Mel Gibson’s new movie “The Passion of The Christ” is about the last hours beforeJesus was crucified. This movie is profoundly impacting different people. Christian andnon-Christian, Democrat and Republican, the religious and the non-religious are amazedby it. People agree that the movie is amazing, but is it accurate? Is fact or fiction? Is it Hollywood or history? Is it true or false?
If you find yourself asking intellectual or even skeptical questions about Jesus, you are in good company. It is ok to have doubts. God isn’t afraid of your questions. He welcomes your search for truth. You don’t have to have a lobotomy to believe in Jesus. Many scientists, lawyers, professors, engineers, philosophers, and intellectuals believe in him.
We are beginning a four-week series about Jesus inspired by some of the claims brought forth in the movie “The Passion of the Christ.” Today we will be looking at who Jesus is, and specifically exploring the question, “Is Jesus really the Son of God?”
Controversy has always followed Christ. If you have seen the movie, you can remember that Jesus was put on trial – an illegal one.
You can read this scene in Matthew 26:57-63:57Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. 58But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.59The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.61Finally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.' "62Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?"63But Jesus remained silent.
At Jesus’ trial they were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. Finally a false claim was made that they thought they could build on. It has not been unusual for people to make false claims about Jesus. Two thousand years later people still are making false claims about him. Today for the next few minutes we are going to examine three of the most popular claims made today about Jesus Christ.
1.Jesus Was Just a Good Moral Teacher – True or False?
The first false claim is Jesus was just a good moral teacher. Have you ever heard it said that Jesus never claimed to be God – but that He was just a good moral teacher? It is a common belief. For example Gandhi believed this. He writes in his book called, TheMessage of Jesus Christ:
“It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate son of God, and that only he who believed in him would have everlasting life. If God could have sons, all of us were his sons. If Jesus was like God, or God Himself, then all men were like God and could be God Himself…. 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 (p. 12).”
Gandhi puts forth a belief that is not all that uncommon. It sounds kind of good or even somewhat supportive but it stops short of believing that Jesus was the Son of God.
But as the Oxford and Cambridge scholar, C.S. Lewis said:“I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing than people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 55-56).”
While it is true that Jesus was a good moral teacher we believe it to be a false statement to say that He was just a good moral teacher. 
2. Jesus is a Myth – True or False?
Another false claim made about Jesus is that he is just a myth. Two things can be meantby this. First, people can mean by it that Jesus never actually existed in history. But evennon-Christian historians and secular publications don’t even accept that theory now.
Listen to what Time Magazine said about Jesus in an article titled The Man of theMillennium:“The memory of any stretch of years eventually resolves to a list of names, and one of the useful ways of recalling the past two millenniums is by listing the people who acquired great power. Muhammad, Catherine the Great, Marx, Gandhi, Hitler, Roosevelt, Stalin and Mao come quickly to mind. There’s no question that each of those figures changed the lives of millions and evoked responses from worship through hatred. It would require much exotic calculation, however; to deny that the single most powerful figure—not merely in these two millenniums but in all human history—has beenJesus of Nazareth. Not only is the prevalent system of denoting the years based on an erroneous 6th century calculation of the date of his birth, but a serious argument can be made that no one else’s life has proved remotely as powerful and enduring as that of Jesus. (Man of the Millennium. Time Magazine, Dec. 6, 1999)”
Even a skeptic like H.G. Wells admitted, “I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”
Another thing people mean when they say Jesus is a myth is that Jesus did exist, but his followers made him out to be more than he was – Jesus was good, but His followers created a myth he was God. They say Jesus was saying good things, but his disciples said he was God. They say Jesus did good things, but his disciples said they did miracles.They say Jesus died, but his disciples said he resurrected. He wasn’t a liar, lord, or lunatic, he was legend.
But listen to what Albert Einstein said in an interview with the Saturday EveningPost:“As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am aJew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful…. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. (Albert Einstein, Saturday Evening Post, 26 October 1929).
Of course you probably already know that I am going to say I don’t believe that it is a myth to say that Jesus was the Son of God. Believing in Jesus Christ takes a mixture of faith and fact. Let’s explore for a few moments why we believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God. 
3. Jesus is the Son of God – True or False?The truth is that Jesus did exist. He claimed to be the Son of God. And he gave proof of it in many ways. Let’s go back to the Bible passage and read what happens in this courtroom scene.
Let’s pick up from where we left off in Matthew 26:63-64: The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."64"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."65Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy!Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66What do you think?" "He is worthy of death," they answered.67Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him68and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?"
Jesus had remained silent during the earlier, false accusations against him. Now, Caiaphas, who acted as prosecutor, judge, and jury – makes Jesus answer. He tells Jesus that he has to answer the question – under oath – if he is the Son of God. Jesus isn’t allowed to plead the fifth. He has to answer. And he says he is.
If you saw the movie, you may remember at this moment pandemonium erupts in the courtroom. The high priest cries out and tears his clothes. They yell at Jesus. They spit on him. They slap him. They hit him with their fists. This is just how the Bible describes it too.
You may wonder, what just happened? What did I miss? What did Jesus say that just infuriated people? As far as the religious leaders were concerned, Jesus just confessed to the ultimate crime. He claimed he was God. This was blasphemy. He would have been better off to say he was a mass murderer.
Jesus knew this. He wasn’t surprised by their reaction. Their reaction would have been justified IF Jesus weren’t God. But he was. For Jesus to say he was the Son of God wasn’t blasphemy it was fact.
