The Gospel's Answer To The "Love" Of Sin - Part Two

The Gospel's Answer To The "Love" Of Sin (Faith In Jesus) - Part Two

Faith comes from the Word of God (Ro 10:17). Indeed, as the apostles of Christ proclaimed the gospel, they presented evidence designed to create faith in the hearts of their listeners. We continue this lesson looking at the evidence of the Gospel creating a faith that answers the problem of "the love of sin" The evidence that creates such faith is found in eyewitness testimony concerning Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. This evidence is an important foundation upon which faith in Christ is based! Jesus knew this was how people would come to believe on Him - Jn 17:20 "I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me." Therefore, in their preaching and teaching, the apostles appealed to this line of evidence.

Peter - Ac 2:32 "All of us can tell you that God has raised Jesus to life!"; 3:14-15 "You rejected Jesus, who was holy and good. You asked for a murderer to be set free, and you killed the one who leads people to life. But God raised him from death, and all of us can tell you what he has done."; 4:33 "In a powerful way the apostles told everyone that the Lord Jesus was now alive. God greatly blessed his followers,"; 10:39-41 "We all saw what Jesus did both in Israel and in the city of Jerusalem. Jesus was put to death on a cross. But three days later, God raised him to life and let him be seen. Not everyone saw him. He was seen only by us, who ate and drank with him after he was raised from death. We were the ones God chose to tell others about him."

John - Jn 20:30-31 "Jesus worked many other miracles for his disciples, and not all of them are written in this book. But these are written so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. If you have faith in him, you will have true life."; 1 Jn 1:1-3 "The Word that gives life was from the beginning, and this is the one our message is about. Our ears have heard, our own eyes have seen, and our hands touched this Word. The one who gives life appeared! We saw it happen, and we are witnesses to what we have seen. Now we are telling you about this eternal life that was with the Father and appeared to us. We are telling you what we have seen and heard, so that you may share in this life with us. And we share in it with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."

Paul - 1 Co 15:3-8 "I told you the most important part of the message exactly as it was told to me. That part is: Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say. He was buried, and three days later he was raised to life, as the Scriptures say. Christ appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After this, he appeared to more than five hundred other followers. Most of them are still alive, but some have died. He also appeared to James, and then to all of the apostles. Finally, he appeared to me, even though I am like someone who was born at the wrong time."

How strong is this evidence? Consider the number of witnesses. This affects the strength or weakness of any testimony. For example, the OT required at least two or three - Deu 17:5-6 "But you will need two or three witnesses--one witness isn't enough to prove a person guilty. Get rid of those who are guilty of such evil. Take them outside your town gates and have everyone stone them to death. But the witnesses must be the first to throw stones." In this regard, the strength is very strong - 1 Co 15:5-8 "Christ appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After this, he appeared to more than five hundred other followers. Most of them are still alive, but some have died. He also appeared to James, and then to all of the apostles. Finally, he appeared to me, even though I am like someone who was born at the wrong time." (over 500 people!)

One needs to also consider the character of these witnesses. Some had not believed in Christ prior to His resurrection, like His brothers in the flesh - Jn 7:3-5 "and Jesus' brothers said to him, "Why don't you go to Judea? Then your disciples can see what you are doing. No one does anything in secret, if they want others to know about them. So let the world know what you are doing!" Even Jesus' own brothers had not yet become his followers."; Mk 3:21 "When Jesus' family heard what he was doing, they thought he was crazy and went to get him under control."

But after the resurrection, they too became disciples! - Ac 1:14 "The apostles often met together and prayed with a single purpose in mind. The women and Mary the mother of Jesus would meet with them, and so would his brothers." Some were disciples who had been skeptical after His death e.g., Thomas - Jn 20:24-25 "Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn't with the others when Jesus appeared to them. So they told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But Thomas said, "First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won't believe unless I do this!"’ Only after hard, empirical evidence did he believe - Jn 20:26-28 "A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples and said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!" Thomas replied, "You are my Lord and my God!"’ Some were former enemies who had violently opposed Christ (e.g., Paul). They were not gullible people willing to believe anything!

Having examined the character of these witnesses we need to look at the nature of their testimony. We will make this examination as we continue our lesson in Part Three.
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