In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of acting upon the knowledge of the truth in order to experience peace. He emphasizes that God wants all people to be saved and has provided enough evidence for them to come to the knowledge of the truth. The preacher also highlights the role of believers in sharing the truth with others, citing John 17 as evidence that people become Christians through the testimony of God's people. The sermon concludes by emphasizing the need for believers to live out the truth they have received and to be a force for God in the world.

We have this word truth brought to our attention, I think, in a proper setting, in the words of Pilate, where Pilate says to Jesus, Pilate says unto him, What is truth? What is truth? A constant question that man has asked through the years. I would say that there are three views of truth, which in general have held the mind of men. One might break it up differently, but it will do for this morning. The first would be the modern man's view of truth, which is really not modern at all, as we find traces of it way back, and especially in the Eastern world, a truth that is without negation, a truth that does not mean to say no to something. It seems to me a very fine illustration of this is Carl Gustav Jung in Zurich, the country in which we are, who would tell us that God is that which cuts across our will from the collective unconscious inwardly, or the things that cut across our will outwardly. And consequently, when they call this God, with no real thought of whether anything really exists. Here we have a view of truth, a dialectical view of truth, synthetic view of truth, in which truth does not mean saying no to the opposite. The second view of truth, it would seem to me, to be generally seen in men's thinking, would be the good view of truth. The view of truth, the truth is possible as an intellectual balance in opposition to what is false. It is more a logic, it is an abstraction in a real sense, it has an advantage over the other of seeing that something is true, something is false, but nevertheless that it stands rather as an intellectual thing of balance. The third view of truth is especially to be seen in the Jewish view of truth, which is also the view of truth in the New Testament. That truth constitutes two things. First of all, that it is an intellectual rational balance, and it has a negation to the opposite. But secondly, that it is rooted objectively in history, which adds, of course, an entirely different note to the group. Not at the point of, the difference is not at the point that one is rational and one is only experiential, that one is intellectual and the other is only existential. This is not the difference. The difference being rather that it is the same thing that carries farther, that which is intellectual in its balance, in its rationality, and yet rooted in history so that we can see it as objectively true. And this immediately brings with it a very sharp feeling of contrast to that then which is false. Now, this is the Jewish view. It is the New Testament view. In Mark, the twelfth chapter, 14 and 32, we find this Jewish view of truth set forth very strongly. Mark 12, 14, and 32. And when they were come, they said unto him, that is to Jesus, Master, we know that thou art true, and prayest for no man. For thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? Here is the question of truth, objective truth, absolute truth, in the area of the most practical of things, political living. There is something viewed here which is true in contrast to that which is false. Something that is objectively true to that which is objectively, which would be false. And more than this, you will notice, is that it can be known. This is a very important step here. Here we have a view of objective truth and absolute truth which is knowable. You will notice in the 32nd verse, this is augmented and made stronger. And the scribes said unto him, well, Master, thou hast said the truth. For there is one God, and there is none other but him. These are in two different realms, but with the same mentality. That it is possible to speak of the objective truth as opposed to that which is wrong. Whether it is in the very mundane world of the political world, political action, or whether it is the action concerning the existence of God. These are not separated. It is truth in both cases, one kind of truth in both cases. A truth that can be known. In Daniel 8.12, the Bible presents a very strong statement of the fact that it speaks in antithesis. It speaks in negation. If there is that which is true, there is that which is wrong. And speaking of the coming Antichrist, it says about him, And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practiced and prospered. There is that which is opposite from the truth. Truth does not encompass everything. There is that which hates truth. There is that which is contrary to truth. There is that wherein there is a war between truth and the other. But, of course, we have this presented not only in this very short case of the Antichrist, but we have it in the whole of life in the book of Romans, in the first chapter, 1.25. Speaking of man. Speaking of man. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped instead of the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen. Who changed the truth. And the Greek there is a sense of exchange. It is possible to know the truth and deliberately exchange it for a lie. It is possible to know the truth and exchange it for a lie. Once we see this, we understand, therefore, that the Bible indeed, and these are only very short illustrations through text which fit into the whole of the scripture, the Old and the New Testament outlook. The Bible sees truth as objective and in contrast to what is false. Now Christ acted on this concept of truth. Christ acted on this concept of truth. If you'll turn back to the book of John. The book of John, the 18th chapter, verse 37, which is immediately before Pilate's question in the second part of this verse. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should be a witness unto the truth. That I should be a witness unto the truth. Here is a truth that is in contrast to that which is false. It is a truth in contrast to that which is false. And this is the setting for Pilate to say what is true. But Jesus has already said a great deal. Pilate in his question, if it is a totally serious question, has already negated in a sense what Jesus has said. Because Jesus has claimed to say, and he says, this is the reason I came. This cause, for this cause, came and I was to the world, that I should bear witness of the truth. Before Christ's priestly work comes his prophetic work. Before he dies as priest, he is the prophet. And his work as priest has no meaning whatsoever, except on the background of his work as prophet in this framework, this mentality of truth. It has no meaning otherwise. It becomes merely gobbledygook. Notice here that what Jesus says indicates that this truth can be imparted. It's a truth that can be known. It can be imparted from one to another. This would be his prophetic work. And specifically, it indicates here that it deals with content and not just with a vague emotional reaction to truth. By this time, we are in conflict, of course, with all the thinking of the twentieth century's view of truth. We are now at war, far more at war than if we merely used the word God against materialism. Far more at war. A truth that is objective, absolute, deals with content, and can be imparted. Notice in the next phrase, you have the sense of antithesis. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. It is quite obvious. This says, some do not hear my voice and are not of the truth and do not accept the truth. Consequently now, it is not everything or everyone who is within the circle of truth. It is not everything or everyone who is within the circle of truth. There is that which is within the circle of truth and there is that which is against it. There are those who are within the circle of truth and those who are outside of it. A total concept of antithesis. Notice further in 17.17 and the eighth verse that there is a strong emphasis on the fact that this is communicable in verbalized form. Truth is communicable in verbalized form. In the seventeenth verse, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Set them apart. That's what the word sanctify means here. Set them apart. By what? Through thy truth. But what? What is this speaking of? Thy word is truth. But knowing the sophistication of our own generation and the deliberate contortion that one finds in such a thing, we can be glad for the eighth verse which makes it very plain. For I have given unto them the words that thou gavest me and they have received them. Here then we find that the word is not a vague word such as the neo-orthodox word of God as apart from the words of scripture but something quite different. That the word of God is related to and is with the words. And this makes it something much stronger and different. Truth is communicable and it is communicable in verbalized form. As a matter of fact, I would say it is quite contrary to the new thought, the neo-orthodox thought, and that is that the scripture never gives us any reason to think that it is knowable except in verbalized form as a thought. It doesn't say it has to end there, but as a thought. Now therefore, if I would sit down this morning and say this is the end of the sermon which, knowing me, you know I'm not going to do. If I had done this, it would already be a tremendous statement into the twentieth century. Already we have drawn a chasm which is greater than any other chasm that can be drawn in twentieth century thinking. Already the scripture is pitted against the whole modern man's view of truth and knowing. And this I believe, as some of you know, is the place where the real battle is fought. It must be fought in this area that technically would be called epistemology, the theory of knowing. What is truth? Does it exist? Is there such a thing as objective truth? Does truth mean that you have to then follow the law of contradictions and say that the opposite is false? Is it possible that this truth can be communicated and specifically communicated in verbalized form? In the Bible there's a very strong testimony throughout its whole works and works and not just these few proof verses which I've chosen almost at random as to the fact that this is truth and the biblical view of truth, the Christian view of truth. The contrary is non-Christian. It is a blasphemy against the God who has given us truth. One does not have to use Jesus' name as a swear word in order to blaspheme. It is a blasphemy to deny what Christ says is possible and that is that one can know truth. Now, having said this, however, and stopping this direction, assuming