Certain That God Exists

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This is known as the charter verse of all Christian apologetics And if you're here this evening, and you don't really have any idea who

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I am or what Christian apologetics is Let me just let you get you get you backed up with everything

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Christian apologetics is the defense That's the the science and the art of the defense of the

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Christian faith. You can have atheist apologists Mormon apologists

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Jehovah's Witness apologists, secular apologists, abortion apologists It goes across the spectrum and essentially an apologist is somebody who defends a particular thing and so Christian apologetics

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Has been something the Christian Church has embraced and engaged in Throughout the entire history of the

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Christian Church if you look back at the earliest stages of the Christian Church You see even in the second century of the church

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God's people having to come against error heresy false teaching and you see

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Tertullian versus Sabellianism and as a church moves throughout history you have the church actually creating creeds and confessions to combat doctrinal error you have the history of the

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Christian Church in synods and councils and gatherings fighting against error and upholding truth and in particular in the last

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Generation we have had to fight as Christians really worldwide Against again another wide spectrum of different beliefs

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We face today as a church something that we wouldn't have faced about two or three hundred years ago in the last generation

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We have seen the culture of the world really flip whereas in the first century of the church

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It was the church turning the world onto its head It was a church turning the world upside down in the last generation of the church

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Really in the West worldwide. You've seen the world turn the church upside down onto our heads

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The Christian Church faces many different things on all fronts we face

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Many tyrannical forms of governments we face many different hostile Ideologies that militate against the

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Christian faith we face today a rabid militant Antitheism we face a science

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Scientism we face the cults which in many ways are as seeing their demise

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They all thanks to Google You have Google here in Australia, okay

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Okay, many of the cults are facing their own problems today and in the access to documentation that the

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Christians have been using for the last generation Things that we had really ourselves that we used to bring out to the cults to demonstrate look

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Here's the false prophecies of Joseph Smith and Smith and Charles Taze Russell and Judge Rutherford Now this stuff is accessible at the click of a button worldwide

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And so they're facing their own difficulties, but the Christian Church is facing many difficulties right now and we have developed over the centuries

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Christian apologetics different methodologies and facing the world on their own ground

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And so one of the texts that gives us that responsibility really that charge is first Peter 315 and so the text

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Before us tonight is an important one I want to say by way of getting into this text that we should consider tonight's and what you learn tonight's apologetics to the glory of God That's really the focus what

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I want to point us to is that it's possible to actually do apologetics in a wrong way we can do apologetics in a way that does not glorify

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God and I think that many of us can recognize what that would Look like if I was to say we can do apologetics in a way

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That's shaming to the name of Christ or we can do apologetics in a way. That's not glorifying to God I think most of us would probably say oh

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I get what you mean. You mean like being a jerk, right being mean -spirited Right beating somebody up in some sense, right?

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We think okay, that's Unloving that would be apologetics that is not glorifying to God, but I'm going to point to yes that and It is possible to do apologetics in a way.

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That's not glorifying to God in that we can be inconsistent as Christians philosophically speaking we could not be actually saying things that are true.

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We could be doing apologetics in a way That is inconsistent philosophically speaking But more so I think what

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I want to point to you tonight and have you think about just consider is that we can do apologetics as Christians in a way that is

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Fundamentally and I want to be cautious in how I say this because I don't want to in any way Destroy any of my brothers and sisters who may disagree in any way on methodology but I just want to just say it in this way we could do apologetics in a way that is inconsistent and not glorifying to God and ultimately

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Immoral in a sense when we do apologetics in a way that pretends neutrality

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So consider for a moment when we defend the Christian faith when we defend the gospel when we have defend

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Jesus Christ and his message if We defend the gospel if we defend our faith in a way that pretends that Jesus Christ May not be

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Who he claims to be that is essentially a violation of what

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Jesus commands of us when he says whoever is not with me is

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Against me and ultimately I want to say that our apologetic our defense of the Christian faith

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Should be rooted in our Christian faith Now that seems like doublespeak, doesn't it?

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It seems like redundant It seems just like you're stuttering in a way the defense of the Christian faith should be rooted in The Christian faith, but I think you'll find if you look across the landscape of Christian apologetics and Christian apologists

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You'll find that it is possible Very very possible to do apologetics in a way that pretends neutrality in a way that says well

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Maybe we're not so certain about God. Maybe we're not so certain about the Word of God. Maybe it's not the

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Word of God Maybe it's not actually fully and completely true. Maybe it's not even historically accurate

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Completely and perhaps we're not even really certain that God exists

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Now you might be saying well Jeff you might be blowing that out of proportion. There's nobody that says anything like that Well, I encourage you guys to use that wonderful tool called

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YouTube and You can look up. Dr. William Lane Craig in one of his recent debates and discussions with professor who actually lives about a

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Couple miles from where we're actually set up Dr. Lawrence Krauss. He's the atheist professor at ASU and in the discussion

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Lawrence Krauss Asks, dr. Craig if he is certain that God exists

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And I'm if I'm lying I'm dying here guys. Dr. Craig said no

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He's not certain God exists Dr. Craig a man of God who loves

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Jesus who believes in the biblical gospel believes in Jesus Christ as Lord God in the flesh Believes Jesus Christ really lived really died for sinners and really rose from the dead said that he is not

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Certain that God exists Let me just suggest to you brothers and sisters

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Humbly that if we are not certain that God exists Then we have no reason no reason to come to Christ to die and rise again

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We have no reason to give up our lives for the Lord Jesus Christ we have no reason to sing songs about letting goods and Kindred go our mortal lives also, if God doesn't certainly exist and If you consider the scriptures for a moment

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The scriptures just don't speak that way the Bible actually says things like in the

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Psalms, you know the text the fool Says in his heart there is no

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God The Bible doesn't say it is the very sophisticated atheist who says there is no

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God It doesn't say the person who is very erudite and complex intellectually says there is no

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God It says the fool says in his heart. There is no God. That's how the Bible speaks

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That's how God speaks about unbelief. He calls it Futility he calls it foolishness

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That's how God speaks about unbelief and I want to suggest to us once again That if we are not certain about the claims of Jesus Christ, then we have no right to Say what the

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Bible says about Jesus Christ in our response what is the Bible saying Acts chapter 17 the Apostle Paul is before a very hostile audience of unbelief pagans

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He points out their Religiousness he points out their altar to the unknown

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God. They don't hold to his position. They don't hold to his Presupposition is at least not in a professed way and he cuts to the heart of where they're at And what does he say?

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He points to Jesus that he is raised up. And what does he say to them? Does he say try?

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Jesus Does he say give Jesus a chance? Does he'd say what

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Rick Warren said a couple of years ago on Fox News at Christmastime give Jesus Christ a 30 -day trial

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He actually said that and I am so sorry that much of what comes out of America gets shipped to you.

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Trust me I'm very sorry about that. But what does he say Acts 17 the Apostle Paul the

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Areopagus Mars Hill? He says God commands men everywhere to repent

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He's not asking for your permission to rule over you Jesus isn't asking for you to participate with him in some kind of friendship where you give him a shot at your life

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Jesus Christ tells crowds of people to go away from him He actually would fail many of the seminary courses that we give today on Evangelism with thousands of people following him

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He turns around and says to them in terms of what they love the most if anyone comes to me does not hate and he starts

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Naming people the people you love the most mother father sister brother wife even your own life

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He says you're not worthy to be my disciple. Jesus is an expert at At talking people out of following him his demands are full his call on our life is

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Total and the word of the cross comes with a command to repent and believe

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Here's essentially the message Jesus is God in the flesh He lived the righteous life that we have not died for sins in the way that we should have died

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Conquered death and rose from the dead. He is now ascended and seated He is the ruler of the world all the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of God's dear son

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Jesus is the ruler over everything. He is the king He has all authority and what the word of the cross is and come into Christ's be reconciled to God He rules over the world.

