Questions & Answers: Living by Faith in a Fallen World

The antidote to doubt is faith. Faith is the shield we use to protect ourselves from doubt. If you have doubts, it's not a problem of your faith doubting, it's a problem of your doubting, but if you're really a Christian, those doubts come from the outside. And the shield that comes from the inside to answer the doubt is faith and confidence in the promises of God. Many Christians wrestle with doubt at some point, often when they are walking through a trial. So when that happens, where should the Christian turn?

Is that person even a Christian? Welcome to the Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. Questions about doubt are often asked during our Q&A sessions at Ligonier conferences, and this year's national conference in Orlando was no exception. Several of our conference speakers answered questions from doubt to how to respond when you're receiving pressure from a secular HR department. Among those answering was Harry Reader, who less than two months after this Q&A session would go on to his reward as he went home to be with the Lord. Here's that Q&A session now. Welcome, gentlemen, and welcome to this time to answer some of our friends' questions. If the Lord does not tempt us, can you explain the phrase and the Lord's prayer, lead me not into temptation?

Well, I can start perhaps. I'm struck by the fact that in Matthew's gospel, the Lord's prayer follows rather quickly on, chapter 6 follows on chapter 4, where we read that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the evil one. And I always remember as a high school student when I was converted and first found myself worshiping amongst the Dutch Reformed, we always prayed the Lord's prayer, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And I think we can debate the translation. It can kind of go either way, but I think our Lord is reminding us that He withstood the temptation for us, that He overcame the evil one, and that we pray that He will continue to preserve us so we don't face the temptation as He faced it, and that we would be delivered from the evil one to live for Christ. So I think that's at least part of what's going on at that prayer.

Yeah, and I do love the translation. I think actually it's a better translation, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, because I think that's exactly where this is aiming, that we are reminded of Christ having endured for us the temptation, and therefore we are delivered through His faithfulness and in all of life under the assault of the evil one. But on the other hand, of course, the whole notion of testing itself is not something that's evil. On the contrary, God uses testing. Testing by, and then by the way, God sovereignly can even take that which the world, the flesh, and the devil would use to ensnare us. He can use that in His sovereign hand to yet disciple us and develop us, but we are to flee temptation.

So I'll make two comments. Number one, Christians make, I think, a big mistake in this area in that we resist, we resist temptation and flee Satan, and I think the Bible would have us do the opposite. The Bible does not want us to flee Satan.

The Bible wants us to resist Satan and he will flee from us, but that which is designed to ensnare us into sin, we are to flee that temptation and pursue the environment of holiness and the means of grace that build us up. Now again, having said that, when God brings tests, they're not designed to ensnare us. What they are designed to do is edify us. A test from the divine hand does three things. It's kind of like my algebra teacher in the eighth grade. I was convinced she gave me tests to flunk me, but actually, I've always told people you never have to worry about prayer in school.

As long as you got algebra tests, you'll have prayer in school, I can promise you. But a test in the hand of the Almighty, that is there to show us what we know, to show us what we don't know, and to show us what we need to know. And that is from the hand of the Lord.

But we flee that, which is designed by the world of flesh and the devil to bring us down. I'll just say quickly on this, I think it is confusing for everyone when we hear that. I think part of the issue with the way it's translated into English and the way we understand that portion of the Lord's Prayer is that it's a bit of a Hebraism. It's a way of speaking. It's a manner of getting a point across to say that when we are tempted, Lord, lead us away from it. Get us out of it.

Help us to flee it. And so, I know that sounds like the opposite of what it's saying, but it's understanding the way in which the Hebrews thought and spoke. And we see those Hebraisms throughout the Gospels.

And so, I think that's more so what it's getting at. How do you know the difference between being convicted by the Holy Spirit or being accused by Satan? So, you don't always.

We don't always know. And we have to pray that the Lord would give us discernment to know because they feel much like the same thing. And this whole question of conviction and the question of even the difference between feeling convicted and feeling guilty.

