If you would turn in your Bibles
to Luke chapter 16. Our text will actually be in
1 John 1, but I'd like to read a passage here. Let me start. The title of my message tonight
is, The Cost of the Truth. I'd like to start by telling
you a story to open up my message. I believe it will speak for itself
once I finish. When I was 20 years old, for
the summer, I went down and worked for my dad down in Georgia at
a brick plant. And they made pavers and retaining
walls and bricks for your driveway and things like that. And one
of the jobs that I had that summer was they built a new office at
the bottom of the hill and wanted to display all their product
out in the parking lot. They wanted to build a whole
parking lot of pavers to show the different kinds of pavers
they made. But the problem was that new building was at the
bottom of a hill. And that bottom of the hill had
a lot of water that would come off of it. And so that would
rush into where the unfinished parking lot was, so they asked
us to build a retaining wall. And we figured that out on a
Friday, and so I showed up for work on Monday morning, and I
had seen that somebody had already started the wall. and the first
three layers of the wall were built. And these are big 45-pound
blocks, you know, the closest thing that I'd ever come to imagine
what it was like to build the pyramids, you know, building
this wall after being in 100-degree heat during the day. But we had
to build a six-foot wall that was 200 feet long, a very, very
long wall to cover the span of this building. And the first
three layers had already been done. And so I started asking
around, you know, who had started on this wall? There were only
a few people who knew about it. And it turned out that the owner
of the company, who was still running the business, he had
heard about it, and he came, had spent his entire life in
this, and had started the wall for us. He made it a point to
let us know that he did that, that he actually got his hands
on it and built that much. So from there, we built the wall
up until it was six feet high and 200 feet long. And this is
a big heavy wall. So we had heard, you know, the
next week we'll get some rain and we're thinking, you know,
see how it does. And you can imagine what happened when we
showed up the day after the rain. The whole wall had fallen down
and the water had rushed all in and ruined everything that
they had done in the parking lot. So, in despair, we really
kind of questioned ourselves, thinking, well, how did this
go wrong? What went wrong? And it was only after everything
was ruined that when we looked, he had laid the first layer of
that wall upside down and put no gravel underneath it, so it
had no foundation. But yet, We trusted him that
what he did was right. And we built on it, thinking
it was right. But it was only after everything
all fell apart did we find out that it wasn't right at all and
it never could stand. How shocking of a day will come
to some people that will wake up one day and realize that it's
too late. That what they've been building
in and trusting on as the truth is not really the truth at all.
And it's too late at that point. And what I'd like us to examine
is a few verses here from this man who woke up, opened his eyes
in hell, and what are some things that we observe about what he
sees. So if we look in verse 23 of Luke chapter 16, it says,
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth
Abraham afar off. and seeing Abraham afar off and
Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said, Father Abraham,
have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
So the first thing we see is that he's asking for some relief
from his punishment. And at first glance, you'd say,
well, who wouldn't? Nobody wants punishment. So he
asked for relief, but he also never denied what he was. You
see, he was in hell because he was guilty, and he was found
guilty by God. because he had sinned. At this
time, all was manifest. You know, we really don't have
a concept. We understand what sin is and
we understand, yes, we do sin, but we don't really have the
whole picture. In fact, we really don't see much. But at this time,
he has been made to know what he is guilty of, all his sin. He never denied what he was.
He was in hell because he deserved to be there. And he didn't blame
God for sending him there. You notice that? God didn't even
enter into this. He didn't blame him for being
unmerciful or for being unjust. This man had no faith or love
for God, yet he had now seen and known of God because he had
to stand before Him. He had the same faith and understanding
that the devils do. The devils tremble at his presence.
But there's no repentance. He's not asking for forgiveness
for what he was. Let's go on reading. But Abraham
said, son, remember that in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things,
and likewise Lazarus evil things. And now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. Beside all this, between us and
you, there's a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass
from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would
come thence. Then he said, Father, that thou
wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren,
that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this
place of torment." So now we see the second thing that this
man has asked for. And I find it very interesting
what he's asked for here. He's asked Lazarus to go to testify,
to preach the truth to his brethren, that they come not there. to
his five brothers, to which Abraham replied, in verse 29, they have
Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, nay,
father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they
will repent. And he said unto him, if they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. So he's saying if one rose from
the dead, they will repent. No. If they hear not, neither
will they be persuaded." And I want you to remember these
two things. They hear not, neither will they be persuaded. Why will
they hear not? Why will they neither be persuaded?
