to Romans chapter one, please. Romans chapter one. So keep in mind, next week I'll briefly talk about a few more points, but we'll have the test most likely next week. Some of the things that will be on that test will be the three types of apologetics, which consist of classical, which classical simply apologetics is dealing with your reasoning and evidentialist, and then you have the evidentialist, it's mainly just evidence to prove God's existence in their evangelism. They don't like to go to the word of God. They say that's circular reasoning. So they're more intellectual than spiritual. The presuppositional one is that we believe that the Word of God is the standard and the sufficiency in evangelism. And what does the Bible call an atheist, right? What does the Bible call an atheist? A fool, right? That would be on our question, right? And is there such a thing as an atheist? Is there such a thing as an atheist? No, right? Let's take a look in Romans. Let's begin in Romans. And as Christians, what are we fully to equip ourselves with? When we come to church, what are the people who have spiritual gifts called to train you up in? Things that are not spiritual? No, spiritual gifts, the word of God, right? You're called to know the word of God. And the work of an evangelist is a spiritual gift in scripture. It's the work, the evangelist according to Ephesians chapter four is to edify the body, how to biblically evangelize. And if it's a spiritual gift, you cannot use anything else that is not spiritual to equip anybody. And I'll go through all the word of God in this matter and make it that the word of God is sufficiency where it has power to pierce, power to convict, I mean, the Holy Spirit's role is to do what? To convict the world of what? Sin and? Righteousness. And? Judgment. Right? So convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And it's a spiritual thing, so you don't use unspiritual things when it is a spiritual matter. The unregenerate sinner has a spiritual problem. and using tools that are not spiritual can't ever pierce their heart. So I fully believe presuppositional apologetics is the only biblical form of evangelism. So keep in mind, is there such a thing then as an atheist? Let's see what the Bible says. Verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who what? Hold the truth in unrighteousness. They hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest to them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power in Godhead so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God, the Bible says they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Verse 22, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. There is no such thing as an atheist. What they do is they hold the truth according to scripture, and what do they do with it? They regard the truth as unrighteous. Right? The truth you believe in is unrighteous. The preaching of the cross is what to the sinner. But it's power to those who believe. It is the preaching of the cross is what we're called to do. I want to begin by saying simply don't surround yourself with people who are stagnant in their faith. Instead, seek out individuals who are wiser and more spiritually mature than you. As Proverbs 13 20 says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Surround yourself with men and women of God that are going to benefit you and edify you to be more conformed to Christ, to know the word, to know doctrine, to be challenged. Be around people who have a deeper understanding of God's word and can mentor you in your walk. 1 Corinthians 3, 18. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. Do everything possible to learn. The Bible says that Paul says, I count all things but loss that I may know the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I count all things but dumb that I may win Christ. The things that were gained to me, he says, it's nothing to me. It's done to me. I count it all but a loss. To know Christ is our mission. To live is for Christ. That's your fundamental Christian goal, is to know Christ and his will. And how did that come by? It's getting equipped in the body of Christ, in your personal life, to know the word of God. How much is the word of God precious to you this morning? Really, is the word of God that important to you? Is it sufficient for you in all matters in life? Let me give you a few people who believe in evidentialism or classical apologetics. Some of these are reformers. Some of these names you're going to know. And I want you to know, these very people, also this evidentialism, and all these people will go to evidence to try to prove to an unbeliever God's existence, and they don't go to the word of God. All these people, and most of them, deny the account in Genesis. They don't believe in young earth, they believe in old earth. So those who more appeal to this world's philosophy, those who believe that I'm going to somehow convince you using things that are not spiritual of God's existence, usually almost all of them are a mess in something. Usually also they're ecumenical. the yoke with Catholics trying to get a common ground, or they have some serious issues. Let me begin. Tim Keller. Who knows Tim Keller? Ever heard of him? Some of you have, right? Pastor and author affirms old earth and