Be Defensive

BE DEFENSIVE

INTRODUCTION: Have you ever known a word but when someone asked you what it meant you found yourself at a loss for words? You knew the word and what it meant but you couldn’t think of the actual definition or the correct way to explain it. That’s the way it is for some Christians. They know what they believe but when someone challenges them to really define what they believe they are at a loss for words. For some, it’s just because they haven’t been adequately taught how to defend their faith. For others, however, it is because they say they believe but when challenged, find out that they aren’t as firm in their belief as they thought. It has been indicated that 80 percent of college-bound students who profess to be Christians leave for school and return home no longer believing as they did. Why? It was found that students were incapable of defending their faith against the onslaught of professors who tried to discredit the Bible. We need to be solid on the truth and know how to defend and communicate God’s truth. Let’s see how.

1) THE ATTACK. The devil is on the attack. He’s relentless; he doesn’t stop. He’s on the attack through the various temptations Christians face on a regular basis. He uses people to entice or provoke sinful behavior from us. The attack zone is all around us. Satan also wants to attack our belief system. He wants to hit us where we’re weak. If we struggle with trusting God, he will try to trip us up by tempting us to doubt God’s provision when we’re in a situation where we need to rely on God. When something happens that we don’t have answers for Satan will attack our faith. When it seems our prayers aren’t being answered Satan will try to get us to think God doesn’t care. When he can successfully do that, we start to question God. If we are questioning God, how are we going to be able to defend him when people raise arguments that we’re still unsure about ourselves? Say what you want about Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons, they are solid and fixed about what they believe. And they are well trained to communicate their message. But if we are going to effectively defend the truth we need to be solid about what the truth is. In the Barna Report: What Americans Believe, 1991, George Barna, the church statistician, states that there is “a great deal of ambivalence among Americans with regard to their beliefs. For instance, while 62 percent of the respondents said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ, 65 percent said the term “born again” does not apply to them; fewer than 50 percent strongly agreed that the Bible is the written word of God and is totally accurate in all it teaches.”

2) THE DEFENSE. 2nd Cor. 10:4&5. We live in America-the land of freedom. We have freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Because of that there are many different religious beliefs all around us. And all these religions will claim that the teachings they follow hold the truth. The Muslims and the Koran, the Mormons and the Book of Mormon, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their version of the bible, and so on. But we need to understand that it is impossible to be a true follower of Jesus Christ and embrace this all-encompassing pluralism that says that all belief systems are equal. We can’t be true Christians and reject the idea of absolute truth. One might challenge, ‘so what makes you so sure the bible is the only truth?’ This is a legitimate question that deserves a legitimate answer. We can’t just say, ‘because that’s what I believe’. We need to have supporting evidence.

· Biblical Evidence. The Bible contains 66 books, written by over 40 different writers. These writers came from all aspects of life including judges, tentmakers, kings, shepherds, priests, prophets, doctors, and fisherman. It was written in different places like tents, in deserts, on mountains, in cities, in palaces, and even in dungeons. It’s last writer died approx 1500 years after its first writer. But despite all these differences in time and culture, in background and status, you have a book that doesn’t vary in opinion or belief. A book that doesn’t hold contradictions. Where else can you find a book written by over 40 different people, living under different circumstances, practicing different occupations, writing in different periods of history whose writings form one perfect book of unity? No human being could be behind this writing; this is the word of God! 1st Thess. 2:13, “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.” Josh McDowell said, “Take 10 different contemporary authors and ask them to write their viewpoints on one controversial subject. Would they agree? Absolutely not!” The bible itself lends credible evidence to its authenticity. It is the only truth.