Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #133： A Biblical Response to Ravi Zacharias

00:00:00.000 Welcome to this episode of Real Christianity.

00:00:10.920 My name is Dale Partridge, where each week I offer 20 to 30-minute answers to tough theological

00:00:15.300 and pastoral questions.

00:00:16.960 This show is a 100% listener-supported audio ministry of relearn.org.

00:00:22.020 And for those who don't know, our mission at relearn.org is to bring the church back

00:00:26.920 to the Bible.

00:00:28.060 For bold daily encouragements, join the over 500,000 Christians who follow us on social media

00:00:32.760 by searching for relearn.org on any platform.

00:00:40.480 For those who are unaware, after the passing of Ravi Zacharias, several women, mostly massage

00:00:47.120 therapists, came forward with claims of multiple accounts of long-term sexual misconduct, rape,

00:00:52.620 sexual harassment, and manipulation. The evidence from the investigation found

00:00:57.040 compelling proof for these allegations via notes, pictures, emails, and personal accounts of many

00:01:02.900 different women. RZIM, the ministry of Ravi Zacharias, in an effort to be completely transparent,

00:01:09.020 has released the full independent report of this on their website. As a result, many Christians

00:01:16.720 have had valid questions. Some have asked if this means that Ravi wasn't actually born again.

00:01:24.500 Some have asked, does this invalidate his life's ministry?

00:01:28.920 Some have asked if they should stop listening to Ravi's podcasts and videos going forward.

00:01:34.760 And it's my hope to look at the scriptures today and provide some principles that might

00:01:39.600 help us navigate these difficult questions.

00:01:42.280 But before I begin, I just want to mention two quick things.

00:01:45.700 Number one, just a reminder that the Theologian series begins not next week, but the week

00:01:51.880 after.

00:01:52.200 So get ready for five hard-hitting interviews with some of today's top theologians.

00:01:56.860 Then in April, we're going to be featuring our top seven episodes out of the 135 episodes

00:02:02.580 that we will have done.

00:02:03.980 And then I'm going to be on a semi-sabbatical for that time, and I'll return with some all-new

00:02:10.020 episodes of Real Christianity.

00:02:11.880 Number two, I want to talk about, especially because we're talking about this issue with

00:02:15.820 Ravi Zacharias, I want to talk about our program at standinvictory.org.

00:02:20.400 This is a simple gospel-centered program for breaking free from the bondage of pornography.

00:02:26.080 I want to read you a testimony from a young lady that just sent this to me from Arizona.

00:02:33.040 She says,

00:02:50.400 world. Since I was in elementary school, I struggled with sexual sin, something I felt so

00:02:55.840 alone in and didn't know how to escape from. It controlled me for 15 plus years. I began watching

00:03:02.180 pornography, and at this point, I felt I had no control and became scared. That same week, I heard

00:03:08.400 through your podcast that you came out with the Stand in Victory course. I had nowhere else to

00:03:13.880 turn, and I felt that this was my last chance at freedom, so I enrolled in the course. I knew that

00:03:19.320 if this didn't work, nothing would. And by God's leading, I took the course, and the Lord had mercy

00:03:25.500 on me and graciously saved me. Your course helped me understand how much God hates sin and hated

00:03:32.160 what I was doing. I was in complete rebellion to him and loved my sin more than anything. Those

00:03:38.320 chains have finally been broken, and the Lord has freed me. I had never heard the gospel in the way

00:03:44.400 that you had explained it, and God revealed to me through your ministry that he is not only Savior,

00:03:49.320 but also Lord. Now I desire to be a slave to nothing and no one else except my Lord Jesus

00:03:55.560 Christ. Thank you for this course. It is bringing those who are in darkness out into the light.

00:04:01.720 I hope that was edifying for you. It was for me. And we get messages like this actually quite often,

00:04:08.400 testimonies from the Stand at Victory course. It's a short program, just a handful of videos

00:04:13.880 with some vital gospel-centered truths around addiction, around freedom, around the gospel,

00:04:22.580 on the way that we should be viewing these things. So again, you can enroll at standinvictory.org.

