 Okay, we have started the recording. This is our second lecture on BC 212. Christian apologetics. So let's go back in the notes to where we paused. We share it. Okay. So this was where we paused. What I wanted to bring our attention to is that in the ministry of the Apostle Paul, although he was a very educated man, a very trained man, a very scholarly man, and he did reason with people. And I've given you all these scriptures here. We will read a few of these, but you can take time to read all of them. So Paul, in his ministry, he reasons with people. But what I want to highlight is, he did not only depend on his reason. Paul reasoned and demonstrated. That means, and we will see in some cases, where reasoning itself was not sufficient. He depended on the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit in science wonders and miracles. In order to convince his audience, his listeners that Jesus Christ is real. And so we must also do the same thing. So just look at some examples. If you go to Acts the 13th chapter, we won't read all these references. I'd encourage you to do it. We'll read a few in class. Acts chapter 13. Could somebody please read verses 6 to 12? Acts 13, 6 to 12, please. Somebody could read it for us. Acts chapter 13 verses 6 to 12. Now when they had gone through the island, the island to Perthos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet and a Jew, whose name was Bar-Cheesus. Who was with the broken cells, an intelligent man. This man called for Bar-Nabaz and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But any mess this sorcerer, for so his name was trafficked, which stood then, seeking to turn the wrongthousel away from the faith. Saul, who also calls us called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, Oh, full of all beside and all above, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, perverting the straight ways of the Lord. And now indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you and you shall be blind without seeing the son for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him and he went around seeking someone to beat him by the hand. Then the prophets are believed and he saw what had been done being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Thank you. So Paul and Bar-Nabaz, they are on their very, very first missionary journey, you know, and they have just started their journey. So they have come, they've left their home city of Antioch and they've come to Caesarea, which is a seaport and then, sorry, they come to Caesarea, they left Antioch, which is the home city and they sailed across to an island called Paphos. They come to this island and they come to speak to Sergius Paulus. Sergius Paulus was an intelligent man, it says there in verse 7, that means he's the governor of this island, so he's a very intelligent man. So you can think, you know, he is somebody who tries to reason, who tries to think, but this very intelligent man, Sergius Paulus is also being influenced by a very spiritual man, meaning a sorcerer. Now this man, Bard Jesus, his name is, or Elimus, the sorcerer, Elimus the sorcerer, he is a spiritist. You know, a sorcerer means somebody who's connecting to the spiritual world to do black magic and sorcery and all those wrong kinds of things. He is controlling or influencing Sergius Paulus. Sergius Paulus is an intelligent man, he's a governor in that island, and he's being influenced by somebody who's practicing witchcraft and sorcery and all that. So it kind of tells us that even intelligent people are can be influenced by spiritual things. Just because somebody is intelligent, you know, they're very intellectual doesn't mean they are not spiritual. They could be very spiritual and in this case it was true. But he was being influenced by a man who was practicing sorcery or black magic. So here come Paul and Barnabas into this situation. And Paul we can understand from this incident. He is speaking the word of God to Sergius Paulus. He is teaching him about the Lord Jesus. You can imagine, Paul must have been explaining to him as clearly as possible about Jesus Christ. But yet this man is being influenced by Elimus who's a sorcerer and at that moment in that situation Paul filled with the Holy Spirit he rebukes or he speaks judgment on Elimus. He says you'll be blind for a season and Sergius Paulus becomes blind not Sergius Paulus, Elimus the sorcerer becomes blind and so this governor he's amazed. So he's been hearing about Paul explaining the word of God but now he sees the power of God. He sees that what Paul is carrying Paul and Barnabas what they are carrying is more powerful than Elimus who was practicing black magic and sorcery and so it says here in verse 12 this proconsul this governor believed so in this case beautiful example in this case Paul is speaking to a very intelligent man so obviously he had to reason he has to explain he has to give an answer he has to give an apology he has to tell him why Jesus Christ is real so on but what really convinces this intelligent man is not the reasoning but it's the supernatural power of God when he saw how Elimus the sorcerer was blinded by the power of God he was amazed he was astonished and he just believed everything that Paul had explained to him a beautiful example so like this you'll find many examples in the book of Acts as you follow the ministry of the apostle Paul you will see that he reasoned with the people but he also demonstrated the power of God so Paul reasoned and demonstrated Paul reasoned and demonstrated we go to Acts the 18th chapter Acts chapter 18 and we will read verse 4 Acts 18 verse 4 and then we will also look at verse Corinthians 2 1-5 so we will look at this combination Acts 18-4 and verse Corinthians chapter 2 verses 1-5 Acts 18-4 every Sabbath here we sent in the synagogue trying to persuade Jews and Greeks but Corinthians chapter 2 