“Does an empty tomb really prove anything?”
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If you wanted to investigate all the major world religions to find out which one was true, you would find that it’s only possible to do that with three of them. Because there are only three of them that offer any objective, historical evidence. All the rest of them just claim to be true, and call people to believe on blind faith. They just say, “Trust us, this is true.” The three that stand or fall based on whether their version of history is true are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. According to Islamic belief, they will admit that Islam is only true if Mohammad was indeed a prophet from God. And Mohammad pointed to one miracle to prove that – the miracle of the Qur’an.  So the entire religion of Islam stands or falls on the claim that the Qur’an is a miracle. And the Qur’an says Jesus did not die and rise from the dead. Christianity is similar in that the entire religion stands or falls based on a single proof: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Cor 15:14-19
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.   

So both Christianity and Islam stand or fall based on whether Jesus rose from the dead. And that leaves Judaism. Now, actually Christianity is a branch of Judaism (and, Jesus and the Apostles argued, the only true form of Judaism). The other kind of Judaism, which includes the vast majority of Jewish people today, is the branch that rejects Jesus as Messiah, and claims that He did not rise from the dead. So if it can be shown that Jesus rose from the dead, all non-Christian Judaism falls. For that matter, every religion that would contradict the teachings of Jesus would fall. So all religion stands or falls based on whether Jesus rose from the dead. 
Contrary to what many people believe (even many Christians), God does not want us to believe in Jesus Christ based on blind faith. Blind faith is foolish – even if what you are believing is true. It’s foolish because if your belief in the truth is not based on solid evidence, it’s going to be weak faith.

That’s why Acts 1:3 says 
After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

Jesus wanted to make it crystal clear to everyone that this wasn’t some vision or dream or the product of wishful thinking. So the clear teaching of Scripture is this: If the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is not adequate, we should not believe it. If there is insufficient historical evidence, we should not be Christians. Jesus Himself based His authority to do and say the things He did and said on His miracles and His resurrection. In John 2 He went into the Temple and cleared it out with a whip.
	
John 2:18-22
Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" 
19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."  
20 The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. 

Jesus Himself taught that His authority rested on the resurrection. That’s why when Paul wrote that long chapter about resurrection in 1 Cor.15, he began that chapter not with a big religious song and dance about believing based on feelings or traditions or some kind of subjective gut feeling, but rather he laid out a whole bunch of eye-witness accounts and verifiable proof beyond a reasonable doubt. So what is the proof? The body of evidence is so vast that there is no way to cover it in a single sermon. A great summary of the evidence is in the book Case for Christ, edited by Lee Strobel.  For now, let’s just examine one. 
Usually when you hear an argument for the resurrection, you hear a lot about the empty tomb. In fact, I preached a whole sermon on that a few years ago on Easter. An entire message on how there is no reasonable explanation for the empty tomb other than resurrection. And I went through each of the possibilities that have been suggested, and showed how none of them are tenable. And even the world admits that for the most part. The vast majority of even secular, non-Christian scholars will admit that Jesus was crucified, He died, was placed in the tomb, and on the third day His body was mysteriously gone. But even though we point so often to the empty tomb to prove Christianity, how compelling a proof is that, really? I have to be honest with you this morning. Even though I have used the empty tomb as the basis for proving Christianity in the past, as I took an honest look at it this week, I have to admit – the people who were there did not find the empty tomb to be all that compelling. 
If you look at Jesus’ followers after the crucifixion, when His body was still in the tomb, they are dejected and unbelieving – which is somewhat understandable. But what are they like after they find out about the empty tomb?  Are the transformed and energized and filled with faith? Not really. In fact, not at all. The empty tomb didn’t persuade the soldiers guarding the tomb. Of all people, they knew that there was absolutely no reasonable explanation for how that could have possibly happened. Yet they were not persuaded of a resurrection. The Jewish religious leadership certainly wasn’t persuaded. The masses of people weren’t persuaded. It didn’t have any effect on the Romans. It didn’t even have much impact of Jesus’ most devoted followers. The book of Mark ends with the account of what happened when Jesus’ followers discovered the empty tomb. (Mark 16:5-8) First came the women – the ones whose faith seemed the strongest. When they discovered the empty tomb it says they were alarmed.  That’s not a positive term. It’s a term that refers to great distress.

