God’s Truth Debunks Secular Humanism

Transcript

GRM 873
9/14/2003
God’s Truth Debunks Secular Humanism
2 Timothy 3:15
Gil Rugh

I want to start a new study with you in the book of I Timothy. We’re going to start in the middle and do some of the background material in our next study as we move into the opening verses of the first chapter. I want to be sure we have in our minds the context in which the book is written, why Paul is writing this letter to Timothy, something of its importance, not only for Timothy and the church at Ephesus, but for you and me today. We in the western world are living in a time where the reality of objective truth has been denied. People talk about truth, or perhaps truths (plural), but any idea of objective truth that exists outside of ourselves and is authoritative over us is basically denied by our society. Personal freedom is the prevailing philosophy of the day. One writer put it this way, the spirit of the age is autonomous freedom, that is freedom from all restraints, and especially rebellion against God’s truth and moral absolutes.

Now we’re familiar with some of these ideas under the title secular humanism, and that’s something evangelicals tend to get worked up about with a variety of degrees, perhaps, of understanding. A couple of weeks ago our local paper had an article on secular humanism and they interviewed several people, a couple of them being evangelical Christians who clearly set out some of the issues we have with what is called secular humanism. One of those interviewed was himself a proclaimed secular humanist. Sometimes we as evangelical Christians think of the term negatively, that that’s something you wouldn’t want to be called, and we wouldn’t as evangelical Christians. But we understand many people are comfortable and believe secular humanism is something to be proud of. One person interviewed he’s a local author and executive director of a group in town here, he identifies himself as a secular humanist. Here’s what he says, a humanist finds positive value in humanity and takes an interest in contributing to the progress of humanity. By definition a secular humanist is someone who has not found sufficient reason to believe in God. Basically what a secular humanist is going to say is all the answers are found in man’s reason and the exercising of his reason and powers of thinking. We do not look to someone or something outside of ourselves to provide answers, to provide truth.

We think of secular humanism, as we use the term, sometimes as what’s characterized events in our country in the last 50 years or so. We should understand that the roots of this philosophy go back several hundred years and let me talk a little bit about this and don’t go to sleep on me. If I go to sleep, holler. Secular humanism really goes back to the 18th century to what is called the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a movement of thought which began to appear in the middle of the 18th century, the mid-1700s. It continued to grow and in the following century it became very powerful and prominent, in the 1800s in Germany. It really emphasized the power of human reason. It had a skeptical view of any kind of authority outside of the individual human being.

Let me read you what the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church says regarding the enlightenment. Keep in mind when we talk about enlightenment we’re really talking about the same philosophy as secular humanism. The Enlightenment combines opposition to all supernatural religion and belief in the all sufficiency of human reason. So, there are two ingredients to the Enlightenment. Opposition to all supernatural religion, because that brings authority from outside ourselves, God, His Word. Enlightenment was opposed to that, and it had a belief in the all sufficiency of human reason. You understand the enlightenment, or secular humanism, is a belief system. They believe that human reason is sufficient to provide the answers to all of life. It had an ardent desire to promote the happiness of men in this life. That’s become a consuming passion in our society—happiness, and you deserve it. Much of our lives are taken up with things that are supposed to make us happy. We go on with what the Oxford Dictionary says. Most of its representatives rejected the Christian dogma and were hostile to Catholicism and Protestant orthodoxy. Why? Well both Roman Catholics and Protestants look to God as their ultimate authority. Enlightenment viewed church authority and spiritual authority as the powers of darkness. Their fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature produced an easy optimism and an absolute faith in human society, once the principles of the Enlightenment had been recognized. It ends up permeating into German thinking in the 19th century, the next century, and became very powerful among the theologians in Germany and led to ultimately the movement of modernism and liberalism in our country, as men with their reason decided we don’t have an authoritative scripture. This is the work of man. Moses didn’t write the first 5 books of the Bible did, and we identify them as J, E, P, D. Then it was amalgamated together, and you see man’s reason now supersedes scripture, and even theologians working with scripture decide that the scriptures now are subject to their reason and their powers of thinking.

