Defending the Uniqueness of Christ

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Want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 and hold your place at verse 12 we have been in this last few weeks in a series a subject based series on the topic of apologetics and As we have noted over the last couple of weeks Apologetics is giving a defense of the faith But I want to stress something as we begin today a very important truth.
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That is I believe often misunderstood and That is that apologetics is not simply giving a defense for the existence of God but rather apologetics Christian apologetics is giving a defense of belief in the God of Scripture and Therefore in the Lord Jesus Christ And I say this because I see so much of apologetics being defense of a of a mere deism This is why I'm not a huge fan of what has been Become known as the intelligent design movement Now intelligent design has its place but the problem with the intelligent design movement is That it simply points to the fact that the earth and the universe demonstrate evidence of a designer But many of them won't go forward and say who that designer is They won't step out and say we know who this designer is It's the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
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It's the God who sent his son Jesus Christ into the world.
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It's it's Yahweh, this is the designer and If the apologetics that that we do is only an apologetics that gets us to bare deism Then that is not enough We are not defending the mere existence of a creator because as we learned last week the existence of a creator is self-evident the Bible tells us that anyone who denies that a creator exists is a fool and It says that anyone Who looks at the world and creation can know by virtue of the creation? That there is a God and They are without excuse so Apologetics is not about defending a bare theism Apologetics is about making a case.
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That's what it means apologetics means to make a case For the God of Scripture and moreover the distinctly Christian God so today we are going to look at the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ and What is it that Paul says is the ultimate Christian? Apologetic Paul actually engages in the letter to the church at Corinth He engages in a form of apologetics and he gives us what I consider to be the ultimate Christian apologetics, so let's stand together and We are going to read 1st Corinthians chapter 15 Beginning at verse 12.
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We're going to read down to verse 22 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead The not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in Vain and your faith is in vain hear those words He goes on 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 For if the dead are not raised not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised Your faith is futile and you are still in your sins hear that He goes on Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished if in Christ we have hope in this life only We are of all people most to be pitied But in fact Beautiful words, but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep For as by a man came death By a man has come also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die so also in Christ shall all Be made alive Let's pray father.
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I thank you for your word Even now I pray that you keep me from error That you open the hearts of the people to hear the word that all that is said today would be in accordance with your truth And that you would save according to your will in Christ's name Amen so far in this series we have Discussed The concept of apologetics and we said that The basis of the idea of apologetics comes from first Peter we looked at that the first week two weeks ago where Peter says That we are to be able to give a defense For the hope that is within us and if you remember that first week, I stressed this very thing I said if this hope isn't within you you have nothing to defend So it begins with understanding where you are.
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Are you in Christ? Do you have this hope within you because Paul Peter says to defend this hope it has to be in you You have to sanctify the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart always being ready to give a hope Or give a defense for the hope that is within you So is this hope within you? That's The first question that every man has to ask when it comes to apologetics Is this my hope or am I defending the hope of someone else? Am I defending the faith of my parents? Am I defending the faith of my fellow Christians? Do I genuinely have this hope? I've called this if you remember I call I'm calling the series Foxhole apologetics because I'm Really trying to deal with what I consider to be real questions real issues things that are really being asked questions that are really being addressed and I said that there are three categories of Objections that we run into in regard to apologetics in general and I This is based on my own anecdotal evidence having done Evangelism for years and gone out and talked to people and done open-air preaching and different things These are the three things that you tend to run into the most and the three things are first the existence and nature of God Which we talked about last week The second is the person and work of Jesus, which is what we're going to talk about today And the third is the nature and reliability of the Bible and we're going to look at that next week And here are the things that we've learned so far in our previous lessons number one We've learned that when it comes to the existence of God, there is no neutral man Meaning that there's no one who doesn't know God exists.
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We are either ones who will receive God in faith and Trust or we will rebel against the God that we know that is there but there is no neutral man There is no one who is simply waiting for more evidence because the Bible says all men have the evidence and What they do is they suppress the truth and unrighteousness.