6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" 
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. 

That’s their reaction to the empty tomb – alarm, fear and bewilderment. Then Luke tells us what happened next.  They went to tell the Apostles – the men who walked with the Son of God for 3 years. The men who saw Him walk on water and still the storm and raise the dead.  These are the men who heard God speak from heaven and say, “This is My Son.” These are the men that Jesus told over and over, “I’m going to be killed, and on the third day I’m going to rise again.” How would they respond to news about an empty tomb on the third day?

Luke 24
9 When [the women] came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the … apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

They were gathered together in some house somewhere (instead of going to Galilee, where Jesus had told them to rendezvous with Him on the third day). And when they get the news about the empty tomb, they just stay there in the house.  They don’t get up and go to Galilee, they don’t go investigate the tomb – they don’t do anything. Except – Luke tells us that Peter went to check out the tomb.

12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. 

That’s the man who was to be the leader of the whole movement – the whole Church. His response to an empty tomb on the 3rd day was to wonder. And then he left the tomb, but Mary stayed there and cried. And when Jesus came to her, she didn’t even look at Him. She just told Him the only reasonable explanation she could think of for an empty tomb. She said, “They took His body away, and I don’t know where. Please tell me so I can finish embalming it.” (Jn.21:10-15) Nobody assumed a resurrection.  These people are just like you and me. They don’t assume a supernatural explanation – even when they can’t think of any other reasonable explanation. If you found out a body was missing out of the morgue, you wouldn’t assume a resurrection. And if there was no other reasonable explanation to what happened to the body, you would probably just shrug your shoulders and do what Peter did – “I wonder what to make of this.” “But that’s different. These men fully believed Jesus had done miracles and that He was the Son of God.” That’s true. It was different. Jesus had made repeated prophecies about His death, and every one of them came to pass. And He also prophesied His resurrection – as did the OT Scriptures.

Isa 53:10-11
though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days… After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] 

So given all that, how was it that they were so disinclined to believe? Luke gives us the answer to that in the very next verses. It was because they were foolish and slow of heart to believe. (Lk.24:25) Right after Luke tells us that Peter saw the empty tomb and just wondered, we hear about two other disciples’ reaction to the empty tomb.

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus

They don’t care to investigate the tomb. They aren’t interested in going to the place Jesus told them to meet Him in Galilee. They are just on their way to do whatever they had to do in Emmaus. Life as usual. They bump into someone they think is a stranger, and they start talking about why they are so down. Listen to the bold witness of those early Christians right after the resurrection:

21 we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." 

Can you imagine if you were that stranger? “Let me get this straight. You were convinced this guy was the Messiah Himself. You believe He was a prophet and powerful in word and deed…” “And now the tomb is empty on the third day, and so you’re on a stroll to Emmaus?” 
	“Yeah – that whole deal turned out to be kind of a bummer. We don’t know what to make of it. So we’re headed to Emmaus.” 
And if that is sad, the last chapter in Jn.21 is really sad. Peter, James, John and two other disciples – the ones who left their boats and left their nets and their families to follow Jesus a few years earlier, now decide to go back to their old job. Back to life as usual. It’s all falling apart. What Jesus had going wasn’t that much of an organization anyway, but now what was there is disintegrating. Some guys are drifting off to Emmaus. The main leaders are going back to their old job. Others are just hanging out in Jerusalem. And none of them believe – except one. I could only find one person who was convinced of the resurrection when he saw the empty tomb, and that was Jesus’ best friend, John. When Peter ran to check out the tomb, John outran him and got there first, but was too intimidated to go in. But Peter wasn’t intimidated by anything. He didn’t think about his actions enough to be intimidated, so he just goes roaring right into the tomb.

