Conspiracy! The Plot That Proves the Resurrection

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Today, we have gathered to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it's important that we do that because it is that single event that makes our faith unique. Only four of the world's major religions are based on a personality and only one of those claims an empty tomb for its founder. Abraham, the father of Judaism, died in 1992 B.C. Buddha died in 483 B.C. Muhammad died on June 8, 632 A.D. at the age of 61 and thousands of the Muslim faithful visit his tomb in the city of Medina every year. As Professor Childers wrote some time ago, "Millions and millions of Jews, Buddhists, and Muhammadans agree that their founders have never come up out of the dust of the earth in resurrection." But in the words of the angel at the empty tomb of Jesus Christ that we read just a few moments ago, "'He is not here, He has risen, just as He said.'" Nothing is more important to Christianity than the resurrection of Jesus Christ and in the absolute truthfulness of this event.

Jesus Himself made this point. Early in His ministry, you remember, in John 2, He comes and cleanses the temple, and immediately His critics, the leaders of Israel, ask Him, "'by what authority do You do these things and do You say these things?'" Jesus' response to them was absolutely clear, He gave them only one word answer, resurrection. Speaking of His body, He put it like this, "'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.'" Jesus was, in effect, saying this, I stake the authority and truthfulness of everything that I will teach in My ministry, of every act I will perform, I stake it on my ability to raise Myself from the dead. It's all about the resurrection. Jesus Himself said, if I do not rise from the dead, then don't trust a word I say and reject everything I did. The Apostle Paul makes the same point. In 1 Corinthians 15, in these striking words, he says,

if Christ had not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith is vain, we are false witnesses of God, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, and we are of all men most to be pitied.

Folks, the resurrection is everything. Since the resurrection is so central to our faith, it should come as no surprise to us that it has always been under attack. In fact, the reality of the resurrection came under attack on the very first resurrection Sunday. And I want us to turn to the description of that event in Matthew's gospel this morning. Turn with me to Matthew 28, Matthew 28:11. At the very end of his account of the resurrection, Matthew includes these words, Matthew 28:11,

Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.' And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble." And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.

Now, this is a fascinating account of one of the most unusual events that transpired on the Sunday of the resurrection. The question comes to my mind, why is it that Matthew includes this when none of the other gospel records do? And why would he choose to include it as the very last paragraph about the resurrection? All that remains to finish his book is the great commission. It seems, doesn't it, a strange way to end his great account of the record of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? I think there are two clear reasons that Matthew puts it here. I think, first of all, he includes it as an explanation of what had become a very common Jewish explanation for the resurrection, and that was, that the disciples had stolen the body. So he includes it to explain. Remember, Matthew wrote this gospel to a Jewish audience, Jewish believers, and he wanted them to understand that that had come early, even on the first morning after Jesus' resurrection.

But a more important reason that Matthew includes this paragraph here I think, is not only to explain that reality, but I think more than that, as a proof of the resurrection. Because what could be stronger evidence than to show that Jesus' enemies, the leaders of the Jews and the Romans, both had to admit that the resurrection really happened. So understand that this is no throwaway paragraph with little significance, it is instead crucial to Matthew's defense of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because at its heart, this paragraph is the plot that proves the resurrection.

As we consider it together this morning, I want us to examine two things. First of all, I want us to see the ungodly conspiracy. And secondly, the unavoidable lessons. Let's look first at the ungodly conspiracy, the account that Matthew records here for us. Now, to understand this paragraph, you have to back up and look at it in it's larger context. Look at the end of Matthew 27. Matthew 27:62, "Now on the next day," this would be now Saturday, the day after Jesus' crucifixion on Friday. So it's Saturday,

on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and they said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive, that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.'"

