Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/church4u/sermons/86039/the-truth/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] If you've got your Bibles, Isaiah 59 is where we're going to take it from. On the theme of truth, the truth, the truth, God's truth.

[0:13] ! There is no other truth. He is the truth. And truth is His middle name. It's who He is, isn't it? The Lord Jesus.

[0:26] And Isaiah 59, 14, it says this. Isaiah 59, verse 14. Isaiah writes, And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off.

[0:41] For truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Truth is fallen in the street.

[0:52] Isaiah the prophet tells us of the time where truth is trampled, where it's lost.

[1:03] There's a loss of judgment, of justice, of equity, of fairness. Truth is fallen in the street. I know just on the way to church today, we were reflecting on the roadside rubbish, and how people just throw things out of the window, and discard their waste.

[1:24] And that's what people are doing, the truth today. That's what's going on. These are strong principles here. Justice, truth, equity.

[1:37] Strong principles, fundamentals, valued ideals. They stand or fall on what? The truth. The truth. It matters what we believe.

[1:50] I know some people have said to me, well, people can believe what they like. Just leave them to it. But wouldn't it be better that we actually know what's true?

[2:00] That it's true, that we can hang on to that which is true, and that which is not true. Therefore, we reject that which is not true. We don't just skirt around it, and excuse it, and turn a blind eye to it.

[2:15] Friends, everything hinges upon truth. We want to get at the truth, to get the truth out. That's why we do this. That's why we tell people.

[2:26] That's why we share this message. Because it's too important not to tell the people the truth. To preach the truth. To declare the truth. To defend the truth. Just this morning, I saw a meme on the internet which said, I can't even trust what I eat, see, hear, drink, or breathe.

[2:47] That's the kind of world we're living in, isn't it? You can't trust, you know, I checked the cereal packets to see what the contents are, but you don't know really what they're putting into it.

[2:58] You know, you can't even trust what you eat, what you see. You know, there's illusion, there's smoke screens. You can't trust what you hear, whatever you tune into. What you drink, you know, what's in that water coming out of your tap.

[3:12] You know, what you breathe. Goodness, you know, it's everywhere, isn't it? You can't trust. It's a loss of trust. It's a loss of truth. The truth is what we stand on, God helping us, what we stand for.

[3:23] As Paul wrote to Timothy, he tells how, as he's going away, he says, If I tarry long that thou oughtest, mayst know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, the church, the family, the house, the household, the house of God, which is the church, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

[3:48] He's saying there's a con there, there's this steadfast pillar here, and there's a foundation here, there's a basis of the truth. There's a foundation of the truth.

[3:59] And that's, friends, what the church, the church, God's church, ought to be and is built upon. That's the church of the living God. So the church ought to be built on truth.

[4:13] It's the foundation. It matters what we're built on. Our Lord told about a man building a house on sinking sand, on shallow, superficial sand, and then the one building upon the rock.

[4:30] He said that his word was that, that which was built upon the rock that withstood the rain and the floods and the wind. Friends, the truth must be preached. It must be, whether it's popular or unpopular, whether it's accepted or rejected, whether it's liked or hated, the truth must be preached.

[4:48] And we, every believer, we must be truth tellers. We must tell the truth. We must be the ones of human is sad. We're speaking the truth in love.

[5:01] Not to be offensive or hurtful, but to simply speak the truth and to speak it lovingly. And that's what we endeavor to do. Our witnessing sandwich, we thank God, is growing in number.

[5:13] Those that are going witnessing, we do that with love. That's unloaded. We're not there to win an argument. We're there to win souls. We're there to tell others of the message that matters.

[5:25] And we're to tell the truth in love. This is a message that we must tell because the one who loved us and gave himself for us wants us to tell others, to invite others.

[5:35] And friends, we're living in this world where there's this mounting coercion and control. It's almost like what's happened just in the last few months, it seems to me, that there's this tyrannical kind of shade of government that seems to be moving more and more so.

[5:54] So there's heavy-handed policing. And we're seeing these stories of even in Western nations where churches are getting clamped down on. Now, just a side note here.