John 20:6-8 
Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

John is a clear thinker. He knows if they were just moving Jesus’ body for whatever reason, they aren’t going to unwrap the body and lay the strips there and then fold up the head cloth and set it aside. John saw that, and together with the miracles of the past, and Jesus’ prophecies about rising on the third day - That was enough for John to believe. But only John. No one else.
I have been preaching for years that the empty tomb is compelling evidence for Christianity.  But maybe it’s not so compelling. It wasn’t enough to convince Jesus’ own followers! What makes me think it’s going to convince anyone now? The only thing the empty tomb did was make Jesus’ followers cry, or fear, or wonder, or wander away. But it didn’t make any of them believe (except John). If the only evidence were an empty tomb, I seriously doubt there would be such a thing as Christianity. There might be an interesting story that you could catch on a “Mysteries of the Ancient World” TV show or something, but that’s probably about it. 
But that isn’t the only evidence. Something else happened. Something amazing. Something so compelling that it changed everything.
Take that picture of despondent, discouraged, fearing, cowardly, weak, depressed, unbelieving disciples, and lay that picture alongside this picture: In Lk.24:34 those guys who were on their way to Emmaus turn around and come back in a hurry, and tell the others that Jesus was alive, only to hear the Eleven affirm: "It is true! The Lord has risen! In Lk.24:41 the disciples are full of joy and amazement. 

Lk.24:52-53
they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

In Jn.20:18 – 3 verses after Mary was weeping bitterly in front of the tomb, she’s running back to the disciples in great joy to tell them about the resurrection. And two verses later it says The disciples were overjoyed Even Thomas, who, when he heard of the empty tomb said he would never believe unless he put his hands in Jesus’ wounds…

John 20:28
Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 

And now they all do go to the place in Galilee where Jesus told them to meet Him after His resurrection. And now they are energized.  Then they go out in the opening chapters of Acts and just blitz Israel with bold, powerful preaching about Jesus, who was raised from the dead. In Acts 2 Peter looked straight into the faces of these men he was so afraid of a few weeks earlier and said

Acts 2:23-24
you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead

Acts 2:32
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 

In Acts 3 Peter confronted another crowd:

Acts 3:13-16
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 

Acts 4:10
then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 

What happened?  After they saw the empty tomb, they didn’t believe, they were full of fear. And the only thing they were proclaiming about Jesus was that He was dead. “We had hoped He was the Messiah, but now He’s dead – and to make matters worse, the tomb is empty - they’ve done something with His body.” That’s how they were, and now look at them! They are boldly preaching that Jesus is alive and has risen from the dead. And when the officials who killed Jesus saw that people were listening to them, they hauled them in and ordered them to stop. And the Apostles said, “We aren’t going to listen to you. We’re going to obey God.” It takes a lot of courage to say that to a group of people who just did what they had done to Jesus. But they didn’t even hesitate – none of them. This is the same group that, after the empty tomb…

John 20:19
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews

Then they were scared to even go outside. Now they are out preaching and defying these officials to their face. And so the officials made further threats to punish them. And so immediately they go back and have a prayer meeting. And you know when you have a prayer meeting sometimes you get so caught up with praying about what’s really on your heart that you forget to mention some of the things on your list? That’s what happened to them. And guess what they forgot to pray for? Protection. Deliverance. Safety.  They didn’t pray for any of that.  They just cried out to God and asked for boldness to keep preaching this message of the resurrection! What got in to these guys? In ch.5 they are right back at it as bold as ever.

Acts 5:18-19
They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 

After they got out they didn’t learn their lesson – they went right back to preaching about the resurrection. So then they get arrested again, and brought before the high priest.

Acts 5:28-42
"We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." 
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead — whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." 
33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 

And they would have, except one of the guys on the counsel spoke up and warned them about the political ramifications.

40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 

Flogging was an incredibly severe form of punishment. They saw it happen to Jesus. They knew what it was like. And they knew it was going to happen to them too if they didn’t cool it about the resurrection. And yet they kept preaching the resurrection, and so they ended up getting flogged. Now they are severely injured – probably very close to death. I’m sure they could hardly walk – if they could walk.

41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.   

That goes on all the way through the book of Acts. 
And it’s not just the Apostles who are different either. The people of Israel are different too. Jesus taught constantly throughout His ministry, and at the end of three years what did He have to show for it? Almost nothing. Jesus was very popular for a little while, but those same people who seemed to have a positive response to His preaching; those same crowds ended up screaming for His blood and cheering on the crucifixion.
As a whole, Israel almost universally rejected Jesus’ message when He was alive. But how did those same people – those people who crucified Jesus – how did those same people respond to the Apostles’ preaching? In that very first sermon in Acts 2, where Peter was not one bit seeker sensitive or any kind of sensitive. He was harsh and condemning and brutally honest.