To answer that question, I'd like you to turn over to 2 Chronicles
chapter 18. Because isn't that what the objective
of preaching and hearing is? It's hearing and being persuaded
of the message. Not to debate, not to scrutinize,
not to arrive at a logical conclusion, but just to listen. Just hear,
forget what you know, forget what you came in with, forget
what you thought you knew. Just hear and just listen. So
what this story in 2 Chronicles 18 is, it involves two kings,
Jehoshaphat and Ahab. These are the king of Judah and
the king of Israel. And you'll see that King Ahab
was an evil king and King Jehoshaphat walked in the way of the Lord.
And so in verse three, Ahab, king of Israel, said unto Jehoshaphat,
the king of Judah, wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-Gilead?
And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy
people, and we will be with thee in the war. So he's saying, yes,
I'll go to war with you. And in verse four, Jehoshaphat
said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the
word of the Lord today. He's kind of doing it in the
wrong order. He's already agreed to go to
war, and then he's wanting God to justify what he's done at
this point. But nonetheless, he's saying inquire at the Lord
and find out what God says. So in verse five, therefore the
king of Israel gathered together the prophets 400 men and said
unto them, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle or shall I forbear?
And they said, go up for God will deliver it into the king's
hand. So you see, he's gathered together, it says, 400 prophets.
It didn't say who these 400 prophets were prophets to. See, these
ended up being 400 prophets of men who followed a man. They
told him what he wanted to hear. And so, he says, inquire at the
word of the Lord. These men who told him what he
wanted to hear, I'm going to read you a verse out of Psalm
5 verse 9, there is no faithfulness in their mouth, Their inward
part is wickedness or mischief. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
and they flatter with their tongue." So what they're doing is they're
speaking wickedness by telling him what he wants to hear. This
didn't have anything to do with inquiring the Lord. They're telling
him what he wants to hear. So in verse 6, Jehoshaphat said,
"'Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we may
inquire of him?' So what I see in this is, He sees something
wrong with these prophets. Nothing has come out of them
just saying, yeah, we agree, you should go to war. But how
did he know? Jehoshaphat knew because he had
heard and he had been persuaded of the Lord and he had believed
the truth. You see, there's something about
these men that spoke contrary to that. So you'll know the truth
when you hear it. That gives us some confidence
to know, you know when you're hearing something that's wrong.
You may not quite recognize what it is, but you know whether it's
true or not when you hear it. And so in verse 7, he asked,
is there anyone else can we hear of him? And the king of Israel
said unto Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man by whom we may
inquire of the Lord. Then why didn't you go to him
from the start, Ahab? That's who we asked for in the
first place. Why did you bring out these 400 men that would
just say exactly what you wanted to hear? Go on. There is one
man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. Why do you hate him, Pahab? He
never prophesied good unto me, but always evil. Oh, so do you
see what is being said here? He knows who the prophet of the
Lord is. He knows what the words of the
prophet of the Lord are, but he doesn't want to hear them
because he hates it. And he's never said good against
him, so he says, I'm going to hate that man for what he has
to say in the name of the Lord. And this is the most dangerous
and a real snare that one day could cost you and I our soul. The issue here is the truth.
Ahab hated the truth. What is the truth then? It's
anything that God said. Anything that God said in His
Word, God spoke into the days of old audibly to men. He also
has men speak up here in the day we live in now and preach
the gospel. Anything that God said, that's
what the truth is. God's prophets always tell the
truth, and only the truth, or else they're not God's prophets.
And the accuracy of the truth had better not depend on the
audience that you're in front of. or else it's not the truth. Ahab said, I don't like what
you're saying. What does that have to do with
the truth? If the truth can be changed, influenced, or altered
based on how I feel, is it still the truth? Before you answer
that question, are you willing to gamble your eternal soul over
it? Because that's the consequences. Just because we don't like what
we hear, If the cost is more than we can ever pay if we're
wrong on this one, they will not hear nor be persuaded because
they hate the truth. Do you ever wonder why we have
so many world religions? Or even so many versions of what
we would call Christianity? Reformed Baptist, Free Will Baptist,
First Baptist, Second Baptist. You've got all these different
versions. What's the difference? They say they're all Baptists,
but they don't all preach the same thing. By nature, men hate
God, and men will not believe His Word. But they profess to
preach Christ, but not the Christ as He's revealed in this book.
