Dr. MacArthur’s sermon explained the plight of our modern culture that believes truth is relative; or that they can create their own truth.
He explained that many hold such beliefs and belong to groups which agree with them; therefore, they reinforce each other in their falsehoods. In this situation, a fortress of lies is created which renders those outside powerless to break through with truth.
Christians, however, are charged with the duty to be ambassadors of truth, speaking God’s truth to world lings. [He is going to address that matter next week; this sermon is about defining and clarifying the problem.]
God’s word, Romans 1, states that those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness will be judged.
We must speak God’s truth even though we will be hated for it, as Christ was hated for speaking truth. Christians who do not confront these lies, will escape judgment in this life, but not divine judgment….
The following points are sermon highlights [square brackets, emboldening and underscoring are mine]:
- Does the truth matter?
- Yes: by truth we are saved from hell; sanctified for the purposes of God; given strength, edified, comforted, encouraged…
- Christ is the living truth; His word, the written truth; they are in perfect harmony
- John M. lives to proclaim the truth; to make it known; to make it clear; to fight for it
- In this post-truth world, even if we go back to when truth mattered, no one liked to be lied to; but most people find some lying necessary, to enable fulfillment
- That is part of being in a fallen world, and being a fallen creature
- In this post-truth world, we cannot believe anything, whether it comes from a kindergartener or a college professor, because truth doesn’t matter anymore
- Even at the university, truth is not easy to find, unless we are in a hard sciences class, for example
- The real question for a post-truth world is why we would lie, because there is nothing to cover up; everything is ok. People do not have to cover wickedness
- People want to live out their wickedness, most perversions are socially acceptable now
- Lies have become more important and useful than truth
- It is now very inconvenient to tell truth
- When rejecting the reality of truth, however, one then places himself in an irrational, insane situation, because the entire universe operates on fixed truth
- The fixed laws of nature work: jump off a ten story building and the laws of gravity work, even though you may not believe in them
- Engineers, doctors, pilots, passengers in planes…depend upon the true laws of nature
- All natural people care about the laws of nature / science because, often, the consequences of not caring are immediate and painful
- However, it is easy for people to reject the moral / spiritual laws of God’s universe because they usually don’t have immediate consequences: God is merciful and a person is able to pile sins high, as in Romans 2: 5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done.
- But since God’s judgment is delayed, people can easily pretend it is not going to happen
- One can be a homosexual for 30 years and remain alive; but if he jumps off a ten story building he will die
- Natural law is sovereign, without mercy; it gives consequences when violated, often immediately
- But because people think they can get away with sin; and they live via lying and deception, our society is drowning in it
- It has become so normal to violate the moral / spiritual laws of God, that our nation has made laws to protect those violations
- For example: a 4 or 5 year old children are told they may not be the gender they presently are, and they need transgender counseling
- The real terrorists in America were not in NYC on 9-11-01; they are those who advocate abortion; they massacre the creation of God continually
- The Russian grand master of chess, Kasperov [?], said: the point of modern propaganda is to misinform, push an agenda and to exhaust your critical thinking so as to annihilate truth
- This post-truth culture is making critical thinking an exhausting battle: with their barrage of lies and deception, which is intended to wear us down, exhaust our will to fight against the deception
- Churches are turning from biblical truth to be acceptable to world lings
- This post-truth ideology thrives when it is embraced by a group; an individual, would appear unstable if she embraced a truth alone [AOC, for example, would not ever be taken seriously on her own, but because she is supported by the squad and many democrats, they are a force]
- LGBTQ community; cults…are empowered via the group, the community
- Each of them within the given community are affirmed by the other members
- The nation has legislated to protect them
- Making their bent of sin, righteousness; and vice versa as in Isaiah 5: 20 What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil,
- Because each member of the group has support, they all become more difficult to confront with truth. Their group identity has become a fortress
- These people cannot possibly imagine that God’s judgment is looming over their heads
- Also, ignorance of moral truth does not mean they will not experience temporal consequences; as God has built judgment into sin – it has its own consequences
- To them, Bible truth is narrow, arrogant, intolerant, unloving, judgmental, exclusive and offers only bondage
- Jesus stated that He came to testify of the truth, no matter what people think about it
- John MacArthur lives to offend people, who are living in lies and deception, headed for hell and don’t know it
- John 8: 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.
- In that passage, Jesus described sin as bondage and forgiveness as freedom
- He described God as truth, the Father of truth; and Satan as lies, the father of lies
- Everything Satan does is intended to detract from, upset, or deny truth
- Those who know God through Christ, believe truth; everyone else is susceptible to lies
- What is the only hope for those stuck in lies? Truth
- We have to expect that we will be hated
- In America, we’ve lived under the umbrella of the Judeo-Christian worldview, which is now dissipating, therefore, we are beginning to encounter persecution
- We are on the outside of these groups, who have the strength of their numbers, and their mutual reinforcement – they have a strong fortress of lies shielding them from God’s truth
- When Christians speak the truth to them, Christians will be increasingly marginalized
- Christians who cower, compromise…will escape persecution in the earth, but not divine judgment
- Those in the groups, believing and reinforcing each other’s lies, have a completely distinct view of truth in the moral and spiritual realm; the mystical reality they have fabricated, seemingly permits them to create their own reality [something like the word of faith preachers teach]
- Philosophers and others have done this in the past
- The reality Christians know is on the pages of scripture, it is reality because God is the one who established reality
- Romans 1:18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
- Their motivation is not based on reason, but moved by their love of sin
- Motivation based on reason, knows that things in God’s universe operate on cause and effect: do this and a given thing happens; reason is a chain of cause and effect realities
- By reason, one can follow that cause and effect chain back to the original cause, God
- It is not rational to say: nobody times nothing equals everything [evolution, from the big bang]
- The complexity of life is so staggering, that only a fool could believe such a thing
- Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth
- Around 1901, scientists made a breakthrough realizing that everything that exists in the universe could fit into 5 categories: time, force, action, space and matter
- Genesis 1:1, In the beginning – time; God – force; created – action; heaven – space; earth – matter
- Q & A: What is happening in the world today regarding truth? Dr. MacArthur basically gave a 4 minute summary of all that was discussed in the sermon.
- Sermon, Part B, next week: There are eternally damning consequences for those who die in the fortress of their own lies
- God has warned our culture in Romans 1
I was unable to upload the sermon; please click the following if you wish to listen to John MacArthur’s 28 minute sermon: Telling the Truth in a Post-truth World, Part A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdiriskbXlE
The following links accompanied Dr. MacArthur’s sermon, on his YouTube site:
For details about this sermon and for related resources,
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