Our Lord, we praise you for the Amen. We praise you that Jesus is the great Amen. He is the great demonstration. He is the great power that works so that every single thing you have promised will be fulfilled according to your plan. And we bless you, our God, that your power not only made the world, spoken into existence, but by your power you're bringing in a new creation. O Lord, hasten the day when faith shall be sight, and the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, and the trump shall resound, and the dead shall rise, and then for all eternity it will be well. with our souls and our bodies. Hasten that day. Thank you, our Lord, that you have met with us in these days. And what a joy to see these young people enjoying the Lord's Day Sabbath, resting, fellowshipping, enjoying the world that you have made. And our God, we thank you that in your mercy, you've given us one day and seven to stop and rest so that we don't kill ourselves with incessant activity and when we can breathe in a very special way the atmosphere of heaven. And now, our Lord, as we've talked about the church before the watching world, now we talk about the church as it tells others about the world to come and about the world of redemption. Help us tonight to learn what it is to be those who, like the early Christians, went everywhere bringing the good news of Jesus Christ. We pray in his name, amen and hallelujah. Amen, please be seated. I love your amens and hallelujahs. You'll feel right at home at the haven where that's very common. My filing cabinet. You see why I call my wife my better half. I mean, I'm a mess enough as it is, I don't know what it would be like if I didn't have Margaret to help me out with all these things. A couple of questions that came in tonight. I don't know, Ken, they're talking about rain, so we're still going to go ahead and plan on the bonfire? Okay. Yeah. Well, if we asked, Alexa would tell us, but she's in there. She's under discipline. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay. We'll check it at the end. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I love to say the greatest ability is flexibility, except they're spelled differently, but you get the point. I really, first of all, I'm so honored to have spoken for the conference. I count it such a privilege to get to know each of you. I think there's two of you that I've not gotten to know. Oh no, three. There's an Alan, there's a David, and is there a Chris? I think there's three of you I've not, so you gotta introduce yourself. Otherwise, I've met you all, and I've done pretty well. Now wait a minute, where's, How come Katie's not sitting? Why are you sitting back there? Since you're back there, I'll call you Sarah. But it's been a real joy to get to know you and spend time with you and be part of your lives. I praise the Lord for that. And if we go out to the fire and you want to ask questions, I'd love to do that, or some of you stayed in here, but I really, I very much appreciate your questions, and I do want this to prompt your going back and not being iconoclasts in your church life, but working for ongoing biblical reformation, which is what it's all about. I have two questions that have come, at least written questions. Number one, what does a plurality mean? A plurality of elders? Plurality means, it's like the word plural, it's more than one. And so you have more than one elder. that constitutes the governing body of a local church. So that's all that plurality means. It might be two, it might be three, it might be four, but really it's not healthy just to have one elder or a minister calling the shots in a church because nobody, remember here we go, nobody in a Presbyterian church body is not under authority. The other one I was struck with, because it really fits with what we're going to deal with tonight. So let me answer this, and then it will really lead us into the evening message. How do you share the gospel in an effective way with friends who are pluralists? and accept any quote-unquote spiritual teaching without questioning or caring about the objective historical truth of the teaching. And I think probably the best thing to do is let me go through the material tonight, and I think that will pave the way, because it really is pretty much exactly what we're dealing with, but I appreciate that question, okay? So we are in message number five, the last one on the church before the modern watching world. And we're dealing tonight with the mercies of God. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. And what Paul is dealing with, the mercies of God, Romans 1-11, all of that is this massive package of the mercies of God. And that package, the mercies of God, which goes from the wrath of God against sin to the glory of God and all things of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be the glory forever. Amen. chapters 9 through 11 that deal with the dynamic of God working with Jews and Gentiles. He's given the great story, okay? And that story is the package that we know of as the mercies of God. But it's a story, true story. But it's an account of what is. And the church dealing with the modern world is a church dealing with a world that really is acutely aware of its meaninglessness. And it's a fascinating study. Just Google in the meaninglessness of man. But let me give you some illustrations. And again, these are the kinds of things that ought to bring tears to your eyes. And if you're like me and tears don't come that easily, it should break your heart. This is from the song by Jeremy Shane, Lost in the Universe. Scared to make mistakes, trying to find my place. No one knows how bad I want this. See the great on stage, wishing I was the same. No one knows how bad I need this. I just want to be loved. But what if I'm not good enough? It's killing me. It's killing me inside. Am I doing this right? Am I finding my way? Let me know. Because I'm just a kid lost in the universe. Moved out to LA. Now got bills to pay. Working nine to five. And I'm trying to find me. quotations about the loss of meaning. In our busy lives, we are often on autopilot. We get lost in the doing at the expense of being. I had someone once who made me every day mean something, and now I'm lost. and nothing means anything anymore. Viktor Frankl, who was a founder of interesting logotherapy, therapy by