Almost Right — Heretic — Rich Wilkerson Jr

All right tonight we are kicking off a brand new collection of talks entitled heretic the lies we love to believe But the truth that sets us free and tonight I want us to begin at John chapter 18 John chapter 18 starting in verse 37 If you've got a Bible turn there in your Bible, if you don't have a Bible We got a big one up here on the stage. But this is what The text says it says you are a king then said pilot and Jesus answered you say that I am a king In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Someone say the truth Everyone on the side of truth Listens to me. That's a bar Everyone on the side of truth listens to Jesus. What is truth retorted pilot? With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said I find no basis for a charge against him this is a conversation a dialogue between pilot and Jesus Christ our Savior 2,000 years ago in a courtroom and In that courtroom 2,000 years ago I believe this question that pilot poses is the question of a generation today. What is truth and Many of us I just believe tonight as you've walked in maybe you have been in the hallway of decision of deciding What that answer is I'm believing over the next four weeks We're gonna answer that through God's Word But I want to begin tonight and I want to preach the first installment of this collection and tonight I titled my message almost right Almost right. Look at your neighbor say neighbor almost Isn't good enough Almost isn't good enough almost right. Where are all the liars that make some noise? 6 p.m. Is honest, bro Some Years ago I came across a book and the book its premise was based upon research and the research of the book Was that one out of every five conversations that human beings have they are going to lie in that conversation? And when I heard that research I was a little bit like flabbergasted like is this really true?

And so I kind of did kind of did a deep dive this past week and I came across research from the University of Massachusetts That actually ups the ante and UMass actually says that it's it's bigger than that It says that 60% of the conversations that we have that last 10 minutes or more You're going to lie in it 60% of people are going to lie in it meaning more than half of our conversations Half the people are going to lie. What if we're just using stats? Okay stats would say That some of you have already lied today No pastor don't come at me. Yeah How far away are you five minutes You hadn't even left the house No, no, but pastor come on man, no, no, that's not a lie that's a white lie Don't you love that? We've got new terminology for our sin No a white lie. We have we have color-coded our sin. It's a white lie. It's a lie. That's been baptized a a White lie by definition is a lie that we tell to manage our image or to control the other person's perception And we'll do this and we'll justify it. It's like hey, did you did you read that document? I sent you and You know, you'll say something back like no, I you know, I skimmed it, but you didn't skim it man Like the document was sent to you You saw it there you got the notification you left it on read you never even looked at it But now here comes the question you're standing in church. Like yeah, I skimmed it. You didn't skim it. It's called a white lie You go to someone's house for dinner and they make a meal Do you do you like it You're like, yeah, it's great It wasn't a compliment. Come on somebody it was survival, right? Like It's called a white lie, but we don't just tell white lies we also have this word it's called exaggeration, you know exaggeration It's like this. This is a this is a micro lie. It's the stretching of truth. It's it's adding some details It's making the story better How many people did you have there at that party? Oh, man, it was it was awesome It was we had 50 people bro. You didn't have 50 people you barely had 20 people Exaggeration is insecurity with a microphone

that The fish is bigger The story's longer the drama is deeper and all the while we come up with justifications as to why this is okay But at the end of the day, let's just call it what it is white lie exaggeration a lie is a lie And I think just on the onset of this collection We got to stop and we got a pause and we actually have to ask ourselves the question. What is lying doing to us? Because reality is is that when you lie it can kind of help you maybe for a moment but over time it's gonna cost you something. When you lie it chips away at your integrity. The word integrity doesn't get used nearly enough but integrity is is a virtuous word it's about a it's about an internal ethic. Integrity is about who you are when nobody else is around. If you want to build your character you have to have integrity. Notice this is important language. Some people spend all their time being a character but when you have integrity you're actually building character. Being a character means everywhere you go no matter who's around you you just lean into it you become a chameleon you can play it that way you can say it over there but it takes a real man of God a real woman of God to say no no no I have integrity I know who I am wherever I go regardless of who's watching I am the same person. When we lie it also puts distance between us and other people. It trains our heart to live life in an illusion because so often when we're lying we're not just misleading people we are also reshaping ourselves. Like I know once again I'm just kind of poking at you a little bit but like you ever lie what happens is that when you lie you gotta lie again then you gotta lie again and then you gotta lie again and before you know it what you're actually doing is is you are not just managing the lie you are managing a fabricated version of yourself and it's exhausting to say the least and I just wonder how many people even tonight have come into VU Church or watching online right now and you are exhausted you are tired because there has been so many lies that you have told there's been so many lies that you have believed you have believed lies about God you have believed lies about yourself and here you are dissatisfied

