I had an elder minister take me in his counsel a few weeks ago and he told me "Son, we don't preach the resurrection enough. God never intended for the resurrection of Jesus Christ to be preached only once a year at Easter." He then looked at me and said, "go study your Bible and you will find that after Calvary every sermon in the Bible includes the resurrection of Jesus Christ." He was right. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the foremost subject preached by Peter, Paul, and the like. It wasn't a subject that they got off on every once in a while, but was something that they never failed to mention.

In the first church business meeting in the upper room before the Holy Ghost was ever poured out, we find that those who were candidates to replace Judas Iscariot in the twelve were dependent upon having a knowledge of and believing the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:22). In the next chapter after the Holy Ghost was poured out, Peter preached the first sermon of the Apostolic Church and his main subject was that Jesus Christ was resurrected on the third day and that His earthly body did not stay dead long enough to see "corruption" (Acts 2). When Peter and John were arrested in Acts 3, for healing the lame man at the gate called beautiful, they took the opportunity to tell the chief priests and Pharisees that this man that they had crucified has risen from the dead (Acts 3:15). After being released from the prison with orders never to preach about Jesus Christ again, Peter and the disciples went right back into the temple and Acts chapter 4 says that the guards and religious leaders got mad because they were:

Again when they were arrested in chapter 5, we find that the disciples took the opportunity to remind the religious leaders again of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 5:30-32). We could go on and on, for Stephen preached (Acts 6) and then was stoned for (Acts 7) saying that Jesus Christ was alive and would return in vengeance one day. In Acts 8, its the evangelist Philip preaching Jesus' death and resurrection to the Samaritans. In Acts 9, it was the persecutor Saul who was met by a very much alive Jesus on the road to Damascus and was converted to a preacher spreading the news that He is alive and God Almighty! In Acts 10, Peter preached the same message about the resurrection that he preached on the Day of Pentecost, but this time it was to non-Jewish people in Cornelius' house and the results were the same as the Day of Pentecost: the Holy Ghost was poured out. In Acts 11, Peter related what he had preached to the Jews in Jerusalem. I'm not going to continue on throughout the book of Acts -- for you are certainly smart enough to read it on your own -- but I hope that I'm getting a point across to you and that is also something that the disciples understood: our Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore the first Apostolic preachers never let the subject slip by their hearers. They were convinced that Jesus was alive and when they preached it, God confirmed their word with great deeds and miracles!

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In "modern times" there have arose -- and let me use the word loosely -- "theologians" who have tried to say that Jesus did not really rise from the dead. We aren't going to go through some of the "hair-brained" theories that some have come up with over the last 50 years, but the ideas range from saying that Jesus was just passed out in a coma to the old Jewish fable that the Romans guards were paid to say by the Pharisees, that the disciples had stolen His body from the tomb. I'm glad to say that these supposed rationalizations of the resurrection of Jesus have never really caught on and hopefully you believe that Jesus Christ rose again on the third day and is alive today. If you don't believe that, then there's really no reason to move on to discuss anything else in scripture because everything in this Apostolic faith is based upon the fact that there is an empty tomb outside Jerusalem today. The scriptures never make it a point to prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they assume you believe it. They simply state it as fact. If you don't believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then you simply don't believe in the validity of scripture, and if you don't believe that, then there is no hope for you because it is in the Word of God that we find truth and hope and deliverance and the words of eternal life!

Most of you have heard of Thomas Jefferson. He was an early president of the United States and one of the genius' that helped to write and form our Constitution and government. He was a very intelligent man and his accomplishments in life are well documented in history. We have a lot to thank Mr. Jefferson for and that is why his likeness is on our nickel and -- until they changed it this year -- his famously designed home, Monticello, is on the back of the coin.

