It all comes down to this | Selvin Cortez

The resurrection of Jesus is not just a belief to consider—it is a truth that demands a personal response. 

If Jesus truly rose from the dead, then sin no longer defines you, death is not the end, and you are not alone—He is alive and present. The question is no longer just, “Is there evidence?” but “What will I do with Jesus?” 

REFERENCE: 1 Corinthians 15

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The one answer we don't have. No matter how far we go, there's one there's one thing we cannot conquer, we cannot overcome. And that is death. You know, there was a a TV show um many years ago, Star Star Trek. Uh and Star Trek the label, the the tagline for Star Trek going where no one has ever gone before. Space, the final frontier. You guys remember, no? Star Trek? Star Trek. Thank you. Thank you. You're not leaving me alone. Space, the final frontier. Well, I want to say death is the final frontier, and there is no technology, no artificial intelligence, no intelligence, no advancement that can defeat it. Yet we have this one claim. In all of human history, we have this one claim that a man died and came back to life. We've got this claim in our history for all that we have accomplished. There is this one claim that stands above everything else that we can accomplish. There's no way any human is ever going to be able to accomplish this one feat, yet we as Christians have the claim that says, a man died and came back to life, and everything stands or falls on that claim. Everything we are as Christians, everything we believe as Christians, the worship that we give, everything that we proclaim, the prayers, everything hinges on this one claim. A man died, came back to life. Out of all the things you can believe. Why Christianity? Why Jesus? Of all the religions out there available, why this one? Why not the thousands of other belief systems and worldviews out there? What makes this one true? Let me let me say it one more time as clear as I can. If Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is true. But if he didn't rise from the dead, then it isn't. One more time. If Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is true. But if he didn't, it isn't. And that's the claim. So today we're not asking you to join a religion, absolutely not. We're not declaring that you are part of a religion, absolutely not. We are asking a simple question. Did it actually happen? Is it true? Is it true? Now, in order to find out if something is true or not, there are there are a couple of ways of finding out. And in fact, there are there are two main streams of thought on how to find out, how to determine something is true. A couple of weeks ago, my son, my older son, he um he he cuts he cuts hair. He's my own personal barber. Um and so he he cuts my hair, uh, but he also cuts the hair of the swim team. So the whole swim team, and they come to my house and it's nasty because it's done in my living room and there's hair all over the place. And we've got one of those power vacc now because uh it just has to, it's just he's cutting people's hair. And on the barber chair in my living room, uh, one of the boys, one of the boys was like, I'm uh Selvin, uh one one of my buddies, one of my buddies, uh he's he's sitting on the barber chair. My son is uh is is giving him a low taper. A low taper. Uh and so he's uh he's cutting his hair and he says, Selvin, I'm I'm uh I'm I'm starting to see this girl. I'm like, yeah, those are the conversations I like. Uh and so he says, I'm starting to see this girl, and uh, but but you know, I'm a believer and and and I I believe in Jesus. And we start talking about having these conversations, and it turns out that that she she said to me, I believe in science. I believe in science. And um, and Selvin, I don't know what to say to her. And I said, Awesome, this is what you're gonna say. And and she believes in science, and guess what? Selvin does too. I also believe in science because there is what's called the scientific method to find if something is true or false. So, for example, the scientific method says this the scientific method is all about something being testable, repeatable, and observable. Say it with me testable, repeatable, observable. So if I told you ivory soap floats, that's my claim. Ivory soap floats. You're gonna say, no, it doesn't, Selvin. I I I've never seen ivory soap, I don't even know what ivory soap is. Um uh soap floats, right? And then if you don't believe me, I can prove it to you. How can I prove it? We'll get some water, we'll heat it up a little bit so it's not too cold, and we'll put the the ivory soap in it, and out of 100 times, repeatable. Out of 100 times, 100 of those times, the float, the the soap will float. The float will soap. The the the soap will float, and we can repeat this and we can test it and we can see it every single time. That's the scientific method. If I can, if I can reproduce it in a lab, then it's the scientific method. Are you with me? So, scientifically, uh here's my group right here. They're they're right in front of me. There's a youth. Scientifically, prove to me that you went to school on Friday. Scientifically, prove that you were at work on Friday. Testable, repeatable, observable. Can I can I do it a hundred times over and over and