Using the Da Vinci Code

Series: -- Preacher: Date: February 20, 2005 Scripture Reference: 2 Timothy 4:1-5

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1 – In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge:

2 – Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction.

3 – For, the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

4 – They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

5 – But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

As you all know, I love books. I always have-I always will! And…this is a good thing because my job calls for me to spend a great deal of time reading books. Of course, the kind of reading I deal with is almost exclusively non-fiction. I read the Bible and commentaries and books about all the various aspects of the Christian life. But as an outlet-as a “fun break” from my normal required reading-I always make sure that I have at least one work of fiction to read. This Christmas I really made out when it comes to fun reading because Sue and the kids made sure I found several books written by my favorite fiction writers under the tree:

  • For example, I received Jeff Sharra’s historical novel about the first World War entitled, To the Last Man. I’m just about done with it.
  • I was also given Michael Crichton’s, State of Fear and shortly after Christmas I used a gift certificate to purchase John Grisham’s newest, The Broker.

So, you can see I’m very content at the moment because I’ve got a great stash of fiction fun, waiting to be read whenever a I need a break from the pressures of the pastorate. And, as I said, I try to always maintain a stash like this. I make sure I always have one or two novels on the bookshelf waiting to be read.

Well, a couple years ago, I began to hear about a new book that was on all the best-seller lists-a work of fiction entitled, The Da Vinci Code. I had never read any of the books written by its author, Dan Brown-in fact, I had never heard of him before-but it was causing such a stir, that I decided to read it for myself. Now, Brown is a great story teller-I mean, he knows how to keep your attention. But almost as soon as I began his book I began to feel disturbed-because it’s plot pointedly attacks our core foundational beliefs as Christians. To show you what I mean-here is a quick summary of the story (as told by Erwin Lutzer.)

The novel opens with the curator of the Louvre found murdered in that world-famous museum. Meanwhile, Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor and expert in esoteric symbolism, is in Paris on business. The French police track Langdon down at his hotel, and ask him to interpret a strange cipher left on the floor around the body of the murder victim. Langdon is joined in his investigation by a young cryptologist named Sophie Neveu. When Sophie privately warns Robert that he is the prime suspect in the murder, they both flee. Now, prior to his death, the murder victim had left clues for them to follow and as they flee they decipher his coded instructions and in so doing Robert and Sophie quickly realize, that the murder is linked to the legendary search for the Holy Grail and so they end up working alongside a “Grail expert” named Sir Leigh Teabing, who enthusiastically instructs the pair on matters that surround the events of the New Testament including an alternate and very controversial understanding of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the “true” nature of the Holy Grail. Teabing cites the Gnostic Gospels, ancient documents that supposedly give a more reliable account of Christ’s life and teachings, than the New Testament documents we know today.

Robert, Sophie, and now Sir Leigh flee to London and later Scotland, hoping to find more evidence about the murder and its connection to the Holy Grail. The reader is kept in suspense as these smart and determined characters pierce the hidden world of mystery and conspiracy in an attempt to overcome centuries of deceit and secrecy. Always staying one step ahead of the police, they are able to use hidden codes and manuscripts that the church has supposedly tried to hide from the public for thousands of years. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the book-and lying at the heart of it-is the notion that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene-a marriage that produced a daughter. According to Brown’s book, after Jesus’ crucifixion, Mary and their daughter, Sarah, went to Gaul, where they established the Merovingian line of French royalty.

This dynasty, we are told, continues even today in the mysterious organization known as the Priory of Sion, a secret organization whose military wing was the Knights Templar. Members of this organization supposedly include Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Victor Hugo. “To this day,” says the Teabing character, “the relics of Mary and the records excavated by the Templars are guarded, shrouded in secrecy and mystery.”

And, there is more. The Da Vinci Code re-interprets the Holy Grail as none other than the remains of Jesus’ wife, Mary Magdalene, who held the blood of Jesus Christ in her womb while bearing his child. According to this novel she was the true “cup” of Christ. This novel claims that Jesus intended for Mary Magdalene to lead the church, but the Apostle Peter had a problem with that. So, to discredit her, Mary was declared a prostitute and cut out of the role of leadership. According to Brown’s book, the church did this because it wanted a celibate MALE savior who would perpetuate male rule and keep women in their proper subservient place.