Yet in all of his smartness and glory, Thomas Jefferson had one major flaw: he did not really understand who Jesus Christ really was. Jefferson thought of Jesus as a good man, a great teacher, and a man whose reason and logic was to be heeded as an example. But Mr. Jefferson didn't believe that Jesus Christ was God manifest in flesh. And he also didn't believe that Jesus Christ really did miracles or that God even cares about the day to day lives of men (the official term for this belief is "deism"). Most people don't know that Thomas Jefferson created his own version of the scriptures called the "Jefferson Bible." It is sometimes used as the Bible that is handed out to Senators and Representatives even today when they are elected into office. The "Jefferson Bible" is not another easy-to-understand translation. It doesn't even have the Old Testament. Actually, it only contains portions of four books of the New Testament and not even those books are complete. Okay, I'll tell you what it is: Thomas Jefferson took the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and deleted every miracle and every reference to the supernatural out of the pages. As you can imagine, there's not much left and it's a rather small book. Gone is the story of Jesus walking on the water. Gone are the accounts of blinded eyes being opened and deaf ears being unstopped. Gone is the calming of the sea of Galilee and Peter and Jesus' stroll across the waves. Removed and deleted is the many lame who walked and ran after Jesus had touched them and the demoniacs who were delivered. Gone are the lepers who were cleansed from their dreaded death sentence. And, of course, gone is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, the last words of the Jefferson Bible reads: "there laid they Jesus and rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulcher and departed."

In our first text, we read from the 23rd chapter of the book of Acts at a passage where Paul had been arrested and brought before a Roman court with the religious leaders of the Jewish people bringing claims against him for teaching "false doctrine." He, of course, was teaching that Jesus was God manifest in flesh and had rose from the dead which went against their religious traditions because it would mean that they would have to live as Jesus Christ taught.

To understand this passage of scripture and to understand why it found it's way as a text in this sermon, you have to understand the difference between the two major political parties of the Jewish religion. One side was called the Pharisees and the other was called the Sadducees. Both believed in God. The Sadducees did not believe that all of the Word of God was true (especially the miracle parts) and they also did not believe in life after death and thus resurrection of any kind. The Pharisees, on the other hand, believed that the miracles of scripture were true and that there would be a resurrection of the dead and that everyone would live somewhere for eternally in a glorified body. Thomas Jefferson's beliefs were not new, but were actually a continuation of the false doctrine of the Sadducees of Jesus' time.

When Paul was hauled into court, he looked around and realized that there were both Pharisees and Sadducees that were bringing the accusations against him. With a loud voice, he cried out that it was because of the issue of resurrection of the dead that he had been arrested. When the Pharisees heard this, they immediately turned on the Sadducees and a huge argument broke out in the court room! When the Roman guards saw the heated debate begin to get out of hand, they canceled the trial and took Paul away! Paul may have been a lot things, but he wasn't stupid!

Later, in 1 Corinthians 15, we find Paul responding to some Sadduceeical teaching that was trying to slip into the church of Corinth. There were some there that sounded like Thomas Jefferson in that they were teaching that there will not be a future resurrection of the dead. Paul reminded them that our entire faith is based upon the resurrection of the dead of Jesus Christ, and if there is no future resurrection, then there was no past resurrection. Paul then pauses and then in our other text, mentions a horrible "what if?" scenario to disprove the Sadducces' position. He said:

What if Christ had not risen? That's a sobering thought! What if the stone would have never rolled away? What if Jesus' body had lain in the grave and not gotten up on the third day as He had promised? What if Mr. Jefferson's errant words had really been the way that it all ended? Think about that for a moment. That's one of the most horrible thoughts in scripture isn't it? It's hard to think of a worse scenario. It's harder to think of a worse "what if" than "What if Christ had not risen?!" Don't misunderstand my message today: Jesus IS risen! He IS alive. But to realize just how important the resurrection of Christ is, let's think about what it would mean if there had been no resurrection. It's a horrible "what if" and thank God it didn't happen that way, but just for a moment humor this preacher in briefly dwelling on it. We don't have to go through a list of 100 things that apply here because in our text, Paul summarizes all of the possible implications into two, simple points.

