First Baptist Church

9 West Main St. Earlville, NY—J B Stopford, Pastor

Oct. 15, 2017 10:30 AM

“WHAT IS TRUTH?”

Psalm 25:5

TODAY’S SPECIAL

“A Grace Funny”—Sister Grace at the convent opened a letter from home and found a $100 bill from her parents. She smiled at the gesture. As she read the letter by the window, she noticed a shabbily-dressed stranger leaning against the lamppost below.

Quickly, she wrote, “Don’t despair. Sister Grace” on a piece of paper, wrapped the $100 bill in it, and tossed it out the window. The stranger picked it up and read the note. He tipped his hat to Sister Grace and hurried away.

The next day, Sister Grace was told that a man was asking to see her. She went down and found the stranger waiting. Without a word, he handed her a huge wad of $100 bills.

“What’s this?” she asked.“That’s your $8,000, Sister,” he replied. “‘Don’t Despair’ paid 80-to-1.”

INTRODUCTION

Several weeks ago, I gave a message here on the word “mercy”. In a nutshell, Mercy is our getting what we don’t deserve: we can’t earn it; we have no right to it; we need it desperately; and without mercy, we would remain in the same helpless position – for the rest of eternity. And in a larger nutshell, that is what Jesus did for me, for you: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) (Eph. 2:4-5). Jesus on the cross is mercy on display. He died for the whole world, but His death on the cross can only be applied if you trust Him as your Savior. How do we get to that point?

Do you remember Jesus’ exchange with Pilate just before being condemned to death? In John 18:37-38 are these words: “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.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

“What is truth”! That is the question which each of us must ask God, we must ask ourselves, and we must be able to answer in order to apply what this dear treasure of God’s Word has to offer for each of us. For without truth, we can never understand God’s mercy. Today we are going to look at just a few passages to whet our spiritual thirst for God. PRAYER

#1. THE FOUNDATION FOR LIFE (Ps. 25:5)

The word “truth” appears 137 times in our NIV Bibles: 35 in the OT and 102 in the NT – with 23 of those in the Gospel of John.

It should not surprise us that the psalms – the hymns of the heart – have much to say about “truth.”

Psalm 25 is pretty special. Note the words of trust (vs. 1-3). Do we have that confidence in the Lord?

Note the words of the heart seeking direction (v. 4). The heart that is truly successful is the one which admits it needs help! And it knows where true help is found – in the Lord! Then note the words of of hope (v. 5) – and David finds that hope in “your truth.”

But note that David does not “have it all together”! He is just like one of us! Look at verses 16-19. But then look how he finishes (vs. 20-21), a prayer reminding God that God is his refuge. And finally verse 22 – David recognizes that the big picture is not David, but Israel. Do we see the big picture as involving the church? We should!

#2. THE REALITY OF LIFE (Isa. 59:15)

What one word keeps the people of God’s creation from understanding His truth: “iniquities” or “sins” (vs. 1ff). Funny isn’t it – or perhaps sad – that the world in which Isaiah lived really hasn’t improved much by today’s standards. Isaiah is very descriptive to show what His society was like – one which was more interested in personal lusts that in seeking God’s face.

With that, look at verses 15ff. “Truth is nowhere to be found” was the motto for Isaiah’s day. The key to the lawlessness of his day was one word: truth. No truth, no life. That was the reality of life.

But look at the picture of mercy coming in. The rest of verse 15 and the following verses show that what man could not do – save himself – God took his place. Holy God becomes one of us! Look at verse 20 – “the Redeemer will come to Zion, to those…who repent of their sins”.

Going from truth nowhere to be found to the Redeemer coming to Zion is a huge leap – and that is the nature of the God we worship.

#3. THE TRUTH IS LIFE (John 14:6)

One verse, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” answers doubting Thomas’ question in verse 5, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

The hunger of Thomas’ heart is our hunger.

The answer of Jesus’ lips is our hope.

The Truth is life!

It should not surprise us that all around us are those who have no hope. And it shouldn’t surprise us that most all of them are confused on this one main point: “who is Jesus?”. Is He just a man, or is He God in the flesh? The answer to that question will show where each of us will spend eternity.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” Know Who Jesus is, and you, too, will have the truth which is life!

CONCLUSION

It is believed that John 17 is a recording of Jesus’ prayer given to His Father while He was in the Garden of Gethsemane – just before going to the cross.
We have seen the foundation of life: the truth.

We have seen the reality of life: “truth is nowhere to be found” is the motto of both Isaiah’s day and our day as well.

And we have seen that the Truth IS life – even the Lord Jesus.

SO…if His Word is everything that it claims to be, and He is everything that He claims to be, what does that mean to me, to us? In John 17:17, Jesus said, “Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.” In these 9 brief prayerful words, Jesus wrapped up the connection of truth with each of us. The hunger we have for a foundation in life is found in His Word, His Truth. And in finding that truth, we can be “sanctified”. Jesus uses a wonderful word which means simply this: “‘set them apart’, in essence, as belonging to Me. And do that through the Word which You have lovingly given to each one of them.”

What is Jesus saying? What is He praying? He is praying that each of us realizes that true Christianity isn’t what happens during these too brief moments we have together each Sunday morning. But rather, true Christianity is what He is doing through us each day of our lives as the Word of Truth becomes very intimate in each of our hearts and lives.

So Pilate asked, “what is truth?” The most powerful leader in Jerusalem had no idea what it is to really live – and the Truth was right in front of Him.

Every day, we have the most powerful Savior in eternity right near us, and He has given us His truth to have substance in our lives.

This week – how is His Truth going to make a difference in your life? Have you trusted the living Truth, even the Lord Jesus? Are you walking with the written Truth, even His Word?

If Pilate asked you today, “What is Truth?”, would our lives give a clear answer to that question?

Close in prayer.