I’m going to preach a lesson today on “TRUTH”. The word is much used in Scripture—there are many, many passages in Scripture about “Truth”. I looked up in John’s Gospel and the three epistles of John and the Revelation letter [written by John], and I found that he used the word 136 times in those books that he wrote.
Now, the word “Truth” occurs all the way through the Old Testament as well. You have Solomon writing, “Buy the Truth and sell it not,” [Proverbs 23:23]. He’s emphasizing the preciousness of Truth. If there’s any commodity that you need in your life, it’s Truth. “Sell it not” means you’d never give it up. There’s no price that they could pay that would take it away from you.
I read a statement in a religious journal this past week. It really caught my eye because I think it applies to all of us here today. Here’s what I want to read to you that touched me. I’m going to read it slowly because I want you to think about it. The short article was entitled The Triumph of Truth:
“It is better to be divided by Truth than to be united by error. It is better to speak the Truth that hurts, and then heals, than falsehood that comforts, and then kills. It is not love, and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the Truth than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It is better to stand alone with the Truth than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better to ultimately succeed with the Truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. ‘Buy the Truth and sell it not.’”
Alton Meador read to us just a moment ago from the Gospel of John, and it said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God,” [John 1:1]. Then he [John] goes on to describe how the Word came into the world.
Now we must recognize that Truth is transmitted by words. Words are the vehicles of Truth. You may observe Truth in action, but to communicate Truth, you have to have words. Then the apostle John describes Jesus as that Word of Truth that came from the Father, and he describes how Jesus illuminated—how He came into the world as a light. And we still use that word today. When we learn something, and we understand it, we have been illuminated. Light is associated with Truth, and darkness is associated with error and with sin.
I took a concordance and looked up this word. I’m not sure how many times it’s used in the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it is a multitude of times. There’s no doubt about that. When we realize what Solomon was saying about “buying the Truth,” he’s saying “here’s probably the most precious thing you can possess!” Friends, if we knew the truth about cancer, we’d have a cure. If we knew the truth about any number of things in our world, we could clear up all kinds of doubt, superstition and misunderstanding. If you are married, a husband and a wife live by truth. If one time we tell a lie to that partner, we may destroy that sacred relationship.
No man can lie to God because God knows all things. Well, if we tried, we would certainly destroy our relationship with God. God has never lied to us. Our Lord Jesus Christ never lied. The Holy Spirit revealed the Will of God and the works of our Lord Jesus, and He never lied. We have a book of TRUTH!
I looked up a number of passages, and I found that they fell mainly (in the New Testament) into four categories: Truth as it’s associated with our Lord Jesus, Truth as it’s associated with the Holy Spirit, Truth as it’s associated with the church, and Truth as it pertains to us as Christian individuals.
Now the passages that I’m going to call to your mind are passages that you know:
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father…” and here it is… “full of grace and full of Truth.” That’s John 1:14. That is a beautiful passage!
Now, think of the fact that no man has seen God at any time. Then Jesus came, and one of the apostles [Philip] said, “Show us the Father, and it suffices,” and Jesus answered him and said, “Have I been so long time with you, and you’ve not yet seen the Father? He that has seen me has seen the Father,” [John 14:8-9]. Do you realize that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are of the same substance—that they are eternal in nature? When GOD created this marvelous universe and breathed into us the breath of life, Jesus was there and the Spirit was there. When God made man from the dust of the earth, He said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness,” [Genesis 1:26]. Well, the image of God and Jesus and the Spirit was not the dust of the earth. It’s what’s up here [Harvey points to his head], it’s what you know, it’s what you believe with all of your heart. It’s what you love. It’s what you’ll die for. And thereby we see the Father, and we know the Son, and the Spirit indwells us.
So I was pleased to see that much of the usage of the word “Truth” is associated with our Lord Jesus Christ—that when He came to this earth, He came first of all to join us in becoming flesh and blood, because the God Head had not experienced what we have in flesh and blood. But Jesus has experienced flesh and blood, and thereby He becomes our faithful high priest who “was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin,” [Hebrews 4:15]. Think of this perfect friend!