discontented disgruntled confused because you've fallen into the trap. You don't have to tell a lot of big lies to live a fraudulent life you just have to tell enough little lies. Now I'm poking at us a little bit because I'm just trying to get into your heart because what I'm talking about personally is also happening culturally so this micro issue with just you and me is also happening on the macro side of things. Has anyone noticed that in 2026 we are living in confusing times because truth is no longer about reality. Truth by definition is about accuracy and reality but man we live in funny times because no longer are people discovering truth now people are deciding truth. There was a time that used to submit to truth but now people go no I'm gonna select truth and you hear it in the poetry you hear it in the music you hear it on the podcast you can watch it on tik-tok you might have even said it this week even though you go to church and have devoted your life to Jesus. I know but my truth live your truth my experience I hate no disrespect to your opinion or to your feeling but your trauma your problems your pain your sin your hurt does not get to define truth. It is your opinion and your feeling but just because you feel it doesn't always mean it's true. Somebody clap your hands and shake up this place a little bit. My truth. What an interesting thing to say. When we say that we are suggesting that truth changes from person to person to person. Over the next few weeks we are gonna begin to combat some of the lies that has taken hold of culture. Now most of these things as we talk about over the next few weeks are not inherently right off the bat evil. Most of them at times even feel right and look good. Most of them are almost right. I want to use a quote and I want to use it for the next four weeks it comes from the 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon. I think it's fire. This is what Charles Spurgeon said he said discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between right and wrong rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right. This is so very very good because oftentimes we think we live in a world that it's always black and white but the reality is is that the enemy when he comes to lie to you more often than not the lies

that he brings your way they look good on the surface. It's not gonna always be wrong and right many times it's gonna be right versus almost right. If you take an arrow and you put it on a bow and you shoot it one degree off it's going to be a mile away from the target because almost right isn't good enough. A few years ago, I went over to my neighbor's house and he was making homemade pizza. And he and his kids were making pizza. They had the dough and they were putting together and he brought it out of the oven and when he brought his out, I don't know how to explain it, like it looked beautiful, but it was hard as a rock. I mean, you could play Frisbee with this thing. It was almost like a weapon. It was like, what is going on here? And we started going back and forth and what we discovered was, is that what he thought was flour was actually sugar. And he had mixed up the ingredients, but listen, you cannot discover the pizza is wrong until you pull it out of the oven. And it made me think how many believers can look the part, how many people can go to church week in and week out, even be in a crew, go to the growth track, learn all the worship songs, have a beautiful algorithm on Spotify with all their favorite players, got some scripture, got some Bible highlights, yet somehow in life, the ingredients in the preparation process, the enemy gets in

and he doesn't come with full heresy. He just comes with these little white lies, these little exaggerations. Before you know it, you read something on Pinterest and you made it your philosophy. You read a bumper sticker and you made that your mantra. But when the fire of life comes, when the valleys of life come, when you enter into the oven, it's just a matter of time before you discover what the inputs are. That's why some of us went through a trial. Our marriage started to shake. We had a young person in our home run from God, or maybe you went through a death with a kid. You went through some form of suffering and before you know it, you started to shake in such a way. Let me tell you, the fire does not lie about what's going on inside of you. The fire reveals the ingredients you have been putting in. That's why in this collection, it is time that we get God's word put into our heart because whom the sun sets free is free indeed. I don't just want almost the truth. I want the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Come on, somebody. Go ahead and give God some praise in this place. We're gonna have to learn how to use God's word, not merely as a sword for fighting, but we must also discover that this word is a scalpel

for cutting away things that appear almost right. You don't discover this stuff until you face the oven of life, the fire of life, the pain of life, and then the ingredients show up. What were the inputs? Lying doesn't have to really be that confusing. It doesn't have to be that complicated. Jesus lets us know the origin story of every lie that we believe and every lie that we ever tell. Now, if this offends you, you gotta take it up with Jesus because these are his words, John chapter eight. Look at this. Jesus says, you, not you, but them. That's funny. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the, what's the word? Truth. To the truth, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, get ready, this is good theology. When the devil lies, he speaks his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies. I just gotta take a moment because I gotta make sure that we're resetting. The devil is not a creator, he is a destroyer.

