When the Truth is proclaimed, we must be open to hearing it, embracing it and acting upon it. In this impactful conclusion to his series about God’s Truth, Dr. Tony Evans preaches about getting truth to work in your life.
today we’re living in a world of
confusion chaos and lies
we don’t know what the truth is
what’s up is down what’s down is up
what’s right has become wrong what’s
wrong is deemed is right
and people need a sure place to go to
learn the truth
god has given us a location for the
truth
and that is his inherent
perfect word
that’s why we need to return the truth
which means we need to return to the
bible the death of truth has led
to a breakdown in the cultural immune
system they hated jesus because he was
of the truth if they are not taking me
seriously that’s because they don’t take
truth seriously we must adjust and be
people of the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth so
help
you
god
god is the only absolute source you can
give an absolute standard
about all subjects amen
therefore the starting place to know
truth
is what god has revealed
it is the revelation of god
we all know what it is to have
abandoned truth
believed a lie and paid the consequences
for it
we’re watching a world do that before
our very eyes
the truth
as revealed by god
in order for it to benefit us
must be received
and that’s why first thessalonians
chapter
2 verse 13 reads
for this reason
we also constantly thank god
that when you received the word of god
which you heard from us
you accepted it not as the word of men
but for what it
really or truly is
the word of god
which also performs its work in you who
believe
in order for the word of truth to work
it must
be
received
in order for
the truth
to do what the truth has been designed
and revealed to accomplish
it must be received if you don’t receive
it it doesn’t change it from being the
truth it changes it from benefiting you
as the truth
he says three things in this verse
regarding receiving the truth
the first of all you’ve got to hear what
the truth is
he says in verse 13
you receive the word which you heard
from us
you’ve got to receive the word
you’ve got to know what it is that you
should be believing
paul told timothy
in 2nd timothy chapter
4.
he says i solemnly charge you in the
presence of god and christ jesus
who is to judge the living and the dead
and by the appearing
of his kingdom preach the word be ready
in season and out of season reprove
rebuke exhort with great patience and
instruction
for the time will come when they will
not endure sound doctrine
but wanting to have their ears tickled
they will accumulate for themselves
teachers in accordance with their own
desires
and will turn away their ears from the
truth
and will turn aside to myths
we’re living in a day when people have
turned aside to miss
good sounding popular
myths
because they
have abandoned the truth
and one of the reasons
is that the truth is not being clearly
proclaimed
he says
paul to timothy
you are to preach he says
the word
that is the scriptures
so that people get the truth
he says because there’s coming a time
when people will want their ears tickled
they’ll want their ears scratched
they won’t want the truth
they’ll just want to be placated
they will want to be
made to feel good they will want
doughnut sermons
he says rebuke and reprove
correct
we live in a day when
instead of the word being preached
culture is being preached
race is being preached politics is being
preached
theories are being preached
rather than what god says
being preached because
nobody wants to be offended
well if you’re believing a lie the truth
will offend you
it’s going to offend you not because
we’re trying to be offensive
but because that’s what truth does when
you’re believing a lie we’re living in a
day when
people can’t receive the truth because
in many places they’re not getting the
truth
and when i say truth i’m not talking
about what a person says i’m talking
about what god’s word says he says
preach the word
he says be in season
and out of season the greek word for
season means convenient
preach the truth
when they clap
and preach the truth when they boo
but paul says preach the word when it’s
convenient when it’s not convenient
ezekiel 2 7
god says speak my word to this
rebellious house whether they like it or
not
jeremiah chapter 5 verse 30 and 31 says
a horrible thing has happened
to my people and that is false prophets
have taken the pulpit
many people are not able to receive the
truth because they’re not being given
the truth and you measure the truth by
the word not by the style
not by the personality not by the
popularity not by the notoriety but by
its bibliocentricity
whether it is consistent with the
revealed will and revelation of god
why should the word trump everything
else
well hebrews chapter 4 verses 12 and 13
tell you for the word of god is living
and active and sharper than any
two-edged sword piercing as far as the
division of soul and spirit of joint and
marrow and is able to judge the thoughts
and intents of the heart and there is no
creature hidden from his sight and all
things are open and laid bare
to the eyes of him
with whom we have to do
he says the reason why you want to go to
the word is because it’s alive
it’s not a dead book
it’s a living document because it’s
backed up by a living person in verse 12
he talked about the word of god and then
in verse 13 he says and his eyes are
open
because the word of god is alive it’s
backed up
by the person of god
the word active has to do with the word
we get our english word energized from
it is it has a battery in it it’s alive
he says it’s a two-edged sword it’s not
blunt
it’s not blunt it
it cuts on both sides it can cut in time
and cut for eternity
it cuts on both sides it
