Topical Sermon Preparation | Truth

Theme: Avoid false doctrines and be grounded in truth

Title: The Truth Yesterday, Today and Forevermore

Subject: The Truth for our time

Objective: To encourage the Church to study the Truth for themselves.

Thesis: The only way to avoid error is to know Truth

Opening Hymn: #286 “Wonderful Words of Life”

Closing Hymn: #515 “The LORD is my Light”

Introduction

Title: The Guy Who Knew All the Faults in the World but Did Not Know Truth

There lived a man who dedicated all his life to identifying every fault in the world. He meticulously studied how not to walk, talk, eat, and even sleep. While he became an expert in avoiding mistakes, he never learned the essence of truth or how to live.

His life was filled with all the knowledge of faults and was emptied of the knowledge of truth. His obsession with finding faults left him void of any truth.

Villagers admired his knowledge of what to avoid, but they found little joy in his company. He could warn them against pitfalls but could not inspire them with any positive guidance or truths about life.

As he neared death, Elias prepared to give his family directions on how not to bury him. Yet, he failed to impart any wisdom on how to celebrate his life. In his final moments, he realized that by fixating on the negative, he had missed the profound truths that bring joy and connection.

Spiritual Lesson

Elias's life serves as a cautionary tale: when we focus solely on identifying faults, we risk missing the deeper truths that enrich our lives. Constantly searching for errors can lead to a narrow existence, devoid of meaning and joy. True understanding comes not from avoiding mistakes but from embracing the truths that guide us toward a fulfilling life. Prioritizing truth over error allows us to connect, grow, and truly live.[As he grew older, Elias became increasingly isolated. His family loved him, but they found it difficult to connect with a man who had turned life into a series of 'don'ts.' One day, as he reflected on his life, he realized he had never learned how to truly live. He had all the knowledge of what to avoid but had never grasped the essence of what to embrace.

When death approached, Elias gathered his family around him, determined to impart his final wisdom. “When I am gone, do not bury me in the sun,” he cautioned. “Do not lay me to rest in a shallow grave, and do not use a wooden casket that might rot.” His family listened, perplexed by his detailed instructions on how not to bury him, but they were left with no guidance on how to honor his memory.

As he took his last breath, Elias realized with a heavy heart that he had lived a life full of knowledge but devoid of truth. He had studied all the faults of the world yet had never learned the beauty of existence, the joy of love, or the power of connection.

In the end, his family buried him according to his instructions, but the grave was a hollow echo of the man he could have been. They honored his memory with stories of his quirks, but felt a profound absence where the joy of knowing him should have been.]

Point: We can know all the errors and faults in the world, but live a shallow life without knowing truth.

Needs

We live in a world where truth is harder to discover than lies. Lies and deceptions are easier found than truth. Example:

....truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

Winston Churchill

Wherever truth is, lies are all around.

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

Galileo Galilei

Pivot-Point: Once truth is discovered it dispenses all lies.

Transition:

Satisfaction

Point 1: Know how to identify truth.

John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

Psalm 119:160 “Thy word is true from the beginning: And every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” .

Information: In JESUS discourse to His disciple just be He sent them out into the world to proclaim “the Kingdom of GOD”. He said to them thy word is true. As Jesus has been sent by the Father, so they are sent by the Son. His mission will be their mission. So Jesus asks that they be sanctified, set apart, and consecrated for their special task (v. 17). It is the truth of Jesus’ word, which is the whole message of God’s love and glory as it is revealed in the words and teaching of Jesus, which will equip them for this mission. They have already been called and made clean by that word. Now they are sanctified by it; they belong to Jesus. Union with Him gives them authority and power for the mission.

Application: In the very same way JESUS is equipping us with His word that we may go out to the world to proclaim truth. We are to proclaim “thus said the LORD”. All of GOD’S word is true.

2 Timothy 3:16–17“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

Command: We are to proclaim all GOD’S Word to the World.

Illustration

Truth in Scripture, Not Cunning Words

Psalm 119:160; John 17:17.

