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“THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!” JOHN 8:31-32 APRIL 30, 2006
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
INTRODUCTION… “The truth will set you free… the truth will set you free…” In movie dialogues, in songs both secular and religious, in books, we have heard the phrase so many different ways, and usually it was twisted to mean something that has nothing to do with what Jesus meant when he spoke them. But without some kind of context, the words are meaningless: It’s like if I go up to so-and-so ands say, “burgundy.” What does that mean?!
This morning, we’re going to look at this often used phrase to get at the root of what Jesus meant when he spoke the words, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
WHAT IS TRUTH? What was this “truth” Jesus spoke of? Well, Jesus isn’t helping anyone fill in a “TRUE or FALSE” survey here- Jesus is talking about truth that is the basis of our living… our motivation for getting up each day… our reason for being. He is talking about the ultimate purpose of our existence. That’s pretty significant stuff!
Lots of people claim to be looking for truth, or something that is true. Something that is dependable, worth believing and committing yourself to. But there’s so much ‘stuff’ out there, it’s hard to figure out what to believe. One group says this, another philosophy says that. One religion teaches this, another popular figure says we should believe him. Where have we tried to look for truth?
- science- good science shows facts, but doesn’t give life meaning
- philosophy can help in some instances to give a structure to a belief system, but because they are all based on human wisdom and ideals, cannot provide meaningful explanations to the larger questions: Why am I here? Why is the rest of the universe here? Where do good and evil come from?
- religion has always been popular in that it attempts to bring the physical and the spiritual together- the seen and the unseen. But in it’s negative manifestations, it often becomes humanity’s attempt to create a god of their own fashion, and a set of rules to either make him happy so he doesn’t crush them, or rules that force this god to do their bidding.
Who do we believe… can we believe anything as true? Some simply say there is no truth! But, they don’t really live this consistently (give examples)
We all have this longing because God has placed it within us. Some of the truth is known to everyone, but is rejected. (read Rom 1:19- 25)
TRUTH IS PART OF GOD As Christians, we have received and care the answer to this quest for truth, because we have been shown and can direct others toward God. Truth is a moral and personal characteristic of God: He is “the God of truth” (Is. 65:16). Because of His perfect nature and will, God has to speak and act in truth; He cannot lie (1 Sam. 15:29; Heb. 6:18; James 1:17–18).
THE WORD OF GOD The psalmist declared, “Your law is truth” (119:142), “all Your commandments are truth” (119:151), and “the entirety of Your word is truth” (119:160). - Why did God give it to us? - Can we trust it? - How do we read it? - prayerfully- God wrote it… only He can teach it to us (John 16:13) - carefully- study!! Col 1:23; 2:7 - submissively- it is to be lived. Matt 11:25- it is hidden from the proud Phil 3:16
TRUTH IS A PERSON… JESUS It would be rather cruel of Jesus to say that truth and the freedom that resulted in knowing it existed, but then not tell us how to find it. It would be like finding a treasure map that didn’t have an X to show us where to dig! Fortunately, Jesus did mark the X. But Jesus was pointing people beyond the written scriptures of his time, as important as they were and are. Jesus made it clear that those scriptures actually pointed to him, and that was the ultimate source of truth. Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh, “So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us.” (John 1:14). All Jesus said was true, because He told the truth He heard from God. He promised His disciples that He would send “the Spirit of truth”—a Helper who would abide in Christians forever & guide Christians into all truth (John 16:13). God is truth; the Spirit is truth; and Jesus is truth. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Jesus and the revelation the Spirit of truth gave through His apostles are the final, ultimate revelation and definition of truth about God, people, redemption, history, and the world.
When Jesus said that knowing the truth would set us free, he was saying that knowing Him would set us free.
How do we know Jesus? - read about him - talk to him
WRAP UP… What did Jesus mean when he said we would be “free?” To say that people long for freedom could be the understatement of the day! But again, what does Jesus mean by “freedom?” Well, as many of his followers would be imprisoned, and even die or be executed there, he couldn’t have meant that kind of freedom. The Bible also has many commands we are told to observe- many from the mouth of Jesus himself in the gospels- so it certainly doesn’t mean the freedom to do whatever we want (even though many think that is what they would like!)
Who was Jesus talking to? Jewish people… religious people… people who spent much time in activities observed to provide relief from both spiritual suffering and political oppression. People who considered themselves chosen by God to above all other nations and races- but a people who were surrounded by godlessness and ridiculed for their faith. And in their heart of hearts, their religion provided little relief for the doubts, questions, pride, and sin.
Truth about who we are, who God is, about the world around us, the future. Freedom from fear, competition, proving ourselves or our value, living without purpose. All of these are found in knowing Christ. Not immediately, perhaps, but as we grow in our relationship with and understanding of him.
In a famous line from the movie, A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson’s character kept asking the question, “Do you want to know the truth?” And then he said the line, “You can’t handle the truth!!” While his words were in no way pointing to spiritual truth, they are profound in that he was trying to make those listening understand that knowing the truth had very real consequences.
Jesus said in his statement about truth and freedom that those who truly loved him (and thus knew him) were those who obeyed his commands. We will be looking more at that in another message in this series. For now, let me simply emphasize the fact that in now knowing the truth- or now knowing where and how to find it- we are accountable to knowing and following him. The truth behind our existence, how to live it with meaning and purpose, lay in knowing and walking with and obeying this Jesus. He doesn’t point us to the truth- he IS the Truth. My question for you this morning is: Do YOU know Him? Do you know and experience the freedom He offers?
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