it's established in our minds, then I would ask you the next question, that if this is the view of truth which is true, if we reject the modern view and know that truth exists in contrast to what is wrong and that it is possible to know truth in verbalized form, where do we begin to know truth? What is the integrating point of truth? As we look across the world, whether it's the outward world, the scientific world, the historic world, the artistic world, the internal world of myself, I am confronted with a vast array of facts and observations. I am almost drowned by particulars. And the question is, how do I begin? What is the integrating point of truth? Or to put it another way, what is the end of the string that will lead me through the labyrinth? You all know the story in Greek mythology of the man that is guided through the labyrinth by leaving a trail of string so he could escape from the labyrinth. Well, we can visualize the particulars of life as a labyrinth. What is the end of the string that will guide me safely through the twists and the turns of the cavern? Or to put it another way, if you have a certain chemical solution and you drop a piece of crystal into it, all that's been liquid immediately before and was liquid suddenly becomes solid. Many of you have seen this reaction. What is the piece of crystalline substance that I can drop into the question of life, the particulars of life, which will cause that which seems in itself unstable suddenly to become solid and fixed and sure and certain? How do I begin? I think the Bible as a whole makes this claim, but I would point you to one place that seems to me to be that wherein Paul, dealing in the Greek-Roman world, deals with this problem expressly. It's in 1 Timothy 2, 4 through 6. 1 Timothy 2, 4 through 6. 1 Timothy 2, 4 through 6. Speaking of God, He will, that is God, He will, have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. The word unto in the King James translation doesn't allow it to be quite as strong for our modern ears as if you say to, and it's just the word to, it's nothing more, who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in the proper time, in due time, whereunto I am ordained a preacher and apostle, I speak the truth and lie not, the word in Christ probably is not in the best place, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith, and the word that's there to hear is simply the repetition of the word truth. Now when you put all this together, one has a remarkably strong statement to the answer of the question which I have posed, and that is, if truth is objective and so and so and so, where do you begin? What is the end of the ball of string that will lead me through the labyrinth of the particulars in the whole area of knowledge and observation of life? The mass of particulars are arraigned upon us, and all have been arraigned upon men, but especially arraigned upon our generation. What is the crystalline substance that will solidify the whole? And Paul says, this is it. This is it. Notice in verse 4, who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, there's a definite article here, there is that which can be called not a truth but the truth. But notice something else, as is constantly so in the Pauline writings and in the Scripture, truth is never allowed to us to be merely abstract or scholastic. This is the other side of the coin. While we insist that truth is objective and can be considered rationally and intellectually, the Scripture never allows me to do it in the dead scholastic way. I am always confronted by truth objectively and personally and individually. I must begin with understanding that if the truth is true, it means something to me and something which will be crucial to me. So therefore, I am called to be saved, not just abstractly then, but individually and personally. Notice, however, having said this, that it is not scholastic but personal and individual, yet nevertheless Paul says that we can come, we can come to the knowledge of the truth. And the word knowledge here is what we may mean by knowledge. This means content, it means you can know it, it is possible to come to it. Not that you are automatically and instinctively already there. Not just because you are a man do you know truth, but being outside of truth and away from truth, it is possible to come to truth. It is possible to come to it in content, reasonably, rationally, to come to it. Now this is tremendous. God would have us to be saved. But in order to be saved, we must come to the truth. So immediately being saved is separated from merely an emotional experience, a contentless experience. But on the other hand, immediately truth is separated from bare scholasticism. Immediately truth is something which is personal to me, meaningful to me, and can be acted upon by me. So this verse says no to two things, but not just one. In the fifth verse, in the first part of the verse, now this is the key. This is the end of the stream. This is the crystalline substance that will turn the whole of the particulars of life into that which is sour. For there is one God. For there is one God. Then you can make a break, and the second phrase. And one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Another possible translation here leaves out the and, and the second phrase would read like this. One mediator also between God and man, himself man, Christ Jesus. And this undoubtedly is what is involved