The Way, Truth, and Life (Part 2)

Today's message is going to be part two in my series of Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Because as we approach Passover, again just eight weeks away, it's important we consider the significance of the sacrifice that was offered on our behalf. And understand the life, understand who and what this individual was, the one who laid his life down for the sins of the world, the one whom the Father sent, who was the perfectly qualified sacrifice, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.

And if we're going to really, truly understand and appreciate the life that was laid down for us, it's important to evaluate the life that he lived and recognize the blessing that he was in the world.

So as we discuss Last Sabbath, Jesus Christ is the way. And not only does he show us the way by example, not only does he lead the way by actually himself having walked in this life, experienced death in the flesh, and now resurrected at the right hand of the Father, not only does he lead the way, he is the way. And then we walk through that. He is the door. It's the door of the sheep that you go in and out and find pasture.

He is the path on the road to eternal life in the kingdom of God. Today's message, we're going to look at the concept of Jesus Christ as the truth. That's the second in that listing.

So the sermon title today is The Way, the Truth, and the Life, Part 2. And I want to begin back at the Scripture that is our anchor point for this message, and that's John chapter 14 and verse 6. John chapter 14 and verse 6, the context of the final night of Jesus Christ's physical life. He and his disciples had just come through the Passover. He's instituted the bread, the wine as the New Covenant symbols of the Passover got down and loosened the sandal strap on his disciples' feet in humility, washed their feet, taught them many lessons on that night and many things he wanted to convey to them.

And in John chapter 14 and verse 6, Jesus said to them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So the truth will be our focus today. Jesus Christ says, I am the truth. And just like the way, not only does he express the truth, not only was his ministry about the truth, not only was his example grounded in the truth, he says, I am the truth. Jesus Christ brought the truth and he is the truth. You know, brethren, this modern age in which we live is rather challenging.

Truth is a very elusive thing, if you hadn't noticed. Literally, we are drowning in the information age. And everywhere you turn, you can find facts and figures and statistics and information at our fingertips of anything we would want, but actually sorting through all of that and getting down to what is actually true versus what is the deception, sometimes for us can be a challenge. There's just so much out there of misdirection and deception. You know, we find ourselves often questioning the truth on so many things.

I mean, as I was thinking about this sermon this week, I constantly found myself questioning the truth. Right? The nightly news is on and I sit down and here's the report for the day. Here's the report of politics.

Here's the report of what's going on in the world. And it's like, okay, information is coming at me, but what's the truth? Because if you look at one side of the aisle, they'll say one thing. The other side of the aisle, they're saying something else and I'm thinking, okay, realities may be somewhere in the middle of these two points, but just as a daily routine, we are living life just trying to filter out the nonessential.

Thank you, Mr. Nelson. And bringing the essential, the truth. What is it that God would have us to grab hold of? And it's a daily battle. I opened this up for an interactive conversation in Chawila and again these things that would come up, politics. Right? Politics. What is the truth in what you hear? For me, I like to scroll Facebook. You know, they say, screen time right before bed keeps you awake. I find it puts me to sleep. So I was there last night, I'm scrolling through Facebook and I'm looking and I showed Darla this picture and I says, this isn't true.

This isn't an actual picture. I said I would actually appreciate a lesser picture that was real than an AI or a photoshopped whatever. You know, this obviously is not real.

So that's the world we live in. New stories that come up. Again, there's websites that you go, is this real? Story that flashed last night was, you know, Kate Middleton pregnant with their fourth child. I'm like, really? I hadn't heard that. You know, this story is three days old on the news feed, you know, you check it out. Not real.

You have, what's that? Kelsey engaged to Taylor Swift, gave her a $12 million ring. Really? Two days ago, I would have heard of it, I'm sure. You know, not true. This is life, right? About five years ago, my phone ring and a very joyful man on the other line said, congratulations. I'm with the Publishers Clearing House. You've won $10 million. I said, well, that's great. He says, all we need is your bank account info and we can get that funds to you. I said, you mean, Ed McMahon's not coming to the door? I want the check. I want the balloons. I want the cameras. He's like, no, no, we don't do that anymore. We just need your account. And I said, well, I'm really not interested unless you come to the door.

