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What Is Truth?
00:26:26
Truth is more than mere preference or opinion. It is grounded in the character of God Himself. Today, R.C. Sproul identifies our Christian responsibility to bear witness to the truth in an age of deception and relativism. Get R.C. Sproul’s book...
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RC Sproul
Our task as Christians is to maintain a consistent testimony to the truth of God, to the whole truth of God, and to nothing but the truth of God, so help us God.
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Nathan W. Bingham
Truth is important, but it seems to be a rare commodity today. Whether it's the downplaying of truth because that's just your truth, or a complete disregard for truth and the embracing of falsehood. God's people must stand in contrast and be people of truth, because we follow the one who is the way, the Truth, and the life. This is the Tuesday edition of Renewing youg Mind, and for the rest of the week you'll hear a series from RC Sproul, simply titled Truth on the Importance of Truth in our thinking, our speech, and even in how we live, to help equip you to know the truth of the Christian faith. This week, when you give a donation of any amount@renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343 in addition to lifetime digital access to Dr. Sproul's Truth series, we'll send you a copy of his book Everyone's a Theologian where he lays out the foundational truths of Christianity and a thin Line ESV Bible this offer is while supplies last, so please respond today. So what is truth and why is it so important? Here's Dr. Sproul.
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RC Sproul
The United States of America was treated to the trial of the century with the case of O.J. simpson. And in that case we saw such a huge number of people testify that it caused such a protracted lengthening of that trial that we still are somewhat amazed transpired in that event. And during the trial we saw the same scenario happen again and again and again as each witness came forward to testify. We went through the ritual that is done in the American courtroom where the witness is sworn in and the swearing in ceremony comes by the witness placing their left hand on the Bible and raising their right hand and saying, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. Now that's extremely familiar to us. Even if we didn't watch the O.J. simpson trial, we've seen it on television and movies in myriads of ways. But let's look again at that vow that is expressed before a person gives testimony in a court case. They swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And then that is followed by the statement, so help me God. Now, what is going on here, of course, is the taking of a solemn oath by which God is called upon to be the chief witness that the person who is giving the testimony is not being deceitful, fraudulent, or engaged in lying. Now, when things ended in the O.J. simpson trial, the nation was stunned by the rapidity and the unanimity of the jurors when they reached their verdict of not guilty. And of course, we understand that that verdict does not mean that in the judgment of the jury, that O.J. simpson was innocent of the charges, but it meant simply under the law, the case had not been proven by the prosecution to the satisfaction of the jurors. Now, in all of the post mortems that followed that celebrated case, people complained frequently that that particular case degenerated into an issue of racism because of all of the hullabaloo that surrounded the testimony of Detective Mark Fuhrman regarding his own of the so called N word. If you recall, after Detective Furman gave his initial testimony, he was subjected to cross examination by F. Lee Bailey. And in the course of that examination, he asked Detective Fuhrman if Furman had ever used the N word at any time in the past 10 years. And Furman categorically denied having used the word. And when Bailey continued, he said, well, what would you say, Detective Fuhrman, if I bring witnesses into this courtroom that testify that you have in fact used this word, will you say that they are lying? And he said again under oath, yes, that they would be lying. Then we all know what happened. Testimony did come forth indicating that Furman had indeed used that racial epithet over the past decade, and this created a sensational uproar at the trial. Now, we understand, do we not, that the logic of the situation is such that a witness may lie about one matter and still be telling the truth in other matters. We know that just because a person lies does not mean that everything that they say is a lie. Nevertheless, in the courtroom system, it is often appropriate for the judge to instruct the jury that if a witness lies at one point, then their testimony has been impeached and the rest of their testimony maybe doesn't have to be, but may be disregarded by the jury because the person has now lost credibility because not only have they lied, but they have lied under oath and they have lied in an official court proceeding. And in this case, we have an officer of the law standing before a judge and a courtroom swearing to tell the truth, not simply to give half truths, but he has sworn to tell the whole truth, and he has sworn to tell nothing but the truth, and then appeals to God to certify his integrity with the swearing of this vow. Well, one of the reasons why the racist issue became so paramount in the trial was not so much because of the alleged attitudes that Detective Fuhrman had toward black people, but because of his denial of using that racial slurp cast a shadow on his credibility with respect to the other testimony he gave, which was crucial to the prosecution's case. Now, again, I say he may have told the truth on where he found the glove and how he found the glove and all that business, but his credibility was undermined when he was demonstrated to have committed perjury. As an officer of the court, we know earlier in that famous trial that in the opening statements of the defense, the defense promised to produce witnesses that would give a clear alibi at the time of the murder for O.J. simpson. And one of the most important or key witnesses for the defense that was promised in advance was a woman by the name of Rosa Lopez who was going to testify that she saw the Bronco parked out in front of the home of O.J. simpson during the time that the murders allegedly took place. Whatever happened to that witness, she never appeared in the case before the jury because initially she was found to commit perjury with respect to the purchase of