So if you look at John chapter 18 and verse number 37 of course this is a very very famous passage
of the interaction between Pilate and Jesus Christ and verse number 37 says 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 of the truth everyone that is
of the truth heareth my voice Pilate said unto him what is truth and when he had said this he
went out again unto the Jews and safe unto them I find no fault at all and so Pilate says these
very famous words what is truth and I'm kind of mocking the fact that Christ has come to bear
witness of the truth the fact that if you are of Christ you will hear if you are of the truth you
will hear the voice of Christ and Pilate who has the very truth before him Jesus Christ who is the
way the truth and the life you know truth embodied in a human being Pilate says what is truth what is
truth and so we continue in our series or we're really starting the series on the armor of God
the first sermon that I preached on Wednesday was more of an introduction but the you know the next
item that that is mentioned in that chapter I just read to you Ephesians chapter 6 verse 14
it says stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth the title for the sermon this
afternoon is girt about with truth so once again we're talking about the armor of God the whole
armor of God we want to have make sure that we put all of it on and we need to be people of the truth
we need to be people that love the truth we need to be people that are seeking the truth and of
course this is why you're saved because you found the truth you found the truth in the gospel you
found the truth in Jesus Christ and praise God for the truth that we do have you know we're not
like Pilate which is saying well what is truth hey what is the way to salvation how can we know what
is true and what is not and you know what Pilate of this day what is truth is no different to many
politicians today all right you know for Pilate this was more you know truth could never be
something that's absolute what is it something that is true today may not necessarily be true
tomorrow and we see this when our politicians campaign and they give their promises and they
stand for certain things during their campaign but when they get elected they don't do what they say
they'll do right the truth has changed for them okay because it's all just what do the people
want it's not about having finding the absolute truth you know for politicians it's well what is
true today you know there was a time when Australians had law against sodomy against
homosexuality that was a truth and now they found a new truth right the new truth now
is to celebrate it to enjoy it you know to to praise our sodomy you know our laws keep changing
because our politicians keep changing they do not have absolute truth and you know that's a
terrible place to be in life right thank God we know what is true thank God we have the gospel
we know Christ is true we know his book is true we know the Holy Spirit that we have in us is
true but you know Christ rejectors they don't have the truth Pilate did not have the truth
unbelievers don't have the truth and it's a sad thing for them you know and we should think about
how blessed we are that we have the truth there are so many lies in this world you know there's
only one truth and many lies you know we can say one plus one there's only one truth to that
it's two but then how many lies could there be to that answer you know three would not be true
ten would not be true a million would not be true you know there are more true more lies than there
is truth there's one truth and many many lies you know there is one true gospel and many many false
gospels there is one messiah one way to heaven and many many other you know uh so-called false
gospels out there and so we thank God that we have the truth and not only are we people of the
truth that hear the voice of Jesus Christ but we ought to be good about with truth you know so the
picture here is that when you put on your armor you put on the belt okay so let me just go through
the advantages of being saved the advantages that we have and I already kind of covered it we have
Christ okay the way the truth and the life that's number one but you're in the book of John so please
go to John chapter 17 now John chapter 17 and when it comes to this topic of truth
the book of John just keeps hammering this like chapter after chapter you know as to what the
truth is and I look at John chapter 17 and verse number 16 John chapter 17 verse number 16 Jesus
Christ says they are not of the world even as I am not of the world sanctify them through thy truth
thy word is truth as thou has sent me into the world even so have I sent them into the world
and for their sakes I sanctify them sorry I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth so now that we are of the truth we are we do have Christ what is our what do we
what do we need to do as Christians we need to be sanctified we need to be cleansed and how are we
sanctified how we cleanse through the truth and what is the truth here thy word is truth and you
know I say this and I don't know it might sound like a broken record sometimes but the great thing
about the bible is we know it's a hundred percent true everything we read here is true even the lies
are truly recorded for us okay everything we know here is true what I mean by the lies is obviously
things that other people say things that are recorded by the Pharisees and false
teachers you know even that is correctly captured for us so we can know the truth
of what these other people were teaching we have complete truth here this is the only objects that
we have in life that we can be on like you know sure about that we have the truth of
right I'm sure a lot of us have turned off the TVs right a lot of us have turned off watching
mainstream media and all the news but I don't know about you I found myself getting drawn back
into watching the media over these months because of the pandemic primarily not because of the virus
so much primarily just so I knew what was going on what kind of restrictions were happening what
can we do about church what's the effect what are the risks what are the consequences but a lot of
people think the news is true now does it have truth I'm sure it definitely has truth but does
