FBCWest 706 | When the Facts Do not Matter
Recorded On: 04/05/2026
Bulletin
Hymn # 118 “Low in the Grave he Arose”
SCRIPTURE READING – John 20:1 - 10
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“Resurrecting”
“Behold the Lamb”
“Great I Am”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“When the Facts Do not Matter”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“Resurrection Power”
Sermon Notes
Matthew 27:62 - 66 Because they were afraid that the disciples might steal Jesus’ body make the grave secure by posting guards
Matthew 28:1 - 7 Jesus is resurrected the women discover the empty tomb are told that Jesus was not there and tell the disciple
Matthew 28:8 - 10 Jesus meets with His disciples
Matthew 28:11 - 15 Guards tell the officials about the resurrection, but they bribe them to say that the disciples stole the body
1 Corinthains 15:1 - 15 Witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
Christianity is based on faith, but it's not a blind faith. It's a faith that's based on facts and evidence. Take a look at some of those facts and evidence in this message, but just like on that first Sunday of the resurrection, there will be those who deny the facts. There'll be those who ignore the facts, and then there will be those who come to accept those facts on the basis of faith. Today, we've come to celebrate the resurrection. The contact Jesus was tried. He was beaten, vlogged.
He was then marched out to be crucified and he was crucified and he there died by crucifixion. And we know that he died by crucifixion. His executioners, the Roman soldiers, who were paid to make sure that he was dead, thrust at a sphere into his side and blood and water came out, which seems to educate that he died of a burst heart.
So he was dead and then Cypch named Joseph, claimed the body of Jesus and took his body and buried it in his own tomb. But there wasn't enough time for everybody to prepare the body properly because of the whole Israel was experiencing that then the women were coming to make that body preparation good. And now we're going to see what happened on that Sunday. So if you have your Bibles and turn to Matthew, the gospel of Matthew chapter 27, and we're going to start with verse 62, which is after the crucifixion and the burial.
So it says now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priest and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate and said, remember that when he was still alive, that deceiver said, after three days, I am to rise again. I find this interesting. The ones that opposed Jesus, the ones that was his enemies, the ones that sought to it that he was crucified, seemed to pay more attention to his own disciples because after the crucifixion, the disciples were in fear and in trembling and they went home depressed and disillusioned because the man that they thought that was the Messiah had been crucified and was dead and all of their dreams, and all the things that they had hoped in this person were dashed. There was no sense of he's going to rise again in three days even though he told them repeatedly that it was going to do so. But so again, I find it interesting that sometimes the people who are posting you pay more attention to the people who are following you and continues as therefor give orders to the that for the grave to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, these disciples may come and steal him away and say to the people, he has risen from the dead. The deception will be worse than the first.
And so they were afraid that not that Jesus would actually rise again, but it is disciples may try to deceive people by stealing the body. So they want to make sure that that doesn't happen. And so they ask Pilate,ards, for Roman guards to be able to effectively guard the grave so that the disciples cannot steal the body. And Pilate said to them, you have a guard, go make it as secure as you know how. So Pilate goes, whatever you need to make that grave site secure, you I'm in essence giving you a blank check. How many soldiers you may need, whatever other items that you might need to make sure that the body is still in the tomb after the third day, then you do it. And they went and made the grave. Go along with the guard, they set a seal on the stone.
So they want to know that if anybody tampered with that stone that was blocking the tomb, that it would be known because the seal would be broken. So they have a guard and they have a seal to protect the fact that Jesus in that tomb. And the guard doesn't have to be there for months. They just need to be there after three days because Jesus had said after three days, he would rise again. Now it goes on in Matthew. Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.
Because they were there with other women who were going to prepare the body properly and behold, the severe earth occurred for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. And his appearance was like lightning and this clothing as white as snow. The guard shook for fear of him became like dead men.
So who were there to protect the tomb were fearful because an angel of the Lord comes and there's a severe earthquake. So both natural and super natural things are happening at the tomb. But next what the angel says to the women, the angel said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you're looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He's specific. You're not looking for some Jesus named Jesus or Yashu or whatever. You're looking for the Jesus that had been crucified. Specifically, he says this, he is not here for he has risen. Notice he has already been gone before the stone was rolled away.
