JESUS THE TRUTH BEARER John 18 37 JOHN

JESUS THE TRUTH BEARER John 18: 37

JOHN 18: 37 “Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king? ” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. ” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth? ”

CHRISTMAS IN THE PHILIPPINES

QUESTIONS TO PONDER What comes into your mind when you hear the name, JESUS? What meaning does this name has to do in my life? In my work, in my studies, in my family? Why did he come to this world? WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

JOHN 18: 37 “FOR THIS I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice. ”

ESSENCE OF CHRISTMAS 1. Christmas means that there is truth—truth that everyone should believe. 2. Christmas means that Jesus came to testify to that truth—he is the key witness.

I. CHRISTMAS MEANS THAT THERE IS TRUTH—TRUTH THAT EVERYONE SHOULD BELIEVE.

RELATIVIST VIEW ABOUT TRUTH “An absolute truth in one person may not be the absolute truth for the other person. ”

RELATIVIST VIEW ABOUT TRUTH People will even say that you are misguided because there's no God to give absoluteness to truth, or, if there is a God, there is no way of knowing him and what he thinks. One person's idea of what he is like is as good as any other person's.

BUT the scripture tells us that There is truth— an unchanging and absolute truth that comes from outside the world and gives meaning to the world. It is THE TRUTH, not a truth for me and a different truth for you.

THE TRUTH Christ is talking here about the truth. Not just any other truth but THE TRUTH. This directly nullifies the belief that there are many truths, even Christ has said that he bore witness not to a truth, but to THE truth.

THE TRUTH IS UNIVERSAL We tend to make our experiences the truth already, that we see the teachings and principles of the bible secondary. The general notion of the world that truth only encompasses certain people-those who are fine with it- is wrong because we have this source of truth, The Truth that applies to all. And to this truth Jesus came to this world to bear witness to.

“There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative. If this belief is put to the test, one can count on the students' reaction: they will be uncomprehending. That any one should regard [relativism] as not selfevident astonishes them, as though he were calling into question 2 + 2 = 4… Alan Bloom, Closing of the American Mind (p. 25)

“…These are things you don't think about. The students' backgrounds are as various as America can provide. Some are religious, some atheists; some are to the Left, some to the Right; some intend to be scientists, some humanists or professionals or businessmen; some are poor, some rich. They are unified only in their relativism and in their allegiance to equality. And the two are related in a moral intention. The relativity of truth is not a theoretical insight but a moral postulate, the condition of a free society, or so they see it. ” Alan Bloom, Closing of the American Mind (p. 25)

ILLUSTRATION 500 prolife clergy in Atlanta “Defend Reproductive Rights” Contradictory to “We Will not Tolerate Intolerance” Tolerance is a fundamental word in relativism, but in order to stress out its moral implications you also have to establish its absoluteness. With that it turns out to be a paradox. This testifies that we cannot live without absolute truth.

The first implication of Christmas, then, is that there is truth—truth that comes from God outside the world and gives the world its meaning, truth that is absolute and unchanging, truth that everyone should seek for and submit to and believe.

11. CHRISTMAS MEANS THAT JESUS CAME TO TESTIFY TO THAT TRUTH—HE IS THE KEY WITNESS.

HOW CAN WE HEAR THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST? If we want to hear the witness that Jesus came to bring, we have to get back to those years when he was here, when he walked and talked and worked and loved and died among men. Get a copy of the four gospels and sit down in a quiet place alone and begin to listen to the testimony of these four witnesses, and through them listen to the testimony of Jesus as it comes through.

THE BIBLE =THE TRUTH God has revealed to us the truth, and has preserved it Bible has the power to convince people that Jesus' testimony is true. be careful and be diligent in studying the word of God.

J. B. PHILIPS "[I] felt rather like an electrician rewiring an ancient house without being able to turn the mains off" -(Letters to Young Churches, London, 1947, p. xii). "There is an almost childlike candour and simplicity, and the total effect is tremendous. No man could ever have set down such artless and vulnerable accounts as these unless some real Event lay behind them" (The Ring of Truth, London, 1967, p. 58).

DR. E. V. RIEU "I got the deepest feeling that I possibly could have expected. It. . . changed me; my work changed me. And I came to the conclusion that these words bear the seal of. . . the Son of Man and God. And they're the Magna Carta of the human spirit" (The Ring of Truth, London, p. 56).

Go to the gospels as they stand in the Bible and listen earnestly and carefully and openly, with a willingness to do the truth if you see it, then the witness of the writers and the testimony of Jesus will prove to you their credibility.

JOHN 14: 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ”

DEUTERONOMY 6: 6 -9 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Christmas means that Jesus was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth. The witness of his work and his words is preserved in the gospels. Read them afresh every time with a willing heart and you will know THE TRUTH that he came to bring.

UNCERTAINTIES / EXCUSES You may be non-committal about Jesus not because you think he is untrue but just because you don't know. You live with a suspended judgment on the matter.

UNCERTAINTIES / EXCUSES Until you set aside your excuses, your limitations, and the difficulty of studying the word of God, until then you will never have that full grip of the principles of the Bible. You will never have a fuller view of God. You may talk about the truth. But you will find it hard to be an effective witness to the truth.

Ever wondered why the early Christians were bold and courageous enough to even die for their faith? It was all because they know THE TRUTH. Not just any other truth, but THE TRUTH.

It was all because they know THE TRUTH!

Pilate may say—you may say—"I don't know what absolute truth is, and I don't think I can find out. " But the truth is, when your own personal interest is at stake, you won't act as though you don't know what truth is. We have very strong convictions when our life and property are at stake, don't we?

JOHN 7: 17 If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God.

MATTHEW 5: 13 -16 13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

MATTHEW 5: 1316 14 “You are the light of the world. A CITY SET ON A HILL CANNOT BE HIDDEN. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.