Man's inability to convince others of spiritual truth through human wisdom is highlighted, contrasting it with God's sovereign plan for salvation. The sermon emphasizes that the natural man cannot understand spiritual matters, and that Satan actively blinds unbelievers. True evangelism relies not on human intellect or effort, but on God's power working through His Word and the humble, faithful witness of believers. The ultimate success in bringing people to Christ belongs to God, who uses His people as instruments, ensuring His glory.
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Friends, I greet you once again in the name of Christ our Lord and Savior, and the one who alone can illumine us, encourage us, guide us, and use us in reaching out in love to those around us who grope in spiritual darkness. For ten long years after the Lord saved me in February forty-three, I was groping in semi-darkness as to how to reach other people for Christ. I really thought that it was my responsibility to convince people, fellow students at the university, perhaps even a professor, through logical reasoning and rational arguments that Christianity and the Bible were true and that Genesis was true and evolution was false and all those intricate and complex things.
God defeated me over and over and over again. The story of my failures and what God began to teach me about this is in our four-taped audio album called Defending the Bible. And what happened to me at Princeton University during those years and what God finally taught me through a godly professor ten years later in the early fifties. And that, frankly, under God, the Holy Spirit transformed my whole approach to defending what we call Christian apologetics, which is not the science of how to apologize for being a Christian. It's the science of how to give God honoring Christ-centered answers to people who ask us a reason for the hope that's in us.
And that is a vitally important issue today, as God put us in this world, to be salt and light. and witness and testimony for Him. To get people locked into evolutionism and various forms of course of demonic perversion into a whole new realm of truth and light and love and ultimate eternal reality. How do we get people from here to move over here? That's the issue we have to face. Now let's turn friends to First Peter chapter three this morning and see what the Spirit of God tells us about this.
First Peter chapter three. And we're going to begin, friends, with verse fourteen. Peter is writing to Christians, as you know, who are being persecuted for their faith. And some are actually not just suffering but are dying for the Lord Jesus Christ in the persecutions of that early church period. And so he says in verse fourteen, but even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.
Now that comes as a surprise, doesn't it? We would think that they would be pitied and that we would be sorry for them. And of course, friends, you understand, I'm sure you've heard it many times, that in this century, about to end, this twentieth century, more Christians have died as martyrs for their faith in the Lord Jesus than all other centuries of church history combined. In communist Russia, communist China, Vietnam, Sudan, Cuba, we are just sort of like an island here in America and Canada, for that matter, of relative peace and quiet and protections.
And it's hard to even imagine what's going on around the world in these days, isn't it? So let's realize that Peter is speaking to the typical situation that all Christians were warned by the Lord Jesus Christ to be prepared to face, persecution for their faith, in which case he says, you are blessed. And when I read words like that, I said, well, Lord, Maybe American and Canadian churches need more blessing, which means we need more what? Persecution. Persecution, thank you, but we hesitate to even pray for that. How many are praying for persecution? Thank you. All right, now watch what is going to happen here.
Do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled. So here are two negative statements. Whatever you do, the Holy Spirit says to Peter, Don't panic. Don't despair. God has something very important for you and me to accomplish under those circumstances. And what is it? What's that positive statement? This is one of the best kept secrets of this phase of church history in America and Canada. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Now, friends, I guess people don't think much about that because we're not really tuned into what sanctify means.
Peter being a Jew understood, like other Jews, for the last previous fourteen hundred years God had taught them what sanctify meant. It meant to set something or someone apart for God's for special use. God sanctified one nation among all nations, Israel. God sanctified one tribe in that nation for religious service and that tribe was Levi and one family of that tribe for leadership Aaron's family and then one place the tabernacle laid to the temple and one kind of animal to be put on the altar the clean animal and certain days were sanctified the Sabbath and other festival times of the year it just seemed that Israel was just immersed in sanctification programs to teach them that God is special and you must approach him in God-honoring ways that he himself reveals and explains to us.
