Truth Speaker

Intro

Jesus is truth and the truth will set us free.

There was a young boy who learned the importance of telling the truth. His dad had come home from work asking His son how his day went when He noticed something broken on the floor. It was his limited edition collectors plate! My plate, my art limited edition collector plate What happened to it? he asked.

His son thought about it a bit, he actually did break the plate but he thought a little fib cant hurt anyone and it frees him from getting into trouble. so he said to His dad “Well, it's Laura's fault, she broke the plate, I tried to stop her She said she had to demonstrate her apple chopper The apple chopper worked just great But chopped right through your bowling plate It's Laura's fault, she broke the plate, it's true And that's the tale I have to tell to you. His dad believed Him and the son thought the fib worked amazing. So when Laura got into trouble from her dad Laura’s friend came to confront the son to see what happened because Laura claimed she didn't do it.

The son thought, one more fib cant hurt so he told another one. Actually, Laura didn't break the plate It was, it was Lenny Her brother. Yep, that's great, Lenny broke the plate I'll tell you the whole story

It's Lenny's fault, he broke the plate, he's very naughty Just how was I to know he hated collector plates. He gave it to a crocodile, who chewed it up for quite awhile It's Lenny's fault, he broke the plate, it's true And that's the tale I have to tell to you.

The lies kept getting bigger and bigger. Until they got out of control. His friends confronted Him and He admitted to everyone he actually broke the plate. Though lies seemed easy at the time it got out of control. What He learned is though the truth is hard and uncomfortable It is freeing.

What we celebrate this Christmas is the birth of the messiah, who spoke a different kind of truth, a different kind of freedom.

Long ago when Moses spoke He said the prophets that where to come after them would speak truth. There would be those though that would claim to speak truth on behalf of God, but they would be false prophets an would face judgement. We are not to listen to them. But There would be those that would speak truth from God, and we where to listen to them. It was a truth that rang through the ages. The truth of the gospel is also a little uncomfortable. When Jesus was born. He is the prophesied messiah, the one foretold to bring peace to the nations yet people missed it. Not everyone, but so many people missed It. Jesus carried this mantle of truth speaker, speaking the message that God had for the world, doing the will of His father God. The truth that we are given is to be told to others

What we learn from this is that Jesus, the foretold messiah spoke truth this truth came from God, this truth brings freedom. Those who hear Jesus truth must respond to the truth. What have you done with Jesus truth.

Future Prophet

What we end with is learning that Jesus spoke the truth of God, and therefore the question that we need to ask is what will we do wih the truth that Jesus spoke to us. But before we get there we need to go on another journey.

Deuteronomy 18:20 CSB

20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a message in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.’

Deuteronomy 18:21 CSB

21 You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?’

Deuteronomy 18:22 CSB

22 When a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

This speaks again of the prophet to come as we know which as we also know ultimately points to Jesus.But it gives us some qualifications to look out for. The reason we need to be careful is because we are told those who speak the truth of God will come in the form of prophets. This was a special person called by God to deliver His divine message.

It says their will be two types of prophets. Those who come from God and speak the truth and those who claim to come from God but do not and speak lies. We are told that we could recognize them in this way. Those that came from God would speak truth and the prophecy the spoke would come true. Moses warns us that if the message the prophet spoke didn't come true we are not to fear them. But they have something to fear, They should fear God for the false message they spoke.

The truth speakers spoke the message of the gospel that we have written down here even from the very beginning. They where told during the time of Moses that they must follow God and his laws if the want the freedom of the promised land. The gospel tells us we must follow the truth of God, we must strive after the truth of God. Like the wise men who came for years trying to find the truth we must make it our lives goal to find the truth of Jesus.

Truth Tellers in the NT

How does this translate to the NT though. When it comes to the prophets and speaking truth that comes from God. First we need to understand that the promise was fulfilled ultimately in Jesus. to see this we go to the time when Jesus was confronted by Pilate.

John 18:37 CSB

37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

The phrase "own your truth" has gained popularity in modern culture, often meaning to live authentically and to embrace your experiences, beliefs, and values without fear of judgment. Your truth" is often presented as subjective, implying that everyone has their own version of reality based on their feelings, experiences, and perspectives. The emphasis is on personal lived experience rather than universal truths or shared moral frameworks. Many in modern culture reject the idea of absolute or universal truth, viewing it as oppressive or outdated. Instead, truth is seen as fluid and adaptable to personal or cultural contexts.

But we say truth is absolute, the truth of the gospel is not subjective, it is not fluid it is absolute. Jesus spoke the truth of the gospel as the sent one from the messiah.

John 3:13–23 CSB

13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.” 22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized. 23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized,

This is the message of Christmas. The message of truth. This truth is absolute and never changing. one of the questions that came out of this for me is what about prophets. Moses said there would be others. Did it end with Jesus or where there other truth tellers like Him? This is somewhat of a rabbit trail

What is a prophet?

OT prophets had the authority to speak and write words that had absolute divine authority. The question is does that still happen the same way today. After all we are supposed to be able to tell a n actual prophet by if their words come true or not. It is the apostles, not the prophets, who have authority to write the words of New Testament Scripture

In the NT after Jesus left He commissioned the apostles. OT style prophets role got changed to to the apostles. I believe that type of prophecy ended with Jesus and the apostles. what we see as NT prophecy can be more defined like this.

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine (A. Prophecy)

Although several definitions have been given for the gift of prophecy, a fresh examination of the New Testament teaching on this gift will show that it should be defined not as “predicting the future,” nor as “proclaiming a word from the Lord,” nor as “powerful preaching”—but rather as “telling something that God has spontaneously brought to mind.”

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine 2. The Meaning of the Word Prophet in the Time of the New Testament

Much more commonly, the words prophet and prophecy were used of ordinary Christians who spoke not with absolute divine authority, but simply to report something that God had laid on their hearts or brought to their minds

Again I bring this up because it comes out of what we have been talking about. I will give one example of this. Acts 21:10-11

Acts 21:10–11 CSB

10 After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’ ”

Agabus prophesied that the Jews at Jerusalem would bind Paul and “deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles,” a prediction that was nearly correct but not quite: the Romans, not the Jews, bound Paul and the Jews, rather than delivering him voluntarily, tried to kill him and he had to be rescued by force The prediction was not far off, but it had inaccuracies in detail that would have called into question the validity of any Old Testament prophet

Something we have to remember about this though is that the truth of Jesus reigns. Always measure what people say against the true word of God.

New Testament congregational prophets spoke with less authority than New Testament apostles or Scripture: the problem of successors to the apostles is solved not by encouraging Christians to listen to the prophets (even though there were prophets around) but by pointing to the Scriptures

Jesus is truth and the truth of Jesus is what sets us free. God can still bring things to our mind that he wants us t share with others. I have seen this happen, it is not all that fun whenever I see it, it tends to be because people need to be reminded to turn back to the Lord God. Though this is not always the case. But it does speak to the needs and heart of the person.

But the absolute truth we need to remember is that Jesus is truth and the truth will set us free from bondage to sin. The message of truth that was ushered in with the birth of Jesus says that we need Him. So what will you do with this truth? do not get wrapped up in other peoples version of the truth. Do not be misinformed about people who claim that truth is fluid and ever changing. The truth is eternal and never changing. But it should change our lives!

So What?

In the truth of the gospel there is peace. In the truth of the gospel there is joy. There is hope in knowing that Jesus is going to come back again for those that are His children. We are celebrating Christmas this week.

And though Jesus was not born in December. While the exact date of Jesus' birth is uncertain, historical and biblical evidence points to a likely time frame between 6 and 4 B.C., possibly in the spring or fall. The specific day is less significant than the theological truth: God entered history through the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ. The date is not so much important is the reason why we do it.

I want to remind you before you go into the week of Christmas that Jesus came to speak truth. He was the prophet foretold that would speak the divine message of God.

Beware of false prophets

With this comes the warning that we need to be careful of those who claim to tell the truth, claim to hear from God but do not. Always remember to measure everything someone tells you against the word of God when it comes to claims of prophecy and before you act on it bathe it in prayer.

Hey I know it is odd to speak of false prophets in a Christmasy message but the warning is there. There would be those claiming to hear from God but their messages would not come true.

As we cling to God and His word we need to remember that

Jesus is truth

Jesus is the standard of truth that we live by. As humans we sometimes struggle to tell the truth in day to day life. Sometimes it is easier to tell a lie then to live the truth.

John 18:35–38 CSB

35 “I’m not a Jew, am I?” Pilate replied. “Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 “My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 “What is truth?” said Pilate. After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging him.

Jesus came to testify to the truth, He is the truth and anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus needs to live by this truth. The truth of Jesus is written down in the gospel. So then as we celebrate the brith of Jesus the gospel needs to be at the center. For if the gospel is truth, it will set us free.