Why Truth Matters: The Solution
Joshua 1:7-9
I. Intro:
We have taken the last two weeks and looked at the idea of Truth in our society. We have looked at and learned a lot of different things. I have probably done this topic an injustice by trying to squeeze it into a three week series but I hope that you have been able to follow along and take home the important ideas that we’ve talked about.
Two weeks ago we looked at the shift that has taken place in the way that truth is viewed. This shift has taken us away from Absolutes; that belief that there is a series of Truth and morals that exist and are unchanging regardless of whether someone believes them or not, and has moved us to embrace the ideas that truth is open to the interpretation of the individual, that each of us must find out what works for us and what fits into our lifestyle. Truth, is not absolute, it’s relative and changing.
I found a quote that illustrates this shift perfectly. Actress Penelope Cruz had this to say when asked about religion:
“I was baptized and had my first communion, and I believe in God in my own ways. But the philosophy I identify with the most is Buddhism, because it’s the one that doesn’t say, ‘this is the only way.’ I don’t want to put a title on what I believe.
Well, last week we put a title on what she believed and has fallen for. It’s called a lie and we looked at the source of that lie, Satan and what the Bible had to say about the way that he worked and interacted with mankind today and the role he plays in pushing God further and further from the minds and hearts of man and replacing him with thoughts and ideas that are man made and man glorifying.
We looked at that passage in John chapter 8 where Christ drew a definitive line saying you are either a child of God, and believe the truth of the Gospel, or you are a child of the Father of lies, Satan. There really is no middle ground, there is no neutrality. The battle lines have been drawn and we are all going to fall on one of two sides.
Now the message I am going to preach this morning is going to be offensive to many, maybe not offensive to most of this congregation but this message wouldn’t win me many friends outside of the church. We have gone to great lengths as a society to avoid offending anyone and to be open and accepting of any and every belief system no matter how bizarre. Now I believe that we are to be accepting of people and we are to love people for who they are but it is time to take a stand on this issue of truth and to acknowledge that Scripture gives us a very different picture of Truth than society does and they both can’t be right. Truth is exclusive, it is narrow, it is absolute, it is uncomfortable at times and what we talk about this morning results in the labels of narrow-minded and bigoted, and intolerant that are affixed to Christians and to Christianity as a whole.
But this morning we turn our attention to the solution. The cure for what is ailing our country, the cure for what is ailing our churches, the cure for what is ailing our world is found only in the Absolute Truth of God and His word. It doesn’t matter if that’s an unpopular or hard to comprehend belief, that is reality and how people perceive that reality does nothing to alter its Truth.
I want to look at three things this morning as we wrap up our look at truth. I want to look at the Source of Truth, the Reliability of the Truth, and our Response to that Truth.
II. The Source of the Truth
The natural place to begin our look at the solution is with the Source of Truth. The issue of Truth is not a new one. Man’s search for truth is one of his oldest pursuits. Listen to this exchange between Jesus and Pontius Pilate when Jesus had been arrested in John 18:36-38.
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
"You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
"What is truth?" Pilate asked.
What a scene. Christ has been passed from the Jewish Priests, Annas and Caiphas, to the Roman Governor Pilate, who is really uncertain as to why Christ was brought to him.
Pilate sums up the situation we find ourselves in today. Here he stands, interviewing Christ, and about to condemn the Son of God to die and he finds himself pondering the question of truth.
Pilate is standing in the very presence of truth, he is looking it in the eye, having a conversation with it, and he manages to miss it, wondering aloud, what is truth? The same question many ask today.
Webster’s dictionary defines truth as: fidelity to an original or to a standard. So truth is when something is faithful to or exactly like the standard or original.
So truth, by it’s definition is exclusive. There must be an original, there must be a standard for Truth to exist.
I get stuck, I go willingly with my wife to the fabric store every once in a while. I watch as she asks for a yard of this or two yards of that. The lady cutting the material doesn’t just roll out the fabric and guess at a certain spot and start to cut, she measures it out. Each yard is equal to the next. Each worker has the same measure, they don’t get to each choose their own. She holds it up to the standard of measurement, in this case a yard stick, to ensure fidelity to a standard.
You cannot be accurate without a measure, a standard. Take it away and you would have randomness that would lead to chaos, which is the natural consequence of the beliefs of many people today.
God loved us enough He provided the standard for us to measure with. The standard of Truth is found in His word. But God took it one step further and provided for us an example of that Truth that we could relate to. God did not leave us with a list of do’s and don’t to hold ourselves to, he gave us a flesh and blood person, a living example, who has walked in our shoes, and given us the measure and the meaning of truth. God gave us truth in the form of a person, His son Jesus Christ.
John 1:14 tells us: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So God gave us His word as the Truth and then He gave us His Son who was the embodiment of that Truth. That is the Source. The only Source. That’s what we need to grasp. Truth is not abstract or unknowable; it is inescapably relational and knowable because it is found in the person of Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The solution is found in more than just believing a message. When Christ called his disciples, he called them to belief in much more than a message, much more than words, He called them to a belief in Him.
John 3:15 and 16 says:
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
And Jesus teaches about Himself saying:
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow
from within him."
Christ is calling us to believe in Him, in the life He lived, in the death He died, and in the victory He won for us in the resurrection. Once we come to believe in Him and are convinced that the truth is bound up in His person, we see Scripture through a whole new set of eyes. Everything within its pages points to the relational aspect of truth, it points us towards a relationship with the Living Truth and draws us closer to Him, the Source of Truth.
So first, we need to know where the source of Truth is, where the standard is found that we need to be measuring with. Then we can move on to the reliability of that source.
