Untitled Sermon

John 8:31–36 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

What Is Truth?

What is this truth that Jesus speaks about in our Gospel lesson when He declares, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free?”

Without the Holy Spirit and faith in Jesus, you will never know it.

Pilate did not know it. When, at His Capital Punishment hearing, Jesus said, John 18:37 “Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.””

Pilate’s question? “What is truth.” It is standing right before his eyes. It is Jesus Christ, the way, the TRUTH, the Life. Pilate wouldn’t know it if it kicked him in the stomach.

But, that’s ok. Most of the world STILL does not know the answer to Pilates question.

Some say there is no truth at all in this world. The cynics don’t believe it exists.

Most say it’s something relative. Just look at Politics today. Everyone has his or her own truth, and uses it to call others liars. The standard is what “I” think. My own truth. And it is unchallengeable. If you do, you’re a liar. You’re a fraud. You’re marked, ultimately for death. The true cause behind the governmental show down. But all truth that stems from this is always going to be a lie.

Francis Schaeffer, a renowned theologian in his book The God Who is There correctly argues that with God, and only with God, as revealed in Scripture there is Empirical truth— that is, absolute truth that defines itself. Truth that cannot be altered. Truth that stands on its own. Truth that cannot be denied. Truth devoid of human opinion. In essence truth that is a standard.

That truth is ultimately found in one person alone: Jesus Christ. That truth to which the Scriptures testify. From the fall into sin on, there is no truth in this world apart from Jesus Christ.

That Jesus, who stands before Pilate, who shamefully condemns him, caving into the mob to save his own head. That truth that stands in the face of all of the falsehood that exists “out there” today and also “in here” today. Jesus alone is truth. All true truth on earth has its beginning and end in Jesus. All else is really an elaborate lie that is often times believable.

As Christians we must stand in this Truth of Jesus as revealed in His holy, inerrant, infallible, immutable, Word of God in the Scriptures. Ultimately, only Jesus is truth.

We Confess the Truth

The calling of God’s people is to profess this truth, no matter who takes offense or issue with it. Either the Truth of God’s Word, Jesus is all truth, or no truth. There is no middle ground. The world will never buy into it. They know more that the Lord, and they will continue to self justify their lies and live apart from Jesus. Not you.

The Truth of Jesus Christ is made known in His Truthful Scriptures to us. When you have the truth— Jesus— you have eternal life. Received from God’s Word alone, by Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, under God’s glory alone.

The calling of the Church is to preserve this truth through the power of the Holy Spirit, and to share this truth so that all can “come to the knowledge of the truth” and then live in the truth of God’s presence in heaven forevermore. Anything else is counterfeit.

Revelation 22:18–19 “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

And so, we as Christians crave the truth of the Lord that we need each day. We take the Scripture at face value, neither adding to it or deleting or disbelieving anything it says.

During the pandemic we were continuously exhorted to believe the truth of science. We quickly found out that much science used in this way is flawed. Truly, God created science, but when it is used as a hammer against God’s truth, as it was and continues to be, it is no truth at all. True Science seeks to dig deeply into the depths of God’s truth. Human nature loves to misapply science and separate it from truth.

Beloved, simply stated, Jesus Christ is truth, revealed in the Scriptures that are truthful. What is Truth? Jesus. End of story.

So, What happened to the Church?

For Centuries the Church preached this truth of Jesus Christ. That truth is found in the Scriptures, and reflected in the writings of the Church Fathers— early pastors of the Church, some dating back to the post apostolic age, who penned for us the faith lived out in the life of the Church. Reaffirming time after time that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. For centuries the Church proclaimed this. For centuries the Church has routed out heretics who do not teach the truth, or who do not see Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. They have been the guardians of the faith.

During the medieval times something happened. Things began being added to the faith that were not found in Scripture, nor in the sacred writings of the Fathers. Teachings such as purgatory— that denies that Jesus died for all sins and you must make up for the ones that exceed His grace, or that you could purchase time in this heretofore unknown teaching of purgatory to lessen your time of purification before you go to heaven, or that Saints can make satisfaction for your sins, and a lot of other teachings began to infiltrate the Church. These articles of faith never existed prior to the medieval times. Any time they did, the church branded them as heresy. But then they became acceptable.

None of these things are in Scripture. And none of these things were ever discussed by the early church fathers. None.

In fact, the compound word, “catholic” from the Greek “kata holous” (according to the whole)means “that which is believed always, everywhere, and by all.” Be careful. It doesn’t mean “universal” as so many say. Always. Everywhere. And by all.

In 1517 Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic Augustinian monk and professor of theology realized that certain points of theology were not believed always, everywhere and by all. The early church never taught purgatory. Never taught indulgences. Never taught the intercession of saints. But at his time they became hard and fast points of theology that the church upheld. He could not resolve this. So on October 31, 1517, the eve of All Saints, he published 95 points- some in question form— known as the 95 Theses— on the bulletin board in this university town’s church in Wittenberg, Germany. They were a call to debate. Not because Luther thought he was right, but because he was afraid of being wrong.

Reformation history is very deep and involved. So summing up a lot of things, Luther was never allowed to debate these questioned beliefs and practices, he was tried and convicted of heresy, and excommunicated on the tenth day of Christmas, January 3, 1521. By the way, other theologians had pointed out these errors as well, the most notable was Jan Hus, who was burned at the stake about 100 years prior to this for bringing up the same question.

The issue at hand: The Catholic church had ceased to be Catholic, because they were teaching things that were not believed always, everywhere, and by all.

By the way, the word Catholic is a good one. Remember in the Athanasian creed we confess that unless one believes wholly and inviolately the Catholic faith he cannot be saved.

Luther desired for the Church to remain Catholic but it had ceased. In doing so it stopped teaching the truth. This is the heart of the reformation. When the truth is extinguished, you, not Jesus, are responsible for your salvation. That, beloved, is not the Gospel. Just think of John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

For Luther it was all about this Gospel. Salvation is God’s work, not mans. The forgiveness of sins is not obtained through penance but the Cross of Jesus. His work. Not ours.

Sola

We hold to what Luther taught. It is simple. We are saved by God’s Grace alone, revealed in Scripture alone, through faith in Christ alone, to God’s glory alone. Your salvation was totally and completely won by Jesus. You receive it through faith given by the Holy Spirit. Our good works are the fruits of our faith, not the foundation of our faith. That belongs to Jesus alone.

Unfortunately, many churches of the Reformation or others that broke away from Rome for varying reasons over the centuries are rapidly doing the same thing that Rome did in the `6th Century. They are adding to God’s Word an inclusivity that allows sin in the door. They are taking away strong admonitions of what is sin out of the Scriptures because they want to be loving to all.

The ELCA has all but rejected Jesus as Savior, the Methodist Church just split over disagreements on homosexuality, and the buzz word of the churches in many walks has changed from “repent” to “welcoming.” They are just as wrong now as Rome was then. They have chosen the wide road that leads to destruction than the narrow path of Jesus alone.

In our Revelation class we are learning that at the end of time many will fall away. It’s happening. That, beloved shouldn’t make you angry. It should break your heart. Stay close to Jesus.

When you do, you have the truth. And the truth will set you free.

Amen.