0:00 Greetings & Appreciation
0:41 Bahnsen: Perceived As A Hired Gun Of Christian Apologetics
2:14 The Vast Majority Of Cases Where Apologetics Will Be Used For GOD Are In The Workplace, Home, and Informal Settings
3:20 The Reason Why Greg Is Interested In Apologetics…Taking A Stand For JESUS CHRIST
5:01 If GOD Needs Nothing, Is Apologetics Really Necessary?
10:37 The Mistake That So Many Christians Make
11:29 Elders Should Be Able Both To Exhort In Sound Doctrine & Convict The Gainsayers
13:10 Jude Urges His Readers To Contend With The Error Of False Teaching
14:17 1 Peter 3:15 The Magna Carta Of Christian Apologetics…All Christians Are Called By GOD To Offer A Defense Of Their Faith And To Be Able & Prepared To Do So
19:07 You Are Morally Obligated To Do This
22:41 What Apologetics Is Not
27:40 The Expression, “Win The Argument.”
29:51 RECAP
30:13 The Use Of Reason In Apologetics
36:09 We Defend The Christian Faith By Humble Submission To The Ultimate Authority Of GOD
Apologetics is not just for scholars and pastors. God has put His people in many places to meet the various challenges of unbelievers. This three-session seminar demonstrates how every Christian can defend the faith in their place of work. (CMF)
[00:00.000] I really appreciate you all coming out on a Saturday morning to learn something about a subject which I’m afraid many people think isn’t the concern of the man in the pew. I expressly appreciate you coming out to do that on a cold morning like this. When I left Southern California, it was 72 degrees, the sunny skies. And so when I got up this morning, Paul had lent me a car and given me directions. And I didn’t know I was going to have to be fighting the elements like this. And I got to thinking, boy, who’s going to get up and listen to apologetics on a morning like this? And here the Lord’s brought out this crowd, and I’m really grateful for you coming out to hear this.
[00:41.640] I can tell you a little bit about myself before I get underway, I think. I am what many people would consider a hired gun. I am the guy who went to school and got these advanced degrees. A couple of master’s degrees, Ph.D. in philosophy and so forth, writes books and so forth. And often people look upon someone in this situation as our representative when it comes to answering the attacks of the world upon the Christian faith. That is not, however, the way I would like you to look upon the defense of the faith.
[01:19.840] So what we do is we go out and we look for our experts to answer their experts. There’s a place for that. I think we need apologetics on the level of university professors talking to one another and writing books to each other and so forth. But I think far, far, far more important is that we learn about apologetics in the workplace.
[01:41.200] And that’s why I’m really glad to be here today, because though I enjoy speaking to university and seminary audiences about this subject, I really enjoy far more, and I think it is far more crucial to the advance of Christ’s kingdom in this world, that we have gatherings like this. This morning, where we talk about apologetics and the nitty-gritty of life, where people really live.
[02:02.660] Now, I don’t subscribe to the abuse that says scholars live in an ivory tower and they don’t really understand real life. I’m always a little uncomfortable when I hear that kind of thing. And that’s not what I’m telling you this morning. I am telling you, however, that the vast majority of cases where apologetics will be used and blessed by God for the advance of his kingdom, the vast majority. The vast majority of cases are in the workplace, in the home, in informal settings, not in academic arenas where the hired guns can get together and compare their expertise.
[02:38.740] And so that’s why what we’re doing this morning, even on a cold November snowy day, is so important. And I trust it will be used by God to benefit you. I don’t wish to come and share with you the subtleties of Kantian philosophy this morning. We could. We could talk about that if you wish, but I don’t think you want to. I don’t blame you.
[03:00.920] I have come to talk to you today because the thing that is most important to me in my life is that a number of years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the power of his spirit, changed my heart, gave me the gift of faith, and brought me into his everlasting kingdom. And the reason why I’m interested in apologetics, at least what I’m doing it the way I think the Bible tells us, is to do it. The reason why I’m interested in apologetics is that I want others to share that blessing with me.
