The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth (John 16:12-15 Jeff Kliewer)

The Cultural Power of Truth and the Legacy of Christianity

So we do have the connect cards if you are new here. My name is Michael. The connect cards will allow us to Connect with you a little bit. Put your name and your phone number on there your email address and we'll just thank send you a thank you card.

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The.

Date of closing that is october 1st and get your order in before that. And we can once they are once that closes then I will get those and then we will give them out to everyone when they arrive.

Okay.

There is a starting point class, which is how you learn more about cornerstone in order to become a member or just to learn more About the evangelical free church and everything that our church believes.

That is starting today. In fact right now in the classroom so you can excuse yourself if you'd rather Go to that now you can then catch this service online if that's what you need to do. But it's this week next week and the following week.

Starting point there's also an important congregational meeting on the 16th. This is october 16th at 7 p .m. We are going to be discussing a couple of major items. One is possibly bringing our youth pastor to full time.

So that's an exciting possibility and then secondly a building and grounds and land Question that we have to work on so exciting possibilities in all these directions. So please come on the 16th. You can always ask me if you want information ahead of time About what that meeting is all about.

Tonight there is a prayer meeting at Seven o 'clock or is it six six o 'clock tonight? Um, so if you if you would like to come for corporate prayer six o 'clock here in the building. So let's go to prayer now Heavenly father.

Thank you so much for an opportunity to come into this place and worship you Lord, we desire our worship to be pleasing in your sight. So help us to worship in spirit and in truth. That everything within us would cry out In songs of praise to you for you are worthy Lord, we pray that you would help us to discipline our minds so that we're not distracted.

Help us not to be lazy in our thinking. But rather to be focused On what you have for us this day so we give this worship to you as Our best lord and we hope that you would find it a pleasing sacrifice in your sight in jesus name.

Amen.

Will you stand with me?

Jesus.

Is a light.

That overwhelms the darkness. There is a kingdom that forever reigns. There is freedom from the chains that bind us.

Jesus.

Is a name.

I call in times of trouble. There is a song That comforts in the night. There's a voice arm that rages Jesus my savior. There is in your. You're my rider beside me Jesus my son.

Messiah.

Name above all.

Blessed redeemed.

The rest jesus.

Messiah.

Lord our hope is in you this morning. We are thankful that we can stand here redeemed Because of your sacrifice on the cross. And we declare lord that you Not only are the son of god, but god himself jesus the god incarnate the eternal alpha and omega.

Our god and our savior came down.

From.

Heaven's throne. This birth you formed. Was not your home. A love like this.

The world.

Had never known of thorns. To mock your name. Forgiveness fell upon your face. A love like this.

The world on the altar of our praise. Let there be no higher name.

Jesus son of god. You laid down your perfect life. You are the sacrifice Jesus son of god. You are jesus son of god.

Our sin you bore our shame. You rose to life You defeated the grave. A love like this.

Because you took our sins You bore Sir of our praise.

Listen.

Up sir of our praise. Let there be no higher name. Jesus son of god. You laid down your perfect life. You are the sacrifice. Jesus son of god.

You are jesus.

Son of god.

You may be seated.

Good morning.

Let's pray.

God, thank you so much for this morning. Thank you for all of your good gifts to us. Most especially the gift of your one and only son jesus christ. Who is the way the truth and the life? We thank you father that you gave jesus to die.

The death that we deserve. The death on the cross. What a radical thing. That you would give your son to be crucified for our sins. That he was buried and that he rose on the third day. We believe this lord.

For you have revealed this truth to us by your spirit. And we pray now lord as we open the word of god that you would continue to lead us into all truth. Every one of us in this room believes certain things amiss.

None of us are omniscient. We should all be humble before you and recognize there are areas of darkness in our lives. Ways in which we ourselves are deceived and we pray that the spirit of truth Would minister individually to each of us to shine light On those dark places.

Illuminate your word god that your word would burst forth off the page into our hearts that we would be changed by your truth. We thank you that you always tell us the truth. You never comfort us or appease us with lies.

