Answers in Genesis--Spring 2017--Lesson 7, Everyone's Right, Right?

Anyway, I hope you guys had a great week in the Lord. we've got some Really neat stuff to study this morning. Let's go ahead and pray. Lord, we thank you so much for your kindness and goodness to us every day.

we thank you for the opportunity to be here, with the people of God on this day that you have ordained that we would worship you. And so we ask that you would guide us as we study this particular These passages and these concepts, bless our children as they learn them as well. we pray for also just the preaching of your word later as we sing the gospel, as we hear the gospel preached, as we minister our gifts to one another in Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

All right. So part of what we're gonna be trying to answer this morning is the question, is it possible to know truth? Christians would all say, yes. many people today would say, no, it is not possible to know truth.

I think is it Webster's Dictionary that said one of the words of the year is post-truth. this concept that, that we're living in a, in a world where truth is hard to understand and grapple with, One of President Trump's advisors used the term recently alternative facts, which the media has jumped on and they, and they really love using that term now, alternative facts. And it is, it is interesting in a living in a world that basically denies absolute truth, how much people are arguing about how important the truth is.

and, and how vital it is to know the true facts, the whole concept of fake news and people from various perspectives are talking about what's fake and what's not fake and very concerned that everybody understand what fake news is and what real news is, and yet at the same time denying the existence of truth.

so this is part of the world we're living in, so we're, we're gonna be dealing with this concept this morning, examining it in the context of the book of Judges. so again, this series is obedience and disobedience as we're eventually gonna end up, in First Samuel, but we're moving chronologically, through the Bible. The title of today's lesson, Everyone is right. I wanna make note of a class that is, offered through our adult equipment school that is going to begin March 5th, that will run concurrent with this class, and it's gonna be on finance.

We haven't, offered this course in a few years since we're back at Linden Street. So, Gospel Finance on the journey, Bill Payne and Carlos Price, are overseeing this class. There'll be a number of different instructors. but if you're interested in that class, you can sign up this morning or online.

You'll be able to sign up over here. You can go online and sign up for it. Don't feel that somehow you are, forsaking your instructor or your master if you go over there for a few weeks and take the finance class. It is 6 weeks.

Yeah, so it's a 6-week course. there's no sense of competition, so you're not denying your sense, if you go take the, the finance class for a few weeks and then come back and join us, I'll still be here. I might weep a little bit, but, it's no big deal. No, I, in fact, I wish I could take the class.

there's some really, really good stuff that's gonna be going on. So, I would highly commend that to you. Let's do a little bit of review and then we're gonna look at some passages of scripture, and then we're gonna look at a short video from an apologist that's dealing with this question of ethics and And just the idea of how can we really know, know the truth. Couple review questions.

just anything that you guys remember from last week? What did you learn or what was affirmed in last week's lesson to you about the character or attributes Of God Last week's lesson was lesson 6, if that gives you a hint. Yeah. The cycle Yeah.

That was last week, yeah. Yeah. So, Joe's just noting that we've, last week we saw those cycles of sin. We covered several different cycles and delivers, judges, but then we get to chapter 10.

Where the people fall again into that cycle. And the Lord basically says, have I not delivered you from the Egyptians and so on, I will deliver you no more. Let your gods deliver you. And we talked last week how, how spooky of a verse that really is.

And then the people say, no, no, no, we really mean it this time. We're gonna put away our, and then they really do put away their gods. I don't, I, I get confused on what I've said here and what I've said in family devotion. So if this is a repeat, just, just let me know.

When they say we put, when they put away their gods, imagine this isn't just a small thing where everybody's just taking the household idols and burying them in the backyard. You need to imagine worship centers, like what Gideon had to destroy. 10 of his pretty strong guys went up to the hill on his dad's property and did some iconoclastic work, right? And so, the, the impression you get is throughout the land, there's this movement of all the people to destroy.

All the centers of false worship. And then it says, and then when his, his soul could bear it no longer, as, as he looked upon his people. So yeah, really, really cool. Anything else stand out?