[6:07] We try to meet the requirements of our government. We're not against government. Not as things stand. We will sign in and register.

[6:20] We'll social distance. But if the crunch comes down to it, we don't bow to government. We bow to him. And if the crunch comes, then we know who we're going to bow to.

[6:32] And it's only him. But, yeah, all around us, there's this kind of cultural decline, this paganisation and the erosion of values. People deny the truth and they elevate unreason.

[6:45] There's this rising anti-Christian bigotry. It's like the media is all biased against Christians and Christian truth. Note that it says here in this verse we start with that the truth is fallen in a stream.

[7:00] There's a lot of preachers and churches that are very wishy-washy in what they do. Sound doctrine seems to have been thrown out the window. Some would rather tickle ears than risk offending.

[7:13] That's the ultimate no-no. Don't offend anybody. Don't stir or challenge someone might leave the church. You know, there'd be less of a crowd, less money, whatever. You know, this kind of motive to have a big mega church.

[7:27] And some would rather rock the cradle than rock the boat. Talking about sleeping before. Some would rather have a rocking of the cradle. Yeah, just a little gentle lullaby.

[7:38] A nice feel-me good message. A feel-good message. And then, rather than actually tell you the truth, some would rather tone it down than shout it out. And there's like these prophets of Isaiah's day spoken of in Isaiah 56 verse 10.

[7:55] Our Lord rejects such prophets, such preachers. Isaiah 56 verse 10 tells of these ones, this watchman, that are blind. They're all ignorant. They are all dumb dogs.

[8:06] They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down. Loving to slumber. Now, I don't know about you, but if you had a security guard looking after your place, there's not much of a watchman that cannot see.

[8:20] I don't think I'd employ a blind watchman to look after my house or property. It's not much of a guard dog that cannot bark. And friends, it's not much of a preacher that cannot declare God's truth.

[8:33] Loud and clear, they're ignorant, dumb dogs. God rebuked these false prophets. Rather, may we be as God called people, as God called preachers.

[8:45] As Isaiah got the message here, as he went to the class Homiletics 101, as he got his lecture on how to preach.

[8:56] In this class, God's holding this. He said, cry aloud, spin on. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. I'm going to be like my dad here.

[9:07] I don't want to blast it into the microphone. Show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. There's a sense where there should be an emphatic declaring, a declaration.

[9:20] We will not be silenced. We will not be muzzled. Now, it was interesting. Just yesterday, our door knockers were virtually accosted on the street yesterday.

[9:31] I just wish I had my camera. I could have filmed it. They were hurling abuse from one side of the street to the other. And a couple of these guys are having a laugh here because they were there.

[9:43] And someone was there yelling at the door, yelling across the street. It was like they were going to march across the street and physically attack these humble door knockers yesterday.

[9:55] And saying, you need a permit to do that. Friends, this is Australia. This is Australia, isn't it? You need a permit to tell someone the gospel?

[10:06] No, you don't. And it's like Peter said. This is my permit. This is my permit. I've got authorisation. I'm authorised. Yeah, we've got an authority, alright.

[10:18] We've got an authorisation, alright. Friends, it's time for the church to rise up. Not clam up. It's time for the church to rise up and speak up. Many are not willing in these days to risk positional popularity.

[10:30] Not daring to risk upsetting their status quo. To make a strong stand for truth or principle. Now it's not meaning we're going to be wacko jackos or anything.

[10:42] You know, just go totally nutty or anything. But we want to be willing to be counted fools for Christ. And many are not willing to risk that. Friends, truth means calling sin, sin.

[10:55] It's what it is. And these scriptures foretell of a time where we see God's truth rejected. Friends, this truth is going to be rejected. It already is rejected, isn't it? And Isaiah tells us such a time when the truth will be dropped like people throwing down rubbish on the stream.

[11:12] It won't be the top of the pops. It won't be the flavour of the month. It won't be recommended to draw a crowd. It will fall flat. It will be thrown down, trampled on, squashed and trampled on by people's feet.