He don't build stuff, he breaks stuff. He doesn't have a purpose, he wants to pervert your purpose. He wants to lie to you, he wants to steal from you, he ultimately wants to kill you. Once again, not my words, that's what Jesus says, that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And his native tongue, the way that he does that, is he does it through lying. He doesn't speak any other dialect. His language is one thing, manipulation, coercion, and lies. He wants to cover the truth and he wants to lie to you. And Jesus says he's the father of lies. What does a father do? A father forms, a father passes down DNA, a father leaves a legacy. Meaning, anyone ever used to watch like the old Jerry Springer show? Yeah. Come on, 6 p.m., you started so honest and now you're like, no. I don't recommend the show at all. But they would do these paternity tests, like who is the father, you know? Every time we lie, ooh, the father is the devil. It is Diabolos. It is the slanderer of the brethren. This is so very, very important. Jesus is letting you know that every lie that you believe and every lie that you tell, it's origin story. It started somewhere.

It started with the devil. I have four kids. Shout out to my kids. I think my son Wyatt is over at South Miami tonight. Eight years of age. Yesterday was our season opener for football. I will let you know, we won victorious. Wyatt played both sides of the game, had an interception on defense, threw a touchdown pass, caught a touch. Somebody make some noise for my son. Let's go, boy. Eight years old. Raising men of God and athletes in our house. It is God family football in that order. And you know, Don, we got some rules. And one of our rules for this season, for right now, I don't know if it's forever, is that the boys can't play video games, okay? Maybe one day that'll change, but at eight right now, I'm trying to teach them how to read. You ain't got no time. I got these guys on a busy schedule. Football, Bible reading, community service, prison care. Okay, like. But their cousin was in town. He had a Nintendo Switch and I walked into the room and Wyatt and Wyatt were both playing this Nintendo Switch. I said, hey, what are you doing? I said, you know you can't play video games.

They said, I know, Dad, but his dad says he can. I said, oh, his dad is not your dad. Then I said, who's your daddy? I made him respond. They're like, you are. I was like, no, no, no, no. Say it with a chest. Who's your daddy? You are. I'm like, yeah, yeah, you better believe it. And in our house, we do things differently. You are my son. You're gonna play according to my rules. I wanted to tell some people at VU Church all week and long. You better know who your daddy is because the devil is not your daddy. Every time he comes and whispers to you, come on, somebody, every time he tries to lie to you, every time he tries to bring up your past, try to assault your future, you ought to look back and say, you are not my daddy. But you have a father and your father is not the author of confusion, but your father said, I formed you in the belly before you were formed, I knew you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. I have a plan for you. I have a purpose for you. Come on, somebody. You ought to make some noise for your heavenly father.

Author of life, finisher of our faith. Do you know who your dad is? Quit letting the devil parent you because every time you tell a lie, you are adopting his DNA. But you are children of the light. You've been, watch this, born again. Born again. You're not who you used to be. You're a child of God. See, the devil, I'm telling you, he's just not that creative. He's been running the same play forever. I need more millennials in our church. Forever. Where's Vu Hayat? Forever. That's the Sandlot. I want you to watch that, bring a book report next week. I want to talk to you guys about that. Because all the way back in the beginning, dude hasn't been creating, he's been destroying. And he does it the same way. I could preach this every week because it's honestly that good that you hear this. Genesis, this is like early in the scripture. If you're new to the Bible, there's 66 books. We're in the first book, three chapters in. Genesis three, verse one.

