Basic Apologetics (12/31/2023)

All right, let's turn to the book of First Peter, First Peter chapter three, and the title of this morning's message is

Basic Apologetics, Basic Apologetics. There are a few things that every

Christian ought to do and be able to do, along with being a baptized, giving, serving member of a local church.

I think every Christian ought to be able to tell people what they believe and why they believe it.

Can you do that? If somebody asked you, what do you believe? Hopefully you can explain to them the

Christian faith, the gospel, but then if they ask you, okay, that's what you believe, why do you believe that?

Especially considering there's all these other religions or they have this argument, why do you believe that?

Maybe you've never been put in that position, but we all need to be ready.

This is what Peter is going to say, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready, the apostle says.

So we're gonna read this passage in just a moment, but basic apologetics. I mean, what does the word apologetic mean?

It doesn't mean that we apologize for our faith. It basically means to give a reply, to give a defense.

The Greek word apologia literally means to give a defense. So let's begin reading 1

Peter 3, starting in verse eight. Peter says, finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another.

Love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessings, knowing that you are called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So already we're seeing that before Peter gets to that apologetic verse that always gets quoted in any sermon or lecture on apologetics, that he starts out by talking about having a good testimony because if you're a jerk or if you are just a wicked person or if you say you're a

Christian, but you're obviously not living the life and everyone can see it, it's not gonna matter what you say.

We continue verse 13. And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed and do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled.

And now here's that verse that speaks to what we're talking about this morning. First Peter 3 .15,

but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear or with gentleness and respect.

So in every sermon I've ever heard, every Bible study, every lecture on apologetics, this is always the main verse that is quoted.

This may be with Jude 3, where Jude talks about contending earnestly for the faith.

But I read this verse, not just verse 15, but I read the verses prior for a reason to get some context.

And also look at the verses following 16 and 17. Peter says, having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed for it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

So you see this presupposes that Christians are gonna have an uphill battle to begin with.

I mean, if you're a Christian, you're living the Christian life and you wanna tell people about Jesus, you're gonna have a hard enough time as it is.

If you have a bad testimony, again, people aren't gonna listen to what you have to say. So it's so important that we see this, that we need to love one another, we need to be a blessing, we need to, if we do suffer, it should be for being a

Christian, we should suffer for doing good rather than for doing evil. So if we want people, the point is if we want people to listen to the gospel, they need to know that number one, we really believe this ourselves, and then number two, our conduct has to be such that they see we actually care.

You know, this is one problem with apologetics and defending the faith and getting into these back and forth arguments that they turn into an argument and people perceive that you're just trying to win a debate.

You're just trying to win an argument. You're just trying to prove that you're right and they're wrong.

And if they think that's all you're in it for, even if you are right, they're still not going to accept what you have to say.

They need to see that you care, okay? Number one, you really believe it, it has to be evident, and number two, they have to see that you care.

Christians, let me test you here, Christians are supposed to be known primarily for one thing, not just for one thing, but above all we are to be known,

Jesus talks about this, for our what? Love. Love, right? Our love, our love for one another.

So Christians, how are we doing in this area? Well, I mean, I just prayed in the beginning of the service here that for whatever reason, churches aren't working together anymore.

I mean, you can have a church that's literally right next door to another Bible -believing church and they don't do anything.

They don't even talk. They have no cooperation, no nothing. I mean, what kind of testimony is that?

But yeah, you have this problem where for whatever reason, Christians are not always showing that love for one another.

On a personal level, some people do a really good job and some of us have some work to do, but that needs to be first and foremost, our love for one another and then our love for humanity.

Obviously, our love for God is what motivates all of this. So really, what is supposed to be our greatest strength, our love, and how we are to live differently from everyone else, it sometimes turns into our biggest weakness.

But if people can see your love and they can see that your faith is genuine, that you really believe it and that it impacts your life in a positive way, they're gonna be that much more inclined to listen.

So then, let's get into it a little bit. What do we believe and why do we believe it?

I had that sermon a couple weeks ago about the essentials, essentials versus non -essentials.

And I said there probably is a list of essential teachings that we believe that God is triune in nature,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe in the deity of Christ. We believe in the person and work of the

Holy Spirit, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, the substitutionary atonement, his resurrection from the dead, the

Bible as our authority. And there's all those primary doctrines, we might say.

But why do we believe that? And can we have a response?