[11:25] Discarded, thrown out, rejected, forsaken. This word of God's truth, the Bible, is going to be hated. It's going to be opposed, defied, legislated against.

[11:37] The crowd pleasers would rather have a circus show, a stunt, a spectacle. They would rather have the applause, the crowds, the laughter, the entertainment.

[11:50] Truth is fallen in the stream. It's a problem. We've seen universities and intellectuals today tell us this. I quote, you can imagine what they could say.

[12:02] There is no absolute truth. It's all relative. Believe what you want to believe. Don't be dogmatic.

[12:13] Don't come on too strong. That's what we would be told. The truth is being redefined. Denied. Look at what's going on. Gender confusion.

[12:26] Honestly. They can't tell the difference between a male and a female. What is going on? Talk about nutty professors, you know. Censorship.

[12:37] Thought control. It's everywhere. And we have people that, as you go witnessing, they say, oh, I believe in science. And like we honestly said, true science doesn't conflict with the Bible.

[12:53] It's actually in tandem. It's complementary. Real science does not conflict with the Bible. They would claim science trumps the Bible.

[13:05] The truth is the real science confirms the Bible. We know there's many Christians who are scientists, who believe in the record of the Bible accounts, of creation, of history.

[13:19] And it's true. It's true from cover to cover, this book. It's entirely true. There's an American pastor who put it recently like this.

[13:31] He says, Christian, if you don't stand for the truth today, you will never stand for it tomorrow. But cultural heat is only getting hotter from here.

[13:43] The cultural heat. The Bible warns about another gospel. You know, we had a well-meaning man just yesterday, believed in another testament of Jesus Christ. The Bible warns about that.

[13:56] Another gospel, it's called. Don't buy it. There's one gospel. One book. Many are tolerating sin. There's this excusing of sin. Friends, sin is like a cancer.

[14:08] It must be cut out or the whole body will die. It's like a leaven that affects the whole lump of dough. Like a rotten apple. Like a snowball. It grows worse unless we stop it.

[14:19] We stand against that which is wrong. That which is false. That which is of error. The fact is many are falling for error today. Friends, we're not always conscious that actually there is truth and there is error.

[14:34] There's the spirit of truth, the Bible says, and there's the spirit of error. And the devil is a liar. And he's the father of liars. Many are tolerating false doctrine and heretics.

[14:45] False teaching is destructive. It's deadly. There's numbers of people in our midst here or others that have been in fellowship here that's a warning and clear to you that there's false doctrine.

[14:57] Don't buy it. And many are tolerating liars and slanderers, evil speaking. It's evil speaking to speak against the truth.

[15:09] It's divisive and damaging. So, friends, we must get at the truth, the truth. Sin must be exposed for what it is. And dealt with. We hear back in Joshua 6 of Achan, verses 17 through 19.

[15:24] He was an Israelite who took a garment, silver and gold, part of the spoil of Jericho. He took it in disobedience to God. And it was sin in the camp.

[15:36] And his sin was found out and his family and possessions were taken out and destroyed. Perhaps truth must prevail and sin in the camp has to be removed. And so, we must stand for truth and against that which is false.

[15:51] It's time for us to stand up and to see God's truth defended. Realize that we're in a battle. There's a battle on for the truth. A battle raging for the souls of men.

[16:05] And we must uphold God's truth. The question is who will stand. The psalmist cried, Psalm 94, verse 16, Who will rise up for me against the evil doers?

[16:17] Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? It's often the people who have stood up for the truth who have been hated and harassed.

[16:34] John Wesley, for that rightful teaching that he did stand up for, he did stand up for the truth. And his church turned him out on the street.

[16:47] He was too outspoken. They would throw him out today. He took the truth to the fields. He preached from his father's tombstone. He was, of course, sensational.

[16:57] An enthusiast. Undignified. Irregular. And he preached the truth. He preached about a saviour. He preached about a saviour from sin. And he rode ponies for miles and miles around with saddlebags filled with Bibles and tracks.