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That's not neutrality Neutrality doesn't suppress the truth Neutrality welcomes the truth.
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They're not neutral.
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They are suppressing the truth and Unrighteousness, so that's the first thing that we learned.
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The second thing we learned is that people do not need more evidence They already are without excuse according to Romans chapter 1.
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No man needs more evidence for the existence of God and the third thing we learned last week is that science exists because God created a world which obeys laws which can be observed and can be understood and Morality exists because God is just and he gives us a standard by which we can measure virtue that is why we believe in science and we believe in morality because we know that God is a God of order and Therefore again when we look at the existence and nature of God That's a couple of things that we draw from God's existence But as I said in my opening just a belief in God alone is not enough I Love this.
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I I used to I used to work for a school Like so I did I was a when I was in seminary.
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I I worked as a paraprofessional which is Basically a fancy word for a teaching assistant and I did that at First Coast High School I did that for several years and I had many conversations with students as I was in seminary so I was very interested in talking about God and what I believed and so I would talk to students and Then I went on to become a substitute teacher when I was ministering here as the pastor I would substitute teach for years and years and I Had many conversations with kids remember quite a few of them But one conversation that always seemed to come up Was people would the young people we would talk about salvation.
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They would say well, I'm saved.
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I believe in God and I would have to say okay It's good that you believe in God but what do you believe about God and Who do you believe God is? Moreover, who do you believe Jesus is? Because just believing in God doesn't make you saved because as I said already everybody knows God exists Right, even the atheist in his heart.
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The Bible says knows that God exists and he's without excuse So people who say well, I'm saved because I believe in God that ain't how it works Salvation is not the result of simply acknowledging that a divine being exists Salvation comes through a personal interaction and response to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ not simply acknowledging that God exists and So when we talk about the Lord Jesus Christ That's when things get really ugly That's when the apologetic gets hard because like I said very few people Will deny that some kind of God exists, but you say no, it's not just some kind of God But it's the God of the Bible and it's not just anybody's understanding of the Bible But it's what the Bible clearly teaches about the Lord Jesus Christ that he is in fact God in the flesh that he was born of a virgin that he lived A perfectly sinless life for 33 years and on his 33rd year He was taken and he was strung up and stapled to a Roman cross and that on that cross where our Savior died the wrath of God was Satisfied in him and that wrath was poured out on him and he received it and he took all the wrath of God for all who? Would ever believe and then three days later.
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He gloriously and miraculously rose from the dead.
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That's what we have to believe and That belief will change our life But even in the first century Even in the first century There were those Who were denying the resurrection and I want to say this I hope this makes sense When it comes to apologetics when it comes to defending the Christian faith the one thing that we stand or fall upon Is did Christ raise from the dead? if You cannot affirm a risen Christ.
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You're not a Christian Now I've heard the arguments especially from From liberal theologians and yes, I do read liberal theologians too and I do listen to what they have to say and They'll say all kinds of things.
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Oh, we don't have to believe in a physical resurrection We don't have to believe in a resurrected Jesus We don't have to believe in ancient myths of dying and rising gods Well Paul thinks differently and Paul's argument in our text today is very very clear His argument is this if Jesus has not raised Our faith is Useless Now I didn't say that Paul said that we're gonna look through it again in a moment but understand this Paul's apologetic for the gospel is very simple is Christ has raised or he has not and if he has raised that changes everything and if he has not raised nothing matters So Paul is willing to base his apologetic for the Christian faith on the foundation of the resurrection of Christ and so with that It's important that we understand why that Singular event Becomes the linchpin becomes the the hinge becomes the fulcrum upon which the entire faith Turns or doesn't turn It's the foundation upon which we stand or fall Let's look again beginning at verse 12.
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He says in the text he says now if Christ Is proclaimed as raised from the dead How can some of you say? That there is no resurrection of the dead Now why is Paul addressing that in verse 12? He's addressing that because apparently in the Corinthian Church, there were those who were claiming that there is no resurrection from the dead Now you may know people who believe that You may know people.
