Always Ready: Chap. 25 Ready to Reason

So I pulled an audible we're not going to do the next chapter if you how many people read the next chapter

All right. Good. You're ahead of the game All right I've decided to jump over to section 5

Having concluded everything but the last chapter of section 4 and that chapter was a lot of redundancy

So I decided to move ahead into section 5 and which is answers to apologetic

Challenges and I did remember My glasses this week

Boy, my screens dirty. I can see that now Was that my glasses? anyway

Ready to reason is the name of the chapter Bonson opens up his

This chapter with this quotation the Word of God No more needs defense than it does a lion in a cage.

Just let the lion loose And it will take care of itself. It's a very popular quote.

All right I'm not sure. I know Spurgeon has been credited with it, but I don't know if he was the originator of it

But it's been it's been around for a while Here's what

Bonson has to say about it He says well something like that assertion is indeed, right?

God is certainly not in need of anything Much less the puny efforts of any particular man or woman to defend his word.

He is the creator of heaven and earth Almighty in power sovereign in controlling all things

The Apostle Paul when reasoning with the Athenian philosophers made that very point

He declared that God is not worshipped with men's hands as though he needed Anything seeing that he gives to all life and breath and all things

Okay, that's his opening response to that quotation and then he continues and and this is all

This is nothing new. It's not specifically just geared towards apologetics

It's nothing new if God were ever to hunger for instance, and of course, this is a one of those hypotheticals

He would not need to tell us since the fullness of all creation is his

He depends upon nothing outside himself that's a part of our what we would call theology proper who talking about who who

God is and Everything outside of him depends upon him for its existence its qualities abilities accomplishments and Blessings and then he quotes again from the

Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 17 in him We live and move and have our being.

All right, I Like the way Bonson does this because if you look at that quote that quote can be misleading and he's going to get into that in a minute

But before he even answers that he's setting up here. Let's let's remember who

God is And that's why he takes this little sojourn down to what we would call theology proper and Then he continues

So it is obvious that God does not need our inadequate reasoning and our feeble attempts to defend his word

There's an operative word in that sentence. What do you think is the crucial word that everything hinges on?

Yes God does not need or inadequate reasoning and our feeble attempts to defend his word

Nevertheless the pious sounding remark which we began is still mistaken

So notice he does take somewhat issue with the statement that was made he said

It suggests that we should not concern ourselves with efforts at apologetics because God will directly take care of such matters himself now notice what he's saying and He's not talking

It's strictly theoretical. There are people in the Evangelical Church today that will use a quotation like that and say

I don't have to defend God God more powerful than I am he can take care of himself and That's the issue that we deal with in this in this chapter.

That's why I say this is a very important chapter It suggests we should not concern ourselves with efforts at apologetics because God will directly take care of such matters himself the remark is just as mistaken as Saying that God does not need us as evangelists now

I like that he put that one in because Has anybody here heard of a denomination called primitive

Baptists? Anybody? Got one just just Jerry No, no something different.

These primitive Baptists are Calvinist All right, but they is what we would term as hyper

Calvinist They don't believe in evangelism They believe in election and if God's gonna save somebody he's gonna bring them in So they don't believe in evangelism at all.

All right, so and they're using the same type of reason God doesn't need us He's all -powerful and if he's got to elect to save he'll save him.

All right And of course they they quote, you know, he could even make the stones cry out couldn't he?

Therefore Efforts at evangelistic witness are unimportant now again, that's he's not making a theoretical statement here

This is he's basing this on fact or a Person might misguidedly think that because God has the power

And ability to provide for his family With food and clothing without help from us.

He does not need us to go out and work tomorrow notice the thinking is the same and That's exactly what

Bonson is doing here. Bonson is showing the you know He's using logic to show if this is you're gonna be your attitude that God doesn't need us

To defend the faith that God doesn't need us to evangelize. Well, then you God doesn't need you to provide for your family either

Thinking like this is unbiblical It confuses what

God himself needs from us and what God requires of us

Notice the distinction God what is let me ask you flat.

What does God need from us? That's an easy one.

