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In this video 0:00 Turning the Tables: Truth vs Lies10:26 Truth Killers Exposed30:55 Truth Builders: Knowing God47:52 Apply Truth: Build on the Rock
Turning the Tables: Truth vs Lies 0:00 You have a bible, you'll wanna hold a spot in John chapter 8. We're in part 4 of a series called Turning the Tables. And it's the series is just like it sounds. You you see something going in0:12 the wrong direction. You see it. You recognize it. You confront it. And then you get it going in the right direction. You turn the tables on the situation. And if you're God's man,0:23 God's gonna call you to confront certain things. And in part 1, we learn that God will call us to confront ourselves. Right? Sometimes the hardest 1 of all to confront and0:35 turn the tables. We're going in the wrong direction. God calls us to confront ourselves, look in the mirror, get things headed in the right direction, turn the tables on our direction. Right? Other times,0:47 God may call us to confront other believers, other men, and do it in a biblical way out of our love for god, out of our love for that person, and out of our0:58 identity in god. And then in part 3, we learn how god will call us to confront injustice, to give what is due. We see things happening, and it's going in the wrong direction, and people are1:10 suffering. And god calls us to step in and suit up and show up and confront injustice in order to bring god's righteousness and god's justice into1:22 that situation. Well, today, we're gonna see how god will call us to confront the lie and replace it with truth and then live out the1:34
1:46 Amen? But sometimes, in fact, many times, there are obstacles or barriers or challenges to
1:57 seeing those needs and wants and longings and hopes and desires realized. And that causes a dilemma. Well, how bad do you want something?
2:10 What are you willing to do to get it? What do you tell yourself to go in the direction of getting what you want? What rationale? What rationale? What
2:21 rationalizations do you use? What justifications do you use? And having done men's ministry for over 30 years, I saw I've seen many times where there's a need, a hope, a want, and a desire, and a
2:33 guy really wants it, but there's obstacles. And God is allowing those obstacles to build faith and trust, but we wanna pole vault over the need and the obstacle. And here's what happens.
2:45 We adopt some twisted logic either to stay where we are or to run ahead of where god actually wants us to be, and that gets us in trouble. Amen?
2:57 I'm sure you've been there. I've been there many times as well. I mean, at some point, we all tell ourselves a lie whether it's big or small,
3:09 whether it makes sense to us or makes sense about what we're doing. But deep inside, we know that that logic that we're using is not of
3:21 God. It's a lie. It's a deception. But it will allow us to go forward to get what we want. So in today's session, we're gonna hear from Jesus on
3:32 truth versus lies. We're gonna look at some truth killers and some truth builders, and then we're gonna look at a simple application. And so if you have that spot
3:44 in your Bible, in John chapter 8, why don't you go ahead and turn there? If you don't, I encourage you to download the notes when we meet together because the scripture is all in the downloaded notes. So let me read John
3:56 chapter 8, and And listen listen closely to Jesus and the whole theme of truth versus lies. Jesus says, why is my language not
4:08 clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you wanna carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning,
4:19 not holding to truth for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because
4:31 I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. And so you see in sense, this frustration, in Jesus when he's talking
4:43 to men and he's confronting them. It's like, am I not being clear here? Why are you not listening to me? Why are you not believing me? Oh.
4:56 There's this other character involved. Right? I'm telling you the truth, and this other character is telling you a lie, and the lie is winning out over the truth.
5:08 Because the liar is involved, and his lies always lead to death. He's a liar and a murderer. And so we see Jesus put truth versus
5:20 lies into a a context for us that we're gonna unpack right now. And you can write this in on your fillings. According to Jesus in this passage, truth versus
5:32 lies is Jesus versus the devil. So when it comes down to what we believe, we can believe truth or we can believe lies.