it have lies always has lies what about youtube what about bichu what about facebook what about
all the articles that you can find in online or your newspapers or your magazines does it contain
truth many times there's a lot of great truths many great things you can learn from those things
but are there lies and are there more lies than truths in the world there's so many more lies and
so that's the thing about all these other forms of media and information
is that you know you're trying to learn certain things but you also have to be aware
that what I'm learning what I'm hearing could very well contain lies okay but I don't have
that concern when I read this book I never have that concern I know I can read this I know it's
true and I know I have the holy spirit that's the next point go to john chapter 14 go to john
chapter 14 and verse number 16 we want to be girt about with truth right you go out you put your
belt on hey you know what this book the truth that you've got here should be like that belt
it should always be available to you all right and if you don't walk around your bible get the
app on your phone or something right just be ready to have the word of god available to you
just like when you put your belt on you get out you've got it on all day hey we should always
have access to the word of god but in john chapter 14 verse number 16 these are words
of christ it says and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may
abide with you forever wow praise god another comforter what that what does that mean that
means jesus was a comforter to the disciples in his day but he's going to send another comforter
which we have hey the holy spirit is our comforter and he's going to abide with us forever verse
number 17 even the spirit of truth hey praise god the one that abides with us forever spiritually
speaking is the spirit of truth not the spirit of lies but the spirit of truth whom the world
cannot receive whom the world cannot receive how blessed are you reverend that you have the
holy spirit in you you have god reside in you the spirit of truth the world doesn't have that
what amazing power what amazing privilege we've been given by god to have the holy spirit
because it's safe him not the world doesn't receive him see him neither know of him but
you know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you the spirit of truth so we have so many
advantages brethren we have the truth jesus christ is our savior we have the holy spirit of god
which is the spirit truth it's going to help us to understand the difference between what is true
what is true and what lies we have the word of god which we never have to doubt we just can read
it we know this is a true account of what is being taught to us we have we have truth all over you
know we have we're surrounded by truth we're so blessed to have the truth when the world does not
have it when the world does not have the truth okay please turn with me to first timothy chapter
three first timothy chapter three first timothy so we're going to look at a few passages in timothy
so you know obviously timothy was a pastor paul had set him there to do some ordinations to serve
faithfully in his church and so first timothy and second timothy are epistles primarily written to
pastors but just because it's primarily written to pastors doesn't mean it's just to be read by
pastors or followed by pastors it's for the entire church and so we get a lot of great doctrines
about church as well when it comes to the book of timothy first and second timothy but look at
verse number 15 first timothy chapter 3 first timothy chapter 3 and verse number 15
because the next point that i have here reverend is that your choice of church is important
the church that you choose to visit and attend week after week is so important for you to be
able to be girt about with truth to have the armor of god on first timothy chapter 3 verse 15 reads
but if i tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of god
which is the church of the living god the pillar and ground of the truth now are there churches
that are not the pillar and ground of the truth so many how many truths how many lies very few
truths many many lies and when it comes to churches very few are true and many of them
are lies many of them are teaching false things but a church ought to be a place where it is the
pillar and ground of the truth so whatever church you select whether it's this church or one day you
don't find yourself a new life baptist church you find yourself in another place with some other
church you better make sure that church is a pillar and ground of truth it's the church of
the living god and of course we have the lord god living in us and so the choice of our church is so
important because this is another method that god has given us in order to receive truth okay
to receive truth it's from the preaching of god's word please go to second timothy chapter four
second timothy chapter four for me second timothy chapter four and verse number 12 and a lot of your
decision on what church you're going to be part of is the pastor it is the leader you know that's
in that church and what they're teaching are they teaching what is true because when we looked at
the book of revelations and we saw the seven churches we saw many good churches or churches
that belong to jesus christ right but then they had really bad leaders one church had jesabel
preaching at it okay and so these are two things you know uh yes finding a a church that teaches
the truth teaches the right gospel but having a bad preacher having a bad pastor can really mess
you up and in in second timothy chapter four and verse number two this is an instruction
that's given to pastors and listen and i know that some of this overlaps with what i covered
this morning but understand that the reason i try to preach hard the reason i try to preach things
that might be controversial that you may not necessarily like all the time is because we're
commanded by god to do that okay second timothy chapter four in verse number two says preach the
word be instant in season out of season what that means is if something is out of season
just preach it you know sorry in season just preach against it if it's some type of sin