I don't know about the rest of you, but they feel an awful lot like the same thing. But when we're convicted by the Spirit of God, we bleed repentance. When the Spirit of God convicts us, we repent. We seek restoration. We seek reconciliation. We repent. We confess.

We consecrate ourselves to a new way of life. Satan's accusations, the fundamental difference is that his accusations aren't true. Someone has said that God knows our sin, but He calls us by our names. Satan knows our names, but he calls us by our sin. And so, sometimes what Satan strives to do is remind us of our sins, bring them back and accuse us of our sins when we have already taken those sins to the Lord, when we have already repented of our sins. And so, what Satan will often do at least in my life after I've asked forgiveness for a sin to the Lord, to a friend, to a loved one, to my wife, to my children, is what Satan will want to do then is just beat me up and make me want to just wallow in the mire of guilt and shame and make me just feel miserable.

And I have to run to the Lord and pray to the Lord that He would give me the joy and the feeling of freedom knowing that I've been forgiven. And so, when Satan accuses, we have to remember that if we have gone to the Lord, that if we have confessed it, that if we have repented, it's been true repentance, not just feeling badly about our sin, but real repentance, then we need to be able to withstand the devil. But let us not forget that oftentimes in our lives, the feelings of guilt and shame that so often burden us and weigh us down are indeed from the evil one. And the only remedy is not to confront him ourselves because the devil is not afraid of me, he's not afraid of you, but he's scared to death of the one who's within us. And so, we have to remind him of who's in us and we have to remind ourselves of who's in us because he can withstand us, but he cannot withstand the one within us.

You know, to affirm what Burt just said, you could conceivably see it happening and here's a sin in my life. Satan takes the occasion as an accuser of the brethren to bring me to despair and doubt, sinful doubts. And so, he can do that, but the Holy Spirit would come into my life to bring conviction and that shows up in confession and repentance. And confession and repentance sends me to the cross because Satan has to flee me because of what Christ did on the cross and because of the residency of the Holy Spirit within me. And that's why the Bible says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. You know, for the longest time, it was kind of like I would keep coming back and saying to the Lord, Lord, you know, I've got this nemesis in my life.

It's highway 280 in Birmingham, Alabama. Satan sends everybody on my bumper, my rear end, side, everywhere. And you know, and the only thing that keeps me saying or doing what I want to is that person may be visiting Briarwood next Sunday. And so I, and then I get convicted in my soul and then I go to the Lord, Lord, here I am again. And for the longest time, I had this view of that conviction that, you know, Jesus intercedes and says, Father, forgive him. You know, that's hairy again. We're back on 280, but let's, let's give it, you know, I did do this 70 times, seven things. So let's give him another shot.

And so, but actually that's not what happens. He says, Father, forgive him. I paid for it. Justice demands that forgiveness. Therefore, and boy, if you can ever get Sinclair sermon on Romans 8, 30 through 39, where he goes through those four rhetorical questions, who will bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is it to condemn?

Christ is the one who died. Yes, rather who is raised and who is at the right end of the Father who now intercedes for us. The Holy Spirit sends you to Jesus. Satan sends you to yourself and then to despair, but we go to Christ.

Appreciated what you said, Burke, about not always knowing the difference. I was thinking of CS Lewis and Screwtape and, and sort of Satan's stratagems, but I think a significant difference when we think about the Holy Spirit's conviction is it comes out of the relationship that we have with the Holy Spirit. So the language of the Holy Spirit in our relationship in the New Testament is grow in, walk in, live in, and the conviction flows out of that. And I think this is part of Christian maturity and part of growing in wisdom is recognizing, being attuned to the Spirit, not, let's be very clear, the Spirit is not a quantity. We get all of the Spirit we will ever get and ever need at our conversion, but we do grow in our relationship to the Spirit and the Spirit's work of conviction as well as assurance is a significant part of that. And that's a significant difference between the devil's accusations and the Spirit's conviction.