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Mm-hmm.
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You may know people who don't believe in resurrection.
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In Fact we know in the first century We know of at least one group who was well known for not believing in resurrection.
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Do you remember who they are? the Sadducees Remember there were two very important religious groups there were the Pharisees and the Sadducees the Pharisees sort of represented the the What we might say the more conservative group who who believed in the law of Moses who believed in the resurrection who believed in things? Like angels, right? That was the Pharisees and then you had the Sadducees and I remember miss Hoffman my old Sunday school teacher She said these didn't believe in the resurrection.
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So they're sad you see So that so if you want to remember that kids, that's how you remember the Sadducees they didn't believe in a resurrection, so That group existed in the first century.
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We know they did.
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In fact, they tried to fool Jesus Remember they came to Jesus and said hey What if a man has a wife and he dies and she? Marries his brother and then he dies and he marries another brother and then when she gets to heaven When the resurrection happens whose husband will she be? You know, they were trying to fool Jesus or that question.
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They were trying to trip him up If you believe in this resurrection, well, how do you account for this obvious? discrepancy of logic And Jesus's answer of course is well in heaven.
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We don't marry or given a marriage.
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We're like the angels.
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I Tell my wife sometimes I say I don't get to be your husband forever, but I'll always love you You know, but I'm not gonna be her husband forever, that's okay But the reality of this is there were groups in the first century who didn't believe in a resurrection and Jesus says or Paul says rather that there were some of those in Corinth Now, I don't know if they were Sadducees or if they were maybe of another cohort who believed but there were some who were spreading Through Corinth that there was no resurrection So Paul says to them if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can you say there's no resurrection? You're saying there's no resurrection.
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But if that's the case, then Christ isn't raised.
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You see the logic here.
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Look at verse 13 He says if there is no resurrection from the dead that not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised Notice what he says then our preaching is in vain and our faith Your faith he says is in vain.
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What does it mean to be in vain? Means to be worthless useless doesn't have any value, right? He said if Christ is not raised because there's no resurrection, then your faith is useless Your faith is meaningless.
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I will tell you Christian today beloved church Comer listen if your Jesus didn't raise you don't have a faith that's worth believing it That's what Paul says if you have a Jesus who didn't raise you don't have a faith that's worth believing it And he goes on He says in verse 15.
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He says 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 For if the dead are not raised not even Christ has been raised notice, that's what's called a logical syllogism Paul is making a logical argument if the dead are not raised Then Christ was not raised but if we say Christ was raised and the dead are not raised we're liars and We've proven ourselves to be false teachers Because if the dead are not raised Then Christ himself has not been raised you ever consider.
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How logical the Bible is How honest Paul is being here Paul is being really clear He's arguing, but he's arguing from a logical syllogism that if you deny Resurrection you have to deny that Christ raised and if you deny that Christ raised you're denying the faith That you say you proclaim and then we get to verse 17 Where he says and if Christ has not been raised Your faith is futile and you're still in your sins Now isn't that interesting and I don't want to go too far off on this but Where was our Where was our justification purchased on the cross, right? on the cross where Jesus died the wrath of God was Satisfied God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we could become the righteousness of God in him that took place on the cross when as Jesus was there hanging between heaven and earth the Wrath of God was poured out upon him and that wrath that was poured out upon him was the wrath that was due us because Jesus did not deserve wrath Jesus had not incurred wrath Jesus was sinless from the moment of conception all the way to the moment of ascension He had never sinned and thought word or deed.
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He didn't deserve to be on the cross He didn't deserve the wrath of God but God took the wrath that I Deserved and he took it and poured it out on Jesus and for those three hours on that cross on that on that hill and in Judea Christ received the punishment I deserved So why is he saying here? That it's the resurrection that would make us still be in our sins Because if Christ didn't raise He would have proved himself a liar you see the Bible says he was raised for our justification and I like the word that particular verse.
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I prefer the word vindication Because what the resurrection does is it vindicates what Christ said of himself? He said I am the Son of God.
