Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000585A
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00:01 BREATH OF LIFE MINISTRIES PRESENTS:
00:06 SERMOMN B585 - IS JESUS REAL? 00:11 BREATH OF LIFE THEME MUSIC 00:20 PB: The Word of God is clear. Matthew chapter 11, 00:23 verse 1. If you have it, let me hear you say amen. 00:25 Aud.: Amen. PB: "And it came to pass, 00:27 when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 00:30 twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach 00:33 and to preach in their"--what, everybody? 00:35 Aud.: Cities. PB: "Now when John had heard in 00:37 the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his"--what? 00:41 Aud.: Disciples. PB: "And said unto him, Art thou 00:44 he that should come, or do we look for another? 00:50 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John 00:53 again those things which ye do hear and see: 00:56 The blind receive their sight, the lame, they do walk, 01:03 the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, 01:09 the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel 01:11 preached to them. Then Jesus says, "And blessed is he, 01:16 whosoever shall not be offended in me." 01:22 Is Jesus real? God bless this Word, bless this preacher, 01:30 bless this congregation. May Your Holy Ghost permeate 01:35 through this place. Speak through me, I pray, and may 01:39 Your people hear You and may they give their lives to 01:42 You today. It's in the name of Jesus we pray, amen. 01:47 Aud.: Amen. PB: Jesus has been the centerpiece of 01:52 Western history for over 2,000 years. Now, Jesus never 01:59 wrote a book, yet all the libraries in this country 02:04 could not hold the books that have been written about Him. 02:07 Jesus never wrote a song, but he spurs the theme of 02:14 more songs than all songwriters combined. Jesus never 02:20 founded a college, never founded Oakwood, never founded 02:22 Southern or Andrews, but yet all the schools together 02:25 cannot boast of how many students He has. Jesus never 02:31 practiced psychiatry, but my Bible says He's healed 02:35 more broken hearts than doctors have healed broken bodies. 02:40 Jesus never marshaled an army, never drafted a soldier, 02:45 never fired a gun, but no leader has made more volunteers 02:51 who have under His orders made rebels stack arms of 02:55 surrender without a shot being fired. Jesus, for Christians, 03:01 He's the central figure of the Bible. The Old Testament talks 03:05 about the Jesus that is to come, and the New Testament 03:08 talks about the Jesus that has come and is coming back. 03:12 Aud.: PB: Now, while His followers have numbered 03:15 in the millions, His detractors are increasing by the minute. 03:21 You see, everybody doesn't believe Jesus is real. 03:26 Everybody does not believe He is the Messiah. 03:30 There are many who question the authority of Jesus. 03:34 They doubt the legitimacy of Jesus. They distrust the 03:39 validity of Jesus. Did He really turn water into wine? 03:44 Did He really heal the woman with the issue of blood? 03:49 Did He really spit on the ground, make mud, put it on a 03:52 man's eyes and the man was able to see? Did Jesus really 03:56 walk on water? Did He really feed 5,000 with two fish and 04:02 five loaves of bread. Was Jesus really God? Was He really 04:04 the Messiah who came to this earth to save His people. 04:09 It's Jesus, the only way to find salvation in this life. 04:11 Or was Jesus just a good person who walked this earth and 04:16 performed good deeds? In case you didn't know, I preach 04:20 this sermon today because Jesus is under fire in the public eye. 04:26 We're living in a world of what I call Jesus naysayers, 04:30 Jesus doubters, and modern-day Jesus haters who are confusing 04:37 Christianity, dividing churches, and deceiving our young people. 04:42 The number of atheists, persons who don't believe in the 04:46 existence of God, is on the rise. In fact, according to 04:49 the Pew Research Center, the number of atheists in the 04:51 United States has roughly doubled in the past seven years. 04:55 In 2007, 5 million Americans called themselves atheists; 05:01 but just seven years later, in 2014, nearly 10 million 05:04 Americans identified themselves as atheists. But the 05:08 astounding fact is that the median age for atheists 05:11 in the United States is 34, which means most people 05:15 who don't believe in God are young people. 