Now the serpent, that's the devil, was more crafty. That means manipulative. That means sneaky. That means shady. He's a shady snake. He's a sneaky serpent. The serpent was more sneaky and shady and crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, get ready. Did God really say? Did you get it? Because a snake hisses. Okay. Don't be offended. I'm just trying to make sure, some people goes over their head, that's okay. Did God really say, you must not eat from the tree in the garden? This is huge. Because the enemy, it's not that he just ignores scriptures, he just removes from scriptures. All he has to do, all the enemy actually has to do, is just put a question mark. It's not that it's wrong, it's almost right. Please see this, the first heresy in history,

was not denying God's word, it was distorting God's word. This one, it's like, it's not always black and white, sometimes it sounds good, sometimes it sounds nice. Oftentimes, heresy is not really rebellion, it's just revision. And it's the enemy coming into your life, and it's going, did God really say, if he can just get you to question God's authority, he starts to get a foothold in your life, and you're just one step away from walking into real rebellion and being lost. We do it so often, did God really say, this is what I know about the enemy, and I wanna get this into your heart, this is so very, very important. So often, when he lies to you, please understand, that when he lies to you, often it will sound like wisdom. For a lot of us, it's gonna feel like freedom, and it's gonna look like the truth, but when you buy that lie, at some point, I can't tell you when,

but there's many in this room who can testify this being true, at some point, you wake up in the wreckage of your life, and you say, what happened? I'll tell you what happened, you believe the lie of the enemy, and the lie of the enemy was almost right. Come on, somebody, clap your hands, make a little bit of noise. The very, very first heresy wasn't denying God's word, the very, very first heresy was distorting God's word. And so it comes to this collection title, we named this collection heretic, and heretic obviously comes from heresy, and many times, maybe you've heard that word, it's like, man, that feels like that's something really far out, that sounds like some kind of evil threat, but I just wanna show you the Greek word, the origin, I like showing you the beginning of something, that the word heresy comes from the Greek, and it means heresies, and it simply means to choose. So watch this, to step into heresy doesn't mean

that you have to remove all scripture, oftentimes what it means is that you just select certain scriptures. We just sort of adopt the ones that we like, and we don't listen to the ones that challenge us, change us, offend us. See, a heretic is someone, isn't someone who hates the truth, it's someone who edits it. And so many of us, we come to God's word, and we read, oh man, I like the Psalms, oh my goodness, Proverbs is awesome, but man, as soon as the Lord tells us something about our identity, tells us something about our desire, we go, nah, I don't think that really applies anymore, this is called a slippery slope, my friend, this is where we begin to edit the word of God, that the moment God's word changes, the moment God's word tries to change us, we run from it. And you ought to know that, really, from the very beginning of church,

and I want to try to do this every week if I can, I don't want to lose you, because I think it's really important that as you mature, that you learn church history, that if you don't learn from the past, you're bound to repeat it. And so church history is a very, very important thing, that you understand that last week, we celebrated Easter Sunday, the Superbowl of the church, and it was incredible here at VU, but we celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ didn't just die on a cross, but he went into a tomb, and three days later, he got up out of that tomb. Anybody grateful that our God is alive? It's the only reason. In fact, let's just take 10 seconds right now, because Easter Sunday is not an event. For New Testament Christians, every day is Easter. Can we just go ahead and give glory to God that he's alive and that he hears us? I don't want to just shout one day a year. But that day changed everything. Jesus walked on the earth for 50 days. Finally, in Matthew 28,

he ascends to heaven. He tells 120 to go back to an upper room and to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon them. It's only 120 of them. They don't know what they're waiting for. Finally, the fire of God falls. Tongues of fire show up on people's heads. Winds rush in. There's a roaring sound. People start speaking in other tongues, and it's glorious. Peter goes out on the balcony, and everyone's making these noises, and Peter's like, yo, people of Jerusalem, nobody's drunk. Don't run away. It's only nine in the morning. And whenever I read that, I always go, man, that wouldn't work well in Miami. Nine in the morning is no evidence. It's like coming out to space, be like, no, the Holy Spirit's here. But there, they were going, okay, that's it. And so 3,000 people, as the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon Peter, get saved. Watch this.

