Finding the Historic Jesus

What's that? We're gonna do something different this morning. You like different? Different's good. Well, it's Christmas time. Next Tuesday is Christmas and every year at my church I do a little something different and it's I when I'm preaching on Sunday morning I preach verse-by-verse through the Bible so a lot of times I just stick with what I'm at and the Lord works that out seasonally or whatever.

But on Wednesday night Sunday school different things I'll teach different lessons that are more specific and I know we've been in here going through the through the epistle of James but I'm going to take the time off this morning we're going to do we're going to look at the subject of the search for the historic Jesus and I was just talking to this brother here about there's a documentary that has that title.

This isn't about that I am borrowing the title but the reason for this lesson is the question of accusations which are very common regarding the Christian faith which often arise during the holidays that we celebrate.

So anytime that Christmas comes around you'll see on the history channel or the Discovery Channel or some other type of documentary style television you'll see a rise in shows that are that are based on finding the true Jesus finding the historic Jesus finding out who he really was or what it was really about.

And and and and. And this is especially so in the Easter season because in the time where we celebrate the resurrection one of the things that the world at large absolutely rejects is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Because to to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to believe that he is who he said he was. And the world uniformly denies Jesus who he said he was. It takes the work of the Holy Spirit to be able to receive the the truth about Jesus and to be able to live in that truth.

And we know that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God but they are spiritually discerned. And so the the world wants to find another reason for Jesus and his story. There are all kinds of there are all kinds of explanations for the resurrection.

Well Jesus didn't really die in the tomb. He just fainted and when they put him in the tomb the coal the cool air of the tomb revived him and he was able to get himself out and make it look like he rose from the dead which is a pretty good feat having been beaten for several hours and hung up for him to just walk out and convince everybody he had resurrected.

It's a really foolish theory. But it is a theory it's called the swoon theory if you've never heard that it means the theory that he didn't die on the cross but he merely fainted. Another theory is that the disciples stole his body.

In fact that one's in the scriptures. You'll remember if you read the scriptures it says that the the Pharisees convinced the soldiers to say that the men came by night and stole the body and that and then they convinced people that he had rose from the dead and all of these.

So this goes back to the earliest days of the founding of the church that they were trying to find an explanation for who Jesus was. That denied his divinity. That denied who he claimed to be. That denied that he was in fact the Lord.

How many of you have ever seen the read the book the Da Vinci Code. Few of you. Okay. Well well when it huh. Well it's a it's an interesting book that. Well the book the Da Vinci Code. The issue with it is in the very first page.

If you open up the Da Vinci Code it says all of the historical records in this book are based on fact. And that's an issue because it's not it is so much of it is made up of whole cloth or taken out of context or misunderstood.

And that's the danger is when you when you present fiction as fact that's very dangerous. And so at Christmas time and and and around the resurrection season I like to address those things. I like to simply put it out there and say here's the facts and let the facts stand.

There's no reason why a believer in Jesus Christ should ever be afraid of the truth. As he said I am the way and the truth and the life. So we search for the truth. We look for the truth and we find the truth in him.

So there are a number of people and I did bring. I don't normally preach with notes in here but there's a lot of facts and figures I'm going to be talking about this morning. So forgive me if I look like I'm relying a little bit more on notes than normal.

I try not to do a lot of notes but today I'm going to use a little bit just to keep me tied to a post because if not I'll be all over the map and I won't make any sense. I want to make sense. There are a number of people claiming that the accounts of Jesus is recorded in the New Testament are simply myths.

They are barred from pagan folklore such as the stories of Osiris Dionysus Adonis Attis and Mithras. The claim is that these myths are essentially the same story as the New Testament narrative of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

As Dan Brown claims in the Da Vinci Code quote nothing in Christianity is original end quote. That's a quote taken directly from the book. Nothing in Christianity is original. Everything in Christianity is stolen from something else.

Everything in Christianity is just a retelling of another ancient pagan myth. That's the claim. That's the claim to discover the truth about the claim that the gospel writer writers borrowed from mythology.

