[0:00] Good morning, everyone. Welcome to SBC. My name is BK. I have the pleasure of serving here as the lead pastor.
[0:10] Welcome you on this August long weekend. You notice I got the right month, right? For those of you guys who I was pushing July when we were still in June. We're in a sermon series. It's just a basic two-part sermon series dealing with the subject of evangelism and apologetics.
[0:27] But before I get there, there's a couple things that I want to ask you to pray for. So just so you know, or you probably do not know, last year we had made plans for a man named Carl Hargrove to come here and minister to us.
[0:42] Carl is an elder at Grace Community Church. If you are familiar with John MacArthur, that is from the church that he is from. So he was coming just as we talked about different dynamics, different strategies, as we've come together as Church of 99 and SBC as one church, just to provide some wisdom.
[1:05] But obviously since that time, as you may or may not know, Pastor John is with the Lord in heaven now. So he ran the good race, preached at the same church for 63 years.
[1:21] And in case you do not know, there is a million downloads every single week of his sermons that go around the world. It's an incredible testimony and witness and just faithfulness.
[1:35] Faithfulness. But so Carl and Joanna, we're going to come up here and kind of share and do some things. So he's going to be in the pulpit next week. But one of the things I'm going to ask you to pray for, they've been obviously, as I would use his words, I don't think he would mind me saying them.
[1:51] He just says there's sobering times just at his church. So I just asked, how could we love on them and just spend time with them?
[2:03] I said he didn't need to come. Him and his Joanna could stay. But they're looking for a little bit of respite. And so they're just going to come to Squamish and spend time. Thankfully, a big way that Carl enjoys respite is golf.
[2:17] So David Crentin, I have absolutely no problem blessing him with a couple of rounds of golf. And I know some of the women have been talking to Joanne. And we're going to spend some time just as an elder team and spouses just coming together.
[2:31] And those in the extended leadership team just spending time having dinner. And one of the things that we're just going to simply ask him is, just tell us, what have you learned over being a part of a ministry that has existed for over half a century?
[2:46] That has pretty much remained unchanged. What are the blessings? What are some of the pains? And just help us learn and grow where we are.
[2:57] Because we're still, even though this church has been around for the 60s, there's still a lot of areas that we need to grow. And as there's new people coming in, we tend to change and grow and new gifts come in.
[3:09] So that's my first request for prayer. And just to let you guys know that we're in for a special treat from the pulpit. But the next thing that I'm going to talk about, and I just mentioned it with the merge, we've been kind of working with the legalities.
[3:24] There's accounting and legal things as we bring together the two churches. We need to have a membership class. And to usher in, we have a special, according to our bylaws, a membership class as we bring in Church for 99.
[3:41] So please pay attention soon. Those are going to be announced very soon. When we're going to have that. We're going to have probably several, just to make sure everyone can be a part of that.
[3:52] But it might be starting as soon as late August. Just want to make sure that we're able to get as many people who wish to attend the class. Attending the class doesn't guarantee membership, but it exposes you to what we believe, what we're about, what is our mission.
[4:07] So we want you to make an informed decision. And it's us making an ask of you and you making an ask of us as we join together in membership. So those are the two big things that I have for you to pray for.
[4:21] Can we just pray now? Dear most Lord, Heavenly Father, we just thank you for the God that you are. The God who is ultimately sovereign in all things.
[4:32] Father, the truth of the matter is we make plans every single day. And yet, through your providence, you change them.
[4:44] Sometimes it feels like it's for good. Sometimes it feels like it's for bad. But our faith is anchored to who you are. That you are unchangeable. Father, we just pray for Grace Community Church, who's had this pastor that they have absolutely loved.
[4:59] And has loved them for 63 years. A man like that is not replaceable. But through your sovereignty, just as you help them make decisions for the future, I pray that your hand of blessing and wisdom would be upon them.
[5:17] I know many of them are just still mourning the man who poured into them, who discipled them, who loved them, who shepherded them, who married them, who buried their loved ones.
[5:30] So we just pray for our brothers and sisters who are south of us. And Father, we just pray for this upcoming membership class, just as we became one as well.
[5:43] Just these two groups have been worshiping separately as we come together to worship and be a part, and to bless one another with our gifts to serve in the ultimate mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ.
[5:57] What a thrill it is. What a love we have. I can just speak for myself, just as we meet as elders, the six of us. It is joyful. We love praying for one another, just taking care of one another, enjoying each other's company.
[6:12] And that is such a blessing. We give you thanks for these things, O God. Father, let us not despise the small things in life for their true blessings from you.
[6:29] Sometimes we look for the bigger, the greater. But your hand sometimes is so much more clearly seen in the smaller, the tender, the small mercies of life.
