I Corinthians 15:1-8 1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

I Corinthians 15:1-8 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

I Corinthians 15:1-8 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. I Corinthians 15:1-8

CSI Jerusalem Eyewitness Testimony

I went to his funeral ” “ Well...

It ’ s hard to beat eyewitness testimony! “ A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. (Deut. 19:15) This is the third time I am coming to you. EVERY FACT IS TO BE CONFIRMED BY THE TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES. (II Cor. 13:1)

I. Jesus built His church on a rock and in the presence of a multitude of witnesses

21 “ Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— 22 beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection. ” (Acts 1:21-22) Judas ’ replacement had to be an eyewitness.

Luke stressed the importance of first hand accounts - 1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, (Luke 1:1-2)

Then later when he composed his story about the church (Acts) Luke wrote these words: To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3)

4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (I Cor. 15:4-8)

Essentially Paul is saying: “ Hey there are over 500 witnesses who saw the risen Christ. If you don ’ t believe me... if you have any doubts... if you have any questions... go talk to one of them. ”

II. How do we know what these witnesses saw? Some wrote books - Matthew John Mark Luke

III. What about “ other ” gospels?

“ Gospel of Judas ” Not an eyewitness account - Written long after Judas died. Written long after anyone who had seen Jesus died. No evidence of credibility.

“ The DaVinci Code ” - Dan Brown touted his novel as a “ historical ” fiction. In his book declared, “ Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ ’ s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned. ” (p.234, DaVinci Code)

Brown went on to say that, “ More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John among them. ” (p. 231, DaVinci Code) His statements are the product of a man who is both a poor historian, and is very loose with the truth.

There are only 60 (not 80) writings not included in our scriptures. They were rejected primarily because they were not even close to containing the writings of eyewitnesses.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ - His death, burial and resurrection - are established on the foundation of a multitude of RELIABLE witnesses.

Doctors

Scientists

Lawyers

Historians

ARCHEOLOGISTS

Astronomers

...And many more have seen the Bible as an unshakable base for their faith.

IV. As reliable as those Biblical witnesses were... They are all dead now. People don ’ t just want a history lesson... they want to know Jesus is STILL changing lives today.

The famous atheist Friedrick Nietzsche once said: “ Show me that YOU are redeemed, and I will believe in your redeemer. ”

Why be part of the church? Where the rubber meets the road Jesus! Fanatics? “ No sir, I ’ m wrong. Tell me what I can do about it. ”

Alexander Maclaren in 1800 ’ s “ Your sermons, sir, were helpful, but they were not what finally persuaded me. ” “ I wonder if you know my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is everything in the world to me. I would like for you to know Him too. ”

GOD IS CALLING MODERN DAY WITNESSES. What do you have to say?