evolution. Francis Collins. A geneticist, a director of the National Institutes of Health, argues for evolution and the old world. How about N.T. Wright? Theologian and author rejects young earth creationism and affirms an old earth. You gotta hear this name. William Lane Craig. You've heard of him. Theologian and apologist argues for old earth and rejects young earth creationism greatly against the idea of Using the Word of God as evidence Huge Ross Anyone have ever watched Kent Hovind debate him huge Ross is huge into old earth and and and doesn't really talk about the Word of God ever. He's an astrophysicist, an author, affirms the old earth and progressive creation. Carl Giberson, theologian and author, rejects young earth creationism and affirms evolution. Peter Enns, theologian and author, argues for old earth and evolution. Alistair McGrath, theologian and author, rejects young earth creationism and affirms an old earth. R.C. Sproul, theologian and author, rejects young earth creationism and affirms an old earth. It's one of the reasons why he doesn't believe in using the word of God in an evangelism at first. He says that's circular reasoning. So he's an intellectualist. How about J.I. Packer? J.I. Packer, theologian and author, rejects young earth creationism and affirms old earth. Michael Horta, theologian and author, rejects young earth creationism and affirms an old earth. How about Oliver Crisp, theologian and author, argues for an old earth in evolution. As you see, these people usually will start to believe in evolution or become ecumenical or deny the account of Genesis fully. Oh, they say, we just don't know the exact. How do you not know that? You have the dates. You have the age of each descendant through the scripture that shows young earth. I'm just trying to show you guys. where classical apologetics usually leads to. Evidential apologetics usually leads to. Our presupposition is the Word of God, and it's the safeguard, really, from any, allowing any of this world to kind of understand the Word of God. The world can never help us understand the Word of God. The unnatural, the unspiritual world, it is always the Word of God to the world that helps us understand all things. The danger is if you're allowing this, then you're gonna believe in all kinds of other junk, easily. So it's just safeguard. Okay, I wanna, true science is good. I'm not against evidence, but when we evangelize, evidence isn't our precept, because it will never save anybody. The word of God alone. And we say, we begin there and people will say, no, that's wrong. Intellectuals, high-minded men will say, that is the worst place to be. I'll tell you, they complicate evangelism. They complicate it. And most of them don't know how to evangelize biblically. You use the law in evangelism, they don't even, I don't know how you miss that. Or Galatians, how it says the law is our schoolmaster. One of the questions will be this. The Bible talks about that the law, according to what he spoke about last week, the law is perfect for what? Converting the souls. Converting the souls. In the Old Testament, that's the word of God. The word of God, through the law of God, is perfect for converting souls. In Galatians, it says the law is our what? Schoolmaster. Schoolmaster. That does what? Leads us to Christ. Leads us to Christ, right? If it's perfect to use for the Jews, everyone who's a missionary to the Jews, they're trying to show everything else but the law. As they make themselves professional on saving Jewish people. I want you to know it's really not that complicated. Trust the sufficiency of the word of God. Use the law, and it was referring to the Jews, to convert the souls, and in Galatians, both Gentiles and Jews alike, the whole world, it is our schoolmaster that points them to Christ. Why? What does the law do in our evangelism? What does the word of God do in our evangelism? It convicts you of your sin. The law does what with your mouth? It stops your mouth from boasting in your goodness. You're not good. So when we use an evangelism, the law and evangelism, we do in essence preach the law which condemns. In other words, you're preaching condemnation. First, the sinner does need that. Right? They first need that. They need to feel the full wrath of God's condemnation against them. That they can't have any glory, that they can boast in their own merits or goodness, No, they need to see how desperately they are, how helpless they are. They need of Jesus Christ to be the only one who could save them from their sins. No other message is needed. And once they see their condemnation, then we can give them the pearl. And then we can give them the gospel. that becomes the most greatest news. They're like, what must I do to be saved? I'm ready with the right heart. So what you're called to do is prepare the hearts to receive Christ. So we use the word of God, use the law and evangelism. A lot to be talked about. So these individuals that I listed, are reformers who have publicly expressed their rejection of young earth creationism in favor of old earth and evolution or progressive creation. The list highlights that some prominent Christian leaders and theologians prioritize scientific theories and evidence over the biblical account of creation, which can be concerning. Should