5:44 There are 2 sources. There's Jesus and there's the devil. So every self deception, every rationalization, every justification,
5:56 every fudge, Behind that lie is the liar, and he's very invested in you believing his lies so that you
6:08 can behave out of the lie that you believe. Then there's the truth teller. There's Jesus, and Jesus speaks the truth. He desperately wants you to believe truth
6:20 because instead of leading to death, his truth leads to life. And thus, the frustration that men would choose to believe lies and
6:32 experience an outcome of death versus believe truth and take in the truth and internalize the truth, and then believe that and experience the
6:43 outcome of life. And that's the next point. Truth versus lies, according to Jesus, is synonymous with life in God versus life outside of
6:55 God. You wanna live life in God? God is in truth and reality. Jesus said, I am the truth. Right? God does not blend lies with truth.
7:07 There's no 90 10 blend or 80 20 recipe. God's pure truth. God will only speak the truth because he is truth. You wanna live life in God? You gotta live
7:19 life in truth and reality. Right? And and what is, not what you hope it to be. And I find in men's ministry that a lot of times, men
7:31 will will live life mostly in the truth, but then in certain areas of their life, they will live in this realm of wishing and hoping, and in a
7:43 in an unreality that they've created in their head, and they've they've they've said it so many times that they actually believe it. Right? And it's not true. It hasn't happened yet.
7:55 It's not a reality but they talk as if it is a reality. That's not life in god. That's life outside of god. Why? Because it's not real. Right?
8:07 Now truth versus lies is is all about life in God versus life outside of God. If you're if you're rationalizing things, if you're justifying things, if you're, talking about
8:19 the future as if it's a reality in the present, before it's even happened, you're living life outside of God. Number 3, truth versus lies is about belief
8:31 versus unbelief. You notice Jesus's words. He's telling them, about his words versus the devil's, truth versus lies. And then he says, yet because
8:43 I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. And isn't that the battle? Living in truth versus lies is all about belief or unbelief
8:55 in God. And, of course, we want to believe in God, but then we have to believe what God says fully. That's true belief.
9:07 Not not half belief or 3 quarters belief or 90 percent belief, but a full belief in the words of god. And Jesus is
9:19 beside himself. He's like, man, I'm I'm telling you the way it is. I'm telling you what life is. And still, you don't believe me. And there's an exclamation
9:31 point in the scripture. I I don't know how he said it, but I'm sure he was frustrated. And and that goes to us, and those words travel through time because it's the same dynamic now.
9:43 Jesus knows that if we believe truth, we will behave out of that truth. Jesus also knows if we believe the devil's lies, we will behave out of those lies, and there
9:55 are consequences to those. And so we have to turn the tables on lies and really get good at getting out of the lie and going in
10:06 that direction in any relationship, in any circumstance, in any dimension of our lives, and stick with truth and reality. And believe truth and reality, and let it be what it
10:18 is, and let God be bigger, and let him speak to us in the midst of it. So now let's get into some truth killers, in our lives, and we're gonna look at some scenarios in the Bible with
Truth Killers Exposed
10:30 certain characters. And we're just gonna talk about how these situations, these attitudes, these mindsets, right, kill the truth in our
10:42 lives. And the first situation that really kills truth is being afraid. And we have to go back to the garden, gotta go back to Eve,
10:53 Adam, the devil, God speaking truth, the devil speaking life. And we're gonna pick up the story where after God has spoken truth, don't eat the
11:05 fruit over here. You can do anything you want. In any area of the garden, you can enjoy it. Just don't eat that. That's truth. It's
11:17 a it's a command, it's truth, And they're gonna die if they do. Now, let's see the liar, the devil come into play.
11:29 Quote, for god knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like god. Knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and
11:41 pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, a lie, she took some of and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he
11:53 ate it. So do you see, FOMO in play? Right? You don't know what FOMO is, fear of missing out? And that wasn't the reality
12:05 of missing out. God said, you know, don't don't eat of it. Satan says, oh, that's because if you do, this is gonna happen. You're gonna your eyes are gonna be open. This is gonna be
12:17 this mystical experience, and you're gonna be like god just like Satan to say. Right? That's why he got kicked out of heaven for wanting to replace god. And so that's his narrative to to
12:29 Eve in this moment. That's his narrative to us now too. Like, if you do it God's way, you're gonna miss out. Right? He won't meet your needs the way you need them met. He won't meet them now if you do it this
12:41 way. So he's holding out on you, and that narrative makes us fearful. It's like, oh, my needs, my hopes, my wants, desires. I'm gonna miss out if I do it God's way.
