Reality

In a world filled with subjective truths, we explore the importance of grounding ourselves in the absolute truth of Jesus Christ. This discussion highlights the dangers of self-deception, the significance of understanding God's definition of truth, and the invitation for individuals to come home to their Creator.

• The difference between personal truth and absolute truth 
• Jesus as the embodiment of truth 
• The impact of self-deception on beliefs and decisions 
• The significance of the fear of the Lord versus ungodly fear 
• The importance of discerning God’s design for relationships 
• Navigating confusion in a world filled with falsehoods 
• The call for individuals to embrace God's truth today 
• The role of the church in witnessing God’s truth amidst confusion

Chapters

• 0:15 The Truth According to Jesus
• 14:04 The Truth About God's Love
• 25:22 Global Witnessing Mission Statement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Hello, greetings and welcome to the Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast. My name is Phil Duddy, evangelist with Grace Baptist Tabernacle of King, north Carolina, thankful and glad, as always, to have you with me on the program today. Reach out to us at RedeemingTheLost at iCloudcom. We look forward to hearing from you there. Going to be talking about truth today, and truth is one of those interesting things that the Word of God, and also the God who gave the Word, makes the truth a really, really straightforward and simple thing. At the same time, if you go out into the world and this is true where I am in the American South, this is true everywhere I've been in the United States and this is also true I'm going to say it just based on human nature and based on the activity of the demonic, wherever you are listening to this today and as I record this, we're in about 60 different countries around the world outside of America. We're in about 60 different countries around the world outside of America where you are today this is also going to be true you can go out into the world and you can ask people. You know what is the truth and you ask different people and you get different answers. You get kind of these personalized answers and they're all different from each other. Because in the world, there's definition upon definition upon definition, and perspective upon perspective, and experience upon experience, and feeling upon feeling, and people cobble together what they may call their truth, what may be called the truth in one part of the world, what may be called truth in one person, in one household, in one family, in one workplace or whatever the case may be. But the point is, it's cobbled together based upon personal preference, experience, feeling, lust, education, philosophy, whatever the case may be. But it's something different from the actual truth, because the Lord makes the truth very, very, very simple, very, very straightforward, very, very easy to understand, very, very, you know, very, very, very plain.

Speaker 1: 2:51

The Word of God talks about it being manifest. It talks about it being really, really, really easy to see. And how did he do that? In the Word of God, you know, we see it Jesus calls himself the truth. He says I am the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is the truth.

Speaker 1: 3:13

Now, what on earth does that mean? That means that the lord, god almighty, the lord who is holy, the lord who is love, the, the world, the Lord who formed you as a human being you know, he went back. If you go back and look at how Adam was made, the Lord took the dust of the earth that he had already made, he had already spoken into existence and he formed Adam and he breathed into Adam. And guess what? You and I, both, we all go back to Adam and we are made in the image of God. He formed you, he knows you and he loves you and he created the world around us. He is the King of Kings, he is the Lord of Lords, he is the first and last authority on what is the truth.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Now, the world's got. You know, like we said, you know all these definitions and perspectives and feelings, et cetera, and so forth, and cultural traditions and things have been passed down, and passed down from generation to generation. Where did that come from? That came from the world. And truth does not come from the world. Truth does not come from within humanity. Truth does not come from our heart. Truth does not come from our experience. Truth does not come from our thoughts and our reasonings and our philosophies and our worldviews and all that stuff. Truth doesn't come from inside humanity. Truth does not come from the world. Truth does not come from just simply observing the world. You know, just simply observing the world. If you observe, actually if you observe the world from a fair mind, the world itself will bear witness to God. God's creation bears witness to the God who created the creation, and it lifts our eyes to him. And hallelujah and amen.

Speaker 1: 5:28

Jesus, who is the Lord, jesus, who is king, jesus who is the truth, jesus who is holiness, he is love, he is justice, he is righteousness. Jesus himself took upon himself flesh and he came and he was born of a virgin and he grew up in a family and he learned obedience and he walked and he talked and he spoke and he sang and he wept and he laughed and he rejoiced and he knew us, he walked with us and he spoke to us. And come on over to John 18, 37. That's going to be just part of it. That's going to be sort of our uh, our scripture for today.

