(this will be the last installment for awhile from this series, it will come back at a later time.  I hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have putting it up here for you.)

 

 

An extensive Christian poll recently discovered that only 9% of people that called themselves "born again believers" actually held a biblical world view - believing that what God says IS the FINAL authority. 91%, when asked specific questions, leaned towards the side of ethics, rather than God’s morality. Morality, does not change. It stands true to what is right and holy. Ethics, on the other hand, change with any situation. It shouldn’t be that way. God and His Word never change, but we’ve bought into the lie that we have to conform to this world.

In 1828 the Webster’s dictionary defined truth this way:

  TRUTH, n.

      2. True state of facts or things. The duty of a court of justice is to discover the truth.     “Witnesses are sworn to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

3. Conformity of words to thoughts, which is called moral truth. “Shall truth fail to keep her word?”

4. Veracity; purity from falsehood; practice of speaking truth; habitual disposition to speak truth; as when we say, a man is a man of truth.

5. Correct opinion.

6. Fidelity; constancy. “The thoughts of past pleasure and truth.“

7. Honesty; virtue. “It must appear that malice bears down truth.”

8. Exactness; conformity to rule. “Plows, to go true, depend much on the truth of the iron work.”

9. Real fact of just principle; real state of things. “There are innumerable truths with which we are not acquainted.”

10. Sincerity. “God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4.”

11. The truth of God, is his veracity and faithfulness or his revealed will. “I have walked in thy truth. http://www.facebook.com/l/864e5;Ps.26.”

12. Jesus Christ is called the truth. John 14.

13. It is sometimes used by way of concession. “She said, truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs-- Matt

15.”;”That is, it is a truth; what you have said, I admit to be true.” “In truth, in reality; in fact.”

Of a truth, in reality; certainly.

To do truth, is to practice what God commands. John 3

If you were to look up “truth” in Webster’s dictionary today, this is what you would find:

Truth

1. Noun

1. A fact that has been verified; "at last he knew the truth"; "the truth is he didn't want to do it".

2. Conformity to reality or actuality; "they debated the truth of the proposition"; "the situation brought home to us the blunt truth of the military threat"; "he was famous for the truth of his portraits"; "he turned to religion in his search for eternal verities".

3. A true statement; "he told the truth"; "he thought of answering with the truth but he knew they wouldn't believe it".

4. The quality of nearness to the truth or the true value; "he was beginning to doubt the accuracy of his compass"; "the lawyer questioned the truth of my account".

5. United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women (1797-1883).

What has happened?  What changed?  The change that took place has happened to all of us to some degree.
 It’s “Common Insanity.”

Common Insanity occurs when we believe the lie is real.

In Isaiah 44 God reminds the people who they are and, even more important, who He is, and what He has done for them.  But then He talks about those who are building idols.  They go out into the woods (that God created), cut down a tree, use it’s wood to heat their homes, bake their bread, and then fashion an idol out of it and worship it.  They are WORSHIPING something THEY created.  This is insanity.  How can something WE create with our own hands be worth worshiping?  Yet they did it.  And we do it.

Before we condemn the Israelites too much, let’s look at our own insanity.

Have you worked to pay for a big screen TV, or internet access, or cable?  And then spent all your time in front of it, rather than in God’s Word?

Has the “Big Game” been more important then church?

Have you repeatedly worked on Sundays?

Have you allowed your children to schedule events on Sunday that kept them from church and Sunday School?

If you’ve ever done any of these things, then you’ve experienced Common Insanity.  You’ve allowed a lie to be real.  What’s the lie, you ask?  That God isn’t serious about the first and second commandments.  That IS at the heart of it.

Maybe none of these things are true in your life.  Let’s look a little deeper.

Have you ever felt that God has good things planned for other people but not you? (Jer. 29:11)

Have you ever felt that you, somehow, are in control and worry about...your spouse...your children...your life...your death? (Matt. 6:27)

Have you ever felt that you have to perform in order for God to love you more? (Eph. 2:8-9)

If you’re honest, you’ll admit to at least one of these, if not more.  And there are other, many other lies we choose to believe. We ALL suffer from Common Insanity.

Each time we believe a lie, no matter how small, Satan has achieved his goal - to chip away at the foundation of our Truth.

Isaiah 11:2 says that ALL wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge and the fear of the LORD, come from God.  There are more than 200 verses that speak of God as the Ultimate Source of Truth.   Do you believe He is?  To what degree?

This week’s challenge - Ask yourself “Do I really believe what I believe is really real?”  Is God Truth?  If so, live like you believe that.  Let us know how you do.

Last week’s challenge should have opened your eyes to the truth that “We are people of unclean lips.”   I personally encountered so many lies of Satan they are too numerous to list.  I’m sure you each saw the same.

From the very beginning, the battle has raged - truth vs. falsehood, reality vs. illusion.
It started in the garden when Satan asked Eve, “Did God really say...” (Gen. 3:1)
But wait, not only did Satan question if God really said it, he twisted what God had said.
Sound familiar? Everyday, Satan does the same thing to us.

Have you ever questioned whether or not to claim that extra cash you made on your income taxes?

Have you ever turned away from a homosexual, or unwed mother, or a beggar because - if you’re honest with yourself - you felt they were somehow lower than you?

If you did, it’s because you’ve bought into the distortion of God’s Word that Satan has beguiled us into believing. Sadly, on some level, we all have.

The worst of Satan’s lies, however, attacks our souls, our being. It tears at the foundation of our belief system. And it’s at the very core of why we are willing to believe any of Satan’s distortions and lies. The big lie is:

“Are you really created in the image of God?”

This is the crux of the evolution theory. And it is Satan’s most cherished lie. If he can get us to doubt where we came from, who created us, he can shake every aspect of our faith. And most importantly, the message of salvation.

If we believe we are created in the image of God - Imago Dei - (Gen. 1:26) then we will also believe that we are born with a sin nature (Rom. 5:12) and that sin requires a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. (Rev. 1:5)
But...if Satan can get us to question, even on the most basal level, whether God is THE Creator, then he can whittle at every belief we have. If He is not the Creator, as He said, can we trust anything He says?

Satan’s goal is to keep us bound to him. His lies, and our belief of those lies, are the bonds he uses to achieve that. Make no mistake, there is NO truth in Satan, ever. (John 8:44) All Satan does is an illusion.
But praise God, the Reality, The Truth is that His Truth sets us free. (John 8:32)
Next week we’ll be looking at “What is Truth?”