The Value of Truth

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Well as many of you know I've been talking about this for a while we are beginning tonight to go through the little letters this is our study of 2nd John 3rd John Jude and Philemon now two weeks ago.
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I gave a Lesson on the authorship of those books I on the dating of those books and the Overall theme of those books, and I said my plan was to spend several weeks Going through each book and now that Andy and I are rotating it'll be a little bit longer But it probably will be something that will take us at least through Christmas and beyond because it's going to take tonight at least one night to get through 2nd John and Depending on how tonight's lesson goes it may take two weeks And then of course 3rd John Jude is going to take several weeks, and then Philemon at least a week or two so tonight we're going to be And also I have I have screens that are going to go with these lessons These are I've been using these with the Academy and they've been helpful and people taking notes and also kind of just bringing the lesson together and and and even though it's it's not a necessity that I do these I think it's nice to have a Visual aid sometimes we we hear things and we remember sometimes if we have something to connect to what we see in here It's it's just more more memory and more things that will stick with us and So tonight the title of the lesson is the little book about truth Because when you look at 2nd John 2nd John much like 1st John focuses on the subject of Truth and I want to begin with an important question And this is not a question for you to necessarily answer out loud, but I do want you to in your mind Think about the question.
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What is? truth What does it mean when I ask the question or when you hear someone say what is? truth We're all familiar with the fact that that was a question that was asked to Jesus by pilot when Jesus said I came to bear Witness to the truth pilot scoffed at him and he said truth.
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What is truth as if to indicate that even in the time of pilot even in the time of Christ the very idea of truth was something that was considered to be either unknowable or Irrelevant earlier this year.
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I was teaching through a series in the Academy on apologetics Apologetics is defending the faith and Jackie was part of that class And I think maybe you and Cindy were part of that class and we did the apologetics class and we did dr.
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Frames book Dr.
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Frames book was very heady dealt with a lot of philosophical issues and One of the things that talked about was the definition of truth.
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How do you define truth? So I remember I was driving with Jennifer in the car We had gone to Yulee for some reason for so we're coming down 200 and I remember right where we are It's funny how your mind connects things I remember where I was in the car when I turned to my wife and I was I was trying to get her to answer this question in a philosophical way and I said baby if I said to you what is truth? what would be your answer and She said Jesus and I and I of course was not going to argue With my wife who at that moment was being a tremendous theologian because she was right But I did say as true as that is that's not the answer that I'm asking.
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I'm asking what is truth and she said Jesus Like Like she wasn't having it She wasn't gonna so so the conversation sort of broke down at that point and I had to said I'm asking you for a definition I Know Jesus is truth.
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He said it.
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He said I am the way the truth and the life But when I asked the question, what is truth? I'm asking what does the word mean? What is the concept? What is Jesus saying when he says I am truth right because that word has a meaning and so that's really the the the question I was trying to dig down into and That's what I was trying to get across to the class The apologetics class was really the the heart and soul of the question of what do we mean when we say something? It's true What do we mean when we say something is the truth? And there's something that many of you may have heard of before how many of you've ever heard of the correspondence theory of truth Okay, this is a philosophical Approach to the concept of truth and it is this Truth and it's on the thing here truth is what corresponds to reality so if I say Jesus is Lord and Jesus is Lord in reality, then that statement is true But if I say Jesus is Lord and Jesus is not Lord Then what I've said is false that that's the idea of the correspondence theory.
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It corresponds to what is true It corresponds to what is real and it's circular.
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I know what you're thinking Michael because you're a good, you know You're a student of philosophy.
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You're thinking that's a certain argument It is and that was my point in the my point in the apologetics class was that in a sense all Arguments break down to a certain form of circularity because when we say what is true that what is truth that which is true? Well, how do you define truth by what is true? It sort of becomes a circular argument at that point, but but I think Paul makes a good point in this regard When he says in first Corinthians 15 this and I want you to think of these words listen to the Apostle Paul as I read this First Corinthians 15 14 says and if Christ has not been raised Then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testify about God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise If it is true that the dead are not raised You see what Paul's doing there.
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He's using the correspondence theory argument.
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He's saying if Christ didn't really rise Then resurrections not true, but if he did really rise then resurrection is true Truth is what corresponds to what is real? Paul says if it's not real, there's no reason to believe it if Jesus didn't really rise Then our faith is in vain Do you get that that's the point if it didn't really happen if it's not true Then it's not worth believing If I said this I think you would all agree with me much of what people say Today does not correspond to reality You agree? Much of what people say does not correspond to reality.