Now He came to show us exactly what the Father is like. What we just commemorated in the Lord’s Supper reminds us of the love of God, because His love sent Jesus. But it reminds us not only of the love of Jesus, but also reminds us of Jesus’ submission to the Will of the Father, even though He could say, “The Father and I are One,” [John 10:30]. He was still submissive to the Father. And the Spirit was submissive to Jesus. He said, “When I return to the Father, I will send you the Comforter,” [John 15:26]. [John, chapters 14, 15 and 16 all speak of the ‘Comforter’ or ‘Counselor’ that Jesus would send. The New International Version of the Bible translates the word ‘Comforter’ as ‘Counselor’.] He sent the Holy Spirit. I think there’s an order of authority in the Godhead. I know that Jesus was submissive so that He might pay the price for our sins—and here’s where grace appears. We didn’t deserve it! “For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly,” [Romans 5:8]. And this verse [John 1:14] says that when He came and we beheld Him, we saw that He was “full of grace and full of Truth.”
Now I’m afraid I find in the church today that there is a lot of preaching about grace but not too much preaching about Truth. I find people “feeling emotions” a lot more than they speak the Truth. We ought to feel good about the word “grace.” It means “unmerited favor.” But dear friends, when Jesus manifested Himself, Truth was on an equal par with grace. We don’t want to minimize either one of them. We want at all times and in all ways to declare the Truth. “Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free,” [John 8:32].
There is in the brotherhood today a diminishing less and less of preaching—more songs, more activities and shorter sermons. Some of our Bible Classes will have coffee and doughnuts for the first 20 minutes and then, hopefully, they’ll have 30 minutes for the lesson. Friends, keep your head in the Book! We’re in troubled times. We need to be studying God’s Word. We need to know it as well as we possibly can, and we need to practice it. The more we know the Word, the more we know our Lord Jesus Christ, the more we love Him, and the more we want to serve Him and be like Him.
So think of that beautiful verse. When He came, He came FULL OF… The Greek word is pleroma. It means “overflowing” …with grace and Truth. So He came to declare the Father and to tell us truthfully what the Father is like. How beautiful all of these passages are! He says in John 14, verse 6, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. And no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” I read where a man, a noted preacher in the brotherhood, said, “Anyone that calls God ‘Father’ is my brother.” He had to correct that statement. The Muslim [Moslem] world calls God “Father.” The Jewish world calls God “Father.” You’ve got to be a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ to have the privilege of calling God your “Father” because, “no man comes to the Father but by Me [Jesus].”
When Jesus described Himself, He said, “I am the Way”—I’m the Way back to God. I’m the Way of Life that you need. What do we find in Christ? Oh, we find joy unspeakable! We find hope unbounded! We find love supreme! Everything the world needs is found in Jesus Christ. He is sufficient for every need. Paul said, “I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,”[1Corinthians 2:2].
What we need is the plain, simple Gospel of Jesus Christ to restore us to what the church ought to be—everywhere! “I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life,” [John 14:6]. There is no Life apart from Him. The abundant Life is found in Jesus Christ. You don’t have to have a mansion to be happy, to be fulfilled, to have hope eternal, to live an abundant Life. He’s put salvation on the lowest shelf. Everybody can have it. And isn’t it amazing how the Gospel’s been preached in so many places outside our country, and they’re responding by the hundreds in Africa—even in Russia?
Jean Burch is signing over here for our deaf. You may not know that she has been for years grading correspondence courses that have gone to Europe and other places…about 170 of them. And I don’t know the exact number—she could tell you—but many, many have been baptized while she taught them by sending correspondence courses to them and grading them and answering their questions in letters. That’s thrilling, dear friends. Those people are learning the TRUTH, and they’re becoming New Testament Christians!
Pilate said to Jesus, in a sneering way, “What is truth?” [John 18:38]. I’ve heard it in classrooms where somebody said, “Well, it’s hard to define truth. What may be true today is not true tomorrow.” Well, don’t be that skeptical. If you keep defining, you’ll come right down to the core, to the very heart or clear meaning of Truth, and you’ll know the Truth. You can know the Truth! We may know partial truths, or we may know incomplete truths, but NOT in THIS book! [Harvey is holding up the Bible.] This book declares that there’s one God; one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; one Holy Spirit; one church; one Word; one Truth. [See Ephesians 4:5.] Put all of this together and you have the unity that the whole world needs. This is simple enough that anybody in any country can do it.