that everyone enjoys doing and people are loving just preach against it it doesn't matter what
season you're in just preach the truth preach the word look at this reprove that's correct rebuke
sometimes you got to be called out exhort built up with all long suffering and doctrine
why is this so important why is it important to have a a good preacher who's doing their best to
preach the word of god because it says in verse number three for the time will come when they
that's talking about the church here okay when they will not endure sound doctrine but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn
away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables why is it important that
you have a spirit-filled preacher who's preaching the truth of the god's word you know not not
concerned if he may offend you why is that important because it it starts to corrupt the
church the people in the church will suffer from bad preaching eventually you're not going to be
able to endure sound doctrine okay eventually you're going to uh look for teachers that are
going to be there to scratch your ears you have those itching ears you just want to hear things
that you love and eventually your ears will be turned away from the truth and turned unto fables
you start to believe stupid things you start to accept stupid doctrines and you know one stupid
doctrine genesis chapter six fallen angels marrying women spiritual beings marrying women
and having giants as offspring that's a fable that's stupidity you know it doesn't jive with
the bible at all it doesn't jive with our understanding of science you know that everything
brings forth after its own kind genesis one god makes it clear that everything brings forth after
its own kind anybody that starts to pick up the bible and reads the first chapter
knows that very fundamental truth of genetics and yet a fallen angel who's not a physical being
marries some woman and creates some giants hey that's a fable now look i know good people that
believe that friends that believe that okay so look why you say why do they believe that well
they sought after doctrines that scratched the ears they they moved away from looking for the
sound trip and they went after the fables the fancy stories you know that's a stupid i mean
that is a stupid doctrine that is that is fables but this is what happens if you don't have a good
preacher you're going to start exploring in these other areas you know these sci-fi things and
it can be very very dangerous and so what i want to draw your attention though you know there is
is that the preacher needs to obviously like i said preach things doesn't matter what season
it's in preacher if it's in the word of god rebuke what else was there it said reprove
and so sometimes it's things that may uh get to you deeply you may feel offended you may i don't
know you may feel like the past is attacking you maybe sometimes the preacher's attacking you
but that's a good thing that's a good thing to set you straight to keep you in the truth
but i want to understand another part of this and and if you can please go to uh you're in
second timothy please go to chapter 2 and verse number 24 go to second 2nd timothy chapter 2 and
verse 24 because this is why church is so important and you know i'm not again i'm not
against you going and listening to online preaching great preachers out there praise
god for them okay but if you become just a christian that just listens online you're just
listening to preaching you're hearing great preaching powerful preaching you know the
preacher's ripping face but you don't go to church you know what you're going to get used to
you're going to be watching that you're going man i love that preaching i love that attitude i love
how he rips face i love how he rebukes and you don't go to church and you just keep listening
to that week after week after week guess how you're going to treat people the same way you're
going to think that's how we behave that's how we talk to people that's how i treat people that are
different to me that's how i talk to people that have different doctrines but no that's not see
that's part of it that's preaching behind the pulpit it ought to be hard it ought to be direct
right but look at second timothy chapter 2 and verse 24 and this is how you know if you've got
a good preacher okay because he's able to preach hard but then second timothy chapter 2 and verse
24 it says and the servant of the lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men gentle unto all
men is that the impression you get if you just listen to online preaching some guy's ripping
face and that's all you never go to that person's church you don't go to church so you don't know
how that person interacts with their with the congregation you don't know how that person reacts
with his family you don't know how that person acts with the community because you're left with
this idea that's how we ought to act just rip people up just tear people down no because the
good preacher that does preachers like that when he deals with people one-on-one with his
congregation he's gentle unto all men okay so you've got to have the balance preach hard to the
church but one-on-one with people you'd be nice to them you'd be gentle with people right not
struggling people look at this apt to teach patient okay patient in meekness meek patient
right all this stuff in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if god preadventure will
give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and so one way to get rid of uh false
doctrine one way to help someone get into the truth yes is to preach hard behind the pool but
that's important but another aspect is just to be one-on-one gentle with somebody and help that
person understand why they're wrong on something rather than just tearing them apart because you're
not just like us or you don't believe just like us be gentle right people look it says
instructing those that oppose themselves people that believe false doctrine are just opposing
themselves they're hurting themselves right but we're called to uh like uh if god prevention give
them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth we're trying to help that person
go from the false doctrines that they have to acknowledge and receive the truth look at verse
