Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW200034S
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00:02 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:09 Hello and happy Sabbath to all of you 01:11 who are joining us at this time. 01:13 We want to welcome you especially 01:15 during this time of 3ABN Family Worship, 01:18 where we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. 01:21 We come together, we gather around the table, 01:23 we crack open the bread of life, 01:25 the word of the living God, 01:27 and we study together, 01:28 we learn together, we grow together. 01:30 And we just want to say thank you so much 01:32 for joining us this evening. 01:34 As you know what, 01:35 we take the Sabbath very serious 01:37 because it's the time we can commune with Jesus, 01:39 we can commune with each other. 01:41 And it's a special time indeed. 01:42 We want to thank you, 01:44 as always for your continual love, prayers, 01:46 and support of 3ABN Ministry 01:48 as right now as I'm speaking, 01:50 this message is going all around the world, 01:53 the three angels' message, 01:54 the undiluted gospel all around the world. 01:57 And we're just privileged and we were so grateful 01:59 to be able to join you wherever you are today. 02:02 We indeed have a very, very special subject, 02:05 which we will identify in just a moment, 02:08 but before we do, 02:09 I got to introduce this incredible group 02:11 that we have here. 02:12 This is the 3ABN Pastoral department. 02:15 Not all of it, of course, this is not just us four guys, 02:18 but we're representing the 3ABN Pastoral department. 02:21 And I guess, I must go ahead and do the introductions. 02:24 I'm going to start down here to my right, 02:25 we have Brother Donald Owen, 02:27 you are very important part of the department 02:29 and we certainly appreciate 02:30 that you're here today, Brother. 02:32 You know, being in Pastoral has been such a blessing. 02:33 It's your total idea of grow. 02:36 Being in Pastoral will definitely grow you 02:38 because we get hit with all kinds of questions 02:40 and prayer requests. 02:41 So I've just been very blessed. 02:43 And I never ever thought I'd be on a prayer line. 02:45 But God is too good, so thankful. 02:47 Amen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 02:49 It's a blessing to have you and, 02:50 of course, to my direct right here. 02:52 I guess your official title, you are the general manager of, 02:55 or the manager or supervisor of the Pastoral. 02:59 Tell us what's your official title is, 03:00 Brother JD Quinn. 03:02 My official title is a Manager of the Pastoral department, 03:04 Pastoral Ministries department. 03:07 And, man, do I have 03:08 a wonderful group of guys and girls around us. 03:12 And we're just so blessed 03:13 because we get to share Jesus around the world. 03:17 We pray with people. 03:18 We're there for words of encouragement. 03:22 But this is a joy for us all to be together here. 03:25 Amen. It is indeed. Absolutely. 03:27 And, of course, to my left over here, 03:29 another vital important part of our Pastoral team, 03:32 Brother Joe O' Brien, we love your wisdom. 03:34 And we certainly appreciate that 03:35 you've joined us for this special study. 03:39 And I've been here about 20 years. 03:40 So a lot of the folks 03:42 who call here in prayer are not just people, 03:46 they're my friends. 03:47 We've been around together for 20 years. 03:50 And so, it's kind of a joy to hear from your old friends. 03:54 And they're all, 03:55 we're all part of the body of Christ. 03:56 So we are family. 03:58 And I used to be a firefighter out in California 04:02 for the city of Santa Rosa. 04:03 And that was my favorite job amongst other things, 04:07 being a barber and selling real estate. 04:09 But when I gave my life to the Lord, 04:12 He knew what I favored. 04:14 So He put me in the Pastoral department, 04:16 where I'm still fighting fire. 04:18 A different kind of fire. 04:20 That's right. That's right. 04:21 And I'll tell you what, we've got some winners. 04:23 So I appreciate the job I have. 04:25 Amen. 04:27 Praise the Lord, me too. 04:28 It's nothing like working for the King of the universe. 04:31 Amen. 04:33 Praise the Lord. 04:34 Hey, we have a very, very special, special title today, 04:37 "What is truth?" 04:39 That's what we're talking about, 04:40 what is truth and that may sound very elementary, 04:42 it may sound very simple, 04:44 very fundamental to some people. 04:45 But I promise you, you don't want to turn away 04:47 or you don't want to stop watching this 04:49 because we're going to get into 04:51 I think some very relative information, 04:53 some very relative truth 04:55 in trying to address the issue of what is truth, 04:58 and certainly here in 2020 05:01 as we are seeing all of the kind of the chaos, 05:05 and I don't know, 05:06 for lack of a better word craziness 05:07 that seems to be unfolding around us. 05:11 You know, the truth of God's word 05:13 is being chipped away at. 05:14 And it seems in many people's hearts and minds 05:16 as there's not, 05:18 there's not a strong foundation there of what is truth. 05:20 And so that's what we're going to be talking about tonight, 05:22 addressing that from a biblical perspective, 05:25 because as Christians living in these last days, 05:27 we need to make sure that we are sure 05:30 and we are grounded on what is truth. 05:33 And so before we go any further, 05:35 Brother Joe, I'm going to ask you, 05:37 Brother, if you don't mind 05:38 to have an opening prayer for us, 05:39 and then we're going to get right into our study. 05:42 Our Father in Heaven, we've come together here, Lord, 05:45 to serve You, and to reach out to the world 05:49 and sharing the things that are needful for salvation 05:53 and restoration of eternal life. 05:55 And so we invite Your Holy Spirit 05:57 to be in our hearts and minds 06:00 as we search Your word for truth. 06:02 And we pray that You will share with all of us, 06:06 our viewers and us new truths, Lord, 06:10 that can help us 06:11 to be better servants in Your vineyard. 06:14 And we thank You for Your presence 06:16 and Your guidance in Jesus' name, amen. 06:18 Amen. Amen. 06:20 Praise the Lord. 06:22 So if you have your Bibles at home, 06:23 we encourage you to get your Bibles, 06:25 get your pin pads, notepads, writing utensils, all that out, 06:28 because you're probably going to want to take some notes. 06:30 We're going to try not to get too philosophical tonight, 06:32 but simply stick to what the Bible says 06:35 about truth in general. 06:37 Of course, this is something 06:38 as we were talking amongst ourselves, 06:39 this thing could easily turn into a multi part series. 06:43 We're going to do our best to not allow that to happen. 06:45 But with the same time, 06:47 we're going to also listen to the Holy Spirit. 06:49 So if the Holy Spirit wants this to be a multi part series, 06:52 then we'll make it so, 06:53 otherwise, we're just going to allow 06:55 the Word of God to speak for itself tonight. 06:57 Let's go to, if you have your Bibles, 06:59 let's go to John 18. 07:00 And, Donald, 07:02 I'm going to have you to start reading in verse 33 07:04 in just a moment. 07:06 But what we're about to unpack 07:07 is simply probably one of the most powerful scenes 07:10 that we find in all of Scripture. 07:12 And, of course, 07:14 what we're seeing here in these verses 07:15 from about verse 33-38 of John Chapter 18 is, 07:20 of course, the interrogation of Jesus 07:23 by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. 07:26 And we all know that famous question he asked, 07:28 and that's what 07:29 we're kind of gravitating toward. 07:31 And he ends with this, 07:32 you know, this question of what is truth, right? 