Prepared with a Reason: Lesson 1 (3-30-25)
Overview
What Is Truth? A Christian Response to Worldly Assumptions
Pilate's question to Jesus—"What is truth?" John 18:38—is the question of epistemology, the study of whether truth exists and whether it can be known. Scripture insists that this drive to know what is true is good and essential. Christians ought to test their convictions, asking honestly, "Is what I believe actually true, or am I believing a lie?"
Three assumptions dominate our culture's thinking about truth. First, that there is no objective truth—no truth that stands outside of personal feelings or opinion. Second, that all truth is relative—"you have your truth, I have mine." Third, that truth is a social construct—whatever the majority believes becomes "true." Beneath all three runs the worldview of humanism: the conviction that the human being is the measure of all things. This is not the same as humanitarianism (genuine care for neighbor); it is the elevation of the human will above God's word. We see its first appearance in the garden, where the serpent invites Eve to question whether God really said what He said, and then assures her, "You will not die" Genesis 3:1-6. Satan's strategy was to shift focus from God's provision to God's prohibition, and ultimately to install the human as the final authority over God's word.
Scripture answers each assumption. Against the denial of objective truth, Jesus declares, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" John 8:31-32, and "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" John 14:6—note the definite article: the truth, not a truth. Paul affirms that what can be known about God is plainly visible in creation, so that suppression of this truth is without excuse Romans 1:18-20. Christ is Himself the Creator through whom and for whom all things exist (Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:1-2), and to deny Him is to embrace the lie 1 John 2:21-22. The claim that "all truth is relative" collapses on itself, since the statement is itself an objective claim. And against the notion that truth is a majority vote, Scripture replies, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:24-25). The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, guides the Church into all truth and does not speak on His own John 16:12-15.
The pastoral implication is sobering and freeing: if something is false, no amount of belief, repetition, or cultural consensus can make it true. Lies attract us because they often agree with what we want to believe, and a lie repeated long enough begins to feel like truth. The Christian response is to hold every claim—our own convictions included—up to the mirror of God's word. When Scripture and our opinions disagree, we are the ones who must change. Truth is not what we construct; truth is what agrees with the speech of the eternal God, personified in Jesus Christ, exhaled to us in Holy Scripture, and standing firm when every cultural fashion has faded.
Transcript
We give you thanks for calling and gathering us in this year's house to receive word and 7s
sacrament and then to be sent forth. 15s
We give you thanks for the Scripture, for we can turn to that and we hear your very voice. 18s
We stand on the solid rock of the truth of your word. 24s
Bless us, O Lord, as we launch this class today and in these weeks to head to your glory and to your 30s
praise, in Jesus' name. Amen. 36s
Well, I'm going to focus these next two weeks and the class is going to extend into late May. 40s
We're going to take a look at various world assumptions and we're going to see what the 46s
Scriptures have to say to these worldly assumptions. 51s
And so we're going to take a look at a whole host of different topics when we're together. 57s
We're going to take a look at the subject of ontology. 62s
Ontology is the study of what exists and where did it come from. 67s
We're going to take a look at anthropology. 74s
What is a human being? 77s
Why do we exist? 80s
We're going to take a look at what is called axiology. 81s
Axiology is the study of what is important and what is it that we should value and why should we value it? 85s
We're going to take a look at ethics. 97s
What is the source of morality? 99s
We're going to take a look at aesthetics. 103s
What is beauty? 106s
What is art? 108s
We're going to take a look at eschatology. 110s
Eschatology has to do with the end time. 114s
So what happens when we die and what is eternal life? 116s
We're also going to take a look at hedonism. 123s
What are the implications of when life is defined by pleasure and pain? 126s
So if you define life by pleasure and pain, what's the implications of that? 134s
So in the weeks ahead, ontology, anthropology, axiology, ethics, aesthetics, eschatology, and hedonism. 141s
Well, today I want to take a look with you at epistemology. 152s
Epistemology deals with the question of what is truth? 158s
What is truth? 163s
And can we know truth? 165s
Epistemology is what is truth? 169s
And can we know truth? 172s
Well, let's start in the Gospel of John, chapter 18. 175s
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John. 180s
John, chapter 18, and we're going to start in verse 33. 184s
John 18, verse 33. 189s
