Please turn in your Bibles this morning to I John chapter 5 as we look at the topic: THE BATTLE FOR TRUTH! Back in the late 1960’s into the 1970’s I was a teenager. And during that time, on the news, I saw the protests that were going on against the war in Vietnam. On college campuses, on the streets of major cities, as these protesters came out, so did the police and even the National Guard at times to try and stop them.
Now my intention here this morning is not to say who was right or who was wrong, but to show you that they had a passion for what they believed to be the truth. And that passion that was on the inside of them then overflowed outwardly into their actions. Some of these protesters were beaten for what they believed in. Others were arrested for what they believed in. And some even died for this cause that they believed in.
As I look at the church of Jesus Christ today, I don’t see that kind of passion anymore. That passion for what we believe in is gone and it has been replaced with apathy. Christians don’t care about the truths of God found in the Word of God but their focus is on themselves. They don’t see the lost dying in their sins or if they do, they can’t be bothered. You see, that same apathy that occurs within the church is then carried outside the church and if it is going to infringe on their time, they won’t get involved.
Thus, over the past 20 or 30 years the church in America hasn’t grown much, it has just moved from one building to another, from one denomination or non-denomination to another, and their focus is on being entertained at church. And, once their needs are not met, once they don’t get what they want, that entertainment, that fun is gone, it is time to move on and that is very sad to me.
Think about it, with all those Promise Keeper’s meetings, all those Christian movies like The Passion, all those Christian concerts, all those books like The Left Behind series, all those seeker friendly churches, we are not seeing it make an impact upon our nation, upon the people of this nation. Why is that? Because when people look at us they don’t see our lives match up with our words and thus, our words are empty to them. We don’t present the Gospel of Christ to people because it is offensive to them and so we water it down to make it more palatable. And folks, I don’t mean to be hard here, but it is just a reality of what is happening and my prayer is that God would stir our hearts and give us that passion once again for the truth and we would take a stand, protest against the lies, but even more important, speak forth the truth with boldness!
You see, the church is moving to embrace all faiths, all roads lead to God they are telling us and thus, this ecumenical movement is pushing us towards a one-world religion. But we have the truth and we need to take a stand and proclaim it, not hide it or water it down. Charles Swindoll tells of a story that happened in his life years ago that is very appropriate for us today. In fact, truth is not important today, or so we are told, experience is really what is important; at least that is what they are trying to tell us. But Chuck Swindoll wrote:
When I was mustering out of the Marine Corps in the Berkeley area, I didn’t have a car, and I wanted to go to church. So I walked to an area where there were several churches and I chose one by name. It was a great stone structure. I walked inside, great massive doors, and there was a vast narthex [or entrance hall leading to the church], and in it were huge pictures, portraits of people – great people in panorama. There was Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln. There was Jesus of Nazareth. There was one of the philosophers, I believe it was Socrates. There was President Eisenhower. And above them on a great, bronze engraving were the words, “You are all the sons of God . . .” Dot, dot, dot, an ellipses, meaning, it’s not complete but that’s enough for you to read. Galatians 3:26 was the reference. I turned to a Testament and I read it. And the verse says, “You are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” They weren’t all sons of God unless they were IN CHRIST JESUS, excluding no one. You need the whole truth.
- Charles Swindoll
Wasn’t it in the Television show, Dragnet, where it was said, “Just the facts Ma’am”? This morning, in these verses here in I John, we are going to look at these truths of God, just the facts, which will set us free from the lies, the deception that is out there. With that said, let’s begin reading in I John chapter 5, starting in verse 20 and see what John has for us as we look at: THE BATTLE FOR TRUTH!
D. L. Moody once said, “The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it.” How true that is. You can look at something that seems to be very straight until you put a straightedge up against it and you then can see how far off it is or isn’t. You need a plum line or a guide that you can hold these things up to so you can see how straight they are, if they are truth or not, because something that you may feel is of God, when it is held up to the Word of God, will be exposed for what it really is. It will either stand the test of God’s Word, be in line with it or it won’t. You see, those are the only two options.
Folks, you may not agree with me on this, but I truly believe the church today is at a crossroad. Some are moving away from the truths of God’s Word and are embracing New Age and Eastern mysticism, like the Emergent Church movement. They are experience driven and really don’t take a stand against most religious beliefs, except for those who believe the truths of God found in the Word of God. You see, to them words have no meaning and thus, experience is the main focus, but then you have to rely on yourself to determine if something is of God or it isn’t!
