What is Truth?

[0:00] I greet you in Jesus' name this morning. It is good to be here.! Thinking about these things.

[0:33] You know, the other morning, when that picture came on of Tyler Robinson, a young man that I believe is totally deceived, somehow the Lord gave me a heart of compassion for that young man, and I prayed for his soul.

[1:00] And wouldn't that be wonderful if he could come to the Lord Jesus? I believe that many people in our nation and maybe around the world are asking the same question this week as what Pilate asked.

[1:30] 2,000 years ago. You can turn to John chapter 18 and we'll look at this a little bit. The question that Pilate asked was, what is truth?

[1:46] What is truth? And I believe that what we are seeing in our day, we're also seeing many people asking this question.

[2:02] seeking for truth and what is truth? What is right? What is wrong? And I believe that God has his church here in this world to be that bright shining light on a hill to show forth the glories and the powers of God to a lost and a dying world.

[2:33] I want to read a few of these verses here and then we'll look at it, we'll talk about it. So in John 18, we'll start in verse 33.

[2:49] Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Pilate answered him, Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself or did others tell it thee of me?

[3:13] Pilate answered, Am I a Jew, thine own nation and chief priests? And the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done?

[3:25] Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews.

[3:40] But now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king.

[3:54] To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.

[4:09] Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And we had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find no fault at all.

[4:23] I find in him no fault at all. Pilate could not find fault in Jesus, but yet here Jesus was brought before him.

[4:35] And think with me a little bit. So the chief priests, and the elders, and the Pharisees, and all of those, they brought Jesus.

[4:47] They brought Jesus to Pilate. And why did they bring him to Pilate? Because they wanted the death penalty. They wanted Jesus put to death.

[4:58] And they could not in their own, they were not allowed to do that, to execute a prisoner, a person. And so here we have the leaders, the religious leaders of the day, bringing Jesus to Pilate.

[5:21] And Pilate says, I can't find any fault in this man. You accuse him, you bring him here, and you have all sorts of things that you say against him, but I can find no fault in him.

[5:48] So Jesus said in verse 37, For this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth.

[6:02] Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. And it is still that way today. If we, all people that are of the truth, follow Christ, if we desire truth more than anything else, we will follow Jesus.

[6:23] Because he is the way, the truth, and the life. But now let's put ourselves in Pilate's shoes. Here he has a man standing before him, talking about truth, and saying that he came into this world to bear witness unto the truth.

[6:43] And that all the people that care about truth and want truth will be his followers. But yet, the religious leaders of the day are the ones that delivered him to Pilate.

[6:59] Do you think Pilate's about to be confused here? And he just asks the question, he says, What is truth? What is truth?

[7:10] What is true? What is right? What is wrong? You know, I believe we live in a day when people are asking the same question.

[7:21] And one of the reasons that they're asking this question is because the lines have become so grayed. There's men who, like the chief priests, the Pharisees, they're supposed to be holding the truth.

[7:37] They're supposed to be walking in truth. But they've compromised and they've laid down the truth and they've kept on going. And they claim to be true.

[7:50] They claim to be walking in truth, but yet they are not. Just like the chief priests here before Pilate that day.

[8:01] They claim to be walking in truth. They claim that they were the standard bearers of God and of his law and all of that.

[8:15] But yet, they were crucifying the Lord of glory, the very one that is himself the way, the truth, and the life.

[8:31] What is truth? What is truth? You know, Jesus, in Matthew 24, Jesus warned.

[8:43] You know, when the disciples asked him, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world, the very first thing Jesus said was, take heed that no man deceive you.

[9:00] Take heed that no man deceive you. I believe this, you know, we are living in that day. We are living in the day of deception. We are living in the day when if you can be deceived, you will be.

[9:18] Notice what he says in verse 24, in Matthew 24, 24. Let's read.

[9:31] We'll start at the end of 22. But for the alike's sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ or there, believe it not.

[9:42] For there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

[9:56] If it were possible, they will deceive you. If it's possible, if you do not love the truth and if you do not love Jesus more than anything else, then you are ripe for deception.

[10:13] You know, there's a few verses in Thessalonians. And I actually don't have those in my notes, but I think we will look at them. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, he's talking here about the times of the end and all of that and the Antichrist and so on.

