The part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning in verse number 10 where the
Bible reads,
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Now this scripture talks about people not believing the truth because they have pleasure
in unrighteousness.
And at the end of verse 10 it says that they received not the love of the truth that they
might be saved.
And what I want to preach about this morning is the subject of loving the truth.
Now there are some people who love the truth, other people don't.
People who don't love the truth, the Bible tells us that they will not believe the truth.
They won't be saved because they don't love the truth.
Now go to 2 Peter chapter number 3.
Second Peter chapter number 3 toward the end of the New Testament.
There's a question that sometimes people will ask and that is this question.
Why is it that some people believe on Jesus Christ and others don't?
Doctrines like Calvinism, which is a false doctrine, teach that God has foreordained
and chosen certain people to believe and he's foreordained and chosen others not to believe
and that it is not in our hands to choose whether or not we believe in Christ.
But it's God up in heaven pulling all the strings, everyone's a marionette and people
believe because God makes them believe and people don't believe because God makes them
not believe.
That's simply not true.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9.
2 Peter 3, 9 says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but
is longsuffering to us were not willing that any should perish but that all should come
to repentance.
So the Bible says God's not willing that any should perish.
Elsewhere it says that he will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth.
And it says in verse number 3 of 2 Peter 3, go up a few verses, it says, knowing this
first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and
saying where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of
the creation, for this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens
were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.
So in this passage we see God's will in verse number 9 that all men will be saved, that
all men will come to the knowledge of the truth, but then we see man's wicked will in
verse number 5 that says they willingly are ignorant of the fact that God created the
earth, of the fact that God flooded the earth and destroyed the first world in the days
of Noah and they are willfully ignorant of the coming judgment when God will rain fire
and brimstone and punish the inhabitants of the earth at the second coming of Christ.
These are things that they're willingly ignorant of.
Now what does it mean to be willingly?
Their will, it's what they want.
Just to put it in modern vernacular, when we say this is the will of God, that means
it's what God wants.
When we say he's not willing that any should perish, it means he doesn't want anybody to
perish and what this is saying is that people don't want to know the truth when it says
that they're willingly ignorant of these things.
You say well Pastor Anderson, why would anyone just willfully ignore the facts or just willfully
ignore the truth and just want to remain in unbelief?
Well the Bible tells us in verse 3 when it says knowing this first that there should
come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts.
So notice these people who walk after their own lusts, people who live a sinful, wicked
and ungodly life, they want to say things like where is the promise of his coming?
They want to scoff at the word of God.
They want to reject what the Lord has to say.
Why?
Because they do not want to be corrected for their wickedness.
Now go to John chapter 3 and we'll see the exact same thing.
John chapter 3 is the famous chapter where Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus.
It's where we get the most famous verse in the whole Bible, John 3.16, which is known
in virtually every language of the world.
But look at John chapter 3 verse 19, the Bible reads, and this is the condemnation that light
is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were
evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they
are wrought in God.
So notice how truth is associated with the light.
And the Bible says that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were
evil.
Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, the Bible says.
Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Now what does it mean for your deeds to be reproved?
Well your deeds are the things that you do.
And reproved means that you're told that you're wrong.
So what the Bible is saying here is that wicked and ungodly people, they stay away from the
Bible, they stay away from the Word of God because they don't want to be told that the
things that they do in their life are wrong.
Now all of us realize that we're sinners here this morning.
Nobody here thinks that they're perfect.
Nobody here thinks that they're completely without sin.
And all of us are willing to admit, hey, we do wrong things from time to time.
We make mistakes.
We're not perfect.
We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
As it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one.
But the difference between us and these wicked unbelievers who are willfully ignorant of
the truth is that we're willing to admit that we're a sinner.
We're willing to admit that there are things that we do that aren't right.
But there are some very wicked people out there who just refuse to admit that anything
that they've ever done is wrong.
Now how can you say I've never done anything wrong?
Well there's really only one way to say that.
Basically say there is no God.
Because if there is no God, then pretty much there's no such thing as right and wrong.
Because we're all just animals and, you know, in the animal kingdom there's not really a
right and wrong when animals just tear each other apart and just survive all the fittest
and they do whatever they want.
So we see that there are people out there who don't want to believe the word of God.
Not because they would have to change their whole life around to get saved.
Because you don't have to change your whole life around to get saved.
You just have to believe in Jesus.
You have to believe the truth.
But because of the fact that they don't even want their deeds reproved at all.
See being saved is easy.
All you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But in order to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that includes the fact that you're
basically believing that there is a God.
And you're believing that God has rules.
And you're believing that you've broken those rules and that because you've broken those
rules you're in need of a savior because if you didn't have any sins you wouldn't need
a savior.
And so just the fact that you're believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior shows
that you're acknowledging that you need to be saved from something and that you've done
wrong and that you deserve hell and that you need Jesus to get you to heaven and so forth.
And a lot of people don't want to admit that.
They want to live a sinful, wicked life and they want to say there's nothing wrong with
the life that I'm living.
It's fine for me to live the way that I'm living.
