Scripture, the Ground of Our Defense

By Michael Klikas

22 October 2006
Adult Education Hour
Acts 22

As we continued in our study on apologetics last week we moved to the book of Acts. As usual we will recap what we covered to help keep it fresh in our minds and then pickup where we left of. Last week we covered quite a bit of scripture and that was really our introduction to this particular area of apologetics. We will not read all those verses we read last week for sake of time. So let’s recap and then get started.

If you remember I gave that overview from one commentary and stated that it was a nice overview, but that it really didn’t present verse one of Acts Chapter 22 properly by letting you know why Paul was giving a verbal defense. Commentaries are great tools but you still have to read and study the word of God in order to understand the word of God. Commentaries are fallible; the word of God is infallible. So before you run to the commentary, understand to the best of your ability the context of the chapter or you may miss key points that are being made.

The next point that we made was sometimes the people that you have to give a verbal defense to know the word of God but are still lost. There are many types of people that fall into this category. People are religious and lost; people who seem saved but have allowed themselves to base their doctrine on the teachings of men; these are the types and we could continue to list other types that you may have to give a verbal defense to.

We then made the point of saying that apologetics are sovereignly controlled by the Lord. Those encounters that you have are not by chance. All the events that lead up to your meeting with someone is designed and orchestrated by the Lord. Then in talking about the sovereignty of God we said that we obviously can’t know everything and must be content to just obey the Lord and not keep asking why.

And of course we made the point of saying that if you enter into apologetics you need to expect conflict. People are not waiting for you and all happy and excited that you are finally going to set them straight. But how many times do we have that attitude? We are here to set you straight! We can’t set anyone straight, only the Lord can. Along with that we said and will continue to say that all we need to do as an apologist is obey the Lord and present the truth in such a way as that person is pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now as far as presenting the truth we made this next point and I really want to touch on this again. When someone we know is going to present the truth to another person how many times have said do not get involved, it’s a waste of time. Or we ourselves talk ourselves into believing this. We usually use this type of reasoning when we don’t want to get involved. We also use this type of reasoning when we are putting up a defense in the flesh and not trusting God by using the word of God to work in the person’s heart. When JW’s come to the door, don’t answer it because they may come back again. The problem that I said I have is that they don’t come back so I have one shot to confront their lies and give them the truth. When JW’s, Mormons and other such groups come to your house or you encounter them away from the house, it is a divine appointment for you to verbally defend the truth. But as I said the problem that we have is that we do not want to get involved.

We then talked about our reaction to people whom the Lord saves. We get excited when a catholic is saved, but we are completely amazed when an atheist, a JW, or a Mormon gets saved. We act as if it is harder for God to save a Jehovah’s Witness then it is for to save a Catholic. We act as if it’s easier for God to save someone who has grown up in church then it is to save an atheist.

Then one of the final things we talked about was our options. If you remember those who were with Paul, when they could not persuade him to refrain from going to Jerusalem they said the Lord’s will be done. Remember the only option that we have is not an option but a command. We must defend the truth and do God’s will.

As we get started we are going to cover the last point we made and continue on from there.

Even when others want to avoid the conflict, you have to stand up for what is right and do God’s will. There’s something else that I want you to notice about what we are studying here in Acts chapter twenty one.

Unlike in 1 Peter with people coming to you and asking you of the hope that is in you, you are going to have to go to them yourself. So now we have a battle on two fronts. On one front is those who will come to us and the other front are those that we will have to go to. We see this in verses fifteen through nineteen.

Acts 21:15 And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.

Acts 21:16 There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.

Acts 21:17 And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

Acts 21:18 And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

Acts 21:19 And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.

First of all we see that Paul went. Evangelism is not always going to happen in our living rooms or at our kitchen tables. Evangelism is not always going to happen on Saturday mornings and on Sunday’s during church. Apologetics is not always going to happen like that either. There has to be a time when we are prepared to go for the defense of the scriptures. You never have to fight the battle yourself because if you are fighting for the purpose of glorifying God and fighting the battle in the spiritual realm then the Lord will always be beside you in you the battle. That alone should bring us great comfort. But the Lord knowing that we are also in need of fellowship and companionship provides other Christians around us who want to be an encouragement to us and will do all that they can to support us. How do I do that and help in the cause of apologetics and evangelism?