Still with me? Okay, we’re not done. Emanuel Kant, one of the leading figures of the Enlightenment. He lived the last three-quarters of the 18th century. He wrote a book on the Enlightenment, being part of it. Here’s what he wrote. Now remember he died in 1804, and you’ll see how what he wrote in that thinking has permeated our society today. Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed non-age. Enlightenment, man’s emerging from his self-imposed Non-age. Non-age simply means it’s the time of his youth, the time of his immaturity. What he said is the enlightenment is man growing up, stopped being a youth, immature in his thinking. Non-age is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. The immaturity he says that we’re talking about is man’s inability to use his own understanding without having someone else guide him. Now I don’t why anybody reads Emanuel Kant, if you don’t want anybody outside your own thinking to guide you, but at least he thought it made sense. But you see you can’t have anybody else’s authority outside yourself. You are the authority. Immaturity is when you can’t come to those decisions without someone outside yourself. This non-age is self-imposed, if it has caused lies not in lack of understanding but indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance. I have to use my own mind and no one else can guide me in this. You see man becomes autonomous, and it’s a sign of immaturity that you have others tell you what to do.

Have courage to use your own understanding is therefore the model of the Enlightenment. Now listen to this statement, Emanuel Kant. The Enlightenment requires nothing but freedom. Freedom as they define it—I’m free from all outside influence, I’m free from all outside restraints. I am my own authority. That’s what shapes our conduct, our morals today. What is the guiding thought on abortion? The woman’s power and freedom over her own body. There’s no outside influence here, there’s no outside authority. She is free to do with her body as she pleases. So, the woman’s movement of today, secular woman’s movement is what? Powerfully pro-abortion. Why? It’s a matter of the woman’s freedom. No one outside of her can make this decision. She is autonomous and that’s just one example. We call this musty philosophical thought, but we are living by them as a society. The human being is autonomous, reason is supreme.

The Enlightenment and secular humanism are just different names for the same ideas. The freedom of man to make his own decisions out of his own thinking. Now you have to have some general agreement, because society has to hang together. But we see more and more as there is more emphasis on that freedom, what happens? The agreements begin to disintegrate and so does society. Now we raise young people who have been taught this in our country, and we see the generation that comes up. What? No one can tell me, and it influences us as believers because we’re not even sure now we should even tell our own kids and be the authority and bring authority to their life. So now we don’t teach children, even junior high children, that sex is something for marriage. We just say you have to have safe sex. Because we wouldn’t want to try to impose authority upon them, they have to make their own decisions. We even have Christian parents who are paddling around, following their kids. It begins to shape our thinking.

Let me take you back. We talk about The Enlightenment coming to fruition and being an 18th century development. But obviously man’s rebellion against God is not new. When the church began in the book of Acts, it came into a pagan world. There was a multiplicity of religions, but basically everybody did what was right in their own eyes because there were so many gods you just created the god that you wanted so you could do what you want. You have the god of orgies so that you can live a dissolute life, and that’s all right. It was a truly pagan world where everybody was their own authority, and the gospel came into that scene. Man is always rebellious, it’s just different times that rebellion expresses itself in different ways. After a few hundred years the church took hold and then Constantine made the church the governing authority, if you will, in the empire. Primarily Roman Catholicism in that period, the 4th or 5th century down until the 18th century, was a dominant influence. Now in the 16th century you had the Reformation break the power, the absolute power, of the Roman Catholic Church. You know for all that period of time there was no such thing as secular education. All education was religious education under the dominance and influence of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation brought a freedom from the stranglehold that the Roman Catholic Church held.

But then in the 18th century we have this movement where you don’t have paganism expressing itself religiously, because even the paganism of the Roman Catholic Church identified a supreme authority, God, and the requirement of man to submit to that authority, even though the doctrines had been constructed by man and were really an act of rebellion against God. There was simply in that society, and we can go back to a day in our day, you read literature and so on from 100-200 years ago in our country, they freely talk about God. I was reading many pages of quotes this past week from the earlier part of our country, respected leaders talking about recognition of the Bible and its authority. We cannot progress as a country, and all those kinds of thinking. Now any kind of thought of an authority like that outside of man is offensive. Freedom is the idea. That’s the dominant thinking. We must be free; and you can have your truth and I can have my truth.

