The Radical Claims that Jesus Made. Charles Leiter-The Glory of God in Jesus' Words.

(14 of Jesus' radical claims are below). You will be blessed by this excellent sermon the Glory of Christ in Jesus' Words (Click on link to play or Right-Click, Save-as to download mp3) in which Charles Leiter looks at some of the radial claims of Jesus.

You can not make the claim that Jesus was not God but was a good man. As C.S. Lewis, said, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p40-41.)

Some of the Radical Claims of Jesus Christ:

1) Jesus Claimed to be the Messiah:
Mat 16:13-18: "13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."

2) Jesus claimed absolute devotion to Himself:
Luke 14:26-27: "“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

3) Jesus Claimed He was able to forgive sins. (As all sin is against God, only God can forgive sin):
Luke 5:20-21: "When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”"

4) Jesus claimed He was the only way to be forgiven by God and enter Heaven, that He was the absolute truth, and that He was the source of all truth and the source of all life:
John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
John 11:25: "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live."
Matthew 11:28: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Jesus said come to Me, all other religions point you to something else.)

5) Jesus claimed He could give divine gifts including eternal life:
Luke 23:42-42: "Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
John 4:10: "Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

6) Jesus Claimed to have exclusive knowledge of God:
Matthew 11:27: " All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

7) Jesus Claimed to have existed before the world began:
John 17:5: "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
John 8:58: "Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

8) Jesus accepted worship as God:
Matthew 14:33: "Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”"
John 20:28-29: "And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”"

9) Jesus claimed absolute perfection and to be the unique God:
John 10:30: "I and My Father are one.”

10) Jesus claimed to be Omni-present (the ability to be present in every place at any, and/or every, time; unbounded or universal presence).
Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
11) Jesus claimed the dead are raised by His voice:
John 5:28: "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice"
John 11:25: "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live."

12) Jesus Claimed that He will judge the world:
Matthew 25:31-32: "“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats."

13) Jesus Claimed He would send people to Hell:
Matthew 7:19-23: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"

14) Jesus Claimed to be God:
John 8:58: "before Abraham was, I AM" Jesus was here taking for Himself the Divine Name of God from O/T Exodus 3:14 "And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” And the Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant as in the next verse John 8:59: "Then they took up stones to throw at Him"
John 10:11: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." Psalm 23-The LORD (God in the O/T) is my Shepherd.
Mark 10:18: "So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." [note: false religions try and use this verse to claim that Jesus was saying He wasn't God but Two questions: 1) Is God alone good? Yes 2) Is Jesus good? Yes He was sinless, perfect in all His ways and He said Himself "I AM the Good Shepherd"].

See also Book Recommedation-Justification and Regeneration by Charles Leiter.