Matthew 6:9-13 - After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

 

The Sermon for This Week is: What Is Truth? - John 18:37-38 - Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

1. When Jesus appeared before Pilate, the subject of truth was discussed...

a. Jesus claimed to bear witness to the truth – John 18:37 - Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

b. Pilate raised the perennial question: “What is truth?” - John 18:38 - Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

 

2. Today, many people sound a lot like Pilate...

a. Barna Research Group’s survey on what Americans believe asked the question, “Is there absolute Truth?”...

1) Sixty-six percent of adults responded that they believe that “there is no such thing as absolute truth; different people can define truth in conflicting ways and still be correct”

2) Seventy-two percent of those aged 18 to 25 expressed this belief

b. In a series of more than twenty interviews conducted at random at a large university, people were asked if there was such a thing as absolute truth - truth that is true across all times and cultures for all people. All but one respondent answered along these lines:

1) “Truth is whatever you believe”

2) “There is no absolute truth”

3) “If there were such a thing as absolute truth, how could we know what it is?”

4) “People who believe in absolute truth are dangerous”

 

-- Info from http://www.christianity.co.nz/truth1.htm

 

[What is the Christian perspective regarding truth? Is truth whatever you believe? Can we know what is absolute truth? Let’s first summarize two basic views regarding truth...]

 

I. TWO VIEWS OF TRUTH

 

A. TRUTH CORRESPONDS TO REALITY...

 

1. Commonly called the “correspondence view” of truth

 

2. A statement is true if and only if it corresponds to or agrees with factual reality

 

3. This view presupposes a law of logic called the law of bivalence

a. Any unambiguous, declarative statement must be either true or false

b. It cannot be neither true nor false; nor can it be both true and false

c. E.g., the statement “I am standing in front of you”...

1) Is true only if, in fact, I am standing here in front of you

2) Must be either true or false, it cannot be both true and false

 

4. The correspondence view of truth holds that propositional or declarative statements are subject to verification and falsification

a. A statement can be proven false if it can be shown to disagree with objective reality

b. E.g., the statement “The world is flat”...

1) Is either true or false, it cannot be both

2) Photographs from space have falsified flat-earth claims

 

-- This view of truth was held by the vast majority of philosophers and theologians throughout history until recently

 

B. TRUTH IS RELATIVE, NOT ABSOLUTE...

 

1. Commonly called the “relativistic view” of truth

a. What is true depends on the views of persons or cultures

b. Not on whether statements correspond to objective reality

 

2 For a statement to be true simply means that a person or culture to believes it to be true; people with this view of truth say things like:

a. “Well, if that's true for you...”

b. “We can't judge other cultures”

 

3. Poet Steve Turner wrote a parody of this attitude and called it “Creed”. In part he said:

I believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.

Reality will adapt accordingly.

The universe will readjust. History will alter.

I believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

 

4 When truth is deemed dependent upon the person or culture holding the belief, anything can become “true”; for example...

a. One person can say “Jesus is Lord” and another can say “Allah is Lord”

b. Both statements will be true, if they accurately express the sentiments of the speakers

c. This view seems to advance tolerance and civility, but it does so at the expense of logic

d. The very definition of “Lord” precludes the possibility they are both “Lord”

 

5. Those who say there is no absolute truth make decisions every day based things they believe are true or false; for example...

a. They turn on a light believing in the reality of electricity

b. They drive a car believing in the effectiveness of the engine

c. No one flying would want to be directed by a navigator who did not believe in the truth of his instruments

d. No one undergoing brain surgery would want to be operated on by a surgeon who did

not believe that some things about the brain were true and some not true

 

6. If there are no absolutes, there is no right and wrong

a. I can kill you, steal from you, lie to you, and you can’t say it is wrong

b. Because if I believe I should do such things, and succeed, then it works for me and it has become my personal truth (and who are you to judge me?)

c. “In the absence of truth, power is the only game in town.” - Richard John Neuhaus

 

-- Despite its absurdity, this view of truth has become the darling of all who want to be free to “do their own thing”

 

[Christians have historically affirmed the “correspondence view” of truth. For good reasons, because it is consistent with...]

 

II. THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF TRUTH

 

A. BIBLICAL WORDS FOR TRUTH...

 

1. True (alethes) - “unconcealed, manifest...actual, true to fact” - Vine

 

2. True (alethinos) - “denotes ‘true’ in the sense of ‘real, ideal, genuine;’” - ibid.

 

3. Truth (aletheia)

a. “objectively, signifying ‘the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter’ (Cremer)” - ibid.

b. “subjectively, ‘truthfulness,’ ‘truth,’ not merely verbal, but sincerity and integrity of character” - ibid.

 

-- When the Bible speaks of truth, it describes that which corresponds to reality, what is factual and absolute, not relative

 

B. BIBLICAL STATEMENTS REGARDING TRUTH...

 

1. God is a God of truth - Deuteronomy 32:4 - He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

 

2. Jesus is the truth, and full of truth, and spoke the truth - John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - John 1:14 - And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. - John 8:45 - And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

 

3. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and guided the apostles into all the truth - John 14:17 - Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. - John 16:13 - Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

 

4. The Word of God is truth - John 17:17 - Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

 

5. The judgments of God are according to truth - Psalms 96:13 - Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth. - Romans 2:2 - But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

 

6. Christians should walk in the truth as revealed by Jesus, including the standard of morality He taught - cf. Ephesians 4:17-32 - This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. -

Ephesians 5:1-17 - Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

 

7. Christians should patiently teach others the truth - cf. 2 Timothy 2:23-26 - But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

 

8. Many will turn their ears away from the truth - cf. 2 Timothy 4:1-4 - I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

 

-- Much more could be said, as the Bible reveals so much about what is truth

 

CONCLUSION

 

1. What is truth...?

a. Truth is what is real

b. God is real, and reveals what is real

c. God is truth, and what He says is the truth

 

2. Call yourself what you may, but you cannot be a Christian unless...

a. You hold the correspondence view of truth

b. You believe in moral absolutes of right and wrong

c. You accept Jesus and His Word as the ultimate source of truth, especially in regards to morality and salvation

 

For those willing to accept Jesus as the ultimate source of truth, they will be greatly blessed... - cf. John 8:31-36 - Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

 

Prayer: Mark 16:15-16 - And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. - Lord I truly thank You for giving the opportunity to present these words to my brethrens. I pray that You will keep them in Your blessings and accept them into Your heart - this  I pray in the name of Thy Son, Jesus, the Messiah, Your only begotten son which Ye sent to save mankind from themselves. Amen

 

Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. - Ephesians 6:23-24

 

This sermon is in the Public Domain - Free for all to use with the only requirement: That it never be used for profit.