I pulled off my desk this morning out of my pile of junk mails the Lincoln Interfaith News. This is the Council of Churches and every other religious group in the city, and I receive it because I’m a pastor of a church. They are free to have their beliefs, and this is an example. Everybody has their own truth. Used to be you had a ministerial council in a city. It might be liberal; it might be composed of different kinds of denominations and the pastors of those denominations meet together monthly or whatever. But now we’ve gone beyond even different denominations, now you have all kinds of religions. You have the Buddhists, the Hindus, Muslims, Baptists, whatever all join together. They always have news from everyone. I was going to read some of this, but even with practice I can’t pronounce the names. Many of them come from religions in India. But they tell you so you know how you can be respectful of these people and honor them. On September 9 is Anadacaturdasi, and that’s the 10-day period of fasting, worship, meditation, confession of the Digambar sect. I’m not responsible for any of these pronunciations. September 10th, you have a Buddhist holiday, September 22nd is Native American Day. You have Eckcankar that was founded in 1965. They can all meet together; we are the interfaith council. There are Baptist churches part of this, other groups. I mention Baptists because most of you are familiar with Baptist kind of things. Part of the Hindu. We can all get together. Why? Well, you have your beliefs, we have ours; you have your truths, we have ours. That’s fine, we respect you. Not saying we shouldn’t have respect for other people, but we carry it beyond that. I won’t say that your truth is wrong, and you don’t say my truth is wrong. We each have our own truth. That makes sense to some, but it doesn’t make any sense to me.

Let me tell a truth. If you jump off the top of a 10-story building, you’ll get smashed when you hit the ground. That is my truth, and that is your truth. You don’t have your truth on that, and I have my truth, and I’m not telling you to test it because I don’t want to be held accountable for an idiot. But we all know it’s so. But somehow, we get here and you have your truth and I have my truth; and we think we have come to great enlightenment and maturity.

My concern in this is not that the world is there. They’re openly displaying their rebellion and rejection of God. It’s just the same rebellion that is present in false religion as well. But here we’re more comfortable displaying it. My concern is how this influences us as believers. I find in the church of Jesus Christ there’s a lot more emphasis on freedom today. People are jealous of their freedom. Nobody should tell me. An example of this is how we as Christians are constantly pushing the envelope, we constantly want to see how far we can go, how close to the edge we can be. It’s my freedom, nobody ought to put restraints on my freedom. As though that’s a personal right. We’ve been made free in Christ, we’re going to talk about that, but we ought to understand what the Bible is saying when it talks about such freedom.

Timothy’s ministry in the city of Ephesus. Paul had a great ministry in Ephesus, a church had been planted there. He wrote a letter to the Ephesians. Now some time has gone by, he has Timothy in Ephesus as his representative while he’s traveling in other places, and he writes to Timothy the letter of I Timothy. He’s hoping to come and join Timothy in ministry at Ephesus, but he realizes he may be delayed longer than he hoped. In I Timothy chapter 3 verse 14, we’re jumping in the middle here, we’ll do some of the background of the letter in our next study. Verse 14 Paul writes, “I’m writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long. But in case I am delayed,” and there’s a good probability I will be, “I am writing so you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” Now we must understand as we begin a study of I Timothy and we proceed through this study; we’re talking about the unique role the church of Jesus Christ has in the world. The church and only the church is the truth center in the world today. The place where true truth, absolute truth, truth that is true yesterday, today and tomorrow, truth that is true for every single man, woman and child on the face of the planet. That truth is centered in the church of Jesus Christ. It is a tragedy greater than you and I can comprehend when the church allows the pagan philosophy and thinking of the world to shape its thinking so that it no longer becomes a center of truth, but it becomes a reflection of the paganism of the world, a place where man functions as an autonomous, totally free person to do as he pleases. A place that no longer proclaims truth vs, sin, but a place where all can be comfortable and welcomed.

