Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. the attack on the truth. The quest for the truth. The revelation of truth. Finally, the way.
of truth. Is Jesus saying here back in John chapter 14, verse 6? I am. The way. No one comes to the Father but through me.
Jesus is saying he is the only way. to God. This is the verdict featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. In our culture today, you can claim almost anything to be your truth. Just don't suggest that it is absolute truth.
Our world wants every belief to be inclusive, subjective. But today, John teaches that real truth, God's Word, does not come from ourselves, and there is still only one way to God. With his message, one way, one truth, one life. Here's Pastor John Monroe. The common wisdom of our culture is that there are many roads to God.
and many ways to get to heaven. To say that there is only one way to God To proclaim that there is only salvation found in Jesus Christ is thought to be extremely bigoted, intolerant, and totally unacceptable in our sophisticated society. While it is one thing for people to enjoy the freedom to worship and to possess a point of view, it's totally another thing to say that all beliefs are equally valid. After all, many beliefs contradict one another. What do you make of all of this?
What do you think? Today afresh we hear Jesus say, I am the way. And the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except. Through me.
Oprah Winfrey, who is listened to and applauded by millions, says, One of the biggest mistakes we make. is to believe that there is only one way. There are many diverse paths leading to God. John Hicks says there is not merely one way, but a plurality of ways of salvation or liberation taking place in different ways within the context of all the great religious traditions. Deepak.
Chopra, who was on Larry King Live, says, quote, the most dangerous idea is my God is the only true God. And my religion is the only true religion. In other words, it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you don't believe that there is only one way. to God. To say that there is only one way, so we're told, is narrow-minded, it's arrogant, it's elitist.
It is politically incorrect and it is even dangerous. It's one thing to say that Jesus is a way to God. It may be all right to say that he is the best way to God, but it's a totally different thing to say that he is the only. way. After all, We are told over and over again That all of the different religions really say and believe the same thing right down at the most fundamental level, they are all roads leading to the top of the same mountain.
What are we to make Of this most common view that we hear over and over again. Let me say from the authority of Scripture that biblical truth has always been exclusive. The first of the ten commandments states, You shall have no other gods but before me. Joshua challenged the people to decide whether to follow the false gods or the true God. But as for me and my house, he says, we're going to serve the Lord.
But you make up your mind, but there is false religion and there is true. religion. Similarly, Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, said, How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, the false god, you follow him.
So, there have always been competing religions against biblical truth in the Old Testament.
Nowhere in the Old Testament is there any suggestion that all religions lead to God. Quite the contrary.
Nowhere does the Old Testament say it doesn't really matter what you believe, as long as you believe something and sincerely believe it. No, the Lord God. The creator of the heavens and the earth. is the only true God according to the Old Testament. When we come to the New Testament, we see the same thing.
Many first century Christians lived in cities like Corinth, like Rome, like Antioch, and were exposed, as we are today, to competing religions. To the competing religions of Judaism, of the Greek and Roman pantheons, of Greek philosophers like the Epicureans and the Stoics, and so on. But in downtown Jerusalem, the Surrounded by people who had beliefs in all of these different religions, Peter could stand. as the leader of the twelve and say There is salvation in no one else. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
He's saying there is only one way, there is only one name, and that is Jesus Christ. To the elitist mystery religions of Colosse, Paul. In his letter that we call Colossians, he presents the uniqueness, the supremacy, and sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Paul provoked a riot in Ephesus in Acts nineteen when he said, Gods made with hands are no gods at all.
So religious pluralism has always been condemned by God, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. You say, well, Jesus was more open minded, he was more tolerant. Let's read that then in John chapter fourteen. Last week we looked at the first three verses of John fourteen. Today we're going to look at verse six and see what Jesus has to say on this very, very important topic.
Subject. John chapter 14. Let me read with you the first six verses so we understand. The context. John 14, then verse 1.
