Can You Handle The Truth?

We're gonna continue today in a series

that we began last Sunday called Faithful Stewards.

And before we do that,

well, I'll go ahead and give you the verse.

We're gonna be reading out of 1 Timothy 3 and verse 14.

Church, I'm gonna invite and remind all of us

of our responsibility that we have to pray.

Let us pray, as you know, this week,

very important big election that is happening in our nation.

And my encouragement to you is to vote, number one,

and to pray and vote and pray in alignment

with your Christian values.

That is very important.

This is a crucial time that we're living in.

And I pray that we would be guided by the word of God.

Amen.

Someone say amen.

God and by the word of God.

And so let's do our part, everyone, but let's pray.

The Bible teaches us to pray for our leaders, amen.

And we need to pray.

These things are all in God's hands, amen.

He causes rulers to rise and to fall, amen.

But we're gonna pray that God's will would be done, amen,

and that we can move forward

and that we can live in a more prosperous country

and have the freedoms that we are enjoying today.

Praise be to God for that.

How many of you are thankful for the right that we have

to gather together in an environment like this, amen,

the freedom of religion, amen.

How many of you are thankful for these things?

But you know, we have to protect these things as well.

Amen, and so let's keep these things in our mind.

And on that note, on that note,

today we're gonna be looking at very important topic,

and that's the topic of truth.

And I'm going to, how many of you love the truth?

Do I got any truth lovers out there?

We love the truth.

1 Timothy chapter three, verse 14 says,

These things I write to you,

though I hope to come to you shortly.

But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know

how you ought to conduct yourself in the household of God,

which is the church of the living God,

the pillar and ground of the truth.

And without controversy,

great is the mystery of godliness.

God was manifested in the flesh,

justified in the spirit, seen by angels,

preached among the Gentiles,

believed on in the world, received up in glory.

Could tune right into the next chapter,

chapter four and verse one.

Now the spirit expressly says, or clearly says,

that in latter times, some will depart from the faith,

giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

speaking lies in hypocrisy,

having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.

My message today is this, can you handle the truth?

Can you handle the truth?

Amen, why don't we pray?

Father, we love you today.

We love your presence that is felt so strongly today.

Lord, we love all that you have done in our life.

Father, you have met us today

and our gathering is not in vain.

Your presence is here now, God,

I pray that you would anoint the hearing,

the understanding of all of us today, God,

that we can receive this word with gladness.

Father, we can strengthen our foundation,

understanding that we are not just any people,

but we are a peculiar people built upon the foundation, God,

of the apostles and the prophets, Lord.

I pray that you would solidify in our hearts today, God,

that truth in the name of Jesus, God.

Anoint my lips of clay, God, be glorified in Jesus' name.

Someone say, amen.

Amen, you can be seated in God's presence

in April of 2017, April 3rd,

the cover of Time Magazine asked a question in bold letters.

It was an unsettling question.

It was, is truth dead?

Is truth dead?

Displayed in striking red letters,

this question epitomizes our culture's growing uncertainty

about what truth is and whether it still matters.

In an age of disinformation, of shifting morals

and relativism, truth is under constant attack.

And I believe that more than ever,

we as the people of God must shore up

or we must be in tune with what is true and what is false.

And we are here to testify

that despite Time's cover page several years ago,

that we can answer this question today.

How many think we can answer this question?

Amen?

Truth is not dead.

I said truth is not dead.

Truth is alive.

Why?

Because Jesus is alive.

And Jesus is the one who said,

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And the life.

How many of you believe that?

Now, we may not instantly think of truth

as an area of stewardship,

like we do with our time, our treasures, our talents,

such as we spoke of last Sunday,

and as we will in future Sundays,

but listen to Paul's words here.

We're gonna look at 1 Corinthians chapter four in verse two.

Listen to what he says.

Let a man also consider us,

let a man consider us as servants of Christ and stewards.

Stewards, there's that word that we're focusing on,

of the mysteries of God.

Moreover, it is required in stewards

that one be found faithful.

Here, Paul stresses that those who have been entrusted

with the mysteries of God are called to faithfully

steward them.

And this was the force behind his charge to Timothy,

Paul's son in the faith.

