Participants:
Series Code: WHO
Program Code: WHO200027S
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00:26 Hello, friends, and welcome to 3ABN Worship Hour,
00:30 where as I like to always say, 00:31 we worship the Lord here in spirit and in truth. 00:34 That's what the Bible says. 00:35 And that's what we're gonna be doing 00:37 during this time. 00:38 We have a very special message today 00:40 that I'm very excited to be sharing with you. 00:43 And we're just gonna worship the Lord in word, in song. 00:46 And we're gonna have a little bit of music here 00:48 toward the end of this presentation, 00:50 but I don't wanna take too much time 00:51 because I wanna give plenty of time for the Lord 00:54 and His Word, right? 00:55 Because we need to be opening our hearts and our minds, 00:58 as the Bible says, let this mind be in you, 01:00 which is also in Christ Jesus. 01:01 Well, we can't have the mind of Christ 01:03 unless we get into His Word, 01:05 His Word shares for us 01:07 and gives to us His will for our life. 01:10 So before we go any further, 01:12 before I reveal the title of this presentation, 01:15 I wanna go to the Lord in prayer right now. 01:17 Let's do that. 01:19 Our Father in heaven, 01:21 Lord, You are so wonderful. 01:23 You are so marvelous. 01:25 And as I always like to start my prayers 01:27 by acknowledging 01:29 that You are worthy to be praised. 01:31 And we thank You, Lord, for being our God. 01:33 And we need not ask that You are here with us 01:35 because You have promised us in Your Word 01:37 that where two or three or more are gathered in Your name, 01:40 there You are in the midst. 01:41 So we know You're here with us. 01:43 We just ask You, Lord, to pour out Your spirit up 01:44 in a mighty way 01:46 into our hearts, into our minds. 01:48 And that we may be able to rightly divide 01:50 Your word of truth, 01:51 that your words just come alive 01:53 and that it will penetrate our hearts and minds 01:55 to the point that we are drawn closer and closer 01:57 to our Savior Jesus Christ. 01:59 So thank You, Lord, for Your never-ending love, 02:02 Your wonderful grace and mercy. 02:04 For it is in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray. 02:06 Amen. 02:09 We certainly do live in a social media world now. 02:15 It's kind of crazy to say that because just a few years ago, 02:19 there really was no such thing as social media 02:21 and if it was, it really wasn't that popular. 02:24 And I happen to have a social media account. 02:27 I don't spend too much time on it, 02:29 but I try to use it primarily for ministry purposes, 02:33 for sharing the truth, 02:35 for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ 02:36 through song 02:38 and through inspirational quotes 02:39 and sometimes, you know, 02:41 the Lord will impress upon me 02:43 to share something that many people might consider 02:45 to be a little controversial. 02:47 And you know, the truth sometimes is controversial. 02:50 Not because God wants it to be, 02:51 not because we want it to be, 02:53 but because we live in a world 02:54 where it seems like the lines are just blurred. 02:57 It seems like people are questioning 02:58 more and more what is truth? 03:00 In fact, we're gonna jump 03:01 into that passage in just a moment, 03:03 but I've gotta set this up to reveal to you my title. 03:06 I'm excited about it. 03:07 Some of you may not fully get it at first, 03:09 but I think throughout this presentation, 03:11 throughout this sermon, you will understand the title. 03:14 And I wanna kind of set that up. 03:16 It was a few weeks ago back in October actually 03:20 that I made a Facebook post, a social media Facebook post. 03:25 And I was simply just stating, kind of, 03:27 asking a rhetorical question 03:29 that I already know the answer to, 03:31 but basically trying to plant a seed in people's minds 03:34 to be able to kind of shift them in the direction 03:37 of thinking about what is truth according to God's Word. 03:41 And so, this is what I shared. 03:42 So right there, you'll see Ryan Day, 03:44 this is my Facebook account, 03:45 and this is the message that I shared. 03:47 When did truth become subjective? 03:51 We now live in a world of my truth 03:55 rather than the truth. 03:57 And then of course I ended with sad, 03:59 and kind of a little sad emoji there. 04:02 I was just trying to share and open my heart about 04:04 how it seems like 04:06 as we have shifted quickly 04:08 in a direction over the years 04:10 a change has occurred 04:11 in the minds and hearts of people 04:13 where people seem to not even know 04:15 what absolute truth is anymore. 04:18 It seems to be subjective. 04:19 And so, that's what I was sharing. 04:20 Now, of course, I had many people 04:22 that responded to this post, 04:24 as I was trying to spark people to think. 04:26 I was hoping that it would spark 04:28 some critical thinking in the minds 04:30 of those people who would come across this post. 04:33 And one particular post really stood out to me 04:36 so much that when I saw it immediately, 04:38 I burst into laughter 04:39 just because I found it a little comical at first, 04:42 but as I got to thinking about it, 04:43 I realized that the brother who posted this, 04:46 he meant exactly what he said 04:48 and I found myself saying these very short words. 04:51 It's very short phrase in the days and weeks to come. 04:56 And so, here's the very, very short response. 04:58 You see it there. 04:59 I kind of blocked his name and picture out, 05:01 but this brother responded true dat. 05:05 He responded, look at that, true dat and you can see, 05:07 I responded there with kind of a laughy face. 05:10 It kind of caught me off guard. 05:12 True dat, of course, 05:13 those of you who are looking at this right now, 05:14 there's some of you 05:16 that are probably going true dat. 05:17 What is true dat? 05:19 Of course, it's a type of American slang. 05:21 It's a new age, sling of communication. 05:24 They really simply means that's true. 05:26 It'd be like you and me responding to someone 05:28 who said something truthful and we might say, 05:31 you know, hey, yeah, that's true. 05:32 That's a true statement. 05:34 This brother made it very clear when he read my post, 05:36 he agreed. 05:37 And he said, true dat. 05:38 And all I could think about 05:40 over the next hours, days, weeks to come 05:43 as I would hear, I about drove my wife crazy 05:46 because almost every little response 05:47 that I would give 05:49 to something that I agreed with or that I thought was true. 05:51 I would be walking 05:52 around my house saying true dat, true dat. 05:54 Yeah, true dat. 05:55 So I know that it may sound a little crazy as I'm trying, 05:59 as I'm being a little silly here, 06:00 but nonetheless, 06:02 I want this to be a memorable sermon. 06:05 It may have a silly title, but I promise you, 06:07 this sermon title is given, 06:09 and its objective is to stick in your mind 06:13 so that you remember the purpose of this message. 06:16 And so for that reason, 06:17 as I was preparing this sermon, 06:19 I found myself thinking of those words 06:23 as I was preparing this sermon. 06:24 And as I was going through all of the scriptures 06:27 and pulling everything together and tightening everything up, 06:29 all I could hear myself saying 06:31 over and over and over was true dat. 06:33 So nonetheless today's title of our sermon is "True Dat." 06:39 That's right, true dat. 06:40 Because we're going to be diving 06:42 deep into the Bible, my friends. 