Kind Apologetics - [1 Peter 3:13-17]

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I'd like you to turn with me this evening to 1 Peter 3 as we look at today's message.
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And while you're turning there, just a brief update on my trip to Kentucky.
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I want to thank the Lord for granting me the grace to successfully finish my apologetics program.
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I still have a couple of weeks to wrap up things, but the Lord was abundantly merciful in aiding me through this entire process, and especially last week.
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And I want to thank you for praying for me as well. So today's message is entitled,
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Kind Apologetics. It is actually part two of a sermon that was preached several months ago, which was titled,
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Honoring Christ in Apologetics. So we looked at 1 Peter 3, verses 13 through 17, and we'll be finishing up that message by looking at one aspect of apologetics.
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But before we get into the text itself, I just want you to start thinking about the goal of this message.
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There is something that I want you to take away from here. And in order to do that, I want you to consider some statements and some actions that some
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Christians, maybe you, maybe I, certainly at times, tend to say and do.
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I can say, Christ is the only way, and then have a few idols in my closet.
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I can say, the scripture is the word of God, the authoritative word of God, and then live like some of the texts and scriptures really don't exist.
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And I can say, my God is a God of love, just as we're saying right now, and then live in a way that displays anything but love in my life.
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Now when I say something and I act in a way that is contrary to it, the Bible calls it sin.
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And when it comes to apologetics, if I were to proclaim something about Christ and then do it in a way that is contrary to what the gospel is all about,
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I think that is a dichotomy that ought not to exist. And this is one of the reasons why people who are outside the church, the unbelievers, look at Christians and say, you know, you guys are just a bunch of hypocrites.
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And well, they come at it from a completely different angle, because no matter what you do, they will not be able to see the grace of God that undergirds
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Christians' lives. But we ought not to give excuses for the unbelieving world in terms of how we go about and present the gospel.
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So today's message is going to take one aspect of how do we go about presenting the gospel, and especially in this aspect of apologetics.
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So my goal here this evening is that when you present the gospel to unbelievers, you will be clear in terms of how, the manner in which you present the truth.
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So like I said last week, last time, which was several months ago, we looked at what it is that we present, these statements, these content of apologetics.
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We will quickly review them, because I see many of you are new, or were not there the last time.
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We'll review it very briefly, and then we'll spend most of our time on the how. What is the character of the
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Christian? What is the manner in which we present the gospel in apologetics?
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What is apologetics? As I mentioned last time, an apologetics is a defense of the faith.
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It comes from 1 Peter 3, 15, be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you.
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Now, in one sense, if someone comes and approaches you and asks you, why do you live this way?
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What is it that you believe? You want to be able to clearly articulate what the gospel is. And on the flip side, that is the defensive side, and there is an offensive side where you come to a person and you explain to them why whatever it is that they believe is not the truth.
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There is only one truth, and that is Jesus Christ, and this truth is found in the scriptures. And we need to be able to present this gospel and its wholesomeness to an unbelieving world.
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Now, when you think of apologetics, apologetics tends to be filled with a lot of passion and feistiness because we are here defending the faith and people can get very heated, very animated.
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And so, we are going to see how Peter is going to give us a caution in terms of how we are to guard our mind and our hearts in the way in which we go about presenting the gospel.
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And there is one more thing, because sometimes we can tend to get intimidated by the world.
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When you present the truth, there are people who believe, much smarter people than you that believe a lot of things that are completely contrary to the gospel.
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So to approach them and present them the truth can get intimidating. So the first half, what we are going to see in review, will talk about the boldness that Christians can have.
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We are not intimidated by false world views. We can clearly and boldly and coherently present the truth, not being ashamed of the gospel.
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And on the flip side, we also want to do it with gentleness and humility and with a clear conscience and we will see this aspect of it today.
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So if you look at 1 Peter 3, 13 to 17, there are five points that come out from here.
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I'm just going to list them out up front and then we'll walk through them quickly. The first one is that we want to honor
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Christ in our suffering. That's point one. The second one is we want to honor
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Christ without fear, especially without fear of opposition. Thirdly, we want to honor
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Christ by being prepared with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And these are things we already saw, we'll review them quickly.
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And the last two are we want to honor Christ by being gentle and respectful and we want to honor
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Christ with a good or clear conscience. Now let's look at the first point, honoring
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Christ in your suffering. So if you look at verses 13 and 14, now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
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But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. And the suffering continues in verses 16 and 17, if you read, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, which is a form of suffering, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
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For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
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Now Peter makes something very obviously clear, everything that we should know about, we ought not to be the kind of people who are doing wicked things and then suffering as a consequence of that.