The first thing you can do to be an encouragement to others for the cause of apologetics and evangelism is to be faithful. I don’t know about you, but when I see the Fetgatters walk in the door it encourages me and also convicts me because I look at all the years that they have served the Lord and I want to have a testimony like that. I want to have a testimony of serving God until he either comes for us or takes me home. There are many more people and families that I could mention, so please don’t be upset that I didn’t mention you. While we shouldn’t depend on the faithfulness of others for our faithfulness, it can be of a great encouragement. There are many other families that have been an example of faithfulness that I could name, and I am sure you could too. But it should also convict us when we get down on the things of the Lord and are discouraged to the point of giving up. Has anyone ever been there? I have. But then you have others that are faithful that come along side you and encourage you. What that does is that gives you a spiritual shot in the arm that helps us to not be so selfish and focus on ourselves. It helps us redirect our focus back to where it belongs and that is on the Lord. But the other thing that does is it helps us to be an encouragement to someone else. Sometimes defending the faith can wear you down and you need that encouragement. Encouragement is not going to come from the lukewarm Christian. Saying lukewarm Christian is like saying military intelligence. It’s an oxymoron. In other words, it doesn’t exist.

Revelation 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

“Encouraging people in doing the work of the Lord will naturally come from true Christians because they have a love for the work of the ministry and for their brethren.” – Pastor Black

Another thing we see is that the brethren gladly received them. Do you know what a spiritual battle can do to someone; it can wear them out and discourage them. You can be opposed to the point of having all that are involved against you. It’s nice and good for the heart to see a friendly face, especially one who wants encourage you.

So here you have this old disciple and the brethren who were glad that Paul and his company were there. I don’t know about you but if someone is a downer, it’s not really all that encouraging to me. Now I don’t base my day on the emotional thermometer on others. But I also don’t want to be around someone whom when you ask how they are they sound like their dog died, their mother-in-law is coming to spend a month with them, the car broke down, they didn’t their raise at work, and the Cubs didn’t win again this year. Do you know what I mean right? You ask them how they are doing and the say something like alright, I guess. I guess? You mean you don’t know how you’re doing? You should know better then anyone because you’re inside you. If you don’t know, I most certainly don’t. I'm so glad that you’re so excited that we are here to minister to you. Do get my point?

Be an encouragement to others around you, because when you get into the heat of an apologetic battle, you are going to need encouragement your self. Give encouragement the way that you want to receive it. Okay, so now that I have discouraged you with my exhortation on encouragement let’s move on.

You have to have a keen ear in apologetics. Verse twenty really teaches us why. Have you ever had a conversation with someone, the conversation is going great and then one thing is said that kind of sets of alarms in your head and immediately the apologetics side of us is not only turned on, but it’s put into high gear. This is what happened with Paul as told of all of his ministry work. Notice in verse twenty again.

Acts 21:20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

Now I am sure that I told this story to at least some of you. When I was working at Aon, there was this woman there that I thought was a Christian but hadn’t had a chance to really talk with her. So one day I started talking with her and asked her if she was a Christian, and she said yes. So we talked a few more times and I had that feeling that she was off a little on here theology. One day she comes up to me and says that while she was praying in the spirit (red flag) that here apostle (big red flag) told that she was going to do something of which I don’t remember because mind immediately switched into apologetics mode. Now this probably wasn’t the most tactful defense, I must admit, but nonetheless it was a defense of the scriptures.

I said, “An apostle? as far as know they are all dead. So either one of them has come back from the dead and is really old or you have been deceived.” I then asked her if she knew what the qualifications for being an apostle was? I proceeded to tell her the qualifications for being an apostle (a biblical defense) and she responded by saying that her apostle never wanted to be an apostle but God told him that he was going to be (a non-biblical defense). Her defense was accompanied by a slap to my shoulder.

What’s the point of this story you might be thinking? This is to give you an example of a biblical defense verses a non biblical defense. It doesn’t matter what you think or what someone has told you. If what they say is not based on the word of God, then it is not an apologetical defense. So there are a few things we can learn from this. First of all you have to always be ready for the defense of the scriptures (1 Peter 3:15) and that is done by listening to what someone says. That doesn’t mean that you nitpick or become a fault finder. It just means that you have to be aware of what is being said. The second thing that we need to learn is the word of God itself. If you don’t know the scriptures then how will know when something is said that is contradictory to the word of God? Thirdly you not only need to know that something is contradictory to the word of God, but you have to know how to respond to that. What is it that Paul heard that caused the red flags to be raised? The last eight words of verse twenty were what sent up the red flags; and they are all zealous of the law:

What’s wrong with that? They said they were saved but still living as if they were under the law. Now that may sound strange to you because of all we know about using the law to evangelize. But what this means is they were still practicing the ceremony of the law believing that the ceremony of the law was the most important thing. Listen to what John Gill says about these eight words.

