Practical Evangelism

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

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Alright, good morning, gentlemen.
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We are continuing this morning.
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I know I was out last week and Brother Andy taught for me, but we're continuing today on the little mini-series that I started on the subject of evangelism.
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I know there are some of you who are new, and that's fine.
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So to give you a little bit of a background as to what we normally do, my name is Keith.
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I'm a pastor at Sovereign Grace Family Church.
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I normally teach a 12-week rotating theology course.
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And in between, because it rotates...
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Thank you, thank you.
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I appreciate you.
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Because it rotates every time we finish the course, I'll do a little mini-series just to break up so that we don't go right back into the same thing for another 12 weeks.
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So what we're doing right now is we're doing a couple of extra weeks on the subject of evangelism and discipleship.
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And I'm sorry, but I did wake up with a little bit of a sore throat, so I asked for a cup of coffee.
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I don't know if I asked for that.
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That was stronger than motor oil.
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That is what we call jet fuel.
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Mercy.
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Well, I'll be up for the next three days.
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That's tough stuff.
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Okay, so we started a couple of weeks ago talking about evangelism.
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And this was based on a request.
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I don't know who requested it, but somebody asked to learn how to share their faith and how to proclaim the Gospel.
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And so far, what we have talked about, we've talked about how to engage with folks.
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We've talked about using Gospel tracts.
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I brought a whole stack of Gospel tracts in a few weeks ago.
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I don't know if you guys remember that, but I brought in some to show you the things that I use particularly when I'm going out to evangelize.
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And I keep these in my wallet all the time, which is in my truck right now, so I don't have it.
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But I keep Gospel tracts in my wallet just so I have an opportunity.
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If I see somebody I don't know, if I'm in an elevator and I've only got 20 seconds with somebody, I say, hey, can I give you this card? And it tells the Gospel.
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It gives some information about the church.
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It's not a church advertisement, though.
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I try to tell people I'm not advertising for the church.
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I'm telling people about Christ.
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But I do want people to be able to contact us if they have questions.
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If somebody reads this and the Lord works in their heart, I want them to be able to have somebody to make contact with.
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So it does have my name on it.
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It does have the church's name on it, things like that.
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And so if you do decide to get tracts, I recommend somehow putting contact information on it so that people aren't just left sort of in limbo.
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If the Lord works in their heart, then you want to have some kind of contact with them.
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But we use Gospel tracts to reach out to people, make connections, start conversations.
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And the last time I was here, we talked about the tool that God has given us for the proclamation of the Gospel.
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The one tool that God has given us to, in a sense, incise or cut into the human heart and lay it bare for the Gospel to be able to penetrate.
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Does anybody remember what I said the tool from Scripture is to open up the heart and make way for the Gospel? The law.
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Who said that? Good man.
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That's right.
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The law of God.
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The Bible says the law of God is perfect.
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The law of God is perfect converting the soul.
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So it is God's law that cuts the heart bare, lays us open, and shows us that we are guilty and in need of a Savior.
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Open up your Bibles to Romans 3.
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We're going to read the same passage we read last time.
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We're going to look a little further into it today.
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We're going to read 3.19-20.
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So just two verses.
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Alright, I'm going to read and then I'm going to pray.
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It says, Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
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For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
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Let's pray.
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Our Father and our God, we come to You in Jesus' name.
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I pray, Lord, that as I speak today, first and foremost, that You would keep me from error, Lord, because I know how easily I am susceptible to error.
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And I don't want to preach what is untrue for the sake of You and Your name and for the sake of Your Gospel and for the sake of these men and their hearts.
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And I pray, Lord, that we would all have a right understanding of the purpose of evangelism, that our goal is to proclaim the truth, that when we go to seek to make disciples, that we're not out there trying to manipulate men's hearts, but we're trying to point them to You, the only One who can make a true and lasting change to a heart.
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We pray all this, Lord, in Jesus' name and for His sake.
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Amen.
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So this text tells us that we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those under the law that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
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That phrase, every mouth may be stopped, is a picture of what I think it's going to be like on Judgment Day.
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Because I have heard many atheists and other anti-believers, there's people who aren't atheists necessarily but don't believe in Christ, who have said this, on Judgment Day, I'm going to tell God what He should have done.
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Like one very famous atheist said that, because he was asked, what would happen if you die and found out God does exist? He said, well, I would look at God and I would tell Him I just didn't have enough evidence to believe that He existed.
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That's what I would say.
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And here's what's really going to happen according to the Scriptures.
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The Bible says that when we face God, our mouths are going to be stopped because we're not going to have anything to say.
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And any man that thinks that he's going to bring a word of correction to the Almighty is a man whose arrogance is off the charts.
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Any man who thinks he's going to talk back to his Creator is a fool.
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And the Bible says that.
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It says anyone who thinks that he can counsel the Almighty is a fool.
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He's not going to counsel God.
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He's not going to correct God.
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He's going to do nothing except close his mouth.
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And the Bible says at that day every knee will do what? Every knee will bow.
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And every tongue will do what? Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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Now I think that confession is going to come in two ways.
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It's either going to come through the first confession which is the believer who will say, I trusted in Jesus as Lord.
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But I think that confession is also going to come through those who say, Oh Lord, I was wrong.
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But it will be a confession of Jesus Christ as Lord.
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The Bible tells us that very clearly.
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So, this text tells us every mouth will be stopped and no one, or rather everyone will be held accountable to God.
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Every man is accountable to God.
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Now, it says in verse 20, By the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight.
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No one's going to be able to say, God, I kept your law.
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Because if I went around the room and I asked you, have you broken God's law? You will either be honest and say yes or you will lie, thereby having broken God's law right then and say no.
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Because no one here can say that they have kept the law of God.
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No one can say that they've never told a lie.
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No one can say that they've never stolen anything.
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No one can say they've never looked with lust, which Jesus said is what? Adultery.
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No one can say they've never hated.
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The Bible calls that what? Murder.
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Jesus said, if you've hated someone, you've murdered them in your heart.
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In fact, He says murder stems from the heart.
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In fact, Jesus said very clearly that what we do is a product of our hearts.
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It comes out of the heart.
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Out of the heart comes wickedness, Jesus says, because the heart is wicked.
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And so no man is going to be able to stand before God and say, God, I kept your law.
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In fact, all the law will do is condemn.
