(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

all right amen Exodus chapter number seven very very popular story even when you consider it from a worldly perspective everybody's heard about Moses and Pharaoh and the situation there but we're gonna focus on just one aspect of that story tonight if you would look down verse number 11 it says Exodus 7 11 says then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers now the magicians of Egypt they also did in like manner with their enchantments so we have going on here you have God telling Moses and Aaron to give a sign unto Pharaoh give a sign unto Egypt that he's come to rescue his people and Pharaoh wants nothing to do with it right he basically pictures the world here the world wants nothing to do with the true gospel salvation by grace new faith they would rather copy it with something that sounds good but yet fits their needs right and so what does Pharaoh do he has his magicians come by and try to copy exactly what Moses and Aaron are doing now keep your place there we're gonna come back to it at the end of the sermon but go if you would to the book of Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 so you open your Bible up right in the middle you might come to the book of Psalms and go past Psalms Proverbs go right to Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 so you say well okay what in the world is a magician anyways are we talking about somebody like David Copperfield or I don't even know the other magicians I was a guy I watched when I was a kid I'm sure there's somebody else out there today right but that's kind of like what you have going on here right these people they're you know obviously wicked and they're doing enchantments and so on and so forth but basically I just want to read to you real quick what the definition of a magician from the dictionary says a person with magical powers a person who performs magic tricks for entertainment or a person with exceptional skill in a particular area so like you're really good at your job you know being a plumber like brother Jeff or an electrician or you know whatever you guys do something I'd be like man you're a magician you know you fix my stuff you know sometimes people say that's me and I'm like I'm the furthest thing from that you know it's just I don't even know how I fixed it the time I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it worked you know like man you're a magician but yeah that's definitely not what we're talking about today we'll come right back to that though you're there in Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 look at verse number 11 because the Bible said in Exodus chapter number 7 that the magicians used enchantments and we talked a little bit about this last week but look at this verse here it says surely the serpent will bite without enchantment a babbler is no better you see what in the world does that mean well just a little side now you've got somebody who just never shuts up is always talking to you really the only way you can stop that is to try to enchant them or to entertain them try to direct the conversation away from what they're talking about you have to figure out what they'll bite on and go with that and then you know hopefully that does the trick right otherwise they're gonna bite you you just let these people continue on they're gonna get you but it says surely the serpent will bite without enchantment what he's saying there is that's a form of entertainment you've seen you've all seen the cartoons or the people in India to play the little flute right and the Cobra starts dancing well if they didn't play the little flute what's the Bible say that that serpent's gonna bite you okay and so I just wanted to bring you to that verse just to give you a little more clarity on what somebody who does enchantments might be doing they provide entertainment when you read that word in the Bible it's often well it's always a wicked form of entertainment okay if you think about our turn to the book of Jude right before Revelation go to Jude go to June you know if you think about it our media our politicians Hollywood the music industry you know are largely ran with enchantments you know it's designed to entertain you and to get you away from reality to get you away from what is true you say what in the world are you preaching about this evening well I'm preaching about the subject of apologetics okay apologetics and I'm gonna get to that here in a minute you might be thinking well I thought apologetics were good that depends on how you look at it really okay I'm talking about modern-day apologetics right you go to the Christian bookstore or you just start looking into mainstream Christianity the people that are often most lifted up on high are these people that are considered apologists they call themselves apologists they're supposed to be the great contenders of the faith they're supposed to be the ones that we're to look to for the answers to the tough questions with our faith you know in the honestly the Christian community they look at these apologists and say well these are the people that defend the faith these are the people that getting people saved you know because they debate with atheists and they debate with Satanists and they're getting the job done well we're gonna what we're gonna do this evening is we're gonna try that spear we're gonna see if that's really true okay so now what I want to do before we read Jude actually we'll just go ahead and take a look this verse real quick here look at verse number three it says beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints now keep your place there we will come back to that later on as well and go to the book of Proverbs the book of Proverbs just just hang out in the neighborhood of Proverbs and we'll come back to it now for the tie before I give you the title I want to go over two definitions before I give you that it's already gave you the definition of what a magician is as somebody who has magical power somebody like these people in Exodus chapter 7 who that do tricks okay they do enchantments they try to make the unseen world come to lie whatever the case is now here's the definition of what an apologist is it says a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial okay we just read in Jude that we are to earnestly contend for the faith that means urgently it should be on your heart to always want to contend for the faith right you say well what is what does contend mean that means to fight that's what it means it doesn't mean to go up and give somebody enough hugs until they just cave under this lovey dovey attitude that you have it means to fight and you know what happens when people fight there's casualties there's damage okay we need to be in the right mind frame regarding that and understand that we have to be a people that are more than willing to contend for our faith right and so that's what apologists claim to do so right away the definition of an apologist a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial I took this from a large apologetics website it says apologetics is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse early Christian writers who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called Christian apologists okay that is what the definition of an apologist is now I'll just go ahead and spoil this right away for you the biggest problem that I see with these apologists and there's a lot of problems with them is that they've taken debate as the