05:18 Stay with me here. If the median age of atheists 05:22 is 34, most young people, many of them, 05:26 don't believe in Jesus. In fact, 25 percent 05:30 of Americans born after 1980, the group we 05:33 call Millennials--everybody say "Millennials." 05:36 Aud.: Millennials. PB: Twenty-five percent 05:37 of Americans born after 1980 are not religious, 05:40 compared with 11 percent of Baby Boomers and 7 05:43 percent of the generation born between 1928 and 1945. 05:47 The Pew Research Center also reports that 32 percent 05:50 of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 consider 05:54 themselves as being unaffiliated with any religious faith, 05:58 which further substantiates that younger Americans 06:03 seem to be increasingly moving away from religion, 06:07 preferring a more secular approach to life. 06:11 So, while we're saying, sing certain songs in the 06:16 church, many young people don't even believe in Jesus. 06:20 While we're saying, be on time for church, we're 06:24 living in a world where many young people don't even 06:26 see the need for church. While we're scratching our 06:31 heads at their music, scratching our heads at their dress, 06:35 their hair color and their punctuality at church, 06:39 many American youth are questioning, is the church 06:42 even necessary and is Jesus even real. But despite 06:49 all of this, we've still got a soul beside still waters. 06:55 Besides all of this, the church is still called upon to 07:00 preach that there's power in the name of Jesus. 07:04 The church is still called upon to make disciples of 07:07 Christ in a society where so many people and a growing 07:11 number of young people question the authenticity and 07:14 authority of God. Now, let me throw this is. That's why, 07:19 in Adventist Christian education, it's so important. 07:22 Because a foundation in Jesus is critical. I mean really, 07:28 y'all didn't think I was gonna have all this today and 07:30 not talk about Adventist education. Come on, say amen. 07:33 [Aud. reaction] PB: That's why, in Adventist Christian 07:36 education it's so important, because it matters what your 07:40 child's teacher believes. That's why Adventist education 07:44 is so important, because we're trying to raise G-rated 07:47 kids in an X-rated world. [Aud. reaction] 07:50 PB: That's why, in Adventist Christian education, 07:53 it's so important, because for a minimum of seven hours 07:56 per day I need my children--I don't know about yours, 07:59 but I need mine--in an environment that is conducive to 08:03 their spiritual growth, where Adventist Christian values 08:07 are promoted, they are fostered, and the authority 08:10 and authenticity of Jesus is not questioned. 08:15 Now, you may be living in a bubble but let me 08:17 tell you what's going on the real world. 08:19 Too many of our kids are asking, is Jesus real? 08:24 Is God real? Does God even exist? 08:30 There was a man who went to a barber shop to 08:34 have his hair cut and beard trimmed one day. 08:36 The barber was a young guy and he began to cut 08:40 the man's hair. They began to have a good conversation. 08:44 Let me throw this in: If you want a good conversation, 08:46 go to the barber shop. The barber knows everything 08:51 about everything and everybody. That's why I go to 08:54 Jeff Johnson. Do I have a witness in this place? 08:57 [Aud. reaction] PB: And so, this man and the barber 09:02 talked about many things and various subjects. 09:06 When they eventually touched on the subject of God, 09:09 the barber said, "I don't believe that God exists." 09:14 The older man said, "Why do you believe that, Son?" 09:18 The barber said, "Well, you just have to go out in 09:20 the street to realize that God doesn't exist. 09:24 Tell me, if God exists, why are there so many sick people? 09:28 If God exists, why are there so many abandoned children? 09:33 If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. 09:37 I can't imagine how a loving God would allow all of this." 09:42 The man, the customer, wanted to respond to the young barber, 09:47 but he didn't want to respond right away because he didn't 09:50 want to start an argument. After all, the barber had the 09:53 clipper in his hands. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 09:55 [Aud. reaction] PB: The man didn't want to end up 09:56 with a Ouija-board haircut. I wish somebody knew what 09:58 I was talking about. [Aud. reaction] 10:00 PB: Let me give you some advice: Don't run your 10:02 mouth and disagree with your barber until after your haircut. 10:06 Do I have a witness in this place? [Aud. reaction] 10:08 PB: I tell people, when you go to a restaurant, 10:11 don't you be mean to your server. Don't you be mean 10:14 to your waiter or your waitress until after you get your food. 10:17 [Aud. reaction] PB: People go, "Do this, do that, 10:20 now get me some water." "Do you really want some water?" 10:22 [Aud. reaction] PB: They will give you flavored water. 10:25 Somebody knows what I'm talking about. Back to the man. 10:28 So the barber finishes cutting his hair. The man left 10:32 the shop, and the man saw another man in the street, 10:35 with long, stringy, dirty hair. He sees this man and 10:40 he sees he has an untrimmed beard. The man looked dirty 10:43 and unkempt. So the customer said, "Mm, I got it." 10:47 He turns around, and he goes back to the barber shop 10:50 and he says to the barber, "You know what, Mr. barber? 10:53 Barbers don't exist." The surprised barber said, 10:57 "How can you say barbers don't exist? I'm here, I'm a barber, 11:01 and I just cut your hair." "No," the customer said, 11:04 "barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be 11:07 no people with dirty, long, stringy hair, and untrimmed 11:15 beards like the man outside. But "Ah, barbers do exist," 11:21 the barber said. "What happens is, people don't come to me." 11:26 [Aud. reaction] PB: "Exactly!" Somebody knows where I'm going. 11:33 "Exactly," said the customer. "That's my point. God exists too, 11:39 but people don't go to Him." I wish I had a witness in this place. 11:45 [Aud. reaction] PB: In the text, the authority of Jesus 11:49 is questioned by John the Baptist, His own cousin. 11:53 Suspicious of the authenticity of Jesus, John, because 11:56 he's in prison, sends some of his disciples to Jesus 11:59 and has them ask Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, 12:03 or shall we look for another?" In other words, are you for real? 12:10 Here we have John the Baptist--first cousin to Jesus now- 12:14 -asking Jesus whether He's the one who was prophesied to come. 12:19 Forgotten is the day when John baptized Jesus. Forgotten 12:23 is the day when John himself saw the Holy Spirit descending 12:27 on Jesus in the form of a dove. Forgotten are the words 12:29 from heaven that John heard. "This is my beloved Son in 12:33 whom I am well pleased." But John asked, "Are you the one, 12:38 or shall we look for another?" Oh, but I love me some Jesus. 12:43 Jesus doesn't try to avoid the question. Jesus doesn't 12:47 try to skirt around the question. Jesus knows it's a 12:51 legitimate question, so He responds to John's followers 12:54 straight up. "You go tell John what you've seen and what 13:01 you've heard. Tell him the blind receive their sight. 13:05 Tell him the lame are made to walk. Tell him the dumb 13:10 are made to talk. Tell him the lepers are cleansed, 13:14 the deaf hear, the dead are raised up. ___ the poor 13:17 had the gospel preached to them, and blessed is anyone 13:20 who is not offended by Me. Yes, I'm Jesus. Yes, I'm real. 13:27 And when people have trouble believing that, tell them the 13:31 heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmaments showeth 13:38 his handiwork. In other words, look around you. The universe 13:41 is evidence to the existence of God. When people doubt 13:46 that God is real, when people doubt that God is authentic, 13:51 I want you to give them these three reasons for God's existence. 13:54 Evidence number one. The existence of things. 13:58 The existence of what, everybody? Aud.: Things. 14:00 PB: All right, things not only happen, but things exist, 14:04 which creates a huge problem for an atheist. 14:07 Because if nothing exists, then we don't have to explain it; 14:12 but when we acknowledge that something is real, 14:14 then we have to come up with an explanation for it. 14:17 The universe exists. It's real. We live in it, 14:22 we see it, we hear it, we feel it, we breathe its air. 14:25 Where did all this stuff come from, that we see, feel, 14:28 breathe, hear, come from? It had to come from somewhere. 