here. There are two phrases. There is one God. That's the first thing one needs to know in order to have the end of the stream. The second thing is, there is a man, himself truly a man, who is mediator between God and man, who is Christ Jesus. Now of course he was crucified, so he's claiming to be God. But this does not change the fact that there is an emphasis here on the true humanity. Now therefore we have two things, two phrases, which the Bible says is the end of the string of knowledge. That wherein all may be integrated of everything I will ever know of the external world or of myself. One God, and this emphasis on the mediator. In Hebrews 11.6, coming to the concept of the one God, first of all thinking of the phrase one God, in Hebrews 11.6, that without faith it is impossible to please him. Without faith it is impossible to please him, because he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that it is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Now in speaking of the one God, two things are told about him. First he is, and the second he is a rewarder. Now let's think first of all of the phrase he is. The statement that he is means that he objectively exists. In the beginning, God. The Bible sets God up as the great objective of truth. He is objective in a sense that nothing else is objective. In the sense that he was before there was a man, before there was a material universe, before there was an angel. He was there. In contrast to the new phrase that raises a question in something like Robertson's book and would cast a discouraging remark upon the fact that he is there, the Bible says he is there. And as a matter of fact, the Bible says you do not have the beginning of knowledge or truth until you understand that he is there. Now quickly we say this is not to be paramated into a caricature as though the Bible teaches a three-story universe and God sits up there somewhere with a beard. Nor one that you simply, if you could go high enough with a space shot, you would arrive to him. This is again speaking about no such crass framework. But nevertheless, he is there. And until I understand that he is there, nothing, nothing else will ever give me an integration point of knowledge. I will forever be an enigma before the particulars of the world until I understand that the great starting point is he is there. Without this men can have small areas of integrated knowledge but can never have true integrated knowledge. He is there in the sense that if all the angels were gone from the universe and all men were gone from the universe, he would still be there just as he was there before there were any angels or men. He is not there because I think of him or because others think of him. He is there simply because he is there. And you can't say this too strongly, too simply, or too complexly. You can say it in any language and in any degree of strength you wish to express it in from the most difficult language to the simplest. But when you're done you have nothing unless you understand that he is there. This is the beginning. You notice the verb he is. He is. This is related to the statement I am. I am. The burning bush. The Hebrew of the burning bush can be translated I have been, I am, I will be. He is. The proper tense for him is present. This idea, therefore, is to be sharply contrasted to all concepts of myths. God is not to be talked about in the terms of myths. You do not need to demythologize the Scripture. In fact, when you demythologize it you no longer have the Scripture. He is there. This is not a myth. It is not an oriental tale told to speak of a truth that is unspeakable. When the little child says Jesus loves me. When the little child says he is there. He is saying the most profound thing that ever can be said anywhere. This is not a myth. It is not to be seen in terms of myths. It is to be spoken in the full meaning of the words the same thing that when I say I am here. This is where I am here. In the full sense, he exists. It is not to be carried into another framework of expression or knowledge. Now, therefore, the first point of truth which will be the integrating of this first thing that is the integrating point of all truth is his existence. And it is impossible that he stays without wrestling with his existence. But the second thing in this Hebrew passage is that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And this means that he is personal. He is not there in the sense of being there in a deistic fashion. He is being far off and not caring about men nor caring about me. He is a rewarder which means a personal relationship which means he is personal in the strongest possible sense. This personal aspect is found also in the emphasis in Timothy where in Timothy in the first chapter in the 17th verse we find the Holy Spirit leading Paul to say, Now unto the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only-wise God. Here is personal again, a personal aspect without spending much time upon it for most of us have wrestled with this question here. He is personal in the sense that he thinks, he acts, he feels. He thinks, he acts, he feels. These things are not child mumbling concerning God but God says he does. God thinks, God acts, God feels. God is a personal God. He exists and this is what he is. Now it must be understood, however, that as I come toward this knowledge that will integrate all knowledge that it is more than merely abstract