The Indisputable Truth

Anyone can say that I'm a messenger of God, but the one true God told us who He is. And in Genesis 3.15, as we have been seeing throughout the series of messages, from the very beginning God promised Adam and Eve that His Son is going to come in a bodily form and when He comes, He's going to crush Satan's head. And that's exactly what Jesus did right on God's schedule.

He died on a cross and rose again on the third day and thus crushing Satan's head. Thanks for listening to Leading the Way with Pastor and author of the new book, Never Give Up, Dr. Michael Yussa. In fact, if you would like to learn more about the compelling content in Never Give Up, you might want to take just a moment to visit Leading the Way's comprehensive and engaging website, ltw.org. Now in the book, Dr. Yussa looks at Paul's message to Timothy. He charges him to live a life of urgency for the Gospel, be resilient in the faith, and live a life of steadfast service to Christ. You'll be challenged to stand firm in our day and our time, and of course, never give up. Again, the website is ltw.org. Now today on Leading the Way, how Bethlehem's star pointed people of that day to Jesus and points people of today to the Savior.

So join me in listening to Dr. Michael Yussa. I think we all know how easy it is to believe a lie that is repeated so often. More than the truth that is maybe announced only once. I came across a quote that I want you to guess who made this statement as I read it. By means of shrewd lies unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell and hell is heaven.

Did you guess it? Adolf Hitler. And you see, that is exactly the modus operandi of the devil. That is how Satan works by selling us the greatest lie.

And he is succeeding in our society today. He uses his emissaries in the media, in the government, and yes, in the churches to try to confuse people and to disbelieve even indisputable truth. It was Mark Twain who once said that get your facts straight first.

Then you can distort them as much as you want. Satan knows his facts. He knows them well. And he knows exactly how to distort the facts.

In fact, the Bible said that Satan believes in Jesus and he trembles at the sound of the name of Jesus. Every time I think of how our society is blindly heading into the abyss, I think of a story of a better one who was in the Arabian desert. Who woke up in the middle of the night in his tent and was hungry. And the only thing he had in that tent was a bunch of dates. So he lit a candle and he began to eat the dates. And as he looked at the first one close to the flame of that candle, he notices a big worm just coming out of the date. So he threw it out. Picked the second one, looked again at the light of the candle and saw another worm, big worm. He tossed it out. A third date.

Tossed it out. And then he began to reason. He's hungry. If he's going to see those worms in every date that he is going to try to eat, destroy it out, he's going to go about hungry.

So he decided to blow out the candle and eat the dates. Worm and all. You see, there are so many people around us like that. And some, when you share the gospel, the truth, the facts, the evidence with them, they will respond with all sorts of false information.

I've made a list through the years, and I won't give you the whole list, but through the years, and I've heard it all. Isn't it the Bible really is a bunch of myth? Isn't there a dispute between religion and science?

Hasn't science really disproved religion? Isn't God just so vast to allow one true religion? And on and on and on. And in the series of messages, we have been dealing with this indisputable truth. In the last message, we saw the first proof was the unity of the Bible. Sixteen hundred years from the beginning, the first writer to the last writer. And all varieties of people, varieties of time, variety of places. And yet the whole book tells the same story. Most of the so-called sacred writings of all these other religions is a bunch of hodgepodge of contradictory statements and philosophical mumbo-jumbo.

Anybody can make a claim. Anyone can say that I'm a messenger of God. But the one true God told us who He is. And in Genesis 3.15, as we have been seeing throughout the series of messages, from the very beginning, God promised Adam and Eve that His Son is going to come in a bodily form. And when He comes, He's going to crush Satan's head. And that's exactly what Jesus did right on God's schedule. He died on a cross and rose again on the third day and thus crushing Satan's head.

But that's not all. There are literally mountains of evidence that supports the claims of Jesus. Claims that He and He alone is the only way to God, is the only way to the Father, is the only way to salvation, is the only way to heaven. Today I'm going to give you more indisputable proof. I'm going to begin with the birth of Jesus.

Begin with the beginning. For those people who throw around statements like, it isn't that Bible is just myth and all this story of the virgin birth and all this stuff. Well, you need to tell them that even the advanced of science and astronomy and computer science of today are giving us more powerful confirmation of the biblical account of Jesus than ever before. Everyone knows the story of the Magi's and the start of Bethlehem.

And for centuries people have interpreted the story suggesting that the start of Bethlehem moved around in the sky, guiding the Magi from place to place and then led them to Bethlehem. Then came an American lawyer by the name of Frederick Larson. Larson worked as a lawyer and a prosecutor and a judge and he knows how to investigate facts.

Facts, not fiction. And when he began to investigate the evidence, he ran smack into the truth. Larson used a sophisticated astronomy software to map the skies over Jerusalem in the years three and two B.C. And he made an amazing discovery. He made a discovery that Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus fits perfectly with the behavior of the appearance of planet Jupiter as it passed through the night sky in three B.C.

