Focal Point

Dave Drewie: You hear the word apologetics tossed around in Christian circles all the time, but do you actually know what it means? And what does the Bible say to a person who spent decades deep in sin and wonders if they’ve put themselves beyond God’s reach?

Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez takes on both questions and more head-on from the Word of God in this week's edition of Ask Pastor Mike Live. I'm Dave Drewie. And now let’s join Pastor Mike for today’s program.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Lonnie, you're on the air with Pastor Mike. How can I help?

Lonnie: Hi, thank you for taking my call. I was wondering what apologetics means. I hear that word used all the time, but I don't even know what it means.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Literally, if you're going to translate the word just into an English word, you might use the word "defense." That's how it's translated. It is a Greek transliterated word, *apologetics*. It comes from the Greek word *apologia*, but it's used in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15.

The verse where it's translated, at least the phrase within the verse, 1 Peter 3:15 says, "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that's in you." So when you make the defense, when they say, "Why are you a Christian? Why are you following this person that died?" You say, "Because he is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and he rose from the dead and he ascended."

What you're doing in those sentences is you're defending why you trust in Christ. That defending is apologetics. Now the word itself is a compound word. *Logia* is what you're saying. *Logia* comes from the word *logos*, which is "word." When you're *logia*-ing, you're saying things.

*Apo* is the preposition "away from" in Greek. That means you're saying things that take a charge away from you. The charge is coming at you and you're taking that charge and you're putting it away from you by a rational defense. And how are you supposed to do it? Bottom of 1 Peter 3:15, "with gentleness and respect," but definitely you're doing it clearly.

You said that I'm dumb for believing in Jesus Christ or for believing the Bible or for following God's law. No, I'm not dumb for doing that. Let me give you a defense. And that defense, the word in the Greek language is *apologia*, transliterated apologetics, and it comes from 1 Peter 3:15.

Lonnie: Oh okay, that explains it. Thank you.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Okay. Next question. Let's talk to Don. How are you, Don? How can I help?

Don: Hey, how you doing, Pastor? I just have one question for you. I read Hebrews, and Hebrews basically says that you have one chance to repent. That's the way I interpret it. I don't know, maybe I'm interpreting it wrong.

Then I read Revelations and it says that if you were involved in sexual sin, that he gave us time to repent. So if you only get one chance to repent, why does Revelations allow you to repent then? That's my question.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Are you coming to the conclusion that you only have one time to repent because of Hebrews chapter six? Is that how you've come to that conclusion? And then also because in Ephesians 6, it talks about if you've ever done anything sexually immoral that you won't see the kingdom of heaven?

Here's the reason why, and I think 1 John is helpful in that regard. That's where I think the premise is wrong because there are plenty of people that have not repented in doing a sexual sin. I could go through my church and say, how many of you had premarital sex and you did it multiple times and then you became a Christian? Well, they had lots of opportunity to repent and they didn't.

And then they got saved and I'm thinking, "Oh wow, they repented and got saved." And look, they had plenty of opportunity to repent. I do think Hebrews chapter six is talking about, in these very firm warnings, something that is akin to Romans chapter one where you have God saying, "I'm turning them over. I've turned them over."

Only God can know when that's taking place, when he's pressing them to a place of saying, "You're done. You're done." Since God can do that, when he says, the land that's drunk the rain, and this is verse seven of Hebrews six, and it's done all of this and it doesn't produce a crop that's useful, it just bears thorns and thistles, well then it's going to be burned.

God's got the right to say, "I've turned you over to that. You're done. The wicked's going to continue to be wicked and the judgment is upon you." It's like Judas. Here's the son of punishment, the son of perdition. And you're done. I think that can happen. Of course, in God's knowledge and providence, he can do all of that and say that about anyone.

I do think there were people described in the book of Hebrews who had turned away from Judaism and all the practices and the priesthood and the sacrifice, and they came with these people that stepped away from all of that. These Jews now were saying, "No, we're not about all that. We've gone outside the camp. We're bearing the reproach," but they were tempted to go back.

Some of them, with all the knowledge of Christianity, they turned away from the Sabbath and the sacrifices and the Levitical priesthood and all the ceremonies, and then they got tempted to go back. With all these repeated warnings, now here's the writer of Hebrews saying, "No, if you do that with full knowledge," as Peter would say, you're like a sow that returns to her wallowing in the mire. Your latter state is worse than your first.

