Thank you, Tim. I would like
to thank Tim for putting this whole thing on and all the time
and effort he has spent because of his passion, putting this
whole thing together, these conferences and all the literature and free
booklets that he he hands out and truly we're indebted to him
and like to thank the pastor, Tiffin. You know, it's rare to
see a pastor that will speak out. Knowing that people are
going to get upset, knowing that people are going to leave your
church, but scripture is clear in the commandments to pastors,
refute those who oppose sound doctrine. Today, that is a non-existent,
it seems, commandment among church leaders. And certainly if every
church leader would do what they're commanded to do, they'd be less
of false teachings and heresies and The church, I think, would
be in a better state now in dealing with reputation and the whole
area of apologetics. I think it's imperatively important
for us to understand that we do what we do because it's commanded
us in Scripture. And when we're witnessing to
non-Christian religions or to your garden variety non-believer,
there's some things we need to understand. So it will help us. and benefit us in our witnessing
presentation. All of us are called, all of
us are commanded to proclaim the truth. We're called to proclaim
the truth, even if it makes people upset. And in the area that I
deal with, Christian apologetics, I know a whole lot of Christians
get upset because they just don't think we're supposed to, as Christians,
speak out against anybody. Just love Ominem. The problem
with that premise is, number one, it's not commanded for us
just to do that. It's commanded of Christians,
yes, to love. But it's equally commanded for
us to refute those who oppose truth, to refute those who attack
our Lord and Savior. It doesn't matter what the ministry
is called. It doesn't matter how popular
the minister is. We have an obligation. If we
love God, if we take this seriously, we have a biblical obligation
to do so. And sharing faith with those
in cults and other world religions can be quite frustrating. Anyone
here who has ever dealt with a Muslim or a Mormon or Jehovah's
Witness, you know what I'm talking about. It can get very frustrating. And it gets very frustrating
because we can show them something so clear that makes perfect biblical
sense. We can show them passages that
are just so utterly crystal clear, and yet they just flat out deny
them. Or they'll just flat out distort and say, well, it doesn't
really mean that. And no matter how clear you articulate
your position, they're just blind to the truth And we have to understand
when we're dealing with people, when we're sharing our truth,
when we're sharing Christian faith, we have to understand
the state of the person to which you're making proclamation. In
other words, when we're sharing our faith to a Muslim or to a
Jehovah Witness or to a non-believer, we have to understand that what
we're sharing, our proclamation of truth, is foolishness to them. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 18, For the word of the cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved by it, it
is the power of God. Then he says in verse 20, Where
is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is
the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish? The term is moron in Greek. foolish
the wisdom of the world. For since in the wisdom of God
the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God
was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save
those who believe. For indeed, Jews ask for a sign. Greeks, they search for wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified To the Jews, a stumbling block.
To the Gentiles, foolishness. But to those who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom
of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men. It's foolishness to
proclaim what we proclaim. It's foolishness to proclaim,
well, this man from Nazareth His name was Jesus Christ, and
in Him is all the fullness of God in human flesh. He is the
Creator of all things. For by Him, for through Him,
all things have been created. Whether thrones, dominions, powers,
authorities, all things are created through Him and for Him. He is
before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Is
that not foolishness to a non-believer? This man, this carpenter from
Nazareth, You're telling me He's the Creator of all things? You're
telling me that in Him, all the fullness of God, Katoike dwells? Him? This man? This carpenter?
And it was Him that died on a cross? Are you saying that I have to
believe in all this? I have sin, and unless I believe
in this person, that I'm not going to be saved? I'm going
to spend eternity in the hell? Is that what you're saying? Yes,
we're repeating something. We're reading the text. This
is what Jesus said. This is what Paul said. This
is what the apostles proclaim when they proclaim the cross,
when they proclaim the person of Christ. So we have to understand
when we're witnessing the people, it's going to be foolishness.
That's why it says in verse 30 of chapter one of first Corinthians,
it is by his doing. that you're in Christ Jesus.
It's not by the wisdom of the world. It's by him that you're
in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. So that just as it is written,
let him who boasts boast in the Lord. Now, why is this foolishness?
Because Scripture presents man, unsaved man, unregenerate man,
as in bondage to sin. He's enslaved to sin, says Christ. He's spiritually dead. And it's
important for us to know this when we witness to people in
other faiths. Hence, they're unable to come
or submit to the Lord. In Romans 8, 7 and 8, it says, in the flesh or the mind that's
set on the flesh. It's a possessive genitive there.
Possessed by the flesh. He can't please God. He can't submit to God. He's
not even able to. The term is quite clear there.
Dunamai, it has to do with ability. It doesn't say he chooses not
to. It says he can't. Romans 8, 7 and 8. He's not able
to. We're talking spiritual ability.
In John 8, 46, Jesus says, if I speak truth, why do you not
believe me? Jesus spoke infallible truth
and they still were not believing. And Jesus asked the question
rhetorically in John 8, 46, why do you not believe me? And then Jesus answers in verse
47 of chapter 8. He who is of God hears the words
of God. For this reason, you do not hear
them, because you are not of God. Only the ones of God will
hear the words of God. That's why Jesus said in chapter
6, verse 44 of John, no one can come to me. We have that word
of ability again. Deuteronomy. No one can come
to Me unless the Father who sent Me, Helco, draws, drags Him and
I will raise Him up at the last day. Nobody can come to Christ. Your articulation will not make
somebody come to Christ. Your altar call, your sinner's
prayer, or whatever you say to them, they're not going to come
to Christ unless The Father who sent me, says Christ, draws him and I will raise him
up at the last day. Salvation is of the Lord alone.
