WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.959 After you're seated, we'll have just a short video. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:07.040 Uh there is a famous pollster in the religious world. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:08.720 His name is George Barna. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:16.320 And uh he was speaking at the Bellevue Baptist Church a number of years ago, and what he says is a little bit shocking, but I want you to watch it. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:20.239 Uh and we'll uh watch that together after we read our text. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:24.480 We're talking today on the subject of this question. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:28.480 Is Christianity too narrow? 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:32.960 It's awfully narrow-minded to make the claims that we as Christians make. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:44.159 We're going to take up that question and we're going to read here in Ephesians chapter 4, and then you'll be seated and we'll watch a short presentation and get right into our message this morning. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:01:06.319 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called, with all lowliness and meekness, with forbearing, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:26.159 There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called, and one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:27.120 May we pray. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:32.959 Father, thank you for all that we've heard and felt in this meeting already today. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:40.159 Truth, life-changing, world-changing truth put to beautiful music today. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:41.359 Thank you for that. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:57.519 Now, as we come to the pages of your word, and we argue not just from the Bible today, but we argue for the scriptures that you will illuminate our minds, rid us of that distracting thing that would keep us from our focus on Christ, and we praise you for it. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.200 For we ask in Jesus' name. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:01:59.840 Amen. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:00.480 Thank you so much. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:01.599 Please be seated together. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:11.759 But as I look at this whole enterprise of discipleship in America, I started looking at some of the research, some of the facts that we have about what's going on. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:27.199 And what I've discovered is that in America today, only somewhere between two to three percent of adults in America can be defined as disciples of Jesus. 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.159 Two to three percent. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:32.960 Can you imagine that? 00:02:33.199 --> 00:03:12.479 In this nation where 64% of Americans call themselves Christians, only 2 to 3% of them meet a series of criteria, very simple criteria, that might begin to define them as disciples of Jesus, criteria like you know, believing that the Bible is God's true and reliable words, that it should influence our life, believing that the Bible should be our primary moral God, being born again, calling ourselves them, but actually being people who recognize that we're sinners, then our only hope is Jesus Christ therefore. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:16.080 We've acknowledged that we're sinners before God. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:19.199 We've told him that we're sorry for those sins. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:30.080 We've asked him to forgive us for those sins, we've asked him to send Jesus to allow Jesus to cover us with his blood, so that we can live eternally with him. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.560 And in the meantime, we're promising that we're going to turn our lives around. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:44.400 We know that sinning hurts God, and we don't want to do that anymore, so we're repenting, which is what that means, turning your life around, doing things differently. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:47.199 Um, you know, what else does a disciple do? 00:03:47.840 --> 00:04:02.240 Someone who reads the Bible every day, someone who will spend time every day praying to God, listening to him, trying to discern through his word and through your communication with him. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:04.639 What do you want from me today, Lord? 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.639 I'm committed to it, whatever it is. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:11.520 I will go there, I will do it, I will pay the price no matter what it is. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:14.479 Pursuing his will in your life. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:29.600 Every day, taking time to thank and praise and worship God for his greatness and his goodness, being someone who is consistently pursuing obedience of all the principles that Jesus taught us. 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:36.319 We're not going to get it perfect, but we're intent on trying to become a little bit closer to them every single day. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:41.519 Individuals who would say that the only reason why we're on the face of the earth has nothing to do with us. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:43.120 It has only to do with God. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:53.199 He created us for his purposes, and his purpose for you and me is that we would know, love, and serve him with a little heart and mind, strength and soul every moment of every day. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:05:02.959 And a disciple is someone who would try to avoid sinning all the time because we know that that breaks God's heart. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:08.480 We know that that doesn't advance his kingdom, it's not part of his agenda. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:14.319 So, I mean, these aren't, you know, things that you've never heard before. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.800 You know all this, I know all this, but are we living that way? 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:27.839 Two to three percent of professing Christians are living a normal Christian life. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:30.240 It was G.K. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:37.600 Chesterson who said years ago, the Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:42.800 It has been found difficult and left untried. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:50.959 Recently, uh another poll was done of professing Christians. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:58.800 I discovered that 66% of American Christians say many religions lead to eternal life. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:12.720 52% of evangelicals say that many religions lead to eternal life, and uh 48% say that God accepts the worship of all uh religions. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:25.759 Led one uh preacher to correct those statistics and to say 100% of true Christians say no other religion can save you. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:31.759 100% of true evangelicals say there's no other religion that can save you. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:44.160 100% of all evangelicals, true followers of Christ, say that God rejects all worship other than that which is consistent with his divine revelation in Jesus Christ. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:53.120 I'm hesitant even in our world today to use the term Christianity because it's become so indefinite and so ubiquitous. 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:58.639 Anything that seemingly doesn't exist on the dark side is called Christianity. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:15.199 But what does it mean to be a true follower of the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ, that the Bible is the Word of God, that Jesus Christ is God's revelation to mankind, that there is salvation in none other than in the name of Jesus Christ. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:19.040 Salvation is not of works or baptism or church membership. 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:24.000 Salvation is through and by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:29.199 And upon what basis can I make those extremely narrow claims? 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:43.120 Well, I make them based on the authority of Scripture, the reliability of Scripture, the power of our rational thought, and upon the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:58.639 The fact is, our culture wants to treat Christianity as one helpful option among many other options, as if it were a preference, like choosing between Coke or Pepsi or Chevy or Ford. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:07:59.439 But it was C. 00:07:59.519 --> 00:07:59.600 S. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:05.839 Lewis who rightly observed years ago that Christianity, if false, is of no importance. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:10.240 And if it is true, is of infinite importance. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:16.480 And then he said this the only thing that it cannot be is moderately important. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:28.800 If Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God who died, was buried, and rose again, then Jesus Christ deserves way more than our mere admiration. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:32.559 He demands our faith, our worship, and our allegiance. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:39.679 And if Jesus Christ is not who he claimed to be, then Christianity should be rejected altogether. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:44.879 But what it cannot be is merely one respectable opinion among many. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:54.799 And do not make the illogical statement that all roads lead to God, for there is one way to heaven, and that is through and by the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:01.039 Now I'm going to scare you because there are six points in the sermon, so listen fast, okay? 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:14.639 But we're going to take a logical conclusion, some concluding statements that hopefully lead us to recognizing how exclusive Christianity is and why it necessarily is the very way of God. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:19.840 Notice, first of all, in your notes, the exclusive claims of Christianity. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.200 The exclusive claims of Christianity. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:27.679 We read a moment ago in Ephesians chapter 4, uh verses 4 through 6. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:29.600 If you have it there, notice it again. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:30.960 There is, maybe you can help me. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:33.039 If I point at you, say the word one. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:34.000 Okay, one. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:34.639 Ready? 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:35.279 Here we go. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:42.320 There is one body and one spirit, even as you're called in, one hope of your calling. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:45.279 I need you to say it with a little more conviction, okay? 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:48.960 Some of you, uh the uh the caffeine has yet to fully kick in yet. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:49.679 Okay, let's try it. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:50.559 Can we try again? 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:55.039 Okay, just just just imagine you're Pentecostal for the next couple minutes, okay? 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:55.600 Here we go. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:56.159 Ready? 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:57.519 There is one body. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:09:58.960 Now you're speaking in tongues, okay? 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:00.000 I don't need that much energy. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:01.759 Okay, right somewhere in the middle would be great. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:02.320 Here we go. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:14.960 There is one body and one spirit, even as you're called in, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:20.080 Now the Bible makes this clear in Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, there is one God. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:23.200 Hero Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:26.639 The Bible says, There is one God to worship. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:34.639 Exodus 34, verse 14, thou shalt worship no other God, for the Lord whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:36.159 There is one creator. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:45.120 Isaiah 44, verse 24, thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:47.360 There is one Savior. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:48.960 Hosea 13, 4. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:58.480 Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no other God but me, for there is no Savior beside me. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:05.279 There is one Lord, there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:08.480 There is but one door, John 10, 9. 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:09.919 I am the door. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.120 By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:20.960 There is one way, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:31.519 There's one name, neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:34.639 There is one gospel, Galatians 1.6. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:43.919 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ and to another gospel, which is not another. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:50.559 There is one gospel, and that is the death and the burial, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:58.720 There's one foundation, 1 Corinthians 3.11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:08.720 There is one sacrifice, Hebrews 10, verse 10, by the which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:20.159 There is one high priest, Hebrews 4, verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:34.720 There is one body, 1 Corinthians 12, 13, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:36.320 There's one resurrection. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.679 I am, Jesus said, the resurrection and the life. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:49.279 There is one King, Revelation 19, verse 16, and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:52.799 There's one narrow way, Matthew 7, verse 13. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:13:01.519 Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go therein. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:07.440 Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth to life, and few there be that findeth. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:20.320 There is one flock, John 10, verse 16, and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, neither them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:24.799 And finally, there is but one eternal destiny for the redeemed. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:26.480 Daniel chapter 12, verse 2. 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:34.720 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:39.360 Number one, the exclusive claims of Christianity. 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:46.240 These are the boasts the Bible makes about itself, found in that word that you helped me so eloquently preach this morning. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:47.919 It's the word one. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:54.000 But number two, I want you to think about this as we logically work our way through the sermon today. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:58.240 Every religion makes exclusive claims. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.600 Every religion makes exclusive claims. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:05.840 We have a little illustration that my buddy Chat helped me build. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:07.360 You guys know? 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:09.200 Anyone, friends with chat? 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:10.960 Some of your friends with Grok. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:12.399 How many of you are friends with Grok? 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:13.519 Wait, how about Claude? 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.080 We okay, everybody has a friend, and some of you have no idea what we're talking about, and that's okay. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.120 This is the view of many people in our world today. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:27.679 We have the truth or what mean what might be represented as God on the top of the mountain. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:36.960 And as you can see, we have five roads here that all that lead up the mountain, and all five roads lead to God. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:42.240 Well, there's the question of who is the divine? 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:45.600 Hindus believe that there are many gods. 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:49.279 Buddhism teaches that there are no gods at all. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.559 Muslims believe that there is but one God. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:15:03.279 Jews believe that there's one God as defined in the Old Testament, and Christianity teaches in a triune God in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:10.799 But all of these faith systems preach a particular exclusive claim to eternal life or enlightenment. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:32.000 For example, Christianity says that our sin is our problem and our sin is committed against God, that we cannot save ourselves, that salvation is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, whose death and resurrection accomplished everything necessary for our salvation. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:36.399 Well, then there's the teaching of Islam. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:47.039 Islam teaches that mankind must submit to Allah and hopes for acceptance through faith, obedience, repentance, and Allah's mercy. 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:52.879 And by the way, can I just tell you, nowhere in the Quran does it ever say Allah loves you. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:59.120 And it only gives one hope of eternal life, and that is through your martyrdom. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.440 You giving your life for Allah. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:10.159 Can I just say that Islam requires that you die for God, but Christianity teaches that our God came and died for us? 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.519 Exclusive claims. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:19.360 Take Judaism, for example, they do not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:29.519 They look to covenant faithfulness and repentance and good works, even a sacrificial system established under the Mosaic covenant. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:53.440 Hinduism teaches that the problem of mankind is bondage to the cycles of rebirth, that liberation comes through various paths such as devotion and knowledge or righteous acts, depending on the tradition, that there is an endless cycle of reincarnations, that if you are a good person and live a good life, you'll rise higher and higher and higher towards deity. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:58.559 Buddhism teaches that the fundamental problem of mankind is suffering. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:13.839 And our suffering is brought by our desires or our ignorance or our intellect, that the solution to our problem is enlightenment through following the eightfold noble path, not forgiveness of sins through a savior. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:17.039 And then, of course, we see the rise of atheism in our world today. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:23.519 By the way, did you know that the fastest growing religion in America is not atheism, but non's. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:29.200 A big fancy word for people that say, I have no participation in the game of faith. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:34.480 I'm a non-believer, just existing outside of any of these structures. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:47.279 The atheism says that there is no eternal salvation because there is no eternal, transcendent God from whom we need to seek forgiveness and to whom we might give account of our lives someday. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:54.000 May I just say, as we look at this mountain, that these are not different roads up the same mountain. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:18:03.440 Rather, what I just described to you are different mountains entirely, different destinations and different definitions of the problem itself. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:11.599 May I just say this morning, Muhammad does not lead to God, Buddha does not lead to enlightenment, rebirth does not come through Hinduism. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:31.839 Salvation is found through the claims of Scripture in the coming of Christ in humanity, his perfect life, his total substitutionary death for sin, his burial and his victorious resurrection from the grave, their salvation in that exclusive claim because of the authority of Scripture. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:38.799 Now, notice number three, there cannot be two ways to lead to God. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:44.960 Now, based on what we just described, Islam makes an exclusive claim. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:54.880 And anyone who does not submit to Allah is a pagan and an outsider, they're making exclusive claims. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:06.880 All around the world today, the Roman Catholic Church will lift up the Eucharist, claiming it becomes the body and blood of Christ, that salvation is found solely in the church. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:08.960 That's an exclusive claim. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:28.240 There were Jehovah's Witnesses traveling about our cities yesterday, selling magazines, working for their own soul salvation, Mormon missionaries, young people heading out on a two-year mission in order to gain favor with an almighty God. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:31.759 But there can only be one way. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:35.759 Now, it's called the law of non-contradiction. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:40.559 You should have this little saying in your notes this morning: A cannot be not a. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:43.920 A cannot be not A. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:50.319 And what that simply means is two truth claims cannot be both be true at the same time. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:53.200 Now, why can they not be true at the same time? 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:57.119 Because they're both making exclusive claims for salvation. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:03.440 And it also means that A cannot be not A at the same time and in the same way. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:10.160 Imagine you were driving through an intersection as sometimes happens here in Englewood. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:12.799 I don't know. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:15.599 Four-way stops in Englewood are just merely suggestions. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:17.680 Can I get an amen right there? 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:21.039 So you're traveling through an intersection. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:27.680 The fact is the light cannot be green and red at the same time in the same direction. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:35.119 By the way, people that say, I don't, I don't like to exercise faith, exercise faith every time they come to a four-way stop. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:49.200 I'm placing belief in the fact that the person coming this way sees the sign, observes the sign, and has the connection between their brain seeing a sign and their foot stomping on their brake pedal. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:21:00.240 If someone argued at that intersection, well, the light was green and red for me simultaneously, we wouldn't call that being broad-minded. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:02.880 We would call that dangerous. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:04.160 Why? 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:09.200 Because reality doesn't bend to our preferences. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:19.359 Bruce Miller said, in many ways, far from being paths on the same mountain, trying to reach the same God, these religions aren't even on the same planet. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:22.960 They each have exclusive claims as to what truth is. 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:29.680 It's simply not rational to see all religions as divergent but equally true paths to the same end. 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:34.319 To do so is to ignore the reality of each religion's actual belief system. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:41.119 In other words, it's impossible that Christianity is true and other religions are true at the same time. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:48.400 Because if Yahweh is the one and living and true God, it means there is no other God. 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:54.240 If the Bible is the one true revealed revelation of God, that means the Book of Mormon is not. 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:56.079 That means the Quran is not. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.759 That means no other religions are to be placed in equal order. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.680 Authority to the revealed revelation of God in the pages of God's living word. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:12.240 If the Son of God is Jesus, who alone is Lord and the King, there is no other Lord. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:18.319 If Jesus Christ is the only savior from sin and eternal judgment, there is no other savior. 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:24.880 If sinners can be saved only by the gospel of Jesus Christ, then they can't be saved by any other means. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:33.119 If people can only escape hell by trusting in the person and work of Jesus Christ, they cannot escape hell by any other avenue. 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:39.279 If sinners will be in hell forever, if they reject Christ, there is no other way for them to escape. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:46.559 If the sole work that saves sinners is the death and resurrection of Christ, then no other work can save sinners. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:56.319 If the gospel is the only saving truth and all other claims are lies, if there's only one true religion, then all other religions are false. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:06.720 If there's only one true God, who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, then there is no other God. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:12.000 The Old Testament says He is one Lord. 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:16.880 Deuteronomy 6, 4, Hero, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:30.480 The New Testament gives credence to this idea, John 17, verse 3, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:43.279 There's one preacher who said, The most serious thing that you could possibly do in this world was to believe that there is any way to eternal life apart from Jesus Christ. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:46.559 Apart from the gospel. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:53.599 That is condemned from the Pentateuch in Scripture all the way to its very end. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:59.759 Number four, Christianity naturally invites investigation. 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:11.759 Is there a logical, historical, archaeological proof for the truth of Scripture? 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:18.480 We live in a day and time when things are asked of us to be believed without evidence. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:27.039 I don't mean to give you PTSD, but about six years ago we were we were called to trust the science. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:33.920 Unassailable, unimpeachable, unrivaled, unquestioned science. 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:46.240 And what we discovered is that there can rise such a hubris, such a pride in mankind to claim that one person is science. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:49.680 That is a dastardly bold claim. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:53.519 Science is bigger than any one person. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:58.079 And science is only accurate so much as it is what we call falsifiable. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:05.680 It's placed in a laboratory, it's inspected, it's questioned, it's placed through rigorous processes to see if something is actually true. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:08.799 Can I speak for a moment about the theory of evolution? 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:14.720 The theory of evolution. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:21.039 If it's truly scientific, it would be questionable, it would be testable, it would be falsifiable. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:22.559 And you know what we've discovered? 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:27.839 We've discovered that we have never personally observed one occurrence of evolution. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:36.720 Imagine a detective says, no matter what evidence you find, my subject or my suspect is guilty. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:40.960 No investigation, that's just prejudice. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:45.680 But honest investigation always asks, what evidence would change my mind? 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:49.119 Science calls this falsifiability. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:55.839 Christianity has never feared history because it is itself rooted in history. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.240 The God of the Bible does not ask us to believe in spite of evidence. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:08.640 He invites us to examine the evidence, and when we observe the evidence, we discover that the evidence always proves the Bible is true. 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:12.799 I want you to go with me very quickly to Luke chapter 3. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:19.839 I was reading uh the first hand story of an Islamic man who had come to faith in Christ. 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:21.599 His name was Shariq Khan. 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:28.240 He said, When I was a Muslim, I never noticed what the Quran doesn't have. 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:36.240 Muhammad was a young religious leader of a certain clan. 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:39.759 He began to coalesce power. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:45.599 Before he radicalized, one in every thousand people exposed to Islam converted. 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:47.440 One in every thousand. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.720 When he radicalized, he converted one in every ten. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:54.559 It's amazing what happens at the wedded edge of a sword. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:58.799 And by the way, can I just tell you the difference between Islam and Christianity? 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:05.680 Islam has always spread by the sword, and Christianity has always spread by the word of God. 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:20.079 Listen, we are not interested in taking a dead sword and plunging it into living hearts to make them convert, but we are interested in taking a living sword and plunging it into the heart of dead men that they may come to life. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:27.359 He said, When I was a Muslim, I never noticed what the Quran doesn't say. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.960 It has no dates, no places, no names you can check. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:33.200 Read the Quran's story. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:41.599 He said, No chronology, no geography, kings only called Pharaoh, events floating, and no particular year. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:44.559 When did the story happen? 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:52.079 When and where, and under whom the text doesn't say you can't check it, which conveniently means you can't cross-check it. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:57.200 But then he read Luke chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:23.599 Notice, in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip, Tetrarch of Eturia, and of the regions of Trechonidas, and Lysanius, the Tetrarch of Abylon, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priest, the word of God came into John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:33.039 Now, if you'll just take the time to notice, in Luke chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, there are seven historical anchors mentioned in these two verses of Scripture. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:33.920 Seven. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:42.720 God, in two verses of Scripture, gives you seven targets to come after the authority of the Holy Scriptures. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:45.839 Now, there's two particular I want to show you. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:48.960 There's one in this verse, and then one that you'll immediately recognize. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:58.000 Historians said that there was no evidence of a man, as mentioned in Luke chapter 3, verse 2, Lisanius the Tetrarch of Abilene. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:06.319 Therefore they said, because there's no archaeological, geological, historical proof that this man existed, that the Bible was not true. 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:16.880 But in 1850, a French archaeologist named Louis Felician Del Salce, and I don't know any French, and so pardon, pardon my French. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:18.000 Okay, there we go. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:19.839 I didn't plan that, it just happened. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:20.319 Okay. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:25.839 Found an inscription from between 14 to 29 A.D. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:28.799 that proved indeed this man actually existed. 