06:44 And I believe that as we continue 06:45 through this message 06:47 and in the many days to come 06:48 after you hear this message, 06:49 you will remember it because of that title. 06:52 And you'll probably even adopt that little bit of sling 06:54 into your vocabulary as you hear truthful things, 06:57 you can say true dat 06:58 because it is indeed true 07:01 when we're referring to the Word of God, 07:03 the truth of God's Word. 07:05 I wanna jump right into John Chapter 18. 07:08 And the reason why we're going there 07:09 is because it has one of the most famous scenes 07:12 that we see in all of scripture. 07:13 Of course, I'm referring to the interrogation 07:17 of Jesus Christ 07:18 by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, 07:22 and that famous interrogation 07:25 in which he's asking Jesus questions, 07:27 but then he ultimately ends up asking a question himself. 07:31 And that question is what is truth. 07:33 So let's go to the Word of God right now, 07:34 John 18 beginning with verse 33. 07:37 Notice what the Bible says. 07:39 It says, "Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, 07:42 called Jesus and said to him, 07:45 'Are you the King of the Jews?' 07:48 Jesus answered him, 07:49 'Are you speaking for yourself about this, 07:52 or did others tell you this concerning Me?' 07:55 Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? 07:58 Your own nation and the chief priests 08:01 have delivered You to me. 08:03 What have you done?' 08:05 Jesus answered, 08:07 'My kingdom is not of this world. 08:09 If My kingdom were of this world, 08:10 My servants would fight, 08:12 so that I should not be delivered 08:14 to the Jews, 08:16 but now My kingdom is not from here.' 08:20 Pilate, therefore said to Him, 'Are you a King then? 08:24 And Jesus answered. 08:25 'You rightly say that I am a King. 08:28 For this cause I was born, 08:31 and for this cause I have come into the world 08:34 that I should bear witness to the truth. 08:37 Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.'" 08:42 And here's that famous verse. 08:43 Verse 38, "Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?' 08:48 And when he had said this, 08:49 he went out again to the Jews and said to them, 08:52 'I find no fault in Him at all.'" 08:57 Interesting. What is truth? 09:01 And the truth of the matter is we live in a day and age 09:03 where the genuine truth is being attacked. 09:08 We live in a day and age where most people 09:10 do not really believe in an absolute truth. 09:13 You're gonna hear me say that quite a bit 09:15 throughout this presentation. 09:17 As I was preparing for this sermon, 09:19 the Lord impressed upon my heart 09:22 to bring attention 09:23 to the absolute truth of His Word, 09:27 because we live in a day and age 09:29 where many people might hold the idea 09:31 or the ideology, 09:33 the perspective of Irish playwright, 09:35 Oscar Wilde. 09:36 When he said these words, he said, 09:38 "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." 09:42 There's people that hold this type of mentality 09:45 in the society that we live in today. 09:48 Another famous quote, 09:49 as I was doing research on this, 09:50 I found Bob Dylan, 09:52 the famous musician and singer Bob Dylan 09:54 had these words to say about truth. 09:55 He said, "All the truth in the world 09:58 adds up to one big lie." 10:01 And there are people that believe this, 10:04 that there is no absolute truth. 10:07 And we live in a world today 10:09 where people have their own truth. 10:11 They live according to the standard of my truth 10:13 or my own truth. 10:15 You have your truth and I got my truth. 10:17 I have my own path, you have your own path. 10:20 You have your own light, and I have my own light. 10:24 In fact, Oprah Winfrey, famous talk show host. 10:29 She had these words to say in the Huffington Post. 10:31 She said, "What I know for sure 10:33 is that speaking your truth 10:36 is the most powerful tool we have." 10:39 So what she's saying here 10:41 is she simply advocating the idea 10:43 that we all have our own truth. 10:45 And that certainly is a reflection 10:47 of what seems to be the majority of thinking today. 10:51 And I'm gonna hone in on this in just a few moments 10:53 because you expect, 10:54 you would expect the world to have this mentality. 10:57 In other words, 10:59 people outside of the Christian Church, 11:00 who don't necessarily identify as Christian, 11:02 who don't necessarily identify as a religious person 11:05 or have a particular religious belief. 11:07 You expect someone from outside the church 11:10 to hold these particular beliefs 11:12 or to have this particular perspective. 11:14 But when you get inside the church, my friends, 11:16 and we see this type of mentality 11:19 floating around inside the church, 11:21 my friends, we're in trouble. 11:23 And like Oprah Winfrey said, 11:25 your truth is the most powerful tool 11:28 that you have. 11:29 Do you have a truth? 11:30 Do you have your own truth 11:32 or that's what the world would like you to believe. 11:34 New and upcoming author Alex Elle also had this to say. 11:38 She said, "Live in your purpose. 11:41 Follow your light. 11:43 Love in your truth." 11:45 Again, the same concept. 11:46 You have a truth, I have a truth. 11:48 We have to live according to our own truth. 11:51 It's not absolute according these people. 11:54 Famous actor, Sylvester Stallone, 11:59 listen to what he has to say 12:00 as he is recorded to have said these words. 12:02 He says, "I believe there's an inner power 12:04 that makes winners or losers. 12:07 And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth 12:10 of their hearts." 12:11 In other words, trust yourself, 12:13 trust your own truth. 12:15 You have your own truth. 12:16 You have a truth within your own heart. 12:18 You need to follow your own truth 12:20 that is within your own heart. 12:23 Of course, another famous author, 12:25 influential author, Elizabeth Gilbert. 12:27 She had these words to say, she said, 12:29 "True power comes from standing in your own truth 12:33 and walking your own path." 12:35 My friends, these are the words of the majority of the world 12:38 we live in today, 12:40 but I'm gonna tell you today, my friends, 12:41 this also seems to be the mentality, the dangerous, 12:45 as I always say, 12:46 stinking thinking that is entering in 12:49 and lurking into the minds and hearts of Christians today. 12:53 I wanna share one more with you. 12:54 I think this one was quite interesting. 12:56 I certainly don't agree with it 12:58 but famous, 13:00 motivational speaker and author, Steve Mariboli. 13:03 I think that's how you say it. 13:05 He had this to say, and he said these words. 13:07 He said, "Stop lying to yourself. 13:09 When we deny our own truth, 13:12 we deny our own potential." 13:17 So again, that concept that we all have 13:19 our own personal truth. 13:21 We all have our own reality that we live in 13:24 and that reality is ours, no one can take it away. 13:27 And, my friends, what we would call this, 13:29 it's not just a dangerous mentality. 13:31 It actually has a name. 13:32 And we live in a world today 13:34 of what many of the psychologists 13:36 and sociologists and philosophical thinkers 13:40 today call relativism. 13:42 We live in a world of relativism. 