He's Anything But the Son of God! | Best of DT

[00:00:01] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman

[00:00:07] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. The text for today, Matthew chapter 14 verses 1 and 2.

[00:00:14] I get a kick out of this. At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,

[00:00:19] and he said to his servants, this is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead.

[00:00:24] That is why these miraculous powers are working him.

[00:00:30] What? Okay, who is this Herod the Tetrarch? He was Herod Antipas. He was the son of Herod the Great,

[00:00:36] and he ruled in Galilee and Peria basically. He was a lesser of the two Herods because his dad was Herod the Great,

[00:00:43] and so he had a smaller jurisdiction in that area that I just indicated. Now it's interesting,

[00:00:49] when he heard about Jesus, he thought that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead.

[00:00:54] He just categorically said, well maybe that's who he is. What? How could you believe that John the Baptist

[00:00:59] had been raised from the dead when you don't believe in the miraculous? So here's the thing.

[00:01:04] Jesus did all these incredible things and as we've talked about before, cleansing lepers,

[00:01:10] raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, causing the deaf to hear, the lame to walk,

[00:01:14] all this kind of stuff, and yet he categorically denied who Jesus was and said,

[00:01:19] he's anything but the Son of God. When the evidence gave proof that Jesus was who he claimed to be,

[00:01:27] the absolute Son of God. The evidence said he can't be anything but the Son of God.

[00:01:33] Now in our day and age, people say the same thing. Who is Jesus of Nazareth?

[00:01:39] He's a wise philosopher, a gifted teacher, marvelous orator, a great leader, all these different things,

[00:01:45] even though the evidence is overwhelming not only by what he said but by what he did

[00:01:50] and especially the resurrection that he has to be who he claimed to be.

[00:01:54] But they would say he's anything but the Son of God. So they say he could be this,

[00:01:59] he could be this, he could be this, he could be this but he's not God.

[00:02:04] Okay, well what do we do with that? Well I like to say to people,

[00:02:09] you know when I'm witnessing to them about who Jesus is, I always go to the resurrection

[00:02:15] because magicians can do amazing things. They did amazing things in Jesus' day.

[00:02:20] But who said I'm going to rise from the dead and then does it?

[00:02:25] There were many evidences as you know. I witnessed accounts of people who saw Jesus alive

[00:02:31] after he rose from the dead. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that

[00:02:36] 500 people saw Jesus alive all at once. Now when Paul wrote that some 30 years later

[00:02:42] after that event he said some of those people have died but many of them are still alive

[00:02:46] and he said that so that people who weren't convinced that Jesus was the Son of God

[00:02:50] could go and talk to those people who had an eyewitness encounter with him

[00:02:55] and they could verify and validate, indeed we've seen Jesus, he's got to be the Messiah,

[00:03:00] he rose from the dead. Now in the early church, the first century early church

[00:03:06] was very little pushback to the proclamation of the gospel. Why? Because so many people

[00:03:12] had seen Jesus alive after he rose from the dead. This is why the gospel grew exponentially.

[00:03:19] So many people said I've seen him, I've seen him, I've seen him, I've seen him.

[00:03:23] Thousands of people had said I've seen him and so the gospel just went whoosh.

[00:03:28] It just exploded with growth because the resurrection of Jesus had been validated.

[00:03:35] When you read the book of Acts, what does it say in the book of Acts?

[00:03:38] It doesn't talk a lot about the crucifixion of Jesus but it talks a lot about the

[00:03:43] resurrection of Jesus. That was the clincher. Now for people today,

[00:03:49] what can we do? We can pray that they come to faith by pointing them not only

[00:03:53] the crucified Christ who died for sins but the resurrected Christ who

[00:03:58] conquered death. Right? Now a lot of people in our day and age, gambling is a big deal.

[00:04:05] I watched the Bronco game yesterday and there were so many gambling commercials.

[00:04:09] So here's what you can say to somebody if they're a gambler and even if they're not.

[00:04:13] If Jesus is a Christ and you don't believe in him, you have everything to lose

[00:04:20] but nothing to gain. If Jesus isn't the Christ, you have everything to gain

[00:04:26] and nothing to lose. So why not trust in him? Right? It's just common sense.

[00:04:35] It's logic but we live in a day and age when there's not a lot of logic.

[00:04:40] There's not a lot of common sense. Right? I mean I hear things over and over

[00:04:44] again in the media that says where I'm saying holy cow, that doesn't make any sense.

[00:04:49] It doesn't make any sense to me for someone to say well Jesus can't be the son of God.

[00:04:55] He can't be the son of God. He can't be the son of God when the evidence from this

[00:04:59] and also common sense tells you if he rose from the dead and there were so many

[00:05:03] people that saw him and there was very little pushback in the early church.

[00:05:06] He's got to be who he claimed to be. So let's pray for people today who may

[00:05:14] be on the fence regarding Christianity and maybe need a little bit more shoving,

[00:05:18] a little bit more convincing but who may say the same thing that Herod the

[00:05:23] Tetrarch, Herod Antipas said about Jesus. Well he's anything but who he claimed to be.

[00:05:30] A lot of people say the very same thing today. Let's pray for them now.

[00:05:34] Heavenly Father we come before you on behalf of people around us who just

[00:05:38] categorically say Jesus is not the son of God. He can't be the son of God.

[00:05:42] He's a gifted teacher, marvelous leader, marvelous order, all this different kind of

[00:05:47] stuff but Lord they don't believe that Jesus is the son of God.

[00:05:51] Oh Holy Spirit use our witness the integrity of your word to bring them to

[00:05:58] faith. Help them to see that Jesus has to be who he claimed to be not only

[00:06:02] because of the miracles that he performed before he was crucified but

[00:06:06] especially because he rose from the dead to defeat death and God it just

[00:06:11] makes common sense that if there is a God and there is we believe in you

[00:06:16] and we believe in your son we know he's the son of God. If there is a God

[00:06:20] and people don't believe in you they have everything to lose and nothing

[00:06:25] to gain. So Heavenly Father use us as your vessels and instruments to

[00:06:30] clearly proclaim that Jesus is the son of God, the Christ, the son of the

[00:06:35] living God and that through faith and faith alone in him we are saved.

[00:06:40] Oh God open the door for us to be that kind of witness in the days ahead

[00:06:45] and all these things we pray in the precious, powerful and unparalleled name

[00:06:49] of Jesus Christ your son our savior. Amen. All right have a great day in Christ

[00:06:56] and that is today's Daily Truth.

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