26-0401wc Neighborly Apologetics

Facilitator: Scott Reynolds

(0:04) Okay, thank you very much, Mark. (0:07) What a blessing it is for us to gather together like this. (0:12) I’m excited about it.

(0:13) I wish we were in a large room where we could interact, especially for tonight’s topic. (0:21) I’m going to try to share my screen. (0:24) We’ve got some slides here that we’re going to be going through.

(0:29) And so I think maybe Mark already mentioned this, but I want to tell you that we have some video clips for tonight. (0:43) And it’s possible that they just won’t play well. (0:47) We’ve tested it.

(0:48) It looks like the audio will play pretty well. (0:52) The video may be a little jerky. (0:54) I’ve tried to make the video thumbnail size.

(0:59) That doesn’t seem to help a whole lot. (1:01) But anyway, when we get to those, if you’ll just not allow that to be any kind of a distraction, (1:09) we’re going to play some clips from Greg Kogel and from Lee Strobel that we filmed for the Who is Jesus video series. (1:18) And I think there’s some really good things there.

(1:21) And so we’ll try to do those. (1:25) So for tonight, as we’re going to do every night, we do this every time we do a webinar on neighborly apologetics. (1:35) We’re going to begin with some fundamentals.

(1:37) Tonight, we’re going to talk about the claims of Jesus and the resurrection. (1:41) But we want to call our mind back again to why we’re doing it this way, (1:46) about the royal law that has been given to us by the Lord, by the scriptures. (1:51) We’re to love our neighbor.

(1:53) That means we’re to have a steadfast sacrificial zeal that seeks the true good of the one who is near. (2:01) And we think of that as one who providentially lives near us. (2:06) And that’s how we need to think of it.

(2:08) And so we believe that God is entrusted, therefore, the primary work of the kingdom to the common Christian family. (2:16) And this is the ground zero in the work of the kingdom. (2:20) Christian families praying for and building relationships with those people who live near them, (2:28) engage them in such a way that we believe God will begin to work in their lives (2:33) and begin to ask questions that we want to be prepared to answer.

(2:38) And so this is kind of the draft vision that we’ve laid before families to be thinking about, (2:45) to build those relationships and do the work of the kingdom. (2:48) We have three verses. I’m going to go through those with you every time we meet (2:53) because I think they’re important to provide the scriptural context for why we’re doing all of this.

(3:00) The first is from 1 Peter 3, (3:03) But in your hearts honor Christ, the Lord is holy. (3:06) Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you. (3:12) Yet do it with gentleness and respect.

(3:17) So we need to be prepared. We need to make that defense. (3:21) But we need to be gentle and to do it with respect (3:26) and praying that God is going to move them to ask those questions as they become ready.

(3:35) The second one from 2 Timothy, (3:36) The Lord said, gently, gently instruct his opponents in the hope that God will grant them repentance, (3:43) leading them to a knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses (3:46) and escape from the trap of the devil that has taken them captive to do his will. (3:51) It means that God is the one who’s going to be granting them repentance (3:54) and leading them to a knowledge of the truth and not us. (3:59) So that is why we’re going to be praying diligently for our neighbors.

(4:05) And the last one from Colossians, conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, (4:09) making the most of the opportunity. (4:10) Let your speech always be with grace as those seeds in the soil (4:14) so that you might know how to respond to each person. (4:19) And as we’ve said before, Godly wisdom is primarily not for you.

(4:26) It’s not for me, but for the shalom of another. (4:30) So this requires us to have wisdom and discernment (4:34) as we then begin to build these relationships, (4:38) asking God to help us understand where these people are (4:41) because wisdom and discernment requires that we be wise and discerning (4:48) when we engage the people that God has placed near us. (4:53) And that means are they a nonbeliever? (4:55) If so, are they close to God or are they open to God? (4:58) Are they a believer? (5:00) Do they have a biblical worldview or do they not have a biblical worldview? (5:04) And we’ve talked about how to respond to each one of those.

(5:09) And so we’re going to be approaching all of these topics (5:14) from what we call a neighborly apologetics approach. (5:18) Academic apologetics is critical. (5:20) We need that in order for us to do the neighborly apologetics, (5:24) but we can’t lead with the academic apologetics anymore.

(5:30) And don’t believe it’s wise in the day in which we live. (5:34) We must lead with significant relationships. (5:36) And in those relationships then begin to apply what we’ve learned.

(5:43) The academic apologetics is so graciously given to us, (5:46) but we apply it in that neighborly format. (5:51) We’ve gone through the first of these 12, evil and suffering, (5:57) and beginning tonight you will see we’re going to spend a number of nights (6:05) going through this. (6:06) It’s just so huge and so big and so critical.

(6:10) It is absolutely important. (6:13) We’ll talk some more about that tonight, (6:15) but the claims of Jesus and the resurrection, (6:18) who Jesus is, is the key question here. (6:21) And we always need to point people back to him.

(6:26) And so that is, we’re doing part one here tonight, (6:30) and as you’ll see later we’re going to be spending a number of nights on this. (6:34) There are three great truths, and I offer these to you. (6:38) I recall when I first read Francis Schaeffer’s book, (6:43) He Is There and He Is Not Silent, (6:45) and I just realized how critical those two truths were.

