Well, the central message of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again from the grave on the third day. And it is the resurrection that draws our attention today, as we considered it last Sunday, Easter Sunday, from the text in Matthew's Gospel. Frankly, it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that distinguishes the Christian faith from all others. It vindicates His sacrifice. It affords new life to believers. It secures our saving relationship with God. In fact, the Apostle Paul has said, if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then you are still in your sins and your faith is in vain. And yet, as Christians, we declare and celebrate and rejoice and trust wholeheartedly in the power of our risen Christ. And of course, many over the years have tried to discredit this fundamental truth of Christianity. And so here's the thing, to be very clear, nobody has a problem with the historic Jesus. They really don't. They have no problem with a persecuted Jesus, a crucified Jesus, or a buried Jesus. Even the unbelieving world has no problem with any of those realities of who He is. It is the risen Jesus that the unbelieving world cannot tolerate. Because if Christ has been raised, then everything He has said and currently does say in the Scriptures is true. With this includes the wickedness of sin, the horrors of hell, the need for repentance, the reality of forgiveness of sins, and the truth that only Jesus Christ Himself can bring us to the Father by faith in Him. But still, the detractors persist. And wicked men will stop at nothing to discredit the essential claims of Christianity. So much so that even within the first matter of a couple of hours of the resurrection, there was hatched a conspiracy plot to silence the truth. And that's what we're going to look at today. So if you have your copy of Scripture, turn to Matthew chapter 28. If you're using a pew Bible, that's page 993. 993 in the Pew Bible, but Matthew chapter 28. We're nearing the end of Matthew's gospel. Someone asked me this week, so we're going to finish the gospel of Matthew this week? I said, absolutely not. Why would we stop? We can go verse 15a, verse 15b, right? Now we've got a few more weeks in Matthew's gospel, and I'm looking forward certainly to the completion of this long journey, but I'm more looking forward to the marvelous truth contained in these closing verses. And this passage is no less wonderful for us to examine. But verses 11 through 15 today, 11 through 15, take place as the women who are leaving the empty tomb of Jesus, they're leaving this tomb and they're going to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen from the grave. Of course, we also know that there is a guard that's been stationed at the tomb, a contingent of soldiers, And they're there to thwart any action by the disciples to steal Jesus' body. That's why they're there. And yet when they encounter the events of the resurrection, they pass out cold from the shock of the sight of an angel rolling away the stone of the grave. But it's when they come to, when they wake up from this whatever state that they're in, coma or shock or awe, that they then return to the Jewish leaders with a very different kind of news than the one that the women were bringing to the disciples. And that's what we're going to look at today. So Matthew chapter 28, verses 11 to 15. Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said, you are to say his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble. And they took the money and did as they'd been instructed. And this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day." And so here Matthew is picking up on the narrative here in the very moments after the resurrection. He reports that they, referring to the women who were at the tomb, were on their way to go back to the disciples. And as they're going, it's then that the Roman guards are also returning back to the city. Now we read that it's only some of the guard that had returned, not all, but what happened to the other members of this guard that had been stationed? Well, the truth is we don't know. Did they flee in exile out of fear? Did they become Christians themselves and seek out other believers? The truth is, again, we really don't know what happened, but we know that some of the Roman guards returned to the city. They didn't go back to Pilate, even though they were Roman guards, but they went back to the Sanhedrin because they were the ones who posted them at the gravesite the day before. And so they return and they report to the chief priests all that had happened then. They told them how they'd been stationed there all night without incident, that is until early Sunday morning. And we record this back in Matthew verses two through four, the events that actually take place. Matthew 28, two, behold, a severe earthquake had occurred for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, his clothing was white as snow, and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. So they would have reported all of that. They would have reported the earthquake. They would have reported the sight of this angel. They would have told the story of the stone being rolled away. Now, it's also important to keep in mind here that they haven't seen the risen Christ. They've only seen the empty tomb and the events that are leading up to it. But they hold nothing back. They