WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.840 If you have your Bibles, please turn to John 18:33-38. 00:00:08.860 --> 00:00:09.620 Now reading. 00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:18.580 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of 00:00:18.620 --> 00:00:26.480 the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:28.820 answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:36.760 Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me; what have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom 00:00:36.760 --> 00:00:38.160 is not of this world. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:45.880 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 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:53.100 as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So you 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:57.800 are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:03.560 For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:11.620 Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” And Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” 00:01:12.360 --> 00:01:24.580 And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him." Good 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:26.160 morning again. 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:28.950 Thank you for joining us for church in the park. 00:01:29.740 --> 00:01:30.740 John chapter 18. 00:01:30.800 --> 00:01:37.380 You're probably familiar with it and familiar with the story, but I want to kind of set the stage for what's going on. 00:01:37.380 --> 00:01:44.180 Jesus has been brought before Pontius Pilate because the Jews had already decided what they wanted to happen with him. 00:01:44.660 --> 00:01:50.960 They already had a plan, only their law, the things that they want to do and the way they want to go about it, it's against the law. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:56.540 And so we're going to understand how Pontius Pilate gets involved and how he becomes a part of it. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:01.040 But let's set the stage a little bit for what's gone on to this point. 00:02:01.080 --> 00:02:08.180 Remember that Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane with his followers, with his disciples, and Judas comes and 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:12.000 betrays him in the garden and he's arrested in the garden. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:19.100 He's taken first to Annas and then he's taken to Caiaphas, and it's at that time that the leadership of the 00:02:19.100 --> 00:02:24.090 Jews, the chief priests, get together and they decide this is what's going to happen to Jesus. 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:24.990 We want him to die. 00:02:26.100 --> 00:02:33.180 Caiaphas before that had said, "It's expedient for one man to die instead of for the whole nation to." Meaning that 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:40.360 if Jesus took over, there was a pretty good chance then it was going to mess up all that they had going on with Rome and in their eyes that was good. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:48.670 And so they said, "It's expedient for one man to die." So their decision was one man's going to die and Jesus is going to die. 00:02:48.920 --> 00:02:55.960 And so they come to Pontius Pilate because their law doesn't allow them to put him to death like they'd like 00:02:55.960 --> 00:03:03.980 to, and they come to Pontius Pilate, who is the governor of Judea under Tiberius Caesar. 00:03:03.980 --> 00:03:09.600 I mean, he, Pontius Pilate, he's an important man. 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:10.980 He's the governor of all Judea. 00:03:11.300 --> 00:03:16.470 Everything that goes on in Judea from a Roman perspective is under his rule. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:22.590 He's over the military, he's over all the financial stuff, he's over collecting the taxes. 00:03:22.980 --> 00:03:25.860 Pontius Pilate is over everything in Judea. 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:28.780 And so what he says goes. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.840 He reports directly to Caesar and what he says goes. 00:03:32.860 --> 00:03:39.700 And so they come to Pontius Pilate, and they bring him to the Praetorium, that's the judgment hall of Pontius, of Pilate. 00:03:39.720 --> 00:03:45.350 And they say, "We can't go in there, so we're just going to send Jesus in. 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:49.040 We can't come into the judgment hall because then we'll be defiled. 00:03:49.580 --> 00:03:56.820 And it just happens to be that this coming evening is the start of our Passover, and if we're defiled, we can celebrate the Passover. 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:00.980 And so we're just going to send him in here to the judgment hall to you. 00:04:02.200 --> 00:04:09.320 Pontius Pilate, he says, "Well, I'm going to go out and talk to them." So he goes out and he talks to the Jewish leaders and he says, 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:10.700 "What's Jesus done? 