You all get a hundred All right But does God require something from us and we could go around the room here and we could come up with a long list of things that God requires from us and there's a very distinct difference in What God needs which again obviously is nothing

But what does he require of us? It assumes that God ordains the ends but not the meanest or at least

Not the instrumentality of created means This falls right in and he doesn't touch on this issue in this section, but it same issue

I preached a series of messages on prayer quite a few years ago now and The title of one was if God is sovereign why pray just think about it

And especially if God knows what we need before we ask him why pray?

Okay, it's that same type of mentality. Why why do we pray? Yes Because God does ordain the means as well as the end you want to see

God move pray that he moves That's exactly the message of scripture prayer is important, okay

There is no need for God to use our evangelistic witness our daily work for a paycheck or our defense of the faith

But he chooses to do so and he calls us to apply ourselves to them

Notice the things that that we're talking about here are things that not only does he tell us to do

Command to do but he tells us that we are to be diligent in doing those things and in fact the whole series on apologetics comes from from first Peter 3 15, right and what is is it is it left casually to us?

You say it's a good idea if somebody has a question for you about the hope that you have

You would be a good idea if you had some if you were ready Sometimes be prepared, right

Well, how about the realm of providing for your family? What does he say about that? It's a good idea

What does he say? If a man doesn't work he shouldn't eat

So these are these are not Sideline issues and he speaks very directly to them and notice of It's in the same realm.

We come into apologetics The Bible directs us to work

Although God could provide for our families in other ways the Bible directs us to evangelize even though God could use other means to call sinners to himself and The Bible also directs us to defend the faith not because God would be helpless without us

But because this is one of his ordained means of glorifying himself and vindicating his truth

So he has called us into this important task Christ speaks to the church as a whole through Jude Commanding us and here you see this is a corollary to 1st

Peter 3 15 Commanding us to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the

Saints I'm not going to touch that because that we could go off on a huge rabbit trail on that And which is not necessary false and heretical teaching

Was threatening the church and its grasp of gospel truth This is talking about Jude and Jude very well knew that God was in sovereign control and Indeed that God would in time directly deal with wicked teachers consigning them to everlasting condemnation

You think Jude? Read the book of Jude. We actually preached through Jude a

Couple times here. I know I preached to him didn't we do in Sunday school? somebody Did Oh behind my back

So It's at least twice Jude is a very important book, even though it's so short.

It's an extremely important book Still Jude also urged his readers themselves to contend with the error of false teaching

Not sitting back and expecting God would simply take care of it himself What are the ramifications?

What are the implications of that just so far? Throw that out to the floor. What are the implications of what we've seen thus far?

Tonight, do

I have to sit down take a nap? That's it

It's all you got yeah

Yeah, I mean how high is it on on? On God's list of priorities,

I mean we've seen it over and over again Urging his readers to contend with the faith urging them to be always ready to give an account.

All right. I mean Tells, you know in the pastor pits be ready in season and out of season

Okay, there's God's does God ever tell us so you just don't worry about it.

I'll take care of the evangelism Just the opposite. Yeah, he saved us to do just that was saved for good works.

Exactly Paul wrote to Titus That overseers that pastors and elders in the church are

Required to be especially adept at refuting those who oppose the truth of God Now it's specifically

I mean, it's the job of everybody in the congregation but it's

Especially for the elders of the church and the pastor you're shooting those who oppose the truth of God This neck you like that one there.

You see that I'll do it. I'll do it again for if you missed it All right. I've been having everything this way.

I just figured he could do it sideways This is following his outline in the book.

His first subsection is called what it isn't. That is what it what apologetics isn't

Says we should look at 1st Peter 3 15 Once again and notice a few things that it does not say one

It does not say that believers are supposed to take the initiative and start arrogant arguments with unbelievers

Telling them that we have all the answers. Is that a problem?

Is it a problem in the church? Do we know people have we seen them on TV and on news clips arrogantly challenging people in a very ungodly unloving way

And Ponson goes out of his way to say that's something that it's We're specifically not included in this

The text also indicates that the spirit in which we offer our apologetic Answer is one of gentleness and respect

So there's the first What it isn't Second another thing that 1st

Peter 3 15 does not say is that believers are responsible to persuade

Anybody who challenges or questions their faith What's what's the difference here from what?