It is true that Jesus claimed divinity. This was the reason they put Him on trial and put Him to death. But, just because Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, it doesn’t necessarily make it true. If someone you knew claimed to be the Son of God, would you think it was true? No, you would probably think that person had a serious mental problem.Richard Bandler tells one story about visiting a mental institution and dealing with a man who insisted he was Jesus Christ - not metaphorically, not in spirit, but in the flesh. One day Bandler walked in to meet this man. "Are you Jesus?" he said. "Yes, my son," the man replied. Bandler said, "I’ll be back in a minute." This left the man a little bit confused.
Within three or four minutes, Bandler came back, holding a measuring tape. Asking the man to hold out his arms, Bandler measured the length of his arms and his height from head to toe. After that, Bandler left. The man claiming to be Christ became a little concerned. A little while later, Bandler came back with a hammer, some large spiked nails, and a long set of boards. He began to pound them into the form of a cross. The man asked, "What are you doing?" As Richard put the last nails in the cross, he asked, "Are you Jesus?" Again the man said, "Yes my son." Bandler said, "Then you know why I’m here." Somehow, the man suddenly recalled who he really was. His old pattern didn’t seem like such a good idea. "I’m not Jesus. I’m not Jesus!" the man started yelling. Case closed. Source: Robbins, Anthony. Unlimited Power, pp. 184-185. New York: Ballantine Books, copyright 1986.
But when Jesus claims to be the Son of God, hardly anyone laughs. Why is Jesus believable? Let’s put him on trial ourselves, and look at their articles of evidence.
Three evidences:
I offer three evidences today that for some of you will reaffirm what you already believe and for some of may allow you to examine closer the evidence surrounding the life of Christ.
A. His Life – Jesus lived a perfect life. He was sinless. Look again at this trial. Notice verse59. It says that “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.” This verse points out that even his enemies knew that they couldn’t charge him with doing anything morally wrong.They couldn’t charge him with one legitimate sin. The Bible says, He “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He “committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22).
B. His Miracles – Jesus referred to his miracles as signs. These signs pointed to Jesus’ divinity. Of the hundreds of miracles he did, one was especially important – He rose from the dead, never to die again.Again, let’s take a look at this trial against Jesus. Verse 61 says, 61Finally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'"
These false witnesses had twisted Jesus’ words. What Jesus actually said was, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). He didn’t say he would destroy it – he said they would. Furthermore, Jesus wasn’t referring to the temple inJerusalem, but the temple he had spoken of was his body. Jesus was all the time pointing out the miracle people should be looking for – namely, that he would rise from the dead three days after being killed.
In verse 64 Jesus goes on to say in his trial “In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” He is really rubbing it in now. He is saying I’m God – I’m coming back to life – and I’m coming back for you.
C. His Prophecies – Hundreds of years before Jesus came to Earth, many predictions were given about the identity of The Messiah. Jesus matched every prediction. It was like one-of-a-kind divine DNA.
The movie “The Passion of the Christ” opens up with a verse from Isaiah 53. It is just one example of prophecy that was fulfilled in Jesus. Let’s read Isaiah 53:3-12, and you can see how obvious it is that Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy that was written 700 years before Jesus was born:
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
In his book Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Josh McDowell says that the OldTestament contains over 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus. He asks what chance did Jesus or any other man have of fulfilling these prophecies. He refers to the work of the mathematician, Peter Stoner, who calculated the mathematical odds of fulfilling just 8 of the 300 prophecies: "We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is one in ten (to the seventeenth power). That would be one in 100,000,000,000,000,000.” One hundred quadrillion.
In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that we take ten (seventeenth power) silver dollars and lay them on the face ofTexas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one.
What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man. From, Evidence That Demands A Verdict, by Josh McDowell.
Now What? How does this affect your life? It’s really quite simple. If Jesus is God’sSon, the consequences are enormous. For example:
Jesus once asked His disciples the crucial question:“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:15-17).
You must answer the question – who do you think Jesus is?
Larry King has created a lucrative career by simply asking questions. This celebrity has been interviewing people for over forty years with his mastery of probing questions. The tables were turned when he was interviewed for the fortieth anniversary of his broadcasting debut. Bryant Gumbel had the honor of asking King some very interesting questions. Possibly the most interesting question came at the conclusion of the show when Gumbel asked King, “What questions would you ask God if he were a guest on your show?” King ignited with a torrent of questions about God’s level of participation in human activity, but the very first question out of his mouth was, “Do you have a son?” Although King claims to be an agnostic, he understands the importance of asking this question first. Determining Jesus’ relationship to God is pivotal for salvation, but we needn’t wait for God’s reply. He has already answered King’s question long before the brilliant interviewer was born. In Matthew 3:17, God declared at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” “What Jesus Would Say to Larry King,” Lee Strobel, Seeds Tape Ministry M9730
How To:
If you are ready to confess that Jesus is more than just a man, more than just a great moral teacher, more than a myth – but that he is actually God, then you need to act.
James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.”
Intellectual belief in the existence of God is a start but not nearly enough. What is required is submitting to the lordship and leadership of Jesus. If you are ready to do this you can begin by praying this prayer.
“God I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that He has authority over my life. I believe He died for the forgiveness of my sins. I believe He rose from the dead to give me life forever. Forgive me of the wrong things I have done. Create in me a clean heart.Teach me to obey you and follow you the rest of my life. Amen.”
2004/03/21