Speaker 1: 6:25

Excuse me, what did jesus say? And jesus is interacting with pilot in this situation? And one thing that jesus told pilot john 1837 to this end was I born. This is the reason I was born and for this cause came I into the world. Like we just said, truth doesn't come out of the truth. We cannot develop the truth, we cannot produce the truth.

Speaker 1: 7:17

But Jesus said Amen, hallelujah, and he says To this end was I born. And then glory to God. He doubles down. He says For this cause came I into the world. Truth had to come into the world Post-fall, and that's my life and your life. You know, amen, hallelujah, and a whole lot of other generations before us, lot of other generations before us Post-fall, when Adam and Eve fell, you know, eve was led into the deception by the devil and Adam followed her into that and they fell, post that after that, post that after that, we had no idea about the truth.

Speaker 1: 8:09

I mean, we knew that there was a good and there was an evil. We could understand them as concepts, as ideas, but there was this great confusion over the truth that goes on to this day. And, my friend, we've got a fallen humanity, where, you know, our flesh is fallen. We've got demons and devils inflaming things. We've got a lot of confusion that you know, I've said it before, we live in a very, very, very confused time in history and part of that confusion comes from everyone thinking that they've got their own personal definition of the truth and it's different from God's. So, my friend, I got to tell you in love you cannot find the truth on yourself, on your own, you cannot produce the truth, you cannot learn your way into the truth, you cannot earn your way into the truth. You can't go around and observe trends and patterns in the world and call it truth.

Speaker 1: 9:14

Jesus is the truth, he is the way, he is the truth, he is the life, and he came into the world because that's what God needed to do to reach the world. He had to come in. We couldn't build it up to him, we couldn't get to him. We couldn't because, I mean, you know, lost is lost folks, and there's no getting unlost, there's no getting found, there's no getting saved, there's no getting born again Without God coming to us. He knew that, he knows that today, and so that's why Jesus was born, that's why Jesus came into the world.

Speaker 1: 10:02

That I should bear witness unto the truth, that Jesus would affirm who the Lord is, he would affirm what his word says, he would affirm and show his nature to the world, the world which is separate from him, yet whom he loves. Yet he loves this world. He loves this world, who he loves. He loves you Today, if you're listening to this and you're separate from the Lord. You're in your sin, you're under the wrath of God, you're in deception, maybe you're in, you know, you're in idolatry, you're in fornication, you're in adultery, you're in lust, you're in pride, you're in religious hypocrisy, whatever the case may be, but you're separate from God. He loves you and so he comes to you and Jesus would say you know, as the Father sent me, so send I you.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Jesus sends the church, jesus sends born-again people, born-again men who are preaching a message that we got from God for you, because he loves you, because truth had to come into the world, not found in the world, not found in the world. Truth had to come to people. It's not found within people. Naturally there's a lot of natural sin. There's no natural truth.

Speaker 1: 11:37

And so here are the truths today, my friend, because there's a real, real danger of making decisions, forming beliefs, being affected by imaginations, being affected by imaginations and fantasy. And so you know, let's have some examples here, imaginations, just sort of broadly defined. Let's say, someone is not satisfied with who God says he is. Someone is not satisfied that God is love. Someone's not satisfied that God heals, that God provides, that God forgives, that God is gracious that God is holy, that God is justice, that God has a passionate holy love and a passionate holy wrath. All these things that God says about himself, all these things that God shows about himself, say you've got a person who is not satisfied with what God says. So the imagination goes to work. The imagination goes to work. At that point the word of God becomes twisted point. The Word of God becomes twisted.

Speaker 1: 13:09

And all of a sudden you've got a theology that says that healing doesn't happen anymore. All of a sudden you've got a theology that says that the gifts of the Spirit stopped. All of a sudden you've got a theology that says that you've got to buy your way and earn your way into heaven. All of a sudden you've got a theology that says that God is not loving, that God is hateful. All of a sudden you've got a theology that says that God doesn't care about sin. And all those different theologies I just listed. Those are all different, separate things that's arisen within the church. Some of those things are centuries old, but they're still around today Because at some point there wasn't a satisfaction, a hearing and a submission to who God said he was.