Jesus is saying to his disciples, Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you.
For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going. How do we know the way?
And Jesus said to him, I am. the way. And the truth. and a life No one comes to the Father but Through. Maybe.
Do you get it? Jesus says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one. comes to the father. apart from me, but through Me.
I want us to think particularly of Jesus' statement that he is the truth. I want us first of all to consider the attack on truth today. Secondly, the quest for truth Thirdly, the revelation of truth, and finally, the way of truth. First of all, the attack on truth. God's word has always been attacked.
The first recorded words in Scripture by our enemy, the serpent, were, in Genesis 3, verse 1, has God said. Eve God didn't really say that, did he? Right from the beginning of human history then, God's truth is attacked. Our enemy seeks to undermine truth. He attacks the truth of God's Word.
He throws doubts in our minds as to the accuracy, the trustworthiness and the reliability of the inspired Scripture. Jesus has already said in John chapter 8. Describing our enemy, that he is the father. Of You remember? Lies.
He is the father of lies. And today You don't need me to tell you. There is an increasing attack on the Bible, which is the truth, the Word of God. John chapter seventeen, verse seventeen, Jesus said to his father, Your word is truth. But no book has been so attacked, so ridiculed, so vilified throughout human history as the Bible.
and repeatedly in our media, in our universities, And even in some churches, the word of God is attacked. The Jesus Seminar, with its very shoddy scholarship, declared that the words of Jesus written in our Gospels, many of them are false. He didn't actually say them. We are inundated with criticisms and attacks about the person and work of Jesus. Just in the last year or two, oh, he was really married to Mary Magdalene.
He had a a child out of wedlock. More recently, his bones have been found. No, he didn't rise from the dead. We've actually discovered his bones. Here they are.
Judas, portrayed in the Bible as one who betrays Christ. No, he's really a kind of hero. Here's the Gospel of Judas and all of this. and I will make a A little prophecy. It'll get worse and worse.
One wonders what it will be next week, next month, another attack on the word of God. We shouldn't be surprised because in our postmodern world there is an attack on truth. Our postmodern world believes that there is no objective truth. There are no real facts, just personal interpretations.
So uncertainty. Ambiguity are the new truths. Live in your own reality. Those of you who heard Deepak Chopra on Larry King Live was saying, in terms of going from life to death, as he was talking about the imminent death of Tammy Faye Mesner, who died, he was saying, Well, she's going to c if she believes it, she creates her own reality. Whatever that may mean.
Live in your own reality. Make your own rules. Do it your way. Believe and feel anything you want. There's nothing really particularly new in that a couple of the Greek philosophers in the fourth century debated it.
Protagoras said to Sophocles, Whatever a person believes is right. To which Sophocles replied, In which case, my dear Protagoras, I believe you are wrong. Yeah. How can someone say to believe everything is right that whatever you believe is right. How foolish.
But nowadays there are no absolute truths. There are no moral absolutes. Morality and human behaviour are reduced to matters of personal preference. a matter of personal choice, a matter of personal lifestyle. Individual autonomy, self-fulfilment become supreme rather than God's truth.
No, it's one thing. for atheists to come to that conclusion. But it's mind blowing when many professing Christians seem to be enamoured by such a convenient and such a false mindset. And so we're told by some churches: don't bring your Bible to church. Don't have the symbol of the cross.
In church, someone might be offended. When confronted With The truth. And then more and more churches, as we all know, biblical preaching is becoming replaced by storytelling, by more drama, by testimonies, by comedians, by productions, by sentimental songs. One prominent pastor, very influential in the new emerging church, said that preaching is no longer a viable methodology for worship and evangelism in a postmodern world.
So, what replaces biblical preaching?
Well, let me sit on the stool and tell you my story, my journey. Let me share my hang-ups, my problems, my questions. And the congregation says, Don't preach to me because I might be offended when I am confronted with the truth. The truth God's truth. The Bible is under attack.
