The Identity of Jesus: Beyond Intellectual Assent

• The Identity of Jesus [00:03:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the final point in the 'Reasons Not to Believe' series, focusing on whether Jesus was who he claimed to be (the Son of God).
• Historical Documentation [00:06:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor lists historical evidence for Jesus' existence, citing secular historians like Tacitus and Josephus, and the four Gospel accounts.
• Biblical Claims of Divinity [00:10:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes John 8, where Jesus claims to be greater than Abraham and uses the phrase 'I Am,' which the religious leaders understood as a claim to divinity.
• The Burning Bush Narrative [00:11:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects Jesus' 'I Am' statement to Exodus 3, explaining the theological significance of God's name revealed to Moses.
• The Burning Bush and God's Name [00:12:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the story of Moses and the burning bush to establish the holiness of God's name 'I AM' (Yahweh) and its significance in Jewish tradition.
• Jesus' Claim to Divinity [00:15:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains how Jesus used the phrase 'I am' to claim the divine name of God, leading to accusations of blasphemy, and clarifies the distinction between Jesus as God the Son and God the Father.
• The Trinity and the Nature of Jesus [00:17:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides a 'theology 101' explanation of the Trinity, defining Jesus as the 'God-man,' fully God and fully man, and the second person of the Trinity.
• The Trilemma (Lunatic, Liar, or Lord) [00:20:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that Jesus cannot be dismissed as merely a 'good man' or 'prophet' because of his explicit claims to divinity, presenting the options that he was either insane, a liar, or who he said he was.
• Psychological and Historical Evidence [00:21:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites psychiatrist J.T. Fisher and the historical record to refute the 'lunatic' theory, and points to Jesus' endurance of torture without denying his claims to refute the 'liar' theory.
• The Centrality of Jesus' Identity [00:24:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor concludes that determining Jesus' true identity is the prerequisite for evaluating the Christian faith, as his claims settle all other theological and moral questions.
• The centrality of Jesus [00:24:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that standing on Jesus is the foundational issue that settles all other questions regarding faith, spirituality, and morality.
• Authority of Scripture and Jesus' words [00:25:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that if Jesus is who he claimed to be, his words are final ('whatever he says goes') and serve as the ultimate answer to questions about evil, hypocrisy, and morality.
• The binary choice of faith [00:25:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor presents a dichotomy: either accept Jesus' identity and his teachings, or dismiss Christianity entirely as a 'big one to cross off' your list.

• Sermon Illustration [00:04:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of Napoleon Bonaparte asking German scholar Wieland about Jesus instead of politics, and cites Google search statistics showing Jesus is searched more than Beyonce, Taylor Swift, or Elon Musk.
• Sermon Illustration [00:12:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the story of Moses and the burning bush, including a personal anecdote about visiting St. Catharines Monastery on Mount Sinai and seeing the bush that has never taken root.
• Sermon Illustration [00:12:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes visiting St. Catharines Monastery on Mount Sinai, noting the 'burning bush' there which is dead at the bottom but alive at the top, and has never taken root when cut.
• Sermon Illustration [00:20:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a hypothetical scenario where he approaches someone at a brewery claiming to be God in human form to save the world, illustrating how absurd it would be to dismiss such a claim as merely 'he's a good guy.'

• Pastoral Charge [00:25:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > Submit to Jesus's authority as the final word on truth and faith.
• Pastoral Charge [00:25:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > Abandon Christianity and seek truth elsewhere if Jesus is not divine.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] The world is full of reasons not to believe in God. But what if they don't tell the whole story? What if those questions deserve a second look? You might find that belief makes more sense than you expected.
[00:00:16] Well, welcome to MEX Online Campus and happy Mother's Day. Want some fun facts about Mother's Day? I dug some up.
[00:00:24] Well, it always falls. For example, on the second Sunday of May, you would know that.
[00:00:28] But did you know that phone usage spikes every year on Mother's Day by over 6%?