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:19.260 What's he done to deserve you bringing him to me?" And instead of answering the question, they come up with all kinds of stuff. 00:04:20.260 --> 00:04:23.420 They can't come up with an answer for him. 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:29.960 And so he says, "Well fine, you guys take him and judge him by your own law." And as we said, they knew they couldn't do that. 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:33.340 They knew they couldn't take him and judge him by their own law. 00:04:33.900 --> 00:04:40.920 Pontius Pilate goes back inside to the Praetorium, where Jesus is waiting for him, and he and Jesus have this 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:42.270 pretty amazing conversation. 00:04:43.860 --> 00:04:50.340 I think it's good enough to go through it a little bit again, just real quick, and just remind you of what was said. 00:04:50.980 --> 00:04:53.000 Lincoln just read it, but it's good. 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:59.200 And so Pilate comes in and he says, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus asks a funny question. 00:04:59.200 --> 00:05:05.920 He said, "Well, did you decide that on your own, or did somebody else tell you that?" Then Pilate gets kind of crazy. 00:05:05.980 --> 00:05:06.900 He says, "Well, wait a minute. 00:05:06.900 --> 00:05:07.880 I'm not even a Jew. 00:05:08.500 --> 00:05:11.400 Your own nation, your own chief priests have turned you over to me. 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:18.660 What did you do?" And instead of answering, Jesus goes right back to the kingship idea, and he says, "Listen, my kingdom's 00:05:18.660 --> 00:05:19.360 not of this world. 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:22.040 My kingdom's not a part of this world. 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:25.600 If it was, my guys would have fought, my guys would have tried to save me. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:28.280 They would have tried to keep me from getting taken by the Jews. 00:05:29.060 --> 00:05:36.480 But they didn't because my kingdom is not of this realm." And Pilate says, "Well, so you are a king, then." And 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:43.480 Jesus says, "Yeah, you've spoken correctly." He says, "I am a king." He says, "And for this reason I was born 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:50.250 and for this reason I came into the world," he says, "So that I can testify to the truth." And then I think it's pretty amazing. 00:05:50.780 --> 00:05:59.880 And he says, "Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." And then I think it's pretty amazing that a guy like Pontius Pilate says, "What is truth?" You 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:08.020 think about Pontius Pilate, and you think about the power that he had and the understanding that he should have had about a lot of 00:06:08.020 --> 00:06:08.830 different things. 00:06:09.180 --> 00:06:12.900 And you think, "How can a guy like that ask a question like, what is truth? 00:06:14.320 --> 00:06:19.320 How can he really do that?" And you think he's that he reports to Tiberius Caesar. 00:06:19.460 --> 00:06:21.150 He reports to the head guy at Rome. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:24.500 How can he be asking a question like this? 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:29.260 And if we take a minute and look at a little bit of his background, we begin to understand that some. 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:37.200 For instance, this is something that a Phylo, the Jewish philosopher, these are some things that he wrote about 00:06:37.200 --> 00:06:38.300 Pontius Pilate. 00:06:38.880 --> 00:06:46.020 He was talking about his violence, his theft, his assaults, his abusive behavior, his frequent executions of 00:06:46.020 --> 00:06:51.380 untried prisoners and his endless savage ferocity. 00:06:52.700 --> 00:06:55.580 His endless savage ferocity. 00:06:56.300 --> 00:06:57.080 That's crazy. 00:06:57.280 --> 00:06:58.800 How would you like that to be said of you? 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:01.580 Not very pleasant. 00:07:01.580 --> 00:07:07.780 Luke, even chimes in later on about something that a Pilate had done in chapter 13 and verse one. 00:07:08.380 --> 00:07:15.860 It says, "Now, and on the same occasion, there were some present who reported to him," talking about reporting to Jesus, "About the Galileans 00:07:15.860 --> 00:07:20.540 whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices." Wow. 00:07:21.640 --> 00:07:26.740 Pilate had totally disregarded the sacrificial system and the sacrifices. 00:07:27.440 --> 00:07:32.740 Being cruel and doing these kinds of things wasn't even everything that was Pilate's problem. 