WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.259 series entitled Truth or Consequences, which 00:00:04.259 --> 00:00:06.440 is part of the overall series we've been doing 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:11.419 this summer on apologetics. And this morning 00:00:11.419 --> 00:00:13.980 we're going to continue the message that I began 00:00:13.980 --> 00:00:17.519 last week and develop then into the title that 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:19.879 was given for this morning, and that is Are There 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:24.879 Absolutes? In John chapter 18 we have seen this 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.500 morning already in the scripture reading the 00:00:27.500 --> 00:00:30.850 question by Pilate. Proceeding that question, 00:00:31.070 --> 00:00:33.369 however, Jesus made a statement to him in which 00:00:33.369 --> 00:00:38.450 he said, I came into the world to testify to 00:00:38.450 --> 00:00:42.950 the truth. It was that statement that caused 00:00:42.950 --> 00:00:46.750 Pilate to sarcastically respond to Jesus, what 00:00:46.750 --> 00:00:51.969 is truth? Now whether in sarcasm or with some 00:00:51.969 --> 00:00:54.229 other attitude, that is a question that is very 00:00:54.229 --> 00:00:57.070 common. in the world in which you and I live 00:00:57.070 --> 00:01:01.490 today. What is truth? And last week we began 00:01:01.490 --> 00:01:06.290 to answer that question as best as we could with 00:01:06.290 --> 00:01:10.469 a very practical kind of definition. Truth is 00:01:10.469 --> 00:01:15.250 that which corresponds to reality. A little boy 00:01:15.250 --> 00:01:18.290 comes to his mother and he has chocolate around 00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:21.129 his mouth and she says to him, son, have you 00:01:21.129 --> 00:01:25.659 been in the M &Ms? And he looks up at her and 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:31.859 he says, no. Is that the truth? Well, unfortunately, 00:01:31.939 --> 00:01:35.400 it doesn't correspond with reality. He's been 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:39.079 in the candy and the evidence shows that he has. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:42.920 And so the truth is what corresponds with reality. 00:01:43.579 --> 00:01:48.060 It is unchangeable. It's dependable. It's what 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:53.480 is real. It's what is real as opposed to what 00:01:53.480 --> 00:02:00.159 is false or what changes or what only seems to 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:06.120 be. Truth is what conforms to reality. Not everyone, 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:10.039 however, agrees that truth is defined that way. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:13.439 Some people can say that you cannot know for 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:17.000 sure what truth is, that it's a silly idea even 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.460 to talk about truth. Others say that we can know 00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:24.039 some truths, but there are other truths like 00:02:24.030 --> 00:02:26.930 questions about ultimate reality that we cannot 00:02:26.930 --> 00:02:30.090 know, such as questions of God and morality. 00:02:31.530 --> 00:02:33.490 Still others will say, well, there is truth, 00:02:33.550 --> 00:02:38.629 but all truth is relative. What truth is depends 00:02:38.629 --> 00:02:41.969 on a variety of things, including the situation. 00:02:42.789 --> 00:02:45.590 But the Christian view of all of this is simply 00:02:45.590 --> 00:02:50.990 that truth exists. Truth exists. Absolute truth 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:57.460 exists. And A step further, you can know what 00:02:57.460 --> 00:03:00.939 it is. Now every Christian should be able to 00:03:00.939 --> 00:03:05.520 defend that idea because that idea is under attack 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:09.800 in our culture. Truth exists and you can know 00:03:09.800 --> 00:03:12.319 what it is. And I want to go one step further 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:16.400 and say that discovering the truth is your most 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:22.539 urgent quest. If truth in fact exists, The most 00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:25.000 important question you must deal with today is 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.080 what is truth? And that's what we want to talk 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:32.680 about. What is truth? Last week in the message, 00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:36.340 we began answering that by saying that truth 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:44.060 is what God is. Truth is what God is. When Jesus 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:48.680 came into the world, he came as the truth, the 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:52.870 God of truth. In John chapter one, verse 14, 00:03:53.030 --> 00:03:56.870 the apostle John, writing about that, says that 00:03:56.870 --> 00:04:01.830 the word, the Son of God, became flesh and made 00:04:01.830 --> 00:04:05.909 his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, 00:04:06.689 --> 00:04:11.069 the glory of the one and only who came from the 00:04:11.069 --> 00:04:15.009 Father, full of grace and, what's the last word? 00:04:15.689 --> 00:04:22.610 Truth. Full of grace and truth. God eternally 00:04:22.610 --> 00:04:28.069 exists as truth. So in answer to the question 00:04:28.069 --> 00:04:31.709 what is truth, the first answer is truth is what 00:04:31.709 --> 00:04:38.410 God is. He is the God of truth. Now today we 00:04:38.410 --> 00:04:41.370 want to press on into the message and think about 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:43.709 a second way to answer that question, what is 00:04:43.709 --> 00:04:49.110 truth, and it's this. Truth is what God establishes. 