It was a spiritual son that Paul is writing to

in 1 and 2 Timothy, his protege,

some instructions, some guidelines for his ministry

and for life in general, shepherding the flock,

living his life, the way he went about his manner of life.

And Paul in his charge to Timothy,

reminds him of this very important part of life,

which is true.

In 1 Timothy chapter three and also chapter four,

Paul is emphasizing the importance of living the truth

and the danger of departing from it.

He warns that some will at some point in time,

abandon the faith and follow other deceiving spirits

and doctrines, having their conscience or their minds

seared with a hot iron.

And this message, I believe, was not only relevant

to Paul's son Timothy, but also to us today.

It is relevant and crucial for us.

So we must ask ourselves, can we handle the truth?

Can we steward the truth properly?

The truth that God has given us must be stewarded.

It must be managed because God has entrusted it to us.

Everything that we have come to know and realize about God

through his word, through personal experience,

through his spirit has been entrusted to us like a gift.

Truth is like a gift that has been placed into our life

for us to care for and steward properly.

God will hold us accountable to the truth

that has been implanted in our lives.

Once truth has been revealed to us,

we don't have the luxury, we don't really have the option

to just say, well, it doesn't matter,

or in one ear and out the other.

Once truth has been made apparent to us, we've received it,

we are accountable and responsible to guard,

to steward that truth.

It is incumbent upon each of us.

If you have received the truth of God,

then we must care for that truth.

And I believe today that is the spirit

in Paul's writing to Timothy,

it's the spirit of this message this afternoon.

So if you love truth, amen, this message will inspire you.

And if you have questions about what truth really is,

I hope this message will inform you.

So can we properly steward it?

What can we handle the truth?

And to answer that question,

I think there are three responses to truth

that we must consider today.

And the first is to know, someone say no.

We have to know the truth.

In order to faithfully steward the truth,

we have to know the truth, amen.

Paul uses powerful imagery when he describes the church

as the pillar and ground of truth.

He describes the church of the living God

as being the foundation, the bedrock,

or the secure place of truth.

In other words, if one is looking for truth,

then they ought to be able to find it

in the church of Jesus Christ, amen.

I said, amen, somebody.

Because the church is the habitation

or the stewardship of the truth, amen.

The guardians of the truth.

It is the pillar and ground of truth.

Now those images of a pillar and ground foundation,

it gives us a very strong picture in our mind

because a pillar is something that holds up a structure,

amen, and the ground or the foundation

is what secures that structure.

And as believers, we are responsible for holding up

and securing, amen, the truth of the gospel

and the doctrines of Christ in our lives, hallelujah.

What happens to a structure when there are no pillars?

What happens to a structure when there are no foundations?

The writer of Psalms says, if the foundations be destroyed,

what shall the righteous do?

And so pillars and foundations are very important

and those are the areas that I believe

that the enemy wants to weaken and to distract us from.

And so we have a responsibility in stewardship

and that first responsibility is to know the truth,

both mentally, intellectually, and also spiritually.

In other words, we must not just know the truth,

but the truth must be ingrained, embedded in who we are.

We must be convicted about the truth, amen.

The Lord said in Hosea 4 and 6,

my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge.

My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge.

So what causes people to be destroyed?

Is it the enemy?

Is it the devil?

Well, he can play a part in that.

Of course, he comes to attack us.

Is it the affairs of life?

Is the burdens of life?

It could be all of those things that contribute,

but ultimately it's the lack of knowledge

that brings about our destruction.

In other words, what you don't know,

contrary to popular belief,

what you don't know can actually hurt you.

You ever heard the saying ignorance is bliss?

Well, no, it's not bliss actually.

Ignorance is not bliss.

Why?

Because it leads to poor decisions and terrible outcomes.

It can cause your downfall.

It can pierce your life with pain

and keep you from living in victory.

It might feel like bliss, but ignorance is not bliss.

We need to be knowledgeable about his word,

knowledgeable about what is the truth.

We need to acquaint ourselves and study the scriptures

because the truth that will save our lives,

the truth that will guide our lives

is all right here in this book to guide us,

to lead us, to direct us.

Hallelujah.

So there really is, if you think about it,

there really is no excuse for not knowing.

There really is no excuse for not coming

to the knowledge of the truth.

