Authentic Christianity #14: Is a Good Liar

Has everything that you've put your faith in is everything that you have believed in actually, turned out to be true in your life? Has everything that we have put our faith in turned out to be, reliable? What happens to us, when we believe in what turns out to be a lie? What happens to us when we believe what turns out to be true? Is what we put our faith in a determiner of the condition, or consequence of our lives? Is it important to know who it is we are putting our faith in?

Transcript

Well. Good morning. Good morning. So this morning, the question I wanted to begin with is, has everything that you've put your faith in is everything that you have believed in actually, turned out to be true in your life? Has everything that we have put our faith in turned out to be, reliable? What happens to us, when we believe in what turns out to be a lie? What happens to us when we believe what turns out to be true? What we put our faith in is a determiner of the condition, our consequence of our lives. And it's, a really important thing to examine, who it is that we're putting our faith in. How reliable it is are those who, are telling us, what's right and what's wrong, and, how credible are the witnesses that we listen to? If believing what is true and disbelieving what is not true is central to our well being. Where do we go? Where exactly do we go? Well, who do we listen to? Who do we put our confidence in? Who do we determine is true? Now, the question we're going to ask this morning is, has God ever lied? Has God ever lied? Has he ever spoken words that turned out not to be true? Have we ever put faith in his testimony and regretted it? Is God ever mistaken? Have we ever. And think about this for a second. Have you ever regretted listening to trusting in applying God's Word, and then later said, I wish I wouldn't have done that. I wish I wouldn't have listened to him. Have you ever ignored God's Word and thought to yourself, that really doesn't apply to me? I'm a little above that. God knows, maybe what's right for other people, but not for me. Have you ever, ignored God's word and, and and ever not regretted it? Has has it ever turned out well for you to, think that God is wrong? And you were right. If we ignore God and are and have been glad about it, if any of us have ignored God and are still in a glad condition for having ignored God. I have one thing to say to you. You haven't lived long enough yet. You will always regret, not believing what God says is true because God is the truth. Today, as we continue in our series entitled Authentic Christianity Reflecting Christ's Love A Study of First John, we're going to be looking at God's very own witness to us. Our most powerful and persuasive witness is God Himself. God has spoken to us, and the question for us is, have we listened? We're going to look at how God, what God's testimony says, and we're going to look at our response to that. God has spoken. And the question is, have we heard his testimony? Is he telling us the truth or is God a liar? That's, a question we want to ask this morning. If he's not a liar. Why are men reluctant to believe him? Why? Why are men so reluctant to believe God if he's not a liar? What causes us to resist the truth? He tells us what happens in us and to us, when we believe and rely on what God says is true or real. This morning's message is entitled Is God a Liar? And we'll be looking at John chapter five, verses one through 12. Heavenly father, Lord, as we come before your word this morning. Father, it is almost blasphemous even to ask the question Is God a liar? But we need to face the fact, Lord, that if we disbelieve you, if we think that what you're saying is not true, then we by default are calling you a liar. Lord, we just pray this morning that as we consider your testimony and its impact in our lives, that we would be wise enough to fully trust you in what you say is real. We pray that you would bless the reading of your word this morning, and may we be moved by it. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. John chapter five, beginning at verse one, says this. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we, love the children of God by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is the love for God to obey his commands, and his commands are not burdensome. For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world. Even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is by the spirit, and it is the spirit who testifies, because the spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify the spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God who has given, who has given, which he has given about his son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he is not. Believe the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the son has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's who he is. And what he came to do for us is the most important singular fact in history. There is no more important fact to know the truth about than who Christ is and what he came to do. This is the truth. As it has been reliably stated to us by God himself. The theme this morning of today's message is that God Himself is our witness. When we are considering the facts about Jesus Christ, we have one who testifies to us and one who is totally reliable. It is God himself. Let's take a look at verses seven through nine again. For there are three that testify the spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God which he has given about his Son. Whom? So we have this threefold testimony that God Himself has given. We have the testimony of the Spirit of God. We have the testimony of the water, and we have the testimony of the blood. And all three of them together are in agreement, and all three of them together comprise the testimony of God. The testimony of the spirit has been with us all the way back from Genesis, Genesis all the way through the Old Testament as the spirit of God moves in, in man to prophesy concerning the coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It starts even in the garden when he promises that the Son of God will crush the head of the serpent, and