Paul writes to impress upon Timothy and the church at Ephesus the importance of its role and responsibility. I want to focus on verse 15 with you for our time. “I’m writing so you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God.” We’re going to talk about the church as a center of truth, but the truth is not just something to be studied, to be learned, to be taught and preached. The truth is something that must be lived. “I’m writing so you know how to conduct yourself.” The word translated conduct is a general word for behavior. It’s a word that includes your life, your character, but it particularly focuses on your life, your character, your behavior in relationship to other people. He’ll be writing about the church as the family of God and how we as God’s people in our relationships together and in our ministry in the world are to be living, are to be functioning. The great erosion that takes place in the church is when the church begins not to live the truth, just to teach the Word. We teach the Word of God as truth, but then we don’t live it. It’s still true, whether I live it or not. If I fail to live the truth I may bring dishonor to the Word of God, but the Word of God will still be true. If you fail to live the truth, the truth is still the truth. But it is a tragedy that the truth is not manifest before the world in the lives of those who claim to belong to the one who is truth.

Paul is really burdened about this for the church at Ephesus. Sometime before he wrote this letter to Timothy, he wrote a letter to the Ephesian church. Back up to the letter to the Ephesians, a little bit before, in your Bibles, the letter to Timothy. This was written, the letter to the Ephesians, while Paul was a prisoner in Rome. When he wrote to Timothy he had been released, so a little bit of time had gone by, and we’ll talk about that in a future study. But it’s written to the same church in the same place. When he wrote to the Ephesians, he was burdened that they live their lives, they conduct themselves consistent with the truth of God. Look how chapter 2 of this letter begins. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world.” You formerly walked, you formerly lived your life according to the world’s pattern implies there is a change, and there is. Down in verse 8 he tells them, “for by grace you have been saved through faith.” Salvation is a work of God’s grace in a life. In the context of that grace a person is brought to believe the truth concerning Jesus Christ who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. This salvation is not your work, it’s a gift of God. It’s not a result of your works, but works have a place. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should what? Walk in them. You’ll note in verse 2 he said you formerly walked according to the course of this world. But now we are to be walking how? We are to be walking according to the plan God has for those who have entered into His salvation. God ordained that we walk in the works He prepared for us. Some people sadly are still trying to be saved by their works and they think when they give it their best effort God will understand and save them. You cannot be saved by works; we’re saved by grace through faith. That does not mean works are not involved. Works are a result of salvation, not a cause of salvation. There is a difference. People who are walking according to the course of this world, verse 2, “according to the prince of the power of the air in obedience to the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience are not the children of God.” There is a change in life and lifestyle.

In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1, “therefore I the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” Look at verse 17, “so I say this and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer as the Gentiles walk, in the futility, the emptiness, of their mind, darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts and so on. You see the contrast? For one, “I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling.” Walk in light of the fact you’ve been called to salvation, to new life to become a partaker of the nature of God. Verse 17, “walk no longer as the unbelievers walk.” They walk in the emptiness of their minds; they think they’ve come to maturity. Because all they depend on is their own reasoning and thinking. God’s evaluation is that it’s an empty mind, it’s a darkened mind, it’s a person without understanding. Isn’t it amazing? Just the opposite of what man thinks of himself. We have come to the age of maturity; we see no reason to acknowledge a supreme being outside ourselves. God says that’s the reasoning and thinking of an empty mind that is darkened by sin, that is without understanding.

These Ephesians are to walk differently. Why does Paul have to repeat this in his letter to them? Then write a second letter and tell Timothy his reason in writing is so that these believers in the church at Ephesus will know how to conduct themselves. You know why? There is relentless pressure of the world. We think oh this is new; we have secular humanism today. We never had anything like this. We’ve always had man’s rebellion against God. When the gospel came into the world with the coming of Jesus Christ and His provision of salvation, the world was about where we are today. Supreme man, authoritative man, all the multiplicity of gods. We have a multiplicity of gods because I want to be able to pick the one that will condone what I do, which is autonomous man. Paul is greatly concerned that the church at Ephesus is allowing itself to be shaped by this thinking. Not allowing that clean break with the past, its conduct, its behavior.