We've got Lessons from, we could talk about the behavior of Israel. Or in what ways were the judges like Jesus? God Right. Yeah, good.

So, yeah, many of these judges are, are sent directly from God. Jesus was sent directly, from the the Trinitarian God. How are they not like Jesus or however many, most of the judges unlike Jesus? Yeah.

So, we don't get the impression that these are sinless heroes. these are very imperfect people. and yet God is using them, to deliver His people. Whereas when Christ comes on the scene, we have an individual who keeps the whole law at every point.

Even from a child from a child. It's good. Let's see, what else, How can we connect the period of the judges to the message of the gospel? Yeah, good.

So, Sarah's just sharing how that we see the cycle of sin, people, by their nature, they're falling into sin, and it's God that's stepping in and doing the rescuing and the delivering. And we see him doing that over and over again, right? and yet at the same time, it seems like the Book of Judges is hearkening to something greater. There's these deliverers, there's these judges, and yet we're looking forward to some greater.

greater deliverance. Yep, wait. Yeah Right. Yeah Yeah.

So, there's the same, everybody doing what's right in their own eyes type of stuff. Ray Comfort has this pamphlet or a track. That it looks like a newspaper and it's, it's showing some of the shocking things that are said in the book of Judges, but then it compares it to side by side with stories that have gone on today. And when you look at it, you're like, whoa, there really isn't anything new under the sun.

It's not like the Book of Judges is this crazy period that we just have no idea today, no comparison. No, there's quite a comparison between some of the things that you see going on today. In the Book of Judges. let's see.

What else? Anything else stand out to you guys? About last week's lesson, or are there any questions that you guys have? About the cycles and the delivers.

Jeptha Yep. Oh. Yeah God Yeah, So yeah, Joe was talking about the, the word put away doesn't seem to be strong enough of a term. What does that really mean?

And you, so you've done some research that Oh. Yeah I Yeah, yeah, definitely satisfied the Lord. trying to think if there'd be an English equivalent. Put away.

It's not like put away your toys, right? It's more Yeah Joshua. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, it seems to be, that's a good question. I'll, I'll, I'll see if I can do some linguistics research, but It seems like when it's coming to idols, put away is more than just stick it in the back of the drawer, or more than like Rebecca sitting, hiding the idols from her, her father and saying the way of a woman is with me, right?

it seems like it's iconoclastic type of stuff, but let me do some research on that. yeah, you'd almost expect destroy the idols or burn them. way, I think Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, totally, totally. Yeah, let me, let me, let me do some research on that.

Anything else stand out to you guys? I just love the story of Jeff, the, again, like I was saying last week, I think we kinda ended on this. I, it's just another part of the Book of Judges that needs to be made into a movie., This guy is, born out of a bad relationship, a harlotry relationship. His brothers are Don't, you're reminding him all the time that you're not gonna get the inheritance.

So he takes off on his motorcycle out of town and, and goes off with a bunch of hooligans and starts raiding towns. I, I don't, this is just And you're talking about ancient raiding. This is This is like Not the Navajo. What's, what's one of the Indian or Native American tribes that really did a lot of raiding in North America?

Say it again. Yeah, like the Apache. So just, Jephtha kinda gets his little Apache group going on and they just start going and raiding villages, makes a real name for himself. He's a nuisance until Israel is right, about ready to go into conflict with the Ammonites, and they're like, who will deliver us?

Jeff is a pretty bad guy. Let's go see if he'll come back and help us out. And, then he's like, what's in it for me? and.

yeah, and they said, well, you will be the leader. It's like, OK, I'll come back. And so he does, he comes back and then And, like we talked about last week, you expect him just to get his machine guns and start going all kamikaze on people. but instead, he enters into this very sophisticated negotiation process.

where he's trying to find a peaceful, what do they call it, diplomatic solution. And it doesn't work, just like it's, we're always trying to find diplomatic solutions in the Middle East, and it just seems like Every 40, 50 years, it blows up and it's not working. And so then they have at it, and Jephthah wins and that's how the Lord ends up delivering Israel at that point. all right.