[6:43] We thank you for these things. So, Father, as I talk about this subject of evangelism and ultimately what it means to tear down strongholds, I pray that you give my voice power, power that comes from your word.
[6:57] I pray that you give us ears to hear and hearts to truly understand your truths from your word, O God. We love you as we come here in Squamish just to worship you in your house, your home, your time when the believers come together.
[7:19] And for those who do not know you, I pray that they would feel welcomed, that this is an opportunity to get to know us. For those that are visiting, I pray that we would even be a small respite on their travels.
[7:33] May they enjoy conversation and coffee and fellowship and even to let their prayers be known to us so that we may hold them up before you, O heavenly, wonderful Lord. We ask these things in your most holy and precious name.
[7:47] Amen. So, please open up your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. This sermon is actually part two of a two-part sermon series that I entitled, Unshakeable, what it means to build truth on the rock.
[8:08] Last week, I opened the discussion on the subject of evangelism. Evangelism is kind of a tough subject. Now, if you are new to Christianity and are unsure what evangelism means, allow me to give you a brief description.
[8:24] As a Christian believer, it's what we believe is sharing the good news so that you may understand what we believe.
[8:36] It's sharing our faith with you. Our hope and prayer is that you would accept this faith, that you would learn about this faith, that you too would become a believer in Jesus Christ.
[8:50] And we're going to go into the reasons why. So, when we share our faith with someone, we are ultimately giving them reasons why we believe what we believe.
[9:08] If you did not know, every Christian, everyone who claims to be a believer of Jesus Christ is called to be an evangelist, is called to share their faith.
[9:19] But often, as much as we know we're supposed to do it, often we don't, and for various reasons. Sometimes we don't know how, or we have tried, but it went really badly.
[9:34] And when we do, we just don't feel like we're getting anywhere, or we're properly even representing the wonderful truths of Jesus Christ. Other times we fear being rejected.
[9:47] We don't want to lose a relationship. We don't want tension in our friendships with our friends or family members. Perhaps we're fearful of not being respected anymore by someone.
[10:00] We want their respect. And oftentimes we fear of them perhaps using that faith as a weapon against you.
[10:11] It's no uncommon thing, if you're on social media, to hear about people who have lost their positions because of their belief in Jesus Christ, or even that they belong to a Bible-teaching church.
[10:29] We know some of those stories in this city itself. Now, some of us may know the facts of the gospel, but ultimately it's calling someone to believe.
[10:43] Now, to begin, I want to bring some clarity to last week's sermon. I thought I was kind of sloppy in some areas. And I want to share with you that there's essentially three types of evangelism.
[10:54] There is the friendship, family type of evangelism. This is largely done to our family members, whether it's be our children, our parents, our cousins, uncles, aunts, people that know us, we have long-term relationships with.
[11:11] It can be with our close friends that we went to high school with, went to university with. We've lived life together. They know us. They trust us. And there's an opportunity to share our faith. This includes some co-workers.
[11:22] In many ways, this is the easiest form of evangelism because they already know we love them. We care for them. We like them for who they are.
[11:33] And we want to share this good news that we know this peace that has come to us by knowing Jesus Christ, and we really want them to know. Sometimes there's some tension there, but I find a lot of that tension comes when we can be too pushy.
[11:52] But often these moments of evangelism is about sharing our testimony, our story. It's about telling our loved ones why Jesus made such a difference in me.
[12:05] Why, how I was enslaved to the sin of drugs or alcohol or to understanding or desiring public adoration, and how God gave me the ultimate love.
[12:19] Sometimes there's a cost to this. Sometimes there's tension, rejection. There's the breaking up of certain friendships.
[12:31] Then there's the second type of evangelism, and it can be with friends or co-workers or even neighbors. And it's to those we don't have a deeply established relationship, but we know them, we respect them, we care for them.
[12:43] And let's be honest, it's not always easy to have a real deep discussion with someone about the eternal fate of their soul, is it?
[12:58] Like, how do you even get to that point of discussion? Usually it's through a tragedy of a golf buddy who lost a daughter in a car accident.
[13:09] He does not want to talk about it. But when you're out on a grueling game of golf, little things will come out, and we'll be able to talk about those things.
[13:22] Slowly, how his and his wife moved through that pain of losing their daughter, and then what does it mean to have a hope in Jesus, right? I'm trying to connect with them and share Jesus Christ.
[13:36] But often in these situations, we either give them a book, a pamphlet, we ask them to direct them maybe to a website, invite them to church or a church event.
[13:47] When I was young, I used to always invite my friends to meet professional athletes because I was a part of Athletes in Action, which had professional athletes. So pretty easy. Everybody wants to meet hockey heroes or football heroes and that type of thing.