number 26 why is it so important that they may sorry that and that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will so why are there
so many false doctrines out there because the devil's putting them in there the devil's thrown
out all this false stuff out there trying to get it to stick on to someone so it can prevent them
from being someone that is serving the lord prevent them from doing the works of god
prevent them from having a greater knowledge of the word of god but the servant the preacher
is gentle with those people on a one-on-one level okay so that's how you know if you're in a good
church that cares for the truth we want them to acknowledge the truth we preach it hard that's
one way but one-on-one gentle okay it's not about ripping someone's face on a personal level all
right so that's that's the problem with you know not going to church just listening to online
preaching because you don't see the other side of the pastor you don't see the fellowship and
the gentleness that brothers and sisters ought to have with one another now please go to john
chapter 8 go to john chapter 8 and verse 31 john chapter 8 and verse number 31
and this is a topic that i really love all right if there's one thing if you you know that you
just remember about pastor kevin that you remember about new life baptist church it's this one
john chapter 8 verse 31 it says then said jesus to those jews which believed on him
if you continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free now look when it comes to salvation the truth does make us free
all right we're no longer under the bondage of sin under the bondage of trying to get our work
our way to heaven we have made we have made been made free but this is not you know the first
application of this teaching is not about salvation because what did jesus say says if you
continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed this is about discipleship this is about
living for christ all right so when it says the truth shall make you free jesus is saying he wants
to give us freedom he wants to give us liberty in the christian life okay look at verse number 33
they answered him we be uh yeah we be abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man how
sayest thou ye shall be made free jesus answered them verily verily i say unto you who so commit
of sin is the servant of sin and the servant abideth not in the house forever but the son
abideth forever if the son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed look has the
son of god made you free saved yeah you shall be free indeed there is liberty in the christian life
and this is so important i really want you to get this i really want you to get this
where and we're an independent fundamental baptist church i love the word fundamental
i'm a fundamentalist i love it i don't care how people try to portray that i love that name i
love that term but there are certain parts of fundamentalism that i don't like okay and what
that is brethren is this restrictive you know lifestyle that some pastors some churches try to
force upon their congregation or people within the congregation forcing that on others in the
congregation now brethren look i have a fear of god i want to do what's right i love my children
i want to bring them up godly i want them to love the lord okay but you know what i don't need some
book at kurong to tell me how to do that i don't need that level of instruction i have god's word
he tells me how to do it and i'm going to go to christina my wife and say how are we going to
apply this how are we going to raise our family how are we going to live our lives and i'm not
going to expect that from you what i want from you is for you to go to the word of god find out
what god how god wants you to do things and you do things in the within the boundaries that god
allows god gives us liberty think of adam in the garden of eden god said not this tree but all the
other trees go ahead and eat it you know what a lot of fundamentalists are like if they were
god putting adam in the garden of eden they'd be like you can only eat of this tree all right and
all the other trees don't even touch him that is the best tree that is the right tree if you want
to be like one of us you better eat of that tree you eat of that second tree over there you know
you're not like us no you know christ has given us liberty and don't confuse this i'm not talking
about liberty to sin though you do have the liberty of sin okay but there are consequences
for that that's not what i'm talking about i'm talking about how we live our lives in
accordance to god's word god has given us so much freedom you know if god just told us everything to
do how to brush our teeth what to eat for breakfast what time to eat what time to read
your bible gave us every little detail you know what it'd be it'd be bondage because we'd be every
moment thinking you know when's the time think of the the muslims don't they have to pray like
is it three times a day or something i don't know five times a day that's bondage so they're always
all the time quickly quickly don't pray is that how god wants us to be in bondage no and so what
what we get out of this brethren is that and i because i'm telling you this because i hate this
i hate this behavior where people think you have to live a certain way right you have to raise your
children a certain way you have to do it this way or that way because pastor so-and-so said so
no that's stupidity that's not the liberty that's not the freedom that god has given us and listen
i'm all in favor of liberty okay and i i want to give you guys all the liberty sometimes i have
people you know apologize to me and i'm like why don't apologize to me you can do whatever you want
you know you don't have to do it the way if you come and ask me for advice and i give you advice
but you don't take that advice to do it differently it's your life you have liberty you can choose as
long as it's not sin i'm not i'm not condoning sin i'm just saying within your life just do what is
right do what god tells you okay you don't have to agonize and say god is this the job you want
to give me listen there's like thousands of professions thousands of professions and you