It's fascinating, isn't it, that Jesus' enemies remembered His claim to resurrection while His disciples misunderstood and apparently thought it was some spiritual reference He made, rather than to physical resurrection? They remembered, verse 64, "'Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day.'" Now, this may mean the third day being the third day from His crucifixion, that is, through Sunday, or it may mean the third day from now, when we're telling you, on Saturday - just to be safe let's make it through Monday. We're not sure, but either way, it was to ensure that something not happen. Notice what they say, "'otherwise,'" verse 64, "'His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead," and the last deception,'" that is, the deception that He has risen from the dead, "'will be worse than the first deception,'" that is, the deception that He is, in fact, the Messiah. Verse 65, "Pilate said to them, 'You have a guard.'" Now, clearly as the passage unfolds, we can tell that he wasn't saying you've got your own guard, go guard him. Instead, he was saying to them, I'm going to give you a contingent of Roman soldiers for this purpose, "'You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.'" "And they went," verse 66 says, "and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone."

So, to ensure that nothing happens, the chief priests, the leaders of Israel, have gone to Pilate. They now have with them a Roman garrison of soldiers. They move through the city to the place just outside the city wall where Jesus was crucified, and then was buried, in a borrowed tomb. They roll the stone away from the tomb, make sure that the body is, in fact, there. Once identification is made, the tomb is resealed, the stone is rolled back in front of the opening, and a small thread or rope is stretched across the stone, sealed on both ends with wax and then imprinted with the Roman mark to show that this is now under the authority of the Romans and that there is to be no tampering with this tomb. And the guard then is stationed just outside that tomb, just in front of the stone.

Verse 1 of chapter 28,

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

You see what happens next in verses 5 through 7, an angel speaks to the women and explains to them that Jesus has risen and what they are to do. And then in verses 8 through 10, as the women leave the tomb to go find the disciples, who do they run into but Jesus Himself, and He tells them to tell the disciples to meet Him in Galilee.

Now, with all of that in mind, look at verse 11. And by the way, Matthew here has accordioned a number of events together, there are other events from the other gospels that occur intermixed with these, but this gives you an idea of the flow. In verse 11 then, we read this, "Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city." In other words, as the women were running to find the disciples to tell them that Jesus was, in fact, alive and that they were to meet him in Galilee, at the same time, "some of the guard came into the city."

Now, we don't know how many soldiers were stationed to guard the tomb. We know that it was at least four because that constituted a Roman guard, one for each watch of the night to stay awake while the other three rested. It was at least four, but probably in this kind of a high-profile case, where an appeal had been made to Pilate, the governor himself, it was probably more, likely somewhere between 10 and 12 soldiers. Jesus, you remember, had been crucified and buried just outside of the city walls, that's where the guards had been stationed. But after the events that we just read, some of the guard, probably the commanding officers, leave their fellow soldiers at the tomb and head into the city to find the chief priests.

Now, they go to the chief priests because those are the ones to whom Pilate had assigned them. This is where their mission came from. And so they approached the chief priests. Verse 11 adds, "they reported to the chief priests all that had happened." It would have been great to have been there for that report, wouldn't it? To have heard the soldiers describe the events of that morning to the enemies of Christ. To see the shocked and horrified looks of those who had just, within 48 hours, condemned Jesus to death, watched as He died. And now they find themselves hearing a firsthand account of the resurrection.

Now, we don't know all that they described. We do know, based on what Matthew writes here, that the soldiers had experienced the earthquake, they had seen the angel, they had seen the angel roll away the stone. According to verse 4, they were so overwhelmed with terror that they became temporarily paralyzed. They were so overwhelmed that they became almost catatonic. They could witness everything, they were conscious, but they were unable to move. They had probably also heard the angel's interchange with the women in verses 5 through 7. They had undoubtedly seen the empty tomb after the women had left. They had gone to see if, in fact, their greatest fears had been realized and the body they were supposed to guard was gone.

Although as far as we know they did not actually see the risen Christ, they were witnesses of the empty tomb and of a miraculous supernatural event, and they reported all of this to the chief priests with the believability of firsthand witnesses. These men were hardened, profane, callous, irreligious career soldiers. Typically, Roman soldiers joined at the age of 19, never married, and retired 20 years later. In God's providence, these hardened, seasoned soldiers were the most unlikely witnesses of the resurrection that morning.