main form of contending for the faith the main form of reaching people okay just like these Christian rockers and a lot of Christian rappers you know they'll say you know well we're reaching millions of people with the gospel you listen to their songs you can't even understand what a lot of them are saying right so how is that contending for the faith it's not it's it's a joke but you know what these apologists are they're a big joke and you know what I'm gonna give you the title of the sermon now before I forget because I'm starting to get upset so I was talking about this with brother David last week he said something and this just came to me I can't remember what we were talking about I think it was was somebody you ran into out so any right did you you ran into a self-proclaimed apologist right yeah they're all they're all over the place in the valley here so I was thinking what do you get when you take a magician and you combine it with an apologist an apologician right and that's what the title of this sermon is so we're gonna spend a couple weeks learning how to properly contend for the faith the way the Bible says that we should okay so the title of sermon is apologicians it's something you do not want to be because really I'm gonna show you from the Bible that these people who are self-proclaimed apologists basically what they're doing is enchantments they're doing magic okay and you know how the world I'm gonna show you that today now while I was preparing for this sermon I watched a 54-minute video by a guy named Rabbi Zacharias who died a couple months ago in fact Pastor Thompson up in Washington preached a sermon about him very recently and so I forced myself to watch this sermon it was titled how to be an apologist in the 21st century I think the video was released in 2017 or something like that it has 2.2 million views on this video right and this is Rabbi Zacharias guy who's a self-proclaimed I don't know if he's self-proclaimed I don't know how you become an apologist but he's an apologist he's this Indian guy and he's preaching this apologist message at Saddleback Church who knows what Saddleback Church is that's Rick Warren's Church you know the purpose-driven movement you know basically his idea for starting churches is to send flyers out to everybody and find out what they like what the culture's like and then gear your church service towards those likes right so man's likes man's wants man's desires trump what the Bible says in his eyes and so this rabbi guy here he goes there and he preaches a sermon about how to be an apologist in the 21st century I watched all 54 minutes of it I never saw the guy open up his Bible one time not one single time it was just story after story and you know I know somebody's gonna be like oh I can't believe you're saying this is so mean you know what I don't care it's the truth we are to contend for the faith and you know what happens again when you contend people get black guys people get hurt welcome to real Christianity Jesus said I came to bring a sword not peace he came to bring division that's what he came to bring and that's how we need to be so he's talking in this sermon about this debate that he had with this Muslim guy right and basically you know all the way through the whole sermon how you become an apologist in the 21st century is that you do lifestyle Christianity their way you just be extremely nice and loving to everybody you don't look down you don't talk bad you don't say anything too divisive to people and then that's somehow supposed to win them over to the truth and so he's talking here he's debating this Muslim guy and at the end of the debate I guess he was so nice to the Muslim guy that the Muslim guy looked at the moderator of the debate and said you know what we have Islam we need to stop asking if Jesus died and start asking why and that and everybody was just like oh this is so great that's so compelling there's probably people crying in the audience to be honest with you because if you read the comments people like that was so touching that was so deep that was so like just just so god-given that I'm I'm touched by it well I'm not touched by that that doesn't teach me anything that doesn't stop these people out here who are just hell-bent on trying to destroy the King James Bible and destroy salvation the way that God set it up which is by a free gift it is you're not gonna get anywhere with that stuff right and he's telling this other story about this Hamas guy that he talked to over in Syria right this big you know big Hamas terrorists guy and he said something you know real pleasant I guess and then the Hamas guy didn't respond and then came up to him later and gave him a big hug and said you changed me and you know whatever he said oh yeah yeah he's like he's like you know you're he said you know rabbi you're a good man god bless you and then he's like you know I don't know whatever happened to that guy from Hamas I'm not sure whatever became of him but you know that's what touches people look if we're gonna adopt that method as reaching people you know what everyone's gonna just go to hell okay you know and I'm gonna show you that as we go through this as well and so you know I'm just looking at this stuff and I'm like this is a joke you know and I watched another video which I'll talk to you about later you know one thing that they all have in common they all miss they all basically want to bury the Bible they want to take the Bible and the Word of God out of contending for the faith out of what they call apologetics and that is wrong you will never in a million years be able to contend for the faith without the Word of God get up I mean give me a break all right so let's see here we're gonna go right on with this here I want to show you this so magic trick number one we're just gonna go over two of these tonight like I said we're gonna continue on next week but here's the first trick that I want to show you that these people do and I've already mentioned it but they think that they contend or that they can contend for the faith through debate you see a big problem and not all apologists but a lot of them a lot of the popular ones these days and I'm not saying Rabbi Zacharias is but a lot of them are Calvinist okay you say what is the problem with Calvinist well a Calvinist believes that if someone's gonna get saved it's just gonna happen it's like some kind of a weird lottery like God's like you're saved you're not you're saved you're not and you say you're crazy I'll say no I will take you to somebody who has told us that out so any you know what we run into Calvinist all the time in this community and that is one thing they always say well it's up to God he knows I well you can't do anything about it if you're gonna get saved you're gonna get saved somebody you know somebody gonna get say they're just gonna roll out of the bed and it's just BAM you know just hits them you know because God's drawn that person no that's wrong right but those people often become apologists and like I said they are not the only ones but the main thing that they do that they prop up is this subject of debate and so let's just go through the Bible very quickly here and look at what the Bible says about debate you type in debate in your Bible app it's gonna come up four times we're not gonna go through all four but the first time you're gonna see that word is in Proverbs chapter number 25 so turn to Proverbs chapter number 25 now a debate I'll just read the definition it's a formal