Then, Pilate entered the headquarters again. 194s
Some in Jesus and asked him, 199s
are you the king of the Jews? 202s
Jesus answered, do you ask this on your own? 206s
Or did others tell you about me? 209s
Pilate replied, I'm not a Jew, am I? 213s
Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. 216s
What have you done? 219s
Jesus answered, 222s
my kingdom is not from this world. 224s
If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me 227s
from being handed over to the Jews. 233s
But as it is, my kingdom is not from here. 236s
Pilate asked him, so you are a king. 242s
Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. 245s
For this I was born and for this I came into the world 249s
to testify to the truth. 253s
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. 257s
Pilate asked him, what is truth? 264s
What is truth? 271s
The general study of whether or not we can know truth is epistemology. 275s
And as people we ought to have a strong drive inside of us, right? 285s
To know that which is true. 292s
To say to ourselves, is that which I think is it true or not? 297s
To put what it is that we think up to scrutiny and to examine, 308s
is that true or am I believing a lie? 316s
Is that truth? 322s
Now, some in our culture they reject the possibility that there can be truth. 326s
That isn't informed by one's own feelings or opinions. 335s
And so that leads to an assumption. 341s
And the assumption is that you can't know truth. 347s
You can't know it. 359s
And they will maintain that you can't know it because there's no such thing as truth 361s
that isn't informed by your own opinions and by your own feelings. 366s
So they would say there is no such thing as objective truth. 372s
What's objective truth? 379s
Objective truth is truth that is outside of us. 380s
It is truth that is that which stands regardless of the culture you're in. 387s
It's truth because it's truth and it's outside of you. 396s
But there are some in our culture that will say, you can't know truth. 403s
You can't know it because everything is just informed by everybody's own thoughts and own feelings. 407s
And there's no such thing they will say as objective truth. 414s
Second assumption is that all truth then is relative. 422s
Have you ever heard the phrase? 433s
Well, you've got your truth and I've got my truth. 436s
Or have you ever heard the phrase? 441s
Look, they're just speaking their own truth. 445s
And we all have to just speak our own truth. 449s
I remember I had a conversation several years ago with a man. 456s
And I said, can you tell me why it is that you believe? 461s
What did you believe? 467s
What do you believe that? 469s
And his response was, well, it's because I believe it. 472s
To which I said, but why? 477s
I'm really interested to know, why do you believe that? 481s
And his response was, because I believe it. 487s
That's a frustrating conversation, isn't it? 492s
Right? Because that's just a circular reasoning. 494s
There's no rationale for why you believe anything. 499s
There's no way to articulate an argument and to put that argument up to scrutiny. 502s
One just believes it because they believe it. 508s
It's a strong advocate for relative truth. 513s
I got my truth. You got your truth. 516s
You can have your truth. 518s
I can have my truth. 520s
I can have my truth. 520s
Don't criticize my truth. 522s
And I won't criticize your truth. 525s
Because truth is all relative. 527s
So there are some that will say you can't know truth. 533s
There is no such thing as objective truth. 536s
That's assumption number one. 539s
Assumption number two is that all truth is just relative. 540s
Third assumption is that truth is a social construct. 547s
Truth is a social construct. 560s
Now what do I mean by that? 564s
This is the belief that a society will determine truth if the majority of people believe something. 566s
So if the majority of people believe something, therefore it is true. 574s
A long time ago, I talked about the belief that has statistical morality. 583s
That's an analysis where morality is determined by statistics. 592s
So the argument goes, well, 82% of society believe this. 598s
And then you know the next sentence. 608s
Therefore, it must be why. 612s
It must be true. Why? 615s
Because the majority believe it. 617s
That's truth as a social construct. 622s
So three assumptions. 626s
You can't know it. There's no such thing as objective truth. 628s
All truth is relative. 631s
And truth is a social construct. 633s
Influencing all three of these assumptions is what is called humanism. 642s
That's a worldview. Humanism. 653s
Humanism affects all three of these assumptions. 657s
Let's see humanism. 665s
Let's go to Genesis chapter three. 669s
Please, verse one. 671s
Genesis chapter three, verse one. 673s
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. 683s
He said to the woman, 692s
did God say you shall not eat from any tree in the garden? 694s
Did God say you shall not eat from any tree in the garden? 702s
I'm not wild here about the NRSV translation. 705s
I like the ESV and the NIV better because it communicates more of what the language communicates which is intent. 710s
The ESV says did God actually say? 720s
NIV says did God really say? 725s
