Is Jesus Truly God?
Easter Sermon
4/12/09
by
Jeff Chacon

1. Four evidences that Jesus is Truly God
1. His Miracles
2. His Life
3. Biblical Testimony
4. The Resurrection
2. His Miracles
1. Jesus himself pointed to the miracles that he performed as evidence of who he was.
1. John 10:24-26
2. John 14:11
2. Jesus performed many miracles during his three year ministry.
1. At least 26 of them are specifically recorded in the Gospels.
2. And many more miracles are alluded to generally:
1. Matthew 4:23-24
3. We can group the miracles into 4 basic categories:
1. Healings
1. fever
2. leprosy
3. long term bleeding
4. a withered hand
5. deafness
6. blindness
7. and paralysis
2. Exorcisms
1. drove out demons
3. Controlling nature
1. multiplied loaves and fish
2. cursed and withered a fig tree
3. turned water to wine
4. walked on water
5. calmed a storm
4. Raising the dead
1. Jairus’ daughter
2. Lazarus
3. Let’s look at some of these more closely:
1. Healings
1. Luke 5:12-15
1. Verse 15 = Obviously, the crowds were convinced that Jesus could heal sickness and disease.
2. Q: Why?
3. A: Because of healings like this:
1. Verse 12 = This man was “covered with leprosy (vs. 12)”.
2. How very different than the fake healers today who heal people of supposed ailments that cannot be proven! (Example: back-pain, etc.)
3. Main Point = You can’t fake healing a leper!
2. John 9:1-12
1. The man was “born blind”, and yet Jesus enables him to see.
1. This is an amazing miracle that could not be forged or faked.
1. The healed man himself testifies to others that Jesus healed him.
2. Controlling nature
1. John 2:1-11
1. This miracle could not be forged either.
1. Water to wine = a miraculous change in chemistry on the spot.
2. Verses 7-9 = the Servants were witnesses.
3. Impact on Apostles = verse 11.
1. If Jesus was a fake, the Apostles would have known!
2. But, instead ,they lived and died for him!
2. Luke 8:22-25
1. Q: Ever seen a modern miracle worker stop a storm?
2. It naturally led to the crucial question of the gospels:
1. Verse 25 = “Who is this?”
1. They were asking the right question…
3. Raising the dead
1. John 11:38-44
1. Buried for four days…
2. Witnessed by many people.
3. No wonder, this was the last straw for his enemies.
1. Read vs. 47-48
1. Main Point = That was the power of Jesus’ miracles!
3. His Life
1. No one ever spoke like him
1. John 7:32, 45-46
1. The guards would not bring him in because Jesus’ words were like no other.
2. No one ever lived like him.
1. John 8:46
1. Even his enemies could not prove him guilty of sin!
3. No one ever died like him.
1. Matthew 27:50-54
1. Even a pagan Roman Centurion who witnessed his death on the cross said he was the Son of God!
4. Biblical Testimony
1. Titus 2:13; Philippians 2:5
1. The Apostle Paul said Jesus was God in the flesh.
2. John 1:1-4, 10, 14-18, 29-30;
1. The Apostle John said Jesus was God in the flesh.
3. 2 Peter 1:1
1. The Apostle Peter said Jesus was God in the flesh.
4. John 20:24-31
1. The Apostle Thomas worshipped Jesus as God, and Jesus accepted that worship.
1. Note: Compare to Acts 14:11-15 and Revelation 19:9-10
5. Matthew 14:25-33 (Jesus walks on water)
1. Verse 32-33
1. Matthew records that all the Apostles worshipped Jesus as “the Son of God”.
1. Note: “Son of God” is “God”. Just as the son of a human is a human, so the son of God is God.
1. 1 John 5:20 = “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
6. Matthew 26:62-64
1. Jesus himself indicated that he was divine.
2. Let’s look at some of the incredible claims that Jesus made about himself:
1. Matthew 7:21-23
1. Jesus sets himself up as “Lord” and “Judge on Judgment Day”
1. Refer: John 5:22-30 as well.
2. Matthew 16:15-17
1. Jesus confirms that he is indeed the Son of God.
3. Matthew 24:35
1. Jesus says: “My words are eternal.”
4. Matthew 28:18
1. “All authority in heaven…”

Mark 2:5-12

2. Vs. 10 = Jesus’ claim
3. Q: The significance of this claim?
4. A: The teachers of the Law said it themselves: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (That’s the point…)
5. John 6:35-69
6. John 8:56-59
7. John 12:44-46
1. The prophets preached God.
2. Jesus preached himself.
3. And they were in agreement – because Jesus is God!
8. John 14:5-9
1. Imagine anyone else saying this…
9. John 16:7
1. Jesus says that he will send the Spirit of God Almighty.
10. John 16:23
1. ie. “I am the one through whom you must pray.”
11. John 17:1-5
1. Jesus says he shared the glory of God before the world began.
1. Only the Son of God can make that claim!
7. Transition =) This gives rise to Josh McDowell’s famous argument for the deity of Jesus entitled, “Lord, Liar or Lunatic?” which actually comes from an argument by C. S. Lewis.
1. Quote C.S. Lewis: “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 a 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 can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