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Why don't you guys come quietly? You see the message of the cross is a powerful message about God himself who has all

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Authority now as we think about that, that's the background noise of the message tonight

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Okay, keep all those things in mind. Keep your Christian commitments in mind when you think about apologetics

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What I what I want to get across as we get to this text is the story that I just told you we all embrace correct

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Do you embrace that? Yes? Okay, I was getting a little worried about Australia there for a minute. Okay. All right. Jesus is

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God. Amen. Yes Is he Lord does he have all authority? Did he really die? Did he really rise again?

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He has all authority in heaven and on earth. Is he in charge? Does he have an unquestioned authority?

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Is he the truth? Okay. Now that we have all that together I'm gonna ask you as we move through and you think about apologetics if when you do apologetics if you're consistent with the profession you just made

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Because oftentimes when we run into conflict with unbelief we oftentimes act in church in a way with a

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Certainty about the authority of Jesus Christ that we do not act like in terms of our face -to -face conflict with unbelief

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We say things in church and in these songs in our hymns We say things about God and about Jesus that many of our

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Christian apologetics brothers and sisters do who are maybe or not of the same Persuasion as say myself or dr.

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White or dr. Bonson in terms of apologetic methodology The those brothers say things in church

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That have to be backpedaled When they face unbelief because of apologetic methodology, that's how important this is now

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So we go to the text with that background noise in mind first Peter 3 and go to verse 15 now think for a moment now about background who wrote this

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Peter wrote it no trick questions tonight Peter wrote first Peter now You need to keep this in mind if you are the kind of person that like me thinks you'd really don't have a lot to Offer if you think you're not very strong not very intellectual and you think maybe this is not my field

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I'm just not very good at this. Maybe I'm not really called to this work Maybe you're thinking those thoughts you need to consider that the man who wrote the text before us

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Who gives us this charter verse for Christian apologetics is the guy who was famous for what?

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Denying Jesus not once But thrice is that more

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Australian? Okay. No, okay No, I'll do it Australian not once but three.

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Oh, right add an O to the end of anything and you're Australian Got it. Okay. All right

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Did I get there right? Okay. See I'm learning I'm learning it's been a couple days. Okay, first Peter 315.

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He writes this text This is the guy who goes down in history For denying that he knows

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Jesus three times the night that Jesus needed him most and he does it really with an earshot

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Essentially of Jesus he gives us this text now Here's what you need to know when

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Jesus reconciled Peter to himself when Peter saw Jesus Actually alive from the dead like for real alive from the dead

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Something changed in him completely and he lived the rest of his life

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Under persecution difficulty and trial and he gives us this text. I'm going to read the text for you first Peter 315

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But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord is holy Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you

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Yet do it with gentleness and respect Here's a man who is

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Notorious for sticking his foot in his mouth. Here's a man who is notorious for denying

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Jesus He seems like very ultimately weak in many ways during Jesus earthly ministry. He loves

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Jesus He's committed to Jesus, but he just can't get it right something about his own life he sees as important and Invaluable above Christ and his his work his kingdom message

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And so in his in his earthly ministry in Jesus earthly ministry Peter loves Jesus, but something's not there

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But something switched in his life something happened to Peter transformed him completely

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Fundamentally, and he writes this to us at the end of his life near the end of his life He tells Christians you and I Christians throughout the ages until our

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Lord returns. He says believer Set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts

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So first thing there's three parts here. First thing is to set Christ apart as Lord Sanctify Christ as Lord set him apart as holy as Lord in your hearts

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Always being ready to give an apologia and apologetic a reason defense

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To everyone who asks of you a reason for the hope that is within you you do a gentleness and reverence

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So Peter's first point is one set Jesus apart as Lord to Always being ready to give a reason defense to everyone who asks of you and the third point is to do a gentleness and reverence

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So one and three are the points of this text that Christians often fail on All of us at some point all of us have failed in this if you've seen any of our videos on apologia studios

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Engaging Mormons Jehovah's Witnesses atheists agnostics or whatever you see there I'm just thankful that you don't have

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YouTube wasn't around when I was 18 Wasn't around so you never seen of that stuff, right?

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You're like, oh pastor Jeff You're so gracious to that atheist and the unbeliever and so gracious to the Mormon I'm like, well, I still have a lot of work to do

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God's I'm still a work in progress But I am really really thankful that none of that old stuff was recorded. So you're getting the you're getting the better stuff

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Okay, but I think we all recognize like we fail in apologetics many ways, right? And we say generally we're not really respectful.

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We don't we're not gentle with people. Maybe we're abrasive. Maybe we're self -seeking Maybe we're not humble.

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And so we fail many times and I think you know Christians we can all say that Yeah, I was a time where I was in a discussion that Thanksgiving or Christmas with a family member and you know

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Didn't go so well, right? I wasn't very gentle wasn't very Respectful to them and so we fail but I want to say that oftentimes we fail as Christians on that first point

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Setting Christ apart as Lord as we enter into that discussion about the defense of the

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Christian faith Now remember the Apostle Peter when he uses the word Apologia and yes, I'm using dr.

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White's pronunciation for Apologia Okay, our church is Apologia People say apologetics and so we just said okay

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Apologia Apologia TV Apologia radio Apologia Studios Apologia Academy We like the word we think it's great.

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Okay Apologia essentially means a reason defense. So you want to think about it in terms of courtroom terminology you're before the judge and You have to offer a defense for your case a reason defense for your case.

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Nobody goes before a judge You're not supposed to go before a judge willy -nilly or Cavalier.

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You know, so just go in there and say hey You should believe me right like on faith like you walk into the the chambers you go into the court and you go in there with Evidence you go in there with reason and truth and facts to argue your case and Peter is using that word

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And he says that believers You set Jesus apart as Lord and you always

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Be ready to give an Apologia. Listen, it sounds terrifying. It sounds overwhelming

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I think if you think about proper apologetic methodology, it's not so overwhelming he says you be ready with a reason defense for everyone who asks of you a reason for the hope that is within you yet do it with gentleness and Respect and so I want to say in terms of apologetics and moving into a discussion about defending the faith

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We need to stand on the rock We need to stand on God's word his self attesting

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Self -authorizing word God is the ultimate authority when we engage in apologetics as Christians We ought not pretend

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Neutrality he is our foundation. He is the rock when Jesus Christ would confront the world he never confronted the world and gave a statement or made a claim and then asked for some other

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Corroboration of his claims. He didn't ask for somebody's stamp of approval He didn't appeal to somebody else's authority other than his own and the father's

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Jesus comes into the world as ultimate authority with a self attesting authority and let me say this to you.

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Listen when somebody approaches a question we all have to it is by necessary consequence as creatures we all have to depend on something as the final resting place as the ultimate authority as the

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Self -attesting authority and as Christians that for us is Okay, Australians, come on.

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Now. You're worrying me. Okay that for us is God. It's his which is word You can say Jesus by the way,

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I've asked a question in church. Jesus is usually a great answer, right? Okay, it's usually always true

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So when we think about apologetics setting Christ apart as Lord as our first commitment, we need to think about foundations

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Listen, you need to know something about the myth of neutrality If you haven't heard that before I want you to memorize it you grab hold of that and You grab hold of it because the

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Bible teaches it You will recognize as you face anybody whether it's the atheist whether it's the agnostic whether it's the skeptic whether it's the

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Mormon Or the Jehovah's Witness you recognize the myth of neutrality now and those conflicts are much easier

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And you can understand what's actually happening the myth of neutrality listen

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Nobody is neutral the unbeliever that you're talking to is not neutral No matter how much they pretend they are and believer.

