“Jesus said…, ‘I am … the truth… No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
Seldom do we separate the triad of affirmations recorded in our text. The more usual approach is to consider them as a unit. The Master testified, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” We intuitively understand that the three attestations are so intertwined that they really cannot be divided. However, in an effort to fully understand the richness of the Master’s testimony, I have endeavoured to weigh each statement. Certainly, each assertion is capable of standing on its own, and in this study we will think of Jesus, the Truth.
TRUTH EXPLAINED — Jesus of Nazareth was haled by the Sanhedrin to stand trial before Pilate, the Roman legate appointed to administer Palestine. While interviewing the prisoner, Pilate asked, “What is truth.” His subsequent actions demonstrated that he wasn’t seeking an answer; he wanted only to register his cynical view of life in general and of religion in particular.
Jesus stood before the governor, testifying to the purpose of His coming into the world. Perhaps you will recall the exchange between these two men—one sitting as judge, and one bound as a malefactor. Had you and I been present for that interview, we would have undoubtedly concluded that the man seated on the throne possessed authority, power and majesty. Observing His bondage and His position below the dais, we would no doubt that concluded that the one standing before governor had neither form or majesty, no beauty that would make us desire Him [see ISAIAH 53:2, 3].
The account in JOHN 18:33-38 informs us that “Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’” This was the charge brought by the chief priest and the members of the Sanhedrin assembled with him. The divine text informs us that when He was questioned, “Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’”
The charge could not be more serious to be brought before an Imperial Legate, for the prisoner stood charged with lèse majesté, treason. It is all the more surprising, then, that Jesus chose to ignore the taunt that had been flung out by the governor. Focusing instead on the central theme of Pilate’s questioning, “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.’” Pilate seized on this response and said to Jesus, “So you are a king?” At this, “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.”
This response elicited the dismissive query from Pilate, “What is truth?” He didn’t want an answer—he sought only to express his cynicism. Perhaps he wished to stress the meaningless nature of life. Perhaps he wanted to simply be rid of this nuisance that had been brought before him. Whatever his motive, the governor cut off any further discussion with the prisoner by striding back outside to where the Jewish leaders were awaiting his pronouncement.
Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world to “bear witness to the truth.” Of course, each follower of Christ seeks the truth. We want to speak truthfully. We long to live truthfully. We long to be truthful in our very being. In the text before us, Jesus testified that He is the truth. From this testimony, we learn that if we want to know the truth, we must know Him.
How shall we define truth, then? Theologically, truth is Jesus—He embodies truth and He defines truth. In a more general sense, we can state that truth is the opposite of falsehood; truth is the converse of error. In Greek thought, truth implied that one was able to get at the heart of a matter—truth was to grasp the essence of an object, it was to understand the nature of the being of a matter or of a person.
The opposite of this could be described by appearance. Appearance is what seems to be, but truth is what is. As an example, we note that the Wise Man has written:
“There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.”
[PROVERBS 16:25]
This is an ancient statement that Jesus embraces with His affirmation that now lies before us. There is the appearance of wisdom; and there is wisdom. There is the appearance of one following the right way; and there is the right way. The one way leads to death; the other leads to life. Thus, truth is reality versus perception. Truth is substance versus mirage.
In Hebrew thought, truth is related to the concept of faithfulness. To say that one is true is to say that one is faithful, or reliable. Appropriately enough, a reliable witness is one who is telling the truth. We witness the application of this concept in the interaction between Joseph and his brothers. You will undoubtedly recall that his brothers had sold him into slavery. However, God was always at work in Joseph’s life, watching over him to use his life to preserve the life of his family. When his brothers again were brought into his life, Joseph did not immediately reveal his identity to them, though he immediately recognised them.
The brothers were confounded when the one who stood before them threatened to incarcerate them, permitting only one of them to return home in order to bring their father and youngest brother with them to Egypt. At the time he seized them, Joseph, speaking through an interpreter said, “Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you” [GENESIS 42:16]. The truthfulness of their words would be tested by the facts. Of course, in this day we communicate much the same idea when we say, “Don’t talk the talk if you don’t walk the walk.”
The Psalmist prayed,
“Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.”
