Case Study: Ethiopian Eunuch (Part 2)

[00:00:00] We'll dive right in back into Acts 8 in our study of the Ethiopian eunuch. Part 2 in our overall study, our series on the school of evangelism. And hopefully today the Lord helps us. [00:00:20] Hopefully we can pick up some principles that will help us as we try to share the Gospel with people. All right, Acts 8. Now we'll read where we'll just read the story again, just to pick up the context. Verse number 26. The Bible says, the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. [00:00:49] And he arose and went, and behold a man of Ethiopia, eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and sitting in his chariot read, esaias, the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Esaias and said, I understandest thou what thou readest. And he said, how can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the Scripture which he read was this. [00:01:32] He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth? And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. [00:02:03] And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? Verse 37. And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. That the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. All right, let's pray together. [00:02:48] Father, thank you for the truths of Scripture. Thank you for this opportunity to study the Word and to Focus on evangelism and the duty that you've laid upon us, Lord, to tell others about your great works, what great things you've done for us. [00:03:07] And Lord, I pray that you would just be our teacher and that you would draw out from the scriptures that we study today principles to help us and better equip us to be evangelists, Lord. But we know that if we have principles and we know how to do it, but we don't do it. But we don't actually intentionally engage people with the gospel, Lord, what doth it profit? So Lord, help us to be witnesses. And Lord, help us to be effective witnesses as well. In Jesus name. Amen. All right, so in Acts chapter eight, we've already seen. We looked at Philip, who was one of the seven original deacons in Acts chapter 6. He's also in Acts chapter 21, referred to as an evangelist, which is a person who evangelizes, which is directly related to the word gospel. So he was a gospelist, you might call it that, someone who shares the Gospel, a gospelist. [00:04:11] And we looked at Ephesians 4:11 and 2 Timothy 4. 5, and we saw how that we saw what an evangelist is. And we also saw that you do not have to be an evangelist to evangelize. In other words, you don't have to have that spiritual gift in order to do it. In fact, the Lord tells people who do not have that spiritual gift to be engaged in that work. [00:04:35] And so we saw that as well. And then we saw that this Ethiopian man is traveling back from Jerusalem, headed back home in Ethiopia, and he's currently in the strip of land called the Gaza in Gaza. And he's all by himself. At least that's how the scripture describes it. Although it's likely he had other people with him, being a man of authority and, and position. [00:05:02] But he's the only one mentioned in Scripture which draws our attention to the fact of God's interest in a single individual. Which is exactly what, of course, not just in this instance, but also as it relates on a doctrinal level, that God is interested in individuals, for Christ tastes to death for every man in Hebrews 2. 9. [00:05:29] And so that's the things we've looked at so far. We also saw that the man of Ethiopia, though he was a man of great authority and had great responsibility in the kingdom of Ethiopia, he was also a man whose heart was open. [00:05:48] And so that's where we will pick up today. [00:05:54] So you notice that an Ethiopian man is not a Jew, right? We assume that now there are Groups of people in not only Ethiopia, but in other parts of the world who claim to be. And I don't claim to understand all of the. The different Jewish groups, but there are some people who, I think there's actually a group in Ethiopia who they. Who say that they are the actual and true Jews. I don't think that's necessarily the case, but they exist. So there's a connection based upon the Queen of Sheba. I think that's where it goes back to the Queen of Sheba, that there was a group of people who worshiped God in Ethiopia. Well, what we do know, whether that's true or not, we don't know. The Bible doesn't say it. But what we do know is that this man had gone up to Jerusalem even though he wasn't apparently a Jew. Maybe he was ethnically, I don't know. But even though he was not ethnically a Jew and certainly not nationally a Jew, yet he's going up to Jerusalem, it says in verse number 27 at the end, had come to Jerusalem for to worship. So it's interesting, why is this Ethiopian man seeking to worship God in Jerusalem? [00:07:22] That's an interesting question. This is a very long way from home for him. Okay, Ethiopia at this time, Ethiopia is a place that is south of. [00:07:36] I know we have modern day Ethiopia, which is, you go, if you look at Egypt and then Sudan and then Ethiopia as you go down the eastern coast of Africa, and what we call Ethiopia is