That's what we saw in 2 Thessalonians 2.
It says that they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
And it says they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Peter 3 said they walk after their own lust, therefore they scoff at the word of God.
They scoff at the creation.
They scoff at the flood.
They scoff at the coming judgment upon this earth.
Why?
Because they're walking after their own lust.
Because their deeds are evil and they don't want to be reproved and they don't want to
admit the truth today.
Now people will claim, well, if you're intelligent, you know, you'll believe in the Big Bang.
And if you're intelligent and educated, you'll believe in evolution.
And if you're a scientist, then you'll believe these things.
Now I've heard atheists and agnostics make statements like, well, you know, you'll never
find a scientist that believes in creation.
You know, they'll just kind of throw things out there like that.
And of course there are all kinds of scientists who believe in biblical creation.
It's just a lie.
But they'll say that.
So then when you confront them with an example and say, well, here's an example of a scientist
and give them all the qualifications and everything.
Here's a guy who believes in biblical, you know, young earth creationism.
And you show them the example.
Here's what they'll say.
Well, yeah, but he's not in the field of evolutionary biology.
Now why would someone who doesn't believe in evolution go into the field of evolutionary
biology?
That's like saying, well, you know, all pastors believe in Catholicism.
You'd be like, no, look, here's all these pastors that are against it.
Yeah, but none of them are Catholic priests.
Every Catholic priest that we talk to believes in Catholicism.
I mean, that's the ridiculousness.
Because the fields that they want them to be in are basically fields that involve the
Big Bang and evolution, and that's all that those fields are about.
And they're like, well, everybody in that field believes in it.
Yeah, that's why they went into that field, because they believe in it.
But there are all kinds.
In fact, I talked to a scientist not that long ago who had been an unbeliever when he
became a scientist.
And he said as he studied science and as he studied microbiology, it convinced him, wow,
there's no way that this happened on its own.
Because the DNA is too complicated, and when you get down on the micro level and look at
the smallest, simplest organism, they're so complicated, there's no way this could have
come on its own.
And it made him want to seek after God and figure out where the truth was, and he eventually
got saved and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the truth of the matter is, the reason that people believe in the Big Bang and evolution
is not because it's scientifically sound and there's all the data and the overwhelming
evidence.
That's what they'll say, but they're lying.
The real reason is because they want to believe in it.
People – and just let these words sink down into your ears – people believe what they
want.
I mean, isn't that what the Bible's showing us?
People believe what they want.
People are willingly ignorant many times of the truth.
Other people, if they hate the light, they won't come to the light.
If they love the light, they'll come to it.
So who is it that's coming to the light and getting saved?
And who is it that's shunning the light and not getting saved?
It's based on what those people love and what those people want.
The people who receive the love of the truth are saved.
The people who have pleasure in unrighteousness, that which is not right, they don't get
saved.
And you ask yourself, you know, why would these people lie about it?
Why would all these scientists lie – well, for money, to get paid, because if you don't
go with the party line of what everybody's saying, you're not going to succeed in the
university or in the – look, anybody who says anything in these universities that doesn't
go along with their liberal communist agenda ends up losing their job, period.
So the people who go into that field and succeed are the people who are willing to sell their
soul to the devil.
I mean, even just the silliest things.
Like I remember a few years ago, there was this president, I think it was of Harvard,
one of these major Ivy League universities.
And the president of the school did a study on proficiency of math amongst men and women.
And he basically came out with the results, and I hope I'm remembering this properly,
but he came out with the results and it showed that men were a lot better at math than women
at Harvard.
And he came out with these results.
And it was just a scientific study.
And he wasn't trying to be down on women or negative about women.
He's just like, wow, isn't this interesting?
You know, we studied this, we tested men and women's proficiency.
And then it's just like, what are you doing?
You know, you sexist, misogynistic, you know, freaking out.
It's like, it's just data.
It's just the fact.
Look, our world is so bizarre, they think there's no difference between men and women.
And it's not that men are better than women.
It's that men are better than women at math.
Okay?
It's that simple.
And there are many things that women are better at than men.
Because men have different strengths and weaknesses, ladies have different strengths
and weaknesses.
We're just different, okay?
When it comes to, you know, the bench press, you know, men are going to win, all right?
When it comes to math, I know when I was in school, the math classes, the high level math
classes were filled with boys, not girls.
It's not because men are just smarter in general than women.
It's just that when it comes to math, that's the way that men are more wired.
Now you say, well, I know a woman who's great at math.
I know men that are terrible at math, but the exception proves the rule.
The study showed that in general, most of the time, that's the way it works.
So what?
Does it really matter?
No.
But the point that I'm making is that as soon as anybody steps out of line and doesn't say
what they're being told to say, which is the agenda of godlessness, which is an agenda
of anti-Bible, anti-creationism, anti-Jesus, anti-men and women having different roles,
they're going to be attacked and criticized and fired and destroyed because of the fact
that there is an agenda in this world to promote anything that's against the Lord, okay?