[00:00:34] Now, that may not sound like a whole lot to you, but in the United States, there are currently 3.1 billion calls made a day, so that's an increase of 186 million calls.
[00:00:48] That's a lot of moms.
[00:00:50] Most popular gifts from children are cards followed by flowers.
[00:00:53] The most popular flower to give to moms is a rose.
[00:00:57] The official Mother's Day holiday was created by a woman.
[00:00:59] I thought this was interesting.
[00:01:00] I didn't know this until I started doing some digging.
[00:01:02] It was created by a woman named Anna Jarvis in 1908, who went her entire life personally, both unmarried and childless.
[00:01:11] In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the day based on Jarvis's work.
[00:01:18] But Anna's vision was for it to be a day of this personal celebration between mothers and families.
[00:01:25] she envisioned a day where a woman would wear a white carnation as a badge, and then children would visit their mother or go with her to church on that day. But once Mother's Day became this
[00:01:37] big national holiday, it wasn't long before florists, card companies, other merchants began to capitalize on its popularity. And Anna Jarvis so hated how it became commercialized that after she worked tirelessly to get it established as a national holiday. She then worked tirelessly the
[00:01:56] rest of her life to get it unestablished as a national holiday, so much so that she died using up all of her own funds. In the process, she died penniless in a sanitarium. She's not the only one
[00:02:08] who ended up hating Mother's Day. It's considered the worst day of the year for those in the restaurant industry, not because it's a slow day, but the opposite, because it is the busiest day for restaurants of the entire year, even over Valentine's Day, and as a result, the most
[00:02:25] grueling. From big groups showing up in waves, our party's almost all here, to food fussy kids, to drama over splitting the check. It is a mess. Here's how one waiter put it. They said, every server knows that working on Mother's Day is hell. In fact, if I die and got to hell,
[00:02:48] I completely expect it to be Mother's Day. 365 days a year. Well, if you're a mom and you need some facts to make you feel better about your particular situation as a mother, I got three
[00:03:01] to take home with you. The mother of the most children on record was Valentina Valesiev in the 18th century who had a record 69 children. The oldest woman to ever give birth was 74 years old
[00:03:18] and the longest pregnancy of any animal is the elephant, they are pregnant nearly two years before giving birth. So all to say, happy Mother's Day, and it could be worse.
[00:03:31] We've been in a series called Reasons Not to Believe. Let's look at the six biggest reasons people have or would have for passing on the Christian faith. And here's what we've looked at so far. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, if it conflicts, just diametrically opposed to
[00:03:46] everything science tells us, if the Bible is riddled with errors, if there isn't an adequate explanation for the presence in our world of evil and suffering, and if judgmental, hypocritical Christians legitimately undermine its validity. Those are the five we've covered. Today we come
[00:04:02] to the last one on our list, which is if Jesus was not who he said he was or who people claimed him to be, which was the Son of God. What a key question, and it always has been. You know, I'm a
[00:04:15] bit of a history buff. Napoleon Bonaparte dominated Europe and global affairs for nearly a decade.
[00:04:21] Most people have heard of Napoleon. Rising to power during the French Revolution through a series of conquests, he eventually ruled all of continental Europe. He is considered to be one of the greatest military commanders that has ever lived. His campaigns are studied at military
[00:04:36] schools to this very day. Napoleon, in 1808 and at the height of his powers as emperor of the met the German scholar Wieland. He could have asked the famed intellect anything about the dynamics of world affairs, but he wasn't interested in talking about politics. He
[00:04:56] wasn't interested in talking about war. Napoleon had one burning question he wanted to ask the famed author and professor, one that seemed to him paramount to all others. What did he think about Jesus? And we're still asking that question. Let me give you some Google stats, and specifically
[00:05:16] the number of searches per month in the United States for various figures. For example, Beyonce.
[00:05:24] Right now, there are about 1.2 million searches a month for her name in the United States alone.
