Entrusted With God's Truth

In John 18:38 NIV Pilate asked, "What is truth?”

I. There is Worldly Truth

Some say Truth is contemplated, like Plato

Some say Truth is reasoned, like Aristotle

Some say Truth is variable, says the Contextualists

Illustration: Bill Clinton; “That depends on what the definition of is, is”

Some say Truth is subconscious, like Freud

Some say Truth is your perception, like many.

1. The notion that there are many truths might seem well suited to a diverse society. But when everyone is free to define truth as he or she prefers, as at present, the result is an intellectual and moral shouting match in which the people with the loudest voices are most likely to be heard.

2. To say that something can be ‘true for you, but not for me’ is virtually to reduce truth to a matter of personal opinion.

A. In the western culture truth might get you in trouble

One night a Massachusetts state police officer pulled over a speeding car. The officer said to the driver, “I clocked you at 80 miles per hour.” The driver says, "Gee, officer I had it on cruise control at 60. Perhaps your radar gun needs calibrating." His wife was in the passenger’s seat, and without looking up from her knitting, she said, “Now don’t be silly dear, you know that this car doesn’t have cruise control."

As the officer proceeded to write out the ticket, the driver looked over at his wife and growled, "Can’t you please keep your mouth shut for once?" The wife smiled and said, "You should be thankful your radar detector went off when it did." As the officer then proceeded to write out the second ticket for the illegal radar detector unit, the man angrily stared at his wife and said through clenched teeth, "DARN IT, woman, can’t you keep your mouth shut?"

The police officer only frowned and said, "And I notice that you’re not wearing your seat belt, sir. That’s an automatic $75 fine." Getting flustered, the driver responded, "Yeah, well, you see officer, I had it on, but took it off when you pulled me over so that I could get my license out of my back pocket." At which point the wife piped up, "Now, dear, you know very well that you didn’t have your seat belt on? You never wear your seat belt when you drive."

And as the police officer begins writing out the third ticket, the driver furiously turns to his wife and shouts, "WHY DON’T YOU JUST SHUT UP??"? At that point, the police officer looks over at the woman and asks, "Does your husband always talk to you this way, Ma’am?" And she says, "No sir, only when he’s been drinking."

The truth will set you free or get you put in jail!

B. Truth basically for a Christian is how we live, worship, and witness.

II. There is Godly Truth, which does not change

Truth does not change from one age to another, from one people to another, from one geographical location to another. Men’s ideas may differ, men’s custom’s may change, men’s moral codes may vary, but the great all prevailing truth stands for time and eternity.” What we believe to be true may be relative, but the TRUTH is absolute…

III. Jesus is Truth Personalized

Jesus said: "I am the Way to the Truth and the Life of the Truth."

“The clear implications of Jesus saying he’s the way, the truth, and the life are that,

First, truth is absolute,

Second, truth is knowable.”

IV. So What exactly is truth?

A. In the Old and New Testaments, truth is a fundamental moral and personal quality of God.

For Paul, truth is the message of God that all of humanity has repressed (Rom 1:18) and exchanged (1:25) for lie, in that they have directed their worship not to the Creator, but to the creation.

In addition, Paul also uses truth to speak practically of the believer’s deportment in following the Lord.

Believers are to speak the truth to one another in a loving manner, as we grow up into submission to our head, namely Christ (Eph 4:15).

The importance of speaking the truth to one another is underscored by the fact that we are members of one another (Eph 4:25).

In 2 Thessalonians Paul equates the truth with the believers’ salvation.

Those who perish do so because they are under a wicked deception, and so refuse to love the truth and be saved (2:10).

In the Pastoral Epistles, truth takes on the characteristics of a repository, or official body of beliefs, of which the church is the faithful steward and guardian.

Salvation includes, and is likely synonymous with, knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4).

The church of the living God is both the pillar and ground of the truth.