26-0909wc Neighborly Apologetics

(0:04) Thank you, Mark, and my greeting to all of you. (0:09) Thank you for joining us tonight. (0:11) I apologize.

(0:13) I had surgery on my nose, so I hope it doesn’t cause any of you to want to put a Band-Aid (0:21) over my nose. (0:22) I want to apologize, but I’m excited about tonight. (0:26) We have finally gotten through the series on the resurrection, and we’re now moving (0:32) on in our categories of neighborly apologetics, and tonight we get to talk about truth, and (0:39) I love to do that.

(0:41) So let me share my screen. (0:43) I’ve got some slides here for you that I think will be of help to you. (0:48) So we’ll get these open and see if we can get them started.

(0:58) So tonight we’re going to deal with absolute truth and relativism, and the title really (1:04) is what is truth, and we’re just going to be doing an introduction tonight. (1:08) As you can imagine, this whole issue of truth is huge, but again, I want to remind you why (1:14) we call this neighborly apologetics and why we’re doing this, because we believe that (1:20) the Jesus law, the royal law that has been given to us, that Paul said the entire law (1:27) is summed up in one thing, in the royal law, and that we believe, from my perspective, (1:34) this is the way forward for us and our culture, the way things are today. (1:39) I think it was the way forward from the very beginning when the Lord gave us this command, (1:45) but the vision here is that God has entrusted the primary work of the kingdom to the common (1:50) Christian family, and that family then is therefore part of the royal priesthood, and (1:57) they have a priestly role in their neighborhoods.

(2:00) They have the name of their neighbor engraved on the jewel on their ephod, and so we are (2:07) doing this because we want to look at how we can defend our faith, not from an academic (2:14) perspective, and again, we need the academic apologetics that provides the wealth of understanding (2:21) and knowledge for us to deal with each of these issues, but we want to talk about what (2:26) does that then look like as the common Christian family then begins to engage the people around (2:33) them in their Jerusalem. (2:37) How do they, as a family, how do their kids understand how to deal with a particular issue (2:43) that Mrs. Smith has across the street? (2:46) And so that’s what we mean by neighborly apologetics. (2:50) I want to go through these.

(2:52) We haven’t done this in quite a while, so I want to just kind of refresh with you. (2:57) Here are the 12, yea, 13 categories that we’re walking our way through, and obviously it’s (3:06) going to take us a while to get through all of these. (3:09) We start off talking about evil and suffering, a very, very difficult issue, and probably (3:15) odds are if you have an issue when you begin to talk to your neighbors or they have an (3:20) issue with God, with Jesus, with any of these things, spiritual things, it most likely will (3:29) be evil and suffering.

(3:30) So we started with that one, and then we jumped down to nine. (3:34) Let me go through these. (3:35) The second is what we’re dealing with tonight, and that’s our task.

(3:40) So we’re going to begin to look at absolute truth and relativism. (3:44) The third is this idea that there’s only one way, the rejection of that notion, and that (3:51) there is some religious pluralism that is the real truth, and there are many, many ways (3:58) to deal with faith and reason, free will and sovereignty. (4:01) That’s a huge thing, God’s existence and his nature, the goodness of man and judgment and (4:08) hell, hypocrisy and Christian crimes of the past.

(4:13) This crops up often. (4:16) Sometimes it is reasonable, and so the, you know, people look at the crimes that have (4:25) been foisted upon them by others. (4:27) Sometimes it gets embellished.

(4:30) So then the one we’re dealing with now that we just finished with, the claims of Jesus (4:37) and the resurrection, number 10, the miracles, number 11, science and evolution, and then (4:43) 12, the veracity of the Bible and contradictions. (4:47) And we added the baker’s dozen, the burning issues of our day that we see arising that (4:58) are relatively new because of the times in which we find ourselves. (5:05) So we are going to, okay, Mark, what is, here we go.

(5:11) So this, I think it’s working now. (5:14) So what is truth? (5:16) What is, in the introduction to what is truth, there are two great themes that run through (5:23) the scripture, and we’re not going to be dealing with one of those. (5:29) The two themes are truth and love, and we see it from the beginning all the way to the end.

(5:36) And they are so entwined with each other that I believe that you have to look at them together. (5:43) And the next time when we get together, we’ll introduce that conjunction of love with the (5:51) issue of truth, because you can’t leave it alone. (5:54) You can’t isolate them.

(5:55) They go together because they go together in the scripture. (5:59) And so when we deal with truth, we have to understand truth in the context of love. (6:05) And when you deal with love, you have to deal with love in the context of truth, truth.

(6:10) So truth and love, we find, you know, these amazing passages that speak of Jesus. (6:19) And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as (6:25) of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (6:30) I believe grace is a special form of love.

(6:35) We have talked about this before. (6:37) We find love as the steadfast, sacrificial zeal that seeks the true good of another. (6:43) Grace is the steadfast, sacrificial zeal that seeks the true good of an enemy.

