Topical Sermons - Executable Outlines

A Reason For Our Hope
Mark A. Copeland
INTRODUCTION
1. In 1 Peter 3:15, we find Peter giving the following command:
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to
everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”
2. Here we learn that we are to always be ready to explain the basis of our hope...
a. What reasons are there for the hope we have in Christ?
b. We must be ready to provide such reasons!
3. In this lesson, I wish to share with you a reason for my hope...
a. There are many reasons I could give, for the evidences for my faith are many
b. But this is where I would begin if I were called upon to give a reason for my hope
4. In sharing with you a reason for my hope, perhaps I can...
a. Strengthen and confirm the hope of my fellow Christians
b. Create faith and hope in the hearts of some who may not yet be Christians
[Let me begin by suggesting facts which no one can deny, even if one is an atheist or an agnostic...]
I. FACTS WHICH CAN’T BE DENIED
A. JESUS LIVED...
1. Only the most ignorant or prejudiced skeptic would question the historicity of Jesus
2. The reason? The evidence from unbiased sources:
a. Roman historians attest to this fact
1) Tacitus (112 A.D.) in his “Annals”
2) Pliny the Younger (112 A.D.) in his letter to the emperor Trajan
3) Seutonius (120 A.D.), a court official under Hadrian
b. Jewish sources, while denying His deity, attest to His historicity
1) Flavious Jospehus (b. 37 A.D.), a Jewish general and historian makes several
references to Jesus
2) The Talmud
a) Books of Jewish law, they speak frequently of Jesus
b) Denying not that Jesus lived, only that He was not what He or others claimed
c. Thallus (52 A.D.), a Samaritan historian who tried to explain away the darkness at the
crucifixion
3. So overwhelming is the evidence, even atheistic historians admit Jesus lived
a. “One is obliged to say, ‘Here was a man. This part of the tale could not have been
invented.’” (H. G. Wells, Outline Of History)
b. Will Durant spent two chapters on Jesus in his book, The Story Of Our Civilization
B. EVIDENCE FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT AS A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT IS
REMARKABLE...
1. Its authors claim to write as historians or even eyewitnesses to real events
Topical Sermons 293