We're continuing our series around The Case for Christ and the opportunity we've been given to investigate the credibility of faith. Many folks have questions, doubts, struggles and things they wrestle with as it comes to searching out and understanding Christianity and faith. Maybe as we lean into this series, some of your struggles will begin to sift out to a place of viability and possibility. If you've never read the book: The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel - why not give it a look. Lee was an investigative reporter at the Chicago Tribune who set out to disprove the claims of Christianity as an atheist and skeptic. After researching for months, interviewing specialist and weighing the facts, his journey took a turn toward God. Read the book. Go see the movie about his life that's in theaters now - it's a true, authentic look at his journey of skeptic into the case for Christ.

We all wrestle with things in life... you may even wrestle with faith. In fact, you may be here wrestling with faith, and what priority it should play or if it should play a role in your life at all. Maybe you’ve wondered if there is more to life than chasing the things under the sun and the normal rhythms of your days. Maybe you’d simply label yourself as a ‘searcher’, trying to search things out, to understand what’s true…maybe you label yourself a skeptic or atheist. But perhaps you're interested in wrestling with the truth for yourself. God loves to meet those that search...

The reliability of the resurrection can center around 3 key questions: 1) Was Jesus alive at Point A
2) Did Jesus really die at Point B
3) Was Jesus alive again at Point C

Virtually every scholar, secular and Christian, agrees Jesus actually lived in the first century. Even so, the internet is alive with the claim that Jesus never lived at all. *Historian Paul Maier is blunt: “The total evidence is so overpowering, so absolute that only the shallowest of intellects would dare to deny Jesus’ existence.

For the resurrection to be true, Jesus had to really die. The Bible and history tell us he was executed by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate. But some deny the death of Christ. It’s been said that we’re lucky in the study of ancient history if we have one or two solid sources to confirm a fact. In the case of the execution of Jesus, however, we not only have reports in all 4 biographies of Jesus in the New Testament—the Gospels—each written within the lifetimes of his contemporaries, but we also have 5 ancient sources outside the Bible: Josephus, Tacitus, Lucian, Mara Bar-Serapion, and the Talmud. Some make the claim that Jesus only passed out and didn't really die - but the Journal of American Medical Association says, “Clearly the weight of the historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to his side was inflicted . . . .Accordingly, interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge.”

It’s not just Christian scholars who believe this. Agnostic New Testament scholar James Tabor said, “I think we need have no doubt that given Jesus’ execution by Roman crucifixion, he was truly dead.”

So, lastly - did Jesus really come back to life?
There are 3 KEY strands of evidence that establish that Jesus came back to life: 1) proof of empty tomb 2) the proof of his followers Faith Despite Persecution 3) proof of eye witnesses to Jesus’ appearances.
-The tomb was empty and no body was ever produced which would have shut down the whole thing.
Quote:
"I believe those witnesses that get their throats cut." ~ Blasé Pascal (philosopher) These people who talked about Jesus coming back from the dead – didn’t stop talking about Jesus coming back from the dead… even when threatened w/ death. Research their stories.
We also have 9 ancient sources confirming that the disciples were convinced Jesus had risen and that he appeared to them. (1 Corinthians 15:3-7) is the oldest Creed that we have and is dated as far back as within months of the resurrection. Historian James D. G. Dunn concluded, “This tradition, we can be entirely confident, was formulated as tradition within months of Jesus’ death.”
side note: To put it into perspective, if you were to call each one of the eye witnesses to a court of law to be cross-examined for just 15 minutes each, and you went around the clock without a break, it would take you from breakfast on Monday until dinner on Friday to hear them all. After listening to 129 straight hours of eyewitness testimony, who could possibly walk away unconvinced?

The evidence is powerful and persuasive. We have overwhelming evidence to back up our faith and the reliability of the resurrection. Good Friday and Easter declare unashamedly and unequivocally: God loves YOU. The God of the universe loves you and me with such intensity and power that he willingly entered our world, lived and showed us the truth, endured torture and death in order to redeem us and make a way for us to have life with him…now and forever.

Friend: could you base your life now and forever on the reliability of the resurrection?!
The Answer: YES.
The real question: will you?

You owe it to yourself to investigate the Case for Christ …go on your own journey. Where are you on the journey of investigating the Case for Christ?
What obstacles or sticking points stand in your way? Would you be willing to turn in God’s direction – seek Him and ask Him to meet you where you’re at.

Need Prayer? We have some of our prayer team and pastors available following the service down front.