It wasn't he left. No, he's not there. And so we're rolling the stone away so that you can see he's not there. Why? Because he did just what he said he was going to do. He was going to rise after the third day. So they said, see the place where he was lying. So that only does the angel say, don't just take my word for it.
I want you to look inside the tomb. Look inside the tomb and you'll see that there's no body. The stone just got rolled away. No one came out of this tomb. Take a look.
Because he was risen. And then he gives them a message to do a mission if you will to be witnesses. Go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. And there you will see him behold.
So the angel has to say, here's your missing. You go and tell the disciples. Didn't say go tell the whole world go and tell his disciples why? Because they were the ones who were disillusioned. They were the one who were depressed. They were the one who didn't know what to do next. And the angel said, go tell them that he's going to meet them. To go to meet them.
He's going to meet them in Galilee just as he had told them. So go tell them. And they left the tomb and quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to the disciples. So they did what they were charged to do. But they had witness to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid.
Go and take one to leave for Galilee. And there they will see me. And so there's another and as we'll know in some of the other gospels, how one of the Mary's looking for the body of Jesus, because she had heard that he's no longer in the tomb, thought maybe there was a gardener there and her where the body was only to discover that she was talking to Jesus. And she started clinging to him. And he told her, stop clinging. I need to arise.
So Jesus is making his appearance known to multiple people. Oh, they were on their way. Some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priest, all that had happened. Notice they reported to the chief priest, all that had happened, that there was an earthquake, that there was an angel, that the tomb is empty. There was some women there. And they reported the body isn't there. And it wasn't stolen because it wasn't there before the stone was rolled away. And when they assembled with the others in places, they started to kill each other and they started to suppress the基本ぁ that people were responsible for.
Again, I promised in my day and so we had come in and God asked for me, we want something, we need something to prove that I can catch it. And I say, But you know what happened? What had happened was they were frightened because of the angel, not because they fell asleep. There was a great earthquake. There was the angel and the body was gone.
But they don't care what the facts are. They deny it because it doesn't comport with what they want. You would think you would say, oh my goodness.
I should repent. I thought this man was an evil doer. Even though he performed miracles and had great teaching, he actually wrote, said he would. Therefore we must follow him. No, no, they don't come to that conclusion. Instead they bribed the guards to give a different story. They deny what had happened. And if the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.
Now I don't know about these guys. I wouldn't trust them because they don't seem to be honorable men to begin with because one, they're trying to publish a lie. What makes you think that they're not going to, if it's in their best lie about you, why would they not do that? But apparently the guards took them at their money. So they took their money and it has had been instructed.
And this story was widely spread among the Jews and it's through this day. And so there is one explanation. That the disciples stole the body. It doesn't seem to be likely for all the facts and evidence we have. But let's take it some of the facts. Jesus died by crucifixion. He didn't.
He didn't recover. He died. The facts are that he was buried in Joseph's borrowed tomb and his body isn't there. We are told that the guards observed these facts.
These facts were unacceptable to the religious establishment. So they bribed them to say a different story. So those are some of the facts. The Christianity, the Christ did in fact rise from the dead. Other evidence as well. And some of this other evidence we're going to take a look at. So turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Which would give us kind of a summary of some of the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. So 1 Corinthians 15 1 through 15 says this. Now I may say to you, brother, in the gospel, the good news, which are preached to you, which also you received in which also you stand. So it says, the good news that I've been preaching, I preached it. You've accepted it. You've received it and you're standing in your faith. And now he's going to this good news of the resurrection by which.
Also you are saved. Our salvation comes by faith in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. And by coming to him in faith, we are saved as Paul says in Romans for the righteous shall live by faith. So if you hold fast the word which I preach you, unless you believed in vain, sometimes we'll make an acceptance, say, yeah, I believe, but they don't really change.
They don't repent. They just accept the evidence. They don't convert. Because where I delivered to you as a first important, Paul saying, I'm going to lay out some evidence, but the first one, the most important one, and usually lawyers will do one or two things.
