Truth Will Make You Free – Part 5 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Welcome, friends of the broadcast. I’m so glad that you tuned in. Today, we’re gonna be talking about how our relationship with the Word determines the place that God holds in our daily life. And the way that you can tell if your relationship with the Word is right is you’ll be walking in the truth of the Word and also you will speak the truth. But when we speak the truth, we’re to do it with an attitude of love, not by the body. Listen. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us today. We’re talking about how the Word will change your life. And we’ve been talking about freedom all this week. The truth will make you free. But I wanna talk today about our relationship with the Word of God. You know, I heard this years ago and it really stuck with me and I’ve taught it for years, but our attitude towards the Word determines the place that God holds in our daily life. You know, David said, “Thy Word, I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 107:20 says, “He sent his Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.” Job said, “I esteemed the words of your mouth more than my necessary food.” The Bible says in Psalm 138:2 that He’s magnified His Word above His very name. The Bible says, “Forever, oh Lord.” In Psalm 1:19, “Your Word is settled in heaven.” It says in Isaiah 55:10-11, “So shall my Word be that goes out of my mouth. It will accomplish what I please. It will prosper the thing that I send it to. It will not return to me void.” The Word of God works. Amen? And I thank God. You know what? I got ahold of the full gospel 45 years ago. I was only 14-years-old, and it transformed my life. And it’s working, and I’m so glad that I started believing the promises. And, but you gotta have the right attitude. Not everybody has the right attitude towards the Word. And so Jesus talked about this. If we go to John chapter eight, we’ve been in John chapter eight all week, verse 37. In verse 36, he said, “If the Son therefore shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.” And we talked about how Jesus is the only one who produces true freedom. We talked about how that comes through the gospel. We also talked about how it comes, as we believe, continue in, and know the truth. It brings freedom. But in John 8:37, Jesus says this, He says, “I know that you’re Abraham’s seed, but you seek to kill me because my Word has no place in you.” You know, your relationship with the Word is directly connected to your relationship with Jesus. And you might say, “Well, I really love Jesus, but I just don’t care for the Word of God. I don’t care for the Bible.” Well, you don’t love Jesus ’cause He and His Word are one. And He went on to say in verse 37, He said, “You seek to kill me ’cause my Word has no place for you.” But He said in verse 40, He said, “You seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham.” So basically, Jesus told them they were of their father, the devil, and He was His Father, God. And you know what? The Word is truth. In John 17:17. We didn’t get into this this week, but this was part of my message when I preached it in the church. Jesus said, “Sanctify them through thy truth. And thy Word is truth.” Man, we have to get down to the brass tacks to where we just believe that the Word is the truth no matter who says what. And the Word, man, I believe in the authority and the verity of the Word of God. And whatever God says, that settles it. Amen.

 

  I know that you’re always 100% of the time better off believing God’s Word, believing His promises than not. 100% of the time.

 

  Amen.

 

  That’s one reason why I’m very excited to be a pastor, very excited to be a minister of the gospel because I believe for every single person on the face of the earth, they are always 100% of the time better off believing the Word of God than not.

 

  Amen. You know, Jesus went on to say here, He says in verse 43, John 8:43, “Why don’t you understand my speech even? Because you cannot hear my Word.” They were challenged with the Word of God. They were challenged with the truth. But He goes on in verse 45 to 47, He says, “Because I tell you the truth, you believe me not? Which of you convicts me of sin? And I say the truth, why don’t you believe me? He that is of God hears God’s Words. He therefore hears them not because you are not of God.” Man, you’re either of God or not of God. And basically, what Jesus is saying is what you do with the Word determines what the Word does with you. You know, our relationship with the Word determines a place that God holds in our daily life. If you want God to hold a greater place in your daily life, then you need to grow in your relationship with the Word.

 

  John eight’s a powerful chapter. And the people he’s speaking to here in the middle of John eight, I believe is the same people He was speaking to before when they got the woman who was caught in active adultery.

