Know the Truth John 8:31-32

“Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’” (John 18:38, NASB

People want to know the truth. The U.S. congress House of Representatives have been conducting hearings to determine whether or not President Donald Trump should be impeached. They have called witnesses to testify about their knowledge of whether or not President Donald Trump did things and said things that are in violation of the constitution of the United States of America. Did he violate the law in order to give himself advantages over his opponents, especially democratic candidate Joe Bidden the former vice President? The hearings were seen live on television so that the citizens can judge for themselves what they believe to be the truth.

In the Old Testament Moses gives the Israelites the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17). The ninth commandment says: “‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor’” (v. 16, NASB). Under the Law of Moses at least two witnesses are required to convict a person of breaking a law that is punishable by death. “‘On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness’” (Deut. 17:6, NASB). If a witness is found to be lying, that witness is punished. “‘The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother’” (Deut 19:18-19, NASB). The truth is paramount to maintaining law and order. The truth is necessary if there is to be righteousness and justice in society. People must know the truth. This article briefly reviews the witness of the writer of the Gospel of John. The writer is a witness that Jesus Christ is the truth of God that we are to believe and know.

In the gospel of John, Jesus is teaching the people, and He declares Himself to be the Light of the world (8:12). The Pharisees do not believe Him (v. 13). A debate between Jesus and the Pharisees takes place. Some believe what Jesus says about Himself and others do not believe Him. “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free’” (vv. 31-32, NASB). What is the truth that the writer of the gospel of John wants his audience to know? How can they know the truth? Let us review some of the things that the writer tells us about the truth; and especially the truth that Jesus talks about.

The writer begins by telling us about the Word. The Word is the second person of the triune God (Jn.1:1-2). He is the creator of all things that comes into existence (v. 3). He is the source of all life (v. 3). His life is the Light of men (v. 4). The Word became flesh. The Word takes on flesh and lives among people. The Word becomes a human being, and He takes on the characteristics of human beings. He is full of grace and truth (V. 14). He comes into the world to fulfill the Law of Moses. The Law brings wrath. The Word made flesh brings grace and truth. Jesus Christ comes into the world to restore the world to a right relationship with God that is lost in the garden when the man and the woman disobey the command given to them by God.

It is the aim of the writer of the gospel of John to witness to the truth about Jesus Christ (Jn. 20:30-31). The truth of Jesus Christ is not so much concerned about human problems. The truth that we need to know is that we can have peace with God through Jesus. We must know the truth and Jesus alone is the source of the truth that we need. Therefore, we must believe the truth. We must obey the truth. We must worship in truth. Together, these three will help us to know the Truth. Let us examine these three.

We must hear and believe His words. We must believe that He is who He says that He is. As we have seen, the Pharisees do not believe what Jesus says about Himself. The Pharisees do not believe that Jesus is sent from the Father to do the will of God. In our world today and even throughout history many people believe that Jesus was a good man. He did a lot of good things for a lot of people. People do not have much of a problem with this Jesus. However, as we can see people have a serious problem with the ideas that Jesus is the Son of God sent into the world by the Father to restore creation back to the Father. Those that believe Him come to the light. Believing in Jesus and coming to the Light is the first step toward knowing the truth.

We must obey His words, His commandments. We must continue in His words. This means that our faith must be tested. True faith is seen when we surrender our desire to live in darkness in order to walk in the light. “‘This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God’” (3:19-21, NASB).

In order to continue (abide) in His words, we must first know His word. There are a lot of books written about subject matters that are in the bible. These are good because they help us to understand how to apply the scriptures. However, I have discovered that one can spend so much time reading books about the bible to the negligence of reading the scriptures. David, the King of Israel did not have books about the bible, but he was committed to obeying the commandments of the Lord. David says, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You” (Ps. 119:11, NASB). “Remove the false way from me, and graciously grant me Your law” (v. 29).

We must obey the truth. The apostle Peter writes to the church in 2 Peter 1 to remind them of the knowledge that they have of God. They must abide in this true knowledge. He says, “Now for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, knowledge, (1 Pet. 1:5, NASB). There are times when we need to be reminded of the truth of God found in His commandments. It is too easy for one to slip up and yield to the fleshly nature that is in all of us. So, Peter echoes David in Psalm 119 when he writes, “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you” (2 Pet. 1:12, NASB). We must keep the truth in our mind by practicing the truth in our life; and guarding ourselves against that which is false.

Thirdly, if we are to know the truth we must worship in truth. We find this in John 4. Jesus, against usual procedures, travels through the region of Samaria. He encounters a woman of Samaria and breaks tradition by asking her to give Him water. During the conversation the subject of worship comes up. “The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place to where men ought to worship” (Jn 4:20, NASB). We can see that the woman considers the place of worship as being the most important thing. Psalm 137 is an example of how the exiles in Babylon place emphasis on the place of worship. They ask, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land” (v. 4). They desire to be in Jerusalem, the place where they think that the Lord resides. They long to be in the temple in Jerusalem. However, the prophet Isaiah lets us know that the temple is not big enough to contain the Lord. He writes, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple” (Isa. 6:1, NASB).

Jesus says to the woman of Samaria that she does not understand true worship. The place is not important. Rather it is important that we know what and whom we worship (Jn. 4:21-22). It is not the place of worship that really matters. In our churches today there is too much emphases placed on order of service and worship styles. While these things may have emotional value and appeal to our personal sensibilities, these things alone will not help us to know the truth. God does not desire these things. Rather, Jesus tells the woman what God desires. Jesus says, “‘But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is a spirit, and those that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth’” (Jn. 4:23-24, NASB). If we do not worship in spirit and in truth there is the danger of slipping away into idolatry. This is the sin that caused Israel to worship the idols resulting in their being sent into exile by the Lord.

The Christmas season is upon us. We must not allow all the hype to cause us to stray away from the truth about God. For Christians, Jesus is the reason for the season. Jesus comes to bring the truth of God’s love for all people. Jesus comes to bring the truth of God’s forgiveness of sin; our restoration to fellowship with God; the hope of resurrection and eternal life. We come to know this truth. We know the truth through Jesus. Jesus not only teaches us the truth. Jesus is the Truth.