The Infinite Truth Of The Gospel

• Dictionary.com definitions - truth

1.	the true or actual state of a matter: He tried to find out the truth.

2.	conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.

3.	a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.

4.	the state or character of being true.

5.	actuality or actual existence.

6.	an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.

7.	honesty; integrity; truthfulness.

8.	(often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life.

9.	agreement with a standard or original.

10.	accuracy, as of position or adjustment.

11.	Archaic. fidelity or constancy.

—Idiom

12.	in truth, in reality; in fact; actually: In truth, moral decay hastened the decline of the Roman Empire.

13.  Faith, in faith

GR - alētheia

Pronunciation ä-lā'-thā-ä (Key)

outline of Biblical Usage

1) objectively

a) what is true in any matter under consideration

1) truly, in truth, according to truth

2) of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly

b) what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth

1) in the greatest latitude

2) the true notions of God which are open to human reason without his supernatural intervention

c) the truth as taught in the Christian religion, respecting God and the execution of his purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposing alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles and the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers even among Christians

2) subjectively

a) truth as a personal excellence

1) that candour of mind which is free from affection, pretence, simulation, falsehood, deceit

John 4:23  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (aletheia).

1. Samaritan woman at well
2. Jesus’ introduction into His Ministry
3. He speaks to her in terms she understands – she knew Jewish law
4. speaks of her (our) responsibility – worship in TRUTH

from the heart, for real, genuine,  - Jesus said: you will love God with all heart, mind, soul and love your neighbor as yourself.

John 8:32 - And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free

• You will know what is real and good (the way that God thinks) - THAT will give you the license to do what God would do – will chng. way you look at situations & the way you act & react

John 14:6    ⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth (aletheia), and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me

• Jesus calls Himself The Truth
• Consider: Moses asking God who he should say gave him instructions (burn Bush) God said my name is ” I Am” (implied all in all or everything)
• God describes Himself as what we would call “good Character traits”

1 John 4:8 (Amplified Bible)

⁸He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love.

Describes self as “truth, Love – all things good”

Philippians 4:7-9 (King James Version)

  ⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
 ⁹Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Meditate in dictionary = think to employ or engage your mind, renew

·         Many places Word (God) tells us to meditate on Word

·         Romans 12:1-2

 ¹I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  ²And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

·         Joshua 1:8  This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good ^[a]success.

(meditation on Word said by God to be secret of success)

·         Psalms 1:2,4:4, 19:14, 39:3 and many, many others tell us to meditate on The Word in Old Testament and New

·         Solomon said when charged with building the house of God:

2 Chronicles 2:6    ⁶But who is able to build Him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain Him? Who am I to build Him a house, except as a place to burn incense in worship before Him?

           

·         Truth is infinite – man can’t contain or harness God (Truth) man can only know it the Truth  (God wants relationship with man)

 

2 Chronicles3:5-9   ⁵And the greater house (the Holy Place) he lined with cypress and overlaid it with fine gold and made palm trees and chains on it. ⁶And he adorned the house with precious stones for beauty; and the gold was gold of Parvaim. ⁷He lined the house (the Holy Place), its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls.   ⁸He made the Most Holy Place, its length equaling the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; he overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold. ⁹The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he lined the upper chambers with gold

·         Truth is precious – can’t be bought, we can try but our efforts are finite especially when compared with God.

·       Jesus tells us to meditate on The Word. John1:1 tells us Jesus is the Word and God

·       God thru Paul tells us in Rom 12:1-2 to renew our minds or meditate on the Word

·       God thru Paul also tells us to think about all things good (God-Jesus-Word Of God)

·       It is apparent that Jesus speaks truth because He IS The Truth .He says to Meditate on the truths He speaks into our lives and meditate on the fact that He Is Truth

Luke 6

1.       Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath        (vs 1 -11)

a)       Edges of fields not harvested By farmer – left for travelers and poor (Duet. 23:25 Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28)

b)      God created the Sabbath for man’s benefit.  So he can recharge – spiritually as well as physically.

c)       Not harvesting or doing daily work on Sabbath, simply eating.

d)      God concerned about what people SHOULD be doing (advancing His Kingdom) on Sabbath – Pharisees concerned with what they said man SHOULDN’T be doing (following rules. Not necessarily helping fellow man).

e)      Jesus cleverly trapped them (of course) by reminding them that their king - David and his men  used the sacred Bread Of The Presence for their food when they were in need fleeing from Saul. (1 Samuel 21:1-6) – man’s need more import than set of rules as long as Kingdom being advanced.

f)       By Jesus saying He was “Lord of the Sabbath” He was saying He created it and could thus overrule their dogma. The creation is never greater than The Creator – He was indeed overruling the Pharisees.

g)      Religious leaders used man with withered hand to try to trap Jesus - didn't care about helping man with withered hand.

h)      Jesus’ point was is there is ever a wrong time to show compassion or do good?

i)        The Pharisees zeal for the Law made them plot murder – clearly against the Law. 

·         Started plotting His death

·         Danger already starting for Jesus

·         Always in prayer – sustain strength – dangerous times – critical decisions

j)        Chose disciples as a man – stayed connected, seek God’s counsel like we all must

·         Disciples were  students who followed teacher

2.       Blessings and Woes       (vs 17 – 26)

a)      From now on Jesus includes disciples in everything He does.

b)      Beatitudes not a list of “don't s”, but is a list of “dos” with implied consequences, hope and encouragement.

c)       Teaching about spiritual matters – not military. People thought Messiah would be military leader.

d)     Some think this is same “Sermon On The Mount” as recorded in Matthew (maybe so – I don't think so. Luke says “on a level place”). I think Jesus prob. taught this message many times.  He was an itinerant preacher. Always on move.

e)      People thought they coming to be healed. Most only wanted Jesus' benefits … welfare program, Jesus turns it into a Bible study and heeled them out of compassion.

f)       The purpose is to reveal Kingdom

·         Spiritual Kingdom

·         Not only about salvation – expectations of Kingdom

·         Love - Sum of Jesus’ (God’s) very being

 (I Tim 1:11, Mat. 25:34 ) you are blessed RIGHT NOW

·         Addresses people in need – “poor in spirit” dependent on God – EVERYBODY IS - regardless of financial status!

     g)      It has been said if you took all the good advice for how to live ever uttered by any philosopher, psychiatrist or counselor, took out the foolishness and boiled it all down to the real essentials, you would be left with a poor imitation of this great sermon.

         3.     Love for Enemies           (vs 27 – 36)

a)      Simple – very hard

b)      Particularly relevant because soldiers, messengers of the king or in this case of the emperor, could demand that the individual give them any item they wanted. They could make these demands under the auspices of need for official business, refusal = insult to king.

c)       His very essence – was showing His true love and compassion by healing that multitude and I would say His very presence.

d)      Loving your enemies benefits you more than your enemy – same with forgiveness

e)      This is also a Kingdom principle of forgiveness. 

4.        Judging Others                                (vs 37 – 42)

a)      Very misunderstood – we use judgment every day.

b)      We are to help others and be non-judgmental in the sense that you are to judge no one’s individual sin (this applies only spiritually – God established nations with rules and rulers so man could govern himself) – judge or improve yourself – help and pray for your neighbor.

c)       Vs 38 misused all the time also. PREACHERS use it all the time for TAKING OFFERINGS -  JESUS is clearly speaking of MERCY to others.  (principle of sowing and reaping – Kingdom principle)               

5         A Tree and Its Fruit         (vs 43 – 45)

a)      Jesus speaking here of what a person says verses what they do. He is saying what you do is what you believe. Again, the only person to be held accountable is yourself to yourself. (Luke 7:37) 

6.        The Wise and Foolish Builders                (vs 46 – 49)

a)      Jesus again teaching what the Kingdom is like – teaching advantages of coming to Kingdom

b)      Teaching coming to Kingdom out of compassion -  God wants all to come to saving knowledge (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

c)       A little harder possibly but with much  greater reward (coming to Kingdom)

·         must use good judgment

Psalm 8 - God Reveals Himself Through His Creation

When I was twelve years old I went deer hunting in Wyoming with my Dad and Mom and  one of my Dad's hunting buddies and his wife .