Look in chapter 5 of Ephesians verse 1, “Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ loved you.” Verse 8, “for you were formerly darkness, now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” Verse 15, “Therefore be careful how you walk.” Verse 18, “be filled with the Holy Spirit, walk under the control of the Spirit.” Now he has to write to Timothy who is in Ephesus, and he says I am writing so you and the believers there will know how to conduct themselves. Do we get the point? Now we have believers, oh I have freedom, I have freedom, freedom, freedom. I agree we are free in Christ, but I believe the church today has gone to seed on freedom. This becomes clearer as we move through what Paul writes to Timothy.

Come back to I Timothy chapter 3. You know this is not new. David wrote in Psalm 86:11, “I will walk in your truth,” I will walk in your truth. I Timothy 3:15, “I write so you will know how one ought to conduct himself” …….in the world. No. In the household of God, in the household of God. The word household, same word for house or household. He’s not talking just about the church building, how you conduct yourself when you go to the church meeting place on Sunday morning. He’s talking about how the household of God, those who are part of God’s family, are to behave themselves. He’s used this word several times in the context of our earthly households or families in chapter 3. Look at chapter 3 verse 4. Talking about the qualifications of church leaders. “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. If a man does not know how to manage his own household……” What’s he talking about? His own family. He’s not just talking about when your 7-year-old walks through the door of your house, he’s your responsibility, take care of him when he’s in those four walls. When your 7-year-old goes out the door whatever he does is up to him. Now I realize that’s the way a lot of parenting goes on today. We have a lot of parents trying to figure out what their children want to do so they know how to adjust and conduct themselves. But here we’re talking about managing your family. Uses that same word in the same way down in verse 12. Now he’s talked in this chapter and used the word household three times to talk about something we’re familiar with, our family, and how our family behaves and conducts itself. Now he says I want to talk about conduct in God’s family, and I’m writing so you know how God’s family is to behave, how you conduct yourself in the household of God. Paul talked about this when he wrote to the Ephesians.

Back up to Ephesians again, chapter 2. You know we talk about God’s household; we talk about God in authority over His house, but you also talk about God being part of His family. It’s the context of God’s family and the church and the people of God as a temple blend together. In Ephesians chapter 2 in the context where Paul has been talking about our conduct, our walk as we saw. Look at verse 19, “so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household.” When it says you’re part of God’s household that means you’re part of God’s family. Some people have a hard time grasping the importance of the local church. We have what we call church hoppers. They always float because what? They have autonomous freedom. They didn’t like the color on the walls when they painted them, so they left. They didn’t like the song that was sung Sunday morning, so they left. They didn’t like the building program, they left. They didn’t think it was a good enough children’s program, they left. I’m not saying there are never reasons for leaving a church, but there are too many people who are leaving for the wrong reasons. It’s their freedom. They don’t understand they’ve been made part of a family, part of the household. They have responsibilities in that they are to conduct themselves properly in their relationships in that family.

We read here; you’ve been made part of God’s household. Just don’t pack your bags and go out and say we believe in the universal church. Well just about all the commentators I read saw the emphasis on the local church in all these passages, and the local church is the manifestation of the universal church in the world. You understand that. We are all, every believer is part of the universal church but every believer who is part of the universal church manifests his participation in the universal church by his participation in the local church. Those who think oh no I don’t need to belong to a church, I have the Spirit in me, and I have the Word of God and that’s just manifesting the reflection of the paganism of the world, autonomous man.

Well Paul writes it clearly. You’re fellow citizens with the saints, you’re of God’s household. You’ve been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the truth that they have taught, that we have in our Bible. In whom the whole building being fitted together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord, whom you are, being built together into a dwelling of the Spirit of God. So, you see how he blends these. You are God’s household, God’s family, you’re God’s building, you’re God’s temple. You’ve been joined together with the other people of God and God dwells in you, individually and corporately. Understand the Spirit of God dwells in us individually as believers, He also dwells in us corporately as a church. That’s what I Corinthians 3:16,17 is talking about. “Do you not know that you, the church, are a temple of God. The spirit of God dwells in you. If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him because the temple of God is holy and that is what you are.” A serious matter. People tear the church of Jesus Christ apart for their own selfish desires and interests. Autonomous man. God has spoken to that; I’ll destroy him for it. Serious matter. The false doctrine and so on that has torn the church of Jesus Christ apart, those people will spend eternity in hell paying the price. God says I’ll destroy them for it. Serious matter. We take it too lightly. We, evangelical Christians, take the church too lightly. We’re talking about the household of God. This is God’s family, it’s not mine, it’s not yours, it’s not the boards. It’s God’s.

