I'm gonna ask you to open your Bible with me
to Luke chapter 12, the Gospel of Luke and the
12th chapter. When my wife and I were traveling
a few weeks ago in the Northwest, there were
several occasions when one or the other of us
would say, look in the back, look through the
mirror, look where we've been. Because as you
know, as you're going through the mountains,
as you're climbing, you have wonderful views
around you. But as you climb in elevation, you
have the opportunity to look back to see where
you've been. And often the view behind you is
more spectacular than the one before you. I'd
like for us to take a look in the rear view mirror
this morning as we bring to a close this series
on apologetics. In April we had a brief series
of messages on making friends for heaven's sake.
That idea of making friends for the sake of God's
kingdom was not new to this congregation. Some
were already practicing it and we heard how they
were practicing it. The vision of making friends
for heaven's sake is to intentionally create
friendships with unbelievers and then to pray.
that God will provide opportunities, natural
opportunities to plant a witness in their lives.
And there were a number of folks in our congregation
who caught that vision and over the last several
months have been trying with God's help to connect
in a brand new way with unbelievers because one
of the issues a lot of us face is that we've
lost contact with them. Our friendships have
tended to gravitate toward other believers, and
we've lost friendships with unbelievers. We need
to rekindle those friendships. But when we do
that, there's a certain risk involved, and we
feel that risk because we're a little afraid
that we're going to be asked something or confronted
by something from these new friends that we don't
know how to deal with, a question that we don't
know how to answer perhaps. And so next we began
dealing with some of the common questions or
objections to the idea of being a person of faith.
And we reminded ourselves that everyone lives
by faith, by faith in something or someone. There
are no exceptions to that. Unbelievers live by
faith as well as we do. And we sought to demonstrate
that true faith is a reasonable thing. And we
sought to demonstrate that why trusting God and
what he says is absolutely the most reasonable
action that any of us can take. There is no contradiction
between faith and reason. God created us with
the capacity for both, and he expects us to use
both in our spiritual life. After that, we took
several weeks to examine why believing in Jesus
as the Son of God and in his cross as the payment
of God for our sins, why that makes sense. It
is reasonable, it is historical, it is the actual
real basis for our Christian faith. We do not
believe in blind faith. We believe in a faith
that is informed. Our faith rests upon information
that is true and accurate regarding Jesus, that
he is the son of God. But there are some who
find it hard to believe that anything is true.
For them, truth is unknowable. Or if it does
exist, you can't know it. We've invested now
several weeks in this whole idea of truth and
the fact that truth does exist and that there
are terrible consequences if we ignore or reject
the truth. A family, a person, a culture, a church
that rejects the truth is in deep, deep trouble
because truth comes to us from our creator. And
so I hope that we've come to an understanding
now after these several weeks that truth does
exist and that it's knowable. And because of
that, folks, it makes you and me responsible
for what we do with it. Truth exists, it is knowable,
and you and I are therefore responsible for what
we do with it. Notice the words of Jesus here
in the 12th chapter of Luke, and I begin in verse
42. The Lord answered, who then is the faithful
and wise manager whom the master puts in charge
of his servants to give them their food allowance
at the proper time? It will be good for that
servant whom the master finds so doing when he
returns. I tell you the truth. He will put him
in charge of all his possessions. But suppose
the servant says to himself, my master is taking
a long time in coming. And he then begins to
beat the men servants and maid servants and to
eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that
servant will come on a day when he does not expect
him and in an hour he is not aware of it. He
will cut him to pieces and assign him a place
with the unbelievers. That servant who knows
his master's will and does not get ready and
does not do what his master wants will be beaten
with many blows. But to the one who does not
know and does things deserving punishment will
be beaten with few blows. And then the principle.
From everyone who has been given much, much will
be demanded. And from the one who has been entrusted
with much, much more will be asked. We are responsible
for what God has given to us. We in this nation,
we in a Bible teaching church, those who have
attended a Christian school, we who have been
discipled by someone, we who have been taught
in a small group or in a mid -sized group, We
have been given much. And for that, we are responsible
to God. What are we to do? Let me suggest first
that the step that we must take initially is
to own it. To own it. In John chapter eight,
Jesus makes that famous statement, you shall
know the truth and the truth will what? set you
free. Everybody knows that verse, but few people
know the verse before it. In that verse it says,
to those who had believed on him, Jesus said,
if you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. Notice he's speaking to those who
had believed on him. Now in this context, and
in a couple of other places in the Gospel of
John, he seems to use this verb believe in a
sense other than genuine saving belief. He's
using it in the sense of people who have made
a profession of believing, but who haven't yet
demonstrated that by their lives. And so he said
to those who believed on him, if you hold to
my teaching, then are you really my disciples.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall
set you free. Jesus was saying it is not enough
for you to say you believe what I teach. You
must own for yourself. what I teach. You must
demonstrate that you are following my teaching.