words, he was an Austrian physicist, not a physician, psychiatrist, not a Christian, but his work on the meaning of man is fascinating. He wrote, as to the causation of the feeling of meaninglessness, One may say, albeit in an oversimplifying way, that people have enough to live by, but nothing to live for. They have the means, but no meaning. This was not a Christian writing this. A modern writer, life, a meaningless thing. Draped in some moments that can be given any title or any definition. That's what existentialism is, life, a meaningless thing. Draped in some moments they can be given any title or definition. And then this one that in the right sense of the word is pathetic. I'm at a point in my life where I just want to be very quiet. And this, my dear friends, that's the world you're in. And it is, it's pitiful. So, how do you tell the world the good news that we learn from the Word of God, and that is supremely the good news displayed in Jesus Christ? You tell people the story. You tell people the story that the Bible itself tells, and you're part of that story, and both are included in it. So let's just take a few minutes, and this will not be as long and demanding as the other one, but I want you to write these down. At the end, I'm going to give you a bibliography so you can begin to build on these things. But this is one I really, you can begin to fill it in for yourself. The story has four chapters, four huge chapters that you want to tell people. And the story, number one, is that God created the world. The world really had a beginning. It has not existed eternally, even, and I know this may be too elementary, second law of thermodynamics, but if in fact everything is tending toward increased entropy or disorganization, and ultimately disintegration, if we'd been here eternally, we wouldn't be here, okay? So that's kind of a simple way to look at it. No, the world had a beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. and he's not silent. And what from that do you learn about the doctrine of creation? Number one, the world is good. It's not a mixture of good and evil. There is evil in it because of the fall. Stones aren't evil. Black bears aren't evil. Trees aren't evil. People are sinful and evil, but God made the world good. And that's a phenomenal thing for you to meditate on and dwell on. The world is good. Second, when I began to read Dr. Van Til in college, And I read this, and it's so basic, I don't know why it impacted me, but it did then, and this has impacted me so much now when it comes to, why do we talk about the Word of God? Why do you, why are you so emphasized a Bible and the Word of God? It's because right from the beginning, man was meant to live out of the Word of God. Man was meant to be a revelation receiver, as Paul Tripp put it. God puts Adam and Eve in the garden, and he tells them they are to name the creation, even describes them, even describes what marriage is. God describes all of those things and gives, really, what we know of as creation ordinances. Man was made to work. There was a Sabbath because God rested on the seventh day and you may disagree and you may be wrong about it if you want to live in that wrong. But folks, God made the world in six days of ordinary length. Come on. The Scriptures tell us that our week is patterned after God's own week. You labor six days and rest one, because in six days God made the heavens and the earth and sea and all that's in them. Don't say six 24-hour days, that's a uniformitarian view, but six days of what we call ordinary length. And God gave work, He gave rest. Actually, there's a sanctity of truth. God spoke. to Adam and Eve, and they listened to the liar. God ordained marriage, God ordained procreation in the garden. Sexual relations are not the result of the fall, they're a good thing. So you take those things, Professor Murray, in his volume Principles of Conduct, if you're going to read anything about ethics, along with the Bible, start with Professor Murray's Principles of Conduct. His material on creation ordinances is magnificent. So man and man was made to be a revelation receiver. And I could not leave the conference without at least once quoting Gerhardus Voss and the excellent book that Danny Olinger did, a Gerhardus Voss anthology But listen to this, you know about a power-packed quotation, it's a short one, but it's so rich Gerhard S. Voss, who used to teach biblical theology at Princeton and who was really in many ways the inspiration for all conservative biblical theology, Gerhard S. Voss said, God reveals himself because in his love for his own and interest in them, it is natural for him to open up and communicate himself. Revelation, in a sense, is the highest that God has to give, because in it, he gives himself. Wow! When you're reading the Word of God, that is God giving you himself. And when that Old Testament word comes to the focus of the New Covenant period, and the King comes into the world, God gives the revelation of Himself in His Son. We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. But right from the beginning, man was made to be a revelation receiver. We're meant to live out of words. And also in the garden, man was an interpreter. And this is kind of a fun thing to think about, because Adam was to name the creatures. I wonder how he designed a platypus, which has got to be one of the most unusual creatures you've ever seen, but he named them. And however that played out, whatever that language was, Adam took those words that God had given to him as his language, and in some way he defined these creatures by their names. And so man was made to be an interpreter of creation, And human beings were made to be worshippers. They were made to glorify and enjoy God in the garden. It doesn't use that language in Genesis 1 and 2, but the concept is totally there because man was to live out of every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So that's where you begin with people, a very robust doctrine of creation. And I can know about this world. I remember very distinctly on the Sunday morning that I was converted. And it had snowed in Putnam, Connecticut that morning. And there was a little tree near the library. The tree was probably about 15 feet, but now it's a big, big thing. But it had snowed. And I remember how liberating it was for me when I was done my work at 1230 that day to go outside and see the snow-capped tree. and be able to say, I can know the God who made that snow. And you'll notice in the book of Revelation, it's that adoration of God the creator of all things that are created. That's what begins the worship of heaven as John sees it. He doesn't begin with the lamb. He begins with the God who made all things, and by his will they are and do exist. And so to be able to tell people, you can know the God who made this world. And I wouldn't throw this in right away, but if it comes up, if people, and incidentally, quite frankly, There are not many people in America who really believe in macroevolution. That's put by the educational establishment as the religious commitment we're supposed to have. Most people realize that the idea that everything came from hydrogen is really something that takes way too much faith to believe. And so if you're dealing with evolutionists, and as I've done many, many times, simply the language is, you know, I really have too much faith to believe that everything came from nothing, to believe that life came from non-life, or even to believe that these complex beautiful things, and incidentally Ashley can tell you some examples of how wonderful God's creation is. Can't believe they came by chance. So always, always begin, however you do it, talking about creation with people. Then the fall. Why is that important? Because there is such a thing as an obituary page. There is something called death. And the most rank unbeliever cannot deny that. Now there is, we'll get to it in a moment, there is a way in certain religions where you can say that that's just an illusion. Doesn't work in history. But the fall. The historicity of Genesis 1 through 11, Dr. Schaeffer's book, Genesis in Space and Time, somewhat dated in his treatment, but it's helpful, dealing with the importance of the created world and the fall. But no light views, young people, of Genesis 1 through 11. A lot of people say, well, Genesis 1 is poetry. Excuse me, Genesis is an historical book, and historical books don't contain poetry like that. Genesis 1 is an account of how in six days God made the heavens and the earth, and is there a symmetry in it? Is there a kind of a parallel in those things? You can deal with that, that's fine. God made the heavens and the earth, and then there was a real fall. And young folks, we are pitifully weak dealing with what the Fall is, and it's why we also have often pitifully weak views of the Atonement. Genesis 6-5, every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. That doesn't de-man, man. That shows how opposite to God human beings are. Romans 1 and verse 18 and following that we read on last night in the opening message is a catalog of what sin brings into the world. And if people want to know what you believe about human nature, you can say, well, it's very interesting that the Bible gives us an MRI of the human life, of the human heart. And it's in Romans 3, beginning at verse 9. What then, are we Jews any better off than the Gentiles? No, not at all. We who are religious, we're not any better. We've already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written. Here's the MRI of you and of me by nature. None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. Incidentally, this term, seeker-sensitive church, in the literal sense of the word, if you're a seeker-sensitive church, and you're going after people who are seeking God, you ain't gonna have anybody in church. You want a seeker-sensitive church? Jesus says the Father seeks such to worship Him. The Father seeks those, humanly speaking, who desire to glorify and enjoy Him. Anyway, no one seeks after God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. We're still made in God's image, but as far as contributing things positively, no. No one does good. Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. And their paths are ruin and misery. And the way of peace they've not known. There's no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. And young folks, you have to focus on this in a loving, gracious, but real way. Any medical doctor who says to a cancer patient who has terminal cancer, you're really pretty good, should be sued for malpractice. A lot of preachers should be sued for malpractice. But to open up to people, connecting with them, that this is the real world. And it's their heart. That's what Jesus did as he dealt with the rich young ruler in the Sermon on the Mount. Someone says, I haven't done anything bad. Jesus says, yeah, really? You've never hated anybody? If you hate somebody, you've killed them in your heart. You have ever lusted after a woman, then you've committed adultery in your heart. And you begin to deal with people about this in a loving and gracious way. And if they bristle, ask them questions. It's gonna be part of the answer to the good question that came. Lovingly ask questions. How do you explain the abnormalities in the world? Remember, we learned in Romans 1, Unbelievers are without an apologetic. People say, you've got to defend your faith. I love Charles Spurgeon's statement, defend the faith. As I preach it, I'd as soon defend a roaring lion. There is a place for apologetics and defending the faith. Don't be on the defensive. How do you explain the abnormalities in the world? What abnormalities? May I ask you a question? Were you upset that all of these children were killed in Nashville, Tennessee? Were you upset? Was that normal? Was that right? Why do you believe it's abnormal? This is critical if you're going to deal with modern atheism and do it lovingly. Some years ago I was in a market that I love to go to because at the time They profess Christians, the owners of it, and they were closed on the Lord's Day, and I love that, so I can support them. And then they later began opening on the Lord's Day because their pastor told them God would understand. So I said to him, would God understand if you committed adultery? Yeah, I mean, but anyway, that's New York. So I'm in line one day. Bill has a way of opening mouth and inserting his foot in the worst possible ways. I've got it down with science. line of people, and there's a lady in back of me who obviously was very troubled, very bedraggled, older lady, and sad, and you could tell, and pay attention to that with people Sadness And