over and over and over again to prove scientifically that I was at work on Friday? The answer is no. And the the reason the answer is no, it's because it's the wrong question. So the scientific method works with things that are repeatable, testable, and observable. That's the scientific method. Now, that cannot be, like this girl was saying, she believes in science, that cannot be the only method to see if something is true. There has to be another method, and the other method we call the legal method. And so you understand that if there is a crime that is committed, then we can't repeat, observe, or repeat that crime again. So there is the legal method of determining truth. And so, right now we are answering this question. How do you determine truth? There is the scientific method and there's a legal method. Now, the legal method is also called, ready for this? The historical method. The his story. You like that? That's a pastor thing, that's a preacher thing. The the history, the the historical method, and the his the historical or the legal method deals with eyewitnesses, it deals with a written account, and it deals with exhibits. The smoking gun. The bullet that matches the the the gun. The knife that was thrown away. This getting uh uh getting out of hand. Um the exhibits. So we've got eyewitness testimony, we've got we've got written testimony, and we've got and we've got the exhibits. So can you prove history in a lab? No. You examine the evidence and see where the evidence points to. And that way you can determine if an event happened or not. The only way of determining it is through the legal or the historical method, and that's going to help us reach a conclusion, or can we say it this way, a verdict. So when people say prove Jesus rose from the dead, they're asking the wrong question. What we have to ask is, is it a historical event? Is there legal, is there evidence that points to his resurrection? Christianity is not asking you to stop thinking. It's not blind faith. It is faith that is informed, it is faith that is founded on evidence. It's faith that is founded on evidence. So if the historical claim is there, if the historical claim is this that a man died and rose on the third day, if that is our historical claim, is there evidence? Remember the three eyewitness testimony, written accounts, and exhibits. With these three things, you can prove, you can show evidence for any event in history. Any event in history. Were there eyewitnesses? Is it written down and are there exhibits? Tangible things that we can see, feel, taste, and touch? Is there something that that can show me that that event happened? And so we're gonna go jumping right into it. Point number two is this eyewitness testimony. If the resurrection is a historical event, then we have to ask the first question: Were there witnesses? Were there witnesses to the resurrection? And let me tell you something. The whole book of Acts tells us of the witness of the resurrection of Jesus. Remember, if Jesus rose from the dead, Christianity is true. If he didn't, it isn't. So are there witnesses in history that can that can corroborate this story? And the answer is yes. Acts chapter 2, verse 32. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. I want you to say witness with me every time you read it, okay? One more time. Acts chapter 2, verse 32. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Acts chapter 3, verse 15, the very next chapter. You killed the author of life. Peter is speaking to the congregation, um, to the Pharisees and all the people in the in the court there. He says, You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. Acts chapter 5, verse 32. We are witnesses of these things. Written account. This wasn't occasional. Guys, this was their whole message. The whole message rests on this one fact that we are witnesses to his resurrection. Now, I've got Matthew 28, 11. Matthew 28, 11 speaks of this. You've got, you've got, you're probably thinking, yeah, yeah, but those were his buddies. The witnesses that it's talking about their salving, those were his buddies, and obviously they're gonna say that because they're his friends. They're gonna start the rumor mill is starting. Well, Matthew chapter 28, verse 11 actually is not talking about their friends, it's talking about the guards. The guards. The tomb is is right there. This this heavy, heavy, monolithic tomb stone is is is guarding the entrance to the tomb. Now, the the the Romans and and and the Pharisees and the religious people of the time were afraid. They knew something was coming. They knew that that they that his disciples, his his his disciples would come, his followers would come and try to do something with the body. So they put they put 12 armed guards, guards, like real Roman centurions, standing there. They put the guards there, protecting the stone, protecting the grave, making sure nobody comes in. Could you imagine what they were feeling when out of nowhere this megastone starts rolling away, and nobody's pushing it, and they're thinking, what is going on? And out of nowhere, in the middle of the night, light starts coming out of that tomb, they fall flat on their faces, and they are afraid for their lives, and and and here's the thing: the stone stayed open, the tomb stayed open, the stone stayed rolled away. And I imagine after that light left, after Jesus walked out, they walked in and they were like, What are we going to say? How in the world are we going to explain this? What are we going to say? And so they come up and they say, you know what? Well, we just got to tell the truth. And Matthew 28, 11 says this. 