It is of God alone. It is only God who can regenerate
the dead sinner, the one that's in bondage to sin. It's only God that causes him
to walk in their ways, in his ways. New species with a new
heart. When God takes your heart of
stone away, He doesn't woo it. He changes your heart. We call
this regeneration. And when you belong to God, then
you can hear the words of God. But when you're witnessing to
a non-believer, keep in mind they do not belong to God. They
cannot please Him. They cannot come to Him unless
They're regenerated. Unless they're made alive, set
free, then they naturally come to Christ. So what are we saying?
Our job is to proclaim the truth of God to non-believers. It's
to claim what Jesus did to the Muslim, to the Jehovah's Witness,
to the Mormon. We have to proclaim what Christ
did on the cross, who God is, his physical resurrection, and
the fact that Jesus Christ was God-man. and let God worry about
the results. We glorify God in our proclamation. Scripture is clear. Faith and
repentance, the ability to believe, they're all granted by God. Our
job is to communicate accurately, as Scripture says. What is effective
witnessing? Well, what I mean by effective
is giving a biblically sound presentation. It's not effectual
if you distort the Word of God in your presentation. Scripture
says it's the gospel that has the power of God for salvation. The gospel doesn't need any help.
It has the same power today as it did in the ancient world.
Same power. God has chosen to use means to
save his people. And the normal means that God
uses is the gospel. Saying to an unsaved Muslim or
Jehovah's Witness or any unsaved person such things as, hey man,
Jesus has a great plan for you. Man, God loves you. All you got
to do is come to Him. When we say this, we're giving
this false presentation of God. As one author says, we're taking
the bread from the children and we're casting it to the dogs.
The love of God is so distorted in the church today. That's why
you have people proclaiming to non-believers, man, God loves
you, has a great plan for your life. And then they go to hell
and then they're thinking, huh, I thought that guy said God loved
me and has a great plan for my life. And I'm sitting here burning. Friends, we have to be accurate
in our presentation. We see a full presentation of
the love of God in the epistles. As I asked yesterday, what epistle
was written to nonbelievers? Which one? Right. None of them. That's where we
have a full presentation of the love of God to us. The ultimate benefit of being
a Christian, we have God's love. In the book of Acts, where we
find the missions and the messages of the apostles, not one time
is the love of God referenced. Not one time. We have all their
missions and messages. It's never even an issue. Not
one time in the Gospels, unless you're going to distort John
3, 16, did Jesus tell a sinner that the Father loves you. Not one time. In fact, he says
in John 14, 23, if you love my father, then he will love you. We love God as Christians. A
non-believer has not the ability to love God, says Romans 8. He
can't please God. He can't submit to God. First
of all, our presentation to not only Muslims, but to people in
other religions, and it can seem even more frustrating when someone
already has a religious position and then we come with ours. But
our presentation should be biblically based and sound. And we shouldn't
get frustrated if we understand where they are spiritually. It's
not throwing BBs against a wall. We're glorifying the Lord. Regardless
if they get saved or not, we're glorifying the Lord with our
sound presentation and proclamation of the Gospel. The Gospel, as
Paul says, it's the Gospel concerning the Son. The Gospel is the work
of the Son. It's not what you can get out
of it. It's what the Son did. That's what Paul says. That's
the Gospel. The Gospel is concerning the
Son. And we must make that proclamation.
We must be accurate in that proclamation. We read in Acts 17, 2 and 3,
according to Paul's custom, he went to them and for three Sabbaths,
reasoned or argued with them from scriptures, explaining and
providing evidence that Christ had to suffer, rise again from
the dead, saying, this Jesus, whom I am proclaiming to you,
is the Christ. Paul went to the synagogue and
he gave a biblical presentation. He argued for his faith. Now,
there's two kinds of arguments. There's logical argumentation
and then there's personal quarrel. We want to avoid personal quarrel.
Personal quarrel is just two people engaging in contrasting
views with no logic, no reasoning, nothing, just personal attacks,
basically. But then there's logical argumentation.
It's presenting your thesis. It's making a clear presentation
by way of evidence, step by step from evidence to conclusion.
That's what Paul did by Scripture. It says he argued the same word
argued in Jude 1 9 when when Michael, the archangel and the
devil argued about the body of Moses? I don't know what they're
arguing about, but same word. Same as Acts 17, 17. Paul presented
his argument that Jesus was the Messiah, and he did it from the
scriptures. So that's teaching us that when
we proclaim who God is, we can't be embarrassed. Don't be afraid
to mention the Trinity. Too many people don't, well,
we don't want to go to step four before we go to step one. That's
assuming that it's your articulation that's going to save them. We
must give the full presentation of the gospel because we're called
to, we're commanded to. Contrary to the traditional view,
the traditional Christian view, we proclaim the gospel first
and foremost. The very reason we proclaim the
gospel. is to glorify God. Yes, we love
to see the people say it because that's the normal means that
God uses. How beautiful the feet are that
deliver the good news. But we do it first and foremost
to glorify God. And we do it also because it's
the normal means that God uses to save his people. And we do it because we're called
to love everybody. Romans 10, 1, Paul says, Brethren,
my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for them, meaning his
fellow, the non-believing Jews, his kinsmen. It's for them and
their salvation, Paul says. He's praying for their salvation.