It is important first to unearth the history behind the assertions to to examine the actual portrayals of the false gods that are being compared to Christ. Hey John. Three expose any logical fallacies being made in.

For look at why the New Testament Gospels are trustworthy depictions of the true and historical Jesus Christ. Let me say this from the outset. The claim that Jesus was a myth or an exaggeration originated in the writings of liberal theologians in the 19th century.

They essentially said that Jesus was nothing more than a copy and paste of popular dying and rising fertility gods in various places Temmuz of Mesopotamia Adonis of Syria Addis of Asia Minor and Horace of Egypt.

Of note is the fact that note none of the books containing these theories were taken seriously by the academics of the day. The assertion that Jesus was a recycled Temmuz for example was investigated by contemporary scholars and determined to be completely baseless.

It has only been recently that these assertions have been resurrected primarily due to the rise of the internet and the mass distribution of information from unaccountable sources. This this leads us to the next area of investigation.

Do the mythological gods of antiquity really mirror the person of Jesus Christ. How many of you have seen the movie Zeitgeist. Yeah. Okay. So a few of you all right. The Zeitgeist movie claims this. We'll start with Horace.

Horace is mentioned in the Zeitgeist movie. Horace is said to have been born on December 25th. Born to the to to Mary. His mother was actually she was called Isis Mary. Isis Mary. There was a star in the east that proclaimed his birth.

Three kings came to worship him as Savior. He became a child prodigy at age 12. So he was teaching at age 12. At 30 he was baptized baptized at 30 years old. He had 12 disciples. He was betrayed and crucified.

He was betrayed and crucified buried and resurrected. Now this is what the movie claims about him. The movie claims that the Egyptian God Horace who predates Jesus was born on December 25th born to a mother Isis Mary where it was his birth was heralded by a star in the east.

Three kings came to worship him at his birth at age 12. He was a child prodigy teaching others. He was baptized at 30 years old had 12 disciples. He was betrayed and crucified buried and resurrected. Now let me ask you this.

And you be honest if that were true and that did predate Jesus. Would that matter. No I think it would matter. I mean I'm I think if that predated Jesus and that were true I think it would matter. I think we'd have to step back and say wait a minute.

Okay that's weird. If nothing else. Yeah I mean we have we have to step back and say we'd have to say okay yeah we're gonna get there. But the point is the movie is attempting to say this is true. And because this is true that should make us rethink everything else.

And I think that based on that premise we get to that before we get there. The question is is it true. Let's before we even get to that question. If it's true is that matter. I remember my dad my dad's 72 years old.

I taught this lesson. He my my dad was in the room. My dad my dad didn't become a believer until later in life. In fact he didn't become a believer until after I did. He didn't. I didn't grow up with him taking me to church.

My stepmom took me to church and I was teaching this lesson. And I told this. I said you know I said Horace was born on December 25th Isis Mary star in the East three kings all that. And I said does that matter.

And he said yeah. And now again this is 72 year old man only been saying for you know the last decade or so. And he said yes. If that's true that's pretty serious. So I was like well praise God for you know for at least he's he's seeing the the point that's what the movies trying to do.

It's trying to get you to question everything by producing for you a narrative that would force you to have to ask questions. Right. It would force you know they'll question everything right. The for question everything except for the liberal agenda.

No no no no no the force of questioning everything. Right. And so he said yes that would matter. I said okay. Well let me let me let me now tell you based on accurate historical sources the actual story of Horace.

Because this matters right. If if if this is what is claimed and that is true that would bear at least in part some significance. Here's the truth. All right. Here's the truth. By the way when I look in my pocket I'm not checking text messages.

My I had a lady say that when you're preaching are you checking texts. First of all I ain't got enough brainpower to do that. No I record when I teach. Yeah no I record. And I'm always afraid I'm gonna hit the button and stop.

I like I like to keep. Yeah I like to keep what I teach. And I'll tell you that the the lessons here a lot of people like to listen to them. So I appreciate that. So I record right here in my pocket. So let's talk about Horace.

