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Colin Smith: If there is no such thing as objective truth, and what is called truth is really only a matter of personal opinion, if there is no objective standard against which to measure our personal opinions, that means that ultimately, the most powerful opinion wins. And that's the law of the jungle.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, let's back up and touch on objective truth. You used those two words a moment ago. What is objective truth?

Colin Smith: It's saying it like it is. It's what is actually reality as opposed to spin, which is my interpretation or impression that I want to make and what I want other people to think, which may or may not actually be the reality.

Steve Hiller: We live in a world of spin and we do all the time hear from people say, "Well, that may be true for you." How would you respond to the person who says, "What Jesus says may be true for you, Colin, but how do I know that that's true for me?"

Colin Smith: You've got to go back to what Jesus himself says. He says, "I am the truth." He's claiming something more than an expression of opinion. He's speaking to us as the Son of God. The question is, how do I know that that's going to be true? We've got to follow after the Lord Jesus Christ and then we discover his truth and discover the truth that makes us free.

Steve Hiller: It sounds like there was a little element of faith in there too.

Colin Smith: Jesus says, "I'm the light of the world." He says you've got to follow the light while you have the light. The light's passing by here, and we don't come to a knowledge of truth by remaining disengaged.

Steve Hiller: Let's engage right now with Exodus chapter 20. We're looking at verse 16 as we begin a message, "Your Struggle with Truth." Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: It's good to remember that all of these commandments are a reflection of the character of God, and the Bible tells us that he is a God who keeps his promises, in fact, a God who cannot lie. When we come into a relationship with this God, therefore, he calls us to reflect his character in the way that we live our lives. That means that we are called to live life in a way that is characterized by the truth.

Strictly speaking, as you look at this ninth commandment, it is about the issue of perjury. That is the reality of standing up in a court and making false accusations, accusations that you know not to be true against somebody else. "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." Remember that this is precisely what happened when the Lord Jesus was arrested and brought to trial. False witnesses were brought against him. They wanted to have him crucified and they were prepared to say whatever it would take to get what they wanted done.

Most of us will never have committed perjury in court and are not particularly likely to do so. Remember that each of these commandments is addressed not just to one sin, but to a whole category of sins. We've used the picture of each of these commands being like a railway track with stations all the way down the line. The ninth commandment is simply the line of lying. Perjury in court is right down the end of that particular track, and you may never have been to that station. All of us have been somewhere on this line. We travel it far too frequently.

The essence of lying is saying what will achieve the desired result irrespective of whether it is the truth. That's the heart of lies. It's saying what will achieve the result that I want irrespective of whether what I say is actually the truth. There are a number of different ways in which this can happen. One of them is flattery. Someone has said that flattery is saying to a person's face what you would never say behind their back. Actually, it's true. Flattery is saying to someone's face what you would never say behind their back.

The desired result is that you want this person to like you, and so you say all kinds of flattering things to them even though they bear no resemblance to the truth. I love the story of the man who was introduced as a speaker after dinner in rather over-glowing terms. The MC said that he was the owner of an oil company operating in the North Sea and that he had turned in a $100 million profit in his first month. The man got up to speak and he said rather hesitantly that he had a few corrections to make to the introduction that had just been given.

It isn't actually the North Sea, it's the Caspian Sea. It's not actually me that owns the company, it's my father. The first month wasn't $100 million profit, it was $100 million loss. Then there's exaggerating. Exaggerating because you want to impress and so you overstate what you said or what you did or the part that you had in a particular triumph.

Exaggerating because you want sympathy. Because you want to gain someone else's sympathy, you overstate a wrong that was done to you because you want another person to feel sorry for you. Lying is saying whatever achieves a desired result irrespective of the question of truth. It goes to the whole issue of gossiping as well. A way of doing such damage to a neighbor. Passing on news about another person that may or may not be true. Someone has likened gossip to ripping open a feather pillow outside on a windy day.

Once the feathers have blown in the wind, there's no way in all the world that you're ever going to be able to capture them back again. There are many versions of lying. We all occupy this track too frequently. The reason that we are so prone to lying in one of these different forms is that we are more deeply committed to ourselves than we are to the truth.

The reality is that we often hide from the truth. We fail to see things about ourselves that others see in us, simply because the truth never puts any of us in a pure light. Because the truth, the whole truth, never puts any of us in a completely pure light, there is always something within us that wants to retreat from it. This morning I want to map out two roads. The first we're going to call the broad road of deception, and the second we're going to call the narrow path of truth.