[14:01] And I call those kind of low-threshold evangelism. You know, you're not being too pushy. You're caring, and oftentimes they will appreciate it. I have a friend that is a dead-set agnostic, but every time I have invited to the church, she always feels honored and thanks me for thinking of her that way.
[14:21] Then there's the third type. And I would argue this is the least popular and most unfavorite form of evangelism. This is the equivalent of the business cold call, right?
[14:34] It's approaching a stranger or you're in a moment of a situation and you just know that you are there to share this gospel with them.
[14:48] And it can be street preaching. It could be going door to door. It could be sitting down with someone at lunch in a work cafeteria. Hey, can I tell you something about my life?
[14:59] When I was a part of high school ministry, we used to take our kids on a long bus ride in LA. And we would ask the kids and we'd train them to how to share their faith, the people coming on the bus.
[15:12] Boy, if you ever want to talk about an uncomfortable situation, right? Their kids, they're trying. They're just trying to share the good news of Jesus Christ. I would say it's the most nerve-wracking.
[15:25] Rejection is high, but the relationships aren't that costly. Besides, when's the next time I'm going to be on a bus in downtown LA? But in each of these situations, you're not simply sharing the good news of the gospel.
[15:42] And if you do not know what the good news of the gospel is, let me just quickly tell you. The gospel is the good news that God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, here to earth to live a sinless life, to die on a cross for our sins, and rise again, so that all who repent and trust in Him are forgiven, that they are made right with God and receive eternal life.
[16:15] You see, every single religion in this world knows and understands that mankind is messed up.
[16:26] They might not say they're messed up, but everybody's going to say the rest of mankind is messed up. Am I not right on this? We see it everywhere.
[16:36] It doesn't matter if you're in the beauty of downtown Squamish or in the projects of LA. There's brokenness everywhere. Every single religion of the world knows this.
[16:50] It doesn't matter if they're Catholic, Muslim, Sikh, Mormon, JW, Hindu, Jewish. Every single one of these groups knows this truth.
[17:03] But here's the thing. The only difference between all religions of the world and biblical Christianity is this. Biblical Christianity teaches salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.
[17:19] That is how you are saved. All other religions add works, add rituals, or add alternate authorities to their salvation.
[17:29] What I mean by that is they add to this book. They say there's other spiritual books out there. That's the difference. And the big difference is every religion believes that they can somehow, by being good, earn their righteousness before God.
[17:48] That if I avoid alcohol or if I go to these certain places or do these certain things, I have pleased God so much that I now have His righteousness.
[18:00] Christianity teaches you have no chance of earning your own righteousness. There is not enough good in this world that you can do to clean yourself up before God.
[18:20] And that's why He has given us His Son, Jesus Christ. See, what Jesus Christ did is He lived the life that we could not live. And on the cross, He exchanges it for us.
[18:32] He takes on our sinful life and we get His righteous life so that we may be counted righteous before God.
[18:44] Now chances are, when you're in a conversation with someone outside of the Christian faith, you will need to give them a reason for why you believe what you believe.
[18:58] This is why 1 Peter 3.15 says, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
[19:12] What that means is you have to be able to reason, to share why you believe what you believe and why you do not believe what they believe. For those of you who know, I grew up Roman Catholic.
[19:25] Now, I'm not talking run-of-the-mill Roman Catholic that you may think of. I grew up in serious French Roman Catholic.
[19:36] We're talking my mom was the 17th child of her mother. We're talking real serious Catholicism. In fact, I can trace my family's ancestry back to the early 1600s when they first landed in the area of Nova Scotia and then during the seventh, the eight-year war between English and France, they escaped the persecution and ran to northern New Brunswick.
[20:02] And my family is still there to this day and I'm quite positive I am related to everyone in northern New Brunswick. All right? They're all very Catholic.
[20:15] Yes, we did the Latin masses. Now, when we profess salvation in Jesus Christ and we're no longer going to the mass where they persecute Jesus Christ all over again, my uncle, my favorite uncle, asked me why I was no longer Catholic.
[20:35] He felt I was rejecting him. And he kept insisting that we believe the same things. And in that moment, that was the first time I had to defend my faith.
[20:48] And I simply shared with him that the main difference between him and I was that my salvation was guaranteed through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That in fact, my eternal life began the moment I became a child of God.
[21:03] That Jesus Christ had already did the work to make me righteous in God's eyes. Whereas he, and he is a good moral man, continued to do good works in hopes of salvation.
[21:18] whereas I don't even consider my works as being good or bad, I think of my works as simply being a product of who I am in Jesus Christ.
[21:33] I love Jesus. Why would I not want to serve him or live any other way? So this is what I, clearing up a little bit from last week.
[21:45] Last week, I also pointed out to three essential truths that every believer needs to understand when they are defending their faith. And I'm going to give you a quick recap.