tell the chief priests about all of these things. And remember here, while Jesus was on the cross, the Jewish leaders, they mocked him. And they said to him, as he's hanging there, paying for sins, let him come down from the cross and we will believe in him. So they said, if he comes down miraculously, we'll believe that he's the Christ. What about now? Now that he's risen from the grave, are they gonna believe now? Well, no. It's because of their hardness of heart that they will not believe. The Jews here, they reject this miraculous event, they reject Him as the Christ, and they double down on their deception. Verse 12 says that they assembled with the elders of Israel. The chief priests were primarily Sadducees, and the elders encompassed all of the leaders of Israel. Some Pharisees, some Sadducees, most likely some Essenes maybe, scribes certainly. But they're gathering together with all this contingent of leaders in Israel. They're circling the wagons, if you will, and they consulted together. They consulted together to hatch a conspiracy plot. But here's the thing. If a group of Roman soldiers start walking around telling people about an angel that had rolled away the gravestone, there will be hysteria in Israel. And if Pilate gets wind of this, it will be a severe embarrassment for them. And so here's the thing. They're going to do three things. Three things. First thing they're going to do in verse 12 is they give a large sum of money to the soldiers. A large sum. Well, how much money? Well, we don't know. We don't know how much, but we know that the Greek word here for money is the word for silver. So they pay them well. They pay them hush money, if you will. Notice a pattern here. They pay off Judas Iscariot with this silver and they buy him off, and now they're paying off the guards in silver for the cover-up. They're paying their allies to keep this story going. The next thing they do is they feed the soldiers a false narrative. Look at verse 13. They said, But there's two key problems with this. The first being the nature of the soldiers. These soldiers were highly trained Roman guards. They had more discipline in them, built into them by training, where they can stay up for a night. They had certainly been through this in other situations, being vigilant on guard. Add to that that according to the historical reports here, the soldiers would have worked in three-hour shifts. So any two of them or three of them or four of them would only have to be awake for a couple of hours. Certainly they're not going to fall asleep for three hours while they're on guard. But more than this, to fall asleep on the watch is constituting a dereliction of duty. Dereliction of duty in the Roman army was punished severely, in some cases by death. So if you're stationed somewhere overnight and it is penalty of death if you fall asleep or wander away, you're going to be pretty vigilant. And so there's really no situation that exists where these soldiers are simply going to fall asleep at the tomb. It doesn't make any logical sense. But that's only problem number one. Problem number two has to do with not plausibility, but verifiability, if you could say that. Here's the thing. Think with me. If all the soldiers are asleep, then how do they know that it was the disciples that came and stole the body? How would you know if you're sleeping? There's no logical sense that can't be verified. So therefore, the whole thing falls asleep. But of course, the irony is even thicker than that. Because remember, why were the soldiers placed there to stand guard in the first place? Go back to Matthew 27, verses 62 to 66, just the previous couple passages here. Matthew 27, 62, no, on the next day, that's the Sabbath, that's Saturday. On the next day, the day of preparation, the day after preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together with Pilate and said, Sir, we remember that when he was still alive, that deceiver said, after three days I am to rise again. Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day. Here's the thing, otherwise his disciples may come and steal him away and say to the people, he has risen from the dead, and the last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, you have a guard, go make it as secure as you know how. And they went, and they made the grave secure. Along with the guard, they set a seal on the stone." So the great irony here is that they had made the grave as secure as they knew how. They stationed a trained Roman guard. They set a wax seal across the stone that they would be able to know if it's been tampered with. The Sanhedrin, they tell Pilate, we need the guard to prevent the disciples from stealing the body. And so Pilate then grants the detachment of soldiers, which renders the possibility of them stealing the body to be zero. They did everything they knew how to do. And here's the thing, at that point in the scheme, there's no way that a ragtag group of frightened fishermen are gonna be any match for the Roman army. They knew this. And so this was supposed to be their insurance that this kind of thing would not happen. Now that it has happened, their excuse is that, oh, the disciples stole the body. It makes no logical sense whatsoever. Totally nonsensical. But that's what they have to go on. That's the best they have. So that becomes now the official narrative. The official narrative is that the disciples