It's True

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. Today we're hearing a special Easter message titled, It's True, where Pastor Robert is sharing insight about the word, Amen. Even those of us who have heard that word a thousand times, think there's gonna be something fresh and new in this message for you. So let's tune in to Pastor Robert now. All right, I want you to turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 1, and I'm gonna share an Easter message with you called, It's True.

It's True. And I'm gonna talk about a word that you know, it's a Bible word, we say it all the time, but I don't think we know the significance of the word. It's the only word that's the same in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English. Now, you might not know the significance of those four languages, but as a theologian, I do.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek, Latin is derived from Greek, and English is derived from Latin. So this is the only word that's the exact same in all four of those languages. It's also an international word.

It's the same all over the world. It's the word, Amen. Now, in Hebrew and Greek, it's pronounced Amen.

In Texas, it's pronounced Amen. But there's something about this word that's important. When you think about this word, though, you've probably heard a definition that is an okay layman's definition, but it's not the literal definition.

So if I asked you, what does Amen mean, what would you say? So be it, right? So be it. Okay, just to let you know, if that's the literal definition, then I think sometimes we misuse the word. Because I have been in church when I've heard a pastor say, your neighbor's going to hell. Amen. So be it.

It's amazing how this word is used. In some churches, it's used to let everyone know we're a free church. You know, we say Amen a lot around here. Other churches, it's not used to let everyone know we're a dignified church. We don't talk in church except for the pastor.

You know, we don't say anything back. When I think about that, I think about a friend of ours named Pat Boone that most of you know from movies and television. Pat and Shirley have been friends of mine and Debbie's for years, and when we go to Los Angeles, we go to their home, we have dinner, things like that. So just a few months ago, we were having dinner with them, and Pat told us a story about winning movie stars to Christ. Now, some of you might not know, but he won a lot of movie stars to the Lord. Pat and Shirley had a Bible study in their home for over 20 years.

Pastor Jack Hayford, their pastor, would teach it. And so they actually baptized over 300 movie stars during that time in their swimming pool. But he told us story after story of these movie stars that came to Christ many later in life and began to realize they needed to get serious about their relationship with God.

But he told us about one, and I'm not going to tell you the name because you would know this person. And I don't have permission from him to tell the story, but I have permission from Pat to tell the story. So he had took this movie star who he was witnessing to, he had not come to Christ yet, the movie star, took him to Pastor Jack Hayford's church on Christmas Eve. And they're sitting there, and Pastor Jack gets up and he starts preaching, and all of a sudden, someone in the congregation said, Amen.

And Pat said, I saw this movie star who's just kind of sitting there, look up. And he said, I realized he'd never been in a church before where people spoke back to the pastor. And in a moment, someone else said, Amen. And he looked over there. And then he said, I could see him when people kept saying, Amen.

He started realizing, oh, I get it. They are encouraging this preacher. So maybe I should encourage the preacher too. But remember, he wasn't a Christian yet. So I'm actually going to change one of the words that he said so that I can say it in church, OK? Pastor Jack said, that baby that was born on Christmas morning wasn't just a baby.

He was the son of God. And this movie star said, that's darn right, preacher. Except he said the other word, so. So sometimes we don't always use the word, Amen, correctly. But I want to tell you a little bit about the word, Amen.

All right. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20 says, For all the promises of God are yes, in Him, and in Him, Amen. What does that mean? That all the promises of God in Him are Amen? Well, let me show you three points, right?

Here's number one. Amen in the Old Testament. I want to show it to you in the Old Testament. The word Amen is in the Bible 183 times. Thirty of those are in the Old Testament. Of the 30 in the Old Testament, 12 are in one chapter. Twelve of the times that it's in the Old Testament, 30 times, it's in one chapter, 12 times.

Think about that. And it will surprise you how it's used. God told the people to use it when he had the Levites stand on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and they announced blessings and curses. And he told them they were supposed to say Amen. Now get this, after the curses. Not after the blessings, after the curses. I'll just read you a couple of verses to show you. Deuteronomy 27, verses 14 to 16, And all the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel, Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image. Now remember, this is a lot like the Second Commandment.

We've already talked about that. Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsmen, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say Amen.

Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt. This should be talking about the Fifth Commandment, to honor your mother and your father. That's the next one we're going to go into. And all the people shall say Amen. Okay, so here's the question. Why did God tell them to say Amen after the curses, but he didn't tell them to say Amen after the blessings? Here's the reason why, Amen, I haven't given you the literal definition yet, and I will, but it's an affirmation.

Why is he doing this? Here's the reason why. It's easy to agree with a blessing. In other words, when Moses stood up and said, okay, this is what God says. If you do this, you'll be blessed. I'm sure some of the people thought, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.

