The best remedy for lies is the truth.

Steve Brown:
The best remedy for lies is the truth. Let’s talk on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’re sick of guilt and manipulation, and if you’re looking for an honest and thoughtful presentation of Biblical truth, you’ve come to the right place. This is Key Life with the founder of Key Life Network, Steve Brown. Keep listening for teaching that will make you free.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re asking and answering the question of why did Jesus have to die? And if you were listening yesterday, we saw that Jesus had to die because evil can’t stand in the face of good. Good destroys evil, and evil tries to destroy good. But let me give you another reason Jesus had to die, because a lie can’t stand in the face of truth, John 1:9 through 10.

The true light, that enlightens every man, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.

John 1;17

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 8:40, Jesus said.

Now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.

Somebody told me about a wife who was reading her husband’s fortune card from a scale where it also gave his weight. And she says, it says that you are a leader with a magnetic personality and strong character. You are intelligent, witty, and attractive to the opposite sex. And then she paused and said, It has also gotten your weight wrong, too. The best remedy for lies is the truth. I remember a number of years ago, a friend of mine who was not a believer had gone through a divorce, and he wanted Anna and I to meet his new wife. So, we went to his apartment that overlooked the ocean, we had a nice dinner together, but just as we were leaving he said, Steve, can I talk to you a minute? And I said, sure. And he said, look, and we were away from our wives. He said, I want you to leave Susie alone, the name of his new wife. And I said, why? He said, because when you’re around her, you’ll start talking about Jesus stuff. And I like Susie just the way she is right now. So, stay away from her. Well, I didn’t follow that completely. And eventually he became a Christian, and she did too. But what he said is what the world says. Have you noticed how people don’t want to talk about religion? When the subject of God comes up, if you want to be ostracized from a group you don’t like, start talking about Jesus. Pagans do not want to hear it. And you know why they don’t want to hear it? Because it might be true. And if it’s true, everything has got to change. And so, a lie can’t stand in the face of truth. And so, the liars drove nails into Jesus’ hands and feet. And they killed him. Let me show you something else. Jesus had to die not only because evil can’t stand in the face of good, and because a lie can’t stand in the face of truth, but also because love can’t stand in the face of aloofness, John 15:13 through 14.

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And you are my friends.

A lot of things are defined by what they are, and some are defined by what they do. Love is in the latter category. Love can’t just be love by itself. It must have an object.

And we love because he first loved us.

Augustine said.

Thou hast created us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.

It’s silly, but I would add to Augustine’s words, Thou hast created us for thyself and thy heart is restless, until it finds its rest in us. That’s what love does. Love reaches out, love moves, love acts, and that’s why Jesus had to die. Then fourthly, Jesus not only had to die because evil can’t stand in the face of good, a lie can’t stand in the face of truth, but because love can’t stand in the face of aloofness. And then, empathy cannot stand in the face of inaction, it must identify. Hebrews 4:14 through 15.

Since then we have a great high priest. Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Do you see it? Jesus came and identified. He identified with everything that you and I face. That is the nature of empathy, which defines God. Identification, you will never go through anything that he hasn’t gone through first. He always says, been there, done that. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
The best remedy for lies is the truth. Thank you Steve. All this week, Holy Week, we’re exploring why Jesus had to die for us. More tomorrow, hope you will join us then. Well, when it comes to anxiety, there are different levels, right? On one hand, there’s those, wait, I forgot to pack the deviled eggs for the picnic type moments. Then there are those, wait, I think I left little Connor back at church moments. Well, as the mother of 11 kids, Kimberly Iverson knows something about anxiety. We spoke with her recently about it on Steve Brown Etc. Take a listen to part of that conversation, then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer.

Steve Brown:
Did the idea come when you quit being anxious or when you were so anxious and you said, I’ve got to find some answers.

Kimberly Iverson: Yeah, I was completely unraveling after having my 8th kid and being in the middle of full time ministry. And Danny, my awesome husband, let me get away to a cabin and I started listening to this book, Humility, by Andrew Murray. And it was the exact answer to prayer that I needed in the midst of all that anxious turmoil inside of me trying to hold everything together and keep everything going. And I think the biggest thing that hit me first was the principle that God is the Creator. And if he’s the Creator, I’m just a creature. And he was sustaining the whole world before I ever entered the scene. And so, I’m actually not the one sustaining my whole family’s life, my kids nutrition, their health, they’re staying alive, all that. That I was trying to manically keep together, God was on his throne doing it over me. And once I realized you are so big and I’m so little, freedom started for me.

Steve Brown:
Oh, that is so good. You know, we, most of us, and I do still, build my life around my life. It’s about me. It’s about the worries and the anxiety that I have. And God taught you, and you wouldn’t put it this way, quid inferorum. That’s Latin for, what the hell? And once you looked at the God who really exists, who was big, it made all the difference in the world. You would think it would be just the opposite. I mean, don’t most people try to get over their anxiety by being bigger, not smaller? Explain that to us.

Kimberly Iverson: Yeah. So, when I would get into a position of beholding how big God was, and it literally came in the form of me getting on my face in the mornings, like that’s the lowest position I could put my physical body into to get my mind in that place. And I would just look at him sustaining everything and him loving my children more than I could or ever would. And him doing everything ahead of me, it empowered me to be able to get up again, face whatever new kid trauma I was about to deal with, and know that he was walking with me in it. And, you know, Jesus’ life was the model of this. You go lower and it leads to resurrection. And God says.

He lifts up the humble.

And so, the lower I could go trusting more in him and less in me, the more I could see him show up. And it was more like me getting out of the way and him coming and being, having his rightful place in the nitty gritty of my life.

Steve Brown:
Oh, that’s so good. It’s never totally settled though, is it? I mean, you have, that’s a vision you have to go back to again and again. Is that right?

Kimberly Iverson: Yeah. That’s why I wrote the book. It started in a little composition book, The Principles of the Humility, from Andrew Murray’s book. And I would write out how it could pulse into my daily life. And it was really like the student getting the lessons and taking notes, and the book that I produced is the student rewriting the notes to remind myself of these principles that we will never conquer or overcome until we behold Jesus face to face.

Matthew Porter:
You are going to love Kimberly. That’s why we put that entire episode on a CD that we would love to send to you for free. So, call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail Steve@keylife.org to ask for that CD. To mail your request go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD featuring Kimberly Iverson. Finally, if you’re blessed by Key Life would you help share that blessing with others through your giving. Giving is easy. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you of course can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.