1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,280 or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,760 us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,040 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:26,760 Thank you for being here and it's good to see you online this 8 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:28,440 morning for our Sunday school hour. 9 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,000 And you know, I was very encouraged last week for all of 10 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,640 our live streams. It's the first time we ever live 11 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:35,960 streamed Sunday school here at the church, and it was actually 12 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,880 the most watched of the live streams last week. 13 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:40,640 And so I'm thankful that there was some interest there. 14 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,560 And I hope that that's the case here this morning as well. 15 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:45,560 And I'd invite you to turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians 16 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,960 chapter #1 this morning, First Corinthians chapter #1 as we go 17 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,040 into our second lesson, introducing apologetics. 18 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:54,160 And we'll talk about what that means in just a moment. 19 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,840 But I'm thankful for the feedback that I received last 20 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:02,040 week on our series and the contents of the series, and just 21 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,040 the general interest that there is in talking about world 22 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,520 religions and cults. And of course, this is not a 23 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,240 lecture series in the sense of we're going through a Bible 24 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,600 college curriculum or we're trying to teach this in a way 25 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:17,200 that's more academic, although there is an academic element to 26 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:18,480 it. There's certainly no doubt about 27 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:19,840 it. But we want to give you Bible 28 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,320 teaching and Bible preaching even as we look at this very 29 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:26,760 serious issue of the issue of world religions and cults. 30 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:28,960 And I want to make clear again something that I said last week, 31 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:32,160 and you'll probably get tired of hearing me say it, but I do want 32 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,280 to say it just to make plain and make clear when we are going to 33 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:38,920 be on the attack and we are going to be on the attack as we 34 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,840 go through these lessons. We are attacking the articles of 35 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,120 faith of some of these religions and cults. 36 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,320 We are attacking the authorities of these world religions and 37 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:48,840 cults. We are not attacking the 38 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:52,120 adherence of those world religions and cults in the sense 39 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,680 that these are people that we're trying to lovingly teach the 40 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:57,640 gospel to and trying to encourage them. 41 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,200 We don't want to tell them that they are fools. 42 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:04,120 We don't want to tell them that they are idiots or anything of 43 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,280 that nature. And listen, you say, why are you 44 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:08,400 making a big deal about this? I've heard teaching and 45 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,280 preaching to that level where insults are hurled towards those 46 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:14,120 who believe. These things and well. 47 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,160 That's not a way to love them to Jesus Christ. 48 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,400 Do we want to attack these strongholds? 49 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:19,920 Absolutely. That are in their mind. 50 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:21,640 We have to do that by attacking the doctrine. 51 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,720 We have to do that by attacking the leadership of some of those, 52 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,520 by the sense of those who are the true deceivers, deceiving 53 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,400 the masses, if you will. But we want to say to those who 54 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,960 are Muslims, we love you. We want you to come to Jesus 55 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:37,400 Christ. We want to say to those who are. 56 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,520 Of the. Church of Jesus Christ or Latter 57 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,000 Day Saints that we call Mormons, we want to love you to Jesus 58 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:45,960 Christ. We're going to teach that your 59 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:47,640 doctrines false. We're going to teach you that 60 00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:51,920 those who have been the leaders of those groups, those cults, 61 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,160 those religions, that they are faulty in their own thought 62 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,040 processes and likely deceivers of their own sense. 63 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,200 But we want you to know that we don't believe that you're a 64 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:02,600 deceiver. We want to believe we should 65 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:04,960 know, we think you've been deceived by false doctrine. 66 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,120 And we want to lovingly show you what the word of God says. 67 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,120 And so I'm not going to say that every week, but I do think it 68 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,280 bears repeating here. This morning had a lot of 69 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,200 comments as well about Catholicism. 70 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,000 People say, well, pastor, where does Catholicism fit in into 71 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,480 world religions and cults And got a lot of different feedback 72 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,240 without even asking the question from that even just last week. 73 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:27,880 And the answer is where does it fit? 74 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,080 And the answer is, I don't know where it fits because it doesn't 75 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,240 fit cleanly into either one of those. 76 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,320 But I do believe that it fits into its own separate category. 77 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:39,760 We are going to take a week, maybe 2 to look at Catholicism 78 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:41,960 and where it does fit. And here's what I do know. 79 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:43,720 There's a lot of air in Catholicism, isn't there? 80 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,000 You, you can't. That's help over what we've seen 81 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,720 the last week with the election of the new Pope and all it takes 82 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:53,440 place with that. And I'm actually praying about 83 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:57,120 preaching a message on the Pope and why we don't believe in the 84 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,800 Pope and those types of things. If I preached, it'd be called No 85 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,840 Hope in the Pope. And so I think I didn't make 86 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:03,600 that up. All right. 87 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:04,920 I didn't make it up, but I like it. 88 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,920 And so, but even then, I don't want to do so in a way to attack 89 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,160 our Catholic friends and make them feel that we think that 90 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,920 they are rubes or anything like that. 91 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,959 But the same time you I can't look at anything that happened 92 00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:23,240 over that last week and the Vatican without intense sadness 93 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,320 for the people who follow along with what's going on without any 94 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,560 idea about what the Bible says about any of these things. 95 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:34,320 Calling this man who a couple days ago had another name who is 96 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:39,400 now Leo, I believe Leo the 14th and calling him Holy Father. 97 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,520 And it's like I have a Holy Father and it ain't him. 98 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,480 And so blasphemy, you know? And so I think these things need 99 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,960 to be taught and preached, but in a way that is forceful 100 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,640 towards what the truth is, but also extending an olive branch, 101 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,080 if you will, to those who believe those things to say. 102 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:57,440 We want you to come to the side of what the word of God says. 103 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,840 And let's be honest, a lot of us believe some of those things 104 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:03,080 early on in our own lives. We got a lot of recovering 105 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:04,480 Catholics here in this church, don't we? 106 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,400 And I was 1/2 Catholic, I was a Lutheran. 107 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,880 And so we want to make sure that others understand the freedom in 108 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,960 Christ that you all have been able to and I have received, but 109 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:15,000 particularly those who are of the Catholic faith. 110 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,080 And so where that fits in, I don't know exactly, but we are 111 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,840 going to go over those things here in the future and possibly 112 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:24,920 even during a service in a message as well, just as the 113 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,080 Lord leads. I'm praying about that right 114 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:28,840 now. All right, we are in lesson 2, 115 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:32,400 defining apologetics or introducing apologetics rather. 