Then are you really my disciples? It is not enough
to say I believe. We have to show it. This involves
owning the truth. By this I mean choose God's
truth for the core of your life. Don't just inherit
it. One of the dangers of growing up in a Christian
family, and there are some, one of the dangers
of growing up in a Christian household is learning
about the truth from the time that you are very
small and inheriting that truth as part of your
life and your culture, but failing to own it
for yourself. If that's God calling, tell him
that we appreciate his phone call. Thank you,
Doug. I'm glad you like that. Thanks for turning
off your cell phones. You have to own the truth
for yourself. In the book of Proverbs, the 23rd
chapter, and the 23rd verse, it says, buy the
truth and do not sell it. Buy the truth, own
it. Own it and do not sell it. In Ephesians chapter
one and verse 13, Paul gives the process that
we must go through if we are really Christ's
disciples. He says, and you also were included
in Christ when you heard. the word of the truth,
having believed you were marked in him with a
seal. So you see, first there's the hearing of
the truth, and almost every person here today
would say, I've heard the truth. The question
is, have you owned it for yourself? A dad was
telling me some time ago about his son who was
beginning to ask questions that were difficult.
regarding the Bible and regarding how it was
formed and regarding whether the Bible was trustworthy.
And we agreed together, this is wonderful that
the Son is asking these kinds of questions and
you know why? Because it means that he is beginning
now to think about what he's been taught. He
is entering into that process that people come
to in adolescence and sometimes pre -adolescence.
when they begin to really think about what they've
been taught and to own it as their own. I want
to challenge you today with this thought. You
know the truth, but do you own it? The apostle
Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse
10 about the lost. He says, they perish because
they refused to love the truth and to be saved.
It wasn't they didn't know the truth necessarily,
but they didn't love the truth. They didn't have
affection for it. You see, salvation requires
a step of adhering love. It is embracing the
truth for yourself. So what do you do with the
truth? First of all, foundational, basic, own
it. Make it yours, not your mother's, not your
father's, not your family's faith, but your faith.
That's the first step, but I want to go on to
a second step that's absolutely critical, and
that is to learn it. Learn it. Get skilled in
the truth. Get skilled in it. We used this verse
some time ago in 2 Timothy chapter two, but I
repeat it this morning. It says, do your best
to present yourself to God as one approved, a
workman who does not need to be ashamed and who
correctly handles the word of truth. It is possible
for me as a follower of Jesus to be ashamed,
to be ashamed of my inability to use the Bible.
because I've never really learned it. I've owned
it for myself in the sense of being saved, but
I've never dug into it and learned it. And the
fact is that we never arrive at a point of knowing
the truth well enough. There's always room for
us to grow. It requires staying in the Word over
the long haul of time. Do you know more about
your Bible than you did a year ago? Are you learning
it? Are you growing in your understanding of
the Bible? I want to encourage you to get into
a Bible study. Get into a discipleship group.
Find a place where you can connect with a few
others and get serious about learning the word
of God. In your own quiet time, don't just read
the devotional. Read the verses behind the devotional.
Read the word of God itself. Learn the word.
The point in this is not more knowledge in itself.
The point is that through knowing the word, we
become more like Jesus. And so the challenge
is to push on to maturity in the truth. Don't
be childish. The writer of Hebrews says, we have
much to say, but it's hard to explain because
you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this
time you ought to be teachers, you need someone
to teach you the elementary truths of God's word
all over again. Then he goes on to say, therefore
let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ
and go on to maturity. That's the challenge.
To become a mature disciple and follower of Jesus.
You say, well how do I know if I'm mature? That's
a good question. To try to help you arrive at
the answer to that. Our discipleship ministry
has created the brochure called The Profile of
a Mature Disciple. Now it's a tool, it's not
perfect, but if you will pick up a copy of this
over at Grand Central, it will give you an idea
of what a mature disciple ought to know, ought
to have, and ought to be. We need to push on
to maturity and not allow ourselves to be satisfied
with simply being saved. It begins there by owning
the truth for ourselves, but then we need to
learn the truth and grow in it into maturity.