Notice how the story continues in verse 12, "And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together." Now, the "they" here of verse 12 refers to the group back in verse 11 called the high priests, or the chief priests, rather. The chief priests consisted of the acting high priest of the nation, along with any other former high priest still living, much as we refer to our Presidents, both the current sitting President and the former Presidents, that group, that group of leaders, the one currently in charge, and those who had been in charge before, were called the high priests. Along with them were several other high ranking temple officials. That constituted this group called the chief priests. In this case, of course, we know the names of two of them, Annas, former high priest, and his son in law, Caiaphas, along with the other officials.

These were the ones who had spearheaded the request to secure the tomb with a guard. They had gone to Pilate and asked for a Roman guard to oversee the tomb. So the soldiers had come to them first to report, and now this group called the chief priests call a meeting together of the elders of the nation. Now the elders of the nation constituted the ruling body of Israel. Under the Romans there was a great deal of authority granted to this body to oversee the nation. And they called together this group called, in other places, the Sanhedrin. This was 71 men who ruled the nation under the Romans. From a Jewish standpoint, they oversaw all that was Jewish in that place. And the language here tells us that this meeting of the Sanhedrin was not some informal discussion, but rather was an officially convened session of this governing body.

So they met together officially, and there was only one item on the agenda, how to keep the truth of what had happened from being accepted and believed by the Jewish people. You see, they couldn't prevent the story from spreading. Imagine keeping a story like that quiet. Certainly, Jesus' disciples would have spread it. This kind of news, in any country, would spread like wildfire, and it certainly would across the nation of Israel. And so, what they wanted to do here was not prevent the spread of the story, but rather, they wanted to do damage control. The question was, how can we keep the truth that we have just been told from being believed by the people of the nation?

Now, the immediate question you should ask is, why? Why would the religious leaders of the nation not want the truth about a resurrected Messiah to come out? Well, in the other gospel accounts, their motives became crystal clear. Turn to John 11. Just after another resurrection, the resurrection of Lazarus when Jesus raised him from the dead, we get a little glimpse of what motivated these men. John 11:47, "Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council," here again is an official gathering of this ruling body, "and they were saying, 'What are we doing? For This man is performing many signs.'" Notice, they were not denying the reality that Jesus was performing amazing signs and that His teaching was well received, and it was truthful. "'If we let Him,'" verse 48, "'If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him.'" Now that doesn't seem like such a bad thing, does it? Why would they say that? Well look at the rest of verse 48, because here's what will happen, "'the Romans will come and take away both our place,'" or our position, "'and our nation.'" These men were driven by political ambition. And we find in other places, by greed, not by any spiritual interest in the truth.

And so, driven by these kind of motives, there was, on the morning of the resurrection, a hastily called official meeting of the Sanhedrin. And that Sunday morning meeting of the Sanhedrin resulted in an official decision. Now, if you're part of any meetings, you know that one of the key goals of a meeting is to leave that meeting with a clear action plan. They had three very clear action items as a result of this meeting. Action item number one, pay off the guards. Notice verse 12, "they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers." Literally it says, "they gave," in the Greek text, "they gave sufficient money." As I mentioned before, there were at least four soldiers that were involved in this guard duty, and perhaps as many as 10 to 12. So buying their silence would be very expensive. It's interesting here, by the way, the word for money that's used in this verse is the Greek word for silver coins. It's the same word used of the 30 coins they had paid out just five days earlier to Judas to betray the Lord. So they dip into the coffers again for some more silver coins to pay off the soldiers.

Now, as I read this account, the question that came into my mind was, why would the Roman guards go along with a plan like this? Well understand that these Roman guards found themselves on the horns of a dilemma. They had failed in their assigned duty to protect the body of Jesus Christ. Because of that, they had a couple of good reasons to go along with this plan. I mean, after all, if the Jewish leaders had a mind, they could complain to Pilate about the failure of these guards to protect the body of Christ, and they would have faced certain court martial, which would have included, at the very least, running the gauntlet, literally, which was a deadly affair, to certain execution. If they decided to go along, not only would they prevent that reality, but they would also potentially get a significant financial bonus, a windfall from these Jewish leaders. I'm sure they didn't care at all about the issue at hand. I mean, after all, this is a Jewish matter, a Jewish debate. So for both the Jewish leaders and for the soldiers, this plan had huge benefits.

