Steven Lawson: The Moment of Truth

well what a wonderful day we have in store for us and I'm very excited to be able to lead as we begin this day together I want to invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of John John chapter 36 and in this opening session we want to talk about the moment of truth in reality what we will be discussing is the subject of truth in an age in an agenda denies there is any absolute truth today people speak of well this is my truth you have your truth as though truth can be true for one person but not true for someone else now this is not new and in John chapter 18 and I'm going to begin in verse 36 our Lord is standing trial before Pilate of course the day is coming when Pilate will stand trial before the Lord Jesus Christ and as Jesus stands before Pilate it is the night before his the day before his crucifixion he is standing trial he will be sentenced to death before Pilate and the cinestyle he is to be crucified before Pilate gives the final verdict in this one-on-one conversation beginning in John chapter 18 in verse 36 we read jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews but as it is my kingdom is not of this realm therefore Pilate said to him so you are a king jesus answered you say correctly that I am a king for this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to testify note this to the truth everyone who is of the truth hears my voice Pilate said to him what is truth this is the age long question voiced by Pilate when he stood before the Lord Jesus Christ to us truth and is truth incarnate this was not an honest question by one searching to know the truth but it was a defiant denunciation of the truth it was spoken with a tone of derision it was dismissive it was spoken with contempt that this terse response was asserted mockingly by Pilate what is truth it was a dismissive chide dripping with sarcasm it was a caustic rebuttal intended to belittle any notion that there is any such thing in this world as a truth claim what is truth this was a barbed jab by Pilate into the ribs of the Lord Jesus Christ intended to deflate him and denigrate any notion that Jesus could claim to know the truth and to speak the truth Pilate rejected the very idea of an exclusive truth claim now this question what is truth as echoed down the centuries and down the corridors of time and it is growing louder and louder and in this very generation in which we live we hear this malignant mantra what is truth the spirit of pilot lives in our day the spirit of pilot is alive and well on college campuses it sits in the halls of our government it legislates our moral code it reigns in our media it teaches in many of our seminaries it stands in pulpits today we live in a culture that is defiant of any notion of truth we live in a day not only of all truth but we are anti truth we are tolerant of anything and anyone except one who claims to know the truth I want us to examine these verses and use them somewhat as a launching pad today I want to set before you three main headings I want to talk to you about the rejection of truth that is what we see in verse 38 when Pilate says what is truth he is rejecting truth second I want to talk about the reality of true for Jesus that I have come into this world to testify to the truth what is truth and then third the reception of truth Jesus said everyone who is born of the truth hears my voice what is it to be born of the truth that enables one to hear the voice of God I want to begin first with the rejection of truth this is where we live we are surrounded on every side top to bottom in this culture and in this society in which we live what is truth and this is really the mother's sin it is a setting aside and a intentional rejection of the truth of God this is the way it was in the very beginning was it not in Genesis 3 verse 1 when Satan the serpent slithered onto the page of human history it was an attack on the truth it was to create a world in which there is the rejection of the truth that was the wedge that Satan inserted into Eve and then into to Adams heart a separation of the truth so that they would reject the truth Satan said indeed has God said do you hear the hiss of the serpent in that that was a frontal attack on the truth has God said it was to dismiss the truth of God and so the original sin was a rejection of the truth a rejection of God's way that man would go his own way that he would make his own choice in defiance of the truth Romans 1 verse 18 says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness that is what every generation does apart from being born of the truth it is inherent in radical corruption and total depravity in the human nature to suppress to hold down the truth of God and we read a few verses later in Romans 1 verse 25 how they exchanged the truth of God for a lie that is the hour in which we live we have a culture and a society that has exchanged the truth of God for a lie and have suppressed the truth this is the demise of any life it is the departure of any denomination it is the destruction of any nation in any society it begins with the rejection of truth nowhere is this more clearly seen than with our college students as they live in universities that are established so many of them to undermine the truth a survey was conducted recently of adults 36 years and older in which 64% said there are no moral absolutes and only 22% claimed that there are any moral absolutes but of those 18 years and in their early 20s the number of those who reject any moral absolutes skyrocketed to 75% but they have no moral compass because they have rejected the truth and then when the survey was conducted with teenagers 16 17 18 years of age the number spiked at 83% today of teenagers say that morality and truth depends upon one's individual preference and upon the circumstances the younger you are the more you embrace the statement that there is no truth today we have seen this coming for decades Alan bloom a noted distinguished college professor wrote years ago a book entitled the closing of the American mind and as he instructed the brightest students of some 30 years ago he wrote that 95% of all entering college students are avowed relativists who reject any notion of truth oh it is coming like a tsunami in the age in which we live and it's breakers have already hit the shores the increasing beliefs of the day is that there are only the only absolute is that there are no absolutes the only truth is that there is no truth the only intolerance is there is no tolerance of intolerance all this gives mounting escalating