Now, of course, we live in the church age and all of those sanctification guidelines are inapplicable to Christians. We're not under the law of Moses with the Levitical ceremonies and the priesthood and the animal sacrifices and so forth. But friends, one thing remains, and that's Christ the Lord who must be sanctified by born-again Christians. He must be set apart. He must be honored. He must be recognized as infinitely special. Now watch how that fits here. When we're persecuted, harassed, denounced, the name of our Lord is blasting and His word rejected, we're not to fear, we're not to be troubled, but we're to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts, which thus means, Lord Jesus, I can't in my own wisdom answer all of these attacks and all of these blasphemies and perversions of thought that are being thrown at me by teachers and a radio people and television people and newspaper people, scientists or whoever, I can't
do that. So therefore I will set you apart as the only one that can handle the situation. Because as one brother mentioned already this morning, Jesus himself said, without me you can do what? That was weak. Once again. Without me you can do what? Thank you. We won't go through that five or six times. But that's the major problem we face in Christian apologetics today. When somebody challenges my Savior in my Bible, I immediately want to react and give all kinds of evidences and proofs and arguments and so forth. And I used to do that year after year.
As if the Lord Jesus were saying, when you're through talking, may I have a word here? That's the problem. See, all of us want to rush immediately to do what? To make a defense, to give an answer. And that's where you get the Greek word, apologion, from which we get apologetics. How to give a word, a logos, an answer, back. Apo, back, answer. How to answer people. Make a defense. And friends, before Jesus says through Peter, before you open your mouth, Put your heart in gear to the Lord Jesus, who actually is in charge of the situation you're in, who brought the persecution upon you, who gave you and trusted to you his word that he wants you to use wisely toward those who are without, be harmless as a dove, but wise as a serpent, following the example of the Lord Jesus, who always answered his enemies in honoring his father.
See? never retaliating in human anger, always speaking in wisdom, based on eternal love for the lost. Now friends, at this point, we realize that we are not operating on a finite horizontal level with people. The last thing the unbeliever needs is my opinions and my theories and my experiences and my knowledge. He has an infinite problem and he needs an infinite solution. And that can be found only in Christ my Lord and your Lord. And you can see how Peter develops that further. Notice the kinds of answers we're supposed to give here.
With gentleness, end of verse fifteen, and reverence, and verse sixteen, keep a good conscience, so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. You see, if everything depends on how smart we are and how brilliant we are and how much we know about science and paleontology and astronomy and genetics and archaeology and all these wonderful things, then, friends, what difference does it make whether our answers are given in gentleness, in reverence, or from a good conscience? You see what the Spirit of God is saying here?
That unless the Holy Spirit demonstrates to the unbeliever that you do belong to an infinite God and a marvelously loving, gracious Savior, the Holy Spirit is greatly limited, do I dare say that, in the impact that He intends you and me to have on the unbeliever's conscience. You see, these things are very important to God, aren't they? In fact, Jesus went to the extent of saying something that almost embarrasses us about this. He said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have? Brilliance. No. A PhD. No.
By the way, brilliance and PhDs are fine. But they don't affect the unbelieving world in an infinite impact of the truth of Jesus and the gospel. That's the point. We're not demeaning education or scholarship. We're just saying, in this realm where we are dealing with Satan, we must use God's resources and His infinite power and wisdom. Now, friends, at this point, I look back and realize what a failure I really was attempting in human wisdom to deal with unsaved people.
And so let's just think about that for a moment. What was my problem? My problem was I didn't realize, number one, that the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. I didn't realize that these things, however brilliantly they're presented to him, are actually foolishness to him. He may not say it openly, but in his heart, that's the way he thinks. And look at this, he cannot understand them. He what? He cannot understand them. Let's try that again. He cannot understand them.
That's a profound statement. It has nothing to do with whether he's academically brilliant. The natural man means an unstaged, unregenerate person. He may be a friendly neighbor, a loving relative, but you see, we're talking about light. and darkness in the spiritual realm here, he cannot understand them because they're spiritually appraised or discerned. And friends, that's what I could not fathom in my relatively untaught level of Christian experience. So you see, I began to realize, friends, and I'm sure you have long since discovered this, that We're dealing with an area that is very, very difficult for the mind even of a Christian to fathom.