I had, you know, we had six children, so I bought half the store that Monday morning and she only had one or two items, and I said, no, please, please, go ahead of me She said, I'm glad that there's some kindness left in the world. And I said, ma'am, that's because I serve a kind God and I want to reflect Him. This automatically gets the attention of these secular New Yorkers who only use the name God when they curse. She looks at me and says, I can never believe in God I had relatives who were killed in the Holocaust." And you pause at that because that's, read Elie Wiesel's Night, and that will give you a picture of the kinds of horror that sin brings into the world. Now by then people are quiet, wondering what this guy is going to say to this lady who's very obviously upset. and was waiting for an opportunity to vent her anger. So, first of all, I prayed. I said, Lord, please help me answer this wisely. And I said, first of all, I want you to know I am brokenhearted, and I am that you lost relatives in the Holocaust. I know of others that have experienced that, and I'm heartbroken. I am. I said, may I ask you a question? She said, sure, go ahead. I said, if there's no God, how can you be so upset with the Holocaust? She said, I never thought of that. I said, I want you to, because there is a God who has declared things as good and evil, and He will bring about a justice in the world. We'll get there. But no God, then you have no reason to be that upset. Now, is that hard to say? Yes. Do you say it in a way that, ah, I got her. You go home and you really pray for that person. So that's the kind of thing we're getting at. And see, because any other way of looking at the world does not satisfy the human heart. Example For a while. I had not a long time thankfully, but but I had flirted with Buddhism You know when you go through the some of you have done this, you know You go start going through the religions of the world and you you know It's a little bit like sampling all your fast-food restaurants You try Taco Bell you try Wendy's you try McDonald's and then but then after a while you're sick to your stomach And so you hopefully get something that's a little bit better. That's kind of for me Buddhism All is maya. Maya is illusion. For Buddhism, you have to rise above your feelings. Because ultimately, those feelings are unreal anyway. Because the whole world is ultimately unreal anyway. And nirvana is when you come to realize that everything, or maya, everything was illusion. Frankly, it's a little bit like Christian science practitioners in some ways. Then I came across a haiku from a Buddhist man whose young boy died tragically. Haiku, three little lines of poetry. And this was his haiku. All is maya. Everything is illusion. And yet, and yet, you can't live like that. It's not real. This is going to bring us to our key word here at the end. But as you assess the modern watching world, stare into this pit of what sin has brought into the world, and I mean it. stare into it, whether you do it in terms of how it wrecks people psychologically, emotionally, physically, in any other way. We refer to Mary here again, who works with mental illness. And she can tell you, as she works with people in her program that she works with, how a fallen world and fallen hearts and fallen situations due to human beings what the bomb did at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And let that really impact you. Why? That'll bring us to the third chapter of the book, Redemption. Because you really won't appreciate redemption as you should if you don't appreciate the fall and what it brought into the world as you stood. And all light views of sin always bring light views of the gospel and of the atonement. Proof? American evangelicalism. Okay? Redemption is chapter three, which has as its heart, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that those who believe in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. And when you're presenting the gospel to people, there are so many different portals that you can use as you think about the work of redemption that begins at Genesis chapter three, where God promises that the seed of, isn't it interesting, the seed of the woman, The seed comes from the man, not in the economy of God, because the seed of the woman happens to be one that would be supernaturally born of a virgin. The seed of a woman will crush the head of the serpent, which comes by the cross, in which Jesus disarmed him. So you begin, excuse the pun, you have the seed promise of redemption. And are you thrilled with the way this works itself out in the Old Testament? I hope you are. Here you have God, the world. The world's not going to be cleansed by a universal flood. And yes, it was a universal flood. I still can't understand people saying, well, it's just a local flood. Really? Then how were all the mountains on all the face of the earth covered if it was just a local flood? Really? And in fact, because it's a universal flood, because it's to represent a universal judgment, right? But God says, Genesis 6, that's before the flood, Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually." But then afterwards, he says basically the same thing. I'm not going to destroy the earth, even though every man's thoughts are like this. But God preserves the world. People say, I cannot understand election. I say, I can't either. Really? You're an Orthodox Presbyterian? You can't understand election? No, I have a real problem with it. You do. And I say, you tell me your problem. And they say, my problem, I can't believe. that God didn't choose everybody. I said, oh, I got a different problem. I can't believe God chose anybody, given how bad people are. But God preserves a world. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest won't cease. You know, there's still the view out, oh, you just wait until the sun becomes a, what is it, a supernova, and all of the planets in the solar system are sucked in in this doomsday picture, an apocalyptic picture, and that's the way the world's gonna end. No, it's not. That's not gonna happen. You're going to have all the beautiful seasons that you get to see when you're in Virginia and in New England and other places until the Lord comes. But why? Because God is preserving the world to save his people. That's why. And be in awe of this. God takes a man, Abram, in this pagan area. And what does he do? He speaks to him. and he gives him promises, and you and your seed, all the families of the earth will be blessed, and whoever blesses you will be blessed, and whoever curses you will be cursed. And this Abraham begins his pilgrimage, and Abraham and his seed become the beginning of what we would know of as the church, in which Abraham and his household and their faith are all part of God's plan of redemption. It's a beautiful thing. And then God raises up Moses. Israel is a nation descended from Abraham, and Moses is a prophet. Moses begins what we know of as the prophetic office. He wrote the first five books of the Bible. But he's a leader of people, and that God will raise up a prophet like unto Moses. But this prophet doesn't just speak, he acts. And he leads the people of God out of Egypt. That's real history. That really happened. That's why our Jewish friends celebrate those things. And it really happened. I mean, God really brought the Israelites through the Red Sea or the Sea of Reeds, if you want, and vanquished the Egyptians. And you study, do some studying in biblical archaeology. It's fascinating. On about, oh, 1,450 years or so before the birth of Christ, there are records of a severe decline in the size of the Egyptian army. And people say, well, there was some kind of plague that affected it. Uh-uh. It was something else. The historicity of that account. It's a wonderful story. I've got to tell you New York stories. There was a black boy up in the Bronx. and uh... there's a a roman catholic school very prestigious roman catholic school up there that that also is not really known for its fidelity to the word of god and this is black boy he's there are black brothers and sisters i love up there they're just right up front there about their faith in and this black boy he's he's sitting on a bench there in the bronx and he's got his bible and he's reading it and he's saying glory You know, better than we do. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. And a professor of Bible at this very prestigious liberal school sits down with him and says, young man, what are you reading? Oh, he says, I'm reading about how God took the Egyptians and he drowned them all in the Red Sea and he delivered his people. And the professor, part of the priests of academia, told the young man, he said, I'm glad to see you're reading. That's good. And he said, but young man, I need to tell you that really, it wasn't a sea as we would know of it today. It was really just a marsh of about, oh, maybe six inches of water or so that the Israelites went through. So black boy thinks about this and he says, so just be careful with what you're reading. Professor walks away and he hears from the bench, glory, glory, hallelujah, praise the Lord. And so the professor comes back and he says, now what are you reading? He says, I'm reading the same thing. And I am so thrilled that God drowned all those Egyptians in six inches of water. That boy needs a seminary degree. OK, so I mean, these kinds of things, OK? And then you go on. God raises up. What does God do? He raises up a seed. families. He raises up a nation of families. And I love to tell people, and I do this with great love for my Baptist friends, I say, you know, one of the reasons I'm not a Baptist is because you can go all that far back and God distanced himself from a Baptist view. What do you mean? Well, God delivered the Israelites, but Pharaoh wanted to have the little children stay there in Egypt. And Moses said, no way, Jose. The children come with us. So right at the beginning, Not only families, but God, and people that know infant baptism in the New Testament, sure is. All of our fathers were baptized into Moses and in the cloud and the sea, and there were little children there. So, but that's a beautiful story of how God not only has worked in a family, but families, and he raises up a prophet. And then the next covenant with David, it's a king and a kingdom. And then later a statement about a new testament, a new covenant that will change hearts. Is that all coincidence? In one sense it is. Two things. History and its unfolding. And that's what makes Christianity, biblical religion, different, is these are things that happened in history, not just in my head, okay? They happened in history. And all of that is fulfilled in the work of Christ, who is the promised seed of Abraham. He is the prophet like unto Moses. He is the one who is going to build his kingdom, and he's the king, and he's going to do what the old covenant couldn't do. He's going to give new hearts. God so loved the world that he gave his son. And that's when you begin to talk with people about the church calendar. And you say, in history, use the word Christmas or not, there was a real event in history where God was united with manhood, humanity, in the womb of a virgin. And that really happened according to promise. And when this one was born, to see him was to see God and man. And you open up. Don't expect you're going to do this all in one meeting, but as people get interested, you're developing this. You want to know God? Know Jesus Christ. We beheld his glory. Glorious are the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He has exegeted him. That language, so magnificent from John chapter 1, you don't get that in the Quran. And then you know the story, there's perfect obedience. Because we're disobedient. You always tell people, you know, there's two things you need to be acceptable to God. One is you have to have your sins forgiven. The other is you have to be absolutely perfect before God. And you have to have that. That's Jesus' obedience. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. You have the incarnation. You have Good Friday. And explain that to people. Whether you have a Good Friday service or not is not the point. You have a Good Friday service in your heart where the cross is something that you never, ever, ever leave. Why? Because without the cross, there's only one alternative for everybody, and that's hell. And don't be afraid. Don't beat people with it, but you've got to tell people about it. God delivers us from the wrath to come. and you have experienced death in your family, let me tell you the meaning of Easter. It's not bunnies. It's not chocolate eggs. It's not your Easter bonnet. It's about a victory over death. The only place, only place, where there's victory over death. Ascension into heaven. We have a king, and his name is Jesus. And incidentally, in our culture, The way our Covenanter forefathers spoke is what we're going to have to do. The early church knew that Jesus was king and therefore Caesar wasn't. Jesus is the king, the state is not. Now how that works out, given the fifth commandment, is something we've got to work on together. But young folks, that's where you're going to be. You're going to stand for Christ as king, as our forefathers did, or you'll regret it. But anyway, he's king. He sends the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? It doesn't mean tongues. Every conversion is a repetition of Pentecost. It is. Give me some films of people converted where you see tongues of fire on their heads. Give me some recordings of mighty rushing winds when people are converted. Come on, I'll take at your word. Every conversion is a repetition of Pentecost. All right, give me the evidence. You know how much? Nothing. The purpose of Pentecost is what? God was undoing the curse of Babel. God was beginning to undo that curse by which all the nations were divided, and he's going to bring them together doing, I love to say this, doing what the United Nations can never do. It makes people one in Christ. Pentecost and the meaning of the coming of the Spirit, which is a down payment of heaven, that old hymn, heaven came down and glory filled our souls. That's what Pentecost is about, even though that song's not in the Trinidad hymnal. It's still true. And then, so redemption accomplished in history. And that is why that is so, now people will say, ah, all myth. Simple way to answer, prove it. Prove that it's myth. And the answer is you can't. Again, they don't have an apologetic. You can't prove Christ did not exist. Come on. How do you have a Christian church that is what it is? Why do you have people risking their lives because they pulled a corpse out of a tomb? And you want what God implanted in history as the great proof, if you want, of the Christian faith. It's a man called Saul. Saul, who would have become the head of the party that persecuted Christ, who was responsible, arguably at least indirectly, for the death of Christians. And God sovereignly converted Saul and made him a Paul in part as a statement that this is not myth. There's no way you can explain. So don't be put off by those things. Prove it's myth. So that's redemption accomplished. But there's another part to that. It's redemption applied. So what? And here's where you begin to get down to dealing with the lives of people. Not just to repeat the ordo salutis, calling, external calling, effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification. Good, I'm glad you know those things. I hope you know the catechism answers too. What does that mean? God is there and he's not silent. has a call to you. Really, how do you know? Because I'm talking to you? God is calling you through my words. He ordained this meeting. I love to say when I'm preaching, you don't do it in arrogance. God is calling you through the ministry of the word of God. He is there and he's not silent. That's external calling. What's effectual calling? God changes your heart and he draws you to Christ. And you sing, long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused the quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed Thee. And God does that, folks, in amazing ways. When you come to Christ and you're declared righteous, what does that mean? You say to people, hey, by nature, remember what we read in Romans 3? By nature, you're in a courtroom. By nature, you're in a courtroom and God is the judge. And he says to you, you are guilty multiplied by infinity because your sins are against an infinite God. We have a lawyer, and that lawyer is Jesus. And Jesus says to the father, I died for him, I died for her. And you don't practice double indemnity. I took all the punishment for all of his or her sins, and therefore he needs to be free. Father says, gotta be perfect. Jesus says, no problem. My perfect righteousness is given to him, and I'm sufficient. But that's not all. So you say to people, you're in a predicament. You're guilty by nature. And they say, I don't believe it. And say, I may be at 35,000 feet in a jet. And I may not believe in gravity, jump out of a plane and you're gonna say it graciously. But see, let them know that that's not an answer. And then to say, but you're not only justified, you're adopted. You're taken into the father's house. You're part of his family. You have brothers and sisters and all these things we talked about with the church. Yeah, okay, but I still, I still gonna have to struggle with my pornography addiction. Yeah, you will. Be honest. The good things we wouldn't do, we find ourselves doing them. The things we should be doing, we find ourselves not doing. The Bible's very honest. But grace breaks the back of sin. He breaks the power of reigning sin. There's still remaining indwelling sin, but we'll work on that. We'll work on that together, because we're all in this together as a church, and this is sanctification. and one day glorification. And Paul even says we're also glorified. What does he mean? In principle, you already are. In Christ, you're seated with him. And open that up and say, this is the story that God is working in history. He's taking people like us and he's making them new creatures in Christ. You know what people are saying in so many ways when their lives are meaningless? They're saying, I need to be a new person. Isn't that pitiful in that hymn? I want to be known. I want to be on stage. I want to be famous. I want to be loved But I'm not good enough They know you're not but Jesus is okay, and then tell them your story and yeah, yeah, not only Baptists do that Unless Paul was a Baptist In Acts 26, he's before Agrippa, and he tells his story of his conversion. And you ought to be ready to do it. Now, please don't spend four hours on it, okay? Now, please. But in a simple way, say, I can illustrate this. Now, for many of you who were brought up in Christian homes, and I praise the Lord for that, you were spared the scars that somebody like me had to have. But to be able to say, I was brought up in a Christian home, there was never a day I