So, unless there's any other questions, we're gonna jump into today's material. Is, is it, did anybody go back and read Judges 10 this week? I'm just curious. Anybody read Judges 10?

If you have a chance, I know everybody's busy, just go back and read Judges 10 and 11. And it is just fun, fascinating reading. It's just, I love the Bible in general, but then you just get to certain sections of scripture where you're just like, no way. You gotta be kidding me.

it's just really great. All right, let's open up to Deuteronomy chapter 12. I'm gonna look at a couple passages. Deuteronomy chapter 12.

Verse 8. You shall not at all do as we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own. Eyes For as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. Here, Deuteronomy is, anybody remember what Deuteronomy means?

Second law. So it's the 2nd giving of the law. When we talk about 2, it's really the 2nd generation, right? 1st generation was given the law in Leviticus.

That generation didn't want to go and take the land. They die. And then, so, once that generation dies off, then there's a second giving of the law to all the kids that are now ready to go take the land. And so there's this command to To not be doing what their parents did and to go and to move beyond that generation.

And so you do have, it seems like a time in Joshua's day where there does seem to be, some of, definitely a, a generation or two of obedience and so on. But then, I turn over to Judges 17:6. We'll look at this and then one other passage that's virtually the same. 176.

In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Turn to the end of the book, chapter 21. Verse 25, in those days, there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

By virtue of the fact that this says in those days there was no king. In Israel What would you think about the time of the writing of some of, of this particular verse at least, or this material? For the author to say, in those days, there was no king in Israel. Right, exactly.

So, so whoever's writing this, we would, many would argue it was Samuel is saying in, in those days, there was no king like there is today. And in those days, everyone was doing what was right in his own eyes. And so that seems to be the conclusion of the book is in those days, there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That's, it's not exactly ending, it's not a happy ending to the book.

Do you, do you think? You, these days, I don't know about you, but sometimes you go see a movie. And, and like real film critics and real artists, they love it when, when movies end with a complete terrible ending and there's no resolution. They just love that, right?

And, whereas most of us are like, we want it to resolve in a good way. We don't want it to resolve in a bad way. this one resolves in everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes, the end. it's like, OK.

And so, and then from there, historically, you now begin to move in to the next judge on the scene, which would be Samuel. And so now there's this buildup towards King David. So there's bad news, and, but then we're moving towards this good news, the Davidic kingdom. And so on, but here we're gonna, we're gonna pause.

And just deal with this concept. Of everybody doing what is right in their own eyes. This seems to be not just a theme in the book of Judges, it is a theme in the Bible. Was it not in the Garden of Eden, where the, the devil comes along and says to Eve, did God really say?

And part of the whole fall is Adam and Eve choosing not to believe what God said. They must touch, they must taste, they must apply, quote unquote, the scientific method for themselves to determine whether the tree was good or not. It wasn't enough to trust God and His word. they needed to trust God or to test him themselves.

In your lesson this week, if you read any of the background material, there's a 2009 BARNA survey that says only 46% of adults who call themselves born again believe that there is absolute moral truth. And surprisingly, you'll find even in churches like ours where there's a lot of good teaching, a lot of focus on the truth of God's word, when you start really serving young people, while they will say, yes, I believe in absolute truth, but you really start asking them and, and listening to their language, how they will even present like say speeches or whatnot.

There's a lot of, in my view. Jesus, da da da.

Well, in my position, Here's what I think about God, or here's how I feel about Christianity. There's a lot of like my view, here's how I feel, here's what I think, but really posturing themselves is just one voice amongst many voices on the issue of God, Christianity, Christ, and so on and so forth. To stand up and say there is one God. There are no other gods.

yes, people may believe different things and we're thankful for the fact that we live in a country where people can exercise freedom of religion, but at the end of the day, there is one truth. That is not an acceptable way to speak in the public square today. I've, I've talked to different families in our church that have gone off on, on trips to Europe and who have just been absolutely shocked. By the total acceptance of immorality as they travel around Europe.

it's very popular today for people to graduate from high school and then say, hey, I'm gonna take a year and just go travel before I go to college. And so, some, some young people will go just travel across Europe. And it's just a commonly accepted thing today in Europe that if you're traveling around with somebody of the opposite sex, or let's say there's one guy and two girls, people just assume that you're all sleeping together. some of the Christian folks that I've talked to that have traveled around the circuit in Europe, just rank immorality everywhere they go.

