1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:05,440 Well, we've been talking about the essentials, because Christianity, 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:09,600 if it's false, it doesn't matter if it's true. 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:11,680 It matters everything. 4 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:17,200 The only thing it can't be is moderately important. 5 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:24,040 Last week we talked about the amazing nature of grace, the linchpin 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,000 of our joy and our eternity. 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:33,880 How Christ came, sent by God as God, to be a sacrifice for our 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,800 sins on the cross so we could be reconciled with a holy Father. 9 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:44,200 And in that, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. 10 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:46,920 No one comes to the Father except through me. 11 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:54,180 The way he saves us from our sin, he gives us a path for a full 12 00:00:54,180 --> 00:00:58,300 life, the life he gives us eternal life, a free gift. 13 00:00:58,860 --> 00:01:00,740 We can't do anything to earn it. 14 00:01:00,740 --> 00:01:04,220 There's nothing we can do to make God love us more. 15 00:01:04,700 --> 00:01:08,140 And there's nothing we can do to make God love us less because 16 00:01:08,140 --> 00:01:09,020 of his grace. 17 00:01:10,300 --> 00:01:11,580 And he's the truth. 18 00:01:12,620 --> 00:01:13,260 The truth. 19 00:01:13,260 --> 00:01:15,500 And that's what we want to talk about today. 20 00:01:15,580 --> 00:01:18,920 We've been working through a series on the essentials through 21 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,000 the Fall Chapel series, the essential issues of Faith. 22 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,800 And today we come to the question of true or false. 23 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:25,520 What's true? 24 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,880 You know, truth is kind of in short supply in our world, especially 25 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:31,000 during political season. 26 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,280 If you watch much of what's going on, it just. 27 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:34,800 Everybody's got their own truth. 28 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,000 Nothing feels solid. 29 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,840 There just feels like there's not any shifting ground everywhere. 30 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,480 Opinions and feelings matter more than facts. 31 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,400 My values matter the most. 32 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,240 My perspective matters the most. 33 00:01:48,540 --> 00:01:53,100 I want to justify what I think is true in order to try to manipulate 34 00:01:53,100 --> 00:01:53,380 you. 35 00:01:53,380 --> 00:01:56,740 And we come up, even with people talk about alternative facts, 36 00:01:56,740 --> 00:01:57,900 which is kind of amazing. 37 00:01:58,220 --> 00:02:02,620 Truth is a statement of unquestionable facts. 38 00:02:02,620 --> 00:02:08,060 When it comes to Jesus, Jesus says, I am the truth. 39 00:02:08,700 --> 00:02:09,980 That is a fact. 40 00:02:10,780 --> 00:02:11,420 Facts. 41 00:02:11,900 --> 00:02:17,270 Truth is always grounded in real life, hard, unquestionable facts. 42 00:02:18,070 --> 00:02:19,190 That's a piano. 43 00:02:20,230 --> 00:02:21,190 That's a fact. 44 00:02:21,830 --> 00:02:22,630 It's true. 45 00:02:22,710 --> 00:02:23,830 It's a piano. 46 00:02:24,550 --> 00:02:26,230 Because it can't be anything else. 47 00:02:26,230 --> 00:02:27,190 That's what it is. 48 00:02:29,110 --> 00:02:30,710 Jesus said, I'm the truth. 49 00:02:31,030 --> 00:02:32,230 That is a fact. 50 00:02:32,950 --> 00:02:35,910 Jesus is not just teaching about the truth. 51 00:02:36,070 --> 00:02:37,670 He is the truth. 52 00:02:38,230 --> 00:02:41,110 You see, because truth is in his nature. 53 00:02:41,910 --> 00:02:44,710 Just as we talked the first week about how goodness is in his 54 00:02:44,950 --> 00:02:51,390 nature and holiness and justice and love, truth is also in 55 00:02:51,390 --> 00:02:52,710 the nature of God. 56 00:02:52,870 --> 00:02:55,270 God can't be anything but true. 57 00:02:55,910 --> 00:03:02,470 It is impossible for God to tell a lie because his core, his 58 00:03:02,470 --> 00:03:06,230 nature, his character is truth. 59 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,480 The truth is what we want to talk about today. 60 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,280 The truth or my truth? 61 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,360 You know, my truth is Kind of a common language that we hear a 62 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,840 lot now, and especially for those whose voices have not been 63 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:23,800 heard and not been valued. 64 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:25,520 And I understand why they're saying that. 65 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,240 But if you really mean by that truth. 66 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,400 Truth, not just my opinion. 67 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:36,930 If you mean by that truth, your truth is not as valid as the 68 00:03:36,930 --> 00:03:38,730 truth of God because it's not stable. 