What is Truth?
Christianity’s Biggest Questions • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Opening Comments
Opening Comments
Please journey with me to the Gospel of John chapter 18. (Pg….) as we enter into week two of our series “Christianity’s Biggest Questions.”
Last week, we kicked off our series by answering the question “Can we Really Trust the Bible”, we started there because, as believers, we anchor our faith inside of its pages.
The question before us today is one of the most important and loudest questions being asked in our culture today:
What is truth?
That question is one that comes from the lips of the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. As he is trying to assess what kind of threat Jesus poses to his power.
Follow along as we read God’s authoritative word.
28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”
32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
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.”
38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.
Introduction
Introduction
Pilate’s question is one that still reverberates today.
We hear it in phrases like:
“Speak your truth.”
“Live your truth.”
“That may be true for you, but it is not true for me.”
I understand sometimes, when people say things like that, they’re trying to express their own lived experience. But experience is not the same thing as truth.
It’s entirely possible for my experience to be real, but my understanding of it to be wrong.
I can have strong feelings, but that does not mean those feelings are reliable.
I may have desires that feel natural, but they may still be sinful.
My story and my experiences are important, but they do not have the authority to define reality.
A person can sincerely believe a lie.
A lie may seem useful for a while.
A whole culture can agree that something is right and still be wrong.
And the people with the loudest voices may have influence, but influence does not make something true.
Truth is what is real. It is what corresponds to reality.
And because God is the Maker of all things, truth is reality as God defines it, sees it, speaks it, and reveals it.
So this morning, we are going to answer Pilate’s question by looking to Christ, where truth is revealed, embodied, and brought to bear on every person who hears His voice.
1. Truth is reality as God reveals it. (v.28)
1. Truth is reality as God reveals it. (v.28)
The religous leaders of Israel had their own version of the truth.
In their minds, Jesus was a dangerous threat to their authority, influence, and way of life.
They had seen and heard enough of Jesus miracles and teaching to know he couldn't be ignored, but instead of receiving him as the true messiah, they twisted the truth of God into a problem.
This is what sin does. It distorts reality. It bends our thinking until wrong looks right, rebellion feels justified, and compromise starts to sound reasonable.
It allows a person to stand against God while thinking he is acting in truth.
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!
That is why the modern idea of “my truth” is so dangerous. Once truth becomes something I define for myself, my desires become the lens through which I interpret everything.
My feelings become evidence.
My preferences become moral authority.
My story becomes untouchable.
Anything that challenges me can be dismissed as harmful, oppressive, or simply “not true for me.”
But truth does not work that way.
If something is true, it is true whether I like it or not.
If something is false, it is false even if it confronts me.
2+2=4
Not 5.
Not blue.
It doesn’t change because I feel deeply about it or because a crowd agrees with me.
Truth corresponds to reality.
If truth is relative then we can
A. Shape truth by our personal agenda
Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
The religious leaders bring Jesus to Pilate because they want Him condemned, but they will not enter Pilate’s headquarters because they do not want to be ceremonially defiled ahead of the Passover.
They’re careful about stepping into a Gentile building, but careless about rejecting the Son of God. They are protecting outward cleanliness while their hearts are full of unbelief.
That is exactly what happens when our agenda shapes our view of truth.
We become serious about the wrong things.
We guard appearances while ignoring sin.
We defend our position while resisting God.
We love to bend the truth in order to protect what we love most.
Be it our sexual desires. Political Loyalties.Personal happiness.Identity. Success. Comfort. Control
But then, when God’s word confronts our sinful agenda, suddenly it’s the Bible and christianity that’s the problem. Truth becomes the problem.
“God has spoken” gets replaced by “I want.”
We resist truth because it threatens the throne of self.
B. God’s revelation tells us what is true.
Truth is reality as God reveals it. That means that if God made the world, then God defines the world and everything in it including us.
He is the one who tells us:
What is real, good, evil, and sinful.
The way of salvation, and what every soul needs.
Truth is rooted in God and when we remove him from the equation life becomes unstable because all we have left is opinion, preference, power, and feeling.
Truth becomes relative when there is no final standard above us to say who is right.
A measuring tape cannot be whatever length I want it to be.
If I am building a wall, I cannot call twelve inches whatever feels best to me and expect the house to stand.
Because reality doesn’t bend to my preference.
God’s Word gives us the standard outside ourselves. It reveals reality. It tells us who God is, who we are, why the world is broken, what sin has done, what Christ has accomplished, and how sinners can be made right with God.
Truth is reality as God reveals it.
2. Truth is embodied in Jesus Christ. (v.33-37)
2. Truth is embodied in Jesus Christ. (v.33-37)
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Pilate is doing his best to place Jesus into a category he can understand. But he is thinking in terms of Rome.
Power.
Threat.
Control.
But none of his categories fit Jesus.
A. The world tries to define Jesus by its own categories.
Our culture does the same thing in its own way.
Secular society wants a Jesus who can be admired as a moral teacher without being obeyed.
Quoted as a religious reformer or political symbol without being worshiped.
A mascot they can trot out for compassionate causes without being received as Lord.
They want a Jesus that is one voice among many voices.
But Jesus is more than a teacher, more than an example, more than a reformer, and more than a voice among many.
Every man-made category we try to fit Jesus into is too small to contain Him.
Jesus cannot be edited down into something more socially acceptable. He cannot be shaped into our man-made image of who we think He should be.
