Five Forks Church Sermon: A Farewell to God Series: Yes I Know! Text: 1 John 2 Brian Black Chapel May 7, 2017 INTRODUCTION: MISSING JESUS I must give credit where credit is due. Nearly all I m about to share with you today comes from Missing Jesus, a blog written by Justin Taylor, Ph.D., executive publisher for Crossway. He had this photo on his blog. The three men in this picture, from right to left, are Billy Graham, Torrey Johnson, and Charles Templeton. The photo was taken in the spring of 1946 in the office of Youth for Christ (YFC) in Chicago. Templeton had professed faith in Christ ten years earlier and became an evangelist that same year. In 1945, he met Graham. They became friends and toured and roomed together in 1946 as they did an evangelistic tour in Europe for YFC. Had things continued as they began, we likely would have known the name Charles Templeton nearly as well as we know the name Billy Graham. But by 1948, things began to change for Templeton. Newsreels showing the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust troubled him deeply. He was understandably appalled by the evil. But it caused him to struggle with his faith. And he began to doubt the Bible, just as he was heading for Princeton Seminary. In 1957, he openly declared himself to be an agnostic. In 1996. a few years before he died, Templeton published a book called Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith. In that book, he revisited a conversation he d had with Billy Graham right before he went to Princeton. All our differences came to a head in a discussion which, better than anything I know, explains Billy Graham and his phenomenal success as an evangelist. In the course of our conversation I said, But, Billy, it s simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation. The world was not created over a period of days a few thousand years ago; it has evolved over millions of years. It s not a matter of speculation; it s a demonstrable fact. 1 Page
I don t accept that, Billy said. And there are reputable scholars who don t. Who are these scholars? I said. Men in conservative Christian colleges? Most of them, yes, he said. But that is not the point. I believe the Genesis account of creation because it s in the Bible. I ve discovered something in my ministry: When I take the Bible literally, when I proclaim it as the word of God, my preaching has power. When I stand on the platform and say, God says, or The Bible says, the Holy Spirit uses me. There are results. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. I don t have the time or the intellect to examine all sides of the theological dispute, so I ve decided once for all to stop questioning and accept the Bible as God s word. But Billy, I protested, You cannot do that. You don t dare stop thinking about the most important question in life. Do it and you begin to die. It s intellectual suicide. I don t know about anybody else, he said, but I ve decided that that s the path for me. Many years later, just a few years before Templeton s death, he had another conversation for which we have a record. This one was with apologist Lee Strobel, who, himself, had been an atheist until he investigated the claims for the Christian faith and realized they were reasonable. Strobel published two well-known books, The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith. Strobel, knowing Charles Templeton s background, interviewed him for The Case for Faith. Listen as I read just a portion of their conversation. Strobel asked And how do you assess this Jesus? It seemed like the next logical question but I wasn t ready for the response it would evoke. Templeton s body language softened. It was as if he suddenly felt relaxed and comfortable in talking about an old and dear friend. His voice, which at times had displayed such a sharp and insistent edge, now took on a melancholy and reflective tone. His guard seemingly down, he spoke in an unhurried pace, almost nostalgically, carefully choosing his words as he talked about Jesus. He was, Templeton began, the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I ve ever encountered in my life or in my readings. His commitment was total and led to his own 2 P age
death, much to the detriment of the world. What could one say about him except that this was a form of greatness? I was taken aback. You sound like you really care about him, I said. Well, yes, he is the most important thing in my life, came his reply. I... I... I..., he stuttered, searching for the right word, I know it may sound strange, but I have to say... I adore him!...... Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I learned from Jesus. Yes... yes. And tough! Just look at Jesus. He castigated people. He was angry. People don t think of him that way, but they don t read the Bible. He had a righteous anger. He cared for the oppressed and exploited. There s no question that he had the highest moral standard, the least duplicity, the greatest compassion, of any human being in history. There have been many other wonderful people, but Jesus is Jesus. Uh... but... no, he said slowly, he s the most... He stopped, then started again. In my view, he declared, he is the most important human being who has ever existed. That s when Templeton uttered the words I never expected to hear from him. And if I may put it this way, he said as his voice began to crack, I... miss... him! With that tears flooded his eyes. He turned his head and looked downward, raising his left hand to shield his face from me. His shoulders bobbed as he wept.... Templeton fought to compose himself. I could tell it wasn t like him to lose control in front of a stranger. He sighed deeply and wiped away a tear. After a few more awkward moments, he waved his hand dismissively. Finally, quietly but adamantly, he insisted: Enough of that. Charles Templeton had said Farewell to God. Now, he missed Him! I. KNOWING AND OBEYING JESUS Yes, I Know. That s the title I ve chosen for this sermon series. Last week, I talked with you about the Greek word for knowing. The word gnosis. I briefed you on the Gnostic heresy that John and the other apostles began to encounter in their day. The Gnostics claimed to know, to have access to secret or hidden wisdom. And because of that, they considered themselves to be a special and elite group. 3 P age
