Well, by way of introduction,
I want to say two things. One, our prayers certainly go
out to Dr. Robert Godfrey. He's such an
invaluable servant of the Lord in God's kingdom, and we need
him well because he is such a precise teacher and theologian and makes
such a rich commitment to the kingdom of God and its work.
And so, we need to pray for a swift and speedy recovery for Dr. Godfrey. Second, I'm so grateful
to Dr. Sproul and the team here at Ligonier
just for this privilege to be here this week to preach and
to teach, and now for this opportunity to fill this session. And I'm
so grateful to be with you. We really live for this, to come
together as the people of God, to worship together, and to be
enriched in the study of the Word of God, and of course then
to take it out and live it and proclaim it and spread it far
and wide. But what a joy, what a privilege
it is for us to come together in the name of Christ, and I'm
so grateful for this opportunity. I want to invite you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the gospel of John, John chapter
18. And I want to begin by reading
a couple of verses that will serve really as a launching pad
for us. The title of this message is,
Feet Firmly Planted in Midair. It's drawn from Francis Schaeffer,
who years ago said that modern man, his feet are firmly planted
in mid-air, meaning he has no truth upon which to stand. He
lives in a relativistic society, and he has no anchor for his
soul. He has no firm foundation beneath
his feet. and thus His feet are firmly
planted in just thin air. That's the title for this message,
and I want to draw your attention beginning in verse 36 through
the first part of verse 38. The setting is the trial of our
Lord as He stands trial before Pilate, which will bring about
His condemnation and His sentence of death to be crucified upon
Calvary's cross. Of course, all this according
to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. Our Lord underwent six trials,
three Jewish, three Roman. and we find ourselves now in
the midst of one of these Roman trials. And the subject now comes
to the subject of truth. The speaker is none other than
truth incarnate himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it will
elicit a response from Pilate, a response of derision regarding
truth. Beginning in verse 36, Jesus
answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then my servants would be fighting, so that I would not be handed
over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not
of this realm.' Therefore Pilate said to him, So you are a king?
Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a king. For this I
have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to
testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth
hears my voice." Pilate said to him, what is truth? What is truth? That is the age-long
question voiced by Pilate when stood before him, Jesus of Nazareth. What is truth? This was not an
honest inquiry into the matter of truth. It was a defiant denunciation
that there is any truth. It was spoken with a tone of
derision and contempt. This terse response was assertedly
mocked by Pilate. It was a dismissive chide dripping
with sarcasm, a caustic rebuttal intended to belittle any notion
that there is such a thing as truth. It was a barbed jab intended
to deflate and denigrate any thought that Jesus could claim
to know or to speak the truth. Pilate rejected the very idea
of an exclusive truth claim. Pilate repudiated any possibility
that anyone on this planet like Jesus could have any claim upon
the truth. Pilate is a man who is standing
with both feet firmly planted in midair. Pilate has no place
to stand. This mocking question, what is
truth, is the malignant mantra of our day. The spirit of Pilate
is with us as never before. The spirit of Pilate lives on
college campuses. The spirit of Pilate sits in
the halls of our government. The spirit of Pilate legislates
our moral code. The spirit of Pilate reigns in
our media. The spirit of Pilate teaches
in many of our seminaries. It stands in many of our pulpits.
We live in a culture that has both feet securely fastened to
midair. We live in a day of a truth. We live in a day of anti-truth. We live in a day of non-truth. We live in a day of relative
truth. The only truth there is today
is that there is no truth. Never has the truth been under
more attack than it is in this hour. We live in a world that
has both feet firmly planted in midair. I want us to look
at these verses from John chapter 18. And as we look, you will
note the word truth is used three times, twice in verse 37, once
in verse 8. And the three headings that I
have for our time together in this session really stand upon
each of the three uses of the word truth. I want you to note
with me first the rejection of truth. That is in verse 38. Pilate
said to him, what is truth? And then second, I want you to
note the reality of truth because Jesus said unequivocally, for
this I have been born and for this I have come into the world
to testify to the truth. There is the reality of truth.
And then finally, I want you to note the reception of truth. At the end of verse 37, everyone
who is of the truth Here's my word. I want to begin
with the rejection of truth. I want to begin with Pilate.
I want to begin with the spirit of unbelief and the spirit of
skepticism that reigned in the heart of Pilate as he repudiated
any notion that there could be absolute, exclusive truth, or
that anyone could know it, or that anyone could hold to it.