And we'll have a party waiting for you when you arrive. And, you know, what is real? What is truth? What is deception? This is a battle that we walk through, brethren, really, on a daily basis. We might even question the truth regarding the things we hear. People say about God.

Every flavor of religion out there, even those that would call themselves Christian, every variation of doctrine, what is the truth? As the people of God, we must be people of the truth. We must be passionate about pursuing the truth.

You and I live in a postmodern world. Postmodernism is a cultural phenomenon which really began taking hold in the United States in the 1960s and 70s and was fully entrenched by the 1990s and became part of mainstream thinking.

Literally, from my generation on, we are rooted in postmodern thinking. Thinking that literally rejects fundamental principles and beliefs upon which Western society was established. It's become a philosophy of anything goes. Or simply find your own truth.

Postmodernism is the concept that there is no absolute truth. There is no universal truth that applies across the board to every human being, no matter what your culture or nationality. There's no absolute truth, and if there is, you can't know what it is. I find that a rather interesting philosophy. There is no absolute truth. It's actually a very easily defeated philosophy, because if you're presenting that as true, the only absolute truth is there's no absolute truth. You've absolutely undermined the truth of what you think is true. So, there are absolutes. There are universal truths. And as the people of God, we recognize it is true. This is the source of truth. God is the source of truth. And it is to these words that we go to find reality.

Postmodernism dictates that truth is relative to personal experience and it's perspective-based. Fortunately, Jesus Christ did not come in that mindset. Jesus Christ came with the truth. And not only was he the light of truth shining forth in the darkness, he himself is truth.

Following his arrest on the final night of his life, and then now shortly, just hours before his crucifixion, Jesus Christ is standing before Pilate. And they're having a very interesting conversation and truth with fundamental to the points they discussed. John chapter 18, verse 33.

Can you drop in on this conversation? John chapter 18 and verse 33 says, Again, this is following the Passover. He kept his disciples. It's his arrest. Now he's verging on what will be the terrible ordeal that he will go through in the crucifixion.

Pilate answered him, saying, Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? He says, Your own nation and your own chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, saying, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be delivered up to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.

Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered, You have said rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. So as everyone who is of the truth hears my voice, Pilate said to him, this famous question, What is truth? What is truth? We read the Bible, and it's interesting. It's in some ways left a little bit to our imagination because we read the words, but we don't hear the tone. We don't exactly see the sights and the sounds and the smells that were there, so we sort of fill that in. But in my mind, I kind of imagine this was maybe sort of a sarcastic response. Pilate's like, Well, what is truth? What is it? It doesn't really appear that he was really even wanting an answer from Jesus or sticking around to receive a response of what the truth even was. Understand the Roman society of Jesus' day was much like our society today in many ways. The Roman Empire, a very affluent empire, and a place in time that it was actually the time and place for God to send Jesus Christ to because the word could spread and the gospel could spread to the known world at the time, but it was a society in many ways like the society we live in. Commerce, you had roads that went everywhere, ships that sailed the known world, trade going back and forth, finances going back and forth, information going back and forth between cultures, multiculturalism shared. You grab a piece of what they're doing over here and a piece of what they're doing over there and blend it together and find your own truth. There was the arts, there was entertainment, there was sexual perversion, there was all these things wrapped up into that society that is wrapped up in our society today and we may be on a little different technological level, but in many ways Pilate just looked around and said, well, really, what is truth? But Jesus said, I came to bear witness to the truth. Those who were of the truth hear my voice and it very much was the foundation in which he was grounded. You remember last week in the sermon I said a witness is somebody who testifies. Right? Maybe you have a court trial and they call the witness and I'll put him on the stand and they'll say, what do you know? What did you see? What did you experience? Tell us your story. And Jesus was a witness to the truth.