1. If Christ be not risen, then our preaching is in vain.

To "preach" means to proclaim the "Gospel of Jesus Christ." That is the "good news" of His death, burial and resurrection. Jesus lived to die and He came to this world with one purpose in mind: to bring salvation to you and I! You need to be reminded of just how horrible Calvary was. It wasn't a pleasant event in any shape or fashion but was a cruel and inhumane way to punish even the worst human being -- nevertheless the perfect Son of God. Before Jesus was led up Calvary, He was beaten unmercifully with the cat o' nine tales. As far as the plan of salvation was concerned, there was no need for Him to endure such torture on the eve of a cross, but Jesus allowed Himself to be whipped, the scriptures say to purchase healing for our bodies! "By His stripes we were healed" (1 Peter 2:24)! It was no small price to pay just for you and I to enjoy restored health, because it brought Jesus Christ to a point of death even before He was crucified.

Then came the horrible and agonizing death on a rugged cross. Each breath required our savior to pull against the nails in His hands and His feet and crucifixion victims usually died from either a ruptured heart from the stress of the pain, or asphyxiation from no longer having the strength to breathe. The pain was excruciating, but even worse was the fact that He was mocked and made fun of throughout His last hours that day. And yet the physical pain that Jesus experienced on the cross was not even close to the pain caused by a perfect and sinless man experiencing for the first time the weight of sin. He was not feeling His own sin, but was experiencing the wrath and judgment of God for every sin that had ever been committed by Adam's offspring. The scriptures say that Jesus "despised the shame" (Hebrews 12:2). What does that mean? That means that the perfect and spotless Lamb of God felt the condemnation and the dirtiness of every sin that was ever committed. He felt what humanity feels when they digress away from their Maker. He became the sin without becoming the sinner. And the weight and feel of sin repulsed Him so much that He despised it and "endured it." He literally bore the weight of the world upon His shoulders!

Why would He willingly endure such a horrible thing? Because He had come to purchase redemption and salvation for mankind! Jesus had come to make possible a close relationship between imperfect men and a perfect God. He came to "fulfill all righteousness" and to fulfill the law and thus provide a way for us to be saved from our sins! That is the good news that we preach: you too can have a new life if you will follow His example and believe and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You obey His death by dying to your sins in Repentance (Luke 13:3; 1 Corinthians 15:31).

You obey His burial by being buried with Him in Water Baptism (Colossians 2:11-12).

You obey His resurrection by receiving that same regeneration power into your life by receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance just like they did on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4; Titus 3:5).

How to obey the Gospel was the message of the Early Church and how the apostles always ended a good resurrection sermon. Peter clearly outlined it in Acts 2:

That is the formula for obeying the Gospel of Jesus Christ and doing so saves us from our sin!

Our sin is forgiven when we truly Repent.

Our sin is washed away when we are baptized in Jesus' name.

We are given the power to be able to overcome sin when we are filled with the Holy Spirit!

But it all hinges on the fact that Jesus Christ rose again! If He did not rise again, then there can be no healing! If He did not rise again, then you and I are stuck in our sins, because He really wasn't who He said He was! And if He has not the power to transform lives, then our preaching is in vain. Oh, but He did rise again! And so our preaching is not in vain! When you respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and obey it "as the scriptures hath said" there will be a new life begin to flow through and out of you!

This is a glorious gospel that we preach! But if Jesus Christ had been the perfect Lamb of God and had died perfectly fulfilling the law and had brought this great plan into being and yet there had not been a resurrection, then He would have died in vain! What good would fulfilling the law have done if God is dead?! What good would the blood sacrifice have done if there was no future? It's a horrible "what if" but if Christ had not risen, then all the horrible suffering and all of the humiliation and all of the shame and all of the stripes and all of the enduring would have been in vain. It would have purchased nothing, because our high priest and advocate would not have been available! And if that were so, then there would be no use preaching about the Cross and Golgotha. In fact, I would need to find another job, and we would all need to go home! Because what use would it be to bring you to repentance and baptize you if there is no possibility of relationship. It's a horrible thought that Paul had, but one that's true: if Christ be not risen, our preaching would certainly be in vain.