13:44 And simply, relativism is the concept 13:47 and I think it's summed up here in this interesting statement. 13:49 My truth is what I say. 13:51 My truth is what I say. 13:53 My truth is what I make it out to be. 13:55 You have your truth, I have my truth. 13:57 And that just seems to also be 13:59 the mentality of many Christians today. 14:02 Again, I wanna make this very clear. 14:03 This message is not probably going to resonate 14:06 with every single person, 14:07 because many people again have their own opinions 14:10 outside of the church 14:11 who may not necessarily resonate 14:13 with Christianity, 14:14 who may not necessarily be a Christian. 14:16 I still encourage you to listen to this message 14:18 because there may be something in here, 14:20 a nugget of truth 14:21 that the Lord wants to share with you. 14:23 But, my friends, I'm here to preach today 14:24 to all those professed Christians 14:28 who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 14:31 who believe that they are a representative 14:33 of Jesus Christ and a follower of Jesus Christ. 14:35 We need to be asking the question, 14:37 is truth what it really is. 14:39 Is truth absolute or is it what I want it to be? 14:42 Is it subject to opinion? 14:43 Is truth subjective or is it objective? 14:46 And speaking of relativism, let's identify what that is, 14:49 'cause that's a big word. 14:50 Many people may wonder, what is relativism? 14:52 What are you speaking of 14:53 or talking about when you say relativism? 14:56 Here's the definition I found from Oxford dictionary. 14:58 Relativism simply is the doctrine that knowledge, 15:02 truth, and morality 15:04 exist in relation to culture, 15:06 society, or historical context, and are not, get this, 15:11 they are not absolute. 15:13 That's the concept of relativism. 15:16 A person who thinks 15:18 with a relativism type of thinking 15:20 is a person who believes that truth, 15:23 it comes from the perspective of maybe the culture 15:25 that they live in, 15:27 maybe the culture they live in defines 15:29 what truth really is, 15:30 or perhaps maybe the society that they live in, 15:32 their environment will define what that truth is to them. 15:36 Or perhaps maybe from a historical perspective, 15:38 they're looking at history, they're studying history. 15:41 And from a historical perspective, 15:42 they have determined that there is a certain truth 15:45 to them personally 15:47 that may not necessarily exist to everyone else. 15:49 In other words, everyone has their own truth. 15:53 And the dangers of relativism, my friends, is simply this. 15:56 Let me just spell it out very clearly for you. 15:58 The dangers of relativism is the fact 16:01 that people who believe in this relativism, 16:05 the concept that they have their own truth, 16:06 simply believe that now they live 16:09 in their own reality. 16:10 It separates them 16:12 from the objective truthful reality 16:14 that each and every one of us are bound to. 16:17 In other words, they're not bound 16:18 to the same objective reality, 16:20 the same objective truth that everyone else is, 16:22 they live in and of their own reality. 16:25 And because they have their own truth, 16:27 their own life, their own path of, 16:29 in this case, we're gonna use the word righteousness 16:32 for a Christian's perspective. 16:34 My friends, we have to understand 16:36 that according to relativism, if you believe this thinking, 16:39 if you have this stinking thinking concept 16:41 that your truth is your own truth, 16:43 you have your own truth. 16:44 You have your own way 16:45 that everything is according to your own, 16:47 is subject to your own opinion. 16:49 My friends, at the end of the day, 16:50 we have to understand what we are doing 16:52 as we're destroying the foundations 16:54 of communication. 16:56 We're going to a point to where we no longer 16:58 can communicate rightfully with each other 17:01 or correctly with each other 17:02 or understand in a foreshore absolute way 17:08 what truth really is 17:09 because even within the Christian Church, 17:11 the truth is being eroded. 17:13 The absolute truth is found in God's Word. 17:16 So I'm gonna ask a question, 17:18 should Christians view truth as absolute? 17:23 If I am a Christian 17:25 and I'm identifying myself as a Christian, 17:28 should truth be absolute? 17:30 Well, first before we answer that question, 17:32 I wanna identify what a Christian is. 17:34 Okay. 17:35 I have a very clear, simplistic definition 17:37 that of course I have created based on the Bible, 17:40 as well as some other dictionaries 17:42 and definitions that we found, 17:44 but we pulled some sources together 17:46 to bring about a very simplistic, 17:48 very clear foundational definition 17:50 of what a biblical Christian is. 17:52 And here it is, 17:53 "A Christian is someone who follows Jesus Christ 17:57 in obeying His word 17:59 for the purpose of replicating His character." 18:03 It's that simple. 18:04 Someone who follows Jesus Christ 18:06 in obeying His word 18:08 for the purpose of replicating His character. 18:11 You are a follower of Jesus. 18:13 You wanna replicate 18:14 the right righteousness of Jesus. 18:16 You, you know, your righteousness 18:17 is like filthy rags as the Bible says. 18:19 You need Jesus Christ righteousness 18:21 to be your own. 18:22 In other words, you wanna be like Christ, 18:25 but in order to be like Christ, my friends, 18:27 we have to understand 18:28 that we have to be obedient to His word, 18:31 that we have to be obedient to His following. 18:33 And so, 18:35 I have another definition for you 18:36 because not everyone is a Christian, obviously, 18:39 but many people identify as a Christian, 18:42 but you know, there are some people 18:43 that identify as a Christian that really aren't Christians. 18:46 In fact, this one is a Ryan Day specialty 18:48 that I'm about to bring up. 18:49 I believe that many people while they believe 18:52 they're actually Christians, 18:53 they're actually not Christians, 18:54 they are what I like to call selftian. 18:57 That's right. 18:58 S-E-L-F tian like Christian, selftian. 19:01 Okay. 19:02 And here's the definition of a selftian. 19:05 "Someone who may profess 19:06 Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 19:08 but does not follow His word. 19:10 This person lives 19:12 according to their own understanding 19:13 rather than the truth of God's word." 19:17 That's right. 19:18 Relativism, truth is subjective. 19:21 Truth is what I want it to be. 19:23 I have my truth, you have your truth. 19:25 And my truth is, I believe I'm a Christian. 19:28 I believe I'm a follower of Jesus. 19:29 I believe I'm saved. 19:30 But at the end of the day, my friends, 19:32 we have to be honest with ourselves 19:33 just because you may profess that you are a Christian, 19:36 doesn't make you a Christian 19:37 because you very well may find yourself in the selftian camp. 19:41 And I'll tell you what clearly at the end of the day 19:43 separates a selftian from a Christian. 19:45 Many of those things that I just mentioned 19:47 is absolutely true, 19:48 but let's get a little deeper here. 19:50 You see we all as Christians claim to believe in the Bible, 19:53 we claim to follow the Bible. 19:54 And this Bible is comprised of 66 books. 19:57 Okay? 19:58 And you may have a different version. 19:59 I have here the New King James version. 