Apologetics in Action - Lesson 3
Overview
Answering Honest Questions About the Faith
Scripture warns us plainly that false teachers, false prophets, and false messiahs will arise. Paul cautions that "the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved" 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10. In a world that points to thousands of gods and competing philosophies, Christians must be ready to give a clear, faithful answer for why we worship the one true God revealed in Jesus Christ.
"Why your God among so many?"
When skeptics point to the roughly 5,000 gods being worshiped today, our starting point is honesty: we answer from our commitment to Christ and to Scripture. Many gods being worshiped does not mean many gods exist—there is one God, the Holy Trinity. From there, we share why we believe: the eyewitness testimony of the apostles, Peter's Pentecost preaching, John's Gospel, Paul's witness, and the unified testimony of the Old and New Testaments. We can also turn the question around: every worldview makes exclusive claims, not just Christianity.
Exclusivity that opens outward
Christianity is exclusive in its claim of salvation—Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" John 14:6. But this exclusivity is paired with a universal invitation: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son" John 3:16-17. Unlike the exclusive claims of other religions, which tend to be inward-facing, Christ commissions His people to carry the good news to all nations. There is one way of salvation, and that one way is to be proclaimed to everyone. Call it an "inclusive exclusivity"—the door is narrow, but the invitation is for all.
"Shouldn't reason replace blind faith?"
This question smuggles in an assumption: that faith is unthinking. But Christian faith is never blind—it is given by God and grows through learning, study, and Spirit-led curiosity. Yet faith is not produced by human reasoning. Paul writes, "the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe" 1 Corinthians 1:18-21. When unbelievers demand that God meet the bar of human reason, they place themselves above God—and a God smaller than us is no God worth worshiping. Thomas wanted proof; Jesus blessed those who believe without seeing. Abraham was counted righteous through faith in promises he never saw fulfilled.
Christian faith requires humble acknowledgment of our limits. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever" Deuteronomy 29:29. God knows us completely—"O LORD, you have searched me and known me!" Psalm 139:1-4—and what He has revealed in Scripture is fully trustworthy 2 Timothy 3:16.
Pastoral encouragement
There is no neutral ground for the Christian. We do not set aside God's Word in order to find common footing with unbelief; we stand on the Word and let God speak for Himself through it. When you are asked hard questions, answer humbly and honestly from your faith. Don't be intimidated by the demand to "prove it" on someone else's terms—the gospel will sound like foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to those being saved. Stand firm. Speak the truth in love. Trust that God defends His own Word, and go share the genuinely good news that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone—for anyone, anywhere, who will believe.
Transcript
Good morning and welcome back to adult education. 1s
We are wrapping up our class today on apologetics in action. 5s
We have a lot to get to so we're going to dive right in. 10s
I do want to say that if you have further interest in learning more about apologetics or 14s
don't know where to start or where to go from here, please don't hesitate to let me know 21s
because I know that apologetics are something that are very interesting but also can seem kind of scary. 27s
So I would love to help direct you in that. 35s
Anyway, before we turn to our material for today, I do first want to turn to the Lord in prayer. 38s
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for gathering us again to study your word together. 46s
We ask that you would help us to stand firm in the faith that you have given us to have the words placed upon our lips 52s
that we would be able to defend the faith and to share the faith that you have so graciously given us. 61s
Use this time of study together to reveal your truth as our true Lord, our true Savior, 69s
and the only Lord in Savior ever and for all time. 76s
Lord, we thank you for this day and we ask that you would bless our study and bless the rest of our days. 81s
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 87s
Okay, so if you recall on our last time of meeting, we were talking about the 5,000 gods being worshiped 91s
and why do we believe in one particular god? 100s
And we're going to get there, but if you recall, I had the wrong scripture passage. 103s
So as scrambling to find it was running out of time, it was not going to make you sit through that. 108s