Let me just add one thing because of what you brought up, Harry. I think sometimes Satan comes accusing before we, before we think we have spent enough time beating ourselves up for our sin, before we go to the Lord and ask forgiveness, Satan comes accusing and saying to us, you don't deserve to ask forgiveness again. Because this is how, this is how we are as human beings.

We treat each other this way. You don't deserve to ask forgiveness again. And so we think that that's exactly what Satan does and you don't deserve, you don't deserve to go. But Jesus says 70 times seven. And sometimes I think what we do is we listen to that lie and we, we don't go to the Lord. We don't run to him. We think the Lord is tired of hearing from me. The Lord is tired of hearing from me about the way I spoke to someone, about this sin, about that sin, about this motive of the heart, whatever it was.

The Lord is tired of hearing me come to him and say, I'm sorry, but the Lord is not a man like we are. The Lord always wants us to come. He always wants to hear from us. He never gets tired of hearing from us.

I think this is something that weighs so many of us down. The Lord wants to hear from us. He is ready to forgive. He is running to us, embracing us. That's why we have at the end of our hallway in our home, a picture of a copy of Rembrandt's prodigal son.

Because I want my children to be reminded that they can always run and the Father is always running with open arms to us. You know, another thing that we can do, these things that helped me at a moment like that is I just kind of let Satan know, you're pretty much right. I'm not where I ought to be, but I can praise Jesus.

I'm not where I used to be. That sort of echoes Luther's prayer. When he was tempted by the devil, Luther would pray, Saint Satan, pray for me. You who are so holy that you have a right to come and accuse me.

Do pray for me. And he mocked Satan. And there's a time to mock Satan because Satan's a liar. But yeah, on this point, as all you Hebrew scholars know, Satan means accuser. And so he accuses me of my sin before God, and then he accuses God of not being willing to forgive me. And he's happy whichever accusation succeeds in driving us away from the love of God. But the Holy Spirit is the comforter who comes counseling us and bringing us through the accusation to genuine repentance. LARSON If one goes through periods of doubt, not only in their salvation due to sin, but also doubt in the whole idea of God, what should they do? Can they consider themselves truly saved?

MOHLER Okay. Well, why don't I get just a little controversial here. I think, if nothing else, 1 John affirms the reality that doubts, in one sense, is actually an affirmation that you're saved. And because John says that when we doubt, we go to the Lord because he is greater than our doubts. I do not believe that doubts damn the soul of a man. I do believe, if I understand the Bible correctly, there will be many headed into an eternal condemnation because of sinful presumption. Many will say to me in that day, so sinful presumption, I think, can send you into hell. But doubts that are answered by going to the Lord, not to my life, but to the Lord who is my life.

I think they're actually productive in my life so that I can then learn to sing, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. It is Christ who assuages my doubts. And that's how I would try to counsel that person that sent that question. I've always been so profited by reading Calvin on faith and where he deals with this question of doubt. I find it very helpful where Calvin says, faith does not doubt. The Christian may doubt.

The Christian may have questions. The antidote to doubt is faith. Faith is the shield we use to protect ourselves from doubt. Faith is what trusts the promises of God to be true beyond what we may be tempted to doubt.

And I think that's very important to bear in mind. If you have doubts, it's not a problem of your faith doubting. It's a problem of your doubting. But if you're really a Christian, Calvin says, those doubts come from the outside. And the shield that comes from the inside to answer the doubt is faith and confidence in the promises of God.

Now, that is not to say there aren't real questions that we can wonder about and need to work through. And maybe there is a moment in life where you doubt the existence of God. And then you can read the Bible. You can talk to Christian friends.

You can watch a sunset. The revelation of God is to be found all around us. If you don't believe in God, it's because you're not looking up, you're not looking out, you're not looking around. You must have a good way of putting that.

I kind of like the way you're putting it, to tell you the truth. But I think that's where saving faith sends us. Saving faith is not the act of a moment.