it it’s not blunted it’s able to to
penetrate to the deepest level of life
it saves and condemns
he says it’s alive
but when you leave the truth and
therefore you leave the word you don’t
experience its life it’s a book
that doesn’t do anything for you
notice what he says he says that the
word of god
he says is able to penetrate
piercing
into the division of the soul and the
spirit
now that’s called deep stuff
this is the physical the soul and spirit
is the immaterial
he says this thing cuts so deep when
it’s allowed to be received
that it can separate
what is the inseparable
the soul and the spirit you don’t even
know how to divide something like that
he can tell you what’s you versus what’s
god
so you spirit god and you don’t know
which one is god which one is you he
said if you get enough word it’ll slice
that
it’ll get so deep
and we live in a culture today that has
as we have said throughout our series
abandoned truth
and it’s all over the place
truth about life truth about death truth
about marriage truth about singlehood
truth about identity
truth about government truth about race
truth about class truth about culture
you know you name the subject and the
abandonment
is everywhere
and the tragedy is
christians who have itching ears too
they want to hear the latest and the
greatest
unfortunately we’re sending a generation
of kids to college how to find out how
to be more ignorant
because of the abandonment of truth
he says that the thing that should mark
the church of the living god is the
proclamation of
truth
so that the word can do its work because
the word won’t do its work if you’re not
dealing with truth
but let’s say
you are exposed to truth as we all
should be
based on
the word of god
he says then in
first thessalonians 2
you received the truth
so the truth that is proclaimed
must be received
for it to work
again if you don’t receive it it’s still
the truth it just won’t do its work for
you
to receive the truth is to embrace it
that’s why the bible says in colossians
3 16 let the word of christ dwell in you
richly
it means it must be embraced
grabbed
held on to
inculcated
so that raised the question does
it how do you embrace truth
how do you embrace truth
james helps us with that
let’s walk through this
for a moment
james chapter one
beginning with verse
19
this you know my brother and my beloved
brethren so he’s talking to christians
but everyone must be quick to hear slow
to speak and slow to anger for the anger
of man does not achieve the
righteousness of god therefore putting
aside all filthiness and all the remains
of wickedness in humility receive the
word implanted which is able to save
your
soul
now these are already christians so he’s
not talking about getting saved to go to
heaven
he’s talking about having your life
transformed on earth
so he’s talking about spiritual
transformation
he says
i want you to receive verse 21.
he says receive the word implanted
so if you really want to see truth if
you really want to receive it
that means to welcome it
embrace it
he then says put aside all filthiness
and all the remains of wickedness
he says receive the word
which is able to change you to save your
soul
when you bring
human follow me here human wisdom
into the equation
you block the flow of truth
a blocker to the truth
that keeps the truth from delivering you
from whatever it is that you need to be
delivered from
or anybody else you know because you’ve
introduced a foreign subject and that’s
man’s view that’s why first
thessalonians 2 13 says you did not
receive this as the word of men you
received this as the word
of god
you will never be full if all you do is
chew and don’t swallow
it may taste good but you’ll never get
great benefit
you got to swallow
the word must be received
and how do you help it to be received he
says in verse 22 but prove yourselves to
be doers of the word and not merely
hearers who delude themselves you’re
going to trick yourself if all you’re
doing is hearing it and saying amen for
if anyone is a hearer of the word and
not a doer he is like a man who looks at
his natural face in the mirror but once
he has looked at himself and gone away
he has immediately forgotten the kind of
person he was
he says if all you do is hear it
and don’t take a step to act on it which
proves that you’ve embraced it your
action proves the embrace
in verse 25 but one who looks intently
oh staring at it looks intently at the
perfect law
the law of liberty the law that frees
you up
and abides in it that means you hang out
with it
the truth not having a become a
forgetful hero leaving the sermon in the
pew when the service is over but an
effectual doer because that means you’ve
really received it this man will be
blessed in what he does
god is after spiritual transformation
but you must hear the word
read it
hear it proclaimed in whatever ways that
happens
you must then receive it
and then finally
because he says at the end of first
thessalonians 2 13
which
can
perform
the work
for you who believe
it performs
it works
it achieves
it accomplishes
it’s not a waste of time
it accomplishes
the work
when you take hold of the word the word
takes hold of you
when you take hold of the word the
word says what goes around comes around
and
you begin to change
your thinking
your perspective
oh it doesn’t mean you’re perfect it
doesn’t mean you don’t have struggles
but you see changes
you don’t react at the same level that
you used to react
you aren’t defeated at the same level
you used to be defeated
because something
is changing
because the word has been freed to take
root
to lodge itself in your soul
through your spirit
so let’s culminate this
performance of the word
by calling your attention
to a psalm
psalm 19
is a psalm that describes
the revelation
of god god revealing himself