Let me say it is essential. It is vital. that our beliefs are based on reality. Are based on the truth, not what we like, not what is convenient, not on what is sentimental, not on my personal desires and prejudices, but the truth. Quoting a Russian proverb, Solzhenitsyn said.
One word of truth. outweighs the whole. world. If you believe it is true and your life is based on truth, he is saying that outweighs all that is going on in the world. but there is an attack.
Untruth. Secondly, the quest for truth. I trust you are here because you are someone who is seeking the truth, someone who loves the truth. We must build our lives on that which is reliable and that which is trustworthy. As I was thinking about that, I thought of the story of the family of hillbillies.
Mama and Daddy and The boy and the daughter. Who had never lived out of their little small community somewhere in rural America. And they really wanted to go to Washington, D.C. They wanted to see the sights. They wanted to spend some time in a beautiful hotel.
And so they saved and saved and saved until finally they were able to travel to Washington, D.C., and stay in one of these huge, beautiful hotels. And they went into their towel, they're absolutely mesmerized. It had fountains in it. They were amazed at the chandeliers and the sheer opulence of this beautiful hotel. And so, mama and the daughter went to one of these beautiful boutiques in the hotels that I always avoid.
Daddy and the boy were standing. in the hotel lobby. Looking at Something they've never seen before. This hotel had escalators and elevators, and they had never seen these before. And they were standing there.
in front of what was an elevator, they didn't know it was an elevator. And as they were standing there, the doors of the elevator opened and an old woman stepped in, a woman of about ninety. She hobbled into the elevator, the door closed. A few moments later, it opened up and out came this beautiful twenty-five-year-old gorgeous model. And daddy said to son, quick, son, get mama.
Now, you can believe all you like that you can put a 90-year-old into An elevator and wait a few minutes, and out comes a beautiful 25-year-old model, but it's not going to change reality. sensible people base their lives not on delusions not on possibilities, not on wishful thinking, but On truth. Unreality. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 states: We hold these truths. to be self evident.
The constitution of this country then was built on the foundation of certain self evident truths. This gave a moral foundation, a world view, security and vision to a new nation. and to stand against error. To stand against delusions, to stand against lies, we must have the truth. And as human beings, all of us should be seekers after the truth.
If you go to a law court, at least in theory, there is a search for the truth. Witnesses take an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If you have a health problem and you go to your doctor, however unpalatable it is, you want him to tell you the truth about your condition. Just because it's bad news, just because it's inconvenient, just because you may not like what he says, you don't say to him, I hope, don't tell me the truth, tell me something that makes me good. No, your health.
has to be based on The truth. We base our individual lives, our society, our homes, our relationships on that which is trustworthy, on that which is reliable, on that which is true.
Some of you are aware of the New York bestseller. The secret. It's based on, quote, the law of attraction. Don't buy it, but let me quote from it. You may not be aware of it, but a powerful force is at work in your life.
It's called the law of attraction, the capability to attract more of what you want in your life. Money. health, relationships and less of what you don't want. The law is always working, rather like the law of gravity, and right now it is attracting people, jobs, situations and relationships in your life, both good and bad. The law of attraction is totally reliable.
When you think of things that you want and you focus on them with all of your attention, the law of attraction will give you what you want every time.
Now there's a claim in the book The Secret with the DVD, bestseller in the New York Times list, selling millions. Accepting This. As The truth. How sad. If we're going to resist being manipulated, If we're going to be in a position to expose error or illusion or outright lies, truth is essential.
So I ask you. Are you a seeker after the truth? Do you have a passion for truth? Do you have a passion for the truth of the kingdom of God? Do you have a passion for eternal truth, that truth which will put everything into true perspective?
One of the problems of religious pluralism and political correctness is that they discourage us from asking about and seeking the truth. In my office upstairs, I have on my computer screen a verse from Proverbs twenty-three, verse twenty-three. You know what it says? By the truth and And sell it, not. That was advised by Solomon.