Saving faith is the acquisition of a lifestyle that keeps sending you back to Jesus. Listen, guys, a guy said to me, well, you're in the second half of your ministry. You're on the back nine.

I said, back nine nothing. I can see the clubhouse from where I am. But I mean, I've given my whole life to something. And in the middle of a night, was it real?

Is it real? Well, I have only one place to go. And that is by the Spirit through the word back to Jesus, who is greater than any of the doubts that would come from my faltering faith at times. That's what saving faith is. That's why Paul says at the end of his life, he doesn't say, I know what I believed.

He's a pretty good theologian though. He didn't say, I know when I believed, although he had a pretty good conversion experience. He didn't say, I know that I believed, although his faith was evident. He said, I know whom I have believed. He is able to guard what I've entrusted to him.

And that's what he says within hours of when he's going to lose his life for Jesus. I would just add this understanding of assurance is you take to Calvin, one of the historic texts I found very helpful is just the Westminster Confession of Faith on assurance. So, I'd hardly recommend that chapter on assurance and make sure you get one with scripture proofs and dive deep into the scripture as you study those dense paragraphs. But I understand the question that's asking beyond sort of just an assurance of my salvation, even getting to fundamental questions of the existence of God and so forth.

And I'll just mention this. I think sometimes we forget that apologetics is for the church too. We think of apologetics as essentially for the unregenerate and for the world out there. And as we think about the reliability of scripture and the existence of God and the historicity of Jesus, I think these are things that we can help fellow Christians and within the church see a role for some of this so that as these questions or these doubts come up, there are resources that are there for people to think well about these ideas and think faithfully about them.

Usually, we're all sitting here quietly. One of my last conversations with R.C. was about the Bible. And one of the things we talked about was how the older we got, the more we saw the coherence of the Bible. And the profounder was our sense of appreciation for this book written over centuries by many different authors, yet all saying the same thing and that the longer you're with the Bible, the more you study the Bible. It's not that you have more problems.

It's that it becomes more beautiful and more profound and more comforting and more assuring. And so to all you young people from all us old men on this end of the panel, I shouldn't speak for you in saying that, Eric. I'm already in the clubhouse. That is on a golf course, right?

The clubhouse? Yeah, Paul said he finished the course. I'm sure that was God. But that beautiful coherence of the message of the Bible will lead anyone who takes the time to study the Bible to see that it's true.

These youngsters are so pushy. It's also important that we mention that if doubt persists, it could be the result of unconfessed sin. It could be the result of an unfruitful life. It could be the result of the fact that the person simply does not know Christ. It could be the beginning of someone apostatizing from the faith and from the church. I know all sorts of people that had questions and maybe some doubts who were in churches pre-pandemic, and now they're nowhere to be found. And God cleansed his church in many ways.

He purified his church in many ways. So there are people who do doubt because they actually don't believe or don't yet believe. And what they need to hear is the gospel. And that's one of the one of the jobs that we have as pastors and preaching is to help determine who are the unconverted among the congregation.

It's to preach about the fruit that comes in sanctification, the righteousness that comes confessing our sins. There are many people who presume upon the grace of God but do not in fact know the grace of God. If God is the one who elects, and I feel like R.C.

's leaning over and saying, since God is the one who elects, then what is the responsibility of man? Well, I just want to say at the outset, I am not under any false notions that everyone who is here understands or believes that God is sovereign in salvation. There's one guy, and the reason I can say that is because I attended Ligonier conferences for, oh my, almost I think three years before I came to understand and affirm the doctrine of God's sovereignty and salvation. It took Dr. Sproul five years as he fought against it. It took me about two and a half years as I fought against it and hated it. So I know that there are people here who don't understand, maybe understand, think they understand, but reject.

I know people in our church who are members of our church who do not adhere to Reformed soteriology. And so I just want to make sure we're on the same page and that I know where some of you are. And I want you to know that it's okay.