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I am the one sent by God into the world I am the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world and If you tear down this temple, I will raise it up again in three days.
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Remember that if Jesus hadn't raised he would have proved himself a liar So Paul is saying listen if Jesus didn't raise you wouldn't have anything to believe in And then he says this in verse 18 He says then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished now Who's he talking about in verse 18? He's talking about those who have been persecuted and died for Christ We talks about falling asleep.
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He ain't just talking about Falling asleep.
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He's talking about dying and when he talks about those who fall asleep in Christ He's talking about those who have gone and and and presented their necks to the sword who have presented their wrists to the to the Nails and who have been crucified in Christ's name who have been beheaded in Christ's name who have been burned in Christ's name And he's saying all of those died in vain if Christ has not risen And then he says this very important thing in verse 19 He says if in Christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people most to be pitied What's he saying? He's saying man if this is all there is If this life is all we get What a pitiful thing What a pity if that's what we believe that if in this life only We above all men are most to be pitied verse 20 Ought to make you shout like a Baptist shout as they say But in fact Christ has been raised Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruit of those who've fallen asleep for as by a man came death by a man Has also come the resurrection from the dead and then he throws in a theological point He says for is an Adam all die so in Christ all will be made alive He's talking about the representative heads of Adam who represents all men in our sin and Christ who represents those who are in him in Their justification and he points out both of them, and he says you're in one or the other You're either in Christ or you're in Adam you're born in Adam you're born again in Christ and If you are in Christ You have a resurrection to look forward to because Christ has been raised Beloved I'm telling you if you're sharing the gospel with someone if you're sharing the hope that is within you and the hope that Is within you does not include the resurrection of Jesus.
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Where does your hope come from? The hope that we have has to come from the resurrected Christ And if we don't have a resurrected Christ, we have no hope.
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That's what Paul's saying Apart from a resurrected Jesus.
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We have no hope but with a resurrected Christ We have hope in this life and in the life to come That's Paul's apologetic His apologetic is centered on the death burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ now Having said all that I now want to address a few objections to this Because as much as we can proclaim The cross the burial and the resurrection of Christ as much as we can proclaim the truth of that We also know there there are those who reject it We know that there are those who deny it and so we have to be able to give a defense for why we believe in this Historical event and by the way, I want to mention that the resurrection of Christ is a historical event It's not something that just happened in the minds of men.
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This is something that happened in history in time.
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It's a literal physical act That happened And I would argue there's more evidence for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ than there is For many other ancient things.
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I would even say more recent history things like George, Washington Crossing the Delaware those things that we know what happened because there's a painting Really? That's how we know, right? Now we know because we've been told right? That's what the history books say But how do you know? There's more evidence for Jesus's resurrection than almost any event in the ancient world and So, let me just let me just throw out a few of the arguments that are often used to Deny the resurrection of Christ here are four These are not the only four but these are four very common ones that are usually used to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ The first one is called the swoon theory raise your hand if you've ever heard of the swoon theory Okay a few of you Raise your hand if I told them to say if you heard it from me As I've talked I've talked about this quite a bit.
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I've taught on this quite a bit because the swoon theory What does it mean to swoon the word swoon means to faint or to pass out and the idea of the swoon theory? Is that the Lord Jesus Christ when he was on the cross did not die? but rather he simply passed out and appeared to be dead and the Roman soldiers not Understanding what life and death were took a still living man off of the cross Put him in a cold tomb and three days later He was able to physically overcome his wounds and he was able to crawl out of that tomb and make his way into Jerusalem and present himself to his disciples as a risen and victorious Savior.
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That's called the swoon theory It's believed by a lot of people Jesus just didn't die on the cross Well, I want to give you a thought about that is there's a Greek word for it it's Baloney, that's right.
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That's my favorite Greek word because that's what that is Because it's based on several bad assumptions.
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Number one.
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It's based on the assumption that Roman soldiers didn't know how to kill someone And if there was one thing that Roman soldiers were really good at It was killing people They had it down to a science They had it down to the point where they enjoyed it They made it almost a game Before Jesus was taken out on the cross.