69 00:03:39,130 --> 00:03:40,490 It's not based in fact. 70 00:03:40,890 --> 00:03:44,530 It's based in your perception, your outlook, your personality of 71 00:03:44,530 --> 00:03:48,570 who you are, but not in the fact of truth as God is. 72 00:03:49,130 --> 00:03:53,730 And it's great for us to have our perceptions and our opinions 73 00:03:53,730 --> 00:03:55,530 and our hopes and our convictions. 74 00:03:55,610 --> 00:03:58,250 And often people confuse that with truth. 75 00:03:58,660 --> 00:04:00,260 So that is my truth. 76 00:04:01,140 --> 00:04:04,740 What I really mean by that, and shorthand for it, those are my 77 00:04:04,740 --> 00:04:09,540 opinions, my perceptions, my hopes, my convictions, and we call 78 00:04:09,540 --> 00:04:10,580 it my truth. 79 00:04:10,740 --> 00:04:11,740 Don't get confused. 80 00:04:11,740 --> 00:04:12,980 That is not truth. 81 00:04:15,140 --> 00:04:16,900 Truth according to what source? 82 00:04:17,940 --> 00:04:19,300 Who do you trust for truth? 83 00:04:20,020 --> 00:04:25,990 Do you trust your opinions and your perceptions and your hopes and 84 00:04:25,990 --> 00:04:26,630 your convictions? 85 00:04:26,630 --> 00:04:31,430 Or do you trust that God, who created you and loves you more than 86 00:04:31,430 --> 00:04:35,470 anybody in the world, is the truth? 87 00:04:36,910 --> 00:04:39,950 We have to understand that God is the truth. 88 00:04:40,109 --> 00:04:45,390 Not just a truth, not just an opinion, not just an option. 89 00:04:45,470 --> 00:04:47,470 He is the truth. 90 00:04:48,590 --> 00:04:51,550 When our viewpoints become substitutes for. 91 00:04:51,780 --> 00:04:55,700 For the truth, our truth is not a fact. 92 00:04:55,700 --> 00:05:00,180 God's truth is because our truth can too easily be manipulated 93 00:05:00,180 --> 00:05:00,900 by sin. 94 00:05:01,620 --> 00:05:05,380 And we start to make our truth into what makes us comfortable and 95 00:05:05,380 --> 00:05:07,380 justifies what we want to do. 96 00:05:08,180 --> 00:05:09,620 So it may sound really noble. 97 00:05:09,620 --> 00:05:11,140 I'm going to follow my truth. 98 00:05:12,020 --> 00:05:13,980 Wherever my truth leads me, I'm going to follow. 99 00:05:13,980 --> 00:05:14,900 That works really well. 100 00:05:14,900 --> 00:05:18,380 Until your dad says his truth is he's going to run off with somebody 101 00:05:18,380 --> 00:05:22,620 15 years younger and leave your mom and the family because he's 102 00:05:22,620 --> 00:05:23,740 following his truth. 103 00:05:25,020 --> 00:05:26,060 It works really well. 104 00:05:26,060 --> 00:05:29,860 Until your greed pushes you for trying to strive for so much 105 00:05:29,860 --> 00:05:33,940 money and fame and power that you make it impossible for anybody 106 00:05:33,940 --> 00:05:34,540 to love you. 107 00:05:35,340 --> 00:05:38,020 Following your truth sounds really good until your pursuit of 108 00:05:38,020 --> 00:05:40,060 happiness crashes and burns. 109 00:05:40,060 --> 00:05:43,940 Because you followed your truth, you wanted to believe instead 110 00:05:43,940 --> 00:05:47,040 of the truth that comes from the source of truth, truth. 111 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:51,320 And you found that all that you thought was your truth was really 112 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:51,920 a lie. 113 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:56,960 Your truth is not a fact. 114 00:05:57,920 --> 00:05:59,680 My truth is not a fact. 115 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,240 God's truth is a fact. 116 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,800 Just like that is a fact that that piano is sitting there. 117 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:08,000 That is true. 118 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:14,680 But sadly, history is littered with broken lives of people settling 119 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,920 for the pursuit of their own truth rather than building their 120 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:20,920 life on the truth. 121 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:26,040 It's always happened and it will always continue to happen. 122 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:30,600 That's what the psalmist was saying a long time ago when he said, 123 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,480 teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your 124 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:36,040 truth. 125 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:37,640 Why do you. 126 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:38,920 You only get one life. 127 00:06:39,670 --> 00:06:43,870 Why do you want to risk that and your purposes and your priorities 128 00:06:43,870 --> 00:06:49,630 and your talents and your energy and everything else on your 129 00:06:49,630 --> 00:06:50,150 truth? 130 00:06:50,870 --> 00:06:56,070 Why do you want to risk your eternity on your truth, your perceptions, 131 00:06:56,070 --> 00:06:59,790 your opinions, your hopes, your convictions, instead of finding 132 00:06:59,790 --> 00:07:06,080 God's timeless truth, which is given to us freely, just as grace 133 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:08,000 is given to us freely. 