The magnitude of the problem that is inside the unbeliever. The unbeliever, no matter how nice he looks and talks, is a double disaster in the sight of Almighty God because of what? Of sin, and as we shall see, also of Satan. Now let's think about these for a moment. First Corinthians two fourteen we have just looked at, but that's backed up by literally hundreds of passages of Scripture. Like Romans eight seven, the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be.
It's impossible for the carnal, fleshly, unregenerate mind, however trained, to be rejoicing in the law, the truth of God. It's impossible. In fact, two, three thousand years ago, God says he investigated the human race about these things. And here's what Psalm fourteen says. He wanted to see, you know, just for our benefit, he did this survey. We're all interested in religious surveys, aren't we? Public opinion polls. Is there any that seeks God in the whole world? And you would say, well, of course, there are millions of people seeking God.
They're going to temples and shrines and offering sacrifices and going to churches and cathedrals and synagogues and they're all seeking God. Sorry, folks. One hundred percent false. No, not one. Not one. You say that's unbelievable. What do you mean nobody's seeking God? You see, this is why the teaching of the Bible concerning human sin and depravity is not only difficult for us to grasp, it is impossible. It's one of the most difficult teachings of the Bible to believe how bad we are in God's sight and how infinitely we need His special provision through the Holy Spirit, by His grace, through the Word of God, based on the merits of the blood of Christ.
Nobody is going to be saved at all unless they realize to some extent that we are lost. And the biggest job we have in this country is to get people lost first before they even want to be saved. Everybody is proud, complacent, self-sufficient. People aren't rushing to the nearest Christian and desperately saying, teach me how I can come to Christ and be saved. At least I haven't heard of that recently. But look, friends, there's nobody seeking God. Oh, now we know what this means. Nobody is seeking, you knew it, the one true living God in whose image and likeness we were created. That's the God people are not seeking.
They're seeking a God, any God that they have invented, concocted, conjured up in their own depraved imagination, but not the true and living God who has revealed himself in Scripture. That's the one they're not seeking. You say, then how can anybody be saved? That's the biggest problem in the Bible. The problem of the Bible, dear friends, is not why does God judge people. The problem of the Bible is how can an infinitely holy God manage to save anybody? That's the biggest problem of all, according to Holy Scripture. And the answer to that is, Jesus said in John six, no man comes to the Father, excuse me, no man comes to me except God the Father, draw him.
In other words, nobody wants Christ. Sort of illustrated by the feeding of the five thousand, plus all the wives and children there. And they were all happy and they were all excited and they wanted to be king until he told them who he really was and how they had to know him on his terms to be saved and then they all left. That's one of the shocking verses of the New Testament, John six, six, six. They all left to pursue him. said to the apostles, are you going to leave also? In other words, nobody wants me in the light of who I really am on my terms. And so, friends, God has to initiate the relationship then, doesn't he?
It's not that we're seeking God and he finally gives in and says, okay, I'll save you. No. The Father has to begin to initiate the plan of salvation through all eternity, in fact, and He by the Holy Spirit draws us mysteriously to His beloved Son, apart from whom we can't be saved, so that we love Him because He first loved us. He started this salvation thing. We didn't. That's the point. That's the point. It's not that God looks down from heaven and sees you or me or others and says, Oh, look. He or she, he's becoming more spiritual.
He's reading his Bible now. He's asking spiritual questions. He's coming to church. He's loving his neighbor. And if this keeps up, he'll be finally qualified to be saved. No, of course not. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies, he died for us. And friends, when we get to heaven, we're not going to spend millions of years boasting about how spiritual we were and worthy of his of his salvation. Just the opposite is the case. That's the point. And so we say, well, Lord, if people are that self-centered and that sinful and in that depth of darkness, then how can we possibly manage to get any of them saved?