A remade and refashioned Jesus cannot save you. You have to take all of him or you get none of Him.
B. Jesus reveals a kingdom above this world.
Pilate asks Jesus “Are you King of the Jews?
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Jesus does not deny that He is King. He reveals what kind of King He is.
His kingdom does not come by political force and military might. His is a kingdom not of this world, but above this world.
If Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, then His truth is not subject to this world’s approval.
It’s not subject to elections, courts, cultural trends, academic theories, social pressure, or public opinion. Because it’s over all of those things.
Ephesians tells us He is:
Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
That’s why we as Christians have to stop letting the culture disciple our understanding of who Jesus is. We don’t form our understanding of Jesus from the assumptions of society.
God has revealed who Jesus is from the pages of Holy Scripture. And when God speaks, truth is not up for a vote.
C. Jesus reveals the truth because He is the truth.
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.”
Jesus says He came into the world for this purpose: to bear witness to the truth.
Jesus being the embodiment of truth is a theme that runs all throughout Johns gospel.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And 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.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus didn’t just teach the truth, He is the very embodiment of the truth.
He reveals God.
He shows us holiness in flesh and blood.
He shows us love without compromise, mercy without weakness, grace without ignoring sin, and righteousness without corruption.
The world wants truth on its own terms.
Morality on its own terms.
Justice on its own terms.
Dignity on its own terms.
Meaning on its own terms.
Love on its own terms.
But if Jesus is the truth, then truth cannot be separated from Him.
Christianity is true because the living Christ is at its center.
And if truth is embodied in Jesus, the question is not, “What do I believe about truth?” But, “What will I do with Jesus?”
3. Truth demands a response. (v.37-38)
3. Truth demands a response. (v.37-38)
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.”
38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.
A. Truth must be heard, received, and obeyed.
Jesus says those who are “of the truth” listen to His voice.
Truth cannot stay in the realm of theory. It must move from the ear to the heart and then from the heart to the life.
We love to discuss truth as long as it’s abstract.
One of the biggest examples of this is the podcast Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett. He regularly sits down with business leaders, celebrities, athletes, scientists, religious figures, and cultural voices to discuss the biggest questions of life like why are we here, where are we going, purpose, meaning and fulfillment.
But, talking about truth is not the same thing as submitting to truth.
People love to talk around truth. We love to analyze it, debate it, question it, and keep it at a safe distance.
But when truth presses against our favorite sins, our pride, our identity, and our desire to rule ourselves, we often run from it.
B. Truth exposes the heart’s resistance.
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. But knowing true things about Jesus did not make him faithful to Jesus.
You can know true things about Jesus,
have Bible knowledge
Have good morals,
be religious
Admire Jesus
and still refuse to bow before Him as your Lord.
People love to say they want truth, when what they really want is permission to live as they please, define themselves as they please, and keep God close enough for comfort but far enough away that He does not rule them.
Because, if Christianity is true, then I am not my own.
My body is not my own.
My desires are not my own law.
My money, family, future, sexuality, priorities, and worship all belong under the authority of Christ.
C. Truth calls us to listen to Christ.
In fact Jesus says, (v.37) “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Listening to the voice of Christ means receiving His Word as true and bowing under His authority.
You can’t find the truth by looking deep within yourself or reading the prevailing winds of culture.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Truth is found in Christ alone.
So what will you do with Him?
Pilate asked, “What is truth?” and walked away.
Don’t do that.
If Christ is speaking through His Word, then hear Him, believe Him, and follow Him.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Truth is reality as God reveals it.
It’s not created by my feelings, my experience, my desires, or the approval of the crowd.
Truth is embodied in Jesus Christ.
His truth does not depend on this world’s approval.
Truth demands a response.
Pilate asked the right question, but walked away from the One who came to bear witness to the truth.
That is the danger for every person in this room.
Hearing the truth but still resisting the truth. Knowing the right answers and still refusing to bow before Jesus. Admiring parts of Jesus and still rejecting the real Jesus.
Invitation
Invitation
If you are here this morning and you do not know Christ, hear the truth plainly.
You have sinned against God. Your guilt is real. Judgment is real. No amount of sincerity, morality, religion, or self-definition can save you.
But God has not left you without hope.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He lived without sin. He died in the place of sinners. He rose again. Today He calls you to repent and believe.
Stop standing in front of the truth and using your questions as a shield to keep you from it
Don’t stand before truth and walk away like Pilate did.
Surrender to Christ. Turn from your sin. Trust Him. He will forgive you, save you, and make you new.
_______________________________________________________
And Christian, if Christ is the truth, then His Word must rule every aspect of your life.
You don’t get to pick and choose the truth as you see fit. You must bow before it.
Some of us in this room are resisting the truth right now because its not what we want to hear.
Others have let culture creep in to their lives and take the place of Jesus.
Repent and come back to Christ. Stop chasing your sinful desires. You cant find fulfillment there. It will always leave you empty.
Jesus says, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Is that you?
Prayer
Prayer
Father,
Bring us face to face with the truth of Christ.
Forgive us for the ways we twist truth around our desires, our feelings, and our sin. Open our eyes to see Jesus clearly as the way, the truth, and the life.
For those who do not know Christ, call them to repent and believe today. Strip away excuses and draw them to the Savior who forgives and makes sinners new.
For believers, bring us back under the authority of Your Word. Teach us to hear the voice of Christ and follow Him.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