00:07:33.700 --> 00:07:37.900 Pilate was totally afraid of Caesar and totally afraid of Rome. 00:07:38.320 --> 00:07:44.620 He was constantly running, constantly looking behind him, constantly worried about whether he was going to lose his position. 00:07:45.320 --> 00:07:47.240 And ultimately he did, by the way. 00:07:47.580 --> 00:07:48.240 He did lose it. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:56.840 The reason Pilate even agreed to release Jesus was because they talked about his friendship with Caesar. 00:07:57.280 --> 00:08:04.500 They said in chapter 19, verse 12, the Jews did, "If you release this man, you were no friend of Caesar's." And that's the final straw 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:10.060 that caused Pilate to say, "Okay, take him and crucify him." Otherwise, he wouldn't have because he found no fault in him, remember? 00:08:13.760 --> 00:08:19.620 It's obvious the Pilate didn't really like the Jews at all, and it's just as obvious that the Jews didn't like Pilate at all. 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:23.940 They just needed each other to get the things accomplished that they wanted to get accomplished. 00:08:27.020 --> 00:08:29.370 Pilate did much, though, that was an affront to the Jews. 00:08:29.860 --> 00:08:31.020 Many things. 00:08:31.380 --> 00:08:38.400 As a matter of fact, that's the reason that he had written on Jesus' cross, "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." You 00:08:38.400 --> 00:08:42.520 know, the whole reason that he had that written is that it was intended to be an insult to the Jews. 00:08:43.299 --> 00:08:44.990 It really meant, "This is Jesus. 00:08:45.100 --> 00:08:48.460 Behold your crucified or your criminal king. 00:08:49.940 --> 00:08:52.100 If you're going to call this guy your king, behold him. 00:08:52.100 --> 00:08:55.300 He's your crucified criminal king," they said. 00:08:57.140 --> 00:08:57.780 Pretty amazing. 00:08:58.580 --> 00:08:59.560 Pilate was brutal. 00:09:00.160 --> 00:09:01.490 Pilate was running scared. 00:09:01.520 --> 00:09:03.940 Pilate hated the people he was supposed to be ruling. 00:09:04.420 --> 00:09:11.840 No wonder, when you think of that kind of background, no wonder a guy like Pilate would say, "What is truth?" How do we figure out truth? 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:13.040 What is truth? 00:09:13.760 --> 00:09:19.300 And when you think about it today, I think that statement is really common throughout our world today. 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:23.640 Don't you feel like people are all the time asking lately, what is truth? 00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:31.500 When you think about the modern times that we're in and all of the information that's available, and anybody can put anything out 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:32.560 there and say it's truth. 00:09:33.500 --> 00:09:39.460 Anybody can put anything out there in the waves, out in the media world, and they can say, "This is truth. 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:44.280 I proclaim this to be truth." What do we do? 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:46.470 How do we discern truth? 00:09:47.400 --> 00:09:51.720 How do we sift through everything that's out there, everything that's coming at us 100 miles an hour? 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:59.200 We certainly can't depend on social media and we can't depend on the media itself, on the news media. 00:10:00.180 --> 00:10:02.340 We can't depend on the internet, that's for sure. 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:03.980 Anybody can put anything in the internet. 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:11.660 I mean, we just really have nothing we can depend on unless we're willing to look at truth itself, at God's word. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:15.040 That's the truth that we have. 00:10:15.040 --> 00:10:17.200 That's the only truth that we can stand on. 00:10:17.260 --> 00:10:24.280 That's the only way that we're going to be able to discern what is truth and what isn't truth as it's coming at us 100 00:10:24.280 --> 00:10:27.040 miles an hour is with the truth of God's word. 00:10:29.920 --> 00:10:35.320 Pastor Nathaniel often points out, especially recently, he talks about the book of Psalms being a book of worship. 00:10:36.180 --> 00:10:43.180 And I love Psalm 119 because it's 176 verses of worship of God's word, of God's 00:10:43.180 --> 00:10:43.460 truth. 00:10:44.680 --> 00:10:46.160 Verse 160 says this. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:54.320 It says, "The sum of your word is truth and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting." What 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:55.020 a great verse. 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:56.520 The sum of your word is truth. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:04.620 I like that he uses sum because the entirety, the sum total, everything about your word is true, 00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:04.780 God. 00:11:06.260 --> 00:11:10.940 And not only is God's word true, but the summary message of God's word is truth. 00:11:11.560 --> 00:11:14.260 The definition of truth is found in God's word. 00:11:15.140 --> 00:11:17.390 All you've got to do is look in God's word to find truth. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:22.280 The entire Bible defines truth, and that's good for us. 00:11:22.580 --> 00:11:26.980 As a matter of fact, if we could pick one word to describe the Bible, I'd say it ought to be truth. 00:11:30.540 --> 00:11:37.580 There's many other verses in the book of Psalms that you can go to and you can find verses that are testifying of God's 00:11:37.580 --> 00:11:37.920 truth. 00:11:38.520 --> 00:11:42.860 But the good news is too, is that not just in the psalms do we find all these verses relating to truth. 00:11:43.300 --> 00:11:44.640 we find it throughout the Bible. 00:11:45.160 --> 00:11:53.060 All through the Bible we can find testament of God saying, "My word is truth." One of my favorite is John 17:17. 00:11:53.760 --> 00:11:56.060 Short verse, easy to memorize if you want an easy one. 00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:57.200 It says this. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:58.580 "Sanctify them in the truth. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:06.080 Your word is truth." Sanctify in this verse is really a unique word, and I think 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:13.180 it's helpful to us that it means to consecrate, devote, or set apart from a common to a sacred use. 00:12:14.660 --> 00:12:15.240 Isn't that good? 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:19.720 To set apart from a common to a sacred use. 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:22.440 That's what that word sanctify means. 00:12:23.040 --> 00:12:30.720 Jesus' prayer for his disciples and for us by extension is that we would be consecrated, set 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:35.620 apart from our old common life to a sacred purpose in our lives. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:38.140 That's pretty impressive. 00:12:39.640 --> 00:12:41.030 How does he say that's going to happen? 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:46.320 It's going to happen by the truths of God's word, because your word is truth. 00:12:47.560 --> 00:12:54.660 To help us understand and to catch kind of how serious Jesus is about this and being able to set someone apart from a common 00:12:54.780 --> 00:13:00.020 to a sacred use, he mentions a similar thing about himself in verse 19. 00:13:00.560 --> 00:13:01.180 He says this. 00:13:01.180 --> 00:13:08.320 "For their sakes I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth." Isn't 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:15.540 that unique to think about Jesus came to this common Earth, and he died on the cross for your sins and for my sins and then he returned 00:13:15.540 --> 00:13:16.300 alive to heaven. 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:19.340 That's a pretty sacred purpose, isn't it? 00:13:21.280 --> 00:13:27.760 And also that we would have the opportunity to be able to turn from this common life and have a sacred life, as well, a sacred purpose. 00:13:28.700 --> 00:13:35.740 And by believing in him, by believing in what he's done, and by believing in his truth, having an eternal relationship with him. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:41.860 Listen to several verses that reiterate this point, because I think it's just good and helpful to us. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:46.000 This is Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:54.440 It says, "In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth or the word of truth, the gospel 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:01.600 of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:08.700 a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory." 00:14:09.940 --> 00:14:10.800 What a great verse. 00:14:10.860 --> 00:14:18.040 By listening to the message of truth we understand this eternal relationship that we can have with Jesus. 00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:21.940 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13 says this. 00:14:22.580 --> 00:14:29.740 "For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God, which you heard 00:14:29.740 --> 00:14:36.780 from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, or as it is in 00:14:36.780 --> 00:14:43.880 truth, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." It's really wonderful 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:51.000 to think about the fact that God's word, God's truth works in us, works in us to accomplish what 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:52.980 he wants to accomplish, what he wants done. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.200 James chapter 1 and verse 18 says, "In the exercise of his will," this is really good. 00:14:59.220 --> 00:15:06.240 "In the exercise of his will, he brought us forth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:13.560 first fruits among his creatures." God exercised will to bring each one of us forth in the word of his truth to 00:15:13.560 --> 00:15:13.940 save us. 00:15:15.540 --> 00:15:16.080 It's pretty exciting. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:23.500 You know, Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15 how this whole relationship works and how it was made possible, and I always love 00:15:23.500 --> 00:15:24.200 this verse. 00:15:24.220 --> 00:15:29.300 So it's just good as a reminder to us, but 1 Corinthians 15, I'll start in verse 1. 00:15:30.180 --> 00:15:37.740 He says, "Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:44.580 which also you are saved if you hold fast the word of truth which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 00:15:45.460 --> 00:15:52.680 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to 00:15:52.680 --> 00:15:59.700 the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures." And 00:15:59.700 --> 00:16:02.620 it's just good to know that Paul mentions twice, according to the scriptures. 00:16:03.580 --> 00:16:10.740 That's an important part of what Paul is explaining to us, according to the word of truth, according to the word of God, 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:11.620 Jesus died. 00:16:11.900 --> 00:16:16.220 He was buried and he Rose again on the third day, just as God had planned it in his word all along. 00:16:16.560 --> 00:16:18.080 That's the way God intended it to work. 00:16:18.400 --> 00:16:20.240 That's the way he planned all along. 00:16:20.620 --> 00:16:27.540 So Jesus set himself apart so that we could be set apart by faith into that relationship with him. 00:16:28.880 --> 00:16:30.460 Both now and forever, by the way. 00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:32.420 Both now and through all eternity. 00:16:33.820 --> 00:16:40.960 We mentioned a minute ago that if we could pick a word that describes the whole Bible, we could pick truth, and there's probably 00:16:41.220 --> 00:16:48.300 some of you sitting here this morning thinking, "Well, gee, if I had a chance to pick a word to describe the Bible, it'd be Jesus." And the 00:16:48.300 --> 00:16:50.500 good news is that we're both saying the same thing. 00:16:52.420 --> 00:16:53.580 Jesus is truth. 00:16:54.900 --> 00:16:58.050 Jesus, he's not only the word, he is truth. 00:16:58.540 --> 00:16:59.760 You remember John 1:1. 00:17:00.260 --> 00:17:07.700 "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God." And then you'll remember verse 14 where it says, "And the word became flesh and 00:17:07.700 --> 00:17:10.089 dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. 00:17:10.260 --> 00:17:17.040 The glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth." Jesus is full of truth. 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:19.300 He's full of grace and truth. 00:17:19.300 --> 00:17:22.079 He's abundant in grace and truth. 00:17:23.280 --> 00:17:30.380 And not only is he full of grace and truth, not only is he the word, not only is he truth, but truth is the very essence 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:32.560 of his being, of who he is. 00:17:33.020 --> 00:17:37.360 You remember John chapter 14 and verse six, another common verse for most of us. 00:17:37.360 --> 00:17:41.180 But it says, "Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:17:41.820 --> 00:17:46.460 No man comes to the father but through me." No one can get to the father but through Jesus. 00:17:47.580 --> 00:17:51.960 Jesus is the only way, Jesus is the only truth, Jesus is the only life. 00:17:52.080 --> 00:17:53.920 There's not a whole bunch of them out there that can be had. 00:17:54.660 --> 00:17:55.540 He's the only one. 00:17:56.460 --> 00:17:58.980 Jesus is the only way to the father. 00:17:59.620 --> 00:18:06.780 Belief in him as he only way to get into the presence of God and heaven because Jesus is those things, because 00:18:06.780 --> 00:18:07.620 he is truth. 00:18:09.760 --> 00:18:11.120 So Jesus is truth. 00:18:11.340 --> 00:18:18.480 He could have just as easy said that, "Truth is who I am." That's the way he could have stated that because that's 00:18:18.500 --> 00:18:19.790 the truth of the matter. 00:18:20.140 --> 00:18:27.340 And if you really want to define truth, you could just tell someone, "Look to Jesus." And that's basically what he said to Pilate 00:18:27.340 --> 00:18:31.780 as he was finishing his last statement to Pilate in verse 37 there again. 00:18:31.820 --> 00:18:34.580 He says, "For this reason, for this I have been born. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.720 For this I have come into the world to testify of truth. 