[03:33.920] I am not too concerned what people think about me. It really concerns me when people are abusive about him and his reputation and say things which not only contradict the infallible teaching of his word at many times, but insult his character and refuse to hear him for whom… who he claims to be. That really concerns me. And I have this feeling when I hear people, whether conversations in a restaurant or an argument you get into at school or in the workplace, whatever, it really concerns me when people talk in a way which is disparaging to my Savior.
[04:15.360] And inside what I say to myself is, you know, these people just don’t know him, do they? They just don’t know him. But they knew the living Savior, Jesus Christ. And all of… All of glory is presented in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. They wouldn’t talk this way. They wouldn’t dare malign his character or insult his claims or disagree with his word.
[04:41.160] Apologetics, what all is said and done, is a matter of presenting the Lord Jesus Christ to men. They might know him in his glory and they might be saved. It’s not a matter of defending ourselves or our academic credentials or our… our own particular reputations. It’s a matter of taking a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[05:01.420] And that leads then to the first question we should ask ourselves this morning. Is apologetics really necessary? Does anyone need to defend the Lord Jesus Christ? I remember very well the first time I heard someone confidently assert, the Word of God needs no defense. It no more needs a defense than a lion in a cage. Just let it out of its cage. It’ll do its own. It’ll do its own work.
[05:27.300] And when I heard that, there was something of a surge of pious agreement, I think, that overcame me. That seemed to be a sentiment that was very right. It would appear to be almost irreverent to disagree with that. Why should the Lord Jesus Christ need defense? Why should the Word of God need defense? Why does a lion need defense? Just let it do its own work.
[05:51.800] And there is something, of course, initially, I think, right about that. When you think about it, God doesn’t need anything, does he? God is sovereign. He’s the creator of heaven and earth. He governs every event of history. He’s completely self-sufficient, the Bible tells us. He’s in need of nothing. And if he’s in need of nothing, he doesn’t need you. And he doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need the puny efforts of any particular man or woman to defend his Word. God is not in need of anything.
[06:24.780] The Apostle Paul said, Paul, when he reasoned with the Athenian philosophers,
[06:29.460] As we read of it in Acts, the 17th chapter, Paul made that very point. He declared that God is not worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, seeing that he gives to all life and breath and all things. The psalmist in Psalm 50 tells us, God speaks to us through the psalmist, saying, if I were hungry, I wouldn’t tell you. God says, if I were hungry, first God never hungers, but he says, if I were to hunger, I wouldn’t need you to take care of me. Much less do I need all of your offerings. God doesn’t need anything. He doesn’t depend upon anything outside of himself.
[07:15.220] As Paul said in Acts 17, in him we live and move and have our being. So if God doesn’t need anything, he doesn’t need our defenses either. That’s very true. He doesn’t need our inadequate reasoning and our feeble efforts to defend his word. But I think, as pious as that remark may seem, that God doesn’t need our efforts at apologetics, it does miss something very important in terms of the biblical teaching.
[07:43.760] You see, it’s also true that God doesn’t need my efforts to feed my children. Isn’t that right? God has promised to take care of my children. They belong to him. They are baptized. They are part of the covenant. His promises are good for them. And so why should I go to work? What am I doing here in Grand Rapids giving this lecture today, pursuing my ministry and getting paid for it? After all, God doesn’t need my efforts.
[08:15.200] You see, we still go to work, don’t we? Even though God doesn’t need us to go to work to take care of us. Why? If God could send manna from heaven to take care of us, why don’t we just count on him doing that? Well, you know the answer, because God has also given us command that we are to go to work. We are to pursue our vocation. We are to subdue this world to his glory. We are to be gainfully employed. And so though God doesn’t need us, he chooses to use us to accomplish his end.
[08:55.060] You know, God doesn’t need us for the sake of evangelism either. God doesn’t need preachers. God doesn’t need people testifying for him. That may sound a little strange to you. How can you say that, Dr. Bahnsen? Well, he doesn’t need us because if you read the Bible, God can use donkeys too. Remember Balaam’s ass? God wanted to. He could just have the donkeys talk for him and we could just keep quiet if he wanted to. In fact, he could use the stones to cry out, to give glory to him and testify to his word if he chose to do so.
