Treasuring Truth | Part 2

Adrian Rogers warns us of the dangers of diluting the truth. There are those who deny the truth. There are those who distort the truth. There are those who would dilute the truth. Don't change the message to please the congregation. And we have people today who are talking about user-friendly churches.

Well, I want to be as friendly as we can be. But friend, it's not primarily my job to fill the auditorium. It's my job to fill the pulpit. We can't dilute the truth.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers said, Salvation is free, but truth is costly. You pay a price to have truth. In this day, we must be able to differentiate truth and fact. We acquire facts, but we learn truth.

Facts deal with knowledge, and knowledge can double, but truth never changes, and it's settled for eternity. In part one of this message, Adrian Rogers began sharing the necessary steps we must take in treasuring truth. If you have your Bible, turn to Proverbs 23, as Adrian Rogers powerfully concludes this message, Treasuring Truth. Now, three things I want to lay on your heart today about truth. First of all, we must prize the truth. We must treasure the truth. Truth is indispensable.

Young people, listen to me. It is absolutely, totally indispensable. Why did God write a book? The Bible calls itself the Word of Truth. Why has the Holy Spirit come? He is called in the Bible the Spirit of Truth.

Who is our Lord and Savior, the Messiah? He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. What is the church called?

The church is called in the Bible the pillar and the ground of truth. What did the apostle John say as he wrote his epistle? He said, I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in the truth. Hey, those of us who are parents, is that not true? Boy, when you see your kids getting hold of truth, it's such a joy, such a joy. I have no greater joy. For me, that is so true than to know that my children walk in the truth.

It rejoices our heart. See, truth is indispensable. And friend, listen to me now. Truth is absolute.

Did you get that? Truth is absolute. You see, in mathematics, truth is absolute.

Two and two is four. In mechanics, truth is absolute. In medicine, truth is absolute. And friend, in faith and morals, truth is absolutely absolute. Truth is indispensable. Truth is absolute. And thank God, truth is attainable.

It is attainable. The Bible says, by the truth. How is truth attainable? Well, again, I remind you that the Bible has the precepts of truth.

John 17, verse 17, Jesus is praying for us. And Jesus says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.

You get a rock-ribbed grip on that. God's word is true. And a God of truth could not inspire error. The Bible is, has the precepts of truth. Jesus is the person of truth. John 14, verse 6, he said of himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

The truth and the life. Jesus is the truth that makes any other truth, true. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth.

Notice what Jesus said when he talked about the Holy Spirit coming into the world in John, chapter 16, verse 13. Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. That's the reason I'm telling you that truth is attainable, not apart from the Holy Spirit. But if you take the Bible, which is the word of truth, which presents Jesus, the man of truth, and let the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of truth, open your understanding, friend, I'm telling you that truth is attainable. You can know truth. Now, it's not just enough to know truth, however. You see, listen, truth without power is deadening and depressing.

The Bible speaks in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 6, of being ministers of the New Testament. Not the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter killeth. The spirit giveth life. If all you have is the letter of the law, you don't have the spirit.

You have the words, but you don't have the music. Then that's deadening truth. You see, knowledge without transformation avails nothing.

All it does is just increase your judgment. The Bible said it would be better for you not to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and then not live by it. Friend, it would be better for you not to hear truth than to hear truth, to learn truth, and not to act upon truth. Truth is attainable.

Now, what am I saying? First of all, folks, listen to me. We must prize the truth. But now look at our text again. We must also purchase the truth.

Look in verse 23. Buy the truth. Buy it. Salvation is free, but you pay a price to have truth. So how do you buy the truth? How do you purchase the truth? Number one, it's going to cost you precious time. That's one of the costs you're going to have to pay.

You're not going to get it by osmosis. Time is precious, but it is not as precious as truth. We don't want to pay the price, the simple price of time. As a matter of fact, that's one of the lowest things on our priority in the morning.

We wake up a little late, hurry through the morning, read the newspaper, drink a scalding cup of coffee, rush out the door, and say, well, Lord, bless this mess. Not say something else. It will cost you discipline. Look in verse 23 again. Buy the truth, sell it not, also wisdom and instruction.

You know what instruction means? Well, actually, the Hebrew word literally means self-discipline. Now, you can pray for wisdom, but you have to study for instruction. Many of us are not serious in our Bible study.

No wonder we're so easily led astray. Paul was in prison. By the way, you might want to reference this verse if you've been turned to it. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 13.

It is Paul's second imprisonment. He is writing perhaps the last epistle that he will write. And he's getting down to the end of that epistle.

Now, I want you to see the old apostle Paul. He's in this cold, damp prison. It is so cold, he's shivering, he needs a coat, and he's all alone, and he has no television, he has no transistor radio. This is none of that. He's there in this prison, and here's what he is writing.

I want you to listen to it. He says, the cloak that I left with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. The parchments. Now, here's old Paul. He had to leave in a hurry. Didn't have time to get his coat. Didn't have time to get his library. Didn't have time to get his Bible, the parchments. Can you imagine a man like Paul being in prison like that without anything to read?

We're talking now about instruction. In his rush to leave Troas, he left all this. He said, now, Carpus, Carp, old boy, take care of this for me. I've got to get out of here.

And so he says to, he says, now, look, when you come to me, bring the cloak. It's wet in here. It's damp in here.

I'm shivering in here. Don't ever get so spiritual that you don't take care of your body. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost of God.

Don't ever get the idea that if you're spiritual that you don't have to worry about those kind of things. I was in the grocery store buying some groceries. A lady came to me and she said, Dr. Rogers, I didn't know you had to buy groceries. Yeah.

No, I just live on Nana, you know. Bring the cloak. The winter is coming.

There's going to be the chill of this old dungeon. Then he says, not only bring the cloak, but he says, bring the books. Bring the parchment.

I want to study. I need something for my body, but I need something for my soul. Now, who was this man who was saying this? This was the apostle Paul. He had been to heaven and back in a vision. He had met the Lord Jesus on the Damascus road.

He'd written much of the New Testament. Yet he wants to study. He wants to learn.

You never get beyond the place where you need to study, where you need to learn, where you need to grow. Here's the apostle Paul at the end of his journey saying, I want to learn. He told young Timothy, Timothy, give yourself to reading. Warren Wisby has given some reasons why we ought to read.

I want you to jot them down. Number one, you read for enlightenment. Enlightenment. You read to get hold of the truth. It is to your spirit what food is to your body, what light is to your eyes, what melody is to your ears. You read to get truth, not just facts.

Hey, folks, you only have one short life to live. To know truth is to know God, for God is truth. The devil wants to obscure the truth and to hide the truth from you. Paul read widely also. He read more than the Bible.

He said, bring the books and the parchments. If you read the apostle Paul as he writes, you can tell he was well read. He read, for example, in the book of Acts, he's preaching and he quotes one of their poets there in Athens. He said, one of the Greek poets, he read their plays and so forth and he quoted him, for in him we live and move and have our being, as one of your poets said. You can tell that Paul was a man who read much.

He knew what was going on. Dr. Warren Whisby said, if you were to spend only 30 minutes a day on any subject, nutrition, history, whatever, just 30 minutes a day on any subject, consistently in 10 years you would have the equivalency of a Ph.D. in that subject. Well, there's so much knowledge here. You know, you read widely, but as a Bible student, you measure everything that you read and test everything that you read by the Word of God. You have a grid that it all has to pass through.

You have a radar. You see, all truth intersects. And one of the tests of any good book is this. When you put that book down, do you begin to think?

Because it will relate to everything else that you know. All genuine truth intersects because all real truth is of God. And God did not make you just to be, however, a reservoir of facts, but He means for you to be a channel of truth. If you're growing in knowledge but not growing in grace, you're going to be dangerous. I've met those people.

They can split a theological hair to nine separate sections, but they're not growing in the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So you read number one for what? Enlightenment. Read number two, friend, for enjoyment.

You know one of the worst things that they used to do? I hope they don't do this in one school, but when we would act up, and even your pastor as a schoolboy acted up some, you know what they said? You're going to have to read so many chapters in a book. That was our punishment, to read. Teacher, if you're a teacher, never punish a child by making a child read.

No, bless a child by letting a child read. Don't look at reading as something dull by reading a book. Friend, when you read, you can meet people you've always wanted to meet, the great leaders. You can visit periods of history that have gone before you. You can visit faraway places that you've never been to. You can grapple with issues and think about these things. You can study the past. They say if you don't study the past, you're destined to repeat it. You can study the future.

If you don't study the future, you probably don't have much of a future. You can understand great truths. And by the way, theology has been rightly called the queen of the sciences. To study theology, why? Because God is the greatest fact. You see, you read, friend, for enjoyment.

You get so full of truth. When you learn about the world and you learn about God, you can be such a blessing to people. You know what counseling is? Counseling is just knowing about God and knowing about people and getting the two together. That's it.

Just knowing about God and knowing about people and just getting them together. You're not the answer. God is the answer. God is the answer. And any good counselor is not solving people's problems.

He's bringing people to God. That's what it's all about. So you read for enjoyment. You read for enrichment. People say all books are expensive. Friend ignorance costs a whole lot more than books cost.

You can be rich. You know, your children can inherit your books. And your children can learn from your knowledge while you're living.

And the purpose of truth is building character by truth. And so when you read, read devotional readings for the heart. Now, you see, by the way, don't just read the cookbook. Eat the meal.

Eat the meal. Doctrinal truth for the mind. Sharpen your mind. Practical truth for the will. You ought to learn more about missions. You ought to learn more about soul winning.

You ought to learn about home building. By the way, would you like to find out whether you're growing in knowledge, whether you're really purchasing the truth? Ask yourself this question. Am I getting excited about truth? I am.

I don't want to say it boastfully, but I want to say it thankfully. I am excited about truth. I can hardly wait to get my hands on more truth. Some people just want to study methods. You will never, ever get excited about methods unless you learn the truth behind the method.

Why do you do this? Are you experiencing freedom? Real truth, as Jesus says, sets you free. You're going to be free from the prejudice and the party line and from lies and from pressures and from fears because truth has a way of liberating you.

You ask yourself this question. Am I learning humility? You know, the more a man learns, the more he knows he doesn't know. Is that not true? And as you study, you begin to get more and more humble.

Ask this question. Am I learning balance? You see, if you're studying and buying the truth, you ought to be balanced. Not just all worship, but no evangelism. Not just all prophecy, but no devotion.

Not just all program, but no theology. And then, last of all, read for enablement. Enablement.

Not just enjoyment, but enablement. I want my doctor to continue to read. I want my mechanic to continue to learn.

I wish the cooks in the restaurant would go back to the cookbooks. What's it going to cost you? It's going to cost you time. It's going to cost you discipline. And listen, friend, it's going to cost you obedience. Now, if you don't obey the truth, then that's dangerous. Impression without expression leads to depression and James says, James 1, verse 21 and 22, Wherefore, lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.

Now, listen to this. And be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. Jesus said, Who?

The one who hears these things of mine and does them not is like a foolish man. Now, what does it cost? It costs time. It costs discipline. It costs obedience.

Now, here finally, I must get to the final thing. Not only do we prize the truth and not only do we purchase the truth, but, friend, we must preserve the truth. Now, look in verse 23 again. Buy the truth, now watch this, and sell it not.

Sell anything else before you would sell the truth. Titus 1, 9, holding fast the faithful word. Jude 1, 3, earnestly contend for the faith.

That is once for all delivered to the saints. We have to guard against those who would deny the Bible. There's an open war on the Word of God today. We have to guard against those who would distort the truth. We have, in the modern Charismatic extravagances today, we have all of those who are getting all this extra biblical revelation. Well, friend, when you start getting extra biblical revelation, it's only a half step to anti-biblical revelation.

Listen to me now. There are those who deny the truth. There are those who distort the truth. There are those who would dilute the truth. For example, many people in order to appear intellectual have to jettison the book of Genesis that tells us in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and substitute evolution for that. Well, that's just a dilution of the truth. You can believe that monkey mythology if you want to.

I don't believe it. Don't change the message to please the congregation. We have people today who are talking about user-friendly churches.

Well, I want to be as friendly as we can be. But, friend, it's not primarily my job to fill the auditorium. It's my job to fill the pulpit. We can't dilute the truth. There are those who would defile the truth. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17. For we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God. The Bible says, buy the truth and sell it not. And when the child of God looks into the Word of God and sees the Son of God and is changed by the Spirit of God into the glory of God, the image of God, for the glory of God, I believe he's learned the truth of God. Now, prize the truth, yes, praise God. Purchase the truth, yes. Preserve the truth, yea, verily. But now, let me just proclaim the truth very quickly. All truth comes to one great focal point.

Let me tell you what it is. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but should have everlasting life. That, my friend, is the gospel truth. That is the gospel truth. And I am telling you, with all of my heart, if you today will open your heart and receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, God will forgive every sin buried in the grave of His forgetfulness. God will fill you with His Spirit and give you peace and power that you've never known. And God will set you on a journey of discipleship where you can be a disciple indeed and learn truth.

And that truth will make you free. If you're not certain that you're saved today, I mean, we can get it settled today. If you want to be saved, I remind you again that Jesus died for you. He paid for your sins on that tree on the cross. Your sins have all already been paid for. Now you must open your heart and receive the gift of God. Pray like this, dear God, I am a sinner.

I am lost. My sin deserves judgment, but I need and I want mercy. Jesus, you died to save me. You promised to save me if I would trust you. Lord Jesus, I do trust you.

Tell Him that out of your heart. I believe you're the Son of God. I believe you paid my sin debt with your blood on the cross.

I believe that God raised you from the dead. And now by faith, I receive you into my heart right now as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin.

Cleanse me. Save me, Lord Jesus. Pray that. Did you pray?

Did you? Save me, Lord Jesus. Then pray this way by faith. Thank you for doing it.

Thank you for doing it. You cannot lie. I stand on your word. I don't look for a feeling.

I don't ask for a sign. I stand on your word. You cannot lie.

Thank you for saving me. Begin now to make me the person you want me to be. Lord Jesus, help me never to be ashamed of you. In your name I pray.

Amen. And if you prayed to receive Jesus Christ just now, we want to celebrate with you. Go to our Discover Jesus page at the website. You'll find answers there you may need about your newfound faith.

We have a response section. You can share your testimony or tell us how this message has impacted you. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab at the top that says Discover Jesus.

Welcome to God's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you. Now if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD. Mention the title Treasuring Truth when you get in touch.

You can also order online at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Do you treasure truth, prize, purchase, preserve and proclaim it? Do you read scripture for your enlightenment, enjoyment, enrichment and enablement? Consider these things today and join us next time for another timeless message from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. A listener recently wrote on our Facebook wall, Adrian Rogers was such an incredibly powerful and gifted Bible teacher. When you hear his voice and teachings, it changes your heart.

I still enjoy his teachings today and I'm so thankful for Love Worth Finding Ministries. Well, we are honored that these messages and resources have helped you grow in your walk with Christ in good times and bad. When you donate to the ministry right now, we want to send you our Why Booklet Collection. This bundle gives insight to the big questions we ask in the midst of the darkest storms of life. The bundle includes four popular booklets such as Why the Cross and Why Do Good Things Happen to Bad People? Request the Why Booklet Collection when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD or give online at lwf.org and again, thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.