Speaker 1: 14:04

Because God is holy, god is love, salvation is by grace and through faith. God does heal. The gifts of the Spirit are still active today. God provides, god makes a way, god forgives, god is merciful, god is gracious, god is justice. God does have a holy, passionate love and a wrath at the same time. There is a judgment, there is a hell, there is a heaven. There is the blood of Jesus. There is salvation by grace and through faith, available to whosoever believes on the Lord. Today, that is all the truth of God. But in every generation there have been some who are not satisfied with that, some who will hear that and twist it. No matter how many times you say it, no matter how many times you show it, you show it. And that is a danger, my friend. There's a danger of making decisions. There's a danger of forming beliefs. There's a danger of being affected by imaginations.

Speaker 1: 15:17

We see it in the deception that just simple physical acts constitute a relationship. We see it in the deception that it's all about the pleasure. It's all about the physical relationship. It's all about the pleasure. It's all about the physical relationship. It's all about the lust. It's all about getting your lust fulfilled. It's all about that. That's a deception, my friend. That's a counterfeit of a real godly relationship, of a real godly sexual intimacy, and it's rampant. It's rampant in America, has been for a number of years and people have gotten hurt by it. You've got to see this there is a danger of making decisions apart from the Lord, apart from that which is true, apart from the one whose very nature is truth.

Speaker 1: 16:21

He's the one who came up with intimacy. He's the one who designed the human frame, man and woman. He's the one who came up with marriage. He's the one who came up with relationship. He's the one who came up with all this stuff. And if you want to know what it is, if you want to know what it's for, if you want to know what it's all about, you cannot go out into the world. You cannot go out into culture. You cannot go onto the internet. You cannot go onto the pornographic websites, you cannot go to the news media. You cannot go to, you know, to the high schools and the middle schools. You cannot go there and find this out Because, my friend, if you do, you will be hurt in very, very, very real ways, maybe physical, maybe emotional, maybe mental, maybe all three, maybe mental, maybe all three. But, my friend, you know, god created men and women, god created the family, god created marriage and God yes, indeed, god created sexual intimacy and he wants it for you and he wants it for you. The thing is, he wants it to be true. The thing is he wants it to be real. Do you want that? Because, hallelujah, if you do, you will not be disappointed, my friend. But come to him.

Speaker 1: 17:56

Self-deception, another very, very common thing Seeing yourself through pride rather than as you are. So you imagine yourself to be something that you're really not. You may imagine yourself. You know the fornication comes out, the lying comes out, the deceiving comes out, the theft comes out, the hatred comes out, the sin comes out and we deceive ourselves into twisting it to be somehow a good thing. You know that hatred could somehow be a good thing, that you know an ungodly anger, an ungodly hatred, you know, could somehow be a good thing, that you know lust and fornication and adultery and drunkenness, and you know theft could somehow be good things. And so you start seeing yourself differently from the way God sees you.

Speaker 1: 18:58

And one of the most dangerous self-deceptions is that God doesn't love you Because he does. He loves you even in the middle of your hatred. You know, I've seen this before. He loves you in the middle of your hatred. He loves you in the middle of fornication. He loves you in the middle of drunkenness. He loves you in the middle of all the religious deception, hypocrisy. He loves you in the middle of it all. He always loves you and his blood is always enough to get you saved, to cover your sin, to wash it away.

Speaker 1: 19:33

And ungodly fear is another thing. It's a paralyzing thing. It's a harmful thing to yourself and others. It's a very, very isolating thing. But where I am in America, it's a very, very isolating thing. But where I am in America, there is a lot of fear, there is a lot of anxiety, there's a lot of fear and it's led to a lot of people just giving up. It's led to a lot of people going into loneliness. It's led to a lot of people going into despair. It's led to a lot of people going into frustration and hatred and blame. It's led into a lot of people going into frustration and hatred and blame. It's led into a lot of pain.

Speaker 1: 20:10

But, my friend, there's a fear of the Lord and there's an ungodly fear. God wants you to have the fear of the Lord, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is going to take you good places, but, man, the sinful fear, the demonic fear, that's just going to paralyze you and that's going to eat you up and that's going to destroy you. And, my friend, you know those are just a few common areas, as I've seen, you know, just over the course of ministry here, and maybe you see it too where you are.