Hallelujah.

Sin entered the world through a lie that was told

and believed through the serpent.

And the only way to reverse that is to do the opposite,

to believe the truth and to know it and to believe it.

Jesus said, and you shall know the truth

and the truth shall make you free.

Do you really wanna know what the key is to freedom today?

Freedom from whatever it is that's plaguing your mind,

whatever it is that's disturbing you,

whatever it is that's causing you grief and trouble,

whatever it is that's conflicting with the joy

and the blessings and the abundance

that you all, I believe, want to experience,

it's the truth.

It's not some emotion,

it's not some thrill that you get in life,

it's not some manmade prescription.

What's really gonna set you free from the inside out

is a healthy dose of the truth.

And when the truth gets in you, it will set you free.

How so?

Because it turns the lights on.

Truth illuminates, it makes clear things that are fuzzy,

it makes clear things that are unclear.

It helps you distinguish between that which is false

and that which is right, wrong and right,

and it'll guide you in the right way.

So if anything, what we need to get,

in all you're getting, get understanding.

Hallelujah, somebody.

In all you're getting, get wisdom.

In all you're getting, get truth.

How many of you love the truth today?

The Bible says, buy the truth and sell it not.

Once you get the truth, don't you dare let go of it.

Once you get the truth,

don't let nobody pry the truth out of your hands.

It's the truth and nothing but the truth.

So help me, God, that's gonna help me, sustain me,

and lead me into his promises.

If you love the truth, give God some praise today.

Hallelujah, somebody.

Thank you.

I'm thankful that I know the truth

and only the truth can set us free.

But how can you really know the truth?

That's where the Holy Ghost comes in.

Jesus said in John 16, 13,

when he, the Spirit of truth, has come,

he will guide you into all truth.

The Spirit of truth, capital S,

is in reference to the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost.

Jesus was prophesying about the coming of his Spirit.

And he says, when the Spirit of God comes,

he will guide you into all truth.

So it's not just opening up your Bible,

which is where you ought to start,

but then you need the Holy Ghost.

If you don't have the Holy Ghost,

you need to be baptized with the Spirit of God today

with the evidence of speaking with other tongues.

You need to receive the Spirit of God in your life

so that the Spirit of truth can lead you into truth

and lead you into the proper thinking

and the revelations of God.

This is what we need.

Just reading the Bible alone is good,

but it's not enough to lead you into all truth.

You need the Spirit of truth.

And when you marry together, watch this,

when you marry together the Spirit of truth

with the word of truth, the Spirit of God

with the word of God,

and those two come together in your life.

Are you hearing what I'm saying today?

It will open up for you revelation, wisdom, and knowledge

about God's perfect will for your life.

Hallelujah, somebody.

Man, I get excited when I think about this.

Oh, Lord.

There are different types of truth.

There are two types of spiritual truth.

I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this.

I'm fascinated by this.

I can really do a deep dive here,

but I'll just, you know,

what's your appetite is what I'll do.

Okay, there are two types of truth.

There are mysteries and secrets.

There are really only two types.

We can deduce it down to just two types of truth.

There are mysteries and secrets.

Mysteries are revealed truths

that are discovered in the word of God in the Bible

or through his Spirit.

And the thing that you ought to know

is that they will never contradict each other.

So if you're hearing something in your head

or in your mind or you think,

oh, that's the Lord that told me that or not,

well, if it contradicts the word of God,

then likely that was not the Holy Ghost.

That was not the truth.

So they will always agree.

The voice of God and the written word of God

will always agree together.

But mysteries are revealed truths

and secrets are concealed truths.

Amen.

Mysteries are hidden for us,

but secrets are hidden from us.

God wants you to know the mysteries.

God wants you to discover the mysteries of his word,

the mysteries of his plan, the mysteries of truth.

He wants you to know those things.

They are hidden for us.

What does that mean?

It's like when you're hiding certain things from a child

and you're playing the game and you want them to find them.

You plant some things around the house

and you see if you can find it, right?

They planted those things.

They hid those things so that they could be discovered

because what's the fun in hiding

and then they never find it, right?

It's to be discovered.

That's the whole point of it.

So there are truths that have been planted in the word,

in the spirit that God invites us to seek and to search for.