knowledge. Perhaps the most strong passage is in James 2.19. James 2.19 Thou believest that there is one God? Thou doest well. The demons also believe and tremble. And as I've pointed out before the Greek word here means their hair stands on end. They are frightened. They are cast into consternation. They are terrified because they know he exists. The demons are not demons because they do not know he exists. You will never find an atheistic demon. The demons know and are terrified but that does not mean they are not demons. So I am sharply reminded here that in order to have the crystalline substance that will integrate back the end of the string that will lead me through the labyrinth there is more to it than merely knowing objectively even if I know this truly that he is there and is personal. There is something else I find in my nature which casts up problems at this point which I look at myself and I see there's something else I must know in order to have the end of the string that will guide me through the labyrinth of the particulars of life and the particulars of my own life. And so coming back to 1 Timothy again second chapter Paul doesn't stop here. There is one God and one mediator between God and man himself man Christ Jesus. In order to have knowledge which will lead me through the dilemma of life I must understand the need of a mediator which means I must understand the need of lostness in men. I must understand that man's dilemma rests not in the way God has made him but because he is a rabble. And to understand the solution therefore is knowledge but not just bare knowledge but something to be added to the bare knowledge. Otherwise I look at the world and it won't go. It isn't enough to know there's one God he is personal. I look at what is beautiful but as the snows melt and I begin to climb higher I'll find also that which is ugly. I look at myself and I see that which is amazing in its beauty and in all mankind and yet I look at myself and all mankind and I find that which is heinous and horrible and more depraved than anything one can ever find in the animal world. So consequently the end of the string must be a second factor as well as the knowledge that there is one God and he is personal. I must know concerning this mediator he was as I said he was crucified proclaiming to be God but nevertheless he was truly man. This phrase here one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus has two sides again to this claim. The one is there is only one mediator any religion that would add something else to his mediatorship is false to the truth. It will not only lead man away from salvation but away from truth. Any religion that adds anything to the work of the only mediator is false and will lead us into the latterness beyond what mere materialism may lead us but the string will stop and I will be lost in the cavern and in the darkness not just for personal salvation but understanding the world and understanding man's needs and myself. If I want to know something of knowledge I must know something beyond only the fact that this is not to be seen only as a materialistic world. So the first thing is there is only one mediator. And remember what I'm stressing this morning is not first of all salvation though I am but I'm stressing knowledge and what one must need to know in order to integrate the particulars of life. And the Old Testament and the New Testament stresses firmly there's one mediator and only one mediator only one mediator only one mediator. And those who would claim to God claim to come to God on any basis except the work of this mediator have led us not just to lostness for eternity but to ignorance. Ignorance of my needs and ignorance of the needs of the dilemma of man. Christ will be the judge. Christ will be the judge and will judge. There is only one mediator. But while there is only one mediator praise God the chief emphasis is not just there is only one mediator but there is a mediator. So therefore we must say none to more than one mediator but the wonder is there is a mediator. This immediately tells me what is wrong with man. I am tasked for the next one to understand here that what is wrong with man is not his smallness his limitedness but his sin and his guilt. The man as with a capital M and me as an individual that my dilemma is guilt. There is a mediator. There is a way to be in personal relationship with God. How? In 2 6. First in verse 6. Who gave himself a ransom for all. Who gave himself a ransom for all. Now this is the only place where this particular word is used anywhere in the New Testament. And it simply means a corresponding price which is very, very beautiful in the biblical concept of what salvation rests upon. Christ came to give a corresponding price. Christ came to bear my sins and my guilt. I have offended the character of God and I am judicially guilty. Christ died in space and time upon the cross and the guilt was met the victory was won the word can be said it is finished. He gave himself freely he gave himself. There is only one mediator but there is a mediator. As soon as I've said this let us see that I not only know the way to salvation but I have knowledge. I have knowledge that leads me in the latterness of mankind. I can understand man. I can understand a basic dilemma. I can understand what it is not and I can understand what it is. I do not look at mankind now as merely that which is caught in a chance process or