Do we have a response when people come at us and maybe have an argument that, hey, well, this isn't true or this, you know, the big thing today, of course, is evolution, right?

Every kid, more and more Christians are homeschooling their children, but every child who goes into the public school system, they're essentially taught that Christianity and the

Bible isn't true because of evolution. So when somebody brings that to you, when they bring that to your child, okay, are you equipped to deal with it?

Are they equipped? Where do you go in the Bible? Okay, these are all things we have to be ready for, right? And there's a lot more going on than just the evolution issue.

But here's the thing, here's the best advice I can give. Read the Bible for yourself.

Every day, even if it's just a little bit, read the Bible for yourself.

Read it every day, make it a habit. Here's the thing, if you don't do that, you're not gonna be equipped, bottom line.

This is January or December 31st. January 1st will be tomorrow.

This is often the time where I preach a whole sermon about the scripture and starting a

Bible reading plan, right? If you're gonna do it, most people, if they're gonna read through the Bible in a year, they start tomorrow, right?

Well, let's say you don't start tomorrow. Hey, start January 8th, whatever.

What's important is that you read the Bible, okay? So if you're not willing to read the scripture on your own, you're not gonna be able, you're not gonna be equipped to do this.

So number one, read scripture for yourself and then listen to sound preaching, sound teaching, familiarize yourself with God's word.

And honestly, listening to 30 minutes for me once a week isn't enough, isn't enough.

So fill that time during the week with Bible reading and listening to sound teaching because God's word is powerful.

What are we using as our main defense? Giving a response, are we gonna use logic?

Are we gonna use philosophy? Are we gonna use history and archeology? We might use some of that, but first and foremost, our response has to be with replying for what does the word of God say?

Because the word of God, that's where the power is. So number one, if you take notes, a good testimony is essential.

That's number one. Number two, only God's word, working together with the

Holy Spirit is actually gonna be able to convince a person. So in this message, here's what

I've done. Instead of going through, again, all the primary doctrines and trying to defend that with scripture, maybe

I'll do that in a future lesson, but what I decided to do, I compiled the top 10 objections to Christianity, and I'm gonna go through them, and I'm going to give a reply.

So this is one way to learn. You don't have to repeat the same argument that I give, but you should be able to see how it's done and think about, okay, how would

I respond? Or how would I respond, anticipate other arguments? Okay, here's what someone at work said about the

Bible one time. I didn't get a chance to respond, but if I have that chance again, here's what

I will say. I want you all to think about that. So we're gonna go through these top 10 objections to Christianity.

So are you ready? Okay, let's go through them. Number one, people say that they don't believe in Christianity, number one reason, because Christians are hypocrites.

So what does the word hypocrite mean? Well, it basically means an actor. Like you're just putting on a front.

This isn't really who you are. This isn't really the way you act. You're putting on a front, you're playing a role.

So a man or woman pretends to be something he or she isn't. That's what it means to be a hypocrite.

Okay, here's what the scripture says about hypocrisy. Romans 12 verse nine, let love be without what?

Hypocrisy, abhor what is evil and cling to what is good.

Okay, so that's what the scripture says about hypocrisy. Now, this argument against the faith.

First thing I notice, it's not really an argument against the faith, is it?

It's not even an argument about Jesus, because I don't really hear anyone saying that Jesus is a hypocrite.

So it's not an argument against the faith. It's not an argument against Jesus. It's really just an ad hominem attack upon people who profess to be followers of Christ.

I mean, someone might disagree with me. I think this charge that Christians, if we're just gonna talk about true

Bible believing, because we all realize there are Christians who are hypocrites, and every human being, probably at times, acts hypocritically.

I mean, that's life. But generally speaking, I don't actually think this is true.

Are there professing Christians like this? Yes, but in any organization, in all walks of life, you're gonna find that.

But pretending to be someone you're not, many Christians, they are who they are.

You are who you are. Most Christians that I know, they're far from perfect, but they're genuine.

Okay, they're genuine people. They have flaws. Besides, here's the thing about this charge of hypocrisy.

Every true believer that I know admits that they're a sinner. This is what really gets me.

Who are the people in the world that say, well, I'm a good person, I'm such a good person, or if there is a

God, if there is a heaven, of course I would go because I'm such a good person. Well, if you say that, you're denying the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So the people who say they're good are not actually the Christians. The Christians are the ones who say,

I'm a sinner who's only saved by the grace of God. How can you be a hypocrite when that's your testimony?

