Your Truth, My Truth, The Truth

ITRODUCTION — TRUTH IN A WORLD OF VERSIONS

We live in a strange generation—one that has replaced reality with versions of reality. If you’ve noticed, we no longer speak about truth the way Scripture does. We speak in smaller, softer, more flexible categories:

“Your truth.”

“My truth.”

“Live your truth.”

“Speak your truth.”

It sounds good. It sounds affirming. It sounds empowering.

But it’s also fragile.

Because if your truth contradicts my truth, the question becomes:

What stands when everyone’s private version gets stripped away?

What remains when feelings fade, memories distort, and opinions divide?

The Bible’s answer is simple, solid, and stubborn:

There is truth.

There is one truth.

And the truth is a Person.

His name is Jesus.

Before we see Him heal, before we see Him teach, before we see Him die, John introduces Him with one sentence:

> “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” — John 1:17

So this message is not simply philosophical.

It is not academic.

It is not abstract.

This message is about Christ—

Christ in your choices,

Christ in your doubts,

Christ in your moral battles,

Christ in your identity,

Christ in your search for meaning.

This message is about the moment when Truth Himself stood in a Roman courtroom, and the most powerful man in Judea asked the most important question of the human soul:

“What is truth?”

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I. YOUR TRUTH — THE WORLD OF FRAGILE REALITY

First, let’s speak the language of our culture.

“Your truth” is the language of experience.

It says:

“My feelings are real.”

“My story matters.”

“My wounds are valid.”

“My perspective is mine.”

And that is all legitimate.

Nobody should ever deny or belittle the story you carry.

But “your truth” can be sincere and still incomplete.

A person’s experience may be real, but that does not make it reliable. Pain can distort as much as it reveals. Trauma can shape memory. Desire can twist morality. Fear can shape conclusions.

The woman caught in adultery had “her truth.”

The Pharisees had “their truth.”

But Jesus had the truth.

The Samaritan woman had “her truth.”

The disciples had “their truth.”

But Jesus had the truth.

Your truth matters.

Your truth deserves a voice.

But your truth is not the foundation of your salvation.

Because salvation is not built on your feelings about God.

Salvation is built on God’s reality about you.

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II. MY TRUTH — THE WORLD OF SELF-INTERPRETATION

“My truth” is even more dangerous.

“Your truth” is usually emotional.

“My truth” is usually defensive.

“My truth” is what I use to justify myself:

“This is how I see it.”

“This is what I believe.”

“This is how I interpret things.”

“This is what feels right to me.”

“My truth” lets me be judge, jury, and defense attorney in my own case.

We see this everywhere:

Cain: “My truth is God wasn’t fair.”

Pharaoh: “My truth is Moses is the troublemaker.”

Saul: “My truth is I did obey the Lord.”

The rich young ruler: “My truth is I have kept all the commandments.”

Every one of those versions felt right to the person who claimed them.

Every one of those versions collapsed under the weight of God’s reality.

“My truth” is dangerous not because it is dishonest,

but because it is self-protective.

It shields me from repentance.

It excuses me from surrender.

It keeps God at arm’s length.

And in Scripture, the most chilling example of “my truth” comes from a Roman governor named Pontius Pilate.

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III. THE MOMENT TRUTH STOOD IN A COURTROOM

Picture the scene in John 18:

It is early morning.

The courtyard is cold.

The air is tense with political pressure and religious fury.

A mob is demanding blood.

The priests are shouting accusations.

The Roman soldiers are on edge.

And into that moment of noise and fear, the Son of God is brought before Pilate—

the only man in Judea with the legal authority to condemn or free Him.

Pilate questions Him.

Pilate studies Him.

Pilate listens to Him.

And then Jesus says the most explosive thing He ever said to a politician:

> “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world,

that I should bear witness to the truth.” — John 18:37

The truth.

Not a truth.

Not one truth among many.

Not “my” truth or “your” truth.

The truth.

Then Jesus adds:

> “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

That sentence cut straight through Pilate’s armor.

It pierced him.

It exposed him.

So Pilate did what modern people do when conviction gets too close:

He dodged the question.

He smirked.

He shrugged.

He said the most sophisticated, evasive, cowardly sentence ever spoken:

> “What is truth?” — John 18:38

Not because he wanted an answer.