[09:27.820] Why do we evangelize then? You could say very honestly, God doesn’t need us to evangelize. He doesn’t need us to spread his word. That’s true, he doesn’t. The creator of heaven and earth doesn’t need anything. Why then do we evangelize? Because he tells us to. Because he chooses to accomplish his ends in spreading his kingdom through our testimony. The reason why we testify to the truth of God’s word, the reason why we go to work, Dr. Bahnsen, is because we are to be evangelized. The reason why we go to work, earn a paycheck so we can feed our children and so forth, is not because God couldn’t take care of us otherwise, but because he has sent us to do these things.
[10:06.540] And so this morning, why should you engage in the task of apologetics? Just let the word of God out of its cage, the lion out of its cage. It’ll defend itself. Why should you engage in apologetics? Well, the answer is going to be the same as what I’ve given you already. Because God tells you to. Because God chooses to defend his word, to have the faith strengthened and advanced in this world through just such effort.
[10:38.040] And now I’ve got to catch on to you before you make a mistake, which at just this point is so crucial. The mistake that so many Christians make is, that’s right, God does want people to do that, and aren’t we glad we have people like Dr. Bahnsen to do it? That’s wrong. Of course, ministers are supposed to be able to defend the faith. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, turn with me in Titus, the first chapter, to verse 9. Paul wrote to Titus and told him something about overseers in the church, those who would be pastors and elders. And he said in verse 9 that they’re particularly to be equipped and able to do something specifically. I turn to it myself here, let me read it for you, Titus 1.9.
[11:29.960] The men who are to be appointed as elders are to hold the faithful word, which is according to the teaching,
[11:37.420] That he may be able both to exhort and sound doctrines, and to convict the gainsayers. Notice that pastors are required to be able to positively expound sound doctrines. Sadly, we have in the Christian church today many who have been put in positions of leadership and authority. They have the teaching office in the church, and they do not teach and sound doctrines. They are not qualified to be pastors. But there are many good, God-loving men who are in pulpits today who are able to expound sound doctrines. They have studied the Bible. They love the Bible. They wish to be faithful to the Savior, who is presented to us in the Bible. And they expound sound doctrines.
[12:28.400] But then when it comes to defending that doctrine against the counter-charges of other religions or atheists or scientists who tell us the Bible can’t be depended on, they are not able to convict the gainsayers. This is a requirement for pastoral office. That a man be trained and competent in apologetics and the defense of the Christian faith. And so you would be right. You would expect your pastor, whoever he may be, to be able to engage in apologetics. But you would be dead wrong to think that only your pastor is called upon to do that. Turn with me as well to the book of Jude.
[13:12.040] Now Jude very well knew that God was in sovereign control of all things. Jude tells us that God in his time will directly deal with wicked teachers. He will consign them to everlasting condemnation. And yet Jude still urges his readers to contend with the error of false teaching. They are not to sit back and expect that God himself is going to take care of the false teachers, or that the pastors are going to deal with the false teachers. In verse 3 of this epistle, Jude says, Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered unto the saints. He writes that to all of God’s people. You must contend for the faith. That truth, that doctrinal system that’s been once and for all delivered to the saints, you must contend for it.
[14:18.020] Then of course, in 1 Peter, the third chapter, which is the Magna Carta of Christian apologetics, we see that all of God’s people are called upon by God to offer a defense of their Christian faith, and to be able and prepared to do that. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15. But sanctifying Christ as Lord in your heart, be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. Peter here addresses himself to all the members of the congregation, writing to all of God’s people. He says, you sanctify Christ in your heart as Lord. You be ready to give an answer to anyone that asks you for a reason of the hope that is in you. God himself, though he needs you, means nothing, chooses to use his people to accomplish his end.
