What is truth? (Part 2) John 18: 37-38 37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then?

Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. Why did Jesus come into the world? In obedience of the Father/For the purpose of salvation- to redeem a people/to bind the broken hearted and set the captive free/Fulfillment of the prophecies/ all of those statements are true and can be confirmed by scripture. Jesus gives us a very clear statement of His purpose. He said He came to bear witness or testify to the truth. Where does a person testify? If I told you I had to go testify on Monday where would you think I was going? You would probabllt get the idea that I was in a court. Notice where Jesus is when He says these words. He is standing before a Roman official who has the authority of a judge. NAS: For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. If you were with us when we began John, and if you have been with us as we have been going through the book of John you may recall that I have mentioned numerous times that truth is one of the re-occurring themes of John. The Gospel of John uses the word love often and it using the word truth very often. For example, Jesus uses the words Verily, verily (in the KJV) or better translation would be truly, truly some 25 times in the book of John. John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. Isaiah 59:14 Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And uprightness cannot enter. From a philosophical standpoint, we have as a culture has sought freedom but is in more bondage that ever. In many ways, the philosophically point where the western world stands is due to the reaction to the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was inspired by the math and science of the 16th century. These discoveries led many to begin to think in new ways. They

found that the world was not flat- that the earth was not the center of the universe. Discoveries like these led the thinkers of that day to begin to question everything. The enlightenment is not a set of doctrines nor does it have a solid, definable teaching but rather, it seems to me, that the enlightenment brought a way or manner of thinking. I would call it skepticism. There is a healthy skepticism that is necessary for the pursuit of truth and there is an unhealthy skepticism. The unhealthy skepticism is a rejection of everything- even those things which are true- for the purpose of building a new way of thought & life on a new foundation. That new foundation is the human mind. There is great faith and reliance on the ability of man to think and to reason. The enlightenment produced a philosophy that the human mind was not only capable of understanding and harnessing the powers of the universe but also could be the guide for life and for society. The confidence in the human mind became so great that any other source of supposed authority was highly questioned. Basically reason alone became the guide and anything else is either rejected or viewed with a high degree of skepticism. This includes tradition and of course, religion. Prior to the enlightenment human reason was governed by Gods revelation but now reason was set in contrast to faith and in contrast to religion. In an effort to free themselves thy rebelled against from the Catholic Church and the monarchy. The enlightenment was to produce a new age that would take man into the future- a future of constant improvement and growth. As man was now free from the old regimes and the old, dated ways of thinking he would progress into a superman-who could wield his power to bring nature into submission to him. Technology and science would solve all his problems and alleviate all suffering and unhappiness. Individual freedom and personal pleasure become the pursuits of people and societies. This then led to the destruction of families and traditional roles with the advent of feminism and other ideas. Almost everyone agrees that the Enlightenment was a failure. Life did not become more secure nor society- despite the social engineering and more choices on the store shelf- more safe nor people more happ.. Furthermore, the rejection of all religious thought has left people unsatisfied. Within America, there is the southern culture which is anti-intellectual. Many of us tend to say that these things do not matter. Why should I care if there is post-Modernism or postChristianity? Why do I care? Do you have children? Or grandchildren? Do you desire that they repent and believe in order to be saved? Then you should be concerned. Modernity refers to the idea of being modern. This is more than just technology and conveniences but also includes the way culture thinks and behaves. Technology produced greater conveniences- faster travel- more access to information but the culture really has not improved and in fact morality has gotten worse. In many ways, modernity- which is the culmination of Western thought- has failed. Now we live in what many call a post-modern society. We can see the effects of these ideas on almost every area of society. For ex., modernity was brought into the workplace. Womens rights said that the woman was equal to men and that