it continues on throughout. The the, typology and the foreshadowing of Christ and the prophets of God pointing to Christ. The spirit is continually testifying, looking forward to Christ. And at the baptism of Christ. The spirit confirms the testimony of the Father himself by lighting on Christ like a dove. The Spirit of God testifies, this is the one. And the Spirit of God continued to testify to us. After Christ is, resurrected from the dead and coming into believers hearts and lives and empowering believers to share the testimony of who Jesus is, what his death and resurrection meant. It is the testimony of the spirit that is moved through the saints, in the church age, to testify to who it is that Christ is and what he came to do. And we see that the water is a testimony. We see at the baptism of Christ, at the initiation of his ministry. His father in heaven speaks out through the water of baptism. And he says, This is my son, in whom I am well pleased. We have the account of the verbal audible testimony of God from heaven to a whole group of people that could verify it or not verify it there at the baptism of Christ. Any time during this, early reign of, at any time during the early or the beginning part of the church, anyone could have come forward and said, I was at the baptism of Christ, and I didn't hear any thing from heaven. Everyone there heard, this is my son, in whom I am well pleased. He is, he is. There's a testimony and water, and there's a testimony and blood. There is the cross and the death of Christ. The confirmed death of Christ by the soldier piercing the side of Christ and the blood coming out of his side and the, in the water with it, showing that he's in a dead condition, and it is in this dead condition that his blood testifies, to the power of God that rose him from the dead. This is this is at the at the death of Christ. Several things happened that the curtain in the temple ripped in two. There were earthquakes, and there was a darkness, an unusual, unnatural darkness that came over the land. And what did the soldiers say when they saw the events that were going on at the death of Christ? As the blood of Christ was testifying, the soldiers who killed them said, oh, this surely is the Son of God, is what they said they saw in the testimony of the death of Christ, the blood of Christ, the the, testimony that this was truly the Son of God all agree together in the testimony of God Himself, that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is Christ in the flesh. This is not a claim made by men. This is a claim made by God himself to to believe it or to disbelieve it is to either believe or disbelieve God Himself. And John makes this point, look here, he says, look, you put your faith in what other men tell you. You put your reliance on the testimony of men. If you manage to put your faith in the reliability of the testimony of men, how much more should you put your faith in God who cannot lie? Now, let me let me, try to illustrate that to you this way. Would you believe me if I told you that I got to church this morning by driving my truck here? Would you? Do you anyone disbelieve that? I'm telling you, I'm honestly telling you. I got to church this morning by driving my truck. Anyone disbelieve that? Isn't it possible that I'm not telling the truth? But why do you believe me? Well, you believe me? Because why would I lie? I'm not doing the. The idea that I drove my truck to church this morning doesn't protect me from any shame. It doesn't create any personal advantage by deceiving you. So I don't really have any motive to lie, so, you know, there isn't any reason for you not to believe me. It's something that's very likely to have happened. In fact, several of you may have seen my truck in the parking lot to confirm the idea that I probably drove my truck here this morning. It's reasonable to believe me. And it's unreasonable not to believe me. Because, Why would I lie about that? What? What possible reason would I have to lie? Well, God has testified to us about Jesus, and it's reasonable to believe him far more reasonable than it is to believe me when I tell you. I drove my truck here this morning. The reason why it's far more reasonable to believe him is unlike me. God has never lied. And he doesn't lie. In fact, he would have no reason to lie. There's nothing in God that would cause him to want to cover shame, because there is no shame in his holiness. The other motivation for lying isn't there either. There is no, desire for God to, through ill gotten reasons, take personal advantage of us. We've seen throughout this, study that God is love. God is, as our benefit in action. There's nothing about him that could lie or would lie or have any reason to lie. Why would he lie? He doesn't have any personal gain that he's trying to get from us, or any shame that he's trying to cover. It's, of no advantage to him to tell us that that Jesus Christ is his son and and came to spend himself on us is to our advantage that we learn these things. People don't lie when they're sincerely trying to help you. Even liars don't lie when they're sincerely trying to help you. You could go to the most, frequent liar in the world. And if he wants to help you, he won't lie to you. For example, if I were to ask directions from a person who really wanted to help me find my way, he would not tell me false directions because he would want to help me. No matter how many other times he would have lied. He would tell me the truth if he wanted to help me find my way. Well, God's purpose for testifying to us is to help us. And there is no lie in him, and he has no reason to lie. And he couldn't lie. He is the one, witness that we can be totally reliant on because he is the truth, and he wants to help us with what he tells us. He wants to do two things through the message that he is giving to us. He wants to deliver us out of being vanquished sinners vanquished in the incapacity in our sin, and unable to transcend our sin and overcome our sin. He wants to take us from being vanquished over, the forces of our own evil, and deliver us into becoming victors. He wants to help us with what he tells us about. He wants to show us the way into victory