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:34.640 This is uh this is not the inscription, but it would show you what it looked like so it could be read. 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:37.920 The second one is a fellow in the New Testament, you'll know his name. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:39.680 His name was Pontius Pilate. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:48.559 Historians, skeptics, liberals said there was no record that a man named Pontius Pilate ever existed. 00:29:49.200 --> 00:30:00.480 But in 1961, when they began to excavate the area of Caesarea, they discovered a stone with an inscription to Pontius Pilate himself. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:12.319 In other words, listen, every time the archaeological spade digs in the soil of Israel, it shouts the Bible is historically true. 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:15.440 It's falsifiable. 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:19.039 In other words, the Bible offers certainty. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:21.359 It provides evidence. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:39.039 The Quran floats above history where nothing can touch it, but the Bible plants its flag in checkable ground and says, search the scriptures daily, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they that testify of me. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:43.839 So what makes Christianity different? 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:47.839 What makes it different? 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:56.079 Mason Jones said a few years before high school he converted to atheism. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:59.200 It's interesting how you can convert to a non-religion. 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:04.240 Atheism. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:24.799 I developed this tidy understanding of religion through my early teen years, and for a while it went unchallenged. 00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:32.640 But when I was a sophomore in high school, he moved one of the he moved in with his dad, began attending church, and for the first time he heard the gospel. 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:45.039 I paused myself to say, I become so vexed at times by people speaking down the role of the church and the authority of Scripture. 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:52.880 When the fact is, when they tell me their story, I'm convinced they've never attended a true church and never heard the true gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:55.039 I hate potato salad. 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:04.960 I said that for years. 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:08.079 Now I've offended half of you, and I apologize. 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:10.720 Just give me time to make amends. 00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:12.880 You know why I hate it? 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:15.200 I've never had it. 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:18.640 But I looked at it. 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:22.160 I said I didn't like it. 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:25.599 Oh, taste and see, the Lord is good. 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:41.680 People make such mean and vulgar expressions of our great God, and they've never tasted the joy of that bread of life and water that truly, truly satisfies. 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:48.079 Some of you are going to bring potato salad to the next church function, I'm sure. 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:54.160 It can be white, it can be yellow. 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:56.559 I'm not eating it. 00:32:58.079 --> 00:32:59.279 Unless we have 500. 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:00.400 We have 500 in church. 00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:02.720 I will eat a plate full of potato salad. 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:03.359 Okay. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:13.440 He said, after going to church, I realized I'd done to Christianity exactly what I accused religions of doing to the world. 00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:15.599 I oversimplified it. 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:20.880 I misrepresented it because I missed the key piece of data. 00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:22.160 You ready for it? 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:29.119 There's salvation in no one else but Jesus. 00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:34.480 There's two types of religions in this world. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:37.599 Do and done. 00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:41.759 Do and done. 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:50.400 Islam teaches that a Muslim must obey Allah, keep the five pillars of Islam, repent, and hope for Allah's mercy. 00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:57.279 Hinduism says to perform righteous deeds, whether it's devotion or meditation or knowledge. 00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:03.599 Buddhism encourages its followers to follow the eight-fold path to enlightenment. 00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:18.880 Whether it's the Mormon on his two-year mission or the Jehovah's Witness in his distribution of the Watchtower magazine, religion is asking something of you in order to provide you with assurance of eternal life, however it's defined. 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:23.199 But Christianity says the work is already completed. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:26.960 Jesus paid it all. 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:33.440 Christianity says, I cannot save myself, but I'm in desperate need of rescue. 00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:37.920 But I've heard that Christ robed himself in humanity and took on human flesh. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:39.599 He was buried and rose again. 00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:48.719 I bring nothing but filthy rags to him, but receive by faith righteous garments because of Christ. 00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:54.320 Nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling. 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:55.360 Let me give you one more. 00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:57.840 The greatest argument for Christianity. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:04.719 What is the greatest argument for Christianity? 00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:16.400 One of the most credible claims of Christianity is the resurrection of Christ. 00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:19.519 It's the ultimate claim of our faith. 00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:27.599 It's so important that the scripture says if Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is absolutely in vain. 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:37.119 The internet lists 28 people who claimed to be the Jewish Messiah over the past 2,000 years, 28. 