discussion on a particular topic in a public meeting or legislative assembly in which opposing arguments are put forward now I don't know if anybody in here watched the debate between Trump and Biden I did not watch it but if anybody did raise your hand I mean did anything did anything come of that like I just kept it's like even conservative reports that I read they were like all saying it was terrible you know and so it's yeah it's like almost better if they would have just not done it and just contended separately you know I mean I think that would have probably been better from what I've read but again I'm not sure but that would be an example of what a debate is you know our people are running for office they'll often get together and debate to show the public you know where they stand on certain issues okay and I'm just gonna say I'm not totally against debates okay if you know the problem is that we get people who think they're very intellectual who think they're very smart and they want to go and pick on somebody and they want to go start a debate with somebody who and then they and often more often than not they wind up getting their clocks clean and it's not because they're wrong it's because they don't know how to debate see if you watch somebody like Ben Shapiro right and I'm not endorsing him so don't put that in my mouth but if you just watch him how he destroys these people he's really not even talking to that person even though you could see words coming out of his mouth and he's addressing that person he understands the crowd right he's saying the things that he's saying in a way to win the crowd and that's what a good debater will do and this is why you could debate somebody who's very good at debating on whether the sky is neon green and lose okay you can be right and lose a debate if you are not eloquent if you are not super smart on what you're talking about okay and another thing is you need to know who you are debating you see these people that go up against these atheists a lot of times are going up to people against people that just absolutely positively hate God and they don't understand the magnitude of that right they think that just by loving them and just being so super nice and caving into them and just trying to tiptoe around the issues that that is somehow gonna win that person you know what you go and try that with a child of the devil you know it is not gonna work I mean even I mean the Lord Jesus Christ taught us this when he confronted these people right read John chapter 12 you know what did he say in that chapter regarding a lot of those people that were there during that time remember the disciples wait why do you speak to them in parables and I'm just summing it up for you basically said because they can't be saved they've already pushed God too far they've already rejected God to the point where God's done with them he's just it's a done deal right so if you were to insert yourself back into that time and want to debate one of these people and you don't realize that and you think that you can win them you're gonna lose they would I mean you're not Jesus Christ they would mop the floor with you because they understand how to enchant people right these people have a desire to be in the limelight to be in the crowd and to be the top dog star that is really what their goal is it's recognition it's pump that's what is whereas you know just the just just us you know we're just trying to win some souls we're just trying to learn the Bible you know and you get somebody who comes in here for like you know a couple of months they read the Bible maybe one time or something listen to a few sermons and they're like all right I'm gonna go call up this you know top-ranked person in Christianity and start harassing him well I'm gonna worse run out to him you know in the street which I've seen on video I saw a couple of people go up to a pastor who is very well spoken who's wrong on a lot of doctrine and they got mopped by him they lost and that's embarrassing that does more harm for us than if they would have just been quiet just do your own work go get people safe you know what not everybody is good in that debate format but there are some people in our movement that are you know there's some pastors in a movement that are very good at doing this but they understand who they are talking about and they understand the goal of debate which is to win influence right it's no different than when Elijah went up against the 450 prophets of Baal and in Ahab you guys remember that story we talked about it not too long ago right he understood that it was the people who hadn't made up their mind yet whether they're gonna serve God or serve the devil those are the people that he was after and what happened after all of that was done he went out and he killed the prophets of Baal why because they couldn't be saved the Bible says they already turned their hearts away from God and God rejected them so God said hey wipe him out take them down it's a done deal okay turn to Romans chapter number one Romans chapter number one wait I'm sorry yeah go ahead and do that I'll just read the just read the verse in Proverbs for you guys so Proverbs 20 25 verse 9 says debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself and discover not a secret to another so the first time that you see the word debate in the Bible it's talking about a Matthew 18 situation right if somebody's offended you or they've said something to you or done something to you and it's another brother you need to go that person privately and handle your business not through fist fighting right but talking these things out say hey how have I wronged you what did I do wrong to you let's hash this out so there be no contention between us because when there's contention in the house of God the work slows down and so he's saying hey debate thy cause with thy neighbor you know if you got beef you got problems with somebody go up to them and try to resolve it between you and that person first right so in that sense debating is okay it's fine right there's we don't have an issue with that so I don't want to just cart blank say you know debate is wrong there's never a cause for it there's never a reason for it that's not the case the problem is when that becomes your soul objective when you say you know what I'm not gonna preach the death burial and resurrection and the free gift of salvation to people anymore I just want to debate with people because I love strife I love conflict that is when it becomes a problem now don't turn there but let me read Isaiah 58 for this is another time that the word debate comes up in the Bible it says this behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness you shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice to be heard on high and God in this chapter is rebuking the nation of Judah for their wrong idea regarding fasting right and God's saying hey look you're out there propping yourselves up like you're all that and a bucket of chicken and you think you're fasting and you're bragging about it you'll look at how much I've starved myself look at what I'm doing I'm so holy I'm so godly and God's actually calling him out he's saying no the reason why you're doing this is because you want strife and debate right you're there in Romans chapter 1 look at verse 27 it's talking about homosexuals about sodomites Romans chapter 1 look at verse 27 Paul says and likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their air which was me so he's