Sermon for Sunday, April 20th, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Job 19:25-27 ESV] 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
New Testament Reading:
[Act 2:29-36 ESV] 29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”‘ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Gospel Reading:
[Mat 28:1-8 ESV] 1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Sermon Text:
[Mat 22:23-33 ESV] 23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.” 29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
Introduction
They say “there is no resurrection.” The Sadducees, that is.
But they were wrong.
And oh how wrong they were.
Jesus shows how wrong they are by going to the Old Testament for proof of the resurrection, and later himself being resurrected from the grave.
And this is to our great benefit as believers in Christ, being united to him, to one day to share in the resurrection of our bodies as Christ himself was bodily resurrected.
The resurrection is proven.
And there are three ways in which the resurrection is proven that we’ll be looking at today:
1. The Resurrection Proven in the Scriptures
2. The Resurrection Proven in History
3. The Resurrection Proven in Changed Lives
I. The Resurrection Proven in the Scriptures
First, “the resurrection proven in the Scriptures.”
That is Jesus’s focus in our passage from Matthew 22.
He says to the Sadducees:
“You know neither the Scriptures
nor the power of God.”
In recent my sermons through the Sermon the Mount we’ve seen Jesus criticize the Pharisees. Here we see him criticize the other Jewish religious leaders, the Sadducees. And there is a reason for the shift. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. And so they try to prove that there isn’t a resurrection. How do they do that? By coming up with an example, attempting to make it absurd. If a woman is married to a man and he died and she marries his brothers, and this process repeats through 7 brothers, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? “Got cha.” That’s a “gotcha” question. Or so they think.
But what does Jesus do? He assumes the truth of the resurrection. He says “For in the resurrection.”
Later Jesus will prove the resurrection. But first he assumes it and he answers their question. There will be no marriage, for they will be “like angels in heaven” They will “neither marry nor be given in marriage.”
As an aside, there is a lot about the world to come that we do know. But here we are given specific knowledge; a small window in the world to come. We learn that in heaven we will not be married. Why is that? Marriage is not needed in heaven. It is a creation ordinance; something for our benefit in this world. Marriage, which is a representation of the relationship between Christ and His church will, as a shadow, give way to the substance, the greater reality of the Love between God and His people.
The fact that there is no marriage in heaven certainly rules out the Muslim idea of having so many wives in heaven, or the Mormon idea of having wives on other planets. Jesus says we’ll not be married at all.
So first Jesus assumes the truth of the resurrection. Then he proves it. He proves the resurrection using the Old Testament and logic.
Logic can be a scary subject for some. But I submit that it far scarier when people are illogical!
Jesus, in fact, is perfectly logical. He never make mistakes in logic.
So his argument for the proof of the resurrection is perfectly sound; it has true premises and correct reasoning.
This is an opportunity to give a brief lesson in the subject of logic. Computer programmers take a course in logic. So do math majors and philosophy students. It is valuable in technical fields, and valuable in every day life. Valuable to know what is a correct argument and an incorrect argument.
The most basic form in in formal logic is called a syllogism.
In the most basic syllogism you have 2 premises and 1 conclusion.
It is like
Premise 1: If it is raining outside, the grass will be wet.
Premise 2: It is raining outside.
Conclusion: The grass is wet.
Then there are other forms of syllogisms and plenty of rules to learn.
But the key is to see that Jesus employs PROPER rules of logic in verses 31 and 32.
From the fact that (1) God said “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” and from the fact that (2) God is the God of the living, therefore the implied conclusion is that “there is life after death; there truly is a resurrection of the dead.”
The implications of Christ’s use of logic are of great importance.
The fact that he makes such an argument provides an example that we are to do the same. And so, we can KNOW not only the explicit teachings of the Scriptures, but that which can be logically derived from those truths.
The Westminster Confession says it this way:
“The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture”
So the Lord provides us with much knowledge. The Scriptures themselves, and through right reasoning all the truths implied by the Scriptures. And those I think we shall never exhaust.
So Jesus proves the resurrection in the Scriptures.