be, right? When we elevate human knowledge and intellect above the authority of scripture, we risk compromising our faith and undermining the very foundations of our belief and saying the intellectual knowledge is where it should start. Blasphemy. You're casting doubt on the Word of God and its power. Not only that, you've got some serious fundamental problems. Any reformer that holds on to that isn't really much of a reformer anyways. Biblically illiterate, really. How are you believing that sinners come to Christ on their own? Then if you believe in free will, I can understand using evidence. I get it. Makes sense. Because there's a sense of human inclination in themselves that an argument can be applied like that. But if you then believe in God's sovereignty, that he saves sinners solely on his will, affects your will, and everything about you, then you have to then come to the knowledge that John 6, 44, no man comes unto me unless the Father draws him. And faith cometh by what? Hearing what? By the Word of God. Hearing the Word of God. No other word. Does faith come by any other word? Doesn't matter. I want you here to find comfort. You don't need to know all these silly arguments outside of the Word of God to convince the sinner of God's existence. You don't need to say, well, this building here had a builder. This painting had a painter. This car had a mechanic. Vain arguments has no power in it, that through intellectual arguments I can prove the existence of God and produce faith in you. What? Does faith come from you? Where does faith come? Does faith come from intellectual knowledge then? comes from, its root is from hearing what? The Word of God. And God gives us and grants us what? Faith. Our faith isn't something that we conjected up ourselves. The faith we have, according to scripture, both repentance and faith is fully rooted in God, lest you believe in Romanism. So much to talk about in a very little time. So as I mentioned, the danger of intellectualism is that it can lead us to rely on human wisdom and reasoning rather than the word of God. This can result in a watered down and compromised faith where we pick and choose which aspects of scripture to accept based on our own understanding or scientific theories. We are sola scriptura. We believe solely in the word and the sufficiency of the word. That is the Reformation principle. The scripture alone is the ultimate authority for the Christian belief and practice is essential to uphold in our approach to evangelism, creationism, and all aspects of our faith. The word of God is our final and sole authority. So by prioritizing the word of God and submitting our intellect and understanding to its authority, we can avoid the pitfalls of intellectualism and remain grounded in truth and wisdom and scripture. Now, don't get me wrong. I believe we use our reasoning. The Bible says, come, let us reason together. But how do they do that? I'll get to that in a second. Presuppositional apologetics as deeply rooted in biblical evangelism is a vital aspect of laying a solid foundation for the gospel. Let's go a deeper dive. Presuppositional apologetics is not just about intellectual arguments or evidentialism. It's about proclaiming the truth of God's word and confronting the unbeliever worldview with the authority of scripture. It's the most frustrating thing for them because they want to get in that evidence kind of argument. They want to get into the evolution kind of argument of things. It's frustrating when they say, When you say, no, you believe, but you suppress the truth and unrighteousness and you preach to them. And we believe in sovereign election. God is going to save his people through the preaching of his word. And God will save all of them, not through any other device. Presupposition, apologetics, understanding. We elevate the spiritual work in conviction. Not anything else. We're not trying to convince you through our intellect. That's why the God has chosen the least of the things of this world to confound the wise. Not the wisest, most intellectual man that can make the greatest evidence of God's existence and somehow, like Lee Strobel, come to faith, which he totally denies a lot of the scripture, totally denies young earth. He's really still, part of his old life is still old life. In presuppositional apologetics, we're not just defending the faith, we are presenting the gospel as the only coherent and rational explanation for reality. We're challenging the unbelievers' presuppositions and worldviews, exposing the inconsistencies and absurdities of their position, and demonstrating the biblical worldview as the only viable option. It's about making a defense through the word. laying the foundation for the gospel by confronting the unbelievers' foundational beliefs and assumptions. It's a call to repentance, a summons to surrender to the authority of God's word and the lordship of Jesus Christ. We call them to repentance, not evidence. In this sense, presuppositional apologetics is not just an intellectual exercise, it's a spiritual battle. Understand that real quick. Evangelism is a spiritual warfare, a spiritual battle. It's a spiritual battle for the minds and souls of those who are lost in unbelief. It's a declaration of the truth and a call to faith and a demonstration of the power