It does say on a positive note Why is this and this is it should be important and if you've done any apologetics any evangelism you should very

Carefully understand this one Go ahead Remy. I mean, we don't have the power to Convince someone or to convert them.

I mean we just God tells us to contend for the faith But you know them converting is is the

Holy Spirit's work to just stand for the truth and just tell them Exactly we can offer sound reasons to the unbeliever

But we cannot make him or her subjectively believe those reasons

That's not in our power We are never told that we have to save somebody we it's impossible of us to save anybody.

Yeah so the nature of persuasion Makes the recipient the focus then

I Say also like if you approach like apologetics to to win an argument that's that's when those conversations become like in a sense offensive and Filled with pride instead of like you're sharing them these reasons

With humility and wanting them to to believe but knowing that you know, you don't have the power to do it

You can't change their mind. Yeah It also gives you great freedom

When you're up against somebody and it's particularly polemic in their style and all you just continually answer in grace and and love and And you know a soft answer turns away wrath just answer back that way and if the person gets old flustered and walks away

That's fine. Let him go. Okay, we can close the mouth of the critic

But only God can open the heart And that's an important one You know that and that's being ready if you're ready when somebody comes up and they make one of these lunatic

Statements if you can come back from the Word of God and put them down and silence them

That's exactly what presupposition apologetics is all about Answering the fool according to his folly

So he's not wise in his own eyes Can shut his mouth, but whether or not he accepts what you have to say

That's that is in God's province not ours Three yet another thing that first Peter 3 15 does not say is that defending the faith

Has a different ultimate authority than does the task of expounding the faith

What is he driving at here, please somebody you first said a myth of neutrality, which we have expounded upon Over and and over again from our pulpit

There is no such thing as neutrality. There is the only ultimate authority is the

Word of God and that's holds true for apologetics as evangelism

Remember evangelism and apologetics are not like two separate things.

They're two sides of the same coin Because you can't defend the faith without being evangelistic

And you can't be evangelistic without being apologetic Reason and reasoning this is the next chapter next subdivision

He says believers who aim to defend the faith make a serious mistake when they imagine then

That something like reason should displace Christ as the ultimate authority

Reason, what does he mean by that? And what does this highlight the fact that he would even make it notice?

He's got reason in quotes Why would he why would he say this at this point and that's rational, you know logical

Like supposedly neutral logic when people don't realize that our logic is tainted by sin

And so like believers like oh like let's just try to use reason since that's what they want to use but they don't realize that Everyone's reason is tainted because of sin and we need to rely upon the scriptures always otherwise you're giving up Because we also have to factor in that faith is

Essential in this process like Reason can only take us so far which is why

I like Plato and the philosophers that proceeded You know

Christ could only come to a certain point in their understanding of the divine where it's like faith is necessary Going right along with all of this we're presuppositional so to some people presuppositional is not going to be reasonable

And but we're not going to set that aside for their their need for a reason

Okay, well, let's just say that any reason that's not founded upon Christ is not true reason at all

You're all true Go ahead this highlights the difference between using faulty human reasoning come to a conclusion

Versus just relying on God to tell us the conclusion. So one is bottom -up.

The other one is top -down revelation from God not information from And why do you think it has reason in quotes because the unbeliever is a fool

Well, that's true Their reason is not based in Christ, it's not submitted to Christ.

So therefore it's not going to lead them to the truth Genuine reason Yes, that's the answer

I was looking for reason This goes back to and one of our first lessons in apologetics.

You got it define your terms Whether it's evangelism or apologetics somebody that you're

Speaking to can talk about reason and mean something completely different than what you mean

Because we believe that our faith is reasonable We do not believe that Christianity is a blind faith.

If you've ever said that confess it repent of it All right Christianity is not a blind faith.

It is a reasoned faith But it's and it's only reason if it's based upon the presuppositions of Scripture Then it becomes perfectly reasonable

I'll give you an example and I don't have this in notes here Is it reasonable to presume that dead men can be can live again?