116 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,880 And I will say when I was in high school, I loved debates. 117 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,120 I love debates. I wasn't good at sports. 118 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:40,720 The closest sport I was really good at was, well, debate. 119 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:45,800 And so debate was you get up and you argue and you argue 120 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,480 passionately. You argue about these things 121 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,520 that are usually governmental, not necessarily issues about the 122 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,200 Bible or whatnot, but, you know, should the government be doing 123 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:57,280 this or should politicians be doing that? 124 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:01,160 And what I loved about these debates was that you would argue 125 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:05,200 like the world was going to end if your side didn't win over the 126 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,000 next 60 minutes. And then about an hour or two 127 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,120 later, you would be on the other side and arguing with someone 128 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,720 else. And you would argue against 129 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:14,720 everything you just said about two hours ago. 130 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,360 There was no moral compass that was involved whatsoever. 131 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,200 They were trying to teach you to be able to think through a 132 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:20,880 situation from all different angles. 133 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,880 I'm not saying it was bad. What I'm saying is I loved it. 134 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:27,200 I love the arguing. I love the sniping. 135 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,520 I love the, you know, that that passive aggressive nature that 136 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:32,560 came along with it then I loved every bit of it. 137 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,600 Can I tell you that now that I'm a pastor and I've been doing 138 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,400 this now as a pastor for 12 years and as a in the ministry 139 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:44,160 for almost 20 years, I don't enjoy debates when it comes to 140 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,840 the word of God. You know, why when it comes to 141 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:50,760 the issue of, you know, should the government be doing this or 142 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:52,680 that? Listen, there's a lot of room 143 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,760 for interpretation at times and when we're not even talking 144 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:57,960 about necessary moral issues, but should the government be 145 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,160 spending money on this or should not be spending our money on 146 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:01,440 this? You know, I could sit in this 147 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:03,960 seat and argue one way, and I can sit in this seat and argue 148 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:05,800 another way depending on what the issue is. 149 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,080 That's not true for every issue. I'm not saying government is 150 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:10,800 amoral. I'm just talking about certain 151 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,200 issues. But what I've come to find out, 152 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,280 when it comes the issue of the Bible, we are talking about life 153 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:18,840 or death issues. We're talking about salvation. 154 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,720 We're talking about the issues of whether the Bible is true. 155 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:26,720 These are issues that cut to the very core of truth itself. 156 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,760 And so I don't relish the fact of going in and debating these 157 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,440 things and trying to argue with people or going back and forth. 158 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:35,760 No, no, no, I don't want to do that. 159 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,040 But I will say this, There is room for us as believers to be 160 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,520 able to defend the faith and to be able to answer the questions 161 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:46,120 that are often lobbed our way that come with the issues of 162 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,000 faith. Listen, you may be in the 163 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:49,800 workplace, in the break room. People know that you're a 164 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:51,560 Christian. You might be at school and 165 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:53,040 people know that you are a believer. 166 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:55,480 You could be in your neighborhood and a neighbor sees 167 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,480 you going to church every Sunday, maybe even on Sunday 168 00:07:58,480 --> 00:07:59,600 night. Maybe you're even crazy enough 169 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:01,840 to go on Wednesday night. And they see you being able. 170 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,720 And eventually they start asking you questions, right? 171 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:06,120 And they ask you questions like, well, how is Christianity 172 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,080 different from other religions? They say something like this, 173 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,320 well, I'm spiritual. Isn't that just good enough to 174 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,840 just be spiritual? Jesus was just a good person. 175 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,280 Don't all religions express the same God, just in different 176 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,080 ways? How can you be sure the Bible is 177 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:24,360 true? These are things that people 178 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,840 will ask you, particularly if they know that you are a Bible 179 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,120 believer. But here's my question to you. 180 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:32,200 Are you able to answer those questions? 181 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,600 Are you able to, with any type of specificity, say what the 182 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,480 Word of God says about these matters? 183 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,400 And I know it can be hard. I know it can be difficult, and 184 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,880 I'm not talking about a debate. I'm not talking about, well, sit 185 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,600 down for an hour and let me explain to you and pontificate 186 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,080 on all of the different things. And the third declension of this 187 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,240 Greek verb and says all this, I don't even know if that's true, 188 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,080 but anyway, but you understand what I'm saying. 189 00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:58,080 That's not what I'm talking about. 190 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:00,920 I'm talking about you and another person just talking 191 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:03,560 about faith. Hey, you're a Baptist. 192 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:06,240 What makes a Baptist different from a Catholic? 193 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:09,600 Could you answer that? I'll tell you if I had one 194 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,840 question that I get asked more than anything, and the 12 years 195 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:14,200 I've been in New England, it's been this. 196 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,280 What makes a Baptist different than a Catholic? 197 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,240 Now I can answer that in the short version, which is, well, 198 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:21,520 we believe the Word of God and the word of God only. 199 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:25,080 And I can answer in the long version, which goes into all 200 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,440 kinds of different things. But can you just tell somebody 201 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:30,240 what it is that makes you a Bible believer? 202 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,320 How you know Christ can save? That's what I want us to 203 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,000 introduce this morning as we look at this issue of 204 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,600 apologetics. And there are a lot of questions 205 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,080 that are out there about faith, and there's a lot of questions 206 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,160 going on even within our neighborhoods and within where 207 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:49,200 we live. Some of you might remember, 208 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:52,120 because I talked about this in our church back in 2020. 209 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:54,920 Anybody remember 2020? OK, Anyway, yeah, we try not to 210 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:56,960 remember 2020. A lot of us I think it is. 211 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:01,720 But back in 2020, I was made aware that the human rights 212 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:06,000 committee in Easton was going to have a listening session, of 213 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,600 course, all on Zoom, because nobody could see each other back 214 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,480 then. The idea of a listening session 215 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,000 called Navigating Religious Holidays in a Christian Society. 216 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:20,600 And by the way, that what an odd thing for a town board to be 217 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:24,240 able to present like, you know, how do you deal with Christmas 218 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,480 if you're not a Christian? How do you deal with 219 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:27,720 Thanksgiving if you're not a Christian? 220 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:29,080 How do you deal with Easter if you're not a Christian? 221 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,400 Why on earth would they think this was a good idea for our 222 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:38,000 town tax dollars to be spent on? But for some reason I thought 223 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:39,760 that I'd heard about the separation of church and state. 