WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN
SERMON TITLE: MANIFESTATION OF THE TRUTH
“For God so loved the world , that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18
TEXT VERSE: 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 “Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God.”
I like that part where it says, we have this ministry. See when the Lord went away he left his ministry in our hands. That’s scarey, isn’t it? In the book of John he said he’d go to the Father and he said greater works than what I’ve done, you’ll do because I go to the Father.
One thing we thought about in verse 2 is the manifestation of the truth. It’s very important that we know the truth this morning. The Bible says that the devil is a liar and that he’s the father of it. There’s a lot of people in the world today that will believe a lie before they’ll believe the truth. Seems like you can tell the old natural man anything and they’ll believe it. But I’m glad there’s a lot of Christians that will stand on the true word of God. I’m glad Revelations says that you can’t add nothing to it or take anything away from it. It will always stand. When I hear that word truth I think of the word fact. It’s not fiction. It’s real. There’s a lot of churches out there that aren’t preaching the truth. Their made up of man made religion. There’s a lot of churches out in the world that people can come and get what they want ( a little tickling of the ear) and then they’ll go home and throw some of the biggest drunk parties you’ve ever seen. If my salvation weren’t no better than that, we’d need to change it and get something else. I’m glad we’re able to stand on the truth.
In John 18:38 “Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.” People were wanting to get rid of Jesus. They didn’t like him. They said to crucify him. They didn’t want to hear what he had to preach. There’s a lot of people in the world today like that. They want to do away with religion and Jesus because they feel like their not able to stand the test. But while the crowd was there yelling to crucify Jesus there was also another crowd there following Jesus up to the cross and they cried out to God and it didn’t matter to them about those others that didn’t believe. They believed. When they brought Jesus up to old Pilate and one said crucify him and the other said don’t, he’s a messiah, our Lord. Pilate didn’t know what to do. So Pilate said, What is the truth? I want to tell you what the truth is. John 14:6 says “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” There’s not a lot of truth in the world but there’s a lot of truth in the word. Why you get start a rumor that you was at Stone Mountain and you saw Christ walking on top and you can get that put on the news and in about two weeks there will be thousands of people flocking around Stone Mountain. They are always looking for a sign. Just look in the good book. You’ll find what you need there. That’s where you’ll find the truth.
Romans 1:25 “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”
I want to share with you a few things about truth.
NUMBER ONE: Know the word of Truth. Study the word to show your self approved. You want to be a good soul winner, a good husband, a good wife a good parent? Get in the word. Find out what the truth is and the truth will make you free.
NUMBER TWO: Speak the word of truth. Ephesians 4:25 says, “Speak truth every man with his neighbor.”
NUMBER THREE: Believe the word of truth. A lot of people start doubting God. If you’re going to know the truth and speak the truth you ought to believe the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2:12 says “That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” I don’t want you to be damned. We need to believe the truth. There are people out there that call themselves Christians and they’re living any way they want to and they never get in the word of God and they never go to church and they need the true word of God.
NUMBER FOUR: We need to obey the word of truth. 1 Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.” It’s easy to tell people how to live a good Christian life but most of us can’t even live a good Christian life ourselves. We’re not here to tell people how to live a good Christian life. We’re here to tell people about Christ. Christ is the one who will make them live a good Christian life. I thought about Nehemiah who stood for the truth. He saw that the church was in ruins. They had burnt down the city Jerusalem. There was hardly nothing left. It had been destroyed by evil people and Nehemiah got word of it and he went and prayed to the God of Heaven and this one man said I’m going to go and rebuild that city. If everyone of us would just pray and say God what can I do as an individual we’d get a lot more done. You wait around on every body else and you might wait a long time.
NUMBER FIVE: We need to love the word of truth. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” Let me tell you what loving the truth will do for you. You say preacher, I don’t have what everybody else in the world has. You may not. You may not be able to go where others go but if you have the truth and you love the truth then you’ll be satisfied. Accept what God has made you this morning. Most people want something bigger and better. Us Pastors would love to have a church with 5,000 members. I went to a church one time with 8,000 members and in 2000 they gave away 1.9 million dollars to missions. I’m not bragging on them. I’m bragging on Christians who will stand up for Jesus. Christ should be first in a Christians life. People are always thinking about themselves and never about the Savior. We seem to be going up hill and he seems to be going down hill. People dying and going to hell every day, every minute and you’re worried about not having enough money to buy more lottery tickets. Get your heart right with God.
NUMBER SIX: we need to walk in the word of truth. 3 John verse 4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth.” Nothing makes me any sicker than seeing backslid Christian trying to be soul winner. They get out in the world and tell people how to find Christ and they haven’t even found him themselves. You better keep your heart right with God. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous but his face is hid from those who do evil.
Now I want to share about seven things about the word of truth. The word truth pertains to everything God is and will be. Truth is like the common denominator for everything that Christ has. When you think of our world you think of the air we breathe. To have life we must have air. It’s essential and truth is the same. It’s a common denominator for everything to do with Jesus.
NUMBER ONE: Truth goes along with Grace John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” You can’t have grace without truth. The grace of God is the truth.
NUMBER TWO: Truth goes along with the Spirit. John 4:24 “God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
NUMBER THREE: Truth goes along with Mercy. Psalms 25:10 “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.”
NUMBER FOUR: Truth goes along with Love. 2nd John verse 3 “Grace be with you, mercy and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” God is love. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Joyce showed me a an article on the internet on the NIV Bible. We use the KJV. But the NIV is coming out with a new ammended NIV called the TNIV. I’m not putting it down unless it takes away from the word of God and it does. But they are going to change it to say when ever you see the words “Sons of God.” They were going to change it to say “Sons and daughters of God.” I already knew that. Study the word of God and you won’t need to have someone tell you that. Then they’re going to take the part that says, “Mary wwas with child.” and change it to “Mary was Pregnant.” They better look up in the dictionary what the word pregnant is. She wasn’t pregnant. She was with Child. To get pregnant you must be with a man to get that way. She wasn’t with a man. She was with child of the holy ghost. If Christ isn’t good enough for you, you’ll never get what you want.
NUMBER FIVE: Truth goes along with Peace. Zechariah 8:19 “Therefore love the truth and peace. “You can’t have the truth without having peace.” Satan has a lot of people fooled. You’re flesh will tell you everything is okay but if you don’t have peace, it isn’t.
NUMBER SIX: Truth goes along with Deed. 1st John 3:18 “Let us not love in the word; neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” You can’t do anything without having the truth.
NUMBER SEVEN: truth goes along with Light. Psalms 43:3 “Send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacle.” You’ve heard these stories about people who’ve died and gone toward the light. Don’t wait till you die to go toward the light. Go toward it now. He is the light. That light their going towards when they die could be the bright fires of Hell burning. Go to the light now before you don’t have another chance. John 3 says that people didn’t come to the light because their deeds were evil.
So in order to have truth you must have Grace, the Spirit, Mercy, Love, Peace, Deeds and the Light.
LET US PRAY: Thank you Father for this message. It has helped me to better understand the truth of your word. I pray you would apply it to my heart so that I may go out to a lost and dying world and teach them about you. That I may lead a lost soul to you. In Jesus name. amen
