“The Truth Is Big Enough for All of
Us” By Chris Ulrich March 21st,
2010 Psalms 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof… So what exactly does ‘the truth is big enough for all of us,’ mean? It means that everyone could be doing the will of God and that would be how God intended it from the beginning. The truth is all-inclusive and all-encompassing but that doesn’t mean everyone is obeying it. It reaches across time and space and deals with everyone who ever lived. God’s truth doesn’t stifle us. It prospers and strengthens us. It is not God’s will that any should perish, but that all would come to the knowledge of the truth. Some people talk about how much worse it is now than, say, a hundred years ago. Today people question the accuracy of the Bible, and that’s one of the things we’re going to talk about. This message had three parts: 1)
What
is
truth? 2)
Christianity
does not stunt our growth. 3)
In
a world
of lies, there is still one Truth. What is truth? So what is truth? God exists. Heaven and hell exist. The Bible is true. And we’re all going to stand before God one day. We need to be born-again of the water and spirit. It doesn’t get any more plain and simple than that. Do we really believe all that? First of all, we have to believe it before we’ll live it. And not everybody is going to believe it. When I first got baptized, I sent out a bunch of letters explaining Biblical truth to a lot of different people; I got one letter back, and it didn’t even pertain to the letter that I had sent out. John 18:36-38 …What is truth? … We’re of the truth. God gets our attention in a variety of ways. Sometimes it’s the beauty of the world around us, sometimes it’s a tragedy; and sometimes it’s just His still, small voice speaking to us. We can choose to listen or we can choose to ignore but it’s undeniable despite those who disclaim that. Titus 2:11-13 …hath appeared unto all men… Do we really believe that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all? Or has the world convinced us that God hasn’t reached some tribes, or peoples, or that entire nations have never heard of Jesus Christ? Because when people can make those claims and have an audience that agrees with them as though it were gospel, then they can make excuses for their own behavior. The truth is that even if I’m the only one who has heard of Jesus Christ and He’s telling me to live right and to tell others as well, then it’s now my responsibility to live right and tell others as well. I know that’s a bit of an exaggerated point, but sometimes we’re outnumbered and we might be the only one at the time in a certain gathering in a certain place who really does know God. Then it’s still our responsibility to live right and tell others. Galatians
5:1 …Christ
hath made us free… Christianity does
not stunt our growth. So who actually thinks that Christianity stunts our growth? There are obviously certain behaviors and certain practices in this life which God strictly forbids. This message isn’t designed to cover all the “do’s and don’ts.” But sometimes the world wants us to believe that we are missing out on the “grown-up fun.” The Bible says, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” These battles are real otherwise it wouldn’t be worth mentioning. James 1:2-4, 12 …endureth temptation… This is a challenging lifestyle. The Bible talks about how we die daily and that to live is Christ, and death is gain. And when we don’t give in to every whim and temptation that comes along sometimes the world looks at us as though we’re close-minded. It takes a lot of discipline and a lot of faith to keep doing that which is right in the eyes of the God, but a waste of time in the eyes of the world. But when we can look back on our life and not have any regrets about choosing to live for God we are anything but stunted. Our goal isn’t to copycat the world but to follow the leading of the Holy Ghost. But if we don’t have a discernment of what discretion is or how to behave, and I’m not being critical of that, then we should be asking God to guide us. Ask God to not only be a witness for Him, but ask Him how to do and say the right things, how to handle finances, how to have a good work-ethic, how to socialize and evangelize. There’s nothing wrong with asking God to help with both spiritual and physical matters. Matthew 10:16 …be ye therefore wise as serpents… Remember Job? He got beat down by God a few times, but it’s important to develop a good work ethic. Don’t act foolishly. In a world of lies,
there is still one Truth. Ephesians 4:5-6 One Lord, one faith, one baptism… Knowing that God’s truth is big enough for everybody doesn’t mean that everybody is interested or willing to live according to God’s guidelines. Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth into life, and few there be that find it. 1
John 3:18-23
…in deed and
in truth… Our adversaries like to discredit God or the Bible, and we spend a lot of time on defensive. That’s okay; that’s called defending the Gospel. But when we are convinced enough of what we believe, meaning that we believe that God exists, heaven and hell are real, the Bible is true, and that we’re all going to stand before God one day, then, we can go on the offensive, and put Satan on the run. That’s called getting saved, staying saved, and seeing other souls saved. There are four points that I want to make, in closing: 1) We need to strive to enter into God’s truth, strive to enter at the straight gate, not simply think that we can live any way we choose and it will be acceptable. 2) The word of God doesn’t cater to anyone and is unbending. But God loves us and his will is that none would be perish and that all would be saved. 3) Everybody could be in the truth, but not everybody chooses to be 4) Just because the truth is big enough for all of us doesn’t mean we’ll always get our way, but it does mean that we will have victory at the end of this life. Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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