I don't know, that just doesn't make sense to me. Romans 3 .23 says that all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.

So if the Christian admits that openly, really this idea, well, I'm not a Christian because of Christians.

I think Gandhi once said that. He said, I really like Christ, but I don't like those who have his name.

I don't like Christians or something like that. As if he didn't have any flaws. And I could get into all the stuff that he did, but that's not really the point.

What is it? It's an ad hominem attack. It is actually not an argument against the faith at all.

So null and void, it's not an argument against Christianity. Next, okay.

The next argument against Christianity is that Christianity is a crutch.

It's a crutch. Now you said amen to the first, I'll say amen to this. Hey, Christianity is a crutch.

You Christians just rely on God. You're just depending on God. So? Like what's the problem?

What do you depend on? Yeah, they're depending on all sorts of things that are ruining their life.

But yeah, do we depend on God? Sure, no problem there. Who came up with this argument?

Well, Karl Marx, the author of the Communist Manifesto, he once said that religion is the opiate of the masses.

Karl Marx and others who share that worldview, he claimed and his followers claim that Christianity is only for the weak.

People only cling to Christianity, they only get involved with it as a way to cope with life's pressures.

First of all, there's nothing wrong with turning to God for help. 1 Peter 5, 7 tells us to cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you.

So if Christians use it as a crutch, you know, like I said, you people just cling to God and whatever,

I don't see the problem, personally. And then you look at the people making that argument, what do they depend on?

And listen, I'm not trying to call anyone out here, but I know, have known throughout the years, people that they get stressed out, they're trying to cope, and they turn to, you know, hey,

I need a cigarette, I'm stressed out, I need a cigarette. That's really bad for your health. Turning to prayer would be a lot better than turning to cigarettes.

That's one way people cope. Again, not calling anyone out, most people that smoke wish they could quit, so not trying to make anyone feel bad.

Another thing that people turn to, very common thing, drugs and alcohol. I can't cope with life, so I turn to the bottle.

Well, you tell me, is Christianity better than that? Turning to God and prayer better than that?

Yeah. Because turning to God actually gives you strength as opposed to wrecking your life with substances.

And people turn to gambling and all sorts of different things. Sex and the pursuit of wealth and power, that's how the world copes.

So again, I don't really see this as a valid argument because they're just as guilty, and hey,

I own it, but it ain't a problem. So hopefully we're seeing so far that these arguments, they're weak arguments, number one, and they're not even really arguments against the

Christian faith itself. I think, and you can usually turn this around on people, which

I think you should do that, okay? Now, if somebody points something out and you're guilty, then acknowledge when you're wrong, okay?

Don't just turn everything around on somebody just because. But oftentimes you can, because people will project and they'll accuse you of things, they're just as guilty, if not more so.

So sometimes people have referred to this as jujitsu apologetics, where you take the strength and momentum of their argument and you use it against them.

So most of the time, this is a good strategy. This usually works.

One thing people will say, they'll say, well, you know, Christianity, you claim that this is true, this is like the truth, but as we know today, we live in an enlightened time, we know there's no such thing as absolute truth.

What do you do with that argument? You turn it around on them, right?

There's no such thing as absolute truth. Okay, is that true?

Is what you're saying, there's like no truth, so what you're saying must not be true then, right?

You see how that works? Again, most of the time, it works. Or people say, well,

Christianity is to blame for most of the warfare and the death and destruction in the world today.

That is not true at all. Yes, you can point back 800 years, 900 years to the

Crusades and some terrible things happened from the Catholic Church, okay?

I'm not Catholic, that doesn't really stick to me, but they'll say that Christianity is responsible for all the warfare and the death.

Wrong, it's Marxism that's responsible for 100 million people dead in the 20th century.

Marxist ideology, and it's usually Marxists who bring these arguments. So again, turn it around on them.

They're actually, their ideology is the one that's responsible for all sorts of death and destruction.

Okay, so you see how that works? Turn it around. I'll say it one more time, just in case.

Nobody misquotes me. If you're actually wrong and somebody brings up something that, yes, take ownership if you're wrong, fine.

Don't turn that around, but generally speaking, it works. Okay, the next objection on the list.

People say that they reject Christianity. They can't accept the idea that Jesus is the only way to God.

They say that is so narrow. Okay, that is so narrow -minded to think that Jesus is the only way to God.

Is it narrow? Yes, yeah. Okay, well, some people say no, some say yes.

Here's, okay, here's the thing about truth. Truth is narrow.