And remember what the Lord said in Jeremiah 17:9-10, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.” And in Proverbs 16:25 we are told, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” So are you going to rely on your own heart, your own feelings that may seem right to you? I hope you are not!
Then there are people like us, Christians who believe in the authority of God’s Word, that it is truth and it will set us free! Now please, don’t get me wrong, God will always have His faithful remnant that love Him, that is not the issue. The real issue is do you want to be part of that faithful remnant or are you going to follow the masses and buy into these movements that will come and go and are not of God? And please understand it is not because I say these things are not of God, but because God’s Word exposes these as lies.
Now I do realize that some would argue that these practices being adopted into the church are causing people to draw close to God, thus, it must be truth. Again I would disagree because if God wanted us to practice these New Age and Eastern mysticism teachings, He would have told us in His Word! But He has told us to avoid them. You see, just because you call something truth, doesn’t mean it is truth, like they are trying to tell us. It is as the story goes of Abraham Lincoln who had someone that was arguing with him and wouldn’t stop. We are told:
Once, when a stubborn disputer seemed unconvinced, Lincoln said, “Well, let’s see how many legs has a cow?”
“Four, of course,” came the reply disgustedly.
“That’s right,” agreed Lincoln. “Now suppose you call the cow’s tail a leg; how many legs would the cow have?”
“Why, five, of course,” was the confident reply.
“Now, that’s where you’re wrong,” said Lincoln. “Calling a cow’s tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”
- Bits and Pieces, July, 1991
Calling something the truths of God doesn’t mean it is! It must be in line with God’s Word or it is not of God! Remember what John said back in I John 5:9, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.” You see, why believe the witness of men, which we do, and ignore the witness of God, which is greater, which is 100% truth. Someone will tell you this product will do wonders and you believe it and God says that He loves you and paid in full the penalty for your sins and you reject it! It doesn’t make sense and yet, people do it because Satan has blinded their eyes to the truth so that they will believe the lies of men!
Now, back in these verses we are looking at this morning here in I John chapter 5, John makes several points regarding the truth of God and I would like to look at these a little closer.
1. THE INCARNATION
First of all John speaks of the Incarnation, that God became flesh and dwelt among us. John put it this way, “And we know that the Son of God has come.” But, like in John’s day, there are those who deny the Incarnation. They believe Jesus was a man who may have had the Christ spirit upon Him, whatever that means, He was a great teacher, a God man but not God in the flesh!
And yet, John makes these statements to those who believe that God has not come in the flesh. He said, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” I John 4:1-3. Also, John warns us in I John 2:22-23, “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
And John can make those bold statements because he knew the truth. Remember how John opened up this letter by saying, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life — the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us — that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” I John 1:1-3. You see, John was an eyewitness of Jesus, he was with Jesus, saw the things that Jesus did, listened to the things that Jesus said and John’s conclusion was that this is the Christ, the Son of the living God, God Incarnate!
Jesus was 100% man, but He was also 100% God. I know, mathematically it doesn’t work, but that is what the Scriptures teach and thus, we must believe it by faith. Paul, in Romans 1:1-4 makes this point as he tells us, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” He was born of the flesh, He was man; and yet, He is the Son of God, He is fully God!
The Jews had a hard time with this concept because they were looking for a man like Moses to deliver them from the bondage they were in, not God Incarnate. You see, they did not read the Scriptures as God said but came to their own conclusions regarding what the Scriptures said of the Messiah and they were wrong.
Thus, in Matthew chapter 22, Jesus confronts the Pharisees on this issue, to point them to the truth and show them that the Scriptures do declare that the Messiah was going to be more than just a man. To do this Jesus asks them a very simple questions, one these teachers of the Law should know very well. He asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” Now they didn’t have to think very long, they didn’t even have to use a lifeline and phone a friend to get this one. They responded back to Jesus and said, “The son of David.”
I’m sure they felt kind of smug about their answer, how easy it was. And then Jesus asks them another question along that same thought of the first one to get them to think about their answer. Again, it was not that difficult of a question unless you didn’t like the answer or the conclusion of where this was going. In Matthew 22:43-45 we are told, “He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call Him “Lord,” saying: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’”? If David then calls Him “Lord,” how is He his Son?’” Jesus is quoting out of Psalm 110:1, one they were very familiar with and one that dealt with the coming of the Priest – King – Judge, the Messiah!