Peter, 50 days prior. Just think about this. Where were you at 50 days ago? This is important. Peter was denying Jesus to a little girl by a campfire. But after the resurrection, 50 days later, he's in an upper room and the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon him. He walks out onto a balcony, preaches the first gospel sermon, and I'm telling you what, 120 turns into 3,000 people in one moment. Anybody grateful for the power of God? Woo! But if you know anything about church history, Christianity begins to spread, but it wasn't popular or cool or trendy to be a Christian. It wasn't like this. It wasn't like Steve Job microphones and GoBos and Hayes machines and awesome PowerPoint presentations. No, to be a Christian, to gather, meant risking your life, and for many, it cost them their life. For hundreds of years, Christians were slaughtered. For hundreds of years, there was no gathering point. They had to go from house to house. They would open up the teaching of the apostles. They would break bread together.

They actually shared life and shared faith, and together, they grew for hundreds of years until finally, an emperor by the name of Constantine, he doesn't really even have a good intention. He does it more so out of political motivation, but I'm grateful for a God who will take what the enemy meant for evil, and he will turn it around for good. God can take anything and use it for his glory. He takes Constantine, a guy who I don't think lived a very good life, but Constantine makes Christianity a world religion and he actually begins what we now are walking in thousands of years later. I say all that to say that for many, many years, Christianity was persecuted, and I want to encourage believers out there today that every time the church has ever been persecuted, multiplication was the result. Therefore, as believers, we should never walk in fear. We should never walk in timidity. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. I wonder, is there any courageous men and women out there? We don't have to fear tomorrow. That's a long runway to say that around 300, Christianity now is the universal religion of the day, and with it, big conversations begin. I want to show you one of the very first early heresies of the early church.

It is the heresy known as Arianism. Arianism is based upon a man. His name is Arius. He was an Egyptian teacher, and for the most part, he preached really good stuff. In fact, he preached almost stuff that was almost right. Like he believed that Jesus was divine. He believed that Jesus did signs and wonders. He believed that Jesus died, believed that Jesus resurrected. It was like almost right, except he started teaching this one little thing. He started teaching that Jesus was created by God. You say, Rich, that doesn't seem like a big deal. Why is that such a big deal? Well, if he was created by God, it then means he is not God, and if he's not fully God, when he went to the cross, we needed Jesus to be fully God in order for our sins to be fully absolved, and so quickly, there was this thing called the Council of Nicaea that was brought together 325 AD, and the bishops came around, and they'd begin to debate, and they'd begin to talk, saying, this is heresy, this is wrong. This is going against orthodoxy, and with it, they created the Nicaean Creed, and out of it, they landed on that word. You know it in John 3, verse 16,

for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Important word, begotten. You know what it means? It means of the same substance. What they landed on was that if you listen to Arianism, Arianism is taking you down a path. It seems like a little lie, but we need to recognize that Jesus was all God and all man. Therefore, when he went to the cross, one drop of his blood, come on, it covered all of my sins. Watch this. And when he got up out of that grave, now I can get up out of my grave. Anybody thankful that Jesus is more than a man? Yeah. Because a small lie about Jesus creates a big distance from Jesus. You're like, Rich, why are you boring me on a Sunday night with church history like this? That's the past. That's heresy of the past. No, no, no, friends, it still happens today. A couple of weeks ago, I was given a book by somebody, a Christian. I started reading the book. I'm like, this is a cool book. This is like, I like this book.

This is cool. I was into it. Like, I'm in, I'm open. Like, I'm reading it. in chapter four and all of a sudden I read this line and the line said this, it said, love is God. It was fascinating because I was reading the book and the book like was quoting Jesus and it was talking faith and it was talking about the supernatural, all sorts of vernacular that many of us in this room are down with and understand. But then I read that, love is God. And it sounded so nice. It felt so good. But as I read it, I said, whoa, that sounds nice. That's almost, that's almost right. But I gotta go back and I gotta pull out my Bible and I gotta go to first John chapter four, verse eight. Because there it says, whoever does not love does not know God. Uh-oh, because God is God. Because God is love. You call it semantics, I call it heresy. Same words out of order. Same words, different order, same words, different order, different world. And if you can't discern, you will buy into a lie and we live in a world that sounds so beautiful. Love is God.