134 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,840 And I tell you, in the culture we live, with all the bombardment 135 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,360 and messages around us, we need to be going back to that truth 136 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:20,320 over and over again because the world around us tries to dilute 137 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:21,840 the truth of God. 138 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:28,160 And in that, we fall further away from him and don't get the fullness 139 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:29,440 of his truth in our lives. 140 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:34,130 Your truth or my truth apart from God is not trustworthy because 141 00:07:34,130 --> 00:07:39,530 the core of our truth alone will always, always, always be selfish. 142 00:07:41,450 --> 00:07:42,410 You know, Eve. 143 00:07:42,970 --> 00:07:46,770 Eve didn't decide if the serpent was more trustworthy than 144 00:07:46,770 --> 00:07:48,970 God because of his credentials. 145 00:07:51,930 --> 00:07:54,330 It was because the snake said what she wanted to hear. 146 00:07:55,050 --> 00:07:57,210 That's why she trusted the snake. 147 00:07:58,010 --> 00:08:02,650 Our sinful self will always be drawn to what we want to hear. 148 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:10,320 But what we wish was true doesn't make it true because truth 149 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:14,120 is grounded in facts that don't change. 150 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,320 God's truth never changes. 151 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:21,720 How's that possible? 152 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,000 It's grounded in virtues and values and vision. 153 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,780 That's why God's truth never changes. 154 00:08:31,100 --> 00:08:38,700 Virtues of goodness and love and justice and grace and truth and 155 00:08:39,100 --> 00:08:45,260 values of kindness and generosity and faithfulness and patience 156 00:08:46,220 --> 00:08:51,380 and vision of seeing the world as people who are made in the image 157 00:08:51,380 --> 00:08:55,460 of God, who loves God, loves so much that he died for every one 158 00:08:55,460 --> 00:08:55,820 of them. 159 00:08:55,950 --> 00:08:56,110 And. 160 00:08:57,940 --> 00:09:01,700 And once we see people that way, we see the world in a whole 161 00:09:01,860 --> 00:09:02,740 different way. 162 00:09:04,900 --> 00:09:08,740 Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your 163 00:09:08,740 --> 00:09:09,180 truth. 164 00:09:09,180 --> 00:09:10,180 That's what we want to do. 165 00:09:10,180 --> 00:09:14,740 So the fundamental decision we've got to make in our life and 166 00:09:14,740 --> 00:09:17,740 our faith is do we believe that God has given us a truth that 167 00:09:17,740 --> 00:09:22,930 applies to all of us in every circumstance, in every culture, and 168 00:09:22,930 --> 00:09:26,650 that truth is based on facts of how he created us? 169 00:09:27,530 --> 00:09:33,170 Or is truth different for everybody, depending on your place 170 00:09:33,170 --> 00:09:36,410 and your time and your culture and your personality and your needs? 171 00:09:39,050 --> 00:09:43,170 And our truth is built on our best understanding, but it's clouded 172 00:09:43,170 --> 00:09:43,770 by sin. 173 00:09:44,650 --> 00:09:48,450 You see, that's what Hebrews 13 was getting at when they read 174 00:09:48,450 --> 00:09:52,290 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. 175 00:09:53,570 --> 00:09:57,330 God's truth does not Change throughout all time. 176 00:10:00,290 --> 00:10:06,130 The Bible is not a textbook of science or math or physics or art. 177 00:10:08,210 --> 00:10:13,490 It gives us a worldview that ultimately makes all those other 178 00:10:13,490 --> 00:10:14,450 things possible. 179 00:10:15,250 --> 00:10:19,370 In other words, the Bible not only teaches us the ultimate truths 180 00:10:19,370 --> 00:10:24,120 about people, the world and salvation and the future and a bunch 181 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,560 of other subjects that make up our worldview, it also gives us the 182 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:32,440 principles by which we can know what's true and what's not true 183 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:39,240 that are facts designed by God the Creator. 184 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:42,840 The truth of Scriptures is timeless. 185 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,840 The truth of Scriptures is not bedtime reading. 186 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:50,320 Don't put it on your shelf and hope somehow through osmosis, you're 187 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:50,840 going to pick it up. 188 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:51,840 It's not going to help you. 189 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:54,960 It's a free gift given to you. 190 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,840 The proof of truthfulness is that God is true. 191 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:03,400 And it applies to ancient people and same as it does to us 192 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,640 who enjoy the height of technology, of civilization, because 193 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:12,580 the virtues and the values and the vision are timeless. 194 00:11:14,170 --> 00:11:16,010 So how do we learn the truth? 195 00:11:16,490 --> 00:11:19,930 How do we learn this truth that God has for us? 196 00:11:21,850 --> 00:11:24,490 The Bible is where we learn it. 197 00:11:24,810 --> 00:11:27,530 The life of Christ is how we learn it. 198 00:11:28,810 --> 00:11:33,770 Christ was God sent to live among us, to live out the truth. 199 00:11:33,770 --> 00:11:35,770 He said, I am the truth. 