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You're not neutral and Jesus commands you not to be So we have to first get over is recognizing that the unbelievers problem

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Isn't that there's not enough light for God exist in God's existence not enough evidence for God's existence

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The problem for the unbeliever is fundamental. It is lower than anything happening on the peripheral

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The problem for the unbeliever is spiritual. The problem is sin What did

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Jesus say whoever commits sin is a slave of sin? But the message of Jesus is if the

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Sun sets you free you shall be free indeed The myth of neutrality the unbeliever is not neutral They have a particular perspective of the world whether they've fought through it or not

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They have a worldview and so do we they're not neutral and you're not

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Supposed to be we need to think about our foundations and go about it the way that Jesus did think in terms of Jesus Authority and the way that he speaks his self

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Attesting authority he's the reference point go to Matthew 7 just for a moment to see and again

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I wish we had six hours, and you know I would take it Matthew chapter 7

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Just as a good springboard Verse 24, you know this I'm sure that you guys sing these songs in Australia as well

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Sunday school kids singing these songs about two foundations, right

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No Please tell me you do someone's shaking heads. No okay has that made it over because that's good to come over from the u .s.

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Right okay Sand and a rock right the two builders, okay good all right

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Matthew 7 24 It's powerful and Cornelius Vantill one of my favorite philosophers in the history of the

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Christian Church if you don't know him you should get to know him Cornelius Vantill said about apologetics that this right here this section of scripture is where the entire thing rests

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Here seems like an odd place to plant your feet for apologetics But when you understand when we have conflict with the person who loves

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Nietzsche When you have conflict with the person who is the militant

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Antitheist today, and they are in the empiricist or the rationalist Understands that this is where it rests the authority of Jesus.

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He says this verse 24 everyone then by the way This is the English Standard Version I didn't bring my

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Australian Standard Version today Although I hear there actually is one and I will leave with it.

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Okay everyone then who hears these words of mine And does them will be like a wise man

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Who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house?

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but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock and Everyone who hears these words of mine

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And does not do them Will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds

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Blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it

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Okay, before we go to the next verse here, listen to Jesus for a moment He actually says there are people that hear the words of Jesus They hear his words and he says some people actually dig deep

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To build a foundation in this day you had to actually work Hard you had to sweat you had to think about the future

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You may have seen land at a particular time of year that looked like it was good lands

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It's a good place to build But other people in the area know that know at certain times of the year water floods through here

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Now maybe they didn't know that maybe they didn't know that's where the water comes through It just looks all right for now.

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And so some people recognize I need to think about the future I need to think about consequences.

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I need to have a big picture and look ahead And so when they found a spot they needed to dig deep to get down there

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They had to work hard at building a foundation that actually was settled. It was a rock

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Other people don't think far ahead. They just see the land They want to plop up a house and so they throw up a house.

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They don't dig deep They don't build on a rock and the problem is is that the issues of life come?

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Storms come floods come rain comes and here's the beautiful part of Jesus story is the wind the rain the storms beat on both houses

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Everybody gets it the issues of life will come and Jesus says here people will hear my words

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Some build on the rock some build on the sand and Jesus says two people two foundations with two destinations

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One destination is that it weathers the storm it makes it through because it was built on a rock

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He dug deep he's on the rock. The other one was the fool The fool didn't dig deep didn't build a foundation the fool ends in desolation

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Now this is the amazing thing is that Jesus says something here that I think as Christians we get jaded to we're indifferent

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See Jesus says things like I am the way and the truth and the life no man comes to the father but by me

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As Christians now you're just used to it Because I confess you sometimes I get mellow headed and I see things in Scripture that just goes straight over my head

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You don't recognize the audacity of that kind of a claim the exclusive nature of the claims of Christ And it's what?

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Irritates the world. It's what they hate about our message That Jesus says

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I'm God if you don't believe Eggo a me John 8 if you do not believe that eggo a me

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I am you'll die in your sins Are you saying that Jesus is the only way to God?

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I'm the way and the truth and the life no man comes to the father But by me Peter says at Pentecost neither is there salvation and any other

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For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved Are you saying

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Jesus Christ is the only way to God? Yes He is the only God he is the only way to God if you don't have

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Christ you will spend an eternity separated away from God forever That is the message and Jesus comes with these claims and again we get jaded to it

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We say oh, yeah, cuz Jesus. Yeah, you have to build your life upon him his word his yeah,

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I get it Jesus Have you considered that if that came out of the mouth of any other person it would be the height of arrogance consider for a moment

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Jesus claim This is the way of life. There are two kinds of people in the world.

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You're either wise or you're a fool There are two kinds of foundations. There's a rock and there's sand and there's two destinations

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There's making it through the storm living to see another day living to see the Sun come up again

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And there's one that ends in absolute desolation Jesus says there's two gates

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Right once wide one small a path over here that is What broad and you have a narrow one one leads to life and one leads to death?

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And what do you think he's talking about? He's talking about Himself coming by way of him now

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Jesus says that he just says the words You're either a wise person or a fool and again,

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I agree with CS Lewis Not in everything But I agree with him.

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I'm a Baptist. Okay, but I agree with him when he says it's it's right. It's right on Jesus with his claims is either liar

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Lunatic or Lord, that's true. You can't put him anywhere else He's either a liar because he knew that he wasn't who he claimed to be and he says he was he's a liar and you must reject him or He is nuts.

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He is out there. What's a good Australian word for crazy? What's that? Oh Crazy, come on.

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You got you guys have such fun words You guys are much more creative than Americans. Come on.

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What's that a Rat what? Okay Okay, I'm gonna try to find a way to work that into my next message.

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Okay bonkers bonkers Okay He's either a liar bonkers or Lord right now.

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Here's the thing if he's Lord You can't question his authority Now remember you said yes to that If he's

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Lord, he's the creator of all things if he's Lord He's the one that is holding you very heartbeats in his hand right now if he's

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Lord He holds your breath in his hands right now. If he's Lord, he is spinning Saturn as we speak and You must obey him and Jesus makes these claims now think about it if I made the claim to you tonight look guys

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Visiting Australia names Jeff Durbin. This is how life works You're either gonna be a wise person or a fool and I mean an outright downright fool

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All right You're either gonna build your house on a rock or it's gonna be on sand and this is how it works if everyone in this

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Room would simply build their lives upon my words Then you'll be the person that's wise.

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Otherwise, you're a fool You're a fool if you don't live according to the dictates of Jeff Durbin You'd be like you're telling tales out of the schoolyard get out

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Right get on the first plane back to United States, right and rightly so I deserve it

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But Jesus says it and I want you to listen to their reaction verse 28 and when

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Jesus finished these sayings The crowds were astonished at his teaching listen for he was teaching them as one

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Who had what? Authority and not as their scribes.

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Do you see it? They caught it They caught it

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Instantaneously Jesus says all of life wise fool, which one are you?

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build your life upon my word or you're a fool and they heard it and their

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Instant their recognition immediately is he's teaching as one having authority.

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He didn't ask for their permission He wasn't building his teaching upon rabbi. So -and -so and rabbi.

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So -and -so, which is what many of them did those days Well, how do you how do I know what you're saying is true? Oh because rabbi so -and -so confirms it and this rabbi a hundred years ago wrote about it and this rabbi said that Basing their authority on somebody or something else.

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Jesus says it's mine and they got it Oftentimes we approach apologetics in terms of ultimate authority and What we try to do as Christians is we try to say well, let's do something here

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Let's pull together some some different authorities Let's pull together reason and maybe this bit of evidence over here and this bit of evidence over here

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And we've got this scientific study over here and this points us to some there must be something out there some intelligent designer and then this and this and this and this and this and maybe if we get somebody to believe that maybe in the

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Judeo -christian idea of God once they buy into the fact that there's an intelligent designer, maybe

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We can start to talk to them then about Jesus And then maybe when they actually come to Christ they'll get to Jesus and Recognize that they didn't really need any of those things as authorities anyway, because he was authoritative the whole time

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You see that's interesting, isn't it? Dr. Greg Bonson one of my heroes of the faith he said that the whole world of Christian apologetics oftentimes is

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People building a ladder to God and they build a ladder with different rungs. They say, okay

34:43

We got we got the cosmological arguments. We got some reason We've got some some evidences here and some evidences here, by the way

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Nothing wrong with any of those things just in terms of authority and we get here and here here We say okay climb up that ladder and they get up that ladder to God.