[21:56] The first point, which is drawn from Romans 1.18, the Apostle Paul tells us that man knows the truth, but they choose to suppress it.
[22:07] Man knows the truth, but he chooses to suppress it. He does not choose to ignore it. He does not not understand it. He does not wrestle with it, but he suppresses it, which means, I use the analogy, it's like trying to keep a beach ball underneath the pool or the lake.
[22:25] You know, as a young kid, you try to push that beach ball down, it keeps popping up. That's what it's like for man to deny God. They can try to push him down, but it's going to always pop up, and you know it's going to pop up and bang you in the nose, right?
[22:37] Every kid knows this truth. This is what the Word of God tells us. The second point, drawn from Romans 1.23 tells us that not only does man suppress this truth, they've already exchanged this truth for a lie.
[22:54] They've exchanged this truth for a lie. They literally exchange God, the only being worthy of worship in this universe, for something that is created.
[23:06] That's the distinction between every other religion in the world in that way. either worship the true and living God or you worship something that He created.
[23:17] And guess what? That could be you. That could be my ego. That could be my money. That could be my political ideology. Those are the things that I choose to worship rather than Jesus Christ Himself.
[23:33] And if you want to know who you worship, the question is what gets your attention, your energy? What? And the third point, only God's word, the Old and New Testament, provides a right and true foundation to make sense of this life and this world.
[23:53] Jesus Christ Himself said in Matthew 27, 24, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
[24:05] this is our, what I call, presupposition. This is our belief that God's word is true.
[24:18] And what these three points tell us is nobody is neutral. And I shared with you last week my biggest mistake. I can't say my biggest mistake. I made a lot of them. but when I would assume that I could share or reason with someone, I would try to do it from a neutral setting.
[24:39] And I made the assumption that they were neutral. But God's word tells me they're not. They're already suppressing God's truth and they've already exchanged it for a lie.
[24:50] So they're already being lied to. So why would I give up God's word which God says is the truth in order to share the gospel?
[25:02] You with me on that? That was the truth. That's what these verses taught me. So this morning, pretty long introduction. You still with me?
[25:14] Alright. We come to answer the question so what? So what? How do we actually engage the people of our lives, our loved ones, co-workers, families, friends, neighbors who are standing in sinking sand?
[25:32] How do we share the truth in a way that just doesn't bounce off them? This is where this message comes in. It's called tearing down strongholds.
[25:45] See, here's the truth, my friends. Scripture doesn't call us to quietly hold the truth in our hearts.
[26:02] Scripture doesn't call us to, I'm going to live this really good moral life as best as I could and then think that that is going to win people to the truth of Jesus Christ.
[26:14] Here's a newsflash. There's a lot of moral people from a lot of different religions. That's not what we're called to do. God's word calls us to confront the falsehood in this world.
[26:28] One of those falsehoods is morality saves. Now, let me set it up this way. As I shared, back in my university days when I first got serious about sharing my faith, I treated it like a debate.
[26:41] There'd be a back and forth. Let me show you evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let me prove God's existence using science. Let me walk you through some philosophy.
[26:53] And I was a Thomas Aquinas fan. If you know him, he did a lot of excellent work trying to prove God without actually using the Bible. And he's got some great arguments, but those ultimately had me winning arguments, but I cannot say that any soul was saved.
[27:13] But here's what I learned and what scripture shows us clearly. The real battle we face isn't about who has the most clever arguments. The real battle is about spiritual strongholds.
[27:28] Spiritual strongholds. That's what Paul, this is what Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10, 3-5. Look at it with me now. Please turn in with your Bibles. I believe we will put it up as a slide.
[27:41] It says, For, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
[27:57] We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of Christ and take every thought captive to obey Jesus Christ.
[28:08] Now, I want you to pay attention. Whether you like circling things or making marks in your Bible, notice it says destroy strongholds, destroy arguments, and take every thought captive.
[28:22] Notice, these are action, not passive words. This isn't waiting around to see what's going to happen. These are war terms.
[28:33] But here's the point. We're not at war with people. We're at war with ideas. We're at war with philosophies. We're at war with a system of thought that holds people captive in rebellion against God.
[28:53] The Christian apologist Greg Bonson says it like this, Christianity is not simply slightly more reasonable than any other religion or other options.
[29:03] It is the only reasonable position for man to hold. Ultimately, any alternative is ultimately self-defeating.
[29:15] Cornelius Van Til would remind us the issue is not simply who has better facts. The issues is whose presuppositions make facts more intelligible in the first place.
[29:29] Or another way to say it, whose starting beliefs actually make sense of the facts. Whose starting beliefs actually make sense of the facts.
[29:42] I'm talking about the facts of life. So today we're going to see together three points that I have for this sermon. We're going to look at we are in a war of ideas, not war against people.