I'm gonna go down the list. I can't write all this. I don't have enough room. Horace was born to Isis. But there is no historical mention anywhere of her name being Isis Mary. That is a complete fabrication.

It's a lot. There's just no there's no historical record of it at all. Mary is an anglicized form of the name Miriam. Mary's name was not Mary. It wasn't the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her name is Miriam. So even if her name was Mary it wouldn't matter because that wasn't Jesus's mom's name.

Make sense. Isis the mother of Horace according to mythology was not a virgin. She was the widow of Osiris who conceived Horace with her before his death. So she's not the Virgin Mary Isis. She's not a virgin.

And she's not Mary. It's a it's it's made up. It's a lie. Exactly he said. How do they get away with it. Have you seen the internet. People write books and the books are debunked. People make a website and it goes worldwide.

The internet is a great place for truth because it does allow guys like me to have an opportunity to share the gospel with people that I would never meet and thankful for that. But it also gives an avenue for falsehood.

That is so dangerous. Third thing. Horace was born during the month of Koyak in the Egyptian calendar which would be around October November not December 25th. Further there is no mention in the Bible that Jesus was that Jesus was born on December 25th.

So even if he was born on December 25th it wouldn't matter because we know Jesus probably wasn't born on December 25th. We celebrate December 25th based on other issues. And and and there were some paganism that made its way into the celebration of Christmas.

While we have trees while we have wreaths and things like that. These are this is this is. This is cultural appropriation accepting a cult. I mean and people say oh we shouldn't do that. Well you know what.

We're on the winning team. You know I say that nicely. But we are in the sense of history. Christianity grew in the in the culture. And as Christianity grew and began to be the the the the the religion of the state.

The state ended up bringing things in that were not Christian. And that's why you end up with Roman Catholicism. Because that's a mixture of church and state. And that's why it's so dangerous. Because you give all the power to the Pope even the power to be able to send the king to hell.

When the Pope can send the king to hell he's more powerful than the king. Right. And so there was a time in history where the Pope exercised more powerful more power than the monarch. And that's the danger.

That's why I believe in that. I do believe in the separation of church and state. I don't believe in the separation between God and government. That's different because I don't believe the government can function properly without recognizing the authority of God.

But I don't think that the church or the state are both the same. And I think the church has a purview of authority. I think the state has a purview of authority and that they should be divided and separated.

You understand the difference. Yeah. Okay. I just wanna make sure I understand. The Vatican is its own its own country. Yeah. Yep. All. Right. So moving on through the list. There is no record of three kings visiting Horace at his birth.

The Bible also never mentions three kings. We sing the song we three kings doesn't say that says there are three gifts but doesn't tell us there were three wise men. Do you realize that we don't know how many wise men there were we.

We think there were three because there were three gifts. But we don't know. That's interesting. Could have been two. We know there were more than one because they were called wise men. And you don't see.

You don't say that of a singular person. Don't say pretend. You didn't know. I always wonder cuz I come here. You guys I don't know what y 'all know. And y 'all got seven or eight Bible teachers coming here every week.

You know different guys. I don't know what you're being taught. So I have to be. You know I'm do my best. It agreed. We're not disagreeing then. That's fine. As long as we're not disagreeing. Yeah. Yeah.

Well and it might be. We don't know. I assume like I said three gifts. Three three three men. That's where. The three. And there. And there's actually in an ancient Christian tradition. And there is such a thing as tradition.

That's not Scripture. In tradition there were three wise men and they had names. Malkoy was one of them. There's three names and they were given names. I don't have. I don't believe at all that that was the actual names of the men.

But given names later is just identify them. All right. All right. Moving on. Horace is not a savior in any way. He did not die for anyone. There is no account of him being a teacher at the age of 12.

That's an absolute lie. He was not baptized. They did. Exactly. He was not baptized. The only account of Horace that involves water is one story where Horace is torn to pieces with Isis requesting the crocodile God to fish him out of the water.

