Truth

 

 

As we continue our series in the book of Hebrews, we’ll park one more week at this text in Hebrews 3:1: “Therefore holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” 

 

We’ve seen how Jesus is the matchless Apostle and High Priest of our faith. Last week we turned our attention to what is commonly called the Lord’s High Priestly prayer to uncover some of WHAT He prays for us. Today we will look one more time at some things He prays for us.

 

For the sake of time, I will read only a few of the salient points of John 17 -

(John 17:1-24): “Lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ² even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent . . . .9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me . . . 11 Holy Father, keep them . . . that they may be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name . . .and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled . . . 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth . . . 20 I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. . . . 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given  Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

 

In verse 17, the Lord asks the Father to sanctify the apostles. The Greek word John uses for ‘sanctified’ means to purify, to cleanse, and to set apart for God’s work. And as we saw last week, the Lord also prays for us today who believe what the apostles wrote about Christ – that being, Jesus prays that we also will be sanctified in Truth. And let us not overlook the next clause in this verse: “Your word is truth.”

 

But some might ask, ‘What is truth?’ I think the one person in all history who made that question most popular was Governor Pilate. If you know your Bible well, you’ll remember his mocking question when the Lord Jesus told him: (John 18:37b-38) “I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” To which Pilate said, “What is truth?”

 

What is truth? Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has been seducing men and women to dismiss God’s truth. You’ll remember how he sowed doubt into her mind: (Genesis 3:1) “Has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” And just like our first mother, humanity has succumbed to his same seductions ever since.

So, what truth does our Creator want us to know AND obey to receive eternal life? That’s easy to answer. God wants us to know His truth about the faith and the morals He built into us. But since Genesis 3 we’ve been corrupted by our sin nature to such a degree that most people can stare Truth (capital T) – in the face, and still ask the question as Pilate asked.

 

Why is that? Scripture answers that question, too: (Ecclesiastes 7:29) “God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes [for evil].”

 

It is only God’s word that tells us the Truth about God’s nature: His love, His holiness, His justice, AND His wrath toward sin. God’s infallible and inerrant word tells us who we are, WHY we are what we are, where we come from, where we’re going, and even what it will be like when we get there – both for the unredeemed and for the redeemed.

 

Truth is truth – any kind of truth – regardless of a person’s opinion of truth. And to deny any kind of truth is not only irrational, but idiotic. For example, mathematical and biological truths do not bow to opinion. And I might deny the truth of gravity, but if I jump off the roof of this building, I’ll quickly discover that gravitational truth doesn’t bow to my opinion.

It’s the same thing with God’s truth regarding faith and morals. A person can argue day and night against what the Bible says about faith and morals – and he may get away with his reckless opinion for decades, even for a lifetime. But when he closes his eyes in death and immediately opens them in the next life, he’ll quickly discover to his everlasting horror that God’s truth does not bow to his opinion.

If ever there was a time you and I needed an anchor for our souls, something that has been true since Genesis chapter one, and will remain true into eternity, it is now, today, as we near the end of 2025.

 

Yes, not everyone wants to know God’s view about faith and morals. Why? Because knowing His truth makes us RESPONSIBLE to follow its direction. God’s truth forces us to take sides. No one can stay neutral in the face of Truth.

 

We looked last week at what is God’s truth about Jesus – that He is Almighty God in the flesh of a man, born of the Virgin, died a sacrificial and atoning death to save us from the Father’ wrath for our sins, His resurrection, ascension, and soon return. To deny ANY of those truths is to deem oneself unworthy of eternal life. Harsh words, yes. But sugar-coated truth to make it more palatable is to be eternally harsher still. (See Acts 13:46)

 

So, beyond what He tells us about Jesus, what is God’s truth about faith and morals? To fit within our time constraints, we will look at only three of His truths.

 

First, God requires of us a holy lifestyle. Second: Heaven and Hell are REAL places. What we do with Christ in THIS life determines where we spend our afterlife. And the third Truth we’ll talk about today: God searches for everyone and for one reason only - to bring us home to Himself.

 

So, let’s look at the first truth for today: God requires of us holiness. What does that mean? A lifestyle geared toward holiness means we strive to avoid what God calls sin. For example, listen to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [i.e. male prostitutes], nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”

 

St. Peter added: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16)

 

Indeed, anyone familiar with the Scriptures knows God’s requirement of us to be holy fills virtually every page from Genesis through Revelation.