12:53 Alright? Fear inside, so he plants the fear, so that she'll believe his lie. That's what Satan does. And there are many men listening to me right now.
13:05 Satan has planted the fear of missing out. The idea that if you do this God's way, your needs won't get met. Right? And you're acting out
13:17 of that fear. You're running ahead of god. You're not listening to the word. You're doing things in your own power. You have believed a lie. And my encouragement to you is to repent and come back to the truth.
13:28 God's up to something. If God's delaying something, you know, a want, a need, a desire, a promotion, a relationship, or something like that, and we're gonna see in Truth Builders, he's got a good
13:40 reason. But that's the first situation that will kill truth in your life. If you let fear dominate your life, you are going to listen to the devil's lies. Secondly, is being arrogant.
13:53 And we see this, vividly in the life of Saul in the Old Testament. And I want you to see and listen for what God says, right,
14:04 truth, and what how Saul responds to a command of God. In first Samuel 15 says this, this is what the Lord
14:16 Almighty says. Here comes the truth. Now go attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. But Saul and the army spared Agag
14:28 and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and the lamb, everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely. Then the word of the
14:40 Lord came to Samuel, quote, I regret that I have made Saul king because he has turned away from me and not carried out my
14:52 instructions. So do you see how in this narrative, god says to do a certain thing? In the moment, Saul says, well, I know better.
15:05 God God said 1 thing, I know better than God. I believe that I know better than God, and now I'm gonna behave out of that belief. And so I'm not
15:17 gonna totally destroy everything like God commanded me to do. Right? I'm gonna kinda pick and choose. Oh, I like that, I like that, I like that, I like that. You ever done
15:29 that? Have you ever, in arrogance, known a clear direction from God, but then in out of arrogance, aka pride,
15:41 you said to yourself, well, I know better. I can just do what I wanna do. And I know god said to do this and, but I'm gonna kinda be select I'm gonna selectively
15:52 obey God. Right? I'm gonna do some of what God says, but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do all of what he says, because this meets my need and that meets my need. Right? See how
16:04 arrogance, pride is a truth killer. God speaks truth. Arrogance intervenes. Pride, I know better. And now truth is diluted and the lie goes up.
16:16 What's the lie? I get to determine what's good and evil. I get to determine what's good for me. I'm god. See how the devil is so involved in
16:28 that? So that's number 2. Right? First was being afraid, that's a truth killer. Being arrogant is a truth killer. Number 3, being alone is a truth killer. And in
16:39 this in this instance, we see David, and we see David lying to himself. See if you can pick up the scenario. This also is in the book of
16:51 Samuel, second Samuel chapter 11. It says this, in the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab
17:03 out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. 1 evening, David got
17:15 up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful and David sent someone to
17:27 find out about her. So we see a situation that infamously becomes David's adultery with Bathsheba.
17:39 What but where did the adultery start? It started with David phoning in his responsibility. At this time,
17:51 kings are supposed to be with their men. That's was his responsibility. But then he decided that, well, I'll just phone that in. I have an army, and, I'll
18:03 stay here. So instead of being with his guys, fighting battles and winning victories where God wanted him to be, he's out of place.
18:15 He's all alone by himself, and it's kinda like he's bored. Like, I know all who I am there, but I really don't know what to do here. I'm kinda bored, and so he does a little roof surfing.
18:28 And he sees something that he shouldn't be seeing. And then that triggers his mental Mustang, and whatever you put in
18:40 your head, your mind will mate with, and he's taking it all in, if you know what I mean. And then all of a sudden, he starts to think thoughts and believe things that are lies.