[00:05:31] Plug in Taylor Swift. It climbs to over 3 million. When it comes to Elon Musk, he's been searched over 4 million, he's being searched right now, over 4 million times a month. Plug in Jesus,
[00:05:45] try over 17 million a month in the United States alone, 2,000 years after his time on earth.
[00:05:56] And the number of pages devoted to him online, you know, I thought that, I plugged that into Google AI. How many pages online? It came back and said, there are so many, it is immeasurable.
[00:06:10] AI said, there's so much on Jesus that can't be measured. He's just the most engaging, talked about spiritual figure in all of human history, even to this very day. But who is he?
[00:06:23] There's a lot that's easy to know about him. And some of it we've talked about already in the series. For example, we know he existed. No scholar, no matter where they stand on Christianity itself, denies that the man Jesus, the one we're talking about, the one the Bible
[00:06:36] talks about, existed in time and space. Jesus is one of the most documented figures in all of human history. You find him listed in the writings of Thallus, who was a first century Greek writer,
[00:06:48] Pliny the Younger, who was a lawyer and author of ancient Rome. You also find him in the writings of the Roman historians Tacitus, as well as Suetonius, as well as the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. Of course, the most detailed record is found in the Bible, but that gives us
[00:07:04] not one, but four independent eyewitness biographical accounts named after the men who wrote it, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. More than a few historians have noted that his life is the most documented life in all of ancient history. So we know Jesus existed.
[00:07:20] We also know that his teaching was of such a compelling nature that to this day, it's part of our cultural ethos, whether it's such memorable lines as do unto others as you would have them do unto you or timeless stories like the prodigal son.
[00:07:37] No one has been more spiritually or culturally influential.
[00:07:41] We also know that miracles were attributed to him.
[00:07:45] Whether you buy into the possibility of miracles or not, people who witnessed his life said he did them. We also know that he was sentenced to death through a Jewish and then Roman legal process. We know that on the third day after his crucifixion, his execution, there was an empty
[00:08:01] tomb. A stone was rolled away. The body was gone. Even though heavily armed Roman troops guarded it, nobody denies an empty tomb. Nobody denied it at the time. And we know his followers went running
[00:08:14] around the landscape saying that the reason for that empty tomb was that Jesus had risen from the dead that they had seen him, talked with him, and had touched him, interacted with him. It wasn't
[00:08:23] just one of the disciples making this claim or even just a handful, but all of them. There are even records of groups numbering in the hundreds who witnessed the resurrected Jesus said they did at the same time. We also know that after that first Easter, the Christian movement just exploded
[00:08:39] onto the world scene. By AD 100, there were over 7,500 followers. By AD 310, there were more than 30 million. Today, there are billions and it is the world's largest faith. But does that answer
[00:08:53] who he was? Not really. To get at that, we have to look a little deeper. Something that Jesus himself encouraged. In fact, let me read you a bit of back and forth between Jesus and his early
[00:09:04] followers that is captured in Mark's biography of Jesus. Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, Who do people say I am?
[00:09:20] Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you were one of the other prophets, meaning people that had been brought back from the dead to walk them again.
[00:09:30] Then he asked them, well, who do you say I am?
[00:09:34] And Peter replied, you're the Messiah.
[00:09:39] Now, for Peter to say that Jesus was the Messiah literally meant that he was saying, you are the Christ, the anointed one, the one who has come to save the world.
[00:09:47] But how should you answer the question?
[00:09:49] was Peter right? Well, don't. Let's start off by looking at how Jesus answered the question, because he did. He stated his identity loud and clear. Let me take you to one of the most intriguing sections, I think, of the Bible, a passage where Jesus spoke directly to his
[00:10:06] identity. People think that Jesus was coy about his identity. He was not. This is found in the eighth chapter of John, one of the four historical accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus in the
[00:10:16] New Testament. Jesus was in a dialogue with Jewish religious leaders. They were only too aware of his miracles, his teaching, that thousands were following him. So they asked him, who do you think you are? They were doing it in an attack mode. Who do you think you are? Let me read his
[00:10:37] answer. I tell you the truth, Jesus said, if a man keeps my word, he will never see death.