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He was flogged with a scourge The scourge was a whip that had leather tongs on the end and those leather tongs had either pieces of bone or rock or other hard material sewn into the end of the tongue so that when the tongs would hit the Intended victim the tongs would grab a hold of whatever flesh It was able to get and then when it was pulled back it would rip the flesh open and that happened to Jesus before he was taken to the cross because Pilate in a bit of what he considered to be wisdom thought if I give the Jews a Flogging of Jesus that will satisfy their desire for their pound of flesh and maybe they'll let him go Because you remember Pilate saw no guilt in Jesus So Jesus was flogged and Then they took a rough timber cross I laid it across his back and they forced him to walk up the hill of Galgatha which on the way Jesus so Bloodied and beaten by the flogging was unable to continue to carry his cross And so a man named Simon of Cyrene was forced to come and lift up Jesus's cross and take Jesus's cross the rest of the way Up the hill where Jesus was then laid bare back across that cross stripped naked We always see Jesus somehow clothed on the cross likely stripped completely naked It was a form of shame laid completely naked upon the cross his wrists stapled down to the post the post then attached to a longer post which was lifted up and dropped into a hole in the ground and there he stayed suspended between heaven and earth and The death on the cross is death by asphyxiation which means that the entire body weighs down upon the lungs and as the person breathes in and Breathes out each time they breathe out they're able to breathe in less air the next time because their weight is continuing to crush the lungs as the ribcage begins to compress against the the inside of the body and so Jesus and Miraculously, we know he said at least seven things from the cross Isn't that amazing that he was even able to speak from the cross? because he was dying by having his his the the air taken out of his body one little bit at a time as the day went on the soldiers wanting to hasten death one of the things that they would do is they would break the ankles of the Crucified Person by the way, they crucified thousands of people so they knew how to do this Because the way that men would keep themselves alive and some people did so there is actually a historical record of men surviving for days on a cross because they would take and they would use the the strength of their legs to push up on the on the The nails in their legs and they would push up on those nails Some people think the feet were like this and there was a nail through more likely it was on the sides There's there's some historical evidence that said the nails are actually put in sideways But they would push up on those nails and they would get a breath right and they would breathe and then they would relax and eventually they just run out of energy and and Collapse and die but what they would do to hasten it They was coming they would take a club and they break their ankles because if you break the ankles guess what you can't do You can't push up anymore.
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If you can't push up anymore you very quickly succumb to asphyxiation So they come out they've got the clubs They they they strike the man on the right the man on the left But when they come to Jesus, they realize he's already dead Because Jesus Didn't die by a Roman hand Jesus gave up his ghost.
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He says What does it say? It says he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit No man takes my life from me, but I lay it down on my own accord All right.
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So Jesus already dead But to ensure his death they bring out a spear They shove the spear between his ribs And they pierce his heart the Bible says what flowed from the wound was water and blood which is debated as to what that means whether it was the fact that has already been dead long enough that the blood and the and Had already began to separate because there is in our blood There's the the platelets can separate and some of it looks clear like water And they say well, maybe that's what it meant by water and blood others believe that it was piercing the pericardium Which is the sack that surrounds the heart which is filled with a liquid that would look like water And so if that was pierced that would have poured out water and blood We don't know exactly How to how to interpret that we can look at it scientifically and say it's one of those two things most likely but here's the point Jesus was dead and Understand this the the the Roman soldiers would have never taken Jesus off the cross If they didn't know he was dead They would have sacrificed themselves had they done that Because the one thing they had to do was kill that person and if they didn't they forfeited their own life So Jesus was dead when he goes in the tomb And the idea that if he wasn't dead you put him in a tomb They put him behind a a rock which would have been several hundred pounds Maybe even over a thousand pound rock laid in front of it And let's just say for some reason he did wake up and then miraculously is able to dig himself out of the hole The entire story is fanciful the entire story is nonsense a beaten bloodied broken pierced man goes back into town and convinces anyone that he's a savior of anything and that he has defeated death the story is The fever dream of fools The wrong tomb theory is just as ridiculous I won't spend as much time on it, but that basically says that the women went to the wrong tomb and There are those who believe that well, they just went to the wrong tomb.
