09132015LifeBasedOnGodsTruthDonRuhl

Life Based on God’s Truth 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • September 13, In the year of our Lord, 2015

Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Larry Amberg – Songs on the word of God

Prelude: 

  1. You base your life on God’s 
    1. truth,
    2. resources, and
    3. wisdom, because
      1. He has given us the resources
      2. that we need for life.
        1. Spiritual life is like natural life,
          1. even as there are abundant resources for living life in the flesh,
          2. there are abundant resources for living life in the spirit.
        2. Listen to the reassuring words of Philippians 4,

          19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phi 4.19).
  2. The Bible adequately leads us in faith and conduct. 
    1. What God says to us in the written word
      1. provides the hope and direction
      2. that we need for change.
    2. Psalm 19 says what God’s truth can do in our lives, but

      7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
      The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
      8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
      The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
      9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
      The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
      (Psa 19.7–9)

      1. Are those words still true?
      2. Have we discovered or invented any new system of knowledge
        1. that can do a better job of these things than the word of God?
        2. If these words are still relevant,
          1. then they are still powerful, and
          2. if they are still powerful,
            1. you can live your life based on God’s truth and
            2. be successful in life.

Persuasion: 

  1. Second Timothy 3.16–17 – God’s Truth Trains Us

    16 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 complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2Ti 3.16–17).

    1. Many Christians believe that when they became Christians,
      1. God would take away all their problems, and
      2. that He would make life easier.
        1. They almost look at God as the greatest good luck charm.
        2. When they still encounter problems of living,
          1. they begin to question
          2. their conversion, God, and the veracity of the Scriptures.
    2. God never promises to take away all of our problems, but
      1. He does teach, as in Second Timothy 3,
      2. that He will train us to do every good work.
  2. John 16.13; 17.17 – God’s Truth Fills Our Souls

    13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come” (John 16.13).    17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17.17).

    1. The word of God is the absolute truth,
      1. even if men debate its meaning and
      2. cannot agree on what it teaches.
    2. Therefore, it has power to sanctify us,
      1. which shows the awesome power of what God says.
      2. In John 15, which is part of the same conversation
        1. in which John 17 and John 16 were uttered,
        2. Jesus testifies to the power of the truth of God,

          3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15.3).
    3. The Spirit did not reveal some of the truth that we need for everyday living,
      1. He revealed all of it.
      2. Many has nothing to add to it.
  3. Jeremiah 23.29 – God’s Truth Is His Weapon

    29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord,
    “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”
    (Jer 23.29)

    1. Can anything stand before God’s fire?
    2. Can anything withstand the pounding of God’s hammer?
      1. Any excuse we have for not living life based on His truth,
      2. He burns up and smashes with His word.
  4. Psalm 119.9 – God’s Truth Makes Us Clean

    9 How can a young man cleanse his way?
    By taking heed according to Your word.
    (Psa 119.9)

    1. Why does our world fall apart?
    2. People have not heard the word of God.
      1. He knows best how we can operate successfully.
      2. Deviate from His guidance and life does not go as it should.
  5. Acts 20.32 – God’s Truth Builds Us Up

    32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20.32).

    1. Several Christians over the years have told me to speak less on the Scriptures.
    2. Why should we hear less of what can build us up?
      1. Does not the world drag you down and depress you?
      2. The way to be lifted up
        1. is not by having less of the word of God, because
        2. that is the world’s problem,
          1. they have less of the word of God and
          2. so the people live rotten lives that are depressing.
  6. Second Peter 1.2–4 – God’s Truth Gives Knowledge

    2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2Pe 1.2–4).