he says god reveals himself in two ways
in the world and in the word
verse one the heavens are telling the
glory of god
and the expanse is declaring the works
of his hands
he says
nature preaches a sermon
and a creation needs a creator
it’s just the way it’s obvious
and so he spends the first six verses
talking about the fact verse three there
is no speech
nature doesn’t talk
nor their words their voice is not heard
but the information has gone out it’s
clear
in creation the reality of almighty god
then he comes to verse seven
and he wants to conclude by telling you
about the word
first the world
then the word
he says first
the law of the lord is perfect and then
he gives you the benefit
restoring
the soul
the law the law is god’s rule of life
can restore your inners
it can turn you inside out
it can give you back the life you
thought you lost
next the testimony of the lord is sure
making
wise the simple
you can count on it sure
to help you to make the right decision
wise
wisdom is the ability to make good
decisions in life based on god’s truth
it is the skill of righteous living it
is the skill of living life as it was
meant to be lived and look at how many
bad decisions all of us have made
he says but the word
is sure
now you can bank on it
it’ll give you right decision making
next the precepts of the lord
are right
the precepts are the doctrines the
theology
rejoicing the hearts
you’re lacking joy
he says when you learn sound doctrine
biblical truth and that becomes your
modus operandi
it will give you joy now why does he
tell you it will give you joy because
joy gives you inner confirmation that
you made the right decision
next the commandment of the lord is pure
enlightening the eyes
that is helping you to see clearly it
says the word will help you to see
enlightening you’re going to see oh
you’ll see behind the obvious the
curtain will be pulled back and you’ll
be able to see reality based on the word
the fear of the lord is clean
he says
enduring forever it will bring you fear
of the lord taking god seriously it will
bring
it well you know
it endures in other words it doesn’t
change with time the judgments
he says of the lord are true
they are righteous
all
together they are the divine verdict
judgments
it keeps you from wandering off
it keeps you from going left or shows
you the road back if you’ve gone left
because you don’t know which way
to take to get back to where you need to
be
oh and by the way
he says they are more desirable than
gold yes than fine gold the word of god
is more important than a cheque
the word of god is more important than
your salary the word of god is more
important than your bank account
word of god is more important than your
401
not because those things are not
important and don’t have their place
but you show me a person
whose bible is falling apart i’ll show
you a person whose life is not falling
apart
because they’ve received the truth
if there is a radical return
to truth
then what the machine
of transformation is designed to produce
it will produce
because all scripture is inspired of god
is profitable for doctrine reproof
correction instruction and righteousness
that the man of god may be thoroughly
furnished
completely equipped
to live life
if you want to take your
spaghetti
to the next level
prego spaghetti sauce has offered to
assist you
prego spaghetti sauce says they will
take your
spaghetti
to the next level
they say if you pour prego spaghetti
sauce over
your spaghetti
you’re going to enter into a new level
of dining
well what if i want tomatoes
well prego is going to tell you it’s
already in there
well what if i want to put some garlic
over it well prego is going to tell you
it’s already there
what if i want some onions well prego is
going to tell you
it’s already it’s already in there
what about some spices
so you read the jar it’s it’s not really
there
suppose i want some mushrooms fresco
gonna tell you
it’s already in there
what prego is telling you is
if you have prego
you don’t need to go and shop for all
this other stuff because all you need to
go to the next level is already in there
if you want to learn how to be a man
it’s already in here
if you want to learn how to be the right
kind of woman it’s already in here
if you want to learn how to stay married
it’s already in here
if you want to learn how to be a
victorious single it’s already in here
if you want to learn how to handle your
finances right
it’s already in here
if you want to know how to have peace
the past is understanding it’s already
in here if you all want to know how to
live life right it’s already in here if
you want to know how to overcome
addictions it’s already in here
if you want to know how to get past the
fear of death it’s already in here
if you want to know how to heal racial
division it’s already in here
if the government only wanted to know
how to run a country it’s already in
here
so if you have this
you don’t have to go all over the place
to get life right
because guess what
this book knows how to take everything
to the next level for those who are
committed to returning to truth
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in order for god’s word to work in our
lives it must be activated by obedience
god’s word is true whether we obey it or
not
but it doesn’t become our experience
until we walk in that truth
until we act on that truth until we live
out that truth then it becomes true for
us
go to god’s word and find the truth
do what it says do so that you can
experience the truth
which means you will not be living a
life of falsity but you will be living
out the truth as your experience so that
others can see it as you benefit from
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ah
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you