[15:28.180] God, though he does not need our defense, chooses to use us in defending his word. God chooses to advance his kingdom and to defend his prerogative and the veracity of what he has said through your testimony and your apologetics. It’s God himself, using Peter here, that calls on you, each and every one of you, to be prepared to defend the faith. To be able to defend it in the face of challenges and questions which come from unbelievers. And notice Peter says, you should be prepared to answer unbelievers no matter who they may be.
[16:11.220] Any unbeliever who asks you, any man who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, you need to be prepared to offer an answer to them. And so the necessity of apologetics is not a divine necessity. God doesn’t need apologetics. He doesn’t need us for anything. God can do his work without us. The necessity of apologetics is not that God needs it. It’s a moral necessity. It’s the necessity that God has chosen to use us to advance his kingdom and his claims in this world through our testimony. Apologetics may be the special talent of some believers. It may be that which some people have pursued in their advanced training. But apologetics is the God-ordained responsibility of all believers.
[17:02.260] Well you see, it turns out in God’s wise and sovereign proverb that those people who do not train in advanced philosophy usually do not, in their social circles, run into people that are trained in advanced philosophy. Now. I’m not saying that these circles never overlap. They do occasionally. But you know, for the most part, that isn’t the case.
[17:29.360] It turns out that people who have PhDs and so forth tend to run in more or hang out with those people that have PhDs or educated people. People who work on farms tend to have as their friends and associates, usually, farmers. Or people who work in a commercial office environment tend to know people that have a commercial office environment as their life calling as well. That is not, I’m not talking about watertight compartments, but I’m saying it just so happens in life that’s the way things go. God calls on you to be able to give an answer to those people that you run into. And for the most part, you’re not running into university professors with PhDs in philosophy.
[18:12.720] Isn’t that right? Some of you might occasionally. But not usually.
[18:17.740] And so when someone says, well, I don’t have to worry about how to defend the faith because I wouldn’t be able to do it anyway. I mean, how am I going to answer somebody with a PhD in philosophy? In the first place, you’re copping out because that isn’t what you usually have to run into.
[18:32.940] More likely, you need to speak with a relative or a friend or a neighbor or somebody that you work with. They aren’t PhDs in philosophy, usually, although there are a lot of unemployed philosophers around, which may have a kind of a divine sense of humor about it. You don’t use academic degrees and so forth.
[18:54.840] Because it turns out that the way we defend the faith is going to be effective for dealing with all of this, regardless of their own self-importance or their own academic background or achievement.
[19:07.740] So this morning, I want to begin, and that’s why I’ve taken a few minutes beginning this way, with the encouragement, indeed the exhortation, if not a word from God himself, that you are morally obligated to do this. God has called you to his service.
[19:26.540] Now, how would you feel about some Christian, how would you feel about yourself, if God had given a specific command, let’s say, about marital faithfulness? And we said, well, we as Christians, we don’t have to listen to God’s command. We run our own lives. And so, we do what feels good to us. If it’s convenient to be maritally faithful, to be faithful in our marriages, then we will. And if it’s inconvenient, doesn’t fit into our desires, then we won’t.
[19:56.540] I know how you all would respond, very rightly, with horror and moral indignation. God tells us that we are to be faithful in our marriages, and we are to do so even when it doesn’t seem convenient, even when it doesn’t suit our desires. We are to obey God. Not ourselves.
[20:18.240] Now, God has given another command. I’ve shown it to you in two or three places in his word already. He has said, you are to be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. You are to be prepared to do that.
[20:33.140] Now, what do you make of yourself or of others who say, oh, well, if it’s convenient or if I have a desire to do so, then, of course, I’ll pursue it. You see, that’s not a luxury we have as Christians. We’re doing it.
[20:49.540] I know that many of us are concerned that within the Christian church, there are people who look at commands that have been given, let’s say, by the Apostle Paul about the place of women in the church, and it distresses us that there are people who look at that and say, well, yeah, Paul may have said that, but it’s dispensable. We can ignore that. Or we can find a different way to apply it. Or we can, in a way, culturally condition it so we don’t have to obey it today. And we’re indignant about that.