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:56.240 Truth is what God establishes. God who is truth 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:01.379 has created a world in which truth exists as 00:05:01.379 --> 00:05:06.779 an integral reality. Now if that statement is 00:05:06.779 --> 00:05:09.879 true, then it must necessarily be evident. We 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:13.540 must be able to see it. If one is looking for 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:17.019 the truth, it must be obvious to us if in fact 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:20.420 God has created a world in which truth exists 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:26.160 as an integral, integrated reality. Open your 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:31.240 Bible to Romans chapter one and verse 18. To 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:34.879 these striking words by the Apostle Paul, he 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:38.600 says, the wrath of God is being revealed from 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:43.060 heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:52.290 of men. who, he says, suppress the truth. It 00:05:52.290 --> 00:05:56.230 means that they hold down, they restrain the 00:05:56.230 --> 00:06:02.189 truth by their wickedness since what may be known 00:06:02.189 --> 00:06:07.610 about God is plain to them because God has made 00:06:07.610 --> 00:06:13.370 it plain to them. Paul is in this text saying 00:06:13.370 --> 00:06:17.769 what we have said. in the point that God has 00:06:17.769 --> 00:06:21.829 established truth and it is integrated into the 00:06:21.829 --> 00:06:26.629 whole of creation. What may be known about God 00:06:26.629 --> 00:06:33.009 is plain to anyone who will see it. But we live 00:06:33.009 --> 00:06:37.949 in a world that does not wish to see it. It restrains 00:06:37.949 --> 00:06:43.079 the truth, it holds it down. As verse 25 of this 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:46.600 same chapter goes on to say, they, that is the 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:53.740 godless, exchanged the truth of God for a lie 00:06:53.740 --> 00:06:58.079 and worshiped and served created things rather 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:02.220 than the creator who is forever praised. When 00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:06.019 he says that they exchanged the truth for a lie, 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.360 what he's saying is that this was a deliberate 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:14.290 act of the will. It was not inadvertent. It was 00:07:14.290 --> 00:07:19.730 intentional. There is a deliberate rejection 00:07:19.730 --> 00:07:26.129 on the part of godless people of the truth. The 00:07:26.129 --> 00:07:30.209 paraphrase of the Bible that was written by Eugene 00:07:30.209 --> 00:07:33.910 Peterson puts the verse this way. They traded 00:07:33.910 --> 00:07:39.509 the true God for a fake God. and worship the 00:07:39.509 --> 00:07:44.290 God they made instead of the God who made them. 00:07:46.629 --> 00:07:49.769 The reason that our world today has rejected 00:07:49.769 --> 00:07:52.610 the truth of God is because it wants to create 00:07:52.610 --> 00:07:55.689 its own God, one that makes them comfortable. 00:07:57.970 --> 00:08:01.610 And yet the existence of truth or absolutes in 00:08:01.610 --> 00:08:05.860 the universe Indeed, the absolute necessity of 00:08:05.860 --> 00:08:07.519 them, if you'll pardon me for saying it that 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:11.959 way, the absolute necessity of absolutes should 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:15.720 be obvious to anybody. We sometimes call these 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:19.120 absolutes universal truths or laws because they 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:25.079 are rules or principles that govern us and the 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:29.959 reality around us. They are apparent to us. These 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:35.289 absolutes are critical to our lives. For example, 00:08:35.309 --> 00:08:39.769 consider a few of the absolutes or truths of 00:08:39.769 --> 00:08:43.590 science which God has built into science and 00:08:43.590 --> 00:08:48.210 into creation. We depend upon these stable, unchanging 00:08:48.210 --> 00:08:53.169 laws which are called the laws of nature for 00:08:53.169 --> 00:08:57.830 progress. We didn't make these laws, we simply 00:08:57.830 --> 00:09:01.929 discovered these laws are present. in the universe. 