00:04:29.900 Okay, so let's get into this episode. To be honest, I would have rather written a eulogy

00:04:38.680 than write this podcast. This was a difficult episode to put together because, I mean, for

00:04:48.140 many reasons, but one, as scripture says, man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks

00:04:53.760 at the heart. I'm limited in my commentary because I'm limited on my view of this situation.

00:05:00.620 Proverbs 18, 17 also says, the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and

00:05:08.260 examines him. Unfortunately, we are only hearing one side of this story. Now, I do believe the

00:05:16.440 evidence against Ravi is so compelling, numerous, and persuasive that I think Ravi was guilty

00:05:23.580 of these allegations. Is it possible that some of these allegations are misrepresentative

00:05:28.660 or misrepresented? Sure, but the evidence is too great to say that they were all false allegations.

00:05:36.400 Furthermore, as a dad of a little girl, I'm just hurting for the women who were abused and manipulated in this situation.

00:05:45.400 May God grant them peace and bring them into a saving relationship with him, despite the tragic sins that they experienced.

00:05:54.900 But most of all, I'm righteously angry that through this scenario,

00:06:01.800 Ravi tarnished the name of Christ before an onlooking world.

00:06:07.660 Make no mistake, the kingdom of hell celebrated the day Ravi's sins were brought to light, 0.80

00:06:12.600 not because that was the right thing to do, which it was, to bring them to light,

00:06:16.460 but because they knew that God's name would be stained across 10,000 websites, videos, and podcasts.

00:06:21.840 It's all tragic, but it's very instructive for the church today.

00:06:27.780 And I want to start off by saying that for many years, I listened to and was edified by the ministry of Ravi Zacharias.

00:06:36.620 He was a brilliant man whom the Lord used to preach not only the gospel, but also to present biblical truth to a broken world.

00:06:44.620 Second, as Christians, our first reaction to this news about Ravi shouldn't be,

00:06:52.300 my goodness, what a terrible man he was.

00:06:55.620 No, it should be, oh, Lord, thank you for your grace on my life,

00:06:59.900 for without it, I could do something just like that.

00:07:04.020 In other words, it's pride that looks down upon other people and says,

00:07:08.300 I can't believe you would do such a thing.

00:07:10.100 But it's humility before the Lord that says, thank you, God, for sparing me from such sin.

00:07:18.380 Dr. David Harvey once said, self-righteousness is a sense of moral superiority that appoints us

00:07:27.100 as a prosecutor of other people's sinfulness. We relate to others as if we are incapable of

00:07:34.340 the sins they commit. But the truth is, we are just as capable. As a result, this self-righteousness

00:07:41.520 in our hearts wages war against our ability to extend mercy to others, end quote. This is really

00:07:49.300 the exact lesson that was taught by the woman caught in the act of adultery in John chapter 8.

00:07:56.820 sinners in that story aggressively bring another sinner to jesus in an attempt to trap him and

00:08:05.520 stone the woman okay jesus as you know makes a statement in verse seven that takes the fingers

00:08:11.940 of her accusers and turns them around and points them right back at their own hearts he says let

00:08:18.720 him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her the next verse says and they

00:08:26.620 which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at

00:08:31.700 the eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst.

00:08:38.920 You know, I think it was Charles Spurgeon who said, if any man thinks ill of you,

00:08:45.340 do not be angry with him, for you are far worse than he thinks you to be.

00:08:49.240 the point i'm trying to make here everyone is that we need to have a right estimation of ourselves

00:08:57.580 before we talk about others okay we are either sinners or we are sinners saved by grace but in

00:09:05.600 either case we are all sinners um we are all fallen we are all every day um breaking the

00:09:15.440 first and greatest commandment to love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul

00:09:18.300 with all your mind. We most definitely break the second commandment to love our neighbors as

00:09:22.040 ourselves. We are constantly in need of God's grace. We're saints who sin, but in either case,

00:09:29.960 we are sinners constantly in need of grace. And this is the heart posture of humility and moral

00:09:39.720 sobriety that needs to be at the foundation before we even have a conversation like the one

00:09:47.900 we're about to have. Okay. Every single one of you listening to this podcast is a rampant sinner,

00:09:55.200 just like me, who without Christ and without Christ's decision to sovereignly save you

00:10:02.460 would be hell bound. Okay. We are no better than any other person in this world. We are all hopeless

00:10:11.320 and helpless without Christ. That is the starting point for this conversation.

