EXCHANGING THE TRUTH FOR A LIE

AUTHOR GUARDIAN (Gatekeeper)

LIFE APPLICATION

Romans 1:24-25

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the

degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

One could imagine God speaking too Gods people in here in Romans as they worship

at the Asherah pole or worshipped baal, how the people wanted a King of their own

instead of God who

was King, they wanted their own King and they wanted to become like other nations..

You could say "They were exchanging the Truth For A Lie"

You could also see the fall of Adam and Eve here and the fall of man as God expells them from

the Garden of Eden

And Adam and Eve exchanged their paradise for the "World"

Now lets Remember that this letter of Romans is written to Christian believers in Rome and is from Paul and begins

talking about "Gods Good News" and then "Gods anger at sin" then onto "Gods Judgement"

Notice at this point it goes on to ...."The Jews and The Law"

Romans chapter 3 goes on to speak about "Forgiveness of sin through Jesus" THEN we

continue in Romans with Paul writing about "Faith"

And so we have the ( let me call it) "Three levels"

On one level you have Paul addressing the Church and people of that time..........

On the second level you have the people receiving the letter of that time

On the third you have lil old you and me reading it from our perspective and interpretation

In this day and age and from our own modern day life and trying to apply it to our way

of thinking

So we lets go to the people affected by this in our society today

And the question should be .......................who is'nt ? in some way ..shape or form ?

Is there ever a time when we do not exchange God for something else ?

Is there ever a time when something does'nt get in the way of our relationship with God ?

With ever action , with every Romans step we might exchange some kind of truth for a lie

And with every Romans step there is always a consequence

If I commit adultery and sleep with another....the consequences of that could mean not only

Gods Judgement upon me ...although that is arguable..... depending on how you see...

Judgement

as a Christian

And so I pay and reap the consequences of what I have done in this life regardless,

I might loose my family, my home, my marriage, my job, in fact everything and even the person

I have committed adultery with may leave me

Taking it to a spiritiual level indeed the same applies when I exchange a "Truth" for a lie

That exchange has consequences on my life not just in the spiritual (you could say "when I take

of the

fruit")

In the Spiritual I might loose much too, for how can I take wasted years of my life through into

eternity if those things I have committed to in the spiritual are not eternal ?

And so what of this ? and what is the way out of this ?

Romans 3:21

God judges, we can be under Gods Judgement, for a Christian that might mean the taking

away or simply the "not being rewarded" that is the loss of something we may have had in

eternity

For the unbeliever what truth have they exchanged ?

Is there anything to be rewarded , is there anything left after going through the Fire ?

What if there is nothing ? 0 = 0

And so it is for God to judge and for us to go to Romans 3

And so although we have the consequences of our actions whether in the physical world or in the

spiritual, Jesus can take that exchange so that it is not lost

We walk In Romans 3 and Jesus exchanges our sin (Abomination) with His Blood

In regards too people who do not know God and have exchanged the truth (small case)

for a lie...........

We can journey out to the Prodigal son and lead Him back to the Father , we can be the WWJD

in their lifes

Note the difference between God and Jesus here...scripture does not state that we Judge as God Judges, instead it reads Love

And this is where we introduce a strange "Christians" instead of "Godians" excerpt below

, that some people might find weird...and so too conclude this portion

Walk in Romans 3 and not in Romans 1

Godians

CHRISTIANS INSTEAD OF GODIANS

So many times we see God and Jesus as the one and the same

And yes I can pull out scriptures like

"I and the Father are one" and "If you have seen me , you have seen the Father" and so on

But we also see scriptures like

"I am going back to the Father" and "He is greater" and "I do as the Father says"

I/We need to see the split when it comes to our lifes and my life

In effect before we knew the Lord Jesus we might have been "Our Own gods" doing what we wanted and thinking the way we wanted

Once we / I am saved we can become our own Gods..............you might say,

In as much as we can take on this "Gods word says this and God says that"

We can do a continuation of our old life in the new by going from our old gods to our new Gods

How ? we can judge as God, we can see as God, we can act as God, and so on

This fits in with the continuation of our lifes as Christians

But we / I need to break that chain, I am not God and never will be

I asked Jesus into my life and became a "Christian" not a "Godian"

There is a big difference between the two

Life Bubbles

We can modify scripture to suit our life, our society, our way of thinking, our prejudice,

our Life bubble.

I can judge as God, instead of see like Jesus

I can believe at times I am my own God instead of remembering that Jesus is Lord

I can uphold my own authority above others, Instead of seeing the Servant King

In my pride I can boast , instead of being humble like my Lord

I can believe that "what I put into life is what I get out of it"

Instead of believing that Jesus holds my future

I can believe I am right with God, Instead of realising that the only one that makes me

right is Jesus

I can believe I can save people, instead of realising that Jesus can

I can see through the eyes of God, instead of the eyes of my saviour

Jesus never came into the world to judge but to save and He is coming back to judge

This is why scriptures says " The first to be judged will be my Children"

What is this judgement ?

Is it a discipline ? is it a cold heart ? is it a mother who says

"YOU ARE IN TROUBLE .......Wait until you Father gets home"

And the child learns a fear of Father...