mankind that is caught in limitedness. I have knowledge. I have knowledge wherein to understand men and understand myself but not an abstract knowledge but a way to be released out of the dilemma. All right now, first of all, how? We said how can I escape this? Well, the knowledge of the base is the ransom. The knowledge of the base is the ransom. This which can be given in knowledge. The base is the ransom but it is a knowledge as a ransom that can be spoken about. So it says not only he is a ransom but it says something more in the sixth verse. It says to be testified in due time. To be testified in due time. Now undoubtedly the full testimony of who Christ is and his work will come at the second coming of Christ when Christ will be testified in the open light of history and all men will have to acknowledge so it is. But notice this is not Paul's emphasis here because in the seventh verse he says wherefore I am appointed a preacher, apostle, I speak the truth and lie not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. So it is not something that is only to be testified about at the second coming of Christ though it will be but it can be testified in our space time relationship in words now. It's amazing what one is brought to. How thoroughly the Bible answers the questions of the 20th century if I will listen. I can speak the truth truly now. You notice Paul insisting he is speaking the truth truly. I speak the truth and lie not. I speak the truth and lie not. As I say the word in Christ is not in the original text apparently and it's much stronger than it's out. I don't know why anybody ever added this. I speak the truth and lie not. It is possible to speak this testimony in my generation. This is knowledge he's talking about. It is not a projected experience. It is knowledge first before there can be any Christian experience. Now then the second way to the second thing that is needed in order to share in the escape from man's dilemma and my dilemma is the first being the ransom but the second my acting upon it. So I am led back to the fourth verse. Who will have all men to be saved? Who will have all men to be saved? As I say truth is not presented to us in the scripture ever abstractly nor am I allowed not to face it. As I pointed out in Romans how clearly Paul speaks O man! It's never allowed to be a collective. It is always first of all the singular. It is that I must face this truth. I must face this truth and I must act on this truth if I'm to be saved. I am just not to know the truth that there is one God He is there and personal that there is a mediator but I must act upon this if I am to be saved. But let us notice that while stressing this we must equally stress the other side and that is I cannot be saved by doing anything else except by acting on this truth. There is no other way. The knowledge is needed prior to salvation. It is not possible to be saved without the knowledge. One does not need a great deal of knowledge but there must be knowledge. The order of the scripture is the true knowledge the truth then acted upon. When I do this and this is the second step the understanding of the death of Christ or rather the death of Christ upon the cross not my understanding but the fact that it occurred the mediator died upon the cross and then my acting on this knowledge that the Bible says then I am saved who will have all men to be saved. Now the Bible stresses a heaven after death but the Bible does not say my salvation comes to death. The Bible says very plainly that I am saved at the moment when I act upon this true knowledge. When I act upon this true knowledge I am as much saved as I will be when I am in heaven and this salvation is not only a return to fellowship with God but now I understand the world which we should only make Christians understand it. To understand the Christianity as Liz once spoke from Zurich is something to be proud of but not just something to be proud of because I escaped hell but something to be proud of because I am an understander of knowledge the knowledge of life the integrating point of all the particulars of the universe that man now knows and if knowledge continues to increase ever in geometrical fashion as it has been increasing if it increases for another thousand years then Christ does not come back until we are made the most primitive of people in our knowledge who live in 1965 when men arise at that point all that knowledge will still be integrated at this point if I will understand it. The second point of knowledge that man will ever find true knowledge rests upon the existence of this God and his being personal which the dilemma is not in sin and there is a mediator which I may act upon this knowledge and when I act upon it I not only am saved for eternity but I am an understanding of the world an understander of the world an understander not only of man but of me I am an understander not only of that which is unconscious but the conscious and then the particular which I know best Francis Schaeffer let us notice there is an angel of strength there is a crystalline substance there is that wherein a truth that is objective which has a negation which when you say this is true the opposite is false not just an abstraction I am to accept Christ as my mediator as my savior in this framework of truth no other way no other way never if you are still unsaved accept Christ as savior except in the framework of truth because if you do you