you as always for playing and Courtney for leading appreciate you guys very much last week we began a brand new series called skeptics welcome and we looked at last week a message titled does man need God so if you missed that all of our sermons are always archived on a website called sermon audio comm you can go to sermon audio search for freedom Baptist Church or my name Chris Theobald it will bring up all of our sermons you can find them on our website So they're out there. If you ever want to listen to them again or if you miss one, you can check it out there. And so we continue that series this week with our second message titled, Is One Way the Only Way? Is One Way the Only Way? And I'm going to give you just one scripture this morning to read along with me, and that's from the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 6. And I'm going to ask you to stand because you probably won't even need to turn to this one if you're a regular because you'll know it by heart. We quote it a lot. But if you don't know it, that's okay. That's part of the reason why we're doing this series, is to challenge you with the word of God, to present you with what we believe to be the truth. and ultimately for God to do a work in your heart so that you come to a place where you can make that decision for yourself. So in the Gospel of John, the 14th chapter, Jesus has been meeting with his disciples. He has been talking to them. It is the night before his betrayal, where he will be betrayed and ultimately crucified. And he's been sharing with them some very tough teaching. And they are confused. at the moment they don't understand what he's talking about he's been talking about going away and leaving and remember these men have left everything to follow Jesus who they believe is the Messiah and now all of a sudden he's talking about dying and leaving and they're confused and so in the 14th chapter some of the most beautiful words in all of scripture are found in the first three verses They're preached at funerals, they're talked about a lot. But I want to jump down to verse 6 of chapter 14, and I want you to see these words that he actually speaks to a guy named Thomas, who many refer to as Doubting Thomas. So if you're a skeptic and you have doubts this morning, these words were given to a doubter, and I'm going to give them to you this morning and see what God does with them. So John 14, verse 6, Jesus said to him, that being Thomas, I am the way and the truth. and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you today for your word and we thank you for each and every person that has made the effort to come out to your church today. God, we don't know where each person stands in life, where their hearts are at. But God, you do because you formed them. You made them and created them. You love them. And you showed your love to them. And while they were yet sinners, you died for them. God, today, for those first and foremost that don't know you, that maybe are skeptical that you're even real. I pray, Lord God, that you would just begin to work in their hearts, that you would show them the truth, and the truth would set them free. That God, you would reveal yourself personally to them, show them the love that you have for them, and allow them to experience that for themselves. And God, for those who believe, but maybe at times struggle with faith, God, I pray that through this series and the message today, you would re-energize and rejuvenate them. God, that you would give them a passion for the word of God, for the truth of God, and ultimately for you. who is the living word. God, we thank you for this church and for all that you're doing here. God, pray that this hour of service would not be about us, but that would we all be about you. God, we pray you'll move, remove every distraction, every care and concern that we brought in here, God, so that we can just clear our hearts and minds to hear from you. And we promise to give you all the glory today for whatever you do in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. I was reading this week some popular blogs and different things that I check out from time to time. And in one of these blogs that I read is a popular Christian apologist. If you don't know what an apologist is, it's someone that defends the faith. And so this guy writes articles weekly on different topics concerning defending the faith. And he was actually writing on the same topic that I'm preaching on today, and that is, one way the only way and as he laid out the case for that there were many comments obviously in the comment section afterward and one of the comments caught my eye because this this person this lady was very upset by the idea that someone could say one way is the only way. The exclusivity of that statement upset her so that in big bold letters she typed out God is not only the Christian God. That was what really she wanted to get out and make known, that God Whoever or whatever you refer to as God is not exclusively for Christians only. God has many ways to be seen. Let me give you some quotes from other popular religious teachers, and the guys are going to get a video together in just a moment to show you a real brief video. But I want to give you a couple of quotes before we get to that. The first is from the Dalai Lama. Listen to what he says concerning many paths. That teaching today would be called pluralism, a way that there are many paths that ultimately lead to the same end, that you can get to God by many different directions. The Dalai Lama said, religion is important for humanity, but it should evolve with humanity. The first priority is to establish and develop the principle of pluralism in all religious traditions. If we, the religious leaders, cultivate a sincere pluralistic attitude, then everything will be more simple. It is good that at least other religious leaders are at