224 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:41,760 Now, I don't even believe this was separation of church and 225 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,440 state in the way that the liberals do, because I believe 226 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:46,640 what the Constitution says about the separation of church and 227 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:50,720 state, which is nothing not found in the Constitution at 228 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,280 all. Well, I'm getting way off and 229 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,120 this is nothing to say, but we're going to get where we're 230 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:56,120 going. I hope we're having a good time 231 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:57,400 while we get there. All right, Amen. 232 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,040 But the idea is this, the separation of church and state 233 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:01,640 was never in our founding documents. 234 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,280 It was something that was mentioned in a letter between 235 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:08,960 the Danbury Baptist Society from Connecticut and Thomas Jefferson 236 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:11,640 and private communications. And they were concerned about 237 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,640 this, listen, government interference in the church 238 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:19,280 because that had been history, that had been history here in 239 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:21,640 the colonies. And they were still concerned 240 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,520 about this. And he said that there should be 241 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:26,640 a wall of separation between church and state, not the idea 242 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,320 that Christians were not allowed to be in the sphere of 243 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,560 government or that Christian ideas were not to be in the 244 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:34,800 sphere of government. That was never even thought of. 245 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,560 That was never even considered. Listen, FDR signed Bibles, but 246 00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:41,600 not personally, but he had his signature on Bibles, had a 247 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,040 letter in front of Bibles that were sent onto the front lines 248 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:45,960 in World War 2. And he basically said this, you 249 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:47,600 need to read this. And our government printed them 250 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,200 and sent them. Nowhere along the line was the 251 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:54,040 idea, well, government shouldn't even talk about this, but yet 252 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,720 it's the same type of people that say, well, you can't talk 253 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,480 about Christianity in the government that says this. 254 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:03,520 Let me help you navigate religious holidays in this very 255 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:07,040 Christian society. But in all of this, saying all 256 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:10,960 this, there was a board member of who I will not name, but 257 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,640 there was a board member of whom I know here in our town who made 258 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,960 the following statement and I've transcribed it for us here 259 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,560 today. It says this about the guest 260 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:22,600 speaker who was going to talk in the session. 261 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:26,080 She, the guest speaker, actually thought, would you also want not 262 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,120 to just talk about what the differences are about these 263 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,200 religions, but where the religions intersect as well? 264 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:35,360 So understand that all three of those religions, now this is 265 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:42,680 talking about Islam and Judaism and Christianity, that all three 266 00:12:42,680 --> 00:12:45,880 of them have the same God. And at the end of the day, it is 267 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:49,000 the same being, you know, talk about where all of them are a 268 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,200 forgiving creature, a forgiving God, not this Hellfire and 269 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,280 brimstone. So I thought that might be nice 270 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:56,960 and helping to debunk. Some of the myths that folks 271 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:59,480 might have about some of the major religions that are out 272 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:01,560 there. So this board was saying, 273 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:05,400 listen, we need to get together and teach people that all these 274 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,600 gods, they're just one God. And he's not hell fire and 275 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:10,440 brimstone. He's just this accepting God. 276 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:15,760 And I couldn't believe that we were getting theology coming 277 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:17,880 from this town board here at East. 278 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:18,960 Now there's a couple. Problems. 279 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,560 Well, there's more than a couple problems with what she said, but 280 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:25,320 one of the problems was this. Well, it's factually inaccurate 281 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,840 because the Bible does not teach what she said. 282 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,160 The Bible doesn't teach at all. But it's also interesting 283 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:36,560 because, well, neither Judaism nor Islam nor Christianity would 284 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:39,600 agree with that statement. Muslims wouldn't agree with that 285 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,120 statement. Judaism and the teachers would 286 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,160 not agree with that statement. They don't believe that Jesus is 287 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:48,080 God. They don't believe these things. 288 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,560 And so it was unbelievable to me that that would even be brought 289 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:52,320 up. And so I actually. 290 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,800 Wrote a letter I thought very kindly to the Human Rights 291 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,480 Committee and they ended up. Thankfully changing the 292 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,640 direction of what that listening session was to be and offered an 293 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,280 apology for what a board member had said here. 294 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:07,920 And I would get it in a Christ like way. 295 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,880 I put it forward in a way that was not attacking but also 296 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,040 inviting them to come to our church at the same time. 297 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,920 Now it hasn't exactly happened yet in the last five years, but 298 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:18,560 the idea is we should be able to engage with these. 299 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:21,480 Things we should be able to engage with these ideas and not 300 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:25,000 just evacuate the sphere of people saying what they want to 301 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,040 say about our God. And not be able to say no, 302 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:29,920 that's, that's actually not what the Bible teaches. 303 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,760 Again, not angry in the sense of you say, well, righteous anger. 304 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:35,680 No, no, I think most of our anger when it comes to these 305 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,440 issues is not righteous. It's just a lot of times we just 306 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:41,200 want to go for it. But at the same time, what I'm 307 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:43,760 saying is can you answer in the spirit of Christ? 308 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,040 Christ attacked error. Christ had no problem attacking 309 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:51,800 error, but he also was very kind to those who were coming to him 310 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,360 in. The spirit of wanting to know 311 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:55,960 more. At the same time He called the 312 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,400 Pharisees Vipers because he knew they wanted nothing of Him and 313 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,440 that they were spiritual hypocrites and that they were 314 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:06,680 taking those who needed Him and we're driving them even farther 315 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:08,320 from Him. But at the same time he looked 316 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:10,280 at those others and said, go and sin no more. 317 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,200 The ones that the Pharisees had no time for. 318 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:15,880 And so can we ask ourselves these questions? 319 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,960 Can we answer these questions? This isn't just pie in the sky, 320 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,720 sky stuff we're talking about. These are the type of things 321 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,400 that are right where we live, but maybe we don't realize it 322 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,080 because we're not able to answer these questions or we don't want 323 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,520 to talk about these questions in the break room or at the school 324 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,320 or in the neighborhood or wherever it is. 325 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:35,960 And look, I'm not talking about going and creating debates 326 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:37,840 everywhere we go. That's not what I'm talking 327 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:39,720 about. But can we answer reasonable 328 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:43,680 questions and doubts that others have about the things that we 329 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:46,520 believe? First Peter chapter 3 verse 15 330 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:48,960 says And you might remember this from our series on 1st 331 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:50,680 Corinthians, or rather First Peter. 