[00:10:46] At this, the Jews exclaimed, well, now we know you're demon-possessed.
[00:10:50] Abraham died, and so did the prophets.
[00:10:51] And you say if a man keeps your word, he will never see death?
[00:10:55] Are you greater than our father Abraham?
[00:10:57] He died, and so did the prophets.
[00:11:00] Who do you think you are?
[00:11:03] Jesus replied, your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day.
[00:11:08] He saw it and was glad.
[00:11:12] You are not yet 50 years old, the Jews said to him, and you have seen Abraham. I tell you the truth, Jesus answered, before Abraham was born, I am.
[00:11:25] At this, they picked up stones to stone him. Excuse me, my allergies. Who did Jesus say he was?
[00:11:34] This is extremely important to unpack. He referred to himself here as I am. Now, that's either very bad grammar, or he was trying to say something very significant. Let's play the significant route. The background of I Am is found in one of the most famous stories in the Bible,
[00:11:54] the story of Moses before the burning bush. The entire story of Moses is amazing and fascinating, which is why almost every movie made of the Bible is either on Moses or Jesus.
[00:12:05] As a Hebrew baby, Moses was put in a small boat-like crib on the Nile to avoid being killed.
[00:12:11] He was rescued by the daughter of the pharaoh of Egypt.
[00:12:14] He was raised as a prince.
[00:12:16] He went into exile after killing a man who was assaulting a fellow Hebrew.
[00:12:21] And we haven't even gotten to the Ten Commandments.
[00:12:24] When God called Moses to step out and go to Egypt to work for the release of the Jewish people from slavery, he got his attention by having him run across a bush that was burning, burning but never burning up, on the slopes of Mount Sinai.
[00:12:39] I've actually been to Mount Sinai and a few years ago I went to Egypt and I went out to the Sinai Desert where I visited a place called St. Catharines Monastery.
[00:12:50] It's a monastery that has existed on the side of Mount Sinai since the 300s. It's the oldest existing monastery, Christian monastery, in the world. Here's what it looks like. It was built for one purpose, to surround the burning bush. That was
[00:13:09] its original purpose. Now, whether it's the actual one or not, the bush that's there lies within the oldest part of the monastery in a small roped-off courtyard at the end of a narrow walkway. It looks
[00:13:22] dead on the bottom but alive on top. It's like a large hanging plant. Here's a picture of what it looks like. I was told that its age has been determined to be at least centuries old and that
[00:13:39] no cutting from it will ever take root. Well, back to the story. Moses went over and from that burning bush, God spoke to him. He told him to go to the highest authority and power in the land,
[00:13:52] the Pharaoh of Egypt, and demanded a release all of the Jewish slaves. This would end up being the big showdown that would lead to the famed plagues, the 10 plagues, and eventually the exodus from
[00:14:04] Egypt with the help of a parted sea or two. But on the front end of all that, Moses understandably wanted to be able to have a little credibility. So he asked God to give him his name, the very name
[00:14:17] of the living God, so that he could say to the people, this is who has sent me. Well, here's the answer God gave to Moses. God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the
[00:14:31] Israelites. I am has sent me to you. Now that phrase, I am, is considered the most holy word in existence because it is the very name of God. It was considered so holy that the Jews would not
[00:14:45] even write it completely out. They would only write the four consonants, Y-H-W-H. Now, scholars used to think that it was best pronounced Jehovah. If you've ever heard of the name of God being Jehovah, well, stop hearing it. It's wrong. We now know that the closest we can make of the
[00:15:05] actual name in light of the missing vowels is that it was pronounced Yahweh. God said, my name is Yahweh. I am. Now return to what Jesus said when asked about his identity.