III. The Reliability of the Truth
It’s important for Christians to understand what the Bible teaches about it self. It is very clear on the authority that is found within it’s pages.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
All Scripture is the Word of God, not just the easy parts to understand or the ones that we think we can make work in our lives. All Scripture is from God, from Genesis to Revelation and God expects us to model and pattern our lives after His word. There is tremendous power in the message pf these words!
HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Now we can use these verses as arguments for the authority and power of Scripture but for the one who is not convinced that Scripture is God’s Truth, those verses will mean little. God asks for us to believe in faith, but He has also provided overwhelming intellectual evidence for us as to the reliability, accuracy, and uniqueness of His word.
Skeptics are quick to attack the reliability of Scripture. If they can find an error, they can discredit the claims of Christ and the issue of Truth comes tumbling down. And, for the Christian, if we are basing our life on the claims of Christ and on His life found within the pages of Scripture, it becomes extremely important to know whether it’s reliable.
Now, hold on, we’re going to do a weeks worth of apologetics training in the next five minutes! These are great truths to know and learn to help the Christian defend their faith.
a. Reliable in it’s Consistency
- Written over a 1600 year span
- Over 60 generations
- 40 plus authors from all walks of life (Fishermen, politicians, Doctors, Kings)
- In different places
- On 3 Continents
- In three languages
- Includes hundreds of controversial subjects
Despite all this, harmony and continuation is maintained from Genesis to Revelation with God’s plan for bringing man back into a relationship with Him clear throughout the pages of Scripture.
If we did this today, if we took 3 authors from one country from different generations and walks of life and picked one controversial topic, we would have a mess, only a divinely inspired text could maintain harmony. We can’t even get theologians who all say they believe the Bible to agree on controversial subjects yet God wove all these authors into a work that is consistent and true throughout.
b. Reliable in it’s Survival
-8,000+ Latin Manuscripts and 4,000+ Greek Manuscripts which were meticulously kept. If the scribe whose job it was to copy them even made one punctuation error, the whole page was scrapped.
Shakespeare’s plays are about 280 years old and there are 100 portions that are in doubt as to the wording and grammar. Scripture is over 2000 years old and there is not one verse in which the words itself are in doubt, only the translation of some words has caused disagreement. It has survived intact for 2000 years.
No other book has been as intensely persecuted, banned, burned, and despised as the Bible yet it has survived and continues to thrive.
c. Reliable in it’s Historical Accuracy
- It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference.”
- “The accurate historical memory of the Bible is incredible, particularly when it is so fortified by archaeological fact.”
Nelson Glueck, world renowned archaeologist
Wall of Jericho Example (1930-36)
There has never been an archaeological finding that has proven the Bible to be anything but historically inaccurate, the opposite has always been true, archeology has proven many historians wrong in their criticism of Scripture.
So, the Truth is Reliable, it is reliable in its consistency, in its survival, and it historical accuracy. There is no explanation for the uniqueness and reliability of Scripture other than that it is what it claims to be, the written Word of God.
So, what should our response to this Truth be?
IV. Our Response to the Truth
Joshua 1:7-9 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
a. Know It
Houghton studying Illustration
I looked at studying as an afterthought. I was committed to getting by, not to learning and knowing what I was being taught. This can’t be the way we look at the Word of God, at the Truth. We need to have a knowledge of what it is that we believe. God instructed Joshua that he was to meditate on the Truth day and night. It was to be on his mind always. He was to know it inside and out. We are tested everyday on this issue of Truth and some of us know enough to get by but God is calling us to know His word intimately because someone else’s life may depend on your knowledge of the Truth. Everyday we come into contact with those who do not know God, we have relationships with them, we work with them, we eat with them, are you ready at a moments notice to share with them the Truth you have in you?
1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
Always be prepared, to do this, God’s word must be in our hearts and minds and on our lips constantly. And we are to be able to share with gentleness and respect. Paul tells us that we are to speak the Truth, in love. Christianity has earned many of the reputations that we have as being judgmental and bigoted because we don’t share the Truth in boldness and balance it with love and acceptance of the person.
This is the Truth. Whether or not we choose to believe, this is the Truth and we need to know it. We need to read it, we need to Study it, we need to think about it and teach it to our children. But, it’s not enough just to know it, this passage tells us that we also need to:
b. Obey It
All of it, we are not to turn to the left or the right and chase after the latest ideas and man made truths. We are to know the Truth and obey it in our lives. Man has made up its own Truths, you’re a Christian if you go to church, you’re a Christian if you are a good person, the Bible says we are saved through faith in Christ and that the evidence of this is when we bear fruit in our lives, this fruit comes from obeying the Truth, from our actions.
1 John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
James 1:22-25 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
JN 14:23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
We will only see change and revival in this nation when we turn our hearts back to the Truth and we allow the truth to change us and dictate our actions. America doesn’t necessarily need more churches, it doesn’t need more people who are Christians in name only, it needs the church as a whole to stand up and bring their lives in line with what Christ teaches! To say to others as Paul said to the church in Corinth, Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. That’s when change will come! That’s when people will sit up and take notice!
1 John 3:18-19 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth
We’ll know that our hearts are turned to the Truth when our lives match up with what’s written there. That’s the solution to this issue of Truth today, turning back to a knowledge of God’s unfailing Word and allowing it to be our life.
We have the Truth, and at the very heart of the Truth that we’ve been looking at these three weeks you find the love of God for His people expressed in Jesus Christ. That’s the Truth we stand on, that’s the standard we measure up to, that’s the hope we have, and that’s the message we need to proclaim.
When we see the Source of Truth, the Reliability of Truth, and have responded to it with our lives, we’re brought back to the fact that this Truth is exclusive. There is and can be only one and Christ tells us what the Truth is.