The only problem is that if love is God, it means that whatever you love is God. It means however you define love is God. Whatever you prefer is God. Sounds like a pretty small God to me. But if God is love, it means God defines love. It means God gets to check me. It means if it costs me, then I'm going to submit over to God. Somebody clap your hands if you're catching this. Love is God. No, it's not. And it sounds pretty. It will put you in a prison. Rich, love wins. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. Not if we're using your definition of love. Not if you're the creator of love. That kind of love is toxic and dysfunctional and it ruins people and it hurts people and it destroys people. No, God is love. It means that God is the definer. God is the designer. He is the author. Therefore, when God tells me something that I don't like, as I disagree with God because I'm submitted to God, I choose his definition over mine. Amen.

God is love. Well, what is love? Well, God tells us. First Corinthians chapter 13. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It's not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but always rejoices with truth. It always protects. It always trusts. It always perseveres. Love never fails. Ooh, when I start to hear those attributes and then I look back to what 1 John says, that God is love, now I start to understand who my God is. My God is patient. My God keeps no record of wrongs. My God perseveres. My God always, always shows up. Come on, somebody. Go ahead and give glory to God. I love you and I wanna help you because we live in Miami and the lies are hitting us left and right and sometimes the lies feel and look like truth.

Some of us right now are offended because you are living your best life and here you go walking through life and we live in a time where it's a build-a-belief culture. A little bit of scripture, a little bit of self-help, a little bit of therapy language, a little bit of whatever the culture says, and before you know it, you have a faith that looks like Jesus but sounds like you. And I don't know about you, but I'm not worth worshiping. I don't know what your week looked like, but with the week that I had, like I'm not enough. You're not enough. But we live in a world that lies and it's not always some false religion. That's not even what this collection's gonna go to. It's other stuff. It's ideas in the West that inherently they're not. Bad they're just almost right I'm watching movies with my boys and I'm trying to teach him right now. Like sometimes we're watching a Disney. I gotta stop Like our boys just so you understand What that mouse is saying If you actually take that and believe it you're gonna walk right into the pits of hell The other day we watch him I paused it because the dialogue said this in life. There is no such thing as good and evil. There is only power

I pause that I Say boys I'm good if you're good but that's a lie and That thing will leave you bound That thing will leave you trapped do not play games with the devil You gotta get the truth of God's Word into your life, come on somebody give him praise Start playing the piano. Otherwise, I won't stop preaching And so we come to a close We come to a close if it close is where we started It's John chapter 18 Jesus has been betrayed in a garden by a friend Talked about it last week Pharisees and Sadducees leaders of the religious right are there They've they've captured him and they've they've come to Pilate's house Pilate works for the Roman government And they've knocked on his door and they've woken him up very early in the morning They say you got to deal with this man This man claims to be God and we want you to judge him and Pilate's like yo, bro Like you guys I'm not into all of your religion and all of your doctrine you guys deal with it They say no No We have to bring this to you because we don't have a law for this it actually has to be submitted to you And so Pilate begins to question Jesus. He begins to ask him questions. He says are you? God like they're saying I love Jesus's answer. He says is this you is this your idea or have others told you about me? That preaches to me because a lot of you in this room You are living your entire life with a belief about God based upon what somebody else told you And it works out Okay If someone preached the truth It becomes very damaging if somebody hurt you in the name of God if somebody offended you in the name of God

If somebody tries to play Mozart on the piano and they play it bad nobody gets mad at Mozart But it's fascinating that when Christians Play Jesus wrong Somehow we blame him Don't play God for bad actors don't blame God for fallen men God will never fail you form your own idea off of the Word of God believe what he says about himself He says so you are a king now we're in our text You are a king and Jesus says you're right and what you say about me For everyone who follows me is on the right side of truth and here comes the question. What is truth And I believe this question. What is truth is the question of our age? It is the question Millennials are still asking is the question that Gen Z is asking it is the question of the alpha generation Coming up behind us right now. What is truth is truth? My truth is truth reality is truth Whatever I create it, whatever I feel whatever I desire My fantasy is is is truth and my pleasures is truth what I wear truth live your truth do your truth What is truth and here is pilot and he's asking this question Think about this. He is looking at the incarnate God He's staring into the eyes of Jesus and he's demanding proof completely neglecting the fact that he's looking at the proof. I Think this is indicative of where we stand tonight because I don't think in Miami We live in a city full of atheists. I think we live in a city full of pilots That we would rather circle the truth than surrender to the truth We would rather play games and make questions. And what we do is is Confusion is often a cover-up for conviction I'm kind of confused. You're not confused Pilot wasn't confused three times by his own admission. He says I find no basis to charge this man In fact mid-trial he gets a text message from his wife and she's like yo, dude Don't charge this man. Let him go free. I had a dream about Jesus and he is different I don't know what your theology is about dreams But if you've already got a ping from the Holy Spirit and you've got the intuition of a woman, whoa, baby You better listen

