The Truth
you know, this we've been doing this series of looking and digging in deeper to Some of these songs that have I guess. Meant a lot to me over the last year, you know this song today. This the truth by Megan Woods. If you Google it, you can actually find some interviews. She's done. Various places talking about her story behind this song and where it comes from. It comes from her growing up, always feeling like she never quite fit in, like she wasn't valued. She says she struggled a lot with being bullied at a young age and dealing. With those things, she was in a lot of different forms of dance and things like that. And she never felt like she was quite as good as anyone else. And, you know, it seems ironic to think those things for a young lady that has such a popular song now. But she struggled with all those things and she said she didn't stop struggling and still until she started telling herself the truth. And she realized that the only place she could find that truth was in God's word in his scripture. So there are several key scriptures that I'm going to talk about today that she says are what inspired this song? And you know, it deals with a lot of themes about belonging and her idea was behind the song that she wanted to remind listeners that they are loved and accepted as God's children. That is the main truth that they need to grab onto. First verse for going to look at is John 8:32. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Yeah, it's a pretty common verse. We refer to it a lot and it's the central theme that we want to look at today, you know, it's in for sizing the liberating power of knowing God's. Truth of truly understanding, how it applies to you. You know, Jesus himself, spoke this verse in it emphasizes, you know, that truth. About God and the freedom that can only come from having true, spiritual freedom.
You know, the truth about Jesus. The truth about his teachings, you know, it suggests that knowing that truth can liberate you from bondage to so many different things. Send ignorance spiritual Darkness, you know. All the things that can Cloud your mind from seeing and knowing the truth. and one of the things we need to understand is that, you know, truth exists and can be known That sounds like an obvious statement but so much of our culture likes to say that truth is relative. Truth is what you believe to be truth. And you know you can Define truth for yourself. Well, if everybody is to finding truth differently than what is truth, you know, it's hard to know. But the one truth we never have to worry about is scriptural truth. We know if it stays the same, we know God's truth Trump's every other truth. That's out there.
Yeah, I was thinking about this week, as I Was preparing, when I was at the church in Cody Wyoming, I taught a Sunday school class called the truth project, and it was a thing, done back in the early 2000s by focus on the family. And it was this and it took, I think 26 weeks of Sunday school class to teach it. But we did it in Sunday school. We did it. In all of our small groups there and it's this really well done. Study. That looks at okay, what is truth? And it's neat how the man who did the whole thing goes through. And shows a lot of what our culture believes and teaches about truth in what scripture says and the funny thing is in a lot of things that try to disprove scripture as you dig into them. They actually just proved themselves most of the time and end up lining up with scripture in the end. So it's a very good project and if you ever see it, watch it, it it's a good series of videos. Another thing that's important for this versus that truth brings freedom.
You know, knowing the truth about Jesus is different than knowing the truth about anything else. You know, you can learn the truth about a lot of different things of. Well, what happened here, what happens there? You know what really happened? What was their discussions behind closed? Doors, you know, all those things but those things won't radically change your life. The truth that you may learn from those sources. Could make your day a little better or make it worse, but they can't transform your life for eternity. Only God's truth can do that. Only God's truth can set you free from the bondage of sin and allow you to live a new life.
But that only comes from abiding in God's word from spending time, in it from reading, it learning it knowing it.
And, you know, That is what leads you down that path to spiritual Freedom. You know, freedom is mentioned, not just in the physical and political sense. I think, when we talk about Freedom, that's where our mind usually goes, right, the political sense, or the physical sense, but it's talking about spiritual Freedom, spiritual liberation,
I mean if you ever really sat and thought about that, that spiritual Freedom means you Are being liberated from the consequences of sin, which is deaf. Minutes huge I mean that's the whole reason Christ went to the Cross was so that he could defeat sin and death once and for all. So we wouldn't have to and that is only a freedom that can come through knowing the truth of God's word. Another key verse is Zephaniah 3:17. Says the Lord your God is with you. The mighty warrior who saves? He will take great Delight in you his love, he will no longer in his love, he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. You know, this verse highlights God's joy and Delight in his creation and, you know, one part of this song and she keeps trying to remind us that we are a part of God's creation.
Yeah, this verse starts out saying that the Lord your God is with you.
He's with you in a very real sense. It mean, it's an intimate connection with his people. A one-on-one presence that God wants to have with his people, bowling with them among them. Sole reason, Christ came to dwell Among Us. The verse continues by saying that he is a mighty warrior, who saves.
You don't no matter what we're going through in life, we should never doubt. The fact that God has the power and the ability to Deliver us from our troubles. From our problems, he can rescue us from any situation.
He will take great Delight in you or another translation of scripture said, he will rejoice over you with gladness.
I mean if you ever thought about that, you know, when you're having a bad day, would it help to reflect on the fact that you make God happy?
God created you and he Delights in you.
The birds continues and saying in his love he will no longer rebuke. You and again another translation I like the way they said it they said he will quiet you by his love.
I like that because for me it highlights gots comforting and calming presence you know the peace that only he can bring to his people. It's me and my mind, I picture someone who's so anxious about something, or so nervous that they're kind of just stammering and stuttering and going on and on about well, what about this? What about that? And God's just like, don't worry about it.
He shows up with such a loving presence, that all you can do is be still and listen to what he has to say about you. That brings us to another key verse in this of Genesis 1:27. Says, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female he created them.
