SPEAK THE TRUTH

This past Wed night in our Bible study on 1 John we read a verse.

1 John 4:3 NLT

3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

Key word in this Scripture is TRUTH ABOUT JESUS --- what is the TRUTH about CHRIST - our discussion Wed night dealt with Jesus being fully God and fully man and in his human deity gained paid the price to save us and earned the right to identify with us. No other deity can claim this.

This morning I want us to take a look at what I believe is the CRUX of our Christian faith in one Scripture verse...

It is Words of Christ spoken that set a precedent for all that we believe in and do.

They are words that will not only draw us to saving faith in Christ, but should also thrust us toward the Great Commission that Jesus gave to us to go into the world and make disciples of all people...

John 14:6 NLT

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

1. Statement of Self

Jesus begins with a statement of who He is!!! The Way, the Truth and the Life

A. Way

What does that mean to be the way...

the literary definition of it would be thoroughfare...

the road, path, direction....

we see it in the name of our church and the depiction of the road ---

We have found the WAY - but to what

the way to truth and life - eternal life for the soul

Until we find Jesus, we get on many roads, but they all dead end in destruction, pain, lostness...

They never bring us to the destination of peace and healing that solely comes from knowing Christ.

John 14:27 NLT

27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Do we believe HE IS THE WAY!!! the WAY to peace of mind and heart...

rest and healing for the broken and fractured soul that has been beaten up by a sinful world and selfish longing by ourselves and others?

Do we act upon this belief by FOLLOWING THE WAY HE HAS PROVIDED

(Sheep following Shepherd to the table He has set for us - we must follow in order to be safe)

B. Truth

Just as Pilate asked that famous statement - What is truth?

We see our world turning upside down because we have IGNORED the absolute truth in pursuit of our own truth!

How can we have our own truth, and think we can deem our DESIRE as TRUTH FOR OURSELVES?

Jeremiah 17:9 NLT

9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Yet, in our modern society the motto that leads to your own truth is to FOLLOW YOUR HEART - which the LORD says is WICKED and deceitful.

Truth is what is proven, authenticated, RIGHT, Genuine, verified and evident, real

It is a STANDARD to measure by -

We need TRUTH - something by which to measure all things in our lives by ----

In order for something to be real - it has to absolute ---

C. Life

What is life, but the essence of existence --- it is beyond the physicality of these bodies and has enduring or lasting value ---

The soul is what truly lives — when we focus everything around what our physical body experiences than we have missed the deeper knowledge that LIFE is the SOUL ---

The soul was created to commune with God and to live forever, but sin destroyed that communion and brought death — real death is not the physical ending but the permanent separation from GOD

To die or be dead spiritually is to be separated from our created purpose - communion with God

Real life - is communion with God

Romans 8:10 NLT

10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.

Ephesians 2:1–6 NLT

1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. 4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:16 NLT

16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

Life only truly exists both physically and spiritually in Christ when we have died to sin. It is union with God! It is ETERNAL

2. Demand of Exclusivity

Here is the catch in all of this...

We live in a society and time where people want there to be many truths, many ways and many destinies....

I find that people have bought into this greatly...

Over the last 2 weeks I did 3 funerals for unbelievers.

2 of them played “Over the Rainbow” like there is a destiny over a rainbow that has gum drops and good thins — you can find me there after death...

It does nothing but feed a lie...

It sounds good, it brings temporary comfort, however you can see on people’s faces there is not real assurance of after life without Christ.

Jesus did not make HIMSELF exclusive to be mean, but to TRUTHFULLY SHOW US THE WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE

…no man comes to the Father but by me!

That is the truth, He is the way, communion with the Father is the life!

I wonder in our attempt to not offend others if we have purported the myths of other destinies and paths and truth.

I wonder if in our attempt to not offend if we turn the other way and ignore the incorrectness of people and loved ones beliefs allowing them to hold onto those deceptions of the spirit of antichrist in the world?

We opened with a verse that the same author John wrote in 1 John — any other viewppoint of Christ is antichrist

1 John 4:3–6 NLT

3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. 4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

YES, the world has a viewpoint - but it is a lie and deception.

Here is my concern today --- that the CHURCH has helped to support this lie with our SILENCE!

If we believe this CLAIM OF CHRIST is REAL than we cannot

IGNORE IT

AVOID IT

OVERRIDE IT

3. Urgency to Proclaim

This statement by Jesus should create an URGENCY in us to PROCLAIM IT!!!

WHY? People are dying all around us, they are dead in sins, they living in a lie, they are on the wrong road and it is leading to eternal destruction.

How do we sit by idling and let our children, friends, parents, cousins, co-workers and even strangers around us

Live a lie

Exist in death

Head to hell?????

We either don’t care or we don’t believe Jesus claim!

Or we have convinced ourselves they already made this choice and we can do nothing about it.

The reality is we must urgently proclaim what JESUS SAID....

I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me...

It is not a popular message of today --- who said it had to be popular or in agreement with the current trends to be CORRECT????

Something I realized doing these funerals is that there are so many people who are lost...

So many people who just do not know...

Yes, they have not had family examples of following Christ, and many have rejected religion and/or Jesus directly, but that does not mean the church is allowed to be silent on the matter.

We have truth, and we must remind them of that truth, because it is the ONLY WAY TO FIND LIFE.

CONCLUSION

SO, today may we realize

Jesus is the only ROAD, PATH to the right Destiny

Jesus is THE TRUTH, outside of Him life is a deception

LIFE exists when the soul finds forgiveness and healing in CHRIST

This completion only happens through Jesus Christ and it demands to be PROCLAIMED.

We may feel that to contradict other worldly viewpoints is not loving, but REAL LOVE cares enough to be honest when we see others going off a cliff.

SPEAK the TRUTH IN LOVE!