Apologetics to the Glory of God- by Jeff Durbin

It's been about 10 years since the first time I saw Jeff Durbin in action on the sidewalk in front of the Visitor's Center of the Mesa Temple during the Easter pageant when he was applying the kind of apologetics he's going to be sharing with you today with a crowd of young people standing around him and they weren't all girls and they were pelting him with questions and even a few insults or attacks of some sort but he was cool, calm, collected and professional and excellent in his answers, his responses and we thought we'd take a break from our other speakers and allow him to share his way of doing things.

He is the pastor of Apologia Church. He is also on a radio program called Apologia which I'll let him tell you about and it's just a pleasure to have Jeff with us this morning. Come on up Jeff. I just want to.

Say Bob you still have the same amount of hair which is pretty cool. How are you guys? Good, praise the Lord. That's right. It's good to see everyone here today. Thank you guys for hanging out and sticking around for this portion.

I'll go ahead and start with prayer. If you guys would join me as a prayer over the message I'm going to give to you guys today. Father I want to come before you and thank you God for using someone like me to deliver a message Lord that in myself I'm not worthy to give but that you need Lord the church to hear, to be equipped to raise up people within your kingdom God to reach Lord the world with the gospel Lord and to reach them in a faithful way so that your kingdom may be furthered Lord and God I come before you Lord.

I humble myself before you now as your servant God in myself unworthy God but in Christ righteous in him blameless forgiven no condemnation God and I I come before you Lord as the speaker right now Lord of your word your holy word God that you would guard my heart my mind that you would empower me to speak God for your glory that you would shape our hearts and our minds today that you'd bring transformation in our thoughts God as to how we should be doing this God to your glory.

And I pray that you would speak through me get me out of the way and I pray Lord that you would use this moment God as the as the moment that marks our lives Lord where you encourage us inspire us and give us boldness Lord to reach the world around us with the gospel and in today's context Lord specifically the our LDS neighbors our friends our family so I give this time to you God and ask you to Lord use it for your glory in Jesus name amen.

Apologetics as the Defense of the Faith

All right. So I wanted to do something sort of different you got guys here that that I think I'll never know as much about Mormonism as they do the guys that are powerful men of God and women of God that are serving Jesus and and bringing the gospel to the LDS community worldwide.

So I wanted to speak today about a broader look at apologetics now don't don't turn off don't switch off at the moment don't run away from that word if you don't know what it means I'll explain to you apologetics is essentially the the practice of and science and art of defending the faith.

It's it really is a biblical mandate for Christians to defend the faith and and so when we look at this area of apologetics I want to do it in a broader context today saying how do we do apologetics to the glory of God now if you think that sounds dry and boring it would I think it would reveal in us as a community as as the people of God a wrong way of doing this.

What I mean is if if we're here thinking about how do we reach our Mormon friends and family and you hear a discussion that's gonna be brought about apologetics and that sort of turns you off. I'm gonna say it's probably because we have the wrong idea of what apologetics is aimed at.

Oftentimes in our culture our Christian culture or particularly Christian culture we have a view of apologetics a defense of the faith. You sort of have like arguments over here and like reasons for belief and evidences and you've got evangelism over on this side and so they're really two separate issues a lot of times.

So for example oftentimes in our culture if we have say a dialogue going on between a Christian and an atheist you'll typically have a lot of just evidence is being thrown out. They have the atheist says I don't believe in God I don't see enough evidence for God.

And so as Christians we oftentimes believe what the atheist says about himself rather than what God actually says about him. And so we end up doing is just getting into sort of an enterprise or practice of just throwing out potshot evidences at the person seeing if ultimately hopefully something sticks and I can lead this person to Christ.

But the truth is apologetics is supposed to be to the glory of God. Apologetics is supposed to be wrapped up in our evangelistic call to repentance and faith. In other words we're not supposed to separate the defense of the faith how do I defend the faith from our proclamation of the good news and repentance and faith that's really important.

I think you're gonna see that distinction come up as we move forward. So if you want to you get ahead of me I'll go ahead and let you get there first first Peter 315 is the passage that will start as a springboard passage for today.

But the message that I that Bob said very Jeff I need to title the message and I need like the breakout points how are you going to do this. And so the message I think would be aptly titled apologetics to the glory of God.