Acts 2:41
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 

“Is that like when the crowds got excited about Jesus after a miracle and followed Him temporarily?” No.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 

These were not temporary, phony converts. These were people who totally devoted themselves to Christ, who lived out the message, and who were willing to suffer persecution for Him right off the bat, and who were bringing others to Christ. And it didn’t stop there.

Acts 4:4
But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand. 

Acts 5:14
more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 

Acts 6:1
the number of disciples was increasing

Then in ch.8 the persecution starts. Now we find out how genuine these followers really are.

Acts 8:1-8
On (the day Steven was publicly murdered for preaching) a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 

These aren’t Apostles or pastors or missionaries or leaders.  They are just regular people who have been Christians just a matter of days or weeks. And not only are they not intimidated by persecution, but they went out all over everywhere preaching! One of them ends up in Samaria – the land of the bitter enemies of the Jews. But the people there accept the message too. How do you think all these Jews reacted to their bitter enemies they have hated their whole lives getting in on the deal? According to Acts 8:14 they were so thrilled they sent their two main Apostles there – Peter and John.

Acts 17:4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. 

Now it’s not just Jews and Samaritans, but Greeks.

Acts 17:11
the Bereans .. received the message with great eagerness 12 Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. 

And so more and more Gentiles become followers of Jesus Christ.  And even though the Jews normally hated the Gentiles…

Acts 21:20
When they heard this (about the fact that so many Gentiles were becoming Christians), they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed

Jews and Gentiles and Samaritans are becoming devoted followers of Jesus by the thousands, and overnight they are going from being bitter enemies to acting like brothers and sisters. This would be like if this happened today with the Jews and the Palestinians. 

Acts 17:6
"These men have turned the world upside down” 

Acts 24:5
"We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.

How do we explain this?  None of it happened as a result of the empty tomb. As far as we know there was only one person who believed as a result of the empty tomb – and that was Jesus’ best friend. And now people are literally putting their necks on the chopping block by the thousands for their belief in the resurrection.  What happened? How can this be explained? It’s easy to imagine someone following Mohammad with ulterior motives. In those early years when they came into your village, you could convert to Islam or die. But this was the opposite.  People subjected themselves to significant risk of death by converting to Christianity. What kind of ulterior motive could Paul have had for leaving his successful career in Judaism and live a life of horrible suffering and persecution? What kind of ulterior motive could anyone have had? No one got rich off Christianity.  No one got power from it at that time. It mostly just got them persecuted and killed. People won’t suffer and die for something they know to be a lie. 
For thousands of Jews to follow a religion that was significantly different from what they had grown up believing – it’s hard for you and I to understand what an astonishing thing that was. People in our day change religions all the time. But not first century Jews. When is the last time you met a Babylonian? Or a Canaanite? Or a Hittitie?  You haven’t. None of those people’s exist anymore, because they have all been assimilated into other cultures. So why didn’t that happen with the Jews? One big reason the Jews maintained their identity for thousands of years is the fact that the cultural aspects of their religion are so important to them. Things like celebration of the Sabbath day or various aspects of the Mosaic law that set them apart from Gentiles are so important to them that in several cases Jews died by the thousands rather than give up something like celebration of the Sabbath day. That’s how committed the Jews were to that 1st century form of Judaism. So then along comes this religion that calls Jews to unite with Gentiles. And that downplays the distinctions between Jew and Gentile. And that message is so repulsive to them they murder the founder. And weeks later the Jews latch on to that religion by the thousands? That’s incredible! And guess what day they got together for worship each week? Instead of the day their people had set aside for hundreds of years, suddenly they are meeting on the first day of the week – a day that had zero significance in that time, but that was the day Jesus rose from the dead. And in place of all the rituals that they used to be so committed to, when they get together now they just celebrate communion. Which is a celebration meal to remember that Jesus had been publicly slaughtered in a grotesque and humiliating way.
How do we explain these things? If the empty tomb wasn’t enough to convince anyone, and then something happened that convinced people by the thousands to lay their lives down for the truth of the resurrection, what was it? What transformed the disciples from fear, doubt and unbelief to zeal, courage and life-changing faith? Do you remember the one thing that was repeated in all those passages in Acts where they were preaching the resurrection?  They always ended by saying, “We are witnesses of this.” The empty tomb did not persuade them. The personal appearances of Jesus did. That’s why Luke starts out the book of Acts by saying

Acts 1:3-4
After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 

Let me just show you one of them. Remember the disciples who were so disillusioned that after they heard of the empty tomb they just wandered off to Emmaus? And they told the stranger they had hoped Jesus would have been the Messiah? And then something happened and they go scurrying back to Jerusalem full of joy, telling all the others that Jesus was alive? Let’s take a look at what happened.

