WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.120 But if God is so clear, what's the real problem? 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:05.599 So let me start here. In the last chapters, we 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:09.439 saw that God really has made himself known. He 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:12.640 speaks through creation. He speaks through conscience. 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:16.719 People are left without excuse. So if that's 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:20.079 true, you might ask, then why doesn't everyone 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:23.899 believe? Is God still too vague? Is the evidence 00:00:23.899 --> 00:00:26.820 too small? According to the Bible, the problem 00:00:26.820 --> 00:00:29.679 is not that God is unclear. The problem is us. 00:00:30.019 --> 00:00:33.219 Sin does not erase what we know about God. Sin 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:36.200 makes us reject what we know. Romans chapter 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:38.920 1 verse 18 says people suppress the truth in 00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:41.780 unrighteousness. Think of someone pushing a beach 00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:44.859 ball underwater. It keeps wanting to come up, 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.579 but they keep forcing it down. That's what sin 00:00:47.579 --> 00:00:49.979 does with God's truth. So the big question is 00:00:49.979 --> 00:00:52.740 this. What is sin and how does it cause people 00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:54.920 to suppress what they clearly know about God? 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.450 So then, what really is sin? Most people, if 00:00:58.450 --> 00:01:01.850 you ask them, will say sin is doing bad things, 00:01:02.070 --> 00:01:05.810 lying, stealing, cheating. That's part of it. 00:01:05.870 --> 00:01:08.549 But the Bible goes much deeper. Romans chapter 00:01:08.549 --> 00:01:12.769 3 verse 23 says, All have sinned and fall short 00:01:12.769 --> 00:01:16.609 of the glory of God. Notice, sin is not just 00:01:16.609 --> 00:01:19.849 breaking a rule. It is falling short of God's 00:01:19.849 --> 00:01:22.709 glory. It is failing to honor him as he deserves. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:26.540 1 John chapter 3 verse 4 calls sin lawlessness. 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:30.180 That is not just one bad act. It is an attitude. 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:33.480 I will not have God's law over me. I will be 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:37.180 my own law. Go back to the very first sin in 00:01:37.180 --> 00:01:40.719 Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve were not only 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:43.780 eating the wrong fruit. They were listening to 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:47.599 a promise. You will be like God, knowing good 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:52.120 and evil. Genesis chapter 3 verse 5. That means 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:56.260 you decide what is good and evil. You don't need 00:01:56.260 --> 00:02:00.680 to listen to God. So sin at its core is trying 00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:03.560 to live as your own God, refusing to listen to 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:07.400 God's word, insisting I will decide what is right 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:10.759 for me. We can call that autonomy self -law. 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:14.419 Even saying I'm neutral, I'll stand back and 00:02:14.419 --> 00:02:17.219 judge God's word for myself is really the same 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:20.400 thing. Our thinking and living were created to 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:23.439 be under God's word, not above it. So when we 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.500 talk about sin, we're not just talking about 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:28.280 a list of bad behaviors. We're talking about 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:31.439 a posture of the heart, my will be done, instead 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.639 of your will be done. How does that kind of sin 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.580 affect how people think? Now here's the next 00:02:37.580 --> 00:02:40.919 question. Okay, if sin is rebellion, what does 00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:43.539 that do to the mind? How does it change the way 00:02:43.539 --> 00:02:46.789 people think about God and reality? The Bible 00:02:46.789 --> 00:02:49.629 says something important here. Sin does not destroy 00:02:49.629 --> 00:02:52.770 our reason, but it bends it. Listen to Romans 00:02:52.770 --> 00:02:56.629 chapter 1 verses 21 to 23. Paul says that people 00:02:56.629 --> 00:03:00.729 knew God, but they did not honor him as God or 00:03:00.729 --> 00:03:03.770 give thanks. So what happened? Their thinking 00:03:03.770 --> 00:03:07.229 became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 00:03:07.250 --> 00:03:09.949 Although they claimed to be wise, they became 00:03:09.949 --> 00:03:13.189 fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal 00:03:13.189 --> 00:03:17.330 God for images. That means the mind still works, 00:03:17.389 --> 00:03:19.990 but it runs in the wrong direction, away from 00:03:19.990 --> 00:03:23.430 the true God, toward idols and self -justification. 