There are other Old Testament proofs of the resurrection. One of my favorites is one that we read one earlier, Job saying “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”
So the resurrection is proven in the Scriptures.
For Christians then it is “as good as done.” What God says, goes. What God says will be, will be.
II. The Resurrection Proven in History
And indeed the resurrection of Christ then ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
The resurrection was proven in history. Not only in the prophets, but in real space time history.
Jesus of Nazareth, sent by God, the very Son of God, died for the sins of His people upon the cross, and ROSE AGAIN to new life. And, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, he was seen by the disciples multiple times, even seen by 500 people in Jerusalem; seen alive against after he was killed.
That is a resurrection! The Greek “anastasis” is literally “a standing up again.”
He who was horizontal in in the tomb, is vertical again. He Is Risen.
So Christ fulfills the promise of the resurrection. This is not yet the general resurrection that is at the end of the world, but it is the first-fruits of the resurrection.
That is the language Paul uses in 1 Corinthians:
[1Co 15:20 ESV] 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Technically, Jesus wasn’t the first to be brought back to life. He has raised Lazarus again to new life. And there is even a reference in the Gospels to others coming out of their tombs.
Do you know this passage? Really fascinating:
At the death of Jesus:
[Mat 27:51-53 ESV] 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Still the resurrection of Jesus is the most important because it fulfilled the prophecies, and promises to us that we who are united to Christ will also rise again.
This second point of the sermon has been “the resurrection proven in history.”
“Proofs” really are Biblical proofs. That is what we trust – the Word of God.
But there are other great evidences to the fact that Christ actually rose from the grave.
No one denies that the Christian movement arose in Israel in the 1st century. And there is no other explanation of WHY devout Jews (and later Gentiles) would come to believe that Christ is Risen (and stake their whole lives on it) that the fact that Christ actually was risen. The resurrection of Jesus changed history; and only the resurrection truly happening can explain that history.
We read the passage earlier. And I always remember the plot diagram in English class. What is there… rising action, failing action, and a climax in a story. Well, the resurrection must be the climax of the Bible. Check this out:
[Mat 28:1-8 ESV] 1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
That great joy is the climax of the Scriptures.
III. The Resurrection Proven in Changed Lives
And it is a great joy had not merely by the women who went to the tomb.
It is a joy that all Christians have, for we too know that HE IS RISEN.
So we come to the third point of the sermon: the resurrection proven in changed lives.
One of the greatest proofs of the Christian Faith is its impact on lives. Christ changes lives. We can even rightly say that we are “resurrected” to new life here and now. There will be a resurrection of the body on that day of the Lord when Christ returns. That is what the Apostle John calls “the second resurrection” in the Book of Revelation. But he also speaks about “a first resurrection” meaning that new spiritual life given to a Christian when his life is changed by the power of Christ.
So we not only look forward to the life that is to come following the resurrection, but we praise God for his grace on us here and now; grace that changes our lives even in this world.
I read a touching letter recently. It was penned in the final moments of a man stuck in a mine after the shaft collapsed. And running out of oxygen he wrote, first saying his “loves” to his wife and his kids. But then he noted “oh, what I would give for one more breath.”
And I think, “what would I do for one more life.” “If only I could stand up again, when I’m finally laid low in the grave.”
And, the good news, is that our resurrection is promised in Christ’s resurrection.
This then is your chance, this is your time. Knowing that Christ changes lives. It is time for you to embrace that change. You are called to a new life. Your sins, your mistakes, your regrets, give them all to the Lord. And go forward in great joy day by day KNOWING that HE IS RISEN INDEED.
Application: The Resurrection’s Impact on You.
What will you do differently, knowing that He is risen?
How will you think differently, knowing that He is risen?
How will you pray differently, knowing that He is risen?
1. Gratitude. In all things.
If God can be so good to me, then I can be thankful in all things, for truly everything is a gift from him.
2. A new lease on life. Motivation.
Every day.
3. Freedom from fear.
For whatever happens, in the end you will be with the Lord.
4. The resurrection gives you hope.
The reason for the hope that is in.
Conclusion:
All of this is the case because He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed. Let us pray.