They'll give you the most important evidence first so that it convinces the jury to try or effect of the rightness of their cause. They'll do it to the end to say, I want to make a big impact. Paul says, I'm going to give you the most important evidence first. So he goes, a first importance what I also received. So he says, this is what I come to understand. The Christ sins according to the Scriptures.
The reason that we know that Jesus is the Son of God that came to die for our sins is that he did so according to the Scriptures. There is another one that the Scriptures will talk about who will die of a mortal head wound, and but he will not rise again on the third day, and he dies according to the Scriptures of the way the Antichrist dies in comes. The Scripture says, you want to know how the Son of God is when you see these things. And so he goes, he died according to the Scriptures. And then he was buried in according to the Scriptures. He died and was buried in a barotum. His body did not undergo decay.
Those are all according to the Scriptures. And that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Jesus.
To those who are criticizing me goes, you search the Scriptures. The Old Testament looking for life. And he goes, but in them you'll see me. The Scriptures testify of him. So for those of you who are seeking faith, seeking Jesus is the Son of God, the Son of God is the Messiah.
I suggest to you to start searching the Scriptures, the Bible. And then he appeared to seepheus, who is Peter and to the Twelve. Now I want you to notice something. Paul is a evidence to convict, to come to a conclusion as if he were in a court of law. Notice he leaves out all the women. The Mary's, the others who had come to the empty tomb and have seen Jesus do these things. Because in that day women weren't allowed to testify.
So Jesus's evidence, if you will, has been set aside concerning the women because Paul is saying, in essence, to a jury, I'm going to give you which would be admissible in this day and time. So even though the women came into contact with Jesus, he doesn't use them, but they are further evidence of what had happened. And he goes, but he also appeared to the Twelve.
And Jesus appeared to the Twelve. As a matter of fact, at one time, Thomas wasn't there and all the other disciples said, you missed it, Thomas. He was here. And Thomas says, I will not believe in the thus I see the scars and his hands and feet.
And then Jesus comes and appeared here, Thomas, here are my hands, here are my feet. And Thomas says, my Lord and my God. Paul doesn't use that. He just says, he appeared to the Twelve also. So he's only given us a summary of the various and witnesses that Jesus rose from the dead. And after that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, both of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Sometimes people get this idea that I made these spot appearances to his Twelve Disciples Onlyance and some of the women and that he then disappeared. The evidence is that Jesus was honored at various times for a period of 40 days.
A few days, just on the third day after the resurrection, and then he went to heaven. He appeared numerous times to numerous peoples, both individuals, two men on the road to a mass, and then to a large group, about 500 at one time. And just a concoction of the Twelve. It was seen throughout. And also I want you to understand as part of the evidence that these accountings didn't happen several years or decades after the facts. All of these appearances and recordings were at the time that Jesus appeared.
The likelihood of something becoming mystified and mythical grows the longer it is away and the further it is away from the location. Jesus is appearing in Jerusalem. Jesus is appearing in Galilee.
Jesus is appearing in the places that he ministered to and died and was buried and rose again. It is also interesting that the scriptures at a time close to the events. How do we know that?
So for instance, if you're familiar at all with a book of Acts, it does dot in with Peter's death. It does not end with Paul's death. It does not with James the brother of Jesus's death. Why? Because those facts had not happened yet. You see the historical accounts are historical. It lets us know that this wasn't written hundreds of years later. It was written within a few years or decades of the actual happening.
Then it goes on and says, then he appeared to James. Then to all the apostles. He appeared to James. James will be the pillar of the Serenade Jerusalem.
Paul and Peter and others will go and they will have ministries preaching the gospel throughout the whole world. James, this James is the brother of Jesus. James thought Jesus was, when Jesus was ministering, he appeared with his other brothers to take Jesus home because they thought he was unstable. Until James saw the resurrected Lord and it changed him. And then the last first talk about it and he goes, and last of all, it has to one untimely born, he appeared to me also.
