KNOW THE
TRUTH No. 2
(John 8: 31-32; Matthew 12: 1-8)
By
Shelby G. Floyd
Jesus Christ once said to some Jews who believed on him:
John 8:31-32
To the Jews who had
believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
NIV
Another passage that affirms explicitly that we can know the truth is found in John's first letter:
1 John 2:21
I do not write to
you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because
no lie comes from the truth.
NIV
We all can know the truth because the Bible teaches explicitly that we can know the truth. The Bible also teaches us implicitly that we can know the truth. For example, the Bible commands us to obey the truth. But this command implies it is possible for us to know the truth or else we could not obey the truth.
THE
"What is
truth,” asked Pilate (John
THE LAW OF IDENTITY
Next, we point out the law of identity. "If a proposition is true, then it is true." That is the law of identifying truth.
THE LAW OF THE EXCLUDED
MIDDLE
Then there is the law of the excluded middle. "Every precisely stated proposition is either true or false." That is called the law of the excluded middle. There is nothing in between—a proposition is either true or false.
THE LAW OF CONTRADICTION
Another law is the law of contradiction. "No proposition can be both true and false in the same respect."
THE LAW OF RATIONALITY
Finally, there is the law of rationality. "We ought to justify our conclusions by
presenting adequate evidence."
Alexander Campbell, president of
IS TRUTH ABSOLUTE OR
RELATIVE?
At this time, the burden of our lesson is to answer the question, "Is truth absolute or relative?" Can one change the truth, or ignore the truth, based on different situations, or based on what some call love? Some men today are parroting and proclaiming the ideas of the philosopher Fletcher, called situation ethics. The idea seems to be that the situation you find yourself in determines whether one keeps God's law or not. I must point out, that to tamper, or to ignore or to treat with contempt the law of God is a very serious matter. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,
Matt 5:17-18
"Do not think
that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth
disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished.
NIV
A jot was like a dot over i in our language and a title was like crossing the t in our vernacular. So if Jesus were speaking to us in our language he would say, "Not a dot over the i, or a crossing of the t, will fail, until all is fulfilled!" This demonstrates how much importance God places upon his law and his truth. We must love the truth, for if we do not love the truth, God will send a strong delusion that we might believe a lie and be damned. (2 Thessalonians 2: 9-12).
Now as an
illustration of what I am trying to get over to you, I remind all of you who
are about my age and who remember the Second World War, what happened
afterwards. After the war was over, the
allies set up a court and a trial at
But as I remember, many of these men were found guilty of war crimes. On what basis then were they condemned? The men who conducted that trial, and who ultimately passed judgment on these men, took this position—they said that there is a higher law than the law of man. Well, what is that higher law? Is it the law of the United Nations? No. They said that there is a higher law than the law of man to which all of us are subject and that law is the law of God. And therefore on that basis many of them were found guilty and some are still languishing in prisons for their crimes, and some have died because they were found guilty of violating a higher law then the law of man. That is what we're talking about—the higher law, which is the law of God. And I also want to bring into the lesson the law of man, which is the lower law.
TRUTH IS ABSOLUTE
Now, my first proposition is that the Bible teaches that truth is absolute and not relative, based upon the illustration of Jesus and his disciples who were traveling through the fields on the Sabbath day. And according to Matthew 12: 1-12, his disciples went off the edge of the road and found either some wheat or barley that was about ready to be harvested, and they were very hungry. So they plucked some of the heads of the grain and rubbed it between their hands and blew away the chaff and they ate the grain. Now, I have done that myself and I know that others who grew up on a farm have done the same thing. I have also gone through the cornfield and plucked the ears when they were tender and have eaten the corn raw. And it was very good and I did not get sick!
In
Jesus also asked his critics this question, "Have you not read how that the priests work on the Sabbath day and are innocent?" Jesus said that, "the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day" (Matthew 12: 8). He also said to them that there was one among them who was greater than the temple. Jesus was speaking of himself!
Some have taken this account recorded in Matthew 12:1-8 about Jesus and the disciples plucking and eating grain on the Sabbath day, as an example that we might break the law of God whenever there is necessity or hardship and not be guilty. But this is not what this example is teaching.
Let us look back at the argument of Jesus. These Pharisees prided themselves in being such experts on the law—they prided themselves in their great knowledge of the Scriptures. But they condemned Jesus and his disciples for plucking and eating grain on the Sabbath day. They said, "You have done that which is not lawful." Now if Jesus and the disciples did something that was not lawful, then the Pharisees would have countered like this: "You have referred to David who broke the law and therefore you have condemned yourself. David broke the law; David sinned; you and your disciples are doing what David did and therefore like David, you and your disciples have sinned." But the Pharisees did not argue like that because it was not the case that Jesus and the disciples had sinned in what they did.
