Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / John

John 18:28-40 11/05/06

Message: ‘Truth Isn’t Always PC’ pt.1          Text: John 18:28-40

Introduction: Women have always wondered and speculated about what is behind what men say. Well, ladies, I’m going to let you in on a sacred male secret. Hear now excerpts from ‘The Men’s Thesaurus’

PP When a man says: ‘It’s a guy thing’
PP He means: ‘There is no rational thought     pattern connected with this, and you have no     chance at all of making it logical’
PP  When a man says ‘Can I help with dinner?’
PP He means: ‘Why isn’t it already on the table?’
PP When a man says ‘Uh huh, Sure honey,’ or          ‘Yes Dear’
PP  He means: Absolutely nothing – It’s a        conditioned response.
PP When a man says  ‘It would take too long to        explain’
PP He means: ‘I have no idea how it works’
PP When a man says ‘Take a break honey, you’re      working too  hard’

PP He means: ‘I can’t hear the game over the   vacuum cleaner’
PP When a man says ‘That’s interesting dear’
PP He means: ‘Are you still talking?’
PP When a man says ‘Oh, don’t fuss, I just cut          myself, it’s no big deal’
PP He means: ‘I have actually severed a limb, but     I will bleed to death before I admit I’m hurt’
PP When a man says ‘I can’t find it.’
PP He means: ‘It didn’t fall into my outstretched      hand, so I’m completely clueless’
PP When a man says ‘You look terrific’
PP He means: ‘Oh please don’t try on one more        outfit, I’m starving.’
PP When a man says ‘Hey, I’ve got my reasons         for what I’m doing’
PP He means: ‘And I sure hope I think of some         pretty soon.’

PP When a man says: ‘We share the housework’
PP  He means: ‘I make the messes, she cleans them up.’

What is truth? As our ‘Men’s Thesaurus’ points out, truth is often what we want it to be.  (Jeff Strite)

Explanation: Speaking of truth did you know that 72% of Americans believe there is no such thing as absolute truth. If that doesn’t shock you, listen to this: 67% of conservative, Bible believing Christians believe there is no such thing as absolute truth. (Church Colson ‘Being the Body’)

Is recognizing and understanding truth important? Then there is something we need to know.  There are two models for recognizing and understanding truth.

1. Truth is defined by God; it is objective and            absolute.

2. Truth is defined by the individual; it is          subjective and situational.

Let me give you an example of the difference.

·       If you tell your child that their curfew is 10pm on weeknights and 11pm on weekends is that absolute? No, someone else might give a later or earlier curfew to their child.

·       If you say sex is only to be experienced in marriage between a man and a woman is that absolute? Yes. Because God (is objective and makes the rules) and it is true for everyone.

The problem with our post-modern society today and with some in the church is that they get their understanding of truth from Oprah rather than from God’s Word.  Listen to Oprah understanding of truth, and I quote ‘One of the biggest mistakes we make is to believe that there is only one way. There are many diverse paths leading to God.’ She also teaches that truth can’t be found externally but only inside your life.

Oprah and others teach a ‘politically correct’ version of truth.

·       It’s not offensive,

·       It’s not absolute

·       and it’s not binding on anyone.

·       It’s purpose is to make you feel better about yourself and to make you ‘fit in’ with society without rocking the boat

·       it’s safe…but it’s a lie.

Christians need to get back to a Biblical understanding of truth. We need to pass on a Biblical understanding of truth to our children and live out biblical truth to those around us. Because the consequences of giving in to the worlds view of truth will mean more and more people, even your children, will look to Oprah for truth rather than God’s Word. And that is the Truth!

Paul in his letter to the Romans spells out the foundation of God’s Truth and it’s Absolute…that means it’s right for everyone, in everyplace and in every time. Read these truths from God’s Word with me.

·       PP ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’

      (Rom 3:23)

·       PP ‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’  (Rom 5:8)

·       PP  ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’  (Rom 6:23)

·       PP  ‘That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.’ (Rom 10:9)

·       PP ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (Rom 10:13)

Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (real people and a real place) we have chosen to sin, to rebel against God (real being), the God who created us (not evolution). Our rebellion, our sin separates us from God and the payment for our rebellion is eternal death in hell (a real place).