not exactly the biblical Ethiopia. It's in the same general vicinity. But the place Ethiopian here was likely somewhere in the Sudan, what we would call Sudan. [00:08:01] But either way, in order to get from the capital of Ethiopia, which I assume that's where he lived, to Jerusalem was like 1200 miles. [00:08:14] 1200 miles. It's a long journey. We're talking two, anywhere from two to four months of traveling one way. Now, there is a shorter way. If you go up the, you go up the Persian Gulf, you can go up maybe a little bit quicker. But as far as we know, he's going by land, as you see him in his chariot, two to four months. So this is a man who worshiped God and who took it seriously. He was not someone who worshiped God with his lips, but he was willing to expend considerable time and expense to travel from Ethiopia to Jerusalem in order only to worship. Right. So here's what I want you to see about this man. [00:09:00] This man is, I just put, a religious man, but we might add to that. This man is a sincere religious man. Now, we've already studied. We've already looked at another case study of another religious man who was Nicodemus. Nicodemus. There's hints that Nicodemus was not, although he was obviously religious. There's hints that Nicodemus was not entirely sincere, especially seeing the fact that he was a ruler of the Jews and came to Jesus by night. And so there's all these political things, you know, happening with Nicodemus kind of swirling around. [00:09:37] This man is also religious, but the Ethiopian eunuch is insincerity. [00:09:43] He's not in the bubble of the religious world of Jerusalem and Judea at this time. He lives far away. But his seeking of God and his sincerity in his worship of God is seen in what he was willing to do in order to worship. [00:10:02] Right? Nobody can doubt that this man was sincere because of the time and expense that he was willing to put forth in order to go worship. [00:10:12] So, basically, so if we can read between the lines, this man is a man who had at some point, in some way been exposed to the true God, to the Scriptures, because he's reading the Scriptures. He had been exposed to the worship at Jerusalem. He had been exposed to, you know, basically the Hebrew religion, right? The Hebrew faith, right. That much we can safely. [00:10:44] We can safely assume. [00:10:47] But what is interesting about this man is, so does he have the whole picture? He does not have the whole picture, but whatever part of the picture that he has, he has acted upon it. [00:10:59] That's the key. [00:11:02] He has understood. He has sought the Lord as he understood the truth and according to the light and truth that he had at that time. So even though he doesn't know the whole picture. Now, what's curious to me is that this man's coming back from Jerusalem in Acts chapter 8. Now, Christianity has not spread everywhere yet. It's still primarily in Acts chapter 8. It's still primarily in Judea, Jerusalem and Judea. It hasn't quite spread. It's starting to spread to Samaria, which is what Philip was doing. But it had not yet gotten its full expanse yet. All right, so I'm curious, why hasn't this man heard of Jesus? Maybe he had. You know, the text doesn't say that he had not heard of Jesus. But I'm curious why no one had gotten to him while he was in Jerusalem. Maybe he was there briefly. We don't have any idea. But this man, this religious man represents a sincere religious man who, who has up to this point, responded positively to the. To the scriptural truth that he has been exposed to. That's what he represents in contrast to Nicodemus. [00:12:17] So this man did not just have truth in his head, but he also acted upon it. He also acted upon it. Now, as we seek opportunities to give the gospel to people, as we meet people, sometimes we meet people like the Samaritan woman who is just buried in sin, right? Immorality, right. Sometimes we meet people like that. Sometimes we meet people like the rich young ruler, people who are self righteous, right. And think that their good works are going to get them to heaven and they think that they've, you know, only good people go to heaven and they happen to be one of those good people and they need to be introduced to the law of God. Sometimes we have those and sometimes we meet people like Nicodemus, people who are very well versed in religion, often also self righteous and who have to be introduced to something that maybe they, something maybe they haven't heard or something their religion does not supply. That Jesus says you have to have in this case be born again. [00:13:26] And then sometimes you meet people like this Ethiopian eunuch, people who up to this point in their life we can't speak to what brought them to this point, but when we meet them, it is evident that they have received whatever measure of truth they have been given. Did you know there are people in the United States of America? Not probably not as many in Greenville, probably not very many at all. But there are definitely people in the United States of America who only vaguely know of Jesus. You know that I've seen videos of people doing evangelism on the street, meeting people and I've