For example, two plus two equals four. I know, in 2020, there's the, people are making the argument that to say two plus two equals four is like evidence of white supremacy.

Remember, you heard this? Systemic something, I don't know. They made some argument, but we all know two plus two equals four.

Four is the only correct answer, right? Amen? Okay, good. How many wrong answers are there?

Trillions, untold wrong, okay. There's only one truth. Truth, by its very nature, is exclusive.

Truth is always narrow. There's only one thing that's true, and then a million things that are false, okay.

So, oh, I can't be a Christian because this idea of Jesus is the only way, or there's only one truth.

Well, if it's true, that's gonna be the case. It has to be the case. What does the

Bible say about this? Because there will be some Christians who try to wiggle out of this, and it's like with the evolution thing.

Now there's Christians compromising. They'll say, well, you know, okay, maybe we'll just compromise and say that the

Bible and evolution are compatible. Wrong. I mean, if you wanna lose the argument, then give in, compromise, you just lost.

Some Christians will do this as well. They say, okay, I believe in Jesus. This is my way.

It's the best way, but it's not the only way. But I'm still a Christian. I do believe there's other paths to God.

You're shooting yourself in the foot. I mean, that's not true. John 14, verse six.

Everyone knows what Jesus said. I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No man comes unto the

Father except through me. That's what Jesus said. Acts 4 .12.

Peter said, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Well, that's just so narrow. Okay, you're right. It's narrow because it's true.

Again, one path. There's a billion false paths.

The devil can make up 1 ,000 new religions tomorrow. They're all wrong. There's only one true path.

What did Jesus say himself? Matthew 7, 13 and 14. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.

Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

So, is it narrow? Yes, but if it's true, it has to be narrow.

Truth is always narrow. Two plus two equals four. I think that's a powerful argument. Next, they say

Christianity and the gospel, it's just totally unnecessary. Here's what people say.

I don't need to be a Christian because really all that matters is that you live a good life.

Here's what people say. You don't need to be a Christian. You don't need God. You don't need Christianity.

All you need to do is just be a good person. There's a lot of people who feel this way.

Maybe the majority of Americans would say something along these lines.

Well, again, I gotta turn it around and say, okay, live a good life.

Are you living a good life? And they all say, yes, I'm a good person.

Of course, they might be the hypocrite saying they're good when they're not. The scripture says there is none good.

No, not one. There is none righteous. But you have to ask, what's the definition of good?

Whose definition of good are you going on? That's what I would ask. Is what do people do?

They set themselves up as the standard. I am good and I am better than all these people.

So therefore, I'm living up because I'm better than them. Well, you might be better than them, but they're not the standard.

You're not the standard. Guess who's the standard? God is the standard. The Lord is the standard.

Okay, you're better than them, but you're not as good as all these people. So where does that leave you? So you have to ask, good based on whose standard.

And really what they're doing, they're borrowing. Atheists, agnostics will do this. I'm a good person.

Well, they don't believe in God. They don't believe in absolute truth. So what does good even mean, right?

Who sets the standard for good? American culture? I mean, really, do you wanna go there? American culture sets the standard for good.

What about all the countries that condemn us and our way of life? You realize American culture, the way it is, we condemn our own way of life because people back in the 50s were all terrible and nevermind going back to the 1800s.

We condemn ourselves. It's a shifting standard, but they're borrowing from Christianity.

They're borrowing from a Christian worldview that there actually is such a thing called good. But again,

I think all of these arguments fall flat. Now, I do have to say, I think there are some difficult objections to Christianity.

I don't wanna make it sound like a person couldn't bring some argument that would really make you stop and think.

That's probably the case. But all of the major arguments against the faith, again, I believe they're falling flat.

The next objection on the list, people say they reject Christianity because they just can't accept, wait a minute, that's,

I already read that one, nevermind. Scratch that. They say, what about these people who never heard about Jesus?

Now, this is an argument that Christians have kind of struggled with. You're saying that Jesus is the only way, the only way of salvation.

We say, yeah. What about all the people that have never heard? What about those who have never heard the gospel?

Have you encountered this argument? You've probably wondered about this. I know, I've dealt with this.

What about those who have never heard about Jesus? Or here's one way of putting it. What about the poor, innocent native in the jungle?

Let's start with that argument. Well, first of all, he's not innocent. Just because you're living in the jungle doesn't mean you're innocent.

Again, Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. So the man in the jungle needs a savior, just like the guy in New York City.