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Christ has saved us from sin and we ought to live a life that is exemplary in its goodness.
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And so Peter here says, if you are zealous for what is good, if your life is characterized by a passion and a zeal for doing what would honor
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God with its goodness, most people wouldn't be out there to tear you down. So Peter says that's basically the attitude of a
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Christian. We ought to be the kind of people who are do -gooders in the right sense of the word. We want to honor
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Christ and in fact in verse 14 he expands on that. He says, well, most of the time you ought not to be facing suffering because most people are thankful that you do good to them.
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But there are times when you do good and you will be repaid with wickedness.
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And one particular aspect of that is when you suffer for righteousness sake, which is when you, on account of the gospel, who is our righteousness?
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It is Jesus Christ. If it is on account of Christ that you are suffering, Peter says, you will be blessed.
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Don't count that kind of suffering as, you know, I did something wrong and therefore I am facing the consequence of it.
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That is actually a reward, a joyful thing to look forward to. So on account of Christ, if someone were to repay you with suffering, that is a good thing.
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Count yourself blessed by God. And Jesus obviously is our exemplar of suffering.
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He came into the world to save it and he was crucified on our behalf.
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And we want to once again think in terms of suffering in the time of Peter, the
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Roman Empire was persecuting the Christians, the Jewish leadership was against the
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Christians and the Christians would get dispersed and many would die on account of the faith.
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And Peter here is undergirding them with God's truth in order how they are to face persecution and even during those times be bold in proclaiming the gospel as we will see in the next point.
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So that is honoring Christ in your suffering in review. The second point is to honor
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Christ without fear of opposition. And that continues in verse 14. It is important to know where this text is coming from.
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So Peter here is paraphrasing a passage from the Old Testament. He is using Isaiah chapter 8 where Isaiah is talking to King Ahaz and he is here using that same text in slightly different language.
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And why was Isaiah saying this to Ahaz? And for that you need to actually go to 2 Kings 16 where there was an event in the life of the nation of Judah.
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King Ahaz was by no means a righteous king. He was a wicked king actually.
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But he was ruling over Judah and there were two kings who were coming against him. One was the king of Israel and the other was the king of Syria.
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And as these two powerful nations were coming against Judah, King Ahaz was scared and he was afraid of them.
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And that is basically what Isaiah is saying, don't be afraid of these people. And so what
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Ahaz would do is he would collect all his money and then go give it to the king of Assyria and ask for the king of Assyria's help against these two enemy nations that were coming to destroy him.
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And so Isaiah in the Isaiah 8 passage is reminding Ahaz, you ought not to have fear of these pagan nations,
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Israel had become pagan by that time, and do not be afraid of these nations, instead trust in your
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God and fear God. And that's basically what Isaiah was teaching Ahaz and Ahaz would not listen to that counsel.
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But Peter reminds the New Testament Christians of that occasion by borrowing what
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Isaiah said and he reminds them in your suffering, in your persecution, do not be scared of those who persecute you, but rather honor
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Christ the Lord as holy. If you fix your eyes upon those who are coming to crush you, and you can imagine this in terms of battle, these nations could come and overrun you.
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You can think of Japan and China, if China is going to destroy Japan, Japan looks to US for help.
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And here Isaiah is saying to them, you look to God, you don't need to look to other nations, you need to look to God.
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But from a human perspective, you know, here is a nation with nuclear arsenal, they could just come and roll over you, but Isaiah and here
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Peter says, you ought not to be looking at the people who are persecuting you, but rather look up to God and you need to fear
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Him. Now, where does fear come from? When your eyes are completely fixed upon the source of your persecution, your heart can tend to turn to wax, it can tend to get obsessed with the damage that can be caused by those who are against you.
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The circumstances of your life can turn to be completely scary, I remember walking, going down to take my exam and I could just think of a thousand million ways in which
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I could get torn down. And a good brother here actually sent me an email saying, you know, submit to Lord and He will take care of you.
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And that was very good counsel. I mean, I know the scripture, but sometimes we need to be reminded that the Lord is the one whom we serve and we need to keep our eyes upon Him.
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And that's exactly what Peter is saying here. So if we just keep looking at our oppressors, whether it is apologetics or other circumstances, we can just tend to get fearful and try to live in the human plane.
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But instead, Peter says, honor Christ the Lord as holy. In fact, in the Isaiah passage, it is, fear the
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Lord. When your eyes are rightly upon God, you recognize the huge difference between the
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God in whom you trust and whatever opposition that comes against you.