actually personally met people from mostly from other states. [00:14:11] Do you know about Jesus? Yeah, yeah, I've heard of Jesus. Well, do you know anything about him? Well, not really. [00:14:16] In our country, with TV and radio and Internet and you know, churches everywhere, even in, even in places like that are highly secular. There's a lot of churches. How is that? But they exist. They exist. Not everyone has been exposed to the gospel. Alright, so go a little bit further. This man is a man who has been exposed to scriptural truth, although not the gospel. He's been exposed to scriptural truth. And here's the thing, he has responded positively. [00:14:49] In other words, he has not rejected the truth that he has been given. And you meet people like that, people who it shouldn't be any surprise that we do stumble upon at times. People who are indeed and insincerity seeking God and who are open to the truth. Now here's the kicker. [00:15:12] You often find people whose hearts are Open and who are seeking God in the most unusual of places. [00:15:25] Because remember, they might be found. You might stumble upon someone who is in a very unusual place. And you think, how can a person with such openness to the truth be in this church, not this church, but the church they go to or the cult that they're a part of? [00:15:48] How can that be? Well, it's simple. It's simple. There are people found in lots of different locations. Who. And this is why we have to understand that this idea of evangelism is a personal interaction with God and a man or a woman. The Lord is at work and he can take somebody that's sitting in a Catholic mass where the gospel is not preached and he can be working in them and teaching them and drawing them. [00:16:21] And here you have, you meet them on the street or whatnot. Here you have somebody who seems to be just wide open and seems to have received the things, the scriptural truths they've heard. And you think, how can they, how can that be? The Lord has them in all kinds of places. [00:16:38] I mean, could there be one in Jehovah's Witness, in a Jehovah's Witness cult? It would be harder, probably. Or the Mormons maybe, of course. But again, I'm referring to when we meet them, not where they end up, right? That's, that's a key distinction. [00:16:57] We find people in churches that are not preaching the gospel, whose hearts are open, right? So you can't. That's why when you meet someone, ask questions, find out where they're at. Because you might find someone who's not hardened in self righteousness in religion, but you like Nicodemus or the rich young ruler, you might find someone who has indeed in sincerity received the truths that they've heard. [00:17:29] And the Lord has sent you there to finish the story for them to finish the story. [00:17:39] So you can't judge it. Well, do you go to church? Oh, yeah, yeah, I go to such and such, you know, whatever church you know. And you're like, whoa. And we assume, well, this is what you believe. And you believe and you believe, you know, be careful that sometimes we meet somebody and you're like, well, you believe in this, believe in that, and you believe in this. [00:17:57] Maybe just ask questions and see where they're at. See where they're at. In fact, that's one thing that Philip did, right? What was his question? He heard. I bet Philip got real excited when he walked up to that chariot, right? He's listening, he's walking up to it, kind of. There's probably like a big entourage. And he comes up from behind. I'm just visualizing here. He's walking up from behind, maybe riding his donkey. Well, I guess he has one. Maybe he does. [00:18:21] Anyway, so he's riding his donkey and he's coming up and through the entourage and the servants and all that kind of stuff. And as he gets closer, he's hearing the man reading out loud. [00:18:35] And then he recognizes Isaiah, chapter 53, although there weren't chapters back then. But anyway, he recognizes the words and he says. And he probably gets a little bit excited. He's like, ha, ha. Oh, yeah, I know this chapter. [00:18:55] But what does he ask the Ethiopian? He says, understandest thou what thou readest? Which is inquisitive. In other words, where are you at? [00:19:04] Where you at? [00:19:07] Not to assume, but where you at now? I got distracted there a little bit. [00:19:16] So this man has a heart. [00:19:19] He has responded, actively responded to the truth that he has been given, although it's an incomplete truth. [00:19:28] And as a result, his heart is open. And we're going to see some verses about this in a minute. [00:19:35] But we have to recognize that contrary to this kind of man, there are many, many people, great multitudes, who do not respond to the light that they have received. [00:19:49] This man did. But there are many who do not. Whether that truth and that light that they received is found in God's creation, or whether they have been exposed to the Bible, they respond negatively. [00:20:05] Take a peek at Romans chapter one, if you would. [00:20:13] Romans chapter one. [00:20:18] Look at verse 20. [00:20:26] Romans 1:20 says this, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. So this is