[10:41] And then, we'll just start here in verse 9. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 9.

[10:54] Even him who's coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Talking about the Antichrist and, you know, I believe the Antichrist spirit has been very much at work for 2,000 years already or even before that.

[11:16] But the spirit that works against the work of Christ, the spirit that works against Jesus. He hates Jesus more than anything else.

[11:30] If you have Jesus in your heart, he hates you. Not because of you, but because of who is in you. But here he's talking about him.

[11:41] And then he says, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Now he's talking about a people that perish. Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.

[11:58] You know, if we do not love the truth more than anything else, if we do not love Jesus more than anything else, then we are ripe for deception.

[12:09] We are ripe for deception. And looking at, looking at, this young man that did this assassination, isn't it such a shame?

[12:25] A young life ruining the rest of his life. Totally ruining his life. He's laying down his life for what he believed, but he was dead wrong.

[12:43] He was dead wrong. Can we lay down our life for the truth? We already heard about that this morning. Can we give ourselves and lay down our life for what we know is right?

[13:01] Can we lay down our life for our Lord Jesus and serve him with all our heart? Amen. So he says, these people perished because they did not receive the love of the truth.

[13:21] If they would have loved the truth, if they would have received the love of the truth, they could have been saved. But they did not. And because of this, it says, God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

[13:47] You know, you know this strong delusion. What is it? It says, God will send these people a strong delusion that they would believe a lie.

[13:57] And I believe one of those things is that people actually believe that they are right when they are dead wrong. when they are dead wrong.

[14:14] Jesus warned of many false prophets out preaching and sharing. You know, what did he say?

[14:27] Let me look at that again. Amen. There shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect.

[14:54] You know, there's men out there that claim to be led by the Holy Ghost. They claim to be led by the Spirit of God, but they're promoting things that are dead wrong.

[15:06] They're promoting things that are against this Word of Truth. They contradict the Bible. That tells me they are being led by a wrong spirit.

[15:18] They're being led by an evil spirit, not the Holy Spirit of God. And we must beware. We must beware that we be not deceived by the smooth-talking people out there that claim to be led by the Spirit of God, but yet they walk in a way totally contrary, even walking and defending things that God calls an abomination.

[15:47] Jesus, He told Pilate that day, this is the reason that I came, is to bear witness of the truth.

[16:08] I want to look at Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59. And we will read.

[16:27] Now here He describes a terrible day. A terrible day. You know, I believe the children of Israel were in extremely bad shape, but not only is He describing their day, but I believe it was also a prophecy of things to come and even our day.

[16:55] We'll start in verse 14. And judgment is turned away backwards, and justice standeth afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

[17:13] Yea, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment.

[17:27] You know, our God is a God of judgment. Our God is a God that demands judgment. He demands judgment.

[17:37] Yes. Actually, I'm going to read a couple verses of prophecy of our Lord Jesus in Isaiah 9, verse 6 and 7. It says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

[18:06] Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth,!

[18:21] Even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. You know, this prophecy and all prophecies, they will be fulfilled, they will come to pass.

[18:37] And this one, notice, it says, Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Jesus, he will sit upon the throne of David to establish it with judgment and justice, with judgment and with justice from henceforth forevermore.

[19:01] And then, on top of that, he adds this, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. You know, that's a promise and it will not fail.

[19:15] The prophecies, they come to pass without adding that phrase. But I believe that was added to add, to just make it stand out that this will come to pass.

[19:32] This will come to pass. Now, let's continue in chapter 59. He says, There's no judgment. judgment. Judgment is turned backward.

[19:44] Justice standeth afar off. You know, the very men in Jesus' day, the very men that should have been standing for truth and right and judgment, they were against truth and right.

[20:05] And it says here, Judgment is turned backward. It's upside down. It's the righteous are being persecuted and the evil are being protected.

[20:18] Truth is fallen in the street. You know, we've seen some of this in our day. We've seen some of this. Truth faileth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.

[20:38] Says the Lord sees these things and it displeases him. It displeases our God when there is no judgment.

[20:49] and he saw that there was no man and wandered that there was no intercessor.