Charles Templeton came to identify himself as an agnostic a word from the same Greek root word gnosis. The a serves as a prefix to the word agnostic, which makes the gnosis negative. An agnostic is one who does not know. Templeton had adopted an intellectual position of agnosticism; he took on a philosophy which says there is no way to know for certain. The only thing the agnostic can know with any certainty is that he s certain he cannot know! Templeton seems to me to have been a dedicated agnostic. A dedicated agnostic is on an intellectual journey to try and find answers for himself by himself. He refuses to believe there is any source for knowledge outside of himself that will give him any answers or any direction. So he would never believe that there is a God who has revealed truth to us. An agnostic can t know such things for sure. By contrast, the apostle John wrote. 1 John 5:20a We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come to reveal to us the truth about God. Christ gives us understanding about Himself so we may know Him! We re dependent upon Him for that knowledge. And though the agnostic might not ever volunteer the idea, he too is dependent upon others for the things he believes to be true. For example, Charles Templeton did not personally discover the idea of evolution. Rather, he accepted and believed what someone else had told him about it. He claimed the evolution of everything was a demonstrable fact (remember, those are his words), yet he offered nothing in the way of a demonstration to conclusively show it was true. The truth of a claim ought to be, in some way, demonstrable. In other words, we ought to be able to see evidence that it is so. In our chapter for today, 1 John 2, the Apostle John says as much himself, in verses 3 and 4. 1 John 2:3-4 We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commands. 4 Whoever says, I know Him, but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 4 P age
A Gnostic, claiming to have secret knowledge, would claim to know all about Christ. He would claim that, since you are not a Gnostic and therefore have no access to this secret knowledge, he would know more of Christ than you do. But John says here that those who truly know Christ keep His commands. So the question becomes, does the Gnostic demonstrate in his life the evidence needed to show that he really does know Christ? And as for the agnostic, Charles Templeton, he said some very noble and eloquent things about Jesus in his interview with Lee Strobel. But does this mean he knows Christ? Would one who really knows Christ write a book entitled Farewell to God? Think about it. We believe Christ is God, so Templeton was saying farewell to Christ. Maybe he had some regrets. He was perhaps a bit more honest when he said that he missed Jesus. II. LOSING JESUS In 1936, when he was around 20 years old, Charles Templeton claimed to have made a profession of faith in Christ. And that same year, he became an evangelist. He probably felt he was doing well at the time. And undoubtedly everyone else around him thought he was too. When he was 30 years old, Youth for Christ was ready to send him, along with a young Billy Graham, on an evangelistic tour in Europe. But two years later, young Charles Templeton had apparently used up whatever fuel was counting for faith in his life. His claimed Christianity had burned out. His moral conscience was jarred by the evil he saw in Nazi Germany. And instead of being disheartened by the sinfulness of humanity, he became disillusioned about the Word of God. He stumbled in the darkness. And he lost Jesus! Or at least lost what he thought was Jesus! I m reminded of Jesus parable of the sower. Matthew 13:3-6 - Then he told them many things in parables, saying: A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 5 P age
I think Charles Templeton was something like the seed on rocky ground. Something took, something developed. But it wasn t truly life in Christ. Jesus later explains this seed in poor soil. Matthew 13:20-21 - The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. I think Templeton had a lot of people convinced he was the real deal; I think he thought he was the real deal. But whatever he had was not for real, and therefore it sadly did not last. Don t be lost in the dark! Check yourself. Make sure you really, truly know Jesus. III. LOVING THE WORLD So we saw with Templeton how just claiming to know Christ does not mean there really is a relationship there. One who truly knew Christ would never say Farewell to Him. His soil was too shallow and poor. In the end, the evidence of knowing Christ was not there in Templeton s life. And he lost his way. But not only was there a false claim of knowing Christ. There seems to have been another layer to Templeton s trouble as well. I see that from the passage in his book Farewell to God, where he describes his conversation with Billy Graham. To help you see it, let s look at something else from 1 John 2. 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. When we read this passage, or hear it, we tend to think of material possessions. And that s certainly some of what this don t love the world idea is about. But there s more to it than just things. There s the lust of the flesh physical satisfaction, like Eve in the garden noting that the fruit of the tree was good for food. There s the lust of the eyes momentarily dazzling and inviting, like Eve enthralled with how pleasing the fruit looked to her eyes. 6 P age