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They cannot compare against your almighty God. Instead of cowering under your oppressor, instead of being afraid of the superior intellect of the one to whom you need to give the gospel, instead of being afraid of just getting steamrolled, rather, you are looking that you recognize that you are under Jesus Christ.
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This Jesus Christ is the king of this universe. He is governing this world and He can give you a boldness that is supernatural in these circumstances no matter what they are.
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And you can have faith and confidence even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances.
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Let's move on to the third point. That is to honor Christ by being prepared to answer unbelievers.
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And that's in verse 15. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
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And verse 15 is the central text of apologetics. Now Peter reminds the people here to do something and that is always being prepared.
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If you are, like in Peter's circumstance, if you had the police who are going to come down and knock your door anytime this coming week, you wouldn't be sitting there and saying, oh, you know,
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I'll deal with it when it comes. You're probably thinking through what is it that I need to say. And that's not too far from what
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Peter is exhorting these Christians to do. You're going to face suffering and people are going to come and question you, interrogate you about your faith and what you believe.
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And you better be prepared. Always be prepared to speak to these people when they ask you, whether it is the authorities or it is your neighbor who is going to talk to you about the gospel.
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And we will pick up more of this being prepared a little later. But if you're not prepared, here are some of the things that happen.
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I mean, it's happened to me, I'm sure it's happened to you. Someone comes and asks you a question, which you know is really blasphemous, but you just can't remember what text of scripture to say.
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You don't know, you know, you just know it's wrong and my face gets red and steamy, but I don't know what to say.
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And then, you know, I might say something sinful because I just get angry. But instead, what
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Peter is saying is, you know, remember the great hope that you have in Christ Jesus. Always think through and be prepared to speak of what you have.
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And one of the circumstances that Peter is talking about is, if you are a Christian, your life is very different.
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Here are people who come and ask you, what is going on with you? So I gave this example of Zacchaeus last time.
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Just imagine Zacchaeus, rich tax collector. He has all his buddies, all rich tax collectors.
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But Zacchaeus believes in the Lord, gives away a lot of his money. His friends are like, what is going on with you?
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And Zacchaeus can say, you know, I found something much better than what we've been wasting our lives all this time.
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And that is Jesus Christ. And likewise, we also ought to be prepared for a reason for the hope that is in us.
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And one of the things, again, is with this whole concept of fear, if I'm looking at Christ, I want to honor
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Him as Lord and as holy, speaking well of Him comes a whole lot easier. I'm prepared in my heart to honor
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Christ, and it's a lot easier to do that when He is foremost in my mind.
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And there is just one more thing here I want to just do in terms of review, and then we'll get into our text.
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The term that is used here, who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
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In apologetics, sometimes people try to be reasonable with unbelievers.
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And in order to do that, they try to find common ground with the unbeliever that can appear reasonable to the unbeliever.
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What do I mean by that? So if an unbeliever says, you know, I don't think the Bible is true, so you can't appeal to the
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Bible when you explain the gospel to me. Some Christians can tend to say, okay, let's leave the
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Bible aside and I'll try to talk to you outside of the Bible just to be reasonable in a way that you can understand.
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And that is not what the Bible is talking about at all when you want to give a reason for the hope that is in you.
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Because unbelievers whose minds are darkened by sin, who have a depraved heart, will always find the gospel unappealing in their natural carnal mind.
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And what you need to know is that it is a gospel in which there is the power unto salvation.
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It may not seem appealing to the unbeliever, but your responsibility is to give the pure unadulterated gospel that God has given to you in the scriptures.
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And the Holy Spirit takes those scriptures and then convicts the unbeliever of sin and of righteousness and grants new life according to his good pleasure.
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So what you need to know when you're being prepared is knowledge of the scriptures. Last time we saw several examples of Stephen and Paul, how they were soaked in the scriptures or when they were pushed against the wall, when they were put against these trials.
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They just gave scripture after scripture of who this great and mighty God is and how they and what the gospel is.
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You need to be prepared in your mind about who your God, your creator God, your holy God is. You need to be able to clearly articulate where is man in the state of sin and rebellion against God.
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You need to be able to talk clearly about Jesus Christ, the perfect man and the perfect God who died on behalf of sinners in order to rescue them from hell.
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And also be able to speak clearly about the repentance and belief that is called upon everyone in order to come to faith in Christ.
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And to be able to present the fact that they are not just some neutral participant who is examining the different religions in the world, but rather they are on the dock before God and they are in great grave peril if they would not trust in him.
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Now with that, we've just reviewed the first three points. We want to honor God in our suffering, we want to honor
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Christ without fear and we want to be honor Christ by being prepared with the gospel.