least beginning to recognize other traditions even though they may not approve of them. The next step is to accept that the idea of propagating religion is outdated and it no longer suits the times. So he's saying to go out and spread the gospel or spread your particular message is an outdated means that should not be used. Let me give you another quote from Mahatma Gandhi who said that religions are different roads converging on the same point. What does it matter if we take different roads as long as we reach the same point? And so, These quotes in the video you'll see fly in the face of Jesus making the claim that he was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man or lady, boy or girl, can come to the Father except by me. And so today's world would rewrite John 14, 6, I believe, like this. I am one of the ways, one of the truths, and one possible life. You can come to the Father through me or not. It's all good. Live and believe whatever you like. Whatever you choose is okay with me as long as you are sincere. That is the attitude of many today concerning the path to God, and one which a very popular religious teacher, preacher, has used himself. Guys, I'm gonna ask if you would to show that clip. Yeah, I don't know. It's probably a balance. I think that if you know Christ, you're going to believe him and God will help you in many ways. You know, I just, I'm very careful about something new and innovative. I don't know, I don't know if I would be, if I would be doing it at all. Or, I don't know if I would be doing it on a whole different level of interest. And of course, you know, this is about me, you know. I just think I'm going to be doing it for the rest of my life. I've spent a lot of time doing it with my father. And, you know, I'm a lot like him, I'm a little like my father. And, you know, I have, you know, a much similar experience. So, I don't know, I just, I don't really think of it as a level of interest. I don't know what it is. So in that clip, he says personally, I believe that Jesus is the way, but I would never force that on anyone else. Spent time in India, they love God. If they're Hindu, they love all 330 of their gods, and they're very sincere about that, and so who am I to judge their hearts? The problem with that type of idea is that it flies in the face of what Christians are called to do. Matthew 7 1 judge not lest you be judged is probably the most misused and misconstrued out of context verse in the Bible that is used by so many people to try to drive home a point that we are to never say anything about anybody else whatever they believe is fine. But the Bible is already spoken. And we are to be wise and we are to use discernment. And the Bible tells us over and over as Christians to judge. The Bible says to judge righteous judgment. It says in 1 Peter that judgment is to begin in the house of God. We cannot faithfully preach and teach the word of God and not stand upon that and demand of it what it demands of us. Not in an arrogant, boastful way. But to say that it doesn't matter what the Muslim believes, what what the Hindu believes, what the Buddhist believes, what the atheist believes, they still have a possibility of making it to heaven because only God can judge the heart he has. has and he has found all guilty. We don't have to wait to see what God says about the heart. He says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it, Jeremiah 17 9. He says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3 23. He said for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ his son, Romans 6 23. and on and on God has already declared what he thinks of the human heart in its lost condition and so for anyone to teach that all roads lead to heaven and it's possible that someone can reject Christ is to reject the truth of the gospel message it is to it is to be politically correct to the damnation of many souls and so when we talk about When Jesus talks about, I am the way, the truth, and the life, he's being very exclusive in that claim. He's saying that only one path can get to God. But the good thing about the gospel is that it's also very inclusive. Yes, there's one way, but all can come that way. He doesn't leave anybody out. Whatever your background is, whatever the color of your skin, whatever your economic, social background does not matter. Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely, Jesus says. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life. There's one way to God, but all may come that way. Jesus is the door that opens to heaven for anyone that by faith will receive him. So while the gospel is exclusive in the path. It's inclusive and who can come that way. And so over and over and over, Jesus makes that claim. And not only did Jesus make the claim, but his disciples carried on that same teaching afterwards. I'm going to give you a lot of scriptures today, so I don't expect you to flip to them all. And I don't expect the guys to necessarily be able to get them all on the screen. Just jot them down. and go back and look for yourself. Because one thing I tell our church all the time is, just because I've got a shirt and tie on and a Bible in front of me, doesn't mean I expect you to just believe everything that comes out of my mouth. Go look for yourselves. Go search the scriptures. See if you find eternal life in them. I believe you will. But just don't take my word for granted. I want you to look for yourselves. I want you to examine the things that I say. So write these down as you go and go back later and look at them. Because the disciples, the Bible teaches this over and over that Jesus is the only way. In Acts 4.12, the apostle Peter says these words, there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And that is the name of Jesus Christ that he was preaching on in that context. The Apostle Paul said this