00:10:15.600 So with that being clear, let's begin with the first question.

00:10:25.160 Does this mean that Ravi was not born again?

00:10:29.380 Okay, to begin, I just want to say there's not going to be a definite answer to this question.

00:10:35.800 I don't even really like the question, but I think it's important to address because so many of you asked me about it.

00:10:41.820 but there's not going to be a definite answer to this question.

00:10:46.440 The Bible simply tells us that we will know believers by their fruit.

00:10:50.280 Now, this isn't talking about the fruit of their ministry or the size of their ministry,

00:10:53.660 but the fruit of the Spirit in their own lives.

00:10:57.700 Okay, Ravi's situation, in light of this news,

00:11:01.020 it does make this examination far more complex.

00:11:05.700 However, 1 Corinthians 13, 7 tells us,

00:11:09.540 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

00:11:15.400 So in this particular instance, with a man who clearly claimed to believe and to follow Christ,

00:11:22.100 I believe our default position needs to be, as believers, to believe all things and hope all things.

00:11:29.380 Now that said, we do get to sit between two towers, grace and truth.

00:11:37.060 Okay, so the grace of God says in Romans 5.20,

00:11:43.140 Now this passage is speaking to the grand narrative of redemptive history.

00:11:56.200 God brought the law, which increased sin, but God also sent Christ, which increased grace beyond the boundaries of sin.

00:12:05.220 now let me give you some more on this and I'll wrap it up in a second and the next verse

00:12:11.300 starts in chapter 6 verses 1 through 14 it continues with some very important truths

00:12:17.140 and I want you to pay attention as I read this Paul says what shall we say then are we to continue

00:12:25.060 in sin that grace may abound by no means how can we who died in sin still live in it do you not

00:12:32.240 know that all of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

00:12:37.040 We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was

00:12:43.940 raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we

00:12:50.260 have been united with him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a

00:12:53.740 resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of

00:13:00.160 sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died

00:13:08.500 has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live

00:13:14.420 with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer

00:13:20.880 has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives,

00:13:27.680 he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in

00:13:32.500 Christ Jesus. Verse 12, let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passion.

00:13:41.360 Do not present your members or your body parts to sin as instruments for unrighteousness,

00:13:47.080 but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life

00:13:52.400 and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

00:13:57.020 For sin will have no dominion over you

00:13:59.220 since you are not under the law, but under grace.

00:14:03.620 Okay, this passage teaches us two things.

00:14:07.520 I mean, it teaches us a lot of things,

00:14:09.300 but just a quick overview.

00:14:12.260 It teaches us two general principles here. 0.99

00:14:15.420 The first thing is that Christians sin. 1.00

00:14:19.180 Okay, this is a letter from Paul to Christians about how Christians need to behave 1.00

00:14:26.720 and how Christians need to think. 1.00

00:14:30.240 And it's evident that there are Christians who sin. 0.91

00:14:33.600 So the point is this, Christians sin. 1.00

00:14:36.640 I don't know if you've ever read the book of 1 Corinthians, 1.00

00:14:38.380 but it's filled with divisive, sexually immoral, selfish, unloving Christians. 1.00

00:14:44.320 again paul in first corinthians calls these people brothers and sisters in the lord 1.00

00:14:50.580 so christians sin

00:14:53.600 and there's a quote i think it's by thomas watson who says in the born-again christian

00:15:00.280 sin will remain but in the born-again christian sin will not reign i think that's the point of

00:15:08.500 this passage here. Number two thing that we learn from this passage, our identity is what gives us

00:15:16.880 our spiritual security in Christ. Okay, if we are in Christ, if we are truly born again, there is

00:15:24.220 no sin that condemn us. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

00:15:29.640 right? God will sanctify us and sustain us. He will glorify us. Jesus says in John 10, 27 through

00:15:38.240 28, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they

00:15:44.820 will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. So this is the first tower. Okay. This

