Video: Stewarding the Truth (3:15 min. - available on Sermon Central)
2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
How do we rightly divide the word of truth? For much of the world they would not know the truth if it hit square between the eyes. We have in our hands the truth of God’s words. The Bible does not merely contain truth, It is the truth, all of it. Everything the Bible touches on is true.
Psalm 119:160a (NKJV) The entirety of Your word is truth,
The Bible is not a textbook on Science, astronomy, physics etc. However, whenever and wherever it touches on the sciences or on history, it is accurate. The Bible claims to be the inspired word of God. If it is not what it claims to be, then it cannot be trusted in matters of theology, much less science and history. If the Bible is only partly true, what parts are trustworthy and what parts are not? We either trust the entire Bible as truth, or we trust none of it. We do not get to pick and choose the parts we like. But, if the Bible is what it claims to be, then it cannot contain errors of any kind. If the Bible is to be considered accurate in the one area of Theology, it should be trusted in all areas that it addresses.
Why Trust the Word? Why should be confident on the reliability of the Word? Because: The Word is Truth. The very words of God is completely true and nothing false exist in it at all.
John 17:17 (NKJV) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
OPENING ILL: Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, was raised and educated in liberal Catholic setting. Rosaria fell in love with the world of words. In her late twenties, allured by feminist philosophy and LGBT advocacy, she adopted a lesbian identity. Rosaria earned her PhD from Ohio State University, then served in the English department and women's studies program at Syracuse University from 1992 to 2002. Her primary academic field was critical theory, specializing in queer theory. Her historical focus was 19th-century literature, informed by Freud, Marx, and Darwin. She advised the LGBT student group, wrote Syracuse University’s policy for same-sex couples, and actively lobbied for LGBT aims alongside her lesbian partner.
In 1997, while Rosaria was researching the Religious Right “and their politics of hatred against people like me,” she wrote an article against the Promise Keepers. A response to that article triggered a meeting with Ken Smith, who became a resource on the Religious Right and their Bible, a confidant, and a friend. As she because to read the Bible for research, at a dinner party a transgender friend made the observation, “This Bible reading is changing you, Rosaria.” Her reply was, “what if it is true? What if Jesus is a real and risen Lord? What if we are all in trouble?”
In 1999, after repeatedly reading the Bible in large chunks for her research, Rosaria converted to Christianity. Her first book, “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert,” details her conversion and the cataclysmic fallout—in which she lost “everything but the dog,” yet gained eternal life in Christ.
Her life totally changed. She stopped considering herself a lesbian, and chose to define herself as a Christian. She left academia, married a Minister and they adopted four children and fostered others and is a homeschooling mother, author and speaker.[1]
Rosaria went to judge the Word, but she quickly found out the truth of God’s word judged her. As we read last week, Hebrews 4:12a "For the word of God is living and powerful . . ."
Lives are changed. We can trust the word because it is the truth. Often time we do not like truth, but our like or disliking of the truth does not change the truth.
John 17:17 (NKJV) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
This is Jesus’ prayer in the Garden before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion. Jesus is praying for his disciples and all those who will follow in the years and centuries to come.
Jesus called for His disciples to be: “Sanctified” Let’s examine that that word for a moment. In the Greek, it is from the root word “Holy” Sanctified means to make holy. To be holy is to be set aside for a special purpose, to be consecrated is to be prepared to be used of God. And that is our call, to be holy. Not just on Sunday morning, but in all we say and do.
1 Peter 1:15–16 (NKJV) but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
How was this to be done? “by Your truth” the truth of God. Many in today’s world do not comprehend the nature of truth. Truth is regarded as relative. There is no absolute truth. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Absolute Truth is not a concept to be grasp, a thing, but a reality found in the very person of Jesus. Jesus says He is the way, the truth and the life. And what we have in our hands today is the very words of God, which is truth. “Your word is truth” And that’s what we have in our hands, the word of God which is the word of truth.
Look at the verse that precedes this great verse about truth.
John 17:16 (NKJV) They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Jesus is calling for the disciple’s sanctification because if we belong to Him and we have His Spirit inside of us, then we are not of this world. We are in the world but we are not of the world. The problem with too many Christians and churches is there is way too much of the world in them. We need to be sanctified by God’s truth, His word of truth. But let us consider the condition of the world. One reason we cannot be of the world is because who rules this present world.