Not as it says He is. They preach the one that they
approve of. They get together and say, we'll agree to this,
but we're not going to preach about that. They find out what
they'll decide to believe and what they won't. So they decide
what they like to hear and what they don't like to hear. And
deep down they may know what I'm saying is the truth. But
like Ahab said, I still don't like him because he prophesied
evil against me, and I hate him. They omit or hold perverted views
of the truth, twisting or ignoring the fact that it may deny or
contradict all of the rest of the scripture, but they hold
to that one thing because it's what they want to hear. So I
have a question that... Is God's truth worth changing
just to satisfy my wants? Should God change who He is and
how He saves just because His creation doesn't agree with what
He said or thinks He's a tyrant? Our Lord said in John 8 verse
45, and if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that
is of God heareth God's words. You therefore hear them not,
because you are not of God." Could it be spoken in any more
plain words? And it's not just knowing the
simple facts of the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2.10 says, because
they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this cause, God will
send them strong delusions that they might believe a lie. that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness." So you see, believing the truth
is the same as loving the truth. You can't say that you believe
the truth if you don't love the truth. They're one and the same. Even if I did choose to believe
something other than the truth written in the Scriptures, what
good would it do me? God's still on the throne. I'm
in His hand, angry or content. I must know and believe and love
the truth, even if I don't like what's being said. It's still
the truth. So if you would, turn over to
1 John 1. What is the message of truth?
We've talked a lot about what it's not and seen what it's not
and why men reject it. Verse 5, chapter 1. This then
is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto
you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. I have heard of Him and declared
Him unto you. God is light and in Him is no
darkness. God is light. Whatever darkness
is, it's not of God. God is light. Light's what illuminates. Light is what reveals. That which
is hidden in the darkness. Not just what we want to see,
but everything. Everything at this point will
be manifest. Everything is manifest to God.
Impartiality. There's nothing hidden. Go on
reading in verse six. If we say that we have fellowship
with him, fellows in the same ship of kindred spirit and walk
in darkness, then we lie and do not the truth. I want you
to notice each time I read the truth, this is the issue of all
of this. In verse eight, if we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In
verse 10, If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us. In chapter two, verse four, he
that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar,
and the truth is not in him. The issue here is the truth of
the gospel. Now, I'm not saved just because
the truth is preached, but I'm not saved without it. There's
no way that you can come to a knowledge of the truth if you're not sitting
under the preaching of the truth. Sin, in verse 8, is a noun. This
speaks of the nature, the desires of the heart. Sin, in verse 10,
is sin. It's a verb. It's the act of
sinning, the commission, which is derived from the nature. If
your nature is to lie, then you're a liar, and you'll lie. If my
nature is to sin, and the scripture says it is, then I can only sin,
and I'm a sinner. Not sin and righteousness. It's
either light or darkness. We sin in nature and we sin in
deed. And equally, we have an absence
of a holy and a righteous nature. The good tree puts forth good
fruit. The evil tree puts forth evil
fruit, darkness. Darkness goes even further. It's
worse than we can ever know because it's spiritual darkness. We cannot
understand God and His Word, cannot know His person. Spiritual
darkness of only knowing evil. We're hard-hearted. We're filled
with unbelief. And Matthew 6.23 says, if thine
eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that is in me be darkness, how great is that darkness. If left here with myself, darkness,
lies, deceit, sin, and utterly my destruction, I'm out of excuses
before God, and there's no reason for Him to help me in me. Thank
God he found a reason, and he found a reason in himself. Isaiah
9 too says, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great
light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined. What do
you need to see a shadow? You need light to see a shadow.
This is the new versus the old nature, what we're describing.
This land of the shadow of death does not appear to be such. It
only appears to be the land of death. But when the light shines,
when the light shines on them, the light reveals, it's the land
of the shadow of death. So you see, you're never going
to see the old nature apart from having that new nature. There's
no way you can. Apart from the light shining
and revealing, we won't see it. Turn over to the book of John,
Gospel of John, chapter 1. Hold your hand there in 1 John,
please. Chapter 1, verse 5, "...and the
light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth
it not." Why didn't it comprehend it? It's because they're not
alike. They don't justify one another. Turn over to chapter
3. And this is the condemnation,
verse 19. Now light is coming to the world,
and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. So he hates the light, neither
comes to it. They will not hear, neither will
they be persuaded. Then in verse 21, he says, he
that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be
made manifest that they're wrought in God. What is this truth? What is this doing the truth?
What does the scripture say? The words of the Lord are, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father, but by me. The truth is not a concept, a
series of points, a correct translation, or a system of values. The truth
is found in the person, Christ Jesus, the Lord. The law came
by Moses, and with the law came condemnation and death. But grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. And it's only in seeing Jesus
Christ through the light of the gospel that I can see my sin.
The blind man, he can't tell you what light looks like. He's
never seen it. There's no way he can describe
it. You can ask him to. He'll tell you maybe what he
thinks, but he's never seen it. How can he describe it? But if
his eyes are opened, he said, here it is, here's light. He
can tell you exactly what it is. He can see it. You only discover
your need for Christ when the truth is revealed. The truth
about God and the truth about man. You cannot look into the
darkness to see the light. The light reveals the darkness
for what it is. It's only when Isaiah stood in
front of the Lord, seated high and on the throne, that he said,
woe is me. He never said that before he'd seen the light of
the God. It's only in that light which he can see his sin for
what it is. You know to whom God's mercy
is important? The guilty. But if you don't
know you're guilty, it's not important. Who needs grace? Those who can provide nothing
to please God. But if you think you can please
God, you don't need grace. Grace says you're saved. Grace
says that your sins are pardoned and that you're given a new and
a holy nature that doeth the truth. That will make you come
running to the light. This is where I want to be. This
is not just where I think I need to be because this is the correct
series of facts. This is where I want to be. It's
revealed to me what I am and who God is, and there's only
one way that I can be saved. In 1 John 2, verse 1, he says, My little children,
these things I write unto you that you sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous." So we see here, forgiveness is only for the guilty.
If any man sin, clearly not everyone believes themselves to be a sinner.
Or else there wouldn't be men in hell, because it says we have
forgiveness. We have an advocate in verse
2. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,
but for the sins of the whole world. Sin is revealed to be
sin, if I've seen the light. The truth of the gospel is Jesus
Christ. He is the propitiation, the means
for appeasing. He's the sacrifice that God will
accept for our sins, but not ours only, but for the sins of
the whole world. Jesus Christ, the only sacrifice
God will accept. But what about the part for the
sins of the whole world? Does that mean that everyone
everywhere in the whole world has their sins forgiven? Because
that's kind of the way, when I look at it, the way it seems.
Well, does everyone everywhere in the whole world believe themselves
to be a sinner? Because it says that's whom he
was sent for. No. Well, that's whose forgiveness
is too. the advocate is written to. He says, my little children,
the congregation that believe the truth. And secondly, if we're
all forgiven, if all are forgiven everywhere without exception,
then why are men in hell? To say that they didn't accept
an offer is a complete and utter lie because it's not in the scriptures
at all. And secondly, if the blood of Christ forgiving sin
doesn't keep you out of hell, what does? Your decision? Sounds a little more like man
has more of the decision-making power on his ultimate destination
than God. Remember 1 John 1.8, we deceive
ourselves. If we're allowed to, we will
deceive ourselves. So, you see, this whole world
is speaking of the Jews and the Gentiles. Who then is saved? Who then is saved is John chapter
3, a very familiar passage of scripture. In verse 14, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him
is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he's not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. Can the Scripture be more plain?
It's only those who believe. Well, don't we choose to believe?
You have to choose to believe. Well, if you choose to believe,
this is assuming that you have the ability to believe, because
belief only comes from a holy and a righteous nature, to believe
in God. Then, you can also choose not to sin by that same logic.
Otherwise, you're choosing to sin, which is contrary to God
and His darkness, and is not walking in fellowship with Him,
which means that you and I are a liar, if we say that. Only
those who believe on Jesus Christ are not condemned. So then who
is saved? As many as were ordained to eternal
life, believed. Not as many as believed were
ordained, but as many as were ordained. You see, it had to
start with God. It couldn't have started with me doing something
and then being made elect and ordained. No, it had to start
with Him making me elect and then, through the process of
time, causing me to believe. If I spend my life wondering
or trying to figure out whether I'm elect or not, you'll miss
out on the joy and the peace of believing. See, we want confirmation
before obeying the command. You know, if I knew that I was
elect, how much stronger I could believe. But that's not the way
it works. That's not the way God works.
He says, believe. 1 John 2 verse 3 says, "...hereby
do we know that we know Him." So here's the confirmation for
those who are wondering. If we keep His commandments,
that's how we know. Well, you're commanded to believe,
and if you obey this, you believe the gospel, then this is your
evidence of election. According as He hath chosen us
in Him, Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. You see, this is
all done before the foundation of the world, being elect, being
in Christ. God loves holiness. God loves
perfection, and God loves righteousness. God does not love sin, and sin
cannot be separated from the sinner. So if you're one who
finds yourself believing, you're elect of God. Therefore, you've
been bought with a price. You're owned. Christ bought you
with his blood in eternity, yet fulfilled this promise in time
by being made a man. For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him
and should not perish but have everlasting life." God loved
the elect in Christ. That's who God loved. The world,
that's the elect in Christ, Jew and Gentile. Which came first? God loved. God loved who? All those he chose in him in
love. The world is Jew and Gentile and you're choosing to deny the
truth if you believe otherwise. If you apply this to every man
everywhere, it denies the rest of the complete scripture. Secondly,
he gave his son. God could do no greater than
to give his son as a sacrifice for sin. And who is this for? Whosoever believeth in him. And not all will, because some
hate the truth. This is the issue. Men reject
Jesus Christ. Why? Because all things are under
Him. And men don't like it that way.
He's not what they thought. They're looking for a king, they're
looking for somebody powerful, but it's this one who's meek
and who's lowly, but yet he is the same and one with Almighty
God the Father. Doesn't look like what we thought,
but that's what we're given. But it's still the truth, whether
we like it or not. The Scripture says to buy the
truth and to sell it not. What is the cost of this truth?
This is a good question, because before you buy anything, you
had better consider the cost. The truth will cost you nothing,
and the truth will cost you everything. The truth cannot be purchased
with anything that you can bring. Scripture says that your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And that filthy rags can also
be read as minstrel rags. That's the way it really reads.
And they don't say that just to be gross or just to try to
use a big gross word in there. There's a reason they use that
word. What is the process of menstruation? It's when there's
no life. Woman casts off her womb, the
lining of her womb, because there's no life. It can sustain no life. So it's cast off. Your righteousnesses
can sustain no life. God will not accept it because
it has no value. You see, your money is no good
to God. And it's confederate money. You see, we lost our war with
God a long time ago in our father Adam. And when the Confederates
lost the war, all their money that they had was worthless. It meant nothing. You couldn't
buy. You couldn't sell. It could do nothing for you.
It was paper for the burning. And so this is what our righteousness
is that we bring from in and of ourselves before God. They're
meaningless, filthy rags. How then shall I buy the truth?
Well, if the scripture left us with nothing, we'd have all the
means to despair, but it doesn't. Because it says, he that hath
no money, come and buy. Buy wine and buy milk without
money and without price. You know how you can buy without
money and without price? As if it's already paid for.
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He
was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you, through
His poverty, might be rich. What did He buy? What did Jesus
Christ buy? He bought our life, and He bought
our sin, the sin of all those whom the Father gave Him. And
He paid with His righteous blood and life. And what did we buy? We bought the complete forgiveness
of sin, His holy and righteous nature before God, without money
and without price. The price was already paid for
by Christ. You can offer nothing, choose
nothing, and believe nothing apart from Jesus Christ. He said,
without me, you can do nothing. It's simple, but we have to believe
it. A man or a woman who dies believing anything in addition
or omission from this truth, that it's all of Christ, everything
God requires is found in Him, you'll die in your sins. This
is what the Scripture says. So the truth will cost you nothing.
So you can buy without money, without price. But the truth
will also cost you everything. Anything that you love more than
Christ, That's what God is going to require for you to give up.
That's what you're going to have to trade in and say, it's worthless
to me. And it might be, and it will be, everything. I give up
everything for the cause of Christ and His Gospel. Jesus Christ
is the way. He's not a way. Jesus Christ
is the truth, not our version of it we agree to. It's who He
is in the Scriptures. And Jesus Christ is the life.
There's no life outside of Him. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet, not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. This is the truth. Not sure how
to believe? Ask. The Lord's promised nobody's
going to be turned away that comes to Him. Whosoever believeth
upon him shall not be ashamed, and whosoever calleth upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And you'll never call until you
have a need that you can't provide. And I'd like to close just by
reading a small passage out of Psalm 86. I'll just read it to
you, you don't have to turn to it. Teach me thy way, O Lord,
and I will walk in thy truth. And here are five things one
who believes the truth will know and will believe. First, he said,
unite my heart to fear thy name. Secondly, I will praise thee,
O Lord my God, with all my heart. Third, I will glorify thy name
forever. Four, for great is thy mercy
toward me. He'll have some idea of what
mercy is and why he needs it. and fifth, for thou hast delivered
my soul from the lowest hell. The truth will cost you nothing,
and the truth will cost you everything. Lord, make me to know and believe
only the truth of gospel. Let's bow our heads.