[PSALM 86:11]
He knew that if he was taught the way of the LORD he would be equipped to walk in God’s truth. This is the awesome weight that presses down on the one who wishes to be a teacher of truth. Many imagine that they can dictate to the preacher what he shall say; but they do so at the peril of their own souls and at the peril of the souls of those who sit under that teaching. Woe to that preacher who ceases to take direction from the Spirit and heeds the voice of the people.
There is found in the Psalms another verse that is vital in establishing the relationship of faithfulness and truth. Many modern translations use the word “faithfulness” in a verse that David wrote in the 119th Psalm.
“I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.”
[PSALM 119:30]
However, others have grappled with the same verse and translated it as follows:
“I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.”
[PSALM 119:30]
Either translation is accurate and faithful to the intent of David’s words. Truth and faithfulness are so interrelated that they cannot be separated.
Consider one other instance where the two concepts are presented in the same word. PSALM 100:5 reads as follows in the English Standard Version:
“The LORD is good;
His steadfast love endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.”
[PSALM 100:5]
“The LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.”
[PSALM 100:5]
His faithfulness and the His truth are equated. Certainly, God is faithful to all generations. Likewise, His truth endures to all generations. Truth and faithfulness are equated in the mind of the Living God.
Thus, we see that truth is the opposite of falsehood. Truth expresses the essence of one’s being. Truth and reliability are intertwined. Thus, to live truthfully, one must be open and honest. One must be dependable, doing what is promised and the deed performed in a manner that is reliable. There can be no shifting shadows if one is truthful. Moreover, there cannot be two truths—only one, for truth does not permit itself to be divided.
In reality, the triad of affirmations cannot really be divided. When Jesus says He is the way, He associates with that thought that truth may only be known as we choose to walk in that way which He identifies as His way. Likewise, He states that there can be no life if we stray from that way, just as we have already seen in PROVERBS 16:25. Therefore, His testimony that follows this great affirmation is both reasonable and rational: “No one comes to the Father except through Me” [JOHN 14:6b].
Jesus is the truth; He defines truth for all mankind. We see the testimony pointing to Him as the standard for truth stated repeatedly throughout the Word of God. As John begins the Gospel that bears his name, he writes of Jesus, “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” [JOHN 1:14]. Having testified that Jesus is “full of grace and truth, John hastens to add that Jesus is the source of both grace and truth when he writes, “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” [JOHN 1:17]. Though grace is vital for our salvation, it is truth that is the focus of our study at this time; and Jesus is the truth—the dependable source of redemptive revelation.
Jesus is the living truth. The truth that is found in Christ Jesus the Lord is active. Truth is so much more than a set of static postulates—truth is that dynamic that seizes the believer, propelling him or her to seek great things for God and to accomplish what she or he begins. That truth controls our thoughts as we come to Christ; it influences us powerfully so that we want to do what is true and right. That truth sets us apart for God’s purposes, guides us and sets us free. Truth is not a concept; truth is a Person. Truth is not a hypothesis; truth is Jesus Christ.
Though we now live almost two millennia after the ascension of the Master, we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth that Jesus is. Recall the words of the Master, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” [JOHN 14:26]. John point to this selfsame truth when he writes in his first letter, “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth” [1 JOHN 5:6].
Urging believers not to emulate the Gentiles—the unbelievers that surround the people of God at any given time—Paul writes, “That is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus” [EPHESIANS 4:20, 21]. The evidence that outsiders do not know the truth is witnessed in “the futility of their minds,” in darkened understanding, in alienation from the life of God because of their ignorance, in the hardness of their hearts. Thus, “they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practise every kind of impurity” [see EPHESIANS 4:17-19].
Since Jesus is God in human flesh, we should not find the testimony that He is the truth surprising. Long years ago, Jeremiah wrote of the Living God:
“The LORD is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.”
[JEREMIAH 10:10a]
This revelation through Jeremiah is very similar to Jesus’ statement given during His high priestly prayer: “This is eternal life, that they know You the Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” [JOHN 17:3]. As God, Jesus possesses all the attributes of the Living God; and He promises, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” [JOHN 8:32].
There is a dark side to this truth, and that is that those outside of Christ are bereft of the truth. Not only are they deprived of the truth, they are incapable of recognising the truth when it is presented. Thus, the Apostle speaks of such people as “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” [2 TIMOTHY 3:7]. What is more tragic is that many of those who are ignorant of the truth imagine themselves conversant with the truth, though they are “corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith” [2 TIMOTHY 3:8].