For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. The Muslims have a zeal for their
God, but it's not according to truth. It's not according to
knowledge they're worshiping a false God, but they're very
have a lot of zeal and passion. More passion, a lot of Christians
have about their God, but it's not according to knowledge. Both
the Old Testament and the New Testament. Authors consistently
contrast the gospel as the good news and the bad news. Now, for
us to actually proclaim the gospel, There is the bad news. What's
the bad news? Wrath. Sin. And if you die without
Christ, you're going to experience wrath because of your sin. That's
the bad news. What's the good news? It's what
Christ did on the cross. God saves infallibly. His cross
work was definite. That's the good news. That's
why we call it the gospel, the good news. Without explaining,
without the existence of bad news, wrath, God doesn't wink
an eye at sin. He requires satisfaction before
He will pardon a sinner. And if we eliminate all that,
why is it so much good news? Why is it good if there's no
penalty involved for sin? Well, if there's no penalty,
if there's no wrath, you just die and that's it. What's so good about it? But
if there's penalty for sin and for God to pardon a sinner, there
must be satisfaction. And the satisfaction he provided
was on the cross. He propitiated. He satisfied
the father. For one cannot preach the good
news without preaching the bad news. But, of course, this concept
is virtually absent in the teaching of many evangelists Preachers,
they eliminate God's wrath, they erase it all together. They don't
want to talk about it because they have a distorted view of
God's love. So if you have a distorted view of God's love, you're not
going to see wrath and sin. Does it not say in Psalm 711,
God is angry with sinners every single day? In Psalms 5-5, God
hates those who practice sin. They're held captive by Satan,
Paul says, and only the Son can set them free. Now, in the first
century, the church was built on two principles, love and doctrine. You can't have one without the
other, love and doctrine. If it's all doctrine, there's
no love. Well, that's not good. In your
sinning, we're called to love everyone, present everything
in love. It doesn't mean to water anything down. We have to be
aggressive, assertive and definite. But if it's all love, all you're
going to have is confusion. You're not going to have the
cross work of Christ because you'll be busy trying to love
the person at the expense of eliminating or not even mentioning
what Jesus did on the cross. Now, the Spirit produces the
love in the Christian. In fact, in Galatians 5, 22 and 23, I'll
read it says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
against such things. There is no law. And it's interesting
here because grammatically it's possible for love to be colonized
when you put a colon after love. So that would indicate if you
can if you punctuate love with a colon, this would indicate
that the eight characteristics following love is how Paul defines
love. In other words, but fruit, it's
singular there, the fruit of the spirit is love. What is love?
Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such things, there is no law. It's interesting.
First of all, when we're dealing with Muslims or others in non-Christian
religions, We don't want to attack them personally, even though
they do that to us all the time. We don't want to present personal
attacks against the way they talk, the way they look at scripture. You just want to avoid personal
attacks, because you don't want your emotions to dictate how
you witness. And never attack the character of a person, because
when you do that, it shows that you really don't have a strong
position. Or it shows you have no idea what you're doing. Or
it shows that your theology is so distorted that you think it's
all on you to save the person. And you get frustrated, and your
frustrated manifests into these ad hominem or these personal
attacks. Not good. But we do want to pray for God,
to God, to give us witnessing opportunities. I do. We should
all want to pray to God for witnessing opportunities. In Ephesians 2,
8 and 10, it says, by grace, You have been saved through faith,
and that faith is out of yourself. It's a gift of God, not by works,
so that no one can boast. Then in verse 10, it says, We
are all God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand for you to do. So all those good
works that you've ever done as a Christian, according to this
text, He prepared it in advance. That lady you talked to at the
store? Your ministry? What Tim is doing? Every time you do something good,
keep in mind, a non-believer can never do any good work because
good works don't please God from a non-believer. It says it has
filthy rags. You can't even do a good work
unless you're saved. But all those good works that
we do that are pleasing to the Lord, He prepared them in advance
for us to do. wherever you're at. So we should pray for witnessing
opportunities, and we know that God has ordained prayer as a
means by which he accomplishes his eternal purpose, particularly
in salvation. Do not force gospel arguments. We don't need to. We present
the biblical truth. We don't have to grab them and
force them to believe. It's not going to happen. There's
no passage that says for us to do that. That's a distorted theology
of how God saves. How you believe God saves man
will affect your evangelism. It will affect every dimension
of your preaching. It really will. Since God has
ordained the salvation of his people, the means and the end,
there's no reason to force a gospel argument. For the unregenerate person to
which you are witnessing is dead. We have to understand that. Enslaved
to sin. He has a stony heart. They can't believe. They're held
by Satan. Captivity. They can't believe.
So why do we witness? Because God uses our proclamation
of truth to save His people. That's the means He ordered.
That's the normal means by which He saves people. And it glorifies
God first and foremost. And we're called to make reasonable
and biblical arguments. We should never get into philosophical
arguments because it's not the gospel. If you really want salvation,
if we're really passionate about salvation, let's follow the biblical
paradigm and understand where an unsaved person is spiritually.