00:09:03.409 --> 00:09:06.490 We have discovered, for example, that there are 00:09:06.490 --> 00:09:11.250 parts to atoms and they act in certain ways. 00:09:12.909 --> 00:09:16.149 We have discovered that there are certain basic 00:09:16.149 --> 00:09:21.350 chemical properties of the elements and that 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:24.950 combining them together in specific ways always 00:09:24.950 --> 00:09:30.009 produces the same result. We observe around us 00:09:30.009 --> 00:09:35.049 in creation that time moves forward and not backward. 00:09:36.009 --> 00:09:40.230 Have you ever noticed that? There's the law of 00:09:40.230 --> 00:09:43.470 action and reaction. The third law of motion 00:09:43.470 --> 00:09:47.309 that Newton wrote about states for every action 00:09:47.309 --> 00:09:53.870 there is an equal and opposite reaction. Now 00:09:53.870 --> 00:09:58.830 all of these and hundreds more are laws or absolutes 00:09:58.830 --> 00:10:03.850 that are written into science. They have long 00:10:03.850 --> 00:10:08.789 been understood as absolutes. Robert Boyle, who 00:10:08.789 --> 00:10:13.169 was a 17th century philosopher and scientist 00:10:13.169 --> 00:10:17.669 and a Christian, said, nature is nothing else 00:10:17.669 --> 00:10:23.240 but God. Acting according to certain laws, He 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:30.779 Himself fixed. Folks, the scientific method by 00:10:30.779 --> 00:10:34.259 which we make discoveries would be absolutely 00:10:34.259 --> 00:10:37.220 nonsense and impossible without the assumption 00:10:37.220 --> 00:10:43.840 that there are unchangeable truths in this universe. 00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:51.919 What about mathematics? Two plus two equals what? 00:10:53.580 --> 00:11:00.080 Does two plus two ever equal nine? No, it doesn't. 00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:06.299 That is a truth. It's an absolute. A triangle 00:11:06.299 --> 00:11:10.419 is always composed of three sides and three angles, 00:11:11.139 --> 00:11:13.679 the angles of which add up to how many degrees? 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:18.379 180. Does it ever happen that they add up to 00:11:18.379 --> 00:11:26.120 210? Not if it's a triangle. You see, there are 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:28.659 absolutes in mathematics, and it's because of 00:11:28.659 --> 00:11:33.820 these kinds of absolutes, these kinds of universal 00:11:33.820 --> 00:11:39.539 truths, if you will, that NASA was able to shoot 00:11:39.539 --> 00:11:42.580 a rocket several months ago with a payload, a 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:46.860 820 pound payload that they smashed into a comet. 00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:50.440 83 million miles away while that comet was moving 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:52.779 at thousands and thousands of miles an hour. 00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:55.480 Someone said it was like shooting a bullet with 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:59.259 a bullet. How are they able to make those kinds 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:05.059 of mathematical calculations? It's because there 00:12:05.059 --> 00:12:09.659 are absolutes in mathematics. Where did they 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:15.059 come from? Did we create them? No. They simply 00:12:15.059 --> 00:12:21.639 exist. in our universe. And as Christians, we 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:24.240 understand where they came from. They are not 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:28.200 accidental. They are designed into our universe. 00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:32.440 If you'll pardon me for saying it this way, today 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:35.220 a lot of evolutionary scientists have a wedgie 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:40.519 going on. Because you see, they are confronted 00:12:40.519 --> 00:12:44.860 with a concept called intelligent design that 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:48.500 they cannot escape. They can argue against it, 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:54.279 they can deny it, but a rational thinking person 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:57.120 understands that there is design in this universe. 00:12:57.399 --> 00:12:59.620 If you don't want to label it as God having done 00:12:59.620 --> 00:13:03.500 it, then fine. Say you don't know where it came 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:06.100 from, but acknowledge at least that there is 00:13:06.100 --> 00:13:09.960 design in this universe. They're in a lot of 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:16.210 pain, I feel sorry for them. What about the absolutes 00:13:16.210 --> 00:13:19.070 of geography? I mean, facts are facts, aren't 00:13:19.070 --> 00:13:23.169 they? The Sea of Galilee is still located today 00:13:23.169 --> 00:13:26.129 in the Great Rift Valley at a certain longitude 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:29.250 and latitude where it was 2 ,000 years ago when 00:13:29.250 --> 00:13:34.070 Jesus was here. It has not migrated over into 00:13:34.070 --> 00:13:38.529 Central Asia somewhere. It's a fact, that's where 00:13:38.529 --> 00:13:43.779 it is. San Jose is where it has been. since the 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:47.779 