke was certainly not an apostle. Luke was a physician, and Luke is beginning his gospel, and he'll talk to Theophilus. It almost sounds like the beginning of a political paper, how certain Luke is trying to be. Luke will use in particular in the first four verses of chapter one the word eyewitnesses. It's the only time in the whole New Testament the word is used. It actually depicts for us an autopsy. That's where we would derive our English word autopsy. Luke is saying, I've taken all of the interviews, I've listened to all of the Testaments, I've witnessed and listened to all of the stories, and I'm telling you, you don't have to push your thinking cap off to the side. You don't have to buy into a myth. It's established fact. Jesus was real. There were witnesses to the arrest of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we tell this story and it's so familiar to us. We get lost in the familiarity of it because almost anyone could step up here on this Sunday morning and share this simple message. I'm trying to establish for you that none of this happened in secret, that all of this happened out in the open. Luke 22, 47 says this, and while he yet spake, behold a multitude. You recognize that Jesus is in the garden. This is the moment where Judas will betray Him and Jesus will be arrested. And it doesn't happen in some insignificant and secret way. There's a multitude of people there. A crowd arrives on the scene. Luke will continue to tell us the chief priests were there. The captains of the temple were there. The elders were there. This is pointing out a reality to us. All of Rome and the Gentiles were there. All of Judaism was there. All of the religious elites were there. They witnessed this happen. So clear is it that John will tell us in John chapter 18 and verse three that a band of men and officers from the chief priests were there. And I love how he lets us know they came with lanterns and torches and weapons as if to say, yeah, but it happened in the dark and somebody may have substituted a body for Jesus. He says, no, there were lanterns there. We witnessed all of this happen. This was no small incident. 600 soldiers perhaps out there in this small parcel of ground that was the Garden of Gethsemane. Many believe nearly a thousand people press into that small space and the disciples were eyewitnesses. Peter and John press on after Jesus. John tells us this in John 18, 15, Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. Recognize that in the garden, when the disciples were scattered, and Jesus was arrested, Peter and John follow closely along. Peter gets a lot of flack for his denial of Christ, and rightly so, but he was brave enough in the garden to take on a Roman legion and hack off Malchus's ear, and even in this moment when everybody else has scattered, Peter goes behind Jesus, stays so close to this unfit trial that we'll actually read in Luke 22, 61, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. He was close enough to hear the questions. He was close enough to be questioned himself. John the beloved disciple was actually known by some that were in the home of Caiaphas and Annas. I'm telling you this happened and there's factual evidence to back it up. Make no mistake, they were there. Jesus was arrested and he was illegally tried. Recognize there were eyewitnesses to the crucifixion. You say, well, of course there were. It happened out in public. But I'm arguing with you from scripture and doing so intentionally. As Jesus hangs on the cross, we read this in Luke 23, 35, the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with him derided him. And the soldiers also mocked. People stood and they witnessed the crucifixion. The religious Jews witnessed the crucifixion. They interacted with Jesus, if even only by mockery. The soldiers did exactly the same. They were all there. From the cross, Jesus spoke directly to John. John says in John 19.27, then saith he to the disciple, speaking of himself, behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home. John is telling us again, I was there. He talked to me from the cross. I watched with my own eyes. There were women there, never overlooked the bravery of these women, John 19, 25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. They saw Jesus on the cross, they witnessed it, they took it in. They watched as he walked down the street. He was spat upon in public. We know for a fact Simon drug the cross to the top of the hill. We know a centurion at the end of the day says, certainly this was a righteous man. Certainly this was the Son of God over and again throughout the account. It adds veracity, people witnessed it. People saw Jesus on the cross and Jesus saw them, as I referenced earlier, it's in John 19, 26, we read the very words, when Jesus therefore saw his mother. This is happening and people are seeing it. Jesus was definitely dead. There is a notion that Jesus maybe faked his death, that Jesus entered into some form of coma. Know that Jesus was dead and there were eyewitnesses to that reality. In fact, in John 19, 34, one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out blood and water. He was dead. John is arguing, he's reasoning with us. He says in verse 35, speaking of himself, and he that saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he sayeth true, that ye might believe. Hear the passion, grasp the urgency, be aware that John is impassioned as he pleads with you to recognize this is real, this happened for certain. Jesus is pulled off of the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Literally, they argue with Pilate to have access to the body of Jesus. Pilate allows them and they go and they get the body of Jesus. This blood that we celebrate which allows for the remission, the forgiveness of our sins, they would have had on their hands. Wiping it on their clothes, preparing the body of Jesus. And Luke wants us to know that Jesus was dead and that Jesus was buried in a tomb and there were witnesses. Luke 23 and verse 55, the women also which came with him from Galilee followed after, note the phrase, and beheld the sepulcher and how his body was laid. I am telling you that scripture reasons with