As in, he testified of what he knew about truth, what truth was, what it looked like in action, indeed what the source of truth is. Because Jesus knew about absolutes, about absolute truth. He had come from his father and these words had come from his father. He said, I don't speak my own words. So not only did he share the truth, the fact is he was the truth.

John chapter 1 expresses the fullness of who Jesus Christ was and why he could declare himself to be the truth.

Again on that final night, he said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.

John chapter 1, beginning in verse 1, says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made.

Jumping down to verse 14, it says, in the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Understand, Jesus Christ was the full expression of God's nature and character in action.

Elsewhere it says he was Emmanuel. He was God with us.

So we have the mind, the character, the nature of God. He was bound in relationship to the Father by the Holy Spirit as he walked in the flesh.

He could testify and witness very clearly what truth was all about because, number one, God was his Father. Number two, God is the source of all truth. God with us, indeed, was true.

Through his teachings, through his life, through his death and resurrection, even Jesus revealed truth to humanity in a way that is not subject to alteration or human interpretation.

It simply is the truth.

What he said was the truth. Who he was and who he is is truth.

Verse 15, carrying on, it says, John the Baptist, born before Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ, the one, the word who became Christ.

He pre-existed in eternity with the Father. He was before him.

Verse 16, Now, you'll notice in your Bible that the word, but, is italicized.

You know, it could and probably should read, but it was not one or the other. There was grace and truth that came through the law that was given to Moses.

We know the Old Testament account. Moses on Mount Sinai receives the Ten Commandments, brings them down two tablets of stone.

This then was expressed to the people of Israel. When you live the word of God and the law of God, there is grace. Right? Thou shall not commit adultery if you live that in your marriage. Is that not mercy and grace and blessing to your marriage?

Just living the commandment. And it is truth.

So from the beginning, grace and truth were always tied to the law of God, and Jesus Christ bringing mercy and grace and truth didn't sweep away the law, because the word says he magnified the law. Right? He filled the law full.

He actually raised the law to the next level. Raise that bar.

It says, thou shalt not kill. But Jesus says, if you look at your brother and have murder in your heart, you've committed the transgression of the law.

You shall not commit adultery, but if you look at a woman to lust after her, you've broken the law. He didn't sweep it away.

Actually, he brought it up to the level of the spirit of the law, recognizing this goes beyond simply just the letter.

You live it in the fullest expression, not just because it's written and you know it's written and it's on the plaque on the wall.

You live it because it is your character. It is who and what you are in your heart. And that's who Jesus Christ was.

Israel was never fully there as a nation, so they received that law, but they never fulfilled what their purpose was to be the model nation to the world.

That shone forth a light to the world that the world said, we want your God to be our God and His law to be our law.

They never raised it to that level of expression, but Jesus Christ did. He did so perfectly.

And grace and truth came through Him.

So we have these two bookends, then, to the life of Jesus Christ, the physical life, kind of bookends on both ends of His life.

We have John 1, which says He was full of grace and truth, and that's who and what He was. That was His character.

That's what He displayed simply in how He walked the earth, full of grace and truth. And then we have the bookend on the other end, just hours before the conclusion of His physical life. And it says that He came to bear witness to the truth. So it's what He taught, it's what He passed on, it's what His miracles were reinforcing, it's what the words that He spoke from the Father portrayed.

And all the points in between these two bookends in the life of Jesus Christ was all about the truth.

He is the truth.

John 8, verse 31.

John 8, verse 31. We're going to enter into now a bit of a contest between Jesus Christ and those Jews who opposed Him. And truth, again, is going to be the foundation of the discussion.

John 8, verse 31. And then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, He's out, He's preaching, He's doing miracles, people are listening, some are scoffing, and some are believing. So He says to those who believed Him, If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

To abide in Jesus' words means to embrace what He taught as truth.

