Victory: Triumph That Brings Real Hope for Humanity - The Lakes Evangelical Church
‘It’s Time! Evangelistic Outreach.”
The Lakes Evangelical Church, Berkeley Vale, N.S.W.
14 October 2007
Scripture: JOHN 20:1-10.
© REV DR. GORDON MOYES, A.C. M.L.C.,
B.A., LL.D., Litt.D., D.D.,
F.R.G.S., F.A.I.M., F.A.I.C.D., M.A.C.E..
This series of three talks was initiated by one of the pastors here, Darren Box. He asked me to present this third talk which is about the culmination of the life of Jesus Christ under the theme of “VICTORY. THE TRIUMPH THAT BRINGS REAL HOPE FOR HUMANITY.” I am happy to do that even though I am not a preacher at this church. Dave Sheath is the senior pastor but he is also away as are many of the men of this congregation at our Annual Men’s Camp where they are doing some exciting Bible studies.
So I have been asked to fill in as the substitute preacher. Fortunately, I have had some experience, as this is the fiftieth year I have been preaching about Jesus, and I never grow tired of that subject nor exhaust its possibilities.
For twenty-seven years I was the senior minister and Superintendent of Wesley Mission Sydney, and for the last three years of that term I was also a member of the New South Wales Parliament. I have been subsequently elected to the State Senate until 2011. So with the old election theme, “It’s Time” and the prospect of a new Federal election any week, I guess Darren thought I would be a suitable substitute speaker.
Mind you, being a substitute speaker has it pitfalls. Fifty years ago I was given an unexpected opportunity as an eighteen-year-old youth pastor to step into the pulpit and speak in place of the well-known senior pastor. I knew many members would be disappointed at having to listen to me instead of the senior pastor. I explained that I was a last minute substitute for the senior pastor. One lady looked puzzled and knowing that in that church in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, not many had a good education, I decided to explain what I meant. I said, pointing to the window at the side of the pulpit, “If a pane of glass was broken in this window and we wanted to keep the cold wind out, we could put a sheet of cardboard in its place. The cardboard would be a substitute. The lady smiled. Afterwards she said, “Oh, Mr Moyes, I don’t think you are just a substitute – you are a real pain!”
With Darren and David away, I stand before you as their substitute.
With the forthcoming election, this church wanted you to realize that in Jesus Christ we have an outstanding leader. Darren spoken about His calling as a healer, sufferer on our behalf, and his work as the Saviour of mankind. He considered Christ’s claims especially his claim that He would rise from death and be the way, the truth and the life. Darren looked at significant leaders in Australia’s history, but we all know they had feet of clay, and ended up disappointing us.
Australians are considering the leadership qualifications of John Howard and Kevin Rudd as to who is best suited to lead Australia for the next four years. I count it a privilege to know both of these men well. John Howard I have known closely for twenty years, and eleven years ago he asked me to be an advisor to Him on a whole range of social policies. I have been a member of two Prime Minister’s Task Forces. I am currently a member of a Prime Minister’s Board of Community Business Partnerships. He spoke for me often at Wesley Mission functions and is a practicing Church attending Christian.
Kevin Rudd is also a practicing, church attending Christian. He spoke also at Wesley Mission and I asked him about his commitment to Jesus Christ. He gave a very full and satisfying reply and traced the history of significant Christians in the Trade Union Movement and the Australian Labour Party. He described himself as a Christian Socialist. His speech is printed on his website.
But both of these contenders for our national leadership would indicate that Jesus Christ is by far and above their claims to be a perfect leader. They both believe Jesus Christ is an unparalleled leader in human history. We are blessed to have two Christians as the alternative choice for leader of our nation.
What makes Jesus Christ different from all others is His resurrection from the dead, which enables Him to be with us who believe in Him today. Nothing is more powerful than to experience the impact of the Risen Christ in your own life. An experience with the Risen Christ changes a person’s whole life round. But is believing in the resurrection based upon credible records and responses from people who were there?
Some argue that the Gospel stories of the empty tomb and Jesus’ post Resurrection appearances are fictitious. Must a Christian believe in Jesus’ bodily resurrection? Does Christianity owe its origins to the Resurrection? Paul wrote “If Christ is not raised then our preaching is in vain and so is your faith.” Typical of people rejecting the resurrection of Jesus is a former Catholic priest in Chicago, John Dominic Crossan, who says that the tomb of Jesus was empty because the body of Jesus had been eaten by wild dogs. Crossan does not believe the historical evidence in the New Testament because he believes the account is a legend. He has no evidence to support such an outlandish claim except his own ideas.
The New Testament writers describe the tomb as empty and that they had seen and met with the Risen Lord over a period of seven weeks. Paul was turned round completely after meeting Jesus on the Damascus Road, twenty years later, and was blinded by the experience!
