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1. Jesus
existed—He was a real person who actually lived in
history. No one doubts that.
a.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition, devotes
20,000 words to the person of Jesus Christ and
never once hints that He didn’t exist.
b.
Non-Christian sources mention Jesus:
• Tacitus,
a Roman historian (55-120 A.D.): "Christus
(Christ),... suffered the extreme penalty during the
reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our
procurators, Pontius Pilate." (Annals 15:44)
• Josephus
(38-97 A.D.) wrote, "Pilate condemned him to be
crucified and to die…. His disciples… reported that he
had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion,
and that he was alive." (James H. Charlesworth,
Jesus Within Judaism (Garden City: Doubleday,
1988), p. 95)
Therefore, you can’t discount Jesus!
2. We have
reliable eyewitness testimony to Jesus’ life in the New
Testament documents.
a. There are
8 writers who claimed to be either eyewitnesses or to
have had contact with eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James and the
writer of Hebrews.
b. These men
claim to have written carefully researched accounts of
their testimony:
• Luke
1:1-4— Many have undertaken to draw up an account of
the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as
they were handed down to us by those who from the
first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
Therefore, since I myself have carefully
investigated everything from the beginning, it
seemed good also to me to write an orderly ac-count
for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may
know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
• 2 Peter
1:16—For we were not making up clever stories
when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus
Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic
splendor with our own eyes.
c. These
accounts were written in the 1st century—well within the
lifetime of eyewitnesses:
• "In my
opinion, every book of the New Testament was written
by a baptized Jew between the 40’s and the 80’s of the
first century A.D. (very probably sometime between
about A.D. 50 and 75.)" (Dr. William F. Albright,
Christianity Today, January 18, 1963)
If Jesus died
in 30 A.D., then some of these books were in circulation
7 years later, all within 45 years.
d. Four
things missing from the book of Acts prove it was
written prior to 70 A.D.:
• The
destruction of Jerusalem (70 A.D.) is not mentioned.
• The death
of Paul (c. 64 A.D.) is not mentioned.
• The
persecutions by Nero (64 A.D., 68 A.D.) are not
mentioned
• The
deaths of other key leaders (i.e., Peter (65 A.D.),
James (62 A.D.)) are not mentioned
Why didn’t
Luke (the author) say anything about these major events
and leaders? Because these events happened after
he wrote his book. That’s why many scholars date Acts
around 64 A.D. If Acts was Luke’s second book (Acts
1:1), then Luke was written before that. Matthew came
before Luke, and almost all believe Mark came before
either Luke or Matthew.
Therefore, you can’t dismiss Jesus!
3. There can
be no doubt that Jesus claimed to be God.
a. Mark
14:61-62—But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ,
the Son of the Blessed One?" "I am," said Jesus. "And
you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of
the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
b. Jesus
said:
• To know
Him was to know God (Jn 8:19)
• To see
Him was to see God (Jn 14:9)
• To
believe in Him was to believe in God (Jn 14:1)
• To
receive Him was to receive God (Mt 10:40)
• To hate
Him was to hate God (Jn 15:23)
• To honor
Him was to honor God (Jn 5:23)
Therefore, you can’t disregard Jesus!
4. Jesus said
He was the ONLY way to God:
• John
14:6—I am the way, the truth and the life: no man
comes to the Father, but by me.
• John
10:9—I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find
pasture.
• Acts
4:12—Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.
• 1 Tim
2:5—For there is only one God and one Mediator who can
reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus.
• John
3:14-18—And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a
pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be
lifted up on a pole, so that everyone who believes
in me will have eternal life. For God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it,
but to save it. There is no judgment awaiting those
who trust him. But those who do not trust him have
already been judged for not believing in the only Son
of God.
There are not
5 or 6 different ways to God. In fact, there are not
even 2 different ways. Jesus says He is it! You won’t
get there without Him.
Therefore, you can’t bypass Jesus!
5. Jesus
proved WHAT and WHO He was by rising from the dead. No
other religious leader pulled that off.
a. There are
4 facts that have forced even skeptics to accept that
Jesus rose from the dead:
• Jesus was
buried in a tomb—both His friends and His enemies knew
where it was (Matt. 27:62-66)
• The tomb
was found empty early Sunday morning. (Want proof?
Look at Matthew 28:11-15 where Jesus’ enemies cook up
a story to explain why it was empty!)
• Jesus’
disciples and a lot of other people saw Him ALIVE
after they had seen him killed and buried (1 Cor.
15:3-9).
• Jesus’
disciples believed that He had risen. So much so that
they were willing to die for their belief. (Which is
amazing when you consider that Peter had already
proved he could crack under very little pressure—see
Matthew 26:69-75)
Paul said, in
55 A.D.:
• 1
Corinthians 15:3-4—I passed on to you what was most
important and what had also been passed on to me—that
Christ died for our sins, just as the
Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was
raised from the dead on the third day, as the
Scriptures said.
• Romans
1:4—And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son
of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead
by means of the Holy Spirit.
• Ephesians
1:19-20—I pray that you will begin to understand the
incredible greatness of his power for us who believe
him. This is the same mighty power that raised
Christ from the dead and seated him in the place
of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
• 1 Peter
1:3—...Now we live with a wonderful expectation
because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.
• 1 Peter
3:18—Christ also suffered when he died for our sins
once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for
sinners that he might bring us safely home to God. He
suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in
the Spirit.
Jesus is
alive. All other religious leaders are dead. Which would
you rather trust—a living Lord or a dead guru?
• Say the
welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master"—embracing,
body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did
in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not
"doing" anything; you’re simply calling out to God,
trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation.
(Romans 10:9, The Message)
Therefore,
you can believe—with confidence—that Jesus is the only
TRUTH that really matters!
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