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And all of this is the content of apologetics. Here are some things that we want to be prepared in our minds and in our hearts to do.
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Now let's now look at the manner of apologetics. And the first one is to honor Christ by being gentle and respectful.
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Let me read for you verses 15 and 16. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
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After speaking clearly about what you must do, Peter, it seems almost like an afterthought, he says yet do it with gentleness and respect.
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And there is a right relationship between the content and the manner of apologetics. There are some who would say, you know, my life will do the talking.
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My words, if need be, I will add them. That's not what
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Peter is talking about. You need to be ambassadors of Christ speaking the gospel and proclaiming it to an unbelieving world.
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And yet, it should be completely connected with your life that demonstrates the gospel in your life also.
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And Peter is now going to say how you are to live and present the gospel. Now as I mentioned earlier, when you are in apologetics, when you are in a tight spot, when people are questioning you and challenging you, and you have a zeal for the
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Lord, especially if people are pushing you against the wall, it's easy to become self -righteous. It's like, you know,
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I know I'm right and I'm going to just do everything I can to push back at the people. And having the flesh still that we struggle with, it is easier for me sometimes to say, okay,
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I know what God says is right, but I want to do it in my strength, in my way, rather than in the way that God has ordained.
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And when we do that, it is very easy for the flesh to seek to glorify itself, even in the process of giving the gospel.
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And so Peter says here, there are two aspects that you need to watch out for. One of them is gentleness, and the other one is respect.
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So when you give the truth, Peter is saying, don't just give them the truth just by itself, but make sure that your message and your manner match each other.
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So think about who you are. You are, in a sense, the king's ambassador.
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I want us to just picture that for a moment. You're not just, you're a child of the king.
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You belong to the sovereign ruler of this universe, and you are representing him before a pagan, an unbeliever, a person who belongs to the kingdom of darkness.
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You want to think of you in language. You know, there are two nations. One, maybe one nation has overtaken over on the other, and here they are going around killing everybody.
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And you do not respond with foul -mouthed language. You have the bearing of the one whom you represent, and you still speak kindly even if someone is speaking unkindly to you.
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So you remember this whole theme is to honor Christ as holy, and you want to honor Christ not just with your words, but also with your actions.
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What you do ought not to be sinful, but rather also should be holy. And part of what we are doing here, our ultimate goal is to honor
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Christ, and our desire is for that unbeliever to come to faith in Christ.
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So how, what kind of sense does it make to say, I'm giving you the truth, but I'm just going to say it in such a way that just tears you down, and I, you know,
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I don't really care if you go to hell or heaven. I'm just doing my job of, you know,
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I'll do it as mean as I can, because that's the only way that I can keep you off my back. That's not the way
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Christians live. We live with love for God and a love for our neighbor, and we want to do it in a manner that is godly.
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Now let's come to gentleness and respect. We're going to take a few minutes to talk about what they are.
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We'll look at a few scriptures to explore what that should look like in believers.
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On the one hand, you want to look at what's internal. What kind of a character ought to be, what ought a
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Christian have in order to present the gospel? And then what kind of attitude externally should the
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Christian have toward the unbeliever? Now, the unbeliever, yes, is in rebellion against God.
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He's an enemy of God. He is a sinner, and yet he is also made in the image of God.
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He has something that God himself has made in his image.
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And as you present the gospel to this person, you want to remember, here is an image bearer of God himself, and I want to do this with respect.
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This is not just like an animal that I'm treating.
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I want to respect this person, and I do that because God is the one who has made this person.
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And actually, if you continue that language through in verse 16, he basically, Peter says, when you do this this right way, at least you don't give the people an excuse for the suffering that you might have to endure because of presenting the gospel.
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So let's now look at these two terms, gentleness and respect. The Greek word for gentleness here is pravitis, and it's a mildness of disposition or a gentleness of spirit.
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It actually is the term we also use for meekness. Now, when
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I speak of gentleness, the first verse that all of you should remember is from Galatians 5 that was read this morning.
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One of the fruit of the spirit is gentleness. Now, the fruit of the spirit is different than the gifts of the spirit in this very specific way.
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The fruit of the spirit, there is just, it is a consequence of having the spirit of God in your life, and every single believer has the fruit, and all the different aspects of it, and especially gentleness and self -control with which it ends, is something that every single believer has.
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It is not like a gift of the spirit where the spirit gives to each person a specific gift according to his pleasure.
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The fruit of the spirit is something that all of us have. Now, some of us have one aspect of the fruit in greater measure than the others.
