At the end of verse 21, we have
six one-syllable words. And in these one-syllable words,
we're given a great principle of divine truth. No lie is of the truth. No lie is of the truth. Two contradictory statements
cannot both be true. I say that cat is black. Somebody
else says, no, that cat's white, but if you think it's black,
if that works for you, that's okay. No, one of those statements
are a lie. The cat is either white or the
cat is black. They cannot both be true. And John says, I've not written
unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know
it. And no lie is of the truth. I want to say a few things about
the truth. I couldn't help but think about
what Pilate said to the Lord when the Lord said, I came to
bear witness to the truth. He said, truth. What is truth? And he could have meant several
things by that. He could have meant Is there such a thing as the
truth? You know, a lot of people would say, no, there's no absolute
truth. Is there such thing as the truth? And if there is, can
we know it? Would that be presumptuous for
me to say, I know the truth? Can we say we know the truth?
Truth. You're going to the cross for
the truth. Is it worth all of this? Now the answer to those three
questions is yes, yes, and yes. Yes, there is such a thing as
the truth. Yes, the truth can be known. The Lord said you shall know
the truth and the truth shall make you free. And yes, the truth
is worth dying for because of the greatness and the gloriousness
of what the truth actually has to say. You should know the truth and
the truth, not your knowledge of the truth. The truth's a person,
isn't it? The truth shall make you free. Now that's the great glory of
the truth. The truth shall make you free. Now, God is called
a God of truth in Deuteronomy 32, 4. Without iniquity, just
and right is he. I love that scripture that says
God cannot lie. He likes the ability to lie.
I want you to think about how easily a lie comes off your lips
and my lips. As soon as we're put in a position
to where we have to lie, we lie. Somebody says, I don't do that.
Well, you lied just now. You lied just now, I'm sure of
it. I know people, I know something about human nature, and it is
so easy for us to lie. The scripture says the wicked
are estranged from the womb. They go about as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. But he cannot lie. He lacks the ability to lie. Christ calls himself the truth. What a name! I am the way, the
truth. The life, no man comes to the
Father but by me. The Holy Spirit is called the
Spirit of truth. And he is said to guide us into
all truth. God is spirit and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. I can't emphasize
properly the importance of the truth. And Christ said to Pilate,
I came to bear witness to the truth. And I think about how
he bore witness to the truth when he was nailed to Calvary's
tree. This is so important. When Christ was nailed to the
cross, and cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken
me? There's not a statement that
more clearly demonstrates the truth concerning who God is. Every attribute of God is in
full display in the cross, and this is a manifestation of the
truth as to the true character of God. Every attribute fully
displayed on the cross of Christ. His holiness. Oh, how he hates
sin. His justice. He will punish sin. You can write that down. He will
punish all sin. His sovereign purpose. He was
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This is why He
came. His love. He loved His Father so much that
He would go to the cross if His Father told Him to do it. His
love to His people that He would be nailed to the cross in their
place. Every attribute of God is fully displayed in the cross
of Christ. And the cross of Christ tells
us the truth about man. I think that scripture in Luke
chapter 23 is so powerful, it tells it all. Pilate delivered
Jesus to their will. And my will, my desire, is who
I am. You wouldn't want anybody to
know your real desires, would you? You wouldn't want anybody
to know. but your desires, your will,
that which you prefer is who you really are. There is no such
thing as free will. Man's will is evil. When man
was given his will, he put Christ to death on the cross. We know
it was the Father that did this, but it was through these men
who with wicked hands crucify and slain him. I know what man
really is when I look at the cross. He delivered Jesus to
their will. They required His death. But we see the truth regarding
salvation in the cross. I love to repeat the seven things
of the Savior on the cross. Don't you love to hear them?
I mean, you learn, and I learn, what He was doing by those things
He said. His first statement, Father, forgive them. And He
meant every one of the elect when He said that. It wasn't
some generic prayer. He was praying for every one
of the elect. That means he's praying for me as an individual. Father, forgive them. And when
the Lord, he's not praying the way we pray. Lord, would you
please do this? No, he was speaking as an equal to the Father at
this time. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. I
love his statement to the dying thief. When he said, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. I love what that thief knew.