came, somehow overpowered or maybe the soldiers just fell asleep and they snuck in and rolled the stone and stole the body and well, now my question is where are the disciples? If you know that they stole the body, why aren't you arresting them? There's no charges brought against the disciples, no effort to try to go and find the body. It's just a story. Of course, this story puts the soldiers in jeopardy. Because here's the thing, if word gets back to Pilate that his soldiers were sleeping on the job, he's going to punish them, perhaps even kill them. And so the third element of this plan involves political influence. Political influence. They tell the soldiers, look at verse 14. If this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble. We've already seen how the Jewish Sanhedrin is able to manipulate Pilate on some level. Maybe that they are able to protect the soldiers. They think they can manipulate him even further and keep them out of trouble. Who knows what kind of a story they're going to weave to tell Pilate about the soldiers falling asleep or getting away with it. Maybe there's some kind of a deluding influence or maybe he's going to, they're going to try to pay him off. We don't know, but they have given assurances that if this comes back to Pilate, we'll protect you. will protect you." And so their great conspiracy plot has been hatched. Verse 15, and they took the money and did as they'd been instructed. And this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day. Now, Matthew is writing his gospel sometime in the early 60s in the first century, three decades after the resurrection. And the story of the disciples stealing the body, that's been widespread up to that point. But the truth is the story lasted even longer than Matthew's gospel. According to what we know is the dialogue with Trifo, it's a document by a second century church father named Justin Martyr. He defends the resurrection of Jesus against the attacks from the Jewish opponents, and one of them was a man named Trifo. And so writing to this man named Trifo, Justin Martyr remarks this, you, speaking of Trifo, you have sent chosen and ordained men throughout the whole world to proclaim that a godless and lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whose disciples stole him by night from the tomb." That's the story. That's the heresy that just a martyr is alluding to. And so even a century later, he's writing in the mid-100s at this point, the story is persisting. Of course, that's far from the only theory perpetuated against the doctrines of Christianity. There were numerous theories about the resurrection that persisted over the years. Numerous. I was reading one commentary this week that was elucidating all these different theories. I think I read maybe eight theories altogether. There's probably two that are the most popular. And so we're gonna talk about some of those, so two of these, and I'm gonna say two after the stolen body theory. So that'd be number one, there's two more that I wanna talk about. So the first theory is the stolen body theory, but there's another popular theory about a faked resurrection known as the swoon theory. The swoon theory. This was made popular by 18th century German philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher. How would you like to have a name like Schleiermacher? That's a hard name to pronounce and spell. Of course, this is also the view that's maintained in the Muslim Quran. And the swoon theory goes this way. That on the cross, Jesus merely fainted. He swooned. and appeared as dead. And then once he was buried in the tomb, he was revived in the tomb, and then somehow rolled away the stone and escaped, made his way as far as India, and then eventually died in Kashmir. However, there is simply no logical or historical grounds for this. For starters, once again, the Romans were experts at killing people. They were really good at it. They did it a lot. In crucifixion, there was one report I read that there were as many as 30,000 crucifixions in Israel alone by the Romans. They had done it 30,000 times. They knew what a dead body on a cross looked like, and when they handled it, when they pierced it, they knew. You know dead from living. And so to think that they could have been fooled into thinking that Jesus was merely passed out, It's just foolish. Furthermore, the Roman governor Pilate had told the soldiers that he wanted to make sure that Jesus was dead before he turned the body over to Joseph of Arimathea. We read about this in John chapter 20, where they go and they break the legs of the other soldiers to hasten death. But by the time they get to Jesus, they realize he was already dead. And then what do they do to make sure he's dead? They pierce his heart with a spear until blood and water come out. You can't survive from being pierced through the heart like that. Mark 16.44 says the same thing that Pilate wanted to make absolutely sure. Don't assume anything. I want to make sure he's gone before I give his body away to Joseph of Arimathea. But even beyond the Romans, the women who were following Jesus the entire time, At the cross, they saw him die, they saw him taken down, they saw him wrapped and buried, they even went back to the tomb the next day, and they also were the first ones to see him alive again. So they were witnesses. These women, as many as half a dozen women, are seeing all these