Philosophy is not going to save them. Your gospel presentation is what
God uses, not philosophical argumentation. In Acts 18, 28, dealing with
Apollos, says he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating
by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. He did it by
the scriptures. And in 1 Peter 3, 15, we all
should be aware of that passage. Always being ready to give a
defense or answer. To give a reason for your faith. It's twofold there. Apologetics
is twofold. It's giving defense, providing
a defense, we're commanded, but also to give a positive affirmation,
to give a logos for your faith, it says, for the hope, to give
a reason. So if the Muslim comes in my
road somewhere, in my way of life, he intrudes my coffee at
Starbucks and I need to talk with him. I'm not just going
to say, well, your religion is false and Jesus is God, because
I'm not really, I could be defending, but I'm not providing a reason
for my faith as it commands us in 1 Peter 3, 15. Provide a logos,
a reason for your faith. Let me show you in scripture,
by the scriptures, who Jesus is. They use the scriptures to
show who he isn't in debate. They will distort John and other
places to show you that Jesus is really not God. Every Christian should have a
solid understanding. Why their interpretation is correct
before they apply it. Too often, Christians base their
interpretation on traditions, something that they've heard
quoted over and over and over, never on exegetical confirmation.
That's a dangerous thing. For example, such passages as,
as I said, John 3.16 or 2 Peter 2.24, you know, by your stripes
we are healed or you are healed. And those two are probably the
top passages that are distorted or misinterpreted. Many popular interpretations
of these passages are, again, squarely based on tradition,
never exegetical confirmation. We've been hearing them quoted
over and over. Or Revelation 3, where Jesus
stands at the door and knock, we give that to non-believers.
And then we've been hearing these interpretations attached to these
passages for our whole lives, never questioning it. But of course, when we confirm
it exegetically, then we can apprehend truth on these passages. Like in Revelation 3, that was
to a Christian church. Jesus is not wooing the non-believer.
He's not saying, please believe in me. He's not begging a non-believer
to believe in him. Because Jesus is the infallible
Savior. And he says, all that the Father
gives will come to me in John 6.37. All that the Father gives
will come to me. It's a participle there. They'll
keep coming to me. All that the Father gives comes
to me. 637. And whoever comes to me, I will
know wise. Never, never. Not even a possibility. Strongest way to negate a future proposition. Never, never. Not even a possibility will I
cast him away. Then he says, I come here not to do my will,
but the will of the One who sent me. And this is the will of God.
That whoever the Father gives to me, will come and I will raise
it up at the last day." Now, some translations say, raise
them up, but it's neuter in the Greek, alta, and it would define
the category or class that he raises up, his elect. I'll raise
it up at the last day. But notice in verse, we don't
have to go there, in verse 37, when he says, all that the Father
gives comes. Now, coming, hearing, believing,
eating his flesh, drinking his blood, they basically mean the
same thing. So vivid, believing or faith, and it's ongoing. One of the facets in the gospel
of John is that he uses these parties present tense, ongoing
participles to show the reality of true faith. It's ongoing.
It doesn't stop. Scripture knows of nobody who
really was regenerated, had faith as a result of regeneration,
all of a sudden I just stopped believing. No, Jesus says, whoever
keeps on eating, trogon, keeps on eating my flesh, keeps on
drinking of my blood, that means coming to Him and believing to
Him. Whoever is coming to Me, all the believing ones have eternal
life. They're all ING verbs, denoting
the reality of an ongoing faith. And if you're truly saved, Your
faith, your belief is not going to waver. Your day-to-day faith
may. Sometimes we feel strong, sometimes
we don't. But your belief, your faith in the Lord will be there
if you're truly regenerate. I do present a definitive gospel
and things we want to include. I like Paul's definition of the
gospel. As mentioned, Romans chapter
one, it's the gospel concerning the son. But in First Corinthians
15, one through four, he says the gospel that I preach, I pass
on to you as first importance. What I also received, I passed
on to you. In other words, he's he he's
not now just given it to him. He had already passed. On to
the church, this gospel, a first of importance, he said, the gospel
that I preached to you, which I received that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and that he
was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. So, in this
presentation, how Paul defines the gospel, we must include his
Christ. He said Christ died. Which one? The one that Paul preaches. Which
one was that? Paul's Christ was God in the
flesh. Titus 2.13, the great God and
Savior. Paul's Christ was fully man, Galatians 4.4. Fully God. Paul's Christ was the two-natured
person. And then it says, for Christ
died for our sins. So now he deals with justification.
The Christ that Paul preached propitiated the Father on the
cross sufficiently. One thing most non-Christian
cults have in common Islam, Roman Catholicism, and others, they
deny the sufficiency. Of course, Muslims deny the cross
altogether, but they deny the sufficiency of the cross. If
the Roman Catholic Church embraced the sufficiency of the cross,
there would be no doctrine of purgatory. Purgatory is a doctrine
that says for Christians, so-called, they never paid enough for their
sins they committed here. If they confess their sins, they're
required to pay penance. And if they die early, well,
they really didn't pay enough penance. So where do they go?