[29:54] Number two, that man-made hollow philosophies always fail. Not sometimes fail, not may fail, always fail. And three, God calls us to confront and demolish false world views using his word.
[30:13] This is where we're going. So number one, point one, we are in a war of ideas, not flesh. Notice again the text. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
[30:31] For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but of divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
[30:47] Now, let's lock this first reality down. We are in a war of ideas, not flesh. Paul doesn't say we're in a war against people. He doesn't say we're in a war against governments.
[30:57] We're not in a war against town council. We're in a war against ideas. He says strongholds, arguments, lofty opinions, thoughts.
[31:13] It's not about fists. It's about foundations. And I want to make this clear. Paul is actually using military language here.
[31:25] The word destroy is the same kind of word used when armies would knock down enemy walls or tear down enemy fortresses. That's what false worldviews are.
[31:38] Spiritual forces that keep people locked inside rebelling against God. So we're going to look at this analogy in a second. And our weapons aren't cleverness.
[31:51] My weapon is not being really loud. It's not about swaying your emotion. Cue the nice soft music, dim the lights.
[32:05] They're actually divine weapons. These weapons are God's word, the holy scriptures. scriptures. It is the gospel. It is the truth that Jesus exchanged his perfect righteous life for our unrighteous life.
[32:22] It is prayer. And ultimately, it's the spirit of God working through the word of God. Van Tilwood say, the Christian must never apologize for standing on the authoritative word of God as the only standard of truth.
[32:42] You get that? It's beautiful. The Christian must never apologize for standing on the authoritative word of God as the only standard of truth.
[32:55] We are to give a reason for what we believe, but we never set aside our Bibles. We don't. We don't lower our weapon to match the world's weapon.
[33:09] We hold high the sword of the spirit and let the word do its work. Now, let me just give you an illustration. Imagine you're standing in front of this huge stone tower.
[33:24] There's no windows, there's no doors, and you know someone is trapped inside. That is what it is like to be trapped by a false worldview, whether it be a false religion, atheism, moral relativism, secular humanism, materialism.
[33:44] You see, these just aren't ideas that they have. They're literally fortresses, and they're locked inside of these fortresses, and some of you guys know exactly what I'm talking about, because you were once locked inside those fortresses.
[34:03] And we truly need to see the battle this way, because you can't get someone out of that fortress with some really smooth talk. Can't yell them out of that fortress.
[34:16] Can't use clever talk. I can't get them out with emotion. We actually need divine power to freedom. That's why Paul says the weapons of our warfare have divine power.
[34:35] So let's make this personal. Some of you have been trying to engage with people in your life, friends, coworkers, associates, family.
[34:46] Let's be honest, sometimes it feels like it's running into a brick wall. I shared the gospel with my father till his dying day, and he rejected me every single time.
[34:59] You share your faith, you talk about Jesus, you give them evidence, and it just seems not to matter. It's like it bounces off. And it's encouraging. It's discouraging. Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.
[35:12] You've been doing it for years. But we need to remember what Scripture says. It's not like we're exchanging good information for bad information.
[35:25] We're actually dealing with a spiritual stronghold. That's why we don't rely on man's wisdom. That's why we don't get sucked into arguing on the world's terms.
[35:39] We stand firm on the Word of God. We pray, and we proclaim the truth. We tear down strongholds with weapons God provides, not with our own cleverness.
[35:56] Bonson says it like this, the believer's position is not simply one philosophy among many. It is the presupposition that makes philosophy possible.
[36:06] And we're going to get into this idea that's really deep, but you're going to see how it makes truth. I know Steve's got this scorn on his face. He's like, is BK talking Latin right now? I don't understand what he's saying.
[36:18] But it's going to make sense. See, that's why the battle isn't even. It's not a debate between two equally valid views.
[36:29] The truth is, there is one truth, and every other so-called truth is a self- defeating truth. That's what gives us boldness.
[36:40] That's what gives us confidence that when you stand on God's word, you're not on shaky ground. You're not on trial. It's the unbelieving world is on trial. You're on offense, never defense.
[36:56] So here's the first truth. We're in a war of ideas, not flesh. So don't get distracted fighting the wrong battles. Don't get in this thing about debating why Trump's really good or I don't know.
[37:14] Satan's really bad. Don't trade the sword of the spirit, as one author says, for the foam bat of human wisdom. Stand firm, speak truth, and tear down strongholds.
[37:30] And that brings us right to where Paul takes us next. If we're in a war of ideas, we need to know exactly what kind of ideas we're up against. And this is what brings us to point two.
[37:42] And that is the hollow philosophies of man. Point two is the hollow philosophies of man always fail. Notice, always fail, not sometimes fail.
