THE POWER OF TRUTH

Today I want to share with you a biblical principle which most likely has already changed your life but is easily forgotten and when we forget it we end up losing its power for transformation.

The principle is speaking the truth in love.

but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

Ephesians 4:15

THE POWER OF DECEPTION

Before we look at the power of Truth we need to understand the power of one lie.

All the pain, heartache, terror, and every evil act in human history began with a single lie.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, „You shall not eat from any tree of the garden‟?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may 3 but from the fruit of the eat; tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, „You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.‟ 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Genesis 3:1-6 (NASB)

In the early moments of history, when the world was just beginning, a lie was told and believed and the evil that has come on every human being since has been horrific.

That lie fostered every lie since.

The one who spoke that lie was the enemy of God and the enemy of all humanity.

He was and continues to be the father of all lies.

Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.

John 8:43-45 (NASB)

From the very beginning of time there has been a war between lies and truth. When we live and tell lies we align ourselves with the kingdom of darkness and its ruler – satan. When we live and tell the truth we align ourselves with the kingdom of light and its ruler – God.

Several years ago I heard a pastor from Colorado speaking at a church here in London. He made a statement to which I absolutely agreed. He said, “There is no such thing as a secret.”

He said, “God knows everything and so no matter what we think we are getting away with by lying, God knows the truth.” He went on to say that we should live that truth with everyone.

Unfortunately he did not follow his own advice. Though he was the pastor of one of the largest evangelical / charismatic churches in America and the President of an extremely influential association of Evangelical Churches with millions of members, he lived a double life of immorality and drug use no one knew about – not even his wife.

His fall was catastrophic. But it could have been easily avoided had he followed the simple principle he said the night I heard him speak. You see the very act of telling the truth about ourselves in our sin life gives us the power to overcome it. If we do not tell the truth we will never overcome it. We may suppress it or lie about it but telling the truth will take it out of us.

Had he been telling the truth especially to his wife and his spiritual authorities he might not have risen to the heights from which he fell but his life would have been built on a foundation that would have remained in the storm and he would have been growing into true freedom.

While his sexual behaviour and drug use were the issues everyone was looking at the real problem in his life was his hiddeness. Even now were he to understand that and repent of it he would be able to find great freedom.

When we come to faith we come only through truth. God confronts us with the reality of His life and we immediately understand the truth about ours. We have a “Truth encounter.”

All of us, when we faced God, also faced ourselves. Like Isaiah when God appeared to him, we realize how far our lives are from His standard and we are given the opportunity to repent.

If we take it we find grace. If we don’t we hide.

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

Isaiah 6:1-6 (NASB)

The Bible tells us no change ever occurs without what it calls repentance. When Isaiah had his truth encounter with God he repented and God responded to his repentance with forgiveness.

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.2 Peter 3:9

Repentance is that moment when the truth of God opens our hearts to reality and instead of running from it we embrace it.

In our own personal Truth encounter we can find awesome and continuing power for transformation. Living in darkness is now exchanged for living in the light.

God created the material world to demonstrate in the physical realm spiritual realities. Light and Darkness teach us about truth. When we are in the light we can see everything clearly. In darkness we see nothing.

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

John 1:19

Jesus is the Light of the World

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

John 8:12

Darkness is the place where we hide our wrong attitudes, motivations and deeds – what the Bible calls sin.

He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

John 3:18-19 (NASB)

One major reason people will not come to Jesus or stay with him is he is light and when we are with him he shines into our darkness. For some this is wonderful. For others it is hateful.

For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

John 3:19-20 (NASB)

The earliest way that God showed me this was around the principle of physical light. I was pondering how I could get rid of a specific sin that had been deeply embedded in my life. As I was praying I thought about the old wood pile I had in the backyard of my childhood home.

One of my brother’s and my favorite pastimes was to turn over the boards that had lain on the ground for a long time. For about ten seconds we were treated to a world that only existed in darkness.

The multitudes of slimy, weird and wonderful (to little boys) creatures that lived under the wood disappeared quickly as soon as the light hit them. They could not stand the light.

