WeeklyWorship.org - Discipling Nations - Rev Scott Zior

Truth and Reality

Feb 6, 2011 - Sunday Youth MessageDelivered by Joshua Zior at DICF, New Delhi Today I hope to explain something that I have only recently ‘understood’ and then I want torelate this to faith. One of the most significant, important events is the one that happened at the cross. We lost our burden and got assurance of salvation. In order to understand the significance of the experience at the cross, as it applies to us andrelates to prayer, we must go back the the beginning. When God created the earth, it was without sin, but God knew that people would sin so Hemade a plan for them to be forgiven. Everything that happened in the first part of Genesis, andthe entire Torah, was symbolic and spoke of things to come. It pointed to God's plan to savepeople from their sins. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned, after which they tried to cover their shame, butthe work was inadequate. God made them clothes out of animal skins. This represents thesacrifice that God would later give to cover the shame and sin of the world, the Blood of JesusChrist. When God made these, He knew what was to come. Now the question arises, "What came first?" Was it man’s sin or God's plan to save us from sin.This is like the chicken and the egg paradox. To me, it seems the answer is God's plan. He isall knowing. The time line God has does not involve time at all! God is above all dimensions (or realms), His plan is in a higher dimension (or realm) where timeand space are irrelevant. This is what i would call the 'Truth Realm.' It is a heavenly realm.Just as a two dimensional drawing, like a black box is made up of infinite single points, and justas a solid cube is made up of infinite layers of two dimentional boxes, so is the 'Truth Realm'infinite compared to our understanding. Time is one layer, just as a box or a line is one layer. In Isaiah 46:10 (NLT) it says, "Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything Iplan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish (says the LORD)." Unfortunately our bodies are bound in time. We see things with our eyes in a linear perspective.The line is time. We perceive problems, trouble and hopelessness all around us, especially inIndia. We see ourselves and others in this dimension. It is called 'Reality.' It is a pseudo-truth;

a specious existence. When God called us to believe in Him and have Him in out hearts, we do this in faith. Weaccept 'Truth' instead of 'Reality'. The reality was that we were all dammed to Hell and wedeserved to go there because of our sin. Romans 3:10 (KJV) says, "It is written, There is nonerighteous, no, not one..." The 'Reality' is that no matter what we do, our works will never save us from Hell. We werefilthy and selfish, wallowing in the filth of our sin. We desire the things God forbids for our goodand consider the things of the Spirit foolish. John 14:17 (KJV) says, "Even the Spirit of truth;whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye knowhim; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."We were under the control of our desires. This is "Reality", not "Truth." When we accept Jesus, the "Truth" is that there is grace for sinners. There is no condemnation.We are free from sin. We can live holy. We are the righteousness of Jesus. God is our Father and we are His children. And we are heirs of His glory. The “Truth” is, we are loved by God. He desires us. He wants to be with us. His love is sostrong, stronger than death. He is jealous for us. In fact the truth is found in Romans 8:38-39 (KJV) which says, "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be ableto separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Every drop of blood Heshed was willful and out of powerful, jealous, righteous love. Just as all we needed to be saved was faith and declaration. Romans10:9 says, "If you declarewith your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,you will be saved." We had to "Believe" regardless of what we could or couldn't understand. Wehad faith, embracing the truth God offers us. The same concept can be applied to prayer, prayer for anything. If we pray God’s will, in faith,anything is possible! I'd venture to say it is already done, in God’s realm. "Faith" is what bringsit to our "Reality." The reality is visible to all of us: "He is ill", "She is depressed", "This nation is hopelesslylost", "There is nothing that can be done to change people", "I’m just not good at school" and thelist goes on. The "Reality" is all around us. But when we understand the fact that God’s waysare higher than our ways and that He sees the “Truth," not just the "Reality." We can rely onHim! Romans 8:28 (NIV) says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of thosewho love him, who have been called according to his purpose." His "Truth" says, not that "He is well" or "He is smart." It is instead something higher. PerhapsGod will show strength through the illness or bring comfort to the depressed or use us to helpreach the nations. This can also be applied to our lives, who God sees. Jesus loves us for who