has now led us to believe that women are not just equal but they are the same as men. This has caused women to abandon their roles as mother and wife and now pursue the same conquests of money and power that the lost man pursues. As women have become sexually liberated they are now no longer considered special- no longer consider to be worthy of honor and respect but have become mere means to the end of pleasure for men. And also now, the liberated, equal woman can pursue her pleasures as she desires as well. We once called a man who pursued sexual relations outside of marriage a philanderer. Now women who pursue the same pleasures of the flesh outside of marriage and the culture call her a cougar. The Bible still calls them both adulterers and fornicators. This has destroyed the family. Children are now just accessories and often are a nuisance. They are thrown around and abused and neglected. Children (like women now) are not thought of as special or needing the care and protection of men. Or they are murdered at the abortion clinic. Sometime they are murdered by their mother after their birth. You see if there is no God, then there is no truth and life does not matter. Philosophy- once subject to theology- became free & having no basis to anchor to is jettisoned into the great void of nothingness. . Before you say you do not care- I ask you again- do you have people you love you are under the age of 30? Then you better care. And even if you have no children or grandchildren be aware that in the next few years these generations will be running your country and making the decisions that will affect your life. Post-modernism says that the enlightenment has failure. Postmodernism says that the freedoms that the Enlightenment & modernism was only given to a few (mostly white males) and all others are oppressed. Women- blacks- homosexuals- short people are all oppressed and deserve to live the life that they desire. Capitalism which was to bring freedom to the masses through equal opportunity was a sham. It only served to make the rich richer and the poor poorer they say. So they embrace the Communist idea of taking the wealth of the rich and middle class and redistributing it equally. This is exactly what the nationalized health care is about and so many other social programs. Tax everyone- that is take money from the people who work & give the money to those who do not. This is a Marxist idea of the redistribution of wealth. Now, want to know why young people would overwhelming vote for someone like Obama & and think it is ok to take from people who work for a living and give to those who do not? Because they have been infected with post-modernists ideas and they have become (unknowingly) Marxists and Socialists. I pray now you see how these ideas have a real effect in the world we live in. This is how a society can justify abortion for the sake of scientific research. Here is the logic: We will take stem cells for an unborn fetus and use those cells to heal people who have medical conditions. So now we live in a society that will kill an unborn baby so that an 80 year old man will not have to lose his eye sight to macular degeneration! Do not misunderstand. I am sympathetic to the plight and suffering of the elderly. But I think it is evil and ridiculous to kill a baby so an old man can be happier. Evil!

You see if reason was to liberate us from the oppressive ideas of God and the unscientific ideas of religion and reason has failed, then what is left? The post-modernists tell us that the only thing that is left is pure skepticism. Now, we (according to them) are not sure that anything can be known or if there is anything that can be known to be true. From this comes the denial of what they would call a meta-narrative. Listen please. The idea that all truth is relative and subjective means that there is no one unifying story of humanity nor is there one unifying truth. Truth itself has been destroyed. Wonder why it is now ok to murder your baby? Or why it is ok to euthanize grandma? Why is it ok for 2 men or 2 women to be married or a man and a monkey or a woman and a cow? The reason why our society is rapidly moving in these directions is because the actions of the individual are no longer influenced by objective truth but by preference and convenience. If truth is dead than to quote that Luciferian Aleister Crowley Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I will not be surprised if tomorrow someone shows up at the courthouse seeking to marry their dog. Why not? You see when a society rejects the foundation of truth it is a downward spiral into all sorts of hellishness. And that is what an entire generation of people have been taught to believe. Do what you want. Nothing is true and everything is possible. Jer. 7:28 But thou shalt say unto them, This [is] a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. Personal responsibility has been destroyed. During the 20th century we went from using the word sin to calling transgressions of Gods law a sickness. You see if there is no God then there cn be no law. It was at the same time that Psychology no longer considered homosexuality to be an aberrant mental illness. Now we are in a culture where no one is responsible for their own actions. If someone like Jeffery Dahmer wants to sodomize, murder and eat people it is not because he is wicked but it is because society, religion and his parents have oppressed him. If Muslims fly airplanes into buildings to kill their enemies it is not because they are under the deception of demons by a false religion with a false world-view it is because western nations have oppressed them. The blame game is literally one of the oldest games in the book. We can trace it back to the first sin in Genesis. Adam blames the woman and Eve blames the serpent. The post-modern interpretation makes the serpent the hero who comes into the garden to liberate Adam and Eve from the oppressive rule of a dictatorial God. <free to go to hell> <expand & work on the results of this freedom> Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. Pilate posed a question: What is truth? But notice the manner in which Pilate asked the question. He said: What is truth? and he walks away. Furthermore, Jesus had already told him what truth was. Jesus said that His own words were truth. Pilate states the question rhetorically and walks away. Pilate shows that he was not concerned and did not care about truth. There is nothing new under the sun. So it is with the hearts and minds of people today. Truth means nothing to them.