That is what is behind this scoffing and mocking at the Lord Jesus,
what is truth. Nowhere is this abandonment of
truth more clearly seen than among our college students today. The doctrinal creed of today's
collegian is, truth is relative. What is true for you is fine
for you, but that may not be true for me. Recently, two national
surveys were conducted around our country, one polling adults
and another polling teenagers. And both groups were asked if
they believed in absolute truth and absolute morals. The results
were staggering. Of adults 36 years and older, Sixty-four percent said there
are no moral absolutes. Of adults eighteen through thirty-five,
the number rose higher. And there were seventy-five percent,
three out of every four, who said in this country there are
no moral absolutes. But when the teenagers and young
collegians were surveyed, That number spiked and escalated,
and 83% of today's teenagers said that morality depends upon
the individual and upon the circumstances. In other words, the younger you
are, the more likely you are to reject any absolute truth
whatsoever. writing several years ago in
his classic best-selling book, The Closing of the American Mind
by Alan Bloom, a very distinguished college professor. He noted that
of the students entering his institution, one of the elite
schools in our country, that of all of the students entering
into that university, 95% of them were committed relevantists. meaning they did not believe
in absolute truth. And by the time they graduated,
he said the number rose higher to 97 percent. That as they were
leaving that institution of higher learning, they had become evangelists
of relative thinking. This rejection of truth is coming
like a flood, which will only become a tsunami in the days
to come. Today's college students are
dogmatically committed to moral relativism. A Harvard professor
who instructs the intellectual elite of our day. Out of this
student body will become our future presidents, our Supreme
Court judges, our senators and representatives. This Harvard
professor annually offers a large history class on World War II
and the rise of Nazism. He was stunned to learn that
the majority of the students there at Harvard did not believe
that regarding the Holocaust, anyone was to blame. The students
claimed it was a natural catastrophe that was inevitable and unavoidable,
a certain evolutionary result. That is having both feet firmly
planted. in mid-air when philosophers
said that we are raising a generation of moral stutterers. Others call
it moral illiteracy. Another says there is a hole
in our moral ozone. And standing behind all of this
is the void of any moral absolutes, any absolute truth whatsoever. The increasing beliefs of the
day are the only absolute is there are no absolutes. The only
truth is there is no truth. The only intolerance is there
is no tolerance of intolerance. And all of this gives mounting
and escalating popularity all around us for abortion and homosexuality
and lesbianism. and euthanasia, and pornography,
and all kinds of degenerate lewdness. Instead, in our culture and the
day in which we live that so rejects and repudiates the notion
of truth in the world in which we now live, the supreme sin
today is not some moral wickedness. but to make a claim for absolute
truth. The unpardonable sin is to affirm
absolute truth. The abomination of desolation
is to assert that the Bible is the authoritative standard of
truth. Such is the anathema that we
are beginning to feel as we live in a truth-rejecting world. Just two days ago, CBS Sports
put out far and wide the title read, agreeing to speak at intolerant
church is Tim Tebow's greatest sin. I quote from the article, Tim
Tebow is about to make the biggest mistake of his life. Tebow has
agreed to speak at a hateful Baptist preacher's church, an
evangelical Cretan named Robert Jeffreys. Just so you'll know,
Robert Jeffreys pastors First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas,
one of the great Bible teaching, Bible preaching churches in all
of America. And Robert Jeffreys is a friend
of mine. I went to seminary with him. This article says Jeffreys
is a bad guy. He says Jews and homosexuals
are going to hell. He says the Catholic church is
a satanic cult. He says Islam is a religion that
promotes pedophilia. Mormons, they're going to hell
too. Listen, I'm even more narrow
than this. I don't think all Baptists are going to heaven. That's another sermon. Forty-three verses of Just As
I Am. Somebody walk forward so we can
go to lunch. Put us out of our misery. Alright, back to Tim Tebow. Back
to Tim Tebow. Alright, this is an example of
the intolerant rage that there is for anyone to have absolute
truth and to stand for absolute morality. Listen to this article,
it continues to go. Tim Tebow supports this man. Listen, Jesus said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but
through me. Peter said, there is salvation in no other name,
for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby
we must be saved. Paul said, there is one God and
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Listen,
there is only one way of salvation, and that is in our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's all Robert Jeffreys is
saying. And the heat is coming. The heat is going to be coming
to you, and it's going to be coming to me. Tim Tebow supports this man.