[21:23.440] I wish to turn that same indignation now around and kind of set it up as a mirror for you. And you ask yourself, have you been just as lax when it comes to the command, say, of Peter to be prepared to defend the faith? Have we gotten it into our ideas? Have we begun to think such things as that, well, yeah, there’s someone who’s supposed to defend the faith, or pastors are supposed to do that, but the defense of the faith doesn’t have any place in my life or in the workplace?
[21:54.240] If you have been thinking those thoughts, then please, receive the rebuke of God’s own word. Not mine. I mean, I have no place to talk to you that way, but God tells you, this is an order. This is the command. This is a non-negotiable. This is not a matter of when you feel like it, if it feels good, or if it’s convenient. This is what God wants. This is what God expects in his people.
[22:17.640] If they love the Lord Jesus Christ, they are not going to be silent when the word of the Lord Jesus Christ is impugned. If they love the Lord Jesus Christ, they are not going to be quiet when people ridicule the faith, when they disparage his character, or disagree with his word.
[22:36.740] Now, having said that, I think it would be helpful for me to tell you what apologetics is not, so that you won’t have the wrong idea. Maybe you won’t be back to the second session this morning. I’ll scare you off here.
[22:52.340] Apologetics is a matter of giving an answer. Giving a reason for the hope that is in us, as 1 Peter chapter 3 tells us. But apologetics is not a matter of being cognizant.
[23:05.640] It’s not a matter of looking for a fight. Apologetics does not mean you have to be somebody going out there just trying to stir up trouble.
[23:14.840] Now, we have people with that personality. You know the kind of person I’m talking about. People that are always needling. They almost have a chip on their shoulder. They’re always looking for some kind of encounter they can get into with people.
[23:28.340] I don’t want you to think that when I’m calling you to do the task of apologetics in the workplace, that I’m asking you to be that kind of person. That isn’t what God’s word says.
[23:39.340] Notice in 1 Peter chapter 3 that Peter says, Be prepared to give an answer. The assumption here is that the conversation or the encounter has begun with somebody asking a question or issuing a challenge.
[23:56.840] In the ordinary course of your living your Christian life and giving your Christian witness to people and talking about the things most important to you, and that means the word of God, people are going to say things like, Oh, why do you believe that? Or, I can’t go along with that. Or, But there are other points of view with respect to that.
[24:19.340] And Peter says, when they initiate that kind of conversation, when they ask a reason from you, then you need to be prepared to give it.
[24:27.840] So, you don’t have to become a pugnacious person going out there baiting debates with people, just looking for a way to get into a fight with them, as it were. Peter doesn’t say you need to be pugnacious.
[24:42.340] Moreover, Peter doesn’t tell us that apologetics becomes a matter of having a contentious spirit about it, either. Peter says you’re to do this with gentleness and reverence and respect, if you will.
[25:01.340] As we deal with our opponents, we don’t have to have this fire-breathing dragon mentality, you know, that we just have to consume our opponents. We have to overwhelm them. We have to be, as it were, intellectual combatants that just bloody them. And, Peter says the attitude is quite contrary to that.
[25:21.340] We want to answer with a gentle, kind, and yet closes their mouths. So, apologetics is not a matter of being pugnacious.
[25:33.340] Moreover, and probably more importantly to encourage you this morning, apologetics is not a matter of persuasion. God does not call you to persuade your opponent.
[25:45.340] I am confident, after 20 years of doing this sort of thing, that one of the main reasons that God’s people do not engage in apologetics is because they think, I can’t win the argument. And if I can’t win the argument, why even get into it in the first place?
[26:02.340] Well, let me tell you something. Those of us who are trained in the field of apologetics can’t always, quote, win the argument either. But you know what? God didn’t require me to win the argument. And he doesn’t require you to win the argument because God doesn’t require you to persuade anybody.