You're done. I do think that's a theoretical thing that for us, we can't say. I think people are too quick to say it because they think they're God and think, "Well, my brother or my uncle, he's sinned his way out of any opportunity."

Here's the thing. If you start to say it about yourself, which I think Don, a lot of times we do, we think, "Oh, I've sinned my way out of repenting." I think no one's going to concern themselves with that question if they have. People that are turned over to their sin have this hard heart.

They have a conscience that's so seared and scarred and it's so calloused that they don't even seek the Lord anymore. There's no interest in the Lord. So I don't think that if you think about, "Okay, I've stumbled in the Christian life. I've stumbled badly in the Christian life," or pre-Christian days, I was presented with the gospel after I had done this, that, and the other, and I said no and then I responded.

I think about all the times I've shared the gospel with non-Christians multiple times over and over and over again. And maybe they came to Christ after the seventh leaning into this. A lot of times I share the gospel and I say, "Hey, I'll meet with you and we'll just keep meeting and I'll answer your questions or do whatever," and it takes weeks, sometimes months.

And then they come to faith in Christ. So they've said no ten times. And I think, okay, God is patient. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. A lot of times his patience is something where people have refused to repent multiple times.

So here's the deal. If you think about this as it relates to yourself, if you're having any consternation about, "I think I've sinned my way out of repentance," I don't think that's possible if you're concerned with the problem. It is possible before God, but the person where that's true of that person, they're not even going to be thinking about it.

They're so set in their sin, they're dead to God, and they're not interested in it. They're like Romans three. They have no interest in seeking God. And those who want to be right with God are seeking Him. That's a gift of God to want to seek God. That's a gift to be drawn to God. So I think there's still opportunities for repentance for everyone that has that grace of calling and being drawn.

And now we want the grace of conversion where we put our trust in Christ and we repent of our sins. So yes, I think there are multiple opportunities for repentance. But do we reach a line? Yes.

Don: It's not a one and done.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: No, I don't think it's a one and done and I think there are plenty of examples of that in scripture. Even Peter, and I know this is pre-Acts 2, and some people make a big point about that and I get that, but the experience of the Holy Spirit, even in John's gospel, about the Spirit not just being with the apostles, at certain points, certainly Jesus talking about the Spirit being in these apostles and even in the Old Testament, the Spirit being in people in more than one occasion.

I'm seeing Peter stumble so hard in the last days before Christ's crucifixion in Caiaphas's courtyard. And then he goes out in John 21 fishing after the ascension. I mean, he stumbled doubly by forsaking his calling to feed Christ's sheep as a shepherd. And being a fisher of men, he's back on the lake. He's gone all the way back up from the Mount of Olives, all the way back up to Galilee and he's fishing.

That's where Jesus found him the first time. And Jesus has to make a special post-resurrection appearance, make a fire on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, broil some fish, call them on the shore and say, "Peter, do you love me? Well, if you do, feed my sheep."

That's a restoration. You want to talk about offering him another opportunity for repentance, in this case for him to get this right. He's right with God in terms of, if we're going to lay it out in New Testament terms, in terms of justification. But if he ever needed his feet washed, it's now. You're forsaking your calling as a preacher. Feed my sheep. You're not a fisherman anymore if you want to call it fisherman, you're a fisher of men, not a fisher of fish.

So go feed sheep, go be a shepherd, be a preacher. And yeah, and that's pretty patient Christ to say, "Repent, repent, repent, repent." He does it even in that conversation three times. And I just think that's the pattern in the New Testament.

Don: Okay, well, the other one question I had for you is when it says in the Bible, it talks about how if you put your hand to the plow and then pull away from it, you're no good to God. What about that?

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Yeah, well, you're not if you're thinking about this. If I'm sharing the gospel with this guy, I think of one guy, big tall guy, his name wouldn't matter, but I'd meet with him at the morning breakfast place. And let's say it's the fourth time I met with him. And I feel like I've shared with him all the points of the gospel. He's got another question this time about the age of the earth or whatever, and so we're going through that.