200 00:11:36,650 --> 00:11:41,210 How he lived is a living example of the truth. 201 00:11:43,210 --> 00:11:44,970 God does not hide his truth. 202 00:11:45,450 --> 00:11:46,570 He's made it very clear. 203 00:11:46,570 --> 00:11:50,530 He wrote it down in the book inspired by people who he inspired 204 00:11:50,530 --> 00:11:52,930 to write those Scriptures for us. 205 00:11:52,930 --> 00:11:55,330 And he sent His Son to live it out. 206 00:11:55,330 --> 00:11:56,970 God doesn't hide his truth. 207 00:11:58,490 --> 00:12:00,850 But see, the Bible is the word of God. 208 00:12:00,850 --> 00:12:04,530 And so don't get hung up on what you might misunderstand about 209 00:12:04,530 --> 00:12:05,010 the Bible. 210 00:12:05,010 --> 00:12:07,560 Yeah, there's some things that are puzzling, but some things you 211 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:08,760 may not figure out all the way. 212 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:09,520 And that's okay. 213 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:16,000 It's an old book written a long time ago to specific cultures 214 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,320 at specific times, although the truths are timeless. 215 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:22,800 So you have to work at it to get it to understand. 216 00:12:22,879 --> 00:12:24,840 But you know it was written. 217 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:26,560 A lot of it was written before the Iliad. 218 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:28,800 You all read the Iliad in your literature class. 219 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,600 You don't understand every bit of it, but you don't throw the whole 220 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:33,520 thing out because you don't understand, understand every single 221 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:33,800 line. 222 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:35,600 Or Shakespeare. 223 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,560 You may not understand all that that was written some 400 years 224 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:38,840 ago. 225 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,240 You don't throw it all out just because you don't understand 226 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:41,960 a certain part. 227 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,720 Don't dismiss the Bible because you don't understand some 228 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,280 little section you pull out and say, well, if I can't figure 229 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,200 out this, I'm not going to do the whole. 230 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:50,880 No. 231 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:52,840 How do we know the Bible is true? 232 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:55,000 Is central to our lives. 233 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,710 And as we look at the big issues of the truth of the Bible, 234 00:12:59,950 --> 00:13:02,670 they are very, very, very clear. 235 00:13:02,990 --> 00:13:04,670 God does not hide his truth. 236 00:13:05,390 --> 00:13:08,550 But it does raise this question, how do you know the Bible 237 00:13:08,550 --> 00:13:09,070 is true? 238 00:13:09,950 --> 00:13:11,310 How do you know the Bible is true? 239 00:13:11,310 --> 00:13:15,990 Well, we spent a whole chapel on that last spring and some of you 240 00:13:15,990 --> 00:13:16,590 weren't with us. 241 00:13:16,590 --> 00:13:19,030 And I'm not going to do the whole thing again, but I'll just 242 00:13:19,030 --> 00:13:21,470 give you the summary of that real quick to know how the Bible 243 00:13:21,470 --> 00:13:22,030 is true. 244 00:13:22,110 --> 00:13:23,870 And I think there are four things that are. 245 00:13:23,870 --> 00:13:25,120 There are a number of things, but four things. 246 00:13:25,350 --> 00:13:26,230 Things to really look at. 247 00:13:26,230 --> 00:13:28,390 One of the reporting issues of the Bible. 248 00:13:29,350 --> 00:13:32,310 Stories of the Bible, the reporting stories of the Bible. 249 00:13:32,550 --> 00:13:34,150 These were eyewitness accounts. 250 00:13:34,150 --> 00:13:35,270 Look at the life of Jesus. 251 00:13:35,270 --> 00:13:37,830 These were eyewitness accounts of people who were there. 252 00:13:38,470 --> 00:13:42,150 Now, if you were going to make up this thing, you would make sure 253 00:13:42,150 --> 00:13:43,270 those all line up. 254 00:13:43,750 --> 00:13:47,150 They'd all be told in exactly the same way and nothing that would 255 00:13:47,150 --> 00:13:49,590 ever embarrass you or seem out of place or whatever. 256 00:13:49,670 --> 00:13:53,240 One of the greatest examples is at the critical moment of or all 257 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:58,640 of human history, the resurrection, when Jesus was not 258 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,960 in the tomb and they went that morning to find him, what did the 259 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:02,760 Scriptures report? 260 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:08,560 It was the women who found him and found there was nobody in the 261 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:10,360 tomb and came back to report it. 262 00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:13,240 Now, 2,000 years ago, women had no credibility. 263 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:15,800 Their testimony meant nothing. 