events take place. And so by all historical and biblical accounts, Jesus Christ died at Calvary and was buried. Swoon theory falls apart. Another theory that's been put forth to explain and debunk the resurrection of Jesus Christ is also something known as the mass hallucination theory. I want to make a job out of naming theories. That's cool. Mass hallucination theory. This theory concedes that Jesus had already died and was buried. So this theory says, sure, we'll grant that he was dead and buried. Okay, so he died and was buried. But then this one says that, yes, we understand that Jesus was seen alive three days later, but people seeing him alive three days later is the product of hallucination. Of course, we know it's possible for a person to hallucinate and see strange visions. It's certainly possible. It happens, unfortunately, to people. They think they're seeing something when they're not. But this theory goes so far as to say that all of the witnesses of the resurrection experienced hallucinations. And here is the real catch, that all of these people hallucinated with the exact same vision. Usually hallucinations are erratic and they're distinct to one person here. I don't know if I've ever read about several people having this, but this theory says that all of them hallucinated with the same vision of a resurrected Christ. Well, how many people are said to have hallucinated to see Jesus Christ? Well, the apostle Paul maintains a record of the past appearances. He makes note in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Verse Corinthians 15.3, Paul says, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, that's Peter, and then to the 12, and after that he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time. And then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also, Paul says, to me." And so we have here, by Paul's count alone, Cephas, that's Peter, and then all the disciples together, which he calls the 12, and then to 500 brethren all at one time. Somehow there was a gathering, maybe an early church gathering, and Jesus appears to all of them at one time, and then he appears to James, and then he appears to all the apostles, and then much, much later he appears to Paul. But then when you factor in the gospel records, you also have to include that all the women also saw Jesus resurrected, as well as the men on the road to Emmaus. So when you begin to tally all these different appearances up here, if you were to include a conservative estimate, Jesus appeared to no less than 600 people post-resurrection. However, once again, mass hallucination theory says that all of these people experienced the exact same hallucination and believed that they had seen the risen Christ. And yet in the history of medicine, there has never been a single case of a massive crowd of people hallucinating at the exact same time with the exact same vision. It's not possible, it's not duplicatable, therefore it didn't happen. And yet the detractors persist. what about evidences for the resurrection? Because ultimately that's what we want to be able to do, not just defend doctrine against opponents of Christianity to point out the faults of that. We also want to have evidences for the resurrection. So we're being very apologetic today. What about this affirmation. We have to begin with the affirmation that both biblical and secular history are maintained here. And that is that Jesus Christ died on a cross in Jerusalem around 30 AD. In fact, you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find any honest scholar that would deny that. Even atheistic historians will acknowledge that a man, a teacher named Jesus, lived in Israel during that time and that he died on the Roman cross. It's very, very difficult to disagree with the facts of history. And so here's the thing, if Jesus really lived and really died, that's established, so can we defend his resurrection? The first thing we have to note here is that the resurrection is written down and accounted for in all four Gospels. Four Gospels penned by four different writers. Of course, we have to also concede and remember here that there was a time when all four of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were written and circulated. They were four distinct documents. They were written in different years, at different times. In fact, Matthew and Mark were written much earlier, probably at the late 40s, early 50s, where John writes his gospel in the mid to late 90s. So there's a span of several decades between some of this writing here. There were four distinct gospels being written and circulated by four distinct authors with corroborating testimonies. But since the early church, they've all been compiled together in one place, so when we open our Bible, we have all four right there in front of us. But there are four unique testimonies, and they, all these four unique testimonies, offer eyewitness accounts of the resurrection, many of which we've already talked about. Once again, the group of women whose testimonies would have been admissible in early courts, and yet they were no less genuine. We have the eyewitness accounts of all the disciples, the 11 remaining disciples or apostles belonging to the 12. Again, John 20, Acts 1, 1 Corinthians 15, all record the eyewitness accounts of the disciples of Jesus post-resurrection. Once again, we have 1 Corinthians 15, 6, recording that more than 