332 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:55,160 Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready all way to 333 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,160 give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope 334 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,720 that is in you with meekness and fear. 335 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,160 Meaning if people ask you about the hope that was in you, can 336 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:07,800 you answer it? And can you answer the question 337 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,520 in the right spirit? That's important, isn't it? 338 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,920 Can you answer the question? And can you answer the question 339 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,760 in the right spirit? Now the word answer as it's 340 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,440 found in first Peter chapter 3 verse 15 is the Greek word 341 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,920 apologia. And that's where we get the term 342 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:26,880 apologetics. Now the word apologia is 343 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:32,240 compound of two Greek words, APO meaning from and logos meaning 344 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,800 the word. So apologetics means this. 345 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,640 Can we answer about our faith from the Word? 346 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:41,640 It's not. Apologetics makes it sound like 347 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:43,280 we're apologizing for being Christians. 348 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:44,920 You know, it's just, I know I'm a Christian. 349 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:46,560 I apologize. I hope that doesn't offend you. 350 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:48,920 Now, that's probably the way some people feel about it today, 351 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:50,160 but that's not what we're talking about. 352 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:54,560 Apologetics means can I answer that which I believe from the 353 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:56,280 Word? Can I defend the faith? 354 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,320 Now listen, does God need us to defend him? 355 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,880 I think he's doing pretty well on his own, isn't he? 356 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,720 He doesn't need us to defend him, but at the same time does 357 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:10,319 he need us to spread his gospel? He he doesn't need to, but he's 358 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:12,960 chosen us, hasn't he? He's chosen us to. 359 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,280 And he's chosen us also to defend his faith, not because he 360 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:21,280 needs a defender, He does not. But he has put us in this arena. 361 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,760 He's put us in this sphere so we can talk about our faith and 362 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:26,880 then say, don't you need this Jesus? 363 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,120 Don't you need this in your life? 364 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:30,920 I had some of the questions you did. 365 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,320 I was going a different direction before too. 366 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:36,600 But then Jesus Christ found me and saved me. 367 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:38,880 And don't you need that in your life as well? 368 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:43,800 And that's what we are trying to be able to do to give an answer 369 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,680 from the Word in our own defense and in defense of the Lord. 370 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,840 Isaiah chapter one verse 18 says come now and let us reason 371 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,080 together. Say it the Lord though your sins 372 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:55,920 be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, they they be red 373 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,640 as Crimson, they shall be as wool. 374 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:03,080 And this word apologia is. Found in some form or fashion 18 375 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:04,760 different times in our New Testament. 376 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,680 Hey, let's reason together. Let's reason together with the 377 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:09,720 Lord. Let's see what the Lord says 378 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:11,760 about the questions that people have. 379 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:17,040 So apologetics is a branch of Christian theology that engages 380 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,000 in a reasoned defense of the Christian faith. 381 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:23,720 It sets forth a rational basis upon which faith rests, and 382 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,720 through that, it challenges all forms of claims springing up 383 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:29,200 from error. So what does it do? 384 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,640 It establishes that the faith that we have is reasonable and 385 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,600 logical, but it also answers the questions that come from error, 386 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,280 from those who do not agree with the truth. 387 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:41,840 Which brings us to this understanding here in First 388 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,800 Corinthians chapter #1 I know you may have thought we forgot 389 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,240 about that, but there are really two world views when it comes to 390 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,440 these things. There's only two world views. 391 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,360 Even though the views of error come in all types of different 392 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:56,960 flavors, it really comes down to two different ways of thinking. 393 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:58,880 And so we're going to read this. I'm not going to make much 394 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,600 comment, but I do want us to read as we go here. 395 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:05,960 So First Corinthians chapter one verse #18 says, For the 396 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,000 preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, 397 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,760 but to unto us which are saved. It is the power of God. 398 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,640 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, 399 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,560 and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 400 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,080 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? 401 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:22,920 Where is the disputer of this world? 402 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,440 Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 403 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:30,640 For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew 404 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,160 not God please God by the foolishness of preaching to save 405 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,240 them that belief. For the Jews require a sign, and 406 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,800 the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, 407 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:44,600 under the Jews a stumbling block, and under the Greeks 408 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,040 foolishness. But unto them which are called 409 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,280 both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom 410 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,760 of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and 411 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:55,720 the weakness of God is stronger than men. 412 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,120 For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise 413 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:02,560 men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble or cold, 414 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,240 But God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound 415 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:07,840 the wise, and God had chosen the weak things of the world to 416 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:09,880 confound the things which are mighty. 417 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:11,160 We'll stop there for just a moment. 418 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:14,680 You might think, well, pastor, I don't know that I can actually 419 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,160 engage in these type of conversations, because who am I? 420 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,800 You might think, well, I've never been to Bible college. 421 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:21,960 I've not been in church very long. 422 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:24,160 I've been away from the Lord for a while. 423 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,400 I'm too old to be able to pick up this kind of thing. 424 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:29,720 Pastor, who am I? And according to what I just 425 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,720 read right here, if you are saved and you are led by the 426 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,760 Spirit, you are the very perfect person to be able to confound 427 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:38,600 the wise. Why? 428 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,320 Because the wise, quote UN quote of the world are fools in the 429 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:46,320 sense that they reject Christ. They try to make up all types of 430 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:49,920 other things that sound good. Listen, doesn't an evolutionist 431 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:53,080 sound smart on his face? I mean, let's just be honest on 432 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,320 its face. If you're to take everything 433 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,120 away and just listen as evolutionist who talks with so 434 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:02,880 much certainty about billions of years and looks down his long 435 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:07,640 nose at you for believing that God actually created this world 436 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:12,000 and that he created it around 6000 years ago or so. 437 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,760 And that everything we see has just been around for around 6000 438 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:20,280 or so years and would speak very condescendingly toward you. 439 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,000 I would speak very condescendingly toward what you 440 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,640 believe. And it's easy for us to feel 441 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,200 like we're not enough. Well, I'm not a scientist, what 442 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,440 can I say? Well, I've not been in church 443 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,920 forever, what can I say? I've, I've never been to 444 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,200 seminary, what can I say? Well, according to this, you 445 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,480 were the perfect person for God to use. 446 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,880 Has Jesus changed your life? These change your life. 447 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,680 Then you have something that you can speak of that the 448 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,760 evolutionists cannot. You have something to speak of 449 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,840 that the godless cannot. You have something to speak of 450 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,200 that to them might seem like foolishness. 