The world, look, the devil is called the god of this world, and he has an agenda to blind
the minds of those that believe not.
And people who succeed down at Devil State University in Tempe are people who fall in
line and are on board with the devil's program, okay?
That's the way life is.
Now another reason why they would lie about it is because they go into it wanting to believe
that there's no god because they want to live however they want and have no conscience about
it and not even have to think about whether what they're doing is right or wrong.
So they find a lot of students who want to have that same philosophy and it's just a
great match-up for them to keep perpetuating their lies that say, oh yeah, we came from
nothing and it's the big bang and evolution, and you know, that's why they believe in it
because they want to believe that there's no god.
It's not that it actually makes sense that there was nothing in the universe, all the
matter in the universe was compressed down to the size smaller than the period on the
page, infinitesimally small, all the stars, all the galaxies, all the planets was all
jammed into this tiny little dot.
In fact, they say the mass of that dot was approaching zero.
Why don't we just go all the way and just say it was zero and then god created it, okay.
But they, you know, it was just down, it was down so small, you say, well, no mass?
What's up with that?
Well, because it was just all energy and they just explode, boom, you know, and then it
just spun out into all the matter.
And they say that it exploded in like one trillion trillionth of a second to the size
of our observable universe.
That defies so many laws of so-called science, saying that things can't travel faster than
the speed of light, for example.
You know, it's all just this, you know, theory of, you know, all this quantum physics and
relativity and all this stupidity.
And here's what people say, oh, you don't believe in science?
How's that new iPhone treating you?
Oh, you don't believe in science, huh?
How do you like that Android phone with the text to speech capability, huh?
How do you like that hybrid vehicle that you're driving on the parking lot, huh?
You know, it was all made by evolutionary biologists.
No it wasn't, fool.
You know what, those are made by engineers, mathematicians and engineers.
And anything that has to do with science is not coming from evolutionary biology, okay.
It's not coming from quantum physics and, you know, astrophysics, studying the stars
and everything.
They didn't study some star supposedly billions of light years away to make you that iPhone.
But they'll just try to say, oh, you know, you don't mind driving cars and using air
conditioning but you just hate science.
No, I hate science falsely so-called.
And the Bible says to avoid oppositions of science falsely so-called.
But that's just one example.
Flip over if you would to Romans 1.
Romans chapter 1, while you're turning there, I'll read for you from 2 Timothy chapter 4
verse 3.
Listen to this.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
Sound doctrine means sound teaching, okay.
He says the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their
own lusts will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away
their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.
Why do people turn their ears away from the truth and turn their ears unto things that
are fake, fables, made up stories?
The reason why is because it says that they don't want to endure sound doctrine and it's
after their own lust.
What does lust mean?
Lust is desire.
They want to hear what they want to hear.
It's not that they've been convinced that these things are true, it's just that that's
what they want to hear.
And when they're confronted with the truth, which is the light of the Word of God, they
hate it.
They don't want anything to do with it.
They're like, wait a minute, this is reproving my lifestyle.
This is reproving things that I do every day.
I don't want to hear this.
And then, oh, no, there's no God.
Oh, yeah, tell me more.
That sounds good.
That's what it comes down to, my friend.
Over and over again, the Bible's really clear that people who don't know the truth are willfully
ignorant often and that the difference between the person who believes and the person who
doesn't believe is their own desire and the love in their heart.
That's what the Bible tells us.
Look at Romans chapter 1 verse 18, it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, watch this, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness.
Do these people not possess the truth?
They have it, don't they?
They hold the truth in unrighteousness.
Verse 19, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed
it unto them.
I mean, could these people know the truth that they wanted to?
Of course.
But it says, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse.
Go to John chapter 5, John chapter number 5, and while you're turning there, listen
to Revelation 22, 17, where the Bible reads, and the spirit and the bride say, come, and
let him that heareth say, come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely.
What does it mean, whosoever will?
Whosoever wants to?
See, we often, in our modern vernacular, use the word will to just express the future tense,
okay, which is a legitimate use of the word will.
But when the Bible says there, whosoever will, it's talking about whosoever wants to, whosoever
is willing.
The Bible will often use the word will that way.
So who may come and be saved?
Whoever wants to.
What does that imply, that there are people who don't want to?
And they just want to just ignore the truth.
They're like the Jews who heard Stephen preaching and covered their ears.
Remember, it says they stopped their ears.
When he's preaching, then the word of God, they stop their ears like a little kid that
would go, buh.
Did you ever do that when you were a little kid and your siblings were saying something
you didn't like?
You'd be like, I'm not listening to you.
I'm not.
And they keep talking.
No, no, just listen, just listen.
And you go buh.
And you say buh, you know, just to blot, just to make sure that even with my ears plugged,
nothing's getting through.
And that's what they're doing in Acts, chapter 7 with Stephen.
You know, he's telling them the truth.
They stop their ears at hearing the truth.
They will not.
They don't want to.
Look at John 5, verse 38.
It says, and ye have not his word abiding in you.
For whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Okay, why don't they believe?
Search the scriptures, he says in verse 39.
