Apologetics is that essential practice for a biblical defense of the faith in both its offensive as well as its defensive posture. It is the clear and purposeful dispensing of the truth of God's word in order to silence the mock who convict the sinner and convert the humble. Biblical apologetics is not only to be used, nor is it to be confined only to the saving of souls. it is that clear declaration of the universal and comprehensive rule of God, His sovereignty and His dominion. The perfection of the art and skill of biblical apologetics is to be sought after by every Christian saint so that they may be ready to preach the word in season and out of season. We must be people of the book so that we might be properly equipped to declare the majesty and sovereignty of our just and merciful God, the King Omnipotent, the King Our Old Covenant reading comes again from Genesis in chapter 3. The first six verses reminding you how we looked at the fall of man, Adam's temptation, Eve's temptation, the subtlety of the serpent last week. This morning we continue with our study of apologetics. Beloved of the Lord, Genesis chapter 3 verses 1 through 6. Hear ye the word of our God. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die? For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Paul writing to us in 2 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 14, through the end of the chapter, verse 17, by the same spirit, the Apostle writes, But continue thou and the things which thou hast and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child that hath known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Thus far as the reading of God's most holy, inerrant, and finally authoritative word of truth, the grass withers, the flower thereof fades away, but the word of our God stands forever, and by His holy word is the gospel preached unto us this day. So that the man of God may be perfect, or fully mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Adam and Eve failed to understand that the word of God spoken to them in the garden in covenant was an immovable standard and rule of life. They did not understand fully. They could not apply effectually the reality that the word of God was profitable for them and was given to them in covenant to furnish them unto all good works and to keep them from the evil way. The principle this morning is this. Whatever God speaks, whatever God thinks, or whatever He has written down, especially as He has written these things down, is law. What God speaks is law. It is not something to be trifled with. It is not something to be considered a recommendation, an option. It is law. But furthermore, and that is because simply that God is the law giver, so whatever he speaks is the law. It is our law, our law to follow. We as the creature, he as the creator. But furthermore, not only is it law, it is truth. See, laws today, especially as man makes them, don't necessarily have to be true. but God's law is true, and whatever God says is not only law, but it is true. Therefore, since it is true, it is therefore totally reliable, and that's because it comes from the truth of God, God who is true, who cannot lie, therefore the word of God is totally, entirely reliable, given to us as a safeguard against all falsehood and all evil. The Apostle Paul speaking to the church at Rome says this, the law is holy, the commandment just and good, holy, just and good, providing man with a standard of life. And this holy law provided for man a law which was profitable to be used profitably as long as the law is used lawfully. And note, the law, God's law, can be used unlawfully. It can be used in a fashion which perverts what God's intention was and is. It is, of course, and has been, of course, perverted throughout the ages. The Pharisees perverted the law of God. Today, the Pharisees continue to pervert the law of God. But the whole of God's law is true, reliable, holy, just and good, provided that man uses it lawfully. It is not to be something which, for instance, when someone says to you, you must keep the whole law to be saved, that is an unlawful use of the law. The Galatians had this problem. Galatian Church, the churches of Galatia which were scattered abroad in Asia Minor, Turkey as we know it today. There was this denomination of churches which had in its core, in its core membership, those individuals were saying you need to keep the ceremonies. That is what will justify you before God. You should keep the law. That was not a lawful use of the word of God. We find the hypocrites, the Pharisees, and those that work righteousness mentality perverting the word of God. We need to understand that the law is good, the word is good, it is truth, provided it is used lawfully, rightly, according to the way God intended it. We must understand something else. That the word of God is defensive as well as it is offensive. But I say to you that it is more to be used offensively, and not as an offense, but offensively, as someone taking the initiative in declaring what is true and taking the battle to the enemy instead of waiting for the enemy to take the battle to us, which would put us on the defensive. I declare to you today that the Word of God is more of an offensive tool than it is a defensive. tool. It is more to be offensive than defensive, thus we see the analogy of the Word of God being the sword of the Spirit. Young boys know that the sword is not so much used defensively as it is used offensively. It is used to cut, often to parry, often to defend, not as much as it is used to kill and to cut and to take away the enemies life and to