Acknowledge The Truth
I.
*Romans 1:18-25-The enemy wants
to cover you in darkness, get you in a stupor, where you are unaware of the
truth, believing lies and don’t do it
A. 18-19-Who hold (possess) the truth in
unrighteousness – They heard the truth; The truth was manifest in them
and God has showed it to them
1.
Unrighteousness of heart and life; they are thinking wrong, they are
believing wrong, they have gotten off and yet they possess the truth or you
could say they had an opportunity to receive and acknowledge the truth
a. ERV-Their evil deeds hide the truth that they have
b. PHIL-It’s not that they do not know the truth about God;
indeed God has made it quite plain to them
2.
We’re going to see
destruction come to these people but it wasn’t because they didn’t hear the
truth and didn’t have the opportunity to get light and knowledge, but rather it
was because when the truth came, when knowledge and light came they didn’t want
it
a. Your response to the truth is one of the most vital and
critical things in your life to get right – You need to respond to the
truth correctly
B. 19-God is faithful to
keep us so there will be many times in your life when truth strikes your eyes
and what you do during these times is critical
1.
19-That
which maybe known of God – That’s light and truth about God
2.
God
shined light and truth struck their lies and the truth was apparent and plainly
known and made known unto them
a. Manifest-Shining, To bring forth into light, shed light, meet the
eyes, strike the sight, apparent, plainly known
b. Showed-Make visible, make known, make apparent, make known by
teaching
3.
When the truth struck
their eyes, the responded incorrectly and it affected their destiny
C. 21-They wouldn’t
acknowledge the truth
1.
They
saw the truth when they saw creation
a. NLT-People who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
They know the truth because God has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have
seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his
invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no
excuse for not knowing God.
b. VOICE-From
the beginning, creation in its magnificence enlightens us to His nature.
Creation itself makes His undying power and divine identity clear, even though
they are invisible; and it voids the excuses and ignorant claims of these people
2.
When they came to know
the truth (V21-knew God) and perceived the truth (God is truth) they
wouldn’t acknowledge the truth
a. Glorified-To cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to
become manifest and acknowledged
b. PHIL-They knew all the time that there is a God, yet they
refused to acknowledge him as such
c. Acknowledge- To own, To admit to be true, To recognize
something that is true as true, To declare openly, To confess frankly; The
opposite would be to reject, to deny, to ignore
3.
When they came to know
the truth they wouldn’t acknowledge the truth, they wouldn’t look at the truth
and admit the truth and accept the truth and this is where they got in big
trouble
a. The problem was not that they didn’t see or hear or know the
truth, the problem was that they rejected the truth and wouldn’t acknowledge
it; Hearing the truth, having the truth and seeing the truth they didn’t want
the truth
b. They won’t look at it and they’re going to act like it’s not
there and their eyes they have closed; you can close your eyes and act like
it’s not there and that it’s not true but that doesn’t mean it’s not there and
that doesn’t mean it’s not true
c. Don’t try to adjust the truth to fit you, you adjust to the
truth and that’s when you’re going to get liberated and made free
4.
Matthew
13:14-15-They closed their eyes to the truth, they hardened their heart to the
truth
a. Doing this is costing
them their freedom and deliverance; they very thing they are closing their eyes
to and don’t want to see is the very thing that was designed to deliver them
and set them free
b. Converted-To cause to return, to bring back, To love wisdom and
righteousness
1)
They
hear the truth and rather than rejecting it they love it
c. Heal-To make whole; to free from errors and sins
1)
The
result would be them not being in error and missing it and being off
5.
25-Rather
than acknowledging the truth, they choose lies over the truth (25-Voice-By choosing a foolish lie over God’s
truth)
a. They exchanged the truth
for a lie-“We are going to take this lie and call it truth. We like this (lie)
better. We’d rather have it this way.”
1)
Change-To exchange one thing
for another
b. They called the truth a lie and a lie the truth; they are
going to decide what’s true; They’re going to find something that fits them,
what they like and call it truth and create their own truth
1)
Isaiah 5:20-Woe unto them that call evil good, and good
evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for
sweet and sweet for bitter! – There are people calling light darkness
calling truth lies and darkness light and lies truth
2)
Isaiah 50:11-But watch out, you who live in your own
light and
warm yourselves by your own fires…You will soon fall down in great torment.
D. 21-BUT BECAME-This is what they became as a result to their
incorrect and improper response to the truth – Swallowed up in darkness
1.