saying hey these people that gave up on God you know the story God gave him over to a reprobate mind because they didn't want anything to do with them and the Bible says that hey the diseases that they reap from that lifestyle that is meat that is suitable that is just that is righteous that's what you get verse 28 and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge there it is again God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient verse 29 being filled with all unrighteousness okay so these people who the Bible calls reprobates the people that say you know what I want nothing to do with God and they say that to the point where God says fine then I'm done with you I'm done trying to reach you the Bible says that they are filled with all unrighteousness this is one of the verses that we go to to prove to contend that all pedophiles will the only cure for a pedophile is a five five six round right between the eyes or a seven six two that's it that is the only cure you can do all the counseling programs that you want to it isn't gonna change and you know what the state knows that the government knows that why do you think there's a sex offender registry so that you could know who's living around you it's because they know for sure that they will repeat that is what they do it is not natural they've been given over to that mindset and so the person comes up well why does God allow these people to be he doesn't the government does the government's the one that's allowing them to live because God told you in Leviticus how to deal with these people you're supposed to kill them remove them from society not us as a church not us as believers but our government should do that right how's that for apologetics how's that for contending for the faith but verse 29 being filled with all unrighteousness look every sodomite on the planet I won't say that they've all 100% committed pedophilia but they're capable of it because they're filled with all unrighteousness all right fornication wickedness covetous malicious is full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whispers malignancies what in the world is that that's being lazy you know he's acting like I'm sick and just kind of lagging around if you've ever worked with a sodomite and chances are they've acted like that okay but they're full of this right debate is at the heart of what they do this is why they always call why they always send death threats to us why they're always talking trash is because they want to bring us out into the limelight right they love it when we go on social media so they can debate right so that they can try to exercise you know what they view is their god-given right and they know that the world right now in the state that it's in and the country and the state that it's in is behind their view by and large right I mean let's be honest most of the media today most churches today they don't want to read these verses because this is hard truth right they would rather sidestep this and be like oh you know this is divisive this is gonna cause people to not want to come back I don't care it's what the Bible says it is true right and so these other people around here you know and in the nation they would side with a sodomite over us and all we're doing is reading the Bible people say well how does a homosexual become a homosexual right here in Romans chapter 1 Paul told you how did he come that way they reject God and he rejects them that's the that's how it always goes right people just decide I don't want to follow God to the point and we don't know what that point is because we can't see that battle going on inside with the conscience right but obviously after a certain period of time where God says you know what you've already made your heart like stone just like Pharaoh did right you know the Lord told Moses in the beginning in chapter 3 hey I'm sure he won't let you go and then in chapter 5 what does Pharaoh say he says I know not the Lord right he's not saying I don't know who Jehovah God is of course he does his lands filled with Hebrews okay don't tell me he doesn't know the God of Israel is you know he knows who he is what he's saying is I don't believe in him right and then Moses keeps coming to him with truth with truth with truth and what does he do he rejects it he rejects it he rejects it and then finally says hey God says in the Bible Pharaoh hardened his heart and then God hardened his heart after that right so we're not saying that God just looks at people like oh you're bad today guess what I'm gonna harden your heart I'm gonna make you a reprobate no people make themselves reprobate by hearing the truth over and over and over again and just constantly and constantly and constantly and constantly rejecting and the only tell tell sign that you have really is when a man or a woman lust after the same gender then it's like okay we understand that's a done deal right we we get that we understand that but why read these verses because it's critical it's crucial to understand who you are dealing with today right we don't want to debate people like this right because there's no point I mean the Bible says are filled with all unrighteousness they're given over to this rejected mindset and debating with them will not win them over now does that mean when they come at us at certain times and we're not going to respond oh of course we will respond because we have the Word of God we have the truth right but you know what when we when we contend with them we're bringing out the sword we're bringing out Leviticus 2013 we're bringing out Genesis 19 judges 19 first Kings second Kings all these books about how the Kings rid the land of the sodomites Jude I mean read the book of Jude right from Genesis all the way through Revelation the story is the same these people cannot be reformed right so why do we want to avoid that because here's the thing they are very good at what they do and they know the truth you got to realize that people don't become reprobate just by rolling out of bed or because they said too many customers one day oh I drink beer I did drugs or or whatever somebody forced me into prostitution that's not what does it it's a rejection of the truth and here's where a lot of people go wrong and these especially these apologists today they are up against people who know more truth than they do see a lot of these reprobate people that these apologists are debating they know the real gospel and that's why these guys get chewed up because they're trying to sidestep the issue and they're trying to they're trying to let on that it's by works but it's not right and these these atheists other like it's not by works what your book says and then they look stupid because they've got an NIV or an ESV or some junk like that and they don't know what to do right and so it's no wonder why ravioli Zacharias didn't open his Bible why would you do that you're gonna open up the ESV what's your source of truth the source of truth for the apologists is enchantments and the first trick that they always try to do is to teach people that you can win people through debate and look I'm not saying you can't listen to these people not maybe grab a nugget here there of course you could maybe one or two okay but do you really want to dig through hours and hours of this material when you could just read the Bible or go to a church that preaches every word of the Bible the way it is written you get what I'm saying here go to Acts chapter 13 what I want to do is I want to just