5. The Resurrection

1. Romans 1:4
1. The most powerful evidence of Jesus’ divinity is his resurrection.
2. But is there enough evidence to believe that Jesus really rose from the dead?
3. There are many evidences. We’ll briefly site the top 10 for time’s sake.
4. One: Jesus said he would rise from the dead
1. Mark 8:31 = “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”
2. We’ve already established that Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic or Lord.
3. If he’s Lord, then this statement cannot be a lie or a delusion. He rose from the dead because he said he would.
5. Two: Jesus’ tomb was found empty; his body is still missing
1. Everyone (believers and critics alike) agrees that Jesus was buried and three days later his body was missing from the tomb.
2. Despite vigorous efforts to find it over the last 2000 years, Jesus’ body has never been found; it is still missing.
6. Three: The Apostles could not have stolen the body
1. Matthew 27:63-66 = “The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first." 65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.”
2. Josh McDowell quote
1. “The situation at the tomb after the resurrection is significant. The Roman seal was broken, which meant automatic crucifixion upside down for those who did it. …The depression and cowardice of the disciples provide a hard-hitting argument against their suddenly becoming so brave and daring as to face a detachment of soldiers at the tomb and steal the body.”
7. Four: The inability of the Jews or Romans to produce the body
1. “The theory that the Jewish or Roman authorities moved Christ’s body is no more reasonable an explanation for the empty tomb than theft by the disciples. If the authorities had the body in their possession or knew where it was, why didn’t they just produce the body when the disciples began preaching the resurrection in Jerusalem? …Such an action would certainly have destroyed Christianity.” (Josh McDowell)
8. Five: The guards inexplicably abandon their post and run away
1. Ancient historians tell us that for a Roman Guard Unit to abandon their post was punishable by death.
2. So, why did these soldiers allow Jesus’ body to be stolen?
3. Matthew 28:2-4 = “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.”
9. Six: Jesus appears to women first; a poor lie, but a great truth
1. Mark 16:9 = “When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.”
1. Note: Matthew’s gospel says that “the other Mary” was with Mary Magdalene as well (Matt 28:1-10).
10. Seven: The many convincing proofs over a 40 day period
1. Acts 1:3 = “After his suffering, he showed himself to these men [the Disciples] and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”
11. Eight: The Apostles change from cowardly to courageous
1. Harvard Law professor, Simon Greenleaf, a man who lectured for years on how to break down testimony and determine whether or not a witness is lying, writes: “It was therefore impossible that they (the apostles) could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated (in the gospels) had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.”
12. Nine: Jesus appears to a hostile witness; Saul becomes Paul
1. Critics assert that Jesus appeared only to those who wanted to see him (believers).
2. But that’s not true.
3. Saul (Paul) was “a hostile witness” (a legal term meaning someone with the opposite motivation of their testimony).
4. But he became Christ’s number one witness after he saw the risen Lord (Acts 26:9-23)!
13. Ten: The 500 eyewitnesses that could be cross-examined
1. 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 = “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.”
1. Josh McDowell: “Several very important factors are often overlooked when considering Christ's post-resurrection appearances to individuals. The first is the large number of witnesses of Christ after that resurrection morning. One of the earliest records of Christ's appearing after the resurrection is by Paul. The apostle appealed to his audience's knowledge of the fact that Christ had been seen by more than 500 people at one time. Paul reminded them that the majority of those people were still alive and could be questioned. Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, emphasizes: "What gives a special authority to the list (of witnesses) as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive. St. Paul says in effect, 'If you do not believe me, you can ask them.' Such a statement in an admittedly genuine letter written within thirty years of the event is almost as strong evidence as one could hope to get for something that happened nearly two thousand years ago." Let's take the more than 500 witnesses who saw Jesus alive after His death and burial, and place them in a courtroom. Do you realize that if each of those 500 people were to testify for only six minutes, including cross-examination, you would have an amazing 50 hours of firsthand testimony? Add to this the testimony of many other eyewitnesses and you would well have the largest and most lopsided trial in history.” (Excerpt from “Evidence for the Resurrection”, by Josh McDowell).
14. Summary of Top 10 evidences that Jesus rose from the dead
1. One: Jesus said he would rise from the dead
2. Two: Jesus’ tomb was found empty; his body is still missing
3. Three: The Apostles could not have stolen the body
1. The extra Roman Guards
2. The broken seal was a crime punishable by death
4. Four: The inability of the Jews or Romans to produce the body
5. Five: The guards inexplicably abandon their post and run away
6. Six: Jesus appears to women first; a poor lie, but a great truth
7. Seven: The many convincing proofs over a 40 day period
8. Eight: The Apostles change from cowardly to courageous
9. Nine: Jesus appears to a hostile witness; Saul becomes Paul
10. Ten: The 500 eyewitnesses that could be cross-examined
15. Dr. Doug Jacoby
1. “In light of all of the evidence, it takes more faith not to believe in the resurrection than to accept it as true.” (“True and Reasonable”, page 105).

6. Close

1. We’ve examined the question: “Is Jesus Truly God?”
2. Four evidences that Jesus is Truly God:
1. His Miracles
1. Healings; Exorcisms Controlling Nature; Raising the Dead
2. His Life
1. No one ever spoke, lived or died like him
3. Biblical Testimony
1. Apostles, Jesus himself; “Lord, Liar or Lunatic”
4. The Resurrection
1. Top 10 evidences
3. Happy Easter!