If you read your science book It says no If you read the scriptures, it's perfectly reasonable

So you have to define your terms and be careful. Don't just accept somebody's terms

At face value Question them. What do you mean when you say reasonable? What do you mean by reason?

All right, and notice what he's saying here Reason that displace

Christ as the ultimate authority and isn't that just what the non -believer does? I'm gonna reason what is reasonable to who to me that sounds reasonable

I'm not going to use what the Bible says to me. That's not reasonable Okay They also fall short for I'm sorry

They also fall into very sloppy and confused thinking due to misunderstanding over the word reason

That's just what we've been talking about. I like his phraseology here.

Very sloppy and confused thinking Christians are often befuddled

About reason not knowing whether it is something to embrace or to eschew All right

This is usually because they do not pinpoint the precise way in which the word is being used That's just what we've been talking about Okay, it may very well be the most ambiguous and obscure word in the field of philosophy

And I think that we really I should have highlighted that phrase because When you go out onto the streets evangelism apologetics

You need to understand that he here is Bonson One of the most brilliant apologists and philosophers of the the 20th century and He's saying that the word reason is probably one of the most ambiguous and obscure words in the whole field of philosophy

That's because it's redefined. So so many times on The one hand reason can be thought of as the tool man's intellectual and or mental capacity

All right Taken in that sense reason is is a gift of God to man

So yes, our Christians meant to be reasonable. Of course, we are Reason is a gift from God if you're taking it in the right way that reason is a tool not to your authority

Seeing this is exactly what the non -believer does consistently taking something that is meant to be a tool and making it an authority

They're misusing the word when God bids Wait a minute, hold on indeed part of the divine image

The fact that we can reason that we can think is because we are made in the image of God If if we were not made in the image of God we would not be reasoning reasonable people

When God's bid his when God bids his people come let us reason together

We see that like God are capable of rational thought and communication this is why we say we can own the reason that we can even engage in evangelism and apologetics with the non -believer is they're borrowing from our worldview and Here he says it that much.

I mean very Distinctly we can see that like God we are capable of rational thought and communication

And that's always one of the words you want to go If somebody starts talking about logic and reason what's your basis for your logic?

How do you know it is and well, there's a whole host of things you can do from that God has given us our mental abilities to serve and glorify him

It is part of the Greatest commandment of the law that we should love the Lord thy God with all thy mind reason not ultimate on the other hand

Reason can be thought Thought of as an ultimate and independent authority or a standard by which man judges all claims to truth even

God's This is what you're going to run into more most often so you can see that reason look at the two

How disparate the disparity between them One is a tool

Gift from God the other it becomes an independent authority Against the

Word of God one is with it one is against Okay in this sense

Reason is a law unto itself as though man's mind were self -sufficient

Not in need of divine revelation This so you can see why it's so important to define your terms

This attitude commonly leads people to think that they are in a position to think independently to govern their own lives to judge the credibility of God's Word based upon their own insight and authority and We see where does that lead us?

to the 21st century I Just look around us. I Could go off and preach right there, but I won't

Reason as God's gift. Here's the other side of the coin Should Christians endorse the use of reason to equal but opposite mistakes are made are possible in answering that question

Obviously by now you you realize that reason is something that we should be using but Bonson is playing devil's advocate here

You have two equal and opposite mistakes One Believers can recognize the appropriateness of using reason

Taken as their intellectual faculty Now this would be somebody who recognizes the role of reason as a tool.

All right but then Slide into endorsing reason as intellectual autonomy

These are apologists who Do not hold to our presuppositional myth out methodology.

And what do they do? They say? Well, yes I know the Bible is your ultimate authority, but when we're reasoning with people on the outside, we can't use it because they don't accept it

And that's what he calls a slide into endorsing reason as intellectual autonomy or two believers can recognize the inappropriateness of reason as Intellectual autonomy, which is the position we take but then mistakenly

Think this entails rejecting reason as an intellectual faculty There are some

Brands of evangelical Christianity where they will not engage in apologetics there are those who reject any type of Reason I I went to church with a fellow who would not read a book other than the

Bible He says all I need is the Bible He's rejected any type of intellectualism and reasoning and even the teaching of past saints and and Obviously can see

How far that goes? All right, but and that's what it's talking rejecting reason as an intellectual faculty

What they're doing is they're actually rejecting the way God has made us he has made us intelligent reasoning beings and And all through the scripture we are told to use those faculties.