    1. Peter emphasized that the word of God:
      1. Gives us all the grace that we need,
      2. Gives us peace that multiplies continuously,
      3. Gives all the tools that we need for life and godliness, and
      4. Gives the promises that we need to escape the corruption of the world.
    2. The word of God can do these things because:
      1. We have the full of knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
      2. The Lord’s power has made available what we need for life and godliness,
      3. The Lord’s exceedingly great and precious promises
        1. have made it possible for us to be partakers of the divine nature and
        2. thereby escape the corruption of the world.
    3. Therefore, you can live life based on God’s truth alone.
  7. Isaiah 55.8–13 – God’s Truth Does as Promised

    8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
    Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
    9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    So are My ways higher than your ways,
    And My thoughts than your thoughts.
    10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
    And do not return there,
    But water the earth,
    And make it bring forth and bud,
    That it may give seed to the sower
    And bread to the eater,
    11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
    It shall not return to Me void,
    But it shall accomplish what I please,
    And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
    12 For you shall go out with joy,
    And be led out with peace;
    The mountains and the hills
    Shall break forth into singing before you,
    And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
    13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
    And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
    And it shall be to the Lord for a name,
    For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
    (Isa 55.8–13)

    1. First, the Lord showed that He knows what He is talking about!
    2. Second, the Lord compared the affects of rain and snow on the Earth, and
      1. the affects of His word in the work that He wants it to accomplish.
      2. Has the Earth lost its need for rain and snow?
        1. If not, neither has man lost his need for the word of God.
      3. Has the rain and snow lost their ability to nourish the Earth?
        1. Somehow the Earth has enough water for an alleged 7 billion people.
        2. Somehow the Earth has enough water for uncountable life.
      4. Likewise, the word can nourish the souls of men and women.
    3. Whatever God has promised
      1. that His word can do for us,
      2. the power has not diminished one part
      3. since delivered by the first penmen.
    4. Therefore, through His world we can have
      1. joy and peace, and
      2. the Earth will be glad to have us.
  8. Matthew 4.4 – God’s Truth Feeds Us

    4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matt 4.4).

    1. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8
      1. when He told Israel in the wilderness
      2. that He allowed them to suffer hunger,
        1. to teach them that man does not live by bread alone, but
        2. we get life from His word!
    2. People eat without thanking God.
      1. They bloat their bodies, but
      2. their spirits famish.
        1. If they do not eat enough,
        2. they know what can happen.
          1. Then they do not feed their spirits the word of God and
          2. wonder why they have problems of living.
            1. They pay exorbitant amounts of money
            2. to have themselves analyzed, tested, and counseled, but
              1. the counselor does not tell them
              2. to eat the word of God.
    3. The word of God feeds the soul.
      1. Without it a person gets sick in the spirit and eventually dies,
      2. although alive in the flesh.
        1. You know the importance of food to the body, but
        2. the word of God is even more necessary for the soul,

          12 “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
          I have treasured the words of His mouth
          More than my necessary food.”
          (Job 23.12)
  9. Psalm 119.105 – God’s Truth Provides Light

    105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
    And a light to my path.
    (Psa 119.105)

    1. The world stumbles all over itself trying to figure out
      1. why it has troubles and
      2. how to solve them.
    2. If they picked up God’s light they would see
      1. the source of the problems and
      2. the source of the solutions.
        1. Then again they may know precisely what they would find, but
        2. they do not want to hear what their Creator has to say.

          Truly, “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them” (Sourcebook for Speakers, p. 44).
    3. Proverbs 4 gives insight into this issue,

      19 The way of the wicked is like darkness;
      They do not know what makes them stumble.
      (Pro 4.19)
    4. One man said,

      Give me a Bible and a candle and shut me up in a dungeon and I will tell you what the world is doing (Cecil Dichard, Sourcebook for Speakers, p. 44).

Exhortation: 

  1. Lay hold of the Bible until it lays hold of you. 
  2. Do you own a Bible or a block of paper?

    God’s Word, the Bible, is more valuable than all the other books ever written.  But many never profit from its riches of wisdom and instruction. As someone said, “A book, tight shut, is but a block of paper.” God’s truth must be read and obeyed to be effective.    Fred W. Cropp, a President of the American Bible Society, received a letter asking a question, “What do you recommend for keeping the leather on the back of Bibles from getting stiff, cracking, and peeling?”

    His reply: “There is one oil that is especially good for treatment of leather on Bibles. In fact, it will insure your Bible stays in good condition. It is not sold, but may be found in the palm of the human hand.”

    Does your Bible need oiling?

    Is your Bible God’s Book, or a block of paper?

    (Jerrie Barber, The Voice of Truth International, Vol. 4, p. 26).

  3. What is the word of God telling you to do today?