My Truth and God’s Truth
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· 9 viewsLiving with the Word of God as our boundary.
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H O N O R
The Battle for Truth series: TITLE TODAY = My Truth and God’s Truth
We want to talk about some of the paradoxes of faith in this series.
Remember: for every mile of road there’s 2 miles of ditch. We want to FIGHT to stay in the middle ground.
My goal here today — that we would recognize God’s Word for what is to our lives: The Bible has to be our Boundary
All truth lives in tension. Not conflict — but centered between 2 seemingly opposite truths
For example:
God’s love and His holiness
Faith and works
God’s sovereignty and man’s free will
Legalism and abuse of false license
Abuse of authority and the sin of independence
In all of these — It is not one or the other. It’s both/and.
Tent illustration. We can’t be afraid of the tensions (not conflict). You don’t need protection from your Bible. We need to accept and recognize what the Word of God is for our lives
PRAY
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The purpose and narrative behind the Gospel of John...
It is trying to force you to make a decision. Believe in Jesus as God.
You cannot get to God without Jesus — the whole goal of the book of John
Story of when Paula locked you out of the house. Having to go to the neighbors. Not remembering any phone numbers. Calling my dad.
You can’t get in the house without walking through the door. You can’t get to the Father without going through Jesus.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
No other religion, no other name, no good deed, no good vibes can let you enter into a relationship with a Holy God. Only the perfect sacrifice of Jesus can let us imperfect people into relationship with a perfect God.
And you know what — *almost* everyone is perfectly good with what I’ve said so far. None of this seems shocking
It’s easy seeing Jesus as our Savior, but it’s harder seeing Him as our Lord.
Bill Johnson says, “Many Christians repent enough to get to Heaven, but not enough to see Heaven on earth.”
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
To be a disciple of Jesus — You must ABIDE, CONTINUE, to stay in a given place — If you “stay” in my Word, you are My disciple.
Who sets the boundaries for your life? (USE BLOCKS)
It is so hard not to let our experiences define our boundaries.
We get hurt, we get offended, and we use that experience to build our boundaries (BUILD BLOCKS AS YOU TALK)
And - that’s not all bad!
The issue comes in when we elevate our EXPERIENCE over the WORD OF GOD.
Experience and emotions can be wonderful friends, but horrible masters.
When our boundaries are not set by Jesus - but by experience - Not by GOD’S TRUTH, but OUR TRUTH — We get into dangerous ground.
Boundaries are a funny thing. They are meant to limit you.
Paradox of going to the gym - so I don’t become a slave to obesity
Boundaries are not limiting, they are protecting
Running / scared horses
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is not being cruel in saying “No one comes to the Father except through me.”
It’s not Him flashing His VIP card saying how cool He is — It is Him throwing out a Lifesaver because He knows you will drown without it!
It’s the only place that has FREEDOM! It’s a paradox
The new you is the true you.
God’s Word is what sets the limits to my life. It is the rulebook, the standard, the measurement by which my life is judged.
My Truth is Temporal, God’s Truth is Eternal
My Truth is Temporal, God’s Truth is Eternal
We only see in part. Our perspective is limited. Your truth — may be TRUE FOR YOU IN A MOMENT — but it is often limited.
BUILD LEGO BOUNDARY. God’s Word is the boundary for our life.
My truth, my experience, is what lives inside this boundary (POUR BEADS)
National Borders and State Borders: tongues, gifts of the Spirit, God’s sovereignty, women allowed to preach or not, etc… But at the end of the day, we’re both Bible believing Christians
Augustine quote: In the essentials UNITY, in the non-essentials LIBERTY, in all things CHARITY
But when we go OUTSIDE of God’s Word, when we elevate our experience, our truth, over God’s Word
When I don’t have God’s Word as my boundary — Chaos always ensues. (BREAK WALL)
I fall into the World’s system, I fall into culture, I fall into my vices and sin
It’s hard staying, abiding in the boundary.
It’s hard not playing by MY RULES. MY TRUTH.
This is why we have Christians that believe Jesus is Savior, but don’t live like He’s Lord.
Because we live in a culture that says — “Find your truth inside of yourself and be ABIDE IN THAT.” Instead of ABIDING in God’s Word. (Point to LEGO HOUSE)
Let me be clear with what boundaries are = what is true. A boundary is what we believe to be truth.
Epistemological crisis. We don’t have a process to know what is true. People today are being discipled by tik tok videos and youtube
Existentialism, postmodernism, critical theory … show WHY we are culturally in this place.
The self has become the locus of authority and truth
Rom coms— the emotional you is the true you.
She leaves the nice guy on the altar because she was in love with the hobo. The movie doesn’t tell you that they get divorced in 2 years because she’s bored and moves on to the next guy that her heart told her to love.
THE NEW YOU (IN CHRIST) IS THE TRUE YOU
We, as Christians, have a lot of cultural hurdles to get over to be able to have Jesus as LORD over our lives and to DECENTER OURSELVES as the authority of Truth.
Story of Daniel chapter 1 — Distinctions between Babylon culture and Jewish culture
They were IN Babylon but not OF Babylon
Daniel 1:8 (ESV)
8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.
Culture today says whatever you feel, whatever you’ve experienced, IS YOUR TRUTH
We don’t take shelter in CULTURE — We Abide in God’s Word!
I’m talking to someone today — God is calling you to be a DANIEL and to STAND when culture tells you to SIT.
That we would be a generation of RESOLVE. We will not defile ourselves with culture.
My destiny is not determined by my emotions!
My destiny is not determined by culture!
BUT I HAVE CENTERED MYSELF, I HAVE MADE A BOUNDARY AROUND MY HEART AND MIND, THAT I WILL ABIDE IN GOD’S WORD!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
My truth is temporal, God’s truth is eternal.
I’m here to tell you today — whatever you might be facing: anxiety, stress, heartbreak, financial trouble, children in rebellion, on the brink of divorce, slave to addiction and sin —
The answer is not found in your emotions — It is found in the Presence and Power of Almighty God!
If you abide in God’s word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Elephant example. It is objectively true completely outside of your experience.
Your experience is limited
Which is why …
The Bible is Our Boundary
The Bible is Our Boundary
Culture today, progressive Christians today, try to downplay the Word of God. Because if the Bible is nothing more than a good suggestion, then I’m free to live by my truth.
But if the Bible is authoritative — Then it must be my boundary.
We have to bind ourselves to a higher truth.
A truth that is above our perspective and our truth.
The Word is God’s self revelation. It’s how He has defined Himself . It is how He has made Himself known.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
So if my experience and my truth come into conflict with God’s Word — I have to assume I’m wrong and work from there.
Because my desires, my passions, my truths — can’t always be trusted
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Your feelings are a great gage -- but a terrible steering wheel.
Emotions are not evil. They are a gift from God. But they must be held in the right tension with God’s Word.
We are in a battle for truth — There is a tension.
The 60’s and the Sexual Revolution -- Pastor’s preached a very strict Gospel. Pentecostals, Puritans, etc. So today people have driven the car into the other ditch where we have people like Rob Bell (and many others) saying there is no hell and God is so loving He couldn’t let that happen.
60% of millennial Christians don’t believe Jesus is the only way to God. SO THEY’RE NOT CHRISTIANS.
They have thrown the baby out with the bathwater
Let’s hold OUR TRUTH and GOD’S TRUTH in the right tension!
Response
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
God wants to set you free today.
You have been bound by lies -- Lies from the enemy, from your own emotions. You’ve elevated your truth over the truth of God’s Word
Living without boundaries.
Maybe in how you’ve acted towards someone. Unloving.
Maybe you’ve allowed anxiety and stress to take the forefront in your life.
Maybe you find yourself a slave to addiction, a slave to sin, and you want to become a slave to righteous
God is here to set you free!