500 brethren at one time had witnessed this. And Paul writes in the mid-50s, they remain alive until this day. In other words, within two decades of the resurrection, you could have tracked down not one or two or even a dozen, but you could track down hundreds of witnesses and ask them, did you see the risen Christ? And they would have said yes. So even during that time, within a couple decades, there were witnesses alive to prove that and testify. Of course, one also could argue, well, maybe this doctrine was fabricated later on in history, except the fact that non-Christian historians in the first century mention that Christians believe and held to the doctrine of the resurrection. Just two I'll name here. Josephus, who was a Jewish historian, he's not a Christian, he records in his work, Antiquity of the Jews, in chapter 18 of his work, he writes this, I'll quote this for you. Josephus writes, now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to Him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. Josephus says He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned Him to the cross, those that loved Him at the first did not forsake Him, for He appeared to them alive again the third day. non-Christian historian writing about this in the first century. As the divine prophets had foretold, these and 10,000 other wonderful things concerning him and the tribe of Christians so named for him are not extinct at this day. Another historian, a Roman historian named Tacitus, also mentions the mistreatment and crucifixion and death of Jesus, who he calls the Christus. And then Tacitus, who again is no friend of Christianity, he makes note of what he calls a most pernicious superstition. that occurs after the death of Jesus, which then leads to the explosive growth of Christianity in the early years. Well, what is this superstitious or most pernicious superstition that takes place to separate those who ran away from Jesus to those who all of a sudden explode in growth and evangelize? Many scholars believe that Tacitus is referring to the story of the resurrection here. which he attributes to the reason why Christianity exploded all over the known world at that time. All of these kinds of things, and there are many more accounts like this of non-Christian historians talking about the doctrine of the resurrection in the early years. But even beyond the secular historians, we also have to consider the witness of the early church. We can't discredit them either. The church fathers, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, all of them teaching the accepted doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have over and over again abundant resources and testimonies and teachings from the early years about this wonderful doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of course, there's another line of argument that we have to consider. When Jesus was arrested, all of the disciples fled. They all ran away. Peter even denied knowing him at all. out of fear. At His crucifixion, nobody was there with the exception of John. The Bible tells us that they all locked themselves in their homes out of fear of the Jewish authorities. They all went into hiding. They were all terrified. And then something happens. And suddenly, all of these same men go forth and start preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in the open sphere. They all endure persecution. They all suffer threats of death. They all eventually are martyred for their faith, with the exception of John. But earlier, they're all arrested. Some of them are killed very early on. The question is, what changed? What would compel a group of scared fishermen who denied even knowing Jesus on Good Friday to suddenly become bold preachers of the gospel a few weeks later at Pentecost? I think you have to go to Acts chapter 2. So turn with me to Acts chapter 2 in your copy of Scripture. Acts 2 records the events of Pentecost. Pentecost is an event that takes place 50 days after the Passover. It's the Jewish celebration known as the Feast of Weeks. Pentecost is the Greek name for it. It was at this time that the Holy Spirit descended on the small group of believers in the upper room, 120 Christians that were gathered together there to pray. And the Holy Spirit then indwells these believers and fills them with faith and fills them with power and gives them gifts to be able to evangelize. And it's immediately after that event that Peter, the one who had denied the Lord like a coward, suddenly burst forth with courage and conviction to preach to the Pentecost crowd. And this is what we read from the very mouth of Peter in his first sermon, only a few weeks later, Acts chapter two, starting in verse 14. But Peter, taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice and declared to them, men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel, "'And it shall be in the last days,' God said, "'that I will pour forth My Spirit on all mankind, "'and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, "'and your young men shall see visions, "'and your old men shall dream dreams. "'Even on My bond slaves, both men and women, "'I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit, "'and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held by its power. For David says of him, I saw the Lord always in my presence, for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted." Moreover, my