John 8:32
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
TRUTH.
It is the seemingly elusive query of every generation. People want to know the truth of the universe, truth about history, truth about science, and the truth about themselves. We are often stumped and find the truth elusive when it comes to people and our often complicated relationships.
We expect the truth from leaders and those in a position to be an example. We are offended when we are misguided and find out the hard and painful way that we have not been given the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!
The Bible speaks much about the subject of the truth. It has been the topic of discussion and the point of man’s internal thirst for centuries. Pilate (the governor who tried Jesus and had him crucified) asked, “What is truth?” Many of you are asking the same question. Especially as you look around at our world’s condition and see all the people pointing at their ideas and their solutions and calling the various (and often contradictory concepts) truth.
Churches claim to have the truth, yet so many of them disagree in a lot of ways. Leaders claim to possess and offer the truth, yet too often we find ourselves wondering how they ever got into a place of prominent leadership in the first place! Who can you trust to tell the truth? Where can you go to find the truth? Governor Pilate said it right, “What is truth?”
The answer to this as well as any other question of eternal value is found in the Bible, God’s Holy Word. Jesus said in a prayer to His Father, “Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.” John 17:17
According to Jesus Christ, the Word of God is truth. In it alone we can find what God says about ourselves, our relationships, our conduct and our character. We can see what God calls evil and what God calls good. He alone defines these things because His Word alone is truth. We can argue and debate our opinions and at the end of the day go our ways still convinced of our accepted theories and positions on any subject we have debated. When all along, God has the truth provided for us to read, to hear preached, and to humbly accept as it is in fact … the truth!
The truth about church. Church itself is not the truth, but is the “pillar and ground” of truth (1 Timothy 3:15). Just because a church believes or practices a certain creed or religious formality, doesn’t make it right.
Only what God’s Word declares is truth. God expects for us to “rightly divide” His Word that we will not come up with our own fabricated version of Christianity … which so many have done already.
Eternity is way too long for you to simply swallow everything handed down to you. You need to know the truth and be set free! Free from a life of Godlessness. Free from a life of sin. Free from a life of empty religion. Free from formalities that are not presented in the Bible as a part of Christ’s doctrine.
Get a Bible. Read it, study it and apply it to your life as you sit under Bible preaching. Let the spirit of God work in your heart as you hear and know the truth.
Just because you believe something or have practiced “this way” all your life, doesn’t make it true. Jesus said that many would stand before Him on the Day of Judgment and declare all they did for Him and in His Name, only to hear Him say, “Depart from me…I never knew you.” How horrible it will be for so many people who today are going to “church,” participating in “religion,” and yet Christ Himself does not know them! The only way a person could be in that condition is because they have been deceived into following a man-made system of religion. Many people are right now living what they call Christianity, but it has very little Biblical resemblances at all.
Life is too short, and eternity is too long to just “do what you’ve always done” or expect that some religious tradition or creed will get you where the Bible says you should be at the end of your life here on Earth.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He gave us His Holy Word, the Bible, and said it is the powerful truth of God Almighty that can change our lives for now and eternity. While many may still be asking the age-old question, “What is truth?”
Jesus has already given us the answer. Truth is found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ alone as your personal Lord and Saviour.
1 John 5:12 “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
You can be free today. Free from your sin, and the coming judgment of God. You can be free from your past and the pain you have caused the heart of God. You can be free from a religious experience that has given you no lasting hope or fruit of righteousness. When you know the truth, you can be set free!
Let me know if you have trusted Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. Leave a comment below.
God Bless!
See you in church!
(Pastor Jones can be reached by email pastor@faithbaptistchurch.us. Follow him on Twitter @PastorTonyJones or visit an upcoming service at Faith Baptist Church … “The Church on the Hill.”)