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They're there now They're facing God the ultimate authority the self -attesting authority whose claims are true

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Who speaks with final authority and they get up to God they realize they didn't need the ladder in the first place

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Because he was already the final authority and we should have started our reasoning with him the entire time

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And it would have made more sense out of all the things we were saying about him in the first place

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You might be thinking I really don't understand quite what you're getting at. I think you'll you'll be seeing it shortly

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When we talk about apologetics, we need to think about the source of knowledge How do you know?

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What you know? How do you know, how are you certain?

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Let's do it as a test case for a moment here Okay, I'll ask you a question and you give me an answer you guys ready to play along.

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Yes. Okay. All right Here's the question. Is it an absolute?

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moral responsibility That I love my neighbor rather than eat them.

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Some of you are not answering fast enough, okay Yes, okay, that's the answer

36:23

What church is this again? Okay All right thought I was in a Presbyterian Church there for a second.

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Okay, just kidding Presby's are my favorites. They really are.

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I mean if I wasn't already in the truth, I'd be a Presbyterian. That is the truth. Okay Come on Reform Baptist.

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We're allowed to do that. There's no Presby's. Are there any Presby's in here tonight? Oh Just so, you know, all of my heroes are

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Presby's and most people think that I'm on the way to Presbyterianism Anyway, some of you

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Baptist like wait, okay We think about what you just did I asked the question is it an absolute moral responsibility that you love your neighbor rather than eat

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Them you said yes, that's an absolute moral responsibility. Let me ask you a question. Why how do you know that?

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How do you know that? Think for a moment now. Come on. Don't just don't just answer

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I want you to really dig into your own mind for a moment now and think about why you said yes to that Why'd you say yes to that?

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I? Said it's an absolute moral responsibility absolute ought

37:29

No question not maybe not I'm uncomfortable with the idea not I don't know but you said absolute moral responsibility to love them rather than eat them and Why'd you say that that's the simple that's the simple

37:48

Christian Epistemology you think what does that word mean if you're if you're just new to this discussion epistemology is something that everybody has to do

37:56

If you go to college, you're gonna learn it probably your freshman year of college in a philosophy course You're gonna learn about epistemology.

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It's a question of how do you know? How do you know that? How do you know it's love neighbor not eat them?

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How do you know that? How do you know this is true? And that's not true. How do you know? Unbelievers have their system of epistemology.

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They have all your reason to find out how you know that or Evidence you look and observe something or somebody could say a really funky epistemology.

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They could say well pragmatism We'll see how it works or someone can say well, you just accept it by faith. I don't really know

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Okay, people people have an epistemology and the basic Christian epistemology is what you just appeal to How do you know you said

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God says Now that might seem Sunday school it might seem childlike it might seem awfully simple

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But let me tell you it is intellectually rigorous Philosophically consistent and it is consistent as a

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Christian. How do I know? Here's how I know very sophisticated God said so That's how

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I know How do I know that I shouldn't engage in rape? How do

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I know I shouldn't murder how do I know that how do I know it's an absolute moral responsibility not to murder somebody and The Christian says what?

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God says Because the Bible says that's how I know God is the self -attesting authority.

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He's the foundation. How do I know? true have truly Justified true belief.

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How do I because God says Christians have a revelational epistemology What's that essentially mean is that God's the very principium?

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He's the source. He's the foundation of all knowledge I see everything in the light of God himself and what he says about the world and me

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How do I know because he said so he might be thinking well, how do I defend that believe me?

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If you don't stand that way you become inconsistent you fall apart as a Christian listen as Christians We don't get the beg the big things.

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We don't get the laws of logic. We don't get science we don't get ethics if we don't start first with God if You don't start with Jesus Christ as the foundation of all of your knowledge as a

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Christian Then all of your appeals and Christian apologetics are futile

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They're irrelevant because if we don't start with Jesus Christ as a source of all of our knowledge as the foundation listen

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Listen, if you don't start with Jesus as the foundation of all of your knowledge Then you become like the man on sand

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You become a fool you don't get What you have to have to live in God's world

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As a matter of fact listen if you don't start with Jesus Christ as the source of all your knowledge as the foundation of all

40:47

Truth then you as a Christian end up being in the same house as the atheist and it is built on sand

40:54

They don't get Logic they don't get science They don't get ethics and any appeal to ethics because they don't start with the triune

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God of Scripture That's why they don't get it and as a Christian if you don't start with Jesus Then you're right with them and a house built on sand you guys catching it.

41:12

You're getting it Okay, so let's think about where okay. You say where do you get that from Jeff? There's many ways again.

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We're skimming the surface tonight couple texts to look at Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 many of you guys

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Hopefully don't have to go to it Proverbs 1 7 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge

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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise what

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There you go The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge you want to know something

41:46

You want to have true wisdom God says listen. This is one of those things. I told you I told you we have to be transparent

41:52

We got to be honest with ourselves sometimes there are things said in Scripture that we do not fully

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Embrace the implications that's one of those things the fear of the

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Lord is the beginning of knowledge It's the beginning of knowledge It's not the afterthought of knowledge the fear of the

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Lord is the beginning of knowledge if you want to actually know truth if you want to know

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God the world yourself if you want to have knowledge you have to start with reverence submission and all

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Before God that's the beginning another point of reference in terms of how do you know something knowledge

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Christian epistemology? Which is a revelational epistemology God has revealed himself in Creation he's revealed himself in conscience and he has revealed himself primarily in his son, right?

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God has revealed himself. That's how we know based on his revelation. Here's what God says about knowledge and reference to Christ go to Colossians Chapter 2

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Colossians chapter 2 you hear the turn of the pages

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Some of you guys using your phones and you're cheating Colossians chapter 2

43:10

This is a powerful text is one of those texts that I was referring to that just sort of goes over our heads at times

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Colossians chapter 2 he says this I'm gonna start in verse 1 for I want you to know how great a struggle

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I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face -to -face that their hearts may be encouraged

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Being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance Get get that all than that riches of full assurance of Understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is

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Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

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In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

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You believe that in Christ, is that true?

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It's a true at church Come on now you can participate now. I won't hurt you

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I have black belts, but I promise not to kick you in the head. Okay? Okay. Is it true in? Christ are hidden all

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The treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Is it true at church? Is it true in your marriage?

44:31

Is it true with your children? Okay, is it true in your friendships? Okay, let's get tough.

44:36

Now. Is it true in School, is it true in the science class?

44:45

Is it true in the art class? Is it true in arithmetic? You starting to feel it now you're like wait math

44:56

Yeah You can't have a coherent. Did you know you can't have a coherent justification for arithmetic if you don't have

45:02

Jesus Do you know you can't justify the laws of math without the biblical worldview? Do you realize that atheist professors of math are deluding themselves

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Do you realize that one plus one equals two is only true and justifiable if you're a

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Christian? If you don't believe me, I'll tell you I went to the reason rally in Washington DC a couple years ago

45:25

They said it was the largest gathering of atheists and secularists in history That's what they said didn't look like very many to me, but that's what they said.

45:32

Okay, so I'll go with it Okay, we went there. We had a real hard time at first getting atheists to talk to us intelligent atheists to talk to us

45:39

So I'm looking around trying to find like the best possible representations I could and I'm talking to some atheists and for a little while I see this guy and he's just itching

45:48

To talk to me and he's over there just like squirming around and you know Just what you know whole time you can

45:53

I think like two of the videos you can see him sort of like hanging around the background He's just like the whole time He's just you know, so I caught him the whole time and finally like when

46:02

I was done recording I said come over like, you know, stop lurking you're creeping like don't do that So he comes over and we're talking for a while and some of the audio got messed up so about half of the interview was actually recorded but turns out he's an atheist a hardcore militant pipe hitting atheist and he was a math professor and So we're talking as I'm like you're a materialist yes, so you're a naturalistic materialist, right?