Now in the patriarchal society they were living in, the father was the one who was honored. He would be called “lord” but a father would never call his son “lord” – it would not be kosher to say the least. Thus, Jesus’ question was an interesting one because it went against what they believed. If the Messiah is the Son of David and he is only a man, then how can David call him “lord” he knew better than that?
Now please understand Jesus was not trying to make them look foolish, He was only trying to make them think about what they believed and how it did not line up with the Scriptures, if they only would open their eyes to the truth. But they refused to look and they refused to answer, these brilliant men knew if they answered the question correctly, they would have to admit that the Messiah was going to be God incarnate, more than just a man. That does not change the reality, David called his descendent, his son, the Messiah, “lord” because he was more than just a man, he was God incarnate!
2. REVELATION TO US BY HIS WORD AND BY HIS
SON
God has revealed Himself to us through His Word and through His Son Jesus Christ. God’s Word is living, it is powerful, and it shows us who God is, what He is like, His nature, His love for us, what He requires of us and-so-on. People have a distorted picture of God today because they make their god out of the imagination of their own heart instead of what God reveals to us through His Word, which is truth.
Not only that, but by looking at Jesus, by studying His life, we see the heart of the Father. Remember in John chapter 14, as Jesus was sharing with His men that He was going to leave them and during that time He was going to prepare a mansion or a place for their spirits and souls to dwell in, and ours, when these bodies of flesh go back to the dust of the earth. Not only that, but Jesus tells them He is going to come back and receive them, receive us to Himself. Jesus finishes up by telling them that they know not only where He is going but also the way to go to be with Him!
Well Thomas is blown away by this; he doesn’t know what Jesus means. The rest of the disciples didn’t know either, but Thomas was the only one brave enough to ask,
“ . . . ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’” John 14:5. And Jesus responded by saying, “ . . . ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’” John 14:6-7.
Then Philip, you have to love him, his heart, his passion to know the Father, asks Jesus, “ . . . ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’” John 14:8. And listen to the response that Jesus gave to him and the rest of the disciples, “Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.’” John 14:9-11.
In other words, if you want to know what God the Father is like, look at the life of Jesus, because He manifested perfectly the nature of the Father because they are one in nature. One God manifested not in just two distinct persons, but three: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!
Remember what Paul wrote in Hebrews 1:1-4, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”
So God reveals Himself to us by His Word, from Genesis through Revelation and by His Son, Jesus Christ, as God became flesh and dwelt among us and if we truly want to know the Father, we can see Him in the Son – in Jesus!
3. SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST
In terms of salvation, many believe that all roads lead to God, as long as you are sincere, you will get there. Now think about that for a minute. Was Hitler sincere in his actions? Of course he was! What about those Islamic terrorists that are blowing themselves up and others in planes, cars, trains, automobiles, killing many people with them, are they sincere in what they are doing and believe? Of course they are or they would not be doing it! You can have a zeal for God but without knowledge and that is what we are seeing today. The Bible tells us that these people believe in these things, but they do not lead to life, but to death! In Proverbs 14:12 we are told, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”
You see, if what you are putting your faith in is empty, then it is worthless and it is not leading you to God, but away from the true God. Remember those people from that Heaven’s Gate cult that committed suicide because they believed that Jesus was in a spaceship behind the Hale Bop comet. Yes, they were very sincere and they were also sincerely wrong and in their desire to find God apart from the truths of God, they are now eternally separated from God awaiting the final judgment!
In one of Aesops Fables we are told:
A man and a Lion were discussing the relative strength of men and lions in general. The Man contended that he and his fellows were stronger than lions by reason of their greater intelligence. “Come now with me,” he cried, “and I will soon prove that I am right.” So he took him into the public gardens and showed him a statue of Hercules overcoming the lion and tearing his mouth in two. “That is all very well,” said the Lion, “but proves nothing, for it was a man who made the statue.” We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.
- Aesops Fables
When you reject the love of the truth you come up with all kinds of strange ideas about God and heaven. Think about people who meditate on their belly button for hours trying to reach out and touch that great nothingness! How crazy is that and yet people believe it. L. Ron Hubbard and his Scientology cult, do you know what it was born out of? It was born out of a bet in a bar with a friend to see if he could come up with a religion. They did it and he committed suicide and now Hollywood movie stars are flocking into this cult! When you reject the love of the truth, you will then believe anything!
Then how do we know what truth is? The Bible tells us that God’s Word is truth. How do we know we can believe it? Because He has not been wrong yet! Thus, in regards to our salvation only being through Jesus Christ, Peter tells us in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Do you see how clear that is, Jesus is the only way of salvation, there is no other way, none, not even one other way!
Thus, the battle today, as it was back in John’s day, is to replace the true Jesus with a false Jesus and Satan has been very effective in this, especially today as he promotes this social Jesus, this cosmic Jesus, this eucharistic Jesus that is telling us that all roads lead to God! But Peter tells us, “Absolutely not!”
The battle cry of the Reformation was – salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and we need to take up that battle cry today, we need a reformation once again because the truths of God are being replaced by the lies of the Devil! You see, there is nothing that needs to be added to salvation because Jesus finished the work and all we must do is receive that free gift by faith in Him. It is as John said in John 1:12-13, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
And remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Thus, our salvation is through the narrow gate, Jesus Christ. Yes, it is difficult in the sense that you have to fight against the currents of this world that are trying to pull you down the broad way, the easy way, just do nothing and you can make it. You can float downstream like a dead fish but it is the way of destruction and not life. You see, life is only found in Jesus, the narrow gate, because there is salvation only found in Him!
4. THE WARNING – STAY AWAY FROM IDOLS
John concludes this chapter with a warning to these believers – stay away from idols or those things that are going to draw you away from God, those things that will become a passion in your life. You see, these idols are in opposition to God and the reality is, we fashion these gods out of the imagination of our own hearts and we become like these gods we make!
Notice the perspective that the Psalmist gives to us in Psalm 115:3-8 regarding idols. We are told, “But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell; They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.”
Let me put this in perspective for you. I just received this e-mail from Chaplain Bill Conner; he is with Transport for Christ, an organization that ministers to truckers the love of Christ. His stop is in Hudson, Wisconsin; so if you know of any truckers heading in that direction, tell them to stop by. Now listen to what Bill shares with us, and I appreciate his honesty. This is truly a great lesson; it puts things into perspective for us. He tells us:
We recently went to an early morning launching of hot air balloons in Wausau, WI. It is a yearly event that starts Friday Night and ends on Sun. Morn. I’m usually not around to go. Well, this year was no different as we had an out of town wedding. Not to be deterred, I was all excited to go to at least the Sunday morning launch. Well, after rousting everybody up and getting them in the car it was 6:15 and I was getting sort of . . . upset. As it turned out, the Balloon Rally was delayed for nearly two hours because of fog and many of the pilots had left to go home. Three did launch but I felt letdown because thirty were scheduled to launch. And we missed going to Church because of it.
I learned a lesson from this experience. I was “Delighting” in myself and doing what I wanted to do without “Delighting” in what God wanted for me to be doing. The outcome was disappointment. My problems started when I resisted what I knew was God’s clear cut Will to worship Him along with other believers. Thank God for His all sufficient grace!
- Chaplain Bill Conner
What idols are you building in your life that God is going to have to knock down? You see, like the Philistines god, Dagon, who when placed next to the Ark of the Covenant, the next morning Dagon fell down and he couldn’t get up. Why was that? Because God knocked Him down, He will not share His glory with anyone, even a false idol! John’s simple warning, “Little children, keep yourself from idols.” May we do it!
As I close this morning I pray that you understand that we are in a battle for the truth, the truths of God that are found in the Word of God! And as Christians, as a body of believers, we need to stand strong in the faith that has been entrusted to us. You see, there was THE INCARNATION, God became flesh and dwelt among us to pay in full the penalty for our sins! WE CAN KNOW THE FATHER BY HIS REVELATION TO US THROUGH HIS WORD AND BY LOOKING AT JESUS. You see, God’s Word is truth and as we look at Jesus, as we study His life, we can know the Father! THERE IS SALVATION ONLY FOUND IN JESUS, apart from him people will die in their sins no matter how sincere they may be! And lastly, STAY AWAY FROM IDOLS, those things that draw you away from God!
It is as John said, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” John 5:20-21.