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How many of you have seen the film? It's a recent one.
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I think they watch it here.
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Pilgrim's Progress.
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Y'all haven't seen it here? Okay.
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I think that I remember a while back them showing it.
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I've been doing this four years, so it could have been a real while back.
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Yeah.
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It was a couple years ago.
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Okay.
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It's a digital film, so it's like, you know, a Pixar type film.
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So it's not a movie movie.
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It's not a cartoon, but it's sort of like that in the middle, you know, digital movie.
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Pilgrim's Progress is a book written by John Bunyan who was a Puritan pastor.
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And it is an allegory for the Christian life.
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And it really is not a difficult allegory because everything has a very simple name.
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Like the guy who is the Christian, his name is Christian.
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It's like, he's not trying to fool anybody.
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Christian is Christian.
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The evangelist is named Evangelist.
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That's his name.
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It literally, it's that straightforward.
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He's not trying to, he is not, you know, he's not C.S.
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Lewis.
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He's very clear.
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This is the allegory.
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This is a Christian.
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This is Evangelist.
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This is the shepherd who is Jesus.
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That's the only one that you have to kind of figure out that that's actually Jesus.
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But there's, throughout the story, there's all these people.
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Like there's the worldly wise man who thinks he knows everything because he's very worldly.
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And then there's the slew of Despond, which is this, basically this pit that you can get drawn down into.
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And Despond is an old word for depression.
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So it talks about depression, right? Slew of depression is basically the pond of depression, which you can get sucked down into.
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So there's all these allegories.
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Well, one of the points in the movie, which is also in the book, but the movie very vividly pictures this, is Christian is trying to, is trying to unload his burden.
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And his burden is this sack that he has on his back.
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And it's meant to represent his sin, right? And he's trying to get rid of it, but he can't get it off.
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And so he goes to Law Mountain.
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And the Law Mountain is literally just a big mountain with all these commandments written on it.
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And he starts to try to climb Law Mountain because at the top, he can take the pack off.
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The problem is every time he gets past another law, a new law pops out and knocks him back down.
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And finally, he realizes there's no way to, there's no way to get up there.
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I cannot conquer Law Mountain.
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It's not possible.
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And the allegory there is you can't get saved on Law Mountain.
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You have to get saved on Mount Calvary, not Mount Sinai.
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Galatians talks about that, right? The two mountains, the mountain of the law and the mountain of grace, the mountain of the Ten Commandments and the mountain of the cross.
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And if you try to climb this mountain, which is Mount Law, you'll never get to the top.
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You're never going to get saved because the law can't save you.
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It can only condemn you.
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But the grace of Christ can save.
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And we don't scale that mountain.
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God literally picks us up and sets us there.
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Ephesians chapter 2 says He seats us in heavenly places with Christ that we were dead in trespasses and sins.
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He reaches down into the muck and the mire of our sin, lifts us up and puts us there.
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We don't climb that mountain.
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God, again, by grace, places us there.
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And so that's the two pictures.
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People who say to you when you're trying to share the gospel, hey man, I'm good.
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I'm going to heaven because I'm good.
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What are they saying? The law is going to save me because I'm good, I've kept the law.
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But you haven't.
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You can't get saved that way.
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And so the very first thing that I like to remind people, when you are sharing the gospel with someone, is you have to address the fact that they are sinners and the fact that they, because of their sins, stand before God as guilty.
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I don't want to talk to people about their guilt.
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They'll get offended.
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The gospel is offensive because the first thing it tells us is that we are not good.
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What does Romans 3 say? Go back real quick.
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Go back to Romans 3.9.
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We're in that same chapter.
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You don't have to turn the page.
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It says, What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all.
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For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are under sin as it is written.
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None is what? No, not one.
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No one understands.
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No one does what? No one seeks for God.
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All have turned aside.
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Together they have become what? Worthless.
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No one does good.
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Not even one.
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Their throat is an open grave.
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They use their tongues to deceive.
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The venom of asps is under their lips.
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Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
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Their feet is swift to shed blood.
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In their paths are ruin and misery.
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And the way of peace they have not known.
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There is no fear of God before their eyes.
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Now, if you were to read Romans 1 and 2, what you would see is that Paul is talking about the whole world.
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Because in Romans 1, he is addressing primarily Gentile unbelievers.
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And then in Romans 2, he is talking about Jewish people.
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And the reason why you know that is because he talks about those who are under the law, those who have the law, those who have the oracles of God, which is the word of God, which was the Jewish people.
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And when he gets to chapter 3, he says, What shall we say? Are we Jews any better off than the Greeks? No, we are all under sin.
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Everybody is under sin.
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Whether they're Jew or Greek.
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Everybody is under sin.
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And then he gives this, verse 10 down to verse 18, he gives this litany of things that prove that we are under sin.
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That we have turned aside.
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We've become worthless.
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We don't do good.
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None of us.
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Not even one of us.
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That our throat is an open grave.
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That the venom of asps is under our lips.
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All of these things are mentioned in the passage.
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And this is an indictment against all of humanity.
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You say, I don't think so.
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I think this is only about a certain subset of people.
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It's not.
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And we know this because he goes on to say in verse 23, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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That's the same context.
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And who is the all in that context? Are you in the all? Yeah, me too.
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One finger points at you, three point back at me.
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Right? So, all of us.
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And so, when we talk about sin, there is a universality that is in application.
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It applies to everyone.
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And so, our goal, our first goal in evangelism is helping people to understand that they are sinners.
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Because if a man doesn't know that he's sick, he will not seek a physician.
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If he does not know that he is in danger, he will not run for safety.
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If he does not know that he is in trouble, he will not seek out any protection.
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That is the problem with most people.
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You talk to most people, they have no idea of the condition that they're in.
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Because in the grand scheme of things, they don't think that they're that bad.
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I heard a guy just this week, he said, I don't know why God would have any problem with me.
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I didn't do nothing to Him.
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That was literally the words that came out.
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I don't know why God would have any problem with me.
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I didn't do nothing to Him.
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And I wasn't in the conversation, so I wasn't able to respond.
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But having heard that, I just remember the moment I heard him say I don't know why God would have any trouble with me.
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I didn't do anything to Him.
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I thought, what? You haven't sinned against God? You've never sinned against God? God has no reason to have any issue with you? This week in church, I'm preaching Genesis 39.
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For those who don't remember, Genesis 39 is when Joseph has been sold into slavery.
