Jesus is my Truth
John 14:1-7:
1“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4And you know the way to where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
We are several weeks now (since February) into the Series “Jesus is the Answer for me” ⇒ Jesus is the Door
⇒ Jesus is my Teacher
⇒ Jesus is my Sustainer ( I am the Bread of Life )
⇒ Jesus is the Good Shepherd
⇒ Jesus is the True Vine
This week, we would be looking at one of the more familiar of the “I am” passages. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus being the Way, the only Way, was the answer that I needed, when as a younger me, I realized my need for a Savior. This has been one of those key verses that have been in evangelism and gospel conversa tions.
And after you have accepted Him and begin your journey you will soon learn that there is so much more to Christ than just being the Way. Jesus had answered Thomas’ question about the way to the Fa ther, but He added that He also is the Truth and the Life. One leads on to the other. The Way that leads us to the Truth that leads us to Life, a life that is eternal and abundant.
Let us look closer at Jesus being the Truth.
But first, let me ask. What is truth? (some dictionary definitions)
• The quality or state of being true
• That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality
• A fact or belief that is accepted as true
The first is a bit vague.
♦ “In accordance with fact or reality.”
You can’t just believe the things that are presented as “facts”. Sometimes they are not – if not a a complete fabrication, some underhanded manipulation . And “reality” is staged to fit a narrative or a de sired outcome. Even with fact-checkers checking fact-checkers, we still are sometimes leery of what is pre sented as true
♦ “accepted as true”.
A 19th century German philosopher, Friedrick Nietzsche argues that truth is always filtered through individual perspectives and shaped by various interests and biases. He also asserts, "There are no facts, only interpretations." Or that truth is subject to constant reinterpretation and change, influenced by shifting cultural and historical contexts.
According to Os Guiness, truth is in trouble—
“Truth in any objective or absolute sense, truth that is independent of the mind of the knower, no longer exists…”
He illustrates this in the story of the 3 baseball umpires debating their different philosophies of umpiring. “There’s ball and there’s strikes,” says the first, “and I call them the way they are.” The second umpire disa grees. “That’s arrogant. There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call them the way I see it.” That’s no better says the 3rd, Why beat around the bush? Why not be realistic about what we do? There’s balls and there’s strikes and they ain’t nothing till I call them.
The first umpire represents the traditional view of truth – objective, independent of the mind of the knower and there to be discovered. The second speaks of moderate relativism – truth “as each person sees it” according to his perspective and interpretation. The third umpire bluntly expresses the radically relativist, or postmodern position – “truth” is not there to be discovered; it’s for each of us to create for ourselves. Is this not what observe in our world today?
God’s truth is revealed but man rejects it.
Romans 1:18-23:
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ev er since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became fu tile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
The world may reject it, but there is truth that is absolute, eternal and unchanging, and that truth is found in God.
I. KNOWING THE TRUTH
Truth denotes the entirety of Christianity as revealed in the person, teaching, and life, of Jesus. He is not only true, but Truth itself. He is the perfect revelation of God the Father (John 14:9).
We know truth in the person, character and the work of God the Father.
Deuteronomy 32:4:
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Right eous and upright is He. (NKJV)
Isaiah 65:16:
so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath
in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.
God of the Amen. One of God’s names. Amen, not only what we utter at the end of a prayer, meaning “may it be so”, but when said at the beginning ( as in Amen, amen, I say…) it means “it is so”.
We know truth in the person, character, and the work of Jesus Christ.
He manifests in Himself all divine reality.
John 1:14:
14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)
16For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. John 14:6-7:
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
If Christ is not the Truth, then the Way is not the Way. The Life is not the Life. We know nothing of the Father.
“What is truth?” Pilate had asked Jesus. He never waited for an answer, but instead delivered Him to be executed.
R.C.Sproul wrote:
“Pilate judged the Truth. He sentenced the Truth. He scourged the Truth. He mocked the Truth. He crucified the Truth.
The irony is that at the very moment he asked his question, “What is truth?” he was staring at the pure incarnation of Truth. The One who is the Truth had just said to him “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”
2 Corinthians 4:4:
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Revelations 3:14:
14“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true wit ness, the beginning of God’s creation.
Jesus Christ is called “the Amen” which is the same name used of God the Father in Isaiah 65:16. We know truth in the person, character, and the work of the Holy Spirit
John 15:26:
26“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16:13:
13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own au thority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Truth is not some nebulous idea, a flexible concept, or a theoretical assumption; it is a clearly de fined, unalterable entity. It is ultimate reality, residing in the triune God of the universe, and it is not open to reevaluation or redefinition.
Not only is Truth in the triune God, Truth is also in the written word of God.
II. SANCTIFIED IN THE TRUTH
Psalm 119:160:
160The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever John 17:17:
17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
2 Timothy 3:14-17:
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
15and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Dr. Tony Evans Overcomer:
If God’s people will make the knowledge of God and His Word the pursuit of their Christian lives, Satan will thwarted in his every effort to divide, deceive and destroy. To seek the truth, you must diligently search the Scriptures. The wonderful news is that our seeking after the truth will never be in vain. God has promised to reward us when we diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6:
6And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
III WALKING IN THE TRUTH
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
John 8:31-32:
31So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disci ples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The very first step to abiding or living the Truth is to be honest about where you really are in your walk with God. We all have our failures and our shortcomings. Perhaps a sin that entangles, prayerlessness.
And we must allow the Holy Spirit of Truth to convict us of sin.
Psalm 139:23-24:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,and lead me in the way everlasting!d
God desires for us to be whole, to know and love the truth at the very core of our being. Psalm 51:6:
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Ephesians 6:13-17:
13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and hav ing done all, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gos pel of peace. 16In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flam
ing darts of the evil one; 17and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
The devil will not let up. He will lie and deceive and will use everything in his arsenal to cause us to fail or be discouraged, to doubt and disobey. But thank God that He provides the armor that will allow us to stand firm.
Conclusion:
If Jesus is my Truth, then
⇒ God is who He says He is. He is the Creator. He is the Sustainer. He is the Eternal, Unchangeable, Om niscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent God -for Whom nothing is impossible. He is the Loving Father. He is the Provider, the Healer, the Promise Keeper. He is all you will ever need and more.
⇒ You are who God says you are. You are His creation, fearfully and wonderfully made. You have a pur pose. Do not believe the lies of the devil. Your worth is not based on your past or the opinions of oth ers. You are beloved of God, precious in His sight.