(6:52) And, of course, Francis Schaeffer, in the great way that he lays out all of that, (6:58) I realized that the reality that God exists and that he has spoken to us (7:02) are two great, great truths. (7:06) And it brings about three questions, three great questions (7:11) that go along with those three great truths. (7:14) And the first one is, does God exist? (7:16) And the second one is, is the Bible reliable? (7:20) The third great truth is, is Jesus.

(7:23) He is the way, the truth, and the life. (7:26) And so the great question, who is Jesus? (7:31) So these three questions, by the way, (7:33) were the questions that we attempted to answer a number of years ago (7:38) when we put together the True You series. (7:41) I wanted to do that because I wanted to be able to provide for college students (7:47) when they walk onto the campus to be able to deal with the three greatest questions (7:54) that they need to be able to answer on the college campus, (7:58) and to be able to do it in the right way.

(8:03) Does God exist? (8:04) Is the Bible reliable? (8:06) The veracity of the scriptures? (8:08) And then, who is Jesus? (8:11) And so that’s what we’re going to be doing, answer that question, who is Jesus. (8:16) It’s interesting, you remember when John the Baptist was arrested, (8:22) and he, of course, was about to lose his head. (8:26) I cannot imagine the situation that he was in.

(8:31) It’s easy to read those words. (8:33) And yet to think of all of a sudden being thrown in a horrible prison, (8:38) knowing that Herod, who you had spoken against him, (8:43) but now he has put you in prison and has the power of life and death over you, (8:50) which eventually he did. (8:53) And, you know, what happened in the event with John the Baptist, (8:57) that his head was cut off and brought into a party on a platter, (9:02) just how gross and immoral all that was.

(9:06) But in the midst of all that being in prison, (9:09) even John the Baptist asked that question, (9:13) asked the disciples to go to Jesus and to say, (9:16) Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? (9:21) And we have to be gracious here in thinking about John and his situation. (9:28) But it allows us to stop for a second, to pause, (9:32) and to ask ourselves the same question, (9:34) because oftentimes we can create our own Jesus doll. (9:42) I’ll just put it that way.

(9:43) We can create our own Jesus doll. (9:45) And when things don’t go the way we think things should be going, (9:50) based upon our desire for Jesus to be who we want him to be, (9:57) then we may have questions. (9:59) Who are you that you are doing this? (10:02) And to some extent, this is what’s happening here with John.

(10:06) Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? (10:09) Why? Because all of a sudden he’s in prison. (10:10) Things aren’t going the way a lot of people thought it was going to go (10:14) when the Messiah arrived. (10:18) And Jesus had such an amazing response, a gracious response to John.

(10:26) And he told the disciples this. (10:29) He said, Go and tell John what you hear and see. (10:34) The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk.

(10:37) The lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. (10:42) And the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. (10:49) And so Jesus is reaffirming for John the reality, (10:54) and he is doing that, first of all, by pointing to the acts of Jesus (11:01) and what he is doing.

(11:04) Those acts that we’re going to confirm will be part of the confirmation (11:09) that Jesus truly was the Messiah who was promised and who would come. (11:13) We’re going to spend an evening talking about that. (11:17) When we talk about the life and death of Jesus, we will look at his life.

(11:21) We’ll look at what he did and how Jesus provided for us (11:27) in statements that said, Look at what I’ve done (11:31) to be the confirmation of who I am. (11:33) And these are the kind of things that we need to keep in mind (11:35) when we’re talking about for ourselves to be a witness for Christ (11:39) that we need to talk about what he did while he was on earth. (11:46) But it’s the last sentence here.

(11:48) I haven’t put it up here yet. (11:50) Jesus said, Go and tell John all of these things that are happening, (11:54) these amazing, miraculous things that are happening. (11:57) And then he says this, and it’s important for all of us to take note of this.

(12:02) And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. (12:08) Blessed is the one who is not offended by me. (12:13) I think we find ourselves in a time, understanding the times in which we live, (12:18) where it’s going to be increasingly possible that people are going to be (12:24) more and more offended by us if we are a witness for Christ.

(12:30) So we need to recognize and understand that Jesus knew (12:32) people were going to be offended by him. (12:36) And this is going to be one of the major things we’re going to talk about, (12:39) kind of a major theme for us, to keep in the back of our mind, (12:42) that people are offended by Jesus. (12:48) He is not just a good historical guy.

(12:50) He sits there like other historical guys, but people are offended by him. (12:56) They’re offended by his name. (12:59) It’s important for us to understand that.

(13:01) It’s important when we’re praying for our neighbors to ask God that he would (13:05) prevent them from being offended by Jesus, (13:08) prevent them from putting up a roadblock and an obstacle in their way (13:14) just simply because of the offense. (13:16) So this big question, who is Jesus, is before us. (13:20) And I think it’s a remarkable question.

(13:23) That’s why we did the In the True You series. (13:28) In fact, here it is. (13:29) You see it on the screen there.

(13:33) It’s a 10-session video series. (13:37) I would recommend if you’re interested to go in, you can get that from Focus. (13:43) But it’s a 10-small-group series meant for small groups to go through (13:50) and to be able to discuss each of these sessions where we talk about (14:00) the apologetics for Christ and what it means to be a witness for Christ.

(14:06) So I want to begin, and hopefully this works as well as it can. (14:11) Don’t get distracted by the dirty video, but Greg is just a great guy. (14:17) When we did the Who’s Jesus video series, we interviewed a number of people.

