Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20060813.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XLIV: Biblical Christianity's Validity Seen In Christ's Resurrection
A. Believing The Material Evidence Of Christ's Bodily Resurrection
(John 19:38-20:31)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 with John 3:16, we read that to receive eternal life and escape hell, we must believe Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose from the dead in fulfillment of the Scriptures.

Yet, from the article, "Pilgrims Progress" by Jon Meacham that comes out in tomorrow's August 14, 2006 issue of Newsweek (p. 37-43), an article reporting on an interview with the Reverend Dr. Billy Graham, one might wonder about this Gospel's credibility!

Speaking of the Bible's inspiration, Graham said: "'I'm not a literalist in the sense that every single jot and tittle is from the Lord.'" (Ibid., p. 41) Thus, he holds the "word 'day' in Genesis" chapter 1 "is figurative," a view that supports theistic evolution where God allegedly used evolutionary processes to create the universe in long ages of time!

Meacham continued: "When asked whether he believes heaven will be closed to good Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or secular people . . . Graham says: 'Those are decisions only the Lord will make . . . I believe the love of God is absolute. He said he gave his son for the whole world, and I think he loves everybody regardless of what label they have.'" (Ibid., p. 43)



One might then wonder, "In view of these stands by Billy Graham, why heed 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and John 3:16 and BELIEVE in Christ and His death, burial and resurrection from the dead for ETERNAL LIFE? (a) After all, how do I know the words in 1 Corinthians 15 and John 3 are true when Billy Graham thinks some of the Bible's jots and tittles are not from God? (b) Why believe in Christ's death and resurrection in order to go to heaven if Billy Graham thinks that "good" people of other faiths who do NOT trust in Christ as Savior may go to heaven WITHOUT thus believing in Him? (c) Why believe Christ's resurrection will same me from physical death in the first place? After all, if as Billy Graham holds, the Genesis 1 "days" are figurative, and death then existed as a regular part of God's creation before man sinned (in the form of the "survival of the fittest" in evolutionary processes), then Christ's death and resurrection will not provide me salvation from physical death!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Why believe that Christ died and rose that I might have eternal life like the Bible teaches when Billy Graham feels not every jot and tittle in the Bible is from God? If Billy Graham thinks those who do NOT trust this Gospel might STILL enter heaven, why heed it? If Billy Graham thinks death existed before sin so that God used it to create, how can faith in Christ give me victory over death?"
  1. First, John's Gospel has VERY EARLY PHYSICAL VALIDITY, so its claims are HIGHLY AUTHORITATIVE for the Christian faith:
    1. A copy of John 18:31-32 in the Rylands fragment was found in Egypt and dated A. D. 100-150 by "competent paleographers" C. H. Roberts, H. I. Bell, A. Deissmann, W. H. P. Hatch and F. G. Kenyon (Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the N. T., p. 21, ftn. 15).
    2. As Marchant King noted (Bib. Sac. [1973] 130:517, p. 39), this fragment contains an EXACT Alexandrian text type reading , meaning it came from a complete copy of the Gospel of John.
    3. This Rylands fragment was found in Egypt's "hinterlands," so decades were needed for John's Gospel to reach this area, showing this Gospel was penned no later than 90 A. D. as conservative Christian scholars have long held, Ibid., King; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, (1978), p. 1492.
    4. Well, Jesus was born in the winter of 5-4 B. C. and was crucified A. D. April 3, 33 according to N. T. reckoning in light of secular dating (H. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ , p. 141).
    5. Thus, by way physical evidence, John's Gospel was penned 57 years after Christ's sufferings, so its claims about it are very authoritative!
  2. Second, this very authoritative Gospel named HIGHLY CREDIBLE PHYSICAL evidence of Christ's BODILY death and resurrection:
    1. In light of John 19:34, Jesus died of His own power just as He had predicted in John 10:17-18: the piercing of His side to yield "blood and water" as John put it shows Christ did not die of asphyxiation like other crucifixion victims, but "'of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.'" (Dr. C. Truman Davis, M. D., "The Crucifixion of Jesus," Arizona Medicine, March 1965, p. 186 as cited in Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense, p. 224)
    2. The moving of the stone that covered the rock tomb door where Jesus was buried indicates that a supernatural cause moved it, John 20:1-2:
      1. Georgia Tech engineering professors toured Israel and figured the weight of the stone required to cover the 4 1/2 to 5 foot tomb door would have been between 1 1/2 to 2 tons, Ibid., McDowell, p. 226!
      2. John notes it was rolled fully away from the tomb (airo), showing a party strongly wished to expose the tomb contents, Ibid., p. 234!
      3. Well, Jewish and Roman leaders and Jesus' disciples had no such wish (John 20:19 with 18:12-16), so it was supernaturally moved!
    3. In connection with these facts, Christ's grave clothes reveal He arose:
      1. John noted that when he viewed the opened tomb, the cloth for Christ's head lay separate and "wrapped together" (John 20:7 KJV).
      2. Well, the Greek verb for "wrapped together" or "folded up" as the NIV and ESV claim, is entulisso, and this verb is used in Matthew 27:59 and Luke 23:53 to describe the act of wrapping Jesus' body in His initial burial, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966 ed., p. 407, 114 and 313; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Engl. Lex. of the N. T., p. 269.
      3. Jewish burial customs involved wrapping the head apart from the body, (Ibid., McDowell, p. 225), a custom used on Jesus (John 19:40), so John saw Jesus' graveclothes in the opened tomb rested exactly where His deceased body had first been placed!
      4. The wrappings were coated with a mix of scented sawdust beaten to a powder [aloes] (John 19:39; Ibid., McDowell, p. 225) and myrrh that Chrysostom held "glues linen to the body not less firmly than lead" (Morris, John (NICNT), 1979, p. 833, ftn. 16)!
      5. Thus, Jesus' body was gone from its highly adhesive, highly restrictive cocoon casing that had NOT been moved since His burial , STRONG physical evidence of His RESURRECTION!
    4. So great was this evidence that John believed it meant Christ had risen though he as yet did not know it had fulfilled Scripture, John 20:8-9!
  3. Third, in giving this evidence of Christ's resurrection, John wrote that he recorded it that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah so that we might have eternal life, J ohn 20:30-31!
  4. Fourth, from John 5:24-29, we read that those who thus trust in Christ for salvation will one day be bodily raised from the dead!
Lesson Application: May we believe the Bible's account and thus its Gospel of salvation by faith in Christ; in doing so, we will be saved and blessed one day with physical resurrection in blessing!