They have to be scrubbed up, purged of the evil for a time. Or it's also called saddus possum
in Latin, meaning suffering of the souls. So they teach that
you must justify yourself for unpaid sins. What does that say
about the cross of Christ? What does that say about his
infallible work? What does that say about his
infallible life, his preceptive obedience to the Father, his
passion, his passive obedience? What does that say? It's insufficient
because you've got to do things. You must pay for sins that Christ
didn't pay for in purgatory. He died. according to Scriptures,
and He was raised up on the third day. So, of course, the physical
resurrection is an aspect of Paul's Gospel as well. And in 2 Timothy 2.8, Paul says,
Jesus Christ was of the sperma, or seed, of David, according
to my Gospel. The Incarnation was an aspect
of the Gospel. We must include definitive theology
in our presentation. This is the Christ that we worship.
He was God-man. How do we worship Christ? Do
we worship His flesh that was created in Bethlehem? But the
angels worship Christ. We worship Christ because we
worship as to His deity. He was God-man. We can worship
Him because He's fully God. We don't worship His flesh, but
we can worship Him. One person with two natures. We worship Him as to His deity.
So we must include His deity, that He was God-man. And also,
keep in mind, when you talk to Muslims, when you present Christ,
we're excited to present the deity of Christ, which we should,
but make sure you say He was God-man. Because if you say He
was God, Jesus is God, they'll say He died. He didn't know when
He was coming back. He didn't know who touched Him.
How could He be God? focus on all the humanity passages
of Christ while at the same time denying all the deity passages
of Christ. Jehovah's Witnesses do the same
thing. So we must include both natures
of Christ. So we'll head him off at the
past. So when we say he's God-man, well, he died. But I just said
he was God-man. We have to explain what we mean
by that. Particularly when we talk about the Trinity, which
we'll discuss shortly. And also, when you're talking
to Muslims or Jehovah's Witnesses or even non-believers, don't
pretend like you have all the answers. There may be some answers you
don't have, even in the formal debate. Don't pretend you have
them. That looks bad. Even Jehovah's Witnesses will
say, that's a good question. Let me get back to you. Of course,
when they say it, they mean they don't want to talk to you anymore,
normally. Or they'll get one of their so-called scholars to
come with them. But don't pretend like, because
again, it's not us saved. We can't save anyone, particularly
someone in bondage to sin, a slave to sin. What can we do? What
we do is proclaim the truth. That's what we do. It's God that
saves them. It's the son that sets them free.
Be concise. Very important in our presentation. When we're dealing with Muslims
or Jehovah's Witnesses or others, we don't want to just give an
hour presentation. The mind can't bear it all. We
don't need to. We don't have to give them everything. Why? Just give them the truth. Pray
to the Lord for wisdom and focus on an area like the deity of
Christ, the Gospel, His cross work. You don't have to get into
an hour dialogue about heaven with Jehovah's Witnesses. You
don't need to. What's that going to do if you
convince them of heaven? They still think Jesus is Michael,
the archangel. Muslims still think that Gabriel gave Muhammad the
Koran, even if you convince them about some secondary truth of
scripture. So be concise. Humans can't bear
tons of information all at once. And give them equal air time.
Allow them to speak too. Now, it's difficult with Muslims
because in the cult, I mean, especially when they get heated
and passionate and they're going to get upset. But we have the
truth on our side. And God is the author of salvation. He makes the way. Do not use
complex. And this is very important. I
have a friend. His name is Guy. He's a good friend of mine. He's actually his associate pastor,
but he was so passionate with Jehovah's Witnesses. And we were
discussing one time, Titus 2.13, and there's a grammatical rule
called Granville Sharpe's rule number one. You have six rules,
but rule number one in brief says if you have two descriptive
nouns that are singular, God and Savior, the text reads the
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, you have two nouns there,
descriptive nouns, singular. God and Savior, they're not proper
names like Paul or Peter, God and Savior. And the first noun,
God, has the article. But the second noun, Savior,
doesn't have the or the article, and they're connected by chi
or and. So the noun and noun, both of
those nouns, according to this rule, refers to the first name
person. So this came, this was not invented,
discovered, In the 18th century, by Granville Sharp, he's a man
passionate about the deity of Christ, and he discovered six
grammatical rules. But the first rule had to do
with passages where you had two nouns and only one article, and
then a named person. Titus 2.13, the great God and
Savior, Jesus Christ. So it reads, the great, the great
God and Savior, Not the Savior, he doesn't say
that, just Savior, no article, Jesus Christ. There's no exceptions
to that rule. Rule number one. Anyways, he
was so excited about that rule that every time he saw a Jehovah's
Witness, he would just, and he was from New Jersey, so he would
talk a mile a minute. He was this big football player.
He was just talking about rattle, grabble, sharp, and no one knew
what he was talking about except him. So, We want to sometimes
refrain from using complex language unless we're really, you know,
the conversation warrants it, particularly when it's technical,
because the average Jehovah's Witness, first of all, they don't
believe you. But, you know, unless you slowly are discussing one
topic, try to refrain from technical language. Again, it's God who
is the author of salvation. Also, what I found very effective
with Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses, and others in non-Christian religions
is to form your apologetics into question asking. Jesus did this in John 3 with Nicodemus, you
know, he asked questions and with the Samaritan woman, he
asked questions and he formed his teaching into question asking.
Also, we see Paul did it in Galatians, you know. Are you so foolish? I mean, he just constantly asked
questions to teach. His teaching consisted of questioning. And I found this is very effective
with all kinds of groups, even non-believers. Consider the examples,
like in Mormonism. Here's what I do with Mormons.