Langdon and Teabing tell Sophie that this, the real story about Mary, has all been preserved in carefully hidden codes and symbols in order to avert the wrath of the Catholic Church. As I said, Leonardo da Vinci was part of the Priory of Sion and knew all this-in fact he supposedly used his well-known painting, The Last Supper, to conceal many levels of meaning. In the painting John is sitting to the right of Jesus. But John’s features are feminine. And it turns out that, according to the book, the person to the right of Jesus is not John after all but rather Mary Magdalene. In fact Leonardo intentionally did not paint a cup or a chalice on the table-another supposed hint that the real Grail is Mary, sitting to the right of Jesus.

Well, while Robert, Sophie, and Sir Leigh continue their investigation, a powerful Catholic organization Opus Dei is ready to use whatever means necessary-including assassination-to keep a lid on this secret truth. Flush with church money, Opus Dei is determined to force the top officials of the Priory to reveal the map that leads to the Grail’s location, because if the secrets of the Priory were revealed, the church would be exposed as a fraud built on centuries of deceit. As you can imagine-this IS a very exciting story-filled with mystery and intrigue. It’s a real page turner! But the story is still very disturbing-for as you can see, it teaches outright heresy.

Now, I’m sure most of you know that for five weeks now about 30 of us have been studying another book, The Da Vinci Deception, on Wednesday nights-a book that Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, has written to help equip Christians understand and respond to the teachings that are found in Brown’s controversial book. And-you may be wondering why, in addition to this Wednesday night study, I would take precious sermon time and devote it to refuting a work of fiction. I mean even though it teaches falsehood and attacks our faith, books are written every day that support anti-Christian lifestyles-so why take five weeks of Wednesday nights to study it, and then preach a sermon to boot? Well, there are several reasons-and the first is this:

1. You see, to Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code is NOT a work of FICTION.

Brown actually buys into all this. Listen to this brief clip taken from an ABC NEWS special where Brown is interviewed: (FILM CLIP from Prime Time Live – ending with “I’m a believer.”)

Brown believes his book is based on truth. And you can see his conviction about all this reflected in a quote in the flyleaf, a quote that says, “All descriptions of artwork architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” Brown has even published an illustrated version of The Da Vinci Code and all this leaves the reader with the impression that Brown is a historian on par with the characters in his novel-and that his novel then is not fiction-but rather FACTION-that the lies it tells about Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the church are actually true. Lutzer reports that when one woman was told the novel was bunk, she replied, “If it were not true, it could not have been published.” One man said that now that he has read the book, he will never be able to enter a church again. Well, the truth is that Dan Brown is a school teacher and novelist who writes fiction. He’s not an art expert; he’s not a historian; and he’s certainly not a theologian. As sociologist and author Andrew Greely states, “Brown knows little about Leonardo, little about the Catholic Church, and little about history.”

But that has not stopped him from using his fiction platform to spread his message, a message that is in actuality a direct attack against Jesus Christ, the church, and those of us who are His followers and call Him Savior and Lord.

2. A second reason to deal with this novel from the pulpit is because it has become so very POPULAR.

I mean, everyone-not just feminists-is reading this book. The Da Vinci Code has been on the top of the best seller lists of The New York Times and Amazon.com lists for 50 weeks. Not even the release of the new John Grisham novel that I got after Christmas could knock it off. Brown’s novel has also inspired a one-hour ABC NEWS Prime Time Live special, as well as a two-hour show that aired recently on The History Chanel. And if that weren’t enough, his best-selling book is being developed into a major motion picture. I have been told it will be directed by Ron Howard and will star Tom Hanks. I mean, everyone is talking about this book and it’s content. Like the woman and the man I mentioned, more and more people are wondering, “Is this correct? Did it really happen like this instead of the way I’ve been taught all my life?”

Plus-in our culture where religious diversity is revered above absolute truth-many WELCOME the teachings of this book and are drawn to it. Time magazine had an article on Brown’s book and it refers to all this saying, “There is a lot of interest in early Christian diversity…Many people who have left the church-and some who are still in it-find this book appealing…because they are looking for another way of being Christian.” – in essence a way to be Christian without Christ.

Now, don’t be too discouraged, because in my opinion this is not all bad-in fact I think this is one of those times where, in His providence, God has opened a door of evangelistic opportunity.

And this leads me to mention a third reason I think dealing with this book is worth pulpit time.

3. You see, it’s publication has given us an occasion to talk to people about SPIRITUAL THINGS.

I mean, the great success of this book CAN be one of those times when something that was intended for harm is used by God for good. This book has a lot of people talking about religion. It has them interested in the subject-so it is sure to provide us with some Divine appointments-conversations in which we can counter the claims of this book, by guiding people to understand the truth about Jesus. But in order for us to do this-if we are to take advantage of this unique opportunity we need to be prepared to answer the questions this book raises. Now, I would encourage you read Lutzer’s book or others like it to be fully prepared but also to listen to my message this morning because I want to use it to point out three things we all need to be able to articulate in order to use Brown’s book as a witnessing tool.