[26:23.340] By persuade, I mean make some kind of internal, subjective change so that people who are believing contrary to the gospel now come to believe the gospel. God doesn’t call me to do that work. And the reason he doesn’t call me to do it is because I couldn’t do it anyway. Isn’t that right?
[26:45.340] Those of us who understand the reformed faith, the reformed understanding of man and his depravity and the need for God’s sovereign intervention for people to change their minds and have the gift of faith, we know that we don’t humanly have the ability to give faith to people.
[27:04.340] Only God can do that. Only the Holy Spirit can enlighten darkened hearts. Only the Holy Spirit can give a new heart in the place of a stony heart. Only the Holy Spirit can bring persuasion.
[27:16.340] And Peter doesn’t say God requires you to persuade your opponent. What Peter says is be prepared to give an answer to anybody who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.
[27:30.340] What God expects you to do is to be able to answer the objection whether the unbeliever wants to believe or wants to accept it or not.
[27:41.340] Let me go back to this expression, win the argument. I’m afraid we have misperceived what it means to win an argument as well. Because you can win an argument even when your opponent doesn’t cry uncle. You know that? You can win a wrestling match even when your opponent doesn’t cry uncle. Isn’t that right? You go out and watch these guys in high school and college who wrestle at the Olympics and so forth.
[28:13.340] It isn’t required that the person who is lost admit that he’s lost for him to lose. To lose an argument or to win an argument is a matter of being able to give a reason that cannot be answered. The fact that the person who cannot answer the reason is unwilling to be persuaded is irrelevant to him losing the argument. Are you winning the argument?
[28:40.340] What God calls you to do, therefore, is not to change people’s hearts but to close their mouths. People with closed mouths might come to faith, they might not. The gospel is the savior of life into life and death into death. We cannot determine the outcome of our apologetical witness. We can, however, be very concerned to become more and more faithful and effective in offering that witness.
[29:06.340] And the point of our witness, as I’ve just said, is not to change hearts. God does that. The point of our witness is to close mouths. When people stand before the indicting word of God and the irrefutable truth of the gospel—and, by the way, closing their mouths is a figure of speech—they might continue to yap. Their mouths might be working. But the point is they haven’t got anything to offer in response. Then you have done the job you need to do as an apologist.
[29:37.340] And what I hope to accomplish this morning in the short time the Lord has given us is to show you how you might be able to effectively close the mouths of unbelievers and offer a reason for the hope that is in you. Apologetics is not pugnacious. It’s not a matter of looking for a fight. Apologetics is not a matter of having this kind of fire-breathing attitude where you have to overwhelm your opponent. Apologetics is not a matter of persuasion. It’s a matter of effectively and faithfully defending the truth so that people’s mouths are closed.
[30:12.340] Now before we come to our first morning break, I’d like to say a little bit more to you about the use of reason in apologetics. Reason and reasoning. If you’re going to reason with people in the marketplace or in the workplace, you’re going to have to use reason. But that scares off a lot of God’s people. Because again they think, well, I’m not a philosopher. I don’t know a lot about what people call reason.
[30:40.340] So here’s the first little nugget that I can give you from my own training to help you. When people refer to reason, would you please remember that that is perhaps the most ambiguous, vague word…
[30:53.340] …in all the field of philosophy. When people say “I appeal to reason,” the first thing you ought to say is, “What do you mean by that?” Appealing to reason can mean any number of things.
[31:05.340] It can mean appealing to the goddess of reason as it was enthroned in the French Revolution, you know, this magnanimous idea that man’s enlightened intellect is the guide for everything in life. Or it can mean appealing to something as simple as being consistent in your reasoning, appealing to logic.
[31:27.340] Reason is understood in one way by Hegel, it’s understood in another way by Davidson. Reason is understood one way by rationalists and another way by empiricists. There are any number of schools of philosophy, all of which think that it is their particular glory to be committed to reason.
[31:48.340] And so when people say you’ve got to use reason in apologetics, well that’s true, we do. But then again, when you appeal to reason, what are you appealing to? I think Christians are often befuddled about this word “reason,” also because there’s a sense in which reason ought not to be endorsed and a sense in which it ought to be endorsed, and we get confused about those two.
[32:12.340] So let me take just a few minutes to explain that and clarify it. Maybe we can distinguish these two different uses to know which is right and which is wrong. On the one hand, reason can be thought of as a tool. Reason can be thought of as man’s inherent intellectual capacity. That is to say, to use reason is just to use one’s intellect.
[32:39.340] And we have an intellect, we have a mind, because God has made us such. He has created us in this way. The gift of reasoning is a gift from God himself. It is indeed part of the divine image that we can reason. God bids His people to reason. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come, let us reason together.”
[33:03.340] And so God has made us capable of rational thought. He has made us capable of communication. He has given us influence through all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. In Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There is a philosophy that is after, or according to, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you’d better be careful so that you don’t lose out by following this other kind of deception after the traditions of men and after the elementary principles, the most basic assumptions of the world.
[33:37.340] Christians are to reason. There is a philosophy that is after Christ, but they are not to reason like the world does. They are not to follow the traditions of men. The same passage tells us in verse 6, “As therefore you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in your faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
[34:01.340] How did you become a Christian? How did I become a Christian? I referred to this at the beginning of my first lecture today. Did you become a Christian by exercising your mental faculties with such precision and expertise and ultimate authority that the Lord Jesus Christ came and made His claims, and then you verified them? Something like an elementary school teacher does, you know, checking the homework assignments for her students and saying, “Oh yes, Johnny, you did so well.”
[34:31.340] Is that how you became a Christian? Jesus made claims, and you went out and verified them? You used your intellect, your independent authority, and proved all of that to be true?
[34:44.340] And you said, finally, “Well, Jesus, since you passed the test of my rationality, then I’ll acknowledge you as the Creator of heaven and earth and my Savior.”
[34:53.340] Did you lord it over Jesus Christ intellectually so that you might then finally bow down and say, “Jesus, you are the Lord”? That’s preposterous, isn’t it?
[35:03.340] No one comes to the Lord Jesus Christ by pretending to have greater lordly prerogatives than His own. No one says, “Jesus, you passed my test, and then finally I’ll tell you that you’re the judge.” That’s absurd. You cannot pretend to be the ultimate judge so that you can then pass it back to Jesus and say, “Now you be the ultimate judge.”
[35:31.340] How did we become Christians? We became Christians by bowing our hearts and our minds to the claims of God, recognizing that we were guilty before Him and had no right to judge Him, but rather we stood under His judgment. Our only hope in life and death was to submit to this Savior who, by His grace and mercy, would forgive us and give us new life, make sense out of life for us, and provide eternal life to us.
[36:03.340] Paul says, “As therefore you receive Christ Jesus, so now walk in Him.” How are we going to defend the Christian faith? The encouragement I would offer you as we end this first session this morning is that we’re going to defend the faith in the same way that we came to the faith—by humble submission to the ultimate authority of God.
[36:25.340] Proverbs 1:7 tells us that the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord. How did you become a Christian? How did you start knowing things and having a clear understanding of things? You did it when you bowed in reverence to God and His claims, received His merciful provision, renounced your self-sufficiency, and determined to live now as a servant, a slave, under the marching orders of another. The beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord.
[37:03.340] But Proverbs 1:7 doesn’t end there. Often our slogans give only that much. The rest of the verse is just as important: “But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” How is it that you know something that the people you meet in the marketplace or the workplace do not? You know it because you have submitted to the fear of the Lord. And what is their attitude? They despise wisdom and instruction. They make grand claims to be wise, educated, or intelligent people. As Paul says, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
[37:45.340] The beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Because of these kernels of biblical truth, we will be able this morning, before you leave this afternoon, to show how anyone in the workplace is able to give a reason to people who ask why you have this hope within you. You will be able to close the mouths of those who oppose the Gospel, even if you’re not able to open their hearts.
[38:18.340] Let’s take a ten-minute break and come back. We’ll be right back.
