Truth Or Consequences - Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. You have to go through ritual.

You have to do works. That's the basis of religion worldwide. And the question I would have is, how well was he done with any of this? Anybody in the world religious? Always has been.

Always will be. He's attacking the grace of God. Now in America here, even though there is religion around and all that, he's decided on a different strategy and one that works very well in Europe and America right now. And that is, I'm going to attack the truth.

That's what I'm going to series my tax on. I'm going to attack truth, this whole concept of truth. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Christmas is upon us. To me, maybe it's that way to you. This is the fastest month of the year. It seems like it just gets started and then it's over and January is here.

Maybe because I like it to last a long time, it never seems to be able to do that. But I don't know if you've thought about this, but Christmas is the most profound event in the history of man. God became a man.

The profoundness of that is overwhelming. The Son of God becomes a man who is born in Bethlehem. When we read the stories, especially in Matthew and Luke, we love the stories. They're all Christmas stories.

All the plays are about those. And we have angels and shepherds and mangers and all those kind of things, and we truly enjoy that. But what I like to do first this morning is have you look at it from heaven's perspective.

Let's see the Christmas story from that perspective. So I invite you to open your Bibles to John Chapter 1. John Chapter 1.

And what a different take on this that John has versus anyone else. John in John 1 says this. In the beginning was the word.

Now, what's interesting about that from a Greek point of view is the word the is not in the text. It doesn't say in the beginning, it says in beginning. The reason is there's no beginning really for the word.

It's just in beginning. In beginning was the word. Then he says the word was God. And the word was with God and the word was God. And then he changes pronouns and says he was in the beginning with God. So the word, which is neutered, now becomes a he and we know this is all the incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Then he adds a little bit and says all things that came into being through him and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. He says, and in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not comprehend it.

That's important to understand. You get over to verse 11 and it says, and he came to his own and those who were his own. They did not receive him. But as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believed in his name. Who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And then this very interesting verse and the word. Became flesh, that's exactly what happened in Bethlehem, the word who was God.

Became flesh and he dwelt among us. John says we saw his glory as the only begotten of the father, and then he describes it full of grace. And truth. What is the essence of Jesus Christ? Grace. And truth. That's the essence of Jesus Christ.

This become very important as I go on. He is full of grace and he is full of truth. Now let me divert. In Ezekiel Chapter 28 and Isaiah Chapter 14, we are introduced to Lucifer. We are introduced to him. Ezekiel 28 tells you of his magnificence and that he became infatuated with himself. That was the heart of his sin.

Isaiah 14 tells of his sin five times in Isaiah 14. He says, I will be like the most high. I will sit on and that started what we call the angelic conflict. One third of the heavenly host left with Lucifer and the rest stayed with God. Now that conflict begins and mankind is then placed on the earth.

And I don't forget the son of God and in essence is full of grace and truth. So we get to the Garden of Eden and the fall of man. And you remember the words of the serpent to the woman? Has God said?

Has God said this? What is he attacking? The truth. He's attacking the truth. You see, the whole idea is, his implication is, God's lying to you.

But who's lying to her? The serpent. And that begins the way he often operates in this case. These two virtues of Jesus Christ, grace and truth, become the subject of almost every single demonic activity against the grace and truth of God. Now let me explain even as we go on. How does he attack grace?

Well, continue to read from past the Garden of Eden. He attacks grace with religion. That's how he attacks grace.

You see, I'm going to attack grace. What is grace? The unmerited favor of God.

Notice, unmerited. What do you do to get grace? Nothing.

You receive it. So what is religion? Religion is what you do to get in favor with God.

And if you do enough things to put God in your favor, then you'll be okay. Every religion of the world is absence of grace. There's no grace.

Why? That's the attack. What is the essence of the Son of God? Grace and truth. So if you look through the whole Old Testament, over and over again, even for the nation Israel, what was the great apostasy of the nation Israel over and over again? They didn't worship God. They worshiped what?

Idols. Over and over again. I'll make you religious. This is how this works. I'm going to make you religious no matter what. And as I said, the idea of religion comes back to this whole concept of what do you do to gain favor with God?

Almost all religions have the same sort of M.O. One, you have to make sacrifices. In fact, even in the Old Testament, you had to sacrifice your own children or babies.

That's a molech they demanded. You have to make sacrifices. You have to give offerings. You have to go through ritual. You have to do works. That's basis of religion worldwide.

And the question I would have is how well was he done with any of this? Anybody in the world religious? Always has been.