show you a couple of stories in the Bible of contention how did the Apostle Paul contend for the faith right I mean there's all kind you can study all the disciples with this subject we're just gonna look at Paul this evening real quickly here Acts chapter number 13 because I would like to know how a modern-day apologist would act in these situations that are inside the Bible here acts 13 let's start here at verse number seven it says which was with the deputy of the country Sergius Paulus a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the Word of God right so this guy here he wants to hear the Bible he wants to hear the gospel he wants to hear what all the big stirs about we've already went through these passages very recently this one I'm gonna spend a lot of time on it but look at verse number eight it says but the limus the sorcerer the ESV the but the limus the sorcerer version for so is his name by interpretation heard a kid say that a long time ago and it just cracked me up he's like you know what the ESV is I was like what the limus the sorcerer version is like that's pretty good but it says but a limus the sorcerer for so is his name my interpretation withstood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith now here's the deal there are a lot of people out there that are you know these big old self-proclaimed agnostic or atheist type people they've got a big following I mean go figure it's the world right they've got a large YouTube following they've got the media they've got Hollywood they got all these people behind their backs and you know what they want to do they want to turn people away from the faith and today in our country and throughout the world modern-day Christianity basically what they turn to our apologist to answer the questions to do the contending to do the debating and another issue with that is that they have removed the power from the people to contend for the faith and put it all on them let us handle it because we're scholarly type we understand the original language is better than you sounds to me a lot like the Catholic Church all right but anyways we're gonna get moving on here before I get too far off here look at verse 9 says then Saul who also is called Paul filled with the Holy Ghost set his eyes on him this is key to understanding this passage here Paul what does it say filled with who the Holy Ghost set his eyes on him and look at verse number 10 and said Oh full of all subtlety and all mischief that's strong language my friend did you know that what does the Bible say about the devil he's subtle right that he is subtle and he says Oh full of all subtlety and all mischief thou child of the devil thou enemy of all of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord wow I dare you to find me today a popular apologist that would use strong language like this to somebody who is trying to turn away people from the face you won't find it but it's right here in the Bible full of all subtlety and all mischief what does that sound like to you does that sound like somebody who might be full of all in righteousness you'd almost have to be thou child of the devil you call somebody a son of Belial or a child of the devil today and I mean that's like you'd get blocked on social media for that I mean you can depending on who you're talking about I mean but think about that he's calling him a child of the devil he's saying your father is the devil show me ravioli Zacharias his videos right because he debates right he gets up there and he debates these people who hate God who want to turn people away from the faith who are filled with all in righteousness he debates these people he just God loves you and he's just like shaking oh brother oh no look if I ever get called into a debate you're gonna know it's me because I'm gonna be pretty nasty I'm gonna be pretty mean because this is a fight we're to contend earnestly for the faith right and if you know you want to turn people away from getting saved who see who's been with me when somebody's trying to get turn people away from the faith it's not very pretty is it right I'm not like hey Jesus loves you let me talk no well get the hell out of here you're weak you're a devil because you know why it's a devil that wants to stop people from getting saved it's a devil that wants to come out of his apartment dorm and try and kick us out of the entire neighborhood and call the cops or it's your boss trying to get you to work till 8 o'clock when trying to go so in but anyways verse 11 and now behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt be blind not seeing the Sun for a season and immediately there fell on him amidst and a darkness and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand so Paul literally uses the power of God here to make this person a living example of somebody who's blind spiritually but yet also physically in this time here believers number 12 then the deputy went and saw what was done believed being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord oh wait a minute you mean to tell me that Paul who would be ashamed to be called an apologist today called somebody the son of a of the devil and said you're filled with all these things it was very harsh to him got this guy saved but yet I mean this church is a cult give me a break this is biblical Christianity here we are to earnestly contend to fight for the faith that is what Paul's doing here you know but the modern-day ravioli boy he would say look brother calm down alignment let me get you a seat over here I'll get you some biscuits I'll get you some cake I'll get you some soda we'll just talk about it man in fact we'll call over a moderator I'll give you all the time in the world you talk for five minutes I'll talk for five minutes and then we'll hug at the end no how about you drop dead alignment how about you go to hell and let me preach the gospel how about that turn to Acts chapter 17 look at verse number one it says this now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollyon or Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where was the synagogue of the Jews and Paul as his manner was went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures now here's the deal right I'm not saying that everybody who doesn't believe like us or doesn't want to get say that we just go crazy on okay that's not what I'm talking about here but look if you're gonna go head-to-head with somebody you better be ready for blood spiritually you need to pull out all truth no matter what I don't care if you're in a stadium filled with 50,000 people that are all graduates of Boise State or this Mormon University over in Utah and they're all liberal people you need to speak the truth I don't care you say well man the whole crowd is gonna turn on me good so be it who are we supposed to be glorifying in this anyways oh that's right it's the Lord Jesus Christ we're to bring glory to God and the only way you will do that is by the words which are spirit and life so anyways after the manner Paul was he goes into these synagogues and he reasons with people right obviously not everybody that he's speaking to believes or receives the truth he doesn't go crazy on them but he does reason with him but I want you to notice something here it says reason with them out of the latest apologist handbook I think I have a ESV hold on what's going on here man reason with them out of the 21st century hug and hold hands oh no it doesn't say that I'm sorry guys reason with them out of the scriptures