We all need a savior. So there's none innocent. That's the first part.

But you say, but it's not fair because he's never heard the gospel. Let's turn to Psalm chapter 19 for a moment.

Psalm 19. Yeah, that's true. There are people who have never heard about Jesus.

I would say this is one reason why we need more churches and individuals supporting missions, okay?

Is if you wanna have people hear about Jesus, then we should support missions.

So that's one way to solve the problem. Before we read from Psalm 19,

I told you, right? Let me read from Romans 1.

Romans chapter 1, verse 20 says, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.

You realize what that verse is saying? Every person on earth knows that there's a

God. The person in the jungle, they might not know the name of Jesus, but they know that there is a

God. Look at Psalm 19, verses one and two. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech and night unto night reveals knowledge.

Continues on. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out through all the earth in their words to the end of the world.

Basically, everyone all over the earth, they know that God exists. So if somebody is in the jungle searching for God and they want to know who

God is, what did Jesus say? Knock and what? It'll be open to you. Seek and you will find. I believe if there truly is someone seeking

God, God will send a minister of the gospel. He'll send a missionary. He'll send a

Christian to share with them that truth. Genesis 18, verse 25, basically says that the

God of all the earth will do what is right. There's never gonna be a single person who didn't have an opportunity.

Everyone has some knowledge. It's just a matter of what do they do with that knowledge.

So, guy out in the jungle, never heard. If he's seeking God, he will find him.

The next objection people say, but they'll say, but the Bible's filled with errors. How can

I be a Christian? How can I believe the Bible when the Bible is just filled with mistakes? 99 % of the time, all you have to do is say, okay, name two or three.

They'll be like, well, you know, they're in there, trust me. They won't be able to give it to you.

At the same time, I admit, there are some arguments that are difficult, okay?

But let me just ask you, is the Bible filled with errors? I mean, the

Bible is a big book. Even if you granted there were a few errors, which we do not grant, okay, it's certainly not filled with errors.

What does the scripture say? 2 Timothy 3 .16 says that all scripture is inspired by God.

It is God -breathed. So the Bible is God's word, okay? So it's all true, and not only is it inspired, it's also been preserved.

Jesus said in Matthew 24 .35, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.

I would put up the challenge, you show me one statement in the Bible that isn't true,

I don't think you can do it. What will they point to? Evolution, right? Where's the evidence for evolution?

Doesn't exist, doesn't exist. The Bible has been proven true again and again.

I'll say this, most arguments can be dealt with by a local church pastor.

There are some very difficult arguments that a skilled apologist will be,

I don't have time to get into it all, but a skilled apologist will be able to answer any and all claims, okay?

The Bible isn't filled with errors, people cannot give you those errors. Every time someone's come to me with something,

I've been able to show them in two minutes, and they'll say, okay, I understand, that's not a contradiction.

So it's simply not true, is the point. Next objection, now we're running low on time, but we have a few more, and these are all kind of the same objection, just kind of posed a different way.

They say, if God is so good, why is there evil? Okay, this is the question of the theodicy.

If God is so good, why is there evil? First of all, you gotta turn it around, what's your standard of evil?

You're talking about good and evil, where do you get that standard? Who says, who says what's good, who says what's evil?

That's the first thing you could ask. But we would say that the answer is twofold.

First, God is not the author of sin. Did God create evil in the earth?

No, okay, he created the angels, and he gave them what we might call a free will, and Lucifer fell,

Lucifer rebelled. And then his rebellion, Lucifer came, the

Garden of Eden, he led man into sin. So all of the sin, the suffering, in the world today, it's the result of God, it's

God doing it, wrong. Who's the one doing it? It's man, man is responsible, and you know this, just open up a newspaper, who's responsible for the evil in the world?

It's not God, it's man. And yet, God somehow gets all the blame.

So Adam and Eve sitting in the garden, that is why evil is on the earth. That answer doesn't really satisfy people.

What they're really asking is, why doesn't God step in? Why doesn't God step in and do something about it?

I mean, you have the Holocaust, and all these millions of people being murdered, why didn't God step in and do something about it?

Isn't that what a lot of people are asking, when you boil it all down? So why didn't

God step in? Let's say that God saw the 10 -year -old child,

Adolf Hitler, at 10, 12 years old, and God said, I know what he's gonna do, and God struck him dead.

You know what people would say? How could God strike a 10, 12 -year -old boy dead like that?