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He is in the house of Potiphar, the captain of the guard.
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While he is in the house of the captain of the guard, the wife of Potiphar takes an interest in young Joseph.
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The wife of Potiphar wants Joseph to sleep with her.
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In fact, that's what she says.
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She says, lie with me.
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And he says to her, the response is very important, he said, how can I do this wicked thing and sin against God? Now that's a very important phrase.
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Because if he sinned with her, he would be sinning against his master, Potiphar, right? He would be sinning against her because even though she'd be engaging too, he would still be sinning against a married woman by taking her into the throes of adultery.
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He'd be sinning against his community because he would be bringing shame upon the household that he lives in.
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He would be sinning against all kinds of different things.
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But he didn't mention any of that.
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He said, how could I do this wicked thing and sin against God? Because he knew the person we sin against most is not our neighbor.
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The person we sin against most is not our family.
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The person we sin against most is not even ourself.
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The person we sin against the most is God.
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In Psalm 51, we have David's prayer of repentance.
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Remember when David repented of his sin after he had sinned with Bathsheba? What does Psalm 51...
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When David is crying out, he's lost his child, he is praying to God because Nathan the prophet has stuck that little crooked finger and said, thou art the man.
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Sorry brother, you just have to be sitting on the side of the hot seat today.
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But David had been pointed at and thou art the man.
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And David realized he was guilty.
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And David writes Psalm 51 as a prayer of repentance.
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Right? And what does he say? Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
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David knew that his sin was ultimately against God.
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Joseph knew if he sinned, he would be sinning against God.
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We need to understand that our sin is ultimately, first and foremost, high treason in the courtroom of the Almighty.
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And we stand guilty before the King of Kings having broken His law and therefore we are responsible to Him having broken His law.
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Now, that's the way you start evangelism.
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Help people understand where they are.
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They're standing helpless before the judge who has every right to bring about their total, final, and eternal destruction.
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And yet that same God who is willing to bring judgment is also willing to extend mercy to those who will repent and trust in the work of His Son.
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You see, that's the transition point.
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Once you get them lost, then you can get them saved.
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Now, I'm not saying you get them saved.
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That was just a clever way of saying that.
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But you have to get lost.
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Have you ever been out in the woods walking around and before long you realize you're lost? You weren't looking for a way out until you realized you were in.
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You weren't looking for the escape until you realized you were trapped.
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That's where we have to take people.
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We have to take people to the end of themselves.
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Because as long as a man is trusting in himself, he'll never trust in the Savior.
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As long as a man is looking inside, he'll never look outside.
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He'll never look for something else.
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So as long as that man is trusting in himself, he's not going to be able to trust in Christ.
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So you have to take him to the end of himself where he realizes he can't trust in himself.
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And then say, now that you realize you're not good enough.
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And that's okay because I'm not either.
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Understand, I'm not saying you James are awful and I'm great.
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No, no, no.
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We're both on the same level.
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We're both worms in the dirt.
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In fact, we're worse than worms.
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Because worms never sin against God.
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Worms do what worms do.
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Worms worm.
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That's how they are.
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But we've sinned against God.
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We've sinned against our Creator, the Holy One of Israel, the One who made us and commanded us.
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We have broken His law.
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What do we do? What can we do? And that's when we get to the Gospel.
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In the Gospel, you begin to share about what Christ has done and what God did through Christ.
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That God loved the world so much that He sent His Son into the world.
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You see, John 3.16 doesn't make sense unless you understand that you're a sinner.
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Because listen to John 3.16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
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That doesn't make sense if you don't understand you don't deserve everlasting life.
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Because people who think they deserve everlasting life, people who think they deserve salvation, hear that and it doesn't make sense because their answer is, well, I should get eternal life whether I believe it or not because I deserve it.
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No, you don't.
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You deserve hell.
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But God loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish.
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What's the implication of that? That's right.
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Thank you.
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The implication is whoever does not believe will perish.
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And we have to push that into the conversation too.
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When we're talking, let me finish my thought.
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When we're talking, getting to the point of the urgency of the call.
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This is an urgent call.
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It's like being on the Titanic.
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Everything's fine until you hit the iceberg.
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Nobody thought they were going to be in the icy water that night.
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Nobody thought they were going to be doggy paddling to their own destruction in just a few short hours.
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And then they hit the iceberg and everything changed.
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What happens if today is the day you hit the iceberg in your life and today is the day you're going to face the Lord? Alright, go ahead.
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Well, the question I always get from other people, people have said this over and over again.
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People have told me this and a lot of people still get it and stick it in their head.
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So Christ came and died.
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Did he come and die for our sins? For all of mankind? And if he did, why is there still sin upon the earth? Because I know there's sinful creatures.
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I hear all this.
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So if there's sins, if Christ never came and told me to kill sin, what's the point? Okay, that's a legitimate question, but it is based on an incomplete understanding.
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Okay? So if somebody were to ask me, let's say you and I are having a Gospel conversation.
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We're sitting on a park bench watching our kids play.
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I talk to you about Jesus.
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If you were to ask me that question, I would say first of all, Christ came to take the penalty of sin for those who believe.
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He did not come to eradicate sin from the world.
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That will happen when He comes again.
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The Bible says when He comes again, all sin will be dealt with and be done away with.
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His first time coming was to be a sacrifice for those who believe to take the penalty, not the presence, but the penalty of sin.
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But one day He will come again and He will take the presence of sin when He comes and we will be ushered into a new kingdom where there will be no sin.
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Now there will be one of two conditions that you find yourself in.
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You will find yourself in a condition of a place where there's no sin and joy and pleasant happiness for the rest of eternity, or you'll find your place in a place of judgment.
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That's the only two places that you have to go.
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So that would be my answer.
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That would be my answer.
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His purpose was not to come and eradicate sin the first time.
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Very important distinction there.
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He came to take the penalty of sin.
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And He did.
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He took the penalty for everyone who would believe.
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So that's how I would answer that question.
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Alright, so having looked at basically all I did so far is kind of bring you up to speed.
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For those who weren't here, that's what we've talked about.
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Using the law to point people to Christ and give them the Gospel.
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Today, what I wanted to do for the rest of our time, because we're about half way through.
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For the rest of our time, we're going to look at responding to objections to the Gospel message.
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Sort of like what you just did.