us. John says, I heard him. I saw Him. I touched Him. He is no myth. It actually occurred. Luke is saying, look, there are eyewitness accounts. There's autopsy. This has been studied out. You might believe with certainty. You can be assured of this. There were witnesses to the arrest. There were witnesses to the trial. There were witnesses to the crucifixion. There were witnesses to His death. There were witnesses to His burial and what we are celebrating now. to His resurrection. Jesus miraculously conquered death. Jesus rose from the grave, Luke 24 says this, these words so important, now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto His sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them, and they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher, and they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. That's enough. Scripture declares that Jesus rose from the dead, but I can go further and say that each of the gospel accounts have this story in it. The Holy Spirit sees to it that every New Testament writer references the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The angels from heaven who declared his birth also say in Luke 24 6, he is not here, but he is risen. Luke 24, 10, those women that witnessed the crucifixion also see the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, they saw this and they run to tell the apostles the tomb is empty. Upon telling the apostles, Peter and John, again, central figures in this story, run to the sepulcher. John being younger and more fit outruns Peter and he makes it to the tomb first. And the Bible will tell us this, Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and they came to the sepulcher. Verse 5, and he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in. John makes it to the tomb first, the stone is rolled away, he stops at the door, he looks in, and Scripture tells us, by the way, he saw that it was empty, as the angels declared it to be, and the women had told him it was. He notices the linen clothes lying there. He sees them lying in that place. Verse 6, then cometh Simon Peter following him, and he went into the sepulcher, and he seeth the linen clothes lie. Peter goes in where John stopped at the door. Now that Peter has gone in, John slides in and joins him and verse eight says, then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulcher and he saw and believed. Seeing is believing, these things are linked. I can't produce video footage of all of this. There is no way in passage of time we can go back and relive it, but the Bible is reasoning with all of us. This actually happened, and there were eyewitnesses to it. And perhaps the classic passage of Scripture, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 is summarizing for us, and he says this, for I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. How do you know this, Paul? Well, he was seen of Cephas, that's Peter. He was seen of the twelve. After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, whom the greater part remained. They're still living when he wrote this letter. Some are dead. After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all, Paul says, I saw him like an apostle born out of due time. I'm laboring just a little bit to reason with you like an attorney. I'm arguing with you from scripture. I'm not asking you to buy into myth. I'm not asking you to accept religious ideology. I'm not asking you to adhere to a legend. I'm telling you scripture is reasoning with you. The Holy Spirit is challenging you to recognize the veracity of scriptural accounts. Seeing is believing and we have these eyewitnesses. It reminds me of what John said when he noted the end of the crucifixion as I referenced. He that saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth what he says, that he saith true, that you might believe. All of this is kept for us so that all of humanity can come to grips with the fact that Jesus, when He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me is speaking facts. I can tell you now that God loves you enough to tell you the truth. He's not asking you to just adhere to Baptistic ideology or to celebrate Easter and recognize this for simply a moment in time to pause and dress a little different and focus a little different. He is saying, no, the only way to heaven is through Jesus. There's no neutrality on that. The gospel is that Jesus Christ was born. He was God in the flesh. He was born to a virgin. When Jesus grew up, though he was tempted in every way like we were tempted, he never capitulated and gave in to sin. Jesus willingly laid down his life. No man took it from him. He laid it down. He willingly endured the cross He shed his blood. He factually died. He was actually buried. He actually rose again He actually ascended into heaven and he's actually coming again, and I'm not asking you to buy into myth I'm telling you there's no neutrality. There's no wiggle room. Jesus is the only way of salvation and the scripture tells you the truth And I speak to every believer and I say to you who have gathered today to celebrate this event that we call the resurrection, that not one person if pressed in public would say, no, I don't believe that that actually happened in this room. I'm asking you simply this, do you live like it? Do you live like it's the actual truth? Does it affect your decisions? Does it dictate your morals? Does it enter into conversations and relationships? For it actually happened. Seeing is believing and these eyewitnesses tell us so. Would you just for a moment please bow your heads with me? Thanks for listening this week to the Graceway Baptist Church Podcast. For more information about our church and our ministries, head on over to our website at gracewaycharlotte.org. We are a church located in South Charlotte. We are growing and our ministries are doing big things for Christ. If you're looking for a way to get plugged into what we're doing, email us at info at gracewaycharlotte.org. Also, stay in the loop with everything happening by following us on Facebook and Instagram. Our handle is GracewayCharlotte. Thanks again for listening to the Graceway Charlotte podcast. We'll see you next week.