Resurrection does not mean the resuscitation of a corpse. A medical resuscitation is good news for the patient and family. But Luke Timothy Johnson, Professor at Candler School of Theology, says it is not good news that affects everyone else. In proclaiming that Jesus had been resurrected, they were asserting that “after His death, Jesus entered into an entirely new form of existence, one in which He shared the power of God and in which he could share that power with others… Sharing in Jesus’ new life through the power of the Holy Spirit is an essential dimension of the resurrection.” We must examine the evidence for ourselves:
1. The Resurrection appearances
Few scholars deny Jesus appeared to the apostles and to hundreds of His followers after His death. The debate is how to interpret these appearances. Paul’s testimony that the disciples saw Jesus is not disputed. Peter saw the Risen Lord. Most scholars agree Peter believed he saw Jesus. The Twelve Apostles saw Jesus on several occasions. Luke (24:36 42) and John 20:19 20 cover different appearances. The resurrected Jesus showed his wounds and ate with the disciples. There were the 500 believers who saw Jesus at the one time. Paul challenges sceptics to ask them because most of them were alive at that time. Then there was James. He was the younger brother of Jesus. The conversion of James is one of the strongest testimonies to the fact of the resurrection. James and his brothers never believed in Jesus, until after they saw Him risen from the dead. The only explanation of James and his brothers worshiping their ‘brother’ is if Jesus really did appear to them.
Then there was Paul, the persecutor of the Christians, who became their most famous preacher. Paul’s conversion is an amazing testimony to the fact of the resurrection. Why would Paul give up all he had to follow a peasant Jew, unless Jesus had appeared to him resulting in blindness for three days?
2. These accounts are historically reliable
There was only a very short time between the crucifixion and resurrection and the writing of these accounts. The gospels show no sign of legendary writing. Legends do not typically have the vast amount of historical testimony the gospel accounts do. The gospels mention cities, governors, provinces, names of people and many other details that could easily be verified. In all the early records there are no contradictions.
3. There is evidence for the resurrection
There are six lines of evidence for the historicity of Jesus’ appearances. The resurrection of Jesus is the central fact of the Christian faith. The entire structure of Christianity, the hope for eternal life and for any meaning to human existence, stands or falls with Christ’s resurrection. As Paul wrote: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (1 Cor 15:17). His resurrection is the most important event of history and it is a most certain fact.
a. The existence of Christianity is proof in itself.
The preaching of the apostles (Acts 2:22 36; 3:14 15; 4:10 12; 10:36 43; 13:26 39; 17:31; 26:22, 23; etc.) always centred on the resurrection. “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 4:33) This was the message that won countless thousands to faith in Christ. Despite persecution, Christianity thrives because it is based upon the fact of the resurrection.
b. Worship changed to a Sunday.
The first Christians were devout Jews, accustomed to worshipping faithfully on the Sabbath, Saturday, the seventh day of the week, but now they began meeting instead on the first day, Sunday, because that was the day of the resurrection.
c. The institution of the Lord’s Supper.
Their greatest annual observance was the Passover, but this soon became Easter for them, when they realised that Christ had fulfilled the Passover, dying as the Lamb of God, and then rising again from the dead. The observance of the Lord’s Day, Easter and the Lord’s Supper, can be traced back to apostolic times and the resurrection.d. The existence of the Christian Church.
There is no doubt that the apostles and early Christians, by the tens of thousands, believed and preached the resurrection. Is it possible they could have been wrong and their faith was based on wicked deception or fanatical delusion? Highly unlikely.
e. Their willingness to suffer for truth.
They suffered severely for their faith, losing their possessions and lives in the great Jewish and Roman persecutions of the first century. Would they have persisted in their testimony if they knew it was a lie?
f. The evidence of the empty tomb.
The tomb had been sealed with the Roman seal and was guarded, under pain of death, by a detachment of 16 Roman soldiers night and day. A great stone weighing several tons was rolled in front of its entrance and sealed by the guard. Yet on the first Easter morning, the soldiers fled in terror, the stone was rolled away, and the body vanished.
In the grave, the grave clothes were still as they had been before He had passed out of them. The empty tomb has never been explained, except by the bodily resurrection of Jesus. If the body actually was still there, where the Jews or Romans had seen it, and had guarded it, they would certainly have produced it as a sure means of immediately quenching the spreading flame of the Christian faith.
If the apostles or other friends of Jesus somehow had the body themselves, and thus knew He was dead, they could never have preached His resurrection as they did. For they knew it would surely mean persecution for them and their deaths. No man willingly sacrifices his life for something he knows to be a lie! The empty tomb speaks eloquently of His resurrection.
4. Are there any credible alternative views?
Some have suggested that these post resurrection appearances of Christ were hallucinations. But hallucinations don’t occur repeatedly like this, to individuals and to groups, indoors and outdoors. They themselves first Luke 24:37 “were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.” But Jesus invited them to touch Him and to note the nail scars in His hands and feet. He ate dinner with them, and they could no longer doubt that it was Jesus Himself, as they had always known Him.