07:34 And so, if you would, Donald, 07:35 go ahead and start reading John Chapter 18, 07:37 beginning with verse 33 and all the way to verse 38. 07:40 Yeah, all right. 07:42 "Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, 07:45 and called Jesus, and said unto him, 07:47 Art thou the King of the Jews? 07:50 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, 07:53 or did others tell it thee of me? 07:56 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? 07:59 Thine own nation 08:00 and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: 08:02 what hast thou done? 08:04 Jesus answered, 08:05 My kingdom is not of this world: 08:07 if my kingdom were of this world, 08:08 then would my servants fight, 08:10 that I should not be delivered to the Jews: 08:13 but now is my kingdom not from hence. 08:16 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? 08:19 Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. 08:23 To this end was I born, 08:24 and for this cause came I into the world, 08:27 that I should bear witness unto the truth. 08:30 Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 08:34 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? 08:37 And when he had said this, 08:38 he went out again unto the Jews, 08:39 and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all." 08:44 Wow. 08:46 It's one of those, one of those interesting scenes 08:48 where you kind of just wish that you were a fly on the wall 08:51 to be able to see that scene there, 08:53 right, to take it all in to see exactly 08:55 how did Jesus respond? 08:57 How did Pilate respond, 08:58 because obviously, Pilate is interested, 09:00 as he's appearing, I'm sure upon the presence, 09:03 the physical presence of Jesus. 09:05 And he's just kind of wondering, 09:06 I'm sure at this time 09:07 Jesus didn't really appear to be anything special, 09:09 just kind of the, 09:11 just kind of the average Joe and he's looking and thinking, 09:12 this guy's a threat. 09:14 This is the guy you brought to me. 09:15 So he begins to ask him questions. 09:17 You know, who are you? They say, you're a king? 09:19 Are you a king? 09:20 And I love the response that Jesus gives, right? 09:22 Look, I am a king. 09:23 You said rightly that I am a king, 09:25 but My kingdom is not of this world. 09:27 But you know, it's also interesting, 09:29 something that you read here. 09:30 He said, 09:31 "If My kingdom were of this world, 09:33 my servants would fight." Right? 09:35 My servants would fight. 09:36 Tonight, we're certainly not promoting 09:38 the idea of being able to fight physically against each other. 09:41 But my question is, 09:43 as we're looming over this concept of truth, 09:45 are you willing to fight for truth? 09:47 And that's essentially what we're doing 09:49 in this spiritual warfare 09:50 that we are engaged in on a daily basis, 09:53 as we see that He's asking here, 09:55 this is Pilate, 09:56 he walks away and says what is truth 09:58 and it seems like we live in a day and age 10:01 where more and more people are contemplating 10:04 at least that idea in their mind, 10:06 what is truth? Is truth absolute? 10:08 Can we put our thumb 10:10 or can we point to something 10:11 that we say that is absolute truth? 10:13 Or is truth relative, is truth what we want it to be, 10:16 is truth what we devise it to be. 10:18 So, fellows, what is truth? 10:20 Is that a relevant question 10:22 that we find Pilate asking what is truth? 10:25 What's your response to that? 10:27 Well, I would, you know, I looked up, 10:30 I looked up the definition of truth. 10:32 And it says that to which corresponds to fact, 10:35 so I guess as we back this thing up 10:38 someplace along last way. 10:39 And it may be as simple as how we were raised, 10:42 I don't really know. 10:43 You know, as we take this trip through life, 10:46 we go through different stages. 10:48 I remember, whenever I was a young, 10:51 youngster, 10:53 my dad made sure that you know, that you know, that, you know. 10:57 Boy, that just went right over my head. 10:59 Right, somebody also said that. 11:01 Can't, yeah, and a married lady 11:03 that says that all the time too, 11:04 you know, know that you know, that you know, 11:07 and I was kind of, just personally, 11:10 I was the kind of person that just no one was enough. 11:15 I was so naive. 11:17 This is, this is very deep for me to sit here. 11:22 And the person that's going to determine 11:24 where you're going to go. 11:26 And then he's coming back with the same question. 11:30 And so if I was the king, I sit here and say, uh-oh, 11:34 where is this going? 11:36 Right. Right. 11:37 And so, 11:41 truth is something that we certainly get, 11:44 need to get a good handle on because the older you get, 11:47 you see how important that is. 11:49 Absolutely, I agree. 11:51 And then the thing is, we live... 11:53 And the reason why we brought this up, 11:54 reason why I thought of this, 11:56 as I was studying and preparing for this. 11:58 It seems like more and more as we find ourselves 12:02 more engaged in the society around us, 12:04 the reality around us 12:06 is that there's more and more people 12:07 who are questioning this idea of what is truth. 12:12 And again, I said earlier, 12:14 is truth something 12:15 that is absolute or is truth relative? 12:18 Is it something that I make it up to be? 12:20 Is it something that I consider to be according to my own mind, 12:25 my own reality. 12:26 And you know, many people 12:28 doubt the idea of absolute truth 12:31 and share the views of 12:32 and I have a note here of Irish Scottish playwright, 12:36 or Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde, 12:39 when he wrote these. 12:40 He wrote these words, he said, 12:41 "The truth is rarely pure, and never simple. 12:44 And so there's so many people that would take that. 12:47 Again, the truth is rarely, 12:48 the truth is rarely pure and never simple. 12:51 And so there's so many people that say, that's right, 12:53 you know, truth is, there's no pure truth. 12:55 You know, there's no absolute truth. 12:57 You know, it's not as it's not as simple 12:59 as people make it out to be. 13:00 It's not black and white, you know, 13:02 there's some deep, deep, deep gray 13:03 and multicolored areas that you got to address. 13:06 And, of course, you have people like, 13:08 you know, famous musician, Bob Dylan, 13:09 who is quoted to have said, 13:11 "All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie." 13:14 Wow. 13:16 All the truth in the world, 13:17 and I laugh at that kind of just jokingly, 13:18 in the sense that 13:20 what's, what's amazing is and again, 13:23 this isn't really a joke, 13:25 because I want to make this very clear 13:26 as we're getting into the realm of Christianity, 13:29 you expect the world 13:32 to believe these type of things. 13:33 You expect someone who is a non-Christian, 13:36 to play with these ideas of what is true, 13:38 then is it absolute? 13:39 No, it's not. 13:41 But when you get inside the Christian church, 13:44 is truth absolute, 13:45 is truth supposed to be absolute 13:47 to the Christian? 13:48 That's actually what my first, 13:50 our first question is in our outline 13:51 that we have here. 13:53 Should Christians view truth as absolute? 13:56 Is it something 13:58 that we should view as absolute? 13:59 Or is it relative to our own perspective, 14:02 our own ideologies, our own opinions? 14:05 What you think? 14:06 I think we should let God answer that question. 14:09 It's an important question. 14:10 And in Psalms 119:142, God Himself says, 14:17 "Thy law is the truth." 14:20 Then he says in 119:151, 14:24 "Thy commandments are truth." 14:28 So the law, 14:29 the commandment law is the truth. 