So I have it. 114s
We were talking about false doctrine. 116s
How scripture warns us that there will be false teachers, false shepherds, false prophets, false messiahs. 117s
And I said, let's all go to 2nd Thessalonians 317, and that is not where we needed to go. 126s
But we do need to go to 2nd Thessalonians 2, 2nd Thessalonians 2, so if you open your Bibles to the New Testament 133s
and you're going to go past the Gospels and past the Book of Acts and Romans and Corinthians and Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians. 145s
And then you're going to find yourself in the 1st Thessalonians or in 1st Thessalonians, then you will find yourself in 2nd Thessalonians. 156s
So 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2, starting in verse 9, and I actually have this one on my paper so that I didn't get it wrong again. 163s
Where Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit warned and wrote, 175s
The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan who uses all power signs lying wonders and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 180s
So we have a warning and we have warnings throughout. It's not just in the two places that we have pointed out last week and this week. 198s
But there are plenty of warnings of false doctrine, of false teachings, of false teachers. 207s
And so this brings us back to that question. There are almost 5,000 gods being worshiped. Why do you believe in your particular God? 215s
Now, if an unbeliever, because this is based out of a website that I found that these are questions that Christians cannot or will not answer, 228s
and if you are asked that or to respond to that, the first starting point that we have is to offer to that person, to the non-believer, 238s
that I am answering this question from my commitment to the Christian faith and to Jesus Christ. 249s
We have to understand that that is where I'm going to be coming from with all of my answers. 258s
And then the next place we go is we share what we believe. Why do you believe what you believe? 268s
And you can turn to Scripture, the book of Acts, Peter has a wonderful sermon that he delivers on that morning of Pentecost. 275s
And it says, you know, it cut to the hearts of the men that heard it. 286s
John has wonderful testimony. These are eyewitness testimonies of Christ and of His ministry, of His death, of His resurrection. 291s
We have Paul's testimony. Use the Old Testament where you find and where you have found that truth, which all of Scripture is true, all of Scripture is to be used. 300s
But when someone is asking, why do you believe in this particular God? 318s
Why do you believe in that particular God? 323s
You're answering from your perspective. You are answering why you specifically believe in God. 326s
And the other thing to remember is that just because there are almost 5,000 God's being worshipped, it does not mean that there are 5,000 or nearly 5,000 God's. 338s
We know as believers there is one. One God, it is the Holy Triune God. 351s
So that's one place. So then we think about the exclusivity claims that we have in Christianity. 359s
And that gets frustrating for people or that is thrown up at a believer as a stumbling point of, you know, well, your religion excludes everyone. 369s
You exclude anyone who does not claim Jesus as Savior, but that same standard is not posed to other world religions. 382s
And so there's an issue right there. We cannot, in that conversation, expect to not have the same questions reciprocated. 393s
So I mean, whoever is throwing those questions at you, you can return that. 411s
So what exclusivity claim do these other world religions or philosophies have because they all have them. 419s
There are exclusivity claims. And in the Lutheran study Bible, they actually have a little article on inclusive or exclusive. 430s
And I just want to read from this to you because it's very helpful. 442s
So the question is, does God love only those who believe in Jesus and hate the rest of humanity? 448s
By no means, even though in John's gospel, the world and the ruler of this world designate God's human and demonic enemies, God loved the world so much that he willingly paid the cost of salvation and gave his only begotten Son. 457s
Jesus did not come primarily to judge the world, but to save it. Remember, he says that in chapter 12, verse 47, in chapter 317, for this reason, Jesus established his church that the gospel might go into all the parts of the world for the purpose of salvation. 475s
So to the ancient peoples, the gods acted much like modern organized crime. You did your religious duty to keep them off your back and out of your lives or to entice them to do you a favor. 498s
Christianity struggled in those days because it proclaimed a similar message to Judaism that God who reveals himself in the Holy Scriptures is the only real God in all the world. 511s
