II. Why Do We Defend Faith? A. Because we know the truth (John 18:37-38) 1. “What is truth?” ~...

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II. Why Do We Defend Faith?A. Because we know the truth (John 18:37-38)

1. “What is truth?” ~ Pontius Pilate

a) knowledge – learned and assumed to be true

b) certainty – assumed because it has not been wrong

c) proof – empirical observation leading to a conclusion

2. Jesus is truth

a) knowledge – gained from scripture

b) certainty – evidence from personal experience

c) proof – lack of a dead body

II. Why Do We Defend Faith?B. Because we have a reason for our hope

(1 Pet. 3:15-16)

1. We must be prepared

2. We should give an answer to everyone who asks

3. We should know our reasons

4. We must be gentle and respectful

5. Our faith is based on reason

a) God is the Creator

b) God has revealed Himselfi. in creation

ii. in His word

II. Why Do We Defend Faith?C. Because we are to be witnesses for Christ

(Acts 1:7-9)

1. we do not have all the answers

2. we have received power to be witnesses

3. we are God’s representatives until Christ’s return

II. Why Do We Defend Faith?D. Because we should know why we believe

what we believe1. It makes sense

2. It is consistent

3. It is comforting

II. Why Do We Defend Faith?E. To correct and renew our vision of the world

1. Faith sees with God’s eyes

Hebrews 11:1-3Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Mark 5:25-34And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

2. Wisdom seeks God’s understanding

Psalm 111:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;all those who practice it have a good understanding.His praise endures forever!

1 Corinthians 2:6-7

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory

2. Wisdom seeks God’s understanding

3. Hope finds the weight of glory

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - These are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

“At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.”

II. Why Do We Defend Faith?F. To point the way to Jesus

Picture yourself as a laborer in the field. It isn’t your job to save anyone. It is your job to point the way. You aren’t the only one in the field. Getting them to the Garden is not your job. They get there. You simply help them.

1. Jesus is the truth

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

1 John 5:20

And we know that the Son of God has come and has 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. He is the true God and eternal life.

2. Jesus sets us free

John 8:31-32

So Jesus said to those who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Romans 8:1-2

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

2. Jesus sets us free

3. Jesus carries our burdens

Isaiah 53:4-6Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;upon him was the chastisement that brought us peaceand with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the

LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

II. Why Do We Defend Faith?G. To comfort in times of doubt

1. We remind ourselves of the fundamentals

Rachel Evans“Why Faith Needs Doubt”

Ephesians 4:1-6

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

2. We remember that we don’t have all the answers

Mary Hulst“Faithful Doubters”

1 Kings 19And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And the LORD said to him, “Go, […] I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

2. We remember that we don’t have all the answers

3. We encourage one another with the truth

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Jeremiah 29:10-14For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

(1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 ESV)

II. Why Do We Defend Faith? A. Because we know the truth (John 18:37-38) 1. “What is truth?” ~...

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