take away the power of destruction. It is actually the shield of faith which the Apostle Paul speaks of in Ephesians that serves as our defense to every onslaught of thoughts which create doubts and accusations. So faith is our defense. rather than the sword, which can also be used as a defensive mechanism, but it's more offensive. So you have the defense, the shield, and the offense, the sword, and you should know that very well. But it is the sword which should be used defensively. The writer of Hebrews writes this, in Hebrews 4, verse 12. For the Word of God, now whenever we say the Word of God, we know that the apostle Paul defines what the Word of God is. It is the sword of the Spirit. the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." And the Apostle says this, "...for the word of God, or the sword of the Spirit, is quick, enlightening fast, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." In other words, it gets to the root of the being, the very fabric of man. It goes beyond the superficial man, the man who doesn't think, have a care in the world, it gets into his very being. It's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The service of the Spirit is quite a powerful tool. Please note, the Word of God is your offensive mechanism. It is your tool for offense. It is the Word of God. It is that debating power by using the Word of God, which is the way the Christians ought to fight that warfare. Revelation 1.10 and following, we read this. John is writing. He says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice of a trumpet. saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, and note this, Christ is speaking, he says, write in a book. and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." So he says, write it in a book. Write it down. Write down what I tell you, because number one, it is the law. Number two, it is truth. And you have to now dispel it throughout. Dispense it. Disperse it. I think that's the word I'm looking for. Disperse! this word throughout the churches because the churches will now be my standard bearer. The church is to be the standard-bearer of the law. It's unfortunate, however, today that the churches are not so much the standard-bearer of the law of God, they even repudiate the law of God by saying, well, we're not under the law any longer, we're under grace. As if to say the law is no longer truth, or the law is no longer applicable, or the law is no longer given by inspiration of God, which is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. Anyone that repudiates the law of God, therefore, cannot be furnished unto every good work, will not become mature, and will not be truly a man of God. So we see that Christ is telling John to write it in a book and cause it to go forth out to all of the churches. And John continues, he says, And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candles And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like the son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about with the paps with a golden girdle, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in the furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. His countenance was as the sun shineth in its strength. And when I saw him, I felt that his feet were dead. Christ comes with the sword. Never should we think that the word of God is not to be used or it is simply a tool for defending our faith. It is a tool to conquer for the faith unto the praise of the glory of the grace of the majesty of God. We must note this, whatever comes out of the mouth of God according to this passage in Revelation 1 is the sword of his spirit. It is the supernatural weapon of our warfare and we do well to know how to use that tool. Christ has commanded his servants to write it down. The law was to be communicated in written form so that it would not be perverted by those who would seek to pervert it. There would always be a written standard of truth to resort to, in order to prove that those that have quoted the law and said, thus saith the Lord, are truly quoting the law properly. So we must continue to resort to the Word of God, study the Word of God, become layman theologians. Layman theologians, which are truly those who are called to be the army of Christ. According to Deuteronomy 17, chapter 17 of Deuteronomy, whenever there was a magistrate, in this case the king, but it is of course a principle which would speak for all magistrates, whenever the king was ordained by God, the priest would ordain him, he would be crowned by the clergy, and then he was told that he had to write down the law. The king was to write down the law of God when he took office so that he would have a reference in his own hand as to what the standard of law and the standard of justice was to be. Deuteronomy 17 and verse 14 we read this. When thou art common to the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me, thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose one from among thy brethren. They shall set thee as a king over thee. Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother." In other words, he had to know He had to know God, he had to be in covenant with God, and he had to be one from the nation of Israel in this case. In America, we see that we must have someone who professes Christianity. It's a far cry from what it used to be today, but that is still the case because God has laid it down in His Word. Now, of course, he's not to multiply horses to himself, he's not to do all these horrible things, but in verse 18, God says, here's what you should do. It shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life. Note, if you are a prince, if you are a king, if you are a magistrate, you need to be a person of the law, a man of the book. You have to read that book, you have to write it down in your own hand, because that's how it gets into your head. You write it down, and then you read it all the days of your life. so that you might learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, and to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel." This is how important the law was, or the law rather is. It is so important that the kings had to write out a copy of their own selves by themselves in their own hands and follow it all the days of their lives. Note also that the word of God in its most basic and raw form being declared is a powerful tool. In other words, simply the declaration of God's word is powerful. Even a little child can speak with power. When the child says, Believe on the name of the Lord, and thou shalt be saved. Call upon the name of the Lord. Believe thou in Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. That is a powerful tool. That is a powerful witness. When the child says, None are righteous. Know not one. When the child says, All have come short of the glory of God. This is a powerful witness. A powerful tool. That is using the sword, even as a little child. to cut deeply into the soul of natural man. So the Word of God in its most simple and raw form being declared is a powerful tool. It is foolishness to the damned and rebellious of course, but to those who are of the called, those who are being persuaded by the Spirit of God, it evidences itself powerfully because it is being applied by the Spirit of God. And you can note this in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The doctrine this morning also is this, that the word and the spirit must work together and do work together to bring about the power of God upon the souls of men. The word alone will not benefit if the spirit is not impressing upon the soul the truths of that word. Spirit must be at work. You know many people, I'm sure, who are able to quote scripture, declare scripture, and know the scriptures, know them systematically, inward, backward, forward, and upside down, and yet you see their lives are absolutely reprobate. Because the Spirit has not used the word to convert. They have a form of godliness denying the power thereof. The Spirit and the Word must be used together. This is God's economy for salvation. So we obey and preach. We dispense the Word of God. We declare the Word of God. But it is God who brings the result. God has the most difficult part. We've got the easy part. We don't have to win arguments. We don't have to win converts. In fact, we can't win converts and we can't win arguments. Only God. We just dispense. We lay the food on the table and bid them to eat and the only way that they can eat is if God grants them hunger. Remember, you cannot teach hunger. You cannot teach the hunger of the Word. You must pray that God would intervene in the lives of so many that they would hunger and thirst after righteousness. And then those are the ones who are blessed according to the scriptures. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst at the righteousness. We can just dispense the word. We can just declare it. Ours is the duty. God's is the result. And whatever that result is, we bow and thank God for it. Whether that result is life unto life or death unto death, God is fully satisfied and fully glorified. And we have done our duty. 1 Corinthians 1.18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, where the Spirit is at work, it is the power of God. Zechariah 4.6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." It will always be by the Spirit. This is why the Crusades, historically, were a horrible, horrible attempt of conversion. You cannot convert by the edge of the sword, or at the end of a gun, or through threats. It must be done by the Spirit of God. And since the Word is the supernatural and all-powerful weapon given by God and used by God through his saints, it must then be a fearful tool in the hand of a skilled warrior. When you have the Word of God, you have a fearful tool. This is an incredible weapon. When used properly, it is an incredible weapon. You need nothing else. You don't have to scream and yell. You don't have to fight with people. You don't have to shoot people. You don't have to stab people. You don't have to plunder their houses. You don't have to threaten them with hell and bodily harm. You just declare the Word of God. Now, of course, hell and damnation is part of the Declaration. But that's not, of course, the only thing we declare. It's part of the whole systematic package. We declare the word and that is an incredible tool. Because that tool is supernatural. And this is why so many people hate the word of God. The reason is because they fear it. Don't take out the sword. Don't let me see it come out of its sheath, because I'm afraid of that sword, so I will repudiate it, I will deny it, I will ignore it, I will threaten you, if you take it out, I'm going to hate you, I'm going to leave, I'm going to fight you with everything I have, because they're afraid of it. They are afraid of the Word of God. That a priori knowledge that God exists, and His Word will judge them, those who do not bow in humility, kissing the sun, lest ye be angry from them perishing in the way. You see, this is important for us to understand. People hate the Word of God, because they fear it. Deuteronomy 32.39, See, now that I, God says, even I am He, and there is no god with me, I kill, and I make alive, I wound, and I heal. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever. Note, he's swearing by himself, because he can't swear by anything higher, according to Hebrews. Notice verse 41, "...if I wet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives from the beginning of revenge upon the enemy." This is frightening language. He says, if I take out my sword, if I take it from its sheath, If my hand takes hold on judgment, I will strike, I will render vengeance to mine enemies. I will reward them with death and judgment that hate me." Man, kind fears the Lord. They won't admit it, but they truly fear it. We read in Job chapter 20 of the use of the sword upon the wicked. And in Job chapter 20, We see so far a second speech concerning Job. Of course, he was trying to indict Job for some sin and some horrible thing, whereas Job was righteous before God. Not a perfect man, but a mature Christian man. In verse 24, we read this. He shall flee from the iron weapon. Speaking about the vengeance of God upon the wicked. And you have to read this in context, it's a long chapter here. I want you to recognize this. Let me read to you bits and pieces of it. He says in verse 4, knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon the earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. So he's speaking of the hypocrite and the wicked. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach into the clouds, yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. They which have seen him shall say, Where is he? The earth will swallow him up." You know, for the Christian who is truly in the battle, this is a great comfort. It may seem horrible to you, but this is a great comfort, knowing that God will be vindicated. Let the wicked spew Let them do their worst. Do your worst! For in the end, God is vindicated. For the earth will swallow them up. Let their excellency go to the heavens. Let them show themselves as triumphant before man and before God. Let his head reach to the clouds. He'll perish like his own dung. Very colorful language. Very potent language. The reason why God says this is because this is a serious issue. The wicked are wicked. And God is just. So Zophar is speaking to Job about how God is going to destroy the wicked. And in verse 24 he says this. Now his implication is malicious against Job, of course. But what he is saying is right. What he is saying is true. And in verse 24, Zophar says this, He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. It is drawn, and cometh out of the body. Yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall. Terrors are upon him. The iron weapon, the bow of steel striking him through. Even the sword of the Spirit, this is the power of God's word to the enemy, to the hypocrite. It will thrust him through. It will come upon him and destroy him. And he will be terrified. And all darkness shall be hid in his secret places of fire. Not blown shall consume him. It shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. And the heaven shall reveal his iniquity. and the earth shall rise up against him." This is the power of the Word of God. And this is what God has placed in our stewardship. Let's ask some questions. Three questions, and three only this morning. Number one. Again, as a review, what exactly is apologetics? Because that's what we're discussing. How to dispense the Word of God. How to defend in an offensive fashion the truth of God. Secondly, what is the proper method in delivering the sword so that it is not misused? Now, physically speaking, you know that there is a science of sword fighting, whether it is the Japanese E-I-Do or the cut and thrust of the European bent or perhaps other methodologies of delivering the sword. You have the fencing tools and other tools of that nature in that craft as well. But there is, like those physical training skills, there is a method of delivering the word of God. So we want to ask, what is that method? What is the proper method in delivering the sword of the Spirit so that it is not misused? And very importantly, what is the goal of apologetics? Please, please, if we don't know what the goal is, then we don't have a clue what we're doing. Why are we doing it? We have to have a goal. If you don't have a destination, you'll never get there. You'll just be continuing in circles. So firstly, as a review, the first question, what is apologetics? Remember we said that apologetics comes from the word apologia, which means a speech made in defense. It means literally to give an answer, to give an answer. More precise, the definition would be this. Apologetics is the reason, defense of the Christian religion. It is the job of every Christian, which explains why Christians are Christians and why non-Christians should be Christians. If theology is the queen of the sciences, then apologetics is her handmaiden. It introduces people to the queen and demonstrates her majesty. Acts 26.2, we read this I believe last week, Paul says, I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself. this day before thee touching all things whereof I am accused of." He's giving a defense, he's giving an answer, he's giving a reason for the hope that is within him. It is not an apology as, I'm sorry I'm a Christian, I don't mean to be a Christian, but you know there's nothing else I can do about it. It is not that at all. It is rather a strong defense, a logically reasonable, brought forth argument, a defense for the truth. 