A Few Great Reasons to Put Your Faith in Jesus
Note: This message contains information from several different resources including Winkie Pratney, Ravi Zacharius, Josh McDowell and others.
Truth exists (if you didn’t believe this you wouldn’t be in school)!
Academia will deny the existence of Truth – don’t fall for this.
Argument assumes its antithesis – proponents believe they’re right!
Ravi Zacharius - A correct philosophy must be logically consistent, empirically adequate and experientially relevant; all answers must individually correspond to reality, all answers must be coherent with each other.
A philosophy must address origin, meaning, morality and destiny.
Only Jesus’ answers satisfy these criteria – we’ll see why.
Jesus claimed to be the only Way, Truth and life – Jn.14:6
The main alternative, the theory of evolution does not correspond with reality.
Evolution can’t be tested by the scientific method – it isn’t a science.
It’s a worldview with negative implications: 1Accidental origin, 2lack of meaning, 3subjective morality and 4no future.
Evolution contradicts 1st law of thermodynamics – matter can’t be created.
Physics confirms beginning of universe.
This convinced Einstein a creator had to exist.
Matter was created – requiring a non-naturalistic source.
Evolution has no mechanism.
Natural selection is not a mechanism for speciation.
Positive mutations which are transferable to offspring don’t exist.
Stephen J. Gould said, “The theory of evolution by gradual mutation is effectively dead despite its persistence as textbook orthodoxy.”
Evolution defies statistics.
Simplest theoretical organism- 100,000 nucleotides, 10,000 amino acids.
Supposing nucleotides and amino acids could form spontaneously out of “primordial soup,” they would form in racemic mixtures (describe chirality).
Probability of 100,000 nucleotides and 10,000 amino acids aligning with correct chirality is 1 in 1033,113.
The World Conference on The Origin of Homochiarality and Life admits the theory of evolution depends on this but also admits no answer exists.
Probability of natural origin of simplest theoretical prokaryote is ~ 1 in 10112,827 (1 in 1045 = statistically impossible).
Evolution has been dismissed by many prominent scientists.
Ex. Francis Crick – believes aliens initiated life on earth.
Universe full of intricate design design implies a designer.
Ex. An adult human body synthesizes ~150 x 1018 amino acids every second, with precise accuracy.
Anthropic principal asserts that earth is uniquely designed for life, recognizing over 150 universal factors necessary, in perfect accuracy, for life on earth, 10 to 15 new factors are discovered each year.
Ex. H2O – solid less dense than liquid.
Reasons to believe in the Bible. It is logically consistent and corresponds with reality:
The Bible is scientifically accurate – it describes:
Radioactive decay, in 2Peter 3:10.
Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896 (1900 yrs after the Bible).
Hydrologic cycles, in Ps.135:7, Ec.1:7and Job 36:27-29.
Atmospheric jet streams, in Ecc. 1:6.
Clouds and condensation, in Job 26:8, 37:11.
Earth’s spherical shape, Is. 40:22.
The expansion of the universe, in Job 26:7.
Edwin Hubble discovered this in 1929 (4,000 yrs after the Bible).
Based on Einstein’s General Relativity.
Earth’s foundation – hung on nothing, Job 26:7.
Copernicus published this in 1543 (3,500 yrs after the Bible).
That air has weight, Job 28:25.
Antoine Lavoisier 1778 (3,800 yrs after the Bible).
Hydrothermic vents (freshwater springs in ocean), Gen. 7:11 and Job. 38:16.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution discovered these in 1977 (4000 yrs after the Bible).
That like begets like – a biological law, Gen. 1:11-12, 21, 25.
That one event could be seen across the world – an impossibility then – now possible through TV, Mt. 24:30 and Rev. 11:9-11.
Charles Jenkins invented the first TV in 1923 (1900 yrs after the Bible).
Bible is prophetically accurate (here are a few out of thousands of examples):
Jesus alone fulfilled over 300 (odds of just 8 = 1in 1017).
Jesus’ crucifixion prophesied 1000 years before crucifixion invented, in Ps.22:16.
Alexander the Great, prophesied in great detail: Great warrior from the West early death empire split recombined into the Tolomaic and the Selucid, in Daniel 8:5-12.
Rebuilding of Jerusalem and temple by Cyrus prophesied 100 years before Cyrus’ birth and 100 years before Nebuchadnezar destroyed Jerusalem, in Is.44:28.
Tyre’s destruction prophesied in great detail: destroyed, made bare as a rock, a place where fisherman dry their nets, rubble throne into the sea and never rebuilt, in Ez.26.
The Bible is historically accurate: real people, places and events corroborated by archeology (here are just a couple of examples).
Hitites – critics condemned the Bible’s description of this group; archeological digs have since proven their existence.
Caesar Agustus’ census at the time of Christ’s birth (Luke 2:1).
The Bible is full of mathematical and prophetic codes. Mathematical codes (prime number multiples in words, sentences, passages and books).
Ex. Genesis.1:1(just a few here) – 7 words, with 28 letters, the numerical equivalent of the nouns in the verse adds up to 777, the numerical value of the only verb is 203, the 1st 3 words contain the subject and have 14 letters, the other 4 words are the object and have 14 letters, the words for the 2 objects each have 7 letters.
Gen.1:1 has 30 multiples of 7 – chances 1 in 33 trillion.
Ex. Mt.1:1-11 (just a few here) – Has 49 words with 266 letters, 140 are vowels, 126 are consonants; of the 49 words, 28 begin with a vowel, 21 begin with a consonant, 7 end with a vowel, 42 end with a consonant, 14 occur only once, 35 occur more than once, 42 are nouns, 7 are not.
In 1882, Ivan Panin, a Harvard mathematician provided 43,000 pages of mathematical codes found in the Old and New Testaments to the Nobel Foundation as his evidence that the Bible is God’s Word. The Nobel foundation replied, “as far as our investigation has proceeded we find the evidence overwhelmingly in favor of such a statement.”
Rabbi Weismandel found an amazing sequential code during World War II. 50 letter intervals in both Genesis and Exodus spell out TORA and 50 letter intervals in both Numbers and Deuteronomy spell out AROT (TORA backwards). Going back to Leviticus YHWH (God’s name in the Old Testament) is spelled in 7 letter intervals.
Code in 1st two books pointing forward, code in 3rd and 4th books pointing backward; in between YHWH encoded in Leviticus!
Chances of that are 1 in 3 million (Daniel Michaelson - Codes in the TORA)
Prophetic codes embedded throughout the text.
The Bible’s authors agree.
Written on 3 continents, in 3 different languages, over 1500 years, over 40 generations by 40 authors of different backgrounds, social status, languages and ethnicities.
The Bible is textually authentic (here is a quick comparison with Homer’s Illiad – the next closest textually accurate manuscript).
NT has copies from as early as AD 125 (~25-70 years after written). The Iliad’s earliest copy is from 400 BC (500 years after written).
Copies from within life-spans of Jesus’ contemporaries.
NT has 24,000 early copies (~300 yrs) vs. Iliad’s 643.
The Bible has the power to change human beings.
Ex. Just look around this room.
Most of Jesus’ disciples and many early church founders died for this message.
People often die for a belief but never for a known lie.
Simon Greely - Famed Professor, Harvard Law School said, “You may choose at the end of your investigative processes of the New Testament to say, ‘I choose not to believe it.’ But you may not reserve the right to say, ‘Because there is not enough evidence to believe it.’”
The Bible points to one person and one event – Jesus and salvation.
Jesus alone accurately described the human condition and the remedy.
Malcom Mugridge said, “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
More people were killed last century than in all others combined.
Jesus provided a remedy for that condition – a free gift of salvation.
His remedy is experientially relevant.
Jesus impacted history more than any other human that has ever lived.
Jesus triumphed over death (overwhelming historical evidence for this).
He alone has authority to describe the means of salvation.
Jesus’ message corresponds with reality – He alone hit the nail on the head.
The Bible is logically consistent, only Jesus’ description of our condition is empirically correct and only Jesus’ remedy is experientially relevant.
The summary.
Naturalism can’t account for matter, design or the universe.
Design points to a designer.
The Bible alone provides coherent answers to the questions of origin, meaning, morality and destiny in a way that corresponds with reality.
Logically consistent, empirically adequate and experientially relevant
Implications There is a God, He is the God of the Bible, He came to earth as the man Jesus, He provided the only means of salvation.
Believers – be confident in the validity of the Bible and live by it!
If you aren’t a believer – here are the 4 most fundamental biblical principals:
God loves you and has an awesome plan for your life. Jer. 31:3, Jn. 3:16, 10:10.
Sin and selfishness result in eternal separation from God. Rom. 3:23, 6:23.
Jesus provides the only means of salvation – the cross. Jn.14:16, Acts 4:12.
Must personally accept free gift of salvation. Jn. 1:12, Eph. 2:8-9, 2Cor. 6:2.
Not just an emotional experience or intellectual agreement – an act of the will.
In Rev. 3:20, Jesus says – “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in...” Are you ready to open the door?
If so, tell God, “I need you. Today I place my faith in you and accept your free gift of salvation and eternal life with you, which you provided for me by dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you for being my Savior and Lord.”