Preaching Themes: Scripture, Truth

It is Truth which we must look for in Holy Writ, not cunning of words. All Scripture ought to be read in the spirit in which it was written....

THOMAS À KEMPIS*

The Church is “the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” The Church preaches truth. 1 Timothy 3:15.

The Comforter will lead us into all truth. John 15:26; John 16:13.

Point 2: Reject error and Accept truth

Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

It is not enough to know truth, you have to reject error and put the truth you know into practice.

“....truth is not restricted to truthful speaking.....Rather, it implies a whole life and walk in truth.”

“It conforms to the reality of life in Jesus Christ and seeks truthfulness of utterance and action. It derives from and proclaims both true fact and true doctrine. It is rooted in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit, and it is thus an outworking in life of the knowledge of the living Truth (Jesus Christ) by the living Truth (the Holy Spirit).”

Catch Phrase: What is in the Bible we want it, what is not in the Bible we don’t want it.

The will of GOD is for all to come to a knowledge of His truth.

1 Timothy 2:4 “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

GOD will send delusion to those who reject truth for error, that person will be lost.

2 Thessalonians 2:9–13 “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:”

There is rejoicing when you walk in truth.

3 John 3 “For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.”

Truth is precious

Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and sell it not; Also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.”

Therefore every you should:

We should pray for truth Psalms 25:5.

We should ask for truth Psalms 86:11.

We should search for truth Hebrews 11:6; 2 Timothy 2:15.

Unless We Love the Truth, We Cannot Know It

2 Thessalonians 2:10.

Preaching Themes: Truth

Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.

BLAISE PASCAL

One Sure Guide to Truth

Psalm 25:5; John 16:13; 2 Timothy 2:15 Preaching Themes: Scripture, Truth

There is one sure and infallible guide to truth, and therefore one, and only one, corrective for error, and that is the Word of God. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN

Point 3: The Only Truth is JESUS

John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Ephesians 4:21; John 18:37-38.

Find God, Find the Truth

John 14:6; 18:37–38; 1 John 5:6.

Preaching Themes: Truth

Where I found truth, there I found my God, who is the Truth itself, which from the time I learned it I have not forgotten. And thus since the time I learned you, you abide in my memory; and I find you there whenever I call you to remembrance, and delight in you.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

JESUS the truth is full of grace and truth

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Information: John and the other disciples saw “grace and truth” in the ministry of Jesus. They saw “grace” in His dealing with people, for there was compassion and uncalculating love revealed in all that He did. But the “truth” seen in His words and teaching was intertwined with these acts of mercy. We have in the ministry of Jesus perfect redemption in His “grace” and perfect revelation in His “truth.” His grace comes from the One who is Life. And the Truth revealed in Jesus comes from the One who is Light. Here is the character of the Incarnate Word, the fullness of “grace and truth”! How urgently we need the whole of this. An emphasis on grace by itself can dissipate into a shallow and sentimental fellowship, and stressing truth alone can become hardened dogma. But in the Living Word there is both grace and truth.

Application:

JESUS the truth shall set you free

John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

We are to worship GOD in spirit and in truth.

John 4:23–24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Proclaim the truth

300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon Exalt the Truth like a Pillar (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; 5:42; 1 Timothy 3:15–16)

Exalt the Truth Like a Pillar

Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; 5:42; 1 Timothy 3:15–16

Preaching Themes: Church: Nature, Evangelism, Truth, Victory

It is the duty and the privilege of the church of God to exalt the truth into the open view of all mankind. Possibly you may have seen the column of Trajan, or the column in the Place Vendôme in Paris; these may serve as illustrations. Around these shafts you see the victories of the conqueror pictured in relief, and lifted into the air, that all may see them.

Now, the church of God is a pillar that lifts up and publishes, far and wide, the achievements of our conquering Lord, saying to all mankind that God “was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the Gentiles, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory” (1 Tim 3:16).

Visualization

Appeal

Call

Prayer