First then, the broad road of deception. The Bible makes it very clear that the entire human race has fallen into the grip of a lie. In fact, the whole Bible story is the unfolding and then the exposing of one massive deception. The Bible story begins with a lie in the garden. It ends in Revelation chapter 21 with all liars being destroyed in the lake of fire. At the center is Jesus Christ, who says, "I am the truth." Lies always have a source. If you turn over to John chapter 8, you'll see there that Satan is the father of lies.

Jesus says in John 8:44 that he doesn't hold to the truth. There is no truth in him. When Satan lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and he is the father of lies. The problem with all forms of lying is that they are precisely a reflection of the character of the enemy. That is why lying comes number two in the list of things that God hates in the Book of Proverbs, second only to pride, which is the devil's first sin.

I want us to notice then two ways in which the father of all lies, the source of all deviation from the truth, leads people down the broad road of deception. The first is that he questions the reality of truth. This was his very first strategy when he tempted Eve in the garden. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1: "Did God really say?" Can you really know what God said? This is his first route to deceiving us. This really is a question, he would say. Can anyone in the 21st century really know the truth? Is there any such thing as truth? This is his native language.

It shouldn't surprise us then that in the fullness of time, when God comes into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, he stands before a man called Pontius Pilate. Jesus says to him, "For this reason, I came into the world. For this reason, I was born: to testify to the truth." Pilate looks at him and shrugs his shoulders and says, "What is truth?" Now you see, you have the fundamental clash of two worldviews that are fighting it out even within our society today right there. Jesus is saying there is such a thing as truth.

It flows from God, who is truth, and it is found in me. I am the truth. Pilate lives in the raw world of harsh power. He's a politician. He knows that people in this world say what they like to get what they want. That is the way of the world. He has become so used to it he cannot imagine anything else, and he has come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as truth, only power, only spin, only words that are being used to get what people want. Pilate shrugs his shoulders and he says, "What is truth?" Pilate has no place for truth.

If there is no place for truth in a society, there is no place for Jesus. And so they led him away to crucify him. They crucified the truth. This is a huge issue for us at the beginning of the 21st century in the Western world. If as is being increasingly taught in this postmodern society in our universities and among our philosophers, if a person cannot know the truth, then a person cannot be expected to tell the truth. If there is no such thing as objective truth, and what is called truth is really only a matter of personal opinion, if there is no objective standard against which to measure our personal opinions, that means that ultimately, the most powerful opinion wins.

That's the law of the jungle. That's what Satan does. By undermining truth, he takes us from the garden to the jungle. Once you lose objective truth, which you do as soon as you discard God from society because all truth flows from him, you end up in a world in which there is only power, only opinion, and the most powerful opinion wins. This is Satan's first strategy, taking us down the broad road of deception, questioning the very possibility of truth. Secondly, he operates by keeping people from grasping the truth.

The fundamental human problem the Bible makes clear is that we are trapped in a delusion. Notice John 8:43: "Why is my language not clear to you?" Jesus says. "Because you're unable to hear what I say." Paul makes the same point when he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 that the god of this world has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe so that they cannot come to a knowledge of the truth. There is a blindfold over human eyes. There are earmuffs over human ears.

The only way that any of us human beings is going to come and see and hear the truth of God is if someone can come into this kingdom of darkness like a great raider, take off the blindfold, take off the earmuffs, and lead us out of this darkness of deception and into his marvelous light. This is precisely why Jesus Christ has come into the world. He is the light of the world, and he says here in John 8 that his truth sets people free. If human beings naturally can't see the truth and Jesus says here that they can't hear the truth, what is the point in speaking the truth?

What is the point in teaching the Bible? What is the point of anything if the natural human condition is that folks can't hear and can't see? Here's the answer: the Spirit of God creates the capacity to hear the word of God through the word of God. That's worth writing down and remembering. It's an important piece as to why we engage in the work of evangelism. The Spirit of God creates the capacity to hear the word of God through the word of God. Faith comes by hearing.

How does hearing come? Hearing comes by the word of God. It is the entrance of God's word that gives light, the psalmist says. That is why so many people come to faith in Jesus through a Bible study. The entrance of God's word gives light. Faith comes by hearing, and the capacity of hearing comes by the word of God. The power of the delusion is broken by the setting free of the truth. That is why Satan hates the preaching of the word of God.

