Eye Witnesses
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:5-11Devotional Series: Resurrection Life
Teaching: Resurrection Life pt. 1 (SUN_AM 2021-04-04) by Pastor Star R Scott
Jesus Christ is Lord. I’m talking about the Almighty God, the I AM, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; amen? Jesus, that name which is above every name. One day that name will be spoken, and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He’s risen. He is Lord. Hallelujah! The Bible says, “All things were made by Him and for Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life (praise God!) and this life is the light of men.” Hallelujah! Are you rejoicing in the goodness of God? You see, if you took the resurrection of Jesus to court—tragically today, truth doesn’t necessarily prevail in the courts, but it’s supposed to. Justice is supposed to be blind and deal with the facts. The world is prejudiced against Christianity, against the Word of God, against the name of Jesus.
It’s amazing that people will look at the Bible and go, “Oh, you know, it’s so old, and you can’t trust what’s written in there.” Yet, these same people will take secular books, like one of Plato’s works, from a copy produced 900 years after the original. Nine-hundred years and there are only seven existing copies. Now, just put yourself out there and say, “Okay, I’m going to be unbiased.” Wouldn’t it be nice if we could be unbiased as we’re looking and examining different things and letting the truth, the facts, speak for themselves? Well, nine-hundred years, seven copies. The original Scriptures, the length of time between the original and the first copies is twenty-five years. There are twenty-four-thousand fragments, manuscripts, etc. that you can examine. Nobody questions Plato but so many people are prejudiced against the Word of God; amen? See, that’s where the hearts of men are. That’s the sinful nature that’s in there. When Satan is lord, these are the lies that are propagated in the world that we’re living in today. So, what is it that the people will believe? What gives them the best chance? Number one is preaching the gospel. I am not ashamed of the gospel, Paul said, for it is the power of God unto salvation; amen? Then, the other thing that carries credibility, the Bible says you and I are living epistles. People need to read our lives and look at us and say, “Those are people who do what they say.” Praise God! They profess Jesus is Lord, and they subordinate their lives to Him in every area of their lives. Oh, we’re not perfect, but we can point to a perfect Savior; amen?
Jesus said it was finished. He did the job. It is finished. It was done for all time, praise God! He’s redeemed us to Himself, and no man will ever separate us from the love of God that’s in Christ. We stand sure today in our salvation. I just took that little side trip to say this, we see the prejudice as it pertains to the Word of God. Now, what about this eyewitness aspect? The people who actually saw Him after He was raised from the dead. He was seen of Peter at the tomb. Peter and John went into the tomb and saw that He was gone. Paul goes on, and says, He was then seen of the twelve, and after that He was seen by over five-hundred people. Then, he makes this point. He said, and most of these people are still alive; go ask them what they saw. “After that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles.” Paul, establishing his apostolic position says, “And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”
It’s amazing that people will look at the Bible and go, “Oh, you know, it’s so old, and you can’t trust what’s written in there.” Yet, these same people will take secular books, like one of Plato’s works, from a copy produced 900 years after the original. Nine-hundred years and there are only seven existing copies. Now, just put yourself out there and say, “Okay, I’m going to be unbiased.” Wouldn’t it be nice if we could be unbiased as we’re looking and examining different things and letting the truth, the facts, speak for themselves? Well, nine-hundred years, seven copies. The original Scriptures, the length of time between the original and the first copies is twenty-five years. There are twenty-four-thousand fragments, manuscripts, etc. that you can examine. Nobody questions Plato but so many people are prejudiced against the Word of God; amen? See, that’s where the hearts of men are. That’s the sinful nature that’s in there. When Satan is lord, these are the lies that are propagated in the world that we’re living in today. So, what is it that the people will believe? What gives them the best chance? Number one is preaching the gospel. I am not ashamed of the gospel, Paul said, for it is the power of God unto salvation; amen? Then, the other thing that carries credibility, the Bible says you and I are living epistles. People need to read our lives and look at us and say, “Those are people who do what they say.” Praise God! They profess Jesus is Lord, and they subordinate their lives to Him in every area of their lives. Oh, we’re not perfect, but we can point to a perfect Savior; amen?
Jesus said it was finished. He did the job. It is finished. It was done for all time, praise God! He’s redeemed us to Himself, and no man will ever separate us from the love of God that’s in Christ. We stand sure today in our salvation. I just took that little side trip to say this, we see the prejudice as it pertains to the Word of God. Now, what about this eyewitness aspect? The people who actually saw Him after He was raised from the dead. He was seen of Peter at the tomb. Peter and John went into the tomb and saw that He was gone. Paul goes on, and says, He was then seen of the twelve, and after that He was seen by over five-hundred people. Then, he makes this point. He said, and most of these people are still alive; go ask them what they saw. “After that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles.” Paul, establishing his apostolic position says, “And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”