February 1, 2009 am
A
STUDY OF GOD (4)
Why the God of Christianity?
Today we continue our study of God.
We are in the midst of a portion of this study in which we are
establishing the God that we need to follow.
We have established both scientifically and logically that God
does exist. Last week we
presented our case for Jehovah God by examining the supernatural
character of His word, the Bible.
In this lesson we will conclude the portion of the study of God
dealing with evidences.
There are several religions that acknowledge the Bible (at least
portions of it) as being a message from God.
These would include Judaism (which accepts the Old Testament), &
Islam (which accepts the Pentateuch, Psalms and Gospels) as well as
Christianity. And these
religions are in conflict with one another.
Understanding this, I want to present some reasons WHY we should
accept New Testament Christianity as opposed to other religions.
But how do we
establish the faith of a Christian?
To do this we will examine two points.
We want to look at Jesus Christ.
Jesus claimed to be the Messiah for all mankind.
If we can validate that claim, we reject all other world
religions.
After this I want to briefly mention some of the world’s more prominent
religions and note what they teach about god and their books of faith.
And with that we will be ready to begin studying who God is.
a.
If it can
be established that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and as such, our
Savior, then the Bible is true and all other religions are to be
rejected as false. So let us
take a few moments to notice the significance of our Savior.
How do we accomplish this?
We do it the same way that we established the Bible to be a work of
Jehovah God, by examining how remarkable the Bible is.
Consider:
b.
Prophecies
looking toward Jesus.
We have already established the power of prophecies.
Let us notice some prophecies about Jesus.
i.
Micah 5:2 – Bethlehem is
prophesied as a place out of which a ruler from Judah for Israel would
come. Matthew 2:1 – 6
(quotes this verse).
ii.
Genesis 12:3, Isa. 11:1, 2 Samuel 7:
– and His lineage.
Jesus fulfills this lineage (cf. Matthew 1 & Luke 3)
iii.
Isaiah 7:14 – born of a
virgin – Luke 1:27
iv.
Deuteronomy 18:15 – a
prophet like Moses, Acts 3:22-23, 7:37
v.
Isaiah 40:3, Mal. 3:1
– a forerunner would prepare the
way (John the Baptist – Matt. 3:1-3, Luke 1:17)
vi.
Zech. 9:9 - Enter
Jerusalem riding on a colt – Matt. 21:1-5
vii.
Psalm 22:7 – He was mocked
at the foot of the cross – Matt. 27:43
viii.
Isaiah 53:4-12 - The way
He suffered - Mark 15:3-5, etc.
NOTE: The details that are outlined concerning this event alone being
fulfilled are astounding.
ix.
Isa. 53:9 - His death with
the wicked, but His burial with the rich
– Matt. 27:38, 57-60
x.
Psalm 16:8-10 - His
resurrection – Matt. 27:53, 28:6, 1 Cor. 15:1-5.
To my knowledge, none others have made this claim.
xi.
Consider the odds of all these prophecies
being fulfilled by one person
without a coordinator. The
fact it there was a coordinator. And
even with that we have even covered His impact and the mission He
accomplished. With each
statement made in prophecy concerning the anticipated Messiah, all other
possibilities were eliminated of that detail.
For example: Coming from the tribe of Judah meant He could not
come from one of the other 11 tribes.
Then when David was chosen, all other descendents of Judah would
be eliminated. The number of individuals who could fulfill the need was
continually (through prophecy) being reduced with each prophecy.
So when one came who fulfilled ALL the prophecies, either He was
the promised One OR an anomaly who defied odds in
excess of 1038.
Note: This number is derived from the odds of just 7 of the major
prophecies about the Messiah being fulfilled in Jesus.
http://www.allabouttruth.org/messianic-prophecy-2.htm
There are more than 300 passages in the Old Testament that could be
attributed to Jesus.
c.
The claims
He made
i.
Jesus
claimed to be the Son of God and our Messiah.
John 1:1-4, 14; Throughout His ministry Jesus declared His
relationship with His Father God.
Just before He was to be condemned to crucifixion when He was
asked, “Are you the son of God?” Jesus said, “It is as you say.”
(Mat. 26:64)
On one occasion, He performed a miracle to prove it – Luke 5:20-26
ii.
He
claimed to fulfill prophecies.
In fact, during His earthly ministry He continually emphasized
that He WOULD fulfill prophecies and He did.
Luke 4:16-21, John 5:39.
Then there were the number of passages where He set His face toward
Jerusalem – Luke 9:21, 18:31-33.
After He arose, Jesus said this, Luke 24:44.
iii.
He
lived and fulfilled His mission.
Scriptures confirm Jesus did what he intended to accomplish and
as a result we have hope (see testimony of apostles below).