if you want to contend for the faith if you want to reason with people it has to be through the Word of God right there is no other way look at verse 3 opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ how did he communicate that truth with these people through the Old Testament scriptures obviously he didn't have the Romans wrote yet right but he knew the Bible that he had he knew the scriptures that he was growing up with enough to be able to prove and that's hard for us today isn't it I mean if you're new and you haven't read the Bible yet chances are you're not gonna be able to go to the Old Testament nexus and see Jesus I mean you have to really you know read a few times and really get the big picture and study these things out but Paul man obviously he was raised a Pharisee he was raised with I mean the law he knew these things and he was able to prove that but he did it not by logic he didn't say hey let's go take a look at the science right let's go take a look at all these facts all this evidence because I'm going somewhere with this he said no I'm gonna show you the Bible you see well they people why use the Bible say right I hear apologists say this all the time well we don't want to use the Bible on him because they don't believe it what's Paul doing here using the scriptures in the Old Testament at that verse 4 and some of them believe in consorted with Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks look at this a great multitude and of the chief women not a few so you have a wide variety of people here who get saved it's not just poor people it's not just what the Bible would maybe call simple people people just live their normal lives it's talking about chief women women that are viewed as you know a higher class during this time right it's a wide array of people you've got people that have high paying jobs that are up there and then you got just regular people that came out to hear Paul so some believed in some did not but the key thing to remember is it was by using the scriptures by using the Word of God now go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 2 1st Corinthians chapter number 2 so the first Apologician trick that they like to play on people is proclaiming the debate is what gets the job done debate is what wins people over and if you're a Calvinist I mean why not right because apparently you're just gonna say this stuff and the people that have the sleeper cell gospel and I'm gonna just be like oh whoa yeah you're right man I'm saved Wow whoo all right it's a trick they I mean you would have to be a magician to think that you can win people to Christ any other way or by some public debate now when you're reading these stories here there's no moderator Paul opens and alleges through the Bible that these things are true and he doesn't give them an opportunity to speak but rather he answers their questions why because he's contending for the faith right and he's doing that by preaching the gospel when you're preaching the gospel people come at you with questions remember we always what do we do we say that's a great question let me get to that later right because our goal is to get them saved now Apologician trick number two and it's the last one we're gonna go we're gonna have time for tonight it's this they claim that they can win people to Christ without using the Bible now I'm gonna read a quote to you by this guy here because I watched these apologetic videos I just got to get this off my chest there's a guy out there his name is Frank Turek very nice guy you watch his videos I'm sure if you were to beat him in real life he seems like a nice guy most of these apologists do they're very you know well-spoken nice people but that's the problem they are too nice right God's not looking for people that are that nice to contend for the faith he wants people like the Apostle Paul he wants people like Pete he wants people like like Peter James John all the people that he picked people that are ready willing and able to speak the truth I mean go read the Bible you know why do you think Elijah was a prophet why do you think Elisha was a prophet why do you think Moses was a prophet because they had what it took to speak the truth against all odds that is what God is looking for today but listen to this quote here I watched this video about apologetics and in this apologetic video this guy gets up and he asked the question how do I know which books belong in the Bible now here's what he says he says hold on hold on first of all for Christianity to be true you don't need an inerrant Bible let me read that again for Christianity to be true you don't need an inerrant Bible all you need is evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and that God exists that is so wrong I don't even know how I'm gonna finish the sermon that is this is so wrong it's it's not even funny that is so wrong that really that's your answer you don't need an inerrant Bible he's saying what he's saying is you don't need a perfect Bible all you need is evidence that Jesus existed and that God existed that's all you need or the I'm sorry he says all you need is evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and that God exists do you know what that bypasses faith that bypasses faith what is the requirement for you to get to heaven it's faith you're there in 1st Corinthians chapter number 2 look at verse 4 Paul says this and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power what does that mean it means that he didn't use what Frank Turk would say is all you need is evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and then God exists think about that in my speech in my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom enticing means to persuade or promise somebody something and that's what these people do they get up there and they promise them because I watched another part of this video where this lady gets up there and she goes so Frank do you think I'm going to hell I don't believe in God I don't believe in Jesus Christ and he's like well what do you mean by hell and she's like the place with fire in worms in brimstone and he's like what do you mean by fire brimstone and what do you mean by all that and he's like you know there's a lot of metaphors in the Bible man he's like the Bible says it's outer darkness right and that hell's hot and it's you know he's like you can't have both because if it's hot then it's bright by the flames he's like so that's a metaphor so you wouldn't be burning in hell hell's just separation from God that's an enticing word because that's not true hell is not separation from God when you go to hell you're right there why do you think in Luke chapter 16 when the rich man died and went to hell it said he lifted up his eyes and who do you see saw Moses and you know who else you're gonna see you can see God the Bible says that the smoke of their torment rose forever and ever before God we don't have time to go down that road yet but we're not supposed to use enticing words of man's wisdom to preach the gospel to people we are to use what is written in the Bible as it is written now turn to Romans chapter number eight Romans chapter number eight you ever want the definition of faith it's Hebrews chapter 11 verse number one which says now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen well wait a minute is that what Frankie boy says no he bypasses that by saying hey you don't need an inerrant Bible you don't need a perfect Word of God all you need is evidence that is all you