Why I Believe in Jesus
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66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. [67] Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? [68] Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. [69] And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
INTRODUCTION
1. In Moscow, I had the privilege to speak on nationwide television from Red Square on the orthodox Easter.
I also spoke in the Red Army Theater. This is a beautiful concert hall, which was built as a temple to atheistic materialism. Inside were the portraits and monuments to Stalin and Lenin. Because of the ministry of Campus Crusade to the military, the theater was filled with soldiers and officers in their uniforms.
What would I say? After prayer, I decided to speak to them on this subject - Why I Believe in Jesus.
2. Jesus had fed the 5,000; but when He spoke to them about feeding on Him - heaven's Bread for earth's hunger - they began to fall away. They were miracle mongers.
Jesus then asked His disciples after He saw the
crowds leaving, "Will you also go away?"
Peter answered, "To whom shall we go?" That is a good question. If we don't believe in Jesus, to whom shall we go?
A. Shall we feed upon the tasteless bread of atheism?
If you do not believe "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," then you must believe, "In the beginning the heavens and the earth made themselves and then created man."
Atheism is not a sign of intelligence. Socrates, Lord Bacon, Galileo, Newton, Pasteur, Einstein, Werner, Von Braun, all believed in a higher intelligence.
What hope is there for the atheist? Like the lemmings who set themselves on a mad journey to reach and the sea and then plunge in headlong and die.
B. Shall I feed upon the dry bread of philosophy?
A system that tells us what we already know in words that we cannot understand.
The philosophers have not found the answer.
Schopenhaur: "Life is a curse of endless cravings and endless unhappiness."
Huxley: "Yes, it seems we are a cancer on the globe."
Bertrand Russell: "Philosophy proved a washout to me."
H. G. Wells: "Unless there is a more abundant scheme before mankind... this scheme of space and time is a bad joke... an empty laugh, braying across the mysteries."
Dr. R. G. Lee said: "Philosophy is a chunk of cloudbank buttered with the night wind."
C. Shall we feed upon the molded bread of materialism?
The pleasures of sin are but for a season. Nothing left but a mouthful of ashes.
Things of earth can never satisfied the deepest hungers of the human heart. Man without God only has a good dog's life at best.
D. Shall I feed upon the poison bread of false religion?
The religions of this world have no answer.
Man only has three problems.
You can take Buddha out of Buddhism or Mohammed out Islam, but still little would be changed.
Jesus alone can satisfy the hunger of the human heart.
Is God's answer to man's sin.
Gives meaning to life and death.
Takes the sting out of sin, the pain out of parting, the fear out of death, the gloom out of the grave.
Gives a hope that steadfast and sure.
John 6:35
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
3. Why then am I certain about the Lord Jesus? I give you four reasons.
I. I BELIEVE BECAUSE OF HISTORICAL REASONS
I. I BELIEVE BECAUSE OF HISTORICAL REASONS
John 6:38
John 6:38
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
1. Jesus is a fact of history. He was manifest in the flesh.
2. Secular historians all admit the fact of the man called Jesus.
H. G. Wells listed the ten greatest men of history, and Jesus Christ was number one. Really, He doesn't belong on any list.
Sir J. G. Fraser, who certainly would not be called a born again Christian, said:
"My theory assumes the historical reality of Jesus of Nazareth as the great religious and moral Teacher Who founded Christianity and Who was crucified at Jerusalem under the governorship of Pontius Pilate.
The testimony of Tacitus and Younger Pliny appears amply sufficient to establish these facts to the satisfaction of all unprejudiced inquiries."
3. There is no way to explain the history of the Christian church apart from the historical person of Jesus.
Only ignorance scoffs at the fact of the man, Jesus Christ.
Why 2K?
II. I BELIEVE BECAUSE OF SCRIPTURAL REASONS
II. I BELIEVE BECAUSE OF SCRIPTURAL REASONS
John 6:45
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the father cometh unto me.
John 6:45
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the father cometh unto me.
1. The Bible has stood the test of time. There are great reasons for believing the Bible as the word of God.
A. Its fulfilled prophecy.
B. Its wonderful unity.
C. Its longevity.
D. Its accuracy.
E. Its life-giving power.
2. Jesus Christ is the central theme of the Bible.
God has given a record of His Son. The Bible has but one message from cover to cover - Jesus saves!