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In fact, we live in a world where people like to use the phrase My truth you ever heard somebody say that What does somebody mean when they say my truth? They mean it doesn't have to be true for you Gary It doesn't have to be true for you Ron and Wilma as long as it's my truth That's all that matters as long as I'm living my truth You don't have anything to say about it and really is it's just an exaggerated form of what we call relativism My truth is true because it's true to me and we live in a world Where it is hard to know what is true because so much of what is said is based on fantasy falsehood and fakery and I didn't just For some reason that came to me in an alliterated form.
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I'm not you know, I wasn't trying to be necessarily creative But it really is think about how many people live in a fantasy world men think that they're women women think that they're men People think that they're dogs and cats.
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There are people who believe that they're animals and They wear animal clothes and they they go around eating out of dog bowls These are this is true stuff.
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These people live in a fantasy world or they live in a world of falsehood How many people's lives are just all about? Deception as I said on Sunday, I think it was this past Sunday when I mentioned at one point in my life I was a car salesman My whole life was based around trying to get somebody to do something whether it was the best for them or not Because what was most important is whether or not they bought that car now I'm not saying every car salesman is living in deception, but there's a certain amount of deception that is almost inherent It's almost inherent in the job because they they they have to sell by whatever means Really is necessary and then the idea of fakery.
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I mean don't we live in the world of fake news We live in the world where you can't trust Hardly anything and you know, what's funny is is we still have a pretty high In our in America, we still have a pretty high Population of people who trust what they see on the evening news or they trust what they see on the television news and my wife You know She worked with students from China for three years and one of the things that she learned while talking to the parents of those Chinese Students was that when they heard that people over here watch the news and believe it.
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They thought that was funny Because all they get is propaganda and they know it all they get and they and but they were like that's all you're getting to But you just don't realize it.
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You don't realize that.
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It's all propaganda.
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It's all fake and and and yeah So we live in a world of fantasy falsehood and fakery and John is going to tell us About the importance of the truth.
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That's what this little book is about This little book 13 verses is about the importance of the truth and I want you to think about Paul's example I have the picture of the belt here.
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What is the of the armor of God? What is the belt? It's the belt of truth Why do you think when Paul talks about the helmet of Salvation and the breastplate of righteousness in the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit Why do you think that he equates truth to a belt? Because a belt is what holds everything together truth is what holds everything together without the truth everything falls apart if And again, I go back to Paul in first Corinthians 15 if what we have believed is not true We are of all people the most to be pitied Because we've believed a lie There is no virtue in believing a lie Hear that again.
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There is no virtue in believing a lie if What we believe and what we teach is not grounded in the truth If it is not the truth, then we are at best confused and we are at worst deceived My podcast this week I'm going to be talking about a recent worship service that happened where Kanye West hosted a worship service where Justin Bieber sang and Marilyn Manson prayed Now if you are familiar with those three people they have something in common more than just bad music That was a good joke, but okay what they have in common is They gathered together to worship and none of them Have any idea what it means to worship the true God at least based on what they're doing And that's sad They are as I said, they're at best confused or at worst deceived So tonight's outline here's the outline of the book.
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It's only 13 verses So it's a two-part lesson and as I said, I make it I think I'm gonna probably be able to get through the whole thing since Since I have your rapt attention.
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We'll try to get through the whole thing at least I like the idea of making it through one whole book in one lesson Because we'll be able to see the idea that John's giving us in this book If we start at verse 1 and go all the way to verse 13, and that's why I like the little letters Because there's a cohesion that we're going to find and what we're going to do It's it's really not going to be that hard I'm going to put the verses on the screen so you can see them you have your own Bible and we're just going to walk Through the text and we're going to talk about the value of truth, which is verses 1 to 6 And then we're going to look at the danger of deception verses 7 to 13 So let's look first at the value of truth Read with me if you will we're going to read verses 1 to 3 the elder to the elect lady and her children whom I love in truth and not only I But also all who know the truth Because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever grace mercy and peace Be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father Son and truth and love I rejoice Greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth Just as we were commanded by the Father notice in five or four verses that we just read the word truth is used five times if You are in my hum a hermeneutics class right now.