Action item number one, pay off the soldiers. Action item number two, propagate a lie. Or put in modern terms, put their own spin on the events of the morning. Verse 13, "and the council said, 'You are to say, "His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep."'" They were, in effect, creating a conspiracy theory. And that makes sense, doesn't it? Because people love a good conspiracy theory. Recently, my wife and I, Sheila and I, went down to The Sixth Floor Museum down in Dallas. Those of you who have been down there, you understand what that's about. It was a wonderful time to, sort of, relive those days and remember the history and the incredible events that occurred here in our city. If you've been there though, you know that some of the exhibit regarding Kennedy's assassination, some of the exhibit details the conspiracy theories that grew out of his assassination. In fact, in addition to the fact that he was slain by a single assassin, there are nine separate conspiracy theories of who may have wanted Kennedy dead. We discovered there that countless people have made their living and supported their families their entire lives by writing and lecturing about their own favorite conspiracy theory. And the wonderful thing about a conspiracy theory is, you don't have to prove it. All you have to do is raise doubts about the official version of the story. And so that's what the Sanhedrin decides to do. Ironically, the Sanhedrin was engaging in a conspiracy to create a conspiracy.

Now look at what they wanted these Roman guards to do. Verse 13, "'You are to say, "His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep."'" Isn't it interesting that the council is now about to spread the very story that they put the soldiers in place to guard against, but this is what they are reduced to, this is all they have left. They've heard the account of the soldiers. And so now they are simply looking to do damage control. And they say, we want you to say this. Now understand that the idea here is not that, you know, if someone happens to ask you what happened while you were on guard duty last Saturday night, this is what you're to say. Instead, what the Sanhedrin is commanding the soldiers to do in exchange for the money is to actively spread this story. They are to make the rounds. They are to go on CNN and Larry King Live and Fox News. They are to get a write up in the Jerusalem Post, to tell their story. The idea here is not to fend off any questions about their role, but rather to produce serious doubt in the hearts of all of those who would hear about what had happened. This was the plan. Put your own spin on the events. Pay off the soldiers.

Look at the third part of the plan, or the third action item from this meeting that occurred on that Sunday morning. Verse 14, defend the soldiers if it becomes necessary, "'And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.'" You see, the penalty, if you were a Roman soldier, for sleeping on your watch was severe and it was often even execution. So these soldiers were taking a very significant risk by spreading the story. They were saying they had committed something that was worthy of death. And so, the council assures them that they will take whatever steps are necessary if these soldiers are ever brought to trial before the governor.

Secular history tells us that they already had a plan, because on many occasions Pilate proved that he was susceptible to bribes himself. So they were essentially telling these soldiers, listen, you take this bribe, and if you're ever brought before the governor on charges we'll make sure that it doesn't go anywhere. We'll take care of Pilate with the same treasury that we've taken care of you. We've got deep pockets. You don't have to worry. He's responded before. He'll respond again.

Verse 15 gives the outcome, "And they took the money and they did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day." The soldiers followed through on their agreement. The plot was successful with many. In fact, Matthew wrote his gospel some 30 years after the events of that resurrection morning. And he says, this whole idea of the disciples stealing the body is still widely spread even to this day, thirty years later, this was the story that was told.

In fact, in the second century, Justin Martyr was debating a Jewish apologist named Trypho, listen to what he says, "You," that is, you Jews, "selected men and sent them into all the world," and here's what you told them to say, "proclaiming that a certain atheistic and lawless sect has arisen from one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whom we," that is, we Jews, "crucified, but His disciples stole Him by night from the tomb and deceive men by saying that he has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven." So in the second century this story was still making the rounds, and with some people it still makes the rounds today. It was the result of a conspiracy hatched by the leaders of the nation on the very morning of Jesus' resurrection.