to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2.5, there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, and that is the man Christ Jesus. And the Apostle John, the beloved apostle that leaned on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper, said in 1 John 5, 20, And we know 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. In His Son, Jesus Christ, He is the true God and eternal life. Over and over the scriptures declare that Jesus is not one of many ways. He is the only one to eternal life. And so. At this point, you may say so what? Many religions and many people make that exact same claim. It doesn't prove anything really, except that Jesus was another person that claimed the same thing of many others. But here's another thing that makes Jesus so different about his claim. Not only did he claim to be a way to God, Jesus claimed to be God himself. He claimed to be God himself. And that was what really angered the Jews. They weren't upset that Jesus said that he was the only way. The Jews were monotheistic. They believed in one God. They didn't think it was Jesus, but they believed in one God. But when he claimed to be the son of God, when he claimed to be the Messiah, that is what angered the Jews to the point where they wanted to kill him. That is why they ultimately did kill him, because he was committing blasphemy to claim to be God himself in the flesh. But Jesus made no qualms about it, that he was identifying as God in the flesh. So if we were to go all the way back to the book of Exodus, where God is calling Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egyptian slavery for 400 years. And he calls Moses to do that. And Moses is going back and forth with God because he feels ill equipped to handle that calling. He's not prepared to do that. And so he's trying to find a way out. He's trying to find an excuse so he doesn't have to do it. And so he goes to God in the burning bush. God reveals himself in this bush that is burning and is not consumed. God is talking to Moses. And in Exodus chapter 3, one of the things that Moses asks is, okay, when I go to the Israelite people, when I talk to Pharaoh, and I try to explain to them that I've had a conversation with God in this bush that's on fire, what on earth am I supposed to tell them your name is? Now, for the Jewish people, they would not pronounce the name of God. And so the best translation that we have for the name of God is Yahweh. So you may see that or hear that in your English Bibles when you read the Old Testament and you see the word Lord in all capitals, L-O-R-D, in all capitals, that is the proper name of God, Yahweh, being used in those texts. So in Exodus 3.14, let me read to you what God says to Moses. He says there that when you speak to the people, tell them that I am has sent you, that I am, Yahweh, has sent you. And so fast forward to the Gospel of John, where Jesus is now speaking to the religious leaders, and they're angry with him as they always were, and they're trying to catch him in some kind of trap and set him up. And in John chapter eight, Verses 56 to 58, Jesus says this to them. And again, they get very angry. But he says, your father, Abraham, rejoiced that he would see my day and he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old. And yet you're saying that you have seen Abraham, who lived hundreds of years and has been dead for a long time. Listen to what Jesus says. Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. You see the connection there? He uses the divine name to identify himself. Before Abraham was. I am." And that's what infuriated the Jews. In Mark 14, verses 61 and 62, as he stands before the high priest and they examine him in the trial, the mock trial that was set up to condemn him, they ask him, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed or the Son of the Most High? Is that who you are? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds, heaven. Jesus took on the divine claim for himself. He made no bones about it. He was claiming to be God incarnate in the flesh. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with us and the Word was God. He is God in the flesh. And not only that. But again, his followers believe that as well. I love John chapter 20. When. All of the disciples have seen the resurrected Christ except for our friend doubting Thomas. And they tell him what happened and he says, man, there's no way I will not believe it unless I can see him unless I can touch his hands and feel him feel the spear wound in his side. I'm not going to believe. And so the next week, here's Jesus again and and Thomas is there this time. And and Jesus allows Thomas to feel his hands and to put his hand in his side. And Thomas falls down on his face. And he looks at Jesus and he says, Mucarius, Kai Muthias, my Lord and my God. He recognizes Jesus as being God. And he recognizes that this Jesus has resurrected from the dead and is alive. And he makes that beautiful profession of faith. And so Jesus makes this claim and his disciples made this claim and professing Christians today and the Bible all throughout makes the claim that Jesus is God. And we can't, as skeptics, just brush that aside. C.S. Lewis. who is a great defender of the faith and who wrote a wonderful book called Mere Christianity. He says this about Jesus divinity. He says, I'm trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him being Jesus. 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 very devil of hell himself. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else he's 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 patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. You've got to understand when you look at the claims of Jesus, that he was either a deceitful demon, a lying lunatic, are the Lord and God of creation. You've got to make your decision based on the evidence. Because again, Jesus claiming to be the only way, Jesus claiming to be God, is not something that we haven't heard before. Right? I mean, we've seen the cult leaders, we've seen the religious teachers that have all made claims similar to that. And so Jesus making that claim still does not give us rock-solid evidence that He is the Son of God. That He is the only way. But I want to give you a few things this morning about Jesus that make him so unique, so different from any other religious teacher or any other figure that we've ever seen in history, that you have to ask the question, is this man more than just a man? Could he perhaps be exactly who he says he is and who the word of God says he is? That's what I want you to look at this morning with me. One of the things that makes Jesus so unique is the prophecies of scripture that speak about him. Numbers vary depending on which scholar you talk to, but almost all agree that there are roughly over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah, who he would be, where he would be born, his manner of life, his manner of death, different things like that. I'm going to give you just a few of those. OK? In the Old Testament. And these prophecies were written 500 to 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. OK? Psalm 22 says that the Messiah would have his hands and feet pierced. and that they would cast lots for his garments. They would divide his clothes. We know that that happens. We see it in the gospel accounts. Zachariah said that the Messiah would enter into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. We see that again in the gospel accounts where Jesus rides in and they shout Hosanna and lay down palm branches a week before they would ultimately cry crucify him. and have him given up for death. The prophet Micah says that the Messiah would be born in the small little town of Bethlehem, the house of bread. And he was in fact born there. Isaiah said that he would come from the line of Judah, or from the line of David, from the tribe of Judah. Again, Jesus fulfills this. Malachi said that there would be a forerunner that would prepare his way. We know him as John the Baptist coming and preaching repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Isaiah 53, one of the greatest prophetic chapters in the Bible, speaks over and over of this suffering servant who would come, lay down his life for the transgressions of many. It says in Isaiah 53 that he would be killed, he would be numbered among the transgressors. Jesus was killed between two thieves. It says that he would be silent as a lamb before his shearers. Jesus opened not his mouth, gave up his life willingly. It said he would be buried in a borrowed tomb, Joseph of Arimathea. Gave up his tomb and allowed Jesus to be placed in it over and over and over. Prophetic scriptures. Say what the Messiah would be like and who he would be. And over and over and over every one of those prophecies has been fulfilled in one person. And that is Jesus Christ. 300 plus prophecies fulfilled in one man. Now let me try to put that into perspective and also to say this. The Jewish people, although they've rejected Jesus as the Messiah, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But Isaiah 53 is such a powerful portion of Scripture, and it points so obviously to Jesus being the Messiah, that the Jews, for several hundred years now, have stopped reading Isaiah 53 in their yearly readings in the synagogue. When the week comes before they read Isaiah 52, they stop in the middle of that chapter and the following week they go directly into Isaiah 54. They no longer read Isaiah 53 because it causes so much confusion and so many a question. Could it be that Jesus is the Messiah? So they stop reading it. That's how powerful and how obvious that scripture is pointing to Jesus. And so. To bring that home, those prophecies, a mathematician named Peter Stoner decided to pick out eight of these prophecies fulfilled in Jesus and do a mathematical analysis on what the odds would be for one man to fulfill just eight. Three hundred plus have been fulfilled in Jesus. This man took eight and said, what are the odds, the statistical odds that one person could fulfill just eight prophecies. He concluded that the figure would be 10 to the 21st power exponent. 10 with 21 zeros behind it. To put that in perspective, and I've shared this before, if you took, and this is what he used as an illustration, if you took a half dollar, single half dollar, marked on the face of it with a sharpie, And then you took enough half dollars to cover the state of Texas two feet deep. And then you blindfolded a man and you took that one half dollar that you marked with a sharpie. and tossed it out into that abyss of other two-foot-deep pile of half-dollars. Colorado State of Texas took the blindfolded man and sent him out into that mess, and he randomly stooped down and picked up the one that you had marked. That statistically is the same odds as 10 to the 21st hour, you fulfilling just eight prophecies in one man. Jesus fulfilled 300-plus in one man. It's difficult to explain the supernatural there. That Jesus is more than just some guy that accidentally came along and was deceived and was a liar and a lunatic and decided that he would make some claims. It may be easy to manipulate some of those claims. You can't choose where you're born. You can't choose how you die. You can't choose all of those things where you have to remove the human perspective out of those things. He had no way to know those things. It was divinely orchestrated because Jesus was, in fact, who he claimed to be. Not only that, but we look at the sinless life of Jesus and the miracles that this this man performed while on Earth. People were astounded by Jesus. In Mark 14, verses 55 through 57, listen to what it says there. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. They wanted so bad to find something to charge him with. And man, they worked hard at that. If you read the Gospels over and over and over again, they've made it their life's effort in these times to find something wrong with him. And they can't find anything. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And so they actually got people to come in at his trial and bear false witness against him because there was nothing to charge him with. He wasn't guilty. He lived his life sinless. Our great high priest was the sinless son of God. That's how he could go to the cross and die for our sins. No human man could ever go to the cross and lay down his life because he himself would be sinful. It took a sinless sacrifice to atone for sinners like you and me. That's why Jesus could and did do that. As he stood before Pilate in the trial, Pilate told the Jews after examining Jesus, I find no fault in this man. I've examined him. There's nothing to charge him with. Peter. would later write, quoting Isaiah 53, he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. John wrote in his gospel, John 9, 32, after Jesus began to heal people, listen to what the people said about his miracles. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. Jesus had just healed this man born blind. He'd been blind all his life. And Jesus heals him. One of the predictions of the Jewish people about the Messiah was that he would be someone that would be able to give sight to the blind. No one had ever done that until Jesus and they marveled at his ability to do so. When Jesus came along and touched lepers who were unclean and healed them of their leprosy, the people marveled in Matthew 12, 23. All the people were amazed and they said, can this be the son of David? The things that he were doing miraculously, the life that he was living sinlessly, caused people to begin to question everything they believed. Could this really be the Messiah? We've never seen things like this. We've never seen a man teach this way. We've never seen a man live this way. He doesn't just speak about religion like the Pharisees. He lives with love and compassion. He cares for people. He doesn't alienate himself from sinners. He eats with them. He goes to them. He loves on them. He doesn't stay away from the hurting and the broken. He goes and gives them peace and life and comfort. Who is this man? And many believed on him because of the works that he did. And many believe today because they've received a touch from Jesus. And he's healed you of physical ailments, of emotional problems, most of all of your spiritual debt. And many believe today still, because Jesus is unlike any other religious teacher who so many put their hope and their confidence in and never receive the things that they're seeking from. You see, when you drink from the water of life that is Jesus Christ, He said you'll never thirst again. When you follow after all these religions, when you're stuck in atheism and agnosticism, not having any hope or any purpose to what goes on, just random chance, there's never any satisfaction, ultimately. There's never any assurance. There's never any hope. But there is in Christ. There is in Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Jesus predicted over and over that he would rise again. And the amazing thing about it is so many precautions were set up to make sure that those claims would not be realized. The Jews thought about it, the Romans thought about it, and they said, after Jesus is crucified and placed in the tomb, we're going to make sure that we put some safeguards in place to end this foolishness once and for all. And so after Joseph of Arimathea agrees to let Jesus be placed in his tomb, They wrap him in these grave clothes. They anoint him with oil and spices and myrrh and different things, which was the common practice of the day. And he's wrapped in these clothes, tightly wrapped up. All this oil and all the things poured on his body, placed in the grave tomb. Then they roll a massive stone in front of this. Some estimates say this could have weighed as much as a ton. Rolled in front of this grave. Then it is sealed with the Roman seal. meaning that anybody that would tamper with this thing is subject to death, persecution from the Roman government itself. Then they place a Roman guard in front of it, which was probably at least 16 men guarding this tomb. And when these men guarded the tomb, they didn't just sit down and look at it. They didn't lean up against the rock and say, this is boring. I mean, they stood at attention because if they fell asleep, if something went wrong, Not only did one of them get stripped of all their clothes and burned naked before everyone, the entire unit did. So you better believe that everybody made sure the other guy was accountable and they were doing their job to watch the tomb that they were set in front of. And yet, on the third day, here comes a group of ladies down to the tomb, the stone is rolled away, The grave clothes are neatly folded up and set aside, and the body is gone. And the angels are there to testify of what happened. And then they see this resurrected Christ. And now, even reading that account, it's amazing because if this was fabricated, The last thing in the world that any first century Jew would think to do was make two ladies, or a group of ladies rather, be the eyewitnesses to what happened. You see, ladies in those times, their testimony carried no authority. They couldn't be witnesses in court. They were seen less than human in some respects, just property. So if you're going to fabricate a story, it certainly would have been a group of women going down to the tomb and discovering that Jesus is gone. It will have at least been men, and you might have even fabricated it better that these men went and they fought off this guard and rolled the stone away and heroically helped Jesus come out. You know, if we're going to make up a