referring to creation, the light and truth that God gives men through creation, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. [00:20:46] So whether someone says they believe in evolution or they believe in a creator or whatever they say, it doesn't matter. [00:20:55] God is telling us in this chapter, Psalm 19 as well. He says, I have been talking to everybody. You understand that this is what God says. It doesn't matter what they tell you. God says, I have been talking to them. [00:21:12] I have been revealing myself to them, and I've been revealing things about myself to them. Regardless if they say, well, I never. I don't. I don't believe that whatever they have gotten the message. [00:21:25] So he says in verse number 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified him, not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and noticed the words and their foolish Heart was darkened. [00:21:42] Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Let me show you something. [00:21:51] I feel like Spurgeon now, because that's the way he did his pulpit. He had a banister. [00:22:00] So as long as a man receives the truth that they've been given as they receive it, they're lightened. Now, they might not have the whole truth. Sort of like you have this room. Maybe not all the lights are on. For instance, it might be like this. [00:22:20] A man comes and he has this truth. Now, he doesn't have all the truth, but he does have some of the truth. And the truth that he has, he has received, right? So that means he has some truth which is good, right? That's where the Ethiopian man was, right? [00:22:39] Now, this represents someone who has all the truth and has received and accepted all the truth, right? But here's what happens. [00:22:56] There we go. So here's what happens. [00:23:00] God gives us this truth, we receive it. And so our truth is we're enlightened. We have light. All right, so what it says. What is verse 22? Verse 21. Somebody read verse 21 for me. Brother Troy, can you read verse 21? [00:23:23] Their heart before verse 21 was like this. It was lightened with light. [00:23:32] But here's what happened. For various reasons, which I'll mention in a minute. [00:23:40] They didn't receive the truth that they were given. And as a result, a heart that was lightened got darker. [00:23:51] See that? That's what it says. Their foolish heart was darkened. So it was like this originally because they had received the truth to that point. [00:23:59] Then it gets darker. [00:24:02] See that? That's what the verses say. [00:24:05] But the Ethiopian man was here. The Ethiopian man was here. [00:24:12] Now, you meet a lot of people, a lot of people that. [00:24:27] Whose hearts have darkened because they have rejected whatever light they had been given. Whatever truth that they. That God has shown them. And that's not up to them. It's up to God. And God is the one who's orchestrating this. And God is the one who's running this show. And the Lord is the one who's revealing things to people. And this is what he does. He reveals things to people, be it through creation or through the scripture. He can even take the words of a snake in some church somewhere and tell the truth through that snake's mouth. He can do that. He has done it. People have actually given testimony to that. Of course, that doesn't approve of the heresy of it. But the Lord knows how to do that kind of stuff. [00:25:19] But many people reject it. And so Their heart gets darkened. And that's. I would say that's probably. I mean, maybe you might disagree with the percentage, but I think that's the majority of the people we meet. They've made some decision negatively toward the light that they've been given, toward the truth they've been given. And as a result, they're darkened. And that's not a good place to be in. That's a movement towards sin and away from the Lord. [00:25:43] But remember, there's a number of people in Scripture who were like this Ethiopian man. People who, as far as we know, they had some light and had received it. Their heart had not yet been darkened. Listen to these. You know, these men in John 12:20, there were Greeks who worshiped at the feast of unleavened bread, who came to meet Jesus there. You know, it was Greeks, not Jews, but Greeks that said, sirs, we would see Jesus. Which is to say, we want to see Jesus. It was Greeks. That famous quote, you know, sir, we would see Jesus. It was Greeks who did that, not Jews. [00:26:21] Luke 7:5. The Centurion we actually just recently studied about him had a servant who was healed. He was a man who built a synagogue. He was a man who honored the God of Israel. Cornelius, in Acts 2, sorry, Acts 10 was a man who the Bible describes as a man who worshiped God. Acts 16 describes Lydia, a seller of purple, who worshiped God. In Acts 17, verse 4, there's a mention of devout Greeks that Paul met when he was doing his evangelism work. [00:26:55] Acts 18, verse 7 describes a man named Justus who worshiped God and whose house was right next to the synagogue, who was just as being. That's not a Jewish name, that's a Roman name. So he was not a Jew. [00:27:09] Then you had Acts 18, verse 24. You have