when God witnesses to us. We have a choice. We have a choice to listen and believe or ignore and discount. So what are the benefits for us to truly believing in God's testimony concerning His Son, Jesus Christ? Well, there's two of them that we're going to see in this passage. The two benefits to believing in God are life, abundant life, eternal life, and victory over the world. These are the two things we gain by believing the witness of God Himself. Again this morning, God himself is our witness. We face, the choice of whether we're going to believe him or not, but he has testified to us that Jesus Christ is the son of God who came to save us, through his sacrifice for us on the cross. And we can either believe that or not believe that. And if we do believe that, the first benefit to us is our believing God's testimony is life giving. It is life giving. Our believing God's testimony, produces life in us. It is life giving. Let's take a look at verse one and verses 11 through 12. Verse one says this. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone who loves the father loves the his child as well. And verses 11 and 12 say this, and this is the testimony. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the son has life, and he who does not have the son does not have life. Well, God's testimony here raises the dead. For those who don't believe it, they are dead. Being dead is a very lousy way to live. But we are dead. We're cut off from the vitality of God, from the connection to eternal life, from the connection to real life. We are. We are spiritually dead. We're in, a kind of lifeless life of darkness and pain. We are living in a spectrum anywhere from boredom to terror when we're cut off from God. But we're not living in life. We're living in death. When we're cut off from Christ. There is nothing really satisfying in that spectrum from being bored to being terrified. There is no place to go to find peace and comfort. A dead man can't experience life, and being dead is a really lousy way to live. If we really trust Christ, God breathed new life into our soul. He reconnects us with himself. To the living, to the eternal. We see this in the, elements of communion as we come before him and seek to have his living being in us. We see it in the, in the sacrament of baptism. When we go under the water and die to our old nature and come alive in him. We see in the, in the, in the ordinances of Christianity, the whole idea of being connected to Christ is to be connected to life. Even in an age of expanding knowledge. We have no idea how life occurs in an age of expanding knowledge. We cannot figure out how dead things come alive. No one knows how matter. And chemicals, turn into living beings. How does a dead soul get revived? I don't know how it happens, but I know when it happens. A dead soul gets revived. When it is conceived in Christ, when there's a connection to Christ in us. We go from being dead to being alive. He who has a son, it says here has life. And he who does not have the son does not have life. Either that testimony is true or it's false. It is the testimony of God that his son came to give life and give it, to the full. And we either believe it or not. Now, this is one of, humanity's greatest ironies because, if you were to ask what is the biggest reason why people avoid coming to Christ and receiving Christ into life, what would they say? What would you know, just intuitively, is the biggest reason why people avoid, having Jesus in their life as their personal Lord and Savior. Why do people reject Christ? They have to give up too much. Give up too much? What? What are people afraid that they'll lose if they come to Christ? Freedom to what? Do what they want. Freedom to live their life the way they want. Freedom for, the good life that they think they can have outside of Christ. The reason why people resist Christ is because they think they'll be dead. If they come to Christ, they'll be cut off from all the good stuff. Well, it turns out this great irony is, is that, that real life, the good life, the satisfying life is a life in Christ, and there is no other way to find life but to be connected to Christ. There is no better place to be, and there is no more desirable, no more joyful, no more pleasurable place to be than to be in Christ. We aren't even alive without trusting in the living one who died and was resurrected for us. Without a conception. In the womb, there is no life. You know, if you think about, you know, the bringing together of an egg and a sperm, both of those things seem to be alive, but they're only, alive sort of in potentiality. They really aren't, live alive and life until conception occurs. It is when the sperm actually penetrates the egg that these both these potential living things become real life. We live in a state of potential life apart from Christ. We we could be conceived in Christ, but we are. We're going to just fade away and not in verse three. Notice where it says his commands are no longer a burden when we overcome the world. Doing what is right is no longer, big sweat. It's no longer a burden. It's because we want to do it. When we overcome the world, our desires, actually desire what is good. It isn't hard to do what is right when the kingdom of God is established in our hearts. Which happens by faith in God's testimony concerning his son. As we learn about Jesus and trust in Jesus, we are being, helped by his presence in us to go from being vanquished sinners, in control under the control of our own wicked desires, to having the kingdom being established within us and giving us the spiritual strength and health to actually desire to do what we ought to do. Our sins are our sins overcoming us? Are we overcoming our sin? You know, sadly, there are many defeated in our ranks. There are many among us who are, still in the category of being vanquished, who still do not experience, victory in Christ Jesus. And it is, and, well, the truth is, is all of us at times experienced defeat. But our victory in our defeat is exactly proportionate to our faith in Christ Jesus. When we, welcome the influence and the presence of Christ into our lives, we also experience the infusion of a strength and