[21:03] Therefore, his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness it sustained him. You know, there was no one to stand in the gap.

[21:17] There was no one interceding anymore. But God sent Jesus to this world. Yes, to set things right.

[21:29] To again turn humanity to righteousness. To again raise up a people for his name. To again raise up a people that will serve our God in holiness and in righteousness all the days of our life.

[21:52] Verse 19 yet. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun when the enemy shall come in like a flood.

[22:05] The spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him and the redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob saith the Lord.

[22:22] As for me this is my covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit that is upon thee and my words which I put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever.

[22:44] A redeemer a redeemer has come to Zion and he came he came to bear witness of the truth. He came to lay down his life and to give his life for us.

[22:58] Yes. Jesus has come. Are we totally surrendered to him?

[23:16] When the enemy shall come in like a flood the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. You know can we trust in our God?

[23:33] Yes we can. Even in this evil day that we find ourselves in. You know I you know we're talking about truth this morning and and the question what is truth?

[23:51] And if you go out and you ask people what is truth you will get very you get you get a lot of varying answers. And in our day standing for truth the absolute truth of the word of God is maybe not a popular thing in our day.

[24:14] Why? Because Satan has devised so many ways to dilute the truth of God. Today we have people we we we have this thing called relative truth.

[24:34] and we have this thing called moral relativism. What that means is the belief that what is considered right or wrong is determined by the culture or individuals rather than by an objective moral standard.

[25:00] Where do we stand today? is this the ultimate truth? Is this the ultimate whatever questions come this is the answer and there's no argument after.

[25:21] But this is the day that we live in when people think that truth is relevant truth can be explained away.

[25:33] You know you can even rewrite history. How do they do that? How do they change what happened in history? That's always puzzled me. The people that want to rewrite history how are they going to do that?

[25:54] Relative truth in contrast to absolute truth. truth can be inconvenient. Many times it is uncomfortable.

[26:09] It might be it is convicting. People try to get around it. They try to change it. They try to deny it. They try to forget it.

[26:21] But this truth will stand forever. This word it will stand forever. It will not change. no. And the people that deny it and the people that have refused it will someday bow the knee to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[26:47] Yes, they will. Romans 1. 25 says they change the truth of God into a lie.

[27:02] And they hinder the truth and they stand against it. And, you know, God, God does not take it lightly when people stand against the truth.

[27:16] God does not take it lightly when people resist the truth of the word of God. Popular opinion cannot change the truth.

[27:29] Powerful people cannot change the truth. truth. There's a reason that in Ephesians 6, the very first one of the armor of God is that your loins are girt about with truth.

[27:49] Truth, it is the most important, it is the most important part of everything. It is the most important part of the armor. If you're not standing in truth, if you're not standing on truth and on the firm foundation of the word of God, you have nothing to stand on.

[28:16] If we compromise truth, we cannot stand. How important is this word?

[28:27] It is of the utmost importance. and it is of the utmost importance that we stand firmly upon the truth of the word of God.

[28:40] The church of Jesus Christ today. You can turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. The church of Jesus Christ today is a custodian of truth in this world.

[28:58] In this world, this dark world, 1 John says that the whole world lieth in the wicked one. In other words, Satan controls the whole world, but in the midst of the darkness, in the midst of this dark world, our Lord Jesus has a church and it is walking in truth and it is standing on the firm foundation of the word of God.

[29:26] That foundation that will not change. The foundation that will always be firm. It will not move. The rock Christ Jesus is that firm foundation that we can stand on today.

[29:43] And if need be, we can give our life like Stephen did. We can lay down our life if we need to. But can we live for him?

[29:55] Can we stand for truth? Can we hold the banner of truth in our day? Will we be faithful? Will we be faithful in holding forth the banner of the word of God?

[30:13] Now, notice what he says here in 1 Timothy 3 verse 15. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God.

[30:31] Now, he's talking about the house of God, which I believe is the church, the church of God. that thou oughtest to behave, how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

[30:58] And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

[31:20] You know, so he's talking about the church of the living God. And then he says that this church, this church is the pillar and ground of the truth.