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. The guards reported to the priests all that had happened. And when they, the priests, had assembled with the elders and the consult and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers. Woo! Things are getting really hot right now. They took some money. And what do we call that? Bribery. Let me tell you something. You start messing with some evidence and you start bribing, that's not a good sign. And so they take money and they give the Roman soldiers some money. And after they had given them the money, they said they gave them a large sum of money. They're buying their testimony. They are witness tampering. And they said, You are to stay. I'm sorry, you are to say this. So anytime somebody asks you, this is your answer, they're now manipulating the account. His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this should come to the governor's ear, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble. You see, if the Roman soldiers were to say that Jesus was resurrected out in public, they would get killed because they didn't do their job right. They didn't kill him right on the cross. And so now he's walking around, and so they're thinking, no, we did kill him. We saw him die, we put a spear right through his side, we saw all the blood, he was definitely dead by the time we put him in the tomb. And then he definitely walked out. So what do we do with this? Take the money and be quiet. But if somebody should ask, say the disciple stole his body. Now, why didn't they just say, Are you crazy? Why didn't they look at the Roman soldiers and say, Are you on something? Like, bro, are you okay? This uh is not natural. No human has ever died and come back to life. So uh no, he's dead. Um they're like, no, he actually rose. We saw him walk out. That's your testimony. Yes, we are Roman citizens, we are Roman soldiers, we cannot lie. That is our testimony. Okay, shh, here's some money. So we've got the priests corroborating, and they are not friends of Jesus. In fact, they're trying to twist and turn the message around. And so this whole Christianity starts with this one phrase: We saw him alive. We saw him alive. Now the question is, what do we do with that testimony? What do we do with these witnesses? We can't ignore them. So either they're lying or they're telling the truth. Now, I challenge anyone to find eleven men in history that died knowing it was a lie. Now, many people have died for a lie. Many people have died for a lie, but to die being sawed in half, crucified upside down, stoned to death, head decapitated, put in a vat of boiling oil in front of the Romans and in the Colosseum. I challenge you to find anyone in history, let alone eleven of them, that would have died knowing that it was a lie. There are none. We don't die that way for a lie. Nobody does. And so you've got these 11 disciples. Why not 12, Salvin? Uh last I last I heard, I read there were 12, you're saying 11. Yeah, because one of them didn't. One of them, John, the the the apostle John, he went off to an island and he died of old age, thank goodness. Um, so he didn't, he wasn't a martyr, but everybody else was. All of them. So we've got these eyewitnesses. Did they write it down? Absolutely. All of Acts is a written account of Jesus coming to life. That's what Acts is all about. And we also have this other dude who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, and he wrote down exactly what was shown to him. And watch this. When you write down, so so this right here, this goes from from, was it just a myth or was it reality? Well, a myth, a legend, takes time to develop. It takes years and years and years for a myth to develop. However, in in this account of the resurrection, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, and I want to invite all of you at some point this week, read the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. That is our creed. That's the foundation of our belief system. And Paul says this, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 3 and 4. It says, For what I received, I pass on to you as of first importance. The most important thing that I can give you is this 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. Paul says this, I received. And guess what? This credo, this creed right here, that was expressed two to three years after the resurrection. That creed, that belief was Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried according to the scriptures. He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. There are prophecies upon prophecies of Jesus' resurrection. We've got eyewitnesses of his resurrection. And now we've got a written account of his resurrection. The creed goes on to say this. And that he appeared, chapter 15, same 15, 5 to 8. And that he appeared to Cephas, Peter, and the 12. And after that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living. That means that the account of the resurrection could have been debunked because they were still living. The eyewitnesses were still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then Jesus appeared to James, then to all of the disciples, and last of all, he appeared to me also, says Paul. So this idea of Jesus being resurrected was seen by over 500 people. 500 people that could have been called as material witnesses to the resurrection. 500 people that can corroborate the story. We saw him alive. 500 people plus the disciples, plus the apostles, and now Paul, this I received, I passed on to you as of first importance. The most important thing that we have as Christians, as believers, is the authenticity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And if he was risen, then Christianity is true. This was written while witnesses were alive. It was a public statement. It could have been challenged. Verse 20 of the same chapter. This is a beautiful Paul, just so you understand a little bit of the context, chapter 15, Paul is doing what we're doing today. He is asking the hard questions. He is asking the what if questions. For since death came through one man, Adam, the resurrection of the dead comes also through one man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. This didn't grow out of a myth. It began as a message. Now we've looked at two of the three. Eyewitness account. Written testimony. We're missing an exhibit. The smoking gun. The empty tomb. All religions and all religious leaders who have who have founded religions, you can go find their graves. You can go find them. You can go to Mecca and see Prophet Muhammad. You can go to the States and see Joseph Smith's tomb. You can go to Jerusalem and try to find Jesus' tomb. And there's nobody in there. That's the exhibit. The resurrection of Jesus. The evidence points us to him risen. The evidence leads us to this one conclusion. That he is risen. And he is risen indeed. And I want to invite you, as many, many men have done in the past. There's a reporter, and you've probably seen the movie or read the book. I invite you to read the book because the movie's really good, but the book is even better. Lee Strobel.

unknown 28:14

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Lee Strobel, he's a reporter, an atheist reporter. Did not believe. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. Guy was awesome. He didn't believe in this. His wife prayed, prayed, and she would go to church and she would pray for her husband. His friends would challenge him. They would say this, I dare you. With all of your reporting knowledge that you have, with your abilities to find truth, I dare you to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. And he said, Challenge accepted, this is gonna be the easiest bet I ever win. And he got in. At every turn, he was denying, nope, not real, nope, not true, nope, can't be. And then he just kept going further and further and further until he found himself with thousands of pages that he called the case for Christ. And in front of a mountain of evidence, he came to the conclusion the resurrection is real. Therefore, Christianity is real. These are the three things that we need. And so we've got confirmation. Different authors, different audiences, different perspectives, one same message. And that is this that he died. This is the all the message of Acts is this. He died, he was buried, he rose again, and we saw him. That is the gospel. That's the gospel of Jesus. He died, he was buried, he rose again, and we saw him. And our faith is founded on the evidence of this one critical, the most important event in human history, the resurrection of Jesus. Now the question is no longer is there evidence. We've shown there to be evidence. The question now is, what are you gonna do with it? What are you gonna do with Jesus? What are you gonna do with his death? What are you gonna do with his resurrection? What are you gonna do with Jesus? And if we circle back to our first question, if he is risen, sin has no power over your life. If he is risen, death is not the end. If he is risen, you are not alone. Your past failures do not define you anymore. The hurt doesn't define you anymore. It has no more, no more power over you. There's a story of a family. They're out in the park, and while they're in the park, uh a honey bee, uh, there's bees all over, and this honey bee is uh there's a uh a brother and a little sister, and the honey bee comes and and stings the little boy on the arm. And he cries out, Ah, I got stung by a bee. And and I'm surprised. I don't know if you've been around, you know, been around people uh in the park in the summer. Some people just freak out when they see bees. Have you ever seen these? That might be you. If you haven't seen them, it's because it's you. Um uh but but but but people just freak out, oh my god, there's a bee! Uh we have tables, we've got picnic tables outside, and we have lunch outside with all the staff. And when the bees start coming, people just get up and leave. They're just, oh my goodness, there's bees, we're leaving. Uh, I'm allergic to bees. Um, and so this bee stung this little boy in the arm, and it's a honey bee. And if you know anything about honey bees, they can only sting once. And so they leave, they leave the stinger inside there, and and then they start flying away. And as they fly away, such is