[00:15:19] I tell you the truth, Jesus answered, before Abraham was born, I am. Jesus claimed the very name of the living God for himself. And the people listening understood him completely. You see, that's why they picked up stones to stone him, because in their minds, he was a mere man
[00:15:36] who was being blasphemous.
[00:15:39] Here in their minds was a mere man claiming to be God himself.
[00:15:42] But this mere man made that claim repeatedly throughout his life.
[00:15:48] When he stood before the high priest just before his crucifixion, he was asked again, are you the Christ?
[00:15:54] The Greek word for Messiah.
[00:15:55] And here's what Jesus said.
[00:15:59] The high priest asked him, are you the Messiah?
[00:16:01] I am, said Jesus.
[00:16:04] And as if there was any doubt, Jesus put it as bluntly as possible when he said, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
[00:16:12] You might be thinking, okay, okay, clear something up for me.
[00:16:16] Jesus is saying he's God, but he also is talking about God the Father, and I always thought Jesus was the Son of God, so which is it?
[00:16:22] What's up with that?
[00:16:23] Is he the Son of God?
[00:16:25] Yes.
[00:16:26] He was the Son of God and is the Son of God.
[00:16:28] For example, at his baptism, we read this.
[00:16:30] After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, this is my dearly loved
[00:16:40] son who brings me great joy. Later, at the time of what is known as the transfiguration, meaning a moment when Jesus was seen by some of his followers in all of his true heavenly glory,
[00:16:53] it ended with this. A bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy. Listen to him. And even when Jesus encountered demons, they knew exactly who he was. When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake
[00:17:11] in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area. They began screaming at him,
[00:17:21] why are you interfering with us, son of God? And in Mark's biography, he simply gives this blanket summary. And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him, shrieking, you are the Son of God.
[00:17:38] So what is up with Jesus claiming to be God and also being referred to as the Son of God?
[00:17:44] Okay, first, it helps to clear up what exactly Jesus is claiming. He claimed to be God, but it was always God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. Now, hang with me here. This is
[00:17:56] so important. A little theology 101, but it helps with so many other things in terms of understanding.
[00:18:03] One of the most amazing teachings of the Bible about God is that God is triune.
[00:18:09] That is, his very nature is trinity.
[00:18:13] The Bible teaches the oneness of God.
[00:18:15] There's not many gods.
[00:18:16] There's one God.
[00:18:17] But then the Bible follows that up with another teaching.
[00:18:20] There are three persons who are each referred to as God.
[00:18:24] God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
[00:18:27] Not three gods, but three persons who are one God.
[00:18:31] So you find Jesus referring to God the Father, but referring to himself as God as well, and he was God the Son.
[00:18:39] In the Bible, the Father and the Son are one in will and activity and in giving eternal life.
[00:18:45] The Son is in the Father. The Father is in the Son.
[00:18:48] To be the son of someone in the way Jesus was referring to it meant to be of the same order as that person, to have the same qualities of that person.
[00:18:57] This is why throughout his time in ministry, Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man, and he would also be called the Son of God.
[00:19:05] Why?
[00:19:05] The Son of Man meant that he was identifying with his humanity.
[00:19:09] The Son of God showed that he was also God himself in human form.
[00:19:14] Jesus was the great God-man, fully God, fully man.
[00:19:18] God himself come to planet Earth to take human form.
[00:19:21] Now, I know the Trinity is a mind-boggling concept, but it should be.
[00:19:28] There should be some mind-boggling things when it comes to the nature and identity of God.
[00:19:35] He ought to be bigger than what we can wrap our heads around, or else he's no bigger than our intellect, and that would be a very small God.
[00:19:42] God says, my nature is triune.
[00:19:46] Deal with it.