[31:35] What's he saying here? I believe what he's saying is that the church of Jesus Christ in this dark world is God's platform to work in the world.

[31:50] You know, when Jesus left, he commissioned his disciples to go into all the world and to preach the gospel and so on.

[32:03] And so he commissioned his church to continue the work that he had begun. We are co-labors with him. We are his ambassadors here in this dark world.

[32:17] And so God works through his church. He works through us. He works through the worldwide church.

[32:29] church. But he says the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. You know, if the church were taken out of this world, there would be no truth left here, would there?

[32:48] the Holy Ghost is the spirit of truth. Ephesians says that we are a habitation of God through the spirit.

[33:05] The spirit of God dwells within us. The spirit of truth dwells within us. And he will always show us the truth.

[33:16] He will always lead us into all truth. He will teach us. But in this dark world, the church of Jesus Christ is the only way that people will come to him.

[33:37] Unless he will supernaturally, and I know he does, he brings dreams and visions and so on. Yes, but that is in places. usually where the church is very pressed down and hidden.

[33:54] I believe that in the free countries, in countries where the church is out in the open, especially, our God uses the church to proclaim the truth and to take the truth to this world.

[34:16] Now, I want to read a couple of verses in the book of Joel. in Joel, chapter 2, here he talks about the prophecy of the Holy Ghost coming and so on.

[34:45] And then in verse 32, chapter 2, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.

[34:56] For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

[35:07] today we are a part of that remnant. We are a part of Mount Zion, the church of the living God.

[35:26] The ones that when people round about us, when they have this question, what is truth? They can come to us, they can come to you, and you can show them the truth, and you can lead them to our Lord Jesus.

[35:51] Can he use you in that way? Can he use you? Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.

[36:04] For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance. Is there deliverance for people that come here? I trust it is so that there is deliverance.

[36:18] There is deliverance. Should someone come and ask those questions, they can find deliverance here.

[36:31] in the next chapter verse 14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

[36:51] I believe this is what God is endeavoring to do in our day, is to bring the multitudes of the world into a valley of decision, that they must make a decision, they must make a choice.

[37:11] Will they accept truth or will they reject it? Will they believe in Jesus or will they reject him?

[37:21] I believe that. I believe that is happening in our day. That is what God is doing. The church of Jesus Christ, can these multitudes come and find life?

[37:40] Can they come and find deliverance? Can they come and find Jesus? The church, church, a city set on a hill, shining out the light, the glorious light of the gospel under the banner of truth and love, even loving those who oppose the truth.

[38:07] Those who oppose the truth, they oppose themselves. You know, the whole world lieth in wickedness and the God of this world has blinded the minds of those that believe not.

[38:30] But God wants to, through the church, shine the glorious light of the gospel into this dark and evil world.

[38:46] yes, yes, yes. In Isaiah 60, just a couple verses here, that I believe, I believe it's the church of Jesus Christ.

[39:11] arise, shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

[39:26] For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his shall be seen upon thee.

[39:43] What is God's answer to the darkness? darkness? The whole world lies in the darkness of wickedness under the control of the enemy, but God's answer to the darkness is that his spirit will come upon his church.

[40:12] The Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. The spirit of the Lord upon his church, that is the glory of the Lord upon us.

[40:26] That is his desire, that is what he wants. Can he do that in you? You know, it will be individually. Can you give your all to him that his glory can come upon you?

[40:43] The question is for each one of us. this is God's answer to the darkness.

[40:55] Yes. He says, arise and shine, for the light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Is the glory of the Lord, has the glory of the Lord come upon you?

[41:11] Have you allowed him to come and to illuminate your life that you might shine in this dark world? Jesus prayed, and in his prayer he said, sanctify them through thy truth.

[41:38] Thy word is truth. This word is true, it is truth, it will stand forever. Though men have tried to destroy it, though men have tried to discount it, to prove it wrong, this word will stand forever.

[42:07] Yes. And this word will sanctify us, it will empower us, if we will allow it, and if we will give ourselves to our Lord Jesus and to his work and to the future that he has for us, that we might shine forth as bright lights in the midst of the darkness of this dark world.

[42:40] May the Lord bless. Amen.