He knew that the Lord was not going to stay dead and he was
going to come as a mighty reigning king. He said, Lord, remember
me. And he is a king said today,
thou shalt be with me in paradise. I love the way he said to. His
mother, woman, don't you? You know, I love the way he calls
her woman. I don't call my mom woman, I
call her mom or mother. But such was the greatness of
the Lord Jesus Christ that he would call his mother woman. Woman, behold thy son, he pointed
at John. And he said to John, behold thy
mother. This speaks of the real humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He actually had a mother because
he was and is right now a real man. And as a man, he came to
die. I think of his words, and at
this time, he doesn't call God his father. This is when he's
bearing so acutely the wrath of God as the sin-bearing substitute,
and he is drinking the cup of the sins of his people, and he
says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And that is
the most glorious thing God ever did. God shows his glory in that
when sin is found on his son, He abandons him, and he forsakes
him. That's who God is. That's who
God is. And then he says, I thirst. And
that's not just talking about his physical thirst or his physical
sufferings. You know, there was a whole lot
of people. There was a whole lot of people who were crucified
that were believers. You say, you're a Christian? OK, let's
see you die like the Christ. A lot of believers were crucified.
Boxes, Book of Martyrs, you can read in church history. A lot
of believers were crucified and they went to the cross praising
God. And the Lord is not talking about
the physical suffering, as bad as that physical suffering is,
but He's talking about thirsting. Oh, how He thirsted when He was
forsaken by God. And in His glorious words, it
is finished. That's the truth. He finished
the work the Father gave him to do. I finished the work you
gave me to do. What was the work you gave him
to do? To save his people from their sins, and that's exactly
what he did. And he said, into thy hands I
commend my spirit. Now, the only true believer,
he believed God when he was utterly in the darkness. Nobody else
has ever done that. He believed God perfectly. James
1.18 says, of his own will begat he us through the word of truth. You see, there's no new birth.
There's no regeneration. There's no being born again apart
from the word of truth. The truth has a content, doesn't
it? It has a specific content. And there's no new birth. There's
no salvation. There's no being born again apart
from that. Turn with me to John chapter
8 for just a moment. Verse 42, Jesus said unto them,
if God were your father, you'd love me. For I proceeded forth
and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot. You lack the ability to hear
my word. You are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because
I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces
me of sin? And if I say the truth, Why do
you not believe me? He that's of God heareth God's
words. You therefore hear them not,
because you are not of God. Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, Say we not well that thou art Samaritan, and hast
a devil? Now the truth is God's words,
If you're of God, you'll hear God's words, and if you're not,
you won't. John 1.14, And the word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1.17, The law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now listen
to this statement. If you ever learn the truth, you'll learn
grace. Grace is going to be the second
most important word to you in your vocabulary. Christ is first,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But after that, grace will be
more meaningful to you than any other word. And if you ever learn
grace, you will learn the truth. What commends a man as being
from God? What commends me as being from God? 2 Corinthians
4, 2. We've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking
in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but
by manifestation of the truth. Manifestation of the truth. Not holding back on it. Not hiding
it. Not suppressing it. But by manifestation of the truth,
we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. Paul said, I've kept back nothing that was profitable
to you. I've not shunned, declare unto
you all the counsel of God. Now he says, I've not written
to you because you don't know the truth, but because you know
it. Now look back in verse 20. Here's
why you know it. This is true of every believer,
but, verse 20, But you have an unction, an anointing from the
Holy One, and you know all things. Now, excuse me. That does not mean you have omniscience. You know that, don't you? There's
a whole lot of stuff you don't know. There's a whole lot of
stuff I don't know. He's not talking about having
omniscience. But when he says, you know all things, he's saying
this, you know Christ. Christ is all. You know all. Evan Farrell said to me last
week, I'm going to give you the credit for this, Evan. But he
said, every believer is a know-it-all. And they are. Because every believer
knows the Lord Jesus Christ who is all. Every believer is a know-it-all. We know that Christ is all to
God. We know Christ is all in the
scriptures. We know Christ is all in salvation. We know that
Christ is all in every doctrine. There's no understanding of any
doctrine apart from him. We know it all. And he's all
our salvation. And we know all, don't we? you know all things. Look down
at verse 27 of this passage. But the anointing, that's the
same word as unction, but the anointing which you have received
of him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you.
