"Apologetics" Tagged Sermons
Tolerance has become a buzz word in the twenty-first century. In a study prepared by Probe Ministries International, Scott Scruggs wrote, “In response to a survey concerning beliefs about God, a sixteen-year-old girl replied, ‘In my mind, the only people who are wrong are the people who will not accept different beliefs as being, well, acceptable.’ This girl believed that the only real sin is to not accept or tolerate other people’s beliefs.” If tolerance is respecting someone’s beliefs, does that mean that we are being intolerant if we attempt to convince someone to be a Christian? Does the Bible teach us to be intolerant?
Today, people are constantly saying things like this: “That may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” In postmodern society, God has been removed as the foundation for morality, human dignity and truth. People in a postmodern society determine/create truth that promotes their agenda. There is no right or wrong—true or false. They do not have any moral absolutes; rather, postmodernists believe that all different perspectives should be celebrated. With this kind of worldview, how can we communicate the truth of God’s Word to them?
We have come to the fourteenth message in this series—TRUTH: Relative or Relevant. Today we ask, “How can the Bible really be the inspired Word of God?” The Bible says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” You see, the Bible is a human book that people wrote, edited and crafted; and at the same time, it is a divine book that God spoke, shaped, and inspired.
Can a person actually trust the Bible? In the face of this question, most scholars—both secular and Christian—after having looked at the historical and literary evidence, agree that the Gospels, along with the rest of the New Testament, are “the best-attested documents in antiquity.” But many people in our society today think that it is ludicrous for a modern, educated person to consider the Bible legitimate. In this message, we will explore the historicity of these ancient documents to consider just how legitimate it is to trust the Bible.
The Messiah was the promised hope that would bring that freedom to everyone who trusted in Him. God appointed a time before the beginning of time that would be the best case scenario for the Messiah to come to the earth. The Messiah had to come at the right time so that He would fulfill all that was prophesied about Him in the Old Testament and enable the gospel to be spread throughout the known world.
What if there is only one way that leads to God? What if all the other religions in the world are leading people down a path to eternal destruction? What if Jesus is exactly who/what He says He is—the Way, the Truth and the Life? It is true that each of us has the right to believe what we want—but let me say again that we can be sincere about our beliefs and still be sincerely wrong. The culture says, “What is true for you isn’t necessarily true for me.” This brings us back to our original question, “Is TRUTH relative?” Do we determine what truth is, or is truth absolute?
Hell is the absence of God and every good thing that His presence brings to this world. If hell is the absence of God, then it is also the absence of everything good—joy, pleasure, laughter, music, art, food, water, etc. Can you imagine? God patiently offers us the free gift of eternal life with Him, but when man exercises his free will and chooses not to follow God’s plan, then his choice has determined his fate. John 3:17-18 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
There is an absolute right and wrong that transcends our cultural values and our human experiences. Skeptics push against this idea. This is where the popular saying–“it may be true for you but it’s not true for me”–came from. People are saying that Christians have no right to impose their belief systems about right and wrong on others and that we must maintain a relativistic understanding of morality. Paul addresses this issue and God’s moral law that is written on our hearts in Romans 2.
Philosophy professor, Ronald Nash, states, “Every philosopher believes that the most serious challenge to theism was, and is, and will continue to be the problem of evil.” This is the issue that we hope to address this morning—“If God is good, why is there so much pain, and suffering, and evil in the world?” Another philosopher, David Hume, poses the problem of evil and sufferance in this way. He says, “Is God willing to prevent evil but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able to but not willing? Then his is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Why then is there evil?”
The world is divided. The world is confused. The world is antagonistic toward God and His Holy Word. We are not! We believe that the words of Scripture were breathed out by God and “is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT). So let’s take a moment and read God’s Word!