14:32 It had to come from somebody. Remember the law of cause 14:37 and effect. For every effect there has to be a cause. 14:41 I have a Bible in my hand. How did the Bible get there? 14:46 I had to pick up this Bible. The Bible says 14:49 "Holy Bible" on it. How did those letters get 14:52 on the Bible? Somebody had to inscribe those 14:56 letters on the Bible. That's cause and effect. 14:58 For every effect there has to be something that caused it. 15:02 [Aud. reaction] PB: Evidence number two. The contingence 15:07 or dependence on things. Now, our universe is huge, 15:12 it's complex, it's well ordered. And because it exists, 15:15 you have to explain where the universe came from. 15:18 One possible explanation for how something got here 15:21 is that it was self-created. Everybody say "self-created." 15:23 Aud.: Self-created. PB: That it came from itself. 15:25 But when you say that, that doesn't follow logically, 15:29 because scientists tell us that just about everything 15:32 in the universe is contingent on something else. 15:35 Which means, everything is dependent on something else 15:39 in order for it to exist. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying. 15:42 Let me give you an example. Trees: they can't exist 15:46 by themselves. They have to depend on something else. 15:50 They need air to breathe, air to survive, air to have 15:55 been created in the first place. Take this earth: 15:58 the earth needs the sun. The sun needs the solar system, 16:02 gravity, an entire host of photo and electro chemical 16:05 reactions to be able to exist. There is nothing around 16:08 us that is absolutely self-caused or self-reliant. 16:12 So if everything we observe is dependent on something 16:15 else and not independent or self-caused, the principle of 16:19 dependency leads us to ask this question: If all that 16:23 exists is dependent, who or what is responsible for all 16:28 these dependent objects and beings? 16:30 Evidence number three. Our sense of right and wrong. 16:38 All of us carry within us a sense of right and wrong. 16:43 A sense that certain things are right and should be done, 16:46 and a certain sense that things are wrong and shouldn't be done. 16:50 Now, morals--because we're different people- 16:52 -morals differ from each and every one of us. 16:56 Each and every one of us vary in culture, 16:59 and so every person has different morals, 17:01 but the reality is, we still have morals. 17:04 Anthropologists tell us that all people admit 17:07 that they have within them a certain moral standard 17:10 and that they haven't lived up to that moral standard 17:12 because their moral standard is actually higher 17:14 than they are. But how do you explain that all of 17:19 us have within us a sense of morals that are beyond us? 17:24 Most of us can conclude that the most reasonable 17:27 explanation is that our morals were not self-invented, 17:32 but they came from a higher source. And if you need 17:37 biblical support on this, go home and read Romans 2, 17:39 14 and 15. It says, "Even when Gentiles, who do not 17:43 have God's written law, instinctively follow what 17:48 the law says, they show that in their hearts they know 17:51 right from wrong." They have to demonstrate that 17:54 God's law is written in them, for their own consciences 17:57 either accuse them or tell them they are doing what is right. 18:00 There is a God. God does exist. Why? Things exist, 18:11 things are dependent on something else, and we all 18:15 have a sense of right and wrong. God is real. 18:21 But then we also know that Jesus is real, 18:26 and Jesus is God, because the Word says "In the beginning, 18:32 God created the heavens and the earth." 18:36 And then it goes on and says, "And God said, 18:38 'Let us make man in our own image after our own likeness,' 18:43 " which means, God--the Word doesn't say "And God said, 18:46 'Let me make man,'" but the Word says, "And God said, 18:49 'Let us make man,'" pointing to the plurality in the Godhead, 18:53 the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. In the beginning, 18:56 was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, 19:01 and then the Word became flesh." Jesus is God. If God is real, 19:09 Jesus is real. But let me give you a little bit more. 19:12 If you read Acts chapter 1, verse 3, it says that the 19:15 post-resurrection appearances of Jesus are infallible 19:19 proofs that Jesus was exactly who He claimed to be: 19:22 the Son of God. Matthew, Mark, John, Paul, Peter, 19:27 all wrote that they saw Jesus risen from the dead. 19:31 But it's interesting that many people believe the 19:34 written testimony concerning the events surrounding, 19:37 for example, the American Revolutionary War, 19:40 and they believed the events surrounding it without 19:43 ever seeing a photo. Without ever seeing the video, 19:46 without ever seeing a tweet, without ever seeing 19:49 a Snap, yet it baffles me that same folk don't want 19:53 to believe the written testimony of 40 authors whose 19:57 works we collectively call the Holy Bible. 19:59 But in the name of Jesus, God is real. 20:06 In the name of Jesus, Jesus is real. 20:12 In the name of Jesus, the Father, the Son, 20:18 and the Holy Ghost are real. Between the gas 20:23 pedal and the brake, Jesus is real. 20:27 Between the cancer and the chemotherapy, 20:34 Jesus is real. Between the due date and cut-off date, 20:38 Jesus is real. Between the student accounts office 20:43 and the financial clearance line, Jesus is real. 20:48 If there were no God, there would be no reason for 20:53 us to believe that there's a heaven and a hell. 20:55 If there were no God, there would be no need 20:57 for salvation. If there were no God, there would 21:00 be no need for Jesus and there would be no way 21:02 to salvation. If there were no God, Jesus would 21:06 still be dead, and there would be no return for 21:10 us to look forward to. The existence of God is 21:13 the most important concept of our faith. 21:17 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, 21:19 the evidence of things not seen. Without faith it 21:23 is impossible to please God. Over the years, 21:26 people have tried to tell our kids, they've tried 21:29 to tell us, that there is no God. They have tried 21:33 to tell us that religion is a deception, that our 21:37 theology is a lie. But you know what? The devil 21:41 is a liar. In 1859, a man by the name of Charles Darwin 21:48 published a book called "On the Origin of Species." 21:51 In that book he stated that man had not been specifically 21:55 created by God, but was in fact the product of a 21:59 biological evolution. He said that man descended 22:03 from a hairy animal, furnished with a tail 22:06 and pointed ears. He said that man is a descendant 22:10 of an ape, which is a descendant of nothing in particular. 22:13 He tried to say that we were not created, 22:16 that we have simply evolved over millions and 22:18 billions of years. He tried to convince us that random, 22:22 accidental atomic collisions resulted in the formation 22:25 of some simple form of life, which eventually became us. 22:29 He said, there were no six days of creation. He said, 22:34 there was no creator, that we all just happened. 22:37 But none of that makes sense. How can people look 22:42 at creation, how can people look at the sun, the moon, 22:46 the stars suspended in space and say there is no creator? 22:51 People don't ever question whether or not a computer 22:54 came into being by the building of an intelligent creator. 22:58 People don't look at a car or a plane and think that it 23:01 just happened, so then how can people look at other people 23:04 and think they just came about and wondering if there 23:07 is a real creator? You see, any sciences will tell you. 23:11 If the earth were just a little bit smaller than it is now, 23:14 then our livable, breathable atmosphere would be impossible 23:17 and earth would be like Mercury or the moon. If the earth 23:22 were then the opposite, a little larger than what it is, 23:24 it would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter or Saturn, 23:28 and we would still not be able to breathe properly. 23:31 So our planet would be unlivable if it were just a little 23:34 bigger or a little smaller than what it is. Only a precise, 23:39 specific creator could create this earth right. The earth's 23:45 distance to the sun is very precise. If it were just a few 23:50 degrees closer to the sun, we would disintegrate. If it were 23:54 three degrees further from the sun, we would all freeze to death. 23:58 But only a specific, precise creator could ensure that. 24:05 Our earth is tilted on its axis. If this were not so, 24:09 there would be no such thing as spring, summer, fall, 24:14 and winter. Only a precise creator could ensure that. 24:19 Look at our human bodies. You can't find anything more 24:23 complicated than our human bodies. For example, 24:26 think about the part of the eye they call the retina. 24:29 The retina lines the back of your eye and it acts as a 24:32 sort of film. It is thinner than paper, but its circus, 24:35 which is about one-inch square, contains 137 million 24:39 light-sensitive cells. Each of these cells are separately 24:44 connected to the optic nerve, which transmits the pictures 24:47 to your brain at 300 miles per hour. Which means then, 24:51 your eyes can analyze 1 million messages per second. 24:55 Only a precise God, Creator God, could do that. 25:00 But what about the miracle of birth? 25:02 Did you know, friends of mine, that 97 percent 25:06 of the time babies will move their way around 25:09 inside their mother's womb as birth nears, 25:12 so that their head is down. And as the time to 25:17 be born gets closer, the baby will make their way 25:20 down until their head is inside the pelvis. 25:23 When it's time for the baby to enter this world, 25:26 they begin making their way through the birth canal, 25:29 rotating the entire way to make sure that the smallest 25:33 parts of their head and shoulders are fitting 25:35 through the small opening of the pelvis. 25:38 It's amazing how all this works, and it didn't 25:44 happen by accident. What a mighty God we serve. 25:50 [Aud. reaction] PB: Angels bow before Him, 25:53 heaven and earth adore Him. What a mighty God 25:57 we serve. Knowing all we do about the human body, 26:00 knowing all we do about the universe and all creation, 26:04 how can anyone believe in anything but an intelligent, 26:07 supreme creator? How can people not believe there 26:13 is not a God. People can say whatever they want to say. 26:16 People can believe whatever they want to believe. 26:19 They can think whatever they want to think, 26:21 but my Bible says, in the beginning God created 26:26 the heaven and the earth. Man didn't come from monkey; 26:31 man came from God. Man didn't come from a Big Bang theory; 26:36 man came from God. My God is real, for I can feel, 26:43 Him in my soul. My soul is about to get happy. 26:48 He's the creator and sustainer of all things. 26:51 He alone is God. He's CEO of the universe. 26:55 You didn't vote Him in; you can't vote Him out. 26:58 He's not gonna resign, and you can't impeach Him. 27:02 There is no other. Before time began, He was. 27:05 When time as we know it stops, He will always be. 27:08 He has always been, and He will always be God. 27:11 I close with this story about the little boy. 27:13 Little boy, young man, went to Oakwood College. 27:16 Went to Oakwood University, and he went home 27:18 for the winter break. He went home for the winter 27:21 break after he had studied all the basic sciences. 27:24 He had studied all the chemistry, and he went 27:26 home from school the first semester, and the 27:28 young man thought he knew everything. Couldn't 27:32 tell him nuttin'. I know that's a double negative, 27:35 but it's emphasis. Couldn't tell him a thing. 27:37 His mother said to him on a Friday night, 27:42 "Son, what are you wearing to church tomorrow?" 27:46 "Mom, I'm not going to church tomorrow." 27:49 "What you mean, you not goin' to church tomorrow?" 27:54 "I'm not goin' to church tomorrow. I've been to school now. 28:00 "Thank you very much for tuning into this 28:02 week's Breath of Life Broadcast. 28:04 We hope and pray that you have been blessed 28:06 by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 28:09 If you would like to hear this sermon in 28:11 its entirety, please feel free to visit us at 28:13 www.breathoflife.tv or call us at 256.929.6460. 28:23 Again, thank you very much for joining us, 28:26 and please tune in next week for another 28:28 powerful message from Dr. Byrd." |
Revised 2017-11-13