popularity today to the approval of abortion to the approval of homosexuality to lesbianism to euthanasia to pornography to all kinds of lewd behavior it is all traced back to this point of departure the rejection of the truth and we see it today humanism says man is the truth pragmatism says whatever works is the truth pluralism says everyone has a piece of the truth relativism says each situation determines the truth mysticism says intuition is the truth scepticism says no one can know the truth hedonism says whatever feels good is the truth existentialism says self-determination is the truth secularism says this present world is the truth positivism says whatever man confesses is the truth this is the world in which we live the rejection of the truth second I want to talk about the reality of truth as we look at verse 37 Jesus as he stands trial before Pilate affirms there is truth and not just truth but the truth the one and only truth in verse 37 Jesus says for this I have been born for this I have come into the world here in part is the reason for the incarnation ultimately his reason is what we looked at tonight the cross upon which he died but he also came to bear witness of the truth so Jesus said for this I have been born for this I have come into the world why to testify to bear witness to teach to declare to assert to affirm the truth you recall Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life and by that statement Jesus is claiming to have a monopoly on the truth he is the truth there is no truth outside of the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no way to be on the way except to believe the truth and there is no way to have the life except to receive the truth what is truth in one word to put it in the vernacular truth is reality truth is the way things really are truth is not how things may appear to be a truth is not what we want things to be the truth is not what popular opinion polls say they are truth is the way things really are I want to give you a few characteristics that help distinguish and define the truth number one truth is divine then it's just say truth does not come from this world truth does not arise up from the may loo of society and culture no true comes down from above truth comes from the God who is truth and he reveals his truth to us truth is the self revelation of God himself truth is the self disclosure of God's own being and God's own nature God is the author of all truth because God is the truth truth is whatever God says something is God is the determiner of truth God is the governor of truth God is the arbitrator of truth God is the ultimate standard of truth all things are measured by God himself by himself to determine what is in conformity with truth and what is non truth God is the final judge of all truth we could say that truth is Trinitarian God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all distinguished as the truth in Psalm 31 verse 5 we read of the God of truth Jesus is described in Ephesians 4 verse 21 truth is in Jesus close quote in other words all truth is in the Lord Jesus Christ within his nature within his being within his words within his doctrine within his truth and everything that is outside of the Lord Jesus Christ that is contradictory to Christ is alive the holy spirit in John 14 17 is the Spirit of Truth John 15:26 the spirit of truth John 16:13 the Spirit of Truth truth is the self expression of God himself truth is everything that is consistent with the mind of God the being of God the will of God the character of God the glory of God therefore truth is whatever God says something is sin is what God says it is heaven and hell is what God says it is salvation is what God says it is morality and the family is what God says it is Romans three verse four says let God be found true let every man be found a liar the first truth is divine second it is absolute truth is sovereign truth reigns over all truth is that which is the definitive standard by which everything is measured truth is the highest arbitrator that presides over every issue and over every life truth is exclusive not inclusive truth is discriminating truth is never both and it is always either/or truth is never relative it is never arbitrary it is never conditional truth is that which is absolute everything outside the truth is a lie everything inside the truth and that squares with the truth is the truth Jesus said in John 8 verse 44 as he looked at the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the day and by that spoke to the nation that was following them you are your father the devil he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him whenever he speaks a lot speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies ultimately there are only two fathers and there are two families in the world there is God the Father and all those who are of God are in his family and they hear the truth and there are those who are of the of their father the devil and they hear the lies of Satan truth is divine truth is absolute third truth is objective truth is propositional truth is conveyed and clearly defined words and words that have meaning precise words with precise meaning truth is concrete truth is black-and-white truth is narrowly defined by God's Word truth is factual truth is rational truth is not subjective it is objective truth is fact it is not feeling truth is tangible truth is contained in the Word of God the written word of God 2nd Timothy 2 verse 15 identifies the scripture as the word of truth psalm 119 verse 160 says your word is truth jesus says he prayed in his high priestly prayer john 17:17 your word is truth truth is found in specific words with specific meaning in the inspired inerrant infallible word of the Living God as Titus 1:2 and Hebrews 6 says it is impossible for God to lie when God speaks God speaks only that which is true and it is absolute and it is objective God has not stuttered and God has not mumbled God has spoken truth forth truth is singular as Jesus represents the truth here in John 18 he speaks of the truth definite article VIII not a truth not some truth but the truth and when he says the truth not only is he stating that it is objective and authoritative but he is saying that it is singular all truth from the mind of God perfectly fits together and there is never any contradiction god never speaks out of both sides of his mouth and what God says to one generation is true for every generation if the truth fits into one body of truth one system of truth one body of divinity it's the truth truth is never at odds with itself Francis