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JESUS IS THE TRUTH.
We could talk for a month of Sundays about this one. So many people go off on these “spiritual journeys”. “Oh, I went on this wonderful journey to far east Asia, seeking the truth on a mountaintop!!” Tell ya what--next time, give me the money, I'll meet ya at Burger King and I'll open up my Bible for ya. You can search from one end of the Earth to the other, read every “holy book” you can find. From the Quran to the catechism of the Catholic Church to the Book of Mormon. You can follow every Hindu priest, Buddhist monk, and even the Dalai Lama. And you won't get any closer to the truth than you would from watching an old 3 Stooges rerun. “How can you say that? Do you know the truth?” Yes I do. In John 1:1, the apostle wrote that Jesus is the Word of GOD. And in John 17:17, Jesus said to the Father, “Thy word is truth.” John 8:32—“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Jesus is the Word of GOD, GOD's Word is truth. Therefore, Jesus is truth!
The world does not like the truth. The world HATES the truth. Have you ever seen an episode of “COPS”? When they're trying to catch a criminal, does the suspect just stop what he’s doing and say, “Yeah, you got me. Here, take me to jail.” The really sad thing is that it’s not just the world that has a problem with the truth. There are many groups that claim to be part of the church. But they don’t want to hear the truth. They don’t want to have anything to do with the truth. When you ask them what they preach, they just say something silly like, “Oh, we just preach the love of Jesus.” YOU CANNOT PREACH THE LOVE OF CHRIST WITHOUT PREACHING REPENTANCE FROM SIN, AND YOU CANNOT PREACH THE LOVE OF CHRIST WITHOUT PREACHING THE CROSS!!! Anything else you say, anything else you teach, if you do not preach repentance and the cross of Jesus Christ, anything else you say is empty preaching. Because without the cross, there is no resurrection. And without repentance, there is no salvation.
Paul wrote in 2nd Timothy 4:1-4—I charge you therefore— Notice he doesn’t say, “Hey, you know, it might be a good idea if...” He says, I CHARGE YOU therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! What was it Jesus said in the garden to the Father? “Thy word is truth.” Paul is telling Timothy to “Preach the truth!” Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. Can anyone say, "Prosperity gospel?"
That said, listen to what the study notes in the MacArthur Study Bible say:
Professing Christians, nominal believers in the church follow their own desires and flock to preachers who offer them God’s blessing apart from His forgiveness, and His salvation apart from their repentance. They have an itch to be entertained by teachings that will produce pleasant sensations and leave them with good feelings about themselves. Their goal is that men preach “according to their own desires”. Under those conditions, people will dictate what men preach, rather than God dictating it by His Word.And to think Joel Osteen wasn’t even on TV yet.
Jesus is the Truth. When you deviate even slightly from His truth, you immediately enter into a lie. May I tell you that there is no such thing as a “half-truth”? Try to find that phrase in the Bible. Nah, don’t bother. IT AIN'T THERE. You only find the words “truth” and “lies”. The phrase “half-truth” is not in the Bible. Because if you veer even the slightest bit from the truth, you’re telling a lie. It’s like saying a woman is “kinda pregnant.”
Galatians 1:8—But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
2 John 9-11—Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.
Long story short, the apostle is talking about letting false teachers into the church. John tells us that if anyone comes into the house of GOD and does not hold to the truth of scripture, that we are not to allow that person into the house of the Lord. And don’t even tell them “Have a safe trip!” That’s how important the truth is to GOD.
John 3:19—“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” Ya know those cameras they put up in some cities to catch people running red lights? A lot of people didn’t like them. I wonder why? Could it be because now they wouldn’t be able to run red lights like they'd been doing. That’s the same reason a lot of people don’t like going to a church that talks about repentance and the cross. Because they like doing the things they're doing without feeling guilty about it. They want to remain slaves to sin.
John 16:13-14—“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Jesus is still the truth to this day; He still speaks that truth to us through the Holy Spirit. Of all the things we can thank GOD for, one of the most important is that He has shown us the truth. And that He can never lie. And that He sent forth His Son, full of grace and truth. Jesus is the Way, He is the Truth.
JESUS IS THE LIFE.
In Mark chapter 10, Mark records the conversation between Jesus and a rich young ruler.
Mark 10:17—Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" That question so many people ask. So many people are looking for the answer to that very question just as much today as this guy did 2000 years ago. And GOD is more than willing to answer it for you.
Verse 19—So Jesus said to him, "…You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'" Boy, this guy’s thinking he’s got it now! You can almost hear him thinking “Yesss!!”
Verse 20—And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth." “Oh yeah, I’ve got eternal life! GOD must really be impressed with me!!” Remember those dirty diapers?
Verse 21—Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him— Jesus saw this man coming to him with all the dirty diapers of his good works. All the laws that he kept, thinking they would give him eternal life. And Jesus loved him, and had pity on him. Because He knew what was about to happen. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." You know that deep breath someone takes when they are about to burst out crying? And they're trying to hold it in? And their eyes are just clogged with tears. Their chin trembles. That’s what I picture this guy looking like. That’s what a lot of people are going to look like on that day when the Book of Life is opened, and their name is not there. They read their Book of Mormon, obeyed the ordinances, and knocked on doors. They prayed their Rosary, memorized the catechism, and took Mass every week. They strapped bombs to themselves and blew up women and children. They volunteered, they served, they taught, they preached. Without Christ. Without life. Apart from the Vine. In darkness.
People want to know how to get to heaven. They want to know how to obtain eternal life. But they don’t want to hear the truth about it. I read a book a few years ago—actually, I started to read it. It’s called “The Ragamuffin Gospel”. And I got about 75 pages into it before I finally just couldn’t take it anymore. The whole point of this book was that you could continue in whatever sin you were in, and that GOD would give you a wink and a pass because your story was just so pitiful. And that the real sinners were the ones who called your actions sinful. Don’t believe it.
And don’t believe all these preachers you hear that say that you can obtain eternal life without repenting and coming to the cross of Christ for forgiveness. Or that you’re already good enough; that “GOD loves you just the way you are! He loves you so much He won't even notice your sins!” That, “Well, if you haven’t done anything too awful bad, He’ll let you slide.” Don’t buy it. GOD hates sin, He will not allow it into His kingdom, and unless you have Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are dead in your trespasses and sins, and the life of Christ—the only life that matters—is not in you.
We are here on this planet to glorify GOD. How do we glorify GOD?
- When we come to Him, hungry for righteousness, and call upon the One who said, “I AM the Bread of Life.”
- When we cry out from the darkness for the One who said, “I AM the Light of the World.”
- When we admit that we need to enter into the kingdom of GOD, and call upon the One who said, “I AM the Door of the Sheep”.
- When we are lost, and cry out for the one who said, “I AM the Good Shepherd”.
- When we confess that we are dead in our trespasses and sins, and seek the One who said, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life.”
- When we look and see that we have no life of our own, and seek life from the One who said, “I AM the True Vine.”
- When we see this world as a dead end, full of lies and death, and we take up the cross of the One who said, “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life.”
- When we see ourselves for who WE ARE, and humble ourselves before the one who said, “I AM”.
