Truth
Notes
Transcript
Opening
Opening
All throughout history, man has always sought to know the truth. They have sought the truth about reality, truth about what is right and what is wrong, what is the meaning and purpose of life. From all of this, we have countless philosophies, worldviews, and many different religions that have come up over the centuries. All of these preach their own absolute truth, and they all have their reasons why their absolute truth is the absolute truth and all others are not.
There has always been a belief that man could formulate the perfect philosophical system. A system that would fully explain all of reality. All of this reached its peak during the Age of Enlightenment. It was believed that by human reason, we would eventually discover the answers to all of life’s questions, and thereby solve all of society’s problems. The thought was that through intellectual achievements, through an expanded scientific knowledge, that we would eventually reach a utopia. And if we could reach a utopia, then there would be no need for religion, which had kept people in darkness for centuries. There was no interest in divine revelation or salvation, since man believed he could save himself from his problems.
All of this line of thinking fell down… why? The unimaginable bloodshed of two world wars, the unfathomable evil of the Holocaust, the terrifying reality of nuclear war, terrorism in the world… all of this quickly shattered the unrealistic idealism of the 18th and 19th centuries. In its place there came skepticism and pessimism and those took hold. People became uncertain about life and reality.
More and more, the very concept of truth itself came under fire, especially the possibility of knowing absolute truth. Sinners want to do evil and feel no guilt, so with the lack of absolutes, this gives way to the wicked human heart. I like how Francis Schaeffer put it… he said… “All of Western culture - including philosophy, art, music, literature, education, and modern theology - in rejecting Scripture plunged beneath the line of despair.”
People imagined that by denying the existence of absolute truth and by throwing off the shackles of biblical morality they would finally be set free. Instead, they found themselves only more empty and enslaved to destructive passions.
This brings us to today… The skepticism of the 20th century has given rise to postmodernism. Now what is that? Postmodernist reject the notion that ultimate truth is knowable or even exists. They contend that the “truths” people believe are merely societal norms created by the culture in which they live. So because of that, there are no absolute truths, just preferences. Whatever works for people is true for them; pragmatism and relativism reign… And ironically, the only thing postmodernists are absolutely certain of is that nothing is absolutely certain. And as a result, they are forced to defend an illogical position.
Postmodernists want to sin freely (and that is primarily in the sexual area, hence the rise in the LGBTQ movement), they all need to view all truth as culturally determined, and argue that no morality or law is supreme. That is why there is a huge push in changing the culture in how we view homosexuality. The noblest virtue therefore is tolerance of other views. And this is especially true in the area of morals, where imposing one’s values on someone else is seen as a criminal offense. That is why biblical Christianity is the most intolerable belief. That is why you see the lawsuits on the bakers and tshirt makers who refuse to give business to gay couples. That is why you see our culture become more and more hostile to biblical Christianity. Everybody can have it their own way… but not when it comes to biblical Christianity. A rabbi can pray how he wants to, a Catholic priest how he wants to, a Muslim how he wants to… but ask a Christian to pray and he prays in Jesus’ name… forget it… You have offended everyone… And with all of this preaching on being tolerant, we don’t live in a world of being tolerant, we don’t live in a world of pluralism… we live in a world of syncretism, and that is a big word that means… “mush everything up; nobody have any sharp edges; nobody really even believes any particular thing.”
By rejecting the possibility of absolute truth, postmodernism commits eternal suicide by simultaneously rejecting the only path to true freedom - the absolutely, universally, and exclusively true message of the gospel. And what is sad, even the contemporary church no longer believes in the gospel as the only way to heaven; Newsweek did a poll years ago (I can’t imagine what it is today) but 85% of American “Christians” believe there are other ways to heaven. 91% of Roman Catholics agree.
In contrast to all this, the Bible teaches absolute truth - a truth that is absolute for all people in all cultures… a truth about God and man, good and evil, life and death. Jesus tells us here in our text this morning that we can know the truth and the truth will make us free.
The world clings to its own unreliable wisdom, which Scripture says is earthly, sensual, and demonic. We who are born again believers have been given in Scripture the rock solid truth of God Himself. The Bible declares that God is the God of truth;
Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
that Jesus is “full of…truth”
And the Word became 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.
and that He is the way, and the truth, and the life;
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
and the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth.”
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
The Bible is the “word of truth”;
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
as Jesus prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” Like God Himself, His truth is eternal and unchanging.
Salvation comes from “faith in the truth.”
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
Thus the redeemed are “those who believe and know the truth.” In contrast, unbelievers are those who are “destitute of the truth”;
useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
they “have gone astray from the truth”;
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
and “turn away their ears from the truth.”
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
We on the other hand, are to worship God in truth,
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
be committed to the truth,
Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
obey the truth,
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
love the truth,
and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
speak the truth in love,
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
and walk in the truth.
For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth.
In fact, truth is central to the existence and mission of the church, which is to be the pillar and support of the truth.
but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
So, this truth that brings spiritual freedom is the theme of this passage. We can see what the Pharisees did with this truth. Let’s take a look at that real quick...
vs. 31-36
Here Jesus tells them that if they were His disciples then they would know the truth and the truth would make them free. Well, if you are not free, then what are you… you are a slave, you are in bondage. Well, these Pharisees gave it back to Jesus telling Him that they have never been in bondage to anyone. Now let me ask you this… was this true? Take a look at the history of Israel… they went to Egypt and what happened, they were slaves… During the times of the judges what happened? They were in bondage… After the kingdom split what happened? … they were taken captive and were put in bondage… what were they experiencing here? They were under bondage with the Romans. And here they tell Jesus that they were never in bondage? They have been in bondage so much that they don’t remember or know what true freedom is.
Let’s take this to a spiritual side which Jesus is trying to point out. The Pharisees tried to live by the Law… they added to all the Law their own rules and regulations… they were in bondage to themselves and their law. And what Christ is trying to explain to them is that they put themselves into slavery, and that they are slaves to sin… but if they trust in Him, then they would be free. They don’t have to live in bondage but they can live in freedom! All they need is the truth, and the Truth is standing right in front of them.
Well, they did not like that… look at vs. 37-47. So Jesus comes from it from a different angle. He talks about Abraham and how that they are of his descendents. And they answered Jesus and acknowledged that… But then Jesus slams them again and said that if they were Abraham’s children then you would do the works of Abraham. Abraham heard the truth and he obeyed. God told Abraham to pack up your family and just leave and to go to a country that he had no clue. And Abraham did… by faith, he went and the Lord showed him where to go.
Well, the Pharisees are not obeying the truth like Abraham did. So if they were not the children of Abraham, then whose children were they? Vs. 44.
The lesson that we can learn from this is. It didn’t matter that these guys were Jews… Just because they were Jews doesn’t mean that they were automatically born again and on their way to heaven. Folks, the same is with us. It doesn’t matter where we came from, what family we were born into. It doesn’t matter that you come to church or do religious things. It doesn’t matter how much you give. None of that matters, you were born a sinner and unless you look at the Truth and trust in the Truth, that is Jesus Christ, you will die in your sins!
Well, they did not like this one bit. This really ticked the Pharisees off! So, they called Jesus a Samaritan and said that He was demon possessed. Jesus didn’t even respond to that… instead, He repeated what He has been saying all along...
vs. 48-58
He lays it out again and tells them that He honors His Father, and that He does the will of His Father, and that if anyone keeps His word will never see death. They still did not understand and they could not grasp this because of their blindness. They came back with, “How in the world could You see Abraham… You are not even 50 years old, and Abraham has been dead for thousands of years?”
Jesus then shuts down the whole conversation. He says one sentence and then He drops the mic and leaves… .look at verse 58....
He is the great I AM!!! Before Abraham was… I AM. I am the I AM standing right in front of you. I am the Truth standing right in front of you! I have given you truth after truth of who I am and yet you still don’t believe! You see the miracles, you see the lives that I have touched, you have heard all the teachings that I have taught, and yet you choose to reject. Now whose the one with the demon in them?
What was their response? They were so mad that Jesus said the worst thing that He could ever say. He claimed to be the almighty God! What blasphemy!!! They picked up stones to stone Him and Jesus hid Himself because it was not yet time.
Closing
Closing
I want to close out this message by turning this passage back to us. We know how bad the world has gotten. We know how bad our culture has been. We know how bad our government is. We don’t have to look far to find that we as a nation have turned away from the truth. The world hates who we are. They hate what we stand for. They hate what we do. They will do whatever it takes to silence us. We know all that...
But what about you? You say, “Well, what about me? What does this have to do with me?” Do you know the truth? Before we judge the pharisees in this story… before we judge our culture and our nation in what it is doing… what about you? How do you respond to the truth?
I can’t tell you how many times that I have sat in an office counselling someone who wants help, but when the truth is told to them they get mad at me. They give excuses on why they cannot do what I tell them or that they don’t want to do it. I have had people quit on me because they don’t want to hear the truth. When I give them Scripture, they come up with excuses of, “Well so and so author said this.” I don’t care what that author said, I care what the Bible says! And what happens is they leave there worse than what they came because they rejected the truth.
There are thousands of churches meeting as we speak here in America. There are thousands of preachers who are behind the pulpit preaching the Word of God, preaching the truth. There are millions of Americans right now that are under the preaching of the truth. And the sad thing that is going to happen is that all of us are going to leave those doors and we are going to do absolutely nothing about the truth that we heard! What about you!!!
How many sermons have you heard in the last 5 years? How has God worked in your lives because of those sermons? Can you tell me what you have done for Christ in the last year? Folks, the point I am trying to hit us with today is that we are just like the Pharisees! We hear the truth and yet we don’t do it! And if we don’t do it, we reject it! Instead, we get mad at the pastor or a friend who speaks truth into our lives and we become bitter and utterly useless for God. And can I say, when that happens… Satan has won!
Folks, the truth is right here (Bible)!!!! Don’t just let it collect dust, read it and obey it! Search the Scriptures, let them seep into your life, let the Holy Spirit change you as you read the truth! Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only!