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You gave me a, not an objection, but you gave me a question.
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And I gave you the way I would answer it.
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So right now, I'm going to write on the board two different categories and we're going to talk through these.
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The first one is objectors.
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And the second one is objections.
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Alright, and what do I mean by that? If you have a paper, if you want to write this out, you can.
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You don't have to, but I think this is helpful.
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Objectors is the people that we face.
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Objections is the arguments they make.
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So let's go to the first easiest one is atheists.
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That would be a type of objector, right? If you share the Gospel and someone says, well, I don't believe in God, that would make them a confessing atheist, right? So atheist is the type of objector and their objection is God doesn't exist.
28:08
Alright, now we're going to come back and deal with these, but we're making categories now.
28:12
So before we deal with these, let's go through.
28:14
What's another type of objector that we might run into? What's another type of person that we might run into Huh? Why don't we just, you're right Corey, but why don't we put that in a bigger category and say other faiths.
28:28
So we could say, I'm not even sure other faiths would be right.
28:34
False religions.
28:34
What's that say? False religions.
28:35
Okay.
28:36
So false religions.
28:44
So false religions.
28:45
What's an argument they would make? Our God is better than your God.
28:49
I can only hear one at a time.
28:50
I'm sorry.
28:51
Go ahead.
28:51
Our God is better than your God.
28:55
Different God.
28:57
Nanny nanny boo boo.
28:58
Yes, my God is better than yours.
29:00
Yeah, so we could say, they would say you have the wrong God.
29:04
Yeah, wrong God.
29:06
Okay.
29:08
Alright, what's another type of objector? You might say that's the only two.
29:12
No, there could be others.
29:13
A professor or a teacher.
29:15
Okay, so explain that.
29:19
Like a teacher or a professor at school or something like that.
29:22
A lot of times they would still be coming from one of these two groups, but we could look at, why don't we call them intellectuals? Because I've dealt with a lot of those guys.
29:33
Okay, so intellectuals, I heard what you said and I'll be there in just a second.
29:38
So what would an intellectual would just say, I'm too smart for that? Yeah.
29:41
Right, too smart.
29:42
I'm too smart to believe that.
29:44
Because they think they have the more smart understanding.
29:48
Yeah, too smart for that.
29:49
Okay.
29:50
Oh, I like that one.
29:51
Evolutionists.
29:53
Evolutionists.
29:53
Yeah, why don't we put that under, we'll just say, okay, we can do that.
29:57
Evolutionists.
30:00
They have a different understanding of the whole world, right? So we would just say, different worldview.
30:10
I do this, I have an eight week course I teach in apologetics, which is eight weeks on how to defend the faith and we talk about all kinds of stuff, history of the Bible, all those things.
30:18
So I'm sort of really condensing this down into a short time because I'm trying to give you what someone might call like brass tacks apologetics.
30:30
Because I'm going to show you how none of this matters.
30:32
All I'm doing is, all I'm going to show you is none of this matters.
30:35
But these are the things that scare people.
30:37
What if I run into somebody who doesn't believe in God? And we'll talk about that in a minute.
30:41
But that's the thing people get.
30:42
Like they get afraid of evangelism because they're afraid of this stuff.
30:46
What if I run into somebody who's evolutionist? What am I going to say? What if I run into somebody who's really smart? What am I going to say? Was there anybody else? Yeah, go ahead.
31:02
Like agnostic? Agnostic, that's a good one.
31:05
Yeah, we could, and I do think, I do think the agnostic is, and they would just say, I don't know.
31:13
And actually what they normally say is you can't know.
31:16
That's the difference.
31:16
They would say, I don't know and you can't know.
31:20
I have one of those in my family.
31:22
She's very convinced that you just can't know anything.
31:25
I mean, she doesn't even know she exists.
31:28
You know, she would say, I maybe exist.
31:29
I don't know.
31:30
Could just all be an illusion.
31:34
Well, yeah, hey man, let me tell you something.
31:36
You say the matrix and you laugh about that.
31:38
There are scientific studies and research that are going out throughout the universities about multiverse, and you think that's movie stuff.
31:47
It's not.
31:47
This garbage is going out in the universities that there are multiple realities, multiple dimensions, multiple universes where all of this is an illusion and we're just experiencing real time that's not real.
32:00
Yeah, that's stupid.
32:01
Well, it sounds stupid, but when you got a guy with a PhD that's publishing a paper and it's peer reviewed and it's being sent out to all the universities, I mean, again, how many of you have ever seen, I know it's a TV show.
32:13
How many of you have ever seen The Big Bang Theory? What's The Big Bang Theory? It's about scientists, right? Quantum physics.
32:20
Quantum physics is string theory.
32:21
What is string theory? String theory is a theory about the creation of the universe and it's an idea of multiple strings, multiple verses, multiverse.
32:35
It's a multiverse theory.
32:37
The whole idea.
32:39
And you say, wait a minute, that's Spiderman.
32:41
It's, it's, it's, it's, there are people who believe these things.
32:45
And then they get mad at us for believing in God.
32:48
See, they laugh at us for believing in the divine, but they're believing in some really crazy things.
32:55
Alright, so, we have our objectors.
32:59
We have their objections.
33:01
Right? You with me? Don't worry about him.
33:06
Alright.
33:08
So, let's talk about the atheist.
33:11
Let's say I walk up to, and this happens, and, and again, when I tell these stories, I promise I'm not making these up.
33:16
We've gone to so many different places and shared the gospel and we've gone out, I've gone out with Brother Mike, he preaches on the street, I hand out gospel tracts.
33:23
I've got a lot of funny stories.
33:25
None of this is made up.
33:26
I try not to even embellish.
33:28
If I, if I can help it sometimes, it's, it's hard not to just make stuff funny because some, I did have a funny story.
33:32
This has nothing to do with this, but one time I was at the, the Jaguar game and all these people out there.
33:39
No, it was Florida Georgia game.
33:40
So, we were, Brother Mike was preaching, I'm handing out tracts and I walk up to a group of people who were, um, dressed in tuxedo t-shirts, I'm sorry, not t-shirts, tuxedo shirts and black pants and I thought they were like a chorus.
33:55
I thought they were going to sing like America the Beautiful or something because, you know, they have, you know, all, they had like drum lines and stuff.
34:01
I thought they were performers.