1 Peter 3.15, Peter writes this, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an apologia, an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is within you with meekness and fear. But the second question is this, and these are the logistics of apologetics. What is the proper method in delivering the Word of God? How are we to deliver the sword so that it is not misused, so that it is most effective? Now, of course, even in its raw form, as we said just a moment ago, it is effective. But when we get into certain theological discussions and debates, is there a method to use? And of course, if there is, what is it? And if it's not used, what are the consequences? And is it really that effective? So note please, firstly, that the misuse of a sword will not be profitable and may even end up as a hurtful tool to the unskilled warrior. Again, my example, the physical sword. Could you imagine giving a physical sword or a big hunting knife to a little tiny toddler? What are they going to do with it? They will ultimately cut themselves to pieces. Because they are unskilled in the use of the tool. There are many Christians today professing themselves to be mature and yet are unskilled in wielding the sword of the Spirit. So what is the proper way, what proper methods are we to apply and employ in the proper use of Biblical apologetics? How is the word to be used? What is the methodology for proper Biblical apologetics? The answer is this very simply and then we'll make some observations. The method of scripturalism and axiomatic or biblical presuppositionalism must be faithfully employed if the word is to be declared faithfully. Scripturalism and presuppositionalism, but I'm prefacing that presupposition word with the word axiomatic or biblical. Biblical presuppositionalism. Axiomatic presuppositionalism. First observation is this. Let it be known that all men, all men save none, no exception, but everyone begins with a certain philosophical and theological presupposition, a preconception about God, about life, about death, about the earth, about the trees, about politics, about everything. Everyone begins somewhere with a presupposition, so we should not call ourselves simply presuppositionalists Because everyone is a presuppositionalist. Everyone begins with some notion, some idea of what reality is. They have ideas about God, they have ideas about life, about everything. About how things should be done, about education, about science, whatever. They have preconceived notions. So everyone actually is a presuppositionalist. We are not a simple presuppositionalist. We need to be a biblical presuppositionalist. All men begin with certain philosophical and theological presuppositions. Everyone starts with some preconception of God, the world, and death and death. So a simple title of presuppositional will not suffice for the Christian since all men are presuppositional. What the Christian is and what the Christian must be and must employ is what I call biblical or axiomatic presuppositionalism. The reason why I'm calling it axiomatic is because I'm pulling that term from Gordon Clark and the term presuppositionalism from him as well as Van Til, Cornelius Van Til. But we need to be axiomatic in our presupposition, knowing that the axiom is something we cannot prove or do we even seek to prove. It is a given. the existence of God, and all of his characteristics are a given. You will not see me, nor should we see any of you, trying to defend the existence of God. You can't do it. We begin there. But more than beginning there, we begin with the truth of God's Word. We do not try to defend that God's word is true. We start with the axiom, the fact that God exists and his word is true. First we suppose God, next we presuppose that the Bible alone is true and finally authoritative. We do not have to argue these points, we have to use these points. We presuppose them at the outset, and we argue from there. The Bible is true. I'll give you an example. I was discussing this with my son this morning on the way to church, and we used our favorite analogy, the gun. The gun, my favorite analogy. Why argue with a criminal who's ready to mug you, who's ready to hurt you, who's ready to destroy your family? Why argue with a criminal that your gun can stop him from his malicious intent. Why bother? Why say, listen, don't do what you're doing, because this gun can shoot you, it can kill you, it has bullets, it's loaded, and it works very well, and if the bullet goes into you, you will die. Why bother arguing? He'll say, well, I don't believe in guns. I don't believe the gun is loaded. I don't believe the bullets will hurt me. I don't believe any of this. So I'm going to take my knife, and I'm going to rob you, and hurt you, and take your family, and whatever. So why bother arguing that the gun can do all these things? Just pull the trigger, and make him a believer. And that's how it works with the Bible. Use the Bible. Stop arguing that the Bible is all-powerful. Stop arguing that it is the Word of God. Stop arguing that it is true. Just use the truth. That's axiomatic presuppositionalism. That's biblical presuppositionalism. Use it. Believe that it's true, inherent and finally authoritative. Yes. Now, follow logically to the end of that belief that it is true. So use it. Don't argue that it's true. You see, whenever we get into a situation of apologetics, We must set the parameters for our debate. Too often we allow the other people to set the parameters. Well, don't use the Bible. I don't want to use the Bible. I just want to talk about this. Okay, let's start talking and then we use the Bible. Why is it that they can set the parameters of our argument? Why is it that they can couch their argument in their language, secular