For in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.
And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.
It's not that God's not willing, it's that they're not willing.
They will not come to him.
The Bible says in, go to 2 John, if you would, 2 John.
But while you're turning there, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, 7, ever learning and
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, now as Janus and Jambres withstood
Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.
So when we have somebody being confronted with the truth, the truth is right there in
front of them.
It's being preached unto them.
It's being exposed to them.
The Bible says there are people who resist the truth.
Here the truth is saying, look, can't you see it?
It's right there.
And they're just resisting it.
No, no, no.
Because they don't want to see it, because they don't want to believe.
The Bible says in 1, stay there in 2 John, but in 1 Corinthians 13, the famous chapter
about charity, it says in verse 6, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.
So there are those who rejoice in the truth, delight in the truth, love the truth.
And then in the next breath it says, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things.
Okay, there are people who rejoice in the truth.
Other people rejoice in iniquity.
The Bible says there in 2 John, verse 1, the elder unto the elect lady and her children,
whom I love in the truth, and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth,
for the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever.
Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Father in truth and love.
I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth as we received a commandment
from the Father.
Now do you notice an emphasis there in every single verse?
Verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 4, what's being emphasized over and over again?
The truth.
He says, I love you in the truth, and not I only, but also all they that have known
the truth.
Twice in verse 1 the truth is mentioned.
Verse 2, for the truth's sake.
At the end of the verse 3, in truth and love.
Verse 4, I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth.
See truth is what matters today.
It's what mattered to John.
The apostle that was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one that was after his heart, he
loved the truth.
That's why the book of John talks more about the truth than any book.
First John, second John, third John, the truth, the truth, the truth.
Go to third John.
Just flip the page over to third John.
Should be right across the page there.
Verse 1, the elder unto the well beloved Gaius whom I love in the truth.
Behold, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even
as thy soul prospereth.
For I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee.
Even as thou walkest in the truth, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth.
You see it over and over and over again.
You know what matters today about this church service and about this Bible that I hold in
my hand and about the things that are being preached is that they're true today.
That's what matters.
You know, that's important to God.
People say, well, you know, it's just is your heart in the right place?
You know when your heart's in the right place when you love the truth?
Well, you know, we don't, you know, true, false.
Just is your heart right?
No, your heart's right when you love the truth.
You know what rejoices the Lord?
To see his children walking in truth.
He looks at you and says, it's, we're doing it for the truth's sake.
You say, why'd you preach that sermon?
You know, whatever the sermon.
Why'd you preach that sermon?
Because it was the truth, that's why.
It doesn't matter what the sermon, well, why was that sermon relevant?
You know why it was relevant?
Because I told the truth.
And we today need to be Christians who love the truth and embrace the truth and rejoice
in the truth and want to impart unto others the truth.
That's what matters.
Say, well, but it's not nice.
Well, it's the truth.
Sometimes the truth is very nice.
Sometimes the truth is not so nice, but it's always the truth and we should always love
it.
That's why I love the whole Bible.
Some people only like parts of the Bible.
Other parts, oh, I don't like that part.
I like it all because I know that it's all true.
And that's what makes me love it.
Now there are some people who just love the truth and other people who don't really care
about the truth.
Now, I can think of so many things throughout my life where I didn't really know which way
was right and I was trying to learn about something.
And I can often remember thinking, well, I don't really care which one it is.
I just want to know the truth.
But a lot of people, they decide what they want to believe and then they set out to prove
what they want to believe.
And they go, they try to go find it in the Bible.
They decide this is what I want to believe and let's see if we can find it in here.
And you know what?
If you approach it that way, you'll find it in your twisted mind.
It's not really going to be there.
But with a book this big with 31,000 some verses in it, people can always find a verse
that they can twist and take out of context to pretty much make the Bible say whatever
they want it to say just by twisting things.
Now they'll never have a clear verse that exactly states what they're saying.
But they'll have a verse that they can go, well, you know, if this verse says this, then
how about this?
And they can twist it and make it say whatever they want.
You know, there are people out there who want to believe in polygamy.
You know, the Joseph Smiths of this world, the Brigham Youngs of this world, the Mohammeds
of this world.
And you know what?
If somebody just goes into the Bible and wants to prove, hey, polygamy is fine, they'll find
a way to twist scripture and make it fine.
But of course, there's no clear scripture that tells you, hey, it's okay to have more
than one wife.
In fact, the clear scripture says that God made them at the beginning male and female.
A man will depart his father and mother and cleave unto his wife singular and they too
shall be one flesh.
And the Bible also says that it is a sin for the pastor or the bishop or the deacon to
have more than one wife.
So why is it wrong for a pastor to be the husband of more than one wife?
Because having more than one wife is a sin, that's why.
Because otherwise they wouldn't say, well, no, it's just the pastor can't have it.
Well, here's a newsflash.
Everybody who's a pastor started out not being a pastor.
So how could it be okay for the people in the pew to have more than one wife if it's
not okay for the pastor to have more than one wife?