Apollos. Now, Apollos didn't just have those lights, he had these lights too, but not quite the last Apollos knew about John the Baptist. But again, he had received it. [00:27:22] He was exposed to it and had received it. [00:27:26] So here's the thing. [00:27:28] We should recognize people that are in this condition. [00:27:34] We should recognize people that are in this condition. Because there's a great opportunity. [00:27:40] There's a great opportunity to deal with people that are in this condition. [00:27:44] All right? The second thing I want you to see back in Acts chapter 8 is the scripture. [00:27:51] Notice what it says here. [00:27:57] Verse 28. He was returning and sitting in his chariot, read Esaias the prophet. So he's reading the Bible. That's what he's doing now. Let me Explain a few things about the scripture, the word of God, the written word of God. The Scripture is the highest level of God's revelation to mankind. Everybody get that? In other words, there are two primary revelations, forms of revelation that God reveals to mankind. Two, we already looked at one in Romans one, creation. God talks to people through creation. Number two, God talks to people through the scripture, the written word of God, okay? Whether they actually read it or they hear of it, or however it's communicated what the written word of God says, alright? So look at that subset of the written word of God which is where we're at here. [00:28:55] New Testament truth is the highest level of revelation within the scripture. So you have, in the Scripture, you have the Old Testament truth and the New Testament truth. And of course, one can't exist without the other. They're intended to complete each other, right? The New Testament is built upon the Old and the Old is fulfilled in the new. But when you get to the where this man is, he has the Old Testament truth, apparently, but he does not have the complete revelation, right? [00:29:31] So at this point, he is lacking truth, but he had become acquainted with scripture and he believed it. [00:29:41] How many people around us do we meet, you know, think about evangelizing? How many people around us that give lip service to the scripture and say, oh yes, I believe the Bible, oh yes, the Bible's so good. The Bible this, the Bible that, Da da da, da da da da. [00:29:58] But it's just lip service for this man. It was not lip service. He put his money where his mouth is. Whatever truth he knew. He knew about Jerusalem, he knew about the temple, he knew about the sacrifices, he knew about the law, all of that. Everything he's doing shows that. And what did he do? He acted upon it. He said, you know what? [00:30:20] This is God's word. I need to go up there and worship God according to his method, his way that he has shown in the Bible and he did not. Just like all of us Greenvillians around here, everybody believes the Bible. Everybody has a Bible on their coffee table and these big old family Bibles with the sissy little picture of Jesus on the front. [00:30:39] And nobody reads it, nobody follows it, they become dim. You say, can it be in Greenville, people who go to church have become dim? Absolutely. Absolutely. [00:30:56] It absolutely can happen. [00:31:00] This man was acquainted with scripture and he believed it. [00:31:05] And because he believed it, this was a perfect setup for future illumination. So in other words, because he believed this, it's like just to illustrate a little bit more, because he believed this, that God had Given him, God said, here's what I'm going to do. Going to give you this, and if you receive it, it's going to get brighter and brighter and brighter. Now that's just the Old Testament, though we hadn't quite gotten to the New Testament. New Testament is where Philip shows up like this, starts to explain the scripture, and it gets brighter and brighter and brighter. [00:31:49] But if at any point he says no, stops and actually darkens. [00:31:57] But here's what I want you to see from this concerning evangelism. [00:32:03] The very basis and foundation for every gospel conversation that we have with another is the Bible. [00:32:12] The very basis and foundation must be what the scriptures say. Now, it doesn't necessarily have to be a quotation, but it's truths drawn from the scripture sometimes. Now we have. You guys have probably known, especially people who are like, we are. Who are in earnest. Right. About the Bible. Right. The Bible is important. [00:32:35] Living by, walking by what the very words of scripture say. That's kind of the name of our game right here. That's part of our identity. Bible Christians. But don't let that kind of go off into superstition where you think you can just throw out a Bible verse and it's like magic. It's the truths of Scripture that we draw from the verses, new truths to introduce someone to the gospel. It's not like you just throw out a verse at somebody and it's like, you know, it's like sometimes that happens. But it's because the Scripture is the foundation for any gospel conversation. I'll say this. No person can be saved without first accepting the Scripture as God's word and the source of truth. [00:33:29] No person. Why do you say