(14:22) Greg was one of those that we interviewed. (14:25) And I thought his words here would be important for us as we consider (14:29) the importance of this question, who is Jesus. (14:33) Jesus of Nazareth is one of the most remarkable people in history, (14:37) but especially as a religious leader.

(14:39) Because when you think about it, all the other religious leaders (14:42) draw true attention to their teaching. (14:43) And then after they died, their disciples deified them. (14:50) Jesus of Nazareth did not draw attention to his teaching.

(14:53) He drew attention to himself. (14:56) He deified himself, and his disciples left him. (15:00) The reason that Jesus is so important in history is because his person, (15:06) his character, his identity is the most important issue of his entire ministry, (15:12) not his teachings.

(15:12) When Jesus addressed his disciples, he said, (15:15) Who do men say that I am? (15:17) And he got some various answers. (15:18) And then he said, Who do you say that I am? (15:21) And this is the most important question, of course, that anyone could ever answer. (15:25) He’s your answer for them.

(15:26) He said, You are the Christ, the Son of God. (15:30) In other words, you are the Messiah that’s been promised to bring peace (15:35) to the earth eventually, and you are God himself in flesh. (15:41) No other religious leader is like that.

(15:46) So we’re beginning here to talk about things that you know, (15:51) but there is no one like Jesus, no one. (15:56) In all the history of mankind, there is no one like Jesus. (16:00) Time is constantly trying to debunk him.

(16:04) It’s almost humorous. (16:07) Time continues. (16:09) You’ll see these recurring features over and over again.

(16:15) You’ll see some of the headlines there. (16:18) Who was Jesus? (16:20) Why did Jesus have to die? (16:23) The search for Jesus. (16:25) And, of course, the search that they go on is one that discounts the scriptures (16:31) and uses scholars who craft a different kind of historical person.

(16:40) Newsweek always seems obsessed in their attack upon Jesus. (16:47) You see it was that title there, How Did Jesus Become Christ? (16:51) You know, rather than what we would understand that Jesus was the Messiah, (16:58) Newsweek would report, would try to say, (17:01) Okay, this is how people and the disciples and followers later turned him into Christ, (17:09) rethinking the resurrection. (17:11) Who really killed Jesus? (17:14) So all of these are this continual attack from not only Newsweek, (17:20) but we find a number of magazines and articles and so forth (17:26) that continue to attack the veracity of the scriptures concerning Jesus, (17:34) the validity of Jesus himself.

(17:37) But what I find so remarkable here is that after nearly 2,000 years, (17:42) Jesus continues to be on the cover of magazines. (17:48) And there’s a reason for this. (17:51) When we’re asking the question, Who is Jesus? (17:53) And when we’re talking to people about him, (17:56) and I think especially in the context of a relationship (17:59) where people in that trusted relationship begin to realize and understand (18:05) that you’re not there with an agenda, that you really care about them, (18:10) that it’s fair to ask this question.

(18:13) Who is Jesus and why do people spend so much time trying to debunk him? (18:24) I’ve often thought about this. (18:25) In fact, I’ve offered this to some students sometimes to think about this. (18:33) People don’t normally ask this question about Plato.

(18:36) I mean, you don’t see a cover on Time Magazine or U.S. News that said, (18:43) Now, who was Plato really? (18:46) And then the article talks about, you know, was Plato really a historical figure? (18:53) When we read the public, Republic, did he really say that? (18:56) Or did somebody else put that in? (18:59) Was Plato a phony? (19:00) Did his followers make up all of this? (19:03) We don’t say the same thing about Julius Caesar. (19:06) We don’t ask, Did Julius Caesar really live? (19:09) Was he really a historical person? (19:11) Did he really say what people recorded that he said? (19:14) No. (19:15) When we look at the ancient documents about what Julius Caesar says, (19:19) we don’t question that.

(19:25) There’s been a number of people, and even in the movie, (19:29) I’ll talk about this in a second, that have used a number of myths, (19:33) ancient myths, to try and say that Jesus, (19:40) the myth of Jesus was really built upon these historical myths, (19:46) and so Jesus is really a hybrid of those myths. (19:51) Well, the question here before, (19:52) why do people spend so much time trying to distort these mythologies (19:57) to try and build a case against Jesus? (20:02) Not that many years ago, there was a movie, Zeitgeist, (20:07) that was put out, and one of the major pushes, (20:11) in fact the very first push in the movie, (20:14) was to try to say that Christianity is merely derived from other religions (20:19) and myths, that Jesus is a hybrid from myths such as Horus. (20:25) And so, what you see here is Ms. Murdoch, Dorothy Murdoch.

(20:34) She often used a pen name, Zachariah S., (20:39) and in that, she was really a life supporter of the Christ myth theory, (20:46) and that is what she tried to ride out constantly (20:50) and to get people to believe that Jesus was not a historical figure, (20:53) that he was just a hybrid of myths and deities and Christian religions. (21:01) I don’t mean to make fun of this, but it was interesting. (21:04) She died on Christmas in 2015.

(21:09) Let’s look at, for example, in the Zeitgeist movie, (21:14) where they’re talking about Jesus as really simply a remaking (21:21) of the Horus mythology. (21:24) And in the movie, they talk about Horus and say that, well, look at this. (21:28) Horus was born on December 25th.

(21:31) He was born of a virgin. (21:33) His mother was named Mary. (21:35) There were three kings that came to worship him.

(21:39) He began his ministry at age 30. (21:41) He was baptized. He had 12 disciples.

(21:43) He was betrayed, crucified, buried for three days, (21:46) and resurrected for three days. (21:47) Now, if you saw the movie and you heard that, (21:51) then you would think, oh, my goodness, you know, that’s really possible. (21:55) I mean, Jesus, this is so much like Jesus.

(21:58) Maybe they did make him up after this myth. (22:02) Well, look at the reality. (22:03) I mean, the truth here is this.

(22:06) Well, first of all, Horus was not born on December 25th. (22:10) He was born in October or November. (22:13) Now, some people will say, well, we know that Jesus probably wasn’t born on December 25th either.

(22:19) But the point here is the movie was trying to make the point that Horus was born on December 25th (22:27) to try and make it match Jesus. (22:30) Well, it didn’t really match Jesus, but the reality is, the fact is, (22:33) the records show that he wasn’t born on December 25th. (22:36) He was born in October or November, and he wasn’t born of a virgin.

(22:40) His mother was Isis. (22:41) She was not named Mary, which is also another very interesting thing (22:46) because Mary, as they say, the myth had Isis named as Mary. (22:53) Mary is really just more of a modern way of saying what Mary’s name really was.

(22:58) Three kings came to worship him. (23:00) There’s no record of this, none. (23:02) There’s zero record of that at all, and yet it’s claimed that that was part of the Horus mythology.

(23:08) There’s no record that he started any kind of ministry at all, (23:13) let alone starting at three, that he was baptized and began that ministry. (23:18) There’s no record of that at all, that he had 12 disciples. (23:23) Horus didn’t have 12 disciples.

(23:24) There are some things in the written mythology about he had four demigod followers, (23:32) but not 12 disciples. (23:35) He was not betrayed. (23:36) He was not crucified.

(23:38) There is no record at all saying anything about him being buried for three days, (23:44) and he was not resurrected. (23:46) Now, the myth does say that at some point his mother, Isis, brought him back to life somehow. (23:54) We’re not told how, and he became the lord of the underworld.

(23:57) Well, that’s a far cry from the resurrection of Jesus. (24:02) And so not only the Horus myth, but you will find these arguments, or Mithras, Krishna, (24:10) Apis, and others, and they follow the same course scholarship here. (24:16) It’s basically an attempt.

(24:18) It’s in many cases a blatant lies, attempting to get people to think, (24:24) just in the same way Dan Brown tried to rewrite history in his book, The Da Vinci Code. (24:33) And so there’s no real truth there. (24:35) So when we run across this, when people ask these questions, (24:38) well, what about the Horus myth? (24:40) I mean, didn’t Jesus really match just basically everything in the Horus myth? (24:45) No, that’s not true.

(24:47) And we need to understand that. (24:49) Your families need to understand that. (24:51) By the way, I would just introduce you to this organization.

(24:56) They do a great job. (24:59) They’ve done a great job on this issue itself, (25:02) talking about each of the mythical creatures that have been said to have provided the hybrid form for Jesus. (25:15) If you just go to gotquestions.org, (25:17) I think they’ve got like hundreds and hundreds of thousands of mythical questions they try to answer.

(25:22) I’m not saying I’ve read them all and I can endorse them all, (25:25) but if you go to gotquestions.org and just do in their search engine Horus, (25:31) they’ve got a great article there that goes into more detail on all of these. (25:35) Well, so the question is, why is this such a constant burr in the saddle of the people? (25:47) Who really is this man? (25:50) When you think about it, quite frankly, (25:53) Jesus really was a man that nobody should really remember just from the standpoint of his life. (26:04) He grew up in a small town in the Middle East.

(26:09) He only was in a public bowl for about three years. (26:14) He didn’t write a book. (26:15) He didn’t make a CD.

(26:17) There were no movies made of him. (26:20) He had no Facebook page. (26:22) He didn’t tweet.

(26:23) He wasn’t on TikTok. (26:24) If you think about people who are famous today, (26:27) if you just think in your mind, whatever generation you fit in, (26:30) you think, what are the famous people in your generation? (26:34) Then ask yourself, how did they become famous? (26:37) Jesus had none of that. (26:39) Zero.

(26:39) He didn’t have any of that at all. (26:42) He couldn’t take out ads in newspapers. (26:44) He couldn’t advertise if he was going to be in Copernicus in a few days.

(26:50) None of that. (26:53) And yet, we now find him on the cover of magazines everywhere, (26:59) people trying to debunk him. (27:02) And so when we talk to people, (27:03) it’s important to help them capture the essence of this question.

(27:09) And why is it still a big question? (27:12) Why do people even care about this, (27:15) an obscure person over 2,000 years ago who was a Roman felon and executed? (27:27) So the question, who is Jesus, is important. (27:31) And what the world says about him not only has to be bumped up against the reality, (27:39) the truth of the records about Jesus, but also the question of why. (27:45) Why does the world have an offense? (27:49) Why do they take offense at Jesus? (27:51) That in itself is a very, very important issue.