14:32 So the truth. The truth. 14:34 The truth, there's a definite article there. 14:36 I like, I like how he's emphasizing that, 14:38 because it's not expressed as a truth, the truth. 14:43 Thy law is the truth. 14:45 Now, based on that simplicity, I can go forward. 14:49 Okay. 14:50 Like I can take care of what I have to take care of 14:53 and stay within that perimeter. 14:54 Mm-hmm. Absolutely. 14:56 I was kind of thinking on this note, you know, 14:57 just reviewing this, what we just read in John 15:00 and I can understand Pilate's confusion 15:03 because you're the king of the Jews, 15:05 but they turned you in, 15:07 be speaking like your action speak words. 15:09 And you can see well, 15:11 how is he the King of the Jews 15:12 if they're sending you to be crucified? 15:14 I don't, this isn't making sense, 15:16 some kind of truth is not connecting here. 15:18 So I'm kind of seeing that story played out here, said, 15:20 you know that 15:21 I should not be delivered to the Jews. 15:23 So Jesus is trying to keep, you know, says him, 15:24 my servant would fight 15:26 so I would not should not be delivered to the Jews. 15:27 And why would the King of the Jews 15:30 be delivered for crucifixion? 15:31 That's, that's... Right. 15:33 So I see as a people work, 15:35 we, by how we live our life and how we conduct ourselves. 15:39 Do we really show that we live the truth, 15:41 kind of like, absolute truth? 15:43 How do we live that absolute truth? 15:44 What we're seeing here is Pilate's confused, 15:46 what is truth? 15:47 If I'm seeing this and seeing, 15:49 there's two different things going on here. 15:50 Right. 15:51 This story here fascinates me in this respect. 15:54 I see a time 15:56 when they didn't have newspapers, televisions, 15:58 radio, etc. 15:59 But they knew the news, right? 16:01 They knew that this man 16:02 Jesus was supposed to be somebody special. 16:05 He even kind of went around healing people and, you know, 16:09 this is, this is serious. 16:11 This guy says He's the Son of God, 16:13 or was raised the dead, what have you. 16:15 And so it comes to the point like you said, 16:19 everyone who is of the truth hears my voice, 16:22 Jesus says to the king, 16:24 "Everyone who is of the truth, " 16:29 meaning, are you, He's talking to the king now, 16:31 and the king's listening, 16:33 "hears My voice. 16:35 And I came to bear witness of the truth." 16:39 In other words, 16:40 if I am who everybody says, or thinks I might be, 16:44 then you better be paying attention 16:46 to why I'm here to witness the truth. 16:49 Now you're going to speak your answer, 16:52 is it going to be truthful? 16:54 And the king went out and said, 16:56 "I find no fault in him." 16:58 There's the truth. 17:00 He put him in a corner, 17:01 he backed him up against the wall with words. 17:04 And that king was saying, 17:06 "What if He is who He says He is, 17:08 and has the kingdom in heaven? 17:11 Then I better tell the truth." 17:14 So I think there was a little something going on there. 17:16 Absolutely. 17:18 You know, I'm just going back over these words 17:19 that we just read in John 18. 17:22 The fact that Christ specified, and I love this, he says, 17:25 "For this cause I was born. 17:29 For this cause I have come into the world." 17:31 Why have you come into the world? 17:32 Jesus, of course, you know, many people would say, 17:34 well, as to seek and save the lost. 17:35 So there's, you know, 17:37 all of those answers are correct. 17:38 But I like how he says here, that, 17:40 "I should bear witness to the truth." 17:43 And in the original Greek there, 17:44 the definite article is there 17:46 that He's not talking about just simply 17:47 any old kind of whatever truth you want to come up with. 17:50 He says, 17:51 "I came into this world to bear witness of the truth." 17:54 And as Brother Joe brought out here, 17:55 "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 18:00 And so, can and should Christians view truth 18:03 as something that is absolute 18:05 something that, that we can be grounded upon 18:11 and still be drawn to a certain, 18:14 one certain reality that truth is what it is 18:17 regardless of what you want to believe or not. 18:20 Truth is truth according to Christians' views, 18:23 that's what it should be. 18:24 In fact, I'm also looking here in John 8:32. 18:27 Again, Jesus speaking, He says, 18:29 "And you shall know the truth, 18:32 and the truth shall make you free." 18:34 Yeah, I like what JD said earlier 18:36 you know about facts. 18:38 Because facts are usually something you see, 18:40 literally see. 18:42 When we're talking about Jesus, 18:43 and He's from a different kingdom, 18:44 I can't see a kingdom. 18:46 So how do I know it's even true? 18:47 You know, Hebrews 11:1 says, faith is evident or hope, 18:51 what it say evidence. 18:53 "Faith is things hoped for, 18:54 the evidence of things not seen." 18:56 The word evidence. 18:57 So this idea of truth, you know, 18:59 we see the sunrise every day and it sets in the west. 19:00 That's truth. It's a fact. Right. 19:02 It's there. 19:03 I got two hands, I got two feet, 19:04 I have two eyes. Right. 19:06 That's true. That's a fact. 19:07 So I think that we're talking about 19:09 this idea of absolute versus relative. 19:10 It's people want truth, like they want it physically. 19:13 They want to be able to see it. 19:14 But Jesus Christ came to show them a different reality 19:17 and they weren't ready for it. 19:19 That's right. Absolutely. 19:20 And in an ideal world, that should be quite simple. 19:24 Right. 19:25 But we live in a world of confusion, 19:28 of which we have choices. 19:30 That's right. 19:31 And then it gets very complex, 19:32 because this may be a little bit sweeter to me 19:35 than this over here. 19:37 And so all of a sudden now, there's choices. 19:41 And now the hole gets deeper. 19:46 So where we're going to go with it? 19:48 How come... 19:51 You were talking about this earlier. 19:53 How many different denominations are there? 19:55 There's more than 40,000 according to statistics. 19:57 Forty thousand. 19:58 So there's 40 at least 40,000 different views here. 20:03 Boy, that hole just got even deeper. 20:06 How come, 20:07 how come if there is the truth that is so complex? 20:13 Yeah, now that's a good question. 20:15 And that's kind of the purpose of this study is that, again, 20:19 as I said earlier, 20:20 outside of the Christian church, 20:22 we expect the world to be draped 20:24 in this confusion, right? 20:26 You expect someone who does not know Christ, 20:28 who does not profess Christ, 20:29 who does not seek Jesus as Savior, 20:31 to be kind of confound to this confused state 20:35 of what is truth is, truth is what I want it to be. 20:37 But yet inside the Christian church, 20:40 is truth, is it supposed to be absolute? 20:44 Or is it something that's relative 20:45 that we can just create on our own? 20:47 And so, it kind of reminds me of something I read about the, 20:52 this is an actual, this is actual real thing, 20:54 it's called the law or the principle 20:55 of non-contradiction. 20:57 And this is something 20:59 getting a little bit of philosophy here, 21:00 which we're going to, 21:01 we're going to touch it and then back off, 21:03 because the rabbit hole goes so deep, 21:05 that we'd be there for a while, 21:07 or probably just scratching our heads like what. 21:09 But talk, 21:10 speaking of this simplistic understanding of the, 21:14 when talking about logic, the law of non-contradiction, 21:18 now what is that? 21:19 It simply means, 21:20 and it states 21:22 that something cannot be and not be at the same time. 21:27 Okay, so let me say that one more time, 21:28 so we don't confuse. 