What is Absolute Truth?

Introduction

Well, good morning once again. I’m so glad you’ve joined us at Hope. Today we are continuing on in a series of sermons called Counter Culture: Answering the lies in culture with the truth. Last week Josh Monda was here and talked about how we as Christians should respond to the political government that God has instituted. This week we will be asking the question: Is there such a thing as absolute truth. Spoiler alert: there is! To look at this we will be in Acts 17 and in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 as well as some supporting passages. I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians.

When I was in high school, a popular Christian band had a song called My World View. The lyrics went like this:

I wanna see the world through Jesus eyes

See through Jesus tears

I wanna see the world through Jesus eyes

My vision's not as clear

I wanna feel the world with the hands that made it

Know the pain and appreciate it

Hear their cries and hope to understand

My world view

It's how I see the world

It's how I look at you

My world view

It's how I see the world

Would you like to see it to?

My world view

I wanna place my foot upon the rock

The rock that doesn't move

For upon the rock the kingdom's built

And here's the kingdom view

I see creation and I see Adam's fall

I see through the years and I can see it all

All things come together for the good

My world view

It's how I see the world

It's how I look at you

My world view

It's how I see the world

Would you like to see it to?

My world view

It's how I see the world

Would you like to see it to?

My world view

Comin' into view, comin' into view

Comin' into full view

My world view

(I can see, I can see it forever)

It's how I see the world

It's how I look at you

My world view

(Comin' into view, comin' into full view)

It's how I see the world

Would you like to see it too?

My world view

(I can see, I can see it forever)

It's how I see the world

It's how I look at you

My world view

(Comin' into view, comin' into full view)

It's how I see the world

Would you like to see it too?

My world view

(I can see, I can see it forever)

It's how I see the world

Would you like to see it too?

My world view

(Comin' into view, comin' into full view)

(Comin' into view, comin' into full view)

The irony in this song is that one of the singers on this particular piece of music has walked away from a Biblical worldview and now accepts all kinds of subjective truth and lies of our culture.

We all look through a particular lens to see the world. As Christians our lens is the bible. We want to have a biblical worldview. That begins with understanding that there is an absolute standard for truth.

Acts 17:16–34 ESV

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. 22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Say: “This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray and ask God to give us understanding and application.”

This morning I want to break down how Paul goes about confronting the idolatry he finds in Athens. It says that his spirit was provoked when he saw the city was full of idols. His response was to go into both the religious spaces and the marketplace to reason with the people.

First, let me say he reasoned with them. We don’t see a shouting them down going on here. He also isn’t ignoring them. He sees that there are false gods being worshipped and he is moved to instead of letting them remain in their false belief, to show them the actual truth.

Idols of our culture today:

Sexuality - both heterosexual sin and homosexual sin

- substance and alcohol abuse

- sports and families

- work

- personal freedoms

- politics

- personal comfort

- free time

- retirement

- relationships

- money and material things

- personal beliefs/identity

- social media

We will come back to this passage in a few minutes. The bottom line is:

There is absolute truth. Now we must ask what is absolute truth or where do we find absolute truth to live our lives?

I. What is absolute truth?

Sense of right and wrong all of the time, everywhere, for all time, for everyone

Begg - the question of reality

David Wells - under the postmodern sun, everyone has a right to to their own version of reality

My reality may contradict your reality because…

Unsettling and confusing existence…

Virtual reality/Avatars

People live in an unreal, real world all around us.

Ethics become a matter of personal taste

Law of Non-Contradiction: ALL religions claim they have the exclusive truth

ALL religions claim they have the exclusive truth

The Law of Noncontradiction is a self - evident first principle of thought that says contradictory claims cannot both be true at the same time in the same sense. In short, it says that the opposite of true is false. We all know this law intuitively, and use it every day.

If you believe in the supremacy of God in all things then you must believe in the existence of absolute truth. This is where it leads.

No such thing as my truth or your truth, but only THE truth

Truth is a person If God as sovereign Creator is there then as Piper puts it, there is truth with a capital T. We don’t make Him or shape Him. He just is.

I Timothy 3:15 God and His truth represent absolute claims on the minds, wills, and emotions of people.

God exists and you’re not Him, so you don’t get to decide what is true. The universe is a monarchy. There is a King. You’re not Him. So the absolute truth is what the ruler says it is and He has declared it for us to see. We will talk about Romans 1:25 eventually but let’s look at it shortly now.Rule of non-contradiction

Ideas have consequences...

Let me read you this quote from Arthur Leff, a professor of law at Yale.

“I want to believe—and so do you—in a complete, transcendent, and immanent set of propositions about right and wrong, findable rules that authoritatively and unambiguously direct us how to live righteously. I also want to believe—and so do you—in no such thing, but rather that we are wholly free, not only to choose for ourselves what we ought to do, but to decide for ourselves, individually and as a species, what we ought to be. What we want, Heaven help us, is simultaneously to be perfectly ruled and perfectly free, that is, at the same time to discover the right and the good and to create it.”