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:44.000 And besides Jesus, none of them ever claim to have risen from the dead. 00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:54.400 The Bible says plainly that Christ died, that his grave was truly emptied on the third day after his death. 00:35:54.960 --> 00:36:02.880 Though given the opportunity to do so in the decades after his resurrection, none of his disciples ever recanted of their eyewitness accounts of the resurrection. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:07.679 In fact, all of them were martyred and pointed to Christ's victory over death. 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:10.639 You remember Chuck Colson? 00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:17.440 He was chief counsel to President Nixon during the Watergate scandal. 00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:20.079 Became a Christian while imprisoned. 00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:22.239 He wrote of the resurrection. 00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:30.559 Here we were, the ten most powerful men in the United States, with all that power, and we couldn't contain a lie for two weeks. 00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:38.400 Take it from the one who was involved in conspiracy, who saw the frailty of man firsthand. 00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:57.840 There is no way he said the eleven apostles who were with Jesus Christ at the time of his resurrection could have ever gone around for 40 years proclaiming Jesus' resurrection unless it were true and they spilled their belief in their blood, stating Jesus Christ died, was buried, and he rose again according to the scriptures. 00:36:59.920 --> 00:37:08.719 Not only that, but a few decades after Christ's resurrection, one of Christianity's most committed enemies testified to the truth of the resurrection. 00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:20.000 The Apostle Paul was a leader in persecuting Christians for their faith in Christ, but later he became a Christian when he experienced on the road to Damascus the living Christ. 00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:24.960 So what is the greatest argument for Christianity? 00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:33.840 I was talking to one of our young men about helping in one of our children's classes. 00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:35.599 He's a great young man. 00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:38.320 I'm praying that God will use him in a great way. 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:47.599 And he, like all of us, maybe get involved in ministry and are concerned about the unknown theological questions people are going to ask us. 00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:49.519 Does that ever intimidate you? 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:59.360 That you're going to give a gospel tract to someone in the fishing section of Walmart and they're going to ask an age-old theological question that's going to stump you and rattle your faith. 00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:03.199 Don't worry about that. 00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:09.599 I want to tell you what your greatest weapon is in sharing the gospel. 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:19.760 Not a treatise on the difference between transubstantiation, consubstantiation, and the fact that these elements represent the body and blood of Christ. 00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:21.280 That's not the point. 00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:22.960 Though it's important. 00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:33.440 The greatest argument for Christianity is your own life-changing story of how Christ transformed your life. 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:39.599 As Christ transformed your life, then tell someone about it. 00:38:42.079 --> 00:38:46.079 Brett Hume, who I understand lives on the island. 00:38:47.360 --> 00:39:00.960 I remember years ago when Tiger Woods was outed for his excessively adulterous lifestyle, had said in a news conference that he had failed himself. 00:39:01.199 --> 00:39:08.559 He had lived below his expectations of himself, and he was reconnecting with his Buddhist faith. 00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:10.880 Do you remember that press conference? 00:39:14.079 --> 00:39:22.000 And Brett Hume said to Bill O'Reilly, Tiger Woods ought to consider biblical Christianity. 00:39:24.079 --> 00:39:29.440 Because Buddhism offers no promise of forgiveness of sin. 00:39:29.519 --> 00:39:41.280 And what Tiger Woods needs is to recognize that a Savior died, was buried, and rose again, and their salvation and deliverance to the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:47.360 When I look around the room, I see the power of changed lives. 00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:52.800 People say, I don't go to church because there's a lot of hypocrites there. 00:39:52.880 --> 00:39:54.239 Oh, it's worse than that. 00:39:59.119 --> 00:40:01.199 Drug addicts in the room, too. 00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:05.840 Liars in the room. 00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:08.880 There's adulterers in the room. 00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:12.480 Alcoholics in the room. 00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:16.000 Wickedness in the room. 00:40:16.239 --> 00:40:19.519 Oh, yeah, but such were some of you. 00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:24.079 But you've been washed, you've been sanctified, you've been justified. 00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:33.599 It is true, the exclusive claims of Christianity that we can say this is how it feels to be freed by the precious blood of Christ. 00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:38.639 The power of a changed life. 00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:43.840 You don't have to go to Jerusalem to see evidence that Jesus is Christ is alive. 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:45.280 Look across the room this morning. 00:40:45.440 --> 00:40:46.480 Look across the aisle. 00:40:46.559 --> 00:40:53.360 Look in your own heart and see the life-changing power of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:57.280 I'm the way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life. 00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:11.760 And as believers in Christ, let's come to this table this morning in gratitude that these elements represent the only way mankind has to be set free from the power of his sin. 00:41:12.239 --> 00:41:18.079 And that's through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for you and for me. 00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:20.079 Let's all bow our heads and pray together. 00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:26.239 In just a moment, our ushers will come and we'll make ready to receive these elements today. 00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:30.000 On the table is such a simple supper. 00:41:33.119 --> 00:41:36.480 Beautiful in meaning, not beautiful in appearance, very simple. 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:43.440 Bread speaks of Christ's body and juice that speaks of Christ's blood. 00:41:44.960 --> 00:41:48.239