And I'm going to be discussing this really broader than simply the issue of Mormonism. But I am going to come back to it in the end to show us how we actually engage in this. And I just want to come before you humbly and just say something to you as well.

Bob is a sweet guy. Bob has always shown me lots and lots of love. But I want to suggest to you that I deplore the idea that that we should be just making this up as we go. I don't believe that we should engage in in reaching somebody with the gospel with our own ideas our own pragmatic results over time saying I think this works let's use it this way.

I truly believe that God wants us. He calls us to defend the faith in the way that he calls us to do it. In other words the Bible actually tells us how to bring the gospel into a culture whatever it might be.

And he tells us how to do it biblically. He tells us how to argue. He tells us how to bring the gospel in. And so what I want to say is I might my hope is is that you'll see and I hope I'm faithful in this.

I hope that you'll see that my desire is to go to the scriptures to ask the question how does God say to do this. What are his ways in defending the faith and bringing the gospel. It's what I want to do is prepare you not just to deal with people who are Latter-day Saints but with people who are Mormons.

And so if the starting point is first Peter 315 and go ahead and get there now. First Peter 315 just one of my life verses. Bob mentioned that I'm a pastor at a church called Apologia Church. Okay it's right down the road we meet out of a church called Gethsemane Lutheran Church.

We're a church playing out of that church. But I also have a radio program called Apologia Radio. So clearly I like the word okay Apologia Radio is heard actually today you're gonna hear it today at 4 to 6 p .m. on KPXQ 1360 a little shameless plug there for our radio program Apologia Radio 1360.

4 to 6 p .m. you can also get all the back episodes Apologia Radio .com. It's a show that's heard all over Arizona on 1360 KPXQ which is one of the most popular Christian talk and sermon stations but it's also heard internationally via podcast.

You can subscribe to it free on iTunes. Just go to iTunes and type in Apologia Radio and you'll be able to get the podcast. And so what the reason I bring that up is is is shameless plug. But also I want to be able to to give you guys an understanding that this is something very important to us as a church.

The word Apologia comes from first Peter 315. Now what's interesting here is I want you to come with me for a second here. Now think about this who wrote first Peter. Very good. Sometimes people that takes a long time people again.

It's like that's not a trick question or it's very easy. Peter writes it. Now here's what's interesting. That is what many people call the charter verse of Christian apologetics. It's really the springboard verse as as a basis for all Christian apologetics the defense of the faith giving reasons for the hope that's within us.

But I want you to consider something the person who gave us that passage it's the Word of God. But the man behind the text who wrote it is Peter. And what's Peter famous for. He's famous for denying Christ.

Right. How'd you like to go down in history as the guy who denied Jesus the night of his betrayal the time that he needed you most. Well it's in history forever. Peter is that guy. Right. He's the see as a case of stick your foot in your mouth itis constantly.

Right. He denies he knows Jesus. And so here's the guy near the end of his life shortly before he's killed by the Emperor Nero during the neurotic imperial persecution of Christians in the 60s of the first century.

Here's the guy that we know of as the coward as the one who runs away from Jesus. He's afraid of a little girl. Not a big dude. Not a big dude big beard big arms big dude little servant girl. Right. And he's afraid.

And this is within essentially earshot of Jesus. Well here's this guy telling us at the end of his life in first Peter 315 that Christians are taught be always ready with an apologia. Apologia a reason defense for the faith.

So I want you to consider that for a moment. If you've ever thought hey I'm that person. I'm the person that's not bold. I I'm afraid to talk. I'm kind of scared. You know you're in good company with the guy who actually gives us the charter verse for Christian apologetics.

He's the guy that's chicken. He's scared. He denies he even knows Jesus. And then they're hiding like behind locked doors in the upper room after Jesus is killed on a cross. And they don't even believe that he was raised from the dead when the girls and women came and said hey he's you know he's he's alive.

They're like girl you telling tales out of the schoolyard. They didn't believe it. So they go running and they were stunned themselves. But here's the guy who gives us this verse on Christian apologetics and the defense of the faith.

He's the one that's a coward. And he has the audacity at the end of his life to tell Christians to always be ready with a reason defense to everyone who asks of you a reason for the hope that's within you to do it gentleness and reverence and reverence.