34:03
So, I walk up, I hand out gospel tracts, we start talking about the gospel and now I'm surrounded because everybody wants to hear what I'm saying and we're talking and I'm engaging with people and having a great time.
34:11
They were very sweet.
34:12
They were young people.
34:13
It was fun.
34:13
And I said, so when are you guys performing? And they said, what do you mean? I said, well, look how you're dressed.
34:18
You're dressed like you're going to perform.
34:19
Are you going to sing? They said, man, we're the waitstaff.
34:22
We're like, they're waiters.
34:23
They were going to go up to the box seats where the, you know, those real rich people have those boxes and they were going to be the ones, that's why they were dressed so nice because they were the waitstaff.
34:33
I don't know why I told you that.
34:34
So, anyway, the point is, been around, been, had conversations with hundreds of people and I want to tell you how I do it.
34:42
Again, I'm not perfect and I, and I sometimes fumble over my words.
34:45
Sometimes I strip, strip and fall too.
34:47
So it's not a big deal.
34:49
But when you're having these conversations, you always got to bring, you always got to bring it back to the law because when I start talking to a person, I say, hey, I want to ask you a question.
34:59
If you, let's just say I start this way.
35:01
If you died, you faced God and God said, I, why should I let you in heaven? What would you say? Now, I'm not saying, I'm not asking you.
35:10
I'm saying that, that's a way to, that's a way to begin a conversation, right? Or at least to shift the conversation.
35:15
Let's say we're talking about, like when I was talking to those people that were all dressed up.
35:18
We, the first thing we talked about was the game.
35:21
Hey, man, you guys here, aren't you excited? Florida, Georgia.
35:24
Can I show you a magic trick? That's the thing I do because I used to do magic professionally.
35:27
So I'll show a quick magic trick and I'll begin a conversation that way.
35:30
And that's again, how I get a crowd.
35:33
And then as I'm talking, at some point, I'll say, hey, there's something really serious that I want to share with you.
35:39
Do you mind if I share with you? And I usually pull out gospel tracts at that point and say, I have a message on these tracts.
35:44
Can I give it to you? And they'll say, sure.
35:46
And I say, okay, can I ask you a question while I hand this to you? Can I ask you a question? I'll either ask them one of two things.
35:52
I'll say, if you were to die and face God and God said, why should I let you in heaven? What would you say? Or I cut through that and I say, would you say you're a good person? Now, that's even easier because everybody says, yep.
36:06
If you say, would you say you're a good person? The person says, yes.
36:09
I say, can we do a test to see if that's true? Can we do a test to see if that's true? And then I take them through the commandments.
36:19
Have you ever told a lie? Yes.
36:21
What does that make you? A liar.
36:23
Okay.
36:23
Have you ever stolen anything? Yeah.
36:25
What does that make you? A thief.
36:27
A thief.
36:27
Have you ever, Jesus said, if you ever look with lust, you commit adultery in your heart.
36:31
You ever look with lust? Yes.
36:32
Okay, so your name? Craig.
36:34
Craig.
36:35
So, by your own admission, Craig, you're a lying, thieving adulteress at heart.
36:38
Do you still believe you're a good person? No.
36:42
See, I've already, I've cut through everything.
36:46
I've used God's law to penetrate the heart.
36:49
I've already done all that.
36:50
Now, at this time, a person may say, well, I don't believe in God.
36:54
So, do I stop believing in God because he does? Do I abandon ship? Oh my gosh, Craig doesn't believe in God.
37:00
You know, I've got to hide.
37:02
No, I'm not afraid of Craig.
37:03
I'm not afraid of his unbelief because my response to him is, Craig, listen, if I didn't believe in gravity and I stepped off a building, do you think gravity is going to care whether I believe or not? No.
37:14
No, it's going to kick my tail all the way down.
37:15
When I hit the ground, I'm going to know I was wrong.
37:18
So, here's the reality, Craig.
37:20
Whether or not you believe in God does not make him any more or less real.
37:25
Your faith or not faith does not make God true or not.
37:29
So, let me ask you this.
37:30
If God exists and you faced him, would you be guilty or innocent? I'd be guilty.
37:36
See, right then, I've already bypassed the unbelief because I've now got him having to consider the fact, one, that Romans 1 tells me that he knows God exists.
37:46
Romans 1 says all men know that God exists.
37:49
So, I've just bypassed his unbelief and said, look, let's just take for granted that I might be right.
37:55
And, if God does exist and you faced him, would you be guilty or innocent? And, he might want to go back and say, I don't believe.
38:05
What did I say, Craig? Your belief or unbelief doesn't make something true.
38:12
And, see, you might say, well, what if you leave and they don't believe? I'm not there to make them believe.
38:17
I'm there to proclaim the truth.
38:18
I'm there to proclaim the Gospel.
38:20
What God does with that is up to God.
38:23
But, I'm not going to get tied up in a conversation or an argument with him about the existence of God because the book of Romans tells me that he knows God exists.
38:32
It says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
38:39
For what can be known about God is plain to them for God has shown it to them and the things that have been made they are without excuse.
38:49
And, I might bring that up to him.
38:51
I might say, you know what, Craig? And, I'm only picking on you because you're right here.
38:54
But, I might say, Craig, here's the thing.
38:58
The Apostle Paul, and a lot of times I'll say that instead of saying the Bible says, because, again, I don't want to get into an argument about the Bible, right? I'm not here to argue with him about the truth of the Bible.
39:07
I'm here to proclaim the truth of the Bible.
39:09
I'll say, you know what the Apostle Paul said? The Apostle Paul said that every man knows God exists, but they suppress that truth in unrighteousness.
39:19
The Bible says, or the Apostle Paul says, that when you look at that building over there, you know that someone built it because the building is testimony to the builder.
39:29
And, when you look at creation, you know that it was created by God and not just by accident.
39:35
And, you know you're not an accident.
39:38
See, that's, again, overcoming them and pointing out their unbelief, but overcoming it simply by saying, you know you're not an accident.
39:47
You know you're more than just a cosmic hiccup or a celestial fart.
39:54
You, my friend, are made in the image of God and you have value.
39:59
You have dignity.
39:59
This is why you get mad when people get hurt.
40:01
This is why you get mad when injustice is done because you know that human beings have value.
40:09
Where did that value come from? It came from the creator who made you in his image.
40:15
See, again, I'm not getting down to the, well, the Noah's Ark, this, and the seven day creation, that.