Listen carefully. In Matthew's time the planets were known as the wondering stars. Because of their motion around the sun against the background of the fixed stars in the universe. Jupiter was known as the king of the wondering stars. That motion of Jupiter brought it into proximity with the star Rigolas. When? It was September three B.C.

Do you know what that was? That was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year of that year. Most astronomers in the ancient world regarded Rigolas as the king star. And Larson explained that when the king planet appeared to touch the king of the wondering stars at that day of that first day of the Jewish New Year, the Magi believed that it is a sign of the birth of a great Jewish king of which Daniel has prophesied and told them about more than 400 years earlier.

I'm going to come to Daniel in a minute. Between September three B.C. and June of two B.C., the Magi traveled this arduous route from modern day Iran, that's where they come from, to modern day Israel.

And they traveled mostly at night in the cool of the night because they couldn't travel, it's too hot during the day. And according to the computer generated sky maps of the time, Larson said, that in December of two B.C., the Magi looked south in the wee hours there hung the planet of kings over the city of the birth of the Messiah. You say, how can a star stop? Well, according to that computer generated sky map of the time, Jupiter, the king planet experienced a period of what the astronomers call a retrograde motion. Though the planet was actually moving in the orbit around the sun, Jupiter appeared to stop in its tracks when it's viewed from planet earth. And that means that it came to a dead stop relative to the background of the other stars. Then it appeared to move once again. And the Magi were conscious of the moment that the star appeared to come to a halt.

Again, the sky maps show that Jupiter appeared to stop in December 25, the year two B.C. Here we are, 21st century science has confirmed and affirmed Matthew's account of the birth of the Messiah that was promised by God back in Genesis what? But that's not all.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he grew up in Nazareth, and he performed his first miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. When they ran out of wine and his mother came to him to perform a miracle to save the day, Jesus' response to her request is of vital importance. Listen to me. It is of vital importance. Don't miss it.

Here's what he said. Dear woman, my time has not yet come. So instead of creating a ruckus and a spectacle, he quietly performed the miracle.

What does he mean by my time has not yet come? In John chapter 7, when his brothers who did not believe in him and they were skeptical, but after the resurrection, they died for him. James and Jude both died martyrs for Christ. But before that, they were taunting him. They were making fun of him. They said to him, why don't you go to the temple and reveal your messiahship?

Why keep it a secret? Anyone with one percent of your power want to go in there and attract attention to themselves and declare his messiahship. And Jesus replied, I'm not seeking publicity. Not yet. My time has not come.

My time has not come. On several occasions throughout his earthly ministry, he referred to the fact that he had a secret timetable that he was following. That he has a heavenly calendar, not an earthly calendar by which he's operating. And finally, three years after his teaching and healing the sick and raising the dead, he comes into Jerusalem and enters the week before his crucifixion and resurrection on the Sunday which we call Palm Sunday. And he comes in there riding on a donkey just like Zechariah said.

And that was the time. They declared him king. Now is the fulfillment of that secret timetable. Now is the heaven appointed hour. Now is the time to declare his kingship.

And when the crowd who heard his teaching and benefited and were touched by his miracles, when they saw him coming on a donkey, they began to cry out and say, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Ah, but his enemies. They did not like that at all. Like the enemies of Christ today. Keep that name out of public life. We don't want to hear the name of Jesus. Don't you pray publicly in the name of Jesus. We don't want to hear the name of Jesus.

You know why? Because the devil trembles at the name of Jesus. And so they cried out to him and said, silence them.

Silence them. And we all know the story, but we take it for granted what it really means. And here's what Jesus said. He said, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. What is he doing? He's now permitting them to declare his kingship. Now he is saying, go ahead, call me king, for that's what I am.

What has changed? Why didn't he do it in the beginning of his ministry? Why did he wait until that moment and he allowed them to call him king? Ah, because at that time, it was meticulously and miraculously and precisely foretold by Daniel the prophet. Listen carefully. In Daniel chapter 9, the archangel Gabriel gave Daniel an exact date and time on when Jesus is going to be crucified and resurrected.

It wasn't a haphazard guess, you know, within a matter of few days or few weeks or few years, give or take. No. Jesus is no founder of a religion. Jesus is not another prophet. Jesus is not a preacher of the God consciousness.

No and a million no. He is the only one true God. And if you do the math in Daniel chapter 9, and I encourage you to do that, you will find the exact number of days from the time of Daniel to the time of Jesus entering into Jerusalem. It was 173,880 days. It was March 14, we know that from Nehemiah.

It was March 14, 445 B.C. when Daniel was given that prophecy. And if you add 173,880 days to that date of March 14, 445, you will come up with the fact that Jesus arrived to Jerusalem on Sunday, April 6, 32 A.D. When Jesus kept on saying, my time has not yet come, my time has not yet come, my time has not yet come, He was saying, listen, in the heavenly court records, the day of my coronation was recorded before the foundation of the earth.

And it was Sunday, April 6, 32 A.D. Facts. Our faith is built on facts. We said, I don't know if it happened or not, I just believe it, I have exercised faith. We don't have the kind of blunt faith. Our faith is a reasonable faith.