airline tickets to go home to her native land. And Christopher Darden, for the prosecution, impeached the credibility of Rosa Lopez so that in the final analysis, the defense did not use her testimony because there was a break in confidence of her speaking the truth. And so we saw in that trial the bizarre case where we found perjury on both sides, on the side of the prosecution and on the side of the defense. And the difficulty in that trial is seen frequently in trials, because what a trial is about is trying to get to the truth, what really happened, who really did what, and so on. That was the task in the trial to arrive at. At truth. And the reason we have this pledge or this swearing of the oath at the beginning is because justice depends upon truth. And when the truth is not told by the witnesses, it makes the execution of justice all the more significant. It's not by accident that in the Old Testament, one of the top 10 commandments of the law that God gave to his nation was a law prohibiting the bearing of false witness, the giving of false testimony in disputes, just as we have seen in this case of the O.J. simpson trial. Now in Israel, that whole concept of the prohibition against false witnessing and false testifying is rooted and grounded in a larger issue to the Jewish faith of the Old Testament. And that broader principle that is pervasive in the Old Testament is the principle of the sanctity of truth itself. Now, that's what we're looking at in the next few days, the biblical concept of truth. And it matters not only in criminal cases, but it matters in daily relationships, in the making of covenants and the making of contracts and the spreading of rumors and slanderous and malicious lies about other people. Truth is crucial to an orderly society, and it is crucial to our enterprise in science and in the pursuit of knowledge. What we're looking for is not error. We're not looking for falsehood. We want to know the truth. And again, as I say, the sanctity of that concept is rooted and grounded biblically in the very character of God, because God is seen in the Scripture to be the fountainhead and source of all truth. And his own character is the standard or the norm for this particular virtue of truth. And so I'd like to begin our study of the biblical concept of truth by a little bit of analysis of the words that are used in the Bible for truth. The New Testament word for truth is the word aletheia, and that corresponds to the Old Testament word emet. Now, the term emet is used in the Old Testament as a noun 126 times. It also has another form that we've looked at for other reasons in our studies in this program, and that is the form amen or amen, which has been brought over into the usage of the church. Whenever we finish our prayers, we say amen. And sometimes people will respond to the preaching from the pulpit by in the middle of the sermon crying out amen, which is a word that is derived from the Hebrew term, the Semitic word emet, which is the word for truth. Now, the question, first of all is what did this Old Testament word mean originally, according to the best lexicons that we have that teach us the derivation of key words in Scripture, The Old Testament concept of truth, amet, may be defined this that amet refers to a reality that is firm, solid, valid, or binding. There is this idea of firmness and solidity as opposed to looseness and that which is unstable. So that in the Hebrew mind, the idea of truth is that which is solid. Now, we speak like that metaphorically in our own language today, don't we? When somebody's not all that accurate, we say they're playing loosely with the facts and that their testimony is not solid. It's not sure, it doesn't have substance to it. But to the Jew, truth is that which is resting upon a foundation. And A basis that is not loosely put together, but is firm and stable and solid. And so for the Jew, the Jew was concerned about that, which was sure. Interesting word. Sometimes people say, is it okay if I do this or that? Then you respond. What do you say? Sure. I mean, that's fine. It's okay. I have no objection to it. But at other times, we use the word sure. This way, I may say something and you may look at me and you say, or see, are you sure? I say, yes, I'm sure. And he says, are you sure that you're sure? Because they want to know how solidly this proposition or this action is based and rooted in reality. And so in the first instance, the Old Testament concept of truth is that which is sure and solidly based on in reality. Now, that's important because we in the Christian faith are not interested in following fictitious dreams or sagas or myths or legends. We want to know that the things.
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That we believe are grounded in reality, not in imagination.
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Because there's a big difference between a.
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God who is real and a God who is imaginary.
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There's a big difference to us whether Christ really rose from the dead or if that was just some kind of moral parable that people were trying to propagate in a fictitious manner in the early church. What I'm trying to get at is that the truth claims, the Bible are claims that they are representing real states of affairs, that the biblical revelation is a revelation about reality, not about imagination. Now, if we go to the Old Testament, we see, for example, that this idea of firm sureness or that which is authentic and real, is related to three aspects of life. And these three are simple. First, of all human speech, second of all human thoughts, and third, of all human actions. So that the Jew was concerned about truth in speech, truth in thought, and truth in action. Now, sometimes we have a tendency to restrict our understanding abstractly in our day to truth, to be that simply with respect to ideas or thoughts or concepts, or secondarily, as we've already seen, with respect to testimony in a courtroom, whether or not what somebody says is an accurate version of reality. So we talk about the lie as a spoken form of dishonesty. But for the Jew, though these first two were very important. The idea of truth was not exhausted simply by correct speech or accurate thoughts or concepts, but also the expression of one's actions was to be according to the truth, that our activity is truthful, that what we do corresponds to reality and is not deceitful. Now, that idea, again, as I said, is Resting ultimately in the biblical concept of the character of God. Jesus, for example, in the New Testament.