You know, this scripture is referenced by her lyrics there where she said I was made in the image of a perfect King.
Mean we are told that we are made in God's image, you know? So it highlights, you know, not just our humanity and our image of God that were created in but also God's Humanity. Goes on and you know says that he created them both male and female.
And although you could use that to argue a ton of different things, I think here, the emphasis is upon it emphasizes that Dignity of all human beings were created in God's image. And as a result of being created in God's image, that gives us a certain inherent value.
I mean, if we're saying our image isn't right, then we're saying something's not right about God's image, right? If we were created in His image, and we don't want to say that.
You know, I think you not understanding that creation, and gods images Central to understanding our relationship with God. You know, in that humans, possess certain qualities, that reflect God's nature, such as our rationality, our morality our capacity to have relationships with others.
Like I said, another thing that it points out is the whole idea of the equality of male and female. Like I said, we could argue a lot of things by saying, he created them male and female. But one thing is He acknowledges that both male and female were created in God's image. So in God's eyes, they are equal in many, many ways. And that should have a profound impact on our understanding. In our society, can be so quick to Define certain roles for certain genders and those things. And that doesn't necessarily always have to be We need to turn to God's truth. To define those things. Not what Society defines them as I think saying that were created in God's image is also the foundation for human dignity because if we are created in God's image and we have that inherent value and worth then that should mean that. We want to treat all people. Well right? If every human being is created in God's image, no matter if they look like us or look different than us, we should know that they have value as a person and we should want to treat them accordingly.
Another thing that we can see from being created in God's image is that we are above other creatures. You know, it says that we are here too. You know, kind of managed God's land for him, right? That's part of our responsibility. We are above other creatures. Other creatures. Don't have that moral awareness, the rational thought in the capacity for a spiritual relationship with God, like we do is humans not that we should disrespect other creatures, but we should realize that human life is worth more than animal life in many, and every aspect Like I said, it also implies that stewardship. you're some interpretations are some Scholars that look at Genesis 6, suggest that being created in God's image, also implies that You know, we have a stewardship over creation. Which we are told meaning that humans are entrusted with caring for the earth and its creatures. We should see that as our role of being good stewards of God's creation. Another key verse. Is Romans chapter 8 verses 38 and 39? Says Brian convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither the present, nor the future, nor any power. Neither, what is high nor what is loan, or anything else that is created, will be able to separate us from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus, our lord
I always love that verse because it does such a wonderful job of underlining. The unwavering love of God that surrounds us and every aspect, I also like how this passage emphasizes that. Unbreakable nature of the bond between us as the children of God and God the Father. You know, through Christ that relationship is there, it is a permanent connection that is there. Despite any conceivable obstacle that we can come up with
And, you know, this passage starts with Paul's conviction, that nothing can separate Believers from God's love. And then he goes through listing, you know, a wide range of potential obstacles and I've always thought, you know, we all can probably add our own things to this. Says death in life. I mean really think about it. Those are probably the most extreme hurdles we see to a relationship, right?
But the truth is the love of God can overcome even those things.
Angels and demons are listed. You know, he's pointing out that neither Heavenly powers nor demonic powers in this world can do anything to separate you from the love of God. It is always there. Present and future threats. You're the current circumstances that you might be going through or future events that are coming up down the road. None of those things can separate you. From the love of God.
Yo, then Paul goes into talking about Earthly or spiritual authorities are powers that are there.
yeah, made me think about, you know, there are many governments around the world that Make Christianity against the law or converting to Christianity punishable by death. Or, you know, they might say you can't have prayer in schools but they can't really ever stop that. And just because they don't allow those things doesn't change the impact of God's love and all of those situations.
Paul continues by saying neither height nor depth. You know, here. He's talking about and I think our mind automatically goes to the idea of physical extremes. Right? What's the highest thing? You can think of what's the lowest thing? You can think of, but it's also talking about the spiritual Realm. You know, those High moments, you have spiritually, those Mountaintop experiences, where everything is great, you know, it's just all wonderful. but it's also talking about those spiritual times when you're in a deep dark Valley, Remember, Psalm 23 that we talked about when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? Even those extremes cannot separate you from. The love of God.
And then he pretty much wraps It Up by saying or anything else in creation. Do you know what Paul is trying to tell us his no matter what? Excuse you might come up with saying nope that made me unlovable. God, can't love me because of this. It's not the truth. And that's what you need to know that. Despite any of these potential challenges or any of the challenges, you might try to come up with in your own mind. None of them can break the the bond between Believers and God's love in Jesus Christ. And that's the truth that we need to remind ourselves of You know, she opens that song by saying, you know, how many times can you tell yourself the same lie until you start to believe it? well, it's time that we stop listening to the lies of the enemy and start telling ourselves the truth of scripture so that are Perception of the world around us and how things are going in her life is based off of Truth. Not the lies of the enemy. Please bear with me in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the many blessings that you give us are one of the biggest blessings we have is the availability of your scripture in your word to us. Florida, we have greater access access to the gospel than we ever have in any other time in history. And Lord, I pray that we will use that to fill our minds with the truth, Florida. Not listen to the lies of the enemy or the lies of those in this world that don't want to believe in you. Or help us to stand firm on your truth. Help us to turn to your truth when we are in trouble to turn to your truth when we are doubting and Lord, I just pray that you will continue. To help us as a church to Proclaim your truth in our community. We pray this all your most holy name. Amen.