Well, friends, if you think that's a problem, try this one. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. against mere human beings in their depravity but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness at this age we're dealing with hundreds of millions of angelic fallen angelic beings under Satan the greatest creature of the universe in his perversion and rebellion against God in fact it's so bad that second Corinthians four three says if our gospel be hid if people don't want it aren't interested at all really It's hidden to them that are lost, not just those who are uneducated, uninformed, or not brilliant, or rational.
In whom the God of this world, Satan has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of Christ, the image of God, should shine unto them. And Jesus said the situation is so bad that even when the true seed of the gospel is sown in people's hearts, Satan comes and takes the seed away. You say, this isn't fair. How can we ever win anybody? How can we build churches? How can we build assemblies that honored the Lord Jesus? And the answer is, are you ready? You can't. That's the secret of victory. Namely, I give up. It took me ten years to finally give up and begin to read instructions and to find out who's in charge of this salvation business.
And I can't save anybody, but I'm thankful I know somebody who can. And if anybody's going to get saved, friends, you knew it, didn't you? God will do it through us, in spite of us, and he will receive the glory because it's going to be done right and it'll last forever. Last thing I want is a temporary conversion from somebody under pressure. Okay? You say, well, if everybody is totally depraved and totally blinded by Satan, then how in the world is even God going to manage to save them? Thank you for asking. Oh, friends, from all eternity, God has been preparing a special weapon to accomplish the work that we and all of our combined brilliance could never do.
And that weapon is the word of God. It is living. It is powerful. It is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of thunder of soul and spirit and joint in marrow. And it is the discernment of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do? That's a powerful weapon. When I try to argue with an unbeliever, it's like wet marshmallows against an iron fortress. It won't penetrate. But his word does. You can't put up an iron curtain against him or a bamboo curtain or a purple curtain or any kind of curtain. He has a weapon that penetrates. And God says, you better master this message and this weapon and learn under God how to use it for His glory.
In fact, it's because of the quality of the weapon that Paul said to the humble and timid and often frightened Timothy, preach the word in season. And what? Whether people like it or don't like it or want it or don't want it is irrelevant. Preach the word. Why? Because only the word of God can bring light into darkness. Sooner or later, one way or the other, people will be saved only because somebody prayed and preached and taught the word of God faithfully somewhere. And how do you preach and teach it?
Well, the servant of the Lord must not strive or be pushy, you see, or arrogant or manipulative of people, but must be gentle toward all men and those who oppose themselves. Now watch, teaching them that oppose themselves, if God peradventure may grant them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and recover them from the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will, only God can do the conversions. And we patiently, therefore, humbly, persistently, prayerfully teach the word, teach the word. And watch what God does. It's his business. And that's why Paul said... To these arrogant, proud Corinthians, he said, Friends, I have a hundred percent successful method I want to share with you.
Here it is. I am an aroma, a fragrance, a savor of life and delight and death and to death. And whenever I preach Christ in truth, people will never be the same again. They've heard the truth. And it's not for me to convert them, to change them. Only God the Holy Spirit can do that. but they will never be the same again because they have heard the truth and then it's between them and God. See, just like God said to Ezekiel, you warn the wicked of his wicked way and then it's between him and me. But if you don't warn the wicked of his wicked way, it's between me and you. Their blood is on your hand.
And I don't want that. I want to be faithful, don't you? And to tell people the truth, humbly, prayerfully, graciously, persistently, but definitely, And watch what happens. You will be a one hundred percent success. Now, God willing, tomorrow night, Thursday, we plan to tell you about one of the most spectacular evangelists in the history of the world. His name was Noah. How many converts did he have outside his own little family? None. And yet, God said he was a preacher of righteousness. He was the unique instrument in the whole human race for preaching the truth about God, and therefore he was a one hundred percent success.
Now Americans judge success too often by what? Numbers. The numbers game. God says, no, you'll be judged at the judgment seat at the Dhamma for faithfulness, not for success. or visible results. Now God isn't against success or visible results. He's just saying, I'm going to take charge of that part of it. You be faithful and I'll use your faithfulness for my glory and my purposes. You set your heart on me. And I say, Lord, I think I'm beginning to see something here. The opposition, the obstacle, the problem is infinite, but you must specialize in infinite problems.