2.. If Christ be not risen, then your faith is in vain.

If Christ did not rise from the dead, then there is certainly no hope for us to ever do so. If that were so, then we would have to live like the Sadducees of Jesus' time. To them, death was the final and greatest foe. If Christ had not risen, then the greatest faith in God that you could possibly have would do you no good, because it would mean that death and sickness was greater than God. Paul went on to say:

If there were no resurrection of Jesus Christ, there would be no hope for a future resurrection and we would be as miserable as the Sadducees. Life is not always great. Even if you live out your 80 years or so, life is still too short. Just living brings pain and our world is far from perfect. I would be miserable if the Sadducees turned out to be right! If all there is to life is living and then the end is death and there is no God that is greater than the grave, then I don't know that I could make it through some of the trials that I've had to face here on earth. If the grave could hold God, then there would be no hope of a better day and of a new heaven and a new earth!

If there be no resurrection of Jesus, then Job was a liar and a fool when he said while enduring the worst trial of any human being:

Job was saying "there is one thing that is causing me to stay faithful to a God that I cannot feel or see right now... there is one thing that brings me hope despite the fact that everyone has forsaken me and even though my body is racked with pain... There is one thing that is keeping me although every one else thinks that I would be better off to have never been born... And that is I know that my redeemer lives and that I too will one day have a resurrection and stand before the resurrected One!" And Job went on to say: "Whom I shall see for myself, and mine own eyes are going to see the One who knows all things!"

If Jesus Christ is not alive, then those were foolish words indeed, but if Christ is risen, those words are the words of faith and truth and the mantra of hope in the darkest situation! Let my wife curse me to my face and all my friends leave me. Let me lose my job and every thing else I own. Let me lose my health, and I want to have the same disposition of Job! I want to be able to find solace that this is not all there is to life. I want to know that there is something after this body breathes it's last!

Somebody needs to get a revelation of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ! We tend to approach dying with fear and a finality, but it is not final to a Christian who knows the resurrection power of Jesus Christ! Jesus' resurrection was just an example for us to show us how it will be in the resurrection! Paul went on to write in 1 Corinthians 15:

Jesus' resurrection just proved to us that He is greater than even death! And one day it will be destroyed at the resurrection of the saints of God! Paul said:

Do you know what verse 58 is really saying? It's saying "you can make it through whatever comes against you because you know that in the end you will be victorious! If there had been no resurrection of Jesus Christ, there would be no hope of our resurrection and if there were no resurrection, then we would have to live our lives as a modern-day Sadducee -- miserable and hopeless with no future to look forward upon!

But praise God that Jesus did rise again and has shown us that He has the keys to death, hell, and the grave! We don't have to be afraid of death, and in fact it has become a friend. As he was approaching his death for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul said:

Paul was saying "I don't know what's better to be killed and to be with Christ or to be alive and see Christ work through me in others." And then he said "I'm pulled between the two choices. But to be with Christ is far better!" Because Jesus Christ showed us that He has power over death and the grave, a Spirit-filled Christian does not have to cower in fear or dread dying, but can face it with an eagerness that to die is gain!

But since Jesus Christ did rise again on the third day, our preaching is not in vain and your faith is not in vain! You can put your trust in a God that is greater and mightier than any foe in existence, even death and the grave! We serve a God who had resurrection power! And I've got news for the Sadducees among us: not only is there life after death, but Jesus went to prepare for us a place to spend eternity with Him! And the streets of gold and jasper walls of New Jerusalem won't even compare with the joy of being in the presence of the Almighty, resurrected One for eternity!