The truth of the matter is it's not okay for anybody to have more than one wife because
God intended marriage to be between two people, one man and one woman, and it would be until
death.
And that's it.
Because otherwise you'd have all these laymen with all their harem of wives and then it's
like, oh, I want to be a pastor now, well, sorry.
It wouldn't even make any sense, folks.
But there are people out there in their deluded, twisted mind, in fact, there are 14 million
of them that call themselves Mormons who believe that polygamy is fine.
You say, well, Mormons don't believe that, Mormons don't practice polygamy.
Ask any Mormon you want.
I've talked to hundreds and hundreds of Mormons, Mormons will tell you that they don't believe
in polygamy because they believe in obeying the law of the land.
And you know what that means?
That if it were legal, they would do it.
That's what they're saying.
The Mormons did it up until the federal government was going to come in and raid them and shut
them down.
Then conveniently they got a revelation from their prophet, oh, wow, polygamy is now something
that we're not going to do anymore.
We're going to follow the laws of the land.
And I've asked these Mormons, I've said to them, basically what you're saying is that
if it were legal, you'd practice it.
That's what you're saying when you say, well, we believe in obeying the law of the land.
That's why we don't.
Look, I don't practice polygamy because I believe the Bible.
It has nothing to do with the law of the land.
It just has to do with God said no.
Okay?
And who wants to practice it anyway?
Good night.
But anyway, that's another sermon in and of itself.
Good night.
Who wants to pay for that?
No, I'm just kidding.
Just kidding.
But the bottom line, well, you know, my wife is just so wonderful and amazing.
She's everything.
She's all I need.
The thing is, we as Christians, it's not just enough to love the truth enough to get saved.
You know, and that's obviously the most important thing is whether or not you're saved.
And people who don't love the truth and won't come to the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior,
there's going to be hell to pay.
Not only that, after we're saved, after we've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we need
to continue to love the truth.
Even once we're children of God, what did he say in 2 John and 3 John?
You know, I want you to keep walking in the truth.
I want to hear that you're walking in truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear that you're walking in truth.
We've received a commandment of the Father that we would walk in truth.
Go to John 17.
John 17.
There are all kinds of things about this in the books that John penned down.
And isn't it amazing that John, the Gospel of John, is the only book in the Bible with
the stated purpose of getting people saved.
Now obviously you could use other scriptures throughout the Bible, other books, to get
people saved, but the Gospel of John is the Gospel that states that the purpose of the
book is to get people saved.
It says, there are many things that Jesus did, but these are written that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing you might have life through his
name.
So the Gospel of John is written that you might be saved.
And isn't it interesting how much it emphasizes believe?
I think 90 times in the Gospel of John the word believe is used, 90 times.
And then not only that, it emphasizes the truth.
Because what gets you saved?
Believing the truth.
And Jesus is the truth.
And the Bible says in John 17 verse 4, I have given them thy word and the world hath hated
them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep
them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Watch this, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.
Now sanctify means to set apart.
We study the Bible, you could for example go to Exodus 13 and see where that word is
defined as set apart if you compare verse 2 with verse 12.
But he says, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.
The truth is what sets us apart from the world.
We are sanctified through the truth.
We are set apart from this world by the truth.
Why does the world hate us?
Because it says in verse number 14, I have given them thy word and the world hath hated
them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Why is it that believers are hated of the world?
Because of the word.
I have given them thy word and the world hated them.
Because we are set apart, we are different.
What makes us different?
That we have the truth.
Look at verse number 18, as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent
them into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the
truth.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word.
Just flip over to chapter 18 while we're there.
And this is where Jesus is standing before Pontius Pilate.
And in verse 36 it says, Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews.
But now is my kingdom not from hence.
Pilate therefore said unto him, art thou a king then?
Jesus answered, thou sayest that I am a king.
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth.
Why did Jesus come into the world?
To bear witness unto the truth.
Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Pilate saith unto him, what is truth?
And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find
in him no fault at all.
What is Jesus saying here?
Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
And then the people out there will be like Pontius Pilate and say, what is truth?
What is truth?
You know, professing themself to be wise, they became fools.
What's truth?
You know, the Socrates and the Plato and the Aristotle of this world that will just go
on and on and on and on and on discussing what is truth?
What is justice?
What is righteousness?
Blah, blah, blah.
Look, it's real simple.
You know what righteousness is?
Obeying God.
You know what the truth is?
The word of God.
There I say, look, Socrates and Plato and Aristotle could have all just been put on
a three by five card.
And these fools of this world are like Pontius Pilate who wants you to define the most simple
term.
You know, what is life?
What is truth?
You know what?
These are the type of foolish and unlearned questions of the unbelievers.
Everybody knows what truth means.
And then you'll try to tell people something like believe on Jesus, not what does believe
mean?
As if anyone doesn't know what the word believe means.
But it's these type of, well, what is truth?
Like there's no absolute truth or like there's no absolute definition of what believe means
or there's no absolute definition of what life is.
We know, everyone knows what life is.
If I show you, hey, is this alive?
Is this not alive?