21-Their thinking was void of truth and their heart was
covered in darkness-Why? Because they pushed the truth away and didn’t want it
a. Vain in their thinking-Void of truth
1)
The mind is where we
locate spiritual warfare; If the mind is void of truth it is territory that the
enemy has taken
2)
Where
there is no truth you’ll find deception and destruction; Hosea 4:1-God took
issue with them b/c there was no truth in the land
b. Darkened-To cover with darkness (this is being swallowed up in
darkness), of the eyes, understanding, and mind-2 Corinthians 4:4
1)
The mind is the gateway
to the heart and if your mind is void of truth then enemy can pierce your heart
with darkness and lies
a) Voice-Vain thoughts that poison their foolish hearts
c. This is how they enemy controls people and gains influence;
through the mind and heart
1)
Physical
territory is not the enemies primary target; the territory he is after is the
minds and hearts of people and if he can occupy those territories the physical
or natural will follow; If every person in a family, a town, a nation would
stop yielding to him in their thought life Satan would have no influence or
control
2)
John
14:30, 1:14-Satan has nothing in me, he was full of truth
2.
When you say no to the
truth you welcome and receive lies and as a result it’s going to get darker in
your mind and heart and it won’t be long before you’re in total deception and
the enemy is in complete control and at that point you are swallowed up in darkness
a. 26-32-Because they
wouldn’t acknowledge the truth and pushed the light away, it got darker and
darker-PHIL-They plunged their silly
minds still further into the dark – (How did they do this? They pushed
away the light and the truth); They got seriously off because they would
not acknowledge the truth; the path of the unjust is going to get darker an
darker; the evil things that they are doing are the result of them being deceived and covered in darkness and swallowed up by
darkness:
b. 27-They are in error,
they have gotten off, the enemy has led them astray and they have followed him;
they are deceived (KJ&)
1)
Error-Led astray from the
right way, mental straying, that which leads into error, deceit, to deceive
2)
The
enemy has got them bound, he’s got them off and he didn’t do it by sending 20
demons who forcibly took control of them, he didn’t through lies and deception
an assault on their MINDS and rather than resisting the lies, they pondered
them and yielded to them
E. *When it gets dark, you
get dumb (NLT-They began to think up
foolish ideas of what God was like)
1.
22-They are unaware that they are off and they in fact
believe that they are right and that what they believe is the truth; They are
swallowed up in darkness; they think they are thinking/believing right and they
are unaware of reality, of the truth (V22)
a. At one time they knew this wasn’t right, but when you
push the truth aside receive lies in your heart those lies become truth to you
2.
22-They
think that they are educated and wise but the truth is they are fools
a. With no light and no
truth you may be educated in the world’s eyes, but you are a fool to God
3.
23-They
wouldn’t acknowledge the truth that he was God and instead tried to create
their false gods to worship; they’re going to call an animal “god” or a bird
“god” or a reptile “god” or something that man made “god” – How could
people be so dumb? It’s dark
a. 23-NLT-And instead of worshipping the glorious ever-living
God, they worshipped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals
and reptiles
b. 25-Voice-By choosing a foolish lie
over God’s truth. They gave their
lives and devotion to the creature rather than they creator Himself.
c. 25-MSG-They traded the true God for a fake god and worshipped
the god they made instead of the God who made them
4.
This
is why people do stupid stuff they never thought they would do; because it’s
dark
F. If you want your error
and your deception God will leave you to it
1.
26-God
gave them up; If you don’t want God, if you don’t want the truth God’s not
going to force it on you; He’ll leave you to your lies
a. 26-ERV-God left them and let them do the shameful things they
wanted to do
b. AMP-God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections
and degrading passions
2.
28-God
gave them over; When you don’t want the truth all that’s left is lies
a. Reprobate-Abandoned to error, abandoned to sin
3.
28-They
don’t want the truth, they don’t love the truth; They don’t like to retain the
truth in their knowledge because it messes up what they want to do and they
want to do what they want to do and love what they are doing and thinking and
believing more than they love the truth
4.
If you fail to
acknowledge the truth and don’t want it, God will quit bothering you with it so
make it clear to the Father that you want to the truth and that truth is
important to you; one of the main ways you show him that is by how you treat
the truth when it comes
a. 28-MSG-Since
they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run
loose.
b. The truth needs to be THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in your life
1)
28-ERV-People did not think it was important to
have a true knowledge of God. So God left them and allowed them to have their
own worthless thinking.
5.
If
when you saw the truth you pushed it aside, pushed it down, pushed it away and
wouldn’t acknowledge it you have no excuse; it’s one thing if you just didn’t
see or didn’t know, but they did see and did know and seeing and knowing they
pushed the truth away
a. There’s no defense for you because with the truth in front of
you, you said no to it and you chose lies and deception over the truth and you
yielded to them and resisted the truth and you are without excuse because
seeing the truth you pushed it aside
G. When the truth comes, and
because God is faithful, it will come, it’s imperative that you acknowledge the
truth; if you don’t it will go dark in your heart and mind and you will be
deceived and you won’t know you’re deceived and it wasn’t that you didn’t hear
or have the truth it was that you didn’t acknowledge the truth