3. Jesus is absolutely unique as He is presented in the Bible.
A. His virgin birth is unique.
My experience with Mohammed Ali. "Champ, Jesus was not the Son of God because He was born of a virgin. He was born of a virgin because He was the Son of God.
B. He was unique in His life.
1) He never withdrew or modified any statement that He ever made. "Many things are 'opened by mistake' but none so frequently as the mouth."
2) Jesus never once apologized for anything that He ever did or said. Yet, it was not because people never got angry at Him.
3) Jesus never sought advice from anyone. He went among the doctors of the law and taught them. He corrected the scribes and the Pharisees.
Moses sought 70 advisors.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, sought the advice of others; but Jesus never did.
4) Jesus never once troubled to justify His behavior. He slept during a storm on the back of the boat. He delayed to come to Lazarus' house.
5) Jesus never asked forgiveness.
6) Jesus did not have any strong points. To have a strong point you must have some weak points, but Jesus had no weak points. His life was one of perfect balance.
C. Jesus was unique in His death.
He did what no other founder of any other religion ever did. He came to die, not simply to teach.
He was the only man Who chose to die, and He was the only One Who had the power to take His life up again.
D. Jesus was unique in His resurrection.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the keynote of the apostolic preaching.
Were they hallucinating? He was seen by more than 500 at one time.
Was He a ghost? He ate and drank with them.
Was it a lie? Men may live for a lie, but few are willing to die for a lie.
The leaders of false religions do not have the words of life.
Confucius' tomb is occupied.
Buddha's tomb is occupied.
Mohammed's tomb is occupied.
Jesus' tomb is empty.
We went into the tomb of Lenin: "He was the greatest leader of all peoples, of all countries, or all times. He was the lord of the new humanity. He was the savior of the world."
Notice that it is all past tense.
Joyce passed by the guard and whispered on Easter morning, "He is risen."
III. I BELIEVE BECAUSE FOR SPIRITUAL REASONS
III. I BELIEVE BECAUSE FOR SPIRITUAL REASONS
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
No man can come to me, except the father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:63
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
1. The Holy Spirit has witnessed to me about Jesus.
1 John 5:6-10
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. [7] For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. [8] And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. [9] If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. [10] He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
He takes the work of Christ and makes it real to us. He does not speak of Himself.
The story of Isaac and Rebekah.
If you can trust men and their testimony surely you can trust God. We trust men everyday - cooks,
lawyers, pilots and doctors.
Don't tell me that you cannot believe God. You can if you want to for the Holy Spirit of God will enable you. Jesus did not say, "You cannot come unto Me," but, "You will not come unto Me that you might have
life."
2. The Holy Spirit witnesses in me.
1 John 5:10
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar;
because he believeth not the record that god gave of his
Son.
Imagine two men arguing about apple pie, whether or not it tastes good when you have just eaten a piece of apple pie.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
A Christian with an experience is never at the mercy of an unbeliever with an argument.
The witness in us is not just an emotional feeling. It may result in emotions but don't mistake the result for the witness. Your emotions are the shallowest part of your nature, and salvation is the deepest work of God. God does not do His deepest work in the shallowest part.
3. Because the Holy Spirit has witnessed to me and witnesses in me, then he may witness through me.
It is not up to me to be a great persuader.
How important that every witness be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 5:32
And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
He is the seeker that we really need to be sensitive to.
IV. I BELIEVE BECAUSE OF PERSONAL REASONS
IV. I BELIEVE BECAUSE OF PERSONAL REASONS
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
The Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. [69] And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God.
1. The best people I have known and do you know are all believers in Jesus Christ. I see in true believers a real difference that I know is genuine.
2. The power that I have experienced my own life confirms that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
3. Faith is rooted in evidence, it goes beyond evidence, and then becomes its own best evidence.
4. Byron Richardson was driving through the mountains. It was late. His wife said to stop and get gas, but he drove on. Finally, in desperation he stopped at an old store in the mountains. "It is really great to be alive, isn't it?" 'I don't know, I have never been any other way."
Thank God I have been another way - dead in trespasses and sin, and it's great to be alive!
CONCLUSION
"All hail the power of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all."