last earthquake, at least. It was founded here. 00:13:47.799 --> 00:13:50.100 We know where San Jose is. When you get on an 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:52.019 airplane in Chicago and you're gonna fly to San 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:54.240 Jose, the pilot doesn't come on and say, well, 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:57.019 we're flying toward where San Jose used to be 00:13:57.019 --> 00:13:59.559 and we hope that when we get there, we can find 00:13:59.559 --> 00:14:05.299 it. No. He puts some numbers into the computer 00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:08.620 on the airplane and the navigational system takes 00:14:08.620 --> 00:14:10.779 him to the San Jose airport because San Jose 00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:13.769 is fixed here. You see, there are facts, there 00:14:13.769 --> 00:14:17.909 are absolutes in geography. What about history? 00:14:19.250 --> 00:14:21.269 Well, there can be a variety of interpretations 00:14:21.269 --> 00:14:25.850 of history, right? That's true. History in that 00:14:25.850 --> 00:14:28.090 sense may be subjective, but historical facts 00:14:28.090 --> 00:14:33.169 are not. George Washington was the first president 00:14:33.169 --> 00:14:38.509 of the United States. That's a fact. Now you 00:14:38.509 --> 00:14:40.950 may want to interpret nuances about that and 00:14:40.950 --> 00:14:42.909 do dances around it to come up with some kind 00:14:42.909 --> 00:14:47.029 of a theory politically, but the fact is he was 00:14:47.029 --> 00:14:48.730 the first president, and that doesn't change. 00:14:48.750 --> 00:14:52.950 It hasn't changed in 220 years, and it will still 00:14:52.950 --> 00:14:57.570 be true 500 years from now. Ronald Reagan died 00:14:57.570 --> 00:15:01.909 on June the 5th, 2004. That's a historical fact. 00:15:03.980 --> 00:15:07.500 You were born at a certain time and place to 00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:11.899 certain parents. That's absolute. That's not 00:15:11.899 --> 00:15:15.860 going to change. Jesus Christ lived on this earth. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:22.299 He died. He rose again from the dead. Those are 00:15:22.299 --> 00:15:25.840 all historical absolutes. They are real events. 00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:30.120 The truth corresponds in all of these cases with 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:39.200 the reality. And in this sense, we can say, as 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:46.039 many have, that all truth is God's truth. Now, 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:48.320 there are people who will admit to this kind 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:50.000 of truth that I've just described to you. They 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.139 will say, yes, there is design in the universe. 00:15:53.220 --> 00:15:57.019 There are laws in the universe. What I'm saying 00:15:57.019 --> 00:15:59.720 is that that is truth that God has established. 00:16:00.909 --> 00:16:03.549 But they will then go on to say, while that kind 00:16:03.549 --> 00:16:08.250 of truth exists and can be known, you can't know 00:16:08.250 --> 00:16:16.230 truth about religion or morality. But Rick Cornish 00:16:16.230 --> 00:16:20.169 has some interesting questions. He says, why 00:16:20.169 --> 00:16:23.190 should these subjects be placed in a different 00:16:23.190 --> 00:16:31.470 category? He asks, How do you justify the inconsistency 00:16:31.470 --> 00:16:37.029 of divorcing them from truth while keeping math, 00:16:37.149 --> 00:16:45.169 science, and history in the realm of truth? He 00:16:45.169 --> 00:16:48.690 makes the statement, issues about God and spiritual 00:16:48.690 --> 00:16:52.610 matters either correspond to reality or they 00:16:52.610 --> 00:16:58.269 don't. Thus, they are subject to inquiry like 00:16:58.269 --> 00:17:02.309 other topics. They can be investigated even if 00:17:02.309 --> 00:17:07.490 by different methods. There is no justification 00:17:07.490 --> 00:17:13.549 for saying that truth about religion and morality 00:17:13.549 --> 00:17:18.269 is relative while all of these other things are 00:17:18.269 --> 00:17:22.829 absolute. That is a fundamental inconsistency 00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:27.740 in thinking. Ah, but someone says there are so 00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:31.880 many different opinions about what is morally 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:38.880 or theologically true, to which I say true, pardon 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.660 the pun. It is true, there are lots of different 00:17:42.660 --> 00:17:48.500 opinions about spiritual things, about theology, 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:52.519 about moral or ethical standards, lots of opinions, 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:58.630 but. Does that therefore require that they're 00:17:58.630 --> 00:18:02.549 all correct just because there are lots of different 00:18:02.549 --> 00:18:08.109 opinions? Or on the other hand, does it require 00:18:08.109 --> 00:18:12.910 that none of them are correct because there are 00:18:12.910 --> 00:18:19.650 so many different opinions? No. Does the fact 00:18:19.650 --> 00:18:22.089 that there are so many different