[17:15] And he was interested in the truth. In communicating the truth. And where are the Wesley's of today? For his truth is fallen in the street. What is this truth that matters?

[17:26] It's the truth of his word. The truth of his word. We see that in Revelation 21, verse 5. It says, He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

[17:36] And he said unto me, Ryan, for these words are true and faithful. Where is the truth? The Bible is the truth.

[17:48] It's that by which we determine what's right and wrong. It's that by which we determine what's error and what is true. These words are true and faithful. And the preacher said, When this truth falls in the street, we lose our way.

[18:03] And man dies without God. We must stand against falsehood. God helping us, each one of us, as the church, that we not be afraid to stand and declare, Thus saith the Lord.

[18:20] This is the truth. Let's believe the book and stand up for it. To declare this is truth. This is truth. It's what's right. And this is error.

[18:31] This is wrong. So, God helping us. With gossip. Guiding. And with our heart being right before him.

[18:44] That we can honestly say, This is true. We believe what he says. We believe the Bible. It's the word of God. And so we can say, As one preacher put it, We believe its message.

[18:57] That Jesus Christ is still the virgin born son of God. That we are lost and sinful. And need a saviour. That Christ died for sinners. And we hold that Bible truth. The truth that you must be born again.

[19:10] To go to heaven. That there is a heaven. With golden streets and gates of pearl. And there is a hell. That has fire. Friends, truth is fallen in the stream. You know, hear that some places.

[19:23] The holy character of God demands that we be a people that have an integrity. That we believe what matters. And we believe it wholeheartedly. With no mixture.

[19:34] No compromise. No agreement with error. Friends, truth is fallen in the stream. And God calls for it no compromise. A no messing around kind of attitude.

[19:46] That yes, this is true. And we firmly believe it. And we'll stand for it. No matter what. We won't compromise. With temptation. With doctrine. With practice. And so, yet sadly today, the truth has fallen in the stream.

[20:01] The truth of his word. Also the truth of his coming. Friends, people mock and hate the truth. Including the truth of his coming. We see the signs of his coming. Don't we?

[20:12] Can't we see? Can't we see? I don't know what the time is, but it feels like it's even closer than a minute to midnight. You know, the midnight hour, as it were.

[20:23] It seems like that clock's ticking and it's getting very close. We see sodomites ordained as ministers. Homosexuals joined in unholy matrimony at some altars.

[20:36] The end is nigh. Brother, sister. We cannot mess with sin. It's enough. Stop it. And start walking.

[20:47] Make a decision. Don't toy. Don't play Christianity. Stop playing church. Truth has fallen in the street.

[20:58] We've got to man up. Stand up. A man was asked about his view about the second coming of Christ. And he was asked this. He said, are you praying, host, or me?

[21:09] Talking about the timing of his coming. In relation to the tribulation, he said, I'm pro. I'm for his coming. I'm for his coming. Are you for his coming?

[21:20] Are you looking for it? Are you waiting for it? Are you ready for it? Brother, sister, it's surely soon. And friends, some are going to be caught unaware, aren't we?

[21:32] It says that this is coming. It says that some will be ashamed before him that he's coming. But it says, believer, you that have this hope in you, purify himself.

[21:47] As he is pure. Have you got that sure and blessed, happy, holy hope? The blessed hope? The sure and certain, the joyful expectation inside of you?

[21:58] That sure hope? Christ is coming back. Any day. Soon and very soon. We're going to see the king.

[22:09] And we should get ready. Be purified. And how so? Only by the blood of Jesus. Not baptism. It hates too old. Well, it might wash your skin, but it's not going to take away your sin.

[22:20] Friends, it's the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son. Cleanse it thus from all sin. That's the only hope you've got. Friends, the blood of Jesus Christ. Call on him. Trust in him.

[22:31] His saving blood to wash away your sin. And that's the only way you can be holy and pure before him. Friends, his coming. And the Bible talks about such a time.

[22:43] It says this of his coming. Of the coming of the Antichrist. It says the wicked, the Antichrist, shall be revealed. And the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

[22:56] And it says even him who's coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness. Deceivableness. The opposite of truth.