flesh also will live in hope, because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with Your presence." Brethren, I may confidently say to you, regarding the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so because he was a prophet and knew God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead. and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay, this Jesus God raised up, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified. I love this sermon by Peter. Totally different man. Verse 37, Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them, repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For this promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. And with many other words, he solemnly testified." Brothers and sisters, solemnly testified. and kept on exhorting them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. So then all those who had received his word were baptized, and that day there were added about three thousand souls." So what changed? How do we go from Peter going, I don't know the man, cursing and swearing. I don't know him. I don't know who he is. running away, denying Him. I will never deny you, Lord, and deny, deny, deny. How do we go from that to solemnly declaring and witnessing the glorious resurrection of Christ by His power and grace? How do we go from that to that? What changed? Several things stand out in Peter's sermon here. First here, Peter employs the use of the Scriptures. particularly the prophecy which had spoken about their current situation. He's quoting from Joel 2, Psalm 110, Psalm 89. He's quoting also from Psalm 16, which we looked at not too long ago, which is the strongest Old Testament prophecy regarding the resurrection of Christ. He cites that psalm, and yet he tells the crowd in verse 23 that all they had nailed him to a cross and put him to death. He says God raised him up. God raised him up. And then he confesses in verse 32, this Jesus who God raised up again, to which again, we are all witnesses. Their power as preachers, as martyrs, as testimonies of the faith, their power didn't come from personal fortitude because they had none. It didn't come from financial aptitude, there was none. There was no earthly reason why any of these men should proclaim a risen Christ. There was no financial gain, they were losing everything. There was no pride or vainglorious pursuit. Everybody in Israel hated them. The Pharisees and scribes, everybody hated them. They were doing this under the pains of death and excommunication and losing family and friends and careers. There was no earthly reason for them to preach this gospel. But why did they? Because it was true. They preached a risen Christ because Christ had risen. That's why they did it. The power and conviction came from the risen Christ and was infused into them by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was the risen Christ who emboldened them and encouraged them and comforted them. In fact, when they preached boldly before the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter four, the Bible says they observed the confidence of Peter and John. Confidence in Peter, what are you talking about? They observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood them that they were uneducated and untrained men. And yet they were marveling and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. They smelled like Jesus spiritually. Despite being whipped and beaten, they could not stop preaching that Christ was risen. They couldn't stop. They couldn't be shut up. The Apostle Paul, when he was put on trial in Acts 24, what's his crime? He tells us what the crime is. He declared, for the resurrection of the dead, talking about Christ, I am on trial before you today. I'm not on trial for preaching that Jesus was crucified. I'm not on trial for preaching that Jesus died. I'm not on trial for preaching good works. I'm on trial for preaching that Christ is the risen Lord. That's why I'm on trial. Again, nobody cares if you preach the works of a dead martyr. They don't care. But you preach the living and abiding word of a risen Christ, and people lose their minds. Why? Because if Jesus Christ is alive, and if He is Lord, then He has a real and present authority over all things. And sinners don't want to be accountable to a living, risen Christ that demands repentance and faith and obedience. That's why the Jewish Sanhedrin tried to cover up the resurrection. That's why all unbelievers try to bury the truth of the risen Christ. It's because they love their sin and they hate Christ's righteousness. But we know, we know that it's the power of the risen Christ, the Bible says, that gives life to our mortal bodies and causes us to walk in newness of life. If you're struggling to live as a Christian, with life and vitality and energy and spiritual fortitude, it might be either A, that you're not really born again and need to be born again and have the risen Christ, His power surging through you, or you are living in disobedience to God and stifling the power that's been granted to you through the resurrection, that you have not yielded your life. Now, when I'm talking about power, I'm not talking about Philippians 4, 13 misapplied that, oh, I can do all things, I can make money, I can do all, have a great life. No, your life is gonna be hard. All who desire to live godly in Christ will be persecuted. You will struggle, for sure. But God will give you, even in this life, victory over sin and death. He will give you assurance of faith. He will give you comfort and strength. He will give you and you will feel and be imparted with the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. He will liberate you. He will give you the power to live godly in Christ Jesus. It comes through his resurrection because if Christ has been raised, then we who are in Christ are raised with him. If you're in Christ, eternal life has already begun for you. Because even though your body will die, your spirit will live forever with him. Brothers and sisters, this is only a foretaste. This is only a copy and a shadow, a fragrance. We're called the fragrance of Christ. This is such a small part of what's coming. The fellowship and encouragement and worship of Jesus. We read about this in 1 Peter 1.18, for you were not redeemed with perishable things like gold and silver, but with precious blood as a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For he who was foreknown before the foundations of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you and through who him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. You're meant to have faith and trust in Him and believe in Him. You're meant to have hope in the resurrection of Christ and His coming. We're not meant to be a people who are downcast and downtrodden and defeated and having our heads hang low all the time. Is the Christian life hard? Of course it is. Of course it is. But as the Bible says, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. We do not have to be defeated as believers. Do you want one more evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? One more evidence that Christ is risen? It's you. It's you. If you have received new life in Christ, if you have received a new heart, or you're a different person than you used to be, If you've received a new mind where you think differently than you used to before you became a Christian, if you've received new faith, new convictions, new spiritual fruit, new desires for righteousness, new hatred for sin, it's an evidence that you've been born again and His resurrection power abides in you. You are the testimony. If you are in Christ, you're the testimony that the resurrection is true. Because many of you have stories to tell. That's called testimony. I once was something else, and now I'm something new. Or as John Newton proclaimed, I once was lost, and now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. You might not look any different on the outside than before Christ. In fact, I'm pretty sure you don't. But on the inside, are you different than you used to be? Is your faith renewed? Do you love Christ? Do you love His Word? Do you desire to be close to Him? Do you desire for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? Do you desire to gather with other believers? Do you love the body of Christ? Do you desire to confide in the Lord through prayer? Do you desire to grow to be more like Him? Do you long to see His return? Do you want to see His face? Do you want to please the Lord in everything that you do? We won't do this perfectly, brothers and sisters. We will not, but has your heart changed? Because if your heart has changed at conversion, it is evidence that you are renewed in Him. So walk in that. Walk in the power of the resurrected Christ. He is, as he says in John 11, the resurrection and the life. How do you know that you have a new life in Christ? Do you believe the gospel? Do you believe that Jesus not only died to pay for your sins and was buried to put those sins to death, but do you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, the Bible says you shall be saved. Do you believe the gospel? Have you confessed your sins, repented and turned away, and found forgiveness in Christ? If you have, then you belong to Him. And He's at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. You are, by faith, the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise You and we thank You that we don't worship and serve a dead martyr. We don't worship and serve a great man who did great things a long time ago, and that's it. No, we worship and serve and love a living God, a living Savior, a living Lord, that you abide with us by the Holy Spirit, that your presence dwells with us, and not just with us, but in us. That our love for you is genuine because you first loved us. And we long to see your face. Right now we see you only as if looking through a mirror and only dimly. But one day the veil, the permanent veil, will be torn away and we will see your beautiful face. We will behold your glory. We will be changed and transformed to become like you. And we will love You and worship You and serve You forever. And our home will be with You. Lord, we thank You that You rose again to give us new life. We thank You that You have conquered death for us, that we can have confidence, O Lord, that when we die, we will rise again. Why? Because you rose again, and we are in you. Thank you, O Lord, for the beauty, for the wonder, for the glory of the resurrection. Help us to know how to defend this, how to proclaim it boldly like the disciples did. but also how to walk in it, how to live as risen people in you. Oh Lord, have mercy, have grace upon us. We thank you for the wonder of the risen Christ. In his name we pray, amen.