And that we are striving to teach and explain. We're striving to be patient just as people were patient with me, just as people were patient with Dr. Sproul, just as one of my professors who is here today with his wife. In fact, Bob, are you here? Bob, are you here?

Bob, would you please stand? That is the man right there who is my first mentor. He is the one who first helped me understand Reformed theology, and he was patient with me. He was patient and kind.

From the Bible Presbyterian Church under McRae and McIntyre, some of you know who those people are. That man was patient with me. And I rejected it.

I hated it. And I want to make sure that we understand that what we are here to do is point you not to ourselves, to point you to the Bible, to keep reading, to keep studying as we strive to understand who God is and what He has taught us and what He's revealed to us about our great salvation. Now to the question at hand.

Not to try to answer the question any better or even beyond, but simply to maybe make a couple of a couple of instruments that were very helpful to me years ago. I remember when I just come to Christ and my pastor was preaching on Romans, and my first month he's on Romans 9. And I would not shake his hand. I mean, I'd been a Christian for a month and I knew he was wrong.

And I wouldn't shake his hand, wouldn't talk to him. And Pastor TV Ball was so, so he was my, you know, by the way, Bob, my condolences, but good job. Well done. And so, but one of the ways one of the ways they helped me is they made me dig.

And here's the way I really like to try to work with folks that are in process. First of all, election is a download from the sovereignty of God, just like the doctrine of providence and there are other doctrines. And so let's go back to who is God? Is God sovereign? Then we'll start working on the doctrines that flow out of the sovereignty of God and how God accomplishes that and establishes us as free moral agents.

We don't have a free will, it's under bondage, but we are free moral agents. And how does all that work? And one of the best ways is the way my, you know, my fourth grade teacher, I would ask her about a word and she'd say, my nickname was Ike. Ike, look it up.

And she knew that was part of the process of learning. Look it up. So here is some, for those of you who asked that question, there's some great sermons out there preached by these men right here and other men that have been on this platform. But there's some resources I would send you to, and I've been doing it for 40 plus years. I would send you to J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God.

It is excellently done. I would send you to A.W. Pink, he's a Baptist, The Sovereignty of God.

Be careful, he takes no prisoners. Number three, I would send you to Spurgeon's Sermon on Election. Number four, I would send you to R.C. Sproul's book, Chosen by God. You will note the breadth of ecclesiology here, but you will note the focus of being a biblicist. And I think you would, those would be the ones that I would encourage you to follow through with. Look it up and see for yourself. Can I add one thing? I'm channeling my inner Harry Reader.

I think, I don't think, I don't think there's room enough for both of us in there, buddy. I think one of the real stumbling blocks that a lot of people have with the doctrine of election is thinking that it will undermine evangelism, that it will undermine human responsibility. And I was really powerfully struck in some recent studies and lectures I was doing on the book of Romans that when I came to Romans 9 through 11 and was pondering what Paul was doing in that somewhat dense and heavy section of Scripture and how he's teaching us about some of the intricacies of election and of the mystery of the working out of the covenant in history, at the center of that section, the central verse of that section, do you know what that is? The central verse of Romans 9 through 11 is this verse in Romans 10, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And Paul, I think, in the middle of this marvelous theological development that he's making, pauses in what he's planning and teaching and says, you may not understand all of Romans 9 and you may not understand all of Romans 11, but don't miss this central point. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And so if you're wondering if you're elect or reprobate, if you call on the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. If you're wondering if you're part of the remnant or part of the fullness, they're the same thing, I think, but that's another issue.

If you don't know where you are or what you are or what you can do or what you can't do, I promise you this, if you're calling the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. And let's never lose sight in our discussions of election of that great truth. I was very surprised you went through this whole question and did not once mention Dort. I thought it would be cheeky. So, I will do it for you.

How's that? So, in addition to those four books, let's add Saving the Reformation. And in there, of course, is the canons of Dort. And I think we need to get this doctrine of election right. And so, let's spend time there. And Dort begins with election.