21:29 Something cannot be and not be at the same time. 21:33 In other words, 21:35 in relation to what we're talking about here, 21:37 something cannot be truth 21:39 and then not truthful at the same time. 21:42 This is either a cup of water, or it's not a cup of water, 21:48 right? 21:50 But according to the law of non-contradiction, 21:52 it says it can't be both. 21:54 I can look at this and say, hey, check out my cup of water. 21:56 But I can also look at this and say 21:58 check out my non cup of water. 22:00 I'm not holding a cup of water, but yet it's there. 22:02 It's kind of sounds silly to even bring that up. 22:06 But yeah, we live in a reality today 22:08 in a world that we live in, 22:09 where you take some of what 22:10 we would consider as Christians to be simplistic, 22:13 fundamental, grounded truths that we live by 22:16 that we, that we, we function by. 22:19 And yet even within the Christian world, 22:22 the devil has infiltrated and caused confusion 22:25 where now people are looking back at the scriptures, saying, 22:27 "Wait a second, is that really what it is? 22:30 Does that really say what it says?" 22:32 And then comes in private interpretation, 22:34 and the lines are blurred 22:36 and then truth is no longer absolute. 22:39 And so this is where 22:41 we brought up the concept of relativism. 22:42 What is relativism? 22:44 You've heard this, it's a big word, 22:45 but it again, relativism, what is that? 22:47 It simply states that truth is relative, 22:49 it's subject to opinion, it's not absolute. 22:52 And what happens is in relativism, 22:54 this is the dangers of it. 22:55 And we're going to go on here in just a moment, 22:57 as we're going to set the foundation 22:58 for biblical truth. 23:00 But relativism, 23:01 what it basically says is that I live in my reality, 23:04 and you live in yours. 23:05 You have your truth, and I have my truth. 23:07 And my truth is my truth 23:10 and it's not necessarily your truth. 23:11 And so you have your own truth, you have your own path, 23:14 you have your own light. 23:15 And it may be truth to us, 23:18 but may not necessarily be true for everyone else. 23:20 And so that actually 23:22 is a violation of the law of non-contradiction, 23:24 because something can't be true 23:26 and not true at the same time. 23:28 And so that's what we're talking about. 23:29 And when you when the lines start to become blurred, 23:32 where you got your own truth, your own reality, 23:34 I have my own truth, my own reality, 23:36 then the fundamental aspects of communication 23:39 begin to be basically eroded away, 23:43 where you can't even fundamentally 23:44 communicate properly anymore, 23:46 because, again, you're living in your own reality 23:48 and I'm living in mine. 23:50 But, go ahead, Joe. 23:52 I was going to say that, 23:54 that confusion began with Satan in the Garden of Eden. 23:57 Right. That I was exactly thinking. 23:59 When he said, 24:01 "You shall not surely die," 24:04 Well, Eve was told she would die 24:06 if she ate from the tree. 24:08 And this fella says, 24:10 "You shall not surely die." 24:12 The glass was full, but it's not surely full. 24:16 And so he was kind of like, telling the truth 24:19 because he probably ate the fruit in front of her 24:23 because the Bible says 24:24 she saw that it was good for food. 24:28 Now, if that's the case, then she thought, 24:32 well, for whatever reason, 24:34 God was mistaken or like this, 24:37 this serpent says hiding something, 24:40 whatever the case is, 24:41 I'm seeing with my own eyes, that the glass is empty. 24:45 He didn't die. 24:47 So then she went a step further in there to eat it 24:50 and did not die. 24:52 So the glass, 24:54 you see was supposed to be full is empty. 24:56 And then she goes and says to her husband, 24:59 poor guy, she says, 25:00 "Look, I'm eating and I'm not dying." 25:01 And he says, 25:03 "Well, let's see what it tastes like," 25:04 you know what I mean. 25:06 Now, now the point is when he said, 25:08 "You shall not surely die" 25:11 not really. 25:13 I looked up surely in the dictionary 25:15 and it says not really die. 25:17 Not certainly die. 25:20 So there's comes that conjecture 25:21 where you just wonder what's going on. 25:23 And the truth, 25:25 had he told the truth he would have said, 25:29 you shall not die now. 25:32 Okay. 25:33 That would have been the truth, concrete. 25:35 Right. Right. 25:36 But again, that concept of, you know, God saying one thing, 25:41 the enemy saying the other, but they're conflicting. 25:44 So the question is, what is truth? 25:46 And the question I want to ask at this point, 25:49 as we prepare to go on the next step, 25:50 and I know you had something to say, 25:52 do you want to go ahead and say that now? 25:53 Well, no, go ahead. 25:55 Well, the question we're asking is, 25:56 if truth is absolute, 25:57 and we know that we just read the scriptures, 26:00 they're talking about the truth. 26:01 So Jesus made truth out to be something that's absolute. 26:04 So can we as Christians know that absolute truth 26:07 and know what that absolute truth is? 26:10 How about this real quick? Sure. 26:12 Titus 1:2, 26:15 "In hope of eternal life, " 26:16 that's what we're hoping for, 26:19 "which God, 26:20 that cannot lie 26:22 promised before the world began." 26:25 Now if God cannot lie, 26:29 there's your anchor, every word. 26:31 Absolutely. Absolutely. 26:34 So if Christians can know truth, 26:37 how do we, 26:38 where do we find that in Scripture? 26:39 How can we, can Christians know truth today 26:42 according to the Word of God? 26:43 So why don't, 26:45 why don't we start in Matthew Chapter 4. 26:46 Matthew 4:4, 26:48 because Jesus says something here, 26:50 that to me is fundamental. 26:52 It's just, it kind of, 26:53 it's the foundation of the building 26:55 and everything begins to build on it from there. 26:58 And that is, 27:00 Brother JD, you want to read that Matthew 4:4, 27:02 what does he say then? 27:03 "But he answered and said, 'It is written, 27:06 man shall not live by bread alone, 27:08 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 27:12 Okay. 27:14 So notice this every word of God, okay, 27:18 we shall live by that. 27:20 Okay. 27:22 But then if you tie that to John 17:17, okay, 27:25 when Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, 27:27 what does He say? 27:29 Sanctify them in thy truth, thy word is truth. 27:31 Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth. 27:37 And, of course, I'm going to reference this, 27:38 we won't have to read it at this moment. 27:39 But Psalm 119:160 says the entirety, all of it, 27:43 the entirety of your Word is truth. 27:46 And every one of your righteous judgments endures forever. 27:52 So if you're, if you... 27:55 Let's assume that you're right. 27:57 Okay. Okay. 27:59 Let's assume that what this is saying is right, 28:02 well, then there should be, this should take this, 28:07 this should start covering up that hole, 28:09 the hole should be getting a lot smaller now 28:12 because now we begin 28:14 to stand on something more firm. 28:15 That's right. 28:16 So there is something that's real here, okay. 28:22 But we still are frustrated. 28:24 That's right. 28:26 Some of us... 28:27 Now that, now you're getting, now you, 28:29 see now we're getting to that place 28:31 where we started, 28:32 we know that we know that we know. 28:35 And I would imagine our loved ones out here. 28:39 That's where we all want to get. 28:42 So I'm assuming that what you're saying is, 28:45 well, then you need to get 28:46 have a closer walk with whoever wrote this. 28:49 And then get into this, okay. 28:51 Absolutely. I agree. 28:53 I find that fascinating. 