While Christian evidences and apologetics are valuable tools for believers, they have limitations in evangelism because human beings, in their natural state, cannot comprehend spiritual truths. Using the example of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, the sermon illustrates that external adherence to rules and even possessing worldly advantages does not guarantee salvation, which is ultimately an impossibility for man apart from God. The core lesson is that salvation is solely God's work, emphasizing the necessity of a divine quickening and the proclamation of the gospel, not mere intellectual arguments. The conclusion stresses that believers must rely on the power of the gospel message itself, presented lovingly, patiently, and prayerfully, as the means by which God saves sinners.
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be back I got my wish cold weather in Chicago and I guess you can tell I got a good cold with it but nevertheless we had a great time and the one thing I like about the Moody conference is you get a good cross current of what's going on in evangelical circles and I try not to miss any meetings. One of the great things I did miss last Tuesday night, Rick and Ellen, Rick came in and had me over at their home.
They wanted to talk over a number of things and I was really happy over the growth in that young man. He certainly has matured in the Lord. And if you knew as much as I knew, how far down he had sunk in sin and to see him today we can only thank God for the grace of God that's manifested in the Lord and it was a delight to be with them and their family and we sat and talked for four hours and we didn't talk about the weather we talked about the things of our blessed Lord and our relationship with Christ it was a delight that the Only meeting that I stayed away from except the other one on the Saturday morning where they had the woman preaching.
I just, in protest, I walked out. I still believe the Word of God is clear. And it doesn't matter to me what other people think, but I think the Word of God is clear. And I'm sorry that they have succumbed. in this particular area. A few years ago I stayed and listened to the man who landed on the moon. Irvin's wife gave a, she spoke on a Thursday afternoon and I stayed. I wanted to hear what you had to say. And I was disgusted. I really was.
And I believe there's some good women preachers. That's not the point. It's not a matter of whether they're good at it or not. It's a matter of what does the scriptures teach. And as I said to one person who was there, I said, if God says no, who gives any of us a right to say yes? This is the real issue today, and it's a real problem. And when a woman takes a platform to minister the Word of God, what she is doing, she is exercising authority. The preaching of the Word of God is exercising authority. And this is forbidden, the woman, and you'll notice this if you know the difference between the different words that are used for man in the Greek.
In First Timothy chapter two, it says, I will let men pray everywhere. It is not anthropos. the word, which means the generic term for man, which includes both men and women, but it's the other word that he's used for man, and it has reference to masculine men. I will let men pray everywhere. And these verses are clear, but nevertheless, I guess most of you know that I probably would take off from that meeting, which I did.
They're the only two meetings I missed. But what a delight, the word of God, especially Anthony Evans, the black brother from Dallas, Texas. Man, that sort of preached the word on ye are the salt of the earth. And it was excellent. And of course, his second message on the book of Ecclesiastes, I brought those two tapes along back. And I'm going to make a couple copies and then you can pick them up and take them home and listen to them and put them back. And then I've got two copies of tapes by Howard Hendricks. He's a communicator of all the men you ever want to listen to.
No one communicates quite like Howard Hendricks. Now he's not as good on the tape as he is when you see him because he has the faith He has a face that goes with his remarks in communicating. He communicates with his faith as what he says. Then, of course, we had a good song leader. And for a fellow like me, he said, I sing like Crosby. I felt real good until he said it was a cross between a horse and a donkey. I wasn't too happy about that. But you see...
That's how it is. We had a great time, and I feel that it was a blessing from the Lord. And I'll see that there's some tapes back here that you can listen to. Now returning to Matthew chapter nineteen. Matthew nineteen. We want to continue our study in the limitations of apologetics and Christian evidences in evangelism. And we have examined Christian evidences But we haven't examined apologetics yet. And tonight we want to look at that word apologetics for just a little bit. Matthew chapter nineteen verse sixteen.
Where we read and behold one came and said unto him, Good master, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him which Jesus saith, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Behold, I honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, all these things have I kept from my youth up?
What lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possession. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? Now that is the crux question in this section. Who then can be saved? But Jesus, they held them and said unto them, With men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. The answer to that question is very simple in this passage. There are things that are impossible in man, and it is impossible for man to be saved. It's an impossibility.
But it's not impossible with God. That's why God-centered evangelism is so important. It is only God who can save. Man cannot do it. First Corinthians chapter two and verse fourteen. where we read, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Now the emphasis on that verse is the word can.
Neither can he know them. A man may have much natural ability, but to understand the spiritual truths of the Word of God, He needs a new birth. Natural ability will never bring anybody to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that text is saying. One more passage, the Gospel of John, chapter fourteen. John chapter fourteen and verse sixteen, where our Lord Jesus says to his own disciples, And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive.
Notice that word cannot. the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. But believers receive the Holy Spirit. And a man with all his natural ability cannot, apart from the new birth, from a divine quickening of God, he cannot receive the Holy Spirit. And he says, Why? Because it seeth him not. Neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. Now let us pray.
Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask for the ability to speak, to speak in such a way that thy people will understand the limitations that are placed upon these good things. such as Christian evidences and apologetics. We thank you for Christian evidences and we thank you for apologetics. We thank you for what they do for the child of God. And we pray our God that God will enable us to view these things in a proper way and above all else, to view evangelism in a proper way, in order that we may proclaim the evangel, the gospel of saving grace to poor sinners.
We thank you for saving us, for bringing us into thy family. Now we thank you for each one who's out tonight. And we pray for those who are going through periods of difficulty. We thank you, Mrs. Petrie, and ask you to graciously rule and overrule, give the doctors wisdom as they seek to read X-rays and whatever is necessary in order to prescribe the proper treatment. We ask these things. We think of Mrs. O'Hare, whose laid aside in skilled nursing and isn't doing well at all. And we ask for these, and we pray that they may know the hand of comfort upon them.
But our Father, our greatest needs are for the building up of the inner man. The awkward man perishes, but all the inner man needs to be renewed day by day. And we ask you, our Father, to graciously work in each of our lives. Deliver us from this present evil age that is heading so rapidly toward each eternal doom, and they know not the only way of escape, and now has hidden us to tell it. Give us our Father a heart that grieves over the sin of our generation, over the culture that permits a Sodom-like atmosphere in our day.
in order that we might glory in the Lord and make known the riches of divine grace. So minister to our souls tonight and cause us to rejoice in thy great salvation for Jesus' sake. Amen. Now, the last time that we were together on a Wednesday night, we looked at the limitations of Christian evidences. Tonight we want to look at the limitations of Christian apologetics. Now let me just again go over a definition of three words. Evangelism is a proclamation of the gospel to the law with power.
It is the announcing of the evangelical. In other words, the announcing of the gospel. It is the announcing of God's complete remedy in Christ. for man's complete ruin in sin. By Christian evidences, we're talking about the empirical signs that God has given the Christian world. We're thinking of miracles that are outlined in the New Testament, the miracles which authenticated the messengers, the person of Christ, the person of Elijah, the person of Moses, the person of the disciple. The evidences authenticated their ministry and the miracles are very limited in the area of evangelism.
People beheld the miracles of our Lord and they turned away from him. People received the results of the miracles of our Lord but were never saved. There are many people believed on Christ at the At Cana of Galilee, the last verses of John two, where our Lord did his first miracle. And yet our Lord didn't give himself to them, for he knew what was in man. He knew there was no genuine change of heart. Now, Christian evidences are great, and it's great to talk about the miracles of our Lord.
And there are other supernatural evidences of God's power. The slaying of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus chapter ten is a great instance of God moving in and showing his hand in a mighty way. Or the slaying of Adda. in Second Samuel chapter six, when he tried to hold up the Ark of God, when the Ark of God was put on a cart by the Israelites, when it should have been carried upon the shoulders of the priest. And God killed other immediately because of what he did.