language, philosophical language, and we cannot? You see, God's word is logically structured, reasonably structured. If you want to be logical, use the scriptures. Because you'll confound the logic of the man who's trying to argue apart from the scriptures. So we must set the parameters of debate. We must set the stage for the argument. We must utilize the fact that man already has an a priori sense of God and His truth, and therefore we must begin with God and the fact that the Bible is true, it is inerrant, and finally authoritative. The Bible alone is the Word of God, and that is where we begin. We do not try to prove God, for none can prove God. He is, and only by the illumination of the Spirit can man truly embrace this. No one is going to believe the Bible is true. No one is going to believe that God exists unless God impresses it upon his heart. We do not try to prove the Scriptures are true. We just know they are. And therefore we speak the truth in love rather than trying to prove the scriptures are true to men that cannot believe without the illumination of the spirit and who will not believe for the hardness of their hearts. The only thing that will make them believe and break the hardness of their hearts is the pure declaration of the word of God. Let me just read to you, and please, I'm going to encourage you again to have in your library this book. I don't sell this book here in our bookstore. If you can't get it, I'll get it for you. I'll tell you where to get it. It is called A Dictionary of Theological Terms, and it is very, very helpful. It has over 800 theological and doctrinal references and terms. And it is a very, very, very important book, a very important book for the study of the scriptures when you come up with these big words, big terms. Of course, I lay these out for you to challenge you, challenge you. I'm going to keep feeding you with pablum. I'm going to have to challenge you. Here's a big word, presuppositionalism. Learn it, use it. Just like the word that we learned last year and the year before, epistemology. We're going to discuss that next week. But you need to know these words if you're going to debate as an adult with adults. So here we see that in the dictionary here, as it speaks of presuppositionalism, I want to explain it to you in this way. God has stamped, and we discussed this last week, a priori knowledge, God has stamped the revelation of himself on every man's heart according to Romans 1, 19 and 20. Man cannot think of anything aright apart from God, his creator. This is why whenever we say, well, math is facts, and when we teach our children, when we put them in the public schools, the government schools, they're just teaching the facts. No one can know facts apart from God, the Creator, who created all the facts. How are you going to teach a fact apart from God? This is not logical. This is not logical. So we see this, that God, a man rather, cannot think anything right apart from God, his Creator. All unbelief proceeds, therefore, on the willful and sinful suppression of man's innate a priori knowledge of God. To presuppose God is not to make an unverifiable assumption, nor is it to accept his existence as a working hypothesis, rather it is to recognize that our creaturehood demands that we recognize our creator. That's what people don't want to hear. Our creaturehood recognizes God as a creator, but we suppress that. I continue. The biblical presupposition of which Van Til and Gordon Clark contend is that all human rationality must be based on the self-consciousness of the God of Scripture. This approach accords with that of the Bible, which never sets out to prove the truth of God's existence or of the Gospel by human reason. Have you ever read in the Bible where Paul is trying to prove the Bible? No, he's just declaring it. He's declaring it. Thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Lord. He's never trying to argue that the Bible is true or that God exists. He's presupposing it. He's presupposing it. Even on Mars Hill, he presupposes that God exists. There is your pagan temple to the unknown God, let me declare him to you. He is not trying to prove him, he is just declaring him. He is not proving he exists, he is declaring that he exists. And you are a creature from his creative power. He is just declaring that he exists. He is a presuppositionalist. Rather it presupposes God. The God of the Bible is the absolute, eternal, ontological Trinity who has revealed Himself in His Word, the Bible, the focus of which is His final personal self-expression in the self-attesting Christ. Thus God is not a fact of the universe or the mere force behind the universe. He is not something whose existence may be questioned or denied while we yet come to some other true conclusions about the facts of the universe. The God of the Bible is necessary to the existence of all facts of the universe. You've got to begin with God. You can't begin somewhere else, and men consistently try to do this. God created them. all these facts and only in him can they have their true meaning. Very, very important and very powerful language. We read this also, the ultimate criteria for deciding what is true lies outside of man's mind in the self-attesting revelation of the God of Scripture. Christians cannot look at any fact except as a God-created and God-interpreted fact. Unbelievers naturally adopt the opposite presupposition and posit the ultimacy of their own reason as the criterion for judging all claims to truth, including God's claims. folly that is absolutely frivolous. We are presuppositionalists but we are biblical