(27:57) Why do people take such offense at this man? (28:02) Well, we’re going to spend a lot of time when we get finally into our neighbor, (28:08) the apologist, and we talk about the veracity of Scripture. (28:11) We will spend some time on that. (28:14) We’re not going to do that in this section where we’re talking about Jesus, who is Jesus.

(28:22) But I thought it would be important for you to listen to this clip from Lee Strobel. (28:32) One of the reasons that we consider the Gospels to be reliable (28:35) are because they’re dating. (28:36) They come very early, after the events that actually occurred.

(28:40) And one of the ways we know this is because of the Book of Acts. (28:45) The Book of Acts ends with Paul being under house arrest. (28:48) So we can kind of date when that was.

(28:51) We know that there are several events in the 60s A.D. (28:55) that are not reported in the Book of Acts that would have been reported (28:59) had they occurred before the Book of Acts was written. (29:01) Things like Nero’s persecution of the church in the mid-60s, (29:05) the Jewish-Roman War, which began in 66 A.D., (29:08) the deaths of Peter, Paul, and James, which occurred between 61 and 65 A.D. (29:14) So we can date Acts to about very early 60s A.D. (29:20) Now, we know that this is the second part of a two-part work. (29:24) Luke wrote both Acts and the Gospel of Luke.

(29:27) So the Gospel of Luke we can date even earlier. (29:30) Keep in mind, Jesus was crucified in 30 or 33 A.D. (29:33) So now we’re within 30 years of the life of Jesus. (29:36) Historically speaking, that is phenomenal.

(29:39) But we can go back even earlier because we know that Luke, (29:42) in writing his Gospel, drew upon Mark, who was an even earlier source. (29:46) So now we’re going even closer to the events. (29:49) And, of course, we know that Paul’s writings generally predate even Mark, (29:53) so they’re even earlier.

(29:55) And then we have embedded in the New Testament, in Paul’s writings, (29:59) we have reads and traditions and hymns and statements of the earliest church (30:04) that date back even earlier. (30:07) In fact, we have a statement of conviction concerning the resurrection of Jesus (30:11) that can be reliably dated to within months of Jesus' life. (30:15) So because these writings come so quickly after the life of Jesus, (30:20) that’s one reason that we can trust them as being essentially reliable.

(30:24) So we’re going to be talking about the incredible veracity that we have of the Scriptures. (30:31) And as we talk about them now, we’re talking primarily about the documentation of Jesus, (30:37) His life, His death, and His resurrection. (30:42) And not only that, but all of the promises that point towards Him.

(30:46) Our next session together, we’re going to be talking about the promises (30:49) and the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah (30:52) and the remarkable way that all of those were fulfilled. (31:00) So what are the issues here? (31:02) Well, first of all, I put this up here, I believe in Jesus, Caesar. (31:06) And I’ve often asked students to try this, do an experiment.

(31:12) Because you can go on any street corner in the world and say, (31:18) I believe in Julius Caesar. (31:21) Or you can say, I believe in Plato. (31:23) And no one is going to take up an argument with you.

(31:27) No one’s going to say, Julius Caesar never lived. (31:30) No one would do that. (31:32) Say, Plato never lived.

(31:33) They won’t say that. (31:35) You can take a brochure with you in any part of the world that seeks to convince people (31:41) that Julius Caesar lived or that Plato lived. (31:45) And he taught things.

(31:47) You wouldn’t say, you need to consider the words of Plato. (31:50) You need to consider the words of Julius Caesar. (31:53) No one will.

(31:54) But if you do the same with Jesus, there are places you could lose your life. (32:03) This is an incredible piece of evidence for people to understand there is something about Jesus (32:12) that is not like any other ancient figure that has ever lived in humanity. (32:19) People take offense at him.

(32:21) People don’t want his name to be declared and so forth. (32:29) And so I offer people to do this experiment, especially students in college, in the classroom. (32:36) Just raise your hand and offer some wisdom from Aristotle or from Homer or Confucius or Buddha or Plato.

(32:48) And I guarantee you that your professor will be very pleased. (32:54) I mean, he will look at you and he will be quite pleased. (33:00) And, you know, he’ll be impressed that you know these people, that you know the things that they’ve said.

(33:07) And he may nod in affirmation as you say, consider the wisdom of Homer. (33:17) But if you raise your hand and say, consider the wisdom of Jesus, then you can probably get bad grades. (33:26) And you may find yourself at the end of a lot of hostility.

(33:30) So we’re talking here about a key piece of evidence regarding who is Jesus. (33:40) The second, here are the issues that need to be dealt with. (33:45) You know, did Jesus really exist? (33:47) That’s why these sources are so important to us.

(33:49) Is he a myth or a legend? (33:51) Did Jesus really rise from the dead? (33:53) These are issues that people raise. (33:55) Did Jesus really claim to be God? (33:58) Is he God and was he married? (34:01) What are the conspiracies that were going on that brought the true Jesus into the modern day? (34:09) Mary Magdalene and so forth. (34:11) I remember when I read The Galilean Secret, it was just another conspiracy theory.

(34:19) No basis on any historical fact. (34:22) But, you know, people love a conspiracy theory. (34:24) That was Dan Brown’s book.

(34:25) It was a conspiracy theory. (34:26) And he sold millions of those and made a buku amount of money out of it. (34:33) He told people, if you want to sell a lot of books, write a conspiracy theory.

(34:38) And if you want to write a conspiracy theory about Jesus, then you may even sell more books. (34:42) This in itself is an apologetic. (34:46) This in itself is an issue that needs to be talked about with people.

(34:50) Why? (34:51) Why is it that there are so many books? (34:54) You don’t find a book written about a conspiracy theory on Homer or a conspiracy theory on Plato. (35:02) I mean, maybe there is one out there, but, you know, an outlier kind of a thing. (35:07) But the biggie here, the real big issue here is that it comes from Jesus himself.

(35:14) I am the way, the truth, and the life. (35:17) No one comes to the Father except through me. (35:22) This is probably the biggie issue.

(35:24) It’s the exclusivity associated with Jesus and his claims and the claims that Christianity makes (35:34) based upon what he said and what the scriptures tell us about Jesus (35:38) and what the Holy Spirit has given to us in the writings of Paul and the other eight authors of the New Testament. (35:47) And so this is what is part of the things that bring offense to people, (35:53) and we need to deal with that, and we will do that. (35:58) So we want to be able to answer that question, because it’s the big question today, exclusivity.

(36:06) But there is a bigger problem, and I’m going to let Greg Cockel open this up for us. (36:14) It always surprises me when people are dismissive of Jesus of Nazareth (36:19) because of what they claim is lack of evidence. (36:22) There is no person from antiquity that has more primary source documentation (36:30) about the details of their life than Jesus of Nazareth.

(36:35) Nobody’s even close. (36:36) If you want to take history seriously, you have to take these primary source documents, (36:41) Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and also the other writers of the New Testament, (36:46) because they have biographical material, you have to take it seriously. (36:49) You can’t just dismiss it.

(36:50) If you dismiss all the historical evidence and then say there is no evidence, (36:54) of course you might have a point, but that’s because you created the problem. (36:58) If you look carefully at the evidence and just test it, (37:01) as you would test any historical evidence like it from antiquity, (37:05) what you get is a given picture of one of the most fascinating lives that were ever lived. (37:12) You have details of his life, the conversations, you have things that he did, (37:18) you have conflicts that he encountered, you have content of a theological source (37:23) that is well thought out.

(37:26) You have a person who is willing to deal with objectors straight on (37:31) and come up with really clever and profound answers. (37:34) Jesus was no goof. (37:37) He knew how to handle himself in tough conversations, (37:40) and sometimes when he was done with the conversation, (37:44) those who were trying to trick him were completely silenced.

(37:51) Evidence? His life is filled with evidence. (37:58) So, this is a very interesting thing for us to ponder here. (38:03) I think what Greg is laying for us is that there isn’t really a lack of evidence here.

(38:10) If one treats the ancient documents as we should treat ancient documents, (38:15) and we will talk about the veracity of Scripture, (38:18) and I think it’s important when we get to that, (38:20) you understand how to do that with people to help them. (38:23) In that relationship to talk about, there are no ancient documents like the Scriptures. (38:28) None.

Not even close. (38:31) As we heard early on from Lee, Strobel in terms of the New Testament, (38:36) if you look at Plato’s life or even Caesar’s life or Homer’s life or whatever, (38:41) the first documents we have, extant documents that we have, (38:45) are hundreds of years after he even lived. (38:48) The documents we have are within a few years of Jesus (38:54) and written at the time of people who were alive who knew him.

(38:57) See, myths cannot arrive, most scholars, you can’t have a myth arise (39:04) until probably at least minimum the third or fourth generation away. (39:10) Why? Because there are still people around who knew. (39:13) There were people who talked to fathers and daughters, fathers and mothers, (39:18) uncles and aunts who knew this person.

(39:21) And so you can’t build a myth when there are still people around. (39:25) It’s like, that’s not right. I saw it.

I know what happened. (39:30) So a myth can’t arise until maybe hundreds of years later. (39:36) But all of our Scriptures are written earlier than that.

(39:41) So it’s not a lack of evidence. That’s not really the issue. (39:48) So what’s the problem here? Well, Jesus is the problem.

(39:50) He already told us that. (39:51) He said that people are going to take offense at him. (39:56) And so when we try to talk to people about him, (40:02) we have to be honest about the obstacles that are going to be in the way.

(40:09) There are going to be obstacles not only from the Zeitgeist movies (40:14) and from Dan Brown and from Ms. Murdoch and all of these people (40:19) who are almost militant from Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report (40:25) and all of those things that are attempting to try and destroy the reality (40:32) of the evidence for Jesus. (40:37) And so we need to recognize and understand that. (40:40) But the major obstacle is that Jesus is the problem himself.

(40:46) He’s not a problem. (40:48) What we’re saying is that the problem that people have with Jesus (40:52) is because he’s Jesus, because he is God in the flesh. (40:57) That is why people take offense at him.

(41:00) That is why he is on the cover of magazines still after 2,000 years. (41:04) That’s why people make movies to try to debunk him. (41:08) So Jesus is the problem himself.

(41:12) His words are a problem. (41:14) The things that he said, and we’re going to be looking at those words (41:19) because they are firebrand words. (41:25) These are not problem things that Jesus said.

(41:30) These are words that provoke people and raise up this offense (41:37) and this hostility toward Jesus. (41:39) So we need to recognize and understand that. (41:42) People take offense at Jesus.

