WEBVTT 00:00:00.302 --> 00:00:02.676 You may be thinking, 00:00:02.676 --> 00:00:06.925 "Oh, Brother Lee, the world just thinks 00:00:06.925 --> 00:00:08.744 that Christians are arrogant 00:00:08.744 --> 00:00:13.335 and intolerant and irrelevant." 00:00:13.335 --> 00:00:16.024 Arrogant? 00:00:16.024 --> 00:00:17.724 You need to capture this. 00:00:17.724 --> 00:00:22.615 Truth is never arrogant. 00:00:22.615 --> 00:00:25.652 It doesn't involve arrogance. 00:00:25.652 --> 00:00:28.425 Truth is a matter of fact. 00:00:28.425 --> 00:00:31.676 Now the delivery of the truth however, 00:00:31.676 --> 00:00:33.474 the vessel, the ambassador 00:00:33.474 --> 00:00:36.034 can be proud and unloving and arrogant. 00:00:36.034 --> 00:00:38.115 That's true. 00:00:38.115 --> 00:00:40.523 It's true that our actions and our methodologies 00:00:40.523 --> 00:00:43.256 will either substantiate the truth we proclaim 00:00:43.256 --> 00:00:45.624 or undermine it. 00:00:45.624 --> 00:00:49.197 But the truth itself is never arrogant or proud. 00:00:49.197 --> 00:00:51.505 To proclaim an exclusive Gospel 00:00:51.505 --> 00:00:54.624 is not the proclamation of a proud man; 00:00:54.624 --> 00:00:57.574 it's the proclamation of a man that has been humbled 00:00:57.574 --> 00:01:00.564 by the grace of God that rescued him. 00:01:00.564 --> 00:01:04.825 Arrogant? No. Not arrogant. 00:01:04.825 --> 00:01:10.329 Intolerant? No. Not intolerant. 00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:15.276 Really, Christians should be the most tolerant people in the earth. 00:01:15.276 --> 00:01:17.945 Paul writes, "Love endures all things." 00:01:17.945 --> 00:01:20.223 That's pretty tolerant. 00:01:20.223 --> 00:01:21.862 But this tolerance, 00:01:21.862 --> 00:01:23.609 this love for our neighbor 00:01:23.609 --> 00:01:26.896 doesn't dull the edge of the Gospel blade. 00:01:26.896 --> 00:01:29.103 It sharpens it. 00:01:29.103 --> 00:01:31.153 What we shouldn't be able to tolerate 00:01:31.153 --> 00:01:35.144 that we often do - I, myself included - 00:01:35.144 --> 00:01:36.963 what we shouldn't be able to tolerate 00:01:36.963 --> 00:01:38.843 is the thought of anyone perishing 00:01:38.843 --> 00:01:43.024 apart from hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:01:43.024 --> 00:01:46.223 That's what we shouldn't tolerate. 00:01:46.223 --> 00:01:48.757 We won't embrace the lies of this age. 00:01:48.757 --> 00:01:50.975 We won't agree with false religions. 00:01:50.975 --> 00:01:53.704 We will stand for an exclusive Gospel 00:01:53.704 --> 00:01:58.122 that powerfully rescues men from sin. 00:01:58.122 --> 00:01:59.405 We will love our neighbors. 00:01:59.405 --> 00:02:00.694 We will serve the needy. 00:02:00.694 --> 00:02:02.508 We will minister to the oppressed 00:02:02.508 --> 00:02:04.836 and share the Gospel with a dying world 00:02:04.836 --> 00:02:08.259 that needs Jesus. 00:02:08.259 --> 00:02:10.865 Intolerant? I don't think so. 00:02:10.865 --> 00:02:15.575 Irrelevant? God forbid. 00:02:15.575 --> 00:02:19.525 The Gospel is the furthest thing from irrelevant. 00:02:19.525 --> 00:02:23.773 It's about as relevant as anything under heaven - 00:02:23.773 --> 00:02:25.405 likely, exceedingly more so. 00:02:25.405 --> 00:02:30.093 It's the only cure for sinners. 00:02:30.093 --> 00:02:32.093 Of course, the world would not consider 00:02:32.093 --> 00:02:35.085 the only cure for cancer to be irrelevant. 00:02:35.085 --> 00:02:37.845 That would be especially relevant. 00:02:37.845 --> 00:02:41.102 Well, the Gospel then is no less relevant 00:02:41.102 --> 00:02:43.753 to the needy sinner. 00:02:43.753 --> 00:02:48.023 How will then they call on Him 00:02:48.023 --> 00:02:50.355 in whom they have not believed? 00:02:50.355 --> 00:02:52.228 And how are they to believe in Him 00:02:52.228 --> 00:02:54.693 of whom they have never heard? 00:02:54.693 --> 00:02:56.483 And how are they to hear 00:02:56.483 --> 00:02:58.979 without someone preaching? 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:02.464 It is relevant, church. 00:03:02.464 --> 00:03:03.971 So don't let the world put you 00:03:03.971 --> 00:03:06.685 into the mold of being unkind, unloving, 00:03:06.685 --> 00:03:10.013 unfair or arrogant. 00:03:10.013 --> 00:03:14.334 Is it unloving to share the Gospel of reconciliation 00:03:14.334 --> 00:03:17.223 with one alienated from God? 00:03:17.223 --> 00:03:18.663 I don't think so. 00:03:18.663 --> 00:03:21.972 Is it unkind to speak Gospel encouragements 00:03:21.972 --> 00:03:24.493 to the broken-hearted? 00:03:24.493 --> 00:03:26.023 I don't think so. 00:03:26.023 --> 00:03:29.264 Is it arrogant to offer Christ and eternal life 00:03:29.264 --> 00:03:31.884 to the dying sinner? 00:03:31.884 --> 00:03:33.445 Of course not. 00:03:33.445 --> 00:03:38.283 So preach the Gospel, brethren. 00:03:38.283 --> 00:03:39.948 Use words. 00:03:39.948 --> 00:03:42.154 Love the souls of men. 00:03:42.154 --> 00:03:43.864 Why? 00:03:43.864 --> 00:03:47.844 Because salvation is in Christ alone. 00:03:47.844 --> 00:03:51.074 The Gospel is exclusive.