2023.08.20.SERMON NOTES. WHAT IS TRUTH?
William Akehurst, HSWC
BIG IDEA: Times have changed. We see that society and culture is changing. What was once evil is not called good, what was called good, is not called evil. There is much deception in our world today, and yet many cry out, searching for “What is truth?”
SCRIPTURES: Philippians 4:8, 2 Timothy 4:1-5, 2 Timothy 3:1-9, John 18:33-38, Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3:1-5, 2 Timothy 3:10-17, 2 Timothy 2:15, Psalms 25:1-5, 2 Timothy 4:1-5, 2 Thessalonians 2:5-12, Romans 1:24-25, Isaiah 5:20, Proverbs 3:5-7, Luke 6:43-49, Proverbs 17:15, John 8:42-47, John 14:6, John 1:1, 1 John 2:18-27
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
PAUL’S CHARGE TO NOT BE SILENT, BUT TO SPEAK THE TRUTH.
2 Timothy 4:1-5
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, 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.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
IN THESE LAST DAYS, THERE WILL BE PERILOUS TIMES
WHEN THERE ARE THOSE WHO WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH
2 Timothy 3:1-9
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;
9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
PILATE – “WHAT IS TRUTH?”
John 18:33-38
33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.
PILATE ASKS “WHAT IS TRUTH?”
ADAM AND EVE AT THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL HAD TO CHOOSE
BETWEEN GOD’S TRUTH AND THE DEVIL’S LIE,
AND THEY CHOSE THE DEVIL’S LIE.
SATAN SPEAKS THE LIE
Genesis 2:15-17
15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
SATAN IS CUNNING, DECEIVING MANY. WHISPERING, TAUNTING, SEDUCING.
Genesis 3:1-5
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A SECOND.
• ADAM AND WOMAN WERE GIVEN THE HIGHEST INTELLIGENCE OF ALL TIME.
• THINK ABOUT ADAM WHO WAS GIVEN THE CAPACITY TO NAME ALL THE ANIMALS, PLANTS, AND STARS AND REMEMBER THEM BY NAME.
• THINK ABOUT HOW POWERFUL ADAM AND EVE WERE, AND HOW THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER THAN TO LISTEN TO THE SERPENT.
• THEN THINK ABOUT THE SERPENT IN VERSE 1 DESCRIBED AS MORE CUNNING THAN ANY OTHER BEAST THAT GOD MADE.
• THIS IS HOW SATAN WORKS. CUNNING, DELIBERATE FALSE INFORMATION, TWISTING, TURNING, CHANGING TRUTH INTO SOMETHING DIFFERENT, INTO HIS OWN NARRATIVE.
• HIS VOICE IS SET TO TAKE US OFF OUR MARK, TO SHAKE THE VERY FOUNDATION OF WHO WE ARE IN GOD’S EYES, AND HIS DESIRE IS TO MAKE US FALL.
REMEMBER HAL LINDSAYS BOOK..."SATAN IS ALIVE AND WELL ON PLANET EARTH" SATAN IS SPREADING DISEASE TO THE SOUL OF MANKIND.
AND IT’S THE DISEASE OF SIN THAT IS AT THE HEART OF THE TROUBLES OF OUR WORLD TODAY.
LAWLESSNESS IS ALREADY AT WORK
2 Thessalonians 2:5-12
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
LYING WONDERS, BELIEVING THE LIE, STRONG DELUSION AND PLEASURE IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS (THE UNHOLY)
A NEW “UNHOLY” WORLD ON THE HORIZON
I truly believe that this AI-Artificial Intelligence, “AI” is going to create a lie that will be believed because GOD will send strong delusion in these last days.
We’ve often been told NOT to believe everything we see on the internet, but it’s not just there, it’s in the news, on TV’s, on our phones, and even in word on the streets.
This is the workings of the spirit of the Anti-Christ stirring the hearts of men women and children, to separate them from the HOLY GOD.
GOD who called us to be holy and separated unto HIMSELF.