Considering these things
– Who was Jesus?
The historical existence of Jesus
is not denied. However,
many who do not believe in Jesus as their savior will say he was a good
man or even a prophet (i.e. Muslims, some Jews).
But when you consider the claims He made either He was who He
claimed to be or He was a charlatan or crazy.
Think about it – how could one who lived his life deceiving
people into thinking he was their savior be considered good in any way?
What do you think of David Koresh (Branch Davidians in Waco, TX)
or Jim Jones (Ghana), etc?
Their works proved their evil motives. If Jesus was just another
deceiver, he was NOT a good man!!!
OR He was crazy, thinking he was
someone he was not.
But Jesus proved He was who He claimed to be and such is the better
alternative.
When looking at the question, "Is Jesus God?", C.S. Lewis, a popular
British theologian, stressed: I
am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that
people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral
teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing
we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things
Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a
lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or
else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either
this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something
worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him
as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But
let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great
human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.1
d.
The case
for His resurrection is strong evidence within itself.
i.
The
resurrection is the foundation of the Christian’s faith.
If there is no resurrection, then our faith is meaningless.
We face the same dilemma as the atheist.
Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:19, “If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most
pitiable.” How true.
ii.
If Jesus
did not arise, we should reject Him for such was one of His claims and
it is the foundation of our faith.
iii.
But there
is plenty of evidence that He did arise.
1.
He
appeared to numerous people after His resurrection – 1 Cor. 15:3-6, as
well as the last chapters of the gospels.
2.
The
dilemma His enemies faced.
If Jesus did not arise, they could have stopped the movement of
following Him by simply producing his body.
Where is His body?
3.
Some
theories presented include:
a.
Wrong tomb
– take them to the right tomb
b.
Enemies
stole the body – produce it when followers claimed resurrection
c.
Followers
stole the body – why die for a lie?
d.
Swooned –
Jesus didn’t really die on the cross.
Description not possible.
e.
He arose –
the only LOGICAL choice.
e.
The
testimony of His apostles
i.
The lives
and teaching of His apostles and disciples prove Jesus was who He
claimed to be. If Jesus was
just a good man or prophet, they would not be willing to die for Him as
they did.
ii.
Many
claimed to be eyewitnesses to His life and resurrection
Acts 10:39-42, 2 Pet. 1:16-18, 1 Cor. 15:8 – last of all, seen by
Paul, an apostle out of due season.
iii.
Considering their testimony –
were they truly eyewitnesses or part of “the plot” to deceive?
Consider what happened to them - their suffering, poverty and
deaths would not have been logical if they were living for a fraud.
Furthermore, they too, like Jesus would have been liars (when you
consider what they claimed to have seen) and thus evil, if Jesus was NOT
the Messiah He claimed to be.
iv.
Furthermore, how do explain how He changed their lives and so many lives
they came in contact with?
What was it about them that caused people to leave comfortable religions
(both idolatry and Judaism) to face persecutions?
There had to be substance.
We are TOLD that substance included miracles to verify their teachings
AND the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
f.
Furthermore, consider the impact He has made upon this world.
NONE other has had the impact Jesus had, neither Buddha,
Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Boniface III (first to declare himself universal
papa of the church on earth in 606 A.D.), or even Moses (who had great
impact and WAS a true prophet of God) has had the impact that Jesus has
had upon all mankind.
g.
Jesus is
either Who He claimed to be, or He was a liar or crazy.
There are no other alternatives.
And since we have established that the Bible IS the word of God
Jesus must be whom He claimed to be and thus followed.
II.
What about world religions?
a.
NOTE: The
following information is NOT an exhaustive examination of various world
religions. It is a very
brief (and inadequate) introduction designed to mention some differences
between these religions and the Bible (especially the New Testament).
IF we accept what has been presented these last two weeks as
truth (i.e. The Bible is from God & Jesus Christ is Who He claims to be)
we can see all other world religions crumble.
b.
According
to:
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
earlier this decade the following numbers were accumulated about various
world religions.
Christianity (adherents to
believing in Jesus as the Savior – including Catholicism,
denominationalism, Greek Orthodox, as well as non-denominational
churches) is the largest religious system in the world with about 2.1
Billion believers.
All that we have discussed thus
far verifies that the truth lies somewhere within this category (based
upon studying and following the teachings of the New Testament.
c.
Islam is 2nd
(1.5 billion) – and as we know, growing increasingly.
Their god is Allah which
is actually the name they have given to the God of Abraham & Ishmael who
they claim is the true heir of the promise to man.
Concerning Jesus, they believe
that He was a prophet from God (even born of a virgin), but He was NOT
the Son of God and He did not die by crucifixion.
He was another of God’s prophets in a long line beginning with
Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Elijah, Elisha, etc. & in the N.T.
Zechariah, John and Jesus.
They believe in 4 inspired books – the Torah (first 5 books of
O.T.), the Zabur (Psalms), the Injil (Gospels) and Qur`an.
The first three they believe have been corrupted by man and thus
filled with inaccuracies.
Salvation comes primarily through good works and through memorization of
the Qur`an. In the end, if
one’s good works outweigh their sins they will be saved.
Salvation can also be achieved by martyrdom.
The Bible teaches salvation
is primarily the grace of God though we do have to Obey His Gospel.
While Mohammed claimed to be a prophet (and Muslims claim that he is THE
prophet) he did NOT claim to be the Son of God or God Himself.
He lived from 570-632 A.D. He is believed
to have received a number of revelations throughout the last 22 years of
his life.
As we have seen, problems with Islam include a denial of who
Jesus was, rejection of most of the New Testament and Old Testament, a
false doctrine concerning salvation, and their concept of God and His
plan of salvation.
d.
Atheism/humanism/non-religious is 3rd
(1.1 billion). Everything we
have discussed thus far rejects this option.
e.
Hinduism 4th –
900 million, is a religion primarily of the East, but it is increasing
in numbers in the west as well.
More than 90% of its adherents are in India.
Its origin dates back to more than 3000 B.C.
Hinduism believes that god is in everything and that followers
are created in the form of God and seek to reach a state in which they
once again are rejoined with the supreme god (Brahman).
If one fails to reach that state in this life, they are
reincarnated to try again. This “force” they call God is impersonal.
They have numerous “sacred texts” some of which they consider to be
delivered by their concept of God to sages.
These are called Vedas and are very ancient (some attribute
the origins of Hinduism to about 3000 B.C.).
They also have a number of Smriti which are remembered saying
(not inspired). As you
examine these various insights, (both types - which include hundreds of
thousands of pages) they are more about how to live to achieve
enlightenment and to become a part of God, which is an impersonal force.
The problems with Hinduism rests in how it contradict the Bible
in a number of subjects – including that there is ONE God (there are
varying views in Hinduism including polytheism [many gods] and pantheism
[god in everything]), teaching reincarnation, the unity that the Bible
calls for, the need for Jesus to be saved, eternal judgment, etc.
Their writings do not have the
prophecies and other proofs that verify a divine source.
http://www.religion-cults.com/Eastern/Hinduism/hindu1b.htm
f.
Buddhism – 6th
w/376 million.
In the 5th century B.C. a baby with birth defects was born
in what is now Nepal who became the founder of Buddhism (563 -483
B.C.).
This belief system is not really about worshipping and serving any
God. In fact, a major
tenant is that “there is no mighty god in Buddhism”2.
Buddahnet.net notes that to many Buddhism is more about a
philosophy or “way of life” than a religion.
This was taught by Buddha himself, but he did not deny the
existence of a deity.
The purpose of Buddhism is to eliminate suffering in one’s life.
Its concept of suffering is anything that one is deprived of,
though some suffering is trivial and others more serious.
Relief from suffering is achieved through enlightenment.
This is addressed in 4 noble truths – 1) Life is suffering (full
of it); 2) Suffering is caused by cravings and aversion (i.e. getting
what you want does NOT guarantee happiness); 3)This suffering can be
overcome by giving up useless cravings and living each day one at a time
(i.e. don’t dwell on the past or imagined future); 4)There is an 8-fold
path to ending suffering (this includes meditation and refocusing our
minds away from the causes of suffering, achieving true awareness).
IF there is a God, then Buddhism is not to be followed.
The Bible deals with suffering and how to overcome it – and some
of what it teaches is consistent with some of these “noble truths” but
not all of it. Studying the
Bible will cause one to turn to God and Christ instead of the
philosophies of men.
g.
Judaism – 12th,
w/ 14 million. The Old Law.
The New Law clearly respects the Old Law, but it teaches that the
Old Law was fulfilled. IF
you accept what has been said about Jesus, this would eliminate Judaism
as STILL being the way to worship God.
Furthermore, many passages point toward this: Some Old Testament
passages such as Joel 2:28-32, Matt. 5:17, 18, Galatians 3:24-25, etc.
h.
Having
established the Bible as true, all these writings could not be the
inspired word of God.
And thus we conclude the first part of
our study about God. In this
we have laid a foundation that we can build upon as we strive to learn
more about the ONE True God to whom we will give account one day.
That is my goal in this entire series of lessons.
It is true that there IS a God and He has given us instructions to follow in order to be saved. What about you? Are you willing to obey His word to receive the promise of eternal life in heaven? If so, why not make yourself right with Him today.
1
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity,
The MacMillan Company, 1960, pp. 40-41.
2
www.buddahnet.net