Our only hope is to place our trust in Jesus. Who was sent by God the Father to save his people from their sins. He did this by his sacrificial and substitutionary death on the cross of Calvary.

That is the truth Jesus came to proclaim That is the truth we are to side with.

Read: John 18:37 ‘“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

And everyone who is on the side of falsehood listens to Oprah or whoever else rises up against the objective and absolute truth of Almighty God.

Background: Our text for the next two weeks will examine truth…

·       objective and absolute truth from God himself

·       and subjective and situational truth from sinful people.

The location of this discussion of truth is the palace of the Roman Governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. 

It’s early in the morning, just hours before his death and Jesus stands alone before Pilate whose job it was to discern truth and then do something with it.

Truth is, that’s something each of us must do every day…discern truth and do something with it.

·       We have to decide whether the e-mail warning we got about a computer virus is true.

·       We have to decide if the letter from Publishers Clearing House telling us we have won $1,000,000.00 is true.

·       We have to decide if the warnings about speeds being detected by aircraft are true.

·       We have to decide if it’s true that our actions have consequences

·       We have to decide if it’s true that our sin is an offense to God.

·       We have to decide if it’s true that God really loves us…unconditionally and eternally.

·       We have to decide each day if God’s Word is really true…and all of it, not just the easy parts or the parts we like.

We make these decisions about truth everyday and our choices reveal our recognition and understanding of truth.

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 18:28 (pg. 827 in the Bible under the chair in front of you.) It’s here we’ll find that truth is not always politically correct.

I. John 18:28-32         Truth Repressed

Read: John 18:28-32

What hypocrisy!  The religious leaders didn’t want to pollute themselves, make them unclean by entering a Gentiles home but they were willing to have an innocent man killed.

This is a sad example of the person who is religious but whose understanding of truth is motivated by self interests and not by the Word of God or the person of Jesus Christ.

Picture the irony.

·       The religious leaders were trying to remain clean so they could celebrate the Passover; the when God ‘passed over’ over the sins of the people when he saw the blood of a perfect lamb on the doorposts of their homes.

·       All the while the one who could pass over their sins, forgive them, was standing right in front of them and they rejected him.

·       The truth of the Messiah was repressed so they could go about business as usual.

They wanted Jesus dead so they could get on with their sinful lives. That’s the truth….now here comes the lie.

Pilate comes out to meet the crowd and asks ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?’ This was a perfectly natural question to ask. Even today people must be charged with a crime before they go to trial.

Here comes the lie. The religious leaders didn’t have anything that would convince Pilate to have Jesus killed and they knew it. So how did they respond?

Read: John 18:30 ‘“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”

In other words, ‘Pilate, look, we are highly religious men, men of truth and if we say he’s guilty, he’s guilty, just take our word for it. Come on…Trust us.’

Pilate didn’t like or trust the Jews, especially the religious leaders so he tells them ‘Take him yourself and judge him by your own law.’

Not what they wanted to hear…so they did speak the truth…in part. They said ‘But we have no right to execute anyone.’. The religious leaders made it clear they didn’t want Jesus put in jail…they wanted him put in a grave.

Now Pilate has to decide what is true…the words of the religious leaders or the words of Jesus. So he goes inside to question Jesus about the truth.

Conclusion

Today when we talk about Jesus to people and they say …no thanks, we like Pilate often ask ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?’ Or why is it you don’t believe in Jesus, what is it about him that causes you not to believe?

Their answers are rarely specific. Like the religious leaders from our text it’s often generalities.

·       How can God allow so much suffering in the world when he is supposed to be a God of love?

·       How can God send people to hell just because they don’t believe in him?

The implication is that God’s unjust. He is guilty of all the suffering in the world and sending people to hell. That’s subjective and situational truth whose purpose it is to make the person who holds to it feel better about him/herself.

The objective and absolute truth is that in response to the suffering and eternal destination of hell to all who sin,

·       God so loved the word that he sent his son Jesus,

·       so that whoever believes in him would not perish, go to hell,

·       but have eternal life, in heaven. 

And the person who holds to this truth will feel better about him/herself and about God.

PP A Jewish proverb says ‘A man finds God through truth’…but whose truth?