[23:07] Deceivableness, right? Of unrighteousness. And then that perish. And then that perish. Because they receive not, receive not the love of the truth. They receive not the love of the truth that they should be saved.

[23:21] And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion. Delusion. They should believe a lie. Believe a lie.

[23:33] That they all might be damned. Who believes it not. Believe not the truth. But have pleasure in unrighteousness. Surely, we're living in a time that's right.

[23:44] For the wicked to be revealed. For the signs and wonders. And, oh, the razzmatazz of the Antichrist. There's just going to be so many signs and power and wonders and deceivableness of unrighteousness.

[23:58] And that strong delusion. That they should believe a lie. They're going to have faith in the Antichrist. They're going to believe this fraud.

[24:09] This con man. And we're living in a time that's right for him, aren't we? The Antichrist and his lies. He will infiltrate and he'll captivate the deceived.

[24:20] And the Lord repeatedly warns us in the context of his coming. Be not deceived. Those who haven't got the love of the truth.

[24:31] It says they will fall for a lie. They will believe a lie. Friends, I think we're being conditioned already. In that vein. This world at large. There's a conditioning.

[24:42] There's a deceiving. It's happening now. Surely. Isn't it? The truth is at stake. And at the heart is this very battle for the truth. Now I've been lied to.

[24:53] Can you identify with that? I've been lied to. Lied to. With subtlety and cunning and sly and sneaky persuasive voices.

[25:06] Lied to me. Just sign here. Don't read the fine print. Not to have a go at any sales people present. There's a sense where there's a deceiving goes on, isn't there?

[25:18] Just sign here. Don't read this. It's like they're saying you're at the back scene now, aren't they? Don't ask any questions. Just take it. Make your decision wisely, friends.

[25:31] There's a convincing voice. They're deceiving. The devil will talk to us like that, didn't he? In Genesis, in the garden. Snake.

[25:45] He uses every trick in the book and out of the book to make you fall for his false gospel. You know, this dear man we were talking to yesterday, a Mormon.

[25:56] He's bought it, hook, line and sinker. The whispering of the snake. The serpent. And this is the day of compromise. Where there's a falling for lies.

[26:09] Think about it. People disregard authority. What goes on these days? They flatter children instead of honouring parents. They accept anyone who's sincere in their beliefs.

[26:24] Regardless of those beliefs. And we see schools and universities teaching lies. You can have a doctorate in lies. You know, they'll give you one.

[26:36] History's being rewritten, isn't it? The very culture is being cancelled. There's people, if they're too outspoken, they're erased. You know, they just rub them out. They erase them out of the internet.

[26:49] So they take these Facebook pages down. If someone's too outspoken, they'll take them down. Now, we've been made aware this can happen to our YouTube channel. We're taking precautions.

[27:02] We're storing the videos in case we get taken down. Because they just shut you down. Bang. And they wipe everything. Gone. That's what they're doing. It's happening.

[27:12] It's happening. It's happening to Christian churches and those that might be commentators about public events that don't toe the line that the general media want toe. Supposedly, people in our culture have become, they call it woke.

[27:29] It's kind of funny, isn't it? They reckon they're awake. They're woke. When really they're fast asleep. And the media we get, often it's fake news.

[27:40] Let's face it. Isn't it? It's doctored. It's filtered. It's biased. Be careful what you trust. I'm not meaning to overplay this.

[27:51] But beware. And what we call the healthcare system. The healthcare system is compromised. Seems like doctors are acting more like drug dealers.

[28:04] As if popping pills is the only way to health. Sometimes people need pills. But I was saying to someone yesterday. This is the best one. The gospel. That's what we need.

[28:15] It's the gospel. That's what we need, people. And they're changing the language now, aren't they? They're changing the language from, it used to be pregnant women. Now it's birthing people. We don't offend anybody.

[28:26] It's birthing people now. Honestly, this is healthcare. This is the way we have to talk now. This is the terminology. And some churches, they teach, preach, and they sing lies.