“and they are all zealous of the law; of the law of Moses, of the ceremonial law, as Paul might see by their being at Jerusalem, to keep this feast; for though they believed in Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah, yet they had not light enough to see, that he was the sum and substance of all the ceremonies of the law, and that they all ended in him; and therefore were zealous in the observance of them, and could not bear to hear of their abrogation.”

Another to say what we just heard is this way:

The ceremonial law was established in the Old Testament and included various washings, sacrifices, etc. which are no longer needed today. Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law so there’s no reason to continue them. The Jews wanted to continue them as they apparently did not understand that Jesus is “the sum and substance of all the ceremonies of the law.”

“Now that has nothing to do with moral laws such as thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, etc.  Christians still need to hold to the moral laws to reflect God’s character and the life of the Spirit within them, but Christians do not need to keep the ceremonial laws as these were symbolic and pointed to Christ.  When Christ came as the fulfillment of these types and shadows, the ceremonial law soon died out (especially at the destruction of the Temple in 70AD).” – Pastor Black

Romans 3:19 – 31

19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Now this is important to what we are looking at because very soon Paul is going to have to give a defense for his ministry and why he doesn’t tell the gentiles that they have to perform the ceremonial law. But before we get to that let’s see what the Bible says here in Romans 3.

What is the first thing that we see? Well we see that the law is given for those who are under the law and that if you are under the law you have no defense for the law because you are guilty. There is no one other then the Lord Jesus Christ who perfectly kept the law. Everyone else is guilty before the Lord because they have broken the law.

It doesn’t matter how hard you try to keep the law, you can’t! Verse twenty says that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified. It doesn’t matter how much good you think you are doing because you can’t fulfill the law so therefore all of your and all of my good works are worthless because they will not justify us.

Verses twenty one through twenty three show us that justification or righteousness comes through God alone and we can not obtain it through any works of the law. Look at how important this verse is in verse twenty one. Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

The righteousness of God without the law is manifested, or made known. Who witnessed this? The law and the prophets witnessed this by the fulfilling of the law and prophets. Everything that was written in the Old Testament about the Messiah was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. What the law couldn’t do, the Lord Jesus Christ could and did do.

This is really driven home in the remainder of the verses of this chapter. But notice the turn that Paul takes in verse twenty seven. It seems like it’s a turn but it’s really a turn for the listener.

Romans 3: 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Notice that we have nothing of the law to boast about because we can’t keep the law. Remember the rich young ruler. He said with sinful pride that he kept the whole law. He boasted about his works. But look at what Paul says. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. There is nothing to we have done that we can boast about. We can boast about what the Lord did, but we have nothing to boast about.

So then Paul says that we are justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Who here has earned his salvation, or has kept their salvation through their good works of the law? Obviously none of us has. But when you’re defending the truth it’s not just good enough to say, “Well, I’m sure in the Bible somewhere” as an argument. We must be able to turn the pages of the Bible and not just hold it closed in our hands, or have our own opinion of what we think is in the Bible.

Let me give you a real life illustration. This was back in the 1999 – 2000 Y2K craze. It seemed like every one who had these strange and off the wall beliefs concerning Y2K was coming to our church. On one particular Wednesday night, this older man came in for the Wednesday night prayer meeting. After the pastor finished praying, this man raised his hand and told that pastor that if would use a deep breathing technique while praying, he would get to the center of his being and be able to pray more effectively. He would have to focus on his chi. The Pastor told him that if that was true he needed to show him in the Bible. He was welcome to stay and worship with us if he liked, but he would have to remain quiet or leave if he did not agree with what we believed. He responded by saying that he was sure in was somewhere in the Bible.

This man is really no different then anyone else who decides that they know how to worship or pray based on what is important tot hem and what they have been taught without ever looking to the word of God to see if what they have been taught is truth or opinion. So the question that I want to ask you before we move on is would your defense be based on the word of God or on what you have learned and trusted to be true from others without ever studying the word of God to see if what you have been taught is true? Then the other question I want to ask you is when someone tells you something about the Bible, or about worship, do you know the scriptures enough to know that what was said is either consistent or inconsistent with the word of God?