story, we see what Hollywood does, and we probably would have done something similar. Certainly they wouldn't fabricate a story with two women or a group of women going down to see about Jesus and ultimately being the first to testify of his resurrection. But not only that, so many other things go along. with the resurrection of Jesus. His brother James, his half-brother, was an unbeliever. Can you imagine growing up with Jesus as your brother? Can you imagine that? How difficult that would be, Mary and Joseph? James, why can't you be more like Jesus? He never does anything wrong. He picks up his room just like we asked him. He eats all his vegetables. James, you've got a lot of work to do, right? It'd be hard to be Jesus' brother. But nonetheless, James grows up with Jesus, and he's not a believer. He's not a believer until after Jesus dies. What happened? He saw the resurrected Christ. He saw his brother that was crucified and killed and placed in a tomb, and he saw him alive. It's probably going to change the way that you think about things, is it not, when you see that happen? The Bible tells us that there were upwards of 500 people at one time that saw Jesus alive. The gospel was written, all of the gospels were written in the lifetime of many of these eyewitnesses. If all these stories in the gospel were fabricated, people were still alive that saw these things and they would have come forward and easily refute the falsity of all this. No one does. We have no records of anybody coming forward and saying all this stuff was made up, fabricated, is a lie. Not at all. Christianity began to be a blight on the Roman government. The church was spreading, upheavals and uprisings were taking place. Rome could have easily ended that. You know how? Produce a body. Produce a body. All you gotta do is show the body of Jesus and all this ends. Christianity goes away, all these religious nutcases cease, and it's over. It's over. But there was no body to produce, so much so that they had to fabricate a lie about what happened to the body. Matthew 28 verses 12 through 15, it says, when they had assembled the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, tell people his disciples came by night and stole him away while you were asleep. That's the best they can come up with. these fearful fishermen who had all ran away when Jesus was betrayed and taken into captivity. This Peter that denied Jesus before a little maiden slave girl three times because he was so scared, came in the dark of night and overthrew 16 Roman soldiers while they were asleep on their post for fear of death if they did something like that, rolled this massive stone out of the way and took Jesus' body and ran off with it. That's what they came up with. And he says, if it comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. And even today, skeptics of the resurrections have come up with theories to prove that Jesus, in fact, did not rise from the dead. One of those theories is called the swoon theory, which is basically this that Jesus was beaten 39 times so bad that the skin had been ripped off his back. The Bible says that he was unrecognizable as a man had been beaten so much he'd been up for probably 36 hours. He had not had anything to eat or drink. He was made to walk after this severe beating. with a cross that weighed probably 120, 130 pounds on the back of his back, one mile up a hill, to be crucified in the hot sun for six hours, to be stabbed in the side with a spear, and then taken down, wrapped up in grave cloths, placed in a tomb, and yet he really wasn't dead. And he came back to life, or he revived from the state he was in. He unwrapped himself from the grave clothes, rolled aside the stone, and walked out of there. That's one theory that people present, Another is that the ladies were mistaken, and they went to the wrong tomb. They got up that morning, they didn't have their coffee yet, and so they walked to the wrong tomb, and they are all mistaken, and everybody else was mistaken, and Joseph of Arimathea, who was a prominent man of the Sanhedrin that everybody knew, he was mistaken about where his tomb was, and nobody knew, and to this day, we're all looking at the wrong place. That's another theory that's given. Another theory is that all these people had hallucinations, They hallucinated. Maybe they went out and had some illegal narcotics. I don't know how they had these hallucinations, but everybody thought that they saw Jesus, but it really wasn't Jesus. They had a bad trip, I guess. I don't know what happened there. But that's another theory. And the last one that Muslims even proclaim to this day is that it wasn't Jesus on the cross. It only appeared that Jesus died, but it wasn't really Jesus. And those are the best theories that people can come up with besides the fact that Jesus maybe just was who he says he was. And he was God. And he did rise again. And he is alive. And the final thing, and I'll close with this, and that is the change and the testimony of the disciples and millions of other followers throughout the centuries that have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. In John chapter 20, verse 19, let's look at the disciples real quick. after Jesus is crucified and after all the events have taken place. Peter is denied Jesus three times, they're scattered and they're scared to death. John 20, 19, on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors were locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. And Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. They're locked in the upper room. Scared of the Jews. Scared that they're gonna be persecuted. Scared because they had a relationship with him. Now he's dead. Now he's gone. They followed him. They stood by him. Now he's dead and gone. And they are scared to death for their lives. That's where we find the disciples after the crucifixion. That's