say well i want god's will which job do i do do i become an electrician do i become a farmer god
you know what god wants for you just work a job just choose god says look there's a thousand
just do it just get a job that's god's will for you go get a job man provide you know there's
liberty that's you know it's living out look i'm not saying there's never a time to ask god to open
doors and close the doors and make it clear which way to go but you know if god's not giving you
that one answer it's probably because there's a thousand right answers just take one instead of
look it's better you take one then not take any and just agonize what is my what is god's will
for my life there's liberty okay there's liberty we don't have to be exactly the same and i'm not
going to get offended if you don't do things exactly like me and you shouldn't get offended
if i don't do things exactly like you don't get offended if i don't take your advice
i'm not going to get offended if you don't take my advice okay and you know what i don't like
giving advice i don't because i'd rather say you got liberty you got the holy ghost you got the
bible you know what god wants you know what god expects work it out you know we're not i'm not
raising i'm not trying to have a church of succulents that just come to the pastor for
everything and there are churches like this there are independent baptist churches like this in
places across this world pastor what do i do pastor what do i do can i go on holidays who do i
marry pastor it's like is she saved marry her you like just marry her i'm not gonna tell you like
you know liberty all right you know when it comes to the topic of vaccinations hey i'm anti-vax
i don't vaccinate my kids but you know what if a parent comes up to me and says you know what
i feel this is the best thing for my family my kids i'm gonna vaccinate them
i'm not gonna get offended i'll be like you know what there's liberty
they're your children you do what you want i'm not your parent i'm not going to get
offended by you by doing that okay and i i'm always affording people liberties
but then when they find out i don't vaccinate my kids they don't want to give me liberty
i'll be like how dare you be you know allow your children to to whatever whatever arguments they
make right don't you love your children why don't you vaccinate that's not liberty there is liberty
in god there is freedom in god you know you know homeschooling the schools someone says
i'm gonna put my kids in school i'm against schools i've preached for homeschooling hey but
it's not it doesn't happen here but if someone said to me you know what i heard you're preaching
a homeschooling i think it's cool but i'm gonna put my kids in the school system sorry it's like
why are you saying sorry don't worry you do what you want they're your children okay you do you
go ahead and do whatever you want hey there are consequences to our actions and you may very well
have to face any consequences but it's your kids i'm not offended you do whatever you like brother
you know and i have the freedom to do what i want with my children which is to homeschool my
children okay i have the you know we have liberty you know when it comes to doctrines right someone
says well i believe the pre-trib rapture well i'm gonna believe it believe the pre-trib rapture if
you want but then when i say i don't believe the pre-trib rapture what is wrong with you
aren't you right with god maybe you should have gone to bible college
you know the jews you know you want to believe the jews are chosen god's chosen people
you've got the liberty of believing that i don't it doesn't affect me okay and usually someone says
to me oh look the jews are god's chosen people i asked him a few things i say first of all
if that jew remains unsaved and does not believe in jesus does he go to heaven or hell most often
they're not they'll say hell all right so if the jew was there and he needed he's not saved
what would you do to him what would you i would give him the gospel get him saying okay i agree
so we're actually very alike we both believe that jew without christ is going to hell and what that
jew needs is to believe the gospel to be saved and if you want to give him the title god's chosen
people it's just a title that means nothing then because we believe the same thing they're going
to hell without jesus christ all right you can believe it if you want but give me the liberty
of believing what the bible says that everybody that is a believer of jesus christ is his chosen
people that we're a holy nation of god and we've got clear scriptures about that but look if you
want to go and believe something else go and believe something else liberty brethren there's
liberty when it comes to the church when it comes to living a christian life this is not a cult
all right and that's what the cults love they love control right you leave this church you're
not saved right brother right you don't live according to this life you know you're you're
wrong with god or you know this is not a cult and i don't want to see independent fundamental
baptist churches become cults there are plenty of churches like that i mean look at the brethren
the open brethren they're not too bad but the closed brethren you know you've got to live just
like them or you're out of the church and you get out of the church your family turns against you
everyone turns against you because you've not followed the church guidelines there's not liberty
there okay and it's just it's just what we see with the pharisees and the scribes they've got
all these traditions of men they're criticizing everybody around them because they're not following
them but it's not something god laid out you know there's something strange about men we love to
control people we want people to follow lockstep now one thing that i had to learn if i'm so
desperate to get someone to agree with me if i'm that desperate it's because i'm not even
confident and by getting that person to agree with me kind of gives me assurance oh maybe i'm
right because now he believes it listen i do things i live i live my life i believe certain
doctrines because of my study because of my experience because i've seen that it works
if you don't agree with me you don't do it that way well i'm confident in what i'm doing i'm
