John 18:37-38
WHAT IS TRUTH?
Intro: Pilate asks a question that society today
still struggles with. In reality, society will always struggle with this
question. Unfortunately, we really do not want to deal with this in our
generation. That’s why we ask the question a little differently today, we like
to ask “What is the truth.” There is a difference between these two questions.
When ask about “the truth” we are asking in a relative term, when ask as
“truth” we are asking in an absolute term. What we are really saying is “What
may be true for you may not be true for me! You say ‘to-may-to’, I say,
‘to-mah-toe’. Don’t talk to me about truth for truth cannot really be known!”
When Pilate ask
“What
is truth?” This was a rhetorical question. Pilate did not really want
an answer, and he did not wait around to receive one. Pilate was simply telling
Jesus do not tell me about something that cannot exist. I believe the Bible
gives us enough information about truth to answer this question. In fact, I
want to take the Book of John and answer the question “What is truth”? There
are 222 verses in the Bible that contain the word “truth,” 22 or 10% are found
in the Gospel of John. What is truth? It is ....
Translated from the Greek word aletheia {al-ay'-thi-a}
Meaning: 1) objectively 1a) what is true in any matter under
consideration
A. Is
Personal
1. Relative
Truth
The
philosophy of independent thinking “what’s right for you isn’t right for me”
2. Absolute Truth
Defined
by an authority “God” and relevant to everyone and every situation.
60 percent of adults agree that there
is no such thing as absolute truth. Much worse is the fact that over 50 percent
of born again Christians think truth is relative. That is, they believe that
what is true for one person may not be true for another. According
to another survey, over 75% of professing Christians cannot accept the idea of
absolute truth.
B. Is
Public
1. How others ask information of you. (is
it relative or absolute)
2. How you ask information of others. (is
it relative or absolute)
(Ill. Abraham Lincoln once used a very
clever ploy to teach some people about truth. They had come to him with a
decision that was based on suppositions rather than truth. After hearing their
logic, President Lincoln asked, “How many legs would a sheep have if you
called its tail a leg?” Quickly they answered, “Five!” The President then
said, “No, it would only have four legs. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it
one.”)
C. Is Passive
Passive means an individual or
circumstance is being acted upon by a force or influence. This force is evident
in the two classes of people on this earth
The
unsaved, They have a spirit within them (Satan) which blinds them to the
truth, 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. This accounts for the fact that they will consistently
reject the truth and choose lies instead. This also demonstrates why they live
their lives the way that they do and how they attempt, justify their sins
before God and man.
The
Saved, Jesus tells us three times in John’s Gospel that the Spirit of God
is the “Spirit of Truth,” John 14:17;
15:26; 16:13. John 16:13 is
especially important, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
This verse tells us that the Holy Ghost will reveal the things of God to us,
thus teaching us the truth. Therefore, believers can learn the truth through
the Spirit of Truth Who lives within us.
Jesus believed in absolute truth. He
believed in absolute truth so strongly that He came to this world, lived and
died to bear witness to that truth. Yes, there is such a thing as truth,
regardless of what society may say about it. This truth can be perceived and it
can be known!
II. v. 37B A POWER
(
A. Will
Liberate – Joh 8:32
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.– When Jesus
said this, He was telling His listeners that the truth had the power to deliver
them from bondage to sin and the Law. Truth would literally set them free in
Jesus. When you come to know the truth, you come to know something that sets
captives free; opens blinded eyes; heals broken hearts; transforms shattered
and ruined lives and fills men with the love of God, the peace of God and the
joy of God.
B.
Will Separate – Joh
17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. – In this
passage Jesus is praying for His disciples, including us! As He does, He asks the Father to “sanctify
them through thy truth…” The word “sanctify” means “to
render something holy; to dedicate or consecrate something to God.” Jesus
says that the truth of God has the power to cleanse us and make us more like
our heavenly Father! I have heard it said that “sin will either keep you from
this book; or this book will keep you from sin!” That my friend is a truth! When you yield
yourself to the truth of God’s Word, and walk as the Spirit directs you, you
will find your life becoming cleaner and more pleasing to God. His truth sets
us apart and cleans us up, Eph 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain
words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of
disobedience. ; Joh
15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you.
