I want to talk about things today that should appeal to every single listener. I always try to visualize those who hear these daily broadcasts. I know that the majority of you are meeting the normal course of human problems and reverses. You have an average amount of temptations, certain failures, perhaps, in living up to your own expectations and others. You are the people that have to fight traffic every day; you are the folks that face a competitive world. You are concerned about security. You have to take care of your family; you wrestle with problems in the home. These things you have to face every day that you live. You contend with doubts and fears; perhaps doubts about yourself, or doubts about the Bible. At times you experience inexpressible longings for righteousness, for holiness of life. There may be some young people who are standing at the crossroads, not just sure which way you want to go. You are not just sure whether you ought to kick the traces to go down Broadway or to make a decision for Christ and walk the straight and narrow way.
Our approach in these daily broadcasts is not designed as an answer or an argument to atheists and infidels. I am not here primarily to convince skeptics or to prove Christianity. That will not be our approach. Now there may be some who are skeptics. There may be some who are agnostics listening right now. I hope there are, and I want to say this, I am glad you are listening. Many of you are Christian people. There are others who have a Christian orientation. You may have been brought up with Christianity. You are on speaking terms with it. It may be that as a child you accepted Christianity uncritically; you may not have done a lot of thinking about it, but dad and mother were Christians and you sort of grew up in that way of life. You may have accepted what your parents believed and what they taught just because they taught it, just because they believed it. Sometimes in that transition from believing what our parents tell us to the point where we really believe for ourselves, there comes a sneaking suspicion that Christianity isn't all that it is said to be. We may feel that it doesn't always hold up, it does not always ring true. There may be the lingering suggestion that it is not intellectually respectable. Some, when they come to that point of transition or after they have gone on for a number of years without giving much thought to Christianity, have a tendency to discard it rather than to investigate its credentials. There may be some listening who are having problems with their faith. It is our purpose to help all to a better understanding of the Word of God. We shall endeavor to preach on things that will help you as Christians every day that you live.
Christianity begins with Jesus Christ and I want to begin with Him today. The question was asked repeatedly during the ministry of Jesus "Who is Christ?" People are still asking that question today. There are people who have had a Christian orientation, a Christian background, who really have not taken their religion seriously, who are pondering just who Christ is and what He means to them personally. The Bible says that God became man and was manifest in the Person of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Himself claims that He is divine, that He was God and that He became flesh. Herein lies the whole issue: If Christ is God in human flesh, then that means that some way we are involved with Him. If it is true that He is God, then our loyalties really belong to Him in the face of what He has done for us. If Jesus' claim is true, we face a serious crisis in our own lives. What are we going to do about it? On the other hand if it is not true that Jesus Christ was God, then we can just dismiss the whole thing and there is no need to let Him trouble our conscience ever again. Is Jesus Christ really what He claimed to be, or is He not? I want us to consider that question seriously. I want to present Jesus Christ as He claims to be: The Son of God. And I want to give some reasons, some logical reasons why I believe Jesus Christ's claims were true.
First of all, let us consider His moral character. He lived an impeccable life. There was no flaw, no sin in Him. Even His enemies had to admit that there was no fault in Him. He lived a noble and pure life before men. No other life ever lived can match the matchless Jesus. No one ever lived a life like Jesus Christ. When Jesus accused His enemies and wrote their sins in the sand, they slipped away as fast as they could go. But when Jesus invited them to accuse Him, He stayed to face their scrutiny. They could not find anything wrong in Him to accuse. He asked them, "Who convicts me of sin?" and not a single individual raised his voice in condemnation of anything that Jesus Christ had ever done. Now, whatever else may be said against the point of view that Christ was God, we are forced to agree that when Jesus Christ came here and lived His life, He behaved like a visitor from another world.
Next let us consider His claims. He claimed to be God. In John 10:27 Jesus says: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." And notice in verse 30, He says, "I and my Father are one." Verse 31: "Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?" And then verse 33, "The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." Now Jesus claimed to be one with the Father. He said, "I and my Father are one." The Jews understood exactly what He meant. They understood it and took up stones to stone Him. Why? They said, "Because you are a man and are making yourself out to be God." In John 8:56 we read these words: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou are not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." Jesus took upon His lips the name of the Self-existent One. He claimed to be the I AM.
