Love Rejoices in the Truth

Title: Love Rejoices in the Truth               Text: I Corinthians 13:6

Introduction: Read I Corinthians 13:1-8a – Tonight we will be looking at what love does rejoice in: Truth! Have you rejoiced in truth today? What truth have you rejoiced in?

I. The meaning of “Rejoiceth in the truth”:

Rejoice – To rejoice together – to join in rejoicing

Truth – “Conformity to fact or reality; exact concordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.” (Noah Webster 1828)

How do you know if something is true? How do you know if someone is truthful? When do you know that you have been truthful with God, another person, and yourself?

To get to the truth you have to examine the evidences. Truth can be tested for its validity

Illustrate: Josh McDowell – examined the Bible to find all its errors and prove its falsehood. He found it true.

Illustrate: Mormon missionary appeal to pray and ask God to show you if the book of Mormon is true or not.

To rejoice in truth is ultimately to rejoice in God, for God is Truth. Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” God is refereed to as a “God of truth” approximately 50 times in the Bible. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

II. Bible examples of people who rejoiced in the truth:

A. David – Many Psalms tell of God’s truth

Psalm 33:4 “For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.”

B. Nebuchadnezzar – Daniel 4:37

C. The Disciples – Mt 14:33 “Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”

III. Bible examples of people who did not rejoice in the truth:

Pilot – “What is truth” John 18:33 –19:16

IV. The blessings of rejoicing in the truth:

John 8:31-32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

V. Developing the habit of rejoicing in the truth:

1. Speak the truth in your heart – Psalm 15:2 “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.”

2. Don’t lie against the truth – James 3:14 “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.”

3. Pray for a understanding of truth – Daniel 9:13 “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.”

4. Allow God’s Word to sanctify you – John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

Conclusion: Love rejoices in the truth.