[37:55] They will fail only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They always fail. Now, I'm going to bring up Colossians 2.8 right now, and this is our second anchor text for this morning.
[38:09] This is what Paul says. It says, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
[38:28] Now, there's a very important word in there. It's called captive. See to it that no one takes you captive. My friends, that is war language.
[38:41] That's taking someone as a slave. That is literally plundering. That is literally kidnapping. And what's the chain the enemy uses to take you captive?
[38:57] Philosophy and empty deceit. Now, I want you to know it doesn't mean all philosophy, but philosophy that is built on man-made tradition.
[39:12] Philosophy that is speculative. Philosophy that claims to offer deeper spiritual knowledge. Hey, I've got an extra book for you to read.
[39:24] I've got a special meeting if we turn down the lights and light some candles. God will speak to us more. Those are all things of the world.
[39:37] Any philosophy that is not grounded in the person and work of Jesus Christ is a false philosophy, which is human reasoning that is detached from God, that is morality that is detached from Scripture, and it is science detached from the Creator.
[39:58] That's why Paul simply calls it empty deceit. Looks impressive. It sounds sophisticated. But at its very core, it's hollow.
[40:12] It is fool's gold. Now let me answer the question why this matters so much. Every false worldview, every unbelieving system of thought is ultimately self-defeating.
[40:27] This is going to get to your scowl, Sabian. Christian says, Christianity is not merely one rational alternative among others.
[40:38] It is the presupposition of all rationality, which means all rationality has to come from God and His Word. All logic, all understanding of science, all understanding of morality.
[40:52] See, it only makes sense in a world, logic, science, morality, in a world that is actually created by God. If it's not created by God, none of those words actually mean anything.
[41:04] If you try to reason without God, you destroy reason itself. Van Til call this the impossibility of the contrary.
[41:15] If you reject the God of Scripture, you cannot account for anything in your experience. Let me give you a picture. It's like being on a tree. You're sawing off this branch, but you're sitting on the other side of the trunk.
[41:31] As soon as you make that argument, you solve that branch, your whole worldview is going to collapse. You see, unbelieving philosophy actually uses logic to argue that logic doesn't matter.
[41:48] They don't acknowledge that God actually is the one who gives us the rules for logic. You with me on that? So they're trying to argue that it doesn't matter. They use this morality to argue that morality is subjective.
[42:05] It uses science to argue that there is no creator that actually sustains the natural laws of this universe. And as soon as they finish cutting, the whole thing collapses.
[42:17] That's why Paul calls it empty deceit. It looks sturdy. It looks good. But it can't hold. Now let me bring it down to something that we can help us understand better.
[42:34] And you guys know what I'm talking about here. When you share your faith, you're going to hear things like that. Everyone has their own truth. Anybody not hear that? Right?
[42:45] That's the taste of the day. What's true for me isn't always true for you. Science is my religion.
[42:58] Some will say we're all stardust and chemicals. Right? This is their truth. They want to stake their whole belief system.
[43:08] And it might even sound impressive, their arguments. They may sound like they know what they're talking about. But when you begin to push a little, it will begin to collapse. And that's why we don't throw evidence and arguments like pebbles.
[43:24] We go deeper. We ask questions like this. How do you know what you are saying is true? How do you base your argument on truth?
[43:38] What truth is it? When I was university, I'd always flip this. I'd be in philosophy class and debating. And I would say, who are you to say that the Germans weren't wrong to kill anybody that didn't have blue eyes and blonde hair?
[43:57] Like, what are you basing that on? Because they actually got a group of people who actually believed in that. They couldn't base it to the creator.
[44:10] Genesis tells us that we are all created in the image of God. And that it's the worst sin to destroy any image-bearing vessel of God.
[44:23] That was their argument, but they couldn't use that because they don't believe in God. So ultimately, it always defaults to whoever's the strongest in that given situation ends up being the most right.
[44:37] That's where it goes. It's self-defeating. You ask the question, on what authority are you making that claim? What in your worldview accounts for logic, morality, and science?
[44:57] Most of the time, people just repeat what they've heard. They can't answer. But the truth is, apart from Christ, it all falls apart. A few months ago, there was an editorial in the Squamish Chief, and this lady was writing about climate change, and she said it was as sure as evolution.
[45:17] And I said, listen, if evolution is your criteria for truth, I don't know how far you're going to get with this climate change idea. I'm not arguing that climate's not changing. But if that's the basis of your truth, evolution is a theory that you're using to try to answer, but it doesn't answer the complexity of life.
[45:39] As can you true scientists, evolution is just an argument to get away from God so you're no longer accountable to God. I don't know if you've seen that video that was going viral.
[45:52] It was the creation of elephants through evolution. And it was all sorts of the ugliest, most horrible, hideous beasts that finally stopped with this perfect creation of an elephant.