(6:48) And grace was extended to us by God to those who were enemies of his, full of grace, full (6:56) of this deep love even for his enemies and truth. (7:00) In John 1, we read that the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through (7:09) Jesus Christ. (7:11) So when we look at this issue of truth, we’re going to find, as we just mentioned, that the (7:19) whole theme of truth runs through the entire scripture.

(7:22) But not only the theme of truth, but the theme of the fact that the fallen man rejects that (7:31) truth. (7:31) Even in the garden, Eve rejected the truth of God and what he said, and Satan beguiled (7:39) her in believing that God was not telling the truth, that he was oppressing her. (7:45) But the prophet’s lament, and I just have a few of them, they’re everywhere, a couple (7:51) from Isaiah and from Jeremiah, truth has stumbled in the streets, that it was the prophet’s (7:57) lament as they looked at what was happening in their time, that truth was the issue.

(8:05) Because people had rejected the truth of God, and as we read in Jeremiah, saying that truth (8:13) had perished. (8:14) Now, truth had not perished from the standpoint that truth exists in the very nature and character (8:20) of God. (8:21) But he was talking about truth in the culture in which he lived as it perished, as it vanished (8:27) from their lips.

(8:29) No one spoke truth anymore. (8:30) And Isaiah’s lament was that truth was nowhere to be found. (8:36) Now, I wanted to talk a little bit about this, and you know, when we look around our culture (8:44) today, it’s important for us to realize, yes, that there is nothing new under the sun.

(8:49) We are encouraged from the scripture, from Peter, Peter’s epistle, that we are not to (8:58) be in fear as if something strange were happening to us. (9:03) And yet, in our world today, things have changed. (9:08) And so the classical way of viewing this issue, the category we’re dealing with, absolute (9:13) truth and relativism, a very valid title, but it persisted throughout a period of time (9:23) where there was relativism in the true sense of relativism, where people would say, for (9:31) example, my truth, your truth.

(9:33) So the truth was relative based upon the speaker, based upon the hearer, and so forth. (9:41) But things have changed a little bit. (9:43) And I want to just highlight this with you as we begin.

(9:47) We’ve talked about this in some other webinars, and I’m just going to highlight it. (9:52) But that in our culture, in the times in which we live, there are things that are happening. (9:59) We talked about in those webinars, these seven threats that were aligning in our culture (10:05) today.

(10:05) In fact, the Lord has moved us from our engagement project training conferences that we did for (10:12) four years has now moved us to now do a conference on our times, understanding our times and (10:22) the biblical path forward. (10:23) So these threats that are aligning today are real, and they’re important for us to understand. (10:31) And in particular, these first two are critical for us.

(10:36) Before we begin to talk about the issue of truth, we have to understand the context of (10:42) our culture as it looks at the issue of truth and how we now need to understand before we (10:50) begin to do our neighborly apologetics, what we’re facing.

(10:54) So I just wanted to highlight a couple things here, because we’ll be referring to some (10:58) of them throughout tonight, and then also our next time. That this first threat was (11:04) the rise of the scoffer and the depraved mind, where we, if you recall, we looked at the (11:11) regression in Proverbs, where we see this downward progression.

A regression, if you (11:19) will, from the simple-minded to the fool, and then finally to the scoffer. (11:26) This is the militant fool, and then the regression in Romans, and we’ll look at this for just (11:33) a second here, where there is that, the progression in Romans 1 of God’s progressively deeper (11:42) judgment upon a people that have rejected him, that have turned away from him, no longer (11:48) thank him, and so forth, and God begins this process of bringing judgment upon a culture.

(11:53) The first is that God then gives them over to sexual impurity, and if they do not repent, (11:59) they do not turn to him, he gives them over to shameful lusts, and then finally he gives (12:04) them over to a depraved mind.

(12:06) And so in that threat, as we looked at it, we talked about the appearance was that we (12:13) had, God has taken us through these three, and we are now in the midst of this third (12:20) judgment upon our culture, where we’ve been given over to a depraved mind. (12:23) The Greek word is adokimon, unqualified, and what this means is that the mind that (12:30) is given over to an inability to logically understand things, primarily logically understand (12:38) spiritual truth, there’s an irrationality that comes, there’s a loss of common sense, (12:45) and there is incapacity to connect cause and effect, and so oftentimes we will see this (12:51) in our culture today, where people will be suffering from something that they just did, (12:57) and they can’t connect the plight that they’re in because they did this or that.

(13:03) And so this position that we find ourselves in, as we see in Romans, where people have (13:12) then exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and that’s why it’s relevant for us when (13:19) we begin to talk about absolute truth and relativism, that this is the plight of man, (13:28) of fallen man, where they continually exchange the truth of God for a lie, and as we saw (13:36) even in one of the most incredible events in the scripture, the dumb is dumbfounding, (13:45) that after all the children of Israel had seen, by the hand of God, the miracles, (13:51) after miracles, that Moses goes up into the mountains and they immediately begin to fashion (13:59) these calves, golden calves, and begin to worship them. But you combine that now with the militant (14:08) scoffer. And the reason I bring all this up is because relativism was a position where people (14:15) believed that my truth is my truth, your truth is your truth, and to some extent there was an (14:21) acceptance of that, but in these days that we live in, where we now find ourselves not only (14:32) having been given over to a depraved mind, but also this progression to the scoffer.