Truth, Time, and the Christian Roots of Liberty and Equality

But you are always intensely and perfectly Truthful and so lord speak your truth to us this morning in jesus name. Amen. Truth is old and insensitive. Truth as a category. I mean it's not that people believing truth are old and insensitive but truth.

And time walk hand in hand. True things withstand the test of time. Lies crumble with time. They fall in on themselves and they cannot bear the weight Of progressing over the years let alone over the decades and the centuries.

Charles spurgeon said I cannot agree With those who say that they have new truth to teach. I throw new truth in square in scare quotes. There's no such thing as new truth. Spurgeon says the two words seem to me to contradict each other.

That which is new Is not true. It is the old that is true for truth is as old as god himself. By insensitive. I mean that truth doesn't mind being questioned. Anyone who is afraid to debate. Or who doesn't like being questioned is probably hiding some dark space.

Truth doesn't mind Being questioned or to put to use the words of ben shapiro. Truth doesn't care about your feelings. Truth is just true No matter how you feel about it. And truth can withstand any test.

It is not afraid of being questioned. People are sensitive. And people are prone to err. While truth and time walk hand in hand people proclaiming truth often Are dealt with rather harshly? How many of you know the story of jeremiah?

Jeremiah had truth to tell to the nation. He brought a message to the southern kingdom living in jerusalem for 40 years. He proclaimed coming judgment. He warned them that their sexual sins. And their idolatry, which is a spiritual form of adultery.

That this would result in god's judgment that god was going to send babylon to judge the people. But they didn't want to hear this truth. They were convinced of their ways and they desired to continue doing what they intended.

So from the year 627 bc to 587 bc jeremiah preached. And the people hated him for it. Very few people repented and believed he told the truth. And it would take time to prove What he had to say. Jeremiah then writes the book of lamentations.

It's only five chapters. I would encourage you to read it because it's a wake-up call. The book of lamentations is a wake-up call. Judgment was proclaimed and it ultimately came lamentations. One one says how lonely sits the city that was full of people.

In chapter 2 jeremiah says my eyes are spent with weeping. My stomach churns. My bile is poured out to the ground. He's thrown up. He's just so distraught over what's happened. Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. Lamentations 2 14 your prophets have seen. Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions. You see truth doesn't mind being questioned.

The prophets were proclaiming good things and saying that god will not judge the nation. And jeremiah alone cried out and called for repentance. In time the judgment came. In 5 86 The babylonians came upon jerusalem And sacked the city and carried off the remainder of the people into exile.

It was a horrible and destructive thing. Truth Was proven in time. They didn't like jeremiah. In chapter 38 verse 6 of the book of jeremiah. We learned what they did to him when he preached the truth.

They took jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of malachi the king's son. Which was in the court of the guard? Letting jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern. But only mud. And jeremiah sank in the mud.

That's what he gets for telling the truth. He proclaims the truth and the people did not want to hear it. And so they threw him in an old cistern where there was no water. But just mud and he sank down in the mud kept in prison rejected by the people.

Jeremiah was a prophet. And he told the truth. But nobody wanted to hear it. So it is in our day. The world that we have inherited from our forefathers Has been influenced by truth. Even an atheist historian named tom holland Agrees with that statement.

Now when I say tom holland don't think spider-man. That's a different tom holland. This is a historian. He's an atheist. But even he acknowledges That the world that we have inherited Came from the truth of christianity.

And he compares that with what we value in our generation. Speaking of the roman empire and the barbarism of those days. He compares that with what we value in our generation. While studying the ancient world tom holland Writes that the ancients were cruel.

Their values were utterly foreign to him. The spartans Routinely murdered imperfect children. The bodies of slaves were treated like outlets for the physical pleasure of those with power. Infanticide was common.

The poor and the weak had no rights. How do we get from there to here. It was christianity. Holland writes christianity revolutionized sex and marriage. Demanding that men control themselves. And prohibiting all forms of rape.

Christianity confined sexuality within monogamy. It is ironic that these are now the very standards for which christianity is derided. Christianity elevated women. In short christianity utterly transformed.

The world.