the force of them flying away that the stinger stays, along with all the venom, the abdomen and all of that stays right right there. And then shortly after that, the bee dies. And so this little boy gets stung. The daughter, the the sister uh is is freaking out there's there's the bee, there's the bee, there's the bee, and the mom says, Honey, it's okay. The bee can't sting you anymore. And she's like, No, but the bee's there, the bee's there, the bee's there. She said, No, no, no, no, no, it's okay, it's okay. Don't worry, can't do you any harm because it already stung your brother. And that bee is about to die. And so if the resurrection is real, Paul goes on to say this. 1 Corinthians 15, guys, you gotta love it. It's it's like my favorite chapter in the whole Bible, along with all the other chapters. 1 Corinthians 15, 55 says this. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory? Death has been swallowed up in Jesus. And so, if you'll allow me this just creative license for a second, as Jesus is hanging on the cross, death comes and stings him. You see, death was around and death reigned, and death was all over and could decide who lives and who dies, and all of a sudden, you've got this man who is perfect, sinless. The power of death is sin, yet, over this man, I have no power, says death. He's sinless, I can't touch him. No matter what I do, I can't get close to him. I can't, I want to kill him. If he is the son of God, I want to kill him, and he's standing on the cross, he's he's hanging on the cross, and all of a sudden, whoa, where did all this sin come from? The father places all of our sins on Jesus, and immediately death says, now is my time, now is my moment. The man I couldn't touch, I'm going to get him now. Finally, sin on the sinless, finally, and I think death wound up and going a hundred miles an hour. In fact, threw a spear in the side of Jesus, stung our Lord and Savior, and death in that moment said, We won! We killed him, he's dead, we did it, flying away in victory. Little did death know that on the third day he would rise again. Little did death know that the stinger that it left in Jesus' side he kept, and that all the poison of sin he took on himself. So that now, if death should buzz around your family, you know it's not the end. You know it's not the end. The resurrection of Jesus is proof that we have life and that death is not the end of us. For all those that have that have fallen asleep, and I love this term that Paul uses over and over again. For all those that have fallen asleep, he doesn't call it death no more. Because death, where is your victory? Grave, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? For all those that have fallen asleep in Jesus. Guess what? They're going to rise again, and you're going to see them, your loved ones, in heaven. Because death is not the end. Death has lost its sin, its sting. Sin has no more power over you. Church, would you rise? If he is risen, sin is not final. Death is not the end. And if he is risen, you're not alone. You're not alone. He is with you. In the dark moments, in the failures, in the victories, he's there. When you need him most, he is there. Jesus, I know that you're alive. I have no idea what I'm living through right now. I have no idea what season I'm in right now, but what I do know is that you're alive. And that's enough for me. That's enough for me. To know that you're alive is enough for me because you overcame death, the thing that we can never overcome, and science will never overcome. You did. And I believe it, and because I believe it, I will walk through this season with you. Because I know you're with me. And there is no religion on earth that can make that claim. None. None. Just this one. That's why we don't call it a religion. Because by religious definitions, their leaders are dead. So that he would have a relationship with you. So that he would walk with you day in and day out. In the morning, in the evening, in your coming, and in your going, in your weakness, and in your strengths. He is with you and he is for you. Amen. And so we're going to sing this song. Jesus is alive forever. He is alive forever, and we're going to worship his name. And so I just want to pray for you before we start. And we're going to declare this word. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory? And so, Lord, thank you that you died. You were buried. And on the third day you rose in victory. And there are witnesses of this moment. And we ourselves are witnesses of the transformation and the power of healing and the power of restoration that is over our lives. We are, and we bear the witness of your glory. And so, God, I thank you for your church. I thank you for your church. Right now, God, that your resurrection power, that same power that raised Christ from the dead, would rise up in us over every situation, over all that you're doing, over all that you're that we're going through right now, God, rise up, rise up and give us strength. Walk with us. Be with us as we move forward, as we declare this word, as we declare victory over every area of our lives, as we declare that you are glorified. That forever you are glorified. And on that fateful day, on the early morning of Sunday, the ground began to shake. The ground began to shake. And the stone was rolled away.