You see that's communicating the intent of the language. 729s
NRSV gets a little bit too concise in my opinion here. 732s
So the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal. 738s
The Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 741s
did God actually say it? 743s
From any tree in the garden, 748s
what Satan is doing here is Satan is emphasizing what God prohibits and not what God provides. 753s
What Satan is trying to do here with Eve is he is trying to get Eve to look at God differently. 767s
He does the same thing to us, doesn't he? 778s
He tempts us to instead of focusing on the blessings of God to focus on what God says you can't do. 781s
Satan is at work in our lives leading us away from focusing on the glorious character of God and his sovereignty and his omnipotence and his omniscience. 793s
All the beautiful characteristics of God and what Satan wants to do is lead us into an understanding of questioning God's motives. 806s
He wants us to say, you know, I wonder what the motive is here, of why God says that. 819s
God says, hmm, do this, don't do that. 829s
Well, what's the motive here? 832s
That's what Satan is doing with Eve and Satan makes inroads, doesn't he? 838s
Look at verse two, the woman said at the serpent, 843s
we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 848s
you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die. 853s
Is that what God really said? Did God really say that? 865s
Jump over to chapter two, please, verse 16. 872s
And the Lord, God, commanded the man, you may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die. 877s
What's the difference, did you hear it? 895s
What did Eve add in to what God had said? 897s
Did you hear it? 904s
Well, I heard it. 907s
Yeah, Eve adds in that God says, we're not supposed to eat of that and we're not supposed to touch it. 908s
He prohibited them from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 928s
God said, you don't determine for yourself what's right and wrong. 936s
They do that, you die. 939s
But Eve adds to what God says. 943s
She starts then to live then on her own devices, and that leads to the buying of a lie. 947s
Verse 4, but the serpent said to the woman, you will not die. 959s
Enter humanism. 971s
Enter humanism. 975s
Now it's important, of course, to underscore that humanism is not humanitarianism. 976s
Humanitarianism is good. 983s
That's concern for the welfare of your neighbor. 985s
That's concern for others. 991s
So humanism is not humanitarianism. 994s
Humanism means that humans are the measure of everything. 998s
That's what's at the heart of the worldview of humanism. 1005s
Humans are the measure of everything. 1010s
The ultimate authority. 1015s
Humans are the ultimate being. 1017s
They're the ultimate authority. 1021s
It doesn't get any higher than us. 1023s
That's humanism. 1031s
Christianity is God-centered. 1034s
Humanism is human-centered. 1040s
Look at verse 6. 1047s
So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, 1053s
and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, 1059s
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 1065s
The human became the authority, and not God's word as the authority. 1071s
Humanism is the worldview that affects all three of these assumptions with regard to truth. 1083s
Well, what's the biblical response then to this? 1097s
To the first assumption that you can't know truth, that there's no such thing as objective truth, 1103s
a truth that stands outside of us, regardless of what culture is a truth that stands outside. 1111s
What's the biblical response to the belief that there's no such thing as objective truth? 1121s
Let's go to John chapter 8, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John, 1128s
John chapter 8, verse 31. 1134s
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, 1147s
if you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, 1151s
and the truth will make you free. 1161s
Did Jesus believe in objective truth? Of course he did. 1168s
And he's pointing right to the word. 1174s
Let's go to John chapter 14, verse 6. 1179s
John 14, verse 6. 1186s
Jesus said to him, 1194s
I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me. 1196s
Notice the definitive article there. 1206s
The way, the truth, the life, not a way, a truth, and a life. 1209s
A way, a truth, a life is the opposite of objective truth. 1214s
Jesus is saying there is objective truth that he is the way, the truth, and the life. 1220s
Let's go to Romans, the first chapter, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and then Romans. 1231s
Romans chapter 1, verse 18. 1240s
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all in godliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. 1247s
For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. 1260s
What Paul is just to get the context here, what Paul is talking about here is that you can infer from creation that there must be a creator. 1266s
That creation puts on display with his incredible complexity, etc. 1276s
That there must be a creator behind it to deny that creation just kind of happened. 1282s
One statistically, it is so astronomical in terms of that that could even be possible. 1291s
But to deny that then denies the fact that there is a God, the truth that there is a God. 1300s