(41:44) People take offense at his words. (41:47) What we want to make sure is that we are not the reason (41:51) that people take offense at Jesus. (41:55) And we have to recognize and understand, quite frankly, folks, (41:59) there have been many times where we, pardon the word, have been jerks.

(42:02) And we need to change that. (42:06) That’s what we’re trying to do in the Engagement Project is to help people (42:09) understand that our own responsibility here is to fulfill what Jesus told us to do, (42:14) that we are to build these deep relationships with the people (42:17) who live providentially around us, to be winsome, to be loving, (42:21) to let the fruit of the Spirit cause us to be attractively winsome to them (42:26) because we are kind, we are joyful, we are patient. (42:31) And all of those things that God is wanting to do through the fruit of the Spirit (42:36) in our life to bring us to a relationship in which we can begin to openly talk about these things (42:43) and to try, this is the wise and prudent way to get around the times in which we live (42:50) and to pray, possibly pray that God’s going to allow us to be able to speak to people about Jesus (42:59) who in reality is going to be a offense to them.

(43:04) So it means we’re not dealing, this is not an evidential problem. (43:09) That’s what is very, very important for us to understand. (43:12) It’s not a lack of evidence.

(43:15) Now, we will bring evidence and we can provide evidence for people, (43:20) but we need to realize it’s not the evidence, it’s a moral problem here. (43:25) It’s the spirit of an individual who is lost, an individual who has fallen, (43:30) an individual who finds that the words of God are foolishness to them. (43:37) That is the obstacle and that is why we must be in prayer for people.

(43:44) Neighborly apologetics is going to begin with prayer, it’s going to end with prayer, (43:48) it’s going to be prayer throughout the whole thing. (43:50) Why? Because God is the one who has to, as we read earlier from 2 Timothy, (43:55) God is the one who has to grant them repentance, bringing them to a knowledge of the truth. (44:02) We can do that and God can work through us, (44:05) but God is the one who has to supernaturally work in the lives of people.

(44:12) But we also have to realize that the greatest obstacle could well be ourselves (44:17) and that’s why we’re doing this. (44:21) We need to make sure that our families, we and our families as well, (44:29) are clear about the reality of who Jesus is. (44:32) Because if we’re not clear, if we don’t have a good understanding of the answer to the question, (44:40) who is Jesus, then we’re going to make a pretty poor witness.

(44:44) And if we have created our own Jesus doll, (44:49) so the Jesus doll we have won’t be an offense to somebody. (44:55) And I know that when people have done that, I know people have done that. (44:59) We try to create a Jesus doll that no one will be offended at.

(45:05) And we remove the words that are offensive words, (45:09) remove the statements that are offensive statements, (45:11) we remove some things that try to make the Jesus doll so that there is no offense there. (45:17) That’s not Jesus. (45:19) And that’s not who we’re going to be a witness to.

(45:22) We are not going to be a witness of a false Jesus. (45:25) Even though we know that the true Jesus, people will take offense at that. (45:30) That’s why we have to build these deep relationships with people in the times in which we live.

(45:36) But the greatest obstacle will be ourselves. (45:37) And so we want to do everything we can to make sure that we understand who Jesus is. (45:43) That’s what we’re going to be doing probably over the next six months.

(45:47) So we want to know him. (45:49) We draw near to him so that we can be a faithful and effective witness to Jesus. (45:59) So we need to prepare ourselves.

(46:01) We need to be able to persuade people, as Paul said. (46:06) We need to learn the story and the reality of who Jesus is without cutting off any of the sharp places, (46:17) without trying to smooth him out. (46:20) We need to learn the answer to the question who Jesus is.

(46:26) And ask God to help us love that story. (46:29) And love that story so much that we want to tell that story. (46:32) And when we persuade, we attempt to persuade people why.

(46:35) We want to do that not because of our agenda. (46:38) We want to do that not because we’re going to be able to look good in the eyes of other people (46:44) when we tell them that we gave the gospel to somebody. (46:48) But we want to persuade people why.

(46:51) Because we care for them. (46:52) Because we love them. (46:53) We have a relationship with them.

(46:55) They are now our friends. (46:56) And we’re going to do it with grace and respect through those deep relationships. (47:01) And we’re going to undergird all of that with prayer because we know God is the one who has to be at work here.

(47:09) To quote C.S. Lewis here for just a minute, (47:13) I’m trying to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him. (47:20) That I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. (47:25) That is the one thing we must not say.

(47:28) A man who is merely a man and said these sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. (47:35) He would be either a lunatic on the level with a man who says he has a poached egg, (47:40) or else he would be the devil of hell. (47:44) You must make your choice.

(47:45) Either this man was, and if he was a son of God or was a madman, something worse. (47:50) You can shut him up for a fool. (47:52) You can spit at him.

(47:53) You can kill him as a demon. (47:54) You can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. (47:58) But let us not come to any patronistic nonsense about his being a great human teacher.

(48:03) He has not left that open to us. (48:06) He did not intend to. (48:10) So we’re going to pursue this question, (48:14) who is Jesus in our attempt to help build the neighborly apologetic regarding Jesus' claims in the resurrection.

(48:25) Next time we get together we’re going to talk about the prophecies concerning Jesus, (48:29) the promises that were foretold. (48:32) Then we’re going to try to spend one night on the life and death of Jesus. (48:39) Then we’ll look at the resurrection and the claim of deity and in that exclusivity issue, (48:47) is Jesus the only way.