are not saved you must understand it in the framework of truth if you accept Christ as savior to accept Christ as mediator as savior in this sense of truth without works therefore to realize that I must come to God in this sense through the mediator of which there is only one but thank God there is one and I only need the one the man Christ Jesus the son of God to realize that this leads me not only into an abstract comprehension of truth but leads me into a personal fellowship with him who is the truth because he is the origin of all things to understand therefore in this sense of truth I am returned to fellowship with him who is the truth it is knowledge but it isn't only their knowledge it is the belief in God it is the acceptance of Christ as savior it is the understanding now I not only know truth but I am in personal relationship with him who is the ultimate truth the third point as I act upon this in my present life existentially and moment by moment because I can't do it for two moments the way I am made I can only act upon this this knowledge, this truth and this relationship moment by moment this is the way to begin to know truth this is the only place for security this is the only place for certainty not only in the area of my study though it will be there so I am never afraid for what I will be told next but also in the rough and tumble in the sorrow of life in the grindingness of life it is only as I act upon his being there and then through the mediator my being in contact with him who is the truth in this existential moment that I can have truth the reason for this is as I do this existentially I step into the real world and there is no other world to live in anyway every other world is false every other world is a contortion every other world is a caricature there are pieces that you recognize but it is a caricature so consequently, the third point it is only as I act upon this at this existential moment that I am living in the real world and I can expect to have truth the fourth point God wants me to do this God is not capricious God is not a far off and does not care he cares that I come to the true knowledge and am saved that's what Paul says here God who will have all men to be saved this is not removed from fact that they must come to the knowledge of the truth but he has said I have given man enough I have given you enough reason to know that this is true the external world, the internal world and my written word these are enough God is not capricious he is not cruel he is not a monster he is not a tyrant he isn't so far off in an abstraction a philosophic other that he does not care he cares a great deal that you come to the truth and that I it is sufficient for anyone who will listen believe God that is, believe the truth that God has given the propositional truth that God has given and thus become a Christian in accepting Christ as Savior the first point and the last once we have this truth it is our task to be steadfast of this truth this is something can be known it is something that can be taught in words and then in life the two things together not to be separated and after I have a knowledge of this truth after I know this truth I am to be a set of force of the truth I am never to hold it for myself I am not to be a miser of this above all things of that of which I am not to be a miser it is wrong not to place myself in the hands of God so that I know my name, my individual calling as a set of force of knowledge we must see our task first as those who are a disperser of knowledge we are not a disperser of religious experience we are not a disperser of other people's experience or my experience first the first thing is I am to be a disperser of knowledge and then let my life and experience and putting into words as it is possible my experience of the people's experience but always in the framework of knowledge you will notice Paul says this is his calling in the seventh verse where unto I am appointed a preacher, an apostle a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth and this is his calling our calling is not his calling not everyone has the same calling but nevertheless if I know this knowledge, this proper truth this thing that opens not only personal salvation but the world or you can say it the other way opening the world that is open to personal salvation how horrible not to be a set of force of the truth how absolutely horrible and I would close with this other passage I've used and that is John 17 the Simplification verses that speak of the fact that men become Christians through God's people being set as force of knowledge in John 17 verse 8 for I have given unto them the words that thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from they and they have believed that thou didst send me the fourteenth verse I have given them thy words the world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world the seventeenth verse sanctify them through thy truth thy words is truth the eighteenth verse as thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world to be a set of force of truth and the twentieth verse neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word and connecting it back to the previous part the word is not to be separated from the word I am to have the knowledge I am to ask upon the knowledge and I would add I am to be thankful for the knowledge and I am to be a set of force of the knowledge shall we say it again