Schaeffer wrote years ago Christianity is not a series of truths in the plural and the Bible never represents the scripture as containing truths plural but the truth singular in that it all stands together it's all or nothing James Montgomery Boyce the great expositor states truth is singular he says it is not in fragments that would require us to speak of truths plural in the sense of unrelated facts or items Boyce says truth holds together therefore there is no phase of truth that is not related to every other phase of truth close quote that is a profound quote what Boyce is saying is that all truth is wired together you tell me what you believe about one truth I'll tell you what you believe about 40 other truths because what you believe about this truth is inseparably connected with 40 other truths it all is it all stands together it is indivisible it is one truth the Bible speaks with one voice it's henceforth one plan of salvation it makes one diagnosis of the problem of the human condition it presents one history of redemption it offers one Savior of sinners it offers one remedy of eternal life it presents one self-consistent world view and you pick up Genesis and look through the lens of Genesis at the world it is the same lens when you pick up revelation and look through that lens and look at the world every one of the 66 books in the Bible they all hang together they speak together there are threads running through all of Scripture you pull a thread in Genesis your Bible crinkles in Revelation there is the golden cord of God's sovereign rule over the world there is the the red cord of redemption that runs through the scripture it all presents one consistent presentation of the truth truth is singular when you pack your suitcase and sometimes you can't get that last sweater into the suitcase and an arm hangs out and you get some scissors and just cut it off so that everything will pack nicely you never have to do that with the Bible you're never cutting off a few chapters of Leviticus because it just doesn't square with Ephesians no though there are 40-plus authors writing over a period of 1,600 years on three different continents most of whom never met the other authors nevertheless as you pick up the Bible to read it there is one author capital a one primary author who use secondary authors lowercase a to record what is in this book it is the infallible truth of God not only is true singular but number five truth is immutable truth never changes what was true in the Garden of Eden is true throughout the Old Testament is true in the times of Christ is true in the expansion of the church is true down through the centuries and it is true today because God never changes I am the same forever says the Lord yesterday today and forever the God who was and who is and who shall be forever and it is this eternal immutable unchanging God who speaks truth and when God speaks truth it flows from his own nature and what God says never changes the truth is always the same from generation to generation if it's new it's not true right is always right wrong is always wrong Society may try to redefine morality culture may try to reclassify right and wrong but truth never changes truth is fixed truth is established truth is constant truth is unvarying truth is transcendent over the generations truth is timeless truth is permanent truth is anchored truth is eternal psalm 119 verse 89 forever o Lord your word is settled in the heavens Isaiah 40 verse 8 the grass withers the flower fades away but the word of our God abides forever don't you just love that the verses that you memorized as a child have never been more relevant in your life than they are today there's no augmentation that is needed after I graduated from college I went to law school you would spend your entire semester studying case law constitutional law and your entire grade would be the final exam at the end of the semester you never knew how you stood until you took the final exam I would stay up nights memorizing the law studying case law dissecting case law and then come to the final exam and write your answers and one thing that I discovered that was so discouraging to me is that after I would study the law and memorize the law and learn the law by the time I came to the final exam they changed the law and I had invested all of this time in a changing law how frustrating that was for me and as I was first beginning to preach and as I was first beginning to minister God's Word it struck me the beauty of God's Word in part is that it is immutable that truth never changes and all the investment of my time in studying the Word of God it is with me forever I will never wake up one day and suddenly something that was true will be untrue or that there will be a new truth that Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 18 for truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished later he said it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to fail and therefore truth is always up-to-date truth is always contemporary you want to have a contemporary ministry you want to have a contemporary church great preach the Bible nothing is more contemporary than the Bible every little new trend that blows onto the scene of evangelicalism by the time it is incorporated and put into practice it's old news and it just fades off the scene but the church that holds forth the Word of God has the truth of God to every generation to every age group and it will never change truth is always relevant it has an eternal shelf life it is never outdated it is never archaic it is immutable sixth truth is authoritative when the truth speaks God speaks john calvin used to say quoting agustin that when the Bible speaks God speaks sometimes I meet people who say I want to hear the voice of God I say you want to hear the audible voice of God they say yes I want to hear the audible voice of God I tell them read your Bible out loud you will hear the voice of God because God has spoken and God has spoken in his written word and his written word is authoritative it is it makes demands upon our lives truth is never just interesting truth is never intended to provoke our curiosity we're never to come to truth and just tip our hat at truth and say well that's nice that's interesting no truth is assertive truth is authoritative truth is sovereign truth is commanding truth is imperative truth is has the right to make demands upon our lives because it is the truth of God truth possesses the right to rule our lives therefore seven truth is powerful truth alone convicts the Word of God