 

  Amen.

 

  And they’re trying to test Jesus. They’re trying to entrap Him, really. You know, legalism, there’s like this thing that people wanna do to ensnare other people with it. Legalism, enslaves people. Yeah, they’re really trying to entrap, trying to enslave Jesus through the law. And he actually knew the law better than them.

 

  Right.

 

  And it kind of backfired on them.

 

  Right.

 

  Legalism will backfire on you.

 

  Amen.

 

  And this woman was set free. I believe she came to believe on Jesus. And these are the same ones. He said, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.” And so they dropped their stones at the feet of Jesus from the least to the greatest. And it says He goes on. And so He keeps having a conversation with them.

 

  Right.

 

  And they still weren’t getting it.

 

  Right. And so he got very blunt.

 

  Yeah.

 

  Sometimes you get have to be blunt with people. Anyway, when we receive the truth, the fact is that we’re gonna walk in the truth. And John goes on and not only talks about this here, but he talks about it in the epistles. So if we go to 1 John chapter one, we’re gonna be in 1 John chapter one, then we’ll be in 2 John and 3 John just briefly. But when we receive the truth, we’re gonna walk in the truth. And look at what 1 John 1:5-7 says, He says, “This then is the message that we heard of Him and declared to you. That God is light. In Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness, we are lying and not telling the truth.” Man, some people are saying they have fellowship with God, but they’re lying if they’re not telling the truth. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship. I’ve noticed when people wanna get in sin, they wanna separate their selves from the body. But He says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, cleanses us from all sin.” And so you know what? When you’re walking in the light, you have fellowship with the light. And you’re being cleansed, you’re being moved out of lies and ungodliness. In 2 John, let’s read the first four verses. Aaron, read the first four verses of 2 John. And this is John writing to this elder, or he was an elder, but writing to this older lady that was in the church and about her family.

 

  Says, “The elder, to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth. And not only I, but also all those who have known the truth. Because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever, grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth as we have received commandment from the Father.”

 