And there s also the pride of life an actual enticement to secret knowledge or hidden wisdom. Eve found the fruit to be desirable for gaining wisdom. This, too, is a love for the world. John says, everything in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father, but from the world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. Charles Templeton said farewell to God. I don t think the love of the Father was in him. I think the pride of life was perhaps the main problem for Charles Templeton. His agnosticism, his rejection of the Word of God, was fueled by a passionate intellectualism. Remember what he himself told his readers that he had said to Billy Graham? In the course of our conversation I said, But, Billy, it s simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation. The world was not created over a period of days a few thousand years ago; it has evolved over millions of years. It s not a matter of speculation; it s a demonstrable fact. [Billy] said,. I believe the Genesis account of creation because it s in the Bible. I ve discovered something in my ministry: When I take the Bible literally, when I proclaim it as the word of God, my preaching has power. When I stand on the platform and say, God says, or The Bible says, the Holy Spirit uses me. There are results. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. I don t have the time or the intellect to examine all sides of the theological dispute, so I ve decided once for all to stop questioning and accept the Bible as God s word. But Billy, I protested, You cannot do that. You don t dare stop thinking about the most important question in life Do it and you begin to die. It s intellectual suicide. Remember, these words were written by Templeton. Can you read between the lines and hear what he is saying about himself? I don t dare stop thinking about the most important question in life! I ve got to figure it out myself! I need to think and reason! I must depend upon my own reasoning ability in order to live. If I surrender human reasoning and replace it with faith in God, and the Bible as God s Word, I will die inside! I will commit intellectual suicide and will have no reason to live! That s the pride of life speaking, folks. Given enough time, man can do on his own whatever is needed to be done. Whatever man can conceive, man can achieve! 7 P age
In the Garden of Eden, the old tempter questioned the Word of God, too. Did God really say that? Then, he denied the truth of the Word of God. You will not die! Then he told all of humanity (because both of them were there at the time!) that they could solve things on their own, without any need for God. You will be like gods, knowing good and evil for yourselves! The pride of life is also the love of the world. And Charles Templeton loved the world. For us, the application is obvious. Hold fast to God s Word, and you won t give in to the love of the world. CONCLUSION: KNOWING THE TRUTH The passage from 1 John 2 that brought Charles Templeton to my mind was toward the end of the chapter. 1 John 2:18-19 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. Here, John speaks of false teachers. They have the spirit of antichrist. They are opposed to Christ and, note, they come from out of the church itself. Like Charles Templeton, they went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. John says that if they had belonged to the fellowship of believers, they would have remained in the fellowship. But, because they left, that demonstrated they never really belonged in the first place. Folks, it s not my place to judge another man s heart, but based on these verses, I think it s safe to at least propose that Charles Templeton never actually knew the Lord. The passage goes on to say that those who do know the Lord, know the truth of the Lord. 1 John 2:20-21 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. The Holy Spirit is upon us who are true believers in Christ. We therefore have the truth and no lie will come from the truth. The lie must come, therefore, from those who don t know the truth. 8 P age
1 John 2:22-23 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Those verses sound like a farewell to God approach to me. Charles Templeton saw Jesus as the greatest human being that ever lived, a moral genius. Oh, He was, and is, much more than a moral genius! He is the Christ, the Son of the living God! What does the story of Charles Templeton teach us today? Well, considering what we ve seen in 1 John 2, we know it s possible to claim to know Christ without actually knowing Him. Truly knowing Christ will be evidenced in our lives by our obedience to Him. At the very least, this calls us to check our lives, to examine our hearts. Where are you today in your relationship with Christ? Do you even have a relationship with Christ? Also, we need to guard ourselves from loving the world system in which we are living. Curb materialism to be sure. But especially we are reminded to watch out for the pride of this life. Be very cautious of depending on yourself too much. The proverb says, Pride goes before a fall. Templeton leaned too much on human experts and human wisdom. To the point he came to believe he no longer needed God. Trust me when I say that many around us today live that very same way. Psalm 118:8 says. Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. John concludes 1 John 2:26-28 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit just as it has taught you, remain in Him. 28 And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming. We need to know there are those who would point us in wrong directions toward loving the world, leading us into darkness, by those who might think they re alright. But they don t know Christ. 9 P age
We need to remember that we have received the anointing of His Holy Spirit, and the Spirit remains in us to teach us and guide us. As John tells us, then, let s remain in Christ. And let s continue in Him, so that when He appears, we may confidently say, Yes! I know Him! And we can then stand confidently in Jesus presence, with no shame, when He returns! Instead of a farewell from God, we will hear, Welcome home, dear children! 10 P age