What happened in his life is significant. He saw Jesus dead murdered on a tree. And when he saw him alive from the dead and he touched him and he ate with him it changed his life and his whole perspective.

And what he says to Christians in 1st Peter 3 15 is to always be ready with the reason defense and apologia to everyone who asks of you a reason for the hope that's within you. Yet do it Peter says with gentleness and reverence.

Now you'll notice something very important here. What did I leave out of that verse. Go ahead. The first part. No now you might say well big whoop like so you left that part out. But I want to I want to suggest to us as Christians that we've often heard that that verse about defending the faith and giving a reason for the hope that's within us.

We always hear it like I quoted it for Christians to always be ready to give a reason defense for the hope that's within them. That's how we hear. That's even how we quote the passage often as Christians in our communities.

But what have we left out to set Christ apart as Lord Peter first starts the proclamation that you need to always be ready with a reason defense for your faith with this first very important foundation and it cannot be missed because it alters the entire way you do apologetics.

And that is he says to first set Christ apart as Lord. And then he says always being ready. And what I the reason why I'm taking aim at this today is because if we're going to do apologetics to the glory of God then we have to do it the way that God calls us to do it in a biblical way and that is to say it's a way with no neutrality.

And this is very important because within the Christian communities today in our country and in our culture we often have an approach to apologetics that separates Jesus from the conversation. And you think well no no we don't because we're proclaiming the gospel we're arguing for Jesus.

But oftentimes when we do the proclamation of the gospel say in particular with radical unbelief say with atheism oftentimes we will disengage from being submitted to Christ as Lord. And assuming that the atheist really doesn't know God and he just needs a little more evidence to get him along the way.

But what does the Bible say in Romans chapter 1 about the atheist about everybody it says. In Romans chapter 1 verse 18 it says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness for that which is known about God is evident within them for God has made it evident to them.

So as an example here as a springboard about setting Christ apart as Lord in our defense of the faith I want to point out to you in an example with radical unbelief a person that says I don't believe in God there's no evidence for God.

What we'll typically do is all of a sudden we disengage from our commitment to Christ as Lord of our reasoning. And we enter into that discussion assuming neutrality that he's really neutral. And so am I.

Let's see where the evidence takes us. Shall we maybe there is a God. Let's look at first cause second cause let's see if we can move back to an unmovable mover. And let's see if that will maybe convince you now if you've used that argument before this is in no way a jab at you.

It's to say as a church I think we need to be sanctified in this issue of apologetics. Apologetics is part of evangelism and part of evangelism is coming to the world with a proclamation that Jesus is Lord.

He's Lord of all. He's Lord over the universe. He's Lord over politics. He's Lord over all governments. He's Lord over every person whether they acknowledge it or not. He's Lord over my reasoning. He's Lord over my pursuits.

He's Lord over everything in my life. And when I do apologetics to the glory of God I first start with a commitment to Christ as Lord. We are not neutral and I want to I want you to take that as the broader.

Let me have you think through that as I work through the rest of this we're starting first before I even begin to engage any issue whether it's with the Jehovah's Witnesses whether it's with the Mormons whether it's with the new atheist Dawkins and Dennett and Christopher Hitchens who is now a creationist.

And um because he died. That was a joke. That was a grenade joke. Right. You pull it. Wait got it. Okay. Whatever it is we have to approach this issue of apologetics to the glory of God with a commitment first to Christ as Lord.

We're not neutral. They're not neutral and neither are we. I want you to think for a second about a cultural problem we have. I'm just going to touch this. This is not a big part of the message today but I have to address it.

We are in a cultural crisis as Christians today in the issue of apologetics and evangelism and what I mean by that is something that that this may sting a few of us in the room and believe me I am not your enemy but I want to just address an issue that I think is significant for us to address as Christians we're in a cultural crisis.

And what I mean by the cultural crisis is I mean a Christian cultural crisis and that we are now in this culture that is now collapsing. We are in a culture that is collapsing because we have failed to be salt to it and that's a preservative.

It's not. It's not so much about flavor as it is preservation. And we fail to preserve the culture because we fail to engage it and speak into it in order to be a preservation of the culture we have to say something to it.

But our evangelism and our apologetics has of late been of the idea that well we'll stay over here in our Christian ghetto and hopefully you come talk to us or maybe I'll create a relationship with a person for five or ten years and then maybe someday I'll get the opportunity to tell them about Jesus.