It's based on reason and based on facts of history. And I haven't come to the empty tomb yet. The empty tomb is the most irrefutable evidence of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

Listen to me. The tomb of Buddha is occupied. The tomb of Krishna is occupied.

The tomb of Muhammad is occupied. But the tomb of Jesus is empty. The resurrection is not only written about in all the four gospels of eyewitness accounts on Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but all of the disciples saw and talked and fellowshiped with the resurrected Lord. Five hundred eyewitnesses have talked to the resurrected Lord. Even two non-Christian historians have written about the resurrection of our Lord. A Jewish historian by the name of Josephus and a Roman historian by the name of Tacitus.

Beloved, listen to me. The reason Christianity grew very quickly from Jerusalem to Antioch to Asia Minor, North Africa, and Rome, because the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a validated fact. Hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw and heard the risen Lord, many of them were severely persecuted, brutally tortured, and even crucified.

Others were burned alive as human torches to light up the garden of Nero's palace. Others were thrown to hungry lions. Why?

Why? Because they would rather endure this horrendous pain and even death than deny the resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which they saw with their eyewitness accounts. You see, the evidence is clear and convincing. The promise Jesus in Genesis 3.15 came right on schedule just as God promised. He spoke to Adam and Eve. And in obedience to the Father, He hung on a cross and died.

And on the third day, He boldly, physically, rose from the dead. And soon He is coming back to judge every human being that ever lived on the basis of whether you believe that He, in He alone, is the Savior of the world and the Savior of your own soul or not. That's the basis.

That's the basis. Jesus is the only Savior of every human being that has ever lived on the face of the earth. He's the only one who rose from the grave.

He's the only one. Only Jesus, God of very God, who became man of very man, got up out of the grave. And the question is, what will you do with Jesus? The truth and the evidence are overwhelming. And the question is not evidence, really. The question is, do I have the humility to humble myself and say, you are the only one.

I can't save myself. Father God, I am so overwhelmed with how those of us who know you and love you are intimidated by false accusers and call us intolerant. But Father, we need your Spirit to work in us today like never before. Nero was very tolerant of all religions.

And he burnt the Christians because he said they were intolerant. And Lord, whatever the future brings, we ask you in the name of Jesus that you breathe in us your power and your strength to stand firm in the truth and share it with everyone who would listen. Because Father, we know as you gather your remnant, things are going to get tough. But we praise you that he who is in us greater than he who is in the world be glorified in each of us. And Father, there is a single person here who has yet to commit their life to you as a Savior, only Savior on board. May this be the day. In Jesus name.

Amen. A call to respond to the indisputable truth. Jesus is not just a Savior, but the Savior. He's your Savior. Now, if this is a new thought, maybe you'd enjoy speaking with one of our Leading the Way pastors.

You can begin that conversation, a conversation that could be life changing by filling out a short contact form. Just go to ltw.org slash Jesus. Hey, did you know that Dr. Michael Youssef and Leading the Way reach and touch lives around the entire world? Words and teaching from Dr. Youssef are translated and broadcast through various media in 28 languages.

That's right. Recently, we've added Hebrew and Ukrainian. And one outreach that I'd like to highlight today is The Kingdom Set. It's a channel much like one that you would have on your cable or your satellite system featuring Dr. Youssef and other strong Bible teachers. It focuses on Arabic populations reaching into nations where the name of Jesus is rarely spoken. And because of this worldwide outreach, our offices often hear from brothers and sisters who live in places where it is literally dangerous to be a follower of Christ. So they often contact Leading the Way and The Kingdom Set asking for prayer.

But our teams are poised to do more. They also offer discipleship as well as connecting these struggling people with local churches and ministries near them. Now, one family recently impacted by The Kingdom Set was a man, his wife and their children originally from Syria. They found Christ.

They moved to Turkey to flee persecution, and due to the absence of a Christian community to connect with, they regularly watched The Kingdom Set. That way they can learn more about living for Christ. So won't you consider partnering with Dr. Youssef today? Know that when you do, you are a part of touching lives, touching individuals and families through The Kingdom Set and other ministries of Leading the Way.

Here's how you can learn more. Call us. 866-626-4356. That's 866-626-4356. Or you can go to ltw.org. Ltw.org. And you know what?

Dr. Youssef loves to hear from you. So write him a note. Send it to Leading the Way, Post Office Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325.

Again, that's Post Office Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325. As we bring today's episode of Leading the Way to a close, allow me to invite you also to watch Leading the Way television. Each week, dig into the truth of God's Word and be challenged to love and serve the Savior. Leading the Way television is available in most areas on TBN, Daystar, NRB, INSP, TCT, GOTV, as well as NewsNation, Fox Business, Lifetime and more. Visit ltw.org for details. Once again, that's ltw.org. We want to thank you for listening and do plan to join Dr. Michael Youssef once again next time for another powerful Leading the Way when he passionately proclaims uncompromising truth from the pages of God's Word. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect with us through our YouTube channel, Facebook, Twitter and all of our social media networks. Learn more at ltw.org.