Temple Baptist Church - 7-27-2014
1 Timothy 3:15
Introduction:
A. For the 4th of July, I preached on one of the things that I fear: “Ruling A Nation Without God.” We are there! Our government and nation are quickly turning away from its spiritual roots as America has become polytheistic with Christianity becoming more and more maligned and persecuted.
B. This morning, I want to look at another in the series “Things I Fear:” “Churches Without Truth.” Church, as we knew it as children, is virtually a thing of the past with few churches holding fast the traditional way of worship. Today’s “churches” are quickly turning to contemporary worship services so as to attract the world because traditional churches are diminishing in numbers and popularity.
C. There is a reason for the diminishing of biblical churches and worship services. It is the end time with the religious system of the false prophet coming together where everything is accepted as Christianity and truth is rejected. The “falling away” of 2 Thessalonians is in full swing as the Old Paths along with the old bible, the King James, are being rejected as old-fashioned and archaic. The Lord Jesus is coming and we that are saved are leaving.
D. In the average local church of our day, there is a lack of biblical truth. There are three main reasons for this lack of biblical truth:
1. Satanic Attack upon Biblical Truth - Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (Satan hates God; Satan hates the Bible; and Satan hates God’s children.)
Psalms 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
2. The Rejection of Biblical Truth - 2 Timothy 4:2-3 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (The world does not want to hear God’s word as they once did. Sinners once came to church to hear and many were gloriously converted. Today, sinners want to find a church that will build their self-esteem and make them feel comfortable and good about themselves.)
3. A Lack of Biblical Truth - 2 Peter 2:1-3 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (3) And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (There are many charlatan preachers who are in the preaching “business” for popularity and monetary gain. I would not like to be in their shoes!)
E. Today’s churches have:
1. Churches have traded Preaching for Programs
2. Churches have traded Conviction for Compromise
3. Churches have traded Revivals for Seminars
4. Churches have traded Wed. Night Services for Family Nights
5. Churches have traded Prayer Rooms for Family "Life" Centers
6. Churches have traded Salvation for Church Membership
7. Churches have traded God's Word for Man's Reasoning
8. Churches have traded Preaching for Philosophy
9. Churches have traded the King James Bible for Perverted Translations
10. Churches have traded Sanctification for Worldly Identification.
F. The rejection of truth in today’s churches is the satanic attack upon the word of God, which began in Genesis 3, continues in liberal churches. I want to look at truth in light of what the bible says about it and not what man thinks about it.
G. Rejection of biblical truth is devastating because faith is foundational to the salvation, spiritual growth, and evangelization. If what we have is truth, then:
1. Truth must be Singular. Psalms 12:6-7 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. (Where is this preserved word of God? It is the King James Bible. Things that are different are not the same. Today’s confusion is caused by the myriad of so called bibles that are available and promoted. If you don’t like what you read, just get another kind. The King James Bible is the proven one and for almost 300 years, the only one! Because it is singular, it inspires confidence instead of creating doubt. It is the word of God!)
2. Truth must be Authoritative. Titus 2:15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. (Argue with it if you wish but it is the word of God and it will judge you one day! We live in a rebellious society which still cries, “We will not have this man to reign over us.”)
3. Truth must be Foundational. Psalms 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (God’s people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge and the local church is the pillar and ground of the truth! Most churches reject the King James Bible and, when they do so, everything else begins to spiritually decline.)
4. Truth must be Narrow Minded. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (This verse is narrow minded! Bible believers are often labeled as narrow minded people and we are. God’s word is concise, precise, and leaves no room for disagreement. It leaves no room for opinion. I have an opinion and you have an opinion but God has no opinion. He has truth!)
5. Truth will be Convictive. Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? (The word of God is unpopular because it exposes sinfulness and shows us what manner of person that we are. When the bible is preached and truth set forth, men must either repent of sin and come to Christ or turn away from the truth and be eternally lost.)
James 1:23-24 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
6. Truth will remain Unchanging. Psalms 12:6-7 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. (7) Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
(I hate to quote her but Judge Judy says often, “If you tell the truth, you don’t need a good memory.” God’s truth, found in the King James Bible, is unchanging. In my lifetime, there have been many false bibles produced. These new versions are from a perverted text which therefore birth a perverted bible. God’s word is eternal and will never fail. We have the word of truth.)
1. Truth must be recognized as such. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. (Before the word of God can effectually work in the heart of the unsaved or scripturally ground the believer, it must be recognized as the word of God and not the work of faulty man! This is not just a translation that I hold in my hand; it is the word of God!)
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
2. Truth must be magnified instead of minimized. Psalms 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (When we uphold the King James Bible, we are referred to as “majoring on a minor.” When has God’s Word become a minor in the churches? It is the fundamental basis for our salvation and all that we believe! Such maligning of bible believers is satanic and divisive! I have had people stand in this church and say that some men worship a book. We do not worship ink and paper. This is not just a “book!” This bible contains the very words of God! We magnify the word of God and uphold it as the final authority for faith and practice.)
3. Truth must be systematically taught. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (Most sermons today must be homiletically correct and preferredly alliterated! Men work more on alliteration than they do on rightly dividing, expositionally preaching, and scripturally comparing verse with verse. The emphasis is on design and not doctrine making their messages shallow. The desired end result of all preaching and teaching is doctrinal grounding and edification of the believers.)
Isaiah 28:9-14a Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. (10) For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: (11) For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. (12) To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. (13) But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. (14) Wherefore hear the word of the LORD!
4. Truth must be strictly adhered to. Luke 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. (Denominationalism is manmade, not God made. There as so many denominations because of men making the scripture back up their peculiar doctrines instead of conforming their doctrines to the scriptures thus bringing about the religious confusion that you find in the Bible Belt. We must make no effort to explain away the scripture in order to prove a point or uphold a doctrine. We must compare scripture with scripture and rightly divide the word of truth.)
Psalms 119:1-6 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. (2) Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. (3) They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. (4) Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. (5) O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! (6) Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. (The 119th Psalm contains 175 verses that magnify the word of God and set forth its importance in the life of the believer. It sets forth the rewards of adherence to God’s Word!)
5. Truth must be universally shared. Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Every creature needs a preacher! In Acts 1:8, our Lord declared that the filling of the believer WILL bring forth the sharing of the gospel both at home and abroad. The believer is spiritually responsible for the sharing of the Word of God with this lost world. We hold the truth in our hands this morning and, if we do not share the truth that makes the sinner free, we “do not well!” I had the oil changed in our old blue van the other day and, while waiting, gave a tract to everyone in the waiting room. Barbara and I sat and watched every one of them read that gospel tract from beginning to end. They may never come to Temple Baptist Church but they have been exposed to the truth that makes men free through the finished work of Calvary!)
Conclusion: Too many of today’s churches have left the truth, not lost it. Leaving the truth is a willful act and the spiritual consequences are being manifest across our nation and around the world as just a few men once “turned the world upside down.” Let us hold the truth with a clear conscience lest we let it slip!
