GOD’S WORD FOR  NOVEMBER 21

Our  book excerpt today, and ongoing,  is from “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand”  Lessons from the Life of Peter, by Erwin  Lutzer.  Dr. Lutzer is  Canadian-born and served as Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years, until his retirement in 2016.   He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church.  He’s written many books and has radio and internet teaching programs.

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TRUTH IS UNIVERSAL

(John 6:60-71)

Peter said, “You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (VV 68-69).  Peter knew that truth was rooted in the nature of God and not subject to personal opinion.  If Christ is indeed the Holy One of God and has the words of eternal life, His teachings are applicable to all the cultures of the world.

It is folly to suppose one can say that a particular religion is true for me but may not be true for you.  Nor is there a religion that is right for one culture but wrong for another.  Various ice cream options may be of equal value, but eternal truth is precious and unchangeable.  When Christ says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6), He was excluding all other avenues of approach to God.

It would be absurd to say that 2+2=4 is only an American idea.  Obviously, the same arithmetic holds true all over the world and is immune to change based on one’s ethnic, cultural, or religious background.  The truth that Christ came to proclaim is universal, applicable to all nations.  Yes, religious truth is different from mathematics; but as we have seen, it is just as consistent, just as universal.

Truth can never be based on a majority vote,  Truth can be rejected by men and still remain unchanged.  The crowds were returning away from Christ;  His popularity was in sharp decline.  Peter made this pledge of loyalty at a time when the tide was beginning to turn against Jesus.  This is further proof that commitment to truth is often a lonely enterprise.

Though the opinions of the crowds change, truth cannot.

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2 Peter 3:18 ~ ~  but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Colossians 2:8 ~ ~ Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

Ephesians 4:17-18 ~ ~  This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,  having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

Ephesians 4:21-24 ~ ~  if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:  that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,  and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

2 Corinthians 2:14 ~ ~  Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

2 Corinthians 4:6 ~ ~  For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:17-18 ~ ~  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,  the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints

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