1-5 please when I came to your brothers I did not come with eloquence as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God for I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified I came to you in weakness and fear and with much trembling my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with the demonstration of the spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on man's system hmm thank you so in verse Corinthians chapter 18 the apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey and he comes into a place called Corinth Corinth is a place where it is at that time in its time it's we could call it the sin city of the world meaning a very sinful city notorious for immorality and at the same time it was a very it was a kind of a funny mix because it was a religious it was a very religious place they had the temple of some goddess there among where there were all these prostitutes and so on and and yet it was a very sinful place I mean Paul comes into Corinth in fact whenever he went into any city if possible he would go start off by ministering in the synagogue where the Jewish people were already there so that's what he did here you know in verse Corinthians 18 he comes to Corinth and in verse 4 it says you know he reasoned in the synagogue so look at that word reasoned he reasoned in the synagogue that means before these Jewish people he tried to explain to them who Jesus Christ was he reasoned with them and obviously for the Jews he would quote from the Old Testament scriptures and explain to them from the Old Testament scriptures who Jesus Christ is he reasoned with them and yet in verse Corinthians chapter 2 we have a very interesting reflection by Paul on his own ministry at Corinth so Acts 18 Luke is reporting Luke is writing and Luke says you know when the team went to Corinth they reasoned in the synagogue in verse Corinthians 2 Paul himself was writing he is looking back about his ministry in Corinth and he tells them you know he says brothers when I came to you you know I didn't come to you with great speech and wisdom and so on but I came to you in the demonstration of the Spirit's power so if we put these two together when Paul came to Corinth he did reason that means he did explain to the people about Jesus Christ and yet he did not depend on his explanations but what he depended on was the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit so he combined the two he did reason and his explanations was on the healings of the miracles to touch the lives of the people so here again another example where we do explain we do reason we do present answers and explanations but our dependence is on the power of the Holy Spirit so we must do both reason and demonstrate so that's why I like to call this apologetics with power so it's not just apologetics it's not just I give you reasons because in some cases reason itself will not convince people but when we do apologetics with power with supernatural then people have no excuse we've explained to them and we've also demonstrated to them who Jesus Christ is and they have to make a decision so that demonstration of God's power we have to be open sometimes the very people are asking questions could have a need in their lives which God can work a miracle they'll be very convinced about the things we are explaining to them so keep this in mind this is what we are learning is how to do apologetics with power what we must learn to do is apologetics with power we must reason and demonstrate the way the apostle Paul did and there are many other scriptures throughout the ministry the apostle Paul where you can see this I'd encourage you to look at all of these scriptures when you have time just look through them in your Bible any questions before I move to the next part of this chapter any questions so far anybody's okay let's move on feel free to ask questions okay now let's try to understand the spiritual side of what is happening that means suppose a person comes to you or to me they are posing all kinds of questions to us you know how do you know there is a God I don't believe there is a God no I am not convinced that God created everything I don't believe the Bible is true whatever people can pose all kinds of questions and they come to you they are asking you all these questions and of course we are going to try to answer those questions but I want us to understand the big picture what is actually happening so that we don't think that everything depends on our answer no there is a spiritual side to what is happening that means there is demonic interference the devil is doing something in the minds of people so while we are providing answers we are telling them why we believe there is a God why we believe in creation why we believe Bible is true etc when we are providing an answer we must also keep in mind there is a spiritual side to everything to all of this and so in addition to our human response which we will look at and how to do that properly there is also a spiritual side that means the devil is trying to blind the minds of people and so the way we can break through two people is only by dependence on the Holy Spirit we have to depend on the Holy Spirit we will provide our human response that is as people of course we will do our part and we will answer the questions and we will do it the way the Bible teaches us to do it but in and through it all our dependence must be on the Holy Spirit so that is what I want us to understand just keep it in mind as we get ready to deal with various questions on apologetics so let's look at a few scriptures and maybe others I will just quickly mention it if you turn it in our Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and some of these scriptures of course are familiar to us 2 Corinthians chapter 4 somebody please read verses 3 to 4 please 2 Corinthians 4 3 to 4 even if our gospel is wild it is