Objection

Yeah, so what the Danley off for you? That's insane. No way. There's no way he can get you a price like that. Hold on a sec. Let me pull over. Jack. Jack, you need me for this order. I've got the inventory and I can ship it by the end of the month. Trust me. Hold that thought, Jack. I've got another call. Hello? Hello. Yeah, my flight leaves in a few minutes, so I just thought I would call to tell you by. Mom, don't cry. Michael will be just fine with his father. I think this is the best decision I've ever made. I really feel good about it. A fresh new start. Let's not get into this now. Just be happy for me, okay? Well, this is strange. I'm still on the phone with you, but it's raining. You hear that? Well, anyway, my flight's about to leave, so listen. I'll call you from the hotel, okay? Bye. Hello? Hello. You're listening to WFLO Go with the Flow Radio. Whatever it takes to make you feel good. TJ, the DJ here, to play what you want to hear. When you want to hear whatever the style, we have swing. We have Swahili Chants. We have Hayden and we have Hamha. Yes. I am here for all you living units out there. No rules, no regulations, because that's the way, aha, aha, we like it, aha, aha, that's the way. That's what I'm talking about, baby. Anything goes, so call in your request. I'll feel the order, and there's no charge for delivery. Here is one from Mickey to Abdul. TJ, the DJ talked to me. What can I play for you? Mm-hmm. Great choice, great choice. Now what can I play for you? Give me a call. I'll dig it up. I'll dish it out. Hot. Hello? Hello? Hello? You want to speak up? I can hardly hear you. What? Who is this? Yeah, right, and I'm Ted Turner. Look, is this Simmons? I didn't catch that. Turn down the volume on my think and grow rich tape. Oh, that's a good idea. Hey, wait a minute. That's coming through over my headset. You can't possibly hear that. Listen, Mr. whoever you are, what do you want? I am a very busy. I... Hey Jack, listen, can I call you back? I need this line to phone the office. It's undoubtedly about your order. I would if I could, but I have someone on hold. No, it is not another bitter. Trust me. It's someone who thinks he's God. I know Jack, you think you're God too. Look, I'll get back to you in five minutes. I promise. I need the line. Right, bye. Hello. Hello? Yes. How did you do this? I don't get it. Listen, is this some kind of new religious fanatic thing that in your into, pay phone evangelism? Well, I'm not interested in organized religion. I grew up with it. I found it to be the finest example of hypocrisy, I know. TJ the DJ, talk to me. What can I play for you? Amazing grace. Who sings that? Me? No man, not me, huh? I just play the songs that make the whole world sing. I mean, I just crank them out to whoever, whenever, listen, what is this? Who is this? God? God. Oh, oh, sorry, God. I must have pushed the wrong line. I'm trying to phone my office. Hello? God. I thought you were online one. You were. You're on both. Listen, whoever you are, I am a man in demand about to make a big buck. I have no interest in you. Aren't you for weaklings anyway? No deal, God. You cramp my style. Why do I think hypocritical? Well, my father was on the church board and my mom sang in the choir and neither had time for me ever. They missed several of my recitals, but oh no, we never missed church. The pastor had an affair with a woman in the congregation when I was 11. I was best friends with his daughter. When my brother was 18, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. The new pastor said at his wake that he was proud to know Steve and that he was a very fine Christian. Well, I knew better. I knew that my brother hated church and also that his name was not Steve. It was Scott. Sorry, God. I don't buy it. I don't trust it. I'm on my own. I'm free. Besides, you cramp my style. Did you say God? You mean like the big guy upstairs? Hey, I appreciate the offer, but I'm pretty content for the time being. I just can't align myself with any other religion, especially yours. It wouldn't look good on the station. It wouldn't look good on me. Yeah, well, we're both just go with the flow freestyle. You know what I'm talking about. And well, you God would, hmm, you just cramp my style. Hello? Not you again. I told you I don't need it. I thought I made it clear. Don't you understand? You cramp my style. Those three people represent a lot of unbelievers today. People who have no interest in God, people who have been turned away from God either because they're too busy or they're bitter because of something that's happened in the past, or he would just interfere with their carefree lifestyle. Or any other objection they may think of. Which would open your Bibles, please, to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4. This verse introduces our subject for the day and gives us the reason why what we're going to talk about happens. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4. Paul says there, the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Let's read it again. The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. In a courtroom trial, if a lawyer feels that the other lawyer is manipulating the witness or arguing a line of evidence which really doesn't pertain to the case and is trying to unethically sway the jury, he may rise and say objection. And he gives the reason for his objection to that argument or that line of reasoning and the judge then has the privilege of either sustaining that objection and saying you're right or overturning the objection. I think a lot of that happens when we witness to people. And this series on evangelism we're talking about how to share the gospel with other people. And sometimes when we're witnessing to other people it would be great, you know, if we could just go from beginning to end, making the case for Christ without any interruptions. But sometimes when you're talking to people about the Lord they cry out objection. Now they may not say that actually but they'll come up with some questions, some reasons, some issue in their lives. Why they can't believe. Why they can't trust. Why they have no time or no use for God or Jesus Christ. And it's in those times when we need to have some answers to those objections. Now our verse this morning tells us that that kind of objection and that kind of dealing with objections is not a matter of clever replies. It's not a matter of winning an argument. It's not a matter of trying to be more persuasive. We are involved in spiritual warfare. We're involved in a spiritual battle. And the Bible says that in lots of ways and lots of places that we're involved in spiritual warfare when we're dealing with people on these kinds of issues. And so there must be a humble dependence upon the Spirit of God to lead us and the Word of God to give us answers. But we must also know some answers to people's objections. I kind of think it's like David when he was going to fight Goliath. David just before he went to Goliath said, the battle is the Lord's. But he didn't just stop there. He didn't just say, okay, God, it's your turn. I'm going to stay here and see what you do. There was a human responsibility he had as well that fit perfectly into God's work. Yes, the battle was the Lord's. But the very next thing the Bible says is that David ran to the battle to where the giant was. I believe that God must change people's hearts and lives and do a work in people's hearts for people to be saved. But I also believe God's given us a responsibility. And that means we need to be able to answer some objections that people have. What I'd like to do this morning is just give you four main objections that people have to Christ and to the Lord and to salvation. And let's talk about how we can answer those, how we can deal with those as people raise those. Number one, in fact, if we were to list the common objections that people have, I think on most people's lists, this would rank in the top one or two. I think it would probably be number one on most lists. And that is the objection of hypocrites. You know, a lot of people say, well, if you're witnessing to them, what about all those hypocrites in the church? And they'll be willing to even name a few, especially if they were a deacon or a pastor. They'll be willing to name someone. You know, they claim to be a Christian and look at the way they live or look at what they did or look at how their life turned out. I think there's several things we need to remember when we talk about this kind of objection of hypocrisy. What about hypocrites? Well, first of all, I think it is a sobering reminder. I think this objection is a sobering reminder to us, to all of us, who claim the name of Christ, that we do carry the name and reputation of Jesus with us wherever we go and whatever we do. People are watching, people are looking, they expect something different out of a believer, but a one who claims to know Christ. And it can cause great harm if we don't live up to what we profess to believe in the Old Testament, both in the book of Isaiah and the book of Ezekiel. The prophets condemned the nation of Israel because they profane or they caused the Gentiles, the unbelievers to profane the name of God or to blaspheme the name of God. What they were saying is, by the way you lived, by your disobedience to God, you caused other people to believe that there was nothing to this thing of a relationship with God. The New Testament talks in a number of ways, in a number of places about how much our life is important in backing up what we say we believe, and that our life ought to be shining a testimony for Jesus Christ. Paul said, we are letters of God read by all people, and our lives should be lights that shine forth the glory of Christ. So this is sobering reminder. This objection is a reminder that we do carry with us the testimony of Jesus wherever we go, and people are going to watch and evaluate by the way we live, whether or not what we say we believe really makes any difference. But I think we need to keep in mind also an important distinction. I think we need to recognize there is a distinction between a hypocrite and a true believer who's struggling with sin. You see, those of us in this room who are saved are not perfect yet. The old bumper sticker that says, I'm not perfect, I'm just forgiven, there's some truth to that. None of us are perfect yet, and there will be times when in the best of believers' lives we find ourselves struggling with certain issues, maybe a character issue, maybe an anger issue, maybe something with our speech, maybe something else. There's a difference in that, a person who really does love the Lord, and for whatever reason is just struggling right now with a particular area of their life, is a difference in that and a hypocrite. A hypocrite is someone who consistently professes one thing and lives something completely, the opposite. There's a difference in that. If you're here this morning and you've used this excuse, and maybe this is the reason why you have no use for