It's not Tulip, it's Old Tip. It's unconditional election that is the beginning of Reformed soteriology. But when you get to the L, to the limited atonement, and we're talking about evangelism, and we're talking about missions, and this is the sticking point for this Reformed doctrine of election, Dort says, the gospel must be preached promiscuously, not a typical word used by theologians, the gospel must be preached promiscuously to all peoples. That's the document that establishes and codifies, in one sense, this Reformed understanding.

And what a call, just echoing your comments there of Paul, of call to evangelism and call to missions. And to be clear, promiscuous in that context meant free. It's a good thing.

It meant free. So, just so we're clear. Well, and before you all rush out to buy your canons of Dort, and when you turn to the first head of doctrine, as you will, you don't really have free choice about that. When you turn to the first head of doctrine, you will notice that the canons really don't get to election until articles 6 and 7. So, don't skip the first five articles that talk about how all men are in sin, how God sent Christ into the world to save sinners, how the Holy Spirit sends preachers to preach Christ to save sinners, how the Holy Spirit works repentance and faith in the hearts of sinners who hear the Word preached. And then only in article 6 says, why is it that some believe and some don't?

That's the critical question. Because the answer is, either you believe because you're a little better than all those unbelievers, or you believe because you're a rotten sinner who God in mercy has given the gift of faith. And it's really better to believe the second than the first. You all have heard this story about the Arminian who was walking down the stairs, and he tripped and fell, and he fell flat on his face. And he said, God, why did that happen to me? Calvinist was walking down the stairs, and he tripped and fell and fell straight on his face. And he said, God, I'm glad that's over. When it comes to, when it comes to the sovereignty of God, and it comes to the responsibility of man.

Yes, Bob? This is the kind of story that ruins the doctrine of sovereignty, but go ahead. It's important that we keep in mind that, as you were getting at just a moment ago, Bob, when it comes to sovereignty of God and human responsibility, we don't have all the answers. It's very important that we point this out, that God does give us some of the answers. He does reveal to us primary, secondary causality. He helps us to understand our duty, what he commands us to do, but we can't always ourselves figure it all out. The Holy Spirit takes all of the mathematical equations out of the Christian faith. The Holy Spirit is one that moves.

He does things. We don't always understand. We don't always understand.

We can't always figure out how things connect. The relationship between the sovereignty of God and human responsibility is a mystery to us at some level, and we don't have all the answers. We have to trust God, and trusting God is in many ways sometimes more difficult than obeying him. We have to rest in him, rest in his perfect will. This happens all the time when we encounter trials in our lives. We say, God, why are you letting this happen to me? And we don't know all the reasons for that, but we just have to trust.

We have to rest in the faith that he's given us. If your HR department demands you take training that is clearly against biblical teaching, is it okay to answer their questions based on what you know they want to hear in order to avoid being flagged for quote-unquote sensitivity training, or possibly even losing your job? No. It's not okay.

Best to talk with your HR director or find another job. Or, or give them a biblical, creatively biblical alternative like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did, as well as Daniel. When they were confronted with something, we won't make the discussion of why they weren't going to eat at the king's table, but they were willing to compete. Put us into competition. They were willing to compete. They were willing to compete. They were willing to compete. Put us into competition. And here's what we can do in order to accomplish your, what is your objective in this training?

Tell me what it is. And then you explain your perspective and what you wish to do and bring that to them and say, now let's get into competition and see and see what happens in terms of, in terms of how we respond to the challenges of the day. So, you know, and whether it's, whether it's issues of, of equity and equality, et cetera, I think you, I would take the opportunity to present your case and present how you would go about the proper training so you would be the most effective employee in that company.

And I would give them, give them the opportunity to respond. I've been thinking about this a lot. We had a similar question yesterday, Chris, in our tough questions panel. And we're talking here about living. We're talking here about living as Christians. And, of course, the book we think of that is the biblical book that talks about skillful living is the book of Proverbs. And as I was thinking this through last night, the phrase that is really key to this book is the fear of the Lord is the fear of the Lord. It's full of all this practical advice and relationships and money and work.