  Amen. So he’s saying, “I love you in the truth,” but he says, “Not only, but all those who love the truth love you.” And he says, “For the truth’s sake, which dwells with us and shall be with us forever.” The truth dwells in us. Jesus is the truth. He’s the embodiment. He is in us. He’s gonna be with us forever. He goes on and say, he says, “Grace be to you. Mercy and peace from God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son and the Father in truth.” Amen? We need to receive the grace of God in truth and in love. He says in verse four, “I rejoiced greatly that I found of your children walking in the truth, as we receive commandment.” It’s not only talking about the truth, it’s walking in the truth. Man, and we jump over to 3 John and He says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth. And in 3 John, I mean this is a powerful message. But in 3 John, he’s writing to this elder, Gaius, who’s a leader, right? Of this church. And he says, “I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” This 3 John is written like a father to his children, like a pastor to his church. And I can actually say this. You know what? I wish above all things that my children, my physical children and my spiritual children, prosper and are in health, even as your soul prospers. He says, “For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, even as you walk in the truth. Man, I’m rejoicing that people are walking in the truth. For I have no greater joy to hear that my children walk in the truth.” Thank God we’re walking in the truth. He says, “I love you in the truth.” And then He says, “The truth is in you.” And He says, “Yeah, I’m rejoicing.” Man, I rejoiced that my children are walking in the truth. I rejoice in that. Aaron, you and your brothers and their families are walking in the truth. Praise God. He goes on and basically says, “Beloved, what you do faithfully, whatever you do to the brethren and the strangers, which have bore witness of your love before the church, whom if you bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, you will do well because that for His namesake, they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers of the truth.” So he says, “I love you in the truth.” My children are walking in the truth, and we wanna be fellow helpers of the truth. I wanna help people that are ministering the truth. And then He talks about two people. He talks first of all about Diotrephes. And Diotrephes was a leader in this same church, but he did not receive the truth. And then he talks about Demetrius who had a good report of all men and the truth itself. And you know what? When we walk in the truth, not everybody’s gonna love us. Not everybody’s gonna like it. But John is commending this leader and saying, “Hey, thank God you receive the truth. You’re walking in the truth. Your children are walking, this brings me great joy. I have no greater joy than to see that my children are walking the truth.” And thank God for what you’re doing, you’re helping the truth. And not everybody’s gonna receive it. What you gotta know is when you tell the truth, when you share the truth, when you preach the full gospel, not everybody’s gonna receive it. And then he not only goes and talks a little bit about this Diotrephes. He says, Diotrephes, he says, “Wherefore, if I come,” he says, “I will remember his deeds,” in verse 10, “which he does prating against us with malicious words, not content therewith, neither does he receive the brethren, but forbids them and throws them out of the church.” Man, there are some people and they’re just evil. When I see somebody that’s in the church and they’re just trying to separate people from the church, that is not a good sign. And I’ve seen this happen. And he says, “Beloved, do not follow that which is evil, but that which is good. He that is of God, he that does good is of God, but he that does evil has not seen God.” And then he goes on and talks about Demetrius. And he says, “Demetrius has a good report of all men.” You know what? Not everybody’s gonna love you. Not everybody’s gonna love the truth. But he says, “Here’s Diotrephes, he didn’t. But here’s Demetrius, he did. He has a good report of all men and of the truth itself.” So he said, “You’re walking in the truth, you’re helping the truth, and we have a good report of the truth. Yes, and we bear record and we know that our records is true. I have many things to write, but I will not with pen and ink write to you, but I trust shortly to see you, and we will speak face to face. Peace be with you, and our friends salute you, greet your friends by name.” So thank God for the truth. And it’s the truth that makes us free. And when we receive the truth, when we receive the Word, did you know what? We’re gonna walk in the Word. And not everybody’s gonna love us when you walk in the Word, when you walk in the truth. Some are gonna receive it, some are gonna reject it. But you know what? We have to leave the results to God. I’m gonna come back, and in the second half of the broadcast, we’re gonna talk about how we are to speak the truth. But we’re to speak the truth enfolded in love so that it can edify those who hear it. So stay tuned, we’ll be right back. Blessings. Friends, our partners have made our product free of charge to all those who are watching, all those who connect with us online at harrischristiancenter.com. And you can get these teachings in live form from when I taught them in church or on our shows. You can get downloadable audios and downloadable videos free of charge on the website.

 

  Jesus said three beautiful words in John 19:30. He said, “It is finished.” There is nothing more that needs to be paid in the realm of redemption. The price has already been paid.

 

  Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. We are continuing. And we talked about how when we receive the truth, we’re gonna walk in the truth. But not everybody loves truth. Not everybody loves it when you walk in the truth. Not everybody loves it when you tell the truth. I wish people just tell the truth. I catch Christians a lot of times lying. There’s nothing that aggravates me much more than a Christian lying to me. And I remember years ago, we had this person. And they’d had a family member die and they called and asked if I’d help them. And something in me, checked me, and we had this person, Don Krow, who came to our church. I still support him, he has a great ministry. He’s in Arkansas now. He’s a great man of God. Anyway, something told me to call Don and I asked Don, I said, “Don, have you helped this family?” He said, “Yeah, I gave them this much money and I put a check under their mat, they’re gonna pick it up when they got home.” Anyway, they called me and said, “Well, we haven’t received anything.” And I asked them like three times. And finally they said, “Well, Don Crow was gonna bring something by.” So they finally did tell me the truth. I mean, it’s kind of like an Ananias and Sapphira situation. It was terrible. And Don was generous with them. He took care of this need, and they were just trying to get extra. And basically, this person, after I questioned them a little bit, they went out, told other leaders in the church, they said, “Pastor Lawson called us a liar.” And I did not call them a liar. You know what? They just were convicted by their own conscience because they were lying.

 

  Lying is demonic.