didn't know about the love of God in Jesus Christ for me, and I revel in Him as my Lord, my Savior, my husband. There you go, that'll get them thinking. And for someone like me to be able to say, I know what it's like to be delivered very dramatically from darkness to light. That's your story. And that's part of the story that God has ordained for all of history. Your part in the life of Christ. Wisely, judiciously, faithfully tell the story in your story. This is what Jesus did, and this is how he gave that to me. And then last, consummation. Okay, you have creation, you have the fall, you have redemption, accomplished and applied. You gotta talk about where this world is going. And again, you need a very robust view of the end, but also human history. And whether it's optimistic Amil or Postmill or whatever, you really need to have an optimistic view of what God's doing in the world. It will encourage you. Perfect? No. We're not at perfection yet. Jesus hasn't come back. But so working, what does John say? The light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it. And it isn't. And it won't. And you have to have that confidence. You may not see it. You will see it in your lifetime. I may not in mine. But yeah, the darkness is going to be displaced by light. And death will be replaced by life. And lies will be replaced by truth. Perfectly? No, no, no, no, no, no. You're always going to have wheat and tares. But sometimes you have a little more wheat than we've got right now. Anyway, that's history. That's where things are going. But it's not the end. It's a great comfort to be able to say to that Jewish lady, I didn't, but if I'd had more time, I would have. One day, those who killed those Jews, who died in an unrepentant state, They will be judged. And God doesn't make any mistakes in His judgments. That's a tremendous comfort. The world is so unfair. It is. Because it's falling. And because, quite frankly, we're unfair. That's not a problem for God. And at the last day when Jesus judges the world, the language Paul used for the Athenians, he is appointed a day in which he will judge the world through the one who is ordained, giving proof to all people from his resurrection from the dead. Man, you think it's difficult to say that to our secular culture? Paul preached that to pagans. And some laughed, some believed. And it'll be the same with you. has given His head over all things. The Father has given all judgment to Him. And yes, He will judge rightly, and all that is wrong will be put right. But you have to add this. The Bible says He is King. And I call you now to bow before Him. This is a day of grace. This is a day of salvation. This is a day in which you are called to believe in Him. But if you don't, one day you will bow. You know what's very sobering is to say to an unbeliever who still is unrepentant and is rebellious, say, with tears in my heart, I say this to you. But you remain in that condition, and Jesus comes back and judges the world. You will declare that an eternal punishment in hell is absolutely just, given your sin. One of the scariest texts in the New Testament is the wrath of the Lamb. That's not the guy in Herald Square in New York screaming, you know, repent or be dead. It said very quietly, but you got to say it. You know why? Because it's real. That's God's story. And that's the story that you tell people. And it's a true story. You can add this in it as well. You can say, you know, there are judgments that come in the earth. And they are what Romans 8, a fascinating chapter to study. They're labor pains that are showing one day the world is going to deliver a new heavens and a new earth. And you could even account for those things. But there's also blessings. in which God does, by the Holy Spirit, give a down payment of heaven. You can say, and I don't understand what you're talking about, but try to parse it out. See, one of the wonderful things about being a Christian, we're the ones on whom the powers of the ends of the age have come. And we know something of the fear of God, the love of God. We know something of the glory of God in heaven. We set our affections on things above. And don't use this language where you can be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good. I guess there's some like that, but we need a little bit more heavenly mindedness in our day to dwell on that world that is to come and to say to people, I want to encourage you, this world is not meaningless. It's headed for a new heavens and a new earth. But I don't see it. No, it's by faith. It is by faith and not by sight. But one day, faith will become sight. Now, what are we doing, folks? We're taking the things of what we call the Reformed faith, and what you're doing is distilling it in a way that people can drink just a little bit of it at a time and find their hearts made glad by the gospel. That's what you do before a modern watching world in which there is so much meaninglessness. And that's the way you live, by living as always those who know the fact, you know, people, the people who know their God will be strong. I know the God who made the world. I know the God who tells me about why this world is all fouled up. And I can make sense of this person called Jesus and human history, and in fact, all of human history, because what is history? It's a scaffolding in which Jesus is building His church. He's given as head over all things for the sake of His church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all, and everything will culminate in Him. You know where history's going, and one day all will be perfect. And that's what you tell people. So go out and tell the story to others. Take these things of the Reformed faith. But remember, become all things to all people that by all means you might save some. Tonight I want to talk to you about limited atonement. No, I want to talk to you about a full atonement. I want to talk to you about the way by which every one of your sins, including the sins of unbelief, is dealt with by the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? So that's what I mean. All right, that's it. I could keep going on and on and on. I love to tell the story of unseen things above of Jesus and His glory of Jesus and His love. Now, this question, and then we'll wrap it up. So how do you share the gospel in an effective way with friends