264 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:19,960 If you were going to make up a story, you sure wouldn't put that 265 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,270 in because that just completely wipes out your credibility. 266 00:14:25,710 --> 00:14:29,630 The reporting stories of the Bible prove its truth. 267 00:14:30,830 --> 00:14:32,830 Secondly, the prophecy about Jesus. 268 00:14:33,470 --> 00:14:36,710 How does somebody know, hundreds and hundreds of years before 269 00:14:36,710 --> 00:14:39,870 Jesus was born, that the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem? 270 00:14:41,870 --> 00:14:44,750 Anyone even planning to be born in Bethlehem happened to be 271 00:14:44,750 --> 00:14:46,390 there because they were going to pay their taxes. 272 00:14:48,380 --> 00:14:53,460 This prophecy over and over and over again validates the proof 273 00:14:53,460 --> 00:14:54,220 of the Bible. 274 00:14:54,460 --> 00:14:57,660 You look at archaeology and we're finding more and more in archeology 275 00:14:58,060 --> 00:15:01,780 and text authenticity of texts from those early days. 276 00:15:01,780 --> 00:15:05,420 And you can track these things and you can see the places and where 277 00:15:05,420 --> 00:15:08,300 things happen, and you can see confirmation of the truth of the 278 00:15:08,300 --> 00:15:08,620 Bible. 279 00:15:08,620 --> 00:15:13,080 And most importantly, Jesus taught that the Scriptures were true. 280 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:16,680 Jesus said it was the word of God. 281 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:21,920 He knew it, he studied it, spent time in the temple studying 282 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:25,360 the scripture, and he commissioned all the New Testament 283 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:27,760 authors, you know, most of the New Testament authors other than 284 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,640 Paul, Jesus knew them personally and Paul knew all the 285 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:32,760 people Jesus knew. 286 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:40,080 The New Testament is the story of people who were there and people 287 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:41,000 who saw it. 288 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,080 And so when you read it, you have a confirmation of its truth. 289 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,320 And one last thing that's probably pretty important. 290 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:51,720 There's probably never been a book more studied in the world than 291 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,480 the Bible, and nobody's been able to prove it's not true. 292 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:58,880 So you have to take a little bit of a leap of faith. 293 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:00,400 Yes, is the Bible true? 294 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:05,010 But once you understand and accept that the Bible is true, then 295 00:16:05,010 --> 00:16:09,890 it becomes God's truth in your hands to lead your life. 296 00:16:09,970 --> 00:16:15,170 A gift that God gives freely, to give his truth, because he doesn't 297 00:16:15,170 --> 00:16:17,170 hide his truth and his will. 298 00:16:17,810 --> 00:16:18,490 Excuse me. 299 00:16:18,490 --> 00:16:21,970 Jesus prayed, make them holy by your truth. 300 00:16:22,130 --> 00:16:25,570 Teach them your word, which is truth. 301 00:16:26,850 --> 00:16:27,730 John 17. 302 00:16:27,810 --> 00:16:29,490 Jesus prayed for his disciples. 303 00:16:29,490 --> 00:16:30,850 He knew what was about to happen. 304 00:16:31,010 --> 00:16:33,730 He was going to be taken, go to the Garden of Gethsemane. 305 00:16:33,730 --> 00:16:34,410 He was going to be arrested. 306 00:16:34,410 --> 00:16:35,510 He was going to be be crucified. 307 00:16:36,390 --> 00:16:37,510 Everything was going to change. 308 00:16:37,510 --> 00:16:39,830 And before that, he prayed for his disciples. 309 00:16:39,830 --> 00:16:41,270 And this is what he prayed for them. 310 00:16:42,470 --> 00:16:45,110 Make them holy by your truth. 311 00:16:45,750 --> 00:16:51,430 He prayed that their relationship with God, a holy God, 312 00:16:51,510 --> 00:16:54,310 would be strengthened by their truth. 313 00:16:55,110 --> 00:16:58,710 As they understand the truth, they would draw closer to God. 314 00:16:59,430 --> 00:17:02,750 And he said, teach them your word, which is true. 315 00:17:03,630 --> 00:17:05,070 You have to learn it. 316 00:17:05,470 --> 00:17:07,550 You have to put the effort into it. 317 00:17:08,190 --> 00:17:11,190 Again, if you just have a Bible at your bedstand, it's not 318 00:17:11,190 --> 00:17:13,950 going to do you any good if you don't spend time with it. 319 00:17:14,350 --> 00:17:17,150 And reading it for five minutes a day is better than nothing. 320 00:17:17,150 --> 00:17:18,990 But that's not going to get you there either. 321 00:17:19,710 --> 00:17:21,470 It takes effort to learn anything. 322 00:17:21,470 --> 00:17:24,870 You're here for four years to learn whatever it is discipline that 323 00:17:24,870 --> 00:17:27,870 you're wanting to study, to be an educated person, to go in the 324 00:17:27,870 --> 00:17:28,450 marketplace. 325 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:34,280 If you play on a team, you put a lot of effort into learning your 326 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:34,840 sport. 327 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:39,480 If you're an artist, you put a lot of effort into learning what 328 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:41,080 it is that you do. 329 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:44,440 It takes effort. 