Evidential and presuppositional apologetics.

Steve Brown:
Evidential and presuppositional apologetics. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Being adopted into the family of God is not about doing more or trying harder. It’s about being welcomed by God because of his radical grace, free from the penalties of sin and never alone in your suffering. That grace is what Key Life is all about.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hope you guys had a great week-end, and I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. We’re involved in what’s going to be a fairly long study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And we spent a good bit of time last week talking about the Holy Spirit and sin. And this week and next week, we’re going to talk about the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s relationship to truth. Before we turn to that, let’s pray and then we’ll get down and study. Father, we come into your presence and we’re here because of your Spirit, who has reminded us that we belong to you, who has told us the truth about you, who has encouraged us, who has made us better. And we praise you for the Trinity in general and for the Holy Spirit in particular. In fact, we praise and worship you, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Father, you know everybody who’s listening to this broadcast. And you know that for some it’s a hard road to walk, and for others it’s a highway, an expressway in a fast car. Father, be present in our lives when it’s going well and when it’s not, and remind us that you’ve got this. And then Father, as always, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast, forgive him his sin, because there are many. We would see Jesus and him only, and we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. Now, if you were listening last week, I gave you three texts, and I’m going to be referring to them, but I’m not going to read them again. So, you might want to keep this in mind, John 14, in fact, that whole chapter, but John 14:25 through 26. And then John 16:12 through 15. And then Ephesians 1:13 through 14. All of those texts remind us not only of the Holy Spirit, but of the Holy Spirit’s connection to revealed, propositional, experiential truth that is a part of our lives. I’ve mentioned before that we live in a culture that is busily trying to shame us into silence. We live in a culture, you know, I can remember a time when Christians were looked up to. When doing the right thing was something that was praised. When we were considered those who walked in truth, but that’s not true anymore. Our culture is rapidly changing and I hate it. And what’s happening is that Christians have been shamed into silence. They tell us that we are hateful. They tell us that we are prejudiced. They tell us that we’ve hurt others more than helped them. You know, they never bring up the hospitals and the millions of people who are fed by Christians, or the schools that we built all over the world, or the people who have been healed because, they never bring that up. It’s always we’re homophobic, we’re hateful, and we’re doing great damage on, that’s a lie. And it’s from the pit of hell, and it smells like smoke. I remember one time I was on a radio program with Gloria Gaither. Bill and Gloria, a couple of my heroes, and I’m not into gospel music, but I’ve become an amazing fan of gospel music, mainly because of the Gaithers. But I was on this program and I had been dealing with a lot of gay friends and I was talking about the hatred of the church to gay people. And Gloria said something that day that I’ve never forgotten and was convicted because I said it. She said, Steve, that has not been my experience. And as soon as she said that, I thought, Oh my. She said, I have found in the church that for the most part, and by, and when I say most part, I mean like 90 percent of Christians are kind and loving and forgiving of everybody. And they understand what it means to be a sinner, because they are sinners. I decided, you know, she’s right. And I almost bought into the lie I told you about. And started espousing things that simply weren’t true. And so, the Holy Spirit reminds us, you’ve got it. The Holy Spirit takes the truth of Scripture, which is absolute, revealed, propositional truth, applies it to our mind, but doesn’t stop there. The Holy Spirit says, you’ve got it. When you are in doubt. And you wonder if this is too good to be true. The Holy Spirit says, no, no, no, you’ve got it. And so, we’re going to spend some time this week and probably in the next week talking about the Holy Spirit’s relationship with truth. But before we do that, let me, and this may not even be necessary, but let me go down one side road. And let me talk about apologetics. Now, apologetics does not mean that we apologize for the faith. It’s a theological discipline of defense. It’s how we as Christians defend the truth that we believe and have been shown to everybody else in the world. And there is a difference between evidential and presuppositional or Van Tillian apologetics. I Peter 3:15 says.

But in our hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.

If you’re not a believer and you just happen to turn onto this broadcast, I got three things to say to you. First, be careful hanging out with Christians, cause we’ve got some real problems. And secondly, I say to you, run while you can. And thirdly, I say to you, stay with us. And if you do, you will find a family that shares your concerns and your beliefs and your truths and you will rejoice in it. Okay. What is evidential apologetics? Evidential apologetics is the discipline of looking at the world, looking at philosophy, looking at the arts, looking at music, looking at science, looking at mathematics, and seeing there something that points to the reality and the truth of God. That’s, and I’m going to test you on this material, so make sure that you’re taking notes. Secondly, there’s presuppositional apologetics, and that was championed by Dr. Van Til at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. And I teach there sometimes. And as a matter of fact, years ago, I was speaking for the graduation at Westminster and was sitting on the stage next to Van Til, can you believe that? We shook hands and I didn’t wash my hands for the next three weeks. But what’s Van Tillian apologetics? Van Tillian apologetics says, forget that. None of all that stuff about science and math makes any difference, because when the Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit comes without anything except the Holy Spirit coming and draws His own to Himself. And so, it’s opposed to evidential apologetics. Okay, which is true? Well, as somebody said, some of my friends are evidential, some of my friends are presuppositional. And I stand with my friends. The truth is, the truth is that there’s some truth in both of those positions. The world sometimes shouts the reality of the truth that we believe. Every time you see a sunset. And sometimes, you just know, because you know, because you know. And the Holy Spirit is involved in both of those as he takes the truth revealed in Scripture, and however he applies it, whether it’s through a scientific textbook or a Bible verse, he says to you, his own, you’ve got it. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Okay. Who had evidential and presuppositional apologetics on their bingo card today? Is that just me? Is that just me? Okay. Thank you Steve. We are now well underway in our exploration of the person and doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Hope you’re enjoying it as much as we are and still so much more to discover. Well, I’ve mentioned this a few times previously, Steve has a terrific book on the Holy Spirit called Follow the Wind. Well, we took excerpts from that book to create a special booklet. Actually, it’s most of the last chapter of that book. We’d love to send you that booklet for free and getting your copy is super easy. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that booklet. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the booklet about the Holy Spirit. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? You could charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or now you can gift safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone right now and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter, text that to 28950, then follow the instructions. And as always, if you can’t give right now, or maybe God is just not putting that on your heart, all good, seriously. But please do pray for us, would you? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And as always, Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.