We must never forget that “God our Saviour … desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” [1 TIMOTHY 2:3, 4]. Christ Jesus the Lord took on human form for this purpose. However, those who reject His mercy and His grace, reject also the truth. Therefore, they are susceptible to the dark days that are assuredly coming on the earth, when “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” [2 THESSALONIANS 2:9, 10].
TRUTH EXCLUDING —Holding the truth as an ideal, and living truthfully, are two separate matters. All of us appreciate truth in others—we expect that others will be truthful toward us, provided that their truthfulness doesn’t inconvenience us or irritate us. Few of us are prepared to be fully truthful. Mothers always taught us that famous Bible verse found in the Book of Hesitations, “If you can’t say anything good about a person, don’t say anything at all.”
Thus, when people ask how we are feeling, we are apt to respond, “Fine,” even when our distress is written on our face and we feel like death warmed over. We don’t want to discuss our condition and we imagine that others will only mumble some meaningless condolence, and so we fail to speak truthfully. It is innocuous enough, I suppose; but it is a failure to speak the truth, nevertheless.
Men, you learn very early in marriage that the truth may not always be wise. When your wife asks how she looks in that dress she bought for a special occasion, it doesn’t matter a great deal what you actually think. You know how you are supposed to answer. She selected it, spending far more time than you spent considering which truck you should buy when you were shopping for a vehicle. And you know it is the course of wisdom for you to do a Houdini and disappear whenever you hear those dreaded words, “Does this dress make me look fat?” Truthfulness is a wonderful ideal, but it is hard to live truthfully.
When we seek to walk with the Master, we will cease living in the dark and begin living in the light. Similarly, we will cease living a lie and begin living the truth. I want to explore the ramifications of this through focusing on a few specific areas of life. Truth excludes error in speech, in relationships and in worship.
Throughout the Word of God are multiplied statements that focus attention on the impact the truth of God has in our life. Of necessity, the presence of the Spirit of Christ excludes what we were when we were in the world, because we are now brought into a dynamic relationship with Him. When we come to faith, the Spirit of Christ takes up residence in our life. Though we still have the old nature, we now have Him living in us to provide guidance and correction.
Each Christian has the Spirit of God living within. This is an important truth that is too often neglected in this day. There are no second-class Christians who are somehow overlooked. There are no Christians who are more endowed with the Spirit than others. Each believer has the Spirit of God living in him or her; and thus, each Christian has the same guidance and the identical potential for knowledge of the will of God.
Concerning the Spirit of God, Paul teaches in his First Letter to the Christians of Corinth, “The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” [1 CORINTHIANS 2:10b-13].
The practical impact of the Spirit’s presence is seen in multiple ways. Immediately, the Apostle says that His presence is seen through our words. “The things freely given us by God” are imparted “in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit.” In another place, Paul boldly states, “We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God” [2 CORINTHIANS 4:2]. Indeed, he says that as servants of God we commend ourselves, among other means, “by truthful speech” [2 CORINTHIANS 6:7].
All who have been born from above are called to renounce falsehood. The language of the child of God has no room for falsehood and error. Thus, we are taught in Scripture, “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” [EPHESIANS 4:15]. We must speak the truth in love; it is a mark and a means of maturity. This same truth is urged on all Christians later in the same chapter when the Apostle writes, “Having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another” [EPHESIANS 4:25].
At a practical level, it means that we do not minimise sin either in our own life or in the life of a fellow believer. Because we are guided by the Spirit of God, we willingly accept responsibility for one another, holding one another accountable before the Word of God. We must be prepared to speak the truth to one another. What happens in modern Canadian life is that we don’t want to hurt one another’s feelings, so we avoid holding one another accountable. We don’t want anyone to feel badly, so we don’t mention their sin as they begin to stray. We overlook the sin that expresses itself more boldly in the life of a straying saint.
What is needed is boldness, and we become timid. When we do speak, too often we are motivated by pique rather than compassion. What is worse, when we are confronted about our behaviour, we often respond with choler, accusing those who speak out of concern for our spiritual welfare with meddling or with motives that are unworthy of the Master. Paul asked the Galatian Christians, “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth” [GALATIANS 4:16]? We might conclude that they were hurt by his confrontation of their lives which gave evidence that they were straying from the path of righteousness.