And we love reading the Proverb adai, to be wise livers. But all through that book, read it and look for how many times the fear of the Lord occurs. And it just dawned on me that this is what it's all about. It's the doctrine of God.

It's fundamental to everything. It's understanding who God is. It's having at the core of our being the fear of the Lord.

Now, we can talk about how I engage this situation, how I pursue this thing in my life, how I live as an employee, how I live in family relationships. But let's get this fear of the Lord there. And I think in our moment, and this is what Dr. Sproul taught us, we are continually forgetting who God is and we are needing to be continually reminded of who God is and start all these ethical questions, very challenging in our day, from this foundation of the fear of the Lord.

Now, let's answer. I think of a young man I heard about who was a Reformed Christian who went to a Lutheran high school and had to take religion classes in the high school and was taught, very understandably, Lutheran theology. And he was never sure how to answer the theological questions that were put on the exam. And wisely came to the conclusion that he would begin his answer by saying, Lutherans believe, in answer to this question, give the Lutheran answer and say, but then would go on to say, I happen to believe, and then give the Reformed answer. And maybe a wise Christian who was trying to be wise as a serpent could do something similar and write, I know that you would like me to say, after this seminar, because I've been paying close attention, you would like me to say this, but I'm a Christian and I believe this. And I live in a country where there's freedom of religion and you don't want to hear from my lawyer. Well, I think that we shouldn't skip over that. Because I do believe there's another benefit to that.

I've been friends with an individual who's three times had to go to court. And it's not so much he's trying to keep his job. It's what I think Paul was doing when he made those appeals to Caesar. It wasn't, he was willing to, I mean, obviously he's willing to die for this, but what he was trying to do is carve something out for the next generation. And he's making his stand, he's making his declaration, and he's showing them even their own inconsistencies within their own law.

And so, I think there's a place for that. I think we've got to be, and we need to be willing right now in our culture, as I said earlier today, this is a revolution. The revolution is not looking for accommodation from us.

That's not what they're looking for. They're not looking for toleration. A revolution is a call to condemn what you previously celebrated and celebrate what you previously condemned. And so, I think that's condemned.

That's what a revolution does. It's calling for capitulation. Well, we're not going to capitulate.

And you can expect, not immediately, the persecution against a life, but against livelihoods. And so, we've got to be willing to say to the HR, nope, sorry, I cannot and I'm not going to lie. And so, we've got to be ready to say that. But we've also got to be ready to give an account that's within us. Defend the faith without being defensive. Contend for the faith without being contentious.

So that they hear the truth from you in love. And this is where I am though. And I want to make that clear to you.

And then if there are legal redress, for the sake of others, it's appropriate for you to go ahead and take those steps, I believe, in a way that honors the Lord, always being willing to sacrifice all for Christ. Would you join me in thanking our panelists? Thank you. What helpful and wise answers we just heard from a Q&A session at Ligonier's 2023 National Conference. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind, and that was Ligonier's President and CEO, Chris Larson, who was asking those questions from the attendees to W. Robert Godfrey, Harry Reader, Stephen Nichols, and Burke Parsons. Today, we heard Stephen Nichols bring up how helpful the Westminster Confession of Faith's chapter on assurance is. Well, if you'd like to read that chapter, along with R.C. Sproul's commentary and explanation, today is the final day to request the hardcover edition of Truths We Confess for donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. This was a vital resource for me as I taught through the Westminster Confession in a Sunday school class for many years, and I commend it to all Christians. As only hours remain, visit renewingyourmind.org or call us at 800 435 4343 while there's still time. Continuing our theme of standing firm and the historic confessions of the church, next time you'll hear a special conversation on what creeds and confessions are, and we'll introduce you to a brand new resource from Ligonier Ministries. That's Monday here on Renewing Your Mind.