[46:06] You know, from small to big, then back to small, it was all just made up fabrication. There's no truth to it. See, Van Til says, the non-Christian uses reason while denying the very foundation for reason.
[46:30] Bonson says, the unbeliever's worldview is not just inadequate, it is incoherent. That's why we don't argue as if we're equals at a neutral table.
[46:40] We stand on the unshakable rock of God's truth, and we lovingly expose the fact that every other position is standing on sinking sand.
[46:54] So this is our second truth today, my friends. Hollow philosophies always fail. Truthfully, they cannot account for reason. They cannot account for morality.
[47:07] They cannot account for science. And they can't account for human dignity. The truth of the matter is, only Jesus Christ holds it together. That's why Colossians 2, 3 says, In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
[47:25] Not some, but all. And that brings us to the final truth in today's message. If hollow philosophies always fail, if we're in a war of ideas, what does God call us to do as believers?
[47:42] What does he call us to do? And this is point 3. God calls us to confront and demolish false worldviews using his word.
[47:56] Can't get away from God's word. If we know we're in a war of ideas, if we know hollow philosophies always fail, the final question is, what exactly are we supposed to do about it?
[48:10] Now we go back to 2 Corinthians 10, 5, one more time. It says, We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.
[48:20] There is no other knowledge outside of God or he would not be God. And take every thought captive to obey Christ.
[48:31] Now note those two commands. One, destroy arguments. Two, take every thought captive. That's not just personal. That's evangelistic.
[48:43] That's how we engage the world. Like I said, Paul isn't saying we destroy people. We're not in a war against flesh, but we confront false ideas with full force.
[48:55] This is not optional. This isn't just for professionals. This is actually for every believer. That every thought must be brought captive to obey Christ.
[49:07] That's just not random intellectual opinions. That's about foundational beliefs, which are our presuppositions. Van Til called this the antithesis.
[49:18] The believer and the unbeliever stand on fundamentally opposed presuppositions, and those can never be reconciled. So what's a believer to do?
[49:32] We're to stand boldly on God's truth and call others to abandon their false foundations. We're to stand boldly on God's truth and call others to abandon their false foundations.
[49:44] That doesn't mean I go over to my kid who's not listening and bang his head with the Bible. You can bring biblical truth without actually quoting scripture sometimes.
[49:58] You can just bring wisdom into their life, God's wisdom. But you do so in a loving way because you love your kid just like you love your spouse that may be an unbeliever. You love your parents.
[50:09] You love your friends. You're kind. You're gentle. Hey, can I tell you why those successive relationships you've been in have been breaking up all the time, my friend?
[50:21] Why your dating life is not going so well? It's because you've always put yourself at the center of it. You are your God. Let me tell you what the Bible teaches.
[50:34] Right? Just simple ways that we can do this in everyday conversations. See, Christian apologetics, according to Bonson, is not about finding common ground. It's about showing the unbeliever that his own ground is sinking sand.
[50:51] Here's a way to understand what I'm talking about. Imagine you're standing in a pitch black cave. There's total darkness. But you have a flashlight. You turn it on.
[51:03] You can see. Now, the person stumbling around in the dark always says, I don't believe in your flashlight. Do you turn that flashlight off?
[51:14] Or do you keep it on? You keep it on. This is the truth. This is reality. You may not believe in this, but this is the only thing that shows the truth.
[51:27] And that's what we do with the Word of God. We don't set it aside to argue on their terms. We hold it up. We speak it boldly because only the truth of Scripture brings light.
[51:42] Now, some of you are asking, how exactly do I do this with people when I talk to them? I'm going to give you three simple steps to remember drawn from what we've learned in this lesson.
[51:54] One, you're to expose expose the foundation. You're to expose the foundation. What this means is ask questions. How do you know that?
[52:06] How do you know this is truth? What are you building your life on? I've got a friend, university, love him to death.
[52:18] He was the guy who always studied all the time. And I think by the time we were 30, he was already worth 60 million dollars. Quickest, fastest millionaire of all my friends that were really hard charging.
[52:31] And I remembered him just simply reaching out as a normal guy. I've got all the money in the world and he thought, and some of his girlfriends were quote unquote supermodel looking girls.
[52:42] We've met them at weddings. Unbelievable looking. But even he started to understand that wasn't true love, right? Tell me about this love that you have. Like tell me about just this thing about Jesus Christ.
[52:55] What does it mean to love someone? So we ask the question, what are you building your life on? And the third question is, where does that belief come from?
[53:06] So when someone's talking about evolution, where does that belief come from? Yes, I know it comes from high school. They were talking to children then. Do you know anything more about science? If you have questions, talk to some of the doctors that are here.
[53:20] Just how the order and how the whole body, human body works is incredible. To think that's just accident over billions and billions of years. Not only with me, but how an elephant acts.