330 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:45,880 The truth's available. 331 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:50,800 So our question is, are we going to decide whether to learn 332 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,800 it or decide we know better and we'll just take the parts that 333 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:59,090 kind of come easy, you know, you don't have to give up on your 334 00:17:59,090 --> 00:18:02,010 intellect in order to trust the Bible. 335 00:18:02,970 --> 00:18:06,170 What you do have to give up is your pride. 336 00:18:07,610 --> 00:18:11,330 If you think you know a better truth, the Bible's not going to mean 337 00:18:11,330 --> 00:18:12,090 much to you. 338 00:18:12,810 --> 00:18:17,330 You've got to give up your pride in order to understand the 339 00:18:17,330 --> 00:18:18,330 truth of the Bible. 340 00:18:19,210 --> 00:18:20,250 And here's the key. 341 00:18:20,250 --> 00:18:24,090 We won't know the truth unless we want to be drawn to God. 342 00:18:24,090 --> 00:18:28,530 If you're kind of playing around the edges of it, kind of Christian 343 00:18:28,530 --> 00:18:30,610 life is not really important, but it is important. 344 00:18:30,610 --> 00:18:31,530 You're kind of in between. 345 00:18:31,530 --> 00:18:34,610 As our opening slide of CS Lewis always talks about each week. 346 00:18:34,850 --> 00:18:38,530 If you're doing that, you won't be drawn to God. 347 00:18:38,770 --> 00:18:42,170 When you want to be drawn to God, he will open up his truth to 348 00:18:42,170 --> 00:18:45,010 you and he will make it very, very clear. 349 00:18:45,410 --> 00:18:50,280 And so it gets lived out in these virtues and values and vision 350 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:54,200 that come out in our lives and become God. 351 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:58,200 Honoring actions and attitudes and priorities of goodness, patience, 352 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:04,840 love, kindness, mercy, faithfulness, generosity and caring 353 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:10,040 for the least of these answers are in the scripture. 354 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:12,360 Answers are in the life of Christ. 355 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,610 If you've not read the Bible much, I want to give you an assignment. 356 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:18,400 Go to the Gospel of John. 357 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,000 Now there's some letters from John first, John two John. 358 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:22,880 Don't go there yet. 359 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:24,320 Go to the Gospel of John. 360 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:26,160 It's the fourth book of the New Testament. 361 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:27,440 Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 362 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,720 This is the account of John, who was the closest person to Jesus 363 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:34,000 when he walked this earth. 364 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:39,120 And read what he says about who Christ is. 365 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:41,200 So if you haven't read, start there. 366 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:44,400 If you have read the Bible a lot, I want to instead encourage 367 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:48,010 you to go to the Book of Mark, first book of the New Testament. 368 00:19:48,170 --> 00:19:51,210 Mark was a tax collector and he wrote it down all very carefully. 369 00:19:52,250 --> 00:19:55,290 So he kept a really careful record. 370 00:19:55,690 --> 00:20:03,250 Go to the Gospel of Mark and read for this question what did Jesus 371 00:20:03,250 --> 00:20:03,610 do? 372 00:20:04,650 --> 00:20:09,610 A lot of our truth we is based on what we think Jesus would do. 373 00:20:09,610 --> 00:20:11,770 So what would Jesus do? 374 00:20:11,770 --> 00:20:13,960 Became a big deal a number of years ago. 375 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,360 The question is not what do you think Jesus would do? 376 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:21,480 The question is what did Jesus actually do? 377 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:26,200 And it will shock you if you read the Book of Mark and go through 378 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,520 and write wdjd. 379 00:20:28,679 --> 00:20:30,200 What did Jesus do? 380 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:37,560 Every time you see something he did, you've got to study it or 381 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,040 you can take lazy shortcuts. 382 00:20:40,590 --> 00:20:44,910 And when you do, you make the Bible what it's not supposed to be. 383 00:20:46,110 --> 00:20:47,870 And a lot of people do that. 384 00:20:51,310 --> 00:20:53,070 Don't make the Bible what it's not. 385 00:20:54,190 --> 00:20:55,950 It's not a proof texting tool. 386 00:20:57,070 --> 00:21:01,310 You know, you can prove most anything you want by cut and pasting 387 00:21:01,310 --> 00:21:04,510 someplace in the Bible, whatever position you want to take. 388 00:21:04,670 --> 00:21:08,280 You can find some little scrap of a, of a verse some place and a 389 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,160 part of a verse and take it out of context and you can make it 390 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:12,200 justify what you want. 391 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:18,720 Put it on Twitter or Instagram and try to prove your point. 