of God's word to transform lives. So here are some principles. to undergird the presuppositional apologetics include the authority and the sufficiency of scripture, the spiritual nature of unbelief, that we have to understand that the God of this world has blinded the minds of many and nothing can unchain that through science, through evidence, through classical apologetics and reasoning and all these stuff. Reasoning outside the word of God is not gonna change their mind. It's not going to make them repent. It's what's going to set them free from sin. Jesus Christ. Through the preaching of what? The Word. So Ben, is it wrong to start with preaching the Word as your foundation? Right? Would you have a problem if someone said otherwise? If someone said, no, you don't start with preaching the Word of God. You start with your intellect. Do you have a problem with that? If your major argument in evangelism is your intellect and not the Word of God, do you have a problem with that? You should. Because where does power, where does this conviction come? Convincing them of God's existence through anything else but the Word? You're denying the sufficiency of Scripture. Let's continue. You're denying the spiritual aspect of it. They're enchained to sin. They're blinded. Their minds and their hearts are darkened and they're spiritually dead and nothing else can awaken them from their deadness except for the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. The need of repentance and to surrender to the Lordship of Christ is what's needed. We call men everywhere unto repent and believe the gospel. We've forgotten the old time way. The more that we become intellectual in America and the world, we're becoming more intellectual in our evangelism. It's apostate evangelism. It's getting you away from this. Say, no, don't start here. Don't start there. It's not good enough. It's not going to convict the sinner. That's an Armenian perspective, really. It's a humanist perspective. It's a denial of the sufficiency of the Word of God, right? Think about it. The power of God's Word is to transform lives. Can anything else transform their lives? Nothing else. Nothing else. Let's continue. The call to proclaim the truth and confront error. How do you confront error? Truth of what? The Word. By embracing presuppositional apologetics, we can engage in a more biblical and effective form of evangelism. Can you imagine if you had a politician that stands on the word of God and says, well, the Bible says this. That's why you have like all these Ben Shapiros and all these people, they tried to stand somewhere else but the word. So by embracing presuppositional apologetics, apologetics, we can engage to use our minds and reasoning abilities to share the gospel with others, but solely on the basis of God's word alone, sola scriptura. Just like Paul, who reasoned with the sinners from the scripture alone, and the saints, in Acts 17, two through three, in Acts 18, four, in Acts 19, eight. We can use our reasoning to present the truth of God's word to those who don't yet know him without relying on human traditions, philosophy, or opinions. You have your opinion, I have my opinion. No, the word of God is not a matter of opinion. Never call it opinion. It's a matter of truth. I uphold the truth. by doing so, we can demonstrate the authority, the sufficiency, and the power of God's Word to convict and convert the heart of sinners. So let's embrace our ability to reason and to use it to share the good news with others solely on the basis of God's Word alone. A few examples, Matthew 22, 23 through 33, you find Jesus reasoning with the Sadducees from where? The scripture. Jesus Christ was tempted by Satan. How did he reason with them? The scriptures. As it is written. What do the prophets do? Thus saith the Lord. Can you imagine they're an American now, the prophets of old? Well, the evidence of this is, no, silly. This is silly. It's silly. Think about it, right? Let me say, I'm not against of Christians looking at science that's biblical. I'm not against it. I like how they show evidence of Noah's Ark. I like they show evidence of sulfur in Sodom and Gomorrah. I love all that stuff. But it is not what convicts us of our sins. It is not what chains the unregenerate sinner. It's a concern, right? Anyone who leans on anything else is a little bit of concern. Luke 24, 25-27, and 44-47, we find Jesus reasoned with the disciples from the scriptures, explaining how he had to suffer and rise from the dead. In Acts 17, 2-3, Paul reasoned with the Thessalonians from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that Jesus is the Christ. Romans 9, 1-3, a truth that we'll get into in the coming weeks. Paul reasoned from the scripture to prove that the Gentiles are included in God's plan of salvation. Remember, reasoning with others using only the scripture is a powerful way to share the truth of God's word and demonstrates its authority and sufficiency. God gives us his moral standard of righteousness on Mount Sinai. That very standard, where did God write his law? Do you know? Where? In our hearts, right? He wrote in every man's hearts. So every man has a conscience that bears witness to the knowledge of God. Through the preaching of the law on evangelism, we hit their conscience. Thou shall