a change in our desires to do what is right. And when we drift away from Christ and we start putting our faith back in ourselves, or start thinking that, there's life outside of Christ, there's something that he's restricting from us that I need to really live a good life. Then we begin to feel ourselves back under the captivity of sin and death. If we want to live free and victorious, it is when the kingdom of God is in us. And if we want to live defeated and, and vanquished, it is in the absence of Christ that we will have our wish. God has spoken. And the question is, have we listened and appropriated what he has provided? He's provided life and he's provided victory. And as we take communion this morning, let's do so by faith, appropriating into our hearts and into our souls the life and the victory that's been appropriated for us through faith in Christ Jesus. Again, a God Himself is our witness. Point number one is believing God's testimony is life giving. And point number two is our believing God's testimony enables us to overcome the world. In conclusion, this morning, I'd like to read, from John chapter ten, verse ten. Seven through ten, John chapter ten, verses seven through ten. And as I'm reading that, I'd like to ask the ushers to come forward. Beginning at verse seven, it says, therefore Jesus said again, I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep, and all who enter come before me. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. Do you hear his voice here this morning? Are you willing to respond to the testimony of God himself and receive to yourself the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who takes away the sins of the world? Who gives us the inner strength to overcome the world? Who brings in us a new life and a new animation? To really be alive, if that's your desire. This morning we have an opportunity to express our faith in Christ Jesus. Through the taking of the elements. And I'd like to invite anyone who would like this morning if you if for any reason, you would like to receive the elements kneeling at the altar. Feel free to to have the liberty to do that as well. Heavenly father, Lord, we just come before you this morning and we praise you, Lord Jesus. And we thank you, father, for, these elements here this morning. We thank you for the meaning that's infused in them. The testimony that you've given to us by them and in the broken, bread. Here is your testimony that your son came to give his life as a ransom for us, as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. In his brokenness, we are made whole. He was broken, and he was, brought low, to serve the justice that was due us. He is our savior. And you sent your son not for your benefit, but for ours. Not for his benefit, but for ours. And you've told us that you sent him as a savior to the world, that you so loved us, that even in our fallen condition, you provided us with your only begotten son as our Savior. We come before you today and we believe your testimony. Lord, we believe the testimony that just trusting you, is the means by which you come into us and you live in us, and you empower our lives to be good and to be right. Father, I can clearly state with total confidence that there is no strength in me to even want to be right without you. All there is in me, apart from you is selfish self-interest, and I have never been satisfied getting what I want apart from you. You know, Lord, there's been many times I've gotten fully what I wanted and completely and abundantly what I wanted, but I never got what I wanted. It is only in you that my soul has found rest and my spirit has known the delights of joy and deliverance. And so it is in you that we trust, Lord. It is in you that we partake of this communion here this morning we put our faith in the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. For the imputations of our sins onto him. Let us partake together. If you're here this morning and you, are experiencing anything that is spiritually real in your life. It's not for any other reason than God is alive and desiring to be your friend, to be your Lord, to be your Savior, to be your father. I just I'm trusting right now that this is, being experienced by some, perhaps all of us as more than just a ancient ceremony, but a real moment with our living God. There is life in the blood of Jesus Christ. There is vigor in the resurrected power of Christ in us. Once we've been cleansed with, from our sins, there is an ability that the gospel provides for us to escape the power of our sins through the blood of Christ, through the life of Christ in us. That may seem, confusing and hard to understand, but it is true, and I can't explain how it happens. But I can testify that it does happen. As we put our trust in the living Christ and in the blood that he shed for us, and in the life that's in his blood being in us, there's a life that gets, translated into us that enables us to do what we wouldn't, wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, to serve him and to experience the green pastures of doing what is right and good, and the benefits of living in and the way that we ought to live, and enjoying the true life that is conceived in us when Christ is with us. If it is your desire to repent from trying to find life apart from Christ and surrender to the life of Christ in you, let us partake together. I'd just like to invite you this week as you have a testimony to give of of of what God is doing in your life. I'd love to hear from you. And we love to share what Christ is doing in your life to the with the congregation as well. For not for to glorify you, but to glorify God. Feel free to do that this week in Christ's name. We thank you, Lord, for all your actions and all your activity. Even now, in our hearts and in our minds. Feel the cleansing of the power of Christ in you and know that it is because he gave himself for you that you're able to be set free in Christ name. Be alive, be alive and live this week in the power of your faith in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the one in whom the father testified, and the one in whom you have believed. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.