Jesus "was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead..." (cf. Rom. 1:4, ESV). By this, " he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead" (cf. Acts 17:31, ESV). Paul goes on to say that, if Christ is not risen "our faith is futile and we are still in our sins" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:17, ESV). We will see history as His story and Christianity as God entering history on our behalf--it's not just a story, but something that happened in real time. H. G. Wells, in Outline of History, wrote that "Jesus of Nazareth was easily the most dominant figure in history." Note that Christianity is the only religion based on history and evidence. No one can disbelieve for lack of evidence; there's plenty of it for the sincere and open-minded.
We are, of all people, "most to be pitied" if Christ is not risen (cf. 1 Cor. 15:19, ESV). Why? What sets our faith above others is the certainty of our salvation and that it's a done deal, finished on the cross and that the Father accepted Jesus, showing it by raising Him from the dead, which guarantees we will be too--a sure thing! Because Jesus wasn't just resuscitated or revived, but resurrected into a resurrection body that is incorruptible. Jesus predicted His resurrection, and the Pharisees knew this, though the disciples hadn't caught on, and would've been a false prophet had he not been resurrected. His Word is trustworthy; if we can trust Him in this, we can trust Him in everything.
He didn't just get revived from the dead, but overcame it and defeated death itself, breaking its sting and power. "... 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'" (1 Cor. 15:54, 55, ESV). Death has no hold on us and is now only a door to pass through to glory. We, too, can get revived in the same Spirit of Christ. Only in our faith is their hope realized that has a sure foundation and reason for hope. He's in the business of changing lives and giving them purpose, not giving us rules, and that power of the resurrection is still available for us to use. He didn't come to make bad men good, but dead men alive! Alive in Christ, that is.
The song goes, "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow." What hope does a dead man like Buddha give you that he has discovered the key to the afterlife? Confucius said that we know so little about this life, how can we know about the next one? Jesus promised to prepare a place for us (cf. John 14:1) and that He will come again to receive us unto Himself. Jesus gives us real evidence that there is a life after death and that we can find the way through Him. Muhammad and Buddha are in their graves, but Jesus' grave is empty, and if they did find a body or any of His bones, then Christianity would be destroyed in its basis for faith.
Christianity is more than a system of ethics, a philosophy, even a worldview, or a creed, it's a growing fellowship and relationship with Jesus. Jesus isn't just the perfect moral example for us to emulate and find the so-called good life: We don't need a code to live by or a wise saying to confess, we need a Savior! Only Christianity correctly diagnoses our problem and dilemma as sin, not ignorance as some religions do. And we can experience Him today subjectively in our hearts, as well as know objectively from the evidence in Scripture. The resurrection is objective historical fact, but just believing He rose is history, but believing He rose for you is salvation. We must personalize our faith and experience Him. Christianity is a historical religion or it is nothing--if you disprove it historically, it would fall apart.
Other faiths do not employ history and are myths, fables, rules, ethics, or even just wise sayings. Story faith is just believing it happened, but saving faith means you love the Lord and desire to follow Him in obedience (cf. Rom. 16:26). Other faiths don't demand self-sacrifice or cost anything to give up, but Christ demands obedience to His will, but it's worth it. We don't present a way of life, such as a code to live by like the Sermon on the Mount--seeing this as the essence of the faith--nor even a creed to believe, but a person to know! You can be convinced of all the facts and say, "Well, He's God alright!" But you must make it part of you, desiring to live it out.
Christ wasn't just a man dying for a good cause, an unwilling martyr, a man who was getting his karma or what He deserved, a deluded madman, a deceived liar, nor a good teacher, He was who He said He was: The living Son of God, and that is He is equal to the Father and the only way to get access to Him. If Jesus wasn't who He said He was He would be not worth paying attention to, nor worth the time to study. But His life was in sync with His teachings and there was no discrepancy.
If He had been a liar or deluded, wouldn't the disciples had figured it out after three years of close contact, since familiarity normally breeds contempt, but not in this case. The disciple worshiped Him and He didn't stop them, He knew who He was, and was, of all things, a man on a mission--to die for us and be raised from the dead. Paul staked His faith in this fact: if He is not raised, our faith is futile.
We don't need religion or a self-improvement course: religion is lifting yourself up by your own bootstraps and is a do-it-yourself proposition, what we need is salvation because our problem is sin and we need forgiveness--only a Savior could be the answer to our dilemma; not a philosopher, nor educator, nor scientist, nor teacher, nor conqueror. Christians aren't rule-obsessed but walk and live by faith and in the Spirit. The Jews were looking for freedom from Rome and a military messiah, but Jesus isn't the Messiah of conventional wisdom, but one who sets us free form our sins (cf. Jn. 8:36) and gives us a sure hope.
Only in Christ can we be sure of our salvation and know that we are going to heaven. It is the dying Jesus that saves us from sin, the living Jesus that gives us victory, and the coming Jesus that will glorify us. We are saved from the penalty of sin by the crucified Savior, from the power of sin by the living Savior, and from the presence of sin by the coming Savior. Christianity is based on the Gibraltar of the resurrection miracle and this is either the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on man in history, or it's the most wonderful and important fact of history! But "the resurrection is arguably the most attested fact of antiquity" (according to D. James Kennedy), and the biggest proof is changed lives (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17)--religion doesn't make you a new person from the inside out!