The scripture (14:39) says that the scoffer sets the city aflame. The scoffer is violent. He no longer says, (14:48) I’m okay and you’re okay.

He says, I’m okay and you’re not, and I will do everything I can to (14:54) force you to believe and to affirm me, to affirm my truth. And so I say that to help us understand (15:03) that the notion of relativism is still valid and we need to talk about it, but it’s important for (15:08) us to understand in the times in which we live that there is a militancy associated with an (15:16) individual’s understanding of their truth that is fairly new in our culture, in our time. So we’re (15:23) going to talk about what is truth, and in the context of that we will deal with what is a lie.

(15:29) For those of you who went to the Truth Project, we talked about this is the cosmic battle, the battle (15:34) between truth and lie. So obviously the question what is truth is a classic question, iconic (15:44) question. Why? Because it was a question that Pilate asked in that infamous moment where Jesus (15:52) was standing before Pilate, and all that occurred there, Jesus silent through most of the trial, and (15:59) then before Pilate he begins to speak.

And Jesus said at that time, for this reason I was born, (16:06) and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens (16:13) to me. An astounding proclamation that I believe Paul was referring back to when he said that Jesus (16:20) before Pontius Pilate made the good confession.

For this reason I was born, for this I came to (16:27) the world to testify to the truth. He was the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to (16:35) me, which means there are sides in this issue.

And of course what we remember from that as well is (16:44) that Pilate then responded to this statement by Jesus by saying, what is truth? And it wasn’t a (16:51) questioning question, it wasn’t an honest desire for Jesus then to respond to his question. I don’t (17:00) even believe it was rhetorical, I believe it was a scoffing statement, what is truth? As if there (17:06) is no truth. If he had waited for Jesus to answer, we might have heard Jesus say what he had said (17:13) before, and he said, I am the truth.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (17:21) except through me. It’s important for us to even begin at this point talking about this, that truth, (17:28) real truth, is bound up in the person of Jesus Christ.

The truth itself is not just simply a (17:37) claim, it is presented in truth claims, but truth itself, the essence of truth is bound up in the (17:46) person, in God himself. And what happens in the world in which we live in, this is the second (17:53) threat that we will now review, is the rise of homo deus, where the individual descends into (18:03) selfishness so deeply and becomes so obsessed with themselves that they begin to act as if they (18:12) are God. Now, if you did a survey, you might not find anyone who would say, I am God.

But when we act that way, (18:26) we then become the homo deus. We become an individual who believes that they somehow are divine, that their (18:33) heart speaks divine things. And so we find in this day that we believe that we are the truth, not Jesus.

(18:42) That I am the truth, that I am not God, but me. And this is this deep self-centeredness, this obsession with self that we find (18:57) ourselves in today. I was on a plane recently, and I know there’s, you know, it’s too trite sometimes to talk about (19:07) selfies, but I was on a plane, and there was a young woman who was next to me, and she must have taken at least a hundred (19:17) selfies.

And she took them with all different kinds of expressions, and then she’d look through them again, and she’d take some (19:24) more, and then she’d fiddle with things and took a bunch more. And I’m not just pointing my finger at her, I’m pointing, you know, the (19:32) finger at all of us. So we get caught up in a culture where we truly have descended into an obsession for ourself.

And at some (19:42) point, we can begin to believe that I am so important and that my heart speaks so divinely that you must accept that as a divine (19:55) proclamation and bow down to it. So that is the position and the threat that we see in our culture today, and it directly opposes the (20:05) understanding of what truth is and where truth comes from. That truth does not come from my heart, but truth comes from the very nature and (20:15) character of God.

He is the truth, not me. So what we’re going to do is, to begin our introduction here, our little overview, is talk a (20:27) little bit about what truth is not. It’s very important sometimes, first of all, how to create a boundary to understand what is not (20:37) truth before we even begin to look at a classical definition and a deeper understanding of what truth is, and especially in the culture in (20:48) which we find ourselves, because there are so many people today who believe truth in a wrong way.

So let’s talk about this first of all, what (20:58) truth is not. And we just mentioned this, so we just talked about this a little bit, and that I am not the truth, okay? I am not God. I cannot (21:07) declare what is true and what is false in an absolute form.

I cannot determine what is good and what is evil. I think that is what the (21:18) scripture is telling us in the very beginning in the garden, when Satan was tempting Eve and telling her that she would be like God, the Hebrew (21:29) word is Yadah. And I think interpreted properly, what that means is that you will not just know good and evil, but you will determine good and evil.

(21:40) So you then have the ability, Eve, to determine what is good, determine what is evil, and in most cases, what we would do is for our own benefit, (21:54) determine something is bad if it does not promote myself, and something is good if it does enhance my script. So I am not the truth. Truth is not what my (22:09) heart says.