It doesn't mean only that you know it intellectually or have some knowledge of it in that way. It means you embrace it. It means you understand it. It means you put it into practical application in your life and you live it. And you become part of those who are of the truth.

Ultimately, this leads to, as Jesus said, freedom. Right? So the truth will make you free.

Which, if you flip it on the other end, the lie is the bondage. Right? The truth is freedom.

It's truth that sets us free from so many of the devices that enslave the rest of mankind around us. I want you to just think in your mind about the freedom you have based upon what you know about God.

You know, what you know about His word. How has living this word set you free?

So many things that God does through the truth.

You know, the truth is answered for us questions like, Who am I? Why am I here?

What is the purpose of my life? You know, those are questions you and I could easily answer because of what we understand, because of what we've studied through for years. And yet, there is a whole society around us that is wandering lost without the answers to these questions. Basic, fundamental human questions.

To put it in Dr. Ward's terminology, he'd say, you know, Who is God? What is God? What is His purpose? Who is man? What is man? What is His purpose? Fundamental questions of life that we must all have answers to. Isn't that freeing to know?

And wouldn't it be bondage to be in darkness to that truth?

I have two booklets of the church that I carry around with me all the time, and I actually need to reorder another set because my bookshelf is empty with it now, but it's the fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God. If I meet somebody on the street or on the plane, and they have questions, and they want, actually, information, I've got the fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God, and the other booklet I have that is literally a calling card is, Why were you born? Again, that booklet goes back in the history of the church. Sixty years? Maybe? I didn't go back and look up the original copyright, but why were you born? Fundamental answers to life's questions that, if you don't have the truth, it's confusing, and maybe it's even fearful. But the truth sets you free. The truth is liberating. To not have it is actually bondage.

The truth of Jesus Christ sets us free from superstitions and philosophies of this world. The disciples, the apostles, said, Beware of the philosophies of the world. The truth of Jesus Christ sets us free from false religion and paganism. He points us to God and true worship. The truth of Jesus Christ sets us free from fear of the unknown, fear of the future. What's going to happen in this world? Is it all going to just end up in a big ball of destruction?

Is man going to destroy themselves? Is the earth going to overheat and melt down and kill all life on it? You know what? What do we know? God's Word tells us the truth of what He purposes, the truth of what happens after death, the truth that brings us comfort in so many things. The truth of Jesus Christ sets us free from making bad decisions leading to severe consequences in our life. The truth of Christ is the truth of the Father. He says, God's truth, which was boldly proclaimed by His Son, is in no way bondage. It is freedom to those who would grab hold of it and live. So the truth will set you free, Jesus said.

Verse 33, they answered Him, saying, We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. Well, go read your history. You know, they're wrestling with Jesus Christ here. They know this is so. Never been in bondage to anyone, they say. How can you say you will be made free? Jesus answered them, The Son of God, if He makes you free, if your relationship with God that comes through Him makes you free.

You'll be a son in the house forever. We're talking about true freedom, ultimate freedom that comes through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that liberates us from the penalty of sin, which is death, that brings us into a reconciled relationship with His Father, and allows us to walk forward in newness of life. Brethren, accepting the truth of His sacrifice liberates us, and that is the greatest freedom of all.

If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Verse 37, Jesus says, I know that you are Abraham's descendants, speaking to the Jews, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. He says, I speak what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have seen with your Father.

Again, He testifies to what He has seen and knows, and He says, actually, you're doing the same. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our Father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth. It says, the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.

Verse 41, you do the deeds of your Father. Then they said to him, we were not born of fornication. It's a little jab, right? We know who you are. Jesus of Nazareth. We know your mother was pregnant before her marriage to Joseph. We know you are less than what society would consider upstanding.

You came from fornication. That was their jab. They said, we have one Father, and that is God. Jesus said to them, if God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you're not able to listen to my word. So understand, the truth always has this opposition. And there was a persuasion that this group was of. There was a reason they were pushing back against Jesus Christ, a mindset and frankly, a spirit that was opposed to the Messiah.

