Is Truth Relative or Absolute? by John.

Is Truth Relative Or Absolute?
John 14:6; Ephesians 1:1-14

1. In John 18:37 Jesus before Pilate said, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
2. Pilate derisively said, "What is truth?" (John 18:38).
3. Do you have trouble knowing what truth is?
4. Webster has a number of definitions for the word, and some of them use the word "true" to define "truth." That's not too good.
(1) Words are ideas put into communicative sounds that other people can understand, right?
(2) When a word, or words, match a particular reality, we think of that as true, or truth.
5. But truth is more than words. We probably can't express the meaning of the word "truth" too accurately, but the Bible gives the meaning quite well.

I. The Character of Truth Is: It Is Absolute!

1. In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." When He was praying in John 17:17, He said, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." (refers to the quality of God's Word.)
2. Biblically, "truth" is a word that describes one of the strongest traits of God's personality. John 14:6 says so.
3. Philosophy, in schools today, teaches that there is no such thing as absolute truth and people accept that as the final word!
(1) To say "There is no absolute truth!" Has an educated, authoritative sound, doesn't it?
(2) It may be an educated statement by this world's standard, but not by the Biblical standard.
(3) It denies what Jesus said in John 14:6, and makes Jesus either a liar, ignorant or both. Will you believe the Bible or will you believe some unchristian philosophy instructor?
(4) Other teachings seem to have paved the way for that view.
a. The teaching of evolution as being contrary to the Scripture is, I think, a trap of Satan.
b. Christians fell into that trap with their eyes wide open!
4. Must we always take Scripture literally?
(1) Well, was the earth created in six days?
(2) Archaeological "facts" seem to indicate it was not.
(3) But only if you discount the power and ability of God.
5. I say, we should take Scripture literally most of the time.
6. But there are necessary exceptions. Some deal with metaphors. For instance, the first part of Psalm 18 is metaphoric, and the second part is history as it happened.
ill. For instance, Psalm 98:8 says, "Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;" Have you ever seen a river clapping its hands? Of course, not! Isaiah 55:12 says, "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Did you ever hear mountains and hills sing? Did you ever see trees clapping their hands? Maybe the trees borrow hands from the river???
7. It is ludicrous to interpret poetry as simple prose! These are poetic concepts! And God intended for us to use the good sense He gave us to get the meaning as He meant it to be.
8. Philosophy comes from two Greek words. The first means "love" and the second means "wisdom."
(1) The Bible talks about wisdom frequently. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."
(2) Psalm 111:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise." ("him" refers to God.)
9. Apparently most Philosophy professors think truth has many different sources, and truth is different for different people.
10. With that idea entrenched in philosophy professors' minds, Confucius, Mohammed, Buddha, godless scientists, religious zealots and scads of others all have their own "truth" and are on an equal with, or a level above, Jesus.
(1) It follows that they see numerous conflicting truths present in the world!
(2) That leaves a person with no idea what, or who, to believe.
(3) The end of that dilemma is at best agnosticism, and at worst, atheism.
11. The sad "truth" is it puts everyone at odds with the God Who created them, and their ultimate end is destruction!
12. The Bible is talking about that when it says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12).

II. Absolute Truth Frees Us.

1. Jesus said that. John 8:31,32 says, ":If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
(1) Oh? He didn't use the word "absolute?"
(2) Of course, he didn't! Truth, in itself, is absolute.
(3) There was no reason for Him to say "absolute" because there was no such thing as relative truth!
2. So what is the value of Philosophy's relative truth?
(1) People developed the idea of relative truth because it fitted their desire. They wanted to include everybody in the world in one big, happy family.
(2) On the other hand, the Bible says people without Jesus go to hell.
(3) If Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and all of the other religions of the world have their own truth, then everyone can be happy! (Or can they?) Everyone can go their own way, and everyone will end up in the same happy, eternal state of being.
a. Of course, for those who believe in reincarnation, and those who believe in Purgatory, it will take longer for them to get there, but they will all get there sooner or later! (According to their adherents).
b. I see a problem here! That genre of belief is anti-Biblical, and anti-godly!
c. Religion and Christianity are not the same thing!
3. God has given us all a conscience.
(1) If there is no absolute truth, then there is nothing that is really sin! (I can see how some people appreciate that!!! Can't you?)
(2) What's sin for one person may not be sin for another person, and that conflict eventually rules out anything as being sin.
(3) We believe men think up these complex religions with all of their rituals, but I don't believe we are smart enough to do that, do you?
I Timothy 4:1,2 says: "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron."
(4) Ungodly teachings are generated and inspired by demons!
(5) Did John House say that? No! The Bible said it!
4. Relative truth has no earthly or eternal value!
5. The only God Who promises freedom from the penalty, the power and the presence of sin is our Heavenly Father! The God of the Bible!

III. Absolute Truth Changes Us.

1. I've heard atheists say, "I'm free! I'm free of all religions!" But are they?
2. Let's consider that for a moment in a logical way.
3. Christianity promises to free us, so what is it the atheist is freed from?
(1) It must be his conscience! (Jesus would have freed him anyway). (2) For the atheist to say he is free from religion is like a person
being bitten by a dog and then crying out, "He didn't bite me because I don't believe dogs are real!"
4. The religions of the world all teach that a person can be better, or at least more religious, than he is.
(1) They have to go through certain steps, or reach certain plateaus, in order to reach their spiritual goals. Sadly to say, many churches claiming to teach the Christ of the New Testament tell their members the same sort of thing. (You have to be a member of this church. You have to be baptized in water. You have to speak in tongues. The list goes on and on!)
(2) All of these religions are do-it-yourself projects! Not Christianity!
5. Only Christianity tells us that God loves us, and God provided a way for us, and that Way is Jesus.
6. Only Christianity tells us that we will be changed by putting our trust in Jesus! Only Christianity tells us we will be all new!
7. We are new creations in Jesus! II Corinthians 5:17,18 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ..."
8. There are no steps in Christianity! But neither is there an end to change as long as we are on earth. We grow more like the Savior all the time, and then when we go to meet Him, we will be changed into His likeness! We will be shaped to fit into the presence of the Almighty God! And we will be with Him where He is!
9. While we are here, His Spirit makes His home within us. He is our constant Companion, our Teacher, our Guide!
10. No religion teaches anything like what God promises in Jesus!

Conclusion:

1. Listen! Schools teach that there is no absolute truth, but they only teach that because they don't know Jesus like we do!
2. You don't have to fuss with them about it, but you can be, and I hope you are, aware that the violence, crime, and probably most if not all of the disease in the earth, comes from people who do not believe in the One True God.
3. God does not call us to fight with unbelievers about our beliefs. We do need to pray for unbelievers. We need to pray for our country. We need to pray for our schools! We need to pray for ourselves, that we will stand true to our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus!
4. We are free! Relax and enjoy the freedom you have in Jesus!
5. You've changed since you met Jesus, and you will continue to change for the better until one day you will be like Jesus because you will see Him as He is!
6. None of the so-called religions of the world can say the things God led me to say in this message!
7. I'm not mad at any religion, or at any people who belong to other religions. I hurt for anyone I see going away from God, and that's true for people who make up this church.
8. I am aware that I am but a dim candle compared to my Lord and in comparison with many of my brethren, but that is not an issue here.
9. The issue is, will we hang back, or will we stand at the leading edge of the battle for the lives of others? It's the Lord's battle, but our place is standing with Jesus, and we are to be absolutely true to Him!

Emmanuel Community Church 2/19/2006