So we live in a culture today where the mantra, almost the overriding notion of man is to follow your heart. If you are sensitive, you will see it (22:25) everywhere. I mean, it is in science.

It is in billboards that the individual, the ultimate goal of the individual is to discover themselves. It goes back to (22:38) Abraham Maslow, the hierarchy of needs, that self-actualization is the top thing. Well, that is more, to some extent, it is more than just self-actualizing.

(22:47) It is truly finding yourself and promoting that self and getting everyone else to affirm that self. Follow your heart. But your heart becomes then the (23:00) essence of what is true and what is right and what is good.

And so follow your heart becomes this mantra of a culture that has descended into this being (23:14) obsessed with themselves. It is very interesting. In Psalms 81, it says, So I gave them over, this is, you know, speaking from what God had done in a (23:23) judgment, I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels.

This is God saying, this is not God saying, hey, this is a wonderful thing for (23:36) you. This is a wonderful thing for you to follow your heart. No, he says, I’m giving you over to this is a judgment for you to follow your own counsels.

We know (23:47) this is a judgment, look in Numbers, because God had them wear tassels so that they wouldn’t do this. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember (23:57) all the commandments of the Lord, to do them not to follow after your own heart. God was concerned that they would follow their heart.

And he gave them tassels to help (24:10) them remember not to follow their heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after strong words. In Jeremiah, and this is throughout the book of (24:21) Jeremiah, in God’s declaration of the judgment that he’s bringing primarily in that historical context upon Judah and Jerusalem. But this is stated over and over again, this is God (24:37) speaking, this evil people who refuse to hear my words, my truth, who stubbornly follow their own heart.

And we live in a culture that believes that following your heart is a (24:51) wonderful thing. The scripture does not support that. I find this quite interesting in Proverbs 18, a fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart.

And we are awash in our (25:08) culture today with people who are effusive in wanting to express their heart. I’m not trying to belittle anyone. I’m trying to say that this is a pathway that does not lead to life.

It is a pathway that leads to death and destruction. But we have believed the lie that my heart is divine. And not only is it divine in terms of what it believes in, but I want you to now hear (25:38) my heart.

And I want to express that to you primarily because I want to affirm my heart. So these are difficult things for us because we are so awash in our culture that sometimes it’s even hard for us to recognize how we get captured by this. So in the very controversial thing that’s happening today, which 20 years ago would not have even been understood, if I declare that (26:07) I’m a woman, I see that as a divine proclamation and want you to see that as a divine proclamation (26:15) to bow down and affirm that.

If you do not, then you will be treated as a blasphemer. (26:22) So this, it’s true for me, is part of this notion and without the militancy of the scoffer. (26:31) It used to be it’s true for me and and that you’re it’s true whatever is true (26:37) for you is true for you. But it’s true for me is an expression that I am the (26:46) truth and so what I believe is true and be true to yourself is is almost a (26:54) corollary of follow your heart.

(26:56) So truth is not what my heart says and truth is (27:00) not what I believe. It’s akin to following your heart but there’s there’s (27:05) extra things here that are very important, because I heard this over and (27:09) over and over again.

When I was dealing with my beloved students that I love (27:15) dearly but oftentimes we would be talking about some difficult things (27:19) about the scripture about God and that would have a student say, "Well I just I (27:25) believe that and you know if we had a good relationship and we build a good (27:30) relationship…​"

At that point I would say, "You know it’s not about what you believe." (27:35) Because we we fall into this notion of thinking that if I believe it, then it (27:40) must be true. And that’s not true. In other words, if you have a position and, (27:46) as I heard often, we were talking especially about some of the

difficult (27:49) aspects of God’s nature, to say, "Well I just don’t believe that God would do (27:54) that" or I don’t believe that God would be that way and what we’re saying is (28:00) that I think my heart and or my belief trumps what the scripture says there (28:09) now I don’t think I ever heard a student say that

because when we talked about (28:13) and confronted him then it was a it was quite a confrontation in their own mind (28:17) and heart to to wrestle with that so it’s not just what I believe

and (28:23) sometimes we are we are provoked with this that we the the attempt to persuade (28:30) us by saying well don’t you believe that and and then we lay out

something that (28:37) would imply that you know the Bible correct here well don’t you believe that (28:42) God wouldn’t and so those are all bound up I wanted to mention one other thing (28:47) it really fits in here as well and it’s just simply because I’ve come across so (28:52) many people get caught up in conspiracy theories

and it is a debilitating thing (28:59) but what what it boils down to is someone caught up in a conspiracy theory (29:04) gets to the point where they believe this so deeply that it radically affects (29:10) their whole life and affects their actions it affects their relationships (29:14) and so forth and so I I always take an opportunity to point people to Isaiah 8 (29:20) do not, this is the God speaking

do not call conspiracy all that this people (29:25) calls conspiracy and do not fear what they fear nor be in dread but the Lord of (29:33) hosts him you shall honor as holy let him be your fear and let him be your (29:39) dread because often if not almost all the time when we get caught up in conspiracy (29:46) theory we become fearful terribly fearful people people build bunkers out (29:53) in the middle of

the desert they do all kinds of things as a result of these (29:58) conspiracy theories that have captured their mind they believe them believe (30:03) they’re true and it drives them into this deep fear of man that God says no (30:10) God is the one you are to fear okay so the third one here under I am NOT the (30:17) truth is truth is not what I want it to be this is also akin to these others but (30:23)

sometimes we can manipulate ourselves to want to get what we want and when we’re (30:35) confronted with the truth of God it is oftentimes our passions and our desires (30:41) and our wants that will cause us to rationalize a way around that or you (30:49) know I just I just think that or if everyone you know if everyone just did (30:57) this and it’s a way for us to rationalize a truth that is not true but

again it’s a (31:04) way to to build up a truth that supersedes and trumps the truth of God (31:13) so all fits under that I’m not the truth what I believe is not the truth I mean (31:19) it can be the truth but just because I believe it doesn’t make true and just (31:23) because I want it to be doesn’t make it make it true and a truth is not a (31:29) democracy okay so we live in a culture as we have

increasingly rejected the (31:36) truth of God that we live in a culture and it’s alive right now especially in (31:41) an election year and so forth where the will of the people represents truth (31:48) that’s different than electing someone by a 50 51 percent vote but there is (31:55) this notion that if a large enough number of people believe something then (32:03) there has to be something true about that or because and this will go to to (32:11) one of our next points because maybe they can

pass a law that does not make (32:16) it true and so sometimes we’re well everybody knows that or no one believes (32:21) anymore this is part of this notion that truth is determined by a majority opinion (32:28) or truth is determined by the the movement of culture or truth is (32:36) determined by the the notion that it’s a social construct that’s what determines (32:42) what is true truth is not what the

law says okay so might does not make right (32:48) for those of you who are historians one of the one of the books that was used (32:55) it’s not exclusive movie but in a very profound way during the founding of the (33:03) United States was Rutherford’s book, Lex Rex, (not Rex Lex), and so the the title was (33:11) saying that that the law is king the king is not law.

And so if we believe (33:21) that the king is law rather than the law of God then the king or however that is (33:30) represented in the government structure that those laws that are made then (33:36) become what is right and we just had you know we’ve been through this this (33:44) brouhaha associated with the Supreme Court in the ruling on abortion that (33:51) that abortion ruling by the Supreme Court many many years ago had become (33:56)

almost a de facto truth and when the Supreme Court said that’s not found in (34:04) the Constitution then we have this this boiling over of people who believe that (34:10) well this it was the law of the land and so therefore it was right we we can’t (34:15) live that way as believers the Supreme just because the Supreme Court rules (34:20) something does not make it truth it makes up a law or it makes it a

ruling (34:27) that those in that culture have to follow unless it causes us to violate (34:34) God and then we we must resist but the law does not provide for us a source of (34:42) truth okay truth is not what makes sense sometimes it’s easy for people to think (34:51) that if something makes sense then it has to be true now they’re very careful (34:58) here because true truth I believe will always make

sense it may not make sense (35:05) to someone with a depraved mind and it may not make sense to someone who’s (35:09) obsessed with himself and it may not make sense sometimes to any of us when (35:14) we are on a path of selfishness but truth is always sensible truth is (35:22) always rational because God is a rational thing he’s a logical being and (35:29) his truth makes sense from his perspective and from

a proper biblical (35:36) worldview and sometimes you know we we will say things like or if you hear your (35:42) neighbor say things like well you know it just seems to me then oftentimes what (35:48) they’re expressing in the little nuance here and how it said they’re expressing (35:53) this belief that well you know it seems to me that so-and-so and then that’s (35:58) drawing upon maybe a logical

assessment common sense and so forth but that (36:06) should not be the the reason why we think something is true now oftentimes (36:12) again as we said the truth of God will well if we can understand it it will (36:19) appear to be sensible sensible because it is or don’t you think that and then (36:27) there’ll be some logical reason why we should think something differently than (36:32) what the scripture is

saying it’s not sincerity sincerity it is not just (36:38) meaning well if you mean well we had we talked about one of this in a webinar on (36:45) malevolent compassion which is which I think is the number one ethic in our (36:49) culture today and that that is the the notion that if one is compassionate then (36:57) that is that is automatically right and good but we need to understand that (37:02) there

there is compassion that is not good there’s a passion that can be (37:07) malevolent if that compassion is not bound up and bridled by the truth then (37:13) that compassion can be evil and it can be malevolent and what’s happening in (37:19) our culture today as as compassion becomes the prime ethic that it is (37:27) causing us to embrace evil because it’s compassionate if it’s compassionate then

(37:34) we must embrace and affirm that which is not good and not good for people so just (37:41) because someone is sincere or has well-meaning does not mean that it is (37:47) therefore true. (37:49)

