Responding to the Voice of Truth

Open: Will Thomas was on the swim team at Penn State from the 2017-18 season to the 2020-2021 season. No one outside of Penn State recognized Will Thomas during his first 3 years on the men’s swim team. Will skipped the 20/21 season and then rose to celebrity status in March of 2022 when he won the NCAA’s first division swimming championship by swimming on the women’s team as a woman. Will is referred to his trans name of Lia by the progressive, liberal media and they demand that everyone else acknowledge their convoluted version of reality.

A conservative Christian podcast that was discussing this as a current event was shut down during the live stream when the host identified Will Thomas as Will Thomas instead of his preferred trans name of Leah Thomas. The host also declared that Will’s actions were an abomination before a Holy God, and that believers should not support this by affirming it.

Transition: We are now living in the era of “cancel culture.” This means that voices that do not conform to the consensus view of the elites are being silenced. Given our current situation, it is therefore vital for we are are Christ-followers to speak with the Voice of Truth to any who will listen.

Tonight we are going to look at a historical narrative from 2 Chronicles 18 in which the Voice of Truth is presented. Let us turn to that text together and allow God to give us insight in regards to seeking, hearing and speaking the Voice of Truth

READ the TEXT: 2 Chronicles 18:1-13.

Spiritual Discernment is necessary to recognize the Voice of Truth (2 Chron 18:6)

Explanation: Jehoshaphat was a godly king, but he was not in a good situation. He had foolishly aligned himself with the House of Ahab through marriage, and now he was being drawn into an alliance of forces with this wicked king. Ahab needed help against the Syrians so he was trying to enlist J-phat’s army to fight with him. Ahab had prepared a huge feast and had his counselors on hand to tell J-phat what a great opportunity awaited!

Illustrate: Time share sales pitch. They give you some good food and a nice gift and then apply the pressure. They tell you what a great deal awaits!

Argument: When the issue is spiritual, there is way more at stake than losing out on a free flat screen TV. Ahab is a fellow Israelite and he is asking J-Phat to help against a common enemy. Ahab has 400 prophets to back up his message of persuasion.

This is where the need for spiritual discernment comes in. These 400 are false prophets who are being controlled by demonic forces (2 Chron 18:20-22), and J-phat could have been swayed by them. Instead, after hearing them share their unified message, this king asks, “Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might inquire of him?” (2 Chron 18:6).

Unfortunately, there are those who profess themselves to be evangelical believers, but do not speak the Voice of Truth. These false teachers confuse many genuine believers, and create confusion in the Church of Jesus. It is therefore, VITAL for believers to practice spiritual discernment

Application:

Recognize the need to check what is being said with the Word of God (1 Thess 5:21; 1 John 4:1)

Spend time in the Word. There is no substitute for reading and studying the Word.

The world system will attempt to silence the Voice of Truth (2 Chron. 18:12)

Explanation: Ahab knows that Micaiah IS a true prophet of the LORD. He knows this, but he doesn’t like what Micaiah says (“I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me” v. 7). As a result of Micaiah’s previous stand for truth, Ahab had locked him up. Now that J-phat was specifically asking for a true prophet, Ahab felt compelled to fetch him - but not willingly.

The guard who is sent to get Micaiah gives him the low down on the way to meet the kings. The guard basically tells Micaiah how this is supposed to go: all 400 of the people-pleasers have already signed off on God’s favor on the Syrian campaign, so if Micaiah knows what’s good for him, he too will support the campaign.

Illustrate: Go along to get along. This practice was put in place during the Covid Pandemic. The party line was shutdowns were necessary, masks worked at preventing the spread, and the vaccine was the miracle cure. Any doctors, scientists, virologists, etc. who did not agree with that stance were not platformed or were canceled. Not surprisingly, we are now told that the stances of the elite on dealing with Covid were either wrong or ineffective.

The untold cost of dealing with the pandemic is now coming to light, and one of the areas that should get our attention is the government’s overstepping of authority by shutting down Churches from meeting. Most of our churches have not yet, and may not ever, regain their pre-pandemic attendance. Too many pastors told their people to stay home and watch the live stream and that’s what they continue to do.

Argument: The Voice of Truth is seldom with the majority (cf. the account of the 12 spies - Numbers 13-14). The one who stands for biblical truth may be in the minority, but he will be right where God wants him or her.

Application: Understand that the system is not neutral towards Christianity; it is hostile against Christianity.

Speaking the Voice of Truth has consequences (2 Chronicles 18:25-26)

Explanation: Micaiah was told what to say and then he was given an audience with the Kings. He preceded to give them a word from God, not what they wanted to hear. If you read the text you will see that Micaiah’s initial response to King Ahab was heavily sarcastic (v. 14b). He was deliberately responding to the foolishness of Ahab (cf Prov 26:5), and Ahab did not like it! He understand Micaiah’s sarcasm and compelled him to speak the truth in the Name of the LORD (v. 15).

Micaiah spoke the Truth to the powerful and wicked king without sugar-coating it. He told Ahab that if he went to battle with Syria he would be killed (v. 16). He told the king the exact opposite from the verdict of the 400 false prophets. He stood alone, but he proclaimed the Voice of Truth to anyone who would hear it.

The Result? Micaiah was publically ridiculed, smacked by the leader of the false prophets and hauled back to his jail cell.

Application: Don’t expect to be treated fairly when you take a stand for God’s truth. More often than not, standing for the Truth of God takes you to a place of danger, suffering or exile.

Examples: John the Baptist was beheaded, Stephen was stoned, Peter and Paul were executed under the persecution of Nero, John was exiled to an island, Polycarp was burned at the stake, and Martin Luther was placed under a death sentence by the Pope.

Argument: Our goal in this life is not to obtain the greatest level of comfort and security. Our goal should be to please the One who called us out of darkness into His glorious light. For those who name the Name of Jesus it would be well for us to remember that we have been bought with a price and we are not our own.

Granted, we are not to seek out suffering or look for ways to become martyrs. But if and when the moment comes for us, we do not want to compromise our faith to avoid danger or persecution.

Conclusion: As the message comes to a close, consider for a moment how you have been responding to the Voice of Truth.

You may be like J-phat: a believer who has become entangled in the world, but who is still open to hearing the voice of Truth. May God give you the ears to hear and a heart to repent of worldliness.

You may be like Micaiah: you are a believer who knows the Word of God, and a person who is willing to take a public stand for biblical truth.

It is possible you are like Ahab: you have no interest in hearing from God because you

Any law criminalizing homosexuality or imposing the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” is grotesque & an abomination (Ted Cruz - Tweet on 5/31 condemning the Ugandan law)