Know the Truth

Welcome back to the series on sin. You can find the first post here in case you missed it. There I focused on the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is our great enemy and we must be on guard, ready to fight against it. In the rest of the series, I hope to point to some of the means we have as believers to help us in our battle against sin.

The first antidote to sin is to know the Scriptures. Jesus placed a high value on the Scriptures, and he called his followers to do the same. Before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told his disciples, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

1. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly….” Col. 3:16a

To stand against sin requires that we read, study, and know the Scriptures. Why? Primarily because the Scriptures are the only way we can know the One True God we believers say we worship. The Creator of heaven and earth has revealed himself in His Word. We learn of God’s character and His acts, His love for his people, and His plan of redemption as we read the Bible.

Twenty years ago, when the Lord first saved me, my pastor asked me if I had a Bible. I did not, so he encouraged me to get one as soon as I could. He kindly recommended a couple of versions that would be good for a baby Christian with no religious background, and suggested I start reading in the book of Matthew. I got a Bible right away and fumbled to find my way to Matthew. As I read most eagerly, I found myself very confused. Christ? King of the Jews? Prophets? I didn’t know what these were, so nothing Matthew said made sense to me. Not far in, I decided to change direction and read the Bible like any book—from the beginning. Suddenly, I couldn’t put it down.

I’ve been reading the Bible ever since in its various versions. Twenty years of daily reading and I still find treasures every time I pick it up. No, we will never fully know it—its depths are as infinite as its Author—but we can be ever deepening our understanding. As we grow in our knowledge of the Scriptures, we will grow in our knowledge of our Lord. As the Word dwells within us, it transforms our thinking, our desires, and ultimately our actions.

What does that look like? How can we do this?

2. “Blessed is the man who………. delight{s} in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Ps. 1:1-2

Way back during the summer after I graduated from university, long before I was saved, my first job required that I travel around the province. One evening I found myself in a small city that closed down by 6:00 pm, so with nowhere to go and nothing to do I sat alone in my hotel room. I was weary and discouraged after a long day of working as an assistant to an auditor, in the thick of an audit, in an office full of people who didn’t want an audit. As darkness closed in around the hotel, I was bored out of my mind. Leaning back into the pillows and restless, I pulled open the nightstand drawer and found a book. It was a Bible which had been placed there by the Gideon’s. I began to read this foreign but curious looking book. Written in old English, the words made no sense to me. By chapter 3 my eyelids were heavy and I was ready for sleep.

This is not what the psalmist meant when he exhorted his readers to meditate upon the law of the LORD.

The Hebrew word in Psalm 1 for meditate is hāḡâ. It means to mutter, muse, imagine, ponder, study. In other words, we are not just to read words on a page, check off a mental box, close the book and walk away (or fall asleep). The biblical meaning commands us to read it, take it in, chew on it, think about, ask questions, and study to understand. These active verbs require an open mind and an open heart, neither of which I had in that hotel room 35 years ago. (Yet, even then the Word did not return void. Though I don’t remember much at all about that summer, I remember so clearly that evening and that strange book in my hotel’s nightstand; and I remember peculiar words, somehow curious, even in my lostness, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…..and God said, ‘Let there be…..’)

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” (Ps. 1:1-3)

3. “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Ps. 119:11

The Word of God is a powerful sword. It is our only offensive weapon according to Eph. 6, the sword which we are given to wield against our great enemy, sin. Warriors in battle are ready at all times for any potential attack from their enemy. They don’t leave their sword back at the camp and then run to get it every time they are caught off guard by the sudden attack of an enemy. That strategy would see their quick demise. Instead, they keep their weapon tucked safely in its sheath around their waist for easy access.

The enemy of our soul is the father of lies, and all that he does is rooted in deceit. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus resisted him with one offensive weapon He held very near: Scripture.

Three times Satan said, “If you are the Son of God,….. “

Three times, Jesus responded—not with a complex argument or philosophy—but with verses from the Old Testament.

“It is written…..”

Jesus knew the truth, believed the truth, and was able to stand against lies and temptation with that very truth. (Matt. 4)

When the Word is stored up within us we are able to be ‘ready in season or out of season…” (2 Tim. 4:2). Having it committed to memory enables us to do battle against the deceitfulness of sin. It also enables us to encourage and exhort others. Psalm 119:18 assures us that when we have God’s Word stored up in our hearts we will sin less. Do I hear an “Amen”?

Let’s get the Word in our minds and hearts through the diligent work of memorizing Scripture.

4. “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves…… (James 1:22)

Transformation happens when we know the truth, believe it and then also do what it says. Intellectual knowledge of the Scriptures is not enough. The Pharisees proudly had that, and Jesus pronounced woe upon them. (Matt. 23) R.C. Sproul, says, “Salvation is obtained by a vital relationship with Jesus and a commitment to the truth he has revealed [in the Scriptures].”

Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with the commands to believe and obey. Scripture leaves us with examples of real people who did so, and with those who did not. As we obey, we are not only sanctified, but we are also blessed. Some of the saddest words in Scripture were spoken by the Son of God himself at the end of the greatest sermon ever preached. He warned His hearers as He compared two kinds of people: the foolish and the wise.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? ’And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matt. 7:21-27)

There are only two kinds of people: wise or foolish. The difference between them is what they do with the Word of God. May we heed the exhortation of the saints and apostles of old, even Jesus Himself, and deepen our love for the Word as it deepens our love for our Saviour.

Come back next time for the second antidote against sin, watchfulness.

Take Up and Read
Psalm 19:7-11
Psalm 119
Matt. 4:1-17
Rom. 10:17
1 John 2:14
2 Tim. 3:16-17