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So if you are the kind that struggles with gentleness, it is not that it is one of those things that is not given to you, but you are to grow in greater measure in this particular area of gentleness.
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Now, how should this gentleness be used? So, in the New Testament, we have a few examples of circumstances where this aspect of gentleness comes to play.
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I'm going to just give you a couple here so that you are thinking through this when you think of apologetics.
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But firstly, I'm going to give you an example from within the church. So it's in Galatians chapter 6, verse 1.
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And here it says, Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgressions, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
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Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. So here there is a sin in the body.
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And obviously, any sin is grievous. And it is very easy to get angry and upset over what goes on.
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But here, Paul is instructing the believer within the context of the church to make sure that you approach such a person with gentleness and again with caution not to fall into the same sin yourself, but in order to restore such a person.
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And that ought to be the characteristic of body life. Brothers and sisters in Christ, when we are in sin, we approach one another with this attitude in order to restore one.
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And the same thing is also seen in Ephesians 4, 2, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.
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And especially in a church like this, where we get close to one another, we get to find out that we are not all perfect as we first thought when we met one another.
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And the more we get to know each other, the more we realize we are all sinful. And this gentleness is one of those characteristics that is essential as we grow to love one another and reflect the life of Christ.
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Now, so that's mainly in terms of body life. And now I want to look at gentleness from the aspect of ministry.
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How does this aspect of gentleness come in ministry? And again, you want to think about apologetics in the same context.
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Here is someone who does not know the truth and you want to go and approach them and Peter here says, you want to do this with gentleness.
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And think of it in terms of an evangelistic ministry, but we're going to be looking at certain other aspects of ministry that are given to us in the text of scripture.
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The first one is for leaders in the church, mainly for elders. Paul writes to Timothy in 1
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Timothy 6, 11, but as for you, O man of God, flee these things. He talks about things he asked to flee.
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And then instead you are to pursue, he gives a list, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.
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And it's one of those, the fruit of the spirit that he says you ought to pursue. And then in 2 Timothy 2, 25, he talks about the qualifications of an elder having given this aspect of gentleness.
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And he says, the elder must be able to correct his opponents with gentleness, that God perhaps may grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth.
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So the elder does not compromise the statement of truth that the scripture says, but you ought to do it with the spirit of gentleness.
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And I have a few verses that I just really loved. And I'll just say this,
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I'm not very good at studying the Proverbs, but they are just so beautiful when you read them. Proverbs 15, 4 says, a gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
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I mean, just that beautiful imagery of a gentle tongue being a tree of life, again, being a source of life to the person who's going to hear it.
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And James 3, 17, once again, talks about the character of such speech.
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It says, wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, and then gentle and open to reason.
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So when we represent God's wisdom, we want to make sure we give God's wisdom and not my own reasoning.
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And when we do that, it is always with gentle, and it's full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
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Now, I want to just give a couple of examples as we wrap up this aspect of gentleness.
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Actually, I'll just give you one example. In Matthew 11, 29,
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Jesus says this, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
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As we seek to honor Christ in apologetics, we also want to imitate our
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Christ who is the exemplar of gentleness. I mean, again, if you just think about who
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Christ is and how he lived his life here on earth, I think that should just give us a vivid imagery of how our lives ought to be characterized with gentleness too.
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Here is Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, eternally God, come down as a human being in humility and then ministering to sinful people for three and a half years in a manner in which he ministers to people in all walks of life ought to just remind us of the patience and the gentleness that Christ had in his ministry to the lost.
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And that ought to exhort us to say, okay, I have the truth and I know I want to be passionate about it, but I want to do this with the spirit of gentleness in order to minister to those who are lost.
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Now, let's look at the second word. We'll go through this more quickly. This is respect. And this word is a little unique because the actual term that is used here in this verse is not the common word that is used for respect, but rather it is the term that is used for fear.
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It is phobos. And the definition here is like fear, dread or terror, that which strikes terror or reverence on the other side, reverence for one's husband.
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And if you look at all the ways in which this text is used in the New Testament, typically it is used for someone who is actually in a higher position.
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So when you have the parable of the vineyard, the father says, my son, him they will respect.
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And Paul says, respect to those to whom respect is owed. Respect those who labor among you and who are over you.
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Now, and also you heard the same thing in today morning's message where the awe that the church had of God, you know, that's the kind, that is a term that is used over here.
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But I think the translation is correct in translating it as respect rather than fear. Because just a few verses back,
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Peter reminds the Christians, he says, you ought not to have a fear or a terror of the unbeliever that is probably pressing on you.
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Scary thoughts against you by questioning your faith is what you believe really true. Or, you know, how could you be so foolish in believing what you do?