[28:39] We've got Bibles that are not real Bibles. We've got Christian bookstores stocking themselves with the best sellers. Because they sell. Not because they're good. Not because they're actually going to help you grow as a Christian.

[28:52] Some Christians take the view, we should just accept anything and everything. And people can believe just whatever they want. Sure.

[29:03] They can. But don't you want to tell somebody? Actually, you're going to help? Women preach. Lesbians marry.

[29:14] Transgestive pastors. Transgender pastors and preachers abound. Now they're running whole congregations and churches. And no one dare talk about morality and godliness. Now what are they teaching our children in schools now?

[29:27] Maybe consent. Maybe consent. That's a good thing. But what about morality? What about... I won't go there. You can... Friends, the truth is under attack.

[29:39] That's the point. Every which way. And it's like you can't tell the truth anymore. Unless someone might get offended. Oh, dare not offend anybody. Those who dare to speak up are being silenced and shut down.

[29:52] Friends, this is happening. And pastors are being in prison. They're putting pastors into prison. They're shutting churches down. They're closing the doors. They're locking the doors.

[30:03] They're putting fences around the churches to stop the people going to fellowship. And it's by the state. Where the guys are keeping people safe from a pandemic.

[30:16] And this is happening in countries just like Australia. In fact, I've heard stories already in Australia. Now, look, don't get me wrong. I'm not against reasonable safeguards.

[30:29] But if the state was to clamp down in a way that seems unjust and unreasonable, then we will oppose that.

[30:43] Friends, we must. I know there's a bit concerned about Christian schools. You know, there's a situation that's going on where there's an infiltration of ungodly philosophies.

[30:56] You know, I've heard it said, I don't mean to make anything known that's not known, or that's not public, but there's a certain school that started as a Christian school.

[31:07] And now it's 30% Christian. 70% non-Christian. This is a school that was founded as a Christian school. If the parents and the people with votes say, teach this or don't teach that, that's the way it's going to go.

[31:27] And they're not Christians. The majority are not Christians. This is real. This is local. This is happening. This is Australia. Shouldn't we be alarmed? Shouldn't we be concerned? Shouldn't the truth matter?

[31:39] If the truth doesn't matter, then we'll just go and do anything. There won't be any Christian schools anymore. It might have Christian on the name of the school, but it's not Christian what they're teaching anymore. Friends, no wonder our Lord asked as we draw closer to the Lord's coming, will the Son of Man find faith on the earth?

[31:57] Is there going to be anything left? As we talked about, firstly, we talked about the truth of His Word. Friends, God's Word is absolute. There is such a thing as absolute truth. There is such a thing as final authority.

[32:09] It says this. It says, every word of God is pure. He has a shield unto them. I've put their trust in Him. What God says is right. It is true.

[32:20] It is the truth. They still say it, don't they? This is the truth, the whole truth. Nothing but the truth. That's what they say. Now, people have got annoyed with me.

[32:35] No one present, of course. It's like they got annoyed with Paul. And he said, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

[32:48] Galatians 4.16. Paul, he said, you Galatians, I'm not your enemy now. I'm just telling you the truth. We're saying the truth is under attack. The truth of His Word.

[32:58] Secondly, the truth of His coming. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. And thirdly, we see the truth of His salvation. Salvation itself is under attack.

[33:09] It always has been. Work your own way. Be your own good person. Oh, man, it's intrinsically good. You've got a good heart. They say, follow your heart.

[33:20] The Bible says, don't do that. No way. The heart is deceitful. It's desperately wicked. Follow Jesus, not your heart. You're not intrinsically good.

[33:32] There is none good. No, not one. Not one. Adam and Eve and some 150 billion children earn eternal hell by one bite.

[33:45] Chomp. Of the fruit. Genesis 2.17. Verse 18. Friends, truth is fallen in the stream. Salvation is salvation. It always has been. There's only one way.

[33:56] One saviour. Some don't talk of sin. They excuse it. They don't talk about salvation or being born again. No, we get focused. We witness things. Oh, I'm Church of England.