00:03:24.150 --> 00:03:27.050 Ephesians chapter 4 verses 17 to 19 says something 00:03:27.050 --> 00:03:30.710 similar. Paul says unbelievers live in the futility 00:03:30.710 --> 00:03:33.250 of their thinking. They are darkened in their 00:03:33.250 --> 00:03:35.770 understanding and separated from the life of 00:03:35.770 --> 00:03:38.669 God because of the ignorance that is in them 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:41.830 due to the hardening of their hearts. Notice 00:03:41.830 --> 00:03:44.930 the order there. A hard heart leads to darkened 00:03:44.930 --> 00:03:47.610 understanding, leads to a life chasing whatever 00:03:47.610 --> 00:03:51.550 feels good. So sin affects both. What we want 00:03:51.550 --> 00:03:54.250 are desires, and how we think are reasoning. 00:03:54.509 --> 00:03:57.430 Let me put it in simple pictures. A person may 00:03:57.430 --> 00:04:00.289 be very smart. They can do advanced science, 00:04:00.330 --> 00:04:03.610 business, philosophy. Yet, when it comes to God, 00:04:03.930 --> 00:04:06.370 They use their intelligence to excuse their own 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:10.009 sin or to build elaborate arguments to deny the 00:04:10.009 --> 00:04:14.030 God they actually know deep down is there. It's 00:04:14.030 --> 00:04:17.569 not a lack of IQ. It's a heart that does not 00:04:17.569 --> 00:04:21.750 want to bow, using a sharp mind to protect its 00:04:21.750 --> 00:04:25.310 independence. So when the Bible says people's 00:04:25.310 --> 00:04:29.769 minds are futile or darkened, it does not mean 00:04:29.769 --> 00:04:33.319 they cannot think at all. It means they misuse 00:04:33.319 --> 00:04:37.560 their thinking to serve a wrong worship. What 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:41.079 does it mean to exchange God and suppress truth? 00:04:41.459 --> 00:04:44.839 Now let me ask, what exactly are people doing 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:48.300 with this bent mind and heart? Romans chapter 00:04:48.300 --> 00:04:52.339 1 verse 23 says they exchange the glory of the 00:04:52.339 --> 00:04:55.720 immortal God for images made to look like a mortal 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:59.319 human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 00:04:59.500 --> 00:05:02.879 Verse 25 says they exchanged the truth about 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.019 God for a lie and worshipped and served created 00:05:06.019 --> 00:05:09.180 things rather than the creator. So sin is an 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:11.959 exchange. They trade God for idols. They trade 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:14.920 truth for lies. They trade the creator for created 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:17.680 things. That might look like bowing to statues 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.160 in one culture or worshipping money, success, 00:05:21.579 --> 00:05:26.100 sex, politics, family, or self -image in another. 00:05:26.670 --> 00:05:29.410 On the surface, it changes. Underneath, it's 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:32.389 the same. Something in creation will be my God, 00:05:32.569 --> 00:05:35.470 not the true God. And how do they manage that 00:05:35.470 --> 00:05:38.709 when God's reality keeps pressing in? Romans 00:05:38.709 --> 00:05:41.529 chapter 1 verse 18 says they suppress the truth 00:05:41.529 --> 00:05:44.449 in unrighteousness. Suppress means hold down. 00:05:44.610 --> 00:05:47.170 Think of that beach ball again. It wants to pop 00:05:47.170 --> 00:05:49.269 up, but you keep forcing it under the water. 00:05:49.610 --> 00:05:52.449 People do that with the sense that God is there, 00:05:52.569 --> 00:05:54.949 the tug of conscience, the weight of his glory 00:05:54.949 --> 00:05:58.829 in creation. Why? Because letting it pop up would 00:05:58.829 --> 00:06:01.709 mean facing him, and facing him would mean admitting 00:06:01.709 --> 00:06:05.509 guilt and surrendering control. So unbelief is 00:06:05.509 --> 00:06:08.509 not a neutral lack of information. It is a moral 00:06:08.509 --> 00:06:11.189 choice of the heart that then shapes the mind. 00:06:11.350 --> 00:06:13.990 It is the heart saying, I don't want this God, 00:06:14.209 --> 00:06:16.829 and the mind saying, let me explain why that's 00:06:16.829 --> 00:06:19.730 reasonable. Are people just uninformed or are 00:06:19.730 --> 00:06:22.709 they blind? At this point you might ask, so are 00:06:22.709 --> 00:06:25.430 people just missing data or is something deeper 00:06:25.430 --> 00:06:28.310 going on? Are they actually spiritually blind? 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.480 The Bible says they are blind. 2 Corinthians 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:36.699 4, verse 4 says, The God of this age has blinded 00:06:36.699 --> 00:06:39.160 the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:42.259 see the light of the gospel that displays the 00:06:42.259 --> 00:06:46.120 glory of Christ. In verse 6 it says that the 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:49.420 same God who said, Let light shine out of darkness 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:53.360 at creation, has to shine in our hearts to give 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.230 us the light of the knowledge of God's glory 00:06:56.230 --> 00:07:00.069 displayed in the face of Christ. Jesus explains 00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:03.990 it in John 3, verses 19 and 20. He says, Light 00:07:03.990 --> 00:07:07.089 has come into the world, but people loved darkness 00:07:07.089 --> 00:07:10.209 instead of light because their deeds were evil. 