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Here's how you know, that isn't what happened Because if the women went to the wrong tomb and they went back and they proclaim Jesus was raised guess what Rome would have done They would have went to the real tomb and produced a body You know what they were never able to do No one could ever prove the Christians were lying because no one could ever produce a body Which is why the wrong tomb theory didn't really get very far The one that does get far though is the third one I'm sorry The fourth one which is the stolen body the stolen body is the idea that the disciples came in and stole the body That one's actually in Matthew 28.
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That's how the the Pharisees said.
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Hey, just tell him the body was stolen and will satisfy your your commanders your leaders Yeah, here's what happened Peter and James and John and the fellas Who just a few hours earlier weren't a weren't able to? Even proclaim their faith in Jesus were able to go and fight off an entire Roman guard And Retrieve the body of Jesus to what end to what end? So that they could spend the next 50 years of their life miserable Proclaiming a Jesus who was raised that they know he didn't raise Understand that The argument is the disciples went and stole his body so that they could produce a religion that would get them persecuted for no reason Because they knew it was a lie That don't hold water It doesn't make sense and I've jumped over number three the hallucination theory is that everyone just hallucinated this Here's the problem with the hallucination theory The hallucination theory is based on the idea that they would have all expected this to happen and therefore they hallucinated the reality of it But the one thing that the disciples did not expect Was for Jesus to rise According to the text of the Bible Jesus told them multiple times.
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I'm gonna die in three days later I'm gonna rise and you know what happened when he died They did not expect him to rise and you know what happened when he did rise They didn't believe it the women brought the message back Peter runs to the tomb he sees it and he believes but he but he's amazed what has happened.
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He doesn't get it They didn't expect for Jesus to rise Even though they should have Nt.
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Wright is a scholar.
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Who's I got some issues with I'm gonna be honest, but but he does have some good historical stuff and Nt.
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Wright and his defense of the resurrection points out something very important and this is something you may not have ever thought of But Nt.
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Wright points us out He said if this story was fabricated If this story was made up if this story was created out of whole cloth the one thing that we would not expect Would be that the first people to see Jesus alive would be women And the reason why is because in the first century the testimony of a woman was not Allowed in court.
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It was not considered to be trustworthy and Every one of the gospel accounts who are the first people to see Jesus alive Women who were the first to proclaim there is in Christ women Ended amazing that in a story that worship a story that was supposed to have been made up They made up a part that would have that would have made the whole story suspect if it weren't true but in fact He has been raised one of the other things and You may have heard this.
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This is a modern Argument and by a modern I mean in the last 200 years is the objection that ancient people were Unsophisticated and therefore there were many myths about dying and rising gods and Jesus is just one of many myths That comes out of the ancient world.
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In fact, I'll I'll ask this question.
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You don't have to raise your hand But if any of you have ever seen the film zeitgeist Zeitgeist came out in 2007 it went viral throughout the Internet and the movie claimed That Jesus was no different Than any of the other gods of antiquity and they compared Jesus to Mithras To Horus to Addis to Osiris these gods of the ancient world and they said see These gods also were dying and rising gods and Jesus is just another dying and rising God and he doesn't exist.
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In fact, I'll put these on the screen for you.
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Here's what is argued one Mithras was born of a virgin rose from the dead Number two Addis was born of a virgin rose from the dead number three Horus, which was the ancient god of Egypt One of the gods of Egypt was born on December 25th born of a virgin baptized by on up the baptizer had 12 disciples was crucified and raised three days later now The movie and by the way, Bill Maher did another movie called religious and it was based on the same idea If these things were true according to the documentary They would call into question the vitality of the message of the Gospels because it would say that Jesus's story was not unique to him But rather it was just a story that was copycatted from other stories or what is known as parallelism where we have Parallel accounts between the various false gods and Jesus is just one of many false gods But here's the reality And something you need to know the zeitgeist movie And anyone who claims these things Is basing it on false or? exaggerated history Not on what we actually know about ancient Egyptian and pagan mythology.