[34:09] I'm Roman Catholic. I'm Baptist. It doesn't matter what label you put on it. If you're not saved, you're not saved. You can be a Calathumpian or whatever it be.

[34:22] Are you saved? That's what matters. God's truth is strong and it's certain. It says, Isaiah 8 verse 20, the prophet says, To the law, to the word, to the law, to the testimony.

[34:33] They speak not according to this word. It's because there's no light in them. If it's contrary to this, then it's darkness. God's word says it like it is.

[34:43] These are strong words, friends. And these are words that are words of joy and comfort and blessing to us. These are true words. He says, I am the way, the truth, the truth.

[34:55] He is the truth. Here's the definition of it. The way, the truth, the life, the only way to salvation. In Acts 4 verse 12, it says, There's no salvation in any other.

[35:06] There's none other name under heaven. Under heaven given among men. Whereby we must be saved. There's one saviour, Jesus Christ. And we ought to be such a people of whom it could be said, We are valiant for the truth.

[35:27] That we're actually willing to be so valiant and brave that we are willing to be scorned and hated and forsaken. The church is the pillar and ground, the foundation of the truth.

[35:41] So, friends, the truth must be upheld and told. We're going to be swayed from our cause. That we'll be steered by the word of God. That is what will guide us and lead us.

[35:54] Not for the sake of numbers, of popularity, of praise, of men. Not of a bowing down to the world and its idols. That we have one saviour, one Lord.

[36:06] One who is the way, the truth, the truth and the life. So, I urge you today to take heart. To think of this book as what it is. It is the truth. To take God at his word.

[36:17] What he says, his instructions. Seriously. Because we're living in a world where truth is fallen in the stream. And God's word calls us to that fullness of joy.

[36:28] To that saviour. Of whom it says, he was despised and rejected of men. Perhaps they still reject him, don't they? Oh, you want them.

[36:38] You're one of those Bible bashes. Oh, you believe in Jesus. Somebody even, these days, they actually deny that Jesus existed. That's the foolishness of the unbelievers.

[36:51] That they would even deny his very existence. Honestly, you cannot deny a fact of history. He was a real person. There's no denying that. And then we had chats with someone of late as we were witnessing.

[37:05] You know, oh, well, maybe he didn't really, he didn't really die. He didn't really get resurrected. And, you know, I tried to appeal to them.

[37:16] Look, here's a man. Flogged a, you know, he was a living dead man as he was there before the cross. As they flogged his flesh like ribbons. His bruising.

[37:29] The crowns thrust upon him and bashed into his scalp. The bleeding, the scarring, the nails, the piercing of hands and feet.

[37:40] The thrusting of a spear inside. Laying in a tomb for three days. And he would somehow come out as if he kind of just resuscitated.

[37:52] No way. He couldn't have staggered out of that tomb as a resuscitated man. He was dead. He was clearly dead. He was clinically dead. He was proven to be dead by the thrusting of the spear.

[38:05] And friends, the resurrection is a fact. Jesus is a fact. The resurrection is a fact. So you've got to deal with that. You've got to deal with what he said. And answer to him. We will all answer to him.

[38:17] Friends, there's a poll taken by a stat expert called George Barner. And he took this poll of 10,000 churches. He asked about their budgets.

[38:29] And as to what percentage of new converts were led to Christ that year. And this stat person, he said, according to the figures, it cost $330,000 for one person to come to Christ.

[38:44] And that's the extent they spent all this money, but there was very little to show for it. $30,000 for one convert. Why is this so?

[38:56] Because the church is wasting its money. It's not putting the money into the gospel. We want to do that here. The gospel must be preached. Friends, truth has fallen in the streets. We can't stop.

[39:09] We cannot but tell. We must tell others. We must spread this message. It's essential. And this saviour, his saving grace, it's no longer offered.

[39:24] The message of salvation is missing, sadly missing, many churches across our land. And there's a lot of money spent and wasted. We don't want to do that.