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I know Ron and Wilma are there we talked about the importance of repetition when you see a word that repeats itself in the text and especially in a short amount of space that word should key to you that this is a theme or this is a focal point for the writer and So when I say this little book is all about truth It's not because I came up with that in any type of creative way It just so happens that the text says it so obviously to us that it's about the truth And again, I don't have a marker I could go up underline the truth truth truth truth truth is the focus of the book it begins the elder Now we talked last class that the elder there would be John But isn't it interesting that he identifies himself as the elder rather than the Apostle and I think that there is a reason for that and again That's this this will come down to somewhat of an opinion because it doesn't he doesn't tell us why so therefore I have to at least share with you why I think and you can take that and and and you know Understand it is in whatever way if you think it's just my opinion, and I'm wrong.
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That's fine I'm not I'm not claiming this to be divine revelation but I do believe that by this point in the church's history we begin to see the Apostles functioning as pastors Because that's what the word presbyteros is the Greek word here is presbyteros It's where the Presbyterian Church gets its name because the Presbyterian Church has always been an elder governed church and therefore the idea of Presbyterian government or presbyteros That idea is where that word comes from and you'll remember last Sunday or two Sundays ago.
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I talked about that elder Is the same as pastor, but it's not the same word.
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There is a word for pastor there is a word for elder and there's an there's a different word for Bishop or Overseer and that is the word Episcopal and that's where the word Episcopal Church comes from But all three of those words are used interchangeably in the scripture for the same office John is an apostle, but he's also a pastor and he has we're going to see at the end of the letter He has the heart of a pastor he is a Pastor a shepherd in the church and so was Peter Peter identifies himself In the same way in his letters, so it's interesting that the Apostles not not Claiming that title but rather the title that they see is fitting in the church the title of Pastor and he says the pastor to the elect lady now while we know with confidence who the elder is We do not know with confidence who the elect lady is and there is a lot of debate About who it is that John is referring to in this passage and I'll give you a couple of options for you to consider the first option is that he could be referring to an Actual woman that he does not want to name and you say well, why would he not want to name her? Well, he didn't name himself either He calls himself the elder and he calls her the elect lady And if so, it could be that he is not using names For the sake of safety.
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This is a time in church history where the church is Under persecution and therefore for the safety of this person it could be that he is saying to the elect lady But there is also a very good chance That he is referring to the church when he says the elect lady because the elect lady is The Bride of Christ and he could be referring to a specific church now again Where you end up on this will not change how you interpret the letter But let me give you a few thoughts about why you might think one way or another well in this Passage he calls her the elect lady and then just a few verses down in verse 5 He calls her dear lady.
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And then at the end of the book he talks about her elect sister And so that seems to me at least to indicate that it may be an individual But as brother Andy pointed out in his lesson last week We certainly could see this as referring to the church as he talked about the lady He was in the Proverbs and he was talking about the mother being a symbol of the church and a picture of the church, you know, the church being the Bride of Christ and Certainly the elect lady could refer to the church, but then you have the question of well Okay, the elect lady and her children who are the children and then later it talks about some of her children are walking in truth Which would mean what what what's the what's the extrapolation from that if some of them are walking in truth? What does that mean? Some of them aren't So is this referring to believers who some of them are in the faith or some are out of the faith? Or is this talking about a lady who literally some of her children are believers and some of her children are not so all of These are our things that I'm not going to be dogmatic on how we interpret it But this is one of the questions that's raised and because it is such a short letter and there's not a lot of context given We were able to sort of come away and maybe disagree a little bit or differ a little bit and and yet still see that the Whoever this lady is whoever is getting this letter whether it's an individual lady Maybe she has a church in her house, or maybe it is an actual church and and I've heard people dogmatic on both sides It's funny when I listen to people preach they take one side or the other and they're so dogmatic One guy said it has to be the church another guy said it has to be an individual and it's like, you know at the end Of the day what we're going to see what he writes to her does apply to all believers So in that sense as I said, it certainly could be the general a general message to the whole church But notice what he says he says to the elect lady and her children whom I love in truth And not only I but also who know the truth Because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.
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I want to Mention this I'm going to show you a quote.
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This is David Guzik.
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He wrote a really good online Commentary I wanted to mention him by name so that you're able to see this This is I think it's called the enduring word commentary.
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But if you if you are If you're like me and you tend to find yourself looking online for good resources This is a this is a man He's a pastor and he's written a lot of good things And this is one of the things that he says he says the truth will be true forever and you know I heard that and I was like that's really an interesting thought the truth is always going to be true The truth is going to be true forever and we will have the truth forever in eternity.
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It's never going to stop being true Many people today think that truth changes from age to age ever heard somebody say that well, it's this was that was true back then But it's not true anymore.