451 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,240 But according to this, it's the power of God. 452 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,320 It's the wisdom of God. Listen, don't feel less than. 453 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:03,760 Don't feel like you are not enough. 454 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:05,440 Don't feel like you cannot listen. 455 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,720 You don't have to have your face buried in books talking about 456 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:14,040 apologetics for years and years and years to be able to talk 457 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:15,200 with someone about the word of God. 458 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:16,800 Listen, your memory doesn't have to be great. 459 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:18,720 Well, Pastor, I would, I would do these things, but I can't 460 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,240 remember all these arguments. I can't remember all these 461 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:22,640 verses. I can't remember all of these 462 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:23,560 things. Listen. 463 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,280 I get that, but did Jesus change your life? 464 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:29,200 Can you tell somebody about that? 465 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:31,520 Can you tell them how he changed your life? 466 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:34,680 Some of the greatest soul winners in the word of God were 467 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,240 people that said, you know what, there's a lot I can't tell you. 468 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,160 There's a lot I don't understand myself, but I want to introduce 469 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:43,040 you to Jesus because he'll he'll be able to teach you and he'll 470 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,840 be able to. And listen, we can't always be 471 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,560 able to do that in the sense that what we can't take someone 472 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:49,400 to Jesus, but we can bring them to church. 473 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:51,720 We can have them understand the word of God. 474 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,000 We can maybe get some book. You can even tell someone, you 475 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:55,120 know what? I don't know the answer that 476 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:57,120 question, but maybe we can look it up together. 477 00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:59,720 Just be honest about that. These are good things that you 478 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:01,320 can do. But according to this, listen, 479 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:05,640 God can and use you, There's two world views, that which believes 480 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,720 that God is not and that which believes that God is. 481 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,360 That's it. And if you were on the side of 482 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:14,800 the Lord, like in Exodus chapter 32 when Moses said who is on the 483 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:16,600 Lord's side? If you're on the side of the 484 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,440 Lord, He can use you to be able to help those who are in the 485 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,440 midst of their own spiritual confusion. 486 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,760 Now verse #28 the base things of the world, and things which are 487 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,560 despised, hath God chosen. Yeah, and the things which are 488 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,880 not to bring to, not things that are, that no flesh should glory 489 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:35,360 in His presence, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who are of 490 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:37,560 God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and 491 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,440 sanctification and redemption, That according as it is written, 492 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,640 he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 493 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:47,160 Going to be a lot of people who would maybe drive past this 494 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:48,800 church this morning. First of all, not even knowing 495 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,600 it's a church. Maybe thinking that we're an 496 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,960 extension of Eastern Pool and Spa and so many people are 497 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:54,960 getting chemicals over there that people are parking over 498 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:55,840 here to get them. I don't know. 499 00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:58,760 There's a lot of people that may not know what's going on here. 500 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,520 And if they do know what's going on, they may look down on us. 501 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:05,960 What could a group of 40 or 50 people do for Jesus Christ? 502 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,400 Well, my answer to that is I don't know, but I do know that 503 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:15,080 11 did quite a bit. I do know that that group got to 504 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,960 120 by Acts chapter 1, and they did quite a bit. 505 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,360 I do know that by the time you get to Acts chapter 19, I didn't 506 00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:26,440 believe it is that the disciples were accused of making the world 507 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,200 go upside down, that the whole world order had changed because 508 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,640 of believers who are proclaiming the word of God. 509 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,240 How much can we do? I don't know, but I know this. 510 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:38,040 We're on His side. So we can probably do a whole 511 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:40,560 lot more than we think we can, and we could probably have a 512 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,320 whole lot more impact than we think that we can. 513 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:44,880 So yes, there are these two worldviews. 514 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,920 And we, as those who are starting to understand this 515 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,360 issue of apologetics, should be able to try to learn more about 516 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:55,080 how we can answer for our faith. Isaiah 2914. 517 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,120 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work 518 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:01,120 among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder for 519 00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:03,440 the. Wisdom of the wise men shall 520 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,720 perish. And the understanding of the 521 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:09,000 prudent men shall be hid. Again, you don't have to have a 522 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,200 doctorate on your wall. You don't have to listen. 523 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:14,480 You don't have to have gone to junior college. 524 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,520 You don't have to have finished high school. 525 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,400 But if you know Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit lives inside of 526 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:24,360 you, you've got a wisdom that the world cannot understand. 527 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:29,200 And you don't have to. You don't have to huddle back 528 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:34,160 and fear from anybody when you know I have the Lord, I have his 529 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,200 word. I'm learning a little bit at a 530 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,320 time. I have something that the world, 531 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:43,320 I have peace, I have joy, I have an eternity that the world wants 532 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,800 but cannot have. But they can't have if they 533 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:47,600 understand what the word of God says so. 534 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,560 In. Saying all this, understand that 535 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:56,160 the Scriptures must be our sole and final authority for all 536 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:58,560 areas of life. Now, are there other authorities 537 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:00,720 in life? Yes, I can think of three 538 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,800 specifically that are instituted in the Word of God, the family. 539 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,840 God has the final word on what a family is. 540 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,600 His word is what tells us what the family is and how it 541 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,720 operates the church. The Bible tells us that God has 542 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,240 instituted the church. Jesus Christ died for the 543 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:19,840 church, and they're supposed to be order in the church. 544 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:25,200 Paul told Titus to set in order the things that we're wanting in 545 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,600 the churches, as he was on the Isle of Crete. 546 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:29,520 So there's to be order. Who sets that order? 547 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,800 Well, God's Word sets the order. That's why we don't just do 548 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,080 whatever we want to do in church and we do what the Word of God 549 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,840 says as best as we are able, but He also set government up as 550 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:40,560 well. That government is real. 551 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,160 Romans chapter 13 makes it very clear where to pray for and obey 552 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,680 our government until the government decides that they are 553 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:49,640 going to be in the opposition to God and His Word. 554 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,760 And then we have to respectfully but yet forcefully say we will 555 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:59,040 not do that which the government is telling us to do that. 556 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,400 Is against the word of God and the apostles were a great 557 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,160 example of that. They were told you can't preach. 