392 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:25,000 It's easy to manipulate the Bible if you proof text, but it's 393 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:31,320 evil to manipulate the Bible if you proof text because you're 394 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,040 throwing that in the face of God. 395 00:21:33,580 --> 00:21:34,380 Ask this question. 396 00:21:34,460 --> 00:21:38,780 When somebody's proof texting, does it fit the consistent themes? 397 00:21:39,180 --> 00:21:44,380 The themes of goodness and love and justice and mercy and forgiveness 398 00:21:44,780 --> 00:21:45,420 and truth? 399 00:21:45,420 --> 00:21:46,940 Does it fit those themes? 400 00:21:46,940 --> 00:21:48,940 If it doesn't line up those themes? 401 00:21:49,180 --> 00:21:52,980 Somebody's pulling a verse out of context in order to make their 402 00:21:52,980 --> 00:21:54,660 point about what they want. 403 00:21:54,660 --> 00:21:57,220 And the bigger question is, why are you trying to prove texts 404 00:21:57,220 --> 00:21:57,740 anyway? 405 00:22:00,070 --> 00:22:02,470 Most people are trying to proof text in order to try to change 406 00:22:02,470 --> 00:22:03,830 somebody else's behavior. 407 00:22:04,870 --> 00:22:05,990 It's not your job. 408 00:22:07,750 --> 00:22:10,070 You know, when the Bible was written, it didn't have any verses. 409 00:22:10,390 --> 00:22:11,430 We put those in. 410 00:22:11,990 --> 00:22:12,950 It was just written. 411 00:22:13,110 --> 00:22:14,030 It was a letter. 412 00:22:14,030 --> 00:22:18,630 Most of them were written to a church or to a person or to a country. 413 00:22:19,030 --> 00:22:20,110 They were just written. 414 00:22:20,110 --> 00:22:24,190 We put the verses in later so they'd be easier to find, but the 415 00:22:24,190 --> 00:22:25,030 verses weren't there. 416 00:22:25,030 --> 00:22:28,280 So when you're trying to pull out proof texting, you, you're really 417 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:30,640 abusing what the Bible is all about. 418 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:33,520 Second Timothy. 419 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:34,720 Timothy says study. 420 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,120 To be the one who can correctly explain the truth, you 421 00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:40,400 have to study it. 422 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,280 You're not going to do it just by looking at a verse here and a 423 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:44,880 verse there. 424 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:46,640 Don't make the Bible what it's not. 425 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,240 Secondly, don't make the Bible what it's not. 426 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:50,640 It's not a Frequently Asked questions handbook. 427 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:52,880 That's not a what it's not. 428 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:53,470 It's. 429 00:22:53,540 --> 00:22:55,460 If you want a bunch of rules, go to Leviticus. 430 00:22:56,020 --> 00:22:57,460 There's a whole bunch of rules there. 431 00:22:58,660 --> 00:23:02,660 But you've got to study hard to put those rules in the context 432 00:23:03,140 --> 00:23:07,100 of what was being taught to the people at that time, in that 433 00:23:07,100 --> 00:23:09,540 place, in the context of who they are. 434 00:23:09,620 --> 00:23:13,740 You can't just pick out the ones you like and transport them 435 00:23:13,740 --> 00:23:14,780 into today's culture. 436 00:23:14,780 --> 00:23:15,780 It doesn't work that way. 437 00:23:15,940 --> 00:23:17,740 You gotta put in the work. 438 00:23:17,740 --> 00:23:22,650 Again, look for big ideas in the Bible to inform specifics. 439 00:23:22,650 --> 00:23:27,170 If you look for big ideas, they will give you the specifics. 440 00:23:28,450 --> 00:23:32,370 The truth is, we need to see the world as Christ sees the world. 441 00:23:32,610 --> 00:23:36,690 People made in his image, people he loved so much he died for, 442 00:23:36,929 --> 00:23:39,090 people who matter to him. 443 00:23:41,330 --> 00:23:44,010 And then you want to start asking questions about how to interact 444 00:23:44,010 --> 00:23:45,650 with the world around you and public policy. 445 00:23:46,130 --> 00:23:50,160 Those things become much more clearer when you look at the big 446 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:50,840 questions. 447 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:55,400 If you discover the big questions, you'll have answers to 448 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,320 most of the specifics. 449 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:02,760 Third is don't make the Bible a license to control others. 450 00:24:03,799 --> 00:24:07,600 Be really slow to draw conclusions that apply to others 451 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:08,760 and don't apply to you. 452 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:12,760 That's called self righteousness or at least pull you 453 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:13,880 into self righteousness. 454 00:24:15,430 --> 00:24:18,870 And Jesus talked more against self righteousness than any other 455 00:24:18,870 --> 00:24:19,270 sin. 456 00:24:19,990 --> 00:24:21,430 That was the number one sin. 457 00:24:22,470 --> 00:24:26,710 So be slow to try to use the Bible to control others. 