A Reason for the Hope

Studies in Confidenceof the Cross

A Reason for the Hope

“…but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give an defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…”

(1 Peter 3:15, NKJV)

One Book = Many Questions

One Book = Many Questions

• Was Jesus just a good mortal man?

• Did the Constantine determine the Divinity of Christ?

• Did Constantine changed the day of worship to Sunday?

Why Does it Matter?

Fact:

“All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are

accurate”

(Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code)

One Book = Many Answers

The Book

• Written over 1600 years

• 40 different writers

• Three different languages

• Written in different places, times, and situations

The Book of the Cross

• The Bible reveals the mind of God, the state of man, and the happiness of believers.

• Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end.

The Book of the Cross

• There are around 330 prophecies of Christ in the Bible.

– The chance of 8 being fulfilled is 1 in 10 to the 17th power.

– 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000

Hope in the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:21-23

“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through

wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs

and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling

block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and

Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

The Punishment of the Cross

• Alexander the Great crucified 2,000 survivors of Tyre.

• Josephus writes of 800 Pharisees were crucified.

• 6,000 were crucified after the revolt of Spartacus.

The Curse of the Cross

• “…a hanged man is cursed by God.” (Deuteronomy 21:23)

• Galatians 3:13