40:20
None of that.
40:21
I'm getting to the heart.
40:22
Penetrate the heart.
40:24
The issue is here, not here.
40:27
Same thing with the intellectual.
40:29
Same thing with the false religion.
40:31
You talk to the Muslim.
40:35
Muslim.
40:40
As-salamu alaykum.
40:41
How you doing? I'm Keith.
40:43
I don't know if you should do that.
40:44
They might get offended.
40:46
As-salamu alaykum is just a fancy, it's their way of saying shalom.
40:50
It's peace.
40:51
Peace be unto you.
40:53
As-salamu alaykum.
40:55
It's based, it's the Hebrew has the same word.
41:00
It's shalom, but it's more than shalom.
41:02
It's, I forget how it's said in Hebrew, but there's this very similar saying in Hebrew that says shalom, but there's a longer way of saying it, but as-salamu alaykum is peace be unto you.
41:18
Yes? If I said shalom to a lot of Islamic people, would that be offensive or would they understand? They would understand, but I probably wouldn't because there tends to be some tension between Jews and Muslims.
41:31
So if you say a Jewish phrase to a Muslim, it probably wouldn't be a good idea.
41:34
It'd be like going up north and saying, hey y'all, you probably don't want to use a culturally distinct phrase with the wrong group.
41:44
Yeah, yeah.
41:45
But again, if you were talking to a Muslim, they would have issues with the Trinity.
41:50
They would have issues with the historicity of the New Testament.
41:53
They have a lot of issues, but one thing they don't have an issue with is the commandments.
41:59
So where am I going to go? Am I going to argue with them about the Trinity? Am I going to argue with them about those things? No.
42:04
I'm going to say, look, you believe what Moses said when he said you should not tell a lie.
42:11
Right? But have you told a lie? You believe what Moses said when he said thou shalt not steal, but you've stolen.
42:19
You believe what Moses said.
42:21
See, again, I'm just simply pointing them to the law.
42:24
What does the Bible say? Through the law comes knowledge of sin.
42:28
And what does it do? It causes the mouth to be stopped.
42:31
So I use the law and I say to them, you know what the law does.
42:35
The law condemns you.
42:36
Now, you have a choice.
42:38
You're one day going to face God.
42:40
Now, you call God a law.
42:44
But for a moment, let's just say God.
42:47
One day you're going to face the Almighty.
42:49
You're going to face God.
42:50
And on that moment, you're going to be judged.
42:54
Upon what basis will you be judged righteous? They will say because it is according to Muslim teaching.
43:02
There are five pillars of Islam and they have five things that they have to do.
43:06
Their daily prayers, their giving of alms.
43:08
One of them is you have to visit the Hajj, which is in Mecca.
43:14
But that one, you can get out of that one if you have health reasons or whatever.
43:18
That one is not for certain.
43:21
But the other ones they have to do.
43:23
Say, okay, have you done those perfectly? Have you kept even your law perfectly? Ah, well, it's a balance.
43:31
And this is again, the idea of Islam.
43:34
It's a balance.
43:35
My good has to outweigh my bad.
43:37
Do you have any certainty? Do you have any certainty that your good outweighs your bad? Because I can tell you mine does not.
43:46
And here's the thing, that's not how justice works anyway.
43:50
If you murder somebody tomorrow and heaven forbid, don't even think about it.
43:55
But if you murder somebody tomorrow and you go before the judge and you start writing down before the judge all the good you've ever done.
44:04
I was a boy scout.
44:05
I helped old ladies across the street.
44:07
I gave 10% of my money to the church.
44:10
You start writing down all the good things and you present that to the judge, you know what the judge is going to say? It don't matter.
44:17
Because you murdered someone.
44:19
Breaking of the law is not a balance act.
44:22
It's guilty or not guilty.
44:24
And you're guilty.
44:26
So in the conversation with the Muslim, it's pointing them back to the law.
44:29
The law brings you guilty before God.
44:32
And do you know what God did? Do you know what God did so that sinners could be made right with Him? He sent Jesus Christ.
44:44
Now if I was talking to a Muslim, I probably would not say He sent His Son because they take a big issue with that.
44:49
And again, I'm looking to overcome barriers not create barriers, right? If I say God sent His Son, that would be an immediate argument.
44:57
And I don't want an argument.
44:58
I want understanding.
45:01
God sent, and I might even say God sent Esau.
45:05
Esau is the way they say Jesus.
45:07
And again, not trying to culturally trick them, but connect, right? I might say God sent Esau as a prophet.
45:16
They believe that.
45:19
And through His work, we can be forgiven of our sins.
45:27
Now, that will get you into a longer conversation.
45:31
And you will eventually have to talk about things like the Trinity.
45:33
If you're talking to a Muslim who knows his stuff.
45:36
But getting to the law first will cut through a lot of the garbage.
45:41
Because if you start with, hey, Muslims, let's talk about the Trinity.
45:45
You're going to be there all day and you're never going to get to the Gospel.
45:48
You see the point I'm making? You get to the Gospel.
45:52
You get there first.
45:54
Everything else is later.
45:58
And again, whether it's a Muslim or a Mormon.
46:03
Mormons is a little different.
46:05
I think I told you this story.
46:06
I told you this story about the knife in the back? Okay.
46:11
Actually, it was Jehovah's Witness.
46:12
It wasn't Mormons.
46:13
But one morning, I was asleep.
46:21
I tend to be a night owl, so I don't get up super early.
46:24
I get up at 8 o'clock.
46:24
I don't get up at 5 a.m.
46:27
People are so proud of themselves when they get up at 5 a.m.
46:31
Like there's some gold at the bottom of that rainbow.
46:33
Ain't no gold at 5 a.m.
46:36
You know what? If you go to bed at 9, it makes sense that you're up at 5.
46:39
But I don't go to bed at 9.
46:41
I'm usually studying from about 10 o'clock to about 2.
46:44
Because that's the quietest time in my day.
46:47
Sorry, I know that's off the subject.
46:48
But I'm asleep at 8 o'clock, usually.
46:51
Because I've been up late the night before.
46:54
So at 8 o'clock one morning, my wife comes in the bedroom.
46:58
Hey, honey.
47:00
Jehovah's Witnesses just stopped by, and I sent them away.
47:03
And I sat up in bed.
47:04
I was like, why would you send them away? Why? Go get them.