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:13.949 Everyone who does evil hates the light and will 00:07:13.949 --> 00:07:17.149 not come into the light for fear that their deeds 00:07:17.149 --> 00:07:20.720 will be exposed. So the picture is, The light 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.920 is real and bright, people love the dark, and 00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:25.740 there is a real blinding at work. That means 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:28.879 facts and arguments are important, but not enough. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:31.939 Something has to happen in the heart. God's grace 00:07:31.939 --> 00:07:35.680 has to open eyes and soften hearts. Those are 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:39.300 the noetic effects of sin, the way sin affects 00:07:39.300 --> 00:07:42.600 knowing. The clearest truth can be in front of 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:45.019 someone, and they still will not embrace it unless 00:07:45.019 --> 00:07:48.980 God changes them. objections, and questions we 00:07:48.980 --> 00:07:52.740 need to face. If people are this blind, shouldn't 00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:55.879 the church, not scripture, be our main light? 00:07:56.139 --> 00:08:00.160 If sin really blinds minds, doesn't that mean 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:03.600 people need the church's teaching and sacraments 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:07.139 as the primary light rather than scripture alone? 00:08:07.420 --> 00:08:10.920 Isn't personal Bible reading unsafe for darkened 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:14.259 minds? I want to answer this carefully. First, 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:17.160 it's true. Sin blinds. And yes, we need the help 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:19.839 of the church. God didn't design us to walk alone. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:23.120 We need pastors, teachers, and a community of 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:26.040 believers. But we also need to ask, what does 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:29.519 the Bible present as the main light? Psalm 119 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:33.659 verse 105 says, Your word is a lamp for my feet, 00:08:33.779 --> 00:08:37.440 a light on my path. Jesus prays in John chapter 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:41.220 17 verse 17, Sanctify them by the truth. Your 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:46.059 word is truth. 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17 00:08:46.059 --> 00:08:49.700 says, All Scripture is God -breathed and equips 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:52.799 the servant of God for every good work. In Acts 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:57.600 17, verse 11, the Bereans are called noble because 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.539 they examined the Scriptures daily to see if 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:04.240 what Paul said was true. So even an apostle's 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:07.090 message is tested by Scripture. Faithful teachers 00:09:07.090 --> 00:09:09.830 and councils in church history, at their best 00:09:09.830 --> 00:09:13.409 moments, understood themselves as servants of 00:09:13.409 --> 00:09:17.029 the word, not replacements for it. Their authority 00:09:17.029 --> 00:09:19.850 came from their faithfulness to scripture. Now 00:09:19.850 --> 00:09:22.070 think presuppositionally, from the ground up. 00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:25.909 If we say individuals are too blinded by sin 00:09:25.909 --> 00:09:29.090 to hear God's word directly, we must put final 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:32.070 authority in the church. We also have to admit 00:09:32.070 --> 00:09:35.519 church leaders are sinners too. affected by the 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:38.960 same blinding power. If sin makes individual 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:42.460 judgment untrustworthy, it also makes institutional 00:09:42.460 --> 00:09:46.340 judgment untrustworthy, unless there is a higher 00:09:46.340 --> 00:09:49.519 fixed standard above both. That higher standard 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:52.820 is God's written word. Take that away, and you 00:09:52.820 --> 00:09:55.620 have moved final authority from God to a sinful 00:09:55.620 --> 00:09:59.080 body. That is unstable. So yes, we need the church. 