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But here in conjunction with gentleness, the aspect that I think that comes out here is a respect that ought to characterize believers in the way in which they approach unbelievers.
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And once again, that is because these people are also made in the image of God. And you and I do not know who God has called unto salvation.
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I think like Spurgeon says, if there was a big E for elect behind those who are going to be saved, it'd be a lot easier to just pick those people and speak the gospel to them.
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But the Lord has ordained it not so, so that you would be faithful in obeying the gospel no matter who the
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Lord brings your way. Now, this gentleness and respect are one of those twin terms that are not so commonly practiced in apologetics that I think we want to apply ourselves to when we give the gospel.
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You see, when people bring these barbs at us, it's easy to get offended and then respond in kind by being just as mean as the people who do not like the gospel.
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It's easier to be zealously hurt. My ego is wounded and I want to just respond back.
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And once again, as I mentioned earlier, if I'm unprepared with the gospel, someone comes up and throws a bomb at me and the words choke,
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I get angry. But rather, if I am already prepared, I know that this is what God has called me to,
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I am to give the gospel and I'm very clear about what the gospel says and I am mentally prepared with the truth and I am spiritually prepared by honoring my
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Lord as Savior, you can then speak with gentleness and respect.
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You are not just surprised by something that just throws you off your guard, but you recognize that this opportunity that has come is an opportunity for you to teach them what
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God has given to you in the scriptures. And instead of just being pushed against the wall and you take the guns and start firing in all different directions, you instead take the sword of the spirit and then rightly divide
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God's word to this person who is unaware of the truth. Now, drawing again from the previous point, you, when
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I say prepared, you do not need to know the unbelievers' entire argument in order to explain the truth to them.
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But instead, you need to know your God and what God has commanded you to do.
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Like I said, you need to know that Jesus Christ was Lord, is Lord, that he is holy.
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And in terms of this gentleness and respect, you also need to recognize that Jesus Christ was the supreme exemplar of humility and meekness.
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And so both his exaltation and his character of humility are to guard your mind when you go about and present the gospel.
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Now, let's step back a bit. What is the goal of apologetics? It is sometimes we assume that when
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I speak to an unbeliever, I need to just win this argument. I just need to win this debate.
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So they throw a question at me, I need to have a great answer that responds in kind, and I win. Not necessarily so.
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Winning an argument can be defined variously. If you look at the case of Stephen, he did win and the people's mouth were shut.
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But more often than not, that ought not to be the primary focus.
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Instead, your goal should always be to honor Christ. It is,
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I want to honor Christ with the truth. I want to honor Christ with the manner of my speech.
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So in the last three points last time, we looked at specific examples that unbelievers bring to Christians.
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And so for this one, I'm going to give you an example. And I want you to just think this through the context of what
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I have to say. So here comes an unbeliever and he says, I want you to prove to me that your
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God exists. How can your God exist when there is so much evil and there is so much suffering in the world?
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I cannot simply believe that there is this God of the Bible that you claim when
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I see all these things happening. And typically what they're thinking is, you claim that there is a
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God who is a God of love. You claim that there is a God who is omnipotent, which is all powerful.
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So if there's a God of love and a God of power, why can't he prevent all of these suffering from happening?
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And once again, when such questions come, you want to make sure that you know what the scriptures say about it.
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So once again, you want to be in your mind aware. Yes, my God, when he created the world, the
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Bible says it was good, it was good, it was good. It was very good when the world was created. What is the source of suffering?
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What is the source of evil? And we see that in Genesis 3. There was something that was catastrophic in the world called the fall.
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And that impacted all of humanity and not just humanity, even all of creation that we see. So whether it is a natural catastrophe that they're concerned about, or evil that man does toward other men, here is a source of all that is coming to play.
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And then you also recognize, where is my God in all this? God promised Adam something, which was judgment.
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But God, in his mercy, forced all that. And he chose some out of this. And it's his mercy that we still live in the midst of all the suffering instead of everyone getting wiped out.
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So all of these thoughts need to be in your mind. So you know why these issues are not really issues at all, but you need what aspects of the biblical truth you need to be able to present to this person.
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But also, especially in times like this, you want to know why they want to ask that question. It's very easy for me or you, who has learned it in the scriptures, to just go at them and say, you know, hey, you know, how could it be here?
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Here are some things you don't know. Let me throw this data at you. Sometimes maybe this person just lost his child.
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They're not really asking a question that's intellectual. They're just hurting. And they are, maybe they're like Job.
