Reason to Believe 2
Chris Knepp

Reason to Believe 2

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Reason to Believe 2 - The Text

REASON TO BELIEVE​

Accounting for the Hope that Is within Us

Key Scripture: 1 Peter 3:15

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect….” (NIV)​
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The Divinity of Jesus: Examples of Jesus’ Own Claims​
​Mark 2:1-12– Jesus forgives the sins of a paralyzed man (and then heals him). Jewish scribes, upon hearing Jesus, said “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Clearly, they understood him to be claiming divinity.​

·         Mark 14:61-64– Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard his blasphemy.” Again, Jesus’s audience had no doubt that he was claiming divine status. They knew that Daniel 7:13-14 and Psalm 110:1-2, which Jesus used to speak of himself, were signs of divine authority. Accordingly, they condemned him to death, the penalty for blasphemy.​

Reason to Believe

The Divinity of Jesus: Examples of Jesus’ Own Claims​
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·         John 10:30-33 - 30 I and the Father are one.”31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”​

·         John 8:58- 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. ​

The words “I am” in Greek use the same expression as the Greek version of Exodus 3:14 in which God identifies himself to Moses as “I am who I am.” John 8:58 is the clearest expression of Jesus’s divine identity among these “I am” statements. He is claiming not only to be eternal, but to be the God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. His Jewish opponents understood this immediately, as they prepared to stone him for blasphemy.​​

Reason to Believe

The Divinity of Jesus: C.S Lewis’s “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” Argument​"

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) was the 20thcentury’s greatest Christian apologist (after he rejected his long-held atheism!) In his most famous work, Mere Christianity, he makes the case that Jesus Christ is exactly who he said he was – namely, God. ​

​I amtrying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that 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 his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.​

Reason to Believe

The Truth of the Resurrection ​

​In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul makes clear that the foundation of Christian faith is an historical event. Either Jesus was raised from the dead and we have hope of eternal life, or he remained dead and buried and our faith is in vain. “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.’” 1 Corinthians 15:32 (Paul quoting the prophet Isaiah) ​

The Truth of the Resurrection: 1 Cor 15:1-19​

·          What is “the gospel” that Paul preached? ​

·          What evidence does Paul cite to establish the historical reliability of the resurrection?​

15 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.​

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.​

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.​

Reason to Believe

The Empty Tomb - Mark 16:1-8

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.​

Reason to Believe

The Empty Tomb – Matthew 28:1-10

28 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he[a] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead,[b] and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”​

The Empty Tomb – Luke 24:1-12​

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.​

The Empty Tomb – John 20:1-10​

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.​

Reason to Believe

Questions about the Gospel Accounts​

·        In what ways are these accounts similar? ​

·        In what ways do they differ? ​

·        What would you think if they were identical to each other?​

Reason to Believe

“If I Had Faked the Resurrection….”​

Christian evangelist and apologist Josh McDowell makes a very strong case that the gospel writers were telling the truth about Jesus being raised from the dead. In his famous article, “If I Had Faked the Resurrection,” McDowell lists the things which the New Testament authors should have done if they wanted to spread a lie. How many can we think of?​

·          ​Wait a prudent period after the event before publishing my account. ​

·          Publish my account far from the venue where it supposedly happened. ​

·          Select my witnesses very carefully. ​

·          Surround the event with supernatural displays. ​

·          Painstakingly correlate my account with others. ​

·          Disguise the location of the tomb (or destroy it). ​

·          Squelch inquiry or investigation. ​

·          Not preach a message of repentance. ​

·          Stop short of dying for my lie.

Reason to Believe

Chuck Colson’s “Watergate and the Resurrection”​
​Former White House Counsel and President Nixon’s “hatchet man.”​

·            Became a Christian in course of Watergate scandal, pled guilty to obstruction of justice, and served seven months in a federal penitentiary. ​

·            In 1976, after his release, founded Prison Fellowship, our country’s largest prison ministry. ​

·            Best known book is powerful story of his conversion, Born Again.​​

In another of his great books, Loving God, Colson explains how the collapse of the Watergate cover-up conspiracy “proves” that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is true.​

·          I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world -and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.        ​