18:53 But where did it start? It started out by him choosing isolation versus connection. And it's just true of human beings
19:05 that when we are by ourselves and we are out of place, where we're not where we're supposed to be, we're not supposed to be in the places where God has called us to be. And for
19:16 David, it was so obvious that he wasn't supposed to be by himself. He was supposed to be with his army, with Joab, right, going off to war. That's where he was
19:28 supposed to be. But then he took himself out of there, isolated himself, and in isolation, guess what? There's no protection. It's just like, you know, if you're a
19:40 group of lions who are hunting, what do you do? In order to take down a meal, you isolate someone from the herd.
19:54 However you can do it. Whatever tactic you need to do. You know what the Bible says that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion. And when he can
20:06 isolate you, he can now begin to lie to you freely. You your protection is gone. And and you can believe these lies, and then oh, because
20:17 you're by yourself, there's no 1 around you who's giving you input, there's no responsibility, there's no activity, there's no there's nothing to do, now you're just like open, vulnerable,
20:30 shields down, people not there, and now you begin to take in things. And now you don't know where to go, and and you wander into a situation like David did, and
20:42 that's the beginning of the end for that that moment. And this is instructive. Right? Isolation kills the man of god. Connection
20:53 would have conquered. And there are many of you listening to the sound of my voice right now, wherever you are. Some of you guys are in your living room. Some of you guys are on a jog. Some of you guys are watching on
21:04 your computer, and you're isolated. You're not connected. Can I just tell you that your isolation is a truth killer? It is fertile soil in
21:16 your isolation to get wrong thoughts planted in your head out of your boredom and isolation and to believe those things and to start doing things in private, right, that you wouldn't
21:28 do in a group. And so that's why here at Everyman, we're just all about connection over isolation. Why? Because we know that isolation is a truth killer. Number 4, truth killer comes out
21:40 of, the book of Genesis and Cain, and that's being angry. Right? Being afraid is a truth killer, being arrogant is a truth killer, being alone. Being angry is a truth
21:51 killer. You know, they call, in in psychology and in mental health circles, that that anger is a blinding emotion. Right? Think about that. Anger
22:03 goes up. You're not seeing clearly. Right? And then you make decisions in in at the peak of that, you're angry and you're vulnerable
22:15 and anger because your your emotions are blinded, now you're vulnerable. Right? You're blind to the truth, but you're open to the lie. And we read
22:27 in Genesis chapter 4, we about Cain and how Cain is blinded by his anger, and then he he acts out.
22:39 He believes in the lie that's deposited in the midst of that anger that I gotta take my brother out. I gotta murder him. Wow. And I know that all of you can identify this. Let's
22:51 read and and unpack this. Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if
23:03 you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it. Now Cain said to his brother Abel,
23:15 let's go out to the field. While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. What a sad situation, right, where someone, god in this
23:27 instance, says, hey. I know you're sad, and that sadness is turning to anger. Right? Very human process. And god is
23:39 saying, listen. You're gonna do what's wrong, but just do what is right. You're gonna have to rule over that anger. In other words, you're gonna have
23:50 to act like a man. Right? A man has self control. A man can feel emotions and not act them out. Immature men, boys, toddlers,
24:03 they just act out their emotions. And you see how God tries to intervene, and he creates this picture. And I don't know if you've ever seen a building with a gargoyle
24:15 that's over an entrance. And it's sort of like God and and Cain, God's saying, hey, can I have a word? And they're in the house, and God's having a word, and there's a there's a gargoyle
24:27 right over the door. So if Cain leaves the conversation, still believing the lie that he needs to kill his brother, that that that gargoyle, that that evil
24:40 is crouching at the door except for it's real. It's the devil. Sin is crouching at the door. Satan is crouching at the door. Satan is the liar and the father of lies
24:52 and a murderer. See the juxtaposition? How Jesus describes Satan? This is it in full force. And then Cain blinded by his