Look at our youth. Look at the way young people dress today. I am not even talking about the lack of modesty of I am talking about how they dress the same. The wear the same type of clothes- if they did not have heads you could not tell the boys from the girls. And they dress very slouchy- they take no pride in their appearance. You see them in Walmart with their pajamas on. Furthermore, they alter their appearance. They think that they now can even re-make the way that they look. They alter their appearance in rebellion to being made in the image of God they seek to remake themselves in their own image. They mar and obscure the image of God with their alterations. It is in rebellion and denial of God. And you might say: What does this have to do with truth? Everything. You see, if there is no God then there is no truth. If there is no truth then life becomes unlivable. Nothing matters- not the way we look or feel or act. When life becomes unlivable everyone will just pursue the passions of their own wicked nature and it will ultimately destroy them. Without God there is no truth and there is no ultimate purpose to life. All that is left is the avoidance of that which is unpleasant, the pursuit of that which is pleasant. And when your pleasure conflicts with my pleasure then the one who is able to assert his will will rule and have his way. The German philosopher Nietzsche was right. If God is dead there is no good and evil. If God is dead then men become god and the man who is able to have his way will be the God. But furthermore, in the end even this will not matter all is meaningless and there is nothing but despair and emptiness. Consider please Alexander the Great- Aristotle was his personal tutor. He was very intelligent. He won battle after battle. His kingdom stretched from the border of India to Egypt to Greece. At the age of 33 he catches a fever and spends his last days drunken in his tent until he dies. Tragic and wasted was his life. Power and victory brought him no satisfaction. And consider also the writings of Solomon. He had all the wealth that a man could ever want and he was unsatisfied. At the end of his life he labeled the pursuit of pleasure as vanity- wasted time. Pilate flippantly dismisses truth and the person of Jesus. He literally turns his back on God and upon truth- and he goes to his own destruction. It is the same today. Facts- evidence- TRUTHare ignored by the masses of humanity. And when they ignore truth they are ignoring God. Without a standard for truth there is no truth. Consider please the idea of good. When we say something is good we have a standard. What is the ultimate basis for that standard? It must be perfection. And when we say something is true there must be an ultimate, absolute standard for truth. That standard is God. Remove God and you remove the standard. Remove the standard and there is no basis for truth. Without a basis or standard then truth is relative and there really is no such thing as truth. And if there is no truth then Do whatever you want shall be the law. You want to have sex outside of marriage-then go ahead. You got pregnant but you dont want a baby now- then abort it- after all it is your body! You are dissatisfied with reality then drink or do drugs to escape and have the state or someone else pay for it. Do what you want. And now we have a generation that will not take responsibility for itself- that is lazy and that does whatever it wants and does not care about anything or anyone else.

What is truth? That is the ultimate question and how you answer that question determines not only how you live but where you will spend eternity. Jesus says Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. Do you hear the voice of Christ? Jesus says: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) Without truth, life is not possible and life is not livable. Without truth there is no meaning or purpose. All that can be left is a cynical outlook on life. No hope. Truth is necessary. In order for there to be truth there must be a standard. That standard can only be found in God.