46:28

So all that exists is matter in motion, right? All that exists is matter in motion. Just the physical world nothing immaterial

46:35

Nothing spiritual. Okay, great. And you're a math teacher right math teacher. Okay, I said, um

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How do you justify the existence of abstract immaterial invariant necessary laws

46:55

So I said For example,

47:00

I said is one plus one two He said yes. I said have you ever seen the number two?

47:10

He was like well, yeah, we do like equations and probably not so no no, have you ever seen the number two?

47:17

Right. Have you ever seen it? Have you ever weighed it touched it smelled it what color is two, right?

47:23

And he got what I was saying Because he teaches math the laws of math laws in an atheist universe

47:32

I Said so is one plus one two. You're a materialist now and he goes

47:39

No he goes Maybe not and there's where the legs come off There's your atheism.

47:50

There's there's life without Jesus Christ no foundation for Unchanging necessary laws of any sort whether the laws of logic laws of arithmetic and I said to him

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I said here's the amazing thing and it was this was shows that you know They got that I'm talking about in your heart of hearts You know it because though you deny his existence you can't live apart from depending on him

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I said, you know how I said, I want you to remember this when you go back to your math class I want you to remember that you're imaging

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God every time you give your students a test Because watch you won't live consistently with your atheistic worldview because when you administer a test

48:29

You expect your students to live as though these laws of arithmetic are unchanging

48:36

Necessary laws of arithmetic that actually exist in this universe The universe is held together by them and you can't justify them as an atheist you deny

48:46

Jesus And so you have to live like a Christian all the while denying your atheism every step you go

48:52

I said you won't live consistently with your atheism. He said well, yes, I will I said no you won't when you administer tests if your students start doing their tests the way that you're acting pass or fail

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He didn't like that Do you see so when I say in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?

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I said, is it true for math? Yes True for science.

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Yes art Literature, how about government?

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Oh I'm about to start some struts in trouble in Australia, right? Okay. No think about it for a moment now

49:36

The Bible says that Jesus Christ is king of what? King of Kings and Lord of what

49:43

Lords that means he has all authority which means that as Christians You serve the one who is the foundation of knowledge

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Over everything Which means that as Christians no matter where you're at United States in the

49:58

UK in Australia in New Zealand Even in Canada, we ought to be pointing the world to Jesus Christ in every area of life

50:09

That's something we could all fundamentally agree on right? Even if we have internal in -house debates of one another exactly how that goes together.

50:16

We all say he's Lord You need to listen to him. So here's the foundation Jesus Christ It's important again to remember that there is no neutrality again.

50:25

The unbeliever is pretending neutrality the Christian Can pretend neutrality but as demand it's demanding that Jesus demands on us is that we do not pretend neutrality

50:36

He says whoever's not with me is against me But Peter says in first Peter 3 15 to set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts

50:43

Always being ready to give an apology. I mean you start the apologetic with a commitment to Christ as Lord Remember that as a

50:50

Christian with God as the foundation as the source of all knowledge and truth That as Christians this whole entire discussion no matter what you're in whether it's with Mormons Whether it's with Jehovah's Witnesses whether it's with atheists the entire discussion is not about hodgepodge

51:08

Evidences and pieces it's not piecemeal Understand that when we have a discussion say with an atheist it's total

51:17

It's a total life and worldview it's not a piece here or there it's not the atheist saying to you well,

51:24

I believe in science and Christians somehow being just blind faith religionists the atheist has a total perspective

51:32

The Christian has a total perspective. It's a network of beliefs It's a worldview and listen, everybody has a worldview.

51:41

Okay? Everybody has a worldview the unbeliever has a worldview.

51:47

He has a particular Metaphysic or ontology he has a view of reality that what is what is real?

51:54

What is the nature of all of this? What is this? What does this consist of? What is it the unbeliever has a metaphysic the unbeliever has an epistemology of a theory of how they know what they know

52:06

The unbeliever has an ethic now. Here's the thing you might be thinking Well, I don't even know what those words mean.

52:11

So how do they have one? Here's the deal. All those fancy words are meant to describe particular parts of our experience

52:20

But listen, everybody has a worldview whether they've thought about it or not Sometimes your worldview is adopted and you don't consider it sometimes maybe you like me had a particular frame of reference and say you came to Christ and Then God began to change your mind and sanctify you and you begin to see the world in an entirely different way and You went through the hard process of the mind being changed

52:46

You thought I used to think this but now I think that and it was sometimes difficult

52:52

Yes, right now. Sometimes people go through those worldview changes sometimes people don't they just adopt things and just assume it and Believe me.

53:03

Everybody has a worldview give you an example. If you ask the average person on the street, how do we get here?

53:10

What do you think about origins? Where'd we come from? The average person may be educated in public education a secular

53:17

Schooling system might say oh, I know how we got here. We were descendants of highly evolved societies of bacteria our

53:27

Ancestors were fish were African apes Right, we got here through unguided unpurposed

53:37

Evolutionary processes. That's how we that's how we got here today It's in the fossil record right like, you know, you have ancestors in that fossil record and somewhere down the line

53:45

My ancestors were bacteria Origins, that's how we got here the

53:50

Big Bang. That's how it started. So that my unbeliever might adopt that Unbeliever might say in their ethical system have a particular ethic that they adopted from Lady Gaga You know,

54:04

I mean think about how'd you get an ethic from Lady Gaga? How about the title of one of her records?

54:11

What was it? I Was born this way You know the song who knows the song who knows the song sinner sinner sinner sinner, okay

54:20

Okay Okay, I was born this way Do you think

54:26

Lady Gaga when she's singing? I was born this way at a concert or when everybody in that concert is

54:33

Roaring in praise of Lady Gaga when they're singing. I was born this way. Do you think they're neutral?

54:42

There's no neutrality. That's an ethic. That's a sexual ethic. Oh Listen, everything is preaching

54:51

Everyone is preaching Television shows are preaching a worldview

54:57

Movies preaching a worldview music preaching a worldview brothers and sisters It's it's this is the shameful thing about the

55:04

Christian culture in this generation. That's sad It breaks my heart is that for 2 ,000 years?

55:10

We have been the ones who have been laying our lives down for the lost Speaking boldly risking our lives spilling blood for the message of the cross in love for the unbeliever being bold sacrificing

55:23

Desiring Christ and somebody else's good over our own comfort and yet in this generation

55:29

We have a generation of professing Christians when we see the world

55:35

Going to hell when we see the world being just drinking in darkness as Christians.

55:40

We step away from the culture Jesus says be salt be light

55:46

You're the preservative That stops it from spoiling and decay You're the light that scatters the darkness and Christians today

55:56

We literally do the other side of what Jesus says we cover up our lights Why most of us are just excited to get off this rock.

56:04

We're just looking up waiting to be raptured or something I don't care what your eschatology is no matter what you think about the future

56:10

Jesus demands of you faithfulness in The midst in the midst of a crooked and preserved a perverse generation

56:17

He demands it of you and know this that the world is preaching It's not like when

56:23

Christians step away from the culture that all of a sudden it goes into a neutral vacuum of some sorts

56:28

We're now nobody's preaching Somebody always is imposing a morality It's a question not of whether Somebody is imposing a morality, but which

56:41

Morality is being imposed. It's never a question of whether a God is being worshipped and whether a

56:49

God is there as the ultimate authority, it's which God and In terms of preaching

56:55

I'll give you another example of ethics in preaching. How about a song by Macklemore? We got some young folks in the in the room today.

57:04

Do you know Macklemore is is he over here in Australia yet? Raise your hand if you know Macklemore. Thanks see all the young ones are like look you had your hand like this

57:10

Are you Presbyterian? I saw you're like Presbyterians, you know what I'm talking about.

57:16

You can't get your hands above here, right? Okay Macklemore this song was same love same love

57:29

Do you know the song oh You got to hear it you have to hear it because the man is so talented and the song is so catchy and listen in the

57:38

United States during the time where our government decided to call circles squares

57:44

When our government was praising gay Mirage When they were doing that the anthem in the

57:52

United States was same love And this was the hook in the song and it's it honestly is catchy.

57:59

It's beautiful The hook in the song was I can't change Even if I tried even if I wanted to I Can't change even if I tried even if I wanted to That was that that's preaching

58:17

Our kids are turning the radio on and they're listening to this song That's so catchy and so this guy's so talented sounds so beautiful.

58:25

And what are they doing? They're singing along I can't change even if I tried even if I wanted to and that was the

58:31

LGBT anthem in the United States That's the kind of thing kids were singing when the

58:38

Supreme Court decided to defy God and call circles squares and It's a worldview.

58:45

It's a sexual ethic and if watch Christians if you stop preaching Then it means that you're hiding your light.

58:53

You are no longer salty and Jesus says something about that kind of salt He says if you're no longer salty

59:01

It's not good for anything any longer except to be trampled underfoot by men

59:06

He asked the question. Why is the Christian Church so impotent in the world today? Why are we just absolutely come people are coming against us on all sides

59:16

It sounds like we're being trampled underfoot By men you lose your saltiness

59:22

You stop preserving the world from decay and spoil and you get trampled under the foot of men

59:29

Now think for a moment about that worldview, it's constant it's being preached everywhere and listen, here's the deal

59:34

Everybody is standing on an ultimate authority. The unbeliever is standing in their ultimate authority The Christian is standing in their ultimate ultimate authority.

59:42

And when you stand on an authority imagine for a moment You're standing on a stage And that stage underneath you is a network of beliefs.

59:52

It's a network of beliefs about the world origins It's an anthropology a view about mankind it's an ethic and So the unbeliever has their network of beliefs their ultimate authority and foundation

01:00:08

The Christian is supposed to be standing on a different stage Amen We have a network of beliefs we have as well.

01:00:15

We have an ultimate authority something we're standing on as well Well, we're supposed to be standing on as God his revelation his word.

01:00:22

It's if you ask a Christian Well, what do you believe about origins? Is it fundamentally different than the unbeliever?

01:00:29

It's the antithesis They believe in an unguided ungoverned universe. We believe in a purposed

01:00:34

Universe that is governed by a loving triune God We believe that when

01:00:39

God created he created with a purpose he created with meaning he created with a plan When he created human beings he created the

01:00:47

Imago Dei He created people in his image to be light into the world to reflect

01:00:55

God's light into the world That's what we're supposed to be when God created humans

01:01:01

God created us with distinctions I can't believe I actually have to say this God created boys and girls

01:01:11

God created male and female he knew the difference and he did it on purpose

01:01:18

Male and female in the image of God he created listen them male and female together harmoniously them image of God and God created human beings with inherent value and dignity with purpose with meaning and he was good and he called his

01:01:38

Creation good the unbeliever doesn't get any of that because the unbeliever is

01:01:44

Pretending neutrality the Christian oftentimes pretends neutrality as well. And when we pretend neutrality

01:01:51

We neglect the powerful argument against their position You see because the unbeliever stands on their unbelief their unbelieving view of origins

01:02:02

Their unbelieving view of humans then they have no basis for believing in an orderly universe

01:02:10

Science is therefore Impossible because the unbeliever rejects Jesus Christ they have no basis to believe in immaterial laws like laws of logic laws of thought laws of arithmetic and Fundamentally listen because the unbeliever is not neutral and is actually a hostile to God and stands on an unbelieving position

01:02:30

They don't even get human value and dignity So when the unbeliever says things like same love it's all the same

01:02:39

You should respect my position. Guess what? They have no basis to make any moral claims whatsoever

01:02:47

Because listen descendants of fish Don't have any moral aughts at all you can't tell any descendant of a high of highly evolved societies of bacteria to do anything and Here's the thing think about the complete collapse of unbelieving thought think about the song for a second.

01:03:09

It's a song I understand I'm arguing with a song but the song expresses the way the world thinks today.

01:03:17

I can't change Even if I tried even if I wanted to Christians fall back in in horror

01:03:26

Against that and sometimes you fall back and we just go into retreat. You say oh everyone's singing that song.

01:03:31

That's what everyone thinks now That's just the way of the world now. We've blurred gender distinctions now

01:03:38

It's just the same love male male same love it's love woman woman same love

01:03:44

Male woman woman same love male male

01:03:50

Dog same love male dog same love woman bridge same love

01:03:57

Mother son same love Father daughter same love brother sister same love and I wish

01:04:06

I was kidding I wish I was exaggerating. I wish it wasn't so that everything

01:04:12

I just said to you Has actually taken place in the last couple of years and what do we say?

01:04:19

We say same love because love is just love let people love who they want. Let's try it ready

01:04:25

Let's see if it's consistent Without Jesus as a source of our knowledge without Jesus as a foundation

01:04:31

Let's try and live consistently with that profession same love ready I can't change even if I tried even if I wanted to everyone says yes

01:04:41

That's beautiful. That's so I'm so passionate about that claim I can't change even if I tried even if I wanted to okay ready put those words now take them out of the mouth of the advocate for the

01:04:56

LGBT agenda and now put it in the mouth of the thief and Put him before a judge

01:05:04

Now let's hear the thief say that to the judge. I can't change

01:05:12

Even if I tried even if I was it's a judge gonna go. Yeah Right, that's catchy right?

01:05:20

What's the judge do? judge says you had better change and you better try hard and You're gonna be punished.

01:05:31

There's justice. Okay now take this song now That's rooted in unbelieving thought that's rooted in an anti -christian worldview

01:05:39

That's rooted in an anti -christian sexual ethic and I'll put those words now in the mouth of the child molester

01:05:46

Let's have the child molester anthem now and let's sing that song the child molester saying

01:05:52

I can't change even if I tried even if I wanted to and let's see if the world applauds ah

01:06:00

Now we're seeing the collapse of unbelieving thoughts You see it's not same love is it?

01:06:06

It's that we have a particular perverse sexual ethic that we want others to adopt and here's the problem every

01:06:15

Unbelieving system of ethics will collapse and fold in upon itself when it is not rooted in Jesus Christ as a source of all knowledge

01:06:25

Unbelievers have a worldview brothers and sisters, please understand They are preaching if I could say something to you as a

01:06:31

Christian coming from Australia as a man who has no earthly right being on this stage I Want you to hear from me as a

01:06:39

Christian that in both my country and yours We are suffering in many ways as Christians We have we we are now the descendants of people who spilled their blood and fought

01:06:52

For us to have what we have today and shame on us For not fighting a fight like they fought

01:07:00

See, here's the thing. We think oftentimes. Well, we're beset on all sides By unbelief and hostile people to our worldview.

01:07:08

You see our ancestors. They had it good for themselves They lived in a time where maybe there was more people that had a biblical worldview and we're just not there anymore

01:07:16

We have a lot more to go. Don't you understand brothers and sisters? If you look at the history of the Christian Church, it was during the times of the greatest transformation

01:07:24

That there was the most darkness When you think about even in my own country the

01:07:30

Great Reformation the Great Awakening Look at a life of a

01:07:35

Christian like George Whitefield Is he like my Australians or is this a bad guy? Okay.