opinions, so 00:18:22.089 --> 00:18:24.470 many different religions, so many different belief 00:18:24.470 --> 00:18:31.019 systems, require that just one of them cannot 00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:37.819 be the truth? No, it does not. Here's the human 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:41.480 reality. The writer of Proverbs says it very 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:44.359 succinctly, chapter 14, verse 12. There is a 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:47.359 way which seems right to a man, but the end of 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:52.759 it leads to death. Man continually seeks to develop 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:56.440 in the areas of religion and morality his own 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:03.380 way. And to him, based upon his own thinking, 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:09.759 it seems right. But in the end, it leads to death. 00:19:12.500 --> 00:19:14.519 Particularly in religion and morality, people 00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:19.470 want to create a system of thought. or religion 00:19:19.470 --> 00:19:23.990 that makes them comfortable. And then they want 00:19:23.990 --> 00:19:29.849 to label that their truth. And in a world of 00:19:29.849 --> 00:19:35.130 relativism, that kind of thing flourishes. You 00:19:35.130 --> 00:19:39.710 see sinners, and we're all sinners, some of us 00:19:39.710 --> 00:19:44.029 saved by grace, sinners want to compartmentalize 00:19:44.029 --> 00:19:48.329 our world. So that truth exists in some parts 00:19:48.329 --> 00:19:52.069 of our lives, but not in other parts of our lives. 00:19:52.690 --> 00:19:56.069 Oh, we want to depend upon fixed truth when it 00:19:56.069 --> 00:19:59.890 doesn't challenge us in certain ways. When we 00:19:59.890 --> 00:20:02.349 want to travel somewhere, we want fixed truth. 00:20:02.369 --> 00:20:04.769 When we go to the doctor, we want fixed truth. 00:20:05.630 --> 00:20:07.890 When we're going to depend upon a computer to 00:20:07.890 --> 00:20:10.690 work with certain technology, we want fixed truth. 00:20:12.670 --> 00:20:17.150 Because none of that challenges us. in our nature. 00:20:18.769 --> 00:20:21.390 But when we start feeling pressure and guilt 00:20:21.390 --> 00:20:24.549 and uncomfortable inside about the way we are 00:20:24.549 --> 00:20:28.990 living or who we are, then we're not so sure 00:20:28.990 --> 00:20:35.789 that we want fixed truth anymore. The rejection 00:20:35.789 --> 00:20:42.589 of moral truth has far more to do with the will 00:20:42.589 --> 00:20:47.759 than it does the intellect. Romans chapter one 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:52.079 clearly confirms that. It's not that people cannot 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:58.359 see and know the truth about God in the design 00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:02.700 of his universe. It's not that they cannot, it's 00:21:02.700 --> 00:21:09.039 that they will not exceed to that. Sinners do 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:13.579 not want to be held accountable to absolute truth. 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:19.720 But folks, moral absolutes are absolutely essential. 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:24.500 They are not arbitrary. They are essential for 00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:30.380 the protection of human life. They are essential 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:37.299 for the protection of human freedom. When a culture 00:21:37.299 --> 00:21:43.599 gives up absolutes, it eventually is going to 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:47.839 lose its genuine happiness, and its liberty. 00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:55.880 God establishes the truth. He establishes the 00:21:55.880 --> 00:22:01.079 facts, the ground rules, the realities that exist 00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:03.579 in our universe, whether they be mathematic or 00:22:03.579 --> 00:22:07.960 scientific or moral or spiritual, and that's 00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:15.200 the truth. Truth is what God establishes. Finally, 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:19.700 I want to say that truth is what God says. What 00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:24.880 God says. When God speaks, he must speak consistently 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:30.359 with his nature, which is truth. He cannot lie. 00:22:30.700 --> 00:22:34.900 He is who he is. In Numbers 23, 19 it says, God 00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:40.259 is not a man that he should lie. Titus 1 -2 says, 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:43.839 God cannot lie. Everything that God says is the 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:49.480 truth. God's word is truth, and it changes lives. 