Good advice to us all to search for the truth, to buy the truth and sell it not, that our lives are built on the truth of the Word of God. First, there's an attack on truth. Secondly, we should be seekers for truth. Third, the revelation. of truth.
Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 18. Jesus before Pilate the Roman judge. Let me read with you John 18, verses 36 through 38. Very, very important verses. Don't miss them.
Here is Jesus before Pilate. Jesus answered, John 18:36, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is. Is not of this realm.
Pilate therefore said to him, So you're a king? Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born. And for this I have come into the world. You get this?
Here is the reason why Jesus comes into the world. to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth Here's my Voice. Do you get that? Everyone who is of the truth Hears the voice of Jesus.
Pilate said to him, What is Truth. Here is King Jesus revealing the truth to Pilate, but it's too costly for Pilate. Pilate asks, What is truth? But he doesn't wait for the answer. He tries to evade the issue.
As a consummate politician, he tries to pass the buck, tries to pass the decision-making to someone else, to King Herod, to the Jews, to the crowd, to someone else. But at the end of the day, He has to decide. And he chooses. The seat? Injustice.
Cruelty. Political expediency rather than the truth. He rejects the truth. The truth who is standing right in front of him. And when truth is rejected, As we know from human history, when truth is rejected, all kinds of horrors.
ensue. In this case, an innocent man. is crucified. Jesus is saying here very, very strongly and very importantly that the kingdom over which King Jesus rules. is a kingdom of truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears the voice of Jesus. Those who are part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We are to love the truth, we are to hear the truth. And we are to obey. The truth.
The New Testament commentator F. F. Bruce writes, Here is the incarnation Lagos who is speaking the embodiment of eternal truth now revealed on earth at a particular time and place. That is in Jesus. Right in front of Pilate, there is the very personification of truth.
Jesus is not only a witness to the truth. He's not only telling the truth. He is. The Truth. You're a seeker after truth.
We want to welcome you. You say I'm not quite sure what to believe, but I do seek the truth. I want to seek the truth. I want to seek for it passionately. That's great.
Here is the truth. If you want to know the truth, listen. To the voice of Jesus. He is the truth regarding God, sin, salvation, heaven, hell, death, and life. And here in John chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus is saying, I am.
Yeah. truth. This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. and the start of a message titled, One Way, One Truth, One Life. Don't go anywhere just yet because John will be back in a moment with his closing remarks.
Today's lesson reminds us that nothing stands above the truth and power of Jesus Christ. and yet sometimes, in the moments we need Him the most, we have trouble putting our full trust in Him. That's why John wrote a booklet titled Trusting God in Tough Times. It addresses real questions like: How do we cope when things are so uncertain? Why should we trust God?
And how can our perspective on God make a difference in real life? The answers to these questions are essential, and that's why I would love to equip you with this helpful resource today. just go to our website at theverdict.org and request your copy of the Trusting God in Tough Times booklet. Before we close today's program, we invite you to join in what God is doing through these daily biblical messages by supporting us with a financial gift of any amount. Your generous contributions help bring these gospel messages to your local community and all around the world.
So partner with us today by going online to theverdict.org. And remember that you can always find these messages by subscribing to the Verdict Podcast, available on all major podcast platforms. In addition to these lessons, John has a weekly podcast exclusive called Avizandum, where he offers an insightful and biblical take on relevant topics, giving them the careful consideration Scottish law calls Avizandum. Subscribe to the Verdict Podcast.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Are you a seeker of truth? Jesus said to Pilate, I've come into the world to be a witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
So Jesus is claiming to be the way. The truth. The only way to eternal life. Was he wrong? Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.
He's utterly unique, and He is the way to God. and to salvation. Don't miss the next broadcast as we listen to the teaching of Jesus on this all-important subject. Seek The truth. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict.
I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