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No, the truth is always true and From generation to generation, but the Bible knows that the truth will be with us forever And what he's what he's talking about He's talking about that verse that we just read going back the verse that we just read It says the truth abides in us and will be with us forever.
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I just love that.
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I think that's an important Concept that we can draw out of that And he goes on verse 3 grace mercy and peace Be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son in truth and love Understand this truth is both a principle and a person Earlier we talked about Jesus is the truth, but then we said well, how do we define truth truth is what is real? Well truth is both principle and person Jesus said I came to bear witness about the truth John 1837 later.
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He said I am the truth John 146 and if we know Jesus we know the truth.
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That is a powerful statement Andy has said this before and I think it's true He says even the wisest man in the world who doesn't know Jesus is not as wise as a child who does And I think I'm saying it not exactly how he said it But basically that a child who knows Jesus Christ in that sense is wiser than the most intelligent man who doesn't Because Jesus is the truth and that's a truth that you cannot dispense with knowing he says grace mercy and peace be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son in truth and love I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth Just as we were commanded by the Father now I've already mentioned that I think that by him saying some of your children I think there's an indication that some of them weren't But he says I have rejoiced that I found some of your children Walking in the truth if you look through the Bible You will notice that when it comes to our particular Expression of faith.
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It's almost always referred to in some way as a walk our walk of faith and a walk of faith is Walking in the truth.
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In fact open your Bibles very quickly and just turn back to Psalm verse chapter 1 verse 1 in the book of Psalms it begins with the word blessed and It tells us about the blessed man and it talks about his walk Notice what it says It says blessed is the man Who walks not in? the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers So we look at that verse and it's saying the walk of a man says something about that man how that man Behaves in his life where he sits where he stands how he walks says something about him And the writer of the psalm is saying blessed is the man who does not walk in the way of the wicked Who does not sit? Who does not stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers? And then we go back to John here and in verse 4 He says I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth Now if this is about a lady If this is about a woman with children if this is a personal correspondence I can say from the perspective of a father and everyone here Who is a parent will probably all of you relate? There is no greater joy Than knowing that your children are in the faith and though is there is no greater heartbreak Than to know that your child is not in the faith It's it's a blessing to see a child or a your child Specifically come into the faith and be active in the faith but it's also a heartbreak to know that one of your children is not and Here's the thing that we have to understand.
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None of our children are in the faith just because we are None of our children are birthed into the faith Now we can raise them in the faith and there is a certain sense in which they are sanctified by being in our household But in the same way that an unbelieving husband or wife wouldn't be saved apart from the regeneration work of the Spirit the same way with a child we cannot count on the fact that they were raised in our house as a Absolute that they are going to be saved.
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I've heard people that have denied election because of that They've said to me I can't believe an election Because I can't believe that one of my children may not be saved and I respond to that simply by saying this how is election and Predestination really the issue Because are you thinking? Somehow if election is not true and predestination is not true.
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Maybe you have the power to change their heart Because you don't believe God can or should but you do So I believe in election and predestination that gives me comfort for my children Because I know this they were born into my house for a reason They were born to sit under the Word of God for a reason They were born to sit and come to church every Sunday all of their lives without a choice Some weeks they don't want to come I don't care Because we're going to church nothing Else is more than important than that and if that's all they get from me for 18 years is that there's nothing else more important than the Lord's Day and being together With God's people in the Lord's Day, then that's what they're going to get and they're going to learn That's the way we walk in our house That's the walk we walk And at certain point if if they stray from that walk I'll know that I did all I could do Because I'm not the one who elects and I'm not the one who predestines I'm not the one who converts, but I know this when I look at you and I see your children loving the Lord I rejoice in that when you look at me and you see my children rejoicing or loving the Lord you rejoice in that and that's what John is saying.
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He said I rejoice when I see some of your children walking in the truth not not walking Just in conversion You know like some people would say well little Jimmy, you know He he got converted when he was eight, but he he's not really, you know following Lord.
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No, they're walking in the truth It's a it's a it's a it's a verb.
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It's active.
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It's happening.
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I see them walking in the faith What a blessing that is All right, so we move on now to to verse 5 Continuing on the subject of the value of truth.
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He says and now I ask you dear lady Again if he is speaking to a lady it certainly sounds as if he may be he says not as though I am writing you a new commandment but the one we have had from the beginning that we love one another and This is love that we walk according to his commandments This is the commandment just as you have heard from the beginning so that you should walk in it notice again Is there another word that's coming up more than once? What is it? What is it love and another word walk It came up in verse 4.
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I'm rejoicing to seeing your walk in the truth And now they're walking not only in truth, but they're walking in love, right? They're walking according to his commandments and what we see in verses 5 and 6 is an indispensable Truth that we need to understand there is an absolute connection between God's law and God's love We often miss that connection because when we think about God's law we think about all of the restrictions And I talked to the youth about this last Wednesday And I I'm afraid I may have been a little confusing last Wednesday night because I said in some people's eyes The devil is the hero And a lot of the little kids got really wait a minute.
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What do you say the devil's here? No, I'm saying in some people's eyes He is because in some people's eyes they see the devil's a hero because the devil has no restrictions The devil wants you to go out and fulfill every desire the devil wants you to go out and express yourself in every lustful every sinful every angry every way that you can and You think that the devil loves you, but he isn't he is a roaring lion Seeking whom he may devour because he does not love and that's why there's no restrictions If you met a parent who had no restrictions for their children, what would you say to that parent? Well, but you would say you don't love your child I've heard people say I love my child too much to restrict them.
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No, it's it's you love yourself If there's no restrictions on the children, it's because you love yourself more than you love them You don't want to because it hurts to it hurts to punish a child I don't like I don't I don't get my my jollies by spanking my children.
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It's it's it's not a joy But it's a necessity and when I am Bringing the law to bear on my children I'm trying to help them to understand that the reason for in this and please understand what I'm about to say the reason for daddy's law is because of daddy's love, but Daddy's law is not based on daddy is based on God Hopefully my laws are in keeping with God's laws and the reason for God's law is because of God's love You see understand this truth and love work together Truth without love is brutality But love without truth It's hypocrisy You say why do you say hypocrisy? It's pretend.
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That's what the word hypocrisy means means pretend You cannot love without the truth That's why all this nonsense that we see love is love and it's usually painted with rainbow because you know what's being said No matter how people love or who people love it's love is love no, that's love without truth and it's pretend Love without truth is fake and that's what we see in our world We see people who? Say that they love but they have a fake love Let me tell you something guys.
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There's no such thing as gay marriage It's two reprobates Playing pretend That's all it is And get offended, but that's all it is They're playing house They're pretending John says this is love that we walk according to his that is God's Commandments and this is the commandment just as you've heard from the beginning so that you should walk in it What is the commandment love one another it's he's when he says this is the commandment that word This is the antecedent to that is that we love one another and you you know that that is all over the Bible I mean it's in first John as well First John says this it says and this is his commandment that we believe in the name of the Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he commanded us.
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That's first John 3 23 and John 13 34 says it's a new commandment.
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I give to you that you love one another brother Andy You're doing the one and others have y'all done.
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That was the first one right that you love one another That's the commandment that I give to you that you love one another Walking according to the commandments means that you love one another a couple weeks ago our homeschoolers were doing Doing the Ten Commandments And what we showed and my wife Jennifer taught this to the little ones and I was with the elders But what Jennifer talked about and maybe you little guys maybe you remember the upwards love and sideways love You guys now the older guys we didn't talk about it that way, but the younger guys maybe David Maybe you might remember if we jog your memory a little bit But the upwards love and the sideways love what that what what that is is in the first five Commandments if you go to the Ten Commandments Love what does it have another God's with the Lord? Did not make any idols did I use the Lord's name in vain remember the Sabbath and honor your father and mother Now that last one you could point to sideways love But but for a moment just what we call the first table of the law the first five That's typically about God and our relationship with God God's the one who gave us our father and mother, right? He's the one who put them in our life as our authority and their authority represents his authority, right? That's part of why we are given authority in our house so that we understand the authority of God So the first five commandments are about God's that upward love and the last five do not commit murder Do not commit adultery do not steal do not lie.
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Do not covet.
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That's what's called sideways love.
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That's how we love others That's how we love the people around us It's through those ways and that's why he says that if we're walking according his commandments, that's what love is Can you love somebody While at the same time be abusing them stealing from them lying to them Now you may say I love them but remember love is not Love is not a feeling love is an action.
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Love is a verb it does This is why Jesus said love your enemies I'm never going to feel emotionally attached to my enemies in the way of You know a positive feeling when the people who want to kill me are around me, but I can still do good to them What does Jesus say to do good to those who hate you pray for those who mistreat you? That is love okay, so I Have a choice to make right now.
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I Have a choice To try to do the rest of the book we only got to verse 6 or to how long I've been going I'm going 40 minutes.