1. First, we need to be able to explain to people Who JESUS is.

Now, according to The Da Vinci Code, the emperor Constantine INVENTED the deity of Christ in order to consolidate his power. Brown says he convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD to ratify this new, never-before-heard-of doctrine in order to solidify his rule as emperor. In the book the Teabing character refers to this and says, “Until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet…a great and powerful man but a man nonetheless. A mortal.” So, according to this novel, Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost three centuries after His death for political reasons.

Well, here’s the truth. There WAS a time under Constantine’s reign when doctrinal disputes about the nature of Jesus’ divinity were disrupting his empire. In fact it is said that if you bought a loaf of bread in the marketplace of Constantinople during these days, you might be asked whether you believed that God the Son was begotten or unbegotten, and if you asked about the quality of the bread you might be told that the Father is greater and the Son less. Adding to this dispute was a man named Arius, who taught that Jesus was not fully God but sort of a created god-less than God but more than man. Church bishops declared Arius to be a heretic but the dispute continued. So Constantine, newly converted to Christianity, called the first ecumenical council at Nicaea, hoping to resolve the issue and unify Christianity. The emperor felt so strongly about settling this issue that he even paid the traveling expenses of the bishops who attended. He even gave the opening speech himself, a speech in which he told the delegates that doctrinal disunity was worse than war. But understand-Constantine was not mature enough as a believer to care about the finer points of theology. I mean, he didn’t care HOW this issue was resolved-just so long as it was resolved one way or another and his empire unified.

Now-more than 300 bishops attended the Council of Nicaea and they were mature because they overwhelmingly declared Arius to be a heretic. They said that to deny Christ was God was to deny the Bible and they referred to scriptures like Colossians 1:15-19, where it says that Jesus “…is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together…For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,” These delegates wisely recognized that if Christ was not fully God, then God was not the Redeemer of mankind. They saw that even if Christ were the highest and most noble creature of God’s creation, but not fully God Himself, then God would be only indirectly involved in the salvation of man.

Now, The Da Vinci Code says the vote at the council of Nicaea was very close-that the philosophy of Arius was only narrowly defeated but that is fiction. The vote was 298 to 2. And this nearly unanimous vote gave us The Nicene Creed. It’s in the back of our hymnals. Let’s say it together:

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds. God of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made: Who for us mean and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe I the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; Who spoke by the prophets. I believe in one catholic and apostolic church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.”

Okay-what about Brown’s statement that before the Council of Nicaea met for their historic vote, everyone thought of Jesus as a mere mortal? Well, that is also fiction. I mean, the divinity of Jesus wasn’t some new teaching. No-it had been taught from the very beginning. In fact, Jesus’ first disciples had died martyr’s deaths rather than recant their belief that Jesus was God in the flesh. They heard Him say in John 10:36, “I am God’s Son.” And in John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Plus-those men and women SAW Jesus substantiate this claim by doing things that only God could do: command a storm to cease, walk on water, heal the sick, raise the dead-and rise from the dead Himself on the third day. This conviction is what John was talking about when he wrote, “We proclaim to you what we have SEEN and HEARD,

so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3) This is what Peter was referring to when He wrote, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were EYEWITNESSES of His majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)

And the disciples weren’t the only ones who believed and taught this. Every major Christian writer and thinker leading up to Nicea from the earliest documents of the early church testifies to this. So, the Council of Nicaea invented nothing. They merely affirmed the historic standard Christian beliefs by erecting a united front against the heresies of those who wanted to dilute, distort and mangle the very clear teaching of Jesus.

By the way, I must point out that since Jesus was indeed God in the flesh, He would never marry.

Don’t misunderstand me-there is nothing sinful about marriage. God invented it which is why we call it “HOLY MATRIMONY”-but the Bible says nothing about Jesus marrying-first, because as Holy God made flesh it is unthinkable that, Jesus would be joined to a sinner in the most intimate physical human bond. Lutzer says, “If He had married, presumably it would have been to someone as holy as He-which severely limited His options.” Plus, Jesus didn’t have TIME for marriage. He had a mission to accomplish and He understood this at a very early age. Do you remember His response to His parents, when they lost Him in the temple? Jesus said, “I must be about My Father’s business.” Jesus new He had a mission to fulfill-one that would end in His death, resurrection, and ascension. And then a third reason Jesus’ marriage to Mary makes no sense is that He was already betrothed. Lutzer refers to the day we all get to Heaven and says, “On that day, along with Mary Magdalene, we will be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, where the marriage is consummated, not in a physical union, but in the most blessed and intimate union of fellowship imaginable. Yes, Jesus will be married-not to a woman-but to all of us who constitute the Bride of Christ.”

