Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO: If you were to watch the major news outlets’ coverage of current event, whether political, religious, or opinion, you would be hard pressed to determine the authentic truth of many matters facing our world today.

· It seems that one’s truth hinges on all kinds fo factors; ones that are determined by many things.

· It’s to the point that each has their own truth, and no one can challenge that truth lest they be labeled intolerant, or judgmental, or worse!

Why is truth such a contestable subject?

A couple of hunters chartered a plane to fly into the Canadian wilderness.

· Two weeks later when the pilot came to pick them up, he saw the two animals they had bagged and said, "I told you fellows I could only take you and one moose.

You'll have to leave the other behind."

· "But we did it last year in a plane this size," protested one of the hunters, "and the other pilot let us take two moose."

· "Well, okay," said the pilot.

"If you did it before I guess we can do it again."

· So the two moose and the hunters were loaded in and the plane took off.

· Because of the heavy weight, it rose with difficulty and was unable to clear an obstructing hill.

· After the crash, the men climbed out and looked around.

· One hunter said to the other, "Where are we, anyway?"

· His companion surveyed the scene.

"I think we got about half a mile farther than we got last year."

- Source Unknown.

What is truth?

In the previous story the truth was that only one moose was safe for that flight.

· And just because someone was convinced that the truth of the situation could be tested, and stretched, and/or changed, it did not change the facts.

· Truth was tested in that example, and truth was verified.

· The funny thing is, the truth was known previously, but ignored in favor of desire.

· Bringing to light a very difficult truth; just because we desire something to be true, no matter how reasonable it sounds, we can’t force something to be true.

· It either is or isn’t.

Truth, God’s Truth, is one of the most important treasures to be unearthed.

I was on Facebook a while back when I came across a post by someone, known to me to have had a very tumultuous life of late, who said something like “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that what you have done is wrong if it makes your life better.”

· My first thought was What if you ARE wrong?

Am I not allowed to say it?

· Then I realized it; we have become people who determine our own truth, and my truth may not be your truth.

· And, if my truth is different than yours, then you better keep your mouth shut and not rain on my parade!

· While that may appeal to our selfish tendencies, we have to ask ourselves

· Can every individual conclude his/her own truth?

· And, if truth is definable by each of us according to our individual influences and situations then we have a huge problem.

· Namely, everyone’s truth will cast their lives in a good light, NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO, BELIEVE OR SAY, because

“Most men will proclaim each his own goodness…”

“If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation.

If truth be not diffused, error will be; if God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy; if the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will.”

- Daniel Webster

Can every individual conclude his/her own truth or did God give us the truth when He gave us His words found in the Bible?

· For those of us who are followers of Christ this question seems very easily answered… God’s truth is the truth because it comes from the author of truth.

· Any declarations that contradict His words cannot be truth.

· God is perfect in all He knows, does, and is and has been gracious enough to unveil His truth to us.

· It is truth, even if inconvenient for us.

Jesus stood before Pilate after being arrested.

· No one wanted to be the bad guy where Jesus was concerned.

· Ciaphas didn’t want’ to risk revolt so he passed him on the Pilate.

· The truth was being stretched and manipulated so that the result would be the death of Jesus.

· Ironic, since He was truth!

But, when Jesus began to tell them the truth it became threatening to their lifestyle.

· More often than not truth will cause great conflict within someone.

· Then they have to make a choice; THE truth or their truth?

Finding God’s truth may create a sense of discomfort in life.

God’s truth often raises the bar very high but it is still God’s truth.

Look at:

Matt.

5: 19-48, too long to read, but He talks about difficult truths.

Righteousness: must be greater than the Pharisees.

Murder: not just a physical act against the life of your fellow man, but gossipy, spiteful, malicious talk that can bring to you the same result as though you committed physical, mortal harm.

Adultery: again, not the just the physical act, but allowing the act to dwell within your imagination is the same thing.

Divorce: the nonchalance of modern day divorce, even among the so-called born-agains, is detestable to God, and mostly we don’t care.

Remember the Facebook post, “Never let anyone say you are wrong when what you’ve done makes your life better.”

This passage goes on about oaths, turning the other cheek and loving your enemies.

And, your misapplication or misunderstanding of these concepts of truth will disqualify you from entering the Kingdom of Heaven!

WHAT YOU BELIEVE DETERMINES HOW YOU BEHAVE.

· If your truth says, regardless of what the bible says, that you are OK then you will act out of that belief.

· This is what the devil counts on, that we will develop our own truths

· HE LOVES IT!

· But, understand this about the devil:

When we resist the truth…

TWO OF SATAN’S GREATEST WEAPONS:

1) RELATIVISM

2) SUBJECTIVISM

Relativism: the assumption that there is no such thing as absolute truth.

Unfortunately, it can’t even be said that those who claim to be Born Again are firmly grounded in the absolute truths of the Bible.

· In one national survey, self-described born-again Christians were asked to evaluate this statement; "The Devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil."

· They were then asked, "Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with that statement?"

· The Born Again population reply with 32 percent agreeing strongly, 11 percent agreeing somewhat and 5 percent did not know.

· Thus, of the total number responding, 48 percent either agreed that Satan is only symbolic or did not know!

· Nearly half of US Christians can’t even identify the truth about the enemy.

The next question in the survey is even more startling, and telling;

· It asked, "Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others all pray to the same God, even though they use different names for that God."

· Again, the respondents were asked to agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat or disagree strongly.

· Of that population surveyed who identified themselves as Born Again, 30 percent agreed strongly, 18 percent agreed somewhat and 12 percent did not know.

· That is a total of 60 percent of Christians who don’t truly know God! (What Americans Believe, pp.

206-212).

- Watchman Expositor, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1993, p. 31.

· Where has the truth gone?

· When did we lose it?

We’ve lost it in the Cultural Sea of Subjectivism!

Subjectivism: I, the subject, have the right to determine what is right and wrong without submitting my judgment to any authority outside myself.

· We hear this when people will focus on speaking their own truth.

Listen closely for the following phrases.

They are red flags that a personal truth is about to be revealed “It is my opinion that…” “I believe…” “If you ask me…” “My experience has been…” “Someone once told me…”Consensus does not necessarily mean that someone has found God’s truth.Just because someone is intelligent or has a seminary degree doesn’t mean their opinion is God’s truth.

I’ll admit this; we are human, not omniscient; our truth may be birthed out of our own painful story, a story not yet redeemed.

· I have no doubt that there are stories of unloving Christians regarding many of our current social dilemmas; homosexuality, same-sex marriage, abortion, what’s being taught in our public schools, and many others.

· But, the truth about same-sex relations, killing of innocent life, and the God-designed marriage remains.

· Because we are human, our truth could simply be another way to rationalize our actions.

· Because we are human, we may long for others to embrace our truth and agree with us so that we can find support for our bad decisions and wrongdoings.

· We may feel that we can rest in our own truths but the bible says the opposite.

Jesus is the only truth and only He can set you free!

WHAT IS TRUTH?