Pilate's not confused. And many of us tonight, we're not confused either. No, the ping is there. Conviction is there. The Holy Spirit's speaking to us, but we like to behave that we're confused. We like to continue to consume and consume and consume. We like to continue to debate, debate, debate, and talk and talk and talk. And what is truth? And you define truth. Even tonight, I just know some people are mad, even with the message, and I'm sorry for that. But at some point, you have to look at Jesus, and you have to make a decision about Jesus. Because the reality of what's going on with Pilate is Pilate is not confused. Pilate is a coward. And here's what I know, indecision is a decision. Because you don't have to choose wrong to be wrong. You just have to refuse to choose right. Because Pilate ultimately goes, I'll wash my hands of this man's blood. I am innocent. And he gives Jesus over to the mob to have him crucified. And many of us, we're going to walk out of this room tonight, we're going to wash our hands. And I'm still kind of confused. Just because you wash your hands doesn't mean that your heart won't deal with the guilt. Because Jesus said, if you follow me, you are living out the truth. He's saying, I am the truth. You're looking at it. You keep wanting an answer, and I'm looking at you saying, I am the answer. Here comes Pilate. And this is what happens to so many of us.

Pilate is afraid of the crowd. He knows the truth. But instead of standing for truth, he gives Jesus over. And I wonder how many of us in this room right now, that happens to us every week. That we should be taking a stand. We should speak up, yet somehow we quiet and we walk in timidity and we're afraid. And we've got all sorts of reasons why we do it. We say all sorts of things as to why we don't take a stand for Jesus. But listen to me, if the world can keep being loud about sin, it's going to take a church right here in Miami, Florida that says, it's time we start getting loud about salvation. We get loud about our savior. Because if you live for the approval of man, you will die by their opinion. And if you don't take a stand for something, you will fall for anything. And Pilate says, oh, I'm walking out of here. He never gets the answer. There's a lot of people that want to play spiritual games, ask spiritual questions, but not wait around long enough to get a spiritual answer. Listen to me, Pilate lost his soul trying to keep his position. This is not about building voodoo church to make it bigger. If you're here tonight and you don't know Jesus, I love you. I mean it. I know we don't know each other. I know we've never gotten a coffee before, but I love you. I pray for you. I think about you. We got into this thing 10 years ago, contrary to what people might say about us, and sometimes our reputation precedes us. We never got into this thing to be a big church. That's never been our desire. What we care about is your soul.

You don't have to go to church here. What we're begging for you is that you'd find a faith community that you could grow in. Someone that would preach the Bible in a way that you could understand it, that you could walk out your faith, because there's a whole lot of people in Miami that are choosing position. But in the meantime, while they're choosing a position, they are losing their soul. Didn't Jesus say, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but he forfeits his soul? What is truth? Truth is a person, and his name is Jesus. And John chapter 1 tells us about this truth. John chapter 1 says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and he was God in the beginning. And through him all things were made, and without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. In the beginning was the Word. The Greek word is the word logos. And logos is not a religious word. Logos is a word that speaks about order, speaks about beginning, speaks about the word logic that we use. That logos, the Word of God, everything came, all of reality, everything that you see came from the mind of God, the Word of God. And John chapter 1 continues to say that word, the logos, put on flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ is the logos in the flesh. flesh, what audible words are to inaudible thoughts, the visible Jesus is to an invisible God. What is God like? What does God sound like? Who is God?