And then, third, we need to teach it. We need
to pass the truth onto the next generation. Don't
just assume that they're going to get it, because
most likely they won't. That's why in the Old
Testament, God said to his people through Moses
in Deuteronomy chapter six, these are the commands,
decrees, and laws the Lord your God directed
me, says Moses, to teach you to observe in the
land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess
so that you, your children, and their children
after them may fear the Lord your God as long
as you live. In other words, Moses says God wants
not only you to enter the land to possess it,
he wants your children to enjoy it and their
children and their children and their children.
How is this going to happen? Well in verse seven
he says, impress them, that is the commandments
of God, impress them on your children. Talk about
them when you sit at home, when you walk along
the road, when you lie down, when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them
on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames
of your houses and on your gates. There are some
ultra -orthodox Jews who take all this very literally.
Maybe you've seen pictures of them and they will
have phylacteries or little pouches on their
hand or on their forehead, tied around their
forehead with little scripts of the law of God
in them. But Moses is not as concerned about
literally doing that, as he is about obeying
the thrust of this text, which is teach what
God says to your children. What you and I come
to know must be passed along to the next generation.
That, by the way, is the heart of Los Gatos Christian
School. It is teaching the subjects for life
in the context of God's truth. It is passing
along God's truth to the next generation. While
we seek to do that in the school and we seek
to do that in our student ministry, you need
to understand that the primary responsibility
for passing the truth to the children belongs
to the parents. The school, the student ministry
are here to supplement and to compliment and
to assist, but moms and dads, God says this to
you, teach your children. Impress upon them what
God says, impress upon them the truth. And Timothy,
we have an example of a man. who experienced
that very thing. Paul says to him in 2 Timothy
chapter three, as for you, Timothy, continue
in what you have learned and have become convinced
of. In other words, Timothy, you own this because
you know those from whom you learned it. Say,
well, who's that? Back in chapter one, he names
them, his mother and his grandmother. had taught
Timothy the truth of God. And Paul goes on to
say, and how from infancy you have known the
holy scriptures which are able to make you wise
for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Moms and dads, God has given you this responsibility,
but let me just take one step further and say,
dad, it is especially your responsibility. because
you are the head of your home. God holds you
in particular accountable for the truth being
passed on to your children. It is a wonderful
privilege. It is a sobering responsibility. Your
children will learn from you not only by what
you say to them, but how you live. It's not enough
to simply drop them off for an activity at church.
That is not good enough. You must go the next
step and live before them what you're trying
to teach them. You need to be involved at the
church. You need to be growing in your faith.
They need to see you being faithful in church.
You dad. They need to see you carrying out the
commands of God in your life. It's in that way
that you teach the truth to the next generation.
I need to press on, but let's review. We need
to own the truth. Then we need to learn the truth
and then teach the truth, passing it on to the
next generation. Number four, we need to live
it. I've already touched on this. but I remind
you of what John writes in his third epistle
and the third verse. It gives me great joy, he
says, it gave me great joy to have some brothers
come and tell about your faithfulness to the
truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.
In other words, what we're saying here is practice
the truth in your walk. Don't merely talk it.
Apply it to your life. Let it soak down into
the way that you think, and the choices that
you make, and the activities that you get involved
in, the priorities you set in your life. Live
it out. Walk in the truth. Number five, support
it. Support the truth. That's what we're to do
with it. In First Timothy, again, the third chapter,
he says, although I hope to come to you soon,
I'm writing you these instructions so that if
I'm delayed, you, Timothy, will know how people
ought to conduct themselves in God's household,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and foundation of the truth. In the context here,
Paul seems to be thinking of the local church.
an assembly of believers like we are. And he
says to Timothy, you know how to instruct the
believers, how they are to live as God's household.
For the household of God, the church, he says,
is the pillar and the foundation of the truth.
In other words, the local church in a community
upholds the truth. We are the pillar of the truth
of God. We are its foundation in this community.
We are like a lighthouse that God has established
in this place from which shines out the light
of God's truth to the whole community. That is
our role. And sir, ma 'am, young person, old
person, whoever you are today, as a part of God's
church, you're part of that light. You're a part
of that pillar. What are we to do with the truth?
We are to hold it up. We are to stand up for
the truth in our world and not be intimidated.