[00:19:48] So in Jesus, we have a person who walked the earth and claimed to be God the Son, the second person of the Trinity in human form. No other major religious figure has ever made that
[00:19:56] claim. Not Buddha, not Muhammad, not Confucius. Nobody. Only Jesus made the claim to be God himself come to planet earth. Now, when people realize how clearly the Bible teaches and that Jesus himself said that his true identity was God himself, it messes with them. They don't know what
[00:20:20] to do with that. So they bracket it off, kind of shrug their shoulders and say, well, you know, I don't know about that, but I mean, I think he was a good man, you know, maybe even a prophet,
[00:20:31] but you know, that's all. Did you know that's the one thing you can't say about him, that he was just a good man? Let's say I walk up to you at one of Charlotte's 10,000 breweries on a Friday night.
[00:20:42] I've got my IPA in hand and I say, hi, I'm Jim. I'm God in human form. Come to save the world.
[00:20:49] and your name is? What would you think? Would you say to people, you know, that Jim, he says he's God. I don't quite know about that, but I think he's a good guy. I'd let him babysit my kids
[00:21:02] anytime. I don't think so. You'd only have a few choices, really, after you made sure my claim wasn't just a result of too many of those IPAs. Here are your choices. You could conclude that
[00:21:16] Jesus was a stark, raving lunatic, unless applied to Jesus, that he was a stark, raving lunatic.
[00:21:22] Maybe he did think he was God, but he was severely sick psychologically.
[00:21:26] The problem is that in most cases of severe psychological disorder, the background of the person makes it clear they had a profile, they had a history of mental illness.
[00:21:33] And there's absolutely nothing in the historical record of the life of Jesus that exhibits even a single sign of any of the classical manifestations of mental illness, such as the inability to relate to the real world,
[00:21:45] inadequacy in personal relationships, deficiencies in verbal skills. In fact, psychiatrist J.T.
[00:21:51] Fisher concluded that if you were to survey all of the psychological data, which is discipline as to offer, and boil it down to one essential and perfect prescription for mental health, it would be the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon Jesus ever preached.
[00:22:06] So let's just say that the insane option for Jesus is a little sketchy. A second option would to say that he was simply a liar. He said he was God, obviously knew he was not. But this would
[00:22:19] be saying that the man whose teaching has set the standard for integrity and honesty throughout the civilized world was a habitual, premeditated, pathological liar. Even more important to remember is that Jesus was arrested, mocked, beaten. He was tortured prior to his execution
[00:22:35] and he was offered a full pardon by the Roman governor Pilate if he would just simply deny his claim to be God. If a con man can stop a nail being driven into the flesh of his hand by telling
[00:22:48] the truth and be rewarded for that, he would. People who are playing the system for personal gain change their game when it stops paying off. They keep up the lie until their deception costs them more than what they gained through their deceit. But Jesus endured it all. He never denied
[00:23:08] has claimed to be God, even though given every chance. And right about now you might be thinking, well, okay, okay, I get it. The lunatic label doesn't fit and maybe neither does the liar label fit. So like I said, I'm happy to say he's a good man, maybe even a prophet from God, but
[00:23:24] you know, that's it. But someone who said they were God and wasn't can't just be called a good man. Here we have a man who walked the earth and claimed to be God. You can say he was insane. You
[00:23:38] can say he was a liar, but you can't just call him good. A liar isn't good. And a lunatic is not good in terms of being a trusted moral and spiritual advisor. So if insane doesn't fit,
[00:23:50] pathological liar doesn't fit, and being just good doesn't fit his claims, what's left?
[00:23:57] That he was who he said he was. Now, hear me. I'm not trying to paint you into a corner here.
[00:24:02] This isn't about intellectual gymnastics or trying to win some kind of debate. I'm trying to get you to think about it in a way that maybe you've never thought about it before.
[00:24:11] Jesus is worth wrestling with. If he was who he said he was, nothing else matters. If he wasn't who he said he was, then nothing about him matters. But if he was who he said he was, I mean, it just,
[00:24:24] it settles almost every other question you might have about the Christian faith, you know, which is why when I'm talking to people about faith and spirituality and the Christian faith, and they've got all these kinds of questions on all kinds of concerns, and they're really, really good ones.
[00:24:38] And I always turn it back to Jesus. I said, look, before we get into all this other stuff, let's settle where you stand on Jesus. Because if we settle that, it's everything. If Jesus was
[00:24:49] who he said he was, then every other question you have about the Christian faith is settled.
[00:24:53] If he wasn't who he said he was, then why should we waste any energy on any of those other questions?
[00:24:58] But if he was, then you simply have to turn to Jesus and see what he said. And because if he was who he said he was, whatever he says goes. It's kind of end of story. God has spoken.
[00:25:10] So is the Bible inspired by God? But what did Jesus say? What is the real story behind evil and suffering in the world? What did Jesus say? What's up with people who are judgmental and
[00:25:20] hypocritical? What did Jesus say? What's right and wrong, true and false, good and bad? What did Jesus say? And if Jesus wasn't who he said he was, then you can move on. You can write off the
[00:25:30] world's largest religion and history's most significant spiritual figure. You can look for truth and answers somewhere else. Cross it off your list. And it's a big one to cross off because it clears away a lot of real estate that you don't ever have to think about again. So either way,
[00:25:46] worth exploring. So let me end by talking to two different places that you might be.
[00:25:53] First, if you're one of those who have already made your decision about Jesus, you do believe he was who he said he was? Lean into it. Own it. Live like it. If you haven't gone public with that
[00:26:07] decision through baptism, then that's your next step. You've heard that we're offering baptism following every service next weekend. If you have not already been baptized, what are you waiting for? This isn't a game. This is real. If you believe Jesus was who he said he was, if you come
[00:26:23] to him as a leader and forgiver, if you're banking your entire eternity on him, then for Christ's sake, do what he's asked you to do, which is to go public for him through baptism and then begin
[00:26:35] the great adventure of following him and letting him become your leader. But we're not just offering it after every in-person service, but also having a special online opportunity. We have it all set up where you can find a place, a bathtub, a swimming pool, a hot tub, lake, river, beach,
[00:26:52] anywhere where you have enough water to be immersed and have an online internet connection.
[00:26:58] you can join with others under the leadership and direction of a pastor and be baptized or show up get registered and do it with many others here on our physical campus all the information is
[00:27:09] available on this page for you just click the tab so get the information you need get registered go public take your next step now to those of you who have not made your decision i want to challenge
[00:27:21] you look into this maybe for the first time in your adult life with an open mind you know some of you may know that I have a bit of an academic background. Right after I earned my PhD, I thought
[00:27:35] my life was going to be in academia. That's why after my master's, I went for my PhD. And while I was actually led in a different direction, I was always kept afoot in the academic world,
[00:27:46] either as an adjunct professor or at times a visiting professor. I was even president of a graduate school for a season. All to say, I was teaching a seminar on Christian thought to a group
[00:27:58] of students in a graduate seminar and had invited a guy who was fairly well known in the area, had done some writing and such, who was a new friend of mine, to speak to the class about why he was not a Christian.
[00:28:11] He was a very outspoken non-Christian.
[00:28:14] And he said he'd left it.
[00:28:15] And it was an evening class.
[00:28:17] We met for dinner, he and I did.
[00:28:19] And then we spent some time together and we drove over to the campus where he spoke for maybe 30, 40 minutes, kind of just telling his story.
[00:28:26] And then afterward, he fielded some questions from the students.
[00:28:29] And he talked about his life and his background, his spiritual convictions, why he was not a follower of Christ.
[00:28:35] What all of us listening found interesting was that most of his reasons for rejecting the Christian faith were not particularly intellectual.
[00:28:44] They were more emotional.
[00:28:46] There was just a lot of junk in his life toward people who called themselves Christians but were maybe flaming hypocrites.
[00:28:51] And he'd also experienced a lot of dysfunctional churches.
[00:28:54] and he had faced a fair degree of prejudice growing up as a Jew in the South.
[00:28:59] All fair stuff to have to process.
[00:29:02] But none of them having anything to do with the Christian faith was true or not.
