THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
Truth
Message Three—The Bible Conveying and Unveiling the Truth
Scripture Reading: John 8:32; 11:25; 14:6; 17:17; 1 John 1:1-2, 5-7; John 1:14; 10:10; 6:63
I. Truth is the shining of light, the expression of God as light—John 8:12, 32: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
A. Light is the source of truth, and truth is the issue of light—1 John 1:5-6. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
B. Truth is God revealed and realized in His many aspects, as unveiled, for example, in the Gospel of John—John 1:14; 16:13. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
C. Truth is the shining of the divine light on the facts of the Bible to “televise” a heavenly vision of those facts into our being—Psa. 119:130, 105. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
II. The content of the Bible is the truth because the Bible reveals God to us; thus, our receiving of the truth is our experience of God as truth—Col. 1:6; John 1:17. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
A. The Bible is the revelation of God as reality—v. 1; 17:17: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
1. The Bible itself is not the reality; the Bible is God’s speaking, His utterance, and God Himself is the content, the reality, of the Bible—2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21 (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
2. When we touch the content of any doctrine, if we do not touch God Himself, we still do not have the truth; only when we touch God do we have the truth—2 Cor. 3:6. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
B. When we know the Bible in truth and not only in doctrine, we have the shining of light, which causes us to have life—John 8:12; 1:4-5; 6:63. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
C. If we reject a particular teaching from the Bible, we are rejecting God in that aspect and thus cannot experience Him as such—8:37-38, 40. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
III. In order to know the Lord’s recovery in truth, we need to know the Bible in the way of truth—John 17:17; 8:32; 1:14: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
A. Truth is the Triune God shining into us; thus, knowing the Lord’s recovery in truth requires that we experience God shining as the divine light—John 1:1, 4-5, 9; 8:12, 32. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
B. Truth—the content of the Bible—is between doctrine and light—2 Cor. 3:6; 4:6; John 8:12, 32: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
1. The truth is the reality conveyed in the doctrines—17:17: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
a. When we realize the truth, we have the reality that is conveyed in the doctrines; such reality can be revealed to us and realized by us only through the Spirit—14:17; 15:26; 16:13. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
b. Truth is the reality conveyed in the doctrines and realized through the Spirit—17:17; 16:13. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
c. Through the Spirit’s enlightening, the doctrines become truth and the shining of the divine light in us; then we are joined to the light, and the light becomes life to us—1:4-5; 8:12, 32. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
2. As we read the Bible, we first receive doctrines; when the Holy Spirit enlightens the words of the Bible, the doctrines become truth, reality—16:13: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
a. The truth is conveyed in doctrines, yet the truth in the doctrines can be realized only by the enlightening of the Spirit—2 Cor. 4:4, 6. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
b. When the Spirit enlightens us, the doctrines we know become truth, which brings light, and light brings life—John 8:12, 32; 1 John 1:5-6. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
c. For this, we need to pray much in a proper way, opening our entire being to the Lord; the more we pray in this way, the more the Spirit will enlighten us to cause the doctrines to become truth—Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:9. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
IV. The goal of knowing the truth is that we would have the riches and the abundance of life—10:10: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
A. In order to have the riches of life, we must have the truth, the shining of the Triune God; the shining of the divine light in its many aspects is the riches of life—1:4-5; 10:10; 11:25.
B. All the riches of life are in the truth; every truth is an aspect of the riches of life. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
C. The rivers of living water are different aspects of life—7:37-39: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
1. These rivers flow out through the truth; actually, every river is a truth—14:6. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
2. The way to have the abundance of life and to flow out the riches of life is the way of the truth—8:32: (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
a. The more truth we have, the more riches of Christ as life we enjoy—Eph. 1:13; 3:8. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
b. Eventually, we will have the abundance of life; the abundance of life is altogether in the truth—John 10:10; 8:32; 14:6. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
D. The increase in truth results in the growth in life; as a believer receives more truth, life becomes more abundant in his experience—Eph. 4:15-16. (2010 ITERO-F, msg. 8)