Always will be. He's attacking the grace of God. Now in America here, even though there is religion around and all that, he's decided on a different strategy and one that works very well in Europe and America right now, and that is going to attack the truth.

That's what I'm going to series my tax on. I'm going to attack truth, this whole concept of truth. Now go with me to John 18.

Now I'll sort of show you this is not new. He has attacked both throughout history, but predominantly now in America the attack is against truth. Jesus is about to be crucified. And so he has to stand before Pilate. And in verse 33 it says this, Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus, and he said to him, Are you king of the Jews? That's a great question. You have to understand, does Pilate care? No, not at all. Pilate is governor of Judah.

And let me explain it. That's the worst job in the Roman Empire. The Jews are a pain in the neck. And the only thing that Tiberius, the emperor, doesn't want is to hear bad news about Judah. So if you're the governor of Judah, you just don't, you want to keep the Jews appeased. Romans didn't care what the Jews believed.

They didn't care what anybody believed. And so he said, Are you the king of the Jews? Interesting question.

Why? Because the Jews told Pilate that Jesus Christ claimed to be king, not the emperor. Now Rome is interested.

You can't do that. What you believe about your own Messiah in that, Rome doesn't care. But this is something different. Just then Jesus answered and said, Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me? Pilate, you didn't come up with this on your own. You don't care if I'm king of the Jews. Somebody told you I'm king of the Jews.

I love Pilate's response. I'm not a Jew. He said, I'm not a Jew. Your own nation and chief priests delivered you to me.

What have you done? Jesus then, the truth speaks this way. He said, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. I'm sure that sort of confused Pilate.

Wait, wait, OK. So he says to him, Pilate says to him, So you are a king. Jesus says, You've said correctly that I am a king. He said, For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world.

Now watch, to testify to what? Truth. Why did Jesus come into the world?

What does Jesus form? The truth. This is the truth.

Now understand what I'm saying here. All of the different religious perspectives all over the world, according to Jesus and the word of God, are lies. Jesus said, I've come into the world to bring the truth. I testify to the truth. To testify, he says, Everyone who is in the truth hears my voice.

This is pretty exclusive. And then Pilate says something really interesting. What is truth? That's an interesting statement.

That's a statement of our day, by the way. But what is truth? Now Pilate is well educated. He's political. He's devious. He's a cynical man.

And he has the power to be the judge, jury, and executioner to anybody. He said to Jesus, What is truth? Notice what he didn't say. What is the truth?

That's a different question. Pilate's skeptical of the whole idea of truth. What is truth?

Just like today, Pilate is skeptical completely of this whole idea that there would be truth. The mantra of our academic world, from the time we go to first grade on, is there is no such thing as truth. The most consistent factor in American education is there is no such thing as truth. Kids are taught that all the way through school.

You go to college. You'll hear the professor say, There's no such thing as truth. The attack is on the truth. Now, the problem with it is, then, what are you left with? Sir John Eccles, who was a Nobel Prize-winning pioneer in brain research, he made this observation that science, he said, in trying to answer questions way beyond its competence, he said, Science that asks questions about something it cannot possibly understand has just become superstition. He said, Science, he says, cannot explain the existence of each of us as a unique self, nor can it answer such fundamental questions as, Who am I? Why am I here?

How did I come to be at this place and this time? What happens after death? He said, These are all mysteries beyond science. He said, With the Enlightenment, science replaced Christianity as the intellectual authority.

But when science now has failed to provide ultimate answers, relativism has now replaced science, or that's a statement about America. So let me ask the question, What is truth, then? Just what Pilate said. Well, go with me now to John 14. John 14.

And I want you to see first the context. Jesus is about to be crucified. That means for sure they know he's going to die. Disciples are visibly upset. So Jesus says this, Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God.

Believe in me. Now, I want you to understand Jesus is about to speak about a subject that's pretty important. Jesus wants to speak to his disciples about death. This is Jesus speaking. Now, remember, he's the Word.

He's full of truth. Jesus wants to speak about death. Who wouldn't want answers on death?

What do we have in common? We've all been born, and we're all going to die. So who doesn't want to know about death? We all want to know about death. Jesus said, OK, I'll speak to it.

Don't get upset. Let me speak to it. So Jesus says, In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. Now, he's talking about heaven, and he says, there's many, many dwelling places there.

And if that weren't the truth, I'd have already told you this. He says, so, he says, for I go, and I prepare a place for you. That's what he tells his disciples.