25:03 anger, right, moves forward in that anger, mutes truth, what God is saying, and kills his brother. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
25:16 See how anger, unaddressed, unresolved anger, can be a truce killer if we let it fester, if we let the resentment fester, if we build that
25:28 wall, build that wall against the truth, we keep being bitter, we keep being resentful, and that wall builds and builds and builds and builds so much so that even if god himself intervenes and speaks to us,
25:41 that man goes through with that action. He believes the lie deposited in the midst of his anger, believes the next 1, believes the next 1, believes the next 1, believes the next
25:53 1, feeds on it, feeds on it, feeds on it. The wall's too high. Truth comes can't make its way through that wall of lies and anger. And
26:05 then as Jesus predicts, the lying leads to murdering. And behind the lying and the murdering is Satan himself. Alright. Let's move to the last example of truth
26:17 killing. Being afraid is a truth killer, being arrogant, being alone, being angry. Next, being absorbed by activity. And we see this in the New Testament in Luke
26:29 chapter 10, very famous passage of scripture. You got Jesus retreating to Bethany. It's sort of like, his retreat, to get away from the crowds and recover and
26:40 renew. And so he comes to Bethany, and Mary and Martha would always welcome him, into their home, and Lazarus was their brother. So we pick up the story in in Luke 10 39. Martha
26:52 welcomed him into into her home. She had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet listening to his word. But Martha was
27:04 distracted with all her preparations and she came up to him, Jesus, and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?
27:17 Then tell her to help me. But the Lord answered her and said, Martha, Martha, you're worried and bothered about so many things, but only 1 thing
27:29 is necessary. For Mary has chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her. So, you see the compare, contrast, right? Truth,
27:41 Jesus is in the house In person, Jesus is speaking truth. In person. Mary says, wow, we're getting ready for Jesus. I gotta kinda pump the
27:52 brakes, slow down, so that I can hear the man of truth speak words of truth. And Jesus says, that's the example you need
28:04 right there. That's that's what you should have done. Martha is operating on the tyranny of the urgent. She actually believes that all these preparations are more important to Jesus
28:16 than being with Jesus. Right? That her actions are more important than her connection to her sister, to Jesus. And what we see
28:28 very clearly is distraction and self absorption in all these activities, all the things that I have to do, you know. And it's not it's it's important to to Martha, but it's not important to Jesus.
28:41 So there's your first compare contrast. Somehow, Mary knows that what's important to to Jesus is sitting at her feet and listening to
28:52 him. Right? Martha is and she she's getting truth. Martha thinks that the activities, the prep, the meal, the the, you
29:04 know, the house, the external things, those are more important, but they're not. And so now she she believes that. And now she guess what she's missing out on? She's missing out on
29:16 on the truth. Right? And because she believes the myth, the more that I do, you know, the better it is for this situation. And she's gonna know, the more you do, the worse it is for this situation because you're missing
29:27 out on the truth. Right? So we get a a principle out of this. Right? When it comes to truth versus lies, you have to slow, right, to
29:39 know truth versus go and be a person of truth. And I know because I have so many high performers who watch this live stream, you guys are high achievers, you're high energy, you got
29:51 good motors, and you are always it's always the next thing. Right? And it's difficult for you, like it is for me, I confess, to slow to know truth and to hear
30:03 truth, to carve out time, like like Mary did. Sit with the Lord. Right? Your your schedules everything on your desk and your schedule and all the things that you gotta do,
30:14 they're all gonna be there. Right? But we're gonna tithe the first part of our day and slow down, be with Jesus so that he can make more
30:27 of the rest of our day. Right? And and bless us. Right? You gotta slow to see truth. You gotta slow down to hear truth. You gotta slow
30:38 down to take in and internalize truth. And that's the example here in scripture where it's like, Jesus is like, man, Mary has
30:50 chosen the right part. Alright. Let's turn the corner. There's your truth killers, being afraid, being arrogant, being alone, being angry, being absorbed by activity. And I'm sure there's more, but those are someShow more
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