(48:49) I’d like to end up, if we can, in a session where we’re just talking about how we handle these questions (48:54) and how we deal with these questions and the kinds of questions that control us and so forth. (49:00) So that’s what’s before us. (49:03) And I feel bad right now because I didn’t get a chance to talk to Mark about this.

(49:10) But here’s what we’re going to attempt to do. (49:13) So in a few days we’re going to have, of course, many people have Good Friday services (49:20) and then we’ll celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior on what we call Easter Sunday. (49:28) And I have written before, I’ve written 40 articles on the defense of the resurrection (49:36) and basically entitled each of these, If Jesus Rose from the Dead Then.

(49:42) And each of these 40 articles deal with another aspect of that question. (49:51) If Jesus rose from the dead then, for example, what would be the tomb would be empty? (49:57) And so I’m going to encourage you, if you want to do this, and Mark, I hope we can pull this off. (50:06) But what I’d like to do is to see if we can get people to sign up for these 40 days.

(50:16) And we can send out an email every day just as we’re doing right now for the Bible reading (50:22) that we’re going through every day. (50:25) We send an email reminder every day. (50:27) I’m going to see if we can get Mark to send out a reminder and a link to each of these 40 articles.

(50:33) It will start, the first one will start, it’s number zero. (50:37) It will start on Saturday, the day before Easter. (50:41) And then the first one will start on Easter.

(50:44) And they will run all the way through Pentecost. (50:47) That’s, we’re doing 40 articles. (50:50) That’s how long Jesus, after He was risen from the dead and He returned, (50:56) and it appears that He was with the disciples for as much as 40 days.

(51:00) And on that 40th day of Pentecost is when He ascended into heaven. (51:06) And so I decided to take this on and do 40 articles every day for us to kind of keep the reality (51:18) of this most important, if not the most important, apologetic for Jesus, the empty tomb, (51:27) and all that went on around that event leading up to Pentecost and His ascension. (51:36) So that’s what we’ll try to pull off here.

(51:41) And with that, then, Mark, we’re going to bring this to a close. (51:47) I think we’re probably getting close to the end of our time, (51:50) so I’m going to see if it’s possible that I can stop sharing and figure out how to do this. (52:01) Mark, I’ve got the same issue here again.

(52:03) Maybe if I just close this one. (52:06) Close a couple of windows. (52:08) And stop.

(52:09) There’s the stop. (52:10) There we go. (52:11) All right.

(52:11) All right, back over to you. (52:13) Okay, that all sounds great, Dr. Tackett. (52:16) That will be easy to do.

(52:17) We’ll set up an invitation for folks to sign up for the 40 days. (52:22) That will be an email series that just goes out probably early in the morning on each day of those days, (52:29) starting the day before Easter Sunday. (52:33) The other question that we had was in regards to the – (52:38) I had a question come in regarding the notifications for these webinars, these live streams, (52:45) and it turns out I had an email that never left the drafts folder.

(52:51) The good news is I’m sending the link out to this live stream to not only those who are attending tonight, (52:58) but also to our list, so folks will get access to this. (53:03) And just as a reminder, we’ll also be sending out the slides. (53:07) And then I noticed we don’t have a lot of questions here tonight, (53:10) but you’re always welcome to send those in afterwards.

(53:13) We’re not sure. (53:14) I can’t promise that we can get to them, but I try to respond to everyone who does reach out. (53:20) So, again, you can just do that by replying to the email that you receive probably early tomorrow.

(53:26) So I think that’s it, Dr. Tackett. (53:28) Anything else? (53:29) Maybe we can close our time in Burr. (53:32) Okay.

(53:33) Thanks. (53:33) And, again, I’d like to thank you all for taking the time to be a part of this. (53:38) I know how busy everybody’s life is, and for you to take an hour out means a lot for me.

(53:45) Again, I wish we were in a room somewhere where we could interact and we could talk about these things, (53:52) because we can’t talk about anything more important than Jesus and who he is (53:58) and his life and death and resurrection. (54:03) And so I would have loved to have done that in such a way that we could discuss it. (54:08) But maybe you can do that in your families to sit and talk about those things, (54:12) especially as we come up to Easter.

(54:14) And I hope and pray it’s not because I think those articles are supreme, (54:20) but I think the articles will walk us through a number of these issues associated with the resurrection. (54:28) And I think it would be a good way for you and your family to not simply go to church on Easter and then Easter’s over. (54:38) So I hope that if you want to, that you’ll sign up for those things.

(54:43) So let me close with a prayer. (54:44) Father, thank you for your goodness and your kindness to us, not only to allow us to gather in this forum, (54:52) but, Fathers, we’ve spoken of you and spoken of the grace that is behind the fact that you came to be our sacrifice, (55:03) the propitiation for our sins and raised in glory that confirmed everything that you said. (55:12) Lord, we thank you for that.

(55:13) We thank you for your goodness and kindness to us, the love that you’ve shown to us. (55:19) And Father, we pray that everything we do here, everything that we’ve spoken of will be done for your glory. (55:24) So in Jesus' name, amen.

(55:27) Thank you all very much. (55:29) Thank you again, everyone. (55:30) Have a great evening, and we’ll be in touch through email.

(55:34) Good night. (55:34) See you next month.