To look at creation to say there is no creator, it's foolishness. 1308s
It's the denying of an objective truth. 1314s
Let's go to Colossians chapter 1. 1318s
Keep going toward revelation. 1321s
1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and then Colossians. 1324s
Colossians chapter 1 verse 16. 1331s
So Jesus here is the truth. 1340s
He's the source of truth. 1343s
Jesus is saying we can know truth that there is an objective truth because notice what it says about Jesus. 1345s
Colossians chapter 1, he's the image of the invisible God. 1353s
The first born of all creation that were first born there, don't get hung up on that. 1359s
That word first born means preeminent. 1366s
He's the preeminent one of all creation. 1369s
He's the creator of all things. 1373s
For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created. 1376s
Things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers. 1379s
All things have been created through him and for him. 1385s
So when Jesus says he is the way and the truth and the life Scripture says, well who is Jesus? 1392s
And Scripture points to the reality. 1397s
God in the flesh through whom all things have been created. 1400s
Let's go to Hebrews, the first chapter. 1406s
Hebrews chapter 1, verse 2. 1411s
Keep turning toward revelation. 1415s
You're going to cross over the tea books. 1417s
You're going to bump quickly into Hebrews. 1419s
Notice how Jesus is described here. 1423s
Chapter 1, verse 1. 1428s
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets. 1429s
But in these last days he's spoken to us by a son whom he appointed. 1434s
He appointed air of all things through whom he also created the world. 1439s
Let's go to first John, chapter 2. 1447s
Go to Revelation, then work backwards. 1450s
We'll bump into first John quickly. 1454s
First John, chapter 2, verse 21. 1457s
John writes, I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. 1468s
And you know that no lie comes from the truth. 1474s
Who's the liar? 1478s
But the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. 1480s
This is the anti-Christ. 1484s
The one who denies the Father and the Son. 1485s
Now such thing is objective truth. 1494s
Jesus said, there is such thing as objective truth. 1496s
Word of God is objective truth. 1500s
He is the personification of truth. 1501s
All things were created through him. 1506s
He is God in the flesh. 1509s
For God to be associated with a lie would mean that God isn't God. 1513s
God cannot be anything other than truth. 1519s
And his exhaled word to us in Holy Scripture, that is then truth. 1525s
Why? 1532s
Because it's exhaled. 1533s
Remember that that's what the meaning of the word inspired is. 1535s
Is exhaled by God? 1539s
That word then exhaled by him is truth for us because it is exhaled by God. 1543s
That's why when we read Scripture the voice that we're hearing is God's voice. 1549s
Because it is that objective truth. 1555s
Assumption number number two, all truth is relative. 1560s
You're truth, I got my truth. 1564s
But because of the fact that there is objective truth that immediately takes number two off the board. 1570s
And think of it also this way. 1578s
When someone says that truth is relative, that's an objective statement, isn't it? 1581s
Right? 1589s
Let me just think logically here. 1589s
How illogical it is for someone to deny that there is objective truth and then make the statement that all truth is relative. 1592s
Because when you say all truth is relative, you are making then an objective generalization. 1600s
You've just undermined your own argument by saying it. 1607s
Number three, that truth is simply a social construct. 1614s
Let's go to Isaiah chapter 40. 1622s
Good way to find Isaiah is to go in the middle of the Bible. 1626s
You'll find the Psalms. 1629s
Then keep turning right. 1631s
You're going to hit Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. 1633s
And you're going to come to Isaiah chapter 40 verse 8. 1637s
Isaiah 40 verse 8. 1646s
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand for ever. 1653s
See, truth is in a social construct. 1666s
It isn't that it's formed by a consensus in society where society says this is true. 1670s
Why? Because the majority of us think it's true. 1677s
No, the word of God stands for ever. 1680s
The word of God then is not some kind of social construct. 1682s
The word of God is that which evaluates what society wants to construct is truth. 1688s
Where you hold it up to the mirror of God's word and you say, you know, is this what the world is saying? 1696s
Is that true? 1703s
Is that true? And then you're reading the word of God. 1703s
Well, no, that's not true. 1706s
Who wins? 1708s
God's word wins, right? 1710s
God's word wins. 1712s
Take a look, please, at John chapter 16, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John. 1715s
John 16 verse 12. 1724s
Jesus says, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 1736s
When the Spirit of truth comes, that's a Holy Spirit. 1741s
He will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, 1746s
and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 1753s
He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 1757s
All that the Father has is mine. 1764s
