Truth

What does it take for you to believe something? You know, the reason Jesus came to earth was to tell the truth of who He was, the Son of God, so that people would believe in Him—and by believing in Jesus, people would have eternal life, now and forever. That’s it in a nutshell. Along with that purpose, Jesus had a whole bunch of work to do, stuff that only the Son of God could do…living a sinless life…working miracles of healing and restoring life…taking the wrath of God on Himself in place of sinners...being raised from the dead. This is work only the Son of God can do. No man could ever, ever do this. The thing I want to think about today is Jesus living a sinless life, because that means there was never a lie that came out of His mouth. Think about that. Not one lie, white or otherwise. Absolute truth. His desire was to obey God, and in doing so, that meant speaking the truth always. Very often, people didn’t like the truth He spoke, then and now. Here’s why: accepting what Jesus said as truth meant they would have to admit they were sinners, that they are helpless to do anything about their sin, and they need to be rescued or die. Here’s an example.

In John 5:40-47, Jesus is telling the Jewish leaders that they refuse to honor Jesus as their Messiah, that they don’t love God, and that they don’t even believe their own Bible. That’s pretty strong stuff, don’t you think? To tell super-religious people that they don’t love God? To tell super-religious people that they don’t even believe the Bible they tote around and quote and know backwards and forwards? That’s right. That’s exactly what Jesus told them. Why would Jesus be so blunt? Why wouldn’t Jesus take these guys aside and say, “Guys, I don’t want to embarrass you in front of all your friends and all these people who you teach every Sunday—let’s get together on these things over coffee, and let’s figure out how we can find a solution that works for us both.” No way. Jesus didn’t do that. Why not?

Because Jesus committed no sin. He spoke no lies, only truth (1 Peter 2:22). And because of His great love for the lost. Now, Jesus knew what these guys were up to…He knows the hearts of men (John 2:25), including your heart. He knows your motivations, your desires, your fears. He knows your lies and all your sins. These guys Jesus was talking to—the super-religious ones—He knew the truth that they loved themselves, and they were totally committed to hanging on to their positions of status. They didn’t love God or the Scriptures. So let me ask you this. What if Jesus had said, “Let’s have coffee and figure this out.” How would that help these super-religious guys? It wouldn’t!!! All that would accomplish is to let them continue to believe the lies they told themselves. The only way Jesus could help these guys was to speak the truth to them.

So is it more loving to speak truth or lies? It’s certainly easier to speak lies, but easy is not Jesus’s way. He chose the hard way because He didn’t want these guys to suffer eternal destruction. The Bible says that God is patient, not wishing that anyone would perish but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus taught these super-religious men for about 3 years before these same men crucified Him. Though they hated the truth, Jesus kept speaking it to them. He was incredibly patient with them. The truth Jesus spoke two thousand years ago will never change. What He spoke then is still true today. Oh, I pray that you would believe, that you would come to Him while His patience remains. If you’d like me to pray with you or for you, call me or text me. (920) 650-8288. I always have Bibles too.