Speaker 1: 20:49

But you know, got to reiterate that there's a danger of making decisions, forming beliefs, forming ideas, forming worldviews, drawing conclusions that are based on imagination, they're not based on God, they're not based on Jesus, they're not based on God, they're not based on Jesus, they're not coming from him, they're coming from somewhere else. And if they're coming from somewhere else, they're always going to lead to sin, and sin is always going to pay out the wage of death. But, my friend, god's got good news for you today Jesus came so that he should bear witness unto the truth. Jesus is speaking to you today and he's speaking from a place of who he is. And, my friend, there's a security and there's a safety in the Lord. There's a safety, there's a peace, there's a joy, there's a healing, there's eternal life in the Lord. Will you hear him?

Speaker 1: 22:00

Because the devil's a liar, he's a thief, he's a murderer, he leads people to death. The Lord is love, truth and holiness and he leads people to life. And he's saying come out of your ungodly fear, come out of your sexual fantasy, come out of your self-deception, come out of those things deception. Come out of those things, come out of your hatred, come out of your drunkenness, come out of your pride and your delusions. Come out of that, come out of the ungodly fear, because I'm here and I am the Lord, god Almighty, and my friend.

Speaker 1: 22:44

If you trust in the Lord, god Almighty, he will never leave you, he will never forsake you. He's a good Father, he's a provider, he sees things through, he begins a good work in you and he will see it through to the end. He will not. You know, hallelujah, anyone who comes to Him. He not only will not forget you, he cannot forget you, he cannot forget you and he cannot lie to you. He cannot deceive you and he will not deceive you and he will not lie to you. He will not let you down. He will not, he will not. He will not, because the word of the Lord doesn't fail.

Speaker 1: 23:27

The word of the Lord, you know, accomplishes what the Lord sets it out to do. The word of the Lord is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It divides down between the soul and the spirit. It divides the imaginations from the truth. It divides the unholy from the holy. It divides, it divides, it divides. And you see the truth of God, you see the love of God, you see the forgiveness and you see the grace and you see the goodness of God and you see the mercy of God.

Speaker 1: 24:00

And he's drawing you today and he's saying come home, come home, come home. This world is not a safe place. This world you're going to have trouble. This world is under a curse. This world is passing away. There's going to be a new heavens and a new earth and I want you to be in that new heaven and new earth with me.

Speaker 1: 24:23

I want that to start now. I want you to come home now. I want to fill you with the Holy Ghost now. I want you to come home now. I want to fill you with the Holy Ghost now. I want to forgive your sin now. I want you to be born again now. I want to make you new now. I want that to happen right now. What do you want? Come to Jesus, my friend. Come to Jesus. Call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. My friend and I thank you for being a part of the Lord and you shall be saved, my friend, and I thank you for being a part of the program today.

Speaker 1: 24:50

I know he's been speaking to folks today and I want you to respond to him. I want you to respond to the Lord, who has been speaking to you so simply and so profoundly today. Call upon the name of Jesus, my friend, and you'll be born again. You'll be saved. Um church, um. I pray that this has been an encouragement to you. Um be revived today. Um draw to the Lord today. If there's repentance that needs to happen in your life, let that happen today.

Speaker 1: 25:22

Um, my friend, and we need to be witnesses in this time, witnesses in this time of such great confusion, but witnesses in this time where there is there is still a harvest, there are people that the lord wants to hear his word. Um, we're going to see people saved. We're going to see people born again. We are going to see people reject the lord um. But, my friend, the point is that the Lord wants there to be a witness Every born again man, woman and child listening to this, every church listening to this. The Lord wants us to be a city on a hill. We are the salt of the world, we are the light of the world. We didn't again, we didn't get that from ourselves, we get it from the Lord and he wants us to function in that way, because the gospel must be preached and published in all nations. That's all nations, not just some. And he wants you, church, to be a part of that.

Speaker 1: 26:20

And I thank you for being a part of this program. Thank you for helping us reach nations around the world, being a part of this program. Thank you for helping us reach nations around the world. And again, we want to hear from you Redeeming the Lost at iCloudcom is our email address. Go ahead, send us an email. We are a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We are located in the city of King, north Carolina. You can find information at gbtministriescom. You'll see service times, service locations, address, phone number, all that sort of good stuff. And thank you again for helping us reach so many people around the world. And may the Lord continue to richly, richly bless all of us. Amen.