You could all give me the right answer.
Baby in its mother's womb.
Alive or not alive?
Yeah, exactly.
You know, the cell phone tower, is it alive or not alive?
It's not alive.
It got a little quiet there.
You guys, well, you guys think that power poles are coming to life or what?
Okay.
Let me make it real easy.
The chair you're sitting on, you know, is it alive?
You know, is this microphone alive or not?
Hello?
Is this, is this live?
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, that's a different meaning of the word live.
Okay.
But, but the Bible here shows Jesus making this very profound statement.
I don't want you to miss this profound statement.
Anyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
See, people who love the truth, people who are of the truth, when they hear the voice
of Jesus, they hear it.
They listen to it.
They believe it.
Why?
Because Jesus is the truth.
And anyone who's of the truth, when they're confronted with the word of God, and when
they're confronted with the, you know, the truth of God's word, is going to embrace it
because they are of the truth.
Now go to John chapter 8 and you'll find a similar statement.
John chapter 8.
And let me just read this while you're turning to John 8.
Psalm 119 says this in verse 29, remove from me the way of lying.
Get lying away from me.
Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously.
I have chosen the way of truth.
Did you hear that?
I've chosen the way of truth.
Thy judgments have I laid before me.
It's a choice that we make.
Choosing the way of truth.
Why?
Because we love the truth.
Or choosing to have pleasure and unrighteousness, to scoff at the word of God, to be willfully
ignorant.
Look, Calvinism's a lie.
It's a choice, my friend.
You choose the way of the truth or you choose the lie.
And you say, well, what makes one person believe and another person not believe?
It has to do with what they want to believe.
And it's a choice that they make to decide whether to be somebody who's of the truth
or not of the truth.
And let me tell you something.
There are a lot of people who are not of the truth.
And you say, well, how do you define that?
Well, when you walk up to somebody and just show someone the facts and they're just like,
well, I still don't believe in it.
I still believe this and that.
And I'm not just talking about the gospel.
I mean, I'm talking about anything.
I remember one time I was with a missionary in Germany.
And he told me, he said, well, there's a reason why there's two genealogies of Jesus.
This guy was a pastor.
There's a reason why there are two genealogies of Jesus, the one in Luke 3 and the one in
Matthew 1.
He said, one of them shows that he's of the tribe of Judah, the king of the Jews, the
son of David.
And the other one shows that he's of the tribe of Levi, because he's the priest.
And I told him, I said, no, that's not true.
And I took him to the genealogy and I showed him in Luke 3 that the Levi in Luke 3 is a
different Levi who's hundreds and hundreds of years from the Levi he's thinking of.
And then I took him to the book of Hebrews.
This is when I was like 18.
I took him to the book of Hebrews and I showed him where it says, it is evident that our
Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
And it said that it is evident.
He said, our Lord sprang from another tribe, not of the tribe of Levi.
It says he's a priest after the order of Melchizedek and it was necessary that another priest
should rise, not after the order of Aaron, not from the tribe of Levi.
I read him the whole thing and he just silently listened to me as I read him the whole passage
from Hebrews and showed him the facts, read him the genealogies and, you know, I'm done
and I just kind of look at him like.
And he just, he paused for a minute and then he just repeated to me, the reason there's
two genealogies is because one of them shows that he's of the tribe of Levi and the other
one shows he's of the tribe of Judah.
One on his mom's side, one on his father's side.
Now there's a guy who doesn't love the truth.
Isn't it interesting?
He also turned out to be a Calvinist by the way.
He didn't love the truth.
I guess he was just foreordained to be ignorant of the Bible from the foundation of the world
according to these Calvinists.
But it, I mean, things like that just blow my mind, but I'll bet everybody in this room
has had a similar experience where you just show somebody something just plain as day
and they're just like, nope, no, I still think, I still think that he's of the tribe of Levi.
I still think that.
Okay, are you basing that on anything?
You know, doesn't it just frustrate you and you're just like, ah!
You just want to grab people and shake people at some point, like you just show them, look,
look at it!
And they're just like, no, no, I still think, I mean, I've sat, how many times have I sat
there and given the gospel to somebody for 20 minutes and, and, and, you know, showed
them what's wrong with Mormonism, showed them from the Bible what's wrong with the
Jehovah's way, showed them what's, and then at the end I'm just like, do you want to believe
this?
Are you going to believe this and get saved or do you want to just stick with, with your
religion?
I'll just stick with my religion, thanks.
What are you doing?
You say, well, you know, you grew up in a Christian home, but you know, when I was growing
up in a Christian home, I read the Bible for myself and I said to myself, you know what,
if anything in this Bible is different than what I've been taught, I'm going to change
what I believe.
And there, I could give you many examples of things where I changed what I believed
from what I was taught.
Thank God I was raised Baptist and raised, you know, Christian and, and a lot of the
things I was taught were right, most of the things I was taught were right, but there
were a lot of things where I said, you know what, that isn't true, I've been taught that
my whole life, but the Bible says something different.
You know, why would you go against what your parents taught you or what your pastor taught
you?