But unlike Judaism, Christianity took it even further and said that this one God, this one God has provided one and only one way of salvation throughout the ages, only by trusting in the living God can any human being receive salvation. 529s
Not all religions lead to the true God. You will hear a lot of pluralism and pantheism, unitarianism that it's all leading to the same place. We just call God by different names, but that is not so, that is not true. 550s
Jesus makes the claim that He and only He can lead us to God. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life no one comes to the Father except through me, or He says, I am the gate through which you enter. 569s
Christians went out into the world with this message that Jesus saves people from their sins. They didn't preach that Jesus was a way of salvation, or that He was one option. 585s
Among many, only Jesus, true God, and true man could lead people to the love of the Father, outside of faith in Jesus, no one would have God's love, grace, and forgiveness. 598s
That proclamation, it was a stumbling block in ancient days, but that proclamation is a stumbling block in modern days, in current days. 612s
We, as a modern people, do not like to think that there is only one way, and that the one way to eternal afterlife with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is through Jesus. 624s
We are going to talk a little more about this momentarily. 645s
What does this mean for ordinary Christians? It means that we have the most important mission on earth. We share the good news of Jesus Christ in the world, or with the world. 650s
We have the only cure for the eternal illness that infects every human being on the face of our planet, and only through faith in Jesus Christ can any human being in any place on earth receive God's love, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. 661s
We have the great commission to teach all nations a matter of eternal life and death. 676s
So while there is an exclusivity that in order to be saved or salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, there is that exclusivity, but that word is for all. 683s
And believers have been given this proclamation, given the commissioning to go out and share that word that all may be included in the love and forgiveness of God. 701s
So there is a standard that is set. There is the standard of salvation, but salvation is one way and one way only through Jesus Christ. 716s
But it is a word that is to be shared to all the nations. So it really is to be this inclusive exclusivity, if that makes sense. 732s
There are other world religions that have exclusive claims, but their claim is for themselves and themselves only. 748s
They are not called to go and share their faith and to share what they proclaim and the idea or the very fact that we as Christians are called to share God's love and to share it with those who do not believe. 760s
It just stands in line and is consistent with the love and the mercy that God has for this world. 785s
So another question that came up in this list, if faith in God is worth anything, shouldn't he want us to reach him through our reason rather than unthinkingly through blind faith? 798s
So again, we are going to back it up and stop for a moment here. 814s
When this question is asked, this blind faith, we are automatically assigning a qualifier to it. 821s
In the phrasing of this question, faith and blind faith is presented as something bad. 830s
I don't think, as we are baptized as children, infants and we grow, we learn more and we grow in the faith using our minds. 840s
We have already been given that faith and that grows and matures by using our minds, by using our curiosity to learn and grow in that faith. 855s
Think about when Jesus comes to the disciples after the resurrection and Thomas doesn't believe until he sees Jesus with his own hands. 871s
He doesn't want to, he needs or says he needs that proof, that physical, tangible, reasonable proof in front of him. 886s
And Jesus says, blessed are those who believe without seeing. 897s
Blessed are those who have faith. 903s
How many people in his time of ministry came to him asking for healing for themselves or for their child or for their servant? 906s
And he says, your faith has made you well. 918s
Abraham was considered righteous according to his faith. 925s
He did not see Jesus, he did not see the fulfillment of the promise that God was making to him, but he had faith that it would be fulfilled. 930s
He had faith that it would be, as God had said. 942s
We are given faith for a reason. 953s
We're going to keep talking about this. 957s
Let's turn to Scripture. 959s
We're going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 960s
1 Corinthians, so if you open your Bibles to the New Testament, you'll see the Gospels and then the Book of Acts and then Romans and then we're in 1 Corinthians. 965s
So 1 Corinthians 1 looking at verse 18. 976s
And this is where, remember, so Thomas thought he needed to see in order to believe. 982s
Paul writes in this letter, we're going to read here that the Gospel is foolish. 989s
So let's read here beginning in verse 18. 996s
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 999s
It's the power of God. 1009s
So it wouldn't matter if there was reasoning or if there was logic because those who cling to this world, those who are, as it says, are perishing, see this cross and hear this proclamation of salvation through this cross and resurrection as foolishness. 1010s
But we know it to be the power of God. 1040s
He continued in verse 21 of this same chapter. 1044s
For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. 1049s
God decided through the foolishness of our proclamation to save those who believe. 1055s
And he goes on to talk about the Jews demanding signs and the Greeks demanding or wanting wisdom. 1062s
And God was not setting it out for us to know Him through wisdom. 1068s
We are given faith through His graciousness, through His mercy. 1079s
We are given faith. We're called into this belief. 1085s
And then we get to learn and grow. 1089s
But we don't reason ourselves into faith. 1095s
He brings us into faith. 1100s
So the world does not know God through the wisdom of the world. 1104s
It also, this question, if God, if faith in God is worth anything, 1109s
shouldn't He want us to reach Him through our reason rather than unthinkingly through blind faith, 1114s
which I have talked to you. 1120s
You are not unthinking people. 1125s
You are very, very wise, very smart. 1127s
Intellectual people who have amazing questions, 1132s
who search and seek because of the faith that has been given to you. 1136s
You're hungry to learn more and more and more. 1144s
So this whole question is assuming control or ability outside of God, 1147s
because we're putting in this question then, we're putting the power and the conditions of our belief on our terms. 1155s
We're putting it on my terms. 1165s
And when I believe or don't believe, according to what I determine as truth, 1168s
I'm making myself greater than God. 1175s
I'm placing myself at a higher position, at a position where I can determine what is true and what is not. 1180s
And if I'm greater than God through my reasoning, I don't want to worship God because He would be less than me. 1188s
Does that make sense? 1198s
So when we try to put ourselves or when the unbeliever puts Him or herself in control over God, 1200s
over the situation, and we want to make the determining factors or the conditions of what is true and untrue, 1210s
then we are saying that we are greater than God, that we know better than God, that we know more than God, 1220s
and that we have a right to be able to determine these things. 1227s
But we also know ourselves. 1232s
And if I am greater than God, that's scary. 1235s
That's scary because I know I'm not greater than God. 1240s
And He then loses His own deity, His own power, and His glory. 1243s
So out of another book that I have been reading, I thought a couple of things came up really, really great that I wanted to share with you. 1252s
So this author writes that Christian faith demands recognition of our limitations and humble trust in God for those things which have not been revealed or which we do not understand. 1262s
We've talked about this before. 1277s
There are mysteries of faith. 1279s
There are things that have not been revealed to us in their fullness. 1282s
God has chosen to reveal to us what we need to know. 1287s
And He has chosen to reveal to us redemption, salvation, His glory, His holiness, creation, 1293s
and the more we grow, and the more we learn, and the more that we recognize and accept our own limitations, 1303s
and humbly turn to God, humbly knowing and recognizing that we are wholly and completely dependent on Him for all things, 1317s
even dependent on Him to reveal Himself to us, then we continue to grow in this faith. 1331s
Some things we have to understand are just hidden from man. 1342s
So if you go to Deuteronomy, so this is in the Old Testament, it's in the Pentateuch, the fifth book of it, it's the final book of the Pentateuch. 1348s
So just go to the very beginning, you'll see Genesis and then keep going to the right, you'll find Deuteronomy 29, verse 29, 1359s
where Moses wrote the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever to observe all the words of this law. 1376s
There are secret things that belong to the Lord our God. 1390s
He has knowledge that we don't know. He has perspective that we don't. 1396s
He has power that we will never have, and we don't need it. 1404s
It is not for us to have. It comes back to that conversation between Him and Job, where he's saying, where were you when this, this, this, this? 1414s
And Job has no answer, except for that he realizes he has no place to ask or to demand of God to explain himself. 1423s
He needs to know his place as part of God's creation. God alone knows all things. 1433s