axiomatic presuppositionalists. What are we not? We are not empiricists. What is empiricism? Empiricism says that man can glean truth by observation. Sense perception is the only test of knowledge and all knowledge is gained by experience. We look at the stars and the sky and we posit how things were created. We can't see God, so of course because we are judging by our perceptions, God cannot exist because we cannot see him. We can see the wind, so obviously weather is brought about by the wind or by the clouds. The rain is coming from the clouds. We're never looking at the metaphysical, the thing behind the wind, behind the clouds, behind the weather, behind the history, behind the providence. We're looking at the physical. We're looking at the clouds, the wind patterns. And this you'll find if you just watch the Weather Channel, you'll see that very much brought out. This is what's happening and here's why it's happening, but they never go beyond the physical of why it's happening to the metaphysical, which begins with God and the fact of God. John Locke. tabula rasa theory was empiricism. He believed that man was born as a blank slate and all the experience of that man made him what he is. He denied the a priori understanding, the a priori doctrine. We are also not rationalists. So what we are not is a rationalist. whereby man's natural power of reason can alone bring him to knowledge and truth. I can reason apart from God, would be the rationalist. I can know things apart from the truth of God, would be the argument of the rationalist. This theory holds that man's natural reason can elevate him to divine revelations of truth, and thereby becomes the final arbiter in every realm of experience. I know what is. I know what truth is. I know that that's true. How do you know? How do you know? How do you know that it's true without using the scriptures? Even if it seems true, how do you know it's true? It is the rationalist that rejects the supernatural notion of God and scripture as unreasonable since man's reason is the only supremacy he knows. And in the theological camp, we are not evidentiarists. We do not seek to have evidences for the flood, or for the atonement, or rather the crucifixion, or for the resurrection. You know why I know the resurrection is true? The Bible says it's true. Yeah, but isn't there so many scientific and historical evidence? Fine. If there is, fine. But even if there is, no one will believe it unless God works through them, in them, by the scriptures. We are not trying to argue the truth of the Bible or the existence of God by science or history. You see, the evidentialist seeks to first prove that God exists before he declares presuppositionally, thus saith the Lord. He's so busy trying to convince people with science that God exists. or through human logic that God exists without using the Scriptures, he never gets to the point of apologetics. He's so busy trying to convince a dead man that Jesus raised from the dead, that he never gets to preach the power of resurrection to the dead man, so that that man might have the power of resurrection to believe. You see, in order to give a proper defense of faith, you must know the Word of God, and you must know how to use it. So my final concluding remark is this. We must be people of the book. First chapter of Colossians, verse 27, the apostle says this, The hope within the saint is Christ, and the saint is to defend that hope and that truth. And here's how it is in Paul's words, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We must know what the hope of glory is. We must know what the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is. Deuteronomy 6.6 And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. You must be a person of the book. You must be a person of the truth. You must be a person of the law. Christians must be people of the book. They must know how to wield the sword of the Spirit profitably, effectually, presuppositionally. Principle is this also. One cannot be sanctified apart from the scriptures, nor can they defend the scriptures, nor can they advance the kingdom. without being a person of the Book. The Spirit uses the Word. He works in conjunction with the Word. And by the proper preaching of the Word, people are converted. People are transformed. People are saved. People become soldiers in the army of Christ. Deuteronomy 5.33 You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess. We must know, we must obey the word of God, we must live it sincerely and in truth. Obedience is a basic requirement. Living out the truth of scriptures is also a requirement. Every Christian, every true child of God must be able to defend the faith and advance the kingdom. This is our duty. No less. This is our duty. We must be about the work of this apologetics. Paul writes in Colossians 4.5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without. If I was to comment on this, I would say, walk in wisdom presuppositionally, axiomatically, biblically, to them that are without, redeeming the time for the days of evil. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer, apologia, every man. Simply this in our directives. Study and work. Study and preach. Study and debate. Dig into the words so as to be ready for every opportunity to defend and advance the kingdom for which Christ shed his infinitely precious blood, that we might be equipped to stand against that evil day when we are called to give a defense, an answer of that hope that is within us to every man who asketh. And this we shall do, God helping us. unto the praise of the glory of His grace. Amen and Amen.