There are forces at work in our culture to suppress
you, to intimidate you, to hold you down, to
put you in the back where you belong. What I
want to say to you is that God calls you as the
pillar and the foundation of his truth Do never
be intimidated by that kind of oppression Lift
high the truth of God in your school classroom
never be ashamed of it Speak out for it in the
club that you belong to Write the letters to
the editor in a Christian and kindly way, but
write the letters to the editor or take other
kinds of stands, signing petitions, doing whatever
you need to do, and above all, living it out
so that God's truth is held up in our community.
We are to support the truth, and I've added one.
There's a number six that you don't have on your
outline, so I'll let you create that line. But
it is to share it, to share the truth. Support
it, but then also to share it. 2 Corinthians
4, 2. Communicate the truth to those who need
it and don't be silent. Paul says to Timothy,
preach the word. Be prepared when it's convenient
and when it's not convenient. Use it to correct,
to rebuke, to encourage with great patience and
careful instruction. Proclaim the word of God.
Paul says, to the Corinthians, we have renounced
secret in shameful ways. He says, we do not use
deception nor do we distort the word of God.
On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly,
we commend ourselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God. I like that phrase, setting
forth the truth plainly. That's what God calls
you and me to do. it needs to be spoken of in
every context of our lives. Not forcing it down
people's throats, not being obnoxious about it,
but just allowing the truth to flow through us.
Because we own it, we're growing in it to maturity,
we're teaching it to others, it just flows from
us to others. We share it. Not knowing the truth
is tragic. Not knowing the truth is tragic, but
my friends, so is possessing the truth and failing
to be a steward of it. Oh, how seriously God
takes that. Because the greater our privilege,
the greater our responsibility. The greater your
blessings, the greater your responsibility. It
is tragic not to know the truth, but possessing
the truth and then failing to do with it what
we ought to do is an equal tragedy and will bring
us into the judgment of God. Do you know what
rigors are? Rigors are people who work in the
military. or sometimes for private contractors,
and prepare parachutes for those who jump. They
have a very tedious and specific responsibility.
It is to take that material and to fold it a
certain number of times in a certain way, and
then to place it inside the carrier for the chute.
in a way that will allow the one who jumps to
pull that rip cord and to have confidence that
that chute is going to billow out behind him.
It is a responsibility that could cause one to
be guilty of taking another person's life if
he's careless. Can you imagine that kind of responsibility?
Of having in your hands the very stuff that another
person will depend upon for his life. Can you
imagine being in possession of the antidote,
the cure for AIDS? For being in a laboratory
and discovering through some process or maybe
a surprise a way to cure AIDS So that the millions
in our world who are infected with this terrible
disease Could find healing Or to put it in a
different dimension suppose today that you you
came across a way for there to be fuel energy,
power that is self -sustaining, clean burning,
and that would replace oil. If you had that kind
of knowledge, would you hang on to it? If you
possessed the ability to cure a deadly disease,
would you keep it to yourself? If you were packing
a parachute today, would you thoughtlessly or
carelessly do that? You would pay attention knowing
that the life of someone else is in your hands.
Their future depends upon you. Their welfare
depends upon you. May I say to you, if you have
the truth of God, you have what this world needs.
You have the single source of what will deliver
people from eternal condemnation. of what will
rescue their lives from wreck and ruin. You have
it. What will you do with it? To whom much is
given, much will be required, said Jesus. Let's
make the most of it. God has entrusted it to
us. Let's use it to the fullest. for our benefit,
for our children's benefit, and for our world's
benefit. Let's pray together. Do you own the
truth? One of the dangers of going to a Bible
teaching church all of your life is growing up
hearing it but not owning it. And I know of some
who sit here this morning who came to that realization
one day, you know, I've heard this all my life,
but I've never owned it for myself. And I'm as
lost as the one who's never heard it. You need
to own it. You need to own it for yourself. Will
you own it this morning? trusting Jesus Christ,
placing your faith in him, turning from your
sins to trust in him alone and his work on the
cross for your sins. Do it right now. And if
you have done that, if you have the truth, if
you've owned it, are you growing? Are you learning
it? Are you teaching it? Are you supporting it?
Do you share it? Father, I pray that we who know
the truth will take very seriously the deep,
deep responsibility we have. And I pray that
we will carry out that responsibility with joy
and enthusiasm because you, Jesus, are coming
soon. And when you come, We want to be able to
give a good account and hear well done, good
and faithful steward of the truth. I pray this
Father in the name of Jesus, our Savior, who
himself is the way, the truth, and the life to
all who will believe on him. Amen.