Now again, you don't need to give them everything when you're
talking to a Muslim or a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness. But there's
some questions that are very, I think, effective because it
may cause them to think. Isaiah 44, 6 and 8. where the Lord – now keep in
mind, in Mormonism, they think everywhere in the Old Testament
it says, Lord, that that's Jesus. So everywhere it says in their
translation, Jehovah, to Mormons, that's Jesus. Everywhere it says
God or Elohim in Hebrew, that's the Father. Mormonism believes
that This world is ran by the three three gods. There's the
head god, the father. He's the god of all in which
they worship and pray to. There's Jesus in which they pray
to the father through Jesus. And then there is the bodiless
Holy Spirit. He never got a body. I don't
know why, but that's Mormon theology. Anyways, in the Old Testament,
Jesus is Jehovah and the father is Elohim. That's what they're
taught. So my question is, in Isaiah
44, 24, it says, thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the one
who formed you in the womb, I, the Lord, maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by
myself, spreading the earth alone. Well, you have a couple problems
with this in Mormon theology. If Lord means Jesus, I'll read
it that way. Thus sayeth Jesus, your Redeemer, the one who formed
you in the womb, I, Jesus, am maker of all things, stretching
the heavens out by myself. Well, Mormons are taught that
God, Elohim, made the heavens and the earth, and Jesus, or
Adam, as they call him, was just a helper. Well, if this is Jesus,
he says he stretched out the heavens by myself. Then he says,
it gets worse. I'm and spreading out the earth
all alone. How is it that Jesus created
all alone without the help of his father? But in Joseph Smith's translation
reads the same way. And it gets worse for it. And
look, it's forty four, six and eight. That's it. The Lord, they
think, is Jesus, king of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of
hosts. I'm the first, I'm the last, and there is no other God besides me." Well, if God is
the Father, how can the Son say, I'm the first, I'm the last,
there is no Father besides me? And then it gets even more worse
in verse 8 of 44. long since announced it to you
and declared it. You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
So here you have Jehovah, who they think is Jesus, ask, is
there any Elohim or is there any God beside me? Well, in Mormon theology, there's
millions of gods, plus his father. But Jesus says, if this is Jesus,
according in Mormon theology, Or is there any other rock? I
know of none." How can Jesus say He doesn't know of any Elohim?
It's very difficult for Mormons to answer. I've used this time
and time and time. It's very difficult for Mormons
to deal with those passages because of how they've been taught. I think one of the most effectual
ways You can show that Jesus is God, which all those witnesses
to use the Old Testament passages. Where it is specifically applied
to Yahweh, and yet a New Testament author will apply it to Christ.
For instance, I'll have him go to Psalms. I take him to the
Old Testament first, Psalms one or two. Versus twenty five. through 27,
but I read just 25, of old you have founded the earth, and the
heavens are the work of your hand. First of all, this is in
reference to Jehovah. And I'll ask them that. Who is
this in reference to? You could even have them read
this. It deals with the unchangeable
Creator. Of old you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hand. They will perish, but you will
endure. All of them will wear out like a garment, like clothing
you will change. Change them and they will be
changed. But you are the same and your years will never come
to an end. Well, clearly this is dealing with the unchangeable
creator who is to a Jehovah's Witness. Jehovah, I'll have them
read that passage. They will agree that dealing
with Jehovah as unchangeable creator. And then I'll take them
to their own Bible in Hebrews 1. Verse 10, where we have this
beautiful chapter where the author of Hebrews contrasts everything
created, heavens, earth, angels, with the eternal Son. In verse
8, it says, "...but the Son, He, the Father, says, Your throne,
Haaseas, the God. The only place where the Father
calls the Son God. Your throne, the God, literally, is forever
and ever. But in verse 10, the passage
I just read to you in Psalms 102, you get them to agree that's
Jehovah. There's no argument. Yes, that's Jehovah, the Unchangeable
Creator. Why is it then in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 10, the author
quotes Psalms 102, but he applies it to the Son.
And you, Lord, at the beginning laid the foundations of the earth."
We know it's the Son because verse 8 says, about the Son,
He says, in still the same context, but you, O Lord, in fact, directly
addressing the Son as Lord, even in a case of direct address. It's in evocative there, meaning
He's directly addressing the Son. You, Lord, laid, or in the
beginning laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens
are the work of Your hand. They will perish, but you will remain.
They will all become like a garment, like a mantle. You'll roll them
up like a garment. They'll also be changed. You
are the same and your years will never end. How does the Father
quote Psalms 102 and applies it to the Son, if the Son is
not God? And it's not changed in the New
World Translation. They have to deal with it. It
hasn't been changed yet. And there's many other passages
that can do this. Actually, if you go on my website,
I list most of them, christiandefense.org. And there's other places where
their Bible has not changed yet, where you can demonstrate the
deity of Christ from the Old Testament. Again, we're a New
Testament author. He'll cite an Old Testament passage
referring to Yahweh or Jehovah in their language. But yet he
applies it to Christ. Like Romans 10.13, well, Romans
10.9 says what? If you believe in your heart
that He was raised from the dead, that Christ was raised from the
dead, you will be saved. If you confess Jesus as Lord. And then if you follow the pronouns,
whoever puts their faith in Him, like in verse 10 and 11 and 12,
follow the pronouns. They all refer, there's no break
of person. They all refer to the first occurrence
of Lord and Jesus Christ. The antecedent is Lord in verse
9. Then when you get to verse 13,
Therefore, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be
saved. Paul quotes Joel 2.32. And he applies it to Christ.