558 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,480 And they said this, well, you know, you could say what you 559 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,360 want, but we've got to preach. You do what you need to do and 560 00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:13,560 we'll do what we need to do because we've been commanded to 561 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:15,840 preach the word of God. And we have great respect for 562 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:17,480 the government. We must have great respect for 563 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:18,840 the government. Pray for our government. 564 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:22,320 But at the same time, all where do all of those entities get 565 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,800 their authority from? From the Word of God. 566 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,320 And so we respect those authorities because we respect 567 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,600 ultimately the word of God. It is our sole authority for 568 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:33,720 faith and practice. And listen, as Bible believing 569 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,240 Baptist, we don't just say that as a tagline. 570 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,520 I don't just say that as a tick. You know, I just kind of say it 571 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,440 Bible believing Baptist, just kind of throw it out there 572 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,120 without thinking about it. No, we believe the Bible. 573 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:47,400 I am not a Pope. I know a pastor named Johnny 574 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,200 Pope. That's as close as I know to a 575 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,280 Baptist Pope. And Can you imagine being a last 576 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:52,640 name, being Pope and you're a Baptist? 577 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,680 I mean, there's got to be so many, so many jokes that are 578 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:57,880 involved with that, that I'm glad we're not close friends 579 00:27:57,880 --> 00:27:59,480 because honestly, I don't know that I could handle that. 580 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:01,680 But here's the idea. I'm not a Pope. 581 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,680 I'm not your father. I'm not your reverend. 582 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,880 No, no, I just want to take you to the word of God. 583 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:11,440 We don't have any other books. We don't have any other 584 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,320 authorities. We don't have any other fathers 585 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,080 that are the teachers. Listen our. 586 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,280 Fathers, our teacher. Through the Holy Spirit and and 587 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,480 the Son who is the word. These are our teachers. 588 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,000 The Holy Spirit is our teacher. This is what we have here, that 589 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,960 it's all about believing the Bible and the Bible alone. 590 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:30,040 And listen, when you come down to the place of believing the 591 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,160 Bible and the Bible alone, it changes your life. 592 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:34,240 It changed the way you look at everything. 593 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:40,240 Psalm One 19106 Thy word is true from the beginning, and everyone 594 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,400 of Thy righteous judgments endureth forever. 595 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,600 Everyone of Thy righteous judgments endureth forever. 596 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:49,560 We go to Psalm chapter 19. Don't know that we're going to 597 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:51,760 get done with this lesson today, and that's OK. 598 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:57,120 We'll get what we need to get Psalm chapter #19 because we've 599 00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,160 got to get to the place in apologetics. 600 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,600 If it's from the Word, we have to understand that our answers 601 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,880 come from the Word. By the way, that means that you 602 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:11,280 don't just say, well, my pastor said, listen, that's a good 603 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,800 place to start, but that's not a good place to end. 604 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:15,920 OK. When you're first a believer, 605 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:18,360 you're just doing what you hear the pastor say and pray that the 606 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:20,560 pastor is preaching what the word of God says. 607 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,080 But you got to get in the word for yourself, Say pastor, 608 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,240 doesn't that undermine your authority to tell people 609 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:28,720 something like that? And my answer is no, No. 610 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,080 It reminds people where the true authority is. 611 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,640 What authority do I have apart from the Word of God? 612 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,280 I have not. If I don't lead as the Word of 613 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:40,720 God tells me to do, and I don't preach as the Word of God tells 614 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,600 me to preach from the Word as it is, calling out the Word of God 615 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,640 to people as they are. Listen, then, I lack authority 616 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,120 in every sense. So to remind you that you get 617 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,800 your answers from the Bible is not to diminish who I am. 618 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,560 It's to remind you that whatever authority I have comes from that 619 00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:04,480 same book. So Psalm 19, great Psalm, look 620 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:06,880 at verse #7 you're talking about the word of the Lord. 621 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,280 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. 622 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,440 The testimony of the Lord is sure making. 623 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,120 Why is this simple? The statutes of the Lord are 624 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,840 right rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is 625 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,480 pure and lightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean 626 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,240 and during forever. The judgments of the Lord are 627 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,520 true and righteous altogether meant. 628 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,440 If you're looking for some verses to memorize, verses 7 629 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:32,880 through 9 of Psalm 19 are great verses to memorize. 630 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:34,640 What do we see about the Word of God here? 631 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:37,520 And it's used in all types of different forms, whether it's 632 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,400 the law, the statutes, the commandments, the judgments. 633 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,480 What do we see? The Word of God is true. 634 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:47,400 I love that. This lesson goes right into 635 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,680 11:00 and what we're going to be talking about today from second 636 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,240 Peter chapter #1 again. But you can trust that the word 637 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:56,400 of God is true when you can't trust what the world says. 638 00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,960 You could trust what this book says from cover to cover. 639 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,760 And like Brother Turner used to say, I even believe the, I even 640 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:03,440 believe the cover because it says Holy Bible on it. 641 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:05,360 You remember that one? OK, good. 642 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:06,560 Just say yes, Marshall. All right, good. 643 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:10,880 So thank you. All right, so yo. 644 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,800 I believe the cover because it says Holy Bible, that that's the 645 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:15,840 way it is now. More to be desired. 646 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:17,480 Verse 10. More to be desired. 647 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,800 Are they than gold? Yeah, the much fine gold. 648 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,400 Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 649 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,480 And I'll tell you, Scott, Lisa can produce some pretty good 650 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:27,200 honey. But I'm thankful for the word of 651 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:27,840 God. Amen. 652 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:30,960 That no matter how good that honey is, Aaron, it's delicious. 653 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:35,560 I am glad that the word of God is to be more desired even than 654 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,440 that because it's something that we're supposed to crave. 655 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:39,800 It's something we're supposed to desire. 656 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:41,720 You say, well, I don't really get that. 657 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,480 We'll get into it a little bit, get into a little bit more and 658 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:46,160 the more you get into it, the more you desire it. 659 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,080 There are times when I I realize I've read and I kind of maybe 660 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,040 just read to be able to finish my reading for the day and I had 661 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:53,960 to come back to it later and say, you know what, I need a 662 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:55,960 little bit more like that wasn't enough. 663 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,040 I didn't really, I didn't really get into it the way that I 664 00:31:58,040 --> 00:31:59,520 should. And the word of God, it's 665 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,280 everything to us. Now drop down to verse 414. 