Can We Trust the TRUTH?
How confident are we that Jesus really resurrected from the dead?
There have been times when I have struggled to believe the TRUTH.
Maybe you have too.
No one likes to speak about this because we fear it makes us look unreliable, wishy-washy in our faith, & weak.
Today, I want to speak the TRUTH as God has revealed it to me through His Word.
The Jews (in that day) did not expect their Messiah to die.
The Jews (in that day) did not expect their Messiah to rise again (from the dead).
The Jews (in that day) would never believe the word of “a woman.”
- However, that’s exactly what occurred.
- However, that’s exactly what God did.
- However, that’s exactly what our Messiah did that early morning.
- However, that’s exactly how God reveals the TRUTH of Jesus’ resurrection to the world—first to the women who run and share the news with the eleven disciples.
“and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, [the angels sent by God to the empty tomb]
‘Why do you seek the living One among the dead?
He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,
saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’
And they remembered his words,
and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles.
But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.”
(Luke 24: 5-11)
- Critics of Christianity often argue that the early followers of Jesus made up the whole scene.
- Unbelievers of Christ’s resurrection struggle to SEE the TRUTH of God’s Son.
- Skeptics of God, think the Bible is just a “nice” book, like any other worldly book.
If we look into a mirror at our reflection, what do we see?
Do we see what we wish to see, or do we see the truth?
Do we see what we wish to see and what we hope others see when they look at us?
If we listen to a recording of ourselves, have we ever thought, ‘That does not even sound like me,” and hear another say, ‘That sounds just like you.”
Do we hear what we wish to hear the truth?
Do we hear what we wish to hear and what we hope others hear when they hear our voice?
Are we saved once and for all?
We believe that we are—saved forevermore.
Are we capable of doubting our salvation?
I believe that we are—faced with the wiles of the devil every single day.
Are we being continually saved from our own sinful self—day-by-day-by-day-by-day, until we arrive home in heaven?
We believe that we are—continually sanctified by the Father as we walk through life with the Son of God and led by the Holy Spirit of God.
How we look at life changes once we know Father God.
God gives us the ability to see life, to see others, and to see ourselves in a whole new way.
We are able to see people based upon two distinct categories: Saved & Not Yet Saved.
We are able to see people in these categories, based upon what others say, do, and believe about the LORD.
Yet, when we were babies, we had to grow in body, as well as thinking and maturity.
When we accept Jesus Christ as Savior, we instantly and miraculously ARE MADE BRAND NEW!
- Then we begin to grow.
- Then we begin to study God’s Word.
- Then we begin to talk with and listen to God.
- Then we begin to walk our life-long journey with Jesus.
- Then we begin to be led by God’s Holy Spirit.
We are miraculously changed forevermore; yet sanctification (spiritual growth) is a process.
Godly understanding and Godly wisdom do not just arrive into our brain. No, we must begin to pray, to see God, and to grow.
We begin to see ourselves as in a mirror, as God sees us.
We begin to hear our spoken words and our unspoken thoughts, as God hears us.
And we begin to change.
We begin a beautification process, one where we have the opportunity to look like our Savior, to become more beautiful, more like Jesus, day-by-day.
We begin a beautification process, one where we have the opportunity to sound like our Savior, to speak the words of Jesus more and more and more.
The apostle Paul understood the significant change. He was just walking through life, going from town to town, doing what he was paid to do—arrest and torture and sometimes stand by as the Christians were stoned for their professed heresy. Then one day, as he walked toward Damascus, suddenly He encountered the Son of God. Immediately, Paul was blinded by the brightness of the light of God, and that was the moment Paul heard God speak to his soul.
We see what we want to see & We hear what we want to hear.
Even when the women reported what they saw when they reached the tomb of Jesus, that same tomb where they saw the Roman guards place the dead body of Jesus, that same tomb where they saw those same guards roll the heavy stone into place, blocking the entryway–it was true what the women saw!
The women knew what they saw.
The women knew what they heard.
The women stood at the foot of the cross, and they saw Jesus die.
How do we STOP seeing & How do we STOP hearing WHAT we want to SEE & HEAR?
WE TRUST GOD!
Last evening, a very beautiful person spoke those words to me.
“I stopped doubting, and I started TRUSTING that Jesus saved me.”
A simple statement of HUGE SIGNIFICANCE.
- Can We Trust the TRUTH of God?
- Can We Trust the TRUTH of the resurrection of Jesus?
- Can We Trust the TRUTH of our Savior Jesus Christ when He tells us:
“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light”
(Matthew 11: 28-30)
Can WE Trust the TRUTH of God?
I believe we can.
Other Christians believe . . . we can!
The prophet Jeremiah records these words of our God.
“Thus says the LORD, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;
but let him who boast—boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the LORD.”
(Jeremiah 9: 23-24)
We can know God because of His grace.
That—Alone—is where our confidence Begins & Remains.
We can Trust the TRUTH of God!
Third Day sings a most beautiful melody called “Born Again.” Today, we should pause to listen.
“It feels like I’m born again
It feels like I’m living—for the very first time
For the very first time.
It feels like I’m breathing
Feels like I’m moving—for the very first time
For the very first time.
I wasn’t looking for something that was more
Then what I had yesterday
Then You came to me and You gave to me
Life and a love that I’ve never known that I never felt before.
“It feels like I’m born again
It feels like I’m living—for the very first time
I’m living for the first time.
It feels like I’m breathing
Feels like I’m moving—for the very first time
I’m living for the first time—in my life.”
We Can TRUST the TRUTH of God Because God Did Send His Son to Us!
We Can TRUST the TRUTH of God Because Jesus Did Die to Provide the Only Way for Us to Be Saved & to Know God!
We Can TRUST the TRUTH of Jesus’ Resurrection from the Dead Because God Did Raise Jesus!
We Can TRUST the TRUTH of Jesus’ Ascension to Heaven Because Jesus Promises Us—He Will Come Again—For Us—& God is the Father of TRUTH!
Can We Trust the TRUTH of God?
YES! YES—WE CAN!