Whoever confesses Christ as Yahweh will be saved. I will ask you
all witnesses as well. Can any other person in the New
Testament be called the God? They make this huge issue with
God in the article. They think that the God means
the Almighty, even though I think 282 times the term seos, the
term God, was used unarthorically, meaning without the article,
282 times. There was at least 10 ways you can definitize a
noun. The article is just one way,
the predominant way. But nevertheless, I use this
argument. Can any other besides Jehovah be called the God? Most Jehovah's Witnesses, most,
will say no. The God means the Almighty. A
God is the Almighty, is the mighty God, Jesus, the created angel.
Then I will show them passages where in their own Greek text,
they have a Greek text, it's called the Kingdom in a Linear
Translation. It's not a bad text, it's a Westcott
and Hort text, and it's an interlinear, meaning it has Greek and Greek
characters, the whole New Testament, and right under it, it has the
English equivalent. And the Greek portion is correct.
And then it has the New World Translation on the column. But
the Greek portion is correct. Can anyone but Jehovah be called
the God? The answer is no to them. Then
I will show them out of their own or you can have them reference
these passages and they have access to their Greek and their
linear. You show them passages in the New Testament where Jesus
is called the God. Definite article. One of them
is John 20, 28, where Thomas, the doubting disciple in response
to the resurrection, Now, if you keep in mind in verse 25,
Thomas said, unless I see the evidence, the hole here in his
side, the holes in his hand where the nails were, I'm not going
to believe. In fact, he's so strong in his
denial, unless he sees evidence, that he says literally in Greek,
never, never, not even a possibility. He uses what's known as a double
negative followed by an aria subjunctive. I think it's used
about 84 times in the New Testament. The strongest way to negate a
future possibility. Strongest way. Stronger than
saying, I'll never do this. He says, I'll never, never, not
even a possibility believe. That's how strong his doubting
was. Then in verse 27 and 28, Jesus appears and the text doesn't
say He had to touch him, but He saw. In response to the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, Thomas, it is recorded him saying, ὁ κύρχος
μου καὶ ὁ θεὸς μου, the Lord of me and the God of
me. Now, he didn't say this in explanation
because it's direct address there. It's a date of there. He said
to him. said to him," alto, said to him, not said about him, said
to him, the Lord of me, literally, and the God of me. And Jesus did what? Rebuked him? As a good rabbi, he would have
rebuked him if he wasn't God, but no, he blessed him. Here you have a monotheistic
Jew calling, directly addressing Jesus. as the God and the Lord. We see the same phrase, but God
and Lord are inverted in Psalms 35, 23, applied to Yahweh, where
it says the God of me and the Lord of me, literally. So that
phrase was familiar in the Old Testament, and Thomas calls Jesus
the God, and Jesus blessed him. And also in Titus 13, as we mentioned,
the great God and Savior. 2 Peter 1.1, the God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1.1 is the same construction as Titus 2.13. Two nouns, one
article, connected by Anne, referring to the first name person, Jesus
Christ. And I like 1 John 5.20, I'll
read it. And we know that the Son of God
has come and given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is
true, And we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. This is the true God, His Son,
and eternal life. And we can go on with other passages
to show the deity of Christ. The point is, what I found effective
is to ask questions of Muslims. Ask them why in Surah 547 it
says we should judge everything according to the gospel. Well,
they don't. Their only escape to that passage in the Koran
is to say, oh, the gospel has been perverted. Where? By whom? What evidence do you
have that shows that John did not write the gospel of John
for 1800 years? Show me someone, show me a writer in Muhammad's
time who denied the gospel of John. Show me one. There is none. They accepted John in the time
of Muhammad. It's just recently there's denials
because the more you study John, the more you see that John glorified
Christ as God. So don't be discouraged. Very
last point to wrap this up. Don't be discouraged in your
presentation, in your witnessing efforts. Because we can never
make the dead person alive. It's foolishness of them. We
rely on the Lord. We proclaim truth. And don't
be afraid to mention the deity of Christ in the Trinity. Paul
did. Jesus said, unless you believe that I am, you will perish in
your sins in John 8, 24. When we proclaim the Trinity,
first and foremost, we must define what we mean. Most, almost all Unitarian groups,
meaning groups that believe God is one person. We'll deny that
Jesus is God because that's two gods in their mind. So when you
say Trinity, Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses think it's incorrect
because there's only one God. But what does one God mean to
them? One person. That's what they mean. It's a
hidden assumption. They assume God is one person.
But nowhere in the text, in any text of Scripture, does it say
that God is one person. Rather, he's one being. See,
being is what something is. Person is who something is. One
being, one God, revealed in three distinct, co-equal, co-existent,
co-eternal persons. So we must define our terms because
in the Quran, it attacks the doctrine of three gods, saying
there is no trinity, Allah is one. But there's no word in Arabic
for Trinity that they that you'll find in the Koran. At least get
our doctrine straight, Mr. Muslim, we don't believe in three
gods. We agree with you, there's only
one God and you will not find an attack or you will not find
a denial of the Trinity in the Koran. What you do find is a
denial of three gods. So we must say we agree with
you, there's only one God. But you think God is one person.
You think God doesn't have the power to incarnate Himself. Scripture says something different.
