Would You Die For A Lie?

I have a unique question for you. Answer honestly. What if you were on trial and being falsely accused of some colossal lie. Furthermore, because of that supposed "lie," thousands upon thousands of people were fooled (according to your accusers) into believing you are someone you're not and thus you were indicted for subverting your government? And even though the accusations against you were false, you were about to be put you to death unless you agreed with your accusers that you indeed were a liar. All you would have to do is say you lied, it was a mere joke, that you meant no harm, and you could instantly be set free with no repercussions. Would you keep your mouth shut and let your accusers put you to death even though you never lied and are 100% innocent of the charges? My question today is, why would Jesus go to the cross and die if He was lying about being Who He said He was?? Because He wasn't lying! Let's look at it. Begin with Mark chapter 3: 20-26 NKJV, - referring to Jesus " Then the multitude came together again so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when His own people (the Jews) heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him (Jesus), for they said, 'He is out of His mind.' And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, 'He has Beelzebub' and, 'By the ruler of the demons (Satan) He casts out demons.' So He called them (the disciples) to Himself and said to them in parables: 'How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand but has an end."

Obviously, some of the people were accusing Jesus of being a lunatic and others said that He was possessed by Satan. There are people today who give Jesus certain names and titles, including those of crazy and demonic. Personally speaking, there are people within my own family who say Jesus was "a good man" but deny He is the Son of God. I have heard people say Jesus wasn't any more than a good teacher or at least very wise like Confucious. Others say that Jesus was a noble, moral leader, a religious revolutionary of sorts, a man of immense compassion and great wisdom. And still, others say he was only a prophet or equally as devout as Muhammad. People pin all kinds of praise, honor, and recognition on Jesus, painting Him as this nice, noble, compassionate, kind, insightful, exceptional teacher. Fine. But I want you to think about something. After you observe the scripture I listed above, a crazy person - "one beside himself" (KJV) or a person "out of his mind" (NKJV) .. basically means that person is unstable. The phrase "one who has Beelzebub" NKJV .. basically is referring to being demonically possessed, belonging to Satan. Well, these types of people do not heal the sick, raise the dead, or have power over demons. Too, a crazy person, a deranged "lunatic" does not speak with wisdom as Jesus spoke, Colossians 2:2-3 "Christ; in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Neither does a lunatic THINK the way Jesus thought, nor do they act as Jesus did by attracting women and children to Himself through kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. Can a lunatic make the blind see? Heal the lame? Cause the dumb to speak? Can they raise the dead?? Did Buddha? Krishna? Shiva? Vishnu? Mohammad? Baal? Mars? Mercury? Pan? You get the idea. Jesus was no lunatic.

Liar? Was Jesus a liar? CAN A LIAR RAISE THE DEAD? (1 Kings 17: 17-24; 2 Kings 4:18-37; 2 King 13: 20-21; Luke 11:7-11; Luke 8:49-56; John 11: 1-44; Acts 9:36-42; Acts 20:7-12; and Himself Matthew 28: 1-20; Mark 16: 1-20; Luke 24: 1-49; John 20: 1-21, 25). CAN A FRAUD HEAL THE SICK (Matthew 12:15; Matthew 14:14; Matthew 14:36; Matthew 12:10; Matthew 21:14; Luke 4:40; Matthew 9:35; Mark 6:56; Mark 7:37) CAN A LIAR DOMINATE THE WORLD OF DEMONS? (Matthew 8:16; Luke 10:17; Luke 8: 30,33; Mark 1:39; Mark 3: 13-15; Luke 4:41) CAN AN IMPOSTURE DIE, BE BURIED, THEN COME OUT OF THE GRAVE ALIVE (1 Corinthians 15: 3-5; Romans 6:9; John 11: 25-26; Romans 8:11; Isaiah 25:8; 1 Peter 1:21). WHAT THEN? We are left with one alternative, one option with regard to Jesus. That option is this: Jesus is Who He claimed to be. He is God! Put your thinking caps on. A good man? Moral man? Religious teacher? Wise? Spiritual mentor? Was He these? HE WAS SO MUCH MORE! Jesus was God (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 9:6; 2 Peyer 1:1; John1: 1-3; John 10: 30-33; John 14: 9-11; Philippians 5: 2-7; Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16). As soon as He revealed Himself as God He eliminated Himself from any other category. Why? Because good people, wise people, sensible people don't think they are God, and they don't want you to think they are God!

A wonderful author, CS Lewis, said something very wise, and I quote, "As soon as Jesus declared that He was GOD the Son, that He had the same nature as God, as soon as He said, 'If you've seen Me, you've seen God,' it was no longer possible "to simply designate Him as a good teacher. That is not open as an option. Good, sensible, wise men don't make such outrageous claims." I couldn't agree with Mr. Lewis more! So if YOU think you have an acceptable view of Jesus and give Him honor as a good teacher, prophet, or as one of the great religious leaders, you really don't have that option! You've got to join one of these three options: Jesus was either the biggest LIAR that ever lived, being some kind of a demon-possessed psychopathic lunatic, or He was Who He said He was. The evidence is in! He was virgin born, led a sinless life, had power over the physical world, power over the spiritual world, power over life, power over death, power over creation. Clearly, Jesus is Lord of all, King of all Kings, our Emmanuel.

Finally, what evidence is there in His 30 years of growing up that reveals He was a madman? He was irrational? Illogical? Insane? Detached from reality? NONE! In order to make this testimony unmistakably clear, the Holy Spirit ordained that there would be four testaments given for the purpose of declaring the deity of Christ: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John! All four writers have the same purpose; they write so that you may believe that Jesus is God, that He came as the Son of God, taking on human flesh, and believing people might have life in His name. The reason you need to get the correct view of Christ is that it's the only path to salvation. Any other path leads to an eternal torment shut off from Him. The truth is, Jesus went to a cross to die for YOU. He loves you so much that He gave His life to exonerate and acquit you from the punishment of the sins you've willfully committed throughout your life. My question today is IF Jesus lied, would He have died for a story He made up? Would you die for a lie? No, we would recant and turn tail. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies" (John 11:25).
Until next time,
-Pat-