Treasuring Truth | Part 1

What's the difference between truth and fact?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. We have a generation today that does not know how to differentiate between truth and facts. What's the difference between facts and truth? Facts are like a recipe.

Truth is the meal. Facts deals with knowledge. And knowledge may double, but truth never.

If it is new, it's not true. Truth is settled in eternity. Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the powerful insights and teaching of Adrian Rogers. In this day, it's not values that we desperately need, but virtue. We must be able to differentiate truth and fact. We acquire facts. We learn truth. Facts deal with knowledge, and knowledge can double, but truth never changes. It's settled for eternity. If you have your Bible, turn to Proverbs chapter 23 and look at verse 23 as Adrian Rogers begins this message treasuring truth.

Find in your Bibles the book of Proverbs right after the book of Psalms and turn to the 23rd chapter. Most of our time, we're going to spend in just one verse. We're going to be talking about truth today, about truth. You know, we live in a strange day. Everybody's talking today about pluralism.

This is American. There has to be room for everybody. Pluralism. And you know what? I agree with that.

But I want to tell you something. These people who are talking about pluralism, they do not mean pluralism. For example, in a public gathering, it's time to pray, and they'll ask a rabbi to pray, and he'll pray, and that'll be fine. They will ask a Muslim, perhaps, to pray, and he'll pray, and that'll be fine. But ask a Christian to pray, and he might pray and say, and in Jesus' name. Ooh, don't say that. Don't pray in Jesus' name.

Well, why not? That's pluralism, isn't it? Listen to me, folks. A rabbi ought to pray as a rabbi prays. A Catholic priest ought to pray as a Catholic priest prays.

A Muslim ought to pray as a Muslim prays, and a Christian ought to pray as a Christian prays. That's pluralism. You know, none of us are going to agree with everybody else, but in pluralism, we all say, hey, this is who we are. This is what we believe. But you see, we have a world that doesn't really believe in pluralism. What they want is syncretism. That's just a big word.

It means mush everything up. Nobody have any sharp edges. Nobody really even believe any particular thing. And then we have a generation today that talks so much about values. Boy, I'm telling you, you're going to hear more and more about values and values and values and values, and they're going to pray about family values.

Well, folks, let me tell you something. Everybody has values. The mafia has values. Everybody has values. It is not values that we need. It is virtues. There's a difference. Values come from autonomous individuals who just decide what they want to believe in. And I was surprised to listen to some of these political rallies when they would talk about a woman's right to kill her baby.

Everybody would applaud, applauding that, applauding that, cheering for that. Why? That is their value. My friend, it may be a value, but it is not a virtue. You see what we've done? We've come from pluralism to syncretism. We have come from virtues to values.

Now, another thing that we have done is this. We have come from truth to facts, F-A-C-T-S. And we have a generation today that does not know how to differentiate between truth and facts. Now, facts deals with knowledge, and knowledge may double, but truth never. Listen to me now.

If it is new, it's not true. Truth is settled in eternity. Listen to the Word of God. Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 23. Buy the truth, buy the truth and sell it not.

Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. Casualty in modern America today and, yes, around the world is that truth has been sacrificed on the altar of pragmatism. You see, what we have is just simply this. If our pockets are full, then everything is fine. Not necessarily so.

Have we moved from one nation under God to one nation under greed? Buy the truth and sell it not. Now, we have substituted facts for truth. Not that facts in themselves are wrong. Facts are stubborn things. But there is a difference in acquiring facts and learning truth.

We're drowning in facts. If you were to take man's accumulated knowledge and just start from the time that history began, wherever that was, and up to the year 1845, just let that equal an inch. From creation to 1845, that's an inch. That's how much accumulated knowledge, so far as facts, man had. All right, and then if you would go to 1845 to 1945, that inch has gone to three inches. So man has really learned a lot.

But if you were to go from 1945 to 1975, that three inches would be as tall as the Washington Monument, just in those few years. And from that time on, from 1975 till today, the accumulated facts would be out of sight in the stratosphere. We're learning more and more facts. And that's what the Bible prophesied.

The Bible says in the last days, knowledge shall increase. And that, my friend, is true. But truth has not changed one bit. And you see, we have a generation that is devouring facts and crucifying truth.

And so we see more crime, more suicide, more mental illness, more broken homes, more drug abuse than ever before. What's the difference between facts and truth? Facts are like a recipe. Truth is the meal. When you digest the truth, it will change your life. That's the reason that Satan's chief, chief tool in trade is a lie, which is antithetical to the truth.

Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees of his day, said, You are of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, now watch this, and abode not in the truth. His motive is murder. His method is the lie. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth. And then Jesus said, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.

He's the father of all lies and any liar is acting like his father, the devil. 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. Truth 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?

It 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 hearts. 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. I am accused of being narrow-minded. Well, you know, you get so broad-minded, your mind gets thin in the middle.

You know that, don't you? You get so open-minded, your brains will fall out. No, we're called narrow-minded. Well, I'll tell you one thing. I want my banker to be narrow-minded when he's handling my money. I want my pilot to be narrow-minded when he's flying that airplane. I certainly do. And I'll tell you something else.

I want my pharmacist to be narrow-minded when he's mixing those medicines. Why should we not, in the most important thing of all of earth, be right with God? Want truth that is absolute? Now, we're living in a day today where the idea of absolute truth is being jettisoned. The society today calls itself post-modern.

Post-modern. The modernists were arguing about what is truth. The post-modernists said, forget truth.

What's true for you may not be true for me. And you have your truth and I have my truth. And we just become autonomous and create our own truth. There is a movement, a very strong movement in the world today. You may not be aware of it, but it's called humanism. And it is more than a philosophy.

It also has its own organization. And they have their printing and they have their own humanist manifesto. Let me tell you what the humanist manifesto has to say about the difference between truth and non-truth. Quote, moral values derive their source from human experience. Ethics is autonomous and situational. That is, you make up the rules as you play the game.

In Plato's Republic, he wrote about some sailors who lost their compass and so they put a light on the bow and steered by that. That's what we're doing today. That's, morals, values, man is autonomous. And so when our kids are going off to college, many of them going off to college now, they will be told in the normal average university that there are no moral absolutes. As a matter of fact, one professor was teaching that in a particular class and he said to the students, there are no absolutes, none.

And the student said, Professor, are you sure about that? He said, absolutely. 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.

This 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 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'd 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. Truth is costly. And I'm going to show you why it's going to cost you.

You know, we're hearing bandied about these words these days. The truth will set you free. The truth will make you free.

Well, that's only part of the truth. The truth about all the truth is an untruth. You know, you take a scripture out of context and you miss the whole thing. Now, let me give you the whole verse where Jesus said the truth will make you free.

By the way, you might want to turn to it or put it in your margin. John chapter 8, verses 31 and 32. And Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, underscore that. If ye continue in my word, underscore that.

Then are ye my disciples indeed, underscore that. And ye shall know the truth. And the truth shall set you free. Did you hear that?

Now, listen to it. Truth alone does not make you free. First of all, you must believe the truth.

Listen, the Jews believed on him. You must believe on the Lord Jesus. Now, once you believe on the Lord Jesus, is it done? No. Then he says what? Continue in my word. Are you finished then?

No. He says what? Then become a disciple. And the word disciple means learner. Be a disciple indeed. Now, a lot are disciples in name if I ask you. How many of you are disciples of Jesus? I'm a disciple of Jesus.

But he says, be a disciple indeed. And then he says, and ye shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. You see, when you believe the word or when you believe in Jesus, when you continue in the word, when you become a disciple, a disciple indeed, then you know the truth and then you become liberated.

There are a lot of you today who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you're going to heaven. But friend, you are not a liberated person because you have never really absorbed truth. You've never taken truth.

You've never taken time to purchase, to buy the truth. You know, the word in that sentence that is the rub, disciple. Do you know another word that is akin to disciple? Discipline. And people don't like discipline because we have a generation that wants to be free. You see truth as restricting you and discipline as restricting you. I read a quote somewhere.

I don't know who said it, but it stuck in my heart. He who is a slave to the compass is the master of the oceans. The rest have to sail close to the shore.

Is that not great? He who is a slave to the compass, the compass is what the ancient mariners used to guide the ships with. He who is a slave to the compass is the master of the oceans.

The rest have to sail close to the shore. Friend, you see truth liberates you. Truth makes you free. Truth sets you free. Buy the truth. Now discipleship is costly, but ignorance is far more costly. 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, and therefore hurry is the death knell of prayer and Bible study. You want to buy the truth, it's going to cost you some time. Most of us won't pay that price. 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. Now I'll tell you 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 or even turn 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.

He has 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, Carpo boy, take care of this for me. I 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 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 winner 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 parchments.

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. And coming up tomorrow, we'll continue with part two of Treasuring Truth. But maybe you have questions about who Jesus is today, what he means to you, how you can begin a relationship with God through Christ. We invite you to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

You'll find resources and materials that can answer questions you might have about your faith. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title Treasuring Truth.

You can also go online to order at lwf.org slash radio. Or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well, are you growing in truth and love? As Adrian Rogers said, discipleship is costly, but ignorance is far more costly.

Consider seeking out a mentor in the faith, someone who can point you to scripture and lead you in truth. And we hope you'll join us here tomorrow for the conclusion of Treasuring Truth on Love Worth Finding. A young seminary student wrote to us not long ago with a really encouraging word.

Adrian Rogers is amazing. He preached the word with boldness and courage. I hope to be like him someday because he is a great example of our Lord Jesus Christ. We love hearing how these messages have helped you mature in your faith. We're also grateful for the prayers and donations that sustain us as we continue to share some powerful resources. As a way to say thank you for your gift this month, we want to send you our booklet collection titled Why. This bundle gives insight to the big questions many times we ask in the middle of a dark storm. Request the Why booklet collection when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD or give online at lwf.org slash radio. And again, thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.