(37:49) So, let’s talk about what truth is for a minute and we’ll talk (37:57) about the classical way that in academic apologetics we talk about the nature of (38:03) truth in in these terms that the truth court has a correspondence

with reality (38:10) it corresponds with reality I have a little problem with that but I understand (38:17) that but when we talk about neighborly apologetics what we’re going to do is (38:22) we’re going and this this will ruffle the feathers of a of an academic (38:27) apologist I understand that but I think it’s it’s it’s explainable that we are (38:34) going to simply say we’re dealing with her or our

neighbor that truth is (38:39) reality and when we talk about those things that are true we’re talking about (38:45) what is real and of course God is the ultimate reality and his nature is (38:54) ultimate reality and when we talk about truth being real what we’re trying to (39:02) help people understand is oftentimes we will begin to believe things that are (39:07) more fantasy or believe things that are

rationalizations or believe things that (39:14) are made up believe things that we want to believe because it’s gonna allow us (39:20) to get our own way or believing things because it will keep us from being (39:26) persecuted it’ll keep us from being shunned and so the the thing that we (39:33) want to help our neighbor to understand is that we have to try and get a hold of (39:40) what is really real as

opposed to what we want things to be so I like the (39:47) approach of talking with people in neighborly apologetics talking about (39:53) truth is reality truth is what is real and so that’s how we will proceed with (39:59) my apologies to the the academic side here their their position is that that (40:07) truth corresponds with reality because truth is a proposition it’s a truth (40:14) claim that one of the

problems I have that and I understand if you look at it (40:19) that way a truth claim then corresponds to what is what is real but Jesus doesn’t (40:26) correspond to what is real he is what is real so anyway enough enough said (40:33) there so let’s look at this briefly and truth is reality truth is absolute we (40:43) will come back to this he’s all part of our introduction but the notion of of (40:48)

absoluteness is is bound up in an understanding that the God is true and (40:56) that his truth is true for everyone everywhere all time that it is not (41:07) relative it is not based upon someone’s will or whim it’s not based upon the (41:14) social construct it’s based upon his nature and he does not change he is (41:21) unchanging and so when we talk about the absolute truth we were talking about the

(41:28) absolute truth of the nature of God that that truth then proceeds from the very (41:36) nature of God he is the source of all truth and that’s what we mean by truth (41:42) being absolute okay now that brings us and when we have an opportunity to talk (41:48) about a little more deeply it brings us to some very interesting and

puzzling (41:55) and and maybe uncomfortable ways that we can talk about that God’s truth is (42:03) absolute and in some cases it’s relative by that what I mean by that is that (42:10) God’s truth is applied in ways that depend upon who you are and what you’re (42:19) believing and so forth and so for example Paul talks about eating meat (42:25) sacrifice to an idol he says that there is nothing wrong with

eating that meat (42:31) sacrifice to an idol unless unless you’re with a believer who has what we might (42:39) call a conscience that is weak and that you’re eating would cause him to stumble (42:46) so now that act which was all right now becomes wrong and so that’s what we’re (42:54) talking about when we look at truth is absolute we also have to understand (42:58) there’s a complexity associated with

that and so all it means is that that (43:04) truth just needs to be expanded further I hope you understand it so the truth (43:11) is eating meat sacrifice to an idol is okay if it will not cause someone to (43:18) stumble so that then would be the full truth okay so the absolute truth of God (43:25) truth is logical we dealt with this just a little bit ago but there is there is a (43:32) rational aspect of

the truth of God why because God is a rational being he made (43:38) us with rational minds with logical minds he speaks to us in logic you know (43:44) when the children of Israel came into the promised land that God said okay you (43:48) know split up and half the tribes something for Mount Ebal half the tribes (43:54) assembly for Mount Gerizim and there I’m going to give you my logical if then

(44:00) else claim you know if you obey me then better now if you do not obey me then or (44:06) if then else the God speaks in these logical forms Paul’s writings are filled (44:15) with logic very pure logic rational logic God gave us a rational and logical (44:23) mind that can respond to a God who says come let us reason together thus saith (44:32) the Lord and when God gives us over to a depraved mind

we can no longer reason (44:39) and that is why we have to deal in a culture that is given increasingly over (44:45) to a depraved mind we have to first begin to pray ask God to open their mind (44:50) heal their mind and I’m through a deep relationship hope and pray that (44:54) eventually they will begin to ask those rational questions the third one listed (45:01) there is solid and I’m going to give

you that verse here for these but let me (45:05) just briefly speak of it there is there is a rock associated with the truth of (45:11) God that allows us to stand in the midst of the storms it is it is solid it (45:18) doesn’t change it doesn’t it doesn’t it’s not you know like a cork it’s a (45:26) rock upon which we can stand not only mentally but emotionally and spiritually (45:34) it doesn’t change that’s the truth of God because he does not change so in (45:42) truth is non-contradictory

we will also be a deeper in a deeper fashion with (45:46) this next time is one of the beauties of truth one of the aspects of the (45:53) nature of truth that true truth does not contradict true truth so the truth (46:01) claims that are true will not conflict with it with another truth claim that is (46:07) true this is one of the one of the key aspects of what we do for example in a (46:13) criminal trial