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Here's the things we do know One Mithras was not born of a virgin according to Mithraic Theology and yes, there is such a thing as Mithraic theology and there are those who study it according to them He was born from a rock That's not the same as being born of a virgin and also there is no account of his death Therefore no account of his resurrection So going back to the first it said he was born of a virgin and he died and was resurrected That is not what it says So that is a lie number two Addis What did it say Addis was born of a virgin rose from the dead? No, not according to the sources according to the sources those who actually Believed and taught a faith or belief in this false.
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God Addis Addis was actually a young man Who was in love with a false god or goddess named Sibeli and Sibeli? cheated on him and therefore he Killed himself accidentally and as a result He came back as an evergreen tree It's not exactly the gospel account.
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It's not even close.
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But the one that's great is Horace Remember we said about Horace Horace was go back to the next one Horace was born on December 25th born of a virgin baptized by on up the baptizer at twelve disciples was crucified Now if that were true that that might make you think But here's the problem every single one of those is a lie Number one, there is no account of being born on December 25th.
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And guess what even if there was guess what we know Jesus was probably not born on December 25th.
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The Bible doesn't say Jesus was born on December 25th We celebrate December 25th because it's the day that we all sort of come around and say we're gonna celebrate Jesus's birth But that's probably not the day was born even though it could be we don't know But that is such a foolish thing to argue He Was born of a virgin no Horace was not born of a virgin Horace was actually the offspring of the false gods Isis and Osiris There is no specific date for his birth, there's no documentation of anyone called on up the baptizer.
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That's a lie There was no documentation that he had 12 disciples and there's no reference to him being crucified and resurrected The entire argument is based on a lie and you say why do you bring this up in a sermon? Why do you why do you make this argument? because this is the kind of junk your kids are gonna see and hear when they go out on the internet or they go to College and people are trying to debunk their faith this kind of I was watching this week as William Lane Craig William Lane Craig is a Christian apologist.
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He was sitting in a college class He was sitting with guys who have PhDs and master's degrees and one of the dudes in the class stood up and he said, dr Craig, how can you believe in the Christian faith when all of the stories about Jesus are fabricated from? Osiris and Horace and Addis and Mithras and dr.
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Craig just went You have a degree Like you went to school That and how he said it, but that's I mean he looked at him like It takes five minutes to actually investigate the history of these things and Find out it's not true but as has so often been said a Lie can make its way halfway around the world While the truth is still putting its shoes on So you say why do I bring this stuff up? I bring this stuff up for your benefit I bring this stuff up for all of our benefit so that when we are faced with ridiculous claims against our Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ when someone says Jesus isn't any different than Mithras Jesus isn't any different than Addis.
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Jesus isn't any different than Horace.
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We can say not only is that foolish, but it's a lie and It's a lie from the pit of hell And we stand up and call it what it is.
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It's a lie There is no account in all of antiquity That is comparable to the life death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ not one and And by the way, there is no other faith that grew out of the confession of a resurrection Than the one we have, you know, the the Muslims aren't running around confessing a raised Muhammad The Christian is not running around now.
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They may claim he reincarnated but that ain't the same We have a faith based on a historic fact Jesus Christ is raised That's what our faith is based on.
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It is the historic fact of the unique Christ either he is raised or he is not and we proclaim with the Apostle Paul, but in fact, he has been raised and Therefore we come to what C.s.
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Lewis called the great trilemma C.s.
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Lewis And his book mere Christianity.
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He said everyone when faced with the claims of Christ must come to one of three conclusions Jesus is either a liar He's a lunatic or he's the Lord if Jesus said what he said and did what he did and it was a lie He's a liar If Jesus said what he said and he knew it wasn't true or didn't know it wasn't true.