47:12
So she didn't.
47:13
I did.
47:14
I threw on my shorts.
47:16
I threw on my t-shirt.
47:17
I run down the hallway, and I look across the street, and they are across the street and my neighbors.
47:22
Because, of course, they're zigzagging the drive.
47:26
So I'm like, okay, how can I get them back? My wife doesn't send them away.
47:29
I'll just go talk to them.
47:31
So I'm in my flip-flops.
47:33
I look like death warmed over.
47:35
You know, just woke up.
47:36
Hair's all in a mess.
47:37
I don't care.
47:37
I walk out to the end of the driveway, and I say, hey, come here.
47:42
And I motioned them back over, and I said, listen, I see you're out here talking to people.
47:48
I want to know what you're saying.
47:50
I want to know about what you're talking about.
47:52
And the lady begins to say, it was the man and the woman, she begins to say, this world is so bad, and things are going so bad, and we're just out sharing a message of hope.
48:07
I said, okay.
48:09
I said, but I have to ask you real quick.
48:11
You're Jehovah Witnesses, right? And she said, well, yes, we are with the church, or what did she call it? No, Mormons call it the church.
48:18
They call it the society, Watchtower Society, yeah.
48:23
Yes, we're Jehovah's Witnesses.
48:25
And I said, okay.
48:26
I said, well, let me ask you this, and I'm going to very quickly, I just want to ask this question.
48:31
Imagine you came to my door today, and you walked up to my front door, and the door was slightly cracked, and you knocked on the door, and the door opened, and you found me lying on the floor.
48:44
I had a knife in my back.
48:47
I'm bleeding out on my floor, and I'm dying.
48:51
I have two minutes to live, and you have two minutes to share the Gospel with me.
48:58
What would you say? She just stood there like a doe caught in headlights, you know, like a deer.
49:07
And the man who was with her piped up.
49:10
He goes, well, I'd want to know what kind of life you lived.
49:12
I said, well, sir, by the fact that I've got a knife in my back, probably not a good one.
49:20
I made somebody mad.
49:22
Somebody was willing to stab me in the back.
49:25
I said, so what you're telling me is your Gospel depends on how good I am? So right there, I'm already...
49:34
they've got a problem.
49:35
And I said, I've got two minutes.
49:39
Do you have a Gospel that can save me? And he goes, well, the Bible says, he who endures to the end shall be saved.
49:45
I said, dude, it is the end.
49:47
I have two minutes.
49:51
What can I do to be saved? And he did not have a Gospel.
49:56
I said, here's the problem with the Jehovah Witness theology.
50:00
I said, you do not have the Gospel.
50:04
And you don't have a Gospel that can save a dying man.
50:07
Because you trust in yourselves, not in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
50:16
And when you trust in yourselves, on judgment day, you will be found wanting.
50:23
Guilty.
50:24
Now the lady kept talking.
50:27
I don't think I want to carry on this conversation.
50:30
And he walked away.
50:31
She kept going for about another two minutes until he screamed at her to leave me alone.
50:36
She's not allowed to talk to me.
50:38
And he pulled her away.
50:40
So the point of that story is simply to say this.
50:44
I didn't get into an argument with them about the Trinity.
50:46
I didn't get into an argument with them about the historicity of the Bible or any of those things.
50:50
I dealt with the fact that they don't have the Gospel.
50:54
They don't have a Gospel that can save a dying man.
50:59
So it doesn't matter what religion you're talking to.
51:01
Hindus, Muslims, Mormons.
51:06
Rastafarians.
51:06
I don't care.
51:08
If they don't have Jesus, they don't have the Gospel.
51:10
If they don't have the Gospel, they don't have salvation.
51:13
That's it.
51:15
The law points us to Christ.
51:16
Christ is the Gospel.
51:18
He's the good news.
51:19
And if you don't have that, you don't have salvation.
51:22
So again, that's why I say when we get down to it, none of this matters.
51:28
Here's the thing about atheism and agnosticism.
51:31
The two ends here.
51:33
Someone may say, I don't know, but I want you to look at this.
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Again, I've mentioned it a few times.
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Turn to Romans 1 and just keep this in mind when you're sharing the Gospel with people.
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Keep Romans 1 in mind.
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Romans 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness do what? Suppress the truth.
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So what are they doing? Suppressing the truth.
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For what can be known about God is plain to them.
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What is it? It's plain to them.
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They know it already because God has done what? Shown it to them.
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For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are what? That's the word.
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Anapologetus.
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Anapologetus means without a defense.
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The word apologetus means an apology or a defense.
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Putting the alphabet at the beginning means it's the opposite.
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They are without defense.
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No man will stand before God with a defense for his unbelief because God has made His self known through His creation.
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So when I talk to an agnostic or an atheist, I know this.
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I'm talking to someone who's suppressing the truth.
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I'm talking to somebody who's suppressing the truth.
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And that's why in one of my classes when I do apologetics, I say there's no such thing as neutral ground because I'm either talking to a believer or somebody who's actively suppressing the truth.
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There is no neutral person.
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So when I'm sharing the gospel with them, when I'm proclaiming the gospel with them, I know to whom I'm speaking.
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So that's it.
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I mean that's the class, guys.
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I'll answer your question, but just let me finish this thought.
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At the end of the day, sharing the gospel for me is very easy.
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I run to the law.
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I'm like Usain Bolt.
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A big fat Usain Bolt, but I'm trying.
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I'm running as fast as I can to get to the finish line.
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And the finish line is the gospel, but I've got to run the track of the law.
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I've got to run that dash.
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It's getting through those commandments, getting to the law, because the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
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The law is what cuts the heart.
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The law is what lays it open, ready for the gospel to be received.
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And then I give them the gospel.
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And after that, it's up to God.
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I'm not there to be a salesman.
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I'm not there to convince people.
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I'm there to proclaim the truth and let God be the one who changes the heart.
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Okay, brother, you had your question.
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I don't want to leave you out.
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How do you deal with...
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That's a good thought, a finished thought, but I know where you're going.
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You're dealing with family members and people that know you, you know, and you're having conversations with them.
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But you're not attached to anything, but when you try to share something with them, it's just like, boom.
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Man, I should do a whole hour on that.
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Maybe we should do another week and talk about that.
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Because honestly, I'll give you the short answer, but there's a much longer answer.