28:54 We just kind of threw out there 28:56 the 40, 000 different denominations or more, 28:59 and it's fascinating that how can that be, 29:01 as we're talking about this absolute truth, 29:03 and I believe there as we're talking here 29:05 is showing me that 29:06 if we pull up just a little pillar, 29:08 some small truth out of the Bible, 29:10 something of the true Word of God, 29:12 and we begin to erode away those pillars 29:14 which hold up the Bible, the truth. 29:16 And once we pull those pillars out, 29:17 then we got these different denominations coming along, 29:19 saying, well, this is truth for this time, or this time, 29:23 all these little things begin to kind of, 29:24 I guess, surface that are not true. 29:27 Someplace in here, we've got to have a hunger. 29:30 We've got to be wired 29:32 so that we want to know what is real. 29:35 And then we have that hunger and that thirst 29:38 to know what is real. 29:39 Otherwise, we're over here in this relative world, 29:42 just floating around, you know, 29:44 and really, not wanting to talk to anybody, 29:48 but yet wanted to talk to somebody, 29:51 and that, this is where it gets really confused. 29:54 Rather than just get that out of the way, Quinn. 29:58 Why don't you make a decision? 30:01 Why don't you step up the plate? 30:03 And go directly to the source 30:05 and I think that He'll lead you into that which is truth. 30:08 And that is, the Word is truth. 30:11 Now help me here. 30:13 No, absolutely. No, you're absolutely right. 30:14 In fact, Psalm 119:105, 30:16 that's one of those famous verses we got. 30:18 What does it say there for the Christian, 30:20 again, for those who profess Jesus Christ, 30:22 "Your word is a lamp unto my feet 30:25 and a light unto my path." 30:26 I don't know about you guys, 30:28 but if you've ever been in complete darkness before, 30:30 and I have experienced a few times in my life, 30:32 complete and total darkness. 30:34 I'm talking about can't see your hand 30:36 in front of your face, dark. 30:39 There's just this, this, this innate, 30:42 kind of just draw this desire 30:45 that you want to see you desire to see. 30:47 And so what do you need? 30:49 You need light. 30:50 And so what God's Word is saying here, 30:52 and God is simply declaring about himself 30:54 about the word itself 30:56 is that it's a light into our feet 30:58 and a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. 31:00 And I love Isaiah 8:20. 31:03 Again, we're talking about, 31:04 can Christians know the truth today? 31:06 Can we be sure about it, and that it is absolute truth? 31:10 Isaiah 8:20, 31:11 I love this text to the law and to the testimony. 31:14 If they do not speak according to this word, 31:18 it is because there was no light in them. 31:20 So notice, if the Word of God is a lamp unto our feet 31:22 and a light into our path, 31:24 and we don't speak as Christians 31:26 according to that Word, 31:27 then what is the Word of God say about that? 31:29 There's no light in you. 31:31 You don't have any light in you 31:32 because you have rejected the light 31:35 that is supposed to light your path, 31:36 the Word of God. 31:38 And, you know, 31:39 to illustrate what we've been talking about this far, 31:41 have you ever been at a red light? 31:44 You stopped at a red light, 31:45 you may be in a two-lane situation 31:47 with a car next to you. 31:49 And, you know, you may be for just a second 31:52 or two preoccupied, 31:53 maybe looking down or wherever you find it. 31:56 And then kind of in your peripheral vision, 31:58 you see what appears to be in reality, 32:03 that vehicle beside is moving. 32:06 But to you for a moment, what does it feel like? 32:09 Feels like you're moving. 32:11 What is the natural response, I don't know about you guys, 32:13 but I've been, I found myself in this situation a few times. 32:19 And it's kind of an unnerving feeling. 32:22 Because it kind of plays with your reality 32:25 for a moment 32:27 in your peripheral, this vehicle's moving, 32:29 but it almost seems like you're the one moving. 32:32 And so what do you do to make sure 32:35 that you reground yourself to the absolute reality? 32:39 Well, I don't know about you guys. 32:41 But I find something near me 32:44 that is what I would consider to be absolute, right? 32:46 A fundamental absolute thing. 32:48 I may find me a pole that's immovable, 32:50 a building, a tree, 32:52 that tree's not going anywhere, 32:53 that tree stays grounded in the ground, right? 32:55 So it's rooted in the ground. 32:57 You look for that absolute 32:58 to measure the reality that you're in 33:01 so that you can find that direct answer. 33:03 Okay. 33:04 I'm not the one moving, he was. All right. 33:06 For a moment it almost seemed like, 33:08 you know, but yet we live in a world today 33:10 where it seems like those absolutes 33:13 that tree, is that tree grounded? 33:15 That's what people would say, is that tree really there? 33:18 Is that pole really there? Is that building really there? 33:20 Is the sky really blue? 33:22 You know, 33:23 I know, we're getting into some stuff here. 33:25 But you know, you know what I... 33:27 I know that they say that 33:28 I was born with the equipment of a male. 33:32 But in my reality, 33:35 I feel like I might be a female. 33:39 You see how the lines can get blurred? 33:40 And here's what's interesting in recent studies, 33:42 and I'm going to bring up some more studies 33:44 in just a moment. 33:45 These are real, legitimate research studies 33:48 that have been done inside the evangelical churches. 33:51 One in four. 33:52 This is just an example. 33:54 I found that as of as of 2020, a recent study done in 2020, 33:57 one in four Christians no longer believe 34:00 in absolute distinction between genders. 34:03 One in four Christians. 34:06 That's huge. That's huge. 34:08 We're talking about professed Christians 34:10 that when they pick this up, Brother, 34:12 and they say this is, I'm a Christian, 34:14 I believe in this Word. 34:15 I believe in what this is considered to be truth. 34:18 But again, this is an absolute truth 34:20 for those one in four Christians 34:21 who say, you know what, 34:23 I'm of the opinion that you know what, it's up to you. 34:25 It's your choice. 34:27 If you want to be a boy, you can be a boy, 34:28 you want to be a girl, you can be a girl 34:30 regardless of your physical anatomy. 34:33 It's quite interesting 34:35 when you start really considering the depth of this 34:37 because we live in a world today, my friends, 34:39 where the fundamental truths of God's Word 34:42 are being chipped out. 34:43 They're eroding away slowly but surely. 34:46 Touching on what the Lord impressed me to share earlier, 34:48 Romans 1:25-32 is really the story 34:54 but it's like you're saying 34:56 the chipped away when this happens, 34:59 why is it that our world 35:01 we're in right now is so perplexing, 35:03 confused even about gender, about all these things. 35:06 And I think God really explains really well in Romans 1:25. 35:10 It says, these are even Christians. 35:12 It says, 35:13 "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, 35:16 and worshipped and served the creature 35:18 more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. 35:19 Amen." 35:21 So, the way I read 35:22 this is almost like the creature puts itself 35:24 above the Creator and it starts doing, 35:25 using his own reasoning. 35:26 And guess what it says in verse 26, 35:28 "For this cause, 35:29 God gave them up into vile affections." 35:32 We exchange a truth of God for lie. 35:33 So relativism, this is what causes the change. 35:36 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: 35:39 for even their women did change the natural use into that 35:42 which is against nature. 