20:01 I have many different versions of scripture in my library, 20:04 King James, New King James, NIV. 20:06 You go down the list. 20:07 When I study the Word of God, 20:08 sometimes I look at many different versions 20:10 of the Bible, 20:12 but a selftian has a special version. 20:14 A selftian has their own version. 20:16 In fact this is a special version 20:18 that most Christians have in their library. 20:20 They may not be able to see it all the time, 20:22 but they certainly refer to it. 20:23 I just like to call it the self revised version. 20:26 That's right. The self revised version. 20:27 Of course, I'm being a little facetious here 20:29 for the purpose of proving a point. 20:31 Many people go 20:32 by their own self revised version. 20:34 They pick a little here, take a little here. 20:36 They've created their own little truth, 20:38 their own little Christian bubble. 20:39 But at the end of the day, my friends, 20:41 we're gonna ask the question, 20:42 same question today that we've read 20:44 that Pilate asked, what is truth? 20:46 For a Christian, what is truth? 20:48 And inside this self revised version, 20:50 again, I'm being a little facetious here, 20:52 but I'm trying to make a point. 20:53 We have two special books instead of 66 books. 20:56 We have 68 books 20:57 and the two added books in most selftians 20:59 is the first opinions and second opinions. 21:02 Two special books, first and second opinions. 21:04 My friends, let me make it clear here. 21:07 We may all have an opinion. 21:08 We may all have a version of our truth 21:11 that we may think and we create and exist in our own minds. 21:14 But at the end of the day, as we're gonna learn, 21:16 truth is absolute. 21:18 In fact, that's the question we're asking right now. 21:20 In fact, for the purpose of this, 21:21 everything that we've just set up 21:23 to this point, you know we can respond to? 21:24 We can just simply say true dat, 21:26 because all that's true that we just said, 21:28 true dat Very clearly. 21:29 You can say it with me. 21:30 I can hear you saying it at home, true dat. 21:32 That's right. 21:34 We're asking the question, 21:36 is truth absolute for Christians? 21:39 Should Christians believe that truth is absolute? 21:41 I wanna know what Jesus said, 21:43 because since I'm a follower of Jesus, 21:45 I'm a Christian I want to know what Jesus said. 21:47 And Jesus tells us in John Chapter 14, 21:49 these beautiful words we know it. 21:51 John 14: 15, he said, "If you love Me, 21:54 keep My commandments." 21:56 If you're going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, 21:59 Jesus says, you must love Me 22:00 and in showing Me that love, 22:02 you're going to be obedient to My commandments. 22:04 Of course, we know that's a big part 22:05 of the Word of God. 22:06 And in that same chapter, 22:08 Jesus is recorded to have said these words. 22:10 John 14:23, Jesus says and answers to, 22:13 "Jesus answered to them and said, 22:15 'If anyone loves Me, 22:16 he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, 22:19 and we will come to him and make our home with him." 22:23 But he goes on to verse 24 and he says, 22:24 "He who does not love Me 22:26 does not keep My words 22:28 and the word which you hear is not of Mine, 22:31 but of the Father's who sent Me." 22:34 So the question we're asking. 22:36 Let me bring it up one more time. 22:37 Should Christians view truth as absolute? 22:40 Got a question. 22:41 Did Jesus view truth as absolute? 22:43 Yes, He did. 22:44 And we're about to see that right now. 22:46 Notice what the Bible says here in John 18:37. 22:50 We read this earlier, but just to be reminded, 22:52 Jesus viewed truth is absolute. 22:55 And as Christians, 22:56 should we view truth as absolute? 22:57 Because if we're Christians, 22:59 remember we're a follower of Jesus 23:00 and His word as we just read. 23:02 We can't be a follower or claim 23:03 to be a follower of Jesus 23:05 and not follow His word 23:06 or not keep His words as He just said. 23:08 So we're gonna go to John 18 beginning with verse 37 again, 23:11 notice what Jesus had to say. 23:13 He said, "For this cause I was born, 23:15 and for this cause I have come into the world 23:18 that I should bear witness to, notice, the truth. 23:22 Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 23:26 Notice, even in the original Greek 23:28 right here where I've highlighted 23:29 those words, the truth, 23:31 you find the definite article. 23:32 Jesus was clear, my friends. 23:34 Jesus believed that the truth was absolute 23:37 because He used the definite article. 23:39 He just didn't say, look, I've come into the world 23:41 to reveal a truth 23:42 that everyone who hears My voice, 23:44 they are of a truth. 23:45 No, no. He said, they're of the truth. 23:47 I've come into this world to preach 23:49 and to declare and to live out the truth. 23:52 That's why He also said in that famous verse 23:54 found in John 8:32, 23:57 we almost have it memorized because we say it off. 23:59 And sometimes we say it a little wrong, 24:01 but here are those famous words. 24:03 In John 8:32 Jesus says, "And you shall know, " 24:06 there it is again the definite article, 24:08 "the truth and the truth shall make you free." 24:13 That's right, my friends, 24:14 Jesus was clear that truth is indeed absolute. 24:18 It's not something that we create. 24:20 It's not something that exists 24:21 in our own little alternate reality. 24:23 Jesus made it true and clear that truth is absolute. 24:28 In fact, even referring to Himself, 24:31 and we're gonna highlight this a little more in just a moment, 24:34 but you know, that famous verse found in John 14:6, I love it. 24:38 Jesus referring to Himself. 24:40 He said, "I am the way, the truth," 24:43 there it is again, definite article, 24:46 "the truth and the life. 24:48 No one comes to the Father except through Me." 24:51 And we read all those texts. 24:53 We read all that truth about how Jesus is the truth. 24:56 He is the way, the truth, and the life. 24:58 And to that, I can say, 24:59 because I believe 100% that Jesus is the truth. 25:03 I say true dat. 25:05 That's right, true dat. 25:06 You can say it with me, true dat, because that is true. 25:09 Amen. 25:10 And we can be, 25:11 we can know and rely on the fact 25:13 that that is indeed true. 25:15 So the question is, 25:16 can Christians know what truth is today? 25:20 Okay, we know that truth is absolute, 25:22 but can we know 25:23 what that absolute truth is now. 25:25 Many people today would say, no, not really, right? 25:27 Because, you know, maybe truth exists. 25:29 Maybe that absolute truth is out there somewhere, 25:32 but we can't really know what it is. 25:34 Again, that's that stinking thinking that relativism, 25:36 we don't want anything or any part of that 25:38 because as Christians, 25:40 Jesus was very, very clear 25:42 as to what He wanted us to believe. 25:45 And so, I want to just bring a series of texts together 25:48 to answer this question. 25:49 Can Christians know what truth is today? 25:51 Let's start with Jesus' words. 25:53 Because again, He is the way, He is the truth, 25:55 He is the life. 25:57 And this is what He said in Matthew 4:4 25:58 as He was being tempted by the devil. 26:00 We know those famous words. 26:02 He said here, "He said to him, 26:03 'It is written, 26:05 man shall not live by bread alone, 26:07 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. 