Other should have knew better, but he didn't. Now we come to apologetics and their limitations. What are apologetics? The word apology is in the word apologetics, and apologetics is a simple defense of the faith, the ability to defend the Christian faith from the word of God, the rationale or belief of the truths that make up Christian doctrine. Now, both Christian evidences and apologetics have great value to the child of God. When we talk about their limitations, we're not saying they're of no value.
I believe every child of God should be able to rejoice in the evidences of the miracles that are recorded in the New Testament. I believe we should know them. We should know where to find the evidence of the man who was born blind and was healed and be able to talk about it. and to talk about it in a way that brings joy to our own soul. So evidences, as well as apologetics, have a great value to the child of God. Two things they give us.
First of all, they give us intellectual satisfaction. And that's a great thing for the child of God. To have intellectual satisfaction in what you believe. so that we're not uptight if somebody disagrees with us. Because if we get all uptight and somebody disagrees with us, it shows that we do not ourselves have intellectual satisfaction in what we believe. And I enjoy discussing the gospel with men who want to banter with you. I enjoy it. And I've used opportunities like this to proclaim the gospel.
Now, all of us are to talk about Christ to others. Now, we're aware of this. We've been taking this up in our Sunday school lessons on numerous occasions. Now, if you're like me, I can tell you what your biggest problem is. Getting started. You know, you want to talk to somebody about the Lord? You say, Lord, help me to say a word for you. How do you get started? You know how to get started talking about the Lord? Start. I don't know any other way. You just have to start. Now, this is one of the things where apologetics and Christian evidences come into play.
They can give you a great opportunity to catch the ear of somebody and to start talking with him and lead him into the gospel. To be able to talk about a miracle of our Lord or the resurrection of Christ from the dead or the truth of the incarnation. See, I came up in a home where we didn't have a Christmas tree and That was pagan and all these things. But I've learned over the years that I have greater opportunities at Christmas time and at Easter time to tell the gospel than any other time.
Because the evidences are there. And I won't argue with anybody who tells me that a Christmas tree is pagan or this or that. I don't get into those things. I'll talk about the... time of the year and I'll direct their attention immediately to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's great. I love to hear that sound. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. I'll tell you. That's a good sound. But you see, at Christmas time, at Easter time, you have an opportunity to get and you can speak about the empirical evidences.
the fact of Christ's virgin birth, who he is, that he is God, manifest in the flesh. And you can deal with it. And you can tell somebody why you like this Christmas hymn or that Christmas hymn. I have great opportunities. And what is my hardest thing? Getting started. How do you get started? You start. Now if you're going to drive your car, when you sit in it, it will never start until you turn the ignition. And for us as Christians, we will not witness unless we try to start.
And once we learn that after we get started, it isn't near as hard as we thought. Then you want to do some more of it. It is important. Now that's the first thing that Christian evidences and apologetics do. It gives you intellectual satisfaction. Now we need that. We need to know what we believe and we need to know why we believe it. It's great. But more than that, it does something else to us as a believer. It gives us an appreciation for God's universe. For in the universe we have great background materials.
that are given to the believer. They can even attract and hold the attention of the non-Christians so we can tell them the gospel. There are multitudes of things all around us that point to the Creator, or Romans chapter one tells us that creation is a display of the eternal power and Godhood of God. So along with the intellectual satisfaction. There is all the evidence that abounds in creation, enabling us an inroads in proclaiming the message of the gospel.
But we want to deal with the limitations of these things in the realm of evangelism. And it's in these passages of Scripture that we read together tonight where we see this. It's a biblical picture of man's enmity against God, and his control, being controlled by Satan is correct. How can Christians ever persuade men to turn from sin and Satan to the true and the living God? How can we ever persuade them? The answer is this. We can't. You and I have an impossible path.
Do you realize how lost you were? The Bible says you were dead. The Bible says there is none that seeketh after God, and it's in out of this condition that you were brought. And never forget that, you see. And the biblical answer to that question is, we can't persuade men by our argument. You see, the Scripture do not say it's difficult for the unbeliever to accept the scriptural truth. The Scripture says he cannot accept it. First Corinthians two, verse fourteen that we read, the natural man, the man who has never been born of God.