DID JESUS
The first question we ask is did Jesus and his disciples break the law? No, they did not break the law. What did they do then? They violated the traditions of the Jews, but they did not break the law. We have people in the church today that will make an issue and get upset if someone violates their opinion or their tradition, but they do not get very upset when they violate or break the law of God.
I remember back a few years ago some people were upset because the little children would go back after the service, and eat the unleavened bread and drink the fruit of the vine that was left. They thought that was a desecration of the Lord's Supper. That was not a violation of the Lord's Supper, but a violation of tradition of the people.
What Jesus actually did was to violate the traditions of the Pharisees and not the law of God. How did the Pharisees arrive at the conclusion that Jesus had violated the law of God? This was their dubious and circuitous reasoning: Plucking the grain on the Sabbath day is a form of reaping. And rubbing the grain between your hands is a form of threshing. Therefore, since the law forbade anyone from reaping or threshing on the Sabbath day, then Jesus and his disciples were guilty of violating the law of reaping and threshing on the Sabbath day. It was their false interpretation of the Sabbath law that Jesus had violated, and not what the law really meant.
Therefore I point out to you in the first place, that it was lawful for Jesus and his disciples to do what they did on the seventh day. Moses said in the law:
Deuteronomy 23:25
When you come into
your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you
shall not use a sickle on your neighbor's standing grain.
NKJV
Now that is plain to understand is it not? When you are hungry and you are walking along the path, you can pick some of your neighbor's grain and eat it. But do not take that as an authorization to bring in your combine and thresh your entire neighbor's grain and put it in your barn. That is basically what Moses is teaching.
In the next place, I must point out that the Bible does teach that man was not to violate the Sabbath day by work designed to make gain. And right here my brothers and sisters in Christ, I must say that while it is necessary sometimes to work on Sunday—the Lord's day, but as soon as you can put things in order and have it understood that your priority is to worship on the Lord's day—you will be much better off. And so it was a very serious matter in the Old Testament to take the Sabbath day and use it like any other day to make money. And by the same principle, as soon as we can we ought to forego working on the Lord's Day.
The Sabbath
day was a day that God set aside for man to keep it holy. It was designed for the spiritual growth of
man and so he could learn how to worship God.
In the book of Exodus Moses said,
Exodus 20:8-11
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to
the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son
or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the
alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
NIV
That statement is about as plain as plain can be! It was a day of rest. It was not a day of work. It was not a day to go out and labor to make
gain. It was a day set aside for
spiritual meditation, consecration, and devotion to the Lord God.
Now let us
give an example of how serious it is to break the law of God. In the book of Exodus we read that the people
were specifically instructed not to go out and kindle a fire on the Sabbath
day:
Exodus 35:1-3
Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said
to them, "These are the things the LORD has commanded you to do: For six
days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath
of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death. Do not
light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day."
NIV
The Man Who Picked
Up Sticks
But in Numbers 15:32-36 there was a man that went out and
picked up sticks on the Sabbath day. And
they brought him to Moses and the congregation.
They said that they should consult the Lord, for they did not know what
to do with him. The Lord said to put him
to death. He had violated the law of the
Sabbath. What did he do? He picked up sticks. What do you do when you pick up sticks? You make a campfire—a fire to cook food—a
fire to do your work. Therefore, they
put him to death as a lawbreaker. This
example shows how serious it was to break the law of the Sabbath during the
time of Moses.
So the
Pharisees accused Jesus and his disciples of doing the same thing. Why?
Because they plucked grain, rubbed it between their hands and ate it on
the Sabbath day. Incidentally, this
shows how closely the life of
Jesus was scrutinized in order to
find a flaw,
by which they might condemn him and ruin his influence among the people.
The Example of
David
Christ referred his critics to what David did in the
days of Abiathar the priest, when David and his companions went into the house
of God and asked for bread. You can read
about that in 1 Samuel 21: 1-6. The
priest came to David and asked what he was doing there alone? David's men were following behind him. David asked for bread. The priest replied that he did not have any
ordinary bread. David then asked for
what ever bread he had.
The Example of the
Priests
The way this worked was that the priests worked on the
Sabbath day and were blameless. They
violated the law of the Sabbath and were not found guilty. The law of the Sabbath announced in Exodus 20
was not a universal unrestricted law.
The priests were the busiest people you could find on the Sabbath day. But they were not working to make a living,
or to make money, or gain wealth. They
were working so the temple service could be performed. They had to bake twelve loaves of unleavened
bread. And then they would put the
loaves in two rows on the table of showbread.
And then the priests had to go out and slaughter the animals used for
sacrifices. The blood was offered up to
the Lord as a libation—an atoning sacrifice.
The animals were offered up to the Lord as burnt sacrifices.