[39:34] We don't want to waste any cent. Once then, there's a preacher who put it like this, talking about truth. He said, what is the truth? Truth says that all of us are sinners. What is the truth?

[39:45] The truth is that sinners are lost. What is the truth? The truth is Jesus Christ became sin. He was the perfect substitute, accepted by God. On the cross, he bore our sins.

[39:57] In his body, on the tree. What is the truth? The truth is that Christ was buried, and our sins were buried with him. What is the truth? The truth is that Christ rose from the dead, and he lives forever at the right hand of God.

[40:14] What is the truth? The truth is that Christ is coming back to earth to, again, receive all of his own to himself. What is the truth? When he comes, it says, the graves will be opened.

[40:25] It says, the dead in Christ shall rise first and meet the Lord in the air. What is the truth? The truth is that those whose bodies have decayed in the grave shall become like the Lord Jesus. And those of us who live at his coming and are saved, will be caught up and meet him in the air.

[40:40] What is the truth? In order to go to heaven, you've got to, you must, you must receive Christ as your personal saviour. What is the truth? The truth is if you get born again, you receive Christ by faith as your saviour.

[40:55] You have salvation. The truth is you can be saved this morning. What is the truth? If you, right where you are, would acknowledge the fact that you're a sinner, that Christ died for your sins, receive him, trust him, believe in him personally as your saviour, as your sacrifice, as your hope for heaven.

[41:20] You can be saved now, today, in an eye blink. What is the truth? You could walk out of that door with your name in heaven if you would trust the saviour today.

[41:31] That is the truth. It's the truth. I don't want to leave anyone with a false impression. I could be preaching to you morning, noon and night and midweek and you could go to hell.

[41:42] Friends, there's a hell and there's a heaven. And the only way to heaven is Jesus Christ. Trust in him. Know him. Call upon him. Believe in Jesus. Here's the way. The truth and the life.

[41:54] Here's the truth that matters. So I urge you, each one, to that personal faith. Friends, the truth is the cross. The truth is not for the faint hearted. The Bible is filled with these messages.

[42:06] The message is a warning. It says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. That's a fearful thing. These are truths not to trifle with.

[42:16] You know, I like to be a little light hearted and a little warm in how I present the message. But this is no joke. This is not some funny story.

[42:27] This is not amusing. It's cold. It's hard. It's harsh. It's serious. It's telling. It's not to be trifled with. Friends, this one day we're going to face the living God.

[42:41] And I urge you to get right with him. I urge you. I stand with you. I need to likewise be in that right state. We must receive the truth.

[42:51] That's the point. And friends, the good news is this, that if we receive the truth, he's going to set us free. He's going to make us free. It says the Lord Jesus, he says, if you continue in my word, you're my disciples indeed.

[43:04] Truly my disciples. And you shall know the truth. You shall know it. And the truth shall make you free. Praise him. So urging you today, he will set you free.

[43:18] Whom the sun sets free is free indeed. Let's pray. Our Lord, we thank you for your word. It's true. For your coming.

[43:29] We know it's true. It's certain. And it's sure. And it's certainly surer and clearer. And sooner than it was before we started today. Lord, Lord, we pray. Dear God.

[43:41] That we'll be a prepared people. Lord, for your salvation is true. There's no other way. Lord, we ask you. Lord, we ask you. We ask you. Help us to be not deceived.

[43:51] But to be rather enlightened with your word. That is the truth. Lord, help us to be not afraid. To defend it. To stand upon it.

[44:02] And to be more firmly minded of it. That will take time with your word. To learn it. By your spirit's power.

[44:14] To open it to our understanding. Lord, we pray for every soul here. Lord, we know we're in a world that is run by the... In the temporary sense of it. By the father of lies.

[44:25] There's lies everywhere we see. There's churches and preachers lying. There's programs that lie to us. There's in government. Lord, we can't always know what is true.

[44:38] But we do know that you are true. Let God be true. And every man a liar. Lord, help us to be... To know you. You are the truth. You are the truth. Lord, we thank you for that.

[44:50]  In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.