And I want to just say to us guys if we go to the scriptures and we look at the first century church and we say how are they engaged in changing the stinking world. I mean the gospel went from this little place with 11.

Basically these guys aren't like college educated like guys. They're like fishermen. I mean they're just these lowly kind of humble guys that Jesus picks out of the world. I mean and he empowers them to preach the gospel and they change the world in the first century.

You understand that Christianity turned the world upside down in the first century. And I gotta ask the question as Christians are we doing apologetics to the glory of God. Are we doing it like the first century church did it.

Because if you look at the book of Acts you've got a man a map a pattern a model that God has given to us when the Holy Spirit of God is poured out upon his people which is a promise of the Old Testament.

This was coming. They walked into a culture that was hostile to the things of God. It was hostile to Christ. And they came into a culture that was pagan and all kinds of different gods and ideologies.

And they went in with the gospel and they smashed it and lives are being changed. It was the talk of everything Paul says in Romans chapter 1 he says your faith is being proclaimed throughout the entire world.

That's to say everybody's talking about you guys. Something was happening. Christians were not hiding it under a bus show. No they were engaged with the marketplaces the religious context the the highest place of philosophical debate and discussion.

Look at the book of Acts. Guys read the book of Acts Acts chapter 9 what happens. Paul gets knocked off his high horse comes to this Messiah after persecuting Christians trying to destroy the church as he says he tried to do in Galatians chapter 1.

He persecuted the church of God. He tried to destroy it. He's guilty of the murder of at least one Christian and he's throwing many others in jail gets knocked off of his high horse. And what does it say in Acts chapter 9 it says as soon as he comes to Christ immediately he went and he proclaimed the gospel in the synagogues proving that Jesus was the Messiah.

Now I want to suggest to you something. He did not go home and say let's plan a barbecue for the neighborhood. By the way have barbecues please. But that should just be part of like breathing in our lives.

Right. We live as Christians. We invite as Christians. But you know what else they were engaged in. They went to the toughest places of debate and discussion and they argued for the truth of the gospel.

They argued for Jesus as Mashiach as the Messiah as the only deliverer the only Savior. And when they did it listen Paul goes into the synagogue in Damascus. He proves that Jesus is a Messiah. And if you read Acts chapter 9 something very significant you need to note it says that the church was built up people came to Christ and some people wanted to kill him.

We are too afraid today as Christians to be persecuted. We don't want to die. And it's because of the fact that we don't want to die that we don't say anything. We don't open our mouths. We don't get into tough discussions because we don't take seriously what Jesus says in Luke when he's talking to crowds of thousands of people and he says to them if anyone comes to me and does not hate father mother sister he starts listing them all and even his own life.

He's not worthy to be my disciple. Many of us professing faith in Jesus today have not even died yet. And that's the problem. You see when Paul describes this union with Jesus in Romans 6 and Colossians 3 he talks about there's a death that's occurred when you come to Christ you've died with him and you've been raised with him.

That's his whole mindset. If you've come to Christ you've died the old self crucified with Christ and you're raised with him. A death has occurred. And you see the mindset of a person who believes that a death has already occurred and he's already new in Christ.

He is willing to walk into the toughest places. He's willing to go to the synagogues and be persecuted. What does Paul say. He says in one account in first Corinthians he says um I've been beaten times without number.

I've been stoned shipwrecked. Um I'm in danger from robbers my own countrymen. I was spent time afloat in the sea. I mean everything he says it's a light momentary affliction. And how do you think like that.

It's because you've already died. And in Acts chapter nine these people want him dead. These people are coming to Christ. The church is built up and people are being added to the church daily. How about an axe.

The famous scene Paul goes to the Areopagus. It's the it's a place in in history of the of the highest level of philosophy and intellectual debate. It was the intellectual capital of the ancient world Athens.

And what do you see him doing. You see him going there and proclaiming the truthfulness of the gospel. And he's not saying hey guys what do you think about this. Maybe maybe a good suggestion. You want to come join the club.

He says God has raised this Jesus up and now God commands men everywhere to repent. That was the proclamation of the gospel. It came with boldness. It came with power. It came with an urgency to it. And guess what.

