Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

One day Cardinal Bernadine’s assistant came into his office obviously alarmed.

“What’s wrong?” the cardinal asked.

“There is a man out here who says he is Jesus Christ.

What do I do?” the assistant asked.

The cardinal paused for a moment then said, “Look busy.”

Bottom line

Because of His own testimony about Himself, Jesus is either God or a fraud.

There is no logical middle ground.

Jesus demonstrated His deity through prophecy, teaching and the resurrection.

1.

What Most Everyone Says About Jesus

Some are reluctant to say it, but even if begrudgingly, the vast majority of people, including non-Christian historians, believe Jesus lived.

A. Jesus lived

[Screenshot The Guardian article]

Today some claim that Jesus is just an idea, rather than a real historical figure, but there is a good deal of written evidence for his existence 2,000 years ago

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/14/what-is-the-historical-evidence-that-jesus-christ-lived-and-died

Wikipedia: Sources for the historicity of Jesus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sources_for_the_historicity_of_Jesus

Christian sources, such as the New Testament books in the Christian Bible, include detailed stories about Jesus, but scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts of Jesus.[1]

The only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.

Non-Christian sources that are used to study and establish the historicity of Jesus include Jewish sources such as Josephus, and Roman sources such as Tacitus.

These sources are compared to Christian sources such as the Pauline Epistles and the Synoptic Gospels.

These sources are usually independent of each other (e.g.

Jewish sources do not draw upon Roman sources), and similarities and differences between them are used in the authentication process.

In a review of the state of research, the Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine stated that "no single picture of Jesus has convinced all, or even most scholars" and that all portraits of Jesus are subject to criticism by some group of scholars.

B. Jesus was a great teacher.

C. Jesus was a great man.

Jesus was wise and compassionate.

The question isn’t if he lived, but if He is God.

Here are reasons why I think so.

2. The Bible declares Jesus is God.

The main source of evidence is the Bible.

It would be an entirely separate discussion to explain why the Bible is not just a good source but an authoritative source for us.

If that’s a discussion you’d like to have, let me know and I’ll be happy to discuss it with you.

Here is a link to an article about how we know the Bible is true.

https://goingfarther.net/common-questions/how-do-we-know-the-bible-is-true/

The Bible declare Jesus as God in several ways.

One could argue this is the main story of the Bible.

A. Various authors declare Jesus is the eternal Son of God.

John 3:16; 1 Timothy 3:15-16; Colossians 2:9; John 1:1, 14;

The most well-known verse in the Bible says Jesus is God.

Paul, who wrote the most books in the Bible declared Jesus is God.

Paul emphasized Jesus as the God-man.

John, one of Jesus’s closes followers called Jesus the “Word” and said this,

There are many verses like these we could list.

The

B. Jesus declared He is God.

John 8:58; John 10:30; John 5:17-18; Psalm 110:1; Daniel 7:13; Mark 14:61-64

He didn’t do this by going around saying, “I am God.”

Jesus said He existed before Abraham.

Jesus claimed He and His Father are one.

Jesus claimed to be equal with the Father

In this statement Jesus referenced two well-known passages from the Old Testament.

The Jewish leaders who heard him understood exactly what Jesus said as we can see by their reaction.

Jesus claimed to be able to do things only God does.

Judge the nations Matthew 25:31-46

Raise people from the dead John 5:25-29, cf. 1 Samuel 2:6

Forgive sins Mark 2:5-7, cf.

Isaiah 42:35

Answer prayer John 14:13-14

Always be with His followers Matthew 28:20

C. Jesus proved He is God.

He lived a sinless life.

Hebrews 4:15

There are stories of the sins, faults and foibles of all great religious leaders.

Not so of Jesus.

Those responsible for his death raised no accusations against Him of sin or immorality.

Luke 23:1-5

He came back from the dead.

John 19:17-18

Jesus demonstrated His divinity by His ability to die and rise again.

Men have predicted their deaths.

Only Jesus claimed to be able to come back from the dead.

3. History supports that Jesus is God.

Jesus’s impact supports His claims.

Aquinas argues:

“If the Incarnation did not really happen, then an even more unbelievable miracle happened: the conversion of the world by the biggest lie in history and the moral transformation of lives into unselfishness, detachment from worldly pleasures and radically new heights of holiness by a mere myth.”

Jesus’s influence should have ended with His death, but it didn’t!

A. The extent of Jesus’s influence is vast!

One-third of the world is considered “Christian”, a staggering figure for 2,000 years after His life.

B. The content of Jesus’s influence is vast.

Jesus’s moral teaching has influenced more people than any other.

The character of Jesus not only has the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive to its practice, and has exerted so deep an influence, that it may be truly said, that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind, than all the disquisitions of philosophers and more than all the exhortations of moralists.”

W. E. H. Lecky, a great nineteenth-century historian who put no stock in any kind of revealed truth or religion.

https://thecenterbham.org/2014/04/21/jesus-impact-on-history/

C. The range of Jesus’s influence is vast.

His short life influenced artists, poets and musicians to produce some of their greatest works.

“Socrates taught for forty years, Plato for fifty, Aristotle for forty, and Jesus for only three.

Yet the influence of Christ’s three-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who are among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity.

Jesus painted no pictures, yet some of the finest paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo de Vinci received their inspiration from him.

Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante, Milton, and scores of the world’s greatest poets were inspired by him.

Jesus composed no music, still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach, and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in their hymns, symphonies, and oratories they composed in his praise.

Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble carpenter of Nazareth.”

An observation by author Henry G. Bosch.

https://thecenterbham.org/2014/04/21/jesus-impact-on-history/

Discussion Questions:

1. C.S. Lewis says we only have three options regarding understanding Jesus.

He is a liar, a lunatic or the Lord.

What do you think of that statement?

2. What is the hardest thing to believe about Jesus being God?

3. What is the most convincing evidence about Jesus being God?