More than supports him, Tebow is going to throw his weight,
and it is considerable weight we're talking about. We're talking
about Tim Tebow, for God's sake. I'm just reading the article. Tebow is going to throw his weight
behind this preacher by speaking at his church in Dallas in April. This is the sin. He's probably
going to speak at some Sunday school picnic there. And that is a mistake Tim Tebow
will never overcome. This is CBS Sports. I'm not sure
he can overcome what he's already done, simply agreeing to speak
at Jeffrey's church. Tebow could change his mind today,
announce that he's not speaking there in April, or at any other
time, and it wouldn't be enough. Here's the truth about Tebow, and what he does to us. He divides us. Tebow's religious views are not
mine. I'm ashamed to like Tim Tebow. More specifically, I don't like
Tim Tebow. I can't. Liking him means liking
someone who we wouldn't just agree with, but someone who would
support Robert Jeffries. And now he says, and I despise
Robert Jeffreys. I suspect there are Christians,
many of you, who are as disappointed as I am that Thiebaud would align
himself with something as monstrous as Robert Jeffreys. Really, where is the hate speech
coming from? This article concludes, I don't
consider Robert Jeffrey's theology to be Christianity. Now this
sports writer is a great theologian, you understand. I don't consider Robert Jeffrey's
theology to be Christianity. It's not a religion built on
love. He knows a lot about that, doesn't he? Jeffries speaks hate. Robert Jeffries wouldn't have
saved Mary Magdalene. He would have stoned her. Tim
Tebow will speak at this man's church. Be gone Tim Tebow! I'm done with you. Period. End of article. That is the rejection of truth. That is the insane, mad, Rejection
of truth, that is Pilate, the spirit of Pilate saying, what
is truth? There is no truth. You cannot
claim to have truth. It's the spirit of this age.
It is the world in which we live. It is the cultural pressure that
is encompassing us and will soon seek to smother our voice into
silence. The rejection of truth. I want you to note second, the
reality of truth. The reality of truth. John 18,
look at verse 37. I want you to note the first
time the word truth is used in this text. Jesus says, for this I have been
born. That's a major statement. In
other words, this is why I've come into the world. This is
one of those primary reasons. Now principally He came to seek
and to save that which is lost. Principally He came to go to
Calvary's cross, to be lifted up and to be our sin bearer,
to be our redeemer, to bear our sins, to be the scapegoat who
would take away the sins of the world. But He also was born for
this, verse 37, because you can't have one without the other. In
verse 37 He says, for this I have been born. And for this I have
come into the world." This is an announcement of the reason
for His grand entrance into this world, why the Son of God, the
Son of Man has come to testify. The word testify means to bear
witness as in a court of law, to assume the witness stand before
judge and jury, to bear witness. I have come into the world to
testify to the truth. What is truth? To boil it down in one word, truth is reality. Truth is the way things really
are. It is not how things may appear
to be. It may not be how we want things
to be. It may not be what the majority
votes on something. It may not be what opinion polls
reveal. Truth is the way things really
are. It's actuality. It's veracity. It is reality. Now concerning the truth, I want
to give you a couple of words to define the truth. Number one, truth is divine. Truth does not come from this
world. Truth does not come from the mind of man. Truth must come
down from above. Truth comes down from another
world. Truth comes from God by way of
divine revelation. God is the author of truth. God
is the source of truth. God is the determiner of truth.
God is the arbitrator of truth. God is the standard of truth.
God is the judge of truth. In fact, God Himself is truth. Psalm 31, verse 5, He is the
God of truth. And His Son, Jesus Christ, I
am the way and the truth and the life. Ephesians 4, verse
21 says, truth is in Jesus. There is no truth outside of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Truth is in Jesus. The Holy Spirit
is the Spirit of truth, John 14, 17. He is the Spirit of Truth,
John 15, 26. Truth is Trinitarian. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit is truth. Truth is the self-expression
of God Himself because God is truth. Truth is everything that
is consistent with the mind of God, the being of God, the essence
of God, the character of God, the will of God, the glory of
God. Truth is whatever God says something
is. Sin is what God says it is. Judgment
is what God says it is. Salvation is what God says it
is. Heaven and hell is what God says
it is. Morality is what God says it
is. Romans 3 verse 4 says, Let God
be found true, though every man be found a liar. There is but
one source in the universe of truth, and that is God. Second, not only is truth divine,
second it is absolute. Notice how Jesus refers to truth
in verse 37. He says, for this I have come
into the world to testify to the truth. Truth is absolute. There is a definite article in
front of truth. This is not a truth or some truth,
but the truth, the one and only truth. Truth is exclusive. Truth is not inclusive. Truth
is discriminating. Truth excludes all that is not
true. Truth is not relative. Truth
is not arbitrary. Truth is not conditional. Truth
is not both and. Truth is either or. Everything
outside the truth is a lie. Everything inside the truth is
true. Jesus looked at the religious
leaders of Israel in His day and said, you are of your father
the devil. He does not stand in the truth because there is
no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he
speaks from his own nature. He is a liar and the father of
lies. Whatever contradicts biblical
truth is ultimately from the devil himself. Truth is totally
incompatible with error. Third, truth is objective. Note it says Jesus refers to
the truth. A truth is a fact that can be
verified. Jesus did not come into the world
for a feeling that fluctuates. Truth is objective. It is propositional. It is conveyed in clearly defined
words, words that have precise, razor sharp meaning. Truth is
conveyed in words that are concrete, black and white, narrowly defined,
cognitive, factual, rational, tangible. The Bible says of itself
in 2 Timothy 2 verse 15, it refers to itself as the word of truth.
Jesus said in John 17, 17, sanctify them by the truth. Your word
is truth. Truth is found in specific words
with specific meaning. Truth is a laser beam. It is explicit. It is exact. It is clear cut in its meaning. It is true because God says it
is so, and He has not stuttered nor mumbled." Fourth, truth is
singular. He says, the truth. He does not
speak of truths plural. There are many truths, but they
all come together to form the truth. It is one body of truth. It is one system of truth. It
is one body of divinity that comprises the truth. The truth
never contradicts itself. The truth is interwoven into
a seamless tapestry that speaks with one voice. It holds forth
one plan of salvation. It holds forth one history of
redemption, one Savior of sinners, one diagnosis of man's ruin,
one remedy unto eternal life. The great James Montgomery Boyce
wrote years ago, truth is singular. It is not in fragments that would
require us to speak of truths in the sense of unrelated facts
or items. Truth holds together. Therefore,
there is no phase of truth that is not related to every other
phase of truth. Truth stands or falls together.
All truths form one coherent network of truth. What God says in Genesis 1, 2,
and 3 is inseparably connected to what God says in John chapter
3. Fifth, truth is immutable. God does not change. His Word
does not change. Truth does not change. The truth
never changes. The truth is the same from age
to age, from generation to generation. Right is always right. Wrong
is forever wrong. Society may try to redefine morality. Culture may try to reclassify
right and wrong. But God's truth never changes. Truth is eternal. Truth is transcendent. Truth is everlasting. Psalm 119,
verse 89, forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven. Isaiah
40, verse 8, the grass withers, the flower fades away, but the
word of our God abides forever. Luke 16, verse 17, Jesus said,
it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke
of a letter of the law to fail. Because of this, because truth
is immutable, truth is always up to date. Truth is always contemporary. Truth is always relevant. Truth
always speaks to the issues of the day with perfect insight. Truth is never outdated. Truth
is never no longer truth. Truth does not have a short shelf
life. Truth abides forever. Truth endures
forever. I'm always amazed at so many
churches wanting to have a quote-unquote contemporary ministry. Great,
preach the Bible. The Bible is more up-to-date
than tomorrow's newspaper. The Bible always tells it like
it is. The Bible is always relevant.
It is never archaic. It is never outdated. Sixth,
truth is authoritative. Truth makes assertive demands
upon those who hear it. Truth necessitates something
from us. Truth is never just interesting. Truth is never entertaining. Truth is never a suggestion for
us to consider. Truth is never an option for
us to weigh. No, truth is demanding. Truth
is commanding. Truth is sovereign. Truth possesses
the right to rule our lives, the life of every person in this
world. is defined by his or her relationship
to the truth. You cannot be saved apart from
the truth. You cannot be sanctified apart from the truth. And seventh and finally, truth
is powerful. Truth is prolific. Truth is explosive. Truth convicts. Truth saves. Truth judges. Truth damns. Truth sanctifies. Truth conforms. Jesus said, you shall know the
truth and the truth shall set you free. John MacArthur writes, authentic
Christianity is concerned first and foremost with truth. The Christian faith is
not primarily about feelings, although deep feelings will surely
result from the impact of truth upon our hearts. Authentic Christianity
is not about human relationships, even though relationships are
the main focus in many of today's evangelical pulpits. It is not
about success and earthly blessings, no matter how much one might
get that impression from watching the programs that dominate religious
television. Biblical Christianity is all
about truth. God's objective revelation, the
Bible interpreted rationally, yields divine truth in perfectly
sufficient measure. Everything we need to know for
life and godliness is there for us in Scripture. God wrote only
one book, the Bible. It contains all the truth by
which He intended us to order our spiritual lives. We do not
need to consult any other source for spiritual or moral principles.