If you flip over to Psalms 139 or Psalm 139, so that's going to be in the center of your Bible, Psalm 139, verses, let's see here, 1443s
oh, there we are, starting in verse 1, oh Lord, you have searched me and know me, or known me, you know when I sit up, or when I sit down, when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from far away. 1457s
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 1470s
Even before a word is on my tongue, oh Lord, you know it completely. 1476s
It goes on, God knows everything. He knows everything. He knows what we're going to say or think before we say or think it. 1482s
Also, God can and must be trusted in all the matters that he has revealed, which may seem unexplained and unsupported by human wisdom. 1493s
Again, human wisdom is not above God's wisdom. And so the things that are unknown to us, we can trust that they are known to God and we can trust his understanding. 1505s
His ability to understand fully, we know that God has revealed Himself in Scripture. We get that in 2 Timothy 3, 16. 1522s
We know that Christ is the exclusive mediation to the Father again. He says, I am the way, the truth in the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 1535s
And what God has spoken is received as infallibly authoritative. Again, remember, we just read in Deuteronomy that the things that God has revealed are for us. 1545s
They are for us, but God has not revealed everything to us. 1562s
We need to remember that human logic isn't open. Human reasoning isn't open. There is an agenda. Those who come to the table of this conversation saying, prove it to me with reason and logic. 1567s
They have a perspective. They have an agenda to be proven on their terms. Independent from God, independent from God's Word. 1586s
But the Christian comes to the table saying, look around. God created everything with such incredible order, et cetera, et cetera. 1598s
So, as a Christian, we need to stand firm. We hold to God's Word. There is not a neutral point for Christians. I found it fascinating. This is a good 10 or 15 years ago. When I say that sort of stuff, I feel so old. 1621s
Anyway, it was a good 10 or 15 years ago and I had a friend who was seeking just needed some guidance and went to a church, a Christian church. 1644s
And the preacher stood up and he said, I'm not going to use a Bible because I know not all of you are Christians. And I know not all of you are going to understand or take the Bible as God's Word or as God's Word for us. 1661s
So, I'm not going to use the Bible. I'm going to preach to you out of human wisdom, which is a complete error from Scripture to do that. We are to use Scripture to share God's Word. 1685s
We come to know Christ. We come to know the salvation we have in Christ through His Word. He says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. This is the living Word. 1703s
We go to God through His Word. He does not, Jesus does not take a neutral stand on that truth. And so oftentimes in the spirit of this common ground starting point, as Christians, we want to just give up a little bit or allow for the truth to be bent a little bit or to give a little thinking that that's going to allow us to start in this neutral spot. 1720s
We want to give up a little bit of the truth to be bent a little bit or to give a little thinking that that's going to allow us to start in this neutral spot. 1777s
We want to give up a little bit of the truth to be bent a little bit or to give a little thinking that that's going to allow us to start in this neutral spot. 1782s
So we have to trust God in His wisdom, knows more than we do in our human wisdom. I also think that the raging atheist, the one who just rages against God, I often think of them as just really angry believers. 1810s
Because if you didn't believe in anything, it wouldn't matter either way. So those who rage against or who try to disprove God, if there is no God, what are they trying to disprove? 1830s
Right? Okay, so we are really past time. So I am going to leave you with just knowing that I pray for you as a believer. I pray that those words would be constantly on your lips and that you would have clarity and that you would remain strong. 1848s
Be strengthened by the Lord, by the Holy Spirit that has been given to you and know that this world is going to offer so many varieties and various ways of getting to whatever we think the world is going to get to. 1875s
But we know that there is one way, there is one path to salvation, eternal salvation and life eternally with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And so go forth, sharing that good news. It really is good news and know that God is with you as you defend the faith and God is defending Himself. 1899s
And speaking for Himself, He doesn't even need to defend Himself. God speaks for Himself through His Word. So go and share. And I will see you later. God bless. 1923s