For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 1767s
See, that's the assurance of how the Holy Spirit then inspired the writers of Scripture to record the truth. 1773s
It's objective truth. 1783s
It stands outside of us. 1784s
It's not formed by society, by majority vote. 1786s
Truth is informed by polls. 1790s
Truth is formed by God's gift to us in his very word. 1794s
Let's go to first Peter, chapter 1. 1801s
Go to Revelation and turn backwards. 1805s
Keep going towards Matthew, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 24. 1808s
1 Peter 1, 24. 1818s
For all flesh is like grass. 1828s
And all that's glory like the flower of grass. 1831s
The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. 1836s
The word is the good news that was announced to you. 1845s
Truth is not what we construct. 1851s
What is true is what agrees with the speech of the eternal God. 1855s
So what's the implications of this? 1861s
To the first assumption here, impacted by humanism, humanism affecting all three assumptions. 1865s
The first assumption that there is no such thing as objective truth. 1873s
What God tells us is that there is a truth outside of ourselves. 1877s
A truth that is applicable to any culture. 1882s
Any culture. 1885s
It is God's word. 1886s
It is a truth that comes from outside of us. 1888s
It gives the implication here that if you believe something is true, 1895s
well, it's actually false, that doesn't make it true. 1900s
If you believe something is true, when it's actually false, that doesn't make it true. 1907s
Regardless of how many people believe it, regardless of how widely accepted it is. 1916s
We live in a day in which there is a constant attraction. 1930s
This goes all the way back. 1935s
This is across the centuries, all rooted back in Genesis. 1937s
There is a constant attraction to the lie. 1940s
What's the attraction to a lie? 1946s
What do we teach our children? 1947s
We teach our children. 1950s
Don't lie. 1951s
Don't lie. 1952s
Tell the truth. 1953s
What's the attraction then to the lie? 1954s
The attraction to the lies in the world. 1957s
The attraction is we want to believe what we want to believe. 1962s
And if the lie is consistent with what we want to believe, what we want to be true, 1968s
we'll grab it, right? 1978s
We'll grab it. 1980s
That's the attraction of the lie. 1983s
We live in a world in which a lie is advanced by continuing to say that the lie is truth. 1988s
And if you continue to say that something which is a lie is truth, well, what happens? 2000s
You become desensitized to it, or you can start to believe it. 2007s
Well, maybe it is true. 2015s
No. 2017s
It's not true. 2018s
The facts don't bear it up, but we can be attracted to the lie because it just is repeated so often. 2019s
And we're right at social construct, you see? 2030s
See, if we can repeat a lie often enough to wear a substantial body of people, 2034s
or maybe even a majority start to say, well, you know what's true. 2041s
It's this. 2047s
Even though if you hold that up to the facts, objective facts and scrutiny, 2048s
if you say, I want to put this to critical thought here, 2056s
and I want to put this up to examination of the fact it is obviously false, 2059s
we can be attracted to the social construct that, well, that's true. 2065s
Why? 2071s
Because it just keeps being said. 2071s
And more and more people are believing it, so I guess I got a hop on board. 2074s
Because I don't want to be in the minority there with regard to truth. 2079s
I want to be accepted. 2083s
You see how all that works? 2085s
How all that works? 2087s
And all of a sudden, then you've brought right into the lie of social construct. 2088s
If we believe something is true while it's actually false, that doesn't make it true, 2097s
regardless of how many people believe it. 2101s
So we hold everything up, everything up to the Word of God, and we say, 2106s
is that true? 2112s
Is that true? 2115s
I would ask the kids in confirmation. 2116s
I would say, if I preach something on Sunday morning that doesn't square with Scripture, 2119s
who needs to change? 2129s
Scripture? 2132s
Army. 2134s
And they delighted in saying, 2136s
you, delighted in that. 2139s
You see, that's holding everything up to the scrutiny of God's Word, 2143s
the scrutiny of fact, and say, does this, is this coincide with fact? 2151s
To these three assumptions, then, of the world. 2164s
It says you can't note truth. 2170s
We say, yes, you can. 2172s
And truth is personified in the Lord Jesus Christ. 2175s
To the assumption of the world that truth is just relative, that you got your truth, 2178s
and I got my truth, and we all just got to speak and accept everybody's truth. 2183s
We say, no, we're going to accept God's truth. 2188s
And we're going to say God's truth, whatever the price you have to pay. 2192s
To the world that says truth is a social construct, no. 2201s
Truth is rooted in God's Word, and comes not birthed out of whether or not of a majority believe it. 2207s
But truth is formed whether or not God says it. 2215s
Well, we're going to continue next week, and next week we're going to take a look at the subject of ontology. 2224s
What exists? Where did it come from? 2233s
We'll continue next week. 2236s