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The Blue Letter Bible

Chuck Smith :: Sermon Notes for Matthew 22:42

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I. "WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST, WHOSE SON IS HE?"
A. You have two choices. Son of man, or Son of God.
1. Maybe Mary was lying, she had been cheating Joseph.
2. She knew the prophecy that a virgin was going to bring forth a Son and call His name Immanuel.
3. When she found out that she was pregnant, she decided to cover her sin by saying she was the chosen virgin.
4. It was a little tough at first to convince Joseph, but he finally came around to believe her story.
5. Or Mary was telling the truth and He is the Son of God.
B. What difference does it make?
1. The difference between spending eternity in heaven or hell.
2. The difference between having a hope of eternal life, and having no hope for eternal life.
3. If He is not the Son of God then we might as well close down our school, our church, sell all the proceeds and party, eat drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die.
4. But before we buy the booze and balloons let us take a closer look at this man Jesus who was called the Christ.
C. One of His contemporaries wrote of Him and declared, He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him.
1. The gospels record many of the miracles that he did.
a. Besides healing the sick, He raised the dead.
b. He turned water into wine, He calmed the raging storm with a command.
c. He walked on the water, and fed 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish.
2. He was crucified on a cross, but He rose from the dead on the third day.
a. There were many eye witnesses of His resurrection.
b. Our court system ascertains the facts by the sworn testimony of witnesses.
c. If there is any validity to the judicial system, then it must be concluded that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead.
3. Peter declares that he was an eye witness of the sufferings and of His glory, but he said, "We have the more sure word of prophecy."
II. A LOOK AT THE PROPHECIES, AND THE LAW OF COMPOUND PROBABILITIES.
A. If I should start to make predictions you can determine the approximate chance that the prediction will be fulfilled.
1. If I should say that the sun is going to rise shortly after 7:00 o'clock tomorrow morning. And I gather all of you out on the lawn to watch the sun rise, the chances are that my prophecy will be fulfilled, provided it is not a foggy day. That does not make me a prophet.
2. If I should say that the sun will not rise tomorrow, and the day stays dark, then you would begin to look at me with wonder and respect.
3. Several years ago I was watching a Rose Bowl game, and U.S.C. was playing Ohio State. As U.S.C. came up to the line of scrimmage on their own 18, I remarked aloud to my friend, Anthony Davis around the left side, all the way in one play.
4. How compound probabilities works.
a. Let us assume that one man in ten is bald.
b. Let us assume that one man in ten is missing his right thumb.
c. Let us assume that one man in ten is blind in his right eye.
d. How many men would I need to find a bald headed man who was missing his right thumb and was blind in his right eye?
B. Look at some of the three hundred prophecies concerning Jesus.
1. Born in Bethlehem. What chances are there that a person would be born in Bethlehem? About one in 280,000 at the time of the birth of Christ. Today about one in 2,500,000.
a. So how many men, in a random selection of men, would you need to find a man born in Bethlehem.
b. If you should come up to me all glassy eyed and say, Hey man, I am the Messiah. I ask you, where were you born? and you answer, Irvine.
2. Make His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. How many kings in history made their triumphant entry into Jerusalem riding a donkey? One in ten.
3. He would have a forerunner. I will send my messenger before Him. One in ten.
4. Be wounded in His hands. One in ten
5. Sold for thirty pieces of silver. one in a thousand.
6. The money would be used to buy a potters field. One in 100 thousand.
7. He would not open His mouth to defend Himself. How many in history do you know of who were falsely charged with a capitol crime, did not seek to defend themselves? One in 1,000.
8. They would pierce his hands and his feet. One in 10,000.
C. This brings us to a total of one in 2.8x10 to the 28th power. To simplify let us just say one to the 28th power. Subtract the 11 billion people who have lived since the prophecy and you have one to the 17th power. This is how many silver dollars it would take to cover the state of Texas two feet thick.
D. Take 16 predictions. One in 10 to the 45th power. A silver ball of that size if the earth was at the center the outside would be 30 times as far as the earth is from the sun. Or somewhere near Neptune some 2,750,000,000 miles from here.
E. 48 predictions. One in 10 to the 157th power. Cannot make ball of silver dollars. We need something smaller. Use electrons. 2.5 quintillionth of an inch. Or 2.5x10 to the 15th power. To count a one inch line of electrons laid single file would take 19 million years counting day and night at the rate of 250 a minute. What kind of pile would 10 to the 157th power of electrons make?
1. Our universe is now estimated to be somewhere around 12 to 15 billion light years in radius. If we started making giant balls of electrons with this supply we could make them at the rate of 500 a minute for the next 3,000,000,000 years and still have electrons left over.
2. Mark one of the electrons.
F. No wonder Peter said, "We have the more sure word of prophecy."
1. Jesus said, "I have told you before it came to pass, that when it did come to pass, you might believe."
2. God said to the people that they might know that He is God, He was going to tell them of things that had not yet happened so that when they did happen they might know that He had spoken.
3. What think ye of Christ, whose Son is He? Chances are He is the Son of God.
H. What are the implications? You had better believe in Him and receive eternal life. You are gambling with odds that you cannot afford by rejecting Him. It is your eternity that you are determining.
Sermon Notes for Matthew 22:42 ← Prior Section
Sermon Notes for Matthew 23:37 Next Section →
Sermon Notes for Malachi 1:2 ← Prior Book
Sermon Notes for Mark 1:40 Next Book →
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