One of my favorite shows from long ago was Get Smart. It was a show about a goofy secret agent. One of the popular catch phrases for the show was ‘would you believe.’ Maxwell Smart would say when he got caught by the bad guys ‘would you believe.’ Here’s some of the dialogue. “I happen to know that at this very’ moment eight Coast Guard cutters are converging on this boat. Would you believe seven? Six? How about two cops in a rowboat?” Or, At this very minute, 25 Control agents are converging on this building. Would you believe two squad cars and a motorcycle cop? How about a vicious street cleaner and a toothless police dog? Or, I once trained a girl to swim across the English Channel five times. Would you believe four times? Would you believe three times across the Mississippi? How about twice around the bathtub? Once around the bathtub? Or, in a short while, General Crawford and a hundred of his crack paratroopers will come crashing into this landing. Would you believe J. Edgar Hoover and I0 of his G-men? How about Tarzan and a couple of apes? Bomba, the Jungle Boy? Or, at this very moment 100 highway patrolmen with Doberman pinschers are surrounding this entire area. Would you believe four deputies and a bloodhound? How about a Boy Scout with rabies? The question arises ‘do you believe in the Resurrection of Jesus? Do you believe it just like the Bible says it or are you believing a watered down ‘Maxwell Smart’ version of the events surrounding Jesus death?

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Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This week’s call is:

Is your heart full of the right kind of faith? Do you have the Centurion kind of faith which believes in the Resurrection simply because the Bible says so? If you do, confessing Jesus as Lord is the only step left to salvation.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: What do you believe about the Resurrection of Jesus? Please share your testimony in the comments section below.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes

John 20:1–9 (NCV) 1 Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark. When she saw that the large stone had been moved away from the tomb, 2 she ran to Simon Peter and the follower whom Jesus loved. Mary said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.” 3 So Peter and the other follower started for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other follower ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down and looked in and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then following him, Simon Peter arrived and went into the tomb and saw the strips of linen lying there. 7 He also saw the cloth that had been around Jesus’ head, which was folded up and laid in a different place from the strips of linen. 8 Then the other follower, who had reached the tomb first, also went in. He saw and believed. 9 (They did not yet understand from the Scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead.)

Do You Believe in the Resurrection?

• The Resurrection is the basis of salvation in God.

There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three. — Billy Graham (1918- )

• There were at least 500 witnesses that physically saw Him after He arose.
• The Easter bunny never rose again.
• Sunday is a continual proclamation of the message of Easter: Christ has risen.
• Easter is God’s everlasting “Yes” to humanity’s troubled question: “If a man dies, shall he live again?”
• The Gospels do not explain the Resurrection; the Resurrection explains the Gospels.
• If all you had to read was the Gospels, you would not know why Jesus died.
• It’s the Epistles which show us the reason why.

Believing the Resurrection is Essential to Salvation

• Belief in the Resurrection is not a side issue to the Christian faith; it is the Christian faith.
• It is essential to being born again.
• You cannot be born again and not believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

Romans 10:9 (KJV) 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

• If you do not have faith in the resurrection, you are dead in your sins, period.
  • You are lost.
  • You are unsaved.
  • You will not make heaven.
• You must come to Jesus believing that He lives.
• What a man accomplishes in life depends on what he believes.
• Christianity is a religion of the open tomb.
• Do you have faith in the open tomb?
• Do you have faith that Jesus open tomb is an empty tomb?

Different Kinds of Faith

• People have all different kinds of faith.
• What kind of faith do you have?

Do you have ‘I got to see a miracle’ kind of faith?

• Seeing miracles will not increase faith.

John 12:37-38 (KJV) 37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

• Seeing is not believing.
• Faith grows only in the dark.

You’ve got to trust him when you can’t trace him. That’s faith. — Lyell Rader

• The essence of Christianity is believing in the unseen.

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’

• We walk by faith, not by sight as 2 Corinthians 5:7 states.
• The business of faith is to believe things that are out of sight.
• But some have other versions of what they call faith.

Do you have robbers’ kind of faith?

• Mary Magdalene had this kind of faith.
• Jesus had told them what He was going to happen to Him, that He was going to be killed and that on the 3rd day He would rise up again.
• Mary Magdalene heard Jesus say these words.
• When she came to the Tomb and didn’t find Jesus there, what was her conclusion?
• Does she say, ‘Oh yeah, Jesus said that He was going to rise up again? I need to go and look for where He might be?
• No, instead she weeps and cries because she thinks that somebody stole the body.
• There is a cry because of emotional hurt.
• But, there is also a cry of unbelief.
• Do you have more faith in robbers than you do in Jesus own words?
• Do you lay hands on your children for healing because you believe in Jesus words more than you believe Satan the robber?
• Do you believe in the devils’ ability to rob you more than in Jesus ability to raise you?

Do you have the Thomas kind of faith?

John 20:24-25 (NLT) 24 One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

• I’ll believe it when I see doesn’t qualify as proper belief in God.

John 20:26-29 (NLT) 26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” 28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. 29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway.”

• Jesus called ‘believing after you see it’ being faithless.
• Blessed are those who believe without seeing.
• The world says, “Show me and I’ll believe.” Christ says, “Believe me and I’ll show you.”

Do you have the John kind of faith?

• John outruns Peter to the tomb, stoops and looks in.
• Peter bolts right on in.
• The gospels do no give us Peter’s reaction to what he saw but we do have John’s reaction.
• John saw something and believed.
• What did he see?
• He saw a napkin folded and by itself.
• Whatever he saw ruled out the other kinds of faith.
• It ruled out,
  • I got to see a miracle kind of faith.
  • Robbers kind of faith.
  • Thomas kind of faith.
• Jewish burial ritual included mummification, which they had learned from their days in Egypt.
• Jesus was dead according to the Roman government.
• A Roman spear went into Jesus side as he hung upon the cross.
• The Bible says that blood and water spilled out.
• Jesus was dead according to the Jews.
• Joseph of Arimathea claimed his body.
• If Calvary did not kill Jesus, the mummification process certainly would have done it.
• What did John see in the tomb which caused him to believe?
• He saw a hardened cocoon with nobody in it.
• He saw the napkin which covered the face laying nice and neatly folded.
• If the cocoon was ripped open with a knife, it could have supported the robbers’ theory that somebody stole the body.
• Jesus had risen from the dead.
• His body had passed right through the hardened cocoon.
• When John saw that he believed.
• Even this is not the best kind of faith.

John 20:8-9 (KJV) 8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

Do you have the Centurion Kind of Faith?

Matthew 8:5–13 (NKJV) 5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” 7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

• This man had simple faith in Christ’s words
• Just command it – just say so and it will be so
• Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life.
• Believing that, staking your life on that is the highest faith there is.
• When Jesus said, “If a man believes in me, though he were dead yet shall he live and he that lives and believes in me will never die.”
• Believing that, staking your life on that is the highest faith there is.
• The simplest meaning of Easter is that we are living in a world in which God has the last word. On Friday night it appeared as if evil were the master of life.
• What death did to Jesus is nothing compared to what Jesus did to death.
• Faith is telling a mountain to move and being shocked if it doesn’t.
• Would you be shocked if there were no resurrection?
• If you wouldn’t then you don’t have faith in it.