Spiritually. He is a natural man. The natural man receive us not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And in our Bible reading from Matthew nineteen, the disciples got the message. When our Lord had this great specimen of humanity there, the rich young ruler, He had everything going for him that the natural man looked for. Number one, he was rich. Number two, he had leadership qualifications. He was a ruler.
And he had what everybody wishes they had. He had youth. He was a rich, young ruler. He didn't have any of the plagues that come with older age. He didn't have any of them. He had those three great assets. And they were all going for him. But he turned away from the Lord. And our Lord says how hard it is for a rich man to be saved. And the disciple said, well, who then can be saved if a specimen like him turns away? Our Lord said, with man it's impossible. But not with God.
With God, it is possible for man to be saved. And you see, that salvation that comes to man comes through the preaching of the gospel. That's how you and I were saved. There isn't any other way. Now, I enjoy apologetics and I enjoy Christian evidences. But I gotta get beyond just talking about Christian evidences. and the evidences of a supernatural God, and the evidences that abound in creation, and being able to mentally argue these truths and present them in a great way.
I've got to get beyond that to the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Man's lostness in sin and God's remedy in Christ Jesus. So the question, who then can be saved is so important? with man it's an impossibility but not with God now when I realize this and when this gets into my being something happens God never intended friends that the lost would be one through purely philosophical and academic arguments now academic arguments are good philosophic arguments are good there's a man who is now with a I almost said to the Lord, I'm not sure he is.
In fact, he may not be. But he'll never be able to stand before God and say that someone didn't talk to him about his soul. Because I spoke with him one afternoon, God gave me the opportunity. He was an inventor. If I called up, mentioned his name, there's some people here would know who I'm would know him. He was an inventor. And he made quite a bit of money right here in Burlington. And we were sitting together and we were talking. And the subject and I learned the message around to the gospel.
Because I wanted to tell this man how to be saved. And of course he didn't agree with me. And I used a very simple argument with him. I said to him, how long is this building? And I knew when I asked the question, I was going to disagree with him. He said, forty feet. I said, it was sixty. I said, now we have two opinions, your opinion and mine. Which one's right? I said, now we have to go to get a standard rule of measurement. The only way we'll know which one is right. We both could be wrong is to measure it.
Once we've measured it, we know how long the building is. Has God given us a rule of measurement? He has. He's given us his word. And I went and spoke to him about the word of God. And I used First John chapter five, verse twelve. He that hath the Son hath life. and he that hath not the Son of God hath not arrived. And we have a responsibility toward the men that we meet. It is a responsibility. God didn't expect us to win men through philosophical or academic arguments.
But that doesn't mean we don't use them. We rely on the gospel. But we have to get the attention of men so that they'll listen to the gospel. We have to get their attention. God says in First Corinthians one, you see your calling, brethren, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the wise. and things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are, that no flesh is glory in His presence. Christian evidences are great.
To be able to hold the rationale of the faith is great. Beloved, we must have our hearts and our souls saturated with the message of the gospel. what God has done for us in Christ. It's this gospel message that's saved because the scripture says the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. We must present the truth of the gospel, ha, lovingly. We're not ought to win an argument.
It's an awful thing if a person witnesses for the gospel and they're trying to jam it down their throat. You can't do it. We must present the gospel lovingly. We must present it patiently. And we must present it prayerfully. The gospel must be watered with prayer as we proclaim it. And we must adhere to the scriptures. For it is a word. that quickens us to life. Of his own will, we read in James one eighteen, begat he us with a word of truth that we should be a kind of first truth of these creatures.
How did he quicken us to life with a word of God? And friends, it is the word of God that contains the gospel and we must proclaim it. For we have an impossible path While our task is impossible, God's isn't, for God has promised to work to His people. You and I have the only message that will ever deliver a sinner from the lake of fire. We're responsible to tell it.
And my concern is that of Howard Hendrix being able to communicate that message in such a way that God is pleased to quicken men to life. Because if he doesn't do it, it isn't done.