Because you love the truth more than you love your parents and more than you love your pastor,
you love the truth more than anything because you're of the truth.
The Bible even describes certain people as being of the truth.
I mean, wouldn't that be a good moniker to have?
I am a person who is of the truth.
What is of the truth?
Having to do with the truth.
I'm a person who has a relationship with the truth.
Exodus 18, 21, you don't have to turn there, but it says, Moreover, 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 ten.
The Bible says that our leaders should be men of truth, people that are of the truth.
Jesus said, everyone who's of the truth hears my voice.
Look at John chapter 8, verse 44, where I had you turn.
It says, year of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth
in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not.
Which of you convinces me of sin?
And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me?
Now Jesus is asking the question, why someone believes and another doesn't.
He said, well, I'm telling you the truth.
Everything I'm saying is the truth.
So why don't you believe me?
And he says it in the next verse.
This is why.
He that is of God heareth God's words, he therefore hear them not because you're not
of God.
So there are people out there who willfully choose the way of lies instead of choosing
the way of truth.
They reject the truth and are willfully ignorant because they don't want to believe.
And anybody who has gone out soul winning for any length of time and knocked a lot of
doors knows that there are a lot of people who just have no interest in the truth.
They don't care.
You could, I mean, I've had people tell me, I don't care what you show me in the Bible.
You're not going to change what I believe.
I don't care what you show me because they're just not interested in the truth.
They don't care.
And you could prove it to them.
You could have facts and they will just not.
And look, how many times when you talk to these worldly just zombies of people who are
just so mind controlled and you try to show them, for example, you know, not to keep bringing
this up, but my sermon from a few weeks ago that caused all the hoopla.
And thank God no more protesters this morning.
You know, they're gone.
I thought they told, they keep telling me we're going to keep protesting until you stop
preaching hate.
But the thing is, they always stop and I never stop, you know, but they always stop
at a few weeks.
But you know, when it comes to that sermon, it's funny because, you know, when you preach
the Bible part of it, then basically, you know, people who aren't saved, obviously that
doesn't mean anything to them because they're not of the truth.
They don't hear God's word because they're not of God.
So you know, they don't really care.
But then it's funny when you start pulling out all the scientific data.
And remember, I did a lot of scientific data in that sermon and other sermons like it.
And I pulled out the data and I even walked over and talked to some of the protesters
a week ago and I was pulling up the data on my phone and showing them, look, it's right
here on the government's website, you know, AIDS.gov, CDC.gov.
And I'm showing them the facts.
And they just, they get real quiet when you start reading them the facts.
You know, when you talk about the Bible, it's like, well, that Bronze Age book, blah, blah,
blah, you know.
But then when you start showing them the facts and the science, they get real quiet because
what do they say?
They can't really say anything.
You know, you're like, well, this is the government's website, you know, this is AIDS.gov, you know.
And then they're just kind of quiet and you think to yourself, because you're of the truth,
so you kind of tend to mirror on other people your own attributes.
You know, have you ever heard of judging other people by your own heart?
So you know, you think to yourself, oh, they're getting quiet because they're actually, they're
getting this.
I just made a breakthrough, you know.
And you think for a moment that you're Ann Sullivan with Helen Keller, you know, and
you've just finally gotten through, you know.
Water, water.
And you know, and you've made this breakthrough.
And they're real quiet because they have nothing to say.
I mean, it's fact, it's all these facts, all the science.
And it's all backing up what you just said from the Bible.
And then after a pause, it's just like, no, you're wrong.
What?
But they can't prove you wrong.
They can't show you that it's wrong.
But it's just they don't care.
But see, it's irrelevant to some people what the truth is.
Now thankfully, in America today, if someone sues you, you know, for defamation of character,
right, you know that you can defend yourself by proving that what you said was true.
Which makes sense, right?
So they say, oh, I'm suing you for defamation of character.
All you have to do is go into the court and say, well, your honor, everything I said is
true.
Here's all the facts.
And then it's like, case dismissed.
This man spoke the truth.
But did you know that in other countries like Canada, the truth is not a defense.
In defamation lawsuits, there are situations where they say, well, what you're saying is
hate speech.
And you tell them, yeah, but it's all true.
It doesn't matter whether it's true.
You can't say that because it's hate speech.
So the truth, thankfully in America, is still a defense in our court system.
Hey, everything I said was true.
It's fine.
But in other countries, they have laws that are so weird where, you know, the truth is
no defense.
I mean, isn't that just show you how our society is driven?
Because if you want to know the future of America, take a trip to Europe.
Take a trip to Canada.
That's where we're headed.
It's like getting in a time machine to the future of the morality.
Now, when it comes to some of the culture, it's like going backwards in time.
They're just kind of getting into the 80s and 90s in some places.
But when it comes to the moral decline, it's like moving forward when you go to these places.
And it's sad today.
Let's go to one last place, Isaiah 30.
We want to be people that are described as being of the truth, right?
We as men want to be men of truth.
Ladies want to be ladies of truth.
You know, there are a lot of people who throw around the word truth now.
