March 2, 2025
Courage to Change
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Luke 20:27 NIV
Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.
Acts 23:6-8 NIV
Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)
Luke 20:1 NIV
One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him.
Luke 9:22 NIV
And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Luke 20:28-29 NIV
“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless.”
Luke20:30-33 NIV
“The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
Matthew 22:29 NIV
Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”
Luke20:34-35 NIV
Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage,”
Luke 20:36 NIV
“and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.”
Who are “those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead”?
1 Corinthians 15:12-13 NIV
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
1 Corinthians 15:14 NIV
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
How can I know Jesus rose from the dead?
The Case for Christ | Student Edition
The tomb is empty and the first witnesses are women.
Matthew 28:1 NIV
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
Matthew 28:5-6 NIV
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”
There are multiple eye witnesses.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NIV
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
“At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. His conduct was good, and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.” - Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus, a Jewish-Roman historian
To not believe in the resurrection, I must come up with an explanation that defies the testimony.
Maybe Jesus was on the cross, but never died …?
Maybe Jesus died, but his disciples stole the body …?
Matthew 28:12-15 NIV
When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Why would the disciples change so profoundly if not for the resurrection?
Luke 20:37 NIV
“But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’”
Luke 20:38 NIV
“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
Luke 20:38-40 NIV
“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” And no one dared (had the courage) to ask him any more questions.