If he can lure the church away from the preaching of the word of God in a central position, he will be well pleased. The pressure will always be on pastors to become entertainers or counselors or administrators or anything other than folks who preach and teach the word of God. Paul says the time will come in the last days when people will gather around them people who will say whatever their itching ears want to hear. If the Bible is preached, then Satan has to resort to plan B. The great danger is if the truth is coming to you, it may create within you the capacity of hearing and seeing, and you may embrace the truth and be saved.

When the seed of the word of God goes out, Jesus says, this is what he does. He's like a bird coming and picking all the seed off the pathway and taking it away out of your mind, out of your memory, out of your sight, so that you will not believe and be saved. This is the broad road of deception. This is where the enemy is always active. This is how he does his work: questioning the truth and keeping you from grasping the truth. Let's move quickly then from the broad road of deception to the narrow path of truth.

I hope you have your Bibles still open at John chapter 8. I want us to grasp this morning how the truth works in a person's life. Please look with me at John chapter 8 and verse 31 and 32: "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. And then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" Jesus sets out four dimensions of living in the truth. It's very interesting to me that most often half of this verse and only half of it is quoted.

If we're to take the word of God seriously, there are four dimensions to living in the truth. They are believing, obeying, seeing, and releasing. Believing, obeying, seeing, and releasing. He speaks to Jews who had believed in him. These are folks who today we would probably call seekers. They're folks who are drawn to Jesus and they're listening to his words.

Jesus wants these folks to know what the truth can do in their lives and how it might happen. He says to these folks, "If you hold to my teaching." Literally, if you continue in my word. If you take what you're hearing and you apply it and you do it, then you are really my disciples. Notice he says, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

You see the order in which these things come: believing that leads to obeying, which as I obey leads to seeing, and in turn leads to releasing. The truth will set you free, which in turn strengthens my faith and goes through the cycle again. These things that God has joined together, we can never take apart. The problem for many in evangelical churches is that we've developed a view of believing that has nothing to do with obeying, nothing to do with seeing, and nothing to do with releasing.

That is not biblical faith. What God has joined together, no one should separate. This is what it means to live in the truth. Some people come and listen to a few words of Jesus, they're accepting them, Jesus is saying this is good. But here's what you have to understand living in the truth is all about. It's a fourfold thing: it is believing, it's obeying, and from that comes seeing, seeing yourself, seeing and understanding at a new and a different level, and releasing.

That is why the Apostle Paul prays for believers in Ephesians that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. Why would the apostle pray that for Christians? Why is he praying for Christians to see? He's praying that you will know the hope to which you have been called, that you'll know the riches of the inheritance that are yours in Christ, that you will know his incomparably great power. The reason he's praying that is that there are a lot of people in church world who say they believe and have no idea of the eternal riches of Christ, no grasp of his great power, no sense of the glorious and victorious hope.

Because we've become stuck on a kind of believing that never gets to obeying. What remains therefore is just a notional faith. I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but if that's it, what difference will that make? If you don't translate what you hear into what you do, it is of no benefit to you.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "Your Struggle with Truth." It's part of a larger series called "The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life," really looking at the 10 Commandments. If you ever miss a broadcast in the series, you can listen online at openthebible.org.

If you have the Open the Bible app, that's a great way to listen on the go whenever it fits your schedule. The app is free at your app store or come and listen online at openthebible.org. Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. It's your generosity that keeps Pastor Colin's teaching on this station. As you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of John Stott's book, *The Incomparable Christ*. Colin, who is John Stott?

Colin Smith: John Stott was one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century. A faithful preacher, a wise pastor, a brilliant scholar who served the church faithfully for over 60 years. He really is one of my heroes of the faith. I have valued the advice I was given years ago: choose a book by its author. This is a really good author on a really great subject. This is John Stott on the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Who is Jesus? Jesus was the central focus of all of John Stott's work and life as he should be the central focus of all of our lives. This wonderful book opens up the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as we find him in the New Testament, as he's inspired people throughout history, and as one day we're going to see him when he comes again in power and glory. For anyone who loves Jesus, to read a great book about Jesus Christ is a good thing to do. I think this is one of the best books you can read about the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Steve Hiller: We want to send you a copy as our way of saying thanks for financially supporting Open the Bible this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. The website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. Open the Bible Weekend is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. To that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. In the Book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it.

This is where Global Fingerprints comes in. Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf.