The Truth Is Powerful Use It To Fight Your Battles – Part 2 of 3

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for tuning in. Today we have got the second part in a three-part sermon series about lies, deception, and the truth. Today we are talking about the truth is powerful.

If you haven’t seen the first part of this three-part sermon series, please check it out. It will be in a card up here so you can watch that sermon or that message and then come back to this one. Or if you want to watch this one first and then go to that one, it is entirely up to you.

Now if you haven’t yet subscribed to the channel, please click on that subscribe button down below and that bell icon because then you will be notified when the next video comes out – again three-part sermon series. We are on part number two right now, so hit the subscribe button and the bell icon so you can be notified when that next message is ready for you to view.

All right let’s dive in. The truth is powerful; that’s what we are talking about today. It is a very powerful thing, and it is capable of causing all kinds of pain. Yes, the truth is powerful and can cause a lot of pain. How do we know this? Well if you have ever been hit with the truth and it has hurt you, then you know the truth hurts. But maybe you haven’t had that experience so I’m going to read a portion of chapter one in a book called “A Guide to Deception” that I wrote years ago.

Right here, “A Guide to Deception.” Chapter One is very interesting. It’s where I have stated that “Why The Truth Hurts.” That is what the chapter is called. If we go to “Why The Truth Hurts;” I am just going to read this chapter very quickly and then we will get on with the message, but it really helps illustrate the point.

“She is heartbroken. Who knew information could be so devastating? For months she suspected her husband of having an affair. However, it was simply too difficult to think about. Every time she began to examine the signs she would make herself stop. ‘I don’t care,’ she would say. ‘I am happy,’ she would reason with herself remembering that it was a long process to find love again. Perhaps a cheating husband was better than no husband at all. At least she had somebody even though he was only half there.

“Although the longer it went on the more she hurt. The feelings of not knowing, the uncertainty – it was unsettling. Then he told her. He said he had found someone else. That he had been seeing her for a while and that they were moving in together. He would soon be leaving her for another woman, and that was the truth.

“She had never felt so much pain. Suddenly it all seemed so real like it was no longer a fantasy in her head that she could explain away. All her speculation and accusations were true. She had known it all along but was too afraid to face the truth. Now she had no choice. The truth was staring her right in the face, and she had no choice but to accept it. This was her new reality, and it hurt.”

Now of course, that is only an example in this first part of the chapter – not done yet – but what I want to make sure is this is an example, and it’s showing that the truth hurts. Of course, if there’s something going on in your relationship or your marriage, God wants us to continue to work it out. To stay married, because divorce is not something that He condones or accepts.

In fact, Jesus’s words say that if you divorce someone and get with someone else, you are committing adultery against the person you are with first, except in cases of marital infidelity. If in this case, something like this happened, then that is the only case in which it could be accepted.

Let’s move on. Lies occur all around us, whether it is a little white lie or a more serious lie, it is something that people do every day. People also tell the truth. Now we are going to skip ahead a little bit, on why does the truth hurt – just a paragraph down.

“So why does the truth hurt? Why is it sometimes easier to lie than tell the truth? Believe it or not, the answers are scientifically based. Since we are used to being lied to and not accustomed to the truth when it is finally revealed it is so shocking that it can cause emotional strain.

“Another problem is that anytime someone receives information, it is usually a combination of auditory and visual stimuli which the human brain processes at different rates. In addition, the stimuli is also processed in many different areas of the brain. First together in the inferior colliculus, and then it is separated and sent to the temporal and the occipital lobes. The amazing difference in the traveling speeds of auditory and visual stimuli further complicates this issue.”

I know this could be a lot to understand. I am going to break it down a little bit. Basically lies are happening all around us each and every single day. In addition, when you receive new information, you are receiving a combination of auditory and visual stimuli. What does that mean?

Well, you’re hearing things and you are seeing things, like right now; you’re seeing me on the screen and you are hearing my words and hopefully everything is matching up – my lips match it. It’s not like some old Japanese film and then the words come out, it is not like that.

Everything is matching, my motion of the hands matches my speech and my gestures, and so everything in your interpretation of all of the stimuli is coming together so it is sent into your brain altogether. Then it is separated – it goes to the corresponding lobe.

Your auditory information goes to the temporal lobes and then the visual information goes to the occipital lobe. Now what’s really amazing is that the speed of sound is about a fifth of a mile per second which is significantly slower than the speed of light at 186,000 miles per second. Sound a fifth of a mile [and] light 186,000 miles per second. This difference is so drastic [that] it’s hardly even comparable.

