Renewed in Truth

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again radio friends, how in the world are you? Doing alright today? Yes, it’s your friend, Dr. Cook. I’m glad to be back with you. How precious these moments are that we can share together around the Word of God. I do thank my heavenly Father for the privilege of ministering God’s Word to my many friends day-by-day.

We’re looking at Colossians 3. We’ve established the fact that you can by faith bring to the cross those things that Jesus dealt with when he died. And they can be settled, you can put to death, verse 5, your members which are upon the earth: Immorality, the affection that is misplaced, evil knowledge, covetousness which is idolatry. All these things that are chronic sins in the old nature. You can deal with them by faith and then you can work on by faith, the sharpening up of your own personal life. You put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, don’t lie. He said, work on these, put off, bring them to your blessed Lord, let Him handle them.

Then he said you put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge. That’s as far as we got the last time we got together. You spend time with your blessed Lord by faith in dealing with these areas of your life that need help and He’ll make you understand, this whole matter for instance of anger. It’s not merely just to control your feelings, it’s to know why you control them that counts, to make you understand. The psalmist was angry and he said, I was just like a beast, I was so angry. And he said, I didn’t understand. This was too… This knowledge was too hard for me. Then he said, until… I didn’t understand until I went into the sanctuary, then I understood. You get alone with your Lord, he’s gonna teach you why you need His touch upon various areas of your life.

Evelyn Christensen says in one of her books that she was praying about this very matter. And she was going to speak on pride in some message, seminar, whatever it was. So she’s praying about it and all of a sudden the Lord revealed to her, she says, that there were areas of pride in her life of which she hadn’t even been aware. And He began to teach her about it by the Holy Spirit as she prayed. Pride, in a very subtle way, in the fact that God had blessed her in her speaking and writing. Pride, again, in a very subtle way, over the results that had come where many people’s lives had been changed and re-arranged. And oh, how she had to get down, she said, and just repent of that whole thing before she was able really to speak to others. And then she said God taught her a further lesson along the line. She’s a very nice looking lady as I recall I haven’t seen her now for some years, but very pleasant looking and attractive lady. And she said, the Lord allowed an affliction to come to her that resulted in the swelling up of her face, some kind of allergic reaction, that just swelled up her face and her eyes swelled nearly shut so she couldn’t even see her notes.

And as she prayed about that, the realization came to her that God was teaching her again, how dependent she was upon Him. There wasn’t anything there to be proud of. Well, with the honesty of a real child of God, she writes about this in one of her books.

But I think you and I, beloved, could echo the same sentiment, couldn’t we? God has taught us again and again how much we need Him. And He’s taught us also why we need to depend upon Him to control our feelings, our thoughts, our words, our actions and our reactions to the things around us.

Now, he said, “Lie not one to another, seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man.” It’s one thing to say it’s wrong to lie. It’s another thing to say, it’s wrong to lie and here’s why. He said, you have a new life and this life is based upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the truth.” Now, if you’re gonna present the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the truth, how in the world can you present Him if you yourself are trimming the truth in situations that you face day-by-day? See, this is the point.

You’ve put off the old man and the old nature is a lying nature. If you travel at all, across this world you expect to be lied to, isn’t that true? I recall my first day in India, back in 1948. Merrill Dunlop and I arrived at Dum Dum Airport at about three or four in the morning and after we got through customs and immigration there waiting for us where Hubert Michel and Dick Riley, precious servants of God. Dick Riley was a missionary with the Faith Mission and Hubert was representing us in Youth for Christ. He and Rachel were representing Youth for Christ International, there in India at that time. And there they were waiting for us, they had been in the airport all night because the buses stopped running at 10 o’clock that came out to the airport. And they’d spent all night evangelizing and testifying and witnessing and there they were waiting for us.

So when we got together what baggage we were allowed to take out, I think they had impounded one or two of my suit cases because they were full of moving picture film and other matters and so they impounded them. But we got what baggage we could and put them in this ancient taxi cab. It was an Oakland… Any of you old-timers remember the Oakland car? Well, it was an Oakland Touring car, 1928 vintage, and in pretty good condition, I must say, with a taxi-meter on one side of it and the huge brass horn that was operated with a rubber bulb. Have you seen them, any of you? This goes back a good many years, but you go over to India, you can still find them. It’s a horn that is operated by pressing this huge rubber bulb and it emits this kind of a low A flat burp. Loud enough, however, to clear the way before the vehicle.