If I can use my Dad as an example again. I remember trying to use the argument and I would be told I couldn’t do something. I’d say well my friend Joe is doing it, or Bill or whoever it happened to be. Well, there’s one difference here. He’s not a member of this family. Well, thought I’d try. I knew that was the answer. We understand whose family it is, it’s God’s family. It’s the household of God. How dare we come into his house……. What do you think some stranger comes walking in off the streets, opens your front door and begins to come in and order your family around? I mean you call the police. Well, what makes you think people can just walk into God’s family and take over, as though God had abdicated? That’s why we need divine revelation from God who tells us how we conduct ourselves as members of His family. We’re not left with the best ideas, that’s why we don’t vote on these things. We just go to the Word of God and here’s what it says and that settles it, because it’s His family. Well, I don’t know, there must be other ways to do it. Well, I don’t know, it’s irrelevant because it’s His family. Why do we complicate our lives with the irrelevant.

Come back to I Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. “I write so you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God.” You want to know what the household of God is? That’s not everybody paddling around, starting their own parachurch groups and all their movements and everybody who has an idea. I’ll tell you what the household of God is, because God tells us. The household of God which is the church of the living God. You want to know what God’s family is? It’s the church. You know what He’s talking to? The local church in Ephesus. That would be true also of the local church in Corinth, and the local church wherever the church is established. It’s the church of the living God.

Paul had another contact with the elders at Ephesus that’s recorded. In Acts chapter 20, you don’t need to turn there, Paul in his travels had a meeting with the elders from the church at Ephesus at Miletus. They came to meet him as he traveled through the area. He gave them instructions as leaders of the church at Ephesus. In Acts chapter 20 verse 28 he said, “be on guard for yourselves, and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” You’ll note Paul doesn’t say be careful to shepherd your church properly. He said to you shepherds, you be careful how you shepherd the church of God. The church doesn’t belong to the shepherds. The shepherds have been given a responsibility by God and they are accountable to Him. I am not free to do with the church as I please, nor are the elders, nor is anyone else. It’s God’s church, must be governed by His Word, His truth. It’s His because He purchased it with His own blood, Acts chapter 20 verse 28, “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” This is a serious matter, folks. The church is the family of God and belongs to Him because He had His Son die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. Tremendous price paid for our redemption. It’s precious to Him, He takes it seriously. We think we dabble, we play church, we get together, we come up with ideas how the church can be more effective. I’m not against talking about how we can do things better and all that, but we lose our way. We begin to think the church is ours and we can make it how we want.

In chapter 3 of I Timothy verse 5, you’ll note just the end of that verse, “if he can’t manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God.” This is a serious responsibility, it must be done well, it must be done right. One commentator wrote, and I’d recommend his book to you, it’s a little book. Robert Grimake commentary has been republished in paperback, relatively inexpensive, of good quality. He wrote, the universal church finds its living application in local congregations of believers who gather together for mutual worship, instruction and evangelism. In the apostolic era there were no believers who functioned outside the organization of the local churches. I think being a vital part of the family of God is part and parcel of being a believer, I take it. It’s the church of the living God. Living God comes from the Old Testament, He is the sovereign God, the only God, the all-powerful God, and He is the source of life.

What is the church? We conduct ourselves in the family of God properly, which means the church is living as it should. Not just when it comes together on Sunday morning, but as this local church lives day by day. What is the church? It’s the pillar and support of the truth, the pillar and support of the truth. I want you to note something here. The church didn’t originate the truth. It’s a major error of Roman Catholicism that’s used in Roman Catholicism to give the rulership of the church authority over the people. The church gave the Bible to the world, so the church is over the Bible and the only just interpreter of the Bible. That’s a lie. The church came into existence out of the truth. The truth didn’t come to existence out of the church. The church lives under the authority of the truth. The church is the pillar and support of the truth.