I'm going to go first, and then I'll prepare a place for you. And you've heard me say this in the past, the dwelling place idea, but it's always a reassuring thing for me that, metaphorically, somewhere in heaven right now is a place, a dwelling place, and on the door of it, it says, Bill with one L. And Jesus prepared it. And that's where I'm going, because Jesus said so. You see, and he's the truth. This is the truth.

This isn't an opinion. Let me show you what else he does. He goes on, and he said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, there you'll be also. So I love that. Remember what Paul wrote? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And Jesus said, yeah, I'll receive you to myself wherever I am. And I'm not only going there. He's going to receive me to himself.

That's Jesus speaking. OK. And he says, and you know the way where I'm going. You've got to love Thomas. Thomas says, Lord, we do not know where you're going, and we do not know the way.

What do you think? What? That's all new to Thomas. Everything Jesus said is new.

Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me. Wow. Now, there's a statement.

And Jesus, this is a statement, by the way, that is not very popular in the culture we live. Well, it can't be the only way. No, no, no, no, no. That can't be true.

No, that's what he said. I am the way. Then he said, I am the truth. I am the truth. I'm full of grace and truth. I am the truth. He didn't say, I know the truth. You see, he didn't say, I am the truth. I am the truth. Now, just imagine the day one of you stood up in here and you just made that statement.

What would we think? Lunatic. The man's a lunatic.

He's on medication. No one makes that statement. Someone stands up and says, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. And no one goes to heaven unless they go through me.

You see the profoundness of this statement. I am the truth. The truth here is personified in me. You see, I am the truth. I am the only way. I am the truth.

And I am the life. You see, and think about that from that point of view. Remember what I just read in John 1. Why are you and I here? Christ created us. The Son of God. All things were created by him. I created everything. I am life.

The reason there's life on this planet is I created it. Now, these are the words of Jesus, who's full of truth. You see, that's his statement. Jesus says these things over and over again.

Only a pathological liar could have these words. That's why I always get so upset when I hear, especially college professors, Jesus was a wonderful, just regular human being who was a really great teacher. No great teacher says this.

You can't say that. He's not talking about moral principles. He's saying I am the truth. You see, that's what Jesus is saying here. Now, it makes sense because he's the word of God. Now, the next question is, is there more to it than that?

Yes, it's also propositional for you and me. Go to John 17 with me for a moment and verse 15. John 17 and verse 15. Jesus is praying for his followers the night before he's crucified. It's a great prayer. If you want to know where the Lord's prayer is, this is it. Okay, this is the Lord's prayer.

He prays for all of us. He says in verse 15, I do not ask you to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one. He said they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And then he says this, sanctify them in the truth. You've got to be sanctified in the truth. Now, sanctified is a religious word, so I don't want you to think wrong. Sanctified means set them apart. Set them apart.

It has two aspects to it. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, when were you first set apart by Jesus? When you believed the gospel. When you believed the gospel, you were set apart. You're a child of God.

Why? The gospel is the truth. See, the gospel is the truth. Now, as believers, how do we grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ? How do I get more and more conformed to them? How do I have a life full of peace and joy and hope?

How do I get that? Truth. You see, he said set them apart in the truth.

Then notice what he says after that. Your word is truth. He says the word's truth. How does a person get saved according to God's word? How do your person grow according to God's word?

Why? Because it's the truth. And think about it in John 1.

In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. And he, you see, so the truth of the word is propositional because the truth of God is in a person of Jesus Christ. It's truth. This is the truth.

This is the way we operate. Now, why is it then that so many people reject it over and over again all the time? Go with me to John 8. John 8. Verse 31. John 8, verse 31. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in him, if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know what? The truth. And the truth will make you free.

Now, I know we've used that in civil rights and all that stuff, but that's not the context that Jesus is using it in. What am I free of? Condemnation. What am I free of? Sin. What am I free of? A purposeless life. No meaning. I'm free of all that.

How? If I know the truth? Because, he says, if you do that, you'll know the truth and the truth will make you free. Now, he's talking to religious Jews. That's who he's talking to.

Now, you would have thought, now watch what happens. Here's their response to him. What's their answer? They answered and said, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it you say you'll become free?

What's the answer? Religion. We're the chosen people. We're religious Jews. Don't you tell us that. Our religion is what makes us free. It does not. It's a lie.

It's a lie that you believe. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org. That's F-B-C-N-O-L-A dot O-R-G. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. ... ...