26:13 So notice here, Christ is making 26:14 a definitive statement. 26:15 He's saying, "Look, 26:17 if you're going to be a follower of Me, 26:18 if you're going to be of Me, I've created man, 26:21 I am the creator He says, and I'm telling you, man, 26:24 that I've created should live by the Word of God. 26:27 They should live only by what comes 26:29 from the mouth of God. 26:30 Now take that and tie that to John 17:17, 26:33 when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. 26:35 And he said these famous words sanctify them. 26:38 That is make them holy, set them apart. 26:40 Sanctify them through thy," there it is, 26:43 "truth, Thy word is truth." 26:47 I love that. 26:49 Thy word is truth. 26:52 And so, my friends, now take that. 26:54 Again, we're building some blocks here 26:56 and connect that to Psalm 119:160. 26:59 I love this one, the 119 Chapter of Psalm. 27:02 So much packed in that chapter. 27:04 Notice what David writes here, he says, 27:06 "The entirety of Your word is truth, 27:11 and every one of your righteous judgments 27:14 endures forever. 27:16 Okay, so let's take the two texts 27:17 that we've just read, 27:19 sanctify them through Thy truth. 27:20 Thy word is truth. 27:22 And David makes it clear 27:23 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 27:25 Lord, the entirety of Your Word is truth. 27:28 Guess what? 27:30 That means from Genesis to Revelation, 27:32 we can know what truth is. 27:34 We can know 27:35 that the absolute definitive clear, 27:38 genuine truth of God's Word 27:39 is found right here in the Bible. 27:41 And we can trust it every single word is from God 27:45 and that it is trustworthy. 27:47 That's why I love again, Psalm 119. 27:49 It's one of my favorite chapters. 27:51 119 that famous verse found in verse 105. 27:55 It says, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet 27:58 and a light unto my path." 28:01 So God's Word is a light. 28:03 And if you've ever been in a dark place, 28:05 you desire to see, right? 28:07 You desire light. God's Word is that light. 28:10 That's what God inspired His Bible prophets to say, 28:13 that His Word is that light. 28:15 It is the lamp that lights our path. 28:17 Now keep that in mind, God's Word is a what? 28:19 It's a light. 28:21 Now take that in consideration when we read Isaiah 8:20, 28:25 because the question we're asking is, 28:26 can we know what this absolute truth is? 28:29 Here it is, Isaiah 8:22, 28:30 "To the law and to the testimony! 28:33 If they speak not according to this word, 28:35 it is because there is no light in them." 28:38 Did you hear that? 28:39 When we don't speak as Christians, 28:42 oh, I just wished I could scream this 28:44 from the mountaintop. 28:45 When we as Christians, my friends, 28:47 come up with this messy thinking that, 28:49 you know what? 28:51 Truth is what I want it to be. 28:52 Truth is, I've got my own truth. 28:54 I've got my own ideas. 28:55 I've got my own perception. 28:57 Here's the dangerous one. 28:58 I've got my own interpretation. 29:01 Ryan, that's your interpretation, 29:02 well I have my own interpretation. 29:04 Oh, Ryan, that's true for you, 29:06 but it's not necessarily true for me. 29:08 My friends, if we are Christians, 29:11 true, genuine Christians, 29:13 then we are of Jesus Christ. 29:15 And if we are true, genuine Christians, 29:18 then we are of the Word of God, 29:20 which means we believe harmoniously 29:23 that the foundational absolute finite truth 29:26 at the end of the day is God's Word. 29:29 And if we don't speak according to this word, 29:31 according to Isaiah 8:20, 29:33 when we don't speak according to this word, 29:35 the Bible says there is no light in us. 29:38 You know what that means? 29:39 That means the Word of God is not in you. 29:41 Because again, the Word of God is a lamp unto our feet 29:44 and a light into our path. 29:45 We don't have God's Word in us, 29:47 and when we don't have God's Word in us, 29:48 we don't have God in us. 29:52 Man, so to all of that, that I just said, 29:55 say it with me true dat. 29:58 All of that is true, true dat. 30:02 Absolutely. 30:04 So why should the Bible be received 30:08 as the ultimate truth? 30:10 You know, these are questions 30:12 that a very skeptical philosophical thinker 30:16 of today would ask. 30:18 Okay, Ryan, there's a genuine truth. 30:19 Okay. It's founded. 30:21 But what about the Word of God? 30:22 I mean, what is it about it that tells me 30:26 that I should receive it as the ultimate truth. 30:28 Right? 30:29 And I'm gonna show you some statistics, 30:30 some disturbing statistics in just a moment, my friends, 30:34 that tell us that Christians, professed Christians today, 30:39 they believe that truth 30:40 that is the religious biblical truth 30:42 is subject to opinion. 30:44 I'm gonna show you that more Christian, 30:46 more than half of the Christians 30:48 in this world today, believe that mess. 30:51 And I believe it's a dangerous thinking. 30:54 So why should the Bible be received 30:56 as the ultimate truth? 30:57 Well, let's consider this truth. 30:59 And I made a note here very clear 31:00 for all of us to see. 31:02 You see the Bible, 31:03 and this is the foundation of it right here. 31:05 The Bible identifies truth 31:07 as a quality intrinsic to the very nature of God! 31:13 And this should not come as too much of a surprise to us 31:15 since the Bible is primarily, say it with me about whom? 31:19 Jesus Christ. 31:22 So why should the Bible be 31:24 that ultimate final truth for us? 31:25 Because it's about Jesus Christ. 31:27 It identifies Him. 31:29 It identifies the character of God. 31:31 You can't separate the Word of God 31:33 and you can't separate the Word of God from God. 31:35 Jesus indeed called Himself the truth. 31:40 He was full of the truth. 31:43 The Bible makes it clear that He told the truth. 31:46 The Bible makes it clear that it says that, 31:48 you know whose words are true 31:50 according to Revelation 21 31:52 in verse and Chapter 22 as well. 31:54 Jesus also taught the way of God in truth 31:58 according to the Book of Matthew there, 31:59 as well as Mark and Luke, 32:01 you'll see the references on the screen. 32:02 Jesus also taught about the truth. 32:05 Right there we read John 17 earlier. 32:07 John 17:17, "Thy word is truth." 32:09 He taught about the truth 32:10 and, of course, He came into the world 32:13 to bear witness to the truth according to John Chapter 18. 32:17 My friends, we have to understand 32:20 that the Bible has a better and higher standard. 32:25 It is a better and higher standard. 32:27 It defines truth as being utterly, reliable and enduring. 32:32 And the reason is simple. 32:34 Authentic biblical truth is inextricably linked 32:39 to the dependable unchangeable character of God. 32:44 It identifies who God is. 32:46 It tells the story of the character of God. 32:50 Truth cannot, listen to these words, 32:53 truth cannot be unhinged from absolutes, 32:57 even though everyone's got their own opinion 32:59 as to what truth is, 33:00 and they live in their own little reality. 33:01 Well, this is my truth and that's your truth. 33:03 My friend, true, genuine truth for Christians 33:06 cannot be unhinged from absolutes. 33:11 You see, you can trust everything God says. 33:15 He never lies. 33:16 He always keeps His word. 33:18 And, of course, He's faithful to all His promises. 33:22 That's why David was able to write 33:24 in Psalm 31:5 very clearly. 