00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:54.279 God's word is what he says to you and me, and 00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:57.660 that word changes lives. Jesus prayed as we read 00:22:57.660 --> 00:23:01.799 earlier this morning in John 17, Father, sanctify 00:23:01.799 --> 00:23:09.250 them by the truth. Your word is truth. So you 00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:16.569 see, truth is not what I suppose it to be. Truth 00:23:16.569 --> 00:23:22.609 is not what I feel like it is. Truth is not what 00:23:22.609 --> 00:23:26.569 somebody else conceives it to be and I agree 00:23:26.569 --> 00:23:31.250 with them because philosophers have created diverse 00:23:31.250 --> 00:23:35.890 systems of ideas and almost all of them are contradictory. 00:23:37.259 --> 00:23:42.319 Truth is what God says. Truth is what the Bible 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:48.420 says. God is the source of truth because He is 00:23:48.420 --> 00:23:52.660 truth. And He has established our universe on 00:23:52.660 --> 00:23:58.480 laws that conform to who He is. And God has given 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:03.559 us a book that reveals established truth to us. 00:24:04.099 --> 00:24:08.450 And especially, if I may say so, moral and spiritual 00:24:08.450 --> 00:24:13.410 truth. The Bible is not primarily a history book. 00:24:13.650 --> 00:24:16.789 It's not primarily a mathematics book. It's not 00:24:16.789 --> 00:24:21.130 primarily a science book. God leaves those areas 00:24:21.130 --> 00:24:24.809 of discovery and conclusion to us, but the Bible 00:24:24.809 --> 00:24:29.289 does give to us revelation of God regarding spiritual 00:24:29.289 --> 00:24:33.490 and moral truth. Through the Bible, we come to 00:24:33.490 --> 00:24:37.450 understand truth. But here's another point that 00:24:37.450 --> 00:24:41.029 you need to get a hold of. Not only do we come 00:24:41.029 --> 00:24:43.549 to understand truth, truth is not only what we 00:24:43.549 --> 00:24:49.430 know, it's how we choose to live because of what 00:24:49.430 --> 00:24:56.529 we know. I walk in the truth when I align my 00:24:56.529 --> 00:25:01.829 life with what God says. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 00:25:01.829 --> 00:25:04.589 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. 00:25:04.670 --> 00:25:07.650 Say this with me. Trust in the Lord with all 00:25:07.650 --> 00:25:11.549 your heart and lean not to your own understanding. 00:25:12.210 --> 00:25:16.490 In all your ways acknowledge him and he will 00:25:16.490 --> 00:25:20.569 make your path straight. What that verse is really 00:25:20.569 --> 00:25:26.809 saying is align your life with God's truth. Trust 00:25:26.809 --> 00:25:30.700 in the Lord. With all your heart don't lean upon 00:25:30.700 --> 00:25:35.819 your own understandings and conclusions Especially 00:25:35.819 --> 00:25:41.279 when it comes to moral and spiritual truth Trust 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:46.920 in the Lord what he has said In all your ways 00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:52.440 align yourself with him and He then will direct 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:56.059 your journey make your path straight one of the 00:25:56.059 --> 00:26:03.480 greatest Inventions and toys in the last few 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:07.019 years is the GPS navigational system for cars. 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:11.799 I was riding with some folks who have that recently. 00:26:12.579 --> 00:26:16.779 I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It's probably 00:26:16.779 --> 00:26:19.839 a good thing I don't have it in my car because 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:23.839 I'd be watching it rather than the road. Amazing. 00:26:25.009 --> 00:26:28.829 We sat here in San Jose and we typed in an address 00:26:28.829 --> 00:26:34.869 in Simi Valley, California. And with that GPS 00:26:34.869 --> 00:26:37.730 system, we drove directly to where we wanted 00:26:37.730 --> 00:26:42.950 to go. It told us every road, every turn to make, 00:26:43.390 --> 00:26:47.230 it named the streets, and all the driver had 00:26:47.230 --> 00:26:50.710 to do was align himself with what the GPS system 00:26:50.710 --> 00:26:55.119 said to do. We arrived at our destination. I 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:57.119 want to say to you that that's what this verse 00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:01.700 in Proverbs is saying. Let God be your GPS system 00:27:01.700 --> 00:27:05.500 when it comes to how you live. Align your life 00:27:05.500 --> 00:27:08.660 to what he says and you will get to your destination. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:14.200 That's wisdom. But on the other hand, if I conform 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:20.720 to the world's ideas and deny God's truth, that's 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:23.839 foolishness. And folks, there's a lot of foolishness 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:28.900 going on these days. Everybody else is doing 00:27:28.900 --> 00:27:35.359 it, I'm going to do it too. Oh, that's not sex. 