 

  And-

 

  Really, at its core, lying is demonic. The devil is the father of lies. So-

 

  Yeah.

 

  As believers, you should be careful about lying. You know, I have young children and that’s-

 

  Just don’t tell lies.

 

  Don’t tell lies. That’s a big no-no-

 

  Amen.

 

  in our house, telling lies. When I see adult believers who just tell silly lies and it’s not good.

 

  It’s crazy. So thank God we can walk in the truth, but also we need to speak the truth. And we are to speak the truth, but we’re to do it with an attitude of love. One translation says, “Speak the truth enfolded in love.” So we’re gonna go to Ephesians chapter four, and we’re gonna start reading about this in Ephesians 4:14, and we’ll go through verse 16. Aaron, if you wanna read verse 14 through verse 16.

 

  It says that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth and love may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

 

  Amen, so Paul’s saying, “I don’t want you to be carried away with every wind of doctrine.” Man, there is all kind of crazy doctrine out in the world, but we need to get strong and secure in who we are. And he says this. “But speak the truth in love.” Speak the truth, but do it in an attitude of love. And you do this for the purpose of building up the body, edifying people. And so we can tell the truth, but we can do it in love. He goes on and says this in verse 17. “This I say, therefore, in testifying the Lord, that from this point, you don’t walk as other Gentiles walk.” Don’t walk like the world, don’t talk like the world, don’t act like the world in the vanity and the futility and the emptiness of their mind. “Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them.” That is a biblical definition of spiritual death. Sin will dumb you down, it will make you spiritually ignorant. And he says, “You’re alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in you because of the blindness of your heart who, being passed, have given themselves to lasciviousness or sensuality, just living to please your senses, to work all uncleanliness with greediness. You haven’t learned this in Christ. If so be that you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, that the truth is in Jesus.” Jesus, He says, “Speak the truth in love.” And the truth is in Jesus. He goes on and tells us in verse 22 to verse 24, “Put off the old man, the old lifestyle, which is corrupt according to deceitful lust.” People in the world lie all the time, but we shouldn’t be like them. And he says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” I know we’ve dealt with some ministries. And some ministries have a habit, they’re lying, and it’s just terrible. And we say, “Well, it’s their version of the truth.” And it’s really saying they’re not really telling the truth. And be renewed. I told one of them, “Just don’t lie to me. Just tell the truth, it’s better.” Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. You know, we’ve gotta have, we gotta renovate our mind. You know, your spirit was born of God, your spirit was changed immediately, but you gotta change the way you think. And you can’t think like the world, talk like the world, act like the world. That’s what Paul’s saying here. You gotta put off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitfulness, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Change the way you think and put on the new man, which in the likeness of God is created righteous. Your spirit is created righteous and truly holy. True holiness is not all these things that you do to the outward man. It’s what you do to the inward man. True holiness comes from the Spirit. He says, “Wherefore put away lying and speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members.” Quit lying and just tell the truth. We’re members of one another. What we do affects each other. You know, the Bible says in Philippians chapter two, the beginning of the chapter, let every man not just look on what’s his own, but look on the things of others. We need to realize how our actions affect other people. He says, “Be angry and sin not. Let the sun go down on your,” man, don’t give place to the devil. If you start lying, you’re giving place to the devil. And so basically, he’s saying we need to speak the truth enfolded in love. Paul talks about the same thing in 1 Timothy 2 where he’s talking to Timothy in verse 15. He says, “Study to shew yourself approve to God a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” You know what? You could rightly and wrongly divide the scripture. And so when we preach the scripture, it needs to be in context. We need to realize, it needs to fit with the rest of the Word of God. We need to realize who it was being spoken to. The timing, so on and so forth. You know, you can take a little bit of a scripture here and a little bit of the scripture there, and you can prove almost anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s right. But the whole Bible says something. Amen?