But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and it's truth,
and it's no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall
abide in him. Now, this is glorious. Every believer has an unction
that causes them to know the truth and know when they're not
hearing the truth. It's an unction from the Holy
Spirit that every believer possesses. It's given in the new birth.
You know that passage of scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5, where he
says, abstain from every appearance of evil? You remember that? Well,
turn over there. 1 Thessalonians. Hold your finger in 1 John 2. Verse 22, abstain from all appearance
of evil. Now, most people, when they use
that verse of scripture, they say, never put yourself in a
position that can be looked upon as questionable. Don't go somewhere
that could ruin your testimony. Don't be in a place where people
will say, what are they doing there? Watch out for what you're
doing. Don't, anything that even smells
like evil, stay away from that place. Well, I wouldn't deny
that that's good advice, but that doesn't have anything to
do with what the Apostle is saying. Absolutely nothing. Look what
he says in verse 20. Despise not prophesying. What's going on right now? Preaching.
The preaching of the gospel. Despise not preaching. Prove
all things. Test all things. Test what you're
hearing. Try the spirits, whether they
be of God. You see what I'm saying is according
to the scripture. Test, prove all things. Hold fast that which
is good. You see this is the word of God,
hold on to it. Being justified by His grace,
hold on to that. Hold fast to that which is good,
that you are complete in Christ Jesus, because the word of God
does teach it. Hold fast to that. Abstain from all appearance. of evil. If anything smells bad,
it is bad. If you say, when you're hearing
it, you say, there's something wrong with that. I don't believe, that's
not lining up with what, avoid it. That's what he's saying.
You've got an option from the Holy One to where you know from
the scriptures, from having a new nature, intuitively, you know
if something is true. I've not written unto you because
you know not the truth, but you know the truth. and that no lie
is of the truth. Now, Peter says something and
Paul says something very similar. Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter
1. I feel like I've entered into this
verse of scripture more than I ever have. Verse 12. Peter says, wherefore I will
not be negligent to put you, 2 Peter 1, verse 12, wherefore
I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of
these things, though you know them. I'm gonna say them again,
even though you know them, and be established in the present
truth. Now notice that word present,
this is very important. With regard to the truth, we
can never say, I already know that. I've got that down. I understand that, let's go on
to something else. You can never say that with regard to the truth. If a man thinketh he knoweth
anything, he knoweth nothing, yet as he ought to know. And
Peter says, I'm reminding you of this, so you can be established
in this present truth. This present truth. Present is
right now. Present is right now. It's not old. Let me give you
an example of what I'm talking about. Keep your finger there
in 2 Peter and turn to Romans chapter 5. Verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, I
used to be that way. I used to be without strength.
I used to be ungodly. No more. Really? When you hear that verse of Scripture,
do you look at it as how you used to be or how you are right
now in the present? Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.15,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I used
to be the chief. He didn't say that at all, did
he? He said of whom I am the chief. Not O wretched man that
I used to be, but O wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver
me from this body of death? Now, present tense, I am a sinner. And the only way I can hear the
gospel is as a sinner. The Lord didn't look at his disciples
and said, I say unto you, if you then, you used to be evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more?
He didn't say that, did he? He said, if you then, speaking to
his disciples, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give
good things to them that ask you? Now, the point is, the present
truth is that I am presently a sinner, and I hear the gospel
presently as a sinner. If I hear the gospel as how I
used to be, it becomes old and dry and stale and dry doctrine. Give me something else. That
manna doesn't do any good. It's become light bread. It's
no longer manna from heaven. If you hear, not as a sinner.
The only way you can hear the gospel is as a sinner right now. You don't say, I used to be without
strength. I used to be ungodly. That fits
your case right now. And the only way you can take
that promise to yourself is if you fit that description. Are
you without strength? Write it down. Are you ungodly? Write it down. Then this verse
is for you. Christ died for you. It's the
present, not the past, the present. You see, when I hear as a sinner,
let me tell you something that I need. I need for God to elect
me. I need for him to choose me.