Just as GOD is calling people to HIMSELF…
Satan is also calling the nations (people) to himself, to his own agenda. An agenda that is steeped in the pleasures of self and of the world.
Today we see Satan, calling the culture of the nations to separate from GOD’s principles and the truths of scripture.
TAKE FOR EXAMPLE, THE FAMILY: We’re living in a culture where the family is being desecrated.
Husband and Wife and kids, now with families of 2 men or 2 women and children. It's not just here, it's world-wide.
CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, MALE AND FEMALE. And now the delusion of transgenderism and calling themselves whatever or however they want to be identified, many times outside of the truths of GOD’s design for the human race.
THEY HAVE EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR A LIE
Romans 1:24-25
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
THE LIE: EVIL IS GOOD, GOOD IS EVIL
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
TRUST IN THE LORD (HIS TRUTH) AND TURN AWAY FROM EVIL.
Proverbs 3:5-7
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
GOOD PRODUCES GOOD, EVIL PRODUCES EVIL, ITS OUT OF THE HEART THAT MAN SPEAKS
Luke 6:43-49
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
THE EVIL JUSTIFIED, AND THE JUST CONDEMNED? THIS IS SICK
Proverbs 17:15 15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
SATAN, THE DEVIL, THE FATHER OF ALL LIES. NO TRUTH IN HIM
John 8:42-47
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
44 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.
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
MANY ARE ACCEPTING THE WHISPER OF SATAN IN THEIR EARS. “DO THIS AND THAT AND YOU’LL FIND PLEASURE.”
WHERE DOES TRUTH COME FROM?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
IT IS THROUGH JESUS THAT WE FIND THE WAY
IT IS THROUGH JESUS THAT WE FIND THE TRUTH
IT IS THROUGH JESUS THAT WE FIND THE LIFE
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
IF JESUS IS THE WORD FROM THE VERY BEGINNING…IF THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND WAS GOD…THEN…
IT IS THROUGH THE WORD THAT WE FIND THE WAY
IT IS THROUGH THE WORD THAT WE FIND THE TRUTH
IT IS THROUGH THE WORD THAT WE FIND THE LIFE
TRUTH COMES FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
2 Timothy 3:10-17
10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
THE BIBLE IS HOLY BECAUSE IT TELLS THE TRUTH!
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
KNOW THE BIBLE. STUDY GOD’S WORD TO KNOW THE TRUTH.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
ASK THE LORD, THE HOLY SPIRIT TO LEAD, GUARD AND TEACH YOU INTO ALL TRUTH.
Psalms 25:1-5
1 To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me.
3 Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.
4 Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths.
5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
OUR MISSION: TO GET THE WORD OUT TO THE PEOPLE WHO NEED TO HEAR THE TRUTH!
2 Timothy 4:1-5
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
ITCHING EARS, TURNING ASIDE TO FALSE TRUTHS
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, 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.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
TIME IS SHORT, IT IS THE LAST HOUR
1 John 2:18-27
18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
MANY WILL DEPART FROM FAITH TO DO OTHER THINGS
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
BUT YOU HAVE AN ANOINTING TO KNOW TRUTH!
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. (WOW! THANK YOU LORD)
21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
LET TRUTH ABIDE IN YOU
24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.
LET THE ANOINTING OF HOLY SPIRIT TEACH AND GUIDE YOU IN ALL TRUTH
27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
BENEDICTION
Hebrews 10:22-23
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
LET’S PRAY,
FATHER, we come to YOU with thanksgiving in our hearts that we have been forever changed by the POWER of the CROSS, the CLEANSING of the BLOOD of JESUS, and YOUR IMPRINT ON OUR HEARTS by HOLY SPIRIT. We come to YOU because YOU ALONE not only hold THE TRUTH but ARE THE TRUTH. We invite and ask HOLY SPIRIT to guard, guide, protect and lead us continually in ALL TRUTH. FATHER, grant us Wisdom and Discernment to seek, and to know, and to stand for, and to fight for…TRUTH. Let us be YOUR VOICE OF TRUTH with boldness in these last days. In JESUS Name, Amen.
Be blessed and be a blessing!
Bill