Now for those of you who are not really familiar with Paul, Paul hated Christians. He was his personal ministry for the zeal of God to eliminate, to kill them, to arrest them, to make sure that he stopped that sect of believers from growing. And on his way to Damascus Syria to arrest even more Jesus to him. An enemy of Christ appeared. He goes, where I am the least of all the apostles and not to fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
Almost, I don't know why he chose me because I persecuted the church. If there was somebody who should be condemned, it would have been Paul, but Paul says, God appeared to me, that Jesus appeared to me. And therefore now I understand who he is and what he's done. And I have converted from a myth of destroying Christians to making ones. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace towards me did not prove vain.
But I labored even more than all of them yet not I was a great. I mean, I made it my just as much zeal as I had for destroying the church, that zeal because of the grace of God, the unmerited favor of God. I am going to labor hard not because I'm gaining salvation by my hard labor, but I want to make up for those things that I done against the Lord by proving he's worthy of the grace that he's offered. And he goes, whether it was I or they so we preach and so you believe, oh, it doesn't matter how you come to faith.
You might come because of the preaching of Peter, you might have come by James, you might have seen Matthew, others preaching, or even me, or Barnabas, or all these other people because the person who is delivering the message is not important. What is important is the gospel and that you believe. It's that he has been raised from the dead. How do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? There's still those who want to say, this is all that there is.
You live, you die and it's over with. If all is saying, well, if Christ rose from the dead, then maybe thought in your mind that there is no resurrection, but he then says this which can be depressing. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching, your faith also is in vain.
The most central aspect of the gospel is not Jesus's teachings. It's not love your neighbor. It's not love one another more than as I have loved you. It is not to do good. It's not to do all these things. The fact of Christ's resurrection is the fundamental foundation of the gospel. It's not risen from the dead, then Christianity is worthless. We are wasting our time gathering to worship a God who didn't rise from the dead because we are instilling our sins.
And then he goes on to say this. And moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we testified against God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. Paul saying, if I'm telling you something that I have buried false witness, I have born false witness against who God is. And that I will be subject to that condemnation, that judgment because I lied about what God did. So that brings us to now what do we do?
The facts are Jesus died. The facts are he was buried. And the facts are that too is empty. The evidence is that he rose from the dead. The evidence is that there are women who saw it. The evidence is that there are men who saw it. The evidence says there are multiple people who saw it.
There is the evidence that the scriptures have testified. There is the evidence that Paul, the enemy of the church, to see the risen Christ. And the evidence that I submit to you is that my spirit bears witness that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead. When Thomas said, I would not believe it. And then Jesus shows him and he believes Jesus statement was, that's because you saw, but more blessed are those who believe who have not seen. I have not seen Jesus physically, but I know says that when you accept him as your lord and savior, that he comes and he dwells in your heart and your life.
And my spirit bears witness with his spirit that he is the son of God. Now you might say, well, you know, maybe you had pepperoni pieces, your misreading it. That could be true before we're not for all the other evidence, all the other testimony, all the other facts that shows the Christ in fact rose from.
So today there are three possible responses that you might have. One, you could be like the religious leaders of the time, and simply deny the facts. They just didn't happen. Or you could say, yeah, I, I'm kind of persuaded that all the facts and evidence indicate that Jesus rose from the dead and he is the son of God. But I'm going to just neglect that. And with my life as if nothing ever happened and maybe someday, maybe, maybe, I might deal with it.
I think that's a sad conclusion, but you're right to make. The third is, I guess there's four, the third is that you can now say, understanding the evidence and the facts. I've decided to come to faith and to believe that Jesus is the son of God. I think that he rose again and that I, because of that, in my faith in him, I'm now righteous, no longer condemned a child of God. Or you've already made that indication, you've already made that decision. And hopefully, every year when we remember the crucifixion and the resurrection, it steals our commitment all the war to be a faithful of his. And I think that's a shame to the gospel because it is life, those who are perishing.
A jury listening to the evidence can come to the wrong conclusion. Convert, convict, or not convict somebody whose entitled should be convicted or not convicted, they can come to the wrong conclusion. That affects somebody's life or property.
If you come to the wrong conclusion, it will affect your eternity. I hope you consider the facts and the evidence that importantly, that you don't just brush it off. If you want to deny it, deny it. To ignore it.
And all of God's people say.