01:07:41

All right. Good. So, okay good. Okay I gotta be careful what I talk about you guys talk about the king and I'm like, you know, we difficult, you know cultural differences

01:07:51

Yeah, I say, okay, that's a different subject for a different time, okay We think about a person like George Whitefield If you look at his history in his life the

01:07:59

Great Awakening what God did in that man preaching the gospel back and forth back And forth back and forth preach like 18 ,000 sermons literally preached himself to death

01:08:07

When you look at his history read JC Riles biography of George Whitefield. Amazing What you recognize is you hear the story of George Whitefield You recognize that when he was being brought up by God He was in the same kind of context we face today in a church

01:08:23

Same kind of context people in churches preaching Your best life kind of messages.

01:08:30

No hard repentance and faith gospel sort of a lackadaisical lackadaisical

01:08:36

Christianity like yeah, whatever indifferent no big deal sort of a thing Let's just go with the flow comfort and when

01:08:42

George Whitefield came in he came in like a rocket launcher he came in with a message of repentance the need for regeneration to be born again to come to faith in Jesus Christ and when

01:08:53

He came with his message as hard as it was preaching repentance with boldness. God actually did something

01:09:00

He went out into the fields and preached and we had thousands and thousands and thousands of people coming to him to listen to this

01:09:06

Gospel, there was a hundred proof gospel People say all George Whitefield was in the fields preaching the gospel so mighty

01:09:14

He had so many people coming to listen on thousands of people, you know, why he was in the fields Because the church kicked him out

01:09:23

His message was too strong It was too direct too offensive and brothers and sisters it is for us

01:09:31

I think our time it is shameful for us as Christians When we don't face the unbelieving world in the way that Christ calls us to recognizing the futility of their unbelief

01:09:42

And their need for Jesus Christ. I don't even have any time. What's 2105? What's that in English? It's 905.

01:09:52

That's what I thought. Okay, so, um, can I go for another minute or so here? Is it? Okay, okay

01:10:00

Now every time in Australia I step on a stage everyone's like oh great he's gonna go for like a couple hours Okay, so think in terms of worldview

01:10:10

Next point of contact because we're talking about the gospel today When you think about the biblical anthropology a biblical view of humans in mankind

01:10:21

That's your starting point for apologetics. If you get this, right and you get the foundation of knowledge, right?

01:10:27

So you'd be able to engage in apologetics with anybody you'll be able to faithfully execute that command of Peter Where he says always being ready to give a reasoned offense to Everyone who asks of you so whether it's the

01:10:41

Mormon or the Jehovah's Witness If you stand on God's Word and recognize their position, you'll be able to engage with them.

01:10:47

So let's start with God's Word about human beings so go to your

01:10:55

Bibles now to Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1

01:11:06

Here's the text Romans 1 Verse 18 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

01:11:15

Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth? For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them

01:11:23

For his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature Have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so they are without excuse

01:11:36

For although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened

01:11:45

Claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal

01:11:50

God for images resembling mortal man and birds And animals and creeping things. Here's the thing

01:11:56

Very important no matter who you engage with. This is what the Word of God says about them.

01:12:02

They know him They don't know some God. They don't know about a kind of God like God God says here that they know him and they are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness

01:12:18

It says that which is known about God is evident within them for God has made it evident to them so two things here to grab hold of First God says they know him the true

01:12:30

God and they are suppressing the truth and unrighteousness Dr.

01:12:36

Bonson used to talk about taking a ball in a pool of water You take that big say big red ball and you put it under the water, right?

01:12:45

What happens if you let go of that ball? It shoots up out of the water by nature

01:12:51

If you grab that ball Sometimes you have to actually play a game right as a kid you put it under the water you ever try to sit on it

01:12:56

And hold on it like that you're holding it and it's popping up behind you and you're flipping backwards That balls popping up by nature.

01:13:04

What do you have to do to keep it down? Suppress it you have to actually hold it down The unbelievers life is a life of Suppression.

01:13:18

It's like whack -a -mole the game whack -a -mole. You have that in Australia. Yeah, I hate this game with my whole heart honestly,

01:13:26

I Have I confess this everywhere every time I talk about this whenever that game is there and there are tickets coming out of it for Toys for my kids

01:13:34

I cheat All the time, but here's the thing Even when you try to cheat it whack -a -mole and hang over the thing you're gonna miss one

01:13:42

Those moles keep popping up and you're just popping popping popping popping popping and you might get one or two over here and you miss mole

01:13:50

Down right the unbelievers life is a lifelong game of whack -a -mole with God The image of God is coming up constantly the image of God is unavoidable

01:14:04

You cannot escape being what God made you to be image of God and though you deny

01:14:10

God's existence You're gonna miss something You're gonna miss something.

01:14:16

What's it look like? Well, it looks like say the atheists like Richard Dawkins in his book

01:14:23

River out of Eden He says there is no good. There is no evil. There is only blind and pitiless indifference

01:14:30

Let me say it again, there is no good there is no evil only blind and pitiless indifference now, that's his

01:14:38

Professed view of the world. That's him being consistent as an atheist, right? He's like I'm gonna be an atheist

01:14:43

I'm gonna be consistent. Here's the world descendants of bacteria. No God, no governance.

01:14:49

No guidance It's just stuff moving around the universe. So there's no good. No evil. All right, there's

01:14:55

Richard Dawkins being an atheist now Here's whack -a -mole Richard Dawkins says that and then he says that when

01:15:04

Christians educate their children in a biblical worldview, it's child abuse my answer, of course to Richard Dawkins standing on his position is

01:15:18

So what very sophisticated answer, right?

01:15:24

So Right, but that's the answer to unbelief Richard Dawkins Recognizes the value and dignity of human beings

01:15:33

He thinks something is true and something else is false And so he thinks that these people teaching somebody else something false is abuse

01:15:41

And of course, you shouldn't abuse descendants of apes What's that mean all of his life?

01:15:51

It's suppression of truth. It's the atheist who says there is no God no meaning no purpose

01:15:56

There are no moral absolutes and then when the guy breaks his car window and steals his stereo

01:16:03

He says hey And he calls the police It's the unbeliever who says there's no

01:16:10

God no good. No evil and Then when someone breaks in his house at night, he's protecting his family guarding his children acting like there's something valuable and Meaningful there

01:16:22

It's the unbeliever who says there's no God no meaning no purpose who says that all of us are descendants of bacteria and then he goes and attends the funeral of a loved one or a friend who dies

01:16:35

Acting like there's something more in that casket than protoplasm Do you see suppression of truth?

01:16:43

God says that the unbeliever knows the true God, but all of us Knowing the true

01:16:49

God, even though God has shown it to us We suppress the truth of God even with creation shouting to us about God preaching to us every day our

01:16:57

Mo as fallen image bearers of God is to switch God for an idol

01:17:04

We don't want him. We know the true God John Calvin referred to it as a census divinitatis

01:17:11

All of us have a knowledge of God now watch careful careful It doesn't mean that The unbeliever is going and I'm pretending not to right the problem is

01:17:27

Sin and sin corrupts our reasoning faculties so that we are self -deceived

01:17:36

Self -deceived sin so corrupts our ability even to reason we deceive even our own

01:17:43

Selves knowing the true God being dependent upon him every single day with every breath every thought every action

01:17:51

We're dependent upon him. We say no to him and we switch God for idols and Paul says here their thinking becomes what?

01:18:00

Futile professing to be what to be wise they become what Fools and they switch

01:18:06

God for idols the condition of every human being is they know the true God they don't want him So they go elsewhere

01:18:13

So someone says so the Mormon Well, I'll tell you why

01:18:20

Mormonism exists. Yes, Joseph Smith's false prophet. Yes. He has false prophecies.