666 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:04,400 The Word of God supposed to change our lives, isn't it? 667 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:07,440 Do we just read the Word for the sake of reading the Word? 668 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:09,600 No, it's supposed to change us, isn't it? 669 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,200 Let the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be 670 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:16,080 acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength in my Redeemer. 671 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:17,960 What does that mean? That what? 672 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:23,560 Comes out and what stays in should be affected by the word 673 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:25,520 of God. The words that come out of your 674 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,960 mouth should be tempered by the word of God and what stays. 675 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,480 In your heart should be tempered by the word of God. 676 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:34,560 And why can we trust that? Because it is true. 677 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,840 Because it is right and righteous all together. 678 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:45,000 As we just read now there's four areas in saying all of that. 679 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,000 There are four different areas that we're not going to get to 680 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:48,640 all of them this morning, but let's maybe. 681 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,160 Get to the first one. There are four areas in which we 682 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:55,080 see that we have a fundamentally different outlook with those who 683 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:59,240 I'm going to say we'll call them secularists for the remainder of 684 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:00,760 this lesson, even into next week. 685 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:05,600 The idea is there God or is there not a God now? 686 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,800 I'm not even talking about Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 687 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,440 I'm just talking about the fact is there a God or is there not a 688 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:14,720 God now? Is it enough for us to establish 689 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:17,200 that there is a God? That's not enough, is there? 690 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,360 That's a good step. But there's more to it. 691 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,920 There is a God, and his name is Jehovah. 692 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,520 There is a God. He's also known by his other 693 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:28,840 identity, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 694 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:31,560 The three in one, the one in three, three persons and one 695 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:33,600 being, not three individual gods. 696 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:37,120 But one God. But at the same time, I do 697 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:42,280 believe that it's important for us to understand that there is a 698 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,600 place for. Some type of conversation about 699 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:49,040 is there a God or not a God? Because it kind of gets those 700 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,600 who don't believe in God to start to think, well, there has 701 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:52,880 to. This has to. 702 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,200 Have come from somewhere. This has to have started from 703 00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:58,720 somewhere. And what I found to be the case 704 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,160 with the atheist that I've talked to or the agnostics and 705 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:05,120 agnostics are literally more than just they don't care about 706 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,680 if there's a God or not. It's not that they're anti God. 707 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:09,239 It's just like I don't really think about it. 708 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:10,840 I don't care whether there is or not. 709 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,920 But when I talk to atheists and agnostics about this, you know 710 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,600 what I often find is the case? They don't think about the 711 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:18,520 logical conclusion to what they're saying. 712 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,719 They're willing to say there's no God, but they've never really 713 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:27,600 thought about down the line what that means because there's 714 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,800 repercussions. It's important to think about 715 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:31,560 the repercussions of what we believe, isn't it? 716 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,280 It's important to think about the logical conclusion of those 717 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:35,639 things. I'll use this as an example. 718 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:39,960 For several years here at in Easton, I had two different 719 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:42,679 funeral homes that would call me on a very regular basis to do 720 00:34:42,679 --> 00:34:45,199 funerals if someone did not have a pastor. 721 00:34:45,199 --> 00:34:47,000 And a lot of times it was unbelievers. 722 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,760 And I will tell you probably the hardest thing that I've ever 723 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,960 done as a pastor over the years, and there's been several things 724 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:54,760 that have been hard. But one of the hardest things I 725 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:59,080 would say would be to go into a room not knowing anybody and 726 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:03,600 just having an obituary in your hand and a sermon and trying 727 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,360 within about an hour to get to know all the people in that 728 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:09,880 room, to try to offer them comfort and then to be able to 729 00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,120 give them a service. All while knowing that very 730 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:16,080 likely the person that you are eulogizing was not a believer. 731 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,680 It's a hard thing say. So pastor, what do you do? 732 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:21,840 Do you just preach them into heaven? 733 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:23,360 Well, no, I'm not going to give them false hope. 734 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,320 I don't even really talk about where they're going because I 735 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:28,760 don't know. I just talk about what the Bible 736 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,480 says for those people who are still sitting there, say, you 737 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:33,840 know, I want to give you comfort who are here today, and I want 738 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,040 you to know that you can find comfort in the gospel of Jesus 739 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:37,920 Christ. And these funeral homes let me 740 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:40,680 do that for years. And honestly, I got a lot of 741 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,960 good feedback from that, even if it didn't get as many necessary 742 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,080 professions out of that as I would have liked. 743 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:48,520 But yet the gospel is being preached in ways that hadn't 744 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:50,200 before. But here's what I'm saying about 745 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:52,360 this. It's amazing to me how many 746 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,240 times I would talk with families even that they would tell me, 747 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,080 atheists tell me they didn't believe in God. 748 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,760 Or maybe, well, if there is a God, you know, one of those 749 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:04,120 things that they would say. It's amazing to me how much they 750 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:08,120 wanted to talk about heaven. It's amazing to me how much they 751 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:13,520 wanted to talk about an afterlife, a place of peace, a 752 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:17,000 place of comfort. And you know, when you are 753 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:22,680 thinking of atheism and you are thinking of agnosticism or even 754 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:28,320 secularism, a place and a life, a world without God, there is no 755 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,440 room for heaven. There is none. 756 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,840 Why? Because in their minds, this 757 00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,120 world came from cosmic chaos. This world is an accident. 758 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,640 We shouldn't even be here. And you think that there would 759 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:45,600 be a heaven that would come from that? 760 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:48,040 And they say, well, we believe in science. 761 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,280 Well, scientifically, how can you prove that there's a heaven 762 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:51,920 that God lives or some entity lives? 763 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:55,360 They can't. Well, I just pray their souls at 764 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:56,960 peace. How do you scientifically prove 765 00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,960 there's a soul? I have a quote from an atheist, 766 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:02,400 We'll get to it next week that talks about all these different 767 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:03,760 things. And he talks about the soul of 768 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:04,920 man. And I'm thinking, oh, hold on a 769 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,520 second, what did you say? The soul of it. 770 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,840 You don't get to lay claim to that because you can't prove it 771 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,320 within your worldview. But you see. 772 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,680 What I'm saying that these groups of people don't think of 773 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:17,320 the end result of their thinking. 