wild for those who are perishing whose minds the God of this age has blinded who do not believe this the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine on them so thank you so the apostle Paul is telling us remember who the apostle Paul is he is a very scholarly man very intelligent man yet we have talked about his ministry he is also very dependent on the Holy Spirit so Paul is telling us hey listen if our gospel is hidden from people this is the real thing that is happening the God of this world the God of this age he is blinded the minds of people who do not believe and he is trying to prevent the light of the gospel from going into them so Paul is giving us a secret and he is telling us see this is the real spiritual dynamic that is happening the devil is blinding the minds of people and he is trying to prevent the light of the gospel from shining so while we are giving our explanation we are explaining the truth the word of God, the gospel there is also interference the devil is trying to prevent the light of that gospel the light that we are speaking he is trying to prevent it from getting in to the minds of people he is trying to interfere with that so it is not just about of course we have to explain well we have to give an answer but it is not just about that there is a devil who is trying to interfere and so we have to deal with that interference we have to spiritually tear apart the blindness the devil is putting on the minds of people so that when we explain the message when we explain the word of God when we give an answer to the question we should be able to go into their minds into their understanding otherwise it will stop right there the devil has put a curtain and it won't get past the curtain and so this is where our prayer, our intercession our exercise of authority comes in Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10 verses 4 through 6 he tells us the weapons of our warfare they pull down these strongholds they cast down these imaginations they take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ so with the weapons of our warfare we deal with these mind things that the devil has built up in the minds of people strongholds arguments, reasonings thoughts that are in their minds we deal with that we take it down using the weapons God has given to us so that the light of the gospel can penetrate and I just quickly explaining mentioning this in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul refers to Satan as the one who deceives who who deceives of people 2 Corinthians 11 in verse 3 he says just as a serpent deceived Eve that your mind may be he says he will corrupt the minds so this is what the devil does he deceives and he corrupts the minds of people and sometimes he does this even to believers trying to prevent believers from receiving the full truth of the gospel chapter 4 verse 1 to 4 we read about seducing spirits and doctrines of demons maybe we can turn them read it in verse Corinthians 4 let's read verse 1 verse Corinthians 4 verse 1 please somebody can read that verse Corinthians 4 verse 1 so then men ought to regard to us as servants of Christ and those my mistake my mistake first Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 sorry first Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 please sorry my mistake first Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 first Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 now the spirit expressly says that many times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons thank you alright so the Holy Spirit is saying this was when Paul was writing first Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 Holy Spirit is saying in the latter times you know in our day and time what will happen people will go away from the faith why will they go away from the faith because they will be drawn away by deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons so think about this deceiving spirits spirits that deceive spirits, evil spirits that deceive the minds that basically promote untruth in the minds of people deceiving spirits and doctrines doctrines means teachings of demons so demons are inspiring certain kinds of teaching so think about this there are certain kinds of teaching or ideas and philosophies and arguments that are actually being promoted by demons, doctrines of demons so these deceiving spirits these doctrines of demons are affecting the minds of people causing them to go away from the faith or even keeping them from the faith so when we are presenting our answers when we are giving our explanations of the truth there is interference there are these deceiving spirits there are these teachings that are demonically that are demonic that are either drawing people away from the faith or keeping them from the faith and same thing we see in Revelation 12 and again in Revelation 20 Satan goes out to deceive the nations he deceives the nations so in all of these scriptures these scriptures are making us aware that there is this demonic side that is interfering with the preaching of the gospel trying to keep that from entering into the minds of people and so in our preaching and teaching we have to be mindful that's where we exercise spiritual authority in addition to our preaching so what should we do as we bring as we present our reasons our explanations to the gospel we must recognize that the devil can try to hinder us and not all men not all people have faith Paul says this in 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse 1 and 2 you know he okay let's read it 2nd Thessalonians 3 1 and 2 we can read these verses please 2nd Thessalonians 3 1 and 2 finally brothers pray for us that the message of the lord may spread rapidly and be honored just as it was with you yeah that's true and pray that we may be delivered from the wicked and evil men for not everyone has faith so Paul recognizes