On the day He was crucified, Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate accused of false charges. Pilate asked Jesus if He is indeed a King to which Jesus replied, “You are right in saying that I am a King. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the worlds, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.” To which Pontius Pilate replied, “What is truth?”
That seems to be the question many are asking today, “What is truth?” We live in an era of relativism where some claim that there are no truths, only what is right for you. There is no right or wrong, no clear plum line to use as a standard for our behavior and beliefs, just the absolute belief that there are no absolutes. But Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth.” In a world searching for the truth, the truth is closer than we think. He stands with us this morning as the glorious Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
Today as we look at our text, I want you to know the power of knowing the truth and the freedom the truth can bring. Please take your bibles and turn to the Gospel of John chapter 8 starting with verse 31. “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Here in the midst of an argument with the religious leaders, Jesus takes a moment to inform those who believe in Him the power the truth has. He said, that if you know the truth, then that knowledge you obtain, that truth will set you free. It is only through knowing Christ that a person becomes truly free, through the truth that He brings and trough the redemption He obtained at Calvary on our behalf. You shall know the truth, and it will set you free. But free from what?
In the first place, the freedom we obtain from the truth is the freedom from ignorance, primarily the ignorance of spiritual things. Now we are all aware of the bondage we have of not knowing certain things. If a person has no education than his opportunities are limited. A person who is illiterate will face many closed doors and will have difficulty even finding the most menial of jobs. If this is true in our secular society, imagine the impact this has on a spiritual level. A person who is illiterate of spiritual truths will not be able to thrive spiritually. A man who does not know the teaching of the World of God or the basic fundamental truths of the Christian faith cannot come to Christ for salvation. They are in bondage to their spiritual ignorance. And that ignorance can be devastating.
Here in our text, these religious leaders were ignorant of spiritual things. Sure they were religious men, but they lacked the truth, and so one of the symptoms they had was that they were ignorant of their spiritual condition. Look at John 8:33, “They answered him, "We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Now first of all they were ignorant of the facts. They had indeed been slaves, many times over; to the Egyptians, to the Babylonians, to many other times. But their spiritual ignorance was outrageous.
They thought that just by being a decedent of Abraham gave them a special path to Heaven. One Jewish Rabbi at that time even advocated that Abraham sat at the gates of Hell and would not allow any of his decedents enter in. But geneology is not enough. When the Pharisees came to the desert to check on John the Baptist, he immediately retorted them saying, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”
Now before you are too quick to judge their belief, compare it to the beliefs many hold today. The belief that just because I come from a Christian home or a Christian nation automatically makes me a Christian. Friend, even if you had the holiest of mothers, her faith can assist you, but her faith can not save you. You alone make the decision to follow Christ. Others can aid you in that decision, but in the end it’s a choice you and you alone must make. And if you are void of the truth, than you will be in bondage to that ignorance.
But the good news is that the truth that Jesus break though that ignorance. For example, let’s suppose a man feels like he is in great shape, but his wife notices a discolored mole on his back. Although he feels fine he is actually in grave danger. So he goes to the doctor who runs a few tests and concludes that the mole is cancerous, but now that he is there they can remove it before it spreads. You see, the truth of his condition helped to save his life.
And the truth is that many of you here today are ignorant of your spiritual condition. Sure you feel fine, you’re succeeding in many areas of your life and you don’t have a care in the world. But deep within you are spiritually sick, and the truth has the power to bring that sickness to the surface. That’s why when people who never considered themselves in need of a Savior come in contact with the Word of God it reveals the truth of their condition. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” And until you see the need for a Savior, you won’t seek the Savior.
Let me give you an example. Let’s suppose that here is a man who lives next door to you. He is an average sort of person. He has a normal nine-to-five job. He has a family. On Friday nights, he goes bowling with the league. He likes to golf on Sunday and when he is not doing anything else he likes to watch television. It is a normal life and he is quite happy with it. He seldom thinks of God, and God just does not enter into his thinking.
But then someone begins to talk to him about spiritual things and in the course of time he comes into a situation in which he begins to learn something of what the bible teaches. It may be in church, it may be in a home bible study or by listening to a sermon on the radio. Whatever the means, he begins to learn some basic spiritual truths. The first thing he learns is that he is a sinner. Before this he had always thought he was all right because he had never cheated on his wife or robbed anyone. Now he learns that sin is being less perfect than God and that it is seen in such things as pride, selfishness, anger, and worry. So for the first time in his life he begins to be disturbed
He learns that God is a God of judgment and that there is a judgment day coming. This really disturbs him. He had never though of the fact that one day he might have to give an account of what he has done in this life. Now he finds himself lying awake at night thinking about death and what lies beyond it.
Finally, this man hears about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ-how He died for our sins and how He loves us even though we are sinners. These truths now grip him just as forcefully as the thought judgment had gripped him before, and he finds himself calling on Christ in order that he might be saved. The truth of Christianity, made meaningful to him and applied to his heart by the Holy Spirit saves him. You see, he once was in ignorance, but now the truth has set him free!