It's not just some doctrine I agree and I see the Bible teaches it,
although I do see the Bible teaches it, I need God to choose me. I need Jesus Christ to pay for
my sins and cause them to be no more. It's not just that I
see that the Bible does in fact teach that He died for His people.
I see that. But I need it. I need for Him to die for me
and put away my sins. I need for the grace of the Holy
Spirit to come on me invincibly and irresistibly and cause me
to believe and cause me to look to Christ. I need that right
now. Presently. I need to be preserved. I need
to be caused to persevere. You see, the present truth makes
you hear presently. If it's not like that anymore,
you don't really hear. Like yesterday's manna wouldn't
do you any good today. That manna you got yesterday,
if you tried to use it today, what would it do? It'd breed
worms and stink. And that's it. Today, I need
to hear the gospel the way I heard it the very first time. Yesterday's
faith won't do me any good. It's in the past. Oh, that we
might be established in this present truth. Turn to Philippians chapter 3. That's why John is saying, I'm
not writing these things because you don't know the truth, but
because you know it. Peter says you're established in this present
truth. Philippians chapter three, verse
one. Finally, my brethren rejoice
in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me, It's not
grievous. It's not irksome. It doesn't
get old. I don't get tired of it. Well,
preacher's talking about Christ affects our redemption again.
Seems like he harps on that all the time. No, it's glorious. It's glorious. That's what Paul
says. It's not grievous and irksome
for me to write the same things. You know, One of my big fears
in preaching, and I always, I think people are gonna get tired of
listening to me. I can't help it. I feel that way all the time.
You know, some people I've preached to thousands of times, I think.
But still, even with that fear, I'm still gonna be preaching
the same things. You're gonna hear the same things every time
you come here. Every time, without exception. He says, I'm not I
don't find it grievous to do that. And he says, for you, this
is safe. This is the only thing that is
safe. Is it irksome to you to hear
every time you come in here that in him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body and you are complete, complete in
him? No. You want to hear it every
time you're here. For you it is safe. Now back to our text. First John chapter 2 verse 21.
I've not written unto you because you know not the truth but because
you know it and that no lie is of the truth. Now this is a great
principle with regard to the truth. And if you don't have
this, you don't have the truth. No lie. And what is a lie? It's a denial of the truth. That's
what it is. By implication, by what you don't
say. Remember, if you only tell half
the truth, what have you told? You've told a lie. If you only
tell 99% of the truth, what have you told? You've told a lie. It's the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, and whatsoever, and nothing that's
a lie is of the truth. Look the way John uses this word
in 1 John 1, verse 6. If we say we have fellowship
with him, I have fellowship with God, I pray, he hears, he speaks
to me. We have fellowship, we have communion.
If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness. Now I understand that's not talking
about sinning in the dark when nobody can see you. It's an awful thing to sin in
the dark when nobody can see you. Wouldn't you agree with
that? Who in this room doesn't sin in the dark when nobody can
see you? Secret sins. That's not what
he's talking about. I'm not saying that's okay, but
I'm saying that every believer has the flesh he's dealing with.
Paul talked about his thorn in the flesh. And thank the Lord,
quite often, He seldom lets it, it's just what you deal with. No good at it, but that's not
what he's talking about. He's saying if we say we have
fellowship with him, well that person says they have fellowship
with him and he does this or he does that, he's a hypocrite.
No, you're a hypocrite. You're a hypocrite. If we say
we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness of salvation
by works. We lie. No fellowship, all religious
hot air. We lie and we do not the truth. Verse 8, if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves. We've lied
to ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We can't even be taken
seriously if we say, I have no sin. At all times, I have a sinful
nature that I'm painfully aware of. Verse 10, if we say we've
not sinned with regard to anything, words of verb, I'm sitting here
preaching to you, and I'm preaching the gospel. And if I say I've
not sinned while I'm preaching, I'm a liar. I make God a liar. I can't do anything without because
I'm in it. If we say we've not seen, we
make him a liar and his word is not in us. Verse 4 of chapter
2, he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments.