So that is the ungodly conspiracy. That's the story as Matthew records it for us here. Now, for just a few minutes I want us to consider, secondly, the unavoidable lessons. Because the historical account we've just examined together has some profound lessons that flow from it. First of all, the first unavoidable lesson that we see in this text is the historical reality of the resurrection. Do you understand that Jesus Christ was a real man? He was just as real as the person sitting next to you, just as real as you are. He lived at a certain time in history. He lived in a certain place that you can still visit today. He was a human being. He was more than a human being, but He was a human being as well. He lived a life for some 33 years in that little piece of land next to the Mediterranean. You can go there today and walk in the same places where He walked and see where He was living and where He was serving and ministering. He was a real man.

Beyond that, this real man was crucified by the Romans. He was killed. He died. He literally died. Think for a moment about a person whom you know and love who has died. You looked into that casket and you saw the face of that person. You realized that that was their body, but that person wasn't there anymore. That's exactly what happened to Jesus Christ. He was dead, certifiably dead. His spirit, His human spirit, left that physical body. There was no life. He was buried in a borrowed tomb sometime on Friday afternoon. And He stayed in that tomb until sometime Sunday morning, when He was literally, physically, brought back to life again. And not in that old form, but in a glorified body that is like the very body you and I will have as believers when we enter into His presence.

This isn't a make believe story. This is history. This was an actual event. This really occurred. And this passage shows us the historical reality of it. You see, the plan, the plan to guard the tomb, backfired. Unwittingly the chief priests provided incontrovertible evidence of the resurrection. Because they arranged for there to be four to 12, totally disinterested, uninvolved, eyewitnesses of the miraculous events that occurred there that morning. They weren't followers of Christ. They weren't looking for the resurrection. They were just there on guard duty, probably wishing they were back in their barracks instead of out on a cold spring night. But they became, by divine providence, eyewitnesses of the reality.

And then, of course, the lie that was hatched to undermine the resurrection had, in a sense, the very opposite results. Sure, there were some who believed it, but with any careful thought, it is, in fact, the lie that proves the resurrection. How is that? How is it that this account we just examined together proves the historicity of the resurrection? Well, obviously, it underscores the reality that the tomb was empty. No one in the first century ever argued that Jesus' tomb was still occupied. That was something that had to be dealt with. There was an empty tomb. The body wasn't there. And so a story had to be hatched, the story that the disciples stole that body is, on the face of it, a ridiculous story, for a number of reasons. I mean, think about the disciples for a moment, that story seriously overestimates the disciples. Where were they? I mean, remember, the disciples except for John didn't have enough courage to stay with the women through the crucifixion. The only disciples of Christ who were at the crucifixion were John and the women, all the men had run. They were gone, nowhere to be found. How much less did they have the courage then to arrange the bold theft of Jesus' body with a Roman guard present. As Craig Keener said, "If the disciples did not protect Jesus while He was alive, surely they would not have risked their lives to rob His tomb after His death." And grave robbing in the first century was a capital offense.

The story is also obviously untrue when you look at the discipline of the Roman army. We have so many secular resources that document the incredible fighting machine the Roman army was, and the incredible discipline under which they were held. And for this story to be true, that was hatched that day, it would mean that all of those Roman soldiers, somewhere between four and 12 soldiers, all had to fall asleep, because if one was awake, they could have easily roused the others. Add to that the fact that sleeping on one's watch, as a Roman soldier, was liable to serious consequences.

In fact, I read a secular source this week talking about just how disciplined the Roman soldiers were, there was one particular Roman soldier back in that time period who was assigned the responsibility to guard some corpses hanging on crosses. Understand that the Romans wanted to give these people the ultimate degradation, so they left their bodies hanging on the cross after their death so that their bodies would decay in front of everyone, the carrion could come and pick the flesh, and it was a gruesome thing. And this soldier was assigned the responsibility, one soldier, to guard these corpses so that the family and friends wouldn't come take down the corpses and give them a decent burial. This soldier, this single soldier, did fail in his duty, and history records that rather than face the shame of a court martial and an execution, he committed suicide, because he had allowed a corpse to be stolen off a cross. That was the discipline under which these Roman soldiers lived.