Further there was no grass under the board. Without light nothing grew of the plant world. But when we left the spot where we took the board from so that it was exposed to the light soon the grass would be growing again.

I saw that just as it is in the physical world it is in the spiritual world. When we cover our wrongdoing we end up giving it a place to grow even more – the place of darkness. When we expose our wrongdoing we drive it out of us by the light. Sin only grows in darkness. The Fruit of the Spirit only grows in the light.

Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

Ephesians 5:11

The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Romans 13:11

In this understanding we find one of the most powerful acts we can do to see transformation take place in our lives. It is simple yet always ends up with God changing us.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:6-7 (NASB)

Walking in the light means we are walking with everything in our lives displayed in truth. It is when nothing is hidden. Everyone can see who we really are….. The good and the bad...... The beautiful and the ugly........ We are living in truth.

Look at the promise God makes when we do this: but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:6-7 (NASB)

But here is the point that so many miss…… we must do it. We must walk in the light. God will not do it for us.

Anyone who has listened to me for long will understand that I believe that God does not do everything. I believe that we have to do our part or God cannot do His part. But if we do our part He will surely do His.

When we walk in the light as Jesus is in the light God‟s promise is that we will enter into true fellowship with each other. Further He says will cleanse us from all sin!!! What wonderful promises! But they are only active if we walk in the light.

So how do we walk in the light? By stopping our deception and speaking the truth with each other.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

Ephesians 4:25

We confess the truth to each other and pray for each other to find grace to overcome our deeds of darkness.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

James 5:16

Some things quickly, others in a through a longer process, are changed as we allow the truth to penetrate our hearts by repentance and confession of our sins to each other.

One of the most tragic setting aside of truth telling I have seen is what often happens in church. Sadly we often find in church the culture of truth telling is downplayed, silenced or even aggressively resisted.

While my earliest acts as a new believer were to go to others and confess the truth about how I had wronged them and to make things right through restitution, I learned quickly that in my church “real Christians” didn’t have to continue doing this.

They didn’t because “real Christians” supposedly didn’t have sin issues.

I was wrongly taught that salvation was only one point in time. This doctrine said that we repent of our sins, get saved and then we are finished with sin. Sin was taken care of once and for all time at the moment of our salvation.

I was wrongly led to believe:

Only sinners (i.e. non believers) have sin issues.

Only sinners need to confess sin.

Only sinners need to go for prayer for those issues and that prayer is to be saved.

Only sinners do not follow God fully.

Only sinners live in defeat.

After my initial dramatic transformation I did not change much. Some areas of sin had completely vanished but some stubbornly held on.

I was experiencing all of those things that only sinners -unsaved people – were supposed to experience.

No one could show me any practical way to get rid of my wrong ways. The best they could do was suggest that perhaps I didn’t really get saved and should try again -- so I did.

For my first year of faith I went to the altar to be saved every time there was an altar call yet no real change came. I was on the treadmill of error.

So what happens when someone who is supposed to have it “all together” has problems? Usually one of two things.

We tell the truth and in strongly evangelical / charismatic / apostolic fellowships are ignored, gossiped about, shamed, judged, condemned, ostracized or even disfellowshiped from the congregation.

Or we learn to lie very well. Of course we do not admit that we are lying. We usually have some way of disassociating ourselves from the concept that we are deceivers but we are lying just the same.

In both cases we make radical truth telling something that only happens in the first few moments of our faith. Its awesome power is lost to the church.

As I got to know people in my church they were often struggling with the same things I was but they would never ever tell anyone from church. They lived a double life. I soon came to see that far from a place of grace the church for them had become a reinforcer of their hiddeness.

Finally I stopped listening to those that told me I would be completely transformed once for all time in salvation and began to study the scriptures. That’s when I found this wonderful truth about truth. I began to tell the truth to trusted friends about my sin issues and they would pray for me. As I did this my sin life began to lose its power over me.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

James 5:16

but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:6-7 (NASB)

According to these scriptures truth telling is the foundation for all transformation in life.