00:09:59.559 --> 00:10:02.059 But both the church and the individual must always 00:10:02.059 --> 00:10:05.519 stand under scripture as the primary light. If 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:08.159 people suppress truth, why not just say they 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:11.460 need more information? Here's a common thought 00:10:11.460 --> 00:10:14.940 from a Mormon or fallen but not totally blind 00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:18.960 perspective. We agree people sin. But we say 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:21.879 they still have enough light to recognize latter 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:25.039 -day prophets and new scriptures. Why not say 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:28.299 they just lack information instead of accusing 00:10:28.299 --> 00:10:31.559 them of suppressing truth? Let's go back to Romans 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:34.860 chapter 1. There Paul says, people know God. 00:10:35.179 --> 00:10:38.080 but they do not honor him or give thanks. Romans 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:41.879 chapter 1 verse 21. He says they suppress the 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:45.600 truth. Romans chapter 1 verse 18. He says they 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:49.240 exchange God's glory and God's truth. Romans 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:53.500 chapter 1 verses 23 and 25. That is not a picture 00:10:53.500 --> 00:10:56.399 of innocent ignorance. It is active resistance. 00:10:56.919 --> 00:10:59.240 When God answers their blindness, what does he 00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:02.019 do? He sends his son and the apostolic gospel. 00:11:02.490 --> 00:11:05.649 Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 says God spoke 00:11:05.649 --> 00:11:08.730 in many ways by the prophets, but now he has 00:11:08.730 --> 00:11:12.009 spoken by his son. Jude verse 3 says the faith 00:11:12.009 --> 00:11:15.090 was once for all entrusted to the saints. The 00:11:15.090 --> 00:11:17.789 response to suppression is to preach Christ and 00:11:17.789 --> 00:11:20.649 the completed gospel, not to open the door to 00:11:20.649 --> 00:11:24.029 new correcting scriptures. Presuppositionally, 00:11:24.029 --> 00:11:27.970 there's a tension if we say sin deeply bends 00:11:27.970 --> 00:11:31.129 the mind. And at the same time, but people can 00:11:31.129 --> 00:11:34.210 still reliably judge which new prophets and books 00:11:34.210 --> 00:11:37.389 are from God. We are trusting fallen judgment 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:40.830 at the very point where we should be most cautious. 00:11:41.090 --> 00:11:44.990 The safer ground is to trust what God has already 00:11:44.990 --> 00:11:49.190 given once for all, not our ability to sort through 00:11:49.190 --> 00:11:52.629 competing modern claimants. If sin bends the 00:11:52.629 --> 00:11:55.870 mind and will, doesn't that destroy free will? 00:11:56.409 --> 00:11:59.169 Here's another worry, often from Roman Catholic, 00:11:59.409 --> 00:12:03.230 Orthodox, or other synergist viewpoints. If sin 00:12:03.230 --> 00:12:06.230 blinds and bends our minds, doesn't that wipe 00:12:06.230 --> 00:12:10.049 out free will and human responsibility? We need 00:12:10.049 --> 00:12:12.929 a careful answer here. The Bible does not say 00:12:12.929 --> 00:12:15.549 people lose their natural ability to think and 00:12:15.549 --> 00:12:18.889 choose. People still make real decisions, use 00:12:18.889 --> 00:12:21.509 their minds, have desires, and act on them. What 00:12:21.509 --> 00:12:23.570 it says is that people have a moral inability 00:12:23.570 --> 00:12:26.649 to submit to God apart from grace. Jesus says 00:12:26.649 --> 00:12:29.789 in John chapter 5 verse 40, you refuse to come 00:12:29.789 --> 00:12:33.389 to me to have life. That is a real refusal. Romans 00:12:33.389 --> 00:12:36.850 chapter 8 verses 7 and 8 says, the mindset on 00:12:36.850 --> 00:12:40.129 the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit 00:12:40.129 --> 00:12:43.250 to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are 00:12:43.250 --> 00:12:45.610 in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 00:12:45.889 --> 00:12:49.350 So what's going on? People freely choose according 00:12:49.350 --> 00:12:53.179 to what they want. but what they want is twisted 00:12:53.179 --> 00:12:58.039 by sin. James chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 says, 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.539 each person is tempted when they are dragged 00:13:01.539 --> 00:13:05.840 away by their own evil desire. Ephesians chapter 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:10.080 2 verses 1 to 3 says, we were dead in transgressions 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:13.259 and sins and followed the cravings of our flesh. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:17.240 So, natural ability remains, we still think and 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:20.799 choose. Moral ability is gone, we will not, on 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:24.000 our own, choose to bow before God in faith and 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:27.580 love. Presuppositionally, if we soften sin so 00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:30.379 much that people can, by nature, move toward 00:13:30.379 --> 00:13:33.580 God and embrace Him apart from His special work, 00:13:33.799 --> 00:13:36.720 then we shrink the need for the cross and grace. 00:13:37.059 --> 00:13:39.340 Scripture paints a more serious picture of our 00:13:39.340 --> 00:13:41.779 condition, so we see how radical God's rescue 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:45.549 must be. Isn't it rude to say unbelievers suppress 00:13:45.549 --> 00:13:49.870 the truth? Many seem sincere. One last objection 00:13:49.870 --> 00:13:54.950 from a secular or humanist side. Isn't it arrogant 00:13:54.950 --> 00:13:58.370 and insulting to say unbelievers suppress the 00:13:58.370 --> 00:14:02.230 truth? Many are sincere, thoughtful and moral. 