confident in in my relationship with my wife i'm confident with how i raise my children
okay and look i'm not perfect i'm not saying i'm perfect there are always going to be consequences
to maybe not doing things perfectly right but there is liberty and we need to afford people
that liberty you know we're not trying to make this club this boys club and you've got to be
just like us and believe just like us and if you're not you're on the outer ah that's just
stupidity that's a cult okay that is a cult all right so the truth shall make you free and like
i said i want you just to remember this you know if this is the only thing you remember from pastor
kevin is no he taught us christ has made us free as long as we stay within the boundaries of what
god has given us he gives us so much freedom you know and if we stay within those boundaries
there's peace there's joy there's fellowship and there's differences there's distinctions that's
good i i'd rather talk to someone that's different to me than like if i had someone that believed
every doctrine just the same as i do everything every verse we just same you know what that's
going to be a very boring conversation like what do we have to talk about what do we have to
discuss i like it when we have different views i like it when we you know iron sharpener fine and
we discuss things and we bring things to the table but we're trying to be good about the truth right
and the truth uh shall make you free the bible tells us please go to uh go to ephesians chapter
four for me ephesians chapter four and verse 24 ephesians chapter four and verse 34 sorry 24 24
ephesians 4 24 when we talk about the truth obviously we can't avoid lies like we can't
avoid not talking about lying okay so in ephesians chapter four in verse number 24
it says and that ye put on the new man after sorry which after god is created in righteousness
and true holiness where for putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor for we
are members one of another so what god is basically saying very simple concept if you
tell lies you're not telling the truth put away the line now it's interesting that this is actually
in the book of ephesians because when it comes to the ephesian church they were like really great
if you read the epistle of the ephesians paul is hardly correcting them about anything it's
just a very deep doctrinal book because the church is doing well but when you look at some
of the other epistles the other churches like the corinthians and sometimes the galatians or other
you know churches paul is constantly trying to correct them constantly trying to get something
right whereas the ephesians it's a very doctrinal book there's not really any major problems but
even with this good great church paul has to tell them put away lying so even within a good church
there were brethren that were lying toward one another okay they weren't telling the truth
and so if we can see that in a great church like the ephesians then this could be a problem in our
church okay and if we're someone that we're trying to gird about ourselves with truth we need to make
sure we put away the line that we don't go and lie to our brothers and sisters in the lord you know if
where where i want to find the most honest people is not in my workplace
it's in my church if i'm looking for honest people i'll say look there are people in my church
these people are honest they're not going to lie that's what i hope now are we going to
lie to one another sometimes it's going to happen it's probably happened right
and this is why we need to put that away right speak truth with his neighbor for we are members
one of another you know we're we're we're one we're the body of christ the church right and
if we're lying we're just lying to each other we're lying to that one body that god has set
us in the local church the bible says in proverbs 12 22 lying lips are abomination to the lord but
they that deal truly are his delights okay so lies and an abomination to the lord but you just
deal truly you tell the truth the lord delights in that you know if you tell the truth to your hurt
the lord delights in it to your hurt you may think man i should have just lied i would have got
things would have been better for me no you know you would have upset the lord you know but by
telling the truth even at your hurt it delights the lord and he's going to reward you he's going
to bless you for telling the truth even at your own hurts you know which brings me to
my next points because we're trying to teach about truth here and uh the australian national anthem
let me just uh speak about that quickly so i'll just try to sing it a little bit if you know the
words i'll stop here and let's see if you know the words you know australians let us all rejoice
for we are young and free with golden soil and well for toil maybe sam do you know this one sam
our home is gert by sea hey we're to be good right we're the truth what does gert mean
if if our nation is gert by sea it's surrounded by sea right we're an island nation we don't
our borders don't touch some other nation to be gert by seas to be surrounded by sea and so when
we're talking about being gert uh with truth we need to be surrounded by truth we need to be
careful about the influences careful about what we listen to the books we read careful you know
have a critical eye have a critical ear to everything else besides this book anything else
could contain errors could contain lies and i bring this up because you know as people who are
of the truth we ought to be seeking the truth always we should always desire we should love
the truth and you know there is the triffa movement some of you guys are aware of that
the triffa movement um and you know usually within the triffa movement there's a lot of
conspiracy theories right there's lots of things out there and i'm all for conspiracy
because i know there's definitely conspiracies out there i know this world hates our lord i
know there's evil forces at work in this world this is why we need the whole armor of god right
but do you think that's all true is it always true
i'm in favor of finding out trying to find the truth trying to do some research i'm in favor of
all that but you've got to be careful because i guarantee you if you've gone and looked into some