This is the name by which God was known to the children of Israel during the Exodus (see Exodus 3:14). Verse 59, "Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." Here again Jesus Christ claimed to be God, took a title that alone belongs to God. Now if we refuse to accept the claim of Jesus to be God in human flesh, we find ourselves on the horns of a dilemma. There are a great many today who say "I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe He was the founder of the purest ethical system this world has ever known, but I don't believe that Jesus Christ was God." They think this is the intelligent, sophisticated point of view to take concerning Jesus. He was a good man. He was truthful, He was honest, He was upright, but He was not God. I would like to examine that argument for just a moment. These individuals say they believe that Jesus Christ was truthful. They say that they believe that He was completely honest and sincere. This position is almost universally held. There are only a handful who claim that Jesus was not truthful, that He was not a good man. But let's remember this. Jesus Christ claimed to be God in human flesh and the question is: Was He truthful or was He not? If He is truthful, then His claims are true and He is God. But if He is not God and yet claims to be, then that makes Jesus Christ a liar. It is inconceivable that the purest ethical system this world has ever known could be brought into existence by a liar.
Jesus went around forgiving the wrongs of others. Let's keep in mind that if He were God, He had the right to do this, but if we take the position He was just a good man, then He surely hadn't the right to forgive anyone's sins. Now, you can forgive a person who has wronged you. If he steps on your toes, you can forgive him for that. But Jesus went around forgiving people for stepping on other people's toes. And He acted in every case as though He was the one who principally offended. Jesus Christ forgave sins. He said a person could not be saved except through Him. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6. He made it abundantly clear that it was impossible to find salvation except through Him. Let's make this point clear today. It is sheer nonsense to say we believe Jesus is the greatest man who ever lived, that He was a good man, that He was truthful and honest and yet that He was not God. One cannot be considered a good man who claims that He is God when He is not. Common sense demands that Jesus either was what He said He was or He was an imposter. As C.S. Lewis said, "He was either God or the very devil of hell. There can be no middle ground."
The greatest evidence of Jesus' divinity was His resurrection from the dead. History records the fact that Jesus Christ was born, He lived, He died, and on the third day rose again. There may be some that say "We would like to have evidence for this." God does not leave us without evidence. That is the wonderful thing about Christianity. God wants us to have evidence. He wants us to be sure. He does not ask us to have a blind, unreasonable faith. God will give us the weight of evidence to help us to understand. He appeals to our minds logically. He does not expect us just to respond to Him without understanding. God gives sufficient evidence so that intelligent decisions can be made. There is certainly much evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.
He was seen on the morning of the resurrection by a woman who was one of His close followers. She came to the tomb and saw Him there in the garden. She was an eye witness. She saw the Lord alive. A little later that Sunday Jesus walked with two other followers on the road to Emmaus. That night He met with ten. The evidence is mounting. We have the testimony of these individuals who actually saw Him, touched Him, and heard Him speak. He remained on earth for about six weeks after His resurrection and when He ascended up into heaven, there were some five hundred individuals who saw Him alive and beheld Him taken up from their midst (see 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
The testimony of these eye witnesses, to facts that they could substantiate, would stand in any court of the land today. Lawyers have investigated the claims of Jesus and of His followers and have testified that this evidence is more than sufficient to secure a favorable verdict in courts today. Sir Edward Clark, a British jurist, writes, "As a lawyer, I made a prolonged study of the evidences for the events of the first Easter day. To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the High Court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling." As we rationally, logically, reasonably consider the claims of Jesus, we cannot be led otherwise than to agree with the affirmation that Peter made in 2 Peter 1:16: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye witnesses of his majesty." Peter said, "We were there. We actually saw Him. We saw Him alive. We touched Him. We handled Him. We know that He was real."
There you have it. The claims of Jesus; His moral character; and His resurrection. This is surely convincing evidence. It defies any explanation other than that Jesus Christ was what He claimed to be. Jesus Christ was God who came down and took upon Himself human flesh. The cumulative weight of this evidence is all but conclusive. It takes only a short step of faith to come to our knees before Him with the confession, "My Lord and my God!"