The Credibility of Christ’s Claims

• good morning again, ladies and gentlemen
• my name is Darryl Dash, and as you might remember from last week, I am the defense attorney for Jesus Christ
• we’re putting some of the key facts of Christianity on the trial stand
• we’re doing this because, as we approach Easter, we need to ask some hard questions about Jesus Christ
• is the Bible credible?
• who really was Jesus?
• did the resurrection really happen?
• and, perhaps most importantly, the subject we’ll cover on Easter Sunday: what does all this mean for me?
• the truth of Christianity depends entirely on the truth and truthfulness of Jesus Christ
• throughout history, different people have expressed their reservations about Jesus
• in his famous essay Why I Am Not a Christian, Bertrand Russell wrote, “Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if he did we can know nothing about him”
• Mohandas Gandhi, a Hindu and the father of modern India, wrote, “I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. His death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept”
• you might remember that a couple of years ago, United Church moderator Bill Phipps publicly expressed his views that Jesus is not God and he did not physically rise from the dead
• he said, “All the biblical stories surrounding the birth of Jesus evoke wonder and awe and majesty. But as soon as you want to reduce them to literal fact, they lose their power.”
• I don’t know what you make of statements like these
• but in pulpits around the world these next few weeks, people like me are going to be preaching the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead two thousand years ago
• you need to make up your mind who is right – the skeptics or the believers
• those who doubt Christ’s claims, or those who believe in him
• because, according to Jesus Christ, your eternity rests on the verdict you reach in your heart
• last week we looked at the documentary evidence for Jesus Christ
• I argued at great length that the historical documents that we have that speak of Jesus Christ are historically accurate
• let me add just one more point, if I could
• for years, people thought that the gospel accounts were written many years after Jesus’ life – long enough for traditions and legends to have developed
• this is what led many to argue that the Jesus of the gospels is the Jesus of mythology, rather than the Jesus of history
• but recent discoveries have led scholars to conclude that the gospels were written much earlier than previously thought
• Dr. William F. Albright, a world-famous archeologist, said that there is no reason to believe that any of the Gospels were written later than AD 70
• too soon for myths and legends to have developed, without being refuted by the eyewitnesses who were still alive
• not only that, but one expert in ancient history has documented 39 ancient sources for the life of Jesus outside of the Bible, including 17 non-Christian sources
• so the Bible is an accurate historical document that tells us about the life of Jesus
• but let’s be honest here – so what?
• even if you believe the Bible, who’s to say that it doesn’t record the life of just a good man, a miracle worker
• who’s to say that Jesus wasn’t himself deceived about his own identity?
• even if the Bible is accurate, who is to say that Jesus’ claims are credible?
• and why should we follow him today?
• there are four areas we’re going to cover this morning
• psychiatric evidence
• physical evidence
• character evidence
• fingerprint evidence
• next week we’re going to talk about the ultimate evidence
• let’s begin by looking at what you might call PSYCHIATRIC EVIDENCE
• I bet many of you along the way have heard that Jesus never really claimed that he was God
• in fact, many say, if Jesus knew that people today were worshipping him as God, he’d roll over in his grave, he’d be that upset
• the motion picture The Last Temptation of Christ depicted Jesus in this way – as someone who was uncertain about his identity and mission
• the only problem is, that’s not the picture the Scriptures give us
• the religious leaders of his day clearly understood that Jesus was making the claim that he’s God
• (John 10:30) I and the Father are one.
• that word one means one in essence – Jesus was claiming to be God
• it was clear to the religious leaders of the day what he was claiming
• another time, Jesus said:
• (John 8:58) “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
• and they picked up stones to stone him for claiming to be God
• why is it that Jesus in the end was crucified?
• he was crucified because they thought he had committed blasphemy, claiming that he was God
• his claim to be God is very clear in these historical documents
• the question becomes, what alternatives does this leave you with?