is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword and able to pierce the division of soul and spirit and to expose the innermost thoughts of man that's what truth does every other statement just lays on the surface it massages the ego only truth can bore down in penetrate into the very hearts of a person and expose their hearts before God and allow themselves to see themselves as God sees them truth saves first Peter 1 verse 23 says that we have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable imperishable by the living and abiding Word of God there is in truth the very germ of life and when that seed of truth has received into the heart by faith it germinates by sovereign regeneration and there is life truth sanctifies truth conforms us into the image of Christ truth encourages truth comforts when I go into a hospital room I don't read a dying Saint The Wall Street Journal there's nothing wrong in reading The Wall Street Journal I read it this morning but there's no anchor for the soul there only truth can comfort and finally truth is determinative your eternal destiny is determined by the truth thank you okay RC said me to your relationship to the truth will determine where you will spend all eternity your relationship to the truth will determine whether you are in heaven are in hell forever your relationship to the truth will chart the course of your life in this world your relationship to the truth will define your family it will direct your business it will be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path truth is determinative and your entire life is marked by the truth that is the reality of truth and I want you to know everything that does not measure with the truth is a facade and only once the truth has spoken may we understand what true reality is now finally we've spoken of the rejection of truth what is truth we have spoken of the reality of truth for this reason I have come into the world that I might bear witness of the truth finally the reception of the truth what is necessary in your life and in anyone's life to receive the truth of God because we have a natural aversion against the truth the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can understand it we all like sheep have gone astray each one of us has turned to his own way there is none who seeks after God no not one we all have an aversion against the truth what is necessary to receive the truth Jesus tells us in verse 37 and I'm finished why does not everyone who hears the truth receive the truth why do some people reject it do others receive it is it an IQ matter note verse 37 everyone who is of the truth hears my voice what is it to be of the truth to be of the truth is to be birthed by the truth it is to be born again by the truth it is to believe in the truth it is to belong to the truth to be of the truth means to be sovereignly regenerated by the spirit and to be illumined by the Holy Spirit of God to light up our understanding to see the truth where we were previously in darkness God gives us eyes to see the truth he gives us a new mind to understand the truth he puts his resident truth teacher inside of us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all the truth everyone therefore there are no exceptions to this everyone who is of the truth hears my voice this speaks of the effectual call of God it speaks of the sovereign drawing and calling of God the holy spirit by which the truth comes crashing home in our minds and our hearts and suddenly in a moment we see what we were previously blind to I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see it is the work of God the Holy Spirit in the heart that enables one to hear the voice of the lord jesus christ jesus said my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any one pluck them from my father's hand for my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one shall pluck them from his hand I and the father are one it is the Sheep it is the sheep who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd speaking the truth the goats remain deaf to truth how we are dependent entirely upon the giver of all truth to teach all truth are you of the truth have you been born from above have you been born of God are you converted to Jesus Christ have you come to believe upon Christ and believe the truth that he says have you come to believe the truth of what he says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that the wages of sin is death but that upon Calvary's cross the truth is that Jesus died in the place of sinners and that all of our sin all of us who would believe upon Christ has been transferred to Christ and him who knew no sin God made to be sin for us that is the truth and those who believe upon Christ his righteousness is given to us and we are clothed from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet with the perfect obedience of God in Christ that is the truth and if you will call upon his name if you will commit your life to him if he will deny yourself and take up a cross and become a true follower of Christ he will lead you all the way to his father's house and one day you will be before the throne of God singing the praises of him who is the author of all truth who is the revealer of all truth and you and I will come to understand an even fuller and gray measure the truth that is in Jesus Christ as we live in this world of lies and falsehoods as people are saying what is truth we who are of the truth no but Jesus came into this world to testify of the truth and that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free apart from the truth one will always be bound in sin and by Satan only the truth is so powerful to unlock those chains and to set the prisoners free let's pray father in heaven thank you that you have taken the initiative to reveal the truth to us without the truth we would be in darkness without the truth we would be lost without the truth we would not know you nor could we come to you now we praise you that you have made the truth known to us and I ask God for this precious body that is gathered this morning that you will open our eyes yet fuller to the truth and that we will come to know the truth may the truth sanctify us may the truth conform us into the image of Christ may the truth comfort us and for those here today who have not yet come to a saving knowledge of Christ may the truth may the truth regenerate them and convert them father we pray this in Jesus name Amen

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Length: 44min 37sec (2677 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 07 2016