And at the end of this thing, he's still looking back a lot like the passage you're quoting, Luke chapter 9 in verse 61. He's thinking about his family because that's what the guy is saying, right? "Let me go back say farewell to my home." And he might say, "Well, my wife's not into this. And if I become a Christian, you know, I don't know, I just maybe I could go talk to my wife and maybe if she's into it, then I'll be into it."

And then I'm thinking of this passage. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom. If that's what you're thinking, you're no good to the kingdom of God. And so he leaves, let's just say, that's not what he said, but let's just say that's what he said. I'm going to say that very line to him. But that's only true that day because eventually he comes back two meetings later, puts his trust in Christ and he is fit for the kingdom.

So that's definitely true at that point. All three of those would-be disciples in Luke chapter nine, all of those statements are true in the present. Foxes have holes, the bird of the air has nests, the Son of Man has no where to lay his head. So if you're looking for comfort and convenience, you're not thinking right.

Does that mean that guy never has an opportunity? Think of Nicodemus. Nicodemus leaves in John chapter three and it seems like, "Sorry, you missed it." But at the end of the Gospel of John, he's there with Joseph of Arimathea. And it seems like, and even extra-biblical writing, it seems like he's got it right with the Lord. He's actually there putting spices on and he's seems to be a follower of Christ. He's standing up for the Messiah.

I just think in our- I can even think of Mary. Mary, I know Catholics this is like fingernails on the chalkboard for them, but if you think about early in the Gospel of Mark, she thinks he's crazy. He's just crazy. Like a lot of moms do when their kids are all into their work. And here's Jesus, he's all in, doesn't even have time to eat or take a meal, and she wants to go and save him from this workaholicism.

And she wants to save him. So she goes with her other kids and tries to deliver him. She's out of line. But later, she's there at the cross and she seems to be in tune with Jesus. So plenty of opportunities where you could say what the three people get basically rejected in Luke 9:57 through 62, but later you'd have to reverse that statement because they responded rightly.

If the guy says when Jesus says, "Follow me," and he says, "Lord, oh let me go first bury my father," and he says, "Let the dead bury their own dead. You go proclaim the kingdom." It's like the Old Testament line from the prophets and I think it's in Ezekiel, who does the right thing? The one who says, "I'm not going to do what you say," but then later goes and does it? Or the one who says, "I will do what you say," and then doesn't do it? Well, of course the answer is the one who says he wouldn't but then he did it. See, so what matters is what you end up doing, not what you first start to say. Whatever you refuse to do it at first.

Don: Okay, because that's the biggest thing I always have is I always feel like, okay, well, I lived in sexual sin for 35 years. But now I have almost two years sobriety, but I feel like, well, no, I did all that sin and now he can't forgive me because of all the sin I did. But why am I desiring to stay sober? I said to my wife, I said, if I'm going to die, the thing I want to do before I die is to die sober. No matter whether I'm condemned to hell or not, I want to make sure I stay sober because I still love God and I don't want to hurt him. And that's the way my mindset is. So what do you think of that? Do you think that I'm overthinking it too? Because that's all I do is I think too much.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Well, here's the thing. That is, according to Romans eight, you don't have the desire to please God without God's spirit. I mean, to really please God, certainly if there's a price tag and to say no to the flesh and to say yes to the Spirit and to do what he wants and to really say, "That's what I want to do, even at cost to denying my spirit and living a life of deprivation," that's the Spirit of God at work.

And here's the other thing working against it when you sit here and doubt. I know the Bible's very clear that the enemy of God is an accuser of the brethren. He's there, like in the book of Zechariah and the book of Revelation, he's there accusing us. He wants to make us be the ones who think we're losers and we can't possibly be accepted.

And I love that scene in Zechariah where Joshua the high priest is, Satan says, "Oh, he's a loser. He's a loser." And I'm paraphrasing of course. And Jesus, the pre-incarnate Christ in that passage, says, "I know, I know. But I'm going to clothe him in this turban that's clean and put this new garments on him. And I know he's a brand plucked from the fire, but it's okay. Now he's been imputed with my righteousness."

It's a great scene and it's the same way we should respond when we feel unworthy. We are unworthy. But the reason you want to desire to please God to the end of your life and stay sober is because the Spirit of God dwells within you and has given you a desire to please God. And that's why you have that desire.

And Satan all the same time is trying to say, "No, you're a loser. Nope, you're a loser. Yep, you're a loser." And Satan is saying that while Christ is saying, "Yeah, I know he is. But he's my man and now he's been imputed with my righteousness. He's acceptable to the Father and I've given him my Spirit and I've given him actually a new heart to where now he wants to please me."

So Satan loses, God wins, you've got a new heart and one day you'll drop off all the flesh with all of its passions to displease God and we're going to be in the kingdom together and you're never going to have to call me and ask this question again, Don, because we're going to be perfect and we're going to have perfect desires and our insides are going to match our outsides in that our heart's desires are always going to be fulfilled because our flesh is always going to want to do the right thing, our imaginations are always going to think the right things, and our hearts are always going to do what God wants.

And it's going to be a great place because Satan's going to be bound, no more corruption in this world and it's all going to be good. So I have very little doubt, Don, about your regeneration just based on your testimony of wanting to please God to the end.

Don: You think that that evidence of me really not wanting, because I feel like maybe I took the mark of the beast because I put myself in this thing called Sissyporn or Sissy-hypno, which it's like a hypnotist stuff that makes you want to do sexual things and stuff like that. I know that that was bad.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Let me say this, Don. That's much more powerful than the God who made the world. Much more powerful. You're right. God can't handle that. God can't fix that. God can't- you're right. You finally found something that Jesus Christ has no power over.

There's no way he can deal with that. That's like kryptonite to Superman. You're right. He cowers. Matter of fact, Jesus falls back to the ground and says, "Oh no! Oh no, it's Sissy-porn or whatever you said. Ah!" He runs away. Yep. You're right, Don. No hope for you.

No, I'm going to quote Romans 8:7. Romans 8:7, "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot. For those who are in the flesh cannot please God." You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if in fact God's Spirit dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to God.

But if Christ is in you, then although the body is dead because of sin, it keeps doing the wrong things, wants to do the wrong things, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

So here's all of a sudden this new capacity for you to do what is right, even though it's hard and your flesh keeps giving you all kinds of death problems. Before you didn't even have the desire to please God. Now you do. And this is what Galatians is all about. You want to please God. Before when you were under all this other stuff, you didn't even want to.

You just wanted to get as much pleasure out of life as you could. That's why you went into all that stuff. But now, here's the thing you just need to see how silly this is. You think, "I was really bad and I think most Christians in my church never would have even thought about all the stuff," because you assume when they were non-Christians, they kind of just kind of had a God interest and they were kind of into God.

No they weren't. They may not have done the same sins that you did, but they were all about themselves. It might have been corporate America, greed, Wall Street, who knows what they were into. Some of them were into perversion. Some of them were into all kinds of stuff. But they're not talking about it at church every day.

But here's the thing. All of the things they were into, none of them, none of them have any power before Christ to say, "I'm bigger." Where sin abounds, grace super-abounds. God's grace is able to say, "I'm bigger than all of that." There's no power that keeps you a slave to sin and says, "Oh can't have Don."

Yep you're right. That's a power that's too big. If he said a séance as a kid, he prayed to Anton LaVey, he snorted coke or did whatever he did, so sorry I got to run away because Satan's got that man. You got to get this in perspective. There's the Triune, eternal, omnipotent creator of heaven and earth and there's everything else, including Satan.

He may be scary to us, he's not scary to God and everything Satan come up with that's evil is no power to Him. So stop giving Satan more credit than he deserves and know he's not running from anything that you've ever done. He's not running from anything that ever happened to you or anything you ever indulged in or any weird crazy perverted thing you did.

No problem. No problem. All of that is done and I know it's done because the Spirit of God is giving you a desire to please God. So let's keep pleasing God as imperfectly as we do and keep powering through the flesh that wages war against your soul and keep moving forward in your sanctification and stop giving Satan credit where he doesn't deserve it. Okay?

Don: Oh gosh, that's so great, Pastor.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: All right, thanks for the call.

Dave Drewie: You’re listening to a pre-recorded segment from Ask Pastor Mike Live, and we invite you to join us when Pastor Mike is live on the air and call in with a question of your own. Tune in for Ask Pastor Mike Live Tuesday through Thursday at 1:00 PM Central, or join in through our website at askpastormike.live.

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