FOUR FACTS FROM AN EMPTY TOMB
SERMON STARTER
A fact is the opposite of a superstition. There are those today who think that the resurrection of Christ is just a quaint, antiquated superstition. Let me tell you about superstitions.
THE GREAT PLAGUE came across the old country like a thick, drab blanket. It came as a thief in the night, unannounced, treacherous and silent. Before it left, 25 million on the British Isles and Europe had died. The mortality rate was astounding. In May of 1664, a few isolated cases were reported and ignored. Exactly one year later, 590 people died that month alone. By June it was 6,137; July, over 17,000; August, over 31,000!
PANIC STRUCK!
More than 2/3rd of the remaining population fled from their homes to escape death! They called it the BLACK PLAGUE!
It was called the BLACK DEATH for two reasons:
1) The body of the victim became dark, black splotches covered the skin.
2) The blackness of ignorance surrounded the cause of the BLACK DEATH. No cure was known.
Someone came up with the foolish idea that polluted air brought on the plague. Sp, people began to carry flower petals in their pockets, superstitious, they thought the fragrance would ward off the disease.
Groups of the victims, if they could walk were taken outside the hospitals. Holding hands they walked in circles around rose gardens, breathing in deeply from the aroma of the blooming plants. In some cases the patient couldn’t get out of bed,, so the attending physicians filled their pockets with bright-colored petals from the posy plants. While visiting the patent they walked around the bed sprinkling posy petals on and around the victim.
As death came closer another superstitious act was employed. Many felt if the lungs could be freed from pollution, life could be sustained. So, ashes were placed in a spoon and brought near the nose, causing a hefty sneeze or two. But neither flowers nor sneezes retarded the raging death rate. Not until the real cause was discovered, the bite from fleas of diseased rats, was the plague brought in check.
The awful experience gave birth to a little song which innocent children still sing to this day at play. It was first heard from the lips of a soiled old man pushing a cart in London, picking up bodies along an alley:
Ring around the roses,
A pocket full of poses;
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!
SUPERSTITION is like that!
But the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and His Victory over sin, death and the grave is a irrefutable FACT!
His Resurrection is not SUPERSTITION!
It is not HYPOTHESIS!
It is not UNPROVEN ASSUMPTION!
It is not an EDUCATED GUESS!
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is an
UNEQUIVOCAL, ABSOLUTE FACT!
All of the world’s greatest leaders have a tomb!
CHEOPS (Kee-ops) a Prince of Egypt who ruled 5,000 years ago, has a tomb, the Great Pyramid. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World!
Buddha has a tomb that holds his mortal remains.
Mohammad has a tomb that holds his mortal remains.
Lenin has a tomb that holds his mortal remains.
Princess Dianna has a tomb that holds his mortal remains.
ONLY THE TOMB OF JESUS CHRIST REMAINS EMPTY!
It is empty because HE LIVES!
April 8, 2007
Sheepfold Ministries / Rev. Phil Roland
FOUR FACTS FROM AN EMPTY TOMB
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
“Jesus death, burial and resurrection are unarguable historical facts. For two millennia believers have pegged their lives on this blessed hope: His Tomb was empty, because He arose triumphant over sin, death and the grave!” Pastor Phil
FACT - An indisputable truth rooted in objective reality
SUPERSTITION - An irrational belief arising from ignorance, fear or magical thinking
FOUR FACTS FROM AN EMPTY TOMB:
I. THE FACT OF JESUS PHYSICAL DEATH – v. 3
“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures”
A. Jesus was executed by professionals
B. Roman scourging: “The Half-Way Death”
1. Whip of Three Strands, thirteen strokes = 39
2. Psalm 129:3
“The plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows long."
-
Jesus’ death came within six hours – Deut. 21:22,23
"If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you
hang him on a tree, "his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall
surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your
God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.”
II. THE FACT THAT HE WAS BURIED – v. 4a
“and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”
A. Jesus was prepared for burial by friends acquainted w/death
1. Death oriented culture and society
2. They knew the feel and smell of death
3. They embalmed and buried His body
B. Burial tomb sealed w/Roman certified seal
C. Tomb guarded by several professional Roman soldiers
D. False Imaginings of a “swooned Jesus” escaping:
1. Reviving from a fainting spell
2. Beaten, bruised, bleeding
3. Breaking out from embalming linens
4. Moving the stone that required several men to move
into place
5. Escaping on wounded, bleeding feet
III. THE FACT THAT HE ROSE AGAIN – v 4b
“and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”
A. Risen by the Power of the Holy Spirit
B. Risen with Power over sin, death and the grave
1. Death couldn’t hold Him
2. Grave couldn’t hold Him
3. Jesus’ Promise: John 14:19
"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.”
III. THE FACT THAT HE WAS SEEN ALIVE BY WITNESSES
A. The witness of the Marys - Matt. 28:1
”Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.”
B. The witness of His disciples: Peter, Andrew, John and the 12
C. The witness of more than 500 – v. 6
D. The witness of James and the apostles – v. 7
E. The witness of Paul – v. 8
FOUR FACTS FROM AN EMPTY TOMB
1 Corinthians 15:1-9
15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
The Empty Tomb
In all the world there is no place so dear to me
As an empty tomb within Gethsemane.
Men sing of the Cross, and rightly so.
Yet, it is to the Empty Tomb I love to go.
It's there with Paul, I daily die, when sore oppressed.
It's there where men loathe to go, I sweetly rest.
It's there, where heartache's angry waves envelope me,
In faith, I lift my mournful face, My Lord to see.
There is no place so fraught with power our souls to save
As is our Lord's last resting place: His Empty Grave.
In darkest hours of grief, beside a new made mound,
I go again, the depths of God's Great Love to sound.
And while I view the grave and clothes, the echoes ring:
"O grave, where is thy victory? O death, thy sting?"
As one by one, the loved one's cross the threshold's gloom,
I fain believe, embrace, receive, The Empty Tomb!
Mary D. Sammons
FOUR FACTS FROM AN EMPTY TOMB
Closing Illustration
THE STING
1 Corinthians 15: 54:57
“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
A father and son were traveling down a country road on afternoon in the spring time when suddenly a bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the horror on his child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand and the bee began to buzz around once again. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son, and opened his hand showing him the stinger still in his palm. “Relax, son,” the father said, “I took the sting, the bee can’t hurt you anymore.”
The empty tomb is God’s way of saying to us; “Relax, my child, I took the sting, death can’t hurt you anymore.”