33:27 I love this. 33:28 He says, "Into your hand, I commit my spirit, 33:31 you have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." 33:36 You see David wrote that 33:38 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 33:39 because God is truth. 33:43 And so as Christians, 33:44 when we come to this idea that, 33:45 well, that's true for you, that's not true for me. 33:48 My friends, 40 33:49 more than 40,000 different denominations 33:51 that exist today. 33:53 And the question is, why? 33:54 If we all have the same truth, 33:56 if we all have the same foundational amazing truth 33:59 that's found in God's Word. 34:00 And we all claim to be followers of Jesus, 34:03 why in the world we got 40,000 different denominations? 34:05 I'm gonna reveal to you in just a moment 34:07 why we have 40,000 different denominations. 34:10 It's because even Christians today, 34:12 the majority of Christians today 34:14 live in a false reality of relativism. 34:18 They believe that the truth of God's Word 34:20 is subjective 34:21 and that it's subject to opinion 34:23 and personal ideology, ideological thinking. 34:27 Numbers 23:19 tells us 34:29 another amazing truth about God, a beautiful promise. 34:32 It says, "God is not a man that He should lie, 34:35 nor a son of man that he should repent. 34:38 Has he said, and will He not do? 34:42 Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" 34:46 I love that. 34:47 I love how Moses is just, 34:49 he's just unpacking it right there. 34:50 He's saying, look, who is God? 34:52 He's the truth. 34:53 When He speaks, listen and believe 34:56 because when he speaks, He speaks truth. 34:58 His promises are sure, He cannot lie. 35:01 In fact, Paul even echoed this message in Titus 1:1-3. 35:06 Let's read that right now. Notice what Paul writes. 35:08 He says, "Paul, a bordservant of God 35:10 and an apostle of Jesus Christ, 35:12 according to the faith of God's elect 35:14 and the acknowledgement of, here it is, the truth, 35:17 which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, 35:21 which God, there it is again, who cannot lie, 35:25 promised before time began." 35:27 I love that. 35:28 I just wanna pause there for a moment 35:29 before we go into verse 3. 35:31 I just wanna highlight that 35:32 and reemphasize the fact that God cannot lie. 35:36 He is unchangeable, 35:37 but now notice what he continues to say 35:39 in verse 3. 35:41 He says, "But has in due time 35:44 manifested His word through preaching," 35:47 I love that, 35:48 "which was committed to me 35:51 according to the commandment of God, 35:54 our Savior." 35:56 Did you catch that? 35:57 How was this truth brought to him? 35:59 By the Word. 36:00 And, of course, it was committed to him 36:02 according to the commandment of God, our Savior. 36:05 You know speaking of the commandment, 36:07 let me ask this question. 36:08 What governing principles 36:10 epitomize the truth as found in God's character? 36:14 What should Christians believe on that? 36:17 What governing principles epitomize the truth 36:20 as found in God's character? 36:23 You know, that's just an overwhelming clear answer. 36:26 If you are a Bible Christian, then you know 36:28 it is none other than God's law, 36:29 the Ten Commandments. 36:31 In fact, notice, in Psalm again 119:142. 36:35 Notice what David writes. 36:36 He says, "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness 36:40 and your law is truth." 36:44 You see, the law of God tells the truth 36:47 because it is a transcript of the character of God. 36:51 The law of God tells us who God is, who is truth. 36:54 And therefore, my friends, if we're going to be Christians 36:57 living in these last days, 36:59 should we be preaching 37:00 that the law is done away with? 37:02 Because in a sense, 37:03 we're preaching and teaching that the law, 37:05 of course, if it's done away with, 37:06 and that means we're doing away 37:07 with the loving character of God. 37:12 You can't separate God from His law 37:15 because it tells the same story. 37:18 In fact, I'll put some references up here. 37:20 I'm not going to read all of those references, 37:21 but I wanna show you here. 37:23 The Bible makes it very clear 37:24 that God and His law are good. 37:26 They are holy. 37:28 God and His law are perfect. 37:30 Pure, just, true, spiritual, righteous. 37:34 They're righteousness, faithful, love, unchanging, 37:38 and I love this last one eternal. 37:41 God is eternal. 37:43 His law is eternal. 37:45 His Word is eternal. Guess what? 37:47 Truth is eternal. 37:48 Guess what? True dat. 37:50 That's what you need to be saying right now. 37:51 True dat 'cause all of that is true about God in His Word. 37:56 I told you, after this sermon, 37:58 you're gonna be saying it at home. 37:59 I've been saying it, makes me feel good. 38:01 I like to say it. 38:02 It's fun because we need to live 38:05 in a day and age where the truth, 38:06 when the truth is being attacked. 38:08 When the truth is being eroded 38:09 at every corner, 38:10 God needs a people that's going to stand firm 38:12 on the truth. 38:13 Not a truth, not a version of our own personal truth, 38:16 but we need to be standing on the truth of God's Word. 38:20 So I wanna ask another important question 38:22 right now. 38:23 Why does so many professed Christian struggle 38:26 with accepting and formulating their lives 38:28 around the truth of God's Word? 38:33 Why does it seem like so many Christians 38:36 are failing to receive this truth, 38:40 are failing to accept it as true? 38:42 And you say, well, Ryan, 38:44 I don't really know of any Christians that are, 38:45 I'm gonna show you 38:46 some statistics in just a moment. 38:48 But I wanna show you from a biblical perspective, 38:51 why this is the case. 38:54 First of all, I'm gonna read a text, 38:55 one of the shortest text in all of Scripture, 38:57 but I believe it's one of the most, 38:58 truly one of the most inspired text 39:00 that we can find in Scripture. 39:02 It was written by Paul 39:03 and Paul says this very short sentence, 39:06 five words, do not quench the spirit. 39:12 In other parts, he talks about 39:13 how we should not grieve the Holy Spirit. 39:20 So why are Christians struggling to accept 39:25 the actual, absolute, genuine truth of God's Word 39:28 today for what it is? 39:30 Well, because the majority of Christians today 39:32 are quenching the spirit. 39:35 You see and when you quench the spirit, 39:37 let me tell you a little bit of something 39:38 about the spirit here. 39:39 In fact, I'm gonna let Jesus tell you 39:41 a little bit of something about the spirit. 39:42 In fact, we've all read it, but in case you haven't, 39:44 this is what the Bible says in John 16:13, Jesus says, 39:48 "However, when He, notice what He recall, 39:51 what He calls the spirit. 39:52 He says, "When He, the Spirit of truth," 39:56 there it is. 39:57 "When the Spirit of truth has come, 39:59 He will guide you into" how much truth? 40:02 "All truth, 40:03 for He will not speak on His own authority, 40:05 but whatever He hears He will speak 40:07 and He will tell you things to come." 40:10 So get this. 40:12 Why are Christians struggling? 40:14 Because they're quenching the spirit. 40:16 If the spirit's, one of the spirit's attributes 40:18 and purposes is to come into this world 40:20 to show us truth, 40:21 to reveal all truth to us, 40:23 but yet we're quenching the Holy Spirit. 