774 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:18,760 All they think of is in the here and now. 775 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,040 And there's a lot of times where they think I don't want to be 776 00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:26,720 responsible to a God. I don't want to have to put my 777 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:31,680 life out in and to be able to have to answer to a God in the 778 00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,440 afterlife to be in the judgment. And so they all they think about 779 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:36,400 is here and now. They never think about what the 780 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:40,960 logical conclusion of that is. Basically, in your worldview, 781 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,320 when you are dead, you never were. 782 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,280 You never mattered. You just returned to dust. 783 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:49,040 There's nothing else. There is. 784 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:50,880 There is nothing. You can't you. 785 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:54,120 Can't lay claim to heaven, you can't lay claim to a soul, you 786 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:56,760 can't lay claim to peace. You can't lay claim do any of 787 00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:58,840 those things. That's the logical conclusion 788 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,400 that they don't think about. So what do we need to do as 789 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,920 apologists? Not apologizers, but as 790 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,440 apologists for the word of God? We have to remind them, listen, 791 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,280 the Bible does talk about these things and it talks about them 792 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:13,880 very specifically. And if you don't believe what 793 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:16,680 the word of God says, there is an alternative and it's very 794 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:18,960 bleak. It's not just bleak for the 795 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:20,480 afterlife, it's bleak for this life. 796 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,760 Because if there is no God, if we just came here by mistake, 797 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:26,040 then what are we even doing here? 798 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:29,840 What even matters? Who's to say what's right and 799 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,200 wrong? And we want to look at four 800 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,160 different areas and we'll look at these next week. 801 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:39,520 The areas of reality, the areas of knowledge, morality and 802 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,720 purpose. All of those are hinged upon 803 00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:46,240 understanding the God that there is a God. 804 00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:49,120 And I would say even more than that, the God of the Bible. 805 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,200 But I'll leave you the with this illustration. 806 00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:57,520 I've used it here before A while back I've mentioned my the dear 807 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,200 man who led me to Christ, his name Steve Baker, and he's 808 00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:04,320 currently through the process of succumbing to ALS very very 809 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:08,640 quickly led me to Christ 1996 worked with me for years to be 810 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:12,720 able to show me 1998 rather showed me what the Bible said 811 00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:18,440 about salvation and has become just a a dear mentor to me 812 00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:21,240 through the years. And I went to go visit him last 813 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:23,160 year before any of this happened with ALS. 814 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:28,000 And as his habit was he would go door to door literally knocking 815 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,400 on doors telling people about the about the Lord. 816 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:35,480 I was very happy to go with him. I remember talking to a man and 817 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:39,200 he was Australian. The accent is what I remembered 818 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:41,600 and he was very upset that we were there. 819 00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:44,680 I mean, just that we were there at his door. 820 00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:47,960 He was very upset. We were very pleasant and 821 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:52,200 brother Baker never one to back down and said, he said, well, 822 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,120 what do you think about the Lord? 823 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:56,920 And he gave us some of his thoughts about the Lord and it 824 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:01,760 was not very polite, but he said this, he says you, you see this, 825 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:05,200 He says you see this house, you see, see those cars I have out 826 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:06,120 there. You see everything. 827 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:13,840 I did that, I did that and the total arrogance of that. 828 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:16,360 I mean, just common sense tells you you didn't do all of that 829 00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:18,000 yourself. You didn't make that, you didn't 830 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,680 create that you didn't you know, you work, but you probably work 831 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:22,240 for a company where there are other people working. 832 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:24,840 And if you owned your own company, you needed other people 833 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:27,080 to be able to buy your products. And also like you didn't do that 834 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:28,560 all yourself, but whatever, you did it. 835 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:33,040 My brother Baker is just gently and genuinely as he could just 836 00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:35,640 looked at him, he says, you do have a beautiful house here. 837 00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:39,080 He says it's great. He says, I bet somebody built 838 00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,560 it, so I bet somebody drew up the plans for it. 839 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:45,640 He says, or did it just come out of nowhere? 840 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:47,920 And he said, well. Of course somebody built, but 841 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:52,480 that's not the same thing, he. Says it's exactly the same thing 842 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:54,920 he said. Either this. 843 00:40:54,920 --> 00:41:00,520 Whole world. Came out of nothing, or there 844 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:05,800 was a true creator God who not just created but then is 845 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:10,520 intimately involved with every aspect of humanity from 846 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:13,960 beginning to end, he said. The thought of just a house 847 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:15,880 appearing out of nowhere is ludicrous. 848 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:18,800 It's ludicrous. Who would believe? 849 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:22,560 That but yet we believe that about the world. 850 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,120 Like I have a quote here. We'll, we'll examine it again 851 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:27,280 next week. So when you hear it next week, 852 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:28,360 pretend you never heard it before. 853 00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:32,680 But Doctor Van Gill says this. The godless overlooks the fact 854 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:37,160 that if one 0 = 0, then a billion zeros can still only 855 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:41,840 equal 0. The idea is, well, nothing can. 856 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:43,560 Can something appear out of nothing now? 857 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:44,960 No. But out of a billion years, 858 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:46,720 sure. Well, no. 859 00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:50,000 If it's, if it can't, now, it can't, no matter how long you 860 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:52,400 give it. If a house. 861 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:56,040 Couldn't appear out of nowhere. You mean the universe did come 862 00:41:56,040 --> 00:42:00,000 on think it all the way through. But they don't. 863 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,480 So we're going to help you with that over next week as we 864 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,920 continue in this idea of introducing apologetics. 865 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:08,920 Are we to get in fights with people about the Lord? 866 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:12,400 No, we answer with. You may want to. 867 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,480 I don't want to say who's nodding his head, but his name 868 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:20,800 rhymes with Dave Chapin. But he's he's like, I'm just 869 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:24,800 waiting for somebody to argue. Hey, we always have an answer 870 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:25,720 ready. With what? 871 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,240 Meekness and fear. Why? 872 00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:31,600 Because our flavor of godlessness might be different 873 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:34,440 than theirs, but we were there once. 874 00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:38,400 Well, listen, I wasn't a Muslim. Yeah, but you didn't believe in 875 00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:41,280 God. Well, listen, I mean. 876 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:43,400 That's not like I was ever involved in a cult. 877 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:49,600 Yeah, but you didn't know God, so just understand they need God 878 00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:53,040 just like you needed God. Answer them with meekness and 879 00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:56,240 fear and love them. Listen, don't hold back the 880 00:42:56,240 --> 00:42:57,880 punches of the truth of the Word of God. 881 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,560 Make sure you say exactly what the Word of God says. 882 00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:05,160 But at the same time, we want to love them to Jesus Christ 883 00:43:05,240 --> 00:43:07,840 because they need the gospel message. 884 00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,080 Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of 885 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:13,960 Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing 886 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:17,440 to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us 887 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:22,040 know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org. 888 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:26,880 Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton, 889 00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,680 MA. May the Lord bless you as you 890 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:30,880 grow in His Word.