00:15:54.280 is the grace of God. And it's only fair to run your perspective of Ravi's story through those

00:16:01.940 truths of God's grace. I've had several people ask me if they think that Ravi was a believer,

00:16:10.340 if they think Ravi went to hell. Again, we need to realize that if Ravi was truly a born-again

00:16:16.840 believer, then the answer is no, he didn't go to hell. He's sitting in heaven reigning with

00:16:23.960 Jesus Christ. His sins, just like your sins, were paid for by Christ. We are not made righteous

00:16:33.260 by our behavior or lack thereof. Our behavior is simply a reflection of our gratitude of the

00:16:40.940 one who made us righteous. Okay, so the question is not about how much sin a person can commit

00:16:47.860 before they lose their salvation.

00:16:50.320 It's, was that person a born-again believer?

00:16:54.860 And so to evaluate that question,

00:16:57.180 we get to look at the next tower.

00:17:00.160 So the first tower is the grace of God.

00:17:02.620 The second tower is the truth of God.

00:17:05.120 So we're going to look at the truth.

00:17:08.160 In 1 John 3, verses 4 through 10,

00:17:12.700 present some difficult verses,

00:17:15.740 which are centrally intended to be used in self-examination,

00:17:21.820 but can also be helpful in trying to identify those in the church

00:17:25.140 who profess Christ yet live contrary to the word

00:17:30.160 and fail to yield the fruits of the Spirit in their life.

00:17:34.620 Okay, so 1 John 3, this is verse 4.

00:17:38.660 It says,

00:17:39.400 everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.

00:17:48.800 You know that he appeared in order to take sins away, and in him there is no sin.

00:17:54.800 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. That is, they don't continue practicing sin habitually.

00:18:03.120 I'll read that again. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning

00:18:08.960 has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices

00:18:14.660 righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the

00:18:20.940 devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the son of God appeared was

00:18:25.840 to destroy the works of the devil. Listen to this verse nine. No one born of God makes a practice

00:18:32.000 of sinning. For God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born

00:18:40.500 of God. By this, verse 10, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of

00:18:48.460 the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love

00:18:54.880 his brother or sister. I can't tell you guys how many times I've preached on this passage of

00:19:00.520 Scripture, it's so important. In this letter, John is trying to give assurance to believers

00:19:08.960 about their salvation and clarity about the signs of false believers. And he says,

00:19:17.040 true believers, true born-again believers that have the seed, God's seed abiding in them,

00:19:23.820 they don't practice sin. That is, they don't regularly participate in ongoing sin. They

00:19:34.540 don't improve their ability to perform it. They don't get better at doing it. They don't get

00:19:39.560 better at hiding it. They don't get better at justifying it. And they can't continue sinning

00:19:45.300 long-term because as verse 9 says, they cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

00:19:53.820 In other words, at some point, the Holy Spirit will bring conviction

00:19:58.040 and God will bring discipline, as it says in Hebrews,

00:20:01.220 to straighten out the lives of his children.

00:20:03.720 He disciplines those he loves.

00:20:05.420 He will not let his children run rampant in sin.

00:20:08.600 He will not let you as his son or daughter drag his name through the mud forever.

00:20:13.520 He loves his name too much and he loves you too much

00:20:16.420 to let you remain in long-term habitual sin.

00:20:20.460 But what this also teaches us is that those who have been walking in long-term, habitual, patternistic sins, like the ones we're seeing and talking about in the evidence against Ravi, this becomes indicative that they might not be being convicted by the Holy Spirit and are not being disciplined by God.

00:20:47.780 and that it could be possible that they're not his children.

00:20:53.780 Now, again, the danger of making such a claim is that many saved men and women

00:20:58.680 have battled with ongoing sin.

00:21:03.600 So, again, this is not a clear-cut doctrine, but it's strong principles.

00:21:08.560 Remember that quote, Thomas Watson, 0.66

00:21:10.820 in the born-again Christian, sin will remain.

00:21:14.200 But in the born-again Christian, sin will not reign.

00:21:20.600 Okay, these are truths we as believers get to bring to the table when evaluating situations like the one before us. 0.73

00:21:29.560 Okay, the second part of this truth is that we must realize that people can claim Christ, be highly religious, incredibly moral, and not be born again.