And that's talking about the commandments of the gospel that
a believer actually keeps. To believe on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and to love one another as God gave him the
commandment. That's not talking about the Ten Commandments. You
don't look at your obedience to the Ten Commandments as a
gauge of spiritual life. If you do, you don't have any
life. I'll assure you that. You've never learned anything
about the law or who God is or who you are. He that saith, I
know him, and keepeth not his commandments, believing the gospel
is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Now this is, turn to
2nd Corinthians 1. This is the same thing Paul says
in 2nd Corinthians 1. No lie is of the truth. Verse 17. When I, therefore,
was thus minded, did I use likeness of the things that I purposed?
Do I purpose according to the flesh that with me there should
be yea, yea, and nay, nay? Yes and no to the same thing?
But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by
us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay.
But in him was yea for all the promises of God in him are yea.
and amen to the glory of God by us. Is salvation by grace? Yes. It's all of grace. But no, you may be saved or damned
anyway if you don't do your part to make that grace work for you.
Is the blood of Christ enough to save you? Well, of course
it is. He died to pay for your sins. Of course it is. Yes. If
you don't do what you need to do to make His blood work for
you and apply it to you, if you don't accept Him as your personal
Savior and make Him Lord of your life, He may die for you and
you'll end up in hell anyway. That's a yes and no to the same
thing. Same thing, yea and nay. No lie is of the truth. Is God sovereign? Yes, no doubt. If you ask any preacher in Lexington,
Kentucky, if God is sovereign, and they'll say yes. I don't
care if it's a Catholic, Methodist, you believe in God's sovereign?
Of course I do. He's God, God's sovereign. But I believe man
has a free will as well. That means man's will is sovereign
over God's will and free from God. You see, it's contradiction. There's no contradictions in
the truth. It kills me when people present
the truth as being, well, we need to make it relevant, or
it adapts to this, or somebody hears the truth and says, well,
I had somebody say that to me very recently. I told them what
I believe, and they didn't believe it, and they said, well, if that
works for you, fine, but that wouldn't work for me. That's
not the way truth is. Truth is absolute. You don't
adapt it to whoever wants to, whoever works for. Not at all. No lie is of the truth. The truth is not the father of
any lie. There is so much contention about
things in recent years as far as the truth. Some people deny that there are
two separate natures in a believer, a holy nature and a nothing but
evil nature. That's denied. Do you know that
if you deny the two natures, you deny total depravity? you
say that God's grace works with the old nature. And when you
do that, you've left the gospel. The issue of whether or not Christ
was really made sin, or if he just bore the punishment and
the guilt of sin, or was he made sin? Well, if you say he merely
was bearing the punishment for sin, instead of actually being
made to be sin. And when we say that, I know
we don't know what we're talking about, but if he wasn't actually made
to be sin, I'm not made to be the righteousness of God either.
You see, no lie is of the truth. Contradictions are not found
in the truth. No lie is of the truth. Do you expect me to think that
everything you say is true? Well, I hope you'll measure it
by the word of God, but everything I say better be true. I'm claiming
to be God's spokesman, and you've got the word of God to see if
what I'm saying is true. But understand this, no lie is
of the truth. Aren't you thankful that that's
so? The truth of the gospel never
fathered a lie. May God give us all grace to
be of this number who John describes. I'm not writing to you because
you don't know the truth, but because you know it. And knowing
the truth is knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. And no lie is of
the truth. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are for
the truth of your holy word and for the truth of your holy gospel. And Lord, how we thank you for
the unction of thy spirit that causes us to know the truth and
love the truth and believe the truth. And Lord, enable us to
receive the love of the truth. the love of thy dear son. Lord,
cause us to be overwhelmed by his cross, his love for us. Let that be the theme of every
thought, the greatness and the majesty and the glory of thy
dear son. Lord, we confess he is the truth.
He's the truth concerning who you are, he's the truth concerning
who we are, and he's the truth concerning salvation. And Lord,
we know that no lie is of the truth. We ask that you would
deliver us from lies, from believing lies, from telling lies, that
we might be found in your son. In his blessed name we pray,
amen.