The Da Vinci Code
A Historical Novel by Dan Brown
I have made the decision to read this book because I am concerned about it’s message. My understanding is that according to the author, Jesus was a man and an opportunist. It asserts among other things that Jesus was an opportunistic man who was trying to gain the Davidic Throne. He died and was deified 300 years later.
It is one of those works that is attempting to rewrite history according to the belief system of those who would discredit and undermine the Christian faith.
Sandra Miesel writes, "From both Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Templar Revelation, Brown takes a negative view of the Bible and a grossly distorted image of Jesus. He’s neither the Messiah nor a humble carpenter but a wealthy, trained religious teacher bent on regaining the throne of David. His credentials are amplified by his relationship with the rich Magdalen who carries the royal blood of Benjamin: “Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false,” laments one of Brown’s characters."
Yet it’s Brown’s understanding of the history of man and the history of Christianity that’s false — and blindingly so.
The idea of people dismissing Jesus is nothing new
People have been attempting to dismiss the person of Jesus from the first day that he set foot in the temple in Jerusalem.
What is new is that fiction is being used to rewrite history!
I don’t have time to go into the reasons that we can have confidence in the Bible record this morning. I am planning on a 4 session series called “The Da Vinci Code” Talks later this spring.
Today we explore what Jesus is really all about – in his own words. This message came after the healing of the man paralyzed for 38 years and the boy who was healed from his illness at the exact hour that Jesus said he would be healed.
The leaders of his day rigorously challenged Jesus because of his teachings, his actions, and the threat they saw in him to their own position of power. John 5 is a direct record of Jesus response to their questions and challenges.
The resulting message is profound, piercing and powerful. We’re going to hit the high points this morning.
The Claims of Jesus
The key issue underlying the whole message is that Jesus claimed to be more than just another rabbi or prophet.
First: Jesus claimed to have power over death
A woman was given the news of her terminal cancer and impending death. At first she just wept quietly. Eventually, she said I’m not upset that I’m dying. I’m crying because I’ve never lived. Jesus claimed to be able to defeat death and give life.
John 5:21 (NCV)
21 Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to those he wants to.
This was a power limited only to God
Jehovah held the three great keys:
The key to open the heavens and give rain (Deut. 28:12)
The key to open the womb and give conception (Gen. 30:22)
The key to open the grave and raise the dead (Ezek. 37:13)
Jesus had not yet raised anyone from the dead
As far as the Gospel records are concerned, Jesus had not yet raised anyone from the dead; so to make this claim was to invite even more opposition.
John 5:21 certainly can mean much more than the physical raising of people from the dead, for certainly Jesus was referring to His gift of spiritual life to the spiritually dead. He amplified this truth further as recorded in John 5:24–29.
Jesus claimed to have authority to raise the dead
Notice the phrase “I tell you the truth” Listen up, this is important.
Jesus describes his power over death through Resurrection
John 5:24-28 (NCV)
1) The resurrection of lost sinners into eternal life
24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears what I say and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life. That person will not be judged guilty but has already left death and entered life. 2
2) The resurrection of Jesus Himself
26 Life comes from the Father himself, and he has allowed the Son to have life in himself as well. 27 And the Father has given the Son the power to judge, because he is the Son of Man.
3) The resurrection of the dead
28 Don’t be surprised at this: A time is coming when all who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice.
Second: Jesus Claimed to have Power as Judge over Creation
John 5:22-23 (NCV)
22 In fact, the Father judges no one, but he has given the Son power to do all the judging
23 so that all people will honor the Son as much as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
Jesus claimed to have power in the judgment
To the orthodox Jew, Jehovah God was “the Judge of all the earth” (Gen. 18:25); and no one dared to apply that august title to himself. But Jesus did!
By claiming to be the Judge, Jesus claimed to be God and deserving of the honor we accord a judge. We even call a judge “Your honor”
What a tremendous claim: if you do not honor the Son, you are not honoring the Father!
Third: Jesus Claimed to have Testimony of Witnesses
Since the Old Testament Law required the testimony of two or three witnesses (Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6), the Lord met that requirement by giving three trustworthy witnesses.
The Testimony of John
John 5:31-34 (NCV)
31 “If only I tell people about myself, what I say is not true. 32 But there is another who tells about me, and I know that the things he says about me are true.
33 “You have sent people to John, and he has told you the truth. 34 It is not that I accept such human telling; I tell you this so you can be saved.
John the Baptist said that:
Jesus was the Lord (John 1:23)
Jesus was the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36)
Jesus was the Son of God (John 1:34).
The Testimony of Jesus’s Miracles
John 5:36-37 (NCV)
36 “But I have a proof about myself that is greater than that of John. The things I do, which are the things my Father gave me to do, prove that the Father sent me.
Nicodemus got it. He had to admit that our Lord’s miracles identified Him as “sent from God” (John 3:2).
Others had done miraculous things. Moses, Elijah, and even Peter and Paul did wondrous things. But none of these men said that they were the “Son of God”. Jesus did and he backed it up with miracles.
The Testimony of God’s Word
John 5:37-40 (NCV)
37 And the Father himself who sent me has given proof about me. You have never heard his voice or seen what he looks like. 38 His teaching does not live in you, because you don’t believe in the One the Father sent. 39 You carefully study the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. They do in fact tell about me, 40 but you refuse to come to me to have that life.
The Jews venerated the word of God but didn’t believe it. For one thing, they did not permit that Word to generate faith in their hearts (John 5:38). John 5:39 is probably a statement of fact and not a command and could be rendered.
The Jewish scribes sought to know the Word of God, but they did not know the God of the Word! They counted the very letters of the text, but they missed the spiritual truths that the text contained.
We are dealing here with the exclusive claims of Jesus
The Claim of Jesus is Simple and Powerful
Jesus is God
He died to save us from death
He was resurrected to new life
He lives to give us the same new life
Truth is exclusive
Chuck Colson
"You Christians are so arrogant," the young man told me. "You think Jesus is the only route to God. It’s an insult to anyone who follows another faith." His parting shot was: "It’s intolerant religious views like yours that lead to hatred and violence."
Well, this young man is not alone in his views. In an age that celebrates "tolerance" and "pluralism," the claim that Christ is the only way to God is considered grossly offensive.
Rabbi Schmuley Boteach speaks for many when he calls Christian truth claims "spiritual racism."
But is Christianity really the only religion that makes exclusive truth claims -- and do those claims lead to violence?
In his book, The Case for Faith, former journalist Lee Strobel says the exclusive truth claim of Jesus "is among the biggest obstacles to spiritual seekers today." To get to the heart of the truth claims issue, Strobel interviewed theologian Ravi Zacharias, who grew up in India among Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.
First, Zacharias told Strobel, we have to understand that all truth claims are, by definition, exclusive. Any time you make a truth claim, you’re saying that anything that contradicts it is false. What many Christians don’t realize is that every major religion makes truth claims -- just as Christianity does.
For instance, Muslims "radically claim exclusivity," Zacharias noted, "... not just theologically, but also linguistically." And Buddhism was born when Buddha rejected fundamental assertions of Hinduism. As for Hindus -- they’re "absolutely uncompromising" on several fundamental issues, including doctrines involving karma and reincarnation.
Atheists make their own truth claim: There is no God. By definition, they’re intolerant of the viewpoint of anyone who does believe in God. In other words, people who accuse Christians of arrogance because they make exclusive truth claims are ignoring the fact that every major religion does the same thing.
The trick for Christians is to witness to the claims of Christ in a loving, inoffensive manner, so that we won’t turn people off. We need to be tactful of cultural sensibilities. And we also need to witness to the truth on a related matter: the accusation that Christianity’s truth claims lead to violence and hatred.
When they do, the violence largely comes, not from Christians, but from those who resist the message of Christ and hate the messenger.
As Ravi Zacharias put it: "I know of no Christianized country where your life is in danger because you are from another faith. But today there are many countries ... such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran -- where to become a follower of Christ is to put your life ... at risk." Resistance to the truth, he added, "can be so strong that it can engender violence and hate even when the person has done absolutely nothing wrong."
Nothing, that is, except to believe what Jesus claimed: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" [John 14:6].
You’ll learn how to answer accusations like these by reading Lee Strobel’s excellent new book, The Case for Faith. But you should also know that, in one way, the non-Christians are right:
Truth is revitalizing
Revitalized People is God’s Passion!
Jesus is the only source of Life
The claims of Christ are outrageous and wild
But they happen to be what G. K. Chesterton called "the wild truth."
It is our responsibility to tell everyone the truth without being offensive
We – and God – has helped us to make decision to Minimize the bricks and Maximize the Mission
Culturally sensitive – so we are working with helping nationals
Culturally relative – so we are committed to creative and high quality presentations
Put your Life in the hands of Jesus
Hear this word today
Confess Him as Lord of your life today
Repent from your sinful ways and be baptized into him