40:24 My friends, we're quenching the life source of truth. 40:29 In fact, notice what Jesus said in Matthew 13:13-15. 40:33 This is the result of quenching the spirit of truth. 40:38 Jesus says, "Hearing you will hear 40:41 and shall not understand, 40:42 and seeing you will see and not perceive, 40:45 for the hearts of this people have grown dull. 40:47 Their ears are hard of hearing 40:49 and their eyes have been closed, 40:51 lest they should see 40:53 what their eyes and hear with their ears, 40:56 lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, 40:59 so that I should heal them." 41:01 You know what Jesus is saying here? 41:03 He's saying, when you cut off the source of truth, 41:06 when you are quenching the Spirit of God in your life, 41:10 when you're grieving the Holy Spirit, 41:12 you're taking away this, you're cutting off, 41:15 you're severing the spiritual supply line 41:17 of truth for your life. 41:19 And when you do that, guess what? 41:21 You may have eyes, but you can't see, 41:24 you may have ears, but you can't hear. 41:26 You may have a mind, 41:28 but you're not really perceiving. 41:29 That's why we have so many people today. 41:30 I walk around with the plain truth of God's Word 41:32 and I'll be showing people, 41:34 teaching people the truth is found in God's Word. 41:35 And one of the most interesting intriguing things 41:38 to hear is when you actually show 41:40 someone the plain simple truth of God's Word, 41:43 and they look at that and say, well, I don't see that. 41:45 Well, of course you don't see that 41:47 because having eyes you can't see, 41:48 having ears you can't hear. 41:50 And the reason why many people are in this case 41:52 is because they're quenching the leading, 41:54 guiding power of the Spirit of truth in their life. 41:58 That's why Paul goes on to write 41:59 in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2, notice what he says. 42:02 This is ultimately the prophetic, 42:05 this is a prophecy basically of what's gonna happen 42:08 when people sever that connection, 42:10 when they can no longer see, this is what it says. 42:12 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 beginning in verse 10. 42:15 He says, "And with all unrighteous deception 42:17 among those who perish." 42:18 Why are they perishing? Here's why they're perishing. 42:21 "Because they did not receive the love of the truth 42:25 that they might be saved. 42:27 And for this reason 42:28 God will send them strong delusion, 42:29 that they should believe the lie, 42:32 that they all may be condemned who did not believe, 42:35 there it is again, the truth, 42:37 but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 42:40 My friends, this is the world we live in today 42:42 and it breaks my heart 42:44 as a Christian living among other Christians. 42:48 We should all as Jesus Christ prayed 42:49 in the Garden of Gethsemane, 42:51 we should all be in one mind and one accord. 42:53 We should all be on the same biblical page. 42:57 But the truth is, we're not. 43:00 And the reason why is because this church 43:02 is flooded with wheat and tares, 43:05 with Christians and selftians. 43:07 Those who live 43:08 in their own false alternate reality 43:10 and those who are grounded 43:12 to the absolute truth of God's Word. 43:15 And Jesus said light and darkness cannot coexist. 43:18 Why do you think the church is so divided today? 43:21 Never been divided as much as it is today. 43:24 Because the devil is attacking the truth. 43:27 In fact, notice what Isaiah 59:14-15 43:31 has to say, 43:32 this is somewhat of a prophecy even for our time, 43:35 notice here. 43:36 It says, "Justice is turned back, 43:39 and righteousness stands afar off, 43:41 for truth is fallen in the street, 43:44 and equity cannot enter. 43:47 So truth fails, 43:48 and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey." 43:53 Don't you feel like that sometimes 43:55 when you finally decide, 43:57 and you've seen the light 43:58 and you wanna bring yourself in harmony 44:00 with the light of God's Word, 44:01 it seems like you become an enemy 44:03 to everyone around you. 44:05 You become a prey. 44:06 That's the word of God, not my words. 44:09 Look at these statistics. 44:11 According to a 2019, 44:13 I think actually I made a typo here, 44:15 but I'm gonna clarify it. 44:16 It's either 2019 or 2018 but notice this, 44:20 this is a legitimate study that I found online, get this. 44:24 And this is a statement that they made. 44:26 You'll see it up there on the kind of 44:27 in the top left-hand corner there, 44:29 it says, "Religious belief 44:32 is a matter of personal opinion. 44:34 It is not about objective truth." 44:35 So they wanted to know 44:37 what evangelicals believe about this. 44:39 That is Christians. 44:41 So they made this statement and they wanted to know, 44:42 do you agree with this statement 44:43 or do you not? 44:45 My friends, look at this, 47%, okay. 44:49 Only 47% strongly disagreed with this statement. 44:55 Less than half of the Christians polled 44:59 disagreed with this statement as they should have, 45:02 because truth is not a matter of personal opinion. 45:05 It isn't, and that it is an objective truth, 45:09 but yet notice more than 50, 45:11 at this point 53% of the people, 45:13 everyone else, 45:14 even that group that said somewhat there, 45:16 somewhat, I somewhat disagree. 45:18 If you somewhat disagree with that, my friends, 45:20 then you're not grounded in the genuine truth 45:21 of God's Word. 45:23 You fall in the camp with the rest of them. 45:25 Fifty three percent of Christians 45:27 said that they either somewhat or, 45:29 you know, pretty much agree with the fact 45:31 that yet truth is subject to opinion. 45:33 My goodness, Lord have mercy on us. 45:35 In fact, if you go on to look at the next study 45:37 that I found here, 45:39 a 2019 Lifeway Research Study, again, 45:41 how much of the Bible they ask, 45:43 how much of the Bible have you personally read? 45:45 Look at this, 10% says none of it, 45:48 only a few sentences for people of 13% 45:51 of those who took this survey. 45:54 Thirty percent said several passages or stories, 45:57 15% said at least half of it, 12% said almost all of it. 46:01 And of course only 19% said 46:04 all of it or all of it more than once. 46:06 My friends, there's a large number 46:08 of Christians that took this survey. 46:10 And this is the results. 46:12 This is the world that we live in. 46:13 And you say, Ryan, why is that such a big deal? 46:15 Because now listen to this statistic. 46:16 If this one doesn't bother you get this. 46:18 According to the American Bible Society, 46:20 now they don't have a slide for this one, 46:22 but I want to just verbalize this one very clear. 46:24 According to a recent American Bible Society survey, 46:27 almost nine out of 10 households, 46:29 that's 87% own a Bible 46:33 and the average household has three Bibles. 46:37 But yeah, we don't agree with what truth is anymore 46:40 because there's more than 40,000 different denominations. 46:42 Why? 46:43 Because we got a bunch of people 46:44 who have their own version of the truth. 46:46 This is the world we live in. 46:47 You can't put 10 Christians in a room anymore 46:49 and agree on the absolute truth of God's Word. 46:52 Everyone's got their own opinion, 46:53 40,000 different opinions. 46:55 My friends, have mercy. 46:57 Where are have come as a society? 47:00 And again, this bar graph here, 2019. 