I talked to some friends that they came back from their trip early because it was just so disturbing to them. The United States is still riding, we've said this a number of times, the, the wave of the 1st and 2nd Great Awakening. In Europe, they have, that there's barely a, a dribble of the Great Awakening anymore in Europe. when we take, students, when we've got, we go to mission trips on certain parts of the world, we have to be very careful, especially with our girls, and training them not to behave like normal American girls, in Ame in the United States, it's still acceptable for the most part for a young lady to look people in the eye, to look men in the eye, and to be friendly, but in many parts of the world, in Italy.

If, if a gal is looking men in the eye and is friendly, they will assume that it's a sexual advance. And, and we've had guys that'll start following our groups because we're too friendly. this is just the rank immorality that is out there. Everybody is doing what is right in their own eyes.

We're seeing more evidence of that in the US. but, Go on a little hike across Europe. go to some of the travel hotspots that Europeans like to go to for vacation. And it's just rank immorality.

and it's not even questioned. So what, what are we to do? We live in a world where people basically say that there are no real sexual morals. There's, it's not surprising that people question everything from marriage to parenthood to sexual preferences, so on and so forth.

and it's all, it's all, once you remove the authority of God and His word, it's only a matter of time. We suppress the truth in our righteousness. It's only a matter of time, you see that decline that's described in Romans chapter one. And yet if you interact with people, they'll, many times they'll They'll kowtow to this idea of there being no real right or wrong or just my truth, but when you press them on certain things, issues that they care about, then suddenly there is a right and a wrong.

I was talking, a couple of years ago, I was down here witnessing at UCR when we had our little outreach down there and was talking to a gal who was a gender studies major and, she felt very strongly about the the rejection of the gender binary. like it was, it was a right and wrong issue. Gender binary is something that's been foisted upon our culture. By patriarchy and, and she had a, a very absolute sense of right and wrong when we talked about the gender binary.

She argued for the whole spectrum, if you've heard the spectrum arguments and so on and so forth. And I, I asked her a question. I said, as you look around, where did every individual on this campus come from? And she couldn't figure it out.

Every single person on this campus came from somewhere. Where do you think they came from? Yeah, she could not figure it out. I finally said, every single person you're looking at had a biological mother.

And a biological father. Every single person you're looking at. Is that gender binary or is that spectrum? And she was like, I don't know.

And yet, she's absolutely convinced of these things through her studies at, at UCR. people that will argue for, the moral relativity type of stuff. if a, if a laptop, like we, in our curriculum here in the background stuff, if there's a laptop, that says $1000 on the price tag, can I take it up to the register and say, I'd, I'd like to pay $10 for this laptop? No, you can't.

Why? Because there is a value that's been assigned to that laptop and that value, you can't just bargain and say, well, I, I don't really believe $1000 means $1000. I I'd like to pay $10., you can't live, that's the, the thing about the moral relativity worldview is you can't live consistently with it. You will always somewhere argue for an absolute.

And, so what we're gonna, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take a little bit of time, watching a, a short clip. That's not, it's about 13 minutes, I think, 1213 minutes by an apologist named Bill Jack. it comes from a series called Demolishing Strongholds. Were any of you guys part of our tactics series?

OK, great. We did an apologist, apologetics class a couple of years back where we went through tactics by, Cochel, Greg Cochel. And he had some things like, Colombo Question and so on and so forth. That's a, a little bit of what Bill Jack does.

He, he's gonna talk about 4 different questions that we can ask people in our age that is pretty similar to the time of the judges. he's a faculty advisor of World View Academy. He's a tenure educator in the public school system, contributes to issues and answers. He's been on the radio, television, so on and so forth, traveling speaker.

So, go ahead and take some notes. And then we'll come back after this video clip and And interact with it. You can see a number of Bill Jack's lectures on YouTube. And if you guys wanna, wanna see more.

what was the first question? What do you mean by what you're saying? Good. So what do you mean by that?

What do you mean by what you're saying? Very similar to the Colombo question if you guys remember tactics. it's a great question to use. sometimes my kids get frustrated with me when we're having devotions and they'll bring something up, and I'll be like, What do you mean by that?

Stop using the Colombo question on his dad. It's like And then how do you, oh, I'm sorry, what's the second question? So how do? And then what's the 3rd question?

Yeah, so the so what question and then the final question. Yeah, what if you're wrong, Pascal's wager, So that you, is that helpful? To you guys, yeah, go ahead, Nate. Mhm.

What I think about that. Because Christ didn't Right. Being In In I Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Being of God's. Mhm. Yeah, so Nate's just expressing doubt about the usage of Pascal's wager in evangelism.

And I'd agree. I, I, I tend to, if I'm gonna say something along the lines of Pascal's wager, I would normally say, what if you're wrong? what would be the consequences of that. And I, I, I think it's, to me, I, I like trying to at least, at least get people to admit that they could be wrong.

I might say it like, is there any possibility that you're wrong? And if they say, no, there's no possibility I'm wrong, then like, well, hey, thanks for the conversation. It was good to talk to you today because you're not getting anywhere if they think there's no possibility they're wrong. But if they say, yeah, maybe, maybe it's possible I'm wrong.

then that might, you could follow that up with some other passages of scripture. so yeah, these, these things are, these are helpful questions. Maybe if you go back and, and check out some of our tactics material with Greg Cochel, you can mix them up, mix them up together. yeah, I was just gonna say that sometimes when you're evangelizing.

Oh yeah. they So these questions like how do And Yeah, totally. Oh yeah. I like the idea that even if it doesn't.

It Yeah, totally. So, Michelle says a lot of times these questions, you find out that people have never even thought of these things, so at least get some thinking about these types of questions and spiritual matters. I, when I've gone to places like UCR or college campuses, I used to have this thing in the back of my mind that I'm gonna run up against a ton of students and professors. that have thought very deeply about all of these issues, and they're going to just ask me questions that are gonna just completely stump me.

And what I found over the years is that most people have just grabbed on to little things that they've heard on the History Channel and this and that. They don't think very deeply about these things. And, and, and, and most of the folks that you'll meet at UCR have less than a Sunday school knowledge of the Bible. I remember driving a student home from a baseball practice on my baseball team, started sharing the gospel with him, and he had, he had gone to Catholic Church when he was a child.

his family, they all considered themselves Catholics or Christians. He had never heard the story of Adam and Eve in the fall in the garden. And I, I had to question him a few times, are you sure you've never heard this story? He had never heard it.

And he was like 15 years old. this is the United States of America, I'm like, you go to Catholic Church periodically, at least on, a few times a year., a lot of the folks that we're interfacing with, these are not people who have lots of knowledge and they've knowledgeably chosen to reject what they've heard. Now, let me qualify that. All of them have a certain knowledge in their heart from general revelation that they are repressed in, in unrighteousness.

We're gonna look at that here in a second. But so many of, even college students I'm talking to have very little, if any, knowledge of the Bible. And it's so important for us. If, if you have been a part of a church and here you are at Cornerstone where there's lots of good teaching.

If you go out and just open your mouth a little bit with people in your neighborhood. You are blessing them with stuff they're not getting on television, they're not getting it on the radio, they're not getting it in the movies. If they're getting anything, it's, it's somewhat disturbing how many movies are coming out these days that are just laced with Christian bigotry and And that's all, that's all they're getting. That's all they're hearing about Christ.

Joe had some. the s Yeah, Yeah. So, so Joe's saying even if you do get out there and voice, try to voice things publicly, many times your grades are subject to being demoted. That happened to me in an upper division poetry class.

I was doing very well until the professor asked me to sign a petition about homosexual rights, and I did the best I could to explain my position, how that as Christians, we love all people, we love homosexuals, but I do not believe that. This is a proper lifestyle that, that biblically, it's, you people are Putting themselves in harm's way, and for the rest of that semester, there isn't anything I could say in class that was Acceptable and I worked like a dog for a sea. In that class from that point on.

but, that's what Jesus told us, we'll be persecuted.

For righteousness' sake. Yes, Dan Oh, at UCI. So, Stan's saying at UCI that there were several professors that were actively trying to search out the Christians in their classes so that they could publicly ridicule them. Yeah, it's I, I have kinda like this, I, I could be totally jaded, but my, my experience in the university system was not overly positive when it came to my faith.

Probably because I was a liberal, I was in the liberal arts, I was an English major, so there was a lot of Stuff, that went with that major. If I had a probab, maybe if I'd have been a science major or something else, maybe I wouldn't have hit it as much. Yeah. these are the ones that are being Students that are rejected.

Program. child psychology. wrote a letter about a student said that she has no business being in Children Religious Wow. But it, it happens Like Yeah Yeah, it's pretty, pretty disturbing.

Let's, we got just a couple of minutes. Let's finish on Romans, chapter one. I, I like the way Bill Jack ended that video that, yeah, we can go out and use these questions and, and the Lord, it can give us a springboard into the gospel, but we need to remember What the real issues are behind the scenes, and we'll just look here at verse 18 and following, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

Every person that you ever talked to, friend, family member, what have you, neighbor, they've already been shown an aspect of the true God because God has put it in them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So people can look in nature, they can look in themselves, and this makes them, this doesn't save them, it makes them culpable, it makes them without excuse.

Verse 21, because although they knew God, They did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts.

Their foolish hearts were darkened. Remember, every time you see that passive voice, we darkened, God is the implied subject. God darkened their hearts. And so, we're not talking about past tense, we're talking about passive voice, right?

And so, So, it should, it should lend us, I think, to have great compassion that on everybody that we're talking to. I didn't come to Christ because I'm such a smart guy. And, to this day, my father has not yet come to know the Lord. It's not because I'm smart and he's dumb.

my dad is a very intelligent man. He has many admirable characteristics. Many of the things that I enjoy today as part of my character and things I value have been handed down to me by my father. But the Lord opened my eyes up to believe the gospel when I was 14, and to this point, my dad's eyes have not been opened.

And so, we pray that as the gospel continues to go out, that my Dad's eyes will be open to the gospel and the Lord can use lots of different means, but primarily, it's the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation, right? And so these questions and tools are all meant to get us to the truth of the gospel, so that the Holy Spirit can use that power to open up. The hearts of our friends and family. Any final questions before we pray?

Yes, Barbara. Yeah Yeah, so Barbara says, it's fine when people say there is no absolute truth and you respond by saying, are you absolutely sure? Yeah, and then making an absolute statement like that, there is absolutely no truth. Now, next week, lesson 8, we will get into Ruth.

God blesses Ruth. And then we'll move from there, we'll move into Samuel. And so, and then we'll, as we head towards the end of this course, we'll. End up with King David.

So, sad to see judges go, but we're moving into some great material as well. Let's go ahead and pray. Lord, we thank you for your, your goodness and kindness to us, in your every day as you have given us your word and as we get to share and study it together. we ask God that you would Help us to, to open up our mouths for the gospel, realizing that any time somebody comes along in our path and we get to share with them, the truth, it is their lucky day.

As it were, and so many people in our culture. just don't know. Just don't know so many of these truths and, and And, spiritual items that can rescue them. So we pray, Father, that you'd give us boldness and compassion, help us to be patient, knowing that you have been very patient with us.

We pray for our culture as we see, times it can be discouraging to see ways in which, we are turning away from you at the same time. It seems like there's signs that are very encouraging. as we see, many young people coming to know you and, so we ask Lord that, that, your spirit would move across our land, across this world. We know that ultimately you are the victor.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen.