The Resurrection of Jesus: Life’s Crucial Issue

Posted on April 8, 2007

 

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Acts 17:16-34

Significant crisis-moments in life, crucial facts make the difference in our decisions and our destiny.

TRUTH: The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an inescapable reaity. It demands a verdict, a decision, and it demands our repentance and belief.

CRUCIAL TIMES

Paul looked around at Athens and saw the city “wholly given to idolatry.” He found himself involved in an intellectual debate with the Epicureans and the Stoics. He engaged in a warfare of intellectual pride and affluence. Such is our day.

The Epicureans were a people who had made an amazing scientific discovery. They were well ahead of their times. They believed that everything that existed could be broken down eventually into indivisible parts called atoms. We only think we discovered atomic principles in the last century. But the Epicureans were too scientifically minded for their own good. They could not accept the possibility of a physical body resurrecting from the dead.

The Stoics were an ascetic people. They believed in the suppression of human emotion and pleasure. The opposite of Epicureans who were pleasure-seekers, the Stoics believed that joy was pointless so the purpose of life was to disconnect with the surrounding world of matter and objects. To them, the resurrection might be possible, but it didn’t really matter.

CRUCIAL TRUTHS

God is…

He is Creator of all things…

He is self-sufficient, does not need our praise or our service…

He is sovereign over the affairs of men…

We are completely dependent on Him

Therefore…

His holiness is terrifying, His justice is demanding, and His wrath is frightening.

Jesus really rose from the dead!

Since Jesus rose from the dead, all of His claims were true. He really is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Nobody comes to the Father but by Him.

• It was a crucial issue in the lives of the apostles.
• It was a crucial issue for the New Testament church.
• It has been a crucial issue in the history of humanity.
• It is crucial to families today that divide over it.
  

CRUCIAL CHOICES

Am I willing to “seek” the Lord, to believe in Him?

Am I willing to “repent?”

Am I willing to prepare for sure and certain judgment, guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.