Over the years I have worked with a lot of people who have asked me to help them find freedom from significant bondage in their lives.

One of the qualities in those who find their way to freedom is the courage to face the truth.

It is scary to pursue truth because it often forces us to face our fears and pain. The truth is not necessarily safe or comfortable. Many people prefer to avoid it, thinking if they can repress or suppress the truth, things will be better for them. Our relationship with truth affects every area of our lives. It determines the rise and fall of nations and will be a main topic at the Last Judgment.

The Light of the World

Before Jesus came to earth, everyone lived under a shroud of darkness, a sin induced spiritual blindness, a kind of deafness to God, and a mind numbing suppression of truth, that kept people chained in slavery to sin, death, and the devil.

Jesus said that our eyes were blind, our ears deaf, and our hearts hardened against truth. (Matthew 13:13-15) Isaiah the prophet, speaking for God the Father, announced Jesus’s coming ministry centuries prior to our Lord’s birth.

…”It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6 (NASB)

Jesus said about himself:

I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. John 12:46 (NASB)

Jesus, the Light of the world, shines brightly, but, sadly, many, if not most, prefer to remain in the darkness.

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. John 3:19-20 (NASB)

Why do we so often refuse to admit when we are wrong? Why do alcoholics and drug addicts have such difficulty admitting their problem? Why are many of us so afraid to go to the doctor?

We hate to be criticized, evaluated, and judged by others because one of the scariest things in the world is to face up to the truth about ourselves.

We don’t want to be exposed because we expect that people will reject and condemn us, if they find out what we are really like, just as we have so often done to others! Most of us instinctively know that we deserve to be punished for our many sins and evil thoughts, and we are embarrassed and ashamed of our sins and failures.  Often we are able to hide these things from other people, but we can never escape God’s penetrating gaze. We can be sure that our sins will find us out. (Numbers 32:23) We observe God exposing sin right and left, and we have not even come to Last Judgment yet.

Believing Lies – The Origin of Our Problem

Humankind’s descent into the world of chaotic suffering and evil can be traced back to the lie that was heard, embraced, and acted upon in the Garden of Eden. Satan deceived Adam and Eve into believing that God is not to be trusted and that doing what God forbids is actually a good thing. The devil told them that they could disobey God without suffering any negative consequences. They would not die! What a lie! Embracing the lie caused them and us to die. Ever since, their descendants, including us, have struggled with truth and lies.

Due to an inherited sin nature, by default, we tend to believe lies. Humanity is still at war with God in our hearts. We still are mired in rebellion against God’s authority and truth.

Every time we choose to reject or go astray from God’s instructions in the Bible, we participate in Adam’s and Eve’s sin and bring upon ourselves similar negative consequences. We have all done this and are reaping the fruit of our disobedience. The formula is simple: believing lies leads to acting upon them (sin) and brings suffering, sorrow, destruction, and death into our lives.

Fortresses Against Truth

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18 (ESV)

The Bible calls such suppression of truth a stronghold or fortress.

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5  We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NLT)

Human reasoning and logical arguments are used by the mind as a shield to deflect and suppress God’s truth.

Even when the truth is presented to us, we fend it off with our proud arguments and faulty reasoning. When we do this, we cannot see truth. It is a self-imposed spiritual blindness, which the devil more than willingly helps us maintain. I have done this to myself and I see others doing it to themselves. It is one thing to be deceived by another, but when we deceive ourselves, our situation is dire. When we stubbornly refuse the truth over and over again, eventually God gives us over to what we want – a mind devoid of God’s truth, which is unable to properly reason any longer. I see evidence of our having been given over to such illogical thinking right now in our nation, and I find it quite scary. People simply believe whatever they want to believe, facts and evidence be damned.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, Romans 1:28 (NASB)

Embracing Lies – the Root of Societal Decay

Since people and groups of people – governments, nations, etc. – are at war with God and reject his authority to tell them what to do, it is unavoidable that over time nations and other entities, unless constantly brought back to obedience through the gospel, will drift farther away from God and his truth. This means they also will distance themselves from his blessings and protection. Once the drift has begun, it can quickly escalate, and it is extremely difficult to overcome or reverse.

The more a group of people suppresses truth and elevates falsehood, the more quickly and devastatingly it plunges into destruction and chaos.

When individuals suppress truth, it gives sin a foothold that is difficult to break. When an entire culture does it, its demise is just around the corner. Can you see that the United States is now in mortal danger? We have spurned the God who before protected us. Yes, we have been really wrong about some very big things over our history, but, despite all that, our people generally trusted in God. Increasingly, this is no longer the case.

Legitimizing the Lie Is a False Hope

Behind our willingness to believe lies is our absolute determination to cast off every trace of God’s authority and rule.

Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2  The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3  “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” 4  He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5  Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, 6  “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” Psalm 2:1-6 (NASB)

It should be no surprise to us that society by default always moves away from truth and seeks to legitimize the lie.

Groups of people (mobs) often do far worse things than most of the individuals comprising it would do on their own. The mob feels safe in its numbers, believing it can avoid being accountable or brought to justice. When nations legitimize a sinful lie and act on it, it becomes a kind of mob. But God will not only hold individuals accountable. He will judge entire nations. If this does not put the fear of God in us, I don’t know what will!

Abortion – Our National Mass Murder Lie

Perhaps one of the easiest examples of how a nation can embrace a rebellious lie is how the United States relates to abortion.

Since the Supreme Court Decision of Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, we have held ourselves up as a paragon of freedom and equality for women without batting an eye regarding the mass murder of over 60 million unborn defenseless babies. This is right now, under our watch! Consider that this number equals some estimates of the total number of lives lost in WWII! Let that sink in! We should be appalled, ashamed, aghast, disgusted, and fearful of what God will do to such a people. The freedom to kill an unborn baby is the law of the land, but that does not make it just or right!

It does not matter what man’s laws say. God’s law trumps human law and is the standard God will use at the Last Judgment.

Women’s reproductive rights is a euphemism for the mother’s right to terminate the life of the defenseless baby in her womb. That’s murder, no matter how we slice and dice it. Whether or not we ever consented personally to an abortion, we all are guilty as a nation.

We use the convenient lie is that the developing baby in the womb is not yet a human being, but any fair minded person knows this is not honest.

People in our nation used the same argument to justify slavery and the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans. Dehumanizing those we enslave, oppress, and murder is an age old ruse. We now look back with sorrow and shame as we contemplate our forefathers’ reasoning and actions. How will future generations judge us? More importantly, how will God judge us? God is the defender of the helpless and innocent. Should it not scare us to think how deserving of judgment our nation is? And this is only one sin!

But most people would rather not think about it. We prefer to live in denial and try to evade the truth. We may be able to do that for a while, but eventually the truth will find us and make us own our sin.

Evolution – Suppressing the Truth of Creation

The hypothesis of evolution is a prime example of the suppression of truth, which is being done worldwide. The Bible teaches that God’s existence is clearly evident through observing of his creation. In other words, we have to be willingly blind to miss it.

…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20 (NASB)

By denying the existence of the Creator and his work, we attempt to free ourselves from any moral obligation to worship and serve God or keep his commandments.

If man evolved, we are accountable to no one for how we live our lives. We are our own god. No wonder this lie is so popular. It appears to give solid scientific footing to the desire to throw off God’s rule.

Transgenderism – Rebelling against God’s Sovereignty

Another lie that is sweeping our culture is that gender is psychologically determined rather than divinely ordained.

In other words, we are not limited to how God made us. We can choose whatever gender we want. The Bible teaches that God created us as he saw fit, which is male and female, which is determined at conception and permeates our being all the way down to the chromosomal level.

All of us come into this world with most of the really important factors already determined for us by God.

God sovereignly chooses for us our sex, intelligence level, physical strength, race, family, nation, looks, general health, etc. None of us chose to be born and none of us can stop the aging or death process. We cannot undo gravity or much of anything else God has built into his creation, much less our gender.

Nevertheless, many rebel against the idea of anything being predetermined by God and try to undo it.

Rather than accept how God made us, we want to change it. We can change our dress. We can surgically alter our bodies. We can inject unnatural levels of hormones, but we cannot change ourselves at the most fundamental level. Our  chromosomes tell the true story.