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And the short answer is, that is hard.
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And it's hard for multiple reasons.
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One, people always say, I've got to be friends with somebody before I can share the gospel.
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That's not true, because it's harder to share the gospel with your friends than with strangers.
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So when you make friends with people, you actually make it harder to share the gospel with them.
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But I recently had an interaction with my uncle, and I love my uncle.
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He's been my uncle my whole life.
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He was married to my aunt before I was born.
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I mean, he and I have been very close.
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He taught me how to throw a ball.
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You know, he's a good guy.
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But he's not a believer.
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He doesn't claim to be a believer in Christ.
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And when I started talking to him about the gospel, he was immediately, the Bible is full of contradictions.
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You know, all the normal things, all these objectors and objections they say.
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And my initial instinct was to pop into professor mode.
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Right? You've got to understand, what you're saying is incorrect.
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Here, here, here, and here.
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And this is how I can show you this is wrong.
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And that was my initial, but I kept with the law.
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I kept with the law, and I said, you know I care about you.
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You know, I love you.
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And you know, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't care about you.
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And my concern is not your objections.
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My concern is the condition of your soul.
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So, so, but I ain't saying it's easy.
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I mean, obviously.
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I know.
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I know what you're trying to say.
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It's called, you know, that's primitive.
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It was my daughter.
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Yeah.
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I know my daughter don't know the Word, but she know the Word but her conduct and the things that we got on her, it just got, it just blew my mind.
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Some of the things that we have to do also is we have to understand that there's a point at which we've got to let it lie.
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Because if we have shared the Gospel with somebody, and we have shared the Gospel with them, at some point we've got to say, look, this is, I've done all I can do, and pray that maybe somebody else will speak in their life.
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Or at some point, God's going to use what you've said.
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Paul said that.
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He said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God brought the increase.
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So at some point, you know, you have to trust.
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And you don't want to make every time you have a meal together a battle over the historicity or truth of the Bible.
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So I ended with that, and I started to do some Bible coaching.
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I said, you know, when God gets you working in your heart, you should be ready to have this conversation again.
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I'm here.
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Absolutely.
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And I'll tell you one additional thing I do, and this is just a thought for you.
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At Christmastime, I try to make a point to do something that points people to Christ, because that's a time when our whole family gets together.
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So there's a place called Living Waters.
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Ray Comfort has a ministry, and he sells a bunch of different books that are all gospel books, but they're about different subjects.
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Like one of them is about the life of John Lennon, the Beatle.
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But it talks about Christ in the book.
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It points to Christ.
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It starts by talking about John Lennon, but then it sort of shifts and talks about Christ.
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And so one of my relatives, who's an unbeliever, but he's really into music.
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So I bought him that book, and I said, hey, I thought you'd enjoy this.
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And I know that sounds maybe like I'm tricking him.
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I'm not tricking him.
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It says on the front, you know, gospel publishers.
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He knows where it's from, but I'm trying to do something that he might be interested in to get him to read it.
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And I do that with, like one year I made a video for my family.
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Now this was probably 2005, 2006, very early on in my ministry.
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I said, you know what? I want to share the gospel with my family.
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So I made a picture video of our whole family with all the different pictures like from different family reunions and stuff from years past.
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Like when I was a baby with my cousin Bobby in the bathtub, you know, it had all those pictures in it.
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Like one of them ones you see when you die.
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But I made that for our family and nobody had died.
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It was just a family portrait video, but it was a DVD.
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And on the DVD, I had an additional.
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There was like you could click on things.
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One of them was said a special message and you clicked on the special message and it was just me talking about Jesus.
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And so I did that and gave it to my family.
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Now I never saw anybody get saved or anything, but I know they've heard the gospel, right? And that's all I can do.
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So there's all kinds of ways.
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You don't always have to be the guy who ruins Christmas, Thanksgiving by making arguments.
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You're not there to make an argument.
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You're there to represent Christ.
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Yes, sir.
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Are there any points that you have, Mr.
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Vosky, on using...
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I mean, I know every situation is going to be different in every encounter.
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Using creation, I know you said the value of creation as people.
01:00:03
I mean, is there a way you can use the beauty of creation of the world? The water meets the sand or the enormity of mountains or redwood trees or the Grand Canyon? Yes, and I didn't go that far into it.
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For me, I would use the law first.
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But I like to use those types of things as building on how we know this is true.
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Why do I believe this is true? Why do I know this is true? Because the handiwork of God is seen in everything.
01:00:43
And I can see the beauty and the majesty of God in the stars and the heavens and in the world and the creation around us.
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And all of those things are evidences.
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But I don't make my argument based on evidence.
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I make my argument based on the law.
01:00:59
And then I use the evidence to just compound that later.
01:01:02
So I would just say that would come in later.
01:01:03
But yes, certainly would be a part of it.
01:01:06
Some people, they start with creation.
01:01:09
And I find that if I start with creation, I'm asking for that evolutionist argument.
01:01:13
People, well, I think we came from monkeys.
01:01:15
Well, now we're on a side trail talking about that.
01:01:19
And I try to avoid that first.
01:01:21
I try to go to the law first, get to the heart, and then...
01:01:25
And I told the story about the guy in the hospital bed, right? Okay, I'll finish with this one.
01:01:31
I know you guys want to go on break, and I've got to go too.
01:01:34
I visited a guy who was in the hospital, and he was an atheist.
01:01:38
He told me he didn't believe in God.
01:01:41
While we're sitting in the hospital bed, I'm talking to him about the Gospel.
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We're having a conversation.
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And I did.
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I looked out, and I said, see across the way there? His window was open, and you could see the building across the way.
01:01:53
And I said, see that building out there? He said, yes.
01:01:56
I said, how do you know that building had a builder? And he said, well, the building is evidence of the builder.
01:02:01
I said, well, creation is evidence of the Creator.
01:02:03
And for whatever reason, that clicked with him.
01:02:05
And that made sense.
01:02:07
So yeah, there are times where creation is an argument that God can use to click in your mind.
01:02:14
But like I said, I would always start with pointing them to the conscience and to the law.
01:02:19
Alright, let's pray.
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Father, thank You for Your Word.
01:02:23
Thank You for Your truth.
01:02:23
Thank You for these men and their attentiveness.
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I pray, Lord, that You'll glorify Yourself in applying these truths to our heart.
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In Jesus' name, amen.