But not only would all of these Roman soldiers have had to have fallen asleep, but they would also all had to have stayed asleep as the disciples moved that huge stone from in front of the tomb. But perhaps the one point that makes this story most unbelievable, and an obvious attempt at a cover up, is this, and a child can come up with this, if they were all asleep, how do they know who stole the body? I can just see it now, you know, in court. So, you're saying to me that His disciples came by night and they stole Him away, even though you were on guard duty and were supposed to guard the body, they moved the stone, you slept through all of that, you were asleep during the entire time while they stole the body. Is that right? Yes, sir. That's our story and we're sticking to it. It makes no sense. One of the primary lessons we can learn from this account is the historical reality of the resurrection, because they could not come up with any better story than this.

A second lesson we see in this text is the insufficiency of miraculous evidence. These events, that we've read here, transpire on Sunday. Just two days before, on Friday, you remember that these leaders had stood at the foot of Jesus' cross and said what? "'Come down from the cross and [what?] we will believe.'" Show us a sufficient miracle and we will believe. Now these very same men have heard about the resurrection of Jesus from credible witnesses. And they believe them. There's no record here that they went to check the grave. They don't doubt the report of these soldiers. They believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead, but they still will not bow their wills to Him. You see, their problem was not an intellectual problem. It never is. It was a moral problem. As Jesus described it, it's an attitude that essentially says this to Him, I will not have this Man to rule over me.

Maybe you're here this morning, and you have kidded yourself that your problem with Christ and Christianity is intellectual. If I could just be convinced with enough evidence, then I would believe. Let me tell you on the authority of the word of God and Jesus Christ Himself, that your problem is not intellectual, it's not that you don't have enough evidence. In fact, Jesus told the story in Luke 16 about a rich man who died and found himself awake in hell. And he asked that Lazarus, a beggar who had previously begged in front of his gate but had died, that Lazarus be raised from the dead and sent to warn his brothers about hell. His reasoning seemed pretty clear, seemed reasonable. If they could witness a miracle like the resurrection, if they could witness a miracle like Lazarus' resurrection, then they would believe. Not true. Jesus said Abraham responded like this to the rich man's request, "'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,'" in other words, if they don't listen to the Scripture, "'then they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.'"

That's because the problem is not an intellectual problem. They believed the resurrection, but they would not submit. So what is the problem, if it's not intellectual? Understand, the problem is moral. Jesus, through the Apostle John, in John 3:20 put it like this, "'everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [why?] for fear that his deeds will be exposed.'" It's all about protecting what I want, my sin, that I want to hold on to, I don't want to give it up. I want my life, I want to be the one who says what I do and what's acceptable for me. It's not intellectual, it's moral.

A third lesson, and final lesson, that comes from this account is the inadequacy of historical faith. Theologians speak of a kind of faith called historical faith. This simply means intellectually agreeing with and affirming the truth of Christianity. Our country is filled with people who intellectually affirm and agree with the truth of Christianity. That's called historical faith. But if that's as far as your faith goes, it is not saving faith. It is not faith that brings you into right relationship with God. It is not faith that brings forgiveness of sins. It is seriously damning faith, historical faith, that is, simply to give intellectual agreement to the truth of Christianity.

And you see that in this passage. Think about this with me for a moment. There are two groups of men here, the soldiers and the leaders of Israel. They both believed in the historical reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The soldiers were eyewitnesses. The chief priests and the Sanhedrin both heard eyewitness testimony. And there is every indication in this passage that they all believed in the historicity of the resurrection. But they weren't Christians. They weren't true followers of Jesus Christ. And believing in the history of the resurrection doesn't make you one either.