Scripture is not just holy truth. It is the highest standard of
all truth and the rule by which all truth claims must be measured." Everything must bow to truth.
Everything must yield to truth. It is the highest arbitrator.
It is the ultimate standard. It is the final judge of every
life. Finally, the reception of truth.
Here in John chapter eighteen at the end of verse thirty-seven,
Jesus makes a startling statement that has as its backdrop doctrines
of sovereign grace. We would ask ourselves, if truth
is so logical, so rational, then why does not everyone who hears
the truth receive it? Why do people reject it? Why
do only some receive it? And at the end of verse thirty-seven,
Jesus looks into the eyes of Pilate who is about to scoff
his truth claims and Jesus said, everyone, no exceptions, everyone
who is of the truth. To be of the truth is to be birthed
by the truth. It is to believe in the truth.
It is to belong to the truth. To be of the truth means to be
sovereignly regenerated by the truth. This refers to everyone
whose sin-blinded eyes have been opened and whose sin-deafened
ears have been opened. Everyone who is of the truth
hears my voice. To hear the voice of Christ is
to hear the truth and to receive the truth and to embrace the
truth. Standing behind this is the effectual
call of the Lord Jesus Himself by His Spirit who summons and
subpoenas all the elect to receive the truth that is in Christ Jesus. John 10, 27 says, my sheep, hear
my voice. and I know them and they follow
me. Those who are of the truth hear
His voice, not audibly, it is much louder than that. They hear
it inwardly by the convicting and convincing of the Holy Spirit
of God, the illumination and the enlightenment of the Spirit
of God within the once darkened soul This is our confidence in
this world as we look around and see the madness and the insanity
of people who reject the truth claims of Scripture and the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we say, is there any hope?
Where do we stand? What is the future? This is our
confidence that even in these dark days, God will irresistibly
bring His truth home to the hearts of His chosen ones. Jesus said,
I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it. Though this world turns a deaf
ear to the truth, there will surely be those who will hear
the voice of Christ, and they will believe the truth because
of the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God, who is the author of
truth, who will take the truth, and who will bring it home to
the hearts of people in the midst of a sinful and wicked generation. So let us take heart in these
days in which the truth is so under attack. The truth endures. The truth advances. The truth
stands strong, as strong as it has ever stood, and it will be
by the sovereign grace of God as we stand with no compromise,
as we stand as lights in this dark world. It is the light that
extinguishes the darkness. The darkness cannot extinguish
the light. As this world has both feet firmly
planted in mid-air, let us be anchored to the truth. Let us
be rooted and grounded in the truth. Let us proclaim the truth. Charles Haddon Spurgeon declared,
the quickest way to slay error is to proclaim the truth. The
surest mode of extinguishing falsehood is to boldly advocate
Scripture doctrine upon Scripture principles. Scolding and protesting
will not be so effectual in resisting the progress of error as the
clear proclamation of the truth that is in Christ Jesus. So let
us proclaim the truth from the housetops. Let us go into the
highways and the byways and hold up the bright torch of the light
of truth in this dark day. Let us herald the truth far and
wide. Let us go into the world and
make disciples and to teach them all the truth that Jesus has
commanded us. And in the end, God will honor
His truth, and God will honor the church that honors His truth. God will honor the man, and God
will honor the woman who honors His truth. Let us not equivocate. Let us not cower or back down.
Let us be bold, and let us be courageous. Let us be men and
women with love in our hearts but truth on our lips. Let us
declare the truth in this generation and trust that God will open
the ears of His chosen ones to receive it as we advance into
the future. Let us pray. Father in heaven, How we thank
you for the truth. We could not know you apart from
the truth. We could not be saved apart from
the truth. You are truth. Your son is the
truth. Your spirit is the spirit of
truth. Lord, we thank you that by your
grace our feet are not floating in mid-air. but that we are fastened
to the solid rock of truth. And even when the rains descend
and the floods come and beat against our house, it will not
fall because it is built upon the truth. Father, teach us yet
more of the truth. Teach us yet more carefully the
truth, because in reality we are growing to know You more
deeply through the truth. Lord, bless this conference.
Bless the proclamation of the truth, and we pray that it would
have its effect and its power in this world. Father, we pray
this in the name of Jesus Christ. the One who is the truth. Amen.