In fact to not use them is to delve into sin the first group honors

God's gift to man of reasoning ability But dishonors

God through its rationalism The second group honors God's ultimate authority and the need for obedience in all aspects of man's life

But dishonors God through anti intellectual pietism Neither is good.

So Paul counterbalances both of those areas in Colossians 2 and The first one he writes down all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are deposited in Christ That's verse 3 of Colossians 2 you see that All the treasure wisdom and knowledge are deposited in Christ That's where we have to that's where we have to stay and understand that and according me

We must beware lest anyone rob you through philosophy even vain deceit

Which is after the tradition of men after the elementary principles of the world and not after Christ now again

We've covered that extensively in prior lessons, so I'm not going to comment on those on the other hand

It is equally plain from Colossians 2 that Paul does not endorse reasoning and philosophy

Which refused to honor the ultimate authority of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is in Christ that wisdom and knowledge are found any alleged wisdom which follows the traditions of men and Elementary principles of the world rather than crisis to be rejected as dangerous and deceitful

Sharpening the tool. This is his last section Reason properly understood that's reasoning is to be endorsed by believers in Christ in Particular it is to be employed in defending the

Christian faith probably more than any other Use of reason right is for a further believer is in defending the faith

Because that's the most crucial use of it This is one of the things which Peter communicates communicates communicates to us when he wrote that we should always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asked you a

Reason for the hope Within you a word of explanation and defense is to be offered to those who challenged the truth of our

Christian faith We are not to obscure the glory and veracity of God by answering unbelievers with appeals to blind faith or thoughtless commitment and it is an absolute shame

If you've ever heard somebody who doesn't study With the purpose of being able to defend the faith and being caught in a position at a workplace

I can remember Police officer that I worked with and he was a

Christian and I walked in on a conversation that he was having with one of the our co -workers and This guy all he kept saying was no you just got accepted by faith

It's well, why should I he says well because you just have to accept it by faith You know, well, how do you know it's true because I feel it right here, you know

That is not Defending the gospel. It's not being ready to give an answer and That's what what

Bonson calls a blind faith or thoughtless commitment. Where do you ever hear that other I can feel it right here

That's exactly what the cults do the Mormons in particular We are not to give answers in that way

We had a cast down reasonings and every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God Realizing all along that we cannot do so unless we ourselves bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ See it keeps swinging back again

Sometimes this he sounds very redundant and he is a little bit But when he is there's usually a reason for it in this year like we've covered this in past lessons

But it's so crucial that we understand that and not abandon it because it's so easy to do

So when you're under fire when you're in the trenches, you know, you get a little bit you know overloaded so to speak to just Abandon your precepts and you can't do that in first Peter 315

Peter uses the expression always ready This is significant for those who wish to honor the biblical necessity of engaging in Apologetics What the

Lord asks of us is that we'd be prepared to offer an answer in defense of our faith

Whenever anybody asks us for a reason we ought to be ready to do this indeed always ready

Think you said always ready enough and that means that it's imperative that we reflect on the questions that unbelievers are likely to ask and challenges whoops,

I'm sorry and Challenges which are commonly laid down to Christianity. We should study and be prepared to give

Reasons for our faith when the faithless ask and then he closes with this paragraph here

Christians need to sharpen the tool of their reasoning of their reasoning ability

So as to glorify God and vindicate the claims of the gospel We should all give our best efforts in the service of our

Savior who termed himself the truth Every believer wants to see the truth of Christ believed and honored by others

And that is why we need to be ready to reason with unbelievers This study and those which follow are intended to help us become better prepared for that necessary task

Questions when

I put these on you guys are just like a blurry mass Not much better Any questions

I Suppose I asked for it any thoughts questions