And I must take the time to point out that no reputable art expert thinks Da Vinci was secretly communicating Brown’s message in his famous painting. (SLIDE) If you look at it closely you’ll see that John isn’t the only one who looks effeminate. (SLIDE) That’s the way Da Vinci and his peers painted. If you doubt this look at the way he painted John the Baptist. (SLIDE) And he chose not to paint the cup of Christ because his intent was not to illustrate the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper but rather the moment Jesus told His followers one of them would betray Him.

You’ll note that all the disciples except for Judas are asking, “Is it I?” Judas is nervously reaching for another roll. So, there is no secret message in Da Vinci’s painting.

Well, our discussions with lost people who have read this book and who question its content, can lead us to sharing all this with them. But it an also give us an opening to share our own personal experience with Jesus. I mean, we can use this book as an opportunity to say, “I know the RISEN Jesus. He is My Guide and Friend. He not only died for me…He helps me live. I know Him. He’s not a mere man. He’s the Son of God. Let me tell you what He’s done for me.”

2. And then second, if we are to take full advantage of the evangelistic opportunities this book provides we need to be able to articulate how we got our BIBLE.

The Da Vinci Code says that another reason the Council of Nicaea was to choose the canon of Scripture-that Constantine led the bishops to reject more than 80 gospels, and accept only Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John because they alone suited his political agenda. As Brown puts it in his book, “The Bible as we know it today was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great.” Well, first off, any historian will tell you the Council of Nicaea didn’t even talk about the canon of Scripture. That was not part of their agenda-it wasn’t even brought up-so Brown is way off even at the start. But in the book Teabing’s character goes on to say this: “The Bible is a product of man…not of God. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions.

History has never had a definitive version of the book.” And here too, Brown is teaching falsehood.

First, because God’s people have had a written record of His revelation almost from the beginning but Brown is also wrong because the Bible is much more than a book written by men. You see, men wrote it as they were inspired by God. As 2 Peter 1:20-21 says, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

In The Da Vinci Code, Brown supports his heretical beliefs by referencing the Gnostic gospels-books found hidden in a red earthenware jar in 1945 by an Arabian peasant in Egypt digging for fertilizer. Some of these books were written about A.D. 150. Most were penned in the fourth or fifth century. Their titles include, The Gospel of Thomas and The Gospel of Philip.

And we can immediately see they are indeed false because Thomas and Philip were long dead when these Gnostic “gospels” were written. But this was a standard practice back then in order to give books like this credibility. We see this same practice today in news magazines like The National Inquirer that flash pictures of celebrities and false quotes in order to get people to buy the paper.

Well, the early church rejected outright any book like this written under a pseudonym. In fact the Apostle Paul was aware of books like this in his day and wrote to warn the Thessalonians saying,

“We ask you brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report, or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.”

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2. So, false books like these were excluded from the New Testament canon almost immediately.

The truth is by the time these false Gnostic gospels were written the canon of the New Testament was already settled. In the early 200’s Origen (an early church leader) listed all the accepted books of the New Testament-a list that matches today’s canon. I would remind you that our Bible was formed gradually as God instructed and inspired men to write it. For example Exodus 24:4 says, “Moses then wrote down everything the Lord said.” Joshua and Samuel did the same, as did the prophets. In fact, if you were to sit down and read from Genesis to Malachi, you would count over 3800 times in which phrases such as “Thus says the Lord” or “This is the word of the Lord” are used. From the time the books of the Bible were written and circulated they was considered the Word of God. As men from Moses to Malachi wrote down what God said a collection was compiled. At first it was referred to not as the Old Testament but rather as, “Moses and the prophets.” Later it was called “the law, Prophets, and the Writings” or “the law, Prophets and the Psalms.” Jesus Himself alluded to this threefold division in Luke 24:44 when He said, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

The New Testament was formed in the same way-God, through His Holy Spirit inspired it’s writing book by book. In John 14:15-16 Jesus promised that God would guide the early Christians-reminding them of His teachings. Remember? He said, “The Holy Spirit will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” And God did this-guiding the New Testament writers just as He did the Old. Paul acknowledged this in 1 Cor 14:37 when he wrote, “If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.”