Still, it is very clear that visual stimuli reach the brain faster than auditory stimuli because it travels, obviously, at a much greater speed. I mean, a fifth of a mile per second compared to 186,000 miles per second. That’s like a million and a half times faster – unbelievable.

Visual stimuli is also much more complex than auditory stimuli because there are so many sights, all the lights and the colors and everything. Auditory is just sound. Visual is much more complex. Due to the complexity and the fact that there is way more visual than auditory stimuli, it is processed more slowly in your brain than auditory stimuli which is weird. You get the visual stimuli way faster but it is processed more slowly, and the sound is way slower but it is processed faster.

In addition, the louder the auditory stimuli, the more quickly it is processed, therefore creating even more of a discrepancy. In other words, visual stimuli reaches the brain long before auditory stimuli. However, it takes much longer to process. Therefore even though sound comes later, it is processed faster because it is less complex.

Sometimes you may have noticed that this discrepancy can be observed, such as when you see something far away and then hear the sound, or when you hear something and then see what is making the sound. Sometimes you can see a tree fall, and then later, you hear the sound because it’s so far away. The stimuli are processed differently. The speed at which it travels is different etc.

Basically, in order for people to understand what they are seeing and hearing, the brain is constantly shifting reality. In other words, your brain is lying to you to make things match up – shifting reality so that the world of lights and sounds synchronizes by the time the stimuli is processed. The brain is completing advanced computations so that we can understand what is going on in a matter of milliseconds.

The brain is making up for the discrepancy between the audio and visual stimuli by deceiving us into believing that light and sound occur simultaneously. In other words, human brains are constantly lying to them.

Ventriloquists [and] puppets – look the same but it is a lie. The brain is shifting reality to make it appear that it’s happening that the words are coming from the puppet rather than the ventriloquist. It’s a shift in the illusion. The brain is lying to you so you are able to understand what is happening.

Without these lies, people wouldn’t know which sounds go with which sites, and the whole world would be a constant chaos of lights and sounds all occurring at different rates. It would be nearly impossible to decipher. Luckily the brain does all this for you so that by the time you consciously see and hear the lights and sounds, you’re able to understand them.

To put it very simply, lies are what make the world make sense. People understand lies. They are used to them. However, when the truth is revealed, it doesn’t make sense. It is something people are unaccustomed to, and it is hard for them to understand. Thus the truth hurts.

For example, when you notice and you see something way off and then you hear the sound, or you see a flash of lightning and then the thunder comes, it’s further away. When lightning is right near you, you see the flash and the thunder is instant. When it happens at a discrepancy, it doesn’t make sense.

Well, that is the truth. It is not making sense, so the truth hurts. Now of course all of this is science-based. It is not specifically from the Bible, this was just a scientific analysis of auditory and visual stimuli and truth and why it hurts. But the point is that the truth does hurt, and our world is filled with lies.

Now why is our world filled with lies? Let’s dive back into the Bible here. Our world is ruled by none other than Satan, the devil, the father of lies. Remember Satan is the father of lies, and lies are his native language, so therefore it would make sense that lies are happening all around us each and every day.

How do we know he is the father of lies? Well, it is in John; we referenced that verse last week. If you watch that message you hopefully remember it, if not check back there. He is the father of lies, and he rules this world. How do we know he rules this world? He goes to and fro here. We also gave up our right to this world when we sinned way back in the Garden of Eden; Satan took over the world from us. All of that is in the Bible.

We have referenced it many times before so you can check that out as well. Satan also knows that the truth is more powerful than a lie. If lies happen all around us and we are used to lies, when the truth comes out, it is so much more powerful. That is why it hurts. Satan knows this, and he uses the truth to lead people astray. He knows telling the truth can be much more effective because it is easier to believe than a lie.

For example, when Satan deceived Eve, he told her the truth. He said in Genesis 3:5, if you have your Bibles please turn with me, if not, come back later. Seriously come back later, the verses will be referenced in the description below. Come back later, look at them, read the verses [and] really dive into this. This is an excellent, excellent topic here.

Genesis 3:5 says, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” What is he talking about? He is talking about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He is saying to Eve – he is in the form of a serpent – he is saying if you eat this fruit, you eat from this tree, God doesn’t want you to do that because He knows you will be like God knowing good and evil.