Far from a negative principle truth telling is the path to a full life in God and with others…… especially those we are closest to…… but it must be in love.

but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

Ephesians 4:15

In scripture we find that many things are balanced between to seeming opposites.

These opposites are joined together directly in scripture. This passage is one of those balancing principles.

When we look at bringing together truth and love, we see neither is real without the other. Truth without love is not truth. Love without truth is not love. Both must be fully embraced, lived and expressed for either to exist.

While in the past the Truth was often elevated to the point of excluding love today it is just the opposite.

In post modern Western culture, it is rare for truth to be even considered as important. What we call love trumps truth in almost every circumstance except perhaps when we have become hostile in our hearts toward someone.

How many times I have sat with couples who when they finally got sick of each other began to tell the truth about long held feelings. But I can assure you that were not speaking “in love.”

No one is truthful with anyone else if they do not love them. The absence of love distorts the truth and it becomes a lie.

Couples that finally tell the truth after they no longer care for each other are not telling the truth. They are saying true things to harm each other.

The desire to harm distorts truth. God’s truth is that even though the person has problems they can find grace to change with God. When this fundamental truth is left out, saying true things about others makes the communication a lie.

In the same way, no one loves anyone to whom they lie. Usually the purpose of the lie is to gain something from or have something done or not done by the one they are lying to who would not give, do or not do if they knew the truth. This is not love. It is seeking personal advantage at the cost of the truth. Is it is epitome of selfishness.

True fellowship / intimacy with God and others is impossible without absolute truth telling.

There is no godly relationship without truth. All relationships are only as deep as the level of truth in them. Since this is true for all relationships how much more important is it in marriage?

We should not start telling the truth when we don’t love each other anymore. We should begin and continue our marriages by radical honesty. This will be one of the best ways to actually stay in love.

By speaking the truth in love we will grow in our relationship with God and with each other.

While today I have focused on telling the truth to take away the power of sin in our lives a whole other sermon (or sermons) is about the power of telling the truth about our good thoughts. This is also a much neglected and needed area of truth telling. I have found it to be one of the best ways to encourage other to their destiny in God.

Though I have much more that I would like to share let me finish with this. In order to have a church that lives in the fullness of Jesus’ life we must encourage truth telling.

In the one of the greatest revivals of history began in the Moravian church and passed on to you and me through John Wesley one founding principle was gathering in small groups for study of the Bible and seeking God through prayer.

Every member of the church was a part of a small group. One thing they did in every meeting was to have a time where each person confessed the struggles with sin that each had faced in the previous week.

They then would pray together for each other to find victory over those sins. And they did find victory.

If we are to have a life giving church it must be a church that lives in radical honesty with each other. That means each of us needs to allow others to tell us the truth…… even when it hurts.

If we are to have a life giving church it must be a church that lives in radical honesty with each other. That means each of us needs to allow others to tell us the truth…… even when it hurts.

We need to allow others to share openly without gossiping about them, judging them or standing aloof from them. We also need to share the truth about their issues from God‟s Word and most of all to pray for them.

but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

Ephesians 4:15

SOME PRAYER SUGGESTIONS:

If you have been living a hidden life today you can come to God and tell Him the truth. You can ask Him to forgive your hiddeness and bring into your life His truth.

If you are in a relationship with someone you have not been honest with you can ask God to give you the courage to begin walking in the light.

If you have not been willing to let others speak the truth to you, you can ask for forgiveness and ask God to open your heart to hear the truth with his love.

If you have loved without also sharing the truth or shared truth without love you can ask God to cleanse your heart from motives that are self based and to begin speaking the truth in love in a balanced and godly way.

If you are in a relationship with someone who is not honest with you or in their honesty are seeking your harm you can ask God for His help to bring loving truthfulness into that relationship.

If you have found the place where love and truth meet you can thank God for it and pray that God will use you to help others find it.The Power of Truth ODCF Sept 23 2012