47:03 Notice this, which of the following describe 47:05 the Bible to you. 47:06 And look at this, 52% said, a good source of morals, 47:10 38% said, a good historical account, 47:14 37% said, it's helpful today. 47:15 But the one that bothers me the most 47:17 is 36% of the people that took the survey said 47:21 that they believe that the Bible is true. 47:23 Only 36%, my friends, 47:28 and we wonder why Paul preached 47:31 and I could just imagine this brother preaching it with power 47:33 from 2 Timothy 4:2 and onward. 47:36 When he said, "Preach the word, 47:39 be instant in season and out of season, 47:41 reprove, rebuke with and exhort 47:44 with all long suffering and doctrine. 47:46 For the time will come," this is a prophecy, my friends, 47:49 "the time will come 47:51 when they will not endure sound doctrine, 47:52 but after their own lust." 47:54 Again, their own opinion, their own thinking, 47:57 their own truth. 47:59 "Shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, 48:02 and they shall turn away their truth." 48:04 Excuse me, "their ears from the truth 48:06 and shall be turned into fables." 48:08 And I can tell you as a response 48:10 to what we just read, I can say true dat. 48:16 That's the reality of what we live in today 48:18 in Christianity. 48:20 Many people living according to their own lust, 48:23 their own truth, their own desire. 48:27 So I wanna ask 48:28 with the last couple of minutes remaining that I have 48:30 in the bulk of this sermon here. 48:32 I just wanna make this very clear. 48:34 How can we make sure that we are grounded 48:38 that is always grounded 48:40 in the genuine truth of God's Word? 48:43 Well, let me give you this text. 48:45 It's one of my favorite ones, 48:46 and I rely on it to keep me humble 48:48 and to keep me in check often. 48:51 And that's found in Proverbs 3:5-6. 48:54 The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord 48:55 with all your heart, 48:57 and lean not on your own understanding, 49:01 in all your ways acknowledge Him, 49:04 and He shall direct your path." 49:09 I love that. 49:11 You see when you're a true, genuine Christian. 49:13 That is a true, genuine follower of Jesus. 49:16 You don't trust yourself. 49:18 You don't trust your own way. 49:20 That's why the Bible says 49:21 over in Proverbs 14:12, somewhere, 49:23 I think it's Proverbs 14:12. 49:24 There is a way which seemeth right into a man, 49:27 but the end thereof are the ways of death. 49:33 That's why Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:15, 49:36 "Study to show thyself approved unto God, 49:38 a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, 49:40 rightly dividing the word of truth." 49:44 You see, we do need to read the Word of God. 49:47 You need to be reading your Bibles each day. 49:49 But more than that, my friends, 49:50 we need to be studying the Word of God. 49:53 We need to be students of the Word of God. 49:55 How can we be grounded 49:57 to the plain truth of God's Word? 49:59 The absolute truth of God's Word? 50:01 If we're not students of the Word, 50:03 if we don't trust in the Lord 50:05 more than we trust in ourselves, 50:07 but it seems like more and more Christians today, 50:09 instead of trusting in God, 50:11 they trust in themselves more than they trust in God. 50:13 And therefore, 50:14 because they trust in themselves 50:15 more than they trust in God, 50:17 they become their own God. 50:21 I wanna trust in the light of God's Word. 50:24 I wanna believe right there in Psalm 119:105 50:27 when it says plain and clear, 50:30 "Thy word, Your word, O God, 50:32 is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." 50:38 Do you trust in the Word? 50:40 Are you a true Christian or you a selftian? 50:44 Do you have your own self revised version 50:46 with those two added first and second opinions 50:49 that you rely on quite a bit. 50:50 Or do you rely on a plain thus saith the Lord? 50:54 You see, we need to learn to trust in God 50:56 because it's only His strength 50:59 that's going to get us through, not our own. 51:02 At this moment, I would like to allow my brothers, 51:05 Tim Parton and Pastor John Lomacang, 51:07 to bless us with a song. 51:09 It's gonna talk about how God is our strength 51:12 and we should place our trust in Him. 51:27 Sometimes life seems like words and music 51:34 That can't quite become a song 51:40 So you cry inside 51:43 Then you try again 51:46 Wondering what could be wrong 51:52 Then you turn to the Lord at the end of yourselves 51:58 As we've done at time or two before 52:04 We find the truth is the same 52:07 As it's always been 52:11 You never will need more 52:17 It's not in trying, but in trusting 52:24 Not in running, but in resting 52:30 Not in wondering, but in praying 52:36 That we find the strength of the Lord 52:42 It's not in trying, but in trusting 52:49 Not in running, but in resting 52:55 Not in wondering, but in praying 53:01 That you'll find the strength of the Lord 53:17 He's all we need 53:20 For our every need 53:24 We never need be alone 53:30 But He'll let us go 53:33 If we choose to live life 53:38 On our own 53:42 Then the only good 53:45 That will ever be said 53:49 From the pain we find ourselves in 53:55 There are praises to gain 53:58 And the wisdom to say 54:03 I'll never the leave Him again 54:08 It's not in trying, but in trusting 54:15 Not in running, but in resting 54:21 Not in wondering, but in praying 54:27 That you'll find your strength in the Lord 54:34 No, it's not in trying, but in trusting 54:41 Not in running, but it's in resting 54:47 Not in wondering, but in praying 54:53 That you'll find your strength in the Lord 55:00 Not in wondering, but in praying 55:07 That you'll find 55:09 The strength of the Lord 55:25 Praise the Lord. 55:27 You guys couldn't have chosen a better song. 55:29 It's really, really good. Thank you. 55:32 My friends, the Bible reminds us 55:34 one of my favorite text, 55:36 one of the most beautiful promises 55:38 in all the Scripture. 55:39 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, 55:44 "If My people who are called by My name 55:47 will humble themselves, and pray 55:50 and seek My face 55:52 and turn from their wicked ways, 55:54 and I will hear from heaven 55:57 and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 56:02 You see, some of us need to take a big bite 56:07 of humble pie every once in a while. 56:11 You see, the only way we can come to understand 56:14 and to truly submit ourselves 56:16 to that absolute genuine truth of God's Word 56:21 is if we're humbled 56:23 and if we humble ourselves in God's presence. 56:27 You see, it's really all about surrender 56:29 at the end of the day. 56:30 You surrendering your will to Him. 56:34 And so in closing now, 56:36 I do wanna say thank you for joining us, 56:38 but I wanna give a final appeal to surrender your will 56:41 to the Lord right now. 56:43 You say, "Lord, I don't trust my thinking. 56:46 I don't trust my truth," 56:48 if there is such a thing, of course, there is not. 56:50 His truth is the only truth that matters. 56:54 Let us pray as we close. 56:55 Father in heaven, 56:57 simple and clear, we want Your truth, 57:01 we need the only truth that matters 57:03 and that is Your truth. 57:04 Give us Your Holy Spirit. Teach us Your will. 57:07 Teach us Your ways and take us away here today. 57:11 We ask and pray in Jesus' name. 57:13 Amen. 57:15 Amen. |
Revised 2021-03-29