458 00:24:27,270 --> 00:24:29,190 And then don't just give half the picture. 459 00:24:29,590 --> 00:24:32,230 The picture is truth and grace. 460 00:24:32,390 --> 00:24:34,630 The picture is not just truth. 461 00:24:35,190 --> 00:24:38,710 You see John, who I told you was closest to Jesus, when they asked 462 00:24:38,710 --> 00:24:44,100 him who Jesus was, he said he came full of grace and truth. 463 00:24:45,060 --> 00:24:48,180 Well, he was a rabbi, so of course he was full of truth. 464 00:24:48,180 --> 00:24:50,980 They expected that to be full of truth. 465 00:24:50,980 --> 00:24:55,100 But he said grace on purpose because grace was as important as 466 00:24:55,100 --> 00:24:55,540 truth. 467 00:24:56,579 --> 00:24:57,820 It wasn't 50 50. 468 00:24:57,820 --> 00:25:00,500 It was 100% grace and it was 100% truth. 469 00:25:02,740 --> 00:25:07,100 It's not truth in theology or truth in scholarship or truth in 470 00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:07,940 discipleship. 471 00:25:08,020 --> 00:25:09,040 It's truth in. 472 00:25:10,550 --> 00:25:14,790 And if we as Christians would be as serious about grace as we are 473 00:25:14,790 --> 00:25:18,670 about truth, then the world might actually listen to our truth. 474 00:25:18,670 --> 00:25:21,830 Because right now they're tuning us out because we're so full 475 00:25:22,230 --> 00:25:25,110 of self righteous truth with no grace. 476 00:25:26,390 --> 00:25:28,950 Don't make the Bible what it's not. 477 00:25:29,750 --> 00:25:34,310 Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. 478 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,400 No one comes to the Father except by me. 479 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,440 Jesus said he is the truth. 480 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,600 And then he went on to say he promised us we could know the truth. 481 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:50,080 You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. 482 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:51,840 Free. 483 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,080 Freedom from building your life on a lie. 484 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:58,920 Chasing goals that only disappoint. 485 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,440 Chasing goals that never fulfill because you based your life 486 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:03,360 on a lie. 487 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:07,760 Or rather than on the truth of God, freedom from self righteousness. 488 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,480 You know, self righteousness is exhausting. 489 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,560 Builds tension in who you are and everything you do. 490 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:14,720 In every relationship. 491 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,520 When you're a self righteous person, you can be free from that 492 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:19,280 freedom from confusion. 493 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:21,360 You can see clearly. 494 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:26,080 You can see the world as Jesus saw the world through his eyes. 495 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,240 And the blinders come off and the confusion goes away. 496 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,560 That's what Jesus promises. 497 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,640 That's what God gave us in his scripture and in the life of Christ. 498 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:41,440 Truth that is a fact. 499 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:48,440 Well, next week we're going to talk about how that truth gets lived 500 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,200 out in our Christian life every day, in every circumstance. 501 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:55,480 We're going to talk about character, which is grounded in truth. 502 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:57,520 If you don't have the truth, you can't have character. 503 00:26:57,870 --> 00:27:00,030 And you're not going to accept the truth if you don't have the grace 504 00:27:00,190 --> 00:27:00,590 first. 505 00:27:00,670 --> 00:27:04,270 So we're building this on purpose to look at how character 506 00:27:04,270 --> 00:27:05,630 then gets lived in our life. 507 00:27:05,870 --> 00:27:07,710 And with the title no Place to Hide. 508 00:27:07,710 --> 00:27:11,110 Because when it comes to character in our relationship with 509 00:27:11,110 --> 00:27:13,350 God, there is no place to hide. 510 00:27:13,350 --> 00:27:15,310 And that's what we're going to talk about next week. 511 00:27:15,790 --> 00:27:20,990 Be thankful for truth, truth that sets you free to be a person 512 00:27:21,230 --> 00:27:22,750 of character. 513 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:24,200 Let's pray together. 514 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:30,360 Thanks, dear Lord, for your truth, so freely given, so accessible. 515 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:40,240 Help us to open the book, to put in the effort to study, so we 516 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,280 can have the truth that sets us free. 517 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:44,080 In your name, we ask it. 518 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:44,680 Amen. 519 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:46,280 Thanks for listening.