And when we do that diligently with an open heart

and an open mind, we will come to the truth.

Amen, hallelujah.

But you have to want it, you gotta seek it.

But the secrets, those are different types of truth.

There are some things that you and I

are never gonna know this side of eternity.

There are certain things that only God is going to know.

Amen, somebody.

There are certain things about our lives,

certain things about what happens,

certain things that are going to remain unknown

until we get there where the half has been told,

until we possibly come to where Jesus is in heaven,

then maybe God will reveal to us the secrets.

Moses explained it this way.

This is important.

And I included this because I feel it wouldn't be helpful

for someone to understand.

He said, well, if we know the truth,

then why is this?

Some things don't make sense.

But listen to what Moses said.

He said the secret, in Deuteronomy 29, 29,

the secret things belong to who?

Oh, come on, help me out today, church.

Y'all being a little quiet on me.

The secret things belong to who?

So all the secrets belong to the Lord.

But those things which are revealed belong to who?

Oh, hallelujah.

Those that are revealed,

those things which are revealed belong to who?

To us.

And to who else?

Our children, amen.

Forever.

That why?

That we may do all the words of this law, of the truth.

So there are two levels of truth.

There are mysteries and there are secrets.

There are secret things that belong to God and him alone.

And we may never understand those things in this life,

in this world.

But those things which are revealed,

those are the mysteries of God, the truths of God.

And they belong to us for us to steward them,

to manage them.

They've been entrusted to us

and to teach them to our children

so that we may walk in truth

and live it out all the days of our life.

And that brings me to my second aspect

of can we handle the truth?

And that is we must live the truth, hallelujah.

Can't just know it.

You gotta live it, someone say live it.

Gotta live the truth.

Knowing the truth is one thing,

but living it is the true test of your stewardship.

And this was the crux of Paul's warning when he says,

now the spirit expressly says that in latter times,

some will depart from the faith.

And the question we could ask is how?

How does someone depart from the faith?

How does someone depart from the truth?

How does a believer turn from the truth?

Couple of things I wanna note there

before I continue to read is that,

first of all, he mentions latter times.

So there is a period on humanity's timetable

in which the things that we're talking about now,

departing from the faith, will escalate.

There is a period of time, latter times, latter times.

You know what that means?

The last days, the times leading up to the coming of Christ.

So there's a time period in which truth will be under attack

and we'll see some depart from the faith.

That's one characteristic of this verse that we need to see.

And the other thing is that he says

that some will depart from the faith.

Now, there are some who may think

that he's talking just about a person

who just outright backslides,

just completely walks away from God,

stops attending church,

just doesn't want anything to do with God

or with the church or with the things of God.

That's not exactly what he's talking about.

He's not just talking about someone

who you think just completely walks away

and says, I'm done with God.

What he's talking about is departing from the faith.

He's talking about the faith.

In other words, there is a pure faith.

There is a pure truth that God has given us

and in the latter times, some would be deceived

and walk away from that pure faith.

Now, the only way to make something impure

is by adding other things to it that don't belong.

Amen, somebody.

The only thing to make something impure

is add other things that are not like it.

That compromises it, right?

That makes it less pure.

And so there's coming a time

and we're living in those times now

where the truth of God is being compromised.

Well, Paul tells us how.

He says, giving heed, in verse one,

to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

Deceiving spirits, doctrines of demons.

You know, just give me a few more moments

of your time today, church, but I need to deal with this.

I need to deal, can I deal with this?

I need to deal with this.

I need to deal with this.

Deceiving spirits, doctrines of demons.

Ooh, they both sound really serious and they are.

But there's more than meets the eye here.

More than meets the eye.

Deceiving spirits refer to the spiritual eye

refer to the spiritual influences

that lead people away from truth

through subtle lies,

confusions, false claims,

or things that just don't line up.

Measure up to exactly what the word teaches us.

It twists the truth in ways that seem reasonable.

Now, you know what makes deception so effective

is that there's always a little element of truth in it.

Like a dose of it.

Like not the whole thing,

but there's like a little element of truth.

And that's what gives us its persuasion.

That's what makes it sound like,

maybe that could work.

Maybe that is.

The serpent did this with Eve in the beginning, right?

He did that, he deceived her by mixing together

some truth and some lie.

And that made it confusing for her.

And it seemed reasonable and appealing.

And this is exactly what happens

when deceiving spirits come into someone's life

or attempt to derail your faith,

take you out of the will of God.

And it's hard for people to discern that deception.

For instance, the spirit,

they'll say, for instance, the spirit says,

this spirit, not the spirit of God,

this deceiving spirit says, well, God is love.

Oh, how many of you know God's love?

Let's try that again.

How many of you know God's love?

Amen, he's love.

So those deceiving spirits say, well, then God is love.

Then God is love.

Then he can't judge you.

Because he's love.

Well, on the one hand, you're right, God is love.

But on the other hand, he's also a judge.

You know that God can be both?

How many of you know he can be both love

and he can also be both the rule of law?

He's both, it's not one or the other.

Hmm, so don't ever allow that spirit

to force you to pick a side and choose.

No, God is both of these things.

But it's that lie that mixes in a little bit of truth

in there and it sounds reasonable and it sounds good.

It's like, wow, that sounds kind of right.

I think there's some truth.

I think I can find a Bible verse that even agrees with that.

But is it the whole truth?

Is it the whole truth, so help me God.

Deceiving spirits, how do I know if I'm being deceived?

Hmm, how do I know if I'm being led astray?

If we're staying in the word of God,

whatever that thing is we're hearing,

if it doesn't agree with this,

then we know we should reject it, amen.

Another way is that we as iron sharpening iron

can help each other point out things

that are, that that's not the truth.

Now, he also mentions the doctrines of demons.

Hmm, people hear doctrines of demons and they think,

oh, Paul must be talking about sorcery and witchcraft

and Satanism, and he's not.

Doctrines of demons sounds kind of, I mean, it sounds evil

and it is, but it's not the sort of dark black magic

or things you think are doctrines of demons.

Ooh, what could that be?

Paul's examples in verse three highlight

what doctrines of demons were.

He gives us the examples because in his examples,

he tells us how some were promoting false,

a false sense of holiness by forbidding marriage.

Imagine that, enforcing special diets.

You read it for yourself here, church,

you can read it on your own, but I don't know about you,

but when I read that first verse, doctrines of demons,

I was like, oh, this is gonna get real scary.

Whatever he's talking about, man,

this is gonna be really bad, bad, bad, evil stuff,

dark stuff.

And then he goes into talking about these weird philosophies

about marriage and forbidding to marriage

and then talking about special diets.

And there's gonna be people saying that you can't eat that

because you'll be more holy if you don't eat that.

And this kind, I was not ready for this, Paul.

I thought we were gonna go to some other kind of dark place,

but when you started talking about doctrines of demons,

I mean, that sounds very, very, very serious.

That sounds important.

And then he goes into talking about really,

what is a doctrine of demon?

I'll tell you what a doctrine of demon.

Here's the principle that Paul is trying to teach us.

He's trying to teach us a doctrine of demon

is when someone imposes their view on scripture

and tries to make it doctrine.

He said, well, this sounds good to me

and I think this is the way it should be

and I think this is how it should be.

And we ought to abstain from that or we ought to do this.

And then Paul said, well, wait a minute,

where is that in the Bible?

And okay, now he's saying this is a doctrine of demons

because it didn't come from God.

You're trying to impose your view, your philosophy,

your worldview, your opinions, your feelings, whatever it is

and trying to pass it off as doctrine.

And Paul said that's a doctrine of demons.

Why?

Because it didn't come from God.

Even what's this, even if it's in the name of God,

it didn't come from him.

So in the last days, church,

there's going to be deceiving spirits

and there's going to be doctrines of demons

and there's going to be ideologies and theories

and all kinds of sorts of things that will come against us

to try to dilute the truth in our life,

to weaken our foundation and take us off course.

But today we're gonna stand on truth.

We're gonna stand on the word.

We're not gonna up, we're not gonna down.

We're not gonna subtract.

We're not gonna add.

Because unless all the curses in this Bible

be brought upon us, if we subtract

or if we take away anything from his word,

if one continues down the path of deception

and false doctrine, watch what happens, amen.

In verse two, they will risk.

I'll be just a couple more minutes and I'll be done.