Sue [Sue Porter, wife of Harvey Porter] and I were in Africa on one occasion, and we worshipped in several places there. One of these places was a mud hut. Fellow Christians there had the Lord’s Supper, and they sang, and they prayed and an interpreter interpreted for us so that we’d know what the prayer was, and then they had the sermon. I was touched. Do you realize wherever our Lord worshipped, prayed with His apostles and disciples? All over Galilee—sometimes in the Temple courtyard. But friends, it’s not the walls around us that make the church. We’re the church. And if our heart is in tune with heaven, and we know the Truth, and we stand for the Truth, and we worship in spirit and in Truth, then heaven is here, and Jesus is present, and God is pleased, and we’re following—obeying—what the Holy Spirit wrote. I take great comfort in that. The Lord’s people have always been in the minority. But God and one person who is devoted to Him makes a majority. I want God on our side. And I should rephrase that. I want all of us to be on God’s side.
Well, what about the Holy Spirit? “Howbeit when He, Who is the Spirit of Truth, shall come, He shall guide you into all Truth,” [John 16:13]. What did the Holy Spirit do? He came to guide the human family into all Truth. He came to leave us the Will and Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—the revelation of God Himself—the Truth. And we have it! This book [the Bible] is inspired! It is inbreathed! Isn’t it interesting that the word “spirit” can be translated “breath?” When the “breath” departs us, we’re dead. And a doctor writes on the death notice, “expired”—expirito—a Latin word that means “the spirit has left.” The same thing is true if the Holy Spirit leaves us—we are without the Spirit of God and we’re not God’s child anymore. We’re spiritually dead.
This book is a spirit-filled book. The men who wrote it were inspired by the Spirit. Paul said, “All Scripture is inspired of God, and is profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God…” and you can translate it this way… “may be perfect, completely furnished to every good work,” [2 Timothy 3:16-17]. There’s nothing lacking in this Word. He’s given us all things that thoroughly furnish us unto salvation.
But who gave the Word? The men who wrote it were instruments. I don’t believe their personality was destroyed. I think the Spirit worked through them and used them, and what we have is what God wanted the world to know.
Hey, do you know that there’s no book that’s been attacked like the Bible? It’s 2,000 years old and our New Testament is still going strong. It has been translated into more languages, tongues and dialects than any other document in all the world. It holds the record as the most translated document in all of the world. The Old Testament, along with the New Testament, completes the Bible—and the Old Testament is the second most translate document in all the world. The New Testament has been translated far more than any document. Hey, it’s still on the “Best Seller List.” Now, people may get it to press flowers in or to hold pictures, but it still sells more than any other document in the world.
So, it came from the Holy Spirit. And we’re talking about Truth. The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the Bible to record for us the Truth, and the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Truth.” “Howbeit when He Who is the Spirit of Truth shall come, He shall guide you into all Truth,”[John 16:13].
What about the church? Well, the church is the spiritual body of our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the head, and we’re the body. (These are metaphors.) Jesus is the bridegroom, and we’re the bride. He’s the King, and we’re the kingdom. All of these metaphors describe a beautiful relationship. 1 Timothy 3:15 says that the church is “the pillar and ground of the Truth.” (That’s the old King James translation. I still like that—“pillar and ground.”) Well, if we were to put it in more modern language, we’d say that it’s the columns that support the whole superstructure of a building, and the foundation—that’s the ground.
The church is the foundation for the Truth. The Truth is housed in the church. The church is a temple for the Truth—and here are the columns, and here’s the foundation, and that’s the superstructure of the church, which is what? The pillar and ground of the…TRUTH! Let the church preach the Truth. Let the church disseminate the Truth into all of the world. Let all of us as members of the Lord’s church practice the Truth. It’s been a long time since I heard a sermon on TRUTH. That’s why we’re here. We love the Truth. We’re going to try to pass it on to as many people as possible. We’re going to try to practice the Truth. “Worship in spirit and in Truth,” [John 4:24].