what we’re trying to do is to determine what is true and (46:19) determine what is enough of the truth that the lie is going to be revealed (46:26) and so one of the beautiful things of truth that God has given to us is that (46:32) it is non-contradictory truth is bound up in a person that’s what we’ve talked (46:39) about already it’s bound up in the person you know Jesus said I am the (46:43) truth

and that is a critical notion for us to understand and hopefully at some (46:49) point in our in our neighborly apologetics we will be able to help (46:55) people see that truth is not just created by a social construct it’s not (47:01) created by the whim of man or the might of man but it comes from an unchanging (47:08) person and that person is God the creator of all things and that is what (47:15) gives us a

comfort in the midst of the storm truth is freeing the truth will (47:23) set you free Jesus said and a lot of people have bought the lie the same lie (47:31) that Satan lay before Eve in the garden he basically turned the whole thing (47:38) on its head to tell Eve that if you go against that truth of God then you’ll be (47:44) free you will be like God determining what is good and what is evil and then (47:49)

you will be truly free from underneath this oppressor because God is trying to (47:54) oppress you he’s trying to keep you from self actualizing trying to keep you (47:59) from following your heart trying to keep you from becoming godlike and so the (48:06) reality is that truth does not enslave you but truth will actually set you (48:13) free and that’s hard for a non-believer to understand and it has to be

treated (48:19) with gentleness and with care but it is a it is a truth that hopefully will be (48:27) able to be expressed at one point because a lot of people will begin to (48:31) realize that they are in bondage to the lies that they have believed in bondage (48:37) to the lies of the world around them that is a truth that will set them free (48:43) it’s the truth that allows people to can to be

content in the middle of all (48:49) said to be content in the midst of trials to be content even though he is (48:55) being pursued even though he is being punished even though he is facing a (49:01) horrible death the truth that sets us free from all of that it’s also in a (49:08) practical way truth sets us free from the bondage of lies because lies I saw (49:14) a remember I saw a sign of a sign I can’t

remember the exact wording but it (49:18) was really awesome that truth is wonderful because I don’t have to (49:24) remember anything so I thought that was great because when you lie then you’ve (49:29) got to remember you remember that lie because if something comes up that shows (49:35) that there’s a contradiction there you’ve got to be able to remember what (49:38) you said and how to come up with

another lie to try and create this house of lies (49:44) and and so truth frees us from that we’re no longer bound up in that horrible (49:52) situation of having to can you continue to build up some other justification and (50:00) lie and so forth and try to make them all fit fit together truth sets us free (50:06) and finally the notion of truth is critical and we say it’s critical why (50:11) because the

scripture over and over again affirms to us that it is critical (50:17) I will close with with these things but I want to give you just some more (50:23) passages and all of these are taken from from Jeremiah look at the (50:28) criticality associated with what happens when people no longer follow the truth (50:35) but seek their own ways following their own heart Jeremiah if you recall the (50:43) book of Jeremiah

is primarily directed at putting Judah and in Jerusalem and (50:51) the priests and the Kings and and all of these people on notice that God is going (50:58) to judge them and it was a horrific judgment Babylon he was raising up (51:03) Babylon Babylon was going to come in and destroy Jerusalem is going to destroy (51:08) the temple and he was going to cart people off as POWs into a foreign land (51:15) and

it was going to happen in Jeremiah was the prophet that God sent to them at (51:20) that moment in time to warn them constantly run to and fro through the (51:25) streets of Jerusalem look and take note search her squares to see if you can (51:31) find a man who does justice and seeks truth that I may pardon her and of (51:38) course there was no pardon given because the the rally was no one sought (51:43)

truth no one sought justice and you shall say to them God says this is the (51:50) nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God and did not accept (51:55) discipline truth has perished it is cut off from their lips they bend their (52:03) tongue like a bull falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land this (52:09) is interesting how the scripture says that the lies have grown strong (52:14) in the

land for they proceed from evil to evil and they do not know me declares (52:20) the Lord this is the people that have gone after their own truth and have (52:26) rejected the truth of God everyone deceives his neighbor and no one speaks (52:32) the truth they have taught their tongue to speak lies they weary themselves (52:39) committing iniquity truth is critical and then we’ll close with this that we (52:44)

referred to earlier this is towards the end of what we call the sermon on the (52:51) mount and if you recall at the end of that the scripture says something very (52:57) interesting you know it says that the people were astounded at his words (53:03) because he he taught them not like their scribes but as one who had (53:09) authority and and Jesus was coming to the end of that that moment there on on