[00:29:07] None of it had to do with whether or not Jesus was who he said he was.
[00:29:11] Anyway, time to throw it open for questions and answers.
[00:29:14] Here was the first question from a student sitting here at the front.
[00:29:17] Raised her hand and said, have you ever explored the Christian faith with an open mind as an intellectual? And I thought to myself, great question. If that hadn't been asked by the end of the night, I was going to ask him
[00:29:33] because I wanted to hear exactly what his process had been for exploring Christianity and then rejecting it. You know, what tools, what resources, what avenues, what topics did he explore that made him come to the decision and the conclusion that it had no merit for his life.
[00:29:50] Because so far, none of that had come out. So I kind of leaned in for his answer. He said, have I explored Christianity with an open mind? No, no, I haven't. And I don't intend to.
[00:30:07] Just feel the stunned silence in the room. The student just said, well, why? And my friend said, I don't have to. I know it's not right and I know I am. There were a lot of smart students in that
[00:30:23] class. Like I said, it was a graduate seminar for students getting their master's degree and you could just see it on their faces. That was not a smart answer. Now, not many people would say what
[00:30:34] he said so bluntly, but a lot live it out that bluntly. Don't be that person. So if you're game to check it out, I'm going to give you something to begin that exploration. I'm going to give you
[00:30:46] this book. And it's called Christianity for People Who Are Not Christians. It's a book written for people who are exploring the Christian faith, willing to explore it. And it walks through the kinds of questions and concerns anybody would have who is willing to explore it with an open
[00:31:04] mind. We want to give it to you, free of charge, no strings attached. There's no hidden tracking monitors inside it. No one's going to come knock on your door. Now, since you're joining us online,
[00:31:16] We're not able to send this to you in the mail.
[00:31:18] We wish we could.
[00:31:19] We just don't have the resources to do that.
[00:31:20] And we don't have the ability, we looked into it, to send you a link for an audio or e-book.
[00:31:26] Again, I wish we could.
[00:31:27] But if you're in the Charlotte area and you can swing by our Grounds bookstore and cafe during the week and we'll give you one for free.
[00:31:36] Just say, hey, look, I watched online, heard about the free book giveaway.
[00:31:39] I would like that book, please.
[00:31:40] I'm happy to give it to you.
[00:31:42] And if you're not in the area, all I know is to get one through Amazon or maybe a bookstore in your area.
[00:31:47] I know it won't be free, but at least you'll have it.
[00:31:50] It goes into everything that we have touched on in this series, only in even more depth.
[00:31:57] And, you know, did Jesus rise from the dead?
[00:31:59] Does the Christian faith conflict with science?
[00:32:01] Is the Bible riddled with errors?
[00:32:03] What does the Christian faith have to say about the existence of evil and suffering in the face of a God who is supposed to be all powerful and loving?
[00:32:10] What is up with judgmental, hypocritical Christians?
[00:32:12] Was Jesus who he said he was?
[00:32:14] And so much more, including how can there be just one way to heaven?
[00:32:18] Why are there so many Christian denominations?
[00:32:20] What about the seemingly nasty things that we read about in the Bible that God supposedly did?
[00:32:25] Killing people, capital punishment, and more.
[00:32:29] The book doesn't flinch from anything.
[00:32:31] And I can't think of a better way to end this series than by making sure that somehow, some way, you get a copy in your hands.
[00:32:41] Okay, before I turn you loose and we call this day, bring it to an end, let me just say a quick prayer.
[00:32:50] Father, thank you that you are ready to begin wherever we are with our questions and doubts, emotions and woundings, fears and even anxieties.
[00:33:02] You are after a relationship and you want that relationship to be real, to matter, to be authentic.
[00:33:08] So you welcome us to begin where we are.
[00:33:10] And I pray that today, even if it starts with something as simple as a book, that many will begin a journey of investigation.
[00:33:18] And I pray that in Jesus' name.
[00:33:20] Amen.