In this vein, truthful speech will lead the preacher to take pains to ensure that he presents the Word of God in its entirety. The man of God must not neglect some aspect of the Word because it may offend someone who listens. Paul charges Timothy that he must remind those who listen of Christ, and “charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” [2 TIMOTHY 2:14, 15]. However, the preacher of righteousness must be careful to “avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.” Then, the Apostle names two individuals—Hymenaeus and Philetus—whose names will live in infamy, as men “who have swerved from the truth.” Thus, because they are unrestrained in their speech, they were “upsetting the faith of some” [2 TIMOTHY 2:16-18].
In a former congregation, I found it necessary to ask a woman to step aside from her duties because of her explosive anger that led her to lash out at many people, disrupting the work of the congregation. After consulting with other church leaders, I accepted the responsibility to remove her from her position for the sake of the Body. In a rage, she announced that she wanted nothing to do with the church. She would show us! She would just quit. Remonstrating with her was unsuccessful, and she ceased attending the services, withdrawing from membership.
After some months, this woman again began intermittently attending the services. She was still angry, and she expressed her anger through her attitude and her words to anyone who would listen. On a particular Sunday, I was speaking from a text that addressed the responsibility of the congregation to judge sin. As I spoke, she took exception to the Word that was preached, vigorously shaking her head, folding her arms and literally pouting as I spoke.
Seated in the congregation was another woman who had the reputation of spiritual maturity, primarily because she had been a church member for many years. Let me say as an aside, that it does not matter how long you have been on the journey, what matters is how far you have come. Thus it was after the service, that this older woman approached me so that she might rebuke me for preaching from that particular text. “You hurt that woman’s feelings,” she began. “You should not have preached from that text because you knew it would hurt her.” It did not occur to her that I could not know who would be present on that Sunday or that I had announced by text months before that day. What mattered to her was that someone felt hurt and I should have known that what I said would make her feel bad.
I was aghast at the suggestion that I must not speak from a text if I knew that someone in the listening audience would be hurt. Of course, had I heeded that advice, it would be necessary to avoid the Word of God, for “the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” [HEBREWS 4:12].
What had happened is that this older woman had grown more concerned for the feelings of one person than for the truth of the Word. She had taken umbrage for another, interjecting herself into the feelings of another without considering the will of the Master for His people. Tragically, this woman was not an exception, for each of us is susceptible to succumbing to the same error if we cease to be guided by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of the Master will lead us to seek the truth, to walk by the truth and to speak the truth.
Not only does the truth exclude error in our speech, but truth will exclude error in our relationship with one another and with outsiders. In our love for one another, the truth teaches us, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart” [1 PETER 1:22]. Obedience to the truth is expressed through sincere brotherly love.
With the heart of a pastor, Peter stated that he was responsible to keep the truth of God before those to whom he wrote. He stated, “I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have” [2 PETER 1:12]. The qualities in view were the result of God’s provision of “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” Thus, through His promises we are called to “become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” He continues, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” [2 PETER 1:3-11].
The believers to whom Peter wrote were established in the truth, but he knew that he was responsible to keep the truth before them so that they would continue to grow in their Christian walk. They were responsible to continue growing in righteousness; and growth occurred as they laboured to incorporate a truthful relationship with one another. Ultimately, the truth of the Word would be seen through sincere love for one another. The love expressed is not a feeling, not an emotion, but a choice to honour one another, a choice to care for one another, a choice to accept one another, a choice to hold one another accountable for righteousness before the Master.
This is the reason the Apostle of Love has written, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” [1 JOHN 1:6]. Likewise, he warns, “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him” [1 JOHN 3:18, 19].
Perhaps we need to be reminded that love is founded on and grounded in the truth. Love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” [1 CORINTHIANS 13:6]. In our families, love seeks truth. No marriage is made strong through deceit. Rather, husbands and wives are strengthened through trust. Similarly, within the congregation of the Lord, error and deceit can never make us stronger; error and deceit sap our strength and ensures that we build our relationships on a gossamer foundation that cannot support growth.
Is it not because we have no truth in our relationship that we find it easy to drift into a congregation and just as easily to drift away from that congregation? Isn’t it because we have built on a false foundation of personal freedom rather than mutual responsibility that we now join the church rather than being placed in the church? Thus, there is scant consideration for one another because we come to church for what we can receive rather than seeking to give of ourselves and of the gifts that the Spirit of God has entrusted to us.