Lesson: In view of the highly credible, authoritative Gospel of John, trusting the material evidence it supplies on Christ's death and resurrection leads to faith in Him as God and Messiah, which faith is essential for gaining eternal life and the bodily resurrection of the just!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

In our introduction, we noted that Billy Graham has come to hold to beliefs that lead to countering the credible claim in John's Gospel that faith in Christ gives eternal life and leads to resurrection: (1) Dr. Graham does not trust every jot and tittle of the Bible is of God, leaving room to cast doubt on the credibility of the Bible's Gospel. (2) Indeed, he does not think the "days" of Genesis 1 are literal, that God used evolution to create so that death (by the 'survival of the fittest') existed before man's sin. This belief eventually undermines the claim that Christ's death for sin can give us our bodily resurrection! (3) We also noted that when asked if "good" people of faiths that do not hold to faith in Christ for salvation might enter heaven, Dr. Graham said he could not speculate on that. He then makes trusting in Christ's Gospel needless, undermining its value! (Ibid., Meacham, p. 41, 43)

Yet, such beliefs by Dr. Graham arise out of Biblical ignorance:

(a) Opposite his claim that not every jot and tittle of the Bible is from the Lord, Jesus Christ Himself said in Matthew 5:18 KJV: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

(b) Opposite his claim that he is not sure if "good" people of faiths such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or secularists might not make it to heaven though such groups fail to trust in Christ for salvation from sin and hell, 1 John 5:11-12 KJV replies: "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

(c) Opposite his claim that God used evolution to create by claiming the Genesis 1 days are figurative, allowing for death to exist before man's sin, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 KJV holds: "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

Indeed, ignorance of the Bible is Billy Graham's problem, for Jon Meacham reported (p. 42-43), "If he had his life to live over again, Graham says he would spend more time immersed in Scripture and theology. He never went to seminary, and his lack of a graduate education is something that still gives him a twinge."

May we rely on SCRIPTURE to trust in its true Gospel that our faith rest in GOD'S WORDS INSTEAD OF MAN'S WORDS!