Isn't it interesting that even an atheist historian can look back on history and see the christian truth. Bearing fruit over time and how it changed the world. The most famous sentence in the declaration of independence comes from these christian values.

It was the scottish presbyterians influenced by john knox and his descendant john witherspoon In crafting and working with thomas jefferson Who crafted a statement of liberty and equality? Where do the values of liberty? and equality come from.

They come from the christian scriptures. The liberation of those who become free in christ individuals made in the image of god and free before their maker inalienable rights these come from god. And the idea of equality it was the christianity.

Of those who bound up the broken-hearted. Who welcomed the leper? A jesus who taught women as he did men. The first to the grave were women. And the status of women were elevated through the introduction of christianity into the world.

Equality is a christian value. And so the declaration of independence says this. We hold these truths to be self-evident. It was self-evident because the people of the colonies in america.

Were.

By and large christian. That all men are created equal. There's that equality. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights. That among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Notice that the essence of this declaration Is that there is a god and he has endowed people with individual rights life liberty the pursuit of happiness. And the fruit of this teaching. Produced the greatest nation on earth for a time.

The fruit of life liberty the pursuit of happiness. Christian characteristics equality and liberty. But notice these were endowed by the creator endowed by the creator. What happens church. When god himself is kicked out of the equation.

Well, there will be cultural capital that remains from the christianity of this nation. There will still be a value of liberty and a value of equality, but divested from god the new doctrine that came from the christian west solidified of course by karl marx but then Perpetuated by those that are called the left you ever ask.

What is leftism? We see the effect of the left in the world. But what is leftism? It is this value of freedom and equality divested from god. Listen it is absolute freedom absolute freedom. That not even god can dictate anything to me.

The idea that even my gender my sex Is a matter of my own choosing freedom or liberty not just From government and the big government imposing on the individual but freedom from god himself. It is an absolute autonomy.

To do whatever a person sees fit. It is a forced egalitarianism. That rather than seeing equality as the image of god in all people that all people must be made equal in outcome leftism is forced equality absolute freedom.

And the vision of the left is that if you do these two things it will yield utopia. It's always just around the corner. But what is the principle of truth that we are discussing? Time and truth walk hand in hand.

The fruit Of the leftist worldview has been tried in history. It was tried in the ussr. It was tried in cambodia. It was tried in china. It was tried in venezuela everywhere that it was tried it resulted in human suffering as the world had never seen before.

And church this leftist worldview is being tried, but it's not all that new in america. It's hanging on for dear life in america. I remember growing up in the 1980s. And I saw the worldview of the left creeping in to my own family.

There was one who was influenced by a university professor to believe in this radical egalitarianism that there's not distinction Between men and women in roles and she decided to become a pastor and therefore my criticism in the public Matches the public nature of her outward ministry to the world this person Who I dearly love and I care for a relative of mine.

Became a pastor of a church in indiana. And as this worldview got deeper and deeper in her running a church. Doing her thing. She felt in herself attraction for women sexual desire for women. And the leftist worldview said that she needed to be true to herself.

Yes. She had young children children approaching adolescence. Yes she had Children that depended on her to be the mother to guard the home. The the woman is to be inward facing In the home and the man is to be outward facing to the frontier to go out and conquer in the name of jesus.

The woman is to be The to rule the roost in a sense to care and watch over the children. But instead she moved to florida leaving her children behind. And she pastored there for a time. And you see this began in the 1980s.

I remember seeing the the interaction with my mother who loved the word of god and believed what it says and said Yes, this is what god says. We value freedom. We value equality, but god Speaks the truth and I remember how these things blew up.

And the pain it caused and the difference of opinion, but church truth truth walks hand in hand with time. And truth always bears fruit in time and you can see the track record of where leftist thinking goes and sadly The heartbreaking story ends that the daughter that was left behind begins to get into drugs.

And this year I was there to watch her buried my cousin. As she followed a path That was set in motion by that abandonment church what the world is telling you. And what is being preached and trumpeted Has been tried since the 1960s.

It was the sexual revolution at that time. And it's been attempted now for 50 plus years. And I wish I could tell you that this anecdotal story of mine is only an anecdotal story. But look around at the culture what you are seeing is that where there is an abandonment of god's design for the family god's truth.