01:18:26

Yes He distorts the Word of God. Yes, he deceived people. Amen. Amen. Amen. Yes, got it But the true reason that there are millions and millions of Mormons in the world today is not just the deception of Joseph Smith It's that every

01:18:39

Mormon, you know And you gotta grab hold of this is a rebel against God And they would prefer to have a

01:18:49

God in their own image Rather than being made in his

01:18:54

Do you ever notice that when you look at the gods of false religion of man -made religion? the interesting thing is that all the gods of false religion looks so much like us and Mormonism is a fantastic example of that, right?

01:19:09

Do you know a lot about Mormonism Mormonism is fantastic What's it like? Oh, well, you see here's how we got here

01:19:15

All right our God Had a mommy God and daddy God before him and then they had mommy gods and daddy gods before them and they had mommy gods and daddy gods before them and then what happens is you come here and then you through Exaltation become a god of your own planet and you get goddess wives and you're gonna populate sexually in the pre -existence of your own world a planet just like the

01:19:40

God of this earth did and Our God went through exaltation the same way you have he sinned and He moved for exaltation and become a god and you're gonna go the same way.

01:19:51

What's that sound like? It sounds like us You see even when religions like Mormonism ape

01:19:57

Christianity and co -opt our language and borrow from us They take our language and then they make

01:20:03

God in their own image. They switch God for an idol. That's our Basic position is following human beings.

01:20:11

We know the true God. We don't want them So we switch them for idols last point tonight and I'm gonna let you go for a break here.

01:20:16

We'll do Q &A Romans 5 Is this popular here?

01:20:22

Let me ask you this. I'll do this. I'll just do it this way Christianity is not a religion.

01:20:30

It's a Okay, got it. So it's here too. All right. Good. All right

01:20:36

It's not a religion. It's a relationship now. Here's the thing We all know what we mean what we mean when we say that right? What do we mean?

01:20:42

It's not about works righteousness It's not about what we do. It's about what Jesus did

01:20:47

It's his perfection granted to us as a gift by God's grace. We are in Christ hiding in Christ We've been credited his righteousness.

01:20:58

All we have to give to God is our sin and The only way we get eternal life is through faith apart from any work of law

01:21:07

And so what we mean is is that we're hostile to God We need to be brought into a place of peace with God relationship not religion.

01:21:15

I get it Here's the problem with that statement. It's not a religion.

01:21:21

It's a relationship when we say to somebody you need to have a relationship With Jesus Christ. I think we should clarify a little more because Romans 5 says

01:21:31

And there's just no way around this Romans 5 says that every human being

01:21:36

You will ever meet who has ever lived or ever will live is already in a relationship with Jesus Christ Already Romans 5.

01:21:47

What's it say about Adam as an Adam all what? Die in Christ all will be made alive in Adam There is death and condemnation in Christ What is there the gift of eternal life and righteousness?

01:22:02

And so all of humanity is summed up in one of two Representatives you're either in Adam the head of the fallen human race or you are in Christ Who is the

01:22:16

Redeemer the second Adam now? Here's the the the point of contact with every person we ever talk to they are either child of God or they are either

01:22:28

Hostile to God they are either in Adam or they are in Christ They are covenantally linked to Adam or to Jesus So my friend dr.

01:22:41

All offense wrote a book called covenantal apologetics he there's

01:22:47

Presuppositional apologetics or covenantal apologetics same thing just a different way to describe it and dr.

01:22:54

Oliphant I think did a Masterful job in that book. I think it's fantastic We don't have it sell your shirt and shoes and go buy it.

01:23:01

Okay, you need to have it. You have Amazon in Australia Good. Okay. All right get that book covenantal apologetics.

01:23:08

I love what dr. Oliphant was getting at. He says in that book Covenantally everybody is already linked to God in some way either hostility

01:23:17

It's marked by hostility or it's marked by faith So in apologetics every person you talk to isn't neutral to God if they're not in Christ They're at war with God and our job as Christians is to try to find a point of contact

01:23:33

Within their rebellion to point to their borrowed capital They're borrowing from God to do what they're doing to point to their internal Inconsistencies the collapse of their system apart from Jesus Christ It's it's essentially summed up in this in terms of say the unbeliever the atheist van

01:23:52

Til said That the unbeliever the atheist is like the small child who smacks his father in the face

01:24:02

He's dependent upon his father to hold him in his lap otherwise he couldn't reach and The unbelievers life is that their whole way say the atheist for a moment

01:24:18

Covenantally linked to God. They know the true God. They're in the Imago Dei and they can't escape it

01:24:23

They are at war with their creator. They're in Adam What I need to do with the unbeliever is point out

01:24:30

Their life of borrowed capital the fact that they are imaging God the fact that they are living in futility in their whole system

01:24:38

Which is the antithesis of the biblical worldview. And so what I point to is those moments

01:24:44

It's Richard Dawkins saying no God no good. No evil. We're just African apes

01:24:50

There's no purpose no meaning and it's me pointing out The inherent contradiction of a man who says he's an

01:24:58

African ape the descendant of fish living like there are actual laws in the universe by which he can do science as Though he could justify and appeal to the uniformity in nature

01:25:12

Pointing to the unbeliever the borrowed capital they have when they say there is no God no good no purpose and yet they had they cry out against some moral atrocity

01:25:23

It's pointing to the unbeliever when the television is going and Four people die

01:25:32

At an amusement park in Australia you see here's what's amazing watch in the last couple of days you guys have

01:25:40

Experienced something awful in Australia where four people died No expectation of it.

01:25:47

No feeling of risk and they died Unexpectedly and you know, what's amazing about this watch this if you watch look around you next couple days look around you and listen to the conversations

01:25:57

Christian Muslim Atheist Mormon Jehovah's Witness can all stand in front of the same screen and The Mormon Jehovah's Witness Muslim atheist

01:26:08

Christian can all shed tears together but you can look over at the atheist and see them shedding tears and that could start a conversation a gentle conversation a

01:26:21

Genuine conversation if you have that opportunity You can ask that unbeliever over a cup of coffee.

01:26:27

You could say hey, I noticed something I'm gonna say it it was it was important to me to see you do that You're an atheist and I love you and I have a high level of respect for you.

01:26:38

Can I ask you? You were you were crying because of the what happened at the amusement park as an atheist

01:26:45

How how as an atheist can you do that? How does your worldview make sense of tears over tragedy?

01:26:55

Because you see what I think I see in you With respect is

01:27:00

I think I see the image of God in you I think I see you living in a way that I know you have to Because you're made in the image of the same

01:27:09

God as me But see you were doing something while watching that That doesn't seem to comport with your worldview

01:27:18

Because you see I know why you were crying and I praise God that you were But you see in your worldview, you can't make sense of tears

01:27:26

Over four people who are accidents of the universe dying

01:27:33

What just happens? Just happens Doesn't matter but you see what

01:27:40

I think you're doing when you cry is you're showing that you don't really believe What you say you believe?

01:27:47

Because you're living in a way that's contradictory To your fundamental assertions about the world and I want to tell you that the only reason

01:27:56

I think anybody would ever do that is Because they're at war with their Creator and Jesus talked about that He said that all of us are sinners were enslaved to our sin and that someone sometimes we do things that are foolish like deny his existence, which is crazy and Sometimes we say we're

01:28:12

African apes, but we cry when people die in amusement parks And the reason we do that is because we're at war with God.

01:28:19

We don't want him And so we try to live apart from him our whole lives And then when really things get tough we all of a sudden start act like image bearers of God again and here's the message that I want to have for you is that you need to know that I'm a sinner just like you and I'm unworthy just like you and I fought against God just like you you need to know about God who loves rebels

01:28:42

Just like you He lived a perfect sinless life. He died for sinners and rose from the dead

01:28:48

This is the message of this is the message of life come to Christ and live Turn from your sin turn from darkness to light

01:28:55

Turn and put your faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation because if you turn to Christ You are not only given eternal life

01:29:03

You are not only forgiven of your sins, but you're also now able to make sense of tears in death

01:29:12

Because it's only with Jesus Do tears make any sense at all?