Some have suggested that He never really died, but only fainted on the cross. Some people go to absurd lengths to avoid facing facts. Jesus had been through hours of intense psychological pressure and had been scourged with the whip for 39 lashes. Large iron spikes were nailed through His wrists and ankles. He had hung for nine hours in the sun without drugs. It was clear to all watching, that He was dead.
A spear was thrust up into His side, piercing the pericardium so that blood and fluid ran out. Any wound in the abdomen would bring gross infection. He was open to flies, infection, no control of bowel or bladder, exhaustion, disjointed bones. Jesus was in the vertical position, just the worst position for any possible lingering of life. Anybody surviving this would be an invalid for months. Yet on the Sunday Jesus was whole, walking and talking, showing the scars in his hands and side!
The Roman soldiers knew death and they pronounced Him dead. Some modernists like Barbara Theiring have repeated an old claim that maybe Jesus had just swooned. Grievously wounded and weakened, an almost dead Jesus could never have survived the three days in the tomb, avoided the infection, recovered from the wounds, shifted the massive stone from the entrance, escaped unseen past the Romans, walked seven miles into Jerusalem, pass through locked doors and then inspire His disciples to the heights of courage and power which they soon began to manifest. You would have to have great faith to believe that!
There is no other fact of history supported by such strong evidence! The final evidence is the reality of the assurance of salvation and eternal life, enjoyed by each person who believes! “You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart!” Experiential evidence is one of the strongest forms of evidence. You know because you try it and discover for yourself He is risen! We simply place our personal faith in the living Christ. Rom 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Jesus came to give people eternal life and the capacity to cope with whatever life brings them here and now. That experience of the Risen Christ is testified to by millions of people over the centuries.
Even people who do not believe in the Resurrection of Jesus find themselves strangely drawn to it. One of the writers who reject the resurrection of Christ finds himself strangely drawn to it. Bishop John Shelby Spong writes: “What we cannot finally deny is that Easter dawned and that a community of people became convinced that Jesus was alive in a new way and that the grave of death could not contain the meaning of his life. Furthermore we cannot deny that because of their conviction their lives were dramatically and qualitatively different, and that they were able to pass that difference on for two thousand years so that you and I can now be part of the community that lives in this conviction.
So here I stand, called, I believe, to live as a part of the people of the resurrection. And living here, I assert that Jesus lives, that death cannot contain him, that Jesus is Lord”. Why not join with the people who know? Believe in the Risen Lord with all you heart and find Him as your friend and Saviour.
Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “I know men; and I tell you Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other leader in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander The Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne and myself have founded international empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love, and bat this hour millions of men would die for Him.”
They have elected Jesus the leader of their lives, and joined in His Empire. Why not also do the same?
They say Jesus is the First and Last, the Beginning and the End! He is the keeper of Creation, the architect of the universe. He always was. He always is. He always will be. His bruises brought healing! His suffering brought freedom! His death brought life! His resurrection brings eternity! The world cannot understand him. Armies cannot defeat Him. Scientists cannot explain Him. Leaders cannot ignore Him. Herod could not kill Him. Nero could not crush Him. Tyrants from Stalin to Saddam Hussein could not silence Him.
He is light, love, and Lord. He is goodness, kindness, gentleness, and God. He is holy, righteous, mighty, powerful, and pure. His ways are right. His word is eternal. His will is unchanging. He is Redeemer and Saviour, Lord and Christ. I serve Him because His bond is love and His burden is light. I follow Him because He is the wisdom of the wise, the power of the powerful, the ancient of days, the ruler of rulers, the leader of leaders, the sovereign Lord. He will never leave me Never forsake me. Never mislead me. Never forget me. When I fall, He lifts me up. When I fail, He forgives. When I am weak, He is strong! When I am lost, He is the way! When I am afraid, He is my courage! When I stumble, He steadies me! When I am hurt, He heals me! When I am broken, He mends me! When I am blind, He leads me! When I am hungry, He feeds me! When I face trials, He is with me! When I face persecution, He shields me! When I face problems, He comforts me! When I face loss, He provides for me! And when I will face Death, He carries me home! He is everything for everybody, everywhere, every time, in every way. He is Jesus Christ!
Pray this prayer with me.
If you prayed that prayer indicate on the Yellow slip and put it in the bag during our closing hymn, and one of the pastors will give you a call and talk about finding the triumph that brings real hope to humanity.
Rev The Hon Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC
References
The Historical Jesus, J D Crossan Harper 1989
Jesus Under Fire, M J Wilkins and J P Moreland 1995
The Jesus Quest, B Witherington 111 IVP 1995
Resurrection: Myth or Reality, J S Spong Harper 1994
Rabbi Jesus, Bruce Chilton