need that's funny then that means you don't need faith and that means our whole Bible is a lie even the false ones all the fossils are a lie but you get what I'm saying Romans chapter 8 look at verse 24 for we are saved by hope what I thought were saved by evidence man Oh for we are saved by hope but look at this Romans 8 24 for we are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why does he yet hope for but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it turn to Matthew chapter number 16 this we're saved by hope what's another way to say that we're saved by faith saved by grace through faith you have to actually walk through the door faith you actually have to say you know what I have never seen physically the Lord Jesus Christ I'm hearing somebody preach the Word of God to me you have to believe that even though you haven't seen that that's faith you have to believe in that what you have not seen you have to have that hope otherwise you are not saved I'm gonna show you another way to look at this Acts chapter I'm sorry Matthew chapter 16 look at verse number four we're getting close to being done Matthew 16 verse 4 I want to show you basically here this is in this verse here you're gonna see what these apologists are really saying look at this Jesus says this Matthew 16 verse number 4 a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the Prophet Jonas now notice this and he left them and departed you know what Frankie boy and his homies are all doing they're going around saying hey we got a sign all you need is a sign all you need is evidence all you need to do is go to Israel man and see the tomb look all that stuff's great if you want to go over there and see it but you're not gonna grab a plain load full of heathens people who are not saved take them there and be like here's where Jesus rolled the stone back would you like to pray and be saved that doesn't work you have to preach to them the gospel they need to know what they are being saved from and when you tell people you know it hell's not that bad it's just a separation from God how are you any different than a Catholic how are you any different than a Mormon how are you any different than a Jehovah Witness who believes in soul annihilation the Bible says very clearly in Mark chapter 9 that it is a horrible place with flames and a worm that don't die also I mean torments day and night I mean get out of here give me a break turn to Matthew chapter 24 Matthew chapter 24 but notice what Jesus does in that verse it says and he left to depart him so he said oh you want evidence oh you want this Sherlock Holmes proof boy I'm out I'm gone right and you know what that's what I do when we knock on door and somebody's like you know it I want some proof kitchen to show me some proof well I got the Word of God right here what that's not proof enough for you no I want to see real evidence because my professor down at the university told me that if there should always be evidence of him to believe something show me evidence of the Big Bang then show me show me recreate it let's go do it oh you can't because you're weak and you're pathetic and you believed a lie you know what I leave in the part don't I I turn around I do it about face and I'm gone and you left them in the part in what am I talking about here yeah Matthew chapter 24 all right I'm gonna read a couple verses for you guys just just just bear with me here Romans chapter 1 verse 8 listen to this Paul says this the Romans he says first I think my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world not that your ability to reason with people through logic is spoken throughout the whole world but that your faith is spoken of throughout the entire world that is where it's at why was their faith spoken of throughout the entire world because they were telling everyone about it that's why they were preaching the gospel and what book do we go to primarily to start the gospel presentation it's the book of Romans so you're there in Matthew chapter 24 look at verse number 5 I'm verse 35 24 35 heaven and earth heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away you know why because his word is settled in heaven forever says forever Oh Lord thy word is settled in heaven people always say and it's Frank Turk guy he's oh he's got this big white screen right and he's trying to answer people people's questions like well how can we trust what the books are in the Bible and and we don't have the originals you never had the original when Paul first had Romans written down that was not the original manuscript when God gave Moses the commandments on the stone that was not the original document the original document is in heaven it's eternal it's always so this idea I'm original manuscript only I only go with the originals and we we need to get these scholars together we need to reconstruct the originals you're an idiot the only way you're gonna do that is to go up to heaven and talk to God about so shut your mouth I hate it when people bash the Word of God nothing gets me more excited than just wanting to contend with these people go to John chapter 5 John chapter number 5 and while you're turning there I'm gonna read for you mark 838 which says whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels it's kind of funny uses the same language about an adulterous wicked generation that seeks after a sign to describe people that are ashamed of him in his words you know what Frank Turk ravioli Zacharias and all the apologetics apologists or apologicians alike they are ashamed of the Word of God because they always want to bash the King James Bible in fact when I was listening to ravioli boy sermon he took a quick jab at the King James Bible you want to make a quick enemy out of me just go ahead and say bad stuff about the King James Bible yeah we're gonna have big problems you're gonna see a contention come to fruition very quickly John chapter 5 look at verse 46 Jesus says this for had ye believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me oh wait a minute you mean I gotta believe in the Bible to bleep good oh yeah that's right because in the beginning was the word in the word was with God look at verse 47 if she says but if you believe not his writings how shall you believe my words you have to believe the Bible the Bible is the center the Bible is Jesus Christ he's the word and you will how do we know he preserved it that's not the real question what they're saying is I don't want to admit that because that bypasses all the good deeds and the good stuff that I've done your best works are his filthy rags boy that's what the Bible says go to Romans chapter 10 Romans chapter number 10 I'm gonna finish reading a couple verses out of John 14 to you why you go to Romans 10 so same passage here he says but Jesus answered and said to them if a man loved me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him but he that loveth me not keepeth not my sings in the word which he here is not mine but the fathers which sent me tell me again that the Word of God is not important verse 25 he says these things have I spoken unto you being yet present with you but when the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you you realize how important it is for if you people I want the Holy Ghost to work through me how much Bible do you know how much Bible are you reading because he is the one that brings that insight out into a communicatable speech that gets people saved that defends the faith there's no other way it's impossible