Look no further than Jesus. He's the only begotten son of the same substance. Pilate is saying, what is truth? And I wanna say to Pilate, truth is staring right at you. For Jesus said about himself in John chapter 14, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through me. He's not being exclusive, he's being specific. You wanna get to paradise? You want fulfillment? You want purpose? You want forgiveness? You gotta come through the narrow gate and the narrow gate has a name. It has a name. His name is Jesus, Pilate. What is truth? And Jesus is looking back at him. He's staring right at him. You don't need an answer, Pilate. He is the answer. Quit asking questions, Pilate, and start following Jesus. Because truth is not a philosophy to study, it's a person to follow. And over the next four weeks, we're gonna talk about these paradigms, these philosophies, these lies that creep in, that look almost right, but as we go to God's word, as we look to Jesus, the logos, from the very start that everything begins with Jesus

and everything ends with Jesus, we're gonna find freedom, we're gonna be set free. It's amazing, because there's some truths that we don't debate. Like, if you're still debating gravity, we're gonna pray for you. Gravity is not true. Today, I'm standing on a seven-story building and I'm going to prove to you that gravity is not true. It's like, all right, bro, once you jump, we ain't gonna get another opportunity to discuss it, because you've hittin' to die. And many look back at Jesus and they say, Jesus is not true, but he's more true than gravity. And if you don't receive him and if you don't repent, you are going to die. I've often wondered about Pilate, like, what happened to him? I don't know. Like, he sent Jesus to a cross. He wanted to know what truth was. He must've heard the rumblings that he had resurrected. I wonder as he walked out of that room if he ever regretted walking out of that room. I wonder how many of you tonight have been in rooms like this and you hear the message, but then you walk out. I wanna give you an opportunity to think about that. I wanna give you an opportunity tonight to come back inside. Because truth has a tone.

Truth has a sound. It sounds like Jesus. He says, I love you. I'm full of grace. I'm full of mercy. I can forgive you. I can redeem you. I can use your broken life right where you are. I love you just the way that you are, but I love you too much to let you stay the way that you are. I know the enemy's been lying to you and I know you think you're having fun, but you have no idea the adventure I wanna take you on. You have no idea the purpose I wanna put in your heart. You think those drugs are making you feel good. You have never actually experienced satisfaction. You think sleeping with him or sleeping with her is bringing you peace. You've never experienced peace that passes all understanding. It's not a concept. It's a person. Here's what I know over the next couple of weeks is that for many of us, it's not that we're like not following Jesus. It's just that in some category of our life, we've allowed lies to creep in. So even many of us, I think we're headed to heaven, but it doesn't mean that we're not bound

in certain categories in life. Let me just be vulnerable. This is kind of silly, but it's the realest thing I got in the last couple of weeks or I guess the last week. Last week was Easter, which is great. Records all around here at VU Church, amazing. And I came out of church like kind of being like, definitely praising God, but kind of feeling like, yo, I am called to this. We're gonna make it in Jesus. He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider. I wish that you ever have a day with God. Like, I wish the devil would try something. Like, just full of faith, man. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to go night-night, devil? You're not my daddy. I got a paternity test. Sorry. So stupid. I'm just trying to, I'm trying to give you the feeling. Just trying to give you like, but I got convicted. And it's like, Rich, did you feel like that last Tuesday? Wow. Were you that confident last Tuesday? Were you that bold last Tuesday? Were you that satisfied, that content last Tuesday? Now, this is funny.

Because I'm a guy who preaches identity. I believe what I preach. But here I am in a moment, and nothing has changed other than my circumstance. Wow. And even that slight of an adjustment of a circumstance, it makes me questioning my value. Wait a minute. Do I think my value goes up when the attendance goes up? Do I become more called? The louder people respond when I preach? Do I have more purpose when I present the gospel and more hands go up on that Sunday than they did the prior Sunday? No, friend. I can believe the truth and preach the truth and somehow still begin to fall into a lie. And if I can do it, something tells me you can do it too. My God does not change. He's not almost right. He's always right. He's always good. He's always faithful. Come on, somebody, go ahead and give glory to God all over this house. Come on, from the back to the front, from South Miami to city, everybody online, can you stand up on your feet? Can you clap your hands? Can we take 30 seconds and can we just praise God

that he's always right, that he's always true? In him is goodness, in him is faithfulness. Everything we've been looking for is found at the feet of Jesus. Come on, somebody, give him praise tonight.