Christ or salvation, and you've thought, I'm no so and so, and he did this or she did that, and you've used this excuse, please understand that when a person gets saved, they are not perfect yet, and that person may still struggle with some areas, that's a lot different from a genuine hypocrite though. Genuine hypocrite is a person who consistently lives the opposite of what they say they believe, and they don't care, at least with a genuine believer, they're grieved when they're struggling with sin. But that still doesn't answer the objection. How do you answer the objection biblically about hypocrites? Well I think we need to get to the real issue, and the real issue is Jesus Christ. You see Jesus Christ did not ask you to follow a religious leader. Jesus Christ did not ask you to follow a pastor or a deacon or a Christian in a church. He did not ask you to follow a particular denomination or religious group. He asked you to come follow him. The real issue is Jesus, and so the real question is, was Jesus a hypocrite? That's the real question. Well let's decide to answer that. If we're being asked to follow Jesus and not man, then the real question is, was Jesus a hypocrite? That's what you've got to answer. Did you know that even those who were the closest to him could find nothing wrong with him? Peter, a man who walked with him 24-7 for three years, was with him almost all of the time, would say this about him in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 22. He would say he committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. That comes from a man who was with him all the time. He found nothing wrong with Jesus Christ. And did you know that even Jesus enemies could find nothing wrong with him? The Herodians in Mark chapter 12, in verse 14, Jesus enemies came to him to challenge him to try to trick him, but notice what they said first. They came to him and said, teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. And pilot after examining him could say, I find no fault in this man. Even Jesus enemies did not find the least speck of hypocrisy in his life. So if we're being called to follow Christ, not some man, some preacher, some church, if we're being called to follow Christ, the real question is, was Christ a hypocrite? And the answer is no. He was the real thing. He was the real genuine article, the son of God, who never sinned. That's the one you're called upon to trust, to believe in as your Savior. My friend, your eternal destiny will not be determined by what you decide about Christians. Your eternal destiny will not be decided by what you determine about Christianity. Your eternal destiny will be decided by what you decide about Jesus Christ. John chapter 3, in verse 36, says it's so plainly, look at this verse, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son will not see life for God's wrath remains on him. The issue, the real issue is Jesus, not some person, no matter what they may have done to let you down. The real issue is Jesus Christ, you're being called to follow Him. But you know what, kind of, that bothers me a little bit. The people will use this objection. It's one of the reasons why I think it's a slide deception of the devil. Now use this objection when it comes to faith in Christ, but they don't use any other area of their lives. Hypocrits in no other area of their life will keep them from doing what they know is right. Did you know the American Bar Association says that 80% of lawyers die without a valid will? These are the people that are supposed to be helping us develop our will. 80% of them don't have a legitimate will. But that fact keeps you from taking care of your family in the future, of course not. Did you know the American Medical Association says that doctors only wash their head, they estimate, doctors only wash their hands before observing and examining a patient about 50% of the times? Is that going to stop you from going to a doctor? Probably not. If you're sick enough, you'll go to a doctor because the real issue is not whether or not he's washed his hands or real issues. I've got to find out what's wrong with me. I wonder how many financial planners follow all of the advice they give to people about preparing for retirement, getting ready for the future. Probably not all of them. Wonder how many policemen when they're in their own personal car observe the speed limit? Huh? Okay. But that doesn't give you an excuse or me an excuse to do something wrong, right? We don't use that excuse when it comes to policemen or financial planners or doctors or lawyers. Why use that excuse when it comes to Christians? When really the real issue is Jesus Christ. He's the one you're being called to follow. So objection number one, the objection of hypocrites, the divine judge, I believe in heaven, would say objection overruled, doesn't stand. Second objection, a lot of people use, is the objection of religion. You know, the woman at the well was like this when Jesus began talking to her, she wanted to bring up religion. She worshiped in this mountain, you worshiped in that mountain, which religion is true. And a lot of people do that when you start to talk to them about whether or not they're going to heaven, their first response is, well, I'm a good Baptist. I'm a good Methodist. I'm a good Catholic. I'm a good Jew. I'm a good Hindu, good Muslim, whatever, religion. I'm a good whatever. You know why people practice religion? People practice religion because they believe that doing good things, enough of them, will outweigh their bad deeds. That's why people practice religion because they think if I do enough religious things, involved in enough religious ceremonies or rituals, maybe that'll kind of cancel out or at least outweigh the bad things I've done. That's really what they're saying when they say, well, I'm a good Catholic or I'm a good Muslim or I'm a good Baptist, they're really saying, you know, I do some good things, I go to church. Well, okay, let's talk about that for a minute. The objection of religion, how do you respond to that when someone brings that up? Well, I think there are a couple of three things that we need to say. We need to answer these folks to refute that objection. Number one is that good deeds cannot earn salvation. Good deeds can never earn salvation. I don't care what religion you're trying to do them through. Good deeds cannot earn salvation. The Bible is clear on that. Look at Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. I've got it on the screen for you. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Now notice these next three words, not by works so that no one can boast. I mean, the Bible is very clear on that. Salvation is not a matter of how much you do, whether it's religious things or just good deeds in your life, whatever it may be. Salvation is not something we do for ourselves. It's something that Christ does for us. That's true. The Bible is clear about that. But you know that's true in other parts of your life too. Just think for a moment. Let's say you're riding down the road and you go through a speed trap, green valley for instance. And you know you don't quite get down to 45 and policeman pulls you over and you have to show up in court with a ticket. And the judge says, okay you were going so much, so fast in this speed zone and I'm going to find you, X amount of dollars, three, four hundred dollars, you know, something like that. I'm going to find you and you say, well judge I don't have to pay that fine. He looks at you over his glasses. What do you mean you don't have to pay that fine? Well you know judge the last 50 maybe a hundred times I've gone through that speed zone. I didn't speed. So that means I don't have to pay the fine. I wouldn't suggest you try to use that line of reasoning with the judge. You know what? That will never work in a court of law. It will never work before judge. The good things you've done no matter how many times you kept the speed limit will not pay for the one time you broke it. It will not make up. And you know the Bible says in the book of James, if you break one of God's laws, it's yours guilty as if you'd broke it them all. One time, if you ever sin one time in your life, all the good you do can't pay for that one sin. Same thing as the traffic ticket. All the times you've kept the speed limit, that doesn't matter when it comes to the one time you broke it. And the judge of the universe operates his court the same way. With justice, you break one, you sin one time, you're guilty. And all the good you do can't make up for that. But here's the second thing that I think refutes this objection of religion. Good deeds cannot pay a death penalty either. Good deeds cannot pay a death penalty. Now the Bible is clear on this. The penalty we owe because of our sin is death. Look at these verses. They're familiar with these probably. Romans 3, 23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We've all sinned. If you're honest, you'll admit that. You know, somewhere along the line, somewhere in your distant past, you've done something wrong, you've said something wrong, you thought a bad thought, you've had a bad attitude, you sinned, right? We all have. You know what the wages or the penalty for that is? Romans 6, 23 says, for the wages of sin is death. Now think about it. Wages, that's what you earn, it's what you deserve because of something you've done. You've worked for it. What we earn, what we deserve because of our sin is death. We all are under a death penalty. That's the reason why we die physically because sin came into this world through Adam. But it also means if something is not done to rescue us from that sin, then we all will face the penalty someday of eternal death and separation from God in a place of punishment called hell, a place where we'll be eternally separated from God. That is the death penalty. We are all under a death penalty. Now it doesn't take a whole lot of brains to see. There's only one way to pay a death penalty. Somebody has to die. You don't pay a death penalty in any other way. The death penalty is only paid when somebody dies. Now in a human court, the person who's committed to crime must die if the penalty is a death penalty. In God's system of justice, because of His love, He still requires someone must die. But because of His love, He has made a way for someone else to take your place and suffer the penalty for you of death. And it was His Son, Jesus Christ. Again, the Bible is clear on this. Look at these verses, Romans 5. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly there to die. But God demonstrates His love for us in this while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. He died in our place. He took our place not because we were so good that He thought, wow, that's such a good person. I hate for them to have to die. I'm going to take their place. No. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 3 and verse 18 for Christ died for sins. Once for all, here it is, the righteous for the unrighteous. The only one who was ever completely, perfectly righteous, dying for us in our place and our stead, has a substitute for us. And the only way to escape the death penalty is to accept the payment that was made by your substitute, Jesus Christ. There's no other way to pay a death penalty, but that someone must die. And He offered to take that penalty for you. So that leads me to believe and declare with utmost confidence, there is only one way to be saved because Jesus has borne the death penalty for us. That's the only way to be saved. The death penalty has to be paid for our sin. And either you accept what He has done for you as payment or you will pay it yourself. Eternally separated from God when you die. The penalty has to be paid, my friend. Now the tragedy has already been paid by one who loves you enough to do it for you. You need to receive that though and accept that as the gift of God to you. And again, back to Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, that's what we saw. It is by grace you have been saved. Grace is God's free and loving offer. No strings attached. He does all the work. By grace you've been saved through faith. We simply have to trust Him and believe that what He said is true and receive this gift. And this not from yourselves, He says, it is the gift of God. A gift of God, not by a work so that no one can boast. You see a gift by its very nature is something that cannot be earned or worked for. It's something that's just received. So God offers salvation to you as a gift. The work has already been done. The payments been made. The death penalty has already been carried out in a substitute Jesus Christ. So the issue, my friend, is not religion, not what kind of religious deeds you can do. The issue is one has taken your sin on Him. And He has died for your sin so that you could be forgiven and the death penalty could be erased from your life. Good deeds don't earn salvation. Good deeds don't pay for a death penalty. The only way to be saved is to trust the one who did pay your death penalty. So objection number two, I think the judge of heaven would say, objection overruled. It's not valid. But someone may come up with this objection, the objection of bitterness. You know, there are a lot of people who are hurt and angry and bitter against God because something bad has happened in their lives. I doubt that there are many agnostics or atheists who are that way because of intellectual reasons, although they'll try to give you intellectual reasons. Pend them down, press them if they're honest for most of them. There's something in their life that has gone wrong. Something that has happened that they blame God for. It may be a tragedy in their lives. It may be the death of a loved one. It may be a natural disaster that they're thinking where it was God? Why didn't He stop this? There can't be a God of love if this kind of stuff happens. There may be some painful circumstance, something that's happened that they blame God for, maybe an unanswered prayer and they've concluded. God is either not there or He doesn't care. I don't want anything to do with a God who will do that. That's what a lot of people feel and a lot of people believe. So when people bring up the issue of bitterness or they claim not to believe in God and you press them and you find out it's because God didn't come through at a certain point or didn't do what I think God ought to do. How do we answer that? How do we respond to that? Very quickly, let me give you a fourfold response and this all kind of flows together. The first answer I think we need to give people is that suffering and death was not God's desire for us. That was never God's desire for the human race. It's not God's fault that that's come into being. It was not God's desire for us. Now don't get too theological on me here. I understand the difference between God's sovereign will and his permissive will, God's decree and desire. I understand all those things. I do believe there's a difference in what God has decreed and what will come to pass and what was His will. He's not willing that any should perish. His desire is for no one to perish but some people will. So what I'm saying is that it was never God's desire, it was never His desire for us that suffering and death be a part of our experience. The Bible is clear in Romans chapter 5, verse 12, why that happened. Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man, it's talking about Adam. And death through sin and in this way death came to all men because all sinned. The reason death and suffering and everything goes along with that came into this world because of Adam's sin and the fact that all of us since then been born with that sin nature and we too are sinners just like Adam was because of sin all of this stuff happens. It's interesting how God is often blamed for what man is responsible for. It's interesting to me that God often gets the blame when it was because people didn't want God in his way that all of this came to pass to start with. So it was never God's desire that suffering and death be a part of our experience. However, number two, God has planned a way for suffering and death to be overcome. That's a part of His eternal plan and that is that God has planned for a way for suffering and death to be overcome. And that is through coming back into a relationship with Him through Christ as we've just seen. And when you do that, one of the added blessings of that is that God reverses the effects of suffering and death. He doesn't take away the consequences. We still have to pay the consequences. But He does reverse the effects. What I mean by that is that suffering now becomes an opportunity to see the power and strength and glory of God in our lives. Isn't that what Paul said in Romans 2 Corinthians chapter 12? He talked about his own personal suffering, a thorn in the flesh that he had and he was praying, Lord, please take this away. This is God's response. But He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. And then look at what He says next. He says, that is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. You talk about turning around the effects of suffering. Paul knew that was about his experience. That he knew that God could take suffering and use it to infuse us with his strength and his power in our weakness. And what about death? God makes a plan whereby death, the effects of death, can be taken away as well. So that death is no longer that tragedy which Satan inflicts people with fear about. Death is simply a doorway into the presence of God if you know Christ as your Savior. So the sting is taken out of death. And like Paul said in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 8, we're confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. I mean, when you die, when you're away from the body, when you leave your body spiritually, it goes home to be with the Lord. And so death is simply a doorway. You walk through the door. You're immediately in the presence of God. So bad about that. The effects of sin and death and suffering have been reversed. God's made a plan whereby Satan no longer has the power to inflict us with the fear of those things. But the third argument I would give to one who's bitter against God is that God offers his help in suffering. Psalm 46 and verse 1. And many other verses in the Bible say the same thing. God is our refuge and strength and ever present, help and trouble. Don't turn away from God when bad things happen. That's the only place you'll find the help and strength you need. That's the only place you'll find meaning and purpose for suffering. Is if you turn to Him, why turn away from Him when you need Him the most? Don't turn away from turn to Him and you will find that He will give you the help. You need He offers help in suffering. And then number four, God understands your pain. He really does. You see, if God didn't care about us, He'd just let us go on and suffer the consequences of our own pain and suffering and death. But God does care. He cared enough to send His Son, not only to die for us, but to come and experience human life. And understand what pain and sorrow and suffering was really like. There are some great, interesting verses in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 18 says this, because speaking of Christ, because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. In other words, He knows what it's like. He knows what it's like. In Hebrews chapter 4 and verses 15 and 16, the writer says, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. This is Jesus now. We don't have a callous, cold high priest who just said, okay, these are the facts of life. Deal with them. No. But we have one who's been tempted in every way, the writer says, just as we are, yet was without sin. And that offers us hope, as he says in verse 16, let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. You see, He knows what it's like. The Bible calls Jesus a suffering servant. He's a wounded Savior. He is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. The Old Testament says about Him. He knows what it's like. He enters into your pain and you're suffering. That's the reason He can help you with pain and suffering. So don't get bitter against God. God is not the reason for our pain and suffering and death to begin with. It was never His desire for us. It came because of man's sin. He's made away through salvation to reverse the effects of all that. And that's why you need Him. So don't turn away from Him and suffering. Turn to Him and you'll find Him to be a loving and sympathetic help in times of suffering. So bitterness, the objection of bitterness, I think the judge of the universe would say, objection overruled. There's one more, however, I'd like to deal with briefly this morning. That is the objection of pluralism. I want to explain what I mean by that one. You see, to many people, the idea that Jesus is the only way of salvation seems arrogant and intolerant in our culture today. You know, when we read verses like John 146, where Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. You know what that sounds like in the culture that we live in today? That sounds like an arrogant put down of all the world's great religions and people who sincerely follow them. Listen to the talk shows very much. You'll hear that. Larry King once asked Rick Warren on Larry King Live, you mean to tell me that a Jew is not going to be in heaven because he doesn't believe in Jesus Christ? Rick Warren didn't have the time to give the kind of the full answer, or some of the full answer I'm going to give this morning, but he did say something great. He said, I want to grind you Larry, I didn't make the rules. God did. I didn't make the rules. How do you answer someone who says, you know, what about a practicing, sincere, honest, kind Jew or Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu? You mean they're not going to heaven if they don't accept Christ? How do you answer someone who gives that objection? Two things very quickly. Number one, the issue is not religion, but a rescuer. The issue is not, is Christianity better than Hinduism or Islam? That's not the question. Because Christianity can't save you either. The question is not a religion, it's a rescuer. Remember, the problem is you've got a death penalty hanging over you and unless someone rescues you from that, you cannot see God in heaven. I don't care what religion you're in. Christianity. I read a story some time a couple of three weeks ago about a family that was from West Virginia that was down in Jacksonville and the husband was sitting on the beach, his wife was out in the water and she got carried away by a rip tide and he jumped in to try to save her life. He was able to keep her above water until a couple of surfers got close and they got them on their boards and got them in. The man who had tried to rescue his wife died before they got into the hospital. Now you see my friend, when someone is in that desperate condition, they're sinking into death. You don't row a boat out and offer them instructions on how to swim. What they need is a rescuer. They don't need some instructions or religious codes or morals to go back. They need a rescuer. And so instructions on how to swim, Catholic instructions on how to swim, Baptist instructions on how to swim, Muslim instructions on how to swim. That's not what people need. They don't need religion. They need a rescuer. The second thing we need to remember is there is only one person who qualifies as the rescuer. In all of human history, only one person qualifies as the rescuer. Now let me go back to my beach illustration. Have you ever seen life guards, people who are trained to do that on the beach? You don't find 90-year-old man with cane, with a walker. You find people who have been trained and who are fit to things you have to do. If you're going to be a rescuer, first of all, you've got to be fit. You've got to be qualified to go out and make the rescue. Same thing spiritually. If you're sinking in sand, you've got to death penalty over you. Someone has got to be qualified to rescue you. The only person ever qualified to make a spiritual rescue was the one who has never sinned himself, Jesus Christ. That's why the Bible says he's able to help us. Many scriptures tell us that Jesus is qualified because he's never sinned. The second thing a rescuer has to be able to do is after the rescue, he has to be able to get back. He has to be able to come back. Now remember what's involved in the rescue Jesus performed? He had to suffer the death penalty for you and me. Only one person in human history has ever come back from death in a body that never died again. That's Jesus Christ. He's the only one that qualifies, my friend. Muhammad is not alive today. Buddha is not alive today. Confucius is not alive today. No other religious leader, Gandhi, whoever is alive today, Jesus Christ is the only one who's ever qualified to be the rescuer. And there's nothing wrong with saying there's only one way. If that's true, there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing intolerant about that. That's gracious and loving and merciful. If it's true, there's only one way. And it is true. The very people who use this objection, you're very intolerant when you say there's only one way. I just suppose that if they were in a burning building and a fireman prop the ladder up against a window and climbed up and said, come on, this is the only way out. We've scoped out the building. We've got firemen all around this place. There is no other way of escape. You have got to trust me to hold you and get you down this ladder. It's the only way of escape. I doubt that those people would say, you know, that sounds awful intolerant of you. I think I'll just bet my chances that there's some other way out, you know, I'm going to look for one. I doubt they would do that. Firemen knows what he's talking about. Listen, God knows what he's talking about. The Bible is true. There's only one way. You've got to trust him that he knows what he's talking about. There is only one way. That's not intolerant. That's gracious for God to say, I'll show you the way. I'll be the way. You'll trust me. That's the most gracious, merciful thing God could do. Listen, my friend. When you share the gospel with people, you are engaging in spiritual battle for people's souls. And when an objection like one of these comes up, it's just an evidence that Satan is blinding the minds of people with his clever lies and deceptions so that they don't see the clear issue of the gospel. So what we have to do is use God's word and a humble dependence on the Holy Spirit to enable us to refute those objections using God's word to show them that God knows what he's talking about. And possibly, maybe, hopefully, God may use you to overcome overrule some objection and to lead someone to Jesus Christ, to clear away the roadblocks, to get them to the Savior. Would you pray with me this morning? Father, thank you that there are no objections really that stand up under the scrutiny of the Word of God. And I pray that you'd help us to be faithful and diligent in witnessing to people, regardless of objections they raise, to do our best to share within the gospel and let your spirit convince their hearts that it's true. Lord, I pray for anyone here this morning who may have used some of these objections and may have stayed away from you because of one of these or other reasons. I pray that today your spirit would melt their hearts and help them to come to you in Jesus' name. Amen.