of these conspiracy theories you've also swallowed a lot of lies definitely why because it's not the
bible that's why because many of these people aren't even saved they don't have the spirit of
god and you know what i have found great youtube channels like this is great information i really
enjoy this i'm learning a lot of things and then later on there's a channel well the fallen angels
had babies with genesis 6 and they had giants like oh man now i don't know what's
why do they always go that way well there are walking reptilian people on this earth right now
that are physically being born from satan or something right
i don't know i mean maybe i'm exaggerating i don't know but there's this kind of information out
there but you know what these same people probably had some really great truth but then without the
word of god as not as unbelievers as unsafe people they captured some truth but then they went crazy
you know this bible keeps us sane it keeps us stable and whatever we listen to yes there is
elements of truth but we also need to go back to the word of god and say god does this line up with
your word and if it doesn't line up with your word i'm just going to reject it be willing to reject
certain things that you believe today okay you may have invested hours and hours of youtube research
you may have invested hours and hours of emotional attachment to some belief and it's a lie it could
very well be a lie does it line up with god's word is this something that god teaches you
or is it not you know how many times do people promote the end times and this is going to happen
and this guy's the you know president obama was is the is the anti-christ and you know president
bush before him was the anti-christ i'm pretty sure the president before him was the anti-christ
i'm pretty sure hillary is the devil
what i'm saying to you guys brethren now look can are we gonna are we gonna hear lies yes
but you gotta be a filter you know you can't just accept everything and get emotionally remember
that turn into fables you know that that well that's not you know church should be a place
where you don't turn to fables you know where you'll definitely turn to fables youtube
bit you it's a lot of great truths don't get me wrong please i'm not saying don't investigate
don't research don't try to find the truth i'm saying let's be people of the truth but whatever
we learn we need to go back to the word of god and confirm can this be right can this be wrong
for me personally the way i do this you know when i hear something and i think you know there could
be some truth to this i listen i absorb it but i don't go and promote it it doesn't just start
flowing out of my mouth okay it might take several years i don't care how long it takes
where it just sits on the back of my mind and i just process it through different through time
process it with other information process it with my greater understanding of the word of god
and sometimes i'm like yep this is crap see you later that's nonsense and like there are a lot
of things in my head that i have right now that are just sitting there in the back of my mind
i'm not on this trigger to find out the truth what is going on exactly when it comes to this
19 virus i don't know i've heard lots of different opinions it's all in the back of my head just
process in there and i'm going to be very careful about what i say about it because i don't know
i don't know okay if we want to be surrounded by truth we need to be careful of the lies and listen
who's the father of lies satan right can you please go to john chapter 8 john chapter 8 what
i'm trying to say to you brethren is be careful of what you promote okay because you may very
well be promoting the same lies that the devil has inserted you know through the knowledge that
you've gained john chapter 8 verse number 38 and we know this passage i mean none of these passages
are surprised right john chapter 8 verse 38 jesus says the unbelieving jews i speak that which i
have seen with my father and ye do that which you have seen with your father who's their father
they answered and said unto him abraham is our father jesus safe unto them if you were
abraham's children you would do the works of abraham but now you seek to kill me a man that
have told you the truth which i have heard of god this did not abraham ye do the deeds of your
father then said that then said they to him we be not born of fornication we have one father even
god jesus answered unto them if god were your father you would love me for i proceeded forth
and came from god neither came i of myself but he sent me why do you not understand my speech
even because you cannot hear my word ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father
you will do now let me just stop there let me clarify just if you've been deceived and you
believe the lie and now you're promoting a lie this does not mean that you're automatically
a child of the devil if you're saved you can never be a child of the devil okay because
that's a reprobate a child of the devil has been has been born of the devil spiritually speaking
he's a reprobate but let's keep going it says he was a murderer from the beginning that's the
devil and abode not in the truth look at this because there is no truth in him there is no
truth with the devil understand that look at that when he speak of when he speak of 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 who's the father of lies the devil can the devil ever speak truth never
but he's a master of mixing the truth with lies he is but here's the thing as soon as you mix
truth with lies it's all a lie none of it's true you it's it's it's partly true to deceive you
so you can receive some of it but as you receive part of that truth you've also received a bunch
of lies as well the devil knows how we tick the devil knows how to lie to us and make us people
that also speak out his lies i'm very careful to give my opinions sometimes right because i
need to find something in the word of god that confirms that and i realized since i've become
a pastor it's kind of even more important i was really like that before i became a pastor but
after i became a pastor realized man this is really important about what i say i better be