Jesus Christ is the manifestation of truth. “I am the way, the truth and the life,” Jesus said in John 14:6. The church doesn’t begin until Acts chapter 2, but the truth was in existence. The truth was in existence when David was on the earth, because we saw in Psalm 86 verse 11, David said,” I will walk in your truth.” Didn’t wait for the church for truth to come into existence. Truth came in a fuller and greater way than ever before when Jesus Christ came. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, John 1 tells us. But the church did not originate the truth. So that does not give men the opportunity to meet and become the sovereign authority over the truth. The truth is its own authority. That’s just autonomous man asserting himself in a different way.

Jesus Christ is the truth. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,” John 1:14 says. The truth came into the world. “I am the truth,” Jesus said. Then in John 17:17 in His prayer to His Father He says your Word is truth. We are born again by the living and abiding Word of God, which is the truth of God. Jesus Christ is the truth; this book is the revelation and manifestation of Jesus Christ who is the truth. You know one of the things that happen is people begin to disassociate Jesus Christ from the Word of God. So as those who followed enlightenment thinking and so on, they begin to accuse Christians of having a paper pope. We don’t worship a book, we worship Jesus. I say oh yeah I want to worship Jesus, I don’t want to worship a book either. What does that mean? That’s one of those nonsensical statements. Just what do you know about Jesus that doesn’t come from this book? Do you want to know? Absolutely nothing. Everything we know about the person and work of Jesus Christ comes from this book; so there is no distinction. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It’s about Him, it concerns Him, it’s truth from God. That is just the way for man to assert his autonomy. Since we worship Christ and not a book, now as those who worship Christ we must come to this book and find out what is true and what is not. That’s just the way for man to assert his authority over God and His truth. The Word of God is truth. Your Word is truth.

Now having said this, let’s see if we can put two and two together. I was reading a magazine I got, a paper I received, and I was reading it this morning. I tore it up and threw it in the wastebasket. I was going to bring it and read it to you, and I thought better of it. It was all about a church conference and there was page after page in here of you’re going to learn how to do church, you’re going to learn how to have worship services where the unbeliever will feel comfortable. Something’s wrong here. What is the church about? We have so much empty, fruitless discussion going on as people find out what is the church. Let’s have a discussion and find out what should our church be, as though our church has to be something different than another church is to be. This is what our church will be. Well, you know there is only one thing for the church of God to be. It is to be the pillar and support of the truth.

Some of you know some grammar, most of you know more grammar than I do. But we talk about things being in apposition, they refer to the same thing. Gil, the husband of Marilyn. Well, the husband of Marilyn refers to the same person as Gil. Gil and the husband of Marilyn are interchangeable. You could say I’m going to go talk to Gil or I’m going to go talk to Marilyn’s husband. You’re saying the same thing, except you’ve concluded Gil’s authority in the second statement. Well, here you have apposition. The church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth is the same thing. People say where are you going this morning? I’m going to church. You could have also said I’m going to the pillar and support of the truth, something the church is to be. Now it is to be that, not just as it meets together at one time. That’s what we are as the household of God. We are people who hold the truth up like pillars hold the roof up. The temple of Diana, I believe, had about 127 pillars, all donated by a king. We are the support, we stand for the truth, we proclaim the truth, we believe the truth, we live the truth. That’s what the church is. It’s a truth center. It’s what the people of God are, they are little truth centers everywhere. We are lights in the darkness.

We find people paddling around trying to see how much like the world they can be. Can I go here, can I do this, can I live like this, how far can I become like the world? Not saying we have to do all we can to dress strangely and all of this, and we don’t have to talk in King James English and all of that, but we are so afraid the world will look at us as different and we are different. Isn’t that what we read in so many of these passages? Here’s what you were, here’s what you are, here’s how you did live, here’s how you are to live. Of course, we’re different, we’re new creatures in Christ. We are part of a family that is the pillar and support of the truth. So everywhere we go we are about the truth. Paul could write to the Corinthians in his second letter chapter 2 and say what? We give off the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ in every place. Why? Because every place he goes what? He’s a manifestation of truth. That’s what we’re about. What do I want to talk about? Truth, Jesus Christ who is the truth. Unbelieving men, according to Romans 1:18, suppress the truth in unrighteousness and they live in the darkness of their mind.