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Speaks about God's word. And what does he say of the Father? He says, thy word is true.
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The distinction in the Old Testament between the true prophet and the false prophet had to do with accuracy and integrity of speech. We remember how Jeremiah complained in the Old Testament when God gave him the awesome responsibility to go to the people of Israel, to go to Jerusalem and.
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Give the word of God to the.
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People, predicting the downfall of the city. It was a very grim announcement. And when he would proclaim the impending doom and judgment that God was going to bring upon Israel and upon Jerusalem, the people didn't want to hear it. They didn't want to believe it. And every time Jeremiah gave the negative prophecy that the people didn't want to hear, there were schools of professional prophets who would tell the people just the opposite. They would tell the people what they wanted to hear. Now, remember Jeremiah's famous temple speech, when he went into the temple and he said, you people come here and you say, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.
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And he said, you're trusting in lying words because this temple is going to be destroyed. Go to Shiloh and look at what.
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Happened to Shiloh, which was an earlier central sanctuary for the Jewish people. It was now in desolation.
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But the false prophets came and proclaimed peace, peace when there was no peace. And so Jeremiah went to God and he complained.
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He said, the false prophets are telling people lies. They're speaking lying words to Israel, and they're healing the wounds of the daughter of Israel slightly. And so Jeremiah was going to quit. And he said, you know, every day, every time I open my mouth, people mock me.
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I am in derision daily. I will speak no more in your name. He was going to turn in his prophet's card.
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And God said, listen, Jeremiah, let the.
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Prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream, but let the man of God speak the word of God faithfully.
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What was God saying?
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He's saying, jeremiah, it's not your responsibility.
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To worry about what the false prophets are saying. I'll take care of the false prophets. Your job is to deliver the message.
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That I told you to deliver. Your job is to speak my word faithfully and truthfully. I will take care of establishing my truth and I'll take care of the.
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False prophets of Israel. I mentioned that Jeremiah was upset with the fact that every time he gave his message to the people, his message was being counteracted.
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By the opposite message delivered by the false prophets. And the people were believing the lie rather than the truth.
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They were believing what they had itchy ears to hear.
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They believed in the imagination, false prophets who were telling their own dreams and their own view and their own opinion of things rather than the word of God. But even when Jeremiah was in his deepest point of despair and anxiety about this situation, he made this comment. He said, but thy word, O God, was shut up in my bones like a fire, and I couldn't stop. That's what we need in our day, people who have fire in their belly. Not the fire of anger, not the fire of rage, not the fire of vengeance, but the fire of the truth of God that has taken a hold of them and has penetrated into the deepest parts of their being. And they are are simply not willing to compromise it. The church has to fight against false prophets in every generation. God will deal with that. Our task as Christians is to maintain a consistent testimony to the truth of God, to the whole truth of God, and to nothing but the truth of God. So help us God.
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Nathan W. Bingham
May God grant us that fire for the truth of God, so that we each would stand firm in our day. You're listening to Renewing youg Mind. I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham. Truth is important, and the truth of who God is and what he has done to redeem sinners is vital. You can read God's Word for yourself and RC Sproul's trusted teaching when you respond to this week's resource offer. When you support the outreach of Renewing youg Mind and Ligonier Ministries with a donation, we'll send you a Thin Line Bible and a copy of Dr. Sproul's book, Everyone's a Theologian. In addition, we'll unlock the complete Truth series for you in the free Ligonier app. Request this offer when you make your donation@renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343. That's a teaching series, a Bible, and a book from Dr. Sproul. When you respond today, you can find a link in the podcast Show Notes, or you can visit renewingyourmind.org directly. And for those outside of the US and Canada, streaming access to this series and the ebook edition of Everyone's a Theologian is available for you@renewingyourmind.org global. Another way that Ligonier Ministries is seeking to advance truth to the next generation is through the upcoming launch of our new children's curriculum, Growing in God's Word over the course of a year, this new curriculum helps churches, families and Schools Guide K 5th grade children through an overview of the Bible. It's designed to help you nurture children in the Christian faith that they may discover their place in God's story of salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. I would ask you to please pray for this upcoming release and you can explore the curriculum for yourself. Join the wait list and request preview samples at growing in God's word.org Thank you. What do you believe? We all believe something, which is why RC Sproul so often reminded us that everyone is a theologian. But what are the consequences when the people of God not only reject the truth, but they embrace falsehood? Join us tomorrow here on Renewing your Mind.
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RC Sproul
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