Why Believe in Jesus
Thanks so much for having us!!!
I’m so excited about all God is doing here, I am praying for you guys! Keep up the fight.
Get ready for a lot of info in a short period of time.
BIG NOTE: I’ll be using a ton of info from a ton of people today. Those people include Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, Ravi Zacharius, Winkie Pratney and many more.
Jer.29:13 - “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
What are life’s biggest questions and what are their answers?
There are 5 BIG questions:
The first question is the biggest: where did I and everything else come from? (Origin)
The next 4 depend on the answer to 1: Who am I (Identity), why am I alive (Purpose), how can I know right from wrong (Morality) and what will happen after I die (Destiny).
So where did you and everything else come from?
2 possibilities:
Either everything came from NOTHING
Or everything came from a CREATOR.
First, let’s talk about where you came from because that leads into where everything else came from.
You’ve been told you and the countless millions of species on this planet are here as a product of chance and time, the result of evolution.
Not a science,
If evolution is a valid answer to this question 5 things must be true:
The fossil record must corroberate it.
There must be a valid mechanism. - Natural Selection
There must be an explanation for the existence of life. (1 in 10112,827)
There must be an explanation for the existence of information.
Those 4 questions lead us to the question of where everything else came from.
There must be an explanation for the existence of matter.
Science can’t answer that question.
1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics taken out to infinity.
If God is the answer for why you and everything else are here how can you know who God is.
That is the foundation for the other BIG life questions: Who am I (Identity), why am I alive (Purpose), how can I know right from wrong (Morality) and what will happen after I die (Destiny).
I believe that there is only one valid answer to that question - The Bible and Jesus.
Reasons to believe in the Bible. It is logically consistent and corresponds with reality:
The Bible is scientifically accurate – it describes:
2,000 - Radioactive decay, in 2Peter 3:10.
Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896 (1900 yrs after the Bible).
4,000 - Hydrologic cycles, in Ps.135:7, Ec.1:7and Job 36:27-29.
3,500 - Atmospheric jet streams, in Ecc. 1:6.
4,000 - Clouds and condensation, in Job 26:8, 37:11.
3000- Earth’s spherical shape, Is. 40:22.
4,000 - 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.
4,000 - Earth’s foundation – hung on nothing, Job 26:7.
Copernicus published this in 1543 (3,500 yrs after the Bible).
4,000 - That air has weight, Job 28:25.
Antoine Lavoisier 1778 (3,800 yrs after the Bible).
4,000 - Hydrothermic vents (freshwater springs in ocean), Gen. 7:11 & Job. 38:16.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution discovered these in 1977 (4000 yrs after the Bible).
3500 - That like begets like – a biological law, Gen. 1:11-12, 21, 25.
3000 - The Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy) - Ps.102:26, Is.51:6.
2000 - 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 manuscripts (~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 is logically consistent, only Jesus’ description of our condition is empirically correct and only Jesus’ remedy is experientially relevant.
Only it can answer Life’s BIG questions and those answers are only found in Jesus.
The Bible points to one person and one event – Jesus and salvation.
Jesus’ message corresponds with reality – He alone hit the nail on the head.
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 - more on that later.
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.
BIG Q # 5 - Reasons to believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection and His offer.
“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile...” – 1 Corinthians 15:17
Did Jesus really die in the first place? Discuss various theories.
Swoon Theory: the idea that Jesus was only half dead when buried. Impossible – No treatment could revive a crucified and speared victim.
Eyewitness accounts were hallucinations, illusions or mistakes. Impossible –Jesus’ body would have been presented by authorities.
The body was stolen – Impossible – The Romans and Jews would not have stolen the body (they had a vested interest in stopping Christianity). The disciples could not have overpowered a Roman guard (especially considering their cowardice and unbelief).
The body was moved – Impossible – When accounts of the resurrection started authorities could have produced the body.
Some historical evidences.
Josephus and the Jewish “Toledoth Jeshu,” both Jewish and Roman extra-biblical sources admit an empty tomb.
“positive evidence from a hostile source” – Dr. Paul Maier
John described pericardial and pleural effusion – clear fluid and blood form the spear wound – a fabrication wouldn’t have included this.
The Jews had no belief that the Messiah would die in the first place.
Death by crucifixion was believed to be evidence of God’s curse – not evidence of God himself.
Jesus’ burial.
Joseph of Arimathea (A member of the Jewish Sanhedrin) buried Jesus.
A fabrication wouldn’t glorify its own nemesis.
Everyone would have known the location of Joseph’s property and tomb – making it impossible to hide anything.
No competing independent burial stories.
If it were a fabrication there would have been other burial accounts also.
The Roman seal was placed over the 2 ton rock over the entrance to the tomb.
Breaking a Roman seal was punished with upside down crucifixion.
A 2 ton rock was placed in front of the tomb.
A roman guard, part of a Roman legion, was placed in front of the tomb.
Roman guards were undefeatable.
Had they been defeated this would have been used as evidence against the resurrection.
Roman guard members were burned to death if they fell asleep at guard (12 would sleep in front of four guarding – they would rotate shifts).
Not a single one would have fallen asleep, much less the whole guard.
When they found Jesus’ tomb empty the guard fled – also punishable by death.
Tomb found empty by women.
First century AD - a woman’s testimony wasn’t even accepted in court.
A fabrication wouldn’t claim women found the empty tomb.
Supposed discrepancies – all just different parts of the same story – no contradictions.
The earliest Jewish and Roman response (described in Biblical and extra-biblical accounts) admitted an empty tomb.
The earliest Jewish response recorded in the Bible assumed an empty tomb.
If the body had been in the tomb there would be no argument today.
Other Evidences for the resurrection.
The Jews didn’t even confidently believe in life after death for anyone.
There were hundreds of eye witnesses (1Cor 15).
These included hostile witnesses.
The Christians didn’t believe the first news of the resurrection.
They ALL went on to face torture and persecution and most died as martyrs (did they do this for a known lie?).
People often die for their beliefs, never for known lies.
The Christian’s creed – earliest documentation of the Christians’ beliefs and observations.
The Apostles used Christ’s resurrection as proof for the gospel – if Jesus’ body were available people would never have allowed such statements.
Jesus predicted His own death and resurrection (Jn.2:18-22).
Disciples adamantly claimed that Jesus rose physically.
A fabrication would have claimed spiritual resurrection.
Jesus beat death and promises to do the same for you - Jn.6:40.
The summary.
God exists and He is the God of the Bible.
The Bible alone answers life’s big questions.
Where did I and everything else come from, who am I, why am I alive, how can I know right from wrong and what will happen after I die?
Believers – be confident in the validity of the Bible and live by it!
Share the hope you have with those around you!!!
MT.9:37 - Don’t believe evangelism lies! Earn right, befriend, always preach..., works 1st...
He put everything on the line for you...Go big for HIM!!!
Share it BOLD and CLEARLY.
If you aren’t a believer – here are the 4 most fundamental biblical principals:
Jn.14:6 - Jesus claimed to be the only way, truth and life!
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.
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?