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:41.380 It doesn't matter what we do because he loves 00:27:41.380 --> 00:27:46.500 me. He says we're going to get married. It's 00:27:46.500 --> 00:27:51.599 my life, I can do what I want to with it. I just 00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:56.859 wanna have some fun. Are those not the kinds 00:27:56.859 --> 00:28:02.640 of statements that control people's lives? If 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:05.319 you wanna get your life totally screwed up, if 00:28:05.319 --> 00:28:08.440 you wanna end up in the wrong destination, live 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:12.240 by those kinds of statements, because those statements 00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:17.099 are the world's foolishness. You have just turned 00:28:17.099 --> 00:28:21.279 off God's GPS. when you listen to those kinds 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:25.140 of statements and follow them. Rather what we 00:28:25.140 --> 00:28:28.900 need to do is to turn on God's word and God's 00:28:28.900 --> 00:28:32.759 wisdom and listen to his truth because it has 00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:36.619 intrinsic power to change or to sanctify us. 00:28:37.539 --> 00:28:41.519 Paul has some strong words of admonition in Ephesians 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:45.119 chapter four and I come quickly to my close as 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:49.500 we look at this. With the Lord's authority, he 00:28:49.500 --> 00:28:54.339 says, I say this, live no longer as the Gentiles 00:28:54.339 --> 00:29:01.579 do, for they are what? Hopelessly confused. Their 00:29:01.579 --> 00:29:06.299 minds are what? Full of darkness. They what? 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:13.460 Wonder far from the life God gives. Why? Because 00:29:13.460 --> 00:29:19.970 they have what? closed their minds and what? 00:29:20.230 --> 00:29:28.150 Hardened their hearts against him. That's where 00:29:28.150 --> 00:29:33.630 relativism leads. That's where all of the wrong 00:29:33.630 --> 00:29:36.430 thinking that is so dominant in our culture today 00:29:36.430 --> 00:29:42.670 leads. And what does it go on to say? They therefore 00:29:42.670 --> 00:29:49.359 have no what? No sense of shame. Look at this. 00:29:49.880 --> 00:29:55.220 They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice 00:29:55.220 --> 00:30:01.319 every kind of impurity. But that isn't what you 00:30:01.319 --> 00:30:05.420 learned about Christ, says Paul to us. Since 00:30:05.420 --> 00:30:09.980 you have heard about Jesus and have learned what? 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:16.500 The truth that comes from him. Throw off your 00:30:16.500 --> 00:30:19.480 old sinful nature and your former way of life, 00:30:19.880 --> 00:30:25.480 which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, 00:30:25.740 --> 00:30:29.559 let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:33.019 Put on your new nature, created to be like God, 00:30:33.220 --> 00:30:38.059 truly righteous and holy. All those are great 00:30:38.059 --> 00:30:44.980 words for us today. Truth is what God says. If 00:30:44.980 --> 00:30:48.000 we are followers of Jesus Christ today, we have 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:51.640 heard, we have learned, now we are to live in 00:30:51.640 --> 00:31:00.940 what we know. Pilate said, what is truth? What 00:31:00.940 --> 00:31:04.119 I've helped, I hope, all of us see a little better 00:31:04.119 --> 00:31:09.319 is this. The truth is what God is. Truth is what 00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:16.759 God establishes. Truth is what God says. Someone 00:31:16.759 --> 00:31:18.920 may say, how can I be sure that I've discovered 00:31:18.920 --> 00:31:23.460 the truth? How can I be sure? Let me answer it 00:31:23.460 --> 00:31:28.359 this way. You know the truth when, number one, 00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:32.819 you trust Christ. You know the truth when you 00:31:32.819 --> 00:31:37.240 trust Christ. You need not fear error in your 00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:39.599 belief system from that point on that will lead 00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:44.390 you away from God. Jesus said, I am the way, 00:31:44.390 --> 00:31:49.910 what? The truth and the life. He also said, you 00:31:49.910 --> 00:31:52.650 shall know the truth and the truth shall set 00:31:52.650 --> 00:31:56.930 you free. You see the consequence of not knowing 00:31:56.930 --> 00:32:00.470 Christ is to remain in confusion and darkness 00:32:00.470 --> 00:32:03.710 and hardness and for your life to be really messed 00:32:03.710 --> 00:32:08.490 up in bondage. But you know the truth that sets 00:32:08.490 --> 00:32:12.349 you free when you trust Christ. as your Lord 00:32:12.349 --> 00:32:18.730 and Savior, have you trusted Him? Secondly, you 00:32:18.730 --> 00:32:22.549 know the truth when you face hostility. When 00:32:22.549 --> 00:32:25.809 you face hostility. You see, the world does not 00:32:25.809 --> 00:32:31.589 harass those who join it in suppressing the truth. 00:32:32.690 --> 00:32:36.490 But it will inevitably and eventually attack 00:32:36.490 --> 00:32:41.500 those who proclaim the truth. The world rejected 00:32:41.500 --> 00:32:46.940 Jesus and it will reject you if you walk in the 00:32:46.940 --> 00:32:52.680 truth. Jesus said in John 17 verse 14, I have 00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:56.880 given them your word and the world has hated 00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:01.960 them. For they are not of the world any more 00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:08.500 than I am of the world. Whenever you suffer ridicule, 00:33:08.569 --> 00:33:12.809 in your classroom because you stand for truth? 