00:18:39.260 --> 00:18:46.380 I am truth and I come to testify of truth." God doesn't give us anything, any information about whether Jesus got a 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:53.520 chance to answer Pilate when he said, "What is truth?" But we know he could have easily said something along the lines of the same thing that he said to the woman 00:18:53.520 --> 00:18:54.380 at the well, right? 00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:02.660 The woman at the well in John chapter 4 and verse 26, he says, "I who speak to you, am he." And 00:19:02.660 --> 00:19:06.320 he could have just as easily looked at Pilate in the face and said, "Pilate, I'm truth. 00:19:07.340 --> 00:19:09.460 If you want to know something about truth, look at me. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.340 If you want to know how to understand truth and how to deal the truth, believe in me. 00:19:14.380 --> 00:19:15.820 That's how you're going to understand truth. 00:19:16.040 --> 00:19:23.720 That's how you're going to get it." I think that we're all kind of painfully aware that the 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:26.620 world around us is more than willing to define truth for us. 00:19:29.340 --> 00:19:33.260 The problem with the truth that the world defines, though, is that it's pretty fluid. 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:34.560 It's up and down. 00:19:34.840 --> 00:19:35.850 It's all over the place. 00:19:36.280 --> 00:19:43.420 It's constantly changing and it's constantly changing based on how loud the person that's trying to pass on that 00:19:43.600 --> 00:19:46.880 truth is speaking, or how much authority they seem to think they have. 00:19:48.260 --> 00:19:50.700 The world's truth is a mess, the world's truth isn't helpful. 00:19:51.820 --> 00:19:58.860 As a matter of fact, the good thing for us is that while the world is spinning their wheels trying to figure out and trying to define 00:19:58.860 --> 00:20:05.880 truth and trying to change truth and trying to redefine truth and messing around with all of that, the good news to us is that 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:06.500 we have truth. 00:20:07.580 --> 00:20:08.420 We have truth with us. 00:20:09.620 --> 00:20:15.340 We have truth indwelling us, we have truth with us, and we don't need the world's help at all with the definition. 00:20:16.360 --> 00:20:17.220 And that's really good. 00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:22.800 Listen, we have the word of truth that's inspired by God and profitable for every part of our lives. 00:20:23.260 --> 00:20:26.590 There's not a part of our life that God's truth doesn't help us with. 00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:31.720 We have the word of truth that's written by men who were moved by the spirit of God. 00:20:32.600 --> 00:20:39.820 It wasn't just somebody deciding, "I want to write some cool things down." These guys were moved by the spirit of God to write what God wanted them to write, that became 00:20:39.820 --> 00:20:42.520 our word, our Bible, the truth. 00:20:43.260 --> 00:20:46.840 We have the word of God that will never pass away and is settled forever in heaven. 00:20:48.840 --> 00:20:50.320 Never going to pass away. 00:20:50.980 --> 00:20:54.010 These truths will hold true for all eternity. 00:20:55.780 --> 00:20:59.280 We have the word of God that's a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:01.470 You want to see where you're going? 00:21:02.020 --> 00:21:02.640 Look to truth. 00:21:04.380 --> 00:21:09.020 We have the word of God that's given us the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus. 00:21:10.760 --> 00:21:12.760 Not much else we could ask for or want. 00:21:13.360 --> 00:21:19.500 We have the word of truth that's set us free, and we have the word of truth in the person of Jesus Christ indwelling us. 00:21:20.760 --> 00:21:21.560 We have truth. 00:21:22.100 --> 00:21:23.380 We don't need any help with truth. 00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:25.680 We don't need the world helping us to define it. 00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:29.560 We don't need the world telling us what it is because we have it. 00:21:31.820 --> 00:21:33.160 We have the answer to Pilate's question. 00:21:34.580 --> 00:21:36.740 We have the answer to any person that you run into. 00:21:36.840 --> 00:21:43.420 Now, Lord willing, if somebody runs into you now, if you come in contact with someone and they say, "What is truth," Lord willing, you've got a few answers. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:47.960 There's a whole bunch more out there, but we covered a few and we tried to help with a few things. 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:51.840 We have the person of truth, Jesus, in us. 00:21:51.840 --> 00:21:57.240 We have the word of truth, the Bible, that we can go to any time and help us out in any way. 00:21:58.600 --> 00:22:01.660 So my challenge to us today, the challenge this morning, is this. 00:22:03.300 --> 00:22:06.860 If you haven't already, please believe in the person of truth. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:12.560 I think most people have here, but if you haven't, believe in the person of truth. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:16.140 Look at your sin the same way he does, which is pretty ugly. 00:22:17.600 --> 00:22:23.700 Look at your sin the same way he does, and then thank him for paying the price that you should have paid for it and I should have paid for it. 00:22:25.540 --> 00:22:29.420 We don't have to pay that anymore because Jesus has taken care of it. 00:22:29.560 --> 00:22:35.640 Believe in him and listen, he's going to save you and he's going to set you apart to a sacred purpose in life. 00:22:37.180 --> 00:22:38.240 He wants to do that. 00:22:38.260 --> 00:22:39.400 He desires to do that. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:40.980 So if you haven't done it, please do it. 00:22:43.460 --> 00:22:44.840 The second challenge is this. 00:22:45.700 --> 00:22:50.220 Then take that same person of truth and let him be your guide. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:51.180 Let him be your example. 00:22:51.760 --> 00:22:56.840 Let him be your power to live the life that glorifies and honors him. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.320 He can give you the power to do that. 00:23:00.580 --> 00:23:03.660 As a matter of fact, his power is indwelling you to do it right now. 00:23:06.060 --> 00:23:09.480 He wants us to live lives that glorify and honor him. 00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:16.780 And finally, the third thing is this, is allow the word of God, the word of truth, to define truth in your life. 00:23:17.060 --> 00:23:18.280 Don't look anywhere else for truth. 00:23:19.120 --> 00:23:20.200 Let God's word define it. 00:23:21.220 --> 00:23:25.240 You can find other places, but let God's word be your standard of truth. 00:23:26.600 --> 00:23:28.640 And not just on Sundays or at church. 00:23:29.560 --> 00:23:34.100 I mean, some of us are real good about bringing it along, and yeah, this is my thing on Sunday mornings. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:36.160 But the rest of the week, it matters not. 00:23:37.180 --> 00:23:40.650 It needs to be our standard of truth all the time. 00:23:41.220 --> 00:23:41.720 All the time. 00:23:44.840 --> 00:23:49.660 Trust the word of truth to define truth in all aspects of your life. 00:23:50.580 --> 00:23:51.020 Let it do that. 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:56.460 Let God's word give you truth for everything that comes up in your life. 00:23:57.660 --> 00:24:06.820 Listen, there's never been a time in any of our lives, right now there's never been a time when we've 00:24:06.820 --> 00:24:08.420 seen truth questioned like it's questioned. 00:24:09.120 --> 00:24:11.480 When we've seen truth challenged like it's being challenged. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:19.420 When we've seen truth redefined the way it's being redefined, and when we've seen truth even violently opposed the way it's 00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:19.740 been. 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:22.880 Never been a time in any of our lives where we've seen it like this. 00:24:25.300 --> 00:24:28.560 So it's kind of critical to think of things this way. 00:24:28.820 --> 00:24:35.840 There's also never been a time in our lives, then, when it hasn't been so important that we stand on truth, that we stand on 00:24:35.840 --> 00:24:41.180 the word of God, we stand on the person of truth, Jesus Christ, and we stand on truth as the word of God. 00:24:42.560 --> 00:24:47.040 Stand on the truths that we know are going to transcend all time. 00:24:47.060 --> 00:24:49.740 These truths don't change as things change in our world. 00:24:50.600 --> 00:24:51.140 Praise the Lord. 00:24:53.020 --> 00:24:54.180 Everything else changes. 00:24:54.220 --> 00:24:56.220 Everything else is up and down and fluid. 00:24:56.220 --> 00:24:59.300 This doesn't change and it never will change. 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:03.460 Listen, let this truth be the very definition of who you are, as well. 00:25:03.980 --> 00:25:07.700 We know it's a definition of Jesus, but let this be the definition of who you are, too. 00:25:08.680 --> 00:25:08.820 Truth. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:16.600 Listen, in these goofy times that we live in, there's really only one truth that we can truly depend on. 00:25:18.570 --> 00:25:20.600 That's Jesus and his word. 00:25:21.800 --> 00:25:24.800 My encouragement to all of us this morning is depend on that truth. 00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:27.640 Let all this other stuff slide off. 00:25:28.820 --> 00:25:35.820 Let all these other things that you're hearing and all this stuff that comes at you from different angles, and just let that stuff slide off and 00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:37.060 let's hold onto this truth. 00:25:37.360 --> 00:25:38.740 Let's let this be our standard. 00:25:39.140 --> 00:25:40.680 Let's let this be what we stand on.