it's a trick it's magic and it's enchantments Romans chapter 10 look at verse 13 this is something that uh old Turk boy needs to look at for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved amen it doesn't say for whosoever does a good job and maintains that perfect relationship and turns from all their sins until the last day that before they die will be saying no for whosoever shall call upon the name of Lord shall be saved but there is a condition look at verse 14 how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed oh wait a second I got a bullet what and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher this is why we preach so often to you guys learn the Bible so you can go out and get people saved and guess how you get people saved through preaching not by saying you don't need the perfect Word of God nothing you know you don't need a Bible you need is evidence that Jesus wrote from that wall that's not faith that's not hope that goes against what our Bible says look at verse 15 and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things the message that we bring that brings real peace because people know deep down in their hearts that they've sinned against God and he offers that perfect forgiveness forever once saved you're always saved and then he says verse 16 but they have not all obeyed the gospel for his eyes say Lord we have to lead our report verse 17 so then faith cometh by hearing in hearing by the Word of God what do you need to be saved you need faith how do you get faith by hearing the Word of God you are not going to pick up the Bible be like bam I'm saved you're not gonna pick up a check track and just read them you all I'm safe you have to hear the Word of God it's the only way so how many people are apologetic are our politician buddies getting saved zero none go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 real quick I know I said it I promise you we're getting close here to being done almost done 1st Corinthians 1 17 for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect it's kind of funny because Frank Turks YouTube channels name is cross examined his para ministry is called cross examined well that's funny that goes against what Paul says here for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of not a fact so what he's saying is hey you know what Frankie everything that you say to these people that ask you questions it's of none effect you just made the cross of Christ of not a fact because you bypass what's required you bypass faith you bypass the work that he did all for wisdom that came from your own wicked heart look at verse 18 for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but into us which are saved it is the power of God and this is why we contend for that so hard because we see that we read that we believe that it's the power of God but you know what these big apologists and these whatever you these scholars right to them it's foolishness to preach these things well we don't quite know everything you know this is just extra credit here really it's just all about that evidence wait a second you're saying that my going around and knocking on doors in preaching the gospel to people is of none effect well that's not what Paul said for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness you know why it's foolishness for Frank Turk for ravioli boy and all these other apologicians to preach the Bible to people you know why it's foolishness them because they're not saved that's why verse 19 for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent and he's talking about people who are self-proclaimed prudent verse 20 where is the wise where's the scribe where's the disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that but I leave you know what it pleases God when you go out and you preach the gospel to people and they get but you know what when you say all of those evidence man oh man it's all on TV too man you know it's everywhere if you really just look hard enough right you just look at the tree look at the tree grew it obviously had a grower that's true but that doesn't get people saved go to go to Jude Jude go to Jude we're gonna look at verse 4 and we're gonna be we're gonna look at one more passage right where we started in Exodus and then we'll be done it goes on in that same chapter to talk about how the Jews require a sign in the Greek seek after wisdom remember that is a wicked thing to seek after a sign to seek after evidence I won't believe it unless I see it why do you think why do you think Jesus always so mad at Thomas unless I stick my hand in there it's like Thomas you're just irritating me right now all right Jude look at verse 3 again real quick beloved when I gave all diligence to write into you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write into you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered into the Saints right this goes against the Pentecostal guys who say well it's just constantly being revealed and revealed and revealed and revealed right now one time done deal verse 4 for there are certain he's gonna tell us why you see why preach the sermon why talk about these things here is why verse number 4 for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this ungodly men don't miss this turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness in denying the only Lord and our Lord Jesus Christ this is why we have to learn how to properly contend for the faith because there are men who will creep in unawares to this church to our friends churches they creep into every facet of life why to turn the grace that free grace of God into lasciviousness into a perversion go back to Exodus chapter 7 and we're done right here so what in the world you know people just just give these guys too much credit you know these apologicians oh he's not a bad guy you know mr. atheist devil worshipper he's not a bad guy he's just a little misguided that's not what Jude said it's not what Paul said and that's not what Jesus Christ said starting to understand why people don't like the Bible because it goes against their self-proclaimed agendas all right look at this Exodus 7 back up right where we first started Exodus 7 look at verse 11 then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers now the magicians of Egypt they also did in like manner with their enchantment so we go out we get people the gospel we preach the written word of God just like he told us and you know what the apologists do they go out with their magic tricks and with their enchantments and they get on TV they get on YouTube and they start proclaiming their fake ways of defense to the people in the masses and this is what we're up against don't tell me this is an important this is very important people's souls are at stake here this is why this stuff needs to be preached now look at verse number 12 for they cast down every man his rod and they became certain serpents but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods the rod of Aaron equals the Word of God and you know what when we go out with the Word of God it's gonna swallow up all this false apologetic garbage that's out there and we're going to get the victory because we're doing things the way that God intended the way that God told us to do them let's pray thank you so much Lord for all this truth I just pray that this would stick with us Lord and you would always keep us at a high urgency to earnestly contend for the faith Lord that was once given unto the Saints in Jesus name I pray amen