Well of course that is the truth. He wasn’t lying, because what happened? Eve ate some, said it was good, gave it to Adam or her husband or man – Adam means man – she gave it to man and he ate some, and the two of them received the knowledge of good and evil. Not good.

The tree that contained the forbidden fruit was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Genesis 2:17 says that; “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

God told them they would surely die. What did He mean by that? He meant that their life as they knew it would end. They would now live in shame and disgrace. They would have the knowledge of good and evil. Right now, they were ignorant, and ignorance is bliss, and Satan says, no.

He is crafty and tricking them into giving up their rule of the world so that they would know knowledge of good and evil. And when they ate the fruit, they obtained the knowledge of good and evil and felt shame.

In addition, when Satan tempted Jesus, he used the truth as well. He quoted Scripture when he tried to get Jesus to jump off of the cliff. Let’s go to Matthew 4:6, “If you are the son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, / and they will lift you up in their hands, / so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus was being tempted by Satan, and Satan was using not only the truth but also Scripture to try to get Jesus to be led astray. Jesus is too powerful though. He used the truth. He said, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Satan, though, was resilient. He kept trying to tempt Him, and he told the truth again when he said he was going to give over his dominion of the earth to Jesus if only Jesus would worship him.

Matthew 4:8-9 says, “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their splendor.” The whole world showed him the whole world, “And said, ‘all of this I will give to you if you will bow down and worship me.’”

So Satan owns it all. He has it. He has this world. He was going to give it to Jesus if Jesus would worship him and of course, Jesus said no. “Away from me Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only, and then the devil left him and angels came and attended him.”

Satan doesn’t need lies. He used the truth. He used Scripture. If he doesn’t need them even though he is the father of lies, you certainly don’t need lies. You can tell the truth. Use the truth to fight for good. Jesus used the truth. He used Scripture. He fought against Satan’s lies and against Satan’s truths, and He defeated him. Jesus told the truth and defeated Satan. Be like Jesus and defeat and fight and win because you can.

This is God’s truth: John 17:17, the second part of the Verse, “Your word is truth.” This is God’s word, therefore the whole thing is truth. You can use this as a very very powerful tool. What does it say about the Bible? Sharper than any two-edged sword. You can use this and fight the devil’s lies and the devil’s truths. He knows.

Satan uses lies a lot, of course, he is the father of lies, and it is his native language so he is going to use lies, but he also can use the truth. He quoted Scripture to try to get Jesus to fall. He used the truth and got Eve to fall and Adam to fall. He is using both lies and truths and Scripture, all three to get you to fall. Use Scripture to fight back and win.

The truth is very very powerful. Remember last week we talked about how false testimony and lying are really the same thing, and it is not good for you to lie. Now we have determined that even Satan, the father of lies, uses the truth to try to fight, and it works. The truth is very very powerful. The truth is way more powerful than lies.

The point of this message is [to] use the truth. Use the truth to fight, use the truth [to] and be trustworthy. Remember last week, that was your goal, to be trustworthy, worthy of people’s trust. The truth is a powerful thing and the truth hurts. Even though it may hurt you, it is your duty to be honest – to follow God’s law, our heavenly ruler.

Remember we are not of this world, lies occur all around us. Satan has dominion of this world; he is the father of lies so of course, there are lies everywhere. We are of a higher place. We are from this kingdom – from the heavenly kingdom – we need to abide by these rules and laws. Be truthful.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus thank You for this message. I really ask that each and every person would be able to understand and interpret what was said. And that if they have any questions or comments, [that] they put them below, they [would] rewatch this, they would communicate with others and discuss it with them [and] study it with other people so that they would begin to internalize this information [and] understand it and then start to externalize it and share it with others so that more people can be brought into your kingdom.

Lord, I ask that they would really realize how powerful the truth is. That they would use it for good and not harm. That they would have the heart and discernment from You. That you would provide them with that so they would know exactly the right timing and the right words to use when they are supposed to use them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thank you so much for tuning in. Again, this is the second part in a three-part sermon series so click on the bell icon and the subscribe button below to stay tuned and to be alerted when the next message comes out. Otherwise, check back next week because that’s when it will be released.

In the meantime, I hope you share this with your friends on social media so we can continue to fulfill our mission of reaching more and more people with the Word of God and helping them to understand and interpret the Scriptures in the Bible. God bless.

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