And that’s the other passage that describes the church. When the church comes together, the church worships in spirit and in Truth. We don’t have any options. These things cannot be changed. I like to believe that the Lord’s church has always been on this earth through all these difficulties and persecutions throughout history, and that if they were in caves, or in holes, or in the mountains, or hiding, they partook of the Lord’s Supper. They preached the Word. They prayed. They gave. And the First Day of the Week was the day they came for the assembly.
Now I hear about some very large denomination in our city where the “pastor” said, “We don’t serve the Lord’s Supper on Sunday because it would take us too long to serve it to all of our people. So we have it on Thursday night for those who want to come.” Our Lord was resurrected on the First Day of the Week. The memorial supper was instituted by Him. “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show forth My death until I come again,” [1 Corinthians 11:23-30].
Then we see the example of the early church, that on the First Day of the Week, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and that was the Day of Pentecost. Our Lord was already resurrected. The people from many nations who were listening to the apostles preach wanted to know what to do to be saved. Peter said, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you…, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” [Acts 2:38]. And about 3,000 souls did exactly what the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to say. Friends, we’re still teaching that. I dare not change it, because those people who did those things—obeyed those commands—were added to the Lord’s church by the Lord Himself. The church is the pillar and ground of the Truth, and it’s made up of all of us who have been added to the eternal kingdom of our Lord BY our Lord, [Acts 2:47].
Now, that makes sense. That’s not hard to understand. Basic Truth usually is very simple. When we get right down to what Truth is all about, our Lord has put Truth on a level where a young boy or a young girl, when they reach the age of accountability, can make the decision to be baptized into Christ because of what they’ve been taught. They’re not joining the church. They know that they’re being buried with Christ in the waters of baptism, which is emblematic of His blood, which washes away our sins. Just as Jesus died and buried, we join Him in a death and a burial—we are dead to our old life of sin. We’re united with Him in the likeness of His death, and we’re raised up to walk in newness of life—and all of those words are Scripture. [See Romans 6:3-10.]
Would we change that? Have I heard some of my preacher friends in the church say that we’ve made too much out of baptism? Have I heard them say that if a person has come as far as he can by faith, and he rejects baptism, that “I don’t believe God would condemn him over a little bit of water?” The Truth is that he or she has “missed the boat” all the way around. We do exactly what God said. We recognize that in the water, we join Him in a death, and a burial, and a resurrection, and our sins have been “washed away,” to use the words of Paul. [Paul telling of his own conversion in Acts 22:16; see also Titus 3:3-7.]
Friends, these are not slight, meaningless or insignificant things. These are not choices. They are not incidentals. This is what Christ instituted. This is what the Holy Spirit inspired to be recorded, and it’s what we must preach. I magnify the plan of salvation. It came from our sweet Lord. It is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Church history testifies that obedience to these commands is what the early church did for centuries before departures were made.
Now, when you misunderstand Scripture, and you think a baby is a sinner… A baby is not a sinner. They’re not accountable yet. Our courts recognize that. So, we don’t baptize a baby. The “original sin” did not pass upon each one of us as an individual. We all shall be made manifest [known for what we are; shown for what we truly are by evidence; displayed clearly and openly] before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the deeds done in the body. [See 2 Corinthians 5:10; also see Romans 14:10-12; Revelation 20:12-15.] That’s all we’ll be judged for. And that’s fair—that’s just. I didn’t inherit my father or my mother’s sins. They’re accountable for those. And if I’m accountable to God, and I understand the plan, and I obey the Gospel, my sins have been taken away. There are about 105 passages in our New Testament that deal with this subject of “baptism.”
What is the Truth? God’s Word is the Truth. Jesus is the embodiment [Jesus made flesh—God with us] of the Truth. The Holy Spirit brings and reveals the Truth. And we, as the church, try to live the Truth, and we try to worship in such a way that we are pleasing to our Father. 1 Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good and pleases God our Savior who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the TRUTH.”