00:33:14.390 --> 00:33:21.670 Count that as a badge of courage and honor. It 00:33:21.670 --> 00:33:24.789 is an honor to suffer shame in the world for 00:33:24.789 --> 00:33:28.710 the sake of him who is the truth. If you're not 00:33:28.710 --> 00:33:31.930 a part of the truth, the world is going to love 00:33:31.930 --> 00:33:35.799 you to death. It's just gonna embrace you and 00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:37.779 think you're the greatest thing since sliced 00:33:37.779 --> 00:33:41.960 bread Because you're with the world you're of 00:33:41.960 --> 00:33:46.119 the world But if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, 00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:50.579 and you know the truth You're going to face hostility 00:33:50.579 --> 00:33:54.920 in the world don't be afraid of it Jesus said 00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:57.900 that we would but he said be of good cheer. I've 00:33:57.900 --> 00:34:03.269 overcome the world Thirdly, you know the truth 00:34:03.269 --> 00:34:06.730 when you practice holiness. Because you see the 00:34:06.730 --> 00:34:11.409 truth of God's word will inevitably correct your 00:34:11.409 --> 00:34:13.989 thinking and it will adjust your attitudes. It 00:34:13.989 --> 00:34:17.190 will check your motives and so it will end up 00:34:17.190 --> 00:34:21.550 changing your lifestyle. It will end up changing 00:34:21.550 --> 00:34:26.010 your lifestyle. Paul said throw off the old patterns 00:34:26.010 --> 00:34:29.190 of attitude and behavior. He said put on the 00:34:29.190 --> 00:34:37.190 new. You know the truth when your life is changing, 00:34:37.929 --> 00:34:41.130 little by little, to be more and more like Jesus. 00:34:42.789 --> 00:34:45.050 Is that the direction of your life as you look 00:34:45.050 --> 00:34:50.650 back over the last year? Do you see little changes 00:34:50.650 --> 00:34:52.909 going on in the way you think and the way you 00:34:52.909 --> 00:34:59.469 act that make you more like Jesus? The Apostle 00:34:59.469 --> 00:35:01.909 John said, I have no greater joy than this, than 00:35:01.909 --> 00:35:05.409 to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 00:35:06.650 --> 00:35:08.329 Do you know that that's the greatest assurance 00:35:08.329 --> 00:35:11.730 you can have of salvation, that you are walking 00:35:11.730 --> 00:35:16.090 in the truth? None of us has arrived. None of 00:35:16.090 --> 00:35:19.809 us is perfect. There are times we still fail 00:35:19.809 --> 00:35:22.269 the Lord, but the bent of our lives, the journey 00:35:22.269 --> 00:35:25.329 of our lives is in the direction of being more 00:35:25.329 --> 00:35:28.670 and more like him. I want to conclude with this 00:35:28.670 --> 00:35:30.690 little statement that you've seen on bumper stickers 00:35:30.690 --> 00:35:36.269 or maybe you've used yourself. But it says, no 00:35:36.269 --> 00:35:44.829 Christ, N -O, Christ, no peace. But no Christ, 00:35:45.030 --> 00:35:50.610 K -N -O -W, Christ, no peace. Do you know peace 00:35:50.610 --> 00:35:52.690 today? Do you have peace in your heart because 00:35:52.690 --> 00:35:56.780 Jesus is your savior? and you're walking with 00:35:56.780 --> 00:35:58.519 him as the Lord of your life and you're seeking 00:35:58.519 --> 00:36:02.039 to align your life according to the truth. Let 00:36:02.039 --> 00:36:04.260 me tell you, you're going to hear all kinds of 00:36:04.260 --> 00:36:07.159 interference. There will be other signals sent 00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:09.840 to you from within your own body, your own flesh, 00:36:10.099 --> 00:36:12.139 and there will be signals from the devil and 00:36:12.139 --> 00:36:15.139 signals from your peers who will seek to misdirect 00:36:15.139 --> 00:36:18.780 you and lead you in a different direction. But 00:36:18.780 --> 00:36:25.889 all you need to do is keep that GPS. centered 00:36:25.889 --> 00:36:30.809 on God's truth. And you will pass through this 00:36:30.809 --> 00:36:40.369 world and arrive in heaven. Let's pray. God, 00:36:40.369 --> 00:36:43.570 we live in a world that is continually beaming 00:36:43.570 --> 00:36:50.429 lies into our minds and into our hearts. Every 00:36:50.429 --> 00:36:53.210 day we are bombarded with it in what we read 00:36:53.210 --> 00:36:58.059 and what we watch. the things that we hear from 00:36:58.059 --> 00:37:02.360 friends, even the thoughts of our own corrupt 00:37:02.360 --> 00:37:08.780 natures. I pray that we will know the truth. 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.480 And then in a world that denies it even exists, 00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:15.179 that we will know it exists, and we will have 00:37:15.179 --> 00:37:18.019 it, we will own it, we will be in it, we will 00:37:18.019 --> 00:37:22.969 walk in it, it will direct our lives. I pray 00:37:22.969 --> 00:37:24.989 that may be true of every single one of us in 00:37:24.989 --> 00:37:27.889 the sound of my voice this morning so that we 00:37:27.889 --> 00:37:30.809 may live in this world to bring pleasure to you 00:37:30.809 --> 00:37:34.670 and one day know beyond the shadow of a doubt 00:37:34.670 --> 00:37:37.090 that when we leave this world, which we must, 00:37:38.269 --> 00:37:43.030 that we will come home to the kingdom, to the 00:37:43.030 --> 00:37:49.190 place where truth reigns on the throne. Amen. 00:37:50.860 --> 00:37:54.440 We are now going to remember him who is the truth 00:37:54.440 --> 00:37:55.920 and who spoke.