Christ is the focal point of the faith; you can remove Muhammad from Islam or Buddha from Buddhism and the religion is still intact--not so with Christ, who will never be surpassed nor equaled. Christ wasn't self-effacing, but self-advancing; He made Himself the center of His teaching, and said He and the Father were one! The power of the resurrection of Christ is available and alone transforms, not just reforms. Soli Deo Gloria!
We are, of all people, "most to be pitied" if Christ is not risen (cf. 1 Cor. 15:19, ESV). Why? What sets our faith above others is the certainty of our salvation and that it's a done deal, finished on the cross and that the Father accepted Jesus, showing it by raising Him from the dead, which guarantees we will be too--a sure thing! Because Jesus wasn't just resuscitated or revived, but resurrected into a resurrection body that is incorruptible. Jesus predicted His resurrection, and the Pharisees knew this, though the disciples hadn't caught on, and would've been a false prophet had he not been resurrected. His Word is trustworthy; if we can trust Him in this, we can trust Him in everything.
He didn't just get revived from the dead, but overcame it and defeated death itself, breaking its sting and power. "... 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'" (1 Cor. 15:54, 55, ESV). Death has no hold on us and is now only a door to pass through to glory. We, too, can get revived in the same Spirit of Christ. Only in our faith is their hope realized that has a sure foundation and reason for hope. He's in the business of changing lives and giving them purpose, not giving us rules, and that power of the resurrection is still available for us to use. He didn't come to make bad men good, but dead men alive! Alive in Christ, that is.
The song goes, "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow." What hope does a dead man like Buddha give you that he has discovered the key to the afterlife? Confucius said that we know so little about this life, how can we know about the next one? Jesus promised to prepare a place for us (cf. John 14:1) and that He will come again to receive us unto Himself. Jesus gives us real evidence that there is a life after death and that we can find the way through Him. Muhammad and Buddha are in their graves, but Jesus' grave is empty, and if they did find a body or any of His bones, then Christianity would be destroyed in its basis for faith.
Christianity is more than a system of ethics, a philosophy, even a worldview, or a creed, it's a growing fellowship and relationship with Jesus. Jesus isn't just the perfect moral example for us to emulate and find the so-called good life: We don't need a code to live by or a wise saying to confess, we need a Savior! Only Christianity correctly diagnoses our problem and dilemma as sin, not ignorance as some religions do. And we can experience Him today subjectively in our hearts, as well as know objectively from the evidence in Scripture. The resurrection is objective historical fact, but just believing He rose is history, but believing He rose for you is salvation. We must personalize our faith and experience Him. Christianity is a historical religion or it is nothing--if you disprove it historically, it would fall apart.
Other faiths do not employ history and are myths, fables, rules, ethics, or even just wise sayings. Story faith is just believing it happened, but saving faith means you love the Lord and desire to follow Him in obedience (cf. Rom. 16:26). Other faiths don't demand self-sacrifice or cost anything to give up, but Christ demands obedience to His will, but it's worth it. We don't present a way of life, such as a code to live by like the Sermon on the Mount--seeing this as the essence of the faith--nor even a creed to believe, but a person to know! You can be convinced of all the facts and say, "Well, He's God alright!" But you must make it part of you, desiring to live it out.
Christ wasn't just a man dying for a good cause, an unwilling martyr, a man who was getting his karma or what He deserved, a deluded madman, a deceived liar, nor a good teacher, He was who He said He was: The living Son of God, and that is He is equal to the Father and the only way to get access to Him. If Jesus wasn't who He said He was He would be not worth paying attention to, nor worth the time to study. But His life was in sync with His teachings and there was no discrepancy.
If He had been a liar or deluded, wouldn't the disciples had figured it out after three years of close contact, since familiarity normally breeds contempt, but not in this case. The disciple worshiped Him and He didn't stop them, He knew who He was, and was, of all things, a man on a mission--to die for us and be raised from the dead. Paul staked His faith in this fact: if He is not raised, our faith is futile.
We don't need religion or a self-improvement course: religion is lifting yourself up by your own bootstraps and is a do-it-yourself proposition, what we need is salvation because our problem is sin and we need forgiveness--only a Savior could be the answer to our dilemma; not a philosopher, nor educator, nor scientist, nor teacher, nor conqueror. Christians aren't rule-obsessed but walk and live by faith and in the Spirit. The Jews were looking for freedom from Rome and a military messiah, but Jesus isn't the Messiah of conventional wisdom, but one who sets us free form our sins (cf. Jn. 8:36) and gives us a sure hope.
Only in Christ can we be sure of our salvation and know that we are going to heaven. It is the dying Jesus that saves us from sin, the living Jesus that gives us victory, and the coming Jesus that will glorify us. We are saved from the penalty of sin by the crucified Savior, from the power of sin by the living Savior, and from the presence of sin by the coming Savior. Christianity is based on the Gibraltar of the resurrection miracle and this is either the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on man in history, or it's the most wonderful and important fact of history! But "the resurrection is arguably the most attested fact of antiquity" (according to D. James Kennedy), and the biggest proof is changed lives (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17)--religion doesn't make you a new person from the inside out!
Christ is the focal point of the faith; you can remove Muhammad from Islam or Buddha from Buddhism and the religion is still intact--not so with Christ, who will never be surpassed nor equaled. Christ wasn't self-effacing, but self-advancing; He made Himself the center of His teaching, and said He and the Father were one! The power of the resurrection of Christ is available and alone transforms, not just reforms. Soli Deo Gloria!
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