[53:33] How a dog works. All those things had to happen at all the same time. It's crazy to believe in that. Number two, challenge the neutrality.
[53:44] Challenge the neutrality. Say things like, are you starting with God or with man? A lot of people are going to answer it's their own authority, right? And they know they're not God.
[53:58] Who's your ultimate authority? You're going to find most people believe that they are the sole arbiter of truth.
[54:12] Or they'll answer it's how they feel. Often people don't think deeply about these things. They just go along with what the world is telling them.
[54:25] And the third thing that you say is show the absurdity. Lovingly point out if there's no God, why does morality matter?
[54:36] That's what I used with the Nazi example. There's one famous apologist and he said if there was an alien beings that came down to earth and believed that they look like humans but they believed rape was good, would that still be good?
[54:56] Of course not. It's evil. It's an offense against a woman and her body and all those type of things. It's a total rejection of creation. Then the other thing is if there's no creator why does science matter?
[55:12] How does science work? You see we're not trying to win arguments. We're trying to bring people to repentance. Van Til would say the goal of apologetics is not mere intellectual victory but bringing every thought captive to Christ.
[55:34] And that's why we never separate apologetics from evangelism. We don't tear down false ideas. We call people to trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
[55:46] Hey, I know that's how you account for evolution but let me tell you what my Bible says. Let me explain to you in Genesis 1, 2, 3 about how God created us in his image and that we are his representatives and we are to steward this earth in a way that brings honor and glory to him.
[56:07] That answers a lot of questions that our world is dealing with now. That's why people are always of value no matter where they come from what language they speak because they're a reflection of God.
[56:24] So here's where we land today. The truth is we're in a world war of ideas.
[56:37] Hollow philosophies always fail and God calls us to confront and demolish false world views using his word. you know I'm going to ask you the question is where do you stand today?
[56:51] Are you standing firm on the rock of God's word? Is this the light that you hold up in the darkest part of the world or are you sinking?
[57:04] Are you shrinking back, staying quiet, afraid to engage? If I might encourage you, now is the time to stand up.
[57:15] Now is the time to speak boldly. Now is the time to tear down strongholds. And we do this not with pride, not with anger, but with truth.
[57:29] One of the craziest books that I have ever read in the last I'd say four or five years is by this Jewish evolutionary biologist.
[57:40] but he writes a book called The Parasitic Mind and he says that our culture has bitten into ideas which actually lead to the destruction of our culture.
[57:52] My argument is there is no better time than today than to share the truth of Jesus Christ and establishing him as the firm foundation as the only one who truly answers life's questions.
[58:10] all else is just sinking sand. Let's pray. Dear most holy heavenly father, these are big words.
[58:22] Some people like to spiritualize 2nd Corinthians or I'd say spiritualize isn't the right word. They believe that there's certain buildings that are strongholds, physical buildings.
[58:35] So they will attack false temples and they will believe these things are all cursed. But you're actually talking about ideas which cause people to build those false temples, those false creations of man.
[58:50] Lord, I have two requests. one, I ask that for those that do know you, that you would create a hunger in them to want to know more of your truth with the desire to share your truth with their loved ones, the people that you have given them stewardship over, whether it be their co-workers, their friends, their family.
[59:17] Life is no accident. These people are in our sphere of influence for a reason. It's because you have ordained it since the beginning of time. My prayers for those who do not know you, do not call you Lord Jesus, but who may be seeking, may be looking, trying to understand.
[59:41] I pray that you'd give them spiritual enlightenment. I pray that you would create in them a need for them to be right with you, to know that there is a God and this God is loving, gracious, kind, and he calls us to him.
[60:01] Doesn't call us to a life of this is where I have to obey, this is where I don't have to obey. It's not that kind of relationship. It's a relationship that we have peace with the creator of this world, the creator of this universe.
[60:18] God and because of that relationship being free, we can walk not with these deep questions anymore, but with the full confidence that we're not only redeemed, that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for my sins, but I have this relationship with this great God, this great creator.
[60:40] Father, we all have a conscience. Our conscience always calls us out for right and wrong. We're aware of laws, we break laws, we keep the laws, which means we know there's authority over us.
[60:59] As much as people try to live for themselves, it's just emptiness, self-defeat. God, I pray for your wisdom to have come through in these words that were spoken this day.
[61:16] I pray for a blessing on every person who hears these words that you say, and I pray that everyone here would stand firmly on the rock of your truth and never be ashamed of this gospel that you have given to us that leads us to your righteousness, not to how to earn our own righteousness, but to your righteousness.
[61:39] We do so asking you these things knowing that you will answer our prayers because you are our loving Father in heaven. In your most holy name we pray.
[61:53] Amen.