35:44 And likewise also the men, 35:45 leaving the natural use of the woman, 35:46 burned in their lust one toward another, 35:49 men with men working that which is unseemly, 35:51 and receiving in themselves 35:53 that recompence of their error which was meet. 35:55 And even as they did not like 35:57 to retain God in their knowledge, 35:59 God gave them over to a reprobate mind, 36:01 to do those things which are not convenient," 36:02 and it goes into, 36:04 "being filled with all unrighteousness, 36:05 fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, 36:08 full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, 36:11 backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, 36:16 inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 36:18 " we see a lot of that, " 36:20 without understanding, covenant breakers, 36:22 without natural affection, implacable, obstinate, 36:25 unmerciful: 36:27 Who knowing the judgment of God, 36:28 that they which commit such things 36:29 are worthy of death, 36:31 not only do the same, 36:32 but have pleasure in them that do them." 36:33 So this is kind of a list of what happens 36:35 when we believe in this idea of relativism, 36:37 that truth is relative. 36:38 It's a slippery slope. 36:40 You can see what's going on right here as we, 36:42 this truth be exchanged. 36:43 So you know, I don't want anything of this truth. 36:45 I'm just going to worship and serve 36:46 what I believe is right. 36:48 That's right. 36:49 But it's quite interesting, though. 36:50 You're bringing up 36:52 and as you're reading through that passage, 36:53 as a Christian, I'm saying, 36:55 and I don't know about you, guys, 36:56 when I read that, 36:57 there's not a slightest thought in my mind where I go, 37:00 Yeah, you know, I think I'm going to. 37:02 I think like that's subject to opinion. 37:05 That's subject to my own perception of what I believe. 37:08 When I read that, to me, that's absolute. 37:10 But we live in a world today 37:12 where Christians, 37:13 hence the reason why we're having this study 37:15 Christians, again, talking about Christian. 37:18 I can't keep saying that enough, 37:20 professed Christians who have this idea 37:23 that they can read passages like what you just read, 37:26 some of the ones that we have read, 37:27 and then we're going to read in the remaining, 37:29 remainder of the study. 37:30 And they have created this ideology within them 37:34 that says, you know what, 37:35 I have my own opinion about that. 37:37 What is truth, that you can read that 37:39 and get your own truth. 37:40 And I read that and I get a different truth. 37:44 And this is actually backed by credible evidence. 37:47 This is just one I just want to mention here. 37:49 In a 2018 LifeWay Research study, 37:52 they asked 37:53 they serve a multitude of evangelical Christians. 37:58 And this was the result they got from a statement. 38:00 I'm going to read this statement, 38:01 and I'm going to give you the shocking statistics, 38:04 according to the results that they got back from this. 38:06 So here's the statement 38:08 that was made by the LifeWay Research Center. 38:10 Again, trying to get some feedback 38:11 on whether or not Christians 38:13 evangelicals agreed with the statement. 38:16 So here's the statement. 38:17 Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion 38:21 and is not objective truth. 38:23 Wow. 38:24 So in other words, 38:26 it's a matter of personal opinion, 38:27 it's subjective, it's whatever I want it to be. 38:31 Okay, so they're asking, 38:32 do you or do you not agree with this? 38:34 Get this. 38:35 Only 47% of the evangelical Christians 38:40 that responded to this survey 38:42 strongly disagreed with that statement. 38:44 Wow. 38:45 So there's 53% that are... 38:47 Fifty three percent 38:49 more than half of the evangelical Christians, 38:53 and I can't, I just, it just baffles me. 38:56 Again, 53% of the evangelicals, according to the passage, 39:00 you just read. 39:02 Would look at that passage and say, 39:03 "Well, I see it this way, 39:06 or I don't necessarily agree with the wording, 39:08 I see it more this way. 39:10 And they come up with their own opinionated, 39:12 subjective reasoning 39:14 as to why that statement is true 39:17 only according to their standards, 39:18 rather than what of thus saith the Lord actually says. 39:20 In other words, 39:21 you can't really take it literal, 39:23 you can't, it's not objective, it's not grounded, 39:25 it's subject to opinion, 39:26 which is why you have many Christians today, 39:29 who believe and think that homosexuality, 39:32 and I'm just giving that as an example. 39:34 And we can go on to use other examples too. 39:37 You know, adultery, and all these other things. 39:39 You got Christians that think it's okay now 39:42 to live in those lifestyles because we're under grace. 39:46 And Jesus understands that we have this bad equipment, 39:48 this bad nature. 39:49 And so truth is subjective. 39:54 So that was interesting to me, 39:57 as I was looking at that research 40:00 that more than half of the Christians 40:03 that responded, 40:04 believe that the truth is subjective 40:08 rather than objective, that it's subject to opinion. 40:11 And so I have to ask 40:12 as we're talking about 40:14 harping on the Bible here, gentlemen. 40:15 Why should the Bible be received 40:17 as the ultimate truth? 40:19 As we're considering all that we're talking about, 40:22 what is it about the Bible that, 40:24 what points can we make here? 40:25 What conclusions can we come to? 40:27 For reasons that that tell us 40:30 that the Bible should be received 40:32 as ultimate truth. 40:36 It's hard to shift gears here 40:38 and answer that question at the same time, 40:41 but I'm going to try. 40:43 Now, go ahead. 40:44 Before there was a Bible, there was a God. 40:48 And He did speak 40:49 and there was an ultimate truth, 40:52 immovable tree with roots. 40:55 Right. Okay. 40:57 It was called the conscience. 41:00 There were people who never entered a church 41:02 and they knew right from wrong, 41:04 because the conscience is the voice of God. 41:08 If you think about it, 41:10 Satan can impress us with thoughts. 41:13 The Holy Spirit's job is to impress us with thoughts. 41:19 And you can have a premonition. 41:22 A premonition is simply a righteous thought from God 41:25 or an unrighteous thought from not the Holy Spirit, 41:30 but the unholy spirit. 41:31 So we're in a war. 41:33 And the conscience tells us, 41:36 I should not steal my neighbor's chicken. 41:40 Right. 41:41 You don't have to go to church to know that. 41:43 And so there is a truth 41:45 even back then there was a truth. 41:46 Right. 41:48 Is the conscience is part of it. 41:49 That's the Word of God. Amen. 41:51 See, when the Word of God comes, 41:53 we know that's the anchor, 41:55 and it comes indeed in ways without a book. 41:59 Absolutely. I made it. 42:00 I made a note here, 42:02 and you guys can amplify on this 42:03 if you'd like. 42:04 The Bible identifies truth 42:06 as a quality intrinsic to the very nature of God. 42:11 You know, of course, 42:12 this should not come to us as much as a surprise 42:15 because what's the entire Bible all about? 42:18 It's all about Jesus, right? 42:20 And again, Jesus, according to John 14:6, 42:22 He called Himself the truth, I am the way the truth. 42:27 Again, there's that definitive article there. 42:30 The truth, then the life. 42:32 And, of course, he goes on, 42:34 the Bible talks about in John 1, 42:35 and Ephesians 4 42:37 of how Christ was full of the truth. 42:40 He told the truth, 42:42 according to Mark 12 and John 8. 42:45 We also see that His words are true, 42:47 according to the Book of Revelation 42:48 Chapter 21 and 22. 