Picture of Truth Part 1
Picture of Truth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Truth is Evident
Truth is Evident
“We hold these truths to be self-evident”. Have you ever heard these words? Are you familiar with where they come from? It is a phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence. The “truths” it declares that should be obvious is that all men are created equal and have been given rights by the God of the Bible to pursue the opportunities of life, liberty and happiness. It further declares an obvious truth that our form of government is for the people, of the people, and by the people and under the sovereign will of God.
Unfortunately, these truths are no longer “self-evident”. However, each of these truths find their roots and existence in and from the Word of God. And even though there are many who are blind to the self-evidence of the Creator and His transcendent Laws, the Scripture declares:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Unfortunately, the truth of God has been suppressed in the church almost as much as in the culture. I was recently listening to a Christian music radio station. During a break they had a bit of exhortation by a pastor. The pastor told a story of how when he was a child he asked his father about how God could be omnipresent. He ended up telling his friends that God was even in the hole of his bicycle handle bars. His conclusion, as an adult and pastor, was that God was in that hole of his bicycle, even in the trees and his heart.
Folks, this is a dangerous statement. Words have consequences and paint theological pictures that can be heresies to say the least. To say that God is “in the trees” is pantheism (the idea that the universe and nature are god) which can lead to even cosmic humanism (man is his own god when one with nature), existentialism (finding meaning in rationalism and relativism) and spiritism (the occult world). These are demonic ideologies. They stem from man trying to create God in an anthropomorphic imagery (defining God in human terms). It is not truth.
The trees and all of creation testify or bear witness of God’s existence but God is not in the trees. We worship the Creator not the created. It reminds me of a time I was preaching in Mexico and I realized that my interpreter was telling the people that God was in the trees, the rocks, the birds, and the Spirit of God was living in all created things. This is how Israel and many other nations got caught up in worshipping the Asherah trees. The Canaanite people, would carve poles from these trees and worship them because they believed the spirit of the goddess Asherah dwelled within them. Asherah was the pagan goddess of fertility, motherhood, and sacred trees. In Israel’s confusion, like the god Ba’al during the days of the Prophet Elijah, they believed she was the same as YHVH.
This weakness in rightly dividing Scripture for a seeker sensitive church wanting to be culturally acceptable with the world has led to a church that cannot stand against that which is not truth because it really does not know the truth. For example, what does it mean to “ask Jesus into your heart?” If I asked a totally unchurched stranger what it means to “ask Jesus into their heart” what image do you think comes to their minds? What questions might they ask? How about, “Well, if I ask him to come in how does he get in there?” My point is that we assume a lot is self-evident when it comes to understanding the truth. But we are living in some seriously blind days.
When we teach our children to simply ask Jesus to come into their hearts we are leaving out a huge portion of the truth and the process of atonement, redemption, repentance, sanctification and a life of holiness. You cannot just explain these truths to a child, you have to train the child in these truths. The Christian idea of Jesus entering your heart, though it sounds very biblical, is not in fact within the context of the Scriptures. It is, however, an idiomatic concept.
In Ephesians we see the Apostle Paul writing to a church of believers who have already professed Jesus Christ as their Savior.
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
The Apostle Paul uses the word in context of the Hebrew word relating to the “neshamah” נְשָׁמָה or the innermost part of the soul that connects morally and ethically to God through the Holy Spirit. He is saying that the truth, the Spirit, the way, the Law, the life of Christ the redeemer should dwell or abide within your innermost being. It should define who you are. Here is a similar analogy in Proverbs:
The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.
The phrase, “ask Jesus into your heart” is a Christian idiom meaning to believe in Him as your Savior but to live as He is indeed your Lord. To present only half of this truth is to present an artificial illusion (AI) concept of accepting Christ. It is to present a false picture of the truth.
Jesus says in John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So, if He is the truth, and truth is not relative, then we must present the whole truth and nothing less. Truth, Jesus Christ, must be evident in our lives. Our redeemed, transformed lives must present the evidence and testify of our Lord. For generations the church has presented the Gospel as, say this prayer asking Jesus into your heart and now your done. You got your ticket. No discipleship. No sanctification. No conversion. No responsibility. No accountability. No requirement to live holy. No requirement to pursue God.
The other day Pastor Claudia made this statement, “If someone says they are a follower of Jesus we take them at their word until they prove otherwise.” You have to make a choice every day to be a follower in every situation. Pastor Dianne Doherty said, “God gives you opportunities to make different choices but so many refuse.” I do not believe that we should over complicate the Gospel. But I do believe that in the churches efforts to simplify it, we have made it into something entirely different than what Jesus Himself taught.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
We have all been taught that Revelations 3:20 is an evangelism verse to unbelievers to invite Jesus into their hearts. It is not. It is written to the church, professing believers, who have not experienced a conversion to live the way of Jesus. They say they believe but they are not living it. He is writing to the Church of Laodicea of whom He also said, “You are neither hot nor cold. And because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Instead, it is Jesus calling them to live according to the way of the covenant sealed by His blood of redemption.
The Law of God, the prophecies of the Messiah, the commandments of God, the birth, life, death resurrection, the teachings, the person of Jesus Christ is the sovereign, transcendent, eternal picture of truth for all mankind. He is the life, the liberty and the pursuit. He is the way, the peace, the joy and the hope. All other professing truths and any other image preached by doctrines, angels of light, demons or anyone else in any other form is not the truth but a deceiving lie. Do not just say you believe, let Him see it evident in your living one with another. Do not just ask Him into your heart, give all of your heart to Him as Lord of all you are.
You cannot separate the way from the truth or you lose the life. If you have not confessed Him as Savior please do so today. If you have not lived for Him as Lord, choose you this day. If you are not sharing this truth with another, ask the Lord today, “Send me”. Send me Lord to share the picture of truth, who is Jesus Christ, with others.