(53:18) the mountain and he said therefore everyone who hears these words of mine (53:24) and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the (53:31) rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house (53:36) and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock this is what happens (53:44) when we follow the truth of God when we follow what he says

when we believe what (53:49) he says and his truth then that is the rock upon which we can stand and it (53:55) doesn’t matter if there are rains and floods and turmoil that come into our (54:02) lives and any everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act upon them (54:11) will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and (54:18) the floods came and the winds blew and slammed

against that house and it fell (54:24) and its collapse was great and this ought to provoke within us in our (54:32) neighborly apologetics a sorrow as we begin to build relationships with the (54:38) people around us because we will no doubt come in contact with people who (54:42) have built their house upon the sand and they are suffering deeply as a result (54:48) of the consequences of their foolish actions

sometimes they are suffering (54:53) consequences as a result of someone else’s foolish actions because when that (54:58) house falls it can oftentimes with it bring down many other people families (55:05) are often often in great turmoil as a result for example of alcoholism and (55:11) that affects not just immediate family that affects extended families that (55:15) affects many people can affect people if

if if a drunk driver you know kill (55:21) someone so you know the truth of God is critical and the scripture makes it clear (55:28) to us from the very beginning in Genesis all the way to the very end (55:34) throughout the entire thing how critical truth is and yet of course bound up and (55:39) in that and we must you know say these things as well bound up and down is the (55:45) grace of God that if you find

yourself today maybe even thinking you know I (55:52) have built my house upon the sand there are many things that I have done and (55:55) there are many consequences now that are even maybe raging around us or maybe (55:59) family members excuse me who are in those situations that is the truth of (56:06) God is also bound up and wrapped around the grace of God and that it is the (56:13) grace of God that is

always present even as we read before earlier and what we (56:20) now know the end result was going to be destruction that God was still (56:25) presenting to them a gracious resolution if they would return to him and that (56:33) gracious offer still applies it still applies to you and me it applies to your (56:39) neighbor if if we would say no if we would deny or something that’s what (56:45) Jesus said you

know if you just deny yourself and follow me that and I my (56:52) personal opinion is when he talks about the white gate that leads to death and (56:56) destruction the on that gate is written it’s all about me and on the narrow gate (57:02) that Jesus said this is the gate this is the pathway that leads to life on that (57:08) gate is it’s all about him deny yourself and follow me and the denying (57:15) earth

of ourselves is deeply wrapped up in conjunction with the denying of God’s (57:24) truth and the belief that my truth supersedes his truth because why because (57:30) we’re fallen creatures and we are selfish desires want to supersede God’s (57:38) Word and God’s truth so there we come now to the end of our time to the end of (57:45) this introduction to what is truth next time we will we’re then going to

deal (57:52) with a lot of things associated with truth we’ll talk about number (57:55) contradiction and we’ll talk about all those things in more detail so that we (58:00) might be prepared our purpose here that we might be prepared that when we build (58:04) a deep relationship with a neighbor and we begin to find that mrs. Smith (58:10) believes that truth really begins in her heart that we will have the

ability (58:15) through truth and grace to help her begin to think and ponder the (58:21) foolishness of that and the nonsensical non-logical truth associated with that (58:27) belief okay so let’s let’s end and Mark I’m gonna stop my share I’ll turn this (58:35) over to you all right thank you dr. Tackett again thank you everyone for (58:40) being here tonight taking time out of your busy schedules as I

said at the (58:45) beginning of our time we’ve recorded this live stream and so we’re going to (58:49) send that link out to you as soon as we get that recording uploaded and an email (58:53) put together that’ll probably be sometime tomorrow tomorrow morning (58:57) hopefully and then that’s something that you can share with others as well along (59:02) with that you’ll see the PDF format of Dr. Tackett slides and when you go to the (59:08) page to see that recording and get those slides if you scroll down you’ll see all (59:13) the previous recordings in the series that dr. Tackett has been doing and so (59:18) with that if you do have

any questions you can reply to the email I’m happy to (59:24) answer any questions that you have and again thank you for being with us dr. (59:28) Tackett can you close our time in prayer I certainly will do that father thank (59:33) you for your word thank you for your truth thank you for the Lord Jesus (59:39) Christ who came in order that he might give testimony to the truth to give (59:46) testimony to him

and who he is in his great sacrifice for us and in that (59:52) sacrifice and in the raising of him from the dead you have proclaimed that he is (59:57) the truth and he is the way he is the life he is the resurrection and so (1:00:02) father we pray that you would help us as we begin to build these relationships (1:00:08) with our neighbors as you have called us to do that you will allow us as we pray (1:00:14)

and ask that you’ll begin to open hearts and open minds and heal depraved (1:00:19) minds that father we may be able to express to them the truth and in that (1:00:25) expressing of the truth that they might understand that living by their by their (1:00:32) heart and following their heart is not going to lead them towards good but (1:00:38) towards disaster so father give us that privilege as we as we follow your

(1:00:44) command and I pray for each of these people Lord I pray that you might allow (1:00:49) these words not my words but your words to be fruitful in their life in the (1:00:55) obstacles you’ll remove and Lord if we need healing in the midst of all of this (1:01:01) you would do so that we might be drawn closer and closer to you all for your (1:01:06) glory in Jesus name amen amen all right thank you everyone we’ll see you next (1:01:11) month god bless you all (1:01:13)