Verse 44, he says, you are Jesus to them. You are of your Father, the devil. And the desires of your Father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the Father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. So we see this age-old contrast between truth and lies, between the devil who was the Father lies and Jesus Christ, who himself is truth.

Again, truth is something that is severely lacking in the world around us. People and governments manipulate one another based upon how they either maybe distort the truth or cover up the truth, or in some ways try to present something that is not true.

They do so recognizing that if those around them ever see the truth for what it is, the gig is up. You can kind of hide the truth because you have an agenda to put forward and you're going to sugarcoat the lie and you're going to sell it as a beautiful package that people will grab hold of. But if someone ever digs deep enough and the truth is exposed by the light, the gig is up.

The same is true with Satan the devil.

There's a concept that's often referred to as the big lie.

The big lie's function is to distort truth for the purpose of political manipulation, for the purpose of personal gain. You can Google the big lie and it'll pop right up and it's actually applied in different ways. But the big lie, and it's real claim to fame, this was Hitler's ploy to distort truth for the purpose of his political agenda. I'm going to read you a quote and there's a little question of sometimes what the source, but it's most commonly attributed to Joseph Goebbels, who was Hitler's propaganda minister. Here's the quote regarding the big lie.

It says, quote, if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such a time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic, and or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the state. There's more than one government that has lived by this philosophy down through the ages. You know, Hitler and his machine just took it to a whole other level. My point being, though, is this. It's to identify actually not who exactly made the quote, but actually the source behind the mindset. Because this philosophy has echoed through time. This is Satan the devil's mindset, the father of lies. Satan uses his power and influence to keep all of mankind believing the big lie. And what's the big lie? What is his big lie? Well, it goes all the way back to the beginning, right, to the Garden of Eden. The big lie, you will not surely die, wages of sin is not death. But even going farther back than that, what is the root of the lie? The root of the lie is you can't trust God to be true. You can't trust God to be true. And that is indeed Satan's big lie. He calls good evil and evil good. He promotes it as a wonderful thing to chase after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, so much that this society is doing around us when in reality it is nothing but the big lie. Jesus Christ came to shine the light of truth on the lie, and to expose it for what it is. That's what a light does, right? It illuminates that which was previously shrouded in darkness. It brings it to light so you can see the truth for what it really is. A little earlier in this chapter, John 8, verse 12, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. So Jesus shone the spotlight, not only on the deceptions of the devil, but also He shone the light of truth in a world of darkness. But you know what? Satan sought to repress Jesus Christ. It sought to repress Him by having Him killed, by taking Him through the crucifixion. But you know, really, He was actually just walking down the path of what God had intended to be from before the foundation of the world. But Satan sought to repress Jesus Christ by having Him killed. Why? Well, because truth is the mortal enemy of the lie.

And thus, by extension, truth is the greatest enemy of the devil.

Jesus Christ said, the truth will set you free.

He says, the truth is the Word of God. The truth is what I bring. The truth is the light I shine in this world. And you know what? You and I have it right here, the handbook of truth. And if we are the people of truth, as Mr. Nelson mentioned in the first message, we're going to come to this source day after day after day and drink deeply. It is the essential building blocks for our spiritual life.

Thy Word is truth, Jesus Christ said.

Indeed, this is the first prophecy of the Bible, kind of the resolution of the big lie.

Right? Back in the Garden of Eden, the first prophecy points directly to this great event.

God said to the serpent in Genesis 3, verse 15, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, speaking of Jesus Christ's victory over the work of Satan, and you shall bruise his heel, referring to the crucifixion.

Well, Satan may have felt he had a victory when Jesus hung dead on the stake, but actually the victory was ours. The victory was over the deception of Satan, and his joy was very short-lived, three days and three nights at most.