careful you know and i think all of us if we're seeking the truth and we don't want to mislead
our brethren we need to make sure that we become this filter of truth we have the holy spirit of
god we have the bible we listen different points of view lots of different information and you
try to filter out what is rubbish and what is true and things that you don't know you've also
got to be satisfied sometimes you're just not going to know you just you you're going to go
to your grave not knowing just be satisfied and if you can't know and you say look i've tried i've
looked this information in the word of god and i can't find an answer well maybe god doesn't want
you to know maybe that's not important the things that are important to god are going to be black
and white clear in the word of god and stand on the truth that we find in the word of god
you know don't propagate lies you know if we can uh let's go to uh jeremiah we'll end on jeremiah
please go to jeremiah chapter 13 i really like this illustration here and i might be stretching
this illustration here a little bit but i think you can see where i'm going here so we're to be
girt about with truth and of course the gird in there represents a belt putting on the belt
and in jeremiah chapter 13 verse number one god asks some very funny things of jeremiah some
strange things here in verse number one it says thus saith the lord unto me go and get the a linen
girdle that's like a linen belt right and put it upon thy loins and put it not in water so i've got
a girdle according to the word of the lord and put it on my loins i love jeremiah god says go get a
belt he's i'll go i'll go get a belt i'll put it on all right look at verse number three and the
word of the lord came unto me the second time saying take the girdle that thou has got which
is upon thy loins and arise go to euphrates that's the euphrates river and hide it there
in a rock sorry in a hole of the rock so i went and hid it by euphrates as the lord commanded me
say why god why are you asking him to do this put on a belt now take it off and go to the river
put it there in the rock verse number six and it came to pass after many days that the lord said
unto me arise go to euphrates and take the girdle from thence which i commanded thee to to to hide
there then i went to euphrates and digged and took the girdle from the place where i had hid it
and behold the girdle was marred and it was profitable for nothing so this belt because
it's been there by the water it started to rot away it's become loose and it's no it's no longer
it's not profitable for anything now it can't be used as a girdle anymore verse number eight
then the word of the lord came unto me saying thus saith the lord after this manner will i
mar the pride of judah and the great pride of jerusalem this evil people which refuse to hear
my words which walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them
and to worship them shall even be as this girdle which is good for nothing for as the girdle cleave
to the loins of a man so have i caused to cleave unto me the whole house of israel and the and the
whole house of judah saith the lord that they might be unto me for a people and for a name
and for a praise and for a glory but they would not hear all right so i want to take the principle
here right so obviously as jeremiah has been asked by god to do this that girdle represents
judah right it represents them and so he says look you know judah was once of great pride of
jerusalem right so it's something like a great belt that you can wear but then they discard the
belt's been discarded it's rotted away it's been marred and now it's good for nothing what what
what's that about so the people of judah again nothing new for you guys you know this the they've
turned away from the lord they've turned away from the truth they've gone and served other gods and
and they've become like this belts that can't be used all right so what i want to do here is
basically take the principle here right and the principle is is this that if you don't wear the
belt it'll be good for nothing if you don't wear the belt it'll be good for nothing all right so
jeremiah takes it off and during that time it rotted away it became good for nothing where to
be good with truth okay we should always be seeking to walk in truth you know you receive
a lot of truth through this church you receive a lot of truth by the online preaching that you
listen to by your own personal time in the word of god you receive a lot of truth and god wants
you to take that truth and wear it right he wants you to live out the truth that you have you know
and this is this is the danger that we can have in our churches where we're blessed with so much
truth we hear it but we don't live it out we know what is true we know what we should do
but we don't do it and we become like judah we we go after our own ways we know what god wants but
i'm going to do it my own way god i'm not going to listen to what you have to say and you know you
may not go as far as worshiping other gods like they did here but hey you go about your own way
you know you're you're hearing truth but you're just not living it out you're not wearing the
belt all right you're not wearing the belt and listen when you don't wear it it's going to wear
out it'll be good for nothing you have all this truth but it's good for nothing because you're
not living it out right and that's what the belt represents the fact that you put it on you keep
it on all day long you go to work with it right you you before you go to church you put on your
belt you get out there that should be a picture of the fact that you need to be surrounded by the
truth always have the truth with you live by the truth know the truth of god you know live it out
in your lives because if you don't live it out brethren you set it aside you take it to the
river Euphrates it'll be mad it'll be good for nothing you won't be profitable for god
you won't be able to walk in the truth that god has set for you so brethren that's the conclusion
as we continue through this series please understand we're going through the whole
armor of god truth is important but it's not just truth there are other elements of the armor that
we need to put on in order to be effective soldiers for the lord all right let's pray