When we promote our own interests over the interest of Christ or over the interest of His Body, we err. James warns, “If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth” [JAMES 3:14]. Promoting our own interests proves we are “false to the truth.” Seeking the welfare of the assembly demonstrates the mind of the Spirit. The welfare of the Body is served by seeking the truth, and not by seeking our own comfort. Therefore, we are taught, “If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” [JAMES 5:19, 20]. Such loving correction will always be based on the truth of the Word and not on how someone may feel. The truth excludes any attempt to build such a relationship on feeling, directing us instead to the Word.
The truth will lead us to make every effort to worship in a manner that honours the Master. Jesus told the woman He met at the well of Sychar, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” [JOHN 4:23, 24]. True worshippers “worship the Father in spirit and truth.” In fact, “the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.”
There is among the Psalms of David a beautiful statement encouraging us to worship in truth.
“The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.”
[PSALM 145:18]
It is fair to say that if we fail to worship in truth, we will never know the presence of the LORD. We may generate excitement, we may have deep feelings arising from our efforts, but we cannot know the presence of the Spirit of Christ until we worship in truth.
Worship is not defined by how we feel or even by what we do. Worship is the spontaneous response of the individual who is brought into the presence of the Living God. Worship consists of finding oneself lost in awe at the unveiled glory of the Lord God. Worship is the ascription of honour and majesty to Him who alone is worthy of receive praise. Worship is the rightful acknowledgement of power and might, of wisdom and knowledge, to the Creator by whom all things exist. Worship in truth is the expression of boundless confidence, of admiration and of fascination with the Risen Master. Worship is adoration of the gracious Saviour.
For a brief moment, consider the worship that will occur in Heaven. John draws aside the curtain that separates time from eternity, permitting us to see the raptured saints together with the holy angels before the throne of God and the Lamb of God. He sees them “saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” [REVELATION 5:12-14]. Heavenly worship is focused on God and on the Christ, ascribing to them the glory that is theirs alone. Heavenly worship does not seek to exalt man, or even consider what man may feel, but rather focuses on Him who lives forever and who showers us with grace and mercy.
Modern “worshippers” find it amazingly easy to sing songs, clap and shout, perhaps even dance, and if their emotions are stimulated sufficiently they will say that they have worshipped. Yet, too often, those same “worshippers” are able to leave the experience behind as they verbally destroy one another with their tongues and as they castigate the preacher because he spoke too long or because he didn’t touch on their pet doctrine.
May I say that if we worship in truth, we will be changed. The Word of God tells us, “Whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” [JOHN 3:21]. If we have truly worshipped, we will afterwards walk in the light. We will be changed because we will have met the True and Living God; and no one can remained unchanged who has met the Lord God.
TRUTH EMBRACED — Truth is not a system of knowledge; truth is a Person. Truth leads man out of darkness and into glorious light. We need to remember that,
“The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.”
[PROVERBS 4:19]
The Word is clear that those outside of Christ “are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” [EPHESIANS 4:18]. Paul states that “no one understands” [ROMANS 3:11].
The sad truth is that people attempt to devise a plethora of ways to God. We read in the Word, “This alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” [ECCLESIASTES 7:29]. Yet, there is but one way to know the truth.
In Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” [COLOSSIANS 2:3]. If I will know the truth, I must know Him who is truth. I must embrace the truth and walk in the truth. Knowledge of the truth will lead me to reject depending upon my own thoughts to receive the revealed will of God. It does not mean that I check in my brains by the door, but that I must not think that through my efforts I can make myself pure. If this were possible, then it would not have been necessary for Christ to have died. However, He did give His life as a sacrifice for sin—my sin. Now, I am responsible to accept His sacrifice and walk in truth.
The Word of God teaches, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Master,’ believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. With the heart one believes and is made right with God, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” You are responsible to believe that Jesus died because of your sin and that He rose in order to declare you right before the Father. You must confess that He is your Master if you will be saved. This is summarised in the prophetic word, “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved” [ROMANS 10:9, 10, 13].
I pray that you are a Christian. I pray that you are walking in the truth. If you are walking with Christ, you are walking in the truth, for He is the truth. Amen.