Or is it ......as a Bride going for her wedding and banquet who sits aside her loved one ?

Why would the Bride be punished on her wedding day ?

No she has gifts and great joy

1 Corinthians 3:12-15, "If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones,

wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has

built survives, he will receive his reward.

Identity

EXCHANGING YOUR IDENTITY

Yes lots of people need to find an identity, some choose to follow someone else , a certain image,

a certain lifestyle, a certain projection............

Theres nothing new really in lady gaga, just the same thing over and over as each generation

comes and goes, we have the same package with a different design or label

People dress in the idols outfits, they identify with them....

In a way their idols become their gods...............their "Godians"

The new generation believe they have found something new but really its the same thing with

a different exterior

People searching for an identity, in fashion and feel in be yourself and self expression,

Sometimes in projecting an image people feel they are projecting something of what

is inside them, but instead what they project is a false image of who they really are

In fact its almost hiding behind a mask........almost like exchanging the truth for a lie

Sometimes people don't even know who they are themselves and need to find an identity or

identify themselves with something or someone

But you know is that what some do on the web ? project a false image ?

Who really projects themselves to anyone ? who really would be daring enough to project

who and what they really are inside ?

In fact does anyone really know who they really are ?

I can be marriedfor 50 years and not really know the person laying next to me....I might think

I do....... but they only project what they want me to see...to someone else they might be

someone and something quite different

You might see this as a kind or type of ..............Exchanging a truth for a lie...............

.......................................

Image

You know when you become a Christian , what do you do ?

Do you not project Jesus ? less of me and more of Him ....

Do I not identify with Him ? When I identify with Jesus I begin to take on more of Him and less of me

So I exchange me for Him...........................

In a way you could say....."I hide in Him"

I put aside my own ways and my own wants and my own image ,,, if you like

And I project that image of the Maker...I identify we Him and I find my identity with Him

So who do I project ? I become a "Christian" I identify with Jesus...

Do I project what is going on inside ? Yes I do if Jesus is inside and so I exchange the lie

for the Truth

............................

EXCHANGED THE TRUTH FOR A LIE

What is the Truth

So we disect one scripture and here in the quote its talking about those who have known the

truth, now this truth we are speaking of here is "truth" as in "Since earliest times men have

gazed at the stars and known of Gods existence"

This is different from "The Truth will set you free and if you are free you are free indeed"

The first being a truth that God exists

The second being the Truth of the Gospel

So lets say we have defined that "The truth = ABC = apply to life............

And so we have declared to ourselves that people have denied the truth that God exists and have

exchanged that and thought better of a lie ?

So we say "Truth = ABC = apply to life"

Now this is a bit like taking an example and applying it to our lifes or others lifes, until one day

we find that an example does'nt always fit every situation

But lets go back too "Truth = ABC = apply to life"

Now lets look at another example

A person who is brought up in a Christian family and asks Jesus into their lifes, who folllows

God and is a living testimony of God , one day turns around and tells their parents "Mum ..

.dad...I don't want to be a Christian anymore"

Now what Truth have they exchanged for a lie ?

Is it the same truth as before ?

And so we end up with

"Truth = ABC = apply to life"

and

"Truth = DEF = apply to life"

Grey areas seem to lurk around this and we then realise that there are different "Truths" and

different situations and circumstances surrounding each individual person and truth

The first "truth" was a truth that God existed

The second truth was a "Truth" that God existed and was indeed Lord at that time

Now lets take it further and apply this scripture to other things and you might say "It does not apply to other things" ?

Well who else can or does exchange the truth for a lie? who else can be deceived into thinking

there is a better way ?

Immoral relationships ......maybe?

Adultery...maybe ?

Money ...maybe ?

and so it goes on, each one a differnet situation , and each one exchnaging a truth or Truth or another truth deoending on what they see as THE TRUTH...for a lie

And so we acertain that

"Truth = Depending = cannot apply to life"

Romans 1:32

Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Now note above ...............

Who knowing the judgment of God

This is not the Judgement of man but God..........

So we ascertain that...............we do not Judge, as it states, God Judges

How does this then apply ?

what is this scriptures saying to us as a whole,,,,,, to individulas and to those who have exchanged the truth

Each one would see a different message

we conclude, that God is simply showing us a glimpse of a much bigger picture

Gods Judgement

CHRISTIANS NOT GODIANS

Going back to life bubbles.................and modifying things to suit our culture and way of life.....

In the end you know....no one can Judge as God judges !!!

It is impossible for anyone to Judge as God judges

In the end only those things that are eternal will pass through, only those things that have

eternal value will go into eternity...

Only those that have eternal things in mind and heart can possibly go into eternity..

And that realm cannot be even touched by humans or flesh

Do we really think or believe that when we meet God ...God will say..

" Well the bible says its wrong...? "

And so we go back to Romans three

Romans 3:21-28 (New International Version,

And this is the Life application study bible or New Living Translation

Christ Took Our Punishment

21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the

requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long

ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for

everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with

undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when

he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

"Exchanging the Truth for a lie"

Walk in Romans 3 and not in Romans 1