That's not baptism. Just case him. Can you imagine if that were though. Hey Brian we're gonna baptize you today. You ready that gator gonna take your part. Yeah. I think I won't do that. Yeah. Horace did not have a ministry.

That's another thing that it says that he had a ministry. What. How do you define ministry. See. That's appropriating a term. That's not even appropriate. He did not have 12 disciples. According to Horace accounts.

Horace had four demigods that followed him. Four is not twelve. Just in case you didn't know. For four is not twelve. And and there are some indication that he had 16 human followers of an unknown number of blacksmiths that went into battle with him.

No indication. 12 disciples is absolute lie. Horace did not die by crucifixion. There are various accounts of his death but none of them involve crucifixion. And there is no account of him being buried for three days.

He was not resurrected. There is no account of Horace coming out of the grave with the body he went in. With some accounts have Horace and Osiris being brought back to life by Isis and then becoming the Lord of the underworld.

It is just not the same. It's not even close to being the same. To compare the two is it's not apples to oranges. It's apples to a Chevy. I mean it's it's not. It doesn't make any sense at all to compare these two.

Yeah. And even then it's it's it's not Mary. Yeah. Oh yeah. As far as. Which was true. Yeah. Isis. Yeah. So all of these things the movie tries to convince us of our lives. Well how do they get away with it.

Well it when anytime somebody produces something if it's produced for the Academy meaning scholars then it has to be it has to go through a process called peer review. Which means that other people that are skilled in the same areas have to review it before it can be published.

And supposedly within the scientific community that is supposed to maintain the integrity of science through the process of peer review. Right. Zeitgeist ain't got no peer review. It didn't have that.

It's not not everything that's published is submitted to peer review. Yeah. But the idea of even peer review can be can lose its way. Recently there was a I think there was a paper published that talks about why all not all girls have vaginas.

Because they're trying to argue that boys can be girls. Yeah. The argument is boys can be girls. You know because of the whole transgender thing and that then that paper was peer-reviewed and published.

So even peer review isn't perfect. Because I got news for you. That's wrong. But. But but you understand what I'm saying is it's yeah the peer review can be a isn't always perfect either. But at least it's a step right.

It's a step that if somebody's trying to publish something crazy then you got other people that come in and say okay we have the same degree you do we have the same study you do we disagree wholeheartedly with what you're saying.

And then it doesn't get published. Right. That's at least it's sent to attempt to protect the scientific integrity or the integrity of the scientific community. Zeitgeist didn't undergo that. Yeah. It's it's it's.

It's a monstrous reimagining of something that did not happen to try to undercut the truth of what did happen. Another one. Probably you've heard of this one. Maybe even more than the first one is the story of Mithras.

All. Right. There's Mithras. Mithras. Let me pull out my paper here. All the above description of Horace or just are applied to Mithras. He was born of a virgin. So we got. Well yeah we'll just say the virgin birth crucified raised.

All of those things are also applied to Mithras. But again what does the actual story say. According to the history of Mithran theology Mithran belief Mithra cult whatever you want to call it. He was not born of a virgin.

He was born out of a rock. I don't know if there's a virgin rock. I have to be careful because I don't think it was a virgin rock. I don't think it was. Well he didn't really exist. But aside from that he was.

The myth was he was born out of a rock. That's not the same as being born of a virgin. Agreed. Agreed. Okay. He battled first with the Sun. Yeah the Sun. And then with a primeval bull. Thought to be the first act of creation was Mithras fighting the Sun and fighting a bull.

He killed the bull which became the ground of life for the human race. Some pretty wild stuff. Myth with Mithras birth was celebrated on December 25th along with the winter solstice. That one may be true.

We'll come back to that though. However just hang with me. There's no mention of him being a great teacher. There's no mention of Mithras having 12 disciples. And the idea that Mithras had 12 disciples may have come from the mural in which Mithras was surrounded by the 12 signs of the zodiac.

You understand there's 12 zodiac signs and the idea that that's where that 12 may have come from. Mithras had no bodily resurrection. Rather when Mithras completed his earthly mission he was taken to paradise in a chariot alive.

And well the early Christian writer Tertullian did write about Mithra cults reenacting resurrection scenes. But this occurred well after the New Testament times. So if there was any copycatting being done it was from Christianity to Mithra ism and not the other way around.

More examples can be given to Krishna you know who Krishna is Hare Krishna Addis Dionysus and other mythological gods. But the result is always the same. In the end the historical Jesus portrayed in the Bible is unique.

The alleged similarities of Jesus's story to pagan myths are greatly exaggerated. Further while tales of Horace Mithras and others predate Christianity there is very little historical record of the pre-christian beliefs of those religions.

The vast majority of the earliest writings of these regions or religions rather date from the third and fourth centuries. To assume that they predate Christianity is simply naive. It's more logical to attribute any similarities between these religions to Christianity to the religions copying Christians rather than the other way around.

Yeah. Well it's just falsehood. Right. It's just a lie. But why would anyone want to lie about the historic Jesus. Every religion has every every culture has a flood narrative. Why. Because it happened all right all right with having said all that I want to read it.

I want to read very quickly. If you have your Bibles turn with me to the gospel of Luke. Because here's here's here's the here's the thesis of my lesson today if you want to know about the historic Jesus go to the Bible.

That's it. If we're in Luke chapter 1 we're gonna actually read a few passages from Luke. You're gonna go first to Luke chapter 1 verse 26. And again the search for the historic Jesus. The search ends in the Word of God.

That's the that. That's my that's my thesis. The search is right. He's right here. You say why do you believe the Bible. Because the Bible is a collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses or in the lifetime of eyewitnesses which could be corroborated by other eyewitnesses which all tell the same story about the same man Jesus Christ.

There's no reason why we cannot give historical validity to these documents. If there were another set of circumstances that had this much evidence and historical record that went with it we would have no doubt that we would take it at face value that it was true.

In fact we have more historical records that Jesus Christ lived walked on the earth died buried and resurrected in the Bible and extra biblical sources than we do that George Washington fought in the Revolutionary War.

Well we had no trouble leaving that. But as far as historical records are concerned as far as documentable sources as far as written documents and what we have how many of you know for certain George Washington existed.

You weren't there. I mean what I'm saying is all you have is the testimony of eyewitnesses who wrote down things that they saw in the lifetime of the people who were also there to see it and they pass down those records to you.

How many have ever read 1984 George Orwell. That's George Orwell is a genius because he made the point that history could be a all a lie. I'm not saying it is. I'm saying it. But he made the point that it could be.

He said because there have been entire people written out of history entire people made up by history people that never existed. Right. You know there's movie directors that that you you watch movies and their names or they didn't even exist because the movies themselves are so bad.

The real directors didn't want to put their name on it. There really are. There's one guy who's directed like 20 movies in Hollywood he does not exist. They put his name there because they didn't want to put the real directors name there made up out of whole cloth never existed.

So what do we have to believe in trust in history. We have the testimony of eyewitnesses. It's all we have. And I've said this before if if if if Jesus Christ didn't raise from the dead my faith is without hope.

It's totally useless. That's what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15. So I trust what's in this book. This is the the foundation of my whole life and my death and the life after. That's what I have. This is all I have.

If this is wrong I don't have anything. And I'm willing to say I based my whole stake everything on this and I'm not ashamed to say that. People say well you're you're. You're a naive. I don't think. So I would rather trust in this book that has never changed.

That's that. Well that's the there was a there was a philosopher who said that and it's called his wager. I can't remember his name. Pascal's wager I think is what it's called. Yeah Pascal's wager. Which is to believe or not to believe.

If you do if you believe in you're wrong you've lost nothing. If you believe you don't believe in you're wrong. You've lost everything. Yeah yeah. I have to be careful because I don't want to get off on a tangent.

I'm tangential in my my brain. Like some people have a very straight brain. Like like they go from A to B to C. Y 'all. And I'll chase that rabbit until I've caught him and then I'll try to make it back.