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And you ought to be able to recognize that you are here, a minister of the gospel, which is the good news, and be able to present the gospel in a manner that is worthy of a servant of the king.
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And once again, our goal is, we have been given the precious truth in the gospel that the world does not have. And we want to make sure that we present the truth with gentleness and with respect.
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Now let's move on to the last point, which is to honor Christ with a good conscience.
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And we see that in verse 16 and 17. Having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
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For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. Conscience is a remarkable thing.
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It is like a compass that God has placed in every single human being. Now, every human being in Romans 1 we read, has an awareness of God.
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And because of wickedness, they suppress that truth in unrighteousness. But they do know who God is.
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And likewise, there is something that is in man that points towards what is true.
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Let me give you a definition from Thaos. The word for conscience here is sunai desis.
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And it is the soulless distinguishing between what is morally good and bad, prompting to do the former and shun the latter, commending one and condemning the other.
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Romans 2 .15 says, They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bear witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.
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This is talking about unbelievers who have this moral compass in them. Now, this moral compass is not infallible in the sense that it is always able to point you to what is right.
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In fact, the Bible says that those who do not take heed to the conscience can sear their conscience.
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They can start to do what is sinful. And this alarm that would keep coming is no longer coming.
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They've snoozed it long enough, and it is gone. And it can be conditioned by other things.
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It is not infallible. But the Lord has placed this conscience in man, which is a very important element for us as believers.
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And so I want to just take a few texts from Scripture because as I was studying this, I was surprised by how important the conscience is just in daily living, when it relates to sin and sanctification, but also in terms of ministry.
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So I'll just give you a few verses so you have this in your mind in terms of what it means to have a good conscience in apologetics or just in living life in general.
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Paul says this in Acts 24, I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both
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God and man. In his ministry. And why is it that having a clear conscience was so important to Paul?
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He... Let me give you an example.
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I think that might help us just think this through. There are two places in 1 Corinthians which we've been hearing from Pastor Mike a few months ago.
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1 Corinthians 8, 7 through 12 and 1 Corinthians 10, 25 to 29.
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You see this whole aspect of eating food offered to idols. You might say, you know, how does this actually relate to this particular text?
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And I think it does in one important way. There, Paul takes two groups of believers, a weaker brother and a brother who is strong in the faith.
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The weaker brother looks at food that has been offered to idols and he sees that food has defiled as being offered to demons.
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And for him to eat that food would connect to his form of way of life, which was worshiping those idols and those false gods.
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And Paul talks about the stronger brother, one who recognizes that an idol is nothing and it is just food that goes in and out.
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You are not paying homage to any of these idols with what you eat. And so a stronger brother could actually eat that same food with a clear conscience.
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Whereas the weaker brother, if he ate that food in his mind and his heart, he is somehow connecting himself with that worship of that idol and that would be sinful for him.
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So in these texts, Paul instructs believers to say, don't just watch out. Firstly, watch out for yourself.
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Don't do something that would defile your conscience. Secondly, even if you are a stronger brother, make sure that you do not cause an offense to the one who is weak because of your freedom.
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Because what you do when you eat a food offered to idol in front of someone who has a weaker conscience, you can actually defile his faith.
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So be wise in the manner in which you do this. And conscience is one of those things, like I said, it is a compass and it has to be instructed by the word.
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So a brother who is weak in his knowledge, especially as it leads to idolatry, when he comes to recognize that the
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Lord is sovereign, this food does not defile him, he can grow in his knowledge. So his conscience now gets mapped a little better to the true north.
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And now he can, when he knows this to be true, he can actually freely eat of that same meat because he now knows that he is not worshiping that false idol that he used to worship before.
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So conscience is one of those things that you can grow in the knowledge as you can make it point to the true magnetic north on the basis of the scriptures.
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So this is just some background that I think it's helpful for us to say, what is the conscience and how ought
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I to live on the basis of this? And Paul then goes on to talk about, with this background, you can just look at what
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Paul says about his ministry. And again, think of your ministry to the unbelieving world, even as Paul talks about his.
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He says, for our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, the witness of our conscience, that we have behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God and supremely so toward you.
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So he's saying the manner in which I executed my ministry was not just in order to win this argument, not just to use the wisdom of the world somehow to one up over you, but I did this by God's grace and my conscience is clear and it testifies before you.
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And the same thing in 2 Corinthians 4, we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways.
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So the manner in which a Christian goes about speaking to the unbeliever, you cannot employ all these manners just in order to win this argument, but rather, and he says, we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word.
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I don't want to just win a believer into the kingdom by, you know, saying something that will somehow make him enter it.