The Word became flesh. So, we must define our terms.
We must deal with Unitarianism, meaning the doctrine that God
is one person. I always ask Jehovah's Witnesses,
show me in your text, in your Bible, where God is revealed
as one person. Show me those two words combined.
He won't find it because God is revealed three persons. There's
one God. When I teach on the Trinity,
I normally define it as as three pillars or or three premises. The first biblical truth or pillar
is that there's one God. But that doesn't mean one person,
but the one God, the second biblical truth is there's three persons
in Scripture who are called God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We show them some passages. The third pillar. is that these
three persons who are called God and worshiped as God are
distinct. That is the data, the biblical
data for the Trinity. Where do you find the word Trinity
in the Bible? Well, we don't have to. We that was a modern
that came hundreds of years later, but that's just a doctrinal word
to define the biblical data. We're talking about the data,
not doctrinal words, just like the word incarnation. If you
want the actual word Trinity, Theophilus of Antioch, 180 A.D. used the term triados when he
was describing God, then Tertullian after him, not too far after. So the word was already enunciated
far before Nicaea, but it doesn't matter. We're talking about the
biblical data. There's one God, there's three
persons called God, presented as God, worshipped, and the three
persons are distinct. Now, there's many multi personal
descriptions of God in the Old Testament, and we don't have
time to go through all of them. In the Old Testament, in many
places, the authors use plural nouns, plural adjectives and
verbs to describe God. For instance, Isaiah 45, 9, it
says, Woe to him who quarrels with his maker. Now here, maker
is singular. But in Isaiah 54, 5, Something
very interesting happens. It says, it talks about your
husband is your maker. Both those terms are plural in
Hebrew. Psalms 149-2, literally, let
Israel be glad in his makers. One of my favorite, Ecclesiastes
12-1, says in our translations, most of our translations, remember
the Creator in the days of your youth. Well, the word creator
there in Hebrew is plural. Young's literal translation reads
this way. Remember also by creators in the days of our youth. Now,
only from a Trinitarian context are these plural references. Make any kind of sense. Only
in a Trinitarian context. Are these plural references consistent
with the monotheism of the Old Testament? Now we can go on and
show other methods of witnessing, but two things we have to remember.
Number one, that men are dead that are not saved. They're unregenerate, they're
in bondage to sin, and we're called to make proclamation to
everybody. And it's God that saves. Number two, be definitive
in your presentation and don't be afraid to mention the Trinity.
Don't be afraid to say Jesus is God in the flesh. Colossians
2 9 in him dwells all the fullness of God. They'll take us of deity
in human flesh. Don't be afraid. Jesus said,
unless you believe that I am, you will perish in your sins.
It glorifies God when we mention these things. Jesus was presented
as God and it was exegetical clarity in the New Testament.
He claimed he was God, John 5, 17 and 18, when he said, my father's
at work to this very day. And John says not only the Jews
were seeking even more to kill him, not only was he calling
God his father, he was making himself equal with God. And as
mentioned, this wasn't the first time he was doing it because
we have an imperfect tense here, repeated action. Elegen, he kept
calling God his father, which infuriated the Jews. Also, his Ego, Emi references,
the I am references, the father saw he was God in Hebrews 1.8,
your throne, O God, is forever and ever. He's presented as creator
in Colossians 1, John 1, 1.3. And also Hebrews 1.10, as we
read, the unchangeable creator, and he was worshiped as God.
In John 5, 22 and 23, Moreover, the Father judges no one, but
has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the
Son just as, cathos, just as, in the same way. They honor the
Father. Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father. By a denial of the deity of Christ
is not honoring the Son. Hence, you don't honor the Father.
And also we see where he was worshiped in Daniel. 714, where
we have the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man. We see he was
worshiped by the men of the boat, Matthew 14, 33, and this is in
a religious context, these references. These references are in a religious
context. In Matthew 14, 33, they attach
the worship with calling him Son of God. Hebrews 1, 6, let
all the angels of God worship him. And Revelation 5, 13 and
14, where the son receives the same honor, dominion and glory
as that of the one sitting on the throne or the father. Again,
we proclaim truth because it glorifies God. Noah was a preacher
of righteousness. That's what he was called. How
many converts did he see? Nobody. But he glorified God.
That's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to preach
the word when it's convenient or when it's not convenient,
says Paul. How beautiful the feet are when we do so. And to
Muslims, to Jehovah's Witnesses, to non-believers, our job, our
obligation, is to proclaim the truth and proclaim a definitive
message and to proclaim Jesus Christ as God. Because the very
means of salvation, the means that God has chosen, is your
gospel presentation. That's what we're supposed to
do because it glorifies God. Let us bow our heads in prayer. Lord God, we just thank you that
you chose us to be your vessels, vessels of mercy to proclaim
the work of the Son. We thank you for sending the
Son to do His work on the cross to live the perfect life upon
which is our basis of our salvation. We thank you that we do hear
from you and you gave us Scripture And we thank you that every time
we proclaim the truth, you see our feet as beautiful. So please
give us opportunity, Lord God, so we can proclaim what the Son
did on the cross, proclaim his life, proclaim that he was God,
the two-natured person. And thank you for allowing us
to share, allowing us to make this proclamation. And thank
you for redeeming us and saving us by the crosswork of Christ. For all these things, in the
name of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.