Series: The Importance of…
The Importance of Truth Matters
INTRO: Last week I started a series about things that are important. One of those things that matter is…TRUTH! Truth is something that many people have given up on. In Washington D.C., truth has gone by the wayside. Its lack of existence is thought of as the norm with our leaders and politicians and all their associates. But, let me tell you, “God still deals with TRUTH!” TRUTH matters. It matters a lot!
Does truth matter in your life today? IT should. Let us get started, as this is a long message – truthfully.
First, there are many truths we need in our life. Let us get started.
I ask, “What kind of truths do we need?”
We need…
Truth about God
Above all things we need to know about God Almighty.
His greatness
Psalms
86:10-12(NKJV) 10 For You are great, and do wondrous
things; You alone are God.
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my
heart to fear Your name.
12 I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will
glorify Your name forevermore.
Psalms 89:14(KJV) 14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Psalms 100:5(NKJV) 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
His Word
John
1:1-18(KJV) 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.
2The same was in the beginning with God.
3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made
that was made.
4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it
not.
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all
men through him might believe.
8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that
Light.
9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world
knew him not.
11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth.
15John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I
spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ.
18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is
in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
His Son
Matthew 14:33(KJV) 33Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
His Spirit
Our helper and Comforter
His forgiveness
Psalms
25:1-11(KJV) 1 Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine
enemies triumph over me.
3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed
which transgress without cause.
4 Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of
my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for
they have been ever of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions:
according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
8 Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach
sinners in the way.
9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his
way.
10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as
keep his covenant and his testimonies.
11 For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is
great.
Proverbs 16:6(NKJV) 6 In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.
We need to seek it (forgiveness)
It is His to give
It is ours to have
Psalms 31:5(NKJV) 5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
Psalms
85:7-10(NKJV) 7 Show us Your mercy, Lord, And grant us Your
salvation.
8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak, For He will speak peace
To His people and to His saints; But let them not turn back to folly.
9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory
may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have
kissed.
His protection
Psalms 91:4(NKJV) 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
His followers
Should be true-blue
Luke 21:3(KJV) 3And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
I would like to also look at some other truths we need to have in our lives…
We need…
Truth from friends
Proverbs
27:5-6(KJV) 5Open rebuke is better than secret love.
6Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an
enemy are deceitful.
We need…
Truth from self
Don’t be lying to yourself
James
1:22-25(NKJV) 22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves.
23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a
man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what
kind of man he was.
25But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in
it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be
blessed in what he does.
We need…
Truth from our leaders
Exodus 18:21(KJV) 21Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
We need…
Truth about salvation
John 14:6(KJV) 6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
We need…
Truth about hell…It is real but you do not have to go there
John
3:16-21(KJV) 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved.
18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.
19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be
made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
We need…
The truth about worship – it is good!
Psalms
117:1-2(KJV) 1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye
people.
2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the
LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
Worship was not meant as a means of salvation
John
4:23-24(NKJV) 23But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is
seeking such to worship Him.
24God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in
spirit and truth.”
Worship will not save you
We need…
The truth about godly living and the standard God set
Ephesians
5:8-20(NKJV) 8For you were once darkness, but now you are
light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,
righteousness, and truth),
10finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather expose them.
12For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by
them in secret.
13But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light,
for whatever makes manifest is light.
14Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And
Christ will give you light.”
15See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the
Lord is.
18And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be
filled with the Spirit,
19speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
20giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Be careful – vs. 15
Be wise - 15
Be diligent - 16
Be temperate – 18
Be filled (with His Spirit) – 18
Be spiritually alive – 19, 20
Be thankful - 20
Ephesians
6:10-18(KJV) 10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in
the power of his might.
11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.
12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and
having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able
to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God:
18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
We need…
The truth about godly attitudes
1 Corinthians 13:6(NKJV) 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
1 John 2:4(KJV) 4He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 John 3:18(KJV) 18My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1
John 1:6-10(KJV) 6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk
in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.
8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his
word is not in us.
I am reminded of a popular movie quote, “You can’t handle the TRUTH!” I want to share some truths with you today. These are truths you need to handle. Please listen and understand how important they are…
You need to handle the truth!
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 6:23(KJV) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:8(NKJV) 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans
10:9-10(NKJV) 9that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation.
More than just a few words recited, more than just a simple belief, more than a repeated prayer, YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN
You can have Him today. He will enter your life if you will allow Him to enter.
Gary Marcum – New Beginnings Church – 022110am