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  He says, “Shun profane and vain babblings, they will increase to more ungodliness. And their word, again, will eat as a canker of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus.” Here, Paul, now Paul never does this when he writes a letter that’s to a whole church. But to some individuals, he calls some people out and says, “Man, these guys are rotten.” He says, “Concerning the truth, they’ve erred saying the resurrection has passed already and overthrow the faith of some.” And so I try never to stand on the pulpit and badmouth somebody that somebody would know never. You know, sometimes I use examples, but I try never to use examples that people would know who it is, so on and so forth. But he said, “Man, these people, you could tell by their fruit.”

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  Go ahead, Aaron, and read verse 19 to verse 21.

 

  I’m not there.

 

  Oh, you’re not there. I’ll jump forward then. “Nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, the Lord knows those who are His. Let everyone who names the name of Christ apart from inequity, stay out of rebellion. But in a great house, they’re not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth, some of honor and some of dishonor. If a man,” listen to this closely. 2 Timothy 2:21, “If a man therefore purged himself from these, from iniquity, from all these foolish and unlearned questions, from youthful lust, he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified and sufficient for the master’s use.” You purge yourself. These are things you laid down. So we need to speak the truth enfolded in love. We need to rightly divide the word of truth. There are people who do not receive the Word of God. Now he tells us how to handle them as we go on down here in verse 22 to verse 26, one of the most powerful lessons I’ve ever learned. “Flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace with them who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing they gender strifes.” Some questions you need to avoid because they’re not, they don’t want the answer. They’re just trying to cause strife. “And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle. Be gentle to everyone able to teach and patient, in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves.” Man, we gotta keep instructing people with the Word of God. Keep teaching the Word of God. Keep telling people what the scripture says. “If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” Man, if people acknowledge the truth, they’ll repent. And so sometimes they’re crazy. That what they’re saying is crazy. It doesn’t add up, it’s not right. He says that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. Again, the truth shall make you free. And if people get ahold of the truth and believe the Word of God, we keep teaching the Word of God if people agree with us. If they don’t, just keep teaching the Word of God. Just gently teach the Word of God, turn them to the scripture. And if they really get ahold of the Word of God, they’ll recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. But if you don’t believe the truth from God, you’re getting yourself in a trap. So we need to keep believing the truth. Amen? Praise God.

 

  It talks about just people who oppose themselves.

 

  Yeah.

 

  You know? Yeah, the the truth will always prevail. And when you follow God’s truth, it’s always gonna shine. You know-

 

  Amen.

 

  Lies always change from day to day, but the truth remains the same. The truth is constant.

 

  Amen. It’s a lot better.

 

  And Jesus is the truth. That’s why He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 

  To tell the truth, you don’t have to change the story all the time. Well, I wanna say a great big thank you to our partners. You know, if our partners didn’t support us, we couldn’t do all we’re doing. We’re on several networks nationwide and worldwide. You know, I have a staff of about 20 people. Few over 20 when you count the part-time ones. And you know what? God has blessed us so much and helped us, but we could not do all this if it wasn’t for our partners. And we actually have put all of our teaching downloadable in audio and video on the website. We have a free children’s curriculum that we’re developing. It’s on the website, and we’ve made all this free. and it’s due to the generosity of our partners. So thank you so much. Go to the website, check it out. If you’d like to partner with us, we’d love to hear from you. Thank you, and God bless you today.

 

  Freedom comes from knowing and walking with Jesus. God’s Word is consistent and will remain forever. By continuing in His Word, you will know the truth and be able to walk in it. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of “Truth will Make you Free,” a $20 value, free of charge. Download it today at charischristiancenter.com.

 

  Praise the Lord, friends. I wanna invite you to church this coming Sunday morning, whether you’re in Colorado Springs or whether you’re wherever you are at. If you’re in Colorado Springs, you can see us Sunday morning at 8:30 or 10:30 a.m. live, but you can also watch us with our livestream congregation at 8:30 or 10:30 a.m. or you can go to our website and get it anytime at harrischristiancenter.com.

 

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