When the Father raised him from the grave, and he ascended to the right hand of God.

So again, we have this contrast. Satan, the father of lies from the beginning, sought to distort the truth of God, but Jesus Christ came in order to set people free from that bondage of deception.

We'll put them on the path of life.

And so the question for you and me is, who are we going to follow?

Last week we read there's a way that leads to destruction, and there's a way that leads to life. And Jesus Christ is the way. He is the door.

He is the one we are called to grab hold of and never let go.

So again, verse 45, still in John chapter 8, he says, Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God's words.

Therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.

Again, Jesus came speaking the words of God to those who claim to be the people of God, but God really wasn't their father. Maybe they thought he was, but not in the intents of their heart. Not down the path that they were taking. Jesus said, if God was your father, you would love me.

I came forth from him, and I speak his words.

And indeed, these are the words of life.

Jesus came teaching the truth about sin and repentance, and he was rejected by most.

Jesus came teaching the truth about exercising judgment, mercy, and faith, the weightier matters of the law, and he was rejected by most. Why did you heal that man on the Sabbath day?

Jesus Christ came teaching the truth about salvation and eternal life, and the way to eternal life, and he was rejected by most. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name. That's John chapter 1, verse 11 and 12.

So not all rejected him.

Not all rejected him. There were those few who allowed the truth to impact their lives for the good, and this too was a major part of Jesus' focus, again, on that final night. He's getting ready to face his end in the flesh, in the physical life, actually accomplishing his greatest mission, but the focus of that night, again, came back to the truth.

So I want to go back to John chapter 18 once again, and I want to turn back to the discussion that Jesus had with Pilate, and pick up on a phrase that we read over rather quickly.

John chapter 18 and verse 37.

Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then? And Jesus answered, saying, You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.

He says, Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice, Jesus said.

Last week I talked about hearing Jesus' voice. It was in the context of the shepherd of the sheep. And he says, My sheep hear my voice because I am the true shepherd. And they go in, and they come in, and go out, and they find pasture, you know, essentially eternal life. But they hear my voice. They hear my words. They identify with the truth because they are the people of God.

This is describing a very special relationship that is grounded in the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice, Jesus said.

To be of the truth refers to those involved in the sincere pursuit of godliness. Again, it's not just knowing the facts. It's not just having intellectual knowledge, but it's ordering our lives in light of the truth of God's word. It's studying it. It's coming to understand it. And then it is embracing it as the way we live our life each and every day. You know, if you could pass the jeopardy challenge of the Bible, that still doesn't make you someone of the truth. Jesus said, abide in my word. Live the word. Make it a part of who and what you are, not just what you know, but what your character is.

Then you will be following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and be of the truth. Those of the truth will keep God's commandments. Those of the truth will be responding to what he said to do, will be keeping the Sabbath, will be keeping the Holy Days, will be walking as he walked, as the disciples walked, as the New Testament church sprung forth from this truth, as they observed these things.

You will commit your lives to the perfect will of God, and these people who are of the truth will hear Jesus Christ's voice, which means they'll recognize the voice of the true shepherd. Again, they will understand the message he taught, and they will follow after him. Jesus said, everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. On the final night of his physical life, he prayed to his Father for his followers. And what did he say? Among many things, he said, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. Right? John 17, 17. Set them apart by your truth. Bring them out of the ways of the world by your truth. Your word is truth. We have the guidebook of truth, the instruction manual, right before us.

If this world would live it, it would be a whole new, different place. It will be someday. But Jesus said, your word is truth. That includes not only what was recorded, they had what we call the Old Testament at this time, but it also included the words that proceeded from the mouth of Jesus Christ, which his Father had given him to speak and teach. Your word is truth.