Well, I was in the car and Merrill Dunlop was seated beside me, we were in the back seat. And then Hubert and Dick Riley engaged in animated conversation with the taxi driver. And after we got going, I said “Hey fellas what we arguing about there?” Oh, they said, we were agreeing on the price. Well, I said there’s a meter and they both laughed heartily. They said you can’t believe the meter. Said you watch that meter now and see what it’s going to charge you for the trip. And so by the time, and by the time we had gotten into downtown Calcutta where we were bound for, that meter registered an astronomical total. See somebody had tampered with it, to make it ring up far more expense than was justified. And we would have had to pay I don’t know how many dollars. It is just a very, very high number of US dollars to get into the city from the airport. Instead, they struck a bargain with the driver that they would pay him so and so many rupees and that was that.

You expect to be lied to all over the world, you know that and so do I. Because you see that’s part of the old nature. It’s futile, I think, for us to get so self-righteous over the fact that other countries lie to us about their intentions. The “who, me?” syndrome. Why I didn’t do that, and you know they’re as guilty as sin themselves. Lying is part of the old life. Well, now, Paul says, lie not one to another seeing you’ve put off the old nature with its deeds, and have put on the new nature which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him.

Truthfulness comes from getting close to the one who is the Truth. Paul says in Ephesians 4, manifesting the truth in love. There’s a loving way to say anything that needs to be said and to say it truthfully. And that’s part of the trade mark of being a Christian. No longer is it necessary for you to try to cover your tracks with lying. You can tell the truth because you’re safe in the hands of the one who is Himself God’s wonderful truth.

Young person, never risk lying about a thing in order to try to save your skin as we say, in order to get out of a painful situation. Because that first lie you have to remember what you said so that you don’t cross yourself up. And by and by, you have you woven that tangled web. You remember what the old saying says, oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. When you tell a lie, you have to remember what you said so that you can tell another lie to cover that one up and so on, ad infinitum. Don’t fall into that. You don’t have to because if you’re a child of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus, you’ve got a new nature that is a truthful nature. Now, the next time you’re tempted to lie or to trim the truth, whisper a prayer and say, “Lord Jesus, make me truthful,” and then just tell the truth. You’ll be surprised at what God will do.

You’ve put on the new man, which is created in knowledge. God wants you to know the score and be able to tell the truth and to do so in love and in blessing. Renewed in knowledge. You’ll know what to say and you’ll know why you’re saying it if you keep close to Jesus. Now, that seems so simple doesn’t it? Why should Brother Cook say, “Spend time with Jesus so that you’ll be telling the truth.” because my friend, that’s just how it works. You’ll find it very difficult to tell a lie coming from the presence of your blessed Lord with your eyes wet and your heart made tender while your knees were bent. You will find it very, very difficult to do other than tell the truth, if you spend time with Jesus. You want to be truthful, spend a little time with your Lord. He’s the truth. He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” So you do that, alright.

Now he says, renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him. Verse 11, Colossians 3, “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor un-circumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” now, why do we ever lie to each other? It’s because of the differences we have in viewing any given circumstance. You lie to another person because he or she views a given circumstance differently than you wish they would. So what differences are there? There are national differences, Greek or Jew. There are religious differences, circumcision and un-circumcision. There are cultural differences, Barbarian or Scythian. There are societal differences, bond or free. See, all of these different levels of different approach to living, it says Christ is all and in all. The ground is level at the cross. And you can feel perfectly safe in the presence of another human being if you know that you are in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the blessed indwelling Holy Spirit is working in your heart and mind.

You can feel safe. You don’t have to protect your turf. You don’t have to think how do I say this so that the other person will do what I want him to do? You don’t have to manipulate people, be a finagler. Lloyd Cory always used to mention what he called Finagle’s Law, which he said was, “He that finagles gets finagled.” You don’t have to do that, beloved, because you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and He’s in control and all the ground is level at the cross. These various differences don’t make any real difference. National, religious, cultural, societal, no difference at all when Jesus is Lord of all. So make him Lord of your life today, beloved, will you? And let Him level the ground between you and another person, so that you are free to tell the truth in love as you go on through life.

Dear Father, today make us truthful people because Jesus our blessed Lord is dwelling within us by the power and presence of His Holy Spirit, amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!