The day we arrived, we drove out to our guide's ranch to site in rifles. Afterward on the drive back from the guide's ranch, we pulled over ( I think my Dad had to use the roadside).

The place where we pulled over was a very "scenic overlook". The walls of the canyon we were stopped at were, on one side and the end,sandstone. The sandstone walls were bright brownish red with lighter red-brown streaks. The "wall" on our side was rocky soil, covered with millions of blooming flowers, very-very steep. The site was absolutely breath taking, even for a twelve year old!

This is the very first time I knew for sure there was a Creator. I can't, and couldn't at the time prove to you or anyone else that there is a God. I did know in my heart, however,  then and now that there is a God. I will never forget that feeling - that snapshot of God - The Creator (Romans 1:19-21)

Have I let Him down since then? - every day. I have done some despicable things since that time, but then that's the whole point, Romans 10:9 tells us that:      If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved

Many times since then I have thought of that shepherd boy - David, later to become king of Israel as he tended his flocks.

Day after day. month after month, seeing and living in God's Creation. Seeing grass, flowers, trees as well as geographic wonders by day. At night camping under the stars, pondering the universe and realizing his own insignificance while realizing God's overwhelming significance at the same time. - My experience on steroids!

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This is a short study from 2007. This is one of my favorite pieces of Scripture and I desperately want to share this study with you. It is truly ancient praise but oh so contemporary.

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Psalm 8

For the director of music. According to gittith ^[a].

A psalm of David.

1 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!
       You have set your glory
       above the heavens.

A. 1^st Lord = Hebrew NAME of God. Yahweh, eternal, supernatural

       B. 2^nd Lord = master, superintendent, king, of men

·          the idea is that God of their worship is their master. He is Greater than His creation (Rom 1:19-23)

C. The earth is to small for His Glory – It takes an infinite universe to show The Glory of an Infinite God

2 From the lips of children and infants
       you have ordained praise ^[b]
       because of your enemies,
       to silence the foe and the avenger.

A.    God uses the weakest, most frail instrument to give him praise. Their instinct is to give Him spontaneous praise – He, because of His Glory, is so apparent.

B.    God uses these to silence those who rail or come against Him (Matt 21:16). – Read Matt 21;14-17

 3 When I consider your heavens,
       the work of your fingers,
       the moon and the stars,
       which you have set in place,

A. The magnificence of the visible heavens for the purpose of illustrating God , who, though the mighty Creator of these glorious worlds of light, makes man the object of His favor.

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
                the son of man that you care for him?

A.    literally “frail” man

B.    son of man – all lower case, only varies in the form of speech, mankind.

C.     Care – some versions say visiteth = God shows us favor  (Psalms 65:10)

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings ^[c]
       and crowned him with glory and honor.

A.     Next in dignity to angels – but a little lower

B.     Crowned with the position between God and His creation

C.     Glory and honor = royal dignity (Psalms 21:5,45:3)

 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
       you put everything under his feet:

A.     Position of man is described as that originally assigned to Adam (Genesis 1:26-28)

B.     Man still invested or assigned to dominion over God’s Creation

C.     Man has dominion only because Christ being fully human was the second Adam (Hebrews 2:5-12)

 7 all flocks and herds,
       and the beasts of the field,

 8 the birds of the air,
       and the fish of the sea,
       all that swim the paths of the seas.

A.     Mankind, because of Jesus having conquered death, has dominion  and all thing “put under his feet” and all thing subject to him (1 Peter 3:22)

 9 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!

A.     Announcing and declaring God’s Glory is the end as well the beginning of this Psalm

B.     God’s Glory CANNOT be overstated – it is to big for this earth, our minds  to comprehend or understand.

C.     We must learn all we can – renew our minds (Romans 12:1&2) as well as meditate on His Word (Joshua 1:8) and pray (Listen let Him speak to us)

D. Very appropriate ending