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I want to use God's word like even as Paul did, but by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
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So when Paul did his ministry, not just was his conscience clear, but everyone else who observed his ministry could clearly see that this was done with sincerity and truth in accordance with God's word rather than in order to win souls in some human fashion.
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I want to just leave you with one more passage and I think this is just so powerful that I'll just take a couple of seconds to go over this.
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I'll just give you the references. Hebrews 9 .9. And there it talks about the atonement and the gifts and sacrifices that were offered could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper.
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And I want you to just let that sink. I'm going to give you a few verses so that you know how important is the conscience before God.
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Hebrews 9 .14. How much more will the blood of Christ purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living
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God? Did you know that? He's here, he's talking about the conscience. And once again, Hebrews 10 .22. Let us draw near, a very famous word, with the true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
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And once again, Paul basically says, I want to have a pure conscience in my ministry. And I want us to remember that when we go about serving the
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Lord, even as our conscience is, as our guilt has been washed away, even as our conscience is clear because Christ has paid for our sin, when
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I minister to these lost people, which was who I was when my mind was darkened,
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I want to do it with a clear conscience so that it honors
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Christ. And the main thing here that I want to take away you to take away is this.
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So when I preach a sermon, I have a mandate. I am here to proclaim. It's caruso. I'm going to use a loudspeaker and speak as loudly as I can.
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And here in BBC, we normally don't give you 10 steps. And there's a reason for it because methods are not what the
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Bible is about. The Bible is about truth and the Spirit of God will guide you in the different methods that you need to do in order to apply it.
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Now, I might have a way of doing things and I don't want you to say, OK, Pradeep does that and therefore
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I ought to do this. My conscience says, you know, that may not be that I think to do, but you know, Pradeep does that.
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So I got to do that too. And then you go do the ministry, you come back home and then they say, you know,
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I'm not so sure. Well, I just hope God is happy with this and that's OK. That is not what the
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Bible talks about. When I preach to you, my goal is to transform your mind, the way you think about ministry, the way what does the
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Bible say. And as your mind is transformed, your actions should follow suit. It is not that,
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OK, here are some actions that you do and then eventually, you know, my action, my mind will start to conform to it.
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Romans 12, 1 and 2, it is a transformation of the mind that I am after when
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I preach. And when you walk away from a message, you want to say, what is the Spirit of God telling me to do and be convinced of what is true as you act it out.
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And if you have questions, obviously talk to any of us here. Now, just to close this message, there were people who did this with a pure conscience, verse 16 and 17.
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And Peter says, have a clear conscience so that when people slander you, these people are going to misunderstand you, misrepresent you.
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That's OK, because it would be obvious to the others who are watching that this is just a slander.
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It is not genuine. Your conscience is clear. But even when that does not happen, meaning everybody disagrees and thinks that you are worthy of condemnation, you have nothing to be afraid of because your court is up in heaven.
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It is God before whom you are acting and your conscience is clear. You can get stoned and you know that you are not guilty because before God, you have done what
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He has called you to do. So when it comes to apologetics, what is our goal?
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Our goal in apologetics as in everything else should be the glory of God. We want God to be glorified in our ministry.
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With regards to yourself, that glorification is your sanctification. So you want to be like Christ, more like Christ each time you go out and present the gospel that God would change you into His image.
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When it comes to the unbeliever, you want to make sure that you give them the gospel.
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And that's how you honor Christ and glorify Christ in that person's life. Now, the
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Lord may be pleased to save that person. If so, you glorify in that.
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But it is God's job to save. It's not my job to save anyone. So I just present the gospel and pray that God would save him.
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And also, it is not just an easy pass. Just because I did the gospel faithfully doesn't mean that I will be excluded from suffering.
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And again, it's God's will. If God chooses for you to suffer, as we saw in the beginning, count yourself blessed.
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It is an honor to be suffering on behalf of the gospel. And make sure that you have a clear conscience and you do that with gentleness and respect.
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My brothers and sisters, we have a huge responsibility here. The Lord did not have to save any of you, but He did.
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And He hasn't taken you to heaven, which means He has you here for His purpose. And you want to make sure that every moment that you live here, you honor
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Christ. And especially as you relate to unbelievers, both in your life and in your words, may it be that those who see you would say, would look to you, hear from you, and then glorify your
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Father who is in heaven. Let us pray. Our loving and gracious Father, we thank you for your precious gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.
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Help us, O Lord. We are frail. We often walk in the flesh, but empower us by your
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Spirit that even as we go forth from here, we would do the works of the
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Spirit in the power of the Spirit. And according to your matchless grace, be pleased,