That's what people would say. You know what people do? They just blame God for everything. No matter what

God does, he gets the blame. If God doesn't step in and act, God's at fault. If God steps in and does something about it, then how can

God do that? It's a no -win situation. They've sort of cooked the books.

And that kind of leads to the next question, which is basically, if God is good, or here's the question, why do bad things happen to good people?

Okay, again, there's none good. A bad thing only happened to a good person one time, and that was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

An injustice happened to a man who was without sin, and he took the sin of the world upon himself.

He chose to do that. But remember, there's none good. Okay, we'll just skip ahead to this final question.

Again, these last three are all sort of the same, but the ultimate question that the doubters and the skeptics have, and honestly, many

Christians have probably thought this, wondered about this, how can a good God send someone to hell?

How can a good God send someone to hell? You know what? People's answer to this these days, we'll just deny hell.

We'll just get rid of hell and say it's not real. That's what some people are doing. The gut reaction, and I think

I would probably say this, it's not so much God sending people there. People go to hell because of their own choice to reject the one true

God. God has offered salvation, and let's face it, you know this is true, man would rather live his life without God.

And if that's what man's choice is, God is gonna say, okay, if that's what you want, you'll get that for all eternity, life without me.

C .S. Lewis once put it this way, hell is the greatest monument to human freedom.

He said there are two types of people in the world, those who say to God, thy will be done, and then those to whom

God says in the end, thy will be done. So I think in the end, these objections, they really just highlight the depravity of man because man takes a good

God and he blames God for everything. God is always at fault, God's to blame, even though it's human beings perpetrating the evil in this earth,

God is vilified. You know, God did not start the war in Ukraine, you realize that?

God didn't start that war. The war in the Middle East with Hamas and Israel, God didn't start that, they might be arguing about God and whose

God is this and that, God didn't start that war, who did? People did it.

Oh, but God didn't stop it. Again, let's just say hypothetically, let's say hypothetically, every time a man set out to do evil,

God struck him dead. Then people would say, well, God's just going around killing all these people, what kind of terrible

God is this? You see, you can't win. Really, what they're complaining about is that God gave mankind freedom.

He gave us freedom and look at what we're doing with it. We're making a mess out of the world.

The only way to really, the only way to get around that is if God gave us no freedom at all and we were like pre -programmed robots.

And then you'd say God is a tyrant, he's not allowing people to live free, if you could say that, but you wouldn't be able to because you're pre -programmed, you see.

So why did God, let's just wrap it up with this, why did God give mankind freedom? The scripture says,

God is a God of love. God is relational. God had fellowship within the

Trinity before he ever created us or angels or anything else. God desires to have fellowship and God desires to have fellowship with you.

Do you realize that God loves you? You know, this whole question, is there a

God? I think deep down, every person knows there's a God, number one. Does God care?

I get it why a lot of people would look around and they would wonder, I don't know if God cares. I believe

God exists, I'm not sure if he cares. Here's how we know that he cares. He sent his only begotten son into the world to tell us the truth.

He died for our sins. All of the evil mankind has perpetrated, ever thought about perpetrating, your sin, my sin,

Jesus took it all on himself. Why? Because God so loved the world.

He gave us freedom and he knew what we would do with that freedom. But he is overcoming all of the evil, all of the sin, all of the death.

He is in the process of overcoming that through the gospel. All that suffering, all that shame, all the evil, it was nailed to Calvary's cross.

And now through his Holy Spirit, the Lord is making all things new.

We love him because he first loved us. So in conclusion, this is the basic apologetic.

We know what we believe, we know why we believe it, hopefully we have an answer. And I just ask that this week, you think about some of those things you've heard, maybe some things that I could have spent a little more time on today.

And you search the scriptures and you come up with the answer, but we know that there is a

God. We know he loves us and he loves us because he sent Christ to die for our sins.

Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for that truth. And I could definitely understand why there are people who feel that you're a million miles away and they're not sure if you even care about them.

But Lord, your word gives us the answers. Your word tells us of your great love for your creatures.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Lord, give us opportunities not to argue with people and win a debate and show that we're right, but Lord, give us opportunities to speak truth in this world that is so mixed up in confusion.

Lord, help us, fill us with your spirit, give us the words to say. And if there's someone listening who has never put their trust in Jesus, maybe they're thinking to themselves, yeah, some of these arguments, that's what's been holding me back.

I just pray that your spirit and your love would overcome that and they would come to know