• one is: he’s telling the truth
• another: he’s telling a lie, intentionally deceiving his audience
• that alternative doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny, if you think about it, because who is going to be willing to be tortured to death for a lie
• telling a lie would be totally out of character with his life and teachings
• another alternative: the possibility I want to consider here, that Jesus was mentally ill
• a skeptic could say, “I could drive over to Queen Street Mental Health Center and find half a dozen people who would say that they’re God, but that doesn’t mean that they’re divine”
• maybe Jesus sincerely thought that he was God, but the truth is that he was just mentally unbalanced
• so we need to look at Jesus to see if there are any indications of mental imbalance
• think of somebody who claims to be something they’re not
• their claim is not isolated – other indications of imbalance are present as well
• usually, there are inappropriate emotions – inappropriate depression, anger, or anxiety
• they have misperceptions – they think people are watching them; they are out of contact with reality
• they sometimes have thinking disorders – they can’t carry on a logical conversation; they’re irrational
• but, as Dr. Gary Collins, professor of psychology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School says, Jesus showed none of these symptoms:

He was loving but didn’t let his compassion immobilize him; he didn’t have a bloated ego, even though he was often surrounded by adoring crowds; he maintained balance despite an often demanding lifestyle; he always knew what he was doing and where he was going; he cared deeply about people, including women and children, who weren’t seen as important back then; he was able to accept people while not merely winking at their sin; he responded to individuals based on where they were at and what they uniquely needed…All in all, I just don’t see signs that Jesus was suffering from any known mental illness. He was much healthier than anyone else I know—including me!

• to be honest, as we look at Jesus, we see the farthest thing from a crazy person
• we see no evidence of abnormality and imbalance
• rather, we see tremendous grace under pressure
• at his trial before Pilate, where his very life was at stake, he remained calm and serene
• as C.S. Lewis put it, it’s impossible to reconcile the depth and sanity of his moral teaching with the idea that he’s in any way a lunatic or megalomaniac
• the only satisfactory explanation is that he indeed is God
• but what about his claims to be God?
• isn’t that a sign of a crazy person?
• I’ll put it this way – if you claimed to be president of the United States, you indeed would be a crazy person
• but if William Jefferson Clinton claimed to be president of the United States, he would be demonstrating nothing else but a clear understanding of his identity
• if you or I claimed to be God, we indeed would be crazy
• but Jesus Christ claimed to be God, and backed it up with his miracles
• so there are no grounds for claiming that Jesus was deluded in thinking that he was God
• that’s the psychological evidence
• I just mentioned something about Jesus backing up his claims to be God with miracles, and that leads us to the next area of evidence – PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
• in other words, if Jesus really was God, you would expect that he would have the power to do miracles, right?
• one of the things you would expect is that Jesus would have power over nature
• we see in the historical documents that Jesus demonstrated that
• by walking on water, by taking a small amount of food and feeding 5,000 people with it, by turning water into wine, by calming the storm
• Jesus had power over nature
• another thing we would expect is that Jesus would have power to heal people of their illnesses and afflictions
• time after time, we see Jesus doing this
• by the way, this is not just a demonstration of his great power, it’s also a demonstration of his great compassion
• then we’d expect if Jesus were God, he’d have power over death
• we see that as well as he brought back from death his friend Lazarus, who had been dead in the tomb for four days
• we see other instances when Jesus raised people from the dead
• Jesus himself, in the ultimate expression of this, was resurrected
• so these miracles were performed in front of many eyewitnesses – in front of people who were skeptics, even in front of people who were hostile towards Jesus
• and because of that they provide amazing corroboration that Jesus really is who He said He was
• Jesus even said:
• (John 10:37) Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.
• (John 10:38) But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
• now some of you might be saying right now, “Hold on just a second. This is the almost the 21^st century. Isn’t this the age of science? Come on, miracles? You can’t expect anyone to believe that Jesus actually performed miracles. That’s ridiculous!”
• well, contrary to what you might think, miracles do not contradict science in the least
• science depends upon observation and replication
• the miracles, by their very nature, were unprecedented events that cannot be replicated in a laboratory
• in other words, they’re outside of the scope of science
• if you believe in a God who created the universe, then it is not unreasonable to believe that God can intervene in nature whenever he chooses
• God is not bound by natural law
• in fact, there are good reasons to believe that Jesus did perform the miracles recorded in the gospels
• for one thing, eyewitnesses were still around when the gospels were written
• if the miracles were false, there would have been plenty of people who would have disputed them
• what’s more, even hostile witnesses provided no dispute
• when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, for example, none of the chief priests or Pharisees disputed the miracle
• and so miracles are credible and they provide powerful confirmation that Jesus is who he claimed to be
• this past November, I sailed on the Sea of Galilee
• I saw the places mentioned in Scripture as the locations of the miracles
• now ask yourself: if Jesus claimed to be God, and was not a liar or self-deceived, and if he indeed performed miracles to back up this claim – what are you going to do with this evidence?
• don’t they lead us to believe in the credibility of Christ’s claims?
• we’ve seen psychiatric evidence and physical evidence
• the second last form of corroboration we’ll look at today is CHARACTER EVIDENCE
• we can take a look at the historical documents found in the Bible and look at the character of Jesus Christ
• as we do that, what do we expect if he is the Son of God?
