SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: I invite you to take your Bible this morning and open it to the Book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: The Book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: I want to clarify one item as you are getting your Bible or your device ready, and that is that there will be no Psalm 23 study tonight.
SPEAKER_01: So we will pick that back up again next Sunday night.
SPEAKER_01: We will have no live stream this evening for Easter evening.
SPEAKER_01: This morning I want to pick up where we left off on Friday.
SPEAKER_01: So if you are not with us on Friday evening, I encourage you afterwards to go and listen to that.
SPEAKER_01: That will help fill out some of the details here for you.
SPEAKER_01: I'll do my best to fill you in as we go along so that it isn't completely foreign to you.
SPEAKER_01: But on Friday evening, we looked in Mark chapter 14 and chapter 15 about the testimony that condemned the Lord Jesus Christ, that sent him to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Testimony is a word that means that there is someone who is speaking to give authentication to a fact, to something that happened.
SPEAKER_01: They are a witness to an event, to an element, and they are speaking about that and giving testimony to that.
SPEAKER_01: In the Gospel of Mark, we looked at the testimony that condemned Christ to death.
SPEAKER_01: And it was not the testimony of those that the chief priests brought together to bear witness against him.
SPEAKER_01: It was his own testimony that sent him to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: That's the testimony that condemned him.
SPEAKER_01: And now I want to speak about the testimony that is confirming of that event.
SPEAKER_01: What is it that we see in the pages of Scripture that gives us confirmation as we gather together today before the Word of God that this is the truth?
SPEAKER_01: That Christ did rise from the dead, that the tomb is empty.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I want us to notice this morning as we just really walk through many, many passages of Scripture together this morning.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I read a story in a commentary about an old English country church.
SPEAKER_01: There was a small village church that had an arch over the entry of its chapel.
SPEAKER_01: And on that arch there were some words inscribed on the stone.
SPEAKER_01: The words were we preach Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_01: We preach Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_01: Several generations of pastors served that little village church for several generations faithfully, presenting a message of a crucified and risen Savior.
SPEAKER_01: But then another generation of pastors arose who thought that Christ crucified was kind of an outdated message.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't see the importance of his death.
SPEAKER_01: And so they focused instead on the example that Christ provided.
SPEAKER_01: Well, after some time, as the story goes, a vine began to grow up on the face of the building.
SPEAKER_01: And that vine eventually covered the word crucified.
SPEAKER_01: So that all that was seen was we preach Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And soon people began to be uncomfortable with the message of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so the church began to have messages on morality, on politics, on philosophy, and other popular issues.
SPEAKER_01: And as time went on, that ivy began to grow even more.
SPEAKER_01: And soon it covered up more words on the arch until the words that were seen, that were visible on that arch were the words we preach.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm not in a position to verify anything of that story or to make statements about the veracity of it, but it is a compelling story because it fits with the progression of preaching in our modern churches.
SPEAKER_01: That is so much the opposite of what we find recorded in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Take, for example, Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: The very first sermon of the church, proclaimed by the Apostle Peter and recorded in Acts chapter 2, had this statement as its thesis.
SPEAKER_01: It's in Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 23, if you have a Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It says, This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and you killed by the hands of lawless men.
SPEAKER_01: God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
SPEAKER_01: That's the very first sermon of the church.
SPEAKER_01: We preach Christ crucified and risen again.
SPEAKER_01: From its inception, the message, the testimony, the witness of the church has been that Jesus, who is the Christ, the Messiah, was crucified and was buried.
SPEAKER_01: And on the third day he was raised to life.
SPEAKER_01: That's been the church's message.
SPEAKER_01: That's been the intention for its message from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_01: That message was and is still today received in various ways.
SPEAKER_01: Increasingly, sadly, there are many in our modern world who have never even heard of Jesus, who is the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Now, to those of us in the Western Christianized world, that seems astounding, but it's it's true.
SPEAKER_01: Even in our own country, the United States of America, that is increasing.
SPEAKER_01: The message of Christ crucified, buried, and risen is often received with skepticism.
SPEAKER_01: Now that shouldn't surprise anyone, as our faith is a belief system centered in faith, that assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things that we cannot see.
SPEAKER_01: Some go even further than skepticism and simply reject the message of Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_01: Rejectors exist, those who, for various reasons, refuse to exercise faith and trust in the crucified and risen Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, there are those who are believers.
SPEAKER_01: This day of remembrance and worship and celebration of a risen and thus living Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Now I recognize that in this era of live streaming where every church is live streaming now, it seems, any one of those categories could be represented in our listeners.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to welcome you.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to encourage you to stay tuned in.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want to speak this morning to all of you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you have chosen to reject the Christian faith, I encourage you, please stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want you to be informed as to what exactly you are rejecting.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a skeptic, I hope you'll stay with me so that you can have your skepticism confirmed.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe even softened a bit.
SPEAKER_01: And if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, these are excellent times to retreat to our foundations.
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean to be a Christian?
SPEAKER_01: And upon what is our faith founded?
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be confirmed and encouraged this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But it's not my words that are going to accomplish those desires.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing that I say or do can do that.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, that means that I'm approaching this with a presupposition.
SPEAKER_01: There's a foundation that already exists in what I'm about to say to you.
SPEAKER_01: Because this book, this book we call a Bible, makes a claim that it is without error.
SPEAKER_01: It makes a claim that it is without error because God wrote it.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, God used human authors, but he did that in a way to accomplish his record of his revelation of himself just as he wanted it.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't have time this morning to walk through all of the proofs for that.
SPEAKER_01: You just need to know that I'm beginning with that foundation, that I am beginning with a belief that this book is absolutely true.
SPEAKER_01: That the God it speaks of exists.
SPEAKER_01: And that what he says about himself can be trusted.
SPEAKER_01: This book records the truth, God's truth, from a God who cannot lie.
SPEAKER_01: And so this book records the history of a man named Jesus who lived a relatively short life, somewhere around 33 years.
SPEAKER_01: He did many good things.
SPEAKER_01: He was an excellent teacher.
SPEAKER_01: He proclaimed to be the fulfillment of all of God's promises from the beginning to the end.
SPEAKER_01: He claimed to be the Son of God who came to redeem or to rescue his people from the condemnation of their sins against God.
SPEAKER_01: And his ministry was directed first towards his own people, the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_01: But they rejected him and sought for a way to be rid of him.
SPEAKER_01: That led to his death.
SPEAKER_01: If you were listening on Friday evening, you heard about the testimony that condemned Jesus to death.
SPEAKER_01: We looked at Mark 14 and 15, where we saw that the Jewish leaders couldn't even orchestrate false testimony against Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't get a bunch of liars together to tell the same lie.
SPEAKER_01: Try as they might, they couldn't rig the judicial system to be rid of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They sought out false testimony against him, but nothing worked.
SPEAKER_01: Try as they might, they could not find a way to condemn Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That in itself points, I think, to the perfection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Founded in his deity.
SPEAKER_01: But the testimony that finally sent Jesus to a Roman cross was his own testimony.
SPEAKER_01: In answer to the question, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Yes, I am.
SPEAKER_01: And the day will come when you will see me, the Son of Man, seated at the right hand of power, coming on the clouds of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Way back in 1859, Scottish preacher John Duncan wrote of something that he called a trilemma.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he wrote.
SPEAKER_01: Christ either deceived mankind by conscious fraud, or he was himself deluded and self-deceived.
SPEAKER_01: Or he was divine.
SPEAKER_01: There's no getting out of that trilemma.
SPEAKER_01: It is inexorable.
SPEAKER_01: Later, Watchman Knee wrote in his book, Normal Christian Faith, that a person claiming to be God has to be a lunatic, a liar, or, in fact, God.
SPEAKER_01: C.S.
SPEAKER_01: Lewis then popularized that triad in a 1942 lecture, and later he put it in print in his book, Mere Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus must be a lunatic or a liar.
SPEAKER_01: If he is neither of those, then he must be Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Here is Lewis's, C.S.
SPEAKER_01: Lewis's most popular statement of that truth.
SPEAKER_01: And I quote, a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not simply be a moral teacher.
SPEAKER_01: Here's where it gets good.
SPEAKER_01: He would either be a lunatic, that is the kind of person who believes he's a poached egg, or he would be the devil of hell.
SPEAKER_01: You must make your choice.
SPEAKER_01: Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman, or something worse.
SPEAKER_01: If you are a skeptic, or you've chosen to reject the message of the Bible, you must wrestle with that conclusion.
SPEAKER_01: This man, Jesus, claimed to be the son of the divine ruler of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: His claim wasn't an inferior one, but a co-equal claim.
SPEAKER_01: He claimed to be the vice regent of everything that exists, and that one day he will return in judgment of everyone who rebels against him.
SPEAKER_01: A dead man can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: That is the testimony of Jesus, and it was a testimony that condemned him to a Roman cross.
SPEAKER_01: He proclaimed it before human beings to whom he had submitted himself and his humanity.
SPEAKER_01: And his testimony about himself led directly to his death, and he knew it.
SPEAKER_01: And yet he walked that path anyway.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that they wanted him dead, and yet he made the statements that led to his death.
SPEAKER_01: Willingly.
SPEAKER_01: Everything happened on Sunday morning where some women and other disciples realized the tomb is empty, what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus met with some of his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And that meeting is recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Luke was a medical doctor.
SPEAKER_01: So he was quite educated, one of the most educated individuals of the ancient world.
SPEAKER_01: He was a very smart individual and intellect, and we can tell that from the way he wrote his book.
SPEAKER_01: Luke, Luke records things very meticulously, and so he's a great historian.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to notice how Luke records that meeting between Jesus after his resurrection and his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: We see this in Luke 24, beginning in verse 44.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how Luke records it.
SPEAKER_01: Then he said to them, that is Jesus saying to his disciples, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you.
SPEAKER_01: That everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: That's referring to the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: The Hebrew Old Testament has three divisions the law, the writings, and the prophets, and so that's all going together there in Jesus' statement.
SPEAKER_01: Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to them, Thus it is written in the Old Testament that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: You are witnesses of these things.
SPEAKER_01: Just a few verses later, Jesus is taken away from the disciples as he ascended into heaven, where he is today.
SPEAKER_01: But here, Jesus, before his death, he gave testimony about himself, and now after his resurrection, he is preparing his followers for his absence.
SPEAKER_01: And he reminds them that just as he gave testimony about himself, now they are to give testimony about him.
SPEAKER_01: They are to be his witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: They are to give firsthand authentication of a fact.
SPEAKER_01: The fact that Jesus is alive.
SPEAKER_01: So the testimony is shifting from Jesus to the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Luke, Luke wrote a two-volume work.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is volume one, volume two is the book of Acts, and that's where I want to direct our attention for the remainder of our time.
SPEAKER_01: But it's important to remember that Luke records Jesus' specific statement to his followers.
SPEAKER_01: You are my witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in volume two, in chapter one, verse eight of the book of Acts, that is repeated.
SPEAKER_01: But this time as a directive from the risen Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You will be my witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: So he's repeating it.
SPEAKER_01: Luke is reminding us, this is what my first volume ended with.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's how the second volume is beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is giving a directive.
SPEAKER_01: Go out and be my witnesses, give testimony of me.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 2 is arguably the most important chapter in church history.
SPEAKER_01: I wish that every church history book would begin with Acts chapter 2, because it's the official beginning of the church, and it includes the very first sermon preached by the church, preached by Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Now I want you to notice what our historian, Master Luke, recorded about that very first sermon, Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 29.
SPEAKER_01: Brothers, I say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
SPEAKER_01: Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh seek corruption.
SPEAKER_01: This Jesus God raised up.
SPEAKER_01: And of that we are all witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: The very first sermon preached by the church after Jesus has ascended into heaven is carrying out the command to testify.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says, We are first hand witnesses of this fact.
SPEAKER_01: Now, a short time later, Peter and John were preaching in the temple in Jerusalem in chapter 3, and they healed a man.
SPEAKER_01: And after healing a man, they're dealing with all of the hubbub that comes as a result of that.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning in chapter 3, in verse 14, we read, You denied the holy and righteous one.
SPEAKER_01: And you asked for a murderer to be granted to you.
SPEAKER_01: That's Barabbas.
SPEAKER_01: And you killed, instead of killing Barabbas, you killed the author of life.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of killing the murderer, the one who took life, you killed the one who gives life.
SPEAKER_01: Whom God raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: To this we are witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: See what's happening?
SPEAKER_01: They're obeying the command of Jesus, but they are testifying again and again and again.
SPEAKER_01: We saw him.
SPEAKER_01: We have firsthand knowledge of this truth.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to us.
SPEAKER_01: It's our theme of testimony continuing on.
SPEAKER_01: Now that stirred up the religious authorities who brought Peter and John in for questioning.
SPEAKER_01: And after the questioning, the apostles were warned in chapter 4 to not speak or teach in the name of Jesus again at all.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Peter and John answered in verse 19, well, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge.
SPEAKER_01: For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that theme of testimony, of being a witness, a firsthand witness of these things continuing?
SPEAKER_01: These are witnesses who are giving firsthand knowledge of everything that they have seen and heard regarding Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is after Jesus is gone.
SPEAKER_01: He's returned to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And his followers are giving testimony to what they've seen and heard.
SPEAKER_01: If it wasn't true, if the tomb wasn't really empty, or if as the rumors that were circulated by the religious leaders were really true, if his body was simply stolen and put somewhere else, if they had not actually seen Jesus alive after his death, why continue this charade?
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't they have been proven wrong at some point?
SPEAKER_01: We see all of this again in chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: The apostles, you remember, are Jesus' witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: Well, they were arrested, again, for preaching.
SPEAKER_01: They had to obey God, they had to obey and testify of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so they were arrested for that.
SPEAKER_01: And in Acts chapter 5, verse 28, they are reminded of that.
SPEAKER_01: The authorities asked them, What's up?
SPEAKER_01: We charged you not to do that, and here you are doing it.
SPEAKER_01: You're stirring people up.
SPEAKER_01: And here's how Peter responded.
SPEAKER_01: Peter and the apostles answered in chapter 5, verse 29 of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: We must obey God rather than men.
SPEAKER_01: The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.
SPEAKER_01: But God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_01: And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.
SPEAKER_01: Those religious leaders then want to kill the apostles.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting that the reaction of the world at large is not to receive the testimony of firsthand witnesses, but to kill them.
SPEAKER_01: Just like they killed the one who gave testimony about himself.
SPEAKER_01: But here we have an additional witness, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit, God's own spirit that has been given to those who believe in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He becomes a new witness in this scenario.
SPEAKER_01: But this theme of being witnesses who testify to the truth because they have seen and heard continues on, almost page by page, through the entire book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: It's stated very clearly again in chapter 8 and verse 25 and chapter 9 and verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: There's many more, but it's here that I want us to look at chapter 10.
SPEAKER_01: Because chapter 10 is a change of sorts.
SPEAKER_01: There's a shift that's taking place.
SPEAKER_01: No longer would God's people be witnesses in Jerusalem and in their sort of county in Judea, and then in kind of their state and Samaria, but to the rest of the world.
SPEAKER_01: And it begins with a non-Jewish man, a Gentile man named Cornelius.
SPEAKER_01: Are we going to believe Cornelius?
SPEAKER_01: That's sort of the unstated question going into this, because Cornelius is a respected, trustworthy man.
SPEAKER_01: He's an officer in the Roman army.
SPEAKER_01: He's a man who genuinely desired to know God and to follow him.
SPEAKER_01: And so God sent Peter to Cornelius.
SPEAKER_01: And you can read the whole chapter if you're unfamiliar with it.
SPEAKER_01: The situation caused quite the ruckus in the early church.
SPEAKER_01: But our interest begins in verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: Again, Acts chapter 10, verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: Peter introduced Cornelius and his family to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The one Peter said who is Lord of all.
SPEAKER_01: Now apparently Cornelius was somewhat familiar with the religious happenings in first century Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says in verse 37, you yourselves know what has happened throughout all Judea.
SPEAKER_01: So they're familiar with this.
SPEAKER_01: John the Baptist, he said, preached and baptized people.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus came, and Jesus in verse 38 went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
SPEAKER_01: And we are witnesses of all that he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
SPEAKER_01: But God raised him on the third day and made him to appear.
SPEAKER_01: Not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_01: To him all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
SPEAKER_01: And while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity began small.
SPEAKER_01: It was confined to a very small pocket of territory, the city of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Then it spread a little bit more, and then it spread a little bit more, and then boom.
SPEAKER_01: It's all over the world.
SPEAKER_01: Why did that happen?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we find some of the answers right here.
SPEAKER_01: It happened because of the testimony, because of the witness to the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Peter establishes for us who the witnesses are.
SPEAKER_01: He says Jesus appeared to many people whom he had chosen as witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 41, he didn't appear to everybody, but to us who had been chosen by God to be witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: We read in another place in Scripture that he appeared to over 500 people.
SPEAKER_01: These witnesses are then commanded to preach and to testify, to give testimony of the risen Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what were they to say?
SPEAKER_01: To what were they testifying?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Peter makes it very clear to Cornelius.
SPEAKER_01: He lays it all out.
SPEAKER_01: He says, first, they gave testimony to all that Jesus did, verse 38.
SPEAKER_01: Well, these are firsthand witnesses, remember?
SPEAKER_01: They saw what Jesus did, they heard what he taught.
SPEAKER_01: They are able to verify what he said because they were there.
SPEAKER_01: That is likely the same content that we see in the gospel record in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
SPEAKER_01: They testified, verse 39, to Jesus' death on a cross.
SPEAKER_01: You remember that Jesus died in a very public way alongside a major thoroughfare that was going in and out of Jerusalem on one of the busiest, holiest days of Judaism.
SPEAKER_01: There's the potential for hundreds of thousands of people to have seen Jesus hanging on the cross that day.
SPEAKER_01: Testify of all that Jesus did.
SPEAKER_01: Testify of his death on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Testify in verse 40 that God raised him from the dead on the third day.
SPEAKER_01: There's your third item.
SPEAKER_01: All that Jesus did, Jesus' death on the cross, testify to Jesus' resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Testify also in verse 40 that Jesus appeared to people.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't just come out of the tomb and disappear.
SPEAKER_01: He appeared to people after his death.
SPEAKER_01: There's a fifth element of their testimony, and that is verse 42.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is appointed as the judge of the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_01: The Jesus of the biblical record was genuine, was real, was substantive.
SPEAKER_01: He lived a real life that impacted other human beings in ways that were beyond the normal abilities of human beings.
SPEAKER_01: This Jesus died a real death.
SPEAKER_01: A death he did not deserve.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, they put him to death.
SPEAKER_01: A death on a Roman cross.
SPEAKER_01: And there were many witnesses to his crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: But death could not hold this Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: For he was raised from the dead on the third day.
SPEAKER_01: The tomb was empty on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we gather together as God's people on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: Every single Sunday is Easter morning.
SPEAKER_01: It's a reminder to us.
SPEAKER_01: This is the day.
SPEAKER_01: It was empty before the women and the disciples arrived.
SPEAKER_01: It was empty before the stone was ever removed from the entrance.
SPEAKER_01: This emptying of the tomb was the conquering of death.
SPEAKER_01: It was the conquering of the master of death.
SPEAKER_01: It was the victory of the God of life.
SPEAKER_01: They put to death the author of life.
SPEAKER_01: How do you do that?
SPEAKER_01: He gives up his life and then he takes it back again.
SPEAKER_01: Because you cannot hold down the author of life.
SPEAKER_01: Scriptures say that it is impossible for death to hold him.
SPEAKER_01: But we should expect that of the author of life, shouldn't we?
SPEAKER_01: Now, for many skeptics and rejectors, that is a major stumbling point.
SPEAKER_01: But notice the care that our good Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Luke takes on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: Over the course of 40 days, Jesus appeared to over 500 people.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine this as a courtroom trial with a parade of witnesses, one after another, giving testimony to the reality of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Now you might be able to dismiss one or even two, or if you're a huge skeptic, you might dismiss three or four witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: But when 500 witnesses give testimony to an event that becomes very hard to dismiss with any kind of intellectual honesty.
SPEAKER_01: But there's more.
SPEAKER_01: Not only were their appearances testified to after the resurrection, but the reality of the resurrection was proven when Jesus ate and drank with many of the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you, apparitions don't consume food and drink.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to his disciples, give me a piece of fish.
SPEAKER_01: You have a piece of fish?
SPEAKER_01: Give me a piece of fish.
SPEAKER_01: You have something to drink?
SPEAKER_01: Let me let me.
SPEAKER_01: It goes in and it goes in.
SPEAKER_01: You don't see it anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Just like a human body.
SPEAKER_01: It was real.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus told his disciples, touch me.
SPEAKER_01: He told Thomas, put your finger in my wrist where the hole is, put your fist in my side where the spear punctured me.
SPEAKER_01: He gave them every reason to believe.
SPEAKER_01: He confirmed the reality that the tomb was empty because he is alive.
SPEAKER_01: Now it makes sense as a logical conclusion that the one who was dead but is now alive because he has conquered death would then be fit to be the judge of all the living and all the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Who else would be fit to be judge of the living and the dead, but the one who was dead and is now alive?
SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you do with that information?
SPEAKER_01: What do you do with that testimony?
SPEAKER_01: This is why Christianity exploded.
SPEAKER_01: It's why it continues today and it will continue to spread until Christ returns in power and great glory, bringing judgment with him.
SPEAKER_01: But there's more here than the content of the testimony.
SPEAKER_01: There's also the confirmation of the testimony.
SPEAKER_01: The witnesses all gave the same testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Witness after witness after witness after witness gave the same testimony.
SPEAKER_01: They said the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: There's consistency.