The desire of a gracious God according to I Timothy chapter 2 verse 4 is “He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” He’s a gracious God. Men suppress the truth, but God invites them, “Come to me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” He’s a God who is the Savior. We say well I value my freedom.

Let’s close on this note. Go to John’s Gospel chapter 8. The problem is men and women don’t know what it means to be free. What they call freedom is slavery. Multiplied thousands and millions, as we move to Africa and this kind of place, consumed with disease like AIDS. Why? We are free to have sex with whom we want, we are free to enjoy ourselves and indulge ourselves. That’s not freedom. Look at those people shriveling and dying. They’re free. That’s not using freedom. There are children around and they talk about all the orphans being created on the continent of Africa. Freedom. I’m free, you can’t tell me. They’re exercising one kind of freedom, but it’s not true freedom. It’s a destructive licentiousness, as they are destroyed by their own passions. Jesus talked about freedom in John chapter 8 verse 31 and note this context. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, “If you continue in my Word you are truly disciples of mine.” Now if you continue in my Word. These are the people who what? Live new lives, they live in submission and obedience to the Word of God, they are truth centers. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free. There is no freedom for anyone anywhere in the world apart from the truth of the living God. Men and women proclaim their freedom, they jealously protect what they regard as their freedom. Jesus said in verse 34, “truly I say to you everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” Verse 36, “so if the Son makes you free you will be free indeed.”

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You know what freedom is? Freedom is the ability to function as you were created to function. We’ve talked about it before. You don’t make a fish free by bringing him in and setting him on the floor. You have the most comfortable chair in the house, you enjoy that chair, you go to it to read a book or watch TV or relax. You take the fish out of the tank and put him on that chair and say now you’re free. Why? He wasn’t created for that. He’s free when you put him in the water. All right, you want to be free, then get in the tank. Go under water with you water and see how long you last. Why? You’re not free in that environment, you weren’t created for that. I watch the birds out our back window and they take off from the top of the tree. I say wow what ability to soar. You know what happens when I climb to the top of that tree and jump? Why? I wasn’t created for that. That’s not freedom for me. But I bring that bird in, trap him in my house and what? He’s no longer free. Simple truths. You are free when you function as the Creator intended you to function. Anything outside of that is slavery, is sin, and that is always destructive. Now we’re not trying to impose slavery on men and women, we are trying to set them free. Man wants freedom on his own terms and in his own way, which is another way of saying what? Man wants to be God. Can’t’ happen. There is only one God. But praise God He is a sovereign, gracious God and He has provided salvation, not willing that any should perish but all should come to a knowledge of the truth.

Do you have true freedom? I’m not asking do you attend this church, were you baptized here, were you raised here? That doesn’t save you. All it does is give you an opportunity to hear the truth which can save you. Look at your life. Is it an ongoing manifestation of the truth? Do you know what you are? Some of you are trying to live a lie with a disguise. But the truth isn’t a part of your heart, isn’t part of your passion, isn’t part of the way you live when you have opportunity to live the way you want to live. But if you know the truth, the truth sets you free, and you are free indeed in Christ.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your greatness. Thank you that you are the Creator, you made us, you created us to find fulfillment in a living relationship with you, the living God. Thank you, Lord, that even in spite of our sin, our rebellion, our hard stubborn rejection of truth, by your grace you have drawn us to salvation through faith in Christ. Lord, may we be a church that is functioning as we should, the pillar and support of the truth, conducting ourselves as your people as we must as those who live the truth. Lord, I pray for any here today. Perhaps they grew up here, perhaps they’ve been attending a long time, working hard. But Lord you know their hearts. Salvation is by grace through faith. For those who do not know you I pray this might be a day when they are set free. We pray because Jesus Christ has died and is alive and we are free in Him. Amen.