1 John 5:19 (NKJV) We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
The wicked one is the devil, or Satan. If you do not believe the Satan rules this present world, then you must live in a cave and do not read or listen to the news. And the world is full of lies and deceptions. Many in the world follow the lies of the devil and Jesus called the devil their father:
John 8:44 (NKJV) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Let me tell you abut the lies of the devil. They are very convincing and men, under the leadership of the devil, will do 3 things regarding the truth of God:
Romans 1:18b (NKJV) who suppress the truth in unrighteousness . . .
Romans 1:25a (NKJV) who exchanged the truth of God for the lie . . .
2 Timothy 4:3b–4 (NKJV) because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
In the world, the truth is suppressed, the truth of God exchanged for a lie, and fables (myths) are preferred over the truth. any many will seek out anyone who tells them what they what to hear.
When I was conducting reasearch for the teaching series “Science and the Bible," I was amazed at the stories of people finding some old fossilized bones, and they make the proclamation they have found a lost link in the evolution of man, they arbitrarily assign it an age of 20-100 million years and suddenly they find themselves on the cover of TIME magazine and millions of dollars in research grants come pouring in. All this occurs when the real science is overwhelmingly against them. People will cling to the lie and prefer the fables over the truth of God, thereby completely rejecting the word of God which is the truth of God.
As we will be discussing in this "Science and Bible" series, evolution is a godless theory and is a lie straight from the father of lies and we’ll be examining the truth of God’s word and how science, especially in recent years, is only coming to confirm where the plain reading of God’s word has always been. Science often seems at times in conflict with the Bible, but over the ages, science has changed its stand on many issues as knowledge increases. If there is a conflict between the science and the Bible, I will stand on the Word of God and wait for science to catch up.
These lies and more are out in the world. It is more than obvious, and many time the lies are down right blatant, the attempts of our culture and our government to suppress anything of God. Our culture, our world, and even our own government have approved as morally okay choosing your own sex, same sex marriage, babies out of wedlock, promiscuity, and the list goes on and on, all in dirct opposition to the truths of God's written word, the Bible. Our government and our culture is functionally atheistic in their approach to everything including the truth. Without God, there is no moral code. There is no absolute truth. The world around us preaches and teaches the lie and suppress the truth.
Let’s go back to our focal verse:
John 17:17 (NKJV) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Is there any wonder why Jesus prays that His followers be sanctify with God’s truth, the Word of Truth? We are called to abide in the truth. We are called to abide in Jesus who is the truth.
John 8:31–32 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Here is the thing, we cannot hear the word of truth unless God enable us to hear. Those who are not of God, does not hear His truth:
John 8:47 (NKJV) He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
We have in our hands the word of God. God speaks to us through His written word, and by His Holy Spirit, we are given understanding of the Word.
The word of God is personal and propositional. It bring conviction and points us to Jesus for salvation. As the truth is received, whether it be heard or read, it is believed and the Holy Spirit gives comprehension. Our hearts and mind are captured and forever changed. As our hears and mind are changed, our lives are changed. We begin to see that we are different from the rest of the world, We begin to understand that we are not of this world. We see that we are becoming set aside for the special purposes of God, and this is sanctification, being made holy for God.
As we encounter the truth, the word tells us three ways we come to know the truth of God.
1. God’s word is truth. We first encounter the truth of God through His written Word. We read that today, John 17:17b "Your word is truth." The word of truth points us to the person of truth, Jesus.
2. Jesus is truth. Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the truth: John 14:6a “I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Little words here make a difference. Jesus did not say he was a truth, but proclaimed that He is THE Truth.
3. The Spirit is Truth. The Holy Spirit, is truth because the Spirit is one with Jesus and the Father, so there is no contradiction here.
1 John 5:6 (NKJV) This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
And because the Spirit is truth, the Spirit will guide us in the way of truth.
John 16:13 (NKJV) However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
How does the Spirit guide us to all truth. In this day and age, when we have the written word of truth in our hands, the Spirit will more than likely start there.
We need all three if we are to experience true sanctification, a sanctification that touches every part of our inner person. With the mind, we learn God’s truth through the Word of truth. With the heart, we love God’s truth, His Son, who is the truth. With the will, we yield to the Spirit and live God’s truth day by day, because He guides us to all truth. It takes all three for a balanced experience of sanctification.[2]
Have you read the word of truth lately. It is by His truth that we are being sanctified, being made holy, being set aside for His purposes.
We are not of this world as Jesus is not of this world. Yet here we are in the World. We need the truth of His word to live day by day.
We are called to follow Him, to be in His will. And how will we know these things unless we spend time in His Word, the word of truth.
Do you know the truth, Do you know Jesus.
[1] https://rosariabutterfield.com/biography and http://www.is-there-a-god.info/life/twoprofessors and https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/channel/utilities/print.html?type=article&id=100365
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 370.