you know there are people who don't believe and there are people who oppose all the gospel but what does he say he says pray pray pray that the word of god may move powerfully you know so spiritual side we know the devil is interfering the devil is trying to blind the bunch of people he's trying to deceive the people he's trying to do false teaching or wrong doctrine all these wrong ideas, philosophies he's trying to do all of that to deceive the minds but from our side we pray that the word of god will move powerfully we continue to proclaim the word and we pray and then what else do we do if we look at 1st Timothy sorry let's go I'm just skipping 2nd Timothy 2nd Timothy chapter 2 wait a minute let us read 1st Timothy 6 20 and 21 please 1st Timothy 6, 20, 21 and then we'll go to 2nd Timothy 2 1st Timothy chapter 6 1st 20, 21 Timothy God what has been entrusted to your care turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith hmm so what must we do we must guard we must guard what we have you protect the truth God has given to us and avoid these unnecessary you know chatter talk and avoid these what is falsely called knowledge in other words you guard and protect the truth and don't go this you know meddle with these wrong ideas and doctrines don't get involved with that he's telling Timothy because that's only taking people away from the faith but we need to guard the truth that God has given to us so we are praying that the word of God will increase we guard the truth we guard these contradictions of what people falsely call knowledge they think it's great they think it's knowledge it's unnecessary and then in 2 Timothy 2 let's read that as well 2 Timothy 2 verse 23 to 26 what does he tell us 2 Timothy 2 23 to 26 somebody could read it don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know they produce quarrels and the Lord's servant must not quarrel instead he must be kind to everyone able to teach not resentful those who oppose him he must gently instruct in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will so as we think about how to reach these people how to reach people with the truth and give them answers Paul has told us we must guard the truth don't get into these middle chatter and now he's telling us don't get into these arguments with people don't argue don't fight but if there are people who are in a position that means they are asking questions then he says in verse 25 in all humility we are correcting or we are presenting the truth to these people and we are looking to God so that God will grant them repentance that God himself will work in their hearts to bring them to a place of repentance so what's happening you and I in humility are presenting the truth to those who are opposing us or questioning us or asking questions we are in humility teaching in humility we are presenting our answers and we are depending on God to work in their hearts and bring them to a place of repentance so they can know the truth and he tells us in verse 26 you know what's happened to them they are in the snare of the devil you know blinded their minds they are deceiving spirits they are doctrines of demons that are corrupt to their minds so they are in the snare in the trap of the devil and while we are teaching the word and in humility we are correcting or presenting the truth we are depending on God to work in their hearts and bring them out of the snare of the devil so that is how we are going to right we are going to pray that God's word will move powerfully we are going to guard the truth and not you know get mixed up with all these things that are opposed falsely called knowledge and for those who argue and fight we are not going to argue and fight but if people are genuinely asking us questions in humility we are going to present answers and we are going to depend on God that God will move there upon their hearts bring them to a place of repentance and get them out of the trap of the devil so that's how we are going to do this right and so in this whole process our dependence is on the Holy Spirit right because there is a spiritual battle involved it is not just about me giving nice answers and explaining everything nicely and teaching everything nicely it's not just about that because on the spiritual side there is the devil there are deceiving spirits doctors, demons, explaining the minds of people and so from my side from our side as we bring answers to people as we present answers we have to depend on God to bring those people to a place of repentance and that God will move on their hearts so that those people will be able to come out of the snare of the devil and this is where the Holy Spirit comes in this is the Holy Spirit's work so if you look into John chapter 16 I guess we just John I can give you the exact verse John 16 let's read verse 8 John 16 verse 8 please John 16 notice what the Holy Spirit will do for the world now we know the Holy Spirit is ministering to the believer the Holy Spirit is doing a lot in the life of the believer but notice what he will do for the world that means people who are not saved he says in verse 8 Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes he will convict the world right who's going to convict the sinner the Holy Spirit he's going to convict them of sin of righteousness and judgment and he's going to do that he's going to move in their hearts and tell them there is sin in your life and you need to deal with it he's going to convict them of righteousness right in the eyes of God he's going to convict them of judgment you see you're going to stand in judgment before God who's going to do that the Holy Spirit so we as we give our apology we present our explanations our defense and our reason while we are doing that we are also depending on the Holy Spirit to convict their hearts it's not my explanation that will convict the people it's not my reasoning that