 

A lifestyle of holiness means to be separated from the culture’s view of life and acceptable lifestyles. It means to be morally AND ethically pure. And it will be woefully insufficient to try to excuse or rationalize a sinful lifestyle when we each stand at the Judgement Seat of God by saying our pastor, or our church allows such and such an action.

 

I spoke to a man not many years ago who tried to justify his acceptance of homosexual marriage, abortion, and fornication. When I told him what the Bible said about his view of those damnable sins, he told me his church does not believe those practices are sinful. He added, as if to further seal the deal, his church is pastored by ‘intellectuals’ – that was the word he used. I guess he meant by that, his church picks and chooses what they will follow when it comes to Biblical Truth about morality.

 

Please hear me: If your church teaches God’s view of morality has changed with the millennia, that He has updated His definition of Truth and of holiness, then you’d better find a different church. God was very clear when He said: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

 

Here is some truth worthy of attention: Don’t mess with a holy God.

 

Truth number two: Heaven exists. And – contrary to what a growing number of clergy and theologians today want you to believe, Hell also exists. Listen to this dire warning in Revelation 20:11-15 – “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

 

I remember talking to a young atheist more than fifty years ago. What he said to me as I watched him diligently studying an open Bible on the table in front of him – what he said has stayed with me all these decades. When I asked what he was doing he turned and looked at me for only a moment before responding, “I’m studying the Bible to prove it wrong.”

 

For good reason, the Holy Spirit moved St. Paul to write to the church at Corinth: “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

 

And it doesn’t matter a whit what academic degrees or titles people have who mock or twist or pervert the plain truths of Scripture. The Pharisees and Sadducees held academic degrees from their most prestigious seminaries, but what did those degrees ultimately do for them? It got them the eternal lake of fire unless before they died, they repented of their sins and their rejection of Christ.

 

How many times have you heard people refer to God as a fable believed by an ancient and scientifically ignorant people? But how many scoffers today know that, for example, in the years between 1900 and 2000, 64% of the Nobel prizes in physics, 65% of the prizes in medicine, and 74% of Nobel prizes in Chemistry went to Christians? Would those who mock the idea of God and His absolute Truth – would those who boldly assert belief in God is a fable fit only for ignorant people – would those mockers be so arrogant as to call those scientists ignorant?

 

Well, despite the evidence to the contrary, many probably would still cling to their arrogant disbelief.

 

Why? The ONLY reason otherwise intelligent men and women reject God and His Son is because they want to avoid the light of the gospel message. They want to live their own way and according to their own version of truth. That’s not my opinion. They are the words of Truth spoken by Jesus: (John 3:19-20) “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” 

 

Rightly did St. Paul tell the Christians at Corinth, “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

 

I remember when I visited my friend, Dan Taub, as he lie dying from liver cancer, he placed his hand on mine and quoted St. Paul’s last words to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

 

Finally for today’s message, here is truth number three: Despite the sins – or even the evils you have done in your past, God searched for you – and STILL searches for you for only one reason. That reason is not to punish you, nor to condemn you. He searched and is searching to RESCUE you.

 

 Many of you are familiar with the story Jesus told of the lost sheep: (Luke 15:4-7) ⁴ “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵ When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

 

The shepherd seeking its lost sheep hears it crying in the distance. It’s frightened. Cold. Lonely. And when the shepherd hears it’s cry, he runs to rescue it.

 

Have you ever cried out to God, lonely? Lost? Frightened? Make no mistake, Jesus heard you. Jesus ran to you. He always runs to you. That’s the point of the entire 15th chapter of Luke – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.

For me, the truth about the Lord’s active search for the lost is the most encouraging of all the truths of Scripture. Even to this moment, I remember being lost. I remember feeling alone. I remember the sorrow that I had for my sins – some of which were most horrible. I remember not knowing if God could ever forgive me.

 

And I still – to this day, nearly 53 years later - I still remember my joy when I discovered God loved me – ME – enough to keep seeking for me until he found me.

 

Do you know that God loves you, and that He kept seeking you until He found you?  And listen to this: Jesus didn’t stop seeking you after He found you. He STILL seeks for you and me as we drift from time to time. He still seeks us, wooing us back to himself, watching us, protecting us, chastening us, guiding us into His Truth. He is still wanting us to love him better today than we did yesterday, and better tomorrow than we do today.

 

Today we looked at only some of the Truths of Scripture: God requires of us a holy lifestyle. What we do with Christ in THIS life determines where we spend our afterlife. And God searches for everyone for one reason only - to bring us home to Himself.

 

May our God help each of us to not only believe those truths, but to put those truths into practice day after day – because doing so will change our lives for the better.