It didn't hide. It went to them. Apollos in the book of Acts it says he's mighty. In the scriptures he was eloquent. And it says that when he was reasoning with the Jews it says he refuted them publicly proving that Jesus was the Messiah.

And the Bible does not say that was a wrong thing to do. Of course we have personal relationships. Of course we have friendships. I'm going to have lunch probably this this week with a really well-known Mormon apologist that has written for fair and farms.

I've known him for 17 years. He's a great friend. We're going to go have lunch together. We hung out at the temple doing evangelism. He hung out and laughed and spent hours of discussion just hanging out getting to know each other.

When his son died of cancer I prayed with that man. We're good friends but he knows what I will tell him. When we talk about Jesus you see the proclamation of the gospel has to come with a commitment to Christ as Lord and has to come with a boldness.

If we're ever going to change the world with the gospel if God is ever going to do that through us it's going to come with us as a church repenting of our indifference. It's going to have to come with us as a church realizing we've done this wrong.

We have to go to the culture and tell them the gospel. We have to proclaim it with boldness. And I want to say this very significant because you might think that in doing this we might offend. And I want to say yeah yeah.

When you preach the gospel people are going to hate you. And if you're afraid of that then I want to ask you to read your bibles. Jesus says they're going to persecute you. They're going to hate you. If they hated him they're going to hate you too.

And if you desire to be loved I would ask you to read Galatians chapter one where Paul says am I seeking to please men or God. If I was still seeking to please men I would not be the servant of Christ.

You have to make that decision. Who are you going to please. But I want to I want to suggest one more thing to you so that you don't think that. Um I'm suggesting you be abusive in your proclamation of the gospel.

And that is go to second Timothy 2 24 through 26. So the first thing I'm going to talk to you about that boldness but I want to I want to tell you how it should come. Second Timothy chapter 2. Second Timothy chapter 2 verses 24 through 26.

Listen listen to how Paul words this. He says in verse 24 the Lord's slave must not quarrel but must be gentle to everyone able to teach and patient instructing his opponents with gentleness perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth.

Then they may come to their senses and escape the devil's trap having been captured by him to do his will. Well you see Paul this is the dude that's going into the places that's proclaiming the gospel.

They're having to lower him out of city walls like by a basket because people are wanting to kill him. I mean there's dudes like saying I'm not going to eat nothing until Paul is dead. That's the kind of life he's living.

And here's what he says. You must be like this gentle able to teach patient when wronged. And he says if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. So when you talk about bringing the gospel to the culture to atheists to Mormons to Jehovah's Witnesses it has to come with a boldness a proclamation of the gospel understanding that Romans chapter one said is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation.

Did you hear that it's the gospel that's the power of God for salvation. But it's also with a humble boldness. Because realizing that I don't have any power to change anybody's heart or minds. I come with the gospel.

I deliver it and I deliver it with boldness and confidence and and truth. But I also deliver it knowing that I don't have any power to change anybody's mind. I bring the message and God opens eyes and hearts and he turns people to himself leading to a knowledge of the truth.

That's what you can do with humble boldness. I want to confess something to you 18 years old I moved to Arizona. I'm not going to give you the whole story but I went to the Mormon temple when I was 18 years old.

I was 1996 and I want to say that I definitely love these people and I brought them the truth and I cared for them and I sacrificed my life for them. But I know that there were elements then of arrogance and pride in the sense that I thought it was my job to convince them so that they would be saved.

But the truth is and God shaped my heart a lot over the last decade is that it is God who saves it is God who saves mightily and he does it all. And you can be humble when you understand that you don't have anything to do with this.

You bring the truth and God opens eyes. You proclaim the gospel and it's God who's going to change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh like Ezekiel 36 says. That's how you can be humble understanding that it's God who grants repentance.

It's God who grants faith. It's God who opens eyes and gives ears to hear. But it comes understanding that Romans chapter 1 says in verse 16 that it is the good news that is the power of God for salvation.

Let me just suggest something when I talked about we're in a cultural crisis is having some sort of a weird idea that no Christian in the first century church held and that is that people get saved by watching you.

Nobody comes to Christ by watching your life. Please live as a Christian please glorify God with your lives. But no one's ever getting saved until they hear the message or they see it. Amen. We have to bring it.

Knowledge Begins with the Fear of the Lord

So I want to suggest you a couple things here real fast. Number one first point and think you guys already have this because Bob's a genius and he made me write all that down for you guys. So apologetics to the glory of God.