So the truth has the power not only to free us from spiritual ignorance, but also from the bondage of our sins. Sin is a very powerful thing. Jesus warns us here in our text, John 8:34: “Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Sin of any kind has the power to enslave you. At first it may seem like innocent fun, and sin is enjoyable…if it wasn’t we wouldn’t do it. But then the law of diminished effect and increased demand kicks in. And you find that the sin you thought you had control over actually has control over you.
But the good news is that Jesus breaks that power of sin in your life. He frees us from the guilt and penalty of our past sins, and also from the power sin has over us today. We have to ability to resist temptation and sin. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. That’s good news. But do you want to hear the bad news…not everyone wants to be free. Not everyone wants to hear the truth. John 8:37 Jesus says, “I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word.”
These religious leaders were standing right in front of the truth, hearing Him speak the truth but they couldn’t hear it. Why? Because they had no room for His word. They had no room first of all because of their spiritual pride. They weren’t about to reject their beliefs. And even when confronted with overwhelming evidence of who Jesus was, and the truth He was speaking, they still would not believe. They still could not accept it because they had their mind already made up. And when a mind is closed to the truth, it’s difficult to get them to see the truth, even with overwhelming evidence.
I read a story about a man who thought he was dead, when in reality he was very much alive. His delusion became such a problem that his family finally paid for him to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist spent many laborious sessions trying to convince the man he was still alive but nothing seemed to work. Finally the doctor tried one last approach. He took out his medical books and proceeded to show the patient that dead men don’t bleed. After hours of tedious study, the patient seemed convinced that dead men don’t bleed. "Do you now agree that dead men don’t bleed?" the doctor asked. "Yes, I do," the patient replied. "Very well, then," the doctor said. He took out a pin and pricked the patient’s finger. Out came a trickle of blood. The doctor asked, "What does that tell you?" "Oh my goodness!" the patient exclaimed as he stared incredulously at his finger... "Dead men do bleed!!"
Even today, with the overwhelming evidence for the Christian faith, there are still those who refuse to simply believe. They refuse to believe the truth not because of factual evidence, but because to believe would mean to reject their current belief. And that’s hard for a lot of people to do. As Jack Nicholson said, “You can’t handle the truth!” and many can’t.
You see, because if the Christian faith is true, which it is, then that would mean that they would have to change not only their current worldview but also their lifestyle as well. And many are not willing to do that, so instead of embracing the truth, they seek to denounce it, or to adjust it to fit them instead of adjusting their life to fit the truth. They would rather believe in a lie than to accept the truth. For example, more and more the theory of evolution has holes poked in its theory. In His book “The Case for Faith” Lee Strobel interviews a top molecular biologist from Texas A & M, a recognized expert in the field. He goes through many different reasons why it is impossible for evolution to be possible, and when Lee Strobel asks him why so many scientist fail to see that, his answer was shocking. He said, “They refuse to believe it because the only alternative would be a Divine Creator, and to an atheist this is unacceptable.” Romans 1:25 says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.”
Jesus told the religious leaders that they were unable to hear, and they unable to hear the truth because they were unwilling to listen and believe the truth. Yet God doesn’t force them to listen. That’s the amazing thing. God gives us a choice to accept or reject the truth. Yet with that ability to choose comes the consequence of that choice. Speaking of the last days, Paul wrote in 2 Thess 2:10-12, “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
So what should our response be? First of all, make it a point to know the truth. Jesus said “Then you will know the truth.” Now with so many variations of truth floating around, what can we use as a standard for the truth? Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
The truth of the world keeps shifting and changing. For example, there are seventy-three million Americans who are classified as being baby boomers, born between 1948 and 1964. That’s one out of every three people in America. Now that entire generation was brought up on the best-selling book of all time, next to the Bible,
Dr. Spock’s Baby Book. Dr. Spock expressed his opinions about what he thought was the proper way to raise children. But back in the early 90’s, Dr. Spock, then in his seventies, held a press conference and said, “Oops. I was wrong. That’s not the best way to do it. I’m sorry. Never mind.”
“Well, thanks a lot. It’s a little late. Most Americans are already dysfunctional!” An entire generation was raised on a style of parenting that studies later confirmed just didn’t work. In a world where something’s changing every day, you don’t want to put your faith in something you can’t depend on tomorrow. Luke 21:33 says, “Though all heaven and earth shall pass away, yet my Word shall remain forever.” God’s Word has stood the test of time. You can trust it. So commit yourself to knowing the bible.
Secondly, make it a point not only to know the truth, but also to live the truth. Now that’s a bit tougher. But the truth is not just something you know; it’s something you do. It’s something you practice. It’s something you apply. It’s something you obey. It’s something you follow. It’s not just some intellectual trip, it’s something you put in your life. We ought to be a living Bible. That’s harder.
But it’s what is expected of us.
Now Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.” How many of you this morning are living in bondage. Maybe it’s the bondage of ignorance over your spiritual condition. You were raised in the church, you live a good life but you know that Jesus is not Lord of your life. Let the truth set you free this morning. Or perhaps you are trapped in a life of sin, let Jesus free you from that. You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Now, let me ask you…do you want to be set free?