00:21:44.540 Deception sends so many people to hell.

00:21:47.700 In Matthew 7, 21 through 23, Jesus says,

00:21:50.720 On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

00:21:58.780 And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

00:22:02.260 Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

00:22:06.680 In other words, spiritual giftedness is not the best metric to determine if someone is saved.

00:22:14.200 No, it's spiritual sanctification.

00:22:17.820 It's not spiritual giftedness.

00:22:19.680 It's spiritual sanctification.

00:22:21.340 Jesus says you will know them by their fruits.

00:22:25.400 People, we need to wake up here in the West.

00:22:28.160 Thousands upon thousands of people have come to the church without ever coming to Christ.

00:22:33.200 If you haven't read my story on relearn.org, I was serving in the church for years before I was born again.

00:22:39.820 Now, Martin Luther, Martin Luther had a doctorate in theology and hammered his 95 theses to the

00:22:45.520 castle door in Wittenberg, Germany, before he was born again. John Wesley was a graduate of

00:22:52.420 Oxford Theology School, a deacon in the Anglican Church, and a missionary to the Indians in America

00:22:57.120 before he came to Christ. Okay, this is the exact picture of the Pharisees, the high priest, 0.54

00:23:03.280 the man who was supposed to know more about God than anyone on earth was the one who crucified

00:23:10.380 Christ. If you don't think that it's possible for men like Ravi Zacharias to have a worldwide

00:23:17.580 ministry and not be born again, then all you need to do is turn your eyes to the Pope.

00:23:24.060 Okay, religion and philosophy is all around us. We're drowning in it. Now, again, I'm not saying

00:23:29.820 that Ravi wasn't a born-again believer.

00:23:32.640 As I said earlier, we will not have an answer to that question.

00:23:37.240 But what I do want to remind you

00:23:38.980 is how powerful religion and self-deception can be.

00:23:44.820 My friend and professor, Dr. Stephen Lawson, once said,

00:23:48.780 the only thing worse than not having the assurance of salvation

00:23:53.520 is having the false assurance of salvation.

00:23:57.080 so ultimately we get to sit in the tension between these two towers the grace of god

00:24:06.040 and the truth of god if ravi was born again everything he has done was covered by the

00:24:12.020 grace of god through the righteousness of christ and praise god for that but if ravi's ongoing

00:24:18.760 habitual sin was indicative that he was simply a moralistic religious philosopher whose heart had

00:24:25.820 never been made new. Then he, like the gifted men who came to Jesus and said, look at all that we've

00:24:32.280 done in your name, are going to receive the same answer that they received from those people that

00:24:38.160 came to Christ. Depart from me, I never knew you. But again, we're not going to have an answer to

00:24:43.300 this question. To be honest, our objective should not be to have an answer about it.

00:24:48.200 The only answer that you should be concerned with is this, where do I stand? Have I been born again?

00:24:56.700 Do I have the fruits of the Spirit?

00:24:59.760 These are the questions that we need to be asking about ourselves.

00:25:04.620 Now, before I close, I want to discuss that idea.

00:25:11.140 I want to give some application points that take our eyes off of Ravi and put them back on ourselves.

00:25:17.320 But before I do that, I do want to quickly address those two other questions that I received that are both valid and important.

00:25:29.940 Number one is, does this news invalidate Ravi's ministry?

00:25:34.040 And number two is, should Christians stop listening to Ravi's resources going forward?

00:25:39.480 And so let me answer those questions, and then I will close with some application points.

00:25:47.320 Let me read a passage from Philippians 1.15 that I think answers the first question.

00:25:53.400 Paul says,

00:25:53.940 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.

00:26:02.460 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am here, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

00:26:09.800 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

00:26:16.020 What then?

00:26:17.320 only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that

00:26:24.100 I rejoice. Let me explain this for a second. That word pretense means for appearance sake or for

00:26:31.040 show. So whether for appearance sake or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

00:26:38.900 Essentially, what Paul is teaching us here is he's saying there's a correct way to preach the

00:26:44.140 gospel. But even if it's preached from an incorrect heart, or from a hypocrite, or from someone who

00:26:50.780 doesn't even know God, the gospel is still being preached. God will use a donkey to preach the 0.88

00:26:56.640 truth. He'll cause the rocks to cry out his word. The means of the gospel have a standard. But even 0.94

00:27:04.440 if the standard isn't met, and the gospel is being preached, Paul says we can rejoice.

00:27:09.320 So in Ravi's case, was his life ministry wasted? Not according to Paul. The gospel was still

00:27:18.380 preached, and in that we can rejoice. Now, knowing what we know about Ravi,

00:27:26.720 should we continue seeking edification from his resources? I'm going to offer you my opinion,

00:27:36.900 which my opinion is a loose no for a few reasons. Number one, I think that Ravi's theology was off

00:27:47.860 anyway. Ravi was primarily a philosopher, and he was an Arminian free will theologian,

00:27:58.580 and he denied the doctrines of grace and the predestination of God's people.

00:28:03.220 His view of salvation was synergistic and not monergistic,

00:28:06.620 meaning that he believed that you work together with God to be saved

00:28:09.160 versus God doing all of the saving sovereignly.

00:28:13.000 And he concluded that Christians could lose their salvation,

00:28:15.660 that they could walk away from Jesus,

00:28:18.760 which again makes Jesus a liar in John 10, 27-28,

00:28:24.540 where he says they will never perish.

00:28:26.120 so while you know he's a brilliant intellectual with a Christian worldview I don't believe that

00:28:34.040 he fully understood the mechanics of the gospel and the grace of God and for that reason his

00:28:38.560 resources while helpful in some circumstances and maybe in some research are based upon in my view

00:28:44.060 an impotent view of redemption and I think his theology was incongruent so that's my my first

00:28:53.920 reason. The second reason is the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 that there's character

00:29:06.380 qualifications for those who preach and shepherd God's people. And Ravi was clearly walking

00:29:12.340 outside of those qualifications for a significant portion of his ministry. And for that reason,

00:29:17.240 I don't feel Christians should turn to Ravi's resources for theological edification.

00:29:23.920 In a time where we have resources from, you know, men like Charles Spurgeon and John MacArthur and Sproul and Martin Lloyd-Jones, the Puritans, Paul Washer, and many more, I don't think Ravi's content offers comparable edification.

00:29:38.300 I think there's better resources available.

00:29:39.820 but again the most important question and point of this entire episode

00:29:50.180 is how does Ravi's story translate to my story how can you take your eyes off Ravi and put them

00:30:00.500 on yourself let me just offer you three points of application one I believe this should

00:30:09.020 inaugurate a very serious time of self-examination? Are you walking in any habitual long-term sin?

00:30:17.760 Are you regularly looking at porn? Are you having inappropriate relationships with someone other

00:30:23.520 than your spouse? Do you have a substance abuse problem? Do you have any dark secrets that need

00:30:32.100 to be dragged into the light and confessed and repented before God?

00:30:38.020 And most of all, what would people find in your phone or in your internet history or

00:30:44.400 in your inboxes if you died today?

00:30:47.700 Number two, as Christians, we're called to live a life that's above reproach.

00:30:54.500 That is that we're not to live lives that can even remotely be criticized, which is

00:31:02.060 difficult to do. It's this reason why married men and women should have some family rules to never

00:31:08.580 be alone with someone of the opposite sex. It's why Christians should be careful who and what 0.99

00:31:13.980 they associate themselves with. 1 Timothy 3, 7 tells us the reason why. I'm talking about an 0.81

00:31:21.460 elder. It says, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace

00:31:28.960 into a snare of the devil.

00:31:33.380 The reason we are to be above reproach

00:31:36.060 is to protect ourselves from falling into disgrace,

00:31:40.120 shaming the name of our Lord and Savior,

00:31:41.800 and to protect ourselves from falling into the trap of the devil.

00:31:44.580 We need to be above reproach.

00:31:48.500 Number three, don't put your hope or trust in any man.

00:31:55.920 Okay, the best of men are men at best.

00:31:58.960 It's a famous saying, right?

00:32:00.540 The best of men are men at best.

00:32:02.920 Psalm 14, put not your trust in princes,

00:32:07.420 in a son of man in whom there is no salvation.

00:32:11.780 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth.

00:32:14.560 On that very day, his plans perish.

00:32:17.560 But blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

00:32:21.200 whose hope is in the Lord his God,

00:32:24.600 who made the heaven and the earth and the sea

00:32:27.160 and all that is in them who keeps faith forever.

00:32:32.600 The point there is put your hope in Christ alone. 1.00

00:32:36.440 Don't put it in Ravi. 0.51

00:32:37.960 Don't put it in John MacArthur.

00:32:40.220 Don't put it in R.C. Sproul.

00:32:42.620 Don't put it in Charles Spurgeon.

00:32:44.380 Put it in Christ alone.

00:32:46.460 Men fail.

00:32:48.120 Even the best of men fail.

00:32:50.680 And at the end of the day, this is just a tragic situation.

00:32:55.200 and we need to be praying.

00:32:58.080 We need to be praying for the Zacharias family.

00:33:01.280 We need to be praying for the victims of the abuse that took place.

00:33:07.320 We need to be praying for the truth to prevail in all of it.

00:33:13.300 But most of all, we need to be praying that the Lord uses this tragedy

00:33:16.980 to sanctify and purify his church

00:33:21.800 so that the gospel can continue to be pushed forward

00:33:25.940 and the kingdom of God can be glorified

00:33:29.960 and that Christ can be proclaimed

00:33:33.580 to the dark world that we do live in.

00:33:37.640 So as always, guys, I'm going to leave you with a few resources

00:33:41.200 that'll further your understanding of this topic.

00:33:45.240 And you can find them on the post page of this episode at relearn.org.

00:33:48.160 This is episode 133, titled A Biblical Response to Ravi Zacharias.

00:33:53.180 The first one is an article titled The Character of the Christian by Tim Chalice.

00:33:59.100 That's his blog at chalice.com.

00:34:02.460 The second article is Above Reproach by John MacArthur.

00:34:05.980 That's available actually at Ligonier website.

00:34:09.460 And the third will be, I'm going to give you two books.

00:34:13.540 One of them is, they're on the same topic.

00:34:16.700 It's John MacArthur wrote a book titled Saved Without a Doubt, and it's understanding if

00:34:23.640 you've actually truly been born again, and if not, what to do about it.

00:34:29.040 The second is New Life in Christ by Steve Lawson.

00:34:35.060 These are wonderful resources for self-examination, assuring that you're not stuck in religiosity

00:34:41.840 or churchianity, but you're actually a born-again believer.

00:34:46.700 And I hope these resources will be helpful for you in your edification.

00:34:51.320 And I hope this episode was helpful for you on bringing some sort of biblical clarity

00:34:55.440 to the balance between the grace of God, the truth of God,

00:35:00.280 and how we should be thinking of situations of fallen Christian leaders in our day.

00:35:07.500 On that note, thank you for listening.

00:35:09.620 Thank you for being here and for your loyal subscription to this podcast.

00:35:14.460 if you guys have not left a review, we do appreciate those reviews. If you just tap the

00:35:18.740 stars, you don't even need to write anything, but if you do write something, I will read it.

00:35:23.000 Also, if you want to follow us on social media, Instagram for relearn.org, we're posting content

00:35:28.200 there on a regular basis. Also on Twitter, at Dale Partridge, you can find me. I'm trying to

00:35:33.100 put out content as often as I can for the edification of the body, for the work of the

00:35:36.860 ministry. On that note, thank you guys for joining me on this difficult episode of Real

00:35:43.180 Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge. I'll see you next Wednesday.

00:36:13.180 by visiting relearn.org forward slash house.

00:36:16.240 Lastly, do you have a theological question you would like answered on the show?

00:36:20.060 Submit your question at relearn.org forward slash question.

00:36:23.960 Thanks for joining us on this episode of Real Christianity.

00:36:26.580 We will see you next Wednesday.

Dale Partridge - February 17, 2021

Real Christianity #133： A Biblical Response to Ravi Zacharias

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript