What is Truth?

Lesson Transcript

I count it a privilege to be in the house of God, with His people. Um, I had to think—recently came across an article that kind of made me think this, but you're in a gathering like this, especially those of you that have been baptized, especially our children. I mean, both—both grandparents are here, and we're thankful for that. And coworkers, and everyone else, and we've—we've appreciated your prayers for our family and, uh, and all that. But you know, I had to—well, here's a—I'll just read part of this article.

It says, "Here's a question I try to ask myself periodically: Am I wise enough? Am I honest enough? Do I love the truth enough that if I had been raised a Muslim, or Buddhist, or whatever other religion, that I would have converted to Christ by now?" And you know, I had to think, the one song we sang about, you know, "Friends may oppose me," or, you know, "Forsake me," and all that. You know, everyone here, we—we are rejoicing in these commitments. And—and the blessing that that is.

And I—I know Lavon and I would sometimes talk about it, that, you know, we kind of—most people tend to, um, follow or embrace the religion that they grew up in. But I'd like just to imagine a little bit. Imagine, like, my grandparents—both my grandparents—were at my baptism, and now our children both—both their grandparents are here at their baptism. And, you know, it's—it's been a couple generations. Hasn't been without its, um, opportunities to take offense.

Like Brandon said, but, you know, there's—there's generations of faithfulness. But just imagine with me if—if my parents, my grandparents, would have been Buddhist, or, you know, every week we would meet to worship this idol. And we've done this for years, we've done it for generations. And, um, and now you make—make another choice. You—you're going a different route.

You're—you embrace the Christian faith, the—you embrace Jesus Christ that people have said, that came to this earth, died, and rose again, and died for our sins. And you find this freedom. And now you are different from what we have always done. And, you know, some of these religions have pilgrimages where they even crawl on their hands and knees to, I don't know how many miles, to—to kind of appease their—their god, or whatever they—they sacrifice to it.

And now you're taking a different, um, you're making a different choice for the truth. Um, would I—would I—and I have to ask myself that question: would I make that choice? Or would I just, um, continue in—in what I've always been taught, what my parents would have taught? And, um, and it's a question I think we should ask ourselves: how committed am I? And the person writing the article here just said—and I do not know who is qualified to answer it, but as I ponder it, I tend to think that my answer is no.

I'm not sure that anyone that is honest—I'm not sure that anyone is that honest. The stories I hear of Muslims correct-converting to Christianity normally involve divine intervention, like God giving them, like all of us, more opportunity than they deserve. And, you know, it's often, uh, of course, at that point they still have the choice to accept or reject the call from God.

Um, and we know how even, like, Saul, or who was later Paul, on his way to Damascus, he—he knew the law and Moses, he knew the prophets, yet he missed the gospel. He missed the truth. And God sent a light to—to—that struck him down, made him blind, so that he could see the truth. But, you know, this—this generations of faithfulness, of serving the Lord, do I see that as an opportunity to—to be faithful as well?

Um, another quote from—or from the article here, it says, "When I think about this, I should respond in at least three ways. Number one is, I should bow my head. I should worship God for revealing Himself to me in ways that I do not deserve. I should ask God to grant me greater and ongoing light, since that is my only hope for escaping deception." We—we need God's light upon our life to, um, continue. Um, we need His word. We can't just put it on cruise because it's—it's something our family has always done.

It's—it's, uh, we need to struggle with it ourselves. We need to fight that battle. And so I've been thinking, for a message I was thinking about, you know, what is the truth? What is truth? I have a little something I'd like to write on the board here. I came across this a couple months ago, and it—it kind of stuck in my—my mind about truth. It's been going through my mind a lot.

Um, you know, from the cowardice that shrinks from new truth, from the laziness that is content with half-truths, and from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, O God of truth, deliver us. We need to be delivered from that. And I—I can say I've been in all three of those places, where, you know, shrink back from a new truth that's revealed to us. Um, or we—or just kind of content with something maybe that's half-right. To the a—the a—the arrogance of—of thinking I—I know everything.

I'd like to start out with, uh, in, uh, John 18, where Jesus was before Pilate. And, um, Pilate was trying to figure out what to do with Jesus there. And, uh, John chapter 18, verse 36. Pilate was asking Him if He is a king and trying to—and Jesus wasn't—wasn't really answering Him. Then in John 18, verse 36, He says, "Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews?

But now is my kingdom not from hence.' Pilate therefore said unto Him, 'Art thou a king then?' Jesus answered, 'Thou sayest that I am a king; to this end was I born. And for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.'" Notice the word "truth" there. "Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice." Pilate saith unto Him, "What is truth?" What is truth? Jesus said, "Though everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice." And I'm—I'm not sure how Pilate said that.

It seemed like Pilate was trying to—he wanted to release Jesus. At the same time, he—he feared the people. And he—he just asked the question, "Well, well, what is truth?" And then he—he—he left it at that. You know, a dictionary definition of truth would be conformity to a fact, or something that's actual. This was some definitions that I found about it. It says, "Fidelity to an original or standard." Another definition is reality, actuality.

"A statement proven to be or accepted as true." Sincerity, integrity, and then it also mentioned truth and God there. You know, when we build a building, or we're using lumber, sometimes we'll—we'll hold a board up, look down across it to—to see if it's true, if it's straight. You know, we need—in order to make a—a building that—that functions properly, we need—we need something that's—we need something to measure off of.

We need a—a tape measure, we need a level, we need a square, something that's true, something that's right. You know, a building can't—can't be built properly without these. And, you know, often we find some of the lumber that we use might not always be straight, might not always be, um, true. And then we need something to—to measure off of. If we—if we make a pattern, say we're cutting rafters or something, and we make a pattern and we keep using the next one that we've cut, we'll soon—we'll soon get off course.

Soon our pieces won't be fitting because we weren't using the original pattern. Truth. Just what is truth. And, you know, many people shy away from the truth. But Jesus said in—in John chapter 8, verse 32, He says, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." What is this truth that sets us free? That gives us peace. You know, we can, um, the—the—the devil likes to—wants us to believe that truth is bondage.

Truth is, um, we—you don't really want to know the truth because, uh, it, uh, it reveals things about you that you don't want to know. Or it—it puts you in bondage. But Jesus—Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." In John chapter 3, that's where John 3:16 is, but I'd like to read a couple of the verses after that. Um, it talks about the light. You know, truth is light. Light is revealing. John chapter 3, starting at verse 19.

And this is the condemnation that light—may I just back up to verse 16. Um, it talks about Jesus being lifted up. He came as a light. Where He says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." And this is—and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world, but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. "For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." There, in verse 21, it says, "But he that doeth truth." How do we do truth? Part of—I believe part of doing truth is coming to the light. Do we like to walk in the light? Do we—you know, I have to think of physical darkness. It gets dark fairly early anymore. And, you know, mornings it seems like it about doesn't get light.

With winter coming and the days getting shorter, and, you know, I find if I'm working outside and it gets dark, we—you know, we have lots of lights we can turn on, we can kind of keep going. But it's still not the same as when it's light. Um, we can just see a whole lot better. You know, we make a lot of hay, and so sometimes we're picking up hay after dark. And I don't really like doing that because it—it's just hard to see where everything is.

You know, you can shine across the field and there's a shadow, and—and you can't see—see what's out there. And then usually when the sun comes up, we can go around and look, and, you know, bales are big, big round bales, but somehow we can miss them if we're in the dark.

You know, most of us have probably experienced being out in the dark, where, you know, we go out to another building to get something, and, you know, we—we see something, and, you know, it makes the hair stand up on our back and on our neck, and it's kind of like, "What is that?" I mean, I—I don't know what that is. Um, you know, is it—is it just a vehicle, or a tree, or—or you know, we can't—we can't see clearly.

And there's another verse that talks about the person that walks in darkness, stumbles, and doesn't even really know what he's stumbling over. He just, you know, he trips and falls. And—and if it's dark, I've walked out to the barn already, and there's kind of a path I take, and it's dark, and someone left his bike right—right across there.

And so, you know, you're stepping along there, and all of a sudden you're tripping over this thing and trying to get your balance, and it's dark, and you can't really, um, can't—it's—it's hard to—to find your way. Light is just so much better. It's just so nice when there's light and you can see, and we can see around. Part of doing truth is coming to the light. In, uh, in John chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world.

He that follows me shall not walk in darkness." We don't have to not know what we're stumbling at. "But shall have the light of life." And, you know, that light is actually life. Jesus calls us to follow Him and abide in Him. You know, recently we had a brother chall—challenge us, you know, if there would be a room upstairs that we would know has—has the presence of God, would I go there? Would I want to go there? I'd like to think I would, but yet I find within myself kind of, "Would I really?

Would I really want to go there?" I'd like to look at, um, the woman at the well, uh, that Jesus met, and see her response to—to Jesus, the—the—the light of the world. If I have the reference right, it's in John chapter 4, starting at verse 6. You know, maybe what—what questions would I ask? You know, if there'd be this room that would have the presence of God. Let's see how this woman responded here. This was a woman that—that lived in sin, and, uh, she—but in a lot of ways she was open and honest.

John chapter 4, starting at verse 6. "Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.

Jesus saith unto her, 'Give." Jesus answered and said unto her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, who it is that saith to thee, 'Give me to drink,' thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." The woman saith unto him, "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou this living water?

Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?" And Jesus answered unto her, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I give shall be in him a well of waters springing up into everlasting life." You know, this woman was just—she was just full of questions.

The woman saith unto him, "Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." Jesus saith unto her, "Go call thy husband, and come hither." And, you know, at this point she could have just left, because, um, but she knew Jesus didn't really know it, or she thought Jesus didn't know her. So she just—the woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said unto her, "Thou hast well said, I have no husband.

For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now—now hast is not thy husband, in that setest thou truly." So now she's saying, the woman saith unto him, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." You know, this man knows something about her that no one else does. "I—I perceive that you're a prophet." And so she had a question that she wanted to ask him, and it was about where they worshipped.

So she said, you know, after—after she perceives that he's a prophet, she says, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." And then Jesus answered there, said—Jesus saith unto her, "Woman, believe me: the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father." Ye worship, ye know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, "I know that Messiah is cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things." Jesus saith unto her, "I that speak unto thee am he." Um, Jesus clearly revealed himself to this woman. She, um, she was being open. She was being honest.

And I also like then if we go down to verse, uh, starting at verse 28 again. It says, "The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 'Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?'" That was what she told the people in—in the city there. You know, "Come see a man that knows everything about me. He—he told me everything I ever did." There was—there was no hiding.

And if we—if we go down to verse, um, Jesus talked about the harvest being plentiful there, and—and then in verse 39 it says, "And many of the Samaritans of the—of that city believed on him. For the saying of the woman which testified, 'He told me all that I ever did.'" You know, that—that's why many people believed in Jesus from that city, is because this woman said he, you know, he just—he could see through me. He—he could—he knew everything I ever did. You know, that was her response.

And we also know how the scribes and the Pharisees responded to—to Jesus' teaching when he told them their motives and their intents. Instead of facing it, they—they wanted to get rid of this light. They'd rather be in the darkness. They wanted to—to get rid of him. But this woman here, she—she re—it's almost like she rejoiced in the fact that Jesus knew everything about her. And that's who—who's calling us to walk in—in the light. We have questions.

I also had to think of Zacchaeus, uh, a man that—he was a tax collector, and he was short, and I probably didn't have a very good reputation among the Jews there. But he heard Jesus was coming, and he—he ran ahead somewhere, and he climbed up this tree. You know, if we see a grown man just climbing up a tree, you know, when we see boys doing that, that's one thing. I mean, it's—that's normal. But to—to see a man climbing up a tree for, you know, unless he's after something or—but he—he climbed up this tree.

He—he—he wanted to see Jesus. And then Jesus stopped there and told him to come down, and said that he's going to go to his house. And we know how that—it doesn't really say in the Bible what all they talked about, but they—Zacchaeus said, you know, "If I have wronged people, I'm going to repay everything that I've taken from them, and, uh, I'm going to, uh, give, I think it was half of his goods to feed the poor." You know, Jesus had an effect on him. He—he welcomed that light.

And I believe it can have the same effect on us if—if we welcome—if we walk in that light, walk in the truth. And, you know, there's also a—a danger of not embracing the truth. When we draw back into the shadows, I think sometimes when we're—I know for myself, if I'm faced with the truth, it—the tendency is sometimes to—to—you know, I—I don't want to face it. But when we're faced with truths, we need to embrace them and, uh, have a—we need to ask God to have a love for the truth.

In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 10 talks about what happens when we—we don't—don't love the truth. We become dece—deceived, and we deceive ourselves, and it's—it's very easy to do. If I can find Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 10 talks about Satan here. In verse—verse 9 in—in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, "Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, in them that perish." Why?

"Because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." And then what happens when we don't have that love of the truth? It says—verse 11 it says, "For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." You know, if we look in the world, we—we see that happening. It's, um, people believe something that's wrong, something that doesn't work, that has been proven not to work.

Um, immorality, drunkenness, and the—people keep doing it because they think it—it won't happen, um, you know, "I'll control it," or, "I don't, you know, I won't go that far." Also in—in James chapter 1 talks about loving the truth. James chapter 1, verse, uh, starting at verse 16. It says, "Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, because he has begotten us with the word of truth; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness, and superfluity of naughtiness," which would mean abundance of wickedness, "and receive with meekness the engrafted or the implanted word, which is able to save your souls; but be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." If we're just a hearer and not a doer, we deceive ourselves.

"For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man, beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." And, you know, it's fairly simple. It's—we don't have to, um, it's good to have a—a deep understanding of the truth, and yet it just affects how we live our lives.

Verse 27 here it says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." Doing truth, coming to the light, walking in the light. When—when we walk in that truth, God wants us to be the firstfruits of his righteousness, the—the best. And then it talks about being slow to speak, um, or swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

You know, we're quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to wrath, even when another person's in the wrong, because we—we need to remember that we are undeserving of the truth that—that we hold. You know, there's the possibility of, uh, taking in information, learning lots of things, and still not coming to the knowledge of the truth. Paul warned Timothy of that, about ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

You know, Paul or Saul, on his way to Damascus there, he was taught in the word, and yet he didn't have the truth of the gospel until God shone that light, and—and, uh, and—and struck him down. And—and he—he came to the place where he—he—he asked God, "Lord, what—what—what shall I do? I'm done here." And we should count it a blessing when we get to the—to the point where we—we are done, and we want to, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Here's my life. Here I am.

Use me as—as you see fit." 2 Timothy chapter 4, I'd like to look at another verse. Um, or, you know, it's 1 Timothy. Paul instructing Timothy. Where it talks about, um, I'm not sure if I wrote the wrong reference down here. Yeah, it's 2 Timothy chapter 4, starting at verse 3. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." You know, we have lots of opportunities to listen to lots of things.

You know, do—do we listen to things that just, um, uh, tickle our desires, or—or tickle our ears? Things that are, um, it says, "to heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." But if we do that, verse 4 it says, "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables." Things that aren't true. Just things that are, um, a—a story someone tells, without really any moral. It's just, uh, just something to—to tickle our—tickle our ears, or something to entertain us.

In verse 5, he tells Timothy what he should do, "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." We are to be awake, alert, and watching. In, uh, as—as we live our life, not just going with the flow. You know, we need—need to use Jesus as our example and our pattern. We need to read the word of God. We need to continually be—to be washed in the word of God. Because we—we live in a—in a sinful world, and we need to keep going back to that pattern.

Um, there's a verse in Hebrews about the word of God. It's quick and powerful, and it's sharper than any two-edged sword, and it divides, uh, the thoughts or the intents of the heart. Do—do we know? Do we want—do I want to know what my heart's intentions are? Or do I want to—do I shy away from that? You know, I think we can even read the word of God and just kind of let it go over our head, and not let it sink in, not really let the light shine in.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 says, "For the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing a—a sunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Light, something that exposes. We need to love righteousness and hate wickedness.

There's a verse in Psalm 45, part of the verse there, it says about loving righteousness and hating wickedness, hating the things that God hates, and loving the truth, loving righteousness. It's pretty easy for us to—our senses to kind of get dulled by our surroundings, and we kind of get used to things. But if—if the word of God is our pattern, if—if we—if we take that and we ask God to reveal—reveal his truth to us, then we can walk in the light, and we don't need to be stumbling around.

In, uh, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12 is a verse that talks about measuring ourselves, or people that measure themselves among themselves. It says they're not wise. Um, we need good examples. There's other verses that in Psalms talks about marking the perfect man, "Behold the upright." What kind of life do they live? Paul told the Philippians that to—to follow him as he follows Christ, and—and to, you know, we need good examples. We need to encourage one another in the truth. What kind of lives do they live?

You know, in, uh, in Proverbs chapter 1, it talks about wisdom or truth. I remember as a young man, when this stood out to me, there was someone was preaching out of this, and, uh, I'd like to start at verse 7 here. It says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother; for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not; if they say, 'Come with us, let us lay weight for blood, let us lurk privilege for the innocent without cause, let us swallow them up alive as the grave, and whole as those that go down into the pit; we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path; for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird." You know, if there's a snare or something set up, if we—if we see it, let's not run into it. "So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the street, she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates.

In the city she uttereth her words, saying." If we look around, wisdom is crying out, "This works, this doesn't." Are we going to apply to wisdom? "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? And the scorners delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn ye at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." You know, just notice how this changes here. It says, "Because I have called, and ye refused," we refuse to embrace the truth or wisdom.

"I have stretched out my hand; no man regardeth; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof." And this is what happens if that is our response. "I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." "When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh upon you." Then we're going to be looking for wisdom. Then we're going to be looking for the truth.

But it says, "Then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them; the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

But who so hearkeneth unto me, embraces the truth, embraces wisdom, shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." Do I just want to eat the fruit of my own way? Or do I want to apply wisdom to my life? Let's not, like Pilate, when faced with a choice what to do with the way, the truth, and the life was standing right there before him, let's, uh, make mockery of the truth by the way we live our life or the places we go.

You know, the time is coming when every knee is going to bow to—to Jesus, and we need to bow before him daily. Let's not just walk away and just, "Well, what is truth?" You know, we don't always know maybe what decision to make, but let's embrace the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and that truth, and walk in the light, and, uh, so we can see how to go, and not—not be stumbling over things that we don't need to stumble over when we walk in the darkness. Are there any.