C. Will Invigorate – Joh
4:24 God is a Spirit: and they
that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth. – Here, Jesus tells the woman at the
well that the truth will make you want to worship! You see, real worship is
acknowledging God in every part of life! Real worship arises out of a heart
that had been saturated with His truth. Real worship comes about when the Holy
Spirit takes the truth of God and makes it clear to us. When we comprehend Who
Jesus is, what He has done for us and what He is doing; it will leaves us at
His feet in a humble, simple worship of Him! But, if we do not understand the
truth about Who God is and what He has done, then our worship will be warped. Until
we know the truth about Him, we cannot truly worship Him! There is
nothing like the truth to put a fresh spark into your worship!
II. v. 37B A POWER
III. v. 38 A PERSONALITY
(
A. In
Scripture – Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth:
thy word is truth.– Everything either stands or falls right here! If the Bible
is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God as it claims in 2 Tim. 3:16, then it and it alone is
the final authority and standard of living for all of life. Not the opinions of
men; not the writings of great philosophers; not the teachings of great
religious leaders, but the Bible will
be the final word in all manners of life.
However, if the Bible is wrong and cannot be believed, then our
foundations are destroyed and we have no faith, no hope and no rules, Psa
11:3 If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? If the Bible is a lie, then there is no absolute truth! Yet,
we have raised a generation that has been taught to doubt the truth of this
book! When a child sits in a classroom and hears that the earth is billions of
years old and that man evolved from a single-celled organism over millions of
years, the foundations have been destroyed! If God did not make man in His
image then it is not wrong to kill babies through abortion. It is not wrong to
rape and murder other people because we are all just animals. If man evolved,
then there is no sin, there is no right and wrong, there are no absolutes. You
might as well live like you want to because there is no Hell; there is no accounting
to God; there is no after life. If the first 11 chapters of Genesis are not
true, then you might as well can the whole book! If God lied in Genesis 1-11, then He is not able to be trusted anywhere else in
the book! If I can’t trust Him in Genesis
1:1, then I can’t trust Him in John
3:16.
When we take the Ten Commandments
and say they are not relevant for today, we have undermined the foundations. When
we tell society that the Bible cannot be trusted, we undermine the foundations.
When we treat the Bible like a giant buffet and choose the parts we like and
ignore the parts that bother us personally, then we undermine the foundations. There
is a price to pay for our haughtiness; and that price is the absence of truth
in
I hope we can agree the Bible is the
inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God without contradiction.
B. In Savior – Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. – Jesus plainly
calls attention to the fact that He and He alone is the real deal! Jesus was and is the embodiment of truth, Joh
1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ; Joh 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. All other
would be saviors are merely pretenders. It doesn’t matter how many followers
they have or how sincere their followers are. Jesus and Jesus alone is “the
way the truth and the life!” Jesus and Jesus alone is the Lamb of God
slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus and Jesus alone is the truth! All
other men are liars and all other methods are lies; and they all lead down the
broad road of destruction. They have their destination in the fires of Hell! Jesus
alone is the door onto the narrow way that leads to life everlasting! Our world
doesn’t like that truth, but it is still true, regardless of whether they like
it or even believe it!
Conc: What is truth?
It is the difference between night and day. It is the difference between in and
out. It is the difference between black and white. It is the difference between
saved and lost! What is truth? The Bible is truth! Jesus Christ is truth! And,
if you accept those as truth in your life, you have a standard for living and a
reason to life. But, if you reject them as your standard, then you have no
absolutes and live as you please. However, it does not change the fact that the
Bible is still true and Jesus is still the only way to God. So, the things of
God are true whether we accept them or not! Thank God for the truth!