So the
priests worked and were very busy on the Sabbath day. They labored on the Sabbath day and were guiltless. Jesus said to his critics,
Matthew 12:3-5
"Haven't you read what David did when he and his
companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions
ate the consecrated bread-which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the
priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the
temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?”
NIV
This reply of Jesus is what is called in logic an argument
ad hominem—an argument to the man. Or to put this in simple terms, Jesus was
simply saying that a good rule works both ways.
If someone applies a rule to you, you can also apply the same rule to
them.
They knew
what David had done—that David had broken the law of God. And they knew that
the priests went along with David in this.
And evidently even God went along with this, for David was not put to
death like the man who violated the law by picking up sticks.
Here was the
argument of Jesus: you know what David did.
David is your hero. And yet you
excuse what David did. You accept
him. You do not condemn him for doing
something that admittedly appeared to be unlawful. But you condemn me and my disciples for doing
something that was lawful. Therefore,
you are unjust in your condemnation of me and my disciples. You approve the unlawful act of David, but
condemn the lawful act of me and my disciples.
The critics of Jesus condemned themselves in their inconsistency. Truly, "the legs of the lame are
unequal." The critics of Jesus were
not equal in their logic and sense of justice.
Breaking the Speed
Limit
Now, let us look at two more examples. Suppose you were driving down the highway and
someone in your car became gravely ill.
Would you be warranted in breaking the law of the land and exceed the speed
limit based upon that particular situation?
Admittedly, there are extenuating circumstances in which some vehicles
are allowed to exceed the speed limit.
For instance, emergency vehicles, police cars, fire trucks and
ambulances sometimes exceed the speed limit and are not guilty of breaking the
law. But do we as individuals have the
right to break the law because of extenuating circumstances? In the first place, even the emergency
vehicles etc. must be very careful about exceeding the lawful speed limit. How many times have we read in the newspaper
of an emergency vehicle having a wreck while exceeding the speed limit, and
killing and maiming and injuring others while en route to the hospital etc.?
The Bible
teaches that God has ordained government for the welfare of its citizens. The Bible also teaches that when we resist
these powers we resist God who ordained them (Romans 13: 1-7). When we resist
we will receive condemnation from God as well as man. It is a serious matter to break the law of
man as well as the law of God. And we
don't have the right to set ourselves up as the judge and break the law of the
land and not be guilty. And so away with
the idea that one can break the law of man or God based upon a particular
situation—situation ethics.
The Example of
Rahab the Harlot
Another example that is presented in order to uphold
the idea of situation ethics is that of Rahab the harlot. It is based on the fact that Rahab lied about
the spies leaving her house and hiding them on the roof. It is said that she was justified in lying
based on the circumstances. But she is
not enshrined in the Bible because she lied, but because she believed the
report and showed her faith by works.
(Compare James 2: 25-26). The
Bible does not uphold the lie of Rahab any more than it does the treachery of
Jael who drove the nail! (Judges
Why then is
Rahab applauded and enshrined as a hero of the faith? Because she realized it was much more
dangerous to fight against God than to fight against man. She is therefore held up as an example for us
to emulate and copy, not because she told a lie, but because she trusted the word
of God. She is held up as a great example
because of her faith. She trusted the
word of God that came through the messengers—she hid them, and when the great
army of Joshua came, she was redeemed and saved along with her family, because
of her great faith.
Now the
Bible being unbiased, as it always is, points out the faults and failures as
well as the successes of all people. The
Bible points out that David committed adultery with Bathsheba, as well as all
the great things he did. When we write
about each other, we usually leave out the bad things and only tell the good
things. But the Bible reveals the good
and the bad!
Rahab was
not justified because she told a lie.
I'm sure God condemned that, just like
he did when Abraham told a half
lie which amounted to a whole lie, when he said Sarah was his sister—she
was his half-sister. But he was afraid
that he would be killed because he had such a beautiful wife. So he told a half lie that amounted to a whole
lie. Abraham was a great man not because
he told a lie, but because of the great things he did by faith.
EXHORTATION
And so down with the idea that the truth of God or any
other truth is relative, and that we can take it and twist it and pervert it
and change it and disobey it and do what ever we want to, if the situation warrants
such type of action. That is not the
case. The truth of God is absolute and
not relative as illustrated in the case of Jesus and his disciples who plucked
grain and ate it on the Sabbath day. The
truth of God is absolute and not relative as in the case of Rahab the harlot,
who is held up to us because of her great faith. Faith is based upon the word of God. And the word of God can be known and the word
of God is absolute.
The command
of God for us is to believe in Christ (John
Do you know
the truth of God? If so, are you ready
to act upon it? Jesus Christ is the
author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him (Hebrews 5: 8, 9). Will you obey the truth you know and live the
Christian life to the very best of your ability? If so, God will be your God, and you will
live with him in heaven for ever and ever.
A-men! *
*Shelby G. Floyd delivered this sermon