00:14:02.490 --> 00:14:07.220 Isn't this just name calling? We have to answer 00:14:07.220 --> 00:14:10.740 this with humility. First, this is God's diagnosis, 00:14:11.019 --> 00:14:15.340 not ours. Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 23 says, 00:14:15.500 --> 00:14:19.440 people suppress truth and exchange God for idols. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:23.059 John chapter 3 verses 19 and 20 says, people 00:14:23.059 --> 00:14:26.019 love darkness rather than light because their 00:14:26.019 --> 00:14:29.600 deeds are evil. God sees beneath the surface. 00:14:30.090 --> 00:14:34.149 Second, sincerity does not remove bias. We all 00:14:34.149 --> 00:14:37.330 protect what we love. If someone deeply loves 00:14:37.330 --> 00:14:40.549 their independence from God, it will feel natural 00:14:40.549 --> 00:14:43.929 and honest to build a view of the world that 00:14:43.929 --> 00:14:47.289 protects that independence. Third, everyone has 00:14:47.289 --> 00:14:50.289 presuppositions, basic starting points, and blind 00:14:50.289 --> 00:14:53.070 spots. No one looks at the world from nowhere. 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:56.799 The real question is, which starting point makes 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:00.620 sense of reason, morality, meaning, and value 00:15:00.620 --> 00:15:03.679 without falling into contradiction? The biblical 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:07.600 claim is that if we deny sin and deny God's revelation, 00:15:07.899 --> 00:15:11.500 we lose any stable ground for calling anything 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:15.460 truly true or truly good. That's what some theologians 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:19.700 mean by the impossibility of the contrary. The 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.659 alternative to admitting sin and revelation is 00:15:22.659 --> 00:15:26.019 a world where truth and goodness float unanchored. 00:15:26.139 --> 00:15:29.580 And remember, this diagnosis of suppression is 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:32.759 not just about them. It was true of us before 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:35.879 God's grace opened our eyes. That should keep 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:38.980 us from pride. So what does all this mean for 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:41.639 us personally? Let me land this in three simple 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:44.659 ways. First, let this teaching expose your own 00:15:44.659 --> 00:15:47.919 suppression. It's easy to apply Romans chapter 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:51.840 1 to those people out there. But even as believers, 00:15:52.019 --> 00:15:55.080 we can try to hold certain truths underwater. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:59.220 Truths about our money, our relationships, our 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:02.360 habits. Ask God, where am I trading your truth 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:04.320 for a lie? Where am I trying to keep the ball 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:07.519 under the surface? Second, let it give you compassion. 00:16:08.090 --> 00:16:12.009 not arrogance. If unbelievers are blind and suppressing 00:16:12.009 --> 00:16:14.509 truth, they don't just need sharper arguments. 00:16:14.789 --> 00:16:17.870 They need God's mercy. That should shape our 00:16:17.870 --> 00:16:22.409 tone. We explain, we reason, we appeal, but we 00:16:22.409 --> 00:16:25.549 do it with patience, kindness, and prayer, knowing 00:16:25.549 --> 00:16:29.309 only God can say, let light shine in this heart. 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:33.620 Third, let it shape your evangelism and apologetics. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.980 Because sin affects mind and heart, we don't 00:16:36.980 --> 00:16:40.720 only dump facts on people. We show how they already 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.259 know more about God than they admit, gently expose 00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:46.919 the ways they are pushing that knowledge down, 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:49.840 and keep pointing them to Christ, who is the 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.440 only one who can forgive free and open blind 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.100 eyes. In the next parts of the book, we'll talk 00:16:56.100 --> 00:16:59.100 more about how God through his special revelation 00:16:59.100 --> 00:17:02.059 in scripture and by his spirit, actually overcomes 00:17:02.059 --> 00:17:05.019 this darkness. But for now, remember this. The 00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:07.119 problem is not that God has failed to shine. 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:10.480 The problem is that sin loves the dark. And the 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.440 hope is that the same God who said, let there 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:17.240 be light, can and does speak light into human 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:17.799 hearts.