I agree with that. And then Moses said, okay, but God says, this is what's going to happen to you. If you do this, you're going to be cursed. And then Moses probably had to go.

And the people were like, Amen. So why did God do that? Here's the reason, because he doesn't want us to be cursed. And here's the definition of a curse. Please remember this, because so many people have misunderstood, what's a curse? A curse is a consequence of disobedience. It's a consequence of disobedience. And God, as our loving Heavenly Father, doesn't want us to suffer the consequence of disobedience. See, when we don't have the laws of God, think about it this way. It's like the law of gravity. If you break it, you're going to suffer a consequence.

If you jump off a building, you're either going to be hurt or killed, either one. God doesn't want you to. It's a law.

When you break a law of God, it's not God punishing you, you're suffering a consequence. And he told you, please don't do this, because here's the consequence. See, we do this with our children. When my children were young, and I would talk to them about things I didn't want them to do.

First of all, this is good for your younger parents. I always said to them, look at me. Look at me. See, it's hard sometimes to communicate with three-year-olds, you know, so look at me.

I needed every advantage I could get. Look at me. And then I would say to them this, if you do that again, you're going to get a spanking. You are going to get a spanking if you do that again.

If you do that again, you're going to get a spanking. Do you understand? James, when he was about three years old, he started saying to me, I don't understand, daddy.

I don't understand. I said, well, you're about to. So why was I doing that? Because I didn't want to spank them. I didn't want them to have the consequence of disobedience. And the consequence of disobedience is much greater when you grow up. That's why we teach them when they're young.

There's a consequence to disobedience. So that's why God, how God used amen in the Old Testament. Now again, I told you it's 30 times, 28 of those times it's translated amen.

Two times it's translated literally. So this is how you're going to find out now what is the literal definition of the word amen. Isaiah 65, verse 16, so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of Amen, amen. That's the Hebrew word there, truth. And he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth. The word amen means truth.

So that's how if someone, a pastor said, listen, without Christ, your neighbor's going to hell, you could say, amen, that's true. That's true. It's true. Without Christ, that's where my neighbor would spend eternity.

It's true. So amen in the Old Testament, here's point number two, amen in the New Testament. It's in the New Testament 153 times, Jesus actually says it two thirds of those times. Two thirds of the times that it's in the New Testament, Jesus says it.

I'll let you know a little other trivia about it. There are 27 books in the New Testament, 24 books end with the word amen. 24, you just don't notice it because you're at the end of the book, 24 of the 27 New Testament books end with the word amen.

So you got 24 times right there. But most of the time it's used, it's used by Jesus. But Jesus does something with the word amen. Never been done before. Never.

It never happened this way. He moves it from the end of the sentence to the first of the sentence. He says it at the first of the sentence. And in the book of John, he says it 50 times, but it's only in 25 sentences. So let me tell you how he does that.

He doubles it up. He says it twice at the beginning of a sentence. And you're probably thinking, I don't remember Jesus ever saying, amen, amen at the beginning of a sentence. That's because it's not translated that way. Let me tell you how it's translated. In the old King James, if you ever read that growing up, it's translated verily, verily, I say to you. In the newer versions, they translate it truly, truly. Like John 3, verse 3.

John 3, 3 says, Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Here's what he's saying, amen and amen. He's saying, this is truth. This is truth. What I'm saying to you is truth, truth, truth.

So why did he do that? Why did Jesus say, truly, truly, I say to you, 25 times in the book of John, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, maybe he got into a speaker's habit. You know how speakers get in the habits and, you know, I was listening to this one speaker one time and he was in this habit saying, are you with me? Are you with me? Are you with me? Are you with me? Are you with me?

Are you with me? I wanted to stand up and say, I'm with you. Come on, man, preach, you know, so, but I do it too. I do it too. I was listening to myself one time. I listen to every message I preach, by the way, I listen to every message I preach. I was listening to myself one time driving in the car and I got in the habit of saying, I want to tell you something.

I don't laugh because I don't do that anymore, except every now and then. But I said, I want to tell you something, I want to tell you something, I want to tell you something. I said it 43 times in a 30-minute message. I want to tell you something, I want to tell you something, I want to tell you something.

I finally shouted in the car, tell them. So did he get in a speaker's habit? Of course not. This is Jesus. He knew every word he was saying and he said it for a reason. Here's what most theologians believe. Jesus was saying, my Father says this is true and I say it's true. You say, well, why would you say that? Well, because Jesus said this very clearly, I don't say anything unless I first hear my Father say it.

Here's another thing he was doing. He was saying, my Father says this is true in heaven and now because I'm here on earth, it's now true on earth. I am moving truth from heaven to earth when I tell you this, truly, truly.

And then the Bible tells us that the Spirit confirmed the word with signs following. Just to give you an example, I'm going to put this on the screen so you can write it down, but this is the creative process. If you'd like to know the creative process, you can go back to Genesis. This is the way the world was created. This is the way God creates a new creation. This is the way God creates anything in your life.

This is it right here. The Father wills it. The Father wills it. The Son words it and the Spirit works it.

That's the creative process. In other words, anything that God does in your life, it's because it's the Father's will. If something's happening in your life, it's not the Father's will, it's not God doing it.

The Father wills it. The Son words it, speaks it to our heart. Through the word, speaks it to our heart. The Son words it. He's the Word of God, and then the Holy Spirit works it out in our life.

Let me say it another way. If you will agree with the Father's will for your life and the Son's word for your life, the Spirit will work it in your life. If you will agree with the Father's will for your life, the Son's word for your life, the Spirit will work it in your life. So we looked at the Old Testament and New Testament. Here's the last thing I want to tell you, the Amen of God. The Amen of God. Jesus said it two-thirds of the time in the New Testament. Most of those in the Gospel, twice though, he says it in the book of Revelation to John on the island of Patmos. One time he says it this way, I am the Amen. I am the Amen. Now remember if the word Amen, which it does, means truth, here's what he was saying, I am the truth, which is just like what he said in John 14. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

But here's what he says when he first comes to John on the island of Patmos, Revelation chapter 1 verse 18. I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. Okay, now, remember I told you a moment ago, you probably think this isn't the traditional Easter message, but I told you I'd bring it around to Easter.

Okay. Here's Easter. Here's what Jesus said. I was dead, but now I'm alive, and this is true. It's true. I was dead, now I'm alive, it's true. As I told you, it's a dream come true for me to have Sandy and Larnell here. I told Pastor Thomas when we were just a little bitty church, one day I want to have Sandy Patty and Larnell Harris come for Easter and sing I've Just Seen Jesus. And I think Thomas thought, yeah, right.

But here's one of the reasons I want them to. I love the whole song, but I love this line. To me, that song, by the way, is like Peter and Mary coming to the tomb that morning.

And then they go back to tell the disciples, listen, we know how you feel. His death was so real. We watched the guards take his body down, but listen, I just saw him. He's alive. He was dead, and now he's alive. And listen, there's no doubt that he was dead. There's no doubt he was dead.

No doubt at all because they came even to break his legs and they knew he was already dead. But a soldier took a spear and stabbed him through the heart and the lungs. There's no way he could have been resuscitated with that injury.

That was a fatal injury. Blood and water came out of his heart. So he wasn't resuscitated. He was resurrected. He's the first person that's ever been resurrected. Lazarus was brought back to life, but he was resuscitated because he died again. Jesus said, I am he who lives, was dead, but I live forevermore. He came back with a resurrected body. By the way, with that resurrected body, the disciples one day are in a locked room and Jesus shows up. So with a resurrected body, you can walk through walls. I'm just warning you when we get to heaven, you can lock your doors. I'm coming in.

I'll just come right on in if I want to. So what was different? Peter and Mary had been with Jesus three years.

What was different? He was resurrected. They knew he was dead. And now they knew he was alive. And listen, they had lost the faith.

It's clear they had lost faith. Jesus told them on four separate occasions, I'm going to be crucified, but on the third day I'm going to rise. They weren't there that morning to greet him because they brought 100 pounds of spices with them to embalm his body. They brought 100 pounds, you can read it, with him to embalm his body. So they were not expecting him to rise because they saw how he died. And all of a sudden he's alive.

What was different is, and I love this phrase in the song, I've just seen Jesus, listen, and I'll never be the same again because he really is the son of God. It's true. It's true. That's the way I felt when I got saved in a motel room for the first time in my life. I'd grown up in church. I knew Jesus, son of God, knew the story, been to all the Easters, all that stuff. For the first time in my life, I thought it's true.

And you know what I really knew was true for the first time in my life? Not only he was Lord, but I was a sinner. I realized for the first time in my life, yes, I've grown up in church and yes, I've walked down the aisle, but I've been in control of my life. I have been involved in sin and I'm going to hell. And in that motel room, I remember saying to Jesus, if there's anyone that deserves to go to hell, it's me.

If there's anyone that deserves to go to hell, it's me. But if you want me, you can have me. And I realized when Jesus came to my life then, I'd never be the same again.

I had no desire to go back to drugs, no desire to go back to an immoral lifestyle, no desire. Because Jesus was alive. He was real. It's true.

It's true. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and really listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, visit pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. Thank you so much for letting us be part of your Easter. We hope you found this message encouraging. Next time, Pastor Robert is starting a new series, so be sure to tune in then. Have a blessed day.