Sounds like us today. But that quote is from 1979

Unless we have the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, our hearts will always lean one way. We will suppress real truth and try to create our own truth.

A. Truth is a person.

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

II. What are the world’s objections to absolute truth?

Moral relativism

Postmodern thought

Christians who don’t hold to Christian teachings. It’s not just that they don’t believe them but that they don’t think the church actually believes those things.

John Cooper thought...

There are a lot of Christians who are unashamed to speak the name of Christ but they are absolutely ashamed of His character. - my paraphrase of John Cooper. He was speaking of Christian artists.

If you don’t love God’s character then you don’t really love God. To love God is to love His ways.

Shane Pruitt on what people think biblical Christianity is...

“I do whatever I want and however I want. And, God exists to help me accomplish my dreams and goals for my life.

However, Biblical Christianity is:

Jesus saves me from myself. And, I exist to do whatever God calls me to for His Kingdom and glory.” - The things you start with are what is right here in His Word.

Let’s read from 2 Thessalonians.

READ 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 ESV

9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Now, in verse 9, Paul is talking about the lawless one or in many understandings, the anti-Christ. We are not going to focus on that right now. What I want to call your attention to in this passage is this: There is a contrast that Paul draws out here.

1. The Thessalonians refused to love the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)

2. Because they did not love the truth, God brings judgment against them. His judgment is belief in false things. (2 Thessalonians 2:11)

3. They did not even believe in the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:12)

4. They took pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:12)

Believing in the truth vs. pleasure in unrighteousness

This is not a lack of knowing the right facts. It is a love for that which is unrighteousness.

It’s not that we don’t know the right facts. The problem is we love our sin.

The truth stands there and demands. And we instead chase after our sin with great love in our hearts for it. This requires repentance.

III. How should Christians respond to the lack of recognizing of absolute truth in our culture?

So what are we to do when we see so many in our lives veer away from absolute truth? According to Alastair Begg, we have three options. Two of these are not good choices and one is the preferred and best way to deal with the world’s objection to truth.

1. Admonition

Admonition - Just plain curse the darkness. Rebuke, reproach, reprimand. In a spirit of condemnation. To hell in a hand basket. They seem pretty pleased about it. Almost happy in their condemnation of the culture.

- Example of Paul to Titus in Crete - remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, and rest of that passage…

Easy for church to become an angry place…

Sons of thunder coming back from Samaria

2. Accomodation -

Liberal protestantism

Anytime we have a problem in our culture with an aspect of the faith, instead of submitting to it and taking God at His Word, we see many just get rid of the hard parts…

People don’t like theology so what you get in many churches is just psychology.

Creation

Truth claims about Christ

Human sexuality

Of the 22 civillzations appearing in history 19 have collapsed when they reached the moral state of the USA. _Toinbee

3. Proclamation - Proclamation - the weapons of our warfare

The armor that protects us

The weapon of our warfare - the Word of God

How Paul confronts them in Acts 17 and proclaims to them

Starts at the beginning - God is in charge of everything and doesn’t live in a temple…

Seeks a relationship with his creations

Righteous and commands repentance

Will judge the world

Proof of this was raising Jesus from the dead

Don’t use as a template but it is helpful for us to see a framework or foundation to help us to engage with the world we are living in today, which seems to be going farther down the tubes theologically.

Created by God

Accountable to God

Will face God

Be prepared to say what the Bible says.

Not rude or unkind. Still be able to love and connect with a rebellious society because we too were sinners and without the grace of Gdo we would be right where they are…

Conclusion:

1. Therefore, we can’t only focus on facts in our ministry. We need to also pray and work against ours and others’ love for sin.

2. As long as our hearts are still in a love affair with sin, we’ll find every reason to deny the truth.

3. The same principles in exist in 1 Corinthians 13:6: “Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but in truth.”

4. Therefore, go deep in your soul and find the real obstacles to belief. They are always deeper than facts. They are, at their root, a love for darkness. Study

Speak on truth, act on truth Ideas do in fact, have consequences. If we think wrongly it will lead to living wrongly. Proverbs 23:7 Again, these understandings of truth become lodged in us by the work of the Holy Spirit. Gospel here - salvation The role of the Holy Spirit is to empower the truth. Those truths that we believe had to first be spoken to us. We heard and by the work of the Spirit, we believed. So we must speak truth for others to hear. It’s the way God has designed this all to work.

Great principles for proclaiming truth:

• Careful, clear, fair biblical thinking about contemporary culture.

• Bold, balanced, winsome confrontation of our culture’s clearly unbiblical elements.