where they were. Not brave. Boldly proclaiming the faith. Standing for what they believed in. Scared to death. Worried that they're not gonna make it through another day. And then, just a few weeks later, we see Peter and John standing before great crowds of people and in front of the council in the Sanhedrin and in Acts 420, boldly proclaiming the faith. And not only boldly proclaiming it, but calling on people to repent because you, he says, you have killed the Messiah. It was you who put him to death. boldly proclaiming after weeks before being scared to death and hiding in a room, now willing to stand up and share the gospel unapologetically. And they threaten them, they beat them, don't speak of this anymore. And what does Peter say? In Acts 4.20, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. You can't silence us now. We've heard it and we have seen it. We have seen Jesus alive. And they were so emboldened and empowered by that that they had no more fear of what could ever happen to them. The worst that could happen was that they lose their life. And Jesus has proved that whoever loses his life, for my sake, will find it. Because Jesus has been risen up, we who believe will rise in like manner with Him. What did they have to fear any longer? And they changed. Their testimony was sure. 1 John 1, 1-3, John writes to his followers, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life. And the life was made manifest and we have seen it. You see, these disciples no longer were fearful. They went out and boldly proclaimed Jesus Christ, death, burial, and resurrection. And they did so at the cost of their lives. At the cost of their lives. The disciples were martyred, all but John, history says, were ultimately martyred for their faith. Tradition says that Peter was ultimately crucified and he has to be crucified upside down because he felt unwilling to die the same way that Jesus did. History tells us that Thomas, doubting Thomas, ultimately was the first missionary to India and spread the gospel to a culture that believed in hundreds of other gods and ultimately gave his life by being speared to death for his testimony of the faith of Jesus Christ. James, the half-brother of Jesus, was stoned to death in Jerusalem for proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. And yet these men continued to preach. What happened? What changed them? The resurrection changed them. Saul of Tarsus, persecutor of the church, Pharisee of Pharisees, a lover of the law. What happened to him? He met the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus, and He was forever changed. His life was forever changed. Friends, when you meet Jesus, your life will be changed forever. It's not enough to look at His claims and say He was just a good man. He was just a moral teacher. He was just another religious figure. There's never been a man in the history of the world that has the evidence for and the claims to back up. The claims in the evidence that Jesus Christ has. And so I ask you this morning. What is your faith in today? Because Christianity is all often. Considered to be a blind leap of faith. There's nothing blind about our faith. We have a faith that examines truth. that looks at all the evidence and makes a decision, just as you do in life. Listen, thank God for science. Science gives us evidence, and we look at the evidence and we try to come to a conclusion about what that evidence is pointing to, but science is not absolute. That's why we have theories in science, because they're just theories. So we look at the evidence, and ultimately we have to come to a conclusion, and the rest of the way between where the theory stops and the end point is a step of faith. Science involves faith. Atheism involves faith. Other religions are all involved. Faith and Christianity ultimately is a step of faith. But as you look at the evidence. To me, it's clear. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That he rose again on the third day, forever defeating death, hell in the grave. And if he did those things, then everything that he said in this book is true. If everything in this book is true, then it the Bible tells us that all of us are dead and trespasses and sins. and yet we can be made alive in Christ. If you're here today and you're lost and you don't have a relationship with Jesus, I'm not calling on you to just learn a bunch of facts and know a bunch of information. I'm inviting you to a relationship with the God of the universe through his son, Jesus Christ. And when you come to him as the way, the truth and the life, he will open your eyes. He will change your heart. And you'll begin a new relationship with him as a new creature in Christ. And all things will become new. And your life will never be the same. And if you're willing to take a step of faith this morning and do that, if you'll turn from your sins and trust him, I believe that you will find that he is in fact who he said he was. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you this morning for the truth of your word, for the reality of your life. We know you're here in this very room today with us, God. that your Holy Spirit indwells the lives of each and every true believer. And God, for the person here today without that relationship, my prayer is that they would come by faith, even not understanding everything, but knowing that something's missing in their life, that their sin has separated them from you and desiring to have a relationship with God. And Lord, my prayer is that they would take that step of faith today, call upon you as their savior and receive you, Lord, so that you can change them and save them and begin this great work that all of us are going through as believers. So, Lord, as we give this invitation and as you draw men unto yourself, pray that they would respond in faith, and we'll give you all the glory in Jesus' name. Amen.