Making A Difference

Acts 1:1-9, Luke 24:1-53 Making a Difference

Intro: No person who has ever lived on the earth has made a greater impact than that of Jesus Christ. I don’t think anyone, Christian or non-Christian would dispute that statement. Certainly we could name some famous men (Scientist, Philosophers, Military Generals, Explorers, religious leaders…) who have impacted history, but none even come close to Jesus Christ.

Because of Jesus Christ:

The way we date things have been changed (A.D. & B.C.)

The Christian church came into existence.

Wars have been fought.

Men and women have given their lives instead of renouncing their faith (lions).

Men and women have left home and went to the remotest parts of the world as

missionaries.

You are sitting here in church today on Easter is a testimony to His impact.

Why has Jesus Christ impacted this world and your life so greatly? I believe the answers are many, but our passage today provides us with three main reasons. Turn with me to….

Read: Acts 1:1-9

Trans: The first reason that Jesus Christ impacted this world so greatly is because:

I. Jesus Christ gave a message to be proclaimed (1).

The "former treatise" is the Gospel of Luke. Dr. Luke wrote both Luke and Acts.

Verse #1 (Acts 1:1) summarizes the purpose behind Dr. Luke writing the Gospel

of Luke (and really the purpose behind all of the gospels). The gospels were

written to chronicle the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. It is because of the

gospels we know how Jesus Christ lived while here on the earth about 2000 years

ago, and it is largely because of the Gospels that we know what Jesus taught while

on the earth. Jesus taught His disciples by two primary methods.

A. He instructed them by His deeds (to do).

1. His miracles that He performed were to teach them and strengthen their faith.

2. His behavior: taught them to hate evil,

to pray without ceasing,

to live godly, and

how to deal with temptation when it comes.

B. He instructed them by His words (teach).

1. His parables were to teach them spiritual truths

2. His teaching and preaching:

a. was to show them right from wrong

b. was to clarify misunderstandings and incorrect applications of scripture:

"you do err not knowing the scriptures..."

c. was to explain man’s sinful condition and future estate is in hell

d. was to explain God made a plan to redeem sinful man which included:

Betrayal, Crucifixion, Resurrection & Preaching to the Nations

e. To explain there is salvation in no one else.

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."

John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no

man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Salvation is Not in any person, any church, any creed, or anything that you can do

In short; His message pertained to the areas of sin, of righteousness and of

judgment.

John 16:8 "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of

sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:"

Trans: The second reason that Jesus Christ impacted this world so greatly is because:

II. Jesus Christ validated the message to be proclaimed (3).

This gave the confidence necessary to proclaim the message.

The resurrection caught the disciples totally off guard and unprepared.

A. He presented Himself Alive (This is the reason we celebrate Easter).

For 40 days…between resurrection and ascension.

B. He presented many infallible proofs. (This is why we read Luke 24 earlier)

"Infallible proofs" = evidential proof credible on its own merits. Things that

would stand up in a court of law.

From Josh McDowell’s book "Resurrection Factor"

Lord Caldecote, Lord Chief Justice of England, has written: "…The same

approach to the cardinal test of the claims of Jesus Christ, namely, His

resurrection, has led me as often as I have tried to examine the evidence to believe it as a fact beyond dispute." (p.11).

He also tells about Dr. Simon Greenleaf, a famous Professor of Law at Harvard

University, who produced a famous three-volume work called A Treatise on the

Law of Evidence. Dr. Greenleaf came to the conclusion that, according to the

laws of legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the

historical fact of the resurrection than for just about any other event in history

(p.11).

He also tells of the "Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Darling, once said that

"no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the

resurrection story is true" (p.12).

He showed "many". Here are just a few:

1. He entered a room where the doors were locked (John 20:19).