not lie. Have you ever lied before? What do you call a liar? What do you call a person who lies? A liar, right? Thou shall not steal. What do you call a person that steals? A thief. Thou shall not commit adultery. Whosoever, Jesus said, whosoever looks upon a man or a woman to lust after them in their heart has committed adultery. Where? In their heart. You're in adultery already just looking upon a woman with lust in your heart. Where does adultery begin? Something that we've got into recently. And the heart, that's where the adulterer begins. If you hate someone, it's the same as murdering someone in their heart, wishing the person never existed. Saying God's name in vain is worse than a four-letter cuss word. It means it's a blasphemy. So disobeying your mother and your father is dishonoring them. It's a rebellious sin. You rebelled against them. And if you were to stand before God as a lying thief, adulterer, murderer, and blasphemer and dishonoring your parents, before God, it reveals your heart. Get to the core and you talk to them. Have you ever, do you look yourself to be a good person, sir? And usually most people who go door knocking or street preaching, they'll say, I'm pretty good. I'm not that bad. I provide for my family. I do whatever I can do. I work hard. I give to charity, give to the poor. And all these things are morally okay, but it's not the defining term of God's standard. Let me see how good you are before God. And so the world uses the mirror of the world to see how good they are. They reflect. I'm not that bad. I've never been to prison. I'm better than these people over here. I'm pretty good in compared to these other people. But that's not the mirror you're using correctly. What do you use? What's the only mirror you use? The sinner needs this mirror. Why would you give him any other mirror? Right? The word of God is the law. It is perfect. It is our school mattress that leads us to Christ and nothing else. I want you to think of that with me. The Word of God, you reflect, and the Word of God shows that you're not good. And you prove that by showing the law. And it shows them that they are condemned by God, and then once they admit their own sinful behaviors, and that they would be found guilty before God, and then it leads them to repentance and faith, understanding their heart is now ready to receive. If a person, most Catholics will say they're good. Are they ready to truly receive Christ? No. Their heart is not ready yet. If you think you're good, you can never receive Christ yet, all right. You haven't come to saving faith yet. So our salvation is fully understanding that we are guilty, none are righteous, none are good. We are wretched, blind, and spiritually dead, and only that which can quicken us is Jesus Christ. So we preach the Word, who is the perfect mirror for the world to reflect on. We don't preach any other message from a man, but the Word. And we believe in the sufficiency of the Word of God. And then we explain and expound to the sinner what the scriptures teach. Any other appeal you're going to is something that is contrary to the Word of God. Where does our discipleship come from? You need to go to school and learn how to be a better apologetics through listening to people like Hugh Jross? You know? No! That's the worst. You're not gonna learn anything in the Bible. They're not gonna open up the pages of the Bible, okay, look here, and you see these examples here? See here? No, they can't do that in their evangelism. Their evangelism is in here. Intellect, I will outsmart you. And with my brains and how smart I am, I'm gonna convince you of how you need to believe in God. And so it is through your intellect they're convincing. It replaces the spirit, replaces the sufficiency of the word of God. Okay? It's a lot to talk about, isn't it? Such a short time. The unsafe sinner is what? Spiritually dead. dead, blind, and unable to comprehend things of God. Trying to convince them of God's existence through human reasoning and science is futile, a mere exercise in vanity. The Word of God is the only sword that can pierce the darkness of their heart. Any attempt to evangelize without the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the Scriptures is a mere intellectual exercise, devoid of any spiritual power. 1 Corinthians 2, 4-5 says, in my speech and my preaching, was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. There you go. Right there, my friends. Right there. That's all you need. What do these people do? Enticing words. I'm gonna entice you through my intellect, in my wisdom, in the words of this humanist philosophy. What did Paul say to the Corinthian church? And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but a demonstration of the spirit and of power. And your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Let us not be deceived into thinking that human wisdom could save but rather let us proclaim the gospel in all its simplicity, in power, trusting in the spirit to convict and convert the heart of sinners. So 1 Corinthians 2, 4 through 5, and how it relates to using human wisdom and evidence apologetics is to convert sinners. Listen, it's the sufficiency of the word, nothing else. If you can get this today, I'm hoping you can see it. I mean, there's so many passages. I wish