This is very much a problem today. According to a recent survey by the North American Baptist Mission board, nearly 100% of those who identify themselves as born again Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It should be 100%, but that's not surprising. According to the same survey, however, listen carefully, according to the same survey, 75% of Americans who say they are not born again Christians still believe the biblical account of Jesus' physical resurrection, 75% of people who say they are not Christians. Now that's shocking. Now here's my concern. It's a concern for this damning historical faith that says, oh yeah, I believe Jesus Christ is who He claimed. Yes, I believe He was raised from the dead, that He came to life and that He's now alive. I believe all those things. I grew up believing them.

My concern is that you may be here this morning and have historical faith. You may think you're a Christian because you believe in the resurrection. I mean, after all, you're here on Easter. But these pagan Roman soldiers believed in the reality of the resurrection. The Sanhedrin believed in the resurrection. Yet most of them will end up eternally separated from God in a place the Bible cause hell. In fact, James the half-brother of our Lord, who grew up in the same home with Jesus Christ, who only came to believe in Christ after the resurrection, he says, you can believe all those things that are true about Christ and be no better than the demons, because the demons believe them too. They have all the right theology. They believe that Jesus was God, that He became a man, that He lived a perfect life, that He died for sinners, that He was raised from the dead, that He's now in the presence of God. They believe all that stuff, but they will be damned forever.

So the question is this, what makes a Christian? What is the difference between historical non-saving damning faith, and true saving forgiving faith in Christ? Well, Paul tells us in Romans 10. Turn there with me, Romans 10. In verse 8 Paul says, "here is the message of faith which we are preaching," "here is the message about faith we are proclaiming to you." Verse 9,

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Now, what I want you to see here is Paul says, here is the message of faith, here is what faith looks like. Faith has two elements, or parts. It has an intellectual part. He says you've got to "believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead." You have to believe some content. There has to be part of your faith that is based on who Jesus is, what He accomplished, that He died, that He was buried, that He rose again, and that He's now in the presence of God. And that He did all of that for sins, for sinners. You have to believe that in order to be saved.

But folks, you can have all of that and still only have historical faith. Look at the first part, the beginning of verse 9. Here's the message of faith we're preaching, you must "confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord." It's not enough simply to have the right content, and to believe that content. There has to be a volitional, a part of your will, that responds to this message. And in this case he classes that act of the will as confessing Jesus as Lord. What does that mean? It doesn't just mean say, "Jesus is Lord." Again, the demons do that. Every human being will one day do that. So what does it mean? It means that you have come to a place in your life where you believe the truth about Jesus Christ to the extent that you are willing to turn from all that you know to be sin and bow your knee before Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him as your Lord and Master and Sovereign. And until that happens, all you have is non-saving historical faith. And you will find yourself at the judgment on the same plane with those pagan Roman soldiers who took the bribe, because they believe it too. Jesus, through the Apostle Paul, says, you must believe in your heart that God raised Me from the dead, and you must confess with your mouth, Me to be your Lord. Anything short of that will see you short of heaven. Let's pray together.

Our Father, we thank You for this passage that we have looked at together this morning. We thank You for the reality that our Lord is alive, that He was literally physically brought to life by Your power, by the power of the Spirit, and by His own eternal power. Lord, we rejoice that even now He appears before You for us. We thank You, Father, for giving us this insight into what happened on that day. We thank You because it gives us such confidence, those of us who know You and love You through Your Son. It gives us greater confidence in the historical reality of the events that transpired that day.

Father, I pray for those who may be here this morning who are really no different than the soldiers or the Sanhedrin, who believe historically in the facts, but who have never been willing to let go of their sin and to fall before Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him as their Lord, as their Sovereign, as their Master. Lord, I pray that today would be the day when they would do that, and find in Him grace and forgiveness, a reason to live, joy and peace, and eternity in Your presence. Father, I pray that You would do that work. That You would cause the light to shine in the darkness. That You would bring their dead hearts to life, even today, as we commemorate and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. We pray it in His name and for His sake, amen.