Number one thinking and reasoning as a Christian. First thing I already mentioned to you first thinking and reasoning as a Christian if we're going to do it to the glory of God 1 Peter 3 15 says very simply that we are to set Christ apart as Lord.

The word they're sanctifying is like something you would use say in the temple and you would set it apart as holy. You set it apart from everything else as a holy thing. And Peter says for Christians to first set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts always being ready to give a apologia a reason defense for the hope that's within you.

So first set Christ apart as Lord you got to think and reason like a Christian. That's to say when I engage a conversation with a person there is no neutrality. I am not neutral and neither are they. If you have something to write down and you want to write it down put it in big bobo letters.

The myth of neutrality. Nobody is neutral. Everybody's an image bearer of God and everybody knows him. The problem isn't a lack of evidence or light. It's a problem of a suppression of truth. Roman chapter 1 says that in verse 18 it says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

What's the problem. Is it that they don't know. No it's that they do know. But like us before Christ they're rebels against the king and image bearers of God that are rebels against the king will always be in a process of shoving down.

It's like the whack-a-mole game. You know what I'm talking about. Whack-a-mole. You got that table there and all those things are popping up. The life of the unbeliever is these moments of of imageness of God popping up and they're just knocking it down knocking it down knocking it down.

We are not neutral and neither are there. You have to first start all your evangelism and your apologetics with a commitment to Christ as Lord. First listen. They're not neutral and neither are we. I'm going to take you to another passage and that's Matthew chapter 12 verse 30.

And this is very very important laying the foundations for apologetics to the glory of God. Matthew chapter 12. And this is verse 30. Many of you guys already know the passage but I'll let you think about it in the light of apologetics.

Matthew 12 30. Here's what the Lord Jesus says. Matthew chapter 12 verse 30. Anyone who is not with me is against me. And anyone who does not gather with me. Scatters can can we stop for a moment and just breathe that text in.

And and I just want to suggest to us have we and this question have we taken that statement and really absorbed it to really think through all the implications of what it's saying. Jesus says whoever's not with me is against me.

So when I said to you that neutrality is a myth do you see where I'm getting that there is no such thing as neutrality. Not in government not in school not in politics not in religious discussion. There is no neutrality.

Everybody has a commitment to either Christ as Lord and as King or not. Jesus says if you're not with me you are against me. We say is it really like that decisive. There's no gray area. Jesus says if you're not with me you're against me.

Period. And in our apologetic when we preach the gospel we have to proclaim the gospel with a commitment first to Christ Christ as Lord. Understanding that God calls me to abandon neutrality and submit myself to him as Lord of my reasoning of my thinking of all.

If you're not with him you're against him. And the next thing I want to suggest to us is Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7. Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 is a verse that most of you already know. It's always like on the graduation things for high school.

It's Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. We know that verse. But have you thought about the implications of it in apologetics in your defense of the faith. Think about it for a second.

And I want you to just pause for a moment and really let this set in. Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. What does that mean. It is the fear of God that is a starting point of any knowledge at all that there is no real true knowledge apart from first a reverent submission to God.

It's not to say that unbelievers don't know things they clearly do. It's to say that apart from God you can't really have knowledge. You can have no certainty. You can't really truly know anything apart from God.

I'll say it to you again. Think about the implications and the pure awesome sauce of that verse. Proverbs 1 7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. That's how mighty this God is. He is the source and foundation of all wisdom of all reason of all knowledge of all logic of anything at all.

This is the God that we bring to the world. Not a probable kind of God a more statistically probable he exists than not kind of God. It's the kind of God that gives you certainty that says apart from me you can't know anything anything.

And we're going to go into what that looks like in a moment. Another verse I think you need to hear in apologetics to the glory of God is Colossians. I need you to look at this verse. Colossians New Testament to the right of your Bible.

Revelation is too far. Colossians chapter 2. And this is verse 12. I'll go ahead and read it to you. I'm sorry I gave you the wrong reference there. It's Colossians 2 2. Sorry Colossians 2 2. I'll read ahead of it.

Actually 2 is good here. I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him all.

Right. So again here's another one of those bold statements of God in his word about knowledge and wisdom being hidden in God. He's the source of all knowledge and wisdom. All the all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.