will convince them the Holy Spirit has to convict their hearts right and also we must not forget that when we live our lives before people God will use the testimony of our life to speak to people 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 11 and 12 can somebody read that please 1 Peter 2 11 and 12 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 11 and 12 Beloved I beg you as surgeons and programs a best time from fleshly lust which war against the soul having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak against you as evil jurists they may by your good works they observe glorify God on the day of recitation hmm so Peter is telling believers he says I want you to live righteous lives stay away from fleshly lust and all of that verse 12 you have an honorable conduct before the Gentiles the unsaid and live right before them even if they are speaking against you even if these people are speaking against you like evil jurists you just live right why because he says in the day of visitation that means when God visits them when God encounters them what will happen by your good works they will glorify God so if you try to understand what Peter is saying here in these two verses he is telling believers live right just before God have an honorable conduct before the unbelievers even if they are right now they may be speaking evil against you you just live right and on the day of visitation when God visits them they will remember the life you lived and they will glorify God that means God will use the testimony of our life to touch them touch their lives right so we depend on the Holy Spirit and we choose to maintain an honorable conduct a good life testimony before people and one more point in this is that you know it is interesting how conversion happens or how a person turns to God how does it happen in 2 Corinthians 3 and I'll just point one verse I have mentioned the whole passage there in 2 Corinthians 3 if somebody could read verse 16 please 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 16 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16 nevertheless when one turns to the Lord the veil is taken away yeah thank you so Paul is saying and I skipped the previous verses but what he is saying is when the heart turns to the Lord then the veil is removed so the veil he was referring to if you read the preceding verses he is talking about the heart being blinded he is saying when the heart turns the veil is removed so this is what happens when a person comes to know the Lord comes to the truth God works in the heart of this person and the heart turns to God and at that moment everything that was blinding this mind is removed the veil is removed so both these things are happening and God is doing it so when we are presenting the the explanations the apology we are depending on the Holy Spirit God works in the heart and turns the heart to him and when the heart turns the questions the veil the arguments the blindness is removed out of their lives so that's why we are saying the head follows the heart meaning the heart goes first and the head comes God works in the heart to the Lord and then the head comes the heart believes and the head follows that belief why is this important why do we need to know this because don't put pressure on yourself to do everything our responsibility is to bring in the explanation our responsibility let me share with you what I know God I will answer your question to the best I can but we are depending on the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit will convict the hearts the Holy Spirit could take even a simple sentence that you have said and convict them in the heart the Holy Spirit could take one simple truth that you have shared and speak to the heart and he will use your life testimony before them on the day of visitation and from inside out the Holy Spirit will change the person right and he will remove the veil he will remove the blindness the arguments the strongholds the reasonings the thoughts that were opposing the gospel the Holy Spirit will deal with that okay so understand that while we are presenting the gospel we must depend on God to touch the hearts of people okay I'm going to pause here there's just a little bit more to complete in this chapter but I don't want to rush through it now these last three points I will pick it up next week I'll just finish off this chapter and next week we get into a very first topic on the existence of God and creation you know how can we say we know that God exists and that there is a creator so that's the first topic we will pick up next week and I'll just quickly finish this little remaining part and we will get into our first main topic any questions on today's both the lectures today is everything clear you all with me is it getting too heavy? it's okay it's still okay okay thank you Paul alright so yeah I think everybody is following okay so let's close in prayer today and we will finish up the little part that's left and we'll get into the first big question on existence of God and creation starting next week somebody could please pray with us and dismiss us today go ahead Sid Father we come to the throne of grace Lord thank you for this day you have given us a lot Lord as we have started this course Lord we bless our teacher Lord we bless all the students who have listened to this course Lord Lord as we are starting to learn about you Lord guide us protect us with our knowledge and wisdom so that we can understand and learn and keep in our heart and mind whatever is being taught by Pastor Ashish Lord thank you for this day you have given us Lord and thank you for all the network connectivity and all the people who are joined from different countries a lot across the globe in Jesus name we pray amen amen thank you very much everyone have a good break and get ready for your next class I'll see you again