I had more time. In this passage, In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul is emphasizing the importance of relying on the Spirit's power rather than human wisdom in sharing the gospel. He is saying that his preaching and teaching weren't based on persuasive words or human wisdom, but rather on the demonstration of the Spirit's power. So the phrase, enticing words of man's wisdom, referred to human reasoning. eloquence and persuasive arguments. Paul is saying that he avoided relying on these human tools to convince people of the truth of the gospel. Instead, he relied on the Spirit's power to convict and convert hearts. The reason for this is stated in verse 5, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men. What's the point of any other apologetics? What's the point? Is your faith least droble? Is this faith genuine? You can question it now. Through the wisdom of this man, of this world. It's the sufficiency of the word of God. Was an atheist. His testimony went from atheism to belief in Jesus Christ, but I say there's a form of he's still atheist in regarding to denying a lot of the sufficiency of the Word of God. Clearly denies Genesis. serious problems because he appeals his reasoning and intellect still to the human wisdom of this world, still. Still does. Still does. It's a little bit of concern, and this is why it's very concerning. He says, there's going to be people who are going to entice you with man's wisdom, and you're Your faith is belief through the enticing words, and so because of that, his knowledge of God came through convincing through the evidence of God's existence, and it wasn't through the sufficiency of the preaching of the Word of God. Hence why he's a doctrinal mess. He's a doctrinal mess. You could just do a study on all the things he believes, and you would have questions of his question. You would question the reliability of his faith. Correct. I'm not too sure. If it's been years, it might have been over 18 years since I've read it. So I just know where he's at now. And so I would say that here's Lee Strobel. Yeah, look him up. And he's a buster, right? I'm not too sure, no. Is he, no? He was a buster. He became a buster. Now, I've heard of R.C. Sproul, my sister. Well, I think he shares a lot of truth. He does share a lot of truth. But you've got to be careful. You've got to be careful of doctrinal mess and its ecumenical unity with Roman Catholics. Let's continue. The passage is a warning against human wisdom, right? We don't go like all these other people, right? It's a clear warning. Nothing else matters. If your testimony is problematic, saying, well, I came to faith because someone didn't really preach the word of God to me, but my faith is consistent of human wisdom. Through, I came to faith because someone pointed me there's enough evidence to believe in God. And I was convinced intellectually that you should have a question. I'm like, ah, the reliability of your faith isn't spiritual, but intellectual. 1 Corinthians 1, 17 through 21, it shows the danger of relying on evidence and human wisdom to convert sinners. It says, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to what? Preach the gospel. Yep. Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. This is why baptismal regeneration right here, too, as well, is irrelevant because Paul wanted to see people saved. It's the gospel that's saved, not water baptism. I didn't come to baptize you. I come to preach the gospel. For the preaching of the cross is to them that are perished foolishness, but to us which are saved, it is the power of God, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. And I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, The world, by wisdom, knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that belief. That's right. Almost closing here. Let me go quickly. Please understand some of these statements will be in the test. If you get it wrong, don't worry about it. No pressure. Paul emphasizes that he was sent to preach a gospel not to rely on human wisdom or eloquence. He warns that relying on human wisdom can make the cross of Christ of what? None effect. Preaching of the, you make it none effect. This is what they do. The preaching of the cross is considered foolishness by those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to those who are saved. Right, amen? So why, Roman Catholics believe in Jesus. Homosexuals believe in Jesus. I know that. I preached on the sodomite parades plenty of times. But they don't believe in the biblical Jesus. And I'm not going to go to a sodomite parade and try to produce evidence about God's existence to them. What I'm going to do is preach the law. I'm going to show them their sin is against God, and I'm going to point them to Christ, and they're going to hate it. or they're going to get saved. Or they won't get to heaven. Or they won't get to heaven, sadly. But once any of us, of our testimonies, were saved because God came into our life, given us faith that wasn't there before, a desire that we had no desire before. It gave us a new heart. and cost us to follow him. I'm taking a little bit more time than usual. I'm just trying to finish up. God has destroyed the wisdom of the wise and brought to nothing the understanding of the prudent. The wisdom of the world is foolishness. God chose to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching rather than through human wisdom. So this passage boldly declares that relying on evidence and human wisdom to convert sinners is dangerous and unchristian. It's a warning against elevating human intellect and reasoning above the power of the gospel. Instead, we should rely on the foolishness of preaching. Expect it to look foolish. Preach it anyways. Paul writes about the weapons of our spiritual warfare emphasizing that they are not carnal, other words, human. But mighty through God. He highlights two key aspects of the spiritual warfare, casting down imaginations and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So this verse refers to, I'm not going through the whole verse right now, but this refers to tearing down intellectual strongholds. and arguments that elevate human wisdom above God's knowledge, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. This means surrendering our thoughts and even our intellect to Christ's authority, rather than relying on human reasoning alone. Evidentialism and relying on human reasoning, apart from the Word of God, fails to achieve this surrender. By leaning on human wisdom and intellect, we are not casting down intellectual strongholds or bringing our thoughts into captivity to Christ. Instead, we are elevating human reasoning above God's knowledge, which is a form of idolatry. Evidentialism opposes biblical evangelism and Sola Scriptura. Evidentialism, which emphasizes human reasoning and evidence to convince people of God's existence, undermining the biblical approach to evangelism and Sola Scriptura. Scripture alone, in several ways, elevating human wisdom above God's Word. Evidentialism relies on human intellect and reasoning, making it the ultimate authority in evangelism. It contradicts sola scriptura, which affirms scripture as the only infallible authority for faith and practice. 2. Diminishing the power of the gospel. By relying on human evidence and reasoning, evidentialism reduces the gospel to human-level arguments, baseless. Rather than a divine revelation, this diminishes the power of the gospel to save and transform lives. It also ignores the spiritual nature of unbelief. Evidentialism assumes people are neutral or open-minded, neglecting the biblical truth that unbelief is a spiritual issue. It's a spiritual matter, not an intellectual matter. if failed to address the heart-level rebellion against God. It undermines the authority of scripture by relying on human evidence. Evidentialism applies that solid scripture is insufficient to convince people of God's existence of the gospel. This erodes the authority of scripture. It fosters a works-righteousness mentality. Evidentialism can lead people to believe they must intellectually earn their salvation through reasoning and evidence rather than receiving it as a free gift of grace through faith. Also, we neglect the role of the Holy Spirit. Evidentialism overlooks the essential work of the Holy Spirit in convincing, convicting, sorry, in convincing people of the truth. In contrast, biblical evangelism, soul of scripture, emphasize the authority and sufficiency of scripture. the power of the gospel to save and transform, the spiritual nature of unbelief and the need of the Holy Spirit's work, the free gift of salvation through faith, and it only comes by the preaching of the Word of God, apart from any human work or reasoning. By embracing biblical evangelism and solar scriptura, we can avoid the pitfalls of evidentialism and faithfully proclaim the gospel, trusting in the power of God's word and the Holy Spirit's work to convict and convince people of the truth. Intellectualism may pride itself on reasoning and knowledge, but when it comes to salvation, it's utterly powerless. The truth is, faith cometh only by hearing the word of God, not by human wisdom or intellectual pursuits. It's the foolishness of preaching the word, the cross of Christ, that saves, not our clever arguments or human reasoning. Trying to convince others through human wisdom is a dead end. Only God's word has the power to draw the elect to himself. Our attempts to reason and persuade outside the word are futile. It's time to humbly recognize its limitations of human intellect and rely solely on the power of God's word to bring people to faith. Let's stop trying to be clever and wise in our own eyes and instead proclaim the simple yet profound message of the gospel, for it is the word of God that is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword. And it's the only thing that can pierce the heart and bring salvation. Why fight God? Why save people with a dull sword? That's incapable of piercing. In other words, it's that sharp. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this time that we can get into your word, Lord. I pray that, Lord, that we can apply your word. And that we stand on your word. and nothing else. Lord, we build upon your word, not the sand of imagination, not the human wisdom and intellect of this world. Lord, save us from that. Help us to believe the preaching of your word, Lord, and the sufficiency of your word is enough to save sinners on whom you call to repentance and faith. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen and amen.