Know why you believe class 2

Saturday, January 29, 2011
Know Why You Believe
Chapter 3 – Is Christ God?
Chapter 4 – Did Christ Rise from the Dead?

Is Christ God?
How would you answer?

God Reveals a Miraculous Birth
Facts
1. History shows that over 2000 years ago a
miraculous birth of a child by a virgin.
2. His birth was feared by King Herod, and he sought
to kill all babies 2 and under, who were born in
Bethlehem. This was considered the “slaughter of
the innocents” – Matthew 2:1-18.
3. What other facts can you think of surrounding this
birth?

Jesus Christ confounds the wise
1. His parents settled in Nazareth;
at 12 he confounded the
scholars and rabbis. At 12 he
knew who his Daddy was –
Luke 2:3
2. Jesus’ authority, miracles, teaching and character
were traits true only of God. John 8:57-58, John
14:6-11 & John 10:30

Jesus Ministry begins at age 30
At age 30, he walks the earth and
performs things no man has ever done.
Examples?

Calendars Change

Four Possibilities
1. Did Jesus lie by saying he was God when he was not God?
Jesus could not be a great moral teacher, if on a crucial
point of his teaching – his identity – he was a deliberate liar.
2. Was he a lunatic? If we look at the life of Christ , we see no
evidence of the abnormality and imbalance common to a
deranged person.
3. Was he a Legend? The four biographies were proven -
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Archaeological evidence.
4. Jesus spoke the truth – he was God come to earth. What
credentials did Jesus bring to substantiate his claim?
Believe the miracles, so you may understand – John
10:38.38
Examine Four Possibilities

Jesus Credentials: Moral Character
He was sinless:
• He was able to challenge his enemies –
John 8:46.
• The temptations of Jesus by satan –
Matthew 4.
Jesus Christ moral character coincided with his
claims.

Jesus Credentials: Perfection
– Only God can tell us what a true man should
be like
– The forerunners of piety in the New
Testament
– Christ showed us perfect humanity
– He showed us the fruitage of the spirit –
Galatians 5:22-24
In Jesus Christ we find the perfect personality.

Jesus Credentials: Power
– He stills a raging storm; Who is this? Mark 4:41
– Turned water into wine.
– Fed 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two
fish.
– Brought back a grieving widow her son.
– Raised Lazarus from the dead.
– These miracles could not be denied by his enemies;
they sought to kill him and tried to stop others from
believing – John 11:48
Christ demonstrated a power over natural forces.

Jesus Credentials: Power (con’t)
– He made the lame walk
– Dumb speak
– Blind to see – John 9. I was blind and now I
can see - John 9:25
Jesus demonstrated the Creator’s power over
sickness and disease.

Jesus Credentials: Resurrection
– Five times he predicted that he would die and
three days later he would rise from the dead, and
appear to his disciples (Matthew 16:21, 17:22-
23;Mark 8:31; 10:32-33; Luke 9:22). This claim
was easy to verify.
– The resurrection itself.
– He conquered more than all the prophets
Jesus supreme credential to authenticate his claim
to deity was his resurrection from the dead.

We know that Christ is God.
We know that Christ is God because we
can experience him in the twentieth
century. John 14:15-18; Acts 2:2-4
It is obvious that Jesus is God the Son. All
the evidence makes it clear.

What can we do?
The greatest favor we can do for people, is
to introduce them to Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28:19-20, Eph 4:11-15, 1 Peter 2:1-
3, 2 Peter 1:3-10

Did Christ Rise from the Dead?
Paul at Corinth states “ If Christ has not been
raised, our preaching is useless and so is your
faith “ - 1 Corinth 15:14.

Jesus rose from the dead or not?
If he did, it was the most sensational event
in all of history and gives us conclusive
answers to the most profound questions of
our existence:
– Where have we come from?
– Why are we here?
– What is our future destiny?

If Christ rose, God exists
If Christ rose, we know for certainty that God
exists, what he is like and that he cares for
each of us individually. The universe, then,
takes on meaning and purpose, and we can
experience the living God in contemporary
life. These and many other life-expanding
things are true if Jesus of Nazareth rose
from the dead. And 33 Pentecost would be
true. Many miracles today are true - Acts 2.