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"If Christ had not risen..." -- the "what if" of the Sadducee is a horrible thought. If it were so, our preaching and faith would be in vain. But I must finish this message by admitting to you that there is a more horrific thought even beyond the thought that we have been discussing today. The "what if" of "if Christ had not risen" is horrible, but there is a worse "what if."

"Worse than the belief of the Sadducee?, what is it preacher?" It is the "what if" of the Pharisee. They believed in the scripture and believed in the inspired Word of God. They even believed in resurrection, but they refused to allow the resurrection power of God to operate in their life.

The point is this. Even worse than "what if Christ had not risen?" is "what if Christ did rise again, but you don't allow His resurrection power to operate in your life?" What if the scriptures are true and there is going to be a resurrection but you choose to not allow that power to permeate your own life? That's a "worse what if." Because if Christ had not risen, then our preaching and our faith is in vain, but if we do not allow the resurrection power of Christ to operate in our life, then the resurrection of Christ and the work of Calvary is what is in vain!

The worse case scenario, even worse than if Christ had not risen at all, is if you refuse to allow the Holy Ghost to change your life and empower you to overcome sin. The writer of Hebrews writes that people who have been saved from their sin and filled with the Holy Ghost and baptized in the name of Jesus and Repented but choose to live in their sinful lifestyles like they always have:

It's the worst possible "what if?" What if Jesus has paid the price for a resurrection and has that power available but you choose to stay in your sin and choose to stay in your sinful lifestyle which brings death to the relationships and good in your life?! What if a Christian experiences the power of Jesus' resurrection once, but refuses to allow it to transform them into a new creature and refuses to let God make all things "new?" What if a Christian believes in God, believes in the scripture, and believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but chooses to live the same old way, talk the same talk, be bound by the same things that they've always been bound to, and exhibit the same behavior that they always have? In short, what if they believe in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ but refuse to allow it to operate in their life because they continue to return to the same detrimental behavior and lifestyle and never let Him truly become "Lord of All" and never allow the resurrection power of Christ to work personally in their life?!

I began this sermon by taking you through the first few chapters of the book of Acts and talking to you about how that the preaching of the resurrection always brought signs and wonders and miracles. It also brought a change in people's lives. In Acts 2, the very people who had crucified Jesus received Him in Spirit form in their lives and changed their everyday lifestyle radically! In Acts 3, the lame man became a testimony and a witness of the power of the name of Jesus! In Acts chapter 8 we find that the people of Samaria turned to a lifestyle of holiness. We find people in the book of Acts who were once sorcerers burning their incantation books and becoming Bible studiers! We find people who were once thieves and fornicators and liars and carnal and sinful and dirty minded and prayerless and faithless and railers and drunkards all being transformed by the resurrection power of God into mighty men and women of His kingdom! But what if? What if the resurrection had happened and no one's life was changed? Then the resurrection of Jesus Christ would have been in vain. And dare we say it? The sacrifice -- that great sacrifice -- of Calvary and the cross would have been in vain. And that's still true today: if you choose to continue in willful sin, even after initial obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you crucify Him afresh and deny the joy and the power of the resurrection in your life.

God wants someone to know that He can set them free from their past hurts and pains. What a horrible thought of "what if Christ had not risen?" But what a worse thought, that Christ has risen and yet someone might choose to deny the resurrection power within their own life. You can live above your sinful past. You can be a new creature in Christ Jesus. You don't have to be locked into the way that you've always been. To do so and to say that you cannot change, is a worse "what if" than even the Sadducees! He has risen and conquered every enemy and every foe. If you are struggling to live for God, then you need to sell out to Him and surrender all to Him. You need to let go of some things that are weighting you down. You need to realize the seriousness and importance of how you live your everyday life. Christ has risen and He has the power to set you free -- no matter what the circumstances. But you must choose to allow Him to do so. You must choose to submit yourselves in every area to Him. To not do so, is the worst possible scenario because it means that His death and life were in vain. He has risen, let His resurrection power loose in your life!