Truth is rooted in the eternal God who is all-powerful and unchangeable. Again, he is the source of all truth. He is the source of absolute universal truth for all of mankind, all cultures, all ethnicities, I guess I'll say that more accurately, those made in his image, right? Every human being. There is an absolute universal truth for all those that were made in the image of God, and it is his word. It comes from the eternal God and the character of God. Therefore, it is unchangeable because God is unchangeable. It doesn't matter what your experience in life is. It doesn't matter your perspective. Thy word is truth. This is what Jesus brought. This is who he was as the word of God, truth personified in the flesh, walking before them, talking, setting these things before them. You and I have all the tools we need to follow in the truth. We have God's word that's been recorded for us, the word of truth. We have Jesus Christ's example as the truth who led the way. And after his departure, he says, I'll pray to the Father, and he'll send you another helper, because Jesus was their helper as he walked in the flesh, but he was leaving. And God will send another helper, the Holy Spirit, that now is God's presence in us. Christ's presence in us, and the Bible calls it the Spirit of Truth. It will lead you, Jesus said, into all truth. So we have all the tools we need in this walk. The world around us offers so many so-called truths, but those truths are often fleeting, they're incomplete, they're misleading, and frankly, they're just not true. When we look around this postmodern world today, you know what? We could echo the words of Isaiah. Truth has fallen in the street, and it is so. In so many ways, it is so. But we're not called to be discouraged. We're called to shine as the light of the truth in the world today. The church in the New Testament writings of the apostles is called the Pillar and Ground of the Truth. This is the bastion of truth in the world today, in the church. You think of a pillar, you know, these, when I'm in Africa, they start their constructions with, you put the foundation down into the ground, and then you're building up these pillars, which is the support structure for the roof, and the rest of the walls and everything get built in that. The church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. We are the support structure of truth in the world today, because truth has fallen in the street. And the world does not know what true truth is as I walk around under the deception of the adversary. We must not be discouraged, brethren, because we know the story of truth is not ended.

Jesus Christ died as the Passover for the sins of mankind. That is truth. After three days and three nights, He was resurrected and now sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. That is truth. And the day is coming when He will return again. That is truth. God has His time and place and purpose already in mind. The exact moment, God knows. Certainly, I don't know. God can lengthen the time. God can shorten the time. Whatever is within His purpose. But the Father is on His throne and He will send Jesus Christ at the appointed time of His choosing. In the meantime, His chosen people must remain steadfast in their waiting, standing firm in the truth, being a witness for the truth to the world around us today, knowing that the day of truth is coming to this entire world. And that is where our hope is. That's where the future is. In the truth. I want to conclude today in Revelation chapter 19 verse 11. Because the day of truth is coming, the King of Truth will bring it. Revelation chapter 19 and verse 11. Prophetic passage.

This is the one whom God will be sending to establish truth in the world in that day. Faithful and true. Verse 12 says, Verse 14.

He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads out the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And we might say, well, that's pretty brutal. Well, there's a system entrenched in this world of lies, of deception, ruled over by the prince of the power of the air, the God, small gee, of this world. The kingdom is coming. The kingdom of truth, the kingdom of righteousness. After it's established, Jerusalem will be called the city of truth. And the King of truth, Jesus Christ, will reign over all. Truth is coming, but the lies must be removed. The truth is the greatest enemy of the lie. The lie will stand in opposition as long as it can, so it will come with force. Truth will remove the lie by whatever means possible, and truth will reign. And righteousness will be the order of the day. So, yes, it may seem a little brutal, but in the end it is mercy and blessing. Verse 16, and He has on His robe and on His thigh written a name, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Are you a king then? Pilate asked Jesus Christ. Are you a king? Jesus said, you say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Brother, my question for us is, do we hear the voice of our King, Jesus Christ? Do we, as the sheep of His pasture, hear the voice of the shepherd He calls us? We go in and out and find pasture. I pray that we do. On the final night of Jesus' physical life, He told His disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That reassurance of Jesus Christ is as true today as it ever was. Let those of us who are of the truth hear His voice and believe Him. Brother, this is the true Passover whom the Father has sent into the world for the sins of us all.