(All sermon notes are provided entirely from the outline provided by Rice Broocks for the God's Not Dead preaching series. If churches or ministries are interested in using these materials as a resource, visit godsnotdead.org to download content. God's Not Dead books and evangelistic materials are also made available on godsnotdead.org.)
While we have examined the scientific and philosophical evidence for God’s existence in this series, there is also the historical witness that provides for us firsthand evidence for His existence—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
C.S. Lewis said that Jesus claimed to be the son of God. There is no way you can simply give Him lip service as merely a good man or even a great man. He offered this tri-lemma; Jesus was either a...
LIAR - because He knew He wasn’t the son of God, but perpetrated the lie anyway (which certainly wouldn’t make him a great man).
LUNATIC - because He thought He was the son of God (which wouldn’t give us a credible reason to trust Him with our lives and eternal destiny).
LORD - He was who He said He was—the only begotten son of God sent from the Father to save the world.
We will now look at Jesus and answer three questions:
“Was He MAN, MYTH, or MESSIAH?
MAN:
It’s critical that we understand that Jesus did indeed exist. He was a real person.
Books have been written such as “The Quest for the Historical Jesus” that cast doubt on the reality of Jesus ever living.
History records just the opposite:
As one of the greatest skeptics of our time, Bart Ehrman attests to: (Refer to the Bart Ehrman quote from the top of page 144 of God’s Not Dead.).
Not only do the Gospels (which we will discuss in a moment) give the testimony of His life, words and actions, but ancient historians and writers do as well:
- The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus mentioned Jesus and John the Baptist toward the end of the first century.
- Among the many non-biblical references were Pliny the Younger in a letter to the Roman Emperor Trajan in AD 112. (See quote on page 145 of GND.)
- And then there are the Gospels. Remember the Bible isn’t one book, but 66 books written over 1,500 years by 40 different authors. Historians and scholars compiled them into one place so we can conveniently carry them around.
The Gospels were written by four different authors, and are the firsthand accounts of the events of Jesus’ life and death. What distinguished them from other spurious accounts is that these Gospels were all written in the first century while the events and people mentioned would have still been living.
The overwhelming conclusion is that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed real. To quote Bart Erhman again: (See Ehrman’s quote from the top of page 139 in GND).
MYTH:
Skeptics will concede that maybe Jesus lived, but they claim that all the miracles and wonderful deeds were merely evidence of Him being mythologized.
Some have tried to dismiss the Gospel as a fairy tale...a legend or myth. It’s curious; 106 out of the first 108 Universities in America were started to promote the Christian faith...There is no Disneyland University!
Thomas Jefferson had a Bible where he cut out all the miracles of Jesus and simply kept His teachings.
Others have asserted that the Jesus story wasn’t original, but copied from other stories from the Egyptians and Persians that also had gods that were born of a virgin on Dec. 25th, performed miracles, had 12 disciples, were crucified, and then rose again.
First there are no ancient records of any of this being true. There was no similarity between the life of Jesus and ancient gods and myths. The truth is that the success of the Gospel caused people to rewrite ancient history centuries later, and try to retell their stories to sound like the Jesus story.
Even skeptics like Richard Carrier admit this (See quote on page 148-149 GND).
As Josh McDowell said (See quote on top of page 139 GND), “That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic, and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the Gospels.”
MESSIAH:
Finally, we must look at the reality that He was and is the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world.
His Words were like no other. “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” When prophets like Isaiah or Jeremiah spoke, they said “Thus says the Lord.” But when Jesus spoke He said, “Truly I say to you” and “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” Why? Because the Lord was speaking!
His miracles; raising Lazarus from the dead, walking on water, and feeding 5,000 with just a few loaves and fish, caused people to say, “We have never seen anything like this.” (Mark 2:12)
But His resurrection from the dead was the proof that He indeed is the Messiah.
Lee Strobel, a former journalist with the Chicago Tribune, examined the case for Christ with a critical eye. He summarized the evidence that this indeed happened in 5 E’s:
1. Execution - Jesus was indeed executed on a Roman cross.
2. Empty Tomb - Three days after His execution, His tomb was found empty by a group of His women followers. This is significant because the testimony of women was usually dismissed in the ancient world.
3. Eyewitnesses - After His resurrection He was seen alive by over 500 eyewitnesses… overwhelming evidence that He indeed had been raised from the dead.
4. Early Records - The Gospels were the key witnesses, as well as numerous writings by the early Church fathers, that He had been raised from the dead.
5. Emergence of the Church - The sudden emergence of Christianity in the first 30 years has no other explanation than the fact that Christ’s resurrection birthed a worldwide unstoppable movement.
As one historian wrote: (See quote at bottom of Page 156 to top of 157 GND).
Conclusion
Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16:15)
If you really believe He is the Creator of the universe and Savior of the world...
THE ONLY LOGICAL RESPONSE IS TO FOLLOW HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART!
Second City Church- God's Not Dead Sermon Series 2015