You see families everywhere in chaos.

Divorce.

Rampant drug use everywhere. Suicide. Who could think of it? Everywhere. And it seems that the very foundation of america is crumbling. It is.

It is.

Because this is a truth war. There is a leftist vision that is not built on truth. It is built on Sand and it will crumble under the storm and it does again and again and again and when will the world see.

The Spirit of Truth, the Trinity, and the Inspiration of Scripture

And who will tell the world? Turn with me to john 16 verses 12 to 15 john 16 Brings us right back to the spirit of truth. From john 13 through john 17. We have this section of scripture. The 17th chapter is a high priestly prayer it is the holy of holies.

John 13 to 16 is also the holy place. Where jesus with his disciples is training him in the deep things training them in the deep things of god. In chapter 14 verses 26 and even earlier than that verse 16 the spirit of truth is introduced.

He is called the spirit of truth. In verse 26 of the 14th chapter He will teach us. At the end of chapter 15 he is again introduced as the spirit of truth. And here today in verse 13. I want your eyes to see the spirit of truth the holy spirit.

Is the spirit of truth? Yes, he is the spirit of love and joy and peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness self-control, but when jesus introduces him here He is called the spirit of truth. We are in a truth war.

There are competing visions of reality. It even seems in our country right now that People are looking at entirely different realities. It's so divided what is the difference. The difference is between those who have the spirit of truth.

And therefore eyes to see all the truth. And those who are still blinded in the dark and cannot see. That's why the difference is so stark because it's the difference between light and dark. Day and night.

The spirit of truth by which you see reality as it is versus a deception a blinding of second corinthians 4 4. By the god of this age, so let's read the passage and understand. What's happening here. Jesus is telling the disciples what they will need.

Previously in the first 11 verses. He's spoken how the spirit will bring salvation. How so by convicting the world of sin righteousness and judgment? The spirit will convict of sin. That means bringing a heaviness and a burden over the weight of sin a knowledge of what coming disaster awaits.

What jeremiah preached to jerusalem they didn't want to believe. And in our culture today. Nobody wants to believe that god would be so harsh so judgmental. As to send people to hell but babies staggered in the streets.

Consider not only the kindness but also the severity of god. The spirit convicts of sin. He also convicts of righteousness that there is a righteous one and only one. It's none of us here. We're not the high and mighty ones.

We have clay feet. We stumble and we fall and each one of us falls into sin, but there's one just one. What's his name? Jesus the only righteous. And he alone has conquered and lived obediently. And died the death that we deserve and rose from the dead.

And because he went back to his father. He tells us in the text. Therefore the spirit now convicts of righteousness. That you can be made righteous. The righteousness of christ is credited to those of you who believe in jesus.

This is salvation, this is good news. And he convicts of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Satan No longer has the keys. He does not dominate. He has no dominion over the world. Christ is king.

Having died and risen. He now is seated at the right hand of the father from where he reigns in righteousness. So there's one king of the world and it isn't satan. And the spirit now is in those of us who believe.

So where we pick up here. We're going to read it finally. Verses 12 to 16. To 15. Actually I knew we only had four verses so I could go a little longer on the introduction. Verses 12 to 15 Is about progressing in the faith.

You have the truth when you have christ. If you know him you're saved. But the spirit also brings us and guides us into all truth. I still have many things to say to you. But you cannot bear them now.

When the spirit of truth comes He will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me. For he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the father has is mine. Therefore I said that he will take what is mine. And declare it to you. Only those with ears to hear.

Can make any sense of what you just read. It is trinitarian. What a radical thing. That god exists as father son and holy spirit. Three persons in one being nothing that mankind could have devised. In that way.

It's like the cross who would have designed. That the most horrifying instrument of torture and death would be worn around our necks. As a symbol of victory over death and the grave. This is a radical passage about god as trinity.

And this is the source of truth the spirit of truth. Notice it is not it is not human wisdom. Truth does not go to those who are smartest in the room. Many of you are saying to yourself. Well, that's good news.

And others are saying oh, man. See according to verse 12 Jesus is with his disciples that he hand-picked but they don't have the resources in themselves. Do you see this? I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

Human frailty. Limits what we are able to receive from god. We very often don't know the truth. Because of our own human frailty. What is it in the text here? What has them stifled? Limited. In this case, it's sorrow.

Their expectations of the coming kingdom and of the messiah have been dashed. He just told them that he's going to leave them. And so he is trying to set this in perspective for them that if he goes it's better for them.

Because he'll send the holy spirit, but they don't understand these things yet. They're so sorrowful that he's leaving them. That they can't take anymore. You ever gotten to that place in life. Where you wish you could just listen to another sermon.

But I just can't hear anymore right now. Why are you laughing. Is that where you're at right now. Okay, we're done you guys know. Sometimes it's our human frailty. Very often it's sorrow depression anxiety things like that as was the case with the disciples.

But I think even more often in our culture because we're so prosperous due to the inheritance we've received. We have so much that the thing the frailty that keeps us from pressing deeper into the truth is amusement.

Entertainment. It's that iphone. That has you distracted as you're scrolling through facebook or instagram or whatever the newest app is. What does the word amuse mean? Oh, somebody knows good job, bro.

It means not think because to muse Means to contemplate right to think. You're musing you're contemplating and a negates the musing. So when you're being amused, you're just not thinking. That's why you're watching sports you can just check out and just enjoy them doing all the work.

That's why on your phone when you're just scrolling somebody else put that there and it will entertain you it will amuse you. But see that's your frailty. And there is a place for checking out. You know, you can have some entertainment.

We're not legalist fundamentalists in that way, right? Not all entertainment is bad. But there's a place for it and what's happened in our culture is we've been inundated by amusement and entertainment.

And so we have very little room for the deep things of god. They had no room at this place. They were maxed out. So where then does this truth come from next verse 13 when the spirit of truth comes? He will guide you into all the truth just as You and your own resources cannot understand the deep things of god.

God knows your need and he has given the spirit. This is why it's better. That jesus has ascended to the right hand of the father. Now the spirit is in the believer to lead you into all truth. Newsflash.

When you got saved you did not arrive. You don't know everything. There are things that I am thoroughly convinced of in this book. That i'm probably wrong about. And if I knew where that point of difference was I would correct my theology.

All of us are prone to stumble all of us need to remain humble before god. Isaiah 66 looks to the one who trembles at his word. That is a posture before the word of god that says you know what I have these traditions that i've been taught my whole life.

There's probably an area where i'm wrong. And i'm going to tremble before this word. This is why i'm going to open it every day because i'm not assuming that i've already got this book mastered. I'm frail.

And I need the spirit of truth and when you go in that posture He leads you into all truth. I in my 23 years of ministry Have seen much to lament Church wars. Differences of opinion. Remember when all the rage was debating whether it was a pre-trib post-trib or mid-trib rapture.

I remember those days and different different kinds of Theological questions come on the scene. Probably the most hurtful thing to me Was about 10 years ago I was part of a church plant Where a vietnamese pastor and myself partnered together to start a church.

And a group of vietnamese young people came with us To preach the gospel in juniata park and we were there proclaiming christ and by grace. We saw many people come to saving faith. But here's the difference of opinion.

The people who owned the building In which we were meeting Believed it was right to keep their ethnic identity Central to that congregation. And so when we had Lighter skinned people i'm pretty pale and darker skinned people.

Hispanic puerto rican all the different ethnicities coming together. Now. We had 100 150 people. And it was the sense of this This mother church that owned the building.

That the church.

Needed to go back to being Vietnamese at the core of their identity and I was looking at acts chapter 10 and Ephesians 3 the tearing down of the dividing walls and all of these things that i'm saying.

This isn't right. Let the lord bring who he brings and see this was a very devastating thing in my life because after Working in our family together working To build this church for two years. In one day the church was taken away.

And my friend who was pastoring alongside of me was fired. And this experiment came to a close in a day. Truth doesn't mind being questioned. There was no one who would debate these things on the point of the word.

But what's the second principle of truth this morning. First truth isn't sensitive. It doesn't mind being questioned. It's resilient it's robust. Truth bears up under any questioning the second principle was what truth and Time walk hand in hand.

What will happen to america? What happened in this vietnamese church? In time truth rises up over error. Just a few weeks ago I got a phone call. That delights me. A young pastor from within that vietnamese church the young people Has been able to pastor effectively for 10 years.

And he's led them out. To establish a church for whoever whosoever will. And he called me up a couple he will speak and he will declare to you. The things that are to come. In the context here. This is referring to the revelation of the new testament.

Things to come here. Don't let that run to dwight pentecost book and think things to come. This is only about eschatology. No at this point in i'm sure that's where your mind went, right? Sorry the point is When it says things to come the new testament has not yet been given.

They have the 39 books of old testament revelation. They're not ready yet to receive the new that will come after pentecost when the holy spirit comes into them. And then by the spirit of truth. They will bring forth this revelation.

Will it come from them? It will come from the spirit in them the holy spirit of truth. So this refers to the inspiration of scripture. Peter will say. Also, no, he'll say no scripture is by any private interpretation.

But men carried along by the spirit spoke from god and paul will say in second timothy 3 16 all scripture is God breathed and profitable for training for rebuke and training correction and righteousness, right?

So to be god breathed means it's spirit breathed. The spirit working through them will bring forth the new testament. I said there are two things you need to understand about that. That's the first. The first is.

This book is from god. Every word in the scripture. Is reliable time tested proven? Based on the evidence of history and every objective measure. This book is true. The second point is that we still need the holy spirit to illuminate the meaning of this text to us.

Many people come to the text bringing in presuppositions traditions. Their own desire of the way they want it to be and they don't allow the author to speak for himself. This doctrine of illumination refers to the work of the holy spirit to teach us all righteousness all truth.

In the scripture, so it says here he will not speak on his own authority. So the holy spirit's not going rogue. Bringing something new. He's saying what god said in the old testament. The father spoke.

He's taking what god says. He is god. There's no discord here, but whatever he hears he will speak. He's in perfect agreement with the son and the father and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

The new testament is perfectly in keeping with the old. Now there's fulfillment and we'll get into that one day. But notice the spirit inspires the scripture. That's revelation and he illuminates it to us that we would rightly divide the word of truth.

So when you go to study the bible, do you pray for help? That's why the spirit is in you you need to ask him lord illuminate this to me later i'd like for you to go read first corinthians chapter 2. And it's about the spirit's teaching ministry to help you rightly divide and understand the word.

He teaches you the deep things of god. Lastly in verses 14 and 15. I want you to see the trinitarian nature of this passage. Truth is downstream. From believing in the trinity. I like listening to conservative talk radio as i'm sure many of you do.

Ben shapiro is great. About many of the things that he says when he is in keeping with what the text says and what general Revelation is found by logic. That's great. But he rejects the prophecies of jesus that are written in the old testament.

Dennis prager is another great one in defending conservative causes and yet he wrote the rational bible. And misses every prophecy of jesus written therein and he takes the commandments of god. Waters them down to justify himself.

And recently he got in a controversy for saying that pornography is an awful permitting that. Disagreeing with jesus very clearly saying jesus says that if a man even looks at a woman with lust in his heart.

He's violating the deeper meaning of thou shalt not commit adultery. But prager makes room for that so as to justify.

Sin.

Because what the law actually does Is shut every mouth before god. It's a mirror that you look into and it shows you how sinful you are that you would turn to the savior. Jesus christ. My point of bringing this up is because if you don't have the spirit of truth, which is trinitarian.

You will be led into all manner of error. That's what he's saying here in verse 14 and 15. He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Notice the trinity here follow the pronouns.

He will glorify me. Who's the he who's the me? The spirit Will glorify the son. Why should the son be glorified unless he's god? Anybody who doubts the trinity should go to this verse and be taught of god.

I don't know a stronger way that jesus could declare That he is god equal with the father then verse 15 where he says all that the father has is mine. That's why he deserves to be glorified with the spirit and the father.