That's why. That's why I do preach with notes. When I preach I have notes only because it wouldn't be fair to my people if I didn't. When I preach with you guys I don't preach with as many notes but I still come in with a sheet because I have to have a post tied to a post.

But let me just mention Pascal's wager. In this regard the response of the atheist is to Pascal's wager. Because I've spent a lot of time reading atheistic writings listening to their arguments. Not because I'm moved by their arguments but because I want to be better at being able to engage.

I want and I actually want to hear what they're saying. I don't want to be unfair dishonest because that's what they do to us. That's what the movie zeitgeist does. It's dishonest. I don't be dishonest.

Right. I think that the the answer of the atheist would be that if you live your whole life believing in something that doesn't exist then you could have you could have spent your energy doing something else that was more worthwhile that that would be there.

I don't agree but that would be their argument. And so my response to that because that's a second secondary portion of the argument is what would be more worthwhile than loving your family loving your community pointing them towards something greater than themselves and all working toward the common goal of love.

What in the world could be greater than that. And and that's the that that is in a sense the the the moves of the gospel is you know what is that. What's the primary motivation for everything that we do in Christ.

Love. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I am a resounding gong or clanging cymbals if I have all if I have the gift of prophecy and have all knowledge and can have the faith to move mountains but have not love.

I am nothing. If I give everything I have to the poor get my body to be burned but have not love I am nothing. Right. That's that's. I mean that's what I'm preaching on Sunday as I've just happened to be there first Corinthians and it just happens to be the Sunday before Christmas.

What better thing to talk about. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him will not perish but have everlasting life. And this is the way he came. Luke chapter 1.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the Virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said greetings favored one the Lord is with you.

But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive and in your womb you shall conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will be with will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end.

And Mary said to the angel how will this be since I am a virgin. Actually that translation how can this be. I don't know a man. That's the actual Greek there. It's Andra who Gnoska. I don't know a man in the in the in the ancient world to know somebody in that sense was to know them intimately.

I'm a virgin. I don't. I've never known a man. And the angel said to her the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy the Son of God.

That's the that's the foundation. That's the starting point. That's the place so many other people might claim that Mithras Horace Dionysus Adonis on and on and on. They might claim to have this. They don't have this.

And they don't have anything like this. This is not a story. Copy from another story. Copy from another story copy from another story. This story is unique to the person of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is the most unique man in history.

He's the only God man who's ever lived. He's not like Hercules who was born a half hybrid of the gods and the men but he is fully God and fully man. He is the second person of the Trinity fully God. And he is a man in every sense of man as he is created.

And some people ask the question how can he be man in every sense. He never sinned and all men sinned. Adam was created first without sin and Jesus is called the second Adam. And where Adam could not hold his place as not a sinner Jesus held his firm stance and never sinned and thought word or deed.

And he lived his entire life perfectly. He lived his entire life without sinning once. And when he went to the cross he went to the cross for one reason to bear the sin of those who had sinned. Because he didn't sin he could be the substitute for those who did.

You see if Jesus had sinned he would have deserved the cross. If Jesus would have sinned even once his death would have been something that he earned because the Bible says the wages of sin is death. But the fact that he went to the cross never having sinned proves that he went for somebody else.

And he died for somebody else. And who did he die for. He died for us. The Bible says he died for his sheep. He says my life is not taken from me but I lay down my life for the sheep. So if you are his sheep know this.

He was born for you. He lived for you. And he died for you. And he was raised for you. And that is the historic Jesus. Let's pray father. I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truth of it. I thank you that the search for the historic Jesus begins and ends in the scripture.

And while there are other accounts in history and we can look at those accounts with great excitement to see him coming up in the writings of Roman historians and others. Lord we know that the primary place where we find the truth of Jesus Christ in the place which that truth blows up into a wonderful tapestry of a life that then fills our hearts and moves us to service for him is found in the Word of God.

May we continue to find the historic Jesus in the Word of God. And it's in his name we pray amen.