We cannot change what God has created. We can only accept it or rail against it.

Railing against Authority – A Society in Rebellion against God

The Bible teaches that all authority comes from God, and, when we oppose and speak against authority, we bring condemnation and judgment upon ourselves.

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2  Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. Romans 13:1-2 (NASB)

There is a place for conscientious objection and making a stand against tyranny, but generally we should submit to authority, unless it commands us to disobey God. In the Bible, God severely deals with rebels. In the United States, our rebellion is much deeper than half our nation rejecting our president and most of the media ranting against him continuously.

Speaking evil of authority betrays a much deeper rebellion against God and his truth revealed in the Bible.

There has been an ongoing war against God’s authority for decades now. Under the cloak of separating church and state, enemies of God have removed Bible reading and prayers from our public schools, banned God talk at work, and forbidden coaches from praying with their teams. Christians who dare to speak out about their faith are openly mocked and persecuted.

My generation, the Boomers, began this current wave of rebellion in the 60s and 70s by casting off restraint sexually, experimenting with drugs, introducing various Eastern religions into the culture, and entertaining ideas of government overthrow espoused by such groups as the Weather Underground and SDS. People became increasingly unwilling to acknowledge authority and became uncomfortable with being in authority. Children were encouraged to be very informal with adults, corporal punishment was abandoned in favor of new unproven psychological methods, and society has only gotten more and more off track since then.

We believe that we can safely rant against authority, invalidate elections, violate established sexual mores, alter or do away with the family structure,  teach our children that God did not create the world or us, and the list goes on – all without reaping any negative consequences. This is a huge lie.

Is It Too Late?

America has reached a critical point in her history.

As a nation, we have turned our backs repeatedly on God and his truth. Right now we are locked in a battle for the soul of the nation. Sadly, the momentum lies on the side of the rebellion against God.

Many of our nation’s leaders and influencers  -the educational establishment, the main stream media, and Hollywood – are actively suppressing truth, and the American people seem to like it that way.

It is increasingly coming into question whether we are capable any longer of responsible self-government. We are being set up for tyranny. Many of our citizens now believe that there is no God, no absolute truth, no ultimate authority, no coming judgment, and no everlasting consequences for rejecting God and disobeying him. They (we) could not be more wrong! Those who believe in no God are more than willing to surrender to a human or institution, such as government, which claims to provide what God alone can do. The suppression of the truth about God leads to idolatry.

Will judgment come to America or is it already here? It’s here now. The only question is will it destroy us, or do we still have space for repentance?

Making the Decision to Pursue Truth

Truth seekers are fairly rare it seems. Sadly, the more comfortable we are, the more likely we will be unconcerned about eternal things. My own personal journey to God was a search for truth. I wanted to know if what the Bible says about Jesus and his resurrection is true or not. At one point, I called myself an agnostic, thinking that God cannot be known, simply because I had not yet come to know him. How ludicrous to make a judgment about God based solely on my own experience; yet, how common it is for people to suppose that what we think and have experienced determines reality.

Paul wrote that people grope about in their search for God. (Acts 17:27) Spiritually blind people fall all over themselves and unseen obstacles in their pursuit of reality and truth.

We cannot find God on our own, but, if we seek him, he promises that we will find him. He makes sure of that!

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8  “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 (NASB)

What the Pursuit of Truth Is Not

• Seeking truth is not limiting ourselves to some predetermined position.
• It is not going to be found by going to ungodly sources, especially non-truth seeking groups.
• It not not necessarily something that will make us feel good or confident or that will help us to fit in with the crowd.
• It’s almost surely not something that is politically correct.

What truth Is

• Even though Jesus is full of love, truth is always “cold,” in the sense that it is doesn’t care if it pleases us or not.
• Truth is often “hard” – something that won’t change no matter how much we wish it would, or how hard we try to make it change.
• Truth will make our lives less comfortable, less convenient, and less agreeable to non-truth seekers. It cost Jesus his life.
• Truth will force us to abandon any of our current beliefs and understandings that are wrong.
• Truth sometimes will embarrass us by exposing our sinfulness, ignorance, or blindness.

Humility

The pride of man resists God and his truth. It comes up with all sorts of alternate versions of reality that will allow us to dodge truth and continue in our rebellion.

It takes humility to believe in God and in the truth of his words in the Bible.

Humility teaches us that we are created beings, not independent operators. Humility teaches us that unless we admit our need for God, we will be lost in the downward spiral of death and deception. It takes humility to admit we need help, and that help is found in Jesus!

The Terrible Day of the Lord

Imagine how the Nazi leaders felt as they faced charges at Nuremberg! Some were unrepentant, but I imagine most were afraid and ashamed as their evil deeds were exposed and their sentences imposed. I imagine that many of them felt horribly guilty. Saying, “I am sorry” did not fix things. Justice was meted out. The Last Judgment will be even more terrifying and severe.

Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. 15  A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, 16  A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers. 17  I will bring distress on men So that they will walk like the blind, Because they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung. 18  Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD’S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth. Zephaniah 1:14-18 (NASB)

There is a coming day when our pretenses and shams will be stripped away and everything will be exposed in the clear blinding light of God’s truth.

What will we do on that day? Will there be any place to hide? Will there be any safe place?

The Only Safe Place

Absolute truth is a person named Jesus who identified himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only way to the Father in heaven. (John 14:6)

He sees through all pretext and lies. No one can hide from his gaze. No one can escape his judgment. He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart as well as everything we have ever said or done. He knows what we did not do, when we should have. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

Absolute truth is also absolute holiness.

His standards do not bend. His righteousness is inflexible. His justice is firm and fierce. His wrath will be released upon all those who reject the truth and refuse his mercy offered through the Gospel in Christ.

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9  that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10  and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11  For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12  in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 (NASB)

How Will You Know Him?

But that is in the future, and this is now. We yet have the opportunity of coming into the light of God’s truth about our sin and finding mercy. We can know him as the one who said:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 (NASB)

Or we can reject his generous offer of forgiveness and one day meet him as the glorious Son of Man coming in the clouds to judge all people, who will say to us:

…Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; Matthew 25:41 (NASB)

This is the same Jesus speaking to different groups of people. It’s our choice of what we will hear and how we will know him. Regardless, we will all bow before him. Why not do it now willingly? Don’t wait until you are forced to cower before him awaiting his judgment and justice!

The Truth Will Set You Free

Jesus wants to liberate us from death, destruction, deception, and sin. He said:

…“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32  and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 (ESV)

Those who humbly and courageously pursue truth, no matter what, will indeed be set free, experience true joy, and know God and his mercy. They will see the God of all truth extend his merciful hand toward them with a smile of favor.

Jesus faced the truth about sin when he went to the cross.

The truth about our sin nailed the Truth of God to the cross and put him to death.

The truth about sin poured out God’s wrath on the innocent Lamb of God who willingly took upon himself the just penalty for our sins. The Truth died that day to provide us with eternal life.

The only way for anyone to escape the same God’s righteous wrath against sin is to put his or her faith in what Christ has accomplished on our behalf and to pledge our loyalty and faithfulness to the Truth.

This is the only way to be set free. It takes courage and humility and faith. The path to truth is narrow and difficult, but definitely worth it!

For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:14 (NASB)

The society in which we live may be hell bent on going down the wide road to destruction, but we don’t have to join them!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I  believe that you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life and the only way to the Father. I ask you to forgive me for my sins. I deserve judgment, but I joyfully receive mercy from you, who took my punishment upon yourself. I deserve death, but I gladly receive eternal life from you. I deserve to be eternally cut off from God, but I happily accept my reconciliation to Father God through you. I confess that you are the risen Lord of Lords who is coming back again to judge all people.  I thank you that I now can confidently look forward to that day because you have put me in right standing with God the Father. Thank you for giving me your Holy Spirit to live inside me forever and transform me on the inside. Thank you for setting me free! Help me to serve you the rest of my days on earth and forever in heaven.  Help me to be a faithful witness to Jesus, a proclaimer of the Gospel, and a discipler of men. Amen.