You have an infinite solution to infinite problems. Like you said to Jeremiah, remember in chapter thirty-two, I'm the God who can do all things. I can do the impossible. And friends, if we live in any age of church history, this is the one that needs the God of the impossible. It's almost like Satan is winning. You have to peek, you know, at the end of the Bible to see who wins. I get discouraged. I don't want to look at newspapers anymore or television news reports anymore. I think I'm going to look more at this book right here. Oh, God has a plan.
He's not defeated. And the defeat of the church is only temporary and apparent, not permanent or genuine, because He has promised us the victory. If we do what? Preach the word in season and out. faithfully, humbly, lovingly, and accurately. Now, here's the picture that I have to share with you, friends, right here. There we are in one little simplified diagram. Here's the unbeliever, see, with his darkened heart, and he's your neighbor, your loved one, your friend, your mother, dad, brother, sister, son, daughter, whatever.
And here you are. with a heart that's been illumined and enlightened and cleansed by the blood of Christ. Problem, how do you get this person over to your circle? Well, there are all kinds of Christian evidences which in themselves are fine, but they can never penetrate that barrier, see. We realize that. You can't give him the horizontal treatment with finite force. No. God has a very mysterious solution to the problem. And that is, you talk to him about this and bring this to the Lord. And you live a godly, loving life so that you exemplify it, exude the love and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Jesus said, that's irresistible. See, that's ultimate. And that prepares the way, doesn't it? And as you therefore present to this person the Word of God, God himself will penetrate through that satanic barrier that surrounds him and you. He's the God of this world and he can resist you and me. But when we humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God, then you can resist the devil and he will what? He will flee from you. He's helpless before a Christian who has the vertical approach to evangelism. And then you give God's word which then penetrates, see, it pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.
And the unbeliever, friends, is simply helpless. And so is Satan. And God, therefore, can I put it this way, now through you and me, the believer has to be involved here. He won't do it without the believer. He will not evangelize the world without people who trust him. Then the unbeliever has been In a mysterious way, he has been sanctified by being set apart through the believer's prayer and witness for gospel impact. Just like you remember First Corinthians seven, the unbelieving mate is sanctified by the believing mate.
And the children are sanctified. That doesn't mean they're saved. It means they're set apart, remember, for what? Being especially vulnerable to the gospel. Very important here. See, that's step one. How do you get the unbeliever sanctified in the sense of being what? Set apart for the impact of the gospel. By loving acts and a gracious witness and fervent effectual praying, you see, but especially the word being presented in the form of a portion of scripture or a testimony or a thousand other ways. Then that person is vulnerable. to the Spirit of God, and he is now in a position that he doesn't realize until he retrospects later after conversion that was a marvelous means by which a loving God can reach him for eternal life.
And I say, Lord, I'm really amazed at your plan. It's so simple. Even a child can be a testimony to unbelieving mom and dad. You don't have to be a great scholar to be a witness. In fact, Jesus said, unless you become as a little child, you will in no wise enter the kingdom. A little child not in stupidity but in humility is the point. We don't come barging into people's lives with arrogance and pride and brilliance. We are watching with humility what God can do. in people's lives through His mercy and grace exemplified by the humiliation of the Son of God Himself hanging upon a cross and saying, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
When we are weak, then we're what? Strong. And we say, Lord Jesus, please help me, please help me to be not an obstacle in your plan, but I might be a channel. and I may be part of the means that you will use to win people to the Lord and that you'll get the glory not myself but you because Father salvation is of the Lord I think Jonah said that after a whale of an experience in the Mediterranean Sea and may God not force us into tragic situations before we learn the lesson of how people get saved and who alone will be glorified for what finally happens in the light of eternity.
Father in heaven, how precious are your ways? Simple, solid, and obvious really, but how profound and beyond human comprehension. Help us, Father, to rejoice in your plans. and to implement it by the Spirit of God as you give us opportunity from day to day. And we will thank you for we pray in Jesus' precious name. Amen.