You talk about the truth movement or being a truther, right?
Being a truther, the truth movement.
This is the real truth movement.
You know who the truthers are?
Bible-believing Christians are the real truthers today.
Yeah, honestly.
Now a lot of the people in the so-called truth movement are also Bible-believing Christians,
and that's great.
Why?
Why would that be?
Because it's the same type of person who wants to know the truth about God and the truth
about Jesus and the truth about the Bible that also wants to know the truth about all
the other things in this world.
That's why so many people who are involved in the truth movement are often attracted
to biblical preaching, because that's the same type of person.
It's just a person who loves the truth.
They want to know the truth.
There are other people in the so-called truth movement that are atheists.
They're not a truther at all, you know.
They're still in darkness.
They're not awake.
They're in darkness even until now.
But look at Isaiah 30 verse 8.
It says, Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may
be for the time to come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children,
children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not, and
to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy
deceits, get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel
to cease from before us.
Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because ye despise this word, and trust in
oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon, therefore this iniquity shall be to you as
a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly
in an instant.
Notice what he says here.
At the end of verse 10, they're saying to the preachers, prophesy not unto us right
things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
So do they even want to hear the truth at all?
No, no, no, just lie to us.
As long as it's smooth, that's what we want to hear.
Just tell us what we want, give us something that we like, don't tell us the truth, give
us lies, but look at verse 12, wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because ye despise
this word.
Look, why do they not want the truth?
Because they hate the word of God, they despise the word of God.
What is it that makes people believe the word of God?
The love of the truth.
And Jesus said, thy word is truth.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
So what I'm trying to get across in this sermon is that there are people who love the truth
and people who don't.
They don't care about the truth, in fact they often hate the truth.
They want to be lied to as long as it gratifies their lust.
They have itching ears, they'll turn unto fables.
Now when it comes to salvation, the most important truth that there is in the world, the most
important decision that we could ever make, you know, the stakes are pretty high on those
who decide to just stop up their ears at the truth and not want to hear the gospel and
just refuse to hear what the word of God says.
But even after we get saved and we believe that truth of the gospel, there are other
truths that we need to learn.
I mean the Bible is a big thick book, it's not just about salvation.
There are all kinds of truths about how we should live our lives, about marriage, about
child rearing, about our jobs and about our life that we live and about the works that
we should do, about how our church should be, about how the preaching should be, about
how we should pray and how we should read our Bibles and just all kinds of things about
our life, different things about cleaning up our life and being godly and holy.
We need to remain people of truth and to continue to walk in the truth so that the apostle John,
who really represents the Lord being our Father, he rejoiced greatly that his children
were walking in truth and the Lord rejoices greatly when his children are walking in truth,
just like John rejoiced about his children.
And so we, if we want to please God, if we want God to rejoice and be happy with us and
be pleased with us, we need to be people who love truth.
That means when you come to church, let me just give a real practical application of
this.
When you come to church, the question should not be, did I like the sermon or not like
it?
The question should be, was the sermon true or false?
Because there are a lot of things that we might not like or want to hear, but if they're
the truth, we need to love them for the truth's sake.
You know, you say, hey, did you, did you like that sermon or did you love that sermon?
The question should come down to the truth of the sermon.
And even if your flesh kind of bristled maybe because the pastor got on your sin a little
bit or got on your buddies or got on your whatever, then you know, you might bristle
a little bit, but you know what, for the truth's sake, you know what you should say, you know
what?
The pastor preached the truth and that's what we need to hear.
And therefore I love that preaching because it's true.
Now you say, well, you know, I don't always love your preaching.
That's okay to not love my preaching as long as you're not loving it because I didn't tell
the truth.
Like if I don't tell the truth, then get mad.
You ought to be mad.
I mean, if you come here and I get up and preach lies, you ought to be mad.
You ought to get angry.
But if what I said was true and you're, well, I just don't like the way that you said it.
It's not really the way that I said it that made people upset.
That's what the children of Israel said, oh, we don't want to hear this voice speaking
with us.
The Bible says they could not endure that which was commanded.
The problem wasn't the tone of voice coming from that mountain.
They could not endure that which was commanded.
And honestly, I could get up and preach, you know, some of my most hated sermons, I could
preach them in a whisper.
You know, I could get the microphone and I could speak them in a whisper like this.
It's the judgment of God, you know, and you know what?
People would still, people would still freak out.
You know they would, because it's not, it's, I just don't like the way you say it.
You know, it's just an excuse for not liking the truth.
Not liking the truth.
Okay.
Now the Bible does say we should speak the truth in love, but it also says we love the
truth and walk in the truth and be men of truth and women of truth.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, because it is the ultimate source of
truth.
That's why I love the Bible so much is because unlike any other book on this planet, when
I pick it up and read it, I always know I'm reading the truth.
That's what's so great about it.
Other books could pretend that, oh, they're more exciting and you know what?
But this is the book that's always true and that's why we love it more than any other
book, Lord.
Help us to walk in the truth and love the truth and be people of truth, Lord.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.