SPEAKER_01: Remember how on Jesus' trial that we saw in our walkthrough on Friday evening, the religious leaders couldn't even get a handful of false witnesses to tell the same lie?
SPEAKER_01: Well, here we have many, many more witnesses telling the same truth.
SPEAKER_01: The testimony is confirmed by many witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: The scriptures tell us that testimony is to be confirmed by at least two or three witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: What do we see?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not just one witness.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just two.
SPEAKER_01: If we put them together, what we see is that there's a group of witnesses who saw Jesus, who ate with Jesus, who drank with Jesus, who touched Jesus, who are witnesses to his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Peter also gives us another group, a second group in verse 43.
SPEAKER_01: To him all the prophets bear witness.
SPEAKER_01: All the prophets in the Old Testament bear witness that everyone who believes in Jesus receives the forgiveness of sins because of their faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: Who can forgive sins but God alone?
SPEAKER_01: All of our sin is ultimately against the sovereign of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: He must forgive.
SPEAKER_01: But in his ultimate justice, he cannot forgive without payment being made.
SPEAKER_01: And so he makes a way by means of a cross.
SPEAKER_01: The way he forgives is through his own beloved son who died, who was buried, who rose again, and ascended into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: All the prophets bear witness to this, Peter says.
SPEAKER_01: So now we have two groups of multiple witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples and the apostles who were with Jesus and all of the prophets who wrote of him.
SPEAKER_01: The amount of testimony being given to support and confirm the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is overwhelming.
SPEAKER_01: But there's more.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 44.
SPEAKER_01: While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
SPEAKER_01: You remember what we looked at in chapter 5, Acts 5, verse 32?
SPEAKER_01: There Peter said, and we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit is a witness to the reality, to the truth that Jesus died, was buried, and came out of the tomb alive.
SPEAKER_01: And on the testimony of two or three witnesses, every truth will be confirmed.
SPEAKER_01: It seems that Cornelius had gathered quite the crowd to hear Peter speak.
SPEAKER_01: That was long before our days of social distancing.
SPEAKER_01: When all of those who were gathered heard, heard Peter, and they believed his testimony, his firsthand authentication of the truth, when they believed that what he said, that his testimony was the truth, the Holy Spirit instantly indwelled them, giving final confirmation to the truth and to their faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you do with all of this testimony?
SPEAKER_01: If you're skeptical, hear the confirming testimony about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it and repent of your skepticism and believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
SPEAKER_01: If you are one who has rejected the Christian claims, if you're one who has rejected those who predicted it, if you're one who has rejected the God who saw it, be sure you hear the testimony clearly.
SPEAKER_01: And that you hear it from hundreds of first hand witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: My friend, the tomb is empty.
SPEAKER_01: And this Jesus is alive today.
SPEAKER_01: There's proof.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of proof.
SPEAKER_01: And your rejection of the testimony confirming the resurrection of Jesus will not stop this same Jesus from returning with judgment.
SPEAKER_01: To judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_01: So I encourage you, I beg you, humble yourself before Him and believe before your opportunity is gone.
SPEAKER_01: And then for those who are my brothers and sisters in the faith, what a hope we have.
SPEAKER_01: What a hope.
SPEAKER_01: Our faith is not founded on some uncertain elements that came along through the minds of individuals over the course of centuries.
SPEAKER_01: No, we believe in a Lord who condemned himself by his own testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And he paid the sin debt and defeated death and left behind an empty tomb.
SPEAKER_01: And he left behind witnesses to prove it.
SPEAKER_01: And so we believe in a Lord who was dead but is alive forevermore.
SPEAKER_01: And if that is true, then his spirit can give life to your body, give life to your faith, and empower you to be his witness.
SPEAKER_01: Let your faith, let your faith be founded more surely than ever.
SPEAKER_01: And take his command for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Go and be my witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: And do so until he calls you home or returns for you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, we worship you as the Lord of all.
SPEAKER_01: We come and we bow before you, asking that faith be given where doubt existed.
SPEAKER_01: The transformation, that new life would be given to those who have rejected you.
SPEAKER_01: Just like the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_01: This day, this day where we celebrate your life, give life to those who have not had it.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe even some who are listening to us today.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, inspire all of us to see you with new light, to have our faith confirmed in you.
SPEAKER_01: Because of the testimony that we have heard.
SPEAKER_01: Use us, Lord Jesus, to be your witnesses until that day when we see you again.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.