Data to consider: Christian church
What are some of the pieces of data to be considered in
answering the question, “Did Christ rise from the dead?”
First, there is the fact of the Christian church.
– The history of the church can be traced back to Palestine
around AD 32.
– The book of Acts includes numerous stories relating to
whole communities stirred by Jesus Christ and his
resurrection.
– The believers were first called Christians in the city of
Antioch.
– Acts 17:6 – The message “turned the world of their time
upside down. They constantly referred to the
resurrection as the basis for their teaching, preaching,
living and – significant – dying.

Data to consider: Christian day
The there is the fact of the Christian day,
Sunday is the day of worship for Christians.
– Acts 20:7 states: “On the first day of
the week we came together,” an
established pattern. The shift came
because of their desire to celebrate
the day Jesus rose from the dead.

Data to consider: New Testament
There is the Christian book, the New
Testament.
– Eye witness accounts by John, Peter,
Matthew. Luke’s gospel gives evidence of
a historian with a background known to
travel with Paul and heard him preach the
resurrection (2 Timothy 4:11)

The Empty Tomb Theories
The Empty tomb – Hypothesis 1:
The earliest explanation circulated was that the
disciples stole the body.
– Matthew 28:11-15 – the chief priests and elders
stated the body was gone. These religious leaders
paid the soldiers money to say the disciples stole the
body, while they were sleep. It was so false Matthew
didn’t even refute it. This was so foreign to the
disciples character and even more obvious how would
we explain the appearances of Jesus?

The Empty Tomb Theories (con’t)
The Empty tomb – Hypothesis 2:
The authorities, Jewish or Roman, moved the body.
• But why? They placed Roman guards at the tomb, what
would the Romans gain by moving the body?
• The ecclesiastical leaders were angry and tried to prevent
the spread of the message – Acts 4.
• They even arrested and beat Peter and John as an attempt
to close their mouths.
• The body was not stolen and if so they would have used it
to try and disprove Christianity.

The Wrong Tomb Theory
Another popular theory, called the wrong tomb
theory, suggests the distraught women, overcome
with grief, missed their way in the dimness of the
morning.
• Did the women go to the wrong tomb? If so,
why did the high priests and enemies of faith not
go to the right tomb and produce the body?
• And it is unlikely that all of Jesus’ followers
succumb to the same mistake.
• Also, this was a private burial ground; no other
tombs were around.

The Swoon Theory
The swoon theory has also been advanced to
explain the empty tomb.
This theory is that Christ did not actually die, he was mistakenly reported
to be dead but had swooned from exhaustion, pain and loss of blood.
When he was laid in the tomb, he revived. He came out of the tomb and
the disciples mistakenly thought he had risen from the dead.
How would he survive 3 days without food or water?
He was wound up in 75 lbs of grave clothes, with no strength how could
he remove the clothes, push the tomb away, overcome the Roman
guards, and walk on feet that had been pierced with spikes.
If this were true, Christ was involved in flagrant lies.

The Only Possible Theory
The only theory that explains the empty tomb is
the resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 11:25).
Jesus Christ’s life, death and
resurrection assure us:
- His purpose is to rescue us
from sin
- His power will give us eternal
life
- His suffering demonstrates the
extent of his love for us.

Jesus Appearances after burial
Ten distinct appearances were recorded. These occurred
from the morning of his resurrection to his ascension forty
days later. Various sightings of Jesus in different places and
by different people.
Lies nor legend cannot explain the empty tomb, nor can it
dismiss the appearances of Christ on this kind basis.
The eye-witnesses interacted with Christ and recognized him.
Were they hallucinating? All of them? No. Hallucinations are
subjective and individual. No two people have the same
experience.
Christ appeared to groups and individuals – 1 Corinthians 15.
These sightings happened for a period of 40 days and then
stopped.

Persuaded against their wills
Were they persuaded against their wills? No.
• The disciples actually saw Jesus.
• Peter, was afraid the night before the crucifixion
and publicly denied Christ 3 times. And then 50
days later strong. Leader in Acts. He preached at
Pentecost in Jerusalem. His life was in danger.
• Thomas, the doubter began to worship – John
20:28. All the disciples changed from being
frightened and cowardly to be men of courage and
conviction. Only a bodily resurrection can create
this type of change.

Jesus Christ is alive today
• Jesus Christ is alive today. And ready to
change those who invite him into their
lives. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
(Psalms 34:8)
• God showed his love among us;…that we
might live through him (1 John 4:9)

Know why you believe class 2

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