So the truth is Constantine had nothing to do with deciding which books were in the Bible. In fact, no council, no matter who convenes it, could take non-authoritative books and endow them with divine authority. A book either does or does not have inherent authority. The only thing the early church could do was to recognize those books that were inspired by the Holy Spirit-which they did.

Now-I want us to take a moment to look at one of the greatest proofs that this is indeed the word of God and it is this-God used different men to write our Bible. Most of them never knew each other-yet their writings carried the same theme. These books were written over a period of about 1500 years in places all the way from Babylon to Rome. There were approximately 45 different authors ranging all the way from kings to poets, to prophets, to a physician, to farmers and shepherds, to fishermen, a tax collector, apostles, a pastor, and other spiritual leaders. Not a one of these men knew that he was writing what would become a part of the Holy Bible. Yet when gathered together into the canon of Scripture, they tell a complete story. If someone should read the New Testament without a knowledge of the Old they would ask, “What came before this?” If one should read the Old Testament without a knowledge of the New, he would ask, “Where is the rest of this story?” When properly understood no book of the Bible contradicts the others. No book adds to previously written truth except to enlarge upon it or explain it. And these things cannot be said about an other set of books. The only reasonable explanation of this is that they have a common author-GOD through His Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Have you been on a committee that was assigned a task? The reason I don’t see more hands is because it’s not a lot of fun to serve on a committee. It is almost always very difficult to get a group of people to agree about anything especially if there is any degree of variety in the committee’s make-up. I heard once that a camel is actually a horse designed by a committee!

Well, the fact that this “committee” of 45 vastly different people could write the words of this book, and produce a book characterized by unparalleled unity is in itself a powerful testimony of the fact that it is God’s word! No group of people could even come close to doing this, unless they were inspired by the same source. So this book does not just contain the word of God….this IS THE WORD of God. The Bible does not just contain truth. As Jesus said in John 17:17, “Your Word IS truth.” As our the Baptist Faith & Message puts it, “it is truth without mixture of error.”

And you know, in our conversations with people about this best-selling book we can tell them how the Bible has helped us know how to live. We can testify as to its power and authority. In fact, we can challenge them to compare the Bible to these Gnostic gospels, because, anyone who reads the Gospel of Thomas or that of Philip will see that they are straw that can be blown in the wind. But, if you pick up the Bible-this book that is, “living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, able to penetrate even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;

judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) Well, anyone who reads the Bible will say, “Surely God has spoken.”

3. And then to use this as a witnessing tool we also need to be able to articulate how someone is SAVED.

According to The Da Vinci Code people are saved, not by faith in Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection but by attaining some special, secret knowledge-as is contained in the hidden documents of the Priory of Scion. This book also says that we encounter God, not through faith in Jesus but through the ecstasy of the sexual act.

Well, as Christians we know that the Bible teaches that we are saved not by what we know-or by what we do-but by our faith in what Jesus did. We believe our efforts at goodness will always be tainted because ALL of us have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, so it is our SIN, not our ignorance, that separates us from our Holy God. G. K. Chesterton once said he couldn’t understand why anyone would deny original sin since it was the only doctrine that could be proved by reading the daily newspaper. And he was right. I mean anyone can read the paper and see how fallen this world of ours really is. So-knowledge-ideas-they cannot pay for our sin or bridge the gap between us and our holy God. Only an act of atonement can do that-which is what Jesus did when He died on the cross. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed form the empty way of life, handed down to you from your forefathers-but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect”

As we reminded you in last fall’s campaign, Christianity is a DONE religion not a DO religion where we wonder if we will ever do or know enough. Do you remember what the little Muslim girl said in the video Greg shared last Sunday? She said the faith of her people led them to only hope they could do enough to earn paradise. Then she said, “I hope I can be good enough.” Isn’t that sad!

Well, in our discussions with people we can point out that this is why God’s grace is so wonderful because none of us can be good enough. In coming and dying on the cross. Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves. We are saved by asking Him to forgive us and then committing to follow Him as Lord.

You know, Brown’s book reminds me of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In the first chapter God’s Holy Spirit inspired him to write these words. Listen and see if they don’t seem timely to you. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One Who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different Gospel-which is really no Gospel at all.

Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned. I want you to know brothers that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; Rather I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-8, 11-12)

I devoted this sermon to this book because I believe God has called us to “crack” the Da vinci code-to use the publication of this book to guide people away from falsehood and to Jesus,

Who is “…the way, the TRUTH, and the life.”

Let us pray.

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