that? [00:33:31] Because think about what the Bible is claiming. The Bible is claiming we're sinners and that we're on the way to hell. That's only knowledge you get from the Bible. The Bible is claiming that Jesus is the Son of God, God in the flesh, and. And that he died on the cross in the place of sinners. That's the Bible. So if you have a. You know, that he rose again from the dead, that's the Bible. That's not history. That's the Bible. Although it's historical fact, too. So if the Bible's in question and has not been accepted, what about the claims? Well, they're also false or in question. And you can't be saved if the very claims of the Gospel itself are in question. You're not going to be saved. That's not faith. Right. [00:34:12] So a person must first Have a submission to God's word as God's word. Remember what Paul said first Thessalonians, Chapter one. You received the gospel that you heard of us. You received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth. The what? The word of God. See that? That verse shows what I'm saying here. [00:34:40] Now, Philip, I'm sorry. The Ethiopian eunuch believed the Scripture, not just words. [00:34:52] But here's the problem. Remember, Philip's got the Bible. He has received the light. He has. But a whole part of his mind back here is still dim. [00:35:03] Still dim. [00:35:05] He doesn't have light. [00:35:07] And of course he doesn't have the spirit of God in him. As a part of his own nature, being unconverted, without the spirit of God, he has some dimness. In other words, he doesn't understand the Scripture. That's why he says. He says, understandest thou what thou readest? Philip asked him, and he says, how can I, except some man should guide me? He didn't get what he was reading. He didn't understand it. [00:35:33] Notice what some of these verses say. [00:35:36] 2nd Corinthians 4:4. [00:35:41] In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. In other words, their minds are blind by Satan. Ephesians 4:18. [00:35:58] Speaking of the Gentiles who do not know God, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, see that their understanding is darkened. So it's no wonder someone reads the Bible and doesn't get it. God tells us their understanding is darkened. [00:36:19] John 8:43. Jesus says this, speaking to the Jews, why do ye not understand my speech? [00:36:27] It's not because he was speaking a different language. It wasn't because he was using 10 cent words. [00:36:32] Even because ye cannot hear my word. [00:36:37] Romans 8:7. [00:36:39] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. [00:36:47] Now, to close, I just want to say this. [00:36:54] The Ethiopian eunuch did not understand the Bible. [00:36:57] His mind was darkened. It wasn't yet illuminated. Right? [00:37:04] I want you to remember this. [00:37:07] The way someone responds and how much they understand, which are related to scriptural truth, is not just about their brain. Whether they understand the words of Scripture. [00:37:21] There's a lot that goes into whether someone understands the Scripture that has to do with moral or personal considerations. [00:37:33] In other words, if I accept this, is it Gonna. Does that mean I'm gonna feel guilty over what I'm doing? If I accept this, am I going to have to move out from my girlfriend's house? If I accept this, am I going to have to stop drinking? [00:37:51] If I accept this, are people going to make fun of me? You know, that has nothing to do with the Bible. You know what it has to do with? It has to do with me. And there's a lot of people who reject the Scripture not because they don't understand it with their brain, but because of a moral consideration. [00:38:11] And you know what? Those same people reject the Scripture because of those things and will still give lip service to it as if they believe it. [00:38:22] Can a person give lip service to the Bible and yet reject it at the same time? Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. [00:38:31] So this matter is not just a matter of the intellect. [00:38:36] So the way someone responds to the truth is their understanding, their nature, the clarity of the truth, but also moral and personal considerations that deal with their life, their standing, condition before God. All of those things go into it. And you know what? If you're. If you and I are going to be an effective witness, we're going to be a witness that understands that sometimes we get into the habit. Those who are inclined to debate. Does anybody in here like to debate? Like, you have this. I kind of like to engage and butt heads with people a little bit. [00:39:15] But you remember often, probably most of the time, it's not a matter of you don't have an argument when you're talking to the Mormon and the Jehovah's Witness. It's not a matter of the argument of whether Jesus is actually God. It's a matter of mom and dad are Mormons and Grandma and Grandpa are Mormons, and I just can't. I just can't, even if it's clear. So it's not a matter of the brain or what sins will I have to give up or, you know, whatever. And it's wise if we understand that because that'll help us be better, more effective Witnesses. Let's pray together.