• one thing we would expect is that he would have lived a perfect life
• isn’t that true?
• no man or woman is capable of living life without some form of wrongdoing
• as a matter of fact, isn’t it true that the more you get to know someone, the more you see there flaws, their wrongdoings and shortcomings?
• inevitably, when you get to know people, you find out that they’re as flawed as anyone else is
• yet we can look at these historical documents and what we see is the opposite in the case of Jesus
• nobody was closer to Jesus in his ministry than John and Peter
• they traveled with him, they ate with him, they hung around together for three years during is ministry
• imagine being together for three years – you’d get to know someone pretty well
• yet what did they write about Jesus?
• John ended up writing this
• (1 John 3:5) But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
• and Peter wrote:
• (1 Peter 2:22) “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
• we have almost universal acceptance of the fact that Jesus was a man of high moral character – so much so that those who knew him best claimed that he was perfect
• time is almost gone
• I want to leave you with one last evidence for Jesus’ claims this morning
• and that is what author and pastor Lee Strobel has called FINGERPRINT EVIDENCE
• let me explain what he means by fingerprint evidence, because this is one of the most persuasive evidences there is
• the Old Testament contains dozens and dozens of very specific predictions about the coming Messiah
• when you take all these prophecies and put them together, they sort of create a fingerprint that only one person in history could possibly fill
• the Bible in effect said, whoever in history fits this fingerprint, whoever matches it perfectly, that person truly is the Messiah, the Son of God
• you can look all through history and only one individual fits the fingerprint perfectly
• it’s Jesus Christ
• to testify about these prophecies, we’re going to call to the witness stand somebody who was a hard-core skeptic on this very topic
• his name is Louis Lapides
• he has two advanced degrees in theology, he’s taught the Old Testament at the university level, and he’s been the national president of a network of churches made up of people who were Jewish until they came to understand that Jesus really is the Messiah, he really is the Son of God, because he fits the fingerprint of the Old Testament prophecies
• Lapides grew up as a conservative Jew
• after his parents’ divorce, a stint in Vietnam, and some flirtation with other religions, Lapides was challenged by a Christian, “Just read the Old Testament and ask the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the God of Israel – to show you if Jesus is the Messiah. Because he is your Messiah. He came to the Jewish people initially, and then he was also Savior of the world”
• Lapides began reading the Old Testament every day
• he read in Deuteronomy of a prophet greater than Moses who would come
• he was stopped cold by Isaiah 53 – a prediction of a man who would suffer for the sins of Israel and the world, written more than 700 years before Jesus walked the earth
• he came upon four dozen major predictions in the Old Testament
• each one chipped away at his skepticism until, one day, he took a drastic step – he began reading the New Testament!
• so convincing were the fulfilled prophecies he found, he began telling people that he thought Jesus was the Messiah, although he remained frightened of the implications
• it would mean giving up the drugs, the sex, and so forth
• in other words, Yeshua became the probable Messiah, but that was still a long way from Yeshua being “Fairest Lord Jesus…”
• one day, sitting in a dessert, he recalled the words someone had said to him: “You’re either on God’s side or on Satan’s side”
• and he prayed, “God, I’ve got to come to the end of this struggle. I have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Messiah. I need to know that you, as the God of Israel, want me to believe this”
• at that moment, God convicted him, and Louis Lapides prayed, “God, I accept Jesus into my life. I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do with him. I’ve pretty much made a mess of my life; I need you to change me”
• and that’s what God has been doing since then: changing him
• friends, if you look at the gospels, you will find that Jesus’ words in the book of Luke have proved true:
• (Luke 24:44) “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
• it was all fulfilled, only in Jesus – “the only individual in history who has matched the prophetic fingerprint of God’s anointed one” (Lee Strobel)
• this is Jesus Christ – the only one who passes the psychiatric, physical, character, and fingerprint evidences I’ve presented this morning
• but what about you?
• you are either on God’s side or on Satan’s side
• you must reach your own verdict
• if you don’t accept the fact that Jesus is God’s Son sent to earth out of love for you, then I don’t think you have looked at the evidence honestly
• but it’s possible that you have accepted intellectually that Jesus is God, but you don’t want him to change your life
• you’re still a long way from singing, “Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son! Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown!”
• I invite you to pray the prayer that Louis Lapides prayed: “God, I accept Jesus into my life. I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do with him. I’ve pretty much made a mess of my life; I need you to change me”
• let’s pray