“Who is Jesus Christ?” When I ask this question on college campuses the I can almost predict the response, “A good, moral teacher.” Is this possible? Could Jesus simply be a nice guy who delivered golden rules?

Not if logic means anything. Think about it. If I claimed to be God, faked a resurrection, and told you that by believing in me as your savior I would save you from your sins and take you to a place called heaven where you would live forever, would I be a good person? Add to this that I convinced thousands upon thousands to believe in me and deceived all of them. I’d rank along the lines of a criminal. Jesus could not have been “a good person.”

If He wasn’t a good person, then to claim the outrageous things He did, he has to be a lunatic. He was crazy in the head. He lived in a fantasy world of make believe having no idea that what He claimed was bunk.

But then again, how many lunatics do you know who can put to silence the top lawyers of the country and defeat every single one of their arguments so well that they dare not ask him another question (Mat 22:46)? Jesus’ arguments were so good that people gasped in speechless wonder (Mat 22:22, 33). How many psychopaths can launch a movement that changes the course of history and impacts millions of lives? This doesn’t sound like the trait of a lunatic, but the product of an intelligent brain. So Jesus does not fit the “lunatic” bill. 

This leaves us with only one more option. That Jesus was exactly who He claimed to be: the Son of God who came into this world to save sinners.

Who did Jesus say He was?

For a moment consider what Jesus said about Himself:

I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst (John 6:35).

I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life (John 8:12).

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11).

I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die (John 11:25-26).

I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:6).

Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" And Jesus said, "I am” (Mark 14:61-62).

In essence, Jesus claimed to be not only both man and God but the only door through which humans can be saved from their sins and enjoy a personal and meaningful relationship with God.

Isn’t it anti-intellectual to believe that Jesus rose from the dead?

In the world of academia, some college students struggle over the resurrection. Isn’t it anti-intellectual to believe that Jesus rose from the dead? Look at it this way: If a man was put on trial for murdering his brother, and 500 witnesses were brought in, all testifying that they saw this man massacre his brother, what would be the outcome? A condemned man. The number of witnesses is overwhelming evidence against this man’s claim of innocence. 

Five hundred people saw Christ alive and well after He was beaten in the head, lacerated with whips, nailed to a tree, speared in the side, and buried in a tomb (1 Cor 15:3-6). Would 500 humans all believe in something they knew to be a lie and then many of those go and die for that lie? Definitely not.

Simon Greenleaf, royal professor of law at Harvard University, and declared by the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to be the greatest authority on legal evidences who ever lived, minutely examined every thread of evidence concerning the resurrection of Christ. His conclusion? In any unbiased courtroom in the world, if the evidence for Christ’s resurrection were presented it would be decided as an absolute fact of history.¹

What will you do about Jesus?

But what will you do about Jesus? No man has carried more impact—both personal and national—in the history of the world than Jesus Christ. (Even our dating system is based on His birth.) You cannot ignore Him. He’s way too big for that. But what will you do with Him?

You will do one of two things: reject Him, or bow the knee and believe in Him. I’ve spoken to countless college students who would tell me, “Oh, I don’t reject Him. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to believe on Him either.”

If your professor told you to write a paper on economics, you can only do one of two things: write the paper or not write it. Ignoring what he says or trying to remain neutral doesn’t work. If you choose to do nothing with Christ, you’ve made a choice. Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me” (Matt 12:30). To not respond is to reject.

Or, you can recognize your offenses, admit that you have sinned against a holy and just God, and trust the provision He made to forgive you of your sins: Jesus Christ.

Paul tells you exactly how to do this in Romans 10:9-10:

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord…” This means to admit that Jesus Christ is not just a nice moral teacher, nor a social reformer, but that He is Lord, the eternal God of the universe.

“…and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead…” To say that He’s Lord is not enough. You must believe it in your heart. Don’t be fooled into thinking that because you prayed the sinner’s prayer at one time in your life that means you are a Christian. Thousands who prayed this prayer as a child, suffer the agonies of hell this very moment. There is no magic in the words of praying a prayer to receive Christ as Savior. What matters is the condition of your heart. You must believe in your heart that God raised His Son from the dead. 

“…you will be saved.” Confess and believe and you will be saved. You will be forgiven of all your sins and become God’s child. Confession means a changed life. Belief means a changed heart. A true Christian is someone whose heart has been transformed by the love of God through Jesus Christ that results in a complete new way of living—no longer for himself but for Jesus.

If today you bowed your knee and trusted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, know that you’ve made the most important decision you’ll ever make.

Is living the Christian faith easy? No way! It’s hard to stand up for truth in a sin tolerant world. It can be brutal to resist temptation and endure trials. But at the end of the day, it’s the only way to live. Because you’re not living for your career, your future spouse, your money, or your friends. You’re living for something way better: eternity. And you can’t beat that.

If you want to learn more about what it means to be a Christian, contact us.

 

Endnotes

1. James D. Kennedy, Evangelism Explosion (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1996), 166-167.