They will risk, in verse two,

having their own consciences seared with a hot iron.

A seared conscience.

How many of you wanna know what a seared conscience is?

You know what a seared conscience is?

It's a calloused.

It's a calloused mentality.

It is a insensitive, when something has been seared,

it loses its sensitivity.

It becomes numb.

Oh God, I feel the Holy Ghost today.

Numb, numb to what?

Numb to God?

Numb to the word of God?

Numb to the things of God?

It loses sensitivity to what the spirit wants to do

in his or her life.

It loses, it becomes seared, calloused, hardened.

And over time, the more numb you become to the word,

the more numb, in the beginning it's all like,

it doesn't quite, maybe you can't even

distinguish the difference, but over time,

over time, you become more and more vulnerable

to the lies of the enemy.

Nobody backslides overnight.

It's a process.

Just like it's a process to get saved,

it's a process to get unsaved.

And I can tell you that, piano, come on over,

I could tell you that in almost 30 years,

almost 30 years, oh man, I'm getting, of ministry,

I can tell you, from the time that I first started out

as the local youth president of my church,

to a small group leader, to being a deacon,

to serving all the different areas where God

has graciously allowed me to serve and work with people,

and to those who I've seen the most rooted,

you can imagine.

The Bible says the very elect,

the very elect of God in the last days will depart.

But the one thing, everyone has a story,

everyone has like this or that or whatever,

but the one thing that kind of ties the individuals

all together who at some point either walked away from God,

lost out in their purpose with God,

or just lived way beneath their God-given purpose and destiny

is that they got numb.

I've been trained to look for this.

Just because I don't tap you on the shoulder,

don't think that I don't see it.

I'm your pastor, and I see it and I know it.

But I'm also not the Holy Ghost.

God, He's the Holy Ghost.

But it's that numbness, it's that numbness.

And the only thing that's being heard is me.

The truth of God wants to get in.

The truth of God wants to set us free.

Remember, you shall know the truth

and the truth will set us free.

But God forbid that any one of us get to a place in our life

where our conscience has been seared.

You know, you can still praise God,

you can still do a lot of things

and have your conscience seared.

I'm not even gonna get to my last point today

because this is where the Holy Ghost has us.

We're gonna just, we're gonna hang on this right here.

I'm gonna invite everyone to close your eyes

if you can, just let us just tune in to God.

You can block me out here, that's fine.

That's fine.

I want the Holy Ghost to just work

like only He can in our lives.

In our lives.

You know the thing about when your conscience

has been seared, Lord, I had no idea, Lord,

this is where we were going today.

Thank you, Jesus.

When your conscience has been seared and you're numb,

you know what happens?

You start getting hurt and you don't feel it.

You're wounded and you don't feel it.

You ever had a numb area in your part

that gets wounded, gets cut?

You're bleeding and you know,

some of you right now are bleeding and you don't feel it.

Shalom, kandol, yoshi, kalamayashi.

Or maybe you do, but not the way that you need to

because when you feel these things,

when you feel, you're not being convicted by the word

the way you need to be.

It's not penetrating the way it needs to be.

Whatever it is that's causing that numbness,

whatever it is that's causing that it,

whatever has searing your conscience from experiencing

what the Holy Ghost wants to do in your life

and what the word wants to work in your life,

this is what God's going to do right now.

If you will let him, he's gonna restore sensitivity

back into your spirit.

Shalom, kandol.

He's gonna restore sensitivity back into your heart.

Restore sensitivity.

Oh rabbi, break up the fellow ground.

He's going to turn that heart of stone into a heart of flesh.

Oh God, he's gonna restore sensitivity to the word of God,

restore sensitivity to the truth of God,

to the spirit of God.

Oh my Lord, to the things of God,

to the ministries of God.

Oh, hallelujah, to the man of God.

He's gonna restore this sensitivity in your heart.

If you'll let him, oh hallelujah.

But this is what I know.

I know that God wants to give us more truth.

Truth that'll set us free.

Truth that'll set our families free.

Truth that'll set your children free.

Truth that'll set your mind free.

True that'll set your heart free, hallelujah.

Oh, but I need God to restore the sensitivity in my life.

Lord, hallelujah, Jesus.

Oh my God, my God, let's just.