Luke 24:13-35
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him… 

25 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?"  27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…

33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. 
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."  
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."  40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"  42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. 

This is the kind of thing Luke meant by the many convincing proofs. He not only appeared, but He spoke to them and interacted with them. And it wasn’t like Mohammad’s experience, where he went by himself into a cave, and then came out making a bunch of claims. Jesus didn’t just appear to individuals. He appeared to groups. One time to a group of more than 500. And He didn’t just appear, and didn’t just interact, He let them touch Him. He didn’t want them to think He was some kind of apparition or vision or ghost. And when they still had a hard time taking it all in, He ate food in front of them. He was real. It was Jesus. It was Jesus’ body. But He was alive and well. He had the scars from the wounds, so they knew it was Him, but He was alive. And it wasn’t just some fleeting moment where a few of them thought they saw His image in a cloud or something. He appeared over a period of 40 days giving many convincing proofs. How convincing? Obviously way more convincing than the empty tomb. More convincing that all He did during His life. 

44 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."  
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."  
50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. 

“But what if none of that happened? What if someone made it all up?” You want to hear something amazing? The liberals and the skeptics who doubt the historical accuracy of the Bible – even they admit some things the Bible reports are true. The NT scholars and historians who are not Christians and who do not believe the Bible is God’s Word, and who do not believe in the resurrection; Did you know that with as much as they doubt, they are in agreement on the things I’ve told you this morning? They doubt a lot of things, but even secular scholarship today admits 
1.	Jesus was from Nazareth 
2.	He claimed that He was the Son of God and that He would rise from the dead.
3.	He was crucified in Palestine under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius Caesar at Passover time
4.	He was buried in the tomb of a rich man, and the tomb was guarded by Rome.
5.	On the third day the tomb was empty 
6.	Initially not even His followers believed
7.	Then something happened that convinced His disciples and thousands of other Jews and Gentiles that He rose from the dead and was alive. They were so convinced that they were willing to die in great numbers for their belief. 
All that is undisputed. These facts I’ve presented this morning aren’t even disputed by the vast majority of non-Christian scholars. So what does that mean for you?

Acts 17:24-31
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' 
29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone — an image made by man's design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." 

If anyone in this room as not completely given his life to Christ, and even after being confronted with this evidence you are planning on continuing on that same way. If that’s you, then you made a big mistake in coming here this morning. Because the more evidence you reject, the greater your punishment on Judgment Day. You have been presented with proof.  There remains no excuse. And for those of us who were convinced already, it’s good for us to be reminded of these proofs, because they strengthen our faith and give us confidence and protection against doubt.

he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind  (James 1:6)

But according to Heb.10:19-23, when we have a solid assurance of the truth of the Gospel, the result is 

we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 

And as a result of that, we can

22 draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith

and we are enable to 23 hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Benediction: Ro.16:25-27  Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him- 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

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NOTE: For a brief summary of the scholarly arguments for the resurrection written in popular form see Lee Strobel The Case For Christ pp.191-273

The historical arguments for the resurrection have persuaded many skeptics who have attempted to disprove the resurrection.  The best-known account of such is that of Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone? (London: Faber and Faber, 1930; reprint, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958).  

More detailed presentations are found in William Lane Craig, The Son Rises: The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus (Chicago: Moody, 1981; Gary Habermas and Anthony Flew, Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? The Resurrection Debate, ed. Terry L. Miethe (New Your: Harper and Row, 1987); Gary Habermas, “Resurrection of Christ,” in EDT, pp.938-41.  

There is also an extensive compilation of arguments and quotations from recognized scholars affirming the overwhelming reliability of the evidence in Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, rev. ed., vol.1 (San Bernadino, Calif.: Here’s Life Publishers, 1979), pp.179-263.