who are pluralists and accept any spiritual quote-unquote teaching? Spirituality is a garbage can. Incidentally, spirituality is dangerous. I like to listen to all these things that speak to me in the world. What about the devil? So be careful. Spirituality is a dangerous thing in that sense. without questioning or caring about the objective historical truth of the teaching of the scriptures. Okay, one way to do it is to use a comparison. If they say, that doesn't interest me, and say, well, let me ask you, are you interested in, to some extent, in government? Yeah, I'm interested in government. Are you interested in a government so by and for the people? Yeah, I am. That's kind of a good thing. A constitutional republic. Incidentally, this country's not a democracy. I hear this in New York. This country's a democracy. Their founding fathers would spank them. The French Revolution was democracy. We're a constitutional republic. But that's neither here nor there. At the end of a conference, it doesn't make any difference what you say. I'll go off on any. But you would say, well, let me tell you about the United States of America. And it's a perfect model, no it's not, but it's a model of what you're talking about. And so when people have a concept, they have an idea, but they don't want to believe in history, you can use that. Now here's the other that I think is better. It's an axiom in war that the direct approach is usually the way to get slaughtered That's why you'll often hear about attacks on the flanks of troops And so the direct approach is probably the not the best way with people So what I'll do, and you've got to discipline yourself to do this, is ask people questions So you say, well, let me ask you a question. Is there any way we can see God? And I don't know what their answer is going to be, but ultimately you could say, well, let me tell you the way. See, again, on their presuppositions, I can see God in a tree. Really? What do you learn about God from bark? But any way we could see God? Well, I don't know. Do you have a way you can see God? Yes, his name is Jesus. And again, you start talking about the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. And if they say, I know how I can know God. Well, tell me about it. And watch them flounder around. They don't see God. They may see an image of Him in some place. And they may say, well, I see it in people. I think to myself, what a wonderful world. See, that's very interesting because we're made in the image of God, but we're just images. How do you know that? So questions. How is the problem of our moral failure dealt with? When you say sin, they don't know what you're talking about. But moral failures, and you can deal with that. How's that dealt with? We use that with Jews when we deal with them. And you're dealing with Jewish friends? How are your sins dealt with? And they'll call it the proverb. Well, by righteous deeds, our sins are atoned for. Well, how does a sinful sacrifice cover your sins? So asking questions and creating kind of a cognitive dissonance in them. What happens after death, you ask? Well, how do you know? I know somebody named Jesus. Is there any hope after death? I know somebody named Jesus. On your worldview, who or what is in charge of the world? That's an interesting one. Is there any hope for justice in the thousands of years of iniquity in human history? What's your hope for justice? So that's the way I would deal with it. And brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, this takes time. Don't, you know, this old idea, well, you know, I've got to do evangelism, I've got to get them to accept Jesus in their heart in a couple minutes, and then I'll go to the next house. Come on. People have questions that are challenging. You can say to them, okay, I asked you some heavy-duty questions. Tell you what, when can you meet next week at Starbucks? Or Dunkin' Donuts, if you don't like real coffee. But when can we meet next week at Starbucks? And let's chat, write down your questions, and tell you what, I'll pay the bill. Got it? All right. Let me give you a bibliography and then we'll break for the evening. Oh, I'm not going to bother you ladies to do this. I respect womanhood so much. Jeremy, not Jeremiah. Got it. You haven't done much at this conference. These other ladies have been serving you. Seth, same thing. These ladies have been serving us all these days. Are you thankful for all the service that's been done for us? You can applaud for them. These are some readings, I'm not going to go over all of them, based on the messages. If you want to, and I hope you will, develop some of these things, my suggested bibliography. Also, if you want to email me with, I didn't put this on here, I don't guarantee when I'm gonna respond to it, but I promise you that I will. But if you have questions that you want to send me or be in contact, real simple email, W, like William, and my last name, S-H-I-S-H-K-O, there's shish, it's like, think of shish kebab, okay? But it's shishko, wshishko at gmail.com, and I'm glad to feel your questions. Although I hope that tonight, what's it like, Ken, outside? Is the rain stopped? Oh, okay. We've got to eat first, right? All right. All right, let's stand. I'm so honored to minister to all of you. I hope it's been useful. Let's stand together and let's pray. And now, our Lord, we don't ask that you dismiss us with your blessing, because we're still here, but this is the end of these conference sessions, and all of us have received a lot of material over two and a half days. Now, our Lord, for any of the things that were said that would be not faithful to your word or to your glory and the good of others, blow them away. but where these things have sought to help to make us, and the churches of which we're a part, living sacrifices, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto you, in which we become all things to all people, that by all means we might save some, to the extent this has been helpful to that end, God, make us to go forth being a part of parts of churches that are before a modern watching world, and may that modern watching world see us, and when it does see us, through our holiness and our love, be able to say, we've seen Jesus. We pray in his glorious name, confirming that we desire to be heard as we say together, amen, and hallelujah, amen.