42:51 That He taught the way of God in truth, 42:55 according to Matthew 22, and Mark 12, 42:57 and Luke Chapter 20. 42:58 I'm giving some references here. 43:00 So you can look up if you want to 43:01 go through these rather quickly 43:02 that Jesus taught about the truth, 43:04 according to John Chapter 8 and John Chapter 17. 43:07 There again, He taught about the truth, 43:09 what was that we quoted earlier, 43:10 John 17:17, 43:12 "He said, thy word is truth." 43:15 So He taught about the truth, 43:17 He identified what the truth is. 43:19 He came into the world, 43:21 as we read earlier in John 18 to bear witness of the truth. 43:24 So can you separate the Bible from God? 43:27 You know, it's interesting when you mentioned that, 43:29 I was just thinking, 43:30 what came to my mind is we can prove in history, 43:32 what happens when you separate this world 43:35 and you know the Bible from God, 43:37 you cannot, but when we separate ourselves 43:38 from the Bible and the truth. 43:40 France, the French Revolution, 43:43 when you go into the age of reasoning, 43:45 that's what kind of tumbled us, 43:46 Romans 1:25, we reason for ourselves. 43:49 Isaiah 1:18 says, 43:50 "Come, let us reason together." 43:52 That's what God says, He wants us to reason. 43:54 When we throw out this Bible, the truth, 43:56 we saw it happen in France. 43:58 History showed us 43:59 was the bloodiest three and a half years on earth, 44:01 to just total mayhem. 44:02 They said blood was just running down the streets, 44:04 when we throw out this truth, 44:06 and it's all relative to our own reasoning powers, 44:09 we destroy humanity. 44:10 It just implode. 44:12 That's right, Brother. Absolutely. 44:14 As Brother Joe brought out earlier, 44:15 you know, again, 44:17 talking about this connection 44:18 between God Himself in the Word, 44:19 you know, why, 44:21 why should the Bible be received as truth? 44:23 Because it's God's Word. 44:25 And as Brother Joe brought out earlier, 44:26 God cannot lie, 44:27 I think you referenced Titus 1:1-3 there. 44:32 Again, Numbers 23:19, 44:34 says God is not a man that He should lie. 44:38 So God is not a liar. 44:40 And I love in Psalms 31:5, 44:42 you know, David was, 44:44 he was one of those straightforward brothers. 44:46 He made it very clear, 44:48 into Your hands, I commit my spirit, 44:50 You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. 44:54 And so all through Scripture, 44:56 we see that there's this direct connectivity 44:59 that you can't separate God from truth. 45:01 So why should the Bible be trusted? 45:03 Because it's God's word, and God cannot lie. 45:06 And for Christians, that should be absolutely. 45:10 You know, you've put together an outline here. 45:13 And this is a fantastic outline, 45:15 and I just want to, 45:16 you've got the God is for those that are interested in truth, 45:22 who is God? 45:24 And why is this so important is His Word, His character? 45:28 God is good. 45:30 And there scriptures, 45:32 every one of these but for lack of time, 45:34 God is good. 45:36 He's holy, He's perfect, 45:38 He's pure, He's just, God is true. 45:42 He's spiritual, He's righteousness, 45:45 He's faithful. 45:47 God is love, God is unchangeable, 45:49 and God is eternal. 45:52 Now, if that rings a bell, 45:57 well, you are, we'll say, 46:02 a true Christian that believes in this Bible. 46:06 Now, if we flirt around with these, 46:09 well, you know, God, He's okay. 46:13 Well, then we might have a problem here. 46:15 And there is a place for that thinking, 46:20 which we'll get into in a few minutes, 46:22 which enlightened me. 46:25 I mean, He gives His permission 46:27 that if this is though, 46:28 if you, if you don't think that God is good. 46:30 That's right. 46:31 Well, there's a place for you. 46:33 You know, I'm not going to sit here 46:34 and wrestle with you. 46:36 I'm not going to beat you over the head, 46:37 because you don't think like I do. 46:40 Okay. 46:41 And so now, 46:43 how can we keep in our own life that God's good, 46:47 holy, perfect, pure, just, true, spiritual, 46:49 righteous, faithful, love, unchangeable and eternal? 46:54 What do we have to do 46:56 so that we can maintain that, that walk, that straight walk. 47:00 Well, whenever we challenge Him, 47:04 I think that the Bible uses, well, we're grieving Him. 47:11 Now that, that breaks His heart, 47:14 because He created you, 47:15 you're in His image, you're His baby. 47:19 And He's disappointed. 47:20 If we really want to make something out of this, 47:24 we can quench that. 47:25 Oh, boy. 47:27 We don't even... That's right. 47:28 In other words, we just decide I'm going to extinguish that. 47:32 I'm going to suppress that feeling, 47:34 because I like the way 47:36 that I'm doing things over here. 47:39 And then we get into John, 47:41 John, who was the apostle of love. 47:46 However, when He, that's with the capital He. 47:49 Whenever Jesus, the Spirit of truth has come, 47:53 He will guide you into all truth, 47:55 for He will not speak on His own authority, 47:57 but whatever He hears, 47:58 He will speak 48:00 and He will tell you of the things to come. 48:03 Now, what does that mean? 48:06 Well, there, we have to ask this question 48:08 because you've launched us into a whole... 48:11 Did I jump ahead? No, you did fantastic. 48:13 You kept us on path, on the right path here. 48:17 So everything that you just read 48:19 is read earlier about God being good, 48:21 holy, perfect, pure, just, true, spiritual, 48:23 all that list there all the way down to eternal, 48:25 that same thing can be said about His law. 48:26 Amen. 48:27 So you, again, 48:29 while you can't separate God from His Word, 48:30 you also can't separate God from His law. 48:32 But yet we live in a day and age 48:34 where it seems like in the Christian church, 48:36 what are Christians doing with the law of God? 48:40 You ask the average Christian, 48:42 is the Ten Commandments relevant for today? 48:46 What kind of opinionated responses 48:48 are you going to get from that, Brother Joe? 48:50 That's the Old Testament. 48:51 I mean... 48:53 You know, on the phones, we get people who call in. 48:58 And... 49:02 Sometimes our pastors, and they say, 49:07 "Well, we're not able to quit sinning, 49:11 you know, and so kind of saved in our sin, 49:15 not from our sin, 49:17 because we're not Christ, we're not God." 49:20 Okay. 49:21 And, so then that pastor will get up 49:24 before his congregation 49:26 and there may be a particular sin in his life 49:29 that he's rassled with for decades and has failed, 49:35 because you need the power of God's presence. 49:38 Know ye not 49:39 you are the temple of the Holy Ghost. 49:41 You need that Holy Spirit in you, 49:43 not the unholy spirit. 49:46 And until that happens, 49:47 you will be weak in sin 49:49 and He teaches in a way that you feel 49:53 He's thinking I'm a pastor and I can't overcome sin, 49:57 so how could you? 49:58 Well excuse me, 50:00 we have to get back to the Word of God. 50:03 That tree has roots. It doesn't move. 50:05 And so, how then can you overcome sin? 50:09 Well, God tells us to pray for grace. 50:12 My grace is sufficient. 50:15 How is it sufficient? 50:16 Well, His blood at the cross paid for the wages of sin, 50:21 which is death. 50:23 That's mercy and pardon. 50:25 But I'm still sinning. So what's the deal? 50:28 How can you possibly overcome sin? 50:31 Well, if you look up grace, it simply says, 50:34 it's pardon and power. 50:37 Now, when you read the Bible, and you read grace, 50:39 put power in the place of that word, 50:41 and see what happens. 50:42 That's God's power, not mine. 50:45 So you have to join. 50:47 Get that spirit in you and walk with God 50:50 and live according to God, speak as God speaks. 50:54 And you can see a lot of people, 50:56 a lot of people will walk that walk outwardly, 51:01 but inwardly, their heart is different. 51:04 Let me read this here. 51:05 This is a Psalms 14:1-2. 51:10 A Psalm of David, 51:12 "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, 51:15 who shall dwell in thy holy hill." 51:18 We're talking about who's going to be saved here, 51:21 "And he says he that walketh uprightly, 51:23 and work with righteousness," 51:26 which we're failing at, 51:27 and the preachers know too, okay, 51:30 "and speaketh the truth in his heart." 51:35 There's the difference. You can't just act it out. 51:40 You have to know that inside you, 51:43 you're not a dog 51:44 that's going to return to your vomit 51:46 as the Bible says. 51:47 And that means 51:49 they don't speak with guile when they're preaching. 51:51 They don't say well like offshoots, 51:53 offshoots know the program, they teach the program, 51:57 but they make it a little easy 51:58 when it comes to music or dress 51:59 or food or some other thing, 52:01 you know, and they use guile, 52:06 the same old trick that Satan used. 52:09 Surely you shall not die 52:12 and so we have to have a heart turn toward God. 52:16 We have to be willing to lay down our favorite things 52:20 and say no more. 52:23 And it may come to the point where in Revelation it says, 52:28 there'll be a death decree. 52:30 Are you ready to lay down your life? 52:32 Because in that chapter, in Revelation, it says, 52:38 the saints have the faith not in Jesus, 52:42 it changes and says, 52:44 they have the faith of Jesus, 52:46 and He was willing to lay His life down for us. 52:49 How much are we willing to show our love 52:52 for what He did for us? 52:53 Because He's offering us eternal life restored? 52:56 What is that worth? 52:58 Right. 52:59 It made me think about this word law. 53:00 We're talking, maybe think about 53:02 we need called boundaries, we need boundaries. 53:04 That's what that law does, it keeps us in boundaries. 53:07 So we can walk on that narrow path, 53:08 is kind of you're discussing or describing. 53:10 You know, otherwise, 53:12 we're just kind of meandering wherever 53:13 and then we're getting lost. 53:15 So we were talking about this idea of relativism 53:16 versus absolute, 53:17 you know, 53:19 this absolutely keeps us on a narrow path. 53:20 But if we don't have that law, 53:22 then we're just going to go wherever 53:23 this path wants to takes us. 53:25 We're just wherever we're meandering, 53:26 I think about that Christian progress, 53:28 pilgrim's progress, 53:30 where, you know, Christian gets off the path 53:31 and so stay in the king's highway, 53:33 and the king's way. 53:35 And he's like, well, how'd you get over here? 53:37 I just meandered over and got lost 53:38 and you get lost in this filth, this junk, 53:40 you're in this pollution. 53:42 If you stay on God's way, which is His law, 53:45 you won't go and fall 53:46 in that pollution and filth, so. 53:48 And His way is absolute. Right. Exactly. 53:50 There is no, I think it was, 53:52 I think it was Oprah Winfrey that said years ago. 53:53 And I actually have video footage of this, 53:56 where she actually said to, 53:57 'cause she's through making a point 53:59 that she has one of the largest churches in the world, 54:01 maybe one of the largest she has. 54:03 Her did almost she stood us, 54:04 but did at one time 54:06 have this huge online church following 54:08 and said to all of her followers 54:10 or your church goers, 54:11 that you know, Jesus isn't the only way. 54:14 But there's many, many different ways too. 54:15 I remember, yeah. 54:17 And so as you're bringing that up again, 54:18 that's another that's that, 54:20 that idea that I have my own truth. 54:22 Find your own truth. 54:23 Locate whatever truth it is that works for you, 54:26 and just follow that you knew, your own rap. 54:29 That's not, there's no, that's relativism. 54:31 That's not objective truth. 54:32 And we know that the Bible teaches 54:34 and I love what Brother JD brought out earlier 54:36 because he was setting us on the right path. 54:38 You know why so many Christians struggle 54:40 with this concept of objective truth, 54:42 you know, absolute truth, is they quench the spirit. 54:46 And when we quench the spirit, 54:48 and we are basically grieving the Holy Spirit, 54:52 then that Holy Spirit which Jesus referred to 54:54 as the Spirit of truth, 54:56 that He would come according to John 16:13 as you read, 54:59 The Spirit of truth, 55:01 He will come and guide you into how much truth? 55:02 All truth. 55:04 When you quench that spirit, 55:05 when you quench this Holy Spirit of God, 55:07 you're taking away that life source. 55:09 You're taking away the moral spiritual compass 55:12 that points you to that absolute truth. 55:14 And it's always going to come back to God's Word, 55:16 it's always going to come back to God's Word. 55:18 And so, my friends, in closing, 55:20 now we got two minutes really quickly. 55:22 Time's ticking away. 55:24 How can we in closing here, 55:25 how can we make sure that we remain grounded 55:28 in the truth of God's Word and not in our own way? 55:30 What are some principles? 55:31 Well, I would just like to take one I love Proverbs 3:5-7. 55:35 This is one that we should all. 55:37 This is one 55:38 that you need to put in the front of your Bible. 55:40 "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, " 55:42 not part of your heart, all of your heart, 55:45 "lean not on your own understanding. 55:47 And in all your ways acknowledge Him, 55:49 and He shall direct your paths." 55:52 Do not be wise in your own eyes, 55:55 and count on the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. 55:57 If you get outside the boundaries, 55:58 the Holy Spirit will make it perfectly clear to you. 56:01 You know, hey, you're veering out. 56:04 So, trust in the Lord. 56:06 Amen. Praise the Lord. 56:07 Brother, 2 Timothy 2:15. 56:09 That's one of my favorites. 56:10 But read, read that there, 2 Timothy 2:15. 56:12 We're asking the question, 56:13 how can we make sure 56:15 that we're grounded in the truth? 56:16 "Study to show thyself approved unto God, 56:19 workman that needeth not to be ashamed, 56:22 rightly dividing the word of truth." 56:25 Rightly, I love that. 56:27 Study to show yourself approved, 56:28 there's a difference between reading the Word of God 56:31 and studying the Word of God. 56:33 Of course, we always want to encourage everyone 56:36 to read the Word of the Lord. 56:38 But commit yourself to doing more study 56:40 because when we spend more time with the Lord, 56:44 then He over time begins to share as the Bible says, 56:47 let this mind be in you, 56:48 which is also in Christ Jesus, as we begin to, 56:51 as God begins to shape and mold us 56:53 into those vessels of honor prepared for His kingdom. 56:56 It's no longer our own thoughts. 56:57 It's no longer our own ideas, our own perceptions, 57:00 but it's Christ through us coming through us, 57:03 His mind, His heart, His truth, 57:05 because His truth is the only truth that counts. 57:08 Gentlemen, thank you so much. It's been a great. 57:10 The Pastoral department has been represented today. 57:14 Thank you guys so much. 57:15 And hey, we want to thank each and every one of you 57:17 for joining us here today. 57:19 We hope that you have been blessed. 57:20 We hope that you shared this truth 57:22 because there is absolute truth. 57:23 It's only found in the Word of God, 57:25 in Jesus Christ. 57:27 So God bless you. 57:28 Thank you so much. 57:30 Have a good day and until next time, 57:31 we shall see you soon 57:32 right back here on 3ABN Family Worship. 57:34 Amen. Amen. |
Revised 2020-12-05